Which we did. Not three weeks passed and already I found myself pressed against the carriage window. Who'd have guessed that seven people in a single wagon would get crowded? I was stuck in place between dad's knee and Ron's elbow (if the little twit keeps on fidgeting I swear I'd burry him next to Mrs. Malfoy's gardenias)
I still don't get how we all squeezed in this matchbox in the first place, but I guess I should be grateful to god that Bill and Charley aren't around anymore. Still, it wasn't all bad – seeing Percy flushed with anger muttering curses in his beard kinda lift the mood for George and me
And after god-knows-how-long we stumbled out of the vessel limb by limb. I was just about to screw my head back in place when I caught sight of my twin staring wide eyed at something. My eyes followed his gaze and-
HOLLY SHIT!
The 'summer cottage' was GIGANTIC! Humble-my arse! They should've mentioned it was a bloody CASTLE, I would've brought my compass with me.
But really, with pockets full of gadgets I clearly doubt it would fit in.
Yes, George and I couldn't help but bring the whole collection of our prank material. Were spending the weekend with chickenhead, after all!
Mum's the word, of course. But I think Ginny figured it out when she snuck into our room this morning/
"So the Weasley bunch arrived" Lucius clapped his hands in greetings.
And in less than a second Draco was inches from the poor surprised Ginny/
"Come, I've got to show you the stream!"he dragged her away. And my poor little sister sent George and me a pleading look as she was pulled further away.
'Don't worry Ginny, we'll avenge you at supper time' I thought, patting the itching powder in my left pocket.
The grin I had across my face faded when I made eye contact with mr Malfoy. He looked a bit annoyed, kept shifting his glance from George to me and back, probably having a hard time guessing which one of us was which.
And telling us apart would definitely be harder this time, for both George and I wore a same thick brown jacket over our shoulders. We wouldn't want to make the same mistake twice.
But Lucius, being a diplomatic asshole he was, found a solution for his little problem
"Molly dear, I don't get how you tell your kids apart…"he added to his conversation with mom
"I don't need much of skill to figure that out, Lucius – Fred's a lefty. But I do need a sharp eye if I am to keep them out of trouble."
George tensed in the spot, but I was also too stiff to turn and look at him. Mom SOLD US OUT! The twins' secret – all gone with the wind.
But strangely I was more concerned about who she told it to.
Malfoy's bright grey eyes darkened, now into deep metallic orbs.
"I see. That is handy." he eyed me head to toe and I cursed myself for patting my pocket moments earlier - that surely must've given us away.
The awkward silence was cut by Narcissa who showed up from behind the carriage.
"You arrived! Good, now we can finally set the table for lunch."
She wore white silk and her hair was combed straight and I must say she looked gorgeous considering her fading youth. It's only too bad I was into men. Well, more like into A MAN – my identical twin. Or better yet – into me. I chuckled at the thought; I was being more narcissistic than Narcissa herself.
As we walked to the garden I grabbed my George's hand and he smiled sweetly. But concern was hidden deep inside his gaze.
"I can't believe mum sold us out!" he exclaimed
"Yeah, I need some time to stomach the fact, too. You think Malfoy would tell anyone?"
"That's not the problem and you know it!"
"Look, he's unlikely to do anything if we stick together. Plus in this maze we can easily loose him in case things get out of order. So cheer up, alright love?" I ensured him
"Yeah…"
"…"
"Can you believe how easily he sweet talked mum?"
"Oh please – a peacock could sweet talk mum!"
"WE can't sweet talk mum!"
Damn, he was right. "… I meant a hell of a charming peacock."
George chuckled and squeezed my hand tighter. And we continued trotting all the way to the table.
With just a ring of Narcissa's bell, tens of servants came through the door and into the garden, carrying genuine porcelain dishes and hot food. Ooooh the smell…
Now, after a two hour ride in (and this is one hell of an understatement) an uncomfortably small carriage, being seated in one of Malfoy's chairs was heaven on fucking EARTH. Still, a true artist never rests – we still had to entertain ourselves with some fine pranking craft.
George and I were planning on spiking up Draco's meal with some extra peppery sneezing bomb extract.
