Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter world or characters, I'm just a fan :)
Short A/N
I've updated the Prologue, felt like it needed to change, so older readers, feel free to go back and read the new one!
Chapter 6 - If You Were There, Beware
15th of April, 1991
Charlie
Being an adult was rather nice for Charlie.
Romania was - well, first and foremost, stunning.
The green of the meadows was fresh, the blue of the skies was clean and the white of the snow was bright.
And to stop with the poetic bullocks being on his own for the first time was brilliant.
He loved his family, truly, but being a Weasley was sometimes… suffocating. Screaming children was a constant. His mum was overly emotional and distracted, his dad - without ambition. They were truly good, truly kind people, but it was often… too much. Charlie was more the quiet sort anyway. He didn't like loudness. And if anything must be loud, let it be the growl of a dragon, or the cry of a hippogriff.
So that's why receiving a letter from his twin brothers was rather unexpected, not to mention (and at the risk of sounding selfish) a bit unwanted. Since judging from the letter he needed to get back to England immediately.
/
"'Lo Charles dear,
if we're honest, the letter we're sending to you is rather serious, which truly is quite uncommon for us, so that alone should give you an indication of how grave the situation is.
We know we can trust you not to share it with anyone.
Thing is - our DADA Professor has a second head.
We know it sounds like we're gone mental, but it's true. We wouldn't bother you if it wasn't. We have proof of it, too.
We followed him to the forest, and there he killled a unicorn, took down his turban and drank from its corpse. The second head drank it though. We figure we don't have to tell you why the kind of person that kills a unicorn is an issue.
Not to mention the kind with the second head.
Anyway… We want to expose him in front of the rest of the school, and we need a distraction. The kind the DADA Professor would likely get up to face, and then we thought about a magical creature. So… can you fetch us one?
Please don't tell anyone, we don't know who from the teachers to trust. As for Mum and Dad, they'll misunderstand. You're the only one that can help us.
Yours,
Your favorite twins."
/
A second bleeding head?!
A second -
Charlie felt his hand open up involuntary, and watched helplessly as the letter glided to the ground.
A part of him was mad at the twins for getting themselves into trouble (as per usual), but another part of him, the fair one probably, knew he was really the same, back in the day.
Not to mention how it probably wasn't the twins' fault.
That is… maybe it's not their fault, these two were trouble magnets.
Trouble creators.
Of course he'd help them.
His - his twins. Impulsive, funny, crazy at times - his baby brothers.
Alone, against a Professor with two heads.
Of course it's the first thing they encountered at Hogwarts, though, it was the twins after all. What would they encounter? Homework?
He scribbled an answer, sent it back with the white owl their letter arrived with (after feeding it obviously, it was quite the journey) and went to tell his boss he's planning to take the week off.
17th of April, 1991
Hermione
Waiting for the twins' older brother to respond was rather… unnerving.
For them too.
And they each had a telling.
Fred would joke, prank, and basically be a bother, far more than he would normally.
Harry was snappish. Short answers, furrowed eyebrows covering those bright green eyes of his and a short temper.
And lastly, George was a bit of both, shorter than usual but at the same time, much more irritating. The thing was, while Fred would bother everyone more, George would bother her specifically.
She finally snapped when she opened her notes to find the letters dancing. Dancing! In spirals, in circles, erratically or in order, depending on the page. And worse of all, half of them jumped from the page and evaporated!
They were sitting in the common room, and Hermione sat with crossed legs by the fire, fully intending to scan her Potions essay one last time before moving on with the rest of her homework.
Then her essay… lost it, for a lack of a better term, and she threw it away with a yelp and jumped to her feet,
Fred and Harry both burst with laughter and George winked at her.
"How did you even do that?!" She groaned as she smacked his neck with her destroyed essay.
He smirked. "Saw it in some Charms book and thought it might be useful. It was."
"Bloody hell, George!"
"Hermione!" They all laughed at her, "did you just curse?"
"I worked hard on that essay! Now I have nothing to hand to Professor Snape tomorrow!"
Fred and Harry continued to laugh, but George probably noticed the frustrated tears in her eyes, since he took the destroyed homework and pointed his wand at it, whispering 'retardo'.
