Just For A Laugh [FredXHarry]

Rita Skeeter's Unearthing

I don't own Harry Potter in any way, shape or form. All that fun stuff belongs to JK Rowling

Harry was terrified. The Third Task was barely three weeks away, yet he felt so underprepared. Fred, George, Ron and Hermione had all been working tirelessly to prepare Harry for the Task, teaching him both defensive and offensive hexes, jinxes and other spells. They'd been sneaking into empty classrooms during breaks and lunches, sometimes even skipping classes to train (this was mainly Fred, Harry and George). Fred and George often brought food from the kitchens on weekends so that the five of them could train all day. It had gotten so bad that Professor McGonagall let them use the Transfiguration classroom, as she was tired of constantly walking in on them practising when they weren't supposed to.

As for Harry, he was exhausted. Hours upon hours of spellwork, research, lessons and homework had left him with barely any time to sleep. He was up until the early hours most nights, and often fell asleep in class. One such time was his current Potions lesson.

"Potter!" Harry jerked awake, nearly smacking Hermione in the face. "Is this lesson so boring and useless that you deem it an acceptable time to nap?" Snape snarled, his voice low and dangerous. Harry shook his head. "N-no sir." He stuttered, his voice rough from sleep. "Then what, pray tell, could be causing you so much trouble that it interrupts your beauty sleep, and forces you to pay back the time in my class?" Snape said, his lip curling. Oh, I dunno, maybe the deadly Tournament I've been forced to take part in, the Third Task of which is less than a month away, plus the fact that I'm competing against three other wizards that are several years older than me and more skilled? Harry thought angrily. On the outside, he forced his expression into a neutral, innocent one. "The Tournament, Professor. The Third Task is three weeks away." He replied honestly, not breaking eye contact with Snape. The potions master hummed. "Indeed, That would cause such horrible troubles on an arrogant mind. Detention, Potter. After lessons end tomorrow." With that, Snape walked away. Harry sighed and put his head on the desk. "It could've been a lot worse!" Hermione hissed beside him. "It's only detention, besides, you could use a break from training!" Harry huffed and lifted up his head. "Yeah, except I was hoping to spend my Friday night sleeping, not scrubbing cauldrons with a snake." He said angrily.

Breakfast the next day was not a fun appeal. Harry was sat with Neville, Ron and Hermione, all of which were talking about the amount of homework they had to do. "I don't know what you two are complaining about, I'm taking three more subjects than you both, one of which being Arithmancy!" Hermione exclaimed when Ron complained that he had too much to do. Harry huffed. "I don't know what you're complaining about, Hermione. I've got just as much as Ron has, then the Tournament, which accounts for all the work you're doing and then some." Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but closed it as Fred and George plonked themselves in the empty seats either side of Harry. "Hey, Harry!" Fred enthusiastically exclaimed from his left, kissing him atop of his head. Harry blushed and pulled Fred into a hug. "Hey, Freddie." He said. George turned to Hermione. "What was it you were going to say, Hermione?" He asked, but Hermione just shook her head. "Doesn't matter." She said. "Anyways, Harrykins. Heard you got a detention from old Snape?" Fred asked Harry. Harry, however, was saved from responding by the arrival of the post owls. Hermione got the Daily Prophet dumped into her cereal, and the twins each got letters. Hermione dropped a knut into the post owl's pouch before it flew off as Fred and George tore open their letters, a slight look of identical apprehension on their faces. "Blimey!" They exclaimed as one. "What?" Ron asked, leaning over the table to grab George's letter, who sat there in the same position, his hands outstretched as though he was still holding his letter, his mouth hanging open slightly. Fred hastily stuffed his in his robes. "Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed.
"What?" Harry made to grab George's letter, but Hermione slammed her newspaper on the table, making everyone jump. "For God's sake!" She exclaimed angrily. "Oh, really! Just tell me what the hell is wrong with you four!" Harry said, frustrated that he seemed to be the only one who didn't know what was happening. Ron gave Harry George's letter. His face looked grave. "Read this before you read that." He said, jerking a thumb in the direction of the newspaper that Hermione was now reading.