The Lost Witch | Fred Weasley

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE - EPILOGUE

- SIXTEEN YEARS LATER - 2014 -

I stood in the kitchen finishing up the twins' lunchboxes when the storm started upstairs. "ALAN THAT'S MY SWEATER!" I heard my daughter scream.

"BUT IT LOOKS BETTER ON ME SO SUCK IT!"

"IT'S TOO SMALL FOR YOU. YOU'RE GOING TO STRETCH IT OUT!" I rolled my eyes. "Alan stop torturing your sister! Lucy, don't body-shame your brother! Now both of you get your trunks downstairs!" Fred yelled from the third-floor bathroom.

"Why do we have to?! You and mum can just magic them downstairs!" Lucy whined back to her father. I went to the foot of the stairs. "Because it's important for you to learn to do things on your own. Now hurry up before we miss the train, and then you have to stay home for another year!"

That got them moving. The twins wrestled each other all the way down the stairs until they both toppled over their trunks.

But instead of fighting each other, they stood up and smiled sweetly at me. Something was up.

If there was quiet in the house, it meant they were scheming. I knew my kids that much.

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S LEFT –"

"FRED!" I yelled, stopping him from completing his sentence.

I herded the twins into the kitchen and sat them down at the table. As soon as he sat down, Alan picked up the spoon in front of baby Minnie and started feeding her, making me even more suspicious.

Fred quickly came into the kitchen, his hair bright green. The twins tried to contain their laughter but failed as badly as I did.

"You look beautiful today, did you do something different with your hair?" I smiled, trying to keep a straight face. The twins burst then, laughing uncontrollably. He glared at me before turning to the twins.

"I've told you once, and I'll tell you again; if you're gonna prank someone in the house, prank your mother." I slapped his chest and waved my wand at his hair, turning it back to its original, fiery red state. He turned to his kids again. "Trust me. You don't want to end up in a prank war with me children," he warned.

I ruffled his now fixed hair. "I like the green. It suited you." Fred pulled a face. "Green is bad. Green is ugly. I don't support the Slytherin colours either, thank you very much," he grumbled, getting himself a cup of coffee.

"But uncle Draco was a Slytherin, and he's the coolest person I know!" Lucy said seriously. Fred choked on his coffee and turned to his traitor of a daughter. "Another word like that and you'll be grounded for... – till finals."

"For till finals?"

"FOR TILL FINALS!" he screamed hysterically as he tried to steal some bacon off my plate. I rolled my eyes and slapped his hand away. "How many times; don't take food off my plate," I huffed, sliding my plate away from him as he went for another try. He grinned. "But we're married," he complained with a pout. I narrowed my eyes. "Still."

Fred grinned but turned back to Lucy with a stern expression. "And Uncle Draco is not cooler than me," he pouted like a child. "Dacco!" Minnie cheered loudly, waving her fists in the air. "I love uncky Dacco!"

Fred whipped his head around to me. "Not fair. Tell your brother he's not welcome here anymore." "Such a drama queen. He's their uncle. Of course, they're gonna love him more than us. Just like Jennifer and Teddy prefer being here than with their parents," I tried to soothe him.

Jennifer Black Clarke was the oldest child of Sirius and Amelia. This year she was heading to Hogwarts for her fourth year, making her one year younger than our eldest and two years under Teddy, who was the oldest in the 'cousin' group.