#carey gets more details on the weasley twins' epic escape and the aftermath from jae and the two have a much better laugh about it

[carewyncromwell]

"Break the rules, ignore the signs, And color way outside the lines! Go off the script -- do what you like! They hate it? They can take a hike! Why live your life to someone else's plan?! Stick it to the man!"

~"Stick It to the Man" from School of Rock (musical)

x~x~x~x

Easter had never been a holiday Carewyn Cromwell paid much attention to. Chocolate eggs, spring dresses, and Easter baskets were something her mother Lane could often not afford while Carewyn was growing up, and Carewyn expressed zero to no interest going on egg hunts with the Muggle kids in her neighborhood, not only because she knew her two favorite people -- Lane and Jacob -- wouldn't be able to come with her, but also many of those same children bullied Carewyn at school. Even at Hogwarts, the most Carewyn ever really did to mark the holiday was eat some of the handmade chocolate Bill, Charlie, Percy, and/or Fred and George would receive from their mother Molly -- perhaps because her boys would mention sharing her treats with their friends, Molly Weasley always went out of her way to send them a lot, so Carewyn couldn't help but associate Easter chocolate with the Weasleys despite herself.

Perhaps it was appropriate that Easter made Carewyn think of the Weasleys -- for it was not long after Hogwarts's Easter Break in the spring of 1996 that Carewyn was summoned to Fudge's office to settle a matter regarding that very family.

It was a rather abrupt sort of affair -- Carewyn had actually been ready to reassemble her current three files and put them back in their proper places in her file cabinet so she could head home when an inter-office memo from the Minister flew into her office, stamped as "urgent." It was very taciturn and to-the-point, insisting that Carewyn come upstairs to the Minister's office immediately.

Her brows furrowing as she discarded the memo, Carewyn shut her files as is up in her file cabinet, locked it, and got to her feet, adjusting the high black collar of her dress robes as she swept from her office over to the lift.

When she entered the Minister's office, Carewyn was startled to find more than just Cornelius Fudge there waiting. Standing over by the fireplace with her arms crossed and her toad-like face scrunched up impatiently was Dolores Umbridge and -- even more shocking -- sitting in one of the chairs with a cup of tea in his faintly shaking freckled hands was a familiar ginger-haired young man of 19 years wearing spectacles.

"Percy?" said Carewyn in surprise.

Percy looked up at Carewyn when she entered, haphazardly putting down his cup of tea on the coffee table as he stumbled to his feet.

"Carewyn? What is -- ?"

"Close the door, please, Miss Cromwell," said Fudge in an oddly stiff voice. "I'd prefer privacy, for this meeting."

The stiffness in his voice was more than just skin-deep: Carewyn could sense great discomfort swirling around the Minister like some kind of grumpy cloud. It was magnified by the intense, hot anger pulsing off of Umbridge only a few feet away as her long-nailed, stubby fingers impatiently tapped the inside of her arm.

With a deep frown, Carewyn nonetheless did as she was told and slid the door shut behind her. Fudge shot another furtive look at the closed door before he cleared his throat and strode over to the fireplace.

"Now, then...ahem. Miss Cromwell, I thank you for coming so quickly -- I realize you're set to be off in the next ten minutes..."

"I shall happily extend for pay, if I can be of assistance, Minister," said Carewyn promptly.

And figure out what kind of legal issue is so bloody urgent. Especially one that involves Percy.

She shot a quick glance at the third-eldest Weasley. He was trying his best to look brave, but his face was quite pale as he looked from Fudge to Umbridge to Carewyn.

"I thought you might feel that way," said Fudge, attempting amiability. "Or, at the very least, hoped you -- "

Umbridge, however, was getting impatient, and even her most sugary interjection couldn't obscure this.

"Minister," she said through a smile so fake it looked like a monkey baring its teeth, "we're quite short on time, if we want to avoid the criminals in question escaping capture -- perhaps we should simply get Miss Cromwell's input and then get right to dispatching the Hit Wizards?"

Carewyn's brows furrowed. "'Criminals?'"

"Yes, well..." said Fudge, clearing his throat, "that...is the heart of the matter. Mr. Weasley."

He turned to Percy, who straightened up as abruptly as a scared cat.

"Earlier today two of your brothers were caught after transfiguring a hallway at Hogwarts school into a full-size swamp, complete with all the usual mess and creatures."

The mental image was nearly enough to make Carewyn laugh. She didn't, though -- the air in the room was far too serious to allow for that.

Whatever relief Percy had clearly felt upon finding out that he wasn't in any trouble quickly evaporated, giving way to exasperation and then utter humiliation. He bowed his head in a vain attempt to obscure the dark blush consuming his face.

