After an action-packed Muggle dinner complete with Ron choking and a mozzarella stick and total confusion trying to figure out how to pay the bill, the Weasleys got back into the car and set off once again. An hour passed, and they began to look for the hotel where they would be staying. They soon found it and as soon as they were inside, all the poor guests who were looking forward to a relaxing vacation felt their dreams rush out the door as the 7 red-haired children stepped inside. Their room was on the 6th floor. They were given their room numbers and card-keys, and Arthur was looking forward to finding out how they worked.
"Let's take the stairs!" Fred yelled and he and George made a break for the stairwell.
"No! Stop! Freeze!" Molly called. Fred and George halted. "You two have GOT to learn to control yourselves."
"Besides, we're taking the vele-ator!" Arthur said excitedly.
"The what?" Ginny asked.
"It's a Muggle contraption that transports people from one floor to the other." He explained.
"Like Floo Powder?" Ron asked.
"Yes, sort of, but not as quickly." Arthur said. "Ah, here we are." He punched the button to the elevator. It soon arrived and the 9 Weasleys piled into the elevator.
"Wow, it's a good thing none of us are claustrophobic." Charlie remarked as Fred and George spotted the variety of buttons and before anyone could stop them, they had punched every single one. The elevator door, therefore, stopped and opened on every floor between the ground and 6. Around floor 3, the Weasleys began to get suspicious as they were unaware of what Fred and George had done.
"Is it supposed to stop at every floor Father?" Percy asked.
"I don't think so…" Arthur said. "I think it's supposed to go to whatever button was pushed."
"It's almost as if every button was pushed." Bill said. Something clicked as Molly noticed the twins giggling to themselves.
"And I think they were." She said eyeing the twins who smiled innocently. Once they finally reached the 6th floor, they all exited the elevator and searched for their rooms.
"It's so quiet." George whispered. "HEY EVERYBODY!" He yelled down the hall.
"George!" Molly clasped her hand over George's mouth. "Do not yell! People are trying to sleep! You have got to be quiet!" She hissed.
"Sorry." George whispered. They soon located their rooms. Now the next task was figuring out how to work the card-keys. Arthur stuck one through the crack in the door. Nothing happened.
"Maybe you have to say something, like alohomora." Bill suggested. Arthur tried that. Nothing happened. After 10 minutes of attempt after attempt, Molly finally thrust the card out of her husband's hand and stuck in the right place and voila! The door was open.
"This is yet another fine example of how men are absolutely, 100 helpless." Molly told Ginny.
"Excuse me?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, you're kind of out numbered Mum." Bill said. The rooms were actually quite spacious, complete with a couch and balcony. There was a door connecting the two rooms so if someone wanted to switch rooms, it would be no big deal. "I call a couch!" Bill shouted.
"I call the other!" Charlie stated.
"Ok, who wants to be with whom?" Molly asked.
"Mummy." Ginny said.
"Daddy." Ron said.
"George!"/"Fred!" Fred and George exclaimed together.
"I don't care." Percy said.
"I just don't wanna have to share a bed with anyone." Bill said.
"Same here." Charlie agreed. It was finally decided that Molly, Ginny, Fred, George, and Charlie would room together while Arthur, Ron, Bill, and Percy would take the other room. Arthur and Molly started to separate and unpack the luggage so the kids did their different things. Bill and Charlie sat on a bed and played chess, Percy had his nose buried in another book, and Ginny was fascinated by the Muggle television. Fred and George, as usual, were looking for opportunities to themselves in trouble. They were wandering aimlessly around until they found themselves in the bathroom. They stopped and stared, mouths agape at the thing beside the toilet.
"What is it?" Fred gasped.
"I don't know…" George said dreamily. "It's so beautiful…"
"What does it do?" Fred wondered.
"Let's find out!" George said as he walked over and turned the knob. A fountain of water spurted up. The twins were mesmerized. Fred smiled.
"We could have some fun with this." The twins exchanged glances before they emerged from the bathroom with evil grins on their faces.
"Hey Ron! Come here!" George summoned his little brother. Innocent little Ron eyed him suspiciously, but stood up and trustingly walked over to the bathroom.
"Look what we found!" Fred pointed to the thing beside the toilet. .
"What is it?" Ron asked.
"A water fountain!" Fred and George told him. They turned the knob and water spurted up. Ron raised an eyebrow at them.
"That's nice." He said and turned to leave.
"Don't you want to drink?" Fred asked.
"Not really." Ron responded.
"Oh come on! It's really good." George told him.
"Yeah, it is, and you look really thirsty!" Fred said
Ron looked at it again. "Are you sure it's ok to drink out of this?"
"Yeah!" The twins said.
"Ok…" Ron said hesitantly. He took a small sip of the "fountain." Fred and George laughed so hard that Fred had tears coming out of his eyes and George was rolling around on the floor. He proceeded to hit his head on the bathroom door which brought Molly running.
