DISCLAIMER: The world of Harry Potter belongs to JK ROWLING. However, please do not duplicate the new characters or scenarios I have created.
" shhh"
" Ok George, it's not like we've never done this before." Said Stephanie a little irritated George kept crowding her space as thought she was a beginner at sneaking off the grounds.
" Seriously shut-up!" said Lee in a harsh whisper and pointed to the hallway. There was someone who was walking about, and if they were discovered out of bed, during these times, the repercussions would be very unenjoyable.
" It's Umbridge." Mouthed Fred, and they all opened their eyes huge, and tried to back away in the shadows. They tried not to breathe a sound, and heard her footsteps got right passed them.
Fred motioned for them to go the opposite direction she was going, and tip-toeing they all followed. Once inside the passageway they all breathed a sigh of relief.
" That was close mates." Said Laura relieved they hadn't gotten caught.
" Ok now if we see any professors at the pub, remember the sign." George proceeded to raise his left eyebrow consecutively twice in a row. Stephanie did it back to him as though she was hitting on him, and he smirked and scoffed.
" Why do we always have such sexual little signs in this group, I tell you." Said Stephanie as they walked towards the trap door that would signalize their final arrival to Hogesmeade.
With every step, Laura was getting more and more conscious that based on her last letter Oliver and her were probably going to break up, and this gloomy air of premonition just intensified with each step.
" You ok?" asked Lee who was walking along side her.
" what?" she asked shaking her head.
" I said, are-you-ok?"
" oh."
Lee looked at her like she was insane, but gave her a concerned look nonetheless.
" Allright we're here" said Stephanie as she pushed the trap door up.
She made sure the coast was clear. They all huddled out, and silently slipped out of the now empty candy store. It was almost a clean escape until—
" OH BLAST!" Lee had tripped on the corner leg of the table that held all the new products Honeydukes was trying out. Stephanie hurried to pick up the falling square before it hit the ground, and as she was getting back up to put it away and make a clean escape she caught Fred's name on the box.
" Nice moves." Smirked Laura.
" Sorry mates, let's hurry out of here." Said Lee embarrassed as they all tried to get out onto the street.
" Fred, what is this?" Stephanie held up a small blue box with the emblem " Blue Ink, by Fred and George Weasley"
Fred turned red, took the box put it back on the table and they ushered out of the store before someone would come after them.
They gang was walking towards the three broomsticks but Fred and Stephanie were lingering in the back.
" Fred, are you and George making candy?" asked Stephanie confused.
" Not exactly. Look, I've haven't told you anything until something would be finalized, this isn't how I imagined me telling you. Can you just ignore what you saw until I am ready to tell you."
" what—why—no no, since when do we keep secrets like these?" as soon as Stephanie heard the words come out of her mouth her anger faded away, because she realized she was harboring one hell of a secret as well, so instead she tried to recover by kissing a very surprised Fred and she said, " Fine, I trust you, I'm not worried."
Fred looked like a deer caught in headlights, and he just blinked as Stephanie took his hand so they could catch up.
Lee, George and Laura had already entered the Three Broomsticks, and when Stephanie and Fred entered, they saw the big reunion-like welcome had already started.
George was patting Oliver on the back with a big toothy grin, as Lee was going in for a head rub, and Oliver was doubled over trying to get them off him while saying, " haha—I'm happy to see you guys too—"
Laura chuckled and watched as he got back up, and Stephanie went in to give him a hug.
" Oliver, it's so good to see you!" she hugged him tight, as Fred went in for a hug two.
" Fred, are you givin' Oliver some lovin'?" asked Stephanie.
" Nothing wrong about man love." Said Fred, as he grabbed Oliver, who grabbed Lee, who in turn grabbed George, and they all went in for a big group hug.
" We'll always be kids aren't we?" said Stephanie laughing lightly and her and Laura joined in on the big reunion hug. Laura hadn't really spoken to Oliver yet, because when she had tried to say "hello" George had tackled the man, although Oliver had tried to motion over to her.
As they all untangled and went to sit down in a corner of the very colorful pub, Oliver put his arms around Laura and went in for a big welcome kiss that lingered into a hug, and completely took Laura by surprise.
Guess he didn't really get that note… thought Laura.
" I've missed you." Oliver said with a half smile, as Laura's eyebrows went up and she cleared her throat saying, " uhh, I missed you too."
As she said it, she realized she really had missed Oliver, because Oliver had always been her friend first and foremost, so of course it felt safe to be back in his arms.
When they all took a seat and George offered to go get butterbeers, Oliver started to get berated with questions.
" So mate, how's the professional Quidditch life?" asked Lee and Fred looking fasinated.
" Well I won't lie; I love it. Practice is gruesome, my coach is insane. You lot thought Filch was out of his mind—my coach makes him look like a cute kitten."
The idea of caretaker Filch purring and cuddling at their feet made all of them insanely curious to get details on this coach of Oliver's.
