The Werewolf and the Twin

"It was a great escape for me and it was a way to take a break from what was going on in my own world, to go into another world."

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Day one of Spring Break started out fantastic. I woke up around eight having slept for the first time in what felt like ages. Ginny was still sleeping and I didn’t want to wake her up just yet so I tugged on sweats over my boy-shorts (since for some reason Ginny’s room liked to collect most of the heat in the house) and slipped out into the hallway.

From what I could hear, everybody was still in their beds (though I could smell fresh coffee from somewhere) and even the ghoul seems to be asleep. I padded downstairs, keeping an eye out for the creaky step that Ginny warned me about- it had woken up the entire house on more than one occasion- and walked into the kitchen, a little surprised to find Mrs. Weasley up reading the Daily Prophet.

“Oh, someone else is up before noon, how odd.” She quipped, smiling. I let out a laugh and took a seat across the table from her.

“I’m usually not up this early most of the time.” I said, bringing a knee up to rest my chin on.

“There’s tea and coffee if you want some and I could start breakfast if you’re hungry.” She said, folding the newspaper, eyeing me.

I shook my head, “Coffee’s fine, thanks. If you could just show me where the cups are I can get it myself.” I started to rise but stopped at her waved hand in my general direction.

“I was planning to start breakfast soon anyway and I don’t mind getting you a cup.” Getting up, she waved her wand and several pans shuffled from different cabinets, settling onto the stove with small thunks. A single bright red cup flew from a cupboard behind me to settle in front of what looked to be a coffee maker, though I knew electricity didn’t work well around magic.

A pot lifted from the alcove of the thing and poured the dark caffeinated liquid into the cup, milk and sugar floating from the fridge and counter pouring in also. I didn’t know how she knew how I liked my coffee but I wasn’t going to question it.

In the ten seconds I was watching my coffee being made, Mrs. Weasley had already managed to get bacon, eggs, and hash browns going; batter for what looked to be pancakes being stirred next to a skillet. She was humming to herself as she checked on the food and a quick wave of her wand brought my coffee to me.

I curled my hand around the mug, eager for the small warmth it brought and inhaled the scent of it deeply. I’ve always loved coffee, have since I was little. Taking a cautious sip, I sighed at the flavor.

“The coffee is amazing, thank you.” I said, and Mrs. Weasley turned back to smile at me.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked, taking another sip of the liquid ambrosia.

She leaned against the counter, thinking, “I’ve got breakfast handled, if you could maybe wake everyone else up? Charlie and Bill are at the Ministry with Arthur, they’ll be back later today in time for dinner.”

Taking my mug with me, I started up the stairs, avoiding the creaky step and successfully not spilling the coffee on myself. I decided to go from top to bottom; meaning Ron and Harry would be the first to wake up.

Ascending the stairs, my footsteps were silent and so was the house except for the distant makings of breakfast and little echoes of the house settling. Walking to the bright orange door that said RON, I knocked, hearing an answering grunt from inside. Figuring that for an okay to open the door, I found Harry snuggled on a pull-out with Ron sprawled on his back, drool leaking from the side of his mouth.

I muffled a snort.

“Breakfast is almost ready, time to get up, guys.” I said, softly. Not quiet enough not to be heard but not loud enough to startle them. Harry sluggishly went into a sitting position and threw me a thumbs up which I took for a “Okay, we’ll be down soon.”

So I shut the door and continued down to Ginny’s room. She was still sleeping so I nudged her softly, waking her up gently and left as she sat up and scratched her head. Ron and Harry still hadn’t come down yet but I guessed it would still be about five minutes or so until they were- waking up Ron was difficult.

Making my way to Fred and George’s room, I knocked. Not hearing anything, I cautiously poked my head into the space. There were twin beds on opposite sides of the room with what looked like a laboratory table in the right corner. Fred was on the bed directly in front of me while George was in the other one.

“Guys, it’s time to wake up. Breakfast is almost ready.” I said, trying to not to startle them. There was a moan from George that sounded like, “Oh god, please no.” and I laughed quietly. Walking over to George, I laid a hand on his shoulder, shaking him.

