"Close your mouth, please, Michael, we are not a codfish."
–Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins)
"So have you mastered your patronus yet?" Scarlett asked as she passed Fred at the start of the next D.A. meeting. Harry had instructed them to get into pairs to review everything they'd learned since the beginning.
"No," Fred said dejectedly.
"Has George?"
"Yes, I have," George said proudly, coming up behind them.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"A hyena."
"Do you think yours will be the same?" Scarlett asked Fred.
He shrugged. "I have no idea. I'd like to figure it out, though." His face suddenly lit up. "Hey, you should help me! Be my partner this week. It's my week to partner with George and he won't mind."
"Well, who's Erica going to partner with?" Scarlett asked, glancing over at her friend. It was their turn to be partners that week while Justin partnered with Ernie.
"George, of course," Fred answered.
Scarlett looked at Erica and sighed. "Do you mind?"
Erica hesitated before shaking her head. "No, I'll work with George."
"Brilliant," Fred said, grabbing Scarlett's arm and dragging her to a spot in the middle of the room as George and Erica followed and chose a spot next to them.
Scarlett caught Justin's eye as she took her position across from Fred. He raised his eyebrows at her and she shook her head and mouthed "We'll talk later."
"Who are you—oh." Fred looked over his shoulder and saw Justin staring at him. He turned quickly back to Scarlett. "Is he going to give you a hard time later for working with me?"
"Hopefully not. He has been trying to not be so..."
"Stupid?" Fred finished.
"No," Scarlett answered. "Why do you pick on him so much?"
"I told you to ask me in a few years," Fred grinned. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's only been a few months."
Scarlett sighed. "Will you even tell me in a few years?"
Fred looked at her for a moment. "I solemnly swear."
"Okay." Scarlett took a deep breath. "Now let's start on the Patronus, shall we?"
"Right," Fred nodded. "How did you manage to make yours? I can't seem to get anything more than mist. Sometimes it seems to take a shape, but not well enough."
"The memories you're picking don't seem to be happy or strong enough. Either that or you're not concentrating as hard as you should be."
"Okay," Fred said. "I'll give it a try, then."
"Go on," Scarlett urged.
Fred chewed on the inside of his cheek, clearly thinking of a memory. Finally, he flicked his wand. "Expecto Patronum!" Nothing happened. There was just mist.
"Your Patronus could just be a cloud," Scarlett suggested hopefully. "Maybe you've been doing it right all along."
Fred sighed dejectedly. "I can't do this."
"Try a different memory." Scarlett suggested.
"I don't know what memory to pick. I've used all the happy ones I could think of."
"Don't be so dramatic. I know you have more," Scarlett said. "There's no way you could have used all of your happy memories already. Concentrate really hard."
Fred started chewing on the inside of his cheek again. "Okay, I have one, but I really don't know if it'll work."
"Try it," Scarlett said.
Fred looked at her for a moment before giving it another shot. He grinned when a fox leapt out of his wand and ran circles around him. "I did it!" he exclaimed.
"You did!" Scarlett cried happily. "What was the memory you used?"
Fred blinked a few times. He opened his mouth and then closed it again. "I—it was-"
"Never mind," Scarlett said with a smile. "It was probably Angelina related. I don't need to hear it."
They stared at each other for a moment until George came over to congratulate Fred. Angelina even ran over from across the room, squealing about how adorable Fred's Patronus was. She threw her arms around Fred and he hugged her back, but he was still staring at Scarlett, who smiled and backed away to stand next to Erica.
"Don't you think it's odd," Erica began as Fred finally looked at Angelina and grinned before talking to her and George animatedly, "that Fred asked you to help him when he could have just as well asked George, Angelina, or even me for that matter?"
"No, it's not odd," Scarlett said quickly, knowing where Erica was going with this.
"It is," said a voice from behind them. Scarlett turned around to see Ginny standing there.
"Oh no," Scarlett groaned, "don't tell me you two have decided to play matchmaker together."
"You're trying to convince her and Fred to give each other a shot, too?" Erica asked.
Ginny nodded. "I want them to love each other if they're going to have to get married."
"Me, too," Erica nodded.
"Well, sometimes that doesn't happen," Scarlett said. "You don't have to make things up so that I'll think Fred likes me."
