Author's Note: This one-shot is about the prank that Alex and Beth played that resulted in the one and only time they were spanked as punishment. Muter is Yiddish for mother.
Alex carefully placed his toothbrush and toothpaste in his blue travel container and then stuck it into his overnight bag. It was soon followed by his pajamas, a change of clothes, and his stuffed dragon that had a spell on it that allowed it to flap its wings. Once a month he and sister were allowed to spend the night at one of his grandparents' homes, and this month it was Granny Ilsa and Granddad Vladek's turn.
"I'm all packed!" Alex called, sticking his head out of his bedroom door.
Remus came out of his bedroom. "Then why don't you get Beth and we can Floo over to the potions store now, Alex."
Alex nodded and picked up his green overnight bag. "Come on Beth, let's go!"
Beth came out of her bedroom, holding her purple overnight bag. "You don't need to yell, Alex. I'm not deaf." The two followed Remus down to the living room and they Flooed to the potions shop. Their mother, who was working at the store today, greeted them and sent them upstairs to put their bags away. Alex went to the bedroom that had been his Uncle Niko's when he was a kid, while Beth went to their mother's old room.
When they came back downstairs, Granny Ilsa greeted them with hugs. "How have you been, dears?"
"We're still good," said Beth. "Nothing's changed since when you saw us last night at dinner."
"Granny, what are we doing now?" Alex asked.
"Well, first I get you each a biscuit to eat," she said, taking them to the kitchen where the biscuit tin was. "Then you can help me brew some fruit drops. The jar is getting low, and it is the time that I refill it."
"Goody!" exclaimed Alex. He liked it whenever he got to help his grandmother brew fruit drops, not only because he got to eat one once they were done, but also because it was the only time he ever got to help with brewing something. While he was learning the names of the ingredients used in potions and what they looked like, he was still too young to actually learn how to brew, though he was allowed to watch his mother and grandmother make potions.
After having a glass of milk and some biscuits, Alex and Beth followed Granny Ilsa down to the workroom. She had set up the cauldron that she only used to make fruit drops in, because she didn't want to risk any contamination with other potions, even if the cauldrons were thoroughly scrubbed out after each use. "Beth, you can pour in the cup of water. Alex, could you please measure out two cups of sugar? You can pour it in once the water's hot."
Once that was done, Granny Ilsa added some corn syrup and had Alex stir, while Beth gathered the small bottles of fruit extract. After adding in some cream of tartar, Granny Ilsa poured the liquid into four small pans. Alex and Beth added a few drops of fruit extract in each pan, strawberry, orange, cherry, and lemon. The three of them stirred until the fruit extract was completely mixed in, and then Granny Ilsa poured the contents of the pans into the candy molds to cool and harden.
After that, Granny Ilsa cleaned up the work area and went back to a potion she had been brewing, one that had needed to rest for an hour. Alex and Beth washed their hands and went upstairs to the living room, where Remus read to them from a book of Muggle fairy tales. An hour later, the twins were allowed to each have one of the fruit drops, but no more, as it was time for dinner to be made. When their cousins showed up, all the kids got together and set the table, and then the Petrov-Romanov clan sat down to eat, along with Remus and Fiona McGilray, the other family tutor.
"Mum, Ivan can't have dessert tonight," Aunt Sarah said. "So don't give him any."
"What did you do, Ivan?" asked Granny Ilsa, peering down at her oldest grandson.
"Er, I may have dumped out the sugar bowl and put salt in it, Bubbe," Ivan admitted sheepishly. "Muter didn't like it when she drank her coffee and found it salty instead of sweet."
Granddad Vladek chuckled. "Your father did a similar prank when he was your age. He switched the salt and pepper shakers, so when I was seasoning a pot of stew, I ended up putting in pepper instead of salt. Luckily I hadn't stirred the pot before I noticed what happened, so I was able to siphon off most of the pepper."
"Well, at least the prank was a harmless one, and other than ending up with a salty cup of coffee, it was pretty funny," said Aunt Sarah. "Maybe the Weasley twins are rubbing off on you, Ivan, if you're playing pranks."
"Pranks are funny, Muter," said Ivan. "Well, as long as nobody gets hurt by it."
Alex started wondering if there was a prank of his own that he could do. Whenever Ivan or the Weasley twins pulled a prank, people generally found it funny, even though they were usually also scolded for it and sometimes receive a punishment like no dessert or an earlier bedtime. Alex decided to talk it over with Beth later, and focused on finishing his dinner.
After the dishes had been washed and put away and the rest of the family had left, Alex dragged his sister into the room he was staying in. "Ivan's prank gave me the idea to do a prank of our own," he said. "Got any ideas for one, Beth?"
"We're not going to do the same thing Ivan did," said Beth. "Maybe we could move around the stuff in the supply cupboard?"
Alex thought for a minute, then shook his head. "Granny and Mummy would get mad that we did that and make us put everything back where it was. I know! We could write new labels and stick them on the jars and shelves."
"Ooh, I like that!" said Beth enthusiastically. "I'll go get the labels and you can get some pens."
The two spent the rest of the evening writing down the names of all the potions and ingredients they could remember on the labels. Normally they went to bed at half past eight, but they were allowed to stay up until nine o'clock on Friday and Saturdays and when visiting their grandparents. So at nine, Granny Ilsa knocked on the door, reminding them that it was bedtime. Alex hastily hid the labels underneath the bed and he and Beth went to the bathroom to brush their teeth. After that, Granddad Vladek read them a story and tucked them into bed.
