Ch. 13: Midnight Meeting

Chapter Song: Bastille - Flaws (very 2011)

"They can't do that!" George Weasley groaned and shook his head as we all got up from the table to go to the dorm. George stood up and glared at Dumbledore. "We're seventeen in April-why can't we have a fair shot?"

     Fred scowled at the table where all the teachers sat and shook his head, stubbornly. "They aren't stopping me from entering, the champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. Plus, a ten thousand Galleons prize?!" 

      I sighed and shook my head at the both of them, they were too damned stubborn.

"Hey, Liza-you going to join us or not?" Lana called from across the hall, she was socializing with Jenna, Mione and Ginny. I cringed inwardly. I hated everything that spoke of my full name. Even Liza made me squirm.

I stuck my tongue out at them. "It's Elle!" I turned to see Fred and George deep in a conversation so I shrugged it off and jogged over to my friends.

Hermione sighed and watched Harry, Ron, Fred, and George plan out how they would somehow get around Dumbledore's rule and put their names in anyway. "They are going to get themselves killed one of these days." 

     "I don't know, Hermione," Lana casually said, tossing her thin arms behind her head and interlocking her fingers as we exited the Great Hall. "It sounds like fun, I'd do it -- what about you guys?" Lana grinned at the rest of us and I shrugged.

     "Nah, probably not. I like to talk big but when it comes to a real magic duel, well, it's just better if I stick with my fists. Jenna?" 

      Jenna shook her head. "Are you kidding? I will leave that up to the boys. I don't think duelling magic is really my style. Besides, it's a lot more fun to watch that way anyway," she teased. "Kidding."

Ginny nodded and giggled. "That's true." She snuck a glance behind her shoulder and I watched as her gaze fixed upon Harry. Really? Ginny went for Harry Potter? Interesting...

     The halls of Hogwarts were as magical as the outside. Thick, stone-carved pillars and winding stairways all intermingled, forming a beautiful Gothic Castle. Portraits and paintings scuttled about their perches, peering eagerly down at the studious crowds that had returned. They murmured and talked freely, sometimes shouting a warm 'Welcome back to Hogwarts, young ones!' 

     As our fairly large group began to ascend the last staircase, we noticed a poor boy stuck on one of the steps. His foot was jammed in a loose step, and no matter how he tugged, he was unable to get free. I could tell by the pink tint on his cheeks that he was slightly embarrassed. "Oh, Neville. You're stuck again?" Hermione shook her head pitifully and sighed.

     "Are you alright?" Jenna asked, rushing forward to help Neville out. "How can I help?"

      "I'm okay," Neville sighed, blushing a little harder. "It's this trick step. I always think to skip it,... but then, I guess the wrong one."

     "We gotcha, mate. Hold on." Ron chuckled as he and Harry put two arms under Neville's armpits and heaved him out of the trick step. Meanwhile, an enchanted suit of armour at the top of the stairs began to shake with laughter.

     The boy named Neville smiled at us and thanked Harry and Ron. "Uhm, I'm Neville. I-It's nice to meet you." He waved at me, Jenna and Lana.

"Hey, nice to meet you too. That is Lana, and this is Jenna." I pointed to them before turning my thumb on to myself. "And I'm Elle. We are in Gryffindor as well."

     "Are you alright?" Jenna asked Neville, pointing to his foot. "Did you hurt yourself?" 

    "All good," Neville assured us. "Just keep an eye out for that step. You're new here, so jut know that it can be a real pain."

     "He's right," Hermione admitted. "The Castle is full of tricks, not including one very malevolent and stupid poltergeist... among other things." Hermione pointed down the corridor. "Dorms are this way." 

     "Interesting," I mused, "almost like they're trying to make it hard to learn." My sister didn't really respond, but I earned a nervous chuckle from Neville. When we finally got to our destination, I was confused. 

     "Er...Mione. This is a portrait of a lady wearing a pink dress." I quickly jumped when the portrait turned her pastel head towards me and sighed as if the sight of me was a real pain.

     "Password?"

