Disclaimer: I am running out of ways in which to say that I'm not JK Rowling… But I'm guessing you've all picked that up by now anyway. :P

Fred followed his brother through the doorway, making sure to keep as close to George's back as possible. You could never tell in this place whether a door was liable to snap shut in your face and force you to be separated from your twin… Again. Then again, Fred and George had been reunited now, and Fred wasn't one to dwell too hard on the past. He simply kept one eye fixed firmly on George and let himself devote the rest of his attention to the room they had just entered – the last challenge. Fred peered around eagerly, waiting with bated breath for something exciting to appear in front of them. What task were they going to be faced with now?

Nothing happened.

"Well, this room's a bit of a disappointment, to be honest," said Lee eventually.

Fred narrowed his eyes, staring around suspiciously at the blank stone walls of the chamber. If he had learned only one thing so far from this challenge, it was not to be fooled by seemingly harmless appearances.

"Just you wait," he said confidently. "Something's going to leap out at us; I'd bet at least fifty Galleons on it. You'll see! Any moment… now." Nothing leapt out at them. "No, now. Now!"

Fred paused hopefully, his head cocked on one side and one finger raised in the air to keep Lee and George quiet. After a couple of minutes, Lee raised an eyebrow.

"I think you owe me fifty Galleons, mate."

"Oh, shut up, you prat. I was only joking!"

"Fifty Galleons at least."

"But I don't have fifty Galleons," moaned Fred.

"Not my problem," said Lee with a smirk. "Just because you're an idiot who makes a bet he can't keep, doesn't mean-"

"All right, all right," cut in George. "We all know Fred's a moron-"

"Hey! I am not!"

"-But we still need to figure out how to get past this task."

Fred rolled his eyes. "Easy. Ravenclaws are like Percy, right? Y'know, all boring and conscientious and what have you. They wouldn't bother with a monster or anything interesting like that. You probably just have to think to open the door or something. That'll be why this is the last challenge! To give us a break from all the actual hard stuff!"

George folded his arms, looking very sceptical indeed, but Fred just shrugged. He strode off across the chamber with a forced bravado that he hoped would make up for his earlier blunder. If he was totally honest, he wasn't entirely sure that it made sense for the Ravenclaw challenge to be – well – nothing. But what else could they do? They couldn't very well just stand in the corner of the room and starve to death without even trying the door handle first.

Fred grabbed the doorknob, but he dropped it almost at once, waving his hand around in the air in a slightly melodramatic fashion.

"Ow! It burnt me!" he said indignantly, sucking his fingers.

"Well, what did you expect?" George admonished him. "Ravenclaws are meant to have a few brain cells bouncing around in their noggins, you know."

"Fine then, if you're so clever, what are we meant to do?"

George didn't reply. He just bit on his lower lip in concentration, and began to walk slowly around the edges of the room, running his fingers carefully over the stone walls as he went.

"What are you looking for?" asked Fred.

"Shhh, I'm trying to think here, if you don't mind. And anyway, I don't know. Anything that sticks out, I suppose."

However, George got right the way around the room, and still hadn't found anything. He let out a low growling sound and leaned back against the door where they had come in. He closed his eyes, looking frustrated with himself.

"I knew this was going to be a tricky task," said Lee bitterly. "Bloody Ravenclaws. I mean, how are we meant to finish it if we can't even find the start?"

"I know," said George. "Seriously, why won't they make anything obvious?"

Suddenly, as Fred was watching his twin, something caught his eye. Just above George's head, attached to the door, was a sculpted wooden eagle. It looked a bit like a door knocker. Fred frowned. It wouldn't have been particularly noticeable, if it wasn't for the fact that he was almost certain he'd seen the Ravenclaws flocking around a similar-looking knocker as they tried to get into their common room...

"Look at that," he said, pointing up at the knocker.

"What is it?" George twisted around and looked up at the door in confusion.

Fred took a step forwards and reached up, grabbing the eagle door knocker. Feeling like a bit of an idiot, he rapped it against the door. It made a dull clunking noise, as wood hit wood, but then, after a few seconds' pause, a small scroll of parchment materialised in the eagle's beak. George carefully pulled it free and unrolled it. Fred and Lee clustered around him, reading over his shoulder.