The letters froze. Then he laid the pages on his knee and said 'reditus'.
He handed it back to her, and she took it, wiping her eyes angrily. "Why do you keep doing things like that to me? Third prank this week! First that spraying lemonade, then my singing pillow, and now this! I get that you're nervous, but I am too, and this is not helping!"
"I - I know," he looked down as Harry and Fred looked between the two of them, "I guess I just did what I wanted to without thinking it through."
"But why is picking on me what you want to do?"
"Lay off of him, Hermione," Fred clapped George's back, "pranking is how we let out steam. Don't take it personally."
"It is, though!"
"It's not," George argued.
"How can it not be when I'm the only one you're pranking?"
"Well…" and George grinned, "you have the funniest responses. It's not on me, blame yourself."
"George Weasley, you great prat, don't test me! If one more thing explodes, sings or dances I -"
"Wait, look!" Harry jumped and ran towards the window, where a clearly tired Hedwig sat on the hatch and pecked the window.
He opened it, and Hedwig glided in gracefully, raising her right leg, where a scroll was tied. Harry took it excitedly while Hermione closed the window after Hedwig, who flew hurriedly to probably sleep in the owlery.
Then the four of them practically ran to their alcove to read Charlie's letter.
Fred
His letter was short and to the point, just like Charlie himself.
"Dear Fred and George,
I'm not gonna lie - that sounds awful. I've never encountered such a phenomenon. I'm coming to England to get more information from you, and if the situation requires it we'll go to Dumbledore.
I'll be there in three days, I'll find some excuse since I know you don't want me telling anyone. Until then, beware! No unneeded trips to the forest after that berk.
Charlie"
"He's coming!" Fred grinned at George.
"He'll know what to do," his twin smiled back at him. "He's great," he told Harry and Hermione, "smart, brave, and best of all - discreet. He never told on us, not once."
"What a great test of character," Hermione said sarcastically, her eyebrows furrowed.
"It is," Fred shrugged, "Charlie's logic is the best. He knows what to do and what not to do. We always respected him."
"You two, respecting someone other than yourselves?" Harry chuckled, "that's somewhat rare."
"Want us to respect you as well, Harry?" Fred smirked at him. "Prank someone already. Do something a bit more… daring."
"I'm going to vanish my Professor's turban, is that not daring enough?"
They all laughed, even Hermione. She then got up, opening her bag.
"Speaking of, Harry, I brought some fabric for you to practice on. Most of them are quite short, but I also brought two scarves, which are the closest to turbans we'll get."
"Did you improve your wand movement mate?" George questioned with interest as Harry grabbed the red pieces of fabric from her and placed them on the floor.
"The movement needs to be sharper," Harry said, "I realized that the last time I tried. It only loosened last time I tried it though, but it felt like I was getting close."
"Don't forget, Harry, this is extremely complex magic. Way way beyond our level. I'm not even certain we can do it -"
"We can do anything, 'Mione," Fred dismissed her, "you think two years more will change his capability?"
"Try four!" She tilted her head, "and yes, I certainly do! It's an Ordinary Wizarding Level spell! It takes years of studying magic, and how will you manage without those years?"
"I vanished an entire window last summer, Hermione," Harry said, "way before I even knew magic existed."
Fred grinned. "Didn't that clue you in?"
"It makes perfect sense to me," George intervened, "our brother Bill once told us that they don't teach us how to do magic, rather than how to channel it. Magic is in us, and for those gifted enough it can be bent to our will. What are the OWLs important for when you know that?"
Hermione watched George, unconvinced. "It has some grounds. But why not use others' knowledge if we're given the chance?"
"We are," Harry said, raising the book 'Vanished! Where do objects go?' with a smile, "we are using others' knowledge. Just not McGonagall's."
"Professor McGonagall," Hermione corrected, but she was smiling. "Okay Harry. Proceed."
Fred strained his neck to look at the small pieces, their red colour turning a bit maroon when placed under such dark-yellow light as the light the alcove's lamp shed.
