"Fred, some girls might find it cute and endearing when their boyfriends watch them, but I find it pretty creepy."
Charley and Fred were sitting at a table in a corner of the Gryffindor common room. Charley had her head bent over a piece of parchment and was writing diligently while Fred watched her with an angry glare on his face. It had been the first spare moment they'd had alone together in days, and she was more interested in writing a letter than snogging.
"I am not watching fondly Chuck, I am glaring resentfully," he replied.
"Oh, well that's much better," Charley smirked.
"Who are you writing to anyways? All of your friends are here," Fred asked leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
"Do you honestly expect me to answer you with that attitude?" she asked with a laugh.
"Oh fine," he sighed impatiently, "Dearest Charley, who are you writing to? Your darling boyfriend would like to know."
Charley finally stopped writing and looked up at Fred with a mildly amused expression paying across her face. Fred grinned.
"If you must know, I'm writing Lupin," she told him finally.
"There now, was that so hard?" Fred asked.
"No I suppose it wasn't," Charley said leaning forward and giving Fred a kiss.
"That is more like it," Fred smiled.
"Let me just finish the letter," Charley said kissing him once more.
She sat back in her seat and began writing again, Fred went back to pouting.
"Stupid Remus Lupin, taking up all of my girlfriend's time," Fred muttered under his breath.
Charley slowly put her quill down and raised her head. There was a menacing look in her eye that told Fred he was in trouble. He laughed uncomfortably.
"I was only joking?" he offered nervously.
"You know Fred; I like to think that I've been fairly accommodating. What with you spending half your time on your joke shop with George and trying to split the other half between Quidditch, schoolwork, and me," she seethed.
Yes, Fred was definitely in trouble. He had to play his cards carefully or he'd just dig himself into deeper trouble.
"I'm sorry," was all Fred could think to say.
"I'm not done!" Charley snapped. "I mean honestly Fred, I'm extremely accommodating to your schedule, I'm usually the one waiting around for you and the one time you're not busy and I am you can't wait for a few minutes while I write a bloody letter?"
Charley was shouting now and Fred dared a nervous glance around the room. Sure enough everyone was staring. Charley had noticed too. She snatched her things up and stormed off, up to the boy's dormitory. He was in luck; she had gone up to his room, obviously not angry enough to ignore him for the rest of the night.
"Nothing to see here folks," he laughed stumbling out of his chair.
He took the stairs two at a time and opened the door to find Charley and George on Fred's be in the middle of a conversation.
"What a prat!" George exclaimed.
"I know right?" said Charley.
"I think you should just end it, I mean, if it was me that's what I would do," George said thoughtfully.
"You're right, Georgie," Charley nodded, "Oh, Fred, you're here," she said smirking up at him.
"You two are just taking the mickey right?" Fred asked apprehensively.
"No, you really are a prat brother and I honestly believe Chuck can do better," George said seriously.
"George," Fred whined.
George's face broke into a grin and he winked at his brother.
"We're just torturing you," Charley smiled.
"It was her idea," George said tossing his head towards Charley. "Oh, who am I kidding, it was totally mine," he laughed.
Fred and Charley were hardly paying attention to him though; they were locked in a stare down. George moved to his bed, quite interested in how their little tiff would play out.
"Have you finished your letter?" Fred asked mildly bitterly.
"No," Charley retorted.
"Well, I'll let you continue then, wouldn't want to keep Lupin waiting," said Fred.
Charley reached around and grabbed a pillow; she chucked it hard at his head.
"Oi! I apologized once already and you wouldn't accept!" he protested.
"That doesn't mean you're allowed to switch back to being an insufferable prat!" Charley yelled throwing another pillow at him.
"Okay well, my being an insufferable prat doesn't give you a right to chuck pillows at me!" Fred exclaimed swooping down for one of her pillows and throwing it back.
His pillow hit her squarely in the face. Charley started at Fred, astonished. Fred gaped at Chuck, his heart racing. George watched both of them, incredibly amused, thinking that only a snack could make this scene better. Then, Charley let out a battle cry and flung herself onto Fred, tackling him to the ground.
"How dare you throw a pillow at my face!" she said repeatedly hitting him with the pillow he had thrown just moments before.
Fred started to laugh, shortly after Chuck burst out into a fit of giggles, then without any sort of warning they were snogging.
"And that ladies and gents, is my cue to go," George groaned.
"Sorry bro, I forgot you were here," Fred said as George stepped over them.
"Clearly," George said with a smirk, and then he was gone.
Fred looked up at Chuck, she was smiling at him. With a great surge of affection Fred kissed her hard on the lips.
"I'm sorry I threw a pillow at your face," he said after breaking away.
"I'm sorry I attacked you," Charley grinned.
Fred placed both of his hands on either side of Charley's face and kissed her again.
