*Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling
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"Do you two have any other questions?"
James Sirius Potter and Jane Longbottom glanced at each other. Both shook their heads.
"All right. Then I will let you both go," said Headmistress McGonagall, rising to her feet. The students followed suit, looking eager to get to back to their friends after the long introductory discussion. They bid the Headmistress goodnight and turned toward the door, before she remembered.
"Mr. Potter," she called out suddenly. James and Jane both turned around. McGonagall eyed James sharply. "I should hope that I will not have to remind you of your duties to this school as Head Boy at any later dates, Mr. Potter."
He frowned. "Of course not, Headmistress. You were very clear tonight."
It was customary for the Headmaster to discuss the role of Head Boy and Girl with those new to the position, but their conversation had gone on so long, it was approaching midnight. She had no way of getting around selecting James Potter for the position of Head Boy. She tried not to be so shocked by his accomplishments, but really the boy excelled at anything he set his mind to-he was first in his class and Quidditch Captain, not to mention the calm and friendly manner he had with the younger students. Unfortunately, he and his cousins had a die-hard penchant for trouble. And he excelled at that too. The Headmistress had wanted to make sure she had covered every point possible about his responsibilities.
She stared back at his innocent face and frowned. "I know about the parties, Mr. Potter. I know you are responsible."
"Parties, Headmistress?"
"The ones where hundreds of banned Weasleys Wizard Wheezes Products suddenly appear and an incredible number of students are in chaos after hours."
But James simply shook his head and shrugged. "I'm sorry, Headmistress. I don't know what you mean."
McGonagall continued as if she had not heard him. "I have yet to catch you and your family members, but do not think that I am not aware."
"I can assure you, Headmistress," James said with a sured nod. "I am not planning any parties."
She sighed and sank back into her seat. "Tread carefully, Mr. Potter," she warned him. "Goodnight."
The Head Boy and Girl nodded and then proceeded through the door and down the stairs.
Never believe a Potter, she thought.
As they rounded the first corner away from the Headmistress' Jane grinned slyly at James.
"I heard this year's is going to be in the Hufflepuff Common Room again!" she half-whispered, looking at James expectantly.
An eyebrow disappeared behind his wild, unruly black hair. "This year's what?"
"The Flash Party," said Jane, hanging onto his arm. "Come on, James. We're friends."
"Flash party?" He shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Jane sighed and dropped his arm dramatically. "Fine then. But I will get an invite, won't I?"
"Jane, if you want to throw a party, I would hope you'd invite yourself."
"You're not going to tell me anything at all, are you?" she said, stopping them both in the middle of the hall. They were both seventh years now, and James had grown almost a head taller than her. She smiled at him, the smile that usually had him sliding next to her to eat in the Great Hall, but it didn't work. James stuffed his hands in his pocket, shrugged again, and turned away towards the towers.
"What would your parents say, Longbottom?" He talked over his shoulder as he went. "Looking for parties and trouble. There may just be a blood traitor in you yet."
He grinned, using the word the Weasley children had endearingly taken to calling each other.
Jane watched him go, already excited for the day when her invitation would come.
She didn't now that this year, invitations wouldn't be needed.
It was Lucy Weasley who'd had the idea, and it had started like every other great Weasley plan: with dinner at the Burrow, a problem, and a strong desire to prove oneself.
They were gathered together as they were almost every weekend, except this time there was cake for Uncle Harry's birthday. As Grandmum Weasley passed down plates, Lucy heard Uncle George and Uncle Ron explaining to Uncle Bill their issue with exposing their product to students-their biggest market. They, of course, had the shop in Diagon Alley and Uncle Ron had helped opened the shop in Hogsmeade. But still they said, they wanted to branch out, and with students only coming to the store during Hogsmeade trips, there was hardly ever time to truly expose them all to the newest products. Lucy had listened intently. She had been to the Hogsmeade shop in the past, but as she and her twin sister Molly would only be starting Hogwarts this year and WWW products were banned, they would never get a chance to help Uncle George experiment like they did then.
