Of course, the Weasley twins were not able to escape the consequences of pranking Professor McGonagall, even if she was not their intended target. It was just their luck that they landed themselves in a week's worth detention, their task for the first session was writing a lengthy essay on how to use charms appropriately, especially during class time. Neither one of them found themselves to be overenthusiastic to start, but Fred was too distracted to even think of what to write down. Instead, his mind was on Eleanor Ross, and her gesture he witnessed before she left the classroom.

"George, I'm telling you," Fred said in a low whisper, "she winked at me. I saw it with my own two eyes. She looked right at me. She wanted me to see her do it."

George shook his head. "You're full of it. You wish she winked at you."

"Well, then can you explain what happened back there? You saw what happened. She completely dodged that balloon. It should have exploded as soon as it touched her. But it bounced right off her. She must have known that we were going to do something. But how could she anticipate when we were going to do it?"

"Messrs Weasley," McGonagall's voice interjected, interrupting their conversation as they looked up. "You know the rules of my detention. No talking. Focus on your essays or you'll be here all night."

"Yes, Professor," they both chimed in and remained quiet as she returned to the back of her classroom, preparing for one of her lessons. But only a couple of minutes later did George initiate the conversation once more.

"I think you're just reading into the situation too much, Freddie. Or maybe you've gone mad, madder than usual."

"Alright then, how else do you explain that every single one of our pranks have failed when she's the target? They also end up hitting someone else. That hasn't happened with anyone else we've aimed for."

When George couldn't counter with an excuse, Fred grinned in triumph. "Exactly, Eleanor Ross is not as innocent as she appears. She's been playing us for fools this entire time."

"You two have already accumulated a week's worth of detention with me, " McGonagall called out to them without bothering to look up from what she was doing, " unless you wish to spend more quality time with me, I suggest you stop talking."

Even the threat of additional detentions was not enough to deter Fred at the moment as he picked up the conversation once more.

"We need to figure this out."

George shot him an incredulous look. "What do you mean 'we'? We have plenty of other students to prank in the castle. You're the one getting worked up over one person."

"You are involved just as much as I am. If we let one person outsmart us, it could lead to our demise. Besides, you're my twin, you have to back me up. It's the rules."

"RUBBISH!"

Regret washed over George's face as soon as he realised that he had yelled out and once again, attracted the attention of Professor McGonagall. Only this time, she made her way over, to where they were seated.

"Separate."

She did not wait for them to do so on their own as she removed her wand and with one wave, she set George sliding off to the left and with another wave, she sent Fred to the right. The conversation came to an end, but George knew that Fred's fixation on pranking Eleanor Ross was far from over. Twin rules or not, they were eventually going to figure it out or it would drive one or both mad.

Eleanor was unsure of what had possessed her to wink in the direction of one of the Weasley twins. She would never describe herself as overly confident to do such a thing, but it left her with such a rushed feeling that she was struggling with a single stitch of her knitting. She had promised Cedric that she would devote some time to the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team before the start of the season. So, she found herself sitting in the stands with some yarn, her wand, and one of her favourite knitting needles.

In the background, Eleanor could hear Cedric yelling away at the team, whether he was catching someone daydreaming on their broom or calling out a flying formation. She would glance up every so often to make sure everyone was still on their broom, and to make sure that the team hadn't turned on Cedric just yet. But between the distraction of her own thoughts and Cedric's voice, she was finding it extremely difficult to knit, leaving her only more frustrated.

Eventually, she threw her head back with an exasperated sigh, only to look down and see Marnie making her way up the stands. Normally, it was a battle to get Marnie to venture outside to a quidditch match, let alone to sit to watch only a practice. Curious as to what brought her best friend outside, Eleanor abandoned her knitting at the time and turned her body as Marnie made her way over.

"So, Heidi can't put up with my supposed snoring, but she'll listen to Cedric yell all day?" Marnie scoffed as she took a seat beside Eleanor. "What a bloody hypocrite."

"And what exactly are you doing out here right now?" Eleanor asked. "I have to practically force you to come out here during a match. I have dragged you by your robes numerous times and now you are here out of your own free will? Are you feeling ill?"

"I didn't come out here to watch any sort of quidditch practice. I actually came out here because I figured you would be here, and I have some important information that involves you."

"Information involving me. What about?"

