"No, no, no, no, no, no," George said, turning from the small hovel of a house. He walked from the property and hooked arms with Fred and Hunn, dragging them away from the home and away from the small wispy witch who had brought them to the house in the first place.
"George! What are you doing?" Fred asked once George had finished stomping off.
"This is the first house we've seen. We haven't even been inside yet!" Hunn said, exasperated.
George crossed his arms, "She brought us to this house first. She didn't ask how much we wanted to spend or what our limit was. She just brought us to this tiny shack! It doesn't even have a second floor! Or a door!" he yelled frustratedly throwing his hands in the air.
Hunn looked at the small wispy witch standing near the house and saw her look down, her face turning a deep red as she heard everything George had yelled.
"George, you haven't even given it a chance," Fred told his brother, pulling him into a side hug.
"I shouldn't have to. I don't want us to add to our house every time we have a baby. I don't want all of us to be scrunched up. I-I, I don't want our kids to be made fun of like we were," He whispered the last part, looking away from them and away from the small shack of a house.
"Oh, George," Hunn said sadly, reaching up to cup his face and bring him down to her level, "You feel that strongly about leaving this house?"
George nodded.
Fred looked to the small witch listening from a distance and waved her over to them. The tiny witch walked over to them and avoided all eye contact.
"Why did you bring us to this house?" Fred asked softly, trying to give her a chance to explain herself.
The tiny witch looked up, "I brought you to this house because it's the only one available in the area," She whispered, sounding ashamed.
"We would like to see a house with a door. Do you think you can find us one?" Hunn asked, squeezing George's hand.
The woman nodded and let out a sigh of relief. She took hold of their arms, gave them a warning look, and took them to a different location. The woman took them to an empty lot, "With everything that's been happening, we don't have any real big houses," She waved her arm at an open lot of soft green grass, "We have this lot here that you can build on. The land is everything you see until the mountain's edge over there."
Hunn walked into the center of the grassy field and smiled in awe. The land was beautiful, surrounded by giant old pine trees, and at the back, a mini mountain stood tall and strong. It would be perfect for building a home, but she didn't know if they had it in them to build a house.
"What do you think?"
"I don't know. It's a lot of land, but could we build a house here?" George asked skeptically.
Fred shrugged, "Dad would help us, but wouldn't you rather have a house you can walk right in and be done?" he asked, looking up into the blue-grey sky.
"Thank you. That would be nice, but the lady doesn't have any houses near the family that we can look at. Maybe we should stay at the shop."
Fred looked at George, and George looked at Fred, "Alright. We'll stay at the shop," George took hold of Hunn's arm and apparated them home, leaving the saleswitch alone with Fred to explain. Fred followed almost a few minutes later.
"I'll put some tea on. Can you start supper, Fred?" Hunn asked, walking into their tiny kitchen.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a moment."
George moved in close to Fred, "Did you do it?" he asked softly, watching Hunn from the corner of his eye to ensure she was far away enough not to hear what they were speaking about.
Fred nodded, "Yeah, I bought the land for the asking price. We'll get the owl in a few moments with the deed."
"Excellent. We'll see Dad and Mum tomorrow morning, and then we'll devise a plan."
Fred nodded and went into the kitchen to start their dinner. He was chopping up the carrots when an owl he'd never seen before stopped at the window and pecked at the glass for his attention.
Looking around, he waved to George to distract Hunn and opened the window to give the little owl a treat and take the deed. The owl flew off, and he shoved the letter into his pants pocket to continue with dinner.
He was grinning and prancing around the kitchen. He was so excited to have gotten one over on his little witch. She was going to be so surprised when they finished building their house.
He wanted it big enough for all the children they might have.
A library for her to read in, with an office to work in off to the side.
With a lab to create new jokes and potions together!
The ideas were swimming around his head. Images of many rooms floated about, filling his imagination and fueling his excitement further! Hunn was going to love it!
His little witch and George came strolling in for dinner, and he had to keep his smile hidden, along with all his ideas. It was so much harder than he thought it would be. He was so used to telling her everything. She was his sounding bored. She gave them ideas and made them better, but they were alone this time.
...
Hunn was pulled off aggressively into the kitchen by her arm when they arrived at the Burrow, "Ohhh! Hunn dear, help me with these gnomes. One of them got stuck in the drain!" Molly shouted, exasperated.
Fred and George walked up to their dad and hugged him, ignoring the gnome situation as Hunn rolled up her sleeves and set to help Molly. Arthur grinned wide and rolled his eyes at his wife and Hunn as they threw gnomes out the kitchen window.
"What brings you home, boys?" he asked with a giant smile plastered on his face. He was having a wonderful day, and it was only made more so with his sons arriving to visit.
Fred looked at his dad and then double-checked to ensure that neither his mother nor Hunn was near to hear them, "We need help, Dad."
His dad frowned, "What do you need help with? Are you alright?"
George nodded and pulled his dad away from the kitchen, "We just bought some land," he stated.
