Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, leave me be.
Chapter Six – Repercussions of the Sporting Nature
"Never, in all my days! Six Gryffindors out of bed after hours! This is disgraceful, not one of you has the right to roam the school after hours!"
All six of them were stood gloomily in front of the desk in Professor McGonagall's office, being lectured by an angry Professor McGonagall who looked like she had been in bed when Filch had gone to fetch her. Her hair was in curlers, held in place by a tight fitting hairnet, and she was wearing a long black dressing gown. Filch was stood behind them, a satisfied grin plastered across his nasty face.
"Girls, I would not have expected this blatant disregard of rules from you. You have disappointed me. But you three…"
Professor McGonagall's eyes flared at they focused on the twins and Lee. Moving away from Lee for a moment she focused fully on the twins.
"Were you two not listening when I spoke to you this morning? Did your detention earlier teach you nothing? No Mr Weasley, I do not want to hear it."
George had opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Professor McGonagall's harsh words. He closed his mouth again quickly.
"I do not want to hear excuses, I do not want to hear blame. You will all report here to me at precisely eleven o'clock on Friday, and ten points each will be taken from Gryffindor."
Lee went slightly red. Between them they had lost Gryffindor 90 points in one day, including Fred and George's prank last night. Where would that put Gryffindor in the race for the house cup? Not in poll position that was for sure.
Angelina couldn't help herself; she knew what was supposed to be occurring at that time on Friday, they'd miss the first Quidditch match of the season. She didn't care about the house points but she had been looking forwards to the Quidditch match for weeks. She loved Quidditch; she had played it at amateur level before she came to Hogwarts. She had been so looking forwards to seeing the match. Before she could stop she was blurting the words out, hoping beyond all hope that Professor McGonagall hadn't realised what she would be making them miss.
"But Professor! It's the Quidditch match on Friday, we'll miss it!"
Professor McGonagall turned her piercing cold gaze to Angelina.
"I am perfectly aware that this time co-insides with Quidditch, Miss Johnson. Perhaps missing the match will encourage you all to obey the rules in future."
Angelina's heart sunk as George opened his mouth to speak. She was going to miss it…this was so unfair. It was all the twins and Alicia's fault. Alicia knew how much she'd been looking forwards to this match, how could she make her miss it?
"Professor, will we still have to come to our second detention on Friday as well? At nine o'clock?" asked George, dragging her mind back to their current situation.
He didn't really need to ask; he already knew the answer that was coming.
"Of course Mr Weasley. You are not going to be excused of punishment for one breach of school rules simply because you have breached more rules."
George sighed inwardly. Great, so he and Fred would be spending almost the whole day in Professor McGonagall's company. Some holiday this was turning out to be.
Professor McGonagall glared round at them all for a moment before continuing.
"Mr Filch will now escort you back to Gryffindor Tower and woe betide any of you if I hear of any more night time wanderings. And you two…" she fixed her gaze once more on the twins.
"I do not want to see you in this office again aside from your arriving to serve your remaining detentions. Is that clear?"
"Yes Professor." They mumbled together.
Professor McGonagall looked up at Filch.
"Mr Filch, if you please."
Filch nodded briefly.
"Right you are Professor. Follow me you lot."
Without meeting each others eyes the six of them turned and followed Filch out of the office. They were silent as they walked back to Gryffindor Tower, the silence only punctuated by the sound of their footsteps echoing off the walls, and Filch's nasty comments about 'young rule breakers'. After what seemed like hours they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Inside." Said Filch harshly.
They didn't dare answer back, Katie simply mumbled the password to open the portrait hole, and then one by one they clambered through it.
"Great…just great." Grumbled Angelina as they moved over towards their armchairs once more. The common room was now deserted, everyone else having gone up to bed long ago.
One by one they collapsed into armchairs, each just as gloomy and depressed as the others. Angelina couldn't help herself, a voice inside her head was nagging at her, telling her this was all Alicia's fault. If it hadn't been for her they wouldn't be in this mess, and she would still be looking forwards to going to the Quidditch match on Friday.
"This is all your fault." She snapped at Alicia.
Alicia looked up in surprise, if she had been expecting anything it wasn't this.
"What?" she spluttered.
"How is this my fault?"
"Because…" Angelina snapped.
"If it hadn't been for you we wouldn't have been out after hours. We were looking for you."
"Looking…for me?" Alicia responded, confused.
Katie nodded next to Angelina.
"It's not like you to be out after hours." She said quietly, shooting Alicia a quick smile, which conveyed enough for Alicia to tell that Katie didn't blame her.
"We were worried! You could have at least told us where you were going."
Alicia went slightly red. She couldn't have done anything of the sort without telling them about the map. She glanced up at the twins quickly and to her relief George stepped in.
"Hey, come on calm down. If you must know Alicia was out looking for us. Wasn't she Fred? If you're looking for anyone to blame then blame us."
Angelina looked as if she might do just that, but it was Lee who stepped in this time to try and defuse the situation.
"No one's to blame alright. We chose of our own free will to go and look for you. You know that's the truth Angelina. Each of us can only blame ourselves. Besides, what's the big deal? We're only going to miss the stupid Quidditch match."
Angelina, who had been looking rather guilty as Lee spoke, let a scandalised look creep across her face as he finished.
"Only going to miss the…Lee Jordan, you know better than anyone how much I love Quidditch, and I know for a fact you like it just as much! How can you say that?"
Lee shrugged casually.
"It's not like it's going to be the only game this year." He told her.
"There'll be other games, other chances to watch Gryffindor play."
"But that's not the point! It's the first game while we're at Hogwarts, and all we're going to be able to remember is the interior of McGonagall's office!" stressed Angelina.
"Its not like you've never seen a Quidditch game before Angelina." Said Lee.
"Alicia hasn't." retorted Angelina.
"She told me ages ago that she's looking forward to see…"
She looked over at Alicia who was sitting in silence across from her. She HAD told her how much she was looking forward to seeing the wizarding sport, so why would she deliberately make them miss it? Lee was grinning, he'd tricked her into admitting that it couldn't be Alicia's fault. He knew how much she'd been looking forwards to the match too. She blushed a deep red.
"Sorry Alicia." She muttered.
"Guess I overreacted."
Alicia looked up at Angelina.
"It's alright." She told her.
"Its understandable. I know you've been looking forward to the match."
"Excellent." Lee rose, the grin still on his face.
"Now that that's all sorted I think I'll head up to bed. All this late night adventuring has tired me out."
"I think we'd all better go, or none of us will be up until midday tomorrow." Said Katie.
A slight chuckle went around the group and they all nodded their agreement, rising out of their chairs as Lee had done. Finally they all bid each other goodnight and made their way up the stairs to their dormitories.
Whilst she was climbing Alicia slipped her hands into the front pockets of her robes, as she did so and her hands came into contact with a pile of oddly shapes things she realised she was still carrying multiple pocketfuls of Honeydukes best sweets. It seemed like hours ago now they were planning to share these sweets with the others and have a fun hour or two in the common room. They could wait, she decided. Tomorrow they'd share them out. After all, they had six more lesson free days to go…
The week passed quickly, even quicker than term time seemed to pass. The six friends spent most of their time outdoors, chatting or playing games, until dinnertime when they returned to Gryffindor common room. Each night Fred and George vanished for two hours at nine o'clock to serve their detention with Professor McGonagall, and each night the others waited for them. When they got back they shared out a portion of the sweets Fred, George and Alicia had brought back from Honeydukes and chatted amongst themselves as they ate them.
Describing their separate adventures to each other had mainly taken up the first night, the parchment map being a massive source of interest. Other nights the topics ranged from Quidditch to Defence Against the Dark Arts homework.
Finally Friday came. The six friends looked glum as they trooped out of the Great Hall together, having just finished breakfast. They walked past the masses of people heading out of the front doors towards the Quidditch pitch and up the Entrance Hall stairs. When they arrived at Professor McGonagall's office they knocked and entered, standing in front of Professor McGonagall's desk as she told them what they would be doing.
