Chapter Fifteen: The Rift is Formed
"Good gracious me! More casualties! I swear if another Slytherin or Gryffindor come in here with hex marks, I'll snap my wand and become a Muggle!" gasped a very exasperated, very exhausted Madam Pomfrey as she went and made up two more beds in the Infirmary. Already the usually dull, silent, tidy room was wall-to-wall with patients, their visitors, and several volunteer seventh years that were there to handle the overflow that Pomfrey herself couldn't see to. Ever since "Operation Sticky Fingers", the hostilities between the Gryffindors and Slytherins had reached new levels of viciousness. Every time the two houses would pass one another in the corridors, something was bound to happen that involved curses (of both the physical and vocal variety), hexes, and/or fists. Not that the Slytherins actually knew that it was a Gryffindor that made them have rainbow fros. It was safe to say, however, that a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff wouldn't have the courage, or the imagination, to pull off such a prank. Even the Gryffindors didn't know exactly what went on that night, or who pulled it off, but weren't going to take the abuse from the opposing house lying down. The mystery surrounding the "prank-to-end-all-pranks" was eating Fred alive (mostly because he knew HE didn't do it), and decided to confront his brother about it when he got the chance. That chance happened to be at breakfast, the first day of the new term.
"Hallo Fred!" George smiled at his twin as he sat down beside him.
"Mornin' to you too," mumbled Fred through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. He swallowed, then looked around, "Where's Leo? You two are usually connected by the hip, if not anything else."
George raised an eyebrow, "No need to be crass, brother." He stabbed his fork into some bacon. "She's having a bit of a lie-in, if you must know. Nasty headache or something."
"Oh, that's too bad," Fred said, slightly concerned. "Well, since she's not here to fuddle your mind, I have a question to ask of you."
George gave him a look before he answered him. Fred was always sarcastic about Leo and George just couldn't figure out why. "Ok, shoot."
"Did you pull that prank on the Slytherins?"
George looked taken aback for a second, but quickly regained composure. The question had surprised him. "Why do you ask?"
"You know bloody why, George. Everyone at school's been going mad over it since the New Year. 'Best thing ever to happen here in a great long while'." Fred said with more than a hint of jealousy and bitterness in his voice. It was obvious that whoever did the prank, even if it was his own brother, he would be severely angry at for the person not involving him in the stunt.
"Surely Harry saving Hogwarts from You-Know-Who three years ago was a slight better than the prank," George said innocently with a smirk.
"Who cares? The thing is, no one knows who did it, and I thought that if you did it on your own, you would have least told me."
"But I didn't do it on my own," George said quietly and gently, as if he sensed his brother's feelings. "Leo was the one who came up with the whole thing."
"WHAT?" yelled Fred, causing several breakfasters to look up from their meal and investigate the commotion. He just glared at them and they went back to eating. Fred toned down his voice, "So that's what you two were always going on about. Makes sense now that I think about it. All I can ask now is: Why?"
"Why what?" George dared to ask.
"Why didn't you ask me to help you two?"
"Well, we wanted it to be just the two of us, you know, for personal reasons I guess."
"Oh, I see," Fred got up with from the table. "Well, if you want it to be us two again, just give me a ring-ding won't you? Because I'm not going out of my way to ask you." Then, he left behind both the Great Hall, and a slightly bewildered, greatly hurt George Weasley.
*****
"Oh, Hermione, these have been the best two weeks of my life," Jazz sighed happily, clutching her schoolbooks to her chest as she and her best friend walked down the hall to Potions. "I mean, I cannot even imagine life without Harry."
"I think you're being a little over-dramatic, if you don't mind me saying," Hermione giggled. "That sounds like a quote from a bad romance novel."
"True, but you know you're feeling the exact same way about 'Snuggle Bunny.'"
"'Snuggle Bunny?!?!'"
"Don't deny it, 'Mione. I heard you call him that last night," Jazz smirked wickedly, ducking a swinging arm.
"I would NEVER in my life call Ron anything resembling a rabbit. Now a dashing stallion maybe." she grinned suggestively, making her friend double up in either laughter or disgust.
"Well, look at the time. I gotta get to class," Jazz fake-tried to leave Hermione behind, only to return to her side with a grin. "If you ever say anything remotely sexual about Ron in my presence again, I swear I'll puke on your shoes."
"Let's not toss our lunch on Hermione's loafers now. I'm rather fond of them," Ron came up behind the two and gave his girlfriend a peck on the cheek. "True, I'm also fond of the girl who wears them."
"Stop with the canned lines, Ron. I'm going to be sick over here," Harry laughed goodheartedly and also pecked his girlfriend on the cheek. "How are you, love?"
"Just fine, if you don't count the fact that in, oh let's say five minutes, we'll be sitting in Snape's dungeon, having him yell at us for two hours."
"True, but you'll have me there so it's not like it's going to be completely horrible," Harry grinned devilishly at Jazz.
"No, not completely," Jazz retorted, causing Harry to hit her playfully on the arm in mock disgust, with the air of someone who had been emotionally hurt. All Jazz did to sooth his ego was to stick out her tongue at him, which provoked Harry to chase her down the corridor as she shrieked with laughter. Hermione and Ron just walked hand in hand, lagging behind and shaking their heads at the immaturity of their friends.
"Ha! I caught you!" Harry grabbed Jazz by the wrist and swung her around so that she faced him, her hands placed upon his chest, heaving up and down from running.
"Unhand me!" Jazz protested jokingly, and instead of moving away she slipped closer and lifted her face to his. "You got me good. Now, what are you going to do with me now that you have me?"
"I'll give you two guesses," Harry slowly lowered his lips to hers, but before they could kiss,
"Well, well, well, Potter. Having a bit of fun now are we?" Malfoy's drawl voice sounded from across the hall. Harry's head snapped up immediately and he let go of Jazz to face off with his archenemy. "Well, I was, Malfoy, but as always, your presence seems to just suck the fun right out of the air."
"It just pains me to see you enjoy yourself, Potter, even though I know how little you do," Malfoy smiled winningly over to Jazz. "Why are you spending your time with this ugly bugger when you could be enjoying the company of someone as good-looking as me?"
"Bite me, Pretty-Boy," she snarled. "I don't like guys with rainbow hair."
Malfoy's hand automatically went to his hair, which still had a rainbow tinge to it, even though its silkiness had come back and it was no longer curly and big. "Oh well, suit yourself," he said nonchalantly. "You know what they say, however, 'Rainbow's have more fun."
"I thought it was 'Rainbow's like it in the bum'?" piped up Ron, who had just joined Harry and Jazz with Hermione.
"Sod off, Weasel," Malfoy gave him a piercing look, his gray eyes cold with malice.
"Back at you, Ferret," Ron retorted.
"Poor git."
"Rich bastard."
"Oo, ouch, Weasel, I'm hurt. Really, I am," he said sarcastically. "But, sadly, I must say adieu to your, ahem, charming company. I can only speak to lowlifes for a short while before I break into a rash, and I'm beginning to feel itchy already." He punctuated his point by vigorously scratching his arms and chest. "So ta-ta everyone." He left then, leaving the group seething in unacted-upon anger.
"I hate him so much," growled Ron under his breath while Hermione lightly rubbed his arm in hopes of calming him down.
"Don't we all Ron. Now, we have to get going to Potions! If we're late, Snape will probably force-feed us poison!"
"Righto Jazz. Let's run, shall we?" The four took off down the halls, narrowly getting to class on time.
*****
"He said WHAT?" Leo exclaimed, eyes opened wide in surprise as George reenacted Fred's outburst at breakfast that morning.
"Honestly, I have no clue what's gotten into him." George ran his hands through his hair in frustration and flopped himself with a sigh down on the over-stuffed couch in which Leo was sitting. She put a comforting arm around him in hopes of easing him. "Don't worry, I bet he'll get over it soon."
