Disclaimer: Harry Potter world belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Rated T for language.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I can't believe I have so many! I thought maybe one person would read this story, two tops.

Note: I'm not really sure how old Marcus Flint is supposed to be in the books, but I needed a Slytherin Captain for before the first book so I chose him. If anyone knows his age, or knows someone better for the job, leave a review with the info, please, and I'll replace it.

In my mind, this is Lee's first Quidditch game as commentator…

Chapter 13

"I can't believe you, Audrey. I just can't," Percy said, shaking his head. It had been several minutes since Audrey had finished telling her story, and Percy had been sitting in horror as Lynn and Audrey laughed themselves silly.

"What, the O.W.L.s? Perce, I'm sure the classes at my school we easier than at—"

"No, not that," Percy cut in quickly, not wanting to think about that. "I mean the creatures. Letting them loose like that…someone could have been hurt!"

"Oh come on, Perce, can you just stop being a spoil sport for a second?" Audrey was rolling her eyes at him. "It's not like you never broke the rules at your school."

"I didn't," Percy replied haughtily, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "I can proudly say I never broke the rules at my school."

"Really?" Audrey said skeptically.

"Of course." Percy replied, wearing the answer like a badge of honor. "I was respectful of the establishment."

Lynn was shaking her head with a chuckle. "That is such a lie, Percy."

"It is not!" he protested. "I've never broken the rules, ever!"

"Oh, yeah? What about that thing in your fourth year, my third? With the Slytherin Quidditch team?" Lynn asked, smiling at him.

"The thing with the Slytherin Quidditch team?" Audrey inquired, raising her eyebrows expectantly at him.

Percy felt his blood run cold. I knew that would come back to haunt me. "That was a mistake. I was fourteen, a child. I didn't know what I was doing."

"Oh? Cause I got the idea you knew exactly what you were doing," Lynn said, smirking confidently at him.

Percy was struggling for a suitable explanation now. "It was a childish lark, a youthful indiscretion," he said dismissively.

"Uh-huh?" Lynn stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. "So you regret it?"

"Absolutely. I wish I had never done it."

"Right. So why are you smiling, then?" Lynn grinned.

Percy could feel his lips turning upward, but couldn't help it. Merlin, he was barely biting down a laugh! "It's just… the looks on their faces…"

Audrey leaned forward excitedly. "Okay, I have got to hear this."

Percy caught Lynn's eye and they both smiled, recalling the memory.

Seven years ago.

Lynn hurried down the corridor, arms aching from the weight of her books. The bright yellow light of the Saturday morning was leaking into the hall, creating rectangles of sunshiny warmth on the stone. Students were filtering around her, talking and laughing, enjoying the beautiful beginning of the weekend and getting excited for the upcoming Quidditch match.

But Lynn wasn't having any of it. It was two months into her third year at Hogwarts and, since she took the maximum number of classes available to her age, she was busier than ever. In fact, she hadn't seen her best friend in days, they were both so overloaded with work.

Speak of the devil. Lynn grinned as the familiar, red-headed, bespectacled form of Percy Weasley swept out of the Great Hall and smiled at her. "Good morning, Lynn," he said warmly.

Lynn carefully looked up into his face, narrowing her eyes as she searched for any new bruises or cuts on the pale skin there. She knew that Percy was being bullied again, only this time it was by the Slytherins (especially the "broomstick monkeys" as they called the Quidditch players) and it was a lot worse than just tripping and name-calling. Lynn had spent many nights healing her best friend's wounds by herself, as he refused to go to the Hospital Wing. She was surprisingly good at it for someone so young, but that didn't change how bad she felt for Percy.

But he seemed fine today. In fact, he was acting happier than she had seen him in weeks. Maybe it was because today was the long-awaited Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch match, and they would have the whole castle to themselves to hang out and study while everyone else was out at the pitch.

"Hi, Percy," she responded, returning his smile. She shifted her books, trying to relieve the pain in her arms, and beamed as Percy took several of them to carry for her. "Thanks. Anyway, I was thinking we'd go to the Common Room to study. I know we usually go to the library, but the Common Room is cozier and it will be empty with everyone at the match."

Percy's smile widened and he adjusted his glasses. "Actually, I was thinking we'd go to watch the match instead."

