Chapter 1 - Double, Double, Toil and Trouble.
"No, Fred, that's too much!" George Weasley clenched his teeth and expertly measured the amount of dragon's liver to match the additional amount of frog's eyes that Fred just added.
"Now we have to add extra of all the ingredients because YOU messed up!" Letting out an irritated sigh, George proceeded to the cauldron to fix the mistake. Fred gave him a funny look, wondering what it was that bit him in the butt this time.
"What's your problem?" Fred asked, studying his brother over the cauldron. George avoided his eye and reached over to pick the ladle, accidentally knocking over the jar of powdered pixies.
"Gilderoy would have no trouble rounding up these pixies." Fred said with a smirk, referring to the incident that Ron had told them about which had occurred in Defense Against the Dark Arts three years ago.
"Wait a minute. How much of that was in the jar?" George's eyes widened in panic. Fred took that as a warning and darted towards the door. Unfortunately, they reacted far too slow and before they knew it there was a tremendous blast and they were shot six feet into the air, landing on top of each other in a heap in the hall. All too soon they heard a familiar shriek and thundering on the stairs.
"Uh oh." George and Fred said together sharing an anxious look.
"Fred and George WEASLEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Mrs. Weasley came up the stairs looking agitated and furious. Her face was as red as her hair and her eyes bulged out. She was so angry she seemed larger than usual and appeared to fill the small hall. Fred and George stood up as their mother took in the scene. They guiltily looked from the completely shattered bedroom door and the mess of splintered wood, littering the hall, to the smoke billowing accusingly out of the open bedroom doorway.
"Uhh… We were just ummm… Experimenting, Mum… Nothing dangerous… Honest!" Both Fred and George crossed their fingers behind their backs and Mrs. Weasley did not look convinced. At that moment, Mr. Weasley, Percy, Ron and Ginny as well as their guests for the summer (Ron's best friends), Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, all stormed into the hall. They stopped simultaneously and took in the scene with wide eyes. Harry began backing motioning to his two friends to join him, hoping to get away before Mrs. Weasley found out that he had encouraged the twins to open a joke shop by presenting them with a generous offer of a thousand galleons, won in the Triwizard Tournament last year.
"Just because you two have legally 'come of age' and are allowed to use magic outside of school freely, does NOT give you permission to-"
Escaping to the garden, Mrs. Weasley could be heard, still screaming so loudly that it was likely the nearest neighbours, who were miles away, could hear her. Ron and Harry were joking about the twins' situation and didn't notice, until they bumped into her, that Hermione had stopped dead in her tracks. She turned to Harry and Ron, who exchanged confused expressions and waited attentively for her to speak.
"I wanted to tell you guys earlier. I tried to, but" She hesitated and they stared at her quizzically. She continued slowly, choosing her words carefully"You'll never guess who the next Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is!" Her large brown eyes looked from Harry to Ron as they stared at her, waiting in anticipation for the answer. Something about her voice told them they would NOT like her reply.