Raising Fred

She looked up at Arthur, so very pleased to have these boys. The birth had been relatively short, not at all like Bill's birth. There simply weren't the complications she had been told to expect with twins, and the boys just came out as healthy and lively as was possible. Fred and George, George and Fred, so perfect, and already looking so much like the photographs she had seen of her brothers when they had been babies. They were both so quiet, so darling, and Arthur had suggested that they might be even easier babies than Percy had been.

She laughed at this, unable to imagine a less fussy baby than Percy. They would surely be fussy, but she could deal with that. She drifted off to sleep, both of her new bundles of joy tucked in her arms. Arthur leaned over her, kissing all three on the forehead with a smile. "Good night, Molly. Good night, Frederick Gideon and George Fabian."

The birth had been an absolute nightmare. She had been in labour for forty hours, there were complications, and he was late. It seemed like he was always tending the shop, that there was always a large influx of customers, always at the most inopportune moment. But all of that was over. He had arrived, albeit just after the boy was born. The labour pains had faded, and she now held the beautiful boy in her arms, stroking his soft hair and admiring his caramel skin. She wasn't even angry at him. It was useless to be; she'd grown to love him too much for that.

George watched his wife and newborn son, fondly recalling how they had seemed to find each other in their grief, and how they each had eased the other's pain. It had taken a long time to move on from Fred's death, but they did it together and over time they began to truly discover the other person. When they got married, Fred had been the best man, in spite of his obvious absence – George would not allow anyone to fill in. While not everything was in memory of Fred – they would be miserable if he was all they could dwell on – the memory still remained. They couldn't live properly without his memory, and it was for this reason that, when Angelina fell asleep holding their son in her arms, George bent to kiss them both on the forehead. "Good night, Angelina. Good night, Frederick Anthony."

She had gone through this with Bill, Charlie, and Percy, and never once had she come out of the day wanting to wring her sons' necks. However, this time it was different. Fred and George, the "Terror Twins", as Bill referred to them when he was alone with his parents, were the definition of the terrible twos. Every day, they would find some way to get themselves into trouble, and every day they would throw a tantrum after they got into trouble. Molly wasn't certain, but she thought Fred might be the ringleader in this. He was the one climbing up to get the cookies while George kept watch; he was the one whose tantrums resulted in the accidental magic that had Percy running from a frying pan.

Looking at them now, asleep in their cot, one would never know they could be such a handful. Even Arthur didn't know how much trouble the boys caused. He saw some of it; usually the tantrums. He always put it up to simple boyish behaviour, never mind the fact that none of their other sons had put been nearly as prone to throw a fit. He put that up to the fact that there were two of them. Molly smiled in spite of herself while she watched them sleep. There was another baby on the way, possibly a girl this time – her sixth child. These twins would be the death of her, but she couldn't stay mad at them when they looked so adorable and innocent while they slept.

Little Fred fell asleep in his mother's arms. Angelina had just chased him around the flat and shop, and while she might still have her old Quidditch skill, it had never really translated into great speed on the ground. That little runt had been running her ragged all day, what with the throwing of his food and the attempts to run right out into the neighbourhood completely starkers. George was busy minding the shop and dealing with customers, and the rest of the extended family was out at work or dealing with their own troublesome toddlers. At least Ginny had her Harpies practices, where she could bring little James to be adored by her teammates, and Fleur was visiting France with Bill and the children. Angelina was, most unhappily, stuck in London trying to reign in her son.

As she watched him sleep, though, the bitterness faded. Sure, Fleur could bring Bill and their three to France to visit her family. Sure, Ginny had the other members of the Harpies and Quidditch to keep James occupied while she practised. None of them had, though, what Angelina had. She had her son, and his undivided attention, every day. The boy might be a handful; he was already trying to plant Portable Swamps in his grandmother's garden, but he was her handful. He was so much like his father and uncle, but he had sense enough to look ashamed when he was supposed to. She watched as he smiled in his sleep, and she smiled too, ready for whatever challenges he might present her.

This was completely insane. The twins may not have been having tantrums anymore, but they were just as rambunctious and troublesome as ever. Percy was upset that they kept thieving his books, Ronnie was upset that they kept bringing spiders into his room, and little Ginny didn't like when Fred pushed her off his toy broom and said she was too little to fly because she could hurt herself. Bill and Charlie were smart enough to avoid the twins for the most part, but when they ran afoul of the Terror Twins, they knew who to go to. Molly had just put them into their room for the fifth time that week, this time for trying to get Bill's wand so they could turn Charlie's hair blue, and it was only Wednesday. And yet again, Fred was the instigator, and George was merely his partner in crime.

What had she done to make them such troublemakers? None of their brothers were like this, and Molly was beginning to worry. If they didn't show some maturity, how would they fare at Hogwarts? More importantly, how would they get a spot in the Ministry, like Arthur? Arthur thought they'd get it out of themselves eventually, but Molly was beginning to have doubts. She wouldn't let herself believe that she was a bad mother. She was only dumbfounded by these five year old twins.

