Welcome,
In this story I will try to explore the lives of Fred and George Weasley at Hogwarts more. Their characters are well established in the books and I noticed most fan fiction stories do not change a lot in their portrayal, I would say they are fan favourites. They are rogue pranksters that do not respect authority too much, they are liked by many, confident and although they do not take their school work too seriously, they are generally considered smart and capable. Of course they are the best beaters in the best quidditch team in the school.
What I am sometimes missing is how they develop and maintain these reputations. Where and how do they plan and play these pranks and why is everybody afraid to become the target of them? What are they doing throughout the day instead of spending too much time on essays? What are their relations in Gryffindor?
So in this story I will try to flesh out their lives a bit with a specific focus on Fred. I hope you enjoy it. Constructive criticism is appreciated. English is not my mother tongue.
One more thing, I have placed Ron and the twins in the Quidditch team at the same time. It has been a while since I have read the books, but I believe this does not occur there. So I guess this is an AU where the twins stayed in school during the Umbridge reign.
"Trying out a new shade of green, Ronnikins?"
Fred sighed, again his brother George had used the same words as him at the exact same time. He had no idea how George kept doing that, but as usual he avoided glaring at his twin brother and decided to just roll with it.
The morning light was falling through the windows of the great hall, which was buzzing with the excitement and tension that a game day always brought. Especially this game, the traditional Gryffindor Slytherin match-up that Dean Thomas, a muggleborn football fan, nicknamed 'El Clasico'.
Meanwhile his brother Ron, who was sitting at the long table with his breakfast in front of him, ignored his brothers' comment and spoke weakly to no one in particular, "I've made huge mistakes. How could I think it was a good idea to ever mount a broom, or even worse, apply for the keeper position?"
His younger brother had been spewing these kind of phrases throughout the meal as he was poking with his fork in the scrambled eggs on his plate. He hadn't eaten a single bite and was looking more and more sick and miserable as the morning progressed. Every single one of his team members had suffered through first match jitters, but Ron was easily the worst case he'd ever seen.
"I have been saying for years that it is a backwards idea to fly around on a broom." Hermoine contributed while paging through her transfiguration book, "It is an outmoded form of transportation that has no place in our daily lives in the magical world, why you would use it in a sport is beyond me. The equivalent would be muggles practicing sports on horses and none of the popular muggle sports use those! Furthermore the amount of injuries that are suffered in our school alone would justify a national ban. But naturally you refused to listen to me, you had to seek the glory of the pitch and now you have to suffer the consequences."
"Could you let it go for a moment, Hermoine.", Harry, who was sitting next to Ron, intervened, "Can you not see your remarks are not helpful right now?"
"Not helpful?" Hermoine bristled as she smacked down her book on the table, "They are very helpful for the both of you! If you decided to just remain on the ground it could save your lives! Every game I have to watch you diving at neck breaking speeds supported only by a stick with branches and now I have to worry about Ron to?"
Fred, who had been grinning more and more while Hermoine was lecturing, decided that he could not leave all the pestering of his brother to her, since it was of course his duty as an older sibling. "Hermoine, did you know that keepers have the highest casualty rate in Quidditch? Especially in the lower divisions! It is because they remain mostly static throughout the game while occupying a key position. They form the easiest target while they have to divide their attention between all the balls and players in play. So even the lowest skilled beaters will regularly score hits on the keeper."
George grinningly decided to also contribute to the teasing of Ron: "And don't forget about the collisions, Fred. A chaser charging the hoops while throwing the quaffle will not always be able to avoid the blocking keeper. There is only one conclusion, Ron, you're doomed!"
But now Harry really had enough, "Stop it, all of you, Ron will be fine. This breakfast is going nowhere though. Let us just head to the pitch early and warm up a little bit, once you're up in the air you will lose your nerves."
Ron allowed his best friend to pull him to his feet and start dragging him to the pitch. Fred and George decided to follow their team mates to the stadium, happily greeting all the Gryffindor supporters that were wishing them good luck for the upcoming game. The sky was clear on this morning early in November and there was a small breeze, it was quite cold, but it would surely warm up a little bit later. In other words great conditions for the match-up.
