♫ deceptacon
- le tigre
"i'll walk on it, i'll walk all over you, walk on it, walk on it, walking one, two..."
✧
"I've been saving these for the perfect time," Priscilla declared proudly as she opened her tote bag for Nitara to see.
Nitara's eyes grew wide. "There's so many! How did you even get these?"
Cilla shrugged. "I got them in the States around the 4th of July on sale from the back of a van," Nitara gaped at her. "Nobody checked my truck."
"I can't believe you. What's the plan?" Nitara said, that twinkle back in her eye.
✧
The next morning, the Owl Post was doubled from the new students that flooded into the halls last night. Well wishes from home, last-minute necessities, and whatnot. Owls hooted and hollered as they flew across the room, swooping down to drop off parcels and letters.
Nitara got a letter from her parents from a very stuffy and poised bird. She sat back and read it while the owl nibbled on what was left of her breakfast.
"My parents were hopeless with the owls at first, but I think they got the hang of it now," she mused with a smile.
"What did they say?" Priscilla asked.
Nitara waited, reading every last word. "My aunties are coming from India for my birthday!" she said excitedly.
"That's amazing," Cilla smiled.
"Do your parents ever write, Priscilla?" Cedric asked.
She shook her head. "They're always so busy with work, so we never bother to write during the school year."
Then, like clockwork, an owl dropped a letter with a black seal onto Cilla's oatmeal. Cho began to snicker, resulting in the glare from Nitara.
Priscilla, confused and grossed out, picked up the oatmeal-stained letter and broke the seal.
It was from her parents.
Dear Priscilla,
The white rabbit has fallen into the rabbit hole.
We love you. Always.
- Your Parents
She wasn't expecting the tears to start welling so quickly. She sniffed and blinked them back before anyone could notice. She didn't want to break her perfect image.
"Cilla? What is it?" Nitara asked, reaching to hold her hand from across the table.
"My parents have gone into hiding," Cilla choked out. "I have to stay here for Christmas this year."
Cho's smile vanished as Cedric moved away from her to put a comforting arm around Priscilla. Cilla rested her head onto his shoulder, tears sliding down her cheeks despite her efforts, and pushed the letter away from her. Cedric, using the wandless magic Priscilla had taught her, used the Incendio charm to light it on fire.
"Come to my house this Christmas, I'm sure my parents won't mind," Nitara asked.
Cilla shook her head. "I couldn't, that's a nice offer -"
"So it's settled! You're coming to Manchester and we're celebrating Christmas and my birthday together! Cedric, you're welcome too," Nitara announced, purposely leaving Cho out. Cho didn't seem to mind, however, as she understood the long friendship Nitara and Cedric shared.
"I don't know about Christmas," Cedric admitted, "but I would be crazy to miss another visit from your Aunties. Priscilla, you'd love them."
"I get my charm from them," Nitara winked, making Priscilla chuckle.
She would never admit it to anyone, but Cilla was always worried about her parents because of the dangerous nature of their work. It was a weight she carried around with her everywhere she went, and it was her worst fear to ever have to read that secret code. She would prefer if they left her with nannies and Merlin knows who compared to never knowing if they were okay or if they could ever come home.
There was a small part of her that hated herself for worrying about them. They never seemed to care the same about her since her letter to Ilvermorny all those years ago.
Once the letter was nothing but ash and Priscilla had calmed down and wiped her tears away, Nitara stood up with a triumphant look on her face.
"You ready to get the show started?" Nitara asked.
Priscilla smiled and stood up to match her. "You know it."
✧
"Ready, Fred?"
"Oh, ready George," Fred said with a smirk.
They began to wind up their latest invention, inspired by their father's fascination with muggle objects. It was a wind-up monkey with cymbals but jinxed to create an ear-splitting noise that would only be heard by anybody standing near it. It wasn't as strong as a Mandrake's scream, but still just as effective. Nobody would faint... they hoped.
They were crouched in a hidden corner beside a busy hallway filled with Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang students alike. Just as they were about to let the monkey go, Nitara and Priscilla darted past them.
"INCOMING!"
A green smoke bomb blew up right in the twins' faces, making them cough and swat the chalky air.
Fred watched as the two ran down the hallway, blowing up more bombs as they went. He couldn't help but chuckle as he watched them run.
Beauxbatons students squealed, their perfect satin blue uniforms were ruined. Some even cursed the girls in French. A couple of Durmstrang boys caught in a red and yellow crossfire began to curse at them as well.
