I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: This is for Season IV of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round 05.
Team & Position: Caerphilly Catapults, Chaser 1.
Base Prompt: Weasleys. (Harry Potter quote) "What are Fred and I? Next door neighbours?"
Optional Prompt: #02. (word) Demure.
Optional Prompt: #10. (quote) 'They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.' - Clint Eastwood.
Optional Prompt: #14. (colour) cherry.
"Psst. Hey, Harry!" Harry stopped as he passed by the twins' room to see one of them peeking out through a crack in the door. "Come in here a minute."
When Harry hesitated, George opened the door and grabbed Harry, pulling him into the room. The ominous sound of the door latching echoed around the quiet room. Harry swallowed nervously and asked, "So, uhm, what can I do for you?"
"Fred and I thought that you'd like to see some of what your investment is doing."
Fred continued, "We're working on a number of products that are sure to take the Wizarding world by storm!"
George started their ping-ponging dialogue, "You've seen our Extendable Ears."
"We're nearly ready with our Skiving Snackboxes."
"But today, we're ready to show you Cheery Cherries."
"They are shaped like a cherry—"
"—they're cherry red—"
"—taste like cherry—"
"—and are guaranteed to cheer you up!" George pushed a cherry into Harry's hand.
Harry held up the cherry to take a close look at it. "Dinner's almost ready, guys. This isn't going to spoil my appetite, is it?"
George and Fred looked at each other. Fred shrugged as he said, "Shouldn't, mate. Hasn't had any ill effects on us."
With a final glance at the twins, Harry popped the cherry into his mouth. He bit into it and immediately spit it out. It landed on the floor with a light thud. "Guys, that tastes nothing like cherry. It tasted more like wood chips or sawdust."
George grinned, "Yes, but what kind of wood?"
"How would I know? I haven't tried tasting different woods!"
Both twins said, "That makes one of us!"
"Wait, are you telling me that you tasted different woods so that you could make this taste like cherry wood?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Right in one!"
Harry laughed, hardly able to believe the ingenuity and commitment of the two. After a moment, he asked, "Wasn't this supposed to cheer me up? I didn't feel any different after tasting it."
"Ah, you misunderstood, dear Harrikins—"
"—the cherry is meant to cheer up the purchaser, not the consumer."
"Still," Fred said, "you seem to have been cheered up, anyway."
This caused Harry to laugh again. "I guess you're right."
From downstairs, the three heard a yell: "Kids! Dinner's ready!"
Fred and George grinned at each other before turning to look predatorily at Harry. Harry caught their grins and started backing up with his hands raised in front of him.
"No. Don't you dare. I can walk down the stairs," he protested.
"But Harry, this will be so much faster," George replied.
The twins lunged forward, each grabbing one of Harry's arms. Before he could protest further, everything went black; he was being pressed very hard in all directions, not even able to breathe. Just before the pain became too much, he landed in the kitchen with a crack.
Feeling a bit ill, Harry looked around the room. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were already seated at the table. Across from them sat Sirius and Remus. Arthur and Bill had both arrived from work, and a few other Order members were seated around the table. Presumably they had arrived early in order to partake in Molly's cooking.
"Do you boys really need to Apparate everywhere?" Molly asked in an attempt to chastise the twins. "And dragging poor Harry along with you, too. Here, have a seat, dear. You should be feeling fine again soon." After Harry had settled into his chair, Molly turned to glare at the twins. "So, what do you have to say for yourselves?"
"We're legally allowed to Apparate, mum—" George said.
"—seeing as we're both adults," Fred said.
"Being an adult doesn't excuse bad manners," Molly chided. "Now sit down and eat. There's an Order meeting tonight and you'll need to clear out of the kitchen."
As the twins sat down, George said, "Seeing as how you agree that we're adults, we should be allowed to join—"
Molly interrupted, "Not this again! We've been over this countless times. You're too young to join the Order!"
"We're adults," Fred said, "but we're still too young?"
Molly let out an aggravated sigh. "You and George are still in school! Besides, we don't need your mischief in our meetings."
Feeling bolder, George said, "We can be quiet."
Fred cut in, "Unassuming."
"Deferential."
"Demure."
"Meek."
"Oh Merlin," Molly groaned. "Who gave you two a thesaurus?"
Fred smiled and asked, "Why can't we be logophiles?"
"And a dictionary…" Molly groaned again. She took a deep breath and said definitively, "You will not be joining the Order, and that's final!"
Dinner continued in near silence. The clinking of silverware on the plates only broken by the soft whispers of those asking for someone to pass a dish. Later, the quiet was disturbed by the flutter of wings as a parliament of owls arrived, dropping off letters for each Hogwarts student at the table.
All six of the students looked at each other before they ripped into their letters. Harry had just started to read the first piece of parchment, which seemed to be the new booklist, when he heard a shriek come from across the table. Glancing up, he could see a look of pure joy on Hermione's face as she examined a scarlet and gold badge.
Ron was sitting very still next to her, mouth slightly open. Only, instead of looking at Hermione, he was gaping at his own letter from Hogwarts.
Fred, who was sitting on Ron's other side, took notice and leaned over to look at Ron's letter. Then Fred's mouth fell open, too.
"Prefect?" he asked, staring incredulously at the letter. "They made you prefect?"
George reached across his twin and pulled the letter from Ron's hand. Turning it upside down, a scarlet and gold badge matching Hermione's fell out onto the table.
"No way," said George in a hushed voice.
Another shriek filled the room, only this time it was Molly. "I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! Your father and I are so proud of you! That's everyone in the family!" Molly got up from the table and rushed over to Ron's side.
"What are Fred and I? Next door neighbors?" asked George indignantly, as his mother pushed Fred into him so that she could fling her arms around her youngest son.
