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“What do you think?” Fred asked, “Does he hate us yet?”
“Nah, no more than he hates all kids,” George said. They sighed as one.
Fred and George were on year two of “make us Snape’s least liked kids in the whole school.” It did not seem like it should be so hard, the snag was that Snape loathed all in Gryffindor, and for once in their lives Fred and George just could not stand out. Snape was a bit more of a snake now than he had been when the twins first came, but the bad mood did not seem to be their fault, he was a grump as a rule, and they could not prove that their pranks had been the cause.
“It’s old age,” Fred said where Snape could hear, “gets to us all in the end.” And George had made sure Snape could see him nod, his face grave.
“Ten points from Gryffindor!” Snape snapped, “Each.”
There was no real proof, and yet, they were sure that they were close, they could feel it.
It took them four more months, but they got there in the end.
“You two,” Snape told them as they scraped at the charred hulls of old pots for him, “Are the worst boys I have had to teach in all my years.”
Fred and George beamed.
The next year, of course, Harry Potter came to Hogwarts.