Eva
"Everything was on fire, it was horrible. After it all burnt down, someone cast the dark mark into the sky. I've never felt so terrified." Christina recalled, her hands fidgeting in her lap as her dark hair hid her face.
We were all sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, on our way to start our 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The girls were catching me up on all the news that had happened over the past summer. I was a muggleborn witch, and was therefore a bit out of the loop due to living in the muggle world out of term time.
"Fred and George were there too. George told me about it in a letter the day after it happened." Tessa told us, "Apparently the ministry almost killed Ron, Harry and Hermione! They thought the kids were responsible for it!" Her hands went flying in the air to show how crazy she thought it was. I couldn't imagine what those three must have been feeling at that time. Especially Harry, because it was you-know-who's mark in the sky. Sometimes I like that I'm away from all this trouble during the summer, blissfully unaware.
Everyone in the compartment went silent, mulling over what this all really means. Why make a scene now, this long after you-know-who's disappearance. It doesn't make any sense. I looked over at Trinity sitting next to me, she too was deep in thought. She stared at the floor, absentmindedly fiddling with her Ravenclaw tie. She looked up, catching me watching her and smiled comfortably.
"Whatever it all means, it's over now and won't affect us in the future. The ministry will handle it." She declared, although whether she was trying to convince us or herself was unsure.
"Yeah, forget about it now. Anyway, I have a present for you all." Tessa declared with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. I groaned inwardly. Whenever Tessa has that twinkle, it usually means that school rules are going to be broken.
"We haven't even entered the Hogwarts grounds! And you're already getting up to no good!" I exclaimed. She rolled her eyes at me.
"I haven't even shown you what it is yet"
"You don't need to, I know what you're like" I smiled as Trinity and Christina nodded in agreement.
Tessa rolled around in her bag and quickly pulled out what appeared to be four notebooks. One blue, one burgundy, one green and one yellow.
"A notebook?" Christina asked, brows furrowed as Tessa handed her the green one. Tessa smiled and nodded enthusiastically, causing her brown curly hair to bounce wildly.
"Not just any notebook though. These are special." Tessa claimed as she handed Trinity the blue one. She then passed me mine in yellow. I quickly flipped it open and looked through. I thought if something nasty was going to jump out of it at me, then I might as well get it over with now. Surprisingly, the pages weren't filled with anything unusual. They appeared like normal, blank parchment.
"How are they special?" I asked, curious to see what had made her so excited. Tessa smiled wide at me.
"They are all magically linked. So whatever you write in your notebook, will pop up in the other three." Tessa explained. Mine and the other two girls' eyes widened in excitement. This is brilliant!
"So we can talk to each other when we're in our dorms?" Christina asked excitedly. Tessa nodded enthusiastically.
"It's brilliant!" Trinity bounced in her seat as she flicked through the pages.
"The pages are charmed to make the ink disappear after a few hours of writing in it too, so we'll never run out of room to write." Tessa said smugly, obviously pleased with our reactions. This is going to change everything this year. The biggest problem the four of us have had during our time at Hogwarts has been that every evening and night we are separated. Neither of us share the same house, and have to retreat to separate common rooms to sleep or relax. Tessa has obviously tried to sneak us all into the gryffindor common room, but was unsuccessful. Trinity claimed that the ravenclaw common room was not a place that we would find entertaining, and would definitely get kicked out of. Neither of us have ever even thought about sneaking into the slytherin hideout, especially with me being a muggleborn. And I'm not bold enough to bring anyone into the hufflepuff common room, as I am the most likely out of the four of us to freak out when pressured.
"Where did you get these from?" Trinity asked, as I reached for my bag to search for a pen.
"I made them." Tessa answered proudly. I momentarily looked up from my bag.
"Over the summer? But you're not 17 yet?" I questioned. How did she get away with underage magic?
"I actually did most of my work on them before we finished for the summer at Hogwarts." She admitted. "George helped me." Christina and Trinity smirked at each other, raising their eyebrows.
"Just you and George, alone?" Christina asked, hiding her expression. Tessa nodded.
"Yeah, I mentioned to him to ask Fred to help us but George said he was busy." Tessa told us. I smiled at her obliviousness.
"Sure he was." I mumbled sarcastically. Trinity put her hand to her face to hide her laughter.