“C’mon, sleepy-bum. Gotta get up.” He grinded his face even deeper into the pillow before popping up, looking at me with blurry eyes. Deciding he was truly up, I turned to Fred, who had changed position and was now on his stomach, comforter having been dragged down to his waist.

He didn’t have a shirt on.

So, you know how I have that thing for forearms? I may or may not have a thing for shoulders too. Fred and George, for having been Beaters in Quidditch, pretty much held trophies for the best arms and coincidentally, shoulders too.

His skin was pale and freckled but tanner than Ron’s. The Twins may still be taller than Ron but that distance was quickly depleting and both of the Twins were broader than him.

It took a lot of self-restraint not to touch him more than a poke on the shoulder.

“Get up. Breakfast.” Wow, my mouth was dry. I took a too-big drink of my coffee, wincing as it burnt slightly. His head turned from facing the wall to my direction, eyes flickering open. His cerulean eyes were tired and still sleep covered but he apparently found it within him to smile and it was totally the most adorable thing ever.

Fred pushed himself up obviously to change into an upright position, shoulder muscles visibly working under the freckled skin and I had to turn away quickly, because if I continued to look, I might’ve done something stupid.

I made my away out of the room, a quick glance telling me that George was up too. I’d almost made my escape when right as I passed through the arch-way of the door, I heard Fred say my name.

“Hey, Ariel.” His voice was deep and rough with sleep and I clenched onto my mug. Turning, I smiled automatically, trying not to freak out. I’d seen guys shirtless before. It was no biggie.

No biggie, right. Fred stood by the side of his bed, clad in only boxers (blue with little ‘F’s all over them) that were low on his hips. His hair was adorably flattened on one side and a mussed up mess on the other side- of course only Fred could work bed-head. There were red lines where the creases in the bed had pressed into his face and chest. A pale scar stood out against his right pectoral, short but cutting across the bottom of it to end at the top of his first rib.

Holy French toast on a stick. Okay, don’t freak out. He walked towards me slowly, scratching at the side of his head, as Ginny had done, but Ginny didn’t have mad arm muscles that caused me to drool. He stopped right in front of me, smelling like pine and apples and cinnamon and sleep.

“Good morning.” Fred murmured, plucking my coffee out of my hands, smirking slightly at my a little too-wide eyes. And then the door shut in my face, startling me out my revere.

“Hey!” I called indignantly, “Give me back my coffee!” All I could hear was chuckling from the room and I turned away, cheeks turning pink in embarrassment. Ginny who had just stepped out of her room, glanced at me curiously before her mouth fell open and she looked at me with shock. Already, I knew what she had just figured out.

“No, Ginny! It’s- it’s not like that!” I tried, desperately, but to no avail, her mouth had already turned into a devious smile and she simply walked down the stairs, humming to herself.

Apparently, I was the most transparent person in the world.

Breakfast was fun, especially since Ron was still half asleep and apparently his motor-controls were also. Fred had put on a shirt and pants (sad) so I could finally look him in the eye without wanting to rub my hands all over his chest, because THAT wouldn’t have been weird.

Ginny refused to acknowledge anything I said on the whole, “I know who you like finally” front, so I gave up and let her think what she wanted to and laughed along as Ron ended up with more food on his face and shirt than in his mouth. After breakfast, I tried to help Mrs. Weasley wash up but she wouldn’t let me.

So, feeling guilty, I let myself be drug up to Ginny’s room by a once again, smirking Ginny who really had no right grinning like that.

I was yanked in, neck cracking with the force and shoved onto the pull-out, Ginny grinning down at me like a mad-woman.

“So which one it is?” she asked, or no, demanded.

“I have absolutely no clue what you mean.” Getting up, I went to my suitcase, trying to talk over her while I did so.

“Hey, we should play a game of Quidditch.”

“You know what I mean, Ariel.”

“I mean, it looks pretty nice out today and it sounds like fun.”

“You’re being a git, tell me.”

“So, Quidditch. I’ll go get dressed in the bathroom and you get ready here and then we’ll go outside and beat the crap out of each other via Quaffle.” I said, smiling innocently at her, clutching my bundled clothes to my chest. “Okay?” and then without waiting for a confirmation, I ran out of the room, a shot-down Ginny glaring at me from behind.

