To Fred, Love Ophelia

Chapter 1

"Wait wait wait, tell me again, you did WHAT?"

"Well we were exploring the pyramids, and Percy was being a RIGHT prat when we got the brilliant idea to push him in one-"

"But then mum spotted us as we were getting into position, me behind him, George at the door of the pyramid-"

"And she said "FREDERICK AND GEORGE WEASLEY! Don't you DARE-"

"And we said "He just wants his mummy,"" Fred said, making a grand gesture with arms. I had been sitting there with my hands clutching my sides, in stitches.

"But in all honesty guys, how was Egypt?"

"About as Egyptian as you'd expect it to be, nice," George said.

"There was so much sand... everywhere... especially in places it did NOT belong."

"Fred!" I squealed, smacking him on the arm.
"He's not wrong," I heard Ron agree from the other side of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Anyways, how was your holiday En France?" Fred asked, placing his elbows on the table and his head in his hands, like a child. George smacked him upside the head, chuckling.

"Alright, my grand-mère is a wee bit tough to deal with, being that she is a muggle and all, and she doesn't know I'm a witch...yeah. That was really tough to do, we had to tell her I was in some private school studying. She doesn't have internet or the memory to remember the specifics, so it's fine. Aside from that, it was great. We got to visit Paris like 10 times, which reminds me," I pulled two pencil-tall Eiffel Towers out my satchel.

"For you and for you I got them in a muggle shop but charmed them to light up in my gran-mère's shed... after a few tries, that is. I now have a light-up bucket and quill thanks to that experiment. SO ya better enjoy these," I say, handing them the bronze mini-statues.

"Cool, thanks," George said taking his and examining it.

"Très magnifique," Fred said

"Freddie are you learning French?" I ask, sharing a look with George. Fred's ears turned red and George and I burst out into laughter.

"Do you mind? Some of us are actually trying to be productive," Percy says snarkily, as he returns to his writing.

Just then we heard something come scuttling down the stairs followed by a larger meowing-something and loud thumps, followed by footsteps.
"Harry!"

"Harry!"

"Aye there he is," the twins said. Harry smiled as he came down the stairs, rejoining his friends.
"Hey Harry," I say, waving at the boy, who seemed slightly overwhelmed as he came to sit down at the table with the rest of us.

"And what's this?" Fred asked, snatching the newspaper which sat in between Ron and Harry.

"Look 'ere Ophelia, we're in the paper," George said proudly.

"Aren't you proud of us," Fred added, pointing excitedly at the paper.

"OF COURSE!," I exclaimed, hugging both of them tightly. The twins picked me up by the shoulders, knocking over the bench as we went. They half-carried, half-dragged me over to Mrs. Weasley, who eyed the twins suspiciously.

"Lovely to see you Ophelia," Mrs. Weasley said, smiling warily at me.

"You to Mrs. Weasley," I manage to squeak out, as I am utterly squished by the twins, who have silently concocted a plan.

"Mum, since its our first time seeing our wonderful best friend again-"

"And we have missed her ever so dearly-"
"Can we take her to Florean Fortescue's?"

"You know, for a quick treat and life update?"
The two tried to look as innocent and child-like as possible as their mother looked from one to the other.

"Oh alright I guess," she handed the twins a few galleons.

"Just be careful!" She shouted as we left the Leaky Cauldron.

The twins took off running, holding me by the hand. Normally, I would have been tripping over my feet to keep up with the orange-headed long beans, but summers in the South of France are quite boring and remote, so you do a lot of walking. Or in my case, running. 

We bobbed and weaved through the crowds on Diagon Alley, a skill which I have since become much better at since my First year at Hogwarts. We got our ice cream, George getting peppermint, Fred getting chocolate fudge, and me with Cherry Amaretto. We sat down and the two proceeded to interrogate me about my summer in France.

"Did you get into any trouble?"

"Did you eat any snails?"

"Make any friends?"

"Meet any guys?"

I gave Fred a look and rolled my eyes at his last question. Like seriously.

"If you count blowing up a few garden gnomes and getting lost in Paris trouble then certainly George, trouble was made." I had had a war with my Gran-mère's garden gnomes, which, thanks to a 5-year-old version of me, were quite alive. And quite rabid I should add.

"This," I showed them the teeth marks on my wrist, "is my battle scar. But you should see the other guys."

"Wicked" the twins said, looking eagerly at my bite mark. 
"I made a couple friends with some French muggles, but I'm not quite fluent yet, so I could tell that they were making fun of my accent at times. But its whatever." I said shrugging. 

"AND SNAIL is DISGUSTING!" I added making a grand gesture with my hands. "Like I can barely stomach jelly slugs let alone snails. Slimy, wet, snails. I almost yacked."

"I once ate a worm," Fred said, deep in thought, "Wonder if thats the same."

"Lets get some and Ophelia here can compare," George added, smirking at his brother. 

"Absolutely NOT, I don't think I can ever look at jelly slugs the same, let alone stomach another..." I started to feel kind of queasy, and desperately wanted to change the topic.

"I did meet a very cute French boy though-"

"What was his name, Jean Valjean?" Fred said with a snort.

"NO, his name was Hugo Martin, and he was very sweet."

"Like a jelly slug I bet," Fred muttered.

"He is a few years older than us-"

"So you like older men do you?" Fred asked matter of factly.

"I-" I looked at George for help, but he was just sitting back, enjoying the chaos.

"You know, I came down here to see my best friends! I could very well be home packing my bags or resting from the trip right now but I'm NOT, so do you need to argue with every word I say? No, I didn't think so."

I sighed and put my elbow on the table, and took a large lick of my melting ice cream, frustrated. 

We sat in silence for a good few minutes before George piped up.

"Lovely weather we're having," George said, looking out the window.

"Ever the comic Georgie, ever the comic." I chuckled at his successful attempt to lift the atmosphere. Fred and I tried to keep straight faces when we made eye contact, but smiles fought their way onto our faces and we all broke out into fits of laughter. 
God, I missed this.

AN: Wow, an update, so rare! Honestly, I'm not good at this writing stuff, but lol, 2020 resolutions gotta be made, so I'm going to try to work on at least one book, though I have ideas for several more. Drop a comment if you like what I've done so for, or if you're reading at all!

XX Jules