When Ginny Weasley woke
up Christmas morning she eagerly began to open her presents.
She
tried not to make a lot of noise until she remembered that she was
the
only fourth year who had stayed for the holidays. With no Yule
ball
this year to keep them around, everyone else had returned home.
There were rumors that there would be a ball for Valentine's, so the
new
dress robes she had just opened from Bill would come in handy.
From Ron she received a box of sugar quills.
The large lumpy package from Mum could only be a Weasley
sweater.
"Oh please, not red again," she muttered to herself.
"Only
one way to find out," she resolved quietly as she dug into the
wrapping.
Sure enough a Weasley sweater greeted her eyes, but in lavender, not
the
horrid red of years past. She held it up. It was almost
beautiful.
"I'll have to write Mum to thank her," she exclaimed
excitedly.
Percy had sent a new cauldron a card inside. It stated,
"Ministry
Approved. Thickness Standards Enforced by P.
Weasley."
She had to laugh at that.
Charlie had sent new dragon hide gloves and a scale belt.
Father
had sent a copy of her favorite book from his Muggle collection,
"Where
the Wild Things Are."
Hermione walked into the dorm room as Ginny began to open her
gift.
"Do you know how it works?" she asked as Ginny stared in
wonder
into the small box.
"It's truly wonderful, Hermione," Ginny said removing her
necklace
from the box. She touched the sides of the locket and it
projected
a small star chart marking the position of the stars for the exact
moment
that she had been born. "Thank you," she said her
voice
filled with awe.
Quickly Ginny got up and put everything away except for one box,
which
she approached with great caution. She laughed at the strange
look
of confusion that crossed Hermione's face. She explained all
with
one simple statement, "Fred and George."
With that explanation Hermione nodded and also took two steps
backwards.
Slowly Ginny reached towards the box. She gingerly touched the
lid
before she quickly threw it open. There, on tissue, lay hair
chopsticks.
They looked to be the same ones George had caught her admiring back
in
the summer when Ron was being fitted for his new dress robes.
Their
bead encrusted tortoise shell shafts glittered in the
torchlight.
"Oh my," Ginny exclaimed in a hushed tone.
Gently, she lifted one to study it more closely. They were
beautiful
and absolutely perfect. She couldn't wait to wear them.
Hermione walked closer. "Those are from Fred and
George?"
she asked with some confusion. "When did they grow
up?"
"I don't know. But aren't the simply lovely," Ginny
answered.
"Uh huh," came the skeptical reply.
"I've got to go shower. I'm wearing these today,"
Ginny
said springing up and making a mad dash around the room to gather
her
toiletries. "Won't they be perfect?" she asked as
she
rushed out the door turning towards the bath.
"But... Ginny, wait," Hermione sputtered. But Ginny
was
already too far away to hear. "They might not be
safe,"
she finished with an anxious whisper. She sighed and turned
back
to her own dorm to get ready for the day.
Ginny spent fifteen minutes fixing her hair "just so" in
the
chopsticks. She smiled with satisfaction at the finished look, and
then
dashed down the stairs to meet the others for lunch.
Ron, Harry and Hermione were waiting for her in the common room.
"It's about bloody time," grumbled Ron, earning an elbow
from
Hermione.
"Ginny, you look lovely," she said with a smile.
"Thank you. Where are Fred and George? I really
want
to thank them for the chopsticks," she replied.
"They went on ahead. We'd better hurry or we'll be late and
I'll
starve," Ron urged pushing them towards the portrait hole.
"Oh Ron, you will not starve! Honestly!" exclaimed
Hermione,
rolling her eyes in mock disgust. Nevertheless she led the way
through
the portrait hole.
Cheers from Fred and George heralded their arrival in the great
hall.
"I really don't think we could have held out much longer.
So
nice of you to join us," they teased.
"Don't blame me. I'm not the one who bought her something
for
her hair," Ron said, gesturing towards Ginny.
Ginny fought the childish urge to stick her tongue out at her
brother.
Instead she smacked him lightly on the back of his head.
"What?" he exclaimed, feigning innocence.
"Just sit down and eat you great 'starving' oaf," she
replied.
