InsaneJournal

Who: Vicky Frobisher, Percy Weasley, George Weasley
What: George gets Vicky back for the hair prank
Where: Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes
When: Backdated - Wednesday, April 1, 1998
Rating: Low
Status: Log. Complete.



Like just about everyone else in Diagon Alley, Vicky paused outside Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes to admire the new look. The wall where the door and windows used to be wasn't very impressive, but the tiny door that barely reached the top of her boots was, especially compared to the waist-high table of canary creams sitting next to it. She watched for a minute as a few customers ate the creams and then hopped through the door, but didn't take anything off the table herself.

Unlike just about everyone else in Diagon Alley, Vicky was allowed to use the back door to the shop. She held the headband that would give her mouse ears loosely in one hand as she slipped through the back room and into the shop proper. Once inside, she put it on, activated the charm, and called out, "Happy birthday!"

George poked his head around a shelf and beamed. "Oi, it's the dormouse! Now we almost have a proper tea party. How's things, Vic?" He himself had settled--after changing his mind about a million times--on dressing as the Cheshire cat, with a striped waistcoat and a tail that moved like a real cat's. "Oh, hey, check this out!" He'd altered one of their Headless Hats into cat ears, then tweaked the spells on it a bit--now, when he activated them, everything above his collar except his grin disappeared. The effect was a bit unnerving, but absolutely appropriate for the day's mayhem.

“Great!” Vicky kissed him on his invisible cheek. “That might be a little too weird for me.” It was disconcerting, seeing just his grin and she had a hard time looking at it for long. “I never thought I’d say this, but please let me see your face again, George.” She looked around at the shop--or at least the bits she could see--and grinned as she watched some shelves shrink as a group of people walked through them. “Everything looks great.”

“We’re already out of Trick Wands, George.” Percy came around the corner and spotted his girlfriend. “Oh, hello Vicky.” He smiled at her costume. “Very cute.” He was dressed himself in his usual shop uniform, but along with the green tuxedo was a tall, top hat that had white rabbit ears protruding from the brim. “Your charms are a great hit with the customers. They’re drawing in quite a crowd. You ought to be proud of yourself.” He leaned over to quickly place a chaste kiss upon the lips. In front of his brother, Percy didn’t feel comfortable enough to show Vicky how he really felt.

George dropped the spell on the ears, the rest of him reappearing around his smile. “Good work all around, I think. The day’s been a success so far, even considering you have to be a canary to get in the door.” The real door was just disguised--obviously they wanted people to be able to get back out carrying all their purchases--but so far everyone seemed to be happily going along with the unusual entrance requirements.

“Too bad we didn’t enlarge any teapots for you, Vicky. It would have made a great picture.” George tweaked one of her mouse ears playfully. “Speaking of which, does anyone want tea? I put the kettle on a minute ago, I was going to have a quick cuppa before diving back into the fray.”

Vicky kissed Percy back lightly, respecting both that he was uncomfortable with displays of affection at work and that it was George's birthday. He probably didn't want to see her snog his brother. "Thank you. I'm glad people appreciate it. There's talk about it on the journals too, so that's fun."

She giggled as George tweaked her ear. "You should have thought about that last night when I was growing everything." She looked around the shop. It was even more packed than usual. "I'm not sure there's room for a giant teacup, though. Besides, the kids would all want to climb in it. I'd never get a turn in a giant cup. A regular one sounds fantastic, though. Ta."

“That’s true. Regular sized teacup, coming up.” George smiled to himself as he stepped into the back room. Their breakroom tea set was cobbled together from mismatched pieces, so it was no difficulty to keep track of which one would be Vicky’s. And if he added a little something to it, well, there was no one looking over his shoulder to notice--though he and Fred were good enough at sleight-of-hand these days that it would have been hard to catch it even if they were.

“Cream? Sugar?” he called back through the door. “Percy, you want a cup?”

A small wave of anxiety washed across Percy’s face. “Tea?” He looked over his shoulder at the shop behind him. “I… suppose. A quick spot. The shop is quite busy and somebody needs to keep up with all the customers…” He didn’t sound very secure in taking a break at this time, but he was thirsty. He continued to stand half-way facing the shop to keep an eye on business, cringing each time a child placed an item back on the shelf where it wasn’t supposed to belong. Chaos wasn’t his thing.

“Both please!” Vicky called back. When she saw Percy’s expression, she put a hand on his arm. “Go fix it, then come back for your tea. I’ll help.” She looked at the items Fred had placed on the desk. “I suppose these go out on the shelves too?”

