Disclaimer: Don't own the story of Harry Potter. You would know if I did.
Still going strong. Only a few more chapters to post.
Thanks to eye-change for all her hard work!
Chapter 21: Plans and Pranks
"Psst, Louis," whispered a voice into the room at six a.m. Louis Weasley got up, and gave his most feral, threatening glare at the whisperer. He was surprised, however, when blue eyes met his with a worried look. His anger instantly vanished.
"It's six in the bloody morning, Roxie, what the hell do you want?" he asked back, trying to keep his irritation low.
"I know. Can you come with me for a moment?" she asked softly to him.
"Why?" he asked, his curiosity overriding his sleepiness. Roxie sounded oddly serious, a trait she hardly ever liked to flaunt about.
"It's important," she said simply. He got up stretched his limbs. Then he gave himself an admiring glance in the mirror. At sixteen, he was easily the handsomest man out there, with his lean hard abs, carefully chiseled muscles in his arms and legs, and long blonde hair. He was Venus, in male form. In fact, he was positive Venus had made him as her perfect mate, except, she'd surpassed herself, and now nobody would ever reach his beauty, not even Venus.
"Where to?" he asked, breaking the silence of the room. Around him, the remnants of an Exploding Snap game laid around the room. James and Fred had challenged his Uncle Ron's and Harry to a late night tournament.
"This way," said Roxie. Louis shrugged, grabbed a shirt and pulled it on. Then he followed Roxie into the dark hallway. The elf heads glared down reproachfully at the two as he walked. Finally they entered a small library.
The previous night, Roxie had found a struggling James and Fred in here, gasping for air as they tried to reach their wands that had rolled under a shelf. She'd heard them out and helped them escape. Then she'd lit a few lamps, and begun working. Louis narrowed his eyes as he glanced around the room. Books of various kinds lay splattered around. Notes and parchment were strewn across the room. A pale blue blanket lay on a couch, indicating Roxie had slept here for the night. Some light entered the room through a dirty window.
"What's going on Roxie?" asked Louis, taking a seat in an armchair, curling himself up like a cat would. His blonde hair was loose around him like a mane. He rarely let it loose, preferring to tie it back. Only for Roxie would he not do his hair.
"What do you think of our parents?" she asked suddenly, surprising him.
"They're great, why?" he asked, confused.
"I mean, about them now, and in the future," she said coldly to him.
"They're, well, different. My dad's handsome for one thing. People don't cringe when they see him, or look at him sympathetically. He eats his steak well done, something I thought I inherited from an obscure relative. His temper seems to have abandoned him at birth, instead of being in tune with the lunar calendar. My mom seemed a bit giggly, a bit younger, less sad, if that's what you mean," he answered, raising an eyebrow at her in curiosity.
"What about my dad?" she asked softly.
"Well, he's happy, there aren't dark shadows in his eyes, he's still calm, fun-loving, radiant, but it's brighter, almost instantaneous, something that you'd never want to look away from, something you can't help but marvel at. How someone could just be that happy, that cheerful, that infectious with laughter. It's like his own mini-miracle, him and Uncle Fred. Without Uncle Fred, he's not, he's just something that once was, something that used to burn brightly, but his flame dimmed, and even though he has you and Freddie, it's still not the same, because that glow he has with you two, it's not infectious, it's soothing, like a blanket of warmth, instead of an ever-lasting firecracker," said Louis in his calm cool tones.
"Is it wrong for me to wish he'd never change from that?" asked Roxie quietly.
"No, it's not, it's wrong for you to hate him for changing," said Louis, and Roxie winced.
"Bastard," she said at him.
"I know," he said back sardonically, "But let's cut to the chase, just what do you want from me, Roxie?"
"I spent the past night researching, and well, Dom's been doing a lot of research on how to get back, so I knew where to look," began Roxie slowly. She moved to stand by the window, her back to Louis. Her petite frame was blacked out by the light, her eyes scanning the street.
"What's your point, Roxie?" asked Louis, his eyes narrowing at her.
"I know how to save them all," she said simply. Louis shot up straight, his eyes widened, and he stared at her in utter shock.
"What!?" he yelled.
"Shh!" she hissed back, "Do you want to get caught?"
