Can't Stop the Rain

"Fine," I said bitterly, heading for the entrance, "I'll just show myself around."
Once inside, I passed a statue of a one-eyed witch.

God, this place is weird.

I was maybe two paces from the statue when all of a sudden, it opened up and a pair of arms grabbed me and pulled me in, I screamed and the statue closed around me. A hand was over my mouth and it had a strong grip, I trembled in place, this statue had looked so large from outside but it was really cramped at the moment, I waited and then the figure holding me spoke in a rough voice.
"Tell me, young miss, what are you doing out of class?"
I started to shake uncontrollably before I remembered some self-defense moves that I had seen on television once and I elbowed the man in the face.
"ARGH!" said a much younger voice, it sounded familiar...I whipped around and even in the dark I couldn't mistake that figure.
"Fred?"
It was him but he had bent over, probably in pain; I had hit him pretty hard.
"Fred, what were you doing? Trying to scare me half to death?" I screamed, until I saw that he was bleeding at the mouth. "Oh, Fred, I'm sorry, are you okay?"
"Yeah, Alex, don't worry about it," he said with a laugh. "I was just playing a joke, didn't think you'd react that way."
I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"Well how else should I act when a statue opens up out of nowhere and two arms grab me and then a scary voice talks to me and I can't see them? How did you get there anyways? Where are George and Harry?"
"Well, after I and George 'kidnapped' Harry from you lot, George held him down and I stuffed some of our "Everlasting Chew" gum into his mouth and at first he thought it was really good but then he kind of got mad after he found out that he couldn't spit it out, he started chasing after me and George and we got to the knight in shining armor and then we split up and Harry went after George so I hid here and then I saw how you got ditched so I decided to cheer you up."
"Aww, Fred, that's sweet," I said, smiling.
"Ahh, not really," he waved his hand. "So, Alex, you want a private tour of the grounds? Secret passageways included?"
"Yeah, Fred, that sounds amazing!"
"Okay, are you ready?" I nodded and he put his arm around my waist and held me tight. "Hold onto me."
He touched a spot on the inside of the statue and suddenly the floor gave out from under us. I screamed and threw both arms around Fred's neck as we slid down a dark, cool tunnel. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel and Fred twisted so that he was underneath me as we flew out of the tunnel and landed with a thump.

I was lying on top of Fred and saw why he had twisted; the ground was really rough, hard and dirty. I got up and pulled him up, dusting off his robes.
"Fred, you know you didn't have to do that, I wouldn't have minded getting a little dirty."
"Yeah, I know that I didn't have to, but I wanted to," he said.
"Hey, Fred? Where are we?" I asked.
He didn't say anything but just put a finger to his lips and pushed the ceiling up and climbed up. He gave me his arm and pulled me up; after I had climbed up I realized where we were.
"Fred, Fred."
I pulled his sleeve.
"What is it, Alex? Why are you whispering?" he asked, looking at me.
I looked back at him, scared.
"I didn't tell you why we weren't in class, Herbology was canceled because-"
Fred looked behind and pushed me down, seconds later I saw him fly across the room and hit a desk. He winced in pain and passed out.
"FRED!" I screamed out in terror before turning around.
There was the creature whose outline I had seen through the greenhouse wall. Only now it was more than an outline. It looked like an overgrown root except it had little fangs. I couldn't help but wonder how Professor Sprout had fared against something this large. Then I saw other smaller Fligbytes emerge from behind bags of fertilizer and desks. They were a lot smaller, maybe they hadn't reached full mutation but I sure as hell didn't want to be here when they did. I ran over to Fred and shook him but he wasn't stirring. The Fligbytes had grouped and were nearing; they had bared their fangs at me and were hissing. I decided that I had to do something so I used the only charm I knew. I pointed my wand at a cabinet above the largest Fligbyte.
"Alohomora!"
It didn't exactly work properly since I hadn't learned it; I had just done it based on observing Hermione when we had escaped from the carriage. Only one cabinet door opened and a torn soil bag started leaking. Fortunately the soil started pouring into the Fligbyte's eyes.
"Alex, what's going on?" Fred said weakly from behind. I hadn't even noticed that he had regained consciousness.

