Chapter Two- Declaring Undying Love


"Did he eat it?" was the first thing I heard as I arrived back at the Burrow for the second time in two days. I glanced to my right to see Fred giving Harry a helping hand up as he awaited an answer, leaving me to get to my own feet as I saw George focused on Harry as well.

"Yeah." said Harry, brushing the dust from his clothes. "What was it?"

"Ton-tongue toffee." Replied Fred, his grin getting even wider. "George and I invented them, we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer and for some reason, George wouldn't let me test it on Maisie."

"Hey!" I exclaimed, giving the oldest twin an offended look. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" He replied, wiggling his eyebrows.

"That didn't even make sense. What is it with you and the innuendos today?"

"His tiny brain can't handle anything more intellectual." Came a deep voice from the side.

"Charlie!" I ran over to give the older Weasley a hug. He'd been in the same year as my brother at Hogwarts, and they'd been fairly close, so I knew him quite well.

"How've you been May?" he asked, holding me at arms length and giving me a quick glance up and down. "I heard your parents are in Australia with James."

"Yeah, they left a few days ago, said they'd write every few days so I'm expecting a letter any day now."

"You'll have to let me know how James is doing. I haven't heard from him in a while." I nodded in agreement, making a mental note to try and remember. "How're you doing, Harry?" I stepped back as Charlie moved forward to shake Harry's hand, finding myself standing next to George who had somehow come to stand behind me.

"Hi, Harry." I had to stifle a laugh as I watched Harry hide his surprise at Bill, who had also entered the room. His appearance came as a shock to many, me included, but he was easy to get along with like nearly all the Weasleys.

Just as Harry was about to reply, everyone's attention was drawn to the faint popping noise indicating Mr Weasleys return. I took a step back to come back besides Charlie. If the bright red colour covering Mr Weasleys was any indication, he was not very happy.

"That wasn't funny, Fred!" he shouted, rounding on his son. "What on earth did you give that muggle boy?"

"I didn't give him anything." Said Fred, holding up his hands in surrender with an evil grin that I had come to distrust long ago. "I just dropped it…it was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to."

"You dropped it on purpose!" bellowed Mr Weasley. "You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet-"

"How big did his tongue get?" asked George eagerly.

"It was four foot long before his parents would let me shrink it!" I couldn't help the laughter that burst out after Mr Weasley had finished speaking, and it seemed like I wasn't the only one. Mr Weasley glanced at everyone in the room before deciding he'd had enough. "It isn't funny! That sort of behaviour seriously undermines wizard-muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of muggles, and my own sons-"

"We didn't give it to him because he was a muggle!" argued Fred.

"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git, isn't he Harry?" Asked George.

"Yeah, he is, Mr Weasley." Agreed Harry, shaking his head earnestly.

"That's not the point! You wait until I tell your mother-"

"Tell me what?" came a voice behind us. Through all of Mr Weasleys shouting, we'd failed to notice Mrs Weasley enter the kitchen. "Oh, hello, Harry dear." She said, smiling down at Harry before her eyes snapped back to her husband. "Tell me what, Arthur?"

I cringed at Mr Weasleys face. It was clear from his expression that he'd never actually going to tell Mrs Weasley anything. I don't think even he would wish her anger on anyone. I gave Hermione and Ginny a small smile and wave, seeing them appear behind Mrs Weasley, whose face was becoming more threatening by the second. "Tell me what, Arthur?"

"It's nothing, Molly." Mumbled Mr Weasley, giving his wife a sheepish look. "Fred and George just- but I've had words with them-"

"What have they done this time?" I reached back and squeezed George's hand in support as I felt him tense up behind me. "If it's got anything to do with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes-"

"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" asked Hermione, giving a pointed look at her friend.

"He knows where he's sleeping." Replied Ron, acting clueless. "In my room, he slept there last-"

"We can all go." Pushed Hermione, again.

"Oh! Right."

"Yeah, we'll come too." Grinned George, starting to pull me with him over to his younger brother.