Once Alex heard his grandparents going to bed, he got out of bed, took the labels out, and snuck over to Beth's room. "Let's go put up the labels," he hissed.
After waiting a couple of minutes to make sure that their grandparents weren't going to leave their room, the two snuck downstairs. The supply cupboard was locked, but there were some shelves with ingredients in the workroom, so they stuck labels on all the jars they could reach, even dragging a chair over and climbing on it to reach the higher shelves. After that, they went to the storeroom where the finished potions were kept.
"Rats! It's locked," said Beth, trying the door and unable to open it. "Now what?"
Alex made a face, then glared at the locked door. "I wish Granny Ilsa didn't have to lock it up. Maybe what we did with the stuff in the workroom is enough and-" He cut off as there was a clicking noise and the door to the storeroom swung open."
"Wow, I think you just did some magic and unlocked the door!" Beth exclaimed in a whisper.
"I guess I really wanted the door to be open," said Alex, staring at the open door. Once he recovered, he said, "Okay, let's put the labels on." The two stuck on the remaining labels on all the shelves that they could reach. Once they were done, they shut the door, turned off the light, and snuck back upstairs, stifling giggles at their prank.
The next morning, at breakfast, Granddad Vladek asked, "What's so funny, Beth and Alex?"
"Nothing, Granddad," Alex said, suppressing a giggle. "It's a surprise."
Granddad Vladek raised a brow, but didn't comment further. After breakfast, he went to work, while the twins washed the dishes and Granny Ilsa went to get the shop open for the day. An hour later, an irate Ana marched into the living room, where Beth and Alex were playing, one of the mislabeled bottles in her hand.
"Elisabeth Ilse Romanov! Alexander Jacob Romanov! Did you mislabel this bottle of wormwood as flobberworm mucus? Which you've spelled with only one 'b' instead of two, by the way. And did you mislabel the other ingredients in the workroom?"
Alex and Beth exchanged looks, realizing that they were in a lot of trouble. The one and only time their mother had used their full names was when Alex had thrown a temper tantrum (in Alex's case) and when Beth had refused to come right away when called (in Beth's case). "Um, we might have, Mummy," said Alex.
Granny Ilsa came into the room, also looking angry. "It looks like they also mislabeled the shelves in the storeroom. Not all of them, but certainly the ones they could reach. I don't understand how they did that, though. I was sure I locked the door. The supply cupboard was definitely locked."
"Alex used his magic and opened the door," Beth explained. "We didn't like it that the door was locked."
"Why would you two do such a naughty thing?" Ana demanded.
"We just wanted to play a prank," said Alex in a small voice. "Pranks are funny."
"Not this one," said Granny Ilsa in a serious voice. "Did you know that wormwood is poisonous? It can make people sick or even kill them if not used properly. If your mother and I didn't know the difference between wormwood and flobberworm mucus, we could have put the wrong ingredient in a potion and hurt someone. Also, some potions can blow up if you put the wrong things in it. Remember how your finger hurt when you accidentally touched the hot stove, Beth? Getting burned by a potion hurts even more. And you could get cut by a piece of the cauldron that exploded, which is going to hurt more than when you fell and scraped your knee, Alex."
"Oh," said Beth. "We didn't know!"
Alex nodded frantically. "I thought it would be funny! I didn't know the prank could be bad! We're sorry!"
"That still doesn't excuse what you did, Beth and Alex," said Ana. "I'm sorry, but because what you did was very bad, Granny Ilsa and I are going to have to give you two a spanking."
Beth and Alex exchanged looks again. They had never been spanked before, as their punishments for previous bad behavior had consisted of time-outs, no dessert, and going to bed half an hour early. The fact they were going to be spanked now told them how serious their so-called prank was.
Ana took Alex, while Granny Ilsa took Beth. "We're sorry that we have to do this, but perhaps this will teach you not to mess around when it comes to potions," said Granny Ilsa, sitting on the armchair and setting Beth across her lap.
Ana sat down on the couch and placed Alex across her lap. She raised her hand and gave him ten swats on his bottom, hard enough to sting, but not enough to cause serious pain or damage. Granny Ilsa did the same to Beth. The twins were crying by the time the spankings were over.
"All right, dear, it's over," said Ana gently, setting Alex on his feet and hugging him. "I'm sorry I had to spank you and I hope you never do anything this naughty again. I still love you."
Alex wiped his eyes and said, "I love you too, Mummy. I'm really sorry for what I did."
Granny Ilsa was comforting Beth, who also wiped her eyes and apologized. "You're forgiven, Beth and Alex," said Granny Ilsa. "We know that you didn't know that putting wrong labels was a bad thing to do, and that you'll never do anything like this again. Come help your mother and me take off the wrong labels and then you can go back to your playing."
Alex and Beth sniffled, but stopped crying and followed their mother and grandmother downstairs. After helping take off the wrong labels, they went back upstairs, but they didn't resume their play, still thinking over what they had done. It took their mother coming up to remind them that they had their daily lessons with Remus, with lunch after that, before being jolted out their thoughts. The two grabbed their overnight bags and Flooed home.