15

er 15

It was only a few weeks until Hogwarts started again and their red haired mother was already fretting herself into an early grave. Even Bill's visit before leaving for another stint of tomb raiding, George laughed to himself at the thought, in Egypt wasn't enough to calm her nerves. None of her children could really blame her though. Ginny's disappearance had shaken the entire family to its core and there wasn't anything that would heal that wound except Ginny showing back up healthy, or time.

Ron, Fred, and George had excused themselves from the tense dinner and now sat up in the twins' bedroom. Fred was sitting on his bed, surrounded by various pieces of parchment that were covered in equations and recipes while he was furiously scribbling onto a recipe that was laying on one of his school books in his lap, his eyes flicking from the parchment to the words on the opposite page as his mind ground against the other gears to figure out this problem that had been vexing him for weeks. Ron was sitting on George's bed, chatting away about nothing in particular. George was carefully packing up their products and supplies.

"So, you two made anything new for this next year?" Ron asked conversationally.

"We've got some ideas, but it's been hard to experiment fully with the way mom has been," Fred made a sour face, trying hard not to dwell on that thought as he tapped his finger absently on the page that he was working on.

George hated to see his twin hurting, but they were all hurting. They knew this wasn't going to go away anytime soon, so they had thrown themselves into their work. If only it did anything, it was a distraction but is hard to say if it really helped him and his twin.

"Well, you know I'm always ready to help test out new products. Or give them to someone else to test," Ron added with a smile that George was beginning to worry about.

"We may need that skill soon enough," Fred smiled at Ron. "We've got a lot of development time to catch up on and might need some more help 'testing'."

The two laughed together as George forced a chuckle out. He used to be unnerved by how malicious Ron had become, but now it was simply the way he was. Fred was always more than happy to take advantage of it. The door to their room opened and Percy stuck his head into the room. The three brothers were ready to defend themselves from the family stick-in-the-mud.

"Hey," Percy greeted them lamely after the brothers stared at each other for a moment. "What are you guys up to?"

"Last minute packing," George told him while he carefully handled some of the fireworks they only recently developed. "Nothing to worry about." George gave Percy his best innocent smile even though it long lost its effect on the elder brother.

"I always worry when you three are alone in a room," Percy sighed his typical 'I'm-not-angry-I'm-just-disappointed' sigh. "Why can't you just go to school and do schoolwork like the others?" He asked calmly.

"We do our schoolwork!" George said indignantly. They had perfectly average scores thank you very much.

"This is an extracurricular activity!" Fred added, equally indignant it took a lot of work to be seen as mediocre.

Ron could only chuckle since his scores were the lowest in the family and his idea of an extracurricular activity was muggle dueling every Pureblood he walked by that said anything about his sister or tried to spout that shite about being better than the muggleborn or part magical creature. He was currently on track to beating the current record for most days spent in detention set by Sirius Black.

Percy sighed again as he his chest where his badge normally was pinned. "You know how much I hate it when you two cause trouble with your pranks. It makes my job as Prefect much harder."

"Prefect? Weren't you chosen for Head Boy this year by Dumbledore?" George asked as remembered his brother blowing up earlier in the summer and spending two days locked up in his room. He just thought it was Ginny's disappearance and his girlfriend's passing but maybe this was another blow to the stuck up Weasley brother.

Percy looked down to the floor with a deep frown on his face. "Umbridge has replaced Dumbledore as Headmistress this year. She's chosen...someone else."

As much as the three brothers couldn't stand their goody-goody older brother, they all knew he deserved the position of Head Boy. He had worked hard as Prefect and had earned many accolades.

"I'm sorry Percy," George said soothingly. Percy could see the gears already working in his twins' heads. Umbridge was going to pay for this.

"It's fine," Percy said without conviction. "I'm still a Prefect after all." He was trying to put on a brave face, but they could see he was very upset.

"What about this, Percy?" Fred started and George was immediately worried. His twin had some very interesting ideas of comfort and compromise. "What if we only targeted the bullies and the Purebloods trying to use Ginny against the Muggleborns and mixed-bloods?" George was quite proud of his twin for actually trying to do good, but knew he would find some way around it.

Percy didn't look like he liked Fred's suggestion, but he was smart enough to know that that was probably all he was going to get. "That's good I suppose. Thanks Fred." Percy closed the door behind him when he left the room.

"Are you really going to not use your products on everyone you walk by?" Ron asked Fred incredulously.

"We won't. We don't have control over what other people do." Fred smirked and Ron started to laugh.

George shouldn't have been surprised. He and his brother had always been mischievous and troublemakers, but things changed in them once Ginny disappeared. Fred's ideas of 'pranks' were becoming more and more harmful. Ron though, it seemed like he was constantly looking for a fight. George was worried about his brothers but knew he needed to keep an eye on some of the shenanigans.

The first thing that everyone noticed at the Start of Term Feast was that tea cosy of a woman in pink sitting at the head of the Professor's table, looking as self-satisfied as a single person could. Professor Umbridge called everyone's attention with a nerve grating hem hem.

"Good day, children," She spoke with an aggressively cheerful tone. "I am Delores Umbridge, your new Headmistress. With the tragic accidents that took place last year and the conclusion of the investigation, the Ministry has taken a keen interest in the school. Standards have been slipping lately and so I have taken on the challenge of getting things back up to Ministry standards." She gave the group of children a poisonously kind smile. "You will find new rules will be instituted this year to help bring things back to where they need to be. We must work together to move forward." She sat back down in the Headmaster's seat.

No one could miss the looks the other Professor's were exchanging. Professor MocGonagal looked furious while Professor Snape looked like he had eaten an even more sour candy. Some of the other adults, such as the Librarian, Irma Pince, seemed somewhat pleased. Fred turned to George and gave him a dramatic eye roll and Ron was absolutely vibrating from anger. The school year had barely begun and things were already shaping up to be memorable.

Between the two of them, the twins had decided to make their first prank the biggest to start the year off right.

They had packed a large number of Dungbombs to sell to the other students yet once they got to school they decided to use them all to bomb the school since it would be easy to make more to fund their operation. The idea was to place them all around the school in carefully hidden places. They had enough bombs to put at least one in each classroom and hallway.

It may have been Fred's idea to use the Dungbombs as the starting prank, but it was George's idea to use all of them and to use a spell to activate them all at once. If they did it that way, then not only could it not be traced back to them specifically but it would also render the school inhabitable while giving their new Headmistress quite the chore. There was no downside!

It took them the better part of two weeks to find good spots for the Dungbombs throughout the school while avoiding the teachers and prefects that roamed. Percy came across them more than once, knowing that they were up to something but unable to act since they hadn't yet violated their deal.

It was easy enough to find hiding spots in most rooms and hallways. Somewhere out of the way or in some dust covered corner. With a simple disillusionment charm, they would be practically invisible and therefore undetectable to nearly everyone except to maybe those who knew of their existence and were looking for them. A few rooms were much harder than others, namely Snape's classroom, his office, and the Library. Snape and Ms. Pince rarely left their respective areas, so they had to pay other students in prank products to create distractions long enough for one of the twins to slip in and place the Dungbomb. A couple students were given a bonus when their distractions got them detention. They chose not to put any in or too near the infirmary. They weren't heartless.

Fred wanted to set it off immediately after placing the last one, but George convinced him not to, he had an idea for an alibi and a way to muster up a bit of morale. Ron had gotten into a fight the day before with some Slytherin thug and had been sitting in the Infirmary since with various broken bones and healing cuts. Letting him set them off would make him feel so much better.

"Ickle Ronnikins!" George announced as he and Fred walked into the Infirmary. Their greeting echoed harshly off the stone walls. Madam Pompfrey gave them each a withering look, but didn't say anything to stop them.

"Fred! George!" Ron called out weakly. One of his eyes and both his arms were bandaged up. George could assume the rest of him was also wrapped up. "What are you two up to? Something fun?"

Fred ruffled Ron's hair gently, making him smile. "Oh, you know. The usual," He said lightly without looking at Ron. He was watching Madam Pomfrey, who was busy mixing some potions not too far away from Ron's bed.

George looked over his shoulder to where Fred was looking. He turned his head to look over Fred's shoulder to see a group of three older Gryffindor boys waiting just outside the Infirmary door. George nodded to them and they nodded back before moving out of sight.

"What are you two up to?" Ron asked conspiratorially.

