PLAYING THE FOOL
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." –Shakespeare's As You Like It
Edith Ainsley sat lounging on a stone bench in the courtyard on a warm spring Wednesday afternoon lazily scanning the cloudless sky. There was a gentle breeze floating about that carried with it the scent of sweet blooming flowers. Edith had loosened her tie and rolled the sleeves of her button up around her elbows trying to enjoy the lovely spring air. The courtyard was buzzing with noise as her fellow peers soaked up the sunny weather right along with her.
"Edith? Are you all right?" a sweet and tender voice next to her asked.
Edith had been staring at the sky for quite some time, lost in a daydream. "Oh, yes. I'm fine," Edith replied as she rubbed a lingering tiredness from her eyes and stretched lazily. "It's just such a beautiful day!" she said as she let out long sigh and admired the goings-on of that fine spring afternoon. Classes were done for the day and everyone was out and about. Smiles were everywhere and laughter could be heard from all corners of the courtyard. In that moment, the ever present fear of Sirius Black's unknown whereabouts had been swept away by the flowery breeze.
"What would you like to do the rest of the day, Lav?" Edith asked, raising her eyebrows and smiling at Lavender Brown. She wasn't the brightest of witches at school, but she was friendly enough considering. Before Lavender could answer, a rambunctious group of boys approached them.
"Excuse me ladies, but we were just wondering if you could help us for a moment."
"You see, we've broken our spy glass, and we were hoping you could help us repair it? The slide seems to be stuck, just there," the redheaded boys inquired.
"Fred, George, you don't really think I'm going to fall for one of your stupid pranks, do you?" she asked as she brushed them off and began to leave the courtyard. Lee Jordan elbowed one of the twins in the ribs and they followed after Edith and Lavender.
"You've got it all wrong, see!" George began. "This is Fred's favorite thing in the world! He's heartbroken about it, really." Fred looked over at Edith and pouted his lower lip.
"Won't you just give it a look?" Fred asked.
Edith put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at the boys. Lee stood to the side as he watched. "You have to promise me it won't shock me or leave ink on my eye when I look at it," she said firmly. She'd seen those items at Zonko's and knew Fred and George were prone to using them on unsuspecting Slytherins.
"We promise! Cross our hearts and hope to die," they said in synchronization, both drawing an imaginary line over their chests. Edith was still wary of the small telescope, but she extended her hand and rolled her eyes. "All right. Let me see it."
Edith pushed her chestnut brown hair behind her ear and began fiddling with the looking glass. It was fairly short and didn't have many slides, only two. The last slide wouldn't extend the full length. "Hm," Edith hummed to herself. She twisted and pulled and jiggled it but the darn thing just wouldn't budge. Edith gave up on fixing it without magic and reached for her wand. It was a lovely light brown oak, 9 inches, with unicorn hair core. She waved it and said, "Repairo!" She tucked her wand into the waist of her skirt and fiddled with the item once more.
"Ah, there you are!" she said as she pulled the slide out. She put it up to her eye and looked through the telescope out at the grounds. Everything seemed to be in working order. Just as she was about to lower it, a hidden slide extended very forcefully right into her eye. The telescope fell from her hands as she cupped her eye and yelled in pain.
Lavender gasped and Lee began laughing loudly. The twins held their breath as they watched as Edith dropped her hands and glared at them. A large purple bruise was already forming around her right eye. The many faces hanging around the courtyard trained their eyes Edith and giggles could be heard bubbling from the crowd. The boys began laughing in earnest and nearly fell to the ground reveling in their triumph, their red hair shinning like new pennies in the sun.
"Why, you ungrateful-!" Edith bellowed, unable to finish her insult as she watched the boys celebrate.
"Looks like you were right, Fred!" George laughed as they watched Edith become redder and redder as her anger began boiling over. "Right? Right about what?" she spat.
Lee held himself up against his knees and was patting his thigh trying to catch his breath as he explained, "He said you would be the easiest Slytherin in the lot to trick, but the look on your face would be priceless! I have to say, you were spot on Fred!" Lee slapped Fred on the back. A look of guilt spread across Fred's face as he watched Edith. She looked horrified and absolutely furious all at once. She glared at Fred, and suddenly, she looked as dangerous as a wounded snake. "You'll regret this, Fredrick Weasley!" Her words were dripping with venom. George and Lee were still wracked with laughter, but Fred began to walk toward Edith.
"Hold on," he said. "I can he-," he began as he fiddled with something in his robes, but Edith took off running toward the castle.
Lavender turned toward the boys and looked at them in complete disbelief. "What's wrong with you?" she shot at Fred in particular. "She's the easiest to prank because she's one of the nicest people I know! You should be ashamed," she said as she glared at them shaking her head. She followed after Edith and disappeared into the castle.
"Edith, wait for me!" called Lavender. Edith started down into the dungeons. She wanted to get as far away from everyone as possible. The bruise on her eye was a bright and ugly purple. Edith motioned for Lavender to follow her. They stood in the dungeons corridor and spoke quietly.
"I'm so sorry about that, Edith. They are perfectly horrible," she said all the while looking absolutely shocked.
