Harry walked out of the bedroom with his head down. His anger of the summer had died away and he was left with nothing more than a numb feeling. He felt like he was going through the motions until the first of September. Although, even Hogwarts seamed like a mixed bag. He sighed as he stood at the top of the stairs, contemplating if it was worth the effort to stride all the way down and face the company of the people who have been keeping him in the dark. Right when he was about to turn around and go back toward the room, he heard footsteps coming toward him.
"Look who's finally out of their prison," Fred said as he stood beside Harry. Harry refused to look up.
"Can it really be a prison if it's been unlocked?" George said from next to Fred.
Harry turned on his heals to go back toward his room, but the twins blocked his way. "Where do you think you're going, Cranky Potter?" Fred asked.
"I'm going to the room," Harry mumbled. He hadn't felt much like talking to anyone, either.
"Oh, no, that won't do," George said. "We can't let you go back to your detention."
"Yeah, you get enough of that at school already," Fred said.
Harry looked up at the twins with a look that felt like sincerity. "I will be down for dinner and I will attempt to eat all of my plate," Harry said.
"What kind of a bargain is that?" George asked in mock exasperation. "You eat a plate of food and you think that's payment enough for sulking around this already depressing house for weeks?"
"Look, what more do you want?" Harry asked, anger starting to boil up again. It seamed to be the only emotion he had been able to posses since he stepped over the Dursley's threshold that summer. "If you haven't noticed, I haven't been much of a cheery dinner guest lately."
"That's the point," Fred said, casting a sideways glance to George. "We feel like we should help you overcome the slum you've been in lately."
"You really think anything you two could do could make up for an entire summer's worth of keeping me in the dark?" Harry asked, working to keep his voice level.
"Now, Harry, don't tell me you've forgotten what we taught you when you first arrived at Hogwarts?" George asked.
"Especially since we've made sure to review it with you every year since then?" Fred asked. A smirk spread across both twin's face, much to Harry's bewilderment.
"In fact, Fred, I feel like it's time to that Harry takes a refresher course," George said. Harry looked down and noticed each had their wands on hand. Recognition slowly crept into Harry's mind as his anger diminished.
"George, I feel the same way," Fred said. The twins looked at each other, smirked, and then looked back at Harry.
Now Harry knew exactly what was going on. He turned quickly on his heals and bolted down the stairs. He tried to run into the living room when the twins appeared in front of him. He broke through them and into the living room, but George grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and he stopped abruptly, calling attention from everyone in the room. Lupin, Serius, Ron, and Hermione looked up as George pinned Harry's hands above his head in a head-lock. Harry struggled to get away as Fred pointed his wand toward Harry.
"Are you ready for the refresher, Harry?" Fred asked with a hint of menace in his voice. Harry struggled against George's strength, knowing what was coming next. "I'll take that as a yes." Fred pointed his wand at Harry's torso and yelled "Rictusempra".
Harry's struggle turned into laughter as he attempted to curl into the fetal position against George's strength. George lowered him to allow him to lay on the ground, but still kept his torso exposed. Fred knelt down beside him and wiggled his fingers up and down Harry's sides. Harry roared with laughter as he tried to overcome George who kept his arms pinned above his head and Fred's body from pulling his legs up to protect himself.
Harry was too busy trying to breathe with his tickle torture to notice how much entertainment he was truly being to everyone. Ron and Hermione smiled as they looked at the scene, making absolutely no effort whatsoever to help their friend.
"Do you know where his most ticklish spot is?" Sirius asked over Harry's laughter.
"No, we just found out he was ticklish messing around in the common room during his first year," George explained.
"Care to tell us?" Fred asked.
Sirius and Lupin looked at each other, then at Harry on the floor, struggling between the twins. Sirius walked over to the group and knelt down by Harry's legs, followed by Lupin. "Well, this was his most ticklish spot when he was a baby," Sirius said. Each grabbed a leg and pinned it under one arm. With the other hand, despite Harry's pleas and struggling to kick out of their grasp, they wiggled their fingers up and down the underside of his thighs behind his knees. Harry started screaming in laughter, using all of his strength to desperately try to kick out of Sirius' and Lupin's grasp.
