Lemon Grass and Sleep

A MYSTERY FOR SURE

Dumbledore had left immediately after a heated meeting with Umbridge and the Ministry--that's the rumor that was spreading around Hogwarts. Or, at least, the unbiased version. Slytherin were going on about how Dumbledore had been corrupt all along, and that he fled in fear of his secret army being found out. Students in support of Harry were touting that he had gone into hiding, and he'd come back to defeat Umbridge once and for all before O.W.L.s were even graded.

Apparently their word alone hadn't been enough to convict us of treason against Umbridge, but a mysterious list that had all our signatures sure was. Hermione must have dropped it somewhere, because the paper labeled 'Dumbledore's Army' that we had all signed in Hog's Head was proudly crumpled up in Umbridge's hand as we sat through several detentions with the agonizing black quills.

Every time she forced us to gather in the great hall and write lines that seared themselves into our skin, I swear Fred and George must have been on the brink of murdering her outright. Their glares were enough to put any normal wizard six feet under, but Umbridge only taunted them with sickly sweet smiles.

Fred and George had decided the only sane thing to do was smuggle fireworks into the school. Because, of course.

"Well, what's the last thing you'd want to deal with in your classroom?" Fred asked, like the question had the most obvious answer in the world.

"You two," Glinda replied bluntly.

"Fireworks," George responded, pretending like Glinda hadn't said anything.

"And now that Missus Inquisitor of Hogwarts has to investigate every single incident that's reported, it would be an awful shame if her time was wasted on all these firework reports."

"An awful shame," George echoed.

"Just dreadful," Fred continued, "Therefore, we have brought as many fireworks into the school as possible, and distributed them to trusted individuals who shall remain nameless for anonymity."

"Uh huh," I replied, unconvinced.

"Meaning, of course, Umbridge's time will equally be wasted on investigating and filling out reports for every single one of them."

"You two are terrifying," I mumbled, "In a systematic way I hadn't imagined."

"We are nothing if not thorough," Fred announced, bowing languidly.

"That's a promise," the twins proudly said in unison.

"If I were Umbridge I'd throw in the towel right about now," Glinda sighed. "Just seeing you two walking the halls would make me change my line of work."

"We'll take that as a compliment," George replied excitedly.

"It is the goal, after all," Fred continued.

I scoffed lightly, rolling my eyes. The wind suddenly blew around in in a freezing gust that briefly made all the heat leave my body. Wordlessly, the four of us huddled together to shield against the horrid cold that surrounded us.

"I asked Parvati if any other girls had gotten chocolates," Glinda muttered, shuddering out a frigid shiver, "She said there's been a couple others, but none of them really had the time to talk. Most of them are fifth years."

"O.W.L.s," George mumbled, nodding in understanding. "We'll have to resume our investigation afterward."

"We won't have much time afterward," Fred sighed, "Then it's applications for you two." He gruffly nodded to me and Glinda.

"Oh, shit," I cursed quietly, "I completely forgot about that. Exams are coming up rather quickly, aren't they?"

"Yeah, and you better do good," Glinda threatened, "If we got into N.E.W.T.s for nothing, I'll kill you."