Williams snorted, "Yeah, right, Tess. Go fuck yourself."
She scowled at him and ran off to Transfiguration. She'd actually suggested that Gryffindor still stood a chance for the Cup. They were down the best Beaters this side of Christ and the youngest Seeker since Dumbledore's great grandfather. They were actual shit.
Despite himself, Williams rather admired that Potter kid's guts. The magazine the Quibbler which had run the article about him had been in circulation for a little while, and maybe it wasn't as succinct or amusing as the Weasley twins story, but Williams felt just a little bit sad that Potter wouldn't be playing Seeker. Kid had had a rough life.
Still, Ginny Weasley wasn't hopeless, compared to the sniveling snot rag the Slytherins had as a Seeker. Mouser- no it had an 'l'- Muffler? Mouflon?! No...
"Care to join us?" Williams blinked, recognizing the two kids who were, no doubt, up to no good.
"What's the name of the kid you nearly killed-"
"Montague?"
"No-"
"McTavish?"
"No-"
"Malfoy?"
"Yea-"
"Mackleroy?"
"How many people have you nearly killed?" Williams demanded of the twins.
"Four," they shrugged. "And they all start with 'm.' You needn't be worried."
"Where're you off to?"
"Our secret society meeting," Fred grinned.
"It's not too late to join," George wiggled an eyebrow.
"We're learning Patronuses," Fred smiled.
"Really?! Wow... I can't, actually, and isn't it a little early?"
"We're skiving off most our classes," George smirked proudly.
"So you can get more practice in?"
"Exactly!"
Williams didn't think he'd ever understand the twins. He wasn't sure that was a bad thing either.
Hermione joined the twins after Runes. She wanted to be able to produce a Patronus. After a moment of playing tag with Fred, Hermione, and Fred's otter Patronus, George finally got enough courage to produce his own.
"It's different," Hermione commented. "Still cute though."
"This is wicked," George beamed, petting his silver Labrador.
"Pressure's on," Fred winked at Hermione.
She remembered his stunned expression the night of the Yule Ball and grinned, "Expecto Patronum!"
Hermione laughed, then froze. Fred and George did too. Fred's otter glided over to Hermione's silver Patronus and sniffed it, then the two began an intricate game of tag, with George's Labrador bounding in happy circles around the pair.
"Mine's bigger," Fred muttered.
"But mine is definitely still an otter," Hermione whispered. As soon as she'd thought it, a book had fallen off of one of the shelves. Hermione summoned it as the otters and George's dog faded into mist. Fred pulled the book out of her hand. He didn't need it to know what was going on.
"A Patronus is the manifestation of our souls," George said. "You sad, goopy people actually do like each other. Hermione, I can't understand it, what on earth do you see in him?"
"So the Patronuses matching," Hermione whispered. Fred kissed her in answer.
"Aww, gross do that somewhere else!"
"Sorry, sorry," Fred muttered, not taking his eyes off of Hermione. "Did I ever mention that I love you?"
"It's come up from time to time," Hermione smiled. It faded slowly, "What are we going to do? If people see that, they won't stop talking, and with the break-out, it's only a matter of time-"
"I won't do it," Fred kissed her forehead. "I'll mess about with George and Lee instead."
"Besides, if Ron produces a Patronus when we can't, he might be decent on the pitch."
"Having you not there harassing him probably isn't hurting either," Hermione said.
"No Quidditch means more time alone," Fred whispered.
"Stop," George whined.
***
Williams sighed as he turned the corner, stopping immediately and backtracking. Filch and Umbridge were having a quiet conversation with a student.
"-promise my mother won't get in any trouble?"
"Yes, yes, of course, dear."
"Potter has been... Having meetings in The Room of Requirement, on the seventh floor. They're irregular but he's been teaching us to fight."
"Is there a meeting tonight?"
"Y-Yes."
Williams sprinted to his Common Room, knocking loudly on the eagle.
"Who is the current idiot in charge of the Ministry of Magic?"
"Fudge," Williams breathed. He swore the knocker could sense urgency. It stepped aside and Williams stepped into the Common Room, "Oi! Anyone up for hexing the Inquisitorial Squad and helping people get away from the pink menace?!"
