Chapter 15
Hermione ate her breakfast in the exact silent-tension she had been expecting. Rebecca hated the discomfort, but also wouldn't forget the incident that caused it.
"Rebecca, I..." Harry couldn't believe the words about to come out of his mouth. "I'm asking if you a-and Fred have, if the two of you-if-"
"If we've had sex?" Rebecca finished, sending the drink Fred had been taking straight to his lungs. She patted his back as she choked, looking to Harry with a little smirk. "Is that what you're asking?"
"Yes." Harry muttered.
"Brilliant question!" Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "That would be none of your business."
"You said last night I could have asked!"
"But I didn't say you would get an answer!" Rebecca scowled. "For fuck's sake Harry, didn't you hear anything I said last night?"
"You literally said 'ask' last night!" Harry raised his hands in defense. "I didn't know that was rhetorical!"
Fred lowered his head, trying to save Harry from any extra embarrassment and unable to not laugh.
"I don't know why you can't tell where the line is between controlling and caring." Rebecca picked up her fork again, moving her food back and forth. "I thought that, even if you have to be nosing in, you would have a little trust in me--any at all, actually."
"I trust you with my life." Harry said seriously, laying his hand on her wrist. "It's..."
Fred's jaw dropped. "Careful, Harry. Might hurt my feelings."
Harry at least had the decency to blush. "I'm sorry." Rebecca didn't say anything. "I'm sorry to both of you, alright? I've been-"
"A right bastard?" Rebecca offered with a smile to soften the blow.
"Yeah, I have." Harry nodded his head. "I just-I'm, I don't know." He had feelings, but they didn't transfer into words right. He had only had a sister for a short while, though it felt like eternities. He always felt like he was still learning how this worked.
"But you're done?"
"Yes, message received." Harry changed the subject, feeling as if a weight lifted off of him with the lessening of the tension. "Are you ready for tonight?"
"No." Rebecca said angrily. Fred reached over and laid his hand on her knee, discreetly so that Umbridge wouldn't notice as she walked around their tables. "I don't know why we're still going. All he does is yell at us; we haven't learned anything."
A breakfast of surprises, there was one more instance of choking. Rebecca had reached for her cup of tea when the subject shifted to what Hagrid had wanted and, at the reason, Rebecca forgot she couldn't breathe tea. "A what?" She hissed, making certain Umbridge was nowhere near them. "Why would he do that? Bring him here and show you?"
Hermione frowned. "Dumbledore's gone, Rebecca."
Ron watched Rebecca's face, particularly how no recognition crossed it. He was a little amazed, especially since it was rare for him to understand something and she to not. "He'll get the sack any day now, soon as the headbastard wants to."
"I wish I had been there, even if just to comfort him." Rebecca hoped Hagrid was okay.
"You're lucky you didn't." Hermione shuddered. "Grawp has an affinity for girls."
Harry sniggered. "He scooped Hermione right off the ground and kicked Ron over!"
"And what were you doing? Watching?"
Harry shrugged, ignoring his twin's look. "They had it handled."
*******************************************
"You lack subtlety, Potter." Snape sneered down his nose at Harry. "You do not understand fine distinctions--a failure that largely accounts for your inabilities regarding potion-making. Pity, all the talent went to one of you."
"The word distinction implies that you're actually saying something!" Rebecca snapped from the chair beside Harry, wanting him to redirect his anger to her. "You don't say what we're doing wrong. If we don't know what we're failing in, we can't change anything!"
"What you're doing wrong is everything! Legilimens!" Snape bellowed, flourishing his wand at her. Rebecca's head twisted to the side, her eyes squeezing shut as she tried to fight against the intrusion. She tried to grasp onto any of the memories Snape was throwing around: Fred, Harry, ties at the Burrow, but Snape was still in her mind in seconds. "Pathetic!"
Rebecca raised her head, a defiant twist to her mouth. "What am I supposed to be doing?!"
Snape paced away before storming back up to her. "Not obsessing over Weasley, for one! There's nothing the Dark Lord could possibly glean from your mind, not with how much he flits around your head!"
"Good! That sounds like a good thing!" Rebecca jeered, her anger making her confrontational. "Voldemort might get bored, leave us alone for a while!"
"No." Snape narrowed his eyes at her. "Your childish approach to this is...preempted by your lineage--your father never could stay serious for long."
"That makes sense, he wasn't Sirius." Harry chimed in, relishing how Snape's face darkened at the pun.
Snape turned back on Rebecca and forced himself into her mind again. She grasped onto the first memory that was raised, remembering when she and Fred had asked the Room of Requirement for a place to exist privately. Fred had her securely in his arms as she stroked the hair over her ear, she had a hand against his chest and her eyes were closed. Rebecca forced herself to her feet as soon as her mind was her own again. "That's private!"
