Summer at the Weasley's is always fun. Momma Weasley wakes us up every morning to a warm and fresh breakfast. It's been one month already and she hasn't let me help her once with the cooking. She loves cooking and caring for us all. Ron has been carrying his pet rat Scabbers with him everywhere. He's missing a toe, though, which is kind of freaky. Papa Weasley is usually working, but he's able to enjoy breakfast and dinner with us. Ginny and I usually stay together and discuss random topics or go wander the fields surrounding the Burrow. Fred and George are in their rooms coming up with new pranks and props everyday.
"Janine, have you ever seen this before?" Ginny asks me. She holds out a small flower with orange-red petals and a green stem.
I take the flower from her hand and look at it closely, eyes squinting. "I don't really know. Wildflower maybe." I hold the flower further away from me and take out my rectangular oval glasses with my free hand and put it on. The colors on the flower aren't just any primary colors. The petals carry a scarlet color, accompanied by bright green leaves and stem. "It's so pretty!" I shout out excitedly.
"What's so pretty?" Two in sync voices say from behind Ginny and I. We both turn around and two identical faces are peering at us. "Well?" They both say.
"It's rare for you to be out of your room," Ginny says. "What are you guys up to now?"
"Not much, really," one of them says. I still can't tell the difference between the two. "Just the basics," the other says.
"Hey, you guys are supposed to take us to go see the musicals today. Mom said so, too," Ginny reminds the boys.
"Ah, yes, Ginny. But how are we going to get there exactly?" One asks sitting down next to Ginny, the other following right behind and next to me.
"Yes, we can't use magic and we can't fly the car," says the one sitting next to me.
"Wait.. Who's who?" I ask timidly.
They both look at me, then at each other and smile. "Fred and George." They both say.
"Well I know that! I just don't know which one of you is who yet," I confess.
"Take a guess," they say again.
"No, I need something to remember you guys by. Something that.. Will let me know the difference between you two," I look to Ginny for help.
"George has a mole on his neck. Right there," Ginny points out the mole on George's neck and I smile as I reach out to poke it.
"Ginny!" They simultaneously shout out.
"So you're George. And you're Fred. I never even noticed your mole, George!" I laugh.
"Well now that you have, you won't be able to take your eyes off me will you?" George winks at me as he and Fred get up and leave.
I just laugh it off and start making flower crowns with Ginny. An hour later, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny and I all leave to go watch the three hour musical in the muggle world. Twenty minutes in and Ron is already half asleep. Fred and George have been in the bathroom the whole time and Ginny is too interested in the show to talk to me. The show's not entirely boring, just some parts of it, and I often day dream about Hogwarts. If they had a musical there, who would be what? Harry would be the hero, of course, his reputation in school already makes that clear. Hermione would probably be the sidekick who always saves the hero from his biggest fear; himself. Ron would most likely be the poor boy who knows a lot of information, but is always afraid to face things until the very last moment.
"Ginny, I'm going to the restroom," I whisper to her quietly. She turns to look at me, her concentration obviously broken.
"Oh, yeah. I'll wait here for you," Ginny turns back to watch the show intently.
I wash my hands in the bathroom when a girl walks in. I feel her looking at me from the mirror and I instinctively look up. Pansy Parkinson. I let out a sigh and grab the towels to dry my hands.
"Hey, Mudblood. I see you got hired for cleaning the restrooms," She says with a smirk.
I look up and turn around to face her, a big smile on my face. "I could say the same about you. Take my shift, will you?" I give her a hard pat on the shoulder and walk out. Fred and George are coming out of the bathroom laughing, but when they see me, we just stare at each other. "What?"
"Who allowed you to go cause trouble in the Muggle world?!" Momma Weasley shouts at Fred and George. "You're the oldest ones there and you act like children! Especially when Janine was there with you! Luckily neither of you used magic, or else you both would have been expelled!" Momma Weasley turns to face me and I tense up, getting ready for a lecture. "Janine, I'm sorry about these two birdbrains. You must be exhausted. Fred! George! Take her to bed, please!" She says in her motherly tone.