A grin spread across Marnie's lip before she placed her chin in the palm of her hand and let her elbow come to rest on the top of her thigh. "Curious, are we?"

"Marnie- "

"Alright, alright. Well, it just so happens that I heard your name being discussed at the Gryffindor table earlier today."

For a moment, Eleanor froze for a second, not even daring to blink. All she could think of was her stupid action of winking at one of the twins in McGonagall's class. They had probably told everyone in the Gryffindor House and more than likely, she had become a story to laugh at. One of her hands travelled up to her face, where she covered her eyes and scolded herself for being a complete idiot. They had probably labelled as a failed attempt of flirting.

But had it been flirting? Had she intentionally winked at one of them with such thoughts or was it out of triumph that she had dodged one of their pranks?

"Wh-what were you doing around the Gryffindor table?" she asked, hoping to steer the topic into a different direction.

"Just browsing," Marnie answered.

"Browsing Gryffindors?"

"Ellie, stop trying to change the subject. You're asking all the wrong questions. Don't you want to hear what they were saying about you?"

Visibly paling, Eleanor looked out at the Quidditch pitch. "Not really."

"Well, too bad," Marnie said, "I'm going to tell you anyways. It was the Weasley twins, they were talking about you. You must have done something to catch their attention. Anything you want to tell me?"

Preferring her own death over exposing herself, Eleanor shook her head. " I have nothing to tell. I don't know why they would be discussing me."

"Maybe it's because you're a total catch. I mean, come on, you're probably top five out of the girls of our year. That's something to talk about. And if we're being completely honest, they're not bad to look at either."

"I'm not having this conversation, Marnie. I highly doubt the twins were talking about me in such a way. My name probably came up in conversation because I was there when Professor McGonagall was turned pink. That's all, nothing special about me."

Despite Eleanor's own words of being nothing special, Fred believed the opposite. After suffering through what felt like an eternity of detentions with Professor McGonagall, the twins had earned back their freedom and were hoping to use it in order to expose the secret behind Eleanor Ross and her avoidance of their pranks. While George blamed it on good luck, it was harder to convince Fred of such a thing and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

It was one late morning, a break between classes that Fred and George discovered Eleanor sitting by herself. Where her two best friends were held no concern to the twins as they only saw a perfect opportunity in the making. She had taken up one of the window seats, a textbook in her lap as she read for a possible upcoming class, while her hands were preoccupied with her knitting. For a moment, they watched as she effortlessly stitched together whatever she was working on, before she took a second to turn to the next page.

"Alright," Fred said, turning to George, "she's over there."

George rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the update. I hadn't noticed the entire time we had been staring in her direction. I thought we were admiring the architecture of-"

"Focus, George. Now, do you have the dungbomb?"

The time had come and Fred was ready as George handed over the dungbomb. Seconds later, it rolled down the corridor, headed right for her feet and just as they had hoped, it rolled until it reached her feet. With such a prank, there was absolutely no way around it, in just a second or so, the dungbomb would go off and she would be dusted in the horrid smell of flatulence. And at first, Fred was as delighted as George, knowing they were finally going to get the job done, but as he glanced up to catch Eleanor's reaction, his smile faltered.

Guilt was hardly something the twins felt during a prank, mainly because the majority of them were considered a light-hearted nuisance. Every so often, if someone became justifiably upset, they would swallow their pride and apologise, but so far, Eleanor was still in her own little world, completely unaware of what was about to happen. And even in that moment, Fred felt the feeling of regret settling in.

Regret pulled him enough that he took a step in the direction of where Eleanor sat, only to jump out of it when George spoke beside him.

"What is going on?! Why is it not going off? We need to get out money back for those, they're duds!"

And before either of them could take another step or say another word, Cedric appeared, approaching Eleanor. The twins could only watch in silence as the dungbomb went unnoticed as Eleanor looked up from her book. The two spoke for a couple of minutes before Eleanor collected the majority of her belongings to leave with him.

But it was only after they had ventured down the corridor and Eleanor realised she had left her textbook behind. It was Cedric that ran back to retrieve it for her and just as he reached the spot, the dungbomb went off, casting him in a cloud of stench.

Immediately, Eleanor ran back to help her friend, only to catch sight of Fred and George, who remained still in their own state of shock. She waved her hand in front of her face to rid of the smell, before asking Cedric if he was alright. Cedric's only response was gagging loudly as he hurried down the corridor, leaving Eleanor to look back in the direction of the twins.

