The Werewolf and the Twin

"people rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing."

❦❦❦

The snow outside the castle doors was just as I remembered. Perfect.

The white, clean fluff reflected the sun fantastically, burning my eyes in the most beautiful way possible. There was heaps and drifts ten feet high and the snow just normal level reached to the tippy tops of my boots. Grabbing my hat, scarf, and mittens out of my pocket, I stuck them on, making sure they were good and tight. Loosing one singular mitten is a bitch.

I grinned deliriously and turned back to my friends who were watching me with a mixture of grins and exasperation.

“C’mon! Let’s do something!” Trudging as fast as I could back to my friends (which wasn’t fast at all mind you), I grabbed Hermione’s hand and tugged her off in some direction. I needed to find the perfect place to play. The normal snow-level here was too high for any fast movement and fast movement was a given when having a major-epic-grand-exuberant snowball fight, like I planned.

I finally found the perfect place. It was a field where the normal-snow had blown only to the top of my foot. It was dead in between Hagrid’s house where a black pillar of smoke rose from the chimney, the woods where medium sized snow drifts had pilled up, the lake which was still frozen over (I also planned ice skating), and the castle where gigantic snow drifts had built and merged.

Stopping in the middle of the field, I turned back to my friends, hands on my hips, a triumphant grin on my face. Hermione rolled her eyes and I crinkled my nose at her and stuck out my tongue, “Non-believer.”

She laughed.

“Anywhoos, for all of the nice people,” I made a big show of turning to Harry and Ron, “we’re going to build snowmen! It’s going to be an epic Snowman-Off! No magic; we’re doing this all by hand.”

“We’ll do it in teams of two and I was gonna do boy against girls but Hermione decided to be a non-believer so I can’t choose her. Harry, you’re with me. Ron and Hermione, you’ll be together. And no peeking!” Harry gave me a knowing look that said ‘You put them together on purpose.’ But I just raised my eyebrows delicately and shrugged my shoulders innocently. He wasn’t convinced.

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, blushed, and looked away, Ron coughing awkwardly. Finally, Hermione took a deep breath and went into work-mode. She turned to Ron and relayed directions to get started.

Grinning evilly, I turned to Harry who was also watching the other team. He turned towards me, “She’s going to kill him. You know that right?”

“Let’s kick their butts.” I laughed and marched over to a snow drift near the woods to get started.

It took a while but our snowman ended up killing theirs. Literally. Hermione and I hadn’t meant to do it on purpose but we had just been so caught up.

It all started when we were in the middle of building our snowmen. Harry and I were rolling giant balls of snow for our three piece snowman when on the edge of my heightened hearing I heard Hermione murmur a spell. That cheating ho.

So I decided to cheat too. Harry gaped at me openly and almost called me out on the wand work but I silenced him with a stare. He even ended up helping me think up spells that could work to our benefit. Meet my new partner in crime.

We sculpted and carved and molded and finally we had a life size snow statue of Batman with a cape that blew in a non-existent wind too. Harry and I couldn’t think of anything else to make it better since it was already kick-ass, so we sat down in front of Batman and just stared at him.

“How do you know about Batman?” he asked finally, tearing his eyes off of Batman to look at me.

“I’m a half-blood. My mom was the magical one of my parents. Even though magic was pretty dominant in our family, they balanced the Muggle world with the Wizard one.” I shrugged, contemplating on building a smaller Robin snow-man to accompany Batman.

“Was?” Harry asked quietly, still looking at me. Sighing, I turned my gaze towards him, holding his eyes levelly and replied very blankly,

“I’m an orphan.” Harry’s eyes didn’t show pity. They showed a rare understanding that only another orphan could understand. He nodded, accepting the knowledge but didn’t press for the details on how it happened and I appreciated that. Most people would’ve but only someone who knew the pain of loosing both your parents knew that you didn’t want to relive the memories.

Especially if they were particularly gruesome.

“How long do you think they’re gonna take?” I asked referring to Ron and Hermione still working, not really caring about the answer but just to fill up the silence. I’d never been good with quiet situations. Harry just shrugged and lay back onto the snow, hands behind his head, cushioning it.

