A.N.: I am now almost finished with the story and I'm pretty sure, that we will have 26 chapters and an epilogue in the end. I am planning to finish the story this year, but I am not sure how frequently I'll be able to post, as we are visiting family over Christmas and there might not be time to upload. Anyway, enjoy your Christmas holidays everybody and have a beautiful time with your loved ones. I am sending you warm hugs from rainy Germany. No snow for us in sight so far…
Chapter 23: Learn to trust
George took one last look towards his wife, before the portkey yanked him forward and dropped him right in front of the headmaster's desk. The stunner was already on his lips and before Malfoy even realized what happened, his body hit the floor with a satisfying thump.
"Incarcerous," Neville skilfully cast behind him and a moment later the platin blonde wizard was wrapped like a turkey.
"Nice one Nev," he heard Harry murmur from behind, just as he saw his brother step forward and pluck some blonde hair from the unconscious man's head.
"Harry?" The voice came from behind the headmaster's desk and George would have known it everywhere. "Is it really you?"
"Hello Professor Dumbledore," their friend greeted the portrait politely, before pulling something from behind is back and dropping it on Malfoy's encaptivated form. The body on the floor promptly disappeared before all of their eyes.
"Well Severus," George heard the voice of their former headmaster again and when he finally looked at his portrait, he could see that the man had put on his disappointed-grandfather-face. "I guess you have known about this?"
The smirk that Snape send Dumbledore's way could be only described as deeply satisfied. "I'm sure you understand the need for keeping secrets, Albus."
Merlin, he would have loved to listen in to the conversation that was surely about to follow, but unfortunately there was still lots of work ahead of them. Fred must have thought the same, considering the feelings he detected through the bond, but his twin was already busily sipping at the little flask containing his polyjuice. It only took about five seconds for the potion to take effect, because suddenly the tall and slender form of Lucius Malfoy looked back at him.
"Merlin, this is weird." Neville breathed behind him, before stepping towards Fred.
Harry snorted from behind. "You haven't seen Hermione as Bellatrix, this was downright scary. Are you're sure you'll manage, Fred? Malfoy isn't the easiest guy to imitate."
"Well, Potter," Fred drawled in a bored tone while transfiguring his clothes to an exact replica of the robes that his encaptivated doppelganger wore. "I am quite heartened by your concern. But don't you have somewhere else to be?" George had to admit, Fred's act wasn't too bad and if their situation would have been less dangerous George would have surely found it downright hilarious.
"Right Lucius, sorry," George said but couldn't supress the grin on his face. "Will you take our guest down to the dungeons, then? I'm sure the others are already waiting there for us."
His no-longer-twin gave him an arrogant nod in return, before kneeling down on the floor and plucking Malfoys cane containing the wizard's wand from under the invisibility cloak. He still used his own wand to cast a silent levitation charm to the spot, where Lucius Malfoy lay on the floor though.
"Well then gentlemen," he said with a smile that was so totally out of character for a Malfoy that it almost hurt seeing it on his face. "After me I guess." George nodded and cast a disillusionment spell on the three of them, before following his brother to the door. They were off without another word to each other or the portraits in the room. It was time for the next part of their plan. And George sincerely hoped that it would be as successful as the first part had been.
It didn't take Fred long to realize, that he hated being Lucius Malfoy. Walking with that cane was bloody annoying but the faces of the students he passed were ten times worse. It didn't take a genius to realize, that the man was hated at the school. It was a good thing of course but being the prankster who loved to make people laugh he couldn't help but despise, that he wouldn't be able to do so as long as he had to play this role.
The walk to the dungeons was luckily very uneventful. Most of the staff and the students seemed to have retired for the night and apart from hateful eyes there was nothing that could have caused him any trouble. And that was more unsettling than it should have been. This was too good to be true. Things rarely went that smooth in life.
"Good evening Lucius," he was greeted by Minerva and Filius, as soon as he opened the door to the part of the dungeons, that they had agreed to use for their endeavour. He and George had been here before of course, but as soon as they had realized that this part of the castle contained creepy holding cells with shackles on the ceilings and walls they had decided, that they definitely wouldn't like to be found here by Filch. No need to give that guy any more ideas.
