Trista

Arrival at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

Trista released her sister's hand and recovered from the squeezing sensation that she had just experienced from apperating. She gingerly rubbed her fingers and looked around. She and her sister were in a dark room with drapes covering the walls. The walls were stocked with curious looking items, only which Trista could see the outlines of.

"God I wish you would learn how to apperate by yourself Jezzera!" She said rubbing her left had gingerly, "Apperating already is uncomfortable. You know how hard it is when somebody is squeezing your hand!" she said feeling her fingers to make sure they were all in tact. Side-by-side apperation with somebody that made it feel like your hand was in a death-grip just added to the sensation that your guts were being squeezed out.

"Well it's not my fault that I haven't had time to retake the apperation test!" exclaimed an upset voice next to her. Trista peered through the darkness at her sister. She couldn't see all of her twin's features in the dark, but she knew they were identical to hers, so it didn't really matter. The girls were on some level what you could consider average. They weren't tall but they weren't short either. They weren't ugly but they weren't particularly beautiful. They weren't fat, but they weren't skinny. Just as average looking as any other human being, Muggle or Wizard around. The only thing that Trista really admired about herself was her hair. It has soft brown waves and reddish-blonde highlights from spending too much time in the sun. They LOOKED average, but if you talked to anybody that really knew them you'd find that they were very, very far from average.

Jezzera and Trista were witches, identical twin witches for that matter. They had both attended 14 years of school instead of 12. Not because they were held back but because they had The Gift. The experts marveled, amazed that not only one but two witches that were of all Muggle parentage had The Gift.

Not many people knew about the existence of The Gift. Those who did knew it only happened with ten witches and or wizards in each generation. These witches and wizards are scattered about the world, normally only 4 or 3 of each generation were discovered. That was another reason that the girls were so different. Two witches with the inborn Gift in the same place. That was very rare.

Those who carry The Gift are born with it. The Gift is the only inborn magical power that is rarer than is Metamorphmagus. The Gift was a power to be able to touch a body, as in a being, a beast, an object, or a spirit, and draw information from it. Sometimes it happened involuntarily, sometimes the girls had to try to extract it. Sometimes it was completely random, and sometimes it pertained to the moment. Sometimes it was lifesaving. Sometimes it was personal. Sometimes it was funny. Sometimes it was so pointless it didn't even matter. But it had brought them this far; to this room at least.

Trista squinted trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the room faster. The room was fairly large with shelves lined up along the walls. As her eyes adjusted a little more she saw that some of the boxes were labeled. When her eyes adjusted completely she realized, with embarrassment, that they were not alone.

"You know you could have just turned on a light," said one of the figures in the dark. Jezzera jumped beside her, she didn't know that they had company. He flicked what Trista recognized as his wand and the room became illuminated.

"Thanks," she said as she shielded her eyes against the light and looked towards the people. They were twins, like Trista and Jezzera. Identical twins with flaming red hair and magenta robes.

"You must be George and Fred?" Jezzera asked in a ringing voice, also squinting because of the sudden burst of light.

"Yes, and you two are Trista and Jezzera then?" said twin opposite to Trista. Trista eyed them for a second. They looked the same age as her.

"Prove it." Said Trista a little more aggressively than she meant it, "Prove your Fred and George."

"Geez Trista," said a voice in her ear, "Be a little nicer," Trista elbowed her sister and looked back on to the other set of twins. The twin opposite her opened his mouth to reply but the one next to him lazily said, "Most often do I dream in the small winter moon hanging outside on the tapestry above the doorway" He paused, "and now prove to us that you are you and not some imposters," he said.

Trista began to reply and stopped due to a small popping sound next to her. It wasn't loud enough to be somebody apperating though; she turned to ask her sister if she had heard the noise when she realized that Jezzera was the one who made the noise.

"JEZZERA I TOLD YOU TO STOP CHEWING ON YOUR WAND!" Trista exploded snatching the wand out of her sister's hand. Her sister winced and poked out her tongue. There was now a smudged blue mark on it that looked like it had been stamped on.

