Title: Beware of Potions

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Summary: Fred and George create a new product in the summer before their 6th year, but when one of them samples it, they find that it has far different effects than they'd hoped for.

Chapter Nine

That damned dripping sound – he was so thirsty, too.

He'd been trying to count each series of three, just to keep his mind occupied. Fred was up to two hundred and seven now, although he knew there had been many more than that. He couldn't help it; he kept falling asleep where he lay.

Part of him wondered if he'd hit his head, and whether that might be why he couldn't stay awake for more than a few hundred counts of the dripping noise. He wasn't sure if his limited attention span was more due to the pain in his head or the increasingly irritating sound.

Despite only having about twenty seconds between each series of drips, he was able to mostly recall what had led to his being imprisoned in this dark and freezing cold room. Fred honestly couldn't puzzle out why he would have led himself and his twin to Knockturn Alley. He remembered not being worried about it in the slightest – as if it had just been a game that he'd been playing with George. 'I guess it's obvious who won, then,' Fred thought sardonically.

Drip… drip… drip…

Fred stared ahead at nothing, thinking back on how he and his twin had fired off spells at each other in various stores. He smiled lightly as he thought about how much trouble they'd be in when their mum found out. The smile fell when he again asked himself, 'Why didn't I just listen to him?'

Drip… drip… drip…

He closed his eyes, his nerves frayed from hearing that sound over and over. Honestly, he would learn wandless magic just to –

Creak…

Fred opened his eyes, even though he couldn't see a thing, and looked all around, wondering if he had really heard that last sound. Was someone coming back? Maybe they hadn't forgotten him! 'Then again, that might be just as bad as being left alone,' he noted silently.

But a new sound was good. It meant that something was changing. Whether the change was good or bad, he didn't know, but he longed to hear something other than that dripping sound. He cringed when he thought about seeing light again. He'd once stayed up all night when he was a kid; he'd been hiding with George in the attic and making sure all the lights were off. They knew that Mum would come and make them do chores in the morning and both boys wanted to stall as much as they could. So they played in the dark without making any noise, until their mum had come up and lit the room with a bright light from her wand. His eyes had been sore for a while after becoming so adjusted to the dark and that was only after one night. He worried about what it would be like if – when – he saw light next.

Drip… drip… drip…

He strained his ears to try and detect anything else, but he couldn't hear a single noise other than the drip. Just as he was about to owe it all to his desperation to hear something else, a sound that could have been someone's voice echoed towards him. All Fred could hear was the noise of it. He couldn't piece out what was being said at all.

Suddenly, the noise from the voice became louder and then a there was a split second of nothing.

Thump.

Fred wasn't sure why, but that last sound sent shivers down his spine. It was that same sense that you get when you know that someone's talking about you. The teen felt frozen to the spot and waited for that familiar sound to come back. As much as he loathed it, he knew that without it, the only sense he would be able to use would be touch, and the cold had already numbed that sense to the point that it was useless.

Drip… drip… drip…

He sighed in relief. He didn't know what had caused the thump to echo in his direction, but he felt that he was probably better off not knowing.


George let himself lean against his older brother as he tried to regain control. He didn't trust himself to say anything, although he knew Bill – it had to be Bill that was with him – would want to talk before heading back to the Burrow.

Until that moment though, he let himself be comforted by arms that wrapped around him and held him securely in place. It was strangely cold that night, but he felt warm at the moment and kept his eyes closed, allowing himself to relax and breathe a bit more easily. They stayed like that for a while until George opened his eyes and looked ahead.

It was darker out now than it had been when he'd left the house, although he felt like his eyes had adjusted enough so that he could see just fine. He sat up and twisted slightly, so he could say something to his brother, although he had no idea what to say. As he turned though, he saw who it was and it definitely wasn't Bill.

It was Percy. George stared at him for a moment and Percy looked right back, not looking at him with pity or anything; he just calmly looked back at George. He wasn't sure if he was laughing, or if it was something else all together, but George felt his shoulder shake a bit before he let himself lean into Percy.

"Gee, Perce, but you're the last person I expected to see here," George commented, attempting to smile faintly at this new turn of events as he pulled away from his brother. The emotions choked him up too much though, and he turned to gaze out at the trees again.

Percy nodded and said, "Me too. I'm glad you stopped when you did, 'cause I don't think I could have kept up for much longer. You run too fast."

George just nodded back at him and they both sat quietly for a few minutes. It was a rare event indeed in which either of the twins and Percy even got along, much less were able to spend time near each other without driving the other up the wall. He wondered idly why Percy, of all his siblings, had been the one to come out here. He almost suspected, though it was horrible of him to think it, that Percy would feel as if the twins had deserved this for all the torment they caused their older brother.

Almost as if he'd heard George's thoughts, Percy began to speak. "Once, when I was five, I was playing with something of Bill's. It was a glass ornament with moving snowflakes that would drift along the outside of it as you spun it around. I wasn't supposed to be playing with it, so when Bill saw me, he shouted at me to put it down. He startled me and I dropped it, and the glass shattered on the floor. He was so upset, even after Mum came up and fixed it right back to normal."

George didn't say anything as Percy spoke. He hadn't heard his brother talk like this since he and Fred were much younger and, though he would be reluctant to admit it, the sound was relaxing to listen to.

Percy continued on with the story. "Bill didn't talk to me for a couple days, and it was during that time that I found out that the ornament had belonged to our great-grandmother."

He didn't have any memories of the woman, though George had known all about her, for his mum had talked about her a lot when they were younger. She'd been quiet, but very caring and giving. She had made one of those ornaments for each of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Fred and George had each received one, though they had long since been stored somewhere safe due to the fact that the twins couldn't hold onto anything breakable without risking its welfare for long.

George thought about where those ornaments might be for a moment, finding that he suddenly had an urge to see them. He missed a bit of what Percy had been saying.

"…and even despite that, he still wouldn't talk to me. I couldn't really understand why though." Percy was gazing out at the trees, though it was obvious that he was lost in a memory. "A few days later, I was outside with Charlie and he had been trying to climb on Dad's shed, which I knew was a bad idea. I had tried to tell him to come down, and he finally did – he landed right on top of me. The bloody idiot broke my arm and didn't even have a scratch on himself."

The mental image of a young Charlie falling on an even younger Percy made George snicker quietly. Not to mention the fact that Percy had just used a word that George had been convinced was not in the older boy's vocabulary, since it was 'improper' or something like that.

"Charlie ran back inside and I was sure he'd get Mum, but instead, Bill came out. I figured he'd just ignore me since he had still seemed mad that morning. Imagine my surprise when he started to look more upset than I was and then carried me back into the house. I remember that I wasn't sure whether I should feel happy that he no longer was ignoring me or embarrassed at how he was fussing over me." Percy rolled his eyes and muttered, "Honestly, sometimes he's worse than Mum…"

George knew where Percy was going with this. He felt guilty for thinking badly of his brother when he'd first realized just who had come outside with him.

"I know you guys say I act like a prat sometimes," Percy said, tilting his head to the side a bit and smiling. "Granted, you and Fred aren't angels either. But don't worry too much," Percy said, looking at George who had turned to meet his brother's eyes. "I'll be here for you if Charlie somehow falls on you and breaks your arm."

At that, George had to bite his lip to hold back a laugh. "If Charlie fell on me, I think a broken arm would be the least of my worries."

Percy nodded and leaned back against a tree. The two enjoyed a comfortable silence before Percy sighed and said, "We should probably get back."

George nodded, but neither of them moved an inch to leave. He honestly wouldn't mind staying out in the trees for the rest of the night. Thinking about going back to the house made George's throat restrict again. "I don't…" he paused for a shaky breath, "I don't know what to do without him here." He rested his head upon his knees and played with a stray branch that had fallen to the ground.

Percy shrugged slightly and replied, "Same as you'd do if he was here. Although, you may want to tone down the jokes and pranks a bit or else Mum might snap."

George's eyes shut as he laughed quietly. Was Percy really telling him that it was okay to go cause trouble like this? The world really had been flipped upside down. He turned and eyed Percy as he said, "It's a lot easier to do that when there's someone else to help."

Percy looked up to the branches above him, wearing a thoughtful expression before saying, "Well, I guess I could help you out, although I'm better at being the victim rather than the culprit." George was looking at his older brother in a new light and had to refrain from laughing as Percy smiled widely and asked, "How many gnomes do you think we can let into Ron's room before they realize we're back?"

George did laugh at that one jumped up while holding a hand out to Percy. "There's only one way to find out!"

