Chapter Five: The Chamber of Secrets
Fred felt his stomach drop.
George sat next to him, white faced. Percy stood stiffly behind them both. Ron was in a corner of Professor McGonagall's office; his eyes were dry but he kept running his hands through his hair. Harry was back in the common room, waiting, no doubt, for Ron to return. Poor Hermione was laid up in the hospital wing, Petrified.
Things had gone from bad to worse. And now Ginny...their only sister...the youngest...the baby...
The monster had spirited Ginny down to the Chamber itself. Fred felt sick. If she wasn't dead, she would be soon.
"We are sending all the other students home tomorrow," said McGonagall, in a hard, mechanical sort of voice that shook just slightly. "In the meantime Gilderoy Lockhart has agreed to go into the Chamber and attempt to rescue Ginny."
"What?" said George, appalled.
"Lockhart?" Fred repeated, equally horrified. "That bloody useless git?"
"Fred!" Percy snapped.
"Oh, come ON, Percy, even you have to admit Lockhart is useless!" said Fred angrily.
"Boys!" said McGonagall sharply. They shut up. "I understand this is very difficult for you all. But Professor Lockhart is aware of his responsibilities as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He will do what is required of him."
"Can he really save her, Professor?" Percy asked hopefully.
McGonagall paused. "He will...try."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The silence in the common room reminded Fred of a tomb. Never before had the place been so crowded and so quiet at the same time. Tomorrow, everyone would be going home. The school itself would almost certainly close. And Ginny...
Fred blinked. His eyes were burning. He felt awful. It was not simply due to the fact that Ginny had been taken, that it was Ginny down there in the Chamber, probably dead, or close to it.
It was that he and George had been teasing her, again, just before she'd disappeared. Teasing her mercilessly for her crush on Ron's best friend. Teasing her so relentlessly that they'd made her cry.
Fred felt sick again. He looked at George, who also looked a bit green and very miserable. Fred couldn't stand the silence anymore. He got up and went upstairs to the fourth-year boys' dormitory, slammed into the room, threw himself on his four-poster, and shut the drapes. His eyes were burning, and he had a lump in his throat.
Don't cry, you stupid prat, he thought. Except that he rather felt like crying. It was a very alien feeling and he didn't like it at all.
Ginny. Was she alive or dead? If she was alive, did she KNOW she would probably be dead soon? Fred couldn't decide which was worse. All he DID know was that the last words he'd said to her had been, in hindsight, practically cruel.
Fred ought to have noticed how different Ginny was this year. It wasn't just her crush on Harry. He had never really seen her with any...friends. She'd been so quiet and secretive. And what had he, her big brother done? Instead of helping her out he'd teased her and made fun of her. He and George both.
Fred tried to comfort himself by saying Ron and Percy hadn't been much better. True, they hadn't exactly gone out of their way to be friendly to Ginny. But somehow, merely neglecting the youngest Weasley child seemed mild compared to what Fred and George had done. It was only now that Fred realized how very insecure his little sister was, and how far he'd gone to help her feel badly about herself. He felt his eyes burn again, and he blinked impatiently. He lay there for what seemed like a long time, trying not to give in to the stinging of his eyes or the lump in his throat.
The door to the dormitory opened. Fred opened the drapes to his four poster to see his twin come in, looking wretched.
"Hey," said George.
"Hey," said Fred.
They looked at each other for a long moment, and each understood the other, and there was nothing left for either of them to say. They could hardly accuse each other of being "worse" about the teasing, as they'd both engaged in it in equal measure. All they could do now was wait for the imminent news that their innocent, shy little sister was dead.
George went to his own four-poster and lay down, drawing the curtains. Fred stared at his twin's bed for a moment. The silence was oppressive. He couldn't stand it. He got up.
"I'm going," he said, for no particular reason. George said nothing. On a whim, Fred grabbed the Marauder's Map. He needed to be alone, and the Map would give him access to someplace where he could BE alone and not get caught by a teacher.
He headed back downstairs into the common room, which was now largely empty. He vaguely noticed that Ron and Harry were nowhere to be seen. Percy, too, seemed to have turned in. He didn't pause to think about this, though. He had to get out. He had to get away.
He climbed through the portrait hole. The few students left behind said nothing at Fred's flagrant display of rule-breaking. They were too shell- shocked. Fred peered carefully down the corridor from the portrait hole, and was about to climb out when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whirled round to see Angelina Johnson.
"Hey," she said. "Where are you going?"
"Leave me alone, Angie," he said, annoyed.
"Fred," she said, giving him what Fred called her Knowing Look. He couldn't put much past Angelina, that was for sure.
She smiled sadly at him then, and Fred felt that horrible lump in his throat return. She looked very pretty just then--her hair was long now, in lovely long braids--and he suddenly realized he didn't want to be alone after all.
"Just...follow me," said Fred, speaking through the lump in his throat with some difficulty.
He turned and climbed out of the portrait hole, Angelina right behind him.
"Where to?" said Angelina.
Fred studied the Marauder's Map. His eyes screwed up for a moment when he saw two dots, labeled "Harry Potter" and "Ronald Weasley" moving resolutely towards Gilderoy Lockhart's office (Lockhart was inside, moving around). What on earth could Harry and Ron be doing? But he put that aside. Whatever it was they were up to, Fred didn't care. He simply had to get away from the common room, from the oppressive feeling of doom all round him.
"Astronomy Tower," he said, pointing to it. Professor Sinistra was in her office.
"Okay," said Angelina, and the two of them set off. They had to hide several times, in corners and alcoves, to avoid patrolling teachers, but the Map made them as good as invisible.
It took them several minutes to reach the Astronomy Tower. Fred double checked to make sure that everything was all clear. He noticed now that Harry, Ron and Lockhart had left Lockhart's office and were standing round in...a girl's lavatory. That was decidedly odd. But Fred pushed that aside again. For a split second he thought it would be amusing to make fun of Ron tomorrow for hanging round in a girl's bathroom, but then he remembered that tomorrow they would be going home. And that Ginny was almost certainly dead.
Fred climbed the ladder up to the Astronomy Tower and emerged through the trapdoor up top. Dozens of telescopes lined the parapet, covered with heavy drapes to protect them from the elements. It was a clear night, with a bright moon. The grounds were sharply visible. Fred looked across the grounds at the lake, which looked eerily beautiful. Occasional bubbles rose to the surface, indicating the sleeping Giant Squid. Fred's eyes traveled to the trees of the Forbidden Forest, then to Hagrid's hut, which was dark and empty. Everything was quiet and peaceful and belied the horrors inside the castle. Fred felt slightly sick again.
"You okay, Fred?"
Fred turned round to see Angelina watching him anxiously. He swallowed. She looked very pretty. She'd grown even taller. Still taller than he was. She couldn't seem to stop growing, in height or in...other areas. Fred had noticed that as well. She didn't look like a little girl anymore at all. She now had...breasts. Lovely ones, too. Well, as far as Fred could tell, anyway, seeing as he'd never actually SEEN them, except through a school uniform (which hid quite a lot, but not Angelina's lovely set) or Muggle clothes that Angelina wore on Hogsmeade weekends. Her hips weren't flat and skinny anymore, they were rounded and looked...soft. She looked soft. Her hair was different, too. Long braids this year, that she usually wore tied back in a ribbon. Only now they were loose and hanging down her back. Looking at her normally made him feel better about things. Not tonight.
"No," he said, that awful lump pressing in his throat. He turned away and felt his knees go weak.
Don't lose it, you git, he thought furiously. The LAST thing he wanted to do was cry in front of Angelina. My god, crying in front of ANYONE was bad enough. But a GIRL? Entirely unacceptable. Entirely unmanly.
He moved to the wide parapet wall and sat down.
"Fred..." Angelina said uncertainly. She crossed to him and sat down next to him.
"I keep thinking," said Fred, after a long moment, "how mean George and I were to her. Right before...it happened."
"You couldn't have known," said Angelina.
