Atropos → george weasley

xxxix. the falcon and the ferret

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thirty nine

 the falcon and the ferret

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About a week before the champions were to arrive at Hogwarts, Ottilie stole a few ingredients from Snape for the Aging potion and then met with George and Fred in Secret Lab II. They had taken what they needed from the student stores, including a cauldron.

"We'll take care of it on rotation," said Ottilie after the three of them had got the potion started.

"Brilliant!" said George. "Thank you, Ottilie, you're the best!"

She hoped her smile didn't look too uncomfortable.

George and Fred made to leave Secret Lab II, but Fred hung back a bit. It looked like he was nervously chewing on the inside of his cheek.

"Ottilie," he said. "I just wanted to say...I'm sorry for being a bit of a git to you all this time. George has liked you since the beginning, but it took me a little while to come around. Now, I know that I was wrong about you. I'm glad you're on our team."

"Cheers, Fred," Ottilie said, watching him hurry to catch up with George.

Well, damn. She smacked herself in the face. She felt like rubbish now, keeping her plan a secret.

She had told them she would help them and had meant it at the time. Now, she was deceiving them and proving Fred right.

But, in some way, wasn't this helping them? Just not in the form they were expecting? In her eyes, the risks outweighed the rewards tenfold. Yes, a thousand Galleons was a lot of money that the twins could really use, but she thought their lives were worth much, much more.

Plus, she felt an odd need to stand up for George. She wasn't clear whether he really wanted to enter the tournament, or if he had convinced himself he did for Fred's sake.

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Double Potions let out a half-hour early on October thirtieth.

The fourth-year Slytherins hurried to their dorms to drop off their school things and then headed to the entrance hall. Ottilie was surrounded by excited chatter about the arrival of the foreign schools.

The air sparked with anticipation, as though the suspense slowly building up over the past couple of weeks was finally boiling over.

The castle was sparkling after Filch had been frantically scrambling to keep every suit of armor polished, every window perfectly translucent, and every flagstone scrubbed of grime. When Ottilie had arrived at the Great Hall on the thirtieth, she saw that large silk banners were hanging over the House tables, each depicting the corresponding House's animal and colors. Behind the High Table, a massive banner showed Hogwarts's coat of arms, where a serpent, a badger, a lion, and an eagle were united around the bold letter H.

Ottilie arrived with Millicent in the entrance hall, which was more crowded than she'd ever seen it before. It was loud and chaotic, and the Heads of Houses were trying frantically to organize their students into a line.

Snape was holding his wand straight up, shooting sparks into the air.

"First-year Slytherins in the front of the line, seventh years in the back!" he called over the ruckus. He began barking commands at students to make them look more presentable, and looking as though he would rather be in hell than wrangle students for a second longer. "Mr. Pritchard, please take off Miss Davidson's glasses and return them to her."