Fred and George were the first ones awake in the morning, which was quite unusual. Fred looked over to George and said, "My head hurts."
"Why? Because we're up so early?"
"No, because Sleepy Head over there whacked me with his wand last night."
"Oh yeah."
"And it was all your fault."
"Yeah…I know." They sat in silence for a few seconds. "So what do you wanna do?"
"I don't know. It would be really nice if we could go and perfect the Canary Creams. We're so close! If only the feathers were yellow…"
"Yeah." George grinned. "Want to go and make sure Bill and Charlie haven't done anything evil to our room? Then we can grab the Canary Creams and head up to the attic or something."
"Great idea! But they're probably still asleep."
"So?"
"You're right." Fred grinned at his twin and they crept silently from their beds and made their way down to their room. Sure enough, as they cracked the door open, they saw that their older brothers were still sound asleep in their beds. They snuck silently into the room.
"Doesn't look like anything is messed up or out of place." George whispered.
"Check under your bed. That's where most of the stuff is hidden." Fred whispered back. "Make sure they didn't disturb anything. I'll check the closet." While Fred crept to the closet, George slowly sunk to his knees and deftly lifted the covers so he could look under the bed. As he did so, Bill, who was in George's bed, felt the movement in the blankets. He gasped and George stood up quickly. He opened his eyes blearily and moaned. "What are you doing in here?"
"Hey Bro, it's our room."
"Yeah, but your face isn't exactly the first thing I want to see in the morning."
"You don't think I'm pretty?" George sounded hurt.
"No." Bill muttered flatly.
"I bet you think Fred is pretty!" George cried.
"Whatever." Bill said as he closed his eyes again.
"Who are you talking to?" Charlie asked sleepily from Fred's bed.
"The Twinkies decided to pay us a little visit." Bill said into his pillow.
"What did you call us?" Fred asked, stepping into the room.
"Nothing." Bill said heavily. "Will you two get out of here?"
"Now that's a bit hoity-toity of you. Kicking us out of our own room." George said.
"Excuse me for being hoity-toity. Now will you please get out of here?"
"Why should we?" Fred asked.
"Because we still want to sleep." Bill snapped.
"Oh you don't need to sleep." Fred replied.
"What time is it?" Charlie asked.
"Er…6:39." George said, looking at the clock on his wall.
"Dare I even ask what you two are doing wandering around the house at 6:39 in the morning?" Charlie mumbled.
"Well, we're not really wandering. We just came to make sure you two didn't corrupt our room." George explained.
"As if we could corrupt this room any more after you two have lived in it." Bill said.
"Hey! This was your room before we came along." George told him.
"Therefore I can kick you out if I want to since it originally belonged to me."
"Therefore it is through neither George or mine's fault that you corrupted the room."
"What?" Bill asked, completely confused.
"I don't know." Fred shrugged. "It just seemed like the right thing to say."
"Yeah…sure…"
Around midday, Pig returned with Hermione's answer.
Dear Ron,
How are you? I hope your summer is going well. I can't believe you got Box Seat Tickets to the Quidditch World Cup! Yes, I can come. I can't wait! It will be so wonderful to see you and Harry again. I wonder if he's heard from Sirius. I do hope he's taking care of himself and Buckbeak. Anyway, I will probably be arriving on Friday afternoon. Is that alright with you? If not, just send "Pig" back and let me know. (Why is his name Pig anyways?) Well, I am looking very forward to seeing you and Harry. Say hello to your family for me!
Love,
Hermione
"Ooh! Ickle Ronniekins will be most pleased!" Fred said gleefully as he and George finished reading Hermione's letter. They found him degnoming the garden with Ginny, Bill, and Charlie.
"I don't know why you two want to help us." Ron grumbled to Bill and Charlie.
"Well, we haven't had to do this for so long." Bill said. "It's kind of fun, doing the stuff we used to do when we were younger."
"And it's fun because we can throw them farther than you can." Charlie said as he heaved a handful of gnomes a good 100 feet or more.
"Oh Lover-Boy! Your true love sends word!" George called out, waving the letter in his hand. Ginny giggled while Ron blushed furiously and grabbed the letter out of George's hand.
"Oh, is this the girl you were talking about last night?" Bill asked.
"Yep." Fred said.
"For the last time, she's not my girlfriend!" Ron practically shouted.
"If she's not your girlfriend, then why are you denying it so forcefully?" Fred asked. Ron stared at him, looking ready to pop a vein.
