Mid-june approached as Milena was making her way through her exams, nearly finished for the year. It seemed as though there'd be no end to all of her exams until they reached the day before the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Her final exam was for her history class with Professor Binns and she was dreading it. It was the only one she had left and she just hoped that Professor Binns wouldn't drone on too long and put her to sleep before she could even write the exam.
As she sat down at a desk, quill in hand, she watched as a couple of piles of exam papers floated along each desk, placing an exam on each desk. Professor Binns told them to start and she began reading the questions and answering them as best as she could. She took her time, reading everything carefully and just hoping that she wouldn't forget the answers. When she finally finished her exam, she stood from her seat and brought the exam sheet to the front, leaving it on Professor Binns' desk with the pile of completed exams that were starting to form.
Milena walked out of the classroom, stretching her arms and neck, grateful that she was finally done with her exams and could start to relax again. One of the few upsides to having all these exams was that it gave her an excuse to not see Fred and George yet. She was still angry with both of them, Fred more so but George wasn't doing much better. The few times they had seen each other was when they had an exam together or when one of them would pass her in the common room. As she stood in the corridor, stretching out her arms then dropping them, she began to walk away from the classroom and back to her dormitory so she could drop her things off and then go outside to enjoy the sunshine she so desperately missed because of all of her studying.
Once she was outside of the castle, she made her way towards the Black Lake where a large tree stood by the water that she loved to lounge under on days like today. There was a light breeze blowing through the air and the sun was shining high in the sky, the water of the lake was calm, except for when the giant squid would break the surface every so often, and a few other students who had most likely finished exams were walking along the shore or lounging by the water. The Durmstrang ship slowly floated in place in the lake, quietly creaking as it shifted with the water.
She sat in the shade of the large tree and leaned back against its trunk. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the tree, taking in a deep breath of the warm summer air. This was the calmness she had waited for all school year.
As she laid there in the shade, she opened her eyes again and watched as a couple birds flew by. Suddenly she heard the sound of shuffling behind the tree she was leaning against and without hesitation, she grabbed her wand again and whipped around the tree to see Angelina who jumped back from Milena.
"Woah!" She exclaimed, hands up in defence. "Watch where you're pointing that thing!"
Milena sighed and laughed a little. "Sorry, Ange," she said, "I think I'm still just a little on edge."
"Because of Ivan?" She asked as she walked over to the shade of the tree where they both sat down.
"I don't know," she replied, "maybe?"
"Well I come bearing good news about that," Angelina said.
"And what would that be?" Milena asked.
"Fred and George think they have come up with a way to finally get him to back off." Angelina explained.
Milena rolled her eyes and dramatically laid back into the grass in the shade.
"Oh come on," Angelina said, "we only have a few days until the Durmstrang students leave again. I know you're mad at them and you have every right to be, but you can't tell me you don't wanna see that Durmstrang prick get a little payback?"
"I would love nothing more than to get some revenge, but..." Milena trailed off, trying to think of how to word her next sentence, "but I just don't know if I wanna see either of the twins right now..."
"Can you at least come and hear their plan?" Angelina pleaded. "Don't do this for the twins, do this for yourself, no stupid boy is going to act like that to my friend and expect we won't do something about it!"
Milena sighed then stood herself up, extending her hand to Angelina to help her up. "Alright then, show me the way." She said as she pulled Angelina up.
"Brilliant!" Angelina exclaimed, leading Milena away from the lake. "I promise their plan is gonna be good, you just have to hear it for yourself."
The two began to walk back towards the school, but instead of stopping at the school, they began to follow the path around and towards Hagrid's Hut. Milena continued to follow Angelina where eventually she saw Fred, George, and Lee come into view near Hagrid's garden.
"Welcome, ladies!" Lee called out to them.
Fred waved to them both, giving Milena a small smile, but saying nothing else. George gave a simple "Hi" and continued on showing Lee something on a piece of parchment.
"So?" Milena said, finally stopping in front of the three boys. "What's this plan I've been told you have?"
"Ah yes that," Fred said, "so, George and I have been working on a new product that needs some testing and we think our friend from Durmstrang would be the perfect candidate."
"This won't kill him, will it?" Milena asked, a little concerned with how far the twins would be willing to go.
"'Course not," George said, "But it will make him spill his guts out."
