[2] The Great Orangenie | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Fourteen

After Lexy had finished, Aubrey sat there in silence, her mind trying to piece together what she'd heard into the mystery she just couldn't solve yet. Seeing Umbridge being a bitch or punishing people was normal but Umbridge ... pleading? Umbridge clinging to students robes in empty corridors? This was new territory and felt like the equivalent of a poodle/dragon hybrid ... in the sense that neither should ever happen.

Her gut feeling told her to investigate Umbridge but Lexy, George and even Fred argued they should start on Saskia seeing as she was their friend and not an awful teacher that hated them. What they said made sense and after a few days of intense persuading from Fred, she agreed.

Asking Saskia things had got them nowhere so Aubrey decided to take the questioning up a notch. By that, of course, she meant using one of the three truth serum pills. Still, using them on Saskia didn't give her the same exciting rush she'd felt when using it on Ludo the year before. At least with Ludo they'd had disguises and he wasn't the best of people anyway. Saskia was her friend and this felt downright deceptive but needs must.

"If you do it before you go to your meeting, I can do it whilst your gone," Lexy suggested, "I sometimes get us Pumpkin juices anyway so it won't look odd."

It was an alright suggestion, made with good intentions but Lexy should have known the chances of Aubrey letting such a vital plan slip out of her hands was close to none, "Absolutely not, hon."

"Why not? It was me and George who witnessed the Umbridge possession or whatever the hell that was," Lexy said as the two strolled through the corridors, "And you seemed nervous about doing this to her, I thought it would help."

"No, Lexy. If there's questioning, you're not doing it alone," Aubrey said firmly, "I'll cancel my meeting with Fred and we'll do it together, okay?"

"...okay."

Given last year, Aubrey had genuinely thought she'd got past her need for control but was now coming to see that it had merely been extended. She now trusted Fred with all her heart but everyone else was a different matter. Still, perhaps it came in handy now. Lexy had a tendency to be a little bit ... passionate about things and a truth serum sessions with Saskia alone would probably not go down too well.

"If you have any last minute questions tell us now," Aubrey said to the twins as they waited with her and Lexy outside the Hufflepuff dorms, "Saskia should come back from the library any minute now."

"We trust you two to do a good job," Fred shrugged.

Lexy wrinkled her nose, "Why?" before snickering, "I'm joking, of course, we'll do a good job. If we don't, we might get our legs broken."

"We still don't know that was her ... for sure," Aubrey cautiously added.

"No, Aubs, it was the wind," Fred replied sarcastically, "Well, we'd best be off, we've got stuff to do..."

He kissed Aubrey goodbye whilst Lexy and George raised their eyebrows at one another. Then the twins walked away down the corridor leaving the two girls alone. 

Saskia arrived at the predicted time by which time the two girls had already taken a seat, arranging the books and cushions so that it looked natural. Lexy was lounging like a Roman emperor on the sofa whilst Aubrey sat neatly in a chair; that was how they usually sat although now that they were under pressure Aubrey couldn't remember for the life of her what she usually did with her legs. Were they crossed? Touching the floor? Did she do anything with them at all? It was a mystery. Both of the girls also held a glass in their hands, another one on the table that they'd dissolved the truth serum pill into earlier. They both smiled as Saskia entered the room, knocking several books of desks in her state without a care in the world. She looked somewhat apprehensive, a very large history book tucked underneath her arm.