Magic? || Years 1-5

Skiving Snackboxes: Year 5

"Cheers, but I think I'll take the lessons," Ron sighed.

"Have you tried a Blood Replenishing Potion?" Amisty suggested, sipping her water. "If you find a way to put that in then -- "

"Amisty!" Hermione snapped.

"Sorry, sorry..."

Hermione turned to the twins, her eyes narrowed, "You can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor notice board."

"Says who?" George asked, eyes wide.

"Says me," Hermione replied with an air of finality. "And Ron."

"Leave me out of it," Ron held up his hands.

Hermione glared at him so fiercely Amisty was surprised Ron's hair didn't set on fire. Fred and George snickered.

"You'll be singing a different tune soon enough, Hermione. You're starting your fifth year, you'll be begging us for a Snackbox before long," Fred declared.

"And why would starting fifth year mean I want a Skiving Snackbox?" Hermione asked imperiously.

"Fifth year's O.W.L. year," George answered simply.

She tilted her chin up, "So?"

"So you've got your exams coming up, haven't you? They'll be keeping your noses so hard to the grindstone they'll be rubbed raw," Fred replied.

"Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up to O.W.L.s. Tears and tantrums... Patricia Stimpson kept coming over faint..." George added casually.

"Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember?" Fred sighed wistfully. Apparently the memory was a happy one.

"That's 'cause you put Bulbadox Power in his pajamas," George nudged him.

"Oh yeah. I'd forgotten..." Fred grinned as Ron and Harry winced. "Hard to keep track sometimes, isn't it?"

"Anyway, it's a nightmare of a year, the fifth. If you care about exam results anyway," George waved his hand dismissively. "Fred and I managed to keep our spirits up somehow."

"Yeah... you got, what was it, three O.W.L.s each?" Ron countered.

"Yep. But we feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement," Fred grinned.

"We seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back for our seventh year, now that we've got -- " He broke off suddenly, clearing his throat before continuing, " -- now that we've got our O.W.L.s. I mean, do we really need N.E.W.T.s? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early, not on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat."

"We're not going to waste our last year here, though. We're going to use it to do a bit of market research, find out exactly what the average Hogwarts students requires from his joke shop, carefully evaluate the results of our research, and then produce the products to fit the demand," Fred was looking around the Great Hall with an air of nostalgia.

"But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop? You're going to need all the ingredients and materials -- and premises too, I suppose..." Hermione asked, head tilted to the side.

"Ask use no questions and we'll tell you no lies, Hermione," Fred winked, getting up from his seat and grabbing a stack of toast. "C'mon, George, if we get there early we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Herbology."

"You might want to try Terry Boot, I heard him complaining last year about not being able to hear Professor Vector," Amisty called after them.

"Thanks for the tip!" George shouted and Amisty just barely ducked out of the way of Hermione's textbook.