An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Sixty-Four

If I'd run into anyone in the hallways on my way to dinner, they would've immediately known something was wrong. Thankfully, I was just late enough that the hallways were empty. I kept my head down as I moved through the hall and sank down beside Angelina, still not looking up.

"Alexa?" she asked, immediately leaning in with an arm around my shoulders. "What's wrong?"

I tried to bite back a sniffle, but I couldn't. It wasn't even that loud, but my other two friends' heads snapped up as soon as they heard it, and Angelina tensed.

"What's going on?" she asked, leaning in and lowering her voice. I shook my head, pulling myself together enough to respond, just barely lifting my head. I didn't want anyone else in the hall to see me so upset.

"The twins-"

I got cut off by a massive commotion coming form outside. Every head in the Great Hall snapped to the doors after a loud booming noise sounded overhead, followed by loud shouts getting closer and closer to the Great Hall.

My three friends whirled to me with panic on their faces, but I just smiled wistfully at the doors.

"Are they-"

"They're fine," I said, anticipating Angelina's question. I didn't want the twins to see me breaking down. "But they're leaving. We should probably go see them off."

Lee, Angelina, and Alicia bombarded me with questions as we joined the stream of students rushing into the entry hall to see what was going on, but I didn't answer them. They'd see exactly what I meant soon enough.

We stepped into the hallway and moved towards the front of the crowd to find the twins, completely surrounded by Inquisitorial Squad members. Umbridge stood on the stairs towering over them, a triumphant grin on her face, but the twins didn't look the least bit bothered. I raised an eyebrow when they caught sight of me, carefully wiping any hint of the sadness off my face, and they grinned.

"So!" Umbridge cried, clearly quite pleased to have an audience. If I knew the twins at all, she'd be feeling quite different before the conversation was over. "So... you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. I'd learned a lot about the magical world by now, and even more about the twins' new product line, but I'd never heard about something like that. The twins didn't look away from Umbridge, but I could practically see their smiles widening.

"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred. He and George shared a smile.

"Hm. You two are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."

"You know what?" said Fred. "I don't think we are."

He turned to look at George, sparing a glance over his twin's shoulder to me and our friends. I shook my head at him with a grin. No matter how much I'd miss them when they were gone, this was going to be fun to watch.

"George," Fred said, "I think we've outgrown full-time education."

"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," he said, a smile on his face as he bounced a little on his feet. I heard Angelina take in a sharp breath beside me, so I reached out and took her hand.

"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" Fred continued.

"Definitely."

With a shared smile, they raised their wands and turned back towards Umbridge, shouting "Accio Brooms!" as one.

Like something out of a movie, a very loud, very destructive-sounding crash came from somewhere out of sight in the castle. A moment later, the twins' brooms came flying into the entrance hall, one still trailing a chain and an iron peg from when Umbridge had locked them up after banning the twins from Quidditch. Umbridge had to duck to avoid getting clocked in the head, which brought me immediate, glowing joy.