"Metaphorically, of course," Fred assured as he pulled a couple of candies from his pocket. "Truth candy."
"Truth candy? Like a truth potion?" Milena asked, taking one from his hand to look at it.
"Exactly," George said, "it's like a microdose of a truth potion wrapped up in different flavoured candies. Lemon, Grape, Strawberry, and Cherry. Eat one of these candies and you'll be blabbering every thought you have."
"They only last for about 10 minutes before they wear off," Fred explained, "but that should be long enough."
"Long enough for what?" Milena asked. "What's your plan here?"
"Well," George started, "Angelina and Lee are going to be handing out 'Free Samples' of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and gathering people's opinions about the flavours. The ones they'll be handing out will specifically be just candy, no potion in them, but Lee will have one of every flavour with the potion with him and when he sees Ivan, all he has to do is offer one to him and hope he takes the bait."
"Okay... and then what?" Milena asked, still a little confused by their end goal.
"We get him to admit to everyone what he's done," Fred explained, "You can ask him anything and he'll have no choice but to tell the truth."
"Ah yes, the glory of public shaming," Lee chuckled.
"Alright..." Milena agreed, "so when are we doing this?"
"Tonight," Fred answered, "we don't really have much more time before they leave, so it's now or never."
"Don't you think he'll be a little suspicious of Lee and Angelina?" Milena asked.
"We thought about that," George said, "I think he's spent so much time scowling at Fred that he hasn't even noticed our other friends."
"Fair point." Milena said.
Later that day, the group waited until the busiest time in the Great Hall. Milena, Fred, and George all sat down for dinner as normal, waiting for the perfect moment. Angelina and Lee stood by the doors just outside and would periodically look into the Great Hall waiting for their signal. Ivan was sitting where he usually sat at the Slytherin table with his little group of friends, not paying too much attention to Milena and her friends tonight. Once people started slowly leaving the Great Hall, Fred gave them the signal and Lee and Angelina immediately started offering the candies to people as they left.
"FREE CANDY SAMPLES!" Lee yelled, "JUST GIVE YOUR OPINION ON FLAVOURS AND THE CANDY IS YOURS!"
Angelina was passing candies to people as they left, most people saying they preferred the lemon flavour or seeing if they could sneak some more candy from her. Milena turned her attention back to the Slytherin table and noticed Ivan who was starting to get up with his friends.
"Guys," Milena said, nodding in Ivan's direction, "he's leaving."
The three stood from the table, giving Ivan and his friends a small head start. Milena watched as Ivan walked towards the candy samples. Lee held a red one out for him and he promptly took it, unwrapping the candy and popping it into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed the candy as Lee intently watched him.
"How is it?" Lee asked.
"Is that cherry?" Ivan asked. "It's very good... I'm going to sneak some more." Ivan suddenly paused as the last sentence he spoke left his mouth. A look of confusion grew on his face. "Vhy did I say that?"
A smirk grew on Lee's face and Milena knew it had worked. Her and the twins swiftly moved towards the group and stood in front of the door, blocking the entrance.
"Hi Ivan!" Milena greeted him enthusiastically. "How're you doing?"
"I'm very confused," he blurted out, "did you put something in these?"
"A truth potion, actually," Fred grinned, "a new product courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that our friends here were helping us test flavours for."
A few people overhearing the conversation put the candies back down into the bowl Angelina was holding.
"Don't worry, all the candies in the bowl are just normal candies to test flavours," Fred said to the now concerned looking students, "yours however, is the real thing. So, tell me, Ivan of Durmstrang, what was with the leg locking curse?"
Ivan stood in front of them with a stunned look on his face before promptly saying, "I was hoping you'd be alone vhen I cursed you so I could catch you off guard and get you out of my vay. You have been nothing but a nuisance to me, ruining all of my plans, but of course you had Milena vith you and she is very fast vith that wand."
"What plans has he ruined?" Milena asked.
"That stupid oaf does not deserve to be vith a voman as pretty as you," he said, "I've tried to make you see that, but clearly you needed a push."
"And what would that push have been, Ivan?" Milena asked, crossing her arms but standing tall.
"The love potion, obviously," he blurted out, his eyes wide.
"So you admit that you tricked me into taking a love potion?" Milena asked, everyone in the Great Hall now seemingly listening to the commotion.
"Yes I did trick you into eating v'one and I don't regret it." He said.
