The summer term felt as though it was speeding through and Milena was starting to feel like she wouldn't be able to keep up with her end of term assignments and exams she had to do. Everything felt like it had all been piled on at once so that it would all be done in time for the last triwizard task, but that just meant more work needed to be done. Fred and George, having focused all of their attention on their products, had no idea how to finish all of their homework so Milena and Angelina forced them to join a study group with them to try their best to help them at least finish their work. They weren't looking for outstanding marks, just enough to allow them to pass their classes and keep things moving along. Lee had joined them as well, though he seemed to have a better handle on his work than the twins did.
"So, if someone suddenly casts a blasting curse at you, how would you deflect it?" Milena asked, checking the answer on her notes.
"Ummm... probably with the counterspell..." Fred replied, clearly having no idea the real answer. Milena gave him a look of strain as he answered. "Oh, this is useless, there's no way I'm passing Moody's exam!"
"Well... look on the brightside, that's only one of the many spells on the exam that you do know!" Milena said, attempting to reassure him. "Besides, you may not be the best at testing, but I know you're good at magic, probably better than most people. You'll do just fine on the practical exam, we just have to keep studying."
Fred was playing with his quill which had long dried out of ink as he leaned back in his chair at the library table.
"I don't know how you manage to know all this stuff," Fred said.
"Studying usually helps," Milena replied, flipping through some more of her notes. "Practice too."
"Ah well, who likes studying anyways?" Fred joked, sitting up in his chair.
"Listen, you don't have to pass these exams with flying colours, you just have to pass," Milena said, "So, as long as you know just enough, then you'll be just fine. I don't think your mum expects you or George to be prefects anytime soon. Besides, it's like you always say, who wants to follow in Percy's footsteps?"
Fred laughed at Milena's remark before they went back to studying. She continued to quiz him on counterspells and protection spells, taking extra time going over the ones he couldn't seem to remember.
Lee helped George with his counterspells and he seemed to be picking it up a little faster than Fred was. Milena could see the frustration grow on Fred's face overtime as he would periodically look over to George who seemed to now know most of the answers to Lee's quiz.
"One of these days I'll have a better memory," Fred said, reading Milena's notes over again before she quizzed him again.
"Maybe we oughta practice some? Maybe then you might have an easier time learning these," Milena suggested. "Maybe you just need to learn in a more practical setting?"
Fred thought to himself for a moment. "Where would we go to practice?"
"I could ask McGonagall if there's any empty rooms we could practice in? Or maybe Flitwick might let us use his classroom when it's empty, he does keep pillows in there for practice." Milena suggested. "Why don't I go talk to him tomorrow and ask if we can use it after classes to practice for exams?"
"Yeah, you might be right," Fred agreed, "Let's try that then."
"Alright, tomorrow after charms I'll ask him." Milena planned. "For now, let's just keep going over notes and see how much you can memorize tonight."
Fred nodded and the two went back to studying Milena's notes. Angelina, who had been working on one of her final essays, joined the two not too long later, hoping to get some quiz questions in, to practice as well. As the night went on, people began leaving the library which had been a little more packed than usual due to the exams coming up. George and Lee packed up their things, feeling a little more confident in their abilities and left the library together for a late dinner, Angelina following behind not too long after.
"Maybe we oughta get some dinner too?" Milena suggested.
Fred was already packing up his few things he had with him when he agreed to leave. "Anything to stop this for the night." Fred joked.
They both finished putting away their things and began to leave the library, passing by a few students left who looked like they were cramming as much as possible for their exams. They joined who was left in the dining hall near the end of dinner and enjoyed the food that was left. Angelina and George were still sitting with them, chatting away, though they had finished their dinner ages ago. As they talked for a while, Milena felt as though there was someone watching her, like someone was staring daggers into her. She glanced around the dining hall which had started to empty and noticed, sitting at the slytherin table was Ivan, whose bruise had completely fade now and he seemed to be glaring in her direction, but he wasn't glaring at her, his gaze was going just passed her at the boy sitting just across from her, Fred.
Milena didn't say anything and instead turned back to her friends, but Fred had noticed her turn and looked in his direction. His face shifted from laughing and smiling to a serious glare back at Ivan. Milena looked back again and noticed Ivan held his glare, but after a moment, turned his attention away from them and back to the other Durmstrang boys he was sitting with.
"What the hell is his problem?" Angelina asked, now noticing who Fred was glaring at.
"It's nothing," Milena said, "he's just some stupid twat."
"He's not just some stupid twat," Fred said, still glaring in his direction. "He's the reason I had to take Milena to the hospital wing."
"What?" Angelina said in shock. "Ivan's the one who gave you that love potion?"
"Yeah..." Milena admitted. She hadn't talked about it much after Fred had explained everything that happened. She still couldn't remember what had happened that night, but she figured that was probably a good thing. "That bruise he had on his face was all Fred."
"So that's why your knuckles were all bruised up," George said, "well good on you, Fred. He seems like a right prick."
"You don't know the half of it," Fred said, finally breaking his glare from Ivan. "I can't wait until he's out of here."
Ivan stood from his seat at the slytherin table along with a few other Durmstrang boys and shot Fred one more glance before leaving the Great Hall.
"I swear if he looks in my direction one more time, I'll hex him," said Fred, gritting his teeth.
"Okay, deep breaths, Fred," Angelina said, patting his shoulder once.
"I think it may be time to go back to the common room before Fred kills someone," George suggested.