"George! Are you ok - RON!" Molly forgot all about George and stood eyes wide, mouth hanging open at her youngest son who still had his lips to the water. Ron jumped and looked at his mother. "What are you doing?" Molly asked shrilly.
"Ummm…drinking." Ron said softly. He knew right then that he shouldn't have listened to Fred and George.
"NO! NO! NO! We do NOT drink out of this!" Molly still seemed to be in a state of shock. She turned on the twins. "How DARE you tell him to drink out of that?"
"We never told him to drink out of it." Fred said with an evil grin.
"Yeah, we just strongly implied it." George added.
"Well, I will strongly imply this to you. Once we get back to the Burrow, you two are grounded until I forget about this." Fred and George gulped. That would be a long time. As they walked back into the room, Bill called without looking up from the game, "What did Fred and George do this time?"
"They told Ron to drink out of that thing beside the toilet."
"Are you serious?" Bill asked, he and Charlie both looking up. Molly nodded.
"And he did it?" Charlie asked. Molly nodded again. Bill and Charlie started cracking up.
"It's not funny!" Molly scolded.
"No, it's hysterical!" Bill managed in between laughs. Ron's ears turned bright red and he sniffled.
"Oh Ronnie sweetie, it's ok." Molly said soothingly.
"Yeah Ron, we're not laughing at you." Charlie said, not wanting to hurt his youngest brother's feelings.
"Come on Ron. You can come hang out with us. We were just about to go out to the balcony." Bill added.
"Ok." Ron said, looking much happier. Bill and Charlie hadn't invited Fred and George to come out to the balcony so he felt vastly superior. Outside, there was a pleasant breeze blowing. They could see countless stars and could smell the ocean. "Wow, it's really pretty." Ron said.
"Yeah." Bill agreed. "I bet there are some fine looking girls around here."
"Too bad they'll all be Muggles." Ron said.
"It doesn't matter if they're Muggles Ron." Bill said.
"Yeah, but you couldn't survive living like a Muggle if your life depended on it." Ron remarked.
"True." Bill said. "Why are you so quiet Charlie?" His brother had a far-away look in his eyes.
"Oh, I was just thinking about how fun it would be to go soaring off this balcony on my broom."
"Again with the broom. That's all I've heard all day from you, that stupid broom!" Bill said, exasperated.
"Don't you insult my broom!"
"Why not?"
"Because I could beat you up." Charlie told him.
"No you couldn't." Bill said though he was sure that he could. Charlie may have been shorter and younger than him, but after 3 years of being Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he was pretty buff. Bill, who had never played a sport in his life, was on the skinnier, lanky side. His thin arms and legs would be no match for Charlie's muscular limbs.
"I could too and you know it."
"Well I could beat both of you up." Little Ron said.
"Yeah, you probably could, since neither one of us are allowed to hit you back." Bill said. Since they were so much older and bigger than Ron, if they hit him hard, they could actually hurt him.
"If we're not allowed to beat Ron up, how come you're allowed to beat me up?" Charlie asked Bill.
"Well for one thing, none of are allowed to beat anyone up. For another thing, you are only two years younger than me so that really doesn't count. For another thing, you're bigger than me so I really couldn't do that much damage to you anyway." Bill said.
"You're taller than me." Charlie pointed out.
"Really? Because you know, I couldn't tell." Bill looked down at him and laughed.
"Shut up." Charlie laughed. "Tonight would be a great night for flying."
"You want to go flying? Just mention that broomstick one more time and I'll toss you off the balcony. Then you'll be flying." Bill said.
"If there was a pool right below us, I'd actually take you up on that offer." Charlie said.
"Ooh! I want to go swimming!" Ron said.
"We'll go swimming at the beach tomorrow." Bill said.
"Speaking of tomorrow," Charlie paused to yawn. "I think we should probably head in so tomorrow can actually come. I'm tired."
"Yeah me too." Bill agreed. "I better go warn Mum that you'll probably be talking about broomsticks in your sleep tonight."
"You do that." Charlie said.
"Well, who was it who told me that you once screamed out 'there it is!' in the middle of the night and then crashed out of bed?" Bill asked. "Jeffrey?"
"Oh yeah. That was fun." Charlie grinned.
"Oh I'm sure it was." Bill said. Ron giggled. They opened the door and headed inside to find total chaos. Fred and George were running excitedly around the room, Ginny was bouncing on the bed, and Percy looked like he was ready to kill. Molly and Arthur apparently had left him in charge of his younger siblings while they took refuge in the next room. "What on earth?" Bill asked, startled as Fred and George ran straight into the bed and lay there, faces down, laughing.
"Oh Merlin…" Charlie rubbed his head. "It is going to be a long night." He looked at Bill and smiled. "Hey Bill, you know you're my favorite brother."
"No, Charlie, I am not switching rooms with you."
"I hate you."