"Do you have any idea what you're saying?" he hissed at her.
"I do! Look, time is like a straight line, by messing with it, you create curves that have no support according to most Time theories, but in this book it suggests that the vibrations instead of harming the original time line, support the second time line-
"And if they don't? You could wipe out thousands of lives!" hissed Louis.
"This theory is a lot more accurate, it's recent! I spent hours researching! It will work!" said Roxie pleadingly. "Read it!"
"I won't understand a word of it, you know that. Are you sure?" asked Louis tiredly.
"Positive," said Roxie stubbornly.
"Alright, what's the plan?" asked Louis.
"Let's prank Ron and Hermione! Brilliant," said Fred scathingly at James.
"It was your idea you prick," argued James.
"It was yours," said Fred stubbornly.
The two were currently sitting in a small drawing room that had been recently cleaned, trying to plan a prank that would resolve Hermione and Ron's current issues.
"Maybe we should give up pranks," said James randomly.
"Great idea, let's tell Rose, she'd be proud, and we'd still have to fix this," said Fred, rolling his eyes.
"Wait, we'd still need to fix this?" asked James.
"Idiot," said Fred with no bite.
"Damn. If only those two could see that they both love each other and only each other," said James.
"Anybody who sticks around them long enough can tell," said Fred, rolling his eyes. The two sat in a silence for a little while.
"Sticks, sticky, stuck, stick together," babbled Fred suddenly, his eyes lighting up.
"Have you lost it?" asked James, raising an eyebrow.
"No, stick together! Think!" exclaimed Fred, bouncing up and down like a sugar-high toddler.
"Stick together? You don't mean-
"I do," said Fred solemnly.
"You're a mad man, I knew I hung around you for a reason," said James, breaking into a grin.
"I can't wait," said Fred with relish.
The next morning, Hermione Granger woke up with a shriek.
"Bloody hell, shut up!" said the red head lying beside her, turning over, grabbing her pillow, and using it to cover his ears. To her surprise, as his hand grabbed the pillow, her own hand dangled with his, and was used to help cover his head with a pillow. And then she saw it. A metal chain dangled between the two, cuffing her hand to his. And she screamed again.
"Hermione what's wrong?" asked Ginny, getting up groggily. Then her eyes popped open, and a little o shape appeared in her mouth. On the other side of the room, Molly, Lily and Rose awoke with a start.
"What's going on?" asked Rose, her eyes bulging from her head. Lily and Molly could not apparently grasp the situation, and so stared on in confusion, rubbing their eyes tiredly.
"What's going on!" shrieked a thoroughly distressed Mrs. Weasley, barging in with Sirius, Remus, Teddy, Mr. Weasley, Tonks, Charlie and Bill hot on her heels, wand in their hands. They were followed by an assortment of children, at the lead was Harry, wand at the ready.
Finally, Ron got up groggily and looked around. He stared at the group, and then at Hermione, and then at his bare torso, and he began yelling bloody murder. He jumped up and fell out of the bed, pulling Hermione down with him, and she landed on top of him.
"Ron!" she shrieked.
"What the bloody hell is going on?! Why the fuck is Hermione in my bed!?" he yelled stunned.
"You were in my bed!" she shrieked back at him, rolling off of him.
"What the hell?" shouted Ron, his eyes bulging from his head as he stared at Hermione, who was clad in a yellow button down set of pyjamas. The top few buttons of hers were loose, and her hair was tied back. He couldn't help but admire her for a few seconds, as his face turned red.
"Ron!" shrieked Mrs. Weasley, looking stunned out of her mind. She collapsed slightly into Mr. Weasley's arms from finding two teenagers in a bed together. Almost everyone's eyes were bulging at the scene.
As if on cue, a dam broke out, and everyone started babbling at once. Mrs. Weasley could be heard berating the two, while Sirius was laughing his ass off with the twins, James and Fred. Dominique looked at the two in faint disgust before prancing away with Lucy, who looked shocked and was blushing brightly. Bill and Charlie seemed torn between amusement and incredulity as they stared at their completely stunned younger brother. Hermione had turned a deep shade of red, matching Ron's hair, and Ron's ears and neck had turned so red you couldn't differentiate between his hair and ear and neck. Harry had collapsed onto Ginny's bed beside her, and was staring at the two as though he had never seen them before. Albus and Scorpius were seated beside Rose, and were trying desperately to calm her down. Victoire and Tonks seemed to be trying to ascertain Charlie and Bill's tempers.
