Detention was at the end of that week and Professor McGonagall had informed the three that they would be in the library putting books back to their shelves and that they would organize them properly after the library had been closed. And with no magic.
Helena had met up with Cedric that late evening to write a Potions essay due for next week. The tall Hufflepuff looked at her confused when she didn't bother to put her things away when Madame Pince had told them she was about to close.
"Are you planning to spend the night here?" the boy joked.
"No, I... Umm, I actually got detention," the last word barely heard. She had shrunked an inch in her seat.
"Detention? You?" Cedric asked getting a nod from her. "So... I'm guessing it has something to do with putting away all those book some second years piled up over there."
He pointed at a table near them that indeed had a mountain of books piled one on top of the other. It looked like it was the same height as him.
"Yes, have to organize the whole thing," she sighed rubbing her tired eyes and combing her hair with her fingers, pulling it up in a messy bun.
"Let me help a bit," Cedric said grabbing the books they had been reading.
"No, it's okay. You don't have to," Nina was glad that he had even offered.
Madame Pince had her back to them so Cedric took out his wand and with a flick he made the pile of books he had pointed out float away to their respective shelves. The boy winked at her before he left, making Nina's heart beat faster and her cheeks warm up as she stared at Cedric's retreating body.
"What are you looking at?" George said standing next to her from out of nowhere and following her gaze.
"Cedric Diggory, huh?" Fred said amused coming out from one of the bookshelves. "Should've guessed it. You're both total nerds!"
Nina rolled her eyes at them. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." The girl started putting away random books.
"C'mon..." George teased, nudging her arm. "We're friends now. You can trust us."
"Admit you like Goody Two Shoes Diggory, Hell!" said Fred not so delicately.
"I won't admit it because there is nothing to admit, so end of story." Deny. Deny. Deny.
The twins just grinned at each other knowing the real answer but gave the girl some peace of mind and dropped the subject to start their detention.
Nina was secretly enjoying her detention, doing so with a smile on her face whenever she picked up a book and gladly putting it back where it belonged. She couldn't understand why some students didn't bother doing it. No common decency.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On Halloween morning, the twins and Nina were to go to the Hogmeade trip together so that she would be involved with the process of the Weasley Project, as she would call it. "Zonko's is where we get some of our ideas," George explained.
They wanted to get an early head start on the day but Nina also wanted to sleep some more. "Saturday is meant for sleeping," she told them. So they had agreed that they would let the girl sleep until 9am and meet for breakfast at 9:30.
Helena forced herself to wake up and take a quick shower noticing how her roomates were no where to be found. She grabbed the first pieces of clothing that were close: a pair of dark blue jeans, white sneakers and an oversized bright red jumper.
Before she got out of the room, she reached for her favorite leopard printed wool coat. It had belonged to her mother and Nina had asked his father last year if she could have it.
She made her way downstairs, her long dark hair jumping behind her back. Every student from third year had left for the town already, except for Harry Potter who seemed like he was making on effort to not look depressed for being left behind.
"Cheer up, Harry!" Nina patted his back taking the seat next to him. "Those nasty dementors are bound to catch Black one of these days. And then you'll be able to go to Hogsmeade!" she tried comforting him.
"Yeah, Harry..." George appeared sitting on Harry's other side.
"Who wants to go have fun when you can stay here instead?" Fred said sarcastically across from Helena.
The girl glared at them mouthing "Not helping." She took a piece of toast and stuffed it in her mouth and dragged the twins out of the Dining Hall before they could make Harry feel worse.
"Trying to bring back leopard prints, I see," said George on their way to the carriages, eyeing the girl's outfit.
"They never left, hun." Nina dramatically pushed her long hair behind her and swayed her hips at them making the twins crack up.
A few carriages were left for them to ride to get to their destination so they got inside one, the twins on one side and Helena on the other.
On their way to Hogmeade, Nina remembered the first time she took one of the school carriages when she was leaving Hogwarts after the first year. Another student said that they were magically moved carriages, but Nina could actually see something pulling them.
They were winged horses but appeared to have a skeleton-like body covered in thin black fabric that clinged to their boney structures. It startled her at first and as soon as she got home, she read that these creatures were called Threstrals and could only be seen by those who have witnessed death with their own eyes.
Her mother always came to mind when she saw them.
"We're here!" announced Fred jumping out of the carriage opening the door a bit too harsh.
Nina shook herself back to reality and took George's offering hand to get off of their transport. "Thank you, George! At least I know one twin knows how to be a gentleman," she said, eyeing the other Weasley who was already walking away.
"That's great! Really takes the pressure off of me then," Fred said grinning at her. "Now, c'mon! We are wasting time!"
As it had been settled a week before, they entered Zonko's Joke Shop first. Since they started their day a bit late, the place was already packed with students who were taking the time to marvel over the hundreds of comedic artifacts.
Fred and George immediately left Nina's side and went their separate ways as soon as they entered the building. She shook her head and went to stand with the nearest twin.