     Fred, George, Angie and Lee caught up to our group, talking amongst themselves before realising that we didn't have the password that the portrait was asking for.

Fred shoved his way forward through our large group and looked down at a slip of paper in his hands. "Balderdash." He turned towards George and muttered. "A prefect downstairs told me."

     "Our saviour," I teased, shooting Fred a wink before following Hermione inside. 

      The portrait swung open to reveal a very comfy looking dorm space. It was quite large and everything in the living area was decorated in red and rich gold, the proud colours of Gryffindor. Lion insignia was embossed on the walls, while the Gryffindor crest was just as prominent throughout the room. Lana, Jenna and I all looked around in awe. Sorcellerie was never this fancy. In the midst of the room, nestled amongst tweed lounge chairs and soft, velvet chases, a crackling fireplace warmed the dorms, snapping and hissing invitingly. 

"Awe. Some." I muttered and my two friends nodded in agreement.

      "Oi, there you lot are!" A skinny boy with ruddy cheeks and dark hair cropped short to his scalp walked over to our group, beaming at Harry and Ron. "Dean and I are heading to the hooley, you joining?" His confident grin wavered a bit as he looked over us newcomers, but didn't diminish in its brightness. He extended a firm hand to us. "Oh, hello. I don't think we've been introduced." He shook our hands one at a time. "I'm Seamus, nice to meet you."

         "Nice to meet you," I said. In the same breath, I turned to Hermione and asked: "Where do we sleep?"

      "Sleep?" Seamus looked as if I'd slapped him. "No, no you need to attend the Start of Term party. Come on, what do you say?" He grinned at us, his Irish accent only hinted at my stereotypical thinking about whether there would be alcohol or not at this party.

"I can't-I have a lot of classes in the morning." I shook my head, feigning sadness, I just really didn't want to. "Maybe next time..."

"How about you two?" Seamus turned to Jenna and Lana. Lana grinned, but Jenna shook her head no. "Sorry, I am bushed. Right, Lana?" She smirked at her-taking away her privilege to party.

     "W-what?" Lana pouted and look at both of us, defeated. "Yeah...I'm so tired." Meanwhile, I could tell by the glare in her eyes as she watched Jenna and me that, next time, she would definitely be attending.

"Shame." He sighed and turned to Fred and George. "Still on?" 

      "O' course!" Fred chuckled, while George nodded and replied: "Wouldn't miss it!" 

Seamus grinned like a little boy at Christmas time and walked out of the dorm. "Let's go!"

     "What a git," Lee snickered as the portrait door closed tightly behind Seamus's back. "Finnigan's never been one for subtleties, has he?" 

     Angie shrugged and rolled out her shoulders, nodding to Katie with a tired smile. "I'm headed to bed, you wankers can get detention on your own time. You ready to go up, Kate?"

      "Yeah, I think I'll pass," Katie told the boys with a smirk. "If you're smart, you'd do the same before McGonagall comes peeping around. You know you can't sneak anything past that feline."

     "We'll take our chances," Fred flippantly replied, shaking out the long orange bangs in front of his eyes. " 'Sides, we've never been caught," George added. "WE know when to make our exit."

     Angelina rolled her eyes and urged Katie to follow her up one side of the dorm's staircases. They chattered to themselves and laughed loudly, probably making fun of the Twins as they climbed. The group slowly started to break apart, some sitting at the lounge chairs, or heading to their rooms. 

Fred turned to me and whispered in my ear. "Meet here, 1 o'clock sharp."

      I bit my lip, hiding a laugh and whispered back, feeling how close he was to me for only a moment, before I pushed the thought away. "Are you sure you won't be too plastered to have a meeting?" 

"Me?" Fred pushed a hand to his chest and looked appalled. "Never!" And winked before leaving.

      I knew the group of girls around me were too quiet as I watched the portrait door close behind Lee, Fred and George, but I tried to ignore it. However, as soon as the hidden latch clicked shut with a sturdy clack, I could feel my friends' attitudes shift. 

