The Potter Twins and the Half-Blood Prince {6}

14. Disrupt and Divide

"No kings, no queens, no justice, no peace. Dig deep and see the government is lying" - Don't Wait, Neck Deep

Riley found me in atop the Astronomy Tower half an hour after Draco's shock arrival at Slughorns's party; bearing comfort and a bottle of Firewhiskey he had stolen from the kitchen. Thus began our night;  once a promise of light-hearted fun away from our love lives, now a night of drunken rambling. 

Once back at the Burrow, Harry reveals to Ron and I that he followed Draco and Snape after the altercation in the party; both of them seem confused when I don't jump to his defence like usual. 

"So Snape was offering to help him? He was definitely offering to help him?"

"If you ask that once more," says Harry, "I'm going to stick this sprout --"

"I'm only checking!" Ron says. We're standing alone at the Burrow's kitchen sink, peeling a mountain of sprouts for Mrs Weasley. Snow is drifting past the window in front of us. 

"Yes, Snape was offering to help him!" says Harry. "He said he'd promised Malfoy's mother to protect him - and, that he tried to get Tessa's mother to do the same, but she refused - he said he'd made an Unbreakable Oath or something --"

"An Unbreakable Vow?" Ron asks, looking stunned. "Nah, he couldn't have...Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," says Harry. "Why, what does it mean?"

"Well, you can break an Unbreakable Vow..."

"I'd worked that much out for myself, funnily enough. What happens if you break it, then?"

"You die," says Ron simply. "Fred and George tried to get me to make one when I was about five. I nearly did too, I was holding hands with Fred and everything when Dad found us. He went mental," says Ron, with a reminiscent gleam in his eyes. "Only time I've ever seen Dad as angry Mum. Fred reckons his left buttock has never been the same since."

I scoff, and Ron gives me a wild look. "Of all the things we've said, that's what makes you stop sulking?"

"I'm not sulking!" I retort. "Passing over Fred's left buttock --"

"I beg your pardon?" says Fred's voice as the twins enter the kitchen. "Aaah, George, look at this. They're using knives and everything. Bless them."

"I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months' time," Ron says grumpily, "and then I'll be able to do it by magic!"

"But meanwhile," George says, sitting down at the kitchen table and puts his feet up on it, "we can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use of a - whoops-a-daisy!"

"You made me do that!" says Ron angrily, sucking his cut thumb. "You wait, when I'm seventeen - "

"I'm sure you'll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills," Fred yawns. 

"And speaking of hitherto unsuspected skills, Ronald," says George, "what is this we hear from Ginny about you and a young lady called - unless our information is faulty - Lavender Brown?"

Ron turns a little pink but does not look displeased. "Mind your own business."

I pout dramatically, turning away from the sink. "Why do Fred and George get to mind their own business, but Harry and I have to watch you and Lavender suck on each other's faces all day long? You know public displays of affection don't automatically make you a good couple."

The words slip out before I can stop them, causing Harry's mouth to hang open. 

"Well, you're one to talk, Haylee!" he says, his pink face going slightly red. "You're the queen of relationship dramas!"