Both Vicki and the twins had previously been in Dumbledore's office at separate times in their schooling careers.

It was actually quite rare for unruly students to be sent to Dumbledore's office to receive punishments for their misbehaviour. Normally sanctions were handed out by the offender's head of house. For truly terrible deeds naughty students would be sent to Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall. Therefore the twins were constantly dealing with Professor McGonagall and never Dumbledore.

However one time they pushed Filch too far and he grabbed the two by their collars and marched them down to Dumbledore's office. Once Filch had left, Dumbledore kindly smiled at the two and asked a 'favour' of them - to lay off Filch for a while to make his life easier. Then they were sent on their merry way.

On the other side of the equation, similarly prefects didn't have much to do with Dumbledore. They exclusively dealt with their head of houses (and Head Boy and Head Girl) for all of their prefect duties.

Vicki had only ever entered the headmaster's office once, the previous year when Dumbledore summoned all the then-fifth year prefects to welcome them to the role. It was only a ten minute chat where Dumbledore had spouted a lot of nonsense - Vicki remembered how much she and Roger giggled about it later on.

But here the trio stood after doing some questionable blackmailing. It couldn't be a mere coincidence.

"Do you think that...Dumbledore knows?" George was the first one to speak up, sounding quite panicked, an unusual trait for a Weasley twin.

"He might not…" Fred stated in an attempt to stay positive, but he didn't sound very convincing.

"He knows. It's Dumbledore. He knows everything." Vicki piped up sadly.

Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen so the three were standing around waiting for him. They had been waiting for around ten minutes in silence before George had spoken up in a quiet manner, in case Dumbledore could hear them.

"I'm afraid to tell you that you're wrong, Miss Hartwell. I only found out this morning in particular that the Montrose Magpies are the most successful Quidditch team in the league and have won thirty-two outstanding cups." Dumbledore kindly spoke up from behind the trio.

Fred, George and Vicki quickly whipped around to see Dumbledore behind them. He had managed to completely catch them off guard. Mere moments ago he certainly wasn't in the office, and he had managed to slip in completely silent.

"Did you seriously not know that, professor?" Fred asked, the only one capable of talking "I'd expect you to be a big Quidditch know it all!"

George and Vicki shot each other uneasy looks, a little afraid of Fred's forward manner towards their headmaster.

"Surprisingly I am not, Mr Weasley. I do loosely support Puddlemere United mainly so I have an answer to the question 'who do you support in Quidditch?' when asked." Dumbledore smiled towards Fred.

The three students then fell silent as they didn't know what to say. Even Fred, the bolder one of the twins decided to remain quiet. Whilst a lot of the things the twins did at school were questionable (with some tricks they'd pulled over the years had definitely been downright illegal) this time they had clearly crossed a line. Blackmailing a famous ex-athlete and respected Ministry official certainly had to be an expellable offence. Perhaps it was even punishable by a stint in Azkaban - he didn't know.

But now he felt rotten. He had been the one to push the blackmailing idea - George was almost dead set against it, but as always had followed Fred rushing head first into a predicament without thinking. George had always been the more thoughtful twin and had always attempted to reign Fred in from overly terrible mistakes. George had saved Fred from himself countless times. But this time George couldn't stop him. Fred had pushed things too far.

Then there was Vicki. Vicki was an (almost) model student, who had bright aspirations ahead of her. She had her heart set on becoming Head Girl next year, and a promising future in the healing profession. Getting caught black mailing could ruin all of that for her. Fred had enjoyed watching the girl come out of her prefect shell this year as he got more involved with her - she seemed to take more risks in order to have more fun. But this is something that could devastate her future aspirations, and most certainly had ruined her chances at becoming Head Girl next year.

"Professor, may I enquire about why you've summoned us to your office?" Vicki quickly asked him.

She wanted to get this talk and punishment over and done with. But she wanted to know everything before she could state a defence. There was a small chance Dumbledore didn't know the full story, and as such she didn't want to incriminate herself, or the twins.

Dumbledore's demeanour instantly changed upon Vicki's question. The students present expected him to become angry upon discussing their questionable activities. But instead he sent a sad smile their way.

"I think the three of you know why I've summoned you to my office." Dumbledore weakly stated to the three, disappointment evident in his voice.

It was a voice that neither of the three had ever heard directed towards them, and without even thinking they all bowed their heads in shame.

