January 15, 1994

The Julia issue was starting to haunt me. Even though it had been Fred and I who had spiked her drink it wasn't my fault that she had been hit in the face by a snowball. I mean sure, I ducked. That didn't mean that I had intended for Julia to make out with an orb of white fluffy stuff! She certainly could be a stubborn pain in the arse. To tell you the truth I was getting quite sick of her ever increasing amount of glares that she aimed at us when we walked down the hallway. I swear if I could have a galleon for every time she did that I'd be richer then the Malfoy's! Well at least she was showing a somewhat braver front… and let's face it, if I was her I would be pretty ticked off to. Having only a bunch of Slytherin cousins to hang around with would drive me insane within a week.

It had been months since the day Fred and I had pulled the fatal prank, and this thing couldn't go on forever… Julia had to make up with us so she could eventually end up with George! I mean George & Julia! It's fun to say! Of course for anything like that to happen we would have to make up… and I honestly had no idea on how to go about it. Julia was constantly surrounded by her brutish looking cousins, and even though I was sure Fred and I could take them on, we didn't want to risk getting in trouble with Snape again… OWL's were coming up and I didn't want his detentions to interfere with my studies. Even though Fred and George claimed that they would Exceed Expectations by just showing up I was taking them a little more seriously. I wanted to make my aunt proud and I knew that I had to get top marks to achieve that. So with heavy feet I headed off towards my aunt's office to get some advice….

I opened the door and walked into the classroom, two first years were sitting at the desks their quills zipping across their parchment.

'Must have been sick…' I thought to myself as I approached the cat that sat on the desk in the back of the room.

"Um… Aunt Minerva?" I whispered cautiously, "Is this a good time for us to talk or..?"

She twitched her head in response as I took a step back and watched her transform back into her human shape.

"Of course it is dear… Creevy, Smith… your make up time is done…." She smiled from behind her spectacles . The two boys groaned as they rose from their seats and passed her their papers. I couldn't help but notice their scribbled writing and Denis's red nose. A ghost of a grinplayed across my lips, first years were so cute- there really was no other way to describe it….

Denis lagged behind as Smith left him in the dust; it was obvious who was the healthier of the two, "You should see the nurse Dennis." I smiled kindly at him

"She has somefink for my nose?" he mumbled stuffily, surprise painted across his face.

"Yes… wait you didn't know that?" I asked in confusion as he packed away his papers.

He shook his head; "Collin never told me that- aw man he's dead- I wrote to my dad to send me some…" he inhaled shakily and covered his nose just in time to prevent his cold germs from splattering out into the room. "Cold syrup... the owl only came back with some sticky red liquid on its talons…." He sneezed again.

Cold syrup? I thought in confusion and a rather bewildered look crossed my face.

"It's a muggle medicine…." He explained picking up on my confused expression.

"Oh." I replied shortly, and then added under my breath "Muggle's are so weird…."

Dennis grinned, "Well personally I think 'Hogwarts' is a rather odd name as well…"

I laughed, "Not as strange as cold syrup."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Dennis laughed back before another sneeze erupted from his nose, "I better be off to see the nurse then, fanks for your help Allison!"

I smiled after him as he ran out of the room and down the hallway, one last achoo echoed back and then he was gone.

My aunt smiled at me approvingly, "You're good with children, just like your mother."

"Well, I'm only fifteen..."

My aunt laughed "You should consider being my assistant teacher next year, I think you'd make an excellent professor someday."

I grinned, I was frankly quite happy that she thought so highly of me but I had other issues, "Thanks, but I didn't come to talk about my future career options…"

She nodded as a small smirk played across her face, "I know dear… we'll focus on that when it comes time for your career consultation in a few weeks…. So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Err… well you know Julia?" I asked cautiously, fearing the way that she would react to what I'd done.

"Avery?" she asked

"Huh?"

"The fifth year Ravenclaw, she transferred here this year."

"Yes, her… well Fred and I we kind of pulled a prank and…"

I spilt almost everything. How the pranks that had happened earlier in the year was all her doing. How we had discovered that it was her, how we wanted her to come out of her shell and prank with us, even the idea to spike her juice with the chattering beverage (at this point my aunt raised her eyebrows in surprise and gave me a disapproving look). The only thing I left out was the ultimate reason why all of this happened, because Fred and I had wanted George to end up with her.

By the time I was done my aunt just stared at me for a few moments before she rubbed her fingers on her temple and let out a sigh, "I know you and Fred have a history of pranking Slytherin's, but to trick a person who considers you to be her friend…"

I looked down at my feet in shame, "I feel like hippogriff dung…."I muttered

"Well you should." My aunt replied harshly, "I can honestly say that I'm disappointed at you, and have half a mind to ground you!" she took a deep breath before she continued, "However, I understand that you and Fred had good intentions… so I'm going to do my best to help you get Julia alone to apologize."

My eyes lit up.

"But never, do I ever want you to do anything like this again do you understand?" she asked

"I won't! Thank you!"I beamed as I gave her a big hug.

She patted my back, "You're very welcome…"

"I have to go tell Fred!" I smiled, "By auntie!" I called back childishly before I waved and ran out of the room and back towards Gryffindor tower.

A/N

Don't kill me for the late update all right? I had my reasons! My third quarter grades were turned in on Thursday and I had to bring up a few grades… anyways I'm back and ready to write some more so you can expect more frequent updates from now on! I've already got the next few chapters planned- maybe all the way up to the beginning of sixth year- and will have a chapter up every week! So review if you want to see another update :D

Drakefan077