Nothing came of it that night. Soon they were all being herded onto the Hogwarts Express and she was being sorted. HUFFLEPUFF! the Sorting Hat had shouted and Lucy had run to her new table. She was happy to be in her house. It was truly where she belonged, but as she watched the last of the sorting, she couldn't help but feel left out as most of her family, including Molly, sat at the Gryffindor table.
"James, I need to talk to you," Lucy called to her second year cousin one day.
"Hey Luc," he said, stuffing the last bit of breakfast into his mouth. They made their way out of the Great Hall. Lucy grabbed his shoulder and pulled him aside.
"I want to do something big."
James looked at her skeptically. "Like what, Weasley?"
"Exactly. Weasley. I know you and Teddy and Vic and Dom run around here pulling pranks all the time. But what, I ask, is that doing to help the family?" She asked, repeating the practiced speech.
James scrunched up his face. "We don't pull pranks to help the family, Lucy."
"Well, maybe we should," said Teddy appearing suddenly. "What are we talking about?"
"I want to throw a party. A big one," Lucy whispered as more students started funneling out of the Great Hall. "In Hufflepuff house. I've been asking, and we never have good parties."
"That's true," murmured Teddy.
"Can we invite first years too?" asked Molly, standing next to her sister.
"You can't throw a huge party with first years!" said Teddy. "Who would want to go? And why do you want to anyway?"
"I'll tell you who," said Lucy. "What's the number one thing on the Forbidden Items List?"
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," they all answered.
"And who has access to as much product as they want?"
"We do!" said James, suddenly looking more excited.
"And what's Uncle George's biggest issue."
Molly looked at her. Lucy smiled. "Getting to Hogwarts students! Sales are through the roof throughout the summer, but he can hardly market while we're in school. Hogsmeade weekends aren't enough if no one knows what's out there."
"So you want to throw a party where we give out samples?" asked Molly slowly.
"And invite everyone," answered Lucy.
"Can't throw a party that big," said Teddy. The prefect's badge shined against his black robes. "We'll get caught right away."
"What if that's the point?" said James. He wasn't looking at them anymore. Lucy could say the wheels in his head spiraling. A slow smile grew and took over his face. He turned to her. "Lucy. This is going to be the best."
That first year, Victorie, Teddy, Dominique, James, Freddie, Molly, and Lucy had hidden small cards that dissolved after you read the message on every bed pillow they could find. The day before Christmas holiday hundreds of Hogwarts students snuck from their towers and dungeons and ran down to the packed Hufflepuff common room, not sure of what to expect. Those who had managed to squeeze into the common room, stood around awkwardly waiting. And then Teddy Lupin jumped onto a table and screamed at the top of his voice:
"I HAVE ONE REQUEST: YOU DON'T TELL ANYONE WE DID THIS, AND WE'LL DO IT AGAIN! DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DETENTIONS! SO HAVE SOME FUN AND DON'T GET CAUGHT!" A murmur ran through the crowd.
Teddy put his hands in the air. "WELCOME TO THE FIRST EVER WEASLEY'S WIZARD WHEEZES FLASH PARTY!" he pulled his arm back and threw a flameless firework into the air. It exploded at the same moment the lights in the common room suddenly cut off. Sprinkled through the crowd, the others threw WWW products into the air including streamers that mimicked your dance moves, and bubbles that thrummed music like hundreds of speakers and lit up of the common room in a series of lights. Teddy jumped on the tallest table, his hair changing colors with the beat, while the students screamed in elation.
The party lasted a whole 4 minutes before a handful of professors came crashing through, having noticed the trail of students leading them to the kitchen. When they did, they found hundreds of students from different houses but not a single Weasley (or Lupin). Quite a few detentions were handed out, but no one told them who started the party.