But things don't always go the way you planned. Before I could even get near Draco's plate I was surprised to find out that a certain Malfoy had their eyes locked on me constantly. I didn't know how Lucius could've found out about our devious plan, but I really hoped he did, otherwise there were other reasons for this close examination… Oh dear god, did George's words actually get to me? I better get a grip if I am to leave this place with my sanity intact.
To clear my mind I concentrated on the steaming food in front of me.
Most of the food was homemade bakery, which I didn't mind in the least. I had my eye on one of the cherry sweet rolls, but I know of good manners (and NO, I'm not being sarcastic!!!) so I waited for the other chairs to be filled.
Two of the chairs, however, still remained unseated so my self control was a bit slipping, I must say. I think a scrap of drool found his way past my lips.
"Children. One thing you can always count on them is to never show up on time." Narcissa muttered, obviously hungry as well.
"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure Draco and Ginny will show up soon enough. Draco knows better than to be late."
Well, he better! I was so hungry I was actually leaning over to smell the rolls. This action, however, was greeted with a disgusted glare from Percy dearest.
"You seem hungry, my boy."
My eyes widened in shock when Lucius stated. When he figured I was too much of a surprised dribbling fool to answer, he continued. "You go ahead and take one if you like." he gestured at the sweet roll and I saw mum and dad looking at me in well hidden embarrassment.
"I uh-'' I stuttered completely shocked.
"Well go on son, it's rude to reject Mr. Malfoy's generosity" dad said, trying to hurry all this up.
I clumsily took the roll and chewed in embarrassing silence that swallowed up the whole room. My family dropped their heads in humiliation but thankfully Mrs. Malfoy broke the ice.
"Oh, my tea's getting cold, where ever could those children be?"
"True, I'm getting a bit worried myself." mum replied, thankful for the change of topic.
I was just about to sigh in relief with the tension cooling down, when I realized Lucius Malfoy was still staring at me, mesmerized. Quickly I swallowed the cursed sweet roll down, which I regretted as soon as I heard Lucius started chuckling.
"You seem to be quite insatiable, young Fred." he laughed. I still had the sweet roll stuck in my throat so I wasn't about to answer just yet.
"I too have a rather …animalistic appetite."
The way he said it. The gleam in his eye. Truly, something wicked was concealing behind those gray orbs of his and was slowly coming out of its hiding place. My mind raced and I tried to dry my mouth, to say something, anything…
"There they are!"my dad suddenly yelled "What have you two been up to?"
Truly, I have never been happier to see Draco in my entire life. He and Ginny were now coming from the woods and it appeared to me that Draco's clothes were a bit wet.
"Draco, you're SOAKING!" his mother shrieked, tugging at his wet jumper
"What happened?" mum asked, when she saw a guilty look forming on Ginny face.
"It's my fault, mum''
Surprisingly enough, it was Draco who spoke those words. "I was stupid, I slipped on a rock and fell into…'' his voice broke.
The dimwit fell into the stream?! Now that can't be right – I haven't been very kind to God recently. Ginny's ears were red in shame, there must've been more to the story than that…
But his mum bought this version, or maybe she just didn't care. "Silly boy, you've made such a mess of yourself, and in front of guests!"she yelled "I should ground you for-"
"Please Narcissa, there's no need for that'' dad tried to reason "I'm sure this was an all an accident and we wouldn't want poor Draco blaming us for his punishment''
I could've laughed right then. I bet if we did the same thing, mine and George's ass would be red, spanked numb in front of the people. So just who was he kidding?
Ginny finally found her voice "Draco, that's not exactly how it wen-"
"It's MY falt, don't listen to her" Malfoy said firmly.
…What?
George leaned in to whisper "Dude …is that wuss of a Malfoy actually being …courageous? Maybe even …self-sacrificing?"
"Bite your tongue!'' I gasped jokingly "Dear man, exactly how delusional are you?"
He smiled, but whispered back "I'm serious now, Fred. This situation is getting waaaaay out of line."
I knew what he meant. And he was right – this reaaaallly wasn't the way I pictured a weekend with the Malfoys. And it's only been half an hour.
"Ahhhh-choo!"
Above all Draco sneezed and Narcissa scared face now become mortified. "Get inside, NOW!" she pushed him into the manor.
