Chibi Cadogre
Chibi Cadogre
Fred and George Weasley sat huddled together on the floor of their cabin on the Hogwarts Express talking in low whispers, despite the fact that no one else was in there with them. Their older brother Charlie was sitting with his friends in another cabin; while Percy was likely lording over first years. The train started to pull away and they could still hear their mum yelling her goodbyes. A rap on the door caused them to look up. A boy with dreadlocks opened the door. "Would it be okay if I joined you? The only other cabin with room has a bunch of sour-looking fifth year Slytherins."
"Sure," the twins replied in unison.
"I'm Fred Weasley," the twin on the right said. "And this here's George."
The boy with dreadlocks shook their hands and replied, "I'm Lee Jordan."
"We've nicked some dungbombs from Charlie's trunk when he wasn't looking, after all our needs are greater than his," George said with a wicked grin. "Fancy setting them off in that Slytherin cabin?"
"Sure!" Lee said following the twins out the cabin.
Professor McGonagall stared lividly at the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan, all three of which were covered in dung looking very guilty. "Scourgify," she said waving her wand at the boys. The dung was instantly gone, leaving the boys with a nasty soap taste in their mouths. "I believe this is the first time I can recall having to discipline students before they were even sorted! What were you three thinking?"
"They looked liked they had something foul under their noses, Professor. We just thought we should supply the reason," Fred replied unabashed.
"And they are just Slytherins, so it's not like they really matter..." started George before he noticed Professor McGonagall's lip was so thin it was almost gone.
"You will all serve detention and I shall also be writing to your parents. I strongly warn you that should any of you three find yourselves in Gryffindor, that I expect better behaviour. Go to the sorting now before it ends," Professor McGonagall snapped. "Mr. Weasleys," she said as the twins were almost out of the door, "I am very disappointed in you two. I should think the example of your three older brothers would have been enough for you to know better."
"Really, that was a low blow," Fred said as he and George sat down at the Gryffindor table. "I mean insulting us with mentioning Percy's example."
As he absentmindedly began loading his plate without a thought to how the food had just appeared, George replied, "Yeah, doesn't she know he's the world's most stuck up prat?"
"Fred, George," Percy called as slid towards them looking grim, "You two have talked through Dumbledore's entire welcoming and I've just learnt you have been to see Professor McGonagall already. If you have ambitions of being a prefect or Head boy then you really ought to think about toeing the line a little better. I can give you plenty of tips if you would like." He walked off with a look of superiority on his face.
The school was dismissed from the feast and sent off to bed. The first year Gryffindors were marched off to their tower and were shown the girls and boys dormitories. As Fred and George where about to mount the steps to their room, Charlie held the twins back. "When we left King's Cross this morning, Mum asked me to keep an eye on you. I reckon she imagines the pair of you will be expelled before the week is out. So, rather than chasing after pair of you as if you were rogue bludgers, could you keep the trouble-making to a minimum? In return, I'll look the other way. Deal?" he said holding out his hand.
The twins grabbed his hand and replied in unison, "Deal."
"Oh and do make sure not to waste my dungbombs," he called as he disappeared into his own dormitory.
Heading into their dorm the boys grinned wickedly. "Can you believe our luck? Charlie's going to look the other way!" Fred exclaimed.
"I reckon he figures that we might be too much for him to mange, what with him being Quidditch Captain and in his final year."
"He always was a smart bloke."
Breakfast started with owls flying about the Great Hall delivering forgotten items, gifts from home and letters from parents. The twins got one such letter; however, it was not a pleasant one - it was a Howler. The bright red envelope burst into Mrs. Weasley's magically amplified voice yelling at the boys. After the letter was finished it burst into flames. Percy had an annoying "I told you so" look on his face and insisted on walking the boys to their first lesson, all the way he smugly told them of the various reasons they needed to behave. Grateful to be shot of him, the boys settled into their first class, which was Potions with Professor Snape. And it turned out, that Snape did not find Fred's sarcastic remark on where to put a bezoar very funny and docked Gryffindor ten points.
By the time they made their way to the Great Hall for lunch, they had collectively lost forty points for Gryffindor. So naturally, with their luck, it came as little surprise that George's bag slipped off his shoulder and one of the dungbombs fell out of it and went off in the corridor. Filch was on the scene as if he psychic powers and grabbed the boys by their arms, half dragging them to his office. As Filch started looking for forms to fill out, whilst grumbling about disrespectful brats, the twins spotted something that made their horrible first day much brighter. In the corner of the office was a filing cabinet with papers bulging out of it and marked clearly on one of the drawers was the phrase "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous." George took advantage of Filch's rummaging for forms and sneaked out of the office with their remaining dungbomb. He set it off and hid. The moment Filch tore from the room after the culprit of this new attack, Fred bolted to the drawer and nicked what looked like an old bit of parchment. Filch reappeared in his office, muttering things about Peeves the Poltergeist. He was so angry that he waved Fred off without even noticing George was missing.
Fred and George eagerly wanted to work out what the old bit of parchment was, but they decided that given how abysmally their first day had started, they should wait till after classes to begin experimenting with what they had. No more points were docked by the end of the day and their spirits were improving, until they were handed a note at tea time. It seems they were going to serve detention that night. George was to help Professor Trelawney organize her teacups and other various divination tools. Meanwhile, Fred was selected to help Professor Snape bottle frog spawn and Lee Jordan had the pleasure of cleaning the girl's bathroom that Moaning Myrtle had flooded - without the use of magic.