"Don't worry about it," Edith said while shaking her head. "I meant it when I told him he'd regret making me the target of their pranks." Edith bent close to Lavender and said, "Listen, here's what we're going to do-"
Fred and George walked through the castle busily chatting about the outcomes of their bets and games as they headed to dinner in the Great Hall, though they were stopped in their tracks as a very distraught looking Lavender rushed across the corridor in their direction.
"You two!" she yelled at the boys. Fred and George stopped and examined the frazzled Lavender. "You must come quickly! It's Edith. She's locked herself in the girls' bathroom ever since you played that awful joke on her," Lavender explained.
"Well, that's not really our problem is it?" George said. "It was just a joke. Nothing to cry about. It can easily be fixed, you know?"
Fred pulled out a small metal canister from his robes. "Yeah. I was trying to give her some of this before she took off. It's to get rid of the bruise," he told Lavender.
Lavender started fiddling with her hands. "Well, you know, she might not have taken it so harshly if she didn't have a crush on Fred," she said as she sighed. "The fact that it was you that did it is what upset her so much."
Fred's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Blimey, way to go mate!" George said slapping him hard on the back.
"What? Why on earth does she have a crush on me?" Fred asked, still stunned. They had hardly spoken to each other before. They were once partners in potions class for an assignment, but besides that, Edith had barely said a few words of greeting to the twins in all their years of school together.
Lavender shook her head and threw her arms in the air. "Don't ask me!" she yelled. "Just go and apologize. The poor girl is distraught," she said with a scolding tone.
George shrugged his shoulders and began walking toward the Great Hall. "It's you she likes. It's got nothing to do with me. See ya Freddie!"
Fred sighed and looked at Lavender. "All right, show me to her then," he said as he made a shooing motion with his hands. Lavender led the way to the second floor girls' bathroom with a nervous looking Fred trailing behind her.
They made it to entrance of the bathroom and Lavender stepped aside. "Here we are! Now, get in there!"
"I can't go in there! It's the GIRLS' bathroom. Are you insane?" Fred said as his voice continuously rose higher and higher.
"Everyone's at dinner. No one will know," Lavender explained. "You're the only one that can fix this. It is your fault, after all."
Fred looked absolutely horrified as he stepped up to the door. The closer he got, the more he could hear the sounds of echoing cries seeping through the door. The sound of her breaking heart seemed to spur him through the door. He entered with a very concerned look on his face, but it soon turned to pure horror.
Upon entering the bathroom, the sound of Edith's crying ceased almost immediately. "Edith?" he called. The door shut behind him and a resounding click came from the lock. He turned around to find that Lavender had followed him into the bathroom and was blocking the exit. "What is this?" he asked, turning back toward the stalls. A stall door swung open, and Edith stepped out with a silent laugh on her face.
"Gotcha," she said. In that moment, she looked as if she had all the power in the world. She was absolutely terrifying. Fred was visibly shaken.
"Come on," Fred said. "Can't we just talk this over, ladies?" He tried to smile.
Edith held her wand high, "Immobulus!"
Before he knew it, Edith's charm had hit him and he couldn't move an inch. She began moving closer to him. Her stride was like a cat's, long and graceful and intimidating. "I told you, you'd regret what you did," she said as she took hold of his shirt. "Help me move him Lav."
Lavender and Edith drug him over into one of the stalls and bound him to the toilet. "Oh, I almost forgot! He's got something in his robes that can get rid of your bruise!" Lavender told Edith sweetly. Lavender bent down and grabbed the small canister from his robes and handed it to Edith.
"Oh, thank you Lav!" She took the container, opened it, and generously dabbed some of the paste onto her bruised eye. It wasn't very pleasant. It was a sickly yellow and had a strange smell, but Edith didn't mind as long as it got rid of the bruise. She tucked it back into his robes before she released him from the charm.
As soon as the charm was removed, Fred started to say something but Edith waved her wand and said, "Langlock!" Fred's mouth immediately went rigid as his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and rendered him unable to speak.
"I don't know why you and your brother find it so hilarious to constantly mess with my house mates, but let me tell you… If anyone were to ever cross me or my loved ones, I'd want a Slytherin on my side. Believe it or not, we're not all evil." She breathed deeply and closed her eyes. Fred begged to differ, for at that moment, he'd never been so intimidated by person in his whole life than he was of Edith. She was the picture of a vengeful villain if he'd ever seen one. He most assuredly regretted targeting her in their games. Edith began backing out of the stall. "Just remember, when you cross a Slytherin, be ready to deal with the consequences."
"Come on Lav. We've still got time for dinner," she called as the two girls left the bathroom.
A/N
Background: This story begins in the 5th year for Fred and George (3rd for Harry). I'm playing off of a scene that actually occurred in the 6th book between Fred and Hermione with the boxing telescope incident at their shop.
I know Lavender seems a little out of place as Edith's friend, but I don't feel like coming up with another OC, and Lavender is pretty easy to write. Plus, it gets across the fact that Edith can be friends with anyone really.
Well, I really hope you guys like it so far! Let me know if it's worth continuing. Reviews and messages are always welcome!
A Lonely Silhouette