"And apparently, it still is his most ticklish spot," Lupin said as he watched Harry trying to pull himself toward George and away from the adults. The twins had momentarily stopped their portion of the attack to pay attention. George noticed Harry trying to pull himself away so he pulled away and crawled away from Harry's grasp. Harry arched his back and tried to push against the floor for leverage when Fred lifted up his shirt and blew raspberries into his belly.
Harry stiffened and his attention shifted to get the slimy nuisance off of him as he begged Fred to stop. "Yeah, he hates that," Sirius said, noticing what Fred was doing. George had crawled over to Harry's feet and started wiggling his fingers along the soles of his feet. Harry kicked frantically trying to figure out which was worse. "He hates that, too," Sirius chuckled.
Harry tried to tell them to stop, but realized that, to his horror, he couldn't say anything. He pounded the ground in frustration that he couldn't make it stop. "Have you learned your lesson yet, Harry?" George asked loudly so Harry was sure to hear him. Harry nodded, unable to get enough breath to make much of any noise.
"Well then, say the magic words," Fred said. Ron and Hermione laughed at Harry's exasperated expression.
"Couldn't be more vague for him," Lupin said as Sirius took Fred's place blowing raspberries, much to Harry's annoyance.
Harry pleaded with Ron and Hermione to help, but they just sat there, taking the scene in.
"Harry, think about who your attackers are," Hermione said.
Harry struggled to wrap his brain around what it could possibly be while his attackers looked at Hermione impressed at how quickly she figured it out.
"I can't breathe," Harry mouthed, showing it was completely true.
"Then say the magic words," Lupin said.
"Hermione practically gave you the answer," Fred said.
"Doesn't matter, he still doesn't get it," Ron said.
"Would it help if we told you that we never claimed to be up to any good?" George asked.
Harry shook his head, tears streaming down his face. He was exhausted, yet still couldn't stop laughing and tried to revert to the curling into a ball to protect himself. He was trying to wrack his brain around what everyone except him seamed to figure out automatically. So I have Sirius, Lupin, Fred, and George... Harry thought. It suddenly clicked and Harry tried desperately to get enough breath to say the magic words.
"Mischief managed," Harry finally choked out. The second the tickling sensation stopped, Harry sprung up and quickly crawled behind Ron and Hermione to protect himself. He curled into a ball behind them as he caught his breath.
"So has that become an annual thing with you?" Sirius asked.
"Unfortunately," Harry mummbled.
"Yep, found out that little fact about Harry four years ago," Fred said.
"He learned how to do Rictusempra the hard way," George said. Harry glared at him. George lunged toward Harry, who ducked behind Hermione in the fetal position. Everyone laughed at Harry's jumpiness and his unamused face. Ron tickled Harry's ribs and Harry gave a startled laugh as he rolled over onto his back. Hermione wiggled her fingers around his neck and Harry shied away from them.
"I'm done, I give," Harry said, holding his hands up in surrender.
"Good, now stop sulking around here because this place is depressing enough and so help me if you keep walking around here like a hungry zombie, this will be just a little bit of fun and I will make you laugh so hard that you will pee your pants. Do you understand, Harry James Potter?" Sirius said threateningly. Harry couldn't help but smile at his godfather's threats as he hugged himself.
"Yeah, we're your family now," George said. "I know that's a hard word for you to understand, so I'll say it again, FAMILY."
"That means you're stuck with us," Fred said, going over to Harry and ruffling his unruly mop of hair. "Whether you like it or not."
A/N: So, I hope you liked it! This was my first Harry Potter fanfic. Whenever I start a new fandom for lack of a better word, I do some sort of fluff thing like this to kind of get a feel for the characters so let me know what you think. I also have done fanfics for All Grown Up, Phineas and Ferb, High School Musical (not my best, fair warning), Doug, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Meet the Robinsons, Animaniacs, Fairly Odd Parents, and How to Train your Dragon. So, if you like any of those, feel free to check them out. Like I said, this is my first HP fanfic because I just read and watched the series (I was really late due to personal things) so it's pretty fresh in my mind, but that doesn't mean that all the characters are right so let me know what you think!
