The story of Fred and George's flight to freedom was retold so often over the next few days that (Y/n) was sure it would become a Hogwarts legend. In the immediate aftermath of their departure, there was a great wave of talk about copying them, students were frequently saying things like, "Honestly, some days I just feel like jumping on my broom and leaving this place," or else, "One more lesson like that and I might just do a Weasley..."
Fred and George had made sure that nobody was likely to forget them very 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. Umbridge and Filch had been observed trying different means of removing it but without success. Eventually, the area was roped off and Filch, gnashing his teeth furiously, was given the task of punting students across to their classrooms. (Y/n) knew for a fact that professors like McGonagall and Flitwick were more than capable of removing the fountain, but just as in the case of Fred and George's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, they seemed to prefer to watch Umbridge struggle.
There were two large broom-shaped holes in Umbridge's office door, through which Fred and George's Cleansweeps had smashed to join their masters. Filch fitted a new door and removed Harry's Firebolt to the dungeons where, it was rumoured, Umbridge had set an armed security troll to guard it. However, her troubles were far from over.
Inspired by Fred and George's example, a great number of students were now vying for the newly vacant positions of Troublemakers-in-Chief. (Y/n) wasn't quite sure what she had done to be viewed in a whole new light by the student body, but she seemed to be the centre of the gossip chain— She was the go-to for students that wished to stay out of any acts of rebellion's way, she knew the latest Hogwarts news, and she and Lee were known to be Fred and George's right and left hands. Not at all enjoying the sudden turnaround in opinions regarding her, (Y/n) often tried to avert things off of her.
In spite of the new door, somebody managed to slip in a hairy-snouted niffler into Umbridge's office, which promptly tore the place apart in its search for shiny objects, leapt on Umbridge on her reentrance, and tried to gnaw the rings off her stubby fingers. Dungbombs and Stinkpellets were dropped so frequently in the corridors that it became the new fashion for students to perform Bubble-Head Charms on themselves before leaving lessons, which ensured them a supply of fresh clean air, even though it gave them all the peculiar appearance of wearing an upside-down goldfish bowl.
But not even the students' tactics at Hogwarts could compete with that master of chaos, Peeves, who seemed to have taken Fred's parting words deeply to heart. Cackling madly, he soared through the school, upending tables, bursting out of blackboards, and toppling statues and vases. Twice he shut Mrs. Norris inside suits of armour, from which she was rescued, yowling loudly, by the furious caretaker. He 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 when he pulled off all the taps in the bathrooms, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast and, whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.
None of the staff but Filch seemed to be stirring themselves to help her. Indeed, a week after Fred and George's departure, Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, "It unscrews the other way."
Even with all of the chaos happening at Hogwarts, the final match of the Quidditch season was still a highly talked about subject. Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw was to take place on the last weekend of May. It would be a near miracle if the Gryffindor team managed to score enough points to top Ravenclaw for first place.
As (Y/n) and Cho walked behind their team down to the pitch, (Y/n) grew deeply amused by the fact she was able to spot Luna and her eagle hat from where she was.
"That isn't the real thing, is it?" Cho mused, following (Y/n)'s gaze.
"No," (Y/n) said, shaking her head fondly.
Lee Jordan, who had been very dispirited since Fred and George, was commentating as usual. As the teams were shown on the magical projection, he named the players with something less than his usual gusto.
"...Bradley... Davies... Chang... (Y/l/n)..." (Y/n) and Cho each held up half a heart, beaming and pressing their cheeks together.
"I'm convinced the universe bent in on itself to make sure we met," Cho said. "We must've been close together when we were stardust."
"...are you trying to tell me we're soulmates by using scientific knowledge?" (Y/n) grinned.
"I guess so," Cho nodded. "We're soulmates, (Y/n), and I hope that's the same for every universe."
"Me too," (Y/n) smiled. "Me too..."
"And they're off!" said Lee. "And Davies takes the Quaffle immediately, Ravenclaw Captain Davies with the Quaffle, he dodges Johnson, he dodges Bell, he dodges Spinnet as well... He's going straight for the goal! He's going to shoot— and— and—" Lee swore very loudly. "And he scored."
The Gryffindor supports groaned. Predictably, horribly, the Slytherins on the other side of the stands began to sing:
Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring...
(Y/n) and Angelina rolled their eyes exaggeratedly. Gryffindor was in possession of the Quaffle. (Y/n) intercepted a throw from Katie to Alicia and sped off toward the Gryffindor end with three Chasers hot on her tail. She glanced at the left hoop, opting to throw Ron off. She, however, did not expect Ron to see right through her feint and flew in front of the right hoop, blocking her throw. Katie, Alicia, and Angelina were equally surprised, continuing the game nonetheless.
With the confidence of Ron being able to block (Y/n)'s unpredictable movements, the Gryffindor Chasers worked in sync, scoring three goals in a row. Upon getting the Quaffle again, (Y/n) dropped the Quaffle down to Bradley, who beelined for the Gryffindor goal. Ron had managed to block the throw again.
While (Y/n) had known that Alicia, Angelina, and Katie had always been superb players, she had not accounted for the fact that Ron would be able to read her moves in the same way she read his chess moves. The game was quickly turning in Gryffindor's favour with the Ravenclaws only managing to score four other goals.
"CHANG!" Roger bellowed to Cho, who was distracted.
Ginny was already zooming towards the Snitch that originally gave Cho the advantage. With how close the Snitch was initially to Cho, Ginny had practically snatched it up right out from under Cho's nose, giving Gryffindor the win by a long shot.
The Gryffindor supports broke into a loud chorus of changed lyrics:
Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King...
The ecstatic Gryffindor players flew to the ground first. While Alicia and Katie swarmed Ginny, Angelina threw her arms around Ron, practically sobbing with glee.
Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring,
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King.
The Ravenclaws, quite miserably, flew to the ground not long after the Gryffindors. (Y/n) tried being happy for her friends, she really did, but the gloom of not only throwing away Ravenclaw's lead but also the fact that this was five of the team's last game overshadowed it all. Roger and (Y/n) had been senior members of the team for the past five years and Cho joined the team a year after.
"Can't we win just this once?" Roger murmured as the silver Quidditch Cup was given to the Gryffindor team. Cho angrily shooed Michael Corner, who was trying to comfort her, away. She was the first to start storming off to the locker rooms with the rest of the team not long after. Catching Ron's eye, (Y/n) grinned at him and held two thumbs up, pretending as though she was joining the celebrating crowd. Upon being sure no one was looking, she jogged after the rest of her team.
"Oh, I already know that," (Y/n) said nonchalantly as Harry and Hermione told her and Ron about Grawp, who was Hagrid's half-brother. "I saw Hagrid on the very night he returned," she reminded the three shocked Gryffindors. "And I hear him all the time."
"You didn't... care to mention him?" Ron asked in disbelief. (Y/n) shrugged.
"You aren't the three I tell all the secrets I know," (Y/n) said simply. The trio's surprise was interchanged for offence. "Anyways!" (Y/n) exclaimed. "O.W.L.s next week, huh? Only a week to review it all... a bit low, isn't it—?" She covered her mouth. "Oh, my stars. I've got an Apparition test coming up." She jumped to her feet. "A real shame I won't be able to get my actual license until I'm seventeen..."
"Wait!" Hermione said. "Are you in?"
"For?"
"Teaching Grawp English?"
"He's lost his mind," said Ron in an almost awed voice.
"Yes," said Hermione irritably, turning a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring at the series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses. "Yes, I'm starting to think he has. But unfortunately, he made Harry and me promise."
"Well, you're going to have to break your promise, that's all," said Ron firmly. "I mean, come on... We've got exams and we're about that far," he held up his hand to show thumb and forefinger a millimetre apart, "from being chucked out as it is. And anyway... remember Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's monster mates?"
"I know, it's just that— we promised," said Hermione in a small voice. Ron smoothed his hair flat again, looking preoccupied.
"Well," Ron sighed, "Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang on till the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all."
"You're still going to the Lovegoods for the summers, right?" Cedric asked, throwing and catching an apple. He was casually leaning back with his feet crossed and propped up on the very table (Y/n) and Cho were bent double over, studying to ease their minds from their Apparition tests.
"First two weeks, yeah," (Y/n) answered. "Then it's to Korea until Harry goes to the Weasleys. Technically, I could just go straight to the Weasleys, but I'd like to see Olivia."
"Can't believe that two past Defense Against the Dark Arts professors have practically adopted you," Cho mused.
"Well, it's quite easy to take a parentless child under your wing, isn't it?" (Y/n) said. Cho's mouth dropped open and Cedric almost failed to catch the apple he had due to his own shock. He laughed in disbelief.
"That isn't funny!" Cho exclaimed.
"I think it is," (Y/n) shrugged. "Jokes at my own expense?" Cho shook her head disapprovingly.
"You'll Mirror us though, right?" Cho pleaded.
"You'll Mirror me," (Y/n) corrected. "I can't stand looking at my reflection whilst needing to wait for an answer...." Cho and Cedric stared at her.
"What do you mean? Can't stand it?" Cho pressed.
"What's confusing about it?" (Y/n) asked. "Why do you think I only use handheld mirrors when fixing my appearance?"
"Because it's accessible!"
"Because I don't like seeing my full face," (Y/n) stated. "I fell out after Cass's death and, gosh, do people make that known. And I feel guilty knowing there's people out there that see me as a replacement for my mum and I know it's affecting their view on me."
"(Y/n)," Cedric said firmly, "so what if you're affecting their view on your mother? They shouldn't be seeing you as her in the first place!"
"I know that—"
"I'm not finished," said Cedric. He cleared his throat. "And I thought you didn't care about what everyone else thought!"
"I don't—"
"Stop interrupting me—"
"You stop interrupting me!"
"As I was saying," Cedric continued, "you know you're a catch."
"Right, why lower your standards because someone else doesn't reach them?" Cho agreed.
"Yes, but I don't think you two understand how horrible it is to look at your own reflection and see someone that doesn't feel like yourself staring back!" (Y/n) said.
"Then be yourself," Cho said simply. "I mean, who would want to leave you?"
"Well, they don't like staying either," (Y/n) said. "I'm a catch with too many burdens... I must have really bad dating luck."
"If you want to go on a date, just ask," Cho said. (Y/n) smirked. Cho caught sight of the time and paled. "Why not start right now?" she said, nodding her head out of the library. Not waiting for a reply, she wove her hand and got their things packed up before dragging (Y/n) out of the library, leaving a bewildered Cedric. "We're running late for our last meeting— Again!"
"We're just discussing whether or not we want a new president," (Y/n) mused. "Not that big of a deal."
"You're right. No way will someone want you voted out," Cho said.
"That's not what I meant," (Y/n) huffed, following Cho to the abandoned garden and then into their secret base. "You want to know what is important, though? Angelina's departure!"
"Right you are."
"No need to vote on the matter?" Parvati said.
"Yeah. (Y/n)'s still chairwoman," Hermione said.
"Cho, Leanne, do either of you want to be Number Two?" (Y/n) asked.
"Me!" Cho exclaimed. "Flitwick's asked me to be the Ravenclaw captain." (Y/n) started a round of applause for Cho. Attention then turned to Angelina, the graduate. The rest of the evening was spent celebrating Angelina's last meeting.