"Not to me." Snape intoned. "Not to me, not to the Dark Lord. Your minds will be his entirely if you don't improve."
"If you gave us a break, a moment to collect ourselves, perhaps you'd see an improvement!" Harry shouted, looking Rebecca over carefully. She had sunk back into her chair and focused on the ground ahead of them.
"You're just like your father." Snape turned on Harry. "Lazy."
"Don't say a word about our father!"
"Weak!" Snape countered Harry's refute.
"We are not weak!" Rebecca roared, finding her feet once more.
"Prove it then. Legilimens!" Snape smirked as Harry's head snapped down and he was forced back into his chair. Harry's hands tightened their grip on the arms of the seat, his knuckles turning white with effort as Snape held the spell longer than he ever had before.
"Stop!" Rebecca looked between Harry and the professor. "You've gotten in already!"
Snape ignored her, holding the spell longer yet.
Rebecca raised her wand in front of Harry, not even wording a spell but simply throwing up a wall of magic to save him. Snape's spell was sent back at him, revealing his thoughts to the Potter twins.
"C'mon Snivellus, Lily-flower doesn't want any grease on her parchment." James crowed, the youngest Harry or Rebecca had ever seen him. An equally young Remus, Sirius, and Peter were behind him laughing boisterously, egging James on.
"James, leave us alone!" Lily shouted, standing and holding her wand out at him. "You're an insufferable git!"
James held his hand to his heart, miming like he'd been wounded. "My dearest, most darling Lily! You mustn't know what cruelties fall out of your angelic mouth. Not enough air, Snivellus takes it all with his nose."
Lily rolled her eyes and held her hand out for Snape to grab, pulling him to his feet beside her so they could find somewhere else to sit.
"Levicorpus!" James shouted, launching Snape into the air by a suspended ankle. James looked over his shoulder with a smirk. "Right, who wants to see me take of Snivelly's trousers?"
"Enough!" Snape shouted, both Potter children finding themselves back in their own heads. He crossed the room slowly, grabbing the front of Rebecca's shirt and pulling her so that she had to stand on her toes. Rebecca didn't look away from his glare. "Your lessons are at an end."
Harry stepped forward, not liking how Rebecca was held. "We-"
"Get...out..." Snape released Rebecca's robe, turning away from them and walking away without another word.
Harry grabbed Rebecca's wrist and the two of them left the classroom quickly. Once outside the dungeon's doorway, they walked up the stairs slower.
"What was that, Harry?" Rebecca asked quietly.
"I-I don't know. It looked like he was..."
"Torturing him?" Rebecca's brow furrowed. "You don't think he was-"
"I don't know what I think." Harry interrupted, hearing a familiar pair of voices ahead.
"It's not as bad as it seems." Fred said softly. When Harry and Rebecca turned the corner, they found the Weasley twins speaking to a Ravenclaw first year. George had his arm around the young boy and Fred was crouched in front of him, holding his hurting hand gently.
George chimed in as Harry and Rebecca walked to them. "The pain will stop in a little while, too. You just need some-" Umbridge clearing her throat silenced George.
Harry was jerked out of his thoughts, following Rebecca as she went between the boys and the headbastard. Fred and George stood too, putting them boy behind them and taking a spot behind a Potter each--towering over both
"As I've said," Umbridge smiled at them. "Naughty children deserve to be punished."
Fred's hand reached forward, cupping the small of Rebecca's back as a warning. Umbridge nodded, taking their silence as agreement with her statement and left.
Harry turned to the Ravenclaw and dug around in his pockets for the salve he had become accustomed to carrying at all times.
Fred held a hand against her cheek and saw how the evening had gone on her face. He pulled her into a hug and cradled the back of her head, wishing he could make it so she never had anything but a perfect day for the rest of forever.
Fred turned so that he faced George more, speaking to him while Harry comforted the boy. "I haven't mentioned it quite yet, George." George stared at Fred, having an inkling about what was going to be said but not daring to let himself hope just yet. "I think you're right: our futures do lay outside the world of academic achievement."
"Really?" George glanced at Rebecca.
"Really." Rebecca reached her hand out and dragged him into their hug.
"You're not going to believe some of my designs!" George said all in one breath. "I've got the sign sketched, a basic map drawn for the shelves, an idea for-"
"Not right now, George." Fred said without looking at his brother, his eyes caught in Rebecca's. He bent down and kissed her softly.
"This right here?" George gestured between himself and their kiss. "This is not going to happen during business hours--tell you that right this second."
*******************************************
"Ready?" Fred asked, straightening Rebecca's tie and brushing dust off of her robes. "How are you such a mess? It's hardly tea time!"
"Fred!" Rebecca laughed, catching his hands and holding them in front of her. "It's a career meeting, not a career examination."
"You've heard the rumours, love." Fred sighed, holding her hands tighter. "If Umbridge really is sitting in on every meeting, I don't want her to have any reasons to tack on more detentions."
