Chapter 1
Despite the fact that summer was supposed to be one of the happiest times of the year, Ginny found herself quite upset. Upset at Rebecca, specifically.
Rebecca woke up every morning early, usually with the sun. Then she collected the mail, did any task given to her by Molly before she ate breakfast, and then helped clean the dishes. Fred and George matched her schedule and then, once all of their responsibilities were out of the way, they disappeared into Fred and George's room until the late afternoon.
The sound of explosions had become a regular occurence in the Burrow and, as concerning as this was, Ginny was more frustrated by the fact that Rebecca's daily rundown had set aside only a few minutes of conversation before bed.
Molly set her tea down one morning after the first month of summer had passed, knowing exactly who was bounding down the stairs at half past seven. "Rebecca dear, you do know you don't have to wake up so early, right?" Molly had asked before and she knew she would ask again.
"Yes!"
Molly smiled, no stranger to cheek. "I figured as much but I need to know if you're getting enough rest." Molly grew a little more serious. "Are you taking the potion every-"
"Every night." Rebecca thumbed through the post, hoping for a letter from Harry or Sirius. Neither had written, again. She and Harry hadn't been able to call as much as they had hoped due to Dursley interference, but they had been able to talk a little bit.
Molly stood with a sigh and headed towards the kitchen, ready for the day and all that it entailed. Rebecca followed and helped prepare the pancakes without asking or being asked. She had helped every morning before and would continue to until Molly told her not to, which Molly wouldn't.
"Breakfast!" Molly shouted up the stairs, the house coming to life at the word. Clothes were thrown on, elbows thrown to get to the sink to brush their teeth, footsteps pounding down the stairs. Molly insisted that the summer was not the be slept away--directly contradicting her insistence that Rebecca must sleep a little more--and found the perfect solution to keeping her children from lazing in bed all day: Breakfast was served at eight o'clock and that was it until dinner. If they didn't wake up, they made their own.
Molly, who knew her children very well, knew that they laziness fueled them as much as anything and saw them every morning as a result.
Fred and George grinned, far more awake than their brothers and sister who piled down the stairs and plopped at the table with their eyes still half-shut. Rebecca set the last glass of juice down at Fred's spot before noticing that she must have miscounted as one more spot needed a cup.
"One more?" Fred called over his shoulder, heading back to the kitchen.
"Yeah, I think!" Rebecca counted again, shaking her head. "I could've sworn I'd counted enough but-"
"This one's empty too." Fred said, raising his cup and drinking it all before setting it back down for more with a smile.
"Now I know I filled that one." Rebecca laughed.
Molly shooed Ron's hands away from the plate of pancakes as she walked down the hall with it, telling him to wait until they were on the table. Hands started reaching for food the second the bottom of the plate hit the wooden surface.
Rebecca picked at her first pancake absently, something nagging at her.
"Everything alright, dearie?" Molly asked, sipping from her cup.
Rebecca looked at her and shrugged. "It feels like I've forgotten something, I just don't know what." The phone rang and Rebecca's head shot up. "Bloody hell, it's Thursday! Harry's got the house to himself with the Dursleys out grocery shopping!" Rebecca stood up quickly, looking to Molly for permission to leave the table.
"Your language cancels out your manners, but go on." Molly laughed softly as Rebecca hurried from the room. "He'll only call back if you don't pick up."
"I can't believe I forgot the day, Harry!" Rebecca's speech ended abruptly and the chatter that had continued around the table ceased as they tried to hear what was being said. "Harry? No, I haven't been dreaming. I drink the tea with the-No, I never forget. Everyone makes sure of it. What's this about?"
Rebecca lowered her voice a little further, not wanting let Harry's business be known to everyone in the house. "Your scar? I remember how it hurt when-No, it hasn't bothered me, not lately at least. Have you asked Sirius? Yes, I think he would."
Rebecca felt Harry consider her opinion before adamantly refusing the idea. "Alright, alright, alright! I won't offer again, pissy pants." Rebecca asked if Harry had any plans for the day, frowning as he said nothing more than the usual nothing. "The match will be here soon, at least."
Rebecca nearly shouted into the phone as Harry mentioned off-handedly the one thing he meant to not tell her at all, to keep her from worrying. "A diet?!" The phone clattered against the wall as she tried to catch it. "How the hell are you on a diet? Why're you being punished because he's got to-Harry, I'm warning you right this second: If you look even one ounce lighter when we come get you, I will commit triple homicide."
There was a pause in the one-side of the conversation they could hear. "I'm not kidding, Harry! Take care of yourself, okay? Yes, I want to know everything." The soft click of the phone being hung up was immediately followed by it ringing again. "Yes, Harry? I love you, too! Okay, bye!"
Molly found that the children had all acted as if they had conversed through Rebecca's absence, though Molly didn't stoop to such games. "Harry well?"
Rebecca furrowed her brow, taking a bite of her breakfast as she tried to word her answer. "He said his scar has been bothering him, but I think it's probably just something completely explainable?"
"Are you telling me or asking me?" Molly teased before reassuring her worries. "I'm sure it's nothing."
