Chapter 21

The day after everybody left, the castle seemed empty. The Weasley's, Hermione, Harry, and the Americans had a major snowball fight (Americans versus British). Due to the fact that the Americans were using their telekinesis powers, they obviously won since their snowballs hit their targets every time. The twelve students trudged back into the castle to get dry. Everyone was awful giddy, even Hermione who pushed Ron into a snowdrift. The two had been getting along a lot better since the Halloween Ball when they had gotten their emotions out into the open. They were taking it slow though: at the moment, they were trying to improve their friendship. They were working on not arguing.

George reached over and pulled Tori's hair. She screeched, whipped around, and lunged at him. He laughed and ran off into the snow. She tore off after him and eventually caught up. She pushed him into he snow. Still laughing, he reached up and grabbed her hand and tugged her down next to him. Before she could do anything, he flipped over on top of her and kissed her. After the Ball, the had gotten to know each other better and "fell in love." They finally stood up and the group managed to make it back into the castle and into their respective common rooms.

An hour later, the Gryffindors were all down sitting in front of the fire. Harry and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess, and Hermione was reading a book. Jason was drawing while Kayla was holding the book that she was going to read but was really watching Jason. Tori was lying with her head in George's lap while she sharpened her daggers. Keri was also sharpening her daggers, but she was leaning up against Fred's back as she did so. (She and Fred had become as close to each other as their respective twins had.) The Weasley were in deep conversation about their joke shop. They could no longer work from home, so they concentrated on creating from school. They had let their girls in on their secret since the Rose girls had some great ideas.

Dinner was a quiet affair. Most students had gone home so, like had been done in the past, every table had been cleared from the room so that there was only just enough room for everybody who was left. The 7 Gryffindors sat down next to James and Jake.

After dinner, the nine of them followed Hope to her suite of rooms so they could all talk. They walked in and sat down on the couches in front of the fire in the living room. As soon as they all sat down, Hope's shadow walked over to Harry. Suddenly, in its place stood a tall, dark man. Fred and George turned around and jumped. "Sirius Black!" they shouted.

"Calm down, George," Tori soothed, kissing him on the cheek. "He isn't a murderer. He was set up."

"Yeah," Ron added. "Sit down, you two."

The twins looked around at everyone's faces. They realized that they were the only ones there who didn't know that Sirius was innocent. The sat back down, hard. "So, how long have you known?"

"Well," Harry admitted. "We found out at the end of our third year. Your mum found out last year when Dumbledore was giving out assignments for the Order."

"Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"Because he still isn't free. The more people who know the bigger the chance he is found."

"Right," George replied.

"Got it," Fred answered.

Hope decided a change of subjects was in order. "Kayla," she began smoothly. "I almost forgot." She called in a long, skinny package wrapped in paper. Then, she called in another, smaller parcel similarly wrapped. "It is the first night of Chanukah. Your parents wanted me to give you this." She handed over the smaller gift. "And, this is from me," she added, handing over the other gift.

Kayla opened the gift from her "parents" first. It was a chamsa necklace. The charm was all sterling silver with a blue bead in the center. Kayla thought it was beautiful, and she fastened it around her neck. Next, she opened the gift from her mother. It was the beautiful jewel encrusted sword that she had admired over the summer in the Armoury they had stopped at. She screeched and launched herself at Hope and hugged her.

"Since you are learning the double-blade technique, I thought you would need to blades. I also have a back sheath for you that is used for two blades. You will get it another night."

* * * * * *

Tori stumbled through the deserted halls. There was no one around, not even in the pictures. It was as if she had stumbled into an alternate reality. She ran out into the frigid air and across the ground into the forest. She didn't know why, but there was something important going on in there. Tori blindly pushed past tree limbs and hurried to the center of the forest. Towards the clearing where they had saved Kayla earlier in the year. When she got close, she began to search the forest with her eyes. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she knew it was important.

Suddenly, she saw a splash of red among the greens, browns, and grays of the forest. Tori ran towards it, not knowing what it was, but afraid of finding out. She stumbled into a clearing, devoid of anything but a patch of red connected to an object that she couldn't quite make out yet. She warily walked over the patch so that she could see what it was. Tori gasped in shock and horror when she could see it clearly.