By Lucy's sixth year, the WWW Flash parties had become infamous, many letters had been sent home to all Weasley parents (despite none of them having ever been caught at the parties or with WWW products in their pockets), and Uncle George had started designing products for the parties especially. Every year and with the addition of more Weasley brains-particularly Rosie, who had inherited her father's strategic mind-the parties had become more elaborate. Last year they had managed to get sneak people onto the grounds. They threw the Flash party in the greenhouses where it raged for almost eleven minutes-their best time yet. Jane Longbottom had been trying to weasel the next party out of each and every one of them. Others believed they couldn't top themselves. It had almost become a challenge for the professors to stop the next party, or at least catch the planners in the act. Six years in and they still hadn't. Lucy had good marks and all, but these parties were her pride and joy. (The others had taken to bowing to her before starting their planning during the summer-so that helped too.)
As Lucy made her way down to the Quidditch Game for the first match of the season, Slytherin versus Gryffindor, she couldn't help but smile. Every now and then she caught a snippet of conversation. They had never gone so long without throwing a party. They always did it in the first two weeks of school. The rumors were that they had stopped because James had become Head Boy and Molly, Albus and Louis were Prefects. Lucy pressed her tongue into her cheek.
The stadium was packed today. You could say it was because the weather was great and that it was the first game, but Lucy knew it was because her Aunts, Hermione and Ginny, and Uncles, Harry and Ron, were in the crowd. She waved to Uncle Ron as she followed her house to their seats. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny sat on the Slytherin side, today supporting Al, while Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione sat on the Gryffindor side. Plenty of other parents came to games like these, but all around the pitch necks craned to get looks of her famous family members.
The players flew out and the game started and Lucy cheered on her family. Keeper Rose made an amazing save in the first minutes of the game. Lily, James, and Freddie flew as synchronized as ever. Hugo too was playing his absolute best, but it was Albus who Lucy was watching. He was by far the best Seeker on all the House teams, but when Gryffindor gained forty points on them he suddenly slammed into James so hard, they both almost lost their grips on their brooms
"Foul!" yelled the Ravenclaw commentator with everyone else.
Albus and James started knocking each other around. Madam Hooch blew her whistle sharply and called for a penalty.
"But Potter calls for a quick time out," called the commentator, watching as fourteen players landed. "That was a pretty dirty hit from his own brother. They-what?"
Hundreds of heads turned as Ginny Potter suddenly stood from her seat, made her way to the edge of the stands and jumped off. Shrieks rang through the air, but Lucy's aunt knew what she was doing. As she hurtled toward the ground she pulled a miniature broom from her pocket, grew it back to normal size with her wand, threw it between her legs and sped off. Madam Hooch stood in the middle of the field with her hands up and the whistle screaming. Ginny Potter did a loop around the stadium, hand outstretched for high fives all around. The students screamed her name as she flew past them. It wasn't everyday Hogwarts was visited by an international Quidditch star. She sped past the Gryffindors and landed in the commentary box.
"Can I borrow that?" the megaphone caught her voice. The Ravenclaw stared at her then stuttered as he handed it off.
"HEY HOGWARTS!" Ginny Potter, yelled to the crowd. Lucy sat at the edge of her seat, her grin threatening to split her cheeks. "WELCOME TO THE SIXTH ANNUAL WEASLEY'S WIZARD WHEEZES FLASH PARTY!"
From her seat, Aunt Hermione waved her wand, and suddenly all around the pitch, the stadium exploded in lights, balloons, and streamers which Lucy and her cousins had hidden almost a week ago. Music pounded through the air. Suddenly Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were on brooms too. They flew low, over the crowds, sprinkling WWW goods out of their pockets. The crowd was absolutely thunderous.
Ginny Potter mounted her broom, did another loop and stopped by the Gryffindors again where she pulled Hermione Granger on. Together they sped around the field, Aunt Hermione charming the stands to bounce their students up and down, and following the charm with a quick protection spell (her condition for participating) so that no one would suddenly be thrown out of the stands.
All around her Hogwarts students were besides themselves. Her Aunts and Uncles took their positions. Uncle Harry dropped back into the Slytherin stands, Aunt Hermione with the Ravenclaws, Uncle Ron in front of her with the Hufflepuffs, and Aunt Ginny in the Gryffindor stands. Together they led the four houses in a fist-pumping, beat throbbing dancing. Down on the field Albus and James were dancing arm-in-arm. Hugo pumped his broom in the air. Rosie swung her hair, and Freddie and Lily started break dancing.
