Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize.
Author's note: This is a spin-off from Chapter 13 of Will You? My wonderful beta Heptagon insisted that I write it, and now, months and months and months later I decided that I should post something, and this was the only thing I had ready... So here it is - Dumbledore Blues
Chapter 1: An Incantation
They had been at Hogwarts for barely an hour now, but during this time they had managed to earn themselves a fair amount of enemies. First had been the huge ugly-looking Slytherin, but that happened in the train already, so that wouldn't count. And besides, they hadn't done anything too outrageous, they had just tripped him. Into this quite nice-looking Ravenclaw girl who had made Percy blush.
Well, Percy himself could have been included in the list of their enemies even before Hogwarts.
Then there was this pretty girl in their year, Alicia or whatever her name was, who had been as unfortunate as to take the same boat with the twins for the journey across the lake. But, as George so conveniently put it to this tall old strict professor McGonagall (next one on the enemies list), "it wasn't their fault that the boats were so unbalanced that even a small and skinny child such as they were could not try to stand on one edge of it without it flipping upside down in the lake."
Not to mention the huge (and this time really huge) guy who had taken them over the lake and had somehow taken it as a personal insult that his great moment was ruined by some insolent boys turning over a boat.
Then there had been, of course, this smelly caretaker, but that was really accidental. Or then McGonagall's fault, if anyone's at all. They definitely would have preferred it much better if McGonagall had let them dry themselves up before taking them to her office. So they had no other way than to make the whole hallway wet.
And, of course, Madam Pomfrey, the motherly nurse. Who would have thought that mixing the two potions instead of taking them separately would have such effects! Besides, she was the matron, she should have known better than to leave the patients alone with the potions. And, in Fred's opinion, the yellowish beard and blackened teeth quite suited George.
Then they had been taken down to the Great Hall again, and Sorted, but as everyone else had got there much quicker than them, they were to be Sorted while the other students were eating. And then the Hat had reprimanded them on making it wet.
Now they had joined their House table at long last, and eating, only managing to insult the House ghost, and a strong third year guy who was called Oliver and had openly declared that he was trying out for a Keeper, at which Fred had remarked that he would do quite fine indeed, for he was so broad that he could block a whole hoop just hovering in front of it. And then this pretty black girl named Angelina who had wanted to go into their boat as well but had changed her mind at the last moment (for which she was now quite grateful) had slapped him. And then this Prefect had come around and taken points off them all, which actually didn't matter much because as there hadn't yet been any points given, there was nothing to take off.
All in all it had been a pretty interesting and productive hour.
But now, as everyone was calming down finally, Fred and George were ready to fulfil a promise they had given long time ago. They didn't even remember when exactly. They just knew that as long as they had been capable of walking, thinking, and talking, there had been the promise that when they came to Hogwarts they would use all their knowledge to turn the Headmaster blue.
The previous evening, though, they had had to admit that they didn't know much of magic, and therefore had their eldest brother (who was smart because he had been a Head Boy and had already graduated) teach them an incantation for that.
Now, their plates covered in leftovers of steak which was waiting to be replaced by tarts and puddings, they decided the time was best to try it out.
"Let's do it," Fred nudged George who was staring at a small blonde Hufflepuff girl and making faces.
"Ok, you do it," George sent a little wave to the girl and turned his attention to more important business.
"Why me?" Fred asked in a whisper.
"Because I left my wand in my suitcase," George answered.
"But so did I," Fred said, and thought about it for a moment. "We could do it tomorrow at breakfast."
"But it wouldn't be the same then. We must do it now."
"But we can't do it with you being such a dunderhead and leaving your wand behind," Fred accused.
"But you left yours, too," George said.
"I know. I thought you were taking yours; that is why I left it."
"But I thought you were taking yours," George said, pretending to be hurt.
"What do we do then?" Fred asked.
"We could ask someone to lend his wand," George advised, glancing up and down their table to find an unsuspecting person there.
"Perce? Or Charlie?" Fred suggested.
"Nah, they wouldn't give their wands to us, now would they?"
"You're probably right," Fred nodded. "You could ask your Hufflepuff girlfriend," he added, trying to make his brother blush.
"Nope, I want something more grandiose with her, so she wouldn't forget me quite that easily," George parried the attack quickly. "What do you think of him?" He indicated to a black boy with dreadlocks sitting a few places down the table from them and wolfing down cake.