"Good job," said Trista tonelessly.

"Sowwyyy," her sister said poking her tongue, "It feels funny."

Trista ignored her and pocketed her sister's wand and said scowling, "Of course, for how could one not find a heart in the never-ending collage of fudge-sickles and sunny beaches," She finished quickly.

"Huh?" said the twin who recovered from his laughing fit, "Oh yes that's the right code. You know we can attach a wand shocker on that and each time it touches her mouth she gets zapped?" he offered.

Jezzera looked slightly affronted, Trista thought it must have been funny being talked about like a dog. "That sounds appealing," said Trista, "But not right now. We have business to take care of. Where is Arthur?" she inquired, still mortified by her sister.

"He isn't here yet, he will be here within the hour, got delayed with the Ministry," said the twin opposite Jezzera, "Why don't we go into the main room, this is kind of awkward."

Trista nodded, "Let's," she said as she followed after the twins into a brightly lit room. Trista looked around and gasped.

"This is awesome," she blurted out losing herself.

"Wow," said her awed sister's voice next to her. The main room of the shop was bursting with color. Shelves were stacked to the ceiling with joke items every color of the spectrum. There were barrels of eatable dark marks, a section with a series of Muggle tricks and card games; something labeled Skiving Snackboxes, which were apparently sweets that made you sick. There was also a large display that was popping up over the top of the rows of shelves labeled Wonder Witch products which happened to be right next to a large display for something called U-NO-POO. There was also sign adorning the window that was facing the inside and the outside emblazoned with electric blue and black letters:

SNEEZE-A-LOT PEPPER!

One whiff and they'll be sneezing giant mucus wads all day!

(Purchase includes antidote)

There was much, much more than that too. Trista had to admit to herself that this was a place that she would have loved to poke around in when she got some free time. She looked towards the window to see a cobbled street lined with shops. The street was only empty because it was near four in the morning. There was however a few consumers that apparently wanted to buy early and beat the rush; so there were a few on the street. Trista looked up there was street sign that had roughly cut letters embossed in it: Diagon Ally.

"Why don't we have one of these in America?" said Jezzera next to her waving her hand around at the shop. Trista nodded. She wanted one back home also. "So which one of you is Fred and which one is George?" said Trista lightening up a bit.

"I'm George," said the freckled twin next to her.

"And I'm Fred," said the one next to Jezzera, "Glad you like the shop," he said appreciatively. George casually flicked his wand and a squishy green couch appeared less than three feet away. "Take a seat ladies, you two must be tired. You came from all the way from America, huh?"

Jezzera gratefully plopped down on the couch and Trista followed her lead. She was exhausted. Fred and George sat down on either side of them. George pointed his wand at the door and muttered, "Colloportus," Followed by a mechanical click showing that the door had locked.

"We don't want any unexpected visitors. Dad won't be coming for at least a half hour and we don't open until seven today," Fred said looking at the planets on his wristwatch. "So tell us about your journey," he said leaning back on the couch.

"Hold on a moment," said Jazzera, "Somebody put an Imperturbable Charm on the door please," she said looking at her sister, "I would do it but you still have my wand."

"Oh, yes," said George making a whirling movement with his wand and flicking it twice in the direction of the door, "Mum taught me that one."

"Good call, Jezzera." Trista said to her sibling, "I'd give you your wand back if I knew there was some way I could keep you from chewing it."

Jezzera scowled. Trista didn't like treating Jezzera like a five-year-old but if Jezzera was going to chew on her wand then she would have to have some reassurance.

"If you're interested in that wand zapper..." Fred began.

"No, I'll be just fine thank you. I like the blue mark on my tongue. Now give me my wand back." Jazzera puffed. She sounded like a five-year-old more and more with each passing second.

"How was your journey?" asked George, apparently avoiding conflict. It worked because Jezzera seemed eager to tell about their trip to the U.K.

