章節 220: The Heist, Again

In the week leading up to Christmas, Oleandra and Tracey spent most of their free time helping out Fred and George with their creations. What else was there to do? She had no money, classes were over and Draco hated her now. And it's not as if she was going to do any homework, like, come on!

Daphne had also gone missing. With no classes to go to, Oleandra had no idea where to look for her; it was as if she had completely vanished; Oleandra even had half a mind to borrow the Marauder's Map from Harry to help locate her. But she might as well be looking for a needle in a haystack; it seemed as though most of the students were staying at Hogwarts for the Yule Ball. Usually, most students would be returning home to their families, as Hogwarts was a boarding school. Not this year, though.

On Christmas morning, a small, overexcited owl burst into Oleandra's dormitory, squawking loudly and waking up the room's occupants. Oleandra rubbed her eyes wearily, her gaze falling on the bed next to hers; Daphne still hadn't returned. Tracey groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, but the owl wouldn't allow Oleandra to go back to sleep.

"What is it now, you little fluffball?" Oleandra shot at the tiny owl, untying the letter from its claw.

The letter read:

Please come to the Alchemy classroom as soon as possible. Urgently. Right now. Pretty please? Bring help.

Yours truly, Fred & George.

There had to be some law against making your workers come in on Christmas Day, right? Nevertheless, it seemed like they needed help of some kind urgently; perhaps Oleandra could charge them double rate? Visions of Galleons dancing before her eyes, she dragged Tracey out of her bed, and together they headed to the Alchemy classroom, even skipping breakfast. But when they arrived…

"I thought you hired us to help with runework?" said Oleandra in slight displeasure. "Why am I holding baking sheets? Do you want the baking sheets enchanted?"

"Emergency order; it's supply and demand, my dear," said Fred, who was busy waving his wand over a bowl of batter. "We're doing Canary Creams today; they're more popular than we thought. You should see the Gryffindor common room these days!"

Canary Creams were the Weasley twins' invention; a sort of custard cream biscuit that was enchanted to Transfigure whoever had the misfortune of eating one into a human-sized canary— which was rather hilarious, since the effect was very temporary.

"I don't mind a bit of baking," said Tracey brightly. "You look very cute in that apron, Oleandra."

"You too, Trace," said Oleandra with a half-smile, but her heart wasn't in it.

"You could always try to draw runes with some icing," said George. "We're always looking to improve our products."

"Wouldn't work," said Oleandra dourly. "Runes need to maintain their shape to work— the magic would cease to function the moment you took a bite out of it."

The four resumed their work. There was quite a bit of manual work involved; Oleandra had to do everything by hand; she had never learned any household magic, since her family was rich, and their House-Elf Spoopey made all their meals. Making cookies was quite the novel experience for Oleandra, and the busywork kept her mind off the various threats looming vaguely over her.

"You can take the rest of the afternoon off," said Fred after an hour. "It's Christmas after all, and we've got a snowball fight to start. You can have a few samples; I suggest trying them out on that git Malfoy. I made that batch extra long-lasting."

"It's a Christmas miracle!" said George with a large smile. "Now, off you go!"

If Fred hadn't suggested it first, Oleandra would have said something: it was Christmas Day, which meant that the Yule Ball would take place in a few hours. It would take some time to get ready for the dance, even with magic; changing into dress robes, applying makeup, and doing her hair… Usually, Daphne would do her hair, but since she wasn't available, she'd have to ask Tracey.

It was only a quick jaunt from the Alchemy classroom to the Slytherin common room, as both rooms were in Hogwarts's underground, so the pair returned to the dormitory in no time. Tracey went off to wash her hands, while Oleandra returned to her room, a spot of doubt suddenly plaguing her heart.

Oleandra opened her trunk and rummaged through it in an attempt to find the dress robes her mother had told her not to forget to pack. She hadn't forgotten them, right? Right?

"I'm fairly sure you've left them at home," said a dry voice behind her.

"Daphne!" Oleandra cried, whirling on the spot to face her sister and letting loose a flood of apologies. "Where were you all this time? I'm, so, so sorry I made fun of you; I shouldn't have been so insensitive— I didn't mean to…"

Daphne simply shook her head.

"I'm sorry too," she said softly. "You were right, Sis."

"I was… right?" Oleandra said, momentarily confused. What had she been right about? Did Daphne want to be teased some more about her height?

"I shouldn't have taken the Bloodline Atavism Potion; it was meant for Astoria."

Daphne paused, and the two sisters looked at each other wordlessly.

"Which is why I want to make amends," Daphne said after a short while. "And tonight is the perfect occasion to make things right; everyone will be at the Yule Ball."

"Sis, you're not making any sense," said Oleandra worriedly. "What are you talking about?"

Daphne closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, they gleamed with indescribable determination. Oleandra had never seen her sister in this light before; Daphne was usually much more reserved and preferred to maintain a neutral expression at all times, even with her.

"I'm talking about invading the headmaster's office and taking what we need from there," said Daphne seriously. "To recreate the potion, all we're missing are the Phoenix ashes. I've already got plenty of Sands of Time; the Time-Turner created a bit more each time I used it last year, and everything else can be bought."