Authors Note: Hello all! I'm a long-time HP fan fiction writer, who primarily used the HPFF platform to publish my work. Given the instability of that sites future, I figured I'd cross-post in order to allow my current readers, and new readers, an opportunity to complete my stories. I started writing in 2013, when I was a teenager in high-school, and had a not-so brief hiatus when beginning uni. During the course of the madness that has been 2020, I fell back into my work for the sole purpose of completing the stories I'd started. Please have a little patience for my early chapters, as they were written at the very beginning of my writing experience, and I have since grown. I've tried to re-write them, but overall don't really want to change the horrible pacing I might have had. I hope you can appreciate the growth in my work, and overall my love of Harry Potter. Enjoy!
Those two boys had been constantly causing trouble from the time I had arrived at the school. I, too, was in Gryffindor house and without fail, they could always be found scheming in the common room in their signature seats. Their matching armchairs were propped far enough away from the crowd to keep their mutterings unheard, but close enough to spark the interest of some poor first year, who would inevitably be used as a test-dummy for whatever nonsense they were cooking up this time. Forever were they testing practical wizarding prank material on the younger grades, but the kids never seemed to mind. Fred and George Weasley were, by definition, cool.
But I had never in my time seen them this stumped before. They sat closer to the fire tonight, the chill coming off of the stone walls a bit more dank than usual. Cold seeped as wet slush-like snow pelted down on the windows harder than it had all year, but no one's spirits were dampened. The Yule Ball was coming up and anxiousness was in the air.
"Fred, you're doing it all wrong, you git!"George said to his brother, taking a pile of what seemed to be toffee and pulling it towards himself. "We already have plenty of Engorgement toffees; we need something different.... something new."
"Well I don't know what else we can do, mate! We have some for boils, fever, puking, AND engorgement! That's enough to get you out of class, don't you think?"Fred slumped back in his chair, fuming.
George separated the toffees into two groups and gave one of them to Fred. "Sorry Fred, I didn't mean it. Don't you think we need a touch more variety though? Something to keep the hospital wing on their toes? I'm just worried the professors are going to start catching on..."
Fred furrowed his brow and picked up a toffee noncommittally. "I agree with you George, but I don't know what else we can do." He dropped the toffee with a light 'thud' on the table, and gave the signature Weasley half-smirk. "And you're forgiven" he gave a quick wink to his twin, and then turned back to the candy. You could see the gears turning in their minds, and I was beginning to worry that smoke would start pouring out of their ears.
The Weasley twins were unrecognized geniuses. Unlike Percy, resident Weasley git, or Hermione Granger, they didn't bask in the glory of their academic achievements. They didn't earn the role of prefect, and their intelligence didn't fully come across in their grades. Perhaps if they had thought more about schoolwork, and less about pranking, their smarts would be recognized. But you couldn't deny the level of genius, magically or in entrepreneurship, that those two had.
How many sixteen year olds did you know who managed to design a whole line of magical products, and run a successful (and from what I gather, lucrative) business from the comfort of a common room and some unoccupied lavatories?
My nose began to tickle, and I worried that the sudden change in weather had triggered a nosebleed. I sniffled, waiting for the warm dribble and taste of iron which typically accompanied them, but none came. I wiped my nose only to find snot, and sighed in relief. The near-miss had me thinking back to their list of toffees; boils, fever, puking, engorgement. No nose bleeds. I certainly had had some bad enough in my day that could have gotten me out of class.
"Why don't you try one for nosebleeds?"I suggested, getting up from my armchair and walking towards them. "Might be a little tricky, you don't want anyone bleeding out, but its definitely gross enough that most professors will send you to the hospital wing pretty quickly."
The twins looked at me, eyes squinted in suspicion as they slowly pulled the pile of toffees into their satchels.
"Interesting suggestion" Fred said, half-smiling, still measuring my presence. You could almost feel the twin telepathy between them as they weighed their options in including me in this conversation. "If someone were considering making sickness-inducing toffee, that is."
"Yah" George continued, clicking the clasp of his bag shut. He leaned back in his chair and observed me with a cautious gaze. He crossed his arms firmly over his chest and continued "Definitely interesting. But how does one even go about inducing a nosebleed, short of sticking their wand up their nose." He motioned a hand to an empty chair across from them, inviting me to sit. "Do you got a name?"
"Acelynne, but I go by Ace. I mean, I'm no expert. But I'd assume that sickness-inducing toffee are just charmed" I sat down and eyed the boys carefully.
"Your assumption would be correct. She's a smart one, Fred."
