"You behave yourselves! Don't put toads on the teachers' chairs!" Molly Weasley called as the crimson train began to pull away, "Your brothers will tell me if you get into any trouble, so just don't do it!" She began to jog alongside their window, "We love you!" and shouted "STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!" as the train left the station.

"You'd think she didn't trust us, going on like that." Fred sat, looking across at his twin.

"Honestly, yelling at us like we're hooligans. Like we'd ever stoop to something as common as a toad on a chair." George replied, "and besides we only did that once to Percy."

"He was being a prat. It was special circumstances," said Fred seriously.

"…is it though?" asked George looking thoughtful.

"What?"

"Percy being a prat. Seems more like a constant state of being if you ask me."

Fred grinned at his twin and they settled in for the ride. They talked and joked and made faces at the lunch their mother had prepared for them, but as the sky grew dark they became quiet. A nervous energy overcame them at the prospect of what lay ahead: the sorting.

The compartment door slid open, causing both boys to jump. Percy poked his head in, "You two had better get changed into your school robes, we'll be arriving soon."

"Yeah, yeah," said George irritably.

"You aren't our mother, you know," snapped Fred as he stood and began to rifle through his trunk. Percy gave a humph and left the twins to dress in silence. When finished, the two looked at each other grimly.

"Alright then," Fred said uncertainly, "shall we?" George only nodded in reply and they disembarked the train, following the booming voice calling out for 'firs' years'. They both got on the same boat, and as the others around them ooo-ed and ahh-ed at their first glimpse of the castle, Fred and George looked into the black water, their faces turning paler and greener with each stroke of the magical oars.

Once on the shore, they followed their new classmates up to the castle and into the entrance hall. Almost immediately it seemed, a stern woman was ushering them into great hall where hundreds of older students watched them. The twins pulled closer together and simultaneously reached for each other's hand as the sorting began.

"Fred?" George whispered. Fred could only gulp in reply. "What if we aren't sorted in the house?"

Fred looked at his twin, utterly horrified. He hadn't thought of that possibility at all. He had been worried they might be put in Slytherin for their mischievous ways, but…completely separated?

"No."

"Wh—"

"NO." Fred stamped his foot as the harsh whisper escaped him. "No stupid old moldy hat is gonna take my brother from me, and if it tries I'll rip it to pieces!"

George could only stare at his brother, he'd never seen Fred so serious and angry before. He opened his mouth to reply but,

"Weasley, Fred," the stern woman called out. Fred gave George's hand a final squeeze and stepped forward to the stool. It only took a few seconds for the hat to shout 'GRYFFINDOR!' and as Fred stood back up, he solemnly looked across to George and gave a nod, then when marched over to the currently cheering table and took a spot near Charlie.

"Weasley, George," she intoned. George took a steadying breath and walked forward then sat on the stool. Before the hat covered his eyes, he saw Fred still looking at him seriously.

"Ah, Weasley two, I presume," The hat droned in his ear.

George thought furiously. "I just want—"

"Yes, yes," the hat cut him off, "Your brother was quite adamant. But as I told him, you belong in GRYFFINDOR!"

The relief was immediate and as the hat was whisked off his head, George could see Fred was the one cheering loudest at the Gryffindor table. George rushed to his twin and gave him a hearty high five as they grinned at each other.

Crisis averted, they sat and gorged themselves on the feast before them. When bedtime came, they claimed the two beds closest to each other and slept soundly.