She had had to scold little Fred that morning, like most mornings before, but this time was different. Fred had never laid a hand on a wand before now, and she had not been sure how she was supposed to react. He had nicked her wand while she was reading, cleverly leaving behind one of the fake wands from the shop, and had wandered out into the playground to prod a slug he had found. He'd only been at it for a minute, and fortunately he did not use magic, so the Muggles only saw a boy poking a slug with a stick, but she brought him away from the slug and retrieved her wand all the same.

He was speaking in complete and complex sentences, now, and was able to contradict his mother verbally as well as through action. Angelina felt like she was a horrible mother, unable to keep her son in check. George tried; he really did, to get Fred to obey his mother, but even Grandma Weasley couldn't control him. She claimed he was like both of the twins at once, and that he was too much for her old body to handle. And now he was trying to teach Harry's boys how to prank. She had no idea what she could do to reign in her child.

The morning of September the first of 1989, Molly had to say goodbye to her twins as they first set off for Hogwarts. Bill had graduated and was in Egypt, leaving Charlie and Percy at school. Now, though, she would be adding the twins to the ranks of the Weasleys in Hogwarts. Arthur was able to get a Ministry car for transport, as he was still working at fixing that old Ford Anglia of his; and as the Weasleys passed through the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten Molly nearly broke down.

"I can't believe you two are going to Hogwarts already. It seems like just yesterday I was sending you to your room for chasing Percy with a gnome riding in my colander," Molly said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"That was just yesterday, Mother," Percy replied tersely, holding up his hand to show a fresh bite mark. The twins both laughed openly, causing Percy and Molly to each give them stern looks of disapproval. Ron and Ginny smiled a bit, schooling themselves into neutral expressions when Molly looked down to check on them. Meanwhile, Arthur and Charlie exchanged quick smirks at this – Molly had sent the twins to their room every day for the past seven years, many times for things so similar to this that it was easy to lose track of when which event occurred.

"You know, Mum," Fred began to say.

"If you really don't want us to go –"

"We can arrange for that –"

"And instead of sending you lot a Hogwarts toilet seat –"

"We'll send Hogwarts the Burrow's toilet seat!" Fred concluded as George nodded his approval for this plan. The twins had mastered the art of completing one another's sentences, and it seemed yet again that Fred was the one to initiate the pranks, jokes, and schemes while George carried them out alongside his twin.

"You'll do no such thing. You are to behave yourselves. Percy is well on his way to becoming a prefect in two years, and Charlie's Quidditch Captain and prefect. I have no doubts that they will put a stop to any mischief you make," she said, looking to the two elder Weasley sons. "Isn't that right?"

"Of course, Mother. I would never dream of allowing these two young ruffians to run amok in as grand an institution of learning and academia as Hogwarts. Would you not agree, Charles?" Percy replied, in his boring and unnecessarily formal fashion.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Mum," Charlie said, stifling a yawn so he could avoid eye contact with his mother. "The twins will be who they are. I can give them all the detentions I want, but it won't stop them from doing what they do best, so it's not that big an issue for me. Besides, I'll be too busy focusing on my N.E.W.T.S."

Percy looked to his elder brother disapprovingly and patted Ron and Ginny on their heads before kissing his mother goodbye and shaking Arthur's hand before he boarded. Charlie scooped up the younger two into a big hug, embraced his mother and kissed her on the cheek, and clasped hands with his father before he too left.

Fred and George looked to their parents and younger siblings with what appeared to be a mixture of longing, fear, and love. They hugged their mother first, and then proceeded to mock Percy while he was gone by shaking hands incredibly formally with their father. They then turned to Ron and Ginny, and George said, "We'll be back for Christmas before you know it."

"We'll nick you something good, Ron. Like the Golden Snitch," Fred whispered as his mother craned to hear.

"And we'll see Hagrid about getting you a puffskein, Gin," George told his sister as he hugged her close. "I know you were attached to Ron's before we thought it a good idea to try practising on it with Beater's Bats."

The twins then stood, wistful expressions upon their faces, as if recalling some long lost era. They then waved and turned to board the train. It was all Molly could do to refrain from crying. The twins would be alright, she thought. They wouldn't get into that much trouble while they were at school, and they would grow into respectable young lads.

Fred, along with James, would be starting their first year at Hogwarts, and Angelina could hardly believe how fast the years had gone by. She recalled her own first year, and how it had not been two minutes after she'd gotten on the train that she caught her first glimpse of Fred and George Weasley, who were letting a firecracker off in a compartment full of Slytherins. The memory filled her with joy even as she began to feel a sort of loss that she would no longer be as involved in her son's life as she had been until this point. She held their sleeping daughter, Roxanne, and George squeezed her hand as they walked with Fred, Ginny, Harry, James, Lily, Albus, Andromeda, and Teddy through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

James and Fred had raised quite the ruckus in the days prior to September first, petitioning their parents to synchronise their trips to the platform so they could both see the Hogwarts Express together for the first time. Teddy and his grandmother had elected to come with them, as it was Teddy's last year at Hogwarts and he truly wanted to see his adopted brother's and cousin's astonishment. It did not disappoint. All three of the Potter children gasped along with Fred when they saw the scarlet steam engine. Teddy and Harry exchanged grins. Teddy had figured out when he was just ten that his last year of Hogwarts was to be James's first, and he wanted to hold it over James's head until the last possible minute that James had never seen the Hogwarts Express. When he had realised that James and Fred would be in the same year, he knew that he had something. Angelina frowned at them; she knew that George had not been the only one to influence her boy into his role as a prankster extraordinaire.

