Just Once

The owl that swooped in at breakfast was for Mr. Weasley.

"Who's it from?" Fred asked. There was cereal dribbling down his five-year-old chin; Mrs. Weasley made a noise of disgust and flicked it away with a wave of her wand.

"Yeah, Dad, who's it from?" George echoed. He stood up on his chair and leaned over, using Charlie's shoulder for balance, to get a better look at the words he barely knew how to read.

"It's from my sister," Mr. Weasley said. "Auntie Mafalda."

"George, sit down," Mrs. Weasley said. "What does Mafalda say, Arthur?"

"She got the job!" He set down the letter and grinned at his family. "She'll be working at the Ministry starting first thing Monday morning."

Fred's jaw dropped. "Auntie Maffie is the Minister?"

"Not the Minister, Freddie. She'll be in Law Enforcement. The Improper Use of Magic Office." Mr. Weasley narrowed his eyes and shook his finger at his sons good-naturedly. "So don't you boys do any magic outside of school, or you'll have Auntie Maffie to answer to!"

"Sounds terrifying, Dad," Charlie said, rolling his eyes.

"She can be," Mr. Weasley said seriously. "The woman can cast a mean jelly-legs jinx. I would know, I shared a room with her for six years."

Ron, who didn't understand most of the conversation but found the term "jelly-legs jinx" hilarious, laughed so hard he began to choke. Percy whacked him on the back, which made Ron burst into tears.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Percy, don't hit him!" Mrs. Weasley yelled.

Percy turned red. "I was just trying to - "

"Mafalda wants us to come to dinner to celebrate," Mr. Weasley said, jabbing his finger at the letter. "Tomorrow night."

"All of us?" Mrs. Weasley was trying to comb out Bill's hair - there was oatmeal in it, dumped there by a cackling Ginny, who was already just as devious as the twins even if she was too young to know what she was doing. "Bill, don't you think it's time for a trim?"

"No, Mum, girls like it this way."

"You're beginning to look like a girl yourself," Mrs. Weasley said, but she put down the comb and went to comfort Ron, who was still bawling.

"Yes," Mr. Weasley said above the din. "All of us."

"What time?"

"Five o'clock. She knows we have little ones with early bedtimes."

"As if they obey their bedtimes anyway," Mrs. Weasley grumbled, snatching a muffin from George's hand as he prepared to throw it at Percy.

"She's waiting for an answer, Molly."

Mrs. Weasley heaved Ginny from her high chair. "Fine. Tell her we'll be there. And say congratulations."

Mr. Weasley was beaming. "I will!" He scurried off to find a quill; the rest of the boys wandered away from the breakfast table, muttering excuses like reading (that was Percy) or flying practice (Charlie) or writing letters to the mysterious girlfriend he'd picked up at Hogwarts (that one, obviously, was Bill, even if nobody believed him about having a girlfriend).

Fred nudged George in the ribs. "Ow," George said, rubbing his side.

"Did you hear that, Georgie?"

"What?"

"Auntie Maffie is in charge of punishing all the people who do magic outside Hogwarts."

George sighed wistfully. "I wish we could do magic."

"Don't you see?" Fred had his brother by the shoulders. "We can."

"How?"

"All we need is a wand. We can borrow Bill's, maybe."

"But we're not allowed to do it outside Hogwarts. You heard Dad. Auntie Maffie will punish us."

Fred grinned. "No she won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because I have a plan."

The Weasley clan marched into Mafalda Hopkirk's dining room the next evening, accompanied by the usual amount of chaos: Ron was crying because Percy wouldn't let him chew on his glasses, Charlie had tripped over a rock outside and dropped Ginny, who had a large bruise forming on her forehead, and Bill wouldn't speak to any of them because Mrs. Weasley had snuck into his room while he was napping and cut off a good two inches of his hair.

Fred and George walked in quietly and calmly.

"Arthur!" Mafalda cried, and she ran to embrace her brother. "So good to see you!"

"Congratulations," Mr. Weasley said, smiling warmly. "The Ministry is lucky to have you."

She beamed.

"Is your husband here?" Mrs. Weasley asked, shifting Ginny back into Charlie's arms so she could hug her sister-in-law.

"Oh, Bertram couldn't make it. He's tied up at the office. It'll be just the - " she paused to count " - ten of us."

Fred and George stepped forward in unison. "Auntie Maffie," Fred said, tugging on her dress robes. "Can we have a moment with you?"

"Alone," added George.