"Really though, I'm sorry if you've been feeling a bit neglected."
"It's alright Fred," Charley smiled.
Epic Prank War: Day One
Boys: 0 Girls: 0
Fred entered through the portrait hole with George and Lee on his tail. The detention they had served with McGonagall had gone by incredibly slow and they were happy to be free at last. The three of them headed over to the table occupied by Angelina, Charley, and Ginny.
"How was detention?" Angelina asked as George flopped into the seat beside her.
"Awful, hold me," he replied resting his head on her shoulder.
Fred tried the same with Chuck, but she shrugged him off.
"You're the worst girlfriend ever," he pouted, "I've been in detention all night."
"Aw you poor baby," Charley said sarcastically. "Maybe if you hadn't messed around with McGonagall, you wouldn't have had to go into detention," she grinned.
"The worst," Fred hissed narrowing his eyes at her. She giggled and kissed him.
"Seriously though, that detention was murder, I really think she was trying to do us in," said Lee dropping his head to the table.
"Maybe you three should go to bed, you seem beat," Ginny said eyeing them.
Angelina and Charley both shot her warning looks, but she just smiled. George and Fred didn't miss the interaction and glanced at each other.
"What was that?" George asked.
"What was what?" Angelina asked kissing George's neck.
"Don't let the devil woman distract you Georgie, they're keeping something from us," Fred said as George and Angelina began to snog.
"Oh Fred, what could we possibly be keeping from you?" Charley asked slipping a finger under his chin and turning his lips to hers.
"Devil women," Lee said shaking his head, "I'm going to bed," he said standing.
"Yes, I think you both should go too," Angelina said to George pulling away from him.
"Tease," he grunted.
He and Fred stood as well. Ginny grinned at Angelina and Charley, this time they returned her grin. The three girls stood together. None of the boys questioned why they began to follow them up the stairs to their dormitory, though later they realized they probably should have.
Lee opened the door to their bedroom and stumbled backwards in shock. Fred caught him, looking at Lee with confusion.
"What's going-" Fred began to ask, then he caught site of the room as well.
The three boys all gaped walking into their room. The walls, the floor, their beds, their trunks, everything was plastered in Daily Prophet newspapers. Fred scrambled over to his bed and began tearing the newspaper off.
"Very clever girls," George said. He pulled out his wand and tapped the wall saying, "Evanensco!"
The spell didn't have the effect he had hoped for. Instead of disappearing another layer of paper added itself to the whole room.
"Do you really think we'd make this easy on you?" Ginny asked with her hands on her hips.
"Wha-?" Lee squeaked.
"The newspaper has to be removed by hand," Angelina said beaming.
"Why?" Fred whimpered from his bed.
"You threw a pillow at my face; did you really think you wouldn't pay for that?" Charley asked sweetly.
"But-but you two? And what about us?" Lee asked pointing to Angelina and Ginny, then gesturing to himself and George.
"Lee Jordan, last week you 'borrowed' my charms homework and never returned it, but instead turned it into Professor Flitwick with your name on it," Angelina said crossing her arms.
"And as for you Georgie, you let slip in that letter you sent to Mum that I'm dating Michael Corner, she's been hounding me for answers ever since," Ginny said to her brother.
Fred stood glaring at the three girls in front of him. He grabbed George and Lee and brought them into a huddle. Charley, Ginny, and Angelina stood back laughing silently as the boys whispered furiously. The boys lifted their heads and Fred stepped forward with his arms across his chest.
"Alright girls, you've brought this upon yourselves," he said, "We are hereby declaring an epic prank war on you three."
Charley, Ginny, and Angelina glanced around at each other. Without saying a word they nodded. Ginny turned to them with her hands on her hips.
"Alright boys, you're on," she grinned.
Epic Prank War: Day Two
Boys: 0 Girls:1
Ginny woke the next morning to the most annoying noise she had ever had the pleasure of hearing. A tiny bird was fluttering over her head, singing the same three notes over and over again. She stuffed her pillow over her head to drown out the sound, but the bird flew closer. She reached out to swat the bird away, but it dodged her hand. Finally she poked her disgruntled head out to take a peek. She found that it wasn't an actual bird, but a piece of parchment fashioned to look like a bird. Ginny groaned, reached out and snatched it from the air. She crumpled it up and threw it on the floor. Not even a minute later the piece of parchment had reformed into a bird and resumed its post tweeting around Ginny's head.
"Ginny, what the bloody hell is that?" groaned one of her dorm mate Vicky.
"It's a cruel prank, that's what it is," Ginny sighed rolling out of bed.
The little bird followed her into the shower flying just high enough so that it wouldn't get wet, but low enough to still annoy Ginny.
"Bollocks!" Ginny exclaimed planting her head against the wall of the shower. She wondered if Angelina and Chuck were dealing with the same thing, or if the boys had decided to switch it up.
