My Mind Never Sleeps (Part Three of the Weasley Trilogy)

The Beginning of the End

I ran my fingers over the strings, trying to pick up the rhythm, but nothing was working. I was either forgetting how to play the guitar or forgetting how to write music.

It had been a month since Kori, and I laid the thoughts of regret to rest, knowing she would have wanted to be with her sister where there were no monsters. It still didn’t take the thoughts away of who could have done this, so music was the only thing I could think of to clear my mind.

I was a little rusty.

I groaned and took the pen out of my mouth, ripping the cap off and scribbling all over the sheet music.

I decided that it was probably a good idea for me to stop for today, or else Fred would feel my wrath. Thinking of Fred, I realized how long it had been since we had had alone time. Fred had, obviously, grown more mature ever since the Battle of Hogwarts and it was a bummer since we never had any fun anymore.

Then I had an idea. It was insane, but it was an idea nonetheless, and Anabelle’s ideas were monumental.

>>>>>>>>

I was with George while he checked off all of the products in the back storage, my feet kicked up onto a box and the newest edition of The Quibbler resting on my knees.

“You know, you could at least help if you want to stay down here, bothering me,” George whined.

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What exactly am I doing that’s bothering you?” I asked, begrudgingly.

“Your breathing alone bothers me, Ana.”

I dropped my jaw. He cracked a smile.

“Piss off.” Really, Ana? That was the best comeback you could think of?

George’s eyes opened wider. “Speaking of which. I will be in the lavatory.” He yanked my newspaper out of my hands and walked away.

“I DON’T WANT THAT BACK, BY THE WAY,” I called after him. He sniggered and slammed the door behind him.

I sat in my chair for a while, thinking of music and the notes to the latest song, but my thoughts were cut off by a busy Fred walking into the storage.

He didn’t look at me or say anything. He mumbled under his breath while he looked through boxes.

“Bloody hell. Fred really is going mad. I owe Xyla 10 Galleons,” I said, loud enough for Fred to hear.

He turned to me and nodded his head my way. “Oh. Hey, Ana.”

I squinted my eyes at him. “Hi.” My voice came out thick, blaming him.

He gave me a double take. “What? What did I do wrong?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Oh. Nothing. It’s not like I can’t get out of this chair or anything and George ran off with my only means of entertainment. But, I’m great. I’m sure the chair will break eventually,” I joked.

He rolled his eyes and strutted over to me. “Okay. Pull on three.”

“Pull on what?” I asked him, stupidly.

“I don’t know. You need to give me some help here.”

“Fred I’m not that freaking heavy!” I yelled at him. He just laughed at me.

“Whatever, Ana.”

I gasped. “You and George are cranky today.”

His shoulders went up and down. “We can’t really help it. We have that telepathy thing.” He put his hand on his head and made a motion like a satellite.

I giggled. “That’s my boy.”

He lifted my arms and put them around his neck. Then he wrapped his around my waist and gently lifted me up.

“Thank you. I was in there for hours and I really needed to-“

All of a sudden a huge explosion sounded in the shop and Fred and I ran out of storage to find the bathroom completely blown to bits and George halfway across the room.

Xyla’s footsteps came bounding down the steps. “George! What the hell did you do to Ana this time?” she scolded.

I began laughing so hard it was hard for me to stand up straight. “I am so sorry, Georgie. That was supposed to be for Fred.”

Fred looked at me and nodded. His expression said ‘Payback.’

“What? At least it was George and not you!” I exclaimed.

George feigned hurt. “That really hurts, Ana. I’m going to remember that next time.”

That was probably the worst thing about pranking the Weasley twins. They always found a way to get back at you. And they had Xyla with them now.

“I could have sworn I did put it in the upstairs bathroom though-“

Immediately as this was spoken by me, another huge crash came, this time from the second floor. Fred and I looked at each other and we ran up to check on who triggered it.

Verity, the girl who works the cash register, came stumbling out.

“Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.” She glared at all of us and checked out for lunch. Little did we know, we wouldn’t see her for a couple of weeks.

 Xyla and I exchanged similar looks, and then we both cracked out into laughter. We high fived each other, knowing automatically that this wasn’t planned and we both had done it.

“Xyla,” George whined. “Why?”

“You have something up your butt nowadays.”

“I’m really happy I wasn’t the only one who saw this,” I chimed in. “But I’m also upset that Fred didn’t fall for it.”

He looked smug. “You can’t pull my own prank on me.”

I gave him a dumb look.

“First year,” George began.

“We blew up the second floor toilet,” Fred included.

“We were meant to give Ginny the toilet seat, but-“

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” I thought back.

Fred looked up at the ceiling and smiled. “Genius, really.”

“Well, you know what this means, brother.” George had this devious look in his eyes.

Fred nodded. “Oh. I know what it means, my dear Georgie.”

They sized Xyla and I up, and we knew immediately that this meant war.