I May have helped an Evil Wizard. (rewrite)

Spill the tea

The day after the potions incident. Harriet and Weasley were allowed out of the hospital wing and back into society. Something Harriet was grateful for because otherwise, she would have most likely committed murder within the next 24 hours.

Weasley was a horribly biased person and Harriet simply couldn't stand him. It was hard to believe he was related to the twins.

Speaking of the twins, Harriet was swept away into an empty corridor by two identical redheads.

"Let me guess," she said, bracing herself, "You're here to revoke the adoption and tell me not to hurt your brother again?"

The twins opinions were something she had not considered while giving Weasley the black eye and cut lip he was sporting. Did they hate her now?

"Actually," George said, "We were wondering what happened."

"It's not everyday someone gets into a fight with Ronniekins," Fred said.

"Only every second day," George shrugged.

"So we're curious. Spill the tea." Fred told her leaning back against the wall, hands in his pockets.

"Well..." Harriet began, her mind whirring. How did she tell these guys that Weasley was an arse without getting on their bad side. He was their brother, as hard as that was to believe. 

"Well?" The twins asked.

Harriets mind was on the verge of short circuiting. Had they spoken with Weasley already? What had he told them? Would they believe her when she told the truth? How close were they? What should she say? What happened if they didn't believe her? She had never seen them angry before. Would they get angry?

Fred and George exchanged glances. Harriet looked as if she was going to hyper ventilate. Maybe talking to her together hadn't been such a good idea. She seemed like she felt trapped.

"Hey," George said gently, noticing how Harriet jumped slightly, "It's okay. We can all sit down and talk this through."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. Then on a whim he said, "We can all put our wands to the side, if that helps."

Her eyes flicked between them. Then, slowly, Harriet nodded. They all sat down in a small circle. Fred and George rolled their wands to the side. After some hesitation, Harriet's followed. 

"Ok," Fred said, carefully keeping his voice down. "Can you tell us what happened?"

When Harriet looked doubtful, George added, "We promise to hear you out and not to get mad." Fred nodded in agreement. 

"He... erm..." Harriet had no idea how to put it, "It's stupid." she said, fiddling with her sleeves.

"You punched him," George said, "It obviously meant something to you."

"That means it's not stupid." Fred stated.

"He said, that... erm...my friends were the same evil, deceitful, horrible people their parents are." Harriet said the last part quickly, her voice going up a few octaves towards the end.

"And, what happened before that?" Fred prodded softly. In the back of his head he was wondering what made Harriet so scared of pissing people off. A quick glance at George told him his twin was thinking the same thing.

"Our potion blew up." Harriet said fidgeting. 

"He tried to blame you, didn't he?" George said.

Fred chuckled at the wide eyed look Harriet gave them. "We know our brother. He hates admitting to his mistakes. In the end he's only going to hurt himself doing that."

"He's got the problem of living up to our older brothers." George scratched the back of his head. "Prefects, Head boys and a quidditch Captain. That can mess someone up."

"He's not a bad person," Fred said, "Not unless someone pushes him there."

"Not you," George said quickly at Harriet's alarmed look. "He's just been different since he got to Hogwarts."

"Anyway," Fred said, throwing the somberness aside, "Thanks for telling us what happened. Let's get something to eat. I'm starving!" He grabbed everyone's wands and handed them back to their owners.

Harriet still looked nervous. 

"Listen," George said, slinging an arm over her shoulders. "We're not mad at you. And we're sorry if we scared you. We're just worried, ok?"

Harriet nodded looking less tense.

"Now," Fred said slinging another arm over her shoulders, "We're going to show you a neat little place near your common room. You'll love it!"

"What is it?" Harriet asked quietly, curiosity and nerves piquing.

"The kitchens!"George grinned, pulling her along.

Half an hour later, Harriet and the twins were sitting in front of a large fireplace, sipping tea and eating more biscuits than Harriet had eaten in her entire life.

The twins were telling her a rather animated story of their latest prank, when an owl swooped in and dropped a piece of parchment onto her head.

"Ow," Harriet muttered, retrieving the thing from the floor.

She enrolled it and read:

Ms. Potter,

Detention will take place every day at 5 pm starting today. My office. Don't be late.

Professor Severus Snape

The Professor's handwriting was even more cramped on paper than it was on the blackboard.

"Detention, huh?" George said, peering over her shoulder. 

"Best get going," Fred said, "That's in half an hour and you do not want to be late."

"We never go." George shrugged. "I think you might want to be on his not-as-bad-as-you-could-be side. He is your head of house."

"You mean his good side?" Harriet raised an eyebrow.

"He doesn't have one," the twins said simultaneously.

"Ok," Harriet said, "See you around then."