A/N: So about it not taking that long...I know that it's been over a month and I apologize for it. I've started working on the next chapter already, so...well, this time I'm not going to make any promises.
Also, I think a disclaimer might be in order, since some of the last few pages belong to J.K. Rowling. So:
I, Gambitized, do henceforth and forthhence declare that I own nothing of Harry Potter, and that I (sadly) receive nothing but reviews for my efforts.
George had a feeling that they were going to be in a whole heap of trouble if they were caught, but with a skill born of a lifetime of practice, he ignored it.
Beside him, Fred hurried up his stride, a good-natured grin on his face. It was a grin that anyone who had ever met him knew meant trouble.
Though in fairness, anyone who had ever met them would have guessed that they going to cause trouble without the grin anyway, and privately George had to admit that at least half the time they would be right.
"You reckon this is a good spot?" said Fred, looking at the empty corridor. Due to the location of the corridor, it was one of the most direct ways to traverse between most of the classes on the fifth floor and the marble staircase, which meant that when the bell rang, it was full of students leaving or heading to the classrooms there.
"This will do nicely," said George, glancing at his watch. They had only a minute or so before the bell rang, and until everyone came flooding in.
Perfect.
Fred pulled out a lump beneath his robes, placing it on the floor. George looked at for it a moment, thinking that when they sold them, they had better come up with a more attractive package then the shapeless grey cloth that currently contained the swamp. A product of theirs deserved something much, much brighter than that.
"Let's get out of the blast radius," said Fred, giving the package one last nudge with his foot to settle it into place. George followed him to the end of the corridor, well out of reach of where the swamp would be. They both turned around and regarded the package once more.
"We need to make a better package for it," said Fred cheerfully, checking his watch.
"Something brighter," agreed George, as the bell rang, and a loud outbreak of chattering erupted as people started to talk. Moments later, the first of them started filing into the corridor, most of them ignoring the package.
Of course, most of them didn't mean all of them.
"What's this?" asked Warrenton, Inquisitorial Squad member extraordinaire. A small group of students made a ring around him as he poked it with his wand. Other students moved around them, most muttering their irritation at people who stopped in the middle of corridors.
"Would you care to do the honours?" asked George, grinning evilly at what was about to happen.
"Happily," replied Fred, pulling out his wand and taking carful aim. There was half a second where nothing happened, and then—
As far as explosions go, it wasn't very loud. The only noise was a soft sort of pop, and then a swamp flew into existence. Mucky water poured from the bag in an uninterrupted torrent; plants sprang from the bag and found homes on the walls. Slender trees grew up from the water amongst the groups of students, and plants floated to the top of the water. Just to top it all off, a special concoction of Stinksap and a few extra ingredients Fred and George had 'found' started shooting from the plants and trees, spraying sap through the air. Warrenton and those closest to where the package had been got covered in the stuff, though almost no one in the corridor escaped getting hit by it.
Screams and shouts filled the air, along with a goodly amount of spitting and swearing. Fred glanced at George, grinning, and George had to agree with him; this was quite possibly the most impressive thing they had ever made. In fact, it was working rather better than they thought it would. George quickly grabbed Fred's robes and backpedalled as a thin stream of swampy water nearly caught their shoes.
The students caught in the swamp were sloshing resignedly toward whichever dry part of the corridor they were closest to. Most of them were trying to wipe the sap off their faces, and more than a one were desperately waving their wands in a futile effort to clean off objects that they were holding.
"We should probably leave," George let go of Fred and backed around the corner where the water couldn't reach them. "Before someone accuses us of something."
"I guess so," sighed Fred, setting off at a leisurely pace. "D'you reckon any of the tapestries on the wall hide a place where we could hear Umbridge when she comes?"
"Don't think so," admitted George, after thinking for a moment. "What we do for the price of friendship, Huh?"
"Too right," said Fred, graciously moving to the side as several members of the Inquisitorial Squad ran toward the swamp, where people could still be heard fighting their way out.
"Hold on," said one, stopping. The others barrelled around the corner, splashing loudly through the water and leaving him behind. "What are you doing here?"
"Us?" echoed Fred, smiling as innocently as possible, a wasted movement if George had ever seen one. "We're just hurrying back to our common room, like everyone else."
"Right," said the Inquisitorial Squad member disbelievingly. "You two just happen to be walking away from a scene of a prank."
"Yeah," said George. "Unlikely as it sounds."
