Mischief not so Managed

13: Numbers

Lia:

"you look after him for me know, and do make sure he studies" Molly said pulling coat further around me.

"I shall do my best" I smiled, "thank you for everything, that was the best Christmas, I've, well I've ever had". I kissed her on the cheek, she had tears in her eyes. I stepped aside and let Molly hug her children. Hermione wrapped her arm around my shoulder and gave me a squeeze.

"I'm glad you came" she said.

"me too" I replied. The train horn sounded, and people started waving from the train. We jumped onto the train and back home, to Hogwarts, for my very last time.

"so, what exactly did you two do?" I asked Fred at dinner, a week or two after we had returned.

"we transfigured Umbridge's office door into a dragon" he said proudly over his stew "it breathes fire every time she tries to open it"

"Fred!"

"even McGonagall couldn't reverse it" he laughed "she knew we had done it, so George had to go and undo it"

"it's only be a couple of weeks" I said watching the door to see if George had arrived yet, "Umbridge will have you two out in cold before you know it"

"have you heard about this inquisitorial squad"

"what a load of rubbish" I scoffed "just an opportunity for Malfoy to beat up a couple of first years". Ginny stormed towards us and dropped down beside Fred.

"what's got your wand in a knot?" Fred asked.

"Quidditch" she replied "Andrew is good, but he's not you or George and me? well, I'm borderline useless"

"you are not Gin" I said quickly "Alicia told me you're doing fantastically" I reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

"we can't loose to Hufflepuff" she said quietly.

"and we won't" Fred said. "we've been banned from competing, doesn't mean we can't help you train" Fred said to his sister. "is that door still breathing fire?" Fred said, I turned to find George smiling as he strolled up the aisle.

"McGonagall said if we're going to some transfiguration again, she'd prefer it wasn't a danger to students"

"I think that's fair game" I chuckled as he sat down beside me. He squeezed my hand under the table before reaching for the flask of pumpkin juice. We were by no means keeping it a secret. Neither of us were particularly fond of big public displays of affection, Cormac hadn't understood that. But George and Cormac weren't even on the same stratosphere.

"we're helping out at Quidditch practice for the foreseeable future" Fred said.

"you don't have to" Ginny said quietly.

"the whole thing was our fault anyway Gin, we're helping, so get over it" George laughed.

"correction" I cut in "it was Umbridge's fault, let's see her face when we still manage to win the Quidditch cup even though she tried to raise hell".

Weeks flew by and Winter melted into Spring. It was the week of the Hufflepuff game and we were sitting in the common room after a DA meeting. Cormac had joined us as he wasn't a member of the DA but unfortunately a member of the Quidditch team. "right" I said, taking out a notepad from my bag, I was sitting on the couch between Fred and George, the former trying to fling "Bertie Bots Every Flavoured Beans" through Helena Ravenclaw's ghost's head, who for some reason had an affinity for our common room and the later nestled in beside me with arm around my shoulder. "according to Hermione" I announced "who is unsurprisingly in the library studying" I laughed "if the points from the Slytherin game are still valid", I looked to Lee who was leaning against the far wall.

"which they are, according to Hooch"

"if you can beat Hufflepuff by at least thirty points and Ravenclaw by a sizable margin of sixty points, you'll catch up on Slytherin's lead" I finished.

"is she sure?" Alicia asked.

"Hermione has been crunching these numbers for weeks" Ron said "she's sure".

"Hufflepuff have an average score of ninety points per match" I continued to read from her notes "they've only caught the snitch a handfull of times in the last ten years. Is there anything she doesn't know?" I chuckled.

"Summerby is fast" Ginny murmured.

"He's not as fast as you Ginny" Harry cut in, "Merlin, I'm not as fast as you". Angelina stood, looking around.

"tomorrow, four pm, Quidditch pitch. Saturday is three days away and we need all the help we can get". Team dispersed.

"someone go fetch Hermione from the library" Ginny called "she won't leave other wise". We all laughed.

"I don't even think going to get her would convince her to leave" Harry laughed as he and Ron went to find the last third of their trio. the rest of the room emptied out.

"I'm sorry you can't play" I said to George, nestling in beside him. He wrapped his arm tighter around my shoulder.

"as long as one dies because I'm not on the field, I'm okay" he said kissing the top of my head. I could've sworn I heard someone growl from the stairs.