"Not Lucius," he replied with a trademark grin and saw the professors relax not a moment later.
"Well then, welcome back to the castle Mr Weasley," Minerva said with a pleased smile. "Whichever one you are. It is hard to tell at the moment."
Fred grinned at her boyishly. "The one with the missing ear, Professor." Invisible George snorted behind him.
"I recon the others are here, too?" Professor Flitwick chimed in and smiled at a spot behind him. "Very good. Then we can get our unconscious guest to the other two we already brought along." Harry must have taken the invisibility cloak from the floating body of Lucius Malfoy by then, because suddenly the unconscious wizard appeared on the floor behind him.
Fred nodded thankful in the direction of his friends and started to move deeper into the room. There at the back were several dark and clammy holding cells, each containing a cot and a bucket. The two cells in the centre were already occupied, as they held the unconscious forms of Alecto and Amycus Carrow.
"Still can't believe they intended to let them have free reign over the students for another year," invisible Neville murmured behind him and Fred couldn't help but agree. Luckily Neville and Harry had volunteered to come along to the castle and impersonate the evil siblings for the days to come.
"Did you two agree which of you will impersonate whom?" He heard George's voice again while he levitated Lucius Malfoy into the cell next to the other two inhabitants.
Harry grumbled. "I'll have to take Alecto's place, I guess. Don't fancy being a woman, mind you, but as the two of them are equally revolting it doesn't really matter. Neville doesn't have a clue about Muggles, so I might be the better suited Muggle studies teacher. Just spout some pureblooded muggle-hating nonsense in between and I'm sure nobody will know the difference."
"You'll still have to be very careful," Professor McGonagall instructed them with a stern voice. "We have to keep this charade up until we find a way to bring the dark lord down. And we'll have to find a way soon, as I don't see this scheme working any longer than a few weeks. Maybe only days… Sooner or later somebody will notice."
Fred nodded determinedly. "A few days or weeks will have to be enough then. I'll use every spare minute I have to… prepare the castle with some much needed enhancements. Don't worry professor, the traps will only activate, if a death eater passes them."
"Very well Mr Weasley. I've probably never said so before but I'm really glad you are working for our side."
Fred forced his transformed face into a grin. "Thank you professor. This might be the biggest compliment you've ever directed towards me. And you don't even know half of what we have in store for them."
Hermione could have sworn she had run a hole into the carpet by now. As soon as the boys had vanished from the living room she had started pacing. In the headmaster's office everything seemed to have gone according to plan, but then the four of them disappeared into the castle and she had no chance of knowing what happened from there on. And it was driving her crazy. God, she hated this situation. She hated being forbidden to come with them, protect them. She understood of course, at least theoretically. None of them wanted to risk their unborn children's life after all. But Hermione had never been one to sit still and just twiddle her thumbs. She had usually been in the thick of it, right at Harry's side, helping him wherever she could. Sitting here now, doing nothing just felt wrong.
But they would be safe, she told herself over and over again. They were four against one after all and had Minerva and Filius as support afterwards. So why couldn't she just stop to worry? She trusted her boys after all, didn't she?
The plop of an arriving portkey from the hallway pulled her back into reality. Her heart made a leap in her chest but she forced herself to wait calmly for whoever arrived at their home. It didn't take long.
"Hey love," George greeted her a moment later and strolled casually towards her. "Were you up on your feet the whole time?"
He looked at her inquiringly and Hermione couldn't help the wave of annoyance that hit her with his words. "Obviously," she said in a tone that would have been more suitable for Snape then for her. "You knew I wouldn't be able to sit still when the four of you were potentially in danger."
Her husband looked at her calmly. "I know. And I'm sorry we asked this of you." George slowly moved towards her now and for a moment she felt herself stiffen, as he gently took hold of her hand.
"I hate being left behind," she grumbled as he cautiously pulled her into his arms. "It's not just that I feel totally useless, I want to be there for you, protect you…"
"I know, Hermione. Believe me I understand," he said again and looked at her with large brown eyes. But it didn't help her to calm down, not in the least.
