Kim Shimmers and the Screech Owl
This Harry Potter fanfiction will be posted, as long as all goes well, every weekend.
Chapter 10
A Good Marauder
Kim trudged up to the castle, listening to the sounds of Gryffindor’s cheering all the way along. Their wails and chants should have been contagious. Kim wanted to be cheerful with them, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for herself. The noise only grew louder as she made it into the castle. She was halfway to the Ravenclaw Tower when the sound of running feet behind her made her slow.
“You’re a difficult woman to find!” Fred said as he slowed beside her. He was still wearing his quidditch gear, though the tips of his shaggy hair was still damp from the showers. George was there beside him in the same state, but he had a wad of fabric bundled under his arm.
“I didn’t know I needed to be found,” Kim said plainly, looking between the two of them.
“Come with us,” George said, an excited smile on his face.
“What are you two doing here? I thought you had your party to go to,” she said, a bit too sharply. She recognized the hardness in her tone, so she added, “Since you won and all. Congratulations by the way.”
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to congratulate us,” Fred said, taking hold of her forearm and pulling her forward.
“Where are we going?” she demanded, getting annoyed now.
“You’ll see,” George said. She had half a mind to rip her arm out of Fred’s grasp and start demanding that they tell her where they were taking her at once. But there was something calming in George’s eyes that persuaded her otherwise. In a minute they were slowing outside of the Gryffindor common room entrance. There was the Fat Lady, reinstated as portrait, and two ugly gargoyles keeping watch on either side since Sirius Black had managed to break into the common room twice now. The twins both crouched so Kim did the same, peering up the steps to the gargoyles that were now all but out of sight, the tops of their heads still just barely visible.
“Hurry, stairs won’t stay still for long,” Fred said.
“Here, take off your robes,” George said, reaching for the ball of fabric under his arm.
“What?” Kim said indignantly, her voice shooting up in octave.
“You’re not naked under there are you?” Fred asked sarcastically, because obviously her skirt and sweater were visible to the eye. She then realized they meant for her to take off just her robe, and so she reached for the clasp, glaring at Fred all the while.
“And your tie,” George added, voice hushed and hurried as he looked over his shoulder. She eyed him nervously, wondering what he was going to ask her to take off next, but she obeyed, loosening her tie and handing it over as he reached forward to swing the black fabric he’d brought with him over her shoulders. She realized it was another cloak, and before she could comment, Fred was flipping up her collar and stringing through another tie. The colors were red and gold.
“What are you doing?” she asked, thinking she was starting to catch on, but it was mad. Could they really be…
The cloak was too big, the sleeves dangling far beyond her wrists, the tails hanging on the floor. The tie was also long but it was stuffed in her shirt so it hardly mattered.
“Is this yours?” she said, holding up the dangling sleeve of the cloak to the boys, but they ignored her.
“Ready George?”
“Ready Fred,” he said with a nod, and he shifted to crouch closer to Kim, putting his hand on her back.
“Wait, ready- ready for what?” Kim asked, her whispering voice coming out high and rasping as Fred turned and stood. He marched up the stairs to the Fat Lady.
“Alright,” George whispered to her. “When I say go, we run. And stay close. Got it?” His eyes were darting up the stairs so she could only imagine that was where they were running to. It seemed obvious what they were doing now, but it was mad. It was really, really mad. Kim swallowed hard. Was it too late to back out? Did she want to?
“Oh, and just so were clear, when I say run, I mean run,” George continued. Kim could hear Fred saying the password to the Fat Lady as George spoke. She swung open, and once she was about halfway to her widest, Fred let out a mangy hoot. It was the kind of jeer she would expect from him, given the fact they had just won the Quidditch Cup.
“Gryffindor forever,” he cried at the top of his lungs, his head thrown back, and then there was a pop and a hiss.
“Now,” George grunted, pushing against Kim’s back lightly. She sprung to her feet and ran beside George who belted up the stairs. Her legs struggled to keep up with his long ones that took the steps multiple at a time. She almost tripped on the oversized cloak and tumbled to the stony sharp stairs.
“Hurry!” George hissed, as she gathered up the ends of the cloak and continued up. There was billowing smoke hissing quickly out of the entry way to the Gryffindor common room. The gargoyles were now covered from sight, and George and Kim were upon the entrance. The entrance that was closing, and fast.