"You stay where you are!" snarled Mrs Weasley, making me widen my eyes slightly at her tone. I'd never seen her this angry before. "Not you, Maisie dear. Feel free to follow Ron." I remained where I was, only moving when I felt George's hand push on my back slightly, signaling for me to leave. Giving the twins a small smile, I ran up the stairs, deciding to sit on the landing to overhear what was going on below. A little cheeky of me, but I had nothing else to do.

"I cannot believe you two! I have told you, time and time again, about this…this joke shop! Do you have no ambition?"

"Of course we do, mum, but-"

"All you seem to do is get into trouble! The amount of letters I've had from Hogwarts, more than everyone else in this family combined! Percy's never had one-"

"Oh, yes, well Percy-"

"-and it's not as if you haven't got the brains! But you're wasting them! Why can't you take a page out of Maisie's book?" I cringed as I was brought into the conversation. I really didn't want to be something that was used against the twins. It wasn't exactly fair, on any of us. "She spends all that time with you and still manages to get top grades! Imagine what you could get if you just focused! You could have a great career in the Ministry, just like your father or Percy!" It was silent after Mrs Weasley had stopped talking. I had no idea what was going on in the twins' heads, but I could take a wild guess and it wasn't happy thoughts.

I stood up quickly as they both came up the stairs, making their way past me and storming into their room. "Don't you think you were a bit harsh there, Molly?" I heard Mr Weasley say downstairs.

"Arthur, they need to be told! Honestly, I can't just let them-"

I hurried after Fred and George, not wanting to hear anymore. Shutting the door gently behind me, I saw them both sitting on their beds, silently fuming. "She'll get over it." I said, sitting next to Fred and putting an arm around his shoulder. "She just needs a bit of time. What you want to do is very different from everyone else in the family; she probably just doesn't understand it."

"I wish she'd bloody hurry up and figure it out." Muttered George, glaring at a spider in the corner of the room that I slightly recoiled away from.

"I wish these bloody holidays would hurry up and end." Added Fred. "At least at Hogwarts we can test our products without mum breathing down our necks."

"I feel sorry for all those poor first years." I laughed, trying to lighten the mood, grinning when I got the twins to laugh.


Fred and George avoided their mother for the rest of the afternoon; she was obviously still very angry about the joke shop argument if her frequent shouting heard from downstairs was anything to go by.

So, with amazing stealth (for the twins anyway), we snuck past Mrs Weasley as she was busy peeling potatoes and ran into the garden, Fred and George cheering as they did so. I briefly wondered why until I turned the corner and saw Bill and Charlie enchanting two old wooden tables, making them fly through the air and crash into each other. Jogging over to where Ginny and Hermione were standing, I laughed when one of the tables' legs broke off, nearly hitting Fred in the face.

"So," started Ginny, turning to face me with a smile that I had long ago learned not to trust. She may have been three years younger than me, but somehow still scared me just a little bit. "When are you going to tell my brother that you like him?"

I froze. "W…what? I mean, first off, which brother are you talking about? You have six."

"Oh, please. It's pretty obvious, even to me." She replied, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, fine. I'll admit it. Me and Percy are hopelessly in love, but you can't tell anyone." I grinned. "It's been a long, hard journey, but I think with your support-WHAT THE HELL!?" My 'declaration of love' had been interrupted by a second table leg flying through the air, only narrowly missing my face by a couple of inches.

"Will you keep it down?" Looking up, I could see Percy's head sticking out of his window, a severely annoyed look on his face.

"Sorry, Perce." Said Bill, failing to keep the laughter out of his voice. "How're the cauldron bottoms coming?"

"Very badly." Was the short reply before the window slammed shut.

"You see." I said to Ginny as Bill and Charlie repaired the tables. "I've never wanted him more."

"Never wanted who more? Is there something you've not been telling us about Maisie?" asked Fred, slinging his arm around my shoulder with a grin. George, on the other hand, had an unreadable expression on his face which I didn't understand.

"It's nothing…" I mumbled, pushing his arm off of me and stepping to the side.

"Oh, she was just declaring her undying love for Percy, is all." Inputted Ginny. I swear, at her words, I've never seen the twins laugh more.