"I do quite believe so, George"
"I took a book from the library once, and I do think that there's some sort of charm for nosebleeds." The boy exchanged glances, nodding to each other before leaning in simultaneously, propping their elbows up onto their knees.
"Where did you find this?"George asked ducking his head to level mine, attempting to meet my gaze.
"It was in a rather old book, I think it was called Revenge for Rebellious Youth. But theres a problem..." I could feel their anticipation growing as they continued to lean in, risking fall forward right out of their chairs and onto my lap.
"Come on, tell us!" Fred prompted, motioning his hand cyclically.
"Well, the only problem is, the book is in the Restricted Section of the library." I sighed. The boys exchanged confused glances before turned back to me, throwing their heads back, and laughing in unison.
"Is that it? Well of course we can manage that!" Fred jumped out of his chair and pulled his satchel up onto his shoulder with swift, jerking motion.
"Well, I don't know, Fred. Don't you have detention all this week? We're going to at least need to do a bit of recon" George rose out of his chair and clapped his brother on the shoulder. "I think you're out of this one mate, we need to get these moving before Christmas."
"I guess you're right, George, but you're going to need some help. How 'bout we go ask Lee? He's always up for a good go." Fred and his brother made their way to the porthole, leaving me behind in my chair by the fire without a thanks.
"Well if you want, I can help. I mean I've already found it once before so that should make it a bit easier." Dramatically, the boys turned around, grinning ear to ear.
Ahh this what they had been waiting for. I had been duped into offering my services for free.
"I was starting to think there that you weren't even going to offer" Fred said and took a step towards me.
"Yeah honestly, do you know how hard it is to find a book in the Restricted Section? We've done it, but it takes so much time, going every night, checking each section at a time, all of that reading. You'll save us a lot of that hassle. I'm pretty sure I could just kiss you" George gave me a mischievous wink.
At that moment, Seamus Finnigan walked through the porthole, clutching his books under his arm. "I really hope you don't Weasley, she's my girl." Seamus strutted past the twins and planted himself beside me, leaning in as I stood up and gave me a peck on the cheek.
Seamus kept a steady eye on the twins as he wrapped an arm around my waist. Fred and George gave me immature smile and said "See you Ace" and left the dormitory, making kissy noises as they went.
I had only been dating Seamus for a month or so, but he was a good boyfriend, I think. I hadn't had much experience in that department, but he was a nice enough bloke. He would walk me to Ancient Rune's, even though he had Divination at the same time and it always made him ten minutes late. He held my hand all through dinner and even took a swing at Malfoy once when he thought he ought to 'defend my honour'.
"I didn't know you were friends with the Weasley twins" Seamus commented, his eyes still fixed on the porthole from which the twins departed. "Are you ready to study for Astronomy? I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing in that class lately."
"Oh shit, you know what, Seamus? I definitely left it in class. Walk me up to get it?" Okay so perhaps I didn't forget it in the Astronomy tower, as much as I had purposefully left it there but hey!? What girl doesn't want a little bit of privacy? I wasn't going to be one of those girls who snogged openly in the common room.
We wandered through the halls hand-in-hand, the torches lining the walls casting peculiar shadows up onto the ceiling. Eventually we made it, Seamus still rattling on about the national Irish Quidditch team and their 'unbelievable' show against the Bulgarians over the summer. I'd never quite understood the obsession with Quidditch that everyone else had, but I nodded silently, half-listening to his enthusiastic recollection.
"Here it is!" I pointed out my black leather-bound notebook, sitting on a windowsill exactly where I had left it. The sun was about to set, as it does so early in the winter. You could just see it peeking out over the thick clouds, still spewing out slush out onto the grounds.
I sat on the windowsill and Seamus sat next to me, his knee brushing against mine. "Oy! Look, mistletoe!" Seamus pointed upwards to the top of the window.
"Would it surprise you if I said I put my notebook here on purpose?" I laughed and Seamus leaned in. Our lips met in the middle as we scooted closer together, balancing precariously on the sill.
When we broke apart he said "No not at all" and leaned in again, only this time, a touch more aggressively, our simple kiss progressing into a full-on snog. Seamus was my first snog, and as far as I could tell, he was good at it. Maybe a touch... wet? But his rough hands were gentle and he was always polite. He even obeyed my 'no-hickeys' rule.
We came up for air again. "I didn't know you were friends with the Weasley twins?"Seamus pried again, tracing a finger across the tops of my knees.
Boys. Man, why were they such jealous creatures? "I was just waiting for you in the common room when we got talking about who we think going to win the tournament. Nothing scandalous." I cleared my throat.
