Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the characters and places in this special world. Thank you for sharing.
To Tina who inspired this and got my muse working again.
Happy Birthday, George!
"Why are you so glum?" asked Colin Creevy's ghost of Fred Weasley's.
"April 1 is George's birthday," Fred's ghost replied. "Now he will be older than I."
"Yes, but you will always be better looking," Colin retorted.
"I need someone to prank him," Fred replied. Colin stared at the red haired ghost.* "Well, we can figure that out, too. We figured out how to make your hair stay red, we can figure out someone that he would not expect to prank him."
"Ginny says that he rarely leaves his room at the Burrow. Ron tells me that the joke shop is still closed," Fred continued. "It's just not right. He should be able to have fun after the stupid war."
"Sh-h-h-h! There's someone invading our swamp," Colin whispered.
"You know as ghosts people cannot see us or hear us unless we want them to, don't you?" Fred offered in an exaggerated stage whisper.
After the war, when the castle was being restored, someone had done the Reparo spell in the hallway where the swamp had been left after Dolores Umbridge's tenure and the swamp had grown back to its full glory. There were stepping stones in the new swamp to allow students to get across to class this time making Filch's boat redundant. The other difference in the new swamp was a stone marker that read, "R.I.P. Fred Weasley. This is one hell of a good piece of magic. May we always share in the joy of learning." Nobody had taken credit, nor denied that they had done it, but rumors swirled. Amongst the cypress trees in the swamp was a favorite place for students to hide out, snog, or just skip classes which made Fred happy. Nothing like shirking off the mundane could be more energizing. George hadn't even been back to the castle since the war. He said it was too sad.
"But Hermione," Ron whined, "we really need to take a day off and just do something for us. You know we are getting married as soon as we graduate." He moved in to steal a kiss from the witch.
"Where. In. The. Name. Of. All. That. Is. Sacred. Did. You. Get. That. Idea?" She enunciated each word carefully and slowly and put distance between them.
"Well, everyone knows," Ron stated moving closer, "we were just meant to be. This time next year I will be an auror and you can have a baby."
Colin moved around a tree as if to get a better view of the scene. Fred put a hand on his shoulder, "You know you can just float through the trees, remember?"
"I keep forgetting." Colin nodded, "It isn't like I've been a ghost for 400 years like some of these." He gestured to the gathering of ethereal beings. Since it was after dinnertime, the other students were now beginning to quietly gather as well. Everyone, it seems, living or dead, loved a good romantic drama. Well that, or they were interested in seeing who was going to win the pool that had been going all year on whether Hermione would have enough of Ron and break it off, and if so how.
Even the teachers and the portraits had entered the pool. Odds were two to one on the break-up, but much more daring on the method. The greatest odds were on the exact date, hour and minute. Professor Snape's portrait was feeling confident as he had: 1) a break-up would occur, 2) it would happen March 31 at 8:43 p.m. and 3) Ron would be hit by a combination of Expeloramus (thanks Harry for the idea), Bat-boogie hex (thanks Ginny for the idea) canaries that Ron had conjured to attack Hermione(thanks Hermione for the idea) and a memory charm (thanks Professor Lockhart for the idea) that he would send at Hermione in quick succession, but would be repelled by her shield charm. Snape had justified his bet to the portrait of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and current Headmistress Minerva McGonagall saying that Ron was not the sharpest quill in the pot and had no originality in his being, unlike his siblings.
"I have an idea," Fred said in a whisper to Colin. He gestured to the younger ghost to follow him, "Too bad you can't take pictures with that camera anymore."
They neared where Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were standing. Making himself visible to them alone Fred said, "Harry send your patronus to the Burrow with an urgent message for George to get here quickly and bring the camera. The floo in the Headmaster's Office is open and unattended. If he asks why tell him that Ronniekins is losing it and Snape is about to win the biggest pot in Hogwarts' betting history. That alone should pull him out of his doldrums."
Colin said, "This could be better than any prank we could come up with." Then looking at the expression of horror on Fred's face, "Okay, maybe not better, but nearly as good as. We are getting George here, Ronald is about to be hexed (Hermione's indignant responses to Ron's inane statements were growing louder), and I want to see everyone's faces when Snape wins the betting pool."
