Carina Lestrange was one of the first people on the train to Hogwarts at the end of the winter break. She chose an empty compartment, stored her luggage, and released Corvin to roam around to his heart's content. Unfortunately for her, that allowed for others to find her, namely, the Weasley Twins when they hopped aboard.
Fred slipped into the compartment quickly and closed the blinds, much to Carina's chagrin. She glared up at him from her seat and then glared at Corvin who happily greeted the red-head. "What?" she asked harshly.
"George is on the lookout, I'll be gone soon," Fred explained, sitting across from the Slytherin after reaching down to momentarily scratch behind Corvin's ear. Traitor, Carina thought as Corvin hopped up next to Fred and curled against his leg. "You sent us a present."
Carina cocked an eyebrow at him, unimpressed with his deduction and cornering her. "What gives you that idea?" Neither confirm nor deny, exactly what Narcissa and Lucius ingrained into her very being. It gave people less to work with. It also forced people to second-guess themselves and potentially open themselves up to manipulation.
"We don't normally associate with anyone with that fancy of handwriting, an extremely well-taken care of but rude owl, and a wax seal of a raven. And everyone else would happily sign their names." She had to give him props for the thought out response but still kept her face blank. Fred sighed, frustrated at her lack of reaction. "We aren't going to tell anyone. No one else knows either. We just wanted to thank you and ask why."
She had wrestled with the "why" ever since she exited the joke shop. Carina didn't truly know why she did it, why she risked it. "I-I don't know."
"You don't know?" Fred repeated, looking rather dubious.
"I'm telling the truth."
Fred studied her for a moment. "I know." He chewed on his bottom lip as he thought something over. "Tell you what: we won't use the gifts until you tell us who you want them used on."
"What?"
Instead of answering, Fred stood, gave Corvin one last pet, and started towards the door of the compartment. "Think it over. Slip us a note with names when you figure it out." Fred opened the door and slid out, hurrying down the hall out of sight with George before anyone noticed.
Corvin wasn't particularly pleased that his pillow had left. Neither was Carina. He wanted her to choose the targets. That would be easy, right?
Interrupting her thoughts, the compartment door opened again and Sylvia entered with a grin. Carina shook Fred's visit out of her mind. She had plenty of time to think about it. At that moment, she looked forward to the second-semester beginning. She had plenty of spells and potions to learn and plenty of books to read. Hopefully, it would be fun.
Weeks passed as winter turned to spring. The birds began chirping at the early hours of a Wednesday morning, waking up with the sun. Carina quickly got ready for the day. Potions, History of Magic, and double Transfiguration called out her name.
Potions with the Gryffindors always proved to be entertaining whether the subject was enjoyable or not. Every class without fail had the twins causing fun hijinks behind, and sometimes not behind, Professor Snape's back. Occasionally, they were caught, but that day they weren't.
Adrian rolled his eyes, tempted to call them out, but not finding the motivation to do so. Even he found them entertaining; although, he would never admit it aloud. Carina could see it in his eyes though and in the slight upturn of his lips despite the scowl he tried so hard to keep in place whenever they were around. She didn't judge. She found them entertaining, too. The twins had a knack for making people laugh like it was their calling.
As Carina stirred her potion, she made eye contact with one of the twins. For a moment, she had a difficult time figuring out which one as the Potions classroom was hazy from the fires lit under the cauldrons. She realized it was Fred once he tapped his wrist and mimed writing a note. He wanted her to hurry up with choosing their targets. She bit her lip and turned her attention back to the potion she and Adrian were working on.
The truth was that she didn't have any enemies that she wanted to be humiliated. The only person so far to cause her any issues was the female Gryffindor in the first semester, but Carina didn't know her name and it was only a minor annoyance. Fred and George pestering her with friendship were more annoying than that lone Gryffindor girl. Sure, some people have sneered at her or made offhanded comments under their breath, but otherwise, she was having a wonderful time at Hogwarts. Did she truly want someone to be the target of a prank because of her?