Each of the boys left for their assigned detention with rather low morale. Professor Trelawney beamed at George, as if he had volunteered. "I'm so glad you could come, dear boy! Normally, I would not have a first year helping, but I've been telling Professor Dumbledore all summer how dreadfully disorganised my teacups and crystal balls have been getting! He suggested I allow Mr. Filch up here but his presence will disrupt the clairvoyant vibes what, with him being a squi..." she coughed and waved her hand towards her teacup. "Well, separate the blue and pink sets. Do be careful with the pink ones, I'm rather fond of them."
Halfway through his detention in Trelawney's overheated and heavily scented classroom, George knocked a teacup to the floor. Whilst he was cleaning up the mess, the old bit of parchment they had nicked from Filch's file cabinet fell out of his back pocket. Professor Trelawney was gazing into her crystal ball and pretended not to notice the breakage of the blue teacup. George touched the tip of his wand to the parchment and watched as some ink spread like a spider web and then fade. Exhilarated, George tried to finish as quickly and carefully as he could.
Smelling strongly of perfume, George waited for Fred to return from his detention with Snape. After the twins said goodnight to Lee, they sat in the common room of Gryffindor tower talking in hushed voices. "Freddy, the moment my wand hit that parchment, it came to life. We've just got to figure out how to activate it and we can see what this thing can do."
"It has protective enchantments on it; otherwise it wouldn't be blank right now," replied Fred. "I reckon it has some sort of an activation spell on it, like Percy's diary does."
"It was so sad that we just had to say, "get lost, Fred and George" and tap his diary to read it," George said as he absentmindedly tapped the parchment.
The boys grinned as ink crawled across the page and words began to appear.
Mr. Prongs thinks Fred and George are gits who should go to bed.
Mr. Padfoot reckons Fred and George trouble makers.
Mr. Moony thinks Fred and George would be better off with a different phrase.
"We'd be better off with a different phrase?" George asked.
"Of course, these blokes here are making sure we deserve to see whatever it has hidden."
"Well, Mr. Padfoot mentions something about trouble makers so perhaps that's a hint?"
"I'm sure of it," Fred replied stifling a yawn, "let's work on it tomorrow, I'm shattered."
Over the next few days, the twins were relatively quiet and could be seen in the corner of the Gryffindor common room with their heads together or chatting with Lee Jordan. Percy complimented them on following his example, which caused George to spike Percy's pumpkin juice at dinner with an engorging potion they had been working on in secret since they were five. By the time Percy realized his head was about two sizes larger, the entire room had burst into laughter. Madam Pomfrey rushed Percy out of the Great Hall.
Lee shook his head incredulously, "Your brother is a pompous jerk", he said, "no offense mind you. He just seems to think he's number one.?
George laughed, "I reckon if he's number one we must be eleven."
"Because we are double number ones?" Fred asked.
Lee burst out laughing. "I swear I'm gonna call you lot eleven from now on. Let's see if anyone figures out why."
That night with Percy still in the hospital wing with a fat head, Fred and George took up their private corner again. They peered at a list they had drawn up of phrases they had been trying on the curious old parchment. The twins had gotten several hints from the parchment which had simultaneously insulted and instructed them. Having had decided not to tell Lee what it was they were working on, they hid it under homework at any sign of other person approaching them.
"Let's see the last phrase we tried was "I'm a trouble maker," said Fred.
"Maybe it needs to sound more like an oath? I mean these blokes went to a lot of trouble to make sure we are up to no good," pondered George.
"Georgie, I think you have it!" Fred exclaimed quietly as and then tapped the parchment and said, "I promise that I am up to no good."
Ink spread across the parchment like a spider's web and formed the words:
Mr. Moony would like to add that they are very close indeed.
Mr. Wormtail is concerned as promises are easily broken.
Mr. Prongs ponders if they can be more precise.
"Hmm," George thought out loud, "What's stronger then a promise?"
"You said something about an oath, so maybe swearing under oath?"
George tapped his wand on the paper and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
This time, the ink spiralled all over the paper and began forming the words:
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
The ink continued to form a perfect map of Hogwarts. However, that was not all. Little ink figures began to appear with minuscule names under them, including two little figures in the corner of the Gryffindor common room marked Fred Weasley and George Weasley.
"Fred," George exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down, "this map has where everyone is! Look, there's Filch by the library."
Fred studied his section on the map replying, "There's a little stairway over here, near the Great Hall. Let's go see where it leads to!"
The boys leapt out of their chairs and scrambled out of the portrait hole. They often checked the map to make sure none of the teachers were roaming around near them and found themselves in front of a small portrait of fruit. George checked the map which now showed the ink version of George with the words "tickle" beside the pear in the fruit bowl. The real George followed the map's instructions and within seconds the pear had turned into a door handle and they found themselves in the kitchens. Twenty minutes later, the boys were laden down with half a dozen pies, a few sandwiches and a whole chicken that the house elves had forced on them. The pair returned to their common room with their goodies and shared them with the other Gryffindors. Finally, everyone else had gone to bed and the boys were alone with the map.
"What do we do now? The map is still visible," Fred asked. Just then, the map showed the phrase, "Mischief managed" hovering over the ink version of Fred. Real Fred repeated the phrase and tapped the map, which promptly went blank.
Credits & References
11 is based on the Weasley Twins from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. All references to the books, including places, names, and (of course) quotations, belong to JK Rowling. Story written by the wonderful
Ravens, with references and quotations from Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban chapter 10 "The Marauder's Map", by JK Rowling.Profile by
Paddy, with coding help from: Ringo | Profile image resources: X | X | X Mischief Managed
