Title: Beware of Potions
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Summary: Fred and George create a new product in the summer before their 6th year, but when one of them samples it, they find that it has far different effects than they'd hoped for.
Chapter Three
The impending lecture from their mum was certainly one to best all the previous ones, except for possibly that time they'd tried to make Ron make an unbreakable vow. The woman had nearly lost her voice screaming at them before sending them to their room. Once again, they missed out on dinner, although neither of them really felt hungry after the disapproving looks and comments they had received for the last several hours. The twins' younger siblings and their friends all gave them pitying looks, but none of them tried to intervene so as to lessen the storm raging from Molly Weasley. They had dreams of living to see the next school year, after all.
The two had been instructed to clean their room of any joke product supplies (and Mum meant ANYTHING that could be used as a joke product supply) before the end of the night. This judgment had come after the lengthy lecture when their mum's voice started showing signs of weariness. It was also at this point that George was about ready to strangle his beloved twin.
During the length of the lecture, which had started in Diagon Alley and ended several hours later at home in the kitchen, Fred hadn't said a single word. Their mum had demanded an explanation of exactly why they had decided to leave the alley and, of all things, "go for a walk in London to get a coffee together." George had started to answer the questions and every time he paused, his irritation grew a bit greater when Fred didn't even try to finish or add to the explanation.
It was at the point when George tried to apologize for them both that both he and his mother lost patience. Her reason was that she didn't want to hear another empty apology and promise of good future behavior after the one she'd received that same morning. George's reason was due to the continued silence of his twin and the seeming disinterest he held for the situation as a whole.
The second their mother gave them instructions to clean out their entire room of product materials, Fred was turning to the stairs. George stalked after him, holding out hope that Fred would explain himself once they were alone. His twin opened the door to their room and immediately walked to his bed and reached under it, pulling out a box of sticks that had been bewitched back at Hogwarts to turn into snakes and back to sticks when the 'magic' word was uttered around them. Fred picked the box up and began to walk to the door but was stopped by George's hand on the doorframe.
Fred didn't look at him as he waited for his brother to move. Frustrated at the fact that he couldn't really read his twin's expression, George glared at him and asked moodily, "What the bloody hell is going on here?"
Fred's eyes moved to meet George's and he responded flatly, "You heard her, we have to-"
"I'm not talking about that!" George growled out strongly but quietly enough that the rest of the family wouldn't hear him. The last thing he wanted to do was give their mum a reason to yell at them again.
"Well then you should be more specific."
"I should be-?" George started to shout, but lowered his voice and ground out, "Why didn't you at least try to help me explain what happened? We're supposed to work together or did you forget that?"
"You thought it was such a bad idea before we left the alley, why didn't you just-"
"Of course I thought it was stupid!" George cut him off. "But that's not the point. We do things together. I don't care if we get in trouble as long as we're in it together."
"Why are you so bloody angry at me?" Fred snapped, finally showing an emotion other than disinterest. "You say that I should have helped you out? What was wrong with just shutting the hell up?" Fred glared at his twin and George practically shook with frustration.
"You know plain well that if both of us hadn't said a word, that mum would've snapped even more than she already did!" George countered. "Hell, most of the reason we're up here now and not still being shouted at is because I at least tried to apologize and explain this whole mess!" He whispered angrily.
"Well aren't you a bloody saint!" Fred exclaimed and pushed past George to take the box out to the hallway.
George couldn't believe that his twin, the person he got along with and understood better than anyone in the world, was acting like such a different person. As Fred shoved past him to get another box of supplies, George remembered the way Fred had been acting that morning. Although he'd never heard of a potion causing someone to become a bigger prat than Percy, he had to hold out hope.
"Wait a minute, Fred," George said, stopping his twin as he was taking another box from the room, this one filled with a number of green candies. Fred stopped and gave him an expectant look. "This is because of that stupid potion you took the other night, isn't it? You didn't feel good this morning and-"
He didn't get a chance to finish as Fred shoved past him to drop the box none too gently in the hallway. George wasn't about to let it go though, not if the way Fred was acting was being caused by something else entirely. It at least explained why Fred had been acting so out of character that day.
"That potion's affecting you," George paused as Fred ducked back into their room again. "And it was supposed to alter the mood of the drinker, but without the spell it's-"
"Oh will you give it a bloody rest already and help me clean out the room?" Fred demanded, standing to face him.
