An Ode to the Weasleys

You may have noticed that we are proud redheads. It is impossible not to notice that we are also identical twins. What you probably don't know is that we are the bothersome middle children, and born in the month of April. All of these are traits shared by Fred and George Weasley.

You can imagine how it felt reading that fateful chapter in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (SPOILER) I STILL HAVEN'T FORGIVEN YOU, JO. WHY, FRED, WHY?!

Our house always felt a bit like The Burrow. My mother is the epitome of Mrs Weasley, forever trying to looking after everyone, not a woman to be trifled with. There's always something going on, always two or three extra guests hanging around, always, always cake. We might as well hang a banner across the front door saying 'Strangers, WELCOME. (You will be fed.)' It was always wonderful to see this kind of family at the heart of the books. How warm, how caring, how kind they were, and how this made them so much better off than anyone else; the Weasley family contributed so much to the essence of the series.

 We actually got to be the Weasleys last weekend. For our younger sister Jenny's (very much the Ginny of the family) 18th birthday, and to celebrate her heading off to university, the three of us, and our older sister (the 'Bill' if you like...she'll hate me for this...stop me now), took ourselves off to Watford, for the Harry Potter Studio Tour.

It was incredible. One of our favourite bits was getting to nosy inside The Burrow. And Helen and I, much to our sensible and lovely sisters' embarrassment, got to unleash our inner, geeky, Weasley twin selves. Flying car, Weasley Wizard Wheeze's, geeky purchases from the gift shop...check, check, check.

Thank you to our sisters for putting up with us, and for such a nice day.

And thank you J.K Rowling, who created characters two ginger troublesome twins could relate to, who made us laugh and made it okay to stand out like (two) sore thumb(s). It was okay to not be perfect, to be a bit mischievous. To make people laugh, but to also get told off, to be different. It was okay to be part of a big, mad family, because the Weasleys made it so.

Please enjoy some photos as a tribute to our favourite twins, and our favourite fictional family.