Chapter 3
The following week brought the start of Quidditch practice. Rhia and Harley, both being Beaters on the Hufflepuff team, filled their Saturdays with all sorts of delightful carnage. With the help of a few willing ghosts, the girls had perfected their trademark move, The Badger Baumf. This is where Harley and Rhia would encircle an opposing Chaser, going round and round in a million different ways, and bat a Bludger back and forth until it struck the Chaser from his broom. This particular practice happened to be two nights before the full moon, a fact that made Harley especially brutal.
The girls flew from one end of the Pitch to the other, replaying their move until it was flawless, at which point Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff sixth year Chaser, flew up to them. "With any luck no one will notice you practically stole that maneuver from the Weasley twins."
Harley growled at this, baring her teeth, which seemed to have gotten larger (and sharper), causing Zacharias to nearly fall from his broom with fright.
"Okay," said Cedric Diggory. "I'd say we've had enough for today. Let's call it quits before Harley kills someone." Cedric laughed and looked towards Harley, who was elated at the plight of her most recent victim.
The next day was Halloween, and their first trip to Hogsmeade. The girls strolled down the hill and through the Castle gates, occasionally jumping from a Tickle Spell the twins had shot from behind. Once in Hogsmeade, the twins dragged them into Zonko's to fill up on Stink Pellets, Belch Powder and Whizzing Worms. Percy had called Zonko's dangerous, but, of course, anything could be dangerous in the skillful hands of Gred and Forge. The rest of the day was spent doing nothing but sitting in the Three Broomsticks drinking butterbeer, and stocking up on the free fudge at Honeydukes, which was where they saw Ron and Hermione with armfuls of sweets for castle-grounded Harry.
As the day died down, the twins suggested that they should try to sneak into the Shrieking Shack. "We've been in before," pleaded a persuasive Fred, "It's not frightening at all, if that's what's holding you back." Finally, the Girls gave in, and slowly the four of them approached the dismal old house.
"We can do this, right," said Rhia.
"Yeah, Fred and George would never want us to do anything truly deadly."
"It's nothing," said George, "I'm telling you, we've been in there loads of times."
"Yeah," added Fred, "as long as you're with us you'll be..." His voice trailed off.
"What is it," asked Rhia.
"There's someone in there."
"What do you mean someone's in there," said George.
"There was, no, is someone in that house. I just saw them through the window."
"Stop playing around, Freddie! Do you want us to go in or not?"
"No! Look," said Fred, grabbing Harley by the shoulders and turning her towards the window. "There is someone in that house."
Then Harley saw it with a yelp. "Merlin's beard! Someone's in there!"
"No! Really? You think," growled Fred, frustrated.
"Let's go back to the castle," Rhia begged trying to sound nonchalant. "It's getting near sundown anyway."
The four of them walked nervously up the hill and to the Great Hall for dinner. Near the end of dinner, the House Ghost's provided entertainment by popping out of the walls and doing a bit of formation gliding. Gryffindor's ghost, Nearly-Headless Nick received rave reviews for a re-enactment of his own botched beheading. With a small kiss, Rhia and Harley said goodnight to the twins and made their way down to the Hufflepuff dorms.
- - -
Around ten o'clock, after Rhia and the prefects had made their rounds and slipped off to bed, Sprout came bustling into Harley and Rhia's dorm room. She was in her nightgown and curlers, looking very disgruntled and very upset. "Girls! Harlequinn? Rhiannon? Up, up, up, Dears, there's trouble afoot."
"Mmm...five more minutes."
"Harlequinn Edwards, up this instant!"
Rhia was already sitting straight up in bed at attention to their Head of House's words, but Harley took a moment. When she did sit up, the Homestead Charm still enabled, she looked quite distraught that Sprout appeared to be standing atop of dresser. Gladly, she caught herself in time before she made quite the git of herself for bringing it up.
"Get dressed, Girls, and don't forget your wands. Something quite dreadful has happened and I'll need your assistance in the Great Hall."
