"Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy, it's unbelievable."

-Matilda (Matilda)

"You go on ahead," Scarlett said. "I'm going to talk to Professor Sprout." Scarlett gestured for her friends to leave as she hung back at their usual workplace in the greenhouses. She was feeling somewhat anxious about talking to her Herbology professor, even though she knew her rather well and Professor Sprout was extremely kind. She was even nervous despite the fact that Fred, George and Erica had spent the class suggesting things for her to say and giving her advice.

"She knows what kind of person you are," Erica had said, "so she'll find this whole situation completely ridiculous as well and maybe she can do something about it." The second she and George had been filled in on Scarlett's predicament, they had both agreed with Fred that Umbridge was up to something. Actually, the more Scarlett thought about it, the more she agreed with him as well. None of this was making any sense.

"Doubt it," Scarlett had muttered in response to Erica's statement.

"Don't give up just yet," Fred had advised.

Now, Erica, Fred and George looked back at her sympathetically. "Good luck, Scar," Erica said comfortingly.

"Thanks," Scarlett said quietly.

"I'll wait for you outside," Fred whispered. "I have to talk to you anyway."

Scarlett shot him a questioning look, but he shook his head and left the greenhouse with George and Erica. Once they were gone and the greenhouse was empty of students, Scarlett made her way up to Professor Sprout, who was gathering up her things. "Professor?" she said.

"Yes, what is it, dear?" Professor Sprout asked kindly, looking up at her.

Scarlett took a deep breath. "Last night, Professor Umbridge told me that I should speak to you about a career option other than a Healer."

"Why would she tell you that?" Professor Sprout asked, looking confused. "When I spoke to you back in your fifth year, you were well on your way to becoming a Healer and the same applies for when I met with you at the beginning of this year."

"Apparently I'm failing her class and taking the NEWTs won't do anything because I won't have a passing grade for the actual class," Scarlett explained.

"Rubbish," Professor Sprout said. "All of it."

"You don't believe I'm really failing, then," Scarlett said. "You think she could be making it up?"

Professor Sprout looked at Scarlett for a moment before answering. "I know you quite well, Scarlett," she said, "and I know how much being a Healer means to you. I think that should answer your question."

"Is there anything you can do, then?" Scarlett asked.

Professor Sprout sighed. "Unfortunately, no. Dolores is headmistress now and has the support of the Minister. Normally, I'd take this matter to Dumbledore, but seeing as we can't…."

"I understand," Scarlett said, looking down at her feet. "So I guess it's best if I do just choose another career, then."

Professor Sprout was quiet for a moment. "Not just yet," she finally said. "There must be a way to prove Dolores is lying. She must have your real grades around somewhere. If she magically altered your records, there are ways we can find out. And if she made a second copy and switched the grades that way, well, we'll still be able to find your real files. It's illegal to actually destroy them, you see, even with her practically in charge and with the Minister wrapped around her finger."

"So what are you saying?" Scarlett asked.

"I'm saying that I'll see what I can do," Professor Sprout answered with a tiny smile.

"I really do appreciate this," Scarlett told her, "but please don't go through a lot of trouble. I wouldn't want you to get fired or anything….I mean, I'm not worth it."

Professor Sprout chuckled. "Like I said, I know what being a Healer means to you. You're a good student and I'm rather fed up with Dolores myself." She smiled again. "Just know that if I help you out on this, I'll be pestering you for any health related issues I may have in the future."

Scarlett let out a small laugh. "Thank you, Professor….honestly."

With one last comforting smile, Professor Sprout left the greenhouses. Scarlett took a deep breath before heading outside as well. The knot in her stomach had lessoned, but only slightly.

"Hey, what'd she say?"

Scarlett jumped as Fred caught up to her and grabbed her arm. "You scared me. I forgot you were waiting," she laughed. "Anyway, she said there wasn't much she thought she could do, but she said something about trying to find my original files as proof that Umbridge did something. I don't know where we'll go from there, though."

"Your original files?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, my files the school keeps a hold of with all of my grades and test scores. It's illegal to throw them away—at least while I'm still at school—so Umbridge must have them somewhere. She might have made a copy and changed the grades or magically changed the original. If she magically changed the original, Professor Sprout says there are ways to find out."

"So she thinks Umbridge made everything up as well?"

"Apparently," Scarlett shrugged, "but, really, I don't know how much she can do and how much she can get away with, so I'm not going to get my hopes up just yet." She sighed and glanced at Fred. "You can say it, you know."

