Fred and I returned to the Common Room after we left the kitchen, knowing that everyone was still at Hogsmeade, though we expected them to return in a few minutes.
The room was empty except for a group of second years who had taken the best seats by the fireplace, doing their homework and chatting.
Fred walked towards them silently from behind and suddenly cleared his throats, making them jump out of their skins and turn on him.
"Hey, kids," he smiled sweetly down at them. "I think it's your bedtime, don't you think? Better go upstairs to your dorms."
They gave each other puzzled looks and one of them said, "But — it's not even night yet."
"You know," Fred started, his innocent smile turning into a smirk. "My brother and I have been developing new sets of Puking Pastils and have been looking for testers for some while now. So if I were you, I would say goodnight and go to bed."
The second years gulped in horror and promptly got to their feet, running towards their dorms.
"Now that was mean," I said as Fred sat himself down on the couch.
"Then why didn't you stop me?"
"Cause it was funny," I shrugged with a grin, sitting down next to him.
I nuzzled to his side as we watched the fire, enjoying the rare silence of the Common Room while it lasted, until we were joined by George and Lee half an hour later.
***
In the passing month, things started to get worse and worse by each passing day. At first, it started from Umridge firing Trelawney and causing a mayhem outside the entrance hall.
And it soon was followed by the exposure of the DA, Dumbledore going away, and Umridge taking his place and becoming the new headmistress of Hogwarts.
All everyone could talk about was how Dumbledore had single-handedly taken those many wizards in his office and managed to get away.
But I couldn't care less about that matter as I thought of either Kreacher's words or Sirius's death.
I kept telling Harry any time I saw him to practice Ocllumency, but as it seemed, the boy hated Snape's lessons so much that he didn't take them seriously, despite my pleadings.
As the days went by, I found myself further away from my usual cheerful and jokester self and felt gloomier than ever.
But I was secretly glad that Fred and George still kept the school's spirit up with their small pranks and I joined in on them.
On the first day of the Easter holidays, the three of us had gathered in one of the deserted chambers on the first floor, which was filled up with old artifacts.
"So these are our new set of Whiz-Bangs," said George, taking out the box of fireworks and showing it to me after we had settled in the room.
"We've been trying to make them multiple if you use vanishing spells on them," said Fred.
"You wanna try them?" I asked, looking amusingly at the box.
"Just a small one, for now," said George.
"Yeah, we're using the rest for a more special occasion," Fred winked at me and I rolled my eyes.
Oh, please, I thought to myself with a scoff. As if I don't already know...
George then took out a small Whiz-Bang and lit it with his wand and set it up in the air, where it immediately exploded and took the shape of a tiny dragon, the size of a small dog.
I watched it with fascination along with the twins as it burned beautifully in the air, but we jerked our head around when a voice snapped behind us,
"What the heck do you think you're doing!?"
Turning around, there we saw Montague, the seventh year Slytherin, standing there with a nasty grin.
Fred and George waved their wands and the fireworks suddenly disappeared as they looked innocently at the stout boy.
"Is there anything we can do for you, Montague?" Fred smiled at him sweetly.
"You better watch your yourself with me, Weasley," the Slytherin boy snarled at him. "Your era of foolish jokes is over."
"Oh, I beg you to differ," said George.
"Our era is only beginning," said Fred.
"I highly doubt that," Montague smirked at them. "Now with Professor Umbridge as our new Headmistress, things are about to change."
"Unless the change is in your insufferable attitude, then I don't think it would matter much," I said wittily and Fred's and George's grins widened.
"C'mon, Hooper," he continued, "don't make me take points off you."
"Imaginative points in your fantasy world?" George mused with a grin.
"You're not a prefect, Montague," said Fred. "So don't get your hopes up."
"Maybe I couldn't do it back then, but now that I'm part of the Inquisitorial Squad, I can."
"The what?" the twins said together.
I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose, shaking my head as I just remembered about Umbridge's stupid squad.
"It's a group formed by our new Headmistress. The members are supporters of the Ministry, hand-picked by Professor Umridge," Montague sneered as he spoke, "The Inquisitorial Squad."
"You sure you didn't want to name yourselves the Dumbass Squad? Would've suited you better," said Fred, causing the boy to turn red, his fists clutching in fury.
"I think I would fancy to take a few point off you for your witty arse, Weasley," Montague snarled. "That would be fifty points from G — AARGH!"
He was trying to say, but before he could get the words fully out of his mouth, Fred and George had leaped forward and taken a hold of his robes and threw him head-first into the cabinet next to him and closed its door shut behind him.
"Welp," Fred sighed with a grin. "That's that."
"Let's get to the Great Hall now, shall we?" said George, making his way towards the door with his brother, but I stood behind.
"Lexi?" Fred turned when he saw that I wasn't following them. "You coming?"
"Yeah..." I said in a hollow voice, staring at the Vanishing Cabinet before me.