If You've Got the Nerve

“I can’t believe you enjoyed it.” My stomach was still churning from what I’d witnessed not an hour ago in class.

“It can’t have been that bad. He only demonstrated them on a few spiders.” George said in his closest form of a comforting voice. I shivered at the memory of the furry creatures.

“You know I hate those curses.” I said quietly. A look of quick guilt passed between the two twins.

All three of us were sitting on the floor in the library. The twins had placed themselves close to the restricted section in order to avoid anyone overhearing the plans that they were discussing which happened to involve not only the latest joke plans but also ideas for the coming tournament. They had been getting great work done until I had sulked in to their presence after finishing my first lesson with Professor Moody. The ex-Auror had been so kind as to demonstrate all three Unforgivable Curses in front of the students. I had already heard my fair share of the horror stories surrounding the horrid spells from back home. I’ve always hated them.

“Right, we should have warned you. Sorry, love.” Fred placed a hand on my shoulder gently and with a slight hesitation as if he expected me to round on him for giving such a suggestion after I had gone through the class. And I almost did.

There was a quiet moment in which I closed my eyes in an attempt to rid the traces of the horrors I’d seen from my mind. I opened them once their murmuring about the tournament resumed.

“You’re not actually going to enter, are you?” I asked incredulously. They stared at me as if just realizing I was there. George snapped out of it first.

“Sorry, what?”

“I asked if you’re actually – ”

“Oh, so you did ask a stupid question. I thought I’d only misheard you.” I scowled at him.

“Well of course we’re entering!” Fred whispered urgently while glancing around, “Why wouldn’t we?”

“Because there’s an age requirement that neither of you meet,” I replied shortly, moving my eyes now from George to his brother. He scoffed and leaned back against a dusty bookshelf.

“It can’t be that hard to get in. I mean, we’re tall enough to pass as of age.”

“Dumbledore will surly tell this judge what year we’re all in. Who’s allowed entry and such…”

“Then we’ll be sure to convince him otherwise,” he replied smoothly with a wink.

“Bill was right,” I groaned quietly, “You are going to get yourselves killed.” They only gave me two identical grins in response.

I stopped with my attempts to dissuade them then. It obviously wasn’t going to work. It was best just to have confidence that Dumbledore would keep them out of it. Then again, maybe they were right. They may goof off a lot, but Fred and George were brilliant wizards.

“How do you plan on winning?” I asked slowly. They both stopped their own discussion and looked at me with the same look as before.

“Well…we can’t know that until we know the challenges, can we?”

“So you’re going to wing it,”

“Pretty much,” George nodded. The book in Fred’s lap closed with a sudden snap.

“It’s getting late,” he stated before standing up and lugging the thick book back on a shelf. George and I both followed him out of the library and back towards the common room. I gave a great yawn as we entered the warm room. I was exhausted. But the heavy thud my bag made when it hit the floor reminded me that there were more important things than sleep.

Giving a low groan, I fell on to one of the soft couches. Thinking that getting comfortable wasn’t a good idea, I slid off the cushion to come to a rest on the hard floor. First was Transfiguration.

I tried to concentrate, but my eyes continued to wander towards the game of Exploding Snaps that Dean and Seamus were having. Halfway through reading the same passage for the eleventh time, I was fully shaken by Ginny.

“What?” I grumbled.

“I think you’d be much more comfortable in your own bed.” She answered quietly. A bed sounded nice. “Come on,” I followed her without a word. We parted on top of the stairs when she moved to her own dormitory and I to mine. I fell in to a deep sleep the second my head hit the pillow.