"WHICH DO YOU THINK SHE WAS WITH?" Dev heard the whispers of a 4th year Ravenclaw as she picked at her food. It was Monday night dinner in the Great Hall, and it had been an extremely long day.

"Maybe it was both," Another smirked, causing the first to giggle loudly. "They do share everything, maybe they share girls too." The girl put an emphasis on the second 'share,' raising her eyebrows.

"Shut it, will you?" May barked, sending a deathly glare to that end of the table.

"Someone upset that their friend didn't leave a twin for them?" The second, ballsier 4th year challenged.

"Oh I'm going to—" May began to draw her wand, but Dev was quick to place a hand on her wrist.

"Leave it," She mumbled, shooting a small glare at the girl before lowering her eyes back to her plate.

Word had spread quickly that Dev was spotted running from the boy's Gryffindor dormitories on Saturday morning. People seemed to forget about the embarrassing ordeal of her falling, the gossip of her having spent the night there more interesting. It wasn't hard for people to assume she was in the Weasleys' dorm, and it had now become all anyone wanted to talk about. People were guessing about which one she was seeing, no one choosing to believe her or May when they insisted it wasn't like that.

Now, Dev was left wallowing. After May found her crying outside of the common room, she told her everything. May told her she couldn't keep punishing herself, and Fred for that matter, for his words. He didn't know he was doing anything wrong. She either needed to get over the feelings, or tell him. Dev promised she would do the former, saying they never needed to talk about it again. Both girls knew that wasn't likely.

As a few people began to disperse from the great hall, both twins made their way over to the table and sat down across from the girls. In the two days since the incident, Fred had confronted her about the rumor she was crying, to which she convinced him it was just from the pain of her falling. Now, he chalked up her sadness to the rumors circling about her.

"Hey," They greeted. Dev forced a smile and pushed her plate away. "People still saying things?"

"I don't think they'll talk about anything else for at least a week," Dev sighed. Their only saving grace was that the ball was the weekend after next, and people would soon begin to focus on that instead.

"We'll see about that," The boys spoke in unison, an identical smirk gracing their features.

"Oh no," Dev's eyes widened. "What're you two planning?"

"Nothing really," Fred shrugged, the smirk still present. In an effort to change the subject, he switched tones. "We've both asked girls to the ball, so people will realize it's just friendly between us. Hopefully that'll shut 'em up."

Dev had heard about them asking, of course. Fred had asked Angelina during a free period, sending her a simple note. George followed close behind and asked Alicia. It surprised no one that both girl's said 'yes' immediately.

"Or they'll just say you fucked me but I wasn't good enough to actually ask," Dev raised her brows, wiping the smirk off of their faces immediately. It was a rumor she'd already heard beginning to the swirl, the laughter already increasing.

"How embarrassing," Someone had whispered earlier in the hall. "Imagine shagging someone just to have them ask another girl to the ball within 48 hours."

Of course, the boys hadn't considered that outcome. The rumors were hardly effecting them in the same way. Both were well loved and sought after by girls, so hearing either—or in some rumors, both—had shagged Dev wasn't really groundbreaking. It was different for Dev, who didn't have anything close to that reputation. Of course, there was also the obvious double standard and stigma too. Even if she had slept with one of the boys, just because she wanted to, she'd still be shamed for doing so. No guy would ever have to worry about that.

"Well, we hadn't thought about it like that," Fred responded truthfully, causing May to snort.

"What're we supposed to do?" George leaned forward. "People are going to believe what they want to believe, and right now, that's that something happened that night."

"Don't worry about it guys," Dev shook her head. "Really, I'll be fine. People will find something else to talk about eventually.

"Well, speaking of," Fred perked up, his lips uplifting into his usual cheeky grin.

As the two boys stood and cleared their throats, Dev and May could only glance at one another worriedly. Whenever they got that look in their eyes, the girls knew only trouble could follow. The teacher's at the front of the great hall  seemed to know what was coming as well, considering Professor McGonagall was slowly rising to her feet. They put some distance between them and the Ravenclaw table, Fred glancing back over his shoulder to shoot Dev a wink before turning back to his brother.

"Ready George?" Fred questioned with a smirk.

"Ready Fred." George nodded.

The two drew their wands. McGonagall began to shout, rushing towards them and ordering them to stop whatever it was they were doing. They pointed their wands towards the Slytherin table, causing all of the students that remained to look on with wide eyes. Fred reached into the pocket of his robe with his free hand and retrieved something, dropping it to the ground. In moments, the room was encapsulated in a blanket of fog. Dev and May coughed and squinted, trying to see what was happening but being unable to. They heard the twins shout out a spell.

"What're they thinking!" May coughed out, batting the smoke away from her face.

As the air began to clear, neither twin was standing where they had been before. Dev stood from her spot, only to see both were sitting on their butts far away from one another, as if a blow had pushed them apart. Her lips broke into a smile as she took in the image of them.

"What? What do you see?" May stood up and gripped Dev's shoulder, straining to see as well. Immediately, she burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh Merlin."

While their robes remained, they were now blown open. Below them was not their usual attire, the trousers and sweaters, but instead girl's uniforms. The skirts hugged their waists tightly, clearly many sizes too small. Their straight orange hair had curled itself stiffly and their faces were painted in makeup. Fred shot Dev a small smile, one she was sure she would have missed had she not been staring, before breaking into mock anger.

"Oi! How did you miss that bad!" Fred began to shout at his brother, scrambling towards him.

"ME?" George roared back. "You're the one who dropped the smoke bomb, maybe I would've been able to see otherwise!"