The question suddenly turned Molly somber. She gave the boys a long look before turning to Arthur. "Do you think now is a good time to tell them?"
The two elder Weasleys held each other's eyes for a moment before Arthur let out a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, it's probably for the best. As they've made clear this summer, they are of age." Arthur waited for Molly to make it back to her seat next to him and put his arm around her before he continued.
"George, Fred, you two are too young to remember, but we used to have another Wizarding family that lived near us, the Stroughts—"
"Stoats, dear," Molly interjected.
"Right, sorry, the Stoats. They lived just on the other side of the hill. Actually, come to think of it, that's probably how the hill got its name, Stoatshead Hill. The Stoats had lived in the town since Ottery St. Catchpole had been founded. Bill, you remember the Stoats, right?"
Bill looked up to the ceiling for a moment before he said, "Older couple. Died in a Muggle car crash, right?"
"Well, they weren't that old, though I can see how you would think that considering you were eight at the time," Molly said. She then motioned for Arthur to continue.
"Anyway, as Bill said, they died in a car crash back in 1978. Melinda, who had been a Muggleborn, had been driving them back from town when they were blindsided by a lorry. They had passed on before anyone could get there to help. Their passing left behind two young children—twins—that weren't even a year old."
Harry was dumbfounded. From what Arthur was saying, it was sounding like the twins were adopted. He looked back at Fred and George to see how they were taking it. The pair were starting to look green around the ears.
"After Adam and Melinda died, someone needed to look after their kids. The other neighbors were out: the Diggorys were not available since Cedric was still requiring a lot of attention, and the Lovegoods had just graduated Hogwarts, gotten married, and were trying for a daughter to start their own family. We already had three children and bringing in two more wasn't really a problem…" Arthur said, his trailing off leaving the room so quiet that the ragged breaths of the twins were clearly audible.
Molly reached over and grabbed Arthur's other hand. She picked up the story, "And it wasn't like we weren't going to be family some day, anyway. You see, your father and I had decided to have kids until we had a girl. There was actually a betrothal contract between our eventual daughter and one of the twins."
The twins were now looking even greener than before. Harry looked over to Ginny, who was now a bright cherry red.
"But… but… we're siblings! That's just wrong!" Fred managed to blurt out.
Molly looked at them with sympathy. "That wasn't the case when the contract was created. The plan was for us to watch you for a few days, until their next of kin could be found. However, there were no next of kin. So, we permanently brought you two into our home. With you staying, we knew we couldn't keep the betrothal contract, so it was dissolved."
By this point Arthur had collected himself. "We were going to tell you earlier, but we could just never find a good time. You were both happy, and before we knew it, you were already off to Hogwarts. While you may not be ours originally, you are still family," Arthur said with a sad smile.
The Weasley parents both were looking at the twins with a sad look in their eyes. The twins were now completely green and looked like they would be sick at any moment. Harry was feeling really bad for the two; everything they thought that they knew about their family had been turned on its head.
This was precisely why the sound of chuckling was so disorienting.
Everyone's eyes snapped to Bill. He was sitting, face buried in his hands to muffle the sound of his laughing. When he dropped his hands to the table, his loud laughter rang throughout the kitchen. "Wow, Mum and Dad! Just, wow! You got them good! Look at their faces!"
Harry looked back at Molly and Arthur to see that their somber attitude had disappeared and their eyes were now twinkling with mirth. A smile crept onto their lips before they too started laughing.
The twins, though, had lost their green tinge as their faces shifted to red with a touch of purple.
"That was supposed to be a joke?" George sputtered.
Fred looked accusingly at Bill, "And you knew?"
Quieting his laughter, Bill said, "Of course I knew! I was eight when Mum was pregnant with you two. I held you not long after you were born. How could I not know?"
Arthur meanwhile was laughing with Molly, "Betrothal contract with Ginny? I nearly lost it!"
"The Stroughts! I thought I was done for before we'd even begun," Molly said through her laughter.
The twins, however, were not as amused. "How could you do that to us?" George spat at them.
"Kids," Arthur said, "it's not just our marriage which was made in Heaven. You stand before the Angels of Mischief!"
While this didn't spark any recognition in the children around the table, there was an audible gasp from Sirius. This drew everyone's eyes over to him.
"You two are Thunder and Lightning?" Sirius whispered.
Arthur and Molly both nodded with a smile.
Sirius turned to look at Remus. The two nodded before quickly standing and kicking back their chairs. Together, the knelt to the floor saying, "We're not worthy!" They began bowing and scraping before the Weasley parents.
"The rolling Thunder," Sirius said as he bowed.
"The brilliant Lightning," Remus said, bowing while Sirius raised back up.
"We, the humble Marauders—"
"—consider you our idols."
"The pranks you pulled—"
"—were works of art."
Sirius and Remus continued their prostrating while they extolled the virtues of the Angels of Mischief.
When the twins heard Remus mention the Marauders, some of their anger dissipated. As the two adults' antics continued, a small grin became visible on George's face.
"Well, Fred," George said, "it would seem that someone has stolen our gimmick."
"That it does, dear brother. But more importantly, are they saying—?"
"I think they are, Fred!"
As one, the twins turns to their parents. "You're the reason McGonagall knew it was us, right from the beginning!" they said together. Arthur smiled as he gave the twins a slight bow while Molly curtsied.
Moving at the same time, George stepped in front of his parents while Fred positioned himself in front of the Marauders.
"Angels!" George exclaimed while kneeling down.
"Marauders!" Fred exclaimed, mirroring his twin.
The two waited for the room to go silent.
"We only have a single year left at Hogwarts," George said.
"We need to make it special," Fred said.
Together they said, "Please, teach us everything you know!"
Miles away, sitting in her office at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall shivered as a sudden feeling of dread raced down her spine.