George Weasley was hopelessly in love with Tessa and it was obvious to everyone but her. I thought it was really cute and am rooting for them to get together this year. We all really wanted to tell her so she can finally realise her own feelings but Fred made us promise not to, due to George not actually realising that we knew.
"He was! George said that he was busy with a ravenclaw from the year above us. I didn't ask what they were doing, I absolutely did not want to know." She told me, grimacing at the thought of Fred and a girl doing god knows what. We all adopted the same expression. Fred is known in our group to be the womaniser out of the two twins, and after some distasteful stories Fred had disclosed to us we have all agreed to never be scarred by them again.
"So we should also thank George for these then too?" I said, changing the subject back to the innocent twin. Tessa rolled her eyes.
"The genius parts were all me." She claimed. It was my turn to roll my eyes.
"Yeah yeah." I said, finally finding my pen. I drew a small heart on the corner of the first page. The girls opened theirs and exactly as Tessa said it would, the heart appeared on their pages. This year just got a million times better.
Tessa
The moment I stepped into the great hall I was engulfed into a hug. Due to their height and strength, I immediately knew who it was.
"Missed you too George." I laughed into his chest. I felt him chuckle and slowly move away. A ginger boy with a goofy smile looked down at me.
"It's nice to finally be back with everyone." George said, still smiling. Eva mumbled something I couldn't quite hear and Fred burst out laughing next to her. I looked at her, silently asking her what she said. She shrugged and made a gesture meaning 'something silly' and kicked Fred in the shins. He jumped, grabbing his ankle and pretending to be hurt. I silently laughed and shook my head at the two of them.
"It sucks that we can't all sit together." I said with sadness, looking over to my three best friends. Trinity looked at me with sorrow and agreement.
"I'll see you all tomorrow. Wish me luck." Christina said, blowing a kiss to the group and walking over to the slytherin table.
"Yeah, it's nice seeing you all again." Trinity nodded to Fred, George and Lee, who had just joined the group at the doors. She sent a meaningful glance to me and Eva and walked off towards the ravenclaw table.
Eva opened her mouth to say what I assumed to be the same as Trinity and Christina, but got interrupted by Fred picking up her tiny five foot body into a hug and swinging her around in a circle. Once he put her down Eva turned bright red and glanced around the hall, checking that no one was staring, I laughed inwardly. Eva was very shy and quiet around people who weren't us, and kept mostly to herself. So Fred making a scene would have definitely affected her. But what can she expect, being close friends with the twins?
"How dare you, thinking about leaving to go to the hufflepuff table without properly saying hello." Fred put his hand to his chest, pretending to be hurt.
"You're a rat for spinning me around, you only did that because you'd know I'd hate it." Eva said, crossing her arms in a huff.
"It's payback for not saying hello." He said, winking. "And kicking me." He added as an afterthought.
"Yeah yeah." Eva drawled, stomping over to the hufflepuff table. I turned to Fred.
"You do understand that she will get you back for that." I laughed as I spoke. Fred shrugged and smirked.
"That's why I did it." Fred admitted, "she's so shy publicly so it's great to see her open up like that and have fun."
"Even if it's just us seeing it." George added. I agreed. Eva is amazing when we're all alone with her and she can be comfortable saying and doing whatever she wants. I hate seeing her get shy and embarrassed around other people because I know everyone loves her and would never judge her. That's why it's great she has us and the twins to help her come out of her shell. It's been Fred's mission since third year to try and make a prankster out of her. He hasn't been successful yet, but their close friendship has definitely brought out the best of her.
"You're going to regret saying that when she gives you the silent treatment for the rest of the year." Lee told Fred, "or refuses to help you with your homework." he added. Fred looked like he was regretting his decisions and frowned.
We wandered over to the gryffindor table and sat down, waiting for Dumbledore's speech and the food that followed. I felt a nudge from George next to me and looked in his direction.
"It's honestly great to see you again Tess." He said, smiling at me brightly. I smiled back. George and I had written back and forth to each other almost all summer, which definitely made the three month gap easier.
"It's good to see you too Georgie." I said, adopting the nickname that I knew would make Fred and Lee snicker. As expected, Lee broke out laughing while Fred tried to hold back while he was having a conversation with Angelina Johnson. George glanced at me ruefully.
