September 1, 1995
Life, Percy Weasley reflected, was a bitch. Irony was also a bitch, he decided as yet another Howler from Ginny landed in front him before he left his apartment. The most cowardly thing he'd ever done in his life was begged that stupid Hat to put him in Gryffindor. The most frustrating part of his life was that he knew his parents were smart. They had to be to have raised him… And Bill and Charlie. Ginny, she was a smart lass, but the other three, well their mother couldn't be blamed for them. At least, that's what Percy thought before.
Before that horrible summer, what with them claiming that Voldemort was back, all because an emotionally compromised teenage boy under entirely too much stress decided that's what he saw in the Maze. Percy was under the opinion that Harry had just had a run-in with a Boggart, then saw Cedric die from something in the maze. That was way more logical than an insane prison escapee turning the Tri-Wizard cup into a portkey.
That was months ago. The Ministry, having not quite recovered from the last war, refused to say that Voldemort was back. There was simply no evidence that that was true. Why would anyone believe a broken kid? The Daily Prophet sure didn't, and they made sure to drag Dumbledore and the Black family through the mud for even siding with little Harry Potter. At Sunday supper a week after Ginny had left for the Continent, Percy suggested that someone take Harry to St. Mungo's for a head examination, maybe see if something was jostled in the maze.
The ensuing row with his parents made it clear he wasn't welcome back until he conformed with their backward, idiotic, fear mongering ways. Percy prided himself on his intelligence, and his intelligence told him that there was no way the Ministry, his boss, would lie to him. Three days after that fateful night, Bill and Charlie drove the point home. They hand delivered his hand from the family clock. They told him that Molly has enough on her plate, she didn't need to look at the clock and burst into tears every moment of every day.
"Stay away from Mum." Bill threatened.
"Or we'll make whatever the twins do to you look like child's play." Charlie finished, cracking his knuckles. "And remember, Percy, I'm lead on one of the tamer teams. If I feed you to a Welsh Green alive, no one will ever know."
"Welsh Green?" Bill asked.
"Hungarian Horntails scarf their food. Welshies play with their kill before they eat it." Charlie explained, a menacing grin ripping across his face.
Now, on September 1st, he was stuck staring at his siblings boarding the Hogwarts Express. He was spying on them, the students, to see how many believed Harry. His research showed that popularity was a fickle thing because very, very few students were willing to take his word over that of the Ministry. Seeing parents floating about, with the Blacks and the Longbottoms, Percy decided he had enough intel. He was getting out of there before his mum saw him and Bill decided to make good on his threats.
On the train, things weren't any better for Percy's family.
"It's, It's confusing Hermione, ok." Ginny paced. "I don't know how to feel. I like Harry. I like Draco. I like spending time with both of them. I mean, Draco kissed me when we got back and then when we were in Diagon Alley-"
"Wait, Draco kissed you?" A voice came from behind her. Ginny stopped pacing and met Harry's eyes. Her mouth hung open.
"Harry," Ginny whispered.
He pulled her out of the compartment and pushed her onto the compartment door. Before she could respond his lips found hers. "I just wanted to make sure you keep your options open." His said hoarsely.
"Yeah," Ginny managed before Harry found her lips again. They only pulled away when Marley coughed. Both of them blushing, pulled away. Harry waved bye to the girls as Ginny went back into the compartment, closing the door and taking a seat.
"You better not let your brothers see you kissing any boy like that," Hermione said flipping the page of her book.
"Yeah, because you're any better?" Ginny said with a huff. "I don't know what to do."
"You teach me how to get a boyfriend," Marley said with a smile. Ginny laughed and shook her head no.
"It's simple," Luna said staring out the window. "You tell them both how you feel."
"They know how I feel. The way I feel is the problem."
"Then figure it out," Hermione said snapping her book shut. "You're too smart, too beautiful, and too damn fearless to let this scare you. Go out with both of them. Snog both of them, but for Merlin's sake, figure this out before the end of the year, or we will all lose your minds."
"The end of the year," Ginny restated her words.
"That's the deadline," Luna said with a smile.
Little did the girls know, the boys were two compartments down with an extendable ear at the door. Neville pulled the tool back into their compartment when the girls moved on in their conversation.
"Well," Ron said clearing his throat. "Do I need to set the ground rules, or do you two think you can handle that on your own. And by rules I mean if you try something with my little sister at fifteen that she isn't ready for- and if she isn't sure, the answer is no- then you will find yourselves dealing with all of her older brothers."
"We aren't exactly afraid of you, you know that, right?" Draco said.
"Charlie castrates dragons. It only takes three words."
"Yeah, he has us there," Harry said, as they both shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"So, the end of the year," Neville said with a smile. "And this is all over with? No trying to change her mind when it is already made up? We're all still friends, no matter what choice she makes?"
Draco and Harry sat, neither staring at the other, both understanding why they were still in this position, to begin with. No one wanted to lose a friend, even if it meant a broken heart in the process.
"Ginny is the most important person in all of this," Harry said looking at Draco, who nodded.
"Whoever she picks, she picks." He said back.
Fred and George decided to get started early. They had an array of products ready for mass consumption, they just had one problem.
