Work Text:
Fandom: Harry Potter
Main Relationship: Fred Weasley and George Weasley and Harry Potter
Warnings: alternate universe; gen; friendship; age swap; Ron and Weasley twins age swap; Ron Weasley is the older brother; Fred and George Weasley are the youngest brothers; pure-blood culture; and mild language
Prompt: (Word) Wild
Summary: In which Fred and George Weasley were born in 1980 and Ron Weasley was born in 1978. Cue the Weasley twins bonding with Harry Potter on the Hogwarts Express.
Up to No Good
Harry Potter grinned as the Weasley twins, Fred and George, talked about Hogwarts. They were a wealth of information, having four older brothers.
“Mum is so proud of Percy,” the twin on the left said. He introduced himself as Fred, but wasn’t sure if that was correct having witnessed the twins confuse their own mother.
“He’s continuing the family legacy of being a Prefect,” the twin on the right added. This was introduced as George.
The twins shared an eye roll.
“We just know Perfect Percy will earn eight OWLs,” the left twin said.
“Just as many as Bill,” the right twin added, “and two more than Charlie.”
They rolled their eyes again.
Listening to them, Harry got the impression that they loved their family, but they didn’t like being compared to their older brothers. It was something Harry would kind of understand. He hated being compared to his cousin, Dudley Dursley. But Harry got the feeling being compared to older brothers was way worse .
“Mum’s certain he’ll be Head Boy in two years, just like Bill ,” the right twin continued, “and her precious little Ronnikins will be Prefect.”
The twins shared a smirk.
“Bet he’s even got his Prefect Prize picked out,” the left twin teased.
“What’s a Prefect Prize?” Harry asked. There was so much new information that he was having difficulty earning it all – let alone remembering it.
“It’s sort of a family tradition,” the left twin explained with a shrug.
“When Bill and Percy made Prefect,” the right twin carried on, “mum bought them ‘special gifts’ as a reward.” There was a hint of bitterness in his voice. “Bill got a new wand, new robes, and some special books.”
“Percy got a wand, robes, all new textbooks, an owl, and some fancy stationery,” the left twin finished.
“Do you plan to be a Prefect?” asked Harry, glancing between the twins. This ‘Prefect Prize’ didn’t seem fair. And what did they mean by a new wand ? Harry knew they had wands, having witnessed them performing magic.
“No!” the twins answered together.
“To be a Prefect,” the left twin began, making his sound snobbish, “one just achieve high marks, be the teacher’s pet, spend too much time on homework, be nosy, and take the fun out of everything.”
“We plan to do the opposite,” the right twin declared with a wide mischievous smile.
“Our interests lay in making the Prefects and staff irritated,” the left twin explained with a wink, “by pulling as many pranks as we can.”
“You should turn people’s hair fun colors,” Harry suggested with a small smile. If he closed his eyes, he could fondly recall turning Mrs. Wellington’s hair blue. She was far from pleased. To date, it was his finest achievement.
Maybe he could repeat it at Hogwarts.
He eyed the redheaded twins in front of him. “How would you feel about a team up?” Harry asked.
The twins shared a look before turning back to face him. “We’re listening,” the answered, wearing mischievous smiles.
“Before I can offer any good ideas ,” Harry began, “I need to learn more about magic.”
“What do you need to know?” the left twin asked.
Harry shrugged. “Everything,” he replied. “I was raised by muggles.”
The twins shared another look. “There’s a lot to cover,” the right twin said. “How ‘bout we start with Hogwarts?”
Nodding, Harry eagerly agreed.
“Houses, George?” the twin on the left asked. This was the twin that was introduced as Fred.
The other twin nodded. “Right on, George,” he grinned.
Harry felt a headache forming. “For god’s sake,” he whined, “can you tell me who is who? I can’t tell you apart yet.”
The twins turned to each other. “We will, mate,” promised the twin on the right. “I’m Fred.”
“And I’m George,” the other twin finished.
Harry nodded. “Fred’s right and George’s left,” he muttered to himself.
“You might wanna lose the muggle phrases,” suggested George, sounding a little awkward. “We typically use Merlin’s sake .”
That was very useful information. Harry eagerly nodded.
“There’s also Morgana’s sake,” Fred said. “Personally, I like Morgana’s saggy tits.”
“What about Merlin’s sweaty balls?” George smirked.
The twin started laughing.
Harry smiled, pressing his lips together in an effort not to laugh. It sounded like he could make up any expression related to Merlin or Morgana. The possibilities seemed endless.
