my best friends brother - fred weasley

xxviii. umbridge

"Come on, she won't even notice." Fred begs, following me and the others to our Defence Against the Dark Arts class. 

"No! Do you know how much trouble we'd get in? There's no way I'm sneaking you into my class." I turn to face him, walking backwards. 

"Think of how fun it'll be. You can't stop me anyway." He teases, marching in front of me and into the classroom. He takes a seat next to my usual spot and pats the seat, signalling for me to join him.

"Fine, but I'm not the one taking the blame." I sigh. 

"I didn't say you would." he replies. 

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Ron says, staring at his brother, sitting on the table in front of us. 

"I've come here to learn, Ronnie. Not to chat." Fred leans over me, poking his tongue out at his brother. 

"Woah, I don't want to be in the middle of a Weasley war right now." I push him back, putting myself between the pair.  A paper crane flies above our heads, gathering the attention of everyone in the class. It flies around for a second longer before it combusts, crumbling on the desk infront of me.. 

"Good morning, children." Umbridge says, her wand pointing at where the crane was. She starts moving forward, waving her wand to write on the chalkboard placed at the front of the room. 

"Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations! O-W-L's, Owls! Study hard and you will be rewarded, fail to do so and the consequences may be... severe." She squeaks, now at the front of the room, staring us all down, with a wave of her wand, textbooks are sent to each student. I feel something hard poke my side, I ignore it until it pokes me over and over again. 

"Stop it, Fred." I whisper, swatting his wand away.

"I'm bored." He groans, poking me again, I grab his wand and put it in my robe pocket. He pouts and sits back, his hands resting on the table. 

"Professor, there's nothing in here about using defensive spells." Hermione raises her hand to get Umbridge's attention. 

"Using spells?" Umbridge scoffs, letting out a high-pitched laugh.  Fred nudges my side with his elbow. "I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in the classroom." Umbridge begins to argue with Hermione, and then Harry. 

"Psst. Clover. Psst. Hey. Clover." Fred kicks my shoes under the table, I turn and glare at him. 

"What?" I hiss, staring into his eyes. He gives me a goofy smile and says nothing, I huff and try not to smile while rolling my eyes but I can't help it. "I'm trying to focus."

"Am I too distracting?" He gives me a wink as he smirks.

"When you're kicking me you are."

"Well I'll stop kicking you then and we'll see how focused you stay." He nods, almost like he knows I'll fail instantly. I roll my eyes and turn back to the fight that's breaking out. 

"Detention! Mr. Potter!" Umbridge screams at Harry. 

"So according to you Cedric Diggory dropped dead on his own accord?" Harry snaps back, a few students turning to face me. 

"Mr. Diggory's death was a tragic accident." Fred picks up a strand of my hair and starts twirling it around his fingers, I try to keep my eyes away from his. 

"It was murder! Voldemort-" Harry yells back at her. 

"Enough!" She shrieks at him. "Enough." She says, quieter. "See me in my office, Mr. Potter. " She turns back around to keep teaching the lesson. I copy down the notes on my parchment, still ignoring Fred playing with my hair. That is, until he starts blowing on my face.