"What happened?" Professor McGonagall asked, for the fifth time. She was clearly annoyed. The boys sitting across the desk from her didn't know what to say. For once, they hadn't actually done anything. Of course, no one would ever believe that. They were Fred and George Weasley after all.

The twins had tried to explain to her that they weren't actually at Quidditch Practice at the time of the incident, but they had no proof of that. They were each other's alibis, and that didn't count for much in this situation.

"If you don't tell me what happened, then I'll have to bring Headmaster Dumbledore into this," McGonagall threatened, although it was clear by her facial expression she didn't want to do that. The boys shared a glance, uncharacteristically worried. If they didn't have proof they didn't do it, they could get in serious trouble.

Ten of the twelve people who had actually been there were in the Hospital Wing, and they weren't sure how many of them would actually recover. At least five of those students would probably have to go to St. Mungo's. And Fred and George were believed to be culprits.

They needed to think of a good lie and fast.

"Professor, Quidditch is a rough sport," Fred said.

"Something like this was bound to happen," George added.

"We're actually lucky no one's died yet," Fred continued.

"Really, this shouldn't come like a surprise." McGonagall stared at the two boys in front of her for a few moments. The stared back at her, hoping she would listen to reason. George was right; it shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone.

"Boys, I need you to be honest right now: What actually happened at Quidditch Practice?"

Fred sighed, "Some of the Slytherins were bothering us-"

"-so asked them to leave-"

"-we were really nice about it and everything!"

"But they wouldn't listen?" McGonagall guessed. The twins nodded. "Is that why someone decided to throw a bludger at Malfoy?"

"That wasn't on purpose," Fred insisted. "I wasn't aiming for him."

"But the bludger hit him-"

"-and the Slytherins got mad-"

"-so they started attacking us-"

"-and it all turned into a huge mess."

"We really weren't looking for conflict, Professor, I swear," George said.

"How is it that some of the students ended up by the Whomping Willow?" McGonagall asked, trying to piece together the story.

"Well, fights can travel all over the place, especially when you're on brooms," Fred explained.

"That's also how some people ended up in the lake," his brother added.

"I see," McGonagall said, looking at each boy individually, trying to decide what to do.

"Are we in trouble?" Fred asked.

"Mum will kill us if we get in trouble again," George said.

"We didn't really do anything wrong," Fred pointed out.

"Yeah, it was just an accident," George continued.

"We did try to avoid conflict," Fred concluded.

McGonagall stared at the boys, trying to figure out what to do. The whole thing had started with a misunderstanding. Fred said he didn't mean to hit the Malfoy boy.

"You're not in trouble," she finally decided. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Of course, Professor," they said in unison.

Once the boys had left the professor's office, and were out of hearing distance, they burst out laughing, and high-fived.

"She actually believed us," George gasped out, between laughs.

"That was definitely one of our best lies," Fred said.

"I didn't even know Malfoy got hit by a bludger!" George exclaimed. "That would've been hilarious!"
"I wish I'd seen that," Fred agreed.

"We better tell the others, just in case she asks them," George pointed out. "We don't anyone saying that's not how it happened.

"I wonder what did actually happen," Fred said thoughtfully.

"Whatever it was, it probably wasn't as interesting as our story," George said.

McGonagall didn't need to know the story wasn't true… she didn't need to know the boys were telling the truth when they said they weren't at practice that day.