Milena stumbled back into the Gryffindor common room, long after the sun had gone down, her hand bleeding and stinging from another cruel form of detention with Umbridge. Fred was waiting on the couch anxiously and immediately stood when he saw Milena, a bandage wrapped around his own hand and a bowl filled with the essence of murtlap waiting for Milena. They both said nothing as she dropped herself onto the couch and he sat back down next to her, putting the bowl on the coffee table.
"Let me see it," Fred said, holding out his unbandaged hand.
Milena slowly held out her hand which was slightly shaking and looked worse than usual. It was still dripping blood. Fred gently held her hand, looking at the cuts and dabbed them with a rag making her hiss at the stinging.
"Godric, how many times did she make you write those lines?" Fred asked.
"I don't know," Milena said, "lost count after fifty one..."
"FIFTY ONE?" Fred shouted, "No wonder you were gone so much longer than me. What did she hold you there so much longer for?"
"Well in her words, 'I have a mouth on me' to which I said 'I do indeed have a mouth' and she didn't find that very funny." Milena smirked. Fred, who would normally have found one of Milena's quips quite funny, was not smiling at all. Instead, he looked intently at the cuts and was scowling at her hand.
Once her hand was done bleeding, he moved it into the bowl and her hand felt instantly better, the stinging feeling like it was completely gone.
"I think I've had enough of that woman..." Fred mumbled as he leaned back on the couch.
"I think everyone has," Milena said, "well except for her inquisitor squad... Those prats."
"Bet you wish you had let me beat up Malfoy now," Fred chuckled, "might have knocked some sense into him."
"Now that would be a miracle." Milena laughed.
After a while of soaking her hand, the cuts mostly healed up, leaving an ugly scar that said "I will not talk back" across the back of her hand. Fred vanished the liquid in the bowl and she dried her hand looking at the scar that was much more prominent than the last one she had had.
"Don't worry, we'll have our revenge on her soon enough." Fred said as he and Milena both began to stand. "Let's just get some rest for now and we'll talk more about it later."
Milena left for bed where all of her roommates were already sound asleep. She crawled into her bed after changing and for once was able to fall right asleep for the night.
The rest of February and March rolled past quickly as the snow had almost entirely melted and the sun seemed to be shining onto the grounds a lot more. Their final quidditch match of the year was coming up soon and their team hadn't been doing so great since Harry, Fred, and George had been kicked from it, but if they could just win this one match, they would win the cup.
Milena was sitting in the change room going over the plans she had helped Angelina with in her head. She stood from the bench and took in a deep breath. Ron was shaking on the bench a little further down, looking as though he might be sick. Ginny and Angelina looked like they were discussing strategies and their new beaters looked like they were both panicking about the game. Everyone was nervous about this game and Milena was just trying to hold faith that they would do alright.
"Alright team," Angelina finally called out, "It's time to play!"
Angelina left the change room and everyone followed behind her, brooms in hand. They entered the pitch and everyone was soon up in the air, the gryffindors on one end and slytherins on the other. Milena glanced at the crowd to see Fred and George sitting by Lee who was announcing the game. Fred waved at her with a goofy grin and George was giving her the thumbs up. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and everyone set off, Angelina grabbing the quaffle first. The slytherins continued to intercept their passes, but Milena was moving too quickly for them; if they intercepted her pass, she'd quickly catch theirs and zoom off. Ron was struggling at first to block the throws from Slytherins side, but suddenly something seemed to change in him. He looked as though he was going to fly one way to block a throw, but quickly went the other way and the quick thinking stopped the goal.
"Nice one, Ron!" Milena called out as she swooped back for the quaffle from him.