"That's a very loyal owl you've got there, Miss Hartwell. Your owl knew you were all up to no good, and delivered your letter straight to me instead of your intended addressee." Dumbledore informed Vicki.

"Fez." Vicki hissed under her breath as she angrily glared at her owl that had appeared on Dumbledore's staircase at the mention of its name.

"I wouldn't be so quick to scold your owl, Miss Hartwell. Do you know the punishment for blackmailing a ministry official?" Dumbledore asked Vicki.

Before Vicki could inform Dumbledore that she did not, in fact, know the punishment for blackmailing a ministry official, Fred jumped in quickly.

"Dumbledore, Vicki had nothing to do with this. Don't punish her." Fred quickly piped up.

"Bagman has been a creep to her, we know this, we used this to our advantage. She actually hasn't done anything wrong." George added on.

Dumbledore went silent for a moment as he peered at the three. Then for a moment, he broke his disappointed gaze to flash a smile Fred's way.

"Interesting. This isn't the first time you've protested Victoria's innocence, is it Mr Weasley?" Dumbledore asked Fred.

Vicki cocked her head in confusion. She couldn't remember a time where Fred had attempted to protect her from getting into trouble. This was probably the only example she could think of where she had ever crossed a line. Aside from losing twenty five points at the Yule Ball for snogging Fred, she had never been in trouble with an authority figure at school, what was Dumbledore on about?

But Fred knew exactly what Dumbledore was referring to, as he flashed red as red as his hair.

"Professor McGonagall told you about, then?" Fred mumbled, but tried to grin to hide his embarrassment. Even George didn't know about the story Dumbledore was about to share.

January 1994

"What are we learning today?" Roger Davies asked his group of Ravenclaw friends curiously, as he had an arm loosely slung over his girlfriend, Victoria.

Different year levels shared different classes with certain houses. The fifth year students of the 1993-1994 school year shared Potions class with Gryffindor students - whilst different years would spend Potions with different houses.

"Befuddlement Draught. Causes the drinker to become belligerent and reckless." Stephanie Fawcett spoke up.

"Why on earth does this exist? Why would anybody want to falsely create those negative traits in someone?" Vicki laughed loudly.

"I dunno. Why would Roger throw away the best years of his life to spend them with you?" Phillip Bridge cruelly mocked Vicki, causing her to make a face at him and quickly lock her lips with Roger as a way to stake her territory on him.

From across the classroom Fred Weasley was standing with his own group of Gryffindor friends - his twin George, best friend Lee Jordan as well as the two other girls on his Quidditch team in his year - Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnett.

He rolled his eyes at the displays of affection Davies and Hartwell were giving each other. He had a bit of a secret crush on Victoria Hartwell, but no one else in his group knew of this. He never liked seeing the affections between Vicki and her boyfriend but he held hope their relationship would fizzle out.

Unfortunately for him they had been together for a few months and seemed to grow stronger each day. Another issue was that even if they did, he had no relationship with Victoria himself. He wouldn't even consider themselves acquaintances. His best friend Lee Jordan was loosely friends with her through Roger - the two had developed a small friendship over the years through their involvement in Quidditch. Roger the Ravenclaw captain and Lee the commentator. Fred himself had only ever had three actual interactions with her.

In first year the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors also shared potions. In the first few weeks Snape set a simple task for the then-first years. Draught a colour changing potion the same colour as their house colours. In their first year Victoria was frumpy looking - her uniform was three sizes too large (so she would 'grow into it' as determined by her parents) with an unflattering haircut that touched her chin, with a horizontal greasy fringe asymmetrical across her face. She was an easy target for the twins and they struck when Snape loudly exclaimed the only acceptable potion brewed that class was the one conjured by Vicki.

At the end of the class Vicki found herself being pushed head first into her cauldron, staining her hair which turned brightly blue and bronze. Instead of an angry reaction from the unfortunate looking Hartwell instead they were met with laughter. They didn't get a rise out of her - but they did get a detention from Snape.

It cemented that Hartwell wasn't a great pranking target because she took it too well, so they never intentionally marked her again. However she was a casualty in a few of their pranks over the years that took aim at a large number of people.

Four years later at the start of fifth year Victoria Hartwell was a new girl. Over the summer she had lost her disastrous fashion and hair choices and instead had become quite glamorous. This was when Fred began to develop his crush on her.

