Torn Between Three Me's

5 - Pumpkin Pasties and Fireworks

The Hogwarts express chugged along on the tracks. Fred, George, and I sat alone in a compartment, bored in our seats, eagerly awaiting our arrival to our new school.

A loud, monotonous, heavy sigh chorused between the three of us as we lay our heads against the sides of the compartment watching an ever fizzing sparkler in the center of the room.

'What if we're split up?' I groaned.

'We're basically triplets like that shopkeeper thought,' Fred sighed.

'There's no way,' George added.

'But what if we are?' I asked, fixated energyless on the sparkler.

The twins looked at each other and then at me. 'Then we'll try Ilvermorny.'

'That far?' I grimaced teasingly. 'We should at least try like, Beauxbatons or Durmstrang first.'

'I'm not wearing a dress,' Fred tutted, crossing his arms.

'You would if it came down to it,' I chuckled. 'For me.'

He rolled his eyes. 'If there was really no other option.'

'Oi, what about Durmstrang? You going to cut your hair off, Adrienne?' George asked. 'All that thick red hair of yours?'

'If there was really no other option,' I smirked.

We all looked at each other and took a simultaneous deep breath full of nerves.

'Hey, I know!' Fred exclaimed. 'You wanna set off some more fireworks?'

'In here? Are you mad?' I gawked.

'No, you muppet.' He pointed upwards as we all followed his finger with our eyes. We all chuckled mischievously in agreement.

We blew out the sparkler and grabbed one of our three identical joke boxes and headed for the corridor connector, checking behind us every so often to make sure nobody was following us or taking any interest in what we were doing.

When we got to the end of the car, we slid the door closed and climbed up the ladder, Fred handing the joke box to George, on the roof already, before he started his climb.

The wind blew violently through my hair as we knelt on top of the roof. 'Give me that rubberband,' I said to George, who was rummaging through the box.

'WHAT?' he shouted. The sound of the wind and train whizzing by deafened us.

'THE RUBBERBAND!' I pointed. George handed it to me as I threw my long hair in a high ponytail. I could see better.

The three of us got to work on preparing the first Dr. Filibuster Wet-Start, No-Heat firework. Everything was in order and the firework was sitting on the little stand ready to launch as George stared at it with panic.

'WHAT'S WRONG?' I asked.

'WE HAVE NOTHING TO LIGHT IT WITH!' He shouted. 'I DIDN'T BRING ANY WATER OR OWT!'

Fred smirked. 'WE CAN SPIT ON IT!'

George and I laughed with him giddily.

'ON 3!' George and I nodded. '1, 2, 3!'

Hwoop-puh!

Three globs of freshly moist spit dripped onto the fuse and the firework immediately ignited, bursting into beautiful, coordinated, multi-colored sparks in the air as we marveled at it.

'ANOTHER!' George exclaimed as we started to set up the next one.

Just as we did, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something coming towards us. I looked up, furrowing my eyebrows. As it came into view, I realized it looked slightly familiar. I cocked my head. It was getting closer.

I tugged at Fred's sleeve. 'GUYS...'

'KINDA BUSY, ADDY!' Fred shouted over the wind.

'YOU'RE GONNA WANNA SEE THIS!' I insisted.

Fred and George looked up from the firework and their faces screwed with identical puzzling looks.

The figure came up to us. 'ANYTHING FROM THE TROLLEY, DEARS?'

None of us could make out anything coherent to say as our mouths gaped.

'CHOCOLATE FROGS? LIQUORICE WANDS? DROOBLES?'

I cleared my throat. 'NO, THANK YOU.'

'ACTUALLY I COULD GO FOR SOME DROOBLES,' George said.

'I'M GOING TO HAVE TO ASK YOU TO RETURN TO YOUR SEATS, CHILDREN,' the trolley witch asked us.

Fred went back to working on the firework. 'WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING.'

'IF YOU DON'T RETURN TO YOUR SEATS, I WILL BE FORCED TO TAKE FORMIDABLE ACTION!' The trolley witch warned.

'WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?' I asked the twins.

'PROBABLY NOTHING SERI-' Fred was cut off by a pumpkin pasty exploding in the space in between us and the trolley witch as we all recoiled.

'I THINK SHE'S SERIOUS!' George shouted.

'BUT THE FIREWORK,' Fred pouted.

The trolley witch chucked another pumpkin pasty grenade towards us as I squealed, avoiding it and standing up.

'GRAB IT AND GO!' I SHOUTED.

Fred grabbed the firework and George scooped up the box and its contents as we made a run for the end of the car. We slid down the ladders and sprinted back to our compartment, out of breath.

We looked at each other for a couple seconds, with only the sounds of our heavy breathing filling the air. Then out of nowhere, we all erupted out into uncontrollable laughter. My belly rumbled and vibrated with giggles as our faces matched our vibrant hair.

'The bloody trolley witch,' George cackled.

'With exploding candy,' Fred cried.

'I can't breathe,' I made out. 'It hurts.'

Finally we settled down. I wiped tears from my eyes as I caught my breath. 'This stays between us.'

'Oh, of course,' the twins agreed.

'And we save up and buy her out of pumpkin pasties,' Fred added as we all started laughing again.

Cedric came by and opened the compartment door causing us to settle. 'What's got you all worked up?' He smirked.

'Sugar high,' I nodded matter of factly. 'Too many pumpkin pasties.'

Fred kicked me gently as we all snickered to each other.

Cedric stood at the door looking at us like we had worms crawling out of our ears. 'Right,' he sighed. 'Well, we'll be arriving soon. Make sure you three change into your robes. Big night for the lot of you.'

I took a deep breath as all the excitement escaped with Cedric's reminder of the sorting ceremony. 'Thanks, Ced,' I nodded. He gave me a warm smile back and then left.

'Just remember,' George said. I lifted my head up to look at him. 'We're not all together...we enroll at Beauxbatons and spend our seven years in dresses together. Deal?' He held out his hand, looking at the two of us.

'Deal,' Fred and I chorused as we all spit into our hands and shook.

A/N: The Trolley Witch is one of the few things from Cursed Child I personally consider worth potentially being canon. I thought it would be fun to write in Fred and George (and Adrienne)'s experience that she mentions.