Lynn felt her jaw drop in amazement. "Wh-what?" she stammered. Percy hated Quidditch, always talking about what a waste of time it was and how much better the school marks would be if they didn't let students waste their lives tossing around balls while flying on bewitched cleaning utensils. He could rant about it for hours if you let him (which Lynn often did, as it was so damn entertaining).

"Yes. Here, let me take the rest of your books, I have my bag." Lynn was gaping at Percy as he lifted the books from her arms and tucked them into his bag before hefting it on his shoulder and setting off down the corridor. "Come on, we want to get good seats."

Lynn, finding her feet, hurried after him. "Um, what exactly prompted this want to watch sports, Perce?"

Percy's face was set into a huge smile, which made Lynn want to laugh and feel very nervous at the same time. "Oh, I don't know. I just feel like the Inter-House Quidditch rivalry is such an important part of our educational experience here at Hogwarts, don't you?"

Lynn was seriously beginning to worry about Percy's sanity at this point. She decided to toss out a little something, to make sure he was really okay. "What the hell is going on with you?" she asked loudly.

Percy frowned at her use of a curse word. "You shouldn't swear, Lynn. It's very unbecoming for someone your age, and it reflects badly on character. Do you want to be made prefect or not?"

Lynn let out a sigh of relief. At least she could be sure this was really Percy. "But really, why do you want to go to the match? You don't care about Quidditch."

They were walking side-by-side now, and had just reached the grounds. Percy raised a hand to shield his gaze from the sun. "It's just… this is Charlie's last year at Hogwarts. And as the year goes on, I'll be getting busier and busier. This might be my last chance to see him play."

Lynn nodded, looking down at the ground so that she wouldn't trip over the terrain. It seemed like a reasonable explanation and yet… Lynn wasn't buying it. He had never been out to watch Charlie play before. Deciding she would wait and see, Lynn fell into step behind Percy as the red-head began to climb up the stairs to the top of the Gryffindor section of the bleachers surrounding the pitch.

"Get out of my way, Prissy!"

Lynn felt Percy bump into her as he was shoved aside. A chesty, blond seventh-year girl had just pushed past them, elbowing her way to the front of the stands. Lynn heard Percy let out a small scoff of anger, and she joined him.

Beth Hanner was Charlie's girlfriend, and the most repulsive girl at Hogwarts. She was vapid, rude, obsessed with her looks and horribly mean to Percy. Beth was, well, she was a nasty word that rhymed with witch and that Percy would kill her for saying. She honestly didn't know what Charlie (who seemed nice enough, in his own way) saw in that girl. Actually, strike that, she did know what Charlie liked about Beth, but it wasn't so much in her as it was in her copious bra.

Lynn made a little noise of disgust and she watched Beth bounce down the stands. She leaned over to Percy and muttered, "For Merlin's sake, how does she walk with those things? You'd think she'd fall forward or something."

Percy just shook his head and pulled himself up onto one of the seats, on the edge, far away from the rest of students. It wasn't really necessary, though; with all the excitement in the air, no one was paying any attention to them.

After several minutes, Lynn checked her watch. "The match should have started already," she mused. Turning to Percy, she saw that his face was once again set in a huge smile. "What?" she asked something dawning on her. "What did you do?"

Percy raised his hands, palms out, in a don't-ask-me kind of way. Once again, Lynn wasn't buying it. Lowering her voice, she asked again, "What did you do!?"

Percy just shook his head. "Nothing," he said earnestly, and before she could retort he stood up, trying to see out on the pitch where something was going on. Nearly everybody else in the stands was doing the same. Pushing her way to the front, Lynn leaned over the edge to see the field.

The Gryffindor team was huddled on the edge of the pitch, clutching their broomsticks and muttering to each other. Charlie, in full crimson and gold Quidditch robes, was shouting at the Slytherin Quidditch Captain, a very angry Marcus Flint, who was only wearing trousers and undershirt. Madam Hooch stood in between them, trying to break up their fight.

The commentator's voice crackled to life, booming through the stadium. "THE SLYTHERIN TEAM HAS YET TO COME OUT, AND IT APPEARS THAT THE TWO CAPTAINS ARE HAVING AN ARGUMENT ON THE PITCH!"

Lynn slapped her hands over her ears. Dear Merlin, that was loud!

"MR. JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall hollered over the sound of the crowd. "I ASSURE YOU THAT WE HAVE AN EXCELLENT SOUND SYSTEM. KINDLY STOP SHOUTING INTO THE MICROPHONE!!"