"It does sound unlikely, doesn't George?" said Fred. George threw him a look, but Fred was still looking at the Inquisitorial Squad member.
"Very unlikely," admitted George, following along.
"It's so unlikely that it borders on the unbelievable as a matter of fact," said Fred, looking down at the lone member of the Squad. "But seeing as you're alone, and you don't have any proof…"
"It would be pretty stupid of you to accuse us of doing something that we didn't do," said George, scowling at the Squad member.
"After all, it's very wrong to punish people when you don't know if they've done something wrong," said Fred, an ugly look on his face.
"What's going on here?" said the irritatingly familiar voice of Umbridge herself. George turned in time for him to see her puffing her way up the marble staircase, very red faced.
"We're being accosted against our will," said Fred hotly.
"Oh, I very much doubt that anyone could accost you, Mr. Weasley," said Umbridge as sweetly as anyone who was breathing as hard as her could be, eyes flashing at them. George supposed that it was supposed to be scary, though anyone who grew up being scolded by Molly Weasley found the effect quite unscary. "Now, I repeat, what is going on here?"
"I caught these two hurrying away from the scene of the crime," said the Squad Member. "They've as good as admitted they did it."
"No, we told you not to jump to assumptions." George corrected him.
"Are you correcting me?" snarled the Squad Member.
"Obviously," said Fred, rolling his eyes. The Squad Member blinked rather stupidly.
"Come now," said Umbridge, trotting up until she was standing in front of Fred. "Mr. Weasley, you must know who did it, even if you didn't do it yourself."
"'fraid not," said George breezily.
"Then I'm afraid I'll just have to put you, and every other student in the corridor in detention," said Umbridge after a long pause, talking in her sweetest tone of voice.
"You can't just put everyone in detention," said Fred furiously. "That's not fair!"
"You leave me with no alternatives," said Umbridge, smile still fixed to her face.
Fred, eyes narrowing, turned to George, and George nodded very slightly, anger building in his chest. He knew exactly what his twin was thinking right now, and he agreed whole-heartedly.
They were leaving Hogwarts, and they were going to make a mess, though if George was honest with himself, he suspected it wouldn't be in that order.
They moved as one. George Stunned the Squad Member in front of him with a loud bang, the force of the spell sending him tumbling backward. Umbridge turned, mouth forming an outraged expression as she drew her wand, a furious looking coming over her face.
Fred cut her off, not bothering to use his wand, instead punching Umbridge. Umbridge let out a squeak, falling to the floor and letting go of her wand. Her hand flew up to her jaw, where Fred had hit her.
"You have no idea," said Fred, a great deal of relish in his voice, "how good that felt."
"Did it?" George asked innocently, kicking Umbridge's wand away from her as she reached for it.
"You two aren't going to get away with wrongdoing this time," Umbridge hissed, all signs of fake sweetness gone.
"Oh shut it you old bat," said Fred.
"Yeah, we really don't care if you expel us," said George. He could hear cries of renewed outrage from the swamp, and could start to see several students finally make their way out, rounding the corner, their robes soaked in sap. Unsurprisingly, they stopped when they saw Umbridge on the ground.
"Oh, I won't expel you," said Umbridge, reaching for her wand again. "Not right away. I'll make sure you have detentions all year, and then I'll make sure your expelled."
"Well, that does sound frightening, doesn't it Fred," said George, walking two steps and kicking her wand away with just the right amount of venom the situation warranted.
"Absolutely terrifying," said Fred. "She'll probably make sure we can never get jobs at the Ministry."
"Well, I guess she's good for something then," said George.
"You can't run away from your problems forever," said Umbridge, stubby hands clenched into fists.
George was just about to respond when he saw three fresh members of the Inquisitorial Squad break free of the swamp, sap dripping off the ends of their robes. Though they were still quite far off, the expressions of anger on their faces were quite easy to see, even under the sap.
"What the," began the burly one, stopping up short when he saw Umbridge on the ground. The other two already had their wands out and had sent a pair of Stunners down the corridor toward Fred and George.
George blocked them neatly, diverting them into a portrait. The occupants of the portrait, a fat little witch and a chubby man, screamed and fled into their neighbours portrait.
"The Weasley twins caused the swamp!" roared the Squad Member who hadn't cast a spell; he had magnified his voice so that it echoed around the castle. "Get them!"
"I think that's our cue to leave then," said Fred lightly, ducking as another Stunner flew over his head.
"It could be," agreed George, blocking a Full Body Bind.
