"Broomsticks and Spiders"
The sun shone high, the grass was green and the sky was blue, a light breeze flew through the trees. Laughter rung in the air as three little redhead boys played in the yard of a rickety worn out shabby looking house.
They had been sent outside to play by their mother who had enough of them running around inside on such a nice summer day. The smallest of the three boys held a golden teddy bear in his arms as he watched his two brothers play with a toy broom stick, called a "clean sweep 95". He watched in amazement as his brothers took turns on the broom each flying high enough so that their feet skimmed the ground. His eyes widened every time their feet left the ground, he laughed every time they laughed and he clapped his hands whenever there feet hit the ground.
"Again, again" he said, as his brothers switched turns.
It was fun for him to watch them. It was like a magic trick for him, he hadn't realized that everything around him was magic as seeing he was only three years old and his brothers going into the air like that was something he had never seen before.
After sometime of standing there watching his brothers, he got tired and sat down, his golden bear in his lap. It was better to watch his brothers like this from down on the ground, because every time they had gone into the air he had leaned back his head to watch them, a couple of times he had almost fallen over just by watching them. This way he didn't have to keep looking up and down he could just look up at them. He was just so glad that his brothers were having as much fun as he was. This was the most fun he had all day.
He closed his eyes, but quickly opened them; he didn't want to miss his brothers on the broom. But no sooner had he opened his eyes that they closed again, this time they stayed closed a little bit longer, he snapped them open, he couldn't miss anything, slowly they fluttered closed even when he fought to keep them open he couldn't. He let them close after several attempts to keep them open. Sleep had captured him.
~O~o~O~
Sometime later the redhead boy with the golden bear woke up to the sun shining on his face; he blinked a couple of times as seeing the sun was so bright and right over head. He couldn't hear his brothers laughing anymore, and when he looked around he didn't see them anywhere in the yard. He was alone in the yard by himself. Where had his brothers gone? Why did they leave them by himself? The last thing he remembered was seeing them on the broom. He stood up, his bear still in his arms, he spun wildly around, but his brothers were gone.
He took one step forward, but tripped over something and fell onto the grass. He got up and picked up his bear and looked to see what he had fallen on. To his surprise it was his brother's broom. This time careful not to fall on it again he stepped over the broom. He picked it up and tucked it up under his arm. This broom was hard to carry with his bear, but he wanted his brothers to have their broom. It was heavy to hold and kept slipping but he did his best as he wattled over to the steps. He also didn't want to put his bear down.
He reached the steps, he stood there for a moment, he either put down the broom or his bear or could he clime the steps with both? He was going to try and climb the stairs with both. His brothers needed their broom and he couldn't leave his bear outside, his bear would be lonely if left outside.
He stepped up on the first step just barely making it without falling over; quickly he steadied himself on the step ready to step on the next step. He climbed that too, only having a little problem standing up. He started climbing the last step when his bear started sliding out of his arms, he hoisted it up, but he was falling, falling forward, and the broom crossed in front of him, he couldn't stop falling.
That's when he heard it an ear splitting crack of wood as he landed chest first on the top step and broom handle, snapping it completely in half. He pulled himself and his bear up on the first step, standing he looked at the broom the handle was snapped completely in half. He just looked at it little mouth open, his eyes wide, brimming with tears, he had broken his brother's broom.
A choking sob escaped his lips, tears ran down his face, he pulled his bear close to him to cover his face; he let out another wail and sat down.
"Fred and George, did you leave Ron outside?" he could hear his mother's shrill voice from inside. Her footsteps sounded out through the old back screen door and headed towards the living room.
"Mum he fell asleep outside" he could hear her brothers tell her. They would be mad at him when they found their broom like this. He let out another sob. He didn't want them to be mad.
"Will you go check on him please" his mother said her footsteps coming back into the kitchen.
"Fine" they said at the same time.
He could hear their footsteps coming closer and closer to him and they were going to see, what he did, how he broke their broom. He buried his face deeper into his bear; all he wanted to do was hide from them. Was there a way to fix the broom?
The back door swung open footsteps stopped behind him.
"Ron what did you do!"
"Look what you did you ruined it!"
"Nice going!"