January had turned to February and February into March. April was almost upon them; the snow had already turned to mush and disappeared while the green buds returned to the trees. The date Fred and George would be making their grand exit was quickly approaching and Fred had been in a panic near-constantly as of late. He couldn't stop policing Rebecca's actions, warning and scolding like a mother...or a jailer.
"Don't say that." "Don't wear that." "No dung bombs." "No, you cannot hex her cat plates."
Rebecca knew his actions were coming from a place of love. That, and that alone, was the only reason she had been able to take it with a degree of tolerance. "Darling?"
"I'm done." Fred raised his hands, knowing he had to have gone too far for her tone to follow her pet name for him.
Rebecca smiled and kissed his cheek, moving to join Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the portrait hole. "We'll see you all at supper." She said, patting George and Ginny's shoulders as she walked by.
"Don't forget your-"
"I won't!" Rebecca called back, rolling her eyes. Fred and George had spent many, many afternoons grilling her on how to avoid any and all questions that could lead back to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
Hermione fell into step beside Rebecca once they were in the corridors. "I'm doomed. I've been researching nonstop and I still haven't found a career path!"
Rebecca linked her arm through Hermione's. "It's just a meeting. We're not deciding today."
"That's not helpful, not at all."
Rebecca sighed. "Would you like to know what I think?"
"Obviously, that's why I brought it up." Hermione grinned at Rebecca, enjoying being the one to give her trouble and it not being the other way around.
"I think you belong in politics. Think about it: Hermione Granger, Minister of Magic."
"What are you-"
"I'm not done!" Rebecca waved her hand in front of her as she added titles. "Saviour of House Elves, promoter of equality, ender of oppression."
Hermione pursed her lips at the description, not entirely expecting such a compliment from their conversation. "I'm not going to lie, I didn't really expect anything helpful from you."
"By all means, don't lie." Rebecca rolled her eyes, laughing all the while. "Just let your honesty shatter my heart."
Harry and Ron looked back at them. "There's something seriously wrong with both of you."
*******************************************
"Mr Potter?" Professor McGonagall called into the hallway. Hermione had gone in first, nearly fifteen minutes ago.
Harry stood up and gave Ron and Rebecca a thumbs up, following McGonagall into her office quickly.
"If I'd known we were going to wait so long, I would have brought a snack." Ron groaned, grabbing his stomach and keeling over where he and Rebecca were sitting next to each other on the floor.
"I might have something!" Rebecca said excitedly, slightly hungry herself. Patting down her pockets, she found a collection of oddities from her robes. "Don't eat that!" Rebecca cried out, plucking a loose, unlabeled candy from Ron's hand. "Unwrapped candy? Shouldn't you know better? Especially after..."
"Shut it!" Ron laughed. George had tricked him into eating one of the Beard-Berries just a week before. George's corrections had worked, at first. Ron sprouted a red beard within seconds of eating the candy, but it grew and grew until Hermione answered their shouts for help and ended the effect. "Have you decided on a career?" Ron asked, changing the subject as she continued to dig on other pockets.
"Eh, not though much of it. Sort of have bigger things to worry about." Rebecca pulled out a chocolate bar she had been saving for a snack and handed it to him. Ron tore it open and snapped it in half, handing her some back.
"Have things been alright? Sleep-wise, I mean." Ron questioned, filling with a sense of awkwardness. A familial, brotherly tone came out of him naturally whenever he spoke to Rebecca, but it was hard for him to know where she believed he stood. To Ron, she was as much a sister as Ginny. But with her and Fred...well, it all just contributed to him not certain where he belonged.
"Occasionally I'll pick up on something strange. Short, inexplicable, usually frightening." Rebecca frowned, but pushed it away as quickly as it appeared. "I wake up, my head hurts a bit, but I get over it."
"You shouldn't have to 'get over it.'"
Rebecca shrugged, not wanting to fuel his angry tone. "It is what it is." Ron frowned, his anger moving into sadness. "Don't. You're going to get wrinkles."
"Wrinkles?" Ron repeated. "Why should I worry about wrinkles?"
"One day you're going to wake up and find yourself wrinkly and old. You're going to think to yourself, 'wow, remember that day when Rebecca told me this would happen and I wasn't listening because I was too busy eating chocolate and getting it all over my face?'"
Ron wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve, sitting back against the wall and looking ahead. "Fred and George talk to you yet?"
"About..." Rebecca looked around carefully. "The birds leaving the nest?"
Ron snorted. "They clearly have." His face grew serious once more, needing to say something quickly before the courage left him. "Rebecca?"
"Yeah, Ron?" She looked up from where she was picking a few crumbs of chocolate off her shirt.
"I'll be right here, if you need someone."
"Today or..."
Ron scowled at her. "After!"
