Awesome Easter Hunt
(A George/Katie story)
by Mackgirl
"What are you doing up here George?"
Fred and George's Awesome Easter Hunt
1. A pink egg from the kitchens
2. A Quidditch player's robes or broom (extra points if it's Charlie's, Oliver's or from a different house)
3. Something belonging to a Slytherin
4. Snape's shampoo
5. A book belonging to Percy
6. A plant from the forest
7. A Muggle object
8. A stuffed animal
9. Mrs. Norris
10. Something from Filch's office
Katie read the list she had been handed again and couldn't help but laugh. "Where did you find this?"
George grinned. "In our old room. Fred and I had written that in our second year over the Easter Holidays. We never did go on the Hunt though; Charlie ended up calling an emergency Quidditch practice and Fred tossed the list in his trunk. When we left school, neither one of us cleaned out our trunks, and I was upstairs doing that and found the list."
Katie sat the list down and turned to her husband, asking, "Why were you cleaning it out now?"
"I saw Freddie outside playing with the cousins and it dawned on me he would be going to Hogwarts next year. I know we can just buy him a new trunk over the summer, but I wanted him to have Fred's," George said.
Katie embraced George, and, when she pulled away, said, "I think that's a lovely idea, George. I'm sure Freddie would love to use Fred's old trunk, he loves getting things that use to belong to Fred."
George just nodded. "Anyway I thought you'd like to see that list."
Katie looked over the list again and suddenly smiled, "I have an idea George. Since everyone is here at the Burrow for Easter dinner, why don't we all pair up and have a scavenger hunt and see who can complete this list first?"
George stared at Katie, dumbfounded. "You do realize that the majority of that list is things that would have to be done at Hogwarts. And how in the world are we going to get Mrs. Norris and Snape's shampoo?"
"That's the fun of it. We'll restrict everyone to the Burrow and they'll have to get creative. The most creative will get extra points," Katie said. "Besides, the kids would love this."
George thought about it for awhile, then said, "Okay, just for the fact that I want to see what people come up with."
Katie's smile widened and together they walked outside of the Burrow, gathering everyone together. Once everyone was sitting at one of the tables outside, Katie spoke first. "In Fred and George's second year, they came up with a scavenger hunt list to fill their boredom over the Easter Holidays. They never actually used it though, since Charlie called an emergency practice and the list was stuffed into a trunk and forgotten about. George just found the list and we think it would be fun to have a competition with it. Everyone will get into pairs and each pair will receive a copy of the list. You have to find all ten items, you are not allowed to leave the Burrow, and the more creative you are the more points you will receive."
There was a buzz of excitement and Lily asked, "Is this like an Easter Egg hunt?"
"Kind of, Lily, but instead of just looking for Easter Eggs, you have to look for the things on the list," George said.
"James and I are partners!" Freddie shouted.
Katie looked at George. "Maybe the kids should be paired off with an adult. They probably won't understand what half the list is."
There were shouts of unfairness among the children when George said, "You're probably right; half the list is Hogwarts stuff from our days."
"Why don't I sit this out?" Mrs. Weasley said, "Then that way everyone can be partners with whom ever they chose and I can fairly explain stuff to anyone who doesn't understand what the item might be."
"I don't know, Mum, you went to Hogwarts ages before Fred and I did," George said grinning.
Mrs. Weasley huffed as her children and grandchildren laughed. "I'm sure I can figure it out." Mrs. Weasley said.
"Okay, Mum, you'll sit out and explain anything to anyone who doesn't understand the item listed," George said. "So everyone can pick their own partners, therefore I pick Katie!"
Soon everyone was paired off and Mrs. Weasley handed each pair a copy of the Scavenger list. "Okay, I will be the official judge and each item will be worth one point. There is one item that says 'extra points' by it and that will be worth two points. The first team back gets three extra points, second team back gets two extra points, and the third team back gets one extra point. I will also reward bonus points based on the creativity of the item. The team with the most points will win," Mrs. Weasley said. "Now on your marks, get set, GO!" Mrs. Weasley shouted and all the teams ran off in different directions.
George and Katie made a dash towards Arthur's tool shed. "We'll find the Muggle object in here. I say we get the easy ones out of the way first and then spend time on the other ones." George said as he picked up a plug. "What should we get next?"
