Yay, another chapter! Thanks to everyone who has subscribed and favourated! The end of their first year is upon us. Home for the Summer and planning next years mayhem! Little bits from their last few days at school.
Katherine sat with her legs folded neatly to fit into the arm chair. Her sketchbook was sitting open in front of her and she had her pencil moving across the paper between glances at the twins. She was currently on of the few who had a clear view of the twins. Everyone else had thought it wise to back as far away from the pair as possible, except Lee, who was watching them intently, excitement written all over his face.
"Remind me why you're doing this?" Katherine asked, as she sketched each of them.
"We'll be going home soon," George explained, placing another card.
"We wanted to go out with a bang," Fred finished, looking at the tower of cards.
"Like Professor Lumpert," Lee snickered, speaking of their now ex- DADA teacher.
"Not that big I hope," Katherine said immediately.
"No, not that big," George agreed easily.
"How did that woman manage to blow up her office anyway?" Fred asked laughing, "She was supposed to teach us to protect ourselves? Useless really."
"I don't think it's all her fault," Katherine reminded, "The job is cursed after all. Of course, that still doesn't explain why your building a tower from exploding snap cards."
"It seemed like fun," Fred shrugged, twisting slightly to organize the next level.
"Fred hold still a moment," Katherine commanded, looking back at her page.
"Why?" Fred asked immediately, looking away from the tower, then nudging George when he saw what she was doing. Katherine hadn't let them know what her sketchbook was, or more directly what she put in it. She was pretty sure they thought it was a journal or something. She honestly didn't mind showing people her drawings, it was just funny to watch the twins struggle to find out what it was. They really didn't like missing out information.
"Don't worry, I fixed it," Katherine replied, but the twins were already moving. Fred jumped onto the chair, forcing her to shift to avoid injury, and George grabbed the book while she was distracted. There was a general intake of breathe as the table was bumped in the commotion, but the cards remained standing.
"I got it Fred!" George announced, Fred moved away with a grin. He looked over George's shoulder at the drawing of them and their half-finished card tower, his jaw dropped. The pair sat their gawking for a moment until Katherine leapt at them to retrieve her book. Fortunately they had moved away from the table, and so weren't in danger of death by card explosion. During their short scuffle Katherine managed to get the book closed before the twins got it away from her again.
"No fair!" Fred exclaimed as he attempted unsuccessfully to open the book. The vines, currently in the form of a cat with its back arched angrily, began to move.
"Fred I'd stop," Katherine suggested right as Fred threw the book away with a yelp.
"It bit me," he said, staring at his hands. Katherine opened her mouth to say something as Angelina picked up the book.
"Can we have a look?" She asked, gesturing to Alicia and herself.
"Sure," Katherine replied, "Just keep it away from the cards, I don't want it damaged."
"Thanks Katherine!" the two girls replied, opening the book with ease.
"How come they can do that?" George asked, pushing himself off the floor.
"Because I said they could," Katherine said, watching the girls warily as they too, simply stood and gawked, "Is there a curse on this that I'm not aware of?" she asked uncertainly.
"No," Alicia replied, "It's, just, really good."
"Thanks," Katherine replied with a smile.
"I don't think you fully grasp what's being said," Fred announced, "I mean do you actually see those drawings?"
"They are really good, or at least that one is," George said carefully, looking thoughtful, "Can we look at more?"
"If you want," Katherine replied, pulling out a book to read, "Just stop at the picture of you running out of the forest."
Katherine began reading as the twins joined the two girls in looking over her sketches. She noticed Lee had taken up their quest to build the card tower, and was doing a pretty good job. She watched him carelessly as he prepared the last two cards, just as he was about to put them onto the tower two students came in, having a very loud conversation.
Lee slipped. The sudden noise messing up his balance, and Katherine just managed to duck behind her chair in time to avoid losing her eyebrows. Lee's eyebrows were also saved, as he'd fallen to the floor and had therefore avoided the blast that was based on the table. Fred and George looked over and laughed.
"Way to go Lee!" Fred cheered.
"Nice job on the table too," George added, investigating the scorch marks.
Katherine shook her head as Angelina handed her back her book and everyone began discussing the best way to make an explosion. She grinned at her friends and joined in easily.
Katherine sighed, pushing her food around her plate. They were only a few days from returning home for the summer holidays and she was still wandering around with Gryffindor coloured hair. She, personally, didn't mind, she'd actually come to like it over the year, but her father would not be understanding, yet alone happy. Things were getting rather dire.
Fred and George sat opposite her, watching her worriedly. She ignored them and dejectedly finished her breakfast. Then she sighed, leaning her elbow on the table and staring off across the hall, her eyes out of focus.
"Katherine?" Fred asked tentatively, watching for some sign that she was still alive.
