A Cord of Three

The Beginning of a Good Summer

        "Mrs. Weasley said—what is going on here?" A vaguely familiar voice woke Tikki. She tried to sit up, but found her middle was weighed down. Fred was a notorious mover during his sleep, so he would wake up in all kinds of positions. Today, he was on his back, with his head on Tikki's stomach and his legs laying across George to dangle off the side of the bed. George had one arm around Tikki's shoulders and the other one hanging off the side with Fred's feet. Tikki's head rested on George's shoulder, her top half angled toward the top left side of the bed while her bottom half pointed at a diagonal toward the bottom right corner of the bed. She had one arm tucked between her and George and the other flopped off the side of the bed, much like his. This was one of the reasons she always slept with the twins, she loved the cuddly sleep-pile they always ended up in.

Tikki and the boys raised their heads to stare at Harry, who was standing in the doorway, staring at them. "Morning, Harry," said Tikki with a yawn. "What did Aunt Molly want?"

The younger boy cleared his throat. "Mrs. Weasley said it was time for the twins to get up and do their chores."

"Oh, okay. Thanks Harry." He nodded, then stared at them strangely for another moment before closing the door. Tikki lightly kicked George and slapped Fred's chest. "You heard him, time to get up. And do it quickly, you're squashing me, Fred."

"I am not!" Fred protested, then pushed his head heavily onto her stomach. "This is squashing."

"Fred!" she shrieked, smacking his shoulder. "Shove off!" She sat up and rolled him off her, jumping quickly out of bed. She pushed back her brown hair, smoothing the bedhead down a little. "You had better start moving or your mum is going to cuff you a good one."

The boys groaned but pushed themselves out of bed. While they moseyed around, Tikki grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom. Percy was in the shower, so she waited outside the door for him. She would just jump into the shower while he was brushing his teeth and stuff, but he liked personal space and privacy more than the other Weasleys.

He finally came out and they greeted each other with smiles as they traded. Tikki stripped down and hopped in the shower. Her shampoo and conditioner were already there, as was her moisturizing body wash and razor. She made the shower as quick as possible, then wrapped a towel around her dripping body and opened the door. Fred was waiting outside. He entered then stepped into the shower, closing the curtain, and chucking his clothes out before starting the water.

Tikki dried off and threw on her clean clothes as Fred showered. She was brushing her hair when he called out that he was done. She tossed a towel behind the curtain without looking. He stepped out a moment later with the towel around his waist and left, allowing George to enter and repeat the same process. By the time George was done showering, her hair was just finished being dried, so she left, giving the bathroom to Fred so he could brush his teeth and the bedroom to George so he could get dressed while she retreated to the kitchen. They had devolved this system after it had been taking too long for all of them to shower individually last summer. By sharing the bathroom, the process was sped up and they could get to all their fun much quicker.

Their systems were strange to other people, such as Harry, who seemed confused by their sleep pile. But it felt comfortable to Tikki and the twins. She felt like they were her brothers. They would never hurt her or do anything lewd, so she didn't see why she had to be reserved around them. There were lines of course, boundaries that couldn't be crossed. But they knew the restrictions and silently acknowledged them whenever they were together.

"Good morning, Aunt Molly!" Tikki said cheerfully, taking an apple for her breakfast.

"Good morning, Tikki. What are you and the boys planning to do today?"

She shrugged. "I don't know yet. We haven't discussed it. If it's warm, maybe we'll go swimming, or I'll work on my broom-flying skills. Or we could stay inside, I brought a card game I promised I would teach to Ginny."

"That sounds lovely." Aunt Molly was already busy stitching what looked like a hole in someone's shirt. She was probably trying to catch up on her sewing.

They sat in companionable silence until the twins came clattering down the stairs. "Morning, Mum," they said. Fred grabbed a banana to eat while George snagged an apple.

"What do you guys want to do today?" Tikki asked, then bit off a piece of her apple.

They glanced at each other with a shrug. "Whatever you want to do."

She slapped her hand lightly on the table. "Well, after your chores, let's go outside and see if we like the weather. I want to practice flying."

Later, they stood outside for a few minutes, analyzing the wind and whether it was going to rain or if those were just the undersides of clouds. Finally, the twins declared it safe enough and got out their brooms, loaning Ron's to Tikki. Flying didn't come easy to her because she wasn't a wizard. She had to really concentrate on what she was doing while the boys literally flew circles around her.

"Haha!" she crowed triumphantly after getting her broom to do a series of turns for her.

"That's it," said Fred, grinning at her.

"Maybe someday you'll be good enough to play Quidditch." George did a loop-de-loop.

Tikki attempted to do the same set of turns as before, but this time her broom didn't respond as well, and she ended up on the ground with the misbehaving broom beside her.

"Or not," the twins said, hovering over her.

After several falls, almost-falls, and an hour of the twins' advice, she could finally see some improvement. Molly called them in for an early lunch since they had gotten up so late.

They played Chicken and Marco Polo in the pond with Ginny for a long time after lunch while Harry and Ron practiced their Quidditch. Fred and George always had to be on the bottom during Chicken with Tikki and Ginny scrambling to shove each other over because they weren't strong enough to hold the boys. Marco Polo ended up with a bit of cheating as the boys cast a spell to allow their voices to project from the other side of the pond so the person who was chasing them would be thrown off their trail. They allowed themselves to be thoroughly dunked for their misdeeds but ended up dunking the girls in return. Harry and Ron joined them for breath-holding contests and jumping championships. George always won at cannonballs with Fred and Ron tied for second. But when it came to making the smallest splash, Tikki was the queen with Ginny coming in a close second place.

The twins, Tikki and Ginny lay in the sun to dry off, practically snoozing, while Harry and Ron went off to do something else. Eventually, the four of them got too hot. The Troublesome Trio, as Ginny occasionally called them, hopped back in the pond while she went inside to get changed.

In the evening, Tikki taught Ginny how to play Dutch Blitz and the four of them played until midnight. Tikki was the best at it because she had played it for years before she taught the boys, but Ginny caught on quickly, although she lacked the fierce competitiveness her brothers and cousin possessed. There ended up being a lot of hands slapped and cards slightly torn in an effort to claim a space with their cards.

Tikki slept in the middle of the bed that night, with Fred on her left and George on her right. She didn't know why they always rotated where they slept, it was just something that happened.

She did her traditional sigh of contentment as she snuggled into bed. Days like this one were always her favorite. She loved keeping active because it always felt so good to climb into bed at night and she had too many Weasley genes to not keep moving all the time.

This is the beginning of a very good summer.

Tikki didn't give up on learning how to ride a broom, and I won't give up on asking for votes! Vote for Tikki!