Chapter 7

Whatever they'd expected time travelling to feel like, it wasn't like this. They expected it to feel like Apparating. As though they were being squeezed through a tube of time and space. But this wasn't like that. It was more like Flooing. But really, it was different to that too. It was probably most similar to a rollercoaster. There was the distinctive feeling of your stomach dropping and their ears popped and their eyes were squeezed shut against the oncoming rush of wind that suddenly came their way.

Fred and George finally opened their eyes to see themselves still standing in the same, smallish room as they had been when they took the potion.

"Did it work?" Fred asked.

"I dunno… I mean we're in exactly the same place…"

"…But is it the same time…?" Fred continued for George.

"I guess we ought to find out," George finally finished.

Fred and George began walking. Supposing that the passage was the same thirty years ago, then all they had to do was walk out, hopefully without running into any trouble. They came out of the passageway to find that the corridors still looked exactly the same. There were no differences to the untrained eye, however to anyone familiar enough with the place (and who pained enough attention), or, like me, has an unlimited knowledge about Hogwarts, there were a few subtle differences. There were fewer portraits, possibly because thirty years ago, they hadn't been painted. However, Fred and George, never having paid proper attention, didn't realize that the portraits were missing.

They knew that they were on the fourth floor from the most recognizable features on the floor. "We either go up to the Gryffindor tower, but we don't know the password and we haven't been sorted yet. Or we go to Dumbledore's office. He only ever sets his passwords as sweets so we could break in," Fred said, contemplating their options.

"Suppose. That's probably the best we can do. I mean, what with the whole, he's the only person who knows that we're coming to Hogwarts." George smiled sweetly as anger tainted his words, cursing his twin's stupidity.

"Fine!" Fred said. "We're off to see the wizard of Hogwarts in his own private tower."

"That reminds me of that Muggle film that Ginny wanted to watch because apparently Harry liked it. That one… Erm… The Wizard of Oz."

Lord knows how it happened, but less than two minutes later Fred and George were skipping down the corridors of Hogwarts, arm in arm, singing: "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Hogwarts," over and over again. They attracted a few strange looks, but I'm not sure if that's because people didn't know who they were or because people were scared. On second thoughts, it was probably because they thought that they were completely insane. Sorry, but wouldn't you think that? They reached the Headmaster's office without any clue at all what the password was. That's when they started to just guess.

"Lemon sherbet," Fred started.

"Cockroach clusters."

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans?"

"Acid pops?"

"Droobles Best Blowing Gum?"

"Chocoballs?"

"Blood-flavoured Lollipops?"

"Chocolate Frogs?"

"Exploding Bonbons?"

"Fudge Flies?"

"Jelly Slugs?"

"Ice mice?"

"Liquorice Wands?"

"I'm out of ideas," George said.

"You idiot. You're forgetting the most important one! FIZZING WHIZZBEES!"

The gargoyle sprang away from the door to reveal the stairs up towards the often visited Headmaster's office. George stepped through.

"Mr. Prewett and Mr. Prewett," Professor Dumbledore said, seated behind his desk. "I didn't realize that Professor Slughorn had given you the password to my office. In fact, I distinctly remember him saying that I was to expect a knock on the door because he refused to give the password to you."

"We're not-"

"-The Prewetts, sir."

"We're the new transfer students, sir."

"Ah yes. I wondered when you'd arrive. I take it you're Fred and George Williamson."

"Yes, sir," George said.

"I'm afraid we have some formal procedures to follow at the moment."

"We supposed as much, sir," Fred stated.

"We'll begin by making sure that all of your papers are in order before sorting you." Dumbledore reached across his desk, to a cabinet across the room that was standing by the wall. He murmured a wandless spell to unlock it. The drawer slid open and from it Dumbledore reached out two pieces of parchment. One was Fred's and the other was George's.

"You must simply check that everything is correct." He handed a piece of parchment to each of them. Fred and George looked over them before exchanging looks.

"Professor, could we please talk outside for a moment?" George said, attempting to look casual.

"Of course," Dumbledore said, granting them a moment to speak in private.

"Thank you, sir," Fred began. "We'll only be a minute." They stood up from their chairs and left the room.

"You IDIOT!"George shouted. "We're supposed to be in SEVENTH YEAR. It said on those blasted papers that we're SIXTEEN! That means we're in SIXTH YEAR!"

"Well then, I guess I've done my math wrong."

"This is important! If we're not in the same year as them then… well, then."

