Chapter Fourteen

Partners in Crime

Fred, George, and Lee had an advantage over Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny during the next week; Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were concerned with end-of-term exams, especially considering their study habits had been somewhat neglected during the fight, but only Lee gave the exams a second thought on the other end. Lee and the twins spent a good deal of time working on the Fred-and-George-having-a-fight angle, and were working out a good deal of the problems with it.

Then, however, came the moment that filled all seven of them with extreme dread: they all boarded the Hogwarts Express to head back to King's Cross, Fred, George, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny bound for the Burrow and Lee for his own home.

After a tense train ride, in which both sides separately made hurried plans in case the other side didn't let things lie under Mrs. Weasley's watchful eyes, they found Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, as well as Bill and Charlie, waiting for them on the platform.

They were forced to take the Knight Bus back to the Burrow, which they hailed in an alley not far from the train station. The bus was crowded enough that they had to split up; Mrs. Weasley, not realizing that something had set the twins against the others, took Mr. Weasley, Ginny and Bill up to the top tier, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were left on the second with the twins and Charlie.

As they finished paying for their tickets, Fred couldn't resist a quick go at Hermione. "Perhaps we should carry on here?" Fred said casually, smirking when she blushed.

"No, I don't think so," Hermione said, glaring at him as she sat stiffly in her chair; none of them wanted to speak plainly in front of Charlie just yet.

"Are you sure? Might be quite—yah!" Fred broke off with a yelp as the bus gave a loud BANG and lurched. Harry was able to prevent falling by grabbing hold of whatever he could, and so was Charlie, who'd ridden the bus before, and Hermione and Ron, who'd been warned about the bus by Harry, but the twins weren't prepared and went flying.

The bus teleported all over Great Britain, letting off other passengers and picking up a few more. The twins had taken the others' lead and seized candle brackets sticking out of the wall, glaring at the smug looks on the others' faces.

All of them were rather green by the time the Knight Bus teleported to the Burrow, the shed jumping aside for the bus. "How'd it go?" Ginny whispered eagerly as they met up in the yard.

"Fine, actually," Hermione said, narrowing her eyes at Fred and George.

"Whew, that's a relief... that bus is something else, I spent the entire time gripping the overhead bar with my feet braced against the window, imagine I looked like a monkey..."

"Yeah, but it's the safest way to ride," Bill said, smiling.

"Bill taught me the trick," Ginny said happily, "he was doing the same thing... bit uncomfortable, but better than getting thrown around."

"Taught her everything I know," Bill said, throwing his arm around Ginny's shoulders; the two looked pleased to be in each other's company again.

Fred and George took one look at Bill and Ginny and the pair of them made a beeline for Charlie, grabbing his arms and marching him towards the house.

"Charlie, buddy, how've you been—"

"—we've got a load of things to ask you about—"

"—come on up to our room, let's have a chat—"

"That can't be good," Bill said suspiciously, frowning as Charlie shot Bill a nervous look over his shoulder while the twins dragged him to the house. Bill made a mental note to go rescue Charlie if he wasn't back in an hour and turned to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley followed the twins and Charlie inside. "Do you lot know what's up with them?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Hermione said dryly.

"We need your help with something, Bill," Ginny said, leading him farther from the house.

"Anytime, Gin—what's going on?"

"It's not funny," Hermione whined for the twentieth time as Bill laughed his head off.

"Yes it is!" Bill roared. "Oh, my god!"

Night had fallen; they were sitting outside by the pond, where they'd been since their arrival, minus a short time taken to eat dinner. Bill had put a charm on them to keep them warm (as the others couldn't do magic outside of school), and they'd just finished telling him the whole story, up to the water fight.

"I can just see Fred sitting there all morosely with a bucket on his head," Bill choked out, tears of laughter streaming down his face.

"It was all I could think to do," Hermione said crossly. "Obviously, I was out of ideas—I was fighting with a sponge, for pity's sake, and when he stopped me from bashing it into his face I was absolutely furious—"

"Hey, Madam Pomfrey?" Ginny said in a remarkable impression of Fred. "Could you help me, I've had my nose broken by a sponge..."