"Wasn't easy," Jezzera replied, "we had to apperate about five times and then take a Portkey, and there is no way that we would even dream about trying to apperate across the sea." Trista noted that Jezzera conveniently left out her not being able to apperate by herself. Trista decided to keep that information secret for the time being.

"Really?" asked Fred looking quizzically to his side at Trista.

"Pretty much," She said smiling, "We apperated from New Mexico to Arkansas. Then from Arkansas to West Virginia. Then from West Virginia to New York, where the Y.A.O.A. headquarters is and took a Portkey from there. Then after we took the Portkey we apperated into your shop" She finished.

"Yaoa?"

"Y.A.O.A." Trista said clearly, "I'll explain in a minute. But for now I was wondering if you had some foo--"She stopped in mid-sentence. There was a faint humming sound emitting from around her sister. Then she realized it WAS her sister.

Jazzera was humming "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to herself softly. Trista turned to her with widening eyes.

"Shut up!" she said under her breath, elbowing her sister in the side. She received a brief image of her sister in a sailboat. She had to resist the urge to laugh.

"Sorry! You know how I get when I am hungry…"

"Damn it, I was just about to ask for food!" she said a little louder than she meant.

George stood up and spoke, "I'm sorry ladies I'll go get some food…" he trailed off as Fred stood up also.

"Shut up, George. Everyone knows that you can't cook. Your brilliant with alchemy but you suck at cooking. I already have something whipped up. Let me just head up to the room." He said as he mock-waved and set off across the colorful shop counter. George sat back down.

"If that prat rubs it in my face one more time about how I can't cook I'll jinx his eyes crossed. He doesn't know how to reverse that jinx." He fiddled with the sleeve of his magenta robes. "So tell me about this Yaoa," he said looking at the two of them.

"Y.A.O.A." Jezzera recited, "Young Aurors of America, dedicated to teaching young Aurors of the next generation harness their powers and use them to their full potential," she finished the first sentence of the mission statement.

"That just about sums it up," said Trista.

"But we were inducted at age 4." blurted Jezzera carelessly.

"What?" George said, looking befuddled. Trista didn't blame him. Jezzera wasn't using her head again. Now there would be more explaining to do.

"Let's just say we had… a couple of very sought after talents." Trista said.

"Like what?" George asked looking curiously from twin to twin. Trista shot Jezzera a piercing look. She better not spill on this one. Jezzera gave Trista a hurt look back and said,

"Oh, nothing, nothing…" she said with a sigh. Trista would have put her head in her hands if it wouldn't have been obvious. Jezzera wasn't exactly covering up for her blunder well. Her mouth never seemed to stop going.

Before George could inquire anymore Fred came taking big strides out of the isle towards them balancing a large tray which appeared to be breakfast.

"That was fast," said George.

"Food!" exclaimed the girls in unison, sitting up a little straighter on the couch. It sounded rather greedy, but the last meal they had was lunch, back in New Mexico. It was, after all, a seven hour time difference.

George conjured up a table and Fred set the tray down on it. The girls looked over at the unfamiliar food. George looked at it and rolled his eyes.

"Quit showing off Fred," he said jokingly helping himself to a plate.

"What is it?" asked Trista frowning and leaning forward.

"Eguuugsgs Benedi-did-ct and crome-crrum-mpets," replied George with great difficulty, he had just swallowed a large amount of food in order to respond promptly.

"I don't care, its food." Said Jezzera gratefully. She reached forward and grabbed a plate.

"Thanks Fred." Trista said also grabbing a plate and a fork and digging in. She didn't care if it wasn't lady-like, she was ravenous.

Eggs Benedict actually turned out to be good. Trista also thoroughly enjoyed the first crumpet. Fred finished first and put the dirty plate back down on the table. George finished soon after and looked back towards the girls.

"So tell us about this Y.A.O.A." he said looking at Jezzera. Jezzera set her plate in her lap.

"Well," she said, "We do a lot of Auror stuff that we obviously can't talk to you about, but we also do a lot of other stuff," she paused and looked at Trista, who was in much better spirits now that she had food in her.

