Guts and Glory - Trouble with Twins, Book 2

The Holidays at Hogwarts

Dumbledore had started something interesting when he invited us into his office. Talking to him didn't convince us to stop our trouble-making ways. If anything, it made us more confident in what we were doing. The headmaster liked us and had wanted to get to know us better. Snape could torment us all he liked and he still would never be able to throw us out of the school. How many Hogwarts students could say that?
Following our adventure into Hogsmeade, Charlie had kindly requested that we make some effort to behave. I convinced Fred and George to go along with this, both out of admiration for Charlie and fear of a Howler from Mrs. Weasley.
The snow was starting to fall hard daily now, and temperatures dropped by the minute. When we went to the Great Hall for breakfast at the start of the weekend, Professor McGonagall greeted us with a list.
"I ask those staying at Hogwarts over the holiday to please write their names here." She stood there and patiently waited.
I glanced over the four Weasley brothers in front of me.
"All of us are staying. Mum and dad are going to Egypt to visit Bill." Charlie said, writing his name and passing it around the table. The rest of us followed, and McGonagall drifted us with a small smile.
"Why're you staying?" Fred asked.
"Parents are going away for work, separately. Mum's going to Canada, dad's going to Ireland. Can't exactly split myself in half." I smiled, pouring myself a cup of coffee.
"Why Canada?" Percy leaned into the conversation.
"She's going to interview the Canadian Quidditch team. They just won-"
"The Quidditch World Cup, yeah. But why her?" Charlie was intrigued. Of course he knew about the Cup.
"She writes Quidditch for the Daily Prophet. You'd probably like her stuff." I grinned.
"Maybe she'll interview you some time, Charlie. I can see the headline now, Hogwarts Quidditch Star Sets a Million School Records." George quipped, shoving his brother on the shoulder.

As they laughed together, I wondered where my parents were at this moment. Mum had written to me already on the day they were leaving England. She sounded so excited for her work, and by the sounds of it, she would be having much more fun there than my father would be with the rest of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. Apparently there had been a particularly nasty ordeal with some Irish wizards and memories needed to be modified. I knew I would certainly prefer to meet World Champions.
Getting to spend the holiday here would be interesting. I wondered who else would be with us, and what would happen in the castle in these weeks. Everyone else would be leaving soon, and then we'd have the whole castle to ourselves. Best of all, we had no classes during the holiday, and while I enjoyed the company of McGonagall and Flitwick, being mostly free of Snape for two weeks made me particularly happy.

After the names were finally collected, everyone leaving was dismissed from the hall to go pack up their belongings. We said goodbye to the other members of the Quidditch team. Once everyone was gone, I glanced around to see who we would be joined by for Christmas. Most of the Gryffindor table was gone, and the only classmates left I recognized were Katie Bell, Kenneth Towler, and of course, Lee Jordan. Our old friend Dara was staying, and she sat surrounded by her fellow Hufflepuff girls, as usual. Not many Slytherins were left and the ones that were seemed to be first years, smaller than nearly everyone around them. The Ravenclaw table was the most full of the four. I recognized Roger Davies, a boy in our year, and saw he was working with other students to finish up... something. It couldn't be schoolwork, there was no schoolwork left. I turned my focus back to our conversation. The school year would be over before I finally understood Ravenclaws.

We went back into the common room just as everyone was finishing up. Piles of luggage were waiting there ready to be taken away, and their owners stood nearby. Angelina and Alicia were chatting near the middle of the room, accompanied by Lee. Oliver and Thomas were leaning against the wall towards the corner, holding onto their brooms and laughing together. This much time away from the Quidditch pitch would be strange after spending so many hours there.