As she flew off with the quaffle, two of the Slytherin chasers suddenly flew in front of her trying to cut her off, but she was faster and dove under them, pulling back up just before hitting the ground. She zoomed back up, passing the quaffle to Angelina who zoomed off and back around, passing it back to Milena who tossed it through a hoop while the keeper was distracted by Angelina. Slytherin had had the lead in the beginning but with Ron finding this new groove and the plans Angelina and Milena came up with, the whistle soon blew and Ginny was holding up the snitch. They had just won the house cup. The crowds were cheering and Milena could hear what sounded like people singing Weasley is our King again, but it was the Gryffindors singing it this time, cheering on Ron. They gave the cup to Ron as the team surrounded him and he held it high as everyone cheered for them.
"Ron, I think that was probably the best time for you to suddenly get good at goalkeeping!" Angelina cheered.
After the match, Milena left the change rooms feeling better than ever when someone called after her making her stop to turn around.
"Ms. Carter! Ms. Carter!" A short and balding man was waving to her to stop.
"Hi," Milena greeted, "can I help you with something?"
"Ms. Carter, hi!" He happily greeted her, a little out of breath. "My name's Cormack McLeod, manager of the Montrose Magpies."
Milena was caught off guard by his introduction, but nevertheless, held out her hand to shake his.
"Oh... um hi!" She said, trying to pull words out of her mouth, "I'm Milena Carter, though I guess you already know that."
"Yes, yes, indeed I do. I have to say that was an impressive match you played there. I was sure you were going to hit the ground when you swooped down like that." He said.
"Well since I saw Viktor Krum do it, I've always wanted to be able to, so I figured that was the best time." Milena laughed, trying to hide how nervous she suddenly was.
"Well, listen," he said, "have you ever considered playing quidditch professionally?"
"Professionally?" Milena repeated. "Um I guess I've thought about it before."
"Well," he said, pulling a business card from thin air and handing it to her, "if you ever decide you want to, once you've graduated of course, I'm sure the Montrose Magpies would be happy to offer you a spot!"
"Oh wow... Thanks..." Milena smiled. Cormack smiled at her and nodded before he walked off again, joining the crowd and disappearing into it.
Milena stared at the card, reading the contact information on it then noticing the illustrated snitch fluttering around the words.
"CONGRATS, MILLS!" Fred suddenly shouted, making Milena look back up. He had his gryffindor scarf draped around his neck and his arms were outstretched as he ran up to Milena, picking her up around the waist and spinning her around, giving her a kiss before putting her down again.
"What's that you got there, Milly?" George asked, nodding his head towards the card in her hand.
"Oh... apparently the manager of the Montrose Magpies thinks I'm good enough to play professionally." Milena said, holding up the card.
"Professional quidditch?" Lee said excitedly. "You're gonna be a professional player?"
"Well, I don't know about that," Milena said, "It would be really cool, but I don't know if I would actually be as good as he thinks."
"Mills, I've played with you long enough to know he's right," Fred assured, "you would be fantastic."
~~~
Another DA meeting was coming up and Milena was looking forward to it more than anything because Harry was finally going to teach them how to produce a patronus. She had heard many times from Ron and Hermione how Harry had been able to produce one since his third year, but she had never seen him actually do it.
At the DA meeting, everyone eagerly waited for Harry to start the meeting to which people immediately asked him to show his patronus. He sighed and agreed, pulling out his wand.
"Expecto patronum!" He called out and a great, silvery stag shot out of his wand and began to prance around the students.
Everyone was in awe at how easily he was able to produce it and now more than ever, everyone wanted to do it themselves. Some people had an easier time than others producing their patronuses. Hermione had a little otter happily floating around her and Ginny had managed to produce a strong and confident horse that galloped through the air.
"Think of what makes you the happiest, the memory that brings you the most joy!" Harry reminded everyone.
Milena searched through her memories, thinking of every moment that had made her the happiest. Her first thought was of the time she got her very first letter to Hogwarts, finding out she was a witch; however when she tried this, only silver sparks flew from her wand. She needed something happier, something that brought her the most joy. Her eyes scanned around the room as she thought hard and they fell on Fred who had produced a magpie bird from his wand that was flapping its wings and flying circles around his head. His eye caught Milena's and he gave her a warm smile as he pointed at the bird flying around him. Milena gave him a thumbs up, impressed and proud of him and then she thought of it, her happiest memory she could think of.
