Chapter Text
It’s not during the Halloween feast that he notices, or when George mysteriously disappears during and after dinner, it’s when Fred wakes late in the night as his brother climbs meekly and clumsily into his bed hacking up a storm behind a hand clamped tightly to his face.
"George?" He slurs out sleepily, eyes cracking open as he turns to look at his brother, who collapses next to him coughing hard enough his body jerks with the movement, "Hey, you okay?" He props himself up on an elbow and watches as George tears his throat apart and possibly gives himself whiplash as a result.
With teary eyes from the force of coughing, George silently shakes his head and twists Fred’s blanket around himself up to the chin, breathing heavily. Fred reaches out to touch his forehead which is hotter than an iron and comes away with his hand drenched in sweat.
"George you’re burnin’ up." Fred hisses in the darkness, wary of waking anyone else in the room. George shakes his head tiredly, nestling into the pillows, "George come on, let’s take you to the hospital wing-"
"N-no… need… need sleep…" It sounded as if he were drunk, and honestly Fred would have laughed if the cause behind his brother’s words wasn’t a high fever.
"George," Fred prodded his brother’s side, "George come on-"
"Shh… mum’ll wake up." George whispers, sluggishly moving to grip at the edge of his pillow and nuzzle deeper into it, "She won-won’t let me sleep here… Here without medicine… I don’t like medicine Fred."
His brother was delirious, he had to be. That was the only reason he would have climbed into Fred’s bed to sleep when he was so sick, something they hadn’t done since they were alot younger. When was the last time anyway? Age nine with the Flu? No… no it was when Fred had gotten a simple cold and they were eleven. Percy had walked in on them that morning, finding Fred in George’s bed instead of his own and holding tight to him like he was a teddy bear instead of his twin.
"You best stop that before you go to Hogwarts," Their older brother had snickered as they woke to his entrance, "Only children can’t sleep in their own beds, you’d probably get sent home because they’d think you were to young for something as big kid as school."
Fred cringed now, thinking about it. Normally he and George would never have listened to a prat like Percy but it was a month before school would finally start for them and gosh darn it even they got nervous once in a while! Coupling that with the fact that Fred already felt so horrible thanks to the churning of his stomach and the heat of his forehead and it was easy to talk George into ageeing they couldn’t sleep in each other’s beds anymore.
Which was to bad for poor George because he quickly came down with what Fred had caught, and spent the first time either of them could remember dealing with the cold alone in his own bed with no one to complain to or hug as his stomach threatened to reject whatever had been forced into it or his head got ready to explode it hurt so bad.
And now, five years later here he was curled up in Fred’s bed at Hogwarts coughing violently into his hand and delirious with a fever. All he wanted was some sleep, and some sleep with something familiar and safe beside him when even his own body was hurting him.
Fred groaned, listening as George had begun to snore, what to do? He could just let him sleep here and walk him down in the morning, or he could bully the poor tired thing into going now and risk making a scene as George, unaware of where he really was apparantly, would start loudly protesting and probably wake everyone up.
"H-hey Freddie?" George croaked an octave or two to loud.
Maybe he’d wake everyone up anyway Fred groaned internally.
"Fred…" George poked his brother’s arm, "Fred I don’t feel good…"
"I can see that George." Fred said patiently, smoothing his brother’s bangs out of his face, "We should go to the hospital wing so we can get you better don’t you think?"
George appeared to consider it, and as Fred squinted through the darkness he thought he could see how fevered and dull George’s eyes looked. Then George shook his head and curled possibly tighter into the sheets, “No… no I don’t want the medicine… mum makes yucky medicine.”
Fred snorted before he could stop himself, neither of them had used the word “Yucky” since they were eight.
"Alright, alright," Fred sighed, to tired to really move anyway. He laid out on his back, getting comfortable all over again now that half his space is occupied by another and closed his eyes. He’d just begun to drift when shaky fingers latched onto his arm and George pressed against him, coughing weakly as he fell asleep and resting his head against Fred’s shoulder.
The next morning Lee would get up, walk across the room towards the bathroom and double back upon seeing both Weasleys in Fred’s bed, George holding tight to him as if he were a security blanket and his face dripping in sweat as he breathed heavily. He’d stare at the two a moment, noticing how Fred had somehow intertwined his hand with George’s in their sleep and it seemed to reassure his brother.
