Luminescence

Chapter Two

Althea's POV

Althea had been right. The two twins, second years as she'd learned they were, were indeed trouble. But so was young Miss Aubert. The young girl had learned this the hard way, on a sunny Wednesday afternoon sometime mid-first year.

See, the girl had just been leaving potions class when a dungbomb went off just as she was about to exit the classroom. And of course, being the only student left in the room at that point, it wasn't much of a surprise when Professor Snape automatically assumed she was the culprit. She had never been one to pull pranks like that, and she would never be caught dead committing one. But she could easily think up two people who might be willing to carry out such a prank. Maybe even three, if she considered the fact that Melanie was slowly beginning to become involved in the twin's shenanigans.

Unable to come to her own defense though, due to her emotional sensitivity, she simply stood there with watery eyes as her Professor reprimanded her. Just as her tears threatened to spill though, the Weasley twins came hurtling through the classroom door, a wide-eyed Melanie in tow. "Professor!" The other girl started, taking Althea's hand in hers and placing another reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Professor Snape, it wasn't Althea!" One of the twins spoke, and Althea immediately recognized him as George. She had practically mastered the art of telling the two of them apart. "It wasn't! We swear on it!" Fred swiftly added. Melanie nodded. "In fact, we know exactly who did it." She spoke, and they all exchanged knowing glances at this.

And that was how the four of them ended up with detention. Four, because Snape still wasn't convinced that Althea wasn't involved.

As the four of them made their way out of Potions, the twins turned to Althea, an apologetic look scrawled across the both of their faces. "We're sorry about that." Fred said, and George nodded. "Really, we are. We didn't mean to set off the dungbombs while you were still in there."

"We thought you had already left." Melanie added, and Althea wasn't surprised the twins had managed to rope her into this particular scheme. "It's alright....I'm just happy you guys stood up for me. I felt like I was going to spontaneously combust in there." The other three all let out their own cackles at this, and Althea couldn't help but giggle a little as well. "Maybe detention won't be so bad with you three there." She smiled softly, blushing a little and averting her eyes at her own admission. "Detention? With Georgie and Mel? That'll be absolutely dreadful. With me, on the other hand..." Fred said with a smirk, earning an elbow in the stomach at that from his brother, and Melanie smacked the back of his head playfully.

Althea couldn't help but let out another giggle as she witnessed the dysfunction of her friends. Maybe the three of them had a knack for roping her into trouble with them, but she couldn't think of any better friends for her than them.

Melanie's POV

It was long after their detention had been served, and Melanie was relaxing by the fireplace as she read over one the many books she had picked up from the library on potions. Along with herbology and care of magical creatures, it was one of her favorite subjects, and she enjoyed leisurely reading about it in her free time.

As her eyes drifted across the page, she hardly even
noticed as someone came bursting into the common room. She had been the only person in the common room up until that point, so this new person added another living addition to the room. It wasn't until the person settled besides her that she realized this was someone she knew.

"Melanie!" The person spoke, shaking the other girl in what Melanie could only describe as pure excitement. Melanie knew as soon as she heard that voice precisely who had disturbed her reading. She looked up from her book, surprised that Althea was so excited about something for once. "Oh, hey! What is it, Althea?" She inquired kindly, a soft smile gracing her features. "Come on! The twins have something to show us!" Althea said, ushering the other girl to her feet. Melanie placed her book down on a nearby table, certain it wouldn't go anywhere anytime soon. "Alright, I'll tag along. What is it exactly they want to show us? Althea shrugged at this. "Oh I'm not sure, they wouldn't tell me. They just told me they had something they wanted the both of us to see."