Disclaimer: Aaaaand… I have a surprise for you lot! I now own Harry Potter! *Throws streamers into crowd*

…Please tell me you didn't fall for that. I do not in fact own Harry Potter. All rights and so on still go to the amazing JK Rowling, along with Warner Bros. and so on.

Cedric seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that he was being followed by three other First Years, despite the constant plinking sound as water droplets fell from George's hair and clothes to hit the floor. George winced every time he heard it, but Cedric never turned around. It didn't take long for Fred, George and Lee to forget about their nerves, and they soon started to enjoy following Cedric; they had great fun getting into the spirit of things and hiding behind suits of armour every time they thought he might turn around. In fact, they were almost disappointed when he stopped on the corridor that led to the kitchens, putting an end to their chase. The twins and Lee were only about six feet away from him, but their view was obscured by the suit of armour behind which they'd taken refuge. They could just about see Cedric turning to face a portrait on the wall, but that was all.

"What's he doing?" hissed George. "I can't get a good look."

"I dunno," said Fred. "I'll try to get a bit closer."

Fred, with the air of a master spy, got down on his hands and knees on the floor, and peeked carefully out from underneath the suit of armour. He crawled forwards, watching Cedric closely. Cedric pulled out his wand from his pocket, and was just raising it, when he happened to look over to his left - exactly where Fred was kneeling.

"Oh, hello," Cedric said, sounding slightly surprised as his eyes alighted on Fred, who was still flat on the floor.

Fred panicked and tried to leap backwards out of sight. Instead, he hit his head on the suit of armour, almost knocking it over with a loud clanging noise. Cursing himself for his clumsiness, he pulled himself to his feet, trying to look as casual as he possibly could.

"Hi, Cedric."

"Are you Fred or George? I can't tell you apart, sorry."

"I'm George," Fred replied promptly.

A foot, identical to his own, swung out from behind the suit of armour and kicked Fred in the back of the shin.

"Git," George's voice muttered from out of sight, and Cedric looked interestedly at the armour.

"Ouch." Fred leaned down to rub his leg. "Sorry, yeah, I'm Fred."

"Oh, OK. Um… If you don't mind me asking, what exactly were you doing here?"

"Nothing much." Fred fought to keep his voice light and offhand. "Just looking round the bits of the castle we haven't been in, you know. This corridor's particularly exciting, don't you think? And that bit of floor under the suit of armour was... was very interesting."

"Was it?" said Cedric doubtfully. "Well, don't mind me, I was just going back to my common room."

Without even waiting for Fred to leave, he withdrew his wand again. Fred surreptitiously leaned over and saw that the portrait in front of Cedric was of a old wizard dressed in yellow. Cedric tapped the wizard's bulbous nose, and said, "Helga". The portrait suddenly moved smoothly to the left, leaving a large, circular hole.

"See you around," said Cedric, giving Fred a wave.

He climbed through the hole, which closed quickly behind him, and Fred was left gaping in astonishment at the point where Cedric had just vanished.

"That guy is seriously too trusting," he said eventually, turning to George and Lee, who'd re-emerged from their hiding place.

"Did he…?" Lee trailed off, sounding a little confused. "Did he just give the password with you standing right there?"

"Yes, Lee, he did indeed," smirked Fred. "But I'm not complaining if he's a gullible idiot. Now we'd better get out of here before a teacher turns up!"

Back in their dormitory, Fred, George and Lee kept the Marauder's Map spread out in front of them at all times, watching as all the Hufflepuffs gradually left their common room for the greenhouses, instead of going up to dinner with the rest of the school. At last, there was nobody left in the Hufflepuff common room, so George stuffed the map into his pocket, and the three of them set off for the corridor by the kitchens.

They walk there was easy. They didn't even see any teachers, and they soon ground to a halt in front of the portrait of the yellow-robed wizard, nobody else in sight. George whipped the Marauder's Map out of his pocket, and after checking that the Hufflepuff common room was still student-free, he pulled out his wand.

"Helga," he whispered, hitting the wizard's nose with his wand.

The wizard grumbled slightly and began to rub his the point where George had bashed him, and then the portrait slid back into the wall, leaving a sizeable hole for Fred, George and Lee to climb through. Once the portrait hole had closed again, the three Gryffindors were plunged into darkness. George stuck his arms out, feeling around for the wall. His fingers made contact with something soft, but-

"Ouch, that was my face," growled Lee.

"Sorry," whispered George.

He took a step forwards, and suddenly torches sprang into life along the sides of the chamber. For a second, the twins were gobsmacked, unable to say anything. They stared around in amazement.

