Chapter 25: Puking Pastilles

"Come on Ali!" Angelina called. "Hurry up! The party's already started!"

"Just coming!" Alicia yelled back from the girls' Quidditch changing room. "I can't find my bloody-"

There suddenly came a yelp of pain as she stubbed her toe hard on the corner of cabinet. A stream of curses followed.

Five minutes later, she emerged from the changing room, finally fully dressed, wringing out her damp hair.

"At last," said Angelina, rolling her eyes. "Let's go."

Alicia grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder and followed Angelina up the staircase towards their Common Room.

There was a great party underway as they entered; happy Gryffindors dancing, celebrating their win over Ravenclaw, laughing and chattering away. Fred and George were at the centre of the party, surrounded by awed first and second-years.

Hermione sat on the edge of the circle, looking extremely disapproving and severe.

"Hey Hermione," Alicia said, dropping into the armchair beside her, a bottle of Butterbeer in her hand. "What's wrong?"

Hermione huffed and pushed her books and scrolls away from her in annoyance. "It's Fred and George again."

"What are they doing this time?" asked Alicia.

Hermione looked irritable. "Go see for yourself. I'm going to bed." She got up, gathered up her books indignantly and stomped off up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

Alicia looked after her in surprise.

"What's up with her?" muttered Angelina coming over.

Alicia shook her head and shrugged. "No idea. It's Hermione, isn't it? She doesn't approve of fun," she said, with a grin. She sighed and got up.

"Oi! Fred! George! What are you two doing?" Alicia yelled, pushing her way through the crowd of first-and-second years.

Fred and George looked up with identical grins at the sound of her voice.

"No need to sound like that Ali," George said with a wink. "They're just Honeydukes sweets." He held out a handful of purple and orange sweets.

Alicia looked at them suspiciously. "They're rather odd-looking. I've never seen those before," she said, eyeing Fred and George in mistrust.

"Well of course you haven't," said Fred. "You've only been to Honeydukes a few times; how can you possibly expect to have seen every sweet they sell?"

Alicia shrugged. "Here, give one over," she said, holding out her hand.

Fred tossed a sweet into her outstretched palm.

"That's horrid," she said, chewing it with a disgusted look on her face. "I don't know how they think they're going to sell many of those."

Fred and George winked at each other conspiratorially. Alicia had already wandered off to find Angelina.

"Alicia, you look terrible," Angelina said worriedly the next morning, looking at Alicia's rapidly paling face. She was chalk white and looked like she was about to be sick.

"Yeah, I don't feel great either," Alicia said, swaying slightly and putting a hand to her head. "I'm just so dizzy."

"Come on, I'll take you to the Hospital Wing," said Angelina.

"No, no I'll be alright. I don't need-"

But Angelina wouldn't listen. "I'm taking you. Don't worry about classes; I'll help you copy up all the notes."

"Well, alright then," Alicia mumbled, taking Angelina's arm and letting her lead her to the Hospital Wing.

"Madam Pomfrey," Angelina called as they entered the Wing. Madam Pomfrey appeared immediately.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed as she saw them. "Not Miss Spinnet again! You're always in here! We might as well get you a permanent wing," she muttered in displeasure, bustling around sorting out a bed for her. "Goodness me, you do look awful. What's wrong with her?" she asked Angelina.

Angelina shook her head. "I've no idea."

Angelina went to visit her the next day but she seemed to be getting steadily worse. She hadn't moved from her bed in the Hospital Wing, and her face was always drained of colour.

"I just don't understand what's wrong with her," Angelina was saying as she, Katie and the twins sat doing their homework in the Common Room one evening.

"I know," Katie agreed. "She was fine on Saturday evening."

Fred and George were silent. Angelina looked over at them suspiciously. She could not help but notice that they looked extremely guilty.

"What did you do?" Angelina asked them, a warning tone in her voice.

They looked sheepish. "Nothing, Ange," Fred said hastily. "What do you expect? How are we responsible for Alicia's illness?"

Angelina was silent for a moment. Then she snapped her fingers in realisation. "That sweet you gave her!"

Fred and George exchanged a look. Angelina looked from one to the other.

"What on earth were you thinking? Why did you test out one of your crazy sweets on Alicia? She's supposed to be your friend!"

They looked helplessly at each other, saying nothing. Angelina and Katie were muttering furiously to each other.

Katie glowered at the two of them. They wilted under her death glare.

"Alright, alright," Fred said, looking uncomfortable. "We'll tell you. But you have to promise not to tell anyone…especially not Alicia."

Angelina folded her arms, looking stern. "Alright then, go ahead."

She and Katie looked at the pair expectantly. Fred bit his lip.

"Ok, don't get mad but we may have had something to do with Alicia's illness," George began slowly. "I want you to know that we had her best interests at heart."

"Yes, yes," muttered Angelina impatiently. "Get on with it!"

"Charlie sent us a letter a week ago, begging us to stop Alicia entering the tournament. He obviously knows something about it…he wouldn't tell us what. But he did say that he'd spoken to Alicia about it but you know Alicia…stubborn as a mule. She wouldn't listen. He asked us to do whatever we could to stop her from entering the tournament. So…we did."

"By poisoning her?" Angelina exclaimed incredulously, drawing astonished looks from around the Common Room.

"Sshhh!" Fred hushed her furiously. "Stop being so melodramatic, Ange! We didn't poison her! We just needed to keep her in the Hospital Wing long enough so that she couldn't put her name in the Cup."

Angelina shook her head in despair. Katie looked sceptical. "That is without a doubt the stupidest plan I've ever heard."

"Come on, Kat, it's Fred and George, what did you expect?" Angelina sighed, her head in her hands.

"Hey!" Fred protested. "Don't blame us…blame Charlie."

"What is so bad about this tournament? Why is Charlie so ridiculously worried?" Angelina wondered aloud.

Katie looked thoughtful. Fred and George shrugged absently.

"You should go apologise to Alicia," Angelina said firmly.

Fred and George gaped at her. "Are you kidding?" George exclaimed. "Are you mad? Alicia can never know of this! Firstly, this is top secret. And secondly, she'll murder us."

"And do the world a favour," muttered Katie, still thinking hard.

Fred looked at her indignantly but didn't dare to protest.

Angelina got up abruptly. "I'm going to bed," she announced. "You two are crazy. Absolutely crazy. You don't stop Alicia doing what she wants. She will kill you if she finds out."

"She won't," George said. "Unless you tell her."

Angelina almost chuckled. "Trust me, I'm not planning on it. Ever heard of 'Don't shoot the messenger'? That saying doesn't mean anything to Alicia."

A/N. Here's the next chapter. Hope you liked it. A big thank you to everyone for the wonderful reviews and support you've given this story so far.