Then of course he’d poke Fred in the eye until he woke so they could take George to the hospital wing.
Chapter Text
"How can one body be so heavy?" Lee grumbled as George’s head lolled again and his chest spasmed with another cough.
"Because said body has forgotten how to walk…" Fred said while rolling his eyes. George’s sickness had been mildly cute when Fred had woken up (from a finger in his eye thanks to Lee) and seen George holding onto his arm like a child to it’s toy but now that he had to walk down some stairs (while still delirious and unbelievably hot with fever) it was a whole new level of troublesome.
"You better hope that Sirius Black doesn’t try to invade today like people have been saying he’ll do," Lee grinned darkly, “‘Cause then George will be just done for."
"I will throw him into you and claim he collapsed on his own while on his way down the stairs," Fred said, "Just help me get him down to the hospital wing before anyone sees the poor git."
"Percy?" George mumbled, raising his head a fraction to look forwards, squinting and frowning, "Where? I don… don saw… don…"
"Shh, before you hurt yourself." Lee snickered, readjusting his hold on George’s arm.
"I feel yucky…"
"Yes, yes we know." Fred said, voice softening a bit as he spoke to his brother, "My pillow is drenched in your sweat."
George moaned once before his head dropped again and it seemed his body grew heavier as any support he’d had in his legs disappeared. Which was fine for now, they’d reached the bottom of the stairs leading to the boys dorm.
Fred cast a glance around the common room, not seeing many people hanging around considering it was early morning on a Saturday. With a nod to Lee, they began dragging George through the room and where just out the portrait hole when a voice stopped them.
"Is he okay?"
Fred and Lee turned to see Ron and Harry standing at the foot of the steps, still dressed in pajamas and wearing concerned looks on their faces.
"Oh fine," Fred said cheerily, "Just partied to hard last night is all."
"He seemed rather quiet if you ask me." Ron objected.
"Well no one did ask you, so there you go.” Fred snapped, turning to go when George’s head lifted a fraction.
"Where’s mum?" He mumbled, his head bobbing as he tried to lift it higher to get a better look, "Mum… mum’s gonna be mad… mad…"
"What?" Harry asked, confused.
"Nothing," Fred sighed, "But we gotta go before he starts wondering where Ron’s teddy bear has crawled off to, eh Ron?" He asked with a maniacal glint in his eye while Ron blanched.
"Spiders were funny…" George chuckled softly, "Like mum mad… Where’s Fred? I gotta tell him…"
"I think he’s delerious." Ron said, stepping close to his brother and pushing his bangs back. George grinned up at him, face flushed and eyes glassy and unfocused.
"Hi Percy…" He chuckled.
"Maybe he’s not as bad as we thought," Fred said, nodding to Lee, "He recognizes git’s doesn’t he?"
"Yep." Lee grinned, "Just the wrong gits."
"Git’s-are-us unite!" Fred declared, raising a fist in the air.
"What’s going on?" Percy growled, tying his robe as he hurried down the steps, "You four are making such a racket it woke me-George?" the Head Boy frowned and walked straight to his younger brother, who had begun to sag in the grip of Fred and Lee as their arms tired out.
Percy placed a hand on George’s forehead, pulling back and wiping the sweat away on a handkerchief from his pocket, “He has a fever… how long has he been like this?”
"Awhile…" Fred said, which was a roundabout way of saying all night.
"And you’re only just now taking him to the hospital wing?"
"No, we were gonna go drop him in the lake and see if that cooled him down." Fred snapped before rolling his eyes when Percy’s face said he half-wondered if Fred would actually do it, "Seriously? Just help us get him down there, I don’t think I can support him much longer."
"When’s the read… reading… ready?" George wondered, looking up at Percy, "Cause… so? Right?"
"What?" Percy asked, looking to Fred for an explanation.
"He’s delirious."
"I can see that!"
"Ladies," Lee groaned, "Can we go before he completely keels over and we have to bury a body?" Perspiration had broken out along his forehead and he readjusted his hold on the Weasley twin, "Not to mention this git is rather heavy…"
"Here," Percy pulled George’s arm from Lee, replacing him and getting a tight hold on the limp arm over his shoulder, "Let’s go before the halls fill for breakfast, it’ll be harder to maneuver them then."
Fred nodded and together he and Percy dragged George through the portrait hole with Harry, Ron, and Lee close behind.
