"Don't you know I still believe That you will be here"
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THE TWINS HAD BECOME LEGENDS AT HOGWARTS.
The story of Fred and George's flight to freedom was retold so often over the next few days that everyone could tell it would soon become the stuff of Hogwarts legend.
Fred and George had made sure nobody was likely to forget them too soon. For one thing, they had not left instructions on how to remove the swamp that now filled the corridor on the fifth floor of the east wing. Eventually, the area was roped off and Filch was given the task of punting students across it to their classrooms. Teachers like McGonagall or Flitwick could have removed the swamp in an instant but they seemed to prefer to watch Umbridge struggle. Eloise saw no problem with this.
Every now and then students who had seen Fred and George's departure would come up to Eloise asking for a song. Flitwick saw this as a great opportunity to advertise for the frog choir. (Which Eloise was actually enjoying as she got all the solos.)
Pranks were now more apparent than ever with students following in the twin's footsteps. Filch prowled the corridors, desperate to catch miscreants, but there were now so many of them he never knew which way to turn. The Inquisitorial Squad was attempting to help him, but odd things kept happening to its members. Warrington reported to the hospital wing with a horrible skin complaint that made him look as though he had been coated in cornflakes; Pansy Parkinson missed all her lessons the following day as she had sprouted antlers. Eloise watched gleefully from the common room as people kept coming in with new afflictions.
Meanwhile, it became clear just how many Skiving Snackboxes Fred and George had managed to sell before leaving Hogwarts. Umbridge only had to enter her classroom for the students assembled there to faint, vomit, develop dangerous fevers or else spout blood from both nostrils. She attempted to trace the mysterious symptoms to their source, but the students told her stubbornly they were suffering from 'Umbridge - 'itis'. After putting four classes in detention, she was forced to give up and allow the ill students to leave her classes in droves.
Peeves seemed to have taken Fred's parting words deeply to heart. Peeves smashed lanterns and snuffed out candles, juggled burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of parchment to topple into fires or out of windows; flooded the second floor, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast and spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.
Eloise had never seen the castle have so much chaos. She just sat back and watched, wondering if the school had always been this insane. It was hilarious.
Since Bentley was no longer speaking to her and Malfoy suddenly thought they were best friends after their little bonding moment, Eloise spent even more time with the Gryffindors than with her own house. She always sat at their table for meals and stayed out with them every night barely making it back to her dorm by curfew. A few from that house dubbed her an honorary Gryffindor. Eloise was happy, but she couldn't help but glance to wherever Bentley was sitting in the Great Hall.
