The Mystery of the Lightning Bond by electronicquillster
A/N-DISCLAIMER-DEDICATION: Count on some pretty regular updates. I’m putting the finishing touches on the next three chapters, and polishing them up. As always, greatly italicized parts indicate text quoted directly from Order of the Phonix. This chapter is dedicated to Mr. Matt Hales of Aqualung.
“I hate to admit it, but I actually agree with Filch. I am so bloody glad that he finally banned that stupid song Malfoy made up. If I ever hear another strain of ‘Weasley Is Our King,’ I might have to rip my ears right off my head,” Fred confessed.
“I agree completely. Maybe we should give Filch a day off from us?” George suggested.
“Why not? But only just one.”
“Well, that goes without saying.”
“So, tell me again, what exactly are we doing?” Fred asked, walking along, stride for stride, with George.
“Something about flying something or other. She just said to meet her in the entrance hall,” he shrugged. “I don’t ask, I just show up.”
“You’re totally whipped,” Fred shook his head mournfully.
“And that’sssss... bad?”
“It’s seriously dangerous,” he said as they both laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Andrea asked, the twins having just reached her and Lee, who were each holding a pair of kites.
“Nothing,” and, “Everything,” George and Fred both said at the same time.
“That’s what I thought,” Andrea smiled widely.
“Shall we get to it then?” Lee led the way out onto the grounds.
While they meandered towards the shore of the lake, Andrea conveyed to the boys just how the professor said the Muggle kites were supposed to work. “They use the power of the wind to stay in the air. You just let them go, and then use the string to allow them to climb higher and higher, as far as the wind will take them.” When Fred and Lee openly gaped at her with skeptical looks on their faces, Andrea looked at them pleadingly. “The reason it’s supposed to be fun is because it’s simple. It’s something that’s easy and relaxing. Just basic fun.”
“Fine, we’ll give it a go,” Lee sighed.
“It’s better than twiddling our thumbs, I’d wager,” Fred admitted.
Fifteen minutes later, Fred and Lee had to concede that something so simplistic really was fun. Those two were running all about, while Andrea and George stayed more together. Then, when George wasn’t suspecting it, Andrea simply kissed him. They both smiled at each other. “What was that for?” he asked her.
“Nothing and everything,” she wrinkled her nose at him playfully, and he laughed. “Just for being great. I mean, Lee and Fred seriously doubted my assurances that this would be fun.”
George laughed, “Guess I fooled you into thinking I didn’t doubt it either. I just know that I enjoy being with you whatever we do.” Then he kissed her for a moment or two. “Not just because I like kissing you either, though it’s definitely a highlight.”
Andrea laughed with him, though an almost undetectable blush crept across her cheeks.
Someone cleared their throat behind them, and the two both jumped and whirled around.
“Professor Dumbledore!” they both cried.
“Good evening Mr. Weasley and Miss Benning.” Dumbledore merely smiled at the boy and girl in front of him.
“You gave us a fright!” Andrea panted.
“Yes, sorry about that,” he apologized as Fred and Lee ran over to join them. “Good evening, good sirs,” the headmaster acknowledged their arrival. “Lovely evening for some kite flying, isn’t it?”
They all nodded.
“I’m sorry to say, however, that I think it would be best if you four returned to the castle. Things may get a little, ah, interesting out here soon, and it could be dangerous.”
They solemnly nodded and bid farewell to Dumbledore, respecting his wishes.
“Oh, and Miss Benning,” he called after them. She stopped and turned, as did the twins and Lee. “I would like a word with you later tonight in my office, if you’re agreeable to it,” Dumbledore said.
“Of course, Professor,” Andrea consented.
“And Mssrs. Weasley,” he added, a distinct twinkle in his eye, “I know nothing about Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. I have no idea that you’ve been marketing as well as conducting research with the students of my school. I certainly haven’t the slightest clue that the two of you have been using one of the hidden rooms in the Prefect corridor as a lab and experiment room. Absolutley clueless towards everything that is not happening.”
With that, Dumbledore continued on his way, leaving a very smug set of twins in his wake.
~*~*~pg. 595~*~*~
“No!” she shrieked. “NO! This cannot be happening. . . . It cannot. . . I refuse to accept it!”
“You didn’t realize this was coming?” Andrea couldn’t see the small form of Umbridge, but there was no mistaking that gleefully evil voice. “Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow’s weather, you must surely have realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable you would be sacked?”
“You c-can’t!” howled Professor Trelawney, but Andrea couldn’t see her either, there were too many people in front of her, “[Y]ou c-can’t sack me! I’ve b-been here sixteen years! H-Hogwarts is m-my h-home!”
“It was your home,” said Professor Umbridge, “until an hour ago, when the Minister of Magic countersigned the order for your dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this hall. You are embarrassing us.”
The next thing Andrea heard was Professor McGonagall comforting the former Divination teacher. “There, there, Sibyll . . . Calm down. . . . blow your nose on this. . . . It’s not as bad as you think, now. . . . You are not going to have to leave Hogwarts. . . .”
“Oh really, Professor McGonagall? And your authority for that statement is. . . . ?”
“That would be mine,” said a deep voice.
The huge oak doors had just swung open, and George, Fred, Lee and Andrea all moved along with the other students to make way for Dumbledore. Andrea would have bet her broomstick that whatever Dumbledore had been doing out on the grounds was about to come into play any moment. . ..[T]here was something impressive about the sight of him framed in the doorway against an oddly misty night. Leaving the doors wide behind him, he strode forward through the circle of onlookers toward the place where Professor Trelawney sat, tearstained and trembling upon her trunk, Professor McGonagall alongside her, the parting of the throng giving Andrea and the others their first glimpse at just what was going on.
“Yours, Professor Dumbledore?” said Umbridge with a singularly unpleasant little laugh. “I’m afraid you do not understand the position. I have here an Order of dismissal signed by myself and the Minister of Magic. Under the terms of Educational decree Number twenty-three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to inspect, place upon probation, and sack any teacher she - that is to say, I - feel is not performing up to the standard required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her.”
“You are quite right, of course, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid,” Dumbledore went on, “that the power to do that still resides with the headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continue to live at Hogwarts.”
At this, Professor Trelawney gave a wild little laugh in which a hiccup was barely hidden.
“No - no, I-l g-go, Dumbledore! I sh-shall l-leave Hogwarts and s-seek my fortune elsewhere -”
“No,” said Dumbledore sharply. “It is my wish that you remain, Sibyll. Might I ask you to escort Sibyll back upstairs, Professor McGonagall?”
“Of course,” said McGonagall. “Up you get, Sibyll. . . .”
Andrea and the others still couldn’t see anything, but could hear a bit of shuffling, and then heard Professor Flitwick as he squeaked, “Locomotor trunks!”
“And what,” she said in a whisper that nevertheless carried all around the trance hall, “are you going to do with her once I appoint a new Divination teacher who needs her lodgings?”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” said Dumbledore pleasantly. “You see, I have already found us a new Divination teacher, and he will prefer lodgings on the ground floor.”
“You’ve found -?” said Umbridge shrilly. “You’ve found? Might I remind you, Dumbledore, that under Educational decree Twenty-two -”
“- the Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate if - and only if - the headmaster is unable to find one,” said Dumbledore. “And I am happy to say that on this occasion I have succeeded. May I introduce you?”
He turned to face the open front doors, through which night mist was now drifting. All the students heard hooves. There was a shocked murmur around the hall and Andrea, Lee, the twins, and all the rest of the others who’d been standing by the doors hastily moved even farther backward, some of them tripping over in their haste to clear a path for the newcomer.
Andrea audibly gasped, her jaw dropping as she saw the large figure enter the school. He had white-blond hair and astonishingly blue eyes, the head and torso of a man joined to the palomino body of a horse. It was a centaur.
“This is Firenze,” said Dumbledore happily to a thunderstruck Umbridge. “I think you’ll find him suitable.”
Umbridge merely sputtered incomprehensibly.
“Now, I’m sure you all have places to be and things to do, none of which are against any rules,” Dumbledore dismissed the crowd, and they all heeded him and headed their various ways.
~*~*~
After dinner that evening, Andrea set off to Dumbledore’s office, George going along to keep her company in the halls. As they were getting closer to Dumbledore's office, Andrea brought their conversation around to something she’d been noticing lately. “George, I was wondering,” she mused.
“Yes?”
“Is it just me, or has Fred been spending a lot more time with us and a lot less time with random girls?”
“Well, he is my twin,” George started.
“No, I don’t mean anything rude by it. It just seems like, well, when we were first starting our relationship, he’d spend time with us, but almost every night he was off to meet a girl, remember? And now it just seems like he’s not doing that as often.”
George thought for a moment, brow furrowed. “I guess it’s true. Could be that he’s getting to the end of his list and wants to pace himself so he doesn’t run out before the end of the year,” he offered.
“Yeah, I guess it could be,” Andrea gave a laugh.
“Do you remember that day at start of term last fall when we ran into you right outside Dumbledore’s office?” he asked. “The day you punched Potter,” he clarified with a smirk.
“You won’t ever let me forget that day,” she groaned. “I’d forgotten about that part though,” she admitted.
“What? I feel so hurt,” he pouted.
“If I recall, you hardly spoke one word that day,” she poked him as they stepped onto a couple of steps, letting themselves be carried to the top. “Fred did almost all the talking.”
“You kind of kept me speechless at times because I’d get a little nervous,” he admitted, blushing very slightly at the tips of his ears.
Andrea smiled, “That’s really sweet of you to admit,” she spoke softly, then gave him a kiss, which he returned.
Just as they were about to turn the corner and come in sight of the large griffin guarding the Headmaster’s office, they caught part of a conversation going on in the hallway. “Potter is making almost no progress. He can’t sever the ties between his mind and the Dark Lord’s,” Snape’s voice came in a tone of annoyance.
George and Andrea both halted, giving each other quizzical looks before taking positions against the wall, just at the corner, wanting to hear the conversation going on.
“He truly is ruled by emotion, and that is one of his advantages over Voldemort,” Dumbledore replied. Andea and George both gave a small shudder at the mention of the name. “I think it may also be harder for Harry to close his mind of because of the girl as well. They are strongly connected, more than anyone knows, I believe. It was the same way with his father.”
“So I remember,” Snape replied.
“Woah,” George whispered, “I wonder if they’re talking about Harry’s thing with Cho. I don’t think he honestly likes her that much though.”
Andrea merely scoffed, and before she could say anything about George’s guess, Dumbledore’s voice rang out, “Thank you for updating me on his progress. I’m hoping the issue will be resolved soon, but I refuse to interfere in this matter.”
A moment later, Professor Snape came around the corner, spotting George and Andrea immediately. He glared at the two students, and though it was a look of cold cruelty that he used whenever speaking to students not of his house, Andrea could’ve sworn there was a flash of anger aimed directly at her. “Ten points from Gryffindor for eavesdropping.”
“It’s not a crime to overhear something in a hallway,” Andrea flared up, not knowing why exactly she was so angry.
“Make it twenty points,” he snarled before striding away.
“You know it’s better not to put up a fight. Fred and I learned that our first week at Hogwarts,” George laughed. “Ice Mice.” George directed the last at the griffin, who promptly leapt away to reveal the moving staircase to Dumbledore’s office. “I’ll wait for you then?”
“I shouldn’t be too long,” she smiled. “Just””
“I solemnly swear not to use the Extendable Ears.”
Andrea gave him a kiss on the cheek before ascending the steps. When she got to the top, she gave a firm knock and was invited in.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Dumbledore smiled. “Please, sit down,” he motioned to a comfortable chair in front of his desk. “I don’t plan on taking much of your time.”
“It was no trouble to come, Professor,” Andrea said.
“So down to business. Andrea, you need to tell him soon. I wish you had already, but I do understand the agony and uncertainty. Just make it soon.” Andrea nodded.
“You’re excused,” he finished.
~*~*~
“I suppose you’re not going to tell me what Dumbledore wanted to talk to you about?” George asked once they’d left the Headmaster’s office.
“You are quite clever, aren’t you?” Andrea smiled, taking his hand.
“It’s what you have to tell Harry though, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
George really could not stand this. It wasn’t even about the information. It never had been, really; it was the fact that she wouldn’t tell him. “Don’t you trust me?” he sighed miserably.
Andrea halted and turned sideways to face him, and George did the same. She looked right into his eyes. “You know I trust you. The question is, do you trust me to tell you when the time is right?”
George jerked his head back like he’d been stung. Essentially he had. He’d never thought about it like that. He'd been foolish, questioning Andrea's trust of him, and it had planted seeds of mistrust towards her.
Andrea saw his reaction to this question. She saw his shock at the question and the thoughts taking place. She smiled sweetly at him, taking a step closer to him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I am sorry I can’t tell you now.”
“I’m sorry for doubting you.”
“Don’t be. I know that I wouldn’t have had the patience you’ve had with me if the situation were reversed and it was you with the secret,” she confessed, laughing a little. There was a pause before she added, “I’m not really ready to go back to the common room yet.”
“Have anything in mind?” he asked her.
She thought for a moment, then smiled, “Yes, this way.” With that, she turned and started walking in the opposite direction, away from Gryffindor Tower. George, never wanting to miss an adventure ” especially with his girlfriend ” followed along.