Marlene snickered when we sat down on our usual seats, and I couldn't suppress a small smile either.

I didn't feel comfortable, but a little part inside me wanted Lina to suffer a tiny bit.

"Alright," Marlene said giddily, handing me the phial with the blue tinged liquid in it.

"This is never going to work," I said, but took it none the less.

"Oh my Merlin, thank you so much, Marls, I've wanted that for ages!" I said really loudly, making heads turn towards us.

I wanted to dissappear, but kept my act up and hugged Marlene happily. "You deserve it," She replied with a smile, a little quieter than I had been. "You should test it as soon as our break starts!"

"Oh, I will," I said enthusiastically, but not too overdramatic. We had to be careful to not exaggerate, so I kept my voice at a normal volume. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Sh, now don't make a scene. The lesson's about to start." Only the twinkle in her chocolate brown eyes let me know that she couldn't care less about the lessons.

But we had to wait for the lunch break, so we had to listen to the formalities of being an Auror and the protective measures we'd always have to take first.

As soon as the lunch break began, Marlene pushed me onto my feet. "Go, go, go," She murmured and winked at me. "Good luck!"

"You too," I replied and headed off to the bathroom. I could feel my heart beating against my ribcage nervously, but I had to do this. Marlene had talked for hours to convince me that this would be good for me, and I wouldn't let her down.

I gulped when I pushed the door to the girls' bathroom open. I stepped in front of one of the sinks and waited a few seconds before taking out the phial from my robes' pocket.

I concentrated hard to make out noises from outside the bathroom, and when I thought I heard quick steps come closer, I uncorked the phial and held it over my head.

The door opened just when I tilted the phial, making it seem as if I had been about to pour the liquid over me.

Marlene was a mad genius. It was actually Lina, who walked towards me and quickly snatched the phial out of my hand.

Now Marlene only had to be right a second time, and then this prank would be a success.

Lina smiled at me and studied the liquid inside the phial with curious eyes. "What is it?" She asked me in her usual, poisonous sweet voice.

But now I knew that her smile was fake whenever she directed it at me.

A lump appeared in my throat. It still hurt me that she'd just suddenly stopped liking me. Seeing her act as though she'd never stopped being my friend hurt me more than I wanted to admit.

But I smiled my perfect fake smile and pretended to be oblivious to her false kindness. "Oh, a present Marlene gave me. I've searched for something like this for ages, and she's finally found it! It's super rare, you know?"

"What is it?"

"You'll see," I held out my hand, waiting for her to give it back to me.

Just like Marlene had predicted, Lina didn't hand the phial back.

Her eyes traveled back to the blue liquid as she grabbed the phial a little tighter. "Marlene got this for you? You're pretty close, aren't you?"

I didn't know what she wanted to say with that, but I thought it would be best if I did a little smalltalk to not raise suspicion. Besides, that was what a kind person would do, and I couldn't just switch off the fact that I always wanted everyone to like me. Despite everything, I still wanted her to like me. "Yeah. Honestly, I first thought that she didn't like me for spending so much time with Sirius, but it was the opposite, really. She knew me through Sirius already, so she sat down next to me in class and the rest is history."

Lina nodded absentmindedly, her eyes still not leaving the phial. Her jaw clenched.

Do it, do it, do it, I whispered in my mind.

"You pour it on your head, right?"

"Right," I nodded, inwardly crossing my fingers.

Lina gave me a warm smile and lifted the phial, about to pour it on my head.

And neither Marlene nor I had predicted that. My blood froze.

Crap. I closed my eyes and prepared for the potion to hit me, but instead, I heard how Lina gasped and shrieked.

"Oh no, Freya, I'm so sorry!"

I carefully opened one eye and had to suppress a relieved laugh when I saw that Lina had accidentally poured the potion on herself. Little of her hair and face was wet and she looked at me with sympathetic and sad eyes.

My acting skills were paying off now, when I didn't grin or smile and put on a look of pure sad shock. "No!" I whimpered.

"I'm really really sorry, Freya," Lina insisted, but I knew that she wasn't. Marlene had predicted that Lina would take the potion herself if she thought it made me happy to have it.

I was in awe of how right my diabolical best friend was.

"I wanted to pour it on your hair just like you'd been about to do it, but it somehow slipped out of my hand and when I wanted to catch it, I accidentally splashed it onto myself! I'm really sorry, I knew that you were so happy to have it!"

Damn, her acting was good. But she couldn't fool me. Not anymore.

She'd just wanted to make me sad without looking like a villain.

