- Chapter 3 -

- Dark Purple Stains -

"Boys! Put the utensils on the table."

Fred and George froze mid-stride and burst forth with such exclamations of unfairness that Molly grew quite irritated.

"I don't care what you're in the middle of, get them on the table now."

She gave a nod of finality and went back to her simmering pots and pans. Fred and George heaved a quick sigh and set up a factory line and passed the five larger sets and two smaller sets of silverware to the round table. The boys announced they were finished and Molly look quite pleased with herself.

"See boys?" She said with a heightened air about her knowledge. "Team work always works . . . or something like that." A distracted look covered her plump features; only the sharp sizzling of the food brought her back to the Burrow.

Fred and George had disappeared from all sight.

~*~ ~ ~*~

The duo was silently making their way back to their room. Their pockets were filled with little things from the cupboard to snack on after dinner was finished. As they approached the door they heard a rustle from behind it, and the door was ajar . . .

The boys always left the bedroom door closed . . .

Fred's eyes began to swell with anger, but George laid a hand on his twin's shoulder and shook his head mutely. George sidled up to the door, as silent as a dying breath, and slowly pushed the door open . . .

The first look didn't reveal anything out-of-place in the small bedroom, until George's eyes caught the small red head bent over the candy pile in the far corner of the room.

Ginny was plopping piece after piece of dark purple candy into her toddler mouth. She heard the scuffle of noise and sharp intake of breath behind her and turned with purple hued hands and mouth. She grinned, revealing the discolored teeth and her, now violet, tongue.

"Ginny!" Fred shouted and bowled past his brother towards his sister. She was pulling a particular green piece towards her purple mouth. George's eyes grew round as he watched Percy's special candy slide past Fred's out- stretched fingers and into Ginny's dark mouth.

After the initial punishment was over George had to admit that the effect was exactly what he and Fred had been striving to achieve for one full week.

Ginny's head swelled to three times its normal size. The LARGE brown eyes on the girl's abnormal head widened another five centimeters before they squenched up and the shriek which emitted from her expanded vocal chords echoed throughout the Burrow.

All members came running, sliding, and waddling as quickly as they could to the source of he ear-piercing yelps. Molly Weasley fainted away at the sight of her little girl with a swollen cranium and Fred groping pillows over his red head to keep his eardrums from bursting at the volume of the horrific squeal.

~*~ ~ ~*~

Any ideas after the punishment? I've got an idea for a type of wizarding preschool . . . but that naturally wouldn't start until after the summer, correct? And it's one more week until Charlie and Bill come home from Hogwarts! Yeah!

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. . . Ahem . . .

Please?

-Jaina