"Bloody hell," said Fred.

"Blimey," muttered George at the same time.

"What, in the name of Merlin's fluffy bunny slippers, are we going to do now?"

For instead of finding themselves in a common room like their own, Fred, George and Lee were standing in a wide tunnel, lit by the fiery torches at the sides. It looked rather like a hollowed out cave with earthy brown walls, and in front of them, the tunnel branched off into three separate routes. Fred peered down the passage to his left, and could see that it too split in two different directions at the end.

"I suppose now we know why Cedric didn't mind us knowing the password," said Lee eventually.

"I thought Hufflepuffs were meant to be thick!" burst out Fred. "But oh no, they have to have a bloody maze to get to their common room."

"I think it's meant to be like a badger's den," said George slowly.

"Does that matter?"

"Well, if it is modelled on a den, then I think we can pick any tunnel."

"And why the hell would you think that?"

"Because there's no point in having dead end tunnels unless it's to fool intruders!"

"Um... Sorry, but what are you talking about?"

George sighed. "Remember when we were little and we tried to climb down into a badger's den?"

"Vaguely…"

"And we told Mum we just wanted to see what it was like inside, so she decided to explain it to us. She said there was a large hole in the middle with lots of tunnels leading off it to different exits."

"So you reckon that all these passageways just lead round to come to the same place from different angles?" said Lee, catching onto George's idea and gesturing at the tunnels in front of them.

"Yeah. The Hufflepuff common room only has one entrance, but it probably still has lots of tunnels going into the main bit."

Fred still looked slightly sceptical. "What if it's not meant to be a den; what if it's just so invaders from other houses, like us, can't find their way into the Hufflepuffs' common room?"

George shrugged. "The tunnels would still put them off a bit. That is, if the invaders in question weren't geniuses like me who worked the whole thing out within minutes," he finished, with a smug grin.

"It's the best plan we've got," said Lee, "and even if this is just a maze, we'll have to pick a route eventually."

Fred sighed, realising he was beaten. "All right. But if we trail around for hours and then realise we're lost, I will feed you to the Giant Squid," he said, giving George the evil eye.

"Deal," said George brightly.

They picked the middle passageway, and strode confidently off down it in the hopes that it would lead them to the Hufflepuff common room. Next, they took the left, and then a right, another right, and the middle tunnel again. Ten minutes later, they were still caught up in the network of tunnels, with no sign of the end wherever they looked.

"It can't be too much further," said Lee desperately. "Or the Hufflepuffs would be late for every lesson."

"They probably just know the short cuts," said Fred gloomily. "George, if this goes on much longer, you're squid food."

George quickened his pace, looking slightly nervous. They turned another corner, and then there was a sudden flash of blue light around them. Fred felt his feet leave the floor; it was almost as if his step had lengthened until he was flying through the air. The walls around them seemed to fade out of existence, and then, without warning, he, George and Lee were deposited in a heap at the doorway to a large chamber – the Hufflepuffs' common room.

Fred pulled himself to his feet, brushing down his robes, and looked around. The room was filled with squashy yellow armchairs and low tables. A fire blazed merrily in one corner, casting a warm glow over the rug on the floor, and there were two staircases leading away to the dormitories, just like in the Gryffindor common room.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Lee, sounding slightly dazed.

"I- I don't know… It was kind of like a Portkey, wasn't it?" said George.

"How come the Hufflepuffs have such a cool way to get into their common room? I mean, we only get a password and here they are with bloody teleportation tunnels!"

Fred walked over to the side of the room, where there was a noticeboard.

"Hey, look at this," he said, pointing at a large poster in the middle.

Reminder to all Hufflepuffs: To enter or leave the common room, simply stand on an inscription of a badger on the ground. These inscriptions are dotted throughout the maze, so don't worry if you get lost!

"Wow, they're really obsessed with their house animal, aren't they?" commented Lee. "We don't have lions all over the place."

"Yeah, I know!" said Fred. "What is this? Badgermania?"

He turned to examine the passageway they'd come through. On the floor of the tunnel there was indeed a picture of a badger, scratched into the ground so faintly that none of them would have noticed it if they hadn't known it was there. He supposed it was just good luck that they'd happened to pass over a picture before they, say, died of thirst. He turned to glare at George, who was shuffling uncomfortably.

"Can we bear in mind that I've already been chucked in the lake once today?" George said nervously.

"I don't know… We did have a deal," smirked Fred.

"But technically, this is based on a badger's den. It's just… um… a magical badger's den."

Fred considered for a moment. "Sorry, it's just too much fun seeing you get soaked."

