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I've listened to preachers
I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role
Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
Ozzy Osbourne- Crazy Train
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"Ugh, Fred, it's too early," George muttered when he felt someone roughly shake him awake. He wasn't ready to get up yet, especially not after the nightmare he'd had the night before. It had been terrifying, but now he could just forget about it…
"I am not your brother, Master Weasley, and I am waking you on your mother's orders, so it would do you good not to complain," an all too familiar voice droned. It wasn't Fred's.
George jolted up as though he'd been shocked, his eyes flying open and taking in his surroundings. The too big bed, the enormous room, Fred sitting up in his bed, shaking his head sadly.
"Bloody hell, it wasn't a dream," he cursed under his breath. Then he looked up at Snape. "Sorry, sorry. I'm out of it."
"Of course, Master Weasley," Snape said, his dark eyes drilling into George.
Then he bowed to each of them and left.
Fred and George both stayed sitting, clueless.
"Er, now what?" George asked after a moment. Fred looked around the room.
"Well, there're two doors other than the exit. Hopefully a closet and a bathroom. So we get ready, and then we apparate to the dining room and hope there are people eating so we can try to get some kind of idea of what in the hell we're supposed to be doing."
Since George could think of nothing else, he went with Fred's plan. The doors did lead to a bathroom with a tub the size of a small pool, and a closet bigger than their old bedroom. George bathed first, then slipped into gold-trimmed robes.
Fred was ready ten minutes later, and the twins shoved their bells in their pockets, then apparated to the room where they had dined the night before. Molly, Ron, and Percy were all sitting around the table. Bill and Ginny were nowhere in sight.
George hesitated for a moment, then took a seat next to Percy. Fred sat next to him. Molly rang her little bell, and Snape appeared with two food-filled plates. Their old potions master set their food in front of them, bowed regally, and apparated away.
The room became awkwardly quiet. George managed to force a few bites of egg down, but he was too sick to eat any more than that. He was completely lost. Trivial little things, things that anyone who had lived in this world would know, worried him. He didn't know what time to leave, where to go, what to do with his trunk, or who he was supposed to sit with. The thought of blindly feeling his way through the entire day scared him senseless.
His head was just about ready to explode when Ginny popped into the room. Her hair was elegantly curled, her face painted with makeup, and the skirt of her school uniform a half a foot shorter than regulation.
"You look wonderful, my dear," Molly said, speaking for the first time that morning. Ginny positively beamed. George fought the urge to say that she looked like a complete whore.
"Thank you, Mother," Ginny said with a cotton-candy sweet smile.
That was as far as the breakfast conversation went. Once everyone was finished, an unfamiliar slave appeared to clean the dishes, Ginny went to the door and started whining that they had to leave immediately because she just had to catch up with Flora Carrow, Ron revealed that he'd forgotten to pack his trunk and ran to shove everything in it at the last minute, and Percy announced that he had to depart for the second Nurmengard branch at once. That left Fred and George alone with Molly.
"What're you still doing here?" she asked. They looked at each other in panic. Molly noticed the look and raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "Great. What're you two brats planning now?"
"Nothing, Mother," George said quickly, doing his best to plaster an innocent look on his face.
"He's serious. Nothing at all. We're just not quite ready to move yet," Fred added.
She fixed them with a look reminiscent of the one that their own mother had after they'd planted dung bombs under Aunt Muriel's chair.
"Not ready to move," she scoffed. "Well, you had better get ready quickly. Your sister is already ready to go."
"So are we," Fred protested.
"Completely packed?" she asked skeptically. The twins nodded furiously. "And you have not forgotten your bells?" They shook their heads. Molly looked surprised. Maybe impressed. "Well, that is a first. I will send Severus to retrieve your things. Go wait with Ginny at the door. As soon as your brother is finished packing, we shall go."
George relaxed. Apparently it wasn't uncommon for the other twins to be unorganized and erratic, so there was lesser chance that their confusion would be noted.
