Chapter Twelve - Snap
"Hey, did you guys hear the news?" Cormac McLaggen asked Tabitha as she sat down to breakfast.
"I know, I know. I'm a Duel of Sevens champion," she beamed. "Please, hold your applause."
"What? No," he smirked. "How can you guys not know? The entire school knows."
"Just spit it out, McLaggen, before I Jinx you into oblivion," Tabitha grumbled, eyes narrowing on the boy.
"Last night, You-Know-Who returned to Hogwarts and Harry Potter beat him again," he told them. "Course, I'm starting to think it must not be that hard. I could have probably taken him on as a baby and made sure he couldn't return…"
"What?" Skye and Tabitha exclaimed together.
"I can't believe that little runt is stealing my thunder all over again," Tabitha huffed, eyes rolling.
"That is not the part we should be focussing on here, Tabitha! Did you miss the part where an evil wizard apparently came back from the dead?" She squealed, eyes popping.
"So I guess you guys have heard what happened last night," George frowned, sitting down to join them for breakfast.
"Yeah, but how is it even possible? I mean, how does You-Know-Who enter Hogwarts from beyond the grave?" Skye wondered in disbelief.
"Well, many believed that he wasn't really dead, so maybe he heard that Harry had started Hogwarts and sought him out," Fred speculated.
"Speaking of Harry…" George began.
"We were thinking of sending him a rather fabulous gift in the hospital wing…" Fred continued.
"And we couldn't help but think we could use your evil genius to help us," George finished.
Tabitha began muttering to herself about Harry Potter being so brilliant, Skye opting to ignore her to give the twins a nervous glance.
"What kind of gift are we talking about exactly?" She asked, thinking she was already halfway to detention.
"A toilet seat," Fred grinned.
"Didn't you already try that? Weren't you going to send it to your sister?" Skye inquired, an eyebrow raised.
"Yes, but we went a bit overboard and the whole toilet blew up. I doubt I would have been able to distinguish the seat from anything else from the way it ended up," George laughed.
"You know you can just unscrew a toilet seat, right?" Skye sighed.
"Exactly why we need you, Skye. You think outside the magical box," Fred grinned.
"How are you even going to get it past Madam Pomfrey?" Tabitha asked, intrigued.
"Deliver it by owl of course," George stated gleefully.
"They can get quite aggressive if you try to intercept a delivery," Fred explained.
"How would you know?" Tabitha huffed.
"Clearly, you've never had to intercept a letter to your parents from school," George shuddered.
"That's because I've never been caught," she retorted, smug.
Skye laughed as her friend bickered amongst themselves, arguing about the aggression of birds. Across the room, her eyes met Mikey's that indicated the two tables between them. Skye looked across to the Slytherin table, watching as Lilith sat on her own, her face miserable. Meanwhile, at the Ravenclaw table, Luke sat amongst a group of friends, laughing. Skye scowled wondering how he could appear so laid back.
She turned back to Mikey, her eyebrows raised in questioning. Mikey indicated the opposite end of the Slytherin table to which Lilith was sat and Skye followed his gaze where a messy haired boy was staring at her. As soon as she met his grey eyes he stood up and walked out the Great Hall, a slight nod to indicate her to follow. She stood up, muttering something about being back soon to her fellow Gryffindors.
"Are you okay?" Skye asked in concern, approaching Ethan as she entered the empty corridor.
"Look, err, thanks for letting me fight with you guys last night," he fidgeted, looking at the floor.
"Really, I should be thanking you. We would have lost everything if you hadn't have been our Seventh," she smiled. "Was everything ok this morning? I was a bit worried the others might gang up on you."
"Well, thankfully for me there was bigger gossip about than our duel. Hardly anyone knows, and I think it's better if it stays like that, do you understand?" He asked, gazing at her intently.
"You mean you want me to stop Tabitha announcing it to the entire world," Skye sighed, thinking it was harder than it sounded.
"You owe me. I can't survive in this school if everyone knows all about this," he panicked.
"Would it really be so bad?" She frowned.
"Please, Skye," he begged. "I've spent this whole year a shadow. It has got to stay that way if I want to stick around for six more years."
