The First of April: A Tale of the Weasley Twins

April First

The first of April, while already a hot date for troublemakers and general mischief, was even more revered the fateful day a certain pair of redheaded twins first made their journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The boys were in their fifth year now, but the pranks the twins performed to celebrate their day of birth were the stuff of legend within the castle walls, and would remain so long after they had left. Of course, having a mass murderer on the run and possibly right outside the castle walls created a somewhat dangerous environment for Fred and George's general shenanigans, if not a fatal one for these particular pranks, which is perhaps why Professor McGonagall called the boys into her office on March 31st in an attempt to talk some sense into the duo. Even before they took their seats, McGonagall surveyed their eerily matching grins and felt, with little despair, that the entire ordeal was most likely hopeless.

As she listed the reasons they should consider their next actions and take in mind the wellbeing of their peers and professors, their grins gradually grew wider.

"Of course we would never do anything to prank anyone," Fred said, doing nothing to placate her already frazzled nerves.

"Honest, professor." George offered next.

McGonagall resisted the urge to pound her head against her desk, settling instead on giving out a long sigh and fixing the boys with a steely if exhausted glare. "I'm not going to lecture you anymore." she finally relented. "But know this, I will not hesitate to punish you both most severely if I hear even a whisper of trouble from either of you tomorrow."

Though the twins were generally talented at keeping a cool poker face under suspicion, McGonagall's death glare could stir fear into the heart of You-Know-Who himself and the boys, despite their best efforts, wilted slightly under her gaze. With the satisfaction that they had at least been warned, the Professor graciously excused them from her office.

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The early morning of April 1st was surprisingly dull, though Fred and George awoke to an almost empty dormitory. Their roomates, Lee Jordan excluded, knew better to wait around for Fred and George's annual birthday celebration to take place and had all evacuated the premises long before the twins had awoken. Lee Jordan, on the other hand, was anxious yet excited to see what the day would bring. The Weasley twins usually included Lee Jordan in their pranks, but planning for their birthday was usually a little bit more personal and Lee was understandably excluded.

The Great Hall was similarly empty, many students skipped breakfast altogether rather than risking indigestion, poisoning, and general unpleasantness that came from any meals that day. Several suspicious eyes were on Fred and George as they trekked to their seats at the Gryffindor table. Even after they began eating, conversation was few and untrustful glances were frequently thrown their way.

The morning classes were generally uneventful, unless one counted Flitwick toppling from his perch with a frightened squeak when George had a particularly loud sneeze, or Trelawney suddenly making a rather unkind prediction that little boys born in two's who tricked their teachers would meet a sticky fate.

After lunch, Hagrid discovered that he had misplaced his bucket of flobberworms, and during the hasty search Fred and George had been pulled into Filch's office and demanded to turn out their pockets in case they had nicked the flobberworms for a role in their eventual misdeeds. Filch's scrutinous search had proved pointless, however, and the missing flobberworms were eventually discovered to have been misplaced in Hagrid's considerable pumpkin patch. By that point, however, Professor Hagrid was such a wreck that the students were sent back to the castle half an hour early while Minerva consoled the sobbing half-giant.