THE NEXT MORNING, THEY WERE SAYING GOODBYE TO DURMSTRANG AND BEAUXBATONS. Lorelei stood on the side with the twins, Lee, and Angelina waiting to get on the carriages to Hogsmeade. Her friends waved goodbye to the descending boat and flying carriage, but Lorelei stood there solemn. She was ready to go home.
On the train, Lorelei was glad to have a bit of peace as Angelina and Lee spoke softly to each other. They knew the girl was frightened and frustrated, so they let her talk to them at their own pace. All four knew that things were only going to get worse from here, so they tried to make light of the situation now. Lorelei really couldn't have had better friends.
Fred nudged her. "Want to go see Harry before we get to King's Cross?"
Lorelei nodded and grabbed George's outstretched hand. After telling Lee and Angelina that they were going, they left to find the Golden Trio. When they did, they saw Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy taunting them from outside of their compartment. Snarling a bit at the three Slytherins, Lorelei saw Fred take out a few of their new firework products and smirk in their direction. Taking out their wands, he let the fireworks go as the three sent a hex at each Slytherin. Without realizing, the Golden Trio had also sent a hex to each boy.
"Thought we'd see what you three were up to," Fred said stepping onto Goyle to get into the compartment.
George snorted as he looked at Crabbe. "Interesting effect. Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"
"Me," said Harry, as the trio stood there with their wands out.
"Odd," Lorelei said as she stared at his face. "George used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed."
George laughed at Lorelei. "Yeah. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor."
George, Harry, and Ron moved the three fourth-year Slytherins out of the compartment with ease as Lorelei walked past to sit next to Fred. She watched as Brizo jumped onto Hermione's lap next to Crookshanks. Lorelei sighed and leaned on George's shoulder when he sat next to her.
"Exploding Snaps, anyone?" Fred asked. The boys played while Lorelei let her eyes shut, but she was awake.
Five games had passed when Harry had asked, "You going to tell us, then? Who you were blackmailing?"
"Oh," said George. "That."
Lorelei's eyes shot open in anger. Frustration rolled off of her because they hadn't even been able to get their gold. With everything that had happened, the trio had given up on their gold because there was no use. Bagman disappeared, and they were not going to find him. This year felt like four years in one. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter," her voice scared Harry as he thought she was sleeping, his body jumping at the sudden voice.
Fred agreed darkly. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."
"We've given up," George said, shrugging when Lorelei sat up.
But the Golden Trio did not give up. They kept asking them who it was and why they've given up. Fred finally shouted, "All right, all right, if you really want to know... it was Ludo Bagman."
"Bagman?" Harry said sharply. "Are you saying he was involved in--"
"Nah," George said gloomily while throwing an arm to pull Lorelei closer to him. He saw the anger rolling off of her. "Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."
"Well, what, then?" Ron asked.
Lorelei hesitated before saying, "Remember the bet Fred, George, and I had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win but Krum would get the Snitch?"
"Yeah," Ron and Harry said slowly.
Fred scoffed and said, "The git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."
"So?"
"So," Fred said impatiently, "it vanished, didn't it? By next morning, it had gone!"
"But--it must have been a mistake, mustn't it?" Hermione tried as she watched Brizo climb onto Ron.
George laughed bitterly. "Yeah, that's what we thought, at first. We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We'd kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but--"
"He always was making some excuse to get away from us," Lorelei laughed this time. "He was terrified of me."
"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," Fred said. "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."
"So we asked for our money back," Geroge said glowering.
"He didn't refuse!" Hermione gasped.
"Right in one," Fred said.
"But that was all your savings!" Ron cried out.
"Tell me about it," George said. "Course we found out what was going on in the end. Lorelei began to hiss about it to Lee one night, and we found out Lee Jordan's dad had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well."
Lorelei took over and explained, "Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling."
"Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together," George said. "And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"
"How?" asked Harry.
"He put a bet on you, mate," said Fred. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."
"So that's why he kept trying to help me win!" Harry exclaimed. "Well--I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"
"Nope," Lorelei said with a shake of her head and a small smile.
"The goblins play as dirty as him. They said you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it after the third task," George explained.
Lorelei sat there as they continued to play cards until they reached King's Cross Station. Smiling at the Golden Trio as Hermione and Ron left, Harry stayed put and said, "Fred, George, Lor--wait a moment."
Harry took out his winnings from the Triwizard Tournament and thrust the bag of gold into George's hands. "Take it."
"What?" Fred asked flabbergasted.
"Take it," Harry repeated firmly. "I don't want it."
Lorelei shook her head with a smile on her face. Harry was such a wonderful boy, he truly was. Lorelei smiled when George tried to push it back at Harry saying, "You're mental."
"No, I'm not," Harry said pushing it backward. It went like that for a while before Harry firmly pushed it to George's chest. "You take it, and get inventing. It's for the joke shop."
"He is mental," Fred said in an awed voice.
"Listen," Harry said firmly. "If you don't take it, I'm throwing it down the drain. I don't want it, and I don't need it. But I could do with a few laughs. We could all do with a few laughs. I've got a feeling that we're going to need them more than usual before long."
"Harry, this is very kind," Lorelei said with the smile Harry knew was reserved only for him. It was her motherly smile that she always gave him, and he smiled right back at her.
"Harry," George said weakly, "there's got to be a thousand Galleons in here."
"Yeah," Harry said grinning. "Think how many Canary Creams Lorelei could whip up with this."
The twins stared at him while Lorelei snorted, but she tried to cover it up when she saw the look George gave her.
"Just don't tell your mum where you got it... although she might not be so keen for you to join the Ministry anymore, come to think of it..."
"Harry," Fred began again, but Harry jokingly pulled out his wand.
"Take it, or I'll hex you," he said flatly making Lorelei laugh louder this time at the twin's faces. "I know some good ones now. Just do me one favor, okay? Buy Ron some different dress robes and say they're from you."
With that, he gave Lorelei a hug saying he would write to her and left. The twins looked at each other with equally shocked faces. "Come on, you two. Let's go home," Lorelei said while grabbing their hands to lead them from the compartment to get their things.