"The only way to learn it is to do it."
-Archimedes (The Sword in the Stone)
A little less than a week later, Fred and George caught up to Scarlett and Erica in the hallway.
"Hey, you two hate Umbridge, don't you?" Fred asked, keeping his voice low.
"No, she's only taking over the school, locking me in classrooms and making students write in their own blood," Scarlett snorted. She glanced at Erica's hand. Her best friend had gotten a detention a few days ago for leaving her wand on her desk as she read the textbook. She hadn't even been touching it, but apparently Umbridge seriously meant it when she said 'no wands.' That was part of the reason Erica had left it on her desk. She was sick of being told to put it away.
"Okay, we get it," George laughed. He looked at Erica. "By the way, essence of murtlap will make that feel a lot better." He nodded towards her hand.
"How do you-?"
"How do I know? Hermione's been giving us some after detentions. Harry, too, of course. You can ask her to give you some as well."
"How many detentions have you two had?" Scarlett asked.
"Fred's had two, I've had one," George said. "We had detention together the other night. Let's just say we got a little bored of our daily Defense Against the Dark Arts routine." He and Fred shared a look and smirked.
"What did you do?" Scarlett asked.
"We decided to read from the book while sitting on the floor."
"Why?"
"We're sick of doing the same thing every single day in her class," Fred shrugged. "It's boring. So we decided a change was necessary to make things a bit more interesting."
"So you've decided to actually read the book now?"
The twins smirked again. "No, we haven't read from the book once," George grinned.
"But you just said-,"
"Have you ever heard of faking it?" Fred teased, smiling and raising his eyebrows.
Scarlett shot him a look. "Of course I have," she said. After a brief pause, she spoke again. "You know, I'm actually surprised you both haven't earned more detentions than you have. I'd expect you to get in trouble for all the pranks you pull. Or have you not pulled any yet?"
"Part of being a good prankster is not getting caught," Fred said proudly. "We've pulled loads of pranks so far, but we've never gotten caught. Umbridge suspects us every time, but she can never prove it."
"Yeah, but you haven't done anything to get back at Umbridge yet, have you? Besides sitting on the floor during class, I mean. I half expected you to have turned her into a real toad by now."
"As far as pranks go, no we haven't done anything to annoy her," Fred grinned.
"But that's actually what we wanted to talk to you about," George continued. "We're not learning anything with Umbridge, don't you agree?"
"Completely," Scarlett said at once as Erica nodded. "But what can be done about it?"
"Well," Fred began, "Hermione came up with the idea that Harry should teach us all the stuff we should be learning, but aren't. Hermione wants us to spread the word."
"Harry's going to teach us?" Scarlett asked.
"Yeah, it took some convincing, but Hermione and Ron finally got him to agree. Anyone who wants to come is supposed to meet at the Hog's Head at one o' clock in two weeks, during the next Hogsmeade trip. So what do you say? Are you in?"
Scarlett looked at Erica and she knew they were thinking the same thing. "Yeah, we're in."
"Great," the twins answered in unison.
"You know," Scarlett sighed, "I'm still stumped about why Umbridge would want to lock me in a classroom, though. I just don't understand. What does she have against me?"
"Yeah, that's very odd," Fred agreed. "Something's not right about that. Honestly, this woman's ideas of punishment are mental."
"At least she didn't make you write with your own blood, Scarlett," Erica said, somewhat dismally.
"No, I'd almost rather have been forced to write with my own blood," Scarlett answered.
"Are you crazy?" Erica asked as Fred and George gave Scarlett weird looks.
"Should we get the Ministry to do a background check on you?" Fred asked. "I mean, I just don't think I can marry a girl who loves blood so much."
"Shut up," Scarlett scoffed. "I never said I loved blood. I just meant that if I had to write lines with that quill, it would have been a typical detention from Umbridge. I don't see her locking anyone else in classrooms, so why did she single me out?"
Fred, George and Erica were quiet for a moment. "That's a good question," Erica finally said.
