"Nice of you to finally join us" Oliver said sarcastically as his two beaters and remaining chaser joined them. "Do I want to know why you're late?" He asked, folding his arms.
"Ask her" Ruby spat out, angrily glaring at Angelina.
"Johnson has already apologised for being late" Oliver pointed out. "Whatever is going on, sort it, now." He demanded of his team, he wouldn't tolerate bickering on the pitch because they needed to focus.
Ruby's glare hardened and she just folded her arms "I bet she didn't explain why she was late though" She said to the twins and her shoes but shrugged as Oliver was clearly waiting for an explanation "Don't worry I won't let it affect practice" She explained and then ran off to collect a broom - wishing she was a beater so that she could take her anger out on bludger.
Fred and George jogged to collect brooms too, plus to check that the blonde witch was truly okay as Georgia hadn't explained to them why she had been involved in a catfight in the common room.
"Roo!" George hissed as he caught the witches' elbow "What the hell was that back in the tower?" He asked, once she'd stopped.
"Hormones, you know Gia has her Aunt Flo visiting" She replied, trying to get George to let her go, they were already late to practice due to it she didn't need them to be the reason Oliver decided to run drills up until curfew!
"Roo, that's not going to wash with us… That was more than hormones, we may only have one sister but you and Gia have been our best friends for the last two and a half years and what we witnessed up there wasn't all down to hormones" Fred responded, he was concerned because Georgia had really flipped and they weren't used to that.
"Look, we need to get to practice. The quicker we get this over with the faster we can get back up to Gryffindor Tower and you'll see everything is fine" She tried to reassure them.
George and Fred sighed but nodded before grabbing their Cleansweep 5s and jogging back to the huddle, Ruby following close behind them with her Comet 260.
What no one had planned on happening however, was the amount of tension and rift that the fight had caused between two of the Chasers and the beaters. Oliver's game plan wasn't going at all as he'd imagined and it was affecting Harry and Katie's ability to play too.
"Stop! All of you!" Wood yelled out, calling the practice to a halt.
"This is your fault" George accused Angelina.
"How is it my fault?!" Angelina demanded.
"Well lets see" George mused. "You started on Gia, in the common room for no reason, we weren't even talking about you. And if your words weren't bad enough you had to hit her as well"
"She was asking for it" Angelina mumbled.
"How? She hadn't even done anything wrong" Ruby turned to her, "It's not a crime for you to both like the same person."
"Didn't have you pegged as a bully Ange" There was a hint of something in Fred's voice as he spoke and Ruby looked at him with wide eyes, having forgotten he was within hearing shot of what she'd just said. She silently hoped he wouldn't put the two together.
"Quiet!" Oliver roared and they immediately listened, not used to the Keeper losing his temper. "We're a team for goodness sake"
"Tell him that!" Angelina shouted, throwing a glare at Fred. "He could have killed me with that bludger" she argued.
"You can talk. It would be helpful if you could actually throw the Quaffle in my direction!" Ruby sniped.
"Enough. On the ground now!" Oliver glared at them all until they complied, not wanting to risk things getting out of hand and someone falling from their broom. Not only was he the oldest on the team but he was their captain and therefore had a responsibility to make sure everyone stays safe. "This is ridiculous and if none of you can put your differences aside and be civil at least while out on the pitch then I'm going to be forced to remove you from the team"
"You can't do that!" Ruby gasped.
"I'm captain, that means I call the shots. There's plenty of other Gryffindors that would love to be on the team. So choice is yours, what's it to be?" Oliver folded his arms, waiting on an answer.
"We'll stay," Angelina replied, picking at a splinter on the handle of her broom.
"Sorry for ruining practice Oliver" George added.
"It's your own time you're wasting" the sixth year shrugged, "Because it now means that we'll have to come back out here again another day to practice a full team formation"
"Good job we weren't practicing body blows eh" Katie joked, hoping to lighten the mood a little. They were all her friends and she didn't want to have to pick sides.
"Bell has a point, Quidditch is a dangerous game and you all need to be on your A game. Be thankful this is only a practice session and not an actual match. The way you've all behaved tonight would have us disqualified in a game" Oliver warned and they nodded in understanding.
"Does that mean we can go now?" Fred asked, eager to return to the common room.
