Chapter 47: Swerving off the rode
"IT'S OVER!" the twins exclaimed as they punched the air and did a small happy dance after they left the testing room. They did not care who saw them, heck even some students joined along in the cheering and the dancing. Fred and George walked around and patted random students on the shoulders and hugged their friends with glee, they even frightened the unsuspecting first years who passed by. The OWLs test had ended and it was obvious that the twins, and every other fifth year, were overjoyed with that fact.
"No more studying!" George yelled
"No more cramming!" Fred's voice followed, "Haha!"
"NO MORE ANYTHING!" they said in unison before dashing out of sight.
"Most likely to catch up on their pranking," Zoey muttered under her breath after the twins rounded a corner. She smiled a bit out of pure relief that the tests were finally over and she twirled her quill in her fingers. The feathers were slightly ruffled and the tip was stained with black. "You lived a good life," Zoey said to the quill for she had to buy a new one soon. She turned around and looked back at the testing room. The tests were over and the only thing she had to worry about now was her results. Whether she passed or not, Zoey did not want to dwell on the thought.
"Zwei, I was thinking if you would want to spend two weeks in my summer house?" Echo's voice came from behind her.
Zoey whirled around and pushed up her glasses before brushing back her bangs. "Summer house?" she asked, "Where?"
"The center of the Bermuda Triangle," Echo simply answered, rocking back and forth on her heels. Zoey raised an eyebrow.
"Bermuda Triangle?" she paused, "I have to be back home the week before the Quidditch World Cup," she bit her lip, "You're attending it as well aren't you?"
"Don't remind me. Fred and George can't shut their bloody traps for one second when that's what they're talking about," Echo grimaced and took a glance at where Fred and George disappeared.
"So you're not going?" Zoey asked slowly.
"I'm going of course," Echo raised an eyebrow.
Zoey nodded her head and pocketed her damaged quill and headed towards the stairs. She grabbed hold of the railing when it began to move. Zoey looked back at Echo and took note that she stood in place staring up at the ceiling. Zoey, too, looked up and noticed that it looked the same way it always did. "Hey Echo?" Zoey asked as she began walking up the stairs when it ceased movement, "What's so eye-catching about the ceiling?"
Echo opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by a yell. She turned around while Zoey moved in her place to see where the yell came from. Their eyes widened when they saw George tumbling down the stairs. Behind him there was a large smoke cloud that was colored swamp-green. Zoey quickly covered her nose when an odd smell started to seep towards them. There was a 'boom' that shook them a bit and suddenly green goop was seeping down the floor and slowly progressing down the steps. Zoey looked towards Echo and noticed that she was not where she was previously standing.
There was a groan.
Zoey looked down the stairs and saw Echo's violet hair fanned out on the floor while the rest of her body was covered by George, his ginger hair the only color visible from all the black and gray of his robes. Zoey bit her lip thinking if she should say something.
"A – Are you alright?" she managed to say as she descended down the steps only looking back twice to see how long she had till the goop reached them.
"Mind. Numbing. Pa-in." Echo moaned out and moved a bit from under George who groaned in reply. She, Echo, opened her eyes only to see George's blue eyes widening the same way as hers. She opened her mouth and let out an ear piercing scream.
George jumped back in surprise and Zoey quickly covered her ears. She looked at George and saw that he didn't cover his ears but instead winced at the sound. Zoey also took note that his cheeks were flushed. Either from embarrassment or something else, she did not know. George looked at her and Zoey bit her lip before pretending that she did not notice the shade of his cheeks by looking around only to see that the paintings were, too, covering their ears. After about thirty seconds had passed Echo's screamed began to soften before dying out leaving a breathless Echo. Echo took a few deep breaths before saying in a quiet voice:
"What just happened?"
Zoey looked back at George and saw that he was not looking at either of them. He did the same thing Fred does when the atmosphere got to awkward. Zoey raised an eyebrow at him but he did not see since the back of his head was the one facing her. She shook her head and helped Echo back to her feet before looking towards the stairs. The goop was only about fifteen more steps away till it reached the floor. Zoey was starting to think it was getting thicker and goopy-er with each passing step.
"I'm having the same question, actually," Zoey said, "What is that?" she then pointed at the goop.
George looked towards where she was pointing and a smirk crawled on his lips. The redness on his cheeks were gone. "Something we decided to pull in celebration for the last day of OWLs," he said before bending over to take a better look at the goop that was now five steps away from them. Zoey took a step back.
"We?" she asked
"Fred, Lee and I," George said with a shrug, "Who else?"
"What are you pointing at?" Echo's voice came and they turned towards her. Her eyes were squinting while her right hand was rubbing the back of her head. "I think I bumped my head too hard. I'm blind!" she said in a panicky state of manner.
