Chapter 4
Fred ducked into the train compartment, shutting the door behind him. Lee turned to him with a grin.
“How was your summer?”
“Oh, you know.” George said, sharing a look with Fred.
“Delightful.”
“Percy got married.”
“And ran off to Spain.”
“Harry was taken from the Dursleys and put on trial for underage magic”
“He got off though”
“And we’re three weeks behind on paperwork.”
“Delightful.” Lee deadpanned.
Fred cracked a wide grin. “Enough about us Lee Jordan! How was your summer?” He threw an arm around Lee’s shoulders. Lee grumbled, but didn’t throw him off.
“Oh, it was fine. No married older brothers, and all family friends are safely not on trial. I have a feeling that paperwork is about to be my problem though.”
“We would never!” George gasped, putting a hand to his chest.
Fred smirked. “Unless, of course, you’re offering?”
Lee rolled his eyes. “I thought Percy was helping you.”
“He is,” George agreed. He eyed the door, and Fred sighed.
“You can go find her, George.” He said tiredly.
George beamed. “I’ll be back before you know it.” He promised, before ducking out of the door. Fred realized his arm was still on Lee’s shoulders and dropped it awkwardly. Lee turned to eye him.
“What’s that about?”
“Angelina.” Fred grunted, plopping down on the seat.
Lee sat across from him and kicked his legs up to rest next to Fred. “No kidding? When’d that happen?”
“Officially? Over the summer. Unofficially? Last April..”
Lee whistled. “Been a minute. How do you feel about that?”
“Fine. Why wouldn’t I? My twin spends all his free time thinking about, talking to, or talking about a girl who used to be our mutual friend but now I really want to punch in the face.”
Lee stared at him. “Uh, I was talking more about the fact that you took her to Yule Ball, but let’s unpack that more.”
“Let’s not.” Fred decided. “Did you get my letter?”
Lee rolled his eyes but let Fred change the subject. “About the property in Diagon? Yeah, I checked it out for you.”
“And?”
Lee looked towards the ceiling, and when he looked back at Fred he had a massive grin on his face. “It’s perfect for what you’re looking for. Here, I took photos.”
Fred whooped, and Lee shuffled through his bag. They spent the next hour discussing the property, how Fred and George would buy it (investments from Harry and a loan from Percy, Bill, and Charlie), and finally how Fred and George’s products were coming.
“We got most of them lined up.” Fred tossed Lee a sketch for skiving snackboxes. Lee oohed respectfully.
“Did you bring any to Hogwarts?”
Fred shook his head. “Yeah, but Percy’s condition for helping us with paperwork was we didn’t test them on students. We’re hoping to hire a few people to test them over Christmas.”
“So you can’t open until next summer?”
“Probably next August.” Fred agreed. “Couldn’t open early anyway, Percy also made us promise we’d graduate.”
“What a buzzkill. How many restrictions did he put on you?” Lee groaned.
“Just those two.” Fred felt the need to defend his brother. “And they’re reasonable.”
“Yeah, if you have a stick up your ass.” Lee muttered. Fred scowled at him. “Right, sorry. So no testing until over break?”
“Not unless we can find non-students to do it at Hogsmeade. Or Charlie agrees.” Fred heard the compartment door open but didn’t look to see who it was. Probably George.
Lee glanced over, and then continued. “Not Bill?”
“Bill scares us.” It was George. He patted Fred’s legs. “Budge up.”
“Rude.” Fred shifted to make room for his twin, and peered around him to see Angelina and Alicia standing there. He felt a thrill of irritation run through him, but plastered a smile on and ignored it. “Hello Angelina, Alicia.”
“Since when have you called me anything but Angie?” Angelina demanded, sitting down next to George. Alicia sat across from her, greeting Lee with a smile.
“Since you started dating my brother.” Fred said promptly. “Hey, are you the quidditch captain this year?”
Angelina grinned. “Sure am! Will you be one of my beaters? Already asked George, but figured I should get you on board too.”
Fred smirked. “I dunno…”
“Dude.” George whacked him. Fred whacked him back.
“Yeah, I’ll be one of your beaters.”
“Perfect. Just need a keeper then.”
“Already got to your seeker?”
“My seeker will be my seeker whether he wants to be or not,” Angelina said darkly. George kissed the top of her head as the compartment exploded in laughter. The rest of the ride to Hogwarts passed relatively quickly, and before Fred knew it, they were pulling into the station and climbing into the creepy, riderless carriages.
