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DECEMBER BROUGHT WITH IT a miserable turn of weather. The wind was sharp and colder than ever, and the rain, which never seemed to stop pouring, was hard and sleety. The castle may have been damp and draughty, but Albany was grateful for the security of its thick stone walls as she watched the Durmstrang ship swaying in the heavy winds. She should have been paying attention to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but the howling gales outside were distracting, and she didn't particularly enjoy staring up at Moody for an hour. Of course, she should have known better than to drift off in front of him.

"Bronwen," the professor called on her gruffly, and she snapped her gaze forward again, jaw tight. "I certainly hope you don't find the clouds outside more interesting than the Unforgivable Curses. As a Triwizard champion, after all, you'd want to be prepared for anything."

Albany grit her teeth. Unless either of the last two tasks is dodging the Killing Curse, I think I can afford to zone out for two seconds, she thought bitterly. It was bad enough she still had to sit beside Faith for the class, who had yet to cease glaring at her routinely.

The end of her last class for the day couldn't come fast enough, as she faked attention while Moody droned on ominously about the three unforgivables. When the bell finally rang to grant her freedom, she jumped from her seat with haste, packed up her things and was the first out the door.

"Albany! Wait!"

Reluctantly, Albany slowed her pace as she hurried down the staircase, turning around to see who had called her. She and Carly were supposed to be meeting up with Fred and George to test out one of their new products; she didn't really have the time nor want to hold back and chat to people.

To her surprise, it was her roommate, Viola Richmond, and with her came Zoe and Phylis. Even more surprisingly, they approached her without Faith at their side; the four had seemed quite friendly with each other after Faith had stopped talking to Albany.

"Hey," Viola greeted her casually as they caught up with her. She was smiling a little sheepishly, and glanced back at the other two a few times, hands fidgeting. "Um, don't let Moody bother you."

Albany blinked at her, confused. "Er... thanks."

Viola blushed, and turned back to Zoe and Phylis; the three began whispering harshly to one another. Albany shifted her weight, scratching at her shoulder absent-mindedly as she waited.

Phylis stepped forward, clearing her throat. "Look," she said, and her smile fell a fraction, grey eyes genuine. "We wanted to — well, we wanted to apologise."

Viola and Zoe nodded seriously behind her. Albany stared.

"Wha— what on earth for?"

Phylis looked uncomfortable as she glanced back to the other two; Zoe nodded reassuringly and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Well — when we would hang out with Faith, she'd — er — she'd say stuff about you, sometimes," Phylis explained reluctantly, frowning. "And we would laugh, and agree with her — but it was wrong. We were wrong. You're not...."

She trailed off awkwardly. Albany bit her cheek; she figured Faith had been talking about her behind her back, but Phylis was describing it as a regular thing. Go figure, she thought, but then swallowed her bitterness and offered the girls a comforting smile.

"Hey, thank you for apologising," she said, and went to lay a hand on the blonde's shoulder, but didn't fully commit and gently nudged her instead. "It means a lot."

"We felt bad," Zoe spoke up from the back, smiling tentatively. She was a tall, broad girl, but very soft-spoken, Albany was only now realising. "Faith gossips a lot, and well — it would be hypocritical of us to talk bad about her, but we figured, well, if she says all this about other people, what's she saying about us behind our backs, right?"

"Like, we do gossip," Viola clarified, eyes wide and serious, "but we don't bitch. Faith bitches."

Phylis turned around to glare at the girl rapidly. "Careful, Vi, you're not far off," she warned.

Viola shrugged. "That's different, I was stating a fact," she argued, folding her arms. "Bitching is rumour-based." She turned to Albany, and gave a small smile. "We don't want to hang out with her anymore. We just thought we'd let you know that — well, don't be afraid to talk to us, if you want to. We've been sharing the same dorm for six years, and we've never really got to know each other."

Albany smiled warmly at the three. She was a little taken by surprise, to say the least, by this interaction, but it was the longest and most positive one she'd ever had with her roommates, so she wasn't complaining. She hadn't exactly been the most open or approachable person to them before; she might have shied away from or even looked down on the three girls if it had been any other school year. Somehow, sixth year felt different — she felt different. And in a good way.

"I really appreciate that," she said with a grin, glancing between the three gratefully. "Thanks for being honest with me. And I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance either."

"Come off it," Viola assured her, gladly returning her smile. "We're a pretty tight-knit group, so we probably look pretty intimidating."

And she was right — they had looked intimidating, before, but now Albany didn't feel even a touch uncomfortable in their presence.

"Besides, you had Faith," Phylis chimed in, "and now — I mean, not to pry, but it seems like you two don't get along anymore. So we thought you could use someone in your corner."

"Or some three," Zoe joked softly, and Phylis giggled at her.

"Really, thank you," Albany repeated with a broad smile. "It means a lot."

Viola grinned at her. "Well done on the first task, by the way. We were worried you were going to die."

Phylis's eyes grew at the mention, shining with curiosity. "By the way, what actually happened with that dragon? How did you—?"

"Albany! There you are!"