She lifted her wand again, thinking of her memory and called out the spell again.
"Expecto Patronum!" She called out, this time instead of a couple of sparks, something much larger shot out of her wand. Though it was larger than the sparks, it itself was not that big as it flew around the room and she quickly realized what her patronus was.
A barn owl was flying around the room, one that closely resembled the same barn owl given to her last year. It fluttered around the room, flying over everyone's heads and eventually back towards Milena before it faded away. Milena stood there in awe that she had been able to produce a patronus, let alone one that looked so closely to Fidget.
"Was that your patronus flying around?" Fred asked as he made his way over to Milena. "The little owl?"
"Yeah it was." Milena smiled.
"Looked a little familiar," Fred smiled back.
"I guess I was just always meant to have Fidget." Milena said.
Soon the moment ended when the door to their meeting room quickly opened and closed and Dobby the house elf quickly ran over to Harry looking nervous. It took Harry a good minute to finally get out of Dobby what he had come to say and after wrestling with him to not hurt himself for speaking out, Harry finally asked him,
"Is it her? Is Umbridge coming?"
Dobby quickly nodded, looking a little relieved he didn't have to say it himself. Everyone was staring at Harry and the house elf, frozen until Harry yelled out.
"Well? You heard him! Everyone get out of here now!" And everyone began to rush out of the room, hoping they wouldn't have a run in with Umbridge or one of her minions.
Milena took a quick turn out of the room and in the opposite direction of where everyone else was going, except for Fred, George, and Lee who seemed to know exactly what Milena was thinking. She turned the corner and came up to a statue, ducking behind it and into a hidden tunnel that had collapsed in but had just enough space for them to hide. All three boys were right behind her, ducking into the tunnel as well and holding their breath as they listened. The sounds of a few people running by passed and Milena peeked her head out to look in the direction they went to see Malfoy and the Inquisitor Squad run by, seemingly looking for students who looked suspicious.
They waited a few more minutes until they were sure no one was there anymore and Milena looked one more time before waving them back out from the tunnel. The four of them began to walk together and Milena, hearing the sound of footsteps again, pulled one of her textbooks out of her bookbag.
"You know, I think you three will be alright for your NEWTs," Milena said, the three boys looked a little confused until they saw Filch walking up the corridor and quickly changed their faces, "just need a bit more reading but I think we'll all manage just fine."
"Yeah, yeah I think so." Lee agreed, nodding along as they continued to walk, pretending as if they just left the library.
"OI," Filch yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU FOUR DOING HERE?"
"Just finishing up our studying for charms," Milena innocently smiled, "lord knows these three need it."
The twins and Lee all smiled innocently along with her, nodding their heads in agreement. Filch grunted something unintelligible and continued past them grumbling under his breath. They continued their walk away and eventually made it to the common room where almost all of the Gryffindors had made it to.
"There you guys are!" Angelina said, running up to them as they entered through the painting. "Did you get caught? What happened?"
"Did we get caught?" Fred laughed.
"Get caught? Never!" George laughed too.
"We know every place to hide in this school," Milena said, "there's no way they'd catch us!"
"Milena was the first to think of one of our nearby hiding places," Fred explained, "as soon as we saw where she was headed, we knew to follow her."
"I'm not letting Umbridge anywhere near me anymore," Milena said, "not unless she wants to get hexed."
"That can be arranged," George joked.
The group didn't spend much more time in the common room in case Umbridge sent out more people to hunt them down, so they all went to their beds for the night. When everything had gone quiet, Milena began to think about her patronus she had produced today and its striking similarity to her owl Fred had bought her. She felt as though it was no coincidence though that her patronus was a barn owl, thinking of the memory that was the strongest and better yet, the happiest one she could think of. It made complete sense to her. The happiest she had ever felt was with Fred when he finally kissed her for the first time on the night of the Yule Ball.