"That's not what I was doing," Erica said calmly. "Ginny and I want you and Fred to be happy. I honestly think it's odd that Fred chose you out of all the people he could have asked for help."
"He's friends with me. Maybe he felt the most comfortable asking me."
"More comfortable than asking his twin or his girlfriend?" Ginny asked.
"Maybe he would have been embarrassed to ask them for help."
Ginny and Erica shook their heads and sighed.
"If Fred liked me, he wouldn't even be with Angelina. He would have said something to me by now."
"Not necessarily," Erica said. "He knows you're with Justin. Telling you would complicate things."
"You're losing it, Erica," Scarlett laughed.
"Fine, but it's just what I think."
Suddenly, the chatter in the room died down. After a moment, Scarlett saw why. Dobby was running as fast as he could towards Harry, looking panicked.
"Dobby?" Harry asked. "What's wrong?"
"She knows," Dobby practically wailed. "Dobby has come to warn Harry Potter and his friends that she knows and she's coming to punish everyone."
"Who knows? And about what? The DA?" Harry asked, clearly trying to process Dobby's warning.
Dobby nodded. "She knows," he said again.
"Umbridge?" Harry asked, his eyes going wide. Dobby nodded again.
"She's on her way," he squeaked.
Everyone in the room was standing frozen in place by now. Finally, Harry seemed to find his voice again. "Run!"
Nobody needed to be told twice. They all took off for the exit as fast as they could. Scarlett tried to find Justin and Erica in the commotion, but it was impossible. All she could do was make a run for her common room and hope everyone made it back safely.
Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad were quick. They were just approaching the Room of Requirement as the D.A. was leaving. Scarlett ran as fast as she could, not once looking over her shoulder even though she desperately wanted to. She was a little surprised when she made it back to her common room without being caught. Neither Justin nor Erica were back yet when she got there, but they returned within a few seconds.
"Thank goodness Dobby came to warn us," Erica said breathlessly, collapsing into a chair, "or else we would've all been caught."
"I don't know. Something seems weird," Scarlett said. Justin took a seat on the couch and she sat next to him, leaning against his side.
"Like what?" he asked her as Ernie and Hannah entered the room and took seats near them.
"We got back here too easily," Scarlett said, biting on one of her fingernails and staring into the fire. "That makes me think that Umbridge was the most concerned with catching Harry."
"I really want to know who told her about the D.A.," Justin fumed. "Nobody besides the members knew about the Room of Requirement and that we held our meetings there, so it had to be a D.A. member."
"Hermione charmed the signup sheet," Ernie said, "so that we'd know if someone betrayed us. I don't know what'll happen to them, but we'll find out tomorrow."
"How do you know that?" Scarlett asked.
"I overheard her telling Harry and Ron about it after the very first meeting," Ernie answered.
"I wonder if Umbridge caught Harry," Justin said.
"She did," Hannah whispered sadly.
"What?" Scarlett practically shrieked, sitting up straight. Justin shushed her gently and pulled her back against him.
"Well, Ernie and I were two of the last to leave, actually," Hannah said, "and when we were running away, we saw Harry running as well and he was hit by a spell Malfoy shot at him. He fell and Malfoy caught up to him. I'm guessing he brought him straight to Umbridge."
Scarlett groaned. "He's going to be in so much trouble."
"It gets worse," Ernie said. "Umbridge got into the Room of Requirement and found the list of everyone's names. We're all in trouble even if we got away just now."
His words were met with complete silence.
"We're all going to be expelled," Erica finally groaned.
"She can't expel us," Scarlett answered, shaking her head. "She may be the High Inquisitor, or whatever it is she calls herself, but Dumbledore is still headmaster."
She had no idea that at that moment, her last statement was becoming very untrue.
By the time breakfast arrived the next morning, everyone in the D.A. knew who had betrayed them. Cho's friend, Marietta, had several boils covering her face that spelled out the word sneak.
"I never liked her, anyway," Justin said, glaring over at the Ravenclaw table, where Marietta was attempting to cover her face with her collar.
Scarlett half-smiled. "Of course not," she said. Just then, with the mail, pink notes appeared in both Justin and Scarlett's plates.
"Detention?" Justin asked Scarlett as she read her note.
She nodded. "I'm assuming everyone in the D.A. got one of these," she replied dully, looking down at the note in her hands. She looked up and glanced around the room. Sure enough, every single member of the D.A. had received a note from Umbridge, written in hot pink ink on frilly light pink parchment. "Tonight at seven here in the great hall," she added, looking at Justin.