George already knew how Percy took his tea. He managed to juggle the three cups and a box of biscuits he'd brought down from upstairs, heading back out into the shop proper and tipping everything onto the desk just in time to keep from dropping it all. (His own cup wobbled dangerously for a moment, but finally settled without spilling.) "It’s fine, Perce, I can cover for long enough to let you drink your tea. This is usually the quietest time, although obviously today is a bit unusual." At the moment, the customers in the shop seemed to be occupied with experiencing the decor rather than waiting to check out.

With a will, he kept from grinning when he passed Vicky her tea. "Cream and sugar--I hope that's enough. There's more of both in the back but I didn't have enough hands, I can always accio them."

Percy still seemed unsure, but George's constant reassurances helped settle his anxiety. “Alright,” he finally agreed. He pulled up a chair to the desk and sat down, taking off his rabbit-earred top hat. “You really ought to do more promotions such as this. This has generated an awful lot of positive publicity over the journals.”

“Says the guy who wasn’t up half the night charming things,” Vicky teased, bumping her hip against Percy’s shoulder. She perched on the edge of the desk and sipped her tea. “It’s perfect, thanks George.” The tea was just what was called for, giving her a much-needed boost of energy, and she gulped down half the cup in just a couple of minutes.

It wasn’t immediately obvious what was happening. At first, it just seemed like Vicky was slouching a bit, or had kicked off her shoes. But once the process had started, it went faster and faster--first she was an inch shorter, then a foot, and then her head was level with Percy’s shoulder. George kept a straight face for an admirably long time, but when she was all the way down to teacup-size, he couldn’t help it. He started laughing and couldn’t stop.

The first Vicky noticed was when she slipped off the edge of the desk. She tried to catch her footing, but by that point she was shrinking so fast, that she ended up in a heap on the floor, the teacup she’d dropped as she slipped landing upside down on top of her, drenching her with the rest of her tea. She took a second to glare up at the worn pale blue design on the bottom of the cup before pulling her wand (which had fortunately shrunk with her, along with her clothes) out of her pocket and using it to levitate the cup so she could crawl out from under it.

When she was free of the cup, she pointed her wand at her throat to amplify her voice and glared up at George. “George Fabian Weasley! You fix this right now!”

At first, Percy didn’t realize what was happening because he wasn’t looking directly at Vicky, but when he turned his head and saw that she was shrinking, he immediately put down his teacup and scrambled to catch Vicky but was too late. It was he who helped to lift the teacup off her and after she shouted, he carefully picked her up with cupped hands with great concern. “Are you alright, darling? You’re not hurt?” Then he turned toward the Twins. “This is not funny!”

“It’s a little funny,” George said, not even trying to suppress his laughter. “Look, Vick, now you can actually be the dormouse, you fit in a teapot!” She was pretty adorable at that size--this would need to be documented for posterity before the potion wore off. “Come on, you knew we owed you one for the hair, and you still trusted me with your tea. Turnabout is fair play.”

Vicky yelped and tumbled onto her back as Percy scooped her up. She could tell he was trying to be careful, but from the way she fit on his hands and under the teacup, she guessed she was about three and a half inches tall. Everything was so big at this size, and even gentle movements jarred. When he spoke, she clapped her hands over her ears, and screamed, trying to be heard without magically amplifying her voice. “Not so loud!”

She glared at George from Percy’s hands. Or at least, she tried to, though the effect was probably ruined by her size, the mouse-ear headband she wore, and the fact that her hands stayed firmly clamped over her actual ears. “Yes, fine. You got me. Now turn me back.”

Percy carefully placed her upon the tabletop and looked around for a moment to find a cloth napkin to hand to Vicky so she could dry herself off. He realized that the sound of their voices were causing her pain; he went right up to Fred and George and in a low tone, he snapped, “This prank of yours, it’s hurting her!”

George, too, lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "Calm down, Perce, she'll be back to normal in about an hour and a half. Sorry, Vicky, I didn't think about the sound thing. It will wear off pretty soon, and in the meantime we can go somewhere quieter, but can we at least get a picture of you in a teacup while it lasts?"

Once they stopped talking so loudly, Vicky took her hands off her ears and cast a hot-air charm to dry herself off. When it was done, she walked over to the edge of the table--woah, that was a long way down--and used her wand to amplify her voice again. “I’m fine, Percy.” And she was. Shrinking was disorienting, but now that their voices weren’t deafening, she was starting to see possibilities.

