Muggles & Spark Plugs - Arthur Weasley

16: Smokin' Christmas

For a moment, Fred was still under the waves, still drifting unconsciously in a wave and to the next. This time he did not break through to the surface but instead awoken to a smell unlike the salt. The smell, like the salt, burned his nostrils but this time the smell was more real than any of his dreams, vision or not.

He sat up, his foot kicking out to proceed with a slight rustle. He leaned forward and saw a wrapped up box with a bow on top. The attached note said: Fred. From the Weasley's.

He picked up the box, thinking they could have just sent it with the delivery owls. No, this was something different.

The rustle sounded again. He turned and something sharp hit his cheek. The red paper strip fell onto the blanket next to him. He took a closer look at it. A slightly darker red dot surrounded by three triangular lines stared up at him.

"Merry Christmas, Freddie!" Still looking at the piece of wrapping paper, he was tackled into a hug by someone. His eyes met with Ivory's green ones. She let go of him and shoved a present into his arms.

"What the hell, Ivory! This is the boys' dormitory."

She smiled. "Fred, don't swear - it's Christmas for goodness sake! And I just wanted to give you your present."

"Well, couldn't you have waited till I was properly awake?"

"What would be the fun in that?"

He tore open the one from Ivory first since she was looking at him with a rather eager expression. The paper cast aside to reveal a book. "Quidditch Through the Ages, really, Iv?" Fred's smile left his face. "Oh, I didn't get you anything! Maybe - no, I already ate all of those, they're probably expired by now..." He forced a smile. "Thanks for the book."

"You're welcome. Anyway, Fred, just seeing you happy is a good enough present."

Their fun did not last all morning. By the time the two had stepped out into the Common Room, the smell of smoke grew stronger.

"What is it? A Christmas campfire?" Fred asked.

"No, I think it's a -"

"Incendio!" A voice said from somewhere in the crowd of older students up ahead. He would recognize that voice anywhere no matter how unusually calm and free of the usual mocking tone it was today.

"Ariana!" Ivory recognized the voice at the same time. "H-how - what even are you doing?"

"What am I doing? You should ask that yourself, being that you're the one who has betrayed our family with that blasted Raven upon your chest! As if brains are everything! -"

"Ariana!"

The eldest Everson hurried on, "Brains are not everything. There's more to life than brains and smarts! There's loyal people, easy to manipulate people, people who don't have a single brain in their head!" She pulled out a match and struck it against the box. "There's people like you and Andrew here whom are easy to manipulate but still have the smarts greater than any other. Here's what I think of that." She threw the flaming match into the fireplace where flames rose up higher than their heads.

"What is-?" Fred stopped mid-sentence. He blinked. Ariana was not the only one in the crowd wearing a green snake on her robes. Slytherins, young and older alike, had somehow gotten into the Ravenclaw common room.

"How did you get in here?"

Ariana smirked at him. "Oh, Andrew, it was easy. Some bloke was stumbling down the hall, clearly late for whatever class he was heading to and all it took was a single spell, he had the brains of course but didn't use them well enough."