"Ah, well, at least it's better than being expelled. It could be a lot worse," Justin reasoned.
"I suppose so, but I've already had a few detentions with her. You've only had one that lasted for four hours. You practically got off easy." Scarlett tossed the note onto the table and prodded it with her wand until it caught on fire. Sighing, she extinguished it after a few seconds.
"Harry," Justin suddenly said. Scarlett looked up to see Harry glumly passing by their table.
"How are you?" Scarlett asked gently.
Harry shrugged. "I've been worse, I suppose. I'm sorry you had to get in trouble."
"Don't worry about it," Scarlett assured him. "We're just glad you got off with a detention the same as we did. We thought you were done for."
"Lucky that Dumbledore defended us," Justin added.
"Yeah, but doing so practically forced him to leave," Harry said, "and now we're stuck with that for a headmistress." He jerked his chin towards Umbridge, sitting in Dumbledore's chair and looking extremely smug.
"I might actually be sick," Scarlett said. It had been sickening to wake up to the decree stating Umbridge's new position and it was sickening now to watch her in action.
"Agreed," Harry and Justin muttered. After a moment, Harry said goodbye and headed out the door.
Scarlett sighed. "Come on, we'll both be late for class if we don't leave soon."
Justin nodded and stood up before pulling Scarlett up as well. He threw an arm around her and kissed her temple. Suddenly, they were forced apart. Scarlett looked up just in time to see Umbridge smirking and tucking her wand away. "We're not supposed to be within eight inches of each other," Scarlett muttered, glaring at Umbridge. "I forgot."
"She can't do this," Justin said angrily.
"She can and she is. She was doing it while she was High Inquisitor and now she's headmistress. No one's above her except for Fudge, and he's on her side."
"You know what?" Justin said as they walked out of the great hall, "I'm actually glad you pranked her, even if you did do it with Fred and George. I'm only sorry there wasn't more lasting damage."
Scarlett snorted as they stopped at the foot of the stairs. "So, I'll see you later, then?" she said.
Justin nodded. "I'll see you at lunch…then at dinner, and then at—"
"Our detention," Scarlett finished with a sigh. "Can't wait."
Justin half-smiled and kissed her. "We'll be fine," he assured her.
Scarlett nodded. "I know."
Any second, Scarlett's hands were going to fall off. Both of them. Her right hand ached from writing lines for nearly four hours and her left hand stung from the newly opened cuts on her skin.
Biting her lip, she glanced to her left. Justin was at the next desk over, looking angrily down at his paper. She hadn't been able to catch his eye once. Probably because everyone was too afraid to look up in case Umbridge spotted them.
Erica was on Scarlett's other side, looking as if she was going to chew her lip off any second. A few of the younger kids who had had little to no detentions up until now were sniffling occasionally. Even a few of the older students had watering eyes from the constant sting in the back of their hand.
Finally, Umbridge stood up and cleared her throat. "I think that is enough for tonight. You may go."
There was a lot of shuffling as the room began to empty—and quickly, too. Everyone wanted to get out as fast as possible. Scarlett caught up with Justin and Erica, who was holding her hand stiffly with her fingers spread apart. "It hurts if I move it," she said.
"It's too bad only Hermione has murtlap ingredients," Scarlett sighed. "There's no way she can get some to every D.A. member and even if she could, she might not even have enough."
"Well, you could always get some," Justin said bitterly. "Fred always takes care of you, doesn't he?"
Scarlett shot him a look. "I don't expect him to and he didn't offer tonight, so I'll be suffering just like you."
Justin looked guilty and was about to utter an apology when the three of them rounded the corner and stopped short. Fred and George were kneeling beside a bench occupied by a young Gryffindor boy from the D.A.
"Speak of the devil," Justin muttered, but Scarlett shushed him so that she could hear what the twins were saying.
"It's not that bad," George whispered to the boy. "This was only your first detention. The cuts will fade before you know it."
"Yeah, look, ours are starting to fade already," Fred added, holding out his left hand as the boy continued to sniffle.
Scarlett smiled to herself. She knew there was no way Fred and George's cuts could be fading already. They had received enough detentions where the cuts would never completely fade.
