Reaper's Heir (Book 1)

Chapter 9

As Christmas approached, snow blanketed the courtyard, and the air grew colder. Midterms had been hard, but not as difficult as I had been expecting. Apparently, all the extra studying with Daphne had been worth it. I breathed cold air in through my nose, feeling like I'd just inhaled some of Petunia's overbearing peppermint tea that she saved specifically for bothersome guests. Hagrid dragged a massive tree across the courtyard and into the castle, briefly pausing to wave.

"Maeve!" I looked over to see Fred and George coming toward me.

"Hey!" I waved at them, waiting until they got closer to me to continue, "Shouldn't you two be getting ready to leave?"

"Change of plans," George said, brushing snow off his shoulder. "Our parents are going to Romania to visit our brother Charlie."

"He's studying dragons there." Fred chimed in, pulling out his wand and flicking it to create a snowball.

"You have a brother that studies dragons?" I repeated in awe.

"Yes, he's much more fun than Percy," Fred said with a wink. I snickered. While the twins certainly didn't hate Percy, they made no effort to hide the fact that they thought he was a stick in the mud.

"So how was detention?" George asked.

The grin dropped from my face. "Professor Snape made me dust and reorganize the entire potions classroom and then he made me do it all over again because it wasn't clean enough. And then, he made me write lines about how I wouldn't interrupt anymore quidditch games, no matter what."

"And have you had your detention with Professor McGonagall yet?"

I shook my head. "She keeps delaying it. She keeps saying that 'important' things are coming up with Professor Dumbledore that she needs to take care of. Maybe I could figure it out if you were willing to let me look at your map again." I said pointedly. George shook his head in a silent 'dream on' gesture. I looked over at Fred, who had been strangely quiet once my detentions had been brought up. He was repeatedly throwing the snowball he had created earlier up into the air and catching it with his wand. "What are you doing?"

He caught the snowball again, finally looking at me. "Do you want to help us charm snowballs to hit Professor Quirrell in the back of the head?" Mere minutes later, the three of us were sneaking behind hedges, watching Professor Quirrell hurry across the courtyard. He seemed put off by the cold and snow. George raised his wand and conjured a snowball, muttering a spell that sent the icy projectile flying into Quirrell's turban. Crying out in surprise, he turned, but we had already ducked out of sight. We waited a minute before peering back over the hedge. Professor Quirrell had started walking away again. Fred joined his twin in the spell this time and I watched as a barrage of snowballs went flying after Professor Quirrell again. As he started walking towards us, yelling again, Fred and George stood and took off, forcing me to spring to my feet and chase after them.

I sprinted through an archway after the twins, dodging around students and ghosts that were singing christmas songs. Decorations had been put up, the walls lined with garland and the torches occasionally flickering red and green. I hadn't noticed that Fred and George had stopped until I almost crashed into them, stumbling back just in time. Fred shook his head at me, "You've got to keep up, Maeve."

"You're both taller than me," I argued, panting from the run. How were neither of them not breathing harder? Flying around during quidditch couldn't be that much cardio, could it?

George chuckled, looking back the way we'd come, "It doesn't look like he followed us."

"What trouble are the three of you getting into this time?" I looked over to see Hermione, wheeling a cart full of luggage. I shared a look with the twins, unsure of what to say. Admittedly, I hadn't talked to Hermione since Halloween and honestly wasn't sure what she thought of me. She seemed to dislike slytherins in general, so I tended to stay away from her.