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Ginny's frustration overflowed into anger the next evening. Rebecca had spent even longer in Fred and George's room, the three of them only emerging from the noise that night for supper...covered in soot. Molly tutted, exceedingly curious as to what they were going to say they were up to as the answer changed daily.
"Do we even need to form the question?" Arthur enquired, raising an eyebrow as he prepared himself.
"We decided we'd make a creature like the first healer, Victor."
"Oh really?" Arthur guaffed from his spot. "And how did that turn out for you?"
"We'll probably take tomorrow, too." George said with a sheepish grin.
Ginny's face soured further, much to the notice of Molly. "What about you, Percy? You've been upstairs quite a lot these days." Molly remarked, turning the conversation from the topic of Fred, George, and Rebecca's activities.
Percy spent the rest of dinner talking about the chart he had been making to track the Ministry of Magic's travel-related expenditures according to the finance section of the Daily Prophet.
"Is that for school, love?" Molly followed up with, confused but supportive.
"No." Percy said confused. "It's for fun." The answer was obvious to him.
"Oh, of course!" Molly tried to sound as excited as he had. Clearing their dishes with a wave of her wand, the kids cheered at their speedy dismissal.
"Wait, wait!" Arthur called, raising his hand up and glancing out the window. "This was an early supper, it's still light out. How many of you stepped outside today?" The silence was an overwhelming response. "That's what I thought. Get on outside! Fresh air is necessary, children!"
Ginny grabbed her broom from where Fred and George had begun to hand them out, rushing for the door and leaving without a word.
"What's her problem?" Ron asked, sitting on his broom in the house.
Molly walked by him and clipped him up the head. "Feet on the floor in the house, Ronald."
Ron settled his feet back on the floor with a grumble, walking to the back door with heavy footsteps.
"Rebecca, dear," Molly asked from the kitchen. "Stay a moment, will you?" Rebecca leaned her broom against the wall by the door and hopped onto one of the seats next to the counter. "I noticed Ginny was upset at supper tonight."
"She was?" Rebecca asked shocked. She had been preoccupied with running the numbers on the ration of a recipe that refused to cooperate and had found that Percy's droning had been the perfect noise to distract herself from any other thoughts.
"Yes, I believe so." Molly sighed. "I can't even begin to fathom what you three are doing up there, but perhaps you should make sure you're not ignoring everything else. Just a suggestion, might make for a happier room between you two."
Rebecca hadn't meant to upset Ginny, not in the slightest. "I understand." Rebecca grabbed her broom and jumped into the air the second her feet had cleared the doorway, racing to get to the others.
Arthur followed Molly out into the garden, wrapping his arms around her from behind and setting his chin on her shoulder. "Always know what's going on, don't you?"
"Just not what those beasties do up in that room all day."
Arthur pecked his wife's cheek, trying to derail the conversation from heading directly for her many theories. "Maybe they're just blowing things up." Arthur changed the subject entirely. "I wanted to run something by you about the World Cup. I was thinking, purely for the aunt and uncle's comfort, we should write to them through the Muggle mail system. Again, for them."
"Mhmm." Molly gave him a knowing look. "And this has nothing to do with you wanting to go to a 'posting office?'"
Arthur gave her a look of shock. "Of course not!" He was quiet a moment. "But what an excellent idea!"
"What am I going to do with you?" Molly laughed, the two of them settling in to watch the silhouettes of soaring children on broomsticks against the setting sun.
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Arthur and Molly let the children stay out long after the last vestiges of the evening light had faded, only insisting that their time was up when Ron collided into the goal post. The children were bathed and in bed within the hour, tuckered out from such hard play after a hard summer's day.
Molly and Arthur went room to room to tuck them all in, kissing foreheads and wishing good nights as they went. Molly found Rebecca and Ginny's room to be filled with Ginny rattling off all the things that they were to do together the next day and smiled. Normally, Rebecca's tuck ins included a reminder about the drops of sleep-derivative Madam Pomfrey had sent home, but that night Molly had forgotten.
Perhaps it was because she was thinking about other things, perhaps it was because Rebecca was praying that she wouldn't. If Molly had reminded her, Rebecca knew that there was no way she would be able to convincingly lie and say she had--Molly was too good at reading her and Rebecca was too bad at lying.
But Rebecca had had an itch about the scar pain Harry had mentioned and she had a theory, one that needed testing to see if it was true. "I'm only going to not drink it for one night, see if I dream anything like Harry did. One night won't hurt anybody."
Little did she know.
Hours later, the house long asleep around her, Rebecca was pulled into one of the middle realms of the unconscious world. She noticed right away that she was looking at an old house exactly like Harry had said. A large, old house.
Rebecca's vision faded before coming back in crystal clear, surreal quality. She was now in side the house. There was a raspy voice speaking that sparked an anger in her unmatched by anyone else, Peter Pettigrew's voice.
"Master, you are growing stronger every day but you are not ready for that!"
