Despite Slytherin's victory in their final match of the year the occupants of Hogwarts were much more enveloped with teasing them about the pink Quidditch robes. Unfortunately the team were not really noted for their ability to shrug off insults but more for their ability to inflict damage, which was the main reason why several scuffles and skirmishes had broken out around the school over the next week or so.

By the time the final game of the season came around the entire of Slytherin House had adapted a siege mentality about the whole thing which, along with the fighting, had pretty much completely alienated them from the other Houses.

It was no longer a case of who would win the cup between the two Houses but more like the rest of the school versus Slytherin, Everywhere they went Charlie, Miro and the rest of the team where given hearty welcomes, slaps on the back and wishes of good luck in the forth-coming match, even some of the Ravenclaw students were offering their support.

"Give them hell guys."

"Cheers," waved Miro as the team headed down towards the pitch to train.

"Who was that?" ask Charlie.

"No idea. You know, I think I could get use to this," Miro flashed a group of Hufflepuff girls a grin as they went by, "imagine what'll happen if we win."

"Yeah, I mean the first thing we'd have to do is widen the doors of the school."

"Why?"

"Well how else would you fit your inflated head through them?"

"I'd use the window or something," shrugged Miro, "well it's not the same as the rest of us as it is for you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you already won the cup back in your second year."

"True, but it'll be nice to win it as Captain," admitted Charlie

"Hey guys," Miro nodded at George, Fred and Lee who were coming towards them, "what have you been doing?"

"Studying," replied Fred.

Miro and Charlie looked at the twins and their friend. Normally under the most straightforward circumstances it would be safe to assume that studying was the last thing on the twins' minds. The fact the three young Gryffindors were covered in dirt from head to toe, carrying a spade each and were currently giving off a less than pleasant smell, seemed to reduce the likelihood of school work even more.

"Really? Studying?" asked Charlie raising an eyebrow.

"Yep, we have been studying hard on homework," nodded George, "except replace the word 'studying' with 'gardening'…"

"…and the word 'homework' with 'detention'," added Fred.

"What did you do now?" sighed Charlie.

"Well it's so hard to keep track of specifics. Filch said we were in detention and that we knew what we had done," shrugged George. He turned to his brother, "I think I'm putting my money on releasing those Imps in the Prefect's bathroom."

"See, I would have gone with that small fire we started in Greenhouse one," Fred saw the look Charlie gave him, "by accident."

"Splashing Mungra with that Hair-Raising Potion would be my vote," added Lee swinging his spade over his shoulder.

"Oi you two get those spades put away," ordered Filch walking past the group, "maybe next time you'll think twice before filling my jacket pockets with stink bugs."

"Ohhh yeah," said George slowly, "I forgot about that one. How did you find out?"

As though she had just been waiting for the right time to turn up, Mrs Norris slinked around Filch's leg and gave the twins a evil looking scowl, her tail swishing back and forth.

"Bloody cat," said Fred miserably as a triumphant Filch walked away, cooing softly to his pet, "I thought I had seen that filthy thing skulking around when we left those presents for Filch."

"Are you two ever going to learn to stay out of Filch's way?" asked Miro shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" frown George.

"Well if you leave Filch alone then he won't have a reason to punish you," Charlie pointed out.

"Right…" said Fred frowning as he slowly looked between the two older boys.

"And you won't spend so much time in detention."

"I don't get it."

"Just stay out of his way ok," warned Charlie. He looked down towards the Quidditch pitch where the rest of the team were warming up, "see you later."

"Stupid Filch," complained George, "Charlie's right, we should get him back."

"Er… I don't remember him saying that," frowned Lee.

"Yeah, we should listen to our older brother," nodded Fred with a determined look on his face.

"Do you guys only hear what you want to hear?" asked Lee.

"Good idea Lee, I could do with some cake."

Two long showers and a quick bath later the three boys had finally managed to get rid of the rather terrible smell that they had managed to pick up from their earlier escapades with Filch. They then set about working out how best to get the caretaker back.