"Yes, Mother," Fred said, then got up and pushed his chair in. George followed behind him, and they apparated to the front door.
Ginny started when she saw them, but regained her composure quickly.
"Are you really so lazy as to have to apparate wherever you go?" she asked them tiredly.
"No, but this house is just so big and complicated that we would get lost if we didn't," George said jokingly, even though he was completely serious. Ginny fixed them with a glare.
"I cannot believe how immature the two of you are. Do you ever take anything seriously?"
"We'll start acting serious the second that you get that stick out of your arse and laugh for once," Fred replied. Ginny sputtered for a moment, then opened her mouth, no doubt to cuss them out, but was interrupted by Ron barging through the door.
George watched as their brother stiffened upon taking the three of them in. The youngest Weasley brother ran a hand through his tousled hair, then looked each of them in the eyes defiantly, as if he were daring them to comment on his late arrival.
Fred and George kept their mouths shut, but Ginny snorted harshly.
"I might as well be living with a family of Mudbloods, the way the three of you act," she said haughtily, then proceeded to step as far away from them as the small foyer would allow.
"She is such a prat," Fred muttered. "It's unbelievable."
Ron laughed nervously, but George chuckled outright, earning him another fierce glare from Ginny. Without thinking about it, he sent her his most infuriating smirk. It was completely natural, something that he simply did.
So why was Fred sending him such a strange look? And since when did he start throwing around Slytherin smirks? He shook the problem away as Molly entered the room. He needed to focus on everyone else so he knew what to do next.
"You are all ready. How… surprising. Now, let us be off," she said. Ginny proceeded to lead the family out the door.
George was shocked to see an elaborate black carriage waiting for them outside. A rather small black dragon with crimson spikes streaking down its back stood proudly in front of it, smoke puffing from its nostrils with every breath.
He shook his head in awe as he followed Ginny into the carriage. Even if he would give anything to be poor again, there were some things about having money that he did like. Honestly, a dragon-pulled carriage? That was bloody awesome.
"When we get back," Fred whispered to George as he took a seat beside him, "we are so getting one of these things."
"The dragon or the carriage?" George asked, taking in the dragon-skin seats and onyx walls that surrounded them.
"Both," Fred answered cheerfully as they jerked into the air.
For a few moments it was quiet, and then Ginny started talking with their mother about some stupid Halloween dance, and their brainless chatter on dresses and boys filled the carriage until it touched down fifteen minutes later.
George had expected something like the old King's Cross station, filled with chattering people, laughing families. Instead, only faint whispers of conversation reached his ears as he stepped out of the carriage.
Then he figured out why. Over two hundred people were all facing the enormous carriage. Some of them, slaves perhaps, were kneeling. Others had their heads inclined respectfully. Teenage girls and younger women curtseyed with flirtatious smiles and mischievous eyes. Younger girls huddled together, pointing and giggling. Parents scolded young sons for trying to get closer to the dragon, while they themselves watched the Weasleys with reverent but careful eyes.
Looking past all of the people, George saw that the station itself was dramatically different as well. There were no hidden barriers, no Platform 9 ¾. Just the Hogwarts Express, waiting for them in plain sight. Of course, there would be no use to hide magic any longer.
"You may return to your own business," Molly called out, and light conversation restarted, but everyone still had one eye on the Weasley family.
Ginny immediately left them to climb onto the train. Ron hurried over to where a somewhat familiar looking boy was speaking rather formally to his parents. George stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out who he was. Then the boy smiled at Ron, and it clicked. Neville Longbottom. Only he was at least thirty pounds lighter, and had an expression of ignorant self-worth that rivalled Marcus Flint.
George turned to point out his find to Fred, but then a pair of arms were around his waist.
"Ooh, Georgie, it's been such a long summer without you!"
He whirled around, sending the girl flying backwards, but reflexively catching her before she could fall. Then he saw who it was and nearly stumbled backwards in his haste to let her go.
