Author's Note: I own nothing except my soul. April Fool's Day/Early B-Day present for my best friend (though she doesn't know it yet).
Fred Weasley was lounging on his bed when his twin George, walked in.
"I've got the answer to all of our problems," George exclaimed, his eyes alight with mischief.
Fred smirked, and clapped his hands together as he sat up in anticipation. "Do tell," he implored.
"Green Jell-O."
Fred opened his mouth to reply, then stopped, confused. "…Green…Jell-O? What?"
"Green Jell-O. Exactly what I said."
For the first time in his life, Fred looked at George like he was crazy, and not in a good way. He was losing it. He couldn't blame him; a summer at home with their mother was enough to drive anyone off the roof. All those rules. Fred didn't like rules.
"Think about it," George chuckled, and threw a box of the powdered dessert mix at Fred, who caught it. "See you downstairs when you figure it out," he called over his shoulder as he walked back out of the room.
Fred just sat there on his bed. He was missing some important fact about the day, and although he'd woken up late, the sun wasn't yet full in the sky. Looking around him, he tried to recall what was so special about Green Jell-O. It was Muggle food after all, and his mother had only discovered the gelatinous substance three years back, the first time Hermione had visited the Burrow. Now, she made it every once and a while, but mostly, when everyone was home. She claimed it was because everyone liked it, but what Fred wanted to know was why it always had to be green. Why couldn't it be red? They were Gryffendors for Merlin's beard! Not Slytherins!
No one had ever attempted to do anything fun with the gooey dessert, and suddenly, Fred wondered if that was what George was up to. He was always up to something. Why not do something worthwhile?
Tampering with Jell-O, though, that was a bit of an odd idea. He didn't think there was much he could do with it, and with George's insanity combined with his own, event that was a stretch of the imagination.
"Oi! Fred, get down here," came George's bellowing voice, and Fred sighed and Apparated downstairs. As expected, he landed right next to his mother, making her scream. He loved it when she did that. Every. Single. Time.
"George I've told you so many times not to do that!"
Fred smirked. She still couldn't tell them apart. "I'm Fred, Mum."
She just looked at him like he was bonkers, then sighed her motherly old woman sigh. "You boys have a lot of growing up to do, but right now, go find something to do that doesn't include scaring me to death."
Fred nodded at George, who swiped two packets of Jell-O into his pocket and lead the way outside.
"And don't blow anything or anyone up," chided their mother, following them to the door as she instructed a broom to dust the floor. "I mean it!"
"Yes, mother," the twins said in unison, before they both Apparated away to the hills above the Burrow. They could easily have walked there, but what was the fun in that? They had wands and magic for a reason.
"So," George said as soon as Fred appeared beside him. "Did you remember what day it is?"
"Yeah, about halfway between home and this hill," Fred replied, chuckling excitedly. "Best day of the year."
George nodded, and they said in unison, "April Fool's Day."
"So what are we planning this year," asked Fred, eyeing the packets in George's hand.
"Fireworks."
"Fireworks?"
"Yes, fireworks. We'll use the Jell-O. Trust me, it will be hilarious to see the look on Mum's face when the garden erupts in Fireworks."
"Are you sure that's safe?"
"Nope," George replied, smirking.
Two hours later they had successfully transformed prepared Jell-O, which was as close to cooking as Fred ever planned to get, into fuel for the fireworks that they built from one of Ron's old train sets. They had eight fireworks in total, and they placed them safely in their dad's shed for later.
As they were walking back down the hill to the Burrow, as they had decided to walk slowly so as to avoid any chores before dinner, they heard a soft whirring sound coming from the shed. Turning around, they realized the sound was growing louder by the minute, and ran back to investigate. But before they could get there in time, the shed exploded into fire.
Just as quickly as the fire appeared, suddenly, the shed lurched, turned green, and then exploded again as thousands of butterflies burst through the shed's door. They came in varying shades and sizes, until, to Fred's horror, a new kind of animal burst out.
"What the bloody hell is that?" Fred screeched, jumping back in terror.
"Well, that didn't turn out the way I thought it would," George said with a grimace. "What do you suppose we should call them?"
"Mum'll kill us."
"Hmm...too long."
"Dad'll cry."
"Let's call em chickerflies," George said with satisfaction, and scooped one of the deformed, half-butterfly chickens into his arms. Fred thought he might throw up.
"Oh it doesn't look that...bad," George said, looking at Fred and handing the 'chickerfly' to him.
Fred dropped it immediately. The bright pink feathered mutant flopped out of his arms onto the ground and headed straight down the hill with the rest of them.
"What are we going to them?"
"Nothing."
"We can't just say nothing, they'll know it was us. It's always us." Fred felt bad,and rather disgusted, but he couldn't help but laugh now that the field was filled with butterflies. And once they weren't too close, the 'chickerfly' things looked almost cute.
George clapped a hand on his brother's back and looked into Fred's identical eyes. Fred stared back."We'll tell everyone it was a fairy or something."
"A fairy?"
"Yes, because we have so many of them around these parts." George smirked again and Fred rolled his eyes.
"No, we don't," Fred contended, shaking his head at the shed.
"Well," George said, waving his wand at one of the chickerflies still on butterfly fire, and watched it dance around in the midst of the butterflies while water splashed down on it. "We do now."
A/N: So what did you think? :)