So I did what I always did when faced with a long wait. I counted minutes. I knew that I could talk to Harry to fill up the time but we had an understanding moment going on and I wasn’t going to be the one to ruin it.

It was comfortable with Harry. I didn’t have to talk and neither did he. I sensed that we were both completely fine with just sitting here, enjoying each others company. Hermione’s voice about scared the skin off me, considering she did it right as I was being lulled into the half-conscious state of mind when I acquired when I counted for long periods of time.

“You cheater!” she raged, stomping over to me as I moved to my feet fluidly. My grace startled her for a second before she returned to her previous ranting.

“’We’re doing this all by hand.’ You said. There is no way you could’ve done that without magic.” She stopped in front of me, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at me like no other. I tilted to the side so I could see behind her. Ron stood by their snowman looking at bit lost and wide-eyed.

Their snowman was smaller than ours but more detailed. It was a life-sized version of the Chaser of the Chudley Cannons, Dragomir Gorgovitch. It was like he was standing right in front of me but made of snow. As I focused on his face, my attuned eyesight saw that he even had individual eye lashes. And she was calling me the cheater?

So I turned my attention back to her, crossing my arms identically with hers. She was still watching me as if waiting for me to fess up. I wasn’t going to make it that easy for her.

“Immobulus,” I stated. I was calling her spell out and she knew it. “The Freezing charm. Used to stop things from moving.” Hermione flushed and opened her mouth to retaliate but I plunged on ahead, cutting her off.

“Duro, the Hardening charm. Used to harden the outer layer of an object” She snapped her mouth shut and stared at me. I plucked an eyebrow up.

“Glaciedo, the Ice charm. Used to create a spray of crystals that hardens and morphs to ice on contact.” Hermione looked to be getting pinker and I knew it wasn’t from the cold air. It’s not like I actually meant to make her angry but it was too fun to mess with her when she knew I knew just as much as her about spell work.

“Auxilium, the Supporting charm. Used to create a spirit support beam inside of an object to help hold it up.”

“Caeloportus, the Carving charm. Used to slice a divot out of the-”

“Stop, okay? I get it. At least I didn’t make my snowman move.” She spat, looking actually pretty pissed. “Flantemos, the Moving charm?”

I just smirked and quirked my eyebrow higher, which, in turn, seemed to enrage her more. Just as suddenly as her anger frown appeared, it was gone, replaced with a secretive grin that startled me for a moment before my werewolf genes got caught up at the challenge.

Still looking at her, and I don’t even really know how I knew, but I had figured out what she was planning to do a second after she did. Whipping around to face her snowman, myself a second behind her turning to face my own, we raised our wands at the same time and shouted the same spell,

“Vehementer Animatum!” A beam of white shot out of our wands towards our snowmen simultaneously, striking them deftly. Harry and Ron both jumped and scrambled away from the snowman they stood beside as the snowy figures twitched.

The snowmen jerked and began moving on their own, twisting their arms and stretching their limbs as if stiff. Harry and Ron looked flabbergasted but Hermione and I just turned back to face the other person. We both wore super smirks as our snowmen started for each other.

Batman and Gorgovitch met in the middle and began to throw punches and kicks. I grinned madly as I turned my attention from Hermione to cheer on my snowman.

“C’mon Batman! Kick his ass!” I whopped and clapped as Batman pummeled Gorgovitch, cape still flapping in the magic induced wind. Hermione snorted at my cheers but none the less egged on her snowman too. Ron and Harry had come out of their stupor and cheered as well.

Gorogvitch ended up kicking Batman so hard that he flew backwards a few feet, rolling head over feet in the snow. Nonetheless, the Dark knight pushed himself up and reached for one of his pockets, pulling out something or another that I didn’t remember sculpting. He started for Gorgovitch and threw the item which struck the Quidditch player as Batman was mere feet away.

They blew up. Quite literally actually. The explosion knocked us off our feet and sent snow flying in all directions, coating the trio and me. The impact stunned me for a moment before I bust up laughing.

My ribs ached and I had tears in my eyes as I rolled on the ground. The trio was in a similar condition, laughing merrily.