"What a lovely, caring brother you are."

"You know you love me really! Now come on, let's find a Hufflepuff item, quickly."

Fred, George and Lee began to comb over the room, searching through all the objects on the shelves and tables. They needed something that could represent the house well; perhaps something with the Hufflepuff colours, or yet another badger-based item.

Fred was just pawing through a stack of books on one of the tables, when he heard a loud groan from his left. A shot of adrenalin ran through him and he swung around to see George staring in horror at something on the shelf.

"What's wrong, what've you found?" said Fred urgently, rushing over to his twin.

"A Hufflepuff item," said George weakly.

"Is that all?" said Fred indignantly. "You scared the life out of me; I thought you'd seen a teacher coming or something!"

"No, look at this."

George pulled something very small off the shelf and held it up for Fred to see. It was a chocolate frog card, with Helga Hufflepuff on it. Fred stared at it, speechless, for a few seconds.

"You mean we came all the way up here, risking detentions, hundreds of deducted points and all manner of dreadful things, and now all we have to show for it is a chocolate frog card?"

"Yes."

"A chocolate frog card we could have got anywhere else?"

"Yes."

Fred buried his face in his hands, letting out a sigh.

"Let's just find something else," said George eventually. "If we're going to go to all the trouble of breaking in here, I want something decent at least!"

"Agreed."

The two of them returned to their search, feeling slightly put out. Fred and George were pretty sure they had all the Hogwarts founders in their chocolate frog card collection at home. They were pretty miffed by the idea that they could have had the whole search for items over and done with by the Christmas holidays. Still, they were nearly finished now, and soon they'd be able to start the real challenge! Perhaps even tonight…

"How about this?" called Lee from the other side of the room, after a few more minutes.

He was pointing up at the shelf on top of the fireplace, where a strange creature was hunched, staring down at Lee and the twins. It was yellow and black striped, and it had large, protuberant black eyes. Creepily, whenever the three First Years moved to one side or the other, its head would swing slightly, keeping its gaze glued on them.

"What- What is that?" asked George, sounding revolted.

Lee reached up bravely and prodded it with one finger. Nothing happened.

"I think…" His voice trailed off. "I think it's a stuffed badger."

There was a pause.

"It's the creepiest thing ever!" said Fred and George in unison, identical grins lighting up their faces.

"Let's take it," finished Fred.

Lee rubbed his hands together. "All right, commence Operation Badger-Napping."

He reached up, grabbing the stuffed badger around the middle, and shoved it into his school bag. Its head twisted around in a full circle, keeping its wide, unblinking eyes fixed on Lee. He shuddered and shut his bag tightly so he wouldn't have to look at it any more.

"We'll be doing the Hufflepuffs a favour really, taking it off their hands," said Fred cheerfully. "It probably scares the wits out of them."

"Ugh, imagine trying to do homework with that thing staring at you…"

"Yeah... But now that's done... let's get out of here!"

They sprinted across the room to the nearest exit. Fred scanned the ground quickly, checking for the badger sign. Catching sight of the picture embedded in the dirt, he leapt onto it and immediately felt himself being whisked away through space, along with George and Lee. Luckily, the three of them landed right by the portrait hole instead of at a point somewhere in the middle of the maze. They clambered out quickly, and set off back towards the Gryffindor common room, where they felt much more comfortable.

Once they were back up in their dormitory, Lee pulled the stuffed badger out of his bag and set it on the floor. It waddled a couple of paces away from them and then crouched down again, its dark eyes flicking between Fred, George and Lee. Fred fancied it looked slightly doleful, as if it were mournfully wishing it could be back with the Hufflepuffs. He laughed slightly at the thought, and seized the badger, stuffing it tightly into his trunk along with the Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw objects.

They were prepared. They were ready.

"Shall we go down to dinner now?" said Lee. "I'm hungry."

"Yeah, OK. And then… well, why don't we just go for it?" said George.

"This evening?" Lee sounded incredulous.

Fred grinned. "No time like the present."

Author's Note: I'm so, so sorry about the delay in updating! I've taken on too many challenges and contests, and I got a bit side-tracked by them. Hopefully the gap before the next chapter will be much shorter. Thanks for sticking with me! By the way, I just couldn't resist doing something interesting for the Hufflepuff common room, even though I know it's highly unrealistic and possibly quite confusing! Sorry, I think I went a bit overboard, but I really enjoyed writing it!

Full credit goes to Blue Luver5000 for the stuffed badger idea. Thank you!

As always, reviews are very much appreciated. Even if it's just you ranting at me about my inability to update regularly, if that's what you're in the mood to talk about! :P