"Absolutely not, we're going to run drills and do some bonding as a team. We need the gel back that won us the cup last year" Oliver ignored their groans of uninterest as he mounted his broom once more, pushing off into the air, encouraging the others to do the same. It was almost curfew before he called it a day and let them all get changed and head back up to the tower. They were all exhausted but that didn't stop Fred hanging back before they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady to ask Ruby another question, one that had bugged him all night, knowing that Georgia would have probably taken herself to bed by now rather than waiting up for them to return, so he'd not get answers from her.
"So, were they really fighting over me?" Fred asked a smug tone to his voice and Ruby almost wanted to smack him one, their best friend had got into a catfight, now was not the time to be needing an ego trip.
She forcefully pinned him against the stone wall instead, "George a little help" he called out, holding his hands up in surrender.
"You and all" Ruby pointed her wand at George.
"What did I do?" He asked, mimicking his twin by holding his hands up to show he was innocent.
"Pin back those ears and listen to me. You're going to forget it happened alright? No more mentions of the fight. Gia doesn't need it brought back up. She'll be embarrassed, you know what she's like, and no doubt half the common room will be talking about it at breakfast tomorrow. We don't need to be them people. Got me?" Fred mimed zipping his mouth closed and Ruby let him free, happy that neither he or George would mention the fact she'd let slip that Georgia fancied him.
Later that night after they'd said goodnight and headed to their separate dorms Fred talked his brother into a late night adventure. It was past midnight and most of the occupants in the castle were already sleeping, except for Fred who was sat cross legged on his bed and George who was sat opposite him with the map laid open between them. Their dorm mates were already sleeping, they just had to wait for the last few stragglers to leave the Common Room. The younger twin was bored, the worst part of causing mischief was the waiting around for the coast to be clear. Resting his head against the post on the bottom of the bed he went back to using his wand to levitate the little bit of parchment he'd folded into a muggle airplane. Georgia had taught him how to do it and he loved to make them, he thought them so cool. She'd shown him how they could fly through the air when thrown but it was so much more fun to make them fly with magic.
"Mischief managed" Fred whispered and the ink on the map faded, George perked up at the words.
"Is it time?"
"Yeah, come on" Fred pulled the hangings back on his bed and quietly the two brothers crept out of their room, the common room was dark and quiet as they tiptoed through it and out into the corridor. Keeping to the wall to avoid making shadows, Fred and George headed for the third floor and soon reached the statue of the one eyed witch, thankful to have not been seen by anyone.
"Dissendium" Fred whispered the password after double checking the hallway was definitely empty and the hump on the statue opened up, revealing the secret passageway. He gestured for George to go first.
"Age before beauty" George smirked, refusing to be the first.
With a roll of his eyes Fred climbed into the small opening of the statue and slid down the slope to the bottom. Landing feet first on the cold, damp earth below. Moments later George landed behind him.
"Lumos" they both muttered, lighting the dark tunnel before following the twists and turns of the passageway, careful not to trip on the uneven ground. About an hour later they had reached the worn stone steps that would take them up into Honeydukes. They climbed and climbed until they reached the trapdoor, red faced and sweaty. Slowly Fred lifted the door open and peered into the cellar of the sweetshop, making sure it was empty before pulling himself up through the floor and waited for George to join him. Together, quickly and quietly the twins searched through the masses of wooden crates and boxes filling their arms with everything from chocolate frogs and fudge flies to sugar quills and jelly slugs, along with much more.
The following day they'd slept in past breakfast and barely made it on time to their first lesson which was double potions, facing Snape on a Friday morning with little sleep was not something either twin was looking forward to. Not wanting to risk getting onto his wrong side they kept the surprise they had for Georgia quiet until break time. Leaving the dungeons they'd headed to the courtyard, deciding to spend their free time there so they'd be closer to the charms class which was the lesson they had after break. Georgia and Ruby has sat into one of the Stone openings and pulling the treats from their robe pockets, Fred and George dumped them into the brunette's lap.
Georgia blinked, her eyes instantly filled with tears, as she looked up at them and then back at the pile of treats they had put into her lap "W-Wha-?" She whispered as Tilly, who was walking by, swooped in to nick a fudge fly but Georgia swatted her hand away and she yelped as she nursed her hand whilst still eyeing the treats and wanting to get in with Georgia's friends because those were a lot of sweets!
"Honeydukes finest"
"For our brave Lioness" The twins explained in the only way they knew how, talking between themselves.
Ruby offered them a thumbs up for being so thoughtful as Georgia launched herself at the two boys - not caring when the treats clattered to the floor - and pulled them into a hug "Best. Friends. Ever! Thank you so much" she gave them a squeeze and then breaking away she scrambled to the floor to pick up the mess the treats had caused when they'd fallen off her lap, George followed suit to help her.