I have eyes and I have pupils,
And yet I cannot see.
Many wish to know me,
But not all can succeed.
Who am I?

"Of course," said Lee, shaking his head. "Ravenclaw would have a riddle, wouldn't it?"

"Well, I'm not complaining," said George. "At least a riddle's not going to try to eat us alive…"

George sank down onto the floor, stretching his legs out in front of him, and laid the riddle down on the flagstones in front of him. He was quickly joined by the other two, who settled themselves down on either side of him to puzzle over the question. Fred's mind was buzzing, but as hard as he thought, he just could not make head or tail of the riddle. It was a few minutes before any of them spoke, but eventually, Lee adjusted his position on the floor and broke the silence.

"I just don't get it," he said. "'I have eyes and I have pupils.' It's such a weird way to phrase it. Surely the pupils are a bit of a given, if you already have eyes?"

"Maybe it's just to make it fit with the rhythm," suggested Fred.

"Yeah, perhaps," said Lee uncertainly.

George, by this point, had buried his face in his knees and stuck his fingers in his ears. He was muttering under his breath as he tried to figure out the answer to the riddle. Fred pricked up his ears to listen.

"-like a blind version of Gilderoy Lockhart…" George was mumbling.

This, on top of the fact that he was beginning to get quite sleepy, was too much for Fred. He burst out laughing, much to George's bemusement, and was soon clutching his sides and lying on the floor, tears of mirth blurring his vision. As his last few giggles gradually died away, he wiped his eyes and looked up at George and Lee's faces, which were staring down at him confusedly.

"I'm sorry," Fred gasped, almost overcome by a fresh wave of laughter as he saw his twin's expression. "I just- Blind Lockhart- What a thick idea-"

"You come up with better then," George said, pouting at Fred.

"But I can't!" Fred practically shrieked, still giggling uncontrollably. "Forgive me, O Master of the Riddles!"

George let his forehead drop into the palm of his hand with a thump. "Oh, for the love of Merlin…"

"Hang on, I've had an idea!" said Lee.

"What is it?" said Fred and George, in unison.

"While you two were busy bickering," said Lee, with an air of martyrdom, "I was working away at the riddle. And, through my own hard work and effort, I have-"

"Get to the point."

"Do you want to hear about my incredible discovery or not?"

Fred and George paused for a moment, exchanging glances. George raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly, and Fred gave him a small nod.

"We want to hear about your discovery," said George finally.

"Thank you. Well, my most masterful breakthrough is that I have suddenly realised that 'pupils' can mean 'students'."

Fred and George looked over at each other again.

"Is that it?" said Fred.

"That's useless!" said George at the same time.

"Congratulations, Lee, you've learnt the English language."

"So much for masterful discoveries…"

Lee waved his arms, cutting the twins off. "Wait a minute and hear me out, will you?" He paused, letting a dramatic silence hang in the air for a few seconds, before saying, "If we take the word 'pupil' to mean 'student' then it totally changes the meaning of the sentence."

Fred had to be honest; he was less than dazzled by this revelation.

"Yes, Lee," he said slowly, as though talking to a very small child who was being a little dim. "If you change the meaning of a word, it does tend to have a knock-on effect on the rest of the sentence."

Lee sighed. "You'll both see, when I crack this riddle before you do, that I was right."

"All right, Lee," said George.

"You do that," said Fred.

The two of them shared a quick smirk, and then turned back to the parchment. Fred, however, couldn't resist a glance back up at Lee. Lee's face had taken on an expression of intense concentration. He was rubbing his fingers against his temples as he frowned at the scroll. It was rather amusing to watch, actually, but Fred had work to do. Reluctantly, he looked back down at the scroll. This was beginning to feel like homework, rather than a supposedly fun and exciting challenge, and to say that he was not enjoying it would have been a vast understatement.

For what felt like hours (but was in fact only a couple of minutes) Fred scowled down at the riddle, his chin cupped in his hands. In fact, he was staring at the bloody piece of parchment for so long that he started to go a bit cross-eyed, and his vision went blurry. Soon, his mind had drifted far from the riddle, and he sank into a daze, his eyelids drooping. He was just beginning to wonder how long it would be before they got out of the challenge and he'd be able to grab a bite to eat and go to bed, when Lee's voice cut across his thoughts.