"Say what?" he asked, looking confused.

"That the offer still stands if I want to stand outside your shop dressed as an Extendable Ear. I actually just might have to do it."

Fred smiled. "No, I think you should finish out the year and see what happens with Umbridge. If you're still failing, come see me."

"Finish out the year?" Scarlett asked, picking up on his word choice. "That makes it seem like you're leaving to open the shop. Are you?" She looked up at him excitedly.

Fred nodded. "Yeah, George and I are leaving early. Next weekend, actually. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to let you know."

"I should have realized," Scarlett groaned. "You told me that you wouldn't want to stay if the D.A. ended, but it completely slipped my mind."

"I'd say you were pretty preoccupied," Fred shrugged.

"But this is great! You're finally going to open your joke shop!" Scarlett grinned happily at him.

"Yeah, I know," Fred replied, returning the grin. Suddenly, it faded and he sighed. "But it's unfair. I feel like I don't deserve it. Not after what's happening to you." He rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the ground.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, here I am living my dream and I didn't have to work all that hard for it and you've been working so hard for years and your dreams might very well be crushed."

"Fred, you have worked hard!" Scarlett said. "All that stuff you and George invented, well, maybe it seems easy to you, but it was a lot of hard work! And it took a lot of planning to find a place and it'll take a lot of work to get it open. You most definitely deserve this."

Fred looked at her. "And you deserve to be a Healer. I wish there was some way I could help you."

Scarlett shook her head. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll figure it out. I am a big girl after all." They stopped just inside the front doors and Scarlett looked up at Fred. "You'll be great, you know. You and George. You really won't need anybody to stand outside to attract customers. They'll come inside all on their own. I'm sure of it."

Fred smiled. "Thanks," he whispered, pulling her into a hug. Scarlett was a little surprised, but she hugged him back anyway. "Promise to keep in touch and let me know what happens with the toad," Fred continued.

"I will," Scarlett sighed.

"Don't worry," Fred said, pulling away and grinning. "With any luck, she'll be gone after this year. And I know you'll end up being able to become a Healer."

Scarlett shrugged. "Maybe."

"Hey," Fred whispered. Scarlett looked up at him. "Things will work out. I know they will."

"How do you know? You can't possibly know that."

"I do know because there's no way Umbridge can win this. I don't think anyone would let her…you especially." He let that sink in for a minute before he jerked his head towards the great hall. "Come on, lunch is halfway over and I'm starving."

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised."

"Hey, Scar, come here."

Scarlett glanced to her left to see Fred and George hiding behind a statue. It was two days after her talk with Professor Sprout and Scarlett still hadn't heard any news on if her professor had found anything. She was trying to be patient and give the lady some time, but Scarlett was getting anxious. She wanted this all sorted out.

"What do you want?" she asked, making her way over to the statue.

"Come closer. This is top secret business," Fred hissed.

"How much closer can I get?" she asked. "There's certainly no way I'm going to fit behind that statue with both of you there already."

"Sounds like you're calling one of the three of us fat, and it most definitely is not me or Fred," George smirked.

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "What is it?" she asked again, managing to squeeze behind the statue. She hoped no one ended up seeing them. The last thing she needed was someone running to tell Justin a complete and utter fib because they saw something fishy and didn't bother to get all the facts.

"We think we have an idea on how to get you into Umbridge's office," Fred said proudly.

"Me? I'm not going into her office. Professor Sprout said she would try to find my files. Besides, I don't know the spell to detect my real grades if Umbridge magically changed them, which I'm assuming she did so that my real files aren't lying around somewhere. She's not stupid, you know."

"Yes, but it's been two days and Professor Sprout hasn't found anything yet."

"I know and I am anxious, but I'm trying to be patient. She isn't a miracle worker. She's only human, you know."

"Yes, but see, we're leaving in a few days and we want to be able to help you if we can," Fred said. "The least we can do is get you into Umbridge's office so you can at least look for yourself. If you don't find anything, then you can leave it up to Professor Sprout, but this way you get a look around as well. Two heads are better than one. That's what they all say, isn't it?"

Scarlett debated it for a moment. "All right," she finally sighed. "What's your plan? And make it quick. I don't want someone to see us back here."

The twins rolled their eyes. "Okay," Fred said, "well I don't know if you've noticed, but George and I have been laying low with the pranks lately…."

