Chapter 8

I didn't have to do much to locate the girls in the morning. I woke up to find all three of them waiting not so patiently for me to wake up. I tried to play it nonchalant. "Morning."

Angelina threw my robes at me. "Get dressed while you give us details otherwise we'll be late."

I sighed and got up. "So I talked to Draco last night."

She gave me a death look. "I highly doubt any conversation with your brother would be the reason you came in here last night muttering about making a huge mess and calling yourself stupid."

"Well…"

"Just spill it already."

"I ran into George in the common room."

"I knew it!" Ginny shouted triumphantly.

"Gin, did you miss the part about me making a mess of things? We talked for a while and then he might have tried to kiss me."

They all flipped out. Angelina was the only one who's screams actually sounded like coherent words. "It's about time!"

"Guys, I backed out."

They all stopped. "Libra you've been wanting this to happen for years. Why would you back out just when things are going the way they should?" Ginny asked.

"Because I'm descended from the bad guys and your family has always been the good guys. I don't want to risk our technically not possible friendship for more when it's going to get destroyed."

"That's not going to happen." Hermione told me with her usual "I know everything" confidence. "You're scared that your father is going to do something to hurt him. You're forgetting two things:something you said my first year here and something you told me earlier this summer. The only way anyone is going to hurt someone you love is over your dead body, and the reason your father kicked you out for good is because he heard about your feelings for George. Whether he becomes your boyfriend or stays your best friend your father will still go after him to hurt you. George can take care of himself, but it if comes down to it he'll be safer with you beside him."

Dressed and ready to go down to breakfast I sat back down on my bed. "So what do I do?"

Ginny grabbed my hand and started dragging me to the stairs. "You're going to go down there and talk to my brother and work this out." She gave me a little push when I hesitated at the top. "I can't wait until I can start calling you my sister."

I made the walk down the stairs a leisurely stroll. When I got to the bottom I found the twins and Lee waiting for. As soon as Fred and Lee saw me they took off. Wanting to ease the awkward that was building with every step I took towards George I asked, "What's with them?"

"I didn't quite catch all the the excuse. Just heard something about wanting to leave us alone."

"Look George-"

"I remember what you said. You don't want to tempt fate by continuing to defy the odds. I can wait until you see how ridiculous that sounds. In the meantime we can still be friends right?"

Hermione's words replayed in my head. George can take care of himself, but if it comes down to it he'll be safer with you beside him. Before I could change my mind and go back to being paranoid about getting him killed I took the leap. I kissed him. He was momentarily stunned but after a couple seconds he kissed me back. That moment quickly rose to the top of the list of the best moments of my life. After a couple more seconds I pulled back. "To hell with the odds. I need to stop being paranoid."

"Ah so she admits she's paranoid." He said with a grin.

"Shut up."

"That was easier than I thought it would be."

"Thank Hermione. Let's go get breakfast."

He took my hand and together we walked to the Great Hall.

When we sat down at the Gryffindor table Fred and Lee broke out into applause. "Finally." Lee said passing me the bacon.

While I was loading up my plate with the wonderful delights that is breakfast food Angelina came over and sat next to me. She gave me questioning look and I nodded. She grinned like the freaking Chesire cat. I gave her a look and tilted my head towards Fred. When she looked confused I mouthed "Quidditch."

She turned to Fred. "So I've been made Quidditch Captain and on Friday we're going to have tryouts for the new Keeper and I want the whole team to be there."

"Sounds good I'll be there." He said with a smile. I was thoroughly impressed he even understood what she was saying she had talked so fast.

We ended conversation in favor of enjoying breakfast. By the time I had demolished the last piece of bacon McGonagall was moving around the table handing out schedules. I scanned over mine. Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms. I wasn't surprised, they're what I needed to take to become an Auror, but I still internally groaned at Defense against the Dark Arts. It was my favorite class, but I knew Umbridge was going to find a way to destroy that for me. I've only actually talked to the woman twice and both times she was insufferable.

Fred snapped his fingers in my face to get my attention. He and George were already standing. "Looks like your three favorite fifth years got their schedules. Let's give them hell shall we?"

We got up and moved to where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were sitting. Ron was complaining about his schedule. "Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that Umbridge woman all in one day! I hope Fred, George, and Libra hurry up and get those Skiving Snackboxes sorted.."

Today Fred was going for the dramatic instead of quick wit. "Do mine ears deceive me?" He squeezed in next to Harry. "Hogwarts prefects surely don't want to skive off lessons?"

"Look at what we've got today. That's the worst Monday I've ever seen."

Fred took the schedule and scanned over it. "Fair point little bro. You can have a bit of Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like."

Ron looked a little weary. "Why is it cheap?"

