A/N: This chapter what...17? Are you seriously still asking if I own HP? I dedicate this chapter to Emily and Shanae. Definitely. Because they fan-girled me on this one. *throws confettie at Em and Sh*
“You were out late,” Sophie noted.
Andrea opened her mouth to speak, but yawned instead.
“Were you with George?” She smiled inquisitively.
Andrea’s face split into a huge grin. “Yes.”
“What were you doing?”
“We went for a ride on my broom out around the lake and the rest of the grounds. Then Umbridge was up prowling this morning before the crack of dawn and gave us detention,” Andrea sighed pleasantly at the memory.
“You are totally love-struck,” Sophie laughed.
“What’s all this?” Terry asked them, meeting the girls on their way to the Great Hall for breakfast as he usually did.
“Andrea spent all night out with George,” Sophie answered.
“So things are going really well?”
“Do you even have to ask?” Sophie laughed again.
“I guess not.”
“We could probably talk about anything we wanted right now and Andrea wouldn’t have the faintest idea. I’d just leave her with her thoughts, but I’m worried she’d run into something.”
“Or someone,” George popped out from behind a tapestry, no doubt using one of the numerous secret passageways he knew by heart.
“Hey! What are you doing up? I thought you have a free period right now and that you’d be sleeping.” Andrea stopped, and Sophie and Terry went on ahead.
George closed the gap between them and then gave her a soft kiss. “Can’t I walk you down to breakfast? Especially after such a spectacular night?”
“Guess I can’t complain about that,” Andrea shrugged playfully and kissed him again. George took her book bag from her and slung it over his shoulder, and then took her hand.
Once they were in the Great Hall, they sat with their various friends, including Lavender and Parvati, who were carrying on about how much they were looking forward to their first Divination lesson with Firenze the Centaur.
“Don’t you wish you were taking Divination now?” Parvati asked Andrea.
George felt a stab of jealousy for a moment, but he realized he needn’t have when Andrea answered, “No, for the millionth time!” She rolled her eyes, and George laughed. Parvati gave him a dirty look, but he didn’t care.
~*~*~
The next month passed by with far more discussion about Firenze by Lavender and Parvati than Andrea would have liked. It would have been different if it wasn’t simply all about how attractive he was. Andrea actually would have listened if they talked at all about some of the things Firenze taught them because she found the few things that Dean and Seamus told her from their lessons to be truly fascinating.
Andrea was having the time of her life, hands down. Being with George, and a lot of the time Fred and Lee, there was never a dull moment. George kept her laughing almost all the time, and if she wasn’t laughing, then she was making him laugh. Her sense of fun and adventure definitely were some of the things that had drawn George to Andrea. She was rather smart and brought a higher quality to the twin’s pranks these days. That is to say, where as their pranks before were just for the sake of pranking, they now pranked with more purpose behind the act. Behind closed doors in the staff room, McGonagall could be heard telling Flitwick, Sprout, and others that she seriously believed that The Trouble Twins had at last reached the heights that the Marauders had in their day.
The twins were still working avidly on their joke products, and Andrea used this time to study. Sophie helped her keep her time balanced, sometimes ruling with the iron fist ” or at least that’s what it felt like to Andrea. When she complained, Sophie merely rattled off the age-old adage: absence makes the heart grow fonder.
George also tried to persuade Andrea to come with him to meetings of the DA. Andrea always politely refused without any explanation. One evening, however, George was a little more insistent. “Please come. They’re loads of fun, dead useful, and there are bound to be loads of new people coming tonight.”
“Really? Why?” she asked him.
“Well, most people don’t think Harry’s a raving lunatic since that interview in the Quibbler. If I remember correctly, it was you who made sure everyone could read it. Isn’t that right?” George raised his eyebrows.
“I’m not going.”
“Why?”
“Well, because...I’ve got to...” she trailed off for a moment, looking around for Sophie, but instead her eyes came across Edward and Roderick. “I’ve got to play Exploding Snap!”
“Exploding Snap?” he asked incredulously.
“Of course! I’ve got to take any chance I can to play so I can keep up on my skills, otherwise I’m going to have a grand old time losing to Rick all summer long. I’ll see you later; I always do.”
George said nothing else. Andrea gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then crossed the common room to where her brother was already setting up a game of Exploding Snap. George met up with his own brother and Lee at the portrait hole and then left for the DA.
~*Pages 607-608*~
Harry had them working on the Patronus at this D.A. meeting. Fred and George had picked it up on almost the first try. They’d been trying their hands at all sorts of complicated charms, hexes and jinxes between the D.A. and their products, and it wasn’t hard at all for them to think of happy memories. It was even easier for George, what with his never-ending fun with Andrea, and Fred had been quick to try to embarrass him about that fact.
Fred and George’s set of large twin tigers had been tackling each other for quite a while when the door of the Room of Requirement opened, though they couldn’t see who had come in, and silence was quickly spreading across the room.
It was Dobby the House Elf, and he was in a right anxious state.
”Harry Potter, sir...” squeaked the elf, trmbling from head to foot, “Harry Potter, sir... Dobby has come to warn you... but the house-elves have been warned not to tell...”
Everyone watched as Harry tried to keep Dobby from punishing himself.
“What’s happened, Dobby?” Harry asked, grabbing the elf’s tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.
“Harry Potter... she... she...”
“Who’s ‘she,’ Dobby?”
It seemed that Dobby couldn’t answer, but George could wager a guess as to who he meant.
”Umbridge?” asked Harry, horrified. The whole room seemed to hold its’ breath.
“What about her? Dobby ” she hasn’t found out about this ” about us ” about the D.A.?”
The unease was mounting quickly in all the members of the D.A. as they remained silent.
“Is she coming?” Harry asked quietly.
Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor. “Yes, Harry Potter, yes!”
Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.
“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” Harry bellowed. “RUN!”
They all pelted toward the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door. Fred, George and Lee knew for a fact that there was no way they’d all get out and away in time. They stepped back a few feet from the frantic crowd and each pulled out a piece of Invisibility Gum. They’d all been keeping a few spare pieces in their pockets since the early test results had been going well. It was for times like these. It wouldn’t give them much invisible time, but they were guaranteed at least one or two minutes. They chewed feverishly, and a moment later, the three vanished.
George smiled to himself, since no one else could see him. “Best thing to do is split up,” he said to Fred and Lee as they rejoined the crowd. “I’m going to head to the library.”
“The Secret Lab,” Fred said.
“Fake detention in the Trophy Room,” Lee added.
~*~*~
“Get your books. Now,” Sophie demanded. “You do not need to practice Exploding Snap. We need to work on Defense.”
“Some best friend you are,” Andrea grumbled.
“Do you want me to hex you with bad breath for a week?”
“I’m going! I’m going!” Andrea said, pushing herself up from the floor, then putting her hands up in surrender. Roderick and Edward were trying hard not to laugh, and they weren’t doing a very good job of it. The last thing she wanted, however, was bad breath. No one wants to kiss someone who has bad breath, she thought.
Two minutes later, Andrea was stepping out of the common room with Sophie, and they headed for the library. Sophie began quizzing Andrea on some of the Defensive theory as they walked. Andrea was glad that her brothers had drilled her for hours each day and worked with her on the practical aspects of Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had a bit of a natural aptitude for the subject, and caught on quickly, but she was worried that she was getting rusty on the practical side. Every few weeks Andrea and Sophie slipped into an unused classroom to try a few of the spells they were supposed to be learning that year in their studies.
“All right,” Sophie continued, rifling through some of her old notes from fourth year, “tell me some of the signs of a person who is being controlled under the Imperius Curse.”
“Vacant expression, doing things they would never do... but that's rather obvi””
The girls were nearly knocked off their feet as they turned the corner, and their books and papers flew everywhere. Someone had run right into them.
Andrea looked around, but could see no one. She could have sworn she heard George’s familiar laughter.
“Sorry, girls, I didn’t know you’d be coming ‘round the corner.”
Andrea dropped the rest of the books she’d managed to hold onto, because that was most definitely George’s voice. Then she was further astounded when the things she’d dropped began picking themselves up off the floor.
She turned her head to see that Sophie’s face looked just as surprised as she felt herself.
“George?” Andrea asked tentatively, rooted to the spot.
“What?” he laughed.
“Er, where are you?”
“I’m right in front of your face, of course,” he answered. The books and papers had all been cleaned up from the floor and were now positioned at arm level.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
George stepped forward, putting a hand on Andrea’s shoulder.
She jumped and screamed, startling George, who dropped all the things he’d just picked up. That was when he finally noticed that he couldn’t see his own hand.
“BLIMEY! I’m still invisible!”
“You’re what?” Sophie asked.
George gave a great whoop before explaining. “It’s the Invisibility Gum! Fred and I have been working on some different prototypes, and they work all right, but it just doesn’t last very long,” he spoke quickly, excited beyond belief. “I guess that the effects last longer if you chew it more vigorously at the beginning! We keep a bit in our pockets, you see, in case we run into an emergency, and tonight Umbridge was on her way to catch us all in the D.A.! So the key is to chew like your life depends on it! This is brilliant! The faster you chew, the longer it lasts!”
The next second Andrea and the Invisible George were locked in an intense, breath-taking kiss. Then George gave another whoop, jumping in the air”though the girls still couldn’t see him. “Listen, I’ve got to go and talk about this with Fred, but I’ll see you later in the common room.”
They heard him bound away down the corridor, and then broke into laughter.
“I’ll tell you one thing: kissing an invisible guy was not bad at all,” Andrea said after they’d finally collected their things and started walking again.
~*~*~
Fred and George grinned as they listened to some passing sixth year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws talk about what had happened in Dumbledore’s office the night before. That was the only thing people seemed to be talking about first thing that morning at breakfast, in whispers during class and during the break.
The twins were on break between Transfiguration and Potions. They only had four classes as it was: Transfiguration, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms.
Charms had been one of the classes they knew would be useful in their development of new products, and they’d each received an O in the subject. They hadn’t really studied, but they had intentionally procured a detention from Professor Flitwick. They’d coaxed the professor to give them an intensive review session for their punishment.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was with Lupin fifth year, so they’d excelled in their tests.
Besides the fact that Potions would be another useful class in their endeavors in Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, Fred and George couldn’t very well drop the subject and leave Snape in peace. They earned the O’s in that subject just to spite the greasy, Gryffindor-hating professor.
Though they hadn’t even achieved O.W.L.s in Transfiguration, McGonagall had insisted they continue in the subject, insisting they could have full-well received O’s in the subject if they had actually written real answers to the test instead of precisely opposite answers interspersed with proclamations of love to their Transfiguration teacher. The twins suspected McGonagall wanted to keep an eye on them, but also that she was just plain fond of them.
“You know, George,” Fred said, “this year I like McGonagall more than ever. She so obviously loathes Umbridge, but she loathes her with dignity.”
“Too true.”
“Hang it all, here comes Montague,” Fred groaned, gazing down the Charms corridor.
“Let’s loathe with dignity, shall we?” George smiled.
Just as they’d expected, Montague came to a halt a few meters away from them, an ugly smile on his face. “It’s too bad Gryffindor can be absolutely flattened in Quidditch now,” he guffawed.
The twins shared an amused look. “That’s very nearly a compliment, Montague,” George laughed. “Don’t you think, Fred?”
“Sounded like it to me. One of the smartest things that’s ever come out of his mouth.”
Montague sputtered for a moment before growling in frustration. “Don’t mess with me anymore; I’m a member of the Inquisitorial Squad!”
“And what is that? Some sort of support group for all the students who don’t have brains?” Fred said to much laughter from the crowd that was starting to gather.
“Shut your mouth. It’s more like Umbridge’s group of specially selected students who can take points away from the houses if they feel like it. Now, because I’ve hated you two for ten years now””
“You didn’t even know us ten years ago,” George pointed out.
“”I’d say that should cost Gryffindor about””
Montague didn’t get to finish. Fred quickly cast a Silencing Charm on the Slytherin and then shoved him headfirst into the Vanishing Cabinet that was just behind him.
“The bloke never did learn to mind his surroundings,” George smirked.
Someone grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. It was Andrea. “Do you even care about the rules now that Dumbledore’s gone?”
“Not particularly,” he answered a bit hesitantly. This was not the first questionable act he and his twin had participated in since the sun rose.
Fred was about to leave, seeing that the Golden Couple might need a moment, but Andrea latched onto his arm. “Look, just don’t get caught. Everyone knows the mischief around here can be credited to either you or Peeves. Just don’t leave any solid evidence. Now, I need your help. I just came from Potions, and after class, Umbridge came sauntering in.”
The twins looked at Andrea, slightly surprised by how she was dealing with the new developments.
“She demanded Veritaserum. Snape was hesitant at first, but then””
“Hang on,” Fred interupted.
“How do you know all of this?” George voiced the question they were both thinking.
“I know a couple of guys with Invisibility Gum,” she grinned, then continued. “Bottom line, she’s going to use it on Harry during lunch. Make sure you’ve got something big planned.”
~*Page 634*~
Fred and George were heroes that night in the Gryffindor common room.
Andrea, who had been studying with Hermione and Sophie for an hour after dinner, followed closely after Hermione as she pressed her way through the mass of people crowding around the Trouble Twins.
”They were wonderful fireworks,” she said admiringly.
“Thanks,” said George, looking both surprised and pleased. “Weasleys’ Wildfire Whiz-Bangs. Only thing is, we used our whole stock, we’re going to have to start again from scratch now. . . .”
“It was worth it, though,” said Fred. “If you want to add your name to the waiting list, Hermione, it’s five Galleons for your Basic Blaze box and twenty for the Deflagration Deluxe. . . .”
Hermione didn’t make any preorder, but went on her way. Once Hermione had moved, Andrea could finally see the twins. She watched for a moment. Fred and George were practically made for the marketing world, and they obviously loved it. Finally, Andrea took a few more steps forward and reached out to take George’s hand.
He turned to face her and saw the secretive glint in Andrea’s eyes. He quickly ducked out of the crowd with her, letting her lead the way out of the common room. Once they climbed out of the portrait hole, Andrea pulled George around to face her, and he slowly backed her up to the wall, grinning. “Sophie let you off studying tonight?”
“Hard to believe, but yes,” she answered, then followed up with a kiss.
“Where exactly are we going?” George finally aksed after a minute or two.
“Wherever we end up,” Andrea replied, using the line George had used on her before.
“I think I know just the place.” George led her away from Gryffindor Tower and took her hand as they ducked into one of the numerous secret passages.
Where they ended up was one of the smaller towers near the Astronomy Tower. It was still significantly higher than most of the towers and allowed for an excellent view of the many fireworks that were still going strong in the sky. They didn’t stay out too long since Andrea had to stay on top of her studies now that O.W.L.s were so close.
“How was your outing with George?” Sophie asked after Andrea had crawled into bed.
“Best. Night. Ever.”
Sophie and Hermione laughed.
“All of your nights out with George are the ‘best nights ever,’” Hermione said.
Andrea merely sighed dreamily in reply.
“Good night, Mrs. George Weasley,” Sophie teased.
Andrea chuckled. “Good night.”
And, except for another startled awakening from an otherwise perfectly normal dream, it was a good night.
Ending note: basically, I think I can’t do much better than this chapter, so I think I’ll stop now. The end...wink wink.
Actually, I need to do a quick poll with you awesome readers of this story. Since I write this for you, I want your opinion.
Sirius COULD make an appearance. It would still be about 3 or 4 chapters away, but he could possibly make an appearance in Hogsmeade. If he does, we’ll find out what the Harry-Andrea thing is when/if he appears.
Do you want to see him or not?