"How about the stuffed animal?" Katie asked.
"I know just what to use for that one, follow me!" George said and he took off running towards the house with Katie following. They passed Ron and Harry, Teddy and Victoire, and Charlie and his wife Tonya in the process. Once inside the Burrow, George led the way upstairs and into his old bedroom.
"Look through these boxes. We're looking for a giant spider," George said as he ripped open the closest box.
Katie picked up a box as well and starting tossing items out of it. "Why do we need that one? There's a teddy bear on the dresser over there."
"Creativity, remember? Ron is afraid of spiders because when we were little Fred turned his teddy bear into one. Fred held on to it because he was going to give it to Ron's kids. It's in here somewhere; keep looking," George said, tossing his third box aside.
A few minutes later, Katie held the spider up in the air. "I found it!"
George came over to her. "Perfect, what's next?"
"Let's go get the pink egg from the kitchen, there's no way to be creative with that one." Katie said and they raced back down to the kitchens, passing Ginny and Hermione in the process and meeting up with Bill and Fleur in the kitchen. Once they had gotten their egg and Katie had magically spelled it pink, George and Katie went outside to look over the list again.
"What should we get next?" Katie asked.
"Let's head upstairs to Percy's room. He and Audrey are staying over tonight with their kids, and I think he brought his latest published report home to show off," George said. "Then we can go into Charlie and Bill's old room and tear it apart looking for Charlie's old robes."
As they headed back into the house Katie said, "Don't you still have your old Quidditch robes here? Let's just get one of those."
"Extra points," George reminded her.
After searching Percy's room for his latest published report (a task that Bill and Fleur, Charlie and Tonya and Ron and Harry were also doing – luckily George was the one to find it) they ran to Bill and Charlie's old room.
As they entered, they saw that Teddy and Victoire, Freddie and James, Roxanne and Lily, Joshua and Cody (Katie and George's other sons), Molly and Hugo, and Ginny and Hermione were desperately tearing the room apart.
"Think we'll luck out twice?" Katie asked, but George was looking in a different direction.
"Shhh. Why do you think Charlie's heading up towards the attic?" George asked.
Katie turned and caught a sight of Charlie and Tonya just as they disappeared up the stairs. "Let's follow," Katie said.
Once in the attic, George motioned for Katie to hide behind some boxes as he did the same. "No one knows they're up here Tonya, we'll be the only ones getting extra points for my robes," Charlie said.
"Shouldn't we take all of them with us?" Tonya said, "Just to be safe."
Katie and George watched as Charlie shrunk all his old Quidditch robes. "Good idea, Tonya. Come on, let's go."
As Charlie and Tonya walked past George and Katie, who were still hiding, George used a Summoning Charm on one of the pairs of shrunken Quidditch robes. Katie held her breath as she watched them float over to George who grabbed them, putting them in his pocket.
They waited a couple of minutes before leaving the attic as well, and Katie said, "Brilliant. I have an idea for Mrs. Norris."
"What is it?" George frowned, confused.
"Ever take a good look at the cat figurines in Ginny's old room?" Katie asked.
George shook his head. "No, why?"
"One of them looks just like Mrs. Norris," Katie answered.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Come on!" George cried, and they ran towards Ginny's room. After finding the figurine Katie had mentioned, George added it to his pocket with the rest of the items.
"Let's head up to the bathroom," George suggested.
"Got an idea for Snape's shampoo?" Katie asked.
George nodded. "We'll grab a bottle of shampoo and change the label so it reads, 'To insure extra greasiness, use twice a day.'"
Katie grinned and gave George a kiss. "Let's go. We just might be able to win this."
After the shampoo bottle had been charmed to read something else, George looked over the list again. "I have no ideas for the Slytherin thing, but let's head back up to the attic."
As they made their way back up the attic stairs, Katie asked, "What are we getting up there?"
George grinned. "A filing cabinet."
"A what?" Katie asked, bewildered.
"A filing cabinet," George repeated. "A few weeks after Fred's funeral, Filch sent Mum a filing cabinet. It's the one that was dedicated to just Fred and I."