In the seventh year girl's dormitory Charley was sitting at the mirror getting ready. She had no idea that Ginny was currently being tortured by a little paper bird; therefore she had no idea that the boys had already begun their retaliation. It wasn't until three crumpled up wads of paper zoomed into the room and started bouncing themselves on the back of her head that she realized the war had officially begun.
"What the bloody hell is this!" Angelina shrieked storming into the girls' dormitory from the shower.
Charley gasped as she looked up at her friend. Angelina stood fuming in the doorway, pointing to her hair, which was now bright pink.
"Oh, whoa, your hair," was all Charley could manage to say.
"They're dead; I'm going to murder them!" Angelina breathed angrily.
"Alright, what you need to do is calm down," Charley said gently.
"Calm down? You've got paper ball's bouncing on your head, while I'm stuck with bright pink hair! Calm down," Angelina replied shooting a nasty glare at Charley.
"I'll see you downstairs," Charley said hotly.
She stormed down the stairs and into the common room. George, Lee, and Fred were all sitting on a sofa grinning up at her.
"Hello darling," Fred said standing and striding over to her. He wrapped his arms around her and began kissing he cheek.
"No, get off of me," she said pushing herself away from him.
"Oh c'mon love, let's not be too angry," he said.
"Yeah, we still have newspaper stuck to the walls," Lee grumbled.
They all turned their attention towards the girls' stairs as Ginny came down, the little bird tweeting obnoxiously above her.
"Make it stop," she groaned.
"Nope, you girls get to deal with your punishments all day; they won't wear off until tomorrow," George beamed.
"I hate you," Ginny growled.
That night, the group of them sat by the fire, the boys smiling victoriously, the girls glaring at them. Charley was about ready to scream from frustration, the little balls of paper had multiplied throughout the day and began bouncing all over head, not just against the back. Angelina had dealt with giggles and stares all day. Angelina had almost hexed the last girl to point and laugh until next Tuesday, Fred had stepped in just in nick of time.
"When will this go away?" Ginny asked groaning.
She had been kicked out of nearly every class that day, after being chucked out Potions, she didn't even bother going to Umbridge's class.
"Sorry sis, you're going to have to deal with that little guy until morning," George winked.
"And how exactly am I supposed to sleep?" she snapped, George jumped back in alarm.
"Just think of it as a little lullaby?" he offered tentatively.
Ginny just glowered at him.
"Okay…well, I can tell you girls are going to be loads of fun tonight, but I think I'm going to turn in," George said after a moment. "Lads?" he said to Lee and Fred.
"Good call mate," Lee agreed as Angelina, Charley and Ginny glared.
"Night lovely," Fred said leaning in for a kiss.
He was stopped by a sharp look from Charley and laughed apprehensively.
"Alrighty then," he said following his brother and Lee up to bed.
Angelina, Charley, and Ginny all sat silently fuming for a few moments. A group of third years ambled in through the portrait hole and snickered at the sight of Angelina's hair. She practically growled at them as they passed.
"That's it!" she said slamming her fists on the table, "I'm over this stupid prank war!"
"Me too, this is ridiculous," Charley said batting at the paper balls.
Ginny looked at her cohorts baffled. The prank war had been going on for all of two days. At home, she'd been involved in wars with the twins that sometimes lasted weeks. The record for longest prank war was a month between Bill and Charlie versus the twins. It also held the record for most damage done.
"We are not giving up," Ginny said firmly shaking her head.
Angelina and Charley looked at her exasperated, but Ginny returned their looks with a big toothy grin.
"Besides, I have an idea," she said, her eyes lighting up. "I know how we can win this war."
Epic Prank War: Day 3
Boys: 1 Girls: 1
It had been four whole days and there hadn't been a single retaliation from the girls. Lee had suggested once or twice that it was over, but the twins assured him they were just biding their time, maybe even planning something big. By the fifth day they had actually begun to feel worried.
"They wouldn't resort to violence would they?" Lee asked the twins apprehensively as they walked to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Fred and George exchanged dark glances. They remembered a prank which Ginny had pulled once, in which she had thrown a stray cat into the shower with Fred. He still had the scratch marks on his back.
"Ginny might," Fred sighed. George hid a laugh.
The Great Hall was loud with students chatting as they ate. Fred, George, and Lee found the girls and sat across from them, eyeing them with apprehension.
"You aren't going to hurt us are you?" Lee blurted out after a brief stare down.
The three girls burst into a fit of laughter.
"You're so daft," Ginny giggled.
Fred and George shook their heads at Lee and reached out for the goblets in front of them.
"Pass the pumpkin juice?" George asked Charley.
"Pass the pumpkin juice, what?" she asked holding the jug away from him.
"Pass the pumpkin juice, please," he sighed rolling his eyes.
"Why of course," she said brightly.
