stardust ⋮ george weasley

sixty-six :

S I X T Y - S I X

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With winter exams fast approaching, the Hogwarts library was filled with students, despite it being a Saturday afternoon. Adeline had claimed a table near the center of the room early in the day after grabbing a quick breakfast in the Great Hall, and Estelle, Melanie, and Ophelia had began slowly joining her throughout the day.

"Do the professors all hate us?" Ophelia complained loudly, resting her forehead against the wooden table. Her Herbology essay sat untouched beside her, and her textbook hadn't even been cracked open yet. "Are they getting together just so they schedule all our exams and essays at once and kill us?"

"It's always like this during right before winter holidays," Estelle answered as she dutifully worked on a Potions essay. "They want to squeeze every assignment in before they let us out on a holiday."

Despite her attempts to concentrate on her studying, Adeline eyed a table of Ravenclaws nearby. Their heads were gathered together as they whispered among each other and shot distasteful looks in Adeline.

She then turned back to her friends and, with an uncomfortable look on her face, asked, "Can...can we move tables? Preferably somewhere more hidden."

Melanie took a closer look at the table that Adeline was eyeing, and her face scrunched up, repulsed. "Are they seriously reading the Daily Prophet?" She asked in a disgusted voice before turning back to her friends. "What on earth are they printing now?"

"It's pretty much just the same thing in every article," Adeline mumbled, turning her attention to her Potions notes. "It's all just stuff about how I belong in the St. Mungo's mental ward and how people shouldn't trust a word I say."

Adeline had only two reasons she was even still getting the Daily Prophet: To keep up with whatever crazy move the Ministry was going to pull and to scour the real estate section, waiting for a place to open in Diagon Alley for George and Fred to move the joke shop into after graduation.

The group had to pass by the table of Ravenclaws in order to get to the table, and Adeline tried to avoid their gaze as she did. However, out of the corner of her eye, Adeline couldn't help but notice Ophelia subtly move her hand and a small object falling in one of the messenger bags leaning against a chair at the table.

Once they were a little farther away, Adeline hissed, "Did you just drop Fred and George's color bombs in their messenger bags?"

"They deserved it," Ophelia responded as she turned back to glare at the group of friends, not wanting to deny her actions in the slightest.

"And plus it's not like they can trace it back to Ophelia," Estelle added. "They don't explode immediately, and half the school has their products anyways."

A few seconds after the group of girls settled in at the hidden library table, the color bombs then exploded everywhere. The screaming teenagers were now covered in bright orange and purple dye, and even though Adeline felt a little guilty that a lot of their notes and essays appeared to be damaged, she couldn't help smile a little in satisfaction.

The four girls settled into the table, and minutes later, Adeline was already furiously scribbling something on a piece of parchment paper, but it didn't seem to be relating to any of the courses she was taking.

"What class are you taking that requires you to take so many notes?" Ophelia asked, leaning over to try and get a better look at the paper Adeline was still writing on. "And so intensely, at that?"

"I'm scribbling out every little note I can about the stuff we practiced in D.A. the past few meetings," Adeline mumbled, the sounds of her furiously scratching quill nearly overpowering her voice. "I don't know when we're going to have the time to sneak off and practice together, Estelle, but I want you to have as much as you can to practice on your own."