"Psst, Bella!" Isabella had been on her way to History of Magic class when the whisper interrupted her thoughts. She stopped and looked around curiously, seeing no one in the corridor that she knew.
"Over here!" the voices hissed again. She frowned, and looked sharply at an inconspicuous wooden door. She looked around again, made sure no one was paying attention, then slipped inside.
Fred and George were on the other side of the door in an empty, unused classroom with the desks crowded up against the far sides of the walls.
"What's going on?" she asked, closing the door behind her. This room didn't have windows, so they were plunged into darkness.
"Lumos," three voices said, and their wand tips lit the room. "Is something wrong?" Isabella asked, raising her wand a little higher so that its beam spread wider.
"No," Fred assured her. "D'you remember the fireworks?" Isabella's dark eyes shone.
"Who doesn't?" she asked. The twins grinned at her and stepped aside, revealing a smooth-sided box. She moved closer and held her wand up to it in order to read the words.
"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes Portable Swamp," she read. "This magnificent marsh unfolds in thirty seconds flat, creating a decent-sized bog." Isabella looked up at the twins' proud expressions. "This is really advanced!" she said hesitantly. "But you know she'll expel you for sure..."
"Awh, we know," George shrugged. "But we've given up on Hogwarts. Not much here now that she's gotten rid of Quidditch and the DA..."
"Besides, it's not like we want to become Professors or anything," Fred continued. "We reckon we've got enough products now to open up a pretty good joke shop."
"So..." Isabella said in the dark silence. "What's the plan?"
"I was hoping you'd say that," George smiled. "What class have you got now?"
"History of Magic, Binns'll never notice," she assured them.
"We were thinking of setting it up in the east wing," Fred said, opening the door and peeking out. "Coast clear!" George and Isabella lifted the box together and shuffled out into the corridor.
"Which floor?" she asked as they set off down the hall. Fred went ahead, checking around corners before gesturing them forward.
"Fifth, I think," Fred said as they hurried across a wide corridor.
"I reckon that's far enough from Umbridge's office," George agreed.
"What's this got to do with her office?" Isabella asked curiously. Fred and George exchanged aggrieved looks.
"Sorry, we can't tell you that," Fred told her. They managed to heave the box up to the fifth floor, only having to hide behind a coat of arms from Mrs. Norris once along the way.
"Okay, we figure that setting it up right after the lessons will be the best time," George said, lowering the box onto the floor. Fred leant over and tore a paper that had been spell-o-taped onto the carton. He gave it to Isabella; it was a set of instructions on how to set up and dismantle the swamp.
"George, will you do the honors?" Fred asked. George nodded and pulled out his wand.
"Incendio," he said, and a small flame licked up from the tip of his wand. It caught the parchment in Isabella's hand and burned it away.
When the instruction sheet was completely ashes, Fred told them to step back. He lifted his wand and pointed it at the box.
"Diffendo!" he said. Then, "Quickly, run!" They pelted down the corridor. Isabella could almost hear the ticking of her watch as the seconds trickled by until there was a loud pop. Isabella felt thick, greenish brown mud splatter on her back.
The three of them ducked into a hidden shortcut and listened as students squealed with disgust. There was some shouting and squelching as people tried to get out of the magical bog. Someone was yelling for Professor Umbridge.
"That was way less than thirty seconds," Isabella whispered hotly, trying to wipe some of the mud from her neck.
"Yeah well, it's not perfect yet," Fred grinned. Isabella smiled at them, then leaned forward and kissed each of them on the cheek.
"I'll be sorry to see you go," she said sincerely. The twins had each put a hand to their cheeks, wearing the same slightly shocked expressions as when she had slapped them.
"Just be careful you don't come with us," George told her, trying to wipe a bit of mud from her cheek and only succeeding in smearing it.
Suddenly the tapestry they were hiding behind was thrown back. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him, stood there with a vicious smile.
"I found them, Professor!" he shouted. "They're over... OOF!" Fred tackled Malfoy and sent the smaller boy flying. George and Isabella ran after him, slipping in the thick mud and pushing past students.
They came to the marble stairs and slid down them. Isabella tripped, her leg stuck in the trap stair. Fred and George were carried on by their own momentum and ran across the Entrance Hall. But the two great doors opened and students poured in from their Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures lessons. Other students filled the Entrance Hall and stopped.
"Here, I'll help you." Isabella turned and saw Neville standing at her elbow. He grabbed her arm and with a low whine the trap stair released her leg.
"Thanks," Isabella told him, but her eyes were on the Weasley twins, who were trapped by the crowds below.
It was just like the night Trelawney had been sacked. Students were standing all around the walls in a great ring (quite a few covered in the Stinksap-like substance from Fred and George's swamp); teachers and ghosts were also in the crowd. The Inquisitorial Squad, who had lost Isabella in the crowd, were looking exceptionally pleased with themselves, having pushed to the front of the spectators. Peeves was bobbing overhead, gazing down at the Weasley twins who stood in the middle of the floor.
"So!" a small girlish voice said triumphantly. Isabella gulped, catching sight of Umbridge standing just a few stairs below her. "So - you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"
"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred, looking up at her without the slightest sign of fear.
Filch elbowed his way toward Umbridge, looking gleeful.
"I've got the form, Headmistress," he said hoarsely, waving a piece of parchment. "I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting... oh, let me do it now..." Isabella's stomach twisted slightly. She's going to let him whip them?
"Very good Argus," she said. "You two," she went on, gazing down at Fred and George. "Are about to learn what happens to wrong-doers in my school."
"You know what?" said Fred. "I don't think we are." He turned to his twin, "George, I think we've outgrown full-time education."
"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," said George lightly.
"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" asked Fred.
"Definitely," said George.
And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together, "Accio brooms!"
Isabella heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking behind her, she ducked just in time. Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling towards their owners; they streaked down the stairs and stopped sharply in front of the twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.
"We won't be seeing you," Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick.
"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," said George, mounting her own.
Fred looked around at the assembled students, at the silent watchful crowd. He sent a small wink up at Isabella who smiled. "If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley - Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," he said in a loud voice. "Our new premises!"
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.
"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off form the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves." And Peeves, who Isabella had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his bellied hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out the open front doors into the glorious sunset.