"Because you'll keep bleeding until you shrivel up, we haven't got an antidote yet." George said casually.

"Well we think we do." Fred corrected. "But Libra keeps putting off testing it again.

"Guys the blood loss put me out of commision for a day. You mum nearly killed you, and I nearly died of boredom. I need to plan it around my schedule in case this antidote doesn't work. I said I'd try it Friday night."

As soon as the words left my mouth I knew Fred was going to make a crack about it. "Interesting Libra. Your idea of a fun Friday night is hanging out with your boyfriend, his brother, and the potential of bleeding out."

I glanced at george who took the cue and put his arm around me. I looked back at his twin. "What can I say Freddie? I'm a savage."

Ron gave us the weirdest look. "I think I'll take the lessons. And congratulations you two on finally seeing the light."

Hermione gave me a small smile before putting on her figurative prefect hat. "And speaking of your skiving snackboxes, you can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor notice board."

"Warned you." I whispered.

They pretended not to hear me. "Says who?" George asked.

"Says me. And Ron."

"Leave me out of it." Ron did not look the least bit happy with the idea of him telling the twins what to do being implied.

Fred stated buttering a crumpet. "You'll be singing a different tune soon enough Hermione." He took a bite. "You're starting your fifth year. You'll be begging us for a Snackbox before long."

"ANd why would starting fifth year mean I want a Skiving Snackbox?

"Fifth year's O.W.L. year." George replied.

"So?"

Fred looked way too smug when as he replied. "So you've got your exams coming up, haven't you? They'll be keeping your noses to the grindstone so hard the'll be rubbed raw."

"Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up on O.W.L.s." George said with a little too much enthusiasm. "Tears and tantrums...Patricia Stimpson kept coming over faint…"

"Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember." Fred said looking very nostalgic.

I shook my head. "You put Bulbadox powder in his pajamas."

"Oh yeah. It's hard to keep track sometimes. Thought I haven't forgotten how Libra nearly killed three different people during Quidditch that year."

Harry opened his mouth to defend me. I cut him off. "It may be true that the only way I stayed sane was blowing of steam on the pitch."

"Anyway," George said. "It's a nightmare of a year, the fifth. If you care about exam results anyway. Fred and I managed to keep our spirits up somehow."

Ron tried to rain on their parade. "Yeah… you got, what was it, three O.W.L.s each?""

"Yep." Fred said with no concern at all. "But we feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement"

"We seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back this year, now that we've got-"

I elbowed him in the ribs.

"-now that we've got our O.W.L.s." He said scrambling for something to cover up his slip. "I mean do we really need N.E.W.T.s? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early, not on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat."

"But this year will not be wasted." Fred said. "We're going to be doing a bit of market research. Figure of what students want from a joke shop, evaluate the results, and produce the products to fit the demand."

Hermione was skeptical. "Where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop? You're going to need ingredients and materials and premises too."

Fred stood up. "Ask us no questions and we shall tell you no lies. Now if you'll excuse us, we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Herbology and George will probably want to walk his girlfriend to Potions.

Once we were out the door we stopped. "Guys she almost figured you out."

"Well she didn't. Now George get her to Potions and try not to take too long getting to Herbology." Fred winked before heading off, stopping halfway down the hall to try to sell Extendable Ears to a group of second years.

George offered his arm dramatically. "Shall we?"

I smiled and pretended to curtsey. "We shall." And we headed off to Snape's classroom.

He tried to make small talk. "So Angelina directed the Quidditch announcement at Fred, but not you or me."

"She told me last night and wanted me to tell you two. I told her I would only tell you so she would have an excuse to talk to Fred. Given the way things played out last night I kinda forgot to tell you."

We weighed the pros and cons on our team's future with her as captain instead of Wood. By the time we got to my class we had decided the pep talk will be the same in quality because even though they would be shorter they would lack Wood's near obsessive passion and enthusiasm.

"Well here we are." He said.

"Yep."

I rolled my eyes. "Go to class, before you're late."

"I've got plenty of time."

"Your brother needs your help building relations with your customers. Go."

He kissed me again. "See you later." He said before heading to the Greenhouse.

I walked into the classroom and noted that I was the first student there. Snape who had quite obviously seen everything wasted no time in trying to ruin my day. "Miss Malfoy. How disappointed your father would be. Surely you could do better than a Weasley."

"Morning Snape I thought you would be a little less against it given recent events. And if my father wanted to prevent this he should have kept me under his roof so he could have better control over my life. Not that it would have worked anyway."

"I thought I wouldn't be seeing you in this class."

