And another chapter! Thank you for your patience!
I really appreciate all the kind comments and kudos!
All mistakes are my own and as per, suggestions are more than welcome!
"I can't feel my arse anymore." George groaned, shifting on the cold uneven stone. "This is the worst stake out ever."
"What I wouldn't do for a hot drink and a blanket right now, what time is it?" Fred pinched his legs trying to get the blood flowing. They had already eaten through their small supply of stake out snacks.
George flicked his wand, limbs moving jerkily. A ghostly clock hung in the air between them. "Would you look at that, it's five minutes later than the time I just told you, five minutes ago. Funny how that works, isn't it?"
Fred grumbled something under his breath, before shakily getting to his feet. "Alright, lets head back. She hasn't moved from McGonagall's for a few hours now, never known Minnie to give such a long detention for a first year before." He frowned at the back of the portrait, as though it was somehow the ugly goblins fault.
"Yeah, but she did say that that Malfoy kids was a 'scum sucking parasite that was born from…"
"WAIT" Fred yelled, suddenly dropping to the floor, arms spread wide. "She's moving." He whispered, eyes attached to the map beneath him.
Both red heads leaned close and watched with excitement as 'Hermione Granger' began rapidly ascending floors.
"Looks like she is in the spiral passageway that comes out near the sixth corridor."
"Georgie my boy, colour me impressed." Fred glanced up at his brother who was watching the little inked footprints intently.
George hummed back, his gazed focused. "She's going in the wrong direction for the tower, look."
Fred glanced down and, indeed, Granger was heading in the wrong direction. His eyes trailed across the parchment slowly; suddenly his eyes caught something on the seventh floor.
"George look! On the seventh floor, look it's…" The name had vanished. "It's gone."
"What's gone? A name? Not possible." George shook his head in disbelief.
"I swear to you on the wheezes, that I saw the name of that Malfoy kid. Right there." He jabbed his finger into the parchment.
"That's not possible, sorry Freddie I didn't see it. We've had a long night and…" George stopped speaking and they both watch in silent fascination, as the name 'Hermione Granger went barrelling down the seventh floor corridor, only to fade about halfway along.
It took roughly two second of stunned silence before both boys were sprinting from their hidden alcove. Skidding across the corridors they pelted it up to the seventh floor. Taking two steps at a time, up the sixth floor short cut, they reached the corridor in roughly three minutes.
Gasping for breath they peered carefully around the corner keeping one eye on the map in George's hand.
"Can," wheeze, "see?" George gasped.
Fred responded by shaking his head violently, leaning heavily against the wall.
"Bollocks, " George grabbed his twin's arm and they moved clumsily down the hallway, stopping about halfway. Scrutinising the map, George looked at his brother in disbelief.
The name had vanished.
The map had never been wrong before, never.
So either the map was wrong, or Miss Hermione Granger had found herself a secret unplottable room.
"Unplottable?" Fred whispered, eyes darting along the corridor.
"Read my mind…" George spun slowly in place, looking for anything that could be a clue. But the corridor looks just the same as any in Hogwarts with it's; torches, pillars, paintings, tapestries, even a couple of suits of armour.
Both lost in thought they didn't notice the small inky dot on the map moving steadily towards them, one paw print at a time.
George heard it first, the soft meow echoing behind them, as they both spun in terror to see Mrs Norris sitting at the end of the corridor. Her tail was flicking and she was making an odd chittering sound as her whiskers twitched rapidly.
"Shit" Fred cursed as they backed up.
We need to hide.
"Quick down the Gryffindor link" George hissed, shoving Fred towards a tapestry.
They both suddenly froze as a very distinct wheezing echoed from beyond the heavy fabric; Filch was coming through their escape route.
We need to hide.
They ran in a panic back towards the other end of the corridor, but were blocked by Mrs Norris who had moved closer.
"Was nice knowing you George," Fred stated as they backed away from the steadily approaching cat.
"You too Fred," George agreed.
"Maybe Mum will only half kill us?" Fred grinned hopefully at his brother.
"First week. New record for us ay?" George gripped the Marauders map tightly in his hand as they passed Barnaby the balmy again.
We need to hide.
A sudden creaking drew three pairs of eyes to the now twisting hanging fabric. Ripples travelled across its surface warping fabric to wood as a strong looking door appeared in place of the tapestry.
Without needing a cue, Fred dashed towards the door. Yanking it open and charging inside, he was closely followed by George, who had the good sense to send a confundus at Mrs Norris, before slamming the door shut.
They pressed their ears to the wood of the door and couldn't hear anything.
"You think he's gone?" George whispered, "Bet he's so angry! Oh I'd love to see his face!" He was chuckling to himself though, as Fred was facing away form him into the room they had jumped into.
"Oh shit." Came the unmistakable voice of a young girl.
"Well this is just perfect" Came the responding drawl of an equally young boy.
Turning slowly in place, George first spotted a tiny Slytherin boy with shockingly pale blond hair. The first name to disappear he guessed, Malfoy something. Standing rather close to him was the little first year girl they had been keeping an eye on, Hermione Granger.
