Hand Me Downs.

Leaving McGonagall’s classroom late on a Monday evening I was aware I wasn’t the only one craving her attention. Professor Sprout had smiled at me, offering me a good night and walked in instantly, glancing around her.

I’d noticed it a lot, the teachers having to talk privately, hissing in hallways, in classes during the break.

They couldn’t talk more openly because of her and her stupid rules, signs plastered over the walls, often you would walk past Finch, balancing precariously on a rotting ladder to nail another ‘Educational decree’ into the stone walls, this today had been the twenty sixth.

There were no clubs, the teachers could not discuss anything but lessons with their students, students had to be in their common rooms even earlier.

All products by Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes were banned, pretty much everything else mail wise was and Filch had permission to search students randomly.

It was ridiculous, she was gaining power and Dumbledore was only around a couple of meals a week, vanishing otherwise.

The ministry was truly taking over.

And this morning there had been another one, banning the Quibbler, Harry’s interview he had given to Rita Skeeter just over a week ago in Hogsmeade unbeknownst to everyone until that evening.

But very well set up by a certain Miss Granger.
And Luna, whom I had passed in the hall told me it was already selling brilliantly.

This, of course meant that I had a copy, bewitched with a gentle tap to look just like the pages of my Charms book it was hidden within and we’d spent the lesson hunched over it, Flitwick even joining us ever so often, no want to discipline us but asking instead what Harry’s favourite sweets were.

It was brilliant, Umbridge looked like she may explode, stalking up and down the halls, demanding Ryan and I, late to Alchemy turn out our pockets.

Her face flushed when she found nothing, or so she thought.

It was marvellous.

And I was amazed at how candid Harry had been, open, telling nothing but the truth everyone longed to hear, but didn’t want to believe. But if anything was going to shake them, turn their perspective this was it.

“Umbridge is on the warpath.” Ryan had hissed to me as she scurried away, causing me to giggle, glad he was finally over their horrific Quidditch defeat the weekend before. “Well, hopefully she won’t find any, she might have a stroke then.” He snorted, and we slid into our room, apologising as we sat down.

“Professor Umbridge stopped us,” I excused, “Hunting for the Quibbler.”

“She have any luck?” Dale asked, grinning, we shook our heads.

“Bless her, she can’t seem to find any anywhere.” The chuckle was resounding.

It was on my way back, once again, from my secret animagus lessons the next week that I ran into trouble I had managed to avoid since the beginning of the term.

Malfoy and his sidekicks.

“Nice badge,” I commented, not stopping but squinting at it, silver with a large I engraving, “What’s it mean?”

“We’re part of the Inquisitorial Squad.” Malfoy said with a smirk, the three drawing in front of me, blocking my way.

“That’s nice, can you excuse me please?” I felt my hands clench into easy fists, the halls dingy, dark.

“You’re out late.”

“I was with Professor McGonagall, go ask her if you like.” I took another step and was stopped again, although I kept my voice cocky, “Now I’m heading to bed, so please move.”

“I don’t like your tone,” Malfoy said, “Fifty points from Gryffindor.”

“You can’t do that.” I said haughtily, pulling a face, “Get out of my way.”

“Ten more.” He replied, grinning, “And as part of the Inquisitorial Squad I can.”

“I haven’t done anything!”

“Not lately perhaps, but let’s not forget you broke my nose you filthy mudblood.”

“My mum was a witch Malfoy..”

“And still a bad one, a weak one.” I felt my jaw clench all over again. “She was a mudblood.”

“I’m not doing this again, worry about your own, it won’t be long until Daddy dearest is in jail with what Harry’s told the world.”

I was met with a wand very close to my face, his breathing heavy.
If only I didn’t enjoy pissing him off so much.

“It’s not my father you should be worried about.” He grinned, looking at his buffoons, “But my Aunt sends her regards.”

I was hit with a stunning spell before I could even process his words, slamming into the closest wall, a foot meeting my ribs hard as they walked past.

“Let’s take another five points from Gryffindor for lateness!” He taunted, vanishing as I pushed myself up to my knees, my breathing wheezy, hard.

The little bastard had threatened me, winded me.

I was still in that position when I heard a meow, Mrs Norris was coming and Filch would find some excuse to turn me into Umbridge and I did not fancy any more detention.

Wincing I pulled myself up, it taking me a few steps, retrieving my bag and wand from the floor and heading back towards the Common Room, hand on my side, sure a rib was at least cracked.
But I decided in that time not to tell George, Neville, Katie, anyone about the altercation.

Draco Malfoy would get his payback in due time.

And I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone getting in trouble, expelled at the rate Umbridge was going.

Instead I plastered a smile on my face as I entered the Common Room, making a deal with myself that I would visit Madam Pomfrey in my free lesson in the morning.

But letting Leanne draw me, face still worried, into homework she was struggling with, again not leaving the circular room until past midnight.


In the confusion I wasn’t sure if Leanne had actually apparated into the hoop or had spun and fallen, either way it earned a lot of sniggers at her shriek and I moved to help her up.

Staring at hoops wasn’t exactly how I’d wanted to spend my Saturdays, but there was progress.

By our fourth session the majority of the group had managed it, I’d done it three times, each of which seemed to be a fluke overall.

Maybe it was because there was too much on my mind, or maybe it was because the tutor was a complete idiot who wouldn’t shut up for five minutes to let us actually concentrate.

“Destination, Determination, and Deliberation!” he chimed, darting past me, “Imagine yourself in the hoop, spin slightly, imagine your body and mind there.”

By now he had earned a lot of nicknames, none of them polite.

“I swear on Merlin’s beard if he doesn’t shut the hell up...”

I really thought the reason people weren’t doing as well as possible was the number of us, there were forty eight students in sixth year, and all of us in one place led to conversations, definitely not the clear minds we needed.

I met Margaret’s, a Slytherins eyes, and rolled my own at her glare turning back to my hoop and glaring into the centre of it.

I was the hoop, I was in the hoop.

I felt that twist, my stomach squashing, eyes bulging and a loud crack.

“Very nicely done, perfect positioning! Let’s do everyone at the same time, all to their starting spots.”

The test was in May, long enough before the end of the year to let us ‘focus on our lessons’.

By now it was already early March, the year practically flying past so far.
My second to last which in itself terrified me.
And there would be no Fred and George next year, for the first time.

I was focusing on schooling as much as possible, still ahead with my work, spending far longer than I would like doing it.

Neville and I hadn’t risked meeting up since Umbridge had caught us, so that had opened up time, let me schedule a bit better.

George got two evenings of my undivided attention, if he left me alone all day Sunday to work without bugging me or forcing me to test products.
Walking around for two days with a black eye that was impossible to remove was not fun.

McGonagall was Mondays and Wednesdays for two hours, unless DA meetings fell on those days.

Tuesday I stayed up as late as needed, often with Aaron or Hermione, to catch up, since I had no class first thing Wednesday so could afford to lay in and skip breakfast.

My schedule was quite good, even getting Hermione’s approval.

But it was tiring, and although my grades were high I was beginning to run out of steam.

There was a cough, several people were in the hoops, the attempt was over and I hadn’t even tried, letting myself get caught up.

“Not to worry! It takes time to perfect it.” Twycross said, again practically skipping past me, “A few minutes for you to try alone and then we will do it as a group again, and keep thinking, Destination, Determination, and Deliberation!” Ryan mouthed the words along with him, he was doing well, managing to apparate the majority of the time, the first to do it successfully without splinching in the whole year.

Katie however was struggling, and growing frustrated, bright red by the end of the lesson.

“I just can’t get it!” She complained to me as we trailed out, moving to the grand staircase, “I’m doing everything he says all the time, I don’t even piss around like you guys!”

“You’ll get it dear,” Leanne drawled, patting her shoulder, “I’m not even that bothered, considering my birthday is two days after the test, what a joke.”

I smiled at them both; Aaron was in the same boat, his birthday June.

“What are we doing for your birthday actually?” Leanne turned to me, “That’s soon...what’s the date...” She pouted, thinking.

“It’s the third Leanne.” Dale said with a slight smirk, “And Amelia’s birthday is the eighteenth so... eighteen take away three is?”

“Fuck off Dale.” He lifted a brow, “And it’s fifteen days.” She spat, perfectly lined eyes narrowed.

“Well done.”

“You’re so annoying!”

The bickering continued and Katie drew back, pulling Ryan into Quidditch talk, whilst Aaron tried to break up the other two.

Irritated by the constant arguing I moved away, tired from my night with George, the stress of work in general. Sick of the constant comments by Slytherins, the threats.

Bellatrix was seeping back into my dreams. And Umbridge was pushing my buttons, nails torn to shred with holding back comments in her lessons.

In general I'd just had enough of a lot of things.
Although my mood varied from day to day, hour to hour I was annoyed at how miserable I was growing.

“Sorry.” I muttered, bumping into Annabelle, one of Cho’s friend and another who had managed to scrape her way into NEWT level potions.

“It’s fine,” She said shyly, “How are you finding it?” I shrugged,

“Sometimes I do it and then, other times nothing and I don’t get what I’m doing differently.”

“I’m totally the same, and the tutor is doing my head in.” I giggled, “What are Leanne and Dale arguing about?”

“Absolutely nothing as usual, you know how they are.” She nodded, eyes wide and a look on her face that irked me a little, “Well, I better stop them, bye, see you in potions tuesday.” She nodded, slipping through the hallway and leaving me a little uneasy.

Like she thought she was better than my friends.

“Knut for your thoughts? No...That doesn’t work as a saying does it?”

“Not at all Smithy, not at all.”

And with that I walked through the halls with the sanest Gryffindor I knew.


The newspaper was spread out, the property bit, several glaring up at me. “I don’t know George, which one is cheapest?”

“Money isn’t the problem.” He sat behind me, pressing his lips on my neck, making me squirm a little as his hands slid over my stomach and slightly upwards. “George don’t.”

“Yeah George.” Lee chimed in, tossing a small ball up and down, his homework left untouched at the foot of his bed. “It’s sickening enough as it is.” I chuckled, pulling one of the pages towards me, glancing down from the date, March Sixteenth to the images and details.

“I mean, obviously the Diagon Alley shop is the best place, in terms of business...but it’s the most expensive by far, three stories...would you rent it or buy it outright?” He took the paper gently.

“We’d probably have to rent for a couple of months, but depends how well it went.”

“You’ll do fine.” I promise; the pile of boxes larger than ever, growing in quantity and variety.

They were coming up with some truly exceptional things, and had pretty much sold out of Skiving Snackboxes, several small cauldrons bubbling along the flat wall to the bathroom to create more.

“You guys make enough now selling it around school. It’s a shame you can’t ship out with Filch and It here.”

Every mention of Umbridge, even indirectly earned a groan, Fred joining as he entered the dormitory with no knowledge what we were doing.

“Morning campers.”

“It’s the afternoon but alright.” I commented, stretching my legs, satisfied when my knees clicked and relieved the pressure. “Where were you anyway?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

George and Lee met eyes and before I had time to prepare myself and cover my ears I was met with a blaring chorus of “FRED AND ANGELINA SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” I winced, moving further away from my boyfriend.

A term we both used, even if we had never had that talk.

It wasn’t really like we needed it, we had sunk easily into the routine, even though there were still spontaneous moments like Valentines day had been, making me slightly fearful of my birthday.

And he was one of the only reasons I wasn't going insane.

My little unicorn gift was sitting on his pillow, now, and against my wishes known as ‘Horny’ thanks to a certain rugby loving friend I had.

“Hey!” I whined as George leant back, “Stop squashing my baby.”

“Yeah, don’t hurt little Horny.” I scoffed, screwing up a page and throwing it at Fred, hitting him in the forehead and cheering silently earning a glare and starting a paper fight.

“Whoa wait, we need this you pillock!” George shouted, keeping the page with the Diagon Alley shop in his hands safe. Fred ran out of steam fairly quickly, but I earned another groan when I pulled my Advanced Potion Making book out of my bag.

“Seriously? I thought you weren’t working today!”

“Just because you don’t do any work doesn’t mean I don’t...this all counts towards final NEWT results so it means if anything bad happens in the exams hopefully it won't affect grades that much... exams which are in eight weeks for you guys by the way!”

Lee had the grace to look terrified, whilst Fred and George seemed completely un-bothered, earning a frown but I dropped it, we had had the argument enough and I was sick of pestering them, taking on my ‘Hermione Persona’ as they called it.

They weren't bothered about failure, not when they had this plan.
I just prayed it would all work out.

After letting me read through the next lessons potion a couple of times George grew bored, leaning next to me, thumb rubbing over my exposed hip bone from my low jeans. I ignored it for a while, but the hand moved onto my thigh, gradually sliding in between my legs and up. “George.” I hissed lowly.

Fred fiddling with a Cauldron and Lee again tossing the ball up and down. “What?” He whispered, pulling my lower body closer towards him. “Stop it now.”

“Stop learning then.”

“Stop being a pain, I need to get my head around this, it's getting marked.”

“Ha, head.” I scoffed, closing the book and going to place it down, but he had already spun me onto my back, pressing his lips against mine.

“Eurgh, guys!” Lee complained, “I’m going down if you’re doing that.” George muttered a goodbye and Lee left, smiling as I mouthed him a sorry, dreadlocks bouncing as he met the first step.

“You can fuck off too Fred.” Fred turned, scrunching up his nose, and glancing back at the closest cauldron.

“That's rude...Keep an eye on that.” He grabbed a box, “I’ll get selling some of these don’t...” He grimaced, waving his hand in our direction, not needed to say more and leaving us alone.

“I’m so glad you three are the only seventh year boys.” I moaned, his lips already on my neck, “But...can we at least close the door please?”

“Ah, damn it Fred!” I giggled as he stood, walking awkwardly to the door and slamming it shut, jumping on the bed next to me, and pulling me over him. I had to brush the hair out of my face.

“You know I really did want to practise potions.”

“Really, more than this?”

“Debatable,” I teased, kissing his adams apple gently, his hand sliding down my back.

“I’ll make it less debateable,” With a shriek I was on my back, him hovering over me, struggling to undo the buttons of my jeans with his free hand, “Can you though?” I snorted, undoing them for him.

“And they say romance is dead.”

“If you want a birthday present you better shut the hell up.” I did, my breathing hitching as he kissed down my stomach, slowly sliding my jeans down over my legs. He glanced up and stopped, “What?” I asked, instantly paranoid by his smile that I was embarrassing myself, pulling a weird face.

“Horny is staring at me.” I glanced to the side, noticing my toy.

“Poor Horny,” I teased, leaning over awkwardly and placing it on the floor, going to reply when my jeans and underwear were torn off, replaced by hands and then his mouth in a way that made my heart stop.