"Yes, mother!" they both shout. Each of them carrying me by one arm and leading me up the stairs. My feet aren't even touching the ground.
"Hey! I can walk!" I shout in protest.
"Mother said take you to bed," Fred says on your left.
"Not, escort you to bed," George chimes in.
"Same difference!" They let me go in front of Ginny's room and open the door for me.
At the same time, Fred and George bow and throw their opposite arms in front of the door like in the movies when they open the door for a fancy, rich girl. "Your room." They say in their most gentlemen voices.
I just smile while shaking my head in disbelief and say, "I'm not tired, though."
Fred doesn't give me a moment to think another idea before he says, "Excellent! Come with us!" He grabs my hand and drags me along with them to their bedroom. "Inside. George, show her please." Fred lets go of my hand and turns around to lock the door.
"Alright. Janine, look here," even though I have my doubts about this, it can't be as bad as being killed. "Here, is where all our magic happens." George reaches under his bed and pulls out a chest. He unlocks it and instead of being just one deep compartment, the chest keeps opening and opening, fanning out smaller compartments holding what looks like taffies.
"What is all this?" I ask in amazement. I kneel down next to George and look at the items.
"This here," George grabs one of the taffy like candies while Fred sits on the bed facing us. "Is what we call a Canary Cream."
He holds it out for me and Fred explains. "It turns the eater into a Canary, temporary of course."
"And here, we have Puking Pastilles. Double-sided, color-coded. Eat the orange side and you'll puke within seconds." George begins.
"Eat the purple side and your health will be fully restored. Best thing to eat to get out of class, especially with Snape." Fred finishes.
"You.. made.. this?" I sound like a five year old who doesn't understand anything, but frankly in this situation, I really don't understand anything.
"Yours truly," they say to me with pleased smiles.
I can't say anything to express my astonishment and end up just smiling and gaping my mouth. "Wow," is the only word I make out.
"You hear that, Georgie? The only thing she says is 'wow,'" Fred looks up to George with a grin.
"Better than nothing, Freddie," George says with an identical smile. There's a flicker in George's eye that catches me. Something different about his eyes that Fred's don't contain. I end up smiling unknowingly and an awkward atmosphere fills the room.
"Entertain her Georgie. I'll go bring us some real treats," Fred looks at me and winks, then leaves the room in a slight jog.
"What's this one?" I'm about to grab a little pink furry ball when it spins around and looks at me with small beady eyes. "Ah!" I shout out and stand up.
It squeaks quietly and rolls next to George's feet. He picks it up and places it on his shoulder. "Nothing to be afraid of. Just a Pygmy Puff. This one's new. He's been rolling around for days in our room."
"It's kind of cute. Are there any other ones?" I reach out my hand slowly and pet it's fur. It squeaks in a high tone and I giggle.
"You can keep that one. Free of charge," George smiles kindly at me.
"No! I want to pay for it! How much?" I take the Pygmy Puff from his shoulder and hold it close to my chest.
"Four galleons," George says after a second of hesitation.
"Only? You should make it more than that! You and Fred have to breed this on your own! I'll give you the money after I'm done looking at all these things," I kneel down next to George again and we brush shoulders slightly. I notice and feel a small tingling in my stomach. What am I thinking? This is the first time that I officially have a conversation with Fred and George, there's no possibility that I like him.
He shows me a couple more of their items and soon enough, Fred walks in with a platter of fresh baked cookies. It smells of refreshing, vanilla with a hint of sugar and the lovely smell of the Burrow. Following right behind is three goblets floating in the air.
"I love this place," I say under my breath as I take a cookie from the platter and grab one of the floating goblets. "Thanks."
I look up at Fred and he's smiling mischievously at me. I try my best to give him a simple 'what?' look and he winks again, then lightly flicks his head towards George, who's eating his cookie while organizing the tiny compartments in the chest.