"Ladies don't start fights, but they can finish them!"
-Marie (The Aristocats)
"Who do you think's going to win the match?" Scarlett asked as she and Justin made their way down to the Quidditch pitch for the Slytherin versus Gryffindor match a few weeks later. Erica had volunteered to watch the match with Ernie and Hannah again so that Justin and Scarlett could have more time alone.
"I don't know, I'm going to bet on Gryffindor," Justin said. "It'll be a lot better than the Slytherins winning and besides, the Gryffindor team is very good."
"Fred will be flattered you think so," Scarlett teased.
"His head will get even bigger," Justin groaned, half-joking as he clapped a hand to his forehead.
Scarlett smiled. She had to admit, that Justin had been making an attempt to be nicer and more understanding about Fred and that made her feel better. He still didn't understand why Scarlett and the twins had rekindled their friendship that year so 'out of the blue' as he had put it, but Scarlett had tone her best to avoid explaining. She kept it vague, simply saying that she had spent time with the Weasleys over the summer because of the Order.
"Come on, he's really not all that bigheaded. He just acts like he is to be funny."
"You've teased him about being bigheaded," Justin argued.
"To be funny," Scarlett replied.
"Yeah, and that's what I'm doing, too," Justin said, looking at her seriously. "It was a joke."
"Partly," Scarlett said. She gave him a knowing smile.
Justin blushed slightly and smiled guiltily at her. "Sorry, can't help it."
Scarlett giggled and swatted him playfully, causing Justin to break out into a real smile.
"Who are you hoping will win?" Justin asked as they took their seats in the stands. "Gryffindor, I suppose?"
Scarlett nodded. "Of course. I'd be mental to support Slytherin."
"It's too late for that. I'd say you're already pretty mental." An obnoxious voice spoke from behind them, followed by laughter.
"Pansy Parkinson," Scarlett muttered, turning around. Justin looked as if he wanted to say something, but Scarlett spoke up before he could. She could handle Pansy easily. "Wow, Pansy, good one. I'm laughing so hard." She rolled her eyes.
"It wasn't a joke," Pansy sneered, looking at Scarlett as though she were stupid.
"Really? Oh, that's a relief because if it was a joke, it wouldn't have been a very good one, would it?"
"That's the best comeback you've got?"
"Of course not, but why would I waste my best ones on someone like you?"
Pansy scowled before heading away with the other Slytherins she was with. Scarlett smirked and turned around to face the pitch again. "I hope Fred and George beat Bludgers into every Slytherin player's head," she stated. "It'll really put Pansy in her place."
"I can't believe she had the nerve to talk to you like that." Justin glared after Pansy angrily.
Scarlett shrugged. "It's Pansy. What do you expect? And it really could have been worse. That was practically her being nice."
"You seemed to be able to handle her all on your own." Justin grinned at Scarlett amusedly. "Honestly, you don't even need me around to stand up for you. I don't even know why you keep me around at all." He sighed dramatically.
"Oh, please." Scarlett swatted him. She put on a mock-serious face. "I keep you around so you can correct the mistakes on my Arithmancy homework."
"What mistakes on your Arithmancy homework? You hardly ever have any! You just doubt yourself too much."
"You're very good at Arithmancy, though."
"Not nearly as good as you. It wouldn't be possible."
Scarlett didn't get a chance to respond because the match started before she could speak. Just as she suspected, the Slytherin players played brutally. Scarlett began to lose count of how many penalties were awarded to Gryffindor due to the Slytherins trying to knock players off their brooms or hit them with Bludgers and occasionally their fists. Scarlett had also never heard so many curse words during the commentary, but that might have also been because Professor McGonagall wasn't making any effort to prevent Lee from shouting them out.
"On the bright side," Justin said loudly, leaning closer to Scarlett in order to be heard over the noise of the crowd, "Ron's playing quite well under the circumstances, don't you think?"
Scarlett nodded. The circumstances Justin was talking about were that the Slytherin fans were just as evil and as brutal as the players, but then again, what else was new? The fans were singing—they could barely be heard, but it was singing nonetheless. The song was clearly meant for Ron, claiming that he couldn't save a thing and always let the Quaffle in.
"This is ridiculous," Scarlett said, peeking through her fingers. "If Harry doesn't catch the snitch soon, Gryffindor's going to get flattened."
"Literally or metaphorically?" Justin asked, watching nervously as Marcus Flint almost knocked Katie Bell off of her broom.
"Both," Scarlett answered, biting her lip.
