Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor am I attempting to make any personal gain from this story.

Harry Slithers-in: Not the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 13: Fred and George Weasley

The weekend was quiet which allowed Harry and his fellow students time to recover from their hectic week. When they arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast on Monday they immediately realised Professor Snape was back. Sirius was still seated at the staff table, however.

"May I have your attention please?" Professor Dumbledore called over the general chatter. When everybody was quiet he continued. "I am pleased to welcome Professor Snape back after he was cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to Peter Pettigrew being discovered in his private house. Professor Black will be remaining on staff in a new role, however. I have reappointed him to the position of Head of Security in light of the mass breakout from Azkaban last week. Thankyou."

"Good to see security is taken Siriusly here," Harry said jokingly.

"Very funny, Harry," Tracey replied, although she wasn't laughing. "At least now we can talk to him if we want to, though."

The first chance Harry got to talk to Sirius happened that evening. All prefects were summoned to a meeting in the Great Hall at 8-30 where Professor Dumbledore explained how Sirius' presence would impact on prefect patrols. Harry and Tracey were scheduled to patrol on Friday evening, one of the last groups to do so following their regular cycle of duty but they were still interested in what would happen. Generally, they were told, they would patrol the castle while Sirius kept an eye on the grounds, only occasionally entering the castle.

After the meeting Harry, Tracey, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger stayed back to talk to Sirius.

"Do we still address you as Professor Black?" Harry asked.

"No. Sirius is fine. I am no longer a teacher but you will be seeing more of me from now on. Tell me, how is your preparation for exams going?"

"So far so good," Harry replied.

"I'm not doing too badly," said Tracey.

"I am trying to get as much extra study in as possible, but I don't know if it's enough," Hermione said.

"You're already studying harder than anyone else, Hermione. Try taking a break every now and then," Ron said.

"You could actually try and study, Ronald, instead of goofing off all the time," Hermione replied.

"I see nothing's changed then," Sirius said, laughing. "Anyway I best be off and start my rounds. Good luck to all of you with your upcoming exams, but remember there are other things in life as well. Remember to relax occasionally, Hermione. It helps clear the mind. Good night."

Sirius headed outside after donning a heavy fur coat and gloves while Ron and Hermione headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room still arguing over exams leaving Harry and Tracey who also returned to their Common Room.

That weekend Harry decided to take the Marauder's Map with him when he and Tracey went out on patrol. As was normal they stayed on the lower levels while the Ravenclaws who were on patrol that night stayed around the upper levels. Filch met them briefly but soon left when he heard Peeves making a racket in the trophy room. Once he was gone Harry opened the map to see if there were any students out of bounds.

A search of the castle showed nobody but Harry kept the map open as they went about their patrol. A one point they saw Sirius enter the castle but he soon left again. Other than that they could only find the two Ravenclaw prefects who were on duty that night and Filch wandering the castle.

At the end of their patrol they returned to their Common Room where they said goodnight before heading to their respective dormitories. As Harry was preparing for bed he left the map open. When he went close it, however, he caught sight of Fred and George Weasley moving along the 7th floor corridor but they were apparently heading toward their Common Room. This made Harry wonder where they had been and how the map had failed to detect them. He guessed perhaps there was a secret tunnel nearby but he had never heard of such a thing before and, even if there was such a tunnel, surely the map would show it. As it was there was nothing he could do at that time so he closed the map and went to bed.

Next morning he told Tracey what he had seen on the map. "So the Weasley twins were sneaking around after hours and managed to avoid showing up on the map. That is strange," she said.

"They were the previous owners of the map but I doubt they had enough ability at that time to change such a powerful magical item, and even if they did why would they only make themselves undetectable on one part of the map?" Harry wondered.

Tracey looked up, surprised. "Maybe they didn't do that. Maybe, instead, there is a part of the castle that is unplottable. If they were in an unplottable part of the castle then they themselves would be unplottable."

"Is that something like a Fidelius charm?" Harry asked.

"Essentially yes, although in this case only a small part of a much larger structure is undetectable. Basically it would be a safe area where people can hide if they are in danger. Actually, that makes sense, Hogwarts is a castle after all so it would logically have a safe area or two."

"Would the Chamber of Secrets count as such a place?"

"I imagine it is unplottable so it would count, but since only a parselmouth can access it, it's really only useful to certain people," Tracey replied.

"I'm going to ask Sirius about it," Harry said. "Since he helped create it he should be able to answer all of our questions. As for Fred and George, I will keep an eye on them but I don't think I should stop them. They don't seem to be hurting anyone but I am curious."

"Good idea. Keep me up to date, will you?" Tracey asked.

"Of course. Time for class. Let's go," Harry replied.

That evening Professor Snape asked Harry and Tracey to come to his office. Everybody assumed it was prefect related but when they arrived Snape informed them that Professor Dumbledore wanted to see them. Harry realised it was probably related to the conversation they had prior to Christmas so he was eager to accept the invitation. Snape told him, however it would have to wait until the weekend because Dumbledore was away from the castle for the next few days. They agreed the meeting would take place the following Saturday after their evening meal.