"Maybe she's not singling you out," George suggested. "Maybe locking people in classrooms is a new sort of punishment and so far you're the only one she's used it on."
"Brilliant," Scarlett said with a snort.
"So are you bringing Finchy to this meeting?" Fred asked.
"Finchy? If you're going to call him names, stick with just Finch, please."
"Why?"
"You're going to make me vomit if you say Finchy again."
"So are you bringing him or not?" Fred laughed.
"Probably, why do you ask?"
"Just wondering," Fred smirked.
"You'd better be nice to him," Scarlett said in a warning tone.
"I'm always nice to him," Fred retaliated defensively. There was a pause. "To his face at least."
Scarlett rolled her eyes. "Sure you are. Seriously, though, I mean it. Don't say a word to him at all if all you can say are things that aren't nice."
"Fine," Fred answered. "I'm not all that fluent in bird language anyway."
Scarlett hit him in the arm as hard as she could with her book.
"Ow!" Fred yelped, flinching slightly as the book made contact with his arm.
"Hmm, bad reflexes," Scarlett said, frowning slightly. "Better work on that, Weasley." With that, she shrugged and walked away with Erica right behind her.
"Uh, hi," Hermione said nervously.
Scarlett almost smiled. Of course Hermione was nervous. Besides having to talk in front of everyone gathered in front of her with hardly any idea of what to say, she was also breaking a bunch of school rules.
"Well, you all know why we're here," Hermione continued. "We need a teacher. A proper teacher. With Umbridge, we're not learning magic and we're not learning how to defend ourselves."
"You can say that again," Fred muttered.
"How are we supposed to know that You-Know-Who's really back?" asked Zacharias Smith, a boy in Scarlett's house that she didn't really like all that much.
"Dumbledore says-,"
"Dumbledore says because he says." Zacharias pointed to Harry.
"Harry could tell us more about how Cedric Diggory got killed," Michael Corner said.
"I'm not here to talk about Cedric," Harry finally chimed in, "so if that's why you're here, you can all clear out now." He turned to Hermione. "Let's go, they clearly all think I'm some kind of freak."
"Is it true you can produce a Patronus Charm?" Luna Lovegood asked suddenly.
"Yes," Hermione said after a pause. "I've seen it."
"And he killed the basilisk with the sword in Dumbledore's office!" Neville added.
"Third year he fought off about a hundred dementors," Ron said.
"And last year he really did fight You-Know-Who," Hermione finished.
"Well, it all sounds great when you say it like that," Harry muttered, "but really, a lot of the time it was just luck and I nearly always had help-,"
"So you really can't do any of that stuff?" Zacharias Smith asked.
"Of course he can," Hermione said defensively.
"Well it just sounds like we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us that he didn't really do any of it."
"That's not what he said," Ron snapped angrily.
"Yeah, do you need us to clean out your ears for you?" George asked, pulling a thin, metal object from the Zonko's bag he was holding.
"Or any part of your body, really. We're not fussy where we stick this," Fred added with a shrug.
"What is it, exactly?" Justin asked from next to Scarlett. She squeezed his hand under the table and gave her head a small shake, but Justin simply shrugged.
"Care to find out?" Fred asked with a smirk. "We'll gladly give you a turn after Zacharias."
Justin angrily opened his mouth as if to tell Fred where he thought the metal object should go, but Scarlett interrupted before he could speak. "Don't say a word," she said. "And Fred, quit threatening Justin and let Harry finish with what he has to say."
"I was done anyway," Harry said with a shrug. "I mean, all the spells I've used, well, I know how to do them, but what I really meant earlier is that being out there fighting is not like school. In school if you make a mistake you can just try again tomorrow, but when you're out there watching your friends die before your eyes.…"
"He's really back?" a boy from Gryffindor asked quietly.
Harry nodded and after a short pause, Hermione continued talking again.
"Which is why we need Harry as our teacher. If we ever want to defeat…Voldemort, we'll have to learn how to defend ourselves. I have a sign-up sheet ready…." She trailed off as she reached into her bag and pulled out a sign-up sheet, placing it on the table in front of her. Her name was already signed along with Harry and Ron's.
"Is that all? The meeting's done?" Zacharias asked.
"Yes, that's all," Hermione said. "Today's meeting was only to explain what we're doing and see who's seriously considering joining. So, if you're prepared to do this and come to meetings, and most importantly, keep it a secret, then sign up." Hermione leaned forward and slid the paper further down the table.
Nobody moved for a moment, but then Fred grabbed the paper, pulled out a quill, signed his name, and passed the sign-up sheet to George. "Easy," Fred said with a grin.
Scarlett was the last person to get the sign-up sheet after it made its way around the table. She signed her name right under Justin and Erica's signatures before sliding the paper to Ron, who passed it to Hermione.
"Okay, well, thanks everyone. We'll pass the word around when we come up with a meeting place and time."
Once she was outside, Scarlett glanced at Justin and Erica. "I think this sounds exciting, don't you?"
"Very exciting," Erica answered, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"If we're actually going to learn something then I think this is a great idea," Justin added. "I'm not learning a thing from that 'ministry approved' textbook."
"Have you actually read it?" Scarlett asked with a laugh.
"Skimmed it," Justin admitted, laughing as well.
"Don't worry, me too," Scarlett said. "I stare at the page but learn nothing."
"I can't believe Fred, though. I mean, how much more of a jerk can a person get?"
"I think Zacharias is the ultimate jerk," Scarlett said.
"That's true, but Zacharias is Zacharias. He's always been a jerk. Everyone knows it by now and I can at least ignore him, but Fred just knows how to push my buttons."
"Don't let him," Scarlett said with a shrug.
"Easier said than done," Justin answered.
"I've told him to leave you alone, but since he clearly isn't, just try your best to ignore him and forget about it," Scarlett said.
"Maybe I should," Justin said guiltily. "I can at least try. You probably don't particularly like me complaining about him all the time."
"No, not really," Scarlett said honestly. "I know you don't like him all that much, but I can't really do anything about that. I'm friends with him," she shrugged. She wanted to reassure him that it was all she and Fred would ever be, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. She didn't really want to tell Justin any more lies.
Justin didn't say anything right away. He looked down at his and Scarlett's intertwined hands, rubbing his thumb back and forth over the back of her hand. "Can I tell you something?" he finally asked in a low voice.
"Sure, anything," Scarlett responded at once.
"Do you need me to leave?" Erica asked hesitantly.
Justin looked at her as if he had just remembered she was there. "No," he said, shrugging, "you can stay."
"What do you have to tell me?" Scarlett asked curiously.
"Well," Justin began, "I might still be a little angry at Fred.…"
"Angry at him for what?" Scarlett asked, glancing at Erica nervously. Had Justin found out about the vow? No, he couldn't have, she decided. If he had, he would have confronted her immediately and she didn't think he'd be this calm about it. Not at first, anyway.
"Last year," Justin said, "I sort of liked this girl and Fred stole her right out from under my nose."
"Last year?" Scarlett asked. "I didn't know Fred dated anyone last year. I thought he mentioned that Angelina would be his first actual girlfriend. I could be wrong, though."
Justin cleared his throat uncomfortably. "He didn't date anyone last year, but I was going to ask a girl to the Yule Ball and he asked her before I could."
"Hold on," Scarlett said, "Fred took Angelina to the Yule Ball."
"Yeah," Justin said, smiling a little guiltily at as if he thought she'd be upset.
"You liked Angelina last year? I didn't know that," she said. She didn't feel angry—Justin liking Angelina was in the past after all—but she did feel surprised.
"I did," Justin admitted. "Did I ever tell you that Angelina and I were friends before Hogwarts?"
Scarlett's mouth dropped open. "You were?"
Justin nodded. "We were neighbors since I was seven years old and she was nine. Well, we weren't exactly neighbors, but she lived two streets over. She was friends with another girl in our neighborhood and one day, on her way home, she saw me do magic. It was the first day I ever even did magic. I was scared at first, but she told me what was going on. I didn't believe her at first, but she showed me that she could do magic too."