     "Whhhaaatt was that all about?" Jenna was the first to break the silence, with a raised brow, her eyes shifting between where Fred's retreating figure had been and my beaming face. "Is there..." she looked between everyone in our circle which consisted of Hermione, Ginny and Lana. "Something going on here?"

     "W-What?!" My face burned with embarrassment, earning a laugh from Ginny as her soft brown eyes lit up at the thought. "No! It's top-secret, so don't ask," I answered. I knew they would just hammer me with more questions.

     With a sadistic chuckle, Lana rubbed her hands together, humming under her breath in a plotting way that both unnerved and worried me. "Hmmm... so top secret that you have to meet somewhere at the early hours of the morning? Go on, do tell." 

     "I-It's not like that!" I smacked her arm then crossed my arms over my chest, face as red as a beet. Man, I was suddenly remembering how mischievous we all were to each other at Sorcellerie. This was one of the rare times that I was the topic of discussion, though. 

Ginny clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide. "Do-do you like Fred?" 

"No! I swear." I crossed my heart-it was the truth, but no one was believing me!

     Hermione even started to pick on me. "Hm... I think I can see it... interesting, but it could work..." 

"Shut up Hermione!" I scolded at them and stormed up the stairs that Hermione had earlier pointed out for me as the girls dormitories.

I went up three flights of stairs, but still hadn't reach the fourth year girl dormitory. I rested my hands on my kneecaps and gulped in breathfuls of air, leaning back against the cool stone wall I wiped the sweat from my brow. "I *breath* Am *Breath* so *breath* Out of sh-*breathe*ape!" I coughed and pushed myself up the stairs again. I really need to work out.

      Finally, I reached the dorm and slammed the door open, silently pleased that there was no one inside yet. Looking around, I noticed that our luggage had all been neatly placed by the different beds. I shuffled my way over to the far left corner of the room, assuming that this would be my bunk for the year. My trunk was tucked nicely on top of the bed, with Ami's cage resting, empty, on top of my dresser. I just shoved the trunk onto the floor with a loud bang. Before I got into bed, I made sure to take out my slippers for later.

     Jenna, Lana, and Hermione followed me into the room, sorting through their things for the night. "I think Lavander is our roommate this year," Hermione mentioned. "She's been mine before. She's pretty quiet, usually hangs out with a different group of girls most nights, so we may not see much of her."

      To be honest, I didn't really care at that moment. All I cared about was one thing: the bed.

I threw myself on to my bed and pulled off my shoes and socks. I considered changing in to my pj's but decided I was too tired so I just stripped off everything but my underwear and button up shirt then threw myself into bed. I pulled my clock out of the black hole called my purse and set an alarm for 1 am. 

      The second my head hit the pillow, I was out.

✧

       Amidst my dreams of turbulent train rides, seas of technicoloured faces and a looming sense of danger, something smelly smacked my face. Half-asleep, I assumed it was part of my lucid dreaming and began to tumble back into my dreams, ignoring it. 

     It smacked my face once again, but even more forcefully, and pungent enough to snap my dream state to pieces. 

     What the hell?

I peeled open one heavy eye lid and saw a thick black sock hovering over my face. "What!" I yelled and backed away from it-causing me to hit my head on the head board of my bed. Cursing, I rubbed the back of my head and swiped the sock out of the air, angrily. Whoever did this was going to pay. 

I looked over at my alarm and saw that it was 1:04 am. My alarm didn't go off. "Shit!" I whispered and blindly felt around on the floor for some slippers that I had put out before passing out completely. My hand felt something soft and I grabbed it and slipped it on quickly, then felt around for the matching one and quickly put it on, hopping around and heading for the door barely caring that my feet felt wrong. 

     Quickly, I pounded down the steps and into the lit-up Main Room, the fire was still crackling, as inviting as ever. Fred and George were muttering to each other lowly, their orange locks ignited by the glow of the fire, giving them a rudy halo. I scoffed at the thought: the two of them, angels? As if. In the corner, Lee was half-passed out, whether it was from alcohol or sheer lateness of the hour, I wasn't sure. I rolled my eyes at the trio.

