A/N: I wasn't going to upload two today but I had an issue uploading chapter seven so could you let me know if it went up or not please? Anyways, enjoy chater eight! Exciting story is nearly upon us! ;D
Chapter 8
Fred spent the next few days in a strange, half-conscious state with a high fever. Each morning he'd try and convince his mum to let him go out with George, Bea, Bill and Charlie to play Quidditch but he was told off every time and had to watch sadly as his family went out without him. Ron stopped going with them, too scared there'd be a repeat of what previously happened.
When Fred had finally recovered, there were only a few days remaining before Bill returned to Egypt. He was more than annoyed that he hadn't got to spend much time with his older brother, but Bill promised he'd try and be back for Christmas.
On the last evening before Bill headed back to work, they all had a huge dinner together. George helped Fred come through from the lounge, where he'd been stuck for nearly a week under his mother's concerned eye and together, the twins laughed and joked. Bea sat silently between Ginny and Bill, opposite the twins and Charlie. She'd started talking to Ginny when Fred got hurt and George was too busy fussing over his twin to do much else. The girls had quickly become very close, and Bea regretted not trusting Ginny enough previously. Every so often throughout the meal, Bea would turn and look at Ginny and the girls would giggle quietly for no particular reason.
The rest of the holidays were spent convincing Mrs Weasley to let Fred back on a broomstick and excitedly awaiting their Hogwarts letters. When they finally came about a week before term restarted, Charlie beamed as a small badge fell out his envelope.
"I'm Head Boy!" he said excitedly, "Head boy and quidditch captain!"
"Alright, Charlie, calm down," George said, "Swat."
"Oi! You're just annoyed because now I can give you two detentions."
"Two?" Fred scoffed, "Aren't you forgetting someone?" He pointed his fork at Bianca.
"Rubbish," Ginny said, "Bea's an angel."
"Bea's about as angelic as Snape in the mornings."
Bea put a hand to her heart and feigned looking offended.
Mrs Weasley took their letter from them and wrote a long list of everything they'd need when they went shopping. That afternoon they all made their way to Diagon Alley to collect all their supplies.
Fred, George and Bianca spent their final week at home putting together pranking supplies and talking excitedly amongst themselves about the year ahead.
They met up with Lee on the platform and, after promising a crying Ginny that they'd write to her, they boarded the train and were off again to Hogwarts.
When Dumbledore announced that trials would be held for the Quidditch teams within the first few weeks, Fred and George shared an excited glance and looked down the table at Charlie, who winked at them. They spent the evening eating as much food as they could, discussing Quidditch with their friends and making fun of Fred for his 'heroic' injury from the holidays.
Unsurprisingly, a few weeks later, the twins were named the new Gryffindor beaters. Alicia and Angelina became two of the three chasers and a fifth year was named the third. The keeper from last year, Oliver Wood, kept his position, and Charlie obviously remained as seeker. Lee volunteered to do the commentary for the matches, and with a little reluctance, Professor McGonagall allowed him to do so.
With the new, strong team, Gryffindor managed to win every match they played, but Fred made a point of avoiding flying near the hoops. Charlie and Oliver, who seemed to be slightly obsessed with the sport, were overjoyed when their team was handed the Quidditch Cup. Lee had commentated the match with a debatable degree of success. The twins thought he did an excellent job, but McGonagall wasn't so impressed. The house decided to throw a party in the common room to celebrate. George turned to Fred and Bianca, "Well," he said, "It's been nearly two years, why don't we go and investigate the kitchens?"
So, the three slipped out of the room, the twins still wearing their Quidditch uniforms, and ran down to the bottom corridor, carefully following the Marauder's Map's instructions and ending up in front of a painting of a fruit bowl.
"The painting is laughing on the map," said Bianca, "Maybe we have to tell it a joke?"
So the three tried every joke they knew, but the entrance stayed firmly shut. The twins even tried a slapstick comedy routine but to no avail.
"I know!" George suddenly exclaimed, "Tickle it!"
"What?"
"Tickle the painting! Everyone's ticklish, right?"
So Fred stepped forward and tickled the fruit bowl, but nothing happened. He moved his finger from fruit to fruit until finally, it landed on the pear, and the painting swung open like a door.
"That's how you get in?" Bianca asked in disbelief, "You tickle the pear?"
George smirked, "Apparently, come on."
They followed Fred into the kitchens and were greeted with an array of shocked looking faces.
"House elves?" Fred exclaimed, "House elves work in the kitchens?"
One of them seemed to recover from their shock and moved away from the station it was working at, "We is doing all the work around Hogwarts sirs and miss. We cooks all the meals and cleanses all the common rooms when the students has gone to bed!"