"You will all be spending the next two and a half hours in the dungeons with me." She told them.
"Your time will be spent scrubbing the cauldrons used during Potions lessons clean. Without magic of course."
The group groaned quietly. Scrubbing cauldrons without magic? That would take them ages! And there wouldn't be a chance of them hearing any of the match from there. They had hoped that their detention would take place in Professor McGonagall's office, as it had a clear view of the Quidditch pitch from the window. Angelina's eyes darted to the window as she thought of this. Professor McGonagall's sharp eyes saw her.
"I'm sorry Miss Johnson." She said quite kindly, it seemed as though she genuinely was sorry.
"But you have broken school rules, you must accept the consequences of that."
Angelina nodded after a moment, pulling her eyes away from the window.
"Follow me please." Professor McGonagall told them.
They did so, following her through the now deserted castle. They didn't even catch sight of a ghost as they walked through the halls, Alicia wondered if they were out at the match too.
When they reached the dungeons the lamps were not lit. It was plain that no one had been here today, not even Snape. With a flick of her wand Professor McGonagall caused bright flames to dance in the empty fireplace and in the lamps scattered around the room. She smiled to them as she sat down at Professor Snape's desk.
"Just because you're being punished doesn't mean you have to suffer in the dark and the cold." She told them.
They grinned back, but the grins melted as they looked around them. Each of the six long tables was covered in cauldrons of all shapes and sizes; a pair of dragon hide gloves and some scrubbing instruments at one end.
"One to a table." Professor McGonagall told them as she took out parchment and a quill from her pocket and laid them on the desk in front of her ready for use.
In silence each of them moved over to a long table and pulled on the dragon hide gloves.
"You may begin when ready." Professor McGonagall told them, turning her attention now to the parchment as she picked up her quill and began to write. Each of the six friends picked up their scrubbing instruments and began to work.
The time trailed by slowly as they worked, each one of them scrubbing away at the cauldrons as hard as they could before moving on to the next one. It seemed like days had passed when Professor McGonagall raised her head, observed them for a moment, and then said.
"Stop working. You may all leave now, I hope each of you has learned your lesson."
With a quick reassurance to Professor McGonagall that they had indeed learned their lesson all six of them tugged off their dragon hide gloves and dropped both them and their scrubbing instruments into the cauldron they had been working on. Then, as a group they left the dungeon, grumbling as they did so.
"My arms feel like they're going to fall off." Moaned Fred.
"Only your arms? My whole body feels like it wants to seize up." Added Lee.
"Its like physical torture." Complained George.
The girls simply rolled their eyes as the boys continued to complain as they headed back upstairs, flexing their aching muscles as they did so.
"At least its over now." Commented Katie to Alicia.
"Yeah, I don't think I could bear the thought of having to go through it again." Agreed Alicia.
"We have too." Said George glumly from in front of them.
"What do you want to bet she'll have us finishing off the rest of them tonight Fred?"
"Its probable." Replied Fred.
"I'm going to be a physical wreck by the time tomorrow morning comes around."
Angelina raised her eyebrows.
"Maybe then next time you'll think before breaking your word." She told him.
Angelina had been taking every possible opportunity to dig at Fred for breaking his promise about committing no more pranks over the holidays. George groaned.
"Do we have to bring this up again Angelina? I'm sorry ok. How many times do I have to tell you?"
"Another dozen should do nicely." Angelina whispered to Katie and Alicia and the three of them burst out laughing. Fred eyed them suspiciously.
"What did you say to them? Are you making fun of me?" he asked Angelina.
"Now would I do such a thing?" asked Angelina in tones of mock hurt, causing the girls to fall back into another round of laughter.
"Getting laughed at by girls, Fred?" asked Lee mischievously.
"And we thought you had pride." Chuckled George.
"Shut up you too." Fred replied, going slightly red.
"And you too." He added to Angelina.
"Make me Fred." She giggled.
Fred mumbled something that sounded very much like 'bloody girls' before marching off down the corridor leaving the rest of them howling with laughter.
After a moment they continued up the corridor, emerging into the large Entrance Hall.