"I should have paid attention, Angie," said Fred miserably. "She's my little sister. I'm supposed to look out for her. We're all supposed to. But we didn't. And now she's...she's..."
Fred couldn't say it. Dead, he thought. Or if not dead, she will be soon. And she'll die knowing that her brothers were mean to her and ignored her instead of being there for her.
And even now I can't do anything for her, he thought. My little sister. I don't know where the stupid Chamber is. I can't fight that monster thing that's got her.
The guilt pressed on him and made his chest hurt.
"It's not your fault," said Angelina softly, and she put an arm round his shoulders.
Fred shuddered at the contact and felt the lump in his throat rising, pressing. His eyes burned even worse. He felt incredibly foolish. He felt utterly hopeless. Useless. Wretched.
"Angie," he said, in a choked sort of voice.
"It's okay, Fred," she said. "I won't tell anyone."
Fred cried.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six hours later the impromptu, middle-of-the-night feast was in full swing.
Fred was in a bit of a daze. He'd gone from being completely miserable to being completely ecstatic in a matter of hours. Harry and Ron (well, mostly Harry) had rescued Ginny from certain death, and Ginny was alive and well. Hagrid was back, having been released from Azkaban. That stupid git Lockhart was on his way to St. Mungo's, having wiped out his own memory trying to cast a spell from Ron's broken wand. Everyone who'd been Petrified was back to normal. The tables were heaped high with all of Fred's favorite foods. He sat next to Angie, who grinned very prettily and every now and again gave him an affection punch in the arm. And if that weren't enough, Dumbledore had cancelled all the end-of-year exams.
Angelina turned and was pulled into an enthusiastic conversation with Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. They hadn't won the Quidditch Cup this year, owing to the cancellation of their last match against Hufflepuff, but all three girls agreed with Wood that the Cup might as well be theirs, and that it was in the bag next year.
Fred watched Angelina for a while, feeling better than he ever thought possible. A part of him still felt a bit stupid, crying on her shoulder like he had before, but mostly, he felt better. Angelina hadn't made fun of him, or tried to give him advice or try to cheer him up. She'd just put her arm round him and let him cry. And she'd never tell anyone, and knowing her, she'd never even mention it again. Because she'd know that would embarrass him. That was just the kind of friend she was. Loyal and true to the end. Angelina turned and smiled at him.
"What?" she asked. "What're you staring at?"
"You," he said, grinning. "My best mate in the world. Thanks, Angie." He tried to put everything he felt into those last two words.
"Don't mention it," she said.
"I thought I was your best mate!" Lee Jordan said huffily.
"You, too, Lee," said Fred, rolling his eyes.
"Your sister okay, then?" said Lee, stuffing his face full of mashed potatoes.
"Yeah," said Fred. "Scared to death, poor kid. But she didn't get hurt."
It was a miracle, really. Ginny had cried hysterically for a while, and she'd been pale and her hair was stained with black ink (for reasons Fred didn't know) but after a time she'd calmed down and let her brothers hug her in turn. Fred vowed from the moment he saw her never to tease her again.
"I can't believe your brother and that Potter kid got into the Chamber," said Wood.
"If it weren't for them, we'd have to take exams," said George, grinning.
"It almost makes up for not getting the Quidditch Cup," said Wood wistfully.
"What are you complaining about?" said Katie Bell. "We won the House Cup by a couple hundred points."
"Yeah," said Fred, grinning sweetly at the table of Slytherins, flashing a particularly cheeky grin at the Slytherin Quidditch captain, Marcus Flint, and their Seeker, that insufferable rich brat Draco Malfoy. They both scowled.
"Too bad for them," said Lee. "Looks like the Muggle-borns are here to stay."
"Damn right," said Fred, grinning over at Hermione Granger, who was chatting rapidly with Ron and Harry; Ron and Harry were rolling their eyes affectionately at her and pretending to cover their ears.
"Well," said Fred abruptly. "I think I'll go and say g'night to my baby sister. Coming, Twin?"
"Yeah," said George, grinning at Alicia.