Their second interaction came on Halloween - after Sirius Black had attempted to break into Gryffindor Tower. It wasn't much of an interaction. Vicki was a prefect under the jurisdiction of the Head Boy, Fred's more-than-slightly pompous older brother Percy. She was unhappy with an order he had given her and she stuck up her middle finger at him when his back was turned. Fred noticed and was amused by it, and sent her a wink.

Their most recent interaction was around two months ago, when Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor in the opening Quidditch match of the season. Hartwell was volunteering in the hospital wing when Harry was stretchered in by Dumbledore. Madam Pomfrey had sent her out to guard the entrance and only let Harry's Quidditch team in. Fred and George had arrived at the hospital just in time to see Roger trying to get in to get the inside scoop on whether Potter would be out for the season. Vicki begged the two to not pull anything on Roger and the twins agreed on the condition that Vicki would owe them a favour. She agreed.

"Students. Don't bother choosing a cauldron table just yet. For this task will require for you to work in pairs." Snape announced at the beginning of the class.

"Oh man. I hate it when teachers call for us to get into pairs," Lee Jordan whined loudly to his group of Gryffindor friends "The twins always pair up, then so do the girls which leaves me by myself. I'm friendly with Vicki Hartwell and Roger Davies but those two will work together too. I suppose I could work with Phillip Bridge, but he's a bit of a jerk."

Lee was correct. Immediately Angelina and Alicia pointed to one another, whilst the twins gave each other a head nod. On the other side of the room Roger had shot out his hand to Vicki who accepted it eagerly. The two didn't let go and remained holding hands.

"Not so fast, Weasleys. I don't fancy letting you two work together today. A Hufflepuff girl who will not be named keeps biting my ear off about you two teasing her." Snape scowled as he very obviously landed his eyes onto one of Vicki's dorm mates Marie, who was known to not be too fond of the twins.

The twins both began to loudly protest upon hearing Snape's words.

"Five points will be taken from Gryffindor each, due to your disobedience for not accepting my final say." Snape snarled towards the twins. They both immediately shut up - not just for the fear of losing more house points, but because Angelina had given the two a harsh prod with both of her hands.

"Professor, are you going to be picking our pairs then?" Stephanie Fawcett quickly spoke up after raising her hand quickly.

The entire class were awkwardly waiting towards the back of the classroom and had yet to take their seats, worried that Snape would be picking the pairs for today's partner task.

"Fawcett, I have better things to do than waste my time meddling in pointless student affairs," Snape snarled but then scanned the classroom quickly "But I will be picking pairs for the two Weasleys."

Snape was silent for a few moments as he cast his dark eyes upon the entire class. His vision then landed on Vicki and Roger who were still holding hands at this point. They quickly let go, but it was too late. Snape had already seen.

"I don't appreciate inappropriate displays of affection within my classroom. Davies, Hartwell. You're to split and work with one of the Weasleys each." Snape snarled.

"Which one of us is working with who?" George asked Snape.

"Well you can work with Davies." Snape responded as he clicked towards a cauldron at the front of the room. George said nothing but reluctantly made his way to the cauldron directly in front of Snape, whilst Roger gave Vicki a look of apology as he too went to join George.

"Hartwell, Weasley. I want you on the other side of the classroom." Snape said to Vicki and Fred, pointing to a cauldron at the back of the room. Vicki and Fred took a seat at the cauldron.

There was silence between the two for a few moments. Fred was expecting her to be frustrated she had to work with him. But instead she sent him a small smile to which he returned.

"I'm super sorry, but I can't actually tell you both apart-" Vicki began, but Fred (out of nerves) cut her off quickly.

"-S'ok. Even our mother struggles. I'm Fred, George is working with Davies. Or am I…" Fred joked to Vicki but then retreated when he saw her shoot him a nervous look "Nah, seriously, I'm Fred. You can even write that down on our assignment. You're smart aren't you? Definitely want my real name on our work."

"Fred, right. You're the funnier one, but George is the one that's better at Quidditch. He seems to beat the bludgers a lot more aggressively than you do. But over the years I've observed that you pull the funnier pranks." Vicki mused out loud.

"Normally I would fight you on that one, but I'd rather be the funnier one than the one better at Quidditch." Fred responded with a wink. He was being truthful. Most people saw himself and George as a single entity. He was rather happy that his crush could distinguish him from George, at least by personality.