“Yikes. What’d you do to Ginny to make her glare at you like that?” Ron said, stumbling up the stairs, still apparently asleep.

I just groaned and made my way to the bathroom, changing into jeans and a tank-top. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, using the help of the mirror to pull my hair up into a messy pony-tail.

Stepping out, I went back to Ginny’s room, finding her dressed and sitting petulantly on her bed.

“I’ll find out eventually, I hope you know that.” She said.

Grabbing my white vans, that were slowly becoming very not-white, I agreed with her, “I have no doubt of that,” I said, “but maybe you’d have more luck if you didn’t demand that I tell you.” I grinned wryly at her and she reluctantly grinned back.

“I see your point.” She dutifully tugged on her shoes and grabbed her broom, while I took mine out of its case and pulled on my military style jacket that I’d gotten so long ago at the clothing store in Hogsmead with George and Fred.

I wouldn’t need it for long, I was bound to get sweaty playing Quidditch but the morning was just a bit chilled and it wouldn’t get warmer until the end of the day. Ginny and I walked downstairs then, telling her mom that we’d be out at the pitch and I thanked Mrs. Weasley again for breakfast which she just tittered at and shooed us along.

We talked and laughed as we made our way to the shed which stored the Quidditch supplies. Grabbing the case, we trudged our way to behind the house where the pond was, across a small field, through the grove of trees and to the make-shift Quidditch pitch.

We set the stuff out and stretched since we were really in no rush to start a game that was bound to get intense, knowing Ginny and I. We were both competitive as hell.

It’s not like I hadn’t planned of telling Ginny about how I was crushing kinda a lot on her brother. I just didn’t want to weird her out and frankly, this whole ‘I like you’ business was still basically new to me.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m a teenager, I know how it goes but personally going through it is completely different. I was already packed with hormones and animalistic urges thanks to being a werewolf but still. My self-confidence was not up to being shot-down nor could I let myself get into a relationship without them knowing about me being a werewolf.

So, I just chatted with Ginny, about school, about music (It made me incredibly sad that she didn’t know who AC/DC was and I made a point to fiddle with her radio later), and about sports.

Before long, we were tossing around the Quaffle, kicking it up in the air and basically playing make-shift hacky-sack with it, laughing as we stubbed our toes against the weighty ball.

Soon, we were up the air, rising on the slopes of wind and basically just having fun with flying. We taught each other new moves and even spent part of the time daring each other to try out tricks that were insanely hard.

Eventually, we rose high enough to see the Burrow from over the trees. We sat up there, breathing in the air while I finally worked up enough courage to tell Ginny.

I took a deep breath, “It’s Fred.”

“What?”

“You asked before which one, which Twin it was. It’s Fred.” Looking back at the ground, trying not to feel vertigo, I couldn’t look at Ginny. Telling secrets, however much not secret they are, is hard for me but I figured if I was opening up to her about Fred, and about something as difficult as this, would make doing the same with me being a werewolf easier.

“Oh.” She was quiet for a moment then, “Ew.”

I bust out laughing because that was something Ginny would say, of course. She laughed a long too and I could finally look at her again.

“Thanks for telling me. I thought I was going to die from my curiosity.”

I rolled my eyes, “Stop being so melodramatic.” And pushed her broom away with my foot.

We got back in around eleven, hungry and our cheeks still pink from the wind. Mrs. Weasley was in the living room, telling Ron and Harry and the Twins that they had to de-gnome the garden.

I put my broom my the doorstep and walked over to the boys while Ginny got us apples and caramel to snack on.

“De-gnome the garden?” I asked, curious as to what that would entail.

Ron groaned, “We have to do it every few days and those little buggers hurt.”

I just laughed and patted him on the shoulder, “Well, I’ll help then.”

Soon, we were all out in the garden to the side of the house. The boys were all having a contest as to who could throw a gnome the farthest when one waddled up to me. I wasn’t paying much attention to it, kinda fixated on the competition, when I felt sharp teeth puncture my right ankle.

Yelping at the sudden, stinging pain, I flung my foot out and ripped the bastard off of my skin. Instantly, the boys weren’t laughing and were staring in my direction, casting worried glances at me, seeing if I was alright.