Fred and George both smirked when two of the boys that were outside the door drug in the third, who seemed to have lost his ability to walk. "Madam Pompfrey! Madam Pomfrey!" One of them called out as they entered.

"What is it this time?!" She replied sharply, yet still rushed over to see the boy the other two had pulled into an empty bed across from Ron's.

"He's sick!" The other boy said on the verge of tears, though the three Weasley's knew he was just an exceptional actor.

"What's wrong with him then?" She demanded from the two boys. As if on cue, the boy in the bed vomited a fountain directly onto the front of Madam Pompfrey's dress, causing her to shriek in disgust. "You could have told me he was vomiting!"

The two boys looked horrified as Madam Pompfrey began grabbing potions to help the boy in the bed while scolding them. Fred quietly drew his wand from his pocket and offered it to Ron, making sure Madam Pompfrey didn't accidentally see it. They were so close to making Hogwarts history.

"We got a surprise for you," Fred whispered as he handed Ron his wand and wrapped his brother's finger around the handle. Ron's eye immediately lit up, making George smile fondly. "All you gotta do is perform the incantation."

"That's it? What did you guys do?" He asked with unrestrained joy glinting in his one visible eye.

"Just do the incantation on this paper quietly," Fred started.

"Then you'll see." George finished as he lifted a bit of parchment and held it up for Ron to read.

Ron performed the wand movements and whispered the incantation, just in case Madam Pompfrey was listening with her third ear. Fred took his wand back and stored it in his pocket. Ron waited for a few long moments with anticipation until the first gentle whiffs of their prank began to reach them.

"You used the dungbombs?" Ron asked with a toothy smile.

"All of them," Both twins spoke at the same time, making Ron laugh.

They watched as Madam Pompfrey finally noticed the smell once she had stopped the one boy from vomiting all his guts out on her dress. She walked over to the door and made a sour face before closing the infirmary doors. She gave the three Weasley's a stern glare as she walked back to the other 'sick' student. It was obvious she knew they were involved, but she had no proof, so she couldn't do anything about it.

The three Weasley's exchanged small talk about all the gossip Ron has missed out since he'd been in the infirmary. It was mostly to establish an alibi in case they were accused of the prank, but the twins also wanted to spend some time with their younger brother. They couldn't stop the giggles when the putrid smell of the dungbombs got steadily stronger. The doors burst open revealing an incredibly angry Professor Snape. His eyes alighted on the red headed Weasleys and while he already looked angry when his eyes registered that it was the twins he looked downright murderous.

"You three! You're responsible for this!" Professor Snape yelled out as advanced on the Weasley's. "The entire school REEKS and I just know at least one of you is responsible, if not all of you!" Professor Snape jabbed his index finger into Fred's chest, mostly because he was the closest brother not currently bandaged. He knew Pomphrey and he wasn't stupid.

"Professor Snape. I'll ask that you keep your voice down in consideration for my patients," Madam Pompfrey scolded the Professor less harshly than she would a student.

"Can't you smell that putrid scent? They're behind this, I know it!" Professor Snape reiterated harshly as he held the innocent eyes of Fred and George.

"Yes, yes. I heard you the first time." Madam Pompfrey retorted, wholly unfazed by Snape's anger. "And yes, I can smell it. It's why I closed the doors. Though I'm not sure how they could be involved. Ron has been here in the infirmary for three days now and the twins have been in here for at least an hour." She made a sour face upon realizing that she was defending not one, but three Weasley's.

Professor Snape deflated only slightly before the older woman. Professor Snape was rarely brave enough to go against any of the older women he worked with. Especially the one that may treat him in the future. Professor Snape took a couple steps back away from Madam Pompfrey.

"They were involved in this incident. I know it." He spoke slowly as if sentencing the boys before him to an execution.

"Do you have proof?" Madam Pompfrey replied with little inflection.

Professor Snape remained quiet for long enough to make it clear to everyone in the room that he had nothing substantial on the brothers. Everyone in the school would know it was them, but no one would be able to prove it was them. A beautiful little grey area that the twins inhabited.

Professor Snape turned to the Weasley's and thrust a finger at them. "I'm watching you three." He spoke threatenly before quickly walking back out of the infirmary.

Madam Pompfrey sighed before turning to face the brothers. "Visiting time is now over. Go bother someone else." She muttered as she turned away.

The Dungbomb event had become the single most talked about event that had ever happened at the school. It took days for Headmistress Umbridge to completely air out the school, mostly because many of the teachers were unwilling to help her clean it up. There had been a growing resistance among the teachers to the Headmistress once she began passing her ridiculous Educational Decrees. The one that banned all literature written by non-wizards or half-breeds from Hogwarts was a particular sore spot with many of the teachers. The newest one banning any products made by Fred and George Weasley was surprising to exactly no one. The twins only saw their sales increase.

The twins were sitting in the Gryffindor common room trying to figure out their next great prank as they normally did. One of the older boys that they disliked on principle came down the dorm stairs, speaking loudly with another one of the older boys.

"I can't believe you said that to her!" The second one spoke loudly to the first. "She's the smartest student in the school!"

"Why should I care?" The first one replied with a self satisfied shrug. "She's just a worthless Mudblood."

"That's not very nice," The second one muttered.

"I'm a Pureblood. If she even thinks about hexing me, I'll make her disappear like the Weasley girl," The first one snickered to himself as they exited the room.

Both twins watched the boy with a quiet fury. Many Purebloods were feeling emboldened by Umbridge and her pro-Pureblood policies and some of them were beginning to use Ginny either to justify their prejudice or in their prejudice.

"We have to do something about him," Fred muttered with a frown and a dark look out the portrait hole as he fished out one of their fireworks.

George placed a gentle hand on his twins' hand, stopping his movement. Fred looked up at him with mild interest. "What's on your mind, George?" He asked quietly.

"He and the school would be expecting something big and loud," George smirked at his brother. "So let's do something subtle, and painful."

Fred cocked his head to the side as he regarded his brother. "Subtle huh? Ok, I'm interested. What were you thinking?"

George motioned for his brother to follow him up the stairs to the boy's dorms. They memorized which student in their House was in which dorm as soon as they started school each year. It made it easier to distribute their products when they could just hide them under their customers beds. There was one boy sitting on his bed inside the dorm when they entered, quietly reading a textbook.

He looked up from his book as the twins entered. "What are you two doing here?" He asked.

"That depends," Fred started, "Does the term 'Plausible Deniability' mean anything to you?" George finished.

"Say no more," The boy closed his cook and got up from his bed. "I didn't see nothing." He uttered as he passed them to go down the stairs.

George set to going through the Purebloods' trunk and pulling all of his fancy shoes out and placing them on the floor.

"What's the plan there, Georgy?" Fred asked as he helped his brother pull the ungodly amount of shoes out of the trunk.

"We're going to enchant his shoes to make him run at random times." George smiled at his brother. "Unless he figures out exactly what the cause is and replaces all of his shoes, he'll be running his stupid arse off for months. Hardly a pureblood thing to do."

Fred smiled broadly, seemingly liking his plan. "That's a lot better than my idea!"

The two boys finally found all of the boys' shoes and laid them out in a neat little line. It took them a little while to work their way down the line, enchanting each of the shoes, but they eventually got through them all before anyone else decided to come back to the dorms. They made sure to put the shoes back into the trunk in at least a similar way that they found them. Most people didn't pay that close of attention to the orientation of their things in their trunk, so they didn't need to be exact.

They saw the boy again later that day at dinner. Fred cast a slow acting disintegration spell on the shoes he was currently wearing since there was no way to put the same enchantment on these ones while he was wearing them and without being noticed.

The twins were walking down the corridor to their next class with Professor Babbling, snickering to themselves when the Gryffindor boy ran by them like he was on fire. As they rounded the corner to begin the climb to their classroom, they saw Luna at the bottom of the stairs being accosted by an older Ravenclaw girl. The older girl smacked the books out of Luna's arms with an echoing laugh.

"What's wrong there, Loony? Didn't see that in your stupid crystal ball? Maybe you can get some Nargles to help you pick them up." The girl and her friends cackled as they pushed their way past the twins roughly.

"You alright there Luna?" George asked softly as he helped Luna pick up her books.

"What was that bitch's problem?" Fred sneered at the girls' back as she walked away.

