(Eng) Weasleys, Pranks and other Curses

17

The next morning, even I couldn't say I was okay. Every muscle in my body ached because I had cramped up so much in my death throes. And the bruises all over my body, wherever the vulture had gotten me, were turning dark.

Fred whistled through his teeth and I knew immediately where Ginny got that from. "Respect Renard. You look worse than Bill did after the attack."

"That's just because Bill is generally better looking than I am," I countered sullenly, slumping down at the dining room table. I still had no idea how I was going to do the shower thing, but at least I'd jumped over my shadow and let Ginny help me with my pants. It wasn't so easy to bend over when you could barely move your neck.

"Thanks," laughed the eldest son of the Weasleys. "I just have good genes."

Mrs. Weasley nearly dropped the pan when she spun around to face us and spotted my bruised face. Luckily, her pointed cry woke her husband and Mister Weasley saved breakfast with a wave of his wand. "Nasty business," he grumbled to me, levitating the pan over his plate first so he could take the first sausages. "Sausages?" he then asked me impassively. Either he hadn't expected anything else or he was even less of a morning person than Maddie.

Maddie. I wondered how she was doing. "Thanks, but I'm not sure what I want to eat yet."

"Don't think too long. By the time the rest of the grasshoppers come, there won't be much choice," Bill encouraged me, offering me a sliced apple.

I accepted the fruit and took in the lively activity around me. It wasn't much different from Hogwarts. Only that here everyone still came to breakfast in their pajamas.

With the exception of Mister Weasley and Percy, who were already excusing themselves to get to work on time.

"Tea?" Confused, I looked up from the newspaper I had swiped from Mr. Weasley's place. Fred nodded at me and I went to hold my cup out to him, but he was quicker. "Don't bother. Battered ones like you have a grace period." He swirled the pot and poured steaming herbal tea. It smelled wonderful and I already felt a little more alive than minutes before.

"There's nothing about Hogwarts in the paper at all," I noted after a while. Ginny, Hermione, and even George had joined us in the meantime.

Misses Weasley peered over my shoulder. "They want to keep the hype as small as possible. Who knows how long they'll succeed." And then she sucked in a sharp breath. "Kid, why don't you say something?"

Confused, I wanted to look up at her, but my mobility seemed to be diminishing by the hour.

"We have to change your bandage today. You're bleeding through!"

Since I was wearing the same T-shirt they had put on me in the hospital wing, I hadn't had a chance to see anything yet. Maybe better, because I hated open wounds like the plague.

Bill leaned over and surveyed what Mrs. Weasley had seen. "Oh, yeah. Do we still have everything there?" He and his mother disappeared and I was left with the rock in my stomach.

"Don't worry," George reassured me, yawning. "Bill also patched Fred up when he almost blew himself up."

"That was rad," Fred agreed, "Want to see? It's pretty gross the scar, I thought my organs were going to fall out." He had already stood up and was about to pull up his T-shirt when Ginny straddled him.
"NOT WHILE EATING!"

"That bad?" asked Hermione as the two siblings sat back down.
"Worse than what happened to Bill," Ginny grumbled. "But at least that way you can always tell them apart in the summer."

"Like you have trouble telling us apart, sis." Fred swiped the last bite of her scrambled egg off her plate.

"Speaking of." Again the twins turned to me. "How do you tell us apart, anyway?"

Caught off guard, I averted my eyes. I had noticed too late that others had a hard time telling the twins apart, and so Maddie in particular had discovered very early on that I always knew who was who. "I'm a very good guesser," I lied, taking the last sip of my tea.

Luckily, Bill was already coming back, too. "Are you ready? Mam's getting the ingredients Madame Pomfrey wrote down for her, but I really should check it out first."

I put the cup back, but couldn't help glancing at the tea kit.

"So, what do you see?" George had been the only one here ever to watch me make predictions, and his question stirred unwanted memories in me. His hands in mine. His clumsy attempt to simply spend a few minutes with me. Yes, I had actually seen something.

Courage. Confrontation. Twin star. It was exactly the same as the last time I had told myself the future. Exactly what had gotten me into this strange situation in the first place. "Cinnamon truffle," I replied, half sticking out my tongue.

Bill laughed as I followed him into the living room. Only when we were alone did he look up at me with a knowing smile. "Cinnamon truffle is an ingredient in many love spells."

He grinned even wider as I snorted, looking for excuses.
"It's okay. I'm just teasing you. It's worked every time in the past." That he had to come back to this now, of all times, stung me a little. I was about to undress in front of him and he was thinking about the little girl with the Pipi Longstocking pigtails.

Awkwardly, I struggled with the T-shirt until Bill took pity. "May I?"

I nodded silently and stretched my healthy arm in the air so that he could pull the T-shirt away upwards. No wonder he was thinking about the kid from back then. I was even more helpless than I was then.

One layer at a time, Bill unrolled the bandage, and I was suddenly very grateful that Hermione had suggested I put a top underneath so I wouldn't catch cold. I had climbed in, as if into a skirt, and pulled it up over my breasts. It was the only reason I could shout to the eavesdropping Weasleys, "You don't have to hide." I rolled my eyes as Ginny, Ron, and the twins strolled around the corner. At least Harry and Hermione were keeping to the background.

"Urgs!" groaned Ron. "That's disgusting."
"Gross," Fred whistled appreciatively.
"If you say you're okay one more time, I'm going to get mad, do you hear me?" admonished Ginny, and I really wondered what they saw. I couldn't even look at my own hand. It was enough that I could feel the flesh moving wrongly as I gently curled and stretched my fingers.

"Do you need a puke bucket?" asked George, half amused, half serious. He must have noticed my pale face.

"Not yet." I breathed slowly and steadily through my mouth, as the metallic smell of blood tickled my gag reflex. Without further question, George set a bucket down for me. I guess forewarned was forearmed after all.

"What's that black stuff?" asked Ron behind me, and I wrapped my arm around the bucket.

"Poison?", I asked Bill, who was working very conscientiously. He didn't have to answer; his sidelong glance was enough.
I was gripped by an incredible rage.
"Dirty fucking shit!", I scolded and involuntarily clenched both hands into fists. With open mouths, the Weasleys looked at me. "No comment!", I threatened.
But of course, the twins didn't hold back.

"Miss Renard! What a foul mouth." "Better wash that out with soap right away."

"If you don't get your act together, I'll throw you out." Bill smiled, but it sent a shiver down all our spines. Obviously my arm was in worse shape than I had hoped.