Passing the Torch

"Where could they have gone?

"I don't know but when I find them I'm going to..."

"Uh, George, remember how we used to respond to threats from adults at their age? Do we really want to provoke them to that point?"

"Fine, let's just find them," Fred and George were searching their shop for their young twin nephews. Henry and Jonathan had turned out to be more of a handful than they had thought.

"Come on out you two!" called Fred.

"No!" came a small but firm voice from somewhere in the room.

"Don't you want to play?" asked Fred, hoping to persuade them to come out.

"We are playing, it's hide and seek!" said a display of Itching Powder. Fred pressed a finger to his lips and snuck up behind the display.

"Got you!" he cried. There was no one there though, whichever twin it was had scurried away and was hiding somewhere else. "Bugger!" muttered Fred.

"Bugger!" mimicked one of the twins, causing the other to giggle at the naughty word that they weren't allowed to use at home.

"It's like trying to find a bunch of pixies!" exclaimed an exasperated George. Jonathan didn't take too kindly to this comparison and stepped out from behind the counter.

"I'm not a pixie!" he said indignantly. Before he could get away, George quickly scooped him up, putting him over his shoulder.

"That's one!" Jonathan cries of protest made Henry laugh in his hiding place. Fred reached behind some crates of Weasley's Best Bangers and pulled Henry up.

"And that's two!"

"Down! Down!" cried Jonathan, kicking his legs in frustration.

"Yeah, down!" said Henry, copying his brother.

"You can come down when you promise to behave," said George over his shoulder to the struggling child.

"No deal!" stated Jonathan. Henry, however, was perfectly calm. Fred could see this so he put him down.

"You'll behave yourself, won't you?" Henry nodded then began waddling around the shop looking at all the colourful and interesting things.

"Traitor," muttered Jonathan, resigned to the fact that he couldn't get down until his uncle allowed him to.

"I bet some pumpkin juice will make you calm down," said George temptingly. With the promise of pumpkin juice being thrown into the bargain, Jonathan began to consider it.

"I'll think about it," he mumbled. This was good enough for George, who set his nephew down and went to the back room. Seeing Jonathan standing there with his arms folded and a defeated look on his face reminded Fred of Ron at that age. From his occasional visits to Ron and Hermione's he had noticed that Jonathan took after his father, but Henry, like his elder brother Donald, took after their mother.

"We're out of pumpkin juice, but we've got some of that Coca Cola stuff!" called George from the back room.

"What's Coca Cola stuff? Sounds icky!" stated Jonathan. He didn't sound particularly impressed.

"It's a Muggle drink, it's quite nice actually," Fred felt a tug on his sleeve. Henry was clutching something in his hand which he showed to Fred.

"Uncle Fwed, what does this do?" Fred saw what it was Henry had in his hand. It was a packet of Big Bum Bubble Gum, and he had tried some. Jonathan was lifted from his sour mood as he fell to the floor laughing. Henry tried to see what his brother found so funny.

"What? What happened?"

"You've got a big bum!" cried Jonathan, positively howling with laughter. Fred was having trouble not laughing himself. Henry looked cute trying to see over his shoulder, spinning on the spot and making himself quite dizzy.

"Hold still a second," Fred deflated Henry's backside with his wand, returning it to its normal size. "That's better isn't it?" Henry nodded glumly. George returned with two cans of Coca Cola and gave them to his young nephews, who took them eagerly.

"That should keep them quiet for a while," muttered George to his brother. Neither Fred nor George had ever heard of Coca Cola causing a sugar rush. They were about to.

Within a few minutes Henry and Jonathan were running around the shop causing absolute chaos. Boxes were overturned and bins were emptied. Fred and George were on the verge of giving up.

"Let's just wait until Ron comes to collect them," sighed George as he collapsed into a chair, "once they're gone we can clean all this up with magic."

"Clean what up with magic?" Ron stepped in through the door to what looked like a battlefield.

"Daddy!" exclaimed the twins excitedly as they ran towards him and hugged him. Fred and George simultaneously waved their wands and instantly cleaned up the mess.

"Wow! Do it again!" cried Henry and Jonathan in unison.

"Not on your life!" exclaimed George, "You'd have to make a mess again for us to clean it up!"

"OK!" said the twins as they rushed forward. Ron stopped them by grabbing onto their hands.

"I warned you they could be a handful. They weren't too much trouble were they?"

"Well I'll just say this. George and I have passed the torch to a new generation of Weasley troublemakers." Ron laughed at this, knowing that Fred and George could admit when they were beaten.

"Come on you two, we've got to go. Say thank you to Uncle Fred and Uncle George,"

"Thank you Uncle Fwed and Uncle Gorge!" they said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"You're welcome," replied the worn out uncles. As Ron and his sons turned to leave, Henry offered something to his father.

"Do you want some gum, Daddy?"