Aubrey always like having a clear direction and right now, her task was gathering as much intel as she could from Saskia. She'd genuinely intended to let Fred do all the work with Umbridge but it was Umbridge who wasn't cooperating on this one. Annoyingly, Aubrey kept running into the mean Defence against the Dark Arts' Professor and found herself losing more house points than her entire time at Hogwarts.

As she walked out of Divination with Lexy and Saskia by her side, one day, Umbridge had been walking past and malice had instantly crossed her face, "Ten points from Hufflepuff."

Aubrey had been horrorstruck, "Um, Professor, for what?"

"... Incorrect uniform," She'd sniffed, "Your skirt is far too short, it's absolutely appalling, the exact type of behaviour we should be punishing far more strictly."

With that, the woman had walked off and Aubrey had been so confused, she hadn't noticed Saskia hiding back in the classroom the whole time. This was only the start of things to come and over the next few days, Aubrey lost points for crimes she didn't even know existed. Apparently, Hogwarts didn't tolerate holding your boyfriend's hand, laughing too loudly nor wearing scarfs outside. By mid-week, Aubrey had truly had enough.

"Maybe you could use this," Fred suggested, as they sat together at lunch "Slip a fainting fancy into her tea for us, turns lemons into lemonade as you sometimes say."

"Yeah, that would be wicked if you could actually," George added, hopefully glancing down at Lexy who was engaged in avid conversation with Angela and Kenny, "So far it made me faint but not Fred and then one of the first years - "

At this, they exchanged a look as Aubrey's widened, "I'm sorry, hon, what?"

"They weren't really that much of a First Year..." George bluffed quickly, "Well, they were but that was before you told us not to..."

"Yeah, we test them on willing volunteers now," Fred assured her before leaning in, "On a less Umbridge note ... have you found out much from Saskia yet?"

Aubrey shook her head, "No, not really other than every time Umbridge appears, she runs away or hides which is so bloody helpful. Although something odd did happen, I mentioned I might need something to hit Umbridge with in passing and she pulled a bloody bat out of her cloak."

"Wicked," The twins grinned in time.

"And odd! Why would somebody carry a bat around with them like that?" Aubrey asked with vague horror, "Well, we can discuss it later - "

"About that," Fred said, "I might have to miss one of our meetings this week, Quidditch Practice."

With everything else going on, Aubrey had completely forgotten her boyfriend was part of the Quidditch elite, him and George making up one hell of a team. In that moment an idea occurred to her; if she and Fred were going to be a proper couple, they needed to do stuff outside of amateur sleuthing. Even if she preferred Football to Quidditch, it would be nice to see him practice.

"Are people allowed to come and watch?"

The twins nodded, "Absolutely."

A smile spread across her face, "Then I'll be there, sounds like fun," She turned to George with a mischievous grin, "I can see if Lexy wants to come down too..."

Fred sniggered into his pumpkin juice whilst George attempted a nonchalant shrug although his eyes did flit back to the blonde a few seats away, "I mean, sure if you can ... no obligation though but yeah, that could be nice..."

Even though it felt like she was betraying Hufflepuff, Aubrey agreed to wear Fred's Gryffindor scarf to the practice that Saturday. It had taken little persuasion to get Lexy to come along, the girl spending close to an hour getting ready before eventually deciding on her usual space buns. At last, the three girls set off to the pitches.

"This should be nice," Aubrey said, briskly walking ahead of the other two, "Seeing Fred being all ordinary, doing what he likes to do."

"Does that include you?" Lexy giggled, "Okay, I'm sorry but you should have seen that one coming."

"Honestly, hon, what has George done to you?" Aubrey's shoulder playfully collided with hers, the two girls laughing. Suddenly, Saskia collided with her other side, slamming the girls into a wall.

Lexy looked most horrified, glaring daggers, "What did you do that for?"

"I thought it was a game!"

After pulling themselves up, Aubrey explained that slamming people into walls was generally not a fun game to play and she fell silent again, happy to observe the other two.

"So, when will Fred see normal Aubrey though?" Lexy teased, "Reveal all your dirty secrets..."

"What dirty secrets? I have a spotless record, thank you very much!"

"To be fair, he was involved in your biggest one - "

"What was your biggest secret?" Saskia cut in, looking between the two eagerly. For a moment, Aubrey almost revealed the events of last year without thinking but managed to catch herself just as Lexy took over.

"Um ... Aubrey used to play the cello really badly ... she's very embarrassed about that," Lexy covered quickly. It was true, that was a great shame of hers mainly because of the number of times her Mum had tried to make her like it by describing Cellists as 'hip'.

"Huh, I thought it would be that you lied to him," Saskia mumbled, making the other two stop dead.

"Girl, what?" Aubrey asked, her lips parted in shock.

"It's just you said you told him you would wear his Gryffindor scarf and didn't."

"That's ridiculous..." Aubrey paused, her fingers gently grazing her bare neck, "Oh bugger it, I must have left it behind!"

"Fred won't mind, I'm sure," Lexy said but Aubrey was already heading back.

"Nah, I have to get it, he gave it to me especially," She called back over her shoulder, "You two go on, I'll meet you there! Promise I won't be long!"

It was times like this that Aubrey would have loved to still be in Fred's body mainly because he could run for miles whilst Aubrey was panting after only a few corridors of running. She'd promised not to be long but if her body couldn't physically do that, she supposed it wasn't her fault if she walked the rest of the day. The scarf was laid out on her dresser so Aubrey was able to retrieve it and return quickly.