Georgia soon stopped and burst into tears, George looked up at Fred in bewilderment, Ginny hadn't cried in years so they weren't too sure how to handle it. Before Ruby could move in to take care of the crying witch Tilly had crouched down and gave Georgia a side hug "Hey, what's up sweetie?" She cooed and rubbed her arm up and down in an attempt to soothe her.
Georgia took a massive sniff and then looked at Tilly and then at George before finally looking up at Fred and throwing them all a watery smile "S-Sorry, hormones" she laughed through a sob and then wiped her eyes on her cloak. George and Fred shared a sigh of relief, yes it would take some getting used to but they were determined to understand both her and Ruby whenever their monthly visitors arrived.
Georgia eventually found her voice and cast Reducio onto the treats and put them into her pocket before getting up from the floor and heading off towards her common room.
Fred, George, Ruby and Tilly all looked at her "Where are you going?" Tilly called out.
"To put these away before the bell goes, I don't want to be carrying them around all day. I'll see you back here in about 10 minutes, promise" Georgia replied back earning an understanding nod from the two girls and the twins just shrugged before taking the space Georgia had left on the wall beside Ruby, leaving Tilly to wonder how to get herself a pair of twin best friends who would shower her with treats when she needed cheering up. So she decided to stick around to find out what she needed to do to ensure that, hoping her friends from the Frog Choir wouldn't mind her not showing up to their usual hang out place.
Once Georgia was up back in the dormitory she emptied out her pockets, putting the treats onto the duvet and then opening the drawer of her bedside cabinet she spotted the box of muggle medication, grabbing two tablets she used her wand to cast aguamenti into the glass that stood beside her alarm clock. Whilst she waited for them to kick in Georgia transferred most of the treats to her bedside cabinet drawer save for five items that she was planning on taking back down for her to share with her friends. Feeling more able to stand up straight due to the pain fading she turned on her heel and left the room so that she could go back to the courtyard to hang out with her friends before lessons started up again.
Upon returning she found the trio, plus Tilly, were huddled in the archway where she'd left them but they were currently laughing at something that George was showing them. This was the scene that Georgia was literally about to run into, but before they could see her she hid behind the pillar and watched them from her new vantage point. 'Why is Tilly still with them? Are they kicking me out just because I cried again? Seriously?!'
"HAHA that is hilarious, and you're telling me he really didn't see the funny side?" Tilly asked peering over to take another look at what George was showing them.
"Nope! He really didn't" Fred replied.
"Threatened to throw us off the team and break our brooms if we so much as showed it to anyone else" George added.
"Yeah but he's a Quidditch obsessed nut so it's not totally a surprise" Ruby added with a shrug of her shoulders. "Hey, you know what you should do?" She soon asked.
"Go on Wilkins, we're all ears" George responded.
"Clearwater and Percy are d-a-t-i-n-g" she whispered, keeping her voice low as she wasn't too sure who was listening "maybe you should use that to your advantage?" She suggested, as if simply telling them to have some dessert.
"Wilkins,"
"You"
"Are"
"A"
"GENIUS!"
The twins grinned and put their heads together to start planning the ultimate prank on one of their eldest brothers. Georgia saw this and finally decided to go over to the group, mainly because of the sweets she had for them all in her robe pocket. So, pretending as if she had raced from the common room she ran over to them and panted as she squashed back into the middle of her group of friends. "H-Hi guys.. T-Tilly?" She greeted, questioning her fellow housemate as she still wasn't entirely sure why she was completing the quartet.
"Oh, hey Georgia!" Tilly smiled before giving her a side hug which the brunette returned, trying to hide the confusion etched on her face.
She then took the treats out of her pockets, placed the sugar quill onto Ruby's lap, handed fudge flies to Tilly and then smirking went "Hey! Twins! Heads up" she beamed and then when the brothers looked over at her she threw the chocolate frog in Fred's direction "Ow! Gia that hurt!" He pouted and rubbed his shoulder where the corner had hit it and the other pack of fudge flies at George "Thanks Gia!" He grinned and popped one into his mouth whilst Fred undid the chocolate frog and took a bite before returning to pouring over the notebook to continue prank plans.
Tilly couldn't stop the smile on her face from spreading and she nudged Georgia "George likes fudge flies too?"
