A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. I am so sorry for the delay in this chapter! I'm finally back at school and I've been busy with moving in and all of my classes. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Happy reading! XO

Chapter 50

"So what if I cast this spell on a person?" Ron asked Annie as he flipped through his Transfiguration book.

Annie looked over at him from her place on the floor where she was stretched out amongst her schoolwork. "The effects of the Vanishing Spell are only temporary. They would reappear after a while or until the caster performed the counter spell. And besides, you haven't even been able to vanish your snail yet. I don't know why you'd want to cast it on a person," she answered.

Ron nodded and scratched out her answer on his parchment. "Seriously, how do you know all of this stuff?" he asked watching Annie flip through her Charms book. "McGonagall didn't even go over half of what you just said in class today."

"I can read you know," Annie informed him as she flipped a page in her Charms book.

"We know that," Ron said trying to sneak a peek at Hermione's homework. "When did you read about the Vanishing spell before today?"

Annie blew a piece of hair out of her eyes and propped herself up on her elbow to face him.

"Last year. I nicked Fred and George's book and I read some of it," Annie said proudly.

"Didn't they know it was missing?" Hermione asked as she covered up her homework so Ron couldn't copy her answers.

"They knew when I returned it."

Annie sat up on her heels and looked over the mess of schoolwork she had around her. She gathered up her notes and her books and shoved them unceremoniously into her bag. She stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder and looked around to make sure she didn't forget anything.

"Hey, Ron?" she addressed her friend who looked up from his work. "You want to go throw a quaffle around? We could work on your keeping."

Ron smiled and started to clean up his work. "Yeah, alright. We'll meet back down here in a few minutes then?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Annie said as she and Ron made their way over to the stairs that led to their dorms. Once inside her dorm, she dropped her backpack down on top of her bed and started to rifle around her trunk for her practice clothes. Dressed and ready, Annie ran back down to the common room, broom in hand, to find Ron waiting over by Hermione who was sitting on the couch reading.

"I really don't think you two should be going out," she said looking up from her book. "Did you finish your homework?"

"Oh, come off it, Hermione," Ron complained. "We'll finish it later. We just want a bit of a break."

"Speak for yourself," Annie said giving Ron a slight shove. "I've already finished. Come on, Hermione. Come with us. You can sit in the stands and watch or you can continue reading."

Hermione shook her head and returned to her book. "No thank you. It's starting to get late anyway. You won't be out there for very long."

"Okay, whatever. Your choice," Annie said. "See you later."

"You better be back by curfew!" Hermione called after them.

Annie and Ron made their way to the portrait hole and climbed out. They walked in a comfortable silence through the corridors until they reached the front door that was luckily still open. The sun was just starting to go down which meant they only had about an hour of light left. Once they stepped on the pitch, Annie mounted her broom and took a few laps around the stadium as Ron went to fetch a quaffle. He joined her in the air a few minutes later and tossed her the ball and took his position in front of the goal hoop. Annie turned the ball over in her hands a few times before making her first shot. Ron made a dive for the right goal hoop but the ball soared just past his outstretched hand. Annie heard him groan as he flew after the ball and throw it back to her. Annie made a few more shots on the goal, some Ron had blocked but most had gone through. After deeming it too dark and late to keep practicing, Annie and Ron landed on the ground and started to make their way back to the castle.

"You just need to work on your timing," Annie said gripping his shoulder.

"I know that," Ron grumbled back as he hitched his broom higher over his shoulder.

"You can do it. I know you can. I've seen you block plenty of shots before over the summer," Annie reassured him.

Ron shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks for the help by the way."

"No problem."

When they finally returned to the common room, Hermione was nowhere to be found. Figuring she had gone to bed, Annie bade Ron a goodnight as he went up to his dorm and sprawled herself across the couch to wait for Harry to come back from his detention. She picked up a book that somebody had left on the table and started to read until her eyelids started to droop. A few hours later, she was woken up by a light tapping on her forehead.

"Hey," she said sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as Harry sat down next to her. "Whatimesit?"

"A little after midnight," he replied. "What were you doing up?"

Annie placed her book back on the coffee table. "Waiting for you. How was detention?"

"It was alright. She had me write lines."