"No, you don't know Fred. One time, when we were seven, I tricked him into eating Fish Candy, which is not unlike the Muggle prank candy except for instead of just tasting like fish, it gives you the face of a fish as well. Well, to make a long story short, he didn't speak to me for a month. And we lived in the same house and had to see each other all the time! Here, this place is so big, he can avoid me forever if he chooses to!"
"I thought you guys were more easy-going than that," Leo said quietly.
"Oh, we are now, at least I thought so. But since you came along."
"So I'm involved in this too?" she said indignantly. "Sorry, that came out wrong."
"No worries. What I meant was ever since I started hanging with you more and more, Fred has been acting like a jilted girlfriend; all jealous and pining over me."
"Whoa that's not a pretty picture," Leo grinned, purposely taking what he said the wrong way, causing her boyfriend to crack a smile, the first one since they started talking. "Seriously though, maybe he's been acting 'jilted' because, well, you've jilted him, so to speak, in the friend department."
"What do you mean? I talk to him, I eat meals with him, I mess around at Qudditch practice with him."
"Yeah, but who also talks to him while you do, eats with both of you and is also at Quidditch practice with you two?"
"My invisible friend Jethro, but I don't see what he has to do with anything," George said seriously, causing Leo to roll her eyes and grin at his inevitable wit. "Ok, you're always there. Still though, what does that.oohh."
"Good job, Genius Boy," Leo grinned, patting him on the back. "Maybe he feels that your friendship is being threatened by me and so instead of just realizing that he's overreacting a bit, he's gone and become insanely jealous."
"That's shining my brother in a righteous light," George looked down at her. "But underneath the cruelty to my sibling, I think you have a point."
"I always do," Leo grinned and gave George a quick kiss on the nose. "Now I hafta get up and go talk to Flitwick. I missed Charms today on account of my headache. I hope you can sort things out with your brother."
"You and me both," George waved at her departing back as she stepped through the portal. He then slunk back into the cushions of the couch to think some more.
"Good gracious me! More casualties! I swear if another Slytherin or Gryffindor come in here with hex marks, I'll snap my wand and become a Muggle!" gasped a very exasperated, very exhausted Madam Pomfrey as she went and made up two more beds in the Infirmary. Already the usually dull, silent, tidy room was wall-to-wall with patients, their visitors, and several volunteer seventh years that were there to handle the overflow that Pomfrey herself couldn't see to. Ever since "Operation Sticky Fingers", the hostilities between the Gryffindors and Slytherins had reached new levels of viciousness. Every time the two houses would pass one another in the corridors, something was bound to happen that involved curses (of both the physical and vocal variety), hexes, and/or fists. Not that the Slytherins actually knew that it was a Gryffindor that made them have rainbow fros. It was safe to say, however, that a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff wouldn't have the courage, or the imagination, to pull off such a prank. Even the Gryffindors didn't know exactly what went on that night, or who pulled it off, but weren't going to take the abuse from the opposing house lying down. The mystery surrounding the "prank-to-end-all-pranks" was eating Fred alive (mostly because he knew HE didn't do it), and decided to confront his brother about it when he got the chance. That chance happened to be at breakfast, the first day of the new term.
"Hallo Fred!" George smiled at his twin as he sat down beside him.
"Mornin' to you too," mumbled Fred through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. He swallowed, then looked around, "Where's Leo? You two are usually connected by the hip, if not anything else."
George raised an eyebrow, "No need to be crass, brother." He stabbed his fork into some bacon. "She's having a bit of a lie-in, if you must know. Nasty headache or something."
"Oh, that's too bad," Fred said, slightly concerned. "Well, since she's not here to fuddle your mind, I have a question to ask of you."
George gave him a look before he answered him. Fred was always sarcastic about Leo and George just couldn't figure out why. "Ok, shoot."
"Did you pull that prank on the Slytherins?"
George looked taken aback for a second, but quickly regained composure. The question had surprised him. "Why do you ask?"
