“Almost, Mum!” the twins called back, hardly sparing a glance for their empty trunks, so busy were they on their latest experiment.
“Should we add a drop of water?” Fred asked, looking thoughtfully at the bubbling mixture.
“Water?” George repeated, also contemplating the potion. “Can’t hurt.”
“All right, then,” Fred said, and whispered, “Aguamenti.”
“No, don’t use that spell!” George began, but it was too late. Not only was the spell too advanced for third-years such as they were, but it didn’t cause a drop of water, it caused a whole jet to stream out of his wand toward the cauldron. There was a deafening boom, and both of the twins were thrown back and stunned for a moment.
“Hey George, are you all right?”
“Yeah, just a little dizzy.”
“Whoa. Me too.”
“You shouldn’t have done that spell.”
“Yeah, it completely ruined the experiment. But at least we’re unharmed, so no tirade from Mum.”
Fred opened his eyes and looked around. “We seem to have switched places. Wasn’t I on that side of the room?”
George sat up and looked wonderingly at his hand, which was holding a wand that was still dripping slowly. “I think we switched more than places, Fred.”
They were both suddenly taken by a dizzy spell. When it wore off, Fred could feel the leakage from his wand onto his jeans.
“That was weird,” George said.
“Yeah,” replied Fred, blinking. “Well, back to normal.”
They stood up and began surveying the wreckage the exploding potion had caused. “Not that bad,” they agreed, and started cleaning up before Mum came to check on their packing.
Then came another dizzy spell.
“Oh dear,” said George from Fred’s body. “Oh dear, oh dear.”
“I hope this doesn’t happen too often,” Fred remarked, but just then came another dizzy spell “ then another, then another.
“So am I Fred or am I George?” one said a couple minutes later.
“Well, I’m pretty sure I’ve always been Fred,” said the other. “But I couldn’t tell you which body I’m in.”
“That’s just great,” George replied, shaking his head and getting back to work. “I guess we’ll never find out.”
“Well, if these darn dizzy spells “ ” they winced their way through another one “ “would quit, we’d be able to tell because we’ve got different scars.”
“That’s true. You’ve got the scar on your side from that time you flew into a bush.”
Fred cringed at the memory. “Well, don’t forget that scar on your side from playing with Dad’s wand when we were three!”
They looked at each other. “They’re on different sides, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Phew.”
“Fred! George! You said you were almost done packing!” Mum had come up the stairs and, while, not particularly interested in their conversatin about scars, was interested in the messiness of their room and the emptiness of their trunks.
“Oh, sorry Mum. Something came up,” Fred said.
“I don’t care if something came up, George. We leave tomorrow morning and if you’re not ready we might just have to go to Hogwarts without you!”
The twins glanced at each other “ Mum was usually pretty good about getting their names right, but she must have been as confused as they were about whose body was whose.
“We’ll be ready,” George said. “I promise.”
“If not “” Fred began.
“You can feel free to tie us up “”
“Draw us and quarter us “ ”
“Glue our tongues together “ ”
“Burn our eyes out “ ”
“And generally wreak havoc with our lives.”
“Or our deaths.”
Mum was looking strangely at them.
“Are you boys all right? Fred was the only talking, and usually you two bounce off each other instead of letting just one guy do the talking.”
The twins stared at each other. Apparently they’d been switching back and forth throughout that whole exchange, making it seem like only one person was talking.
“That’s strange,” George said.
“Very,” Fred added, noting with relief that they’d remained in their own bodies for that.
“Don’t worry, Mum,” they said together, wearing identical expressions as a dizzy spell took them halfway through the sentence.
“Just keep packing,” she replied, still staring at them with a bewildered expression. “I’ve got to go help Ron; he’s never packed for Hogwarts before, bless him.”
“Ickle Ronnie-kins,” George murmured to Fred, who grinned. Ron had been getting a lot of teasing from them as the last Weasley boy to attend Hogwarts. Luckily, Mum had gone toward Ron’s room by then so they didn’t get a tongue-lashing for that.
“I’m not really getting dizzy anymore, are you?”
“No, not particularly. But we’re still switching, look. I used to be facing the door, now I’m facing the other wall.”
“How annoying.”
Just then Ginny was heard stomping past their room, clearly in a bad mood.
“You know, George, I don’t think Ginny’s excited for the new school year to start,” Fred remarked.
“Do you blame her? She’ll be left at home all alone with Mum. She’ll probably try to get her started on knitting or something.”
“Think we should cheer her up?”
“We should try, Fred.”
They left their still unpacked trunks where they were and followed Ginny upstairs to her room.
“Well, what do you know,” Fred started. “It’s our favorite sister.”
“I do believe you’re right, Fred,” said George.
“You guys are weird,” Ginny said, inexplicably starting to smile.
“Why, George! I have no idea what she’s talking about, do you?”
George coughed. “I think I do, Fred.”
“Fred, you’re pretending to be both of you at once, but you’re doing all the talking!” Ginny informed him jubilantly. “That’s so weird. Do it some more!”
They glanced at each other. “I don’t know, Ginny,” said George. “It doesn’t happen on command.”
“Yeah, it’s something we’re not really able to control,” continued Fred.
“Aw, man,” Ginny said. “Well, it was funny.” Her face crumpled. “I don’t want you guys to go!”