The next morning, Milena was changing into her robes to go down for breakfast when someone knocked at her dorm room door. Just finishing up getting dressed, she opened the door and Ginny was standing there looking concerned and frustrated.
"You have to come see this," she said.
Milena followed her downstairs to the announcements board where a huge sign had been added, covering most of the other announcements and posters and saying that Umbridge was now appointed as Headmistress of Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic.
"WHAT?" Milena blurted out, quickly turning back to look at Ginny.
"My words exactly," she said, her arms crossed.
"That monster cannot be running this school! How did she even manage to get it? What happened to Dumbledore?" Milena asked.
"From what I hear, they tried to arrest Dumbledore after they saw the DA stood for Dumbledore's army and I mean, did they really think he'd just go with them?" Ginny explained. "Now, no one knows where he is."
"Do Fred and George know about this?" Milena asked.
"We heard," Fred said, walking up behind them with George. "Gonna be honest, I think this is the boiling point. Don't you, George?"
"Oh definitely." George nodded. "Everything else is nearly ready."
"Nearly ready?" Milena repeated, wondering what they were up to now.
"Yep and actually, Mills," Fred said, "I need to talk to you about it soon... and alone preferably."
"Alright..." Milena agreed, trying to piece together any idea of what they were doing together.
Fred pulled her to a quiet corner of the common room where they sat down together, George and Ginny heading to breakfast.
"So, what do you and George need me to do now?" Milena asked.
"It's nothing that we need you to do," Fred started, "it's more something we're going to do that I need to make sure you know fully about."
Milena furrowed her brow but continued to listen to him. He sounded a little more serious.
"George and I aren't staying." Fred finally said.
"Aren't staying?" Milena repeated. "What does that mean?"
"We're not staying at Hogwarts." Fred explained. "We don't feel that we need to anymore and with this new dear headmistress in charge, we wanna leave with a bang, but I also don't want you helping because I don't want you getting even more hurt by her."
"I'm sorry," Milena said, shaking her head, "you're leaving Hogwarts early? You're just going to leave all of us here with that woman?"
"Well we aren't going to leave just yet," Fred said, "not until we've caused as much trouble for her as we can. Probably not until exams. So, we'd only be gone a few weeks early really. But we have a whole plan."
"And what is this plan?" Milena asked, feeling a little upset as she tried her best to understand.
"Well, George and I have been in contact with someone from London who's got this nice empty shop right in the heart of Diagon Alley and we have the money now to afford it and it's got a flat over top of it for us to live in." Fred explained. "We're going to finally open up the shop there and that leads me to my next question..."
"And what's that?" Milena asked.
"Once you've finished school, do you want to come live with George and I and maybe help us at the store a little? I know you've got that offer from the Magpies, I still definitely think you'd be great, but I mean you will need somewhere to stay in the wizarding world." Fred said.
Milena's face softened at his request. A little part of her was still upset that they were going to be leaving her behind at Hogwarts and they wouldn't be graduating together, but the other part of her was impressed more than anything.
"Wait, when did you and George talk to this person about the shop location?" Milena finally asked, processing everything Fred had told her.
"We saw the listing in the Daily Prophet back at Christmas time, we've been talking back and forth by owl ever since and we just officially got the place." Fred explained. "As long as everything goes to plan, the place should be ready by the time we make our exit."
Milena slowly nodded as a million thoughts all tried to process themselves through her brain at once.
"So?" Fred asked. "Will you join us after you graduate?"
Milena thought about it for a moment. She always thought she'd probably end up helping their shop, but now that he was really offering it, she realized just how real this idea was. Something about it excited her though.
"Yeah," Milena agreed, a little smile growing on her face, "Yeah I think I will..."
