A/N - chapter 13. Creepy. Well, don't think about it too much. ;)
Oh, and by the way - in case you missed it or for some reason forgot, Jenni and Nancy are just having fun in the world created by JKR and her publishers etc. Not ours.
On to the fun part - answering our fans! :)
Lily -- *sputters helplessly* WHAT are you implying? That we... that... why, that interpretation of the title of the last chapter had NEVER crossed my mind. *angelic look*
Anaxandra - Hi!! A new reader, how fun!! :) Oooh, and a good question. Well, we pretty much divide up pieces of the chapters based on who has the good ideas and whose characters are doing what... plus, we send each other the bits we're writing so that if someone wants to add or change, they can! It's really fun. :) Glad you're enjoying the story!
Littlewolf - Amen to that one. Ah, that we could all find ourselves Weasleys...
Heather - hmmm. A good question. *looks at her co-writer, Jenni* Well, shall we answer her? Hmm. I didn't think so. Here's what I can tell you, Heather... we're making this up as we go, just for fun... but we ARE trying to give it some sort of plot. And lately, talk has turned to apartments... OH, I've said too much. ;)
Fracindy - HEY, no glaring. Jenni's still trying to decide if she'll forgive you. ;) And I think you'll be pleased to note a bit more Percy, though no morning hair, I'm afraid. And, yes, Hamlet... it's probably all your fault that Lily now thinks we're scarlet women. ;)
Louisa - So do I. He he he. HEY! Tell Harry to behave himself. ;)
Gohansfollower - HI! Another newbie! That's so cool. And thanks for the kind words! I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)
Psiana - oh man. That's rough news. I could send Charlie over to punch him out for you... *glances over chapter* hmm, will this restore your faith in men? Well, we WILL work on that, but please bear in mind that we are working with WEASLEYS here. ;)
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As Jenni and Bill walked through the door, they met Mrs. Weasley coming down the stairs. "AH! There you two are. I was just wondering where the two of you had slipped off to." The speculative look in her eyes made Jenni stammer a bit.
"We... we just went to get some things for the... for tonight. I'm so sorry that Nancy and I are being such a bother." Jenni started weakly. Bill opened his mouth to reassure her, but his mother beat him to it.
"Oh nonsense, dear." Mrs. Weasley's voice was kind and gentle. "In fact I was just upstairs telling Charlie that I hoped the two of you would be here for dinner. I've got plenty. Although. oh dear. I'd better tell Arthur we'll have to move everything outside."
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Jenni asked, glaring at Bill as he pulled the bags full of clothing that she'd insisted on carrying right out of her hands.
Mrs. Weasley nodded and beckoned for Jenni to come into the kitchen. "You can help me take this food outside. We'll leave Arthur and the boys to worry about the chairs and table."
Bill grinned as he watched Jenni follow his mum. He had to hand it to her. She definitely knew how to get Molly Weasley in her corner. Without even realizing what she was doing, Jenni had just redeemed any and all past wrongs in Mrs. Weasley's book. If any of HER children had so much as THOUGHT about helping with dinner she would have passed out from shock.
Jenni forgot about being tired as she helped Mrs. Weasley with bringing everything outside. The wonderful smell of food was a potent reminder that she hadn't eaten all day, and her stomach rumbled loudly. Ginny Weasley, the only daughter and youngest child, was standing nearby when her internal organs gave vent to their feelings, and the two girls were both caught up in a fit of giggles.
As their laughter died down, Ginny took the dish she was holding and headed over to the table with it, giving Jenni a moment to take in the scene. Her overall impression of the Weasley family was that they were in constant motion. There were people EVERYWHERE. Jenni had grown up in a small family - just her parents, her older sister, herself, and her little brother. Actually, she realized, by the time her little brother came along, her older sister had already moved out, so there had only ever been two children in the house. She was enjoying the noisy chatter of the large family immensely and allowed a smile to spread across her face.
"Pardon me, but would you care for a toffee?" Jenni was jolted from her thoughts to find two identical faces grinning at her.
"Sure!" Jenni reached for one of the colorfully colored candies. "What are these anyway?"
"Just something we're working on is all. Right George?"
Jenni nodded. Ok so the taller one is Fred. "So did you come up with a new flavor or something?"
George grinned. "Or something, I guess."
Jenni was beginning to unwrap the candy when she spotted Ginny and Hermione waving frantically in her direction. The twins, noticing something was amiss, turned to see what Jenni was looking at.
"We'll be right back." Fred glared at Hermione and Ginny while pulling George behind him towards the girls.
"I wouldn't eat that if I were you." Jenni jumped. She turned to see Ron and Harry standing next to her. Ron was the one who had spoken. Just like she'd noticed earlier - there were Weasleys EVERYWHERE.
"Why shouldn't I eat this? It's only candy."
Ron and Harry both choked back a laugh. "Right. It's only candy. And knowing Fred and George you'll probably be growing an extra head if you eat that."
Jenni held up her hands, "Ok, I get it. I don't want to eat it." Jenni was just contemplating what she should do to dispose of the apparently dangerous sweet when Bill walked up.
"What's that?" He asked, looking at the candy in Jenni's hand.
Jenni held back a grin. She couldn't resist. "Oh, just something I got from... Honeydukes a while back. I grabbed a few when we stopped by apartment. You want one?" Jenni held out the candy, praying that Ron and Harry would stay quiet.
Bill took the candy without hesitation, and Jenni almost felt bad to see that he trusted her so much. She chanced a quick glance and found Ron and Harry waiting expectantly as he unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth. After several seconds of breathless anticipation... nothing happened. Ron shrugged when Jenni looked to him for an explanation. She looked to Harry next, but he looked even less informed.
"So how does it taste?"
"It tastes." Bill stopped mid sentence. "Ron, are you ok?"
Jenni and Harry glanced at Ron. He had become slightly pale. "Bill, I think, I mean you're... you've..."
At that moment the twins rejoined the group. "So... Jenni. Did you... try it?"
Jenni never did turn around to find out which one asked the question. She let out a gasp as she looked at Bill. The man who usually towered at least a foot or more above her was now several inches shorter than her.
"BILL!" Ginny gasped, breaking the sudden silence. "You've SHRUNK!"
Bill glared immediately at the twins, realization hitting him. "I've shrunk?"
Jenni held a hand over her mouth. She was caught between being horrified and the urge to laugh. She watched as the twins tried to explain the situation. However, before they had a chance Bill rounded on Jenni. "You think this is funny?"
