CHAPTER 27: EPOCH OF ENTERTAINMENT

The next week's schedule was meticulously planned, each minute accounted for. Ella planned her outfit and to breakfast on Monday with her favorite boots on. With a wink sent to the redheaded Gryffindors, she sat in her usual spot at the Slytherin table.

Flint and his goons were some of the last people to arrive in the Great Hall. As expected, he took a seat right beside Ella and wrapped an arm around her. The honorary Gryffindor's acting skills were put to the test as she ignored the contact between the disgusting troll and herself. It took a lot of her self-restraint to not throw up in her mouth at the mere sight of Marcus Flint, let alone touch him.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable stares, the warning bell before class rang out. Ella was out of her seat and heading for the door by the time the signal had sub-sided.

As planned, Fred interfered in her path. "Can we talk?" he questioned.

"Talk to your own house, Weasley." Flint spat.

"No one asked you!" Fred countered. "It's none of your business."

"Anything that involves my girl is my business. So, step off." Flint snapped.

"Don't tell me what to do." the fight was going just as the girls had assumed it would.

"We're leaving, babe." Flint pulled on her arm.

"I'll catch up. What did you want, Fred?" Ella returned, her attention on the red-haired prankster.

"I forbid you to speak to these Gryffindor losers again, Ellie." Flint cut Fred off. "Now, let's go!"

"You can't order me around, Flint!" the third year turned so the two Slytherins were facing each other. "And you can't stop me from being friends with the Gryffindors, either."

"Stubborn bitch." Flint muttered under his breath. The insult had come across right when it had been predicted.

"And being male and an arse-hole makes you worthy of our time." Ella shot back sarcastically, her leg swinging to kick him where it hurts.

"Well, we no longer have to worry about reproducing after that." George snickered next to Analese as they moved to join their siblings.

"As if he could find someone to reproduce with." she added, making the Gryffindor table laugh harder.

"Phase 1: Complete." Fred announced happily.

"Tomorrow will be great!" the sisters grinned with mischief before Ella headed off to her first class with the Golden Trio.

Analese plastered a false smile on her face as the trio of redheads, along with Lee followed Oliver and Ashley Michaels, the newest couple, to Charms.

The next day, breakfast was rather routine. The next prank was scheduled for Quidditch practice that evening, but at dinner, the sisters were discussing another matter.

"So, you have some more songs for the show?" Ella asked.

"Yeah, I've been working on them during potions." Analese whispered back.

"Sounds fun." the younger girl smirked.

"Very, what time is it?" her sister inquired.

"Time for Phase 2." Fred and George put in. Both twins knew about the Muses. George had guessed it when Fred and Ella had gotten together, and his theory was confirmed when he saw Analese running from Oliver on New Years.

"Well, I'll see you guys later." Ella winked before leaving for practice.

In the locker room, three redheads hid behind the green locker. Flint had stolen the Ravenclaw playbook and was about to write up a play when the chalk flew from his hand.

As if controlling itself, the chalk drew a portrait of Flint on the field. The image began to move like a Muggle movie. Flint was flying across the pitch now, speeding past the confused players. The Slytherin Keeper came into view and Flint threw the Quaffle through the left hoop, putting Gryffindor in the lead.

The locker room filled with echoing laughter as Flint was attacked by his teammates on the screen. As five Slytherins rolled around on the floor, laughing hysterically, Flint was fuming before the chalkboard.

Ella gripped her wand with a triumphant smirk playing across her features. Flint's glare landed on the third year chaser. He was clearly pissed, but not enough to break the engagement.

Ella's right hand appeared behind her back and she felt three rough hands make brief contact. The three Gryffindors sneaked back out of the locker room and out onto the grounds, leaving the hysterical Slytherin Quidditch team to their amusement.

"Phase 2: Complete." Analese chuckled happily.

"His expression was bloody priceless!" Fred cheered. George was only able to nod in agreement due to uncontrollable laughter.

"I can't wait for tomorrow at dinner." Analese smiled as a flash of anticipated mischief sparked in her emerald eyes.