The girls watched excitedly as each of the boys filled his goblet with juice. Then Charley looked past them with wide eyes.
"What is Cho Chang wearing?" she asked in a shocked voice.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"Where?"
All three boys had turned their attention to the Ravenclaw table, craning their necks to get a better look at Cho Chang. Each of the girls quickly dropped some sort of liquid into the goblets. The boys turned back just as Ginny pocketed her small vial.
"She looks fine to me," Fred shrugged.
"She does doesn't she? New shoes though," Charley shrugged nonchalantly.
The boys shrugged at each other. Then, they all reached for their goblets and together took a swig. The girls couldn't have planned it better.
It happened almost instantaneously. Before they had even set their goblets back down, the three boys' eyes had glazed over. The grinned stupidly at each other, then at the girls.
"Should we test it?" Ginny asked out of the corner of her mouth.
Chuck nodded then reached out for Fred's hand.
"Fred darling, I left my transfiguration book in the common room, want to come get it with me?" she winked at him suggestively.
He pulled his hand away with a look of sheer disgust.
"You are an evil harpy woman sent to keep me from the one I truly love!" he spat at her.
"Oh," she said raising her eyebrows. "And who might that be?"
Fred scanned the Great Hall, his eyes froze on his target and he blushed wildly. Meanwhile Lee had stood and darted off towards the Slytherin table.
"Lee's gone," Ginny grinned, her eyes watching Lee.
"My lady love, she approaches," Fred hissed ducking behind George.
He peeked his eyes out from behind George's shoulder as Professor McGonagall made her way down the Gryffindor table. Charley and Angelina snickered.
"Er…George, can I help you with something?"
George was staring dreamily at Harry who was sitting a few seats down, sighing wistfully every few moments. At Harry's voice George grinned broadly.
"The boy who lived, talking to me!" he said like a giddy school girl.
"Pardon?" Harry asked, taken aback.
Ron laughed next to him, while Hermione regarded the scene with a reproachful look.
"Here are your schedules for the day," McGonagall said handing pieces of parchment to Charley, Ginny and Angelina.
"Thank you Professor," the girls replied suppressing grins.
"Weasleys!" McGonagall snapped. She had been trying to hand them their schedules, but George was still staring at Harry, while Fred gaped up at her.
"Her wrath is glorious," Fred sighed in awe.
"What in Heaven's name are you talking about?" McGonagall asked.
Fred took in a deep breath, then stood facing McGonagall.
"My dear lady, I have never loved a woman as much as I love you. In fact I doubt any man has ever loved any woman with as much ferocity and passion as I have for you!" he exclaimed grabbing her hand.
George jumped up and glared at his brother incredulously.
"What folly is this!" he demanded. "You think your love for this…this…waif could ever match my love for Harry!"
The girls were doubled over with laughter. Harry hid his face behind his hand as the rest of the Gryffindor table began to join in the laughter.
"Waif, huh? Well I won't deny I've been called worse," McGonagall said dryly. She turned her attention to Ginny, Charley and Angelina. "I don't suppose you girls happen to know anything about this?" she asked.
"We're just as surprised as you are," Ginny said innocently.
Across the hall at the Slytherin table Milicent Bulstrode let out horrified yelp and began to storm out of the Great Hall. Lee followed her with outstretched arms.
"Wait Millie! Come back! I love you!" he hollered chasing after her.
The Great Hall erupted into laughter. Charley, Angelina, and Ginny could hardly breathe for laughing so hard.
Epic Prank War: End
Boys: 1 Girls: 2
Later that night Fred and George stumbled into the common room, looking beat. They sat down with Ginny, Angelina, and Charley, who were still laughing from the morning's events.
"How'd you do it?" Fred asked shaking his head. "Love potions take a piece of the target, how did you get anything off of McGonagall?"
"We paid her a little visit after class a few days ago. Ange and I distracted her by asking a question, Ginny snuck around and pulled out a hair. When McGonagall asked Ginny said it was gray," Charley giggled.
"They're all gray," Fred said.
"That's why we got out of there before she could say anything," Angelina said with satisfaction.
"How's Lee?" Ginny asked.
"Madam Pomfrey said he'd be out tomorrow," Fred replied. "Millicent got him good," a slight grin crept onto his lips.
"I can't believe you made me fancy Harry," George growled at his sister.
"One of my more brilliant ideas if you ask me," she grinned.
"Well, I didn't ask you," George snapped.
"So, are we done? Do you surrender?" Angelina asked.
George and Fred exchanged a look. The Weasley twins never surrender. Unless of course their best mate was lying in the hospital wing after being jinxed by the beastly Millicent Bulstrode and they'd been tricked into falling in love with Harry Potter and the tight arse Professor McGonagall. They both heaved a sigh and faced the girls.
"Yeah, we surrender," they said together.