Disclaimer: Ahh...that Fred were mine. But alas, he is not. Nor is...anything else in this story, actually. Not even Fred's twin. sigh
The doors to the Defense against the Dark Arts class opened and a short figure dressed entirely in pink walked to the front of the room. "Hem, hem." All conversation stopped.
"Hello class!" Dolores Umbridge grinned a sickeningly fake grin at the group of Seventh Years.
They all stared at her in silence. She sighed through her smile. "I see that you too are in need of some manners. We'll try this once again. Hello class!"
An unconvincing murmur passed through the room. Umbridge clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "We will have to work on that. But now, on with the class." She stepped behind her desk but did not sit down.
"As I'm sure you remember from my talk at dinner, I am Dolores Jane Umbridge, and I work with…." She launched into yet another long, boring speech.
Fred Weasley quietly slipped a note behind his chair to his twin. George took it without looking away from the front of the room.
Do you reckon she'll ever stop?
George reached to his bag and took out a quill and a small piece of parchment, all the time staring avidly at Umbridge.
Likely not. Unless we do something to take her mind off of what she's saying a bit. What've you got with you now?
Fred grinned as he read the note. Exactly what he had been thinking. He rummaged through his desk and found a couple of Nosebleed Nougats and a Puking Pastille. But before they could put their unofficial plan into operation, Umbridge moved on.
"Before I pass out the books that you will be using this year, let's all get to know each other. As I call out your name, please respond." She picked up a list off of her desk and started reading names.
All went smoothly until she reached the twins. "Weasley, Fred." She called, looking around the room.
"He's on permanent holiday. Won't be coming back." Fred smiled pleasantly at her. George laughed quietly behind him. Apparently no joke was too old or immature for Fred.
"I take it, Mr. Weasley, that you do not have much regard for classroom manners. That must change." Umbridge said sweetly.
"Weasley, Fred," she repeated.
Fred decided not to push it until he knew about more about her discipline methods. He had learned that the hard way with Professor Snape years ago. "Present," he called. Lee Jordan snickered in the seat next to him.
"Much better," Umbridge resumed her horrible grin and looked back at the list. "Weasley, George."
"Present!" George called innocently. Umbridge looked up and froze. Her eyes darted between Fred and George a few times before she shook her head and clicked her tongue once again.
"Well, this just will not do," she clasped her hands in front of her. "I must be able to tell my students apart from each other." She looked fixedly at them as if they were some great problem she must solve.
"Well, there's not much that we can do about it." Fred said, annoyed. He wished that she would stop staring at them.
Umbridge clapped her hands together as though a brilliant idea had just come to her. "You," she said, raising her eyebrows at Fred. "Come up here."
Fred stood and walked warily to the front of the room, excruciatingly aware of the entire class staring at him. George frowned. This did not look good. Umbridge pulled her chair out from under the desk and placed it in front of her. "….Sit."
Fred stayed where he was. He was not at all impressed with that idea.
"Mr. Weasley, I told you to sit down in this chair. Do not disobey a direct instruction." Umbridge said in a slow voice drenched with sticky-sweetness.
Fred turned slowly and sat in the chair. Everyone in the class was watching him nervously. Fred looked at George and shrugged slightly. Then he saw George's eyes widen with panic.
Before Fred could even think of moving, he heard Umbridge say a spell behind his head. The entire class started talking at once and George jumped up from his chair. "You can't do that!" he yelled angrily. "You have absolutely no right to do that!"
Lee joined in the yelling, along with several other offended Gryffindors.
Fred pushed himself off the chair and turned to Umbridge. "What? What'd you do?"
She ignored him and addressed the rest of the class. "Silence! Everyone, no talking!" She said loudly, dropping her smile for the first time.
Most everyone went quiet but George stayed sanding and kept going, his voice strained. "Change it back, now!" He slammed both fists on his desk. "Turn him back!"
Fred looked at him, truly scared now. Dreading the answer, he asked Umbridge again. "What did you do to me?"
She turned away from George and looked at him, then opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a heavily jeweled mirror. She held it out to Fred and he grabbed it, panicked.
Slowly, he lifted the mirror. Dark brown hair hung over his forehead.
Fred's breath caught and his throat tightened. He felt contaminated, being different from his twin. "You can't keep me this way. You can't." He placed the mirror face-down on the desk.
Umbridge laughed shrilly, and the class winced as one. "Of course I can." She looked at Fred like he was a three year old. "For the sake of the class's efficiency I can make any changes I must. Now please return to your seat, Mr. Weasley."
"No! We're twins! We're supposed to be the same!" He was breathing heavily through clenched teeth. Umbridge looked over his shoulder at George's livid expression, then back at Fred.
"You will find yourself in detention, Mr. Weasley. You and your…twin." She said the last word shortly.
Fred and George been in detention before, but something about the way that she said it made Fred not want to be in hers.
He walked backward a few steps, glaring, then turned and finished walking to his desk.
He sat quietly through the rest of the unbearably long class and tried to avoid the stares coming from his classmates.
George exited the class with his now brown-haired brother. There was already a strange and awful distance between them. Fred really just wanted to melt away from the open-mouthed stares he and George got from everyone they passed. Mostly people sped up they saw George though. He had a scathing glare ready for anyone who glanced their way.
They both walked straight for their dorm, but they had hardly crawled through the portrait hole before they were noticed and stopped by Ginny.
"Hello there you - Oh! Oh what the hell happened!?" She looked furious. "Fred, your…your hair, well what happened? First class with a new teacher and you've already done something that got you into a mess like this."
They stopped short and stared at her.
"You think we did this?" Fred asked incredulously, "Yeah, I'd as soon as eat a jar of flobberworms!"
"That ruddy cow Umbridge did it so she could keep us straight." George explained, glowering. "She won't turn it back."
"What?" Ginny asked, appalled. "She can't do that, it's got to be against the rules!" She got up from her seat. "You need to talk to a teacher! Tell Professor McGonagall, she's Head of House"
Fred started to nod when a voice spoke behind him.
"Bloody hell!" Ron stood, gaping at them with a sickly expression.
Fred and George quickly re-told what happened, and most of the Common Room stepped closer to hear their horror story.
"You're not serious!" Ron said, "She gave Harry detention five minutes into class. That same talk from the Ministry about him making up everything about You-Know-Who." The students near him backed away slightly.
"She threatened us enough." Fred said with angrily, "And now I'm stuck with this!" He pointed at his no-longer ginger colored hair.
Parvati Patil walked across the room. "Padma and I just barely escaped that." She said apologetically. "You know, we're in different houses so were already wearing different colors."
Fred rolled his eyes and put his hands on top of his head. "Show's over, people!" He announced loudly, pushing his way through the small group of teenagers. George and Ron followed him into his room. He flopped onto his bed as soon as they got through the door.
"Ideas, anyone?" He asked with forced casualness.
"Well I'd start with just talking to a Professor," Ron suggested. "McGonagall will know if this sort of thing's allowed. And if it isn't, she'll get you changed back." He leaned against the wall with his arms folded.
George shrugged wearily. "Worth a go," He said.
Fred sat up, "And I'd prefer to get this fixed sooner much rather than later, so let's head off."
The twins walked right back out of the room and left Ron contemplating the look on his mother's face if she were to see his older brothers now.
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