Together, they sent two of their own Stunners down the hall, then turned tail and ran with as much dignity as possible. Spells flew over their shoulders, and the burly one was still bellowing loudly, so that half the castle could hear what he was saying.
"This way," cried Fred, ducking through a door pretending to be a wall, huffing a little as he climbed a set of stairs that led to the seventh floor. George followed, not bothering to question why they were running up instead of down. After all, where was the fun of leaving so soon?
"There!" yelled Theodore Nott, as Fred and George pushed through the tapestry at the top. Nott was at the far end of the corridor, but he was already running toward them with three more members of the Inquisitorial squad in tow.
"There's more of them then I remember there being," said Fred calmly, sending a Trip Jinx toward one. The unfortunate member went sliding into the path of another member, sending her to the floor as well.
Nott sent a silver jet of light that left a crater where George had been a moment before. Together, the twins turned and ran, their footsteps pounding around the floor as they turned a corner onto a landing of the marble staircase. Students, walking down to dinner or going toward their common rooms stopped as Fred and George sprinted through them. As they reached the biggest knot of students, Fred drew out a handful of stink pellets and threw them back down the corridor. A nasty smell floated after them, and one of the students behind them yelled, "Oh come on, that's just churlish!"
George skidded around the next corner, but not before he caught a glimpse of Nott running through the noxious yellow gas that rose up from the remains of the pellets. George grinned and dashed down the corridor after his twin.
"Terribly sorry," said Fred, pushing his way through Dean and Seamus as they opened their mouths to ask what was going on. "No time right now."
"Don't let them get away!" yelled Nott, pointing as he turned into the corridor the twins were in. All three of his comrades had caught up, and were pushing their way through the crowd toward the twins.
"We'll stall them," offered Seamus, a grin of his own growing on his face. "Give you some breathing room."
Dean dropped his schoolbag to the floor, 'accidently' sending an inkwell rolling across the floor, where one of the Squad Members stepped on it, smashing it and spreading ink over the floor. George hurried through what seemed to be a solid wall, but not before he heard Dean yelling about how his favourite inkwell had been ruthlessly crushed.
Fred caught up to him, breathing heavily as they jogged, but grinning happily.
"We should have done this ages ago," said George, moving through another stone wall and into a more deserted corridor, with only a gaggle of second year boys moving down it.
Fred nodded happily, pulling out another couple of Stinkpellets and tossing them down the corridor, ignoring the looks the second years were giving them. For good measure, George tossed a few of Dungbombs down the corridor as well. The second year boys watched them with bemused expressions, looking unsure if they should tell a prefect or just start tossing their own Dungbombs around.
George jogged down the other end of the corridor, casting a Disillusion Charm on himself and pushing himself against the wall on the other side of a suit of armour. Fred joined him just as Nott and another Slytherin spilled out of the wall.
"Where they go?" Nott yelled at the second years. Before they had done more than open their mouths, his comrade grabbed his arm and pointed at the gas the Stinkpellets had let off. With a cry of triumph, Nott and his friend ran through it, foolishly assuming that the twins had left a path for them to follow.
George waited patiently until they had rounded the corner before he lifted the Disillusion Charm. Fred did likewise, and together they walked down the opposite end of the corridor that Nott had run down.
Exactly five seconds passed before they ran into Mrs. Norris. George blinked at her. Of all the people who he had expected to encounter next, the cat had not been whom he had been expecting.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Fred, after a moment where the twins and the cat sized each other up.
"Always," replied George.
Mrs. Norris blinked at them, and then turned quickly around and trotted away, mystically maintaining her dignity in a way that George had to admire. Quick as a snake, Fred lunged forward and grabbed her, bundling her close; yowling, she tried to scratch at him, but a quick Body Bind took care of that. Hastily, the twins set her on top of a suit of armour, taking care to position her so that she would surprise anyone who walked down the corridor. George had to admit, considering she was as small as she was, Mrs. Norris looked quite fearsome with her teeth bared like that, from the top of a helmet.
Satisfied with the mess they had made on the seventh floor, the twins took a different shortcut back down to the fifth floor. Though Fred didn't say anything, George knew that he wanted to see the fruit of his labours. They took the shortcut closest to the swamp, one that would put them about halfway down the corridor that they had just so recently vacated. Pushing through the false wall, George nearly ran into Fred, who was face to face with one Argus Filch.