Jenni kept her hand over her mouth trying to hide the smile that was slowly making it's way onto her face. "Of course it's not funny." Desperate to distract him, she fished around for something else to say. Realization hit and she turned on the twins. "You gave me a candy that would make me SHORTER? You don't think I'm short enough? I would have been barely 2 feet tall!"
George shot her an innocent grin. "Well, we were hoping you would have picked a different one."
Fred jumped in. "Yeah! We wanted you to pick our Lemon Bubbles!"
"Lemon Bubbles?" Jenni asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
"Yeah! They're lemon flavored, but when you talk you blow bubbles!" Fred had become extremely excited and had just begun describing to Jenni the large array of products offered by Weasleys Wizard Wheezes when he was interrupted.
"Ok, that's IT. I've had enough of this talk." Bill's voice broke through and he pointed at the twins. "You. Fix this. NOW!"
George stammered. "Well.I.we.we can't fix it. It just wears off."
Bill's face was beginning to turn purple. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T FIX IT?"
"Just what I said. We can't fix it. Besides, it serves you right for stealing my letter." George gave Bill a superior look. Ginny started giggling again.
Jenni caught the giggles. "Bill, really. It's not that bad."
"Not that bad? There are goblins at Gringotts that are taller than I am. This is humiliating. And you!" Bill turned to Jenni. "You gave me that candy knowing it was from the twins."
"Well, to be honest, I would have eaten it myself if Ron hadn't told me that it could have disastrous side effects." Jenni shot Bill her most innocent smile.
Ron groaned. "Thanks for mentioning my name, Jenni."
"You two were in on this as well?" Bill asked Ron and Harry. "You were all in on this?"
"Well," Ron muttered. "We would have warned you if you hadn't been so greedy."
"I think it's cute."
Bill glared at Jenni. "Cute? Did you just say cute?"
Jenni nodded. "Yes I did. I never understood why people would tell me being short was cute. Now I understand."
Ron shrugged at Bill. "She's right you know. Short people are cute!"
"Yeah, and besides," Fred pointed out. "You get to look up to us for a change!" Fred ducked behind Jenni just as Bill lunged towards him. He stopped short as Mrs. Weasley appeared.
"What's going on here? I've called the lot of you several times already." Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened as she looked at her oldest son. "Oh dear. Bill, are you.have you.I.is everything all right here?"
George grinned. "Everything is fine mum. Bill has just been having a bad day. He's rather in a sketchy mood about his height right now."
Jenni, Ron, and Harry began to laugh. Mrs. Weasley scowled. "What have I told you two about those candies. One day you're going to find yourselves with something that won't wear off." She had gone off pointing at the twins. "Now, I suggest the lot of you get to the table. It's time to eat."
Bill walked off following Mrs. Weasley. He turned around "You five are going to pay for this."
Jenni's mouth dropped in shock. "Me?"
"You especially." His eyes flashed. Jenni could have sworn she saw a hint of a smile on his face but she wasn't sure. The twins just put their arms around her and walked her towards the table.
"You know, Jenni," Fred began, "You were brilliant."
"Absolutely perfect." George cut in. "I mean we were a bit disappointed that you didn't eat the candy. But that was the first time Bill has ever been tricked."
"Which means you'll be in big trouble!" Fred finished.
Jenni rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the warning."
As she started to take her seat across from a still fuming mini-Bill, Jenni heard Mrs. Weasley turn to someone behind her. "Oh, Nancy, you're up! Wonderful, we were just going to eat."
Jenni stiffened, suddenly nervous, despite Charlie's encouraging words earlier. Bill shot her a concerned look from across the table, as best he could while kneeling on the seat.
"Thanks so much, Mrs. Weasley, I don't mean to be such a bother..." Nancy started nervously, but was waved off by the Weasley matriarch.
"Don't be silly, dear. Charlie, you're sitting down there by..." there was a brief pause and her mouth twitched, "Bill." She put a hand to her mouth and scurried off to the kitchen to get the rest of the food.
Nancy shot Charlie a confused look, what had gotten into his mother? She glanced around the table - the twins sent her big welcoming grins, which she returned, and looked quite proud of themselves, which made her a bit nervous. There was a tall red-headed boy sitting by Harry Potter at one end of the table, she supposed he must be Ron, and there were two girls down there, one with brown bushy hair and one with the Weasley red. They all smiled at her, although the young Weasley girl seemed to be fighting down giggles, and her brother looked a bit red at the ears. Her eyes moved on, and she waved to Percy before stopping at the back of Jenni's head. Her friend wasn't turned to look at them, and Nancy's stomach dropped.
Before she could convince Charlie to let her go back upstairs, however, she noticed that the tallest of the Weasleys was not at the table. "Charlie," she whispered, "Where's Bill?"
"Bill?" Charlie looked over at her from where he had been hearing an account of a very interesting letter to George from Ron and Harry. "Well, isn't he sitting by..." he turned and looked at Jenni. "He's probably just inside or something... where're we supposed to sit, Perce?"
Percy groaned and pointed across the table at two empty seats.
"BY ME, you sodding wanker of a brother!" Bill's irate voice sent the entire table off into a fit of giggles. Charlie and Nancy looked at each other in confusion and Jenni put her head into her hands thinking that he really was going to kill her when he grew back to normal size.
"Well, brother dear," Charlie started, leading Nancy around the table, "if you choose to hide under the dinner table when we come down..." he stopped suddenly, as they were confronted by the sight of a four foot something Bill glaring in what would be a very intimidating way if he had been his normal size.
Charlie's face broke into a wide smile. "What happened? You and Jenni get in another fight?"
"Oh it was nothing that interesting Charlie!" Fred was positively bursting to tell his brother what had happened. "In fact."
"SHUT UP FRED!" Bill's eyes shifted causing the twin to become silent.
Nancy struggled to hold back her giggles, and looking up she caught Jenni looking guiltily amused. Their eyes met, and despite the unsettled feelings between them, their laughter sent the entire table off again. When he could breathe, Charlie walked over and patted his "big" brother on the back. "Don't worry, I'll protect you till you grow up again, little buddy."
Dodging the blow that Bill sent at him, Charlie steered a still laughing Nancy to her seat. Just then, Mrs. Weasley came out with a large casserole in her hands, followed by her husband carrying a huge bowl of potatoes. Her look caused the laughter to slowly subside, and soon it was just Nancy, Jenni and Ginny fighting down hiccups from having laughed too hard as the boys were all focused on shoveling food into their mouths.