Harry looked around him at the nervous faces of the other three before he moved his gaze forward and waved his wand sharply. "Evanesco!" He said steadily.
Fred watched on excitedly.
But a second passed, then another, and the piece of fabric only twisted a bit in place.
They all sighed with disappointment.
"You'll get it in the end, Harry," George patted his back.
"Let me try again," Harry mumbled, his face strained with concentration. "Evanesco!" He yelled, his wand clearly heard slashing through the air.
And the fabric he was pointing at moved in place and then vanished.
"It worked!" They all yelped, grinning like mad.
"Harry, that's astonishing! It's very complex magic!" Hermione complimented him, her cheeks red with excitement.
"Our plan is going to work, kids," Fred beamed, "I just know it."
21st of April, 1991
George
Charlie showed up as promised, and he even managed to surprise them with the way he chose to come.
It was a dreary morning, very gray - the dark clouds did not compliment the blooming plants that started to grow green leaves and colourful flowers now with the upcoming Spring.
Fred and Harry scribbled hurriedly under the table between sips of orange juice, as they tried to finish a Charms essay in time.
Harry had an excuse - he was spending any free minute he had on that vanishing spell, almost obsessively so. He was rather… fixated on practicing, and seemed the most bothered by the situation, but given all that happened to him George wasn't surprised.
Fred, though, had no excuse, and Hermione next to him let him know that every few seconds with her disapproving face, those raised eyebrows and those annoyed huffs.
George would never admit that to anyone, but that was one of the reasons he always did his homework in time - disapproving Hermione was insufferable and he did not want that energy directed at him.
George's eyes then moved to Quirrell. He had a blue turban today (what, did the monster want him to mix it up a bit?) and was chatting with McGonagall.
An uncomfortable feeling pinched at his stomach.
Was she in on it too?
But no. She couldn't be. Prim, difficult, ill-tempered at times - but she wasn't a dark person.
On the other end of the table, Snape was watching the two other Professors converse with concentration, his eyes all - sharp, George had no other word for it, and George wasn't too sure about him at all. There was something about him that George didn't trust, and it wasn't just the horrid personality. This was a person that by definition, hid things. George could read right through people usually, and Snape was a closed person with clearly a lot to hide.
Dumbledore wasn't at the table, but the reason why became quite clear a minute afterwards.
"Charlie!" A surprised voice was heard from down the table, and Ron stood up with surprise at their brother entering the Great Hall next to Dumbledore.
Charlie gave Ron a quick nod before he directed last words to Dumbledore, shook his hand and then went straight to Ron and Percy further down the table.
"He looks cool," Harry said, probably referring to his longish, messy hair, his muscled arms and the dragon-skin coat he wore under his maroon cloak.
But in George's opinion, it wasn't really the appearance as it was the nonchalant, confident way he carried himself and the calm way he smiled.
"Yeah," Hermione agreed with Harry's assessment, and George looked at her in surprise, and felt himself sit a bit straighter.
Eventually, Charlie finished the tattle with an enthusiastic Percy and walked to the four excited First-Years.
"Charlie!" Fred and George cheered together, and jumped to hug him.
"Troubles," their older brother grinned, that familiar warmth he had in his eyes only for the two of them showing. That was the reason George truly liked him - it felt like Charlie liked them in a sincere, fond way. "And you must be the famous Harry Potter," Charlie shook his hand, "and lastly, you are -"
"Hermione Granger," Hermione shook his hand with a big smile, "pleasure to meet you."
"And you. Aren't you a formal one. Well. I have some work to do here, rare magical creatures to fetch, the Romanians want them for reproduction reasons. But maybe I'll meet you near the lake around five?" And he winked, "I do want to know how my brothers are doing, and what interesting… creatures, they've met."
/
They had their last lesson at 4 PM, and by 4:45 they were already at the furthest, most secluded spot by the lake, nervously waiting. Fred was actually jumping around, grinning like mad.
"It's happening! It's happening!" He sang as he ran and jumped around Harry.
"Freddie, we're exposing our monstrous teacher, yeah?" George laughed, "it's not like the bleeding carnival is in town."
"But still," Fred wagged his finger at him, "things are beginning to roll."