"Quiet!" yelled Remus and Teddy in unison over everyone, effectively silencing everyone. The two stared at each other in mild surprise, and then shrugged it off.
"Now, Ron, Hermione, care to explain the situation?" asked Remus, raising an eyebrow mildly.
"He was in my bed!" shrieked Hermione, dangling an accusing hand at him, as his hand flew with hers.
"I never came into your bed! I was sleeping and you started shrieking!" yelled Ron back angrily.
"Care to explain the handcuffs?" asked Sirius, trying to keep a straight face.
"Can't you tell?" asked Fred.
"They were experimenting," said George with a grin.
"With a little bit of the kinky stuff," said Fred, and the three burst into laughter, whilst James and Fred stared in shock.
"Not cool!" the two yelled, as Rose looked ready to faint. Hermione started spluttering and looked ready to burst into a rage or tears, and Ron looked much like Rose did, his face a deep burgundy.
"That's not it! It-we-they were on when we woke up!" cried Hermione frantically to Mrs. Weasley, who had turned a stark white.
Teddy, on the other hand, was busy searching the sea of faces. He noticed Hugo had arrived, and was now having the situation explained to him by an equally confused Molly and Lily. He scoured past Rose and Albus and Scorpius, and landed on James and Fred. There was something about their disgusted expressions that looked, well, smug. He narrowed his eyes at them.
"James and Fred?" asked Victoire beside him, her own blue eyes narrowed at the two.
"You or me?" he asked back.
"You, I'm going to sort out Rose, Scorpius and Albus only seem to be aggravating her. Too bad for a quiet morning," said Victoire simply, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek, before moving over. He watched her go with a small smile, and then turned to face the two.
"James, Fred, do you have any idea about this?" asked Teddy, raising an eyebrow at the two. Everyone turned to face them, as the two shot up, looking completely stunned.
"Us?" the two said in unison, "Never!"
"Oh? But it does seem to be right up your alley, a prank," said Teddy sarcastically.
"You did this?" asked Ron and Hermione, in dangerously low, glowering tones. The two didn't notice the flash of a camera clicking behind them.
"Of course not!" said the two. Teddy walked over to a flustered Ron and Hermione, and stared at the cuffs, and was not amused when he found the signature WWW on the cuff on Ron's wrist.
"These are Weasley products, care to explain that?" asked Teddy in a calm, dangerous tone.
"We have got to make those soon," said Fred admiringly.
"Let's see what they can do," said George.
"Well," said James, drawing out the 'e' in well.
"That is fishy," said Fred earnestly. Behind them, Sirius, Fred, and George were snickering into their hands.
"You two did this?" asked Mrs. Weasley faintly, a bit of relief entering her as the blood rose to her face again.
"We may have," said the two in unison. Rose sent the two a completely incredulous look, mouthing the words, 'This is how you fix it?'
"Should I even bother asking why?" asked Teddy, feeling a growing head ache.
"It was fun," said the two with a shrug, and a wink in Rose's direction, and Ron and Hermione's.
"Take these off!" roared Ron angrily, missing Hermione's hurt and equally angry look.
"Well, we would if we could," said James in an irritating drawl.
"But you see, it requires a key," said Fred.
"Get to the point!" shrieked Hermione.
"The key is err, lost," said James sheepishly.
"What do you mean lost?" asked Teddy, before Ron or Hermione could.
"Well, it's not lost per say, we made the cuffs using some transfiguration," explained Fred.
"Some charms," added James.
"Two old WWW bracelets," added Fred.
"Some string," added James.
"And a lot of concentration," said Fred solemnly.
"But we haven't made the key yet," said James with a broad grin.
"What?!" cried the two hand-cuffed victims in shock.
"Why not?" asked Teddy.
"Because it's harder to. The cuffs are indestructible if that helps," said James brightly.
