Fred and George finished their Transfiguration lesson and headed up to the Hospital Wing to visit Lee and bring him a copy of the work they had been doing. Usually the twins wouldn't have bothered, but McGonagall insisted that if they were going to see their friend that they had to bring his work with him so that he didn't fall behind.

They made their way into the Infirmary and waved a hello at Ron and Harry who were visiting Hermione like they did on most days.

"Alright Jordan," said George, dropping down into one of the chairs next to the bed.

"Hey guys," said Lee, who was lying on his front with his arms crossed under his chin and a pillow wedged under his arms.

"When you getting out," said Fred.

"Probably today," said Lee. "Madam Pomfrey just has to check my… er…"

"Bum," said Fred, finishing the sentence. "She has to check your bum."

"Yes, I know," said Lee, tersely. He let out an exasperated sigh. "Does everyone know?"

"Of course they do," said George, slapping his friend on his shoulder. "Someone told the whole school, and wrote to Charlie and Bill about it, and drew a picture that they stuck up on the notice board in the Common Room. Don't know who it was. Probably Angelina."

"I hate you guys," muttered Lee.

"I'm just kidding," said George.

"Really?"

"Yeah, McGonagall made us take the picture off the notice board, so we put it in a frame and it's on the mantelpiece above the fire in the Common Room," advised George.

"Could be worse," said Fred, nodding his head towards where the Petrified bodies of Colin Creevy and Justin Finch-Fletchley were laid behind the curtains.

"Yeah, do you think she coughs up fur-balls?" asked George, looking over towards Hermione's bed.

"What? I meant them," said Fred, pointing.

"Oh yes, that would be horrible too," added George.

"Mr Jordan," said Madam Pomfrey approaching the bed, she dragged with her a curtain. "One final check and you should be free to leave." She pulled the curtain around and looked expectantly at Fred and George; neither moved. "Excuse me gentlemen."

"Oh, carry on," said Fred, waving his hand towards Lee.

"Don't let us stop you," said George encouragingly.

"Out," ordered Madam Pomfrey pointing towards the door.

"Fine," said George. "See you later Lee, and don't worry I'm sure when you get back you won't be the butt of anymore jokes."

"Yes," agreed Fred. "I'll have words with anyone that takes a crack at you."

Madam Pomfrey popped her head around the curtain and gave them both a very stern look.

"We're going, we're going," said Fred, holding his hands up.

"I don't know why people get so arsey," said George, shaking his head. He waved at Ron and Harry as he left.

"I'm sure one day we'll get to the bottom of it," said Fred, grinning. A loud sigh from Pomfrey caused them to quicken their pace as they left the room.

They headed down to the Great Hall where dinner was already underway and found a couple of spare seats at the far end of the room and sat down. They ate with great gusto and chatted about the upcoming match against Hufflepuff that was due in a few weeks and the fact that they were surprised that Oliver hadn't already started making them do extra training in preparation. Halfway through their meal they were joined by Lee who was grateful to be able to eat something other than the food provided by Madam Pomfrey, which tended to be given based on their health properties rather than taste.

With the meal finished the boys pushed their plates away and stayed for a while to chat with Hagrid. The gamekeeper had come down to the Great Hall late as he had been dealing with several dead roosters, which he suspected had been killed by something coming out of the Forbidden Forest looking for an easy meal.

"Come on," said Lee, eventually, as he looked over at the clock. "I've got to get a start on that Potion's homework. Three feet by tomorrow. I don't supposed I could have a look at yours can I?"

"Yeah, no problem," said George. "See ya, Hagrid."

"Bye lads," said the gamekeeper as he heaped another pile of food onto his plate.

The trio left the Great Hall and made their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Just as they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady they almost bumped into Percy who was hurrying out.

"Careful there Percy," said Fred, stepping back before his brother stood on his feet.

"Sorry," said Percy, taken aback at their presence. "I'm late for my patrol."

"How come other prefects don't have to patrol half as much as you do?" asked George.

"Because some prefects don't take their position as seriously as I do," said Percy haughtily. "Now, if you will excuse me."

"The Minister of Magic doesn't take his position as seriously as Percy does," commented Lee, as the older boy disappeared down the corridor.

"Seriously though," said George, "I was talking to one of the prefects from Hufflepuff and they said that Percy has basically signed up for all the late night patrols."

"He thinks he's protecting the school," said Fred, shaking his head. The three boys made their way inside to the Common Room.