After thinking about it, kind of. But only if they deserved it. No one thus far had proven they deserved it. Except for maybe the twins themselves, but all they aspired to do was make others happy, regardless of how they did it.
Potions flew by too quickly for Carina's liking, but too slowly for the twins. They had things to do and places to be. Carina, unknowingly, packed up slower than her peers, still thinking over any possible people she wanted dungbombs and hair dye to be used on.
Adrian waited patiently for his friend, sensing something was on her mind, but not wanting to interrupt her thoughts. He knew she would simply shut him out if he asked. And since she didn't seem too terribly bothered, he wouldn't risk her wrath or upset for something minor. Perhaps she was only dreading sitting through History of Magic since it was so boring.
Carina shouldered her bag and walked side by side with Adrian out of the Potions classroom. The two chatted amicably about their upcoming Charms essay due the following day. Carina, predictably, had already completed it, and Adrian, also predictably, wanted her to check his for any mistakes. Since Carina had no plans besides doing other homework and personal reading, she agreed as long as he didn't bug her about going to the Quidditch match that Saturday.
As the two were walking, both first-years were hit with a trip jinx. Adrian, a lot less graceful than the girl who had grown up taking ballet lessons, had fully fallen, barely catching himself before hitting his face on the hard stone floor while Carina caught herself on one knee, both dropping their bags and spilling some of the contents.
The culprit, a male Gryffindor in what appeared to be his third year, stood with his wand out and laughed with his friends, two other Gryffindors, one male and one female, and a male Ravenclaw. Both Slytherins glared up at the group who stood off to the side. Carina recognized the girl as the one who bothered her in the library. Other students stopped walking and inched away, recognizing the telltale signs of impending retaliation.
"Look at the adorable little snakes on the floor where they belong," the third year Gryffindor said mockingly with a sickeningly sweet smile. Adrian pulled himself up onto his knees and spotted Carina's hand inching towards her wand pocket. His hand shot out to stop her from grabbing it as the older students watched. "Is the first year gonna fight back? Gonna use the Cruciatus Curse on me like your father did on the Longbottoms? Oh, but I'm sure you'd love to be reunited with your family, right?"
Carina leaned back on her ankle, relaxing under the stern glare Adrian gave her. The female Gryffindor, unhappy with the apparent lack of outward emotion stemming from the Lestrange, pulled out her own wand. Carina was barely able to wrench out her wand and block the stinging jinx sent her way, but quickly retaliated with, "Locomotor Mortis." The Gryffindor girl's legs locked together and she began to fall, the Ravenclaw grabbing her to keep her steady.
The second male Gryffindor, angry for his friend getting hit, pulled out his own wand, calling, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Another wand came up behind Carina and Adrian and blocked it. Both first years looked behind them to see prefects Charlie Weasley and Gemma Farley of Slytherin. Charlie's wand still out, he stepped in front of the two first years as Gemma helped them collect their things and stand. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for attacking other students and using magic in the corridors," Charlie said. "I will be speaking with Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick about your behavior. Now, get to class." Charlie looked around at all the students watching. "All of you, get to class."
As Carina shouldered her bag, Gemma looked down at the two young Slytherins. "Are you alright?" the prefect girl asked.
Adrian glanced at his friend before looking back at their prefect. "We're fine," he replied as Charlie joined the three.
Charlie, usually sporting a grin or at least semi-upbeat, did not seem happy with anything that had just transpired. "Do either of you need to go to the hospital wing?" the Weasley asked. The first years shook their heads. "Good." He turned his attention to Gemma. "I'm going to see Professor McGonagall about this right away. Can you make sure they get to class on time?"
"Of course." Gemma didn't look too particularly happy with the situation either, but she was glad Charlie had seen it instead of just her. It was a Gryffindor calling out the bad actions of other Gryffindors and not Slytherin versus Gryffindor like it usually seemed to be. Charlie seemed to also be the only Gryffindor prefect that didn't totally buy into the feud or seem to hate Slytherins at all. He was a genuinely good guy, unlike many. "Come on, what do you two have next?"
She grabbed them both by the shoulders and pulled them along. "History of Magic," Adrian answered.
Gemma hummed quietly. "At least if you're late, Binns won't notice or really care."
Because that was the thing bugging Carina and Adrian: being late to class. They were just attacked by older students. Granted, no harm had been done; however, that fact didn't exactly make them feel better.
But one good thing did happen. Carina knew who she would sic the twins on, like letting dogs have nice, juicy steaks.
At lunch, Carina sent over a note to the twins who were goofing off at the Gryffindor table. Both immediately settled down as the mysterious parchment landed in front of them. Lee, who sat across from them, looked equally intrigued.
The beautiful calligraphy on the front read Fred. Fred Weasley, eyeing it warily, picked it up, shooting a skeptical look at his brother and Lee. Then he realized he shouldn't be skeptical of anything. He recognized the handwriting. Peeling his eyes away from the Gryffindor table, he turned to the Slytherin table, where Carina sat between Adrian Pucey and Sylvia Melville. She skillfully avoided his gaze, keeping her focus on her friends.
Thumbing open the parchment, Fred's eyes scanned the page.
Ask Charlie about the altercation in the hall this morning.
No other words were needed for Fred to understand. He'd already heard about the Gryffindors who had decided it would be a fun idea to pick a fight with two Slytherin first years in the middle of a crowded hall. At least the targets would be easy to get to.
"Georgie, we have work to do," Fred said quietly so no one other than George and Lee would hear and handed his brother the note.
George hummed appreciatively, reading the note as Lee looked on in mild confusion. "Hell yeah, we do, Freddie," George replied. He folded the note and handed it back to Fred who pocketed it quickly. "What do you think? Dungbombs for the blokes?"
"And the soap for the girl," Fred finished before taking a bite of his sandwich.
Lee quickly realized what the note had said. "What about the dye for the Ravenclaw? Give him some Gryffindor pride?" he suggested with a mischevious smile. Fred and George nodded together. It was all coming together perfectly. They just had to execute it.
The following morning, the male Gryffindors woke up to dungbombs going off underneath their pillows. The Gryffindor girl jumped out of the shower with a scream as frogs spawned while washing her body.
The day after the retaliation against the Gryffindor perpetrators, the Ravenclaw bloke showed up to class with scarlet red hair and matching cheeks due to a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
The school buzzed with rumors about who had pranked the four students. The popular theory was Carina having done it herself. Another claimed she had Adrian and Cassius do it. A small minority believed Carina had somehow convinced the Weasley Twins to exact her revenge, and, of course, they were right. There was simply no proof. None at all. So no Weasley nor Lestrange got sent to detention.
For the rest of their first year, anyone who decided to give the Lestrange girl a difficult time would meet the unfortunate fate of being on the receiving end of the Weasley Twins' wrath. Not that anyone could prove it was them or even knew. When it came to retaliation towards Carina's tormentors, they were especially careful to not get caught and make sure nothing came back to haunt her, which she greatly appreciated, even though she couldn't quite understand why the two red-headed boys even bothered.
All she did was buy them some joke products. Why did they care about her?
Unbeknownst to her, all she had to do was ask them and they'd gladly tell her. She was different. Different than many of the Slytherin students. Different than her parents and godparents. Different than other Hogwarts students in general.
Carina wasn't blinded by the prejudice she was taught. Carina actually seemed to care. And most importantly: Carina could tell the twins apart. Not many had bothered to try. It didn't matter who her family was. Fred and George Weasley had made it their personal mission to show Carina Lestrange how much they appreciated her effort and friendship despite her fear.
And if Carina's sly grin aimed at Fred over the haze in the Potion's classroom was anything to go by, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.