© Sunrisepainter: Because of Snape
Fred Weasley vs. Cormac McLaggen
"HE DID WHAT?"
"He slapped her."
"WHAT A JERK! IM GOING TO KILL HIM!"
"Calm down, Fred."
"Why should I? McLaggen did attack a girl!"
"He's right. This swine called McLaggen should get a good beating which he'll never forget!"
"George!"
"That's right, let's get him, brother!"
"FRED, GEORGE! IF YOU NOT..." However, Hermione's warning did not reach them any more as the twins had already left the common room.
"What's wrong?" Harry popped up from nowhere right next to her.
"They want to clobber McLaggen. We have to stop them or something bad might happen!" Hermione started to panic. Harry immediately grasped the situation and so, they hurried after their friends.
Of course, Cormac McLaggen did not sense the twins looking for him. At that time, he was still in McGonagalls office and sullenly starring at the bare stone floor.
"I don't no what made you do it but I can absolutely not acquiesce your outrageous demeanour, Mr. McLaggen." Professor McGonagall adjusted her glasses.
"What were you thinking attacking your classmate?"
"Nothing, but-"
"Nothing! That's right! You didn't think at all! Enough is enough! I have to punish you severely!"
"But Professor-"
"If I would deduct points from Gryffindor, I would punish Miss Shycates, too and that would be way too unfair. So, you'll get two weeks of detention and hereby, I will strip you of your O.W.L. in Transfiguration which you gained at the end of your fifth year."
"That's unacceptable! Without my O.W.L. in Transfiguration I can't get into the Ministry of Magic!"
"I won't argue about that. I have to admit that I never did something like this before but considering the weight of your charge, I don't have any other option left."
"Don't you care about your student's future at all, Professor?!" Cormac complained loudly.
Minerva McGonagall took off her glasses and massaged her temples. Her answer was quite calm:
"Of course, I care. However, I want my students to get a job that's suitable for them. I don't want to have to answer for someone vile like you filling an important position in the Ministry. I'm very disappointed in you. Come back to my office at eight o'clock in the evening to serve your sentence."
"Can't you forget about my punishment, if I apologize to Hope? My uncle occupies a high position at the Ministry, too. I guess he'll be please to "donate" some Galleons to Hogwarts. He does a lot for my education, you know..."
"MR. MACLAGGEN, IF YOU DON'T LEAVE MY OFFICE AT ONCE, I'M GOING TO TRANSFORM YOU INTO A RAT!" After Professor McGoanagalls outburst, Cormac hastily stumbled out of her office.
"Old hag!" He badmouthed his teacher after the lock of the door clicked behind him. "Who does she think she is!"
"I guess she's no one compared to you, right?"
Cormac looked around him and saw the Weasley- twins nonchalantly leaning against the wall a few steps away, looking daggers at him.
"See who come here, the Weasleys." Cormac said conceited. "you want an autograph of mighty me? After all, I did get a harsher punishment than you this year!"
"At least, we didn't need to hit a classmate for our punishment." George said scornfully.
"At least. our jokes are funny compared to your sheer brutality." Fed added. Cormac just chuckled:
"That's what you get for insulting someone like me. Shycates needed a good beating. This bitch was almost begging for it! I would have won my bet, if you hadn't messed with us, Weasley! Don't you think I didn't know how you tricked me!"
"What could I do? I could no longer watch you trampling on her feelings like that!" Fred hissed. It was already getting hard for him to keep his cool.
"What a joke! You didn't care about Shycates feelings at all! You just did everything possible to win your stupid bet!"
"My bet? It was your idea in the first place!"
"Well, that's true but it might be that Shycates thinks differently now..."
"What did you tell her?", Fred furiously seized him by the collar and pushed Cormac against the wall.
Cormac smirked evilly:
"Just ask her yourself! I bet she has a lot to tell you."
"YOU!" Fred pressed his wand under Cormac's chin.
"Come on, Fred. Let him be. He's lying anyway." George said and put his arm soothingly on his twins shoulder.
"Go ahead, Weasley. Curse me but you're no better than me if you do." Cormac hissed quietly.
