Twins in the End
By Kukaburry
Chapter 7 – Burn it Down
The fall Slytherin-Gryffindor game happened in three days, and quidditch, as everyone knew, could be a dangerous sport. The spark that kindled Avry's spirits earlier in the morning raged within her now. It would all look like a little accident. George's broom would collapse and he would fall to a quick, and hopefully painful, demise. She imagined his broken body lying still on the ground and felt queasy. Rethinking her plan, Avry contrived a less grim elimination of George. Perhaps, she thought, he could be mortally wounded instead of cremated.
Between classes, Avry spent the majority of her time searching for useful spells. Slytherins, as a rule, avoided people catching them in the library so she threatened a couple of first-year Ravenclaws into gathering several books on quidditch brooms and special hexes.
On Friday afternoon, the day before the match, Mandy came across Avry sitting in an alcove reading a book on how levitation spells worked in brooms. "Hey there big sis." Mandy's familiar greeting set her blood boiling.
Not wanting to deal with her sister, she snapped, "Sod off Mandy."
"Why are you reading that?" Mandy asked curiously, pretending as if Avry had not been ignoring her presence.
Rolling her eyes, Avry tossed the book into her satchel and stood up, leaning against the coarse stone wall and shivering at its icy touch. "So I can curse the broom of a sister who can't take a hint." She spat angrily and stalked away, leaving Mandy looking perplexed and sad. A small constricting feeling wrapped itself around Avry's chest, signaling that she was not as indifferent to her sister as she wished. Before she registered her words, she spoke over her shoulder, "I look forward to seeing you drop like a fly out of the sky." Mandy's doleful eyes sent another pang of regret mingled with guilt resonating through her heart.
Guilt for how she treated Haley and Mandy ate at her conscience for several hours, but she knew that the sooner she enacted her plan; the sooner things would go back to normal - both with Haley and Mandy. An hour before dinner, Avry snuck out to the quidditch pitch and easily broke into the Gryffindor changing room. The air smelled of fresh hay and shoe polish. Seven jerseys emblazoned with gold lettering hung on the wall. Avry itched to throw all of them on the floor and stomp repeatedly, but she focused on the plan. George's broom stared at her from near the end of the row, and Avry couldn't help but notice that Mandy's Nimbus 2000 leaned against it. Pushing Mandy's broom out of the way, she performed three magical spells on the broom. One to slowly increase the broom's weight, one to weaken the levitation spell, and one to splinter the broom into tiny shreds when it reached the weakest point.
Deep down, Avry knew this plan was flawless. She studied and she sneaked like a perfect Slytherin. Beaming, Avry opened the door and fumbled around with the lock before snapping it in place.
"Ah ha!" Two voices she had come to loathe shouted in unison. Putting on a cool and unconcerned mask, she turned to face the twins.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" One of the twins asked.
Wondering how much the twins had seen, she shrugged and threw out a curveball answer. "I'm trying to break into the locker room." She struggled to pull a bored look.
Both twins raised their eyebrows. Fred continued to look annoyed while the other studied her. "You're just going to admit it?" The same twin asked suspiciously.
Avry shrugged. "Well, yeah. What else should I do? Pretend I was polishing the lock?" She swore she saw a true smile tug at his mouth, but a sardonic grin quickly arrived in its place.
"You hear that, George? She's giving herself up."
Holding her hands up in defense, Avry laughed as though she found the whole ordeal hilarious. "You found me guilty of what, exactly? Failing to break a lock?" She poured on the sarcasm, hoping they would take the bait. Fred looked to George, unsure of how to continue. "I see you're working hard on some kind of comeback. How about I walk to the castle and you can owl your response to me."
"Mandy said she thought you might be planning something." George piped up.
Continuing to laugh, Avry replied without bothering to turn around, "My sister has a head full of air. She saw me reading a spell book and decided that 2 + 2 = 17. Now if you are finished trying to accuse me of something I did not do, I'm done with both of you."
Avry heard one of the twins whisper, "That was too easy."
"Hey Avry, just think that tomorrow when Gryffindor beats Slytherin my brother will celebrate with your sister." Ignoring him took every ounce of strength she had and she stomped away. She looked forward to seeing his look of despair when his brother lay prostrate in the Hospital Wing. An unwilling image of Mandy crying at George's bedside popped into her head, but a quick squeeze of the eyes banished it from her mind.
As Avry fell asleep that night, she felt warm hands grab her waist. "Here's my good girl," a husky voice whispered in her ear. "I haven't seen you all day," he pouted, kissing the side of her neck and trailing a hand down the front of her shirt and under the hem of her skirt. Even though she felt tightness in her chest, she decided not to push him away this time. "I heard you were having a row with your sister and the Weasley's today." His voice held a hint of accusation.
"How did you know that? Are you following me?"
His hand stopped its trek down her thigh as he turned an all-knowing look to her. "Darling, I have eyes and ears everywhere. Why do you think they call me the prince?" His blue eyes sparkled with hidden knowledge and secrets swam just beneath the surface. "Now, why were you going at it with them again? I thought you said you were done?" His grip tightened on her arm.
Hiding her guilt, Avry snorted in annoyance, pretending that he offended her with such a question. "Don't be so suspicious. Mandy asked me a stupid question and I walked away, totally ignoring her. As for the Weasleys, I'm working on it. They just get under my skin." An annoyed flush rose from her chest to her cheeks.