"What were you going to do to her if I hadn't stopped it?" Fred suddenly asked, starting to look angry.
"I thought that vould be obvious," Ivan stated. "Vhatever I vant."
At this final sentence, Fred looked as though steam should have been flying out of his ears. Milena could feel her hands balling into fists, her arms still crossed. Many people were listening now, some whispering and others intently watching, making no effort to hide it. Fred's face was red with anger, but before he could do anything, Milena took a step closer to Ivan, getting right into his face, a smirk growing on her own.
"Thanks, Ivan," she said with a grin, "that's all I needed."
Ivan's face grew confused again. Milena was now looking just past him and he turned around realizing everyone had just heard what he said.
"Now," Milena calmly said, "if you want to mess with me and my friends again, I would highly caution you to think long and hard about it first."
Ivan glared at Milena who was trying to stand tall with her arms crossed, her face was straight, no smiles, no breaking eye contact. She stared him down as he scanned the crowd of people watching him again.
"Have a nice life, Ivan." Milena said without breaking eye contact.
"You're going to regret this." Ivan growled, turning around and pushing his way past the crowd that had gone quiet.
As soon as Ivan was out of eyesight, Milena turned back to the crowd of people quietly staring, "As you were." She commanded as she waved her hands and people slowly turned away again, looking back to their friends and food and whispering to each other which quickly turned to normal chatter again.
"I'm starting to think that wasn't the best idea," Fred finally said.
"Why?" George asked, who looked quite pleased with how well the product worked.
"Because now I just want to punch him again," Fred admitted.
"Okay boxer, I think we've done enough here," Milena said to Fred, "I don't think we need to start anything else."
"But did you not listen to what he said?" Fred argued, "What he would've done if I hadn't found you! He's a creep and he doesn't care!"
"Yeah and everyone knows that now!" Milena argued back. "You've already punched him once and left a decent mark, we don't need more."
Fred sighed, seemingly trying to calm himself down from the rage that was all over his face. He looked at Milena for a second, then in the direction Ivan left, back at Milena one more time as if he was deciding something and then he stormed off in Ivan's direction.
"Someone should definitely be going after him, right?" Lee said as Fred quickly started after Ivan.
"Shit!" Milena said under her breath before going after Fred.
He was already further ahead and Milena sped up to try and catch up to him, calling after him, but he didn't seem to hear her. She couldn't tell if he was ignoring her or so angry that he couldn't hear anything else, but no matter how much she called after him, he didn't stop. He turned a corner and Milena followed after him. Just as she turned the corner, she saw Fred with his wand out, he called out to Ivan who turned around before being promptly hit with a flash of red light that stunned him for a moment. He froze where he was, looking as if he expected to be dead and when he realized he was fine, he laughed at Fred, who stood there, arms crossed and smirking.
"You stupid oaf," Ivan laughed, "your spell didn't vork."
"Oh I think it vorked just fine." Fred said, mocking Ivan's voice. Ivan scoffed at him, but a moment later he was scratching at his face like there was an itch he couldn't quite reach. Then, his skin began to move as boils began to form across his face.
"Fred, that's enough!" Milena yelled. He turned back to look at her, a little startled at her presence. "We've done enough to him! That was uncalled for!"
Just as Fred was about to speak, he was suddenly tackled to the floor, Ivan having jumped at him from behind. Ivan threw a few punches before Fred had him turned over and was landing a few of his own in too. The two wrestled back and forth, both trying to wail on the other as Milena stood there more in disbelief than anything. People began to crowd around them again at the commotion and some people started cheering Fred on as he fought. Soon, there was another flash of light and Fred was flung off of Ivan who was also sent backwards. McGonagall stood between the two boys, a look of stern disappointment on her face.
"This is not a show, move along," she said to the crowd, "Mr. Weasley, you had better have a good explanation for this."
Fred didn't grin at her like he normally would have after getting into trouble, instead he just stared at the ground, sitting on the stone floor. Ivan had himself propped up on his arms but still mostly laying across the floor.
"As for you, Mr..." McGonagall started, turning to Ivan.
"Dolohov, Ivan Dolohov." Ivan muttered to her. McGonagall looked a little taken aback, but continued nevertheless.
"Well, Mr. Dolohov," she said, "I'll be taking you to your headmaster and he can decide what punishment he sees fit for you. Mr. Weasley, you may go wait in my office."
