The Wizard Neighbour
Waking up with the deadliest headache known to man was not something George wanted to experience. Yet when he opened his eyes, the light immediately forced them shut, and the it felt as if he’d bashed his head. But the pain didn’t stop. It got worse, second by second. George wanted to shout in irritation.
An unbearable minute later, he tried opening his eyes again, this time succeeding. Gracious Lord, where were they? He couldn’t remember a single thing. All he could recall was him and Percy arguing over which pub to go, nothing else- oh wait. Yea, he pieced together what happened.
But still… Where where they?
A groan. George turned his head towards the noise and saw his brother opening his eyes. It didn’t last for long, he shut them as fast as possible. George waited until Percy was capable of at least keeping his eyes open. When that happened, Percy immediately turned his head, and looked at his little brother.
‘George?’ he croaked out, voice sounding hoarse and weak. ‘What happened?’ he asked. His features softened, then hardened again. So, he wasn’t the only one in so much pain.
‘Think we’re hungover mate. Ever been hungover?’ George asked jokingly. Percy sighed.
‘Yea, I know we’re hungover, I’m not that oblivious, but where are we and how did we even get here in the first place?’ questions George himself didn’t know the answers to so he shrugged helplessly. Percy groaned once again. ‘Great’
The two of them looked in the direction of the noise they just heard. A creak. The door was opening. Percy began to feel his chest tightening, while George’s headache started to fade from the excitement. Someone they didn’t expect stepped in.
‘Tom?’ Percy breathed out, confused. Mentioned person waved, then set on the end of the bed the two were laying on. ‘How are we here? What happened?’
‘George called me’ said person’s eyebrows went up.
‘I did?’
‘Yup.’
‘How drunk was I?’
‘On a scale from one to ten? Definitely eleven’ George grinned, however Percy wasn’t pleased with the answer.
‘Still, how did you find the pub? It’s…’ he stopped, thinking of how to put it ‘… very hidden.’
‘Yea, from muggles’ Tom nodded, then watched as the two Weasley’s expressions went from confused to shocked.
‘You’re a wizard?!’ they exclaimed almost in chorus. Tom nodded once again, cracking a small smile.
‘Half-blood, knew there was something off about ya two! So my suspicions were correct. You guys are the Weasleys’ he chimed happily.
‘Well, part of the Weasleys’ George corrected. Tom rolled his eyes.
‘Fine, whatever, now eat this’ he gave both of them a painkiller potion, which they gladly accepted.
‘We don’t eat potions…’ Percy muttered, before chugging it down. George’s eye roll could almost be heard. Almost immediately, their cloudy minds began to clear, and the pain became a lot more bearable. They sighed in relief.
‘Great. You guys feeling better?’ Tom asked.
‘You can’t even imagine…’ George grinned, leaning back.
‘Thanks for bringing us home. Sorry for the trouble’ Percy said apologetically.
‘Yea, it caused some trouble. Some blokes wanted to beat the crap out of you. Said you provoked them’ the older Weasley’s face drastically lost colour.
‘What?! Me?’ he asked, unable to believe what he just heard. George sat back up, getting curious.
‘Well, these three blokes came to me, when I was dragging you out and told me you pissed them off with your constant teasing. Mate, you almost got beaten up’ Tom explained briefly, watching out in case Percy had decided to faint. However, George found it amusing judging by how hard he burst out laughing.
‘George! This isn’t funny! I could be in the hospital right now!’ Percy exclaimed, looking at his brother in disbelief. But he just laughed and laughed, looking like he just heard the joke of the week. Tom even cracked a smile. Percy turned towards him again, sheepishly. ‘Merlin, I am so so so sorry for that. Oh Lord, how can I make it up to you?’ Tom stared at him for a moment, then shrugged.
‘Well, you don’t have to. I really just wanted to hang with you guys today. Thought I could teach ya some muggle things, since you don’t seem like you know much’ Tom said and George’s eyes lit up.
‘Really?!’ Tom nodded. ‘You heard that Perce? We’re gonna hang out!’ he grinned.
‘Oh dear, thank you’ Percy smiled, still very polite. Tom nodded like it was no biggie, then grinned.
‘You ever played on a console?’
‘On a what?’ George tilted his head. Tom’s smile grew wider.
‘Oh mate, you’re gonna love this’
And that’s how they ended up learning the magic of a PS. George was immediately addicted, however Percy refused to play.
‘Oh come on Perce, just one single round! I promise it’ll be fun!’ his brother begged, desperately.
‘Yea…’ Percy laughed awkwardly. ‘No.’ Tom laughed, while George whined.
‘Why not Perce? Why don’t you wanna try it?’ he asked.
‘Because I suck at video games’ he muttered. George outright shook his brother by the shoulder.
‘How would you know if you’ve never played!?’
‘George stop!’
‘But really tho… Why would you assume that?’ Tom raised his eyebrows. Percy sighed and pushed his brother off of him.
‘I’ve played before’ he said, then added, after seeing some very confused faces ‘… with one of my friends. He showed me the basics, but it just made me realize gaming wasn’t for me.’
‘Wood?’ George asked. Percy nodded, sadly.