Lucy glanced over at the staff stands. A range of emotions played across their face. Professor Longbottom was doubled over-no matter how hard he tried to be stern about their antics, he always ended up laughing. Other professors looked torn between rushing the field and staying put to enjoy the show. Some were even nodding their heads to the music. Madam Longbottom, who worked in the Hospital Wing, looked up at the Headmistress, both amused and nervous about what was to come.
Headmistress McGonagall sat in her seat, perfectly still, her eyes closed.
The party lasted exactly 15 minutes. Her Aunts and Uncle exercised their control of the crowd, just by holding their arms out. Aunt Ginny flew back into the commentator's box.
"We have a game to play!" she shouted, and the Weasley players shot back into the air, quickly followed by all of their teammates who continued playing as if nothing had happened at all. At least it looked that way if you ignored their smiles.
After the game, Jane Longbottom could be found telling everyone she'd better be invited to come back for the next one, while other students talked about how it wasn't possible for them to top themselves again.
Hours later, in her office, Headmistress McGonagall couldn't breathe properly. She wasn't sure whether she should be white hot with fury or swelling with pride as she ran her eyes over the Weasley children. That they could pull something like this off was incredibly impressive, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
"I should take your badges for this," she growled at James, Albus, Louis, and Dominique.
Ginny Potter stepped forward. "Professor, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't understand why the children are here at all. Have they done something wrong?" she asked sweetly.
"Mrs. Potter-"
"I can assure you, Headmistress," said Hermione Granger in her usual professional manner. "The children were not involved. What Harry, Ron, Ginny, and I did was extremely inappropriate. We set a bad example, and we are terribly sorry for the difficulties we've cause you. But the children did not participate in our nonsense. It would be unfair and inappropriate to punish them, wouldn't you say?"
Ms. Granger looked properly sympathetic and ashamed of herself. Naturally, she was right. The children themselves had not raised a single finger during the whole exchange. They hadn't incited the crowd or distributed the products. All they had done was dance along with their peers.
"You realize that you are encouraging this behavior, and that I am not foolish enough to believe that they," she jabbed at finger at the kids standing silently to the side, "were in no way involved."
"Please Professor. We, Ginny and I, were just thinking we'd have a bit of fun," said Mr. Weasley. "We dragged Hermione and Harry into it, but our kids didn't know. We thought we'd surprise them. Play into the rumors. We are truly sorry."
"It will never happen again," Mr. Potter assured her.
She stared at them all for a moment. "Get out of my office," she said finally.
The four of them obliged, taking their children, nieces, and nephews with them.
Minerva McGonagall shook her head and ran her hands over her face.
"Never believe a Potter," she muttered.
The Potters and Weasleys made their way from the Headmistress' office silently. Striding behind most of her cousins, Lucy couldn't believe their luck. Technically, she and her cousin had done nothing but plant the materials for the party, but she was sure McGonagall would do her best to slap down detention, at least. She was even more surprised her aunts and uncle had actually pulled through. They looked ecstatic in the midst of it all, but she had been afraid they'd get nervous and cut it off-instead, they'd helped them beat their record: longest party and most people invited.
When they finally reached a "safe" distance Aunt Hermione spun around, her lips pulled tight as she tried not to laugh. Then she burst out laughing. It had taken hours and weeks to get Aunt Hermione on board and here she was laughing so hard tears ran down her face.
"Did-you-see-her-face!" she gasped and hunched over. Slowly, the others' confused faces split into grins too. Uncle Harry started chuckling. Then Uncle Ron and Aunt Ginny until finally they were all laughing.
"Aunt Ginny, that Ravenclaw looked like he was going to wet himself when you talked to him," squealed Roxanne.
When they'd finally died down, Aunt Hermione took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. "That was insane," she said, shaking her head.
"I bet McGonagall thought she was done with us twenty years ago," said Uncle Harry looking over his shoulder.
"Aw she loves us," said Aunt Ginny. She flipped her hair and batted her eyes sweetly.
The way they had all gotten off, thought Lucy, she must have.