"What's that?" she pointed to a teacup that was on a top shelf so she couldn't reach for it.
"This," Fred said grabbing one with ease, "is a Nose-Biting Teacup. George and I got our mother one of these once. Made us clean the house for it," the tall boy put it back in its place.
"That's horrible!" said Helena. Their own mother isn't even safe from them.
"I know!" Fred sighed. "Who makes their children clean the entire house?"
Nina slapped Fred in the arm and continued their shopping.
Helena had checked the store out once during her first Hogsmeade weekend but never bothered to come back.
She was now distracted at some adorable Pygmy Puffs, watching them prance around in the glass enclosure they were being displayed in.
"If I could, I would adopt all of you!" her voice higher like the way you talk to babies.
"Nina! Get your arse over here!" Fred and George yelled from the other side of the shop.
The girl looked once more at the tiny colorful creatures. "I love you," she whispered, petting a purple one who circled her hand with glee.
The three of them continued to move around the shop, the Weasley twins explaining almost every product to Helena. She found several items funny, mostly the ones that didn't get yourself injured somehow.
Next up was Honeydukes. Nina loved it there for she had a very sweet tooth. Her favorites being the Sugar Quills and Chocolate Wands which she could easily sneak in a class from time to time. She told the twins how she used to like Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans until she got one that tasted like rusting metal so she stopped buying them.
It was already past noon, so they all decided to head to The Three Broomsticks and ordered themselves three Butterbeers and some Pumpkin Pasties to share. They started talking about the Weasley's several ideas for products.
"Ton-what?" Nina asked taking a sip from her Butterbeer.
"Ton Tongue Toffee!" said George. "They make your tongue long!"
"And then we are trying to perfect the ingredients for our Puking Pastilles-"
"Gross!" she squirmed and wiped a bit of Butterbeer off of her upper lip with her sleeve.
"Oh, relax!" said Fred.
"They don't actually taste like puke," explained George. "They make you sick for when you want to get out of class."
"I can't believe I'm part of this scheme to get kids skip class," Nina grudgingly took a bite of her food.
"We went over this, Rosemund!" sighed George throwing his arms over the table and laying his head too.
Fred ran a hand through his hair in frustruation. "Listen, Hell... We wouldn't be asking you to be part of this 'scheme' if we didn't need help."
"Wuh knee youuuu!" George's voice was muffled over the wooden table.
"Alright, alright! Sorry for being such a-"
"Killjoy?-"
"-Buzzkill?-"
"-Murderer of fun?"
"I hate you." Nina said sweetly.
They made one final stop before heading back to the castle. Helena really needed to restock her supply of parchment rolls and ink so she entered Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop alone and bought them, adding a couple of envelopes to the purchase so she could send a few letters to her father.
Checking the bag to make sure she had bought enough of everything not looking where she was going, Nina bumped into Cedric on her way out.
"I'm so sorry!" the girl apologized looking down to see if she had dropped something. "I wasn't looking. Not that I wouldn't look at you, I mean... not in a weird way! I'm not stalking you or something, ha ha... although stalking is not a funny thing, don't know why I laughed. It's very common for people to get restraining orders because they-" Helena rambled.
"It's okay, Nina." Cedric chuckled re-ajusting his scarf around his neck. "Umm... I heard the Weasley twins back there saying how they would drag you out if you took too long in here. Er, is there..." he leaned in closer to Helena's ear making her skin get goose bumps and her stomach flip.
"Are they stalking you or something?" he laughed quietly at the end. "Someone once told me that it's very common to get restraining orders on people," he said sheepishly, flashing a smile at the nervous girl.
Nina got a shade of red darker, her hand instictively tucking a piece of her long hair behind her ear.
"I can handle them, don't worry," she assured the brunette.
After saying goodbye to the Hufflepuff, she met with a bored Fred and George waiting outside one of the shop near the quill store.
"Ugh, took you long enough!" Fred groaned at her, swatting his brother's shoulder to get his attention.
"Please, I wasn't even there for longer than five minutes. Don't be babies!" Nina said pulling them along to where the carriages would take them back to Hogwarts.
Instead of going inside the castle when they arrived, the Weasleys and Helena walked to the empty Quidditch Pitch.
Nina always admired the vastness of the field and the tall hoops that decorated it from both ends. It was this place where she would end up with a sore throat and red hands for cheering and clapping on her house team whenever they played. And even though she didn't make the team last year, she felt proud of the team that represented Gryffindor.
The three of them were standing in the middle of it all when Nina suddenly layed on the fresh green grass, sprawling her arms and legs like a star fish and closing her eyes.
"You okay there, Hell?" asked Fred worried.
"Perfect!" she beamed still on the ground.
"Well, time for us to hold our part of the bargain... grab yourself a broom!" George ordered.
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a/n I'm not sure if Pymgy Puffs are a Zonko thing, but let's say they are :)