Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, well, I'd be rich wouldn't I? Anyways, trust me, if I owned Harry Potter, Fred would never have died and he wold've married Hermione, probably. I'm a big Fremione shipper, but I do like to stick with canon (Romione.) Whatever, you guys don't care. Okay, here you go.
Author's Note: Yes, I was thinking about a little Ron and Ginny when I wrote this, hence the children's names. Please please read and review. It really means a lot to me. Peace out, guys! Love you, Ninja!
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It was a slower day than usual in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and Fred and George were actually able to wander around their shop without knocking into people every two seconds. Still, the shop was alive with laughter, making the twins smile jovially. It warmed them to the bottom of their hearts to know that they were able to help people, for they knew that laughter was in short supply these days.
As Fred and George walked through the shop, greeting a few friends and meeting new people, they noticed two small children looking sadly into the box of Skiving Snackboxes. They looked only to be about ten or eleven years old, and Fred and George exchanged looks.
"Hey, kiddos!" Fred said, bounding over and crouching down so that he was at the same level as them. The children, a blonde-haired boy and girl, looked shocked at being addressed by the owners of such a large shop, but they smiled nevertheless.
"Hi," the little girl replied shyly, concealing herself slightly behind her brother.
"Hi," George said, mimicking his brother's movements. "How are you two today?"
"We're fine," the little boy said, "we were just looking."
"What're your parents up to?" Fred asked.
"They're out buying our school stuff," the girl said, edging out from behind her brother. "We're starting at Hogwarts this year."
"That's great!" George exclaimed. "Looking for something to get you out of boring classes, are you?" he added cheekily, noticing the Puking Pastille in the little boy's hand.
"Oh!" The boy hastily put the candy back in its box.
"It's alright," George said kindly, grabbing the candy back and holding it out towards the boy. "Consider it a gift. You'll have to try it in your History of Magic class. The most boring subject of the lot, wouldn't you say, Fred?"
"Oh, yes, fell asleep many a times, I did in there," Fred replied. "I get tired just thinking about it," he added, miming a yawn. Both children giggled.
"So, what else interests you today, young ones?" Fred asked, taking on a mock business-like tone, noticing that the children had nothing else in their hands.
"Oh, we – um – we don't have any money to buy anything with," the boy said embarrassedly, looking down at his weathered shoes. "Mummy and Daddy are using all the money to buy our new books and stuff."
George hastily elbowed his twin in the ribs, and they exchanged looks, both of sadness. They both remembered vividly what it had been like just a year ago, when they had still been wearing some of Bill's and Charlie's old clothes. Thinking quickly, George turned back to the children.
"Alright," he began, "first things first, what are your names?"
"I'm Bonnie," the girl said softly, shaking Fred's proffered hand.
"And I'm Rupert," the boy said, shaking George's hand.
"Alright, Bonnie, Rupert," Fred began, "you can call me Fred and this is George," he gestured to his brother.
"Now, I think that the two of you are going to need some supplies for making some mischief at Hogwarts. So, how about we go find some goodies for the two of you?" George asked.
"I agree! Completely free of charge," Fred added.
"R-Really?" Rupert stammered, hope gleaming in his eyes.
"Really," George said, smiling at them. He stood up and reached a hand out to Bonnie. "Now, come on, let's go find you some stuff to prank Filch with."
"Definitely," Fred grinned, "Filch is the caretaker at Hogwarts. He's an old Squib, and it's really funny to see him so irritated and frustrated sometimes.."
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Over the next hour, Fred and George led Bonnie and Rupert around, gathering up new candies, fake wands, and other items. As George dropped a couple of Decoy Detonators into a massive, bright orange sack, Bonnie turned to him.
"George?" she began.
"Yeah, Bonnie?" he replied, helping Fred to pick up the heavy sack.
"Um, what time is it?"
"It is," Fred started, looking down at his shiny, black watch, "a little after eleven o'clock."
"Oh!" Rupert gasped. "We have to go meet Mummy and Daddy! They told us to meet outside the shop at eleven."
"Well, alright, then!" Fred said, heaving the sack over his shoulder. "I think we've got you two a little bit of everything now. Unless . . .." He trailed off, throwing an inquisitive look George's way.
"–unless you two would like a Pygmy Puff," George finished, approving Fred's unanswered question.
Both Bonnie's and Rupert's faces lit up. "Oh, thank you!" Bonnie exclaimed, actually jumping up and down and knocking over a display case full of Miming Salamanders.
"It's alright," Fred said soothingly, for Bonnie looked extremely worried, as though thinking she would be in severe trouble. Fred pulled his wand out and waved it, setting the display right again.
"Let's go choose you two out a Pygmy Puff and then meet your parents, okay?" Fred said, leading the other three over the cage. "Been breeding like mad, they have," he added wryly. "Now, which color would you like? Usually we only have pink and purple, but since they're breeding so much, we're actually getting some different colors now, so we've got blue and red also."
"Blue!" Rupert shouted.
"Pink!" Bonny squealed.