It took the Weasley family almost an hour to get all their pajamas sorted, to get the nighttime-bathers in and out of the shower, to brush all nine sets of teeth, and then of course to say good night to every last person. At long last, they separated into their two rooms and shut the door that connected them. Everyone dropped off to sleep almost instantly. Unfortunately, not everyone stayed asleep the entire night, at least in Molly's room. Her first startle came around 1 in the morning when she awoke to a dark figure creeping about in the shadows of the room. Molly gasped. The thing whispered, "Mum! It's ok! It's only me!"
"Charlie!" She hissed back at him. "What are you doing?"
"Getting a drink of water." He replied. He headed back to his couch. About 30 minutes later, Molly was awoken again, this time by Ginny.
"Mummy, I have to go to the bathroom." She whispered. Molly groaned as she and Ginny got out of bed, trying not to wake anyone. Molly was practically blinded by the bathroom light after being in the dark for so long. Before she got back into bed, Molly went to readjust the air conditioner. She was freezing, and judging by the way Charlie was cocooned in his blankets, he was too. On her way back to bed, one of the twins sat right up, clearly said the word, "Pop!" and muttering, fell back onto his pillow, fast asleep. Molly, too tired to think much about what was going on in her son's head, crawled into her bed, looking forward to sleeping for the rest of the night. But around 2:45, after being poked repeatedly, she opened her eyes to see two identically shaped figures standing beside her. "What?" she moaned, sounding on the verge of tears.
"Charlie's snoring." Fred or George whispered. Molly listened and sure enough, she heard snores coming from her older son's direction.
"Well, just try and go back to sleep." She whispered, though she almost felt herself as though that were impossible.
"We've been trying."
"For the past 20 minutes."
"Well then go wake him up or something." Molly said without quite realizing what she was saying as she was already almost back asleep. The twins tip-toed over to their older brother's couch and started poking him repeatedly. Finally, after being punched in the arm, Charlie groaned.
"What?" He snapped.
"You were snoring." George said matter-of-factly. Charlie eyed them angrily.
"Well excuse me for breathing." He said sarcastically.
"You're excused."
"Good night." The twins went back to bed. Grumbling, Charlie pulled the covers over his head and fell back asleep, only to be awoken about 10 minutes later by Fred and George with the same complaint.
"Go back to bed and leave me alone!" Charlie growled.
"Not a morning person, are we?" Fred asked adorably.
"It's not morning! It's not even close to morning! It's the dead of night!" Charlie hissed.
"Well technically it is morning." George pointed out.
Charlie cried out in exasperation. "Will you please just go back to bed and let me sleep?"
"Only if you don't breathe." Fred told him.
"Yeah, because I can survive without breathing."
"Well, you seem to be surviving without your broomstick. And you always said that you giving up flying would be like giving up breathing." George said. Charlie glared at him.
"Good night!' The twins said and hurried off back to bed.
Morning came too early for Molly's taste. The Muggle phone beside her bed began ringing as a wake-up call at 8:30. At the sound, Ginny shrieked and fell out of bed with a thud. The scream woke the rest of the room and brought Bill into their room. "Is everyone ok?" He asked. "We heard a scream."
"It was Ginny." Molly said, sounding as though she had a horrible headache. "The fellytone or whatever that thing is scared her."
"Oh. We thought You-Know-Who had just popped out from under the bed or something." Bill said.
"He might as well have for all the sleep I got last night." Molly complained.
"Good morning dear!" Arthur said cheerfully. Molly glared at him. "Rough night?"
"You could say that." Molly told him.
"Why?" Ron emerged from the next room rubbing his eyes, his hair all over the place.
"Charlie kept snoring." Fred said.
"Yeah, so did Dad and Bill. Percy just made all these weird noises. I think I heard him quack. And then he started making these strange clicking noises." Ron said. Fred and George started cracking up. Then they started quacking and making clicking noises.
"Well, shall we all head down to breakfast?" Arthur asked anxiously.
"In our pajamas Dad?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure the young ladies will love seeing me in my boxers." Bill said with a smirk.
"No, of course we'll change first! I just really want to see how Muggles dine when they're not at home."
"I'm sure they dine just the same as us wizards Dad." Bill said.
"And besides, it's only breakfast." George said.
"Well, still, let's get changed and fed so we can head down to the beach!" Arthur said. That got everyone to hurry.
The Weasley children were nothing short of impressed at the breakfast buffet the hotel supplied. "This is almost as good as breakfast at Hogwarts!" Charlie said, helping himself to a large plate of bacon and eggs.
"Yeah, but I don't thing anyone can top the house-elves." Bill said, his plate containing two pieces of French toast and an equally large helping of bacon. Fred and George were having fun trying every kind of Muggle cereal there was (especially the ones containing superfluous amounts of sugar). Then they had some bacon. In fact, every male member of the Weasley family had at least one piece of bacon with breakfast. As Bill and Charlie headed back for more bacon, Ginny asked, "Why does every guy love bacon so much?"
"You know, I've asked that question at least 10 times in my life, and have never gotten a proper answer." Molly told her. "I'll never understand it. And I've never met a guy who doesn't like bacon."
"Boys are so weird." Ginny said.
"That's why I'm so thankful you came along Sweetie." Molly told her.