Behind Filch, a crowd of students were clamouring to see the new swamp, likely drawn by the screams. Many of them were examining their Stinksap-covered friends (from a safe distance) trying not to laugh too hard as their friends attempted to remove the sap from their robes. Umbridge was nowhere to be seen, a fact that George was semi-thankful for.
"What have you done with my cat?" snarled Filch, considerately waiting until they were both through the wall before he asked his question.
"I thought I saw her," said Fred mock thoughtfully.
"Just a while ago," said George.
"She was screaming something fierce," said Fred, nodding as though it was coming back to him.
"Something about having swamp in her eye," said George, smiling at Filch.
"You…You…," stuttered Filch, either trying to come up with a name bad enough for George, or else just wanting to include both of them in what he was about to say (it was hard to tell sometimes, one of the downsides to being a twin). "You'll be strung for this one."
"That's a popular sentiment right now, isn't it George?" said Fred.
"I'm a little insulted that we weren't this popular earlier actually," admitted George.
"I suppose we just weren't trying hard enough," sighed Fred. "Excuse us," he added to Filch, who was still too incoherent to mutter much of anything beside variations of 'I'll get you for this.'
This time, they made of all of six feet when another voice rang out behind them.
"They're right there," screamed Pansy Parkinson, emerging from the corridor the swamp was in, covered in sap and looking spectacularly furious. "You ruined my robes!"
"Busy day isn't it?" said George, deflecting Pansy's curse into a wall.
George thought Fred said something, but he couldn't quite hear him properly over the renewed yelling of the crowd. Fred was already moving away from Pansy, urging people out of his way. Pansy was continuing to send curses their way, but wasn't having much luck with all the students in the way. More than a few yelled at her to stop, and some of the first years were cowering behind their bigger housemates.
George pushed his way closer to Fred, not wanting to get too separated from him. The crowd didn't seem to want to accommodate him however, and George was forced to knock several Gryffindor girls aside to reach Fred again. More than few of the students were pointing at them, whispering something about a swamp and a Stunned Slytherin, and George couldn't help but grin. At the very least, he and Fred would provide a good subject of talk for the next few months.
"There's more of them," said Fred, once George got close enough. George followed where Fred's finger was pointing and saw Warrenton, covered head to toe in sap, waddle his way past Pansy and force his way through the crowd, most of who drew back in fear of this sap-covered monster arriving in their midst.
"Third floor now?" said George, a more people brushed past him to join the crowd.
"The armour?" said Fred, watching with interest as Warrenton trample his way through the crowd, waving his sap covered arms before him. Behind him, Pansy and several others were moving through the gangway Warrenton had cleared.
"That's what I'm thinking," said George, ignoring Warrenton's bellowed threats. "Let's go before they manage to get lucky."
George had turned to head down the stairs when Fred caught his arm and pointed at the entrance of the swamp. Peeves, a bucket in hand, had just flown out of it, singing happily:
"Oh, the Corridor made of swampy sap
Stuffed bursting and full of crap,
Peevesy will empty it right into your lap!"
"Delightful imagery," grinned Fred, beaming proudly as Peeves made good on his song and poured the whole bucketful of sap into the middle of the students. Renewed screams arose as the newly sap-covered students started a kind of war dance in an effort to get the it off.
"The armour," yelled Fred, half laughing and half yelling as he grabbed George and jogged toward the marble staircase. George followed him, trying to fix the image of Peeves dumping the bucket on the students forever in his mind.
The marble staircase was full of students, and more than a few of them called out questions when they saw Fred and George, but Fred and George pressed by them, in too much of a rush to be bothered. It wasn't until they reached the third floor that George saw the Inquisitorial Squad break free of the crowd and start down the staircase after them. George couldn't resist giving them a taunting wave before he ducked into the third floor corridor.
They stopped at the first suit of armour they saw. It was a hulking piece of metal, a little taller than them, and it creaked protestingly as they pulled out their wands and pointed them at it.
"Sorry," George told it, waving his wand over its legs. Fred shrugged at it when it creaked again, too busy muttering under his breath to say anything.
A few seconds later, it looked as though there was a whole new suit of armour standing there. The armour was now coloured an unforgivable garish pink, and every time it creaked, a sound of a kitten meowing came from it instead. As Fred and George made their way over to the next one, the helmet turned to follow them, meowing pitifully.
Working quickly, Fred and George soon had most of the suits in the corridor in the same state, and had almost finished the last one when at least half of the Inquisitorial Squad came flooding into the corridor.
