Sunday December 20th
Weasley house, upstairs office
9:22 pm
- - -
"Ouch!"
"Sshhhh."
"Don't tell me to sush. Tell James to stop stepping on my foot."
"James….."
"What? I'm not doing anythi-"
"Sshhhhhh!"
Fred Weasley put a finger to his lips, trying to quiet his two cousins. It was currently nine thirty on a Sunday evening and all three boys were supposed to be in bed, or at least in Fred's room pretending to be in bed, not sneaking around his father's office. But Fred Weasley was on a mission to get his Christmas presents and there was no way he was going to go into battle alone.
"Over here," whispered Fred as he inched his way through the thick layer of darkness that covered most of the office. "I know the present are in this," he threw over his shoulder to his cousins as he stood in front of his dad's cabinet. A cabinet that held not only papers, files and testing material for the store, but also Christmas presents. Big, giant, glorious Christmas presents.
"How are we going to open it?" asked James in a loud whisper.
"Um, maybe the handle?" suggested Louis sarcastically in an I-Can't-Believe-He-Asked-Such-A-Dumb-Question kind of voice. James shot Louis a look but reached over Fred and tried the handle to the cabinet. It swung right open. Fred ignored the prickle of uneasiness that came over him, it wasn't supposed to be this easy, and instead poked his head in, reaching for presents.
"Found them!" he said proudly a moment later as his hand touched something soft. Grabbing it, Fred deducted it was a box and he pulled it out, flipping it over on its side as all three boys crowded around it.
"What do you think it is?" asked James as he studied the box thoughtfully.
"Maybe the new edition of Fighter Brooms: Escape from Azkaban," offered Louis.
"Or a new Quidditch kit?" suggested James with a note of hopefulness in his voice.
"Well, we'll never know until we opened it," said Fred as he bent down and started to unwrap the present, his cousins joining him.
Suddenly, three different things happened at once. A nasty smelling spray shooted out of the package, covering all three boys in it. The lights in the office suddenly turned on, for a moment Fred couldn't see at all, and two loud voices shouted loudly, "Gotcha!"
"What?" asked Fred in surprise as his eyes adjusted to the light. "Who….Dad? Roxie?" His expression grew dim as he took in the pleased expression of the two people who had just leapt up from their hiding places behind the desk.
"Hahahaha!" shouted Roxanne in obvious delight. "We gotcha. We gotcha. We gotcha," she sang, spinning around in circles. Fred looked next to him to see James trying unsuccessfully to wipe the nasty smelling liquid off him as Louis looked on, just as perplexed as Fred.
"What's going on?" asked Fred in confusion.
George Weasley smiled widely, looking more like a mischievous child and less like the father of two half grown children. Walking over, he clasped his son on the back as his daughter continued to spin around behind him. "Did you really think you could fool me son?"
"You mean, you knew about this?" asked James as he peered up at his uncle from his place on the floor.
"I told you we forgot to close the door all the way," muttered a disgruntle Louis. Fred was too surprised to say anything, he simply watched his father.
"Of course we knew," said Roxanne as she decided to stop spinning and put in her two cents. "Dad unlocked the cabinet and everything. How else did you think you got in so easily?"
"I don't know," muttered Fred in disappointment, "I tho-"
Whatever Fred was going to say was drowned out by the voice of Angelina Weasley as she appeared in the doorway. His mother took one look at her son and nephews lying on the floor, covered in a nasty liquid that also decorated the office's walls and immediately turned her attention to her husband. "George Weasley," she demanded, "What is going on here? Why are the kids up so late? And what is that awful smell?"
"Um…" Fred watched as his father attempted to calm their mother. "It's not what it looks like dear. See, there was this experiment…"
"An experiment!" demanded their mother in a loud voice as she drew her arms angrily across her chest. "In our house? Didn't you promise me that you would not be doing any experiments around the children? Didn't you?"
"Uh oh," said a small voice behind his shoulder as Roxanne joined her cousins and brother on the floor. "Daddy's in tro-uble."
And for the first time in his life, Fred agreed with his sister. His father was in trouble. Big trouble. But as Fred exchanged glances with Louis and James he felt a wide smile spread across his face. For if his father was in trouble then that meant that he wasn't. Leaning back, Fred crossed his arms behind his head and continued to watch his parents. He was in the clear.
Author's Note: Sorry it's so short, I was supposed to be out the door five minutes ago. Opps. Only five chapter left to go and now I have a small question for you all. From whose perspective would you like the final chapter to be in, the one on Christmas Day? Depending on everyone's response, I'll write it out accordingly.