“That’s hippogriff dug,” laughed Fred.
“Thestral shit,” laughed George.
A few laughs escaped as Harry continued to listen. “I’ll work on that,” he promised. “Let’s move onto Hogwarts.”
George’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll start with the basics and go from there,” he decided. “Hogwarts has four Houses, each one was named after a Founder. There’s Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.”
Harry nodded. “I’ve heard of Hufflepuff and Slytherin,” he recalled. “Hagrid told me all bad wizards come from Slytherin, including Voldemort.”
The twins flinched at the name. Their eyes widened and they stared at Harry.
“We don’t speak his name,” Fred told him, shaking his head. “There was a Taboo on his name.”
“A Taboo?” Harry repeated.
George looked thoughtful. “Like a jinx?” he began. “When someone said his name it would alert the Death Eaters and they could find the person and kill them.”
“Saying his name is bad luck,” Fred clarified.
“That makes sense,” Harry muttered. “Hagrid told me people don’t say it because they were too scared. What’s a Death Eater?”
“A lot of people are,” admitted Fred. “ He and his followers murdered hundreds of people – possibily more.”
Harry’s eyes widened.
“Death Eaters were his followers,” George answered. “And they had a special symbol called the Dark Mark.”
The twins shared another look.
George shook his head.
“Let’s stick with Hogwarts for now,” suggested Fred.
“Sounds good,” Harry agreed. “I’m ready to try again, if you are, mate?” George offered.
“There was a boy who said anywhere was better than Huffepuff.”
Both twins chuckled.
“There’s a reason for that, mate,” beamed George. “Each House represents different traits, but we’ll get there in a minute.”
“At the beginning of first year, students are Sorted into a House,” Fred explained. “We don’t know how. Our brothers refused to say.”
“Ron said we had to wrestle a troll,” George laughed. “We don’t believe him.”
That did sound ridiculous.
“So, the four Houses,” Fred continued to explain. “Hufflepuff is known for being loyal and trustworthy, Gryffindor for bravery and courage, Ravenclaw for intelligence and creativity, and Slytherin for ambition and cunning.”
George shrugged as he continued, “Each House has developed a reputation over the centuries. Hufflepuffs are losers and rejects who have nowhere else to go. Gryffindors are wild and out of control heroes lacking in common sense and brains. Ravenclaws are antisocial know-it-alls, and Slytherins are dark pure-bloods that hate everything muggle.”
“Which is the best House?”
The twins shrugged.
“Our family’s been Gryffindor for seven generations now,” George explained. “We think we’re going there. Hufflepuff is our second choice.”
His eyes widened in amazement. That was a long line of Gryffindors.
“According to our brothers,” Fred resumed, “your House becomes your family. There’s an entire award system with points. You can earn points for answering questions correctly, and you can lose them for answering incorrectly.”
Frowning, Harry thought that system sounded unfair. It was a teacher’s job to teach. If the student didn’t know the answer they shouldn’t be punished for it – nor should the whole House.
“You can earn and lose points in different ways,” George continued. “Bill earned points for helping a classmate with spellwork.”
“Charlie lost a lot of points for cutting his ingredients incorrectly,” Fred added with a frown. “We’ve heard Snape’s a bastard. He loves taking points away from Gryffindor and he’s always awarding Slytherin points for stupid things.”
“He takes points from other Houses,” George reminded his brother. “Remember Charlie’s yearmate? The one click with the crazy brother? Alexandria, I think. She was a Ravenclaw, and Charlie said Snape hated her.”
Fred frowned, “Was she the one who lost points for breathing too loud ?”
George nodded. “He kept trying to get her expelled too.”
Harry found himself nearly speechless. This was a teacher? He did sound like a bastard. “How does he still have a job?” he wondered.
The twins shook their heads.
“Beats me, mate,” Fred replied.
“According to Charlie, Dumbledore likes him,” George added.
Fred frowned, looking at his twin. “Charlie said that?”
“I think he heard it from Alexandria,” George guessed.
“So, what else should I know about the Houses?” Harry asked.
Before either of them could answer, a woman opened the door. “Anything off the trolley, dears?” she asked, smiling kindly.
Eagerness filled Harry at the sight of all the candy and treats. He had never tried any of these candies before – not that he got much candy from the Dursleys.
The twins shook their heads.
“I’ll take three of everything,” Harry requested, pulling a pouch of coins out of his pocket.
The woman smiled, pulling out her wand. She waved it, sending three of everything into the air. “That will be seven sickles and three knuts,” she said.
Harry opened his pouch, pulling out the requested coins.
