I buried my hands in the pocket of my parka as we followed closely behind Harry. Snow flurried towards the ground, coating it in a white blanket. On a normal day like today, we'd be out playing in it. But unfortunately this year there would be no snowball fights in the Forbidden Forest, no snowmen in the courtyard, and no sledding down the hill towards Hogsmeade—just short, secretive walks. Occasionally, one of the twins would have to reach out a hand and sturdy me. This stone bridge is terribly slippery in the snow—and I'm clumsy enough as it is. "We need to find somewhere to practice where Umbridge won't find out."
Though our organization had only formed yesterday, we woke up this morning to a sign pasted onto the bulletin board in the common room. Apparently Umbridge got wind of our plan because it was now forbidden to have regular meetings of three or more people.
"The Shrieking Shack?" Ginny suggested.
"It's too small." Harry sighed as we continued to walk.
"Forbidden forest?" Hermione added.
Ron scoffed. "Not bloody likely." He's still afraid he'll run into another giant spider.
"What about the Quidditch Pitch? It might be a little chilly but there's plenty of room." I suggested.
"Hey just because you don't play doesn't mean you need to ruin the sport for the rest of us." Fred teased.
"It's too out in the open either way." Harry shook his head as we continued back towards the castle, if we were out of sight for too long Umbridge would grow suspicious. So these quick walks were the only thing we really had.
"Is it bad I'm sort of hoping we get expelled for this?" I whispered, looking back and forth between the two boys on either side of me. They shook their heads with identical smirks.
We walked back through the doorway and into the significantly warmer halls. "Everyone should try and think of a couple places we could practice in by tomorrow."
We looped back through the halls, making our way back to the Gryffindor common room. Luckily our little walk had gone unnoticed. The common room was even more busy than usual. Most students felt like it was the only safe space to talk. The courtyards and the library were no longer filled with students studying or hanging out.
"Fred, George!" Lee whisper yelled to the two brothers the minute we stepped through the painting. The three talked animatedly in hushed voices before Fred ran up to their dorms.
I bit back a smile and instead decided to sit with Harry, Ron, and Hermione who had all pulled out some of their homework. "Great Leah." Ron let out a sigh of relief as I sat down. "Can you help Harry here with the extra essay that greasy git gave him? He's been moaning about it all day."
I grinned at the now pink faced Harry and sat down beside him. "Sure I'm done my work for the day. What's it on?"
"Strengthening Solution." Harry grumbled. "I may have gotten distracted during class and burned up my potion."
He gave me a thankful smile as I looked down at what he had written so far, which wasn't much. I shouldn't be surprised that he's distracted with all that's going on. "It looks pretty good so far but the weight for powdered griffin claw is 0.23 kilograms not 0.25. He would've killed you for that."
My sentence was punctuated by the sound of loud retching, followed by an eruption of cheers. Lee was stood on top of the coffee table, gesturing to where Fred and George were standing with their Skiving Snackboxes.
"All those long classes really wearing on you? Snape being a git? Umbridge getting you down? Well, the newest line from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes has got the solution!" Fred held a proud grin as he set a large metal bucket on the floor in front of George. "My dear brother, if you will."
George held up the orange end of a chew, plopping it into his mouth and chewing. Hardly a second later he was projectile-vomiting into the bucket Fred had set on the ground. Lee was prepared with a Vanishing Charm to instantly clear the puke out. George gulped down the purple half of the chew, effectively stopping the vomiting before straightening up with a beaming smile and wide arms as the group cheered around him.
"You let that man kiss you." Ron looked to me with disgust.
I laughed and teasingly punched him in the arm. "Hey, I haven't paid for a butterbeer all year." I joked, looking across the room to where Lee was scribbling down orders as the twins collected galleons. The wide smile on George's face as he joked around with their customers was a sight I hope I get to see for many years to come.
* * *
"You've done it, Neville. You found the Room of Requirement." Hermione grinned as we looked over the large, empty room. When Neville had approached us during lunch with a wide grin, we knew he had figured out a solution to our problem.
"The what?" Ron furrowed his brows.
"It's also known as the Come and Go Room. The Room of Requirement only appears when a person has real need of it. And it's always equipped for the seeker's needs." Hermione continued to explain.
"So say you really needed the toilet..." Ron chuckled to himself.
"Charming, Ronald." Hermione held back a smile. "But, yes, that is the general idea."
