Chapter 7

Some Random Bits of Fluff

"Our last days of not worrying about OWLs," sighed Fred, on the Hogwarts Express.

I snorted. "You're gonna worry at all?"

"No, but you will!" accused Fred.

"Mmmhmm," I answered. "But I don't know what classes I'm gonna drop after this year."

"I'll drop Potions, Divination…everything but Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Let's not talk about OWLs," George said as he popped into the compartment.

"Did Alicia figure out your real purpose for finding out where she lives?" asked Fred.

"I don't know what you're talking about," answered George, slightly redder in the cheeks.

"You just wanted to be able to know where all the Quidditch players live, right?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Sure…let's go with that," stumbled George.

"Georgie-Porgie is in lurve!" yelled Fred and me in unison. The rest of the way back to London was spent badgering George about his new flame and dreading the OWLs.

The Burrow was tremendously fun, as usual. Mrs. Weasley still didn't forget the previous summer, and was always hesitant to leave me and Fred alone. "Mum, what do you expect us to do?" Fred asked constantly.

"Oh, nothing. I just don't like to leave my babies all by themselves," Mrs. Weasley constantly answered. We often played Quidditch, and I was finally on the winning team! (Fred, Charlie, Ginny, and me vs. Bill, George, Harry, and Ron) But the days of fun at the Burrow were occasionally interrupted by Mrs. Weasley's talk of OWLs. She was constantly egging on Fred because his final exams in Potions and Divination had been horrible and George because he wasn't 'up to scratch' in Herbology.

"You know, I've heard that people pay others to fail their OWLs," I remarked one day. "If I knew I would fail certain classes, that might not be a bad idea. I might get someone to pay me to fail History of Magic."

Fred and George raised their eyebrows. "Goody-good Paige? Getting paid to fail a class?" asked George.

"Why not? I'm gonna fail History of Magic anyway. Might as well get some money out of it," I answered.

"Well…we do need money for the joke shop," Fred mused.

"Back up," I said, confused. "Joke shop?"

"Yeah, we have ideas for Ton-Tongue toffee, Canary Creams…stuff like that. We need Galleons to get the products into circulation."

"My God! That's brilliant! I could steal the Galleons from Lucius…if you want?"

"Nah. He'd kill you."

"No he wouldn't. I was really mad at him once, so I nicked 50 Galleons, but he didn't even notice. It sucked. How can you not notice 50 Galleons gone missing?"

"I don't know." "I certainly would. Everybody thinks that since we're Malfoys, we got Galleons coming out our ears. Not true. My parents say all the time that I should be grateful. If I had even one sibling, we might not be able to afford Hogwarts. The only reason we don't seem that poor is me nicking Galleons off of Lucius. My parents don't know where I get them."

By then I was starting to get really angry so I added, "Sorry to be such a girl. Must be PMS."

It was then that we noticed Mrs. Weasley in the doorway. "MUM! Don't you understand privacy?" asked George.

"How much did you hear?" asked Fred.

"Just the bit about…you poor girl!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, coming over to hug me. I think Mrs. Weasley's misgivings about be ended there, because she finally realized that I wasn't rolling in Galleons.

"Dinnertime!" said Mrs. Weasley as she left the room. George, Fred, and I jumped up and ran to the table, realizing just how ravenous we were. The last bit of the holidays, Mrs. Weasley laid off the talk about OWLs, probably figuring that we'd get enough about it at school.

And sure enough, when we returned to school, all the teachers could talk about was OWLs this, OWLs that. Snape was the worst. He was always like, "I hope none of you want careers that require NEWTs in Potions," and crap like that. It drove me crazy! Does he want everyone to fail their OWLs?

Almost all of the teachers were requiring high OWL grades, except for Hagrid and Trelawney, who would accept an Acceptable. Homework was piled higher than ever, and all OWL students got almost no sleep.

A lot of the students were freaked out because Sirius Black was on the loose, but even when he broke into Hogwarts, I wasn't worried. Lucius, being the git that he is, once let it slip that Sirius had to be innocent.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was better than ever, as Lupin was our teacher. The year whizzed by, and soon, career advice was looming. Fred, George, Lee, and I searched through pamphlets, trying to find interesting careers. Fred was interested in working at the Ministry…or so he said. George wanted to work as a wand maker…or so he said. Lee wanted to work in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and I decided on being an Auror or a Gringotts Curse Breaker.

Our career advice sessions were all scheduled on the same Saturday, so we agreed to do our homework together outside of McGonagall's office while waiting for the others to finish/ wait for our turn. It was crazy nerve-wracking, waiting outside for each other to finish. Lee was to go in first, followed by George, Fred, and finally me.

"Good luck!" we all told Lee as we started on Transfiguration.

"Write a foot-long essay about the similarities and differences of human and animal Transfiguration," read George aloud.

"Umm…human Transfiguration is more complex than animal Transfiguration…because…humans are larger and better protected than the small animals that are less protected against magic," I recalled.

"However, both are (obviously) forms of live Transfiguration," added George.

"Both forms are more dangerous to the subject than the performer," spoke up Fred. With that, we started the foot long essay on Transfiguration.

We had all finished when Lee came out of McGonagall's office, slightly paler than normal.

A/N: Like the title of the chappie suggests, this chapter was random bits of fluff, kind of there just to pass the time until OWLs. If you're totally thick and couldn't realize that Paige was acting (just out of boredom), she was.