"Let me take a look," George said as he walked closer to her, "You can't be blind. You can still see me can't you?"
Echo looked around at everything except for George. "Zoey who said that? Are we going to get killed?"
Zoey rolled her eyes in amusement but before she could say anything there was another explosion. She, Echo and George all turned back to the beginning of the stairs and saw another cloud of green smoke but this time it had some sparks in it which made small explosion contributing to the cloud. From the smoke emerged a figure which was Fred. Fred wore a grin on his face as he dashed out of the cloud of smoke. He looked down at them and gave a wave.
"That's where you ran off to, George!" he exclaimed, "Hanging around with their lot and I'm not invited? Rude!"
Fred then looked down as he prepared to walk to towards them but stopped with one foot raised when he took note of the goop. He then turned back when there was an angry yell from the other side of the cloud. Fred turned back at them and brought out his wand. "George, help me out here will ya?" he said before George pulled out his own wand. Zoey watched them with a curious look as they both made a wave with their wands and muttered spells under their breath. She looked back at Fred and saw that his feet started to lift above the ground. It wasn't as high as she was when she flew, his were only by a few inches, just enough to avoid the goop.
Slowly but surely, Fred floated towards them and the moment his feet touched the ground the goop was already on the last step. Fred whipped his forehead before grinning back at them. "That was a close one. Now all we have to do is – "
But Fred never got to finish because Filch, who was red in the face from anger, came out of the cloud of green smoke with the look of bloody murder written on his face.
"WEASLEY!"
Filch exclaimed.
Fred turned back to Zoey, Echo and George and said with a hiss, "Run!"
Zoey sighed as she picked up a small jar from the table. She turned it over and read the label. "Dreamless Sleep Potion," Zoey muttered before opening the jar. She took a whiff and looked inside. It was still half filled with purple liquid. She placed it on the bottom shelf of the Potion cabinet in front of her. After that she took another jar from the table and read the label. "Calming Draught," she read aloud before opening it and taking note that it was almost empty. A lot of students needed to take the draught before the test. Stress took its toll on them before the OWLs and they tended to break down during classes. Zoey placed the draught back on the table and picked up another potion.
"You know it wasn't that bad. Filch didn't catch us," came a voice. It was Fred and he was laying down on one of the Hospital beds making the pillow twirl above him with a wave of his wand. Zoey shook her head and placed theSkele-grow on the third shelf.
Fred then turned over so that he was leaning on his side, the pillow still twirling above him. He began to think. He thought about the tests and whether he did alright on it, he thought about the Quidditch World Cup that would be happening within the next few months, he thought about what he would be doing tomorrow, but one thought stood out among the rest. He thought about Zoey. Zoey, the girl standing in front of him, the girl who never seemed to leave his mind, the girl who he was in love with. Days, weeks and months had passed since their "kiss" and they still never spoke about it. Fred, in truth, didn't want to talk about it because he didn't want to hear her saying that it was an "accident" and it wasn't supposed to happen but at the same time he wanted to talk about it because there was a little hope inside him telling him that she would say things he wanted to hear.
Fred grimaced.
He sounded like a love sick puppy.
He shook his head and watched Zoey sort out the different potions; separating the ones that could still be used from the ones that would do more harm than good as of late. She wore her hair in a messy bun and brushed her bangs away from her face so often that it just stood out from odd angles. Her glasses slipped to the edge of her nose and she constantly bit her lips. A crease formed on her brow whenever she picked up a potion she wasn't familiar with. Fred wondered if he should tell her now. Tell her that he loves her. He felt his heart hammer against his chest.
What if it went wrong?
What if she did not hear him since she was busy concentrating with her work?
What if she didn't believe him and thought that his confession was a joke?
What if she was so shocked by the sudden confession that she dropped the potion and went to fix her mistake rather than reply?
What if she didn't love him back?
Fred groaned. This was killing him. He was over thinking things yet when he didn't he felt like he would screw things up. He wanted to plan the confession yet at the same time he just wanted to get it over and done with. He lay back onto his back and watched as the pillow continued to twirl above him. Zoey was killing him and she didn't even know it.
"Hey, Zoe?" Fred spoke without thinking, "Can I ask you something?"
Zoey looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She slowly placed a potion back on the table and wiped her hands on her robes. "Sure," she said
"Do – Where's Madam Pomfrey?" Fred quickly asked and inwardly kicked himself for changing his question.
"Madam Pomfrey?" Zoey asked with a tilt of her head, "She went out for a bit. Why?"