"You dare tell your master what he is capable of?" The threatening tone of the responding voice was overruled by the fit of violent coughing that followed. "Blast, you may be right." Something moved at Rebecca's feet and when she looked down, she found that her legs were not her own. Rebecca moved without choice away from the slithering creature, catching a glimpse of 'herself' in a dirty mirror hanging on the wall opposite whoever she was watching through.
A withered, frightened old man stared back at her.
"Nagini whispers of a muggle outside, eavesdropping." The weak voice said.
The body that Rebecca was watching through moved to go back down the stairs that he had come up through, though not before speaking. "I'll ring the police and tell 'em that you're here! This is private property!" The old man's voice wavered, betraying his fear. Something was off about these strangers, something he could feel in his bones.
The door was thrown open, Peter grabbing the man by the shoulder roughly and forcing him into the room. Rebecca's heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. The thing speaking from the chair was the size of a small child, though it's body was free of hair. It's eyes were a striking, terrifying red and it's nose was reptilian.
It was Voldemort, alive again.
"It seems we are not entirely alone this evening, Wormtail. Again." Voldemort scowled. "I do hate being watched, you know. It simply...drives me mad." His scowl faded into an evil smile before he hissed at the snake. Nagini coiled her body, ready to pounce, before lunging at the old man's face. Her fangs sunk into his flesh and his screams were the last thing Rebecca heard before she shot up in her bed, in her body.
Her scar burned as if it were on fire, her body coated in a sheen of sweat. Nausea rolled through her body violently.
Ginny, awoken by the movement, sat up in her bed nervously. "You didn't drink your tea, did you?"
Rebecca didn't say anything, unable to answer as she hadn't heard her speak. "If that wasn't the future, what was it? If that wasn't the future, what was it? If that wasn't-" Her mind was echoing the same question over and over, overlapping her words until there was nothing comprehensible and her thoughts were filled with nothing but noise.
Ginny went to stand just as Rebecca darted from the room, the sound of sickness coming from down the hall as Ginny went to get Molly.
Rebecca drank from the faucet of the bathroom and brushed her teeth, bringing the cold water to her face to try and cool herself. Sitting on the edge of the tub, she wrung her towel in her hands and tried to retrace her steps through the strange dream. There was the old house, Voldemort, the snake, Wormtail, the old-
Rebecca's scar twinged and she held her hand to the damned thing tightly.
"Rebecca?" Molly's voice sounded out from the doorway. "Ginny grabbed me, said that you were ill."
Rebecca stood up, shaking her head. "I feel fine; Better already. Think that did the trick."
Molly tutted over her all the same, bringing her back to bed and waiting until Rebecca's eyes were heavy with sleep again to leave.
"I didn't say anything." Ginny said from across the room. "About the dream or the tea."
"Thank you." Rebecca withstood the pull back to what she knew would be a dreamless sleep. "I-I had to test something."
"And?" Ginny asked. "What was the result?"
Rebecca answered honestly. "I don't know."
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Rebecca was woken up by the sun streaming in through their window, the sun that was high in the sky. The clock read half twelve as Rebecca raced down the stair, wondering why no one had woken her up.
"Slow down!" Molly scolded from the front of the house. "Slow down before you break your neck!"
Rebecca only slowed down when she reached the entryway to the room with Molly's desk where Molly sat with her reading glasses down at the end of her nose and the Hogwarts' letters that had arrived early that morning spread out around her--The annual compiling of the shopping list was a dreaded, but necessary task.
"Why didn't anyone wake me up?" Rebecca panted.
"Because it's summer holiday and I told them not to." Molly answered as if it were clear for all to see. "You were up late and clearly needed some rest! There's still plenty of the day left, don't fret."
Rebecca nodded, still disappointted to find that the day was already nearly half-gone. There were only so many out of the year that she was able to spend at home; Wasting so much of one seemed just that--a waste.
"Ginny's waiting for you out back!" Molly looked up from her numbers as she realised which child she was calling to. "And eat something before you play!"
Molly returned to the words on each letter that sent a little smile to her face, especially with the requirements included afterwards, "Hogwarts will be a part of a monumental, historic tradition this year as the host of a..."
Rebecca laid out the bread and jam she needed for a sandwich, taking the care she liked to have the jam even but not near the sides. Two sets of footsteps clumped down the stairs and angry voices followed.
"You can be so dense!" George hissed at Fred, scowling.
Fred looked around the bottom of the stairs to make sure no one he didn't want to hear about what they were up to was around. "Oh yeah? Come back to me when you've solved this without my input--Call me dense then." '
"There's a plate in the oven, you know." Fred's cheeks seemed to burn a shade lighter as he turned his attention to the only person who would be allowed into their argument. "Set some breakfast aside for you."
"Took the best bacon and everything." George muttered, jumping onto the counter and slapping jam onto a piece of bread without care.
Fred pulled the plate out and set it next to her sandwich, giving her the option to pick from both plates. "Mum said you were ill last night. Are you feeling better?"
Rebecca kept her attention on the lunch in front of her. "Yeah, I feel fine. Probably just a one-time thing."
Fred nodded, feeling like something felt off about her answer but not able to narrow down what exactly it could be.
"What are you two fighting about?" Rebecca brought up a new topic.