Percy was grilled on his reason for working on a Saturday by the twins, and after a few glares, he revealed that NOËLLE had revealed her plan to do a bit of extra work last night at the party. "I just went in cause Dad couldn't, and I don't think the likes of her should be left alone in the Ministry building!"
"You're right, you know," Fred said blithely. "Far too pretty, that one."
Percy blushed bright red and muttered incoherently about dangerous blondes.
George elbowed Fred. "Don't think you should say that too loud. I know a certain sixth year who wouldn't approve."
It was Fred's turn to flush angrily, and Charlie grinned, remembering the story he'd heard when he first came home. "Yes, how DID Marion give you that bruise on your jaw?"
Mrs. Weasley's head snapped around. Apparently SHE had not been informed as to the exact cause of the mark. Fred went a bit purple and muttered something.
"What was that, Fred? Couldn't quite hear you..." it was Ron's turn to chime in helpfully.
Shooting death glares at the smug looking lot of them, Fred repeated himself. "Tickling. Dangerous stuff." He sat there for a minute, looking distinctly uncomfortable, before grinning a bit evilly. "At least I'm taller than her." He turned and looked at Bill, who looked quite ready to take on the whole table if anyone so much as cracked a smile.
"I still taught you every hex you know, Fred Weasley," he said in a low, dangerous voice that did funny things to Jenni's spine. "And this wand is NOT reliant on my size to be effective."
Charlie choked on something, and was coughing for the next minute or so while Nancy pounded on his back. Mrs. Weasley covered for him, saying "Of course it isn't, dear..." and Mr. Weasley was pulled out of his animated discussion of the good points of his pretty but destructive assistant enough to shake his head at his second oldest son.
Ginny's squeal broke the silence, "Oh NO! Ron you WOULDN'T! Seamus is so nice, and... and..." she trailed off and flushed when she realized the rest of the table was staring at her.
"And handsome and Irish?" finished Ron innocently. "Well, sure... but he asked for it, and..." he broke off, glaring at his little sister. "You're not gonna WARN him, are you, Gin?"
The tiny red-head blushed harder. "I will if I want to, Ron Weasley. He should at least know what to watch out for!"
Harry and Hermione burst out laughing, as brother and sister glared daggers at each other. The rest of the family exchanged looks and worked on finishing off their meals.
Ginny made one last comment, turning to the two laughing fifth years, "Harry! HERMIONE! I can't believe you two are in on this!"
They stopped laughing and looked a bit uncomfortable. Hermione glared at Ron, who paled slightly. Harry shook his head and said, "Well, we're not really, Gin, we both made Ron and Seamus promise to leave us out of it."
"Although your brother doesn't seem to be able to keep his big mouth shut," added Hermione with a roll of her eyes.
The bickering down their end continued, but more quietly, and Jenni had to laugh as she watched Ron and Hermione start a rather heated argument about the relative size of his mouth and his ability to keep it shut. Poor Harry, he hadn't been exaggerating.
Mrs. Weasley started picking up plates, and out of habit said, "Charlie, Bill, go bring out the desserts..." before realizing that she'd just embarrassed her already irate eldest by bringing him front and center again. Shaking her head at her brood, she smiled when both Nancy and Jenni jumped up and starting gathering the other dirty dishes. "You two, far too nice for THIS bunch." She glared around at her children, who were lounging about the table, "Except you and Hermione, Harry dear. You know that you're not expected to help, being guests."
Grinning, the two young women ignored her protests and followed her into the kitchen with their stacks of plates, passing Charlie and the still short Bill on their way out with what smelled like apple pie.
"Hey there, short stuff," Nancy whistled low, unable to help herself when such a perfect comic opportunity stared her in the face, "...looking good!"
Bill shot her a startled glance, before realizing what she was doing. Jenni couldn't help jumping in. She batted her eyelashes at Charlie, "Who's your LITTLE brother? He's awfully cute..."
The two men stood there in a confused silence as Nancy and Jenni brushed past them. They made it to the kitchen before they broke down into giggles. Mrs. Weasley took their stacks of plates from them with a grin as they collapsed into the kitchen chairs.
Bill knew that he was bright red, something that hadn't happened to him in YEARS. He'd worked so hard to overcome the Weasley curse - that damn fair skin that left every emotion so easy to read. As he turned to watch the two women sashay - yes, by Merlin they were SASHAYING - off to the kitchens, he caught his brother's thunderstruck expression.
Charlie was in the middle of a losing battle. For one, he was busy trying to push away the sharp stab of jealousy that had immediately hit him when Nancy had suddenly turned her irreverent flirtatiousness on Bill. It was absurd! She'd been JOKING, and he damn well knew it, so why couldn't he just laugh? And the second problem was that in the middle of trying to subdue these irrational feelings, he'd made the mistake of turning to watch her walk away. If you could call that WALKING. He was pretty sure it was illegal in most cities nowadays to walk like that.
"Bloody hell, you two!" Ron's voice jogged them out of their stupor, and they turned around just in time to see him remove the pie from Charlie's limp fingers. George was doing the same to Bill. "Don't you have any respect at all for Mum's pies? You could have DROPPED them!"
The boys who remained sitting at the table sent their older siblings scathing looks, while Ginny and Hermione exchanged a knowing glance that set them off giggling. Mr. Weasley was coughing suspiciously loudly, and motioned for them to sit down.
"I'm sure the women will be back out with the plates in a moment," he said, his eyes twinkling.
Both blushing fiercely, they shuffled over to their seats, and the younger students on the other end of the table watched in amazement. "Harry," said Ron in a stage whisper, "if I ever get that besotted, I don't want you to let me go around in public."
Oddly enough, as everyone including Ron's oldest brothers noted with interest, Harry's answer was to snort and send a sly look at Hermione, who was busy enough glaring at Ron that she didn't catch it.
There were three very red-faced Weasleys sitting at the table when Nancy and Jenni made their way back out, having composed themselves with much difficulty. Mrs. Weasley followed them, and Jenni noticed that an awful lot of significant looks were passing between the observant mother and Mr. Weasley. She leaned in, hoping to hear more about what Bill's reaction to the teasing had been, but a smooth whisper cut her off. "I could just tell you, and save you the embarrassment of being caught."