Eyes wide and eyebrows raised George took in the secret room they were all standing in, "The hell kinda place…?"
Attack dummies, giant mirrors, large cushions and all manner of books and gadgets littered the space. His eyes were drawn back to the two small children standing in the centre of the old wooden floor.
"Starting training a little young aren't you?" Fred mused as he gazed about at all the defensive equipment.
"Well now what?" Malfoy said, ignoring the pair of them.
"Rude." George shook his head at his brother, "No manners kids these days."
"We haven't got time Draco, have to sort them out after" Hermione snapped, grasping the Malfoy kid's hand in hers.
"Sort them out after?"
"Sort them out after?"
The twins shared a puzzled glance at each other. A grating sound drew their attention however, to a large clock in the corner of the room. It began to chime.
"Midnight already? Time sure flies when you're having adventures, am I right George?" Fred laughed, edging towards the door. "Best be getting…" his words faltered, footsteps stilled and he gazed in shock.
Sparks had begun to erupt from Malfoy's skin dancing across his body in a sporadic manner; they twisted along his arms before meeting Granger's hands and stalling. Small sparks were spiralling across the young girls own body, but after a few moments they sank beneath the surface on both kids.
Before either of them could move, Malfoy whipped his wand out and they fell to the floor immobilised. Kid didn't even speak, wandless magic from an eleven year old. George was starting to feel very worried.
A ton of bushy hair came into his vision as Hermione leaned over him.
"You didn't have to body bind them Draco, we could have just talked to them. I'm sure you wouldn't have run away, would you boys?" She said grinning down at them, "Far too nosey."
Truth be told, George would probably take his chances with Filch right now. However, seeing as he couldn't move, might as well find out what's going on.
Hermione hummed down at him and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Could just obliviate them." Came a drawl from behind him, Malfoy must be checking on Fred.
"No." Hermione's response was surprisingly short and harsh. "Only when absolutely necessary, obliviating should be a last resort only."
"Yeah, okay. Sorry." Malfoy seemed a bit deflated. Good thing too, George didn't want anyone messing with his head. His dad was always going on about the damage an obliviate can do to a muggle. Merlin knows what it'd do to them.
"Now, what's say we let you up and have a nice chat about this, yes?"
If he could nod, he'd have been nodding vigorously. She was a little bit scary, even if she was only a firstie.
The bind lifted and George sagged into the floor with relief, "That hurt Malfoy." He got a responsive groan of agreement from Fred.
"Sorry." Came the monotone response from the pale little git, kid was smirking at him. Malfoy better be watching his pumpkin juice indefinitely.
Slowly George and Fred got to their feet, a bit bruised but otherwise fine.
In that time, Hermione had conjured two squashy armchairs and a love seat. Hermione and Malfoy sat in the chairs and she gestured for the twins to take the small sofa opposite them.
It felt like the time he and Fred had accidently set fire to the pigpen when they were seven. Mum had sat them down and giving them a stern talking too. Try as they might to explain how it was only somewhat their fault- Charlie had, in fact, given them the fire salamander to start with- she was having none of it.
"Draco and I were in a magical accident. And if at Midnight we aren't touching we have to re-do the day."
"I feel like that's the extremely short version…" Fred spoke slowly, arms crossed as he leaned back on the sofa.
"Yeah," George agreed, edging forward. "You just used advanced spells on us. We haven't even learnt about conjuring and here you go, first years, summoning up a whole living room!" he waived his arms agitatedly, gesturing to the chairs.
"And speaking of rooms! How the hell do you know about this one? You've been here a week! One bloody week! And you're using secret passageways, advanced magic and discovering secret rooms!" He had stood, during the rant, and hadn't noticed Malfoy's wand trained on him.
"Sit down, Weasley" The boy said with a sneer. "Before I make you."
Gritting his teeth, George plonked down next to Fred who was eyeing Malfoy critically.
"Draco, put your wand away, we have nothing to fear from George, or Fred for that matter."
She smacked Malfoy's arm when he didn't put it down immediately, huffing at him. Grumbling slightly, the blond kid shoved his wand up his sleeve and glared at them. "Fine."
"You're not eleven are you?" Fred said calmly.
The small children paused at this, exchanged a glance, before Hermione shook her head slowly. "No we aren't"
"How long have you been repeating days?"
Hermione snorted a laugh, "Not long actually. We did about three repeats of the first day before we got the hang of it."
George pulled a face at that, "At least it wasn't a school day." He murmured half-heartedly.
"Never thought I'd say this, but I would have given anything to have access to the library instead of having to sit on a train everyday." Malfoy sighed wearily, running his hand through his hair.
"If you only did three day of repeating, how come you're older?" Fred asked.
"Well done Freddie, good question." George nodded at Malfoy, "First years who have only been at school a week shouldn't be able to stun like that, or" he nodded to Hermione, "conjure anything, let alone a three piece suite."
"The accident happened to us after we left school." Hermione said.
