AN: Oh, I feel horrible!! I completely lost track of time and had no idea that it had been so long since I updated. A thousand and two apolgies, really. I am having a bit of trouble with my dying creativity right now, and to make everything 100 times worse...my laptop just crashed. But here. As an offering of peace I offer you all, um...another chapter. This one, chapter twleve, to be exact.
Immediately after returning to the school, Fred found a mirror and erased the bruises from his fight with George, along with all of his newly acquired scrapes from his scuffle with the Whomping Willow. He had picked up on plenty of healing spells for minor cuts and bruises after seeing his mother deal with the numerous injuries he and his siblings had gained in the past fifteen years.
With that done, he settled in the Common Room with two small pieces of parchment. One blank and one a letter he and George had received from their mother after a particularly messy prank they had played on their older brother and his fellow prefects the previous year. He had never completely cleaned out his trunk over holiday, so he was still able to find the note – though admittedly not without a lengthy search.
He and George had nearly mastered their mother's handwriting so that they didn't need to copy from another paper, but Fred needed this to be perfect. He laid both of the papers in front of him and painstakingly formed his own message on the blank parchment, dipping his quill repeatedly in the ink. He was glad that none of his close friends were in the Common Room at the time. He didn't want anyone asking questions, which was something they had been inclined to do since George had started ignoring him a few days ago.
He finished his work by meticulously tracing his mother's signature onto the bottom of his parchment and reviewed what he had written.
Professor McGonagall,
I ask that you would please excuse my sons Fred and George from school this next week and allow them to return home briefly. We learned recently of the death of an Uncle of theirs and would like them to be able to attend his funeral, as they grew quite close to him this last summer. There is no need to disturb Ron and Ginny's class schedules; they were only babies the last time he visited and shouldn't be disturbed. We will pick our boys up at the entrance to Hogsmeade tomorrow morning.
Thank you,
Molly Weasley
Fred allowed himself a satisfied smile at his success and blew on the ink a last time before folding and sealing the false letter. He left the school once more and ran to the Owlery in the fading sunlight.
"I've got a job for you, Damon. Take this to Professor McGonagall as fast as you can. It's got to get there soon." Fred gave the small letter to Lee Jordan's owl. It was common for the twins to borrow his rather than one of the school owls when Errol wasn't around, and necessary now if Fred wanted to fool his Head of House.
Damon gave Fred a look of disdain at the prospect of having to leave his comfort only to fly across the school grounds, but gripped the letter firmly in his beak and launched out of the window. Fred watched him leave in the direction of Minerva McGonagall's office, and then exited through the door and started down the winding path back toward the school.
He retrieved the Marauder's Map from his dorm, avoiding questioning looks from Lee who had recently returned from dinner. Fred worried as he exited the Common Room what damage his twin could have done since he'd last seen him, but quickly drove those thoughts out and unfolded the map in the safety of an empty hallway.
It didn't take Fred long at all to find George's name, but that was mainly due to the fact that none of the other many little dots representing the inhabitants of the school were wandering shakily through the empty Sixth Floor corridors.
Fred folded the wrinkled parchment in his hand and immediately rushed in the direction of his troubled brother. Fred knew that he was the absolute last person that George wanted to see, and he didn't want to repeat what had happened the last time he confronted his twin; so he pulled his wand out of his pocket as he ran.
His class had learned a new minor stunning spell the week before, and Fred had just recently perfected it. If he were to just barely stun George it should make him easy enough to lead out of the school without much trouble.
Fred finished running up a narrow stairway and turned off onto the sixth floor. He double checked the map and located exactly where George was. Fred crossed through a few hallways and stopped as he approached the correct one.
Holding his wand ready, the younger of the Weasley Twins strode to the door separating him from the hallway his brother stood in, took a steadying breath and flung it open.
"Conplexus," Fred yelled, but channeled only a small amount of magic into the blast. It was enough. George's eyes widened with shock and he dropped silently to the floor – five feet in front of Fred.
