Hermione's Twin ⇒ Fred Weasley

Ch. 16: The Triwizard Champions

Ch. 16: The Triwizard Champions

"WAKE UP ELIZABETH!" Jenna's voice yelled in my ear, a hint of a laugh in her voice as I jolted awake. I snapped up in my chair, my heart pounding a half a mile a minute in my chest, instinctively inching away from the loud sound.

In fact, I backed so far away that I actually slipped out of the slick bench and fell on to the hard cobblestone floor of the Great Hall.

A few people at surrounding tables sniggered and hid their grins behind the palms of their hands. My skirt had flown up a little, flashing my green polka-dot underwear. I yanked it down and laid there for a moment, feeling a subtle stinging in my tailbone, looking up at the Hogwarts night sky, with its twinkling stars. Still cool, I thought.

Despite all of that, I couldn't remember passing out.

"Ouch." I mumbled and slowly picked myself off the ground, not even caring that I had just flashed everyone my underwear, probably. I brushed off my butt, flushed with annoyance. The few Gryffindors that had actually noticed, or cared, that I'd fallen merely watched me and returned to their food and conversations. "That hurt." I yawned, stretching my arms over my head with a groan. I scratched the back of my messy hair and sent a dark glare to Jenna.

"Gez, Elle. You're a hot mess." Lana chuckled at my nonchalant expressions. "You could wait half an hour before you pass out? The Tri-Wizard choosing is about to start in five minutes."

I plopped back down on the bench next to Fred and rubbed my eyes. "Fuck you Jennifer." I sighed and rubbed my back. "That really hurt."

Jenna's eyes became really big at my harsh language, and I suddenly felt as if I had just kicked a little puppy. "I'm sorry, Elle."

"Nooo, don't look at me like thhhaat!" I whined and pushed my bangs away from my face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be harsh, I was just up studying for the test we had in Transfiguration earlier today-I'm running on empty."

Jenna just shrugged, all traces of her having been hurt by my words were gone. "No problem, you kinda did just embarrass yourself in front of the whole school." She scooped some vanilla ice-cream out of her golden bowl and plopped it into her pink mouth, then frowned at me. "Why do you call me Jennifer when you're pissed? It's not even my name."

Lana agreed to this with a nod, watching me with her head resting on her propped fist. "She thinks it sounds more strict." Lana was right.

I sat back into my seat, facing Hermione with the Twins to my left and the Potter boy to my right. I looked down the rows of Gryffindors that I now shared a home with, and wondered if anyone I recognized would be picked to participate in the Twi-Wizard tournament. I looked at Fred and George, paying particularly close attention to Fred who was closest to me. He still had a few grey eyebrow hairs poking out from his furrowed brow as he talked animatedly with Lee about their chances.

He caught my watching gaze and leaned close, bending his neck to whisper into my ear with a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "You know, I have the same pattern of underwear." He made his voice husky and grinned.

I rolled my eyes and slapped his shoulder. "Gross. I can't believe you saw them."

"Who didn't?" George threw his head back with a devious chuckle.

"Relax," Fred laughed, rubbing his shoulder coyly. "I was only havin' a laugh."

Neville raised his hand, a little red in the face. "I-I didn't."

"Thank you, Neville," I said, gesturing at the blushing boy as he ducked his head at the attention. "Nice to know some boys here have respect." I glared up at Fred and he just shrugged. I took a sip of my grape juice while Fred whispered darkly into my ear once more.