She was almost outside, just passing the Greenhouse when a shrill, breathy voice speaking quickly entered her ears. Having heard it an annoying amount for the past few weeks, Aubrey recognised it immediately but was shocked by the sudden change of tone. Today, Umbridge wasn't telling anyone off, she sounded agitated more than anything. It wasn't right to eavesdrop but when it came to Umbridge, Aubrey's ethics were as murky as the Black Lake.

" - you must see it too, Pomona, tell me that you see it too!"

Aubrey stepped a bit closer, the back of Professor Sprout's crazy hair coming into view, "Dolores, I really am quite busy - "

"Pomona, you must answer me at once, I demand you tell me you see it as well!"

Professor Sprout sighed loudly, "Now, Dolores, if you want to talk to someone about faces from the past, I suggest you have a word with Professor Snape - "

"No, I won't talk to that vile man when he has been so unnecessarily rude to me."

"Uhm huhm," The sarcasm dripped off of the usually sincere Herbology professor's voice, "A helpful tip, Severus doesn't respond to criticism of his teaching all too well. But like I said, Dolores, I really am quite busy but I shall keep an eye out."

Umbridge gave no response and Aubrey quickly leapt out the way just as the angry teacher came storming out, her nostrils flaring the moment she saw Aubrey. Her mouth opened to speak but Aubrey was quicker, leaning into the door and giving a merry wave, "Professor Sprout, hello ... the essay on Nightshade is due in for Tuesday, right?"

"Oh hello, Aubrey, I didn't see you there," Professor Sprout instantly smiled, "And yes, it is although no doubt it will be excellent from you. I was a little worried last year, I will admit but you've really returned to form again now."

"Thank you," She replied, "I was going through some stuff but I'm knuckling down now. Well, thank you again, hon!"

Umbridge was still stood there, glaring angrily but she couldn't unnecessarily deduct points right in front of Professor Sprout so merely stormed off with her annoying mincy steps. With an overly toothy smile, Aubrey turned away and bolted down the hill before her shoes could be faulted or something stupid.

When Aubrey finally arrived at the stands, she was a little surprised to see the girls weren't alone. Across the other side of the stadium, a group of onlookers were sat, watching eagerly.

"What did I miss? How are the twins doing?" Aubrey asked, sitting down next to Lexy. It took her a moment to realise that Lexy wasn't smiling, her fingers gripping the bench so tightly they were bone white, "How nice, other people came to watch - "

"Heckle, they came to heckle," Lexy corrected with gritted teeth, "You know, I honestly think that is the sign of the worst kind of human. It proves that they are boring and completely unsporting."

Saskia leant around her, "Aubrey, I'm really worried she's going to kill them."

"Oh my God, it's a figure of speech, Saskia as I've told you like ten million times!" Lexy huffed with exasperation and Aubrey was sure she heard Lexy mutter something about bloody murder before pointing and folding her arms.

"Well ... " She glanced down at the twins who seemed to be doing well, "At least the twins seem to be doing well ... most of them do actually."

"The same can't be said for their brother though," Saskia laughed, pointing at a third redhead who must have been Ron,  untidily dived to the ground, almost sliding off his broom in the process.

"Saskia, stop heckling them, we came to be supportive not make him feel worse!" Lexy hissed.

"But it's so funny, he keeps almost falling off his broom!"

"Saskia, hon, stop laughing at them, it's very off-putting," Aubrey said firmly, Saskia promptly pressing her lips together under her instruction.

"HEY POTTER!" One of the Hecklers called from the other side, "How's your scar feeling? Sure you don't need a lie-down? It must be, what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing, that's a record for you, isn't it?"

"Now, he's not a Heckler at least," Saskia whispered, "Look at him being all nice and asking about Harry's scar."

Aubrey and Lexy exchanged a look, unsure of whether to explain or merely let the case of the possibly flirty Slytherin go. Fred noticed her in the stands and gave a wave before zooming off on his broom under Angelina's instructions.

She hoped with all their hearts that the team wouldn't let the jeers get to them but they were obviously having some effect. The next pass went even worse than the last one due to George accidentally sending a bludger so close to Alicia it almost knocked her off after Lexy cheered too loudly in an attempt to counteract the other spectators. Things went from bad to worse as Katie Bell got hit in the face with a Quaffle almost falling off of her broom. The jeers and boos from the hecklers only increased and Aubrey could see that twins movements were slightly stiffer than before, clearly keeping in a lot of rage. As a matter of fact, she was barely holding it together herself, gripping the edge of the seat so hard that her nails almost left a mark.

"This is fun, I'm having an absolute blast!" Saskia laughed cheerily as Ron let in yet another goal.

"I'm thinking of blasting something at the stand over there," Lexy murmured vaguely.

Neither of the other two replied, sharing a look of irritation. By now, the hecklers were chanting 'Gryffindor sucks' and Lexy finally stood up.

"Lexy, sit down - "

"No, they're bloody putting them off the game!" Lexy shouted a bit too loudly, "I'm going to go over there and I'll ... sock one of them in the nose if I have to!"

"Which will distract everyone even more," A faint smile spread across her face, "Actually yeah, let's go over there."

Saskia looked between them worryingly, "Are we going to start a fight? Aubrey, in fights, people fight, Aubrey, you do know that, right?"

"No shit," Lexy muttered, "Wait, Aubs, are you in?"

"I'm not fighting them," Aubrey replied coolly, looking up slyly from behind her eyelashes, "But I think I do have an idea of how to make them shut up..."

• • •

I probably should have mentioned this before but Lexy has a face claim now! Of course, you don't have to abide by it, imagine her as you pleased but if like me, face claims help you visualise, she has one now so you guys can see how I pictured her all this tim -  E x