kick off your sunday shoes [finn]

[Deleted]

Fred Weasley was not known for having ideas that the average person would consider "good". His ideas were more often funny (at least in hindsight) than good. That had changed somewhat since he had started working at his father's joke shop - responsibility and everything was new to him, and he had adapted accordingly - but at his core, he was still a jokester. The carnival was bringing out the best - worst? - in him when it came to that. There were so many people, and so many crowds that it was easy to perform a prank and then fade into the shadows before the prankee caught wind of what happened and was super, duper angry. Fred had already proved that hypothesis... By stealing the shoes of one of the clowns. Fred would have figured that he would have been apprehended only a few seconds after the theft, since carrying two huge red rubber shoes wasn't exactly subtle, but evidently the other carnival-goers were more concerned with their food and games than they were with helping a wayward clown. Fred had looped around the carnival for about five minutes, all the while holding the shoes, until he was sure that there was no way the clown would find him. With that insurance, Fred sat on a bench and took off his own plain, boring shoes, sliding the clown shoes onto his feet instead. They were actually the perfect size - whether that was because of magic or the fact that he and the clown had similar feet, Fred didn't care. Now he had a costume, and it was time to put on a show.

@finn

[Deleted]

Finn had the day off from duty with the Aurors at Hogwarts, and he was grateful for it. With several Aurors out of commission, he’d been on a brutal schedule as of late. He got to see all that Hogwarts had to offer; the grounds, the castle and Hogsmeade with its’ outskirts, far more than he would have liked. He was fortunate enough though that he still had friends in their seventh year at Hogwarts, but as of late he had barely seen any of them. They were all busy with their studies; Anna had the Third Task to prepare for as well, and their schedules just never seemed to align. So it wasn’t too surprising to find Finn on his own, heading down towards the carnival. He knew how to make his own fun, that was evident from his seven years at school, but on that particular day he rather wished he had a companion. He’d never been to a carnival after all; he’d heard of them but hadn’t gotten the chance to go when he was younger.

As he entered the square, Finns’ eyes were drawn so many different ways as he took in the sights, the sounds, and the smells. His stomach grumbled impatiently and he chuckled at himself. Oh, if only one of the boys could see him now; first stop, food. He made his way over to a cart and bought himself a box of popcorn. He popped a handful into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, looking over what there was to do and see. Suddenly, he grinned widely despite himself. Fred Weasley was not three yards from him, and had appeared to have stolen a clowns shoes. They had started to bridge the gap of distance last month, but Finn knew it’d be slow and steady work. Still, he couldn’t help himself. “Oi! Quit clowning around!” he called out, spitting out a little bit of chewed popcorn. He laughed, and made his way over to Fred, swallowing the rest of his mouthful before speaking. “So, where’s the unlucky clown you nicked these from?” he asked, popping some more kernels into his mouth.

@fred

[Deleted]

Fred looked up when he heard a command to stop clowning around. A grin split across his face when he saw Finn coming towards him. “I can’t stop!” Fred whined. “Clown is my middle name!” It actually wasn’t, thank Merlin – Fred really wouldn’t put it past his father to come up with something like that. Then again, Fred also wouldn’t put it past his mother to smack his father upside the head for even suggesting they name their son clown. Caspian was kind of similar… Not really, but Fred was going to tell himself that so he could laugh about it. Finn asked where the clown was, and Fred’s grinned just widened. “Hopefully a long way away from here.” He replied. Since he had lost the clown – hopefully – it made sense that he didn’t know where the guy was… but the question made Fred just nervous enough that he checked over his shoulder to make sure there was no wig and makeup wearing man stomping towards him in ridiculous fuchsia checkered socks. Fred stretched his legs out, observing the red rubber shoes on his feet. He was hoping they would make him feel different, but no such luck… probably because Fred was already enough of a clown without needing to play dress up. Fred scooted over so he was on one side of the bench, patting the area next to him so that Finn would sit. His invitation to his friend had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Fred intended to steal Finn’s popcorn, nosiree. “I didn’t know they let Aurors in training out long enough to go to carnivals.” Fred said, winking at Finn. He knew his friend was working hard for his dreams to save the galaxy (or whatever it was that Aurors did these days) but it didn’t mean that Fred didn’t wish Finn was free more often.

@finn

[Deleted]

Finn laughed loudly as Fred declared that clown was his middle name. Obviously after knowing him...pretty much his whole life, Finn knew his middle name was in fact Caspian, but it might has well have been clown for all the mischief they had gotten into together at school. They had drifted apart after, mostly due to the rift between him and Casey. But they were working on mending the fences, and Finn at least hoped they could get close to where they were one day. “Oh look out!” Finn shouted, pointing wildly in a direction, but he was unable to keep a straight face for very long and started laughing. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist; the thought of a clown racing around angry and shoeless is just too good to not want to see,” he admitted. He wasn’t the biggest fan of clowns themselves - really, was anyone? - but he wanted to see the reaction this particular one had when Fred stole his shoes.

