Disclaimer: The honour of owning Harry Potter still goes to JK Rowling.

That evening found Fred, George and Lee standing hesitantly outside Snape's office, waiting to meet their potentially torturous fates. At least, that was the way they saw it. In George's humble opinion, it made it sound a lot more heroic than 'detention'.

"Should we knock?" asked Lee, after they had waited outside the door for a good few minutes without either of the twins showing signs of going in.

"Should we leave?" George countered, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on, let's just go for it," said Fred in an uncharacteristically resigned voice. Then he added, sounding more like himself, "And annoy Snape as much as possible while we're at it."

He slowly pushed open the door, peeking in through the gap, and was met immediately by Snape's face, glaring back at him through the small crack in the door.

"What are you doing, Weasley?" hissed Snape.

"Coming to detention?" said Fred, and then in a more hopeful voice, "But we can go if you don't want us."

"Most people knock, instead of skulking around behind the door. It makes you look as if you're... up to no good."

"I solemnly swear it," whispered George, too quietly for Snape to hear, but just audibly enough to make Fred and Lee both snort slightly in laughter.

Snape looked at them suspiciously, and then held open the door for the three of them to enter his office. He watched them attentively as they trooped in, and then led them to his desk.

"Today," he said, "You will be sorting my potions ingredients alphabetically, and making a list of where you have placed each ingredient, using the numbers on the shelves. Don't even think of trying to take something. I'll be watching, and I won't hesitate to go to Dumbledore and request your suspension or expulsion. What a happy day that would be for all of us..."

At that, he handed over a quill and parchment to George, who was stifling muffled laughter, and opened another door into his private store cupboard. The twins looked around it optimistically. It wasn't too big; perhaps Snape would let them go reasonably quickly, considering the fact that they had three weeks to finish cleaning it.

Snape gave them a nasty smile, and their hopes vanished instantly. "I expect you to get through this cupboard today. For the next two weeks you will be working on the student storeroom," he sneered. "I think you'll find its state of disarray is far worse than this. And rest assured, if you don't finish it by the end of the allocated time, I'm sure we can – ah – extend your detention."

George's shoulders slumped, and he looked hopelessly across the room at the student store cupboard. It wasn't just untidy; there were bottles and jars actually littering the floor. In a corner, a pile of shattered glass was just visible, with an unpleasant-looking liquid dripping from it. In fact, George was sure the storeroom wasn't normally quite that messy. He wouldn't be surprised if Snape had 'accidentally' allowed Peeves to get into it during the day.

"What are you waiting for? You'd better get started now," Snape said, gesturing towards his private storeroom.

Fred, George and Lee surrendered themselves to their task and walked into the storeroom, George carrying the parchment and quill. Snape followed them in and conjured up a chair in the corner, where he sat down, pulled out some marking, and got to work keeping the three First Years carefully within his field of vision.

Fred, George and Lee got to work at once, aiming to be out of detention, away from Snape's greasy hair and happily back in their dormitory as soon as possible. They decided to move the ingredients into approximately the right places first of all, and then alphabetise it properly and make the list. The work was harder than they'd expected, as quite a few of the labels on the ingredients were faded and unclear, but normally they could work it out after a bit of squinting. Suddenly, Fred halted, staring at a jar of ingredients. George glanced over at his brother, to see him wide-eyed, looking as though a realisation had just hit him. George caught Fred's eye for a moment, raising his eyebrows questioningly, and Fred mouthed silently that he would explain later. George nodded once and turned away, and they both went back to their work as though nothing had happened.

Three hours later, everything was in its correct place, more or less. George's hand was aching painfully from writing out the list, but at least it done. While they were working, they had even managed to find a way to enjoy themselves, though it came at a price. Whenever they came across a label that was faded, even for the most obvious ingredients, they would take the jar to Snape and ask him innocently what it said. This started harmlessly enough, and Snape's snide comments suggested that he just thought they were even more unintelligent than he had previously assumed, but gradually he became more and more irritable as Fred, George and Lee grew bolder and eventually started asking him to clarify for even the clearest writing. ("I know it says 'Newt Eggs', but I wasn't sure if there was possibly a bit of label missing, say, describing the newts!")

Finally, Snape's patience, which was already very limited, wore out, and he gave them another week's detention, which put an annoying end to their fun. He refused to withdraw the detention even when faced with Fred and George's most wide-eyed and trusting gazes, which clearly said, 'We are poor, innocent young children who knew no better. Love us.' Admittedly, these gazes did look quite out of place and almost frightening when they were plastered all over the Weasley twins' faces, despite Fred and George's best efforts to perfect them. Snape was not deceived for a second.

"Just get out," he snapped finally. "I expect you here again this time next week."

George suppressed laughter and left the dungeons with Fred and Lee.

As soon as they were out of Snape's earshot, he asked Fred, "What did you see?"

Fred's eyes lit up and he began to grin. "I couldn't say anything with the old bat sitting watching us, but I think I've found us a Slytherin item!" he announced.