"We can't get the bloody ton-tongues to stop growing before they'd been eaten."
Rebecca considered the problem for a moment. "The delayed-reaction ingredients didn't change anything?"
Fred sighed. "Not quite. The batch from yesterday just started growing sometime in the night instead of immediately after packaging."
Rebecca chewed on the issue while she ate her put-together meal. "What if-"
"I swear if you answer this I'll-" George would have liked to be angry, but the possibility of a solution to their first fully-completed product made him eager.
"How do the wafers work?" Rebecca asked, ignoring George's remark. "Heat. They dim hearing once they've met the heat of the person's mouth. So what we need to do is add the heat sensitivity to the already made candies so it doesn't activate while it cooks."
"That's what I thought!" Fred shook his head sadly. "Problem is that the potion for the heat sensing is horrid and only tastes better when it's mixed into the sweets."
"So let's make the sweets cold." Rebecca said matter-of-factly, eliciting a heavy silence from the boys.
George jumped off the counter and made as if he were going to run up the stairs. "Why did I know you'd help! Let's go try it!"
Rebecca ate the last of the plate Fred had saved for her and went to wash it. "I can't."
"You can't? You just woke up after sleeping all morning, what do you mean you can't?" George held the bridge of his nose as if Rebecca were giving him a headache.
"I told Ginny I'd spend some time with her today since I've been monopolised by you two so far all summer!" Rebecca answered, drying her plate and putting it away.
"I will remember this." George said ominously, walking up the stairs backwards so he didn't have to break the stare he'd started with Rebecca until he turned the corner.
"Remember what?" Rebecca laughed with Fred, he still lingering around the kitchen. "Having to brew your own potion? Good!"
Fred picked up Rebecca's mug, looking in and finding it undrunk though prepared. Dumping it into the bin and giving it a rinse, he couldn't quite look at her. "Were you careful?"
"Of course." Rebecca answered defensively.
"Are you going to drink it tonight?" Fred's tone had no edge, no anger. There was only concern.
"I was only-"
"You don't have to tell me." Fred said quickly. "I know you had a reason, you had to have."
Rebecca leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "Yes, I am going to drink it tonight."
Fred put her mug back into the cupboard and went to the stairs, looking back at her for a moment before continuing up without saying another word. Rebecca ran her hands through her hair, trying to wipe the entire encounter from her mind before she ended up soiling her time with Ginny.
"No!" Rebecca cried out, flopping onto the sun-warmed grass dramatically.
"You said anything I wanted to do." Ginny's tone was devious. "And that means annihilating you at wizard's chess!"
Rebecca pushed herself to her feet and took the other side of the table. "You know that I'm rubbish."
"Yes, it makes you easy to beat." Ginny regretted her choice of activity after the third time Rebecca asked which direction a piece could move. "Those move one and then two or two and then one. Like I said already."
"Can I just move it three?" Rebecca negotiated, raising an eyebrow and slowly sliding the piece where she wanted it to.
"Want to go for a ride?" Ginny asked after letting a heavy sigh go.
Rebecca was on her feet instantly. "If we're done with chess, yes."
"Yes, we're done." Ginny laughed loudly as they tore off with their homemade pitch as their destination. "You're hopeless!" They threw the quaffle between them as they went, continuing to play into the evening.
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Upstairs, George was growing exhausted with dragging Fred's attention to what was in front of them. "FRED!"
"What?" Fred asked, pulling his attention from the window where he could see Rebecca zipping through the air to catch every throw of Ginny's. Occasionally, Fred had noted, Rebecca would go beside Ginny and they'd talk for a moment before Rebecca would mime a different motion and then both girls would return to their original positions.
After every pause, Rebecca would cheer for Ginny as the quaffle was more precisely thrown.
"Could you, if it wouldn't bother you too much," George's cheek was gaining strength at the fact that Fred didn't seem to think his absence was a reason to be upset. "GIVE ME SOME HELP HERE?!"
Fred stood and stretched, giving the sight outside the window one last glance before settling onto their bedroom floor next to George's muttering.
"Staring out the goddamn window like a fool, no help, bloody nuisance who-"
"What do you want me to do?" Fred asked.
"First, I'd like you to pull your head out of your arse. Then..."
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Red-faced and dripping in sweat, Rebecca and Ginny returned to the Burrow just as dinner was being set on the table. Arthur congratulated them on their timing. Arthur, extremely excited as he was, spent most of the time his family was gathered around him talking about the Muggle post office he would be going to the next day.
"Speaking of!" He said loudly. "Rebecca, I was wondering if you'd like to help me a moment. I grabbed the stamps--their way of paying for postage--from a colleague in the Muggle society division and I've already drafted the letter. All that's left is packing it up!"
"Sure!" Rebecca loved the idea. Ron and Ginny, bored at the task and the conversation, asked to be excused as Fred and George, in trouble for targeting Percy, started dishes.
Arthur led Rebecca into his office and held the envelope for his letter proudly. Right in the middle, he had penned: Harry Potter, The Dursleys, Surrey. Rebecca pursed her lips, fighting a smile. "What? Is something wrong? I've brought extras just in case."