"Yeah?" Katherine replied, not looking at them.
"You seem a bit out of it," George pointed out warily. Katherine shrugged, finally looking over at them.
"It's nothing," she said, "Just thinking about the holidays."
"You gonna come over at some point?" Fred asked, looking hopeful.
"No, I'm staying at home to hang out with Theodore," Katherine answered, "We'll see each other on the train if not on the platform though, and we can write. So long as Charlie doesn't try to owl-nap Tenbris." Fred and George laughed at that. A lock of hair fell into Katherine's face and she glared moodily at it before blowing it out of her face.
"Well, I'm done," She announced, standing up, "See you guys latter."
"Fred," George started, watching Katherine make her way out of the hall.
"We have to fix her hair, I know," Fred responded, frowning, "It should have-"
"-faded by now, I agree," George said with a nod, "So then-"
"-in the words of Katherine herself," Fred said as both boys stood up, not caring about the looks they were getting.
"To the library!" They announced loudly, causing a few teachers to choke in surprise. Ignoring this, the pair headed off to the library.
"They know where it is?" a few people questioned, including one or two of the teachers.
...
Katherine stood out in the rain, her damp hair clinging to her body. It could almost pass for brown at this point, the curious effect of the water. The raindrops ran down her face and she shivered, it was starting to get cold. She turned back toward the castle, shaking out her hair and letting it drip down her back. She couldn't help but smirk at the floor as she snuck through the corridors carefully making sure to avoid Filch.
She wandered into the Gryffindor Common room, still dripping slightly and drawing a few curious looks from the other Gryffindors. She wandered over to where Lee was sitting and sat herself on the floor in front of the fire.
"Where are Fred and George," she asked, watching the fire flicker.
"Oh, yeah," Lee replied, "You left Breakfast before them. Are you telling me you haven't seen them since? Oh well, I'm sure they'll turn up. Wanna play chess?"
"Was there any way for those sentences to make less sense?" Katherine asked with a raised eyebrow then she simply shrugged, turning to face the table, "And sure I'll play with you."
Lee pulled out his chess set and board as Katherine put each of her pieces into place. They were a few moves into the game when Fred and George slumped into the Common room. They both collapsed onto the sofa with simultaneous moans.
"Never make me do that again!" Fred groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes as he sunk into the sofa.
"Hmm," Katherine replied, staring at the chess board as Lee's knight took one of her pawns, "So, what are you never doing again? Rook to E4."
"Damn that was my favourite knight!" Lee whined.
"I think he means studying," George replied, looking almost as exhausted as his brother. Katherine nearly uprooted the chess board at this comment. She spun around and stared at the twins, after ensuring that all the pieces had remained in place.
"You were studying?" she demanded, shock evident in her voice.
"Yes," Fred whined, "How do you do that? Every. Single. Day."
"You were studying?" Katherine repeated, unable to get the idea to work in her mind.
"Er, I think you broke her," Lee pointed out, watching Katherine with amusement.
"No!" Fred exclaimed, suddenly sitting up, "She can't be broken. We would have waisted all our time!"
"What, exactly, were you studying for?" Katherine demanded in a tight voice, watching the twins unblinkingly.
"No, Kat, seriously breathe," George advised, watching her warily. Katherine made a face at him and made a show of taking deep breathes.
"There," she announced after a moment, "I'm not broken, everyone happy?" Lee shrugged, Fred slumped into the sofa again and George nodded. "Good, now what were you studying?"
"We were looking for a way to reverse…" Fred trailed off, mumbling too quietly to be heard, Katherine turned her attention to George with a raised eyebrow.
"You hair," he said, sounding as though it was physically painful, "We were trying to find a way to reverse your hair."
"I thought you said it would wear off with time," Katherine replied, eyebrows knitting together.
"Well, it would," George answered, Fred nodding next to him, "But we're sort of running out of time."
"So we thought it would be good to have a backup plan," Fred spoke up.
"Did you find something?" Katherine asked, thinking it'd be rude to ask if they actually knew how to find anything in the library.
"Sure, it's just not a total reversal," he replied uncomfortably, not looking at her.
"Not a total reversal?" Katherine repeated.
"Well, it'll change your hair back to its normal colour but there's a small flaw," George explained carefully, "If we don't do this then it will eventually fade completely, never be this way again unless it's re-dyed. If you use the solution we found then it'll return to normal but the red won't go away. It'll flash back and forth, at random, for the rest of your life."
"But it'll stay one colour for long periods of time," Fred put in, clearly trying to make Katherine see the good side to this solution, "It could stay its normal colour for years at a time."
"Or it could stay red," Katherine pointed out, giving the twins a warm smile, "Thanks guys I really do appreciate the effort."