"They are," Hermione surprised them by agreeing with Fred, "your brother is helping us, and he seems like a very talented chap."
George arched an eyebrow at her. "You've only just met him."
She shrugged, her nose up in the air. "I'm good at judging people."
He thought about how she insisted Quirrell couldn't possibly be evil, he was a Professor! But he kept quiet.
"'Lo," Charlie appeared a few minutes later, dropping to sit on the grass next to Harry.
He clapped Fred's back and smiled at George. "So you two got into trouble?"
"You know us," Fred grinned.
"Oh, so very well," Charlie smiled and shook his head. "A two-headed Professor. That has 'vile' written all over it."
"It's really not normal then?" Harry gazed at the 20-year-old wizard.
"Normal?! I've never heard of such a thing! It's bloody dangerous! I don't want you four to encounter that! You must tell Dumbledore!"
Fred shook his head immediately. "We can't trust him."
"Of course you can! He defeated countless dark wizards!"
"And let one into our school!" Fred had dark splotches on his cheeks, and his tone was heated.
"That doesn't mean he is untrustworthy!"
"Charlie, if we proceed with our plan, Dumbledore would see it all. We just want him to catch Quirrell when it happens."
"Why not tell him beforehand and have him deal with this quietly?"
"I've been saying the exact same thing!" Hermione crossed her hands.
"He might not believe us, it might be too late once we ask and the creature might do something to someone," Harry said, "not to mention - what if Quirrell cursed him? What if that is the reason he let him into the castle?"
"I doubt he knows about it, Harry," Hermione shook her head.
"It is weird, how such a thing slipped under his radar," Charlie admitted slowly, his finger tracing a long, thin scar on his cheek. "But still, surely some faculty members are trustworthy?"
"We're sure of it too," George felt as if they were finally getting somewhere and smiled, "but we don't know which is which. That is why we need your help. If we expose him in front of all of them, the good ones will help us."
Charlie sighed deeply, and stared at the lake for a long minute. "At least let me help you. What is it that you plan to do?" And his dark eyes turned to eye them, "how will you expose him?"
"Harry will vanish his turban, after we release a monster of some sort."
"I should help you with it, vanish it, it shouldn't be the four of you against that monster when you're only eleven -"
"It must be me," Harry looked at him, his eyes bright and severe. "I don't know why, but I do know it for certain. It must be me against him. I, I feel it so strongly, right here," and he touched his stomach before inhaling deeply and looking into Charlie's eyes again, "I've - I've mastered it, you must believe me, it must be me."
Charlie gazed at him unsurely, and George knew why he hesitated - Harry's confidence was a bit unnerving.
"Prove it," Charlie pulled a glove out of his pocket, and placed it in front of Harry on the grass. Harry furrowed his eyebrows and pulled out his wand.
As it swished the air, he steadily said, "Evanesco."
And just like that, in a quiet sound of 'POP', it was gone.
"Wicked Harry!" The twins yelled together as Hermione yelped and hugged him.
"It is an OWL-level spell! You're simply brilliant!"
"Al-alright," Charlie nodded, "if you insist. But I…. I'll be in the back in case anything goes wrong. And in case it worsens, I'll petrify him, so he doesn't endanger the other students. Now, you lads do it tomorrow. I'll Transfigure something for you myself and it will be done by tomorrow night. I will be at the faculty table, and if anything goes wrong, I'll be right there, helping you."
That seemed to calm down all of them, even Fred who'd never admit it, but they were all glad that an adult they can trust would help them. They all nodded eagerly.
Fred hugged Harry's and Hermione's shoulders and winked at George before nodding at Charlie. "Tomorrow everyone will see how two-faced Quirrell is."
Charlie grinned back. "By tomorrow, I hope you come up with a better joke, Fred."
22nd of April, 1991
08:00 AM
Hermione
Hermione was probably losing it.
She found herself mumbling to herself throughout the day, and during the night as well, Parvati even laughed at her in the morning that she must have a crush on Quirrell as she muttered his name the entire night.
Her friends helped her, though.
First it was Harry.