His father beamed, "Finally getting out of that little cramped apartment!" he congratulated them both.
Fred and George slapped a hand over his mouth and shushed him, "Quiet!"
"She'll hear you!" Fred panicked, looking over his shoulder to ensure no one was coming to check on them now.
Their father looked confused but nodded as they pulled their hands away, "What have you done?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly, suspicious at their behavior.
George smiled, "We bought some land."
"Without telling Hunn," Fred finished.
"We need you to help us?"
"Please," Fred added with a smile.
Arthur shook his head. His boys were always up to something, "What do you need?"
"We want to build Hunn a house."
"Fred, George. There's a lot that goes into building a house. Workers, permits, inspections. It's very taxing," Their father started to explain, "You said you didn't tell Hunn? Why not?"
George grinned, "We want to surprise her."
"With a house close to family and friends," Fred added, "The only thing suitable close by was a plot of land."
George smiled, "We were wondering..."
"...because you helped build this house..." Fred added, mimicking what Arthur would look like, flexing his arms.
George pushed him aside, "...if maybe you could help us build ours?"
Arthur looked between his boys and contemplated it. They looked serious. He could tell this was something they really wanted to do. After a moment, he nodded, "There are some boys I know in the office who are quite handy. I also have a few friends that work in the Magical Housing Division," He gave them a serious look, "This might get a bit expensive..." he started to tell them.
George waved his hand, stopping his father, "We want to start a family one day, and we can't do that living above the shop."
"Besides, we see how things are getting in the alley. It's not as safe as it was before."
"We want to move to somewhere away from the business. Somewhere we can feel really at home."
They looked at their father pleadingly. After a few moments, he hugged them, "My boy's finally growing up," He whispered as tears filled his eyes. He never thought he would see the day they would act even remotely grown up.
They groaned, "Dad."
He pulled away, keeping his hands on their upper arms, "Come on, we'll send a few owls and get this started today."
Arthur led them to his study near the top of the house, and they began writing to the Magical Housing Decision to expedite their permits. Arthur also sent letters to his friends in the office asking for favors to help build and speed up the permit process.
They received owls back within the hour for approval and packets of forms to complete and return. Their father had them split up and begin filling them out to complete the job quickly.
Thankfully, the gnome problem in the kitchen kept Hunn and their mother busy because they could get everything done and sent out again by the time they had thrown the last gnome out the window.
With the paperwork finished and their initial permits approved to begin building, they devised a plan to head out and look at the land together.
Arthur grabbed his coat and everything he would need to get a rough sketch done, and they went down to say goodbye to their women.
"Molly, darling!" Arthur called from the bottom of the stairs as he slipped on his coat and hat.
"In the kitchen!"
Fred and George followed their father and found their little witch sitting exhausted at the counter with a cup of tea in her hand.
"The boys and I are going to head out and have a day," he told her, smiling.
Molly looked surprised but smiled, "Alright, you're safe, and make sure to get home before the sun goes down. Hopefully, we'll be finished running these gnomes out of the garden by the time you're back!"
George and Fred gave Hunn a kiss and hug before following their father out of the house and grasping his arm to apparate away to their land. They fell on their toes and staggered for a moment before steading themselves.
Arthur looked around and whistled, "This is impressive, boys. How much of it is yours?"
"All of it until the base of the little mountain," they told him.
Suprise must have colored his face because they smiled, "We've been saving up, Dad."
"Ever since we opened, we've wanted to buy her a house," George told his Dad honestly.
Fred shoved his hands in his pockets, "We told you we would provide for her. We meant it."
Arthur looked at his boys in a new light. He always knew them to be the wild, lighthearted pranksters. Now he could see that they had grown up, changed. Of course, they were still wild and carefree. That would never change, not in a million years, but they were more now. They were adults, getting married soon, a family that he had no doubt they would protect.
He was so proud of them.
Before he could start blubbering, he pulled out his book and sketched a layout for their house. Asking them questions about how big they wanted it, how many rooms, and floors. Windows and doors and whatnot.
Fred and George answered the best they could, and before they knew it, their father whisked them away to a proper contractor who would whip them up something nice and professional to go off of and help them order everything they would need to begin building. They let out a sigh of relief.
They returned to Burrow with everything they could get done behind them now. Landing in the field, they trotted to the garden and found Molly and Hunn wrangling stubborn gnomes over the fence.
"Still not finished?" Fred laughed, rolling up his sleeves to help.
Molly huffed, "They've had so many babies! It's awful!"
George tugged a gnome from the dirt and tossed it over the fence, "I bet they have! Our garden is the best for gnome-loving!" he said, shooting his mother a wink.
Molly groaned and smacked his arm.
Hunn giggled and held up an ugly little gnome, "Look! Fred, George! He has your noses!" she giggled before jogging away with the creature still wiggling in her hand.
"That's it!" Fred yelled, laughing.
"You're gonna get!" George finished picking up a different gnome and running alongside his brother.