“Who’s that?” Lee nudged him as they crowded into the Great Hall. Fred glanced across the head table to see a woman in a vomit-inducing pink cardigan.
“Dunno. Hideous cardigan though.” They both snickered as they sat down, George and Angelina across from them. Alicia was on Angelina’s other side, and next to Fred was Katie Bell.
“Good summer Fred?”
“Sure, Perce got married.”
Katie smiled brightly, and if Fred had known her a little less well he wouldn’t have known she was thinking of last June. “Good! How was the wedding?”
“Pretty. Audrey wouldn’t allow anything less.”
“Oh, I’m sure she wouldn’t. Where’d they have it.”
“Burrow.” Fred winced as a napkin nailed him in the face. “Excuse me, I have to go yell at my twin now.”
Katie giggled, but turned to speak with Alicia instead. Fred glared at George.
“What was that?” He hissed.
“Remember Harry’s description of his trial?” George hissed back. “Toad lady? All in pink?” Harry had, in Fred’s humble opinion, the best way of describing stuff. He never wanted to know what Harry thought of him.
Fred glanced at the head table. “You think that’s her?”
“Maybe,” George shrugged, and Fred studied the woman with interest. “Stop staring.”
“Right, sorry.” Fred jerked back to awareness as the first years came in. “Hey, I bet Gryffindor for the first one.”
“We don’t even know who it is yet.”
“Yeah, but I believe in my Gryffindor heart we’ll get the first one.”
“Hmm, sounds right.” George agreed. Lee snorted, and Angelina sighed.
“Oh, you two.” She said, fondly. Fred stuck his tongue out at her. She kicked him under the table, and he shut up as the Sorting Hat began its song. He was almost sad this was the last time he’d hear it sing, but then he was grateful, because the songs had gotten worse. Finally, the first first year stepped up. He cheered extra loud, because he was right. He was a Gryffindor
“How many are there?” Lee demanded softly, after the fourth sorting. Fred craned his neck.
“Loads. We might die of starvation.”
Lee groaned, and Fred entertained himself by poking him as the crowd of first years slowly thinned. Finally the last kid was sorted into Hufflepuff, and the feast could start. Fred stuffed himself to his heart's content, and then got very tired, and before long he was hoping the feast could end so he could go to bed. To his eternal disappointment, Dumbledore saw the need to make announcements again. Every year.
“Umbridge,” George said lowly after Dumbledore said her name. “Yeah, I think that’s toad lady.”
Fred was distracted from answering when the toad lady interrupted Dumbledore so she could talk to them like they were five. Fred had never been so offended, not even that one time Percy had implied that he didn’t know how to read and charmed all his books to read aloud to him. He and Lee shared bewildered looks.
“Did she just interrupt Dumbledore?” Lee asked.
Fred shook his head. “Forget that, is she still talking?”
“I’m going to skip so much Defense this year.” George said from across the table. He was speaking above a whisper, because there were maybe three people in the entire hall paying attention. Fred glanced down the table to confirm that yes, Hermione Granger was one of them. He’d get the important stuff off her later. Right now, Umbridge was reminding him too much of a 5th year Percy, before Percy had gotten interesting.
“She’s still talking.” Angelina said, echoing her boyfriend, a few minutes later. Fred shared a look of commiseration with George. “Good grief.”
“Merlin save us.” Fred muttered. To his immense relief, his prayer must’ve been heard, because the woman sat down and they were dismissed shortly after.
“Fred.” George reached across the table to swat him, barely concealed delight in his town.
“Ow, what?” Fred looked where his brother was pointing and found Ron struggling to shepherd first years. “This might be better than Lav Lav!” He said with delight. Lee snorted.
“Nothing is better than Lav Lav.” He started towards the tower, and Fred tumbled after him. Katie Bell came up alongside them.
“Did they stay together?” She asked.
Fred shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Probably not.” Lee said. “They were disgusting, we’d have seen it.”
“Hmm, good.” Katie said.
Fred turned to look at her. “Why? Interested in ickle Ronniekins?”
Katie gagged. “No. I have money on Ron and Hermione though.”
“Everyone does.” Fred said solemnly. Lee cackled, and Katie sighed.
“Yeah, I figured as much.” They followed the crowd of first years up to Gryffindor tower, and then finally they parted ways at the staircase. “Have a good night, boys.”
“You too.” Fred said, bounding up the staircase. He had never been so excited to go to sleep. He was pretty sure he would be out before his head hit the pillow.