They all laughed, even Hermione. "So," Hermione said finally, "you'll help us think of ideas?"

"Are you kidding?" Bill gasped out. "I was the biggest troublemaker of a Head Boy since James Potter, of course I will! This is absolutely hysterical... You keep this up and Ginny won't get the title of 'Head Girl Who Broke the Most Rules.'" Hermione's face turned slightly pink. "Let's see... ideas... hmm... I suppose first we'd better find out what their ideas are," Bill said thoughtfully.

"How?" Harry asked, frowning.

"Charlie, of course—he'll know everything from the twins' viewpoint by now and he'll tell me just as soon as I ask..."

"No," Hermione said firmly. Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. "I don't want to know his plans. I want to beat him fairly."

"Fairly?" Ron repeated. "This whole thing has been a bunch of dirty tricks, 'Mione; it's eye for an eye now—"

"You know what I mean," she said impatiently. "I don't want to know their plans, and I don't want them to know ours." She gave Bill a stern look; he held up his hands and nodded.

"Tell you what," he said, "me and Charlie will figure out what the other one knows, but we'll each keep it from the other side, okay? I'll tell Charlie what I know, and he'll keep it from the twins, and vice versa. That'll let me give you lot good advice without overstepping the lines."

"You're sure Charlie's trustworthy?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Of course he is," Ginny said. She grinned up at her eldest brother fondly. "More so than Bill, actually. The two of them are partners in crime; back when they were at Hogwarts they wreaked almost as much havoc as Fred and George."

"They were just a bit more careful about getting caught," Ron said. "Bill was really good at it—Charlie got caught occasionally, though... not as bad as the twins, but enough... they were the ones that got the twins where they are now, really—"

"So I've you to thank for this mess?" Hermione said teasingly to Bill.

Bill held up his hands again in mock surrender. "I may have taught them a thing or two... quite the prodigies, they are." He smiled reminiscently. "I've got a fair idea of how their minds work, believe you me—you were right to come to me for this, guys, Charlie and I'll have them eating out of your hands."

Long after Fred, George, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had gone to bed, Bill and Charlie stayed up talking while lounging in their beds in Percy's old room (Percy had moved out to live in London, closer to the Ministry). The room had been bewitched to be soundproof (a necessity, as much to stop them waking everyone with their laughter as to prevent eavesdropping). "So what do you reckon?" Bill asked as they finished telling each other all they'd learned during the day. "I was surprised to hear all the things Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Gin came up with, considering Harry, Ron, and Hermione's image—but then, Harry and Ron are a bit like watered-down versions of us, and Hermione's a female Fred hiding inside a Percy. Wasn't a bit surprised that Ginny was in it, though," he added proudly.

"To tell you the truth, I think the twins didn't tell me everything," Charlie said thoughtfully. "I mean, they told me all they'd done, but I think they've still got a few secrets... and I'm starting to think Fred actually likes Hermione."

"No?" Bill said eagerly, sitting up.

"Maybe," Charlie replied, grinning widely.

"Well, that'd be interesting," Bill said mischievously.

"I wouldn't be surprised, either, from what both of them say about her," Charlie said, grinning. "Been driving them mad, she has. They're both about to lose it. Doubt George likes her, though, at least not yet."

"Neither of them will admit anything, eh?" Bill said.

"Of course not—you know, in all our mind-poisoning we seemed to have forgotten to teach those two a couple of key lessons on girls."

"I don't know, they did pretty well up until now," Bill said fairly. "From what Ginny's been saying, anyway—Ron's the one we've got to worry about, the kid's quickly becoming an idiot in the girl department... but enough of that, whose side are we going to stick on?"

"Why stick on a side at all?" Charlie said carelessly. "I'd say Hermione's got every right to retaliate after the spot our dear little brother put her in, and the twins have every right to keep it going now that she has retaliated—who could take that lying down? Anyway, I think it'd be much more fun to get things rolling for both of them... set them at each other..."

"Kind of evil of us," Bill said. He smiled. "I like it."