"I haven't noticed, actually, but I do know what that means," Scarlett said. She sighed, but couldn't help the smile that spread over her face.

Fred and George grinned. "We have two last pranks planned for Friday afternoon, the day we're leaving," George continued.

"So that we can, oh, you know, go out with a bang," Fred smirked.

"A bang," Scarlett repeated.

"A bang," George nodded, a smirk identical to Fred's spreading over his face.

"The plan is that on Friday afternoon, we'll pull a pretty big prank. This will also serve as your diversion," Fred said. "Immediately after we set this prank in motion, we'll be pulling another prank before we leave this joint for good. This is basically to anger Umbridge even more and she won't even be able to prove either prank was us."

"And if she does," George added, "we'll most likely already be gone."

"Okay, so how does this help me?"

"Like I said," Fred shrugged, "it's your diversion. The first prank will lure the old toad out of her office so that you can get inside. We can probably guarantee about twenty minutes."

"When are you pulling this prank?" Scarlett asked.

"Five o'clock sharp," the twins said together.

Scarlett nodded. "Okay," she answered. "And thank you."

The twins grinned. "Don't mention it," George said. "Really, you're making us blush."

Scarlett smiled and punched his shoulder lightly. "If I don't see you before you leave," she told them, looking from one twin to the other, "well…I'll miss you."

"We'll be seeing you again soon, I expect," Fred winked. "You and I do have a vow to fulfill after all."

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "I'm well aware. Can we get out from behind this statue now?"

"We'll miss you, too, though," Fred said seriously as they emerged back into the hallway.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he said. They reached the end of the hallway and before they went their separate ways, Fred turned to Scarlett again. "Don't forget to make sure the Finch is well stocked up on birdseed every flavor beans," he said, "and make sure he doesn't peck your eye out." He crossed one of his eyes again like he had done in Diagon Alley.

Scarlett groaned. "I should have known you'd have to have one last peck at him." She gasped. "I can't believe I just said that."

Fred started roaring with laugher. Even George started to laugh, but at least he tried to be polite and hold it in.

"Stop laughing," Scarlett cried, covering her mouth with her hand. "It isn't funny! You have most definitely rubbed off on me!" She gave Fred a shove as he continued to laugh. "Maybe it's a good thing you're leaving. Maybe I'll return to normal when I'm twin-free for a few months."

"That was one of the highlights of my day," Fred sighed as his laughter slowed. "You actually made a bird related joke while we were talking about the Finch."

"I feel terrible," Scarlett said seriously. "I didn't mean to say it. It just came out."

"Sure it did," Fred smirked. "I'm going to tell him you said that."

"Yeah, but then you'd have to tell him that you started it."

"True," Fred shrugged. He looked at her, suddenly serious. "He'll be glad when I'm gone, won't he? He can finally relax."

"I suppose," Scarlett shrugged, "but since when do you care what he thinks?"

"Again, true," Fred said with a smile. "If he's ever anything but nice to you, tell me, and I'll come back and deal with him."

"Are you just trying to find an excuse to fight with him?"

Fred smirked. "Well, you know, I can't have him damaging my future wife's face with his beak."

"Stop it," Scarlett said threateningly. "I mean it." She pointed a finger at him.

"Or what? You'll set your beaked boyfriend on me?"

Scarlett inhaled through her nose and turned around. "I can't deal with you." She began to walk away, but heard Fred's voice behind her.

"Scar?"

"Yes?" She stopped walking but didn't turn around.

When Fred spoke again, his voice was so quiet, she almost didn't hear it. "I've had fun catching up with you this year and I really will miss you."

Scarlett couldn't help herself. She broke into a grin and, without stopping to think, she turned, ran back towards Fred, and threw her arms around him. He blinked in surprise, but returned the hug, nonetheless "I'll miss you, too," Scarlett said, breaking away to hug George as well. "But like you said, we do have to see each other soon anyway."

Fred nodded. "See you soon, then?"

Scarlett smiled. "See you soon, then."

Friday afternoon, at five minutes to five, Scarlett found herself waiting around the corner from Umbridge's office. She hadn't bothered to tell Justin and Erica where she was going or what she was doing. They would only try to stop her.

At exactly five o' clock, there was a series of bangs. Scarlett knew they were coming from the other side of the castle, but the volume was still incredibly loud. Holding her breath, she peered around the corner to see Umbridge running out of her office and towards the sound, just as Fred and George had said she would.