Rebecca sat in the chair and Arthur leaned over her, watching as she wrote on a fresh envelope. "It's a job in the Muggle world to deliver letters, called being a postman. They need the building number and street name, not just the location of the receiver."
Arthur oohed and ahhed, finding the very idea of delivering every letter in the world as a job. "And what about the stamps? How many do we need?"
Rebecca picked up the sheet of stamps and frowned. "I'm not entirely sure. I've never sent a letter without owl before. Do you want me to write to Hermione? She's on holiday, so it'd take a few days, but she'd know for certain."
"No." Arthur sighed. "Muggle mail can take upwards of a week, sometimes more! We've got to get this posted if they're to receive it before we're supposed to go get Harry for the match."
"Go to the Dursleys?" Rebecca asked with a face.
"I know, I know." Arthur gave her a smile tinged with sadness. "But we mustn't cause trouble because it'll only create issues for Harry, right?"
"Right." Rebecca looked at the stamps again. "I think we're supposed to use them all. Why else would they sell them in sheets of fifteen?"
"Exactly!" Arthur began sticking with her, filling the front of the envelope. "That's precisely what I was thinking."
Rebecca left the room to prepare for bed, finding her tea made and waiting for her on the kitchen counter. Rebecca sipped at it lightly, comforted by the warmth. "Thanks, Fred." She called over her shoulder, only remembering that he couldn't have read her mind and heard the thanks before she started climbing the stairs.
"How'd she know I didn't make it, huh?" George asked Fred, angrily washing the dishes by hand. His mood wasn't helped by the fact that the scrub brush did not appreciate being put out of commision.
Fred rolled his eyes. "I have no idea, George. Probably only left you out to piss you off."
"Yeah, yeah." George nodded. "That's just like her."
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Rebecca found that there was one more letter that required her attention before she could go to sleep that night, though it wasn't a bother. The shower was occupied and writing to Sirius gave her something to do while she waited. Continuing to sip at her tea, Rebecca began to write.
Sirius,
Please don't mention that I'm writing about any of this to Harry. I don't know if he'll write you himself, but he seemed pretty adamant that he didn't want to worry you--I'd like your thoughts though.
He rang me yesterday and asked if I'd been continuing to drink my tea before bed, wanting to know if I'd had any weird dreams. I had been drinking it every night but...I didn't last night. There was something about his dream that he hadn't told me, something he was leaving out and I could feel it. I felt like there was something more so I decided to see if I was right.
I was.
It was pretty much as Harry had described it: Old house, old man, giant snake. But Harry hadn't ever mentioned seeing Voldemort. I don't know if he kept it from me because he thought I couldn't handle it, or if he didn't see him, or something. But all the same, it was frightening. I woke up with my scar on fire, ended up ill.
I'm just letting you know what's been going on in the mental-department as you asked. If you ever get sick of my prattling, please tell me. I can write too much sometimes, though Fred says I'm just "descriptive." All the same, I can see how it could grow tiring.
Speaking of Fred and George, the works coming along great! The ingredients you sent us last time have been perfect: We'll have another idea done before summer's out and then we'll be able to get anything else through Hogsmeade.
Rebecca let out a massive yawn, listening to see if the shower was empty yet so she could go to bed. She hadn't meant to drink the entirety of her tea, not when it left her so sleepy.
I've got to finish this up now. I've already had tonight's tea (which I will not be going without, obviously) and I will fall asleep on this paper if I don't seal it up. I hope you are doing well and have found a nice place to be as things settle down.
Love,
Rebecca
Rebecca yawned again and looked down at herself. There was no way she could forgo a shower, not after an afternoon of quidditch. Packing up her letter and setting it on her night table to go down to Errol in the morning, Rebecca threw pajamas on her bed and went down the hall to wait as someone else jumped into the bathroom the second it was free.
Rebecca put her back to the wall and found herself slouching lower and lower until she was sitting on the floor with her head drooping being the shock that woke her up only to do it again moments later. She was asleep within minutes, deeply.
This was made clear to Fred as he opened the door to the bathroom and found her unresponsive to him trying to shake her shoulder and tell her the bathroom was free. Leaving his dirty clothes behind, Fred grabbed an extra sheet from the closet and went to Rebecca and Ginny's room.
"What?" Ginny asked, confused as to why Rebecca would knock before entering their room.
"RJ's gone and fallen asleep in the hall." Fred explained, laying out the sheet over Rebecca's bed. "I'm going to bring her back to bed, this is so her sheets aren't dirty."
Ginny sniggered as Fred lined the sheet up perfectly. "She's asleep, Fred. I don't think she'll notice that the corners are perfect."
Fred shot her a warning look, telling her not to say anything else on the subject. Fred pushed the door open all the way on his way out and went back to Rebecca. One arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees, Fred found her almost easy to lift. Deeply unconscious was an aiding factor, though.
Nearing her bed, Fred lay her down gently. He slid her glasses off and placed them on the bedside table, eyeing the letter addressed to Sirius curiously. Covering her with a blanket before looking over his work, Ginny found the need to tease him again too strong to withstand.
