The Girl Who Hid | George Weasley

ch 49 : the grand exit

You moved through your classes one day the next week, unable to contain the grin on your face since you knew what was to come later that day. You slipped into your seat that morning, trying to ignore the prying eyes of your classmates who kept staring at your left hand to catch a glimpse of the word carved into it.

You glanced down and noticed that your sleeve had ridden up slightly, so that the white scarred letters were partially revealed. You tugged down your sleeve and pulled out your parchment for note taking. When you looked up again, you saw Malfoy staring at your now covered hand with a heavy look in his eyes. His mouth was stretched tight into a deep frown. He began to look up at you, but you looked back down to your parchment to avoid his eyes.

The day wore by, and Harry told you at lunch that Sirius and Thelma had just written him back about what had happened, and they were furious. Harry started to read the letter to you, but you cut him off and panicked, "Harry, you must make sure they don't try to do something about this. It will put them both in harm's way. They must keep themselves safe and in hiding."

Harry had nodded vigorously at your concerns and promised to write them back straight away, not wanting Sirius and Thelma to be in danger either.

Throughout the day, you and Susan sat by one another and laughed at each other's jokes and little comments. However, the two of you remained silent in Defense Against the Dark Arts, not wanting to give Umbridge anything to use against you. Umbridge told the class the information you needed to know for that afternoon's OWL examination. You tried not to smile as you listened to this, knowing what the boys had planned.

While in potions, you and Susan were giggling as you tried to brew your potion. You were beaming at Susan as you were collecting some porcupine quills for the solution. As you were joking with Susan, you hadn't noticed that the sleeve of your robes had slithered back down your wrist, so that your entire left hand was exposed to the open air and the watchful eyes of your classmates.

You were confirming the number of quills needed when a hand abruptly grabbed your wrist. You jolted and looked to the side to find Professor Snape inspecting your scarred hand. He droned with his sharp voice, "What happened?"

Susan tried to discreetly cover her faintly scarred hand, but the movement caught his eye, and he saw the scars on her hand as well. He looked to you again and demanded slowly, "What happened?"

You stammered, "Um, I, uh, it was nothing."

Professor Snape tilted your hand as he snarled, "Nothing? These were deep wounds, Miss Potter. Now stop lying to me. What. Happened?"

You mumbled, "Um," as you looked around the room to find everyone staring at you. Your heart pounded in your chest as you were not sure how to respond. Would you get in trouble for saying that it was Umbridge who had done this?

Professor Snape seemed to notice the watchful eyes of the students too, so he hesitantly dropped your hand and flew to the front of the room. His cloak swished in the air behind him as he demanded, "Is no one done with this potion yet? What a pity you all are..."

You tucked your left hand underneath your desk and pulled your sleeve down again. You took some deep breaths before you used your right hand to add the quills to the solution. You kept your left hand underneath your desk the rest of the class period.

-

Later that afternoon, you and the other 5th years sat in the Great Hall, taking their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL examination. You were doing your best, but you weren't ready for this exam at all. Umbridge had left the students horribly unprepared for the exam because of the ministry's refusal to actually teach the students what they needed to know.

Just as you got to a particularly challenging question and had ran your hand through your hair worriedly, you had begun to hear a loud booming noise. Umbridge startled and began to walk towards the door to investigate. You discreetly covered your mouth to hide the smile spreading on your face in anticipation of what was to come.

The twins flew into the Great Hall on their broomsticks then, throwing fireworks and creating chaos. Your exam flew off your desk in the flurry of activity. Umbridge was startled as she watched the chaos unfolding. You were fighting back a grin as you watched the twins fly about happily.

You made eye contact with George. He winked at you with a cheeky smile, so you shot him back a beaming smile. Fred and George gave each other high fives just before they released their biggest fireworks that turned into a sort of fire dragon that chased Umbridge from the room.

As the troublesome twins flew out of the Great Hall, all of the students stood and raced out after them. You pushed out into the crowd and cheered with the rest of the students as Fred and George formed a W in the sky with their fireworks. George and Fred waved to the crowd before they both found you in the crowd. They both winked at you before they flew off, already having packed their things in preparation for their grand exit from Hogwarts.

You watched them fly off with pride. You knew you would miss them, but you had discussed it with George earlier that week, and you were so happy that they were able to chase their dreams and start their business. You also were so thrilled that they finally got to exact some of the revenge against Umbridge that they had been dreaming of for months. While you weren't a vengeful person in the slightest, you were glad that Fred and George had been able to take back some of the power Umbridge had stolen.

You turned to smile at Harry who had been near you in the crowd when you saw that he was on his knees and in pain. He must have been having another vision of Voldemort attacking someone. Hermione was crouched next to him with a worried expression, so you shoved past the crowd to reach him as fast as you could. When you finally dropped into a crouch beside Harry, it only took one word to make your blood run cold.

"Sirius."