"This is such a bad idea," whispered Lee.

"Relax," reassured George as the three boys crept along the corridor each carrying a large bag, "Filch is chasing Peeves around the Awards room."

"Yeah but he still gonna know it is us that did it."

"How?"

"Who else would it be?"

"Er… you know I think he has a point," Fred frowned as he paused to check the Marauder's Map once again, "but hey, as long as he can't prove it he can't really punish us can he?" Fred looked sceptically at the other two, "yeah, fair enough."

"Well the fact that he'll automatically assume it is us and do everything he can to punish us for it, is a very good argument to not do this," admitted George looking serious, "however there is a perfectly good reason why we should."

"And that is?"

"What else are we going to do with three large bags of Egyptian Glow Worms?"

"You got to admit," said Fred putting a hand on Lee's shoulder, "he makes a good case."

"Yeah, flawless," replied Lee sarcastically.

"Here we are," whispered George as the three boys reach Filch's offices, "you know I think we have spent more time in here then anywhere else."

"Not me," disagreed Lee. The other two gave him a look so he felt he should give an explanation, "the Hospital Wing," he reminded them.

"Oh yeah. Anyway… Alohomora."

A small beam of light shot out of the end of George's wand and struck the keyhole on the door. A small click could be heard and he triumphantly turned the handle and pushed it open.

"Ok, stick them in all the drawers of the file cabinets," ordered Fred once they were inside.

The three boys took to their task inearnest, quickly tipping up their bags and depositing a large amount of the worms into as many drawers as they could.

"Shouldn't they be glowing?" asked Lee, peering into a recently filled drawer.

"Probably not dark enough yet," shrugged George tipping his bag upside-down, "you guys done?"

"Yeah," agreed Fred and Lee in unison, both holding up their empty bags as proof.

The boys closed all the cabinets and,with one final check to make sure they hadn't left anything out of place, they quietly slipped back out into the hall.

"Wish we could see his face when he opens one of those drawers," said Lee, his face breaking into a smile as he pictured the moment.

"Serves him right for being such a git," Fred stated firmly.

The boys quickly slipped through the school using a series of hidden shortcuts, and cutting across through a corridor on the seventh floor. They had abandoned their previous caution and were now openly chatting about Filch's possible reactions.

"What do you reckon?" said George, "he screams, then leaps back, then starts shouting."

"No, I think he'd just go straight into the shouting," corrected Lee, "he seems to enjoy doing that. What's up with you?" he asked Fred who had just sworn under his breath.

"I think we have a problem."

Fred pointed to the map. It showed the three boys standing in the middle of a long corridor, off of one end of it was approaching Mrs Norris and from the other was Filch.

"We're trapped," panicked Lee, looking quickly back and forth between the two ends.

"Ok let me think of something," whispered Fred harshly his eyes flicking over the map looking for a way out.

"How about we just run past Mrs Norris?" ventured George, as the soft glow from Filch's lamp appeared at one end.

"We can't, Filch will hear us."

Lee swore under his breath and paced drastically back and forth trying to think of a way out. As the twins began bickering between themselves he looked directly ahead and saw that there was a door straight in front of them.

"Er… guys, how about we hide in there?"

"Don't be stupid George, I doubt we'd be able to learn how to become Animagus in the next ten seconds. What was that Lee?"

Lee just pointing a finger at the door.

"Perfect," exclaimed George leaping forward, twisting the handle and bundling inside swiftly followed by the other two.

They barely managed to squeeze themselves inside the tiny room, which was full of mops, buckets and brooms.

"Must be a storage cupboard," whispered Fred, trying to look around.

"Yeah I'm amazed we didn't spot it before," replied George dislodging a broom handle from digging into his side, "I mean it was right in front of us."

"You know," said Lee slowly as thought he wasn't completely sure of what he was about to say, "I don't think that door is there normally, I mean we come along this corridor all the time and I don't remember seeing it."