I sighed. "I saw that." Thinking of how I'd been living on the edge of bursting into tears for more than two years, I even managed to make my eyes watery. "It's alright. I know it hadn't been on purpose... I'll just try and see if I can get it anywhere else..."

With that, I pushed past her and went out the door, ignoring her last "Sorry!". As soon as the door fell shut, a grin replaced my sad expression and I hurried back to the classroom, where Marlene immediately waved me towards her.

"And?" She whispered, since there were still a few people with us.

"She did it!" I replied and threw a quick glance at Lina's empty chair.

"Did you do it?

Marlene nodded mischievously. "Casted a disillusionment charm on it, like you'd said. And I put the special stuff on Jack's sleeve when he tried to flirt."

Her many talents continued to amaze me. I nodded at her. "So our job is done now?"

She tilted her head as if she was pondering about the options. "Only if she stops being mean to you."

I shrugged. That was better than I'd expected to hear. "Okay. Are we gonna grab food now?"

"You bet we will."

****

One hour later, our whole class was reunited in the classroom.

When I walked past Lina, she stopped me with one hand and used the other to scratch her throat.

"Freya, what was that stuff again?"

"Oh no, what's wrong with you?" I answered, avoiding her question and staring at her red and apparently itchy skin. Some spots even looked green.

"Why?" Lina asked, eyes wide.

"Well, it looks like you have a pretty nasty rash," Marlene said, looking over my shoulder. "You should get that checked, you know?"

"She's right," I agreed, managing to sound concerned. "Maybe you've had an allergic reaction to the potion?"

"You think?" Lina asked, a little panicked. She summoned a little mirror and looked at herself. When she saw it, she gasped. "I look horrible! I can't stay like this!"

"But Moody would kill you if you just skipped his class," Marlene warned her and I hurried to agree.

"Maybe it'll get better over time."

The panicked look on Lina's face made me feel sorry, but Marlene pinched my arm before I could've done something stupid.

Lina looked back and forth between the classroom and door, but then decided to sit down on her chair.

Marlene smiled. "Phase two. Now, come on, let's get to our seats before Moody comes back."

With that she took my sleeve and pulled me with her, hissing "No mercy" under her breath.

We sat down just in time before Moody appeared and continued the lesson. But he'd only managed to introduce us to the newest exercise when something interrupted us.

"Puuh, what's that?" Someone in front of Lina held their nose, and the people around Lina soon did the same. Luckily, the smell didn't reach us but we could still imagine it.

"What's going on there!?" Moody snapped, obviously very annoyed at the interruption. It made me even more scared to get caught.

"Uuh, Lina, I think that's you..." Jack, who was sitting next to her and also held his nose, finally dared to say.

Lina, still busy scratching her 'rash', looked up, only noticing the many people holding their noses then. "What?"

"Do you have... Um... Digestive problems?" Jack continued carefully.

"What!?" Lina asked again, this time stopping in her tracks and glaring at Jack. "No I don't!"

"Babe, it's okay," Jack tried to soothe her and used his free arm to hold Lina's hand.

There was the sound of a static shock and Lina yelped. When she freed her hand from Jack's, it was rapidly swelling in size.

I gulped. Somehow this didn't make me feel better in the slightest.

"No mercy! She deserves it!" Marlene, who'd apparently noticed my sympathy, whispered again. "It's harmless, we're just embarrassing her a little. Nothing a person couldn't handle."

"You idiot!" Lina screeched and stood up, holding her hand that was now the size of a very big plate. "Excuse me!"

Aaaand she ran out of the door. Probably to St. Mungo's.

I bit my lip, but stopped when I noticed Marlene's warning eyes.

Alright. No mercy, then.

"Well," Moody continued after a few seconds of silence. "It looks like Miss Smith didn't pay constant vigilance. And I thought I was teaching you all something."

He tore his eyes away from the door and looked at all of his remaining students. "Now that this is settled, we can continue."

I exchanged a look with Marlene, not believing that we'd actually gotten away with that prank without even raising suspicion.

My best friend winked at me.

I just blinked at what had happened. My worries had been totally unnecessary.

In hindsight, I should have expected that.

Marlene and I had planned this day very carefully, here and there getting a few tips from Sirius who couldn't help but eavesdrop a little.

Of course her plan had been perfect and she'd predicted Lina's moves perfectly. She was an evil mastermind, that girl.

There was a reason Marlene was the girlfriend of one of the biggest pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen.

Sooo, Little Mix just announced that they're going on a break next year, and although I really know that they'll stay in contact and that we can trust in their friendship, I SO hope that this won't be a 'one direction break'...

I need their friendship in their interviews it always makes my day, so I hope that this break won't be too long 😭😭