"That mugwump is trying to make himself look good so he can be made Head Boy next year," added George. One of the tables in the corner was free and the boys made themselves at home.

"So… can I look at your Potion's homework?" said Lee once they had got settled.

"Oh sure," said George taking out a parchment and handing it over.

"It's blank," said Lee, after a few seconds of looking at the paper.

"Yep," nodded George.

"You know you could have just said you hadn't done it either," sighed Lee, taking out his Potion's book.

"Yes, but you looked so happy when I said you could copy off me," said George.

The three boys struggled through their homework as best as they could and then rewrote most of it after George managed to convince Angelina to show them what she had written. Halfway through the evening Harry and Ron came into the Common Room having been visiting Hermione, who was still insisting on doing all of her school work despite being in the Infirmary, and sat down them to play a few rounds of Exploding Snap much to the annoyance of Angelina and Alicia who were trying to complete their Charms homework.

"Ha snap!" shouted Fred, slamming his hand down onto the cards which exploded under his palm with a loud bang. "Ow."

"You do know these cards shouldn't hurt that much when they explode?" said Lee, as Fred blew onto his hand. "Where did you get them from?"

"There was an advert for discounted stuff in the Daily Prophet," said George. He waved a hand at the cards on the table. "These were really cheap."

"I can see why… snap," said Lee, smashing his hand down causing the cards to explode again. "Ow… and they are only supposed to explode at random, not when we hit them."

"You're just saying that because you're losing," replied Fred.

"I have at least twice as many cards as you do," said Lee, nodding at the pile his friend held in his hand.

"Yeah I know."

"The point of the game is to get the most cards at the end, not get rid of them as quickly as you can," said Ron, looking over at his brother.

"What? Really?" asked Fred, turning to check with each of the players if this was correct.

"Have you been playing this wrong the whole time?" asked George.

"No, no, no," said Fred quickly. "I remember when Charlie used to play with me he told me that it was the first person to get rid of the cards was the winner."

"Yeah, Charlie lied," said George.

"Wait a minute, is that why when we play this and you run out of cards first you jump up and run around shouting 'champion'?" said Lee.

"Well… yes," said Fred, crestfallen. "What did you think I was doing?"

"Being an idiot," said Ron. "Like normal."

"Seriously? I've been playing cards since the first year. I've been playing with you…" Fred pointed at George when he said this, "since we were about five. I would have thought someone would have said something."

"Pretty sure I've said it every time we've played," said Lee.

"I thought you were just jealous because I kept winning."

"Er… guys, should they be doing this?" asked Harry, holding his deck out as far away as he could. His cards had started to smoke at an alarming rate.

"Maybe you should…" said George, placing his own cards down on the table just in case, the rest followed suit.

"Good idea," said Harry, very carefully putting the cards down onto the pile which was also now starting to smoke.

"Should we try and put them back into the pack?" asked Ron.

"You're free to try," said George, handing the boy the container.

"Nah, you're alright…"

BANG!

There was a huge sharp explosion which sent the cards flying in all different directions as each one landed they in turn exploded in turn resulting in a number of students diving for cover as it sounded like a firecracker had been lit and thrown into the Common Room.

"Sorry, everyone," said George, as the last of the cards finished exploding.

"Not our fault," said Fred, holding his hands up. "Dodgy cards."

"Can't you just use normal cards?" complained Angelina.

"We could, but where's the fun in that," replied Fred.

"Just because it explodes doesn't make it fun," said Alicia.

"That's true, just look at Seamus in our year. He's always causing things to blow up," laughed Ron.

"Yeah, cos you can talk," said George, pointing at Ron's wand which was sticking out of his pocket. He had broken it earlier in the year and it was now held together by tape. "You nearly singed your own eyebrow off the other day trying a disarming spell."

"Well it's a tricky spell," said Ron, indignantly. "And one of you two always end up with no eyebrows at some point during the year."

"That's because we shave them off, not because we curse them off," replied George.

"That's not much better," advised Lee.

"Fair enough," conceded George, shrugging.

"Oh no, no, no," complained Alicia, as she quickly flicked through the books in her bag.

"Sounds like McGonagall when she's marking our homework," chortled Fred, nodding his head towards the girl.

"What's up Alicia?" asked Lee.

"I meant to take a book out of the library but I must have left it down there. I need it for my Charms if I'm going to get top marks."

"Just go down to the library and get it now," said Harry.

"I can't," said Alicia, looking up at the clock. "It's too late to go back down; we're not supposed to be out of the Tower."

"Says who?" asked George.