After changing into their gear, they went to the pitch to start their warming up routine. Beaters usually spend the most time warming up, since they had the most physically demanding position of the squad, mounting your broom and starting to swing at the heavy bludgers with cold mussels was a certified way to get yourself injured.
Ron and Harry went through their own warming up exercises and were soon joined by their new Team Captain Angelina for some flying routines. After a while Angelina and Harry started to shoot some quaffles to the hoops in order to warm up Ron.
When Fred looked over he saw Ron saving a curve ball to the left hoop from Angelina. "Nice work, Ron", she shouted after his save. Truthfully, on a good day Ron was really capable of performing adequately as guardian of the hoops. He had big shoes to fill, last year's keeper Wood had gone professional after his graduation for a reason, but Fred reckoned Ron would grow in his role. Naturally he would never admit such a thing to his younger brother.
He got a grin on his face and said, "Time to give our keeper the old bludger warm-up!". Dammit, again George echoed him at the same time. Fred looked over to his twin brother and George shrugged his shoulders with a smirk that said "How I am supposed to help it.".
Anyway, it was time for one of their pranks, the twins shifted their flying closer to the Gryffindor posts. They were now in the process of warming up their 'bludger possession play', they passed two bludgers between the two of them in order to maintain control of their weapon and unleash it at a critical time. This was the most intense strategy a team of beaters performed and this drill marked the end of their warming-up routine.
The next time Harry made a shot at the goal, a feint to the right followed by a centred fast ball, both Fred and George launched a bludger towards their unexpecting little brother. Ron, who had to make a sharp spin in order to stop the quaffle, was hit with a combination of a bludger in his stomach and another one hitting him from the other side in the leg. With a loud 'Hoomph' he dropped the quaffle and started to descend to the ground with a painful look on his face. The twins shouted in stereo "Beware of the bludgers, Ronnikins!".
But before they could congratulate each other with their successful prank, they were confronted by a fuming Angelina. "What do you think you maniacs are doing? We are trying to warm up our new keeper and build up his confidence, and meanwhile you decide to kill him before the game has even begun?"
"Come on, Angelina. It is just some normal warm-up teasing.", said George.
"Just a way our own way to relieve some tension for our little brother.", Fred supplied.
But Angelina was having none of it, "I have half a mind to kick you of the team right now, you're lucky we're one hour away and I don't have a ready replacement!".
She continued her rant over the next minutes, while Harry had flown down to check on Ron. Both twins tried their best to look guilty as they received their scolding, but they found it hard to hide their smirks. Since she had been appointed team captain, Angelina had been less amused by their pranks and was more likely to lash out at them. Fred preferred the time when she was just one of his team mates, she had become too serious. Still, she had a soft spot for the twins, so they did not take her threats too seriously.
In the end it became time for the last pre-game tactical meeting, so everybody started going back to the dressing room. Fred fell in line next to the limping form of his younger brother, he put his arm around Ron's shoulder and said "Come on little brother, chin up. You know you will be the target of many bludgers throughout the game? Right? Better get used to it."
Ron looked away as he answered "I know that, but will I also get caught in the crossfire by two bludgers at the same time?"
"Of course not, George and I will have your back. We will look out for you, like we always do!" Fred grinned.
Ron shrugged sadly and said, "Sure Fred, you always look out for me. I guess you will protect me from anything, except those two menaces that are my older twin brothers."
"Ah, come on. Don't be like that, just some harmless pranks, we don't mean anything wrong by that. It just shows we love you."
"Sure, Fred. Just some harmless pranks." Ron said with some sarcasm, as he removed Fred's arm from around him. "Like you play on each other all the time."
What was that supposed to mean? Fred just let it go for the moment, he was not going to let his sour, nervous little brother ruin his day. The weather was perfect, their team in a great shape and their supporters were present in droves. All was set to obliterate Slytherin, this was going to be the best game of quidditch ever!