Lying on his bed in his room at the Burrow, George Weasley was contemplating the first birthday he would not be sharing with Fred. He had run out of firewhiskey and elven wine earlier in the day and since he was holed up had resorted to drinking butterbeer. Suddenly a silver stag patronus flashed through the wall and into his room. Harry's urgent voice came out, "George, bring the camera and floo to the Hogwarts' Headmaster's Office. We are down by the swamp and Hermione is about to explode." He lay there contemplating why that would be of any interest to him. "Ron blew it and Snape is about to win the betting pool. Oh and I put 5 galleons on the same bet as Snape for you. Figured he must know something everyone else didn't." George accioed his robes and shoes and was dressed before he apparated downstairs to the floo.
His mother was so surprised to see him that she couldn't even ask where he was going. When she heard him say, "Hogwarts' Headmaster's Office," as he threw down his handful of floo powder after stepping into the kitchen fireplace, she sent a patronus to Arthur.
Arthur Weasley was in a meeting with the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and his undersecretary, Percy Weasley when Molly's patronus burst into the room. "George is on his way to Hogwarts' Headmaster's Office through the floo with a camera. I'm following," was all it said.
Kingsley sent a patronus to the aurors that there seemed to be an invasion at Hogwarts and everyone was entering through the Headmaster's Office floo. Meanwhile, Arthur had sent messages to Bill and Charlie.
The sole remaining occupant of the Headmaster's Portrait Gallery was astonished to see people tumbling through the Headmaster's floo in droves. Since George was first and seemed like he knew where he was going, everyone else followed. The spiral staircase exit to the office just remained stationary due to the traffic jam and everyone rushed down. Quietly slipping out of his frame and into the one shared by the Fat Lady, Violet, and four Headmasters, including Snape and Dumbledore, Headmaster Black whispered that half of wizarding Britain was on its way through the Headmaster's Office floo and would be down shortly.
George could hear Hermione's and Ron's argument echoing throughout the halls long before he neared the swamp. Fred sidled up next to him and said, "Get plenty of pictures of this. We want to break the story to the Prophet before anyone else does." George, so wrapped up in the unfolding scene that he didn't even notice where he was, began snapping pictures. Fred began a countdown of the seconds when the clock reached 8:42 p.m.
"59, 58, 57, 56 …" The halls were getting crowded as Molly, Charlie, Bill, and Fleur stepped into the circle.
Harry, who could still hear Fred, quietly picked up the countdown, "49, 48, 47 …" He was intently listening to Ron digging himself into a deeper hole.
"YOU ARE LUCKY I WANT TO BE YOUR BOYFRIEND, NOBODY LIKES A KNOW-IT-ALL," Ron shouted.
The crowd grew with the addition of the aurors. Those near Harry picked up the countdown, "39, 38, 37, 36 …"
"WHO SAID I WANTED YOU FOR A BOYFRIEND. YOU ARE AN OVERBEARING, OBTUSE, OBSTRUCTIONIST WHOSE ORIGINS I AM BEGINNING TO QUESTION," shouted Hermione back.
"He gets points for being right in that she is a know-it-all," whispered Minerva to Snape.
"She gets points for alliteration with words that he cannot even comprehend," whispered Snape back.
"29, 28, 27 …"
"I AM OUT OF HERE RONALD BILLIOUS WEASLEY," Hermione yelled.
"19, 18, 17, 16 …" The counting grew louder with the volume of yelling. The crowd stood by in anticipation. The aurors had their wands ready and the students stood in awe as their parents began to join the crowd. "9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,"
As the count of one was tolled, "DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME WOMAN, YOU ARE MINE," spilled out of Ron's mouth followed by his borrowed/trademarked curses, charms and hexes.
"Protego and echo," shouted Hermione as she threw up a shielding charm. Everyone in the crowd near her followed suit quickly. "I am not now, nor will I ever be anyone's woman except my own," she said quietly with enough menace in her words that there was no mistaking what she meant.
George had been snapping pictures throughout and was able to capture a wonderful shot of Ron being on the receiving end of his own handiwork.
"8:43," Snape said as he turned to Minerva. "The spells and hexes were right as well."
"So, your half goes into the Hogwarts' scholarship fund for magical children who need help to attend?" Minerva asked.
"What do you mean my half?"
"Well, Harry placed an equal bet on all the same terms in George's name, so he gets the other half."
Just then George spotted the sign in the swamp. "Wow, Fred. You're famous."
"And I will always be younger, and as such better looking," Fred smirked.
"Still was an imaginative piece of spell work, that swamp," commented Professor Flitwick.#
"So what will we do for our birthday tomorrow?" asked Gred, or was Forge.
* Refers to my previous story s/11073843/1/Redder-than-the-Bloody-Baron
# Refers to another story I wrote s/10864707/1/Swamped-the-Story-behind-the-Story