The halls were almost empty, the soft morning light floating in through the windows and making the castle halls seem almost like those of a cathedral with how quiet they were.
Well, apart from George’s nonsense mumbling…
"My pillow’s groaning…"
"Has he made a lick of sense since he got a fever?" Ron wondered from behind.
"Not really…" Lee said, "Although Fred’s probably dealt with him the longest-he climbed into Fred’s bead last night you know, it would have been cute if he hadn’t been so sick looking."
"He got their beds confused?" Harry grinned, finding the image funny (probably would have found it funnier if it hadn’t been George of all people he admitted to himself).
"Nah, I bet he did it on purpose to annoy Fred into taking him to the hospital wing." Ron snickered, "Too bad it didn’t work, he should have gone when he could still think straight."
"At least he hasn’t puked on anyone yet." Lee shrugged.
"Don’t say it or he might!" Percy and Fred snapped together, looking back to fix their three taggers-on with a dark glare.
The rest of the walk was drowned in silence, listening to George hack and mutter while every once in a while they’d pass another student who would watch in interest before going off to do whatever they were doing. A few snickered when they caught snatches of George’s mumbling but where quickly sentenced with a dark look from Fred or Percy rubbing his fingers at the Head Boy’s badge pinned to his chest. Harry and Ron snickered as a first year boy went rather pale after bursting into a rather loud bout of laughter when he heard George asking when the fish would be to dinner, only silenced when Fred turned his dark gaze on them, which seemed to be promising murder.
The hospital wing was devoid of all life when they arrived, setting George on a bed where he crumpled sideways, laying across Percy’s legs before he had a chance to get up.
"That’s funny… right? So the switched on you… me?… That…" He muttered, eyes slowly closing and a cough causing his chest to bounce once or twice painfully.
"Poor sod," Fred smiled as Percy smoothed his sweaty hair back.
"Where’s Madam Pomfrey?" Harry frowned, craning his neck to look through the door into her office, finding it empty.
"Maybe she went to breakfast?" Ron suggested, looking around the empty wing, "It’s about that time isn’t it?"
"Probably…"
"Well, should we wait or should someone get her?" Lee wondered.
"If everyone’s at breakfast they’ll see Ron approaching the table and wonder what’s wrong." Fred grumbled, "I don’t think we should give people a chance to start any rumors…"
"George needs to be looked at Fred." Percy argued, running his fingers through the red hair of his brother as he spoke, "Surely it wouldn’t look to serious if Ron approached her calmly."
"Wait a minute, who says I’m the one approaching the staff table?" Ron frowned, only to recoil as both his brothers turned to stare darkly at him.
"You’d let your poor brother suffer with a high fever just because you can’t walk up to a silly table?" Fred asked, voice far to even and light to be sincere, especially with that dark look in his eyes.
"Why Ron, I thought you were a Gryffindor," Percy said, "I guess not… I never thought the Sorting Hat could ever get something wrong before, but now-“
"Shutup! I get it!" Ron snapped, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, grumbling.
It was silent for a few minutes more, the background noise of the Wing supplied by George’s broken and quiet mumbling of the Hogwarts school song.
"Well, off you go Ron, hurry up, don’t dally-your brother and your country need you." Fred said, pushing Ron towards the door.
"Ow! Okay! Gerroff!"
"That’s a good lad!" Fred chuckled just as he gave a last push, sending Ron straight into Madam Pomfrey and her tray of breakfast.
"Agh!" She cried in surprise, the tray crashing into her chest and spilling eggs and ketchup all over her white apron. Ron and Fred both backed away slowly, looking scared as she bent to collect the ruined food onto the tray, fixing them from time to time with a dark glare.
"Can I help you Mr. and Mr. Weasley?" She snapped, straightening and storming towards her office.
"Well, see, George is really sick…" Fred began as she dumped the food into her waste bin and tossed the tray onto her desk.
"Where is he let me see-Oh dear." The anger melted, replaced with concern as the old woman approached George, "Sit him up, yes like that, there we go." She withdrew her wand from the pocket of her apron, using it to cast a small light at the end which she used to look at his eyes and ears.
"It’s dark… no… other… wrong?" George muttered, "Where’s the leaf?"
"Has he thrown up at all?"
"No." Lee said from the foot of the bed.
"Come into contact with anything strange?"