McGonagall was in between both of them before they could reach the other, breaking up the impending fight. No one could quite hear the woman's yells as the great hall was in a fit of hysterics. No one could peel their eyes from the boys, leaving everyone doubled over in laughter, clutching their sides.

"Was that their plan?" May laughed, holding her stomach. "Hit some Slytherins with a makeup prank? Why?"

Dev shook her head, understanding from the start.

"They missed on purpose," Dev smiled, biting her lip. "They're giving people something else to talk about." May looked over at her best friend before looking back at the boys, now being dragged out of the Great Hall by the neck of their robes.

"What a bunch of crazy blokes," She laughed at the foolishness of their plan.

"Yeah," Dev nodded as they disappeared from view. "But I don't know what we'd do without 'em."

☽

DEV DIDN'T HAVE TO HEAR ANYMORE WHISPERS ABOUT HER FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT. In fact, all anyone could talk about was the Weasleys' prank that had completely backfired. No one could believe the prank had gone so wrong, considering when the boys put their minds to something, they usually went through with it. It wasn't common that they failed, save for entering for the tournament.

The next morning at breakfast, Dev found out the boys were given detention until winter break and that one more slip up or prank would bar them from the ball entirely. Truthfully, Dev wasn't sure where McGonagall's head was at with the latter punishment. It wasn't a great deterrent, considering the twins couldn't really care less about the ball. Apparently, though, Angelina and Alicia were keeping them on a tight leash, not wanting to lose their dates.

Now, as Dev walked to her first class after breakfast, she was certain it would be hell. It was a very small class, filled with only a few students who had been able to progress to N.E.W.T. students with Snape's expectations. The class was one they had to attend twice a week, where Dev was tortured with being forced to be partners with Cassius Warrington. He was a Slytherin in her year that enjoyed pestering her, or pushing all of their work on her.

"Bane," Cassius grinned as soon as she took her seat. "Heard you had a fun weekend." Evidently, he was the one person was still set on pestering her about it. "Did you let 'em wear your skirt while you were up there? Maybe put a little make up on 'em?"

"Can you not, Warrington," Dev snapped, sparing the boy one glare before focusing ahead.

"Quiet, students," Snape barked, immediately silencing the room. He fell into a monotonous lecture. They had ended their last lecture on Memory Potion, and today they were aiming to make it themselves. After briefly re-hashing this, the students were left to begin.

"You know," Warrington smirked at the girl as she measured ingredients. "You didn't have to slum it with a Weasley. My doors always open." Dev wretched, causing the boy to frown. "What?"

"Nothing, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit," She shot back. "Never gonna happen. Can we please just work?"

Cassius clenched his jaw and eyed the girl angrily. Quickly, he seemed to decide he wouldn't let her comments effect him. That also meant he'd continue to pester her.

"Got a date to the ball?"

Dev's head snapped up quickly. Could he really be leading into asking her? How much more clear could she make it that she had no interest in the boy, and never would? She spared a look behind her at May, who was working silently with her partner and didn't look up.

"Yeah, I'm going with May." Dev inclined her head back, nodding towards her friend.

"How progressive of you two," He taunted, raising his brows. "Always had a feeling Kimura might play for the other team. You on the other hand?" Dev's knuckles were turning white from how hard she had begun to clench the mortar and pestle in her hands, she clenched her jaw before shooting him a glare.

"What, Warrington, what about me?" She spat through gritted teeth. Cassius smirked triumphantly, recognizing he had successfully gotten under her skin. Slowly he leaned in until his lips nearly touched her ear.

"I think you're just a little slut," He whispered. "I mean, you must be, to fuck a Weasley. Kimura must just be taking you as a pity date."

As he pulled back, Dev sat motionless. Her hand ceased the rhythmic pounding it had been doing in the mortar. Familiar tears pricked at her eyes, threatening to spill if someone pushed her any further. She gulped, trying to push the emotions away as she felt Cassius take the mortar from her hands and dump its contents into their cauldron. With one final stir, he raised his hand.

"Professor Snape," He alerted the professor. "We're all finished over here."

Snape rounded on the table, eyeing the contents of the cauldron suspiciously. He used his wand to magically stir the contents, seeming content from the sight of it alone. Still, he would need to question them, as he always did, before dismissing them.

"What is the ingredient that you had to crush into a powdered state and use?" He tested, his eyes set on Dev. But, she didn't hear him, she couldn't hear anything. All she heard were Cassius' words over and over again. "Miss Bane?" Snape snapped, drawing the girl from her trance. She bit down on her lip before looking up at him.

"I'm sorry, Professor, what did you ask?"

"10 points from Ravenclaw for daydreaming in my class," He barked. "Now, what is the ingredient that crushed into a powdered state and used?"

"Common rue," Dev answered quietly.

"And how many murtlap tentacles were used?" He pressed on.

"Two," Of course she had to answer, she always had to. Cassius never paid enough attention and Snape was always slightly easier on Slytherins.

"Very well," Snape nodded before clapping his hands. "You two are dismissed."

Dev wiped at her eyes quickly and forced her breathing to steady. She wouldn't let someone as low as Cassius Warrington get to her. She couldn't let him see he'd broken her. So, she packed her things slowly, careful to send him an icy glare before exiting the classroom. Then, she waited there, knowing May wouldn't be far behind. Soon, May came out of the room and the two fell into a rhythm as they walked down the corridor.

"What was that all about?" May inquired.

"Warrington's a prick," Dev sighed.

"That's old news," May laughed. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Dev bumped her shoulder against the slightly shorter girl's and offered her a warm smile.

Still, she wasn't sure if she meant it.

author's note !

I've written and re-written this chapter 4 times and I think I still hate it

oh well, I hope you all enjoy

rose <3