AN- Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and sorry it took us so long to update! Some of you mentioned Wormtail and rest assured that he will be addressed and we do have plans for him. But he is not going to be at the Weasley's. Gandalf has changed some things that he, and you, don't know about yet. But there is a plan. Also Luna will mentioned in this chapter but she won't be in it till the next one, sorry :(
Sorry we accidentally deleted this chapter and had to repost it! Sorry about the double emails or whatever that caused!
Disclaimer- We don't own Harry Potter.
Enjoy
Age three
"-and getting your brother involved, he could have gotten hurt! Or worse-"
Alfie. No, Grandmaster? Hell no. I blocked out Molly's screeching at the twin's latest prank, staring me as the distraction and Ron as the target. It was harmless really, there was very low possibility of death. So instead of listening to Molly like the naive little boy she thought me to be, I thought of more nicknames for my hellish birth name.
"What were you thinking?!" Molly yelled, red faced, at the two young boys in front of her.
The twins glanced at each other before Fred answered her slightly rhetorical question. "We were trying to think like Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian."
That was a low blow. Molly paled as if all the blood had just drained out of her, she seemed to lose her strength to support her weight and staggered into the nearest chair. "G-go to your room, and take your brother with you.
The red heads nodded, looking more ashamed then I had ever seen them, and helped me out of my chair. They both took one of my hands and lead me up their shared room. George helped me up on one of the identical beds, while Fred pulled out the box of pranks.
"We shouldn't have said that to Mum." George whispered, making sure I was completely steady, I had a tendency to fall, before joining his twin on the floor.
Fred nodded his agreement. "It hurt her more than we anticipated."
George pulled the excuse journal from the shoe box and crossed out what I assumed was the note that mentioned Fabian and Gideon. It was definitely a sore topic in the Weasley household, I for one, had been born after my twin Uncles died, but they had been close to Fred and George and their death had inspired the two to be as much like them as possible.
"But the prank was a success." Fred offered.
George smiled. "Yeah, did you see how Ron reacted to the spider?"
Fred let out a delighted laugh. "And how the spider reacted to him?!"
The twins broke into delighted giggles at the memory of the prank. I smiled at my older brothers and deiced that now the mood was lightened I could let my mind wander.
Maybe I shouldn't focus less on my first name. I sung my legs happily off the side of the bed. I can't go by my middle name, because that would just be worse. And going by Weasley would get tiresome.
"What did you think of the prank Gandalf?"
No that wouldn't do. What if I went by a shorted version of Weasley? Lesly, no. Weas? No that won't work.
"Gandalf?"
West, Wes. YES! Wes! That's it!
"Gandalf!" The twins yelled together, making me jump . . . and slide off of the bed.
I groaned, clutching my head as I slowly opened my filling eyes. I felt my lower lip start to tremble and cursed the little kid in me that was making me cry.
Fred lifted my small body into his lap. "It's okay Gandalf, you're going to be okay."
I shook my head and rubbed at my eyes.
"You're not going to be okay?" George questioned.
I shook my head again. "No, not Gandalf. My name is Wes."
"Oh no Georgie!" Fred panicked. "The fall gave Gandalf amnesisa!"
"No!" I pounded one of my feet on the floor. "No one can call me Gandalf anymore. My new name will be Wes Weasley."
…
…
Age four
Percy stared at his little brother in sense of awe. The four year old seemed to be reading one of his novels as easy as he could a picture book, while balancing perfectly on at least ten books. It didn't make sense, Percy had worked for eight years to become the reader he was, then add that to the fact Wes couldn't sit on a chair without falling.
This was like a miracle sent down from the muggle god. Or some sort of lesson to teach Percy a sense of humility from his parents.
Now Percy had been standing in the doorway for what seemed like hours, but Wes was yet to look up from the book and realize he was being watched. Percy was too shocked to form a sentence.
Maybe it's a prank. Percy reasoned to himself. That was the only thing that made sense. Wes was always being used as part of the twin's games, he had been their toy since he had been born, always distracting Mum when the twins were turning Percy's hair blue or finding a way to charm his books to try to eat him.
Wes laughed at whatever he was fake reading and Percy decided it had gone too far.
"Okay, very funny." Percy called, startling the small boy. "This is a good prank, I almost believed he was actual reading. You two can come out now!"
But no one did, there was only Wes staring at him with a horrified expression. Any balance that his reading had given him seemed to disappear as the book tower Wes had been sitting on started to teeter.
In his shock, Wes didn't seem to notice his impending fall. So it was up to Percy to rush forward and catch his little brother before he hit the floor. In an amazing dive he managed to grab the small boy and rest him on his hip before any harm came to him.