"You do realize you're dating the most prefect-y prefect since Percy's reign of terror, right?" Lee asked, surveying their stores.
"Ah, shite," George swore as if he hadn't thought about that possibility.
"It'll be fine. Hermione'll let us off easy." Fred shrugged. Lee and George stared at him.
"You do realize that we're talking about the girl that consistently strong-arms the Boy Who Lived into doing his homework, yeah? About the girl who made a revision schedule for Viktor Bloody Krum last term so he could pass his NEWTs, and then made him follow it even though they were broken up?" Lee asked, staring at Fred like he had two heads.
"If she can force famous boys into doing their homework, what makes you think you'll get away with anything?" George asked.
"She loves me." Fred replied with a cheeky smile.
"She loves the idea of you. It'll be a few months before we know if she actually loves you." George scoffed, and Lee nodded his agreement.
"Shut up, you wankers." Fred huffed.
"We better come up with a backup plan." George said, staring at Fred. "Don't want to ruin your relationship."
"I'm telling you, it'll be fine! She's not had a problem with this all summer. She even bought us that muggle economics book to explain how to keep books better. She's in on this, just as much as we are." Fred argued.
George and Lee stared at him again for several moments before Lee announced, "Right, George, you start looking on the third floor and I'll look for unused classrooms on the fourth. We'll go from there."
The thing about the Sorting Hat was that it had entirely too much time on its…whatever hats have that could be considered hands.
"Did- did that seem mildly prophetic to you?" Hermione asked, leaning into Fred.
"Yeah, yeah it did. I don't like that that was the song before Marly gets before she get's sorted." Fred's eyebrows creased in concern. Neville was looking pale down the table like he agreed.
The sorting started and everyone was on pins and needles. This year there was decidedly less booing coming from the Gryffindor table. The main ringleaders- the Weasley Twins- were more worried about Longbottom, Marlene than good-natured harassment of rival houses. L's, ostensibly, were in the middle of the alphabet. It shouldn't take that long to get there. Except, this generation was born well after the end of the last war. There were easily double the number of first years as were in the previous years. Finally, they reached the L's, then the Lo's.
"Longbottom, Marlene." Professor McGonagall said evenly.
Marlene's eyes darted nervously around the room before they landed on Neville. He smiled softly, as did Ginny beside him. Neville Longbottom was a hatstall. Everyone knew that. Legend had it, it was almost 10 minutes before he was sorted. Marlene Longbottom, on the other hand, was sorted almost faster than a Weasley.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hat shouted almost before it was fully seated on her head.
Marly cheered and ran to the Hufflepuff table, plopping herself down between Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot of all people.
"What is that about?" Hermione asked with a laugh.
"I was worried, okay? Dad's family is Gryffindor, yeah, but loads from Mum's side have been Puffs. Susan and Hannah are really good friends of mine. I wanted to make sure she was taken care of." Neville said with a little blush.
Everyone stared at him for a several long seconds before Ron said, "Mate, you better do something heroic soon. No one believes you're a Lion."
There were several chuckles, followed by several more when Neville cuffed Ron over the head. Their moment of joy was not to last.
"Why do we have to listen to him blather on every year?" Fred groaned as Dumbledore gave the beginning of the year speech.
"He's the headmaster. It's his right as an educator to try and influence our thinking with flowery speeches." Hermione explained.
"Yeah, and it's our right as students not to listen to his flowery speech because we already have our minds made up, thank you very much." George stated firmly. "We're not so stupid as to be influenced by an educator, just because he's selling something different than our parents."
"And now, I would like to introduce our newest professor, Dolores Umbridge. Minister Fudge has placed her here to be Ministry eyes and ears in Hogwarts." Dumbledore warned.
"Well, if Dumbledore can do one thing right, it's warn students that certain danger has already arrived." Harry scoffed.
The entire student body, and the teaching staff were appalled at the witch's lack of manners as she stood up and gave the single most horrifying speech ever to be heard at Hogwarts. Many students lost interest early on, but with Hermione staring at Umbridge with sick amusement, Fred made sure everyone near the witch was silent enough for her to hear every word. Finally, the toad in pink returned to her chair. The look of utter derision shared by Snape and McGonagall told their houses all they needed to know. Slytherin and Gryffindor did not like this woman a bit.
"What did she mean, Hermione?" Lavender Brown asked, knowing Hermione had a better idea at what all the technical jargon meant.
"She's not going to teach us anything this year. She's going to make sure that we fail our OWLs. She's going to make sure that when this turns into war, we're all rats in a trap with no choice other than to surrender. It means, quite frankly, that the Ministry is interfering with Hogwarts." Hermione explained coldly.
"I've never wanted to cut a bitch more before." Fred growled.
George nodded and added, "Evil takes a new form."
Gabs: So, we said this was where we wanted to get to. That means, probably, more frequent updates.
Kat: Yes! Mostly because life if slowly giving us a break! Lots of comments about Drinny vs. Hinny! Keep your thoughts coming! Gabs and I enjoy reading all the reviews!
Gabs: We own nothing!
XOXO
Gabs & Kat