"Hey, do you think the Quidditch has finished yet?" Angelina asked them, her eyes darting to the front door.
"Even if it hasn't there's no point going now." Katie told her.
"We'll have missed all the good stuff."
Angelina agreed, the most exciting part of a Quidditch match was likely at the start, when the players still had most of their energy and could throw everything they had at each other. Two and a half hours in (that was what McGonagall had said wasn't it?) things had usually worked their way down to a slow and steady pace, if the game lasted that long that was.
"Lets head up to Gryffindor Tower." She told them.
"If the match has finished we'll find out when we get there."
The others nodded, climbing the stairs in the Entrance Hall that led to the first floor. They walked slowly through the castle, in no particular hurry. Finally they reached the fat Lady, gave the password, and clambered through the portrait hole. The sight that met their eyes was not a happy one. The common room was full, so that meant the match had finished all right, but not one of the people in the room looked happy. Gryffindor must have lost the game.
Alicia tapped Percy on the shoulder; who was stood near to the portrait hole.
"What score was the match?" she asked him, as he turned round to face her.
"It wasn't good." He told her.
"We got hammered, four hundred and ninety to twenty. I've never seen such a bad result since I started here. The Slytherins are going to be awful to deal with for the next few weeks."
Alicia nodded to him glumly.
"Thanks." She said, and he turned back to the group of friends he was chatting to.
"Guess it isn't only us who've had a bad day." Lee muttered to them quietly.
"Look, there's Fred." Katie said, pointing towards the back of the common room. Fred was sat there alone, staring down at the tabletop.
"I think he's sulking because we made fun of him." Alicia giggled.
Angelina grinned at her.
"Nah, he's only pretending. He can't stay mad at us. Lets go cheer him up."
She winked at the group of them before heading over to Fred, the rest of them in tow.
Fred didn't look up as they all took seats around him. Angelina put her hand on his shoulder.
"Aww, come on Fred. We didn't mean it." She told him. Fred remained silent.
"Yeah, we love you really Fred." Said Katie, grinning at the rest of them.
"Speak for yourself woman." Commented Lee.
"The day I fall in love with Fred is the day I hope you'll all cart me off to St Mungo's Terminally Ill Ward."
They all giggled for a moment, even Fred.
"I wouldn't want you to fall in love with me." He called to Lee, raising his head to look at them, a grin spread across it.
"Such lies." Lee told them in mock horror.
"Everyone wants a piece of Lee Jordan. My love is in demand."
"In your dreams Lee Jordan." Katie retorted, swatting him playfully.
"He's hallucinating." Said George matter-of-factly.
"Lee thinks that whenever there's more than four females in a room with him they all must be madly in love with him."
"They are too." Lee answered with a hint of humour in his tone.
"I just turn on a bit of the old Jordan charm and they're all over me."
At this point none of them could keep their face straight anymore. They all burst out laughing, their laughter contrasting sharply with the dull mood of the common room.
"Tell you what," George began.
"How about I go and grab the rest of the sweets from upstairs and we go outside to eat them. This place is affecting my usual upbeat mood."
"Yeah, we should go outside while its nice." Alicia agreed.
"Looks like it might rain later, and there's only another couple of days of the holiday left. We should make the most of it while we can."
"That's the spirit." George said as the others agreed too.
"I'll go and grab the sweets from upstairs. Hang on. I'll get them then we can walk down together."
They nodded and George set off up the staircase leading to the boys' dormitory, returning several minutes later with the pockets of his robes relatively full.
Together the six friends rose and clambered once more out of the portrait hole, heading back down to the Entrance Hall for some quality time before the holiday's end.
A/N: I am aware that this chapter is shorter than the others, and you should be aware that I'm not particularly happy with it. I needed to round off the half term storyline so I could move on, and what I had planned to happen didn't really fill up as much space as I would have liked it to.
I've decided to bundle this chapter with the next one because I have a distinct feeling this one isn't as good as I'd like it to be, possibly because it's a purely come-down chapter from the excitement I tried to fuse into the last one.
Read and review, as always.