As for George’s question… “Only if I also get to ride on a pygmy puff.”

An hour and a half wasn’t bad, and if Vicky was alright with it, then Percy wouldn’t push the issue. However, he gave tiny VIcky a skeptical look. “Do you think that’s safe? It may try to eat you.”

“Puffs aren’t carnivores, Perce.” George grinned down at the tiny Vicky-mouse. “Deal. I’ll get the camera and the puff. You have a preference for which one? Cheese Cake is pretty fast, or Burrito is probably a little more calm. Or I can just grab one of the shop ones and we’ll all be surprised.”

Vicky grinned up at George. “Cheese Cake. Definitely Cheese Cake.” She’d seen Cheese Cake run and she was pretty sure she’d be able to move just as fast as normal on her back. “It’ll be fine, Percy. I am certain that if Cheese Cake suddenly turns into a carnivore and tries to eat me that you’ll be able to scoop me up in time and save me.”

She leaned out and grabbed a handful of Percy’s tux jacket. The material had seemed smooth, but at this size, she could easily fit her hands between the threads and get a secure hold on it. Before anyone could stop her, she jumped, swinging out so she was hanging from the bottom of his jacket, and started climbing.

All this talk about running pygmy puffs had Percy very concerned. He was going to protest to George to stop encouraging her, and in doing so, his eyes left Vicky for a moment. Next thing he knew she was gone. ‘Wait, what? Where did she go? Did she shrink more?” He turned this way and that, looking for her, even bending over to peer under the table. “If she gets hurt…!”

“Percy,” George hissed, grabbing his shoulder, “cut it out. Hold still or she’ll fall.” He pointed to where Vicky dangled from just below his pocket. “Just stay put for a second, I’m going to get Cheese Cake and the camera and I’d really like Vicky to be in one piece when I get back, okay?” He grinned at Percy, gave Vicky a thumbs-up, then disappeared into the back again to pop up to the flat.

Vicky yelped as Percy started turning and ducking, making his jacket--with her attached--fly away from his body and hang at odd angles. She managed to stay on by tightening her grip and wrapping one arm around a few of the threads of Percy’s tux, but her feet flew off their perch a few times. When George stopped Percy from moving, Vicky resumed climbing, aiming for Percy’s shoulder where, hopefully, she’d be able to talk without magnifying her voice and would be able to calm him down some.

“What? What?” Percy straightened up as told, and looked over his shoulder, spotting Vicky as she climbed. “What are you doing, Vicky!” As she got close to his armpit, she managed to hit a ticklish spot, which made him burst out with a brief explosion of laughter. “HAHAHA! STOP! Where are you going?”

Vicky winced at the loud noise, but couldn’t let go to cover her ears. Instead, she climbed faster until she reached his shoulder, crawled across to his neck, and pulled herself up by holding onto his collar and ear. “Right here,” she said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. “Where you can hear me without me shouting or using magic.”

Percy could see her on his shoulder without turning his head, out of the corner of his eye. “This is very, very strange. Are you alright there? You’re not going to fall? Maybe… maybe I can put you in my breast pocket instead?” At this point, Percy knew that anything he said would make Vicky stay put until the spell wore off, but at least he could make her a little safer.

George returned as promised with camera and pygmy puff. “Oh Merlin, hold still, I have to document this. The White Rabbit and the Dormouse, it’s brilliant.” He tucked Cheese Cake in a pocket to keep her from running off and lifted the camera, clicking the lever to advance the film. “Say ‘tea’!”

Vicky grabbed on to a few strands of Percy’s hair to steady herself and grinned at the camera. “Tea!” She stayed still long enough to let George snap a few pictures, then patted Percy on the cheek and kissed him again. One of his freckles was bigger than her lips, but that just made every one of them close enough for her to reach a target. “I’m not going to fall, Percy. Your shoulder is plenty big enough to stand on. Besides, I’m getting down in a minute so I can ride Cheese Cake.”

Percy’s pose was a little stiff, because he was worried any movement might send her flying. “I have to admit, you are cute this small, but I prefer my regular-sized Vicky. Please be careful. I’ve seen how quickly some of these puffs move. He may not take kindly to being ridden.”

“She,” corrected George, taking Cheese Cake out of his pocket again. “She’ll love it. She’s very friendly, Lee totally failed at making her an attack puff. There should be plenty of fur to hang onto, Vicky. Do you want help down?”