"See you later, then, Fred?" said Angelina.
"You bet," said Fred, chucking her lightly on the chin. Fred wrapped up a few pastries in some napkins, and he and George left the Great Hall.
They didn't talk for a few minutes as they made their way to the hospital wing, but at last George broke the silence.
"Do you think...she's okay?"
Fred looked at George. "I hope so," he said. "She won't talk about what happened down there."
"Maybe we could wring it out of Ron or Harry," George suggested.
Fred considered, then shook his head.
George nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I don't feel quite so...right...about teasing her anymore. Do you?"
"No," said Fred. "I mean, we'll have to tease her a LITTLE. She's the kid sister. But...nothing like this year."
"And no more ignoring her," said George.
"Right," said Fred.
"I mean, who else is gonna look out for her?" said George. "Not Percy. He's too caught up in his prefect crap."
"And Ron," said Fred, scoffing. "How pathetic. I mean, ickle Ronnie, look out for Ginny?"
"So it's up to us, yeah?" said George. "Blimey, you think...you don't think we have to do what Mum said, do you? Set a good example and all? Be...MATURE?"
Fred halted outside the hospital wing and peered through the door, to see their parents sitting next to Ginny's bed. Ginny was fast asleep.
Fred grinned. "Nah," said Fred. "Ginny wouldn't buy that bit from us if we tried. We can just...be ourselves. But better, yeah?"
George looked very relieved. "Yeah."
"Let's go see our sis, shall we?" said Fred, looking at Ginny fondly.
"Fred, you don't think Mum'll--"
"Nah," said Fred. "Mum's not gonna wake up her baby by yelling at us. We'll probably get it good when we get home, though. There WAS that incident with the toilets this year."
"There's an incident with toilets every year," said George, grinning. "Mum ought to be used to it by now."
"Come on, George," said Fred, "if Mum stopped yelling at us, she wouldn't be...Mum."
"True," said George. "Well, we'll deal with it when we get home, shall we?"
Fred grinned and together they entered the hospital wing to visit their sister.
Fred felt his stomach drop.
George sat next to him, white faced. Percy stood stiffly behind them both. Ron was in a corner of Professor McGonagall's office; his eyes were dry but he kept running his hands through his hair. Harry was back in the common room, waiting, no doubt, for Ron to return. Poor Hermione was laid up in the hospital wing, Petrified.
Things had gone from bad to worse. And now Ginny...their only sister...the youngest...the baby...
The monster had spirited Ginny down to the Chamber itself. Fred felt sick. If she wasn't dead, she would be soon.
"We are sending all the other students home tomorrow," said McGonagall, in a hard, mechanical sort of voice that shook just slightly. "In the meantime Gilderoy Lockhart has agreed to go into the Chamber and attempt to rescue Ginny."
"What?" said George, appalled.
"Lockhart?" Fred repeated, equally horrified. "That bloody useless git?"
"Fred!" Percy snapped.
"Oh, come ON, Percy, even you have to admit Lockhart is useless!" said Fred angrily.
"Boys!" said McGonagall sharply. They shut up. "I understand this is very difficult for you all. But Professor Lockhart is aware of his responsibilities as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He will do what is required of him."
"Can he really save her, Professor?" Percy asked hopefully.
McGonagall paused. "He will...try."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The silence in the common room reminded Fred of a tomb. Never before had the place been so crowded and so quiet at the same time. Tomorrow, everyone would be going home. The school itself would almost certainly close. And Ginny...
Fred blinked. His eyes were burning. He felt awful. It was not simply due to the fact that Ginny had been taken, that it was Ginny down there in the Chamber, probably dead, or close to it.
It was that he and George had been teasing her, again, just before she'd disappeared. Teasing her mercilessly for her crush on Ron's best friend. Teasing her so relentlessly that they'd made her cry.
Fred felt sick again. He looked at George, who also looked a bit green and very miserable. Fred couldn't stand the silence anymore. He got up and went upstairs to the fourth-year boys' dormitory, slammed into the room, threw himself on his four-poster, and shut the drapes. His eyes were burning, and he had a lump in his throat.