Just as promised, Wednesday's dinner was one of entertainment. As a special favor to the two sisters, the house elves had prepared a separate meal for Flint. It was a Baked Alaska en Flambé. An undetectable, yet not harmful, explosive was hidden inside the dessert.

As Flint stupidly dug his spoon into the dish greedily, he set off the trigger. The still flaming treat exploded all over the Slytherin and silenced the school. Although specially charmed to not injure anything, it made Flint believe he would get burned.

Jumping up from his seat, he ran around. Flint's girly scream resounded through the Great Hall and echoed throughout the castle. "WATER!" the candle-like boy screeched. "WATER!"

Taking their cue, the 'Inseparable Siblings' stood up and threw multiple water balloons at the running fire. As planned, the three dozen well-aimed water balloons put out the fire.

The twins followed script and clambered to their feet. "Food Fight!" they announced throwing handfuls of mashed potatoes across the Hall. The majority of the students leaped from their seats and sent clumps of food soaring through the air. Dumbledore, being a fan of food fights since he was young, joined in immediately.

Surprisingly enough, many professors followed the headmaster's example and also chucked the food from their plates. McGonagall was swept up in the moment and expertly shot a fistful of coleslaw darting toward Snape's head. Once it had hit the target with direct accuracy, the Transfiguration professor was snapped out of her trance.

As the entirety of the school was distracted, two students were waiting for a special delivery. Behind the Gryffindor table, a rather large sack of flour appeared leaning against the wall.

The sisters nodded to each other and pulled out their wands. The flour sack levitated above the swarm of messy students and stopped when its target was directly below it.

With a slight flick of a wrist, a miniscule tear was made. The weight of the tightly packed flour tore the sack with a clean split. The soaked Slytherin was completely coated with flour in a split-second. Much of the flour had collected onto the table as well.

A message began to write itself out in the white baking substance.

'THE MUSES WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THEIR PRANKS. HOWEVER, YOU WILL REMAIN THE SOLE TARGET UNLESS YOU BREAK OFF YOUR ENGAGEMENT.'

Below the message was the familiar phoenix signature.

Flint, his ego the size of a Quidditch pitch, never thought that his (unwilling) fiancée would ever want to give him up. Ella was never a suspect due to that idiotic and entirely false belief. The Slytherin Quidditch captain figured that the Muses were jealous of his arranged marriage to the girl.

An hour later, the food still on the plates vanished down into the kitchens. With nothing left to throw, the food fight was forced to end. Although disappointed, the students dispersed from the Great Hall, laughing about the meal's events.

Dumbledore wiped a bit of jam from the tip of his nose and slipped his finger into his mouth. "Alas, raspberry, " and a faint smile spread across his worn features as he winked at the sisters from behind his half moon glasses.

Four pranksters left the Hall a little after their fellow students. The two pairs of siblings had offered to help clean up the mess still left.

"Evans, Sinesstra, a moment of your time before you head for your dorm, please." McGonagall called after them. As the twins turned to leave, their Head of House stopped them. "I'd like to speak with you two as well." she spoke swiftly, halting then in their tracks. "Evans, why did you have those water balloons?" she interrogated.

"Well, Ella and I had planned to trick the twins into going outside. Then, we were going to soak them with freezing cold water." Analese answered truthfully. If the prank had gone wrong or was not necessary, the balloon ambush was going to occur.

"Well, it was interesting timing." the professor winked and the twins' jaws dropped.

"I suppose so," the red-haired girl agreed.

"You two," the professor pointed at the twins. "Help them clean up this mess."

"Let's get some towels and buckets of water." Fred told his brother.

"What do you mean, Mr. Weasley?" the woman inquired.

"You want us to clean it by hand, don't you?" George questioned.

"I never said anything about that. All I meant was that this mess would take four people. Now, get to it." she ordered before stalking off to her office.

"She's not gonna punish us?!" the twins asked, shocked.

"Dumbledore explained the situation to her." Ella began. "Any pranks pulled by the Muses this week will not be recognized as breaking the rules."

"Merely breaking the engagement from hell with style and a few goodhearted laughs." Analese finished. The girls pulled out their wands and cleaned the food off the floor and walls. "Come on, Teri, we have plans to finalize with Dumbledore." she waved to the boys.