"You know bloody why, George. Everyone at school's been going mad over it since the New Year. 'Best thing ever to happen here in a great long while'." Fred said with more than a hint of jealousy and bitterness in his voice. It was obvious that whoever did the prank, even if it was his own brother, he would be severely angry at for the person not involving him in the stunt.
"Surely Harry saving Hogwarts from You-Know-Who three years ago was a slight better than the prank," George said innocently with a smirk.
"Who cares? The thing is, no one knows who did it, and I thought that if you did it on your own, you would have least told me."
"But I didn't do it on my own," George said quietly and gently, as if he sensed his brother's feelings. "Leo was the one who came up with the whole thing."
"WHAT?" yelled Fred, causing several breakfasters to look up from their meal and investigate the commotion. He just glared at them and they went back to eating. Fred toned down his voice, "So that's what you two were always going on about. Makes sense now that I think about it. All I can ask now is: Why?"
"Why what?" George dared to ask.
"Why didn't you ask me to help you two?"
"Well, we wanted it to be just the two of us, you know, for personal reasons I guess."
"Oh, I see," Fred got up with from the table. "Well, if you want it to be us two again, just give me a ring-ding won't you? Because I'm not going out of my way to ask you." Then, he left behind both the Great Hall, and a slightly bewildered, greatly hurt George Weasley.
*****
"Oh, Hermione, these have been the best two weeks of my life," Jazz sighed happily, clutching her schoolbooks to her chest as she and her best friend walked down the hall to Potions. "I mean, I cannot even imagine life without Harry."
"I think you're being a little over-dramatic, if you don't mind me saying," Hermione giggled. "That sounds like a quote from a bad romance novel."
"True, but you know you're feeling the exact same way about 'Snuggle Bunny.'"
"'Snuggle Bunny?!?!'"
"Don't deny it, 'Mione. I heard you call him that last night," Jazz smirked wickedly, ducking a swinging arm.
"I would NEVER in my life call Ron anything resembling a rabbit. Now a dashing stallion maybe." she grinned suggestively, making her friend double up in either laughter or disgust.
"Well, look at the time. I gotta get to class," Jazz fake-tried to leave Hermione behind, only to return to her side with a grin. "If you ever say anything remotely sexual about Ron in my presence again, I swear I'll puke on your shoes."
"Let's not toss our lunch on Hermione's loafers now. I'm rather fond of them," Ron came up behind the two and gave his girlfriend a peck on the cheek. "True, I'm also fond of the girl who wears them."
"Stop with the canned lines, Ron. I'm going to be sick over here," Harry laughed goodheartedly and also pecked his girlfriend on the cheek. "How are you, love?"
"Just fine, if you don't count the fact that in, oh let's say five minutes, we'll be sitting in Snape's dungeon, having him yell at us for two hours."
"True, but you'll have me there so it's not like it's going to be completely horrible," Harry grinned devilishly at Jazz.
"No, not completely," Jazz retorted, causing Harry to hit her playfully on the arm in mock disgust, with the air of someone who had been emotionally hurt. All Jazz did to sooth his ego was to stick out her tongue at him, which provoked Harry to chase her down the corridor as she shrieked with laughter. Hermione and Ron just walked hand in hand, lagging behind and shaking their heads at the immaturity of their friends.
"Ha! I caught you!" Harry grabbed Jazz by the wrist and swung her around so that she faced him, her hands placed upon his chest, heaving up and down from running.
"Unhand me!" Jazz protested jokingly, and instead of moving away she slipped closer and lifted her face to his. "You got me good. Now, what are you going to do with me now that you have me?"
"I'll give you two guesses," Harry slowly lowered his lips to hers, but before they could kiss,
"Well, well, well, Potter. Having a bit of fun now are we?" Malfoy's drawl voice sounded from across the hall. Harry's head snapped up immediately and he let go of Jazz to face off with his archenemy. "Well, I was, Malfoy, but as always, your presence seems to just suck the fun right out of the air."