“I’m fine.” I reassured them. “No thanks to this little shit-head.” I continued under my breath, sticking my tongue out at him. The gnome was pointing at me with a sharp finger, hissing, my blood smeared across its mouth. Gross.

Glancing down at my ankle, I saw that there were several punctures through my jeans and I was bleeding enough to seep into my shoe, ruining them and my jeans.

Okay, now I was a little pissed off. I took a quick crow-hop and launched the bastard across the fence and into the wheat fields beyond, several dozen yards past Harry’s longest throw which held the record.

Harry and Ron and the Twins stopped what they were doing and turned to look at me again, their faces ones of surprise instead of concern.

I shrugged, “What? He ruined my shoes.”

That made them glance down, taking in the bloody mess that was my right foot. Instantly, I was being shoved towards the house, Fred and George by my sides, fussing over me.

“Guys! I’m fine! It’s just a few scratches.” I resisted, knowing that it was just a few scratches.

“Oh god! Ariel! You’ll be okay! I promise! We’ll get you fixed up all nice and you’ll be better again!” George ranted.

“DON’T GO INTO THE LIGHT!” Fred cried, tugging me along theatrically. I started laughing, too caught up in their dramatics to do much else.

George leaned into my ear conspiratorially, “We’re using you to get out of de-gnoming. Play along.” While Fred faked cried at my side.

“Hey!” we heard an indignant call from Ron before reaching the house and pushing me inside. Mrs. Weasley, who was dusting the living room caught sight of us and went to reprimand, obviously, before her eyes landed on my ankle and the blood.

And thus became a flurry of quilts and red-hair.

“Oh you poor thing, here sit down and prop your ankle up and we’ll clean you up just fine.”

“I’m fine! Really! A quick wash and a band-aid and I’ll be peachy.” Seriously, with my advanced healing, the scratches would be gone by the end of the week.

“Oh nonsense, now put your foot up and stop complaining.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I complied and walked over to a kitchen chair, putting my foot up on the one in front of me. Rolling up my ruined pants, I glanced at the wound. There were about twelve punctures in a rough circle that were bleeding kinda profusely actually. Blood trailed down my ankle and got all in my sock and seeped into my shoe.

George who was still by my side, along with Fred, whistled, “That’s one of the best bites we’ve seen.”

“Well aren’t I just blessed.” I quipped.

Grimacing, I untied my shoe and eased it off my foot, slipping off the sock also. By that time, Mrs. Weasley was back with a washcloth, some bandages and some ointment.

She quickly washed the punctures before tapping my ankle with her wand, murmuring a quick healing spell. It knitted wounds closed slightly and stopped the bleeding. She rubbed some ointment on them that soothed the last of the stinging before wrapping it in bandages.

Mrs. Weasley then glancing at my shoe and sock that were still in my hand, took them from me and placed them on the table. She said another spell and the blood stains faded away. Rolling down the leg of my jeans, she did the same thing and fixed the holes made by the gnome’s teeth.

“Thank you!” I smiled brilliantly at her, relieved that I didn’t have to throw away my vans or the jeans. She just patted my shoulder and went to put away the excess bandages and ointment.

Fred and George by that time had gone back outside to help finish the de-gnoming and Ginny had come down from upstairs where she had been put with the chore of cleaning the bathroom.

She saw the sterile, white bandages wrapped around my ankle and “hummed knowingly. I just laughed and got up from the chair, not knowing what to do now. I settled for grabbing my broom from the porch and running it back upstairs to Ginny’s room to put it back in the case.

I spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out with Ginny, who teased me about my crush but that was only expected.

At one point of the afternoon I had finally gotten around to fiddling with the radio. I wanted it to play a muggle station and I knew it was possible because I’d done it in one of my old schools, though, that had been years ago.

Ginny was laughing at my attempts and threw small pieces of candy at me while I worked. I caught a few in my mouth and chewed thoughtfully as I messed around with the gears in the back.

Eventually, the fuzzing cleared out to an old rock station playing “Heat of the Moment” by Asia.

“Finally! See?! Told you I could get it to work.” I stuck my tongue out at her laughing and she mockingly motioned bowing to me.