"See you later, boys." Ella called over her shoulder back to the twins. "Hey, Pae, how much longer do we have to keep this up? As much fun as targeting Flint is, I want a new victim." Ella whined.

"We gave a week, at most, Ella." Analese reminded her as they stepped into the passage to the seventh floor.

As the girls passed the Fat Lady, the younger girl received a stroke of genius. "I have a brilliant beyond brilliant idea!" she exclaimed to her sister.

By the time they reached the stone gargoyle, an inventive and clever prank was set for Friday.

"Uncle Remus told me that the Marauders created a spell for that but never got a chance to use it." Analese recalled a story from the summer before her second year.

"Well, do you think he'll remember the incantation?" her sister inquired excitedly.

"Yeah, of course. Anyway, did you bring the plans?"

"Every single one." Ella revealed the Muggle composition notebook the girls had been writing in quite often during the past few days.

"Great," the redhead grinned before turning to the statue. "Gummy Bears," she added to the gargoyle.

"Trips to Dumbledore's office always make me hungry." Ella stated her thoughts as Analese nodded her agreement. As they reached the top of the spiraling staircase, Ella suddenly chuckled.

"What's up?" the fifth year smirked knowingly.

"I just had a flash of the twins' expressions during our conversation with McGonagall." At the memory, both girls laughed harder. The younger girl knocked on the wooden, announcing their arrival.

"Enter." Dumbledore told them from inside the circular room.

"Good evening, sir." the sisters smiled as they obliged, walking in.

"Good evening," he replied with a nod, inviting them to have a seat. "What can I do for the lovely sisters on this lovely winter evening?"

"Well, Professor," the redhead started. "The Muses would like to perform again. Perhaps, the end of next week."

"They have everything planned, even the songs are written out. All the information and plans are in here." the thirteen year old held out the small notebook to the headmaster.

Dumbledore's fingers flipped through the pages as silence fell upon the office. "Very well, I have been receiving demands for a second show the elusive and mysterious musicians." the wise professor looked at the two sisters. "As they have everything planned, and are trustworthy people, I grant the Muses permission to play a show on Saturday, after dinner of next week."

"Thank you, sir." Analese jumped from her seat.

"The Muses really appreciate it, Professor Dumbledore." Ella leapt to her feet as well.

As the two girls had enjoyed a delicious helping of Hogwarts chocolate pie before the food fight, both had massive amounts of energy pounding through their veins. Now, in celebration, the pair clasped hands and skipped in a circle.

Dumbledore stood up and walked to the exit, chuckling at two of his brightest pupils. He held the door open and the pair of pranksters joyfully skipped out of the office.

"Good night, Professor." they called over their shoulders before the gargoyle returned to its post.

Powered by the lovely, mouth-watering dessert from dinner, Analese broke out into song. "'I'M WALKING ON SUNSHINE, WHOA-OH! I'M WALKING ON SUNSHINE, WHOA-OH! AND DON'T IT FEEL GOOD! HEY!'"

"'I'M COMING OUT,'" Ella began her own song. "'I WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW! GOT TO LET IT SHOW!'"

Now, the girls had reached Gryffindor Tower and called out the password. As they entered, their horrible 'singing' was continued.

"'OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN!'" the filled common room turned to the singers as they broke out in one of the most over-played songs in the world. "'I PLAYED WITH YOUR HEART. GOT LOST IN THE GAME. OH, BABY, BABY!'" the sisters started dancing like the famous singer as well. "'OOPS YOU THINK I'M IN LOVE. AND I'M SENT FROM ABOVE. I'M NOT THAT INNOCENT!'"

As the girls ended the performance, the entire room was frozen in shock. Unfazed, the two sisters burst out laughing as they rapidly climbed up the stairs to the dormitories.

Fred, feeling extremely worried they were on something, chased them, his brother close behind. Of course, the staircase wouldn't allow the guys up, causing all four to slide down, both girls landing square on Fred's abdomen and legs.

Ella, recovering quickly from the fall, patted Fred's stomach. "Ew! It's squishy! You need to spend more time on the Quidditch pitch. I won't stand for a Flint-sized boyfriend." this sent the girls into another fit of laughter. "Piggy-back rides to fire!" the younger girl shook her red-haired 'pillow'.

