Sorry guys, I wanted to update sooner but I have two major exams at uni – which I have to pass if I want to continue in September.
Thanks for all your reviews, I really love finding them in my inbox! You guys rock!
There probably won't be any update for next week or so – I'm sorry, but I should get back to updating regularly in September :)
-and I apologize for any mistakes - I really don't have time to re-read it - one day maybe, one day when pigs will fly and unicorns will chase them around I'll have enough free time to finish all I want...
Here's next chapter. Enjoy!
Jade walked out of the castle, followed by Deric who looked even more sad today.
"So, what's wrong?" she asked him when they walked in silence for a couple of minutes.
"It's nothing really, it's just those stupid Slytherins… there's Wilister, a boy from our neighbourhood, he used to make fun of me at home, and he's starting again." Said Deric, looking on a verge of tears.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Don't worry about it though, just pretend you don't know what he's talking about and he will stop after a while. What was he saying?" asked Jade, determined to help her friend.
She knew how much it hurt to be called names. Kids in previous schools used to make fun of her all the time.
"That's not important." Said Deric quickly and changed the topic.
Jade decided she won't push him. He'd tell her when he was ready.
They walked around the lake, Jade showed him from where she jumped to the water with Fred and George and on the way back they even stopped by Hagrid's home, but he wasn't there and Fang was gone too.
They had lunch together and then said good-bye each of them going to their common room, because it started to rain again and the castle was quite cold.
Jade turned around the corner and saw Fred and George, hiding something behind the statue of an old witch.
She crept behind them and exclaimed "Bo!" and laughed when both boys jumped up, quickly turning around.
"Whatcha doin'?" she asked trying to see what they were hiding.
There was a thin, almost invisible string tied across the corridor, fastened to something hidden behind the statue.
"Oh, just a couple of dung-bomb traps. You might want to take different way." Winked Fred and pulled another string from his pocket, carefully stepping over the trap.
"can I help?" asked Jade excited by the prospect of afternoon spent with twins.
"I don't know," teased George,
"What if you get in trouble?" questioned Fred and took the dung-bomb his brother was handing him.
"We saw you go for a walk with Percy last night" remarked George and pulled out another bomb from the box he was holding.
"Wouldn't want to ruin your reputation of excellent student, Percywald wouldn't let you into his club of royal wands-stuck-up-our-asses if you didn't follow the rules" explained Fred, pretending to be deadly serious.
"Oh, who's jealous here? You two wanted me to spend the evening with you instead of Percy? Oh you know he could never replace the two of you." Cooed Jade back, patting their cheeks.
"Not even one of us!" laughed Fred.
"Well if you are sure, then here's a box and be careful where you're stepping, this corridor is already covered but we still have ten classrooms to do.
They set the rest of the traps so the bombs would explode ten minutes after the teacher pulled out the chair from behind their table.
"That should be perfect distraction in the right time." Whispered George explaining their tactics.
"It takes about ten minutes to get rid of the smell." Smiled Fred and tied another string to the chair, adding little weights at the end, making it last a little bit longer before it would break and set off the bombs.
"Why don't you put a spell on them to make the smell last longer?" asked Jade curious.
"Well, we…" George looked at his twin "we never really thought about that" finished Fred.
"I've read that simple spell in our text-book. It's called facere ultimum. Do you think it would work?" suggested Jade, happy she could somehow contribute to their prank.
George pulled out his wand and swished it across the air, saying the spell. He still remembered it from first year. They were trying it on flowers and waiting to see whose flower would last longest.
"Professor Flitwick told us that simple "finite incantatem" won't break the charm and you need to wait for it to wear off on it's own or use the formula to end it, I don't remember what that was." Remembered Fred, sounding really happy.
"It's an evil little spell, nobody remembers it because it doesn't have much use, but if it works, then this will be the prank of the year." Laughed George patting Jade's back.
"It could easily give us a free Monday." Cheered Fred and followed his two partners in crime to next classroom.