"Ok, ok," she agreed. "I'll make sure everyone knows. You know if you ever want to talk about anything…"
Skye watched as Ethan's head whipped round as fast as lightning, resting on the direction of a faint humming sound. Skye followed the direction, watching as Professor Dumbledore rounded the corner.
"Miss Knight," Dumbledore nodded in greeting, heading into the Hall.
Skye gave him a slight wave before looking back to where Ethan had stood, the space now empty. Frowning, she wondered why it was so important he remained 'in the shadows' as he had put it. Deciding the only way to gain his trust was to follow his wishes, she headed back into the Great Hall, preparing herself to tell Tabitha Hart that what she considered one of her greatest accomplishments was now classified information.
XxX
Skye jumped, her heart fluttering as something whizzed past the window of The Hogwarts Express with a loud bang. Giving the group before her her best disapproving glare, her eyes narrowed on Adam as the most sheepish looking person.
"Sorry," he muttered clutching his Exploding Snap cards, "it just kind of slipped."
"Don't worry about it. She's just grumpy because they told her she can't skip Divination and switched her choices," Mikey explained, giving her a sympathetic look.
"Why would she be unhappy about that? I hear that the best person in the world will be taking that class right alongside you, as well as their two trusty sidekicks," Tabitha grinned, flicking a card in Adam's direction which singed his eyebrows slightly.
"Oh thank goodness, Cormac will be in that class? I'm so relieved," Skye exacurated, having to dodge three exploding cards which made smoking holes in the train seat behind her.
"Don't worry, Skye!" Came a bellow as the door to the compartment was slid open.
"We'll shield you!"
Skye's eyes widened as she watched a flicker of red hair dive into her position. Screeching, she tensed, her knee hitting someone causing it to bounce off, while another landed in her lap.
"I feel so rejected," Fred cried, clutching his heart as he lay on the floor.
"Err, George, do you have to?" Skye asked as he shuffled about in her lap and raised his hands into her face as if he was protecting her.
"I think you got the better end of the deal, Skye," Adam pointed out, shoving George's feet from his face.
Next things she knew, the crackle of the cards could be heard as everyone launched a serious assault on poor George. Fred laughed, wisps of smoke coming from the floor.
"Err, Fred. I think you're lying on the other cards that were on the floor," Mikey frowned, watching with concern as the smoke became more prominent.
Fred yelped, shooting upright and deciding to mimic George's position in their compartment on the other side, his head resting on Mikey while he shoved his feet into a disgusted Tabitha's face. Skye laughed, watching as Fred wiggled around before being pushed back onto the floor. However, her eyes flickered to the window of the door, eyes meeting cloudy gray ones which looked in with envy before disappearing out of sight.
"What's the deal with that Ethan kid?" Adam asked, having also caught sight of their brief visitor.
"He looks so lonely. I've never seen him with any friends," Mikey sympathised, eyes saddened.
"I'd never even seen him before that duel," Tabitha huffed, earning herself a glare from Skye.
"You know, speaking of the duel… I never thanked whoever invoked the Smokescreen spell," Mikey inquired, looking around the room, before his eyes rested on Skye.
"It wasn't me," Skye admitted, shrugging.
"Fred? George?"
Both boys shook their heads. Then as everyone took a mental tally, all eyes turned towards Adam who grinned and gave them an enthusiastic wave.
"Hey, how do you know it wasn't me?" Tabitha huffed, folding her arms.
"We would have heard about it already," Skye stated simply.
Tabitha opened her mouth to retaliate, closing as she accepted the statement with a nod.
"Who would have thought it. Skye the foe of felines and Adam the saviour of Seven," Fred announced, impressed as he sat cross-legged on the floor.
"You have to look out for the quiet ones, Freddie," George revealed, grinning up at Skye.
"Summer is going to be so boring," Tabitha groaned. "How am I going to survive?"
"I'm sure you'll manage, Tabitha," Skye sighed.
"Yeah, well this time everyone is coming to my house. No meagre trips, Mikey!" She said pointedly, pouting.
"Well, it would help if you gave me more than a minutes notice. Muggles can't just appear somewhere spontaneously," Mikey frowned.
"How the muggle world survives is a mystery to me," Tabitha said with a shake of her head.
"Then how about I make you a deal. I show you the muggle world and I'll make sure I have a free week this summer," Mikey offered, grinning.
"Michael Felton, we have a deal."