Authors Notes: This story follows the events of the Harry Potter novels. In regards to character appearance it is mostly consistent with the way they are portrayed within the films.
Taking place across the Order of the Phoenix.
Updated every Sunday.
Cross posted to Wattpad.
I do not own or profit from Harry Potter.
Chapter 1
Prudence was almost glad for the distraction when the acrid grey smoke filled the carriage, the sound of tiny pops permeating the air above them. Moments ago, she sat with Angelina, Alicia and Katie. The three had taken it upon themselves to interrogate her about the state of her failed relationship with the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain Nicholas Overland. Prudence struggled to explain to them the reasons why she had suddenly just stopped replying to his owls a mere 3 weeks into the summer break. She struggled to explain it to herself really.
She crawled blindly in the direction of the carriage door, the rough old carpeting of the floor scuffing against her knees as she dragged them forward. Her hands reached blindly forward, searching aimlessly for the hardwood of the carriage door. She could feel the leg of Katie as she pushed past, her hand knocking against her softly.
"Who was that?" Katie squeaked unsurely, her voice tinged with concern.
"It's me, Prudence" Prudence respond quickly, continuing to pull herself forwards across the carpet "I'm trying to get to the door."
As she finished speaking, Prudence felt the cracked and worn carriage door press against her fingers gently. She moved forward further, placing her hand against it more firmly as she brought herself up flush to it. Her hands skirted across the wood, cool to the touch against her hands, her fingers ran to the left, looking for the handle of the door. Her fingers wrapped around the edge of the door frame unexpectedly, she had expected the door to be shut, but it lay open just a crack. She yanked the door firmly open, allowing the grey smoke that pressed down on them from the ceiling to billow out into the corridor.
Finally reaching the corridor and free from the soot Prudence pressed her back against a wall, feeling the sweet relief in her throat as the fresh air slid down into her lungs. Turning her head towards the door just as Angelina and Alicia stumbled out into the open air, the crackle of their coughing and spluttering filling the corridor. Smoke billowed out into the passage above their heads. Their eyes searched for her, quickly taking account for who had been with them in the corridor. From the widening of their eyes, it seemed almost at the same time as Prudence realised that Katie had still not followed them out.
Prudence gripped the hard base of her wand, readying herself to pull it from the holster that held it in place against her thigh safely concealed under her school skirt.
"You check our cabin for Katie" she commanded, her voice gentle but firm "I'm going to make sure no one else has been attacked."
Prudence hoped she was keeping a look of calm across her face. At the same time, internally her mind flashed to the events of the last year, the vision of Potter cradling Cedric Diggory as he appeared outside the Triwizard maze. Despite the campaign of disinformation, the Daily Prophet Prudence would never be able to believe that someone could falsify the genuine fear she had seen across Harry's face and the prickling pain that had heard tinged in his voice.
She peered into the window of the first carriage to the left of their own. Inside sat three familiar adolescent boys, and suddenly the events became a lot clearer.
"Angie I don't think we need to be worried" she called out as she turned back to the door of their own carriage as Angelina, Alicia and Katie followed them out of the corridor, questioning looks spread across their faces. With a nod of her head in the direction of the three boys, she continued "I think I've found the culprits."
The three girls softly crept towards where she stood, peering themselves through the window. Inside they saw the lanky bodies and flaming red hair of the Weasley twins and the shorter stocky frame of Lee Jordan. After 7 years of school with the boys, they knew that it was suspicious enough that the loud and rambunctious trio sat quietly and solemnly, not speaking to each other. The oddness of each other's individual activities only increased the girls' distrust.
Lee looked to be staring intently inside a box of Bertie Botts, hand digging deep in the container but never moving to bring a sweet to his lips. To his left sat George, parchment on his knee. Instead of a quill in his hand crawling across the page though was his wand. The deep purple feather of his quill blooming out from where it was tucked beneath his ear. She moved her eyes across the space towards Fred Weasley. Splayed across the chair, one knee rested up against his chest, and the other laid flat against the seat. His back was pressed against the window that faced outside, and his eyes crinkled intensely studying the book clutched in his hands, a copy of Advanced Potion Making.
"Weasley," Prudence's strong voice filled their cabin as she dragged the cabin door open lazily, causing both twins to look up at her suddenly "You probably won't have to squint so hard to read that if you turn it up the right way."
Fred's freckled skin flushed as he leant the book towards himself, peering down at the front cover to confirm that it was upside down. He dropped it haphazardly onto the ground next to him, with it fell the presence of the other two who relaxed from their forced acts of cover.
"Buchanan," Fred chortled, a smile pushing across his face "Lovely to see you. Nice summer?"
Prudence pushed her way into the cabin, swiping her hand down onto the leg Fred had flung across the seat, indicating for him to move.
As she lowered herself into the bench next to him, she remarked "Yea absolutely excellent, almost perfect right up until the moment when two red-haired idiots made us all think we were being attacked by death eaters on the train to school."
