Chapter Two - Cutie

"Dad and Lucius Malfoy… Lucius Malfoy smiling… Dad smiling back… That's it, I'm nuts. I don't think I feel so good", said Fred, with an expression of disgust clutching his stomach with his hands.

"There must be a logical explanation for this." said George, still flabbergasted.

"Yes, there is. Didn't you hear me?" asked Fred. "Dad and Malfoy walk around together and are happy. Malfoy smiles. Dad smiles back. Hence, you and I have lost all our marbles! We're crazy, brother! Our experiment must have gone wrong. Maybe I'm ill. Yes, that's it – an illness."

Fred was reasoning more to himself than to his brother. George kept looking around, trying to recognize somebody else. But it was useless. This was not their time. The uniforms were a bit different and the hairstyles were changed. Aside from the train station itself, nothing else looked familiar.

He tried to touch the wall, but his hand went right through it. He tried to talk to the Hogwarts students around them, but they didn't hear him.

"We're here as observers, Fred. We can't interfere. That's why they don't answer." said George to his twin, who ignored him and kept on repeating like a mantra that all of this was a botched experience and he should have listened to his mother.

"Listen to me, Fred!" he said urgently, holding his brother's face in his hands. "You are not crazy. Neither am I. We are inside Dad's memories, in his diary."

"But if we are inside Dad's diary, where's Dad?" asked Fred, looking for his father everywhere, as the whistle of the train warned of its imminent departure to Hogwarts.

"Damn! We're gonna miss the train." he said urgently, taking his brother by the hand and hopping inside the nearest carriage.

"That was close," said Fred, wiping his face. "Can you see him?"

"No. He must be inside one of the cabins." said George. "Let's go looking for him."

The twins peeked over students's shoulders when they opened cabin doors, since they couldn't touch them. But it didn't take them long to find the right cabin.

Their father and Malfoy were in the last one, the same one Harry and Ron liked to sit in.

"Are you still nervous?" asked Arthur.

"I was just thinking, Artie. What if we don't get the same house?"

"Artie? It makes me sick." observed George, watching the scene in front of him.

"He doesn't look like Draco much. Just that hair and his eye colour. Other than that, nothing." said Fred, examining the boy with short, blond hair to his right. "But Dad is Ron's image cast in stone."

"Then we can ask for a transfer to the other's house," suggested Arthur hopefully, after thinking a while.

"Or we can destroy the school." said Lucius smiling.

"That's an option." agreed Arthur, smiling back.

At that point, the yellow, blinding light came back once more, bathing the cabin in its ghoulish light.

"Where are we?" asked George, blinking repeatedly, trying to make his eyes useful again.

"I just hate these special effects." said Fred, looking around him. "I think this is the corridor near the Transfigurations classroom. Where are those two?"

"Run!" heard George before seeing the two young men, now at the age of 15, running towards them, followed by several explosions.

"There they are!" said Fred, pointing at them and following them, Goerge at his heels.

"This way, Artie!" called Lucius, before entering an empty classroom.

"Won't Filch find us?" asked Arthur, shaking, as he closed the door.

"I hope not", answered the blond youngster, putting up a Silencing Spell and brushing a lock of hair that insisted on falling over his eyes.

"That was close," said the red-haired boy, "We were so careless, Luc." he said, laughing.

"You should cut your hair" he added.

"Reckless, me? You were the one that threw Dung Bombs at Filch's filthy cat," protested Lucius. "But it was so worth it. Did you see his face? I should have taken my camera." he said, laughing out loud.

"And there's nothing wrong with my hair." he pouted, blowing a raspberry at hiss companion.

"Merlin! Filch is the least of my problems! Old McGonagall will go starkers when she finds that bunch of cat food in her classroom."

said Arthur.

"But where did you get so much material to transfigure?" he asked Lucius, curious.

"Why don't you use some hair gel? It's annoying to see you arranging your hair all the time!"

"I took something from the laundry." shrugged Lucius. "Hair gel? Nah. Too sticky. I think I'll let it grow longer."

"What exactly did you take from the laundry?"

"Hufflepuff knickers." answered Lucius, with a wicked grin.

"How come we never thought of this?" observed George.

"He really makes us feel stupid." Fred shook his head.

"I don't believe what you've done, you dissimulated veela!" said Arthur hotly. "They'll figure out we did it in a minute!" he said, charging the blond boy.

"They'll never doubt me, or you." Said Lucius, ducking Arthur's advances. "Unless you're taking somebody's knickers besides Molly's."

"I'd never do that!" murmured Arthur, as his ears became the same color as his hair.

"Merlin, Artie!" said Lucius. "Why didn't you ever tell me you were gay?" he teased, a smile in his lips as he got to a safe distance from his friend.

"Oh, you -.." snarled Arthur before tackling his friend to the floor and pouncing on him.

"FIGHT! FIGHT!" cheered Fred.

"It was just a joke!" explained Lucius, trying to dodge Arthur's punches. "Just think, you'll be laughing at this in a couple of years from now."

"That's the father we know and love." said George, his chest swelling with pride.

"I doubt it", snarled Arthur, pulling Lucius's collor and pinning him against the wall.

"Watch it, Artie, be careful!" exclaimed the blond, "Madam Malkin charged me a fortune for this shirt."

He sighed. "You in a snit is even worse than my mother in a snit. And she spits fire and has wings!" he said, making his friend eventually control himself.

"Just don't joke about Molly again, OK?" asked Arthur, releasing Lucius.

"You like her don't you?" he querieded. "Why didn't you tell me before, you jerk? I wouldn't make a joke out of someone you like." he said, obtaining a shrug from his friend.

"At least not behind your back." he tried to finish, as he got a suspicious look from Arthur.

"All right. I confess. I was gonna mock you anyway. But that's normal. After all, you're my friend."

"Friend only?" asked Arthur, his eyes like a puppy's.

"All right. All right. You closeted lug! You're more than my friend. You're like my brother, happy now?"

"You know, this jerk is not such a jerk after all." said Fred to his brother, gesturing at Lucius.

"Do you really think so?" asked Artur, his eyes filled with tears, and he got a nod fromt he blond boy.

"You're such a cutie!" he exclaimed, and squeezed Lucius in a tight hug.

"You're gay! Gerroff me!" shouted Lucius, trying to get away from his friend.