Mischief Managed

I woke up the next morning and Jacob was already gone from the Hospital Wing. Fred and George were still asleep and Harry and Ron were in the corner talking. I tip-toed over to them and sat down next to Harry.

"Good morning, Ella," Harry whispered.

"'Morning," I yawned back. "What's up?"

"Just talking about Jacob and what happened last night," Ronald said, clenching his fists.

"Ah," I sighed. I still couldn't believe last night was even real.

"How's your... face feeling?" Harry asked.

I put my hand to my face, where he had punched me, and shrugged. "Whatever Madam Pomfrey gave me must've worked, it feels normal again."

"That's good, she fixed my glasses and Ron's jaw," Harry said, smirking.

"Damn, Ronald, I didn't know you could take that much of a hit," I said, shaking my head.

"I wasn't scared of him," Ron scoffed.

Suddenly, I heard coughs from Fred and George's beds and they slowly got themselves up.

"You guys ready to head back to the common room and get to our classes?" George asked, scratching his back.

"Yeah, I think my first one starts in about twenty minutes," Harry said, looking down at a piece of paper, which happened to be a schedule.

"Mine too," I said, grabbing my schedule out of my pocket.

I began to walk out of the wing, yelling thanks to Madam Pomfrey on my way out. The boys walked right up beside me as we made our way to the common room in silence. I went up to my dormitory as soon as we got back to the common room, and saw Hermione sitting on her bed, reading a book.

"Ella! You're back!" she said, quickly putting a bookmark in place.

"Yep," I said, laughing.

"Are you okay? Are you guys hurt? How's Harry? Ron? Fred, George? Jacob?" she said without taking a breath.

"I'm okay, no we aren't hurt, Harry is fine, Ron is fine, Fred and George are fine, Jacob can go to hell," I said back at her.

"You don't mean that..." Hermione said, looking down at the ground.

"Hermione. He fucking punched me in my face! He almost broke Ron's jaw! He broke Harry's glasses and gave him a few punches! He gave Fred a black eye! And he gave George some bruises, too! I fucking hate him. I hate saying that he's my brother. I really do," I said, anger arising within me.

"It'll all blow over..." she said quietly.

"No it fucking won't. I don't ever want to speak to him again."

"Fine," Hermione said quietly. "But it's time for me to get going to my classes now." And with that, she walked out of the room. After I quickly put my hair up in a messy bun (I didn't have enough time to take a shower) and put my robes on, I walked out of the room, too, not caring how messed up I looked.

After I went to Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and double Divination (which I luckily had with Harry and Ronald), I went outside with Harry and Ron and sat under a big oak tree.

Ron had just got done saying that Professor Trelawney was a 'miserable old bat' because she had given us a lot of homework for the day when Hermione walked up, all cheery.

"Lots of homework?" she asked brightly, sitting down next to me. "I haven't got any!"

"Hmph," Ronald scoffed, looking at his hands.

"Weasley! Weasley!" Draco Malfoy, a horrible enemy of ours, shouted from a nearby tree. Draco was in the Slytherin, the same house as we were and he was awful. I honestly don't see how anyone can put up with him.

"What?" Ron said.

"Your dad is in the paper, Weasley! They got his name wrong and everything," Malfoy said, laughing. "And there's even a picture to go with it! Your parents, they're outside their house - if you can even call it a house. Your mother could do with a bit of weight loss, couldn't she?"

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Harry said. "C'mon Ron..."

"Oh yeah, you were staying there with them this summer, weren't you, Potter? And Elkin, too!" Malfoy said. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" Harry sneered. Ron began to make his way towards Malfoy, but Hermione and I quickly grabbed onto the back of his robes.

"Ron, don't..." Hermione warned.

"What about her?" Malfoy said.

"The expression she's got," I said, as if it was the worst thing in the world. "Like, y'know, she's got dung under her nose. Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"

"Don't you dare insult my mother," Malfoy said, shaking slightly.

"Keep your fat mouth shut then," I said.

Suddenly, I heard a loud noise. Harry touched his face as if something had almost hit him. Then, came another bang, and Harry ducked down low, just in case it came again.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" came the yell from Professor Moody, as he rushed out by the tree. He had his wand pointed straight at a little white ferret that was shaking beside a few leafs. The ferret shook where Malfoy once stood.

"Did he get you?" Moody asked Harry.