"Fred and George, for goodness's sake..." he mumbled.

"You know of this?" Umbridge pounced on this, her pouchy eyes usually wide. "Have you not claimed multiple times that you're no longer in contact with your family?"

"I'm not!" Percy said very quickly.

"Fred and George Weasley have always been the sorts to break school rules, Madam Umbridge," Carewyn came to Percy's defense immediately. "Anyone who attended school with them would know that...let alone anyone who lived with them. I only shared two years of schooling with them as their Prefect, and I remember full well how much trouble they got up to."

"Well, they've certainly gotten themselves into some trouble now," said Fudge lightly. "Some real legal trouble."

He folded his arms behind his back, his eyes solidly on Carewyn as he strolled over to his fireplace.

"The Messrs. Weasley -- prior to receiving the punishment allotted to them by their Headmistress -- allotted to flee school on a pair of confiscated broomsticks and take up residence back here in London. But as Madam Umbridge has so astutely pointed out to me, their legal guardians never filed the formal paperwork needed to withdraw them from Hogwarts school."

"Meaning that those miscreants are still enrolled students -- ones I can punish accordingly," said Umbridge, her eyes gleaming viciously around her sweet smile. "And I've already drafted up the paperwork on my end needed to expel them once and for all! Once the Minister signs it, their wands will be broken in two and their property in Diagon Alley can be confiscated!"

Pure unadulterated fear seemed to flash over Percy's face. Obscuring her own anxiety as much as she could, Carewyn whirled on Umbridge with her sternest look.

"Madam, you as Headmistress of Hogwarts have no legal authority to evict your students. Unless one counts from Hogwarts itself."

She paused a moment to collect herself.

"...As for expelling Fred and George Weasley...had you elected to expel them prior to their departure?"

Umbridge looked bewildered. "Of course not! I wanted to ensure they faced proper discipline, in the light of their -- "

"Then your expulsion would only apply if George and Fred's stated intent to leave school didn't serve as an adequate withdrawal. And I can surmise they did, in fact, say that they were withdrawing from school?"

Umbridge looked incredibly irritated. After a moment, Fudge granted, "...I believe so. In so many words."

"Offhand remarks, Minister, are not legally binding!" Umbridge said shrilly. "If they'd wanted to withdraw from Hogwarts, then their parents should've sent a proper appeal to their Headmistress!"

Once again Carewyn met Percy's eyes. He was looking at her with a bizarre kind of anxiety -- something both cautioning, wanting her to do what was right for the Ministry, for her job -- therefore, in his mind, right overall...and yet there was also something oddly hopeful too...pleading...

"I've told you a million times, Fred, you and George are going to throw away your entire futures if you keep at this nonsense -- !"

Carewyn's lips came together grimly sensing the memory through Percy's eyes. Her own eyes drifted up toward the ceiling as she crossed her arms -- then she turned to Fudge. She tried to put forward her calmest expression even as her mind raced.

"...Minister," she said slowly, "you and Madam Umbridge have both said that the Weasley twins' legal guardians didn't file any paperwork to withdraw them from school."

"That's correct," said Fudge.

"How old are these two boys again? My math may be a bit off -- " This was a blatant lie, but one Carewyn didn't regret in the slightest, " -- but I recall that Fred and George Weasley started their first year when I was in my sixth, so I'd hazard to guess they're already of legal age in the Wizarding World."

Fudge faltered.

"Oh -- well, yes, that...must be right, I suppose..."

He wasn't pleased to admit this. Umbridge was quick to counter.

"Legal age or not, they did not file the paperwork needed to formally withdraw from school!" she said. "Therefore they're still my students, by law and by the rules of Hogwarts!"

"Hm," said Carewyn, resting her hand on her chin as she pretended to consider this. "I wonder about that..."

Umbridge's eyes flashed with anger. "What?"

"Well, one's seventh year is already superfluous, as far as Hogwarts's educational system goes," said Carewyn. "The only required exams a wizard must take in order to enter the Wizarding World are one's O.W.L.'s. A students' NEWT years are truthfully optional, so long as the student is of age."

Umbridge had become rather red in the face. "You -- !"