"Yeah, he looks like a good victim. Only… do you think he has his wand with him?" Fred asked.
"There's only one way to find out," George decided, standing up and walking over to the boy, Fred right beside him.
They slipped back down on the bench one on either side of the boy, who raised a questioning glance from his plate, his mouth full. Fred and George grinned identically. They didn't notice that Charlie had excused him from the conversation he had been having, and was now focusing all his attention on them.
The boy between them looked from one to the other, then swallowed with difficulty, and remarked, "There's two of you."
"Ah, yes, I'm Fred and this is George."
George smiled broadly and waved.
"Lee Jordan," Lee said. "Why aren't you eating this fabulous chocolate cake?"
"See, Lee, we promised something to our little sister," Fred said, thinking about how Ginny had chirped when sending them off to the train, "Make the colour permanent so I can see it, too, when I go to school!"
"And our older brother," George added, remembering Bill saying, "Send me an owl then about how it went."
"But, you see, Lee," Fred took over again and Lee flipped his head to him. "We need a wand for that, and we forgot to take ours down here."
"So, Lee," George continued, "would you mind if we used yours?"
Lee was looking amused.
"So you're the Weasley twins I was warned against?"
Fred and George swapped a surprised look, then turned back to Lee, grinning even more madly than before.
"We're really chummy, you know—" Fred started.
"—If you let us borrow your wand, of course," George finished.
"Only on one condition," Lee said, raising a finger to indicate it, and still looking amused. As both twins fixed their eyes on his raised finger he quickly used his other hand to make sure his wand was still in his pocket.
"Yes?" George asked expectantly.
"We promise to do anything you ask, Your Highness," they bowed their heads simultaneously.
"You'll get it if what you're using it for is funny and you'll give it right back to me," Lee said.
"That's a promise," Fred said, and snapped the wand quickly away as Lee brought it out. "George, you have the spell?"
"Yeah, I had Bill write it down on a piece of parchment. And I think I have it somewhere here… ah!" he pulled out a crumpled piece of yellowing parchment. "Now, careful or someone will notice."
Fred adjusted the wand in his hand to how he had seen Bill hold it, hiding it, and pointing it towards Dumbledore. He studied the parchment for a moment, and then said in a low voice,
"Sapphire, sky, and morose tune,
Turn this old wise wizard blue!"
The wand emitted a cloud of bright red sparks which fell idly to the floor just next to them. Fred, George, and Lee were staring expectantly at Dumbledore, though, who continued to eat a waffle and converse to McGonagall, and had no intention whatsoever to turn blue.
"Erm… I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems to me the spell didn't work," Lee finally said cautiously, turning towards the twins and only now noticing the red sparks that were still covering the floor around them.
"Seems so, yes," Fred said. "Something in the description must have been wrong, then."
"Maybe he's not as old as he makes everyone think he is?" George suggested.
"Or maybe he's not as wise as he lets us believe," Lee said.
"Or maybe he's not a wizard!" Fred added with big round eyes.
"Or maybe," a voice said from behind their backs, "this was not a real spell." Charlie's smiling good-natured face appeared above them. "Wherever did you get it from?"
"The one source that has a right solution to every problem, and the one we'll never disclose to you," Fred said with a tone of exuberance in his voice.
"Bill told you this, then?" Charlie asked, and chuckled. The twins exchanged a disappointed look. "Well, your source seems to have been quite wrong this time around. Maybe you should send him an owl and describe how it went."
The twins were still silent and grave when Charlie put a hand on their shoulders, pressed once, and said, "Glad to have you here. Much more fun than usually."
He turned to leave when his brothers gave no indication of hearing him, and Lee just stared pointedly in some other direction, trying to look as if he had nothing whatsoever to do with any of this.
"Oh, and before anyone notices," Charlie added before leaving, "get rid of those sparks here. A dead giveaway on who it was that was trying to cause trouble. If Snape notices it…" he shuddered and left for his own classmates.
"Well," George said finally, "we really should send Bill an owl."
"And then find another way to paint him blue," Fred added thoughtfully, indicating towards Dumbledore with his thumb.
"Yeah," George said.
Both twins spent a moment thinking in silence, then turned to Lee who was still pressed between them.
"Do you know how to Transfigure something?" they asked in unison.