November 5th, 1991

Dear Harry,

How are you? It seems like ages ago since you left, and the Tribe hasn't been as lively without you and the other adolescents. This troll news is very disturbing indeed, and while I can't really do anything about it at the moment, I would suggest you watch closely. Guadalupe just reminded me of your impeccable observation skills you learned in her classes...use them!

Everything back home is normal, or as normal as it can be. Werewolf hunts are becoming more frequent now, apparently because a werewolf named Fenrir Greyback is having hay days left and right all over England. Fortunately nobody knows of our true identities so for the most part we're safe.

Speaking of safe, how are you holding up against Headmaster Dumbledore? If he's been bothering you too much you need to let us know immediately. We only want for your safety and happiness, Harry...if you can't find that at Hogwarts, then please feel free to tell us. That goes for Phoebus and the other werewolves as well.

My herbologist job is also doing well...your usual shipment of potions is attached. This time I have to admit I splurged a bit. You'll be fine for a few months with these. Use them wisely.

Hope everything is going well,

Richmond

Smiling, yet worrying, Harry folded up the letter sent to him via Hedwig and allowed the snowy owl to devour the remains of his ham. He softly guided his hand down the owl's back, thinking about this piece of news Richmond gave him. Werewolf hunts...they were few, but they were scary.

Harry unfortunately experienced one the fall after he turned nine. They had set up base in Bristol near an old building which the werewolves presumed to be an abandoned Christian orphanage. The good news was they were right, the place was Christian. The bad news was it wasn't abandoned and it wasn't an orphanage either. It was a monastery. Crazy monks with pistols loaded of silver bullets charged at the Tribe during the night of the half moon. Some of the werewolves such as Phoebus, the Betas, and the Stidolphs got out alive, but some of the Gammas weren't so lucky. Harry had nightmares about that hunt for months.

Even here at Hogwarts there's one likely, which is why Harry was so cautious about Selene in the first place. But Selene has proved herself for the most part, thus it just became Selene, Phoebus, Adam, and him. Draco sometimes joined them, but he had other stuff to do, such as a recent detention with one Hermione Granger.

"That ridiculous, no good mudblood!" Well, speak of the devil. With a face as red as Weasley's hair, Draco stormed to the Slytherin table and sat down in a huff next to Harry.

"I take it your detention went well, Draco?" Phoebus asked from across the table, smirking. "Granger was pleasant as usual?" Draco glared at Phoebus and growled, "About as pleasant as a mudblood like her can get." Adam, who was given permission by the Slytherins to sit with them, squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, and it was not unnoticed. "What's got your wand in a knot, Maddison?" Draco asked.

"Draco," Harry cautioned, his amber tones shining a bit in warning, "Adam is a muggle born."

"Oh." Silence. Then, "Well, Adam's different. He's alright. But all the others, they're no good." Adam breathed a sigh of relief and Harry respectfully argued, "Draco, have you ever thought that perhaps others not of mudblood status can act like Granger?" Draco shrugged, "Of course. The other three houses are annoying as I'll get out."

"Then if others not of mudblood status are also annoying, why are mudbloods such a special case?" Draco looked confused and started chuckling before asking Harry, "Too much pumpkin juice, Stidolph?"

"Anyway," Phoebus interrupted before the somewhat political debate got too intense for the dinner table. "How's everyone been doing with that Transfiguration essay?" Everyone within hearing range grumbled at the thought of it when Selene suddenly came running into the Great Hall, her rusty red and braided hair lightly graced with white powder.

"The first snow is here! The first snow is here!" Selene claimed cheerfully as she sat down next to Phoebus. "That's great, Selie," Phoebus responded kindly, as he dusted the snow off of his friend's hair. Harry smirked. Over the course of the next few weeks, Phoebus and Selene have become somewhat inseparable. Save for classes, they're almost always seen together. It was cute, really. With a bright smile on her face, Selene began piling food onto her plate and suggested, "We should go play in the snow. After dinner."

"Why would we do that?" Draco asked, his nose drawn back as if he smelled something horrid. "We'd only get our clothes wet." Selene rolled her eyes at the Malfoy heir and answered, "There are spells that can keep us warm and prevent our clothes from getting wet. And to answer your question, we're kids. We've been cooped up in classes for months now. We should go have fun, at least for a little while." Subconsciously, everyone looked to Harry for the ultimate decision. Noticing the leadership bestowed upon him, Harry thought hard before his decision:

"I think we should. We don't get many opportunities like this these days. We should enjoy ourselves." Selene looked like she was about to burst from excitement while Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, Harry offered the Malfoy heir a chance to play.

