New Perspective ⌁ Fred Weasley

Chapter Seventeen

For the few days after Maxine pranked Fred, she made sure to watch her back everywhere she went. It made her anxious, but at the same time there was an undeniable thrill about successfully doing her first solo prank.

If Maxine could prank the Weasley twins on her own, with nothing more than a simple spell, surely she could do it again.

She wanted to write to Tamsin and Heidi at home and tell her about her success but she decided not to, unsure of how they might respond.

Each time Maxine saw Fred and George after the prank, she felt a sense of pride. She now understood the thrill that the twins got from pranking. She wanted to do it again.

On Christmas day, Maxine spent most of her morning in the library. She flipped through pages and pages of a Charms book, trying to find as many unique spells that she could find. The one that seemed to be the most enticing was the hair-thickening charm. But she figured she should try something else that didn't involve the Twin's hair twice in a row.

As she sat cross legged on a chair in the library hunched over to read her book, Maxine jumped when she felt a small tap on her shoulder. She didn't even see the person fully as she turned around, just a streak of red hair, before she grabbed for her wand.

"Merlin, Beater Girl, I'm not going to prank you!" Fred held up his hands and took a step back. "It's Christmas, I'm not evil enough to pull a prank on a holiday."

"For the last time stop calling me that," Maxine rolled her eyes. She didn't have to look twice at the boy in front of her before realizing it was Fred. He was the only one who called her Beater Girl.

"Sorry, O'Flaherty," Fred chuckled as he slouched in a chair across from hers.

"What do you want?" Maxine asked, making herself comfortable again in her chair. She wanted to get back to developing prank ideas. It was all she wanted to do anymore. "I'm a bit busy."

"Yeah? With what?"

"None of your damn business, that's what."

Before she could even blink, Fred had pulled out his wand and summoned the book towards him. Maxine jumped from her chair and ran towards him. Fred however was quick and stood up before Maxine reached him. He held the book high in the air, tilting it down just so he could read it.

"Dammit, give me the book, Weasley!" Maxine stood on her tip toes, trying to grab the book from him. Despite being quite tall, she couldn't reach as Fred towered over her.

"The hair-thickening charm, ay?" Fred raised his eyebrows and snickered. "I wouldn't mind my hair being a bit thicker."

"Too bad it won't ever be as thick as your head," Maxine grunted as she tried to jump again.  "Now please give me my book before I jinx you!"

"You don't scare me, Beater Girl," Fred laughed. He kept the book hair in the air as he flipped through the pages that Maxine had bookmarked.

Maxine knew there was no use as Fred continued to smirk up at the book and laugh at the pages she had marked. She placed her hands on her hips and pressed her lips tightly together. As Maxine pulled her wand back on, Fred glanced down with a raised eyebrow.

"Flipendo!"

A force knocked Fred back into his chair, but the book stayed locked in his grip. He looked at Maxine with wide eyes as she came towards him. But then he pointed his wand at Maxine.

"Locomotor wibbly."

The jinx quickly made Maxine's legs collapse and she fell to the floor. They became tingly and numb. She glared, shocked at Fred. "Just give me my book!"

"Not until you say magic word," Fred laughed as Maxine laid on the floor, one hand clutching her wand as the other tried to push her up.

"Fine," She muttered the counter-jinx for the jelly-legs jinx and as feeling reentered Maxine's legs, she slowly pushed her self from the ground. "Melofors."

With a loud pop, a pumpkin appeared on Fred's head. He yelped and the book fell from his hand on to the floor. Maxine grabbed the boom quickly. She laughed and watched as Fred pried the pumpkin off of his head. His face was bright red and Maxine took pride in the look of surprise that was painted on it.

It was like she had just completed a brilliant prank. Fred's head was covered in the flesh and seeds from the pumpkin and his skin was slimy.

"If you would've said please," Fred wiped his face and flung the pulp at Maxine. "I would've given you the book back."

"I did say please!"

"WHAT!"

Maxine froze at the familiar voice that wasn't Fred's. Instead it was a high pitched hiss. Fred and Maxine looked at each other with wide eyes before they looked over at Madam Pince. Her big eyes looked as if they were going to fall out of her head as she stared at the mess the pumpkin made. Behind her, Professor McGonagall had her arms crossed with her thin lips pursed.

"Madam Pince—" The librarian held her hand up to stop Maxine from speaking.

"Detention," Professor McGonagall said firmly. Maxine let her book drop to the ground and sighed. Across from her, Fred just shrugged. "Both of you. 10 points from Gryffindor, 10 points from Hufflepuff. Meet me in my office after the feast."

With a wave of her wand, Professor McGonagall cleaned up the mess and walked away with Madame Pince.

Maxine and Fred looked at each other again. Fred just shrugged again with a small smile. "Looks like we'll have to put the prank war on hold for a little bit."