Don't cry, you stupid prat, he thought. Except that he rather felt like crying. It was a very alien feeling and he didn't like it at all.
Ginny. Was she alive or dead? If she was alive, did she KNOW she would probably be dead soon? Fred couldn't decide which was worse. All he DID know was that the last words he'd said to her had been, in hindsight, practically cruel.
Fred ought to have noticed how different Ginny was this year. It wasn't just her crush on Harry. He had never really seen her with any...friends. She'd been so quiet and secretive. And what had he, her big brother done? Instead of helping her out he'd teased her and made fun of her. He and George both.
Fred tried to comfort himself by saying Ron and Percy hadn't been much better. True, they hadn't exactly gone out of their way to be friendly to Ginny. But somehow, merely neglecting the youngest Weasley child seemed mild compared to what Fred and George had done. It was only now that Fred realized how very insecure his little sister was, and how far he'd gone to help her feel badly about herself. He felt his eyes burn again, and he blinked impatiently. He lay there for what seemed like a long time, trying not to give in to the stinging of his eyes or the lump in his throat.
The door to the dormitory opened. Fred opened the drapes to his four poster to see his twin come in, looking wretched.
"Hey," said George.
"Hey," said Fred.
They looked at each other for a long moment, and each understood the other, and there was nothing left for either of them to say. They could hardly accuse each other of being "worse" about the teasing, as they'd both engaged in it in equal measure. All they could do now was wait for the imminent news that their innocent, shy little sister was dead.
George went to his own four-poster and lay down, drawing the curtains. Fred stared at his twin's bed for a moment. The silence was oppressive. He couldn't stand it. He got up.
"I'm going," he said, for no particular reason. George said nothing. On a whim, Fred grabbed the Marauder's Map. He needed to be alone, and the Map would give him access to someplace where he could BE alone and not get caught by a teacher.
He headed back downstairs into the common room, which was now largely empty. He vaguely noticed that Ron and Harry were nowhere to be seen. Percy, too, seemed to have turned in. He didn't pause to think about this, though. He had to get out. He had to get away.
He climbed through the portrait hole. The few students left behind said nothing at Fred's flagrant display of rule-breaking. They were too shell- shocked. Fred peered carefully down the corridor from the portrait hole, and was about to climb out when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whirled round to see Angelina Johnson.
"Hey," she said. "Where are you going?"
"Leave me alone, Angie," he said, annoyed.
"Fred," she said, giving him what Fred called her Knowing Look. He couldn't put much past Angelina, that was for sure.
She smiled sadly at him then, and Fred felt that horrible lump in his throat return. She looked very pretty just then--her hair was long now, in lovely long braids--and he suddenly realized he didn't want to be alone after all.
"Just...follow me," said Fred, speaking through the lump in his throat with some difficulty.
He turned and climbed out of the portrait hole, Angelina right behind him.
"Where to?" said Angelina.
Fred studied the Marauder's Map. His eyes screwed up for a moment when he saw two dots, labeled "Harry Potter" and "Ronald Weasley" moving resolutely towards Gilderoy Lockhart's office (Lockhart was inside, moving around). What on earth could Harry and Ron be doing? But he put that aside. Whatever it was they were up to, Fred didn't care. He simply had to get away from the common room, from the oppressive feeling of doom all round him.
"Astronomy Tower," he said, pointing to it. Professor Sinistra was in her office.
"Okay," said Angelina, and the two of them set off. They had to hide several times, in corners and alcoves, to avoid patrolling teachers, but the Map made them as good as invisible.
It took them several minutes to reach the Astronomy Tower. Fred double checked to make sure that everything was all clear. He noticed now that Harry, Ron and Lockhart had left Lockhart's office and were standing round in...a girl's lavatory. That was decidedly odd. But Fred pushed that aside again. For a split second he thought it would be amusing to make fun of Ron tomorrow for hanging round in a girl's bathroom, but then he remembered that tomorrow they would be going home. And that Ginny was almost certainly dead.