With that, Sprout scurried out to rouse the rest of the Hufflepuffs. Rhia and Harley got dressed, grabbed their wands, and meandered out into the Common Room which was filled to bursting with every Hufflepuff. They went to stand with the Quidditch team (all boys) as Sprout came in with the first year boys, still in their black and yellow pajamas.
Rhia and Sprout lead the way to the Great Hall where they were met by Snape and the Slytherin's in the doorway. "What's all the ruckus? Did she finally bite someone," Marcus Flint grunted out to Cedric as he motioned to Harley, who, by this full moon night, was looking rather wolfy. "I've got a leash for that Beater of yours." It took Cedric, Rhia, and Zacharias Smith all holding her back to keep Harley from jumping Marcus and a sniggering Malfoy as Slytherin and Hufflepuff filed into the Great Hall. The tables had been moved to the sides of the room by then and the floor was a sea of violet.
"Purple sleeping bags," sneered Draco Malfoy.
"Sorry, Marcus, looks like they're all out of pink," Harley said, loud enough for most everyone to hear.
This time, it took Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy to hold Flint back.
"A little less noise there," said Sprout and Snape in almost perfect unison.
Dumbledore instructed the Professors to aide him on a scouring of the castle. He left the Head Boy and Girl, Percy and Rhia, in charge, and told all Prefects to stand guard at the entrances to the hall. He then asked that everyone else get to sleep and left with the teachers in tow.
"What's going on then," Harley asked Rhia.
"Dunno. Percy, do you?"
"I'm not at liberty to say, Ladies."
Rhia and Harley exchanged disgruntled looks as Percy called for silence and sleep. Harley went off to a door that looked unguarded and left Rhia to brave Dear Perce-Perce on her own.
As Harley made her way over to the unguarded door, she was suddenly flanked by two stocky red heads. "Taken to stalking me, then?"
"Always," said George.
"Our favorite hobby," added Fred
"Views not too bad either," commented a cheeky George.
"Ha! I knew you liked Harley's arse better. I'm telling Rhia," Fred sniggered back to his Twin.
Harley only rolled her eyes at them as they positioned their sleeping bags in her general area, and was quite grateful when Rhia ambled over. "I got tired of hearing about ickle Pennikins."
"Jealous, are we," asked George with a cocky smile. "You shouldn't be. You're the one who got to snog him in DADA."
Harley laughed as Rhia turned red, "You heard about that?"
"Of course we did," chimed Fred, "and how I so romantically proposed."
"Didn't know you had it in you, Freddie," George sniggered.
Fred added pompously, "Lady killer, didn't you know?"
"Well, the whole school does, now," Rhia beamed.
Just as Harley was about to lay into the Twins, Percy came over and shushed them all in an absurdly annoying way.
"Percy Ignatius Weasley," said George almost in shock. "Are you yet aware that you've just reprimand the Head Girl and a 7th year prefect?"
"Oh..." stuttered Percy, "So sorry Ladies, I couldn't see your faces, only that my degenerate brothers were disobeying orders that came straight from Dumbledore himself."
"Well," said Fred, "It seems your degenerate brothers are having a conversation so you'd might as well bugger off."
Right at that moment the group was joined by Dumbledore, and fell silent.
"Any sign off him, Professor," asked Percy in a whisper.
"No. All well here?"
"Everything under control, Sir."
Dumbledore explained that there was no point in moving the students now. It seemed that Sirius Black had broken into the castle and attacked the guardian of the Gryffindor entrance when she denied him access. He told Percy the painting would be replaced and the Gryffindors could return the next day. Professor Snape walked up and muttered something about Dementors, with that they left, bidding them all goodnight. Percy, looking quite abashed, said goodnight to the girls then shot a disdaining look at his brothers as he retreated.
"This sounds serious," said Rhia, voice shaking.
"Things aren't nearly as bad as Percy makes them seem," said George "They never are."
"Percy lives for drama," added Fred.
"Be that as it may," Harley remarked, "Sirius Black being inside the castle doesn't exactly put a person at ease."
With some level of difficulty the girls managed to fall asleep leaning against the wall. It couldn't have hurt, though, that the Twins were snuggled up close to them.