"Er… McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick, Snape…" said Alicia, counting them off on her fingers.

"Yeah, I mean beside the teachers," said George, dismissively.

"The prefects, the Head Boy, the Head Girl…" continued Alicia.

"How about we get the book for you, if you let us have a quick look at your Transfiguration homework?" said Fred.

"She's doing Charms not Transfiguration," explained Lee.

"I know that, but I don't need help with my Charms," replied Fred.

"You got the same mark as me in the last piece of homework and I definitely need help with my Charms," said Lee.

"Deal," said Alicia, quickly before the conversation derailed into a petty argument. "If you can get me that book in the next half an hour I'll let you look at my Transfiguration homework."

"Great, what's the book?" asked Fred.

"McQuigley's Advance Charms Volume two," said Alicia. "Make sure it's volume two and no earlier than the twelfth edition. Remember that."

"Volume two, twelfth edition," said Fred, repeating the details to himself. "Okay, that sounds fine. You coming?"

"No chance," said Lee. He nodded at the fire. "It's freezing out there."

"You?" said Fred, turning to his twin.

"Fine," sighed George. "You'd only get in trouble if you went on your own."

"I'm pretty sure you being with me won't stop me getting into trouble," said Fred.

"Exactly. Why should you get all the fun?" said George.

The twins made their way out of Gryffindor Tower and down to the library through various short cuts and hidden passageways. They used a secondary entrance to gain access to the library that they suspected not even Madam Pince knew about, just in case she had placed an Alarm Spell on the main door, and quickly located the book. There was a slight disagreement regarding the volume and edition number, so in the end Fred and George ended up taking a different version each just to be on the safe side.

As Fred and George stepped out into the corridor outside the library they heard something approaching. Someone was muttering to themselves as they made their way around the corner. Fred pointed towards a small staircase that would lead them up a level and George nodded his agreement. The pair quickly made their way across the hallway and down the stairs. Fred kept looking to see who it was that was approaching.

"It's Filch," said Fred, joining his brother on the level above.

"Okay, if we cut across here we should be fine," said George, pointing the way.

No sooner than they had taken two steps they heard the unmistakable sound of Peeves the Poltergeist screeching towards them from the direction they were planning on going. The twins had no option but to turn the other way. Although Peeves had on occasions approved of their general misbehaviour around school, neither Fred nor George could rely on the Poltergeist to keep their presence a secret if he spotted them, since it would completely depend on his mood which had a habit of changing at any given moment.

They eventually made their way towards Ravenclaw Tower with the idea of doubling back on themselves once they had put a bit of distance between them and anyone who might get them into trouble; like Percy for instance, who Fred bumped into as he rounded a corner.

"What are you doing out of Gryffindor Tower?" snapped Percy, looking furious.

"We had to get a book from the library," explained Fred, holding up the book. George did the same.

"From the… the library isn't even open," said Percy, frowning. His eyes went wide for a moment. "Did you steal those books from the library?"

"Borrow Percy, you borrow books from the library," explained George helpfully.

"You're lucky I don't put you both in detention," said Percy. "You shouldn't be out at this time. It's dangerous."

"You're out."

"Because I am a prefect, Fred," said Percy, tapping his prefect's badge for good measure. "Nothing will happen to me, but you two need to head straight back to Gryffindor House this instance."

"That's what we're trying to do," said George. "But we ran into Peeves and Filch and we got a bit side-tracked trying to avoid them."

"Fine, you head that way and it'll bring you onto the corridor with the portrait of Bigley the Snide, and you should be able to find your way back from there," said Percy, pointing.

"Obviously," scoffed Fred. "Where do you think we were going Percy?"

"I dread to thi… shh," said Percy, stopping mid-sentence. They could hear someone walk towards them. "You go; I'll talk to whoever that is."

"Nice one Percy," said George, slapping his brother on the shoulder. "See? You can be cool."

"I'm a prefect," said Percy, straightening his tie. "I'm already cool."

"Sure Percy, sure," said Fred, rolling his eyes.

The twins headed down towards where Percy had indicated while their brother went to head off the new arrival.

"Ah Miss Clearwater, you're on patrol as well…" they heard Percy say before they were too far away to hear him anymore.

There were no other interruptions as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. The school was always cold at night, especially during the winter months and the two boys were grateful to get back to the warmth of the Common Room.

"You're a life saver," said Alicia, as George handed her his book. She read the cover for a moment and looked up at him. "I said volume two, twelfth edition. This is volume twelve, second edition. It's useless."

