Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

On the Down Low (Lee Jordan)

"I give up; that's such a backhanded compliment," Lee said with an amused smile, shaking his head. "I'll never be able to beat you."

"And you shouldn't try to either," I responded primly, smiling up at him as the students from Beauxbatons took to their seats. "Come on Lee, you know you're handsome."

"It just helps to be reminded often," he said with a cheeky grin, looking to the open doors as the students from Durmstrang filed into the hall.

The students from the third and final school seemed stern in a way that the Beauxbatons hadn't and Godric, the boys and girls were managing to intimidate me without even looking in my direction. My eyes drifted to their headmaster and –

"Merlin's saggy ball sack," I swore making Lee recoil at the image. "Is that Viktor Krum?!"

It seemed the other students soon realised that we were in the presence of one of the greatest seekers in the international quidditch league and the murmurs carried on through the hall long after the last students had been seated. Dumbledore stood patiently at the front, waiting for silence.

"You know," I said quietly, making sure my brothers didn't hear me. "If Krum approached me; I'd leave you for him in a heartbeat."

Lee rolled his eyes, knowing I was joking and just nudged me teasingly with his arm. As silence finally filled the great hall, the details of the tournament were outlined and unsurprisingly, my brothers protested strongly to the age restriction applied to the tournament. The idiots were actually thinking about entering; and just what did they think mum would do when she found out they were planning on risking their lives in such a stupid way?

Long after the adults had stopped talking, Fred and George continued to complain about the age restriction and if their words didn't make my inner troublemaker wake up, then could I really call myself their sister? Especially when I was the one that supplied them with most of their ideas? It was ironic really, most of the castle saw me as the good influence on the pair of them, the only person that was able to rein them in. But it was the opposite, and anyone that had spent more than half an hour with the three of us knew the truth.

Now this, this had so many possibilities.

"Dumbledore's going to construct an age line around the cup, right?" I questioned, cutting into whatever they were saying.

"Of course he is," Fred said watching me closely. He'd picked up on something hidden in my words and nudged George, both of them looking at me closely.

"Go on," George prompted, giving me all of his attention.

"Well it's just an age line." I shrugged casually. "Surely an ageing potion would be enough. Technically you'd be older – old enough to pass the line."

And then they were grinning. Fred squeezed me into his side, claiming that he loved me the best out of his little sisters and I tried not to roll my eyes. He wouldn't have dared say that if Ginny was around. George reached around Fred to ruffle my hair with a laugh.

"You only love me when I help you," I grumbled under my breath.

"Well it's a good thing you help us every day then, isn't it?" Fred shot back before the pair of them were leaning in close to whisper to one another.

Over my shoulder, Lee asked, "Any chance the ageing potion will actually work?"

I leaned back into him, shaking my head. "No chance."

***********

The weeks following Dumbledore's announcement passed quickly with the highlights being the twins failed attempts at sneaking past the age line, and the secret moments I managed to steal with Lee. Just last night the announcement of the Yule Ball had sent another wave of excitement through the Gryffindor common room with the girls fourth year and above wondering just when they were going to find the time to buy their dresses.