"Oh, I foresaw her having a failure of personal hygiene and losing all of her friends," George helped her stand up and put her books in her arms. "She didn't seem to like that." She offered the boys a kind smile before excusing herself.

Fred and George sat in Runes, barely listening to Professor Babbling give today's lesson. George was silently fuming at the Ravenclaw girl's treatment of Luna while Fred was nearly vibrating with anger. The two brothers sat in a corner of their common room that night, quietly discussing the Ravenclaw bully.

"So, what do you think? A Puking Pastille? Maybe some Fever Fudge?" Fred suggested while flipping through one of their brain storming notebooks. "Some Nosebleed Nougat, perhaps?"

George mulled it over in his mind. "Remember what Luna said? About what she 'foresaw' in the poor girls future?" A smile growing on his face as he waited for his brother to catch up.

"A failure of personal hygiene, right?" Fred tapped the pencil against his chin. "A lot of pimples...some bad breath?" He nodded to himself and began writing out some formulas in the notebook.

"You think we could add in some hair breakage?" George asked as he opened his own notebook and flipped through a few pages distractedly.

Fred looked up from the notebook. "Hair breakage?"

"Yeah! Girl's are all about their hair. Can we add in something that'll make her hair break off when she brushes it?" George said as he waved vaguely towards the women's dorms.

Fred grinned widely. "That's an amazing idea, brother mine," Fred quickly scribbled a few more additions to the existing ones.

They sat up most of the night mixing up the newest product, trying to be as quiet as they could so they didn't disturb their dormmates. They completed the process and packed it up nice with a cute little bow with enough time to get a couple hours of sleep. They paid off one of the Gryffindor girls to get it into the Ravenclaw bully's hands only. Four days later they saw the bully sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table during breakfast. The pimples on her face spelled out the word bully beautifully across her face and she was nearly bald. Luna may have given them a simple head shake with a twitch of a smile, but Ron had given them each a high five later in the common room.

Lucius Malfoy, the worthless snake, had been making their father's job difficult. Lucius had been using Ginny's disappearance against him and undoing all of the legislation that Arthur had passed. Everyday was a fight and their father was beginning to get worn down. The twins decided that if Lucius was going to make a target of their family, then they were going to make a target of his family.

Fred picked out a Bang Bang Boggart Banger to use on Draco, arguing that they needed to make their point as clear as possible. The high possibility of causing Draco legitimate harm didn't sit well with George, but Fred assured him that they would be close by so if he were hurt they could get him help quickly. George still wasn't happy, but relented. They attached some charms to the rocket so that if someone attempted to banish it or use some other spell on it, that it would split into more rockets and cause a bigger explosion.

It took a few days of waiting until they finally got their chance. Draco Malfoy usually spent his meal times doing some kind of school work or reading instead of heavily socializing like most students. This day he left Dinner early after packing up his school work into his book bag.

They quietly excused themselves from their House table and Ron gave them a dramatic wink as they left the Great Hall. Draco ended up walking to the library, but thankfully didn't spend too much time there. He came back out and started towards his House dorm. They entered a long, empty hallway that gave them the perfect opportunity to launch their attack, so long as they did it quickly. Fred pulled out a Bang Bang Boggart Banger while George set up the stand to put it on.

They quickly lit the rocket before Draco got too far ahead of them. It took off leaving a trail of sparkling embers behind it. They waited for it to either explode massively or split and then explode even bigger, but it did neither. They watched Draco turn to face the rocket with his wand out. The rocket turned sharply and flew out a nearby window, exploding unceremoniously outside. Fred was immediately indignant, as he usually was when their pranks failed, but George was simply impressed. They had clearly underestimated Draco's ability.

"What's your problem?!" Draco demanded as he walked up to them.

"You should know what our problem is!" Fred returned Draco's attitude.

"How'd you manage to deflect that?" George asked far more calmly.

Draco's anger stuttered before he finally drew himself up as tall as he could. "My cousin taught me a few tricks." He spoke firmly. "She said to use wind to deflect premade projectiles since those usually have secondary enchantments that make using traditional spells either ineffective or more dangerous."

"Who's your cousin?" Fred asked with less anger.

"None of your damn business. That's who!" Draco nearly yelled at Fred, making the older boy bristle.

"Listen here, you little shit!" Fred growled at the blond boy, who seemed wholly unaffected.

"No! You listen to me!" Draco yelled back at Fred. "I don't know why you two degenerates have decided to target me, but you will stop it right now. I have done nothing to anyone in your family!"

Fred was about to yell something back, but stopped when George placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Your father has," George explained.

Draco's face contorted with pure rage. "I am not my father!" His outburst surprised the brothers into silence. "Whatever he is doing is on him. Leave me out of it!" Draco turned around and left them without allowing the twins to retort.

Neither twin spoke until Draco had turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Fred turned to George with confusion etched across his face.

"What was that?" He asked incredulously.

"I think we hit a nerve?" George replied more as a question than a statement, also somewhat confused. "We probably shouldn't go after him again, he's not really done anything..." George trailed off as he thought again about what Draco could have done at school and surprisingly couldn't come up with anything.

"Yeah," Fred agreed unhappily but with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Another day, another Educational Decree. Educational Decree number Thirty-Five banned items that were not of educational value from the whole school. That was the theory anyway. In practice most of the Educational Decrees were little more than an excuse to wrongfully punish Muggleborns by pinning any rules broken by Purebloods on them. George had begun to keep a record of those Purebloods that went along with Umbridge's Blood Purity agenda. Most of the list contained Purebloods from Sytherin, but there were still a sizable amount from the other Houses, except Hufflepuff. They were surprised that Draco Malfoy hadn't gotten onto their list. He had made it clear with his actions that his words were true. He was really not like his father. Fred and George had a conversation about that once day after they had compared notes on the Umbridge Watch List. Draco was backing up his talk with action it seemed.

"Maybe we could send them all a bunch of packages?" Fred asked George between bites of pudding, Luna was right butterscotch was pretty good.

"Won't work," George said as he shook his head. "Umbridge has begun searching the owls with Decree Forty Seven." George continued as he [laced his tea back to it's saucer plate.

Fred made a sour face as he glanced up to the head table. "Damn. Forgot about that."

"What about something like the dungbomb one? That worked well!" Ron added as he reached out for more chicken next to his siblings. His bruised knuckles catching the eye of George who sighed to himself.

"Umbridge put up a lot of surveillance after that one. There's no way we can sneak into the classrooms or dorms to plant anything without getting caught," George replied as he thought about more security that they would have to bypass for anything big. "Between that and the owls being searched…" He trailed off as he sipped his tea again thinking.

"Our business has been severely impacted," Fred finished as he tapped his finger against the saucer that held his own teacup.

"Have you two thought about applying yourselves to something more productive?" Neville asked from further down the table, though there wasn't anyone sitting between them.

"Why would we do that?" George asked incredulously. It was practically heretical for the twins to be dedicated to anything but chaos!

"That's so boring!" Fred added with a laugh as he saw George's face twist like he'd eaten a lemon.

"We already have one Percy," Ron added with a shrug as he buttered a roll and tore off a chunk after he used it to push potatoes onto his fork.

"I heard that Ronald," Percy muttered as he walked passed them and down to the part of the table that the seventh years usually commandeered.

"You were meant to!" The twins howled after him and cackled at Percy's dismissal as a wave over his shoulder as he continued on. Percy only shook his head at his brothers and for once, though he would never admit it, smiled fondly as he continued down the aisle. Neville watched the oldest brother as he walked away before turning back to the more rebellious ones.

"I'm just suggesting that you two could be so successful if you just applied yourself," he clarified in earnest desire to the three brothers.

Fred's face screwed up in disgust even as George fought to not also make a face at Neville's comment. The younger boy couldn't know just how often they had received that very same comment from everyone close to them. Even Ron rolled his eyes. Neville must have known he had struck a nerve based on how quick he back peddled.

"Hey, I..." He began before he heaved a sigh and looked at Fred and George. "I'm sorry I overstepped," He spoke quickly.

"Don't worry about it too much there, Nevillikins," Fred smiled at him as he waved his hand in the air as if to disperse smoke or something lingering like a bad smell.

"Water under the bridge mate." George added with his own smile as he exaggerated sipping his tea.