Bill was inches away from her ear, and from the look of it, the candy was finally starting to wear off. He was certainly at least a few inches taller than she was, Jenni noted with a nervous swallow. "Let's just say... Charlie and I had a momentary lapse and nearly splattered apple pie all over the ground. I'm fairly sure we were staring at the kitchen door."
Nancy was too busy trying not to notice that Charlie's eyes were burning holes in the side of her head as she carefully dished out the pie to pick up on the whispered explanations. Finally, she only had two pieces left to cut - her own and Charlie's.
"We'll just share." Charlie reached in and dumped the remaining slice onto his plate. Confused, Nancy turned to look at him. His eyes were challenging. "Unless you'd rather share it with my brother?"
Charlie was calling himself all kinds of names, most of them including the word 'stupid' at some point, even as he couldn't stop himself from muttering the insane accusation at her. He was mildly relieved when her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "What? One of your brothers wants to share their pie with me?" she whispered, glancing around the table. "Why would they do that?"
Figuring 'in for a knut, in for a galleon,' Charlie gritted his teeth and spelled it out for her. "Maybe because you seemed happy enough to..." he paused and, groping for the words, made a useless gesture towards the kitchen door. "... to put on that display!"
Her eyes widened and he saw sudden understanding dawn in them. Charlie tensed, waiting to be chewed out, quite rightfully, for being an obnoxious git. He honestly didn't understand what was wrong with him, anyhow. But nothing happened. Nancy just grabbed a fork and started in on the mound of apple pie on his plate. When he gathered up the courage to look into her face after a minute or two, there was a big grin plastered there.
"You were JEALOUS!" she whispered after finishing her mouthful of pie. The grin widened. "Jealous, just because I whistled at your four foot tall brother!"
Charlie grunted and grabbed the remaining fork, weighing it in his hand like a weapon. "Well, how do I know you don't like short men or something?"
Nancy let out a laugh that startled the rest of the table, and then she dropped her fork full of gooey apples back onto the plate and covered her mouth with both hands. Charlie stared at her a moment before relaxing. She was laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe, and Charlie couldn't help pulling her into his arms, even though he knew that his entire family was watching them. He was just so damn relieved.
She shook uncontrollably against him as she tried to contain her laughter. Charlie winked around at the rest of the table. "I'm just too funny, you know... poor thing isn't used to a guy with my wit!" The rest of his brothers rolled their eyes and went back to their pie and quidditch talk, or in Percy's case, deep political discussions... about blondes, he supposed. Charlie had just decided to put the fork to use and start in on his share of dessert when he noticed Nancy start hiccuping.
He quirked a grin and started rubbing her back, "Come on now, if you laugh much harder you'll lose your dinner." She hiccuped a few more times, but his hand seemed to quiet her enough that she was able to start breathing again.
"If someone had ever told me that Charlie Weasley would get insecure over watching me flirt with his... his shrunken brother..." she gasped out, shaking her head. He shrugged and whispered into her hair, "Didn't really matter that it was mini-Bill... I just wanted you to be looking at me."
Nancy shivered a bit at the intensity in his voice. She sat there, snuggled up against him for a few more minutes before someone's voice intruded on her comfortable haze.
"Are you two going to eat that? Because if you're not..." Fred was gazing longingly down the table at the unfinished mound of apples and pie-crust on Charlie's plate. Nancy snapped to attention, sitting up suddenly and grabbing her fork. Jenni laughed outright, and grinned at the disappointed twin. "I've never seen Nancy leave a dessert unfinished," she said, "and I doubt tonight will be a first in that category."
Everyone laughed, and Nancy felt her skin heat up a bit. Charlie leaned down and kissed the top of her head as she chewed, before finally joining in her assault on the mound of apples. "Better get started if I want any," he muttered good-naturedly.
As they finished, the rest of the family began to drift away from the table. Mr. Weasley helped bring in the dishes from dessert at Mrs. Weasley's insistence, and once the kitchen door swung shut behind them the only people left sitting were Jenni, Bill (now his normal height and looking rather menacing), Charlie and Nancy.
Nancy let loose a huge yawn, her earlier tiredness suddenly catching up to her, and Jenni eyed her nervously. "Nancy? How are you feeling? I mean..." she trailed off, uncertain as to how to express concern over having chased her best friend away from the place where she was supposed to be recovering. Bill seemed to sense her discomfort, because his hand reached into her lap to cover her shaking ones.
"I'm feeling..." Oh crap, Nancy thought, she had to ask that now. She didn't feel at all ready to explain the entirety of her injury to Jenni, despite her brave words to Charlie earlier. "Fine? OW!" She grimaced at Charlie who was glaring down at her warningly. "Did you just kick me?"
His face turned innocent so fast that she blinked. "Nope, must be your leg giving you trouble again." Charlie maintained eye contact with her the whole time, daring Nancy to deny it in front of him.
She blanched, and then her eyes narrowed dangerously for a second. Turning to Bill, who had been watching the exchange closely, and Jenni, who was trying to look like it was no big deal, Nancy murmured, "He's right, I'm awfully sore and worn out. I think I'll call it a night." She winced when she saw Jenni bite her lip, hating to draw out the wait until she laid the whole truth out in front of her best friend, but... she'd be damned if Charlie was going to rush her into it.
Bill, who was still holding Jenni's hands tightly, shot an inquiring look at his brother as Nancy started getting up. Charlie rolled his eyes at him and mouthed, "Scared" before scrambling up and taking Nancy by the arm. "Well, it's a good thing that you and Jenni share the same room, then..."
"Wha..." Nancy started, confused, but Bill cut her off, a plan already forming.
"And since poor Jenni is really quite exhausted herself, you two can just continue this discussion upstairs."
It was Jenni's turn to protest. "But I'm not..."
Shaking their heads dramatically, the brothers hefted both women up over their shoulders and headed for the house.
"So sad when they don't know what's best for themselves, isn't it, Bill?" Charlie held open the door as Bill passed with a fuming Jenni and headed for the stairs.
"See, that's exactly what I was thinking, Charlie." Bill grinned as he swung open their bedroom door and deposited Jenni with a quick swish onto his bed.
"Now you two play nice in here." Charlie dropped Nancy a bit more gently onto his own bed and winked at her outraged and panicked face.
"Yes, we want happy smiling faces in the morning." Bill grabbed Jenni's wand from the night stand before she had the chance to even look at it. "I'll just keep this."
"You know, this hurts us more than it hurts you," Charlie commented dolefully as he proceeded to swipe Nancy's wand and back towards the door. Bill pulled it shut just as Jenni reached them and with a muttered locking spell it was finished.