"You all work at Hogwarts?" Bianca asked.
"Why yes, of course!" Another house elf stepped forward and said. "We is being more than happy to make kind sirs and miss some foods."
"Well, you see, we're having a bit of a party and-" Fred started.
And with that, they all started cooking madly. Within minutes, the three had their arms stacked high with all sorts of food.
"Thank you very much," said George.
"You is most welcome," one of the house elves said, beaming happily, "You will all be coming back to see us?"
"I reckon so," Fred grinned.
The three were praised greatly for bringing back so much food to the common room, and for the rest of the year, they visited the house elves in the kitchen at least every week for a snack or for a hiding place when they were running from Filch.
They also made a few trips down to visit Hagrid, the groundskeeper. He was very close to Charlie and the twins had suggested they go and get to know him too. Bianca's love for magical creatures meant after Hagrid had moved away from the fact these were the three he'd spent so much time chasing away from the forest, they got along very well.
Their second year had passed too quickly for their liking. It seemed like after only several more trips into the Forbidden Forest, a lot of pranks and a few detentions that they were sat together again in the Great Hall for the end of year feast. Bianca, George and Fred appreciated their meals much more once they knew who was behind cooking them all, and made sure to pop in to visit the kitchens to say goodbye to the house elves before they boarded the train.
As they wouldn't be allowed to use magic when they were at home, Bea, Fred, George, Lee, Angelina and Alicia all started something of a war on the train home. They each bewitched each other as secretly as they could in the hope the others wouldn't notice before they got off the train and could no longer fix it or get payback. The group were all leaving the train with strange coloured hair and odd markings on their faces, earning more than a few odd looks from parents on the platforms. Mrs Weasley tutted and with a swift wave of her wand returned her children's features to normal.
"Is Bill coming back for the holidays?" Fred asked when they returned to the Burrow.
Mrs Weasley looked at her children sadly, "Bill's caught up in work," she said slowly, "They've found a new pyramid and it's the worst they've found in decades. It's hard enough work keeping the Muggles away, let alone breaking all the curses, he says some of them are deadly."
"The muggles or the curses?" Fred joked with an immature snigger.
"Don't be silly, Fred, you know very well that I mean the curses."
"So he isn't coming?" Bea asked.
He hadn't been able to return at Christmas either, because his boss wasn't happy about him coming home twice so close together.
"I'm sorry," Mrs Weasley said sadly.
That set the holidays off to quite a miserable start, and the mood wasn't improved when Charlie made an announcement one night at dinner.
Errol, the Weasley's owl had arrived at the Burrow, after falling down the fireplace, with a letter tied to his leg.
"It's from the ministry," Percy said, "It's addressed to Charlie."
"Me?" Charlie, although he seemed surprised, knew exactly what the envelope would hold, "It's my NEWT results!" he cried.
"Open it!" George said excitedly.
"I passed everything!" Charlie exclaimed, "I did it all!"
Mrs Weasley ran around the table and wrapped her son in a huge hug, "I'm so proud!"
"Mum," Charlie said quietly, "I know what I want to do. I've been looking into a course, a course to study dragons. And I've got all the grades now."
"Why do I sense a 'but'? Charlie that's brilliant!" Mrs Weasley told him with a smile.
"I'd have to go to Romania."
"You're going to study dragons," Fred asked, "In Romania?"
"Yeah," Charlie itched the back of his neck awkwardly, "I won't have to leave yet, not until the end of the holidays."
Fred and George shared a sad look but George turned and said, "Charlie, you've wanted to work with dragons since before we can remember."
"Yeah," said Fred, "We can't stop you now you've got the chance to follow your dreams. Besides, once you clear out, there'll be more space for everyone else."
"You can go all the way to Romania to study dragons," Bea said, and everyone gasped when they realised she'd spoken in front of everyone for the first time, "That's the best opportunity you're going to get for a long time. You've got the grades, and you've definitely got the skills, why not go for it?"
"And leave all of you? Without me here you three would burn the house down!"
"We're not that stupid," Fred protested, still looking at Bea in surprise, "Anyway, little miss angel over there will keep us in line."
Bea smiled, "You have to promise to visit."
"All the time," Charlie said, grinning.
Mrs Weasley didn't seem to know what to say. She was over the moon for her son, but couldn't believe two of her children had finished Hogwarts already. Ron would be starting this year, then Ginny the year after.
Charlie made sure to spend his last holiday at home in good spirits. He helped out as much as he could and was more than happy to entertain Bea, Fred and George to keep them out of trouble. They had contests to see how could fire gnomes the furthest using Bill's old underpants, sat in the living room and listened to Charlie tell stories about his time at Hogwarts. Some were truer than others, but they were enjoyable all the same. He began tickle wars with his younger siblings and helped them all with their holiday homework.
