Written for the Big Sis/Lil Sis Competition at HPFC, using the prompts "The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive," quiet, spring, a mug of hot chocolate, and took my breath away. This probably isn't my best work, but yeah...
War wasn't in any sense a joke, no matter how much Fred and George Weasley would like to treat it as such.
It was the same repetitive pattern, night after night, day after day – check and see if the wards are still in place, read through the blasphemy that was the Daily Prophet, and Patronus-message their mother, assuring they were okay, everything was fine.
It wasn't until the abduction of Florean Flortescue from his shop in broad daylight that made them change, and with slightly heavy hearts had closed the shop down (wasn't like there was many customers anymore, everyone was in Azkaban, puppets for the Ministry or in hiding) and finally agreed to their mothers relentless nagging about staying at the Burrow until, "All of this nonsense...is finished."
"I reckon we go now," said Fred quietly, and George couldn't help but feel the same way – quiet and unwilling, the exact opposite of what the Weasley twins were supposted to be.
George rolled his cup of hot chocolate in between his hands and pocketed a candy left on the kitchen counter of the flat before answer – even though he didn't need to. His twin would know what he was saying already. "I've been thinking the same thing."
They both had the same impassive look on their faces, eerily identical, but the end of Fred's mouth had curved into a smirk, and George's had followed once he saw his twin flicker his gaze to the bag they were bringing over to the Burrow, loaded with merchandise.
"Arthur, is that you?"
"Yes, it's me… and I have some news."
"News? What about?"
"Tell the family to sit down – I want to tell everyone together."
Molly placed the casserole dish on the set table and turned to the stairs of the Burrow. "FRED! GEORGE! GINNY! DINNER'S READY!" She hadn't even finished her sentence when the twins vaulted down the stairs, sliding into a seat, followed closely by Ginny.
"Remus and Tonks aren't coming over tonight?" the youngest Weasley asked, taking a seat beside her father and George.
"No, they're staying with Andromeda," said Molly, and scooped some potatoes onto her daughters plate before serving some onto her own. "What were you going to tell everyone, Arthur?"
He cleared his throat before announcing, "Look at this." He held up the Daily Prophet for the group to see. A few moments after Molly gasped Ginny snatched it from her fathers' hands and began reading, her eyes moving across the page very quickly.
"So this is what they were doing when they left Shell Cottage." She tossed the newspaper to the twins.
"Bloody hell," murmured Fred.
"What in the world were they thinking?" huffed Molly, shaking her head. "Gringotts, what for? Was there really any need? Are they just purposely causing – "
"You know them, Mum," said Ginny, "and you know Hermione wouldn't let them do something without reason. I was always wondering why they were shut up in that Goblins' room at Shell Cottage when I visited."
"I feel like something big's going to happen soon," said George, with another mug of hot chocolate rolling in between his hands. He took a big gulp of the creamy chocolate liquid and only winced when the scalding fluid burned his tongue. It was only a minor addiction – one that would come and go.
His twin just looked up from the cauldron perched on his old bed at the Burrow and emptied a vial of crystal liquid in the simmering pot before replying with his eyes downcast. "I don't want anything to happen."
George understood what his twin was saying – he didn't want anything to happen either. It would be ideal if everything just disappeared, but honestly, when did that happen? Problems just didn't disappear… unfortunately. They didn't want anything to happen now, not now when everything felt like it was half-finished. As much as they didn't want to see the git, if Percy died and they hadn't been able to apologize… they would feel guilty, incredibly guilty for not seeing him one last time, not forgiving him, for all of the suffer both him at the Ministry and they in the Order had been through…
"Gred, did we bring the fluxweed?"
"No, we were out of that when we left – try knotgrass." The change in topic was easy and welcomed – they both felt most at home creating and experimenting rather than deep heart-to-heart talks. Fred sprinkled the knotgrass and George peered into the cauldron; the sienna-colored liquid was bubbling at the surface, threatining to overflow.
"So far, so good." Just as the words' came out of Fred's mouth a large bubble burst from the surface, leaving thick streams of potion trailing down George's face. He spat out the ones that found there way into his mouth, much to his twins' amusement, who seemed to find the whole predicament amusing and was howling with laughter.
George raised his wand to his face and cleaned up the mess and peered back into the cauldron before sighing heavily while his twin managed to catch his breath. "Well, that didn't work."
Fred snorted and squirmed a bit, before digging into the pocket of his trousers. George gave him a curious look before Fred's hand emerged and held a golden coin out. "This bloody thing has been burning a hole in my pocket all evening." George snatched it from his hands and held it up to the light.
"The DA coin, why's that – Fred, look at this!" Bringing the coin right to his eyes, he squinted and read the words forming around the edge of the coin. Come to Hogwarts.
"Was this here before?"
"I don't think so – it heats up when it changed."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Gred?"
"Always."
It was May, but it was still cold outside – the spring breeze nipped at revealing skin and since it was almost ten at night, the sky was growing dark and the half-moon shone over the town of Hogsmeade. The passage through the Hog's Head was crowded; Fred was pretty sure he tripped over Alicia Spinnet's foot (who, along with Katie, Lee, Angelina and Oliver had arrived at the same time as Ginny and the twins) and George almost fell headfirst onto Oliver.
The amount of people in the Room of Requirement took his breath away, and he felt a sudden rush of pride – for the Order, for the DA, for everyone who was fighting. All of these people, fighting for what they believe in.
"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," said Fred, "he wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station."
Cho Chang came out of the portrait hole right after Lee Jordan. "I got the message."
"What's the plan, Harry?" George asked.
Harry explained about the lost diadem – Ravenclaws' – and turned to Ron and Hermione, talking quietly until address the room as a whole. The twins, who had been cracking jokes, fell silent.
About twenty minutes later, Harry burst back into the Room of Requirement, flanked by Ron and Hermione. New faces had came in – Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill and Fleur, Lupin and Kingsley.
"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized," announced Harry, "We're fighting."
Fred and George had turned to each other, identical grins plastered on their faces, and rushed side-by-side out of the Room of Requirement for one of the last times together.