"I knew what you were talking about. I know you will, and Hermione, and Ginny, and Harry." Rebecca's eyes filled with a sadness that Ron recognised on her from the end of every school year, the same sadness that filled Rebecca when she had to be separated from Harry. "We'll be fine though. We've got O.W.L.s coming in a few weeks. And, we're going to meet at Hogsmeade when we can, so we'll still be trying to see each other as often as possible." She took a deep breath. "Everything will be okay."
"You telling me that or yourself?"
Rebecca looked down at the last segments of chocolate in her hand and realised just how deeply she would have appreciated a talk with Remus and Sirius, Molly and Arthur, even Tonks. Tonks would know exactly what to do or say and know how to tell her that even though it felt like half of what made her her was going off, Rebecca would be fine.
"Both, I guess." They sat in silence a period of time, waiting for Harry's meeting to end. "Hey, Ron?"
"Yeah?" Ron had long finished his chocolate and had his head back against the wall, though at her voice he sat up and looked towards her.
"I really appreciate you." Rebecca leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. "I know we've never talked about it, and it seems a little strange..." She looked up at him. "But you're a brilliant brother."
Ron beamed at the compliment, elated to find that his familial feelings were reciprocated and not entirely surprised that she brought the subject up with how deeply he had been plagued by his doubt when they had first sat down--Rebecca had a knack for finding things like that.
McGonagall opened the door again a few minutes ago and Harry rushed out, turning down the hall Hermione said she would be waiting for them without glancing at Rebecca or Ron. "Potter Weasley?"
Rebecca stood up and held the chocolate out to Ron. "Here, I don't want any more." Ron took the chocolate happily, sufficiently distracted from Harry's swift exit.
Inside McGonagall's office, Umbridge was sitting on a chair at the end of McGonagall's desk. McGonagall didn't spare the woman a look, sitting down and motioning for Rebecca to take the opposite seat. "Today we're going to talk about career pathways you are interested in and what O.W.L. scores are necessary for those you display an interest in." Minerva looked at Rebecca over her glasses, sensing trouble-brewing by the familiar look on the girl's face. "Has your preliminary search yielded any results?"
Rebecca sat back in her chair, crossing her arms. "Oh yeah, loads."
Minerva sighed, knowing the familiarity of the look was correct. "Would you care to share some of these results or shall I sit in mystery forever?"
"I'm quite interested in politics." Rebecca smirked. "I could see myself as Minister one day." Umbridge tutted and wrote something on her board.
"We can add that to the list." McGonagall wrote it on the parchment she had in front of her and look at Rebecca expectantly. "What else have you considered?"
"Quidditch star?" Rebecca offered.
McGonagall narrowed her eyes and set her quill down. "I would appreciate a modicum of professionalism when discussing your future."
"Professor, I'm wounded. I was entirely serious." Rebecca brought a hand to the side of her head, remembering another option. "I've also considered another route, if you're interested."
"Please." McGonagall picked her quill back up and prepared to write.
"Well, I wouldn't mind being Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, if Minister herself doesn't pan out."
Umbridge cleared her throat and interrupted smugly. "Unfortunately, the Ministry doesn't hire those with such...expansive and delinquent pasts."
"I think you'll find I can be quite persistent." Rebecca warned as McGonagall add the option to Rebecca's sheet.
"No interest in the defence field?" McGonagall asked, certain Rebecca had just overlooked it.
"Like an auror?"
"Exactly." McGonagall took her glasses off and folded them. "I could see you doing great things, especially with Harry at your side."
Umbridge set her clipboard down and walked to McGonagall's desk, plucking Rebecca's school records off the table and surveying them. "While this Potter's grades are minutely better, they are still not high enough to even apply for auror training."
Minerva grit her teeth, prepared to enter another shouting match at the insult of one of her students.
"It's okay, professor." Rebecca looked Umbridge up and down. "I have no interest in working under corrupt leadership."
Umbridge turned white and then red, dark, angry red. She took her clipboard and left their immediate area, making her way to the door where she paused and turned as if she wanted to say something but eventually left without a word.
McGonagall sighed and relaxed in her seat. "I feel that I owe you a thanks now, Rebecca."
"Not necessary, professor."
"We must grow serious, however." McGonagall picked up the sheet that had been filled out so far and shook her head at what was written down. "I need have some sort of idea as to what you're truly considering for your future."
"Those are all true interests!"
Minerva gave Rebecca a look and set the parchment back down to write something more. "I should add entrepreneurship, shouldn't I? Unless you think that's still underwraps."
"I-I don't know what you're talking about."
A knowing look later, McGonagall dipped her quill back into her inkwell. "I'm writing down the education domain as well."
"I don't think that suits me, professor." Rebecca said quickly.
"How doesn't it?" Minerva raised an eyebrow. "You have a knack for teaching and an enviable patience, not to mention an ability to maintain control over your peers without the advantage of age-alloted respect."
