Hey everyone! This story was brought to you by Ghost Hunting: Facts About Ghosts assignment, Birdhouse Building, Planting Flowers, April Fools!, Pinata Club, Herbology Club, Sophie's Shelf, and Scamander's Case on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Also for Link Maker, Spring Bingo on Monthly Challenges for All. Also for Reserve League 2.0 on The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.

Ghost Hunting: Facts About Ghosts assignment: Task 2 - Write about a manipulative character.

Birdhouse Building: Step One - Collect Your Materials: (AU) Fairytale

Planting Flowers: The Seeds - Violet (character) George Weasley

April Fools!: Magical Pranks - Puking pastilles (character) Fred and George Weasley

Pianta Club: Easy The Weasley Family

Herbology Club: Planting my only seed (character) George Weasley

Sophie's Shelf: The Comma - (genre) KidFic

Scamander's Case: 8 (family) the Weasleys

Link Maker: Harry Potter characters, 2,464 words

Spring Bingo: 3B (childhood), 2,464 words

Reserve League 2.0: Season 2 Round 12 Chaser 1 Hansel and Gretel (optional prompt word) bleeding

Warning for kidnapping, horror, and character death. You know basically everything that goes along with a Hansel and Gretel!AU. Word count is 2,464 words. I hope you all enjoy Gingerbread: A Weasley Story.

The dark canopy of leaves overhead did nothing to assuage the fear that Fred and George felt as they trudged their way through the forest. They'd gone out to gather wood with their father to take home and build a nice big fire for their mother and younger siblings. Figuring it'd be helpful, they decided to wander into the woods and look for the kindling.

"We should have done what Dad told us to do," George said, stomach rumbling hungrily as he glared over at his twin brother. "He told us not to go wandering into the woods alone."

"But he also said that bringing home as much firewood as possible would be a big help to Mum," Fred pointed out sagely, for all of his five years.

"But Fred, what if he thinks we just up and went home without him? Then what will happen to us?"

"We'll start a band of roving land pirates," Fred said, grin flashing across his face as he pretended to sword, which was a twig from a nearby tree, fight someone in front of him. "We'll be the most fearsome of land pirates ever."

George laughed and nodded. Brandishing his own twig sword he joined in Fred's mock fight against the pursuing land pirates.

The boys were having so much fun fake sword fighting and exploring their surroundings that they almost forgot their predicament. That is until George's stomach decided to give a particularly loud grumble of hunger.

He was just about to suggest they try to find their back to the spot in the woods and make sure their father was still there when the smell came. It was a sweet scent. One that reminded both them of their Mum's homemade Gingerbread cookies that she made every Christmas.

"Do you smell that Gred?" Fred asked, sniffing the air like a bloodhound trying to hunt down an object.

"I do, Forge," George answered, also intently sniffing the air.

The scent was almost teasingly saying to them 'follow me' and, of course, being young boys they couldn't not follow the scent's mystery trail.

Wishing they'd at least have thought to bring a flashlight to light their way, the two young redheads stumbled their way through the dark forest, sometimes tripping over rocks and tree roots that stuck up above the ground. By the time they made it to the edge of the forest, they each had bleeding knees and hands, but still, the scent beckoned them on, It was like a friendly being waiting with a warm hug and fresh change of clothes.

"Mum's probably worried by now," George whispered.

"Mum worries about everything," Fred chimed in.

"She does, doesn't she?" George nodded as he spotted something beginning to take shape in the distance over the treetops that were starting to thin out.

It was a very slight shape but it looked like one of the slanted roofs of their home. Figuring that they'd been trudging in the direction of home they put on an extra burst of speed. Maybe if they got home soon, Mum would allow them to have a snack before dinner time.

They ran and they ran and they ran some more. It felt like they had been running in the same direction for an eternity, which was just fifteen minutes, before the house that the slanted roof belonged to came into view.

As they drew nearer and nearer the house, the overwhelming scent of gingerbread grew stronger and stronger.

"Do you think they are making gingerbread cookies?" George asked, realizing that Mum wouldn't be making gingerbread cookies now. "Do you think they'll let us have one if we ask them nicely?"