"I want to go to Hogwarts now!" Lily said to her mother as they beheld the great train. Her voice had a certain trill to it, and her face was contorted into the most precious little pouting expression as she stamped her foot on the ground.

"You still have four years, Lily, dear," Ginny soothed her daughter. "Have patience; it's still a virtue, last I checked."

Albus stayed behind his father, unused to large crowds of people. He was a nervous boy, not as outgoing and rambunctious as his older brother and not as wilful or stubborn as his younger sister. Harry didn't seem to mind this, as he and Ginny had seen fit not to fill in the boys on the reason for their family's fame – or even that there was fame. It was, to be sure, unusual in the humbleness, but that was like Harry – unusually humble. Angelina thought it was a bit strange because the boys would suddenly have their father's fame thrust upon them, but she didn't question Harry's decision. They were his children and he would raise them as he saw fit.

Teddy stood nearby, holding his grandmother's arm. She doted on him, and he did everything he could to make life easy for her. He knew that she was aging, and he also knew that she was not one to cross – he'd found that out when he was four and had set off some fireworks in the house and let his hair shift colours to match those given off in the resultant explosions. He currently wore his hair bright blue with a smattering of silvery blond streaks. The new Head Boy watched his younger fellows triumphantly, having himself a bit of a laugh at them.

"Mum, Dad," Fred began, addressing his parents. "I'm going to get Sorted into Gryffindor like you, right?"

George smiled down at his boy, a smile that stretched from ear to... hole. Longstanding expressions, it always seemed, needed alteration to befit George Weasley, and the man would have it no other way. "As long as you fight off the troll bravely," he said. "Remember, Fred, I had to fight off a troll. They might have changed things, though. You might have to put up a good fight against a yeti."

Angelina punched her husband in the arm, carefully balancing Roxy in her other arm. "Don't listen to your father. He's been telling that story about the troll to every young Hogwarts student he's ever met. I was there, and the Sorting Hat will put you where it feels you belong." Harry looked like he begged to differ a small bit on this point, but Angelina didn't notice. "And you have the soul of a true Gryffindor."

Fred smiled at that, and looked up at Teddy. The older Gryffindor smiled back. "Don't sweat it, Fred, James. I've trained you both, and I'm sure you'll do great. Just don't go losing all the points I'll be earning. I'm starting to grow accustomed to winning the House Cup." He had a sort of firm gentleness to his words. "Goodbye, Gran, Harry, everyone. I'll write soon. I've got to get up to the front compartments and see my friends."

He embraced his grandmother and Harry before darting out to the train to meet with a young man of his own age with piercing brown eyes and glossy black hair that fell to just above his shoulders. He had a hard stare, but it was it was also a stare filled with a subtle kindness. His cheeks were slightly hollow, and he was busily speaking with another young man, but immediately turned to embrace Teddy when the other had gotten close enough. Harry eyed the boy, muttering something under his breath something that sounded like "Tom". Andromeda looked toward the boy and she also muttered, although her mutter more resembled "Bella". While Angelina knew that "bella" was the word for handsome in Italian, and this young man was unusually attractive and could have had any number of girls swooning, she didn't know why they stared at him so hard. This was especially true of Andromeda, who knew the lad quite well and genuinely seemed to like him. He was one of Teddy's friends; nearly like a brother to Teddy at that, and she had never had any reason to look at the boy with the slightest bit of animosity.

Fred and James continued looking around before each set of parents took hold of their boy to say goodbye. Angelina bent down on one knee to embrace her child, tears of joy flowing freely. George caught his son in a hug with one arm, smiling. "Just remember what I said about secret passageways, Fred," he said, giving the boy a knowing nod.

"You're to avoid them," Angelina said sternly, knowing that the boy would just ignore her wishes. "I don't want to get any letters saying you've been sneaking down to Hogsmeade until you're at least in your third year, and on that note I don't want to hear anything about you blowing up a toilet or –"

"You know, that's almost word for word what Mum told Fred and me when we were in our third year. We'd raised the idea back when we were going off for our first, though," George interrupted, smiling wistfully.

Little Fred smiled at his parents and assured them that he would both, in fact, get into trouble and avoid trouble. He then hugged his mother again and slapped his father a high five before he and James ran off toward the train, promising Lily and Albus all sorts of souvenirs from Hogwarts. Angelina worried about her son, but she was sure Teddy would keep him out of too much trouble. She smiled – her boy was in good hands.