"I..." Rebecca tried to find a way to word her thoughts without embarrassing herself into an early grave. "I want a family, one day. I don't want to live in the castle forever."
McGonagall sat back in her chair and looked at the student in front of her for a long moment. "I think you'll find that exceptions can be made, for those who are good enough to earn them."
Rebecca averted her eyes, trying to keep her face from warming at the conversation and the compliment.
"You have enough natural talent to consider a number of subjects if teaching is where you decide to go. We'll have to circle back to this once we see how your examinations go."
"Is that all?" Rebecca asked, standing up and fighting a smile at Umbridge's now-empty chair.
"Nearly, just one more question." McGonagall stood and walked around the desk. "I'm hearing whispers about an explosive exit, need I be concerned?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
McGonagall laughed softly. "Of course not, what more could I have expected." Before opening the door, Minerva paused one moment more. "Rebecca, for what it matters, whatever you end up doing--I do believe you'll surely excel."
"You're belief matters a lot. It's hard to think about careers with everything happening out there, you know. But I think..." Rebecca shrugged. "I think that if you think I'll do well wherever I end up, I have nothing to worry about."
"Speaking of worries, professors are required to have unscanned mail--privacy laws." McGonagall opened the door. "A Mr Weasley has yet to be made aware of such a fact."
"Thank you, Professor." Rebecca glanced at Ron and wrapped her arms around McGonagall quickly, hoping she was able to feel how grateful Rebecca was towards the woman, all the love she felt towards her, in the brief embrace.
"Go on," Minerva motioned Rebecca off. "Umbridge was far more effective in her antagonisation of those two."
"Rebecca!" Hermione waved her over, surrounded by Harry, Fred, George, and Ginny. "How did yours go?" Hermione demanded as soon as Rebecca was in front of them in the corner of the courtyard they had to themselves.
"Better than mine, I hope." Harry muttered.
Rebecca shrugged before grinning at them all. "Irritated Umbridge straight out of the room!" Fred shook his head at first in disbelief, but it faded quickly. "What happened with yours, Harry?" Rebecca asked worried, he didn't even react to what she had said.
Hermione's breath caught in her throat, already having heard about what Umbridge had told Harry and afraid for Rebecca's reaction.
"I'm too stupid to be an auror." Harry said softly, ashamed at the words. "I don't have the marks."
Rebecca felt the rage bubble up through her, starting in her stomach with a spark and igniting across her body. Fred's hand slipped into hers, watching her carefully. She took a breath before looking to Harry with a fire behind her eyes. "What did McGonagall say to that?" Her voice was off. Frail, Fred thought, and he wondered if it was evidence of how much effort it was taking her to appear calm.
Harry shrugged, not wanting to upset everyone by talking about this more. "She said she'd help me, but I don't know. Maybe I'm not meant to be an auror."
"Fuck that!" Rebecca burst, collecting herself after. "If McGonagall said she'll help, it's as good as done."
Harry sighed and packed away his pity the best he could; they had all been focusing on him for too long. "What about you? Did you two end up finding something."
Rebecca smirked. "I said I wanted to be the Minister's Undersecretary."
"You didn't!" George looked at her shocked.
"I most certainly did!" Rebecca threw her head back and laughed heartily, the others forced to catch on at the potency of her joy. "I wish you could have seen it!"
Fred hummed his discontentment and remained at the back of their group as Ron appeared and rushed them off to dinner. "Rebecca-"
"Don't 'Rebecca' me like that." She looked ahead where the others glanced back at them, wondering why they weren't following, and waved them ahead. "I told you I would behave within reason."
"Antagonising her directly isn't within reason!" Fred was filled with exasperation--he thought, for a single second, that he might have changed something about Rebecca if he could. "Maybe I need to stay."
"Frederick!" Rebecca tilted his head to hers and caught his eyes. "What on Earth makes you think I will behave any differently whether you are here or not?"
"Frederick?"
"Yes, you get a full name with such absurdity." Rebecca cradled his face with her hands. "Darling, I'm going to be fine. You're going to be fine. We're going to be fine."
"My full name is Fred. That's it."
Rebecca kissed him quickly, pulling him to his feet. "I said 'a' full name, not yours. You're missing the point."
"No, I got it." Fred raised his hand above her head so she had to spin or let go of him, knowing she would spin. "You can take care of yourself."
"Finally." Rebecca giggled and saw the worries mounting above him. She wanted to alleviate some of them, since she caused most of them. "I've got good news."
Fred's eyes widened, afraid of what constituted as 'good news' to her. "Do I want to know?"
"Maybe you don't." Rebecca sighed. "I'll just keep it to myself."
Fred stopped them outside the entrance to the Great Hall. "But now I'm curious."
"That's too bad; I'm not in the mood to share anymore."
