Title: J.O.H.F.
Summary: Over the Holidays, Arilina Zeller finds something that will teach her a lesson about receiving things from Fred and George. I am writing for the Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes challenge. I’m in Ravenclaw house.
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“Our newest product is the J.O.H.F.” Fred displayed the object. It had rounded edges and a strange, greenish glow to it. The object was about the size of a golf ball. “It stands for Joking Others Having Fun.”
“You are guaranteed to have full results, or your money back,” George finished.
Just as Fred was telling about this product, Arilina Zeller saw it. She was only seven, and joining her sister, Rose Zeller, on her look for school supplies. Rose was starting Hogwarts this year. Arilina wanted to know more about the product, and she knew just who to give it to.
Arilina was quite the troublemaker. She loved pranks. Only recently she took her mother’s deodorant and substituted it for cream cheese. The look on her face when she found out was priceless. The J.O.H.F. would be great to use on her sister. But what did it do?
While her sister and mother were looking into the shop window next door, she looked at the object. Fred saw her staring at the object and whispered something to George. Arilina saw him gesture towards her, so she started to walk away, embarrassed.
Just as the girl turned to leave, Fred called behind her, “Hey, little girl, come here real quick!” Not wanting to be rude, she looked up at him. “We saw that you were fascinated with this object; you look like quite the prankster yourself. We were wondering if you would like to have it.”
“We understand that money is hard to get for someone such as yourself, and that you probably don’t want your family knowing about this. So, what do you say?” George offered. This was an offer that she couldn’t refuse. She thanked them for the object, and headed off with her mother and sister.
Arilina studied the object in her hand; it was small enough to fit in her pocket. She didn’t know what it did, but it looked amazing. Rose and her mother were searching for a cauldron while she peered at it. She was pretending to look at strange ingredients.
When they finally got home, she decided to put the J.O.H.F. in her sister’s bed. Arilina’s room was across the hall, so she would be able to see the effect the ball had. She couldn’t wait, but as all pranksters have to learn, patience is a virtue.
The next morning she woke up covered in goo that had the same strange green glow the ball had. She tried to wash it off, but it only got worse. Defeated, she went to her mother to ask for help. Her mother was astonished at the story Arilina told. When Rose came out of bed, she looked more beautiful than usual. Her teeth were straight, and she had a cuter hairstyle. Arilina was confused. After thinking, she had an idea what happened. Her mother finally got the goo off, and needed to go to Diagon Alley to fetch something she forgot the day before. Arilina decided to go with her.
When they arrived at Diagon Alley, Arilina waited while her mother bought something in a nearby store. She went across the street to Fred and George’s shop. She found her way up to the counter, and rang the bell. When George saw her, he immediately recognized her.
“May I help you?” George asked. He tried to keep his voice normal, and muttered a spell that Fred and he invented to grab each other’s attention.
Fred came through the door as Arilina began to speak. “Yes, actually. You know the J.O.H.F.? I was wondering what it actually did. Is there any chance tha-“
“Oh, yes. I can see you tried it. Sorry about that. Well, what is supposed to happen depends on the case. In most cases the prankster is the victim. The prankster will usually put the ball form in or on something personal of the prankee,” George started.
“Then, if the prankster has an object similar to the prankee, the ball will transfer over, and cover the second object in the goo form. Sorry if this caused you trouble,” Fred continued.
“We only have one of this particular item, and we wanted to test it out. Just so you know, the J.O.H.F really stands for Joke that Offends Humans and Frauds,” George explained.
Surprisingly, Arilina started chuckling, and then broke out into loud laughter. Fred and George exchanged confused looks, and started laughing as well. Laughter tends to be contagious, so soon enough, the whole store started laughing. It was at that moment that Arilina’s mother decided to walk into the laughing store.
She didn’t laugh, but a smile did find its way onto her face. She asked Arilina what was going on, and Arilina explained it between fits of laughter. As the two went to leave, George said something rather peculiar.
“We would be willing to give you our last J.T.M.G. if you like. What do you say?” George offered. Arilina just laughed in response and beckoned her mother to leave with her.
The two family members left the store and went out for ice cream. When they got back to their house, Arilina apologized to her sister for attempting to pull the prank. Rose had a plan in mind that she had been waiting to use. The sweet plan of good old revenge, that is. Arilina wasn’t the only prankster in this family. But that plan has yet to come into action.