"Hah! Yes! I've got it!"

Fred whipped his head around towards his friend so fast that his neck clicked. He raised an eyebrow. "Have you actually worked it out though, or is this just another comment on your ever-widening vocabulary?"

"Button it, Fred-"

"I'm not Fred, I'm George!"

The real George cuffed Fred round the back of the head.

"You're Fred, and you can't fool me," said Lee. "Anyway, I really have worked it out. Look!"

He grabbed the parchment, pointing at it excitedly. Fred, despite his original doubts, leaned forwards and looked down at the scroll once more, as Lee began to explain.

"So, I was thinking, if 'pupils' means 'students', then maybe 'eyes' doesn't really mean 'eyes', y'know?"

"No, I don't think I do know…" said George.

"No, neither did I at first," admitted Lee. "But then I was repeating it in my head, over and over again, and it suddenly clicked. The letter I! Get it?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose so, but it doesn't make all that much sense in context…"

Lee sighed. "Just take my word for it, OK? So that's taken care of the line about not being able to see, because it's not a thing with actual eyes. Following on from that, we know that it's a word that has something to do with students, and has the letter I in it. And that it was something people wanted to have."

"Couldn't they have just said that in the first place if that was what they meant?" said Fred, crossing his arms irritably.

"I know, mate, but they're Ravenclaws, aren't they? They like this kind of weird stuff that doesn't actually mean what it means."

"Hmmm. I don't think I'm too fond of riddles. But carry on."

"Well… I got a bit stuck at that point, to be honest. I was thinking maybe Transfiguration, because that has students and a few of the letter I in it, but it just didn't seem right."

"No," said George knowledgeably. "I mean, I know I've never actually wanted to know about Transfiguration. I'm just naturally brilliant at it," he added as an afterthought.

"You? Good at Transfiguration?" choked Fred. He almost broke down into laughter again, but he just about managed to control himself. Just about. "I mean, do you even remember your summer exam?"

George crossed his arms, looking affronted. "I'll have you know," he said, in a passable imitation of Percy, "that my Transfiguration is some of the most exceptional in the school. I might even be as bold as to say it's the best in the country. Or, in fact, the world."

Fred opened his mouth, ready to retaliate, but Lee cut across them again.

"Stop interrupting my story, will you?" he said. "I'm just getting to the good bit!"

"Oooh," said Fred.

"Aaah," said George.

"This," said Lee, with a grin, "is the part where I made my miraculous discovery."

"Oh, George, the tension is just too much," said Fred. He raised the back of his hand to his forehead, pretending to suffer from a rather elaborate fainting fit, and collapsed backwards onto his twin.

Lee ignored him. "I just thought to myself, 'How would a Ravenclaw go about this?' And that was when the answer came to me. Intelligence!"

Fred sat up, his fainting fit quickly forgotten, and stared incredulously at Lee. "Intelligence? Is that it? You made us sit right the way through that long – and might I add, boring – story, just to announce that we have to be clever to figure out the blasted riddle?"

"I think we'd kind of worked that out for ourselves, Lee," said George.

"No, you don't get it!" said Lee. "That's the answer. 'Intelligence'. It fits."

Fred's eyes widened, as comprehension gradually dawned over him. "Ohhh… Oh, I get it now."

"Took you long enough, genius."

"Nice one, Lee!" said George, clapping his friend on the back. "So now what do we do?"

Lee began fishing around in the pockets of his robes. Finally, after quite a while searching, he whipped out a quill and a tiny pot of ink.

"What'd you bring that with you for?" Fred couldn't resist saying.

"Don't knock it, it's coming in handy now."

Lee dipped his quill in the ink, and then scrawled the word "Intelligence" on the bottom of the scroll of parchment. For a second, Fred stared at the parchment, waiting for something to happen. It was beginning to feel like a bit of an anti-climax, as nothing happened, but then George's elbow collided painfully with Fred's ribs, and Fred's head jerked up. Before his very eyes, several objects were fading into existence, scattered about the room.