‘The Quidditch player?’ Tom interrupted. The two nodded. ‘Oh Gosh, sorry for your loss-’
‘It’s fine, let’s talk about something else!’ Perce grinned nervously. The two understood, then went on with playing.
After an hour of playing and talking altogether, they got to know each other better. For example, Tom shared how much he loved muggle culture and dreamt to be a taxi driver, since he thought cars were cool. He also said how much he adores fantastic creatures and told he had huge passion for them. He had a dedicated book from Newt Scamander himself. Tom was four years beyond Percy, so that’s why they never really got to know each other. Tom left along with Charlie, then travelled the country before the Wizarding War. When half-bloods were endangered, he hid along with some other half-bloods and made some good friends. After the battle, he finally became a cab driver and enjoyed every single bit of it.
‘What house were you in?’ George asked once again. He just had some many questions, but Tom was ready to answer them all. He loved talking about himself.
‘Hufflepuff. You know, Sprout’ Tom answered.
‘She was good, I liked her’ Percy remembered.
‘Who didn’t you like?’ George mocked, slightly raising his eyebrows.
‘Hahaha’ he rolled his eyes. ‘But for your information I despised Sybill’
‘Who didn’t despise that witch?’ they all laughed. Yea, Sybill and Divination, with her Seer powers and her misty talking. Only the naive ones fell into her trap of misbelief. They weren’t one of them.
‘She was very fond of predicting Harry’s death’ George recalled.
‘Each lesson’ Percy added.
‘She used to tell me and my mates about some dangerous animal that would kill us one day. Still didn’t happen’ Tom shrugged, cracking a smile.
After a moment of silence, George clapped his hands together.
‘Alright Tom! Mate, you know how much I love you right?’
‘Oh dear, what do you want?’
‘Can I drive your cab?’ a moment of silence.
‘What?’ Tom blinked.
‘Your cab. I want to drive it.’
‘George, are you crazy? You’ll crash it!’ Percy exclaimed, sharply.
‘Sure’ that surprised everyone, even George himself. However, his eyes immediately lit up.
‘Really?’ Tom shrugged.
‘Yea, why not? We’ll fix it if something happens’
‘We can’t fix it, if we’re dead!’ Percy screeched. George rolled his eyes.
‘Oh come on Perce, it’ll be fun! Please, just this once!’ his brother begged, and Percy just couldn’t say no. So he nodded weakly, already awaiting his death.
‘Great! I’ll get the keys!’
Yea, maybe this wasn’t a good idea. No. No, this was definitely not a good idea!
‘George!’ Percy screamed, grabbing the seat in front of him. Tom watched quietly, either of fear of pure amusement. They were long ahead the speed limit, going down the road like some crazy maniacs. Yea, this was most definitely not a good idea.
The voice of sirens hit their ears, blue and red light appeared in their vision. Oh no…
‘Fuck’ George voiced the three’s thoughts. Tom sunk deep into his seat, trying to remember the price of a speed ticket. Then suddenly, a pop, the wheel was grabbed, and George felt a huge weight on his lap. ‘Percy, what the hell are you doing?!’
‘Shut up and trust me’ he said sternly, and George had to be told no more. He sunk back, trying to give his brother as much space as possible. ‘Hang on!’ he shouted, then yanked the steering wheel, and they took a sharp left. Then another, then George didn’t know anymore, he was so lost in adrenaline, his pulse loudly pumping in his ears. The sirens were louder than ever, yet George didn’t see them anywhere.
‘Watch out, the bridge’s opening!’ Tom exclaimed, pointing in front of him, and surely it was. However, Percy didn’t stop, but stamped on the accelerator pedal. Percy drove onto the now opening bridge and the three waited for their fate. Suddenly, the car was in the air. Only for a brief moment, they thought they were surely gonna die. Then they landed, on ground, to the other side of the bridge.
‘WOOHOO!!!’ George shouted, flapping his arms in the air. Tom was also grinning from ear to ear. Percy let out a relieved sigh, then drove the car to safety. They quickly changed license plate, then sat back, and Tom drove them home.
The police stopped them once, but didn’t recognize them. Thank Merlin the car’s windows were tinted. At the apartment, they all burst out laughing.
‘Holy crap, this was so awesome!’ George jumped up, excitement still flowing in his veins.
‘I didn’t even know the cab can bare this speed!’ Tom said, partly shocked, partly amazed by the fact he just learned.
‘George, we’re never letting you in front of a wheel ever again’ Perce sighed, but you could see it in his eyes. Inside, he was laughing.
‘Yea yea, but Percy, that was so badass!’ George grinned, pushing Percy’s chair.
‘Oh dear, I enjoyed today. Thanks guys’ Tom wiped a tear, still giggling.
‘Yes, it was indeed’ Perce agreed.
‘You guys free on Friday?’ the two Weasley’s looked at each other.
‘Hell yea’ George said the two’s thought out loud.
‘Great, cause there’s still a lot you guys need to see!’ Tom said as a goodbye, then opened his door and went in.
Maybe living there wasn’t so bad.
“
‘Oh my Merlin, that was bloody brilliant!’ one wheezed, barely capable of breathing.
‘Dear, your brothers are something mate…’ another said, looking amused.
‘Clearly one of us’ third stated.
‘See? I told you. All Weasleys are troublemakers’ “