"Once again, Fred to the rescue," said Fred, dropping his book onto the table. "Volume two, twelfth edition, as ordered.

"Perfect, you are a life saver," said Alicia, letting out a sigh of relief. She dug her hand into her bag and pulled out a parchment. "Here's the Transfiguration for you to look over."

"A pleasure doing business with you," said Fred, taking the parchment and sitting down next to Lee on the sofa as he scanned through it.

"Why didn't you ask to see her Charms homework when she's finished with it? We don't need to hand in that Transfiguration until next week," said Lee.

"Because I know what book I'll need now to get a good mark in Charms," said Fred, tapping his head with his finger. "This way I'll get a good mark in Transfiguration too."

"Plus there's another much better reason why you'd put Transfiguration ahead of Charms," said George. "McGonagall is about a hundred times scarier than Flitwick."

The Gröning Institute was located next to a hotel around the corner of a large department store. To muggle eyes it looked like a non-descript apartment block with dark brown bricks and faded red door leading out onto the street, that's if they even looked at the building. In fact, due to various enchantments places on the building most muggles, or no-majs as they were known locally, found that they barely registered the place in their mind as they walked passed. If the owners of the hotel were asked what was next to them they would have simply answered 'a coffee shop' which is what was actually on the other side of the Gröning Institute.

The pair entered the unassuming building through the red door which led into a grand lobby decked in marble and expensively looking furniture. There was a reception area with a kind looking, tall but thin man sat behind a desk.

"Hi there, how can I help you today?" said the man.

"Hello, we're looking for Mr Bellingsbee," said Lexington. "I believe he works here."

"Ah yes, Patrick," said the man, nodding his head. "He's down in custodial services. Just go through those doors, and follow the corridor all the way and down the stairs. His office will be directly in front of you."

"Thanks," said Lexington, following the man's directions.

"Your inside man is a caretaker?" asked Miro.

"He prefers 'custodian' but yes," nodded Lexington. "In any organisation always make sure to befriend those who are seen to be at the bottom of the ladder. They are often overlooked and treated as though they are invisible. As such people will happy say things in front of them or let them go wherever they want without a second thought. For instance; can you Apparate within the school grounds at Hogwarts?"

"No, it's impossible," said Miro, "except for when they are teaching students how to Apparate, then they lift the block."

"Impossible for wizards," said Lexington pointedly, "not for House Elves."

"Really?"

"Yep, they either forgot to include House Elves or just didn't think they were important enough. Either way a House Elf can Apparate into Hogwarts while the Minister of Magic himself cannot."

They reached the door which had a carefully carved plaque attached that stated 'Chief Custodian – Patrick Bellingsbee' in ornate lettering. Lexington knocked loudly and after a few seconds the door slowly swung open.

"Patrick?" called Lexington stepping into the room.

Inside it was very cluttered. The room itself was huge but every spare space was taken up with various boxes and containers all holding numerous items that looked like they were broken, or discarded, or both.

"Lexington? Is that you?" said a voice which quickly popped up behind a box. The man was balding with a large pair of glasses with extra thick lenses that made his eyes look huge and reminded Miro of an owl. "It is you. How's it going, old friend?"

"All the better for seeing you," said Lexington.

"I didn't expect to see you in person. I'm surprised they let you into the country after last time," said Bellingsbee, coming out from behind his desk and giving Lexington a hug.

"All been resolved, more or less," said Lexington quickly. "This is my business partner Miro Franca, Miro this is Patrick Bellingsbee. Former Auror with MACUSA, current custodian of the Gröning Institute."

"I know what you're thinking," said Bellingsbee, shaking Miro's hand. "How do you go from catching Dark Wizards to sweeping floors? I retired and quite frankly sitting at home all day just didn't do it for me. So I work here and keep the old place clean, and I try my hand at trying to fix whatever I can whenever I can."

"You can probably throw out half of this stuff," commented Lexington looking around the room.

"One man's waste is another man's treasure," countered Bellingsbee. He rubbed his hands together. "Now, shall we get down to business? Unless you came all this way to discuss broken light fittings. The man you want is in a private room on the fourth floor of the Gibbens Wing under the name Ardmore Wentworth. Follow me and I'll bring you the quickest way. What did he do anyway?"

"Maybe nothing, maybe tried to break into our office," said Lexington shrugging.

"Is this going to end in violence?" asked Bellingsbee, pausing at the door.

"Depends on how Mr Wentworth wants this to go."