George shook his head and said, "No, we need to go let mum know what's going on. This'll help explain why we went off today and then they can-"
"Wait, you're going to blame all of this on me?" Fred exclaimed in anger.
"No, that's not what I-"
"And the way I'm acting must be the work of something else? You just can't handle that maybe I don't think exactly like you? And if I leave the path we've been on, it must be the work of someone or something else?" Fred argued loudly.
"Of course I don't-"
"And who's to say you aren't the one that-"
"SHUT UP!" George yelled. "Stop interrupting me and being an absolute prick for five minutes!"
"Why? What are you going to do about it?" Fred shouted back, stepping closer to George.
George clenched his fists and growled, "I am not fucking joking Fred! Why can't you-"
"No, why can't you see!" Fred shouted and moved to say more but was abruptly cut off by a hard shove that pushed him back into their room. He stumbled back a bit and glared at George.
"Fred, just listen to me for once," George started to say, but was stopped as Fred moved towards him and punched him in the stomach. George felt his self-restraint falling apart as his anger and frustration grew even more, and he spun around and aimed a fist at his twin.
The group downstairs had been quiet after the twins went to their room. The other children had noticed the tension between Fred and George that normally wasn't there and it worried them. They were all a bit afraid of Mrs. Weasley's wrath at the moment and were very glad that the previous lecture was not directed at them.
Mrs. Weasley was dishing up food onto their plates and being a bit violent about it before Mr. Weasley moved in to help. No one, not even Percy, was brave enough to comment about the events that had transpired that day. They ate in silence for once.
Only a few minutes had passed before a thump was heard in the hallway upstairs. Everyone assumed it was the twins moving boxes of supplies out of their room. A couple minutes passed before everyone could hear what sounded like the twins arguing. The thought was so foreign to everyone though that no one reacted at first. The voices got louder and louder until it sounded like something (or someone) had crashed into something else.
At the sound of the crash, everyone downstairs froze except for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley who both stood and moved towards the staircase.
A few moments before that, George had gotten another punch in and was trying to find a way to end the fight that had broken out. Fred tripped him and ground out, "Leave me the fuck alone and worry about your own damn self!"
George picked himself back up and grabbed Fred's arm to stop him. Fred turned around to swing another punch at his twin but George was quicker. He aimed for the jaw, the same place he'd first him at, and hit his brother with more anger than he thought he had.
Fred didn't just fall backwards or stumble for a bit, but tumbled back down the stairs that had been behind him. George's eyes widened as Fred hit the stairs and slammed against the wall of the lower landing.
Neither twin moved for a second as the shock set it of what had just happened. In that second, both of their parents came into view and it was hard to say whether or not they looked more shocked than the twins did. Their mum gathered herself after a moment and bent down to look at Fred. Just as she got down to his level on the floor, he stood up abruptly and, after swaying slightly and grabbing the wall, shoved past his mother and out towards the front door.
George stared after him for a moment before sinking down to sit on the step closest to their room. He vaguely heard his mum tell his dad to go look for Fred as he put his head in his hands. He couldn't believe what had just happened. There was no way that this was just a coincidence. It would be easy enough to get their parents to see it, but George didn't want to involve them at the moment. They didn't need any more stress than they'd had in the last two days and besides, it was just as much his fault as it was Fred's. They had both decided to make and try that potion.
He moved his hands to the back of his neck and thought about how to fix the situation while his mother came upstairs to check on him. His mind was so preoccupied that he hardly heard a word she said.
Molly Weasley had known that something was off between her twin boys earlier. She had seen the looks that George kept giving to Fred and how Fred wasn't responding to either her or his twin. She had assumed that he felt guilty about what had happened and for making everyone worry so much. She never imagined that those two boys would be fighting in such a way though. They had small differences that arose every now and then, but the two always found ways around them. To hear the tell-tale signs of a fight erupting accompanied by them shouting at each other was not something she was entirely prepared for, but after handling Bill and Charlie, she knew she'd figure something out.
After seeing one of her two twin boys being thrown down the stairs however… Her heart had nearly stopped at the sight of it. Both of them had bruises on their faces and bloody noses, but what worried her most was how angry they had looked. At that moment she questioned whether or not she had been too harsh on them and whether her reaction to their actions led them to this.
When the shock settled ever so slightly, she left the strict mother behind and went to kneel down before the twin that had been thrown down the stairs. She realized as she got closer that it was Fred, and she wondered if he would say anything now. The chance of talking to him or helping him up was taken away as he pulled himself up and swayed for a moment before steadying himself against the wall.