"In any other school I think you'd be crazy," admitted Fred, "but disappearing doors seem quite natural here. Though I can't see why anyone would want to hide a broom cupboard."

Filch grumbled his way up the corridor, a dimly lit lamp casting creepy looking shadows along the walls slung back and forth in his hand. He had a malevolent smile etched onto his face as he stalked through the dark passageway. It disappeared swiftly when he looked down to spot his beloved pet slinking into view.

"Did anyone get past you?" asked Filch frowning.

In response Mrs Norris just glared up at him and gave a quick flick of its tail.

"I could swear I heard voices," mumbled Filch.

Inside the broom cupboard the three boys held their breath as the looked down at the Marauder's Map. The two tiny dots denoting Filch and his cat were right outside where the three boys would be. Any minute now Filch would decide to open the door and be greeted by Fred, George and Lee squashed together in the room.

Suddenly Fred let out a long sigh of relief. Filch and Mrs Norris were heading back down the corridor away from the room. Once the boys were satisfied that the coast was clear George turned the handle of the door and they fell forward into a heap in the corridor while the door sprang back and closed.

"Why didn't he try the door?" asked Lee pushing himself off the ground then helping the others up.

"Cheers Lee," said George taking his friend's hand and pulling himself up, "no idea, it's not as if it wasn't an obvious hiding place."

"Er…guys?" Fred paused midway through dusting himself down and pointed: the doorway to the broom cupboard had disappeared

"That's why he didn't try the handle," said Lee walking over to look at the space where the door use to be, "he probably couldn't see it."

"What I don't get," George wondered aloud while Lee tapped the wall whilst pressing his ear against it, "is what is the point of having a vanishing room full of mops and cleaning stuff?"

"Weird," concluded Lee looking at the bare wall.

The next day the twins and Lee were enjoying another hearty breakfast, and were soon joined by Alica and Angelina who brought some interesting news.

"Did you guys hear about Filch?"

"Filch…Filch…," said George softly looking thoughtful, "you know the name does ring a bell."

"Idiot," Angelina gave him a friendly punch on the arm as she sat down next to him, "anyway somehow all his filing cabinets were filled with Japanese Fire Worms."

"Er…Fire Worms?" asked Lee giving the twins a quick glance.

"We heard they were Egyptian Glow Worms," said Fred trying to sound causal, "you know the kind we were looking at in Herbology. Good for the roots of plants, light up at night, smell awful but not dangerous. Does that ring any bells?"

"Yeah I remember. You copied my essay on them."

"No Angelina I checked your essay for spelling mistakes for you," corrected Fred indignantly.

"Is that why you said 'Angelina can I copy from your essay'?"

"I only said that because I didn't want to embarrass you about your spelling."

"Your spelling is worse then mine. Anyway," Angelina held up her hand to stop Fred from arguing any further, "the Fire Worms look a lot like the Glow Worms but with one slight difference."

"And that is?" asked George.

"Rather then just Glow when they are scared they… well… sort of explode."

"Explode?" asked a wide-eyed Lee.

"Yeah," giggled Alicia, "apparently all of his files got wrecked."

"You shouldn't laugh Alicia, it could have set the school on fire," scolded Angelina, who despite herself ended up breaking into a smile, "well it was a little bit funny I guess."

Filch spent the next few days being mercilessly intolerant to every single student in the school, punishing them for even the smallest indiscretion. If McGonagall hadn't been around to overrule him, Filch would most certainly have dragged one poor unfortunate Hufflepuff boy off to detention for walking too loudly between classrooms. But even Filch at his worst couldn't temper any of the excitement or expectation that was filtering through the school. The final Quidditch match of the year was coming up and for the first time in a while there was a chance of a House other then Slytherin winning.

Although it was completely out of the hands of Slytherin House, it didn't stop them from trying to tip the game in the favour of Ravenclaw. The usual cat calling and bickering between Slytherin and Gryffindor had escalated to some small scuffles and attempts at hexing one another in the corridors.