"What happened, then?" Scarlett asked. "You aren't exactly friends with her anymore."
"Well, no. We still live near each other, but we don't talk all that much anymore. Not really at all, actually. We kind of grew apart since we were put in different houses at school and there's a bit of an age difference."
"Two years isn't that bad," Scarlett said. "I'm two years older than you, too."
"I know, but Angelina and I had different classes as a result. I know you and I do as well, but we're in the same house. I get to see you during all my free time. Anyway, I thought asking Angelina to the ball would help to rekindle our friendship and I did think she was really pretty and nice and fun….I liked her. But she was really close with the twins and then Fred took her to the ball. Besides the fact that I had realized I liked her and he got to take her to the ball, it also felt like he had stolen my best friend. Angelina started school two years before me and would write me letters telling me all about Fred and George and how funny and cool they were." He sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes I just miss being her friend."
Scarlett stared at the ground. Her head was practically spinning. She couldn't get over the fact that Justin's friendship with Angelina was strangely similar to the one she had once had with Fred, right down to them growing apart. Granted, it had happened for different reasons and the story itself was slightly different, but it was still strange.
"I know I ended up asking you to the Yule Ball, but I don't want you to think I had a lousy time. I had a great time and you were a great date." Justin smiled at her. He clearly thought she was upset about that which was truthfully the last thing on her mind.
"Thanks," she said. "And back then I hadn't even started liking you yet, so you're off the hook." She smiled weakly.
"You aren't mad now?"
"No, why would I be? It would be silly of me to be mad now. I'm just trying to process it all."
"Maybe it's just me who has difficulty getting over incidents of the past," Justin muttered.
Scarlett giggled. "So let me get this straight," she said slowly. "You were mad that Fred asked Angelina to the Yule Ball and stole your prospective date…." Justin nodded. "Understandable," she continued. "And you felt that you had her first as a friend, and he stole her away from you…." Justin nodded again. "And now are you upset that he's dating her?" Scarlett finished.
Justin shrugged. "Not really. I've been over her for so long that it doesn't really make a difference anymore. Sometimes I'm reminded of the Yule Ball incident, though. You know, seeing them together and everything, but like I said, I was more upset about the lost friendship. That was stronger than the crush I had on her, although realizing she didn't like me back wasn't fun either."
"You know, sometimes people grow apart. It doesn't necessarily have to be somebody's fault."
"I know, but it just always seemed that I could pinpoint it to Fred. It was easy to pinpoint it to Fred."
"Does Fred know that you wanted to ask Angelina to the ball? Does he know you liked her?"
"No, but what difference does it make? What's he going to do, say 'Oh, I'm sorry, here, I'll break up with Angelina and you can have her'? Nobody in their right mind would do that and plus, it's too late. I have you now and I'm happy." He smiled at Scarlett and it was a genuine smile that let her know he was telling the truth.
"So you don't want to lose me to Fred because it already happened once before," she guessed. "With another girl, though."
"Yeah, pretty much," Justin said, letting out a puff of air. "Stupid, I know."
"No, it's—I can understand what you're going through. Well, I've never been through something like that personally, but I get it."
Justin let out a small laugh. "Thanks for understanding."
"I can be friends with him and still be friends with you and be your girlfriend, though," Scarlett said slowly. "It's not one or the other."
"I know. It's just that Fred can get any and every girl he wants and I'm afraid that one day he'll decide he wants you and somehow he'll end up getting you."
Scarlett swallowed and chewed on her lip. She couldn't reassure Justin because the truth was that his fear had come true before it had even developed.
"Can you not say anything to Fred about this?" Justin asked quietly.
"Why would I?" she whispered. "That would just cause more drama that we don't need."
"True," Justin laughed.
Scarlett glanced at Erica to see her reaction to the whole thing. Her best friend caught her eye over Justin's shoulder and mouthed 'you are in so over your head'. Scarlett made a face before looking away. Erica was right. Scarlett was in over her head, and she was in way more than she would have liked.