Angelina looked up from her spot by the fire, glancing around the common room. George turned from his game of wizard chess with Lee— giving Fred a chance to mess with George's pieces as Lee grinned— to quirk an eyebrow at her. Angelina caught his look, but pursed her lips.
"It's too quiet in here," she stated.
One of George's pieces exploded with a BANG and small shower of sparks. Alicia quirked her brow at Angelina.
"No, I mean, for a while now. This place has been quieter than usual," Angelina continued, still unable to put her finger on exactly what was bothering her. Fred turned from where Lee was complaining about Fred's trick having destroyed his piece too.
"She's right, something's off," he agreed as another piece exploded on the chess board.
"Someone," Alicia corrected, still writing her assignment. They all looked over at her. She sighed and paused in her work. "There are less people in here than usual, we haven't had to fight anyone for this spot like usual."
Alicia rolled her eyes, but couldn't hold back a slight chuckle at the look of dawning realization on their faces as they looked at their seats and then the rest of the common room, where there were still a few empty spots around. Suddenly Fred snapped his fingers.
"Alice!" he exclaimed triumphantly. Angelina slapped her leg, finally realizing.
"That's it! Where has she been?"
"Haven't seen any of her gang for a few days," Lee corroborated.
"In the corridors between classes, sure, but not around the common room," George nodded.
"She and Liz have been getting back to the dorm really late," Katie Bell chimed in from her spot nearby.
"Sometimes not until the morning, though still in their pyjamas," Leanne added.
Angelina hummed in thought.
A dull THUD woke Geoffrey Taylor in the middle of the night. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he glanced around the dorm room blearily while someone made shushing noises. Two dark shapes were fumbling in the dark.
"Wha's goin' on?" Geoffrey whispered.
Thomas and Cole froze, glancing over at Geoffrey in his bed. They looked from him, to each other… back to him, and then back to each other. After a muffled debate they both turned back around as if to ignore him and head for the door.
"What are you two doin'?" Geoffrey called out a breath louder. There was some muffled cursing, but the two boys turned back around.
"Who's that?" Thomas whispered.
"Geoffrey," he replied, fully awake now and curious. "Where do ya go off to in the middle of the night?"
The two boys seemed as if they weren't going to answer. Geoffrey sighed.
"If I follow you, that just puts all of us in more danger of getting caught," he said wryly.
Thomas and Cole consulted each other silently. Cole shrugged and Thomas groaned but came over to Geoffrey's bed with a stern look.
"You have two options, Taylor. Go back to sleep and pretend you never saw us. Or get some slippers on," Thomas grumbled. Geoffrey didn't need further prodding and swung his feet out of bed and into a pair of slippers. He followed as Cole and Thomas led the way out of the dorm.
Alice and Liz were already snuggled deep in blanket cocoons when the door finally opened.
"He woke up, we didn't really have a choice," Thomas apologized as he crept in, Cole and Geoffrey Taylor following behind. Everyone looked expectantly to Alice. Geoffrey was looking around the room awestruck—it was like the inside of a gigantic tent, with layers of fabric of various patterns arcing overhead, and fairy lights arcing just beneath them. The floor was covered in plush carpet and blankets and pillows and sleeping bags, all surrounding the entertainment center where the television screen was fixed on a blue background with a white castle. His gazing of the room finally brought him to Liz and Alice bundled in blankets. He stopped and gulped, as Alice was staring at him coldly.
"Geoffrey Taylor. You have seen our secret hide out. If you ever reveal it to anyone without our express permission, remember, we know where you sleep. Do you so promise to protect the sanctity of this place?" Alice stated threateningly. Geoffrey nodded shakily. Alice's entire presence changed and she instantly smiled excitedly and waved the boys over. "Then come on! Grab some pillows!"
"Good, you didn't start without us!" Cole said as he flopped down on a bed of pillows.
"I'm hurt you would think I'd do that! Especially when tonight is The Little Mermaid, I wouldn't dare damage Thomas's experience of this masterpiece!" Alice exclaimed.
"It's Disney's revival, their first great film in decades!" Cole agreed while Alice nodded solemnly and pressed a button on a remote. Geoffrey sat down cautiously on a pile of pillows as a white star arced over the castle on the screen. A few minutes later he was wrapped in blankets along with the rest of them, watching the screen with rapt attention.
