Chapter 11
The dungeons were dark, damp and cold, as Fred and George had wholly expected it to be. The class stood shivering in the large empty space, lit only with widely spaced torches that created an eerie, flickering glow. The students looked nervous, Fred thought, and he grinned as George nudged him on the shoulder and winked. This was going to be interesting.
Snape suddenly appeared, as if from thin air, and glared at the class. "Follow me," he said, his voice a mere whisper, yet everyone heard him perfectly. He was intimidating, there was no doubt about that.
The class- which consisted of Fred, George, Lee, Angelina, Kenneth, and Alicia Spinnet from Gryffindor, and four girls and three boys from Slytherin, none of whose names were known to the twins- followed Snape through a large, rotting wooden door into another chamber with shelves covering every wall, filled with jars and bottles of every shape, size and colour imaginable.
"What a miserable looking lot," George whispered to Fred, nodding towards the Slytherin's, and he chuckled.
"Agreed. Perfect for our plan-"
"Weasley."
Fred and George looked up at Snape, smiling pleasantly.
"Yes, Sir?" they said in perfect unison. Lee snorted.
"I don't recall saying you could talk. You are in my lesson, and you will do as you are asked."
They said nothing, staring innocently at him.
"Well? What should you say to me?"
"Nothing, Sir."
"Are you sure about that?" His voice sounded dangerous, and his black eyes bore into the twins, who smiled widely.
"Well, you told us we couldn't talk-"
"-so we shall do as you ask-"
"-unless you want us to speak after all..."
Snape glared at the twins. "Sit down, class," he snapped. He summoned some parchment and proceeded to take the register, before lifting his gaze back to the class.
"Potions." His voice was little more than a whisper. "The most beautiful and precise of the magical arts. It's unlikely a single one of you have any of the patience and skill required to master the subject. I expect the majority of you will barely scrape an Acceptable in your OWL. Nevertheless, let's get started. Today, we will be making a simple Wiggenweld Potion. It is a healing potion, often used to waken the inflicted from magically induced sleep."
The class had been silent throughout this speech, but George could almost feel the cogs in Fred's head whirring. His twin had a small smile on his face and George knew he was itching to cause mayhem.
"Well?" Snape said. "Why aren't you getting started? We haven't got all day. Work in pairs and we will test the potions once you've made them, so make sure you follow the instructions carefully."
There was a scraping of chairs as the class moved towards the ingredients cupboard and picked out the ingredients Snape was now writing on the blackboard.
Fred winked at George, and grabbed a handful of the nearest random ingredients.
Twenty minutes passed in silence, if not for the faint bubbling of potions and crackling of the fires. It was when Snape finally stood from his desk and moved to look at Alicia Spinnet's potion that Fred and George began their plan.
George made a sudden movement with his arm and knocked the nearest Slytherin's vial of Salamander blood onto the floor. There was a smash and Snape appeared at the scene in a flash.
"You idiot!" Snape snarled at George, who stood his ground bravely.
"It wasn't my fault!" he defended. "This prat had his vial right on the edge of his desk..."
While all this was going on, and the rest of the class was staring at Snape and George arguing, Fred snuck away from their cauldron and added various roots and flowers he had stolen from the cupboard into everyone's potions, including his own. Much to his delight, there was no violent reactions in the cauldrons, only subtle changes of colour and soft hisses.
"That's it, Weasley," Snape spat. "Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek." He swivelled around and glared at the rest of the class. "Get on with your brewing! I won't be surprised if you've all lost timing now and your potions are terrible!"
Fred winked at George. How right Snape was.
It was another half an hour later when Snape finally told the class to stop their work and take a sample of their potion. Snape's already vile expression seemed to somehow get even more angry when he saw the variety of colours and textures, not one of which was correct.
"What have you all been doing for the past hour?" Snape fumed. "Not one of you has got the correct bright green colour and soup-like consistency." His black eyes bore into the twins. "Let's hope once you've all tested your potions you'll be more careful next time. One person in every pair can sample it. Off you go."
Fred had previously decided that since George had been the diversion, he would take the potion, so with a quick grin at his twin, downed the shimmering silver potion. Lee, acting gallant as usual, offered to take the blow from Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet insisted she drink it instead of her partner Kenneth. Two of the Slytherin boys and one girl also drank their was a short silence, until suddenly the class was an uproar. Fred's lips had suddenly swelled to five times their normal size so he couldn't even talk, and George was doubled over with laughter. Lee's dreadlocks had turned a fetching yellow colour, and Alicia had grown a moustache that many men would be jealous of. One of the Slytherin boys, a sulky looking person with brown hair, had broken out in large, red boils that were bursting and releasing a fowl green goo that smelt like fish. The other boy looked relieved to have seemingly escaped any effects, but when he turned to his partner to say so, his voice had risen in pitch to that of a five year old girl. The final Slytherin, a blonde girl, had her hand over her nose, which was bleeding heavily.