"I don't know," Fred answered, squaring his shoulders and marching onwards, "but we can always find out."

When they reached the gate they noticed that something was off for the first time. The birds that had been cooing and the crickets that had been chirping and all the other little noises faded away to nothing as they reached the gate. It was as though everything in the woods was frightened of this house.

"Gred," Fred chimed up, eyes as wide as saucers, "do you see this?" He was pointing towards the fence post near the gate they were standing in front of. His hand was resting on not wood but a shortbread cookie post.

"Is that…" George asked, picking a bit of the post off and taking a tentative bite of it. A smile crossed his face as the buttery richness of the cookie pervade his mouth. "It's a shortbread cookie."

Not thinking about what he was doing Fred took a small fistful of the fence post and started chewing on it too.

"You children shouldn't be going around eating other people's houses, you know?" a kindly elderly voice said from near the house.

Both children jumped in surprise having not been paying attention to their surroundings. They turned towards the sound of the voice. Towards the house, which was indeed a huge gingerbread house. The roofline was dripping with icing and the windows were a sheer bit of sugar pane. Tiny and large gumdrops were scattered all over the outside walls of the house. The bushes that edged the house were made of pure spun sugar and full of jelly flowers. This was the most tempting gingerbread house that either boy had ever seen.

"We're sorry, ma'am," George said, lowering his head so he wouldn't be caught drooling over the sugar overload he was seeing.

"Why don't you boys come inside?" The lady said, grey eyes watching the boys as they began to fidget in their spots. "It's starting to get a bit chilly out and we wouldn't want you both to catch your death of cold, now would we?"

"Actually," George said, beginning to back away from the fence slowly, "we should be getting back to…"

"I insist," the lady said, having moved with a speed neither of the boys thought possible to the fence. "I do insist you stay for dinner." The woman smiled revealing horrible chipped yellow teeth that did nothing to allay the boys' fears.

A vice-like grip was clamped down on both Fred and George's arms as they went to run away from the house. Struggle as they might they couldn't get the witch to let go of them. They could see the gingerbread door getting closer and closer. Crying for help as loud as they could, they prayed that their father or someone nearby would hear the commotion and come and rescue them from the danger they were in.

Meanwhile, back in the forest, Arthur Weasley was just finishing up with collecting his wood for the fire back home. He went back to the clearing where he'd left his sons to find not even a sight or sound of them.

"Fred," he called out, looking around him for any sign of where the redheaded little boys got to, "Goerge. Where are you, boys?"

He waited to hear the excited squeal before the twins jumped out of whatever hiding place they were in. He continued to wait for a few more minutes before searching every place that looked like one they might hide in.

He was just extracting himself from a hallowed out log that he should have known was too small for him when he heard a faint cry for help. He looked towards the opposite side of the clearing which was where the sound was coming from. Whoever it was sounded like they really needed help. Maybe they'd seen his sons too?

Arthur rushed towards the other side of the clearing, the noise getting louder with every footfall. It was definitely coming from this direction. He walked past two tiny bundles of twigs and knew for certain that his sons had been this direction too.

Darkness was descending outside the house as a knock was heard on the door. Fred and George shared a look as they heard the door being opened from the next room. Someone who could help them escape was in that next room.

"Hello," a very familiar voice said. "I was wondering if you may or may not have seen my sons. They wandered off while we were collecting wood for the fire back home."

"I haven't seen any children in these woods for weeks," the woman said with a small laugh. "But do feel free to have a look around."

"I think I will," they heard their father say. "They are only young children after all and shouldn't be left out in the woods alone."

"Right you are, sir. You don't know what kind of terrible people could be lurking in the woods waiting for some unsuspecting person to fall into their trap."

"Dad," Fred screamed, hearing his father's voice on the other side of the door, "we're in here. Open the door!"

"Open the door!" cried George, banging on the cage he was in. A couple of gumdrops littering the floor where they'd fallen off of the plates of candy the woman had given them.