"And act like an imp? Count me out," came the snarky response. Harry only shrugged and didn't bother to remind Draco that he acts like an imp on a daily basis. A friendly imp, but an imp nonetheless.

"Uh, Harry?" asked timid little Adam beside him. Harry turned to him and asked, "Yes, Adam?" Barely above a whisper, Adam requested, "Can Neville Longbottom play with us?" Both boys turned to the Gryffindor table to find Weasley boasting about his supposedly impeccable duelling abilities, Marielle Leclair (who still made Harry's heart jump slightly) rolling her eyes at her classmate, and Hermione Granger eating quietly, still trying to digest the horrid detention she had with Draco Malfoy. Seems that none of them had a good time.

Then there was Longbottom sitting all the way near the end of the table by himself. Depressed and dejected, Neville picked at his green beans before taking his wand out and admiring it with a sad smile on his face. For some reason known only to the Gods, Harry felt an understanding of the boy's sadness and replied, "Sure, so long as he doesn't act like a crybaby. Won't do any good for him, will it?"

"What?!" Phoebus nearly shouted at his friend. Harry looked to Phoebus and responded, "You have Selene, Adam has Longbottom. It's only fair." Grumbling, Phoebus started picking at his beef while Adam cheerfully ran off to invite the lonely Gryffindor. Chuckling, Draco said to Harry, "Good luck with that."

After dinner, there was a good five inches of snow on the ground, and the snow kept coming. Selene, being the clever Ravenclaw that she is, cast warming and dry clothing spells on everyone before they headed out. Harry, with Phoebus at his side, was trailed by Selene, who in turn was followed by Adam and Neville. Neville was more than surprised when Adam presented the opportunity to play before he excitedly agreed and swore not to cry on his classmates.

The five soon reached the courtyard but realized that they were not alone. Two boys, both in their soaking Gryffindor robes, were putting together a snowman that looked strongly like Snape. Harry stopped the others and observed the two. They were twins, obviously, by their same facial features and bright red hair. Judging by their fingerless gloves and their holes in their beanies, they were also very poor, but that didn't stop the two. Chuckling, the twins finished putting together the snowman before they cast some sort of spell. The next thing Harry knew, the snowman lit up in bright colors, with the words SNAPE IS AN APE written across the stomach.

The students soon found themselves laughing, despite it being freezing cold, and the twins turned to find the younger ones standing there.

"Well, well, well, George. What have we got here?" asked the first one.

"Hmm...I don't know, Fred. What do you think?" asked the second.

"I believe we found ourselves some little first years," the first one replied all too sweetly. "You mean some little targets, Fred."

"George, you have read my mind," said the one called Fred. Before either of them could do anything, however, Selene jumped out from the group with a snowball in her hand and yelled, "Back off, I'm armed!" The twins looked to each other before putting up their arms in mock surrender. Suddenly, snowballs appeared in their hands and they both said together, "So are we."

It wasn't known who fired that first snowball, because soon afterwards, the greatest snowball fight of all time erupted in that courtyard. It was unevenly matched, but Harry had to hand it to their opponents, they were pros at snowball fights.

Unfortunately, the fight didn't last long, for soon Professor McGonagall swooped in and immediately ceased the flying snowballs with a whish of her wand. "Weasleys! Grints! Stidolph! All of you, come with me at once!" she yelled, her temper about as high as the Headmaster's tower. Knowing better than to disobey, all of the students followed her up to her office.

When they reached said office, Professor McGonagall conjured seven chairs opposite her desk which the seven students accepted graciously. She then sat in her own chair and seemed to observe each and every one of them. Harry also observed his peers out of the corners of his eyes. The Weasleys, sitting to Harry's left, didn't seem to have a care in the world. They act like this isn't very new to them. On Harry's right, Selene tried to look as innocent as possible, as did Phoebus. Adam wouldn't look their Transfiguration teacher in the eye and Longbottom looked like a lost puppy, unsure of what to do in this situation.

"Fred and George Weasley," Professor McGonagall addressed first, "I expect this kind of behavior from you two. For the act of insulting a teacher and starting a snowball fight with students younger than yourself, you will be serving the usual detention with me tomorrow." The Weasleys stood and bowed to their Head of House before sitting back down. Then, McGonagall turned to the first years and reprimanded, "I trust you won't adopt the habits your older classmates have. I'll also trust that you five were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Nevertheless, for helping initiate the fight, you will also be serving detention with me tomorrow after classes are finished." Confused, Harry spoke up:

"Excuse me, professor?" McGonagall, with her keen and intimidating glance, looked down at the Slytherin first year and asked, "Yes, Mr. Stidolph?" Harry took a semi deep breath before reporting, "What we did was a simple, childish snowball fight. It wasn't life threatening or anything of the sort, and it certainly wasn't mean-spirited in the least. If I may be so bold to ask, why are we being punished for being kids?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow at Harry's argument, then pulled something that seemed a little heavy for her to carry. It's a large book that she places on her desk and she opens it, blazing through the pages so fast it was a blur. Soon, she stopped on a page and commanded, "Come stand by me, Mr. Stidolph."