" Wait, what happened to our butterbeers?" asked Oliver.
Stephanie looked up and saw him trying to flirt with the very attractive bar maid and said, " He's trying to find his mojo."
Oliver smirked, and he took out his wand and directed it to George. Immediately, George's hand had shot out of his control and he slapped himself.
The bar maid looked shocked and frightened, because one minute George looked normal and the next he was hitting himself. She walked away after handing him 6 Butterbeers and he walked back to his friends trying not to laugh.
" What happened Georgie, you look surprised?" asked Laura tauntingly.
" Nothing. I don't wanna talk about it." said George as he passed the butterbeers around, and they all tried to avoid each others gaze to not laugh.
" Wait, so how long are you here for?" asked George to Oliver ignoring his friends' looks.
" Well that depends. See that coach I was telling you about, well he sort of fell in love, so he is taking a honeymoon, and whenever he comes back we start practice again. But now I know I have at least a week, officially."
" What that Filch guy fell in love?! Ok, now you really lost me." Said Lee taking a swig of the delicious amber-colored drink.
Stephanie and George kept glancing at each other like little kids who broke a vase and are afraid to tell their mommy's about it, except that in their case things were a tad bit bigger than vases.
" Ok, so now the big question I wanted to ask was how's business thriving?" asked Oliver to the twins and Lee who all looked horrified.
" What business?" asked Laura as Stephanie narrowed her eyes.
"uh oh." Said Oliver.
" Uhh—well it's good…" said George not really knowing how to answer.
" Seriously mates, what is going on?" asked Laura getting annoyed.
" nothing nothing—argh, fine. But you and Stephanie have to PROMISE to not be mad, angry, or anything that would involve you guys not happy or—ok, well remember this summer when Fred and I were "inventing" things. Well we've sort of started putting them on the market. The only reason Honeydukes is letting us test our merchandise on the market is because we've always been it's best customers, oh and Lee offered to work there this coming summer. So we didn't want to make a bid deal out of it unless things started to really take off."
George finished wiping his sweaty hands on his pants.
" Frankly I'm a little hurt. After all this time, something like this would have made us thrilled. I don't get it." Stephanie said upset.
" No, there's nothing to get upset about, we didn't want to jinx it." said Fred trying to console her.
All of a sudden Stephanie's face was drained of blood, and everyone thought it was because she was just upset, but Laura knew better. She had sensed something change in Stephanie the moment the door of the Three Broomsticks had opened. Laura felt it too, as though something wasn't right.
Stephanie's ears were drumming the echoing sound of her heartbeat. She had completely stopped paying attention to the boy's explanations and excuses about their joke candy, in fact she was happy for them, but in the last minute something had completely shifted. Her eyes wondered the bar, as chills ran up her spine. She caught sight of a hooded figure. Although most of the people in the bar were hooded, the difference with this one was that it's veiled face seemed to be directly looking at her. How she knew this it was beyond her, but she and Laura both felt in danger and knew it was time to go.
" I'm not feeling well I think we should go." Said Stephanie severely.
" Oh come one Steph, we said we were sorry, let's just get passed it. It's not often we all get to hang out like we used to." Said George imploringly.
" I'm sorry you guys, but I think we should really go, it's getting late." Said Laura as she and Stephanie passed a quick glance at each other.
What did you feel?
Stephanie heard Laura's voice in her head, as she looked at her and was caught off guard.
Laura is that you?
Yes, I don't know how I'm doing this, I guess our lessons must be paying off.
Laura, it's the stranger at the bar, the one with the fully cloaked face, we need to go, I'm not getting a good feeling about this.
The girls stood up, and tried to get the boys to follow, but they kept resisting not understanding what was going on, until Stephanie leaned in and with her lips hardly moving said, " I am not mad about your joke stuff, please trust us. Something is not right, we need to get out. Now."
George and Lee exchanged looks, and Fred just stared at her frowning, but they all followed without asking questions.
As they all walked passed the bar towards the exit, a wave of dizziness came over Stephanie. She was 2 feet away from the hooded stranger, and everything in her head seemed blank and yet eerie. She tried to control her feet and keep walking.
" Stephanie, are you ok?" asked Fred as she forced her weight onto his arm.
" I—" Stephanie collapsed on the floor, as Fred caught her head.
I see you.
A voice resonated inside Stephanie's head, a shrill, cold, dehumanized sound.
" What's going on here?" asked the BarMaid as she came over, " You again!" she said as she looked at George.
" What? I had nothing to do with this." George said indignantly.
Get him out. Get him out.
Stephanie's mind was trying to respond and remember what she had been taught. To block out this intrusion.
Laura who was kneeling next to her, suddenly stood up and swiveled around to face the hooded stranger who was still sitting at the bar, sitting up straight. Her eyes looked fierce, and she grabbed Stephanie who was coming to, and tried to drag her out of the pub.
