It had been a couple weeks since Fred had gotten the girl.
It had been nearly a month and a half since they had managed to unintentionally send themselves back into the Marauders Era.
The Marauders themselves were lounging about in the Gryffindor common room, sitting in a secluded area, occasionally glancing towards a certain red head and a curly brunette who were doing their homework by the fire. James and Sirius shared a small, worn couch while resting their feet on the table; Remus sat in the singular chair opposite them, with Peter resting against the arm of it.
"So we more or else've lulled them into a false sense of security." James said in a low voice while clapping his hands together.
"You should start off with something small, something that won't be too flashy, and then follow up with a bang." Muttered Remus from behind his book, "Lycanthropy, A Study Through the Ages" They all made some sort of grunt in agreement and continued to think of a prank that would merely be an inconvenience, trivial, simply and annoyance. Something like…
Peter snapped his fingers and gained the attention of his friends. He looked up at Sirius, "Do you remember that charm Remus sent your way last year? You and Marlene?" he said excitedly, hoping everyone would see his stroke of brilliance. Confusion made its way across three faces until realization hit Sirius first.
"That's right! Cheeky little git, our hands were stuck together for just nearly three days!" Remus and James laughed at the memory. "Pete, it's brilliant. Since they're together it won't be that bad, but it'll definitely get annoying after a while and that's what we're after! I knew there was a reason we kept you around." Sirius jokingly winked and punched Peter who was turning a bit red from all of Sirius' compliments.
"So what's the spell, Moony?" James asked.
"Lignum." Remus muttered, still intent on reading his book. The three looked up towards the couple across the room as Sirius prepared to cast the charm. He uttered the words Remus had told him and waited to see what happened.
"- and that's why completing your seventh year is important, George." Hermione smugly told the Weasley twin. George was apparently having trouble with History of Magic, not a subject you need to know to run the Wheezes, she reminded herself.
"Yes well, people to see, places to go, joke shops to build." He replied off-handedly. Hermione took out her Astronomy text book, intent on starting the essay that was assigned to them today, while George started packing his things.
Across the common room, four pairs of eyes were anxiously waiting for their charm to take effect. "Do you think they'll recognize the charm?" Peter asked.
"Fred probably will, the twins seem quite learned in the art of practical joking." James answered, and returned to watching their victims.
"You never know," Sirius started, "we might just catch one of the Marauders of Leeds off guard." He finished, winking at his fellow Marauders.
George noticed an odd tingling sensation that was lightly pulsing in his right palm. After several minutes of this tingling pulse, he noticed Hermione scratching her left hand vigorously while trying to read the textbook in her lap. He let out an annoyed grunt and tried rubbing his palm on his kneecap, to no avail. Hermione was having no such luck either as she concentrated on ridding herself of the awful, annoying ting- completely forgetting her astronomy.
"Is one of your hands feeling really bizarre?" she asked.
"Yes! Bloody- thing- won't- stop!" he said in between violent scratches. Both their palms had turned red and were beginning to sting.
"Do you- do you think it's a belated side-effect of the floo powder debacle?" Hermione stopped scratching, as did George.
"Bloody hell. Couldn't be- do you think? We've been here for over a month, kinda late, yeah?" George sounded like he was trying to convince himself, rather than Hermione.
"Maybe we should see if it's happening to Fred too. Didn't he say he was going to the Quidditch pitch to have fly?" Hermione nodded her head, still absently scratching her palm. "C'mon." George got up and extended his hand to help pull her up from the saggy couch. As soon as he pulled her up, though, the itching stopped.
"It stopped. It just stopped!" Hermione exclaimed. She tried pulling away from George to examine her hand, but found that she couldn't. They both looked at each other with wide eyes, and tried to pull their hands apart. "Ow!" she cried after a particularly hard tug.
"Well I guess pulling them apart won't work. What now?" George said a little frantically.
"Let's go see Fred." She clasped her hand around his so they wouldn't have to hold them at an awkward angle, and set out find Fred.
They finally found Fred coming back from putting away the borrowed broom he was using. Hermione and George were both out of breath from running around the castle, and had to catch before they began.
"Have you felt anything weird lately?" Hermione breathed out. Fred just raised one ginger eyebrow and glanced down to their intertwined hands.
"You do know he's George, right?" he asked Hermione, unsure of what was going on.
"Yes, of course." She said, slightly confused, but then she saw him once again glance down at their hands. "Something happened. It just started all of a sudden!"
"Our hands just started to get really tingly-" George continued.
"And it wouldn't stop, but then it did when George helped me up off the couch, and now we're stuck." She finished.
Fred was quiet for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. He looked at their panicked faces, and then it dawned on him. "Were you by any chance in the company of a certain gruesome foursome?" he asked them with a smirk.
"No we were doing-" Hermione began but was cut off by George,
"Yes! Oh damn it- they were on the other side of the room. I knew they looked a but fishy!" George cried, yanking Hermione's arm around while waved his long arms madly. Fred put a hand on his brother's arm, noticing how his girlfriend was practically being thrown around; George blushed and looked apologetically towards Hermione.
"So? Can we go and ask them the counter-curse then?" she asked impatiently, but knew they were going to do the exact opposite when she saw the looks passed between the twins.
"You know, I don't think that's a very good idea." Fred started.
"I think we should surprise them; show them they are no match for the Marauders of Leeds." George this time.
"Yes, we'll figure out the counter curse!"
"And how do you propose we'll do that?" Hermione asked, still thinking it was much easier the go and as them.
"Why Hermione!" George said with a scandalized look and clutching his heart with his free hand.
And together, "The library, of course!" and she followed the two laughing twins (well, she followed one laughing twin, and was pulled by another) to the library.
So I feel horrible for not updating sooner! But unfortunately I have been preparing for midterms that begin next week and probably won't be able to update until they are over :/ I would also like to thank the new (and old!) people who favorited this story and took the time to review; it means so much to me that you guys liked it enough to tell me- THANKKKK YOUUUU!
I'm also wondering what kind of pranks you guys'd want to see! I'm sort of stuck with that part and ideas would definitely be welcome! Kay, that's all for now ~ remember to review! :)