Vicky looked down from Percy’s shoulder and immediately took a step back. It was fine being up here when she wasn’t looking down--the view was just about what it was when she was normal sized--but when she looked toward the ground… fuck that was a long way. She suddenly completely empathized with Percy’s fear that she might fall. “Please.” The climb up had been fun, but if she spent the next hour and a half climbing, she’d be exhausted by the time it wore off.

The feelings Percy had about Vicky’s safety would’ve been similar, even if she was regular sized and had decided to ride, say, a Hippogryff. Reluctantly, Percy maneuvered his hands to his shoulder, so Vicky could step upon his palm, and then with his other hand to stabilize her and make sure she wouldn’t teeter and fall, he gently moved her to… where? Percy paused. “The floor?” he glanced at George for confirmation.

George nodded, kneeling down with Cheese Cake, scratching her behind her fuzzy head to keep her from running off just yet. “I don’t trust her not to jump off the table, and while the fall probably wouldn’t hurt her any, I’m not sure Vicky could hold on through it. Better to let her run around on the floor. Besides, this way you can get a tour of what the store looks like in giant size, right Vicky?”

“Exactly!” Vicky jumped off Percy’s hand as soon as it was close enough to the ground--though she suspected Percy didn’t think it was anywhere near close enough--and ran over to Cheese Cake. At this size, the pygmy puff came up to about her chest. It took a bit of effort to climb on, particularly as the puff kept squirming even with George holding her still, but once she was on, it was easy to grip with her legs and grab on to tufts of fur with her hands.

“Okay! Let go!” She was practically bouncing with anticipation, and Cheese Cake was clearly anxious to move too. She leaned forward so her mouth was right by the puff’s right ear. “When George moves his hand, run as fast as you can, okay?” She knew Cheese Cake didn’t actually understand her, but she talked to the puffs all the time. It would be silly to stop now.

The moment Cheese Cake was free, she tore off into the shop, Vicky on her back, whooping happily. They ran through the displays at full speed, weaving around feet as they tore through the tiny areas that looked normal sized to Vicky and the giant areas that made her feel like she wasn’t any bigger than an ant. Several times, Cheese Cake bumped into someone’s feet and twice a shoe came dangerously close to Vicky’s head, but they always got out of the way in time.

Once the pygmy puff took off, Percy involuntarily covered a gasp with his hand to his mouth. It wasn’t difficult for him to imagine what could happen to Vicky: she could fall off the puff, she could be stepped upon by customers, something could fall on them, some customers’ child could think she was a toy and try to pick her up and handle her too roughly, the puff could run out the door of the shop and into the street where there were numerous other obstacles. But Percy refrained from running after her - he simply stood frozen to the spot, staring in the direction she went, hoping that she’d be alright.

George laughed with delight and chased after them, though after dodging a few customers he was content to hop up on one of the enlarged chairs and watch from above. Occasionally they’d disappear behind a shelf and out of sight, but mostly he had a pretty good view of the fun.

Unlike Percy, he wasn’t worried about them getting stepped on, or about Cheese Cake running out the door--the puffs knew better (or at least, the surplus ones they’d been keeping in the flat did), and they were very good at dodging people’s feet. “Just send up sparks if you’re ready to stop before she is, Vick, and I’ll come and grab her,” he called (though not too loudly).

Vicky had no intention of stopping before Cheese Cake was ready, but then a whole bundle of canaries hopped through the small door and transformed into a large group of small children who immediately started shrieking with delight. In other circumstances, Vicky would have been thrilled at their reaction to the work she and the twins had done, but at her current size the shrieks were literally deafening and she almost fell off Cheese Cake as she instinctively tried to cover her ears.

Cursing, Vicky threw up sparks, then held on for dear life as Cheese Cake picked up speed, tearing around the shop like she knew someone was going to catch them and stop her from exploring. “George!” she yelled, though without magical amplification her voice was far too tiny to be heard. “Percy! Help!”

After George left the backroom, Percy followed with guarded hesitation, his arms folded across his chest. He wanted to watch to make sure Vicky was alright, he wanted to trust Vicky’s choice to go on her ride, he didn’t want to prevent her from having fun. At the same time he was nervous, and not without good reason. The moment the children burst through the door, all of Percy’s worst fears were realized and quick as a flash, he rushed forward, pushing aside a pair of older customers with a hasty, “Move out of the way!” He had to get to Vicky before she was trampled.

George was quicker on his feet--or with his wand, rather--and more accustomed to sideways thinking, anyway. “Wingardium leviosa!” He levitated Cheese Cake just a few inches off the ground--not enough that a fall would hurt Vicky if she tipped off, just enough that the pygmy puff’s tiny legs were flailing but no longer taking them anywhere. Percy would get there in a minute, but for now Cheese Cake was safely contained and Vicky wasn’t going to get thrown or trampled.