Fred stared down at his brother in slight horror. The last time he had checked the map, George was still halfway down the corridor, but he had apparently now been just about to exit through the same door Fred had used. From this close the magic would have hit much harder than had been intended. Fred dropped to his knees next to his twin, who in all appearances was unconscious.
"George?" Fred said timidly.
George's eyelids slowly rose to reveal peaceful brown eyes. At the same time, his lips pulled back into a content, small smile. Fred stared down at him, confused. Something was not right, though this was a decidedly different problem from before.
Gradually, George's gaze traveled across the entire ceiling and settled on Fred's bewildered features.
"Hmm, Fred?" he asked pleasantly. "What am I doing on the floor?" George's smile morphed into a mischievous and suspicious grin.
Fred knew that it should be a good thing that his brother was even talking to him, but the strange distant look in George's eyes was a bit disconcerting. Fred rolled back onto his heels to sit on the floor. "Are you, uh, feeling alright George?"
George burst into a fit of excruciatingly uncharacteristic giggles. Fred winced and closed his eyes. Stunning spell had definitely hit too hard. This complicated things slightly.
The only option was to keep going. This could all actually be a good thing. At least it would be easy to get George to come down to the Whomping Willow. Fred opened his eyes to see that George had sat up and was busily counting off fingers, mouthing each number as he put one down.
"George. What are you doing?" Fred asked, unable to avoid sounding a bit nervous as he spoke.
"Counting," George stated simply without looking up, as if his explanation was completely unnecessary.
"Counting…what?"
George dropped his hands to the ground and tilted his head toward his brother. "To ten. That's all the fingers I've got Fred." He stated matter-of-factly. Fred was sure that he would not forget this night any time in the near future.
"Well, we can, uh…count our fingers later George. Right now we've got to go." He stood and offered a hand to help his twin.
George grabbed it enthusiastically and fairly bounced to his feet. "Where are we going?" He asked with a childlike tone of curiosity.
Fred just blinked at him. Angry, irrationally violent George, he could handle. Five-year-old-girl George, he wasn't so sure. Fred forced himself back to the task at hand, getting George out of the school, which now just meant going back to the Common Room and waiting.
He glanced back at George, who was still staring at him openly with that ridiculous smile, and turned and walked through the still open door. George apparently didn't mind not having his question answered and followed happily.
Fifteen minutes later, they had made their way through only two corridors – Fred having to grab his twin by the shoulders and force him to keep walking half of the time, as he was distracted by every portrait or sculpture they passed.
George walked pleasantly five feet behind his thoroughly annoyed brother, enjoying his new view on the entire castle. He passed by a mirror, and froze.
"Fred, look!" He sent his favorite brother an excited glance. "Look at this! It's a portrait of you!"
A passing Ravenclaw girl shot George a strange look. Fred groaned and sulked back down the hall to seize his brother's wrist and march him onward.
The twin brothers turned the continued through the school, and Fred was relieved when they finally approached the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.
He stepped up to the Fat Lady's Portrait, and was about to speak the password when she sharply interrupted.
"No you don't. I can only imagine what you've done this time, but Professor McGonagall wants to see the two of you in her office immediately." She looked at Fred disdainfully and then sent the look over his shoulder to George, who just smiled back pleasantly and raised his hand in a small wave. "Once you are finished there, you can come in. That is if you haven't got yourselves expelled with one of your wild shenanigans."
Fred grinned, pleased that everything was going perfectly. Damon had obviously delivered the sham letter. "No such luck, I'm afraid. We haven't gotten into trouble today."
The Fat Lady scoffed her doubt and Fred turned back in the direction he had come. The entire mess was far from over, but at least as this point he had George by his side and a plan to get everything sorted out.
And yay! We get more Draco next chapter! It's been a while since we've been graced with his snarky presence, so the next chapter is dedicated (I think) entirely to him.
Please review!! It would make me extra-eemly happy!
I know, it has now been over two months since I updated – but I swear, I will never abandon this story. I am still thinking about it almost constantly, and soon guilt for my horrid procrastination will catch up to me and I will finish writing the thirteenth chapter (yes!! it is started!!). Please just stick with me and I promise you will get to see what happens to Fred and George.