Pansy Parkinson's eyes grew to the size of saucers at about the same moment that George realized that Pansy must be his… girlfriend. The thought made him shiver.
He opened his mouth to apologize, then remembered exactly who he was. Apologizing wouldn't be very good for maintaining his image.
"Merlin, Pansy. I'll kill you if you ever sneak up on me like that again," he said as harshly as he could manage, internally cringing when he saw her sneak back.
"I-I'm sorry," she said with a trembling lower lip. "I just missed you."
He wished he could simply melt into a puddle right then and there. Instead he forced a smirk and said, "Well, control yourself," he said. Then, just because she kind of looked like a kicked puppy and he was too soft for his own good, he leaned forward and kissed her for just a moment. Her lips were sticky, smothered in lipstick. Disgusting. "Got that, Angel?"
Pansy nodded.
"Yes, I do. I'm sorry that I caused a scene," she said.
"Well, just refrain from doing it again," he ordered, then turned away as he tried to inconspicuously get rid of the coating of lipstick he'd just received.
"Of course, Georgie," she said, then stepped forward and nuzzled against him. He stiffened, but gingerly put an arm around her shoulder. She smiled up at him. Huh. She was kind of cute. Annoying, yeah, but her face was really sweet. As long as she kept her mouth shut.
"Coming George, Pansy?" Fred asked. "We should be getting on the train."
"Oh, yes. Of course," Pansy said. "I'm sure that Daphne should already be there. Ooh, and Angelina. I haven't seen her in forever. She spent the summer in France, you know…."
Pansy continued to blabber on, but George wasn't really listening. He was still wondering about the mention of Angelina. He hadn't really thought about Draco's clear friendship with the twins before, but now that he did, it was odd. And Pansy was clearly excited to see him, too. Were there even houses anymore, or was it just Hogwarts? If there were still houses, there surely wasn't any house rivalries. Unless, of course, he was in Slytherin.
But no, that wouldn't make sense. Dumbledore had been a Gryffindor, so if anything, that would be the top house. He shook his head and led Pansy towards the Hogwarts Express. He would get answers to those questions soon enough. For now, he just had to work on acting like the old George.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like Pansy expected much conversation out of him. She didn't pause her incessant chatter until she found a carriage with two other girls sitting inside. She beamed, then ducked under George's arm and enveloped each girl in an enthusiastic hug. One of the girls… Angelina, doted on her, complimenting her new robes and saying how much that she missed her. The other one, Daphne, gave her a friendly greeting but didn't say anything else.
Once their little powwow was finished, Angelina smiled up at Fred and George, who were hesitating in the doorway.
"Nice to see you two again. How were your summers?"
Fred threw an easy smirk on his face.
"Well, we did just get our new slaves yesterday," he said as he took a seat next to Angelina. George slunk into the compartment after them, taking his place next to Pansy. She curled up next to him, and he fought the urge to be sick.
"Wow," Pansy said with wide eyes. "I forgot about that. What are they like?"
George shrugged.
"Mine hasn't woken up yet. It was a bitch to take care of, sick as a dog and everything, but I figured that it'd be more loyal to me if I saved its life. Didn't want a traitorous slave." He laughed harshly. "Draco's last one ended up getting put down. It's like they're getting more and more hard to control these days, so I took extra precautions."
"You are so smart," Pansy cooed.
"He is," Angelina agreed. "Although I'm sure he could have controlled any slave he wanted. It really isn't surprising that Draco's quit cooperating. He is much too weak to keep their loyalty."
"Weak?" Daphne asked, piping up for the first time. "I believe you are mistaken. He is too cruel. The slaves are not stupid. If they believe that it would be easier to die than to live, they will act in a manner that will get them killed."
George raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that bit of intelligent insight.
"Oh, you are simply too soft," Pansy argued. "The key isn't to be nice to them. Then they'll only take advantage of you. You have to break their spirits. Isn't that right, Georgie?" Suddenly he regretted thinking that she wasn't too bad. In this world, it was the sweet and innocent ones who you had to watch out for.
