"Do I really need to do this?" asked Ron wobbling on a long thin plank of wood that the twins had placed between two tree stumps.
"You have to learn balance," Fred pointed out helpfully.
"Fair enough but what about the blindfold?" said Ron pointing up at the cloth wrapped securely over his eyes.
"Because this is all about intuition isn't it?" replied George as a way of explanation, "you're hardly acting intuitively if you can see are you?"
"That depends," shrugged Ron, "what does 'intuitively' mean?"
"It means…" there was a pause as Fred tried best to explain it he looked over at George who just shrugged helpfully, "it means, acting without thinking."
"Ah well I guess that means you two are the perfect choice to teach that to me," muttered Ron.
"Oi," complained George, "just be grateful we are only using apples."
"Yeah," agreed Fred, picking one up from the basket they'd collected from one of the trees surrounding the Burrow and taking aim, "now try and dodge this."
Fred through the fruit with deadly accuracy, it sailed through the air in a perfect arch and rebounded off of Ron's chest. He winced as the apple struck him, although more out of surprise then actual pain.
"I still don't know what throwing fruit at me is supposed to teach me," complained Ron rubbing his chest with his hand.
"What if during your Sorting ceremony they decide to hurl fireballs at you?" George said hands on hips, "are you just going to stand there and let them hit you?"
"No," retorted Ron sulkily, "but I'll at least be able to see them, so I'd have a chance of dodging them."
"That's what you think," replied Fred casually, "when Charlie had his ceremony, they blindfolded him and got him to run across the hall dodging a couple of Bludgers."
"Really?" asked Ron opened mouthed, "that's insane. They can't do that can they?"
"I know, but what are you doing to do? It's not as if you are going to turn around and say 'no' now is it?" said George picking up an apple, "now try and dodge this one."
Ron waited patiently, trying to listen for the sound of the apple's flight. Suddenly he dodged to one side and flailed his arms as he tried to remain on the plank of wood, behind him he heard the apple landing in the soft grass.
"I did it," exclaimed Ron pushing the blindfold up with a wide grin on his face and looking at his brothers, "I thought I could see it coming towards me, and that's when I dodge out of the way."
"Well done Ron," congratulated Fred, despite the fact that George had deliberately thrown the apple up high so that there was no chance of it striking their younger brother anyway, "I told you didn't I? Magic is all about instinct, oh sure you have to wave your wand about to do the spells and stuff but a lot of it is pure gut feeling."
"Brilliant," beamed Ron still on a high after successfully 'dodging' the fruit, "to be honest I thought you two might have been winding me up at first."
"Really?" Us?" said George looking astounded while Fred feigned a look of hurt, "we're your older brothers, it's our job to look out for you."
"Yeah, I know," replied Ron looking a bit embarrassed to have thought so badly of the twins, "I do have one question though."
"Fire away."
"How do they decide what House you go into?" Ron brow creased as he frowned, "I get that the test is to make sure you aren't a Squib but how does that tell them where to put you."
"Oh it's all about how you tackle the trial," explained Fred thinking fast, "so if you think of an intelligent way to beat something you'll be put in Ravenclaw, if you are cunning about it it'll be Slytherin."
"So what did you two have to do?" asked Ron excitedly as he sat down on the plank of wood.
"Well it was pretty straight forward for me," George began. The twins had expected this question to crop up and had worked out their individual stories beforehand. "I was taken up onto the roof of one of the two story buildings on the grounds of the school and I was asked to get between it and other building without touching the ground."
"That doesn't sound too bad," snorted Ron.
"That's what I thought," shrugged George, "until I saw the distance they expected me to jump, it was a good fifteen nearly twenty feet."
"But that's too far," gasped Ron, "they couldn't expect you to have jumped that."
"As I said it's all about how you approach the problem," explained George scratching behind his ear with one hand, "a couple of others were given the same problem, one of them just asked someone to give them a piggyback and walk back down the stairs and over to the other building, they ended up in Hufflepuff. Another person called a House Elf to use their magic to apparate them over, he's a Slytherin now."
"So what did you do?"
"I just ran and jumped."
"You did what?"
"Ran and jumped."
"But that's stupid," scolded Ron rolling his eyes, "you couldn't have made it across. You didn't, did you?"
"No," admitted George, "I think I managed to leap about three quarters of the way across before I hit the ground."
"You fell?" asked Ron, "and they still let you into Hogwarts?"
"Yes, you see while I did fall and land heavily, I didn't actually get hurt. In fact I bounced when I hit the ground so they knew I wasn't a Squib," stated George, "and because I had jumped even though I knew there was a very good chance I wouldn't make it, they said that was brave and put me in Gryffindor."
"Well I guess I won't be in Gryffindor," muttered Ron, "because there is no way I would have tried to jump across like that. So what about you Fred?"
