Twin Dilemma

Go ahead. Rub it in. These are not my HP characters. I own no franchaise. I make nada on it. You all know who does though. Bless her.


Chapter 18: Just Desserts


Chloe sat on the ground, her head swiveling back and forth as she tried to comprehend her double vision. Her mouth was frozen in a partial opened state.

Fred snapped at George, “Where do you come off calling MY girlfriend Kitten!”
He crossed his arms and glared at his brother.

George had his hands on his hips. His lip curled into a sneer as he ground out through clinched teeth, “Your girlfriend? I’ve been seeing Kitten loads of times. Kitten, tell him you’re MY girlfriend.”

Chloe just groaned in reply and buried her head in her hands. An anguished “Two?” escaped her lips.

Molly unfroze from her spot by the kitchen. She pulled herself up to her full height and snapped at the twins. “Fred! George! Where are you manners? Help your friend up this instant!”

The twins jumped on command and each reached out a hand and grasped Chloe by her arms and gently lifted her up. Then they continued to stare at each other.

Chloe stood there looking dazed and uncomfortable until Molly walked forward, extending her own hand.

“Hello dear. I am Molly Weasley, the mother of these two hooligans. Why don’t you follow me into the kitchen and I’ll get you a cup of tea while we sort this all out.”

Chloe shook Molly’s hand and whispered, “I am Chloe Brown. Thank you.”

Chloe followed Molly into her kitchen where she was guided to a seat at the table. Molly pulled down a teacup, tapped her wand and set a steaming cup in front of Chloe before she got one for herself. Chloe gratefully drank hers.

“Had a bit of a nasty shock, did you?” Molly asked.

Chloe nodded her head. “I had no idea there were two of them. When he talked about a brother, I thought he was talking about Ron owning the shop with him, not a twin. But now I don’t even know which he it was.”

“There, there Luv. Just drink up. If I find out this was one of those boy’s nasty little pranks, Askaban will seem like a good place to be to escape my wrath! I’ve just about had enough of their nonsense. It’s high time they grew up and took responsibility for their actions!” Molly declared.

George and Fred winced at her words. They had walked to the doorway separating the kitchen from the lounge.

George spoke up first. “Mum, we had no idea we were dating the same girl!”

Fred pleaded. “Honestly Mum! We’ve been so busy lately that we barely had time to talk about anything besides the shop!”

Molly answered with a “Harumph!”

“Truly Mum, I had no idea George was dating my girl friend or I would of put a stop to it!” Fred said glaring at George.

“YOUR girl friend! Where do you get off calling her your girl friend? I met her at the shop!” George snarled out.

“She’s the artist I told you about who was going to do our adverts! I showed you
her card!” Fred shouted.

“Well you didn’t tell me her description, did you? Nor did you tell me you were shagging her!” George hollered back.

Chloe turned red and bolted from her seat. She hurried past Molly and out through the back door. She felt eyes on her as she ran past the tables full of guests. She came to an abrupt halt when she hit a solid wall of flesh.

“Whoa there Miss. What’s the hurry?”

Chloe looked up into the freckled face of another Weasley boy, this one older and more muscular than the twins.

“I am Charlie Weasley, the handsome brother. You must be one of the twins’ girlfriends,” said the handsome red head.

Chloe choked back a sob as she nodded.

Charlie’s protective instincts kicked in. “Is one of those rascals pulling some poor joke on you? They’d better not be or they’ll have me to deal with.”

Chloe sobbed and threw her arms around Charlie who patted her on her back.
He looked up to see all the guests staring at them.

“Come on. I’ll take you somewhere were you can have some privacy and we can sort this out.” Charlie led Chloe away towards the pond, keeping one arm around her shoulder and glancing behind him protectively.

Back in the Burrow’s kitchen Molly had her two identical sons in identical headlocks. They were both sporting bright red faces. Molly was giving them a piece of her mind. Neither twin was able to make an intelligible reply due to lack of oxygen. The back door burst opened and Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry entered and stood frozen on the spot, staring. Then the front door opened and revealed a stunned looking Katie, a surprised Alicia, a sniggering Angelina, a puzzled Oliver, and a Lee who openly cracked up.

