In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 4: Nebula

Chapter 168: I Love You Just the Way You Are

HARRY:

The Gryffindor party was absolutely electric. Which was funny, in hindsight, because I knew only about half of the people in attendance had any idea what electricity was.

As soon as Dennis saw Angelina and Alicia reaching for my mum's record player, which had been safely stowed under a sofa after Dom the DJ had graduated, he raced up to his dormitory and returned with a stack of Queen vinyls he said he had received for Christmas. Colin helped him rig everything up, and soon enough, "We Will Rock You" was echoing through the common room. It caught on quickly even among the pure-bloods who had never heard the song before, and we were on our fourth repetition of the song when all four Beaters, current and former, appeared.

Lucy and Ginny slipped off with Fred and George immediately after the match to run to Hogsmeade for butterbeer and candy, but as soon as they returned, the party truly started.

Lucy grabbed two butterbeers and tossed me one. She locked eyes with me and, smirking, she blew gently on the lid of hers, and it popped clean off into her free hand.

"You're getting good at that whole wandless magic business," I remarked with a grin, twisting my own lid off and holding up my bottle in her direction. "Cheers."

"To magic?" she asked.

"To magic," I agreed, and we clinked our glass bottles together before drawing hearty swigs of the sweet liquid gold.

I was about to ask Lucy how she had actually done the little trick with the lid, but before I got the chance, Fred attempted to sneak up behind Lucy with a handful of ice clearly intended to go down her back. But even over the increasing volume of the party, Lucy heard him approaching and whirled to face him just in time. In a single motion, she drew her wand out from somewhere in her uniform and flicked it Fred's direction. He didn't even get the chance to blink before the ice cubes shot into the air and went directly down his pants.

Fred swore and began a frenzied sort of dance to shimmy the ice cubes out, his outburst attracting the attention of everyone around us, and Lucy looked exceedingly proud of herself as people began to howl with laughter.

"That's what you get for trying to pull a fast one on me, Weasley," she said with an impish grin. "I'm prank-proof."

"Oh, you're going to regret saying that," George said, coming up behind her and draping an arm around her shoulders as he chuckled at his twin's dilemma.

"Challenge accepted," Fred panted as he continued the frenzied stamping of his feet.

George grinned. "Exactly. You're going to have to watch your back, Cub."

"I've done alright so far," she replied with no shortage of smugness. "You're going to have to try harder if you want to successfully prank me before you graduate in June. After that, I'm free."

The twins exchanged a look, but neither said anything aloud so I wasn't entirely sure what they meant by it. Finally, Fred sighed with relief.

"You're a cruel witch, Lucy Diggory," he said, reaching forward to ruffle her hair fondly. "We've trained you well."

"That we have," George agreed, straightening up and tugging on her braid. "C'mon, Freddie, let's go bother our former captain and her rather smashing first mate."

The twins were replaced in a hurry with Hermione, who threw her arms around Lucy's neck and giggled more excitedly than I had heard in years.

"You really showed that old hag!" she exclaimed. "You should have seen the look on Umbridge's face when Dennis caught the Snitch and you were the one who set him up for it! I'm so proud of you!"