George scowled at his brother after the third quill snapped and splattered ink all over the table and George's sleeve. Fred growled and tossed the split quill over his shoulder before ducking back down to retrieve another one from Alicia's bag as she glared at him.
"I'll buy you a whole new set!" he grumbled. Alicia rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.
"Alice is busy for one week and you go berserk," George complained.
"Where the bloody hell has she been vanishing off to? I don't trust it. She's plotting something, I can feel it!" Fred snapped nervously.
"I don't think her life revolves around pranking us," George retorted. Though, come to think of it, it had last year. Maybe Fred was right to be paranoid.
"She has to be trying to get us. Otherwise, why wouldn't she let us in on it?" Fred explained. George shook his head.
"Well, we'll pass her going to Charms, so you can ask her then," George said. Fred nodded, determined.
But it wasn't as easy as it should have been.
As soon as the twins caught sight of Alice, her friends came over and she rushed off with them down the corridor.
"Oi! Connen!" Fred shouted over the crowd. Alice turned and grinned at them, but didn't stop. Fred had to push his way through the crowd to catch up to her. She nodded to her friends—and Geoffrey, who was apparently hanging out with her group now?—and they continued on to class while she only slightly slowed her pace to walk and talk with Fred.
"We're rigging Filch's office with cauterwhaling charms," he told her excitedly. They hadn't actually planned this, he just thought of it on the spot and it seemed a pretty solid weekend plan.
"Cool," Alice responded distractedly. Fred paused.
"Do you want to help?"
"I'm good. Y'all have fun," she grinned and began to speed up.
"Where are you always racing off to?" Fred called after her as she slipped through the crowd.
"Class!" she yelled back before disappearing down the corner. Fred glared after her.
Leanne glanced over as Thomas and his friends walked past her and Katie's desk. Katie rolled her eyes at her friend, but Leanne took a double take.
"When did Geoffrey start hanging out with them?" she asked Katie.
Katie looked up abruptly to see Geoffrey laughing along with Alice, Liz, Cole, and Thomas. Her brow furrowed and she met Leanne's confused expression.
"What is going on?" Katie muttered as Quirrell started class.
His quivering voice droned on, not seeming to notice that hardly anyone was paying attention. Alice and her friends were whispering and passing notes under their desks— which was pretty standard DADA behavior, but it was weird that Geoffrey was in on it too. Oh and also that they kept mysteriously glancing over at Katie and Leanne.
About halfway through class, a paper bird fluttered over and landed on the desk in front of Katie. She glanced at Leanne, who just shrugged. Katie deftly unfolded the parchment to find, scrawled in a neat flowing script: Barnabas the Barmy tapestry 7th floor Midnight.
Leanne, who had been reading the note alongside her friend, scoffed. "How? They expect us to slip out after hours?"
Katie looked pensive, and Leanne sighed, knowing what that meant.
Which is why they found themselves in the corridors after hours, heading down to the seventh floor.
"Nox. Leanne, you can't be waving that light around."
"Well, how else are we supposed to find this stupid tapestry?" Leanne huffed.
"Moonlight," Katie replied as they turned a corner.
"In a windowless corridor?" Leanne smirked. Katie glared at her, but it was too dark for Leanne to notice.
"Fine. Lumos." The tip of Katie's wand burst into white light. "But if we get caught, I blame you."
"I mean, I was ready for bed when you dragged me out of the dorm to follow this stupid note. Why does Alice have to be so dramatic?" Leanne complained.
"I mean, Charms is her best subject," Katie chuckled. She stopped suddenly. "Here it is."
Her wand lit up the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Leanne looked around, Alice and her friends nowhere in sight.
"Now what?" she asked.
As if on cue (and in fact— though Katie and Leanne would never learn this— Alice had been listening on the other side of the door for a phrase such as that), a door that both the girls could've sworn had never been there before and certainly wasn't there a few moments ago opened, revealing Alice standing in the doorway. Behind her stretched the most elaborate blanket fort Leanne and Katie had ever seen. Liz, Thomas, Cole, and Geoffrey were all stretched out and curled up on layers of pillows and blankets inside.
"Welcome to a world of pure imagination," Alice grinned and stepped aside to magnanimously beckon the two girls in.