"Not a problem, Kat," George replied, "By the way Lee just took your Rook."
"You used your queen?" Katherine asked as she turned back to the board, "I thought you were going to use your bishop. Bishop to E4."
"Katherine?" Fred asks suddenly after a moment of watching her and Lee play chess, "Why are you wet?"
"You're sure this'll work right?" Katherine asked, eyeing the vial of liquid doubtfully. See, she had this issue that the potion to make hair go from red to brown should not be bright green.
"Of course it will," Fred replied cheerfully, "We checked everything."
"If you take it now, before we get on the train, it should be done by the time we reach home," George said informatively, except he brought up another issue. Why did she have to drink the bright green substance to have it affect her hair? Still though, the twins wouldn't joke about this. She could still use magic on them until they reach the platform after all.
"What is that?" Demanded a voice, looking up from breakfast the trio recognised Percy, eyeing of the vial dangerously. The twins recognised the look as meaning that he was about to tell on them and glared daggers at him, Katherine, on the other hand, merely smiled.
"It's nothing important Percy," She told him, picking up the vial, "Just something for a headache." With that she gulped down the potion, Percy's eyes widened but he walked away with a huff as Katherine did nothing but continue to smile. He couldn't prove the twins had given it to her without it having negative effects. Besides, Katherine wouldn't lie to him, and she knew what the twins were like.
"Oh, Merlin," Katherine exclaimed, pulling a face as soon as Percy was out of ear shot, "That stuff is fowl. I'm never drinking anything you two made, ever, again."
"Was it really that bad?" Fred asked curiously, sniffing at the vial before putting it in his bag.
"You wanna try it?" Katherine asked, giving him a dirty look, "I'll dye your hair pink and see how you like it."
"No, I'm good," Fred assured her, grinning as he held up his hands in surrender.
"C'mon guys, let's get going," George said, "We can wander around the grounds a little before the train comes."
"That'd be nice," Katherine said as they wandered onto the grounds, "I'm going to miss this place."
"Hey, Kat, you survived a year as a Gryffindor," Fred laughed, "How does it feel?"
"I don't know," Katherine said, mocking a thoughtful face, "I'm stuck being friends with you two, maybe I'll see if I can change after all. I think it'd be cool to be a Ravenclaw."
"No way!" Fred yelled, throwing his arm over her shoulder, "You're stuck with us!"
"For ever, and ever, and ever, and ever," George added with a grin. Katherine stuck her tongue at him.
"Ah," she said, full of mock disappointment, "But I'm only stuck with you if you if you can catch me." With that she ducked away from Fred's arm and ran off across the grass. Fred and George quickly took chase, yelling for her to comeback. Katherine laughed into the wind, knowing she was faster than them.
The ran back inside moments before they had to leave, laughing and breathing heavily. The twins saluted McGonagall as they walked past, discreetly reminding her that she had six more years with them. As they were leaving the castle Peeves flew past dumping water over the sudents moving towards the door.
"See ya next year Peevesy!" Fred yelled across the hall. Peeves acknowledged him with a raspberry. Katherine laughed, rolling her eyes. "You'll see," Fred said, "One day he will be working with us! For the greater mayhem of the school!"
"Sure he will," Katherine agreed sarcastically. They boarded the train and found Lee, Angela and Alicia in a compartment, talking animatedly.
"Where've you guys been?" Lee asked, looking up as the three of the entered the compartment.
"Chasing Katherine around the grounds," Fred replied, as they all settled down for the train ride, Katherine rolling her eyes.
"It's not my fault you two are so slow," She informed them with a grin, "Any idea when the trolleys coming past?"
"No, it'll get here though," Angela replied, as Lee pulled out his Exploding Snap cards
"Who's playing?" he asked and everyone eagerly agreed.
"See you after the holidays!" Katherine called, waving to the others as she slipped off into the crowd. Fred and George had been right, her hair was back to being it's normal brown so she had no worries as she made her way towards the looming figure that was her father.
"Hey Katherine," Theodore greeted with a grin, Katherine smiled back. Their father said nothing, but turned and began moving away. He wasn't the talkative type. Katherine sighed as she and Theodore quietly followed after him. A look over her shoulder and she could see the Weasleys talking animatedly as they were joined by Fred and George. She was definitely going to miss them over the summer.
"Katty," Theodore hissed, grabbing her attention, "You still have to tell me why you hate water balloons." Katherine groaned in remembrance but grinned at her brother.
"I imagine I've got a few things to tell you," she replied.
Wasn't that fun? Suffering slightly from writers block, particularly for the next year. This'll be easier when Harry and friends come to school. Anyway, any of you have idea's, and don't want me to skip over most of their second year, please share.
Comments encorage me to write more! Please do!