There was a little wooden table just ahead of them, then to the left, a platform upon which there stood a few lamps. A little further down the chamber was a bookcase, piled high with dusty, leather-bound tomes, and then, barely even visible from where they were sitting, a silver key with a thick handle, enclosed in a glass case that was right next to the door. Fred made a mental note to take a closer look at the key as soon as he could. It looked like it might very well come in handy. All of the objects seemed to be shimmering ever so slightly, a bit like when dew settles on a spider's web overnight, and in the morning you can just make out the glistening water droplets. It was just enough to make them look not quite solid.

Fred pulled himself up from the floor and stepped tentatively towards the table. He tried to brush his hand over the top, but his fingers seemed to slide below the surface of the wood instead. He quickly withdrew his hand, shivering slightly. His fingertips felt cold and a little bit damp. It reminded him quite strongly of the time he'd accidentally stuck one arm through Nearly Headless Nick during breakfast.

"What happened?" said George, making his way over to Fred.

"It felt really weird," Fred told him. "Like water, or something."

He raised his hand, and was about to prod his finger into the table again, just to be sure, when Lee called out from just ahead of the twins, "Come over here. The bookcase feels perfectly solid."

Fred shrugged and abandoned his table, wandering over to Lee instead. Lee was busily pulling books out from the bookcase, shaking them, to check nothing was hidden between two pages, and then dumping them unceremoniously in a pile on the floor.

"Percy would have a fit if he saw you doing that," said George. "Books are sacred to him."

"He'd have another fit just because we were down here, breaking countless school rules," added Fred, with a smirk. "Isn't it fun disobeying our favourite older brother?"

"Found something!" said Lee.

"Honestly, Lee," said George.

"Weren't you listening at all?" continued Fred.

"Here we are-"

"-Sharing our wit and genius with you-"

"-And you can't even be bothered to pay attention."

"Just plain rude, that is. I'm hurt, George, aren't you?"

"Truly wounded."

Evidently, Lee still wasn't listening, because he made no reply. He was pouring over another piece of parchment that he'd found in the book.

"Oh, Merlin's pants," said Fred, peering over Lee's shoulder. "Another riddle. Just what we need."

George's eyes were flicking quickly across the parchment as he read. Finally, he lifted his head and gave Fred a weak smile. "I don't know… It's not so much of a riddle. Hopefully. Maybe."

Fred leant forwards again, and began to read aloud. "In this book you will find all the spells you need to get through your final challenge. You cannot touch the table or the lamps, but you will be able to bewitch them as you see fit, to acquire the key that you need from its glass case. But be warned – not just any spells will help you. The ones you must use are difficult, and any mistakes you make can have disastrous implications. Think carefully, for your life is in your own hands."

"Someone was feeling cheery when they wrote that," said Lee.

"Right little ray of sunshine," agreed Fred. "Anyway, let's have a look at that book!"

Lee hurriedly pulled a large book out of the pile where he had previously discarded it. After wiping off a thick layer of dust from the cover with his sleeve, he opened the book. There was a moment's pause, as Lee's eyes widened in apparent horror, and then Lee let out a muttered swear word.

"What is it?" said Fred, making a grab for the book.

He looked down at the open page and squinted at the narrow lines of text. It wasn't entirely clear; he supposed the handwriting was old-fashioned and therefore difficult to read. The letters all looked very thin and spiky, almost as though they were- Oh dear.

"Blimey… Are those Ancient Runes?" said Fred.

Lee nodded, looking gloomy. "I think so."

"Well what the hell are we meant to do now?"

"Maybe one or two of the spells are written in English," said George hopefully. "Let's have a look. Or- Lee, are you certain you picked up the right book?"

"Positive," said Lee, as Fred began flipping through pages, looking for any English writing that he could possibly find.

"OK," said George, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Absolutely sure?"

Lee bent down and rifled through the pile of books he'd tossed on the floor. "Makes no difference," he said. "They're all in Runic."

"Damn it."

For a couple of minutes, there was no sound but the quiet rustle of paper, as Fred scanned each page of the book.

"No luck?" said George, breaking the silence. He seemed to be growing steadily more frustrated, and looked a little red in the face.

"Nothing yet," said Fred, "but it'll probably take me hours to get through the whole book."