"You done or gonna kiss her good night too?"
Fred turned around and put his hands on his hips. "Tell anyone about anything and I'll make sure everyone in Gryffindor Tower--make that the castle--knows about how much you loved playing quidditch as a toddler...naked."
Ginny stuck her tongue out at him. "Plain rude that is. Absolutely uncalled for and rude." She rolled onto her side and put her back to Fred.
Fred waited to see if Ginny would turn back before facing Rebecca one more time. Turning off the lamp beside her bed, Fred brushed the hair off her forehead and left a gentle kiss as his thumb grazed against the very lightning scar legends were told about.
Standing up and going to leave, Fred saw that Ginny was grinning madly. "You. Naked. Quidditch."
The looming threat was enough to lessen Ginny's smile, but nothing could have taken it away completely.
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Very little of extreme mention happened between then and time to get Harry. The next morning, Arthur apparated he and Rebecca to a Muggle post bin and back. The days took on a new routine for Rebecca, one that didn't let prank-making have her every hour.
She, Fred, and George devoted their mornings to working on ideas and prototypes the best they could without magic or more ingredients. Then Ginny got the afternoons, usually with Ron tagging along. Then it was time for dinner and family time until bed and then the cycle repeated itself.
Days passed quicker and quicker, summer passing alongside them. The day Arthur had coordinated with the Dursleys to get Harry had finally come, to Rebecca's relief. She and Harry talked as much as they could on the phone, but it wasn't the same as having him with her and his feelings matched hers entirely.
"Let's go, boys!" Arthur called up the stairs. Fred, George, and Ron had all planned on going with the fetching party but were taking their time to get ready.
Rebecca fluttered around the downstairs impatiently. "What's taking them so long?" She asked, craning her neck to peek around Arthur as if the boys' reasons was behind him.
Molly smiled and motioned for Arthur to comfort her.
"They'll be down in a few minutes, I know you're excited." Arthur pulled Rebecca into a hug, patting her back.
"I was excited." Ginny said sourly. "Still don't know why I can't go."
"You know exactly why you can't go!" Molly chided. "If you wanted to that badly, you shouldn't have shoved that chess piece up Ron's nose!"
Molly and Ginny launched into the same argument they had been having ever since Molly forbade Ginny from going with the others to get Harry--Arthur and Rebecca migrated towards the front room to wait by the fireplace and to escape the conflict.
Though it took a few more minutes, the others eventually joined them and were ready to go. Even more so were the boys eager to get going as the argument between Molly and Ginny spilled into the hall.
"Shall we go?" Arthur urged, holding the pot of Floo powder out to them in turn. Rebecca was still incapable of standing in one place, squirming in what Arthur would relay to Molly later rather funnily. "Alright, you go on before you combust." Arthur shooed Rebecca towards the fireplace with a smile.
"Number four Privet Drive!" Rebecca commanded as she threw the powder at her feet and felt the light and warmth surround her. Her arrival wasn't met with the gasps of shock she was expecting but instead a crash and a boom that seemed to shake her very being.
Arthur, right behind Rebecca, looked around at the destruction--The smoke climbing into the air and the flames beginning to climb out of the grey box the two of them and the boys coming in had come out of--and Arthur was nearly speechless. "How...did.."
Rebecca was startled out of her frozen confusion as the fire leapt from the box to the curtains, taking one of the pillows from the chair beside her and beating the flames down before more could catch. George was the last one to floo in, giving Arthur the chance to use his wand and remedy the entire situation before accidentally blocking the entrance of a traveling son.
Soon enough the only trace of the damage was the faintest small of smoke in the air and a plum-faced, furious Vernon. Arthur did his best to calm the latter.
"Mr Dursley!" Arthur finally raised his voice over the uncle's. "I apologise for such an entrance. However, we were entirely unaware you're fireplace was...well, whatever this is."
Petunia's thin neck supported her equally thin head as she poked it out from around her rotund husband. "It's electric, newest model."
Harry had had his trunk packed and ready for days and, beside Rebecca, tried his best to smooth any tension out before they got back to the Burrow. "You can't even tell anything happened now." Directing Rebecca's attention to a spot on the wall that looked the same as everywhere else. "Even the hole from where Dudley punched the wall is gone."
Petunia grabbed a plate of biscuits from the kitchen and brought them into the living room, not wanting any passing neighbours to be able to say she was an ungracious hostess. Petunia had to slap Dudley's fingers away from the snacks.
Dudley scowled as the Weasleys all took one to be polite. Harry relishing the ability to torture his torturer, ate his slowly and went for seconds.
Arthur thought that Vernon had had them sit down to hear their plans once more, to make sure that the Dursleys would know where Harry was in case they were worried. Running through their itinerary, Arthur found that Vernon was listening but not hearing a word.
"Yes, yesh." Vernon waved the conversation away. "World cup and all. I have only one question. What is the meaning of this?" He slapped an envelope onto the table in front of the couch, face turning red again.
"That's our letter!" Rebecca realised, curious as to what the issue could be.