Georgia nodded "Yup! Loves them, cannot stand rats but will quite happily eat some sweets that are shaped like flies, he's an odd specimen" she laughed and then opened up her own chocolate frog, cheering when the card was one she didn't already have.
"I think he likes them purely so he can annoy Ron, who is terrified of spiders and we all know that spiders eat flies too" Ruby added with a small shrug before sucking on her sugar quill "thanks for this by the way Gia you sure know how to win a girls heart" she threw her a wink. George spluttered as he choked on his fudge flies and Georgia giggled as she watched Fred whack his twin on the back, knowing exactly why he was now sat so red faced, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
Suddenly the school bell rang, ending their conversations and signalling that lessons were starting again, with a sigh the group of friends got up and all headed for their double Charms lesson, Georgia seemed to hang back and take her time gathering her things together but Ruby wasn't able to question her friend because upon entering the spacious classroom that was used when they were doing practical magic rather than written, they were told to gather round and be silent. Professor Flitwick then went round and collected in the essays they'd been asked to write for homework.
"Okay students! For the first half of today's lesson I want you all to pair up and we'll practice casting the summoning and banishing charms, they can be very useful to know"
At Flitwicks words the classroom filled with whispers as everyone tried to bag their work partners, Ruby wasn't bothered though, being part of a quartet meant she usually had three best friends in the class with her to choose from so she was never short of a work partner. With a clap of his hands he gave them permission to move. Ruby looked to Georgia but the brunette was already nodding her head at Tilly, the two grinning at one another. With a sigh Ruby turned her back on the two of them feeling a little hurt and gave their fellow Gryffindor, Lee Jordan, the thumbs up. The two of them had worked together before when professors had forbidden the four friends to pair up knowing it would cause more trouble than good, so she didn't mind pairing with the dreadlocked boy.
"What's up with that?" Fred whispered in Ruby's ear, pointing towards the two witches, making her jump.
"Dunno" Ruby shrugged sadly, wondering what she'd done to upset her best friend. She couldn't remember saying anything out of turn during break.
Flitwick announced that one person from each pair had to go and collect a cushion from the stack in the corner while the other found themselves a space in the classroom away from the other pairs to avoid any accidents. Lee went to collect the cushion and Ruby went and chose an empty space near the windows, swinging her arms to make sure she wouldn't touch George and Tilly who'd followed her, much to her annoyance. For the first fifteen minutes Ruby took the lead on summoning and banishing the cushion back and forth across their section of the classroom, making it look like they were actually taking part as Lee was doubled over in laughter at the twins. Fred and George were doing what they did best, mucking about, by casting their spells at other peoples cushions and giggling at the confused looks on their faces when their spells didn't do what they'd expected.
Ruby shook her head at them before tossing the cushion at Lee's head with a laugh "Your turn, Jordan!"
Lee scowled at her but flicked his wand at the cushion as Flitwick passed them to show he'd been paying attention. "Very well done Mr Jordan! Five points to Gryffindor" the professor praised him and Ruby gave the boy a high five. Fillius smiled at them before continuing his rounds round the other pairs of students. Ruby lent against the window ledge, letting Lee take over casting spells for a little bit, content to watch. She let out a loud laugh as Lee banished his cushion right into Fred, she then let her vision roam over her other friends, Georgia and Tilly were stood with their heads together whispering and giggling like twelve years olds that had just spoken to a cute boy for the first time.
Once the two hours of Charms were up and the class had been dismissed Ruby snatched her bag up off the floor and stormed from the classroom, not bothering to wait for her friends as she headed to the Great Hall for Lunch. Georgia saw that and frowned before turning to look at Lee "Jordan, what did you do?" She enquired, as she shoved her books back into her bag.
"Don't look at me, we got on fine" he shot back before sighing and moving up the bench to listen in to what the twins were talking about.
Georgia threw a thumbs up at Tilly and mouthed 'see you at lunch, good luck' and then left the classroom heading off in the direction that Ruby had gone. Whilst Ruby was taller than Georgia she wasn't very sporty either so it didn't take her too long to catch her up.
"Roo! Wait up!" She called out causing the blonde haired lion to stop and look behind her and sigh.
"Finally remembered that I exist have you?"
Georgia frowned "Huh? What are you going on about?"
"You and Tilly, running off into the corner and giggling like two pre teen witches who have seen Lockhart" she replied.
Georgia blinked "What? Don't act like the two of you weren't sat cracking jokes with the boys" She replied, Ruby wasn't the only one feeling pushed out of the group.
