The Feeling of Falling

~5~

"Miss Black, just who I wanted to see." Professor Mcgonagall approached Ara while she was laying by the dark lake.

"What did you need, Professor?" She asked politely.

"Do you know who was responsible for the flooding of my classroom?" There was a slight twitch of irritation in the teachers lip.

"No Professor, that's horrible. Who do you suspect?" Secretly, Ara knew exactly who had done it.

"Well, I suspect your friends Fred and George. They seem like quite the troublemakers."

"Oh no, they wouldn't do anything like that. I assure you, Professor." Ara lied right through her teeth.

"Hmm, alright. Don't get caught up in the mischief, Miss Black. Not like your mother did." Mcgonagall smiled before leaving Ara by herself with her book again.

~

"So, how did you pull off flooding Mcgonagall's bathroom?" Fred and George were sat in the courtyard, doing Merlin-knows-what, when Ara approached them wanting to know answers.

"What do you mean?" They hid the shock on their faces, so well that Ara couldn't even tell.

"I mean what I said, how did you do it?" She sat down, right in front of Fred and stared directly into his eyes before doing the same to George.

After a few moments of not cracking, Fred finally gave in under the girl's intense stare. "Fine. We'll let you in if you promise not to tell anyone. Ever."

~

And that's how the three of them came to hiding in a broom closet after curfew. Ara was trying so hard not to laugh at the situation but she accidentally let a snort through her nose. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She whispered.

The three of them had visited Filch's caretaker-cupboard-thing after researching some spells in the library. Of course, Ara was the only one who actually did any reading and the other two just messed around. They jinxed all of Filch's possessions to sprout legs when he touched them so he would spend hours chasing them around the castle. It was hilarious.

"I think it's safe. He must've gone by now." Fred whispered, his chest pressed against Ara's face due to the height difference and the sheer lack of space in the cupboard.

"Well, are you going to move or not?" Ara hissed, panicking because of the confined space. It was funny... until it wasn't.

"Okay, okay. There you go, m'lady." George gestured once he stepped out of the door.

Brushing herself off, Ara started to walk in the opposite direction of the boys though they were meant to be going to same way. She continued walking until they pulled her back unexpectedly. "Ow! What was that for?" She rubbed her arm at the joint from where they had tugged her.

"This way is quicker." They motioned to a painting on the wall.

"Yeah, that's a painting you nitwits." She started to walk the other way before she was, once again, pulled back.

"Just follow us, Ara." Fred said, grabbing her hand and bringing her to the front of the painting.

"Potatoes and gravy." George spoke. Ara stood there with a confused expression on her face which then contorted into a look of shock when the painting swung to the side and revealed a passageway.

"Woah."

"I know, right." Fred grinned at her, still holding her hand in his.

They walked down the passageway which ended up sloping upwards before coming to another painting. George touched a specific man on the painting that was wrestling a lion and then the painting, like the other one, swung and revealed the Gryffindor common room.

"This is nice, but not my common room, guys." Ara said, almost asking if they were dumb.

"We know." They spoke at the same time.

"You can get across using another passage." George said, now gesturing to a latch in the cobbled floor. He lifted it up, and sure enough, there was another set of stairs to a passage.

"Well, thanks guys. I'll see you tomorrow." Ara placed a light kiss on each of their cheeks before walking down the stairs and back to her common room.

"Woah." Fred breathed out when she was gone.

"Keep it in you pants, Freddie." George snorted at his brother, smirking his mischievous smile before he dragged his twin back to their dorm.