Chapter 13

George stumbled and fell flat on his back. He growled in annoyance at the sudden trip as he sat up to fix Fred with a glare. Fred just shrugged at him, having had George do the same thing to him too many times to feel apologetic.

"Bloody prat," George grumbled. Fred grinned cheerfully, raised his eyebrows and nodded while looking over his shoulder. Confused, George turned and winced at the sight on Victoire staring at him with wide Bambi eyes, perched in her scowling father's arms. Stuttering a bit, George stumbled to his feet and jumped back next to Fred.

"Couldn't have warned me?" He hissed while elbowing Fred in the side.

"Just the man we want to see!" Fred ignored George, speaking just a tad bit exuberantly.

"Just…sit" bill all but growled. Obediently, they both sat on the floor with their legs folded and silently waited to be addressed. Bill just shook his head and continued on his way upstairs to put Victoire to bed. He could already feel a headache forming.

Ten minutes later, he walked down the stairs and saw, from the corner of his eye, the twins sitting exactly where he'd left time, looking at him patiently. He walked past them and into the kitchen, well aware of their eyes following his every move. He grabbed three and a bottle of firewhisky and walked through the foyer towards the living room.

"Come," he commanded lowly. Fred and George leapt up and followed their oldest brother like a couple of puppies. He poured three glasses and handed two to his brothers. He took his own glass and sat in an armchair. Moving in tandem the twins sat on the couch directly opposite him. Bill sat back comfortably and waited.

"Charlie's not going very well," George began almost immediately. Bill raised him eyebrows in confusion. He knew their brother wasn't sick or hurt because if her was their mother would have been pounding on the door in a panic long before the twins sought him out.

"His control is slipping," Fred spoke gravely, looking Bill dead in the eye. Bill paused mid-sip meeting Fred's gaze. No winder they'd been all but vibrating with energy since they'd arrived. He silently chugged his cup, poured another and chugged that too.

"How bad is it?" He asked, pouring his third glass and the twins' second.

"You can feel it outside the house," George answered. "Who knows how long until he loses it."

"But we may be able to help," Fred added, attracting the stares of his brothers. "Do you remember George, when we first walked in? We could feel Charlie's power, but it didn't get really bad until we walked into the living room.

"Oh yeah… I remember I spiking near the end of the foyer." George looked startled at the realization. Fred nodded and continued to explain.

"And when he finally came into the kitchen, the first thing he did was asked why I was carrying Hermione. You see what I mean?" George nodded profusely while Bill shook his head slowly, staring at them.

"Subtitles?" He requested,

"Hermione is the common link. There might be a connection between his control and her." George supplied. Bill thought it over and nodded slowly.

"Okay, it's a reasonable hypothesis." He murmured. "She did seem to have something to do with it. Everything else that would have affected his control… he's experienced it all… usually to higher degrees."

"Exactly!" Fred exclaimed, pouring his and George's fourth glass and Bill's fifth. "But that's not all. She's also been worse for wear as well. Plus, they both were fine until just recently. So there must be… I don't know… something we're missing."

"Yeah, they both were fine at dinner Saturday." George muttered. Suddenly Bill began choking. The twins looked over as he gulped the rest of his drink and poured another. He drank half of it before meeting their eyes.

"I think I know what happened."

Please note: The brothers are only drinking so much because they feel stressed and worried about their family

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