Neville seemed to relax knowing that he hadn't accidentally insulted some of his only friends. They went back to their various conversations until Hermoine Granger walked by. While none of the Weasley's were very close to the smartest witch, they kept a close eye on the biggest Pureblood target in the school. As if on cue, one of the Slytherin students sent a paper aeroplane that had been enchanted to stick in her bushy hair. Seeing this Hermoine, without missing a beat, waved her wand and the plane went up in a quick flash of flame. Several of the Slytherin students laughed loudly while a few flung blood related insults to her back.

George knew Fred and Ron were beginning to boil just by how much their backs had tensed up and he had little reason to try to stop them. He hated the treatment Hermoine and the other Muggleborns were forced to endure at the hands of Headmistress Umbridge and her Pureblood miscreants. Fred leaned down to reach into his bag that he kept between his feet. George knew immediately that he was going for one of the large fireworks that he kept hidden there for pranks on the fly. George kept an eye out for professors and prefects while Fred set the firework up under their table. The sound of him lighting the fuse was soft enough that only George and Ron could really hear it over the general noise of the room. Even the noise of the firework catching fire and going flying between the tables was barely audible. George was mildly worried that one of the professors might see the firework, but it didn't seem like any of them were looking their way. Not that it mattered when the firework had raced off and finally exploded near the targets.

The sound of the firework exploding was both loud and sharp, startling everyone in the room out of their conversations. The firework quickly split into several smaller fireworks that sprayed outward further along the table before also exploding into a shower of sparklers. What everyone else in the room saw was one bright flash followed by several smaller flashes in rapid succession. Many of the students sitting at the Slytherin table screamed out of the startled fear, making a lot of the Gryffindors snicker. The Slytherins nearest to the flashes quickly vacated their seats while yelling incomprehensibly. That's when the rest of the room was able to see the flames that had sprung up on their clothes.

Professor Snape was the first professor up from the head table and had briskly walked over to his screaming students. He had stoically conjured water and had directed it directly to the flames in an effort to extinguish them. Fred and Ron snickered when it only caused the flames to grow larger and the making the student scream louder. Professor Snape's stoicness finally broke when it became clear that his students were now in legitimate pain. Professor McGonagall walked up behind Professor Snape and while commanding her prefects to usher the rest of the Gryffindors out of the way. She pulled out her wand and shot a conjured glob of something shimmery blue onto the magical flames. George was surprised to see it completely smother the flames, he made a quick mental note of the look and the wand motion to research later when he had time and was not going to implicate himself.

The other Houses were quickly ushered out of the Great Hall by all of the Prefects, so they were unable to see what all happened after that. That didn't stop word from traveling around the school as fast as Feindfyre. A total of 34 Slytherin students were left injured from the twins' firework. The injuries ranged from a boy that had a light burn barely larger than a Galleon that healed without scarring to a couple of girls that were burned badly on their bare legs. According to their friends, the firework fire had burned off the majority of the skin on the girls' legs and they had been sent home to recover at home with their families personal physicians. The families of the injured students had demanded Headmistress Umbridge find the perpetrators and punish them severely, but little actually came of the threat. Headmistress Umbridge's investigation was stonewalled by many of the teachers that refused to allow her to pin it on a certain brown haired Muggleborn that wasn't even in the Great Hall at the time of the incident.

Fred and Ron were quite happy that they actually hurt some of the biggest bullies in the school and George found it difficult not to be happy with them.

It had been weeks since the twins' prank involving the firework and they were beginning to get antsy. They had chosen to forgo any more personal pranks for the time being in an attempt to throw Headmistress Umbridge off their trail. It was unlikely that she was clever enough to find any evidence to pin it on them. Not to mention their Pureblood status was also working for them there, however it also meant that she would likely try to pin it on an innocent Muggleborn.

On the plus side, their prank business had never been more profitable.

The twin's were walking down one of the many Hogwarts hallways on their way to dinner. George couldn't help but sneer when he noticed Theodore Nott and his gang of Slytherin bullies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, had boxed in a small second year Ravenclaw Muggleborn girl against the wall. The poor thing looked absolutely terrified as the two fat boys and sentient twig smirked down at her.

"Oi!" Fred called out to the boys. They boys sneered at the twins when they looked up. "Isn't there a dog you should be kicking somewhere?"

"Piss off, blood traitor," Theodore Nott tossed over his shoulder without moving, "We're just having a conversation." He spoke with a fake gentleness. The other two chuckled darkly.

"Oh sure, but conversations…" George drawled as he drew his wand. His twin striding just as determined next him with his wand being drawn as well. Fred picked up for his brother, "... don't normally terrify one of the participants." They came near the three bullies already stepping away from each other to make space for dueling and spellfire.

"We're just planning a fun little get together later!" Nott gave the boys an oily smile. "Now aren't we?" He spoke lowly to the girl, making her squeak in fear when he stroked some of her long hair.

"Doesn't look like she wants to talk to you much there old boy," Fred growled as he pointed his wand up at Nott.

"So how about you piss off guvnor?" George added with a flourish of his wand as he mirrored his twin.

Crabbe and Goyle were knocked off their feet by George's spell. The small girl took the opportunity George gave her to slip out and run down the hallway towards the safety of the Great Hall. Crabbe and Goyle got up off the floor, already reaching for their wands. Nott turned to face the twins, but didn't bother reaching for his wand.

"Put those away, you two idiots," Nott commanded his lackeys without looking at them.

"But they let the slut get away!" Goyle yelled between Nott and the twins.

"We can have our fun with her some other time. She can't hide forever," Nott muttered as he turned away from the twins.

"Come on Nott!" Crabbe yelled as he held his wand in his fat fingers as he pointed it at the red haired boys.

"You idiots!" Nott yelled back at them. "Three third years cannot take on two fifth years! They already have the advantage and our guest will be more slippery next time. Give it up."

While Crabbe and Goyle were angry with both Nott and the twins, they were smart enough to see the facts. They followed after Nott like the stupid mutts they were towards the Great Hall. George couldn't stand to think what those three would do to that poor girl. The many unreported crimes from the first war still hung heavily over those who cared, George thought about his Uncles that he was not ever able to meet but that mother spoke of fondly.

"Fred! We have to stop those retrogrades from hurting that girl!" George appealed to his brother with an icy bite to his appeal.

Fred turned to him, a smirk already on his lips. "Oh George, I have the most perfect idea."

They made their own way to the Great Hall and found an open space at their house table. Ron was already there, happily munching away at his chicken and potatoes.

"Hey you two. You're late!" The twins both shook their heads with serious looks on their faces. Ron nodded and shoved another large piece of food in his mouth. "Ok, got it." Ron knew his brothers well enough not to question them when there was a big prank on the horizon.

Fred pulled up his book bag and opened it to show George the small box dressed up like a brightly colored Christmas present with red wrapping paper and green ribbon. George gasped, knowing exactly what Fred was suggesting.

"But Fred, we haven't tested it at all yet," George whispered harshly. Oh he wanted to argue more, but he just couldn't play the devil's advocate with this one. Those three deserved the worst they could manage.

"If we put it right in front of them at their House table, the only people that would be hurt by a backfire are other Slytherins," Fred said as he pulled out his wand to perform the switching spell, but stopped just before performing it. He looked to George, a silent question between them. George nodded his consent to his brother. Fred quickly performed the switching spell and put the bag back down on the floor at his feet.

The present appeared in front of Nott a moment later. He was initially quite suspicious of the gift, looking around the room for the sender. Fred and George both made sure to keep their eyes down. Ron saw what they were doing and continued to munch away on a buttered biscuit. Nott's suspicion over the gift seemed to irritate Crabbe and Goyle, who insisted quite loudly that he open it up. He finally relented and did so, but quite reluctantly.

Nott pulled the green ribbon loose and gently pulled the top off the box. The box immediately exploded outward in a flash of red and green light and smoke, sending the three bullies flying backwards in their chairs. Everyone in the Great Hall looked over to see what had happened. There were some noises and grunts from the bullies when some of their Housemates began to laugh as they looked behind the table.

The three boys struggled to get up off the floor and the twins knew why. The blast was meant to magically stick everyone in the area together for a few hours. When the boys finally managed to stand up, everyone in the Great Hall saw what had happened to the boys. Their clothes had been banished right off their bodies, leaving them to cover their bits and bobs with their hands. The sticking charm seemed to have worked, though they had been attached by each other's bum. Fred pulled out their Research and Development binder and turned to the page that had all of the information for the Christmas Present prank and made some notes near the bottom. The Great Hall erupted in laughter as the three conjoined bullies tried to maneuver their way out of the room with any amount of dignity.

