Lemon Grass and Sleep

THE EDGE OF GLORY

"This is rubbish," I groaned, covering my face with my hands.

"It is not!" Fred retorted.

"It's a bit hasty," Glinda agreed, nodding her head in my direction.

"Well, it needs to be hasty," George countered, "We haven't got much time, and we have no idea how much Hary'll need."

"Have you tried asking him?" I questioned.

"No," George replied, sighing, "He'll probably say five minutes or so, but that's not near enough time for us so we're going overkill."

"Overkill is, somehow, an understatement," I sighed.

"I think it's fantastic," Glinda overshadowed me, "But we'll need to make sure to get different brooms--at least for Tom and me. If Umbridge recognizes even a thing about us-"

"She won't, she'll be way too focused on our show."

"Are we supposed to just fly off with you in the end? Where do we go back in?"

"We can work that out later," Fred stammered, "The important part's getting through the school unnoticed up until that point, I'm sure she'll have monitors in the halls."

"So," I breathed out, removing my hands from my face to glance around the table. It was covered with ingredients for polyjuice potion, assorted fireworks, and a ripped piece of parchment from Harry with times. "When does this need to happen?"

The two gave each other a look, like we weren't about to like anything they were going to say.

"The day after tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow?" I asked incredulously, "We only have a day to make some polyjuice potion?"

"No, no," George sputtered, "We've had some brewing for a while, because-"

"We've known we were going to do this for a long time," Fred mumbled, "And we wanted you guys in on it."

We couldn't exactly respond to that with anything but a polite nod, silently agreeing that we'd go along with it. I was nervous the entire next day, hands trembling no matter how many sweaters I put on or how tight I wrapped my scarf.

It was nerve wracking, walking around the school that the twins were about to turn into a madhouse in just a matter of hours. We made sure not to meet up at all, not even the twins associated with each other the entire day, just to make sure nobody would be paying attention to us. It was bad enough that Umbridge recognized our faces from the detentions surrounding the DA in the previous weeks, the last thing we needed was for her to decide to pick on us.

"Ready?" Fred asked, glancing nervously down into the cauldron. We had ended up using Myrtle's bathroom, much to her dismay.

"I sure am, get out!" She called from a stall in the back.

"Just a little longer, and we'll be out of your hair," I assured her.

"Don't know why you comfort her," Glinda mumbled.

"It's courteous," I muttered, feeling sick just looking at the potion.

"Which one of you has which cup," George peered into the cups like he could tell.

"I don't remember, not like it matters," Glinda rolled her eyes.

"I have Fred's," I mumbled, feeling embarrassed for no reason at all.

I was more than nervous, my anxiety was turned up to an eleven, and I looked to Glinda for some reassurance. George's clothes were more than baggy on her, with one hand holding up his trousers around her waist languidly. It was odd, she nearly looked bored. I suppose I was lucky enough that Fred's clothes fit me just fine, if not being a little on the long side.