Uh-oh was reflected in both the twins’ eyes. “Don’t cry, Ginny!” they said together.
“It won’t be that bad,” Fred said.
“We’ll write you loads of letters!” George continued.
“Send you treats from Hogsmeade “”
“Which we’ll be allowed to go to this year “ ”
“Yeah, no contraband treats, they’ll be legal.”
Ginny sniffed. “You’re doing it again. How come you only do it sometimes?”
“We don’t know, Ginny. Probably...magic.”
Fred wiggled his fingers spookily and made Ginny giggle.
They gave her an awkward hug. “We’ll be back for the breaks, too. It’s not that long.”
“I’ll miss you,” she muttered, safely ensconced between them.
“We’d better go pack,” George commented to Fred.
“You’re right. Good night, Ginny.”
“Good night, George. Good night, Fred.”
The twins went back downstairs to their room.
“I’ll race you.”
“You’re on.”
Fred and George slept remarkably well despite switching beds all night long. They were hardly disconcerted when they both woke in a different bed than they’d slept in; by this time they were used to it.
“Boy, I sure hope that this wears off soon,” George said.
“I think people are going to start being suspicious if we keep talking like we’re one person bouncing back and forth between personalities. Should we practice?”
“It’s too unpredictable.”
“True. Hey, race you downstairs for breakfast.”
“Good morning, Fred. Good morning, George. All packed and ready to go?”
“Yes, Mum,” they chorused.
“We’re leaving very soon, so I hope you really are ready.”
“What, Mum, don’t you trust us?” Fred asked, scandalized. “No need to worry with us,” he continued, pleased to note that he’d switched bodies right in time to make it seem like it’d been George doing the second half. He caught George’s smirk right before he switched back again.
“Well, be ready in ten minutes,” Mum said. “I’ll help Ron with his things but I’m counting on you to take care of yourselves.”
“You definitely don’t have to worry about me, Mother,” Percy said loftily, coming down the stairs and sitting down seriously. “After all, as a prefect I’ve learned to be responsible. My trunk is already in the parlor.”
“Thank you, Percy,” Mum said gently while Fred and George rolled their eyes at each other. They’d hoped that Percy had locked himself in his room or something so they wouldn’t have to deal with him “ he’d become quite insufferable this summer.
Finally they were off to Kings Cross Station. Fred and George tried to joke with Ginny on the way so she wouldn’t feel too bad, but their jokes tended to flop when one or more of their trade-offs misfired.
“This had better end before we get to school,” Fred muttered, banging his hand emphatically on his trolley, almost causing George to lose control when they switched.
They reached the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Poor Ginny was beside herself at the thought of all her brothers leaving her. Mum sent Percy through first, then turned to the twins, who had finally worked out a way to push their trolleys so they didn’t trip every time they moved.
“Fred, you next,” Mum said, looking at the body in which George currently resided.
“I’m not Fred, I’m George!” George said, sending a shadow of a wink at his twin; the switch did have some advantages. “Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can’t you tell I’m George?”
Mum was apologetic. “Sorry, George, dear.”
Right then Fred switched into his rightful body. “Only joking, I am Fred,” he said gleefully.
“Hurry up!” called George as Fred began to make a run for the barrier. Neither of them wanted to switch in the middle of crossing the barrier, as that would definitely cause a crash of some sort.
“Phew!” they both said when they were each safely through.
“You know, we should probably check to see whose body is whose, since we lost track a while ago.”
“Now’s as good a time as any, I suppose, eh?”
“Quick, check to see if your scar’s in the right place.”
They lifted their shirts as surreptitiously as they could.
“I’m in the right body, are you?”
“Yeah. Now let’s try and pay attention to the rest of our switches.”
“Okay.” Fred looked around. “Hey, look, it’s that first year that was sort of hanging around by us earlier. Think he wants help with his trunk?”
“Yeah, let’s go,” George replied.
They helped him up and couldn’t help but notice a scar when the boy pushed his hair out of his eyes.
“What’s that?” Fred said, feeling a shift coming on. “Blimey. Are you “ ”
“He is. Aren’t you?” George asked.
“What?” the boy said, confused.
“Harry Potter!” they said together.
“Oh, him,” said Harry. “I mean, yes, I am.”
They gawked, feeling their perspectives of him shift slightly as they switched bodies yet again.
“Fred? George? Are you there?”
“Coming, Mum,” they called, scampering out of Harry’s compartment.
Mum was rubbing dirt off Ron’s nose, but he wasn’t too thrilled about it.
“Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?” Fred asked in a “cute” voice. George smirked.
“Shut up,” Ron replied, glaring at Fred.
“Where’s Percy?” Mum asked, looking around.
“He’s coming now,” Ginny said, pointing.
Fred and George looked at each other. “It’s been a while since we had a switch,” George muttered.
“Think it’s off?” Fred replied.
“Only one way to find out.”
Percy had arrived, looking very self-important. “Can’t stay long, Mother,” he said. “I’m up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves ” ”
“Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?” said George, acting very surprised. “You should have said something, we had no idea.”
“Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it,” Fred said, winking at Ginny. “Once “ ”
“Or twice ” ”
“A minute ” ”
“All summer ” ”
Fred and George grinned at each other. It seemed they were back in business.
A/N: Obviously some dialogue borrowed from “Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters” in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I don’t think I’d be alive tomorrow if I tried to claim it as my own.