Unsurprisingly, Ron was in the Infirmary again. He had picked yet another fight with yet another Slytherin bully and had come out of it worse for wear. He wouldn't have to spend as long in the Infirmary this time as he had to on previous occasions, but Madam Pomfrey had insisted he stay for a couple of days.

There wasn't much homework to be done over the weekend, so the twins decided to spend the evening with their wayward little brother. They walked into the Infirmary and went straight to Ron's bed.

"How is our little Ickle Ronnikins today, huh?" George greeted Ron quietly today. There were other students in the Infirmary today and he just hated bothering people that were in pain and healing.

Fred came around the other side and nudged Ron gently. Ron smiled up at the two of them as much as he could. "Hey. How are my favorite troublemakers?" He asked a little sleepily. Madam Pomfrey must have given him something to make him sleepy. Whether it was for his own good or to keep him in bed was the big question.

A boy slipped through the Infirmary's door while they were talking. He was a little first year with fat tears running down his face. The three brothers watched him scamper over to Madam Pomfrey. She quickly ushered him to an empty bed and went back for her trolley of supplies. The boy carefully took off his shirt like he was in an intense amount of pain. Madam Pomfrey helped him as carefully as she could, even though it was causing him more pain. Once she got his shirt completely off, the brothers were able to see the bleeding red lines that criss crossed across his back.

George's blood froze and then boiled in the time it took for him to blink. George looked to his twin brother and he immediately knew what he was asking. The two twins walked over to the injured boy. Madam Pomfrey looked like she wanted to argue with them, but held her tongue when George grabbed the boys hands and Fred untucked his shirt to wipe away the boys' tears.

"I'm going to start cleaning the wounds. It's going to hurt until I can get them clear enough for the numbing solution to work," Madam Pomfrey told the twins as she grabbed the supplies she needed. The two boys nodded grimly. They knew Madam Pomfrey would not say something like that without reason.

George grabbed both the boys' hands. "Squeeze them as hard you need to, ok?" He instructed the boy.

"No need to be brave here boyo," Fred added softly. "No one will make fun of you for crying a bit."

The boy nodded to them, even as more tears fell down his cheeks. Madam Pomfrey began to clean his wounds, making him cry out in pain. He squeezed George's hands fiercely enough that he knew that he was going to have cuts from his fingernails. George just smiled and murmured words to reassure the boy.

"He certainly has been enjoying this new found power, hasn't he?" Madam Pomfrey muttered to herself as she continued to clean. "Damn woman didn't even ask my opinion on the matter before reinstating the 'old punishments'." She growled as she applied the numbing solution.

The boy's breathing slowed as the solution began working. Madam Pomfrey applied several large bandages before instructing the twins how to lay the boy down in the bed. George laid his arms on to his sides as he and his twin got the boy to lay on his stomach. As George maneuvered the boys arms into place Fred pulled the blankets up to the boy's chin. Madam Pomfrey helped him drink another potion that they knew would put him to sleep immediately.

The twins went back to their brother when the boy was out cold. Ron didn't seem as upset as the twins felt.

"Poor little guy," Ron spoke softly as his voice slurred a bit from the potions. "There have been a lot of students in that state lately."

"There have been more?" George asked incredulously as his eyes pierced and held Ron's.

"Yeah," Ron sighed out as he felt the peace of his brothers lulling him to sleep. "Six this week alone," Ron tried to stifle a yawn before he could continue, "heard some of the older students say that Filch has been granted approval to whip students."

Fred and George left their brother when he drifted off. They directly traveled to the hallway that held the Educational Decrees in silence. There were a couple new ones, but Number One Hundred Thirty Nine was the one that caught their eye.

THE BAN ON CORPORAL PUNISHMENTS HAS BEEN LIFTED

There was more justification and reasoning and rules when it could be employed but Fred and George for the first time since they were nine they reached out and held each other's hand for support as they felt despair. Each boy squeezed the hand of the other and in that moment they vowed to fight back as much as they could. A quick nod from each brother and they turned on their heels and practically flew back to the common room and their notes.

They started development on the next pranks that night. Their roommates had the good sense not to say anything to them during their brainstorming session. Apparently they looked a bit of a fright to those who observed them. THe despair and fear from earlier had melted away under the fire of rage that had begun to alight in their hearts.

The twins were angry. So unbelievably furious! How dare Headmistress Umbridge allow Filch to hurt students. FILCH! How dare Filch get off on causing children pain. And the Ministry! For letting them do this with their blessing! They weren't angry at their father. They knew that he would raise unholy hell if he caught even a whiff of this. Everyone else belonged in Azkaban!

They decided to send a variation of the Christmas Present prank to the Headmistresses office. It would contain a Banshee's Wail that would break all of those stupid cat plates she hung on every wall and then banish the broken pieces. For Filch, they were going to cook up a batch of Puking Pastille with some Nosebleed Nougat mixed in for good measure. They would split the prank making duties with Fred building the Present while George cooked up the candies.

It took a few weeks to make both of the pranks. In that time, the twins had heard of at least thirty more students that had to go to the Infirmary for treatment due to Filch's punishments. Not a single Pureblood had to be treated and only a few Halfbloods. Many of the Muggleborns were repeat victims, inflaming the twins' anger even more. Each night they worked on their plan other students could practically feel the fury rolling off the boys in pulses, each day that they were not getting back at Umbridge and Filch was another day that burning rage stoked hotter and brighter.

Once the pranks had been finally cooked up and put together, they were faced with the hardest part. Getting the pranks to their intended victims. Filch would be much easier than Headmistress Umbridge, but they didn't want to do Filch too early. It might tip the Headmistress off and make it that much harder to get her.

Their opportunity finally came a few days later. The Headmistress was called away to the Ministry suddenly and that gave them the perfect in. It took paying off quite a few students and the use of more than a few illegal charms to create an opening large enough for one of them to slip into Headmistress Umbridge's office without being seen by any teachers or prefects. The school had refused to open the Headmaster's office for her, so her office was little more than an empty supply closet that she covered in garish shades of pink. George planted the gift while Fred worked as a lookout.

With the gift planted, they waited for word that Umbridge had returned from one of their many lookouts. When she finally returned a few days later, they knew it was time to entice the resident troll with their too-good-to-be-true goodies. They had been watching his movements for weeks and decided on carefully leaving the candies in a sitting area near his office of horrors. He would be too conceited to believe the students he enjoyed torturing would do anything against him. They went to sleep that night exhausted from working on this plan and content in the knowledge that their pranks were finally getting to the people that deserved them.

They were rudely pulled from their slumber in the middle of the night by their Head of House, Professor McGonagall.

"Students!" Her voice boomed magically throughout all the rooms in the Gryffindor House, startling the students awake. "Headmistress Umbridge has called an emergency meeting in the Great Hall. All students are required to attend."

George squinted at Fred in the darkness of their room, a silent question between them. Fred shrugged with one shoulder before clambering back out of bed and shambling with the other students towards the Great Hall. The students from the other Houses looked just as confused as everyone else was as to the nature of this meeting. The gathering was clearly last minute, since every Head of House was also in their pajamas.

The students were led into many straight lines to keep the house within neat little squares. Even the teachers were confused as they waited. Until Headmistress Umbridge walked into the Great Hall. She walked into the Great Hall with her usual air of superiority. There were soft gasps from students and teachers alike as they saw that her face was covered in long cuts. Her clothes were immaculate as usual, so it wasn't clear if there were cuts elsewhere on her body. She took her spot at the front of the students, at the top of the steps.

"Students and Staff," Headmistress Umbridge's clipped tone carried across the Great Hall. "I have called you all here to discuss a most egregious situation." The barely-contained rage in her voice sharpened her words to a fine point. "There has been an attempt on my life!" She practically roared. There were quiet words exchanged between students. "Now." Her soft tone still held the sharp edge. "All I am asking is information regarding the delivery of a certain...gift to my office."

Umbridge gave everyone in the Great Hall a pointed look, making many children shift uncomfortably under her gaze. Professor Snape entered the Great Hall, dressed in his usual black attire, and walked down the aisle left by the students. He came to stand next to Headmistress Umbridge at the top of the stairs. She seemed ready to attack him like the rabid werewolf they always thought she secretly was.