"Perhaps, but mine has no spirits to break. Ask Fred. He procured quite the firecracker himself."
Just then the door opened, and Draco Malfoy arrived, impeccably groomed and looking the part of a pureblood elitist perfectly.
The girls all greeted him warmly, and he responded with a stiff nod in their direction before he took a seat next to Fred.
"Okay, okay, now that we're all finished with that, I must ask you Fred, how do you say that a person should handle their slave?" Pansy asked hurriedly.
He hesitated for a moment, then said, "You treat them with a modicum of decency. Either they will appreciate it and obey your commands, or they will try to take advantage of it, in which instance you strip them of all humanity and force them to comply."
His voice was confident and joking through the speech, but George knew him well enough to know how disgusted he really was by his own words.
"Nicely put," Angelina said. "I must say that I truly appreciate his idea."
"Oh, really," Draco said. "Talking about the proper way to treat a slave? Why must we even give thought to those terrible creatures? There must be something else to talk about. Ah, Fred, George, I have never heard about how your Quidditch training went this summer. Is Krum as brilliant as they say?"
The twins exchanged a panicked look.
"Even better," George finally said. "A magnificent player. He taught us dozens of brilliant moves."
"Glad to hear it. Perhaps this year we can finally beat the Dumbledores, eh?"
The Dumbledores? Was that an actual house? Instead of the four houses, were there two? Grindelwald and Dumbledore? That wouldn't make for much of a Quidditch season, let alone a House Cup.
"I wouldn't expect anything less," Fred said vaguely.
"Good. Now, I heard Cassius talking about our strategy this year, and he thinks that we'll start running a 1-1-3 defense, where we've got the first two chasers stacked at the head of the formation, and then…."
Draco continued to talk about Quidditch for the next hour. The girls gradually lost interest and started talking about other things, even Angelina.
George vaguely kept an ear on their conversation, which was mainly just about their summers, spent at various locations around the globe. Eventually that trailed off until Pansy finally announced that she was going to take a nap and rested her head on George's chest. He closed his eyes for a moment to keep from doing something stupid, then tuned back into Draco's discussion of how badly Graham Montague, the Dumbledore's captain, cheated until Draco announced that he was going to take a nap as well.
After that, the rest of the people in the compartment started in on their own thing. Daphne opened up a thin paperback and started reading. Angelina turned her attention to the scenery flying past outside, and Fred leaned his head back against his seat and closed his eyes.
George simply sat there. He wasn't tired at all, and he doubted that he could sleep with Pansy using him as her personal pillow, anyway. The 'sweet' girl who talked about how important it was to break a person's spirit to obtain complete control over them. She had always been one of the people he hated most back at Hogwarts because she was impossible to ignore. She stuck her nose in everything and wouldn't shut her bloody mouth. Now, apparently she was his girlfriend, no doubt because she was rich and easy.
"You really don't like her, do you?"
George's head whipped up to the sound of the voice. Angelina was looking at him intently. He shrugged.
"She's hot, she's easy to manipulate, and she's rich. What else could I want?" he answered. It was the best other-George answer he could come up with. Angelina laughed.
"Obviously something else, or you wouldn't be looking at her like she's a Mudblood."
He shrugged, fishing for something to say. Finally he settled on, "You know that I wouldn't keep her around if I found anything better."
She finally assented to that, going back to looking out the window, but George could still feel her eyes on him every couple of minutes, like she wanted him to say more. Eventually he leaned back and closed his eyes in the hopes of avoiding anymore questions.
Thankfully, his idea worked. After a few minutes he heard Angelina and Daphne start talking about how they thought that Dumbledore wouldn't last much longer as Headmaster of the school. Apparently he was going bonkers.
Then Draco must have woken up, because George heard him join the conversation as it shifted towards expectations for their classes, and what they thought of certain teachers.
In what seemed like no time, Fred was shaking him awake. George opened his eyes slowly, as if he had actually been asleep, and Pansy started stirring in his arms, blinking tiredly.
