5:17 PM

"Do you have it?" Fred whispered as he huddled close to George and Lee.

Grumbling, George withdrew a small vial from his pocket. He held it out a little ways in front of him for all of them to see. "Yep. It's all ready to go. Just need a hair from Mrs. Norris. Did you manage to get that Lee?"

"Filch nearly skinned me when he caught me messing with her, but I managed to escape with a handful of hair." Lee pulled a small piece of parchment from his pocket and unfolded it to reveal several short grey hairs.

"Perfect. So all we need to do now is figure out how to get it in his meal. We can't be the least bit suspicious. He's too perceptive for us to get away with it if we're sloppy."

"Right, you are George. Luckily, I've had another one of my clever ideas," Fred said, eyeing Harry who was sitting just a few seats away. "Oi, Harry!"

Turning, Harry nodded. "What do you lot want?"

"Could you let us borrow your invisibility cloak for about an hour?" Geroge asked. "We'll give it back after dinner if that's alright."

Harry shot them a suspicious look as he rose from his seat. "Do I even want to know what you're going to use it for?"

"Ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies, mate," said Fred, smiling mischievously.

With a quick shake of the head, Harry started up the stairs to retrieve his cloak. "Probably better for me not to know," he called down to them.

5:43 PM

"So which one of us is going to do it?" Fred asked, eyeing the staff table.

"Well, if it's one of you lot, you'll both have to do it. It'd be too suspicious if only one of you was at the dinner table."

George nodded in agreement. "Right you are, Lee. How about it Fred? Shall we do this?" he asked, extending his arm to his brother.

The twins huddled close to each other and wrapped the cloak around themselves with great care. They both laughed as their lower extremities suddenly disappeared.

"What do you think Lee?" George said. "Can you see anything?"

"Nope, looks like you two are all set. Just don't mess it up. If Snape catches you, he'll be likely to flay you alive."

George shifted under the cloak. "Watch where you're going Fred. You're treading on my toes."

"Well, if you'd stop digging your elbow into my ribs, maybe I'd be able to focus a bit better," Fred retorted, tugging the cloak to make sure it fully covered them.

6:00pm

Fred and George crept behind the staff table, keeping their eyes peeled for anyone who might blow their cover. At the moment, the coast was clear. It seemed that most of the staff was running late. Some of them were still shuffling into the Great Hall. Only Hagrid was already seated and he was way on the opposite end of the table, busy chatting with several of the students who were passing by.

"Now's the time, Fred. Put the potion in his cup," hissed George.

Taking great care not to be seen, Fred lifted his arm above Snape's chalice and poured a sprinkling of iridescent white crystals into his beverage. He smiled as they quickly dissolved into the liquid.

"You sure he won't be able to smell or taste it? I mean, he is the potion's master after all. If anyone could recognize a potion, it would be him," George mused, fidgeting nervously with his robes.

Fred shook his head. "We've tested it in every liquid possible and we've had the same results each time. He won't even notice the difference."

"Alright. Let's get out of here before he comes barreling up the isle way and bumps into us or something."

"Right you are, George."

6:17PM

"Did you guys do it?" Lee asked, a large grin plastered across his face. He had two seats reserved across from him at the Gryffindor table.

The twins nodded their heads in unison and turned to see Snape walking up to his seat at the staff table. The first thing he picked up was his goblet, taking a deep swig of the pumpkin juice inside.

"Perfect," Fred said, giving his friends a devilish grin.

As they ate, Fred, George, and Lee kept their eyes on the staff table, waiting for some sign that the potion was working. With every passing moment, disappointment began to set in. Silence fell over the three Gryffindors, broken only by George stabbing angrily at his potatoes.

Lee flinched every time George's fork made contact with the plate. "What do you suppose went wrong?"

"No bloody idea," Fred said, "Worked fine when we tested them. George practically tripped over himself chasing Alicia down the hall before I could get the antidote into him. Gave her quite the fright."

George raised an eyebrow as Lee laughed uncontrollably. "That wasn't as bad as you serenading Angelina with love songs. It sounded like someone had skinned a pair of kneazles in the Gryffindor common room."

"Seemed to work out alright. She's going with me to Hogsmeade next weekend." A sly grin slid across Fred's face as George and Lee stared at him with their mouths agape. "You know I have a way with the ladies."

Just then, their attention was drawn back to the front of the room as Snape bolted upright from his seat. His shoulders were ridged and his normally flat, greasy hair was in complete disarray. He was so flushed that he looked like he might've just finished a rousing game of Quidditch.

Hi there!

This story was originally written for the Legendary Prank challenge on HPFF in which we were given a prank and told to either write about the Marauders or Fred and George. My prompt was "a prank that inspired the Wonder Witch line of Weasley Wizard Wheezes". Since that whole line of products is basically love potions, I had a hard time deciding what exactly I wanted to do with it. Finally, at the last minute an idea struck.

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you thought of this, so feel free to make use of the little grey box below!

Thank you as always for reading!

~Kaitlin/TreacleTart