When I finally pulled myself up into a sitting position, still laughing, I was able to gasp out, “We win.” Hermione snorted and began to laugh even harder. I rolled over to my hands and knees, intending to push myself up with my arms that felt very rubbery. When I was in the middle of putting my knee under myself to push up, I heard foot steps and glanced up in front of me, towards the castle.

“What happened? You guys looked like something exploded all over you.” Ginny remarked, walking forward with Fred and George right next to her. That just made us laugh even harder and I lost the ability to push myself up. Finally though, I was able to wobble my way up to a standing position, grinning deliriously.

“You have no idea just how right you are.” I chuckled, making Hermione snort again. Ginny and Forge had grins on their faces with eyebrows raised. I smiled happily at them.

“You guys have perfect timing though.” I said as I put out my arms to help Hermione up. Ron and Harry had gotten to their feet, both still chuckling here and there.

Ginny waved a hand as if to say ‘Of course we do.’

Fred and George, put a hand to their lips and had a mock bashful look on their face.

“Please please,”

“We’re blushing.” I rolled my eyes, still smiling.

“Alright losers!” Hermione gave in indignant huff which I promptly ignored. “Listen up!” I clapped my hands, and looked at them all in turn, noting how nicely Fred’s hair looked today. It was rumpled with a “just-out-of-bed” look going on. Bright orange spikes stuck up randomly and I felt my hand itch to draw my fingers through the bright stra-

I’m getting distracted.

“Snowball war time! Girls against boys, since I’m no longer angry at Hermione for being a non-believer. Batman made it up for it.”

“Who?” Ginny said as Fred and George high-fived, identical smirks on their faces. Grabbing Hermione’s wrist, I marched up to Ginny and pulled her into my group.

“Wait- the teams aren’t even.” Harry said as he looked between the groups.

“Ron doesn’t count.” Ginny chortled.

“Hey!” he exclaimed indignantly while we all snorted trying to hold in our laughter.

“Anywhoos,” I said as I calmed down, “Here’s how it’s going down. The team last standing wins. For you guys it takes two hits to get out and since we’re a person down, it’ll take three for us. You can’t get back in and you can’t lie about how many times that you’ve gotten hit. Fred. George.” I added pointedly. They looked offended.

“In fact,” I pulled out my wand, “I’m charming our coats to reflect how many times you’ve gotten hit.” I waved my wand at the boys and their coats turned a standard blue. I then, waved it towards myself and Hermione and Ginny, turning our coats red. “The coats get darker after you’ve been hit. Once it’s black, you’re out and when the game is over they’ll return to their normal color.” Hermione looked a bit impressed. I smiled.

“Everybody got it?”

“Does this color make me look fat?” Fred said, turning left and right to look at his back. He did have a ver-

“Yes! We got it.” Harry said, stepping in front of Fred who looked offended that Harry would step in front of him like that, “You ready to get whopped, girls?” Looking from Hermione to Ginny, both of whom had cocky expressions on their face, I stepped forward and crossed my arms at the boys.

“Just don’t become sore-losers after these girls kick your ass.” Jutting out my chin, I smirked.

“Ready,” The boys glanced at each other. I felt Hermione and Ginny tense up at my sides. We began to slowly back away, putting distance between us and the boys.

“No magic.” I quipped as I saw Ron’s hand inch towards his pocket where I knew his wand was placed. He quickly snatched his hand away, looking mildly abashed.

“Set.” The boys shifted into defensive stances, keeping their hands low to the ground and ready.

“And yes Fred,” I stopped backing up abruptly, “You do look fat.” His jaw dropped and he stepped forward, pointing at me accusingly about a second from retaliating.

“Go!” I shouted, and shot off towards one of the giant banks near the castle walls before anyone else comprehended that the game had started. I didn’t look back, even as I heard Fred and George’s battle cry. Snow crunched and foot steps followed me, but whoever it was couldn’t keep up.

I vaulted up the bank and rolled down the other side, using it as cover. Crawling back up to the top, I took in and evaluated what was going on.

Hermione was sprinting after Ron, whose jacket was already a dark blue. A squealing Ginny was dodging every snowball a chasing Harry sent her way. Fred and George were making a pile of snowballs in the middle of the field, whispering quickly. I grinned wickedly.

Taking two scoops of fine powder, I mashed and packed the loose crystals into a tight sphere. Repeating the process and ending up with two perfect snowballs, I turned my attention to Fred and George who had stopped making snowballs but were still huddled together.

Balancing on the top of the build-up, I cocked my arm back, set my sights on the twins, and called forth my hybrid werewolf strength. Slicing my arm forward, I launched the first snowball before setting the other one up and launching it as well. The twins were a fair distance away but I had packed the snowballs tight enough and dense enough to easily travel the distance.

My aim was perfect. The snowballs smashed right after the other into each of their intended targets. Fred and George were both sent sprawling to the ground, coats dimming to a navy color as they fell with their bright heads coated with snow. They whipped their head back in my direction, identical expressions of shock and incredulousness thick on their face as they sat on the ground. I wriggled my fingers and blew a kiss.

Fred was up first and by the time that he had pulled George to his feet, I had already made another snowball and sent it spinning towards them. It took George straight in the face, and I heard a very manly cry of shock escape him. His coat faded to black and he sat on the ground, out of the game and unable to move until someone won.

Fred whipped around to face me, grinning evilly. Turning my attention from him, I took in the condition of my team.

Ginny had turned the tables on Harry, her coat gone from a candy apple red to a blood color. Harry’s coat was a navy color and he was desperately trying to escape Ginny’s snowballs as they grazed his body. Hermione and Ron were facing off, throwing snowballs left and right trying to hit the other person. Hermione had apparently been hit twice since her coat was a burgundy color.

They both were desperately trying to dodge each others throws while hitting the other. My money was on Hermione. A flash of white caught my peripheral vision and turning my head, I took in several things at once.

One, that Fred had gotten a lot closer to me, about ten feet away from the bottom of my hill. Two, that his hand was snowy. And three, that a snowball was a split second from ramming itself up my nose.

Deftly, I stepped to the side, missing the snowball and barrel-rolled down the hill side scooping up snow as I went. In the split second that I tumbled with the snow in my hand, I cupped it into a sphere. As I turned onto my feet, I let my momentum carry me forward and used the force to pitch the snowball at Fred.

He barely missed it. Damn him.

“Bloody hell, Ace!” he exclaimed, drawing the attention of Ginny and Ron. Harry and Hermione had the presence of mind to use the distraction. While Ginny was focused on Fred, Harry sent two snowballs spinning towards her with reflexes that screamed he was a Seeker. They smashed into her chest and she cursed, her coat flooding black as she froze on her feet. I made a mental note to congratulate her on her vocabulary.

Hermione had already sent a snowball to Ron’s face, freezing him in a one-footed stance. Poor guy. She whooped in victory but was cut off when Harry’s third snowball found a home between her shoulder blades.

Crap, two against one. Luckily, I still had all three shots and all I needed to do was get one on both of them. I was more worried about Harry than Fred. With Harry’s reflexes as a Seeker, he was more likely to be the harder to hit person. Fred could throw harder and more accurately since he was a Beater but I was confident that he couldn’t touch me.

“You can’t win.” I quipped, smiling, and watching the two boys in front of me as they stood in a line, sunk into defensive stances. They both smirked confidently.

“I thought you could count, Ariel. It’s two against one.” Harry said.

“So get three more people and it might be a fair fight.” I shot defiantly. I wasn’t sure I could beat those odds, but two against one was easy.

Ginny and Hermione snorted in laughter and I grinned, keeping my eyes on the boys in front of me. The corners of Fred’s mouth twitched as he tried not to laugh.

“Just give up, Ace. We’re gonna end up crushing you.” Fred sang out, glancing at Harry in a secretive way. I quirked an eyebrow.

“Fine. If you’re so confident, then hit me.” I rose from my defensive stance and crossed my arms across my chest, nonchalantly. Both Harry and Fred looked at me like I was crazy.

