Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews, guys! I also have an odd request for those of you who actually read my author's notes—if at all possible, could you tell me how you spend Christmas or similar holidays? I've spent it the same way for most of my life—in the mountains of Tennessee with about twenty to thirty relatives, and I've started drawing a blank about other ways people might celebrate Christmas, Yule, Chanukah, and so on. To me, it's usually the same thing each year, and I wouldn't want to imagine my holiday any other way, so… yeah. It doesn't have to be Christmas, either; if you have a certain way you celebrate Thanksgiving or Easter or something like that, please feel free to tell me about it. Just pick a holiday that one would celebrate with their family and/or friends and tell me about it (er, things like Halloween and Independence Day probably aren't going to be what I'm looking for, but if you have something, please share). As long or as short as you want, k? Well, I'm off to go find some lotion for my feet after my two-mile walk from taking my nephew trick-or-treating. Hope y'all like this! Please review, people—it really makes an author's day.

Chapter Fifteen

Abandon Sled

"Bill wouldn't agree to help?" Fred said indignantly, staring up at Charlie in shock.

"Nope," Charlie said, sighing.

"How rude," George growled. "He's our brother, not Hermione's…"

"He's Ron and Ginny's brother, too," Charlie pointed out, "but not to worry—as far as Weasleys it's still three on three—"

"But they've got Harry and Hermione, too," Fred said irritably.

"Yeah, well, you two have Lee, and he's worth the both of them, he's done loads to further your work," Charlie reminded them. "Besides, I've still got tons of information, before he said he wasn't helping you two he told me everything they've been saying, so I've got plenty of ideas to help you—"

"Charlie in?" Ron asked, dragging a sled as he walked with Harry, Hermione, Bill, and Ginny out towards the hill.

"Of course Charlie's in, he couldn't wait to get the ball rolling," Bill said. "He's confusing Fred and George as we speak."

"Good," Harry said. "So what's the plan?"

"Well, your main goals are to get Fred to admit he was lying from the start and to fake him out, confuse him, and ultimately take him down, correct?"

"You forgot tease him," Ginny said, nudging Hermione in the ribs and grinning. Hermione shot her a dirty look; she was already in a somewhat bad mood, as—thanks to a skiing accident when she was ten—she hated all forms of winter sports, including sledding, but after much berating she'd agreed to go sledding with the others on the old, battered Muggle sled that Mr. Weasley had bought and improved years ago.

"And ignoring Ginny, we move on," Hermione said dryly. "There's a problem with goal number one—I'm not sure anyone would believe he was lying from the start now, even if he said it they'd probably think someone had put him up to it, that it wasn't true—"

"Charlie and I thought so, too," Bill said. Ginny and Harry nodded. Ron grunted, giving the sled a sharp pull. "So you'll have to content yourself with embarrassing him as much as he's embarrassed you, right? Well, there are several ways I think will be effective… and you do have a very good idea going with the whole Harry asking Hermione out and Ron yelling at Fred, but there's a few more things… a few of which you might find a little, ah, embarrassing, but—"

"See, the thing that's going to trip her up is that Harry and Ron aren't in on it," Charlie said, "they just think they are—she's getting their help to plot revenge on you, but they think you actually were going out with her and everything. Ginny knows the truth, though, which is another thing that'll play into your hands—Hermione's known Harry and Ron longer, but she's put her trust and confidence in Ginny."

"Good thinking," Fred said slowly. Fred, George, and Charlie were trailing behind Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bill and Ginny as the five of them headed up the hill with the sled. Fred glared as the five of them laughed uproariously at something. "Ooh, just wait… I'm going to make her suffer…"

"You know," George said thoughtfully, "keeping things quiet around Mum's a good idea and all—but I reckon there are other, safer ways to annoy them right now. We can use magic, after all, and they can't…"

"Bill can," Charlie said quickly, "and he'll kill you if you hit him—"

"He doesn't have to know, does he?" said Fred, pulling out his wand as the small group reached the top of the hill and climbed into the sled.