As I pulled him up, I knew that the soil would only create a slight diversion and that we didn't have much time to escape. I pulled Fred to the door and was reaching for the handle when I heard a roar. I turned around and saw the Fligbytes charging, their eyes were red. I turned the handle but it was jammed. I tried again, nothing. I panicked and I thought of Alohomora but realized that there wasn't time.
"BLEEDING BLOODY HELL!" I screamed. "I'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way."
I kicked the door hard until it gave way and then ran out with Fred, shutting the door in the Fligbyte's face; it emitted a high-pitched roar and then squealed. I slumped against the wall of the greenhouse, pulling Fred down with me.
"Bloody hell, Alex, what was that thing?"
"Fligbyte," I said breathlessly. "We were supposed to study them and root them but they mutated before Professor Sprout expected. I don't think these ones have reached full mutation yet though."
Fred grew wide-eyed.
"Bloody hell, Professor Sprout wanted you guys to study those things?! I wouldn't want to be around when they're fully mutated."
Suddenly a crash came from the other side of the wall where we were sitting and felt force on our backs and I heard the same squeal.
"Well come on, Fred, I think we should get moving unless you want your dream come true," I said and the two of us bolted, Fred partially limping.

We ran and didn't stop until we came to the lake; we stopped under a tree, breathless and sat down under it and tried to catch our breath.
"Hey, Alex? What happened after I passed out? Did you cast a spell or something?" he asked.
"Well, a whole bunch of other Fligbytes came out, maybe five or six more. But these ones were smaller than the one that threw you. I tried to cast 'Alohomora' but it didn't exactly work; only one cabinet door opened and I got lucky. There was a bag of dirt and it started leaking into their eyes and then you woke up and, erm, you know what happened," I said, blushing.
We both stayed quiet for a while and then Fred laughed.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," he said.
"LIAR! Tell me!"
"Nothing, Alex," he looked at me chortling.
"Well fine, if you're not going to tell me, then I'll just have to force it out of you won't I?" I tickled him for a bit until he gave in.
"Okay! Okay! I thought it was cute that you tried to cast a spell!"
I pulled away, slightly insulted. I didn't see why he thought that was funny that I tried to cast a spell. It wasn't my fault that I had never done magic before. Fred touched my shoulder.
"Hey, Alex?" I ignored him. "Oh, come on, Alex, don't be mad, I didn't mean it like that. Wanna hear a story?" I wanted to hear but said nothing. "When George and I tried Alohomora for the first time, we did it so badly that it had the opposite effect, and to this very day, Professor Flitwick still hasn't succeeded in opening that cabinet."
I smiled and turned to him with a forgiving look in my eyes, then I saw that he was slumped over in pain from when we had come out of the tunnel and from being thrown and that his lip was still bleeding from when I had hit him.
"Oh, Fred," I said touching his lip, "that's twice in one day that you hurt yourself to save me pain."
He looked at me and blushed and mumbled something.
"What?" I asked.
"I said, I don't mind getting hurt for...I don't mind getting hurt. Its better me than you, I'm tougher."
I knew that he had meant to say something else but thought better not to push it. I concentrated on his bleeding lip instead.
"Here let me clean that up for you," I took out a handkerchief and wet it in the lake and put it to his lips tenderly.
He looked at me and I smiled, after a while I put it back in the lake and something slimy grabbed me.

What the hell?

To my relief it was only a piece of seaweed. I relaxed and leaned back on Fred, breathing hard.
"Alex, calm down, nothing happened," he said with a laugh.
"Yeah? Well easy for you to say calm down. I'm still not over getting pulled inside a statue, never mind-"
Something wrapped around my ankle this time, only this time, it wasn't seaweed. A scaly little arm had a gotten a vice grip around my ankle and had started pulling me in. My foot was already in the water and I clawed desperately at the grass trying to get a grip.
"Fred!"
"Hold on, Alex," he said; his face white.
He grabbed my arms and tried to pull me back and he was succeeding until more little arms flashed up out of the water and fixed themselves around my ankles. I was in extreme pain, like I was being torn in two and then I heard a snap; my ankle had just broken, I screamed out in agony.
"Fred, let go, let go!" I cried out in desperation.
"No!" Fred said. "Hang on, just a little more, someone's coming!"
I saw four outlines running down towards the lake, but they were too far to see who it was. I tried to hang on but my energy was draining, fast. I felt my fingers slipping out of Fred's grip and I came loose. Screaming, trying to claw at the grassy bank, I heard nasty laughing behind me and I turned around and saw what was holding on to me, grindylows, small, horned water demons. Finally, they succeeded in pulling me in, the last thing I saw before going under was Fred's face, mouth open in a perfect little 'o'...