The only place left for her to sit was between Fred and
George.
Sighing she sat down, a little fearful of what they might cook up to
torture
her with today. But then again it was a holiday. They
might
surprise her by being nice, as they had with her gift that
morning.
A suitable feast was set before them, complete with turkey, ham and
the
traditional Christmas goose and fig pudding.
Fred started them out with their crackers. He pulled the
little
ends and with a cannon-like "boom," he received a press-on
wart
kit.
Harry went next getting a new chess set, which was good considering
the
ones he'd been using were on the verge of mutiny. Just the
night
before he'd stopped them from trying to take their own king to stop
the
game. Apparently they were tired of being massacred by Ron's
pieces.
Ginny grabbed a cracker and pulled the ends. Out popped sugar
quills.
As the meal progressed, the stacks of favors and treats grew in
front
of each person. George and Hermione also received chess sets
and
Ron wizarding marbles.
But every cracker that Ginny pulled delivered only sugar
quills.
After the third one she began to suspect that Fred and George might
have
something to do with that. She reached for the next one, but
instead
of grabbing the one in front of her, she reached into the pile in
front
of George. Fully expecting something different, she was
surprised
when out popped sugar quills again.
A roar of laughter went up around the table. It only got
louder
as George reached into the stack in front of Ginny for his next one
and
received gobstones.
Ginny raised her hands and shook her head in defeat, then joined in
the
laughter.
After dinner they headed back to the common room arms laden with
their
treasures.
When they reached
the
common room, Ron pulled out a deck of exploding snap cards and
invited
all to play. A chorus of "I'm in," followed.
"I'll play next round," Ginny said. "I want to
change
sweaters so I don't get soot and ash all over this one."
And
with that she went up stairs to change.
She put on Ron's maroon sweater from the year before which he'd
given
her right after last Christmas. On her way out the door she
grabbed
some of her sugar quills to share with the others as they
played.
Shortly before three o'clock the twins excused themselves to go
check
on their brooms. As they left they jostled a small pile of the
snap
cards. These exploded taking out several of the sugar quills,
which
splattered all over Ginny.
She muttered in disgust as she washed the syrupy mess from her
face.
As the clock struck three, Ginny felt a pop at the back of her
head.
Her perfect hairdo began to fall. In alarm, she reached back
to
try to figure out what had just happened. Instead of feeling
the
new chopsticks, she felt feathers and more syrupy goo.
Her shriek of anguish echoed through the common room. She
yanked
the quills from her hair in a vain attempt to keep the goo from
spreading
all through it.
Hot angry tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she ran
upstairs
to take another shower. She was angry with Fred and George for
successfully
setting her up. More than that she was angry with herself for
trusting
them to begin with. But she was absolutely livid that they had
trampled
her heart so viciously, by giving her something she had wanted, then
taken
it from her just for a laugh.
As she showered, she planned her revenge.
Ten minutes later
she
returned to the common room asking pleasantly, "Have either
Fred
or George returned yet?"
"No, I don't think they have," Hermione answered, looking
up
from the game of chess she was playing against Ron.
"Good. I'll be right back," she said turning to
climb
the stairs to the boy's dorm.
Once she reached the dorm room the twins shared, she quickly located
their
old sweaters from last Christmas and used a lengthening charm to
make
them dress length.
She found their towels and charmed them to shrink in the heat of the
bath
using the Steamus Shrinkus Charm.
For socks she left them long, mismatched garish socks that would
have
made the house elf Dobby proud. She also left them each a pair
of
boxers, which she had turned pink with purple polka dots. She
considered
adding lace to them, but she didn't, only because her new sweater
had
not been ruined by their pranks.
Finally, she gathered the rest of the clothes and robes in the dorm
room
and took them to a safe, well-concealed closet in the hallway of the
girl's
dorm. She then returned to the common room to begin the next
phase
of her plan.
Using the rest of the sugar quills she received from the crackers,
Ginny
began transfiguring them into sticky darts. Once she finished
transfiguring
the darts, she charmed them to hit only Fred or George and nothing
else.
