(Eng) Weasleys, Pranks and other Curses

23

Even though I didn't want to admit it, it gave me no peace to speculate about this question. What kind of question needed a right time? And why was it so important that I answer honestly?

Time and time again, Maddie caught me staring off in the middle of class, lost in thought and oblivious to the teacher's instructions. "You're worse than before."

"Before what?" We frantically shoved our notes into our pockets to go out to Care of Magical Creatures. I had noticed that more and more students greeted me or approached me just like that. It was strange.

"When the potion worked." She elbowed me in the side and my blood rushed to my head.

"It's not that! Really!"

"But it definitely works," Maddie remarked thoughtfully.

Ah. Yes. It had all started when she had bought a bottle of the love potion and I hadn't trusted the twins to brew Amortentia. "It's not Amortentia itself, but yes it is a working love potion," I confessed, growing quieter. "Can you explain what's going on?" I clung to Maddie's arm and looked around skeptically. Not only the Gryffindors, but students from other houses were looking at me curiously, saying hello or starting to whisper and point in my direction with their friends.

Maddie didn't seem to notice at all. "What, oh that." But she knew very well what was going on, as the rosy glow on her cheeks now revealed. "You know," we dodged oncoming Ravenclaws, "everyone knows the four weeks are up and now everyone wants to know what's next."

"What's next?" I guessed what it was about, but surely so many students couldn't really be interested in what was going on in my private life?

Together we looked for a place as far away from the group as possible, but no matter how far away we tried to get, we always found ourselves surrounded by curious ears. It wasn't until Hagrid started the lesson that we had a bit of peace.

"It's not all about you," Maddie whispered to me as she showed me how to calm the angry little firefish. "Fred and George are more popular than you think. They like to break the rules, but always get away with it. They're on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and you always have something to laugh with them."

"Sure, dream guys," I rolled my eyes. "Until you become the victim of their jokes." I couldn't help but think of Neville and immediately I felt way too warm again because the memory of George also immediately followed. If George hadn't gotten his act together, I wonder what else would have happened that night?

"Ouch!", I yelped as one of the firefish caught my finger.

"Where are you with your thoughts?" giggled Maddie as she quickly helped me get rid of the fish before Hagrid could notice my mistake.

"So you're telling me the Weasley twins are like celebrities?" I snorted in disbelief. Surely they wouldn't have praised such troublemakers like that in Beauxbaton. My finger throbbed and I had Maddie give me a cooling ointment.

"It's more - how do I put it. Most people are curious to see how far the twins can take it. So far, they've accomplished everything they've set their minds to. And it would be quite an accomplishment if they really brewed a love potion that successful. You know what I mean? It would bring them a high level of trustworthiness in all the projects that follow."

"You're telling me my personal life determines the success of their business?"

Maddie shrugged apologetically. "Kind of."

The next meeting of our little club wasn't for another two weeks, but the thought wouldn't let me go. The first thing I had seen of the twins was indeed their determined nature. They really did always get what they wanted. And before I had interfered, that goal had been success with their prank items.
A love potion didn't fit into their assortment at all.

I tried to avoid the twins as best I could while dealing with my new popularity.

"Hey Camille."

Caught off guard, I jolted up from my Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. "Hermione," I groaned in relief. "It's you."

The young witch pulled up a chair. "Are you making any progress?" We had made a plan for me while still in the Burrow to catch up on as much material as possible, and I had to admit that Hermione was really damn smart. Even though she was a year below me, she had been able to help me with most subjects.

"I'm really not the type for all things living." I tapped the soft end of my quill on the plant and animal science books.

"At least you're not having trouble in Potions." She pulled out her papers and the table groaned pathetically as she put them down. "Snape would be absolutely no help to you."
It was true. The man was hell and stirred in me an urgent need to look at the twins' assortment again after all.

"Say, can I ask you something? Away from class?"

Hermione looked up, but finished her sentence before turning to me.

"I thought the twins only sold prank items. What's a love potion doing there?"

Hermione sighed and screwed her inkwell shut. "That's what I asked them during the vacations. It doesn't make sense unless there's some twisted idea of theirs behind it. But it turns out they did it simply out of defiance."

"Defiance?"

She nodded. "They must have been upset about Snape's lessons, and one of the Slytherins laughed at them about how the only reason they don't like Snape is because they're bad at potions."

"And there the obvious solution is a love potion of all things?" Not my first choice to prove my skill. Wouldn't a shapeshifter concoction have made more sense?

"That," Hermione screwed up her face in annoyance and glanced around, "was purely a business decision. Apparently they've been asked more than once if they can't offer something like that. They very proudly told everyone how they gave some to the Slytherin who doubted them, and Molly chased them around the kitchen with a wooden spoon."

I could definitely see that happening with the tough woman.

"Did it," Hermione leaned closer. "Did it work, then? It's not a simple potion."

Gritting my teeth, I nodded at her. I knew she was one of the few who wasn't hot for gossip. You could tell she was frustrated right away.

"I'll have to try harder," she muttered, and immediately screwed her ink back up.