He studied her face, appearing to be considering his response carefully before he continued on "Mental! Point us in their direction Prudey, and we'll take care of them for you all."
She narrowed her eyes in his direction, glaring at him both for the use of the nickname he'd "gifted" her in their first year that she'd been threatening to obliviate from his memory ever since and for the feigned ignorance of his prank. Laughter shot across his face silently as he turned to face his twin.
"Well I guess the jig is up Georgie, I think they might have caught us" his deep voice chortled.
"I think you're right, Fred," his twin mirrored, the fake solemnity he had spread across his face, unable to reach his voice.
Fred swung the leg that still sat pressed up against his chest down to the floor as he turned to stand from his seat. Watching Fred take a long stride across the space to sit himself next to his twin Prue couldn't help but feel a quick pang of disappointment at his sudden departure.
Fred and George bent their heads together deep in conversation within seconds of Fred taking the seat. She looked up at Angelina with a warm smile as her best friend sat down next to her, leaning against her side. Alicia swiftly followed taking the final available seat leaving Katie to bid them goodbye as she went to find her fellow 6th years, soot still smeared across her face.
Lee quickly busied the two girls with his attempts to flirt with Alicia, allowing them to engage him in some brutal verbal sparring. Prudence attempted to look interested in their conversation. Still, instead, she found herself taking in the Weasley twins from across the floor.
She could hear drabs of their conversation float towards her. Words like "explosives" and "dragon powder" sticking out. George turned to the parchment still placed against his knee's beginning to take notes before realising he was still holding his wand instead of his quill. It was clear to her as she watched Fred push the shaggy red hair that hung over his face as he dictated to George, who scrawled across the page that he was the instigator. His face was loaded with a concentration that was rarely seen on the face of either twin except in the conception of a genuinely brilliant prank.
Clearly, the Weasley Matriarch had succeeded in forcing her twins to cut their hair over the summer, they both sported a considerably shorter look. However, their vibrant ginger hair still stuck messily in every direction. She wondered to herself how Molly had managed it, imagined scenarios of Molly stunning the twins in an attempt to cut their hair crossing her mind with a giggle. Even the pleads of their Yule Ball dates last year hadn't convinced the twins to cut their hair so Prudence assumed Molly must have pulled something miraculous to reach this achievement.
She busied herself with staring out the window as they wound through the Scottish highlands, pulling them ever closer to Hogwarts. Apparently tired with harassing Lee Alicia's head nodded against the wall, her eyes peacefully closed as she snoozed. Angelina took the opportunity to turn back to her, bringing the conversation back to their previously interrupted interrogation of her dating life.
"You know you'll have to tell us one day why you dumped Overland" Angelina commanded her, her dark brows furrowed towards Prudence.
Prue scrunched her face up at the suggestion, noticing from the corner of her eye that at the mention of the tall Ravenclaw chaser Fred and George's conversation had quieted. She could be mistaken, but she almost thought she'd seen Fred glance questioningly at her at the mention of the name.
"I don't know what to tell you Angelina" she responded in a hushed tone, exasperation filling her voice "but I wouldn't suggest bringing up peoples romantic situations right now."
She ended the sentence by allowing a little threat to fill the sentence, gesturing unnoticeably towards George. Angelina's cheeks darkened slightly as she blushed, but a sparkle filled her eyes, and a shy smile fell on her face as she glanced over at the quieter Weasley twin.
"Oi Angelina" Fred's voice filled the cabin suddenly, abruptly ending the hushed conversation she was having with Angelina "Swap seats with me? Gettin dizzy from travelling backwards."
Angelina nodded quickly as she stood, glancing over her shoulder to Prue with a panicked face. Prue almost laughed to herself, considering how Angelina would comfortably take on a squad of tall male Quidditch players without breaking a sweat but the idea of sitting next to her crush filling her with anxiety.
Fred pressed his body into the space between Alicia and herself. Taking up more room than what Angelina had vacated previously, the muscular thigh pressed up against Prudence felt firm against her soft thigh.
She locked her eyes forward firmly, focusing with a studious intensity on Angelina's face as she vibrantly chattered about the upcoming year, George enthralled as she spoke. While Angelina gestured wildly as she describes her plans to secure the Inter-House Quidditch cup for her final year at school, I attempted weakly to ignore the feeling of Fred's body pressed against my side, and warmth that came from it.
She pretended she wasn't acutely aware of the hand he had moved to grip the edge of their seat, causing his pinky finger to rub against the side of her thigh gently as the train hummed forward.
She attempted valiantly to stop the thoughts of that hand being placed against her knee, and as she glanced down at it quickly, she could almost swear that she had seen him flex his hand slightly wider, allowing him to graze further against her leg.
She stared intently out the window, determined to ignore these new thoughts that were probing her mind.