Fred climbed the ladder up to the Astronomy Tower and emerged through the trapdoor up top. Dozens of telescopes lined the parapet, covered with heavy drapes to protect them from the elements. It was a clear night, with a bright moon. The grounds were sharply visible. Fred looked across the grounds at the lake, which looked eerily beautiful. Occasional bubbles rose to the surface, indicating the sleeping Giant Squid. Fred's eyes traveled to the trees of the Forbidden Forest, then to Hagrid's hut, which was dark and empty. Everything was quiet and peaceful and belied the horrors inside the castle. Fred felt slightly sick again.
"You okay, Fred?"
Fred turned round to see Angelina watching him anxiously. He swallowed. She looked very pretty. She'd grown even taller. Still taller than he was. She couldn't seem to stop growing, in height or in...other areas. Fred had noticed that as well. She didn't look like a little girl anymore at all. She now had...breasts. Lovely ones, too. Well, as far as Fred could tell, anyway, seeing as he'd never actually SEEN them, except through a school uniform (which hid quite a lot, but not Angelina's lovely set) or Muggle clothes that Angelina wore on Hogsmeade weekends. Her hips weren't flat and skinny anymore, they were rounded and looked...soft. She looked soft. Her hair was different, too. Long braids this year, that she usually wore tied back in a ribbon. Only now they were loose and hanging down her back. Looking at her normally made him feel better about things. Not tonight.
"No," he said, that awful lump pressing in his throat. He turned away and felt his knees go weak.
Don't lose it, you git, he thought furiously. The LAST thing he wanted to do was cry in front of Angelina. My god, crying in front of ANYONE was bad enough. But a GIRL? Entirely unacceptable. Entirely unmanly.
He moved to the wide parapet wall and sat down.
"Fred..." Angelina said uncertainly. She crossed to him and sat down next to him.
"I keep thinking," said Fred, after a long moment, "how mean George and I were to her. Right before...it happened."
"You couldn't have known," said Angelina.
"I should have paid attention, Angie," said Fred miserably. "She's my little sister. I'm supposed to look out for her. We're all supposed to. But we didn't. And now she's...she's..."
Fred couldn't say it. Dead, he thought. Or if not dead, she will be soon. And she'll die knowing that her brothers were mean to her and ignored her instead of being there for her.
And even now I can't do anything for her, he thought. My little sister. I don't know where the stupid Chamber is. I can't fight that monster thing that's got her.
The guilt pressed on him and made his chest hurt.
"It's not your fault," said Angelina softly, and she put an arm round his shoulders.
Fred shuddered at the contact and felt the lump in his throat rising, pressing. His eyes burned even worse. He felt incredibly foolish. He felt utterly hopeless. Useless. Wretched.
"Angie," he said, in a choked sort of voice.
"It's okay, Fred," she said. "I won't tell anyone."
Fred cried.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six hours later the impromptu, middle-of-the-night feast was in full swing.
Fred was in a bit of a daze. He'd gone from being completely miserable to being completely ecstatic in a matter of hours. Harry and Ron (well, mostly Harry) had rescued Ginny from certain death, and Ginny was alive and well. Hagrid was back, having been released from Azkaban. That stupid git Lockhart was on his way to St. Mungo's, having wiped out his own memory trying to cast a spell from Ron's broken wand. Everyone who'd been Petrified was back to normal. The tables were heaped high with all of Fred's favorite foods. He sat next to Angie, who grinned very prettily and every now and again gave him an affection punch in the arm. And if that weren't enough, Dumbledore had cancelled all the end-of-year exams.
Angelina turned and was pulled into an enthusiastic conversation with Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. They hadn't won the Quidditch Cup this year, owing to the cancellation of their last match against Hufflepuff, but all three girls agreed with Wood that the Cup might as well be theirs, and that it was in the bag next year.