Oh, and by the way - in case you missed it or for some reason forgot, Jenni and Nancy are just having fun in the world created by JKR and her publishers etc. Not ours.
On to the fun part - answering our fans! :)
Lily -- *sputters helplessly* WHAT are you implying? That we... that... why, that interpretation of the title of the last chapter had NEVER crossed my mind. *angelic look*
Anaxandra - Hi!! A new reader, how fun!! :) Oooh, and a good question. Well, we pretty much divide up pieces of the chapters based on who has the good ideas and whose characters are doing what... plus, we send each other the bits we're writing so that if someone wants to add or change, they can! It's really fun. :) Glad you're enjoying the story!
Littlewolf - Amen to that one. Ah, that we could all find ourselves Weasleys...
Heather - hmmm. A good question. *looks at her co-writer, Jenni* Well, shall we answer her? Hmm. I didn't think so. Here's what I can tell you, Heather... we're making this up as we go, just for fun... but we ARE trying to give it some sort of plot. And lately, talk has turned to apartments... OH, I've said too much. ;)
Fracindy - HEY, no glaring. Jenni's still trying to decide if she'll forgive you. ;) And I think you'll be pleased to note a bit more Percy, though no morning hair, I'm afraid. And, yes, Hamlet... it's probably all your fault that Lily now thinks we're scarlet women. ;)
Louisa - So do I. He he he. HEY! Tell Harry to behave himself. ;)
Gohansfollower - HI! Another newbie! That's so cool. And thanks for the kind words! I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)
Psiana - oh man. That's rough news. I could send Charlie over to punch him out for you... *glances over chapter* hmm, will this restore your faith in men? Well, we WILL work on that, but please bear in mind that we are working with WEASLEYS here. ;)
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As Jenni and Bill walked through the door, they met Mrs. Weasley coming down the stairs. "AH! There you two are. I was just wondering where the two of you had slipped off to." The speculative look in her eyes made Jenni stammer a bit.
"We... we just went to get some things for the... for tonight. I'm so sorry that Nancy and I are being such a bother." Jenni started weakly. Bill opened his mouth to reassure her, but his mother beat him to it.
"Oh nonsense, dear." Mrs. Weasley's voice was kind and gentle. "In fact I was just upstairs telling Charlie that I hoped the two of you would be here for dinner. I've got plenty. Although. oh dear. I'd better tell Arthur we'll have to move everything outside."
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Jenni asked, glaring at Bill as he pulled the bags full of clothing that she'd insisted on carrying right out of her hands.
Mrs. Weasley nodded and beckoned for Jenni to come into the kitchen. "You can help me take this food outside. We'll leave Arthur and the boys to worry about the chairs and table."
Bill grinned as he watched Jenni follow his mum. He had to hand it to her. She definitely knew how to get Molly Weasley in her corner. Without even realizing what she was doing, Jenni had just redeemed any and all past wrongs in Mrs. Weasley's book. If any of HER children had so much as THOUGHT about helping with dinner she would have passed out from shock.
Jenni forgot about being tired as she helped Mrs. Weasley with bringing everything outside. The wonderful smell of food was a potent reminder that she hadn't eaten all day, and her stomach rumbled loudly. Ginny Weasley, the only daughter and youngest child, was standing nearby when her internal organs gave vent to their feelings, and the two girls were both caught up in a fit of giggles.
As their laughter died down, Ginny took the dish she was holding and headed over to the table with it, giving Jenni a moment to take in the scene. Her overall impression of the Weasley family was that they were in constant motion. There were people EVERYWHERE. Jenni had grown up in a small family - just her parents, her older sister, herself, and her little brother. Actually, she realized, by the time her little brother came along, her older sister had already moved out, so there had only ever been two children in the house. She was enjoying the noisy chatter of the large family immensely and allowed a smile to spread across her face.
"Pardon me, but would you care for a toffee?" Jenni was jolted from her thoughts to find two identical faces grinning at her.
"Sure!" Jenni reached for one of the colorfully colored candies. "What are these anyway?"
"Just something we're working on is all. Right George?"
Jenni nodded. Ok so the taller one is Fred. "So did you come up with a new flavor or something?"
George grinned. "Or something, I guess."
Jenni was beginning to unwrap the candy when she spotted Ginny and Hermione waving frantically in her direction. The twins, noticing something was amiss, turned to see what Jenni was looking at.
"We'll be right back." Fred glared at Hermione and Ginny while pulling George behind him towards the girls.
"I wouldn't eat that if I were you." Jenni jumped. She turned to see Ron and Harry standing next to her. Ron was the one who had spoken. Just like she'd noticed earlier - there were Weasleys EVERYWHERE.
"Why shouldn't I eat this? It's only candy."
Ron and Harry both choked back a laugh. "Right. It's only candy. And knowing Fred and George you'll probably be growing an extra head if you eat that."
Jenni held up her hands, "Ok, I get it. I don't want to eat it." Jenni was just contemplating what she should do to dispose of the apparently dangerous sweet when Bill walked up.
"What's that?" He asked, looking at the candy in Jenni's hand.
Jenni held back a grin. She couldn't resist. "Oh, just something I got from... Honeydukes a while back. I grabbed a few when we stopped by apartment. You want one?" Jenni held out the candy, praying that Ron and Harry would stay quiet.
Bill took the candy without hesitation, and Jenni almost felt bad to see that he trusted her so much. She chanced a quick glance and found Ron and Harry waiting expectantly as he unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth. After several seconds of breathless anticipation... nothing happened. Ron shrugged when Jenni looked to him for an explanation. She looked to Harry next, but he looked even less informed.
"So how does it taste?"
"It tastes." Bill stopped mid sentence. "Ron, are you ok?"
Jenni and Harry glanced at Ron. He had become slightly pale. "Bill, I think, I mean you're... you've..."
At that moment the twins rejoined the group. "So... Jenni. Did you... try it?"
Jenni never did turn around to find out which one asked the question. She let out a gasp as she looked at Bill. The man who usually towered at least a foot or more above her was now several inches shorter than her.
"BILL!" Ginny gasped, breaking the sudden silence. "You've SHRUNK!"
Bill glared immediately at the twins, realization hitting him. "I've shrunk?"
Jenni held a hand over her mouth. She was caught between being horrified and the urge to laugh. She watched as the twins tried to explain the situation. However, before they had a chance Bill rounded on Jenni. "You think this is funny?"