Fred narrowed his eyes and laid his hands on her shoulders, letting his thumbs drift over the divot of her collarbones gently. He gave her the cheesiest smile he could, drawing a laugh from her.
"Well, when you give me that look..." Rebecca laid her hands on his waist. "McGonagall mentioned that staff owls aren't allowed to be searched, privacy laws or something. She also said that it might come in handy one day, should we need it."
Fred stepped the required distance away from her as they entered the hall. "She knows?"
"Fred, nothing goes on in this castle that she doesn't know about."
*******************************************
"Hey!" Draco's voice echoed in the dark corridor. He had been chasing a black-and-yellow hooded student up and down stairs and through corridors, all until the student turned down a dead end. "I've got you now, turn towards me slowly."
Louis froze and did as he was told, disgusted with himself for such an elementary mistake.
"You were in that club, weren't you?" Draco wanted to shrink under the hatred that ignited in the boy's eyes.
"The Army? Yeah, I was." Louis' words were laced with poison. "Fighting for the good of Hogwarts instead of pissing on it like you and your little brain-dead cronies. I'm surprised you could even follow me without the headbastard telling you where to go."
Draco raised his arm, pointing his wand at the boy. "That's enough."
Louis' scowl deepened. "What--if the blond says it it must be? Not for me, I still think for myself." Louis shook his head. "Can you? Think for yourself, that is. Or does Umbridge guide you to bed and toilet?"
"That's enough!" Draco shouted, holding his wand higher but still not casting a spell. Draco's mind was reeling over everything the boy had said.
Louis stood silently a long moment, glowering darkly. "Are you going to do something? Not that I love detention or anything, but I do have other things to get to this evening and the quicker we get there, the quicker it's over."
"Why do you insist on causing trouble?" Draco asked as he made his way down the hall and grabbed the neck of Louis' robes tightly, holding the boy on his tiptoes. "You're not doing anything. Umbridge is still headmaster, the decrees are still here, nothing you're doing as any effect whatsoever. Unless, you take into account the effect of your endless, needless detentions."
"That's where you're wrong." Louis spat as Draco began to march him towards the stairs.
Draco paused, yanking Louis around so that he was facing him. "Enlighten me then."
"You won't understand, you don't know how to choose what's right." Louis looked Draco over. "Obviously."
"How can you know what you're doing is right?" Draco narrowed his eyes, realising too late that he had been insulted.
"How do I-? Are you taking the mick? I know what we're doing is right because we don't follow the words of someone who is torturing children. That should be evidence enough."
Draco went to move Louis along. "No, you're following the words of blood traitors instead."
"All our blood looks the same when it drips down our hands, smears on our parchment, and gets washed away." Louis pulled himself free as Draco froze. The younger boy raised his fists, ready to fight. Draco saw the wounds in the light from the nearby torch on the wall--how fresh and angry they were. "Those 'blood traitors' have more courage, more morals, more goodness in their spit than you do in your whole body." Louis stepped forward, holding his fists higher. "Say it again, I dare you!"
Draco looked at the Hufflepuff, slightly surprised at his willingness to start a fight he had no hope in winning. "You think your house is proud of you? Is that it? Your parents?"
Louis nodded his head once, knowing his answer in his heart. "My mum taught me that a community is only as strong as the defence around its weakest. Helga Hufflepuff knew what it meant to be loyal, not just to my house, but to my school and to what I know is right and wrong. So yes, I know my house and my family are proud of me and my actions, just as I am."
Draco narrowed his eyes, he had already made a decision even though he knew it would torment him later. "Go."
Louis stilled, keeping his hands up in case this was a trick. "Go?"
"Go!" Draco shouted. "Before I change my mind and bring you to the others!"
Louis jumped his sudden shout, backing away slowly before breaking into a sprint once more. He only slowed when he reached the safety of the Hufflepuff common room.
Draco walked slowly afterwards, not heading anywhere in particular but not wanting to return to the Inquisitorial Squad either. He paused and knelt behind the corner of a wall ahead when he saw the shadows of people coming up ahead.
Rebecca appeared, Fred right behind her. Draco's hand tightened around his wand, but he made no move to stop them--not yet. He watched as Fred leaned down and whispered something to her that brought a laugh trickling down the hall before it was silenced with a shush.
Draco's heart ached. He wished he could laugh like that, like he had someone to make laugh like that. He didn't move from where he was, curious as to what they were doing. Draco wasn't sure why they would risk being out after curfew with the increased number of patrols.
Their reason dawned on Draco shortly after, realising why they made the risk they were when the students flooded down the hall from that night's detention session.
Rebecca opened the bag hanging off her shoulder and put small containers into the hands of the older students getting out while everyone else lined up in front of them. The first and second years gravitated towards her line, waiting to hear the kind words she would whisper as she tried to ease their suffering.