"It just pains me to see you enjoy yourself, Potter, even though I know how little you do," Malfoy smiled winningly over to Jazz. "Why are you spending your time with this ugly bugger when you could be enjoying the company of someone as good-looking as me?"
"Bite me, Pretty-Boy," she snarled. "I don't like guys with rainbow hair."
Malfoy's hand automatically went to his hair, which still had a rainbow tinge to it, even though its silkiness had come back and it was no longer curly and big. "Oh well, suit yourself," he said nonchalantly. "You know what they say, however, 'Rainbow's have more fun."
"I thought it was 'Rainbow's like it in the bum'?" piped up Ron, who had just joined Harry and Jazz with Hermione.
"Sod off, Weasel," Malfoy gave him a piercing look, his gray eyes cold with malice.
"Back at you, Ferret," Ron retorted.
"Poor git."
"Rich bastard."
"Oo, ouch, Weasel, I'm hurt. Really, I am," he said sarcastically. "But, sadly, I must say adieu to your, ahem, charming company. I can only speak to lowlifes for a short while before I break into a rash, and I'm beginning to feel itchy already." He punctuated his point by vigorously scratching his arms and chest. "So ta-ta everyone." He left then, leaving the group seething in unacted-upon anger.
"I hate him so much," growled Ron under his breath while Hermione lightly rubbed his arm in hopes of calming him down.
"Don't we all Ron. Now, we have to get going to Potions! If we're late, Snape will probably force-feed us poison!"
"Righto Jazz. Let's run, shall we?" The four took off down the halls, narrowly getting to class on time.
*****
"He said WHAT?" Leo exclaimed, eyes opened wide in surprise as George reenacted Fred's outburst at breakfast that morning.
"Honestly, I have no clue what's gotten into him." George ran his hands through his hair in frustration and flopped himself with a sigh down on the over-stuffed couch in which Leo was sitting. She put a comforting arm around him in hopes of easing him. "Don't worry, I bet he'll get over it soon."
"No, you don't know Fred. One time, when we were seven, I tricked him into eating Fish Candy, which is not unlike the Muggle prank candy except for instead of just tasting like fish, it gives you the face of a fish as well. Well, to make a long story short, he didn't speak to me for a month. And we lived in the same house and had to see each other all the time! Here, this place is so big, he can avoid me forever if he chooses to!"
"I thought you guys were more easy-going than that," Leo said quietly.
"Oh, we are now, at least I thought so. But since you came along."
"So I'm involved in this too?" she said indignantly. "Sorry, that came out wrong."
"No worries. What I meant was ever since I started hanging with you more and more, Fred has been acting like a jilted girlfriend; all jealous and pining over me."
"Whoa that's not a pretty picture," Leo grinned, purposely taking what he said the wrong way, causing her boyfriend to crack a smile, the first one since they started talking. "Seriously though, maybe he's been acting 'jilted' because, well, you've jilted him, so to speak, in the friend department."
"What do you mean? I talk to him, I eat meals with him, I mess around at Qudditch practice with him."
"Yeah, but who also talks to him while you do, eats with both of you and is also at Quidditch practice with you two?"
"My invisible friend Jethro, but I don't see what he has to do with anything," George said seriously, causing Leo to roll her eyes and grin at his inevitable wit. "Ok, you're always there. Still though, what does that.oohh."
"Good job, Genius Boy," Leo grinned, patting him on the back. "Maybe he feels that your friendship is being threatened by me and so instead of just realizing that he's overreacting a bit, he's gone and become insanely jealous."
"That's shining my brother in a righteous light," George looked down at her. "But underneath the cruelty to my sibling, I think you have a point."
"I always do," Leo grinned and gave George a quick kiss on the nose. "Now I hafta get up and go talk to Flitwick. I missed Charms today on account of my headache. I hope you can sort things out with your brother."
"You and me both," George waved at her departing back as she stepped through the portal. He then slunk back into the cushions of the couch to think some more.