"I'm denying it because she's not my girlfriend!"
"That really didn't make any sense you know." Ginny told Fred.
"Fine. She's not your girlfriend. You just wish she was." George said.
"Exact - What! I – no. No! I do not-" Ron was now blushing so hard that his siblings were snickering at him.
"Ron, it's ok. We're all guys here." Bill said as Ginny glared at him. "Well, most of us are. We understand."
"No you don't! You can't accept the fact that I have a friend who is a girl with no romantic interest whatsoever!" Ron said.
"Well Ron, if you weren't blushing so much-" Charlie started.
"I'm blushing because you all are making such a big bloody deal about it!"
"Oh Ronnie, we're your older brothers…and little sister. We know how your mind works." Fred told him.
"I'm not taking this humiliation anymore. I'm going in to write to Harry." Ron said.
"No! You have to stay out here. Mum said she really needed the garden degnomed." Ginny said.
"Fred and George can help you." Ron said.
"Actually we were just leaving." George said.
"It would go a lot faster if all 6 of us helped." Bill said reasonably.
"Still playing the Head Boy/Oldest Brother card, huh Bill?" Fred asked.
"Yep." Bill said as he seized about 5 or 6 gnomes. "Of course, I don't really get to boss anyone around at work, so I have to savor my few, precious moments that I get with you guys." They worked without speaking for a few minutes.
"This is boring." George grumbled.
"Maybe after this we can play Quidditch." Charlie suggested.
"Even after working with dragons, your head is still in the clouds." Bill remarked.
"After we eat. I'm starving." Ron said.
"Oh yeah, we haven't had lunch yet." George said.
"Oh yeah." Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering how her brothers could have forgotten. Finally, the degnoming process was over, and the six siblings went in for lunch, all hot and sweaty.
"Thank you so much." Mrs. Weasley said.
"No problem Mum." Bill smiled, trying to be extra nice to her so she wouldn't go on another rant about his earring. Molly smiled until she noticed Fred and George.
"What did I tell you two about leaving your joke wands lying about the house?" She asked.
"Er…Don't?" Fred asked.
"Very good Dear." She told him.
"Why? Did Dad pick one up again?" George asked.
"No. Percy did. Nearly gave him a heart attack too." She said as the Weasley children roared with laughter at the thought of their brother picking up a wand and it turning into a rubber chicken.
"Poor Percy." Fred laughed, not sounding like he meant it at all.
"What is he doing now? He barely said two words to us last night and by the time we woke up he was already gone." Charlie said.
"He's working at the Ministry of Magic." Molly began.
"He's Mr. Crouch's little yes-man." George butted in.
"George!" Molly scolded.
"Do you have a better way of putting it Mum?" Fred asked.
"Well…" Molly looked too ashamed to admit that she didn't.
"Hey, you were awake before Percy left." George said to Charlie. "You were awake at 6:39."
"True, but Bill and I, being normal human beings, went back to sleep." He said.
"What were you doing up at 6:39 in the morning?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah, you two like to sleep until noon usually!" Ron said. "I thought I was dreaming when I woke up and saw that you weren't still in bed."
"Well, we don't sleep as well when we're not in our own beds." Fred explained.
"What about when you're at Hogwarts?" Bill asked.
"Let me rephrase that. We don't sleep as well knowing that our beds are being occupied by foreign bodies." Fred said.
"So you're saying that we, your brothers, are foreign bodies?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah." Fred and George nodded. Bill and Charlie looked at each other.
"Why?" Bill asked out of genuine curiosity.
"What? Why are you foreign bodies or why-"
"Why does it bother you that we're sleeping in your beds?"
"Because we're selfish and territorial and we don't want you touching our things." George said.
"That and we don't want you to break our beds." Fred said.
"So now you're accusing us of being fat. Thanks." Bill looked insulted.
"And now you're putting words in our mouths." George said.
"Ok, ok, ok, that's enough." Molly said. "Now I remember why I never cry when any of you go off to Hogwarts."
"You cried when I left the first time." Bill told her.
"Well yes, but that was my first time ever." Molly said. "But I don't think I've cried since."
"I liked it when you went off to Hogwarts because that meant I was the oldest at home." Charlie grinned.
"You know, I think I cried when you were born because that meant that I had to share Mum and Dad with someone else." Bill remarked.
"It's nice to know how much you appreciate each other." Ron said.