"Do you really? Because you're not the one to be left behind," she bit out angrily and was just about to rip her hand away from his, as he gripped it more firmly.
"Not today, no," he replied carefully and suddenly she saw something shift behind his eyes. "But I think you remember that I was in the exact same situation just a few weeks ago." It was as if he had dumped a bucket of water on top of her head. How could she have forgotten? Because he was right, she had sent him away then, had sent him away to keep him safe.
"I'm sorry," she apologized and looked at him pleadingly. "Now I get why you've been so angry with me afterwards."
"I know, love," he soothed while stroking her hair with his hands. "And believe me I'd rather have you at my side. I missed you, you know?" She sighed and finally leaned herself into his chest.
"I've missed you, too." And I miss Fred, she added silently in her head. It would be the first time one of her husbands wouldn't be at her side at night. And Hermione couldn't help but notice how wrong that felt to her.
Fred hated being Lucius Malfoy. He had hated it the day before, but after spending the night alone in the headmaster's quarters he hated it even more. Merlin, he couldn't wait for this day to be over so that George could take his role for a day. But first he had to survive three meals in the great hall where several people would certainly try to murder him with their looks and the tedious hours in his office in between. What was he supposed to do anyway? He had no idea what a headmaster of Hogwarts did all day, if he was honest with himself. He didn't have teaching duties, thank Merlin for small mercies. But he'd have to ensure that school was running smoothly if they didn't want their little scheme to be detected. Well, he'd just ask Snape or Dumbledore. They'd hopefully be inclined to help him with his job. It was for the greater good after all.
During breakfast he was flanked by Minerva and Filius, which was good news for him because they were in on his secret. But they had to keep up appearances of course and so nothing more than a semi-polite greeting was exchanged between the three of them. But as far as he could tell Harry and Neville alias the Carrow siblings weren't faring much better. He could already tell that Harry was in a horrible mood as he kept stabbing his sausage, as if it had personally offended him. And as far as he could tell, the two of them got at least as many dirty looks as Fred himself. Fred had to admit the two of them got it worse. They'd have to stay in their roles without getting a break and they also could not escape the students as they had to give lectures day by day. But well, both of them had a girlfriend in school, who would be happy to have them nearby.
This breakfast was the longest one of his life, even surpassing the ones he had with aunt Muriel in his childhood, and that was really saying something. When it was finally over he had to force himself not to bolt from his chair in the middle of the staff table but to get up with an air of cool indifference. He kept the charade up until he could finally close the doors of his office behind him. Just then he finally relaxed his shoulders and breathed a relaxed sigh, as he leaned into the wall next to the door.
"Well father, this must have been a hell of a morning," the nasal voice of Malfoy's little spawn destroyed his bubble of peace and quiet. "Haven't seen you this wound up since the dark lord moved out of our east wing."
"Language Draco," the arrogant voice of Narcissa Malfoy reminded her son, just as Fred himself released a silent string of courses in his head. Merlin, he could use a visit by those two like an infection of dragon pox. But it wasn't like he had any choice in that matter.
"Well, if that isn't a pleasant surprise," he said and schooled his features into something that was hopefully appropriate for meeting ones snobbish wife and son. "Don't tell me you missed me already."
Narcissa looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Don't be obscene, Lucius. We merely wanted to see if everything was in order. Did any of the anticipated associates of Potter show up?"
Fred didn't nod and instead raised his chin proudly. "No trace of Longbottom so far but the Weasley spawns and the Lovegood girl were in the train yesterday."
She nodded silently. "Very well. I guess that is all we could hope for anyway. Is there anything Draco and I can do, while you are occupied here?"
Fred groaned inwardly. Why couldn't this woman just leave? What should he say to that anyway? "No need, Narcissa. I have everything under control here."
It must have been the wrong thing to say, because suddenly the witch had her wand in hand and pointed it dangerously at his throat. "Who are you? Where is my husband?" she hissed at him dangerously and just a moment later her son joined her with pointing his wand at him. Fred cursed inwardly and suddenly he really wished himself back at the breakfast table. But of course there would be no such luck for him.