Not wasting any time, Scarlett ran towards Umbridge's office, colliding with someone at the door. "Harry?" she said.

"Scarlett?" He looked just as surprised as she felt. "What are you doing here?"

"Sneaking into Umbridge's office. What are you doing here?"

"Sneaking into Umbridge's office," Harry said slowly. "Hang on….Did Fred and George…?"

"Cause a diversion so that I could do this? Yeah."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, same here."

Scarlett let out a tiny laugh. "They forgot to mention that I wouldn't be the only one sneaking in here. Did they mention anything to you?"

"No," Harry replied.

Scarlett glanced over her shoulder. "Come on, we'd better hurry and do what we need to do, then. They only guaranteed me twenty minutes."

"Same," Harry nodded again.

The two of them slipped into the pink, girly office as stealthily as possible. Scarlett headed straight for the desk, while Harry went for the fireplace. Scarlett glanced at him as he threw down some Floo Powder, knelt down, yelled out Sirius's address, and stuck his head into the flames. "Sirius?" he asked.

Scarlett almost laughed as she heard the unmistakable sounds of someone jumping in fright from the other side. She tried to tune out Harry's conversation as she began rifling through Umbridge's drawers, but she did hear a few snippets of the conversation. Apparently, Harry wanted to verify something his dad had done at school that involved Snape.

She let out a few curse words under her breath as she finished checking the third drawer to no avail.

"Is someone in the room with you?" she heard Sirius ask Harry.

"Scarlett," Harry answered. "She needed to sneak into Umbridge's office as well."

"Hi, Sirius," Scarlett answered absentmindedly as she moved on to another drawer. Maybe this was ridiculous. Now that she was thinking about it, she didn't know if Umbridge would even leave the grades of her students just lying around in her desk. Maybe she wanted to store them somewhere safer, especially if Scarlett's had been changed.

Suddenly, Scarlett realized something. Umbridge simply couldn't change Scarlett's grade on her own papers; she had to change the grade in Scarlett's cumulative records as well. Those were stored in the headmaster's office, which Umbridge now had access to. Scarlett had originally thought it was stupid that Umbridge used two offices but now it sort of made sense. Umbridge was now able to cover all the bases and make it truly seem as if Scarlett was failing her class. She could change Scarlett's cumulative records, wouldn't have to go through Dumbledore to do it, and most importantly, the records were safely hidden away in the headmaster's office protected by a password.

Deciding she might as well look through the rest of the desk drawers just in case and figure out her next move later, Scarlett continued to rifle through papers in Umbridge's desk until something caught her eye. Frowning, she picked up the piece of paper. "Approval for Whipping," she muttered. Her eyes widened. Umbridge had gotten approval from Cornelius Fudge himself to bring back the old punishments. She checked the date. "Yesterday," she muttered, biting her lip as her stomach tightened nervously. This was not a good sign for anybody.

Suddenly, Scarlett heard footsteps coming in the direction of the office. Her head snapped up and her breath caught in her throat. "Harry," she hissed, "someone's coming."

"I've got to go," Harry told Sirius. He pulled his head out of the fireplace and scrambled to his feet. The footsteps were right outside the door now. "Under here," Harry hissed, pulling his invisibility cloak out of his bag. Scarlett stuck the approval for the new punishment back into the drawer and hurried to Harry's side after double checking to make sure Umbridge's desk was exactly as she had found it. Harry threw the cloak over them, hiding them both from view as the door opened. It wasn't Umbridge, but Filch. He made a beeline for the desk and opened the drawer Scarlett had just closed moments ago.

"Approval for whipping…approval for whipping…I can do it at last," he muttered. "They've had it coming to them for years."

He pulled out the approval form, kissed it, and hurried rapidly out of the room. Scarlett had never seen him move so fast. She would have found it funny if she hadn't realized who Filch had been talking about.

"Fred and George," she whispered, starting to move out from under the cloak.

"No, stay under here until it's safe," Harry ordered, grabbing her arm.

"Fine, but can we hurry?" she hissed. They moved as quickly as they could while trying to stay under the cloak. Filch was just ahead of them so they had to try to stay silent as well. They followed him all the way to the entrance hall, which was packed with students. Harry quickly removed the cloak and Scarlett immediately began forcing her way through the crowd. She spotted Justin and Erica near the front and made her way to them. "What's going on?" she hissed, looking at Fred and George, standing near the front doors, looking as if they were two children with their hands caught in the cookie jar.

