As though finishing the end of a play, the boys stood up on the bench and yelled simultaneously, "WE GOT YOU GOOD ALBUS!" before taking a great, big bow.
Everyone's heads turned toward the twins. Most of their eyes held confusion. Dumbledore looked their way and stood dumbstruck. Some form of understanding filled his eyes and he moved into action.
"You eight, follow me," Dumbledore said while gesturing to the replacement and original professors.
They all walked down the center aisle way and as they neared the twins, Dumbledore motioned for them to stand up and follow him.
"Sorry to interrupt everyone, go back to eating," Dumbledore commanded. It was futile however, as nearly every student in the hall was eager to talk about what just took place.
The twins noticed that Dumbledore looked furious. Nevertheless, it only showed as a mark of their success and they couldn't help but bump fists discreetly.
"Explain," Dumbledore instructed as the party settled down in his office.
It was slightly intimidating as Dumbledore sat behind his desk, the twins in the chairs opposite of him, and the 8 teachers standing around them. However, the boys began their tale.
They talked of how it seemed impossible to even lay a finger on Dumbledore let alone prank him. They mentioned how they were fortunate enough to turn Seamus over to their side and gain information on the inside, especially the part about the map. They even cleared Harry's name by explaining that they were really the ones to steal the ingredients from Snape's stores. The boys had enough sense to scooch away from Snape as they said this. He looked positively furious.
"So you see, once we finished making the polyjuice potion and got the hairs from you and Fudge, we transformed into you guys," George said proudly. "I became you, sir, and was the one to tell Professor Sprout that she and the other professors needed to take a week off."
"I became Fudge and told the rest of the staff that I fired them," Fred added.
"After that it was simple really, we just needed to send letters off to the new professors and then watch the magic happen," George concluded.
The room came to a screeching silence when they finished speaking. For a few moments no one said anything.
"Headmaster, what do you plan on doing to these boys that will result in a just punishment?" Snape asked. "They snuck into your office, stole your property, attacked the minister, stole from ME, practically framed Harry Potter, brewed an illegal potion, impersonated you and the minister, hired new professors, completely ruined a week worth of education for all the students, and put strain on everyone in the process!"
"You forgot to say that we broke curfew a handful of times," Fred supplied.
George snorted, it looked like Tonks did too. Dumbledore released a long sigh and closed his eyes.
"Well?" Snape spat. "What are you going to do with them?"
All of the professors waited in anticipation. The twins were beyond caring at this point, their job was completed.
After a moment Dumbledore spoke, "I apologize- Tonks, Ludo, Augusta, and Mundungus- I'm sure the boys didn't mean to drag you into this. Clearly they saw something good in every one of you to have chosen you as pawns in their prank. That being said, I'm afraid I'm going to have to dismiss you from the staff."
The four nodded and began to walk out of the office. Tonks shot a wink at the twins and they grinned in return. Augusta smacked the back of their heads. They sheepishly rubbed the spots where she hit.
"As for my most trusted professors, I'm glad to have you back. I think I can handle the boys from here, you may go," Dumbledore said.
George saw that Snape looked slightly disappointed in not having anything to do with their punishment. The other professors walked out without a word. However, George could have sworn that he saw McGonagall smirk.
"Now my boys", Dumbledore began "what you did was extremely irresponsible and illegal... you technically should be expelled for something like this and at the very least you will get detention every week for the first two months of school next year," he paused, the door had shut and they were alone, and the twinkle in his eyes finally reappeared. "With that being said," he continued, "I am very proud of you boys. Which is why I am instead giving you this." Dumbledore then reached behind his desk and brought out the marauders map. "How did you fellows put it? You sure did 'get me good'." The old man lowered the seemingly old piece of parchment into the hands of the twins whose eyes became as round as plates. "Use it well".
~.~
~.~
Author Note: Thanks to all of those who read this far! I had a lot of fun writing this. Since it's my first story I decided to start off with Fred and George as my main characters because sadly they're minor characters in the series and I felt like I could put my own spin on them without being pegged as writing them OOC. However, I also chose to wrote about them because they are totally awesome :D. Anyways, I hope you liked my very first fan fic! Give me feed back pleaseeee!