"Silence!" Snape snapped. The moaning and laughing stopped. "Well, as you can see, this is what happens when you mess around in class." He waved his wand at every student in turn, and they returned to normal. "That's the end of the lesson. For homework I want a foot long essay on the history and uses of the Wiggenweld potion. Class dismissed."
Fred and George, grinning from ear to ear at their success, rushed towards the exit.
"Weasleys!" Their hearts sank and turned around to face the greasy-haired git.
"I know that you sabotaged today's lesson. Detention, both of you, and consider yourselves lucky I haven't taken more point from your house. I hope you're proud of yourselves. I expect to see you at eight o'clock tonight right here for your punishment. Now get out of my sight."
"I can't believe him!" Fred was fuming, his ears bright red. "That was completely out of order!"
George, who was not quite so worked up as Fred, (probably because he was used to unfair treatment), put his hand on his brother's arm.
"Whoa, Fred, it's not that bad, really. Tell me it wasn't worth it. That kid's face, you know, the one with the brown hair and a soar expression, was definitely improved by those boils." He grinned at the memory.
"But there's no way Snape was sure it was us!" he whined. "Even it was someone else, he would have picked on us anyway!"
"True, but now at least we have a good reason to hate him."
"We don't need a reason. I hated him from the moment I laid eyes on the slimy bas-"
"Fred, George!" The twins turned towards the voice coming from behind them, and saw a tall, thin boy with glasses and red hair. He was perfectly spotless- the model student- and they knew immediately that this was Percy.
Their brother reached them and held out his hand. He cleared his throat.
"I'm Percy," he said. "I'm sure Charlie told you who I am; I'm very pleased to meet you."
Fred wrinkled his nose- this was exactly the sort of person that irritated him immensely. George on the other hand was perfectly polite and shook Percy's outstretched hand. "I'm George, this is Fred."
There was a short silence while Percy held out his hand to Fred, who grudgingly shook it too. George rolled his eyes- he'd known his twin for just over a day and he could already read him like a book. Percy probably could as well, for he drew his hand back and looked awkward.
"Well, I was on the way to the library anyway, so I'll leave you to go and get your lunch... I'll, er... I'm sure I'll talk to you later..." Percy strode back the way he had come- he obviously hadn't been on the way to the library- and Fred snorted when he had disappeared out of sight.
"What a drip!" Fred snickered. "Come on, let's go get lunch-"
"Fred, that wasn't fair, he was only trying to introduce himself-"
"Well it's not my fault he's so boring. I'm sure Charlie agrees, he didn't seem keen on him when he mentioned him last night, did he?"
"That's not the point-"
"Ah, who cares," Fred interrupted impatiently. "I'm starving, let's forget him and get some food before I pass out."
The twins arrived late for lunch, having got lost once again. In fact, the Great Hall was almost entirely devoid of first years; Peeves' favourite time of the year was the first week of term when he could attack the 'ickle firsties'.
As George piled his plate with chips, Fred nudged him and pointed above their heads. A single brown owl was flying straight towards them, and promptly dropped a letter into the salad bowl. Fred picked it up curiously, and read 'Fred and George Weasley' in red ink on the envelope. With a quick glance at his twin, Fred shrugged and ripped open the seal.
Dear Fred and George, (they read)
My name is Bill Weasley; I presume Charlie has already told you about me, but on the off chance he hasn't, I'm your eldest brother. There's no point in explaining everything in writing when you've got Charlie there to tell you, but I just wanted to write to you and let you know how sorry I am about the situation.
I understand if you're angry- especially if you had an awful time with your Muggle families like Charlie did. I feel awful that you had to be separated, even worse because you're twins.
Now, there's something that I haven't told any of you yet, including Charlie and Percy. They should get their letters around the same time as you. I met our parents last week. Now that I've graduated, I'm allowed to put myself at risk, and that's exactly what I did.
I'm not going to pretend it wasn't strange. I can't tell you much about them, Dumbledore's orders. But they are amazing people, and they couldn't be more sorry for what's happened. The moment you graduate, you can meet them too, and it may seem forever away, but it's worth it.
I have a feeling that You-Know-Who will come back, one day, and I'm going to fight him alongside our parents. You never know, maybe one day we can have a proper family.
I hope to hear from you soon,
Your brother,
Bill Weasley
Fred and George finished the letter in silence, and their faces said it all. One day, they could meet them. Their parents were waiting for them.
A/N: So, there we have it. I'm not going to make any excuses for the long wait between updates, writer's block is writer's block and there's nothing I can do about it! I really hope this was worth the wait, and thank you so much for your patience and constantly reminding me to get back on it and write. Special thanks to my lovely reviewers, THE-INIMITABLE-IT, GeorgieForever, urgleblurgle, Spiralling-Down, RoseQuartz1, JimmyPaging, weasleychick32, dorkydorkdork, LunaWeasley394, CamiBelle, Constashas and the unsigned guest. I love you all!
Next chapter: Fred and George learn to fly and an accident ensues.