"Why? I kind of need it and I was the best in class last year...Ohhhhhh." I said the realization dawned on me. He thought I was going to drop out to be in the Order. "Well I did consider that, but I figured if I'm going to go out there and kick ass I would need to have as many tricks up my sleeve as possible."

Any further conversation was interrupted by the rest of the class filing in. I sat down in my usual seat near the front and took out my book.

Nothing truly astonishing happened in gave a long speech about what he expected out of us on the N.E.W.T.s in June and left us with barely enough time to brew the potion he assigned. I was greeted by both of the twins as I walked out of class. "Hey guys. How was class?"

"Dreadfully boring." Fred said as we started walking to Defense Against the Dark Arts. "How was Potions?"

"The usual. I don't know why I expected Snape to be a little more friendly."

"Prickly as usual was he?" Fred asked pausing to make a sale to a Ravenclaw second year.

Once the money and Extendable Ears had been exchanged we continued on. "Yep. And now I get to follow it up with Umbridge."

George put an arm over my shoulders. "At least we're all together so we can keep each other amused."

Lee joined us. "And that would now involve Fred and I cracking jokes about your love life while you try t o brush it off and change the subject and Libra tries to refrain from murdering us."

I just shook my head as the three of them burst out laughing. We entered Umbridge's classroom and were met with a look of disapproval. We immediately shut up and I raised an eyebrow. Sensing my question she said, "I do not like disruptions in my classroom."

We exchanged uneasy glances and sat down. Once everyone was in the room she began by playing at friendly and relatable. "Good morning."

She got a few muttered responses in return. Unsatisfied she said, "Now that won't do. I would like you to reply with 'Good morning Professor Umbridge." Shall we try again? Good morning class."

"Good morning Professor Umbridge." I only mouthed the words. Everyone else sounded unenthused.

"Welcome to your final year of Defense Against the Dark Arts. By the end of this year you'll be well prepared to take and pass your N.E.W.T. examination. It has been noted that your teaching of this subject has been fragmented, but not to worry. This year you'll be following a carefully structured Ministry approved curriculum."

I leaned closer to George. "Translation: Boring and not at all useful."

Umbridge didn't hear me. "Do you all have a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilber Slinkhard?"

Once again there was minimal answer to her question.

"When I ask you a question I should like you to reply with 'Yes Professor Umbridge" or 'No Professor Umbridge.' Now let's try that again. Do you all have a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

This time I did speak. With as much fake sweetness as I could muster I joined the chorus of, "Yes, Professor Umbridge."

"Good. I would like you to now turn to page five and begin reading chapter one."

I flipped my book open dreading what stale boring text I would find. At the sight of the title of the chapter my hand shot up. She ignored me for a good five minutes before I proved to be too much of a distraction for the rest of the class. "Yes Miss.."

It took all my willpower not to roll my eyes. She knew exactly who I was. "Malfoy. I was wondering why we're studying 'Basics For Beginners", this is a seventh year N.E.W.T level class."

"Which is why we'll be moving more quickly than the other classes. the Ministry feels it is best you get a quick review of Defensive Magical theory before continuing on with your studies."

"Theory. That word keeps getting thrown around and seems to imply that we will not be doing any actual spellwork."

"Once you understand the theory well enough you'll be able to do the spells with no trouble at all."

Fred spoke up. "So we will have no chance to practice spells at all?"

"Your hand isn't up Mr.-"

"Weasley." He said, half raising his hand for good measure.

Lee raised his hand.

Umbridge looked annoyed to say the least. "Yes, Mr.-"

"Jordan. I wanted to know the answer to Fred's question."

"Mr. Jordan, do you believe you will be attacked in my classroom?"

"No?" He said sounding uncertain.

"Then there is no reason for you to use defensive magic in my classroom."

My hand went up again. When she looked at me I asked, "So you expect to pass our N.E.W.T.s when the first time we'll be doing some of these spells is in the practical portion of the exam itself?"

"If you know the theory well enough you should have no trouble applying it in a carefully controlled setting. Now please get back to your reading."

"Is this how you were taught this subject?" I asked standing up to keep her from ignoring me again.

"Miss Malfoy do you want a detention?"

I opened my mouth to reply and George dragged me back down to my seat. "Slow down Libra. Don't go getting detention on the first day of school. Besides there's no reasoning with her." He whispered.

I sighed and returned my attention to my book. At least this was the last class for the day.

After dinner we took up residence in a corner of the common room to do our first round of testing on Hogwarts students. So far the only ones who have been brave enough to try our products out have been first years. We were hoping for a bit more diversity, but we would take what we could get. Fred who had long ago been named our PR guy stood up. "Thanks for agreeing to help us out. We'll pay you half of what we promised in advance and the rest after we're done. It's nothing too hard, just a bit of product sampling. I assure everything is completely safe." He explained handing them each a sample of Fainting Fancy after I paid them the first half of what we promised.