"You know how unbalanced you are, why would you sit on an unstable structure like that?" Percy lectured. "You could have broken an arm."
Percy walked his brother from the living room and out towards the field, going on and on about how Wes should just avoid anything that could topple over like that. The fact that the four year old could read completely forgotten in a sea of reasons why Wes should never climb, jump, run, walk, or sit on anything remotely unstable.
…
…
You should have listened to Percy. My mind screamed at me almost louder than the pain that was filling my arm.
The tree above me swayed in the wind as if it was mocking how easily I fell. So maybe it wasn't that good of an idea to climb up a tree with the amount of clumsy that ran through my muscles. But I
couldn't help it. I heard Bill talking about how everyone of the brothers had climbed a tree by the time they were five and it was too bad that I wouldn't be able to due to my major lack of balance. So I did what came naturally, I took it as a challenge.
And now that I was laying on the hard ground with tears running down my face and a crooked arm, I realized how right Bill had been. Now because of my idiocy I was going to die less than a hundred meters from my house.
"-book says that Horntails never mate in captivity, but the other book says that Horntails will mate in captivity as long as there are Burch trees around." Charlie's voice came from just over the hill.
"That makes no sense, what do Burch trees have to do with dragons?" Bill! That was Bill!
I started to hear footsteps as they grew closer. The pain was distracting, but I managed to get out a small call of help just as Charlie started to talk again.
"That's not the point." Charlie complained, clearly not hearing my call. "Which one do you think is right?"
I shifted, trying to get up to get help, but as pain shot through my sure to be broken arm, all I could do was let out a pained whimper.
"Wait." The footsteps stopped. "Did you hear that?"
Oh Bill! I don't care if this is your fault, if you save me I will love you forever!
I could imagine Charlie shaking his head. "No, I didn't hear anything."
No Charlie! You should help him! Not shut him down! I let out a panicked whimper.
"Did you hear that?" Bill inquired.
"That I heard." Charlie agreed. "What do you think it is?"
Bill probably shrugged. "No idea. Let's find out."
The footsteps resumed, this time more hesitantly, and they two boys got closer and closer. After what was probably forever, they finally went through the bushes around the tree and found me laying there.
Bill acted immediately. "Go get mum."
Charlie ran off towards the Burrow and Bill bent down and started to whisper nonsense to me about how I was going to be just fine. Eventually Charlie came back with Molly, but at that point the pain was starting to make the edges of my vison go fuzzy, and by the time Molly picked me up I was completely out.
…
…
"What were you thinking?!" Molly yelled.
Whether it was the fact that the pain potion was still in effect, or the fact that I older then I looked, I don't know. But she didn't seem all that scary. In fact she wasn't nearly as scary as my first foster mother was, or second, or even the third. Come to think of it, Molly wasn't that scary at all. Maybe it was the fact that there was never a threat of pain. Huh, that makes me sound super wounded, am I super wounded? I broke my arm in four different places, it was so hard for the mediwitch to heal me that she gave me four low level pain potions to hold me still. It was kind of like being stoned, I couldn't focus on anything.
Wait, wasn't I supposed to be answering something? Nah, I'm sure it's fine.
Where was I? Oh yeah, stoning people. It was a very odd practice, very violent. There were much quicker and easier ways of killing a person. Like stabbing them, or bashing their head in, or stabbing them. Did I already say that? I don't know.
Huh. I feel like I'm forgetting something.
"Well?" The red eyebrow of my mother raised in an odd sort of exasperation. "Young man?"
Young? I wasn't a child! "I'm not young mama." I corrected, saying slowly as one would a small child. "I'm an adult."
"Oh no." George sounded from behind Molly. "He's gone insane!"
I blinked up at one half of my favorite brothers. "Why do you two always think there's something is wrong with my mental health? Do I seem like my mind is fragile? Fragile. Huh, that's a funny word! Fra-gile."
"How much pain potion did they give him?" Charlie asked from a corner I was not aware existed.
Molly shook her head sadly, all anger draining out of her like a drain. "They had to get him to lay still." She lifted me out of the chair and headed towards my room. "Come on Wes, let's go sleep off that potion."
…
…
…
Age five
Molly loved all of her sons for every one of their quirks and faults. Each one of her red haired babies was so much different than the last, with the exception of the twin of course. Gandalf, one the other hand, was special in ways Molly could only began explain.
He was childish, but not in the way a child would be. He was like a juvenile adult that simply didn't care for the existence of growing-up. He was intelligent enough to come up with a nickname that made sense, but was a little too elusive for a three you old to discover on his own.