Mafalda looked down and smiled. "Of course! Let me just get everyone seated, and we can go have a chat."

George nodded solemnly. "Thank you."

She was holding back a laugh. "You're very welcome. Why don't you go wait for me in the bedroom?"

"Okay." They padded off down the hall and turned left into her room.

George nudged Fred. "Do you think it's going to work?"

Fred nodded and hoisted himself up to sit on Mafalda's comforter. "Do you have it?"

George nodded and patted his pocket. "I have it."

"Now," Mafalda said, sweeping into the room and closing the door behind her. "What can I do for you?"

The twins exchanged glances. "Auntie Maffie," Fred said, "We have a preposition for you."

Mafalda raised her eyebrows. "A proposition?"

"Yes, a preposition."

She sat next to them on her bed and crossed her ankles. "Fire away."

"Do you love us, Auntie Maffie?"

"Of course I love you."

"Would you ever punish us if we did something bad?"

She tilted her head slightly. "What're you up to?"

"Just answer the question," George said. His small face revealed nothing.

"I wouldn't punish you, no," she said finally. "It's not my place. I'd leave that to your parents."

"So you'd stay out of it," Fred jumped in. "Right? If it wasn't your place?"

". . . I suppose."

"Good." George finally let a smile crack his face. "Because Fred and I really want to do magic, so we're going to borrow Billy's wand and learn some spells, and you've just promised you won't let us get in trouble."

"Hold on," Mafalda said. "Underage magic is not allowed, boys, you know that."

"Percy does underage magic!" Fred said.

"He sets the curtains on fire when he gets angry," George explained.

"That's accidental magic. He can't control it, he hasn't been to Hogwarts to learn how. You two are talking about doing underage magic on purpose." She gave them a sad smile. "I'm sorry, boys, but I can't let you do that."

"You just said it's not your place," George reminded her.

"It's my place when it comes to my job. I'm in charge of punishing the people who do underage magic."

The twins looked at each other; Fred nodded, and George slipped his hand into his pocket. "Would you do it for this?" he asked, holding out his hand.

In his palm was a single gold galleon.

Mafalda bit back a smirk. "Is this a bribe?"

"Are you going to accept it?" Fred asked.

"Fred. George. You know I can't."

"Please, Auntie Maffie?" George asked. His lower lip was quivering. "We really want to do magic."

"Everyone else gets to do it," Fred added. "Mum can do it whenever she wants. It's not fair."

"By the time we get to Hogwarts it won't even be fun anymore."

"Please, Auntie Maffie."

"No."

"Even if it's just once?"

"Not even just once. And that's my final word on the subject." She stood and smoothed down her robes. "Now let's go rejoin our family, shall we?"

With a sigh, George closed his fist around the galleon and stuffed it back in his pocket. "Okay."

It wasn't more than a week later when the owl came soaring through the window of Mafalda's office.

Deer Anty Mafy,

We ar vary sory. We didnt meen to. It was all Ron's fawlt. Pleas dont tell Mum.

Just this wonse.

Thank yu.

F & G

A single gold galleon was taped at the bottom of the parchment.

"What in the world?" she muttered, scraping the coin into her hand.

A small whistle went off on her desk, indicating that someone, somewhere, had performed underage magic. The paperwork began to fill itself out in midair:

Dear (name) Mr. Weasley,

We have received intelligence that a (spell) Transfiguration Charm was used by an underage wizard at your place of residence this (morning/afternoon/evening/night) morning at (time) six minutes past eleven for the purpose of (effect of spell) transfiguring a teddy bear into a spider.

As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork may lead to (punishment) ineligibility for admittance at said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).

Yours sincerely,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The quill hovered in the air, waiting for her signature so the parchment could zoom away to the proper recipient.

Mafalda looked at the galleon in her hand for a very long moment.

"Transfiguring a teddy bear," she said to nobody. "That's quite impressive, for five year olds."

The quill nudged her hand.

She took the quill. Dipped it in ink. Touched it to the parchment.

And scrawled VOID in large letters across the paperwork.

"Just this once," she said sternly to the galleon, and she dropped it in her pocket and vanished any evidence that her nephews had ever been in trouble with the Improper Use of Magic Office.

Quidditch League, Round 10

Position: Stand-In for Chaser 2

Word Count: 1,595

Prompt: Improper Use of Magic Office

[Disney Character Competition: "Honest John" Foulfellow - write about Fred and George]

[One of Every Letter: J]

[Twelve Days of Christmas Style Challenge: Seven Weasley Fics (5/7)]