His brother's angry voices came from behind, he let out a sob again that they couldn't hear muffled by his bear, and at least his bear knew that he didn't mean to break their broom on purpose even if they didn't believe him.
Someone stepped around him and picked up the broom which he had left on the steps snapped in half. He didn't want to look at his brothers knowing that they were mad at him. He didn't mean it when it broke.
The back door swung open again and angry footsteps came from in the kitchen.
"Boys what happened and where is Ron" his mother's voice came again. Maybe she would believe him that he didn't mean to break it.
"Ron broke our broom"
"He always breaks everything"
"Now boys"
"Well he did, he's out on the steps"
"He just sat there with his bear"
Their voices drifted away and new sounding footsteps came to the door.
"Ron" came his mother's voice from behind the screen door.
He didn't answer her he just sat there with his bear; he wanted everything to be okay again. He didn't mean to break it.
The screen door swung open again and his mother came down and scooped him up, he let out another sob, he couldn't stop crying, how long would his brother's be mad at him.
"Shhhhhhh" she said as she carried him into the house, he closed his eyes tight just in case he saw either of his brothers, he didn't want to see their angry faces.
She sat him down in a kitchen chair, he slowly opened his eyes, his brothers weren't in the kitchen either it was just him and his mother. She looked at him blue eyes bold, hands on her hips. Was she mad at him too? He didn't mean to break it, he was sorry. Tears welled in his eyes again.
"I'm soooooorrrrryyyyy" he wailed out, in the process dropping his bear. She bent down and picked it up for him putting it on the table.
"Next time ask for help when you climb up stairs, you could have gotten hurt" she said in a stern voice, she must have known that he didn't break it on purpose, so she wasn't mad at him, he looked up at him eyes watery. All he could do was nod at her.
"Okay now go and play" she told him, picking his bear off the table and giving it to him, he took it and slid of the chair, he started to walk into the living room,
"Ron" he spun around at her voice.
"Ask Fred and George next time to use their things ok" she said turning to the stove.
"Yup" he said and walked into the living room, at least she wasn't mad at him. He still felt bad about breaking the broom but not as bad as before, he was glad that his mother wasn't mad at him. And his bear wasn't mad either, his bear was the only one that knew the truth.
~O~o~O~
"It's not fair he breaks everything" my twin said heatedly as we took the stairs down to the living room.
"Yes he does…..ugh"
I couldn't help but agree with him, Ron was always getting in the way and breaking our things. But it was our job to look after him while mum cooked and cleaned, Bill and Charlie were too busy with school to be bothered to look after him and Percy always had his nose stuck in a book so we got stuck with him, it was kind of annoying, but it's not like we had a choice in the matter. Sometimes I wish he was five already just like us so he could really play with us and not bother us, but he wasn't and we had to deal with him and his dumb bear that he carried around all the time with him. He talked to it like it was alive or something.
"He can never break something of his own; it always has to be ours" my twin pointed out. I nodded in agreement. I know that I was still mad about the broom, it had been given to my brother and I to share as a birthday present from our parents, it had been the first time we had used it since we had gotten it and the first day and it ends up getting broken by our little brother. It wasn't fair at all. And I know that my twin was still mad just by the way he talked about it. But it was over and done with the broom was broken.
"Bear I didn't mean it" I heard Ron's voice travel up the stair well and I stopped my brother at the top of the last stair case. Ron was going on talking to his bear again.
Silence, then Ron's voice. "But they are mad at me" that's right we were mad at him. We were really mad at him this time. I nodded at my twin and we continued down the stairs into the living room. We walked in arm and arm, right away from the couch Ron noticed us and, his face scrunched up, it looked like he was going to cry, he had tears in his eyes, but he didn't talk to us all he did was stuff his bear in his face hiding his view of us. And that was good with us, we didn't want to talk to him anyway, but he couldn't really talk to begin with, just words and a few short sentences. He was only three.
We walked into the kitchen, mum was at the stove, pots and pans bubbling and boiling and flying about, Percy was at the table reading a book. I looked in between the two of them; neither of them noticed that we were there. It was better that way since I noticed something on the floor underneath the table. I walked towards the table pulling my twin along with me pointing to the thing on the floor, he followed me silently.