       "How do you know that we're even waking her up?" Fred shook his head at George.

      George glared at him. "I know what I'm doing."

     "Yeah," I interrupted. "You're ruining a perfectly good dream. Why wake me up if Lee is blacked out?" I yawned, rubbed my eyes and found out why my feet felt weird, as I peered down to my toes. I had put the wrong slippers on the wrong feet.

I just shrugged it off and sleepily trudged over to the both of them threw the sock in Fred's shocked face. "I believe this belongs to you." I glared at his one bare foot. 

     Fred delicately snatched the sock from my annoyed fist and slipped it elegantly back of is big, dumb foot. Like some kind of reverse Cinderella. George was biting back a fit of laughs at the sight of me, and I figured it must have been some sight to see, with bushy hair twisting every which way and puffy, blood-shot eyes.

     "What?"

Fred looked at me, then after turning a tint of red looked into the fire and scratched the back of his head. "Did...did you forget something?"

I looked down at my shoes and frowned. "Okay, yeah I know they are on wrong, but it was dark."

         Fred chuckled and shook his head, rising Lee from his sleep for just a moment before the guy snuggled back into the chair cushion and slumbered off again. "No ... something else, Elle." George pointed at my legs, in a very casual sort of way, like pointing out the overcast or an orange tabby in an alleyway. 

My stomach dropped to my knees. I clamped my eyes shut and prayed to every known deity. Please, please let me have remembered to put on pants....I cracked open an eye and looked down. No pants.  Luckily my button up shirt reached just above the middle of my thighs or I think I would have died right there on the spot.

     There often come moments in young ladies' lives where the fight or flight instinct may kick in. This was one of those moments, which I'd found I'd been having a lot of rather recently, and it was got to stop at some point. If it didn't, I'd probably end up dying on the spot from all the embarrassment. 

     So, rather than allow my body to combust in a random Phoenix flame, I decided to birth myself a new way to handle this situation: casual and cool. Any cool girl could brush off moments of undeniably absurd moments with a gust of chill, and I decided at that moment, that I was cool -- I was Elizabeth Granger, after all.

     "Psh, yo-ou guys are making a big deal out of no-thing," I coughed, trying to play it off as if I meant to come down here without pants. My stuttering wasn't selling it quite well, so I swallowed hard and stuck my nose in the air, breaking eye contact with a curious Fred, who was matching me, bemused. If you, like me, are caught trying to look cool, here's a tip: break eye contact. It's much easier to pretend when you're not looking someone square in the eye.

     "But, if it bothers you so much, I'll just cover myself." I quickly snatched a blanket off of the back of one of the couches, draping it around my hips before slumping down into the couch across from the boys. 

"I'm fine with what ever you are comfortable with." Fred winked and I chuckled, feeling all the tension wash away. 

    I felt much better, cradled in the fuzzy cover of the blanket. "So ... what's this meeting about?"

George shrugged and turned to Fred for an answer. "Well...I don't know. How 'bout you Fred?" 

Fred shrugged as well. "Never really had a team meeting before...guess we should introduce ourselves and talk about what we are here for?"

"I'll start." George flopped down on to one of the fuzzy red couches and lounged by the fire. "Hello everyone, I'm George."

"Hello George." Fred and I chanted.

"I like Quidditch and am here to trick teachers into letting children out of class when ever the child wants." George turned to me. "Your turn, Fred."

Fred stood valiantly in front of the fire. "My name is Fred!"

"Hey Fred." I chuckled and George rolled his eyes.

"I like to snogg and I am here to make millions." He chuckled evilly and sent a wink my way-which i shook off with a shake of my head. "Your turn." 

"Hello, my name is Elle."

"Helllloo Elle."

I sat down in one of the plush leather seats and sighed, trying to think of something. "I'm Hermione's twin ... and I don't know what the hell I'm doing here." 

✧

Stay Classy - Jess

[ og: 2000 / ed: 3170 ]