"My brother was expelled from Hogwarts because he'd chosen to remain at school after turning of age and Albus Dumbledore then elected to wrongly punish him," said Carewyn, and she didn't even bother disguising her righteous anger discussing this. "But in this case, George and Fred Weasley decided to evade a more minor punishment by verbally and physically withdrawing themselves from school. A self-inflicted punishment in its own way, I would think, given that it hinders them from both an academic and career perspective...but if the two boys are of legal age, it's a choice they would be allowed to make. It might not be very common now...but there's plenty of precedence historically of OWL wizards not attending Hogwarts in their sixth and seventh years, so as to pursue an apprenticeship under a more experienced magical craftsman. I remember Garrick Ollivander telling me his grandmother elected to bypass her NEWTs so she could study abroad with a wandmaker in Bulgaria. Zymunt Budge, as well...he didn't even complete his OWL's before leaving school to pursue his potionmaking, and yet he was allowed to continue legally carrying a wand."

Carewyn turned to Fudge with a harder look in her eye.

"Minister, I realize that Madam Umbridge may seek some justice for the Weasley twins' misbehavior -- and believe me, I admire that wish -- " Another blatant lie, but once again, Carewyn felt no regret for it, "...but from a legal perspective, I don't think she has any authority over them remaining. They're legal adults who cast some advanced transfiguration on a school hallway. I don't even know if that would be a felony from our standpoint, considering that there were no Muggles present, the spell was cast on inanimate objects rather than people, and the magic presumably would not constitute permanent damage to the school itself."

Umbridge had seemingly swollen up like a bullfrog. Her tiny fists were clenched at her side as she huffed and puffed, struggling to come up with some counterargument. Fudge, however, seemed to have resigned himself to mild disappointment.

"I see. Well, I suppose those two boys were never our original focus, however much it would be good to show the students a proper example..."

He moved to his desk, picking up the papers Umbridge had undoubtedly drafted for him and ripping them up.

"Best return to Hogwarts, Dolores," he said, blissfully unaware of just how much fury shone in Umbridge's face behind him. "We have quite a few people still at Hogwarts who need proper supervision."

He gave Umbridge a significant look. The little pink-dressed witch looked very displeased about not getting her way -- even with how purplish-red her round face had become, however, she still somehow forced a toothy smile.

"...Of course, Minister," she said simperingly. "There is much work to be done."

She turned around, shooting a very quick, venomous look at Carewyn as she crossed to the fireplace and -- with a toss of emerald green Floo powder and a high-pitched cry of "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" -- disappeared.

Percy looked from Carewyn to Fudge and back apprehensively.

"Sir..." he said, "is...is that all you wished to speak about...?"

"What?" said Fudge a bit too harshly. Then he became more dismissive. "Oh -- yes, Weasley, that is all. We'll need no assistance on your part in apprehending your brothers, if we don't have enough legal standing to bring them in..."

Once again, he seemed mildly disappointed about this, but shrugged it off relatively well. Trying hard to keep herself from glaring at Fudge, Carewyn shifted her focus over to Percy and brought a supportive arm around him.

"We'll take our leave then," she said quietly. "Good day, sir."

With this, she steered Percy from the Minister's office. She then walked him out of the Ministry and out to the local coffee shop for a quick cup and chocolate croissant to cheer the poor boy up.

"And here I thought after graduating, I'd no longer have to answer for Fred and George's schoolboy misbehavior," Percy said tiredly.

He covered his face with his hand, his glasses propped up over it, as he sighed. Carewyn gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze.

"I can understand why you were worried," she said gently. "However much I know you and your family aren't on good terms...well, Fred and George are still your brothers. Even when everyone thought the worst of Jacob, I still loved my brother."

Because I knew those people were all full of it. But even so...

"Mm..." was all Percy would admit. Instead, as he looked up at Carewyn, he put on his best attempt at reproach.

"Tell me the truth -- were you trying to get Fred and George out of trouble, back there? Or was that your real legal analysis?"

Carewyn's eyes grew a little smaller. "Of course it was real."

Seeing Percy's disbelieving expression, Carewyn lied -- this time, far more regretfully than she had any of the other times.

"I would've done the same thing for Lucius Malfoy's son, if he'd been in their place. The Headmaster of Hogwarts has no right to destroy someone's life...I have more than enough reason to believe that."

Her quieter words seemed to soften Percy enough that he chose to believe her.

"...Mm, yes...I suppose I do forget just how much Dumbledore hurt you and your family, for what he did to Jacob..."

He paused. He looked down into his coffee and put on a very weak smile.

"...I know it's stupid...but I want to yell at them. All that tutoring I offered them for Transfiguration at school, and they decide to show off their mastery of it by turning a hallway into a bloody swamp."

Carewyn bit her lip in amusement. "I can't imagine it's something McGonagall would've assigned them."

Minerva must be so proud, though -- seeing them use her lessons to stand up to the likes of Umbridge, she thought warmly. Oh, how I wish I could send those two some chocolate right now...the biggest chocolate Easter egg I could find!