Written for Writer's Month 2022. Prompt #4: Melody.
Happy reading!
It was a busy evening. The Order members had just finished another meeting, and many of them decided to stay for dinner at the Wilbourg cottage, the safe house protected by numerous charms which doubled as the Order Headquarters and the house of the Weasley family. Molly Weasley, the matriarch of the family of eight – well, soon to be nine, since she was pregnant - was bustling around the kitchen, getting everything ready for the much needed meal. She had just come to the table with the mashed potatoes when she realised that the plates she had just laid out on the tablecloth were gone.
- Gideon! Fabian! Come here NOW!
The scolding voice carried through the house easily, and it wasn't long before two redheaded men, wearing identical smiles on their faces. They mock-saluted their sister, making exaggerated bows in front of her.
- At your service, Milady.
Shaking her head in exasperation, she motioned towards the dining table.
- Don't you 'Milady' me! What have you done with the plates?
The brothers shared a perplexed look.
- Molly, we...
- We actually haven't...
- Done anything!
Unfortunately, that was the wrong thing to say.
- Do you seriously expect me to believe that? What do you suggest, that the plates just disappeared without any cause? It would be just like you, to prank me when I'm already in a hurry!
Molly's face was getting red, and she was obviously not in the mood for the shenanigans her brothers were famous for.
- Molly, it would be just like us...
- But seriously, it wasn't us.
- We don't know who did it..
- But...
The two of them looked at them, excitement gleaming in their eyes.
- If we knew who it was, we'd make sure to congratulate them!
- It's good to see we're not the only ones...
- Who can appreciate...
- A good joke...
- Around here!
Just as they finished their mixed-up speech (had she not grown up with the two of them doing it all the time, she might have been confused by the constant switching), a giggle could be heard from beneath the table. A moment later, the tablecloth moved a bit. Almost like... there was someone under the table.
Taking slow, silent steps, Fabian and Gideon approached the table, and carefully lifted the cloth draping over its edges. The moment they did so, squealing could be heard, and two small, red heads came out from under the table. To Molly's great surprise, those were the heads of her thre year old twin sons.
- Fred! George! What are you doing there? You should have been asleep hours ago!
Shaking her head, she waggled her finger at her sons who, to her astonishment, kept on laughing. A crease appeared on her forehead, at about the same moment her brothers got a look of wondering epiphany in their eyes. The three of them looked at each other, not believing what they all thought.
- Hey little guys! Do you, maybe, know something about some missing plates? For example, missing dinner plates your Mommy put on the table a little while ago?
Fabian looked at the two small boys when he asked them the question and, to his disbelief, they laughed even harder. Turning his head towards his sister, he said in an awed, proud voice.
- I think we've found your culprits, Molly.
The laughing twins crawled out from under the table, where Molly was looking at them in fond exasperation.
- Three years old and already vanishing plates with accidental magic... My, oh my, what will they do once they're older?
Gideon and Fabian looked at each other and smiled at Molly.
- I think they'll be pranksters extraordinaire.
- Think about that, Molly – just like us!
She looked at the twins and wondered at all the mischief they would get into in the following years.
- And just imagine that, Molly – Hogwarts won't know what hit them once these two get there!
Shaking her head, Molly smiled at the twins and kissed the tops of their heads.
- Really. Now come on, Georgie, Freddie – you really should be in bed. Off you go!
And so the two little mischief makers pulled their first prank.
Mere months after that silly episode both Gideon and Fabian died in a fight with Death Eaters. Molly was inconsolable – it was almost impossible to imagine the rest of her life without the light of her brothers in her life. It was absolutely awful.
The death service was a private affair – the danger of more attacks made it the only possible way to honour her brothers. Her family, a few people from the Order – way too little for such bright souls. The world had lost a lot.
The funeral march was playing from the enchanted musical box, and all the people assembled there were paying their respects to the fallen men. It was a morose, silent event – nothing but the music and hushed crying could be heard. It was awful – her brothers would have hated it. If they had their way, the service would have been turned into a party, with fireworks and loud music, like everything they did was. It didn't matter – it wasn't like they would see it either way. They were gone.
Soon after the untimely deaths of Fabian and Gideon the war ended. The wizarding world was finally at peace – gone was the constant fear and despair, the only things they'd known for the past few years. Molly's family could finally go out of hiding and live a normal life.
Years passed, and soon enough it was time for her twin sons, Fred and George, to go to Hogwarts. The double sets of books and supplies stretched their budget a fair bit, but they managed – and so she and her husband were left with only two of their children at home with them.
The twins rode the train, thinking about the fact that they were finally going to go to Hogwarts – they'd been hearing stories about it forever! After all, they've been looking forward to it for a very long time, ever since their now-dead uncles predicted a bright prankster career at Hogwarts for the two of them. Their mother was worried about all the trouble they most probably would get into – and she was right to worry. After all, the two of them had been planning various tricks and jokes they would do once they got there – and their idea bank was quite full.
The Sorting Ceremony went by quickly, and they got in Gryffindor, just like they expected all along. After the Headmaster gave his usual nonsense speech (seriously, did he think anyone was in the mood for hearing silly ramblings like that when dinner was waiting?), it was the time to sing the school song.
Since they had three older brothers who had already gone to Hogwarts, Fred and George knew that the school song had no predetermined melody – everyone was supposed to sing it to a tune of their own choosing. Thinking about the reason they were so eager to get there in the first place, the twins shared a look, confirming that the other thought the same. Taking a deep breath each, they started singing the words to the melody which represented the saddest day of their lives, yet the memory of the two people who inspired them the most – the funeral march.
Many people turned in surprise at hearing the two redheaded Gryffindor first years sing the school song to the tune of such a morose musical piece. However, that didn't stop them – if anything, they began to sing even more loudly. In the end, they were the only ones left singing, the other students having already finished the song to more upbeat, jovial tunes. The Headmaster played conductor for them until the very last note and, once they were finished, wished all the students a pleasant meal. The twins looked at each other, sat down, and began to eat.
Every year since then, for as long as Fred and George Weasley went to Hogwarts, two loud voices could be heard singing the school song to the melody of the funeral march at the first feast of the year. Some people thought it was the dramatic way they expressed their dislike for education and school assignments, others that it was just their way of annoying the teachers – nobody knew the real reason. And maybe, that was the greatest prank of them all – just like their uncles would have loved it.
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