2.3 - Bailout

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"Did you hear today's the day of the Hogsmeade trip?" Barty asked with a sneaky tone in his voice.

"Yeah, James and his friends are all going." Ophelia replied.Β 

"No doubt to spend an entire day in Zonko's Joke Shop for some pranking supplies." Regulus added. He just knew his brother and Sirius' friends all too well.Β Β 

"That's exactly why I'm asking." Barty said. "More than half the school is going to be gone, and we can do whatever we want."

Regulus leaned in, intrigued at the idea.Β 

"Are we talking pranks, magic, or crime?"

"No." Ophelia interjected. "No way. We're not doing anything stupid. We get caught almost every single time."

"You get caught every time. And that's because you suck at being cool." Barty told her.Β 

"She doesn't suck, Barty." Regulus said. He turned to Ophelia, trying to make sure she was included. "Practice makes perfect. If you keep hanging out with us, you'll eventually get to a point where you can have fun without a single worry of getting in trouble."

"That's what scares me the most."Β 

"What if we invited Pandora?" Regulus asked, clearly much to Barty's dismay as Barty rolled his eyes the second he asked.

"Even bigger no. She's not the troublemaker type, and I'm not involving her with this."

"So, Effie here doesn't have to come." Barty said. "You and Pandora can braid each other's hair while Reggie and I do something fun."

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Ophelia didn't want to join in on whatever mischief Barty had planned, so she spent the Saturday with Pandora instead. The two spent the day outside, mostly picking flowers. They had no idea what Regulus and Barty were doing that day, and were planning on keeping it that way.

"What if they're doing something illegal right now?" Pandora asked randomly whileΒ  she and Ophelia were making flower crowns for each other.

"They're not." Ophelia said, trying to stay away from the topic.

"We haven't heard from them all day." Pandora continued.

"They're probably just too busy studying to hang out with us."

"And you really believe that?"

"I believe that they're just having fun." Ophelia lied.

She was only trying to say good things in hope that they'll come true somehow.

The girls continued making their flower crowns for a few minutes, until they heard several screams coming from inside Hogwarts.

Against their better judgment, the girls ran into the school to see what was going on. They were shocked when they ran into the courtyard and saw Barty and Regulus using an Aguamenti spell to spray other students with water while they were studying outside.Β 

A second after Pandora and Ophelia arrived, a group of Hogwarts professors rushed over to see what all the fuss was about as well.Β 

"What is going on here?" McGonagall shouted.Β 

The two boys froze in their tracks, then Barty tugged on Regulus' arm, telling him to run.

They tried to escape, but were stopped by Dumbledore standing in the doorway of the school entrance.

"Bartemius, Regulus, surely, you boys aren't trying to escape anything, correct?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course not." Barty said. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have somewhere to be."

Barty and Regulus tried to dodge any punishment by quickly walking around the headmaster, but Dumbledore stopped them before they could leave.

"The only place you two need to be is the Detention Chambers." Dumbledore told them. "Someone will give you the exact length of your punishment once I find out exactly what you've done."

The two boys put their heads down and sighed, accepting defeat. Though clearly Dumbledore suspected they wouldn't accept their loss that easily when he felt the need to walk them across the school himself.

Pandora leaned over and whispered into Ophelia's ear. "Maybe not illegal, but I told you."

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An hour passed of the boys' being in detention, forced to do many tedious chores, like dusting the library and cleaning all the teacups used by the students in Divination class.

There was a knock on the door of the silent Detention Chambers, causing everyone's head to turn.

The Care for Magical Creatures teacher, Silvanus Kettleburn, who was in charge of detention that day, went over to see who was in the hallway. He opened the door to find that Ophelia Potter was standing patiently in the hall.

"Hello, Professor Kettleburn. I'm here to replace Regulus Black. Do you know how long he's in trouble for?" She asked politely.

"Three weeks, Miss Potter." Kettleburn replied. "But, I'm not sure you're allowed to just replace a student in detention."

"Oh, that's alright." Ophelia said, walking past the professor. "I'll just stay with him and help so he can have a reduced punishment. Would ten days make sense in that case?"

The professor didn't even know what to say.

The girl walked towards her friends and stopped next to them.Β 

"So, what are we working on right now?" She asked.Β 

"Scraping Drooble's Gum off the tables." Regulus said.Β 

"It's the stickiest gum out there, so get to work." Barty said, handing Ophelia a metal scraper.Β 

After Ophelia took the scraper from Barty, Professor Kettleburn interrupted them.Β 

"Miss Potter, I am not the professor responsible for punishing the boys here, so I can't guarantee you working with them will help reduce their sentence." He advised.Β 

"Well, sir, I'm already here scraping gum off the furniture, so there's no point in leaving now." She said with a smile as she flung a chewed up lump of gum into the grime bucket.Β 

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