Year Two - Chapter Six

Astronomy with the Hufflepuffs was a peaceful event. The subject itself was one of the most peaceful things I could hope for. The Hufflepuffs would work together, we Ravenclaws would do our part, and I would drink hot coffee to stay awake together with Professor Sinistra. Since I had already finished mapping out the stars of the constellation given to me, and had already written down their influence on some magical brews and spells, I could either turn in and go to bed early, or wait for the others to finish.

I picked the latter option, most noticeably due to the threat of the Basilisk being just round the corner seeking someone to petrify or eat.

"How can you drink that stuff?" Wayne asked, scrunching his nose in disgust as he came to a stop by my side, sitting down in wait for the rest of his house to finish. "It's bitter."

I tapped the side of the astronomy tower's floor, and a thermos appeared from the ground up. I truly cherished House Elves. I would have loved them all tenderly with fluffy socks and beautiful scarfs, but then they'd take it the wrong way and start crying, so I didn't. Instead, I extended the thermos towards Wayne, who hesitantly took it. He opened the cap, and sniffed the contents.

"Hot chocolate," he whispered, before his eyes began to sparkle with joy. "You're the best, Shade." He took a deep gulp.

"What can I say," I answered. "I'm the little wizard that keeps on gifting," I took a sip out of my own coffee cup, and glanced over at Wayne's happy expression from drinking his chocolate. "How's sharing some glasses with the Gryffs and the Slyths?"

"Meh," Wayne shrugged. "I thought Harry Potter would look different," he scrunched his nose up in distaste, "But the Slytherins are horrible. They suckle up to the teachers and jibe at you when you're not looking. It's like they're always laughing behind your back, insufferable gits." He hung his head low. "And since we have Potions with them, the teacher gives them lots of points and takes ours away."

"My condolences," I acquiesced. "Just grit your teeth and wait for the storm to pass."

"You should hear what Malfoy says about him," Wayne grumbled. "Or how far Snape goes to give him points. He gave Slytherin five points just for showing up in time for the lesson."

I sighed. "Want to write Dumbledore about it?"

Wayne shrugged, "I dunno. I guess if he's still doing it then it doesn't really matter all that much, and Dumbledore's busy."

A sudden scream came, carried by the wind. I gingerly smiled at Wayne's surprised expression, and as professor Sinistra grabbed a telescope to look at the source of the screams, it came pretty clearly from the Gryffindors' tower. A window had opened, and a deep orange powder was leaving through it. From within came screams of beasts and monsters, but I quietly nodded to myself and glanced at the time.

I had no clock to check it, but judging by the moon, the charm had worked flawlessly. Puffapods beans, secretly gathered in the herbology lesson, had been enchanted to a much smaller size and left as a gift throughout the Gryffindors' room. Miniaturized bags of dirt had been left too, all gifts for the Gryffindors, all made by a tenderly loving Ravenclaw who begged a few House Elves to bring the gifts secretly to his friends for a magical surprise.

Thus, when the charm had ended, the bags of earth had exploded and the beans, growing back to their normal sizes, had latched on and immediately begun to bloom. A few seconds later I watched as magnificent flowers bloomed out of the Gryffindor's tower, my pleasant humming barely audible at the gasps of wonder of those in the astronomy tower.

The vines grew thickly across the castle's walls, breaking through the windows. I took another sip of my coffee. "I guess the Weasley Twins did it again," I mused.

"I dunno, aren't they the ones dangling from that big vine?" Megan said, looking through the telescope.

"Probably to divert attention and shift the blame elsewhere," I answered naturally, without missing a beat. "Those damn pranksters would do anything for a prank well done."

Some murmurs of agreement spread through the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs. The next day, I was glad to see that House Gryffindor had lost fifty points, probably because the twins had been blamed for the prank.

Sitting down at the breakfast table, eating my breakfast slowly, I glanced in the direction of the Gryffindors' table. My eyes glanced over to the carrot-heads, and from there I quickly zeroed in on the Weasley twins. The owls fluttered in.

They fluttered in, and a letter descended ever so slowly in the hands of the Weasley Twins. The Howler for Ron Weasley had a similar shape and texture, and I had witnessed its greatness already. This one, however, was special. It was twice as big, and rather than a letter looked like a foot-long parchment.

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!" the Howler bellowed with enough strength that the windows rattled. "OF ALL THE THINGS YOU DID, DESPICABLY STRIKING INNOCENT FIRST YEARS ORPHANS OF YOU-KNOW-WHO IS THE WORST I HAVE HEARD! YOU BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE SHOULD KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO GET THIRD-HAND CLOTHES TO FIT, AND RUINING THEM COMPLETELY IS IN NO WAY A PRANK!" I held back my laughter as the screaming, high-pitched set of snarling curses left the Howler in the voice of Molly Weasley. Go get them, Molly.

I had struck all of the possible chords with the woman. An orphan of You-Know-Who being subjected to the horrible pranks of the twins, having his books and clothes ruined and in tatters because of their jokes, and simply wishing for her to please talk some sense into the twins, because life at Hogwarts should be happy, and not filled with fear and fright at their pranks.

The Howler continued for a few minutes, both twins actually shaking in their seats by the time it was over.

My hopes were that this would be a somber experience for the duo.

If they didn't learn from it, then I'd move on directly to the Curses.

Perhaps I wouldn't disembowel them, but maybe if I cursed and made them lose both of their arms, they'd stop definitely?

No, that was too cruel.

I'd just leave them in the tender care of Squiddie.

The poor girl needed someone else to play with, after all.