- CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX -

19 0 0
                                    

The Triwizard Winnings

Emmie, Juniper, Fred and George got off the carriage as it arrived at Hogsmeade station and boarded the train. They walked past Ron, Harry and Hermione's compartment on their way to finding their own and noticed Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle lying unconscious in the doorway.
Emmie laughed, "what's happened here?"
"Looks like the Furnunculus curse," said George, "yeah that was me," Harry raised his hand, "and -" George started, "Jelly-Legs," Ron said, "I did that one."
"Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor," Fred spoke.
The boys kicked, rolled and pushed the unconscious Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle out into the corridor and then came back into the compartment and rolled the door shut.
They sat down and Juniper left again, probably to find a compartment full of boys, "bit of a mare we've had," said George, "what happened?" Hermione asked, Fred hesitated, then said, "you remember that bet we had with Ludo Bagman at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win but Krum would get the snitch?"
"Yeah," said Harry and Ron slowly.
"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."
"So?"
"So," said Fred impatiently, "it vanished, didn't it? By next morning it had gone!"
"But - it must've been an accident, mustn't it?" Said Hermione.
George laughed very bitterly, "yeah, that what we thought at first. We thought if we wrote to him and told him he'd made a mistake he'd cough up. But no, ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."
"In the end he turned pretty nasty," said Fred, "told us we were too young to gamble and he wasn't giving us anything."
"So we asked for our money back," said George, glowering.
"And he refused," said Fred.
"But that was all your savings!" Said Ron.
"Tell me about it," said George. "Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling, hasn't got two galleons to rub together, and you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"
"How?" Asked Harry.
"He put a bet on you, mate," said Fred, "put a big bet on you to win the Tournament. Bet against the goblins."
"And this is why they're banned from betting now," Emmie leant over to Hermione, "sounds like that's probably for the best," she laughed.
Harry pulled open his trunk and took out a drawstring bag, his Triwizard winnings.
"Take this," he said as he thrust it into George's hands.
"What?" Said Fred, looking flabbergasted.
"Take it," Harry repeated firmly, "I don't want it."
"You're mental," said Emmie as George tried to push it back at Harry.
"No, I'm not," said Harry, "take it and get inventing. It's for the joke shop."
"He is mental," Fred said in an almost awed voice.
"Listen," said Harry firmly, "if you don't take it, I'm throwing it down the drain. I don't want it and I don't need it but I could do with a few laughs. We could all do with a few laughs. I've got a feeling we're going to need them more than usual before long."
"Harry," said George weakly, weighing the bag in his hands, "there's got to be a thousand Galleons in here."
"Yeah," said Harry grinning, "think how many Canary Cream's that is."
The twins stared at him.
"Just don't tell your mum where you got it... Although she might not be so keen for you to join the Ministry any more, come to think of it..."
"Harry," Fred began but Harry pulled out his wand.
"Look," he said flatly, "take it or I'll hex you. I know some good ones now. Just do me one favour, okay? Buy Ron some different robes."

- Princexiero xx

Bumblebee (A Fred Weasley Fanfiction)Where stories live. Discover now