Title: A needed distraction Author: Ceria Word Count: 492 Rating: PG Characters: Fred & George Weasley, Madam Rolanda Hooch Prompt:Christmas Balls for awdt's two weeks of holiday quickies Disclaimer: These are not the droids you're looking for. Author's Notes: Thank you, Lee, as always.
Damn that woman, Hooch thought, slamming the lid on the storage container for the practice brooms. Currently there were eight educational decrees about riding brooms, all involving how fast or how high they could travel, even what part of Hogwarts they were allowed to fly over. Umbridge had made so many rules that Rolanda couldn't train the children.
Sighing, she walked back onto the Pitch, dreading the fact that she would have to tell the first years they'd have to wait one more week to learn how to fly, only to find her class of six students huddled in a shadowed corner. Two of them were waving their hands animatedly while the other four were jumping up and down. She frowned as she got closer, unable to see what had the children so excited in the first place.
Until she drew closer, and two tall boys with bright red hair stood up. "Fred! George! What brings you here?" she asked, very curious. One of them – she wasn't sure which – climbed over the ring of children and took her arm.
"Madam Hooch!" he said, squeezing her arm tight, "I've missed you this year."
"What is your brother doing to my students?" she said, planting her feet, unwilling to let him pull her out of the children's sight. He wouldn't be able to sweet talk her into ignoring it this time; she still remembered last year and that poor boy - what was his name again? – who ended up with the sagging face and drooling jowls.
"It's not at all what it looks like, Madam Hooch, I swear to you."
"Just like you swore that you didn't charm the Quaffle the first year you played, correct?"
"I didn't," he said with a small grin, "Fred did that."
"George! What's your brother doing to my children?"
Sighing, he glanced over his shoulder and nodded once, then led her back. Fred was handing Derek two round balls, one green and one red, and she watched, horrified as he stuck them in his mouth.
"Derek! Spit that out at once!" she said, jumping forward to stop him. How could the twins do that to firsties…
"Madam Hooch, please. Trust us."
Fred stood up, dusting his hands off, and pulled two more balls out of a small bag, holding them out to her. "Would you like to try them?" he asked.
"What. Are. They?" she said through gritted teeth, mentally preparing to take all six children to Pomfrey. George rubbed her arm gently, a gesture she supposed he thought soothing. "We call them Daydream Charms, it's a potion mixed in with chocolate, currently shaped like red and green balls for Christmas.
"They're meant to be eaten, and they give you a day dream, anything you like. We figured that since they can't practice flying, we'd let them pretend for a few minutes."
Astonished, she stared at him, "That… why… George, that's brilliant."