"Fred! George! He's not worth it!" Hermione piped up from behind them. Having Harry in tie, she rushed through the corridor towards the older boys.
"She's absolutely right. You're really not worth it. I'm not as low as you, you little crud!" Fred let go of his opponent who slid down two the floor, a grin still plastered on his face like something sticky.
"You're more cowardly than I though, Weasley!"
"Don't let him get to you, brother." George said calmly and pulled his twin away from Cormac, facing him with their backs. Fred shook with anger now.
"Oh no, forget about it, McLaggen! Expelliarmus!" A red flash passed George right ear and with a groan, Cormac flew up against the wall, just to fall unconscious to the floor again. Hermione stood panting in the middle of the corridor, her wand raised and her face as flushed as Fred's.
"The first rule of a proper wizard's duel: Never attack an opponent whose back your facing." She said furiously and casually stowed away her wand in her pocket.
"Good one, Hermione." Harry said deeply impressed.
"Sweet!" Fred also laughed and his brother just shook his head in amazement.
"But honestly, I never would have thought you would do something like this. Awesome..." Immediately, Hermione blushed right up to her hairline.
All of sudden, the door of Professor McGonagall's office flew open:
"What in the name of Merlin is going on here, Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, Mr. and Mr. Weasley? Whar did you do to, Mr. McLaggen?" The teacher swiftly hurried over to the unconscious student and felt his pulse.
"Who did it?" She asked harshly.
"Well...you see, Professor..." Hermione nervously played with the hem of her skirt.
"I did it."
Everyone turned around, looking at George Weasley in utter surprise. Hermione opened her mouth to object but George insinuated her to remain silent.
"I'm sorry, Professor. He was about to attack Fred from behind and so, I felt urged to do something."
"Mr. Weasley, you actually deserve to be punished but you're lucky as I'm to tired to give any more punishments today. It looks like it was self-defence anyway. Let's just forget about this unpleasant event, aright?"
The students looked at their teacher in amazement and in the end, George plainly nodded his head.
"Fine, Mr. Potter and Mis Granger should take Mr. McLaggen to the Hospital Wing as it seems that Mr. and Mr. Weasley wouldn't be able to accomplish this task." Professor McGonagall determined contently and vanished inside of her office. She urgently was in need of a strong tea right now. This day had been quite busy after all.
"At least, George Weasley taught this pillock McLaggen a lesson", she thought to herself.
"When am I finally allowed to go?" Hope moaned.
"Real soon now, my dear. Drink some more of this and then you may leave tomorrow." Madame Pomfrey handed her a goblet containing some green mush.
"Ugh, yuck!" Hope creased her face in disgust.
"Nasty medicine is the most effective cure. And now, get this down!" The matron demanded sternly. Pinching her nose, Hope gulped that goo (she did not find a better fitting word for it) down her gullet.
"Well done." Madame Pomfrey was quite happy. Hope just mumbled something under her breath but she felt how the potion already sobered her mind a little.
Suddenly, the door of the Hospital Wing was opened with dash.
"I ask of you, children! This place is no funfair where people may go and leave as they please..." Madame Pomfrey wanted to nag even more but then she saw Cormac McLaggen dangling unconsciously between Harry and Hermione.
"What's the matter with this one?" She asked coldly and she did not use her usual cordial voice. Fred and George, who had tacked along anyway, smirked at each other. It seemed as if there was one more grown-up person in Hogwarts who could not stand McLaggen at all.
"Disarming charm... fainted..." Harry panted and he silently wondered why Hermione did not lift Cormac up with the help of her wand. He gave her a side glance and noticed the mischievous expression in her eyes. No wonder, they had dropped the unconscious boy several times on their way and his head did even bang against some door frames and stony edges. Harry blinked a few times to make sure that she was still the same Hermione Granger he befriended about five years ago. No, she definitely was not the same as before. Not that he minded, thought.
"Yeah? SO, lay him down on the bed over there." Madame Pomfrey said and pointed towards the bed the most far away from Hope's.
While the matron reluctantly started to observe McLaggen, the other four teenagers took a seat around Hopes bed.
"How are you?" Hermione wanted to know.
"I'm fine. Tomorrow, I can finally leave."