Jenni kept her hand over her mouth trying to hide the smile that was slowly making it's way onto her face. "Of course it's not funny." Desperate to distract him, she fished around for something else to say. Realization hit and she turned on the twins. "You gave me a candy that would make me SHORTER? You don't think I'm short enough? I would have been barely 2 feet tall!"
George shot her an innocent grin. "Well, we were hoping you would have picked a different one."
Fred jumped in. "Yeah! We wanted you to pick our Lemon Bubbles!"
"Lemon Bubbles?" Jenni asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
"Yeah! They're lemon flavored, but when you talk you blow bubbles!" Fred had become extremely excited and had just begun describing to Jenni the large array of products offered by Weasleys Wizard Wheezes when he was interrupted.
"Ok, that's IT. I've had enough of this talk." Bill's voice broke through and he pointed at the twins. "You. Fix this. NOW!"
George stammered. "Well.I.we.we can't fix it. It just wears off."
Bill's face was beginning to turn purple. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T FIX IT?"
"Just what I said. We can't fix it. Besides, it serves you right for stealing my letter." George gave Bill a superior look. Ginny started giggling again.
Jenni caught the giggles. "Bill, really. It's not that bad."
"Not that bad? There are goblins at Gringotts that are taller than I am. This is humiliating. And you!" Bill turned to Jenni. "You gave me that candy knowing it was from the twins."
"Well, to be honest, I would have eaten it myself if Ron hadn't told me that it could have disastrous side effects." Jenni shot Bill her most innocent smile.
Ron groaned. "Thanks for mentioning my name, Jenni."
"You two were in on this as well?" Bill asked Ron and Harry. "You were all in on this?"
"Well," Ron muttered. "We would have warned you if you hadn't been so greedy."
"I think it's cute."
Bill glared at Jenni. "Cute? Did you just say cute?"
Jenni nodded. "Yes I did. I never understood why people would tell me being short was cute. Now I understand."
Ron shrugged at Bill. "She's right you know. Short people are cute!"
"Yeah, and besides," Fred pointed out. "You get to look up to us for a change!" Fred ducked behind Jenni just as Bill lunged towards him. He stopped short as Mrs. Weasley appeared.
"What's going on here? I've called the lot of you several times already." Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened as she looked at her oldest son. "Oh dear. Bill, are you.have you.I.is everything all right here?"
George grinned. "Everything is fine mum. Bill has just been having a bad day. He's rather in a sketchy mood about his height right now."
Jenni, Ron, and Harry began to laugh. Mrs. Weasley scowled. "What have I told you two about those candies. One day you're going to find yourselves with something that won't wear off." She had gone off pointing at the twins. "Now, I suggest the lot of you get to the table. It's time to eat."
Bill walked off following Mrs. Weasley. He turned around "You five are going to pay for this."
Jenni's mouth dropped in shock. "Me?"
"You especially." His eyes flashed. Jenni could have sworn she saw a hint of a smile on his face but she wasn't sure. The twins just put their arms around her and walked her towards the table.
"You know, Jenni," Fred began, "You were brilliant."
"Absolutely perfect." George cut in. "I mean we were a bit disappointed that you didn't eat the candy. But that was the first time Bill has ever been tricked."
"Which means you'll be in big trouble!" Fred finished.
Jenni rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the warning."
As she started to take her seat across from a still fuming mini-Bill, Jenni heard Mrs. Weasley turn to someone behind her. "Oh, Nancy, you're up! Wonderful, we were just going to eat."
Jenni stiffened, suddenly nervous, despite Charlie's encouraging words earlier. Bill shot her a concerned look from across the table, as best he could while kneeling on the seat.
"Thanks so much, Mrs. Weasley, I don't mean to be such a bother..." Nancy started nervously, but was waved off by the Weasley matriarch.
"Don't be silly, dear. Charlie, you're sitting down there by..." there was a brief pause and her mouth twitched, "Bill." She put a hand to her mouth and scurried off to the kitchen to get the rest of the food.
Nancy shot Charlie a confused look, what had gotten into his mother? She glanced around the table - the twins sent her big welcoming grins, which she returned, and looked quite proud of themselves, which made her a bit nervous. There was a tall red-headed boy sitting by Harry Potter at one end of the table, she supposed he must be Ron, and there were two girls down there, one with brown bushy hair and one with the Weasley red. They all smiled at her, although the young Weasley girl seemed to be fighting down giggles, and her brother looked a bit red at the ears. Her eyes moved on, and she waved to Percy before stopping at the back of Jenni's head. Her friend wasn't turned to look at them, and Nancy's stomach dropped.
Before she could convince Charlie to let her go back upstairs, however, she noticed that the tallest of the Weasleys was not at the table. "Charlie," she whispered, "Where's Bill?"
"Bill?" Charlie looked over at her from where he had been hearing an account of a very interesting letter to George from Ron and Harry. "Well, isn't he sitting by..." he turned and looked at Jenni. "He's probably just inside or something... where're we supposed to sit, Perce?"
Percy groaned and pointed across the table at two empty seats.
"BY ME, you sodding wanker of a brother!" Bill's irate voice sent the entire table off into a fit of giggles. Charlie and Nancy looked at each other in confusion and Jenni put her head into her hands thinking that he really was going to kill her when he grew back to normal size.
"Well, brother dear," Charlie started, leading Nancy around the table, "if you choose to hide under the dinner table when we come down..." he stopped suddenly, as they were confronted by the sight of a four foot something Bill glaring in what would be a very intimidating way if he had been his normal size.
Charlie's face broke into a wide smile. "What happened? You and Jenni get in another fight?"
"Oh it was nothing that interesting Charlie!" Fred was positively bursting to tell his brother what had happened. "In fact."
"SHUT UP FRED!" Bill's eyes shifted causing the twin to become silent.
Nancy struggled to hold back her giggles, and looking up she caught Jenni looking guiltily amused. Their eyes met, and despite the unsettled feelings between them, their laughter sent the entire table off again. When he could breathe, Charlie walked over and patted his "big" brother on the back. "Don't worry, I'll protect you till you grow up again, little buddy."
Dodging the blow that Bill sent at him, Charlie steered a still laughing Nancy to her seat. Just then, Mrs. Weasley came out with a large casserole in her hands, followed by her husband carrying a huge bowl of potatoes. Her look caused the laughter to slowly subside, and soon it was just Nancy, Jenni and Ginny fighting down hiccups from having laughed too hard as the boys were all focused on shoveling food into their mouths.