Within the next twenty minutes—twenty excruciating minutes—the match was over and Gryffindor had managed to win, all thanks to Harry catching the Snitch. Unfortunately, he caught it just as Crabbe hit him square in the back with a Bludger. Even worse, the brutality didn't end there.
"What's going on now?" Justin asked just as he and Scarlett were leaving the stands. He began craning his neck to see the pitch better.
Scarlett paused and stood on her tiptoes. The entire Gryffindor team, minus Ron, was grouped on one side of the pitch, celebrating their victory. Or trying to, at least. Many of them were glaring at someone standing a few feet away. Suddenly, Fred lunged forward. Angelina, Katie and Alicia grabbed him and held him back just as George sprang forward and was grabbed by Harry. "They're clearly upset over something," Scarlett said. "A Slytherin is probably taunting them."
"Yeah, look, it's Malfoy," Justin said, pointing.
Scarlett groaned. "That stupid ferret," she muttered. "He's going to get someone in trouble." She began trying to force her way through the crowd while Justin followed her, giving a constant report of what was going on.
"Malfoy's still saying something. The girls are still holding Fred back, but he's fighting them…uh-oh."
"What is it?"
"Harry let go of George. They're both charging at Malfoy. It looks like the girls have got a pretty strong grip on Fred though, although it looks as if he's putting up some fight."
Scarlett sighed. "When Madame Hooch sees them, she's not going to be happy. They're going to get in trouble for fighting."
"It looks like they're getting Malfoy pretty good!" Justin cried. "He's had a good punch in the nose coming for a long time if you ask me. What do you think he was saying?"
"No idea, but he's annoyed because his team lost. He's just a sore loser."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to investigate." Scarlett began pushing her way through the crowd again.
"You know," Justin said as he fought to keep up with her, "this is what I mean about Fred and George being reckless."
"You can't really blame them this time. Malfoy was provoking them. I don't even want to know what he said, to be honest."
"Yes, but certainly they can control themselves."
"Would you?" Scarlett asked, glancing back at Justin, who fell silent.
When Scarlett and Justin finally reached the grass of the pitch, they ran into Harry and George, who were glumly walking back towards the castle.
"What happened?" Scarlett took in George's cut lip and Harry's bruising cheek and bit her lip nervously.
"Malfoy was having a go at my family," George said miserably. "Insulted my mum and Harry's, too. And he was the one who wrote that Weasley Is Our King song."
"Well, no wonder it was complete rubbish," Scarlett muttered. George and Harry both cracked the tiniest of smiles.
"Hooch sent us to McGonagall's office," Harry added. "We'd better be going."
Scarlett watched them go, feeling terribly sorry for the two of them. Although, she doubted McGonagall would be too strict on them.
"Scar, look." Justin nudged her and pointed. Umbridge was heading into the castle as well, an ugly smile on her face as she scribbled away on the clipboard in her hand.
Scarlett glanced at Justin. "They're done for," she whispered.
"Someone's in a bad mood," Scarlett commented as Fred and George walked into Herbology on Monday morning and plopped their bags on the ground, identical frowns on their faces.
"We've been in a bad mood since Saturday," George muttered.
"Because of what Malfoy said?" Scarlett asked, surprised. It wasn't like Fred and George to let insults affect them so severely, especially from someone like Malfoy. Either he had really insulted them or something else was wrong.
"Not exactly," Fred said, sharing a look with his brother. "George, Harry and I have been banned from playing Quidditch."
"What?" Erica asked. "McGonagall's off her rocker if she-"
"Not McGonagall…Umbridge. I saw her following Harry and George inside," Scarlett said as it all clicked. "But, Fred," she continued, "you didn't even do anything wrong."
"Umbridge said he would have if he hadn't been held back by Katie, Alicia and Angelina," George said glumly.
"She's right, though," Fred shrugged. "I would've torn that snarky little ferret to bits."
"You would've, but you didn't," Erica said.
"Exactly, there's a difference," Scarlett added.
"Yeah, I mean, I would've clawed toad face's eyes out, but I didn't," George said. "Fred doesn't deserve to be banned."
"And you and Harry do?" Scarlett asked.
"We're the ones who actually hit Malfoy," George mumbled.
"Malfoy was insulting you and your families. He was provoking you. I would've done the same thing you did."
"That would be fun to watch," Fred said, smirking. "I mean, you? Starting a fight?"
"I wouldn't have started it. Technically, Malfoy would have," Scarlett sniffed. "I would have simply finished it."
"Oh, of course," Fred smirked. "How silly of me that I didn't figure it out."