"It also works if you just need a bit of privacy. Right, love?" George whispered in my ear, teasing me about the numerous times we had snuck away for a snog and stumbled upon a room we never remembered seeing before. Unfortunately we hadn't found it at all this year, so it completely slipped my mind.
Clearly he didn't whisper it as quietly as he'd thought as the group slowly turned to look at us. I blushed and smacked him on the arm. I'm going to have to start making him pay me 10 galleons each time he embarrasses me.
"Anyways." Hermione changed the subject with a giggle. "I came up with a way for us to set our meeting times without Umbridge being the wiser." She reached into her pocket and handed out a galleon to each of us.
"Thanks for the money, 'Mione. But I don't see how this'll help." Ron flipped the coin in the air before catching it again.
She rolled her eyes at him. "It's bewitched, you dolt. The writing on the coin will change to inform you of the meeting time, date, or location."
"That's brilliant." Harry smiled, pocketing his coin.
Later on in the day, we had gathered all of the students who had signed up into the Room of Requirement. Excited chatter filled the space and I was thankful for the silencing charm that naturally concealed the room. By the time we made it back, the room had even produced an iron training dummy that happened to resemble a Death Eater. Along one wall was an expansive book shelf, filled with various books on Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Alright, everyone." Harry clapped his hands together from where he stood. He had a bit of nerves behind his voice while he magicked the training dummy towards the center of the room, sticking a fake wand in it's hand. "Let's start with a simple disarming spell. Line up here."
Neville looked uneasy as Harry encouraged him to go ahead. "Expelliarmus!" He shouted with skepticism. His wand instead shot from his hand and hurled towards the rest of us. It was a narrow miss for the young boy who I've now learned is named Nigel. His eyes were wide when he stood again, looking back and forth from Neville to the wand that had nearly impaled him.
"I'm hopeless." Neville sighed, his cheeks red with embarrassment.
"You're...you're just flourishing your wand too much. Try it like this." Harry flicked his wand towards the dummy as he shouted the spell, instantly knocking the wand from it's hand.
Harry has proven himself to be an excellent teacher. Everyone seemed to be catching on rather quickly. My last encounter with a Death Eater wasn't quite as pleasant as I would like. So hopefully I'll be a bit more prepared now.
* * *
"He hasn't let up on you at all with all the mess that's going on has he?" George peered over my shoulder, his body curled into mine as he leaned against the headboard of his four poster.
"No...I don't mind him challenging me though. I think in Snape's weird way it shows he cares." I shrugged and flipped the page of my Advanced Potion Making book, searching for more information for the extra essay my mentor had given me for my independent study. He gave me an entire essay on potions for healing.
"Well I'm bored." George groaned, twirling a piece of my hair between his fingers. His fingers traced a pattern on my bare arm, causing goosebumps to rise in their wake.
"Why don't you do some school work of your own?" I teased.
"You don't know me at all." He scoffed. He was silent for a minute before I felt his hand travel up my thigh, his fingertips trailing lightly under the hem of my skirt.
"George!" I laughed and slapped his hand away, much to his disappointment.
"I told you I was bored!" He joined me in laughter as he wrapped his arms around me, effectively making me drop my textbook and pay attention to him.
I rolled my eyes and connected our lips for a fleeting moment before standing from the bed. "C'mon, Georgie. We've gotta meeting in less than ten minutes."
"Fred'll catch us up." He tried to persuade me, jutting out his lower lip.
"That only works when I do it." I giggled and tugged him forward by both hands. He reluctantly followed me out of the dorms and into the hall.
George swung our intertwined hands as we walked, still listing off all the reasons we should've stayed back in his empty dorm. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and pulled me into a crevice. I cautiously peered around the corner to see what he had seen. Filch was stalking towards the entrance of the Room of Requirement. He ran his hands over the wall, searching for any clue of how to get in.
I rolled my eyes at the man before returning my attention to the one in front of me. George and I were chest to chest, his hands rubbed up and down my waist as he gave me a cheeky wink. "Still not happening, Georgie." I shook my head with a grin and took a hold of his hand, leading him to the opposite wall. The entrance appeared in front of us, revealing our waiting friends.
"I wonder why you're late." Fred rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm as Lee laughed at his side.
"Not for that reason." I argued.
"Trust me I tried." George muttered under his breath with a crooked smile.
I rose an eyebrow at him before returning my attention to Harry and Hermione. "Filch is on to us. Which means I'm sure Umbridge is on to us too. We just saw him sneaking around the entrance."