Fred shook his head. "Nothing… that wasn't the question I wanted to ask"
"Then what was the question?" Zoey pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose.
"Have you ever fan – So you wanna be a Healer after Hogwarts?" Fred silently swore under his breath. He changed his question again. What was he trying to avoid? Right…rejection.
Zoey blushed before picking up the potion and looking at its label. "I never really thought about it before. The idea just came to me when I was with Professor Sprout discussing what I wanted to be. It was kind of a top of the head answer but," she placed the potion on the fourth shelf, "I enjoy this," she indicated the entire Hospital Wing, "Healing people and the like. It's just refreshing… sort of. The feeling is hard to describe. I just… feel happy" She ended her struggle with words with a sheepish grin.
Fred gave a short nod and a laugh. "So you like healing people huh?"
"Well, I just want to be able to help. Since no one was there to help me I just want to be there for people," Zoey said quietly with a rather dark look on her face.
"Zoe –" Fred began but Zoey interrupted him.
"Stupid me," she hit the back of her own head, "I just made the atmosphere dark and all. Let's change the subject"
"No –"
"What are you planning to do after Hogwarts?" Zoey quickly asked before returning to the potions on the table and the cabinet.
Fred kept quiet. It was obvious that Zoey was trying to change the subject. Fred realized she has yet to tell him what her past exactly was. He decided not to push the topic. "It isn't just me. It's George and I," Fred said before swinging his legs of the bed so he was sitting upright.
"Of course," Zoey gave a small laugh before putting another potion on the fifth shelf, "So what do you guys plan on doing then?"
"It isn't as grand as being a Healer. Obviously we can't possible compare to your awesome career," Fred said with a lofty tone, "Oh look, I feel bad about myself now. Thanks, Zoe. You're absolutely terrific. I feel like yesterday's trash" He ended before making an exaggerated sigh and falling back onto the bed placing his arm over his eyes and sticking his tongue out feigning death.
Zoey rolled her eyes and brought out her wand. She pointed it as one of the beds summoning the pillow bringing it over Fred's twirling pillow, dropping the spell causing both pillows to fall on Fred. Fred bolted upright and threw one of the pillows at Zoey. Zoey squealed a bit when it hit her.
"Okay, okay. I give up. So what exactly is your plan for the future?" Zoey asked as she picked up the fallen pillow and used her wand to place it back on the proper bed.
Fred charmed is pillow to twirl and do flips above him once more before placing his wand at this side and looking at Zoey. Zoey raised her eyebrow.
"We plan on having our own joke shop," Fred said. He then looked up to watch the pillow do odd tricks. "Go on then. You can laugh or tell me it's a horrible or impossible idea. I won't stop you," he said when Zoey did not say anything for the past few minutes.
"No, I'm not going to say any of that," Zoey said in a quiet voice. Fred looked back at her and watched her continue fixing the potions. He wondered vaguely why it was taking her so long or why she hadn't just used magic to fix it.
"Then what were you going to say?" Fred asked.
Zoey placed another potion on the first shelf. "I was going to say that it sounds like an awesome plan," she gave small smile, "A joke shop. That's brilliant. You and George really know your stuff and… well… It's just a fun idea. Maybe to some it seems impossible but you know after knowing the both of you for all these years I sort of realized that," she paused and looked at Fred in the eye, "Anything's possible if you got enough nerve"
Fred felt himself blush but quickly looked down to hide it. "Is that so?" he managed to say while trying to calm his burning cheeks.
"Yep," Zoey said popping the 'p' without taking notice to Fred's slightly flustered face. "So was that what you wanted to ask?" she raised an eyebrow after she placed the last potion on the shelf and closing the cabinet's doors. She straightened her robes and pushed up her glasses.
"No," Fred said truthfully, "Where is Echo?" he randomly asked.
"She's with Bridgit. Why?" Zoey asked. She then re-tied her hair into a sloppy bun.
"Nothing," Fred said with a sigh. He was really avoiding everything. He looked around the Hospital Wing and stopped at a window. It was getting late. He quietly wondered what time it was. Was it past the fifth year's curfew? Wait, why did he care? Not like he ever obeyed the curfew in the first place.
Zoey blinked her eyes several times. "So what did you want to ask?"
Fred took a deep breath. It was now or never.
"By any chance do you – err – fancy anyone at the moment?" he asked while his heart hammered against his chest.
Zoey felt her cheeks flush and stammered over her words. "F – fancy? You m – mean do I l – like anyone right now? W – Well –" but Zoey didn't get to finish. Instead of actually making sense with her words she ended up taking in a gasp when Fred's twirling pillow landed on his head knocking him to the side since he did not expect to be hit.
