Deus Fax Machina

Incisions and Indecision

            'Have you seen the new decree?' Fred and George plonked down either side of Sophie at their favourite table in the common room. Sophie didn't know which twin had asked, she hadn't looked up from her remedial Astronomy charts, but she could hear the smile in their voice.

'No what is it?' Sophie scrawled a note about Pluto on one of the many sheets of parchments strewn around her.

'Teachers are no longer allowed to give students advice outside of their subject.'

'What? Really? Why are you smiling about that?' Sophie looked from Fred to George, both had cheesy grins spread across their faces.

'Well, in our opinion, that means we cannot be told not to do things which are outside of our classes.'

'You mean, you can't get in trouble for not going to classes you already don't go to?'

'You, Fax, are an incredibly perceptive woman.' Fred leant back in his chair, still wearing his smile. Sophie raised her eyebrows and went back to her charts.

'Where's Lee? I thought he was joining us?'

'Well,' George snorted, Sophie looked up. 'The latest educational decree already has dear Lee in detention.'

'Detention! Already?'

'He took it upon himself to explain to the High Inquisitor herself why she couldn't tell us not to play exploding snap in her class. In her own words.' Fred placed his hands behind his head.

'You guy were playing snap but only Lee got detention? Not you two?'

'Lee wasn't playing.' George's smile faded slightly.

'So, let me get this straight, you and Fred were playing exploding snap, in Umbridge's class, which you hardly even attend, and Lee stood up for you, and he is now in detention.'

'When you say it like that...'

'It was funnier at the time.'

Sophie rolled her eyes.

'We better get on with orders. What do you need?'

Fred pulled a scroll of parchment from his bag and lay it across the table.

'By the way, if Mercury is in retrograde Venus won't be having an effect on the sixth house.' George leant in to point out Sophie's mistake. Sophie felt as though she was going to blush.

'Oh, thanks.' She scratched out her mistake. George was still leaning against her.

'It'll be the third house.'

Sophie correct her chart, when she did George moved away again. Sophie's heart sunk a metre, the effect George was having on her was not getting and less.

After an hour of organising orders, and Fred and George correcting Sophie's Astronomy homework, there was a long list of Skiving snack box items which needed to be made.

'These are selling really well, but I haven't seen them being used?' Sophie looked at the names of students on the order forms.

'We hear the third years are getting a lot of use out of them. Umbridge's classes have seen a mass vomiting bug, and an entire class of Hufflepuffs manged to get simultaneous nosebleeds before class.' George was scribbling ingredients they would need onto another sheet of parchment.