[2] The Great Orangenie | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Nine

After Aubrey and Lexy had chased after Saskia, finding her turned out to be the tricky part. Eventually, she'd been found lurking outside the Gryffindor dorms of all places. When pressed on her decision to run, she merely shrugged.

"I was cold?"

"Cold?" Aubrey sighed although it doubled as her trying to get her breath back, "You hid your face and bolted because you were ... cold?"

"Did you know a shiver down the spine is the equivalent to being hit by a lightning bolt...?"

"NO, IT'S NOT!" Lexy squealed, "It's not, I haven't actually been hit by a lightning bolt yet even I know that's a lie! Why did you run, Saskia? Because I'm trying to be nice but it's hard when you keeping doing ... this!"

"I've only done it once," Saskia pointed out, before uncomfortably squirming, "I just got bad vibes from her ... she's a bad witch, I... I don't like her."

Saskia's eyes had betrayed her, there was definitely more to it but the events of the day had drained Aubrey's energy so much that she wasn't in the mood to press it any longer.

Fred didn't seem to understand this any more than the girls when she told him later. She wanted to talk longer but he could see she was knackered so told her to go to bed or he'd slip her a sleeping draught. Fighting back was futile so with a goodnight kiss, she withdrew to bed. Lexy and Saskia seemed to have the same idea as her but sleep evaded the three girls that night. In fact, Aubrey found that she only felt comfortable closing her eyes once Saskia was definitely asleep.

Luckily, when she awoke, Saskia was still calmly asleep and both Aubrey and Lexy were very alive. Sadly, there had been downsides: Saskia had now become the talk of the school. The old saying 'the walls have ears' had never felt so appropriate considering the wall quite literally could listen. Gossip had spread from the portraits to the students and by the next day, everyone was curious about the new student. Saskia didn't feel like talking now, leaving all of them to do the work for her.

It appeared that Saskia was there legitimately too as Dumbledore gave her a timetable and everything. Saskia seemed to have gone for the least practical combination of subjects ever: Astronomy, History of Magic, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy and Divination. They were eerily similar to Aubrey's too, she couldn't help but notice, the two girls having three lessons in common. Still, she could hardly hold that against her.

Only a week or so in and Aubrey felt like her life was already chaotic so it came as a relief when the twins randomly approached her as she left for the Library after lessons were over.

"Aubs ... fancy a walk with us?" Fred asked, both of them coming up on either side of her.

"Depends where said walk is..."

Fred grinned, sitting down next to her, "Come on, Aubs, I think you need to be more spontaneous."

"Oh, I am, hon," She smiled back, closing her book, "But that doesn't mean I don't have common sense."

"Come on, Aubrey," George grinned, "Surely you know by now, we wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

"True," She slid her book back onto the shelf, slinging her bag over her shoulder, "Alright then, let's go. Revision was getting dull already."

"Oh, how much had you done?"

"Five minutes but you know what they say, five minutes of work is the equivalent to an hours break," The twins exchanged a smirk, "They say that, I swear!"

The three walked through the corridors, earning themselves a few quizzical glances due to the twins' mischievous grins. 

"Where's Lexy and Saskia?" George asked as they approached the old Arithmancy classroom.