raison d'être

3.3

The weeks went by in a scheduled blur. Every day, Y/N would wake up to the sounds of Angelina and Alicia talking, along with Katie, who they had just recently gotten to know from quidditch; eat breakfast with the girls while Fred, George, and Lee planned their pranks for the day; go to more lessons; have dinner with the girls; go to the library to do work with Hermione - George always managed to find her on her walk over and the two would talk about the latest rumors going around the school; then go to the common room, where she was bombarded by the twins' incessant pestering for her to join in on their next prank, not to mention the pathetic attempts made by Lee to woo Angelina.

"For the last time, no," she said, not once taking her eyes off her homework. The twins were planning on lining Snape's cauldron with an explosive powder after he had called them "inept." "If I get into any more trouble my parents are going to kill me. They were on my ass about it all summer."

"You're just the lookout. You wouldn't even be involved in the actual prank," Fred tried to convince her. "You could tell them you were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"More like I made the wrong friends at the wrong time," she muttered.

"Ouch, Y/N," George said with a teasing smile. "That was harsh."

"You know what's harsh? Trelawney's divination homework. What the hell am I supposed to do with tea leaves?" she asked exasperatedly. She pinched the bridge of her nose and slammed her book shut. "I give up! I can't do this anymore."

She slammed her head into the table in front of her - she had been sitting on the ground, making it easy to do so. Angelina pulled her up by the shoulders and rubbed her back reassuringly.

"Here, I've finished mine," she offered, sliding the parchment over to her.

"I am not excited for divination," Katie said, watching Y/N sympathetically. Katie was a first year, meaning that she had gotten a front seat to what she would probably have to deal with in the following years.

"You know what would make you feel better?" Fred asked.

"Please don't say a prank," she grumbled.

"A snack?" George offered instead. He gave a slight shrug to his twin, who warmed up to the idea instantly.

"Butterbeer?" Fred asked.

"Hot chocolate?" George asked instead.

Y/N nodded at George, who immediately got up and looked at the others. They all shrugged at one another before getting up as well; Angelina helped Y/N to her feet.

"To the kitchens we go!" George cheered, slinging an arm around Y/N. He did his best to cheer her up and managed to succeed after pretending to trip over himself in front of the Fat Lady. "There she is!"

Y/N shook her head in amusement and watched as he pulled a worn out piece of parchment from his back pocket. They had discovered the map with Fred during a detention with Filch the previous year. It had been a large help in the success of so many of their last-minute escapades and pranks.

"We won't need it," Fred said, glancing back at the others. Aside from them, no one else knew of the map's existence and it seemed he'd like to keep it that way. "Besides, we have the route memorized."

"True," George shrugged before handing the map to Y/N, who stuck it in her back pocket. "Just in case we need to run."

"You'll leave me behind if we get caught?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"If you're slow? Definitely."

After a couple minutes of angry whispers, a crash with a suit of armor, and a chase with an angry Mrs. Norris, the group of seven reached the fruit painting by the Hufflepuff dorms. Lee walked over and tickled the pear, causing the painting to open up, and walked right in. The rest followed and they were soon greeted by a myriad of house elves, all asking what they could offer the students.