"Probably not a bad idea," Milena agreed.
Fred took a deep breath, Ivan was now gone from the Great Hall and finally he looked back at his group of friends, a look of disgust mixed with anger on his face that was starting to grow red. He nodded in agreement without saying a word, clearly trying to bite his tongue, which seemed to be a struggle for him.
The group stood from the table and left the Great Hall, beginning their walk back to the common room. As they began their walk, they turned a corner and in only a brief second someone shouted something and a bright flash of light flew towards them, hitting Fred and sending him flying backwards into a wall. Without hesitation, Milena's wand flew out and she shot back the first hex she could think of.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" She yelled and a bright purple light flashed out of her wand. She heard a yelp and then something heavy hit the floor. About 10 feet in front of her was Ivan, lying on the floor, completely paralyzed with a look of confusion and fear on his face as if he didn't expect anyone to fight back.
Milena turned back to look at Fred who was laying semi-conscious on the floor up against the wall. She ran over to him, crouching down to the floor and immediately checking him.
"Freddie! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Milena asked, checking the back of his head.
"Well I mean I can't exactly say that was pleasant and I'm definitely gonna have some bruises, but I think I'm alright." Fred said, trying to sit himself up more but sliding back down. "I do seem to have one problem though."
"What?" Milena asked. He motioned to his legs.
"I can't seem to move my legs," he said, poking at them.
"He must've used a leg-binding curse," Milena said, "George, you're gonna have to help me carry him to Madam Pomfrey."
"What about him?" Angelina asked, motioning to Ivan who was still laying paralyzed on the floor.
"He can lay there for all I care," Milena said, "but we should probably send someone to get him. Angelina, can you go find someone from Durmstrang to handle him?"
"Sure," she said before running off to find someone from Durmstrang.
Milena and George each put one of Fred's arms over their shoulders and lifted him from the ground. They began to drag him in the direction of the hospital wing, his legs dragging behind him like two planks of wood.
"Madam Pomfrey?" Milena called when they entered the hospital wing.
"Yes dear?" She called back as she began to walk in their direction. She noticed the two carrying Fred and pursed her lips. "This isn't the outcome of one of your little inventions, is it?"
"No, not this time, Madam," Fred grinned. "Just a leg locking curse from a dear old friend."
"Well, get him to a bed," Madam Pomfrey said, "I'll tend to him in a moment."
Milena and George dragged him to the nearest open bed and lifted him onto the mattress. Fred put one of his arms behind his head, propping it up a little better, still grinning but now at Milena.
"What are you grinning for?" Milena asked, her face starting to blush a little.
"That was quite the reflex you had there," he said, "it was nice seeing that git stunned on the ground."
"It was nice stunning him," Milena chuckled. "Honestly, I didn't even really think about it, I just kinda... did it."
"He deserved it," George added, "honestly, what was he even thinking? Was he gonna curse you so you couldn't fight back?"
"Well from the look on his face when I paralyzed him, I don't think he expected anyone to fight back so quickly." Milena explained.
"Angelina's right," George said, "what is his problem?"
"Freddie not only bruised his face, but probably bruised his ego too." Milena joked.
"Well I reckon you've probably just bruised it worse now," Fred laughed.
"If he keeps this up though, I'm gonna have to do something about it," Milena said, "I don't care what his problem is anymore, he has crossed the line too many times. I'm getting tired of this."
"Don't worry," George said, "you know we've got your back and we know you've got ours. If he wants to play dirty, we can too."
"We'll think of something that'll put an end to this." Fred said as he tried to see if he could move his legs again with no success. "Wow he really made this last long."
Madam Pomfrey had come back with a fizzing orange potion in one cup and a drink in the other and handed them to Fred.
"Drink these and you should be fine in just a moment." She said, pushing the cups into his hands.
Fred gulped down the potion, scrunching his face at the taste and shaking his head. He immediately followed it with the other drink which must've been more pleasant since his face didn't look quite so disgusted that time. After a minute or so, Fred's legs began to twitch a little before he slowly was able to start moving them again. Once he was able to fully move his legs again, Madam Pomfrey dismissed them all from the hospital wing, sending them back to the Gryffindor tower.
"Ah there he is!" Lee called to them from a table by the corner as they entered the common room. "Locked legs and his defender!"
"That would be me!" He called back, a smirk on his face as he dramatically bowed.
Angelina was sitting at the table with him and had clearly told Lee what had happened. The twins and Milena joined them, Fred giving Milena the last seat and then pulling one for himself from another table.
"So that Durmstrang kid tried to curse ya, did he?" Lee said to Fred as he sat down.
"Oh yeah and he got me pretty good too," Fred said, rubbing the back of his head again, "but Mills here was pretty quick to jump to my defence. She hit him with a pretty good curse herself and knocked him on his ass."
Lee laughed. "So what I'm hearing is I should never challenge Milly to a duel?"
"That's exactly right, Lee," Milena chuckled, "and don't forget that."
Lee jokingly raised his hands in the air and leaned back in his chair, laughing again.
"Now we're just gonna have to think of a way to put an end to all of this," George said, "though I think Milly's spell may have delayed him for a bit."
"Well whatever it is that you wanna do," Lee started, "I am more than happy to be a part of your endeavours."
"I second that," Angelina said, waving her hand.
"This is gonna be fun," Fred said, smirking again and leaning back in his chair. Milena could see the ideas forming in his eyes, like he had been waiting all his life for someone to give him the go ahead.