We crawled under the table, careful not to move any of the chairs or touch Percy's legs. What was on the floor came clear in our view and made my eyes widen with glee. It was Percy's wand on the floor. He had probably dropped it without knowing. Quickly and quietly I picked it up and stashed it in my pants pocket. He would never know it was gone. I only took it cuz my twin and I didn't have wands of our own yet and everyone else had one except Ron, but Percy had only gotten one because he was starting school next fall. But I couldn't wait till I got my own wand; boy was Ron going to get it.
My twin smiled at me, his eyes were shiny with anticipation of what we were going to do next. I smiled back and made my way out from underneath the table. I waited for him to stand up again then took his arm; we had started to walk out of the kitchen when our mother called us, not looking away from the stove as she did so.
"Boys!" she called over her shoulder. She either knew we were in the kitchen or she was just calling us to tell us something. The sound of her voice made Percy look up from his book and look around, he spotted us and grin at us like he was hoping we were in trouble.
"What did you do this time?" he asked closing his book. Our mother turned around now noticing that we were there standing behind her.
"None of your bees wax" my twin said sticking out is tongue and crossing his eyes. I giggled not looking at Percy knowing his face would go red and that would only make me laugh more.
"Fine" Percy said disgruntled, he put his nose back in his book were it belonged.
"Boys," our mother turned back to the stove. "Where's Ron?"
"In the living room –"
"On the couch –"
"With his bear"
I thought my twin and I complemented each other quiet well with the way we completed each other's sentences like that. It was just something we had always done. Something that I thought was special between us no one else in our family had someone who looked just like them to finish a sentence for them.
"Okay will you please go check on him" she didn't bother to move from the stove this time.
"But mum-"
"We were just in there" I finished for him. He smiled at me.
"Just do it" she said sternly. Silently we turned and walked out of the kitchen and back into the living room, she always wanted us to check on Ron, it was like he was going to die or something, at the rate she had us checking him he was going to die. But if he did die then it wouldn't be our fault.
Once in the living room, Ron was in the same place we had left him in not ten minutes earlier, seeing us come back he stuffed his face into his bear, not saying a word. That was good for us he wouldn't get in the way with what we were about to do, it was something, only I needed to figure out what we were going to do with Percy's wand and fast before anyone especially mum found us with it.
"So what are we going to do with it? My twin asked me in a soft whisper as not to attract unwanted attention to ourselves. I still had no idea but I wanted to give him an answer.
"A lot of things" I said reaching in my pocket to get it. My twin smiled wickedly at me and I smiled equally in return.
I pulled on it, but it was stuck for some reason, this couldn't be good, if it got stuck that would mean I would get in trouble for having Percy's wand if mum found us with it and that wasn't a good sign when mum got mad. I pulled on it again this time harder and it came flinging out, accidently I aimed it at Ron's head; luckily his bear took the hit and not his face. There was a flash of purple light and I dropped the wand.
My twin picked up the wand looked from the wand to me then to Ron, who hadn't seemed to notice anything his face was still in his bear, then back to me again. But all I could do was look at Ron and what had once been his bear but slowly it was starting to change shape, it was starting to take on the form of something less pleasant then a stuffed bear.
As if in slow motion, Ron's bear changed, it became bigger in size, changed from the nice gold color to a deep black, it grew 8 big hairy legs and had a billion beady eyes, and pinchers the size of Ron's legs, Ron's bear was a bear no more but a big hairy black spider, it had to be about the size of my head or bigger.
I wanted to scream but couldn't, all I could do was back away slowly, my twin just stared wide eyed at the thing in Ron's lap. Ron still didn't seem to notice. I just prayed that the spider would go away that it would just end up a puff of smoke and Ron's bear would be back in its place. If mum found out that I had set a spider on Ron I would be in so much trouble I closed my eyes and held my breath and counted to ten in my head. Opening my eyes quickly hoping the spider was gone, it wasn't and my heart sank and my stomach reached my throat. I had no idea what to do and I wasn't about to go and get our mum and tell her what happened, that would make things worse. Maybe if I waved the wand again it would go away.
I reached out for the wand my twin was holding, when the spider did the worst thing it could possibly do, it clacked its massive pinchers together and moved its legs; it was probably trying to get out of Ron's grip.
