CHAPTER ONE ─── ❛ the burrows ❜

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𝔈merald green flames swirled around Madge Findley's body as she was tugged through the Floo network at an impossible speed. They curled around her, licking at her clothes and exposed skin, yet not hurting her at all. When the teenager next opened her eyes, it was to a familiar living room, her trunk and duffel bag next to her and soot swirling around in the air.

Her nose itched, before she sneezed loudly as a cloud of ash came flying off of her. Cautiously, Madge stepped onto the mat ahead of the fire, looking around in worry that something was going to come flying at her. She had received a worrying letter from her best friend that had warned her that his twin brother was hoping to prank her as soon as she arrived.

Thus, her goal was to find the elder twin.

There was a shuffling sound from the corner of the room, causing Madge to spin on her heels and pull the toy gun from her pocket. She had brought it from the toy store in her town, specifically for this occasion. Lining up, Madge shot the moving object that was nearly completely hidden by the curtain, as she heard Fred begin to curse viciously. A laugh escaped her lips as Fred appeared.

"Merlin's bears, woman!" He cursed, rubbing his forehead as Madge continued to laugh at him, "and they say that George and I are the ones to watch out for."

Fred was the oldest of the infamous Weasley twins. The pair shared the same bright red hair, freckled covering their face, and wide blue eyes though there were slight differences. For example, George was slightly taller than his brother and Fred had a scar under his chin from where he'd fallen face first off of a broom and onto a gnome. He had yet to live that story down.

"You taught me everything I know, so blame past you." Madge replied, before grinning and throwing her arms around one of her oldest friends. "Hi Freddie."

"Midge." She rolled her eyes at the nickname, trying to pull away as Fred picked her up and spun her.

"Where's your doppelganger?"

"Present and accounted for." George appeared behind Fred, brushing past his older brother to wrap his arms around the small girl. "Midge."

"Georgie." The man rolled his eyes at her name, before pulling away to stare up at the red mark that was now appearing in the centre of Fred's forehead. "What do you think?"

"Impressive aim." George nodded appreciatively. "Glad I opted out of trying to prank you."

"And for that, I'm forever grateful." Madge replied with a smile. "I go paintballing every summer with my mum, so this was fun. We should do it again."

"Betrayed by my own flesh and blood." Fred muttered, shaking his head. "How will I ever get over such a horrible experience?"

"You're being overdramatic." George gave his brother a shove, before all three turned to look at each other with the same mischievous grin. "So, are you excited?"

"For the Quidditch World Cup? Of course!" Madge rolled her eyes as the boys both laughed. "Have you see how well Krum's been playing this year. He was amazing in Bulgaria's last match, caught the snitch 400ft up in the air, one handed, in the rain. Talk about impressive!"

"Yes, but the Irish have had that winning streak for the past few games." Fred pointed out. "Luck of the Irish and all? I wouldn't bet against it, especially cause they beat Portugal by 130 points."

"I'm excited to see the ceremony." George continued from his brother.

"The Irish opening is supposedly amazing. That's what dad said. Apparently the Daily Prophet is already raving about it." Madge shrugged. "But I'm excited to see Bulgaria's take as well. They've been known to have some good plans."

"True, true!" Fred and George chorused, nodding their heads as fast as they could. Madge laughed again, before sharing a knowing look with the boys as a sigh sounded from behind them.

"Already? It's been less than five minutes since she got her." Spinning around, Madge found herself face to face with the youngest of the Weasley siblings. Ginny had an exasperated expression plastered across her face, her eyebrow cocked and her ginger hair pulled up into a bun with the use of her wand. Ginny's face suddenly changed to one of confusion. "Did you just magically grow a spot in the ten minutes since I last saw you?"

"Madge shot me." Fred shrugged as the girl grinned. Handing Ginny her toy gun, the girl turned to take her bags upstairs, but found that George had already grabbed them to take up.

"So, who else is coming?" Madge turned back, embracing Ginny tightly as the pair smiled at each other. Madge had known the Weasleys for nearly six years now, and had grown up with a lot of them.

"Harry, Hermione, the twins, you, Ron, Bill and Charlie." Madge sent the younger girl a knowing look at the mention of the Boy-Who-Lived's name before her eyebrows furrowed.

"Your fake brother?" Ginny forgot her embarrassment, snorting with laughter at Madge's words.

"Merlin's beard, Madge, I still can't believe that you don't think Charlie's real." Madge shrugged, as Hermione Granger appeared, looking between them with furrowed eyebrows.

"What's that?" Ginny laughed some more, before pointing towards Madge as Hermione sent the older woman a wave. "Hi, Madge."

"Hey. How are you doing?" Madge smiled at the younger girl, who nodded with a shrug.

"Good, yeah, I'm alright. I'm really excited for this trip though, it's been what I've been looking forward to all summer." Hermione beamed, her face lighting up before confusion grew on her expression again. "What's this about Charlie and not thinking he's real?"

"Madge doesn't think that Charlie exists, despite him being four years older than her and them having gone to school together for three years." Hermione's eyes went wide.

"What?"

"There is a very good reason for this belief." Madge promised, as Ron and Harry came bounding down the stairs with their rucksacks. They waved over at her, in a rather awkward manner, before rushing off to go and raid the food cupboards. "I see those two are just as awkward as ever."

