No disclaimer. Just a note that says that the part of OotP that this corresponds to starts on pate 656 of the American Edition.
A/N: I can’t thank Emily and Shanae enough. They’ve been such wonderful betas. It’s crazy to think that I’m almost done with this story. The epilogue is written, and I’ve started parts of the sequel...but we’ll see. I’ve got to finish this one first, and then...I’m going to buckle down on my Marauder story. I’ve been writing on that one since last summer. (That’s actually why this one isn’t finished yet...)
Someone was shaking her awake. That someone had better have a good explanation. It was Saturday morning, and there was not a Quidditch game. “Andrea, it’s Darren.” Sophie’s voice invaded her sleepy mind. “He’s in the fire again.”
“What?” She sat up and reached for her robe. “He is such a brother,” she grumbled.
Trudging down the stairs, she knew it was still indecently early. Why in the world would he be talking to her right now anyway? He should be enjoying his breakfast with his one true love. However, she forgot her annoyance when she saw the look on Darren’s face.
“Darren what happened?”
“This is all your fault!”
“What happened?” she asked.
“Well, I did just what you said, the daisies everywhere, conjured up a hot breakfast.”
“Yes, and then?” Andrea prodded.
“So then I went to her room, and she was sleeping, and just the way she was laying there with the sun starting to shine on her face, she was so beautiful. I couldn’t wake her up because I just wanted to watch her sleep.”
There were a few sighs and other sounds of approval from some girls who were passing on their way to breakfast and had stopped to listen. Darren blushed, and Andrea shooed them away. Then Darren continued. “So finally, I brush her hair off of her cheek and she stirs and wakes up, and she asked me what I was doing there. So I kissed her, and then I just said it. Like you said, she was totally surprised. So then we went into the kitchen for breakfast, and she was really happy and gave me quite the kiss to thank me.”
“Darren, I like to think I’m pretty smart, but I’m just not seeing the problem here.”
“I’m getting to that part. We’re eating, and I was just watching her, and she was a little embarrassed about how she looked, having just woken up, but I told her I thought she looked beautiful.”
“Is your problem that you’re getting too cute for your own comfort?”
He ignored her comment and plowed on with his story “So I’m sitting there thinking to myself that the moment was absolutely perfect and that I wanted to be like that for the rest of my life, so I asked her to marry me.”
“You asked who to marry you?” Someone had evidently told Roderick that his brother was in the fire and he’d just knelt down next to Andrea.
“Rachel,” Andrea answered.
“That’s absolutely spiffing, D,” Roderick said with a silly grin on his face.
“So why are you here when you’ve just gotten yourself engaged?” Andrea reprimanded him.
“Well, I don’t exactly know if I’m engaged or not. See I sort of Apparated back home after I realized what I’d said.”
Roderick began laughing at his brother.
Andrea was in disbelief. “You should be so glad that I’m not in proximity to hit you, you idiot!”
“What? This is all your fault! Why am I the one you want to punch?”
“Rachel is the best thing that has ever happened to you!”
“I know!”
“Okay, so here is what you’re going to do,” Andrea seethed, though it was a groggy seething. “You’re going to Apparate right back to her house and beg her to say yes if she can stand your stupidity. Then you’re going to get married so that I can go back up to my bed and sleep.”
“What? You mean today?”
“I can’t talk to you anymore. I can’t do this when I’m this tired. Just go get Rachel to say yes.”
“Congratulations mate,” Roderick said, “on the engagement and giving us something to tease you mercilessly about for the rest of your life.”
“I’ll tell you the rest of the story later,” Andrea called from the stairs.
“Rest of the story?” Roderick smirked at Darren.
Darren groaned, “This is horrid.” Then he popped out of the fire and Roderick shrugged and went back to his bed as well.
~*~*~
George and Andrea ate their meals together as usual. Word had spread quickly about the engagement of the Kestrals' Keeper Darren Benning to one of its Chasers, the superb Rachel Cunningham. They’d been engaged by the time Andrea had decided it was a decent hour to crawl out of bed. It seemed that every girl in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff wanted to hear the story, because they’d heard it was rather romantic. Andrea told them most of the story, leaving out the part about Darren’s Disapparation right after he’d popped the question. She was very pleased that it was partially spurred on by her wonderful idea.