Fred stared at her, bewildered by what she might do.
"Go. Now." McGonagall commanded him. He stood up quickly and began walking towards McGonagall's office as she helped Ivan to his feet. "And you, Ms. Carter," Milena's eyes shot from Fred who was walking away and to McGonagall instead. "go with the boy, I want you in my office as well, you seem to have seen what happened, I assume."
"Yeah..." Milena said. McGonagall began to usher Ivan away from the scene and Milena followed after Fred who had already left the corridor.
Milena went down the corridor towards McGonagall's office and when she went inside, Fred was pacing back and forth in front of her desk. He looked up to see who had entered, clearly expecting it to be McGonagall. He almost looked relieved for a moment to see Milena entering the room instead, but he frowned again, going back to his pacing.
"What are you doing here?" Fred asked as she closed the office door.
"McGonagall sent me," Milena replied.
"Guess you'll be here to chew me out too then." Fred muttered as he walked back and forth.
"I wasn't exactly planning on it." Milena said, crossing her arms.
"I couldn't just stand there. After everything he's done, I couldn't just let him leave." Fred said.
"I'll be honest, it was a little nice seeing Ivan lose a fight," Milena started to say, Fred's head seemed to perk up a bit before she shot him back down again. "Don't think this means I'm not still mad at you for everything. Angelina was the one that convinced me to join in."
"I know she was," Fred said, "but how long are you going to stay mad at me?"
Milena stood in silence for a moment, unsure of her answer. How long was she going to stay mad at him? Until he realized how stupid he was being? Until he could prove he wouldn't lie to her? Forever?
"Until I can forgive you." She finally said.
"When's that?" Fred asked, stopping his pacing.
"I don't know," she replied, "when you can give me a reason."
They both stood quietly again, Milena stared at the ground, but Fred was only looking at her, searching for anything he could say to her, but he couldn't seem to think of anything at all.
"Why did McGonagall send you in here anyways?" He asked, changing the topic.
"Figured I'd seen the fight and should come join you." Milena said, still looking at the ground.
"Guess she thinks I'll just lie again," Fred said, pacing back and forth again.
"I mean... will you?" Milena asked, looking up.
"'Course not," Fred replied, "I'd tell her the truth, that he's scum, that he's vile, that he's related to horrible people!"
Milena looked at Fred and furrowed her brow at him, confused by his statement.
"What do you mean, he's related to horrible people?" Milena asked.
"Did you hear his family name?" Fred asked. "I never bothered to learn it because why would I? But his family, that name, he's related to the man that killed my mum's brothers, my uncles... my family!"
Milena felt a lump grow in her throat at Fred's words. She tried to take a breath but had trouble, feeling it catch in her throat. She took a moment to think about what Fred told her before she spoke again.
"Freddie... I didn't know..." Milena spoke softly.
"'Suppose not, we were just babies when he killed 'em, one of you know who's supporters." Fred explained, stopping his pacing, facing away from Milena. Fred let out a yell of frustration as he slammed a fist on McGonagall's desk. He took another deep breath and dropped his head. Milena only watched him as she tried to figure out anything she could say.
"No wonder I hate him so much," Fred finally said, turning back to Milena. "And no wonder why he's such a prick."
Milena chuckled a little bit at his remark and just a moment later, McGonagall entered her office, a scowl across her face.
"Sit." She said as she walked around her desk to her seat. Fred and Milena sat themselves down in their seats as well. "So... what excuse do you have now, Mr. Weasley, for attacking another student?"
"None." He replied. McGonagall looked almost surprised at his answer, but let him continue. "He's been nothing but a tosser this entire year and I just had enough of him."
"I'll look past your choice of words for Mr. Dolohov for this matter, however I cannot look past how you chose to handle this situation, Mr. Weasley." McGonagall explained. "It was entirely inappropriate to put your hands on another student. And Ms. Carter..." Milena brought her attention to McGonagall and gulped. "Seeing as how you handled that stunt in the Great Hall, while I will admit, was quite the spectacle, I cannot leave you unpunished for the truth potion."
"Wait, that wasn't her," Fred piped up, "the truth potion candy was mine, a product I've been working on."
"Very well..." McGonagall said, "I'll be taking 50 points from Gryffindor and you'll spend tonight with me in detention, helping me clean and prepare my classroom, Mr. Weasley. Ms. Carter, you're free to leave."
