Today is May 2; the anniversary of the End of the Second war… and the end of many people’s lives. Including my twin brother Fred. Today is the day we remember them… but what if they could remember? Who would they remember? Us. I guess that’s sad… that the dead should be remembering the living and the living remembering the dead. I think what is sadder is that we are supposed to be sad today… what’s scary is: I’m not. I don’t remember Fred’s death- well I do but that’s not how I remember my twin. I remember him in his life- in our life together. I remember precious memories from our childhood. I remember his laughter, and his smile; our mischievous minds working together to pull pranks.
I remember our first birthday. How Mom put exploding candles on our cake. This recollection reminds me that because of how much we loved the candles the first time Mom always puts them on our cake every year.
My memory lent me a flashback of when we were almost done being two and little Ronny was born. That’s when we started our pranks… Mom was so caught up with baby Ron that we thought she forgot about us. So we pulled pranks and cracked jokes and got in trouble; just because we wanted Mom to notice- to remember us.
I think back to when we turned three and the Dark Lord fell. The house was happy once again and no one was scared they were going to be killed. We also showed our first signs of being magical on Mother’s day. Bill wanted to make Mum breakfast in bed; he and Charlie being the oldest would naturally make the food while Percy was to help Fred and me pick flowers for the vase. Percy was five and didn’t have any control over us- who am I kidding Mom barely had control over us. Anyway Percy led us out back into the flower garden. He instructed us to stay put and let him handle it. Well Fred and I weren’t so keen on that idea. I don’t remember exactly how we got Percy dangling upside down from the roof… nor do I remember him ever getting down. I do remember Mom hearing his screams and waking up, and Bill ushering us inside before angrily whispering that we had ruined Mother’s Day. We hadn’t meant to but apparently we had.
When Fred and I were four we decided to take up flying. Bill who was ten at the time was learning how to fly so that he could play Quidditch at Hogwarts when he went the next year. We thought it would be a good idea to copy our oldest brother… thinking back maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. Our first time out Mom wasn’t home and Dad was at work in the garage. Bill said he would teach us… I broke my arm and Fred got a concussion. Mom of course freaked at Dad for not paying attention, Dad blew his top at Bill for even letting us try and Bill yelled at us for getting him in trouble. Bill never did play Quidditch for Gryffindor.
At the age of five we decided that Percy needed a break from our practical jokes and instead we directed them at Ron. To start it all off we set a Dung bomb off under great-aunt Muriel's chair during a Christmas dinner and blamed it on our little brother. Our next great joke was turning Ron's teddy bear into a giant spider after he accidentally broke Fred's toy broomstick. My personal favourite included giving Ron an Acid Pop which burnt a hole in his tongue. Of course the one we got in the most trouble for was nearly tricking Ron into taking an Unbreakable Vow.
I recall being six and watching both Bill and Charlie run through the brick wall to platform 9 ¾. I remember Fred and me asking when it was our turn and Mom answered with. “Oh you have a while yet… a while that might take much too long.” Ginny asked Mom the same question six years later when Ron’s first year came and we met Harry Potter. I remember feeling slightly smug that Ginny remembered that we asked and felt that she was following in our footsteps… a little bit.
At the age of seven we finally asked Mom which of us was older. She responded with: “George by thirteen minutes. Why?” I pumped my fist in the air and yelled “Yes!” Fred however hung his head and walked away. Watching him go I raced after him and reassured him that even with this new knowledge nothing was going to change… we were twins after all.
I remember being eight in the Weasley house and watching Percy leave for Hogwarts as well. When the rest of us at the house got his letter saying he had gotten into Gryffindor we rejoiced. Mom and Dad sent him a new potions set to celebrate. Both Fred and I knew that potion sets weren’t cheap and our family wasn’t rich by any means. This was the first time I remember being worried about money.
The year we turned nine I took up the act of reading textbooks for fun. I wanted to know as much as I possibly could so that I was prepared for my first year at Hogwarts. Fred however took every chance he could to remind me that it was still two years away and we had plenty of time to prepare.
Ten years old… We only had one more year before we could go to school with our older brothers. Fred asked me if he could read the textbooks with me and if I could catch him up. Of course I teased him for a while before agreeing and we spent countless days in our room trying out spells with a stick; most of the spells went wrong and something usually blew up.
Our letters arrived on our 11th birthday as promised. Dad brought the family to Diagon Alley for the years’ supplies. Mom dragged us around to all the other shops when all we wanted was our wands. Fred’s wand was made of American Black Walnut and cored with dragon heartstring. My wand was also cored with dragon heartstring but my wood was African black walnut. That was the year we became Gryffindor’s. We made friends with Peeves and got sent to Filches office a lot. During one of the visits we nicked the Marauder’s Map.
In our second year at Hogwarts we turned twelve and tried out for the Quidditch team. We accepted both Beater positions on the team. Wood regarded us as “Human Bludgers.” This was also the year of which we found out how to use the map. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” To open and: “Mischief Managed” to close.
Ron and Harry came to Hogwarts in our third year. Our thirteen year old selves welcomed them to Gryffindor. Celebrated with them when Harry joined the team as seeker and when Gryffindor won the house cup from the Slytherin scum.
I could name a thing for every year that I have been alive. For example the year Fred and I turned 14 was the year we almost lost our sister. At 15 we passed on James Potter’s legacy to his son. Sixteen years old and we knew He-who-must-not-be-named was back. The year we became legends at Hogwarts, we were 17. At the age of 18 we brought light to the Darkness. 19 was the year I lost my ear.
When we reached 20… that was the year ‘We’ became ‘I’….