They were almost immediately out like lights. The twins started taking notes on observing each unconscious kid.

Hermione came marching up to us. "That's enough!" I took a step back startled by the venom in her voice.

The twins only looked mildly surprised. George went for the casual approach. "Yeah, you're right. This dosage looks strong enough doesn't it?

"I told you this morning, you can't test your rubbish on students!"

Fred wasn't as interested in keeping his cool. "We're paying them!"

"I don't care, it could be dangerous!"

"Rubbish." Fred said.

"What he means," I said moving to stand between the twins. "Is that they're perfectly safe because anything we give to them has already been tested on all three of us."

Lee spoke up as he put the purple ends on their mouths. "Calm down, Hermione, they're fine!"

George gestured to them. "Look, they're coming round now." He crouched down next to a small girl who was closest to him. "Feel alright?" The way he asked melted my soul, he's so nice to young kids.

"I-I think so." She said.

"Excellent!" Fred said writing a note, only to be interrupted as Hermione snatched it and the bag a Fainting Fancies.

"It is NOT excellent!"

"Of course it is. They're still alive aren't they?"

I casually stood on Fred's foot and mouthed "Cool it" when he turned his glare to me.

"You can't do this. What if you make one of them really ill?"

"You heard what LIbra said. We tested everything on ourselves first. We're just testing to see if everyone reacts the same.-"

She cut him off. "If you keep doing this I'm going to-"

"What?" he interrupted. "Give us detention?" he asked with a tone that dared her to try.

George smirked. "Make us do lines?"

I was not about to join in on daring Hermione to do her worst. I had no interest of seeing her on the warpath. Most of the other people in the room had broken into laughter at the showdown. Hermione stood as tall as she could and narrowed her eyes. Over all she looked pretty damn threatening.

"No," her voice quivering with anger. "but I will write to you mother."

"Oh shit." I whispered. That was a low blow.

George took a step back. "You wouldn't."

"Oh yes I would. I can't stop you from eating the stupid things yourselves, but you're not giving them to first years." She shoved the clipboard and bag back into Fred's arms and stormed back to Harry and Ron.

Sensing that they would be frozen in shock for a while I paid the kids the rest of their money and shooed them away. I turned to Lee. "How should we approach this?"

"We get them to sit down and you do most of the talking."

We ushered them to a group of chairs in the corner of the room. "So how long are you guys going to be out like this? Because I can't start talking this out until you guys are with it enough to listen."

"She wouldn't really do that would she?" Fred asked fussing with the bag anxiously.

"I don't know guys. But either way I think we should lay low with testing on students. Keep it off her radar and carefully select people who won't let it slip."

"Why would she even say she would do something like that?" George asked.

"She was mad enough that you were challenging her authority, then people started laughing. She had to win so she went with the blow that guaranteed it. "

"Why don't any of them believe we can do it? They just think we're idiots."

I abandoned my chair to sit on the floor in front of them. "Hey, don't let them get in your head. You can do this. You've already done so much. The only reason they think you're idiots is you spend all your time and energy on this shop. Classes aren't your thing, but business and product development are. Someday soon you'll have the shop and start raking in the Galleons and they'll see."

Lee cleared his throat. "I can't think of anything more helpful than that emotional speech, so I'm just going to go before I ruin it."

Fred ended up following him.

By that time the rest of the common room had cleared out as well. George stood up and pulled me over to the sofa. I sat down next to him and laid my head on his chest as he put his arm around me. We sat there like that for a long time. Finally he spoke. "How did we get lucky enough to be your friends?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're a Malfoy. You could have been friends with people with a lot more than us."

"Who the richer Gryffindors who were afraid of me because of my last name? The Slytherins, most of whom I grew up with, who cut me out when I ended up breaking family tradition. I don't have the temperament to be around Hufflepuffs all the time, and I'm a touch more smartass than smart. I'd rather hang out with the two jokers who were nice to me from minute one on the train than any of them. Honestly I'm wondering how I got lucky enough you didn't turn on me like the rest of them."

"Please. After you tricked Fred into eating a vomit flavored bean we knew that you were a keeper."

I smiled. "Feel better yet?"

"Not quite. I think we need to sit here longer."

"Oh really how much longer?"

"Eternity?"

I groaned. "Smooth, but a little cheesy."

"So that's a no."

I sat up. "Sorry, I still have half an essay to write before I can sleep." I gave him a peck on the lips and started to walk away. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to kiss me again. I grinned and pushed him back. "I have to go."

He let me go. "Good night Libra." He said before heading to the boys' stairs

"Goodnight George."