"But I-" Milena started to say.
"Milena, it's fine," Fred assured her, "just go back to the common room and let George know I'll be late getting back."
Milena nodded, feeling incredibly guilty letting Fred take all of the blame. She had just as much a part in what happened as he did and she didn't want to leave him alone to take all the blame for everyone, but Fred assured her it was fine and once again told her she should go, it was only detention.
Fred turned back to McGonagall and Milena left the office, her head hung low as she walked away. The crowds from all the fighting had dissipated at this point and most people were gone, probably having gone back to their houses for the night. Milena came up to the entrance of the Gryffindor tower and spoke the password. The painting flung open and she ducked inside where some people were sitting around, some seemingly watching the door to see if Fred was back.
"I don't know if I've ever seen him that angry before," Milena heard Lee say. She looked towards the direction of the voices and saw Lee, George, and Angelina all sat together by the window. She slowly walked over to the group who noticed her quite quickly, George almost immediately standing.
"Milly!" George exclaimed. "Milly, are you okay? What happened? Where's Fred?"
"He's in detention with McGonagall for the night," Milena said, "she was gonna give me detention too for the truth candies in the Great Hall, but Fred took the blame and told me to go."
"That idiot," George said, sitting back down, Milena sitting down with him, "I knew he was a hot head, but what was he thinking?"
"Did you guys hear what Ivan's surname is?" Lee said, cutting in. "Dolohov. Isn't that the surname of a death eater?"
"It is..." Milena said. "And I think it's given Fred more to be angry about."
George's face looked white at what Lee and Milena had said. He clearly recognized the name too, but his reaction wasn't as angry as Fred's, it was more sad than anything.
"Well then," George said, "I don't feel too bad that Fred wailed on him anymore."
Angelina smacked his arm, prompting George to let out a little "agh" at her reaction.
"Sorry..." George apologized, "...kinda."
Angelina rolled her eyes at him.
Milena spent the rest of the night, sitting in the common room by the fire as everyone else went to bed. She was tired, but she didn't want to go to bed until Fred had returned from detention. She lied to her friends, saying she wasn't very tired and she'd just read in the common room until she was. It had grown pretty late and Milena wondered if McGonagall was even going to let Fred come back to the common room. She continued to read one of her muggle books her mum had sent her and found her eyelids grow heavier and heavier before she slowly drifted off to sleep on the couch by the warm fire.
Band music was playing and cheers could be heard from every direction. Crowds of people were waving their hands and jumping in the stands, trying to get a better look at the maze in front of them.
BANG.
The cheers changed from excited to scared, turning into screams. The music continued, growing louder, Milena could feel herself growing more scared, a pit in her stomach. She had to find Fred. It was all she could think of... find Fred... find Fred... She shoved through the crowds of people trying to call his name but being drowned out by all the noise.
"Fred!" She screamed, but no one was listening. Then she heard him.
"Mills! Mills!" He yelled back. She felt herself begin to shake-
"Mills!" Fred said, shaking her awake and making her jump.
"Jeez, Fred," she said, taking a deep breath, "how many times do I have to tell you not to scare me like that?"
"Sorry," he apologized, "you were just asleep on the couch when I got back and you looked like you were having a bad dream and then I thought I heard you say my name."
"Um... yeah... maybe I did," she said, sitting herself back up, "I don't know, I just have a really bad feeling all of the sudden. Like something bad's going to happen."
"Like what?" Fred asked, sitting down next to her.
"I don't know, something..." Milena said. "It was probably just the dream, I'm sure it's nothing."
"Well I think it may be time for you to go to bed," Fred suggested, "I'm gonna go get some sleep too, McGonagall had me clean every square inch of the classroom."
Fred yawned and stretched out his arms. Milena could see some bruises that had formed on his jaw and forehead from the fight. He now had a bandage along his nose as well, clearly it had been broken.
"He really did a number on you, didn't he?" Milena said, grabbing Fred's chin and pulling him closer for a better look.
"I think I won though." Fred said confidently.
"I'm sure..." Milena rolled her eyes, "I think I oughta learn a bone mending spell or something for you if this is gonna be a common occurrence with you."
"I hope not," Fred said, "Can't afford to keep messing up this prize winner of a face."
Milena rolled her eyes again and let go of his chin. "I prefer the more rugged look anyways."