The desire to see anyone but Slytherin win the cup for a change even led to some murmurs from Ravenclaws that they wouldn't mind losing the match. This type of talk was soon put to an end when it reached the ears of Professor Snape, who immediately descended on the Ravenclaw team and informed them in no uncertain terms that they would all be placed in detention if he thought they were trying to throw the match.

"This'll be brilliant," exclaimed George as he looked down onto the pitch.

"I know," agreed Fred draping a large Gryffindor banner over the side of barrier, "can't wait to see Snape's face when we win."

Suddenly the tannoy leapt into life and Lee's voice boomed around the stadium sending up a huge cheer from all the expectant students.

"Welcome students, teachers, parents, governors and guests to the final match in the Quidditch Cup," he had to shout this last bit as the crowd erupted into a fresh batch of applause.

"It's Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor," screamed Lee to another uproar of noise, which resonated louder as each of the teams took to the field and did a lap of honour.

"Madam Hooch releases the Bludgers, there goes the Golden Snitch and the Quaffle is in place and we are off."

Both teams immediately swung into action, Miro grabbed the Quaffle from the fingertips of a Ravenclaw Chaser and sped towards the opposition goal. In the flurry of activity Charlie lost sight of the Snitch and decided to slowly fly higher and higher to get a better view of the whole pitch. His rival Seeker who'd had a similar idea soon joined him.

"Alright," nodded Charlie, "it's Hicks isn't it? You're in the year below."

"Yeah," agreed Hicks as his eyes darted around the pitch looking for his prize.

"You a Puddlemere United fan," Charlie pointed at a badge on Hicks' robes.

"Yep."

"How's the studying for the O.W.L.'s going?" asked Charlie chatting away as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Tough," replied Hicks still distractedly gazing about.

"You're going out with Kate Churcher aren't you?" Charlie pointed at the Chaser in question as she rocketed by below them Quaffle in hand with Miro trying to chase her down.

"What? No." Hicks frowned shaking his head and finally making eye contact with Charlie for the first time.

"Really?" asked Charlie sounding surprised, "well she is always talking about you in our lessons."

"She is?" grinned Hicks.

"All the time," admitted Charlie, his eyes flickering over Hicks' shoulder at what had looked like a glimmer of gold, "plus she is always looking in your direction."

"No she's not," dismissed Hicks before leaning in closer to Charlie, "does she?"

"All the time," Charlie reiterated, he looked conspiratorially around, his eyes sweeping the stadium, "even now she keeps looking up at you rather then the game."

"Really?" Hicks jerked his head down to try and spot the girl.

"Ooo you just missed her," consoled Charlie, "tell you what, just look away and I'll tell you when she is looking in your direction."

"Ok," agreed Hicks looking away from the pitch completely.

"Wait…wait…" said Charlie slowly as his eyes flicked desperately around the arena before fixing upon their target, "ok she's just next to our goal, and she'll looking…now!"

Hicks quickly looked down at the far side of the pitch where the rather lone figure of Wood was circling between his posts. Frowning Hicks glanced left and right but couldn't see Churcher anywhere, he turned back to Charlie to ask his a question but suddenly found he was all on his own.

"Amazing," shouted Lee into the microphone, "I don't know how he did it but Charlie Weasley somehow managed to make Hicks look the other way while he made a play for the Snitch. Look at Weasley go! He's chasing down that Snitch like his life depended on it."

Charlie was flying right at the edge of the pitch, circling it at great speed as he tried to catch the small golden ball, he could see the excited faces of the crowd whiz by but all he was concentrating on was the Snitch in front of him. He reached out his hand. He could feel the light fluttery wings flicking against his fingertips. He let out a huge cry of triumph as he went to close his hand around the prize.

WHAM!