As a baby he would give Molly a look, like he knew exactly what she was saying and understood every word she spoke. But, while he kept that look as he grew up, he had the attention span that one would expect from a five year old. Then there was the knowledge that he seemed to possess about history, which even Bill, in his third year of Hogwarts, didn't even start to understand.
But Molly didn't like to dwell on the subject, it was too disturbing. Instead she focused on the wonderful parts of her son. Like the way he got along with all of his brothers, even if he preferred to hang around the twins, or the friendship that was blooming between him and the Lovegood girl next door.
But his oddities could not be banished from her mind as he eyes read ahead in the old copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard on her lap.
"-led long and happy lives, and none of them ever knew or suspected that the Fountain's waters carried no enchantment at all." Molly pushed her uneasiness to the back of her thoughts and slowly closed the tattered book. "Okay darlin', it's time for you to get to sleep."
Gandalf gazed up at with innocent blue eyes, "One more story Mum, please."
Molly sighed down at the pleading puppy dog eyes and tried her best not to cave, but his simmering eyes once again got the better of her maternal instinct, after all Ron was already asleep and the rest of her sons claimed to be too old for bedtime stories. "Just one."
"The Tale of Three Brothers!" The young boy practically squealed.
"Are you sure? That one might give you nightmares."
Gandalf nodded so quickly it seemed his head might fall off his neck.
Molly gave him a warm smile before opening the book once again, and starting her son's favorite story. "There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely winding road at twilight."
…
…
…
Age seven
Fred's favorite brother was, of course, George. And if you asked him he wouldn't give you some spew about how he loved all of his family equally, because that you just be a lie. Instead he would give you a very specific list: George, Wes, Bill, Charlie, Ron, and Percy.
The list wasn't random either, it was well thought out and he had reasons for each and every name. George was his twin and best friend so he got the first spot, Wes was adorable and never complained about helping with pranks, Bill was super cool and taught him how to fly, Charlie once brought home a baby unicorn, Ron was fun to prank, and Percy was a stuck up know-it-all. Sure each of the brothers had more to them than that, and of course Fred knew that, but those were the things that put them in their spot on the list.
Sometimes Fred would wonder whether or not it was right that he had a list, but George and Wes had one too so it couldn't be so bad. Plus it's not that anyone but George and Wes would know about it so it didn't really matter.
"Oi! Freddie! Pay attention or you'll drop him." George's voice pulled Fred out of his distracted thoughts.
"I won't drop him." Fred muttered defensively, but still adjusted his grip on Wes to make sure he didn't fall to the grassy garden far below.
It was a very intricate prank, and though they weren't really sure what it was supposed to accomplish, they knew it was going to be their best prank yet. It was also a very big milestone in the life of Wes, for this was the first plan he was actually allowed to do anything other than distract the parents. While this was more because his small form was easier to hold than his skill or age, it was still an important moment in the seven year old's life.
The way Fred's arms held on to the light form on his little brother was straining, but he held on as tight as he had been in fear of what might happen if the boy hit the ground from four floors up.
"You almost done there Wes?"
"Yep." Wes answered, unaware of how hard it was getting for Fred to hold him in the awkward angle.
Fred could have held his little brother for the extra two minutes, and not dropped him even a little bit. So he blamed Charlie for events that occurred next.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Charlie screamed from where he had walked into the twin's room, making Fred jump and his hand to slip from where the held Wes by the armpits.
…
…
…
I hadn't expected that, I thought that the plan would go off without a hitch, I was even almost done painting. Then Charlie walked in a startled Fred. And the next thing I knew I was falling.
A scream tore its way out of my throat as the ground harsh ground got closer and closer. But the impact never came.
I pried my eyes open, I hadn't known that they had closed, and found that I was floating inches off of the grass. My mind started to process as my feet to the go to shakily reach out to solid ground. An uneasy shaking fell over my body as I stood on the soft grass.
Suddenly I remembered Neville saying in The Philosopher's Stone that his uncle dropped him off of a balcony to see if he had magic to save him. Neville said that he bounced like a ball, that wasn't what happened to me. Did I just preform accidental magic, or did one of my family save me?
I lifted my head, gazing up at the three gingers that were staring down at me through the window, horrified that I had just fallen.
"Was that my magic?" I called up them carefully.
The twins turned their heads towards Charlie, the only person in the house currently that had a wand.
"Well it wasn't me."
So I'm definitely a wizard. A laugh fell over the silence of the garden and I couldn't help the little spin I gave to show my complete and udder happiness.
I'm a wizard!