Just then, a familiar noise that Scarlett had come to dread sounded from behind her. She, Erica and Justin whirled around and backed up a few steps when they realized Umbridge was behind them. Scarlett could hear Fred and George scrambling to their feet and turning to face Umbridge as well.
"As I've said before," she said in her high pitched voice, "naughty children deserve to be punished." She let out a giggle as she was met with nothing but silence. She looked at the twins and the young boy. "Why are you three out so far away from your common room? Are you aware that you are down near the Hufflepuff common room instead?"
"Yeah, we were—we'll just—we'll go," Fred stuttered, glancing at George.
Scarlett sent them a sympathetic smile. She thought she knew why they were down here. The kitchens were in this hallway. They had probably been going to get a late night snack and planning to bring the boy with them to cheer him up.
"Come on," George whispered to the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder. The boy stood up and the twins began to walk away with him in tow.
"Oh, and Miss Callaway," Umbridge said, "I'm glad I caught up to you. I'd like a word, if you please."
"Why? She hasn't done anything!" Justin cried as Erica raised an eyebrow at Umbridge. Even Fred and George paused as they passed Umbridge on the way back to the entrance hall.
"Move along," Umbridge told them cheerily. She turned to Justin and Erica. "You two may proceed to your common room as well. Miss Callaway, please come with me."
Feeling extremely anxious, Scarlett followed Umbridge all the way back to her office in an awkward silence. When they finally got there, Umbridge stood behind her desk and looked at Scarlett.
"You aren't going to make me write more lines, are you?" Scarlett asked, unable to stop herself.
"No," Umbridge said with a tiny smirk. "But as your professor, it is my duty to inform you that you are currently not passing my class."
"What?" Scarlett spluttered. "That's not possible."
"It is," Umbridge said, trying to be sympathetic. It didn't work. "I am your professor after all, so I would know. And, as I'm sure you realize, this means that you will not be able to become a Healer. You can't without a passing grade."
"But my NEWTs—as long as I pass my Defense Against the Dark Arts exam—that's what really matters, isn't it?"
"You can take the exam, but it won't do much good. Those exams do not count towards the class grade. You will still be failing my class."
"But to be a Healer, Defense Against the Dark Arts isn't necessarily needed. Potions, Transfiguration and Charms, yes, but-,"
"All classes are important to become a Healer, Miss Callaway. A Healer is a very demanding job that requires very good grades."
"If I work extra hard—do extra credit—"
"I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. I'd suggest you choose another career option."
Scarlett stared at her with her mouth hanging open. She was at a complete loss for words.
"I'd also suggest you close your mouth," Umbridge said quietly, a small smile on her lips. "One might think this has come as a shock."
"But it has!" Scarlett finally managed to say.
Umbridge gave her a fake-sympathetic smile. "There's nothing I can do," she repeated. "Perhaps you should speak with Professor Sprout, your head of house, about picking a new career option that you will be better suited for."
"Oh, I will most definitely be talking to her," Scarlett huffed, turning towards the door.
"Goodnight, Miss Callaway," Umbridge said with a girly giggle.
"Goodnight, Professor," Scarlett muttered through gritted teeth. She flung the door open and began angrily walking back to her common room. There was no way she was failing Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had done all of her homework, attended every class and managed to hold her tongue every time Umbridge said something ridiculous. Besides, how could the NEWTs not matter? True, they didn't count towards the class grade, but they counted for something and thanks to the D.A, Scarlett felt more prepared for the exam than ever. And wouldn't it seem odd when she passed the exam with flying colors, but didn't pass the class itself? She sighed. Of course not. The Minister wouldn't think anything of it once Umbridge spoke to him.
Of course, this could just be about the D.A. Was Umbridge so angry that she was going to start failing students now? That didn't make sense. If she failed every member of the D.A., suspicions would definitely be raised. It seemed as if the toad was singling Scarlett out once again.
Just as Scarlett was reaching the entrance hall, she heard angry whispers coming from the bottom of the stairs that jerked her out of her thoughts. When she reached the bottom of the steps, she found both Justin and Fred elbowing each other and pulling each other backwards as they each tried to reach the stairs first.
"What on earth are you doing?" Scarlett asked irritably.
"Scarlett!" Fred said, letting go of Justin's collar.