"To quote Eva." He said, " you're a rat." He put simply. That for some reason broke Fred as he stopped mid sentence to cackle, causing Angelina to also laugh. I looked over to Lee opposite me and frowned. He appeared really uneasy.
"Lee, are you alright?" I asked. He looked up and focused on me.
"I can't get up." He claimed, struggling to move."I think my trousers are stuck to the bench. I swear to god if this was any of you I'm going to murder you!" I burst out into laughter. It looked like someone glued him to the bench!
"It wasn't us mate." Fred told the poor guy, referring to him and George. Lee turned back to me.
"Don't look at me." I giggled, "I didn't do this!"
Trinity
The school went crazy when Dumbledore announced the Triwizard Tournament. It's all people talked about during the feast.
"I'm definitely putting my name in the cup." Roger Davies announced to the table.
"I would definitely be chosen to compete if there wasn't an age limit." Riley Travers, Rogers best friend, claimed after him. I rolled my eyes.
"If there wasn't an age limit, Harry Potter would be chosen." I stated. Riley frowned at me.
"How come?" He asked.
"Because of the things he pulled off in his first and second year." I answered. The fact that Harry took on a form of you-know-who in first year and a basilisk in second year was more than enough to qualify for the triwizard cup.
"I agree, even if I hate to admit it." Roger said regretfully. He was the captain of the Ravenclaw quidditch team, and therefore had a constant grudge against Potter.
Suddenly, I felt something hit the back of my head. Cursing, I looked behind me to find a piece of paper on the floor. I looked up and saw Christina at the slytherin table looking at me. She mouthed 'help me' and banged her head against the table. The other slytherin's gave Christina a judging look. Laughing, I picked up the piece of paper and examined it.
I charmed Lee's trousers to stick to his seat, revenge for when he set my hair on fire on the last day of term before the summer. Watch him struggling!
I glanced over to the gryffindor table and saw Lee in obvious distress. It looked like he was accusing Tessa. He was staring daggers at her. Tessa was shaking considerably as she laughed at him. I smiled and got the charmed notebook out of my robe pocket. I caught Christina's eye and gestured to the book. She caught what I meant and grabbed for her own out of her pocket. I glanced over the table to where a few ravenclaw students were already studying. I asked if it was alright to use their ink and thanked them once they'd said yes.
He's going to have to take his trousers off to get out of that seat!, I wrote, He's going to be walking around in his pants to the gryffindor common room!
Her reply quickly appeared underneath my writing, Revenge is sweet.
I laughed at the situation. We'd only just arrived at Hogwarts and the pranking had already begun. I was surprised it wasn't Lee, the twins or Tessa to be the first to do it. They were going to be annoyed that Christina beat them to it. Their influence had rubbed off on her. I personally wasn't a fan of pranks. Sure, it was funny and I liked watching the chaos unfold around me. But it wasn't my cup of tea to be an active participant, whether that was the victim or the prankster. The group knew not to subject me to their pranks, because they'd get hexed into oblivion. Eva had the same attitude as me, she liked to watch but refused to take part. Fred was determined to change that. He swears she had a rebellious side to her that was hidden underneath her quietness.
I glanced over to the hufflepuff girl and saw her talking to a guy in our year, Aiden Bowlett. He was a gorgeous wizard who had half the school fawning over him. He was also the chaser on the hufflepuff quidditch team. Aiden said something to Eva and smiled at her, causing the girl to blush. I shook my head as she subtly hid under her hair after replying to Aiden and turning away, the blonde curls shielding her from any more interaction. I turned back to my notebook.
Aiden talked to Eva, I bet she's sat there planning their wedding.
I better be maid of honour, Christina replied.
Excuse me. That's obviously my title.
Do you think their children will have Eva's blonde hair or Aiden's brown?
Definitely Eva's hair, but Aiden's green eyes.
Eva also has green eyes.
Yeah but his eyes are more sparkly and gorgeous.
Very true. I can't stop thinking about his eyes now, maybe he can marry me instead.
Not if I get in there first.
Fine, we give Eva the first chance and then if they don't get married it's fair game for us.
Deal.
I laughed and looked over in Christina's direction. She winked at me and started drawing hearts with the letters E + A in the middle. I then began suggesting names they can call their future children. Obviously I suggested my name.
Suddenly, new handwriting popped up. You guys are idiots.
