Three Hallows, Two Weasleys and One Broken Girl

Chapter 3: Brother mine

It had been a long day for Fred Weasley by the time he made it to the astronomy tower.
There had been a bunch of gorgeous French chicks arriving in the middle, which was an upside but other wise, a prank had flopped, McGongall had been watching him closely all day, and Krum had sat with the Slytherins putting Ronnikins in a pissy mood.
The last, in and of itself, wouldn't have been a problem if Harry hadn't been busy somewhere being angsty and Hermione had not been in the mood for babysitting, leaving them saddled with their stupid brother.

They'd finally snuck away when Angelina had drawn him into a game of chess, and parted ways to scout the school as they often did before curfew.
They said it was to get inspiration for pranking opportunities and to mess with the teachers...but if they happened to rescue a couple of lost younger years from some of the more bullying inclined characters...well they were Gryffindors. And yes some of the bullies were also Gryffindors but they believed the prats weren't ambitious, clever or loyal enough to go to the other houses.

Fred agreed with George that Hufflepuff being the house of the dumb, cowardly and lazy was a stupid concept. Hufflepuff wasn't where anyone who didn't fit went. The oddballs defaulted to Gryffindor as far as they could tell. How else could the book smart Hermione Granger and loyal but timid Neville Longbottom share a house with their ludicrously ambitious Quidditch captain Oliver Wood...and Harry Potter who seemed to have two settings, in mortal danger, and moping.

Fred shook the thoughts of his strange house mates away. He'd made it to the astronomy tower.
He liked the spot, they both did, and he'd meet George here before they'd head back to Gryffindor in time for curfew. Only amateurs stayed out after curfew, true professionals slept early and got up at five am when even filch had gone to bed.

The night was cold and the stars were bright. His brother was late, but his patrol route passed nearest the Slytherin dorms so that wasn't unusual.
Fred loosened his tie and stretched before slowly making his way toward the balcony, finally feeling calm after a day of mostly order and little decent chaos to revel in.

It seemed thinking about chaos summoned it however, as before he'd even taken two steps into the room, a blur of blonde hair and fury crashed into him launching him face first into a tapestry.

The ball of angry school girl collided with the railing - which gave a nervous creak - and unleashed a scream that would make a banshee cry.
It was a scream unlike anything Fred had ever heard, and considering his mother, that was impressive. He wasn't aware pure fury and anguish could make a sound that blew your ear drums like a pepper up potion, but here he was being deafened.
He held his hands over his ears and would never admit to anyone that he was a little scared of the woman that could produce such a sound.

He watched in mild awe when the sound finally came to an end and the girl, who he managed to identify as the mysterious Delphi Lovegood, took a slow steadying breath.
The eyes she turned to him with, nearly made him whimper, and Fred was a tough guy.
"You, Fred." She said, naming him with weird confidence and with eyes sharper than razors, "You and your brother up for pranking Dumbledore?"
Fred wondered what the bloody hell Dumbledore had done to piss her off. Mind you, the git cancelled quidditch and put an age limit on this stupid tournament, they had their own revenge incentives.

The girl actually quirked her eyebrow at him.
It was hot.
"Uh..." he told himself off for getting distracted, "he's kinda magically sensitive, and when we do pull a prank on him, he tends to get his own back through detentions and point loss..."
Why did he say that? He sounded so whiny, shamefully ungryffindorish, then again Dumbledore was a scary bloke.
The girl hummed thoughtfully and said - like it was a gift from god: "I'll owe you a favour?"
Fred mustered a derisive snort, what sort of trade was that?
"What's a favour from you worth?" He asked, finally catching up with the interaction enough to inject some sass into the question.
Delphi crossed her arms and smirked, "you mean, the word of an absolutely golden student to get you out a tight spot is worth nothing? Imagine what you could get away with, with me as your alibi."
That was a valid point, but girls smirking whilst bargaining should be considered cheating.