"Whass'up?" he asked Fred sleepily.
"We're here," his twin answered.
"Great," Pansy said as she untangled herself from George. "I'm starving. I've missed Riddle's crew's cooking."
"Huh?" George asked, looking at her strangely.
"You must still be sleepy, Georgie," Pansy said with a laugh. "Tom Riddle. You know, the guy who feeds you whenever you guys sneak down to the kitchens."
His eyebrows rose high enough to disappear into his hair.
"Right, right, right. I totally forgot about that. His food really is brilliant."
He bit his lip against the urge to truly laugh for the first time since he had gotten to that twisted world. Lord Voldemort had ended up as Hogwarts head 'house elf'!
"Exactly," Pansy agreed. "No one makes chimichangas like his people do."
"Ooh, and don't forget about his éclairs," Angelina piped up. "Pure deliciousness."
"How amusing," Draco sneered as the train came to a stop. "I think that there are more exciting things at Hogwarts than some Mudblood's cooking."
George laughed when he saw Angelina glare at him as he exited the compartment. It was a look that was so purely her that he couldn't help cling to the hope that there were some things that just never changed.
After they exited the train, they were led to same horseless carriages that had always taken them to the castle before. The trip was spent listening to Draco go on about how stupid it was to be so excited about something as trivial as food when there were a million other wonders to behold at the school, such as Quidditch and potions class, which was apparently taught by Lucius Malfoy himself.
Then, in what seemed like no time at all, Fred and George were on the ground and entering Hogwarts once again.
George couldn't help but relax as he entered the school that had always seemed like a second home to him. Everything was still the same, at least at first. The same paintings smiled at him, the same suits of armor seemed to watch his every move. He was just thinking that maybe at the school, away from most of the cruelty of this world, he could make it until him and Fred found their way home.
That was when their little group entered the Great Hall.
As he had expected, there were two houses, two long tables. One with a crimson banner dangling in front of it, a phoenix proudly overlooking the students. The banner hanging over the other table was the deepest of black, a silver wolf representing Grindelwald's side.
He followed his group to that table, wondering what characteristics represented each, and wondering if they still used the sorting hat to decide which students went where.
"Ooh," Pansy said, literally tugging George out of his observations. "Look, isn't Grindelwald so magnificent? Much, much more regal than Dumbledore, don't you think?"
"Oh, yes. Much, much more regal," he agreed as he looked towards the staff table. To be honest, the man she was looking at was just as old and not a bit more 'regal' than Dumbledore. If anything, his old Headmaster was the most impressive of the two. He seemed years younger, stronger even, than what George remembered. His dark crimson robes were much more intimidating than the twinkling blue ones he had always worn, and his usual friendly smile looked a heck of a lot more menacing than his old one ever had.
Once they got to the end of the table, Pansy finally took a seat, and the rest of them sat around her. She continued chatting on about Grindelwald's obvious superiority until sixty or so nervous first years were herded into the Great Hall. It was then that George noticed the stool and Sorting Hat, sitting exactly where they always had. Another little familiar thing to latch onto.
The hat, however, didn't sing. It actually sounded a little bit grumpy as a professor that George did not recognize rushed through the sorting. Every 'Grindelwald' or 'Dumbledore' was said with a forced enthusiasm that showed George that even the bloody Sorting Hat missed the way that things used to be.
Then the Sorting was done, and Grindelwald stepped forward.
"Hello, students of Hogwarts," he said with a charismatic smile that made him look like a genial old man. "I am more than delighted to see all of you back here, ready to turn yourselves into productive, powerful witches and wizards. However, all of you know that my delight will not last long if you do not continue to apply yourselves wholeheartedly to your studies. Lazy, inept slackers will be thrown out of the school, and any unacceptable behavior will not be tolerated. You were all born of powerful, wealthy wizarding families, and it is up to you to keep yourself from becoming disgraces."
He paused for a moment, as if he wanted to let that sink in. His smile was still on his face.
