**Fred’s POV**
“We have Defence first this morning,” I tell Maddie as we walk downstairs to breakfast.
“Those badges are stupid,” she replies as we pass a group of Hufflepuffs with Support Cedric badges.
“Yeah, they are,” I agree, “what do you think Moody’ll be teaching us today?”
“Probably going into more detail about the unforgiveable curses,” Maddie says, “he said that on Friday.”
“I wasn’t listening.”
“Are you ever?”
When we enter the Defence classroom all the desks and chairs have been cleared to the sides, leaving the whole middle area clear.
“Today,” Moody says, “I will be putting each of you under the Imperius curse so you know how it feels. The aim will be to fight it off. Any volunteers?”
“Go Georgie!” Vanessa squeals as George steps forward. Maddie makes a gagging noise and I chuckle at her.
“Bet you ten galleons he couldn’t do that if we asked him to do it,” I mutter to Maddie as George walks around the room on his hands.
“He’s not doing a very good job of fighting it off,” she whispers back.
“Right, let’s see if your twin can do any better,” Moody says, taking the curse off George. I slip past Maddie into the centre.
“Loser!” Vanessa laughs when Moody has lifted the curse. His eyes both swivel to stare at her.
“Think you can do better?” he growls, “come on then!”
Vanessa struts into the middle. She promptly begins acting like a chicken. I smirk at her. Moody frees her and shakes his head.
“Weak minded,” he mutters.
“Let’s see Black do it!” Vanessa yells, her face turning bright pink.
“Come on then, Miss Black,” Moody says. Maddie walks into the centre. Moody raises his wand and points it at her. Nothing happens. A slight furrow appears in Moody’s forehead.
“I’d rather not,” Maddie says calmly, “it seems like a stupid idea to me.”
My mouth falls open. So does every other mouth in the room.
“Completely blocked!” Moody exclaims, “excellent, Miss Black!”
“She was ready for it!” Vanessa protests. Moody rounds on her.
“You, Clark, are weak minded,” he snarls, “Miss Black is stronger and smarter than you. Get. Over. It.”
Vanessa looks most affronted. Maddie moves back to stand next to me.
“Wow,” I say, impressed. She shrugs.
“It wasn’t that hard.”
**Maddie’s POV**
“Hogsmead tomorrow,” Fred says, “you keen?”
“What?” I yawn, rubbing my eyes.
“I said, there’s a Hogsmead visit tomorrow,” Fred repeats loudly.
“What month is it?” I ask.
“November,” Fred says patiently, “the seventeenth.”
“You’re kidding!” I exclaim, “it’s almost Christmas!”
“Yes,” Fred sighs, “are you up for Hogsmead tomorrow?”
“Oh, yeah, sure,” I say, “sorry, I’m out of it.”
“Are you ever going to tell me why?” Fred sighs. I stretch my arms out.
“I’ll explain everything tomorrow,” I say. Fred looks surprised.
“Really? Promise?”
“Promise,” I agree, “now, I’m going to bed or I’ll sleep through tomorrow and possible the next week.”
The next morning Fred and I leave early for Hogsmead. The whole way there we chat about the upcoming task.
“Let’s get a butter beer,” I suggest, when Fred reminds me of my promise.
“So?” he presses once we’re seated. I sigh.
“Last year Dumbledore offered to allow me to do my sixth and seventh year in one,” I begin, “then my father’s cousin offered to help me through the fast track Auror’s course. I’ve been doing extra classes with all my teachers, plus one on one classes with Aurors ever since the start of the holidays.”
Fred’s mouth is hanging open slightly. I can’t help smiling as I lean over and shut it.
“So, you’re not coming back next year?” he asks. I shake my head.
“Not if I pass.”
“But, isn’t it hard?”
“Unbelievably,” I reply, “During the holidays I was lucky if I had three hours a day that I wasn’t studying!”
“Are there any pros to this?” Fred asks.
“I’m doing six years of education in one.”
He shakes his head.
“It’d kill me.”
“I doubt I’ll survive it,” I agree coolly. Fred grins at me.
“This is just cause you’re smart, isn’t it?”
“Yep,” I laugh, “cause I’m a genius.”
We finish our butter beers and keep walking around the village. We run into Angelina and Alicia outside Honeydukes.
“Maddie! Have you heard?” Alicia gasps, looking excited.
“Yes,” I answer, “but at the same time no.”
“Honestly,” Fred says, “how are we supposed to know what you’re talking about?”
They ignore both of us.
“George and Vanessa have split up!” Angelina says. I freeze, suddenly feeling warmth spreading through my hair.
“Wow!” Alicia grabs a lock of it and holds it up where I can see. It’s back to its normal dark, chocolaty brown.
“What happened?” Fred asks.
“No one is really sure, but George had a field day yelling at her,” Alicia says, “she must’ve done something terrible.”
“Well, she was born,” I comment, “anyway, that was a useless piece of gossip. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to buy some Bertie Botts.”
I walk into Honeydukes, followed closely by Fred.
“You’re not fooling us,” he says softly. I shrug.
“I’d never go back to him,” I reply, “so really, there’s no point in making a big deal out of this.”
“You’ll be friends with him, though?”
“Of course,” I lie airily.
For a whole week I manage to avoid George. Mainly by skipping classes. Many lectures followed this, but by the next week, the day of the first task, I had successfully been able to avoid any kind of contact with him.
“Not that it’s not impressive, you avoiding him all the time,” Fred says as we walk down to get seats in the stands for the first task, “but you’ll have to catch up on all the work and-“
“I know,” I sigh, “let’s just enjoy this, shall we?”
“George’s sitting with us,” he says.
“Fine,” I groan.
“Really? You’ll-“
“Angelina! Alicia! Wait up!” I call, running to catch up with them.
“Attention!” I look up from my work at McGonagall. I glance at the clock. Five minutes left. Please don’t let her give us last minute homework.
“As some of you should know, the Yule ball is approaching,” McGonagall says, “it is an important tradition of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.”
I glance at Fred who is looking partially appalled, partially excited about the idea of a ball.
“It will be open to Fourth years and above, however you may invite a younger student if you wish.”
“Could be fun,” Fred says as the bell rings. I roll my eyes.
“I am not going.”
“Maddie-“
“No,” I say firmly. Fred wisely drops the subject. Alicia, however, does not.
“Why won’t you go?” Alicia asks. I shrug, not meeting her eye.
“George,” Angelina says. I nod, but don’t look at her either. The idea of having to watch George and Vanessa dance all evening- I shudder and push the thought away.