Once he handed over the coins, the trolley witch flicked her wand, sending the treats to his side. She closed the door with a smile.
“Can we switch to candy?” Harry asaked, picking up a box that read Licorice Wand . he frowned, opening the package. Having only tried licorice a few times, he didn’t like it. Maybe this licorice was different.
Fred smiled, reaching out to grab a small box that read Chocolate Frog . “These are good,” he said. “It’s shaped like a frog and it’s enchanted to jump and act like a frog, but it’s not a frog.” He tilted his head to the side. “And each one comes with a special collectable card.”
“Ron likes collecting them,” George added as he rummaged around the pile. He pulled out what looked like a box of jellybeans that read Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean . “When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor .” He shook his head. “Ron got an earwax flavored one once.”
Harry shook his head in disgust. That sounded terrible, but it only served to make him more excited to try them.
Returning to the licorice wand, he hesitantly took a bite. He grimaced. It was decided: he hates licorice, muggle and magical. “Take whatever you want,” he offered, looking around for something to drink. He spotted a bottle that read Gillywater .
The ride passed quickly with the twins telling Harry about different candies and teaching him more about the four Houses, Hogwarts, and their upcoming magical classes. As the express pulled into Hogsmeade Station, the three changed into their robes. It was clear the twins owned older robes. There was a difference in cut styles between Fred’s and George’s. Fred’s had the same cut as Harry’s, but the color was a little faded and the roves were worn around his elbows and knees. George’s were cut shorter with more rounded edges with fade areas at the seams and a few tears along the bottom edges. How old were those robes?
The three of them left their compartment, stepping into the crowd of black robes as everyone rushed to disembark the Hogwarts Express. On the platform, Harry heard the familiar voice of Hagrid calling for the first year students.
With a smile, Harry eagerly headed towards Hagrid.
“‘Ow are ya’, Harry?” the tall man greeted, beaming down.
“Blimey,” the twins said at the same time.
“This is Hagrid,” Harry said. “He’s the Keeper of the Grounds and Keys.”
Hagrid lifted his lantern higher, aiming the light down. His smile widened at the sight of Harry’s new friends.
“Ya’ must be Weasleys,” he guessed.
“Fred and George,” Harry introduced, pointing to the correct twin.
The twins’ eyes widened as Harry correctly named each of them. They had only known each other for a few hours, and he was getting their names correct. That was something their own mother struggled with.
“Follow me!” Hagrid called as he turned to lead the group of students away from the station.
.
.
.
At the Welcoming Feast, Harry spent a little time studying the other first year students in Gryffindor. There was six boys – Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, himself, Dean Thomas, and the twins – and six girls – Lavender Brown, Fay Dunbar, Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil, Sophie Roper, and Sally Smith.
Neville was shy, barely talking to anyone and turning bright red when he bumped into others. Dean was curious and full of questions, most of them related to ghosts and magic. Seamus happily told everyone about his heritage and his parents – a witch mother and a muggle father.
Fred hissed, shaking his head.
“It’s considered distasteful to casually announce things like that,” explained George as he leaned forward to pick up his pumpkin juice.
That information was filed away, not that Harry would benefit from it. According to the twins, everyone knew who he was and about his parents. Their little sister had a ‘hippogriff sized’ crush on him, having grown up reading The Magical Adventures of Harry Potter .
Harry tried a bit of everything as the feat continued, noting Fred and Georg would swap food and keep their plates close to each other.
Turning his attention to the girls, his green eyes found Hermione. She was busy talking at Neville and quizzing the twins’ older brother Percy about everything . Percy looked a little tired each time he answered a new question, clearly annoyed with the eager first-year witch.
“She’s probably a muggle-born,” commented Fred, moving to refill his apple juice. “She keeps babbling about everything she’s read and she’s got a million questions.”
From what Harry had noticed, Fred didn’t like pumpkin. He avoided all the pumpkin candies on the train and he refused to touch the pumpkin juice.
“Percy should be thrilled,” George snickered. “He’s got someone listening to his every word and wanting more .”
Harry laughed as his eyes fell on Lavender and Parvati.
The pair had their heads bent together, talking and laughing as they ate. It looked like they were quickly becoming friends.
Across from his seat was Fay and Sophie. Fay was picking at the food on her plate, not really eating anything as she used her fork to push it around. Sophie was eating salad, refusing to touch any of the meat.
Towards the end of the table, Sally was eating as she read a book.
As Harry turned his attention back to the twins and his own food, he smiled. Hogwarts was going to be magical.