"There they are!" screamed Warrenton, cowering as the suits of armour meowed at him.
"Make them pay for the swamp," yelled another.
"Shut up these bloody suits," cried a third, covering her ears as the suits continued to meow, objecting to their new look.
"Guess it's time to go again," said Fred, backing away quickly.
"We're just not welcomed anywhere, are we?" said George, scrambling back faster than he had previously thought possible.
With a roar, The Inquisitorial Squad charged forward, curses and spells flying before them. Faced with very bad odds, Fred and George quickly legged it down the corridor.
"Over here," yelled George, darting through yet another shortcut. They raced down it, emerging in a second floor corridor crowded with students whispering excitingly to their friends.
"Can we help?" said Terry Boot eagerly from where he stood talking with Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein.
George waved vaguely as he passed, too busy running through the students to yell. Behind him, he heard the Inquisitorial Squad blunder into the corridor.
"Never mind," George heard Terry call. "You're on your own."
This time Fred waved something, and together the twins burst out into the marble staircase once more, ignoring the yells as they almost ran into people.
"Up?" asked Fred, skidding to a stop almost on top of the Creevey brothers.
"Sur—" George began, then spotted the most of the other half of the Inquisitorial Squad bowling people out of their way as they made their way down, led by Nott, Pansy, and Malfoy. George could hear their shouts as they spotted the twin's red hair. "You know what, I'm thinking down."
"I'm right with you," said Fred, jumping down the stairs two at a time.
George followed closely, the rush of the wind sliding past his ears blocking the sound of the Inquisitorial Squad's threats. They didn't seem to dare send curses at them because of how crowded the staircase was, but they were chasing them with as much enthusiasm as a Hagrid confronted with a dangerous magical creature, and George thought they might be catching up. Certainly it would be hard to lose them when they outnumbered Fred and George by ten to one.
George jumped the last five steps, joining Fred in the Entrance Hall. The doors to the Great Hall were open, and George wondered if there were enough students in there to start a food fight before they left.
"The Great Hall then?" said Fred, already marching toward the Hall.
"I'm right with you," said George, a fresh smile breaking out as he wondered what sort of food was going to be in there. Personally, he was hoping for soup. In an ordinary food fight, there wasn't much potential in soup, but with magic to hurl all the broth about, he had high hopes for it.
"You got to be kidding me," said Fred, coming to a halt. Another half-dozen members of the Inquisitorial Squad had just emerged from the Great Hall, half of them clutching bits of food, but the other half definitely holding wands pointed in the twin's direction.
"There are definitely more of them then I thought," said George, but his in spite of his causal tone, he felt his heart sink. He had really wanted to participate in a food fight. "What are the chances of us running into every single one of them?"
"Don't try anything," called Malfoy, descending the steps with a wide, satisfied smirk on his face. "You don't have anywhere to go."
"Basement?" muttered Fred, backing up.
"Don't think there's a way out," said George, speaking just as quietly. They had already backed up several yards before George even noticed what they were doing. "Besides, that's the one place they might know better than we do."
"Good point," said Fred, looking around. Students, either following the noise or else coming down for an early dinner, were gathering on the stairs, and a few of the braver ones were even moving past the Inquisitorial Squad and onto the floor.
"Someone get Umbridge," yelled Warrenton, and there was a scramble as a few of the Squad members pushed their way back through the crowd.
"Don't think there's a way out of this one," said Fred, giving a wave to the people who had started to form a circle around them.
"Going to leave then?" said George, smiling and giving a mocking bow to the Inquisitorial members who were covered in sap.
"Yeah. Brooms?" asked Fred.
"Once Umbridge arrives." said George firmly. He definitely wanted to see her face as they left.
More students and teachers were coming, drawn to the spectacle, and Peeves arrived, flying over the crowd with his bucket ready again, but most of the people below him had their wands out, ready to stop the sap before it fell on them.
George waved and smiled as people he knew arrived. Angelina looked like she was having a grand old time, and Katie was nudging Alicia and whispering something, while Alicia was reluctantly handing over a sickle. Anthony, Terry, and Michael all arrived together, talking happily, and it was only a minute after them when Ron and Hermione arrived. For the first time, George felt an inkling of worry hit him. He had promised Harry over twenty minutes, and he wasn't at all sure that they had given him enough time to do...whatever he was doing.
