The twins entered the Great Hall for dinner. They walked down the length of the Gryffindor table to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat.
"Hello," Fred said, mussing up his younger brother's hair. Ron frowned and tried to flatten his bright red hair.
"What are you two so happy about?" Ron grumbled, slouching over his steak and kidney pie. Harry looked around the twins and grinned, elbowing Ron in the ribs.
"Check it out," he whispered. The twins turned around and saw the Slytherin team entering the Hall. They still had dark splotches of ink on their faces. Draco Malfoy's hair was practically black with the stuff.
"Why didn't they wash that stuff off?" Hermione asked curiously.
"George, you don't think we accidentally used permanent ink, do you?" Fred asked in mock horror. His twin pretended to rummage around in his bag and examined an empty ink bottle.
"Oops," he said carelessly.
"You didn't!" Harry laughed, along with several nearby Gryffindors.
"Guilty," George grinned. Then he stepped on Fred's toe and nodded in the direction of the Ravenclaw table. The pretty girl was sitting down about halfway along.
"See you later," Fred said, stealing a chocolate biscuit from Ron's plate. The twins sauntered over to where O'Reagan was sitting. A dreamy looking girl sat on her left and a tall girl with short brown hair sat across the table. There was also a girl with hair so blond it could have been Malfoy's, but she had a sweet round face and bright green eyes.
"Hey you," Fred said, squeezing between the blond girl and O'Reagan. George did the same on the other side.
"Hello," the girl smiled shyly, pulling a plate of mashed potatoes closer. "Everything go well?"
"Thanks to you," George grinned. "We managed to get five of them."
"Only five?" O'Reagan asked, a little disappointed. "My calculations must have been off." She turned to the tall girl across the table. "Alex, maximum point of two meters, mass of about one decagram, how much time?"
The girl scribbled on a loose piece of parchment, coming up with a number in a heartbeat.
"Damn," O'Reagan sighed. "I was a few seconds off."
"It was still brilliant," Fred assured her. "So, listen, we owe you one."
"Nonsense," the blond girl scoffed. Her green eyes sparkled with amusement. "The Slytherins had it coming."
"Morgan's right," O'Reagan shrugged.
"Well, can we at least have a name?" Fred insisted.
"Isabella," she smiled, shaking Fred's hand. "Isabella O'Reagan."
"I'm Fred, and this is George."
"That's Alex," Isabella nodded to the girl across the table. "She's the arithmancy genius. Over there is Morgan, for goodness sake, don't cross her. She's our potions whiz. And this is Luna."
"Hello," the dreamy-eyed girl said. She had dirty blond hair and her eyebrows were slightly raised, as though she was surprised about something.
"And what, pray tell, are you the master of?" Fred asked Isabella, who blushed.
"Transfiguration," Morgan answered for her. "She's brilliant."
"Well, she certainly gave the Slytherins a new look," George sniggered.
"So how did you know all that stuff about our trap?" Fred asked curiously.
"Oh, my father is a supplier of magical artifacts," Isabella told them. "He collects items used in wands or to be sold in apothecaries. He's brilliant at setting up traps. He caught my pets for me."
"He's never caught a crumpled-horn snorkak," Luna insisted. Alex and Morgan rolled their eyes and Isabella sighed.
"That's because he doesn't go trapping in, um, Sweden isn't it?" Luna nodded enthusiastically.
"You'd better go," Isabella told Fred under her breath. "Luna's just getting started." The twins took their cue to leave, ignoring the dark glowers coming from the Slytherin table.
Instead of talking about crumpled-horn snorkaks, however, Luna looked after the Weasley twins with wide-eyes.
"They seem... nice," she said, adding a gurdyroot to her pumpkin juice.
"I think they've got a soft spot for our Bella," Morgan giggled, giving Isabella a gentle kick under the table.
"They're too old for me," the dark-haired girl blushed.
"That didn't stop you last year with Jean-Pierre," Alex reminded her. Isabella loaded up her fork with potatoes. "You even let him take you to the Yule Ball." Taking careful aim, Isabella catapulted her potatoes. Alex, being Alex, yelped and tried to get her books out of harm's way.
Later that evening in the Ravenclaw common room, Alex, Morgan, Luna, and Isabella were completing their Defense Against the Dark Arts essays.
"Essays?" Alex grumbled, annoyed by what she considered an insult to her intelligence. "More like copying the book word for word!"
"I know," Isabella sighed. "This is perfectly useless! I don't care about the theory behind a jinx, I just want to perform one!"
A couple of boys had entered the common room. They snickered and pointed to where Luna was sitting on the pedestal of Rowena Ravenclaw's statue.
"Hey, Loony," one of the boys called. "What are you working on? Trying to find Nargels?"
Luna ignored him, so the boy came closer. He was a fifth year with brownish blond hair and a quick easy smile.
"Leave her alone," Isabella stood up, setting her Defensive Magical Theory textbook aside. The boy blinked, surprised to see her there, then he grinned and came closer.
"Bella!" He exclaimed, putting an arm around her shoulders genially. "Listen, there's a Hogsmede weekend coming up and I was wondering..."
"Aren't you dating Ginny Weasley?" Luna piped up. The boy glared at Luna, but Isabella shrugged the boy's arm off.
"You may call me Isabella, Michael," she hissed angrily. "Now, apologize to Luna."
"Come off it," Michael Corner said, trying to put his arm around her again. Isabella pulled out her wand in a flash and poked him in the stomach with it.
"Apologize to Luna," she snarled. The boy looked down at her wand with real fear. Once, last year, Isabella had turned Anthony Goldstein into a worm and threatened to release him in the garden.
"I'm sorry!" Michael gasped. "Okay, I'm sorry all right!"
"I'm sorry Luna," Isabella prompted. "And I won't call you Loony again."
"I'm sorry Luna and I won't call you Loony again," the boy babbled. Isabella put up her wand and went to collect her books.
"I'm going to the library," she announced. "Anyone want to come? And no,Michael, that was not an invitation extended toward you." The boy shut his mouth and stalked over to the armchairs by the fire.