"I'll give you a kiss…" Surprisingly, this comment came from the redhead sitting on his legs, her lips puckered.

"You can have him! I like pretty boys! SUGAR!" Ella yelled as she pointed at something behind George's head.

By this time, Fred was sitting up as best he could, watching confusedly as the girls made strange animal whistles and calls, and, assumingly, one dying distress call. A flock of owls had begun pecking at the window.

"Shiny! Lalalala!" the raven-haired ball of energy shouted loudly.

"Hehehe, there's a tap-dancing spider on my brain and he's laughing at you!" the older girl randomly announced as she skipped throughout the common room, finally stopping her journey and leaping onto George's back.

"Does he have a pet duck named Eezel Snickerbocker that eats pickles named Kooku Weezerbottum?" this question silenced all who had tried to ignore the girls' earlier antics. Ella made it seem like a perfectly normal question, such as one about the weather.

"Yep, and his name is Bloo-Jae Snapadoodle. I like that name." Analese smiled, her emerald eyes glazing over in a dreamlike way, her arms wrapped so tightly around George's throat that he was nearly choking.

The twin brothers were starting to think it would be a wise decision not to interfere with whatever was going on.

Suddenly, after a moment of total silence, the third year girl screamed. "The pixies! They've invaded my brain! Them and their stupid sticks."

"That's dirty!" Analese's voice had become light-hearted and airy, her grip on George not slacking.

"Are you losing your sanity?" George carefully approached the energetic girl who was still seated on his twin brother.

"YES! And those penguins are going to put it in a jar and pickle it!"

"I hope it isn't green…" the older girl put in, her voice still dreamy and distant.

"Me too… cause the evil brainwashing pixies might it." her sister agreed loudly. "Oh, Sweet Merlin! What if somebody eats it?!" she turned to the nearing George and, standing quickly, shook him by the shoulders, shaking Analese at the same time. "Tell me it's not green!" Then, she released his shoulders and began pacing, just missing Fred's hand with her lethal-looking boots as he scrambled out of the way.

Analese, quick to defend her sister, released her chokehold on a slightly blue George, ran up and slapped the innocent Weasley, who had been clambering across the scarlet carpet, across the face. "I'll get you, you evil, sanity-stealing, brainwashing pixies… and your little sticks, too!" after completing that statement, the energetic redhead cackled loudly.

A small whisper of "that was dirty" could be heard from a corner from across the room with a minimal hint of what the twins recognized as a familiar Scottish accent, but was ignored by the sugar-high sisters.

"I love pretty boys!" Ella proclaimed. "Where's your boyfriend when you need his?" Not even bothering to look to the spot where she left Fred, she conjured a picture of Ville Valo and proceeded to snog the inanimate object as it sent mocking faces in Fred's direction. Fred, upon deciding not to let her kiss even a photo of another guy, tackled Ella to the couch.

"Hey, you're pretty! Wait…" she examined his face, "Nevermind."

Analese found this extremely hilarious for some reason and fell to the floor, laughing uncontrollably.

"That's not funny." Fred interjected hoarsely, Ella was once again sitting on top of the abused boy. "Sick her, George!" he commanded, managing to point at the older girl who was still rolling on the ground.

"I'm not a…" George's eyes went wide with panic as he saw Analese back-flip back onto her feet and race toward him at top speed. "Bloody Hell!" he began running around, wildly waving his arms in the air. In a way, he actually resembled a chicken with its head cut off.

Analese leapt from a couch and tackled the frightened guy to the floor in front of the boys' staircase.

"Please, don't hurt me, Lese." George pleaded hoarsely, his chest being crushed by the extra weight.

"Silly boy, I won't hurt you." Suddenly, she leaned down and kissed his cheek.

A moment later, Analese collapsed from exhaustion on top of George. Ella was quick to follow her sister's actions and passed out on top of the other twin.

Oliver had come downstairs at the wrong time and was now, once again, furious. He stormed back up the stairs and slammed the door, leaving the room in stunned silence.