"No, missed, sir," Harry said back to him.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Moody shouted once more.

"Excuse me, sir?" Harry asked, looking scared.

"Not you, him!" Moody growled, pointing his wand at Crabbe, one of Malfoy's friends. Moody began to walk towards Crabbe and then stopped suddenly. He pointed his wand towards the ferret, as it quickly tried to get away. Then, it stopped in mid-run and was shot at least fifteen feet into the air. Moody began bouncing the ferret up and down, eventually getting a laugh out of it.

"I - don't - like - people - who - attack - when - their - opponent's - back - is - turned," Moody said, bouncing the ferret between each word.

Soon, Fred and George ran over to me. "What's going on?" George asked, excitedly.

"Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret!" I said, bursting into fits of laughter.

"He's brilliant," Fred glowed, putting his arm around mine and George's shoulder.

"Professor Moody!" came the voice of Professor McGonagall.

"Hello, Professor," Moody said, cheerfully still bouncing Malfoy into the air.

"What on earth are you doing?" she asked.

"Teaching," he said simply.

"Teach - Moody. Professor Moody. Is that - is that a student?" she cried.

"Yep."

"No! No! No!" McGonagall said with tears in her eyes. We heard a loud snapping noise and Malfoy was back on the ground.

"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?" McGonagall said fiercly.

"He might've mentioned it..." Moody said shortly.

"And you'll do good to remember it," she said once more before turning away. Moody retaliated by sticking his tongue out at her.

I looked around and Malfoy and his friends had already fled. I looked at Harry and Ronald, who were on the ground laughing. Hermione was busy mumbling to herself about how Moody shouldn't have done that. I was too busy seeing Fred's smile to think about anything else, even though the whole Malfoy ferret ordeal was pretty great.

"I'll remember - this - forever," Ronald said, still laughing. "Draco Malfoy - the amazing bouncing ferret..." And with this said, we all, including Hermione, laughed together until we just couldn't laugh anymore.

"Little ass had it coming to him," Fred said, still laughing about it as the five of us walked back to the castle, because the nice weather turned into light sprinkles. Hermione had already left to go to the library minutes ago.

Once we got to the common room, I sat down on the floor, and the boys followed suit.

"So how was first day of classes?" George asked randomly.

"I'm already ready for the weekend," Ronald groaned.

"You're such a drama queen, Ron!" I laughed.

"Did you... Just not call him Ronald?" Fred gasped dramatically.

"Bloody hell..." George stared.

"Losing touch, Ella," Harry laughed.

"Dammit!" I laughed. "Sorry Ron...ald."

"Piss off, Ella," Ron said, laughing.

"Sorry, again, Ronald," I smirked.

"Guys, I think I'm going to go take a nap," Harry said suddenly. "My head hurts."

I gave Harry a questioning look as he quickly got up and walked away.

"What's gotten into him...?" I asked.

"Dunno," Ron said simply, shrugging.

"I'm going to go see..." I said, getting up and going up to the boys dormitories. I knocked on Harry's dormitory once and he entered.

"What?"

"What's wrong, Harry? I know it's not just your head..."

"My scar hurts."

I walked over to Harry's bed and sat down. He followed me and sat down beside me. I wrapped my arm around him and laid my head down on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Harry. You have me, Ronald, and Hermione here for you. Always." I smiled and he smiled back. I was leaning in to kiss his cheek and when my lips barely touched his skin, the door opened. Ronald, Fred, and George entered.

I quickly moved away from Harry and sat up straight.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ronald said, his voice high.

"I was just, uh, talking to Harry about his head," I said, which wasn't a lie.

"Sure fucking looked like it," Fred sneered. Then he turned away and walked out.

"Fred - wait!" I said.

"Forget you," George said, shaking his head, as he turned around to follow his brother.

"No, it's not what it looks like, really guys," Harry pleaded.

"Dammit, Ella. Fred really liked you and he thought you did, too. We all thought you did. You lead him on, he was actually planning on taking you on a walk tonight to ask you to be his girlfriend. And look here, you fucked that up because we just caught you getting ready to snog my best friend! What the hell is wrong with you?" Ronald spat.

"No, Ron! I was kissing him on the cheek! Really!" I said, tears forming in my eyes.

"No, just stop fucking talking. I don't want to hear it." And with that said, he turned right around and walked out, slamming the door behind him.