Fred found himself unable to move as she approached them.

"Why am I not surprised to find you two behind this?" she said folding her arms over her chest. "Although, I have a feeling that dungbomb wasn't meant to go off on Cedric, was it?"

Mimicking her actions, Fred placed his own arms over his chest and lifted his chin up. "That's right."

As her gaze met his, Fred could see a slight smile begin to form at the corner of her lips before she peered down at her shoes. But suddenly, Eleanor took a step towards him.

"Can I let you in on a little secret?" she whispered, looking up at him again.

Fred swallowed but he and George both leaned in out of curiosity.

"It's never going to happen," she told them before taking a step back. "Oh, and one more thing...enjoy another round of detention, gentlemen."

Confused by such a statement, Fred turned to George and George turned to Fred, only for an ominous shadow to form behind them. They only had to peek out of the corner of their eyes to see Filch standing there.

"I should have known it was you two."

It was official, Eleanor Ross had officially lost her mind. After nearly making a fool out of herself by winking at one of the Weasley twins, she had once again been possessed by stupidity to challenge them further. She had been lucky to avoid their pranks and while it was unfortunate for those around her, she could only assume that eventually her luck would run out. And yet, there she was, actually approaching the twins and telling them that they would never get a prank in on her.

Throughout the day, whether she was in class or in the company of her friends in the Common Room, Eleanor relived the moment in the corridor. Since when had she ever been so bold to challenge someone, let alone the Weasley twins? However, at the same time, she couldn't help herself. There was some sort of excitement she was chasing whenever it came to approaching them. The idea that she had managed to escape their pranks left her with a sense of accomplishment, even if she wasn't doing anything to her own knowledge.

Then, of course, she couldn't help but let Marnie's bit of gossip get to her head either. At some point, they had been discussing her at the Gryffindor table and while she had initially believed it was over her failed flirting technique to get them off her back, Eleanor figured they had been discussing their next plan to prank her. It left her slightly disappointed that their only interaction came at the expense of possibly getting a hit on her.

"What am I even talking about?" she said to herself at one point. "Disappointed? Really, Eleanor? These are the Weasley twins you're thinking about here. Do you not remember one of them nearly stabbing you in the eye with their wand before you even started school? Well, I suppose that was years ago, but still, they haven't changed much since then. Look at them, their mission this year is to prank the entire school. It's not even a practical goal! They're wildly immature and you're not. That's not how you were raised, remember? Just let them carry on their way and you stay with your head low, avoiding them as much as possible. Eventually, they'll just move on."

That was the plan.

But that was Eleanor's plan, not Fred's plan by any means. In his source of desperation, Fred had no choice but to turn to someone for help. Someone that was not George or Lee, someone with a more logical sense behind their thinking.

"Are you two sure of what you saw?" Hermione Granger looked just as lost as the twins when they approached her initially, seeking advice. She was even willing to check them for a fever if they were coming to her for help.

However, as they explained their dilemma, no matter how many times Hermione rolled her eyes at their antics, she couldn't help but find herself puzzled as well.

"Yes," Fred sighed, "we're sure."

"Well, it is possible that she could come up with a counter charm or something along those lines. But for her to come up with it every time, it would mean she would be anticipating each of your pranks, so it can hardly count as luck, unless she's really lucky. I can only assume it's one of two things. You two are getting sloppy with your pranking technique or maybe, she's an actual Seer. I'm more prone to believing it's the first though."

"First of all," George said, "we have not gotten sloppy with our technique, thank you very much. And I do not think she's a Seer. Is that really the best you can come up with?"

Pursing her lips, Hermione narrowed her eyes at the two. "I still can't believe I'm having this discussion with you two. I should be happy that someone has learned how to outsmart your pranks, instead, I'm trying to make sense of it all. I don't know how she does it, but I like to think, you two have simply just met your match. Meaning, there is someone in this castle, who's always going to be one step ahead of you and right now, I'm applauding her."

With a laugh to herself, Hermione abandoned the twins, leaving the two to exchange looks with one another.

"It's not possible," George said with a shake of his head. "She can't always be one step ahead of us. We'll have to get her eventually."

"Yeah," Fred agreed, "we'll get her eventually. The question is how?"