Chapter 5
Hogwarts Express. 1991.
"Can you imagine? Harry Potter!" Riley repeated, still amazed by the rumors that went around the train.
"Some Ravenclaw girl said he was in a compartment with a Weasley," Lumini said, frowning as she pronounced that last name.
"From experience, maybe we should rescue that boy from those two beasts." Riley suggested. "The time we sat with them, we ended up fearing the sorting ceremony."
"One and Two are not the type of guys who just give homecoming parties, we were targeted because they had a grunt with me since before," sighed the girl, rolling her eyes when she remembered their first meeting.
"Guess he won't be in much danger with Percy, then," reasoned the blond-haired one. "The worst thing he could do is ask him to recite the school rules," he snorted.
"There is not such a thing as a Weasley being good company." Lumini said. "The boy survived the Dark Lord only to be killed with the stupidity of some gingerbread men. We should save him before he starts making bad decisions."
"We should stop flattering an eleven-year-old boy," Jovvian said, looking out the window to ignore his friends.
"You don't need to be jealous," Riley scoffed, slapping the other boy on the shoulder.
"You're still the only one with common sense and a brain in the group," Lumini agreed, making him smile.
"Let's keep thinking that two out of the three of us aren't the children of the people who helped the man who killed his parents," he murmured, wiping the smile from everyone's faces.
"I think that's kinda cool," Riley said.
"And I think there are more important things to talk about," Lumini intervened, trying to get the conversation off that horrid track. "What are your thoughts on Hogsmeade?"
"It's an opportunity to go to Zonko's and arm yourself to the teeth against the Weasleys," the blonde encouraged, gaining a complaint from Jovvian.
"Are you still going at it this year?" Jovvian sighed heavily. "You have been fighting like children for two years, I really thought that at 13 you would all become less idiotic."
"Age and idiocy have nothing to do with each other," Riley said.
"And it's not like we force you to participate…" Lumini defended her case.
"Do you have someone else to steal Flitwick's books and Snape's ingredients?" He scoffed.
"You are necessary and we appreciate you," the girl smiled. "But if that's what you want, I'm not going to do anything… if they don't start it."
"You're putting the fate of my year's peace in the Weasleys," the boy laughed at his own disgrace. "The only thing left to question is if the twins have learned to behave."
"If Lumini hasn't learned, what makes you think they have?" The blonde received a punch from the girl.
"I know how to behave perfectly fine," she defended herself. "And I swear that I won't do anything if it's not to take revenge."
"We trust you, honey."
**
However, the promise of being innocent of starting a new fight was incredibly difficult.
Lumini had missed that opportunity at the Quidditch match, the same with that time in the dining room, but now the situation seemed to have aligned up completely at her favor.
She knew that the Weasleys and Lee Jordan were heading to DADA class and that they were extremely late, just as Riley and herself. That scenario implied that there was no one in the hallways, that Jovvian was not there to disapprove her attitude, and that she could return that last joke from last year.
"Do you remember the spell that Jovvian taught us? The one with the water?" Riley knew perfectly well that when her friend spoke in whispers, nothing good would come from it.
"I teared the page out of the book," said the boy, beginning to stir the things in his bag. Lumini felt the sudden urge to kiss the boy's cheek to celebrate that clever move of his. The smile she shared with the boy didn't fade until she pulled her wand.
"Should we back up a bit?" The children only took a few vague steps back before smiling again. "Hucaquae."
Riley always admired how her friend could whisper a spell but still make it clear enough to work. However, both of them underestimated the reach it would have.
According to what they had read, any nearby water source would reach whoever the spell was cast onto until they were soaked.
Lumini truly had believed that the spell would only cause the water in the bathroom that was a few feet from them to rise and fall completely on the Weasleys and their friend, but the girl had not foreseen the pipes behind the walls.
And so the wall appeared to be hit from the inside, hard enough to destroy the pipes, making a very loud noise before breaking entirely and letting the water run out. What Lumini thought would be just a joke in which the boys would end up wet from head to toe, had ended with the corridor full of the wall remains and flooded, with more water falling for every second the five teens stood in the middle of the hall, still shocked by the destruction witnessed.
When the twins turned around, confused by the scene, they managed to appreciate the girl putting away her wand, just as wet as they were and with blood pouring from a wound on her head caused by a stone that had flown directly at her.
"This one went very wrong," laughed one of the twins, observing the disaster for which she would surely get into a lot of trouble.
"Are you okay?" Meanwhile, the other twin approached Lumini with his gaze fixed on the blood that fell down the side of her face.
"Weasleys! Gretchsheer!"
Unfortunately for everyone present, the nearest classroom had belonged to Professor McGonagall, and there was no way she hadn't heard the wall crash. The woman was rapidly approaching at a quick pace and frowning at the five children.
"We didn't do anything," the twins rushed to reply.
"Neither did we," Riley reacted just as quick, crossing his arms and looking annoyed.
