A constant in the Gryffindor Common Room, as always, was the abundance of people crowding it at all hours of the day. At night, maybe the younger students would have waded out towards their dormitory, but nearly everyone in their third year and onwards was still in the Common Room by 10:00 (an hour past Hogwarts curfew). This meant for a very high noise level, a combination of laughter, conversation, arguments, and (in the case of those who were especially mischievous) explosions. The few who weren't in the Common Room at this time were either: A, running amok in the castle, possibly wreaking havoc, B, studying in their dormitory, having found the various sounds to be hindering their productivity, or C, sleeping. There was no in between.

Despite her studious nature and inclination to fall into the B category, Hermione Granger was usually still in the Common Room at this hour due to the nagging of her best friends (mostly Ron).

Now, make no mistake, Harry Potter had never considered himself to be the most observant person – some would say he was completely oblivious (though he would argue that was going a bit far). To his credit, he had noticed many important details over the years – just he had never been the first to notice. On this particular occasion, however, something was clearly amiss, and it was glaringly obvious to even the most oblivious of persons – that is to say, Harry.

The "something" that had been amiss was that Hermione was nowhere to be found. It was easy to assume that maybe she had simply went to sleep early, but that assumption had been disproved when Ginny had bounced down the girls' staircase, wondering where Hermione was.

Ginny, Harry, and Ron pondered this for a moment. Hermione had returned with them from the DA meeting. Sometime between then and now she had quietly slipped away to wherever. But where could she be? It was true that her affinity for the rules had diminished quite a bit lately (the blame here falls mostly on their foul authority figure, Dolores Umbridge), but she probably wouldn't be out after curfew, especially with tensions running so high. Ron reasoned that possibly she had just fallen asleep in the library, which was certainly plausible. The issue was dismissed after this. Harry just hoped she would wake up before she was found and incriminated.

Another issue arose a few minutes later when George appeared with questions about Fred's whereabouts. This was a truly odd question because, well –

"You're his twin," said Ron. "You're the one who should know." This was true. If anyone was supposed to know where Fred was, it was George. Ninety nine percent of the time they were together, anyways, there shouldn't have been much opportunity for George to loose Fred. George explained that Fred had been acting "dodgy" earlier and then, as George had turned around for a moment, his twin had disappeared.

An idea struck, "The map," Harry said, only just remembering he had a certain asset that could definitely help them find their friends. He reached into his pocket to retrieve the wasted away piece of parchment, which George gazed upon fondly, and activated it. It took the assembled group a moment to locate the missing people. The reason for this had been that they were searching in different places for the two but, surprisingly, Fred and Hermione were together. Somewhere on the fifth floor, in fact.

The group exchanged suspicious looks. They hadn't realized Fred and Hermione were close enough friends to be out wreaking havoc together. The majority of their interactions consisted of Hermione telling Fred off or passing conversations at The Burrow or Grimmauld Place. They had no idea there was anything beyond that.

Soon they were out of the Common Room and following the dots, which hadn't moved for a while. They were shocked to find that Fred and Hermione were located inside what was, evidently, a broom cupboard.

Shocked, the group swapped meaningful looks. At this point, there were mixed feelings throughout the group. Ginny wanted to nosily carry on. This could possibly be teasing material for both of the parties involved for years to come. Excitement bubbled in George, also, for the prospect of teasing his twin about his newfound relationship constantly. Harry was just plain confused. And, typically, betrayed feelings were boiling inside Ron, directed at both Hermione and Fred.

As muffled noises sounded from inside of the broom cupboard, which was a combination of moans and laughter, anger erupted within Ron and he rushed forward to open the broom cupboard, revealing the entangled couple – mid-snog. Fred's hands were hidden somewhere up Hermione's blouse, and he was grinning through the kiss. Hermione's arms were wrapped around his neck and her fingers were caught within his red hair.

The second they realized they had been exposed, they sprang apart – Fred's cheeks were tinted red and Hermione's would surely have been as well if her complexion was any lighter. Hermione wiped at her mouth, as if trying to erase the memory of the kiss. It was too late, however. The damage was done.

They had been caught.