"Er… sorry Professor. Anyway, captains Weasley and Flint are having an argument on the pitch. Let's see, I believe Flint is telling Madam Hooch that his team can't be expected to play like this… oh, yes, maybe they'll forfeit…"

"MR. JORDAN, YOU MUST REMAIN IMPARTIAL!!"

"Right, sorry. Anyway, I think we've gotten to the bottom of the delay. Flint is now appealing to Madam Hooch to postpone the match…"

There was a collective shout of outrage from around the stadium. Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws all hated the Slytherin Quidditch team. The Gryffindor team had started jeering at Flint, waving their broomsticks impatiently and yelling for him to hurry up and get ready to play. Lynn craned her neck, trying to tell what Charlie and Flint were saying to Madam Hooch.

Lee Jordan's voice boomed through the grounds again. "And… it appears that Madam Hooch has denied their appeal!" Cheers rang through the stands, crimson and gold flashing from every direction. "Good for you, Hooch, that'll show them!"

"MR. JORD—"

"Right, right. Impartial. Sorry, Professor McGonagall."

Pandemonium was breaking out in the stadium. Most people were roaring and stomping their feet, screaming for the match to start. The Slytherins were protesting and howling favoritism, demanding that the match be postponed, even though they didn't know why. Lynn was starting to get a bit scared, glancing around at the chaos. Someone was going to get hurt. She grabbed Percy's arm and retreated to the back of the bleachers. "What's going on, Percy?" she hissed, and growled in frustration as he shrugged, the big, stupid smile still on his face. "Don't give me that—I know you know!"

"We're missing it!" Percy shouted. He hurried back, climbing on top of one of the seats to better see the pitch. Gasping, Lynn leapt up next to him.

Flint was storming off the pitch and back into the locker rooms. After several minutes of very loud anticipation, the Slytherin team came streaming onto the pitch.

For about ten seconds, there was a stunned silence. And then the stadium burst into painfully loud laughter. Flint swung around to face the Gryffindor section of the crowd, screaming what looked like "I'LL KILL YOU!" but his voice couldn't be heard over the laughter.

Lynn turned to Percy, mouth wide. "You didn't," she whispered. "You couldn't."

Percy's smile was almost literally running from ear to ear. "Just wait," he said. Lynn gawked blankly at him in disbelief, until Lee Jordan began to speak again, desperately trying to choke the names of the Slytherin players out through his laughter.

"B-beaters… Derrick and Bole…"

"CONTROL YOURSELF, MR. JORDAN!" bellowed McGonagall, but Lynn could swear she heard a touch of a chuckle in the Transfiguration teacher's voice. And she couldn't blame her.

Because all the Slytherin players—every last one of one—were wearing hot pink Quidditch robes, the color of which was spectacularly matched by the blush on their faces.

The captains stepped up, looking like they were trying to kill each other with a handshake, even though Charlie was practically doubled over with laughter. Hooch blew the whistle, and the game commenced. Some of the laughter died down, so Lynn looked at Percy and said in a rapid-fire whisper, "I can't believe this! Did you do this? How did you pull this off?" Suddenly, Lynn remembered something. "After class last Monday! You were asking Professor Flitwick about how to bewitch clothing!"

Percy was staring straight ahead, looking like he was desperately trying to hold down a laugh himself. "Wait, give it time…"

Lynn gaped a little longer at him, and then back out at the pitch, where one of the Gryffindor chasers had just scored a goal.

"10 to 0. Gryffindor scores!" Lee shouted, and the crowd burst out cheering and laughing as the Slytherin's hot pink robes began to flash crimson and gold.

Lynn stared in amazement and admiration at Percy's profile as he gazed out at the field, watching the match. The Gryffindors easily took the lead with the Slytherins mortified with embarrassment, so that when Charlie snatched the Snitch in a breath-taking dive the score was already 340-160.

"Come on," Percy muttered to her as the crowd leapt to their feet and swarmed the pitch. "Let's go so we can beat the crowds back to the common room."

Lynn nodded in agreement and hurried down the stairs after Percy. They strode across the grounds, and as soon as the roar from the stadium had died down, Lynn turned to him, a thousand questions on her lips. "I can't believe that! What possessed you to do that?"

Percy just smirked haughtily. "I was tired of them messing with me and not being able to do anything about it. I hope this teaches them a lesson."

"But, Percy, if they ever find out it was you—"

"They won't. Who would suspect poor, rule-abiding, spineless Percy?" He shook his head, a smug look on his face like the one he got whenever he told off a rule breaker. "Flitwick might be suspicious after I asked him about it before, but he won't say anything."