"I thought you only had an entire drawer to yourselves," Katie said as George began to shrink the cabinet.
"We did, up until our last year. In that one year it went from a drawer to an entire cabinet," George said, grinning. "Every misdeed we ever did is in there."
"Why in the world did he send it to your Mum?" Katie asked.
He shrugged. "No idea."
George added the filing cabinet to his pocket. "Any ideas for these last two?"
Katie smiled. "Well, my mom was in Slytherin."
George turned his head, looking at her. "She was? I never knew that."
"It's not something I like to brag about," Katie said. "Anyway I just happen to be wearing her earrings right now; I borrowed them a few weeks ago and haven't given them back yet."
"Well, take the bloody things out." George said, "That just leaves a plant from the forest."
Katie handed the earrings to George as they began discussing what they could possibly get that would have been in the forest. "Any ideas?" Katie asked.
"Maybe," George said. "Come on, let's head out to the garden."
They ran out of the house and into the garden. Once there, Katie said, "Look, those flowers are native to the Forbiden Forest, Sprout told us in Herbology once."
George plucked a couple of the flowers, "I'll take your word on that."
"We have everything don't we?" Katie asked.
George went over the list and nodded, "Come on let's go."
Together they ran back to where Mrs. Weasley was sitting. "Let me see your items, I'm afraid you're fourth back though."
As George handed his mother their items he asked, "Who was first?"
Freddie and James grinned, "We were and we are going to win!" Freddie said.
"Dad and Uncle Ron were second, and Uncle Charlie and Aunt Tonya were third." James added, "Doesn't matter though, we got lots of items that will let us get tons of extra points."
Soon everyone was gathered around and Mrs. Weasley was finishing adding up all the points. After several minutes she announced, "I have the results, Ron and Harry you came in third place. George and Katie are second, the extra points they got for the filing cabinet and Ron's transfigured bear pushed them ahead, but not enough to win."
Everyone was quiet as they waited for Mrs. Weasley to announce the winner, "I am proud to announce that the winners took the instructions well, getting the most creative items total. Not only did they bring Sirius Black's old motorbike from Grandpa's shed, they got what I'm told is the Marauder's Map. Harry, I hope you take care of this and make sure it doesn't end up in the children's hands again, especially if it really does what I'm told it does."
"Sorry Mum," Harry said. "It was locked up, but I'll make sure to lock it up better this time." He was glaring at James, and George couldn't help but laugh.
Katie elbowed her husband. "What?" he asked.
"You know very well that James was going to give that to Freddie to use," Katie said, scowling.
George smiled. "I can't exactly tell him not to use the map. After all, Fred and I gave it to Harry."
"And Uncle Fred and Uncle George stole it from Filch's office." James said, overhearing the conversation. "I'll get it back, though."
Mrs. Weasley did not seem amused by the conversation. "Now I completely disagree with this last item, but I have to admit it was creative and no one else thought of doing this. Most people charmed a shampoo bottle to say something about Snape. Freddie and James, however, went one step further and therefore are the winners of the Scavenger Hunt."
"What did they do, Mum?" Ginny asked.
Mrs. Weasley held up a bottle of cooking oil, sporting a new label that read, "Snape's Special Hair Care."
Everyone gathered burst out laughing except for Percy, who was starting a lecture about doing underage magic. "Where did you two get a wand to do that?" George asked his son.
Freddie grinned and held the wand they had used to his father. "We found it in the living room on a shelf."
George took the wand and looked it over. Katie looked as well. "That was Fred's, wasn't it?"
George nodded, turning back to his son. "That was Uncle Fred's old wand. If you want, you can have it back when you're heading to Hogwarts. Unless, of course, you want a new one."
Freddie didn't even bother to respond; instead he shouted, "I GET UNCLE FRED'S WAND! I GET UNCLE FRED'S WAND!"
"That's enough, Freddie, or you won't be allowed to use it," Katie said, and this shut her son up fast.
Later that night as George and Katie lay in their bed, George said, "I've never known anyone who would get excited about using something that hadn't been theirs first."
Katie smiled. "It's because we've all made Fred into this superhero image, and to the kids he's like a god."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," George said as he kissed Katie goodnight. Katie just nodded; she felt the same way.