George was glad that Andrea was being asked to recount the story everywhere she went. It allowed him to be with her without having to worry about their awkward moment when she’d said, you know, those three words - the L-Bomb, and he’d said thank you. As the fifth year’s O.W.L.s were coming up pretty quickly, Andrea spent almost all of her time in the library studying. While Andrea didn’t feel it terribly important to study, her parents had made it clear that she was to take her time at Hogwarts seriously or else she wouldn’t have quite the fun time she planned on whenever she was home.
Towards the end of the holidays Fred and George were given an interesting proposition when Ginny showed up to speak to them in their Secret Lab one afternoon. They were surprised that she even knew where the place was, but they were learning to be less and less surprised by their clever younger sister. She didn’t waste any time getting to the point of her visit either.
“Something’s really gnawing at Harry and he wants to talk with Sirius about it. Umbridge’s fire isn’t-”
“Being watched,” Fred finished her thought. She nodded.
“We could draw her away from her office, no problem,” George shrugged.
“The question is with what?” Fred scratched his head.
They were both silent for a moment or two and began pacing. Ginny smiled, knowing the geniuses were at work. She left, confident that they could do it themselves. Besides, she didn’t much fancy being entirely in on the plan, Mum would have a riot if she knew Ginny was planting ideas in the twins’ heads.
~*~*~
Later that evening Andrea and Sophie were over against the wall by the windows in the common room. Sophie with her back against the cool stone, her legs stretched out in front of her, Andrea with her back on the floor and her legs propped up against the wall. Sophie was reading the extensive career planning packet on Healing and Medi-Wizardry. Andrea had taken one of everything else and was casually flipping through them one by one and then tossing them over to Dean, who was playing a game of wizard’s chess nearby with Seamus and had no idea what he wanted to do when he got out of Hogwarts. For Andrea, it was easy, and she was merely trying to keep herself entertained. Sophie decided to go and write to her parents about what she was reading in the packet from St. Mungo’s, and left Andrea there against the wall by herself.
It wasn’t too long before the portrait hole opened and the Trouble Twins entered, each with the evidence on their faces that they were doing some serious thinking. They spotted Andrea in her jeans and sweatshirt with her legs propped up against the wall and decided to join her. They plopped down on either side of her, though with their backs against the wall as Sophie had done.
“Hey,” Andrea greeted, propping herself up on her elbows. “I was wondering where you two were.”
“We thought you’d be busy studying, so we-” George started, but was interrupted by Fred.
“George thought you’d be busy studying, so I decided I needed to take the chance to work on some of our projects,” Fred explained tersley, though he was smiling.
“All right, that’s pretty much the real story,” George conceded.
“George, I’m distracting for you from your enterprise? How sweet!” The three laughed. “What’s up though? You’ve been doing some serious thinking.”
“Well, we’re trying to think up a big diversion to get Umbridge away from her office so that Harry can get in.”
“What? Why does he need to get in Umbridge’s office?”
“Young Harry fancies a chat with someone in London,” Fred stated.
“Why can’t he just use the Gryffindor fire? Obviously Umbridge is monitoring, but she let me talk to Darren just a couple of days ago. Surely she doesn’t hate Harry so much that he can’t use the fire.”
“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than you think,” George was trying to find a way out of telling her that it was because Harry wanted to talk to the wanted Sirius Black, and that Umbridge had almost caught him in the fire last term.
“Well, who does he want to talk to?” she looked between the twins, but knew she wouldn’t be getting the name from them. “Sirius Black?” she asked in a whisper.
Fred gasped and George’s jaw dropped in surprise. Andrea smiled, chuckling to herself in satisfaction. “Your parents aren’t the only ones who work for the Order,” she explained in a low voice. “Now, what have you thought of so far?”
“Well, nothing is really big enough,” Fred pushed this big revelation about Andrea’s knowledge of the Order behind him.
“Besides the fireworks.”
“But she already knows to just leave them alone.”
“Everything else would only get him about five minutes.”
Andrea laid back down on the ground, now trying to think of which of the Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes products would work. Then she thought of something, and propped herself back up on her elbows again. “What about the swamp?”
“We thought about it.”
“But we can’t,” Fred shook his head.
“Why not?”
“It’s just a prototype.”
“We’ve never been able to test it.”