They were heading back to the common room when Fred turned around the corner and was greeted by McGonagall's exclamation "Mr. Weasley!" soon George walked from behind the corner too, followed by Jade – "and Mr. Weasley, and Miss Mraz! What are you doing in this part of school?" professor asked suspiciously.
"Nothing." Fred smiled at her sweetly.
"They were just showing me the school." Added Jade, smiling too.
"Alright, you might want to go downstairs, the dinner will start soon." Said McGonagall eyeing them as if she knew something was up.
"Yeah, we'll go, check out the dinner." Nodded George.
"We saw poltergeist flying around the corridor leading to astronomy tower, you might want to check if he's up to something." Said George, pointing in the opposite direction, leading McGonagall away from the corridor with traps.
"Alright, Mr. Weasly, thank you for telling me, but you three should keep away from trouble, it's only first week-end and you already have one warning." She reminded them and walked away.
"Whew, that was close!" laughed Fred and they all walked back to the common room, there was still some time before dinner.
The rest of the evening was uneventful, they had few more free hours before the school would start tomorrow, so girls spent them in their room, having a "girls' night".
Jade was never really interested in girly things like nail polish and magazines, but she had to admit it felt beautiful to have friends.
She ended up with French manicure and a couple of small braids in her hair.
They all packed school books and writing supplies for Monday and went to bed pretty early.
The morning was hectic, with most of the students being late for breakfast and hurrying over to their classrooms with robe-pockets packed with toasts, the corridors were crowded and the dung-bombs exploding on many different ways made it even worse because they all had to take much longer ways to their lessons.
Real chaos started ten minutes after, when all the students rushed back to corridors, trying to escape the awful smell which filled almost every classroom.
First lessons were finished early, and teachers dismissed their students so they could deal with the awful green smoke filling the school.
Second lessons of the day were taught in rooms which weren't normally used during the year.
First year Gryffindor and Slytherin had transfiguration in Great Hall.
They were trying to transfigure matchsticks into needles. With no one really succeeding.
"Miss Mraz!" called McGonagall after Jade when they were leaving for their next lesson, which was Astronomy.
"Go on, I'll catch up with you." Whispered Jade to Maddie and walked over to McGonagall, who was waiting for her by the stairs.
"Please follow me to my office." Said McGonagall strictly, her lips forming the infamous thin line.
Fred and George were already waiting in front of the large wooden door.
McGonagall walked inside, followed by three kids. She sat down behind her desk tapped the surface with her fingers and looked at them.
"I beg you have nothing to confess?" she asked, sure none of them will admit they set the traps.
Jade looked at Fred quickly, checking to see what they would do.
They did nothing, just stood there pretending they have no idea what she was talking about.
"You are the last three students I've seen around the corridor where all those bombs exploded this morning. And I believe you have something to do with it." She looked at them again getting no answer.
"Well, as I don't have any direct evidence, there is nothing I can do, but please next time, consider that some students want to learn during lessons and for something this big – polluting half of the castle, you would be in serious trouble." She said, almost giving up. There was no way someone could prove it was them but she knew the prank had something from Weasleys signature humour in it.
And she wasn't really sure she wanted to get them busted. The problem was, she had to be strict and keep the pranks in some limits before they got out of control and someone got injured.
"Alright, we'll take that in consideration." Nodded Fred in a very business-like manner and they both slightly bowed before turning around and pushing Jade slightly out of the office.
"Just a second Miss Mraz. Boys, you can go on, I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss the beginning of your potions class." She said, looking at them and George could almost swear it was sarcasm from her part, but then again, one could never be sure with McGonagall.
Jade froze on spot. She was determined she wouldn't tell on the boys, she could take the blame on herself but then what if Molly got angry with her? Or even worse – disappointed?
But McGonagall didn't want confession, she already knew Jade and boys did it.
