White Heather for Protection

Interlude: Third One's the Charm

The gift was a phial of murky liquid. One boy groaned in exasperation while the other sighed, disappointed. A raised brow, then they looked more carefully at the offering. After a thoughtful pause, their eyes lit up with unholy glee. Evil laughter filled the air.

~~~

Fred and George Weasley got their brooms out of the shed for their early morning Quidditch practice. Their captain, Oliver Wood, was fanatic about the game. He was also a slave-driver when it came to training his team. Hence their 5am Quidditch practice.

Normally, they would have complained noisily about waking so early, but today was a special day. You see, it was their birthday. More significantly, it was April Fools' Day. A day for practical jokes and pranks. It might as well have been made for them!

"Hey Fred - or George! You're off your game! My grandmum could have caught that throw!" Oliver shouted at his beater. George - or Fred - was seriously out of it.

"Sorry Cap! Might be coming down with something too!" the redhead shouted from across the pitch. Oliver glared viciously at the other. They had a match in a few days! Damn Potter and her cold. She had fallen ill yesterday at dinner. She'd probably be missing classes today, so he couldn't go yell at her too.

Oliver growled and ordered the twin - whoever he was - to go lift weights instead. If he fell off his broom and broke something, they'd have to use the reserve beater, who was useless.

Practice lasted right until breakfast, and even then Oliver had been reluctant to release them. Fred and George ambled leisurely to the Great Hall with the rest of the team, acting as per normal.

When they arrived, it was to a scene of absolute catastrophe. Instead of the usual feast laid out on the tables, all the platters of food were darting madly around the room. Placidly sitting on the tables when undisturbed, they only came to life when anyone tried to take food from them.

Strangely enough, nothing was ever spilled, even when the plates flew sideways to avoid a ravenous student. None of them collided with anything either - be they people, walls or their brethren.

Some tenacious students were still fruitlessly trying to catch the flying saucers while the Professors scrambled madly to maintain order. Even Headmaster Dumbledore seemed at his wits' end.

Then, as the clock struck eight, all the dishes settled calmly on the tables, giving no sign of the previous chaos they had created.

Fred and George were still laughing uproariously when their fuming Head of House strode over to them.

"Messrs Weasley, detention every day for the next three weeks for your nonsense! And 35 points from Gryffindor!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed shrilly.

They donned affronted expressions.

"It wasn't us, we swear!"

"We were at Quidditch training all morning - ask Oliver!"

The Captain nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, Professor. We started even before breakfast was first served. They were with us the whole time."

Faced with the hard evidence, the Professor had no choice but to revoke the punishment The mayhem had begun while practice was in session. That didn't stop her from glaring suspiciously at the twin mischief-makers.

The rest of the day passes in a similar fashion. Outrageous pranks which practically screamed Fred and George occurred while they were otherwise occupied. They always had rock-solid alibis for each incident. Professors had no choice but to let them off scot-free even though they knew the twins were the culprits.

Argus Filch had once caught the perpetrator in the act, but they fled the scene before they could be caught. When asked, the caretaker would say that the student had been covered head-to-toe in black robes, with a hood disguising their face. Because the twins had been brewing a surprisingly flawless Alihotsy Draught in Potions under the careful eye of Professor Snape (who had, oddly, not been a victim of a single prank), they couldn't be blamed for the foam-filled Trophy Room.

~~~

"So, enjoying yourself, Fred?"

The redhead in question smirked slyly. "Why of course. This has been an epic birthday...Fred."

The doppelganger grinned and tossed out a set of black robes. "Go on then. George is distracting the others. Remember, Professor Snape is off-limits. Of all the Professors, he's the most likely to catch us in the act. He's the only one who knows about the potion, after all."

"Yeah, yeah. We just think you don't want anything to happen to your precious Professor."

Pseudo-Fred's cheeks flushed darkly. "Whatever, bet you can't top George's upside-down furniture one."

"Just watch me!" Fred boasted as the other exited the bathroom.

Polyjuice was delightful, wasn't it?