More often than not, she felt like she and Harry shared a connection by default, as they had no choice given how close the twins were to each other. And that morning, when she met him by the table, and his face was as white as hers, she felt her heart beating faster.
He's scared, too.
She reached over to hold his hand, and some colour returned to his cheeks as he gave her a small, weak smile.
"I'll manage," he promised.
She watched the sea of students behind him at the other tables, eating their breakfasts happily, unaware of how grave things were going to be in just a few hours. Some of them much older than Harry, and none of them with that amount of responsibility on their shoulders.
She gave him a big, warm smile and nodded her head. "I know you will, Harry."
11:36 AM
Fred
Nerve-racking.
Absolutely and without a question nerve-racking.
He made Dean's pillow chase him around the room and slam him, coloured Lavender's robes purple and laughed in Snape's face when Neville's cauldron exploded in his face.
Now he was nervous and with a week of detentions.
Thing was, the three others were so nervous that George barely laughed at anything he did, Harry didn't even notice most of his shenanigans (as far as passing Dean and his pillow without a glance and walking out of the dorm) and Hermione did not reprimand him, not once.
The other three, the rest of the Quartet were so aware of how dangerous, how insane a thing they were about to do that evening, that they felt like ghosts to Fred - pale, and floating throughout the day.
04:25 PM
George
While waiting for that dreadful supper to come, George had discovered something quite surprising about himself.
Cheering up his mates helped him cope.
"Nice one, Freddie," he told Fred when he changed Lavender's cloak colour to match her name. Not because he liked it, he thought it was unoriginal, but he knew Fred did it to feel better, to feel some control over the situation, and he wanted his brother to cheer up. And once his twin cheered up, so did George.
"Everything will be alright, 'Mione," he told her when he found her sobbing behind an alcove, white in the face and clearly crying out of sheer fear, "truly, we'll manage anything. And Charlie will help us." And when she calmed in his arms, managing her first smile that day, he was able to smile back.
And finally after their last class, right before supper, he took Harry to the side.
Harry followed him, confused at first, and they sat by the window and watched the Hufflepuff Quidditch team practicing outside.
"You'll be fine," he said without warning, and Harry's gaze snapped to him, his eyes filled with uncertainty.
"How do you know that?"
"Because," and George shifted in place, moving his hand in his red hair, "I reckon that's how magic works. Once all your will and focus are fixed on one thing, it comes out rather forcefully. It will overcome your nerves."
"Yeah?" Harry's eyes were wide as a small smile appeared on his face.
"Yeah," and George grinned, now calmer himself as he clapped his mate's back, "you'll be fine."
06:52 PM
Harry
Any free minute during the day Harry had he used to practice the vanishing spell. He even woke up early, vanished an entire sofa in the common room and sneaked back to his room quietly.
Hermione caught him practicing, and instead of stopping him she sneaked objects to him during classes and watched him vanish them.
/
One more meeting with Charlie until it was finally time.
The grass they stepped on was wet and made their shoes squeaks.
"Complex magic," was Charlie's first words as they met him by Hagrid's hut, the owner of said hut absent for the moment, "rather complex magic. You'll see. But it won't be an actual creature, rather an hybridization I made, and it will target Quirrell specifically so that the Care of Magical Creatures Professor won't get up."
"You're the best," Fred high-fived Charlie.
George nodded on eagerly. "It's showtime," he agreed, then he moved his gaze to Harry, "you ready, mate?"
Harry inhaled the cold night air deeply, looking down before raising his eyes up to stare at the darkening skies. Only one star was shining by that hour, Sirius if he listened properly in Astronomy.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
/
Charlie stayed behind, preparing for his task, and the four of them walked to the Great-Hall in silence. They were early for supper, fully intending to catch the seats closest to the Professors' table.
Hermione's hand tapped loudly against the wooden table, and once she held on to a fork she started to tap with that against her plate.
The twins were eerily quiet, and they sat frozen and stared at each other almost without blinking.
But all three ceased their behaviour when the large doors opened and one seemingly timid man with a large, purple turban and a thin, clenched mouth walked in and moved just next to them before taking a seat by a very thin Professor Harry did not know with large glasses that magnified her eyes, draped in a gauzy, yellow shawl. Almost instantly as they looked at that Professor she looked back at them, and her eyes glistened behind her spectacles.
