Twin Dilemma

C20 Twin Envy

The usual disclaimer goes here…. Since I am typing this in my garage next to a space heater with fridgid fingers late at night it’s pretty safe to bet I am not the original creator of the HP franchise. Nor am I making money off of my drabble.

Ooooooooooooooo

Arthur continued his story…” Molly had invited some family and friends over to help celebrate the twin’s birthdays. We were all seated around the table enjoying cake and ice cream when a loud booming knock was heard. Bill raced to the door and flung it open. There on the stoop stood the tall and boney figure of Great Aunt Tessie. She marched in, carrying a large parcel and took command of the room. Great Aunt Tessie was rather absentminded so we were all surprised that she remembered the party from the previous Christmas when we had invited her.

She was quite old even for a witch and she possessed a very selective memory.
She stood in the middle of the party, peering about, until she spotted Percy and boomed out, “Hello Georgie. Happy Birthday!”

She always remembered George’s name since it was the same as her deceased husband’s but she never remembered Fred nor did she remember that he and George were twins.

Poor Percy looked alarmed and stuttered out, ”I’m not George, he is.”
He pointed over to one of the twin boys who was in the act of sneaking some icing from the birthday cake.

“George!” Molly exclaimed, horrified that Great Aunt Tessie would think her boys uncivilized.
George looked up and gave his most beautiful and innocent smile while Fred took his turn at the icing.

“Of Course he’s Georgie!” stated Geat Aunt Tessie. “I’ve brought you something marvelous for your birthday present.”

George glanced over to Fred who shrugged and rolled his eyes. George hurried forward with arms uplifted to take the large parcel from his Aunt. He set it upon the ground and eagerly tore off the wrapping. Underneath was a large glass tank containing a small fire and a brillantl colored fire salamander dozing in the midst of the flames.

“That’s an eternal flame in the terrarium Georgie. Fire salamanders are famous for their magical properties. Here are some fire proof gloves so you can handle him. I thought he’d make a fascinating pet and you could study his capabilities,” stated Great Aunt Tessie.

A four year old Ron pushed his way past George, reaching for the brightly colored salamander.
“Ohhh, it’s pretty!” he exclaimed. George knocked his hand away and Ron burst into tears.

“Now come here dear. That’s George’s present . You mustn’t touch. Come on I’ll get you a biscuit,” said Molly as she scooped up her youngest son and headed into the kitchen.

George had eyes only for his lovely salamander. He didn’t notice the small frown on his twins face or see him sulk off to the kitchen.

Later, when Great Aunt Tessie had left, Fred wanted his turn with the salamander.

“Let’s feed him hot peppers and see what he does,” suggested Fred to George.

“No,” said George, “I don’t want to.” He had coaxed the fire salamander up onto his gloved hand.

“Well, we could give it some of Mum’s hot spices.” Fred said excitedly. “Or we could sneak one of Charlie’s fire crackers and see if it will eat it!”

“No,” said George. “I just want to hold and see if I can teach it to do some tricks.”

“That’s boring1” whined Fred. “Let’s test his magic. We could take him for a walk and see what he does.”

“No. I don’t want to,” said George.

“Well, I do!” said Fred.

“Well I don’t and he’s mine. Great Aunt Tessie gave him to me.”

“No he’s for both of us. It’s our birthday present.” Fred replied.

“No. She just gave him to me and you can’t have him.”

Fred hissed, “I can too. We always share!”

George smirked. “Not this time. She didn’t give it to you!”

Fred’s voice rose as did his anger. “You’re being selfish. Hand him over.”

George refused and the boys began pushing each other. George got the salamander back in his case. He then tackled his brother and pinned him. He leaned in close to Fred’s face and hissed back, “ No, I won’t and you can’t make me.”

Fred was in the act of biting his brother when Molly walked in and stopped, hands on her hips.

“ Frederick Weasley! Don’t let me see you bite your brother again or the next thing you’ll be biting is a bar of soap. George get off your brother immediately! Fighting on your birthday, you should both be ashamed!”

Fred and George separated at once but stopped talking to each other. Throughout the day they did things to each other when their parents weren’t looking. They punched, tripped or pinched when they could get away with it. They scowled at each other. Other things began to go wrong. Somehow, over the next few days, all of Fred’s socks shrank when he tried to put them on. George’s shirt’s suddenly developed small burn holes. After a week of this behavior Molly becamet fed up. She marched them into the lounge and launched into a long speech about the importance of family, loved ones,trus , friendship and the special bond of twin brothers. Molly told Fred and George to make up or miss dinner until they did. When the twins refused to Molly sent them upup to their rooms and told them they couldn’t come back down until they had settled their differences.