Fred watched Angelina for a while, feeling better than he ever thought possible. A part of him still felt a bit stupid, crying on her shoulder like he had before, but mostly, he felt better. Angelina hadn't made fun of him, or tried to give him advice or try to cheer him up. She'd just put her arm round him and let him cry. And she'd never tell anyone, and knowing her, she'd never even mention it again. Because she'd know that would embarrass him. That was just the kind of friend she was. Loyal and true to the end. Angelina turned and smiled at him.
"What?" she asked. "What're you staring at?"
"You," he said, grinning. "My best mate in the world. Thanks, Angie." He tried to put everything he felt into those last two words.
"Don't mention it," she said.
"I thought I was your best mate!" Lee Jordan said huffily.
"You, too, Lee," said Fred, rolling his eyes.
"Your sister okay, then?" said Lee, stuffing his face full of mashed potatoes.
"Yeah," said Fred. "Scared to death, poor kid. But she didn't get hurt."
It was a miracle, really. Ginny had cried hysterically for a while, and she'd been pale and her hair was stained with black ink (for reasons Fred didn't know) but after a time she'd calmed down and let her brothers hug her in turn. Fred vowed from the moment he saw her never to tease her again.
"I can't believe your brother and that Potter kid got into the Chamber," said Wood.
"If it weren't for them, we'd have to take exams," said George, grinning.
"It almost makes up for not getting the Quidditch Cup," said Wood wistfully.
"What are you complaining about?" said Katie Bell. "We won the House Cup by a couple hundred points."
"Yeah," said Fred, grinning sweetly at the table of Slytherins, flashing a particularly cheeky grin at the Slytherin Quidditch captain, Marcus Flint, and their Seeker, that insufferable rich brat Draco Malfoy. They both scowled.
"Too bad for them," said Lee. "Looks like the Muggle-borns are here to stay."
"Damn right," said Fred, grinning over at Hermione Granger, who was chatting rapidly with Ron and Harry; Ron and Harry were rolling their eyes affectionately at her and pretending to cover their ears.
"Well," said Fred abruptly. "I think I'll go and say g'night to my baby sister. Coming, Twin?"
"Yeah," said George, grinning at Alicia.
"See you later, then, Fred?" said Angelina.
"You bet," said Fred, chucking her lightly on the chin. Fred wrapped up a few pastries in some napkins, and he and George left the Great Hall.
They didn't talk for a few minutes as they made their way to the hospital wing, but at last George broke the silence.
"Do you think...she's okay?"
Fred looked at George. "I hope so," he said. "She won't talk about what happened down there."
"Maybe we could wring it out of Ron or Harry," George suggested.
Fred considered, then shook his head.
George nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I don't feel quite so...right...about teasing her anymore. Do you?"
"No," said Fred. "I mean, we'll have to tease her a LITTLE. She's the kid sister. But...nothing like this year."
"And no more ignoring her," said George.
"Right," said Fred.
"I mean, who else is gonna look out for her?" said George. "Not Percy. He's too caught up in his prefect crap."
"And Ron," said Fred, scoffing. "How pathetic. I mean, ickle Ronnie, look out for Ginny?"
"So it's up to us, yeah?" said George. "Blimey, you think...you don't think we have to do what Mum said, do you? Set a good example and all? Be...MATURE?"
Fred halted outside the hospital wing and peered through the door, to see their parents sitting next to Ginny's bed. Ginny was fast asleep.
Fred grinned. "Nah," said Fred. "Ginny wouldn't buy that bit from us if we tried. We can just...be ourselves. But better, yeah?"
George looked very relieved. "Yeah."
"Let's go see our sis, shall we?" said Fred, looking at Ginny fondly.
"Fred, you don't think Mum'll--"
"Nah," said Fred. "Mum's not gonna wake up her baby by yelling at us. We'll probably get it good when we get home, though. There WAS that incident with the toilets this year."
"There's an incident with toilets every year," said George, grinning. "Mum ought to be used to it by now."
"Come on, George," said Fred, "if Mum stopped yelling at us, she wouldn't be...Mum."
"True," said George. "Well, we'll deal with it when we get home, shall we?"
Fred grinned and together they entered the hospital wing to visit their sister.