Tori ran the rest of the way to the person who was lying on the ground. She began to cry as she shook George, trying to wake him up. "C'mon, George, this isn't funny," she sobbed. Hollow laughter echoed throughout the forest, laughing at her attempts to wake the dead.

Tori bolted upright in her dormitory room, sweating. She willfully repressed a scream, not wanting to awaken the other girls. Looking at her watch, she groaned. It was only 2:30 AM. She got up and splashed some cold water on her face in the bathroom. After a few minutes, Tori felt like she could finally fall asleep again so she climbed back into her bed and closed the drapes. But, once she closed her eyes, all Tori saw was George's lifeless face while the laughter echoed in her mind. Although she knew he was all right, and tried to tell herself that, Tori had to prove to herself that he was only in his dorm room, unharmed.

Even though everyone was believed to be asleep, Tori shrouded herself with a sight-shield so that no one would spot her. She snuck up the boys' staircase and read the plates outside each door. She stopped outside the one that read "7th Year." Silently, Tori opened the door and crept inside. She walked amongst the beds until she found the one that was George's. She pulled open the drapes and sighed with relief when she saw him sleeping peacefully. The noise must have awoken him since he opened an eye and looked at her sleepily.

"Tori?" he asked, still sleep befuddled as he sat up in his bed and pulled her down to sit next to him. "What are you doing here?"

"I…I…I…" Tori began before breaking down into sobs, leaning into his side.

"Shhh," he soothed. He held her for a few minutes until she stopped shaking. "Now, can you tell me what is the problem?"

"I had this really awful dream. I was running through the castle and the forest. And you were lying on the ground. Dead. And someone was laughing. I tried to go back to bed, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I needed to make sure you were okay. But, now I am afraid to go back to my bed. I know that as soon as I do, I will see you dead again. Do you mind if I stay with you?"

George looked startled at first, but then he realized that all she wanted to do was be near him. He nodded mutely and made room for her and pulled the drapes closed around them. Tori lay with her back against his front. She leaned around and kissed him on the cheek as she muttered, "Thanks, love." He murmured something incomprehensible as he wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her close. Soon, they were both asleep.

* * * * * *

George Weasley woke up with his arms around something warm. He blinked sleepily at the strawberry blond mop in his arms. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was already 7 in the morning. He had trained himself to wake up at seven on weekdays. He let himself sleep in on the weekends. Although he wanted to stay like that forever, he knew that if they didn't wake up soon, questions would be asked that he didn't think Tori would want to answer. He leaned on an elbow so that he could see her face clearly. He kissed her as he shook her awake gently.

"Tori," he whispered. "Unless you want everyone to know that you were in here last night, you should probably head back to your room."

"Hmmm?" she mumbled as she opened her eyes. "Yeah. Okay." Tori sat up and smiled at him. "See you later, then," she muttered quietly as she kissed him before teleporting out.

Tori reappeared in her bed in her dormitory room. She pulled open the drapes and swung her feet onto the hard wood floor. "Good-morning, ladies," she told the rest of the room as she gathered her things and headed towards the bathroom, smiling to herself. No one had noticed that she wasn't in her bed just 10 minutes prior.

Unbeknownst to Tori, Keri stared at her sister's back, wondering. She alone knew that Tori hadn't spent the night in her bed. Keri had woken up earlier than the others and had gone to wake up her sister so that they could talk like they used to back home, only to notice that Tori was missing. She knew that he sister must have had a good reason to be out of her bed, so she closed the curtains and told the others she was still asleep. Keri only hoped that Tori would tell her why she was gone.

The four left their room to join the boys before making their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. George maneuvered so that he and Tori were at the back of the group so that he could talk to her without the others hearing. "Are you all right now, love?"

"Yeah. I am sorry if I bothered you last night. But, thank you all the same," she answered, kissing him lightly.

"Don't worry about it. I don't like seeing you upset, so I am glad you came to me. If you ever have another dream like that again, I trust you will come to me. Won't you?"

"Yes. As long as you swear it doesn't disturb your sleep."

"I swear on that toilet seat Fred and I never sent to Ginny in third year."

