March To The Sea - George Weasley ✔️

- 1 0 5 - SKIVING SNACKBOXES

LORELEI WATCHED IN AMUSEMENT AS FRED STUCK UP THE SIGN SHE MADE THE NIGHT PRIOR. They were proudly tacked on the Gryffindor common room notice board.

Galleons of Galleons! Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings? Like to earn a little extra gold? Contact Fred and George Weasley or Lorelei Calypso, Gryffindor Common Room, for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs. (WE REGRET THAT ALL WORK IS UNDERTAKEN AT APPLICANT'S OWN RISK)

Lorelei laughed at the words they made her write. "Hermione's going to blow a fuse," Lorelei said with a grin. She pulled her robe on top of her skirt and shirt. Looking over at George, she walked to him to fix his unruly tie.

Fred snorted while watching the pair. "She'll get over it. Come fix my tie, Lor," he teased. Lorelei rolled her eyes and complied. Once both boys were as good-looking as they were going to be, she locked arms with them to go to the Great Hall before Hermione came down.

Once at breakfast, she told Angelina along with the twins that Friday would be Quidditch trials for the Keeper position. She had booked the field the night prior with McGonagall. She saw Harry sitting down a few seats down and went to relay the message to him. Afterward, she found Katie as well. The whole time she was speaking to Katie, she could feel eyes on her. She turned and saw the pink puff staring at her with a smug expression.

When she sat back down, she heard Ron say, "I wish Fred and George'd hurry up and get those Skiving Snackboxes sorted..."

Fred grinned and leaned over to Ron. "Do my ears deceive me? Hogwarts prefects surely don't wish to skive off lessons?"

Lorelei leaned over on George who kissed the side of her head. "All right, love?"

"Fine, tired, is all," she replied shooting him a smile. She could still feel Umbridge's eyes on her.

Once Ron shoved his timetable toward Fred, Fred grimaced. "Fair point, little bro. You can have a bit of Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like."

"Why's it cheap?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Because you'll keep bleeding till you shrivel up, we haven't got an antidote yet," said George, grabbing food for Lorelei before getting some for himself.

Lorelei glared at all the food on her plate now. She hadn't wanted all this. Ron said, "Cheers, but I think I'll take the lessons."

Lorelei glanced down at her own schedule miserably--Herbology first.

"And speaking of your Skiving Snackboxes," said Hermione, eyeing the twins and the mermaid beadily, "you can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor notice board."

"Here we go," Lorelei mumbled moodily, stabbing her toast with a fork. Fred glanced at her wearily.

"Says who?" said George, looking astonished.

"Says me," Hermione answered. "And Ron."

"Leave me out of it," said Ron hastily.

Fred grabbed the fork from Lorelei's grasp shaking his head with a grin on his face. "Toast, dear, no fork needed. Anyways, Hermione, you'll be singing a different tune soon enough," Fred said with a grin. He began buttering a crumpet for himself and Lorelei who glared at the food piling on her plate. "You're starting your fifth year. You'll be begging us for a Snackbox before long."

Hermione asked why. George sniggered. "Fifth year's O.W.L. year," George answered pushing Lorelei's plate forward with narrowed eyes. Lorelei grumpily took a bite of the murdered toast she had stabbed.

"So?" Hermione questioned.

"So, you've got exams coming up," Lorelei said with a grimace.

Fred nodded happily. "They'll be keeping your noses so hard to that grindstone they'll be rubbed raw."

"Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up to O.W.L.s," George added. "Lorelei forgot about them with all that mass murderer stuff going on. She nearly killed herself over them before giving up. Ah yes... Tears and tantrums... Patricia Stimpson kept coming over faint..."

"Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember?" Fred said reminiscently.

"That's because you put Bulbadox Powder in his pajamas," Lorelei said knowingly.

"Oh yeah," Fred said, grinning. "I'd forgotten. Hard to keep track sometimes, isn't it?"

George sniggered and continued staring at the three fifth-years who looked ready to jump off the Astronomy Tower. "Anyway, it's a nightmare of a year, the fifth. If you care about exam results anyway, Fred, Lor, and I managed to keep up our spirits somehow."

"Yeah...you and Fred got, what was it, three O.W.L.s each?" Ron asked. "Lor, what was it? Four?"

Lorelei glared and threw the half-eaten crumpet at Ron's face. He glared right back. "Yep," said Fred unconcerned. "But we feel out futures lie outside the world of academic achievement."

"We seriously debated with Snuffles whether we were going to bother coming back for our seventh year. I have no motivation to be here. I'm ready to solely focus on the Order," Lorelei told them truthfully. Harry's eyes widened at the thought of Lorelei not being around, but he realized he had two more years without her. "But I came back for you three."

"Yeah, Fred and I weren't going to because now that we've got--" George paused glancing at Harry who gave him a warning look about the money. "--now that we've got our O.W.L.s. I mean, do we really need N.E.W.T.s? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early, not on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat."

"We're not going to waste our last year here, though," said Fred, looking affectionately around the Great Hall. "We're going to use it to do a bit of market research, find out exactly what the average Hogwarts student requires from his joke shop, carefully evaluate the results of our research, and then produce the products to fit the demand. Lorelei is going to do all the heavy lifting with money and statistics."

Lorelei groaned at the thought. George laughed from beside her but stopped when she sent him a glare.

"But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop?" Hermione asked skeptically. "You're going to need all the ingredients and materials--and premises too, I suppose..."

Fred glanced at George who glanced at Harry who so happened to drop his fork to hide his red face. Smiling a bit, Lorelei said, "Ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies, Hermione."

"C'mon Georgie, if we get there early we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Herbology," Fred said motioning for the pair to follow him.

Lorelei stood up holding George's hand as they followed a happy, skipping Fred.