"But what if there's still nothing?" cried George. "What do we do then?"

"I suppose we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it," said Lee, slightly nervously.

George kicked out at the pile of books on the ground, coughing as a cloud of dust billowed up from their yellowing parchment pages. "I can't just stand here doing nothing," he said mulishly. He pulled out his wand from his pocket. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Errr… What are you doing?" said Fred, as the heavy bookcase lifted up from the ground and began to soar away from him. "George? Have you finally gone mad?"

"Nope," said George, with what Fred thought was a worryingly maniacal grin. "I'm using my initiative."

"He's gone mad," Fred told Lee, who was looking rather shocked. "I've got to be honest with you, I knew this day was coming sooner or later."

Fred turned back to watch his twin, his lips twitching into an amused smile. With a quick jerk of George's wand, the bookcase was raised high up towards the ceiling of the chamber. Fred's mouth fell slightly open as he gazed up at it, feeling quite impressed with his brother, whatever his plan turned out to be.

Right at that moment, George broke the spell and let the bookcase fall. It toppled down, complete with the remaining books, and hit the cabinet containing the key. The glass shattered with a resounding crash, and Fred, his mouth still hanging slightly ajar, watched the silver key fly through the air to land among shards of glass and old books. He rushed forwards to scoop up the key and spun around to grin at George.

"Nice one!" he said. "I think I may have seriously underestimated you."

George gave him a bow, twirling his hands ostentatiously. "We both know I'm the cleverer twin, dear brother of mine. Hence the fact that I've beaten the Ravenclaw challenge."

"By cheating."

"I prefer to think of it as… creativity. 'Cheating' is such a harsh word, don't you think?"

"You two are both mental," said Lee. "Now let me see that key!"

"Here you go." Fred tossed the key over to him, and Lee dashed straight to the door.

"Ah," he said, after a short pause. "We might have a very small problem."

"Not another one…" groaned George. "What's happened?"

"There's no keyhole in this door."

Fred hit himself in the forehead. "We just can't win, can we?"

"Hang on a second…"

"What? What is it?" Fred ran over to Lee, with George following close behind him, and stared intently down at the key in the palm of Lee's hand.

"I think I can see writing on the handle…"

Fred snatched the key back out of Lee's hand before anyone could stop him and held it up close to his eye. Sure enough, there were words engraved in the silver handle of the key, curling round it in miniscule writing, so tiny that Fred had to squint to be able to read it.

First is the shout you let out when you fall,
Second is the region you reach.
Third, in the middle, is somewhere you belong,
Where your heart can lie safe and complete.
The penultimate word splits up one from another,
Then finally, the first sound repeats.

"Don't these people ever get tired of riddles?" said Fred.

"I don't think so," Lee told him seriously. "They have to answer one to get into their common room, don't they? That's what I've heard."

"They are genuinely all mental. They have to be."

"Yeah, well, whatever doubts we may have about the sanity of Ravenclaw house – and trust me, I share those doubts – we still have to crack the riddle if we ever want to get out of here," said Lee, with a small smile.

"All right. Fine. Let's do this!" Fred re-read the riddle, his forehead creasing into a frown. "Right. Err… Shout you let out when you fall… That would be 'help'. So… erm… help – ground – I have no idea what that next one is, but it sounds a bit sappy if you ask me – umm… What separates one from another? Maybe they're talking about letters again. Athr? What the hell? And then- Well, that last clue's just cheating, isn't it? Repeat the first sound. Honestly!"

George and Lee, who had been listening in total silence to Fred's deductions, looked more than a little bit dazed by it all.

"Right," said George eventually, shaking himself alert again, "If we just discount whatever rubbish comes out of Fred's mouth, I'm sure we can solve this thing!"

"That's not a very nice thing to say to your favourite brother!"

"Oh, shush, you know it's true."

"Well, I never. I'm deeply saddened, George. Deeply and intensely."

"You'll live," smirked George. "So, Lee, what do you think about the first line?"

"The thing you shout when you're falling? I'm not sure… What do you think? You've done quite a bit of falling recently, you should know."

"Yeah, well, I'm not at my most eloquent when falling. I tend to just yell, 'Ahhhh!' and that's about it," said George sheepishly. "Actually, that could be it! That counts as a sound, doesn't it?"