Once outside on the cold pavement, Stephanie was staggering but conscious, as Fred worriedly held her and tried to make sure she was ok.
" Hey mates, I think we should stop. " He said seeing that they were now out of the Pub.
However, once a block from the Three Broomsticks, the eeriness had not lifted, and before Laura could say much more she saw the cloaked figure advancing, slowly, fluidly in the distance.
" Run. "
" what?" asked Oliver.
" Run." Laura repeated not moving a muscle.
" We're not going anywhere." Said Lee as the twins nodded in agreement.
" Run. " she repeated for the first time.
Since they would not listen, she bellowed as spell at the figure who lurched a little ways back until she said with more force, " EVERYBODY, RUN!!"
With Fred holding on to her Stephanie felt better and started running, which made everyone start to run. The figure looked like it had stopped, but they ran all the way to the Shreiking shack instead of Honeydukes and through the passageway without stopping for breath. They stealthily made it across the grounds and inside Hogwarts, without uttering a word. By this time Stephanie felt better and alert, they now had to make it back to the common room without getting caught.
They were all huddled in the shadows of their favorite creaking armor peering out for prefects. They had befriended the armor last year, when it had helped them out of a tight spot with Filch, by tripping him with its sword.
" Coast clear? Wouldn't want any Slytherin Prefects catching us, we're in their part of the castle." Whispered George, seeing as Stephanie was peering out.
" Looks like. Let's go."
The scuffled out when a lit wand was coming around the corner.
" Go, I'll handle it." whispered Stephanie pushing her friends along. " Really." She emphasized as Fred looked at her.
They went passed her towards the Gryffindor part of the castle as Stephanie kept watch, the light became closer to her but she thought she would go unseen when, " Who's there, I'm a Prefect."
The light shone brightly on her face that she was squinting and couldn't see who was holding the wand.
" Well I'd tell you if you'd point your damn wand out of my face." She said rather rudely.
The wand was lowered as Stephanie saw it was none other than Draco who held the light.
"What are you doing this late?" he asked diplomatically.
" Felt like taking a stroll. Couldn't sleep." She said not getting this charade.
" Ten points form Gryffindor?"
" What?! What are you doing?" she asked in disgust.
" I would thank me if I were you for not reporting you, or taking more points." He replied eyes glazed.
" Thank you. Yes let me thank you my dear knight for taking points off. " she replied sarcastically, anger mounting.
They hadn't talked since that one night in the Room of Requirements, and even in Arithmancy he acted indifferent to her, ignoring her, even when they had been paired together the week prior.
" Well if you would like me to oblige, another 10 points from Gryffindor." He said unfeelingly.
" What has gotten into you?"
She turned away, anger pulsating through her, but she didn't want to make matters worse.
Finally in entering her common room, she saw they gang had already discussing the night's events, all huddled in the middle in front of the fireplace.
"But see, what I want to know is how did you know we had to get out?" asked George looking at Laura.
Fred had turned his head when he had heard the portrait hole to see Stephanie eye him guiltily, but he just stood up and walked over to her putting his arms around her.
" You really scared me tonight."
" Really, what happened?"
" Well when you fainted, I didn't know what the bloody hell was going on."
" Oh, I forgot about that one. "
They walked over to their friends, as Stephanie plopped on the ground, back leaning against the couch, with Fred next to her with his arm encircling her.
" I told you, I just got this feeling like that guy meant trouble." Laura said simply.
" Oh right that makes sense." Said George, until Oliver interrupted with,
"But why him? Out of all the strange people in there, how could you have known?"
Stephanie looked straight ahead at Laura, eyes gleaming with worry. Stephanie felt immensely guilty. They had completely disregarded all the efforts Dumbeldore had put into their safety, and not to mention the guilt she felt towards poor Mrs. Weasley who would probably hear about this.
Laura thought of what Sirius would think when he would hear that they had sneaked off to the village, and almost gotten—well who knows what would have happened. In fact, she thought no one knew about her and Stephanie's prophecy.
" Wait, you know what I'm curious about, is why that man was there at all." Said Laura suddenly, confusing everyone else even more.
" I gotta admit though, " said George popping the leg of a chocolate frog in his mouth, " You and Stephanie were on fire. Well except when Stephanie fainted that was just scary as hell. "
Stephanie giggled nervously and said, " I think we should just go to bed. You're staying here, right Oliver?"
Oliver looked at Laura, and put his arms around her mirroring Fred and Stephanie and said, " Yeah, I'm staying." And Laura had to admit, she was thankful.
They talked until dawn crept above the grounds. They kept throwing speculations and questions around not realizing that each time Stephanie and Laura became more and more uncomfortable.
We have to talk to Dumbeldore
Said Stephanie in her head to Laura, in the midst of the other's conversation.
I know. He'll be disappointed.
Trust me, he won't be the only one,
Stephanie thought as she leaned in further into Fred's arm, and smelled his musky smell in, and out. And he systematically tightened his old.