I glanced around the room and saw Eva with her yellow notebook, writing with a muggle pen instead of a quill. She was trying her best to hide the pages from Aiden's view.
Hey, don't insult us because you're in love with Aiden, I wrote. I didn't need to look up to know she was glaring at me.
What's that song that you told us last year? Oh yeah. Eva and Aiden sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Christina's handwriting popped up.
You sound like a ten year old, Eva replied. Wait! Did you glue Lee to his seat?! She obviously read the beginning of our conversation.
I decided to leave the conversation at that point. I closed my book and ate as much as I could before the feast ended.
Christina
After the feast ended, I quickly got up and made my way to the gryffindor table. Lee was still sitting there struggling while the group was laughing at him.
"You're gonna have to get out of them mate." I heard Fred say as I approached the group.
"And walk up to our dorms in my underwear? No way!" Lee replied, his voice high with panic.
"You'd probably scare the first years." I commented, all heads turned in my direction.
"That doesn't help the situation at all Christina!" Lee exclaimed, trying and failing to stand up for the hundredth time. George glanced down at the notebook in my hand and smiled.
"Hey!" He said, turning to Tessa. "Is that one of the books we were working on last year?"
"Yes!" Tessa beamed at him, making George basically glow. I shared a knowing smirk with Fred. How my gryffindor friend hadn't caught on to his feelings is beyond me. Tessa then dug into her robe pocket and pulled out her own red notebook. She flicked through the pages and noticed mine and the others handwriting, quickly realising that we had already started to use it. I've never seen her prouder.
"Who is Eva getting married to?" Fred asked, frowning while he looked over Tessa's shoulder at the pages. Luckily he mustn't have seen the messages that contained Aiden's name. Tessa snapped the book shut so he couldn't read any more.
"None of your business. Stop being an overprotective brother." Tessa told him. Fred scrunched up his face.
"One of us has to be. The girl can't take having her heart broken. It would crush her." He argued. I couldn't disagree with that.
"Don't mess with her love life Frederick Weasley." Tessa ordered, shoving her finger to his face and doing a marvellous impression of his mother. George looked terrified even though she wasn't focused on him. Fred gulped and backed down. Tessa lowered her finger, nodding in satisfaction that he'd listened to her. Although I hardly doubt he will let it go to Eva. The poor girl is going to get questioned tomorrow.
As quick as lightning, George made a grab for Tessa's book while Fred launched himself at mine. Tessa's reflexes were quick and she managed to move the book out of his reach. She poked George in the stomach quickly over and over with her wand, causing him to double over laughing and begging her to stop. It ended with George cowering on the floor while Tessa was close to him giggling. I could tell George was actually happy with this outcome.
I wasn't as fast as Tessa had been. Fred managed to knock my notebook out of my hand. It went flying into the air, landing open on the floor. Fred yanked me down to the ground and made a move towards the book. I grabbed his ankle and he shrieked as he too went tumbling down. We both scrambled on our knees to get to the book first, dragging each other back by our robes as we moved. Fred had just managed to reach the object when I scrambled to my feet and stomped over Fred's body, grabbing the book before he registered what had happened. I smiled triumphantly and looked at what page the notebook had been open on. It was open on the pages that I had drawn the hearts on. I placed the book back into my pocket while I hoped that Fred hadn't seen the initials inside. Judging by his thoughtful expression, I would say that he had.
"Who is A?" He asked, frowning. Damn, Eva is going to kill us all and burn the books.
"It's none of your business. You better not question Eva over this! She'll be so embarrassed." I snapped at him. He didn't seem to take any notice.
"It better not be Adrian Pucey." George declared. Fred's eyes widened and he suddenly looked angry.
"It can't be! Is it?" He raised his voice, obviously going into big brother defensive mode. It's an attitude that only comes out when Eva is involved. I feel sorry for Ginny when she decides to start dating.
"Hey guys, I hate to break up this gossip session but can you HELP ME PLEASE." Lee's voice rang from the table, causing a well needed distraction.
"We'll help you get out of them." George said, kicking Fred to get him to help. Fred snapped out of his attitude and the twins stood either side of Lee, ready to pick him up and try and free him. I decided this was my time to leave, not feeling as amused by this prank as I had done earlier.
"Stop! Stop! I can feel my pants being dragged down too!" I heard Lee yell as I walked out the door. I sniggered, suddenly back to enjoying this revenge.