Change the Future

GOF 27

Rory waited in the crowded entrance with the twins and Lee for the carriages that would take them to Hogsmeade station. It was another beautiful summer's day. The usually horseless carriages were now trundling toward them up the drive.  The weather could not have been more different on the journey back to King's Cross than it had been on their way to Hogwarts the previous September. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. We managed to find a compartment to ourselves. When the lunch trolley arrived Fred and Lee went to grab them all something as Rory sat with her head on Georges shoulder.

As they got nearer to the station they went to find Harry, Ron and Hermione. They found them noticing malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle in the door.

"Too late now Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well - second - Diggory was the f-" It was as though someone had exploded a box of fireworks within the compartment. Blinded by the blaze of the spells that had blasted from every direction, deafened by a series of bangs. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all lying unconscious in the doorway. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were on their feet, all three of them having used a different hex. Nor were they the only ones to have done so.

"Karma" Sirius shouts as Draco hides his face.

"Thought we'd see what those three were up to," Fred said matter-of-factly, stepping onto Goyle and into the compartment. He had his wand out, and so did George, who was careful to tread on Malfoy as he followed Fred inside Rory followed after.

"Interesting effect," George said, looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"

"Me," Harry said.

"Odd," George said lightly. "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they
don't add much to the decor." Ron, Harry, and George kicked, rolled, and pushed the unconscious Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle each of whom looked distinctly the worse for the jumble of jinxes with which they had been hit - out into the corridor, then came back into the compartment and rolled the door shut.

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Fred said, pulling out a pack of cards. They were halfway through their fifth game when Harry decided to ask them.

"You going to tell us, then?" he said to George. "Who you were blackmailing?"

"Oh," George said darkly. "That."

"It doesn't matter," Fred said, shaking his head impatiently. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."

"We've given up," George added, shrugging. But Harry, Ron, and Hermione kept on asking, and finally, Fred said,

"All right, all right, if you really want to know... it was Ludo Bagman."

"Bagman?" Harry said sharply. "Are you saying he was involved in -"

"Nah," George said gloomily. "Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."

"I do love them twins" Gideon said smiling slightly.

"Well, what, then?" Ron said. Fred hesitated, then said,

"You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"

"Yeah," Harry and Ron said slowly.

"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."

"So?"

"So," Fred said impatiently, "it vanished, didn't it? By next morning, it had gone!"