"Good enough," Tori laughed. "Let's get some breakfast." George joined in her laughter as he draped his arm over her shoulders and hugged her close to him. Together, they followed the others down to the Great Hall.

The night before, while the 9 of them were in the common room before dinner, they decided that since they had so much fun having their snowball fight, they decided to have another. But, this time, they were going to invite the other students who were spending the holidays at school. Once everyone was down in the Great Hall, George grinned at the others before standing up. He clinked his knife on the edge of his pumpkin juice goblet. "May I have everyone's attention, please?" he said, projecting his voice to all corners of the hall. "Well, actually, the professors can ignore the rest of this speech. It is directed at the students. Sorry, guys, maybe next time." Tori elbowed him. "Ouch! Okay, fine. Right, well, we had this snowball fight yesterday, and since we had so much fun, we thought it would be really cool to have another today, school-wide. We could do a house fight or something. So, if you are interested, meet us at the Quidditch pitch in an hour. And, come dressed warmly because you are bound to get wet. Hope to see you all there."

With that, the Gryffindors all left the Great Hall. Because they had gotten there early in the attempt to get there before everyone else so that they could give their invitation, they were all finished eating before everyone else. They hurried up to their tower to grab their outer garments (boots, gloves, hats, scarves, jackets.  The works). Then, Hermione performed a spell she found in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk that waterproofed it all. Then, they headed outside. It turned out that the entire student body remaining in the castle came to participate. The teams weren't exactly even, but everyone agreed to keep it house versus house.

In the end, Gryffindor won, but everyone agreed that it was probably because they had more people. As they dispersed, they decided that if it were to snow again (therefore replacing the snow they had used and trampled) there would be another snowball fight. But, they would be contacted if the case were to arise. Wet but happy, the students trudged back inside not knowing that most of the teachers had watched the entire fight from the Astronomy Tower.

Tori didn't even remember her dream until she crawled into bed that evening. She hoped that it wasn't what she thought it was. She prayed it was just a normal nightmare, not what she really thought it was. All her senses told her it was a foretelling dream. With that last, pleading thought, Tori closed her eyes and went to sleep.

She awoke hours later, sweating, with that horrible laughter filling her head. Looking at her watch, it read 2:30: the exact same time it had the night before when she woke up. She shakily stood up and headed to the one place where the dreams would stop momentarily: George's bed. Since she knew which dormitory it was, it took Tori less time than it had the night before.

Tori walked straight to George's bed and pulled open the drapes as silently as possible. She shook his shoulder to wake him up. "We gotta stop meeting like this," he mumbled as he woke up and saw her. "Dream again?" he asked when he saw her tear-streaked face. When she nodded, he pulled back the covers for her and ordered, "Get in." She obeyed immediately. He wrapped his arms around her, exactly as he had the night before. He kissed her and said, "Good night." They were asleep within moments.

* * * * * *

Just like the morning before, George awoke at precisely seven AM. He gently shook Tori awake. "Mmmm…five more minutes?" she murmured without waking up. Sighing, George leaned over his girlfriend and kissed her. "I like waking up this way," Tori whispered as she opened her eyes.

"Yeah, well, so do I. And, if we want to keep waking up this way, you need to get back to your bed before someone notices. I will see you soon, okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded forlornly. "I wish we could sleep in, though."

George traced a finger down the side of her face. "Later." He kissed her again, when, suddenly, she disappeared.

Tori kept her eyes closed when she rematerialized and, at first, didn't realize something was wrong. When she did, she opened her eyes automatically, assuming that somehow she hadn't left George's bed. However, when she opened her eyes she saw blond hair, not red. "Keri?" she asked, panicked. "Why are you in my bed?"

"A better question, Tori, is why you weren't in bed just five minutes ago. I covered for you yesterday. One night I can deal with. But two? No, my dear twin, you had better tell me where you were or I will be forced to do something drastic."

"Like what?" her twin wanted to know before giving away her and George's secret.

"Like tell Hermione you were out of bed at night. You know she would tell McGonagall."