“Then it’s perfect! If something goes wrong with it, there’ll be just that much more of a catastrophe,” Andrea pointed out.
“She’s got a point,” Fred smiled.
“You’re bloody brilliant, A.”
“I know,” she smiled. George gave her a quick kiss as he and Fred got up and made their way across the common room to go and talk to Harry. Andrea went back to skimming through the career pamphlets. She was to meet with McGonagall tomorrow during Defense Against the Dark Arts, which meant she’d be able to escape Umbridge. That was a truly gratifying feeling.
~*~*~
“Hey George.”
“Yeah?”
“I have to ask you, why didn’t you just say it?”
“I don’t know.” George knew Fred was asking him about Andrea and the ‘I love you’ without any clarification, even though he’d brought it up out of the blue. “Because I never have.”
“But you do right?”
“I guess,” he mused. “I don’t know. How do you know?”
“I just think you know, you know?”
George thought about this for a moment.
“Yeah, I do. Why don’t you choose? I mean, you have to like one more than the others right?”
“Yeah, but now I don’t deserve her because I’m such a player,” Fred answered dejectedly, dodging a couple of second years as they plowed their way up to Transfiguration.
It was the morning of Operation Serious Sirius Chat. They’d spent a good five minutes congratulating themselves on the name before they’d gone on with the rest of the plans. They’d made a few back up plans even though they knew there was only one plan that would work. Stage one had gone off without a hitch: they’d planted the box with the swamp in the east wing.
“I’m kind of excited for this, you know?” Fred said after a minute.
“Me too, mostly, it’s just, circumstances being what they are. . .”
“It’s not the end of the world, George.”
“That’s because you’ve got nothing to lose,” he sighed, looking at his twin.
“Spoken like a true emotional wreck,” Fred gave him a shove as he opened the door to McGonagall’s classroom.
~*~*~
Andrea was surprised to find George waiting at the top of the stone steps that led down to the dungeons and Potions. Usually he just saved her a seat in the Great Hall. She was glad to see him though, Potions had been particularly excruciating. “Hello you,” she smiled.
“Hey,” he took her hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Mind if I steal her away, Soph?”
“Go ahead. Just bring her back in one piece, you hear,” Sophie instructed.
“It’d just be a bit of good practice for you if she came back with a broken arm though, wouldn’t it?” George winked. Andrea whacked his arm. “Honestly, it’s me you should be worried about. Need I remind us all of a little thing I like to call ‘the time Andrea punched Potter?’”
Sophie laughed and left the two them. Andrea put her hands on her hips, pretending to be rather angry. “It’s been almost three whole weeks since you mentioned that. I thought you’d forgotten, or at least decided not to torture me about it anymore.”
“Never,” he beamed. “Now come on.” He took her hand again and led her out of the Entrance Hall and out onto the grounds.
“Where are we going? I’m starving!”
“It’s a surprise; but don’t worry, I think I should know my own girlfriend well enough that I should bring sustenance if it’s going to be a lunchtime excursion,” he responded, giving her one of his smiles that always made her insides melt.
She stopped, pulling George so he was facing her and planted a soft kiss on his lips.
“I thought you were hungry.”
“I am, I am!”
He laughed, “There’ll be plenty of time for that once we get where we’re going.”
“Okay, I promise not to hinder our progress anymore.”
They walked for another fifteen minutes or maybe more. They’d walked so far along the edge of the Forbidden Forest that the castle was no longer in sight. The lake was off in the distance as well. They climbed up a small grassy hill, covered with freshly blooming wildflowers, a few small isolated trees at the top. George lifted his wand, “Accio Basket.”
A moment or two later a large picnic basket came zooming towards them. George caught it and then set it down on the grass. He pulled out a large blanket and spread it out on the ground. The two then pulled off their long black robes, setting them to the side. Andrea kicked off her shoes and George loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves. He pulled out some sandwiches, drinks, fruits, sweets, everything for a nice picnic lunch.
After they finished eating Andrea looked at her watch. “I guess I won’t really make it to Arithmancy on time if I’ve only got three minutes until class starts. I hate walking in late, because I feel like I’m distracting everyone, so I suppose I’ll just skip today.”
