Twin Fall ↠ A Fred Weasley story

34. Birthday

"If the Dursley's hear you, you'll get us both into trouble," Jess's voice whispered into the darkness.

Across the room on the opposite bed, Harry was hunched under his covers. There was a glow of light peering through and small scratching sounds from a quill on parchment.

The noise stopped momentarily; the quilt moved, and Harry's head popped out. Light filled the room from under the quilt and Jess raised her eyebrows at her brother.

"How else am I supposed to get my homework done?" he whispered back.

"Do it before you leave school," she suggested.

"Look we're not all as academic as you and Hermione."

"You don't need to be," Jess replied haughtily. "But, I did offer to help and you refused."

Harry rolled his eyes and sat up carefully. Jess's face screwed up with worry.

"Don't spill your ink!" she hissed quietly.

"Yes mother," but he lifted the inkwell gently and placed it on the bedside table, resting his quill on it. Harry pointed the torch into the room so it lit up more. "Did I wake you?"

Jess shook her head and smiled. "No, I just had this funny feeling that woke me up. Then I realised..."

Harry tilted his head at her, waiting.

"Happy birthday, Harry," she grinned.

His head spun to the wall above him where a small plastic clock was showing them it was just before one in the morning. He looked at Jess and grinned back. "Happy birthday! We've been teenagers a whole hour and I hadn't even noticed."

"Teenagers eh? It feels so old."

"I feel old."

"That might be Dudley's old mattress making you feel like that though," Jess pointed out matter of factly.

"Yeah probably. That or the bother we seem to always find ourselves in," Harry said with a yawn. "I'm surprised Hedwig isn't back yet."

Jess glanced at the empty cage then looked back at Harry. She gave him a small shrug. "She's been gone for a while before."

Harry nodded slowly, "I'll open the window in case she comes back tonight."

Swinging his legs out of bed, he tiptoed to the window and undid the lock. He pushed the window wide and peered into the dark night sky.

"I think she's back now actually."

Jess propped herself up on her shoulders and squinted against the orange glow in the room. Then she pushed herself up properly and scrambled on her knees to the bottom of her bed where the window stood open. She leant on the windowsill and stared outside.

"Harry... that doesn't look like Hedwig..."

The silhouette in the sky grew closer, and as it did so, it's size became more apparent. It was more like a creature, with a long wingspan, and it was heading straight for the only lit up window in the neighbourhood.

"Should I shut it?" Harry gulped looking at his sister for a solution.

"No!" she muttered quickly. "If that is coming for us the last thing we need is it smashing into the window. Just step back."

Harry leant over and switched his torch off, darkening the room before the creature got to them. But, as it came through the window, Jess realised what it was and made a little "oh" sound.

Three owls flew in through the window and landed heavily on the bed. Well, two owls flew in - the third was being held up by the other two, clearly unconscious.