Then he noticed something peculiar. Priscilla wasn't using a wand to set the bombs off. They weren't supposed to start practicing wandless magic until the NEWT level classes, and that wasn't for another year.
George was livid. "That's it! This is war, Freddie!"
The twins watched as the girls were stopped dead in their tracks at the end of the hall by Snape.
"So it is, George," Fred mused, his eyes never leaving Cilla's back.
In his trance, Fred stood up, completely forgetting the winded-up monkey in his hand. It fell to the floor with a crash and the sound started blaring in their ears, as the earmuffs they had were blown off their heads from the green bomb.
✧
That night, the girls entered the colour-stained hallway pissed off.
"I can't believe we're going to miss the Goblet of Fire," Nitara complained.
Priscilla groaned. "What if we miss Cedric getting selected? Ugh, that'll suck."
"Yeah, we're not thrilled about it, either."
Fred and George were standing at the other end of the corridor, with Filch behind them.
"Clean this up! With ye toothbrushes," he added with a toothless scowl.
Nitara shivered beside her friend. "He's the one who could use a toothbrush," Cilla joked, trying to cheer her up.
Now, standing from two opposite ends of the empty hallway, Priscilla was reminded of the old western movies one of her nannies used to watch. The air stilled as the two duos stood off, sizing each other up.
"Nice work, smuggling in muggle bombs," George complimented menacingly.
Fred nodded, "Amateur, but well-executed. And getting Ron and Harry to plant the dungbomb and biting kettles in our room? That was rather clever, ladies."
"Clever indeed, like those Acid Pops at the Ravenclaw, table, too," George added.
Priscilla didn't look impressed. "And what makes you think that was us? I don't see any proof."
George pointed at Nitara, and the over-confident front the two girls were putting on disappeared. She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. "George Weasley!" she screeched. "You always rat me out, ever since we were kids!"
"We really need to work on your lying abilities," Priscilla said, exhausted.
"Fine then! You caught us! But you two haven't even tried pranking anyone yet this year," Nitara countered, her pride definitely in worse shape than before.
"We're still working on a new range of products, thank you very much!" George yelled.
"HAH!" Priscilla yelled and pointed her finger at them. "I don't see any, some business you have!"
"You'll see, love," Fred said with a smirk, "We'll be the toast of Diagon Alley, as soon as that git gives us our money..." he grumbled.
Love?! What is this, a romance novel?! she thought to herself.
Nonetheless, Cilla was taken aback, almost impressed. "You're opening a shop? You two? In Diagon Alley?"
"YES!" they yelled.
"GET CLEANING!" Filch growled, poking his head back into the corridor. Mrs. Norris gave them all a good hiss as well before padding off behind her master.
Despite their bickering, they all started to chuckle at the caretaker once he left. Forgetting their little spat, they all fetched their toothbrushes out of their pockets and got to scrubbing.
And Priscilla, of course, charmed her toothbrush to do the work for her, despite Nitara's scolding.
✧
♫ put your records on
- ritt momney
"the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same..."
✧
It was late at night and the time had flown by. The announcement of the champions must've ended hours ago, as they had heard footsteps and students' laughter heading back to the common rooms. Filch probably directed them not to go down the corridor Fred, George, Cilla, and Nitara had to clean for their detention.
Nitara was curled up in a ball by the window, snoring softly as she used her robe as a blanket and Priscilla's like a pillow. Priscilla had insisted Nitara go back to the Hufflepuff dorms, but she refused to leave her friend behind.
George had gone back to his room to sleep in his own bed a few hours ago, Fred promising to cover for him for Filch.
The remaining two had scrubbed away about a third of the colour stains from the hallway after all that time. When she was still awake, Nitara insisted on doing it all by hand, and Fred and George agreed, a little afraid of what Filch would do if he saw them cheating. Priscilla still didn't care, not in the mood to have blisters on her fingers from scrubbing for hours.
Cilla spent most of the night sitting in the clean area, back against the stone wall. She was still hopelessly upset and worried about her parents. Their prank earlier that day helped soothe the initial sting, and she even forgot about it a little bit, but no matter how hard she's tried to get her mind off of it since, she can't stop thinking about them.
Where could they be? Why did they have to hide? Who is after them?
Fred watched her as she stared out the window with a frown, unmoving for about fifteen minutes.
"Are you okay, Priscilla?"
She nodded her head, looking in the other direction. "I thought you weren't supposed to talk to me, your brother declaring a prank war and all that."
He got up with a stretch from where he was kneeling on the stone floor. "I can make an exception for you," he said simply as he slowly walked over.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as Fred sat down next to her. Why was she so nervous around him? She's never acted this away around someone before. She was usually more confident than this.