Percy was grilled on his reason for working on a Saturday by the twins, and after a few glares, he revealed that NOËLLE had revealed her plan to do a bit of extra work last night at the party. "I just went in cause Dad couldn't, and I don't think the likes of her should be left alone in the Ministry building!"
"You're right, you know," Fred said blithely. "Far too pretty, that one."
Percy blushed bright red and muttered incoherently about dangerous blondes.
George elbowed Fred. "Don't think you should say that too loud. I know a certain sixth year who wouldn't approve."
It was Fred's turn to flush angrily, and Charlie grinned, remembering the story he'd heard when he first came home. "Yes, how DID Marion give you that bruise on your jaw?"
Mrs. Weasley's head snapped around. Apparently SHE had not been informed as to the exact cause of the mark. Fred went a bit purple and muttered something.
"What was that, Fred? Couldn't quite hear you..." it was Ron's turn to chime in helpfully.
Shooting death glares at the smug looking lot of them, Fred repeated himself. "Tickling. Dangerous stuff." He sat there for a minute, looking distinctly uncomfortable, before grinning a bit evilly. "At least I'm taller than her." He turned and looked at Bill, who looked quite ready to take on the whole table if anyone so much as cracked a smile.
"I still taught you every hex you know, Fred Weasley," he said in a low, dangerous voice that did funny things to Jenni's spine. "And this wand is NOT reliant on my size to be effective."
Charlie choked on something, and was coughing for the next minute or so while Nancy pounded on his back. Mrs. Weasley covered for him, saying "Of course it isn't, dear..." and Mr. Weasley was pulled out of his animated discussion of the good points of his pretty but destructive assistant enough to shake his head at his second oldest son.
Ginny's squeal broke the silence, "Oh NO! Ron you WOULDN'T! Seamus is so nice, and... and..." she trailed off and flushed when she realized the rest of the table was staring at her.
"And handsome and Irish?" finished Ron innocently. "Well, sure... but he asked for it, and..." he broke off, glaring at his little sister. "You're not gonna WARN him, are you, Gin?"
The tiny red-head blushed harder. "I will if I want to, Ron Weasley. He should at least know what to watch out for!"
Harry and Hermione burst out laughing, as brother and sister glared daggers at each other. The rest of the family exchanged looks and worked on finishing off their meals.
Ginny made one last comment, turning to the two laughing fifth years, "Harry! HERMIONE! I can't believe you two are in on this!"
They stopped laughing and looked a bit uncomfortable. Hermione glared at Ron, who paled slightly. Harry shook his head and said, "Well, we're not really, Gin, we both made Ron and Seamus promise to leave us out of it."
"Although your brother doesn't seem to be able to keep his big mouth shut," added Hermione with a roll of her eyes.
The bickering down their end continued, but more quietly, and Jenni had to laugh as she watched Ron and Hermione start a rather heated argument about the relative size of his mouth and his ability to keep it shut. Poor Harry, he hadn't been exaggerating.
Mrs. Weasley started picking up plates, and out of habit said, "Charlie, Bill, go bring out the desserts..." before realizing that she'd just embarrassed her already irate eldest by bringing him front and center again. Shaking her head at her brood, she smiled when both Nancy and Jenni jumped up and starting gathering the other dirty dishes. "You two, far too nice for THIS bunch." She glared around at her children, who were lounging about the table, "Except you and Hermione, Harry dear. You know that you're not expected to help, being guests."
Grinning, the two young women ignored her protests and followed her into the kitchen with their stacks of plates, passing Charlie and the still short Bill on their way out with what smelled like apple pie.
"Hey there, short stuff," Nancy whistled low, unable to help herself when such a perfect comic opportunity stared her in the face, "...looking good!"
Bill shot her a startled glance, before realizing what she was doing. Jenni couldn't help jumping in. She batted her eyelashes at Charlie, "Who's your LITTLE brother? He's awfully cute..."
The two men stood there in a confused silence as Nancy and Jenni brushed past them. They made it to the kitchen before they broke down into giggles. Mrs. Weasley took their stacks of plates from them with a grin as they collapsed into the kitchen chairs.
Bill knew that he was bright red, something that hadn't happened to him in YEARS. He'd worked so hard to overcome the Weasley curse - that damn fair skin that left every emotion so easy to read. As he turned to watch the two women sashay - yes, by Merlin they were SASHAYING - off to the kitchens, he caught his brother's thunderstruck expression.
Charlie was in the middle of a losing battle. For one, he was busy trying to push away the sharp stab of jealousy that had immediately hit him when Nancy had suddenly turned her irreverent flirtatiousness on Bill. It was absurd! She'd been JOKING, and he damn well knew it, so why couldn't he just laugh? And the second problem was that in the middle of trying to subdue these irrational feelings, he'd made the mistake of turning to watch her walk away. If you could call that WALKING. He was pretty sure it was illegal in most cities nowadays to walk like that.
"Bloody hell, you two!" Ron's voice jogged them out of their stupor, and they turned around just in time to see him remove the pie from Charlie's limp fingers. George was doing the same to Bill. "Don't you have any respect at all for Mum's pies? You could have DROPPED them!"
The boys who remained sitting at the table sent their older siblings scathing looks, while Ginny and Hermione exchanged a knowing glance that set them off giggling. Mr. Weasley was coughing suspiciously loudly, and motioned for them to sit down.
"I'm sure the women will be back out with the plates in a moment," he said, his eyes twinkling.
Both blushing fiercely, they shuffled over to their seats, and the younger students on the other end of the table watched in amazement. "Harry," said Ron in a stage whisper, "if I ever get that besotted, I don't want you to let me go around in public."
Oddly enough, as everyone including Ron's oldest brothers noted with interest, Harry's answer was to snort and send a sly look at Hermione, who was busy enough glaring at Ron that she didn't catch it.
There were three very red-faced Weasleys sitting at the table when Nancy and Jenni made their way back out, having composed themselves with much difficulty. Mrs. Weasley followed them, and Jenni noticed that an awful lot of significant looks were passing between the observant mother and Mr. Weasley. She leaned in, hoping to hear more about what Bill's reaction to the teasing had been, but a smooth whisper cut her off. "I could just tell you, and save you the embarrassment of being caught."
Bill was inches away from her ear, and from the look of it, the candy was finally starting to wear off. He was certainly at least a few inches taller than she was, Jenni noted with a nervous swallow. "Let's just say... Charlie and I had a momentary lapse and nearly splattered apple pie all over the ground. I'm fairly sure we were staring at the kitchen door."
