Disclaimer: All that is good is J. K. Rowling's. Some dialogue in this chapter comes directly from OotP.
A/N: Thank you all for reading! I'm really glad that you are still enjoying this story. I'll be updating some of my other fics soon, and I have a new Fred/Hermione story that I'm working on right now (might be a one-shot or broken up into three parts, haven't decided yet), so I hope you'll like them once they are posted. Reviews are greatly appreciated! You are all awesome.
Chapter 26
Fred barely remembered the walk back up to his dorm; it would only occur to him later that he didn't even say goodbye to Angelina. He just knew that he was back in his room, and trying to wake up his twin.
"George. George," he kept hissing, while lightly shaking George's shoulder and shining a light from his wand into his face.
George finally blinked and scratched his head. "What's going on?"
"Look, I know that I've been holding us back on our plans. I'm ready now. I think... I know that we're ready to start up our storefront. Ready to leave this school behind us. Ready to cause as much trouble as possible before we leave."
Suddenly alert, George's eyes lit up. "That's brilliant. I've been waiting for your go-ahead."
"I know, I know. Well, here's the go-ahead. The tricks we've been playing have been small potatoes compared to the one we're going to use tomorrow," Fred grinned with sheer malice.
George's eyes widened. "The swamp?" he asked with anticipation.
Fred nodded. "The swamp," he confirmed.
"So that means..."
"Right," Fred interrupted. "Make sure your trunk is packed by morning. We are going to prank this school harder than it's ever been pranked before, and then we are getting the hell out of here."
George got out of bed, and paused. "But what about..." he trailed off.
"What about what?" Fred asked. "This is what we've wanted to do, what we've been waiting for! What else is there to think about?"
"Well, what about Alicia?" George asked.
"Alicia's a cool bird. She'll understand. She'll love the statement of it all. And she graduates in just a few months. When the school year is over, she'll be able to see you all the time – with the added bonus of you having your own flat to entertain her in," Fred replied, wiggling his eyebrows for emphasis.
"Ah, good thinking!" said George. "Now, what about Hermione? Does she understand? Is she okay with this?"
Fred went silent for a moment. "She doesn't matter anymore," he stated flatly.
George raised an eyebrow. "Does she have something to do with why we're doing this?"
"Of course not! We've been planning this for ages. Don't think for a second that she has any influence over the plans you and I have been making together," Fred insisted.
"Okay, fine. Let me rephrase the question, then. Does she have something to do with why we're doing this at this particular moment?" George retorted.
Fred sighed. "Like I said, Hermione doesn't matter anymore." He winced a bit upon speaking her name. "We can talk about her later, but right now, I just want us to proceed with things as planned."
George wanted to know more, but knew not to push Fred on things he didn't want to talk about when they were busy making plans. "Fine, but we will talk more about this later. In the meantime, we'd better pack up our trunks if we want to be ready for tomorrow!"
"Indeed we shall. So let's keep it down, and get to work!" Fred instructed excitedly, pulling out his own trunk.
Hermione spent the following day in a daze, seemingly functioning on auto-pilot. She still couldn't believe everything that had happened the night before. She was furious with Fred, but didn't know how to approach him, but her fury conflicted with the shame she felt from throwing herself at Ron, leaving her somewhat numb.
It was a difficult day to be feeling so confused, but she still did her best to present her best self through the careers advice meetings, doing her best to ignore Umbridge's snippy comments and huffing. McGonagall praised her scholastic performance highly, which was no surprise, and she did her best to focus on the subject of which NEWTs she should aim to take.
Further distraction came in the form of Harry, as she tried her best to talk him out of breaking into Umbridge's office for a discussion with Sirius through her fireplace. Under the circumstances, she wasn't able to offer more than a half-hearted objection, and he escaped her protestations quite easily.
After Harry ran off, she found herself with some free time to mope. She was incredibly hurt by the previous night's events, and wandered around the school simultaneously hoping and dreading running into Fred. She wasn't sure what to say when she saw him, but the image of Fred and Angelina entwined on the common room sofa kept swimming through her mind, appearing more and more intimate with each recollection. She roamed the halls where it was safe to do so, until she was suddenly shaken out of her reverie by a raucous commotion that seemed to be coming from the entrance hall. Running over to see what the uproar was about, she stopped dead in her tracks as she witnessed Fred and George being cornered by Umbridge in front of a large crowd, a number of whom seemed to be covered in something resembling Stinksap.
"So, you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?" Umbridge challenged them, grinning viciously at the punishment she was certainly about to dole out.
"Pretty amusing, yeah," Fred answered, defiantly.
Filch ran up to Umbridge, joyously waving a piece of parchment.
"I've got the form, Headmistress. I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting. Oh, let me do it now!" begged Filch.
"Very good, Argus," Umbridge replied. Turning back to Fred and George, she hissed, "You two are about to learn what happens to wrong-doers in my school."
"You know what?" asked Fred. "I don't think we are."
Turning to his twin, he continued. "George, I think we've outgrown full-time education."
"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," George agreed affably.
"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" questioned Fred, in a light and casual tone.
"Definitely," he concurred.
The twins raised their wands together, and loudly shouted, "Accio brooms!"
A loud crash could be heard in the distance, and several members of the watching crowd ducked as Fred and George's brooms hurtled through the air toward them, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg that Umbridge had used to secure it to the wall.
Mounting his broomstick, Fred stated simply, "We won't be seeing you."
"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," George added, as he swung his leg over his own broom.
Fred's eyes surveyed the hushed crowd, and he proudly announced, "If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley – Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Our new premises!"
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," George joined in with glee, pointing at Umbridge, whose face was now nearly turning maroon with rage.
"STOP THEM!" Umbridge screamed apoplectically, but Fred and George kicked off, and shot fifteen feet into the air before the Inquisitorial Squad could even get close to the spot where they had been standing.
Fred scanned the crowd once more. He saw Hermione staring up at him dumbstruck, but he looked away after only the briefest eye contact, and focused instead on Peeves, who was bobbing through the air at his level.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves," he instructed, and was answered with a sincere salute before he and his twin flew through the open doors toward the sunset.
Applause broke out from the onlookers from students and teachers alike. The sound shook Hermione from her stupor, and she began to run after Fred toward the open doors when she was suddenly stopped by someone firmly grabbing her wrist. The abrupt interruption to her quickened pace caused her to stumble backward into her captor. She found herself being roughly dragged away from the crowded entrance hall by Angelina, with an icy expression on her face.
"You're coming with me," Angelina stated flatly.
Hermione found herself unable to react. Her feet kept moving, allowing Angelina to tow her almost violently behind her without too much of an effort, but she tried to process what was happening, and what had just happened.
Why did Fred leave without an explanation? Didn't he owe me that, at least? Why does Angelina seem angry with me? I'm the one who has every right to be angry with her! Where is she taking me, anyway? All these thoughts and more raced through her mind instantaneously, as she continued to try to keep pace with Angelina, who remained a couple steps ahead of Hermione and seemed to have her wrist in some sort of a death-grip.
They continued through the halls, now completely empty due to the diversion in the entrance hall. When they were a sufficient distance away from the throng of students and teachers that had been witness to Fred and George's exits, Angelina opened the door to an empty classroom and flung Hermione through the door ahead of her.
Hermione careened forward and stopped as she fell against the teacher's desk. Beginning to process everything, she turned to Angelina, and started to shout at her, "Angelina, what –"
She was immediately interrupted as Angelina's fist hit her square in the middle of her face.