Junoesque ✿George Weasley✿

46.

A piece of parchment was passed around the group to sign and it allowed Hermione to know who was serious about joining their defence classes. Once Ron, Hermione and Harry had signed it, it was handed to Fred and then handed to George. George signed his own name and chose to write Blair's as well, putting the classic drawing of a smiling cat next to it. And when she went to grab the parchment from him, he held it above his head and passed it to Lee, smiling at her scowl.

"We'll have to sort out a place to practice," Hermione said as they left the pub, leaving the group to spurt off into directions of the village.

"The shrieking shack?" Neville suggested.

"Not big enough."

"The library."

"Like Madam Pince would let us."

"The forbidden forest?"

"Not bloody likely."

"We can think about that stuff later. We've just got to make sure that Umbridge doesn't find out," Harry suggested.

With the signed parchment now in the safe hands of Hermione, the plans for useful defence lessons was set to take place. Believing that Hermione had a location in mind, everyone went about their days to ensure no suspicion was raised of some secret organisation. Professor Umbridge was bound to dish out more detentions if she caught word of the plan, so keeping it a secret was of vital importance.

Speaking of the detentions, Blair was now faced with the decision of either accepting Fred and George's offer or letting students suffer with Umbridge's detentions. The fear of being approached by some timid first year asking for the potion was building in Blair's chest, and was making her feel guilty already. It was time to take the initiative and start a stable income of ingredients.

"George," she called as they made their way back up to the snow covered castle. "I want to order in some ingredients for the potion."

"Really? You're sure?" he asked, shoving his hands into his coat pockets.

"It's the only way. I'll give you some money for the first batch, and then they should be able to pay for themselves once I start... selling," the last word left a tinge of bad taste in her mouth, but she was sure it was just her conscience being paranoid.

"How much are you thinking of charging?"

"A galleon?"

"Sounds fair. I'll give you an order form. You coming back to the common room?"

"Sure."

Blair and George walked side by side through the halls and headed for the Gryffindor tower. The earliest Blair could receive the ingredients would be the end of the week and that can only be done if she gets the form out by tomorrow. Until then, she hoped the bottles that were already in rotation would last long enough for her to make a new batch.

Turning the last corner that would then lead to the moving staircases, a stubby figure in pink came into the view. Professor Umbridge's heels clicked against the tiles as she made her way down the corridor, eyes wandering innocently over the walls around her. When Blair and George appeared, her eyes immediately zeroed in on them. The two had the instinct to stop in their tracks as if they were passing a lion's den, but chose to keep walking and pray she ignored them. But seeing as she was Dolores Jane Umbridge, that sounded highly unlikely when George Weasley was within a ten metre radius.

"Miss Rosier, Mr Weasley," she nodded her head to them and stopped, looking up at George's towering figure. "May I ask where you're off to?"

"The Gryffindor common room, Miss," Blair spoke for both of them, knowing George wouldn't be so calm and polite when talking to the woman.