Double Double Toil and Trouble // One //

Chapter Eleven

Everyone got back home around two hours later. Fred and George got new Quidditch pads, Ron got a Gryffindor jumper to wear to matches, and Harry got another Chudley Cannons t-shirt. I was still a little upset that they didn't take me with them, so I started planning a prank in my head to get them back.

"What's that you've got there Lex?" Mum asked when I approached her and Dad with Nat's letter. "I was wondering if I would stay at Nat's for a couple of days." I handed her the folded piece of paper. She read it thoroughly, Dad's head poking over her shoulder to get a good look. I watched their eyes scan all the way to the bottom of the page and then to each other. Dad shrugged. "I promise I'll come back before Christmas." I jumped in before they could say anything. "Lex, it's alright. It might be good for you to get out of the house for a couple of days. Maybe spending some time away from all of the boys around here could put you in a good mood for Christmas." Mum explained. I glanced at Dad, him giving only a small nod. "Well, now I feel bad leaving you alone with all of them." She scoffed. "Trust me, Lex, you're not leaving me alone with them, you're leaving them alone with me."

~

Soon afterwards, I sent Nat an owl saying Mum would drop me off at her house at 10:00 a.m. the next day. I was sitting on my mattress in the attic, a packed backpack next to me and a notebook in my lap. I was writing down some of my prank ideas to use on the boys. I couldn't use most of the ones I did at Hogwarts with Fred and George because most of them involved using my wand or some other sort of magic and we weren't allowed to use magic away from school until we were seventeen.

I did have a certain concoction that Fred and George made for a special prank, but we never went through with it because we were too busy with Quidditch practices and them visiting Zonko's Joke Shop in Hogsmeade as much as they could before the holidays. If I was careful about it, I could slip it into their drinks at dinner. The Invisibility Cloak would help loads, I just had to slip it on before Mum called everyone down.

Mum made broccoli casserole for dinner that night. Truth be told, it wasn't my favourite dish, but that was only because broccoli was involved. She called everyone to the kitchen to eat not long after I put my plan into action. I hid the flask with the potion in my pocket when sneaking down to the sitting room before everyone else. I snatched the Invisibility Cloak off of the sofa and wrapped it around my body.

In the kitchen, Mum was pulling the casserole out of the oven and Dad was gathering the plates from the cupboard. The glasses were set on the dining table with the silverware, already filled with either water or pumpkin juice. I snuck over as silently as possible, pulling the flask out of my pocket and screwing the cap off. I made sure to keep my breathing to a low volume. I only put one drop of the green potion in each of the glasses that I knew the boys would be drinking out of. The colour stood out in the beverages, but only for a moment before it settled and mixed itself in. That's when Harry and the herd of redheads came bounding into the room. I managed to sneak around them and back to the sitting room. Once I was out of everyone's view, I pulled the cloak off and walked in as if I wasn't up to something, a look I had learned to pull off.

The boys sat in the exact seats I thought they would, which was a relief. I sat in between Harry and Remus, Sirius on the other side of him, while the four Weasleys were across from us, and Mum and Dad at both ends of the table. I started eating, waiting patiently for my plan to fall into place. There was a light chatter going around the table. Ron was the first to start drinking, followed by Percy, then Harry, George, and Fred. It was only natural that the effects of the potion hit Ron first. Starting at his roots, his red hair colour slowly faded and was replaced with stripes of green and silver. "Ron, what in Merlin's name is wrong with your hair?" Percy asked, clearly dumbfounded. Ron gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean? You should see your hair!"