"I just want to remind you that you don't have to do everything your brothers do in their free time. You can use your own brain, alright?" asked McGonagall.
"Ahem, alright." Nodded Jade, her cheeks getting a little red.
"And one more thing. I know you want to fit in, just like everyone else here, but you can be yourself. Don't always do what everyone else does. I've noticed you've managed to transfigure the matchstick today. And then you quickly changed it back because none of your friends managed to do it right. Don't be afraid to show you're good in something." Said McGonagall and for the tiniest fraction of second she sounded very motherly.
"It was the first real magic." Said Jade, looking at her teacher. "my first real magic."
"Well, yes, it can feel weird and difficult at first to control it but it will be only worse if you hold back."
"It wasn't weird, it was beautiful." And after hesitating for a while Jade asked: "Is it really alright for me to be… well, magic?"
"Of course it is. Everyone here is either witch or wizard." Said McGonagall slowly, confused.
"I know, but… Mrs. Weasley and all her family are magic, but… is it really ok for me to be magic too? I'm not that special or amazing like them and I don't really feel magic." Explained Jade.
"Well, yes, it's ok to be a witch. I'm sure Mrs. And Mr. Weasley would be ok with you if you were muggle or witch, it doesn't matter. It's just the way we were born. No one can change that, and as long as you stay yourself and keep out of trouble you'll be just fine." Concluded McGonagall and rushed Jade up to Astronomy tower for the introductory lesson.
Jade was relieved they didn't get in trouble, but the lecture she received from McGonagall left her with head full of thoughts.
What if she didn't pull pranks with Fred and George? Would they be angry with her? What if they get caught next time? What if the school contacts Weasleys and she'd get in trouble?
But spending time with her brothers and fitting in the family was for now the number one on her list, she wasn't going to change that any time soon.
The weeks passed by, nights were filled with late library visits, every empty shelf in students' rooms were stacked with parchment rolls with half-finished essays and Astronomy calculations.
It wasn't until late October, when Fred and George found time for another bigger mischief, and being good brothers they are, they went to the common room and called Jade to go with them.
They seemed to be inseparable in the last couple of weeks. They always included her and Jade often had bright ideas to bring their little pranks to the next level.
"How come you never bring your friend with you?" asked Jade curious, when she saw George waving at Lee as they walked out of the common room.
"Well, this is family business." Explained George as if it was obvious.
"Besides, not everyone wants to risk detention." Added Fred.
They walked down to the Great Hall, where professor Flitwick was putting up decorations for Halloween. Hundreds of carved pumpkins were slowly rising up to the air. Fred and George, hiding behind the table grabbed one really huge and quite spacious one. Jade was sure she could fit inside if she wanted to. There were small stars carved all around it. Boys uickly pulled it out of the great hall, both of them holding it down. The spell was quite powerful and they were almost floating it the air.
Jade laughed and followed them.
Fred checked if the corridor behind the corner was empty.
They pulled out the map, which amazed Jade, but they promised to explain it later, because now they were on a mission.
"There!" exclaimed George pointing to the edge of the map where small dot disappeared, clearly walking to the next page.
Fred and George run through few corridors, two secret passages and finally found what they were looking for.
There in the corner was a shabby looking cat, with bright yellow eyes.
"Here kitty kitty." Cooed Fred and pretended to hold something in his hand.
The cat looked confused but meowed loudly when they tried to come closer.
"What are you going to do?" asked Jade stepping to the side to see the cat clearly over the pumpkin.
"Just sending her for a little flying trip. Don't worry, she'll be fine, we even have a bowl of water ready for her." Laughed Fred.
"It's just that we owe Filch for sending us to detention last week when he caught us in the forbidden corridor on seventh floor."
"Yeah, don't worry Jade, Dumbledore will get the pumpkin down in a while, we just want to give Filch a little scare for messing with us." Said George and took one step closer to the cat.
"No. I won't let you do that. No!" was all that Jade said before standing between her brothers and the cat.