Chapter Two: The Marauder's Map
"Ready, Twin?" said George.
"Ready," said Fred.
The two of them were huddled behind a statue of Leo the Lascivious. George carefully pulled the small round package from his pocket. Students were moving up and down the corridors on their way to the library or their common rooms.
"One, two," Fred counted, "THREE!"
George hurled the round object with all his might into the corridor. It flew a good thirty feet, landed on the floor, bounced, flew another few feet, then burst with a loud, wet splat.
Nasty brown goo instantly coated the floor and a sickening sort of smell filled the air, followed by a huge, thick cloud of smoke. Fred and George hastily buried their noses in their cloaks as a crowd of students in the corridor let out screams and hollers of disgust. Two Slytherins stood spluttering only a few inches from the Dungbomb; their cloaks were spattered with stinky brown mud.
Fred and George sank behind the statue, laughing silently, so hard that tears ran down their faces.
"Good one, Twin!" Fred said, and he weakly gave George the high five. They turned round again to survey their handiwork when suddenly Fred felt a rough hand yank him back by his robe collar. A loud grunt from George indicated the same must be happening to him.
"Caught in the act!" said a furious, slightly wheezing voice. "You're in it now, Weasley twins! You're coming with me."
"Uh oh," Fred gasped.
But there was little he or George could do as Filch--stronger than he normally was due to his rush of fury--dragged them both down the corridor to his office. Several Gryffindors clapped at Fred and George, while the dung-splattered Slytherins hissed and made rude gestures at them. Fred and George made rude gestures right back.
Soon enough they were yanked into Filch's musty office. Mrs. Norris, his mangy cat, was sitting on a chair, regarding them coolly with her lamplike eyes.
"Look what we have here, my pet," Filch crowed, shoving Fred and George roughly against his desk. "Two little lawbreakers. And they are IN for it."
Mrs. Norris gave a mewl and a hiss that sounded remarkably like approval. Fred glared at the cat and resisted the urge to give her a kick.
Fred rubbed his sore neck, which was chafed from where Filch had grabbed his robes; he glanced at George, but George was staring up at Filch with a defiant expression. Fred followed suit. Neither one of them were really afraid of Filch. He was old and feeble and had a limp. But he also had a temper and he hated every student at the school (which begged the question of why he worked at a school when he loathed children), and everyone knew he firmly believed that the school ought to be using the "old punishments," whatever those were.
"Now," said Filch triumphantly, "just WHAT am I gonna do with you little shites, eh? In the old days I would have had permission to whip you both within an inch of your lives, you know. Or maybe, I would have given you a night dangling from the ceiling by your thumbs. That'd teach you. But now, dammit, the school's had to get all 'enlightened.' The worst I can do to you is give you detention."
Fred and George glanced at each other and swallowed; Fred wasn't about to show Filch a sign of fear, but deep down he was grateful that Hogwarts had indeed chosen a more 'enlightened' path when it came to punishing students.
"So detention it is," said Filch nastily. "A week's worth, I think. Plenty of cleaning for the both of you. You'll scrub every inch of that corridor with toothbrushes, you hear? And you won't get to quit until I say you can!"
Fred nodded absently but he wasn't really paying attention, because his eyes had strayed to one of Filch's numerous filing cabinets. A label on the outside of it read "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous." Fred bit back a grin and looked at George. George looked back and smirked. He, too, had seen the cabinet.
It was far, far too tempting to pass up. Fred nodded at George. George slipped a hand inside his robes and pulled out another small, spherical package. Filch was still yammering on, pacing the room, working up a good head of steam about how, if it were left to him, he'd disembowel the twins in front of the whole school for fouling up a hallway.
George waited until Filch had paced to the other side of the room, away from both the cabinet and the door. Filch turned his back...
George hurled the second Dungbomb against the back wall of Filch's office, where it smacked against the stones and broke, instantly releasing more foul-smelling gas.
"GODDAMMIT!" Filch screeched. The small, stuffy office quickly became so foul and smoky that Fred and George not only felt slightly sick but had difficulty seeing where Filch might be.
"Go, Fred!" George yelled.
