Magical Twins – Chapter 9

"Well, then accompany me to the living room. I'll give you something for your stomach, and then we'll drink a hot cocoa and you'll tell me about your dream without having to fear that we disturb Dudley," Severus decided, gently helping the child out of his bed.

Severus motioned Julian to sit on the sofa, sat next to the child and made him drink a calming draught, before he called one of the house-elves and ordered two cups of cocoa. "Your stomach should be well enough to stomach some cocoa. Drink up and then tell me about your dream."

"It wasn't a dream," Julian hesitantly admitted. "Um... It's just that... Father Christmas never brought me a present, because I wasn't a good boy, although Dudley received lots of presents every year. What if it's the same here? If everyone gets presents except for me? Everyone will know that I'm not a good boy. I know this sounds stupid, but you won't send me away, will you?"

Severus was too shocked to act immediately. "Julian, are you delirious?" he asked finally, carefully laying his arm around the boy's back. Why would we send you away? And who in the world told you that you weren't a good boy?"

"My aunt and uncle," Julian replied in a small voice.

Severus let out a long sigh. "Julian, please listen to me. Your relatives were wrong. They didn't behave well towards you. Just because you're magical they told you such things. However, we all love you, and we know that you're a very good child. I'm absolutely sure Father Christmas will come and leave a present for you, just like for everyone else."

"Are you sure?" Julian asked hesitantly, nestling deeper into his guardian's embrace.

"Yes, I am sure, and I want you to remember what I just told you. You're a very good boy, and Minerva and I are very proud of you and Dudley. And now, I believe it's time for you to sleep. If you feel well enough tomorrow, you may help me brew a potion in the afternoon."

"I'd like that," Julian whispered softly and made himself comfortable, resting his head on the teacher's lap, drifting off to sleep in the blink of an eye.

Severus looked at his ward, glad that the boy felt comfortable enough to sleep on his lap with a smile playing on his lips. "Happy Christmas, Julian," he whispered, smiling as well as he leaned back to bring himself into a half-way comfortable position to get some sleep.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Severus and Julian remained in their position until Minerva and Dudley came by to look for them late in the morning, causing Harry to wake up. Severus quickly explained that Julian hadn't been feeling well during the night and had therefore ended up sleeping on his lap.

"Are you feeling better now?" Minerva asked in concern, throwing Julian a worried look.

"Yes, I'm fine," Julian replied, feeling very much reassured by the words Severus had said to him during the night and grateful that his guardian hadn't told the others the entire truth. 'Even if I don't get Christmas presents, they'll still like me and keep me here together with Dudley,' he reminded himself as they headed to the Great Hall to search for Christmas presents under the huge Christmas tree.

A short while later, all his fears were forgotten when he was busy unwrapping a huge pile of presents, and Severus observed in amazement how his eyes were twinkling with joy.

'This was the best Christmas ever,' Julian mused as Dudley and he went to bed in the evening.

"I'm looking forward to meeting the Weasley twins tomorrow," Dudley's voice penetrated his thoughts.

"Yeah, me too," Julian agreed, yawning. "It was really nice of their mother to Floo-call Minerva and invite us. I'm curious to see what a wizard's home looks like."

HP

'Their home is absolutely amazing. It's not only built by magic like Minerva told us, but everything here works with magic,' Julian mused as he observed the pots in the kitchen washing up by themselves, while Mrs. Weasley pulled one after the other in a bear hug and welcomed them. Before they could even greet all of the twins' many siblings though, Fred and George pulled them into their own room.

"We have to show you something," they said mischievously, leading the younger twins to a corner of their room, in which a lime green potion was simmering in an old cauldron. "We're trying to make a potion that turns everyone's heads to ducks' heads," George explained, smirking.

"It's not our own invention; our brother Bill got us an amazing book for Christmas," Fred added hurriedly, noticing Julian's surprised look. "It's full of easy prank potions."

"Have you tried it out already?" Dudley asked excitedly. "We could brew it at Hogwarts and prank the whole school. Julian is very good at brewing."

"No, I'm not, but yeah, that's going to be fun," Julian agreed. "May I see the book?"

George handed him the book, while Fred motioned Dudley to help him bottle the potion into several small phials. "Let's try to mix it under the dessert Mum is making for lunch," he chuckled, pulling Dudley out of the room with him.

Ten minutes later, the two boys were back with big grins on their faces. "Don't eat from the chocolate pudding," they instructed the others.

"I'd like to try this one," Julian pointed to a recipe, "and that one here looks good as well. Do you think Severus will allow us to use the Potions classroom?"

"Professor Snape? Julian, I know he is your guardian..."

"... but do you think he'll let you brew prank potions?"

Julian grinned at the older twins' disbelieving looks. "Did you notice Professor Dumbledore turn into a bear a few weeks ago?"

"Of course, but..." The twins threw him dumbfounded looks.

"Professor Snape and I brewed the prank potion together. In fact, Severus wanted to get back to the Headmaster for something, and he asked me if I wanted to assist. So he might allow us to brew, if we show him the recipe. I'll ask him tonight," Julian promised.

The older twins' potion was a huge success, and everyone except for the two couples of twins spotted duck faces after lunch.

"Let's go and play Quidditch right before the potion wears off to give them a bit of time to cool down before they'll be able to speak with us," George suggested, causing everyone including the duck headed family members apart from Mrs. Weasley to head outside into the garden.

HP

When Julian and Dudley returned to Hogwarts in the evening with a copy of the potions book that Mrs. Weasley had gently made for them, Julian headed straight into Severus' quarters to ask about the prank potions.

Severus remained pensive for a moment, carefully skimming the recipes. "Julian, you may use the Potions classroom under several conditions," he finally said and explained, "You will tell me in advance that you want to brew, you will show me the recipe beforehand; you will only brew if you're neither sick nor tired, you will be extremely careful, and of course you will clean up afterwards. If possible, I'll try to be in the classroom, which is not because I don't trust you, but because the older students would wonder why two first years and two younger children, who aren't even students yet, are allowed to brew on their own."

"Thank you so much," Julian blurted out and hesitantly threw both arms around his guardian, pulling him into a light hug.

"Julian, I'm glad you love to brew potions, and I know that I can trust you to be careful and responsible," Severus replied softly as he gently ruffled the boy's hair. "I'm looking forward to having you in my class in a few years' time."

HP

During the next few months, the four friends often brewed potions together, which they utilized on random tables at meal times to the huge pleasure of the rest of the school. Since Severus used to be in the classroom together with the two couples of twins, no one guessed that they could be the culprits, and the whole school kept wondering who was behind the funny pranks that most frequently affected the teachers' table.

'I wonder if we'll have to attend the first-years classes again when we officially enter Hogwarts as students,' Julian mused towards the end of the school year, groaning inwardly at the thought. 'I'd love to continue through all of the Hogwarts years together with the Weasley twins. They're the best friends I could ever imagine to have.'

However, his fears were completely unnecessary, because something happened that alerted the adults to the fact that Dudley and Julian were attending the first-years' classes.


tbc...

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All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.