As the two made their way back to the Burrow, George shook his head at the thought that Percy wanted to help pull a prank on Ron. He wondered vaguely if he was dreaming, but no, he was too cold to be comfortable enough to sleep. Seeing that Percy would go this far to cheer him up, George figured that he must look like a nervous wreck to everyone.

A small part of his mind questioned whether attempting to pull a prank – with Percy's help! – would really be a wise idea. He knew it probably wasn't appropriate, nor was it right for him to do something like this without Fred here. But then he thought about what he, George, would want, if the tables were turned. If Fred were here, George would want him to keep the family's spirits up, hard as the task might be to achieve. Deciding that it was the right thing to do, regardless of the consequences, George smiled and walked a bit faster back to the Burrow.

That was the first time since Fred had drank that potion that he really felt he knew what his twin would do without having to check first.

Glancing at Percy, he could see that the older boy was also worried about what had happened. It didn't go unnoticed by George that he'd volunteered to cause trouble partly to take his mind off of what had happened. No matter what Percy's reason was, George was grateful for Percy's help. He still felt a bit guilty about allowing it, but it eased the loneliness that he felt from not having Fred there with him.

The two approached the house quietly, sneaking through the garden. George started to catch a gnome but was halted by Percy, who smiled conspiratorially and held his wand up. Being of age to do magic outside of Hogwarts had its benefits. George grinned as Percy levitated the gnome out of the garden and into the air. Dodging a stray rat that was running through the garden, George climbed up the wall and opened the latch to Ron's window and smirked as seven gnomes were levitated up onto Ron's bed.

The poor garden creatures were incredibly unhappy about their relocation and expressed their displeasure through loud whines and screeches. It was all Percy and George could do to not laugh when they saw and heard those in the house going upstairs to investigate it.

They quickly made their way to the door and slipped inside, watching behind them where gnomes were being flung back out into the yard. Upstairs, their mother was heard screeching about which one of her children had let gnomes (of all things) into the house. It seemed like so far, she was blaming Ron for housing them. George snickered at the foot of the stairs as they heard Ron whine loudly to defend himself.

"But Mum… I was downstairs with you lot! How could I have–" Ron argued.

"Well, if you didn't do it, then who did?" Molly screeched, at her wit's end trying to understand why this was happening.

At that moment, Percy and George came to the landing near Ron's room and saw Bill and Charlie standing in the hallway, smirking. The two older boys looked at the new arrivals and Bill shook his head and Charlie's gaze was unreadable as Percy and George peeked past their mum into Ron's room. As they looked in at the already shredded bedding, Percy exclaimed, "Well, I guess you're right, George. They aren't house-broken after all."

Everyone, including the lone gnome left in Ron's room, stopped and stared at George and Percy.

George just nodded and said, "Seems that way. That's a shame – I was hoping to tame the little buggers and keep 'em as pets. It was worth a try though."

Percy faked a piteous expression and patted George on the shoulder as he said, "There now, you already have a pet – Ron."

At this, Ron looked confused for a moment before an affronted expression lit upon his face. He jumped up and shouted, "Hey!" Harry and Hermione, who were standing next to their friend, seemed content to just chuckle quietly at Ron's indignation.

Molly was looking at George and Percy with an unreadable look. Everyone turned to watch her, not sure how she would respond to the situation. After a moment, her lips scrunched together as if she was trying not to smile and then she said, "Gone to the dark side, have you Percy? Ah well…"

No one quite knew what to say as she chuckled and shook her head at them before walking back downstairs. The kids looked at Arthur who had the same expression they did.

"Well, kids," he said, bringing his hands together in front of him, "you heard your mother. Clean this up and then come down for dessert!" With that, he too went downstairs.

Ron was the only one who looked confused, and everyone laughed as he muttered, "She never said anything about cleaning…"

Percy ducked into Ron's room and started to use his wand to clean up and mend the torn bedding. George made as if to follow when he felt a hand on his arm. Turning, he saw Bill motioning for George to follow him and Charlie up the stairs.

The three boys made their way into Bill's old room. Bill stood, leaning against his old desk, while George sat down heavily on the bed. Charlie stood next to the door, following George with his eyes. If George hadn't been feeling so tired from the day's events, he might have noticed how strangely Charlie was acting.

Instead, he rubbing his face with his hands and looked over at Bill. His eldest brother looked back at him, and George realized that Bill looked almost as tired as he did. He'd arrived early that morning and had spent most of the day talking with their parents and with a few aurors, probably trying to figure out things that they could do or investigate. George wasn't entirely sure, since he had been hiding in his room for the better part of the day.