"We don't even know what they did to cause this whole mess," said Lee, pointing in all directions in incredulousness.
"How could we know that kind of magic ?!" Lumini questioned, looking as offended as possible.
Only then did Riley remember that he still had that paper in his hand, and with the most sneaky movement he managed, tried to put his hand in his pocket. But everyone knew that McGonagall was no fool.
Placing her outstretched hand in front of the blond-haired boy, the woman reluctantly received the piece of parchment within seconds.
"I understand that your friend Jovvian has been helping many teachers to organize their office," said the woman, with anger souring her face. "And the book from which this page was torn, I understand, is one that Mr. Flitwick keeps very preciously in a drawer of his desk."
The alarms of the two Slytherins ringed up when the integrity of the only innocent of their group seemed to be questioned.
"I wanted to make him company while he worked." A sense of panic took over Lumini as she said those words. "He didn't even notice when I forced the lock."
"And then I took care of fixing the broken lock," Riley added, in an attempt to reinforce the story.
McGonagall stared at them, looking for any indication of a lie.
"Are you seriously considering that the best student of our generation is involved in our silly prank fight?" The girl's voice trembled slightly as she prepare to do anything in her will to save Jovvian's reputation.
"Your so-called silly prank fight has gone too far." The woman changed the subject, returning to the present facts.
"We haven't done anything!" One of the twins defended himself.
"To be fair, everyone knows they did do something." Lumini pointed at them accusatorily. "Either they're about to do it, or they've already done it, or they're planning it."
"Although I know that this may be true, no one deserves to be punished for an assumption."
"They're out of class!" Riley accused. "That, at least, deserves punishment."
"You are too!" Lee exclaimed. "And we didn't destroy half the school."
"This time!" Lumini pointed, recalling past incidents.
"Alright but this time who is the one who deserves punishment?" Said one of the twins.
"Luni is hurt! You should be ashamed of trying to get her punished."
"You all deserve a punishment!" The teacher's voice was heard over the discussion of the young people. "Fifty points less for Slytherin, for damage to the school property!" Ten points from each for being out of class! All five are grounded after dinner! Mr. Weasley, Miss Gretchsheer, go see Madam Pomfrey for those wounds! Everyone else, to their classes."
The woman did not wait for any response or contradiction, she just walked away, completely aware that everyone would follow her orders.
"Jovvian is going to be so mad at you," Riley mocked, starting to walk towards his classroom.
Lumini followed the path to the infirmary quickly after that, looking the most annoyed she could knowing that one of the Weasleys had to go in the same direction.
As they walked in silence, the girl stopped to consider if she actually needed to apologize. The twins had never inflicted any physical harm on her with their teasing and perhaps, in that occasion, she had overdone the size of the prank. She worried about the boy's split lip and couldn't help but glance at him as he walked beside her.
But the Weasley had raised his head after noticing her staring, which had caused Lumini to flinch and look at the ground again, dismissing the idea of any apology.
"You know ...?" The boy's voice came out shaky as he thought carefully about the words he was saying, but that wasn't going to discourage him, he just cleared his throat before continuing. "I hope the punishment doesn't mean missing out on Hogsmeade."
"I have more important things to worry about," Lumini replied vaguely as she tried not to pay much attention to him.
"Of course… it's just that I thought that… at least George and I, we were really looking forward to the first Hogsmeade trip." He had to forcefully clear his throat due to his voice getting smaller and smaller. "We want to go to Zonko's."
Lumini found it impossible not to raise her head at those words. She also wanted to see the great joke shop in Hogsmeade, and she wouldn't have minded dragging Jovvian into the shop if she had to.
"Actually, I was thinking, and it seems to me that your friends do not enjoy jokes very much…"
"Jovvian is a less annoying version of your brother Percy. As for Riley, he likes jokes, as long as he's not the one in either end of them, "she clarified, not content with having to explain to the redhead the behavior of her friends.
"Well, yes, of course," he stuttered. "But, anyway, I was thinking that, if you don't have anyone to go to Zonko's with…" his throat seemed to go dry when the girl looked back at him with a frown. "You could go with me..., with us, with George and Lee, maybe Angelina and Katie, and Alicia too, and maybe more people, I don't know."
They both stood still for a few seconds, thinking about what to say to fill the silence and neither of them having immediate success.
"I mean, maybe going to Zonko's will help you plan better pranks than that one," suggested the redhead, shrinking with each word.
"I know that I went too far with the water, okay?" the girl grunted, annoyed by the imminent need to apologize. "Sorry for making it so big, but maybe that way you won't want to continue with the jokes and we can put an end to all this childish shit."
As Lumini continued to try to shake off the guilt and act like she didn't really care about the wound on the boy's lip, they arrived at their destination. Once at the infirmary, the girl took it upon herself to rush in and sit down, on the bed furthest from the boy, still frowning and with her arms folded but in deep thought.