Ravenclaw's Shadow

Chapter 39

"Georgiana, hurry up, the task will be starting soon!"

"Aurelia, I know you fed last night so you don't need to eat, but some of us still do!"

"Ugh!"

"Fine, I'm done!" she stands up and finally lets me drag her out of the Hall. I yank her arm the whole way down to the lake, ignoring her complaining. Luckily George has saved us some seats.

"Did we miss anything?" I ask eagerly.

"Nope, Harry hasn't even arrived yet," he says, "I wonder what they'll have to do."

"Look, he's coming now!" Angelina says, pointing out over the grounds. He takes his place beside the other champions, doubled over, panting. The task begins and the other champions perform spells on themselves before disappearing under the water. Harry wades out a bit and stops, chewing on something.

"What the heck is he doing?" Fred asks, "does he know there's a time limit?"

We watch as Harry doubles over, then falls into the water and disappears.

"He's dead," George says matter-of-fact-ly.

"He'll be fine," I say. We sit in silence for a few minutes, staring at the surface of the lake.

"This is a bit boring," I comment. The others nod in agreement. There's a ripple across the surface and everyone tenses, staring, but it's just the wind.

"Ugh," Georgiana slumps against me, "you rushed me for this?"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," I mutter, leaning back against her.

While we're waiting Fred and George teach us scissors-paper-rock and we play that for the first half hour.

"AND THE CHAMPION FROM BEAUXBATONS, FLEUR DELACOUR HAS HAD TO BE RESCUED, MEANING SHE WILL RECEIVE THE LOWEST MARK FOR THIS TASK!"

We watch Fleur being dragged from the water then go back to scissors-paper-rock.

"It's been nearly an hour," Alicia says, checking her watch, "surely one of them will make it back in the time li-"

She's interrupted by Cedric Diggory surfacing, dragging a Ravenclaw girl, Cho, I think, from the year below us.

George swears under his breath.

"Two left," Georgiana says, "I reckon Krum next."

We sit watching the surface of the lake with baited breath.

"There!" someone shouts.

A half-shark-half-man thing appears clutching a brown haired girl. The shark head shrivels back into Krum.

"Called it!" Georgiana yells over the cheering, "just Harry next."

The minutes tick by, but nothing happens. People are starting to whisper among themselves, worrying about if the giant squid has got him.

"Dibs his broom if it has," Fred says.

"No, look!" Angelina says, "good, it would have been a pain replacing him as seeker next year."

"Wow, heartless," George says, shaking his head at her.

"Are we throwing a party then?" Fred asks eagerly.

"He came last," Georgiana points out.

"Well, yeah, but he survived," Fred shrugs.

"I'm up for it," George says.

"I think I'll pass," I say as we start to filter out of the stands, "not really in the mood."

"Are you alright?" George asks, hooking his arm around my waist so we don't get separated in the flood of people.

"Yeah," I nod, "just tired, late night last night."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then."

***

We had our last apparation lesson on the fourth of March. By then most people had a pretty good idea of how to do it. The twins especially seemed very apt. Now, nearly a month later, George, Fred, Angelina, Alicia and Georgiana are going to Hogsmeade for their test.

"I just wish the testing wasn't today, we shouldn't have to do any sort of test on our birthday," Fred says as they lined up to go down for the test, "still, I suppose at least we'll be able to apparate alllll summer!"

"If we pass," Angelina says nervously.

"You'll do fine," I say. I'm not old enough to do the testing yet, I have to wait until closer to my birthday. George gives me a big kiss on the cheek.

"When we get back you're all mine," he says, "so any study you need to do, do it now."

"Yes, sir!" I say, giving him a salute. He grins and kisses me quickly before they're ushered out the door. I wave them goodbye then run down to the kitchens. I'm immediately surrounded by house elves offering their help.

"I need a birthday cake," I say, "uh, a big one. With "Happy Birthday Fred and George" on it, with seventeen candles. Um, and some other food and snacks... Party stuff. In the Gryffindor common room in about four hours."

The elves set to it and I head upstairs. I'll study for the next three and a half hours, then go decorate the Gryffindor common room.

Three hours later I'm too fidgety, worrying that they'll get back early, to study, so I go to the common room early. As it's a nice, spring day, the common room is practically deserted, which is handy. I push the tables to the outsides and start shooting streamers out of my wand. They're easy enough, but the balloons are harder. I pop the first ten before getting the hang of it. The food appears on the tables and I examine the cake. It's huge, bigger than I imagined, with fluffy blue icing and white trim. "Happy Birthday, Fred and George" is written in perfect cursive across the top, surrounded by seventeen golden candles.

A few Gryffindors have started coming back into the common room as the air outside gets cooler. They all seem eager for a party, especially in honor of the twins. We wait anxiously for them to return. Finally they burst through the portrait hole.

"SURPRISE!"

"Happy birthday!"

They look thrilled as they take everything in. We light the candles and sing a loud rendition of 'happy birthday' before they cut the cake.

"If it comes out dirty, you have to kiss the nearest girl!" someone yells. I step a little closer to George, just to make sure.

"All yours," Fred says, handing him the knife. George cuts into the cake and the knife comes out dirty. He sets the knife aside and pulls me close, kissing me hard.

"You're the best," he says, squeezing me. We grab some food and sit in front of the fire.

"So, did you pass?" I ask. They all nod, their mouths full of cake.

"It was easy," Fred says through a mouthful.

"Yeah, a breeze," George agrees.

"I'm glad," I say, "now you can't get out of your promise of visiting me every day!"

George pulls me over to sit in his lap.

"I wouldn't want to get out of that promise," he says softly, cuddling me.