"Me?" said Fred stretching his arms up over his head and yawning, "oh nothing really, just had to battle a dragon."
"A dragon?" both George and Ron exclaimed at once.
"Are you sure it was a dragon?" asked George looking pointedly at his twin who had blatantly come up with a completely different story to the one they had prepared, "are you sure it wasn't something like a family of wood pixies?"
"No, no, it was definitely a dragon," beamed Fred much to his twin's annoyance, "you don't get that close to a dragon and not remember it."
"I can't believe they made you face a dragon," said a shocked Ron shaking his head.
"I know," agreed George slowly through clenched teeth, "it really is something only a complete idiot would think up, now something like I don't know, a family of wood pixies would be a far more sensible and believable suggestion."
"So what did you have to do?" asked Ron excitedly.
"I had to clip off the end of one of its talons without waking it," said Fred trying to see nonchalant.
"Merlin's Beard," said Ron opened mouthed, "are you serious?"
"Completely," nodded Fred in agreement while George rolled his eyes, "I wasn't sure what to do so in the end I just walked straight up and did it, no sneaking around or anything. Just clip and done."
"That is so brave," said Ron looking thoroughly impressed, he turned to look at Fred, "sounds like you got off lightly."
Over the next few days, the twins set Ron a series of trials which gradually became more and more bizarre as they tried to see what they could pretty much get away with. Towards the end the twins had even started to run out of ideas of what they could get their younger brother to try and do. Although Fred's most ingenious plot was getting Ron to clear the gnomes out of the garden to test his speed and stamina (the fact that Mrs Weasley had asked the twins to clear them out earlier was something he'd forgotten to pass on).
The days passed and it wasn't long before the twins, Percy and Ron were all packing their trunks for the start of the school year. Ron had inherited his older brother Charlie's trunk and found that the first thing he had to do was dump out all of his older brother's things that had been left to wallow at the bottom of it. Fred and George had a quick pick through the cast-offs to see if there was anything worth salvaging but since Charlie had already taken all the most useful stuff with him to Romania there was little for them to have.
On the night before they were due to leave for Hogwarts the Weasley family sat down for their traditional farewell dinner. Mrs Weasley had put together a sumptuous feast containing all of their favourite foods which reminded the twins of the meal times at Hogwarts. The table was set, with Mrs Weasley, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny all waiting expectantly around it. Casting a quick look up at the family clock showed that Mr Weasley was currently in the process of returning home, and sure enough a couple of seconds later a faint 'pop' could be heard outside.
"Evening Weasleys," said Mr Weasley opening the door wide and stepping into the kitchen. He was carrying a large cage with a grey cover over it.
"Where have you been?" asked Fred, as his stomach let out a loud rumble, "I'm starving, and what's that?"
"Ah well this is a special surprise," said Mr Weasley excitedly, rocking the cage slightly, "and I had to go and collect it from Diagon Alley. It's for Percy, for being made a prefect."
"For me?" asked Percy looking equally surprised and delighted as his eyes fell onto the covered cage.
"Of course," fussed Mrs Weasley looking at his son with pride, "when Charlie and Bill became prefects we got them something each so it's only fair that you do too."
"What about us?" asked George looking at the covered cage with envy.
"What about you?" countered Mrs Weasley, "if either of you become prefects then you'll get a present too."
"Well there is always a chance…" said Fred hopefully as the cage was put down in the table in front of Percy.
"Go on then," said Mr Weasley beaming, gesticulating expectantly to Percy, "take the cover off."
Percy leaned forward and grabbed the top of the cloth and pulled. His eyes opened wide. Perched proudly in the middle of the cage was a large owl with various different hues of brown feathers and a white underbelly.
"It's beautiful," gasped Percy leaning in close to look at his present, "what's it called?"
"That's for you to choose," said Mr Weasley, "it's a he by the way."
"I'll call him Hermes," stated Percy firmly, he opened the front of the cage and put a hand inside. After looking at it warily for a few seconds the newly named Hermes allowed his owner to gently stroke his feathers, letting out a low appreciative hoot.
"With an owl like that, you might actually be cool this year," admitted Fred thoughtfully.
"Why Hermes?" asked Mrs Weasley as the family crowded around to admire the new addition to the family. The owl clearly enjoyed the attention and maintained an almost regal appearance.
"After Hermes Kanezza the first Head Boy of Hogwarts," beamed Percy still stroking Hermes' feathers.
"Okay, maybe you'll be cool next year," Fred altered his original assessment.
"How do you even know stuff like that?" George wondered out loud.
"It's in Hogwarts: a History," Percy replied haughtily, "not that I'd have expected you to know that of course since it would have involved reading a book, rather than using it to prop open your bedroom window."
"If you can think of a better way to create a cool breeze in our room without using magic then feel free to let me know," George countered superbly.