After a few moments, Charlie walked forward and said, "George, I'm sorry about what happened at dinner. I didn't mean to… make it sound like it was your fault. I just…" At that he paused and then glared at George before saying, "Bill told me about that potion, and though none of us know much about it, he said that it might've affected Fred. How could you two –"

"Charlie," Bill warned, crossing his arms and looking at the floor. "It doesn't really matter why any of this happened." Charlie looked down at Bill's words and George waited to hear what else he'd say. "What we need to focus on now is what we can do to find Fred and then reverse whatever affects this potion had, if it's still affecting him."

George nodded briefly and then commented, "I think it will be. Hermione and Ron asked about it, and I think Hermione's going to try and research it until there's a book made just for it." He shook his head at that thought, but continued on. "Anyways, she said something about one of the ingredients… I think it was the fluxweed, or maybe it was the peppermint… something about how they interact…"

Bill looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "Those are both mints. They'd counter each other and reverse any desired effect. At least it did in Charlie's potion class. Remember when you tried to make Featherlight Potion so you could run up the stairs faster, and you put in both of those?" Bill asked Charlie, who started to laugh.

"Yeah, I drank it and my feet were so heavy that I couldn't even lift them up a single step. Professor Snape had to come give me an antidote where I was," he explained, shaking his head.

George shook his head in amusement, but he was pondering just what this could mean for Fred. This certainly explained why he'd been acting so unusual. The original effect of the potion was supposed to cause you to feel happy and excited, or something along those lines. If he acted the opposite way every time someone talked to him…

"In any event, potions dealing with emotions and the mind are pretty complicated. The effects could be totally different from what we're guessing at. Maybe Dad can find a way to contact Professor Snape about it," Bill said. Both George and Charlie nodded along. "In the meantime, we'll keep trying to think of things to do to help."

Charlie nodded and said, "I'm going to go talk to Dad now about that." He barely met George's eyes as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

George glanced back to the floor and then brought his hands up to rub his temples. He found that he had a headache that had been slowly growing since dinner started. Closing his eyes, he didn't even notice that Bill had moved to sit next to him.

"Are you going to be okay?" Bill asked quietly.

He didn't respond. Instead, he fell back to lie on the bed a bit and gazed at the ceiling.

"I'm glad that you were able to talk to Percy. He's really not so bad… you just need to get him away from his books. We were all a bit surprised to see him go after you, but after hearing how much he wanted to help Dad look for Fred… I guess he's a real Weasley after all, isn't he?"

George turned to look up at his brother and snorted, "Yeah, I guess we can't joke about him being adopted anymore, can we?"

Bill shook his head and looked down at George. "Come on, then. They should've gotten that mess that you and Percy made cleared up by now. Just in time for you to think of something else."

He sighed and replied, "I don't really want to think of anything else. It doesn't feel right without Fred here. I want him back. I wish Dad'd let me help more…"

Bill stood up and looked towards the doorway. "You'll be doing more than you know if you can make them smile and let them know that you're doing okay, despite everything."

George nodded faintly, although he wasn't certain that he believed Bill. Nevertheless, he found himself being pulled off the bed and given a friendly shove towards the door.


After the younger kids had resorted Ron's room back to how it had been – which looked just as messy as it did when the gnomes were done with it – everyone went back downstairs for a bit before bed. Ron challenged Harry to a game of wizard chess while Hermione and Ginny watched. Bill and Charlie were sitting close to their father as the three went over what Malfoy had said when Kingsley and Arthur had spoken to him. Molly was in the kitchen making some sort of dessert and everyone knew better than to deter her from it. It was the second dessert she'd made that night and George had yet to know what either of them was.

George was sitting next to Percy, looking at the other's book. Never before would he have been able to picture himself sitting still for so long and next to Percy of all people. At times he would turn to watch Ron and Harry's game, which consisted mostly of Harry glaring at his friend while making his pieces retreat across the board and Ron's grinning as he kept winning. At other times, he caught words from the conversation between his two oldest brothers and his father. When that happened, he made a distinct effort to turn his attention to Percy's book. He knew that if he listened to too much, that the emotions could take hold again and force him out of the room. Besides, he'd all but promised Bill to try and pull through this.