"Oh my god and Hicks came out of nowhere to block Weasley," Lee exclaimed loudly above the excited screams and hollers of frustration from the crowd, "and it's a penalty to Gryffindor and quite right too, he made no attempt to get the Snitch, just flew straight into Weasley."

"Is he ok?" asked Angelina anxiously as Fred lent dangerously over the side of the barrier, so much so that George was holding onto the back of his jumper just in case.

"Yeah," replied Fred pushing himself back up, "he's on his broom again but it looked pretty nasty there for a moment."

"It's Franca to take the penalty," said Lee. There was a expectant hush from the Gryffindors while most of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin students were doing their best to put Miro off by whistling and jeering, "GOAL! And it's the Lions who draw first blood."

"Franca! Franca! Franca!" came the chorus from the Gryffindor students led by the ever-vocal twins. Miro waved a hand in acknowledgement before the Quaffle was put back into play and the game started again.

"A superb start by Gryffindor, there was no doubt Franca would put that away, as he is currently the leading scorer in this competition," Lee started up his commentating once again, "that's ten points to the Lions. As you know they need to win by at least one hundred and fifty points…ooo and that looked like it hurt."

The crowd groaned loudly in sympathy as Miro received a Bludger to the stomach. The play continued on around him as he wheezed erratically, doubled over on his broom trying to catch his breath.

"You OK?" called Charlie from above.

"I'm fine," winced Miro inhaling deeply, "don't worry about me. Just get the Snitch."

Charlie slowly circled around the stadium, his entire focus going on trying to locate the small flying ball. The noise of the crowd, the commentating, even the shouts from other team mates became distant distractions as he kept searching for the Snitch. Occasionally he would glance around for Hicks just in case his rival Seeker had located it before him, but from the look of it his search was as fruitless as Charlie's.

"Wonderful one handed save from Wood there," gasped Lee excitedly as the crowd cooed their approval. With Miro still trying to get his breath back properly the Ravenclaws went on an unmerciful barrage against the Gryffindor goal, luckily Wood managed to make a series of amazing saves to prevent them from scoring more than ten points.

Once Miro was back amongst the team it was Gryffindor's turn to go on the offensive. Their quick passing, fluid flying and deadly eye for goal meant that they soon opened up a gap in the score. This, coupled with the fact that Charlie was recognised as a much better Seeker than Hicks, had the crowd happily singing away the praises of their team.

"And that's another goal by Miro," shouted Lee above the chanting, "he really is on fire today. Gryffindor lead by seventy points to ten and unless Ravenclaw can come up with some kind of reply against this formidable side then I think it is safe to say we are looking at the new Quidditch Champions." This comment led to a few jeers and whistles from the Slytherin students who had become increasingly quieter since the start of the match.

A loud scream erupted in the stadium as Charlie suddenly broke into a dive; he'd spotted the Snitch, but so had Hicks. The two Seekers plummeted towards the ground shoulder to shoulder. Everyone stopped to watch them. It was as though time itself slowed down just to witness them.

They sped along the floor of the stadium, their feet barely skimming the grass, both Charlie and Hicks reached out their fingers to try and grasp the Snitch. Suddenly, just as he was about to grab the golden ball, Charlie looked up in time to see a Bludger heading straight towards the pair. Hicks too saw it and both of the Seekers tried to pull up and dodge, but unfortunately they ended up getting in each other's way.

Charlie lost control and the back of his broom clipped against the ground, kicking backup against him and sending him flying off the broom. Hicks had similar problems and ended up spiralling onto the floor and rolling some distance.

Charlie staggered to his feet and could feel something cold and metal in his hand. The crowd was cheering wildly. Smiling he opened his palm and looked down. He frowned; it was Hicks' Puddlemere United badge. He blinked uncertainly up at the stadium where some sections were leaping up and down excitedly.

Charlie slowly turned his head and looked across the pitch. Hicks was standing, grinning from ear to ear, with his arm raised high in the air. Grasped between his fingers was the Golden Snitch.