They all looked at each other, but had no time to ponder on this as in that moment Charlie walked in and went to sit at a seat intended for guests by the far end of the teachers' table. As he passed them, a tiny note flew from his robes and into Fred's hands.
'Not yet. Wait for a signal.'
They all gulped, as Charlie winked at them, before looking critically at Quirrell by the other end of the table.
/
Some time passed. None of them seemed to be able to sneak a bite into their mouths.
"Charlie's probably waiting for Professor Dumbledore," Hermione reasoned quietly.
"Well, where is he?" George tapped his foot nervously and accidentally hit Harry's shin.
"Perhaps he is not coming," Fred sounded worried. "That's not good. Charlie is leaving tomorrow."
It has been 15 minutes since the supper officially started. Harry moved his eyes to the great oak doors worriedly.
What if Dumbledore never shows up?
What if Quirrell finishes his Supper before he does?
But then the students by the Hall's doors moved a bit back to allow the entrance of one Albus Dumbledore, tall, lean and with a great white beard, wearing a purple cloak and moving forward at a calm, graceful pace. All the students he passed looked up at him in nervousness, but not more than the four First-Years by the end of the Gryffindor's table, sighing in great relief.
But the relief was soon replaced with terrible anxiety. Harry's stomach was in knots and swallowing was hard as his throat dried.
"Everything will be fine," George repeated, but he never looked less brave, his eyes wide and somewhat panicked, "if you can't do it Charlie will -"
"And you can do it," Hermione and Fred added together, then looked at each other in surprise. Then they both grinned, excitement making their cheeks red and their eyes sparkle.
"Well, you can," Fred reasoned, and patted his back.
From his seat by the table, Charlie nodded to them, and then waved his wand under the table. The great oak doors opened in a blast, and a creature with the body of a spider and a torso of a man, with muscled arms and eyes as black as ink surged forward.
Students yelled in fright, the Professors jumped to their feet nervously and Charlie Weasley got up to his feet and yelled excitedly, "this is the creature I'm after, Professor Dumbedore!"
Only the four of them noticed how Charlie also waved his wand under the table before he jumped, and how a second afterwards the creature raced forward, its eight legs tapping the floor in a frenzy, covered in such thick black coat of frizzy hair it was hard to see them, before the creature grabbed Professor Quirrell by the neck of his robes and raised him up high.
"Now, Harry!" Fred said urgently, and Harry used the havoc to mutter clearly, his wand slashing the air, "Evanesco!"
Quirrell was choking at the beast's hold of his neck. But that was the least of his problems as his purple turban shifted in place and then evaporated, making the entire table of Hufflepuffs scream in fear as his second head blinked at them.
A/N
I have such big things planned for this story! Truly, I'm so so excited.
Stay tuned, and let me know what you think as it has direct effect on my writing pace and motivation!
This story is the main thing I'm focusing on for the close-future (writing-wise) as I want to attain a certain land-mark I have in my head. So again, stay tuned :)
Kumonosu43 - Why of course! If people put the time to share their opinion, I put the time to answer them, and your reviews are so kind it was very fun to answer them :)
I'm glad you like my explanation and the story in general, and I hope you liked seeing how different things already are!
James Birdsong - Thank you so much, and thank you for reviewing again!
nadasnape - Thank you for reviewing again! I hope it lived up to what you hoped for, and as for the love interest, I'm not sure yet. Though I will say that I'll try to have Ginny much more developed and included in my story than she was in the books (and definitely in the movies...)
FattaEld - Thank you for reviewing again, I really like your reviews. And a fair point you make. I suppose I wanted to involve the mirror just enough without making it a major plot point, as it isn't one in my story.
MarchesaLace - Oops. Seems to be a typo on my end. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I'll fix it. It's meant to be 'squeaking'.
imerldarosemathew - Thank you so much, I'm so glad you liked it! As for Ginny, I agree that there wasn't much build-up for their pairing in the original books. As for what will happen in this story, I haven't really decided yet...