Yellow (George Weasley)

37 - Filch's Secret Admirer

I buried my hands in the pocket of my parka as we followed closely behind Harry. Snow flurried towards the ground, coating it in a white blanket. On a normal day like today, we'd be out playing in it. But unfortunately this year there would be no snowball fights in the Forbidden Forest, no snowmen in the courtyard, and no sledding down the hill towards Hogsmeade—just short, secretive walks. Occasionally, one of the twins would have to reach out a hand and sturdy me. This stone bridge is terribly slippery in the snow—and I'm clumsy enough as it is. "We need to find somewhere to practice where Umbridge won't find out."

Though our organization had only formed yesterday, we woke up this morning to a sign pasted onto the bulletin board in the common room. Apparently Umbridge got wind of our plan because it was now forbidden to have regular meetings of three or more people.

"The Shrieking Shack?" Ginny suggested.

"It's too small." Harry sighed as we continued to walk.

"Forbidden forest?" Hermione added.

Ron scoffed. "Not bloody likely." He's still afraid he'll run into another giant spider.

"What about the Quidditch Pitch? It might be a little chilly but there's plenty of room." I suggested.

"Hey just because you don't play doesn't mean you need to ruin the sport for the rest of us." Fred teased.

"It's too out in the open either way." Harry shook his head as we continued back towards the castle, if we were out of sight for too long Umbridge would grow suspicious. So these quick walks were the only thing we really had.

"Is it bad I'm sort of hoping we get expelled for this?" I whispered, looking back and forth between the two boys on either side of me. They shook their heads with identical smirks.

We walked back through the doorway and into the significantly warmer halls. "Everyone should try and think of a couple places we could practice in by tomorrow."

We looped back through the halls, making our way back to the Gryffindor common room. Luckily our little walk had gone unnoticed. The common room was even more busy than usual. Most students felt like it was the only safe space to talk. The courtyards and the library were no longer filled with students studying or hanging out.

"Fred, George!" Lee whisper yelled to the two brothers the minute we stepped through the painting. The three talked animatedly in hushed voices before Fred ran up to their dorms.

I bit back a smile and instead decided to sit with Harry, Ron, and Hermione who had all pulled out some of their homework. "Great Leah." Ron let out a sigh of relief as I sat down. "Can you help Harry here with the extra essay that greasy git gave him? He's been moaning about it all day."

I grinned at the now pink faced Harry and sat down beside him. "Sure I'm done my work for the day. What's it on?"

"Strengthening Solution." Harry grumbled. "I may have gotten distracted during class and burned up my potion."

He gave me a thankful smile as I looked down at what he had written so far, which wasn't much. I shouldn't be surprised that he's distracted with all that's going on. "It looks pretty good so far but the weight for powdered griffin claw is 0.23 kilograms not 0.25. He would've killed you for that."

My sentence was punctuated by the sound of loud retching, followed by an eruption of cheers. Lee was stood on top of the coffee table, gesturing to where Fred and George were standing with their Skiving Snackboxes.

"All those long classes really wearing on you? Snape being a git? Umbridge getting you down? Well, the newest line from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes has got the solution!" Fred held a proud grin as he set a large metal bucket on the floor in front of George. "My dear brother, if you will."