"What is it, what is it?" chorused George and Lee.

"There was a jar of snake skins – that's got to count, right?"

"Yeah, that fits right in with the slimy gits, it'll be great," said George happily.

"Only thing is," said Fred, his eyebrows creasing, "We're not working in his private storeroom next week."

"We'll need a distraction," George replied, coming to a halt and striking a daredevil pose.

"Something bold-" Fred continued, taking up the same position.

"-Daring-"

"-Reckless-"

"-And Gryffindor beyond belief!" they finished together.

"You up for a fifth week of detention?" asked Fred.

"You bet I am," George smirked back.

Lee buried his face in his hands. "Why am I friends with you?" he muttered, looking from one to the other of the twins. A dreamy look came onto his face. "I could be in the common room. Or asleep. But instead we're probably doomed to detention for the rest of the year. Why?"

"Because, Lee, you have fallen for our charm like countless others before you," Fred told him, patting his shoulder and wearing a generous smile.

"It's easy to do," agreed George.

The next day was a Monday, so quickly more lessons were upon them. First, they had the ever-loved History of Magic, with Professor Binns. Fred and George spent most of the lesson playing Wizard's Chess in the back row, with Lee adding his own commentary. He had now decided to go for the job of Quidditch commentator for the next year and he wanted to get in some practice, even if it was with chess.

"Bishop to E5," said George quietly.

"Knight to E5," murmured Fred, sending him a smug look.

George swore, more loudly than he'd intended, as his bishop was pushed roughly off the board by Fred's knight. He looked round sharply to check that nobody had heard him, but Professor Binns just continued obliviously with his lecture on the 1548 feuds between goblins Burg the Useless and Gark the All-Conquering (spoiler – Gark won).

"George Weasley's bishop is crushed by Fred's knight – ooh, that looked painful, remind me never to get on the wrong side of Fred again!" said Lee in an animated whisper, waving his hands around wildly.

The twins both stared at him bemusedly. "What?" Lee defended himself. "I'm practising for Bludger hits, OK?"

"All right," they said together, drawing out the words and smirking at each other.

Their lessons continued to pass in a similar vein. Fred and George were feeling so restless and edgy at the prospect of stealing yet more potions ingredients from under Snape's nose that they couldn't have concentrated in class if they'd wanted to. This, unfortunately for their teachers, led to an even more increased tendency than normal to blow up anything that came into contact with their wands.

In Charms that day, they were supposed to be practising Lumos and Nox, two useful spells to create a light on the end of a wand and put it out again.

"Lumos," said Fred absentmindedly, swishing his wand hard instead of just holding it in front of him like he was meant to.

Professor Flitwick squeaked in astonishment as a burst of sparks shot from the end of Fred's wand and alighted on a roll of parchment, which promptly sprung up in flames.

"Aguamenti," he cried, his voice rising to an even more high pitched note than usual. He quickly extinguished the fire and sent Fred to practise more carefully and away from anything flammable.

A similar incident occurred in Potions. Fred and George spent the lesson on tenterhooks. They didn't want to give Snape any reason to suspect them when he found the snake skins missing, so they kept their eyes fixed firmly on him as they tried to make a Forgetfulness Potion. Staring at him was probably counterproductive, but they couldn't help it. Soon they reached the step written on the board that instructed them to stir the potion ten times anti-clockwise. George set to it with vigour, while still not shifting his gaze from Snape.

"Erm… George?" said Fred eventually, tapping his twin on the shoulder.

"What is it?" George asked vaguely. His stirring picked up its speed even further. He was now at well over forty stirs.

"I don't think the potion's meant to be orange," Fred told him casually, as if he was commenting on the weather. "Take cover!"

With a noise like a gunshot, the cauldron exploded. Thick black smoke billowed up, leaving Fred and George's faces smudged with dust, and splashes of potion sprayed out over the room. A few drops hit a Slytherin boy called Dale on the cheek, and his face instantly began to erupt in nasty looking boils. He moaned, holding his hands gingerly up to his face and wincing. Snape spun at the sound of the chaos and swooped towards Fred and George's desk. His nostrils were flaring angrily and he looked like he'd rather enjoy murdering the two identical gingers in their sleep.

"Even as the dunderheads you are, surely you should have noticed how completely you were wrecking this potion?" he said softly. There was a dangerous note to his voice.

Fred and George gulped, lost for words for once in their lives. Fred nervously pushed the sleeves of his robes over his hands for protection and tried to move the smouldering lump of metal that had previously been their cauldron out of Snape's line of vision.

"Mum's going to kill us," he whispered to George, gaping appalled at the ex-cauldron.

Snape opened him mouth to speak again, probably to give them detention until the start of their O.W.L.s, but he was interrupted by shouting coming from the other side of the room. Dale, in his panic, had knocked over his own cauldron. His half completed Forgetfulness Potion had combined with Fred and George's and was now spilling down onto the floor, where startled students were yelping and trying to avoid the steaming puddle. Snape immediately swept over to vanish the potion and to send Dale to the Hospital Wing to have his swelling pustules removed. When he returned to Fred and George's desk, he was breathing heavily and looked furious, but fortunately for the twins, he appeared to have decided there wasn't much he could do. He let them go after deducting twenty points each from Gryffindor and threatening to give them yet another week's detention if they put one more toe out of place.