"So um...can I trust you, today? Y'know, first year, blue hair." Vicki sheepishly grinned.

Fred gave her a small smile. He wished he had more memories with her than turning her hair blue in first year. But he had been given an unlikely opportunity today and perhaps this was his chance to get to know Victoria Hartwell a little better.

"Tell ya what, Hartwell. You get us a grade over an 'Acceptable' for this lesson and I'll leave you alone for the rest of the school year. I promise." Fred stated as he crossed an imaginary cross over his heart.

"You got yourself a deal," Vicki smiled, but then a small frown appeared over her face "But can we use first names? Last name basis is kind of weird. We're not enemies, so I don't see the point."

"Okay, Victoria." Fred teased, using Vicki's full name.

Vicki just poked her tongue out at Fred, but had no response for a witty retort as Snape began the lesson.

The two then began to make small talk as they conjured the potion (Well, Vicki was doing most of the work. She delegated a few minor tasks to Fred such as chopping up the Scurvy Grass). They didn't divulge into too many personal details - most of their topics centred around muggles. Vicki mentioned how her parents had sent her to a muggle school prior to Hogwarts to learn basic literacy and numeracy. Fred on the other hand spoke about how his father was the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office at the ministry, and some interesting anecdotes.

"So uh, what's the go with the beef you're having with Marie Cunningham? Steph and I can't stand her. She's so bossy and constantly whines about public displays of affection between Roger and I in the common room. She's so annoying." Vicki ranted as she rolled her eyes for dramatic effect.

"I've got a lot of beef with people in this school. I'm a 'you love me or hate me' kinda guy. A large number of people love me, but a proportionally large number of people hate me. Miss Cunningham is one of the latter." Fred arrogantly responded to Vicki's question.

"Well I haven't interacted with you enough to say I love you, but I certainly don't hate you." Vicki responded to Fred's bragging with a slight smile.

This got Fred's attention. He certainly didn't love the girl, it was only a small crush. But he was glad she didn't outwardly dislike him.

"Na-uh. There's only one of two camps. You either love Fred Weasley, or you hate Fred Weasley." Fred teased her with a grin.

"...except I'm now disproving that theory by informing you that I don't fit in either categories. So I guess you need to add at least a third option." Vicki innocently responded.

Fred was quiet for a few moments as he thought of a way to respond. He didn't know Vicki well enough to know how playful she was, but he knew he was accidentally flirting with her. She had a boyfriend and they weren't even friends so he knew this was inappropriate and he needed to shut this down.

"Hey, you know you still owe me for letting Davies' off the hook that time he was skulking around the Hospital Wing when Harry was injured…" Fred spoke up, finding the first thing he could think of.

Vicki peered at Fred as she tried to work out where he was going with this. She barely knew him so she didn't understand whether this was a light joke or if he was serious about her owing him one.

"I know… have you decided what favour you want from me?" Vick cringed slightly as she gave the potion a big stir.

Fred made an exaggerated pause, making a large 'hmmmm…' sound whilst drumming his fingers onto his chin to show concentration. It looked like it was done for dramatics but in reality Fred was trying to buy time as he did seriously begin to ponder what he could ask of her.

If she were single he'd use it to make a move on her. But she wasn't.

"Tell me something I can use against Marie Cunningham." Fred quickly requested with a large grin.

"That's it. Really? I owe you some big favour and this is all you want from me in return?" Vicki asked in disbelief as she immediately withdrew the wooden spoon from the cauldron "Seems like a waste to me."

"Would you rather me ask something cruel of you instead?" Fred joked with a wink.

"Nope. Passing on useless information is absolutely fine by me." Vicki grinned.

She then extended her hand out for a friendly handshake. Fred took no hesitation in accepting it as he put his hand into hers and shook it. He let his hand linger there for a little longer than he normally would for a handshake, but made sure to remove it before it got weird.

It was his first skin-on-skin contact with Vicki Hartwell (the only other physical contact he had ever had with her was when he pushed her into her cauldron - but he touched her robed back that time) and he was craving for more.


Vicki smiled as Fred briefly explained their encounter the previous year where he had used up his favour she owed him to ask for information he could use against one of her dormmates, Marie Cunningham.