"Forgive this intrusion, Headmistress," He spoke smoothly without looking at her. "But there seems there was another attack."

"Another attack?" Headmistress Umbridge asked, more angry than concerned. "Who was attacked?"

"Caretaker Argus Filch was found dead just an hour ago after staff was alerted by Mrs. Norris," He stated plainly before taking his place next to his House.

There were some more hushed conversations around the room. Everyone was curious as to who had the most reason to attack Umbridge or Filch and then if the two attacks were done by the same person or group.

"Oh, like I care about some worthless Squib!" She growled at Snape's retreating back. "One less undesirable to be forced to deal with!" Her hurtful words caused more than a few students to send concerned glances to Ravenclaw's Head of House, Professor Flitwick. She had made her displeasure of his continued employment very clear and many of his students were afraid that she was just looking for a reason to fire him. Or worse. "Students!" She yelled suddenly, startling many of the younger students. "All I want from you is a name, a single name, of anyone involved in the incident involving myself." She paused as the face she wore was one of pure malice. "I will take care of the rest."

Headmistress Umbridge ended the gathering by walking out of the Great Hall without another word to the students or staff. The various professor's seemed confused, dutifully leading their Houses back out of their respective Dorms. George's mind was racing with this new information. He knew it was their pranks that caused both Umbridge's injuries and whatever happened to Filch, but he had absolutely no idea how it happened.

All of the children staggered their way through the Common Room and up the many stairs to their Dorms. George and Fred were at the back of the pack headed to their Dorms. George quietly slid into Fred's bed after the other boys barely made it to theirs before falling back asleep. Fred cast a silencing charm under the blanket so the other boys wouldn't accidently hear them.

"We checked and double checked those pranks, Fred!" George whispered frantically to his brother. "It wasn't supposed to hurt her like that! And Filch!"

"There's no reason to believe her, Georgey," Fred hushed his brother. "She's lied before. She's lying now." He replied even as his eyes were distant in thought.

"You know they were the reason," Fred's focus came back to his brother. "Our prank hurt Umbridge and killed Filch!"

"Yes, I know," Fred sighed. "But you can't say they didn't deserve it."

George wanted to argue with Fred, but he just couldn't bring himself to. They did deserve it. They deserved every bad thing they gave them and then some. George just hated that he felt like he was becoming just like the people that hurt Muggleborns, just on the other side.

"It's not our place," George whispered barely audible. He even sounded pathetic to himself.

"Who else is going to do something about it?" Fred questioned him pointedly. "The teachers? The Ministry? Our parents?"

Again, Fred spoke the truth. Anyone who had the power to stop any of this refused either out of fear or greed.

"I'm just worried. That's all," George muttered. He worried about everyone in the family, but his twin brother most of all. He would be half a person without him. Ron came in a close second.

Fred snuggled into his brother, holding the softer twin close to his chest. "No one will turn us into that monster. We'll run if we have to," He spoke into Georges hair. Fred held him until he fell asleep. The twins had been together since birth, and now that they were shaken up by this turn of events at least they could rely on each other. Fred would deny it but he cried into his brother's hair until he fell asleep himself.

The next couple days were stressful for George and Fred, regardless of the strong facade they put up. Ron must have noticed since he was back in the Infirmary the next day, doing his part to take any suspicion he could off of his brothers. The twins visited him as soon as they could, being as good as they could for Madam Pompfrey without being too suspicious. The twins were surprised to see Neville walk into the Infirmary and come right to them.

"I was hoping to catch you two here," Neville pulled a chair over to sit with them. Madam Pomfrey seemed pleased to see Neville without saying anything.

"What's up then?" Ron asked with a bit of a slur.

"I'll cut straight to it. I'm worried about you three. Well…" Neville rubbed his neck in a nervous action. "I'm actually worried about a lot of things. But you guys are near the top."

"Ah, little Nevilekins is all worried about us," Fred gently mocked Neville. It was cute after all, having a third year worry about a couple of fifth years.

"I mean it guys," He stressed as he rubbed his face in slight aggravation. "I heard and saw you two making the pranks that got sent to Filch and Umbridge." He told them softly so Madam Pompfrey or any of the other students could hear him. The twins tensed up, but Neville continued before they could say anything. "Not to mention they had your style."

"You gonna turn us in?" George asked, not ready to consider taking out a child to avoid Azkaban.

"Not at all. Everyone in the school knows those two deserved it," Neville's venom slicing through the suddenly tense atmosphere. All of them glanced over to Madam Pomfrey, who was writing at her desk that was towards the back of the Infirmary. "I overheard Professor Sprout talking with Professor Flitwick between classes. Sprout is happy Filch is gone and Umbridge got a taste of her own medicine, but Flitwick is worried that Umbridge is going to try and use this to get him fired or thrown in Azkaban."

"Poor...Pro...fessor...Flit..." Ron muttered as he slipped back asleep.

"Do you think she could?" George asked once it became clear Ron was out for good. He really didn't need to ask the question though, the Ministry killed Hagrid during the incident the year previous and obviously Umbridge didn't care about what happened to Filch.

"You've seen what she's done around here. She's already swept Filch's death under the rug...figuratively." Neville added with his nose scrunched up. George wondered if he had actually seen the result of their prank, but chose not to ask.

"So then what's on your mind?" Fred asked, now a little suspicious.

"Umbridge isn't here to help us defend ourselves. She's only here to enrich her 'fellow Purebloods'. We've got to do it ourselves. So, I'm putting together a dueling club of sorts to help teach any students who want more than the theory of practical spells."

"A club?" Fred leaned forward, now thoroughly interested.

"But Umbridge banned all clubs. She even banned Quidditch!" George added. The Quidditch teams were still indignant over that Educational Decree.

"As a certain former Headmaster once told me, 'Everything is legal until you get caught'," He said with a smile.

"Neville, my boy!" Fred jeered as loud as he thought he could get away with. "I had no idea you could be so devious!"

"I do have a condition," Neville said next after taking a moment to consider his words.

"Because of course you do..." Fred's jubilation evaporated quickly.

"I would like you two to dramatically scale back your pranks," Nevilles spoke as if he were suddenly much older than he actually was. "I wouldn't want to disrupt your business, but the large scale and downright malicious pranks need to stop. They aren't helping us here." Neville pleaded with the twins.

Fred looked to George, asking the silent question. George nodded to his brother, knowing things were well past too far. Fred turned back to Neville and begrudgingly nodded his agreement to Neville's terms. If for no other reason than to take the heat off of the family and really, they took out the biggest threat to the students that they could. Umbridge was still bound by laws that protected students, for now.

"Good to hear. I wouldn't want to do this without some of my Gryffindor brothers there with me," Neville said with a smirk.

"Smooth delivery little lion," George laughed as he patted the boy in question on the head and ruffled his hair.

They lingered only a few moments longer in the Infirmary before Neville led the twins out of the Infirmary and down a couple of hallways. They were mindful of the patrolling professors and the Prefects that had become little more than gangsters, at least the Pureblood ones it seemed. They turned down a suspiciously empty hallway and were surprised when a door grew up from the floor after Neville took a few moments to pace back and forth across from an interesting portrait. Neville pushed the door open and they saw that there was a large open room with several training dummies lining the walls.

"What is all this?!" Fred was practically bouncing.

"What is this room?" George asked a little unsure about this whole situation.

"I was told about this room last year. It's called the Room of Requirement. I've come here a few times when I needed a safe place to practice my spells or just some quiet time. Luna comes with me every now and then too," Neville explained.

"Luna, eh?" Fred turned to Neville with a lecherous grin on his face. "Something going on there?"

"No, no," Neville waved his hands, as if he could physically swat away the idea. "Just good friends. Though, sometimes I wonder if I ask too much of her, you know?" The twins both nodded, knowing what it was like when it felt like a friendship was a bit lopsided. "Anyway. I wanted to start a dueling club to help people get prepared for what's brewing out there. And also give some other's an outlet for their repressed emotions." He gave the twins a stern look, making his point clear.

"Yeah, yeah. We heard you," Fred muttered as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"This isn't really sounding like a dueling club to me," George spoke slowly as he was chewing up and digesting the information. "This is almost sounding like a resistant group," George said as he eyed Neville critically.

Nevile shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe it is. Haven't quite gotten that far. Still just trying to get it started."