Finally she took a bucket of cold ashes and suspended it in the air
six
feet from the entrance to the common room.
A few minutes later they returned.
As they walked in Fred called out, "So Gin, Got any sugar
quills?"
Ginny glared icily at them both. Pointing her wand at them she
uttered
the Leg-Locking Curse, stopping them at the right spot. Then
she
ordered the hovering darts to fly saying, "Fugit."
They flew and stuck all over the twins oozing the sugar quill
syrup.
She waited a moment to let the syrup spread then tipped the bucket
overhead.
Ashes rained down on them.
A smug little smile appeared on her face as she told them, "Now
you
have to shower again today, too." Finally, she released
the
Leg-Locking Curse and sat back down ignoring them as they passed on
the
way up to their dorm.
Across the room Ron, Hermione and Harry were holding their sides
from
laughing so hard.
Ginny smiled at them, and then walked over to the steps listening
for
the showers to start. As she heard the water, she rushed up to
the
maintenance closet next to the bath. She pointed her wand at
the
pipes and muttered, "Aqua Verde." Then rushed back
down
to the common room to wait for the results.
It was a long wait. She watched Ron defeat Hermione. Then it was
Harry’s
turn as he led his new chessmen into a spectacular defeat.
Finally, about five minutes before supper the twins returned to the
common
room. Their red hair shone in stunning contract with their now
chartreuse
skin tone. The elongated sweaters fell to just above the knee and
were
occasionally highlighted by a flash of their polka-dotted boxers.
But
the most shocking thing was that they had applied lipstick and
accessorized
with barrettes and pearls.
A gasp escaped
Ginny’s
lips as she realized that they fully intended to appear at dinner
dressed
as they were.
They bowed to their captive audience, showing everyone a bit more
of
their boxers, then swept out the portrait hole with mock snobbery.
Ginny and the
others
walked slowly behind them to dinner.
The staff and the rest of the students stared at them, but never
questioned
why. Knowing the twins and their sense of humor, they just assumed
that
it was either intentional or as a result of one of their practical
jokes.
Even Ginny calmed down enough by the end of the meal to appreciate
their
sense of humor, a little bit.
Around eight
o’clock,
Ginny was lying on her bed reading from her new book when George
knocked
on the door.
“Erm, Gin, can I
come
in?” he asked.
“Not if you are
carrying
sugar quills, but otherwise, yes,” she answered laying her book to
the
side.
He chuckled a bit as he walked in the room. He sat a box on the
bed
in front of her. “We actually did get the real ones for you. We
used
them as models for the ones you got.”
She opened the box to see hair chopsticks lying there on cotton.
Without
hesitation she pointed her wand at them chanting, “Finis Maxima
Incantatem.”
Nothing happened. They were the real deal.
She jumped up and hugged him, tears threatening to fall again.
“Thank
you,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome, Gin. I’m sorry we got so out of control today,”
he
answered. “Happy Christmas anyway.”
“Happy Christmas to you, too. Um… I suppose you’d like your
clothes
back?” she asked a little sheepishly.
“It might be nice,
considering
I have a date with Charmagne Dugan of Hufflepuff in about an hour,”
George
replied.
“You dog! What about Alicia?” she questioned.
George sighed, “She dumped me. One too many practical jokes she
said.”
“Smart woman. George, I will give you back your clothes on two
conditions,”
she said.
“Name them,” he
said.
“First, that you never again trick me with something that you know
I
really want. It’s too heartbreaking when it disappears. And second,
I
never want to have another sugar quill filled Christmas,” Ginny
instructed.
“I promise,” he said.
“Good. Now follow me for your clothes,” she said, leading the
way.
“Oh, by the way,
how
long will we stay green?” he asked.
“Only about
another
fifteen minutes or so,” she answered.
“Oh good. Remind me to hire you in product development on our
Revenge
line when you finish school. You have a gift in that
department.”
“Thanks,” she
laughed
while she opened the concealed closet for him.
“Good night, George. Have fun on your date. And don’t get caught
by
Filch this time,” she said leaving him to tote his clothes back to
his
room on his own.
“I won’t,” he laughed. “Good night, Ginny.”
