exodus pt. 1

April 21st, 1996

THE WEASLEY TWINS had planned their escape down to the last iota, and they were waiting for a sign from the universe to execute them. The sign finally came in the form of their red headed sister, strutting in on the last day of Easter break.

Ginny placed one hand on each of her brothers' shoulder, "You seem awfully quiet this holiday. Planning something, aren't you?"

"Now why would you think that, Gin?" Fred asked innocently.

"Weird accusation."

"Very weird, indeed."

"Fine," Ginny shrugged, "Harry needs to talk to Snuffles. D'you have any idea how to make that happen?"

The two boys' glistening eyes met and they beamed mischievously.

Barely two hours later, they found the Golden Trio talking over career information leaflets in the Common Room and joined them.

"Hey. Ginny's had a word with us about you," said Fred to Harry, stretching out his legs on the table in front of them and causing several booklets on careers with the Ministry of Magic to slide off onto the floor. "She says you need to talk to Sirius?"

"What?" said Hermione sharply, freezing with her hand halfway toward picking up make a bang at the department of magical accidents and catastrophes.

"Yeah..." said Harry, trying to sound casual, "Yeah, I thought I'd like—"

"Don't be so ridiculous," said Hermione, straightening up and looking at him as though she could not believe her eyes. "With Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the owls?"

"Well, we think we can find a way around that," said George, stretching and smiling. "It's a simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?"

"What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time?" continued Fred. "No point at all, we answered ourselves. And of course, we'd have messed up people's studying too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do."

He gave Hermione a sanctimonious little nod.

She looked rather taken aback by this thoughtfulness.

"But it's business as usual from tomorrow," Fred continued briskly. "And if we're going to be causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Harry can have his chat with Sirius?"

"Yes, but still," said Hermione with an air of explaining something very simple to somebody very obtuse, "Even if you do cause a diversion, how is Harry supposed to talk to him?"

"Umbridge's office," said Harry quietly.

He had been thinking about it for a fortnight and could think of no alternative; Umbridge herself had told him that the only fire that was not being watched was her own.

"Are— you— insane?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.

Ron had lowered his leaflet on jobs in the cultivated fungus trade and was watching the conversation warily.

"I don't think so," said Harry, shrugging.

"And how are you going to get in there in the first place?"

"Sirius's knife," Harry answered without skipping a beat.

"Excuse me?"

"Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock," said Harry. "So even if she's bewitched the door so Alohomora won't work, which I bet she has—"

"What do you think about this?" Hermione demanded of Ron, and Harry was reminded irresistibly of Mrs. Weasley appealing to her husband during his first dinner in Grimmauld Place.

"I dunno," said Ron, looking alarmed at being asked to give an opinion. "If Harry wants to do it, it's up to him, isn't it?"

"Spoken like a true friend and Weasley," said Fred, clapping Ron hard on the back. "Right, then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact if everybody's in the corridors —Harry, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office— I reckon we should be able to guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?" he said, looking at George.

"Easy," said George.

"What sort of diversion is it?" asked Ron.

"You'll see, little bro," said Fred, as he and George got up again, winking simultaneously.

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April 21st, 1996

AFTER DAYS OF too brief exchange that only resulted in Daisy feeling more left out and missing Fred, she finally read something that brought the butterflies in her stomach back to life.

I need to alert you on something important.

You know what, on second thought.

It's a surprise. A surprise is coming for you tomorrow, so look forward to it!

Good night, D!

Daisy stared at the disappearing ink pensively.

Long distance crush was definitely a ride. Even the smallest thing could spark the most beautiful plethora of feelings she didn't know she was capable of.

Her stomach tickled as anticipation built up in her chest and she wondered what kind of surprise would show up at her doorstep tomorrow.

Tomorrow...

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April 22nd, 1996

IT WAS D-DAY.

"Are you ready, George?"

"Ready. Ready, Freddie?"

"Born ready."

"Definitely."

"No regrets?"

"None at all. You?"

"Of course not."