Fred's face immediately lit up.
"But," Milena started, "on one condition."
"'Course, what is it?" Fred asked.
"You at least tell me this plan you two have before you leave Hogwarts." Milena said. "If you don't want me involved, that's fine, but I at least want to know what I should expect."
Fred let out a laugh and agreed to tell her their plans for their exit and how it would involve a whole lot of their "special" fireworks, a large swamp, and a whole lot of running around for Umbridge. They were also going to be leaving Lee with a couple of nifflers they had caught by the forest to let go in Umbridge's office so that they could continue the pranks even outside of the school.
"We figured we'll start just before Easter and then we'll give everyone a break during the Easter holiday and then we'll pick it right back up but ten times more right after. No point in disrupting the school during a holiday." Fred said.
"Sounds like you guys really have this figured out then." Milena said.
"Something this big? You've gotta have a plan," Fred said, "oh and I'll let you know when and where we'll be setting off fireworks if you wanna come see the show, or entirely avoid it. Your choice really."
"How considerate, Freddie," Milena laughed.
Just as Fred had told Milena, it didn't take too long before their brand new stock of everlasting fireworks were being set off in the halls, sending dragon-like fireworks soaring through the air and a bunch of colourful blasts that continued to fizzle but not go out. Umbridge was sent running through the school halls just as Fred had said, being called every two minutes to even more fireworks that wouldn't go out. No matter what spells she tried, they only seemed to make it worse, either duplicating the fireworks or making them explode more.
The other professor's could have helped too, but Milena was certain they found the pranks just as entertaining as everyone else, more so because it gave them the opportunity to mess with Umbridge themselves. By the time exams began to approach with only two weeks left, Umbridge looked completely disheveled everyday and was usually covered in some kind of soot or ash by the end of the day.
Milena did eventually manage to convince Fred to let her set off some of their fireworks in the dungeons by Snape's classroom. She managed to set them off and run away before anyone even saw her nearby them. It wasn't until later that she overheard someone say that Umbridge's skirt had caught fire causing her to squeal and quickly put it out before the fireworks only got bigger.
"Heard your fireworks show went off well." Fred laughed as he caught up to Milena just outside of the painting of the Fat Lady.
She spoke the password and the painting swung open, letting the two of them in.
"Oh yeah," Milena said, "it was well worth it and I don't think anyone saw me either."
"That's my girl," Fred smiled, throwing his arm around her shoulder again. "So, with all of this glorious chaos, George and I will be doing our big finale soon."
"And then you'll be off, leaving me... here, all by my lonesome!" Milena dramatically sighed as she threw the back of her hand against her forehead.
"Oh, you'll be fine without me for a few weeks." Fred laughed.
"Oh, but I won't, Freddie!" She denied, still dramatic as ever. "How will I ever live without you?"
"Guess you won't then, you drama queen." Fred laughed again.
"Learned it from the best!" Milena grinned at him as she walked towards the girl's dormitory door. Fred rolled his eyes at her with a smile still plastered on his face as she left for his own dorm.
Just a week and a half before the exams started, Milena was leaving the library from another afternoon of studying when Fred and George slid up on either side of her, both of them each linking an arm with her.
"What are you two up to now?" Milena asked.
"The grand finale is starting soon," George said.
"And of course we had to say our temporary goodbyes to our favourite girl," Fred added.
"Oh... that's tonight, is it?" Milena asked, not realizing how soon time had passed.
"Are you gonna be alright, Mills?" Fred asked.
"Yeah... yeah... I mean it's only a few weeks and I have Lee and Angelina and everyone else."
While she had joked about it before, she was going to miss having the twins around, even if it was only for a few weeks. Dealing with Umbridge and being stressed out by the NEWTs certainly wasn't helping either.
"Hugs before we go?" George asked with a smile, holding out his arms.
"'Course," Milena smiled back, stretching out her arms for both of them.