"Just see what else the parchment says and we can correct any mistakes."

"Yes, but how do we know that we're in the same year as The Marauders?"

"James Potter was Head Boy in seventh year. We'll just ask who Head Boy and Girl are."

"Agreed."

As if sensing that they were finished talking, the door to the headmaster's office swung open. Fred and George stepped through the open door, looking slightly wary, suspecting that Dumbledore may have over heard their conversation. Once again they took their seats across from Dumbledore.

"Professor, we were wondering if we could ask you a question," Fred said, looking as though he didn't particularly care.

"Of course. Go ahead," Dumbledore replied, taking a lemon sherbet from a dish. He unwrapped it and began eating it.

"Who are the Head Boy and Girl this year?" (

"This year they are Miss. Irene Abbot and Mr. Callum Smith."

"Thank you, sir."

Fred turned to George and began to whisper to him. "We're in the right year. They were the head boy and girl the year before Lily and James."

"Good. You're lucky then. Otherwise you would be dead," George said, although he was too happy for the threat to sound real. George turned back to Dumbledore. "Anyway, sir, everything's correct."

"Well. All that's left is for you to be sorted. I presume you know about the Houses?"

"Yes, sir. Gryffindor is for the brave-"

"-Ravenclaw is for the smart-"

"-Hufflepuff is for the loyal-"

"-And Slytherin is for the, er, ambitious."

"Yes. And you know how you're to be sorted?"

"Sorting hat, sir."

"Well then, we can continue."

Dumbledore stood up and from a shelf, reached down the Sorting Hat. He passed it first to George who placed it on his head, not looking at all nervous for he was confident that he would be in Gryffindor.

"Ah, my boy. You are a true Gryffindor aren't you. A few Slytherin tendencies. No, no. I don't mean any offence by that, boy. And clever enough when it comes to things you're passionate about for a Ravenclaw. And you're loyal, aren't you? Loyal to your friends and your enemies. Although it's only right that you're a Gryffindor. There hasn't been a Weasley who wasn't a Gryffindor for many years. And you aren't the one who will break the tradition. So I place you in GRYFFINDOR!"

George grinned before passing the hat on to Fred. "So you're the brains behind the plan… Hmm… You're very similar to your twin, different only at the core. I shouldn't bother to repeat what I said to your twin, but that's all that I will end up doing. I'll say one thing though. There hasn't been a Weasley who wasn't a Gryffindor for many years. And you aren't the one who will break the tradition. But beware the one who will. GRYFFINDOR!"

Fred grinned along with George, waiting for Dumbledore to speak. Instead, the professor merely cleared his throat. "If I could have my hat back, please?" he asked, his blue eyes twinkling over the tops of his glasses. Fred blushed a deep red, before taking it off of his head and handing it back to Dumbledore.

"Winnie," Dumbledore said, calling a house elf to him. "If you could place two more beds in the Gryffindor, boys, sixth year, dorm."

"Of course, sir. It is Winnie's pleasure, sir. Winnie will do it right away, sir."

"Thank you, Winnie," Dumbledore said, smiling serenely. Winnie Disapparated away to the boys dormitory, where she placed two new beds next to each other.

Author's Note: Yes, you probably all want to kill me. I'm sorry. I was supposed to update on Friday. However, being an idiot, and completely unorganised, I forgot. I have the next chapter written, so I'm pretty sure that that WILL be up on Friday, especially as it has been beta-ed too, by my awesome beta, BeccaBaby. Thanks, again. Oh and before you readers go pointing fingers, the lack of update has absolutely NOTHING to do with BeccaBaby. She'd finished betaing this chapter by Friday. It was just my idioticness.

Anyway, the next chapter's longer, so I hope you enjoy it.

I may change the update pattern to every other Friday, purely because when I start school again, I definitely won't have time to write. It's a VERY important year next year and, as much as I love fanfiction, my work comes first. This just means that hopefully, I'll have more chapters written by the time school starts. Therefore, I should be able to keep regular updates.

Please PM / review me if you mind the fact that it may every other Friday. Also, if you have anything that you want to happen in this story, please PM / review me and I'll try and write it in. I have an idea from my beta BeccaBaby, which I'll write in soon enough. But any more ideas or criticisms would be greatly appreciated.

So basically, anything you want writing into this story, TELL ME! I'll DEFINITELY try and write it in.

Sorry for the MASSIVE author's note.

Evelyn

P.S. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.