"Suppose we can tell them why we are here Trista?" she inquired to her sister. Trista shrugged. It would be rude not to tell them now that Jezzera had mentioned it.

"Go ahead," she said waving her had carelessly.

"Do tell," said Fred with a hint of excitement in his voice. Trista looked over to see that George was looking intently at Trista too; either that or staring at her. Either way she didn't mind.

"Well," said Jezzera looking grim, "Y.A.O.A. is a highly respected society comprised of several witches and wizards and even creatures with special gifts and talents. Bottom line is we have some very valuable people, who, on top of their talents, know all of the secrets of Y.A.O.A. and hold confidential information about other important issues and societies throughout the world. They also have very strong ties to the American Ministry of Magic and become key to how it operates." She paused to take a breath. Trista decided to take it from there.

"The heads of the association held the business together and kept it running. They went missing a week ago." Trista stopped to let the words sink in. She still couldn't believe it herself. The heads were like a second set of parents to her.

"We have evidence that You-Know-Who had something to do with their sudden disappearance." Jezzera tipped in looking slightly pained.

"They hold a lot of information that should be kept in confidence, and they have held Y.A.O.A. up for 32 years now…" Trista said collecting herself, "So we have been sent here to join forces with Harry Potter in attempt to confront He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…" She shuttered. She couldn't possibly imagine it; facing the man who abducted such people as Addie and Spinner and caused so much carnage around the world.

Fred and George exchanged glances looking surprised. Both of the red-headed twins opened their mouths to speak but Fred got to the chase first.

"I don't think Harry will like that. He is a very independent person," he said reasonably, "Outside the Weasleys and his small group of friends he likes to operate without outside help. He has been going through some hard times lately," he said grimly, all traces of his previous jovialness evaporated almost instantly, "you know with Dumbledore being murdered and all. Happened right in front of him too… we talked to him a while ago. Blimey, I don't know if he will ever be the same bloke again. I have no idea what he is doing but he, Hermione, and Ron have been out a lot lately… I'll bet you anything it has to do with You-Know-Who…" he trailed off looking slightly worried.

Trista and Jezzera paused to take this all in. This wizard Dumbledore; the girls hadn't known him at all, but he had been one of the things that kept the Dark Lord at bay. Without him the Dark Lord was one giant step closer to achieving the amount of chaos that he had 17 years before. Trista had no idea who Ron and Hermione were, but she figured she'd find out soon.

George looked up solemnly at his brother and then asked Trista, "Why you? Why us?"

"That's a loaded question," she said as she heard the clink of Jezzera setting her fork down on her plate. Trista picked up her buttered crumpet and took a bite, "Well we are staying with you obviously because your brother is close to Mr. Potter and is apparently going with him to wherever he is going." She stopped and pondered the first question, "Why us you ask? Well because—"

"Oh shut up and get on with it!" exclaimed Jezzera, "I'll say it if you are going to continue to be little-miss-modest. We have special talents making us the most talented people in the U.S. There. I said it." She said looking slightly flustered. Trista eyed her sister. Now they were going to look bad.

"Wow." Both boys said together.

"I trust you won't share this with anyone; of course now that we know where you live I don't think you have any other options." She said with a note of humor in her voice.

"'Course not!" said Fred. "If anyone asks we heard nothing." George nodded in compliance. Trista finished her crumpet and placed her plate back onto the table with the rest. She would have burped if she was home alone with Jezzera; but seeing how she was in company she suppressed it.

"I'll take care of that," said George pointing his wand at the plates and tonelessly said, "Scourgify"

"Thanks for the grub," said Jezzera rubbing her stomach, "So we've told you our story, now it's your turn,"

"About how you got here," Trista said narrowing down the question, "Aren't you a little young to own a business this extensive? I mean you must have only started what? A year ago? This place is huge!"

"Ahh… that is a good story isn't it George?" said Fred smiling.

"'Tis, Fred, 'tis…" he George said.

"Just get on with it boys. You're making me anxious!" Trista exclaimed.