Fred chuckled. After Bonnie had chosen an adorable little pink one and Rupert had chosen a funny-looking blue one, Fred put them into little cardboard boxes and handed put them in the sacks. "Now, they've got little wholes in the box so that they can breathe," he said, "and they can sleep in there. You can feed them some lettuce and other things like that every day, but just a few leaves worth, otherwise they might get sick. You'll want to let them run around and play often too, okay?"
"We will!" Rupert and Bonnie said simultaneously, both faces with wide grins spreading across them. "Understood, sir," Rupert added, standing at attention and saluting Fred, before collapsing into a fit of laughter.
"Okay, then," said George, levitating the sack of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products and walking towards the front door. Rupert and Bonnie followed him outside onto the sidewalk, but not before taking a long look at all the color and happiness once more.
"Come on, guys," Fred said, from behind them, nudging them with his hands. "I think I see your parents."
"Oh! There you are!" A woman with dark blonde hair like Bonnie's yelled. She came barreling towards them, Fred and George having to jump out of the way so as not to collide with her. Behind the woman approached a man with the same dark blonde hair as his family's. The woman enveloped Bonnie and Rupert in a bone-smashing hug, the man standing her looking relieved though slightly irritated.
Finally, the supposed mother let her children go and looked over at Fred and George.
"Hi," she said kindly, offering her hand to Fred. "My name's Annie. Annie Coltman."
"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Annie Coltman," Fred replied, pressing his lips to her hand ever so slightly. He smiled at her. "I'm Fred Weasley and this is my twin, George." He gestured to George. "You have a wonderful pair of children there."
"Oh, thank you," she replied, her face slightly pink, hugging both Rupert and Bonnie to her side.
"Duncan Coltman," the man said, walking around his wife and shaking George's hand, looking at the twins in a rather threatening manner.
"Pleasure to meet you, sir," George replied, not letting the odd look on the man's face threaten him like it was meant to be.
"What are those?" Duncan asked confusedly, his eyes landing on the floating Weasley's Wizard Wheezes sacks. "Children," he said, rounding on Bonnie and Rupert. "You do remember what your mother and I told you earlier, don't you?"
"Not to ask for anything," Rupert muttered quietly.
"Exactly!" Duncan replied loudly. "Your mother and I spend every hard-earned Knut on your school sup ––"
"Excuse me, sir," George interrupted hastily. Duncan rounded on him angrily.
"Yes?" he said, gritting his teeth slightly, making it obvious that he was trying to keep his temper in check.
"Just so you know," George continued, "your children didn't ask for any of this."
"Yeah," Fred piped up, "we just wanted to give them something to laugh about and mess around with while they were at school."
"We don't need your charity," Duncan spat angrily, getting closer to Fred's face in a very threatening manner.
"Duncan," Annie exclaimed angrily. "That's enough. They're just being kind."
But George had had enough and came to his brother's defense. "We didn't do it for charity. We did it because we saw two little children who wanted something to make them happy. They were looking around at everything that they couldn't have. Look, we know what it's like to be low on money, and we just wanted to give these kids something to make them laugh, to make them happy, and to distract them from the war and the dangers of it."
Duncan looked angry, but his gaze softened slightly at the sincerity in George's words. "C'mon, Annie," he said, turning on his heel and walking slowly away along the sidewalk, waiting for his wife and children to catch up to him.
"I – I'm awfully sorry about my husband," Annie said hastily. "He's just stressed about money and – and, well, the war and everything."
"Don't worry about it," Fred said kindly. "We understand. We were born during the First War and just until about a year ago, we were still wearing clothes from our elder brothers."
Annie smiled gratefully at them.
"Annie!" Duncan yelled over his shoulder.
"Come along, dears," Annie said, pulling Rupert and Bonnie along with her after her husband.
"Wait a minute, Mummy," Bonnie said. She pulled her hand out of her mother's and ran back quickly to Fred and George, Rupert not very far behind.
"Thank you," Bonnie muttered, hugging Fred very tightly. Rupert did the same to George. "Thank you."
"You are both very, very welcome," Fred replied.
"Just promise us one thing," George said, crouching down and looking into the children's faces.
"What?"
"Well, Filch has the meanest cat ever ––" Bonnie chuckled, "–– and she has big yellow eyes and this ugly tan fur. Anyways, she'll hiss at you and she'll scratch you sometimes. So, promise me, when you see her, give her a good kick for me, okay?"
"Promise!" Rupert said happily.
"Promise!" Bonnie agreed too.
Both children gave Fred and George another quick hug, before running back to their mother.
"Times are changing, aren't they, Georgie?" Fred said, throwing his arm around his twin's shoulders as they watched the family walk away.
"They sure are, Freddie. They sure are."
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P.S. Review? *sits hopefully in front of laptop*
Anyway, would you guys like to see a Shuffle Challenge about Harry Potter or maybe a different fandom? Let me know in the towel section down below or in the poll in my profile. (Kudos if you got that towel section reference.)