"No." Fred said.
"How long has he been running a fever?"
"… All night…" Fred said sheepishly.
Everyone turned to glare dryly at the healthy Weasley Twin before George asked where the goldfish was, pulling the attention back to him.
"Is my brother going to be alright Madam Pomfrey?" Percy asked, keeping George upright. Madam Pomfrey straightened, putting her wand away and feeling his forehead with the palm of her hand before stepping back.
"One moment," She said, disappearing inside her office where they could here bottles and heavy objects being moved around before Madam Pomfrey reemerged holding a slim dark green bottle and a large spoon, "He’ll be fine, just has a bad fever." She measured a murky gray liquid into the large spoon and held it before George’s closed mouth, "Open."
Carefully, Percy wrapped his hand around George’s jaw, squeezing so that it forced his brother to open his mouth. George made a noise of discomfort, frowning as the spoon was forced into his mouth and the medicine dumped down his throat.
"Sorry George." Percy said as he removed his hand, allowing George to fall back onto his shoulder as he gagged.
"Yucky…" George managed to choke out.
"Lay him back on the bed there, yes," Madam Pomfrey instructed, watching as Percy and Ron pulled George up to the head of the bed and laid him on his side. In an instant George’s eyes closed and he curled up under the blanket Ron threw over him. Soft, congested breathing came from him, signaling he was asleep.
"He should be fine in a few hours," Pomfrey said, slipping the bottle into her apron, "Just needs to sleep." With that said she turned and disappeared inside her office and closed the door.
"Dang," Fred sighed as he settled into the chair beside George’s bed, "I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write Lupin’s assignment by myself this morning." He gave a large yawn, not bothering to cover his mouth and merely settled more comfortably into his chair.
"You could go catch up on your sleep," Percy suggested, "I’m sure having George sleep with you wasn’t a great help."
Fred froze, looking at Percy in surprise, “How’d you know?”
Percy rolled his eyes, seeming to take offense at his little brother’s surprise, “Please, you’ve both done so since you were children. I seriously doubt you would have stopped when I said something.” Fred’s red face caused Percy to grin and fight to hold back a snicker, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to write to mother and let her know. I also need to tell Ginny, no doubt she’s noticed our absence at breakfast.”
Percy turned and left, and Ron and Harry took the opportunity to leave as well, saying they’d bring Fred and Lee something to eat a little later. Ginny would no doubt be with them, wanting to see how George was doing.
As the two walked down the hall together, Harry grinned as he turned to Ron.
"You know, I’ve heard of twins being close but I never really figured they’d sleep together."
"Oh yeah," Ron said as they turned a corner, "When they were born they had to share a crib-in fact everyone used the same one crib. But Fred and George always shared a bed till they were six when Dad finally got enough to buy another one for George-he was mad because he rarely used it. I thought they’d given that up though, the last time they slept together was before they started going to Hogwarts."
"It’s kinda cute when you think about it." Harry said.
"In a weird, twin sort of way." Ron said.
Later when they brought plates of food up for Fred, George, and Lee they were accompanied by Ginny and Hermione. The group of four found Lee asleep in the bed beside George’s, a book lazily gripped in his lank hand. Fred lay asleep in George’s, holding his twin close with George tucked protectively into his chest.
George’s face had returned to it’s normal color and the sweating had stopped. As they entered, Ginny giggling at her brother’s while Ron rolled his eyes and Harry smirked, George opened his eyes and frowned as he blinked groggily, sitting up.
"Where am I?" He asked, rubbing an eye and looking around.
"Afternoon." Harry grinned as George looked down to see Fred wrapped around him and fast asleep. George’s eyebrows rose in sleepy surprise and, not bothering to look around, he lay back down, curling closer to Fred.
"I figured he’d sleep with me if I made him…" He muttered, closing his eyes and falling back to sleep.
"He must still be delirious." Ron said as Ginny giggled childishly and Lee woke to the noise.
"Ron, fever medication wears off after two hours-it’s been four." Hermione chuckled. Ron rolled his eyes, dumping the plates on the side table and turning to walk away.
"My family is so weird." He muttered, followed closely by the others out of the hospital.
Meanwhile, Fred and George snored softly, grinning in their sleep and pulling each other a bit closer.
MCWildflowers on Chapter 2 Mon 29 May 2017 08:49PM UTC
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