"Enough," Mrs Weasley ordered calmly, she took the owl cage off of the table and carefully encouraged Hermes to jump out onto the kitchen counter. She shooed it towards the far end of the room where the family's owl, Errol, was quietly snoozing on a perch, "it's okay, go sit on the perch next to Errol."
After a few moments realisation of what Mrs Weasley wanted dawned on Hermes, who hopped along the counter a couple of time before flapping his wings and landing gracefully on the perch. Unfortunately the noise of the younger owl flapping its wings woke Errol with such a start that he lost his balance, and, despite flapping desperately to right himself, ended up dropping backwards from the perch. However Errol momentarily forgot to loosen his grip from the piece of wood and suddenly found himself hanging up-side-down facing the wall, his wings flapping frantically while Hermes looked down at him from the perch.
"Thanks mum, thanks dad," gushed Percy giving both his parents a hug. He looked over at Ron, just as a faint thud from the corner of the room signalled that Errol's feet had finally decided to let go of the perch without first telling his wings to keep him airborne, "if you want you can have Scabbers."
"Cheers," nodded Ron trying to sound enthusiastic. Although he thought it would be nice to have a pet, he couldn't help noting that this was another hand-me-down from one of his brothers.
"It's okay," Fred whispered to his younger brother, "George and I will teach you a spell to change Scabbers' colour, you'll have the only yellow rat at school."
"Cool," commented Ron seeming happier.
"Okay everyone, sit back down," said Mrs Weasley sitting at one end of the table while her husband took his place at the head of it.
"Brilliant I'm starving," said Ron reaching for the nearest plate of food.
"Ah ah ah," scolded Mrs Weasley batting Ron's hand away from the food and pointedly picking up her drink, "I think a toast is in order."
"Yes, quite so," agreed Mr Weasley reaching for his glass before standing up, "firstly, once again, congratulations to Percy for becoming the third Weasley in a row to be made a prefect."
"Well done Percy," added Mrs Weasley as everyone took a sip of their drink.
"Wait a minute," said Fred dramatically with a look of shock on his face, "Percy has been made a prefect? This is the first I've heard about it. Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"Quick, I'll tell the Daily Prophet to hold the front page," added George.
"Very funny you two," reproached Mrs Weasley. She patted Percy on the arm, "ignore them, we're very proud of you. All of us are."
"Yes we are," added Mr Weasley, still with his glass raised, "now where was I?"
"Oh God," groaned George under his breath, "not the 'first day of school speech' again is it?"
"Ron," said Mr Weasley turning to his youngest son, "tomorrow you will embark on a great adventure."
"Merlin's Beard it is," muttered Fred rolling his eyes.
"Every generation of Weasley has attended Hogwarts…" Mr Weasley began to get up steam as he repeated the same speech he'd used previously for Bill, Charlie, Percy and the twins.
"I thought he might have forgotten about it this time," admitted George quietly as his father carried on.
"Yeah, but I think that was wishful thinking," agreed Fred. "I think the fact that we can all recite it by now should say something."
"…a solid educational foundation is what you need to build your life on..."
"Here comes the bit that mum starts tearing up on," George pointed out, nodding towards Mrs Weasley, "here we go."
"Without Hogwarts, I would never have met your dear mother…"
"She's gone," commented Fred softly as Mrs Weasley started dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief that had been tucked into her sleeve.
"Every time," said George shaking his head, "you'd think she'd have got used to it by now."
"Oh, this is a new bit," admitted Fred as Mr Weasley began to talk about the children who had already attended or were currently attending the school.
"Bill has become a curse-breaker, Charlie is following his dream in Romania, Percy is now a prefect and Fred and George…" there was an awkward pause as Mr Weasley tried to work out what he could say that would be appropriate.
"Quidditch team," coughed Mrs Weasley helpfully.
"…are on the Quidditch team," carried on Mr Weasley without skipping a beat, "no doubt, you too Ron, will achieve great things in your time amongst those hallowed halls. To Ron."
"To Ron," the rest of the family chorused toasting the boy.
"Very nice dear," commented Mrs Weasley as everyone began dishing food out onto their plates.
"Yeah good one dad," agreed Fred dishing out some mashed potato onto his plate, before drowning it in gravy, "you're getting better at them."
"Only one more to go," said George picking up a chicken leg and waving it in the direction of Ginny before gnawing on it hungrily.
"Ew," muttered Ginny frowning and looking away as her brother chomped down on the meat.
"George, use your cutlery," scolded Mrs Weasley shaking her head and pointing at his knife and fork, "honestly I don't know where you get it from."
The family looked along the table to where Mr Weasley had grasped a chicken leg in his hand and was in the middle of noisily taking a large bite out of it.
"Oh that's lovely," said Mr Weasley swallowing the mouthful off food, he suddenly became aware that the rest of his family were looking at him. His eyes flicked between each of his children and then finally settled on his wife, "sorry, did you say something dear?"