"Very good. I see that you understand what I am saying. Now, in honor of the Greater Good, I shall read you all the Code of the Deathly Hallows. I expect your utmost attention."
And for once, George actually gave it to him, although the 'Code of the Deathly Hallows' was nothing more than a fancy name for a stupid constitution. Grindelwald read the whole thing, too, all half hour of it, from the introduction that basically said him and Dumbledore commanded total authority, to the thousand million stupid laws, to the punishments doled out if you broke those laws. Then, at the very end, there was even a wonderful ten minute section outlining how horrible non-Purebloods were.
The whole thing was such a load of bull that George nearly collapsed in relief when it was finally done. The sad thing was, though, that other than him and Fred, everyone else looked like they wanted him to keep going, like they were hanging onto Grindelwald's every word. It was disgusting.
Then Dumbledore stepped up to take his place, and George braced himself for another long speech. But all that his headmaster did was outline the rules that George had heard since his first year, reminding them to stay away from the Forbidden Forest and not pull any stupid pranks, like anyone would actually go against Grindelwald anyway. Although the looks that Fred and George received from anyone near them told George that apparently the two of them had gone against the dictator. That was the first time he was actually kind of proud of the old George.
Then all of the good old rules were gone, and Dumbledore spewed out a list of slave regulations in one huge rush of air. "No student under their seventh year is allowed a slave. Students who do own their own slaves must keep them at either their own property, or in their dorm rooms. The school will not provide additional lodging or meals for slaves. Slaves are allowed in classes, but any disruptions will not be tolerated."
Then he took a deep breath and flashed a slightly insane smile towards all of the students. "Now that those unpleasantries are through, I do believe that you all must be starving. So, tuck in. You will need the energy for your classes tomorrow."
With that, an enormous spread of food appeared on the two tables, but George had his eyes on Dumbledore as the old man returned to his seat, smiling and humming to himself, looking like a harmless, half dead old geezer. George wondered if it was an act, or if all of the headmaster's horrible crimes had turned his brain to mush. Looking at him, he wasn't sure that he wanted to know.
"Aren't you going to eat, Georgie?" Pansy asked. George forced a smile and started piling delicious-looking food onto his plate, figuring that not eating wouldn't do him any good.
He nearly moaned after he took the first succulent bite of his roast. Voldemort was a damn good cook. He inhaled his entire plate within minutes, but the students all hung around after they were finished, talking and laughing with each other until Dumbledore stood up and dismissed them.
George followed Pansy out of the Great Hall, sticking by her as closely as he could because he had no idea where the Grindelwald dorms would be. After a while, though, their direction was clear. For whatever reason the Grindelwalds had been given the old Gryffindor dorms, and for once George knew exactly where to go. He grinned as he followed the crowd through the portrait of the Fat Lady and found himself in the room he knew so well.
Yes, all of the gold and crimson was replaced by silver and black, and the place had a colder feeling to it in general, but it was still the same room, the same place where he had virtually grown up in. The familiarity of it had him smiling.
He was even happier when he followed Cassius Warrington, a Slytherin git who was in their year, to their dorms. The room was so similar to the one that he had stayed in just last year that if Lee had been there in place of Warrington, Roger Davies, and Jared Macmillan, he would have almost been able to believe that everything was normal.
As it was, Warrington was treating him like a good friend, Davies had his scrawny little slave dressing him for bed, and Jared was ordering his slave to get his books in order for the next day. Most definitely not normal.
With a sigh, he laid himself down on his bed, not even bothering to change. All that he wanted was to escape that stupid world as quickly as possible. Fortunately, he managed to fall asleep nearly instantly.
A/N-
Ugh, I get to writing these, and then they always seem to stretch out to twice the length I had planned, in addition to not covering as much as I would have liked. Oh well, I guess none of my readers have complained about it yet, so I guess it isn't too much of an inconvenience.
Hope you liked it, and I'll love you forever if you review.
~bballgirl32~