Lynn could hardly believe Percy had done this. She half-wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him. "How'd you manage this? Why didn't the team just get new robes? How'd you get them to flash when Gryffindor scored?"

"It was quite the difficult fix, but I pulled it off with aplomb," Percy said pompously. "It was blanket charm on all the robes in the Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Quidditch robes, to turn pink when put on. I used Charlie's key to break into the locker rooms, so that the Slytherins couldn't find any normal robes wherever they looked. I'll have to take those off before the next match…Anyway, as for the flashing: I used a voice-code charm so it would go off when the encoded voice said 'Gryffindor scores!' I heard from Fred and George that their friend Lee was doing the commentating, so I got him to say the words and recorded them for the charm."

Lynn could do nothing but stare in admiration at her best friend until they reached the common room and went up to Percy's dormitory to study. Soon enough, they heard the cacophonous noise coming from downstairs that signaled the celebrations had become. They both went over to the door for a few seconds to watch the festivities. Someone had brought up butterbeer and food from the kitchen and the students were mobbing the players, especially Charlie.

"When I find out who did that to the Slytherin robes, they're going to be my best friend for life!" shouted someone, and the common room rang in agreement. Percy slowly closed the door and returned to his books.

"You're not going to tell them it was you, are you?" Lynn asked, leaning against the door frame.

Percy shook his head, looking pensive. "They'd never believe me if I did."

Lynn sighed and sat back down next to him to continue her Runes translations, her open textbook propped up against Percy's. They worked together into the night, while the noise from the common room gradually went down.

A question popped into Lynn's head. "Hey Perce?"

Percy's blue eyes popped up over his advanced Arithmancy textbook. "Yes?"

"How did you practice those spells? I mean, you couldn't have gotten them so perfectly on the first try."

Percy just turned his gaze back to his books, expression smug again. "Oh, you know," he said, and left it at that. Lynn considered pressing him, but decided not to.

At nearly midnight, Lynn gathered up her books, said good-night to Percy and headed to the staircase for the girl's dormitories. She was roughly shoved aside as Beth Hanner ran down the hallway and collapsed crying into Charlie's arms, howling that all her clothes had turned various shades of hot pink, and flashed red and gold whenever she spoke.

Lynn fell asleep smirking that night. It was a little unnerving, however, when she saw Percy the next day, telling off Fred and George with a completely genuine look of disapproval on his face for praising the prankster who was responsible for the great Flying Pink Snakes Quidditch Match of '91.

***

After the story, Audrey laughed heartily and clapped her hand on Percy's shoulder. "I knew you had it in you, Perce, I knew it."

Percy shook his head. "I still can't believe I did that. I don't know how I managed to muster the nerve to pull it off, honestly." Says the man aiding fugitives every day at work, he thought to himself.

Lynn grinned. "Well, it was the best Quidditch match I ever went to."

"Yeah…" Audrey leaned back in her chair, suddenly looking thoughtful. "Did either of you go to the Quidditch World Cup three years ago?"

"I did," Percy said as Lynn shook her head. "My mum talked me into it, saying how it would be a good opportunity to bond with my brothers." Percy stifled a snort at that idea. "Awful how it ended, wasn't it?"

Audrey nodded. "It was. I went, you know. I remember when the Death Eaters came. I stormed the crowds, trying to break them up."

Percy sat up straighter. "So did I." He closed his eyes momentarily, trying to recall that night, wondering if he saw a curly-haired woman weaving through the masses, shooting spells and tripping up the men in masks, illuminated by pale green glow of the Dark Mark. "One of the Death Eaters hit me in the nose," he muttered, eyes still closed.

There was a moment of silence before he heard Audrey say, "That is so you, Percy. Punched in the face by a rogue Death Eater."

His eyes flew open as there were several loud crashes and shouts from downstairs. He felt Lynn's nails bite his skin as she grabbed his arm. Audrey leapt to her feet, surreptitiously pulled back the curtain and glanced out the window, paling as she did so. Feeling panic blossom in his chest, Percy scurried into place behind her.

Out on the street, a group of a several black-cloaked wizards and witches had gathered out in front of the pub, banging on the door and yelling.

And they didn't look friendly.

Couldn't keep it light and happy forever, could I? Anyway, next chapter coming up is: "Broken Bottle"