An Hour In Muggle London

Fred Weasley strolled down an uncrowded street for his Muggle Studies class assignment. His professor had told all the students to spend an hour in the Muggle World. Fred had taken the assignment seriously and had put on jeans and a T- shirt, his wand securely hidden in the pocket of the sports jacket his father had given to him.

The young wizard was walking through a nice suburban area, when it happened.

A sprinkler turned on, shooting water upon a green lawn . Fred scrambled away in fear. The sprinkler suddenly went off. Fred balked, confusion written all over his face. "What, in the name of Merlin´s beard, was that," he asked himself warily. He looked around nervously at the empty street and returned his attention to the matter at hand.

He edged onto the lawn, timidly sliding one foot in front of the other. Then, he dropped to his knees, examining the grass intently. Fred prodded the spray head of the sprinkler, when it went off again. The boy scrambled back, watching liquid pour out of the object. "What is this thing?" he asked as the sprinkler turned off again. He paused as he heard a hissing sound from behind him. Dreading what he was about to see, Fred turned and realized there were more of those things located on the lawn and all of them were spewing the same substance. Squeaking, Fred turned to run off the lawn, but all the objects were discharging the same material. He was trapped.

"Better make a run for it." Holding his breath, Fred darted through the streams and stopped, surprised. He stuck his hand out and let the liquid dribble into it. He gasped. "It´s just water. That thing...all it does is sprout water!" He smiled, ignoring the fact water had plastered his hair to his scalp. His brain was whirling, then suddenly clicked. He grinned, his eyes suddenly glinting with fiendish glee. He just had a brilliant idea...

***********

Fred stood on the back porch of the Burrow, beaming. He leaned back and surveyed, very satisfied with his work. He then opened the door to the house. "My dear family," he called. "Please come join me outside on the lawn. I have a surprise for you." The Weasleys appeared at the door - eldest to youngest.

"What do you need," Percy called, polishing his glasses on his shirt.

"Just stand in the middle of the yard . . .yes . . . that´s it." Fred leaned on the door as he encouraged his dubious family outside into the open air. He quickly brought out his wand and muttered a spell. Water jetted out of the sprinkler he had installed by magic. His family shrieked and stampeded away from the stream. Fred repeated the charm for the other sprinklers, laughing as he watched the antics of his family.

"We´ll get you later, Fred!" Ron called as he ran by.

Fred sat back, breathless with laughter" and sat back. "Hey," he shouted to his youngest brother, "that´s life!"