I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good: Fred and George?

[alt_terry]

I need some help. I can't explain exactly but--see, I've got something I need to hide. Something I have to keep safe. No one must ever find it.

The problem with a pocket, even a hidden one is, well, if I ever get given back to Master, he doesn't let me keep anything. I wear rags he passes on to me, but he feels free to throw anything away at any time. He may insist his tidbit must feel cold in that jacket and give me another one and get rid of the first, or he may beat me well, a shirt gets all torn up, and then its gone the next morning. He doesn't want me to have anything I can call my own. That way I'm always dependent on him.

Can you think of anything that would work? It has to be a way to hide something, that I could keep always, but it would have to seem so small or unimportant that Master would never even bother with it.

Comments

[alt_neville]

Well, you're with the Headmistress now, right? She would let you keep something in a pocket, wouldn't she?

[alt_terry]

I'm sure she would. But I'm trying to plan ahead. Just in case. I mean, it's Master. He's determined to get me back somehow. And he mustn't ever ever EVER find what I've got to hide.

Because if he does, he'll kill me.

[alt_gredforge]

Well, now, that's an interesting challenge you've set for us.

We'll give it some thought. When do you need it by?

[alt_terry]

Sooner would be better. Anyway, before you leave for the summer for sure.

[alt_gredforge]

How big is the thing you need to hide? What is it, anyway?

[alt_terry]

The biggest measurement is length, which is, oh, roughly about a foot. Not nearly as wide or deep.

[alt_gredforge]

You didn't say what it is. Is it very heavy?

[alt_terry]

I'm not sure if I can say. It's not that I don't trust you! It's just that it's so very dangerous, and maybe it's best that you don't know. I need to check first with someone else before I know whether I can tell.

Anyway, it's not very heavy at all. Only a couple ounces at most.

[alt_lee]

A foot long and not so wide or deep
a couple ounces in weight
and you'd get killed if they found it on you...

Merlin, Terry. How did you ever dare? And what happens when someone's turns up missing?

[alt_terry]

Bloody hell.

...

Look, no one's is going to turn up missing. I got it another way, didn't steal it or hurt anyone or anything. I can't say how, so don't ask. But you see now why I've GOT to hide it.

[alt_lee]

Yeah no kidding. And good on you!

Gred and Forge, let's go through our charm books together. I'll nick the seventh year text from somebody or nip into the Restriction Section if we have to. There's got to be something somewhere we can use.

[alt_sally_anne]

Merlin.

I wish

There must be

Does Hermion

Let me know if you need me to look anything up. There are books it's easier to find in Slytherin than Gryffindor.

[alt_terry]

Actually, maybe there is a way you can help. Fred and George had this idea, and it's brilliant. But we need a little help, and Lee said maybe we might ask you, cause you're a girl? Or maybe Hermione might know.

Do either of you know how to weave those little string bracelets? I see some of the girls wearing them around the school sometimes, made with coloured thread. They're sort of woven with knots, and sometimes they have beads worked in, right? Fred thought it was called, macaron or something like that??? If we use a dull tatty sort of string with no colour, maybe sort of dirty, I think it'd be something that wouldn't catch Master's notice at all.

[alt_sally_anne]

Yeah, I know how to make those, or at least I've seen it done. Do you want me to show you how, or do you want me to just make one? I don't have any string, but if anyone else has some I could use I could do it.

[alt_neville]

I have some string you're welcome to use. I think it's just the sort you're looking for, Terry.

[alt_terry]

You could try to teach me, but I'd probably be all thumbs. If you don't mind, it'd be a big help if you could do it.

Actually...could you make two bracelets? One for me and one for Hermione. I think the girls I've seen make them for their friends. So it would seem normal if we're both wearing one.

[alt_terry]

And thanks!

[alt_sally_anne]

I could make two bracelets. It'll take me a couple of days.

If I had some coloured thread I wouldn't have to hide what I was working on so carefully, because it would look like I was making plain ones for practice and then I could make a nice one for Pansy.

[alt_neville]

Maybe Ron could get some coloured thread or yarn from Ginny? She knits all the time, and I'll bet she has some.

[alt_sally_anne]

Oh, good thought. You need either a thick sort of thread or a thin sort of yarn, but either will work.

[alt_sally_anne]

And if you wanted beads in, I'd need those too.

[alt_terry]

There'll be just one bead on it, and Fred and George are going to make that, and charm it. They thought they'd have it ready by tomorrow.

[alt_sally_anne]

Alright. Fred and George, the bead needs to have a hole large enough for two strands of the string (or I'll have to go hunting for more string).

There's probably a charm to make these but I don't know it. I learned in village school and I didn't have a wand yet (nor did most of my classmates).

[alt_sally_anne]

The problem with just making it look insignificant is that Carrow is the sort who'd want it if he thought it was important to you, no matter what it was. I'm trying to think if I've ever heard of a charm that would make something look as if it were just part of your body. Or a concealment charm that would make it invisible to everyone but you.

A mokeskin pouch would probably work. There are students in Slytherin who have them but stealing them is just about impossible -- the whole point of having one is that no one but you can ever find it.

[alt_sally_anne]

Not that you'd steal anything of course, but there are students who'd never miss half their possessions if they disappeared. And Ollivander would deserve losing his (I think he does have one, I heard him bragging once).

[alt_terry]

Master's not above ordering me to strip, either. He's seen me from the skin out plenty of times.

Um, I didn't mean that quite the way it sounds. He's indifferent to that, but he thinks he has every right to search me whenever he likes. I never have any privacy with him.

[alt_sally_anne]

Yes, if it looked like part of your body you'd want it to blend in.

I'm thinking of all the rude jokes people make about -- oh never mind. Anyway, a mokeskin pouch would be perfect, I think, if it were the right size or had an extension charm on it, anyway. But with luck Fred and George can think up something else. I was right, Ollivander does own one, but I don't know how I'd get it. And he'd notice, he keeps all his money inside.