Left Behind (A Fred & George fanfic)

4. A Christmas Snitch

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to thank you for reading this, it feels really good that people are actually listening to what I have to say. I also want to wish you all a merry and magical Christmas!

I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

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It was December 25, Christmas. The holidays at Hogwarts had started a few days earlier and the Weasley's and Potters had gone home to celebrate this time of year. They all gathered at Ginny and Harry's house, it had become a tradition over the years to celebrate Christmas there with the whole family, since their house was the only one big enough to host everyone. And, knowing that the family consisted of 26 people, you'd still be surprised it all fitted in one living room.

Harry and Ginny had decorated the whole house while the kids were still at school. There was a big Christmas tree (not as big as the ones at Hogwarts, of course) with shiny golden baubles,  silvery garlands, Christmas lights that changed colour and even real muggle candy canes. A little Santa danced on top of the tree and sang Christmas songs on the most inconvenient moments. The rest of the house was covered in strings, ribbons and Christmas wreaths.

The moment the Weasley's had arrived, James and Fred had enchanted the toilet. They'd charmed a toilet seat at Hogwarts so that every time someone flushed the toilet, snow began to fall down. Uncle Charlie was the first one to experience this and didn't have any hard feelings, he even complemented the two on their magic.

Soon everyone had arrived and was talking to each other, catching up with everything that happened lately. Fleur, Hermione and Angelina were complementing Ginny on the decorations. Charlie and Bill sat in the big armchairs in the living room, discussing a job Charlie lately had to do in Romania. Dominique – who had always shown a particular interest in dragons – listened closely, trying to understand what they were talking about. George and Ron watched carefully as Lily, Roxanne and Rose enthusiastically showed them all the Christmas presents they had been given. Victoire and Teddy were sitting in a corner, talking silently to one another, laughing occasionally. Harry had found his snitch somewhere in a drawer again and Albus and Hugo ran through the living room, trying to catch the little golden ball.

Basically, everyone was enjoying themselves and having a good time. Well... Almost everyone.

Uncle Percy was talking to James,  Fred and Louis about his 'Prefect achievements' and how all the teachers had been 'oh so proud' of him when he stayed at Hogwarts during the holidays to make sure the students didn't misbehave. Louis, with his blonde short hair and dark eyes, glanced at uncle Bill, his dad, with an annoyed look on his face. Fred and James took turns sighing to show how 'interesting' they thought prefects were. Of course uncle Percy didn't notice this and just chattered on and on.

"Did I tell you about the hard times during the opening of the Chamber of Secrets already?"

Fred tried to tell him he did, about 14 times at least, but Percy interrupted him immediately and began his story.

"The whole school was panicking, everyone was terrified. Some of the pupils even considered your dad" – he nodded towards James – "as the Heir of Slytherin!"

James raised an eyebrow, he'd probably read exactly the same in one of his History of Magic books – not that he ever read those.

"Anyway, Professor Dumbledore told the Head Boys and Girls to keep an eye out, we even had to guard the school during night time! Naturally, we were among the people who kept calm while these horrible events took place. I remember this one night when..."

James sighed again. He caught Fred looking at him and grinned. Louis stood up and walked, without saying a thing to uncle Percy, towards Hugo and Albus, who were still trying to grab the snitch.

It will be New Year's Eve before he's done talking! James thought. Looking around, he tried to find a way to escape this exaggerated historical monologue. He admitted he wasn't the most subtle or nicest person in this room, but walking away from uncle Percy without saying a word like Louis had done was a bit rude, even for him.

"... Professor McGonall called me in and told me I was doing a fine job. She even told me it was likely I would become a Prefect! Therefore, I already knew..."

"Ehm... I'm sorry to interrupt your highly interesting story," James said, "but I have to go... ehm... to the toilet!"

When Percy nodded and turned toward Fred to continue his story, Fred threw a look at James that screamed 'Traitor!'. James gave him a crooked smile in return and jumped up from his chair.

He walked through the hall, but didn't head to the toilet. He had thought of another prank he wanted to play and the toilet was the first and easiest excuse he had been able to come up with on the spur of the moment. He had thought of this joke some time ago, when he and Fred were walking through the castle at night, but he hadn't shared the idea with his cousin. He had to do this alone, so he thought. Of course this was because he wanted to impress Fred and maybe even uncle George, but he would never admit that.

He quickly tiptoed up the stairs into his room and grabbed the stuff he needed. Then he went to his father's office. He was already busy unpacking and setting up some articles from uncle George's shop when he saw one of the drawers of his dad's desk was open. Out of pure curiosity he looked into the drawer and saw a bunch of papers. Nothing special, really, and still something made James open the drawer further. He took out the papers and looked through them. Some letters from the ministry of magic – easily to recognize because of the crest –, a few cut out articles from the Daily Prophet, even some muggle mail. However, somewhere in the middle of the pile James found a yellowish folded piece of parchment with words written in a curly handwriting on it.

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," James read out loud, "are proud to present the Marauder's Map. What on earth is a Marauder's Map?"

He opened up the mysterious paper and what he saw blew his mind. It was a map, but that wasn't the first thing he noticed. He saw some parts of the map moving. Little dots, little footprints on the map were moving across the paper, carrying nametags.

As soon as he realized what he was looking at, James started to run downstairs. Halfway down the stairs, however, he changed his mind and hurried back upstairs. He collected all the things he had initially brought for his prank and took everything back to his room. The map he hid in a secret part of his closet (he had made this hiding place right after his first year at Hogwarts, just in case).

Then he ran downstairs again.

Back in the living room he rushed toward Fred, who had just caught Harry's snitch.

"Fred!" James whispered. "I have to show you something!"

Fred saw a look of amazement on James face he had never seen before and let the snitch go.

"Show me!"