“Good,” George smiled, “because I didn’t much feel like trudging back up to Charms either, and I’d’ve felt bad if you had to walk back to the castle by yourself.” He leaned back and settled his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky. Andrea settled herself next to him and they spent the next hour talking, laughing, sharing a few kisses, and just sitting in silence from time to time, watching the clouds roll by above them, simply enjoying each others company.
There was a moment when they were just watching the clouds silently that Andrea thought she knew a bit of what Darren had been talking about the other morning. George was holding her hand in his and let it rest on his chest. She looked over at him, he had his eyes closed, a faint smile gracing his lips. Then an odd feeling struck her, the feeling that everything was absolutely perfect, and that she could see herself doing this with George fifty years from now. It was a very serene sort of feeling.
Eventually Andrea looked at her watch again. She gave a heavy sigh, and rolled onto her elbow so she could look at George head on. “As much as I’d love to stay here for the rest of the day with you, I’ve got to get back. I’m supposed to meet with McGonagall for my Career Advisement.”
~*~*~
When they got up to McGonagall’s office, she wasn’t there yet, so George waited with Andrea. As each moment wore on, Andrea noticed that he seemed to be growing more and more apprehensive. “Hey, are you worried about the swamp thing? Is there anything I can help with?”
“No, not really, everything’s worked out,” he insisted. “Actually,” he spoke after a moment, “I need you to do something. I don’t know if Harry’s got a look out while he’s in Umbridge’s office. Hermione isn’t exactly keen on the whole plan, and I told Ron that if he wanted to see what we were going to do that he should come to the third floor in the east wing.”
“Don’t say another thing. Consider it handled.”
“Thanks,” he gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Actually, there’s something else.”
“Oh?”
“Well, Fred and I are pretty sure that we’ll probably have to, well, that’s not so important as, but because we might, I just wanted. . .” he was beginning to trail off.
“George, you’re rambling incomprehensibly.”
“Sorry,” he laughed. He put a hand on her cheek, his other arm wrapping around her waist to pull her close. “I just wanted you to know that I-”
Andrea didn’t find out what he was going to say though because at that moment, Peeves came zooming around the corner, shouting a string of profanities and dropping dung bombs everywhere, Professor McGonagall on his heels, using her wand to vanish the bombs, yelling at Peeves to shut his mouth. Needless to say, the couple broke apart.
“Miss Benning, I’m sorry I’m late,” McGonagall said, unlocking her door. “Mr. Weasley, you should be in class. Run along now.”
George nodded and turned to go on his way. He wasn’t about to give Andrea a proper goodbye with McGonagall watching them.
Andrea followed McGonagall into her office. The professor motioned to a chair in front of her desk, and the two each took their seats. “All right Miss Benning, straight to business. We are here to discuss your future and what you might be considering as a career. We’ll also determine which subjects you should continue in to reach your goals. Now, I trust you’ve been looking over the information provided in the Gryffindor common room?”
“Yes.”
“Very good. Has anything jumped out that particularly interests you?”
“Well, from the pamphlets themselves, not entirely. . .”
“Ah,” Professor McGonagall gave a small smile. “Say no more. You are a Benning after all. Professional Quidditch then?”
“Yes, that’s been my plan since I was five.”
“A high goal, yet it’s entirely attainable. I’ll expect that you try out for the house team next year. What position do you play?”
“Chaser.”
“Since Miss Johnson and Miss Spinnet will be leaving us, there will be a couple of spots open. Now, I want you to understand that your studies are still an important factor. I suggest that you continue in your best subjects. In addition to the fact that I require the students on my team to maintain certain marks in their subjects, a dedicated student who strives for top grades will show the talent scouts and coaches that you’re a hard worker, and that will give you a leg up on a chance at playing professionally. Understand?”
Andrea smiled and nodded at her professor. McGonagall pulled a leaflet from a pile on the side of her desk and opened it. “Now, I suggest you continue in Transfiguration, as I think you are particularly gifted in the subject. Defense Against the Dark Arts as well, though it seems Dolores Umbridge isn’t very pleased with you,” Andrea thought she saw a look of amusement when she said this. “Are you enjoying Arithmancy?”
“It’s a bit challenging, and I like it, but I actually prefer Astronomy.”
“Good, you should continue on with that as well then and drop Arithmancy. Charms will always be useful, and you’re well enough off in there. Do you wish to continue in Muggle Studies?”
