Off the Pitch

Chapter 23: Masters Of Mischief

It was the last day of March. Oliver, the twins and I waited for the common room to clear up before quietly sneaking out through the portrait hole. We had been researching the right spell ever since that day at the library, going through stacks and stacks of books. If only the boys showed that much interest towards their studies. 

"Everything clear, then?" Fred asked: "It shouldn't take us longer than an hour... Oliver, once you're done with the dungeons, you can come and help me. Millions of damn paintings on the upper floors..." 

We all parted ways and took our spots; Oliver in the dungeons, George on the first and Fred on the third floor. I settled myself in the stairway that leads to the dungeons; that way I'd be able to warn Oliver if Filch was headed back to his office. 

The castle was terrifyingly quiet at night, I found. Every once in a while you could hear Peeves knocking something over or see a rat run in the corridor, but other than that, it was dead silent. 

I walked around a bit, trying to get the time to pass. I wasn't really scared, but I'd be lying if I said that the nightly wandering around didn't make me feel a bit uneasy. 

Ten minutes later Oliver jumped up the stairs from the dungeons with a big grin on his face. I raised my brows at him and whispered: "All done?" 

He nodded in response, and we headed to the staircase and passed George on the second-floor corridor, then climbed to the fifth story to help Fred – in half an hour, we were back in Gryffindor Tower, standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. 

"Last one", George grinned and cast the spell; the lady looked confused for a second, then furrowed her brows at us. 

"Thgindim ta ereh gniod uoy era tahw?" she asked, and we all burst out laughing. George shook his head and paused to think for a second, then grinned and said: 

"Eye s'regit." 

The Fat Lady nodded and let us into the common room. We tiptoed up the stairs and went into our dorm rooms, excited to see the others' reactions the next day. 

The prank had caused more chaos than we'd thought; everyone was speaking about it at breakfast the next morning. Some people were laughing, others looked mildly annoyed. A lot of students were trying to figure out what was going on, but none of them seemed to succeed. 

The situation only got worse as the day went on. Due to the protection charms we had used, not even the teachers were able to break the spell – the corridors were filled with the nonsense babbling of the paintings, and only the twins, Oliver and I knew how to put a stop to it – but we weren't planning on doing that for a long time. 

I allowed one more study-free day, purely so that we could wander around the corridors and laugh at people's bafflement. As we arrived in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady that evening, a crowd of people were waiting in front of the entry to get in – but, of course, no one knew how. 

"What's the problem here?" Fred walked through the crowd and tried his best to keep a straight face. 

"We haven't been able to get in all day!" a second-year student squeaked. All of the others nodded in agreement. Some people were cursing. 

Fred raised his brows, stepped closer to the portrait and leaned in. He stroked the edge of the frame three times and the portrait swung open. Everyone looked baffled, but didn't question it any further. George could barely hold back his laughter. 

"Brilliant!" he gushed after everyone had climbed into the common room and we were the only ones in the corridor. Fred had of course whispered the password, but no one suspected a thing. 

"That was a bit mean", I laughed: "They're going to be doing that tomorrow, all of them." 

"That was the point", Fred winked. 

And I was right: next morning, the word had spread that stroking the paintings three times would open the entryways – which, of course, didn't actually work. 

"Snape's furious", Oliver came up to us at lunch. He had a huge grin on his face. 

"Bloody brilliant!" George laughed and high-five'd with Fred. 

"Agreed", I said and then cleared my throat: "Um– do you think we should maybe put a stop to it, though? I think we've caused quite a lot of mischief, already." 

"Amelia, Amelia..." George shook his head slowly: "Getting second thoughts, are we?" 

"No!" I said quickly: "Well, kind of. I mean, it's starting to get a bit much, isn't it? No one's able to get to their common rooms and–" 

"Eh, don't worry about that", Wood swung his hand: "I'm pretty sure the Slytherins had a great time sleeping in the corridor last night." 

Fred snorted. I rolled my eyes: "Yeah, but still... besides, everyone already knows it was us, thanks to Fred." 

"What?" he grinned: "I wasn't going to sleep in the corridor." 

"You do have a point, though", George nodded at me: "Maybe let's just enjoy the rest of the day and we'll break off the spells before curfew." 

I nodded in agreement, and so did the others. It made me feel a bit more relieved; the last thing I wanted was for grandma to find out. 

No such luck. 

We had just broken off the incantation when McGonagall marched into the Gryffindor common room. 

"You four, up in an instant", she commanded, her expression severe. We followed her quietly into her office. "This morning me and the other teachers received quite a few complaints", she gushed, "saying that students had to sleep in the corridors last night." 

Fred looked like he was about to burst into laughter. I kicked his shin under the table. 

"Then I heard someone accusing the four of you." 

It was a question, I could tell, but I didn't know how to answer. George stepped in: "Who?" 

I felt like punching him – the twins were awfully unhelpful in situations like this. 

"Not relevant", McGonagall raised her brows: "I am interested, though, in hearing whether this accusation is true." 

"Maybe", Fred said mischievously. We all turned to look at him, dumbfounded. 

"Mr. Weasley, are you confessing to doing this?" McGonagall asked, not quite believing it herself. 

Fred shrugged: "No point in lying, is there? It was us, professor." 

She turned to the rest of us, as if to confirm Fred's statement. We all nodded. Grandma shook her head and sighed: "Should have guessed." 

We stared at her in silence. It was quite amusing a situation, but I tried to keep a straight face. McGonagall didn't even look angry anymore. 

"Detention", she said: "For a week, all of you. You can go." 

We looked at each other in disbelief and got up. That was easy, I thought to myself. We made to leave, but she stopped us at the door. "No more of these pranks, please", she tilted her head, then smiled: "Although I did find it quite impressive."