"Alright, alright, alright!" George began again, "Well I don't know when it really started we must have been seven or eight. The fact of the matter is that both of us have always loved fooling around with alchemy. We also have kind of been pranksters all of our life too. So in our later years at Hogwarts we began to develop some items and using ourselves as testers. Simple things like Ton-tongue toffee and stuff like that."

"But mum disapproved of it because she didn't think that it was a suitable way to go. But now we are, well, working with what we love. We started the shop when we were what? I think we were seventeen. We got a very generous donation and the business just skyrocketed from there." Fred finished affectionately looking around at the shop.

"That's pretty cool. Sounds like you guys are huge," said Jezzera looking around.

"Yup. We have developed new charms, curses, and new species of magical creatures also. We have several new developments in alchemy that we still haven't been put up on our shop fronts. We're thinking about expanding to another location but since Hogwarts closed there wouldn't be any kids around to buy the stuff…" George's voice became more suppressed towards the end.

Trista sat up very suddenly. "Jezzera, where is Gremlin?"

"Gremlin?" asked Jezzera, "Oh, I left him with Gibbit." Trista put her head in her hands. She didn't care if Fred and George were watching.

"Who's Gremlin?" asked Fred.

"YOU LEFT HIM WITH GIBBIT! YOU LEFT GREMLIN WITH GIBBIT!" raged Trista.

"Calm down Trista. Do you think a summoning spell would work?" asked Jezzera.

"OF COURSE NOT YOU DUNCE HE IS ALL THE WAY BACK IN NEW YORK!"

"Calm down Trista. Who is Gremlin? Whose Gibbit?" asked George softly. Trista took a deep breath. She still couldn't believe that Jezzera left Gremlin back with Gibbit.

"Gremlin," she said taking our deep breath "Is our Augurey. Much faster than owls. We need him. Gibbit is our, well assistant. He communicates with us and tells us where to go next, and he holds our files… He is also very forgetful."

Fred raised an eyebrow, "You have an Augurey! That's pretty cool. We just got an owl." He said pointing upwards, "He's in our flat if you want to borrow him."

"Thanks Fred. I'll just use him once to tell Gibbit to send Gremlin over here." She paused and her sister cut in.

"Sorry Trista. You really do have anger issues though." She said further provoking her sister. However Trista did not go for the bait.

"Can I use your bathroom?" asked Trista.

"Sure," said George, "I'll take you up there. We can grab our owl too. Though it will probably take a couple of days for him to fly over the Atlantic and back." He said standing up.

"You need to go Jezzera?" asked Trista standing up and siphoning the crumbs off her robes with her wand.

"I'm good thanks. I'll just chat with Fred for a bit." She said winking at her sister. Trista rolled her eyes and set off behind George who was walking casually towards the counter. He opened the small swinging door and appeared behind the counter.

"This way," he said tapping the wall twice to reveal a mahogany door which she assumed lead to the flat. He opened it to reveal a cement staircase. She followed him up the stairs. They reached the landing which had another one of the mahogany set in the frame. George seized the brass doorknob and thrust the door open.

"Welcome to our humble abode," he said stepping back to reveal a small living room. The flat looked like it consisted of roughly four or five rooms. It was extremely messy. There were socks strewn about the place along with several unmarked boxes. The air smelled slightly like burnt cheese and mayo. Her nostrils flared and her eyes almost started to water. The couch was green adorned with tassels and burn marks. There was marble fireplace was chop full of ashes that poured out of the grate.

"We aren't used to having female company," he said earnestly scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh its okay," she lied through her teeth, "My only worry is what the bathroom looks like,"

Or if the stench will kill me, she thought.

"No it isn't," he said looking around, "Come with me." He said leading her through a pile of laundry and to a door she wouldn't have seen if he hadn't pointed it out. He wedged the door open, plugged his nose, jammed his wand into the door jam and yelled "Scourgify!"

He pushed the door open all the way to reveal a clean magenta bathroom much like his robes.

