Fred stumbled into the Gryffindor Common Room, hair disheveled, rubbing his forehead. He avoided the usual slue of "Hi Fred!" and "Fred, Fred!". He waved weakly to some fifth year girls he had spoken to the day before. He could barely recall the conversation, his body still shivering from the Cruciatus.

"Freddie!" a voice Fred knew he couldn't ignore called out from the dorm.

Fred waved lamely, "Georgie!" He walked as quickly as he could to the dorm room. He wanted nothing more than to flop down on his bed, draw his curtains and pretend nothing had happened. Pushing past George was not his smartest idea as his twin followed him to his bed.

"Well, Freddie," George beamed. "My theatrical genius, where's our map?" George watched as Fred threw himself in his bed, fully clothed in his uniform and pulled the covers over his head. George sat on the edge of Fred's bed and rubbed his back, "What happened?"

Professor Moody is actually Barty Crouch Jr, he performed the Cruciatus Curse on me, I did it back to him and now I can't tell anyone because he'll kill me otherwise.

"Nothing," Fred huffed into his pillows. "I'm just tired."

"That Moody," George tutted, patting Fred on the back. "Did he give you a hard time?"

"Yeah," Fred sighed. Fred found it unnerving that he could lie without lying. "Yeah, he taught me some really intense stuff." He rolled over, his hair now sticking up in all directions, he poked his head out from under the covers, "I think I just wanna nap for a bit, Georgie."

"What did he do?"

"Just some spellwork."

"You're not a prissy wizard, Freddie-"

"I'm just tired, Georgie-"

"Didn't he have chocolate on him?"

"That was more of a Lupin thing-"

"I think it should be more of an everyone thing," George nodded. "Chocolate's a wonderful motivator."

Fred laughed weakly, "Sure is, Georgie."

After George left for dinner, Fred drew his curtains shut and lay back against his mountain of pillows. Every moment in that office seemed to be replaying itself behind Fred's closed eyes. He tried his best to fight his exhaustion, trying to keep his eyes open so as not to see the office present itself before him, but try as he may, Fred couldn't win against his physical tiredness.

His sleep was disturbing, a continuation of what could have happened in that office had he stayed longer – had he been forced to stay longer. He dreamed he was thrown against the bookshelf, a copy of some sort of heavy textbook crashing against his head, causing the room to blur.

"Stop," he whimpered, tears forming in his eyes. "I don't want to do this anymore."

Barty bit his lip to keep from grinning, "Fredrick," he whispered into the twin's ear, "you forgot to say, 'please'".

"Please stop," Fred whispered back. "Please, I'm tired." He felt Barty's hand press against his shoulder for stability.

"Tired, Fredrick?" he said in his mock-concerned voice. "Pity, I was just starting to truly enjoy myself."

Fred awoke with the sound of 'Fredrick' ringing in his ears. He rubbed his face to make sure he was fully awake and poked his head out of his bed.

He had slept through dinner and the return of the boys to the dorm. He didn't feel rested, but he must have slept at least three hours. Lee snored lightly from the other side of the room. Poking his head around, his eyes fell upon a sleeping George who had sprawled himself out completely in his bed. They were all asleep, and sleep was the last thing Fred wanted to do.

Without disturbing anyone else, Fred grabbed his shoes and slipped them on quietly. He tiptoed to the door, making sure no one was stirring as he opened the door slowly. Slipping past the heavy door, Fred shut it quietly and proceeded to the Common Room, where he heard familiar voices whispering.

"Oi," Fred called out to the three figures by the fireplace. "What are you lot doing awake?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione all turned to see the still-clothed twin.

"Well," Ron started slowly.

"Why are you still dressed, Fredrick?" Hermione asked in her wishing-to-be-authoritative voice.

The flinch at the word must have been noticeable.

"No one calls him that, Hermione," Harry scolded her. "Everyone knows he hates it."

"Well," Hermione huffed. "It's his name. He'll just have to get over it."

Harry rolled his eyes, "You know, Hermione, I'd be careful if I were you."

"Harry's right," Ron pitched in. "I wouldn't eat, drink or breathe anything close to him or George now." He studied Fred's pained expression, "They'll be out to get you now."

"Yes," Hermione shook her head. "But I'm brilli-"

"I'm going out," Fred interrupted her, walking towards the door.

"It's past curfew!" Hermione snapped.

Fred turned around just before exiting the room, "Then shouldn't you be in bed?" He looked out into the dark corridor. Just past the portrait of a woman reading some strange, leather-bound book, there was a tapestry which Fred knew lead down to the kitchens. Having missed dinner, he thought it to be the perfect idea to go down to the kitchens, grab something quick to eat and sneak back to bed. The only difference this time through was that there was no George to watch behind him.

Jogging as quietly as he could down the dark hallway, Fred glanced over his shoulder every few paces, just to be sure he wasn't spotted. Grinning at his new found system of sneaking out, he quickened his pace, staring back just in case and- thud.

A voice grumbled close to Fred's ear. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Fred's body froze, hoping he would be semi-disguised by the darkness, Fred tried his best to change his voice to sound like someone else – anyone else. "Yes, I suppose I should be," he said with a much lower voice than he had expected to come up with.

Silence filled the dark corridor, the only sound Fred could recognize was his breathing. He wished his mind was playing tricks on him and it was just Snape. Snape he could deal with no problem, Snape was a piece of cake – Snape was a nap in the dungeons, because Snape had finally smartened up and given up on the twins completely.

"Shall I escort you back to Gryffindor Tower," the voice asked. "Or shall you find your own way back," the voice laughed quietly and whispered in Fred's ear, "Fredrick?"

Fred's heart sank to his feet, his throat went dry, "I'll go back myself, thanks." He pushed himself off the man everyone thought was Moody's chest and turned to walk back when he realized his wrist had been grabbed.

"Now, now, Fredrick," the voice whispered softly. "Did you really think you could break curfew and not suffer some sort of consequence?" He pulled him to his side, "Now, I know you're not doing anything right now," he lead Fred past the Gryffindor portrait. "Ten points from Gyffindor and detention."

"Detention?" Fred croaked out as he passed the portrait. "What sort of detention?"

"You ask too many questions," he grumbled in response. "You should seek answers, not ask for them."

"You should be in Azkaban," Fred hissed, tugging back on his wrist. "Not teaching."

"You seem to have many criticisms of me, Fredrick," he said almost cheerfully. "Tell me more about what an awful person I am."

Fred scoffed, "That just boosts your already bursting ego." He felt as though he was being dragged for floors upon floors. "Question."

"What did I say about you and questions?" he snarled.

"How are you Moody again?" he quickened his pace to keep up. "I mean, I assume you only knew it was me because the map told you."

"No," he mumbled. "I knew it was you because George is smarter than to go out this late."

"So now I'm the stupid one?" Fred asked, tugging on his wrist again.

They stopped in front of a dark door, "Funny," Moody's face split into a grin, "I thought that's what you wanted everyone to think. Good old Fred Weasley – the dumb twin."

"I'm not dumb," Fred snapped.

"I told you that before," he said smugly. Fred noticed Moody's hair was slowly turning into Barty's. "I need you to steal for me from Snape." His hair was starting to change colours, "Shouldn't be a problem for you."

Fred swallowed hard as he opened the door to Snape's ingredients closet. If there was one lesson he had learned today, it was that stealing from a professor is foolish.

He just knew disobeying this one would be life threatening.