George tilted his head as he glanced at the page that Percy was so engrossed in. One section read, "The coolest of temperatures also need to be taken into account when selecting the finish to apply to your cauldron. Too thin a finish may increase the likelihood of cracking when the temperatures change drastically. Just so, too thick a finish may unintentionally alter the final temperature of the brew, so that the observed and actual temperatures are different. This is, of course, crucial to–"

He shook his head and leaned back, slightly afraid to realize that he'd understood what the section was talking about. Deciding that he needed to rescue his brother from his "old, boring ways," George reached over and grabbed the book, shutting it and then tossing it aside with a light thump.

"You can't honestly tell me that you enjoy reading about cauldrons," George said, shaking his head at Percy.

Percy sighed and said, "Any better ideas?"

"Ron and Harry are starting a new game. Want to make it so Harry wins for once?" George suggested.

Percy rolled his eyes and nodded, moving to stand behind Ron so that he could give signals for what move to make to Harry. He saw that George hadn't moved yet and waved him over discreetly.

George was thinking about the personality shift that Percy had seemed to make so suddenly. He wondered why Percy had never showed this side of himself before. Then again, with Fred and George being so close, it would be hard to join the two without obviously being the odd one out. How Lee had managed to fit in so well with them, they weren't sure. George was yanked out of his thoughts just in time as Percy came and pulled him up from the couch.

The rest of the night passed quietly, aside from Ron's noisy whining about George and Percy helping Harry to cheat. Nevertheless, Harry won that game of wizard chess, and he was grinning at Ron throughout the redhead's ranting. They all moved upstairs to go to sleep after that. Without a word, George followed Percy into the older boy's room, mumbling something about the possibility of a gnome escaping from Ron's room into his. Neither of them voiced anything serious about it, for which both were glad.

They slept relatively well until about halfway through the night, when they, as well as most everyone else in the house, were awakened by muffled screaming coming from Ron's room, which he was sharing with Harry. George and Percy walked down the stairs a few steps and stood next to Bill and Charlie, who were watching their mum and dad comfort and talk to Harry.

"Did he find another gnome in the room?" George asked sleepily.

Bill shook his head and explained quietly, "He's had some sort of a nightmare, though he says it was more than just a dream…"

Percy leaned forward slightly and asked, "What of?"

"You-Know-Who," Charlie whispered. "Said something about him… killing some old muggle or something."

Both Percy and George refrained from asking anything more and strained to hear the conversation taking place between Harry and their parents.

"Now, Harry, I'm sure it was just a dream," Arthur was saying, trying to reassure the distraught boy.

"But it felt so real, like I was really there… and the things he said – they didn't make any sense," Harry whispered back. "He was talking about having killed a woman; they said her name was Bertha something… and that they needed to kill another…"

At this, Arthur's eyes narrowed and he asked quietly, "Was her name Bertha Jorkins?"

Not a second later, Molly was giving Arthur an incredulous look that screamed 'How dare you confirm any of this and make it more frightening than it needs to be!' Arthur cringed a bit at the slip, and even more when Harry confirmed that he'd heard that name in the dream.

"He… he said something else, too," Harry whispered, and the boys in the hall could barely hear him. They leaned forward in interest as Harry bent his head down lower, as if he was somehow responsible for what he was about to say.

"What was it, dear?" Molly asked gently.

"That…" What Harry said next was so quiet that the boys in the hall couldn't hear and they exchanged glances to see if any of them had caught it, but to no avail. The look on their mother's face said enough about it though – whatever it was, it certainly wasn't good news.

She looked completely terrified now and was looking to Arthur over Harry's head. He didn't meet her gaze as he stood up and walked past the boys in the hall, ignoring their questioning looks, and continued down to the living area. They caught a call of "Hogwarts – Headmaster's Office" and the whooshing sound of the floo, and then nothing.

THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed! I was ten times more than ecstatic to get so many reviews when I woke up and turned on my computer! Keep it up! You guys rock!

Please let me know how you feel about Percy's role. I know it's a bit OOC for him, but I never really believed that he was such a prick that he would not be affected by something like this. Also, let me know what you think Harry heard, when we should introduce Professor Snape (my favorite character!) into the story, and if you want to hear more from Fred.

Lucy, I know you wanted it to be Bill, but I did give him and George some time to talk. Oh, and I wanted to let you know, don't feel stupid for pointing out things that might not make sense – I am so glad you did! It helps me, because I know exactly what's happening, but sometimes forget to add all of the emotional reasoning behind it here. So thank you thank you!