Friendless » Fred Weasley

cxlii. the twins?

"I've got permission!" Angelina shouted coming into the Great Hall the following day. She came running towards them looking as excited as ever. ''To re-form the Quidditch team!"

''Brilliant!" Tori and Katie said together while the twins high fived.

''Yeah," said Angelina, beaming. ''I went to McGonagall and I think she might have appealed to Dumbledore. Anyway, Umbridge had to give in. Ha! So I want you down at the pitch at seven o'clock tonight, all right, because we've got to make up time. Do you realize we're only three weeks away from our first match? I hope it stops raining..."

Tori nodded, stretching her arms. "We've still got to practice that sloth move you we're talking about." She winced once she itched her bandaged hand.

"I kept doing that too," Lee said, glancing at his own. "It's just so itchy under the bandaging. And tight."

"Don't worry, we've got something rather special planned for Umbridge in return," Fred said, his grin getting more mischievous than ever. Tori decided she didn't want to know what that would be.

The bell rang just as Peeves swooped down on Katie and emptied an entire ink bottle over her head.

The weather did not improve as the day wore on, so that at seven o'clock that evening, when Tori and the twins went down to the Quidditch pitch for practice, they were soaked through within minutes, their feet slipping and sliding on the sodden grass. The sky was a deep, thundery grey and it was a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changing rooms, even if they knew the respite was only temporary.

Tori changed quickly, squeezing her hair out before rejoining the twins who were now trying to figure out if they could use something to skip practice.

"But I bet she'd know what we'd done," Fred said out of the corner of his mouth to George. "If only I hadn't offered to sell her some Puking Pastilles yesterday."

''We could try the Fever Fudge," George muttered, ''No one's seen that yet—"

"Did you even try that out yet?" Tori asked at the same time of Ron asking "Does it work?"The hammering of rain on the roof intensified and the wind howled around the building.

''Well, yeah," Fred began, "Your temperature'll go right up."

''But you get these massive pus-filled boils, too," said George, ''And we haven't worked out how to get rid of them yet."

''I can't see any boils," said Ron, staring at the twins.

''No, well, you wouldn't," Fred replied darkly, "They're not in a place we generally display to the public."

''But they make sitting on a broom a right pain in the —"

"Ugh gross." Tori gagged at the same time Angelina came out of the Captain's office. "Alright, everyone, listen up, I know it's not ideal weather, but there's a chance we'll be playing Slytherin in conditions like this so it's a good idea to work out how we're going to cope with them. Harry, didn't you do something to your glasses to stop the rain fogging them up when we played Hufflepuff in that storm?"

''Hermione did it," Harry said. He pulled out his wand, tapped his glasses, and said, ''Impervius!"

''I think we all ought to try that," Angelina nodded. "If we could just keep the rain off our faces it would really help visibility  —  all together, come on  —  Impervius! Okay, Let's go."

They all stowed their wands back in the inside pockets of their robes, shouldered their brooms, and followed Angelina out of the changing rooms.

They squelched through the deepening mud to the middle of the pitch; visibility was still very poor even with the Impervius Charm; light was fading fast and curtains of rain were sweeping the grounds.

''Alright, on my whistle," Angelina shouted. Tori could barely hear a thing as she kicked off from the ground, spraying mud in all directions, and shot upwards, the wind pulling her slightly off course.

She waited until she could hear the screech of the tiny whistle to snatch up the quaffle and fly down towards Ron.

The wind was howling so loud Tori was almost positive she was going to be tossed off her broom. She passed the quaffle towards Katie and slowly began flying closer towards the ground until it was passed back down to her. She immediately jerked upwards, soaring towards Ron and kicking the quaffle into the hoops.

Angelina kept them at it for nearly an hour before conceding defeat. She led her sodden and disgruntled team back into the changing rooms, insisting that the practice had not been a waste of time, though without any real conviction in her voice. Fred and George were looking particularly annoyed; both were bandy-legged and winced with every movement. Tori could hear them complaining in low voices as she toweled her hair dry.

''I think a few of mine have ruptured," said Fred in a hollow voice.

''Mine haven't," said George, through clenched teeth, ''They're throbbing like mad... feel bigger if anything."

"Can you two talk about that on your own time?" Tori asked, wrapping her towel around her shoulders to dry her hair. "Next time try Bulldox Powder."

The twins took that into consideration before they all went back up towards the castle. "Come on, I've got to start my Herbology essay." Tori sighed. They entered the castle to see Ginny running up towards them.

"You two need to hide. Now." Ginny spoke quickly, not making any sense. Tori glanced at the twins, who did seem to know what she was talking about.

"What's going on?" Tori asked. "These two left some sort of letter that exploded in Umbridge's face. She suspects you two!"

They could already hear the familiar clicks of her heels coming down the corridor. Fred kissed the top of Tori's head, whispering, "See ya, Tori!" and running off with George and Ginny.

"Miss Silvers, do you know where did those Weasley twins went? You had practice with them, I know you did." Umbridge said. Tori tried her best not to laugh once looking at her. Her hair was all straight upwards and she still had grease on her face.

"They went... that way..." Tori pointed to several different directions, smiling.

"The Weasleys?" Umbridge asked, glancing spine each corridor Tori had pointed at.

"The twins." She confirmed, using the towel to squeeze her hair.

"They did?"

"They did what?" Tori asked, now looking confused.

"Went in several directions."

"Who did?" She now tilted her head to the side, playing dumb.

"The Weasleys!"

"The twins?"

"Yes! Step aside, you idiotic girl!" Umbridge shouted, storming down the wrong corridor. Tori merely shrugged. "I tried to help." She mumbled to herself before strolling away.

hi
i hope you have a good day today!