Defence Against the Dark Arts on Friday was the only other lesson that week that stuck out in George's mind, because of what happened afterwards. During the lesson, they had continued to work on minor jinxes and spells that could be used in combat, and were now also onto shield charms. The class had paired up and they were meant to be shooting harmless sparks at each other to see whether their protective shields were working.

"Protego," said George loudly, concentrating harder than he had done all week.

He looked over at Fred, who was cheerfully getting ready to make his mock attack. He remembered the last lot of sparks Fred had conjured, and felt slightly nervous. He didn't particularly want any part of his body or robes to end up like Flitwick's roll of parchment...

Fred raised his wand and grinned at George. He twiddled it between his fingers for a moment, enjoying watching George squirm with discomfort as a few sparks flew out of its tip, crackling like a firework. Fred had always had a particular aptitude for pyrotechnics. In fact, one of his first pieces of accidental magic had been to burn Percy's favourite book to a crisp after Percy 'confiscated' his teddy bear. Percy was inconsolable for days after the loss of Douglas the Dog in Diagon Alley.

"Oi, Fred, watch it with that stick, will you? My hair looks enough like it's on fire already, you don't actually have to burn it…" said George warily.

He clenched all the muscles in his face, concentrating hard on his shield charm. Fred's wand came swishing through the air, and… the shield held. George breathed a sigh of relief as the sparks sprayed off the side of the invisible bubble around him. He watched them land on the classroom floor, glowing like embers before fading away, and then grinned at Fred's disappointed expression.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, mate. It's not your fault I'm exceptionally talented," he said, slinging an arm over Fred's shoulders and winking.

"That was indeed very impressive, Mr Weasley," came Lyndon's voice from behind them, making Fred and George jump. "Actually, do you mind if I have a quick word with you two after the lesson?"

"Umm… OK," said Fred. He glanced over at George, who looked just as confused as he did.

"Good, just wait at my desk when the lesson's over," smiled Lyndon, and he headed off to check on a pair of Ravenclaw girls.

At the end of the lesson, Fred and George made their excuses to Lee and went to wait for Lyndon. He joined them as soon as the rest of the students had left the room, and sat down at his desk. The twins remained standing, looking quickly at each other before turning their attention to Lyndon.

"Fred, George," he began. The use of their first names was not lost on them. "I just wanted to have a little chat with you."

"We're all ears," said Fred weakly. George shot him another quick look, and saw his own suspicion echoed in his brother's eyes. It seemed highly unlikely that they would be asked to stay behind after a lesson for a friendly catch-up.

"Are you enjoying Hogwarts?" Lyndon asked them.

"Oh yes, it's great," they chorused.

"Good, good. And Hogsmeade? It's a very interesting place."

Again, George caught Fred's eye wildly. He drew in breath, and his heart started to beat faster. They hadn't thought that anyone had seen them, but was it possible that Lyndon had noticed them sneaking out of school?

"First Years aren't allowed in Hogsmeade, sir," said George, hoping they could bluff their way through.

"Of course not. Silly me," Lyndon beamed.

The twins began to calm. "Our older brothers Charlie and Percy have been," offered Fred. "You could ask them."

Lyndon ignored him. "How about the castle itself then? It's very entertaining. I myself stumbled through a tapestry just the other day and ended up on a totally different floor."

"That's… nice," George said unconvincingly. Lyndon chuckled.

"I imagine two adventurous boys like you have wasted no time in having a look around. Have you found anything interesting? Just between the three of us?"

"No, we haven't, not at all," said Fred in a firm voice.

"Nothing interesting whatsoever," George announced at the same time.

"Oh, what a pity. Make sure to tell me if you do," said Lyndon. His eyes seemed to have hardened slightly, and his voice no longer had the same jolly tone to it. He beckoned to the door abruptly and said, "Off you go. I'm sure you're dying to get to dinner."

The twins left without another word, keeping their suspicions silent until they were well out of the way of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"What the hell was that about?" burst out Fred, as soon as he decided it was safe to talk.

George shook his head, nonplussed. "It was like he was looking for something."

"It was a bloody interrogation, that's what it was!"

Fred continued to rant right the way up to the portrait of the Fat Lady outside Gryffindor Tower. George on the other hand kept quiet, thinking of the scroll they had found, somewhere between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade... The scroll they had found in a secret passage that he was sure Lyndon already knew about; he had mentioned it to someone in a conversation over the Floo network, right back at the start of the year. George decided he'd keep a close eye on the scroll from now on, and devote every spare moment to cracking its code.

Author's Note: I was going to go right up to their next detention with Snape and the snake skins in this chapter, but I decided that would make it too long. You have that to look forward to for the next update! I hope you liked the chapter, and as always, a review would make my day. :)