"Umm...is there a statute of limitation on this?" Vicki nervously half-joked as she darted her eyes between Dumbledore and Fred.

"The point of this story is that I've always overlooked harmless pranks and those involved with them. In the instance of Marie Cunningham, last year I didn't even bother for Miss Hartwell's involvement to be considered." Dumbledore kindly stated to the trio before him.

"Is this to do with everybody teasing Marie Cunningham last year for liking a younger student when we faked that love note from Blaise Zabini, and she went and publicly announced her love for him at breakfast?" George asked in disbelief as he turned to look at Fred and Vicki "Merlin, I never knew that Vicki was involved in that. Fred, you never said anything."

"As I told Professor McGonagall at the time, I certainly did not gain insider information from someone in Ravenclaw that Cunningham had feelings for that vile Slytherin kid. Professor McGonagall had a sneaking suspicion I got the information from either Stephanie Fawcett or Victoria Hartwell, to which I strongly denied." Fred confessed loudly in a sing-song voice with a goofy smile.

Dumbledore smiled upon the three as he let them have a little giggle before he continued, this time using a more authoritative voice.

"However there must be a line drawn between a harmless prank, and something much more sinister. The letter that Miss Hartwell's owl delivered to me that was intended for Bagman. Well, that's definitely far more than a harmless prank." Dumbledore stated firmly.

"But Professor, Bagman has made credible threats to my reputation, and also essentially stole from the twins!" Vicki protested loudly before she realised she was back chatting her headmaster "Sorry Professor, I'm just so frustrated that it seems like we're the ones getting in trouble whilst he gets away scot-free."

Dumbledore's authoritative demeanour seemed to disappear as once again his eyes twinkled as he smiled upon Vicki.

"Your frustrations are certainly understandable, Miss Hartwell. What you fail to realise is that these sorts of things always have a way of working themselves out. Ludovic Bagman leads a dishonest life, and this dishonesty will certainly catch up with him." Dumbledore gently stated.

"Are you sure? Because at the start of the year was when he cheated us out of his winnings, and all year he's been acting like a total creep to my girlfriend. Yet his popularity keeps growing by the day." Fred spat angrily.

Vicki smiled a little at Fred's words. She was still terrified of what punishment Dumbledore would dish out to her, but she still was not tired of hearing Fred refer to her as his 'girlfriend'. She also absolutely loved it when he got protective over her.

"Mr Weasley I can assure you that Bagman will one day run into trouble if he keeps this path in life. But that doesn't matter. The reason I'm pulling you all up is because I don't want you all to go down the same path as Bagman. You three are far better than that." Dumbledore explained. His words sounded like he was chastising them, but he still held kindness in his voice.

The three looked at each other nervously. They didn't know how to respond to Dumbledore and still weren't quite sure what trouble they would be in.

"So uh...you think we should let this entire thing go?" George asked nervously, but then noticed the blank stares Vicki and Fred were giving him "Aw c'mon guys, Dumbledore clearly knows what we're up to. He read the letter."

"Precisely, Mr Weasley. I understand that Ludo Bagman owes you money from a gambling debt, but I'm fairly certain that the both of you will go on to earn far more than what he owes you. I believe you should write off Bagman's debt and move on with your lives." Dumbledore politely said to the twins.

The two twins sent each other a sidewards glance and in unison gave each other a nod. They didn't need to vocally say anything. They were both on the same page. Under Dumbledore's advice they knew it was time to let go. They would just need to start over and accumulate wealth a new way.

"And never fear, Miss Hartwell. Your reputation is very safe as long as you don't partake in any more questionable activities. After all, I can't have Hogwarts' future Head Girl doing anything illegal." Dumbledore said to Vicki with a wink.

"Wait, what?!" Vicki quickly piped up.

"Yes, you heard me correctly Miss Hartwell. Whilst the decision ultimately lies with the school governors, the opinion of the headmaster is the ultimate driving force in deciding the Head Boy and Head Girl for the year. And as long as you now steer clear of any wrongdoings you'll certainly be getting my recommendation for Head Girl." Dumbledore informed Vicki.

Vicki immediately shot her eyes between Fred and George, who gave her the same nod they had just sent each other. The trio did not speak up as they were now all on the same page. Bagman was a creep. But it was time to let it go. They did not need to jeopardise their futures to try and get even with Bagman. Their prospects were looking bright, and it was time to accept that and move on.