"Sorry to have bothered you, ma'am," their father's voice sounded farther away from the door than before. "I will be looping back around so if you happen to see two little redhead boys about five years old roaming around please keep them here. I will be back to pick them up."

"I will," the woman answered. "You keep safe, dearie. We don't want you to get lost too, now do we?"

The sound of the door closing alerted the twins to lose of their escape. Slumping in their cages, Fred and George, couldn't think of a way out of their predicament. That is until Fred put his hand in his pocket, feeling a sharp pain in his pink finger he pulled the hand out. Stuck to his pinky finger was a pin.

"Gred, I think I found our way of escape," Fred said, smiling as he began to pick the lock on his cage.

"Hurry, Forge," George called out as the handle of the door began to jiggle. "She's coming."

Just as Fred was escaping his cage and ducking out of sight behind a crate in the room, the door opened to reveal the woman. She walked in and looked at Fred's empty cage and then glared over at George.

"Where is he?" she demanded, kindly eyes turned a storm cloud grey and looking just as intense as one. "Where did your brother get to?"

"I don't know," George lied, not wanting Fred to get recaptured and put back in a cage. "Maybe he went and got help?" He nodded towards one of the windows towards the back of the room while the witch was still looking at Fred's empty cage.

"Or maybe he's watching us now?" the witch filled in storming across the room towards George's cage. She opened the cage and pulled the cowering boy out, not realizing that the brother she was looking for had just sneaked out the window. "Maybe I should start dinner? Would you like to help?" She asked, not giving George time to answer as she yanked him from the room.

Once Fred was out of the window he raced in the direction he figured his father had taken to get back to Ottery St. Catchpole. He wasn't sure that was the way that his father had taken but it was a better option than just sitting there and waiting for the woman to refind him.

He trudged past rocks and trees and a little cave that would have been a good place to hide if he had to. He trudged and trudged until his feet began to hurt and wished he was still back in the cage. Then the back of a redhead man came into view.

"Dad!" Fred cried out excitedly, racing forward and hugging his father's leg. "Dad, you need to come quickly the scary old lady is going to eat George."

"What…" Arthur started to ask as his son drug him back in the direction they'd both come from. He could see the house he'd visited early coming back into view and tried to stop Fred from pulling him back towards it. He got a horrible feeling from that place and he didn't want to go back there.

"Da, she's going to eat Georgie!"

Just as Fred said this a cry for help came from the dreadful house made of goodies. One that most definitely sounded like George. Arthur knelt next to Fred and told him to go hide and he'd be right back with George.

Being the well-behaved boy he was, of course, Fred didn't stay where he was told. He followed after his father wanting to make sure that the bad woman got punished for taking them. What he found when he entered the house was his father knocked out next to the stove and the woman was lighting it.

"What are you doing?" Fred asked, shrinking towards his brother slowly so as not to draw attention to himself. "What are you going to do to us?"

"I'm going to eat you all up," the woman said, pointing towards the stove. "We'll start with this one. Although the older ones tend to be a bit…"

Fred and George never got to hear what the older one got to be a bit of because with a shared look Fred untied George. Then the two of them rushed towards the woman bending over close to the stove and their father.

She looked up with enough time to register surprise on her face before going into the lit oven under the stove. Shrieks of pain emitted from the oven as the door was shoved closed by the twins.

They looked at each other and raced over to their father. Shaking and prodding him to wake him up. They knew they had to get out of there because someone could come looking for the owner of the house. Someone like a sibling or something. They didn't want anything bad to happen to them or their father.

Hazel eyes blinked open as their father finally came to. Each twin took a hand and began to pull their father to his feet.

"Where did that nice lady go to?" their father asked, looking around for any sign of the lady. He turned to the twins. "Best be going. Your Mum's going to be mad enough as it is." He looked around himself before whispering to the twins. "Best to keep this business between us, boys." He nodded to himself before leading the way out of the house.

As they made their way back through the woods, each Weasley made a vow to themselves that they'd never speak of this event ever again.

I hope you all enjoyed Gingerbread: A Weasley Story as much as I enjoyed writing it.