"So you're like Bill's age-ish?" Fred said softly, mainly to himself.
"Bill's our older brother, works at Gringotts as a curse breaker." George added hastily, elbowing Fred.
"Yeah I know." Hermione said with a smile, "I'm actually close with your family."
Draco snorted a laugh, earning him a sharp jab to the ribs; he sank further into his chair.
"Riiiiight" George said uncertainly, "So what's the problem? Just go tell Dumbledore."
"Yeah! Dad says he's the greatest wizard alive. He'll sort it out no problem!" Fred chimed in nodding his head enthusiastically.
"Tried that already, practically useless."
"Draco!" Hermione snapped, "You should show a little respect, his assistance got us out of the loop and…"
"Yes, yes. That's why I said practically." He huffed, rolling his eyes.
"In. Any. Case," Hermione spoke loudly over Malfoy, "we're going to need you two to keep this to yourselves." She held up hand forestalling their responses. "I understand I haven't answered all the questions you may have, but that is all we can give you for now."
George opened his mouth to ask…
"And No! We cannot give you any information about the future." She sighed at their twin pouting faces. "It would be almost useless now anyway, we've changed things already. There is really no telling what will happen."
Her tone was firm and she nodded in the same way his mum always did to end a conversation. Best to leave it for the night, they could always find out more tomorrow or at some point.
Eyeing them carefully George sneakily checked over the map as Fred moved to stand in front of him. Filch was nowhere near the Gryffindor passageway, so if they were gonna head back now would be the time.
"Right" said Fred, "best hurry before Filch comes back this way yeah?" He started shoving George towards the door. "Come on Miss Granger, seeing as you're older…" he bowed and gestured with his arm towards the door.
Instead of going through though, Hermione sharply rapped her wand on Fred's head. He shivered violently and made a 'gak' sound of surprise.
She then spun on the spot and did the same to George. His whole body shivered as the feeling of cold gooeyness dripped down his head.
He let out a disgusted noise and backed away from her, only to bump into something.
"George? That you?" George blinked slowly; the only thing he could see though was a vague outline of his twin.
A huge grin pulled at his face, "Wicked."
"I've disillusioned you both, I shall undo it once we reach the common room. See you tomorrow Draco." She pulled a book from nowhere and, with a glance at it, marched from the room whilst tapping her own head and vanishing.
"What the hell…" Fred whispered, his blurry outline shifted slightly edging towards the door.
"Best hurry up lads, or she'll leave you behind." Came the sardonic voice of Malfoy from behind them. The boy sauntered past casually, before vanishing as he passed through the door.
Map in hand the twins quickly ran from the room, barely sparing a glance at the vanishing door behind them, before speeding into the Gryffindor passage. It did not take long for them to catch up with Hermione, and they followed her blurred outline back to the Gryffindor common room.
When they reached the Fat Lady's portrait Fred let out a sigh of swear words, she was gone. Hermione however didn't even pause; she leaned down at the frame and whispered something whilst tracing her hand under it. The door unlatched from the wall, and she slowly pulled it open enough to squeeze through.
Scrambling in after her, they were both sharply smacked on the head by Hermione's wand before they reached the end of the tunnel.
"Ah! Shit!" They hissed in unison, as the still disillusioned Hermione chuckled and headed across the common room.
"So violent," George whispered, shoving Fred ahead of him.
"Uh huh."
"Night night boys." Her disembodied voice floated down from the girl's staircase, before they heard the click of a door shutting.
They stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other, before nodding firmly and heading to bed.
"I'll be honest with you Georgie my boy, this is scaring the shit out of me a little bit." Fred whispered as they sat on their beds.
"Same." George whispered back. He felt as though his brain had been hit by a bludger them fed to a thing with many teeth. "Not sure if I can sleep, heads spinning a bit."
"Same."
They both lay there staring at the ceiling in silence.
George was following a dust mote as it spun lazily across the drapes, spinning and twirling. It was odd; it kind of looked like it was glowing now.
There was another one, spinning and twirling, also looked like it was glowing. His eyes blinked heavily. There were loads now, spinning and twirling in rhythmic unison. He opened his mouth to tell Fred, but all that came out was a yawn. Eyes watering with the effort to stay awake, George slowly sunk into a deep slumber.
He didn't notice the small figure at the door withdraw a wand. He didn't notice the soft footsteps as they walked across the room. Nor did he notice them pull the blankets over himself and his brother.
Hermione headed back across the common room, up the stairs and into her own dorm. She sighed as she climbed back into bed. This could be a big problem, or something useful, depending on how they handled the situation.
She rolled over in bed and pulled out her book, Draco had already written to her. She skimmed over the words lazily. Basically the same thing she was thinking, could be useful or could be catastrophic. She laughed softly at his suggestion that they unleash the twins on Quirrell and just wait for Ol'Mouldy to give up.
Grabbing her pen she circled that suggestion and put a smiley face next to it. Tucking the book under her pillow she curled up in the warm blankets. To sleepy to think about it now, she could deal with it in the morning.