A/N: Hello everyone, just wanted to apologize for the short chapter, I promise the rest will be worth the wait though (and much longer)! Also, I'm posting this early because I most likely won't have the time on Monday to post it. Next post on Thursday, as usual! Alright, that's all!
~~~
As Milena had expected, classes had become especially hard to keep up with, but she was never really one to just give up on them. She had spent a lot of extra time in the library recently, much to the twin's dismay. Occasionally people would join her for study sessions, but she most often found herself studying alone in a quiet corner of the library where she could spread out with her books and papers.
This evening hadn't been any different. She had found herself a quiet spot with a small table where she could work on her charms essay that was due sooner than she had hoped. The time seemed to pass by like nothing and Milena realized that maybe it was time to head back to the dormitory. She packed her things up and cleared the table she had taken over. As she began to head for the door, she passed by Harry who looked like he was about to rip his hair out.
"Hey Harry," she whispered, startling him a little, "how's everything going?"
"Oh just absolutely wonderfully," he replied sarcastically.
"Seems like it," Milena said. "Anything I can help with?"
"Well if you're suddenly an expert on dragons," he said.
"Dragons? Is that the first task?" She asked, her interest piqued.
"Seems that way and I have no idea what I'm gonna do. We aren't allowed to bring anything but our wands and I'm not exactly a master of spells," he explained.
"Well from what I've seen, you're quite good on a broom and while you're not exactly able to drag that onto the field, you have a wand that can call it," Milena said.
Harry looked at her inquisitively for a moment and suddenly as if the gears began turning in his head, he looked back to the page he had been reading. He read it over quickly and looked back at Milena.
"Thanks Milly, you may have actually just given me an idea," he thanked.
Milena nodded with a small smile and turned away again to head out of the library. She opened the door back to the corridors and began to head out of the library. As she stepped out, Fred stood up from next to the other library door where he had propped himself and swung an arm around Milena.
"Hello Mills, thought I might find you here," he said.
"Very good detective skills," she teased.
"Well I mean I am brilliant," he joked.
"So what brings you to the library at this time of night? Shouldn't you and George be prepping for the bets for the first task?" Milena asked.
"Oh, we're pretty much already to go, just thought I'd swing by to see my favourite girl," he said with a smirk.
"Your favourite girl?" Milena questioned. "Alright, what do you want from me?"
"What? A guy can't want to spend some time with his friend?" He asked, trying to look innocent.
"Not when it's you. So what do you want?"
"Alright, alright, George and I are working on some new products but one of them needs more testing..."
"You are not testing your products on me." Milena quickly retorted.
"No, no, of course not," Fred said. "We wanna test it on Filch's cat. We just need an alibi for tomorrow night when we're inevitably questioned for it."
"Oh well if that's the case, what do you want me to say?"
"Just say we were all hanging out in the common room together like we usually are."
"You got it," Milena said.
The two walked back to the Gryffindor common room together, Fred's arm still around Milena. Neither really seemed to notice as if this was just a normal thing for them and maybe it was.
They reached the entrance of the common room and Fred let Milena head in first. They entered into an empty common room as it was later at night and most people had already gone back to their dorms.
"I think we oughta head to bed for the night." Milena suggested.
"Well that couch is looking pretty comfy again," Fred teased.
"Oh shove off," Milena giggled, lightly pushing Fred's shoulder. He held his shoulder where she had touched him and dramatically gasped. Milena laughed again at his theatrics. "I'm going to bed, you git."
"Fine, just don't forget the plan for tomorrow night," Fred reminded her.
"When have I ever?" She said.
~~~
The next night, Milena was headed to the great hall to meet up with Angelina and Katie for dinner. As she made her way to the entrance, the sound of feet quickly running on the stone floor grew louder behind her. She turned to look and saw the twins sprinting to catch up with her, placing themselves on each side of her.
"So how'd it go?" She asked them.
"Beautifully," George said. "That cat will be representing every colour of the rainbow for the rest of the night."
"It's just for the night?" Milena asked.
"As long as our test works, she'll be back to normal by the morning," Fred explained. "Now let's get some dinner."
The three of them entered the great hall together and found Angelina and Katie who had already started eating their dinner. They all sat together and laughed as the twins explained what they had actually done to the cat and how they had nearly been caught by Filch. Almost right on queue, Filch entered the great hall in an angry panic holding his cat who was slowly fading between different shades of the rainbow.
"Who did it!" Filch shouted, scanning the room. His eyes landed on the twins who, in unison, both smiled at him. "You two! You did this to my cat, didn't you? Of course you did! Who else would?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Fred exclaimed innocently.
"They've been with me the whole night, Filch," Milena said. "We just came from our common room for dinner."
"I know it was you two! I know it was!" He shouted.
"What's going on over he- Oh..." Mcgonagall said, speed walking towards the commotion. "Boys, what has happened to Mrs. Norris?"
"We don't know," George said.
"We've been with Milena the whole night," Fred said. "We just came from our common room."
Milena nodded in agreement with the two trying to hold back a smile that would surely give them away.
"Well Mr. Filch, it seems the three of them have an alibi, why don't we take Mrs. Norris to Madame Pomfrey and see if there's anything she can do for her."
Filch let out a little grumble and began to walk away with McGonagall who was calmly ushering him out of the great hall. He shot a few last nasty looks at the three who were watching him. Fred gave a little wave with a smile and as soon as Filch was out of ear shot, everyone burst into laughter.
"God I can't believe you actually got away with that," Angelina said.
"Well our wonderful assistant was plenty of help," Fred said, lightly patting Milena's back.
"Glad I could be of service," Milena said with a little bow.
Everyone continued to laugh together as they finished their dinners, enjoying the rest of their night together.