1st Update: Dec. 30, 2003
Chapter 4 - Pranks
"You got the ice water?"
George nodded. He felt happy, he hadn't played a joke for two days or so, and the deprivation had left him feeling empty.
"Good. I've got the dye. It's green and will shine silver, haha, we'll see how much Tania loves the Slytherins after today."
George smiled evilly. "Way to go Angie! This is a wonderful plan, ingenious! I might have to recruit you to help Freddie and I out sometime."
Angelina smiled at the mention of Fred.
"I'd like that, thanks."
The pair were hiding behind a suit of armour that was beside the front doors to the Great Hall.
"So, what time do you think Tania will show up for breakfast?"
"The later the better, that way she won't have much time to change her clothes...and wash out her hair. This stuff has to stay in for ten minutes before it sets for the day."
"Okay. Well, I guess we'd better add the dye to the water now. Some early birds are coming to eat."
George unscrewed a small jar of yellow-green fluid and poured its contents into the bucket of ice water. Then using a hovering charm, he positioned the bucket near the top of the doors to the Great Hall.
"Great work. Now we only have to wait!" Angelina smirked.
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Tania made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was a little later than she liked, but she had taken a long detour in order to avoid Roger. Unforunately, she had lost her way, having only had half a day to try to find her way around the castle. Now she recognized the large foyer that lead into the Great Hall. She hurried over towards the doors when she suddenly saw a brilliant flash of blond hair. It was Draco.
"Draco! Draco Malfoy!" she called out to the boy. He turned and saw her and his eyes widened with recognition. He whispered orders to the two thugs that followed him and they made their way into the Hall, leaving him alone. He walked over to Tania.
"Morningstar?" he peered at her. "Is that really you?"
Tania nodded. "How long has it been Draco? How is your father? And your mother?"
"He's been fine. Work is busy for him. My mother's also doing fine."
"That's good to hear. It's been so long."
"George! Hey George, wake up!" Angelina hissed.
"Huh, what, the answer is 'levisosia', Professor!" George said as he woke up. Angelina poked him in the back hard and he gave a little yelp with pain.
"Ouch! Angelina! How long have we been here?"
"For an hour or so you lazy bum. It's time for action! There she is, and you wouldn't believe it. She's having a jolly conversation with Malfoy, as if she's known him all her life. I knew I chose the right colours for the dye!"
George rubbed his eyes and turned to the entrance of the Great Hall. He gasped. It was the girl from the photoshoot.
"Is THAT Tania?" he asked.
"Yes you twit! It is, now hurry up, they're moving into the Hall."
George stood frozen in his hiding place. That was Tania Jenkins! The, the, the perfect girl! He couldn't play this joke on her! He couldn't!
"What are you waiting for? Go!" Angelina snapped impatiently. When she noticed Geroge was not moving or blinking, she decided it was time to take her own action. Grabbing George's arm which held his wand, she pointed it to the bucket and whispered a charm. A jet of blue light shot out and the bucket tipped over.
"André is enjoying his new position, he's with the St - AUGHH!" Tania shrieked as ice cold water poured over her, drenching her clothes, hair and school bag. She quickly flung it aside so that the books inside would not be ruined.
Draco had been caught in the downpour of water, but had not been drenched. He was, however, fussing more than Tania.
Tania brushed her now soaking hair out of her eyes and realized with a slight horror that it was turning green. A few seconds later, she realized the water obviously contained some sort of substance and that substance was dyeing her hair and clothes green and silver. She was aware of people all around laughing. She looked around and saw a tall Gryffindor girl laughing the loudest of them all. But her attention did not stay with this girl because her gaze soon moved to the boy next to her. It was George and he still had his wand pointed to her.
George stood in horror, unable to move. He had watched the bucket tip over as if in slow motion and had not been able to move or hide or even adjust his position as its contents spilled over Tania. Now Tania was looking at him and when he realized she recognized him, his heart fell lower than he could have possibly imagine. Tania stared at him a few moments more, a hurt look crossing her face. Then she picked up her bag and ran from foyer up an empty staircase.
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"Ha! That was great! George? What's the matter?"
George walked beside Angelina towards their first class of the day, Charms with Ravenclaw. When George didn't answer, Angelina stomped on his toe and George almost tripped, narrowly avoiding a huge fall down the stairs.