"That's some good news!"
"Yeah..."
They were silent for a moment. After a while, Hope could not take it any more. Her curiosity was burning her insides like a fire.
"What happened to him?" She nodded towards McLaggen's bed.
Hermione and George alternating told her all about it and sometimes, Harry added some words, too. Fred was the only one not taking part in their conversation. He eyed Hope unobtrusively. Her nose was red and swollen and looked a little crooked, Did McLaggen break her nose? Without realising it, his fists clenched.
"Fred?"
"Uh?"
Hope smiled at him:
"I asked you when you'd like to start with our potion..."
He scratched his head pensively:
"Well...um...perhaps, after your out of here. The first Sunday of December...for example...?"
"Sounds good me!"
"So, I don't want to interrupt your talk but I have to go. Detention at Umbridge's, you know..." Harry said gloomily and raised to his feet again.
"You still have detention?" Hope asked surprised. She heard about from her Hermione some weeks ago and somehow, she thought that Harry was already done with it. Harry sadly nodded his head. It seemed as if he wanted to ad something but in the end, he just pressed his lips together.
"Um...yeah...I'll go with you, Harry. Homework..." Hermione said hastily and smiled at her older friends. "I'm going to visit you tomorrow before school, okay?"
"Thanks, Hermione. See you, Harry!"
"See you!"
"Wait...I think...um...I'm leaving, too..." George grinned sheepishly and glanced at Hermione.
"Bye, George!"
"Bye!" The three Gryffindors hit the road. Now, there were only Hope and Fred left. The boy uncomfortably shifted on his chair back and forth.
"He likes her, right?"
"What...?Who?"
"I'm talking about George and Hermione, of course."
"I guess..." After that, there was an awkward silence between the two of them.
"I..." Both of them started simultaneously. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"You go first." Hope suggested.
"No, lady's first!" Fred smirked. This laughter helped him out once again and fulfilled his wish.
"Thank you for saving me in the Forbidden Forest back then." She said shyly.
"I promised you, didn't I? I mean, I promised you that nothing would happen to you." He answered self-consciously.
"Yeah, I did indeed." He mumbled and there was something in his voice which caught her attention.
"What's wrong?" She squinted her eyes. His eyes were full of despair when he dared to look her in the eyes again:
"Look at you now. I couldn't even keep my promise. I couldn't even protect you from the wolves at all. Man, I suck!"
"Hey, calm down." She softly put her hand on his and smiled at him. "You did all you could. I mean, you didn't leave me on my own. Instead, you tried to do something. Don't feel bad because there's no need for it." And his he still pressed his lips tightly together and looked like the guilt was killing him, she rolled up the sleeves of her pyjama bottoms and showed him her ankle. It was all healed now. There was nor a bruise or a scar left.
"That's where the wolf first bit me. Madame Pomfrey said if you didn't try everything to pull me up that damn cliff at that time, I probably would have to live without my foot now." He just blankly stared at her ankle.
"Well, it does look better than ever before." He said without thinking and secretly cursed himself for being so insensitive again. However, she burst out laughing.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Madame Pomfrey fixed me up pretty good. Thank god, you got your humour back, Mr. Weasley." He was very relieved that she just laughed it off and could not help but to smile, too. At least, she still seemed to consider him her friend after all.
"So, what did you wanted to say earlier?" She wiped some tears of joy from her eyes and looked at him in expectation. Immediately, he got serious again. There was still something else that bothered him.
"Well...um...earlier this day, I met McLaggen and he implied something strange about this whole bet thing...he said that you're still mad at me about it...well...and...and that you might have changed your mind about me again...to the worse, I mean..."
"Nonsense! He did just babble trash, that's all! He's sore because I forgave you about this bet stuff but not him! Don't care about him!"
"So, he did lie to me for real?"
"Sure thing! Or did you expect him to tell the truth for once in his life?"
"Of course, not." He mumbled.
"You see." She smiled. "However, you need to promise me on thing."
"What?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Don't ever, ever listen to anything Cormac prattles again!"
"Never, I swear! And you need to promise me the same!"
"Word of honour!" They smiled at each other.
End of Chapter Sixteen.