They waited as patiently as they could, trying not to feel trapped as more and more people arrived. Lacking room on the stairs, most of them went around the Inquisitorial Squad and formed a giant half circle around the twins, talking excitedly, filling the hall with a loud bustle. Peeves finally managed to dump his load of Stinksap on an unsuspecting group, but he instead of getting more he chucked his bucket and entertained himself by making rude gestures at the crowd. It wasn't until George had just spotted an ink-splattered Dean and Seamus joining the crowd when he (finally) got sight of Umbridge.
Not that he really 'got sight of her.' She was much too short for that. She could only be tracked by how people reacted to her. It was like watching shadow, in that it was hard to see, but definitely there. Gradually, people quieted down as they saw her arrive.
"So... you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp do you?" said Umbridge in a carrying voice, stopping very far out of reach of Fred's fists. From her position on the stairs, she was taller then they, though George knew very well that a person didn't have to be very tall to be scary.
"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred, the hand not clenched around his wand curling into a fist.
George saw Filch make his way through the crowd, looking at the piece of paper clutched in his hands with as close to loving expression on his face as George had ever seen.
"I've got the form, headmistress," he said, voice hoarse from happiness. "I've got the form and I've the whips waiting...Oh, let me do it now..."
He sounded so happy that George felt, for a very brief moment, a little bad that Filch was going to be disappointed.
"Very good, Argus," Umbridge said, looking down at both of them. "You two are going to learn what happens to wrongdoers at my school."
"You know what," said Fred, and George could feel his excitement, though he was hiding it under a causal tone. "I don't think we are."
Fred turned to look at George, and George nodded very slightly, letting his twin know he was ready.
"George," said Fred with the air of someone wanting to go out for a bit of tea. "I think we've outgrown full-time education."
"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," said George lightly.
"Time to test out talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" said Fred, readying his wand.
"Definitely," said George. The words felt good as they left his mouth. George hadn't realized just how ready he was to leave the castle. They'd had good times here, but he was definitely ready to leave for good.
Together, in one motion, they raised the wands and said "Accio Brooms!"
George felt for a moment very cool, then very foolish as they stood with their wands raise like that. Less than a second later however, he heard a loud crash echo through the silent castle, then saw their brooms soaring toward them, seeming happy to be flying again. Fred's still had a chain attached to it, and it nearly clobbered a few students before coming to rest in front of Fred, hovering at waist level. George frowned slightly. He had been hoping that the chain would hit Umbridge on the way down.
Not that he can complain, since she had already been hit once today, George thought, as he grabbed his own broom as it stopped sharply in front of him.
"We won't be seeing you," said Fred happily, mounting his broomstick.
"Yeah, don't bother keeping in touch," said George, mounting his broomstick as well. He grinned slightly as his feet left the floor. He had forgotten how good it felt to be flying.
"If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-nine, Diagon Alley — Weasley Wizard Wheezes," Fred called loudly, grinning at the watchful crowd. "Our new premises!"
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," George called, forcing himself to remain at ground level as his broom bobbed up and down slightly.
"STOP THEM," shrieked Umbridge, but it was too little, too late. The Inquisitorial Squad, too busy looking proud they had caught the dreaded Weasley twins, raised their wands a little too slow. George kicked off and shot up fifteen feet, floating high above the crowd.
"Give her hell from us Peeves," said Fred, a wide grin growing on his face to match the one on George's.
George didn't know how Peeves would react, but his grin only grew wider as Peeves took of his hat and saluted proudly.
Together, with all the students (and more than a few of the staff) cheering them on, Fred and George turned their backs on Umbridge and dove through the front doors, flying heroically into the sunset.
At least, to the onlookers, it looked heroic. All George could see was the bright sun in his eyes, and he could feel his eyes tearing up as he tried to look into it.
I think that went rather well," said Fred, after a minute or two of flying. He pulled up, staring back at the now distant castle.
"Yep," said George, squinting back toward the castle. From this distance he doubted that he could be seen. "So, who's going to tell Mum?"
The grin on Fred's face melted away, replaced by a look of horror. He looking more scared then he had all day.
"Oh god," said Fred quietly. They floated there for a moment as the implications set in. George frowned as well, feeling much like Fred looked, but then a sudden burst of hope hit him. He turned to his twin, a recovered grin growing on both their faces.
"Ron," they said together, relaxing, crisis averted.
And they flew off, not into the sunset, but pretty close to it.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. It turned out to be a little bit longer then I thought it would be, but I think it all worked out in the end.
Thanks for reading, and may your travels be ever safe.