I awkwardly followed the twins up to their room, allowing one of them to grab my bag for me.
"So you're sixteen... and you're going to be teaching us?" The one holding my bag asked, turning to look back at me.
I shrugged, looking down at the floor. "I'll be helping - But honestly, I don't know what Albus has planned for me..." I gave a delicate smile as I glanced at the two of them. "I only found out I got the job this morning."
"Sounds a bit dodgy to me," the one not holding my bags commented, eyeing me warily. "I'll bet they just brought you on to snitch on us more-" He shared a mischievous look with his twin. "rebellious students."
As soon as my bag was set down, I started rummaging through it for my PJs. "Well then they'd be in for a sorry surprise," I responded absently, though felt my face flame, feeling their eyes land on me in surprise. "Don't get any crazy ideas now," I warned. "I don't want anyone getting hurt... but," I shrugged, trailing off slightly as I managed to find my clothes. "Hogwarts could always do with a bit of mischief as I recall." I smiled to myself, remembering all the trouble I managed to cause in the few years I attended school.
"Wicked," I heard them say in unison, causing my head to whip back up. "I think we just found our new favorite teacher, Georgie," The one that carried my bag up said, laughing as he pulled his shirt off absent-mindedly. My face had to be entirely red as I averted my eyes. I'm aware it had been some time since I had been around people this closely, but I was pretty sure that this wasn't normal.
"Oh," the one called Fred laughed slightly, seeing my embarrassment as he crumpled his shirt in his hands. "Sorry, we aren't used to having guests... Don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."
By this time George had his shirt off too, so I had to guess that it was how they slept. I shook my head, still clutching my clothes. "It's fine... Though I might feel slightly more comfortable if you left while I changed."
"Oh yeah-" I cut Fred off, grabbing my wand out of my boot.
"Actually," I waved my wand, changing into my plaid green flannel shirt and a pair of black spandex without forcing them to vacate the room. I smiled, knowing I learned at least one thing of use from my time in foster care. I laid my day's clothes, neatly folded, into my bottomless bag.
"Well, that was bloody brilliant," George said while Fred just stared at me.
"Thanks... It's an old trick," I mumbled trying to brush off the compliment. At that moment, the door burst open, revealing a very agitated Mrs. Weasley. Whatever she and Sirius had been talking about downstairs seemed to have renewed her furry.
"Go to bed! No talking," She said sternly, slamming the door behind her.
I had to bite back a smile, but the twins' responded with groans as they climbed into their beds. George was closest to the window, and Fred claimed the one in the middle so I climbed into the one by the door, placing my wand on the small dresser that sat by the head of the bed.
I clicked off the light, but by the constant movement from the other beds, I could tell that sleep wasn't likely to reside in the room anytime soon. As if to prove my point, a few moments later, a whisper came through the room. "Artemis?" I guessed it was Fred from where the voice came from, so I turned my body towards him.
"Yeah?" I asked, propping myself up. He and George did the same, so I grabbed my wand and had a little light globe appear at the end of it. Then I sent the blue orb flying upward to stick to the ceiling. It emitted enough light that we could see each other, but hopefully not enough to seep through the door frame.
"Why did Dumbledore want you as a teacher?" George asked, looking at me through the faint light with wide eyes.
I shook my head, looking down at my legs as I crisscrossed them in front of me. "He was motivated by the same thing that affects all his choices," I answered bitterly. "Voldemort," I explained with a sarcastic smile. I heard them gasp slightly as I said his name, but I didn't care. "Dumbledore was a family friend," I started, almost spitting out the words, "He didn't like the idea of me being on my own when the Dark Lord came to call..." Annoyance rose sharply in my voice. After all of this time, he still didn't trust me to take care of myself.
"Why is Dumbledore responsible for that though?" Fred asked, throwing his legs over the side of the bed to face me more directly. "Don't you have any other family? What have you been doing before now?"
Again I found myself giving a quick shake of my head. "I had over a dozen foster homes, and I have Sirius... But no one wants to raise a witch- especially a disgruntled one. And Dumbledore wanted to keep me out of the wizarding world for a time, so I was pretty isolated." At that point, I almost felt like I was talking to myself. My voice grew somber as I recalled some of the worst homes. "And with no one else looking out for me, I had to go along with what he wanted." I pulled myself out of my stupor to flash a practiced smile at the boys.
"What about you guys?" I asked hurriedly, determined to direct the conversation away from me. "Living with all those siblings? I can't even imagine -How many do you have exactly?"
Fred gave a dry laugh. "In all, there are seven of us kids," George said, rolling his eyes. "Meaning we never get anything new-"
"And everything we do has already been done," Fred added, sounding annoyed. But it faded almost instantly as he turned to look up at me. "That's why we're not too concerned with our record," His eyes sparkled impishly as he leaned back against the wall.
"School is pointless if you already know what you're capable of," I offered, thinking of the many arguments between Albus and me over the matter. "The few years I was there I just caused trouble for the teachers." I laughed as I remembered the few friends I had. We were all red-headed so people would often joke about us being sent by the devil to cause trouble.
"I told you to go to bed!" We heard Mrs. Weasley's voice echo through the home, shortly followed by a wretched screeching of profanities I could only guess were coming from the picture she had warned about.