"You wouldn't?" Tori stared at her sister in disbelief for a long moment. "Never mind. Don't answer that. I know you would. All right! Fine! I was sleeping with George!" Keri, who had sat up, began to go red in the face and started to make weird, chocking noises. "Not like that, you twit! I was sleeping with him, not SLEEPING with him! We just shared a bed, nothing more, okay! So get those nasty thoughts out of your head!"

Still sputtering, Keri managed to force out, "So, why, pray tell, are you sleeping with George?"

"Well, I had this really awful dream. I was running through the castle, and then the forest, and then I found George lying on the ground. Dead. And then someone started to laugh. Every time I closed my eyes I could only see his lifeless face and hear that horrible sound. I needed to make sure he was okay. And I ended up spending the rest of the night with him. It happened again last night. And will most likely happen again tonight. The dream only goes away when I am with him."

"That doesn't sound like a normal dream," Keri began.

"I know that! But I don't even want to think of the other possibility! Would you? If it was you having the dream about Fred?"

"No, and I don't blame you. Maybe you should talk to Hope about it."

"No," Tori disagreed. "I will be fine, thank you."

"Tori, don't be like that. You know I love you. I just don't want to see you hurt, that is all."

"Yeah, I know that, Keri. I love you, too. Now, what do you say we wake up the others, our way?" Keri nodded enthusiastically. They pulled apart the drapes as they each grabbed a pillow. Tori stood next to Hermione's bed and Keri assumed her position next to Kayla's. "On the count of three. One…Two…Three!" In unison, they pulled apart the curtains and began to hit their victims with their weapons of choice.

As the days went by, Keri became more and more worried about her twin. She even considered talking to Hope about it, but that course of action would break all rules of twin confidentiality. Not that anyone but Keri noticed Tori's behavioral changes. On the outside, she seemed chipper enough. But, therein lies the problem. Tori was naturally reticent and her recent behavior only proved that she was hiding. However, she wouldn't talk about it. At least, not with her own twin. She might have confided in George, seeing as he was the only solace from her visions (as Keri now believed they were), but Keri doubted her prideful sister had done even that. The only thing Keri could do was watch her twin and hope she didn't do anything drastic.

Tori, herself, walked around the castle in a state of heightened tension and could barely force herself to leave George's side. Like Keri, Tori now knew that her hellish nightmare was a vision of the future, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. She covered her nerves with a false sense of enthusiasm while she secretly researched ways to protect her boyfriend since she couldn't be with him all the time.

Finally, it snowed again. Just in time to prevent massive pranks from the students left in the castle. Like their previous escapade in the snow, the invitation was issued over breakfast. George stood up and the student body instantly fell silent. They knew what was coming. "I promised you we would let you know when the next snowball fight would be," he began without preamble. "Be at the Quidditch pitch at 10 o'clock in order to participate. And face it, what else is there to do? Homework?" Hermione bit back a protest and George winked at her and continued, "And, to spice things up a bit, we are also inviting the professors to join in the fun. See you all later!"

At precisely ten o'clock, the Quidditch field began to fill up with both students and teachers. Everyone was looked forward to the game. At quarter after ten, George began to explain the rules so that no one could say "But I didn't know that!" Spells and charms were allowed, as long as they weren't meant to harm anyone in particular. For instance, one could make a snowball bigger and faster, but not tickle another player. The teachers all looked amused at George's foresight and list of how not to harm others. His pranks weren't all harmless, after all.

When George finished, the battle began. He actually had to dive out of the way so he wouldn't be hit with the first snowball thrown at his head. He suspected Fred had thrown it. The fight had begun. Snowballs were thrown all over the place. Each of the five teams fending for themselves against the others.

Suddenly, Keri had a perfectly clear shot right at Jake. She couldn't pass it up. She threw the snowball in her hands at her long-time friend. Since it was only slightly modified to stick together better, Keri was shocked when Jake went down and stayed down when it hit him. It definitely wasn't supposed to do that. She wasn't the only one to notice, however, since one of the teachers, McGonagall Keri surmised, called a halt to the playing. Keri raced across the field to slide to a stop at his side, the other players gathering around to see what was wrong, Fred with a slight glare. Jake wouldn't wake up, no matter what they did. That was when Dumbledore conjured a stretcher and carried Jake to the hospital wing.