Fred leapt toward the contraband cabinet, ripped open a drawer at random and grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on. It was a piece of old parchment. Fred glanced up to see a vague outline of Filch in the distance, floundering round in the thick smoke.
"Come on!" George yelled.
The two of them raced for Filch's front door.
"Don't you go anywhere!" Filch yelled, and he started to limp toward them. But Fred and George didn't waste any time (Fred was about to throw up as it was, the stench in the office was so bad). George yanked open the door and the twins bounded out of Filch's office, taking the corridors at a sprint. As they rounded the corners they heard Filch bellowing at them, calling them a slew of very rude names.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That's it?" said George, sounding thoroughly disappointed. "That's ALL you were able to get?"
They were sitting in the empty common room one Saturday afternoon, in the aftermath of receiving a month's worth of detentions from Professor McGonagall (Filch had immediately sought her out and informed on them both). The other students were outside playing in the snow.
"I just grabbed what was on top," said Fred defensively. The thing he'd stolen from Filch's office was on the coffee table.
"Great," said George. "We're gonna get a month's worth of detentions for an old piece of parchment. That's just brilliant, Fred."
"Piss off," said Fred angrily.
"It doesn't even have anything written on it!" said George. "Totally blank! It's worthless."
"So why don't you return it to Filch then, if it's so worthless," Fred snapped.
"Stupid git," said George. "I should have been the one to go for the file cabinet."
"Sod you!" said Fred furiously.
"No, sod you!" George retorted, and in the next instant the two were on the floor, wrestling and hitting at each other. Fred managed to pin George to the floor and was about to throw a nasty punch.
"What're you two doing?"
Fred and George looked up; Fred's fist was frozen in place for a moment. Angelina Johnson stood over them, her hands on her hips, looking amused, haughty, and very tall. She HAD grown a few more inches in the past month.
"Oh," said Fred, climbing off George. "Hey, Angie. We were just, uh..."
"Fighting," said Angelina. "Honestly. Can't you two idiots work out your differences without pounding each other?"
"Whatever," said George, rolling his eyes and getting up off the floor. He reached out and smacked Fred in the back of the head.
"Hey!" Fred yelled, and did the same to George. Their fighting escalated again. "Boys," said Angelina, rolling her eyes, and she started to sit down on the couch when she noticed the blank parchment.
"What's this?"
Fred and George, once again on the floor (this time George had pinned Fred and was about to throw a punch), looked up. Fred's eyes widened in horror as Angelina picked up the blank parchment. He reared up and caused George to fall backwards off him.
"Nothing!" Fred said quickly, and he snatched the parchment away from Angelina.
"Hey!" she said angrily, snatching it right back, "I was looking at that."
"And I told you it's nothing," said Fred, grabbing for it, but she held it up out of his reach. She was taller than he was.
"Dammit, Angie, gimme that!" said Fred, jumping up to try and grab it out of Angelina's grasp.
"So go on and get it then," said Angelina, giggling, still holding the parchment up out of reach.
"Angie!" said Fred angrily, still jumping up and down trying to get the parchment away from her (when the hell had she gotten so tall?).
George, for his part, wasn't helping. He was laughing, entirely amused by the sight of his twin jumping up and down like a fool trying to get a piece of parchment away from...a GIRL.
"Pathetic, Fred!" George gasped, clutching his stomach.
"Eat dung, George!" yelled Fred, giving up on his jumping routine for the moment.
"Tell me what this is," said Angelina, gripping the parchment.
"We don't KNOW what it is," said Fred, exasperated. "We were trying to figure that out when you barged in on us."
"When I 'barged' in on you two, you were rolling round on the floor like a couple of stupid gits," said Angelina coolly. "What's so special about this thing, anyway?"
"We found it in Filch's office," said Fred sullenly.
"Dammit, Fred, don't go telling HER," said George angrily. "She's a--"
"Girl," said Angelina. "Brilliant observation, George. I'm not going to tell anyone, you know.
"Yeah," said Fred, coming to Angelina's defense, for reasons he wasn't quite sure of. "Angie's cool."
George threw up his hands and sat down dramatically in one of the cushy arm chairs.
"FINE," he said. "Tell her. But if she rats us out--"
"For what?" said Angelina. "Stealing a blank piece of stupid parchment? Filch probably doesn't even know it's gone."
"It's worthless, anyway," said George glumly. "Stupid git, Fred. I shoulda been the one to go for the cabinet."
"Well, I didn't have any Dungbombs in my pockets, did I, because YOU insisted on carrying them!" Fred retorted.
"Whatever!" Angelina shouted. "Look, have you two dimwits bothered to consider that maybe this worthless thing you stole has some sort of Invisible Ink on it or something?"
"What?" said Fred and George together.
Angelina rolled her eyes again. "Honestly, don't you two EVER pay attention in Charms?"
"No," they both said.
"Well, you should," said Angelina in a prissy, girly sort of voice. "This parchment may look like nothing but if that's the case, why would Filch have it in his 'Highly Dangerous' cabinet, eh? My guess is there's something really special about this thing, only Filch can't figure it out, because Filch is a Squib."
"Filch is a Squib?!" cried George, ecstatic.
"No way!" said Fred. "How'd you know that?"
"Everyone knows that," said Angelina. "Anyway, maybe you two should try and figure out how this thing works."
And with that, she handed the parchment back to Fred.
"How're we supposed to do that?" said Fred.
"I dunno," said Angelina. "You DO have a wand, don't you?"
"Yeah," said Fred and George together.
"So use them," said Angelina. "Honestly, do I have to do ALL your thinking for you?"
"Yeah," said Fred, grinning. "Why don't you help us, Angie? You're really smart, you could figure it out for us." He spread the parchment out on the table again.
"No way," said George. "No girls allowed."
"Come on, George, I told you Angie's cool," said Fred.
"I don't care if she's the ruddy Queen of England," said George. "This is OUR thing and there's no girls!"
"Like you won't go and tell Alicia tomorrow all about this," Fred accused.
Angelina giggled as George's ears went red.
"I'm not gonna tell Alicia," George mumbled.
"Liar," said Fred.
"Okay, fine," said George. "Let the GIRL help out." He cast a nasty look at Angelina. "I don't care. Just as long as that stupid piece of junk you grabbed has SOME value. I'm not gonna serve a month's worth of detentions over nothing."
"A month's worth of detentions?" said Angelina. "Over this thing? Wow. That's really pathetic."
"Yeah, yeah," said Fred. "Don't rub it in or anything. Can you help us figure this thing out or not?"
"I guess," said Angelina warily. "But, if I do, you two have to promise me something."
"No," said George.
"What?" said Fred.
Angelina ignored George and looked at Fred.
"Whatever this thing is, you have to let me use it now and again."
"No way," said George.
"I guess," said Fred. "But only if you're with me. You can't use it by yourself."
"Fair enough," said Angelina. "Oh, and you have to solemnly swear that whatever you use this thing for, it's for no good." She grinned.
At that very moment, something strange happened. The parchment on the table rippled and a flash of light--faint and weak but there nonetheless--burst from it.
"Whoa," said Fred, George and Angelina together.
"What'd you do?" Fred asked, glancing at Angelina.
"Dunno," said Angelina. "I...I just said you two had to solemnly swear to use this thing for no good."
The parchment rippled again, and another faint another burst of light, stronger this time, issued from it.
"No way," said Fred, as the three of them crowded round the parchment.
"It was that thing you said, Angie," said George. "That set it off somehow."
Fred stood up sharply. "I've got an idea," he said, and he pulled out his wand.
He pointed it at the parchment and said, "Reveal!"
Nothing happened.
"No good!" said Fred, tapping the parchment again. It fluttered, but otherwise nothing happened.
George pulled out his own wand. "I'm up to no good!" It fluttered again, more strongly.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," said Fred, tapping the parchment with his wand.
And then, something miraculous happened. The parchment rippled, glowed, and then, thin lines of ink began to snaked all across it, like a spider's web. The lines moved together to form...
"A map!" said Fred, George and Angelina together.
"Of the whole school," said Angelina.
"Look!" said Fred, awed. Tiny dots had begun to appear on the map. On the space marked "Filch's Office" was a small dot marked "Mr. Filch." Next to him was a dot marked "Mrs. Norris." The two dots moved round the office but didn't leave.
Fred felt his heart begin to pound as his eyes skipped over to other sections of the map. A small dot labeled "Professor Snape" was moving through a corridor toward the dungeons. Another dot labeled "Professor Sprout" was moving back and forth in the greenhouses. Still another dot showed Peeves the Poltergeist bouncing round in the library, being chased by a dot labeled "Madam Pince."
"Blimey," said Fred and George together.
And then, at last, the map finished drawing itself, and a title appeared across the top:
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
"It's...it's..." said George, stunned.
"BRILLIANT," Fred and Angelina said together.
George looked up, his eyes wide as saucers. "We can go anywhere in the castle with this thing."
"And we'll always know where everyone is," said Fred, grinning hugely.
"Which means we won't get caught!" said George.
"Yes!" yelled Fred, and suddenly he and George began to half-dance, half- wrestle. Angelina giggled at them, then looked down at the Marauder's Map.
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," said Angelina. "Who are they?"
"Dunno," said Fred. "But whoever they are, they're geniuses!"
George picked up the map and kissed it. "This is the greatest day of my LIFE!" he cried. "A month's worth of detentions? I'd serve a whole year's worth for this!"
"For what?"
The three of them whirled round to see Lee Jordan crawling through the portrait hole.
"Uh," Fred, George and Angelina said at once. They all exchanged looks.
"We might as well tell him," said Fred.
"He IS your best mate," said Angelina.
"Right," said George. "And we can't very well let HER know about it if Lee doesn't."
"What the hell are you three yammering about?" Lee demanded.
"Look," said Fred, gesturing to the map on the table. Lee crossed the room, looked down at the map, and a long moment later he looked up, his face drawn into a huge grin.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Filch's office," Fred bragged.
"Stole it right from under his nose," said George.
"You can't tell anyone about it, Lee," said Fred firmly. "This is strictly between the four of us. Or, well, five, when George tells Alicia."
"Ooh, Alicia," Lee said, in a squeaky, girly sort of voice. "Georgie likes Alicia."
"Shut it," said George, blushing to the roots of his hair.
"Georgie and Alicia, sitting in a tree," Lee began.
George smacked him in the back of the head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was three o'clock in the morning when Fred, George, Angelina and Lee snuck back into the common room. Their "trial run" of using the Marauder's Map was a wild success. With its help, they were able to find the kitchens, get inside, and convince a few house-elves to fix them a late night snack. Alicia had been invited to go along but she'd demurred; she wasn't really into breaking rules. George looked very sullen about her not coming along. Fred rolled his eyes, grateful that his best "girl mate" was Angelina and not Alicia. Angelina was WAY cooler than Alicia.
George and Lee stumbled up to bed, exhausted, leaving Fred and Angelina alone in the common room.
"That was brilliant," Fred whispered, his tummy full of leftover treacle pudding.
"Thanks," said Angelina.
"For what?" said Fred.
"For letting me come along," said Angelina, and even in the dim light of the common room, Fred could see her blushing.
"Of course you came along," said Fred firmly. "You figured out how to use the map, didn't you?"
"Sort of," said Angelina. "Well, it was just luck, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, but...you know," said Fred, suddenly feeling a bit awkward and shy himself. "You're my mate, Angie. Even if you are a girl."
"Gee, thanks," said Angelina. "You're not so bad yourself. For a boy."
"I mean, don't get me wrong," said Fred quickly. "Girls are weird and have cooties and what."
"Boys are stinky and rude and immature," said Angelina.
"But you're okay," said Fred. "For a girl."
"So are you," said Angelina. "For a boy."
They looked at each other for a long moment and didn't say anything. Angelina looked...pretty, Fred noticed. And then he felt his stomach do a weird flip-floppy thing that he knew had nothing to do with the treacle pudding he'd just devoured. He suddenly wanted to run from the room.
"G'night, then," he said abruply, and he patted Angelina quickly on the shoulder.
"G'night," said Angelina, just as abruptly, and she took off for the girl's spiral staircase at a bit of a run. She leapt up the stairs lightly. Fred watched her go, then came to himself and hurried up his own staircase to the first year boys' dormitory.
He crawled into bed, his stomach still a bit uneasy. Perhaps he shouldn't have eaten all that treacle pudding. Except that the treacle pudding wasn't really the problem. He began to wonder if looking at Angelina--who seemed to have gotten prettier as the year went on--was making him sick. He hoped not. He liked hanging out with Angelina, even if she was a girl.