Nancy was too busy trying not to notice that Charlie's eyes were burning holes in the side of her head as she carefully dished out the pie to pick up on the whispered explanations. Finally, she only had two pieces left to cut - her own and Charlie's.
"We'll just share." Charlie reached in and dumped the remaining slice onto his plate. Confused, Nancy turned to look at him. His eyes were challenging. "Unless you'd rather share it with my brother?"
Charlie was calling himself all kinds of names, most of them including the word 'stupid' at some point, even as he couldn't stop himself from muttering the insane accusation at her. He was mildly relieved when her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "What? One of your brothers wants to share their pie with me?" she whispered, glancing around the table. "Why would they do that?"
Figuring 'in for a knut, in for a galleon,' Charlie gritted his teeth and spelled it out for her. "Maybe because you seemed happy enough to..." he paused and, groping for the words, made a useless gesture towards the kitchen door. "... to put on that display!"
Her eyes widened and he saw sudden understanding dawn in them. Charlie tensed, waiting to be chewed out, quite rightfully, for being an obnoxious git. He honestly didn't understand what was wrong with him, anyhow. But nothing happened. Nancy just grabbed a fork and started in on the mound of apple pie on his plate. When he gathered up the courage to look into her face after a minute or two, there was a big grin plastered there.
"You were JEALOUS!" she whispered after finishing her mouthful of pie. The grin widened. "Jealous, just because I whistled at your four foot tall brother!"
Charlie grunted and grabbed the remaining fork, weighing it in his hand like a weapon. "Well, how do I know you don't like short men or something?"
Nancy let out a laugh that startled the rest of the table, and then she dropped her fork full of gooey apples back onto the plate and covered her mouth with both hands. Charlie stared at her a moment before relaxing. She was laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe, and Charlie couldn't help pulling her into his arms, even though he knew that his entire family was watching them. He was just so damn relieved.
She shook uncontrollably against him as she tried to contain her laughter. Charlie winked around at the rest of the table. "I'm just too funny, you know... poor thing isn't used to a guy with my wit!" The rest of his brothers rolled their eyes and went back to their pie and quidditch talk, or in Percy's case, deep political discussions... about blondes, he supposed. Charlie had just decided to put the fork to use and start in on his share of dessert when he noticed Nancy start hiccuping.
He quirked a grin and started rubbing her back, "Come on now, if you laugh much harder you'll lose your dinner." She hiccuped a few more times, but his hand seemed to quiet her enough that she was able to start breathing again.
"If someone had ever told me that Charlie Weasley would get insecure over watching me flirt with his... his shrunken brother..." she gasped out, shaking her head. He shrugged and whispered into her hair, "Didn't really matter that it was mini-Bill... I just wanted you to be looking at me."
Nancy shivered a bit at the intensity in his voice. She sat there, snuggled up against him for a few more minutes before someone's voice intruded on her comfortable haze.
"Are you two going to eat that? Because if you're not..." Fred was gazing longingly down the table at the unfinished mound of apples and pie-crust on Charlie's plate. Nancy snapped to attention, sitting up suddenly and grabbing her fork. Jenni laughed outright, and grinned at the disappointed twin. "I've never seen Nancy leave a dessert unfinished," she said, "and I doubt tonight will be a first in that category."
Everyone laughed, and Nancy felt her skin heat up a bit. Charlie leaned down and kissed the top of her head as she chewed, before finally joining in her assault on the mound of apples. "Better get started if I want any," he muttered good-naturedly.
As they finished, the rest of the family began to drift away from the table. Mr. Weasley helped bring in the dishes from dessert at Mrs. Weasley's insistence, and once the kitchen door swung shut behind them the only people left sitting were Jenni, Bill (now his normal height and looking rather menacing), Charlie and Nancy.
Nancy let loose a huge yawn, her earlier tiredness suddenly catching up to her, and Jenni eyed her nervously. "Nancy? How are you feeling? I mean..." she trailed off, uncertain as to how to express concern over having chased her best friend away from the place where she was supposed to be recovering. Bill seemed to sense her discomfort, because his hand reached into her lap to cover her shaking ones.
"I'm feeling..." Oh crap, Nancy thought, she had to ask that now. She didn't feel at all ready to explain the entirety of her injury to Jenni, despite her brave words to Charlie earlier. "Fine? OW!" She grimaced at Charlie who was glaring down at her warningly. "Did you just kick me?"
His face turned innocent so fast that she blinked. "Nope, must be your leg giving you trouble again." Charlie maintained eye contact with her the whole time, daring Nancy to deny it in front of him.
She blanched, and then her eyes narrowed dangerously for a second. Turning to Bill, who had been watching the exchange closely, and Jenni, who was trying to look like it was no big deal, Nancy murmured, "He's right, I'm awfully sore and worn out. I think I'll call it a night." She winced when she saw Jenni bite her lip, hating to draw out the wait until she laid the whole truth out in front of her best friend, but... she'd be damned if Charlie was going to rush her into it.
Bill, who was still holding Jenni's hands tightly, shot an inquiring look at his brother as Nancy started getting up. Charlie rolled his eyes at him and mouthed, "Scared" before scrambling up and taking Nancy by the arm. "Well, it's a good thing that you and Jenni share the same room, then..."
"Wha..." Nancy started, confused, but Bill cut her off, a plan already forming.
"And since poor Jenni is really quite exhausted herself, you two can just continue this discussion upstairs."
It was Jenni's turn to protest. "But I'm not..."
Shaking their heads dramatically, the brothers hefted both women up over their shoulders and headed for the house.
"So sad when they don't know what's best for themselves, isn't it, Bill?" Charlie held open the door as Bill passed with a fuming Jenni and headed for the stairs.
"See, that's exactly what I was thinking, Charlie." Bill grinned as he swung open their bedroom door and deposited Jenni with a quick swish onto his bed.
"Now you two play nice in here." Charlie dropped Nancy a bit more gently onto his own bed and winked at her outraged and panicked face.
"Yes, we want happy smiling faces in the morning." Bill grabbed Jenni's wand from the night stand before she had the chance to even look at it. "I'll just keep this."
"You know, this hurts us more than it hurts you," Charlie commented dolefully as he proceeded to swipe Nancy's wand and back towards the door. Bill pulled it shut just as Jenni reached them and with a muttered locking spell it was finished.