"We're not watching Willy Wonka!" Cole shouted from his nest of pillows. Alice tossed a look back at him.
Katie and Leanne were rooted to the floor, mouths gaping.
"Pick your jaws off the floor, you go to a freaking magic school," Alice scoffed.
Katie and Leanne chuckled a bit and slowly stepped inside. A low angelic chorus seeped out before the door shut and disappeared, leaving the hall in darkness.
Oliver Wood came into the Great Hall carrying his broom.
"Who's up for a practice session!" he called out to the third years. It wasn't really a request, and Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia began to get up.
Alicia reluctantly set down her fork, while the twins grabbed turkey legs to bring with them. Wood silently counted them all off but apparently came up short as he frowned.
"Where's Bell?" he asked, looking up and down the Gryffindor table. Everyone else glanced around curiously, even looking to the other tables, finding Katie Bell to be absent.
"Could be anywhere I suppose," Angelina shrugged.
"Maybe the library? Do the second years have a big assignment?" Lee suggested helpfully. It was only then that everyone paused, realizing that most of the second year Gryffindors were missing.
"Oi! Any of you seen Katie?" Fred called down the table to Cormac and his friends, who were the only second year Gryffindors anyone could spot.
The second year boys shrugged and shook their heads. Oliver pursed his lips, disappointed.
"What about the rest of your year? Where is everyone?" Angelina asked curiously.
"Don't know. They all went off after History of Magic," Acton replied.
The third years shared a suspicious look. Something was going on.
A pair of freckled hands slammed down over the very words he was reading. Jason's glare flicked up to the owner of the hands… and his twin, standing over the table, looking serious.
"Where's your sister?" Fred practically demanded. Jason rolled his eyes.
"I'm not her keeper," he retorted.
"But you are her twin," George pointed out with a smirk. He was a lot less intense than his brother, something Jason noted curiously but filed away for a later date.
"And you two are in her house, you see more of her than I do," he explained. A hint of bitterness may have crept into his voice, but he wasn't prepared to address it.
"Not lately. In fact, most of the Gryffindors in her year have up and vanished," Fred grumbled.
"Well, except for McLaggen's gang," George pointed out.
"Obviously," Fred agreed.
"They were all in Potions class," Jason pointed out. Though, as he thought about it, he hadn't seen many of the second year Gryffindors on the grounds or at meals. Maybe the Weasley twins weren't overreacting.
"After the last class of the day, they all scatter off together and disappear!" Fred exclaimed. A few peeved shushes echoed around them, including from Jason.
"We tried to follow them once," George began.
"Lost 'em around the third floor," Fred continued.
"Vanished into thin air!" George grinned. "Though, I'm rather impressed that they've found a way to evade us."
"So if anyone would be able to track her down or figure out what she's up to, it'd be her twin. You."
Jason just stared at the Weasley twins.
"What are you expecting, some twin radar or something?" Jason asked sarcastically. The Weasley twins glanced at each other before staring at him, confused. It took Jason a second before he realized they were raised in the magical world and probably had no idea what a radar was. He sighed. "I have no idea what she's up to or where she's going. I can look into it, but—"
"Great! Let us know what you find." The twins disappeared.
Jason's brow furrowed. He didn't know what he had been expecting. Maybe a bit of information sharing, developing a strategy, putting together a multi-pronged attack plan. It's not that he was hoping for a team-up with the Weasley twins, but well… kind of. They were the ones trying to find his sister after all!
"If they wanna find her, they can do the work themselves," Jason grumbled to himself as he went back to his studies.
What line had he been on? None of it seemed familiar.
"Damn." The Weasley twins had sparked his interest. Where was his sister and the rest of the second year Gryffindors? And why had she not included him? Jason groaned loudly, ignoring the shushes that elicited, and slammed his book shut, all hopes of studying actual coursework vanished.
Author's Notes: So yeah... I've been MIA on all my stories for a bit because I moved cross-country, started a job, live with 5 people, etc. Basically haven't made the time to write but I'm trying to get back into it if only because I'm too proud to leave all my works in progress as "in progress" when I claimed I wouldn't be like that at the beginning.
This chapter really got away from me, it wound up being an absolute monster so I split it in two, the next should be up relatively quickly since it's mostly finished but... well, we know how that goes.
Sorry and thank you to any who return after my ridiculously long hiatus.