"We thought you might appreciate a letter through Muggle mail, to show that we are respecting your ways." Arthur answered proudly, seemingly oblivious to the rudeness Vernon was exhibiting.
"The stamps!" Vernon spat, his face nearly passing from red to purple again.
"What's with them?" Rebecca asked, leaning forward from where she was sitting crammed between Fred and Harry.
Vernon stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. He couldn't reason with people of this sort. "Don't come back for Christmas, boy. We'll be in Barbados with Marge."
Harry nodded, not sad at all to hear that he wouldn't be returning to the Dursleys until the end of the school year. He dragged his trunk over towards the fireplace before Arthur glanced at the machine nervously.
"We've seen what happens with that, haven't we." Glancing back at the other children, Arthur made an announcement. "We'll have to side-along individually. Ready Harry?" Arthur and Harry were gone with a pop.
Petunia let out a gasp and clutched at her heart, almost as if there were anything inside that could have skipped a beat in shock. She looked around the room nervously as if Arthur would poke out of the walls to startle her.
Rebecca cleared his throat, glancing at the 'fireplace' once more. "Newest model, huh?"
Vernon launched into a tirade every salesman dreamed of, touching on all of the technical parameters of their newest convenience. Apparently, it could even emit a slight smokey smell when turned on.
Ron thought for a moment. "So it warms you like fire, lights the room like fire, and smells like fire. Where does the electrical part come in?"
There was a tense silence as Vernon realised he had no answer.
"Well," Petunia said, fearing her husband's explosion. "It plugs in."
Arthur reappeared and called for Ron, bringing another jump and a yelp from Petunia as they disappeared once more. George leaned forward to take another biscuit, a crinkle coming from his pocket that sent Dudley's head spinning around to find the source.
Fred nudged George, nodding his head to Dudley's narrowed-in gaze at the two of them. "Is this a good idea?"
"Why not?" George countered. "Take notes for e."
Arthur reappeared and called for Rebecca, though George hopped to his feet. "I'll go, sorry." George looked mock-embarrassed. "Got to use the toilet." Only Dudley stared as a something bright fell out of his pocket as he walked across the living room. Taking George's arm, Arthur was gone once more.
Dudley scooped the candy up from where it had fallen next to the table in seconds and had the sweet in his mouth only seconds after that. The results were instantaneos.
First, Dudley was aware that his tongue was tingling softly, the end sticking just out of his mouth on its own. His mouth felt smaller and smaller as his tongue grew and grew. When his tongue hung below his chin, he realised he needed to scream and couldn't.
Arthur came back for the second-to-last-trip to find chaos once more taking place in the Dursleys' living room. "BOYS!" Arthur shouted, realising only one half of the duo he was shouting at was present. "I am so sorry! I can fix this!"
Vernon stood in front of Dudley, roaring. "NO MAGIC! NO MAGIC IN MY HOUSE!"
"Please, Mr Dursley!" Arthur pleaded. "I can fix this right now!"
"NO-"
"Oh my boy!" Petunia wailed, holding Dudley to her chest as he continued to panic. "My big Duddy-Wuddy cursed!"
Arthur shot a look at Fred that could have degnomed the garden. "It's not a curse. I'm afraid it's a prank, a joke. Please, let me fix this so we can leave."
"How long's it been, Fred?" Rebecca asked quietly, not wanting Arthur to hear them talking business.
"Minute, minute and a half." Fred answered, keeping count.
Rebecca's jaw dropped. "His tongues got to be nearly two feet long!"
"That's the goal." Fred gave her a cheeky smile. "A foot a minute you said, right?"
"You brought the antidote piece, didn't you?" Rebecca asked, her smile fading at the panicked look on Fred's face. "Didn't you?"
"I didn't bring this piece!" Fred whispered. "George did but now he's gone home!"
Vernon finally stepped to the side and let Arthur look at Dudley head on. The boy's tongue was so heavy that Petunia's thin frame trembled with the effort of supporting him. With a single wave of his wand, Dudley's tongue shot back into his mouth like a measuring tape.
"Don't do anything." Arthur warned Rebecca, taking Fred by the arm and disappearing as quickly as he could.
Vernon eyed her warily, Petunia busy making sure Dudley was back to normal. "Shouldn't have expected anything less." Vernon crossed his arms. "Invited freaks into my home and got a-" Arthur reappeared just as Vernon went to finish his sentence. "-freakshow."
"A what?" Arthur asked, his voice taking on a dark tone. "What were you just saying?"
Vernon stammered an answer, a lie.
"So you weren't calling my family something horrible?" Arthur double checked, knowing the truth already. "I think you're lying. Rebecca? Do you have anything to add?"
Rebecca shook her head, enjoying the fearful, pleading look in Vernon's eyes. "No, it's alright. We don't need to do anything." Rebecca waited one moment longer before going to take Arthur's outstretched arm. "I'll be letting our godfather know. He'll handle it by-well, you'll see..."