"That's not so bad," Annie said tucking herself into a ball and resting her chin on her knees. "What did you have to write?"

"'I must not tell lies' over and over again until it 'sunk in' as she put it," Harry said using air quotes for emphasis.

Annie knew Harry well enough to know when he was hiding something. She reached out with her foot and nudged him in the leg.

"What do you mean by 'sink in?'" she pressed. When the question was answered with silence, she asked again. "Harry, what do you mean?"

Harry sighed and held out his hand. Annie reached out and grabbed it to examine the newly forming scar on the back of his hand.

"'I must not tell lies,'" Annie recited. "How did this get here?" Harry took his hand back and ran it through his hair.

"The quill she gave me to use uses your blood instead of normal ink," he answered.

"You're kidding?" Annie gasped. Harry shook his head. "That's completely bonkers! The woman is insane!"

"Tell me about it," Harry said.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

Harry shrugged.

"Nothing I can do really," he said looking at the back of his hand.

"You aren't going to tell anybody about this are you?" Annie asked.

"I told you didn't I?"

"That's not what I meant."

"I know what you mean," he said stiffly. "But if I told Dumbledore or my parents it would be just what she wanted. She wants me to running and telling somebody."

"Right," Annie agreed.

"Do me a favor will you?" Harry asked as Annie nodded. "Don't tell Sirius about this either. You know he would just go straight to my parents. They're supposed to be focusing on the war not my stupid detention."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Annie said.

The two sat in silence watching the flames in the fireplace flicker as they died down. Annie yawned widely and rested her head back against the armrest of the couch.

"Did you at least get out of detention for the tryouts on Friday?" she asked letting her eyelids droop closed.

"Nope," he replied sullenly.

"Ugh! None of what that toad says or does is right," she moaned tiredly.

Harry laughed and shook his head.

"Go to bed, Annie," he suggested as he pulled his homework toward him. "I'm going to try to finish this Bowtruckle drawing."

"Yeah, alright," she answered stifling another yawn with her hand. "G'night." Annie made her way to the staircase and silently stumbled her way up the stairs to her dorm where she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"How much influence do you reckon you've got with the first years this year?" a voice whispered in Annie's ear making her shiver. She turned around to find Fred, George and Lee standing behind her grinning mischievously.

"I haven't tried anything yet," she answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Test subjects," Lee replied. "We figured you might have charmed them into thinking you're the shit by now."

"Think you might be able to convince a few of them to try a few products from the Skiving Snackboxes?" George asked patting the pockets of his robes where Annie was sure a few Puking Pastilles were hidden away from the watchful eyes of Hermione.

"We'll pay them of course," Fred chipped in looking at Annie hopefully.

Annie swept her eyes around the common room before landing on the second years she had tutored the year previous. She looked back up at the twins and Lee and grinned.

"Okay, two things. One: Lee, I am the shit. Two: I'll see what I can do about the first years, but I think I may know a few people that wouldn't mind some spare change," she informed them. She got up from the couch and placed her book down on the table in front of her.

"Annie, you're the best!" George said catching her around the waist and pecking her on the lips.

"Yes, yes, I know. Now let me get you some test subjects."

Annie walked over to where she had seen the second years sitting in a small circle as they each did their homework. One of the girls looked up as she approached and elbowed the girl next to her. Emily smiled at Annie and beckoned her over to their group. Annie smiled and sat down next to her.

"How's it going, kids?" she asked looking around at the group who had stopped their work and were now staring curiously at her.

"Good, how about you?" Nathan answered back.

"Swell, Nathan, just swell. Say, what are you guys working on anyway?"

"Well, a few of us are trying to write essays for Potions," the girl next to Annie answered. "Do you know what the effect rat tails have on hair-raising potions?"

Annie shrugged. "I can't remember but I think it might have something to do with invigorating the follicles." The girl nodded and perused her book to check if Annie was correct. "Anyway, I was wondering if a few of you were interested in making a bit of gold."

Emily looked to her friends who were still watching Annie curiously.

"What would we have to do?" one boy asked setting his quill aside.

"Nothing harmful," Annie said sensing their skepticism. "Just testing a few products of Fred and George's. They're perfectly safe. I've tested them myself."