“They give us break when we look like we’re about to drop dead from fatigue and exhaustion,” Finn remarked, then chuckled. The Auror training program of course did have a reputation for being very tough and lengthy, but they weren’t torturers, and they got days off; this just happened to be Finn’s. “So what were you planning on doing with those shoes,” Finn asked, stepping closer as he shoved another mouthful of popcorn in his mouth.

@fred

[Deleted]

Fred made a very loud, undignified yelp when Finn yelled at him to look out. He probably should have known better than to believe anything that his friend said – they were both pranksters, after all – but it was better safe than sorry, Fred always thought, especially when it came to potentially irate clowns. Fred gave Finn a mutinous look when he discovered there was, in fact, no clown storming towards them, angry that his shoes had been stolen. “One day I’m going to get you back for that.” It wasn’t necessarily going to be one day soon… but in all probability, it would be. It was not wise to get in a prank war with Fred Weasley, especially considering his job gave him several interesting tools at his disposal…

“Well, obviously your trainer is pretty damn blind, because you don’t look anywhere near dead to me.” Fred said. It probably would have sounded like a compliment from anyone else, but Fred’s snicker at the end of the sentence made it seem like more of an insult than anything. Fred did wonder how much of Finn’s statement was hyperbole, though, given the rigor of the training program, especially with all of the new threads hitting the wizarding world. Finn asked what he was planning on doing with the shoes, and Fred shrugged. “Walking in them, maybe? I’m still trying to work up a master plan.” He thought that maybe just walking around in the shoes would be enough to confuse several people, but Fred was always open to suggestions.

@finn

[Deleted]

Finn cackled loudly when Fred yelped; he couldn’t help it, and he knew the other boy wouldn’t actually be angry. It was in their nature to crack jokes and ‘made-you-looks’ whenever possible, and the opportunity had been too good to pass up. “I know I know Freddo, but it was still satisfying for the look on your face,” Finn replied, still guffawing. “We should be on the move though; eventually the angry clown will show up if you just stay in one place the whole time,” he added, gesturing towards a row of booths nearby. It was a short distance, so if Fred fell over once or multiple times, he could at least sit and take them off.

As they began to walk, Finn took in the sights and sounds of the carnival, momentarily not hearing what Fred said about his trainer being blind. “I might be blinded by her beauty maybe,” Finn joked, then sombered. Claire Slater was pretty gorgeous, but he always was very intimidated by her presence. “Poe would be more for you; he’s a dashing ruggedly handsome one,” Finn added with a wide grin. Though he personally preferred the company of women, he could appreciate why some of his female associates seemed to swoon over Poe whenever he was around. “Let’s make your master plan something like getting rid of clown shoes for the greater good of the world?” he suggested, chuckling a little at himself.

@fred

[Deleted]

Fred continued to pout at Finn when his friend said that the look on his face was going to be worth his eventual revenge. Fred wouldn’t be so sure of that. Weasleys had long memories. Like elephants, but ginger. “Do they teach you tactics in the Auror department, too?” Fred asked, grumbling slightly as he began to move. The clown shoes weren’t hard to walk in, but they made some awkward sounds when slapping against the dirt. Fred understood why clowns honked their noses so much – it was to distract from the strange sounds coming from their feet. “I was kind of hoping that they had a couple of extra sets of shoes and wouldn’t miss these ones.” Fred said. Maybe clowns, like Weasleys, weren’t good at letting go of grudges.

“Right.” Fred said with a smirk when Finn commented that he was blinded by his trainer’s beauty. “I don’t think you’re her type.” Fred didn’t actually know anything about Finn’s trainer, but it was probably a safe bet that kickass Auror trainers didn’t fall in love with their food-loving charges. At the comment about Poe, Fred just furrowed his brow. “Not really into older guys.” He said with a wave of his hand. His one romantic something had been with Elias, who was a year younger (and it hadn’t even been that much of a romance to begin with). “We can just drop them off at Dunk the Mermaid.” Fred said with a shrug. Ideally, they’d find a way to get the shoes into the mermaid’s tank, but Fred wasn’t sure if that would be possible without being spotted.

@finn

[Deleted]

“On Wednesdays,” Finn joked cheerfully, trying not to laugh out loud at the sound those ridiculous shoes made as Fred walked in them. He was sure that the Weasley would not forget the little jump scare at his expense, so Finn would just have to be on his guard whenever they hung out. Well, he was hoping they’d hang out a bit more; the encounter at Weasley Wizarding Wheezes had been...interesting, but overall he felt that it had gone as best as it could have. Fred was joking around as he normally did, so he felt that had to be a good sign.

“A guy can dream Freddo,” he said, pretending to daydream over the idea of Claire Slater. Truth be told, Finn was rather exhausted over the past few months when it came to dating and women. He’d gone on several dates with several women, but for some reason they all seemed to move away or transfer after a short while. Was Finn really that terrible? He didn’t think so at least, and though Fred may tease him mercilessly for his self-doubt, he knew the other boy didn’t think he was horrible. “Hmm,” Fred pursed his lips and pondered. “We could go for a Levitation charm? I can distract them while you do it,” he suggested, jerking his head towards the small crowd near the tank.

@fred