Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 43: Celebratory Chaos

Maneuvering through the crowds of people gathered for the Quidditch World Cup, Shaye tried her best to take in as many sights as possible while also making sure she didn't get separated from her group. Thankfully, Arthur Weasley kept shouting for everyone to keep up and stay together, so as long as Shaye could hear his voice, she was golden.

Tents were scattered all over the large, grassy field and at one point Shaye even thought she caught a glimpse of two house-elves riding alpacas. Irish and Bulgarian flags were hanging from every possible place they could be and every once in a while the whole group had to duck to avoid being hit by someone swooping low overhead on a broom.

As Amos and his son Cedric split off to find their own tent, Arthur led Shaye and everyone else to their own accommodations. When Shaye first saw the small, brown canvas tent that Arthur was ushering everyone into, she had no idea how all eight of them were ever supposed to fit.

"What?" Harry seemed to be holding the same reservations as she was.

Upon entering, however, it soon became abundantly clear that the tent was bewitched. Even though the canvas abode looked like it would only fit one person from the outside, the inside was so large that Shaye was sure they could fit another whole family in and still have plenty of room.

While the outside of the tent was plain-looking and rather unassuming, the inside was decorated with tapestries of all colours. There was a living room with cozy armchairs, a kitchen, a dining room, and even separate sleeping quarters for the boys and the girls.

"Girls, choose a bunk and unpack," Arthur instructed.

Shaye, Hermione, and Ginny ventured into the right side of the tent where there were two bunkbeds. While Shaye chose the top bunk on one bed and Hermione set her stuff down underneath her, Ginny took the entire second bunk all to herself. Shaye and Hermione insisted that Ginny should have the most room since they had felt a little bad for encroaching on her space during the summer. 

"Ron, get out of the kitchen." Arthur could already be heard scolding Ron. "We're all hungry."

"Yeah, get out of the kitchen, Ron!" the twins echoed from the dining room.

Arthur turned on Fred and George next. "Feet off the table!"

"Feet off the table!" Fred and George repeated, removing their feet from the tabletop only long enough for their father to see. As soon as Arthur's back was turned, the feet were back on the table. 

Harry, who was still in awe of the tent, grinned. "I love magic."

As Shaye set her bag down and began to unzip it to unpack some of her things, a chocolate frog suddenly leapt out at her and she let out an involuntary screech. She hadn't known when or how, but at some point during the hike, one of the twins had put it in there; there was no question about that.

Picking up the frog, which was dormant now because they only ever had one good jump in them, Shaye marched over to where the twins were sitting and stuffed the frog down the back of George's sweater. 

"Can't we just have one day without any pranks?!" Shaye huffed as George squirmed to get the frog out of his clothes. 

"How did you know it was me and not Fred?" George furrowed his brows.

Shaye shrugged. "I didn't. Lucky guess."

"I would never do something so juvenile," Fred stated matter-of-factly. "Chocolate frog in the bag? Weak. It was obviously George because he's got a soft spot for you."

"I do not!" George denied.

"Do too." Fred insisted. 

"Listen!" Shaye silenced the bickering. "I don't care if the prank is big or small, weak or strong. If either one of you pranks me again, I swear to Merlin I will find a way to get back at you and it will not be pretty."