Chapter One

"So, Fred, George, I trust that this being your last year here, you two have decided on what you're going to do after Hogwarts."

Fred and George both looked at Hermione. They were used to her constant nagging by now. They sat there a moment, contemplating on just what they were going to do. Of course they already had the answer, but they thought about it just for more dramatic purposes. "Come on Hermione, you know as well as everyone else does what we're going to do after Hogwarts." George insisted. He knew that she already knew the answer to that, so he figured that she was just trying to get the group to think about something other than Voldemort. The threat of him coming back to power last year was just too much to ignore.

Fred looked at the plate of food in front of him then watched as other people ate their food without even really worrying about anything. He looked up toward the table in the front of the Great Hall. Every Professor that he had come to know throughout six years was sitting at the table. Save for all of the Defense Against The Dark Arts teachers that seemed to come and go faster than failed inventions. Of course Snape wasn't seated at the table either. His assignment had been to stay under Voldemort's wing until he had any information to give to the Headmaster. "Where do you suppose Snape is? Did they finally get rid of him?"

Ron shrugged slightly as he picked up his goblet filled with bright orange pumpkin juice. "Stop thinking so much, Fred. You're going to burn out your brain before classes even start." He took a long and thirsty gulp from his goblet. Upon placing the goblet back down on the table it was magically filled back up to the brim.

Fred sighed and figured that his little brother was right. After all, he'd have to reserve most of his brain power for the N.E.W.T.S. that he and George would be taking this year.

George looked over to the famous Harry Potter as he slowly started to slump down in his seat. "Alright, Harry?"

Harry looked at George. He felt a bit queasy and didn't trust his stomach at the moment. "...I'm fine..." He forced a smile on his face then just started to mess with his food. Every once in a while he would take a sip of pumpkin juice, hoping that it would calm his stomach.

George looked at Fred and whispered to his mirror image. "Do you get the feeling that a lot of people are acting weird? I mean more so than normal...?"

Fred nodded a few times then shrugged it off. "They're probably just nervous about...everything." With that said, Fred picked up his goblet. He lifted it up to his lips but instead of tasting wonderfully smooth juice in his mouth, he felt something hairy rub up against his lip. He looked into his goblet while it was still pressed to his lips. To his great surprise, there was a huge tarantula in his goblet. His eyes widened and he immediately threw the goblet down onto the table, which ended up knocking over George's goblet as well.

George jumped back as the juice spilled over the table and threatened to spill onto his robes. "Fred? You ok?"

Fred lifted up his goblet and showed George the rather large spider just sitting under it. "Does this spider look familiar to you?" Carefully he picked up the hairy creature and held his hand open while the tarantula curiously and very slowly walked around.

"Yeah, that's Lee's spider! What was it doing in your juice?" George grinned a little, glad that it was his brother's goblet that the monster had decided to invade.

"He just wanted a quick dip in something cool. Sorry about that! I've been looking everywhere for him!" Lee carefully took his prized possession from Fred and continued to eat and drink everything in front of him.

Fred no longer had an appetite for pumpkin juice. He kept thinking about another spider crawling into his goblet. He didn't have to think about it for long before it was announced that the Sorting Feast was now over. Gladly, the twins stood up and walked with each other to the Gryffindor common room.

Once again, George noticed that Harry seemed to be a bit preoccupied with his body hurting. He knew that Harry had lied to him earlier, but there was no point in forcing the truth out of him. George watched as Ron and Hermione helped Harry walk up the stairs. Before they knew it, the twins were standing in the middle of the common room.

Almost as soon as they were in the common room, Ron and Hermione decided to take Harry to see Madam Pomfrey. Harry's entire body seemed to ache with excruciating pain. His scar seemed to hurt the most. Breathing for him became harder as the moments passed by. His long, drawn out breaths turned into short, pain throbbing gasps.

"Harry! Are you alright?? What's wrong??" Ron could barely hold Harry up as he fell into an almost lifeless ball right into his arms. He had passed out before they even made their way back out of the common room.

Fred and George immediately ran over to the group. "Quick, George, grab his legs. I've got his torso." With the twins' help, Ron and Hermione followed them down to the infirmary. Ron ran ahead of his brothers to inform Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione looked at the limp figure that the twins were holding. She took one of his motionless hands into hers and squeezed it gently. How could something happen so soon in the year? She continued to look at Harry then placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Things will be alright, Harry...I promise..."

George lead Fred into the infirmary where an awaiting Madam Pomfrey instructed them to place Harry onto the closest bed. Gently and carefully, the twins placed Harry down onto the designated bed. Madam Pomfrey examined Harry closely. His hair stuck to his forehead from a feverish sweat that had broken out. She sighed softly as she looked behind her to the four children waiting eagerly to hear any news. "...You four should get to bed. He needs his rest..."

Hermione frowned a little as she let go of Harry's hand. She had picked up a hint of something not being right in Madam Pomfrey's tone of voice. "What's wrong with him? Should I go get Professor McGonagall?"

Madam Pomfrey, not wanting to frighten the children, placed a reassuring smile on her face then shook her head. "No, child. I will take care of this. Go now, go to bed."

The four nodded then slowly walked out of the room. For some reason, none of them were comforted by Madam Pomfrey's attempt to sound calm. Hermione stopped and started speaking to herself. "There's just something not right. Madam Pomfrey knows something is wrong. I know she does..."

Ron stopped walking when he heard Hermione speak. He looked back at his brothers as they stopped as well. "Come on Hermione...there's nothing we can do now..." He walked over to Hermione and placed an arm around her shoulders, trying his best to comfort her.

George nudged Fred as they started to walk once again. He couldn't help but to grin. Fred knew exactly what George was getting at, so he whispered to his brother. "There's no way Ron has a thing for Hermione...! ....is there??" George shrugged his shoulders and just continued to walk back to the common room with that grin on his face.