The bell rang, signaling the end of that day's classes. Together, the two counted down. "Three... Two... One!"

With a flick of their wands, the enormous crate of enchanted fireworks were set off.

Dragons comprised entirely of green-and-gold sparks were soaring up and down the corridors, emitting loud fiery blasts and bangs as they went. Shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers. Rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars were ricocheting off the walls.

The twins ran down along the corridor in glee, drinking in as many sights of pandemonium and students shrieking happily as they could.

Sparklers were writing swearwords in midair of their own accord. Firecrackers were exploding like mines everywhere, and instead of burning themselves out, fading from sight, or fizzling to a halt, these pyrotechnical miracles seemed to be gaining in energy and momentum the longer they went.

Finally, they spotted their favorite as well as intended victims.

Filch and Umbridge were standing, apparently transfixed with horror, halfway down the stairs.

As they watched, one of the larger Catherine wheels seemed to decide that what it needed was more room to maneuver; it whirled toward Umbridge and Filch with a sinister wheeeeeeeeee.

Both adults yelled with fright and ducked and it soared straight out of the window behind them and off across the grounds.

Meanwhile, several of the dragons and a large purple bat that was smoking ominously took advantage of the open door at the end of the corridor to escape toward the second floor.

"Hurry, Filch, hurry!" shrieked Umbridge. "They'll be all over the school unless we do something — Stupefy!"

A jet of red light shot out of the end of her wand and hit one of the rockets. Instead of freezing in midair, it exploded with such force that it blasted a hole in a painting of a soppy-looking witch in the middle of a meadow

"YES!" George and Fred hi-fived.

"Don't Stun them, Filch!" shouted Umbridge angrily, for all the world as though it had been his suggestion.

"Right you are, Headmistress!" wheezed Filch, who was a Squib and could no more have Stunned the fireworks than swallowed them.

He dashed to a nearby cupboard, pulled out a broom, and began swatting at the fireworks in midair. Within seconds the head of the broom was ablaze.

"Impressive," Ginny laughed as she ran past them, "Very impressive! You'll put Dr. Filibuster out of business, no problem..."

"Cheers," whispered George, wiping tears of laughter from his face. "Oh, I hope she tries Vanishing them next. They multiply by ten every time you try."

"Listen, Gin," Fred grabbed a hold of her hand, "We're thinking of leaving after this mayhem."

"Leaving?" Ginny asked. She raised her brows in question, but her expression said that she had known that this moment would eventually come. "You're dropping out? Have you told Mum? What would Mum—"

"We've thought this through, trust us," George said. "I know you can take care of yourself."

"Of course. Don't worry."

"Here. Take this," Fred took her hand and placed the sacred parchment in it, "If you write here, your message will appear on the parchment D got for ten seconds, vice versa."

"D? You mean our—"

"Yeah, that's how we've been communicating for the last two months. Keep it to yourself, okay? Not even Ron, Harry, and Hermione know."

"Okay," Ginny gave her brothers a determined nod, "Go on, then. I'll see you on Summer."

The two then proceeded to turn the hallway into swamps as fireworks continued to burn and spread all over the school. Though they caused plenty of disruption, particularly the firecrackers, the other teachers did not seem to mind them very much.

"Dear, dear," said Professor McGonagall sardonically as one of the dragons soared above her head, emitting loud bangs and exhaling flame. "Miss Brown, would you mind running along to the headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom here?"

Then five minutes later...

"Thank you so much, Professor!" said Professor Flitwick in his squeaky little voice. "I could have got rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether I had the authority..."

Beaming, he closed his classroom door in Professor Umbridge's snarling face.

"Ah..." Fred said dreamily to George, "See, the joy of teamwork."

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A/N:
Very late but HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Glad to finally be able to return to writing. Hope everyone's feeling great, and if not hope this double update brightens up your day a bit.

I mean, this story has been ongoing for more than 2 years. You guys are the sweetest.

Next update will be on Valentine's! I promise (if I remember)!