“I like it well enough, but I don’t think I really want to study it anymore.”
“Fair enough. I also think you’ve come as far as you need to in Herbology, it’s not exactly your best subject.”
“I know,” Andrea mumbled.
“Now, Professor Snape says that you lack the motivation needed to become proficient in the art of potions making. However, I’ve known Severus long enough to be able to interpret what this really means. You must be really quite good, but you don’t think it’s quite worth your time. Am I right?”
Andrea laughed, “Pretty much.”
“Professor Snape is very annoyed with this it seems, he’s spoken to me once about it before. Now, aside from Potions coming in handy, not everyone is skilled in brewing them. I think you ought to continue because ease in Potions is rare. If I may ask a bit of a favor, I also want you to continue in the subject because if you really concentrated and began to excel in the subject, it would rather irritate Professor Snape, and I hate to miss an opportunity at that.”
“Are you serious, Professor?” Andrea laughed.
McGonagall smiled, her eyes twinkling with mirth. “Quite.”
“I’ll do it.”
“You’ll need top marks to get in, but I suspect you’ll be able to manage it quite easily enough. So it looks like you’ll be continuing in Astronomy, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration. History of Magic too, of course, but from now on you’ll attend a simple bi-weekly lecture series, which is required of all sixth and seventh year students. How does that all sound?”
“A little overwhelming when you say them together, actually.”
“I have every confidence in you, Andrea. Now, you’re excused to go down to dinner. Classes will be out in a few moments and I won’t make you go to Defense Against the Dark Arts today.”
“Thank you, Professor,” Andrea stood and left. Instead of walking down to the Great Hall, she made her way along to the corridor with Umbridge’s office. A bell sounded and students began pouring out of their classes just as she got there. She stood over to the side of the hall, partly hidden by a statue. There was a huge bang off in the distance, and Andrea smiled. The plan was in motion. She watched Umbridge’s office, waiting for the door to open. George had told her that Harry would be using his invisibility cloak.
It wasn’t long before the door opened and then closed, seemingly of its own accord. About ten minutes later she was still watching the door, but listening for any approaching footsteps. Soon she heard the quick steps and wheezing of Filch. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“I fancied a bit of advice from Professor Umbridge, is that so wrong?” she lied.
“She’s off dealing with those Trouble Twins. Now clear off!”
When he turned around, she raised her wand and muttered, “Sonorus,” aiming at his feet. The sound of his rickety steps was instantly magnified, and Andrea smiled and ducked around the corner. He still had to walk the rest of the hallway before he got to Umbridge’s office, and she hoped it would be enough time for Harry to hear him approaching and get out of the fire and under the invisibility cloak.
She waited with bated breath. Filch came out, clutching a piece of parchment and going on about how he’d finally be able to do it. Andrea waited until the office door opened and closed again, then she waited a moment until she knew she’d be behind Harry. Sure enough, a floor down and closer to the Entrance Hall, Harry appeared out of nowhere, slipping a silvery garment into his schoolbag. She followed him the rest of the way and was shocked when they got to where the entire school seemed to be assembled around Fred and George, who were face to face with Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad.
“So. . . you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?”
“Pretty amusing, yeah,” said Fred, looking back up at her without the slightest sign of fear.
“I’ve got the form, Headmistress,” Filch said hoarsely. “I’ve got the form and I’ve got the whips waiting. . . . Oh, let me do it now. . . .”
“Very good, Argus,” she said. “You two,” she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, “are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school.”
“You know what?” said Fred. “I don’t think we are.”
He turned to his twin.
“George,” said Fred, “I think we’ve outgrown full-time education.”
Andrea gaped at them.
“Yeah, I’ve been feeling that way myself,” said George lightly.
“Time to test our talents in the real world, d’you reckon?” asked Fred.
“No. Unbelievable,” Andrea whispered. She seemed to be one of the few who knew what was coming. She saw Lee across the way looking a bit upset because he knew too.
“Definitely,” said George.
Next moment they were summoning their brooms, announcing their departure, the opening of their own shop in Diagon Alley, and giving Peeves the solemn responsibility of driving Umbridge past her wit’s end. Then they were gone with thundering applause from the crowd that clearly adored the Trouble Twins.