"When are they not?" Fred's voice came, as he joined the girls, his bag slung over his shoulder. 

"They're always awkward around anyone of the female gender." George confirmed, joining Madge's other side. There was a shout of annoyance, before Mrs Weasley came thundering down the stairs with a murderous look on her face. The children all winced, before Madge stepped in.

"Morning, Mrs. Weasley. How are you?" That gave Ron and Harry, who were most likely the culprits, time to sneak off before the older woman could notice them.

"Madge, dear," Molly pulled her in for a tight hug, before looking her up and down. "You look hungry..."

"Not now, dear, we're late," Arthur appeared, looking stressed as he pressed a kiss to his wife's cheeks. "Kids, out!"

There was a sort of mad struggle, as all of the teenagers in the kitchen grabbed their bags and then scrambled for the door in earnest. In the chaos, Fred managed to trip George over, as Madge hip checked the older twin into a table in retaliation, before shrieking as the pair went sprinting out after her.

"Have fun, dear," Molly stood in the doorway of the Burrows, as she watched the children outside with a smile on her face. In a lot of ways, it reminded her of trying to get all of them onto the Hogwarts express, a near impossible feat.

Arthur smiled, before pulling his bag on his shoulders and walking off towards the woods, as the children all started to follow along behind him. Madge was breathing heavily, as she aimed a kick at Fred's ankle.

"Why did you have to rugby tackle me?" She kicked his ankle, as the teenager cursed quietly and began to hop up and down.

"You hip checked me into a table!" Fred retorted, before sticking his tongue out at the girl.

"After you tripped George!" 

"I would like to point out that I'm not involved in this." George pointed out, following the pair into the forest.

"Anyway, why are we walking through the forest?" Madge questioned. "Couldn't we just apparate there?"

"No. Dad says that we're getting a portkey with the Diggorys." Fred replied, shaking his head as they all calmed down once more.

"Great," George huffed, a teasing smirk on his face as he poked at Madge's side. "Like we needed more Hufflepuffs."

"I will shoot you just like I got your twin."

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"Arthur!" Madge just about had a heart attack at the shout, jumping as Fred and George snickered on either side of her. "It's about time, son."

"Sorry, Amos, some of us had a sleepy start." Arthur sent a very direct glare at Ron and Harry, who were both still yawning as they trudged through the forest. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone. He works with me at the ministry."

A tall boy, that Madge knew somewhat well, dropped to the ground beside his father. Despite being in the same house, and year, Madge and Cedric Diggory did not talk as much as people expected them to. Madge spent most of her time with the twins and Lee Jordan, causing general havoc everywhere they went, and Cedric stayed with the sixth year Hufflepuff boys.

"This strapping young lad must be Cedric, am I right?" Cedric nodded, before they started off once more. Cedric hung back, smiling at Madge, who had extracted herself from between the twins to speak to the man.

"Findley."

"Diggory." Madge smiled at him, as he nodded. "How's your summer been?"

"Uneventful, you? How's your father?" Madge shrugged.

"Same old, same old. Dad's busy with work, it's really been picking up over the past few months." Cedric nodded, as the twins joined them once more, dragging Cedric into a conversation about who he thought was going to win the World Cup finals. 

The forest came to an end, the trees thinning, as a large hill came into view before them. Looking up, Madge's eyes narrowed at the sight of an old boot on top of the hill.

"Yes, it's just over there!" Amos shouted from behind them, as Fred, George and Madge shared a look.

"Want to bet that it smells like George after quidditch?" Fred whispered to Madge, who bit her lip and tried not to laugh.

"Shall we? We don't want to be late," Arthur called, as all of them reached where the portkey stood.

"Definitely smells like George after quidditch," Fred and Madge snickered with one another, as George scowled and rolled his eyes. He was far too used to their annoying comments to react to them.

"Why are they all standing around that manky old boot?" Harry complained, as Madge and the twins joined him.

"That's not just any manky old boot, mate."

"It's a portkey."

"Another form of transportation to get you long distances." Madge finished, as she crouched down between Fred and George, to place her hand on the boot.

"Time to go!"

"What?" Harry called, his eyebrows still furrowed. Madge kicked his foot, and motioned for him to put his hand on the boot as the teenager finally obliged.

"Ready? After three; one, two three!" The portkey started spinning, sending them up into the air as everyone began to scream. Madge laughed, looking over at Ginny with a grin.

"Let go, kids!" Arthur called over the wind, as everyone's jaws dropped.

"What?" Hermione's shriek was heard over the sound of whistling wind.

"Let go!" Madge released her grip on the portkey, letting out a scream as she began to plummet towards the floor, the others following. She groaned as she hit the ground, barely managing to roll out of the way as Fred landed on the other side of her.

"That hurt," She moaned, as she and the twins watched Arthur and the Diggorys come down more gracefully.

"Show offs," George murmured, before yanking Fred and Madge to their feet as they continued on up another hill. Coming to the crest of it, Madge's jaw dropped at the sight of the abundance of tents, wizards, brooms and the stadium in the distance.

"Well kids, welcome to the Quidditch World Cup!" Arthur called over the noise, as all of their jaws simultaneously dropped.

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Hiya,

So first chapter of chaos between the twins and Madge. I love them and the fact that Madge doesn't believe that Charlie exists at all. 

Let me know what you think, 

Love Li xx