"That in the courtyard?" Ruby asked and Georgia nodded her head "That was nothing" she ensured.
"Didn't look like nothing, it looked like you'd all found a new lion cub to train in pranking" Georgia's voice grew louder the more upset she got so grabbing her elbow Ruby shoved her into the nearest empty classroom so they could talk in peace.
"Do you honestly think we'd replace you?" Ruby looked shocked.
"I don't know" Georgia shrugged, folding her arms across her chest. Something Ruby knew she did as a defence mechanism to protect herself. "Would you?" She challenged looking up at the other witch.
"Of course not, we've been best friends since our first year. No one else would be able to fit the space in our quartet like you do. They wouldn't get it" Ruby tried to reassure her friend.
"Tilly looked quite cozy sitting laughing at Gred and Forges jokes with you" Georgia replied as she pushed herself up to sit on one of the old dusty desks. Bringing her more eye level with the blonde girl.
"I didn't invite her to sit with us, she just stuck around after you left. She's our friend, I couldn't just turn her away. But that doesn't mean we replaced you." Ruby sighed, she didn't know their dorm mate as well as Georgia did but she was cool enough. And Ruby didn't have a problem with them all being friends together. Just like how sometimes Lee would sit with them. "And you know what the guys are like, any opportunity to get a laugh from someone and they soak it up"
Georgia knew that was true, both Fred and George were the class clowns and always made a show of telling their jokes. They fed on other people's laughter and joy, bringing a smile to someone's face when they were down was what they did best. She couldn't be mad at them for it. "So you promise you're not kicking me from the group? And you're not adding a fifth member into the mix?" Georgia asked, biting her bottom lip nervously.
"Solemnly swear" Ruby held her pinky finger up for Georgia to wrap her own round which she did with a smile. "Okay now you got that off your chest, it's my turn. What the hell just happened in charms?"
"You're gonna have to be a bit more specific" Georgia prodded and Ruby huffed.
"We're usually always work partners whenever Fred and George pair up, I'm not mad you chose Tilly over me, I mean I was mad but why?"
Georgia ducked her head feeling silly over the reason now that they'd talked and spoke quietly "I wanted you to feel like I felt. Left out"
"Well it worked" Ruby mumbled scuffing her shoe against the stone floor. "What were you both giggling at the whole lesson?"
"You're gonna love this" Georgia perked up, the smile big on her face, and Ruby looked at her intrigued. A bit of gossip was just what she could use right now. "Did you know that Tilly fancies George?!" she bit her lip waiting for a reaction, she knew that George fancied Ruby but she hadn't had the heart to tell Tilly that and as the blonde had always refused to acknowledge she felt anything towards him Georgia decided it was the perfect opportunity to test how she really felt.
"What?" Ruby asked, feeling the blood drain from her face.
"That was my first thought, but amazing isn't it?" Georgia gushed, practically squealing in excitement, seeing her friend's shocked look was exactly what she needed to confirm her suspicions. Ruby stared at her blankly, her mouth slightly agape, unable to form words. She didn't know what she was expecting to hear but it certainly wasn't that. "We should totally play matchmaker, what do you think? Roo?"
"No! We definitely should not"
"What do you mean?" Georgia asked, frowning. It would be good to see her friends happy and no one else had expressed an interest in the younger twin. Waiting for an answer she watched her friend battle with her thoughts, the emotions flicking through her eyes. Was that jealousy she could see? Ruby wasn't sure what she meant, she couldn't explain the sudden feelings stirring up inside of her. Protectiveness for her friend maybe? She definitely felt angry at the idea. "You're jealous!" Georgia finally smirked.
"I'm not" Ruby shouted.
"You are" Georgia jumped down off the desk and stalked towards the other girl, her tone teasing, she knew the whole seeing them as family was a cover up and she was about to prove it. "You're jealous that someone else likes George Weasley"
"I'm not bothered by it" It was Ruby's turn to fold her arms across her chest "You might not like Angelina liking Fred but I don't care"
"You Ruby Wilkins are a liar" Georgia accused, amusement clear in her voice. "Besides, the only reason you won't fight Tilly for him is because she's so much smaller than both of us"
"You tell yourself that Goshawk" Ruby said, brushing the comments off.
"Come on, I confessed my feelings to you" Georgia whined, "Fairs fair, right?"
"Wrong," Ruby stated, turning to pull the door open. With a roll of her eyes, Georgia followed her down the corridor to lunch, planning on other ways she could bribe a confession out of her friend.