"Bloody hell," Fred gasped as he rubbed the back of his head. The pillow did not harm him; it was just a simple reflex.
"Mr. Weasley, would you please court Miss Emeraude on your own time? It's long past the fifth year's curfew and you should be back in your dormitories in your bed and under your blankets. No, don't you dare ask why Miss Emeraude is allowed. She's here on my orders," Madam Pomfrey said as she pocketed her wand, "Now go before I report you to Minerva"
Fred grumbled under his breath before straightening up and heading to the door. Zoey quietly watched him as he reached for the doorknob and left. She frowned a bit when she heard the door's soft click and the fading footsteps of Fred. Zoey only brought her attention back to her surroundings when she heard Madam Pomfrey rummaging through the cabinet Zoey had just finished fixing.
Zoey placed her hands behind her back as she waited patiently for Madam Pomfrey to give her orders. It was not odd for Madam Pomfrey to ask Zoey to help her around the Hospital Wing; it was part of Zoey's training for becoming a Healer after all. What was odd was the time Madam Pomfrey asked for help. It was true that it was past the fifth year's curfew and it was very strange for Madam Pomfrey to even let Zoey stay out late. Zoey bit her lip when Madam Pomfrey began to pull out the potions Zoey was not familiar with.
"Madam Pomfrey?" Zoey timidly asked, "What would we be doing tonight? Is there someone we need to treat?"
"Yes and No," Madam Pomfrey said before closing the cabinet and heading off to her desk, "Miss Emeraude could you please fetch the cauldron?"
Zoey nodded and headed towards the cauldron. She heaved it up and slowly walked to her mentor. "Madam Pomfrey. What's happening? Who's hurt?"
"I don't know if I should be the one to tell you but obviously you would find out on your own. I trust you Miss Emeraude," Madam Pomfrey told Zoey with a more serious tone than usual as she began to prepare her ingredients beside the cauldron. "Look outside that window, Miss Emeraude and tell me what you see." Madam Pomfrey said before Zoey could ask any more questions.
Zoey slowly nodded her head and walked towards the window Fred was previously looking at. She pressed her face close to the glass as her eyes scanned the view outside. "I see… the Forbidden Forest… and the Whomping Willow," Zoey said.
"That's nice, Miss Emeraude, but what I want you to look at is the sky. Tell me what you see," said Madam Pomfrey.
Zoey looked up at the sky and it was the same velvety color as before. The stars shone brightly and the only difference was the moon. It was at its fullest. "Madam Pomfrey, is there supposed to be something wrong with the sky? All I see are the stars and the moon"
"That's what you're suppose to see, child. Tell me, what does the moon look like?"
"Well, a moon? It's a full moon tonight," Zoey said unsurely.
Madam Pomfrey stopped her potion and wiped her hands on a towel she walked over to Zoey. "Do you know what happens during a full moon?" she asked in a quiet voice.
Zoey blinked and furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. "What's suppose to happen?" she asked when she could not think of an answer.
"Think harder. Remember your Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons," Madam Pomfrey said.
"On a full moon… that's when … a normal wizard or Muggle transforms into a beast…," Zoey said slowly, "Madam Pomfrey it can't be that –"
"Tonight, you will be helping me to prepare a little something that will help the said wizard to be able to rest after his transformation. True he is used to it but this little something will help him feel better sooner. We will be preparing it tonight so it will be ready for him in the morning," Madam Pomfrey said before turning around to go back to her cauldron.
"He?" Zoey asked with slight fright in her voice, "Who's the werewolf?"
It was a full moon and everyone was in the castle snug under their blankets, everyone except for three Gryffindors, Two Ravenclaws, three grown men and one werewolf. Those who were awake were currently in the Forbidden Forest but the Ravenclaws were just somewhere close but not quite in the Forbidden Forest. The Ravenclaws were girls and it seemed that they were having an argument, an argument that was on the losing side of the guilty looking girl.
"YOU'RE A BLOODY DEATH EATER?" Echo's shrill high-pitched voice that was an octave higher than her usual tone of voice rang out and was carried away by the breeze making it only audible to Bridgit.
Bridgit licked her lips and shook her head, "Please, you got to understand"
And Chapter End!
Thank you "HayleyParadox" for helping me out
Thank you to all of you who reviewed and the like.
They are very much appreciated! :D
I'm sorry if the chapter is rather short.
I would have written more but it's already late and I wanted to end it here before the next chapter
So stay tuned for the next chapter XD
I'm going to Graduate in 2 days time!
Can't wait :D
Don't forget to Review and the like!
Sorry I can't answer some of your questions, If i did it would reveal stuff that I want to keep as a surprise! :D
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PS: sorry for any typos and the like D:
