Gred and Forge

We ate our lunch with a supplement of chatter about classes and professors, dreams and aspirations. Fred told me all about the wonderful pranks him and George have pulled; blowing up a toilet, trying to sneak into the Forbidden Forest, leaving countless practical jokes for Percy and Snape. I found all of them intriguing and I’m sure Fred didn’t mind the attention at all. Finally when he ran out of pranks he wanted to tell me about he decided to turn the conversation on me.

“Okay, so how about you? Other than listening to other people talk, what do you like to do?” He asked as he laid on his side looking at me.

“Oh not much,’’ I replied casually, looking down and fiddling with the hem of my skirt. “I like to paint and sing. Dancing is fun too, oh and I read quite a bit also. Boring right? I know.”

“No, it sound’s nice,” Fred chided smoothly, calmly.

“Really?” I never knew Fred held any interest in things like reading and such. I figured he was more of an active guy.

“Yeah, I used to read before me and George started the joke shop. It probably doesn’t really compare to what you probably read, but most people don’t really know that about me.”

I gave him a small smile and glanced toward the lake quickly, gathering my thoughts. “So, Fred Weasley, ex-reader, what was your favorite book?”

He pondered over this for a moment, probably sifting the books he read through his mind, “I would have to go with… ‘The Adventures of Marcus McGrundy’ by Tom Clemens. I swear I’ve read that book a hundred times.”

I chuckled, no wonder he was such a prankster, the Marcus McGrundy stories were full of boyish trickery and crafty spells. It was basically the wizard’s version of the Muggle story, ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’. “That doesn’t really surprise me.”

“Doesn’t really surprise me either. That’s the book George and I got some of our earliest pranks from, plus it never gets old.” Fred stated, prowling the basket for probably more food. “What do you like to read?”

“A lot of things actually. For starters ‘Nancy Drew Mysteries’ were some of the first books I’ve read. They’re a popular Muggle series,” I stated, looking into the sky.

“You read Muggle books?” I nodded my head yes, “But why?”

Taking my attention away from the sun kissed clouds; I stared at Fred, “because I like them. I like how they solve problems without the help of magic, it’s pretty cool.”

“Whatever you say love, honestly I will never fully understand Muggle’s myself. Magic is just so much easier. Oh look, there’s Hagrid!” Fred pointed behind me with a slender finger.

Turning around I noticed the friendly giant hobbling along the gravel path with nothing but an axe in his hand. “I wonder where he’s going with that ax.”

“I’m not sure, let’s ask him. Hey Hagrid!” He yelled, both his hands cupping the sides of his mouth.
Hagrid stopped and looked towards us, waving after a second of looking at us, finally figuring out who we were. After hobbling over to us, he greeted us both a polite hello.

“Hagrid, why do you have an ax?” I asked eying the tool suspiciously. The wood on the handle was rough, worn, and chipped, as was the blade. It looked as if Hagrid had it for a while, a while being since he could pick up an ax.

“Oh this ole thing?” He looked at the ax and twisted the handle, “its fer choppin’ down that tree dere.” Hagrid’s large hand pointed over to the dead tree Emily scampered up earlier.

“Why are you cutting down that tree?” Fred asked innocently.

“Cuz its dead and Professor Dumbledore told me to do so,” Hagrid answered as if it was the most obvious thing to assume. “Anyway I’ve gotta get worken, it’s ‘posed to rain soon.”

“Have fun,” Fred greeted as Hagrid hobbled away. “I wonder why Dumbledore wants that tree gone; it’s been there for a while, at least 3 years.”

I shook my head and looked over at the dead oak. The twisted, mangled branches were hanging lifelessly from the trunk, bending down towards the ground instead of the sky. “Who knows with Dumbledore? The man has his own way of doing things.”

“Of course! Why else would he be the one chosen to run Hogwarts?”

I was about to reply when I thought of something, Hagrid was going to cut down the tree Emily ran up earlier; surely she can’t still be… I turned around and spotted her black coat high up in one of the branches, even though I couldn’t see them, I felt her squirrely eyes all over me and Fred.

“Oh no, Fred! Hagrid’s cutting down the tree Emily’s in,” I gushed frantic. Knowing Emily, she’s probably too busy being distracted by acorns and butterflies to be able to move in time and I wouldn’t really trust Hagrid’s eyesight.

“Oh bloody hell, we’ve gotta get her off of that tree before Hagrid starts hacking away at it,” He stated, getting to his feet. Fred’s stature towered over me as he offered his hands to me, “Come on love, let’s go save your squirrely friend.”

We both rushed down a small hill in pursuit of the dead tree and my friend being oblivious in its limbs. My pace picked up as we drew closer and I noticed the sky not too far off in the distance was gaining rain clouds. Great, rain, exactly what we need right now.

“Hagrid! Hagrid wait!! Don’t cut down the tree!” I shouted, waving my hands frantically to get his attention.

“Wait Hagrid!” Fred called from next to me, the rush of wind sweeping through his hair, creating locks of orange flames.

He turned around confused, and then spotted us running towards us, “What’s goin on ere?” He mumbled.

“Emily Brown is in the tree you are about to cut down and we need to warn one of you about it,” I gasped for breath trying to fill my lungs with air. I wasn’t out of shape really, but I definitely didn’t run that often.

“Oh I knew that. I’ve bein’ talkin’ to her, one of me favorite students ye know,” He grumbled. I looked up into the tree and sure enough Emily’s beady brown eyes were staring back at me.

“Oh well, now that that’s taken care off,” Fred said turning to me, “Let’s get back to our little picnic.”