Hermione gasped and I smirked as they still didn’t move. Harry’s shocked expression faded and he reached to the ground, scooped up snow, packed it in, and sent it flying towards my head. His aim was pretty nice, speed moderate, form a bit off. Tilting my head to the right, I let the snowball zoom by, missing me by a few comfortable inches.

Harry looked shocked and I giggled, reaching down to scoop a snow up, packing it in slowly.

“You won’t hit me.” I spoke to my snowball, knowing that Harry and Fred knew I was talking to them. Looking up through my lashes, I watched, waiting for Fred to have his go. I didn’t have to wait long.

Running towards me, he stooped to the ground, scooping up snow as he closed in. I shot to my left and sprinted away, putting distance between me and him. I heard footsteps following me and on instinct, twirled to the side. A snowball passed close. Hearing Fred swear loudly, I giggled, glancing behind me.

Harry and Fred were both plucking up a bit of snow, to make to hit me with. In one motion, I spun on my heel, sending my snowball flying towards them before twirling back a hundred and eighty degrees to run away some more.

I heard Harry curse but didn’t look back, increasing my speed and curving around to my right. Leap frogging over George, I laughed as he cried out in protest.

“Sorry, couldn’t help myself.” I giggled, running away from the indignant red-head. I needed a plan. Glancing over to my left, I saw my answer.

The pile of snowballs that Fred and George had been making stood alone, neither Fred nor Harry near it. Skidding to a stop, I changed my direction towards the pile, hearing faintly, someone gasp and footsteps pounding towards my direction. I sped up, flying over the pale fluff, kicking up chunks every step.

Running felt good. My legs and arms pumped smoothly, my heart racing but my breathing relatively smooth. Adrenaline pumped in my veins and I grinned insanely, almost to the pile of my salvation.

Glancing to my left, where the footsteps were coming from, I saw Fred racing towards the pile too. He looked at me, eyes wide, cheeks flushed, and a lopsided grin on his face. It almost made me loose my running concentration as I felt my stomach clench at the smile. Shaking myself mentally, I winked at him and put on a last burst of speed, reaching the pile with steps to spare.

“Bullocks!” Fred skidded to a stop, and turned in the other direction, running back towards my hill. I quickly grabbed up a snowball and hurled a snowball towards him. He rolled on instinct and the snowball sailed over his head. Nonetheless, I pitched another one before picking up two more and starting off after him.

I was faster than he was and as I caught up with him, my arm cocked back and heaved an icy sphere towards him, missing by inches. He yelped and began to climb up my hill, slipping and sliding a bit. He got the top of the hill right as I got to the bottom of it. Climbing the pile much more quickly than he did, I reached him right as he was able to stand up fully and turn around, checking to see how far I was.

He cried out as I plowed into him, hand smashed flat against his chest, squishing the snowball to it, his jacket darkening to black. The force of my plowing sent us both over the crest of the hill and down the side, rolling and tangling limbs.

We skidded to the bottom, halfway into another drift. I was sprawled out on top of Fred, dizzy from the tumble. After the world and snow settled, I glanced at Fred’s surprised face before busting up laughing.

I dropped my face to his neck as I laughed, tears building in my eyes, sides aching, cheeks hurting from smiling. Fred laughed with me, wrapping his arms around my waist and squeezing as he roared. Gradually our laughter faded, with both of us chuckling and giggling occasionally.

Lifting my head up from his neck, I smiled widely at him. Inside his arms, it was warm. His chest was firm and hard, telling me all about the muscles that hid underneath the black fabric.

Ooo, muscles.

In the back of my mind, I noticed his smell, familiar and nice. Pine and apple and cinnamon mixing together to be clean, sharp, and sweet without being over-powering or awkward. His arms held me tightly and securely, a heavy, comfortable weight on my lower back.

We were flush up together, no space between us. The bottom of my boots came to the middle of his shin, one of my legs between his. It wasn’t awkward being this close to him. At all really. It was warm and nice and I felt happy, safe.

His hair stood out fantastically in the snow, even though it was dusted with powder. His cerulean eyes twinkled with laughter as he watched my face. This close, I could count his freckles and I noted again, the rouge one that set him apart from George.