"You know you didn't deserve this, right?" The Ravenclaw nodded. "You've handled this so maturely, I don't know how you're not in seventh year yet." The boy smiled and made his way to the group of those already done, knowing it was safer to go back to their quarters in groups.
"Nigel." Rebecca's voice fell flat at the next boy, so much so that Draco heard it even at his distance. "What did you do?"
"How do you know I did anything?" Nigel held his hand out gingerly, his hand never even fully recovered from their month of detention because he continued to get himself sentenced. He never, ever let Umbridge get away with a word of insult towards Harry or Rebecca, always fighting against her when she tried to say Voldemort wasn't back. Rebecca gave Nigel a look and spread salve over his hand delicately. "It may have self-done." Nigel said into her growing silence.
Rebecca finished with his hand and kissed his forehead gently. "No more, at least this week. Please? You need time to heal."
Nigel nodded and rolled his eyes, wiping his forehead with the back of his other hand. "Yes, mother."
"If I was your mother, I would have beaten some sense into you already!" Rebecca's retort drew a smile from those in the hall, particularly Fred, Draco noticed. The older students managed to get all everyone salved and heading off towards their common rooms before a small group formed around Rebecca and Fred. They walked the opposite direction, talking softly. Draco pushed himself farther up against the wall, holding his breath as they passed by him without seeing him.
"We're out of ingredients. We can't make anymore, any at all, until we get more Sefrender Root." Fred spoke and slipped the bag off Rebecca's shoulder, looking in it with a growing frown. "There's enough for the rest of the week, but only if we ration it down to third years and younger."
Rebecca lowered her head, raising it with a scowl. "How do we tell them they can't have any? They're hurting!"
Fred nodded, addressing the assorted sixth and seventh years of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw--the pseudo-council that never seemed to get to meet with good news. "I know we've already asked, but talk to everyone in your houses--your head of houses too. If we don't get met...then we'll be forced to restrict who gets and who doesn't until we're out and then..."
"And then that's it." Rebecca finished. The older students talked a few minutes longer, pausing once more. Draco listened attentively, though he didn't notice how it never occurred to him to pass on whatever he was learning to Umbridge.
Once Fred and Rebecca were updated as to who had been at the detention and who was going to be the next night, they began to peel away. Soon, there were only three left: Fred, Rebecca, and the Diggory boy. The one from the tournament the year before.
Draco's face burnt with shame as he remembered how Umbridge had demanded Crabbe and Goyle beat him before having Draco trickle the Veritaserum into his bleeding mouth. Torn out of his thoughts, Draco watched as Diggory touched Rebecca on her exposed wrist and wouldn't meet her eyes.
"No, of course not! Don't be absurd, Ced." Rebecca answered a statement that had never been voiced, drawing a curious look from Fred. Rebecca looked at Cedric a moment until he nodded and she passed along what had been said--"Thought?" Draco wondered. "He thinks we'd be best off cutting the salve down to second and first years only. And, and he didn't let anyone use any on him."
"The others need it more." Cedric shook his head. "It's my fault she's gotten so much power. This is my punishment, I've earned it."
Rebecca held her hand out to Fred and he gave her a tin of salve. Rebecca took a sharp breath before grabbing Cedric's wrist and, while she flinched at first, she didn't let go and continued to hold it until salve had been spread over his wounds.
"That's not true." Cedric said after a minute, vocalising a conversation that hadn't been made audible yet.
"It most certainly is." Rebecca snapped. "Cedric, no one in their right mind holds you even slightly accountable for what happened. You can't fight Veritaserum. It's time to stop blaming yourself."
Fred laid his hand on Cedric's shoulder, holding him tightly.
"How can I?" Cedric wanted his voice to come across as angry, he was trying for it. But there was no anger present and Draco could hear how broken the older boy was. "They're trying so hard to destroy us, how can I stop them?"
"We try." Rebecca said. She and Fred took either side of Cedric, his arm around Cedric's shoulders and Rebecca's around his waist. Rebecca's words trailed away as they disappeared down the corridor again and although Draco couldn't hear them, he was certain they would have been words of comfort.
Draco stayed in the darkness of the adjacent hall for a long time, his mind pushing and wondering at the interaction between Rebecca and Diggory and then his own interaction with the Hufflepuff he sent away.
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"Please?" Fred pleaded softly. "One more night?"
"Fred..." Rebecca looked up at him, the sadness on his face was so great and the want just as. "Okay."
Fred jumped up and punched the air, kissing her quickly and turning towards the boys' stairs. "I'll go make sure Lee's decent!"
Rebecca shook her head and sighed, not providing an explanation to Hermione's look. "You'll understand eventually."
"Sure." Hermione teased. "I'll understand the why the two of you act a certain way? I have better luck understanding thermonuclear dynamics!"
"You don't already?" Ron asked.