Fred and George climbed gloomily up to their rooms. They sat on their beds staring at the floor.Two hours passed.

Finally George piped up. “ Well, we better sort this out so we can have dinner.”

“Yeah, I guess we must,” said Fred. “But we need to settle it once and for all.”

George frowned. “Flip a Galleon?”


“Naaah!” said Fred.

“Magical Marbles?”

“No, that’s daft.”

“Well, you come up with something then.”

Fred screwed up his face as he concentrated with all his might. George thought hard as well.

“I know,” said Fred, ” a Wizard’s...”

“Duel!” finished George, nodding his head enthusiastically.

“Right you are,” agreed Fred.

“Where do we get wands?” George asked.

“We wait until Bill and Charlie are asleep, then we sneak up and get them,” answered Fred.

“We’ll have to be very quiet,” said George.

Fred replied, “We can be.”

“Ok then, tonight?” George asked.

Fred agreed.

Later that night the boys joined the rest of the family and sat at the dinner table next to each other. Although they were unusually quiet, the rest of the family assumed the twins had made up.
After dinner Molly and Arthur tucked the boys in making sure the fire salamander was close to George’s head. They closed the door behind them and preceeded down the steps.

Eventually he Burrow quieted down as all its occupants turned in for the night. Outside an owl hooted in a nearby tree. Silently the twins got out of bed and snuck up to Bill and Charlie’s bedroom. They were extra cautious so as not to wake the ghoul in the attic. Stealthily they crept down the hallway to their brother’s door. Luck was with them for Bill and Charlie had left their door partially ajar.The twins silently stepped in. Fred tiptoed towards Bill’s bed. There on the dresser next to Bill’s bed was his wand. Fred reached out and grasped with in his hand. He looked over his shoulder and saw that George ,too, had gotten Charlie’s wand. The older brothers slept on, oblivious to the nocturnal thieves in their midst.
Fred and George quickly crept backto their room.

In the corner by George’s bed the flames from the fire salamander’s terrarium glowed softly. It illuminated Fred as he entered and walked to the middle of the room. George joined him.

“Ready?” Fred hissed.

George nodded and took his position. Back to back the brothers stood looking identical in their determination, Together they muttered a special spell they had worked out together to lock their door so even their mother couldn’t get in.

Then Fred said, “I’ll ask you one last time to share the fire salamander with me.”

George gripped his wand very tightly. “No,” he replied. “It’s mine. Aunt Tessie gave it to me.”

“Fine then. On the count of three. One. Two. Three!”

Each boy paced away three steps then turned rapidly and pointed their wands at each other .
They had seen Charlie and Bill goofing around, playing at dueling. They each muttered what spells they had heard other wizards use.

“Wingardeum Leviosa!” Fred yelled.

“Scourgify!” George cried.

George was lifted two wand spans off of the floor, hovered and sank back down.

Fred was attacked by soap and water for a minute or two before they faded.

“Recticuli verde!” Fred shouted and George broke out in green spots.

George quickly fired off one of his Mum’s cooking spells and Fred was doused in a thick, creamy potatoe stew. Fred wiped the stew from his eyes and pointed his wand again at his twin who yelled out another spell, mangling it and causing Fred to break out in feathers.

Fred yelled out, “ Engorgio!” but sneezed as he pointed his wand . The spell shot out towards George who ducked and hit the terrarium. The cage swelled and burst revealing a growing fire salamander. The fire salamander hissed and spat at Fred, catching him dead center in his face. Fred wiped at the green viscous substance dripping down onto his body. He stared as the enormous salamander thrashed his tail which fanned the flames from his shattered cage. The flames spread rapidly.

Alarmed, George reached out to calm his salamander. The salamander froze for a moment. George looked up and caught Fred’s startleded gaze. Then the salamander took a step forward into the flames and was engulfed, taking George with it.

A very frightened twin called out “George!” before the flames grew further and cut off his escape. Fred was forced back to a wall with no way out. He wailed out in fear and grief.


Sorry it’s taken so long to update. Floods, family problems, dissappearance of this web site and dealings with a gov agency has cramped my ability to spin out this yarn. I’ve had no time to check this over but I thought I should put this out there while I had a free moment. Thank you all for your encouragement. I hope to get some time to edit my mistakes. Have no fear...smut will reappear!