By the time seven o'clock had rolled around, the tables were finally in place after going through several more rounds of what I'd now called 'table wrestling' and were filled with all kinds of delicious food courtesy of Mrs Weasley. I was sat near enough in the middle of the table next to George and Bill, a seat I was very pleased with as I could hear most conversations going on at the table and to put it bluntly…well, I was quite a nosy person.

Percy was busy telling Mr Weasley all about his fascinating report on cauldron bottoms and I had to hand it to Mr Weasley, he was faking interest very well.

"I've told Mr Crouch I'll have it ready by Tuesday. That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup. We're just not getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Ludo Bagman-"

"I like Ludo." Interrupted Mr Weasley, mildly. "He was the one who got us such good tickets for the Cup. I did him a bit of a favour: his brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble- a lawn-mower with unnatural powers- I smoothed the whole thing over."

"Oh, Bagman's likeable enough, of course-"

"Busy listening to your future husband?" came an amused voice to my right. Turning around, I saw George smirking at me with his eyebrows raised. "I've always thought you'd make a good couple."

"Oh?" I replied back in the same tone. "Then why have you never said anything?"

"One should never meddle in true love, my dear Maisie. You should let it blossom on its own."

I paused. "Where the hell did you get that pile of crap from?" I said, laughing.

"I am very wise." I scoffed. "Okay, so I heard a group of fourth years say it in the common room last year, so what? What I don't understand is why you'd want to be with Percy when clearly the best looking Weasley is sitting right here."

"Yeah, I know. But Charlie's a bit old for me so I've had to settle." George merely scoffed and turned to talk to his twin with a glare. Realizing that he was probably going to be 'mad' at me for the next few minutes, I resumed my task of listening to the others' conversation, tuning into Bill and Mrs Weasley's opposite me.
"…with a horrible great fang on it, really, Bill, what do they say at the bank?"

"Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure."

"And your hairs getting silly, dear. I wish you'd let me give it a trim…"

"I like it." Said Ginny, who was sitting next to Bill also listening in. "You're so old fashioned mum. Anyway, it's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's…"

"Maybe that's Bill's inspiration." I said, grinning at Ginny. "Although you probably shouldn't shave if that's what you're aiming for, Bill." Mrs Weasley gave me a slightly disapproving look as Bill and Ginny grinned.

About to add more onto my new argument about how Dumbledore hair should become the new normal, I was distracted by a nudge in my side. "Maisie?"

"Hmmm?" I turned to George with a pointed look.

"We were talking about who we thought were going to win the World Cup." He said, gesturing to himself, Fred and Charlie. "Charlie says Ireland but Fred says Bulgaria. What do you think?"

"I…don't know. I don't really know quidditch." I shrugged.

"Just guess." Said Fred.

"Fine. Ireland." I looked at the boys' questioning faces. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for an Irish accent. That's all I'm basing my answer on."

Ignoring George's slightly put out expression (for what reason I didn't know), I jumped in shock as Mrs Weasley leapt out of her chair, causing various glasses to almost fall onto the floor. "Look at the time! You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you, you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time."

"Wow- hope it does this time!" exclaimed Harry, turning to Ron with an excited grin on his face.

"Well, I certainly don't." inputted Percy. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."

"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?" said Fred, who I could see was trying not to snicker.

"That was a sample of fertiliser from Norway! It was nothing personal!"

"It was." Whispered George, to me and Harry. "We sent it."

"What in the world possessed you to send dragon dung to your brother?" I asked as we all walked indoors. "Not that I don't love it, because Percy's an arrogant prick, but…"

"We sent it because Percy's an arrogant prick." Said Fred.

"He'd brought up the topic of our joke shop up around mum…" continued George.

"…basically saying we had no ambition."

"Mum's basically got her entire argument purely from Percy and our lack of OWL results."

"Right…I definitely understand now." I laughed, slipping into Ginny's room and waving good night to the twins behind me.


A/N: Okay, I am not really happy with this chapter, it was basically a filler until the world cup chapter which is coming up next. Hopefully the next chapter should be soon, but I'm swamped with uni stuff at the moment :( so until then!