He hopped down from the giant chair, apologizing to the couple that Percy had less-than-patiently pushed aside, and wound his way towards where he had the puff suspended.

Vicky had closed her eyes, so it took her a moment to realize that Cheese Cake had stopped. She could still feel the puff’s feet churning--apparently Cheese Cake hadn’t figured out that it wasn’t working anymore--and the moment she opened her eyes she had to shut them again, because it felt like she should be moving. Once she was oriented, Vicky leaned forward and patted Cheese Cake on the head. “Easy girl.”

Percy’s heart was racing, his mind reeling, by the time he reached Vicky, now hovering safely in the air, still upon the pygmy puff. She was floating a few inches off the ground, so he cupped the puff with his hands to carefully raise them to eye-level so he could see she was safe. “Oh thank Merlin!” he gasped, out of breath from running. “Are you alright, Vicky? You’re not hurt?”

“I’m fine.” Vicky slid off Cheese Cake into a rather undignified heap on Percy’s palm and started giggling. “That was fantastic! You’re the best, Cheese Cake.” She absently patted the puff between her ears, then winced as one of the kids shrieked again. “Can we go into the back now?”

"Yeah, I could probably work up a sound-muffling charm for you, but you'd be back to normal size by the time I did." George took Cheese Cake back from Percy, careful not to jostle Vicky, and tucked the puff back in his pocket, cooing at her. "Who's the best puff? You are! Well, okay, second best. Margaret is first in my heart. But you are definitely in the running, Cheese Cake."

He held the door for Percy as they went into the back, away from the noise of the shop. "One of us will have to get back out there in a second, but did you have any other adventures in mind while you're still small?"

“Well, I did promise you a picture.” Vicky was still giggling with exhilaration from her run around the shop. “But nothing other than that. I was thinking it might be fun to climb on the shrunken furniture, but it’s too loud out there, so I might just hang out in Percy’s pocket. That way he can work and not fret about where I am or if I’m going to fall.”

In his palm, Vicky was so small and fragile, Percy wondered how she could still be giggling after what could’ve been a disaster. With all his heart and soul, he wished he could live that way, too, but his mind protested and blocked those emotions. He sighed with some relief at her suggestion. “My pocket sounds like a perfect location.” That way, he’d be able to keep an eye on her and she’d be close to his heart. “My tuxedo jacket had a pocket in the front to tuck a handkerchief, which might be a little snug, but hopefully not uncomfortable. I trust you won’t be able to fall out.”

He lifted Vicky to his breast so she could climb inside. “We just need to keep an eye on the time. I wouldn’t want you to grow back in size with you still in there. Not only would it rip the jacket, but you’d probably end up on top of me, on the floor.”

"Ooh la la," said George, because he couldn't help himself. "Not in my shop, thanks. Before you get too comfortable, Vicky, let me get a picture of you in the teapot. Then I should probably get out front again." He dumped the rest of the hot water and dried the teapot with a quick charm, setting it out on their worktable.

Vicky waited for Percy to lower her down to the teapot, then jumped off his hand to land inside it. When she stood up straight, she could comfortably sling her arms over the lip of the teapot and rest her chin on her hands. “How’s this? Do I look cute enough?” She grinned up at Percy and George and batted her eyelashes. “Or how about a different pose?” She stepped back from the edge and put her hands on her hips, then struck a few silly poses for good measure.

“I’d like copies of those,” Percy told George as he watched the mini-photoshoot. His previous concerns were fading and he could smile at Vicky’s playfulness.

“Everyone is going to want a tiny pocket Vicky! You might be cuter than Margaret right now. But don’t tell her I said that.” George took pictures until he ran out of film, because really, Vicky was never going to eat or drink anything he handed her ever again, so he had to make the most of it. “All right, copies for us, copies for you, possibly some for a scrapbook...Vicky, you want copies too?”

“Obviously.” Vicky waited for Percy’s coat to swing close to the teapot, grabbed onto it, and started climbing again. It didn’t take long for her to reach the breast pocket on Percy’s tux and she tumbled in head first, landing on her back at the bottom of his pocket. When she righted herself, she could just peek out and see the store, but the material was thick enough that when it got too loud she could duck down and muffle the sound. “Let’s go!” she said, hooking her arms over the top of Percy’s pocket. “Customers await!”