"You can't hide from us forever, Annabelle!"
"You'll have to come out sometime!"
I scurried further down the narrow hallway of our apartment, attempting to put more distance between the redheaded twins and myself.
Their footsteps stopped abruptly, and after a moment's silence, they softly padded my way.
"Got'cha!" Fred yelled, seizing me around the waist and throwing me over his shoulder.
"Fred Weasley, you put me down!" I hit his back with my fists.
"Aw, come on, we're not that bad!" George interjected from behind.
Of course, it wouldn't be so easy for Fred to haul me back to his room if I wasn't so small. My much-less-that-average height had always been a steady source of jokes. Everything about me was short; my height, my hair, even my attention span. Especially my attention span.
Once we entered the Fred's small, crowded yet equally cozy room, Fred placed – or should I say pitched me to the ground. I landed with a graceless umph, rubbing my bum and cursing silently.
"Please Annabelle? We just need you to test out one thing, just one!" George kneeled next to me, an easily deceivable innocent look on his face.
"And we'll never ask you to do anything for us ever again!" Fred added, moving next to his brother.
"That's what you said last time." I reminded them. "And I had periodic nose bleeds every day for three weeks."
They glanced at each other, communicating noiselessly.
"Please?" Fred begged.
"For us?" George echoed.
"Just this once?"
"The last time, honest."
"We'll be your best friends?" They chorused.
I laughed because they were my best friends, and had been since we started at Hogwarts. And all through Hogwarts, and all through the war, and all through the two months Fred was in the hospital after.
"Look, if I do this for you guys, you have to promise that I won't get a nose bleed." They nodded.
"Or puke."
Another nod.
"Or change color."
Nods.
"Or grow a tail or any other extra extremity."
"For Merlins sake, Annabelle, here." Fred handed me a small, beige colored hard-candy. I stared at it for a while, judging the appearance. It looked harmless, but then again, this was Fred and George.
Sighing, I stuck the candy in my mouth. It was sweet, like honey, and left a candied taste and feeling down my throat and into my stomach. I waited a few seconds before moving.
"Well?" They asked in unison.
It was at this moment that the affects of the candy hit me. I opened my mouth to tell them I felt nothing, and unless they were planning on joining up with Honeydukes, they'd better get back to work, but when I made to speak, no sound came out. Nothing. Nada. Closing my mouth and opening it, I tried again. Nothing.
Fred and George were wearing identical grins. I widened my eyes at them and reached for my wand. They both backed away quickly, because although I had never been much good at non-verbal spells, I could handle myself.
"Don't worry, the antidote should wear it off." George ventured. I raised my eyebrows.
"Should?"
"Wrong thing to say, Georgy." Fred reprimanded teasingly.
"I'll just go and get it then." George said quietly, and he headed off out the door.
I, still unable to make noise of any kind, stood up, faced the wall, and crossed my arms over my chest, soundlessly showing my annoyance.
I heard Fred get up behind me, heard his footsteps cross the room, but I was still unable to understand how it happened.
"Don't be mad, Annabelle, we can fix it." He whispered. His hands were on his shoulders, trailing down my arms, over my torso and back again. His nose swept up my neck. All I could think about was the fact that this was Fred and it was wrong, but his lips were so close to mine. I had one fleeting thought; I couldn't speak, and therefore could not say no…or yes. Or tell him to not stop, to don't ever stop. And in another instant, I lost all thought and there was only Fred, and his hands, and his mouth, playing behind my ear, not quite touching it.
And then the door was flown open, and Fred was off me in an instant and I jumped so badly that I landed once again on the floor.
"Here's the antidote." George smiled, coming in the room with a small bottle in his hands. I noticed, however brief it may have been, that they looked at each other, in that silent-connection way.
"Just take a swig, but hold it there for a moment, we'll tell you when you can swallow." George sat beside me, followed by his brother. I took the bottle; my mind still dazed by recent events, and took a mouthful. It tasted like frog brains. Closing my eyes and wrinkling my nose, I waited until I could swallow.
"Okay, hold on." I heard Fred.
"Almost there." George.
"Swallow." They instructed.
I swallowed it, and although it left a tingling feeling in my throat, I was fine. Well, almost fine. I was still completely mind-boggled by what Fred and I had just done, and how he was just standing there as if everything were normal. Things were definitely not normal.
Say something." Fred encouraged softly.
The best I could come up with was a small, shocked "Oh!"
"Well, she's talking again!" George grinned.
"It works!"
"Well, we've got work to do, so we'll be off then." And with no further parting glance, they stood up and strode out of the room.