There was nearly a stampede. Williams knew his best chance was a small group of hexers and several strategically placed smugglers. He picked 11 people total, 4 including him to take out the Inquisitorial Squad and 8 to help members of Fred and George's 'secret society' to safety.
"Take them to the Hufflepuff Common Room or find a secret passageway!" Williams ordered, pushing out of the Common Room. A group of fourth years were tasked with keeping the door just slightly open.
The seventh floor was chaos. There was no other word for it. Williams' 8 had already broken off, his hexers were waiting on his signal.
"'Mione!" Williams ducked behind a wall, jumping at whichever twin that was' shout. He glanced toward the chaos, seeing a tall, beefy sort of Slytherin with his fist in some poor girl's long bushy hair.
"Tarantallegra!" Williams whispered forcefully, aiming at the boy. He released the girl, who scrambled backward away from him. "Jamie, you circle around to that side, take Henry with you!"
The two Ravenclaws sprinted off. The twins came tearing by, dragging the bushy haired girl with them.
"But Harry!" She protested, trying to throw them off. Albert hit a girl with a Tripping Jinx.
"Are most your people clear?" Williams asked.
"Angelina," one snarled, dropping the girl's arm. He ran into the chaos. "Stupefy!"
"We should be clear-"
"We are not clear, Fred, that toad has Harry!" The girl shrieked, drawing the attention of three Slytherins.
"Time to go," Albert said quickly. Angelina and one twin ran past, turning toward the Gryffindor Common Room.
"You should wait a bit," Williams advised, slinging a jinx over his shoulder as they started to run.
"We need to get Harry!"
"Lost cause," Fred mumbled. The girl swatted at him angrily, "'Mione, we really have to go now."
"We'll cover you," Albert said seriously. They ducked into a secret passageway and Fred and the girl disappeared in the dark. Albert pulled aside the curtain hiding their alcove with a grin, "Are they a thing?"
"I don't even know who the girl is," Williams mutters.
"You don't- God, it's like you try to be ignorant, Jacob," Albert rolled his eyes and stepped away from the entrance. Feet trampled by. "That was Hermione Granger!"
"She's not supposed to be hot," Williams frowned deeper, "Isn't she supposed to be a nerdy, breakable little thing? She was talking back to Fred Weasley, not many people can get away with that."
"They're totally a thing," Albert whispered.
"Luna claims Granger's got it bad for the little brother."
"The Keeper?"
"That's the one."
"Dude, you are awful with names," Albert chuckled.
"Shut up."
.o0O0o.
Albert was impromptu, sorry about him, he's a character in one of my original stories and he's sort of bleeding into everything else right now. Also, much Williams in this one. I always thought it was kind of suspect that all of the D.A. got away except Harry without any help. So, Ravenclaws to the rescue! And before you accuse me of playing favorites, I'm a Pottermore-Sorted Gryffindor. So yeah, I sort of really, really had a bit of a time skip, but 5th year got a little boring for me, and I'm eager to get into Books 6 and 7, and besides that, my chapter lengths have gone up... A lot.
Yeeeey: Here is that chapter, as per your request.
Electrocorrosive: I've decided to sort of hit super speed, I forgot about the whole Rita Skeeter's return and that's going to be in a series of flashback chapters that I'm going to do coming up.
marvin1984: ;) You know what's up. ;)
Infernalbooks: I figured it'd be good for him to be up to no good. Sirius up to no good is always good. I'm wondering how many times I can say 'good' before it gets weird. Good. Good. Good. There it is!
cochran4444: Everyone is *slightly* in love with Sirius. You could always write a fic without smut, that's your... right.
StarGirlPotter: I WAS CRYING TOO, IT'S OKAY! I watch it with my brother and he acted like he didn't know who I was, but RWBY got dark SO FAST! I'm super hyped for the finale tomorrow and if you're reading this as fast as I'm saying it, you'd know I'm so excited I can hardly function anymore and wow is this the run on sentence!
animelover5107: They cute af, and Sirius is only jealous. I'm thinking of doing a Jily fic coming up (that would probably open with the whole brutal double murder thing and then do a time hop backwards) that might show Sirius and some of his less serious flings.
Thanks to all my loyal readers, as with this chapter, I've reached over 50,000 words. Suck on that NaNoWriMo!