Finally a voice called out from the bottom of the steps.“Molly, whatever they have done they can’t breathe dear. Please let them go.”
Arthur limped in supporting himself on his cane. His face barely suppressed his amusement at the twin’s predicament.

Ginny voiced what everyone was thinking. “Oh THIS has got to be good!”

Fred and George pulled themselves free from Molly’s grip and stood up, facing their friends and family.

Fred began, “Well, you see…”

George continued, “It could happen to anyone, er…”

The identical brothers looked at everyone, blushed a deeper crimson, looked at each other and then stared down at the floor, not saying a word.

Everyone else looked on in amazement at the silent boys who looked positively remorseful!

Angelina whispered to Alicia, “Pinch me! I must be dreaming. I never thought I would live to see Fred and George rendered speechless.”

Fred and George looked up and simultaneously apparated away.

Ten minutes later the back door opened and all the chatter stopped. All heads turned to see who entered. It was Charlie. He grinned.

“I left Fred and George to sort things out with Chloe. Charming girl.”
Everyone started asking him questions at once.

“What happened?”

“Who is she?”

“What did they do to her?”

“Can we watch? Ouch!” Lee rubbed his head where Katie smacked him.

Charlie laughed. “From what I can tell, the twins were involved in an innocent case of mixed up identities. They managed to date the same girl without knowing it… until today.”

The entire group burst into laughter. Everyone at one time or another had fallen victim to one of the twin’s identity switcheroos. It was quite funny to see the tables turned on the twins. Just then Percy walked in the front door. He stared around the group of madly laughing people. Not seeing the twins in the vicinity, Percy was sure the joke was not on him. He looked inquiringly at Charlie.

“What have I missed?” he asked, sparking a new round of laughter.

Charlie took Percy aside and caught him up to date on what he knew about the twin’s dilemma. Everyone else decided to rejoin the rest of the guests and spread the mirth.

Twenty minutes later, Fred came walking from the direction of the pond.
His clothes were disheveled. His trousers had a rip in the knee. His hair was a mess. He had mud everywhere. As he approached the dinner guests it was apparent that one of his eyes was blackened. There was also a bruise forming along his jaw line. He had an uncharacteristic scowl on his face as he walked over and sat down between Angelina and Lee.

Five minutes later, George could be seen slouching up the path. His shirt was pulled out and it was torn and missing a couple of buttons. His hair had a big splat of mud in it. He was sporting a bloody nose and a bruise along his jaw.
He glared at his twin and went to sit by Charlie and his parents.

Charlie asked in a loud voice. “Where is your girlfriend?”

George ducked his head and mumbled, “We demanded she choose between us. She became so irate that she enchanted mudballs and lobbed them at us. Then she burst into tears. Fred and I started fighting, blaming each other for her distress. She apparated away saying she didn’t want to see us! Then we really got mad.”

Molly burst out laughing at them for all the years they had swapped identities on people, especially her. “It was about time you got your come up pence. I find this whole thing to be highly amusing. I am sorry Chloe left because I’d be the first one to shake the hand of the woman who out pranked my boys. If it’s that important to you that you’d hit your own brother, then you had better work it out soon. Or, Ha! Ha! Ha! just flip a coin!” Molly got up from the table, laughing like a madwoman and went into the house. The stunned dinners could hear her laughter follow her all the way up to her bedroom.

Fred and George just sat in their seats shocked by her uncharacteristic lack of empathy. The other Weasley brothers all looked at the twins.

Percy stood up. He reached into his robes and said, “I have a galleon you can toss.”

Ron offered, “I’ll toss it for you.”

Charlie and Bill offered to take Chloe out and help her with her decision.

Ginny and Hermione just shook their heads and rolled their eyes. “Boys!” they muttered.

Harry was smart enough to keep his mouth sealed but the corners twitched upwards.

A blushing Fred and George looked at each other and managed to agree on something. They nodded and apperated to their flat. The last thing they heard was their Mum’s disturbed laughter as it drifted from above.

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Once again thank you for the feedback and encouragement.