Arthur and Rebecca were sucked into the tube of space and time that was apparating to the sound of Vernon letting out a strangled, shrieking "NOOOOO!" When they both opened their eyes as their feet landed on the solid ground just inside the hall of the Burrow, they found a stormy, raging Molly and a grinning Harry.
"That's what you three have been doing up there all summer?" She shouted. "Making pranks? It's done! You're done! Closed! Shut down!" Molly showed no signs of stopping. "I will not have three hooligans with a reputation that's been ruined before you're even out of school!"
Molly looked to Arthur for support. Arthur looked at the three of them in turn, disappointment clear on his face. "Children, that was very, very naughty of you. I expected more from you." He glanced back at Molly to see if he had scolded them enough, causing her to roll her eyes and turn her attention back to the vandals.
Harry had gravitated over to where Ron and Ginny were watching-but-pretending-not-to-be, Ginny and Ron hardly containing their laughter that begged to be released from them int he howls of hysteria.
"Really Fred and George?" Molly began to work herself down, nearly ready to assign punishment. "It's one thing to do this to yourselves, but it's another entirely when you're dragging one who's younger than you down too."
"Ton-Tongue Toffees were her idea!" George whinged.
"They're not dragging me down!" Rebecca was surprised anything had come out of her at all, let alone nearly a shout. No matter how much she had grown, not enough time had passed for her to have forgotten what accompanied screaming adults. "It was my idea to try the sweet on Dudley anyway! "
Fred and George glanced at each other discreetly, confused. She hadn't even known they were going to try the toffee on him.
"I thought you had more sense than that." Molly said in a low voice. "Go upstairs, all three of you."
Rebecca, as usual, was between Fred and George as they marched up the stairs. Fred caught her wrist as she went to go to her and Ginny's room, motioning for her to come with them to theirs. Downstairs, Molly told Harry to make himself at home before going into her and Arthur's bedroom with Arthur trailing behind her.
"Quidditch, Harry?" Ron asked, eager to get out of the house so they could laugh as hard as they wanted to.
"Sure!" Harry looked at the stairs, wishing the others could come.
"You'll have to use this one." Ron said, handing Harry an older broom. "The Firebolt would lap around these. We'll bring your trunk up later." The back door opened with a squeak and the house was soon silent aside from the quiet conversations happening behind bedroom doors.
Rebecca made herself comfortable at the desk George and Fred shared to scratch out some recalculations for the Ton-Tongues as well as a few observational notes. George had flopped on his bed with his hands behind his head, his eyes closed lightly. Fred stood behind Rebecca and leaned over her, skimming what she was writing out.
"It we add more of these," He said, tapping an ingredient. "I think the reaction would be more gradual." Rebecca wrote it down as a possibility and stood up. Fred moved towards his bed and laid down like George, though leaving half the bed for Rebecca should she choose to join him.
She did, matching his position with one arm and letting the other press against his side. "Could've been worse, I guess."
"Yeah." George sighed. "We haven't been told to clean anything yet at least."
Their room was silent a short pause before Fred asked what they were all thinking. "Why'd you say it was your idea, RJ?"
Rebecca shrugged. "I don't know. If I'd known that you'd brought one, I would have suggested we give it to him anyway but I just-I didn't like it."
"Like the test?" George asked, sitting up with a gasp.
"Like hearing someone say that you two were bad influences." Rebecca said frowning. "The test was bloody brilliant."
"Maybe we are just a couple of corrupting deviants." Fred said with a bump of his leg into Rebecca's. "So what?"
"So it's not true, that's what!" Rebecca sounded like she was growing frustrated.
"I still don't know about that." Molly spoke from the doorway where she'd listened unannounced. "Though, I will say that I see you're point--You're just as bad as they are." Molly sat on the edge of George's bed, explaining their punishment. "Prank making is done. There will not be another prank made while under this roof, do you hear me?"
They all nodded, seeing no other option.
"That's it then, we're all on the same page." Molly turned at the door, Fred speaking for them all.
"So that's it? No cleaning or-"
"That's it." Molly said. "I want you all to think very carefully about what happened today. That should be punishment enough."
The three teenagers sat up in the room until Molly called them for dinner, though they were thinking about what had happened with the toffee differently than Molly had hoped--She had only said that no more pranks could be made under that roof. Hogwarts was free territory and Fred, George, and Rebecca had had a revised recipe ready that afternoon.
The temtulous beginning half of the day was entirely forgotten as another person had joined the household for dinner, Hermione. Having arrived only slightly earlier and already having heard what had happened from Ron and Harry, Hermione held onto her questions until she and Rebecca would be going to bed. Mainly, Hermione needed to know what Rebecca had been thinking.
The evening not over yet, a familiar voice laughed from the backdoor. "Filled up so much we've got to eat outside?"
"Charlie?!" The Weasley children shouted, swarming their second-eldest brother. Dinner lasted a long, happy time with the fact that those going to the match would be leaving in a few days only adding to the happiness and excitement.
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Author's note:
This is a super long chapter but it's the bulk of the summer bits from the original story. I had to take some things out as they didn't quite fit into the new narrative but I also added a little, too. Next chapter should be the start of the Goblet of Fire madness!
<3