"If you're starting a resistance group in the school..." Fred announced for the two of them as he continued to scan the room they were in.

"...count us in," George finished with a nod as he turned to the dummies near the wall.

Neville smiled at the two boys. "I was hoping you two would say that," He sighed in relief as he looked between the twins. "I haven't had much luck getting it started. I don't know who to trust."

"You can count on us!" The twins spoke in unison, as they usually did when they were excited about anything.

Neville smiled at his friends, "You have no idea how great that is to hear."

"I have a question," George raised his hand with a grin and Neville nodded at him with the same dumb grin. "Does this resistance group of yours have a name?"

"Yeah! Dad still talks about the time he spent in the Order of the Phoenix during the war," Fred added. "Every great resistance group starts with a great name." Fred nodded sagely to his own advice.

Neville scratched the back of his head, "I hadn't given it any real thought. This is the furthest I've gotten."

"Perhaps an Army of some sort?" Luna seemingly apparated into the room and startled the three boys. "I'm sorry." She said airily. "Did I startle you? It seemed like this was the place to be this evening."

"Luna!" Neville placed a hand on his chest. "You have this uncanny ability to give me a heart attack nearly everyday."

"That's our Luna," George smiled at Luna brightly, which she returned. "You get used to it"

"Gred. Forge. Has Neville finally convinced you to join our little group?" She looked as hopeful as she ever did.

"Joined today. Said he needed some help with the name," Fred replied as he walked over to Neville and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Two more heads would be good to come up with a name," Luna sighed. "We have had no luck so far."

"Fight Club!" Fred yelled out, startling Neville.

"Order of the Phoenix, part Deux!" George quickly added.

"The Pink Toad fighters! Also known as the PiT fighters," Fred expanded as he held his finger up to clarify.

"Longbottom's Vikings!" Luna postulated as she sat on a chair and tapped her chin with her finger while thinking. Neville was started by that one from Luna as he continued to flick his eyes between George and Fred. His stupefied look at Luna earned him a giggle and a shrug from the blonde.

"The Gentleman's Glove?" Fred asked and George cringed. Both took a moment to shake that one off.

"The Serpent Smashers!" The Brothers tossed out and fell into each other laughing.

"Perhaps, Neville's Army?" Luna interrupted the twins' rapid fire suggestions again.

"No offense, Neville," Fred muttered into Nevilles' ear. "But that's kinda lame."

"What about Potter's Army?" Neville suggested as his face was red with embarrassment.

"Ah," Luna gasped softly. "No doubt for the Wandering Fawn. Excellent choice as always, Neville." Luna nodded her approval while scribbling something into her copy of The Quibbler. The three boys looked at each other before they all shrugged, it was Luna.

"So…" George searched for how to delicately ask what the hell the blonde girl was talking about. "What are you on about now?" George asked as confused as Fred looked.

"She's talking about Harry Potter. He's often referred to as 'The Wandering Fawn' in The Quibbler," Neville explained.

"Who?" The twins asked in unison.

"He's the one that.." Luna started to explain, but Neville threw a hand up to stop her.

"He's not important right now. What is important is that we start getting people recruited into this not-illegal group of ours," Neville said as he attempted to get the rest of his friends back on track.

The three Gryffindors ended up spearheading recruiting efforts. Luna tried to help, but she just couldn't get anyone to listen long enough to be recruited, although certainly the mentions of the Rotfang conspiracy and Heliopaths didn't help. The group grew mostly by word of mouth. Students that were sick and tired of Umbrige running the school like Azkaban for everyone except her precious Purebloods. While their numbers were mostly made up of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, there were also a few decent Slytherins among them. Not blind to the mistreatment and hypocrisy, but too outnumbered to do anything about it in their own House. They grew and rallied around their leader, Neville. Their meetings had started out at once a week, but had quickly moved to nearly everyday. They had to rotate which students would attend to keep suspicions off them.

Despite Neville only being a third year, he had proven himself to be a great teacher for even the older students. He taught them everything from basic defensive spells not found in any of their books to battle strategy they hoped would never be needed. It took a little prodding, but he eventually consented to allow the twins and a few cohorts to continue their pranks across the school. He did insist on all plans be run by him before he would allow it. At first the twins humoured the boy but when he began to point out the biggest flaws in their plans and ways to make them better or mitigate some collateral damage they continued to do what Neville asked out of respect for the boys impressive ability to lead and plan.

Headmistress Umbridge had caught wind of their little group and had subsequently sent her Prefects, Head Boy, and Head Girl to sniff them out. It didn't work. Most of the Prefects didn't care to be the attack dogs of Headmistress Umbridge, Filch was a reminder at what fate could await an expendable pawn of Umbridge's, and the Head Boy and Girl were a couple of Pureblood idiots that were chosen for their connections not their academic prowess. George had convinced Fred that they needed to tell Percy, so he didn't get too suspicious of their prolonged absences. He was impressed that the twins managed to find an outlet for their more destructive tendencies while still breaking many of the established rules. He swore he wouldn't tell anyone about what he knew, but also made it clear that he was not going to be joining. He was still eyeing a job at the Ministry after he graduated in the summer, even as the Headmistress Umbridge chipped away at his faith in the Ministry.

Things had progressed much like that as the year progressed. There was no meeting day before everyone left for winter break, but there were still some people that had chosen to come to the Room of Requirement anyway. Most of them wanted to exchange gifts with their friends from other Houses without making the other students suspicious.

The twins were handing out small bags of small prank items to some of the younger members under the somewhat disapproving eyes of Neville and Hermoine. Ron was busy in the corner teaching some Pureblood first years the finer points of Muggle dueling. Ron was laughing as the boys in question held their hands and whined about the punching bag being too hard. Hermoine, despite being a newer member, had also made enchanted flower pins for some of her favorite members.

The big doors to the Room were pushed open with a sound loud enough to startle the few students in the room. A couple of the older students had pulled out their wands, ready to fend off an attack. It turned out to just be Percy, gasping for breath and looking as if he had seen a Dementor.

"Percy!" George ran over to him first and quickly grabbed onto him to keep him from collapsing onto the floor.

"What happened Percy?" Ron asked as he ran to the other side of Percy to help George hold him up.

"There was...a student I didn't recognize. A giant snake. And Ginny!" Percy gasped a quiet sob and he collapsed onto the floor. George and Ron knelt with him, still holding onto their older brother as his words pulled all the strength from their legs as they looked at their brother.

"A giant snake? And Ginny? Have you gone mad?" Fred asked incredulously. The other students in the room had gathered around them.

Percy didn't reply. He only held up a wand that the Weasley's recognized immediately as Ginny's wand. Fred snatched it out of Percy's hand and carefully looked it over. Hermoine pulled a potion from her bag and handed it to Percy uncorked. He drank it without question or hesitation. It must have been some sort of a calming potion, based on how much Percy relaxed immediately.

"Where'd you find this at?" Fred questioned softly.

"The girl's lavatory on the second floor." He replied far more coherently, though his eyes remained unfocused. "There was a male student I didn't recognize wearing Slytherin Robes. He looked suspicious, so I followed him. He went into the lavatory. One of the sinks was gone. A trapdoor. I went down a slide to some sort of room." Percy's words trailed off as his eyes slid closed.

"Hey Percy! We need to know!" George shook him awake rather aggressively.

"Blimey Hermoine. What's in that potion you gave him?" Ron turned to question Hermoine.

"It was a standard calming potion," Hermione huffed at Ron as she crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at him. "He must have been very stressed if he's having this reaction to it."

"Skeleton. Gryffindor Robes," Percy shook his head hard to focus and get his racing mind back into gear. "The boy spoke some language and a giant snake came from the water. It came after me," Percy sobbed slightly. "Moaning Myrtle helped me make my way back out. Didn't know where else to go." Percy looked up at his brothers, "I didn't want to leave her there but I had to get out and tell someone about it. She's still down there, little Gin-gin…" Percy sobbed again and bent over and held his face in his hands.

Hermoine gave him another potion to drink, tapping his arm gently to get his attention and then placing it in his hands when he looked up. Percy nodded gratefully and drank it. His eyes regained their focus.

"Please don't poison my brother," Ron muttered to Hermoine.

"Or what? You'll fight me like a muggle? That's fine. I'll beat you as a witch," She asked with a slight snide edge. It was clear Ron wanted to say something, but he wisely chose to hold his tongue.

