"So did we miss much in Defence Against the Dark Arts yesterday?" asked Rose when they got down to Care of Magical Creatures the next morning. She hadn't thought to ask before.
"Yeah, you missed all the fun," joked Tee. She recounted the lesson's events to Rose and George.
"You've been lucky lately, haven't you?" George said to Fred.
"Very," said Fred sarcastically. "I think things just like to strangle me."
"And I just like to get hit on the head," added George.
"It's fun, isn't it?" said Tee brightly.
Rose laughed, but George made a face. "If you say so."
"I've hit my head so many times, I think I've become immune to it or something," said Tee. In answer, Fred pulled a book out of his bag and hit her on the head with it. "Ow! Hey!"
"Maybe not quite so immune," grinned Fred.
"Bully," Tee pouted.
"Aww, I'm sorry, Kittykat," said Fred, putting his arm around her.
Tee gave him a shove instead. "Bugger off."
"Fine," said Fred, acting offended. "I'll be Rose's friend instead." He tried to put his arm around Rose.
"No, you won't. You're bullying my Tee!" protested Rose, pushing him away as well. "Eww, and your hand's all vuzzy..."
"It's what now?" said Fred, looking at his hand in confusion.
"She means your veins," explained Tee. "Rose doesn't like veins."
"Well, your hand's 'vuzzy' too," pointed out George, taking Rose's hand and inspecting it.
"Well, your fly's undone," retorted Rose, pulling her hand away.
"What?" George started and looked down. It wasn't.
"Made you look," grinned Rose.
"And what were you doing looking in the first place?" grinned George, starting to tickle her.
"Alrigh', you lot?" greeted Hagrid, suddenly appearing beside them.
"Yeah, fine," replied Rose, managing to push George away. "Just got two troublesome boys to deal with."
"I'll second that," grinned Tee.
Hagrid looked bemused. "Well, I can assure yeh you're not the firs'. I think every teacher in the school will agree with me on that."
Fred and George looked quite proud. "We try our best, Hagrid" they assured him.
"Righ'," said Hagrid, still wearing a bemused expression. He raised his voice. "Alrigh' then, class, we're gonna be startin' work on Fwoopers today."
He directed them all round to a small pear tree by the back of his hut, where a dozen large birds with impressive plumage were roosting – either orange, pink, lime green or yellow. They were all singing happily.
"Now Fwoopers come from Africa," explained Hagrid. "They never stop singin' an' will eventually drive yeh insane. So they're usually sold with a Silencin' Charm, which yeh have to renew every month."
"Well, they'd make a nice birthday present then," muttered George sarcastically.
"People like retailers like Fwoopers 'cos they lay real nice patterned eggs and their feathers can be used as fancy quills," said Hagrid. "So we're gonna be tryin' to get some feathers off them today."
Rose raised her hand. "Won't they mind that?" she said, concernedly.
"Nah, Fwoopers are normally quite docile," replied Hagrid. "Just tempt 'em to yeh with some of this food here. Then yeh pat them so that the loose feathers fall out. They re-grow their feathers pretty quick, so don't worry abou' that. Now if you all wanna have a go, come get some of the food..."
The lesson turned out to be one of their easiest yet. Most of the Fwoopers were happy to fly down from the tree and eat the food offered to them. And they seemed to enjoy being fussed over, so didn't pay any attention to the feathers fluttering down to the floor.
"They're so cute. I want one," said Rose wistfully, stroking the orange Fwooper that was now perched on George's outstretched arm.
"You want one of every animal we see," said George in amusement.
"Well, that's because we always have lessons on nice animals," replied Rose brightly.
"I know I wouldn't want one. The singing's already doing my head in," grumbled Fred, who was still trying to coax down a rather stubborn green Fwooper from the tree. The Fwooper was having none of it, however – it just remained in the tree, singing happily.
"Maybe it's a love it or hate it kind of thing," suggested Tee, collecting the yellow feathers that had collected on the ground from the Fwooper she'd been feeding and petting. "I quite like them."
"I definitely don't," said Fred, getting increasingly annoyed with the green Fwooper. "Look, just shut the hell up or I'm gonna curse your beak off."
"Fred!" objected Tee and Rose at the same time.
However, the Fwooper seemed to be perfectly capable of sticking up for itself. It finally swooped down from the tree and started to peck Fred repeatedly on the head. Tee, Rose and George all burst out laughing.
"Hey, it's not funny!" protested Fred, ducking and trying to swat the Fwooper away. "Come on, I was kidding..."
Eventually, the Fwooper got bored of harassing him and, adding to Fred's annoyance, returned back to the tree before he could even attempt to get any feathers from it.
"I'm guessing that's the reason they're sold with Silencing Charms," grinned George.
The rest of the lesson passed by quite quickly. Though the same couldn't be said for History of Magic. As always, Fred and George sunk back into their usual routine and dozed off. Even Tee and Rose couldn't resist putting their heads down on their desks. The lesson seemed to be going even slower than usual.
Annoyingly, their lunch break – which followed – seemed to pass way too quickly and they were in their next lesson for Charms before they knew it.
"Good afternoon, class," Professor Flitwick greeted happily, as usual. "We're starting a new spell today. I'm going to show you how to use the Bubblehead Charm."
"Bubblehead?" repeated Tee quietly. "That sounds like some kind of odd insult."
Professor Flitwick, not having heard her, carried on. "The Bubblehead Charm can be used for breathing underwater, in gas-filled areas or any other place where you'd need a fresh supply of air ready."
The lesson turned out to be quite an amusing one. Rose was the first to get the hang of the Bubblehead Charm, followed by Tee. "Wow, this is weird," she said in amazement, patting the giant globe around her head.
Tee was currently hitting her head off the wall – the bubble meaning that she just kept bouncing back. "This is so fun; I can't feel a thing!"