"I was coming to find you to figure out what was going on," Justin said, panting from practically fighting with Fred, "and to, you know, comfort you if you needed it. But Fred had the same idea."
"So what?" Scarlett asked, crossing her arms.
"So it's not his business!" Justin exclaimed.
"Yes it is!" Fred cried. "Scarlett's my friend! You're not the only one who cares about her."
"I'm her boyfriend! You and Scarlett hardly spoke for eight years. Just because you speak now doesn't mean you're friends."
"We didn't grow apart because we chose to," Fred argued. "Things just weren't working out in our favor. Just because things didn't work out, doesn't mean we stopped caring. And we are friends now, for your information, and friends are allowed to be there for one another!"
Justin paused and bit his lip. Scarlett knew he was probably thinking about his old friendship with Angelina. He'd sound hypocritical if he argued with Fred, even though Fred wouldn't know it.
Fred smirked and crossed his arms. Justin tried to reach out and shove him, but Scarlett pulled him back. "Honestly, just stop it!" she cried. Sighing, she sat down on the bottom step, rested her arms on her knees and buried her head in her arms.
Fred and Justin looked at each other before taking a seat on either side of her. "Scar, what happened?" Justin asked gently, rubbing her back comfortingly.
"Yeah, you have a good friend and your boyfriend here," Fred added. "That's twice the amount of ears you'd have if it was only one of us."
Scarlett raised her head and stared blankly at the oak front doors that were directly in front of her. "Umbridge said I'm failing her class and I can't become a Healer now," she said dully.
Her words were met with total silence. She glanced at Justin and his eyes were wide. Then, she looked at Fred, whose mouth was hanging open, just as Scarlett's had back in Umbridge's office. She actually smirked. "Close your mouth," she said, imitating Umbridge, "one might think this has come as a shock." She rolled her eyes. "The toad actually said that to me, too."
Both Justin and Fred were silent for a moment longer before they both began talking at once.
"This can't be possible!"
"She can't do that! It's not fair!"
"If you pass your NEWTs, you'll be fine!"
"I've seen you doing your homework for that class with my own eyes!"
"I'm going to go give her a piece of my mind!"
"Me, too!"
"No, both of you sit." Scarlett grabbed their sleeves and pulled them back onto the steps. "She said that even if I take my Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWT, it won't matter and that all classes are important for me to become a Healer, including hers. I thought about it, and it doesn't really make sense. I know I've done all of my homework for her class, and it'll be odd if I ace my exam, but not the class. None of it matters, though, because the Minister's on her side. I just—I've worked so hard. I've wanted to be a Healer since my dad died, and this is what I get? I have to talk to Professor Sprout to choose another career option, but I have no idea what else I want to do. And I just love how she decided to tell me now! At the end of the year when I was so close."
"She's doing it on purpose," Fred suddenly said.
"What?" Scarlett looked up at him in shock.
"Remember when I said it was odd how she had been laying low and not bothering you?"
"You think this is the big thing she was planning?"
"Seems like it to me," Fred shrugged.
"I don't understand," Justin frowned.
"Fred seems to think that Umbridge has been leaving me alone for the past three months because she was planning something huge."
"And this is it?" Justin asked.
Fred nodded. "I'm absolutely positive that Umbridge is doing this on purpose."
Scarlett and Justin stared at him. He was completely serious, but would Umbridge go as far as purposely failing a student? And most importantly, why?
A/N: Umbridge is just terrible, isn't she? This chapter makes me want to hit her in the face with a book.
Anyway, as for the George/Erica issue, some people liked the idea and some didn't so I decided to keep it open ended. That way, people will be free to use their imaginations. I won't write a romance between them, but they are going to at least become closer friends by the end of the story and then people can just assume what they want. I do think they'd be cute but I also worry about it making this story too corny with two best friends dating the twins so I can understand both sides and it's why I made the decision I did so hopefully that works for everyone. :)
Thank you so much for all of the feedback on this story so far! I really appreciate all of it and that all of the hard work put into this story is paying off.
Oh, and I thought I would share this with everyone considering we're all huge Harry Potter fans and huge Fred and George fans. I'm going to the Harry Potter exhibition in Times Square on Saturday and James and Oliver Phelps are going to be there signing autographs. It was kind of a last minute decision to go but I've been freaking out and I knew I could share the news here and people could understand why haha. I wish I could bring all of my readers with me though for being so awesome. :)