Advance Arrangement
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
After dinner, the first-years busied themselves working on their assignments together in the common room. While everyone scribbled away on their parchments, Daphne took the time to patiently explain everything to Dudley, so that they could all swiftly finish their homework.
"Harry and Bobby," Marcus suddenly addressed them. "Let's head out to the Quidditch pitch for an impromptu training session. The professor has agreed to allow you onto the team as Seeker and Keeper."
"All right…"
"… Please give us a moment…"
"… to fetch our brooms."
Marcus glared at the twins. "First years are not allowed to have their own brooms."
"We know…"
"… which is why we have them shrunken…"
"… in our luggage."
Harry and Bobby dashed away with Paws and Claws following closely. By the time they returned to the common room carrying their broomsticks, Marcus stared at them in apparent disbelief.
"Where did you get these brooms?"
The twins shrugged. "We made them," they replied, for once unison.
"YOU made them?" Marcus frowned. "So, then why do the Weasley twins have the same brooms?"
"Because they begged us…"
"… to make them for them…"
"… and we did."
"They're better than any other broom that I've ever seen. Can you perhaps make more of them?"
The twins chuckled. "As in…"
"… one for each team member…"
"… you mean?"
Marcus nodded with obvious eagerness. "That would be amazing."
Harry and Bobby exchanged a glance. "Do you know if there's an Alchemy lab at Hogwarts?"
"An Alchemy lab?" Marcus' eyes narrowed, before he shook his head. "I don't think so, at least I've never heard of something like that."
'We can ask Merlin on Sunday where we can make a broom.' The twins nodded at each other.
"We'll make brooms…"
"… for the whole team…"
"… as soon as we can…"
"… Christmas at the latest," the twins promised, before they eagerly followed the team onto the grounds for their first official team practice as Seeker and Keeper of the Slytherin Quidditch team.
HP
It was on Friday evening at dinner that Dudley addressed his cousins. "You know I have Potions together with the Gryffindors…"
"How are my brothers doing as teachers?" Ronald interrupted him with apparent eagerness.
"They're absolutely funny, but still, they're great teachers." Dudley grinned. "Anyway, I've been sitting together with Hermione, and she asked if there was a way for her to study together with all of us."
"Why doesn't she study together with the Gryffindors?" Draco bet the twins to a response.
"Because, there are some really bigoted purebloods among them, and they keep harassing her because of being muggleborn."
Draco nodded in understanding. "Ah, Nott and Parkinson I suppose. Yes, they're awful. Jonathan," he called out to the sixth-year prefect, "may we bring a Gryffindor to the common room to study together?"
To the friends' relief, the older students agreed, and shortly before the end of dinner, Dudley headed to the Gryffindor table to fetch Hermione. "Come with me."
Seeing that the girl followed their cousin out of the Great Hall, the twins rose from their chairs, causing the whole first-year group to follow them.
This evening, it took the friends twice the usual time to do their homework, as Hermione Granger pestered them with all kinds of questions, part of which had nothing to do with the task ahead.
At one stage, Harry and Bobby noticed that Draco, Ron and Kengo began to become impatient, while Blub turned invisible. As in one, they transformed into their Paciguise forms, noticing that Draco, Ron and Kengo calmed down visibly. When Blub came into sighed once again, provoking more questions from their Gryffindor classmate, the twins finally changed back.
"Are you Animagi? Can you teach me how to become one? I've read…"
"Hermione," Daphne spoke up in a soothing voice. "I believe that Professor Snape is going to be here any minute now. He always comes into the common room thirty minutes before curfew."
"Ah, all right, I better go then." The girl jumped from her chair and hastily packed her belongings.
"We will accompany you…"
"… as we'll be able to get back here quickly…"
"… in our Animagi forms."
The twins accompanied Hermione back to Gryffindor, patiently answering her questions as they went, before they stopped dead in tracks.
"The staircase…"
"… It moves."
"Ah, I've read about that…"
"Hermione…"
"… it's all right…"
"… We know that they exist…"
"… we just don't know when they turn again…"
"… Oh well, perhaps, we can make a detour."
Together, they entered a dark looking corridor, which ended in front of a locked door.
"Alohomora." Hermione looked smug, and the twins refrained from commenting, their mother's words 'Never open a locked door if you don't know where it leads' firmly plastered into their head.
An instant later, the three of them screamed at the sight of a three-headed dog.
'Thank Merlin we practised so much,' Harry thought to Bobby, who agreed, before the twins swiftly transformed into their Paciguise forms and further into three-headed dogs.
=Hello there…=
=… we mean no harm…=
=… We just wanted to visit.=
=Hello,= the left of the heads replied. =Are you human or proper Cerberi?=
=Ah, shut up,= the middle head interrupted. =Just help us to get out of here. I want to get out, even if they don't. They're too lazy for their own good.=
=Who put you here…=
=… and why?=
=Humans. We don't know why.=
"Harry, Bobby, let's leave."
Bobby's right head gently licked Hermione's hand, while Harry's right head nodded in confirmation.
=Very well…=
=… We need to go…=
=… but we'll come back.=
Three heads lightly bobbed up and down.
=See to it.=
=And free us then.=
=Bye.=
The twins turned around and lightly scratched at the door, motioning for Hermione to open it.
Only when they were through the door, they transformed back into their human forms, only to realise that Mrs. Norris was approaching them from the other side of the corridor.
"Phoenixes now," Bobby hissed.
"Grab his tail feathers," Harry whispered to Hermione and waited until his brother had flashed away with the girl, before he transformed into his Animagus form and further into a black cat.
tbc...
Thank you for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please continue feeding my muse. Any ideas, suggestions or opinions are welcome.