"You know," Erica said as if she had just thought of something, "it really isn't fair because it's your last year on the Quidditch team, too."
"Thanks for the reminder," George grumbled. "With Umbridge around, and without Quidditch, things are kind of miserable here. If it wasn't for the D.A. then we'd be out of here by now."
"What do you mean, out of here?" Scarlett asked, her expression showing equal amounts of confusion and surprise.
"He means exactly that," Fred said. "We're so close to buying a place in Diagon Alley, so if we need to leave, we can-,"
"A place," Scarlett repeated.
"Yes, Scar, a place. A place of our own. Keep up, why don't you?" Fred teased.
"You're buying your own place to live?"
"Yeah, the place we want is a flat with a shop area below it where we'll sell our joke products," Fred said. "It's down towards the end of Diagon Alley. Number ninety-three to be exact. We're thinking of signing on it soon. Then we're going to have to spruce it up and stock it. You know, get it ready for business, which will take a few months."
"We're estimating it'll be done in mid-May, early June at the latest," George added.
"And then, what, you'll leave Hogwarts?"
"Not necessarily," Fred shrugged, "but if we decide on it, then we have somewhere to go," Fred said. "We couldn't go back to the Burrow. Mum wouldn't let us stay there after we'd just left school."
"Basically, we're prepared to leave school if we have to. There's nothing set in stone yet." George shrugged.
"What ends up deciding if you have to go?" Erica asked.
"First and foremost, it's the D.A. ending," Fred said. "Without that, there's nothing really keeping us here. Secondly, Umbridge might just get to be too much for even us to handle. It'll be hysterical to bust out of here and get her riled up."
"What about NEWTs?" Scarlett asked. She had never known anyone to even discuss leaving school before taking their NEWTs and it certainly something she would consider doing. But then again, she wasn't totally on the same wavelength as Fred and George. While they had usually agreed on a lot, there was plenty that they disagreed on.
The twins shrugged. "We're not really fussed about grades," Fred said. "We've learned all we need to make our products. If we left, you'd be more than welcome to come along and work with us. You'd be incredibly useful." He smirked widely at her.
"No way," Scarlett said. "As much as I hate Umbridge, I can't leave early. I actually need to pass my classes and my NEWTs."
"Well, if you fail everything, you're always welcome to come be our assistant at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Erica raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah, the future name of our shop," George said proudly. "What do you think?"
"It's…okay," Erica sniffed. Scarlett rolled her eyes. She knew Erica liked the name and was just trying to mess with the twins the same way they liked to mess with everyone else.
"Okay? Just okay? That's a blow to the ego." George shook his head and pretended to be hurt.
"I know, that's why I said it," Erica said coolly.
"So do you like it or not?" Fred asked wrinkling his nose in confusion.
"She does," Scarlett jumped in. "I do, too, actually."
"Catchy, isn't it?" Fred agreed with a grin.
"You're so proud of yourself, aren't you?" Scarlett asked, smirking.
"Yeah, I am. Why, is it a problem?" Fred asked teasing her right back.
"No," Scarlett answered, her teasing expression fading to be replaced by a smile. "You two really should be proud. I'm actually kind of proud of you myself."
"Scar, you're making us tear up," George said, wiping imaginary tears from his eyes.
"Are you sure you don't want to be our assistant?" Fred asked. "Even if you don't help with inventions, a supportive attitude like yours is always needed. You can stand outside dressed as a giant Extendable Ear and yell out good things about us."
"No way," Scarlett answered as the twins laughed. "The only way I'll do that is if, like you said, I fail everything and can no longer become a Healer…or anything else for that matter, because there's no way I want to stand out in public dressed as an ear."
"If you do become a Healer, will you heal any injuries George and I may get for free?"
"No, I don't think I'd be able to."
"For a lifetime supply of merchandise?"
"No, Fred, that would go against St. Mungo's rules," Scarlett laughed.
"You sure about that?"
"Yes, I am."
"You're not as much fun as I thought you were," Fred pouted.
"Well, you're an idiot," Scarlett retaliated, smacking him upside the head.
A/N: This is kind of another filler chapter but in the next chapter, Scarlett will find out if the prediction the twins made about Umbridge is true so just bear with me here.
Also, just to ask for some opinions, what would people feel about a George/Erica relationship somewhere down the line? Would it be cute? Corny? It probably wouldn't have too major of a part in the story but I just wanted to know if anyone had a strong opinion on that.
Thanks so much for reading and thank you for all the feedback!