"Thats nice" he leaned in again and I reached my hands up to cup his face. We remained like that for a while, snogging mildly, our hands drifting lightly from place to place. I ran my fingers down his neck, toying with the collar of his shirt slightly before tracing a line across his collar bone. My fingers stopped when they came across a rougher patch of skin, something that felt dry. Like a rug-burn perhaps?
I pulled away from him and pulled at the collar of his shirt. "Did you take a dive off of your broom or something?" I asked, pulling his collar away further and peering down at the nape of his neck. He reached a hand up quickly to close the gap between his shirt and his skin, but it was too late. I brought my fingers to the purplish-pink welt along the base of his neck, feeling along the oval edges. I pulled his shirt out farther, revealing several more, sharply outlined bruises that continued down onto his chest. "Seamus Finnigan, are these hickeys?"
"Uh no! The happened in Magical Creatures!" he stammered, buttoning up the top button of his shirt. "Thats what you get for playing with creatures with suckers."
I rolled my eyes and scoffed loudly. "How big of a sucker do you expect me to be, Seamus? Hmm?" I stood back from the windowsill and held my notebook to my chest. "Those are absolutely hickeys. I haven't even seen you without a shirt before, so theres no way that could be from me."
Seamus tried to close the gap between us, forcing me back to take another step. "Come on Ace, you know thats not the case." He reached a hand forward for my wrist, but I drew my wand and pointed it right at his stupid face.
"Don't you dare touch me" I growled, the end of my wand illuminating. "Who is she Seamus? And you better not lie, unless you want your sudden case of the hickeys to spread to your face too. I bet it'll look something like dragon-pox." He held his hands up defensively and sat back down on the windowsill.
"Pavarti" stammered, eyes glued to the end of my wand.
"Parvarti? Are you fucking kidding me?"Seamus opened his mouth to speak, choking for words before he resigned and leaned against the window, defeated. "You're cheating on me with Pavarti Patil?" Seamus gave me a small nod and then found his words.
"Well... you see... you're awesome Ace... But a guy has needs, you know?"His voice cracked on every other word and he fiddled with his thumbs like a child in trouble. "If it makes any difference, like you a lot more than her!"
"No you prat, it doesn't make any difference. I hope that Pavarti can settle all of your needs from now on, because I'm out of here." With that, I turned and made my way towards the door.
"Oy! Ace! Are you joking right now? Dumping me right before the Yule Ball?" Seamus called down the stairs, his voice echoing off the walls. I stopped in my tracks and turned to catch a glimpse of him as he rounded the corner.
"Yeah, I am, but I'm sure you can still go with Pavarti." I forced a stoney look onto my face and continued on my way down the stairs, my wand still tightly griped in my fist. His sounds of pursuit had stopped by the time I made it to the corridor. I made it to the common room in silence, willing myself not to burst into tears before I made it to my bed.
A guy has needs. His words wrung in my ears. It made me want to puke violently down every corridor in this castle. Seriously? Is this all that relationships come down to? I know I'm not an expert in this department or anything, but we'd only been dating for a month! And he expected me to just, put-out? Absolutely not.
The porthole door opened in my face as I approached, the Fat Lady not even giving me time to attempt the password. I wasn't even sure if I could speak at this point without sobbing uncontrollably.
When the passage opened, there stood the fixer-of-needs herself. "Hey Acelynne" Pavarti said, stepping around me lightly. "Have you seen Seamus? I need to copy his Transfiguration notes." She smirked as if she had some big secret.
I stopped for the briefest second, twirling my wand between my fingers. We were roommates for Merlin's sake! She knew I was dating Seamus and chose to snog him anyways. Every bone in my body was itching to jinx her into another dimension, but I held my restraint.
"Last time I saw him, he was in the Astronomy Tower stair case. Right after I saw the hickey's you left all over his neck ." Pavarti stopped in her tracks and turned to look at me, shocked.
"Listen Acelynne, I'm really sorry." She took a step back from me as if I was about to Jelly-Leg Jinx her, and honestly, I was thinking about it.
I couldn't help but laugh a twisted, sarcastic laugh as I rolled my eyes. "The only thing you're sorry about is getting caught! You know, you've always been soooo vanilla, so complacent. I've always thought that you were better suited for Hufflepuff, but now I see there isn't a single loyal bone in your body, Pavarti Patil." I took a step closer to her, narrowing my eyes. "We've been roommates for FOUR YEARS, and you go and do this?"
I shook my head and stepping through into the common room. "You belong in the dungeons with the snakes." I turned on my heel and letting the portrait close between us.