And at that exact moment Ron just had to look up into its beady eyes, at first he didn't do anything, his eyes became wide with fright and his face turned a shade of sickly green then a pasty white. Then he closed his eyes and let out the most blood curdling scream I had ever heard in my life, he dropped the spider to the floor. I covered my ears as he still sat on the couch screaming at the top of his lungs.
This scream must have gotten the attention of everyone in the house because they all seemed to be in the living room all at once, mum and Percy from the kitchen and Bill and Charlie from up stares looking winded from running down them. They all looked at Ron and then us then the massive spider that seemed to be in the same spot Ron had dropped it, it was probably too scared from all the screaming and people to move, I didn't blame it.
Mum rushed over to Ron and scooped him up in her arms, patting his head and rubbing his back all the while trying to get out of the way of the spider. Quickly without even a blink Bill killed the spider right on the spot; it vanished in a puff of smoke. Then if everything had gone silent and cold, all eyes turned on my twin and I, who still was holding the wand.
The wand, he was still holding it and I wasn't I was the one who sent that spider on Ron , he was going to get in trouble for something he didn't even do, and I wasn't, he couldn't get in trouble for me, that wasn't fair, I needed to come up with something fast to save both of our skins.
"What the Bloody hell was that?" Charlie was the first one to speak. Looking between both my twin and I. this was my chance to speak before mum got to me or worse my twin. But mum was still busy trying to calm down a still screaming Ron.
"I….well…it…I" I couldn't speak all I did was stare at the spot where the spider had once been. My words were escaping me for once in my life. This was going to be the death of us, when the rath of mum was upon us. Everyone was still looking wildly at us. Plus I couldn't say that we had taken Percy's wand that would get us in even more trouble. I didn't know what to do or what to say.
"Boys explain this right now!" mum's shrill voice broke the once silence. She was still holding Ron and her blue eyes were like piercing daggers. I hadn't been totally scared till now, I started to shrink into myself, and I think my twin saw that. He took my hand in his that wasn't holding the wand. But how would I even begin to explain something like this to a person like mum. Everyone looked at us and waited for an answer. An answer that didn't come from me.
"It was me" my twin said looking with the same fierceness that mum was giving us back at her, he hadn't flinched once, not even when Ron's bear became a spider, and now he was going to take all the blame, I couldn't let him do it, but what could I do to save him?
"You set a spider on Ron? The same question came from Bill Charlie and Percy all at the same time. They still looked at us in disbelief.
"Yes" he said digging a hole deeper for himself. But I had to stop him now or never.
"Freddie no, I –"he cut me off again with a look that told me it was ok if he got in trouble for me, it was a look that made me understand something, he was doing this for me, he didn't want me to get in trouble for some reason a look that told me he would take the blame. I closed my mouth and squeezed his hand. Even if I couldn't tell him now that I was thankful for him, I could show him, he returned my squeeze then looked back into our mothers cold blue eyes.
She had a look of disappointment on her face, something of a look that should have made any other five year old feel like he wanted to cry right on the spot and say that he was sorry, but not Fred, he was probably the strongest person I knew when it came to our mum.
She held out her hand and he walked up to talk it,
"You are in serious trouble young man, wait until your father hears about this" she scolded him taking away the wand and handed it back to Percy who looked horror struck that his little brother would do such a thing.
I was still shocked myself mostly that I was letting Fred take the blame for something he didn't even do. But what could I do now it was already too late to fix it, the deed was done and Fred was going to get in trouble.
"Why did you do it" Bill asked running a hand through his long hair looking a little shaken, really any one would be shaken if they found that one of their brothers set a giant spider on another brother.
Fred looked at him calmly like nothing had ever happened before and there had never been a giant spider in this room.
"Ron broke my broomstick and I was mad"
~O~o~O~
That's the end of chapter 2, I hope you enjoyed it, and I tried to do the best I could, I hope I did a good job really I had no idea how I was going to write this in the beginning and but this is how it came out I wanted it to follow the whole "I'll take care of you" thing by having Fred take the blame for George, anyway leave comments and reviews those are always taken greatly and keep reading there is plenty more to come! =)