"Mostly because you'd have to amputate an arm at the distance it's being held at," said Fred with a grin.
And then the yells started up again.
It was now breakfast time, and a highly disgruntled Ron and Hermione were attached at the hands. Ron seemed unable to eat properly, and Hermione was doing her best to ignore him while trying and failing to read a book that held a few spells that may work on the bracelet. Both James and Fred were currently in trouble for their prank with Ron and Hermione, and were not allowed to judge the prank war as a result.
Mrs. Weasley had insisted that everyone get up together today so that they could do a head count early on, and say goodbye to the group heading out to Diagon. Mrs. Weasley would take James, Fred, and Molly, whilst Professor McGonagall took Scorpius and Dominique, now with a pale blonde bob and her bar earring still fixed in. The two would meet up at the Leaky Cauldron with the kids, and then make a big show of joining up.
Sirius had opted out of the trip to antagonize Remus about his upcoming date, much to Remus's displeasure. Harry was sitting beside him, since both Ron and Hermione were in foul moods. He was teasing Remus and Tonks, both, who were ignoring him, unlike Charlie who was almost in tears with laughter.
Mrs. Weasley laid out a platter of English muffins, before turning to kiss Arthur goodbye. Arthur waved jovially to the group, before disappearing into the fireplace, on his way to work. Bill left a few minutes after for his job. He kissed his mother, as well as Victoire and Dominique good bye. Louis just gave a shrug bye as he chomped down on some sausages.
Just as Bill left, there was a startled yelp. Fred turned to see his twin had suddenly turned into a six year old. Fred stared at his twin for a long time. Then he burst into laughter.
"S'not funny! Change me back Sirius!" cried George angrily.
"Well, what's my score?" asked Sirius to Ginny, Albus, and Scorpius.
"Seven out of ten," said Scorpius, "You only got one twin, you used food which could affect anyone else, and it was rather juvenile."
"Eight out of ten," said Ginny, "It's original, but what's the time limit? And like Scorpius said, food can affect anyone."
"The time limit is until I hand over the antidote," said Sirius with a shrug, as he pulled out a small vial of pink potion. He handed it over to George who drank it, and grew back.
"Asshole," said George under his breath. "How'd you get it past mum?"
"Paid off Tonks," said Sirius with a grin at the bubble-gum haired woman, who snorted into her scrambled eggs in response.
From across the table, both James and Fred cried out. They too, had shrunk down to look like two year olds. They now sat in clothes far too large for them. Unlike George, they were unable to spring back into their clothes, and now the clothes were hanging off of them.
"Damn the muvvins!" shouted Fred.
"We're kwids again!" said James, shocked.
"Oh crap, I didn't realize you two would eat them too," said Sirius, surprised.
"When do we change back?" asked Fred.
"Why do they have a speech impediment?" asked Dominique, having dropped her fork in shock.
"Er, well, the potion is a Shrinking Solution that affects the body, so mentally they are fourteen, but right now, they're about two years old, so their motor skills, and physical capabilities are of toddlers, but I can fix that, I'll brew the antidote, takes about twenty-four hours," said Sirius easily.
"Why'd the first one take so little time?" asked a horrified Hermione, having realized the implications for sooner that Ron.
"I only brew the antidote for one, which was a serious design flaw, if someone had helped," here he glared at Remus before continuing, "So the time doubles since I'm increasing the dosage."
"But we're stuck!" shouted Fred, trying and failing to grab his glass to take a swig of water. His toddler hands dropped the glass onto the floor.
"Sorry kiddo, I'll fix you up," said Sirius apologetically.
"What about us?" asked Hermione, glowering at Sirius, as she lifted her and Ron's chained hand.
"You're er, stuck, until those two are fixed, so until tomorrow," said Sirius apologetically.
"What?" cried the two, jumping up at the same time.
"Where'd Albus go?" asked Scorpius suddenly, looking for his black haired friend.
As though from the silence, they looked to a chair, with a bite-size amount of English muffin left over. It was at the end of the table, where Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley, and Bill had been sitting. Mrs. Weasley walked over first, peered over at the seat, and a baby in a large red t-shirt was laying on the seat. With emerald green eyes, he glared up at her, and then, he began to wail.