"Fred and James what are the two of you doing? Nothing bad I suppose?"

"Nothing aunt Ginny"

"Yeah nothing mom"

"Just hold it still, will you". Fred whispered

"I am! Just finish all right!"

"One second" Fred replied with a concentrated look on his face. "Yeah, like that. Okay, it's tied up, are you ready James?"

"YEAH I'm ready. On three. One…. Two…. THREE!" He let go of the rope at exactly the same time as Fred, and as a result the other end of it, with Crookshands 11 tied to it, swung out over the stairwell dangling back and forth, back and forth. A not-so cat-like noise came from the poor cat fighting against the rope that held it.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, what are the two of you doing?" came the voice of his father as they heard the sound of footsteps running towards the hall. The door slammed open revealing Roxanne, Albus, Rose, George holding Lily, Angelina, Ginny, Harry, Hermione and Ron with Hugo on his hip.

The next couple of things happened quite quickly. Rose immediately began screaming ("Crooksie, ooh poor vittle Crooksie"), Lily and Hugo soon joining in. Ron started laughing out loud, Hermione running to help out the distressed cat while yelling at him ("Honestly Ron how can you just laugh when the poor thing's in pain, haven't you grown up but at all?"). Harry and George a little more in control than Ron, used all their will not to start laughing too. As if unable to decide whether to cry or laugh Roxanne stood picking her nose. Albus was standing still taking in the scenery playing before his eyes. Ginny and Angelina both ran up the stairs for the masterminds behind the whole ordeal.

"FRED WEASLEY, what do you think you're doing, I told you to behave didn't I. Well now you are gonna sit in the living room corner without moving, till the rest of us are ready to go." Angelina yelled dragging her son at his collar.

"James, come along will you, I'd like to have a conversation with you." James looked up at his mom, feeling very small, as he saw the look in her eyes. He strolled behind her to aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron's bedroom where she closed the door behind him.

"Well, you have some explaining to do young man!" she said looking down at her mischievous son.

"Sorry mom. But you see we didn't have anything to do, and then we thought that maybe it would be fun to see what would happen if we hang Crookshank from the ceiling. But I'll never do it again mum, I promise I won't!" He said looking up at his mother with big begging eyes. She sat down on the edge of the bed patting her lap, inviting her oldest child to come sit. He happily accepted jumping up snuggling his head against her shoulder.

"James, we talked about this. If you're bored you come and tell us, and we'll help you find something to do. You don't mess with the owls, you don't tease your little brother and you certainly do not hang cats from the ceiling! Do you understand?"

"Yeah mum. I understand." He said.

"And now let's go downstairs. You'll have to sit in the opposite corner from Fred. And no playing around!" She said looking sternly at her little troublemaker.

"Yeah mum" he answered head hanging.

"Now come on sweetheart" she said pushing him up, and gently nudging him down the stairs to the living room where the rest of the family was gathered. She walked him to the corner where he quietly sat down sending a glare to Fred in the other end of the living room, they snickered to each other. Yep it was definitely worth it, and besides sitting here wasn't the worst thing, especially when he knew that Uncle George would come by any time handing them some candy or maybe some cookies. He always did, and Aunt Hermione made the best cookies in the world, even a little better than grandma Weasley's, though he was clever enough to keep that to himself. She usually kept the cookies in a big jar in the kitchen. James wondered if he'd ever get the chance to sneak in there and empty the jar. It would probably take some planning. He looked over at Fred once again. A nod and a blink of his eyes was enough for Fred to get it. James was working on something new, and if he wasn't mistaken the next family gathering wouldn't be boring either.