The three of them had a big group hug, both the twins squeezing her a little tight. When they let go, Fred pulled her in once more, giving her a great, long kiss to which George rolled his eyes.
"C'mon Fred," George said, "you'll see each other again soon, we've gotta get moving!"
Fred broke away from Milena, still holding her hand and looked back at George.
"Right, yeah!" Fred replied. He turned back to Milena, giving her a peck on the forehead before he ran off with George again.
Milena gave them a couple minutes head start before she went in the same direction as them, wanting to see this grand finale they had been talking about. She stood at the top of some stairs looking down at the large corridor they said and suddenly there was a loud bang and a lot of screaming as the corridor below her quickly began filling with water, mud, and plants everywhere before becoming an entire swamp. Fred and George were standing near the corner and Milena noticed right away they were being backed into it by Malfoy and his gang with Umbridge right behind them. Milena's hand immediately went to grab her wand, but her eye caught Fred's who saw the wand and he just shook his head subtly as if to say "don't help."
Umbridge and Filch, both looking angry yet excited, were talking to them and Milena couldn't quite hear them from where she was, but from the grin on both the twin's faces, she knew they had something planned for this. Both of them shot their hands up in the air, their wands raised and they simultaneously yelled "ACCIO BROOM!" and after a moment, their brooms, that had been locked away by Umbridge, came soaring towards them, narrowly missing Umbridge and they both leapt on and kicked off the ground, flying away from the group. They both did a couple of laps, circling around the students who were watching and Milena was sure she saw Fred wink at her as he flew by.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves!" Fred yelled to the ghost who was saluting the two.
The two flew out of the castle, letting off a few more fireworks in their path before flying off and out of sight. Milena grinned as she watched them fly off to finally do what they had been dreaming of for so long.
With the twins now gone from the school, Milena thought it might be quieter, maybe even boring, but it seemed as though the twins had left their legacy at the school and everyone wanted to recreate their glory. Prank after prank was set throughout the school, making Umbridge seem as though she was about to send anyone who looked in her direction to detention. Most of the teachers didn't seem to offer much help to Umbridge either, usually turning a blind eye to the mayhem the students were causing. Milena helped Lee get the few nifflers, Fred and George had left, into Umbridge's office through a window she didn't seem to realize was a weak spot.
"So, I was thinking, last week of school, we go after the inquisitorial squad," Lee said, mocking Umbridge's brigade of students, "I bet we can easily get them to eat some sweets courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."
"Oh that would be a breeze," Milena laughed, "leave a bowl and a sign that says 'Only Take One' and Crabbe and Goyle will eat the whole thing."
With Fred and George gone, most of the pranks people had done were good, but nothing compared to what the twins had ever done, but Lee and Milena were determined to keep their legacy alive at least until they graduated. They figured if anyone knew how to pull a prank like the twins, it would be the two that always helped them get away with it.
As the two sat in the library together, reviewing for the last of the NEWTs they had left, they plotted some last few ideas for pranks they could do before they would leave Hogwarts. Most involving fireworks or loud noises to really make sure Fred and George's legacy wouldn't be forgotten anytime soon (and to be as much of a nuisance to Umbridge as possible).
When Milena's final NEWT for her Defence Against the Dark Arts was done, the examiner congratulated her on completing her exam and even told her she was sure Milena was going to pass with flying colours. She had Harry and the DA to thank for that though. Not too long after the last NEWT finished, Milena and Lee were hiding by the Great Hall as fireworks shot off everywhere, celebrating the end of their exams. The colours and loud explosions went off everywhere and Umbridge was red in her face at the sight of more of these fireworks that she couldn't get to disappear no matter what spell she tried. Milena and Lee laughed themselves to tears as they watched Umbridge try to stun a firework only making it explode even larger and send red and yellow sparks flying at her. Milena had only wished Fred could have been there to laugh at the scene with her.