Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter series and I am not making profit from this.
Author's Note: I'm not sure how I did on this one. I think I'm better at writing angsty things rather than about the life of a light-hearted prankster. But please enjoy, nonetheless, and review if you feel like it.
Fred Weasley
1. When he was born, he didn't wail like the other newborns did. No, since when was Fred Weasley like the other children? When the Healers received him, he had thrown his head back (as much as an infant could do) and laughed.
So it wasn't much of a surprise that he died laughing, too.
2. At the age of eleven, Fred had secretly learned to make Polyjuice potion. After fooling even his mother, he walked into a bar as Bill Weasley while the real Bill was out on a date. It was his favorite prank because, unlike the others, he was never caught and no one knew about it.
No one aside from George, obviously.
3. George and he didn't mean to become Gryffindor beaters for the team. They had stolen two confiscated broomsticks from Snape (the brooms belonged to the twins' friends), and were running for their lives from a livid potion's master. Then they stumbled into the Quidditch field where try-outs were currently taking place. Desperate to get away from the professor, they had mounted the brooms and shot away. Even years after, Fred continued to brag about how Oliver went on and on about his brilliance in flight.
He didn't mention, however, the fact that Snape had furiously given them detention every evening for three months and fifty points deducted from Gryffindor... each.
4. Personally, he liked the name "Gred" more than his birth name. "Fred" seemed too… ordinary for him.
Besides, the combining of his brother and his name signified how the two separate lives of the twins were, in their own ways, intertwined.
5. The first word he learned to say was "George". (Likewise, George's first word was his brother's name.)
Molly was rather disappointed that it was not "Mum", while Arthur had clasped his hands together and exclaimed, tears of joy littering his face, that the brotherly love between his sons was amazingly strong.
6. The first person he said "I love you" to was not to his parents, but rather his twin brother (at age four).
The other Weasley siblings had hooted and teased him, bringing tears of hurt to his eyes. George had taken his brother in his arms and embraced him tightly, throwing defiant looks at the others.
7. He was born a prankster. When he was nine, he had tried to go on for a day without playing a single joke on anyone. Then Charlie came back from Hogsmeade with a bag of tricks he was going to save until he got back to school where he could prank his friends. Fred, who couldn't resist the urge, snuck an acid pop from the bag and fed it to seven year-old Ron.
It was then that he learned a new use of a broomstick. His mom had given him the worst whooping of his life with her trusty Cleansweep.
8. After failing countless times at reading the Marauder's Map, Fred had wanted to chuck the parchment into a fire. George had challenged him by saying "Filch would probably have wanted that thing burned. Are you against him or are you turning into a saint?"
Fred had raised his wand angrily, pointing at George who held up the parchment as a shield, "You idiot. Of course, and I solemnly swear, I'm up to no good with whatever I do!" And just like that, lines began to appear.
9. Even as he walked into battle, Fred had a horrible feeling that he wasn't going to come out alive. He promised himself, however, that no matter what, he would go down with a smile on his face.
He would not allow anything, not even death, to ruin his image of a brilliant, cheerful joker.
He kept his promise.
10. Although everyone thought he hated Percy for being so perfect, it wasn't the truth. Fred had always prided himself in the fact that, despite the vastness of his family, they were able to pull as one through thick and thin. But when Percy left, he broke this harmony. It was more of hurt and betrayal that Fred had felt, not hate.
When Percy had returned to the family and even cracked a joke, Fred had felt light with relief. In that split second, a single thought flitted across his mind. I'm so happy that even death can't take away this joy.
And it was true. For when death came to pick up the young red-head, it was almost blinded with the brightness of the grin, the laughter, on his youthful face.
I am not trying to imply that there's anything more than brotherly love between Fred and George. The whole "I love you" thing in #6 was a pure, sibling remark. (They were only four, such an innocent age, at the time!)