"You're right," said Lee, sounding impressed. "That might work."

"Oh, well of course you two would figure something out," muttered Fred bitterly from his position against the wall, crossing his arms.

George reached over and patted him comfortingly on the top of the head. "There, there."

"What about this region you reach by falling?" said Lee, biting his lip. "Ground? Floor? The bottom? Nothing seems to fit…"

"I don't know… Shall we come back to that later?"

"OK. So onto the middle thing, about your heart, and belonging somewhere. Where does your heart 'lie safe and complete'?"

"In your ribcage, hopefully," piped up Fred.

"Other than your ribcage," said George, with an air of very forced patience.

Fred considered for a moment, and then said, "I think it might mean home. Home is where the heart is, and all that."

George looked mildly impressed. "As much as I hate to admit it, I think that could be right."

"Exactly," said Fred, "because I am a genius."

He gave George the most smug look he possessed, until George hit him (rather harder than was necessary, in Fred's humble opinion) on the arm. Fred rubbed his arm resentfully and glowered at his twin, but George and Lee had already moved onto the next clue.

"-one from another," Lee was saying. "I just don't get it. It's too general."

"Yeah, the only thing I can think of is the phrase 'one or another', but I don't think that's very much help."

"Hang on," said Fred slowly.

"What?"

"What if 'or' actually is the word that splits up one and another? Surely that could work?"

"I don't know… Maybe," said George. "I suppose we could try that, and then see if it fits with the rest of what we've got."

"Hmm, what have we worked out so far then?" said Lee. He began ticking off clues on his fingers. "Ah, something, home, or, ah."

"Ah-something-home-or-ah, ah-something-home-or-ah," Fred began to chant under his breath. "Ah-something-home-or-ah."

"Can you be quiet? You're going to give me a headache," said George, sticking his fingers in his ears and wincing.

But Fred barely even heard him, because suddenly, blindingly obviously, the answer had come to him. "Alohomora!" he shouted.

"What?"

"The region you end up when you fall is 'low'. It's a pretty rubbish clue, to be honest, but it works. A-lo-hom-or-a," he said slowly.

Slowly, a grin spread across George's face, and he grabbed Fred into a hug, almost jumping up and down with excitement. "That's it! I swear, I'll never insult your intelligence again."

"That'll be the day," said Fred, but even he couldn't keep a smile off his face. They had done it. They had completed the challenge. They had won! Fred pulled his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at the door. "Alohomora."

Instead of the clicking noise he was accustomed to, a keyhole appeared just below the door handle. Fred slotted the key into the hole easily and unlocked the door, before pulling it open with a flourish. However, whatever he had been expecting to see outside the door, this wasn't it. The three First Years stared out through the final doorway, simultaneously drawing in breath. They couldn't make out anything outside the door; the only thing they could see was a thick blanket of swirling fog, which obscured their vision completely.

"Is that… safe?" said Lee uncertainly.

"It must be," said George, though he too sounded dubious. "Shall we all go together?"

"On the count of three," Fred said, nodding. "One… two… three."

He shared one last glance with George, and then, plucking up all his courage, he stepped outside. They were completely engulfed into the mist.

Author's Note: Oh, gosh, this has to be my longest gap yet… I'm so sorry, everyone! I completely underestimated the amount of work that sixth form would be… Gah, I haven't had anywhere near enough time to write all term! Thank goodness it's the Christmas holidays and I have a bit of time to carry on with this story. I've missed it so much! Anyway, I just want to reassure you all that I will not give up on it, however long it may take me to finish. I'm too close to the end for that! Only two more chapters left, unless something goes very differently to how I planned it.

I did poke a bit of fun at Ravenclaw in this chapter. I'm allowed to, because I am one, hehe (and very proud of it!) I will admit though that I actually felt quite guilty about the mistreated books, even if they did come out of my own mind. I do not advocate the destruction of books! Not even old ones written in Runic. In fact, particularly not old ones written in Runic. Just wanted to make that clear. :P

Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway, though I do feel like my writing's deteriorated a bit… And thank you so much if you're still following the story, despite the horribly long gap! You're wonderful and I love you!