There was a very sombre mood in the house on Charlie's last night. Ginny had spent hours crying and hugging her brother before Mrs Weasley took her up to bed, promising she could see Charlie in the morning, before he left. Ron was trying to act strong and not be upset but ended up following his little sister up the stairs to avoid the tears which were threatening to fall. Percy had wrapped Charlie in a big hug and told him he'd miss him before he too retired to bed.
"Honestly," Charlie sighed, "It's like I'm dying or something. They do realise they're going to see me again, right?"
Fred laughed and hopped onto Charlie's back, wrapping his arms around his older brother's neck. This was the beginning of a new game they'd developed in which the two people being carried would try and dislodge each other by any means, other than violence.
Bianca quickly 'mounted' George and they took their places on either side of the room.
"Charge!" Fred and Bea yelled in unison and George and Charlie ran towards each other.
Fred stretched his arms out, ready to tickle Bianca as he passed, but Bea had grabbed the feather duster and was waving it around madly. As Charlie and George circled each other, Fred reached into his pocket and removed a dungbomb. Charlie approached George and Fred threw the bomb into his brother's face, before using one arm to cover his own mouth and nose, and the other to cover Charlie's. George began gagging as he stumbled around the room, trying desperately not to breathe in any of the disgusting fumes being released. But, the stench became too much and George dropped Bianca who was also coughing and spluttering.
"Open a window!" George yelled, "You won!"
Still covering his mouth, Fred hopped off Charlie's back and ran over to a window to swing it open. The gas slowly started to vanish out the window and they were all soon breathing in fresh air.
"You cheated!" Bianca accused and she launched herself at Charlie. This broke into the biggest tickle war they'd had that holiday.
Eventually, they all collapsed onto the floor, chuckling and gasping for air.
"I won," Charlie announced. Fred, George and Bea seemed to take this as a challenge and all, with one look, all decided to gang up on their older brother. They attacked him until Charlie was wheezing through his laughs, begging them to stop. So they all sat together on the sofa.
"I'll miss you," Charlie said, "All of you."
"Me the most though," said Bianca.
"Obviously," Charlie laughed and winked, "Everyone knows you're my favourite."
"Oi!" Fred and George protested, "We're right here!"
"I know," Charlie said smugly. The four sat together in silence for a while before Charlie sighed and said, "One day, a little seven-year-old boy was sitting at home with all his brothers and his mother in their wonderful, magical house."
He continued to tell the story exactly how he'd done it the first time, even waiting for Fred to ask how it ended before he concluded the tale how he had done before, "As the girl grows more and more, she learns more about who she is and decides that she doesn't need records and birth certificates to know who she is and lives the rest of her life happily with her real family. The family who has loved her from the first day they saw her and will love her until the end,"
But this time he added something onto the end, "And even when her family moved away for work, they always thought about her and her stupid brothers. She was always on their mind, with her jokes and beautiful smile, and they knew that even when they were apart, true family could never be separated."
It wasn't often that someone could give the twins reason to be serious, but Charlie's stories always managed it. The four sat together in content silence, watching the summer sun set.
"It's late," Charlie said eventually, "I have to get up early tomorrow. So do you, you all have school!"
"Stay down here with us?" George asked quietly.
"Yeah, come on Charlie, you might not see us for years, sleep down here," Fred said and Bea looked up with hopeful eyes.
"Oh, fine," Charlie gave in and got up to grab some blankets and pillows from the cupboard.
He settled back down next to Fred and threw one of the blankets at George and Bianca.
"You won't give Ron a hard time at Hogwarts, will you?" Charlie said.
"Hard?" George said.
"Never, not hard," Fred said innocently.
"More like, challenging," Bianca agreed.
Charlie laughed, "He's only a first year, I remember when you three were in his shoes."
"Yeah, but ickle Ronniekins deserves to be teased. We're just there to make sure he isn't miserable. Got to keep everything cheerful," George explained.
"We won't be mean," Fred said, "We just feel that it's our duty to ensure Ron doesn't forget that he's still our little brother."
Charlie shook his head in despair, "You're evil, all of you."
The four stayed up chatting for hours, until, all yawning, they began drifting off to sleep. Bianca was cuddled up with George while Charlie slumped over in an armchair next to the fire and Fred's head was leaning on George's shoulder. Bianca always felt safe with the twins, no matter what situation she was in, so George's slow, steady breathing was enough to send her off into a deep, peaceful sleep.