The other five musketeers (along with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George) attempted to follow Dumbledore so they could find out what was wrong with their friend. Keri was especially worried since she believed it was her fault cause she threw the snowball. They were stopped by the irascible Madame Pomphrey who told them not to return until they were wearing dry clothes. They hurried to their respective dormitories to dry off. They returned in less than thirty minutes to find Jake sitting up in a bed trying to persuade the nurse to let him leave. That, yes, he was perfectly fine and able to be alone.

Keri pushed past the others and ran to Jake's bed. She began to apologize so quickly it was nearly impossible for Jake to understand what she was saying, "OMG, Jake I am so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you at all. I am so sorry. I can't-"

Jake interrupted her, "Ker' it is okay. I am fine. Really. Stop worrying."

"But-"

Jake ignored her and turned to the nurse, with his most charming smile, "Madame Pomphrey is it okay if I go now? I promise to take it easy for the rest of the break."

In the face of such an argument, the nurse could do no other but comply. Besides, she still remembered Kayla's little escapade and feared that Jake would vanish if she made him stay. She went into the side room and returned with a bottle. She gave a spoonful of its contents to Jake as she said, "Fine, but I want you in your bed in under thirty minutes, so I am going to give you a potion that will make you fall asleep in precisely half an hour. And I want you to check in with me in the morning when you wake up." They waved goodnight and with one last quick apology from Keri, the students returned to their dormitories. James promising to make sure Jake followed the medi-witch's instructions.

They got back to the Gryffindor common room without mishap, but once in the tower, things didn't go so well. Fred had sat down on a chair and stared into the fire. Keri walked over to him and sat down next to him. "Is there something wrong, Fred?"

"Oh! So now you want to know if I'm okay."

"What is that supposed to mean, Fred Weasley?" she said, standing and putting her hands on her hips and giving him the evil eye.

"That you obviously care more about Jake than you do about me," he replied scathingly.

"Fred! I've known Jake since I was 3! Of course I care about him. But, you are my boyfriend. Not him. I think I would know," she added, trying to lighten the mood.

"Well, it doesn't look that way to me."

"If you think that you obviously don't know me very well at all!" By this time, both of them had stood up and were shouting at each other. All activity in the common room had stopped as everyone in Gryffindor tower watched the couple argue. "You obviously don't know how it feels to almost lose one of your best friends! I worry about him!"

"So why don't you go comfort him, then?"

"Because you are my boyfriend."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything!"

"What do you mead by that?"

"If you don't know I am certainly not going to tell you!" When Fred only glared at her, Keri continued, "What is your problem?"

"I don't know! Why don't you go ask Jake? I am sure you don't argue with him. But, then again, I'm not sure you do much talking with him either."

"What do you mean by that?" Keri asked, aghast. "Are you implying that I'm cheating on you?"

"Well if it walks like at duck and quacks like a duck."

"Take that back right now, Fredrick Laurence Weasley! Take it back!"

"No way!"

Keri turned as red as Fred's hair as she fumed about what he said. Then she stalked over to where Fred was standing and slapped him. "Don't ever speak to me like that again," she whispered with deadly calm before rephrasing, "actually, don't ever speak to me again. I am not sure I would be able to refrain from stabbing you. Goodbye, Fred."

She turned and ran up the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory. Fred looked around at the students who watched the argument. "What are you blokes looking at?" he snarled before heading up to his own dormitory.

Tori and George collapsed on an armchair in front of the fire. "Do you think we should talk to them, love?" George whispered into Tori's ear.

She nodded, "I suppose we should…I don't want to though. C'mon, no rest for the weary. You take your twin, I'll take mine." When she tried to get up, though, George wouldn't let her. She glared at him.

"Just a few more minutes, please?" he whined in his best "little kid" voice. Tori laughed and kissed him full on the lips.

"Mmmm…But, if we go now, we will have more time alone later."

"I like that plan! Let's go!" He stood up and dragged her up with him. With one last, lingering kiss, George pushed his girl towards the staircase Keri ran up as he headed towards the set his twin had rushed up after snapping at the rest of the common room.