Guts and Glory - Trouble with Twins, Book 2

Classes Resume

The glory and excitement from the weekends triumphs wore off very quickly when it was right back to the way it was the previous week. Snape had already started making Potions miserable for us. Any bit of loud talking he heard from us warranted the threat of moving us to different corners of the room. I silently held the notion that this wouldn't solve anything; we would find a way to communicate, no matter how disruptive.

The hard feelings Snape felt towards me seemed to have festered over the summer holiday. I knew he would never willingly admit I had a talent for Potions, but any sliver of respect he had shown last school year had also vanished. At the end of any lesson, when he would survey the cauldrons of all my classmates, he would strut past mine and say nothing. I swore I could see a smirk forming at the corner of his mouth.

He, of course, wasted no time in scoffing at Fred's Fire Protection Potion.

"Be careful not to stand too close to the Gryffindor fireplace if you choose to drink this, Mr. Weasley. It wouldn't give you an ounce of protection. " He drifted off to praise the Slytherins, and didn't notice the us scowling at him. That was, until he turned back around and glared directly back into our faces.

"10 points from Gryffindor. More, if you don't wipe those unpleasant looks off your faces." The Slytherins took great pleasure in this and sniggered loudly.

Our anger from the Potions class continued in Herbology, our next class for the day. Today, in a rather unfortunate turn of events, we were focusing on the Severing Charm. Professor Sprout told us it would aid us later in the year when we would be dealing with more difficult plants. At this time, however, it was very useful for creating accidental cuts.

"What foul git." Fred said, practicing on a spare piece of parchment.

George was so irritated that he slipped in his attempt at the Charm, and instead opened up his twin's hand instead. The wound started bleeding profusely, and Professor Sprout sped over, instructing George to take his brother down to the hospital wing.

As they both left, Fred turned back to face me.

"We'll show him," A grin finally returned to his face, and he continued, proudly, "They'll see who's better when we beat Slytherin on the pitch."

__________________________________

After class was dismissed, I hurried down to meet the twins. I was impressed by Madam Pomfrey's work; I wouldn't know anything had happened if I hadn't just witnessed it.

"Never let me do that again." George almost looked guilty, but he couldn't hold back a smile.

"Please." Fred looked to me as he said it, and the three of us laughed.

It was lunchtime, and I was feeling particularly famished after putting up with Snape and the Slytherins. We entered the Great Hall and made our way over towards the usual table.

Seeing everyone I considered my close friend united back at Hogwarts was a wonderful thing. As we joined them, I took a moment to watch them. There was Charlie, hero of the Quidditch team, talking to Angelina and Alicia about his plans for our first match. He was using wild movements that were likely to be an explanation of different startegies. Percy was sitting closer to all of us than I expected, working on some homework already. He occasionally glanced up and seemed to be monitoring us. I couldn't blame him; we had a knack for causing trouble, the lot of us. Lee Jordan was, as expected, there to join us. I couldn't help but notice him taking many short looks over at Angelina, and often shooting a big smile over to her. She was friendly with him, whether or not she had the same desire to stare at him that he did. We had only just struck up a conversation about Potions when Charlie inserted himself into the chatter.