"There was this as well," Percy pulled out a black diary and handed it to George.

George had remembered how Ginny had begun to write in her diary near religiously during the school year before she went missing. The twins had tried to question her about it a couple of times, but she had soundly rebuffed their inquiries every time. The back of the diary had a little scrap of paper attached with Ginny's name. George pulled the little scrap of paper off and found a different name embossed in gold lettering. Tom Marvolo Riddle wasn't a name he was familiar with. He opened it and found the pages completely blank.

"This was Ginny's diary, but it's blank," George muttered as he flicked through pages looking for anything that would remain of his sister in the pages.

"But she was constantly writing in it. Remember?" Ron offered as he looked over Percy to see the blank pages as well.

"I don't remember mom or dad buying it for her. Where do you think she got it?" Fred asked as he took the book from George.

"Does it matter?" Ron spoke with a hard edge.

"He's right," Percy spoke up, sounding more like himself. "Ginny's dead," Percy paused here and took a shuddering breath before he continued, "we know for sure now and nothing is going to bring her back." Percy crushed the potion flask still in his hands and absently looked down at the glass and blood now on and in his hand.

"There's gotta be something we can do," George asked in desperation as he pried open his brother's hand and vanished the glass and blood with a quick spell. Hermione reached into her bag and wrapped some gauze around his lacerations after she muttered some kind of healing spell. She clicked her tongue when it didn't close all of his wounds.

"We can't go to Umbridge," Ron sighed. "She doesn't care about anybody except her chosen few. And like last year she'll probably use her as a way to hurt someone else."

"And you can't go to the Ministry either," Neville entered their conversation. "They already executed Hagrid in connection to her disappearance. They aren't going to entertain the idea that they were wrong," he swallowed nervously before he continued, "Skeleton or not."

"Well we can't leave it here!" George pleaded. "We can't just leave here down there! If it had anything to do with Ginny's...murder...we can't let anyone else get a hold of that!" George cried as he pointed at the book in Fred's hands.

"We'll take it home and hide it," Fred decided as the current oldest brother that wasn't half drunk on potions. "We can send a letter to Bill about it and see what he thinks we should do with it."

"Send an owl if you need anything," Neville offered. "I might not be able to help a lot, but I can try. Gran might know someone that could help?"

"Thanks, Mon Capitaine," George gave Neville a cocky salute which made Nevile roll his eyes dramatically.

The three brothers helped Percy to his feet and practically drug him to their dorms. They got Percy changed and put him into bed to sleep off the potions and stress. They packed up his things first, which was easy since he was such a stickler for organization. They then split up and packed their own bags so they would be prepared to leave for the train first thing in the morning.

Winter break went about the way George thought it would go. Molly spent most of the time trying hard to make Ginny's absence not be felt while Arthur just tried to keep Molly happy. Neither worked out well.

Percy decided to put the diary on the bookshelf in the living room near the bottom. That way it would be hidden but also not out of place in case someone did see it. Percy was the one to send an owl to Bill since they figured he would take Percy's concerns about this diary more seriously than any of the others.

It was late one night. Well after the boys had been sent to bed. Percy had rolled his eyes when the twins had snuck out of their bed to eavesdrop on their parents, but said nothing. All the children knew that their parents only spoke about the truly juicy gossip after they had all gone to bed. Fred had pulled out an Extendable Ear, one of their more brilliant creations if you asked the twins themselves, and carefully positioned it down the stairs so that they could hear the conversation without the ear being noticeable from the kitchen.

"Has Perkins' lumbago gotten any better?" They hear their mother ask while washing a dish in the sink.

"No, it hasn't. He fears he may have to give up camping due to the pain," Arthur replied in between sips of a drink as he watched his wife withering from the loss of their daughter.

"Poor dear. I should send him some extra fudge this month," Molly said as she scrubbed away and busied herself in the kitchen.

"The recipe you use with the mint chips in it is his favorite," Arthur replied as he brought his empty cup into the kitchen and ran water into the thing before he grabbed the brush from his wife and kissed her on the cheek. Molly hummed and the silence lasted just long enough that the boys thought that there might not be any good gossip tonight.

"Anything new going on at the Ministry?" Molly asked carefully, dreading anything that was news from where her husband worked.

Arthur sighed heavily and dropped his hands back into the water with the cup and brush. "There's more trouble at Hogwarts. The Ministry is considering more direct measures to get things back under control."

George and Fred gave each other trouble looks. 'Oops' they mouthed at each other with a grimace on their faces.

"What's happened at the school now?" Molly sounded scared.

Arthur didn't answer right away, he scrubbed his mug again as he thought about what to tell Molly. "There's been another death. The Divination professor this time."

"Professor Trelawney died?! When?" George whispered to Fred, but Fred only shrugged looking just as shocked as his twin.

"Poor dear," Molly said somewhat relieved that her children were not being targeted. "Do they know who did it?"

"Headmistress Umbridge believes it was Professor Flitwick. The Ministry has already conducted a raid at the school to attempt to take him into custody," Arthur replied in a voice as if he was reading straight from cue cards for a press release.

"Not Professor Flitwick!" Fred muttered angrily. They knew Umbridge had it out for Flitwick, but there was no way he had anything to do with Trelawny's death. Who would attack that batty Professor anyway?

"Attempt?" Asked the red haired matriarch as she followed her husband's words.

"There was an incident when they arrived at the school. An explosion of some kind. All I know for certain is he's presumed dead. There was no body recovered, but lots of destruction so I'm not surprised," Arthur elaborated for his wife.

George wiped a small tear from his cheek. Fred leaned against his brother to let him know he was still with him.

"Does that happen often with these Ministry raids? Having the culprit die?" Molly asked as she reached out to grab Arthur's hand to pull him to her. She wrapped her arms around him and for a moment hid her face in his neck as she waited for his answer.

"Unfortunately, yes. The aurors are a bit spell happy. Pettigrew was talking about a thief called Mundungus Fletcher that died in a raid a few months back," Arthur admitted as he rubbed her back and basked in her presence as he held her.

"Well. Now we know why Dung hasn't been returning our owls," Fred whispered to George as they both wondered what the hell was going on with the world they lived in.

"We'll need to find another supplier soon," George whispered back. "Merlin, we sound like it's just business and not people's lives Fred!" He whispered harshly as the thought penetrated his mind.

Once back to school things continued as they had before winter break. Neville ran the, surprisingly popular titled, Potter's Army while the twin's spearheaded a prank campaign to make Umbrudge's life a living hell. As the days went by, Umbridge tried harder and harder to find their little group, but to no avail. The torture tactics she used may have worked if she used them on anyone other than muggleborns. Potter's Army was always quick to take those poor students in and heal them. They were always loyal after that.

Everything was going well until, as it always does, everything got turned on its ear.

"Boys," A voice pulled George from his sleep. George groaned as he turned away from the voice. Just five more minutes he may have muttered. "Boys!" The voice became more insistent.

George begrudgingly pushed himself up from his bed and looked around with bleary eyes. He looked over to Fred and saw him to be in much the same state. Finally looking up he saw Professor McGonagal standing above him. She was still wearing her night clothes and holding a dimly lit lumos over their beds.

"Professor?" George croaked quietly as he tried to blink away the haze.

"Up out of bed!" She commanded softly so she wouldn't wake the other students in the room. "Come with me!"

George turned to look at Fred, who did the same thing at the same time. Something bad must have happened if they were the only ones being woken up in the middle of the night. Maybe they were finally caught and were going to be arrested? George tossed that thought aside, no Aurors. So why were they being pulled out of bed near midnight? The two boys got up and followed after her as quickly as they could muster half asleep. They were surprised to see Percy already waiting outside their dorm door. The three followed her down until she commanded them to stop in front of Ron's dorm room. George looked to Percy with a raised eyebrow. Percy only shook his head in response.

With Ron now up and added to the group, she made them follow her out of the Gryffindor tower and through the dark hallways to her office. When they entered the room, they saw that their father, Arthur, was already there and sitting in one of the chairs staring at the floor as he leaned over and rested his elbows on his thighs. Devastation was written across his face. The boys sat down around him, unsure and scared of what had happened.

"Boys," Arthur spoke with a scratchy voice. "Something terrible has happened."

Fucking Merlin what now? They all held their breath as they waited for their father to force himself to tell them what had happened. The look on McGonagall's face meant that she already knew.

"Your mother has died."