FIVE YOU WILL

     Watching the Thursday afternoon following the first announcement of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Bram was anxious as he watched dozens of wizards tossing their names into the Goblet of Fire. He had a feeling the aging potion wouldn't be enough to bypass the age line Dumbledore had cast around the goblet, but the results would be entertaining nonetheless. He was sitting working on schoolwork with Skyler next to him doing the same, except her eyes were drifting over to his essay for ideas. He didn't mind considering he was probably going to hand his over to her once he was done with it anyway. Really, how Snape had never caught onto their cheating was probably why those two belonged in Ravenclaw in the first place. After all, cleverness is much more useful than intelligence sometimes.

The twins entered among cheers from their peers and Bram just shook his head with a small smile. Fred pointed to him and nodded, but Bram wanted no such blame, "Do not pin this on me! I can't guarantee you it'll do anything!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, the brains behind the operation!" George exclaimed as they walked over to him despite his wishes, Fred slinging his arms around the boy's shoulders. Bram just rolled his eyes and pushed the two boys away, shaking his head with a laugh.

"It's not going to work!" Hermione Granger, a friend of one of Fred and George's brothers, mused in a sing-song voice as the boys held up their respective aging potions.

The two boys planted themselves on either side of her as Fred asked, "Oh yeah? Why's that, Granger?"

"You see this?" Hermione motioned to the line of fire surrounding the goblet, "This is an age line. Dumbledore drew it himself."

"So?" the smile on Fred's face could be heard in his voice.

"So a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something pathetically dimwitted as an aging potion -- no offense, Bram, I'm sure the twins didn't offer you much creative input," the girl turned to the blond boy with a small smile.

Bram laughed, "Yeah, no, this is not the way I would have done it."

"Oh, bugger off!" George exclaimed, "That's why it's so brilliant! So simple, ole Dumbly-dore wouldn't have even thought to block it! Ready, Fred?"

"Ready, George," his brother confirmed as the two linked arms and drank the potion. Nothing happened immediately, which caused Bram to release a relieved sigh. As long as there were no drastic effects, he was in the clear -- even if it didn't work. There was only one decent recipe he could find, so this really wasn't his fault.

They hopped past the age line and the students cheered, but Bram had a feeling they weren't out of the woods yet. Still, he held his breath. The twins put the pieces of paper with their names on them into the flame and the students continued to cheer. However, it was short-lived. The flame reached to the ceiling as it changed color, launching the two boys far out of the age line and across the room. When the two boys sat up, their hair was gray and they had grown long beards. Bram burst into laughter before he could help himself.

"You said..." George grimaced.

"You said!" Fred turned to Bram who raised his hands in surrender.

"I tried to tell you!" Bram exclaimed, trying to hide the pure glee on his face. The two boys advanced on him and he held his textbook in front of his face as the twins tackled him while students cheered. He couldn't stop laughing which was probably only pissing them off more, but he didn't care.

The room stilled completely as the doors to the great hall opened and one of the Durmstrang boys, Viktor Krum, walked in. Quietly, he stalks over to the goblet and puts his name in before walking out.

"That beautiful bastard," Fred mumbles, his beard moving as he speaks, "I want what he has."

"Yeah, yeah, Krum this, Krum that, you're startin' to sound like Ron," Bram shakes his head as he stands up, "Come on, Madam Pomfrey will fix you geezers."

"Don't call me a geezer!" Fred pouted as they left the great hall with Skyler following close behind them, still doubled over with laughter.

"You guys look bloody ridiculous!" the girl exclaimed through fits of laughter as she caught up with them in the hallway, "Pomfrey's gonna have a field day with this. Bram, thank you so much for allowing this to happen."

Bram just laughed, shaking his head for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon, "This is one thing I do not want credit for! I told you guys it wasn't going to work, Dumbledore's too smart to be beaten by you two gits! I tried to warn you."

"Whatever," Fred grumbled as they walked, his arm steady around Bram's shoulders as they walked. It was hilarious to look over at him and see a long scraggly beard.

"I reckon you could rival Dumbledore with that thing," the boy pointed out with a laugh as they approached the hospital wing. Skyler pushed the door open and Madam Pomfrey looked up before her face immediately fell.

"Why is it always you two? Come here," the woman guided them over to sit down as she pulled out her wand. She turned to Skyler and Bram, "What happened?"

Bram tried to conceal his laughter that was still breaking through, "Uh, aging potion. Backfired a bit."

"Emphasis on a bit," Skyler added as she and Bram high-fived the moment Madam Pomfrey turned her back. They laughed as George flipped them the bird while the nurse was paying attention to Fred. This was definitely one of the more entertaining outcomes from Fred and George's hijinks -- it was always funny when the boys got a taste of their own medicine.

It wasn't long before Madam Pomfrey was able to reverse the effects of the aging potion and Bram was almost a little sad to see the gray hair go, but alas, the boys wanted to return to normal. Skyler and Bram waited for the all-clear knowing the boys would be bitter if they left without them.

Once they were out of the hospital ring, the twins flanked Bram on either side and he already knew this was going to be bad news as Fred spoke into his ear, "Don't think you're off scot-free."

"Oh, yeah, this calls for revenge, little Bram," George tacked on.

Bram rolled his eyes, knowing the twins would never do anything to actually hurt him. Choosing to tease both of them, he shot back, "Oh, please, I'd like to see you try!"

Fred just smiled, "Oh, you will!"