Harry started their laughter and it didn't stop as Rebecca gave them their goodnights and hurried up the stairs to get ready for to sneak to the boys' dorms. Rebecca had had the Invisibility Cloak after their first mishap that made it so if they were to sleep in the same bed, Rebecca crossed the tower and not the other way around. Fred had convinced George to levitated him up the girls' stairs after the common room had been emptied under the hope of leaving before the others woke up. But, Hermione woke up first and lives were threatened.
Rebecca showered and brushed her teeth quickly, feeling conflicted. On one hand, she was happy to be sleeping with Fred beside her again. On the other, the only reason they were daring such risks was because Fred and George's birthdays were in a handful of days--their departure less than a week after that.
Rebecca caught sight of her hand in the mirror when she went to turn the light off. She had been lucky enough to escape any detentions for nearly a week now and the cuts had finished scabbing over at last. "Years worth of Hogwarts' students will have these scars forever." Rebecca shook her head, wishing away such dark thoughts as she tried to leave the room and ended up colliding with Ginny.
"Sorry!" Both girls cried in unison, laughing at themselves.
"No, I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone else would be coming up so soon." Rebecca said, crouching and helping to gather up the books Ginny had dropped.
"Hermione sent me up, told me to put these books on your bed so you know that you're studying all day tomorrow."
Rebecca groaned and looked over the massive amount. "I can't wait for exams to be over."
Ginny gave her a sad smile. Fred and George had slowly informed Ron and Ginny, Harry told alongside them to be prepared. As of that point, only Hermione wasn't fully knowledgeable, but she'd begun to suspect something strange was afoot by Fred and George's interactions with the other.
It had been a but of an argument, actually. Fred saw no reason why Hermione shouldn't be told with the others but George was adamant that she not be. His reason was so solid, though, that Fred didn't push afterwards. "It wouldn't be fair to fill her head with our troublesome exit in the middle of exams."
"Of course not for that reason." Rebecca changed her answer at Ginny's poorly-hidden sadness.
"I know." Ginny looked to Rebecca. "Think they'll miss us?"
"I know it." Rebecca glanced at the time. "In fact, I've got to head over there if I'm going to be ready to tackle all of that tomorrow." She rolled her eyes at the books.
"You mean so that you'll have enough time to talk before you go to sleep."
"Talk, kiss, cuddle...all one and the same really."
Ginny grimaced. "Too much!"
Hermione was nowhere to be seen down in the common room, but Ron and Harry were in front of the fire with a game of wizard's chess going. Rebecca laid a hand on both of their heads, ruffling their hair. "I'm heading to bed now, night lads."
They nodded and didn't answer as they studied the other's strategy. Rebecca tutted at their concentration and climbed the boys' stairs quietly, shifting her blanket into the other arm. Despite winter's end, the castle's nights were chilly.
Fred was on top of Lee when Rebecca looked in, a pillow in hand and being thumped into Lee's face after every sentence. "Wear pants. Wear a shirt. Don't talk about-"
"Fred?" Rebecca asked confused.
"RJ!" Fred gasped, hopping up. "You were faster than I expected!"
"I can always sleep in my room." Rebecca tried to hide her amusement as Lee sat up and fixed himself from Fred's roughhousing. "This is Lee's room, too."
"Please stay!" Lee said quickly. "If you leave, I'll just have to hear him talk for hours!"
Fred looked over his shoulder sharply at him before making his way to his bed. Fred looked at Rebecca more closely, recognising the shirt she wore. "Is that-?"
"Yep." Rebecca smoothed his shirt over her, climbing up into his bed. "If you leave it in my room they become mine. You didn't know this rule?"
"I won't forget now!" Fred chuckled and took her blanket, laying it over his bed a mess like she would have in her bed.
George came out of the bathroom, turning the lights around the room down and off as he went to his bed. "I see we have a guest." He intoned boredly. "How fun."
"George?" Rebecca asked carefully. She hadn't thought he was cross with her.
"Don't worry, love. He's been experimenting." Fred slipped his hand into hers, glaring at George. "He thinks this is 'dry humour.'"
"It was!" George argued, already underneath his covers. "It was both dry and humorous!"
Rebecca ignored the growing argument between Lee and George and lay down beside Fred, looking at him from across his pillow. "Ready for your birthday?"
Fred managed a smile, but it didn't meet his eyes. "To be able to use magic whenever, wherever? Yes. To finally get to apparate freely, also yes." He brought his hand to Rebecca's cheek. "To be that much closer to leaving you, never."
"I know, darling." Rebecca yawned. "But now we'll be able to write at least."
"Yes, that is something." Fred found himself yawning too, far more tired than he thought.
"I'm knackered." Rebecca admitted.
Fred leaned forward and kissed her forehead before pulling the topmost blanket higher on her. "Me too. Sweet dreams."
Rebecca scooted closer to him, his arm taking its customary place on her hip. "You too. I love you."
Fred smiled as he closed his eyes. "I love you, too."
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