Harry ran a hand over his face in frustration and turned to address the rest of the room. "You all heard her. Everyone needs to be extra careful. Make sure no ones tailing you when you come to meetings and keep all talk to a minimum. But for now...let's work on dueling."
It's important that we master duels in case the opportunity comes sooner than we expected. Harry was pairing everyone off to practice—and I think he knew exactly what he was doing when he chose Ron and Hermione to duel each other.
"Don't worry. I'll go easy on you." Ron pat Hermione on the shoulder before walking cockily to the other end of the room.
"This is going to be hilarious." I giggled as the two squared themselves up. I knew Ron didn't stand a chance when I saw the determined look on Hermione's face.
"One sickle." George whispered to his brother.
"You're on." Fred whispered back.
Hermione and Ron locked eyes. Just as the ginger opened his mouth to shout a spell, Hermione exclaimed "Stupefy!"
Ron whimpered as he shot back, landing flat on his back. I had to bury my face in George's arm to keep from laughing. George reluctantly placed the money into Fred's open palm, shaking his head at his brother's failure.
"Thank you." Fred sang.
"Shut up." George scoffed as Ron approached us.
"I let her do that." Ron tried to convince us. "It's good manners isn't it?" The twins just nodded along with him as I bit my lip to hide my grin. "Was completely intentional." He added and I couldn't help but giggle.
"I think on that note we call it a day." Harry smirked. Yeah...he definitely knew what he was doing.
We all began to head towards the door when Neville stopped us, his ear pointed towards the wall. "Listen."
Through the wall, we could hear the sound of ragged snoring. Filch. "He's still at it?" I groaned.
"We'll be in charge of taking care of that." Fred and George exchanged a grin.
After everyone snuck out the opposite wall, I followed the twins into their dorm room and sat down on Fred's bed. "Alright I'm excited. What's the plan?"
"This." Fred grinned, pulling out one of their Skiving Snackboxes.
"I love it." I laughed. "But he'll never eat it out of that. We've gotta give the man a bit more credit." Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. One that is quite genius if I do say so myself. I gasped in realization and ran back to my own dorm. Both boys followed hot on my trail.
"What are you doing, Hadleigh?" Fred watched me with an eyebrow cocked as I bent down, rooting around underneath my bed.
"Well I have this empty box of chocolates that we should put them in." I pulled out a pink heart-shaped box.
"Oh, Georgie. You're just a big softy now aren't ya?" Fred teased his brother, wrapping his arms around him and ruffling his hair.
"Sod off." George rolled his eyes before glaring at me. Payback is a bitch, Weasley.
I carefully arranged an assortment of Fever Fudge into the box. The shape wasn't quite believable, but it was easy to charm the chocolates to change into small heart-shaped bites. Happy with my work, I replaced the lid and tied a big velvet red bow around the whole thing. "Leah...it's genius." Fred complimented and reached for my creation.
"Wait!" I smacked his hands away. I pulled my perfume off of my dresser and added a few spritzes. I ripped off the old tag and grabbed a piece of pretty note paper, writing 'To Mr. Filch' in the most feminine hand writing I could muster. "Now he'll think it's from a secret admirer."
"You were made for me." George shook his head with a smirk, his hand reaching down to squeeze my bum.
"No time for all that." Fred dramatically gagged and grabbed the chocolates. We maneuvered our way through the halls, laughing the whole way. It's been a while since we've gotten in any good Filch pranking.
Once we made it back up to the third floor, we peered cautiously around the corner. No sign of Filch. "Alright. Give me the box." I held out my hand.
"You want to place it too?" Fred rose his eyebrows in surprise.
"Well if someone catches me they might believe I'm really in love with Mr. Filch. More than they'd believe you lot at least." I shrugged and turned to walk confidently out to where Filch had set up a small table and a chair.
"She is wicked hot today." I heard George whisper as I walked, followed by Fred's disgusted groans. Just as I set the box down, Mrs. Norris' mewls echoed from down the hall.
I grimaced and quickly ran back to where the twins were waiting. Filch came into view shortly after. "Looks like I may have meself another woman in me life, Mrs. Norris." He plopped into his chair before lifting the box onto his lap. He took a long sniff, smiling dreamily before opening it and digging in.
I struggled to keep myself from laughing as boils began to litter his face. His eyes crossed to get a good look at the giant one on the tip of his nose before he yelped and scurried off.
The minute he was gone, the three of us burst out laughing. Maybe the boys really can prank Umbridge out of Hogwarts.
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