A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! And to everyone who favorited the story and/or added it to their alerts. :)
I don't own Harry Potter.
Sara sat down in Muggle Studies the next day with a sigh. Five minutes later, the twins walked in, noticed her, grinned at each other, and then crossed the room.
She groaned internally as they took seats on either side of her.
"Hello Sara, how are you today?" Fred asked.
"I was doing fine," she answered through gritted teeth.
"Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Fred raised his eyebrows.
"I've always wondered," George said, "what side of the bed is the wrong side of the bed?"
Fred thought for a moment. "I'm not sure, George. Maybe it's the side that you don't normally get in and out of bed on."
"What if you alternate sides, though?" George asked.
Sara put her head down on her desk and sighed. Maybe she could switch groups. She doubted it though.
Fred and George continued their conversation in a whisper as the professor entered the room.
"Good morning," she said. "Today, we're going to finish discussing the project we talked about yesterday." She looked at them.
The class was silent. This would be an appropriate time for crickets to chirp.
"Yay!" Fred said suddenly, waving his fist around like one of those spinning noisemakers.
"Thank you for the enthusiasm, Mr. Weasley. Even if it was sarcastic," the professor laughed. "Now, as you know, you'll all be leaving on airplanes on September 20th. You will be leaving from a nearby airport at your scheduled times."
"Which are…?" George asked.
"I was getting there." The professor passed out papers to each group. "Now, in the pile of papers I gave you, you will find all the information you need. On top are your passport and a boarding pass. You'll need these to get onto the airplane, so do not lose them."
Sara flipped through the papers. There were four boarding passes, and four passports. There was also a piece of paper with the name of a school and an address. "What's the address for?" she asked.
"The address is to the apartment or house you will be living in. Yes, you will have your own place. The rent is already taken care of."
"Won't we need money for other things?" Katie asked.
"Yes, that's why I've talked to Professor McGonagall and she's agreed to help you all transfigure enough money into Muggle money appropriate for where you're going. Although, it wouldn't hurt for you to get jobs while you're there!" She smiled as if this was the news of the century, but the class took the opposite view and groaned.
When the bell rang, Sara hurried away to lunch without a backwards glance.
"You sure left fast," Katie said as she sat down next to Sara a few minutes later.
Sara didn't answer. Instead, she filled her plate with food.
"Look," Katie sighed. "I know you don't like them, but we have to work with them."
"Not like you mind," Sara mumbled. "George is your boyfriend. Maybe I can try to switch groups."
Katie shook her head. "Someone already tried and the professor said no."
"Well, she likes me so maybe if I ask nicely…"
"What are you going to say? 'I hate two of my group members so can I switch?'"
"Maybe I'm allergic to them," Sara suggested. "Sometimes I don't know why you're dating George. Honestly, the two of them are a double walking catastrophe."
Katie shrugged. "They have good qualities. If you hung around them more, you would know." A grin spread over her face as the twins entered the great hall.
"Bye," Sara said, trying to run, but Katie grabbed her arm.
"Please, at least make an attempt to get along with them. For me?"
Sara sighed. "Fine, but for you, not for them. And don't expect any miracles."
"Well, if it isn't Miss I'm-Dying-To-Get-Out-Of-Here Sheridan," Fred said loudly. "You bolted out of class so quickly that I thought your pants were on fire." He sat between Sara and Katie, while George sat on Katie's other side.
"It would probably be the result of one of your immature pranks," Sara said, picking at her plate of food. She glanced at Katie, who was talking quietly with George, their hands intertwined and their foreheads touching.
"That's not a bad idea, actually. Fire pants, or flammable pants."
"All pants are flammable," Sara said.
Fred shrugged. "So Sara," he said in a singsong voice, picking a tomato off of her plate. "I bet you're excited for the trip."
"Not exactly my choice of words," she answered, grabbing the tomato back and eating it.
Fred threw his arm around her shoulders. "Well, you should get excited because we are leaving in eighteen days."
Sara shrugged his arm away. "Aren't you worried about missing Quidditch or something?"
Fred shrugged one shoulder. "Kind of, but at the same time, not really. Wood's apparently spent the summer making a better, more difficult Quidditch training method and he's probably planning to work the team until they fall apart."
"Well, unlike you, I'm not afraid of a little hard work and I'll be very busy during our little trip trying to get my schoolwork done."
"What if I asked you to do mine for me?" Fred asked with a grin.
"No way," Sara shook her head and grabbed her bag. She stood up from the table. "Actually doing the work yourself would be good for you."
"Thanks for the advice, doctor, but I disagree," Fred grinned again.
"Well that's no surprise. You never agree with common sense." With that, she marched out of the room.
She decided there was no other option but to stick it out and deal with the twins, especially Fred. She didn't want to be stuck babysitting two immature fifteen year olds, so she also decided that she wouldn't. She would leave them to do what they wanted as long as it didn't affect or involve her or her final grade on the project.
Who was she kidding, though? She was probably going to spend the whole trip making sure Fred and George behaved themselves. Her grade depended on it.
She took a deep breath and stopped at the bottom of the front staircase. She didn't know where to spend the rest of the lunch hour. Then, she got an idea. Why not spend it in the library looking up information on Salem? Being more informed about their new town might help her get a better grade. Maybe she could even find out why the professor had almost looked like she wanted to smirk at them when they picked their town. It was almost as if she had been saying 'oh the irony.'
Once in the library, she chose a few books and began searching for a table. Hermione was sitting alone at one of them, engrossed in a book. Sara joined her. "Hey Hermione, what are you doing?"
"Just doing a little reading. What are you doing? Shouldn't you be at lunch?"
"Shouldn't you?" Sara raised an eyebrow and smiled.
Hermione laughed. "Fair enough."
"Anyway," Sara sighed, opening the first book. "I'm looking up information on Salem, Massachusetts."
"Why?" Hermione's head snapped up.
Sara explained all about the project and how her group had picked the town of Salem. The professor said it 'should be fun' and I wondered why."
Hermione looked at her. "Have you ever heard of the Salem witch trials of 1692?"
"No," Sara shook her head. "There are other witches in Salem? Maybe we'll run into some."
"No," Hermione said, "well maybe, but the witch trials took place about three hundred years ago in Salem Massachusetts. Many women and even men were suspected of being witches and put on trial. If they were found, they were hung in front of most of the town."
Sara looked at her in shock. "But that was three hundred years ago. Surely they don't do that anymore. If they did, we wouldn't be sent there."
"No, the trials are over, but it's just going to be an eerie place to go."
Sara didn't know what to say. "Well, the point is to act like Muggles, so we'll blend right in. Hopefully I can get the twins to really behave because-,"
"—if they do magic, it'll be in one of the worst and ironic places to do it," Hermione finished.
Sara groaned. This might be harder than she thought. The twins would think this whole thing was cool and fascinating. Thank goodness they weren't time traveling to 1692 Salem. That would stress Sara out so much, she would probably die, if she wasn't put on trial first. And knowing the twins, they would be the ones to get all of them put on trial. But the trials were over, so there wasn't anything to worry about, although Hermione was right. It was going to be an extremely eerie trip.