CHAPTER EIGHT ─── ❛ mad-eye ❜

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"𝕸adge," The girl turned at the drawn out call of her name, finding Fred hovering behind her, a piece of paper in his hands. 

"What do you want Tweedledum?" His face turned offended as his other half popped up moments later. "Oh, here's Tweedle-dee."

"Rude." George muttered, straightening his tie.

"We wanted to ask about your timetable."

"It's just as boring as last year." Madge replied, handing the sheet of paper over as Lena came stumbling into the hall to sit next to her. "Morning. You alright?"

"I take back everything I said last night, I hate school." She whined, shaking her head. "I especially hate having to wake up early for lessons."

"What a shame. Timetable's here. We got Moody fourth." Madge pushed Lena's timetable towards her, eating a slice of toast as she did. She caught a drop of strawberry jam, wiping it on the napkin beside her quickly.

"You got it with us!" Fred and George cheered, before wrapping their arms around Madge and grinning. "We can discuss all the ways you're going to help us over the age line."

"No we are most certainly not. I mean it!" The twins walked off, ignoring Madge's cries of protest as she glared at their backs. Lena yawned again, as Madge sighed and checked her wristwatch. "Come on, Lena, we've got potions first."

Lena sighed once more, letting her head fall onto the table as Madge patted her back sympathetically. She knew exactly how the girl was feeling, neither of them enjoying lessons with Snape. Whilst the man didn't hate Hufflepuffs nearly as much as he did Gryffindors, he still found them useless and looked down his hooked nose at them.

Despite both Lena and Madge passing Potions at OWLs with an Outstanding, Snape still taught them like they were second years (who were by the far the most annoying of the school years). They could only dread what taking NEWTs with the man would be like, and the hope he would be fired was steadily decreasing.

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Madge shouldered her satchel, heading out of her third period lesson of Herbology with Lena, as they hurried up the stairs after their fellow Hufflepuffs. They had DADA fourth, meaning the entire class was on edge with what the lesson would be about. Madge could just about make out Cedric and his posse again, all of them joking and pushing each other around as they headed inside the entrance hall.

Madge and Lena followed, talking in hushed tones about how Professor Sprout's hair seemed to get bigger each time they saw her. 

"Do you remember in first year when she had that badger hat?" Lena laughed as they hurried up the stairs to Moody's classroom.

"Oh, and it moved, didn't it?!" Madge had forgotten all about that hat, but was now remembering it vividly. "Yeah, Smith tried to pet it one day and it bit him."

"He still has the scars on his hands, have you seen?" Lena and Madge laughed again, before falling quiet as they hurried into the classroom. They were one of the last of the Hufflepuff students to arrive, though the Gryffindors were no where in sight (which was of little surprise). There was no seating chart on the board, so Madge and Lena sat near to the back, pulling their quills and parchment from their bags as they tried to guess what the lesson would be on.

Moments later, the door slammed open again as the Gryffindors appeared, all as loud as normal.

"Morning." Angelina and Alicia slipped into the row behind them, leaning forward to talk to the Hufflepuff girls. "Has he turned up yet?"

"No, you're on time. Why were you late?"

"Potions with Snape. He was giving his usual lecture of failure, depression and how terrible students we are." Alicia rolled her eyes, pulling a face of annoyance. "He's so infuriating."

"Tell me about him, we had him first. He's such an aggravating teacher." Lena rolled her eyes. "Merlin's Beard, I cannot wait for him to retire, or get fired!"

"He's not here, is he?" Fred called, as he, George and Lee hurried in, taking seats around the girls.

"Would you be able to shout if he was?" Angelina rolled her eyes at them. "You're fine."

"What were you guys up to?" Madge turned to them.

"You know, a little first day prank to get Filch back into the swing of things." George and the other two shared a familiar grin as Madge cocked an eyebrow, wondering why she wasn't invited. "He's going to have so much fun this year."

"Can you prank Snape?" Angelina turned to the twins. "He's very deserving of it."

"I'll see what we can think of." Fred grinned, as the girls grinned in relief.

"How none of you have been expelled, I'll never know." Lena sighed at their antics as Lee leant over to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

"The trick, lovely Lena, is that we don't get caught!" Lee grinned, before the doors behind them were thrown open and they all fell silent at the clunk of Moody's wooden leg. The man was scowling, his fake eye rolling around and seeming to watch all of them. Lee straightened up, the friends all sharing a glance before settling into their seats for the long awaited DADA lesson.

"Right, I want no talking and no messing around in my lessons!" His fake eye seemed to drift over to Fred and George, who reluctantly put their hands on the table. "We're going over hex deflection spells, clear the tables, pair up and start practicing! Be on your toes. Enemies are all around! Vigilance!"

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Madge walked out of the lesson, her eyes wide and unbelieving as Fred and George joined her.

"Wow." 

"Wow." The boys agreed with her statement, all still too stunned to speak. Lena, Angelina and Alicia rolled their eyes, each taking one of the trio by the arms and dragging them away from the door that they were blocking. Lee was unfortunately not with them, having been hit by a hex sent by Moody, and was recovering in the hospital wing. He hadn't been taking 'there are enemies all around you!' seriously enough for Moody's liking.

"Okay you three, you can close your mouths now." Angelina reminded them, as they stumbled down the stairs. "Can you hear me?"

"Wow." Madge muttered, almost stepping into one of the jelly steps as they continued down to the great hall for lunch. "He's so cool."

"Madge, watch where you're going!" Lean cried, yanking her friend back as the staircase switched and she almost went plummeting forward. "Come on, rant about him at lunch, when we're safely sitting at tables, but watch where you're going now!"

"He's a bit creepy though with the eye." Alicia murmured, letting go of George as the trio finally came back to their senses. "It's so weird that it moves on its own and then he just knows what you're doing."

"He also seems a bit unhinged but I guess that's what you get for being a top auror." Madge shrugged. "Wonder how he lost the eye?"

"And the leg." Fred nodded, before smiling conspiratorially as he shared a look with his brother. "Charlie says that dragons can take your legs off in one bite."

"What?" The twins were watching Madge for a reaction, and the girl was confused. She turned, narrowing her eyes at the pair. "What are you talking about? Moody's an auror, not a magizoologist."

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Fred and George smiled, the same identically creepy grin. "Just telling you what Charlie said."

"Well, he would know best considering he's the one who works with dragons but I still don't understand how this holds any relevance to Moody?" Madge was thoroughly confused.

"Oh it doesn't. We were just telling you what Charlie said." They repeated themselves again as Madge turned back to the girls, who were shaking their heads.

"What's going on?"

"Don't worry, Madge." George smiled, the grin that told Madge she really should be worried. "It's absolutely nothing."

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Hiya,

Fred and George bringing up Charlie is gonna be fun and I'm super excited to get further in. They're all gonna have a lot of fun though,

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx