Rebel Rebel (A Fred Weasley fanfic)

8

"I'm telling you, Fred, she's strange. Really strange. I mean, she talks to Snape for Merlin's sake."

Fred had been listening to Ron prattle on for about ten minutes now. What he was prattling on about, he honestly wasn't sure anymore. He was just staring blankly at his younger brother.

"Who's strange?" George asks as he joins them at the table with Angelina.

"Stevie," Hermione says with a roll of her eyes, "And Ron, all she was doing was listening to Snape. He was giving Flitwick her grade predictions."

"Bet that went well," Geroge snorts.

"It did, actually." she shrugs, "He says she's probably going to get an O."

Now that, that gets Fred's attention, "An O?"

She nods, "He seems rather impressed with her...I wonder if she's as good in her other subjects."

Fred isn't listening anymore. He's too busy looking over at the Ravenclaw table. It was only the first day back after the holidays and he hadn't really had a chance to talk to Stevie yet but over the holidays, they had been in almost constant contact through letters. Poor Errol was exhausted.

"She wants to be a Healer," Hermione goes on to say and Fred nods absentmindedly. He could see that.

George nudges him, "Have you got the stuff?"

"What? Oh, yeah I do."

"I'm going up to the common room to get my bag," Angelina says, "Anyone want to come with?"

George stands while Fred continues to eat his breakfast, "I'll meet you."

Once they're gone, he looks at Hermione and his brother again, "So you spoke to her?"

The third-year hides her knowing smile, "Not really, no. We only really saw her at Christmas lunch. Saying that, I did see her come out of the library a couple of times."

"The library?" Ron screws up his face, "During the holidays?"

"She just kept to herself," Hermione finishes, "She seems nice."

Fred nods, "She is."

~~|~~

"Sorry, sorry! Could I just-I'm sorry, was that your foot?"

Stevie's fellow students grumble and glare as she rushes by them.

It was the changeover between classes and she was nipping to the bathroom before History of Magic (she knew that Binns wouldn't let her go). But, the closest bathroom was the one on the second floor...Myrtle's bathroom.

The bathroom was apparently out of order but Stevie knew that there was one toilet that worked and honestly? She didn't want to trek to the other side of the school.

Myrtle was the ghost who resided in the bathrooms. She mostly spent her days peering out the windows into the school grounds longing to be out there but if you caught her on a bad day, she could be rather volatile.

With that in mind, Stevie peers around the door, seeing that it's seemingly empty and thinking that she's safe, she heads for the working stall that's at the far end of the bathroom.

"Well, well, well,"

She lets out a quiet shriek, hand covering her mouth as she spins around, seeing Fred and George stood on the other side of the bathroom with a bubbling cauldron between them.

"What do we have here, Freddie?" George asks, "Is Miss Stevie bunking off of her classes?"

"I still have time before the bell," she glares at them, "Besides, I think I should be asking that question, don't you think? This is the girl's bathroom."

"Are you going to report us?" Fred scoffs, "Besides, we know that nobody comes in here. I don't know why though, it's lovely."

Hering the sarcasm, Stevie rolls her eyes, "Don't let Myrtle hear you say that."

"Too late," George says as the pair go back to their cauldron, "She's already gone off in the huff."

She doesn't want to know what he said to her...but she does want t know what they're brewing up in there.

"What are you making?" she asks, standing on her tiptoes to try and catch a glimpse of the potion.

"A potion," George grins and she rolls her eyes again.

"I see that," she takes a look at the three jars that are scattered around them; Sneezewort, Lovage and Scurvy Grass, "Are you making a Befuddlement Draught?"

The two of them pause as Stevie steps closer.

"Or is it the Confusing Concoction? They both use the same ingredients but it all depends on the way you stir it."

Both of them look rather impressed and Fred realises that Hermione was right. She did know her stuff.

"Beffudlement Draught." George answers.

"And what are you planning on doing with it?"

"I don't know if we should tell you that," Fred twists the jar of Lovage open, "Given that you're friends with a Prefect. What do you reckon, George?"

"You're putting too much of those in," his hand freezes where he's about to dump the leaves into the cauldron, "And you need to chop them up before you stir them in."

Fred raises an eyebrow as Stevie pushes her way past his brother, taking the leaves -that they'd clearly stolen from Snape- from him so she can do sit down and do it herself.

"Now," she dumps them in the cauldron, "What are you doing with it?"

"I still don't know if it's a good idea to tell you, Stevie," George shakes his head, "You might run off and tell Lawson."

"You think so lowly of me. I'm hurt, Fred. Hurt. And although I know that Ribh would positively love to get the two of you in trouble, I wouldn't."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

She looks up at them, "I guess you're just going to have to trust me."

Fred raises an eyebrow. He'll admit, he's rather taken aback by her willingness to help him and George with their prank and George, happy with her answer, returns to sit down across from her, peering into the cauldron as she prepares to add the Sneezewort, "You're going to need more of this."

His face falls, "Really?"

"I'm afraid so," she nods, "But I believe that it grows in one of the patches behind the Herbology greenhouses. Unless you want to risk stealing from Snape again."

Fred and George look at one another, having a silent conversation before George gets up once more, "I'll go fetch some."

"Alright," Fred agrees and once his brother is gone, he takes his spot across from Stevie.

For a while, it's silent between them except for the bubbling cauldron and Fred finds himself watching the Ravenclaw as she peers into it every now and then.

"We're going to slip it into people's drinks," he speaks after another few moments, "The potion I mean."

"Why?"

"Just to see what happens." he grins widely with just a hint of chaos in his eyes.

"Always gotta cause some trouble, don't you?" Stevie asks with a matching grin.

"Always, Nicholson."