"Scarlett," Justin said, jumping slightly. "Where were you?"

"Never mind that," she said quickly. "Can one of you just fill me in?"

"The Inquisitorial Squad cornered Fred and George," Erica said. "Did you see what they did to the corridor where the statue of Gregory the Smarmy is?"

"No," Scarlett answered. "What did they do?"

"They used one of their own products," Justin said. "A portable swamp. The entire corridor's flooded. No one can get down there."

"And now they're going to get whipped," Scarlett gasped, "unless they can make it out, but I don't see how they can…."

"What are you talking about?" Justin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Scarlett answered quickly. "Just forget it."

Justin opened his mouth to say something else, but he didn't get the chance because a familiar voice sounded from behind them.

"Good and cornered."

Scarlett turned to see Umbridge at the top of the stairs. She began to descend them one by one and as she did, the students standing on the steps parted to make way for her.

"So," she continued, addressing Fred and George. She stopped a few steps from the bottom and looked down at the twins. "You two think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"

"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred, looking back up at her, calmly. He even had the nerve to smirk slightly.

Filch suddenly caught up to Umbridge and stood eagerly beside her. "I've got the form," he said gleefully, holding it out in front of him.

"Very good, Argus," Umbridge said. "You two," she said, looking down at Fred and George again, "are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."

"You know what?" Fred said. "I don't think we are. George, I think we've outgrown full-time education."

"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," replied George.

"Time to test our talents in the real world, you think?" Fred asked.

"Definitely," said George.

Simultaneously, they both raised their wands and yelled "Accio brooms!"

There was a loud crash from somewhere in the distance in within seconds, Fred and George's brooms were soaring over the crowd, a chain still dangling from one.

"We won't be seeing you," Fred said, looking at Umbridge as he climbed onto his broom. George grabbed his own broom, the one with the chain still attached, and climbed on as well. "Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," he added.

"If anyone fancies buying a portable swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three Diagon Alley. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes—our new premises!" Fred shouted to the crowd.

"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," George continued, pointing at Umbrudge, who turned red with absolute fury.

"Stop them!" she shrieked, but there was nothing anyone could do. Fred and George kicked off from the floor and rose above the crowd. Fred looked at Peeves, who was floating level with them.

"Give her hell from us, Peeves."

To everyone's amazement, the poltergeist nodded in agreement. Scarlett smiled as she remembered the day Fred and George had told her that Peeves respected them. It looked as if they were right. And, as Fred and George flew through the oak front doors, it seemed as if they had also gained the respect of nearly the entire Hogwarts population. That is, of course, if they didn't have it already.

A/N: This was such a fun chapter to write. Fred and George's leaving Hogwarts scene is one of my favorites in both the books and the movies even though they're slightly different.

As far as how long this story's going to go, I'm planning on continuing until a little bit after the seventh book ends and I'm probably going to keep it all in one story instead of splitting it up into separate ones if that's okay.

Lastly, I'll fill everyone in on James and Oliver. Basically my friend and I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to catch a 6:40 bus to NYC. It took about 3 and a half hours to get there, we got to the meet and greet by 10:20, and the line was already almost halfway down the street. They passed out wristbands and ran out about 50 people behind us, so we literally got there right on time. We waited for 3 hours in 34 degree weather, but it was so worth it. We didn't get a lot of time to talk with them, though and we could only take pictures of them, not with them which wasn't the greatest arrangement but at least I have pictures of them on my phone that I can't seem to stop looking at haha. Anyway, I went up with my friend and handed Oliver my book and my friend gave James her phone to sign and we said hi and then I basically blurted out that they were the best characters in the movies and they kind of just smiled at me but didn't say anything. Then I said "This was definitely worth getting up at 4:30" and James looked up at me with this almost shocked/impressed expression and said "Wow, where are you from?" So I told him and he said "Oh, yeah, okay. Cool, thanks for coming." so we said thanks for the autographs and left, but I wanted to melt into a puddle because James Phelps looked at me and spoke to me even if he probably forgot about me five minutes later haha. Oliver didn't really say much except say hi and smile at me but there wasn't a lot of time so I think forgiveness can be arranged :) And honestly, I didn't think I would ever meet them but it ended up happening, so don't give up! :) They're totally sweet and adorable and worth waiting three hours for.