The twins had come looking for her in her absence, it seemed. The identical redheads bore their matching mischievous grins as they skipped over innocently, glancing between Albany and the other three girls.

"Haven't forgotten about our plans for this afternoon, have you, Allie?" asked Fred, voice sweet.

"Nope," Albany assured him with a smile. "Just talking to the girls—"

"Do you need her any longer?" George asked Viola, who shook her head with a giggle. "Excellent, we'll be taking her, then."

By "taking her", Albany had not been expecting to be picked up and flung over George's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, yet somehow that was exactly where she found herself not a moment later. George tore off into a bouncy run after his twin brother while Albany pounded her fists on his back, trying not to laugh.

"George Weasley, put me down this instant!"

She could hear his broad smile through his voice. "No way, Lionheart, you can face a dragon but not a piggyback ride?"

Albany rolled her eyes, watching the corridor floor speed past underneath her. "This isn't piggybacking, Gred, your shoulder is digging into my stomach," she complained, though a giggle slipped out as he made his next steps extra bouncy.

George pulled her from her shoulder to carry her bridal style within two strides, and he shot her a cheeky grin as she folded her arms, staring at him with playful indignance.

"Where are we even going?" she asked him, trying not to crack a grin.

"You'll see," he assured her, and wasn't even out of breath as he spoke, despite not having taken a break. He grinned down at her. "Just because you're late to everything, doesn't mean we have to be."

"Oi!"

The minute he began to rush down a staircase, however, she found herself clinging to him, throwing her arms around his neck for extra security. She swore she saw his smirk grow, though said nothing, her own face flushing more than she cared to admit.

Eventually, the twins began to slow down, and Albany was nearly disappointed as George dropped her; it had been a fun journey, though she'd never say it aloud. They had reached a far more quiet corner of the castle, though this time, Albany recognised the corridor immediately, ever before they opened the classroom door.

"You might recall this particular room," said Fred with a grin.

Albany smiled to herself as she took in the old classroom; it was still clean and tidy, though evidently had not been in use since they'd spent a week of detention renovating it. Memories seeped out of every dusty corner of the classroom. This was where she had first properly gotten to know the twins, after all, and then later brewed the unsuccessful Aging Potion with Lee that led to the three boys asking her to enter them.

A few things had changed since then. For starters, there were multiple open briefcases on the desks filled with all sorts of undoubtedly jinxed sweets and other tricks and gags. The floor Albany had spent so long mopping was spotted with suspicious burn marks, and a chalkboard had been wheeled to the centre of the room, intricate diagrams drawn on both sides.

"Welcome to Weasleys' Wizard Headquarters," George introduced her with a grand sweep of his arms. He seemed mighty proud of himself as he strolled into the centre of the room at his brother's side; the two of them acted like they owned the place.

She supposed they did, now that they'd left their mark on it.

"How d'you know we're not gonna get caught in here?" Albany asked, following them at her own pace. "I thought we cleaned this place up for a reason."

"Well, nobody ever used it," Fred shrugged.

"And we'd hate for it to go to waste," chimed George. "Besides, we were cleaning it as a punishment. If they vitally needed spare classrooms, they'd have them ready in minutes with magic."

Albany blinked. "I guess," she agreed, inspecting the contents of one of the briefcases curiously. "So these are all your products?"

"Yup!" Fred grinned at her. "Impressive, right?"

"Just don't put anything in your mouth," George advised. "Actually, maybe don't touch anything until we tell you to. A lot of this stuff is still very temperamental."

"Which is why it all needs testing," Fred added, and his eyes twinkled. "And we've still got half the school to prank."

Albany quirked an eyebrow. "You know, you two wouldn't make bad Slytherins," she remarked with a grin.

The twins exchanged glances. "Nah," they said together.

"Anyway, this is home base until we are forced to relocate," explained George with a grin. "We needed somewhere to store all our stuff, because McGonagall keeps checking the dorms and confiscating anything she finds. Plus, we have a giant chalkboard now!"

"And nobody uses this part of the school, so we won't be found for a while," Fred added happily.

"Don't you think this is a bit of an obvious hideout?" Albany asked skeptically. "McGonagall is literally the reason you know about this classroom."

"But what she doesn't know is that we've moved the business from the dorms," said Fred, tapping his nose with a grin. "We kept some stuff up there too, so she won't get suspicious."

"Aren't you two just masterminds." Albany rolled her eyes in amusement. "So where's Carly and Lee?"

"Lee isn't working with us today," Fred explained, and then frowned. "Though Carly should be here already. It's not like her to be late."

"Maybe she got lost," Albany suggested. "She hasn't been to this classroom before."

"We'll pick her up somewhere," George assured her with a smile. "She's hard to miss in a crowd."

Albany nodded in agreement; despite the girl's lack of height, her bushy red mane and bright personality stood out by a mile.

Steering clear of the product-littered desks, Albany approached the chalkboard curiously. There was a drawing of what looked like a large ball, filled with all sorts of shapes. Labels filled the entirety of the board, pointing at this and that with short bits of explanation and questions.

"This your current project?" Albany inquired curiously.