“Who’s this?” Ron asked, walking in with Harry.

“Asia.” Harry and I said at the same time. We laughed and I jumped up, still elated with my success.

“It was the heat of the moment.” Harry and I sang along when it got to the chorus. We busted up laughing and I felt a bit nostalgic because for however much wizarding world music was awesome, it still never beat AC/DC for me.

We listened to the radio for a while, Harry and I naming off the bands and song we could and there was more than one awkward karaoke session. Me and Ron played chess and he beat me but I blame being distracted by nostalgia. George and Fred came in after a while and sat with us.

A little after the clock struck five, the fire-place erupted green flames, scaring the crap out of me who was sitting closest to it. Rom laughed at me as Bill, Charlie, and Arthur stepped out in quick succession.

There was a chorus of greetings and I said hi to the newest Weasley’s entering the house.

“What’s playing on the radio?” Charlie asked as “Every Breath You Take” by The Police came on.

“Oh, Ariel got it to play a muggle station and we’ve been listening to old rock songs apparently.” Ginny replied.

That made the three oldest male Weasley’s look at me, eyebrows raised so, of course, I panicked a little.

“If you guys don’t like it, I can always change it back, because I can do that because it’s not broken it’s just on a new channel and easily changed. I’ve just been able to tamper with ones before to do the same thing and I’ll just stop talking now.” You should be able to tell that I’m not used to families.

Both Ron and Harry were snickering into their arms and Ginny shouldered them roughly. My cheeks, of course, were blazing crimson and I wanted to sink into a puddle of Ariel-goo.

Arthur just laughed, “No, we were just wondering at the ability to do that.” He patted my shoulder as he walked by, Bill and Charlie following him, smiling. I just did what came to mind and laid down on the ground, resisting the urge to smash my face into it.

How I could be so awkward- I don’t even know.

Fred took this apparently ample opportunity to sit on my back, squishing the air out my lungs.

“Oh my god. I can’t breathe!” I flailed, almost knocking him off but wasn’t able to before he adjusted, straddling my back and hips.

“Seriously.” I wheezed, “Get off, your butt is bony and I think one of my ribs just punctured my lungs and if I die from this I’m coming back and haunting you.”

He just laughed and didn’t move but adjusted yet again so he wasn’t crushing my lungs. I gasped in air theatrically, complaining about how I had almost died.

Ginny, of course, was in hysterics and sent knowing glances my way that I promptly ignored. It was hard though, to ignore the fact that Fred was basically sitting on my butt, straddling me.

Eventually, I just shifted a little, getting as comfortable as I could, cradling my head in my arms. Fred and I stayed like that until dinner was said to be ready and he got off, helping me up as we made out way into the kitchen.

Dinner was more fun than breakfast now that the whole of the Weasley family was there (except Percy). It was strange to be a part of a family again especially since it’d been forever since I had one.

The other teenagers at the orphanage weren’t exactly the best company.

By the time dinner was over, I was stuffed with food and ready to sleep. I went upstairs and stripped down to my tank-top and underwear, pulling on my superhero pajama pants (Avengers. They were amazing) before I went to the bathroom to pee and brush my teeth.

I’d finished my business and was on my way back to Ginny’s room when I ran into Fred who apparently was on his way to the bathroom. He was back to wearing just boxers like this morning and I valiantly focused on a freckle on his collarbone.

Collarbones are non-sexy so it was safe. They were very… not sexy…

Damnit. I turned my attention to his forehead, bypassing his lips which were moving. He was talking to me. Right.

“What?” I asked dumbly.

He just stared at me, a smile ticking at the corner of his mouth. He stepped closer and I felt the heat of him on my skin.

Don’t freak out.

Don’t freak out.

Don’t freak out.

“Ariel? Are you listening to me?” Fred asked, mirth clearly in his voice.

“What?” Fred laughed, before stooping down to my level and pressing a kiss to my temple. He pulled away just enough to whisper, “Good night.” In my ear before ducking into the bathroom and shutting the door.

Taking a deep, gasping breath after I realized I hadn’t breathed through the whole thing, I scurried away back to Ginny’s room to valiantly try and not freak out over the goose-bumps he had left on my skin.