"Thanks for cleaning up first!" she said sarcastically looking around. He looked around awkwardly and they stood in silence for a moment and then he turned around.

"I'll go get my owl…" George said walking off leaving her in the bathroom alone.

A few short moments later Trista and George walked down the stairs. George opened the door with one hand and had his large, brown owl hooting sleepily.

"Thanks again," said Trista walking down the isle towards the couch again. Fred was up and about with Jezzera showing her some of the items in the joke shop. Fred and Jezzera looked up when they heard the footsteps and said,

"Oh good your back. We were beginning to think you had died up there."

"You write the letter," said Trista shoving the parchment and the quill into her sister's hands. Jezzera scowled and sat down at the table and began writing a letter to Gibbit.

Trista looked around at the boys and asked, "He should be here 'bout now right?" she said looking around outside the shop window. As if on cue a balding shabby looking wizard appeared out of thin air looking frazzled.

"That would be him," Fred said heading towards the door, briefly whispered, "Alohamora!" to open the door and poking his head out the door to greet his father.

"That's him then?" asked Jezzera folding her note and walking over to George, "May I?" she said not waiting for a response and sweeping the bird off his shoulder by grabbing him rather firmly in his shoulder joint. Jezzera turned to look at Trista with the owl in her hand and her eyes turned lilac and back again. Jezzera had brushed up against George to have a vision.

"George thinks—" Jezzera began.

"Stoppit, Jezzera that's invasion of privacy." Trista said tartly.

"But—"

"No!"

"But you would really want to know…" Jezzera taunted.

"What are you talking about?" asked a bewildered George, still blissfully unaware of The Gift. Trista's curiosity got the best of her.

"Oh, fine go on say it!" exclaimed Trista putting her hands in the air.

"George thinks your hot." said Jezzera airily.

George looked at Jezzera incredulously, "I do not!"

"So you think I am ugly?" questioned Trista.

"NO! That's not what I am saying I—"

"So you do think she is hot!" Jezzera inquired.

"Stop it Jezzera you are putting him on the spot! It's embarrassing!" Trista said angrily.

"Erm—yeah I think I am going to check on Fred… he is taking awhile…."

"No! Wait!" said Jezzera.

"FRED? What is taking you so long!" shouted George.

Fred, who had been talking with his father with his head poking through the door to the ally hadn't heard their conversation, opened the door fully to let the man in.

"Sorry," Fred said, "Dad forgot the passwords." He said indicating to his father.

"Hi Dad." said George looking over at the tall balding man at the door in a navy cloak.

"Ahh," the man spoke looking over at the twin girls, "So you two are Jezzera and Trista! Pleasure to meet you. Sorry I was late… Ministry Business…" he said wiping his head with a handkerchief that he had just conjured out of midair.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Weasley," said Jezzera stepping forward and shaking his hand.

"Mr. Weasley," said Trista curtly nodding to him.

"Better be off then," Mr. Weasley said to his grown children. He looked around the shop fondly, "Sorry I don't have time to chat, but I will come by later this week and visit for a bit," with that he opened the door with Trista and Jezzera following close behind, Jezzera with owl in hand.

"See you guys," Trista said waving to the twins. They both waved and George turned away with his cheeks as red as his hair. The door shut behind them and they began to follow Mr. Weasley up the high street.

"So where to Ladies?" He said looking a little unsure. Jezzera finished tying a note with a sloppily scribbled 'Gibbit' on the front onto bird's talon and released the bird. Trista watched it for a moment as it flew further and further away.

"To Gringotts," said Jezzera, "Gotta deposit some of this stuff before we start charging off around all of Europe…" she said giving Mr. Weasley a friendly look.

"You know that wasn't very nice…"said Trista as soon as Mr. Weasley had turned around, "What you did to George in the shop…"

"Oh you know you like it!" said Jezzera walking swiftly, "Now gimmie my wand back."

"No." said Trista, her thoughts elsewhere, "I'll give it back when I see fit…" But her sister was right. She did like it, but she would rather die than tell Jezzera that right now.

17