"You asked me once if I had gone into the forbidden forest," Fred began, trying to make conversation. "I have, many times."
She sniffed in response, pushing the last of her tears back. "Oh really?"
"We go in there to get supplies for our... products," he replied, wincing at the mention of it again. "I can bring you some time... if you want."
At that moment, Priscilla had a crazy idea. "What about tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?! Yeah, okay," Fred agreed.
Nitara snorted and looked up, likely still half asleep. "Tomorrow we have to," she yawned loudly, "finish scrubbing this hallway." She started crawling over to where they were sitting. Cilla patted her leg and Nitara put her head down gratefully.
"We covered for you and George tonight, just cover us tomorrow," Fred stated to the sleepy Hufflepuff.
"Priscillaaaaaaa," Nitara whined.
Cilla leaned down next to her sleepy friend and said "please" about a million times before Nitara pushed her head away.
"Fine! I'll spend a night with that insufferable -" Nitara looked at Fred who was giving her a warning look. She sighed and turned over towards the wall groggily, "nevermind. I'll help you."
"I thought you two were friends in second year," Fred pointed out with a chuckle.
"Friends is a strong word for it, I merely tolerated him," Nini replied grumpily.
"I'm sorry about getting us detention, Nini," Priscilla said solemnly, stroking her friend's hair, coaxing her back to sleep. She realized she hadn't apologized yet and mentally cursed herself for it.
"No way, it was worth it," Nitara mused, then started snoring again.
Cilla and Fred chuckled at her. In a brave and maybe stupid move, she put her head on his shoulder, getting sleepy just by looking at Nitara. Fred leaned his head onto hers in return, feeling tired as well.
Filch found them all like that a few hours later. He almost moved to wake them up, but then realized there was one Weasley twin missing. Muttering insults, we ran off to the Gryffindor common room to find George, forgetting the three remaining students sleeping soundly in the corridor.
✧
Early the next morning, Priscilla woke up to somebody poking her repeatedly. She opened her eyes to see Cedric beaming down at her and Nitara.
"Oh, it's Diggory," Fred said, stretching his arms out with a yawn. Cilla thought she missed it, but she could've sworn she saw Fred look between her and Cedric for a moment.
Nitara turned over and sat up a bit, rubbing at her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Six in the morning. I couldn't sleep," Cedric admitted.
"Are we missing something?" Priscilla asked sleepily at his ecstatic expression.
Cedric couldn't hold it in any longer. "You're looking at the Hogwarts Triwizard Tournament champion, ladies."
That woke the girls up for sure. Their eyes grew wide and they shot up, screaming and jumping and hugging Cedric in excitement.
Fred, annoyed by the sudden loud noise, laid back down on the stone floor. "I'm not a lady, thank you very much." He also muttered something about something being "bloody unfair."
✧
That day was horribly slow for Nitara, Priscilla and Fred. In Potions class, Priscilla practically fell asleep with her head in her hand as Fred lost count of how many times he stirred the potion in the cauldron.
"Watch it, Freddie!" a well-rested George warned, grabbing the ladle. "You almost made us blow up like Finnegan."
"Shut up, George. You got to sleep last night. Dayal snores so loudly -"
"So do you, Fred," Priscilla said, stars forming in her vision.
Professor Snape walked over sometime later. The twins had let Priscilla get some shut-eye at the table, and Snape whacked her in the head with a book, waking her up with a shout.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" she blurted out. The class gasped around her.
He looked at her with wide eyes. "I beg your pardon? You've just bought yourself detention!"
"I'm already in detention!" she snapped back. "You have to stop hitting students or I will get Mr. Malfoy to talk to Dumbledore."
The twins started to snicker at the mention of Mr. Malfoy, worsening Snape's mood. Snape knew not to mess with that snake.
"Ten more points from Slytherin, and now you alone will be washing the uniforms you ruined belonging to every student that was in that hallway yesterday by hand," he threatened.
Priscilla slumped back into her seat, arms crossed with a pout.
"Motherfucker!"
The class gasped again louder as everyone looked at Fred. Snape's eyes went wide. "THIRTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR AND YOU WILL JOIN MS. ROBERTS IN DETENTION EVERY NIGHT UNTIL THERE IS NOT A SHRED OF COLOUR LEFT IN THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!"
Fred shrugged and returned to his potion. Priscilla was looking at him, jaw agape, and he gave her a wink.
"Good going, Freddie," George laughed.
"As a very sleepy Hufflepuff once said, George, 'it was worth it.'"