"Hop in, then," Bill said, sitting down at the back of the sled, Ginny in front of him, then Harry, Hermione, and finally Ron. The sled had been bewitched by Mr. Weasley, so that it was much larger, went faster and farther, and had seat belts (added by Mrs. Weasley once she realized what the sled did). They buckled up and Bill pulled out his wand, tapping the edge of the sled. It started to move forward, but just as Bill stowed his wand back inside his jacket the sled went flying backwards as fast as a bullet; the five of them went sliding at an alarming rate back down the hill and off towards the village of Ottery St. Catchpole.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Hermione screamed in terror.

"Bill! What did you do!" Ginny yelled.

"Nothing! It's not me!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Stop screaming in my ear, Hermione!" Ron moaned.

"This is great!" Harry exclaimed, grinning.

"Someone stop this thing!"

"Bill! Fix it!"

"I can't! It won't work!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

A group of children having a snowball fight dived out of the way as the out-of-control sled blew towards Ottery St. Catchpole; they reached the outskirts of the village and kept going, down snow-covered streets and past rows of buildings.

"Abandon sled!"

"No! We're moving too fast!"

"So slow it down!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Hermione, stop yelling!"

"I HATE SLEDS!"

"This stupid thing's been jinxed!"

"Gee, do you think!"

"We're all gonna die!"

"We'll have to use magic—"

"We can't, we'll be expelled—"

"This is a life-threatening situation—"

"We don't know that—"

"YES WE DO! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh—"

"That's not funny!"

"Tree!" shouted Bill, who was staring behind them, trying to keep an eye out for obstacles. "TREE! EVERYBODY LEAN LEFT!"

They threw their bodies to the left (Harry grabbed the hysterical Hermione and pushed her to the side), and the sled banked and turned sharply at a three-way intersection, nearly plowing into a gaggle of women exiting a shop. "Finite," Bill yelled, whacking the sled with his wand in frustration. "Pararo, Meta—hold on guys, we're going down a hill!"

They tipped backwards and went shooting down the hill; a stray dog began to chase them, barking excitedly, and three more people jumped out of the way as they flew over the snowy street, all of them yelling and flailing their arms. After what seemed like ages they leveled off and began bouncing along uneven pavement; the dog soon gave up its pursuit.

"HOUSE!" Bill yelled. "EVERYONE TO THE RIGHT! I SAID RIGHT! RIGHT! ARGH!"

Harry shoved Hermione to the right, leaning over behind her, but Ron and Ginny, both panicky, had leaned left again; as a result, the sled stayed straight and bounced onto a porch. A Muggle family leaped clear just in time and Bill threw himself forward over Ginny as the sled slammed into the Muggles' house with a loud bang.

They sat there, stunned, the six Muggles staring at them.

"Your other right," Bill said dryly.

"Are you all right, dears?" asked a kindly-looking woman.

"Yes, yes, fine, thanks… sorry about this…" Harry said, unbuckling his seat belt and climbing out of the sled.

"How'd you guys make your sled move so fast?" asked a little kid eagerly.

"It's motorized," Hermione said weakly, leaping out of the seat as fast as her shaking body would allow. "Must've malfunctioned… it's a prototype, you know…"

"I don't recommend getting one," Ginny added sourly as Bill helped her up.

"Why are you getting out? We've got to get home," said Ron, who looked as though, now that it was over, he'd just had the time of his life.

"I'm not getting back in that thing!" Hermione said shrilly.

"We can't walk home, that'd take ages," Ron argued.

"So… so… so we'll get a taxi!" Hermione said.

"Hermione..."

"I'm not getting in there! If you lot want to go plowing into houses and glass storefronts then be my guest, but I'm calling a taxi. I hate sleds... sleds, skis, snowboards, I hate them all! I don't know what possessed me to get in there..."

Harry borrowed the Muggle family's phone, and Hermione was still muttering about mad sleds by the time the taxi had arrived. "This is all Fred's fault," she was saying as she squeezed into the back of the taxi with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. "Fred did this, I know he did."

"I'm willing to bet it was him, too," Bill said lightly from the front seat.

"I'll get him," she said angrily. "I'll make him pay."

By the time the ride was over, Hermione's fury had built to such an extreme that Ginny was practically sitting on Harry's lap in an effort not to provoke her. Before the cab had even rolled to a complete stop, Hermione was marching towards the house, intent on giving Fred a piece of her mind.