"Yep," replied George with a grin. "Did it up myself. Fred's done most of the actual magic and tweaking, though."

Fred reached for his pocket and pulled out a marble. Albany leaned in for closer inspection; it was the item from the diagram, which was clearly blown up in the drawing, as it was tiny in Fred's palm. Its exterior was transparent, the shapes inside dark and fluid.

"What is it?" Albany asked.

"The name's a work in progress," said Fred, rolling the marble around in his hand. "But it's inspired by Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder — supposed to create a big cloud of thick smoke. Safe to breathe, and odourless, but immune to spells like Lumos or Incendio."

"So like — a portable ball of darkness?" Albany snickered.

The twins weren't phased, simply smiling.

"In essence, yeah," George laughed. "It's not so much for pranking people as it is giving us cover to cause more chaos. Thought we could bring it with us today and see where it's at."

Albany nodded, watching Fred grab a multitude of other products to stuff the pockets of his robes with. "Carly's gonna find this so interesting, she loves seeing how these kind of things work."

"Don't you?" George asked, eyebrows raised.

Albany shrugged her shoulders a little sheepishly as they followed Fred out of the classroom. "Well — how does it work?"

Fred spun around and tossed her one with a mischievous grin; she panicked as she caught it clumsily from the air. It was cold and smooth in her hands, and felt rather delicate, like glass.

"Throw it at the ground with enough force and it'll shatter," he explained cheerily, and continued walking down the corridor. "Our latest issue was getting the smoke to expand almost instantly — the first few models were very slow."

Albany raised her eyebrows, silently impressed with the twins' work. They were much smarter than anyone gave them credit for; just because they didn't get top marks academically, most people seemed to dismiss their intellect. Really, they weren't far off from geniuses, as much as they joked about the notion. Not everyone had the creativity nor smarts to create such interesting little products. Between the two of them and Carly, Albany nearly felt a little dumb.

At least there was Lee...?

The twins led her on a short trek back across the school; the only downside of using the classroom as their hub was its distance from the livelier areas of the castle. They finally settled behind a corner down the corridor from the library, where a gang of Beauxbatons students were huddled tight, giggling and chattering. Instinctively, Albany searched the group for their curly-haired friend, though frowned as she didn't see her.

"Alright, Georgie, what's the plan?" Fred asked, glancing to his twin eagerly.

George eyed up the group with a professional gaze, then glanced to the products Fred had brought with them. "If we're testing the portable ball of darkness," he began, shooting a brief grin at Albany for the description, "I'd say it's a bit of a throw-and-go situation."

Fred nodded seriously, and then pulled what looked like a firework from the inside of his robes. "Peace Disturber?"

George hummed thoughtfully. "I'd rather see the Diabolic Dare Devils, if we're going with fireworks."

Albany raised her eyebrows. So it was a firework. She wasn't sure why she was surprised.

Fred swapped the firework for an angry red one with horns and a swishing tail. "Though I'm throwing in the Peace Disturber as well if this doesn't make a big enough bang."

"Alright, fine," George relented. "Albany, get ready with the darkness marble — Fred, on my count—"

"Wait!" Albany hissed, because she'd just spotted a familiar face carrying a stack of books towards the library. It wobbled precariously in the girl's hands, almost taller than she was. Dark curls sprung out on either side of it, pale blue robes beneath. "That's Carly."

"What's she doing?" Fred asked aloud, confused. "Well, it's about time she showed up. Hey, over he—!"

"Shut it!" hissed George, slapping a hand over his brother's mouth. "You'll give away our position!"

"Well, I'm not throwing fireworks over while she's still there!"

"I didn't say to!"

"Quit arguing!" Albany hissed at them, narrowing her eyes as she watched Carly pass the group of her fellow students. Their laughter had been reduced to snickers as their eyes followed the shorter girl, whispering to one another.

"What is it?" Fred asked her, peering around the corner curiously.

"Shh!" Albany snapped at him.

"Salut, Curly!" one of the blue-clad boys called over to the girl, in a tone that didn't particularly sound like a friendly greeting.

Carly stopped in her tracks, the stack of books in her arms swaying. Her expression was just shy of steely as she stared resolutely ahead, lips pressed together firmly.

"Allons, donne-nous un sourire!" the boy jeered at her, smirking maliciously.

"What are they saying?" Fred whispered.

"I don't know, but I don't like the sound of it," Albany spat, clenching her fists.

"Comment va ton petit frère?" one of the girls asked, voice sickeningly sweet.

The stack of books fell to the floor.

"Alright, fuck this," Albany spat, anger flaring. She grabbed the firework from Fred's hand viciously, and stepping out from the corner, threw it at the group with full force.

"Allie, that's not how fireworks work—"

The unlit firework hit the first boy hard in the back of the head, and Albany unleashed the only French she knew, venom dripping from her tone.

"Casse-toi, bitch."

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❃ a/n:

this chapter was all over the place and i hate cutting it off here because it's so mix and match but it was getting too long whoops

also i know my french isn't perfect, i did use google for bits and pieces i'm sorry :( if there's any mistakes let me know!

- A x