"Oi! Angelina! What the hell was that for?"
"Attention, you prat."
"Arg, Angelina, just leave me alone. Where's Fred? Go pester him."
Angelina gave George a half worried, half annoyed look but took up on George's suggestion. George watched as Angelina went ahead and did exactly what he wanted her to do: leave him alone. He shuffled his feet, taking twice as long getting to Charms then he usually did. His mind flashed images of Tania; Tania and her hair, Tania and her smile, then Tania and her hurt look..what was the matter with him? He didn't even know the girl! She was probably just another dumb, good-looking, magical, wonderful girl. George groaned. He finally reached his Charms classroom to discover there was only one table left, right in the front of the class. He turned to see that Angelina, Alicia and Katie were sitting together while Fred, Lee and a Ravenclaw boy George knew as Jerry were at another table. He silently cursed Fred yet again for not saving a seat for him and made his way up to the front table.
"Ah Mr. Weasley, glad to see you have chosen to sit away from your brother. Hopefully this year you will be able to get something done, right?"
George looked up to a tiny Professor Flitwick squeaking at him. With a heavily distracted mind, he could do nothing but nod. Flitwick, thinking a change had come over George Weasley, beamed down at him from on top of his high perch on a number of books before he turned to address the rest of the class.
"Alright class, welcome back!! Please settle down, thank you, thank you. I will begin with the attendence."
George groaned. Normally, he and Fred would be goofing off by now, and Flitwick wouldn't notice because their names were usually last on the list. But with Fred sitting all the way at the back, and him right under the professor's nose, he could do nothing but look attentive.
"Jerry Hemmingway..where are you boy? There we go. Tania Jenkins?"
George jumped in his chair. Tania was in this class? Oh no! He turned around, searching the class wildly. His search, however, turned up empty-handed.
"Oh, Tania. Yeah, I saw her, but I don't know why she isn't here." Angelina piped up in a fakingly innocent voice. A loud burst of laughter erupted and George could soon hear many people talking about what had happened at breakfast. A Ravenclaw sitting behind George slapped him on the back, telling him what a good job he had done. This only made George feel worse.
"Settle down, settle down! I'm sure Ms. Jenkins will soon make an appearance. It is her first week here and as Professor Dumbledore mentioned, I would like you to give her a warm welcome. I have also heard she has exceptional skill in the Charms area, so you will all benefit from having her in this class. Now, where were we? Oh yes -"
At that moment the doors flew open and there stood Tania. She flushed as everyone in the class turned to stare.
"Oh, oh, I'm terribly sorry Professor. I didn't mean to be late..I was just..am I interrupting something?"
"Oh nothing at all. We were just talking about how wonderful and talented you are." Angelina spat out sarcastically in Tania's direction. She looked slightly disappointed at how well Tania had concealed the prank, but then smirked in satisfaction when she noticed Tania's hair.
Tania turned wordlessly to stare at Angelina and said nothing. George noticed that she appeared to be very flustered. She had changed her robes, but had only slightly managed to keep her hair the same. Everytime she moved, a flash of silver and green would ripple through her hair. George also noticed she had put her hair up in a bun to lessen the attention the flashes of colour would attract, and he thought this very smart of her.
"Now, now, Ms. Johnson, you know that I think all my students are both wonderful and talented! Ms. Jenkins, I was just telling the class a little about you, I hope you do not mind. Well..there have been enough interruptions and I would like to get to the end of this roll call, so please come in. Here is a seat right by Mr. Weasley...oh and please note, this is Mr. GEORGE Weasley and that the other Mr. Weasley is Mr. FRED Weasley. Please don't let them pull too many pranks on you."
Too late, Tania thought. She walked up down the middle of the class towards the front row, painfully aware of the whispers and snickers directed at her. She dropped her bag by the table and took the seat farthest from George. She could feel his eyes on hers, and knew that they were begging her to look at him, but she ignored him.
George thought that his day could not start out worse than this. He had wanted Tania to at least look at him, but an icy reception was all he got. He wanted to apologize, to rush his guilt out, but he was suddenly under the impression that Tania wasn't going to make it that easy for him.