I smiled wider as he grinned lopsidedly and dropped my head to his neck again, moving my arms to squeeze around his waist, hugging him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his Adam ’s apple bob. After a second, I moved my arms and pushed myself up, moving my leg out of his and sitting on his stomach, straddling it.

Splaying my fingers on what I guess to be his pecks, I looked down at him, hair falling to curtain our faces.

“So,” I smirked, “Guess whose jacket is black and whose jacket is still normal color?” He rolled his eyes, still grinning and refused to look at me. That’s okay.

“You don’t have to guess. All you have to do is repeat after me.” I shrugged like it was no big deal and tried to put a friendly look on my face but couldn’t keep an evil twinkle in my eyes that he no doubt saw.

He huffed and looked back at me, trying desperately not to grin, the corners of his mouth twitching traitorously.

“Fine.” He said, overly-cheery.

“I, Fred Weasley,” I started.

“I, Fred Weasley,” he repeated, mockingly raising his voice to a false falsetto to mimic me.

I flicked his nose and pouted.

“My voice does not sound like that.” He grinned and stuck out his tongue. In a flash, I had his tongue plucked between my fingers, holding it deftly.

“Ey! Hat wah that thor?” Fred complained, struggling to pull his tongue back into the relative safety of his mouth.

“Hereby decree,” I went on, ignoring his struggle. He glared at me before trying to repeat what I said.

“Heweby degwee,” Jeez, this was hilarious.

“That Ariel Vanderwik, half-veela extraordinaire,”

“Hat Aiweel Wandewwik, halth-weela ethordinair,” Fred’s cheeks had tinted a bit pink by now but I wasn’t done just yet.

“Superior B.A.M.F. to one Fred Weasley, now and forevermore,” I prompted.

“Thopewiow Amth oo one Wed Wethlay, now an thowewoore,” I had to fight to keep down my giggles.

“Shall hold power and station over me as Prankster Royalty.” I finished, watching Fred’s eyes widen before narrowing to slits as he begrudgingly repeated the last bit. It wasn’t like I was going to do tons of pranks but I knew I was going to end up doing more than the average person.

As he finished, I let his tongue go and he quickly clamped his mouth shut, tongue safe once again.

“You are an evil, evil person Ariel Vanderwik.” He muttered. I just grinned and blew him a kiss before getting up off his stomach. Brushing off my tights, I got out my wand and waved it at my coat, turning it its normal gray.

Turning, I walked out from behind the drift, glancing over my coat for any missed snow.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Fred exclaimed, struggling to get up. Unfortunately for him, he was still frozen from loosing the war.

“Starting my reign.” I replied innocently, before winking at him and leaving him completely. I made quick work of unfreezing the other players and turning their coats to normal. Harry had a bright pink spot on his face from being smashed into the snow for so long.

“Jeez Ariel, you’ve got a wicked arm.” Ron said, massaging his thigh. It must hurt from having to hold the one footed position for so long.

“Thanks.” I said, smiling.

“Why don’t you try out for Chaser?” Harry asked. Everyone nodded in agreement.

I shrugged, “The only new players they need are Beaters really. Jack Sloper is horrendous.” George snickered. “And I know Ginny wants to be Chaser so…” I trialed off.

“I’ll play you for it.” She said, holding out her hand.

I raised my hands in a non-threatening gesture, “Oh-no. You want to be Chaser. I’m fine on the side-lines.”

“No. Let’s go head to head. A friendly match for who gets to be Chaser. I’m sure with your reflexes, you could easily make Seeker if I was made Chaser.” She wiggled her fingers, grinning good-naturedly.

“Okay…” I said, uneasily, clasping her hand and shaking it. She grinned and put her arm around my shoulders.

“The next practice is Wednesday so we’ll face-off then. I promise not to kill you too badly.”

I snorted, “Yeah right. Prepare to stay Seeker, Ginny.” I turned my head to the rest of the group, “Let’s go. I’m starving and the losers owe us foot massages.”

“Hey! When did that become part of the deal?!” Ron exclaimed, nonetheless trudging after us. I looped my arm with Hermione’s and together, us three girls strolled back to the castle, eager for warmth, food, and foot massages.

“Hey, where’s Fred?”