In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter VIII: The One Who Keeps Me Here

When the world's on fire, all I need is you
I don't always think to say it, but it's true
When I just wanna disappear
You're the one who keeps me here

"World's on Fire"
Mike Shinoda

LUCY:

A deal was a deal, and I soon learned that the Weasley twins took their deals seriously. The next couple of weeks passed in a whirlwind of activity. Between classes, homework, Quidditch practice, haunted house preparation, and learning defensive spells, I barely had time for Cedric's birthday present --- I was glad I had started it early that year. Just the same, I still had some finishing touches to do the night before his birthday after the twins decided we had enchanted enough masks for one night.

"Aren't you going to bed too?" Fred asked when it didn't look like I was following suit.

I shook my head. "Cedric's birthday is tomorrow, and I'm not quite done with his gift yet."

"Oh, can we see?"

I shrugged and reached into my bookbag, pulling out the scarf I was nearly finished knitting. "It's not the best, I know, but I hope he likes it anyway. See, I have the maroon for Gryffindor, the black for Hufflepuff, and the yellow that's more or less a part of both." I reached into my bag and grabbed the Golden Snitch patch that had just arrived that morning. "Once I sew this on, I'm going to try to figure out how to make the wings flap." I showed them the other end of the scarf, that already had a large white C patch sewn onto it. "I'm debating whether or not I should enchant this patch too. I was thinking about making it flash between red and gold as a joke, but I kind of just like the white."

"That's brilliant," the twins said in unison, kneeling to see the scarf. "How long have you been working on this?"

"I started over summer," I admitted, "but I had to redo most of it because it was just in Hufflepuff colors. I really thought I was going to be a Hufflepuff, you know."

"Well, thank Merlin you weren't," Fred laughed. "Then we'd have no reserve Quidditch player and we'd be all on our lonesome trying to put Halloween together."

"You two are the ones doing all of the work anyway," I pointed out.

"Not true," George protested. "Whose idea was it to make all of the masks scream at the end?"

"Mine," I sighed. "Fine, you two are doing most of the work."

"Well, next year, don't expect a free ride to glory," Fred teased. "You'll be a second-year. We'll even put you in charge if you want."

"Oh Merlin, no," I giggled. "I'll still help, but that's a lot of responsibility. Besides, nobody can keep you two in check anyway, me least of all. I'm a bad influence."

"You seem to be the only one who thinks that," George retorted. "Our mum's written half a dozen glowing letters about how we've barely gotten in trouble this past month, and Percy blames it all on you. Horrible influence, indeed."

"Yeah, little does she know that it's all because we're too overworked for mischief," Fred said with a dramatic sigh.

"They think you've managed to force us to clean up our act," George added, mock-scowling. "Our mum and Perfect Prefect Percy worship the ground upon which you walk."

I laughed. "Do they actually?"

They nodded emphatically.

"They think you're an angel come straight from heaven, sent to show us the error of our tomfoolery."