"Better bring my mop as well then," sighed Bellingsbee, picking the mop up from its bucket and wringing it dry in the attached mangle. He picked up two more mops and handed them to Miro and Lexington. "Only thing better would be invisibility cloaks. I'll keep guard at the door and perform an Impertubable Charm on it so people can't hear what goes on inside. There's an Anti-Disapparition Jinx on the hospital so don't worry about him Apparating away."

They took a service lift up to the fourth floor and stepped out into the busy corridor. Bellingsbee had been right; no one paid them a second glance once they spotted the mops. At the far end of the corridor was the room they were looking for. The custodian went in first under the guise of cleaning the floor before coming out and nodding at Lexington that the coast was clear.

"Mr Wentworth," said Lexington striding into the room with his wand aimed at the man in the bed. Half of his face was badly disfigured and he still had a bandaged wrapped over one eye. "I'm so sorry I missed you at my office the other day. Ah ah, no sudden movements if you don't mind. Miro, the wand if you please."

Miro removed the wand from the side desk next to the hospital bed which the man had just made a motion toward. He put Wentworth's wand into his pocket while continuing to aim his own wand.

"You have something that doesn't belong to you," said Wentworth, settling back into his bed.

"You're going to have to be more specific," replied Lexington.

"A book, it belongs to me and my associates. It was stolen from us and we paid a great deal of money to have it returned," said Wentworth.

"You paid Mr Formby to get it didn't you?"

"How else would we have got it out of Egypt? No one pays too much attention to Gringotts' shipments not unless you want to annoy the goblins," said Wentworth, letting out a cough. "All he had to do was not look in the package. But he couldn't do that. He just had to stick his nose in where it wasn't wanted."

"Where is Mr Formby now?" asked Miro.

"We're all big boys here, I think we all know where he is now," replied the man. "He threatened to tell the Ministry. Couldn't have that now, could I?"

"So what's the book for?" said Lexington.

"Light reading before bed time," said Wentworth, trying to smile but getting cut short by another cough.

"I could make you tell me you know?" said Lexington, waving his wand slightly. "I'm sure it would be more pleasant all round if you were just a bit more forthcoming."

"Yes well…" began Wentworth before he started coughing again. This time he showed no signs of stopping and with each break in the coughing he struggled to take in a breath. Finally he managed to rasp out a request for water whilst pointing to a glass and jug on a nearby table.

"It's okay," said Lexington as Miro looked over to him for confirmation. "No use to us if he can't talk."

While still keeping his wand on the man, Miro carefully poured out a glass of water and held it out. The man nodded his thanks and reached for the glass. Suddenly his hand lurched forward and grabbed Miro's wrist before he could react causing him to drop the glass onto the covers. Wentworth pulled him towards the bed whilst swinging his legs out of the covers. Miro tried to fire off a spell but the man had already grabbed his other wrist forcing the wand downward so that the spell hit the tiles on the floor without effect.

Wentworth forced Miro's wand wrist to bend and he used the leverage to spin him around so that he could grab him around the neck from behind.

"Careful, you have no place to go," ordered Lexington as the man continued to use Miro as a human shield.

Wentworth looked around the room. The only way out was the door behind Lexington. At that moment Miro leant forward before jerking his head backwards and connecting with the bridge of Wentworth's nose. The man cried out in pain and let go of his captive. Miro span around and pushed him away. Wentworth's legs hit the bed and he tumbled backwards and over onto the floor on the other side.

"Just tell us what we want to know," snapped Miro, annoyed with himself that he had been briefly overpowered.

"And then you'll let me go?" scoffed Wentworth who was ducked down protectively behind the bed.

"Then we'll take you into custody and make sure you pay for your crimes," explained Lexington, cautiously side stepping around the room.

"You have no authority here," said Wentworth.

"This," said Lexington, waving his wand, "gives me authority."

"When he rises again the Heir will wipe you from existence," snarled Wentworth.

He reached onto the bed, picked up the empty glass and threw it. Lexington automatically used a spell to deflect the glass against the wall where it smashed. He aimed his wand back towards Wentworth but his target was already on the move.

Wentworth ducked until Miro's attempted Stunning Spell and raced towards the window. He jumped with his arms folded in front of his head and smashed through the glass. Miro and Lexington raced towards the window and looked down just in time to see a bloody Wentworth Disapparate in mid-air.

"Well, I don't know about fun," said Bellingsbee as he looked around the room. He had rushed in at the sound of the window smashing. "But your visits are always certainly memorable Bernard."