His gaze softened slightly. "Well if you're working on it, I guess I'll let it slide today." He nibbled her earlobe. "Just put them all out of your mind, they're nothing compared to us." She relaxed into Blake's soft touch. "Here, I'll give you something else to think about," his wicked grin and skilled hands erased all thoughts from her head.
Morning rays rolled in much too early in Avry's opinion. Rolling over to the cool pillow next to her, she realized that Blake slipped off in the night without waking her. A steady padding of feet on the floor outside alerted her that the game was starting soon. She found pair of shiny binoculars at the bottom of her trunk, perfect for watching George fall.
Immediately after entering the dining hall, Avry felt the suspicious stares of George, Fred, and Mandy boring into her back. Double satisfaction came from ignoring them and knowing that none of them knew her actual plan was already in motion. After grabbing a handful of toast for breakfast, Avry began the trek down to the quidditch pitch. Blake dogged her for a minute before asking her to save a seat for him. "I gotta talk to Marcus real quick. Back in a tick."
One of the Weasley twins appeared at her side. "So what exactly are you planning?" He asked her in a lowered voice.
Keeping her gaze on the dirt path ahead, she played dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'll make it simple - are you going to do something to my brother?"
A wicked smile curved her lips and she watched him out of the corner of her eye. "How do you know I don't have something planned for you?"
"Cut the crap, we both know you're after George." He turned his head further to the side and eyed her speculatively. "Actually you might have something planned for your sister for all I know." The urge to defend her actions against her sister were overwhelming and confusing, and Avry remained silent in case it slipped out. Taking her silence as indifference, he growled, "Fine, don't say anything, just know that I will get you if anything happens to either of them."
Rolling her eyes at his show of masculinity, Avry replied sarcastically, "I thought you Weasley's were supposed to be funny?"
Fred grabbed her arm firmly and stared directly into her eyes, not even a glimmer of humor left in his features. "When it comes to my friends and family, I'm as serious as it gets." A strange mixture of uneasiness and attraction crept its way through Avry's body. Her heartbeat quickened at the intensity of his stare. Deep down she knew his threat was more than empty since the worst he would do was pull tricks on her, but the protectiveness in his voice allured her. Even the thought of attraction to a Weasley made her feel sick. "I'm glad I'm finally getting through to you." A satisfied smile finally settled on his face.
Pulling her arm free of his grip, Avry's lip curled sourly. "Piss off. I don't need your kind threatening me." They parted ways a few steps ahead when she headed towards the pitch and he veered off to get ready for the game. His words echoed threateningly in her head several minutes later.
A cool breeze swept down the hill to the quidditch pitch causing every person to pull their robe hoods over their heads. Gray clouds occasionally rolled across the sun, blocking all but a few of the rays of warmth much needed by students huddled together in the stadium. A group of Slytherin girls and guys spotted Avry sitting near the staircase and altered their path to join her.
"Where' the boyfriend?" The girl with black and purple hair named Lorraine asked Avry, almost in a pouting voice.
"I don't know. I'm not his keeper."
"Of course she's my keeper," Blake said with a sly wink, appearing at Avry's side. "I missed you," he brought her lips up for a short kiss that left her face tingling. Lorraine looked like she was about to melt into a puddle at the sight. Avry found herself thinking 'If you want him so bad, take him', but shook herself for letting that thought cross her mind. She had worked hard for her position as Blake's girlfriend.
Lee Jordan, the Weasley's best friend, began announcing all of the Gryffindor players. The surrounding crowd hissed like snakes when Potter was announced, but Avry saved her hiss for the twins. Peering at them, she wondered which twin was which and cursed herself for not taking the time to remember their idiotic faces. Lee yelled out their names, one after the other, and she eyed George with malice as he raised his fist in the air causing the Gryffindors to cheer wildly. His time was nigh.
"And Gryffindor gets the Quaffle first! Bell and Saunders rush up the side, double-teaming the keeper. Bell fakes and throws it to Saunders who throws it at the third hoop and score! Ten points to Gryffindor." The maroon third of the pitch exploded in excitement.
"Flint and Grande take it down the side, passing it off to Dervil. Chase and Mackim hit the bludgers at Saunders and Weasley smacks one back. Way to go George! Show them who's boss.. Oh sorry professor. Dervil throws back to Mackim and Slytherin scores. Ten to ten."
The scores went back and forth for twenty more minutes, but Avry hardly paid attention. All she noticed was George's decreased speed and ability to control his broom. She knew her spells were working. For once she was happy that the Weasleys were poor and couldn't afford good brooms. If they owned Nimbus's, like her sisters, her spells would have bounced right off. George began staring at his broom angrily and he yelled something at his brother before he dropped several stories in the air. The crowd gasped and watched his descent. He hovered at forty feet from the group before his broom snapped in half. Unfortunately, no one noticed George drop with shreds of broomstick keeping pace, because at the same moment a deafening bang from another forty feet up caught everyone's attention and all eyes watched Mandy Saunders's flaming body fall to the ground and land with a sickening 'crack' only a meter from George's still form.
Water rained from ten different wands, extinguishing the flames surrounding Mandy, and the only thing Avry heard through the ruckus was a girl's voice shrieking, "Don't die Mandy! Don't die!"
Oh yes. Yes, I did. I'm so evil it's hard to quantify. I'm not even going to speculate what happens in the next chapter because a good writer leaves their readers in suspense. ~Kukaburry
