10:00pm

Black. Everything is black. The sky, the ground, the trees, even my hand in front of my face. Pitch back. It heightens your senses, not being able to see anything. I can hear owls… and they're everywhere. The air still smells like strawberries, but that's probably because we trekked through three berry fields to get here. The cold is intense, though, and I think the loss of my sight definitely improved my sense of feeling.

Someone turns on a flashlight and in front of us I see a huge, crumbling stone mansion. The cement is cracking, the grey blocks are chipped and the glass windows are smashed. I've never seen anything more bleak or forbidding. I want to run back to the Burrow, to Molly and Harry and Ron, but I don't think Fred and George would tolerate that.

The moon is pretty high and bright but clouds keep drifting past and blocking the light off, all we have is the light from our wands (which we aren't allowed to use) and George's dim flashlight.

"Ready, Fitz?" Fred asks.

My head snaps towards him, instinctively on guard at the slightest sound. He laughs. "Sorry…" I blush sheepishly.

I notice the light moving away and quickly chase after George who is grinning as he backs towards the broken building.

I take a deep breath to calm my nerves, assuming neither of them will pay attention, but Fred slings an arm over my shoulder and squeezes me into his side. "You'll be okay," He smiles cockily. "But I'll catch you if you faint."

I roll my eyes. "I doubt it."

Inside, the air is colder. Wind breezes through the tiniest crack in the walls and windows creating an eerie whistle and chilling draft which edges it's way down my neck, I turn up my collar wishing I wore more layers.

I can only see select pieces of furniture which George swings the light over, but from what I gather everything is red and covered with a thick layer of dust which drifts around the air when it's disturbed. There's a grand piano in one corner, playing side pushed towards the wall and the stool upturned on the top. Everything about this place seems to have a backstory - there are even small photos and portraits lining the walls.

There are three closed doors in front of us, and I've never been as scared as I am when the twins turn to me with scarily happy smiles and pull me between them. "Which one?" They ask me in unison.

I stammer over my answer, glance between the identical, oddly spaced doorframes and point to the one on my left.

"Upstairs it is!" Fred says smugly, and starts to march towards the door, pushing it open to reveal a steep, creaky set of steps.

I push my shoulders back and smile at him with a determined glint in my eye. "I'll race you."

He grins.

Of course, Fred and George decide to flip coins for the beds upstairs (we didn't want to sleep in different rooms) and they end up with a mattress each. I have a heap of blankets on the floor. We set everything up, throwing cold, clammy, damp pillows into the hall to make room for clean sheets. The twins dump their bags at the end of each metal framed bed and I leave mine between them both, where I feel safer.

The musty air creeps through the crack under the door, this room at the back of the house has no windows, and through my woolly Gryffindor jumper - the twins don't seem bothered.

"So," George says loudly, kicking back on the bed with his feet on the raised bar. Fred mimics him.

I roll my eyes and settle against the edge of Fred's bed with the metal digging into my back.

"If we're going to make this night worth the trek, I think we should play a game." George finishes.

I pull my legs up to my chest and rest my chin on my knees. "Okay… but what game?"

"Hide and Jinx!" Fred says quickly.

Both our heads flick towards him, George is grinning but honestly I'm a little scared. "Hide and Jinx?" I ask warily. "You mean… we have to walk around this creepy house on our own in eerie silence and wait for someone to jinx us? We don't even know what's in here!"

George flashes me an amused smirk. "Aw, Amalfi… are you scared?" He says with fake sympathy.

I notice a smile in Fred's eye. "Why don't we do teams?"

I glare at him for a moment. "Because there are three of us." I say bluntly. "And you two will make it your goal to terrorize me for the rest of the night."

The spark is still there. "No, the teams will be you and me against George."

"Well that's hardly fair…" George protests.

I don't see Fred wink at his brother, but I know he does because George smirks and nods. "Okay… okay fine, but I'm going to win."

Fred stands up abruptly and slides his arms under mine to haul me up just as George starts counting.

I swear under my breath and grab Fred's sleeve, dragging him through the door and into the hall looking desperately for a less daunting room to hide in - but he pulls me into the darkest one.