"And we would get paid for this?" Nathan asked.

"Yup!" Annie said popping the last syllable.

Emily placed her book down and smiled. "Why not? I'll do it," she said looking around eagerly at her friends.

"Me too," said Nathan. Three other kids joined in and placed their schoolwork back in their bags.

"Don't you want to come?" Emily asked her friend that was sitting next to Annie.

"No," she said returning to her essay.

"Oh, come on, Maisy, it might be fun," Emily pleaded as Annie gave her a puppy-dog pout.

"I just can't," Maisy said ignoring Annie's face. "I really need to finish this essay."

Annie sighed.

"Damn, that face usually works. Maisy, you are one tough cookie," Annie said standing up and brushing off the back of her pants. "Alright, well you lot have fun with your homework. Let's go."

Annie led the second years over to where Lee, Fred and George were huddled together watching her work her magic. Annie slipped her arms around George's waist and stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"I've got five of them. Is that alright?" she asked as George started twirling one of her curls around his finger.

"Excellent," Fred answered looking over his clipboard. "Nice job, pup. Alright, kids. Follow me!"

Fred and Lee led the second years out of the common room through the portrait hole while Annie and George hung at the back to make sure Hermione wasn't looking. Annie and George followed along hand-in-hand behind the group as they traipsed through the corridors to an empty classroom. She jumped onto one of the desks and let her legs swing back and forth while Lee leaned against it with his arms folded across his chest.

"What time is your curfew?" Fred asked Emily.

"Nine o'clock," she answered as she looked at her watch. "We've got an hour."

"Right," George said taking a clipboard that Fred had handed him. "Shouldn't take that long. If you could all just gather round in these chairs that would be great."

The second years sat down in the chairs that had been arranged in a semi-circle facing the twins and waited for further instruction.

"Tonight you will be testing one of our products: the Fainting Fancy," Fred announced waving Lee over. As Lee passed out the sweet to the second years, Fred continued his speech. "This sweet will be part of our Skiving Snackboxes line and we need your feedback."

"Is this going to hurt?" one of the younger students asked as he held it up close to inspect it.

"The four of us have all tested this product on ourselves and have had similar experiences," George explained. "The only pain we received was minimal when we each hit the ground which is expected when you faint."

"Minimal pain?" Annie chirped. "I gashed my head open this summer!"

Some of the second years gasped and stared uneasily at the product.

"Annie, you smacked your head on the bedside table on your way down," Fred said rolling his eyes as Lee laughed. "We told you not to sit where you did."

Annie pouted and ran and hand through her hair, revealing a slight scar by her hairline.

"And we cleaned you up," George added as he walked over to kiss her on the forehead. "And you had another go afterwards."

"Actually your mum cleaned me up," she muttered. "But the second time around was good. I didn't almost die that time."

"See," Lee said gesturing to Annie, "nothing to worry about. She just admitted it's a great product."

Fred and George looked around at all the second years inviting them to take a bite of the sweet. After staring uneasily around at each other, Nathan was the first to pop the Fainting Fancy into his mouth. As he chewed slowly, the others did the same and the upperclassmen waited for the results. One after another the test subjects dropped out of the chairs and onto the floor. After a few seconds they all began to regain their consciousness. Fred and George grinned at the success of their product and moved to help the second years back into their seats.

"Excellent," Fred said as he wrote down the results on his clipboard. "This is really excellent."

"All right everyone," George called to the group. "Lee here is going to be asking you a few questions and we'd like you to answer them as honestly as you can. Annie, you just sit there and look pretty."

"Can do!" Annie said giving him a thumbs up.

After the boys collected the necessary data, they handed each of their test subjects a few galleons each. Fred and Lee led them out of the classroom up to Gryffindor tower as Annie and George took their time at the back. When the group turned the corner, George grabbed Annie by her elbow and tugged her back behind a statue.

"Hi," he said with a grin pulling her close to his chest.

Annie giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. George bent down and kissed her passionately. They stayed that way for several minutes, Annie leaning up against the wall with George's hands around her waist. They didn't even break apart or notice when footsteps started to echo down the corridor.

"Hem hem."

A/N: Once again I am so sorry for the wait on this chapter. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the cliffhanger. Until next time! XO