For QLFC S6R6.
Prompt: Write about Fred Weasley.
Optional prompts:(dialogue) "If you are going to breathe down my neck, at least have a mint.", (word) striped, (word) estranged
Fred sighed. He shifted uncomfortably on the hard, wooden chair that he'd been seated on for the past two hours and stared absently at the gross taupe and salmon pink striped wallpaper, feeling like he was about to lose his mind. Two hours! How could his parents even think to subject their own children to this kind of torture?
Across from him sat Ron, who Fred was sure was sleeping with his eyes open. He could hear soft little snores coming from his open mouth, which could barely be heard over the sound of their Aunt Gina's chatter filling the household. Percy had excused himself to the bathroom almost half an hour ago, but Fred had seen him sneak a novel up his shirt. Fred was almost positive that he had snuck off somewhere to read quietly, the sneaky bastard. Both Charlie and Bill were nodding along to the conversation at key points, looking rather numb and weary.
It had all started when his mum had insisted on catching up with their estranged Aunt Gina, who thought herself too good to be a Weasley. She had married some well-to-do bloke in America, changed her name, left, and never came back. Fred had never even seen her before because she had never come to any of the Weasley family reunions!
"Spring is the time for repairing relationships!" his mum had insisted when she discovered through the grapevine that Gina was coming back to Britain on a vacation.
Gina had accepted the invitation to meet up, to everyone's surprise but his mum's, but had declined the invitation to meet at the Burrow and instead, had invited everyone to meet at her country house.
And now they were here, bored out of their collective minds. Fred knew his mum and dad were itching to get out of there as well, from the wooden smile on his mum's face and the hapless look on his dad's. Fred exchanged a glance with George beside him, who made a despairing face at him, too desperate to escape to even crack a joke or make a funny face.
They had to do something.
"Excuse us," Fred said, standing up and smiling angelically. George hopped down from the stool hastily. "Bathroom."
"Both of you?" Aunt Gina asked, brow furrowed.
"Yes, we're twins. It happens, you know?" George said smoothly. Their mum gave them a warning glance, but they hastened across the room and down the hallway before she could say another word.
Once in the privacy of the hallway, the both breathed a sigh of relief.
"Merlin, that was awful!" George said, wrinkling his nose.
"You can say that again," Fred muttered. "I think my butt's completely flat now!"
"No, not that," George snickered. "Weren't you listening to what she said?"
Fred raised an incredulous eyebrow. "You were?"
George shrugged. "It's kind of hard not to since she has such a nasally voice. You should've heard the things she was saying though! She was all, 'Oh, it must suck being poor' and 'You should really consider getting out of this horrible place'."
Fred frowned at that. He had tuned out within the first half hour of the conversation, when all they were talking about was the weather. He had even realized the topic had shifted. But he could tell George was genuinely upset, no matter how much he tried to cover it up with lighter tones. Fred made a decision in a split second.
"Let's get back at her," he said. "We'll show her not to mess with the Weasley's!"
George grinned wickedly at that. "Let's do it. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Fred nodded, and the two of them clasped hands. "If it works for you, it works for me. I think Aunt Gina talked about a pie in the kitchen?"
It took them a couple tries to even find the room in question, but when they came upon it, they had lucked out. The pie was sitting out on the counter, there for the taking, a beautiful white and brown cream pie. Fred snatched it up and him and George ran from the room, ready to start the best prank in the world.
"Oh, no you don't," came a familiar, annoying voice. A hand latched firmly onto the collar of their shirts and stopped them short.
Fred groaned. Percy. Where did he even come from? It was like he had some sort of a mischief detector or something.
"I'm not gonna let you cause trouble here and embarrass us in front of Aunt Gina," Percy said.
"Oh, come on," Fred whined. "You don't understand! It's for a good cause."
"Yeah, like I haven't heard that before," Percy muttered, but he let go their shirts anyways.
Fred and George started down the hallway again, but this time Percy trailed them from behind.
"We have to get rid of him!" George hissed to Fred under his breath.
"I'm thinking!" Fred muttered back. "Get ready, we're gonna have to run."
"What are you two talking about?" Percy said suspiciously.
Fred rolled his eyes. "If you're going to breath down my neck, Percy, at least have a mint."
"Yeah, Perce!" George chimed in. "I think you had a little too much garlic at lunch today."
Percy blushed red. "Wha—" he sputtered. "Why, you little brats!"
He lunged for them again, but, cackling in delight, both Fred and George had already sprinted down the hallway. It was for this reason that neither of them noticed the sound of voices coming through the open doorway, nor did Fred notice the crinkled carpet on the stretch of hallway in front of him.
Fred stumbled on the carpet and the pie flew out of his hands, landing on that god awful, striped wallpaper.
There was a moment of silence in which both sides of the hallway regarded each other. The pie slowly slid to the ground, landing with a thump. His mum's jaw had unhinged from her face and from the dark look spreading across her face, they would really be in for a scolding when they got home.
His dad had that expression on his face where he was trying to look stern, but wasn't really mad. Aunt Gina, on the other hand, had gone entirely red, which was a really interesting colour on her. The veins at her temple looked like they were about to pop off her head.
"I knew you were a good for nothing lot!" she raged. "This is what I get for trying to help you and bring you up to my level. You and all the rest of them are garbage and always will be! This is why I left in the first place."
"No, this is what we get for trying to reconcile with an old hag like you! Don't ever insult my family like that again!" his mum burst out, stabbing a finger into Aunt Gina's chest. "You better crawl back to America and hope you never see me in the streets again!"
She stormed out of the house, with the rest of them falling out after her. Fred ran after her and caught up with her while she was still muttering under her breath.
"Mum, that was amazing," Fred said, beaming. "I didn't know you had it in you!"
"Flattery won't stop you from being grounded," his mum snapped. "And that goes for both of you!"
Fred just grinned, not even bothered. His family's honour had been avenged, he had managed to tarnish that ugly wallpaper—he really hoped they replaced it, for their own sake—and the best part was, they'd probably never speak to Aunt Gina again!
Life was good.