Heh, at least this wasn't a TOTAL failure – Draco was still sneezing, without me having to use the pepper sneezing bomb. All's well that ends well, I guess.
Without Draco's presence we started lunch. Ron was pushing down as much gourmet food as he could stuff into his big mouth. Jerk – I wanted to do that! – but could not for mr Malfoy obviously found it very amusing to observe my every move. I am beginning to think he really did know about our pranks. (Do not fright, faithful admirers – I am not losing hope just yet. I promised mischief and so you shall have!)
And while I was minding my own business, drinking juice and feeling mozzarella cheese melting in my mouth, I was jerked back into reality when something touched my leg. Weird. I looked down at my feet, lifted the table covers a little, but saw nothing.
When the motion appeared again I looked at George to see if he was sending me some kind of message. Seeing him struggle with a clamp gave me enough of an answer. On the other side next to me was Narcissa, and she's definitely out of the question… Ahh, who cares? I continued my meal, but alas I felt it again. Something was touching my calf… my inner thigh … my-
"Some kind of animal is under this table!" I jumped, yelling. My eyes met many confused faces.
"What did I tell you about pulling your stunts, young man?" mum seemed annoyed
"No, I swear, something's been touching me for the last five minutes!''
They still seemed doubtful
"I swear I'm not lying! Here-" I said, pulling up the table covers "I'll prove it to you, it's – " and just in time to see Malfoy's leg fall back in place.
My heart skipped a few beats. What…?
"Oh, that was you, boy? Oh this is so embarrassing. I apologize, I thought you were Narcissa." He chuckled "and well…"
Some of them smiled, that bootlick Percy even laughed!
"Hope I didn't give you too much of a scare'' he smiled his charming smile again.
George was now full-on glaring at him. He was right – that wasn't an accident and we know it! What the hell did that guy think he's playing?! Well, I'm not joining in, whatever it was!
"No ser, you didn't." I said firmly "It takes much more to scare me." I took George's and added silently "Us."
His face became solid and serious, and he continued his meal. We all did. So did George and I.
After the meal Mrs. Malfoy announced that we are to go horseback riding at three o'clock. Before that we were to be given a tour throughout the mansion, or, if we preferred, we could rest a bit in the guestrooms after the long exhausting trip we've had.
Mum and PerciWUSS went along with Narcissa to hear the, no doubt incredibly boring story of the Malfoy family that first bought this place. Dad and Mr. Malfoy went to check out the golf course and the rest of us lowly children stayed in, trying our hardest not to break anything expenci- …ell, anything.
Finally alone, we wasted no time and immediately started interrogating Ginny about what really happened with Draco out there. Ohhh the juicy gossip!
Draco actually tried to kiss her! But before the poor sod even halfway leaned in properly, my incredible baby sister (she's my new hero from now on) pushed him head down into the stream! God, she had to fish him out with a stick!
They aren't talking anymore. Draco isn't mad or anything, he's just too damn embarrassed to even turn his face towards her (if you ask me, I'd switch the word 'embarrassed' with 'scared shitless'.)
Later on, poor Ron got lost four times trying to find the bathroom before Ginny found the heart to go with him. Now George and I were alone – which wasn't as good as it sounded like.
"Fred" his face darkened
"…. George, love-"
"If he EVER " he emphasized the word by banging his fist on a nearby closet "TRIES SOMETHIG like that AGAIN" he hit it harder and walked over to me. He was really starting to intimidate me "I don't care about dad's job, I don't give a rat's ass if we starve… mark my words, brother, he will end up swallowing this fist down to his windpipe."
He would seriously murder this man, I knew that for real.
"You're making too big of a deal about this'' I reassured.
"Where did he touch you?"
"I… w-what?"
"His leg" he elaborated, infuriated "Where did his leg touch you, Fred?"
I turned scarlet.
He didn't need an answer and was already clutching at his head, moaning "Oh GOD…"
"It was an honest mistake!" I yelled. God, even I didn't believe that. "Why are you over-dramatizing everything, the man did nothing wrong!"
"Feeling up your crouch isn't wrong to you Fred?" I grew even redder. "It's not wrong? I find it VERY wrong, Fred, I find it very, VERY wrong indeed!"
We both stopped when we heard Ron's voice in the hallway
"He better not come near you." was his last words before the door opened.