Harry obliged, wondering what this was all about and whether it will answer his question. He glanced at the page: word after word after word was on the sheet, almost seeming to jumble together due to their lack of space and the tiny writing. Professor McGonagall took what looked to be a magnifying glass and pointed it at the book, instructing in perfect English: "Show me Rule #7,895." The magnifying glass, to Harry's surprise, moved on its own and obeyed the woman, emphasizing the requested rule until it could be read perfectly clearly. "Read out loud, Mr. Stidolph," said Professor McGonagall and she sat back down in her chair. Harry, not really knowing what else to do, looked at the rule and read:

"All students shall not engage in any childish combat, be it mean spirited or light spirited. This includes faux battles, snowball fights, and magical duels in the hallways." Harry looked to the teacher and claimed, "But that's ridiculous!"

"It's the rules, Mr. Stidolph. They're there for a reason, whether you like it or not. Headmaster Dumbledore has always taken care in the greater good for our students, and if it means sacrificing snowball fights in exchange for better health, then so be it."

Oh, Harry thought, So this is Dumbledore's grand idea. He then looked back to the large book and thought, I wonder what other rules are Dumbledore's grand idea as well?

"Does this answer your question, Mr. Stidolph?" Professor McGonagall asked, her tone of voice almost smug, though her face showed nothing but strict and stern. Harry turned back to his Transfiguration professor and replied respectfully, "Yes, Professor."

"Good. Then I shall see you seven tomorrow in my classroom after classes are over." All of the students nodded in acknowledgement before heading out.

The next day, Harry was a little surprised when Fred and George Weasley pulled him over to talk with him. "Can I help you?" Harry asked, a little scared that perhaps they blame him for the mishap (even though he didn't show it). Both boys dragged Harry off near an old statue before replying (starting with Fred),

"We wanted to apologize, mate–"

"Professor McGonagall is a little strict." Awkwardly, Harry shrugged it off and replied, "Well, it wasn't really your fault, we all kind of–"

"That's not all though. What we also wanted to say is–"

"Rules are a bit off aren't they?" They gave Harry a moment to think before he responded, "Yeah, that one rule is ridiculous, but–"

"But nothing, Harry!"

"Allow us to properly introduce ourselves. My name is George Weasley,"

"And I'm Fred Weasley. As you can tell..."

"We're mischief makers." Harry nodded and said, "Yes, I can see that." But the Weasley twins weren't done yet.

"But we're not just any mischief makers, either."

"Unlike other mischief makers, we have a motivation."

"And that motivation–"

"is to have the freedom to make mischief." Confused, Harry did his best to catch up. "So...what you're saying is...you want freedom?"

Both twins nodded and George (or is it Fred?) suggested, "We were wondering if you, the mysterious Slytherin first year, would like to help us reach that goal."

"Pull pranks with us to make a statement, Harry. With our brilliance–"

"And your sense of justice–"

"We can give life back to Hogwarts!" both shouted triumphantly, too caught up in the moment to care if anyone else is listening at this point. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the insanity of it all, yet it made sense. Hogwarts and its students deserve freedom. Why should it be denied to them? Fred and George could really aid Harry, against Dumbledore, McGonagall, or whoever. Perhaps this could work. But...

"What's in it for me?" he asked, once again putting on the façade of the Slytherin the twins take him to be, which is quite the complement. The twins looked at each other with the face that said 'Totally saw that coming' before Fred (or is it George?) explained,

"Why, for you we'll give 50% of the credit and the opportunity of a lifetime of course!" Harry thought about this for a bit and then said, "If you guys ever make a business out of this, I want 50% of that too." Both the twins' cheshire smiles told Harry that he just sealed the deal. Thus, with the three way handshake the trio went their separate ways, until the time came for their first move.

A/N:

Whoever told me that senior year was going to be easy and fun and carefree is a big fat liar. It's only October and already I've yet to finish five more college applications, a dance routine, and this chapter. Well, I'm finished with the last two so guess what I get to do now? Yipee. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter because I certainly did. Cheers!