He then shoved right past her without even acknowledging her or Arthur and bolted to the front door. Trying to maintain some control over what was disintegrating in front of her, she asked Arthur to go after Fred and see if he was okay or not. Arthur paused for a moment and then pulled out his wand and followed Fred's path.
Molly gazed up the stairs and her heart fell to see George with his head in his hands on the step nearest his room. Debris from their room that had previously been organized (or as organized as anything the twins had could be) in a few boxes was strewn about the floor around him. She slowly climbed the stairs and sat next to him as he moved his hands to his neck.
"Georgie, what happened?" She asked quietly.
He didn't respond for a while. He stared at the place where he'd last seen his twin and finally whispered, his voice raw, "I don't know… I'm… I'm going to finish this," waving a hand to the mess around him.
She put her hand on his knee, but it didn't stop him as he stood and began picking things up from the floor. Molly sat on the top step for a while and listened to the sounds of George picking things up and putting them back into boxes. She could tell by how harsh his breathing was that he wasn't nearly done with the disagreement he'd had with his twin. Looking out towards where she knew the front door was, she hoped that Arthur was having better luck with Fred.
Arthur was not, in fact, having any luck finding Fred. He took his wand out and whispered "Point me," in efforts of finding his son. It spun and then pointed towards the trees out across the field. He sighed and added a 'lumos' charm so that he could see in the nearly pitch black night that had settled in around the countryside.
He was about as shocked as Molly was at what had just happened. The twins' actions earlier in the day, what with leaving the alley, had been alarming, but it was something that they had come to accept as part of being the parents of Fred and George. However, a full out fight between the two boys resulting in one of them running from the house was the last thing he thought would have happened. If anything, he had thought they would form an alliance against their parents due to 'unfair treatment' or something of the like.
He sighed, and continued on towards the trees. Finally, he reached the edge of the small forest and whispered "Point me" once again. He let his lit wand guide him about fifty yards into the trees until it spun around, pausing to point in no single direction. Stopping, he waved his wand around to see if Fred was somewhere right near him but not visible due to the dark. Still, he could see nothing.
Just when he began to fear if the twins had gone and learned apparition on their own, he heard a noise above him and pointed his wand upwards into the tree next to him. On the third branch up was Fred, his arms wrapped around himself with one leg dangling down below him.
Arthur knew he wouldn't be able to climb the tree. He could barely fathom how Fred was able to climb it after taking a tumble down the stairs. Of course, without talking to or looking closely at the boy, he had no idea how badly he was injured. He could see that blood had been wiped from his nose and it looked like he had another cut on his forehead, but that was all Arthur could see from his vantage point.
"Fred?" Arthur called up softly, "Are you alright, son?"
Fred closed his eyes and didn't answer him. Arthur waited for a moment to see if he was thinking of a response but it soon became obvious that he wasn't.
"Will you come down so we can talk?" Arthur asked.
Ever so slightly, he saw Fred shake his head to say "no." The older man sighed and contemplated forcing the boy down from the tree. He knew that it would do more harm than good at this point though.
"Fred, I need to know that you're okay. Can you-"
"I'm fine…" Fred whispered so quietly that Arthur barely heard him. "I just want… to be alone for a bit. I'll go back in a while…" he trailed off, opening his eyes to gaze through the trees.
Arthur debated whether or not to let Fred stay out. In the end, he decided that it would be easier to let the boy come back on his own rather than to force him. Besides, there was nowhere in the house where Fred could be alone without the risk of being badgered by siblings, friends, or his mum.
"Okay. Do you have your wand?" Arthur asked. He received a nod. "If you need me, send a signal and I'll come out right away, okay?" Fred nodded again.
Arthur waited a moment more before turning to go back to the house. As he drew closer, he could see the silhouette of George continuing to clean out his and Fred's room. He shook his head and hoped that this wasn't something that was going to continue on much further.
I applaud you if you're still reading! Please send a review and let me know what you think (even if it's a flame – go on, I can take it!). I'm not just writing this for my own enjoyment, so let me know what you'd like to see happen next, or if you think I'm being too mean to the characters (I have a tendency to do that). The poor baristas at Starbucks mixed up my latte and I may or may not have taken it out upon the twins… oops?
Question: Do you think I should add a bit from Fred's POV? I wasn't planning on it, but I will if you want to see it. Please let me know!