The following day after classes Harry decided to ask Dobby the house elf who was currently working at Hogwarts if he had heard anything about a secret room on the 7th floor. Dobby had been owned by the Malfoy family but they had given him to Tracey's mother who had in turn sent Dobby to Hogwarts during term time.

"Yes Harry Potter sir, Dobby knows of such a room," Dobby replied. "There is a room called the Come and Go room or the Room of Requirement. Mr. Filch has found it when he is in need of more cleaning supplies and many have used it as a storeroom."

"Can you show me where it is? And how to get onto it?" Harry asked.

"Of Course. Dobby can take Harry Potter there immediately."

"Lead on then, Dobby," Harry said.

Dobby led Harry to the 7th floor corridor stopping in front of the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, a wizard who foolishly tried to train trolls for the ballet. "There is a doorway here, opposite the picture, Harry Potter sir. To open it you must think about what you need while passing the door three times."

Dobby demonstrated this and suddenly a door appeared out of nowhere. Dobby opened it to reveal a cosy room with elf-sized furniture. He closed the door. "Does Harry Potter want to try it?" he asked.

Harry thought about it and settled on an idea. He walked past the portrait three times and the door reappeared. He opened it to reveal a comfortable parlour with a two-seater couch, a dinner table with chairs and candles. "Can I create food in this room?"

Dobby shook his head. "Food cannot be created with magic, Harry Potter sir. This room can only create normal things."

"Thank you, Dobby. One more question. Can I ask this room to create something it was asked to do by another person?"

"You must know exactly what the other person desires," Dobby said.

"Alright. Thank you again you have been a great help to me."

"Dobby only wishes to serve Harry Potter. Is there anything else?"

"That will be all, goodbye, Dobby." The elf vanished and Harry headed back to the Common Room to talk to Tracey.

That evening Harry approached Sirius as he was about to leave the castle to check the grounds. "How are you doing?" Sirius asked.

"Not bad. There's a ton of homework, though. Sirius? When you created the Marauder's Map did you know about the secret room on the 7th floor?" Harry asked.

"No," Sirius said, sounding surprised. "What can you tell me about it?"

"Apparently it is called the Room of Requirement. Anybody who knows about it can access it by walking past the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy three times while concentrating on what they need. Fred and George Weasley have been using it late at night. Apparently it is unplottable but it will turn into whatever you desire, although it won't create food."

"That makes sense. Gamp's Law states there are five things magic cannot create and food is one of them," Sirius said. "It isn't necessarily unplottable, though, since we didn't know about it the time we made the map. I would like to have a look at this room if possible, just in case it constitutes a security risk."

"I'll take you there now, if you like?"

"By all means, Harry. Lead on."

Harry and Sirius went to the 7th floor where Harry showed Sirius how to open the room. "It can create different rooms according to your needs and unless you know what somebody else is using it for you can't get into that person's room. I daresay if there is somebody using it you can't even find the door unless you are invited."

"I'd better have a close look at this. It will probably take some time so I'll leave Fred and George to you. If you do find out what they are doing let me know. Even if you want to catch them I will help, but don't punish them too harshly. They could become very valuable allies in our fight against Voldemort."

The next time Harry and Tracey had night-time patrol was Friday. Harry took the Marauders Map with him again but this time after completing their rounds they headed to the 7th floor and waited in the corridor between the Room of Requirement and the Gryffindor Common Room there they were joined by Sirius who had decided to check out for himself what the Weasley twins were up to despite having earlier said he wouldn't get involved. Sirius used a disillusionment charm while Harry and Tracey hid under Harry's invisibility cloak.

They waited silently until they saw Fred and George appear on the map as they left the Room of Requirement at which time they moved to better cover the corridor. When the twins rounded the corner ahead Harry stepped out from under the cloak. "Hello Fred, hello George. I'm curious to know how you suddenly appeared on the map just now."

The twins were taken by surprise but reacted quickly, drawing their wands but Sirius' voice made them reconsider. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"We seem to have been caught," Fred said.

"Indeed we have," George replied.

"Is Miss. Davis here as well?" asked Fred.

"I am," Tracey replied stepping out from under the cloak.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I am only interested in what you are doing in the Room of Requirement," Harry said. "I was wondering if it had anything to do something called 'Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes'."

"You've heard of them have you?" asked George.

"I've heard a few people mention them," Harry said. "It sounds as if most of them are joke products so it wasn't difficult to work out who must be behind them."

"You're right. We plan on opening a joke shop together when we graduate," Fred.

"At the moment we're limited by lack of funds," George.

"I might be able to help you there," Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked. Tracey, too, looked at him.

"I still have the winning from last years' Tri-wizard Tournament; 1000 Galleons. I imagine that could help you develop a lot of products."

"It would, but what we really need is money to get a shop in Diagon Alley," Fred.

"We already have plenty of products," George.

"Done," Harry said. "Tomorrow night you can show us the Room of Requirement and, in exchange, I'll loan you the money. No need to pay it back; just make me a silent partner. Agreed?"

Fred and George looked at each-other and nodded. "Agreed."