He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost at once. In his dreams he saw a girl with coffee and cream skin, and heard the clicking of beaded, cornrowed hair.
_______________________________________________________________________
Author's Note: This is another chapter devoted to the Twins' first year, in case people were wondering about the changed order of chapters. I realized I couldn't possibly have a complete Twin story without including the background into their finding the Marauder's Map. So here it is.
Chapter Three is now second year, Chapter Four is third year, and Chapter Five is fourth year.
"Ready, Twin?" said George.
"Ready," said Fred.
The two of them were huddled behind a statue of Leo the Lascivious. George carefully pulled the small round package from his pocket. Students were moving up and down the corridors on their way to the library or their common rooms.
"One, two," Fred counted, "THREE!"
George hurled the round object with all his might into the corridor. It flew a good thirty feet, landed on the floor, bounced, flew another few feet, then burst with a loud, wet splat.
Nasty brown goo instantly coated the floor and a sickening sort of smell filled the air, followed by a huge, thick cloud of smoke. Fred and George hastily buried their noses in their cloaks as a crowd of students in the corridor let out screams and hollers of disgust. Two Slytherins stood spluttering only a few inches from the Dungbomb; their cloaks were spattered with stinky brown mud.
Fred and George sank behind the statue, laughing silently, so hard that tears ran down their faces.
"Good one, Twin!" Fred said, and he weakly gave George the high five. They turned round again to survey their handiwork when suddenly Fred felt a rough hand yank him back by his robe collar. A loud grunt from George indicated the same must be happening to him.
"Caught in the act!" said a furious, slightly wheezing voice. "You're in it now, Weasley twins! You're coming with me."
"Uh oh," Fred gasped.
But there was little he or George could do as Filch--stronger than he normally was due to his rush of fury--dragged them both down the corridor to his office. Several Gryffindors clapped at Fred and George, while the dung-splattered Slytherins hissed and made rude gestures at them. Fred and George made rude gestures right back.
Soon enough they were yanked into Filch's musty office. Mrs. Norris, his mangy cat, was sitting on a chair, regarding them coolly with her lamplike eyes.
"Look what we have here, my pet," Filch crowed, shoving Fred and George roughly against his desk. "Two little lawbreakers. And they are IN for it."
Mrs. Norris gave a mewl and a hiss that sounded remarkably like approval. Fred glared at the cat and resisted the urge to give her a kick.
Fred rubbed his sore neck, which was chafed from where Filch had grabbed his robes; he glanced at George, but George was staring up at Filch with a defiant expression. Fred followed suit. Neither one of them were really afraid of Filch. He was old and feeble and had a limp. But he also had a temper and he hated every student at the school (which begged the question of why he worked at a school when he loathed children), and everyone knew he firmly believed that the school ought to be using the "old punishments," whatever those were.
"Now," said Filch triumphantly, "just WHAT am I gonna do with you little shites, eh? In the old days I would have had permission to whip you both within an inch of your lives, you know. Or maybe, I would have given you a night dangling from the ceiling by your thumbs. That'd teach you. But now, dammit, the school's had to get all 'enlightened.' The worst I can do to you is give you detention."
Fred and George glanced at each other and swallowed; Fred wasn't about to show Filch a sign of fear, but deep down he was grateful that Hogwarts had indeed chosen a more 'enlightened' path when it came to punishing students.
"So detention it is," said Filch nastily. "A week's worth, I think. Plenty of cleaning for the both of you. You'll scrub every inch of that corridor with toothbrushes, you hear? And you won't get to quit until I say you can!"
Fred nodded absently but he wasn't really paying attention, because his eyes had strayed to one of Filch's numerous filing cabinets. A label on the outside of it read "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous." Fred bit back a grin and looked at George. George looked back and smirked. He, too, had seen the cabinet.
It was far, far too tempting to pass up. Fred nodded at George. George slipped a hand inside his robes and pulled out another small, spherical package. Filch was still yammering on, pacing the room, working up a good head of steam about how, if it were left to him, he'd disembowel the twins in front of the whole school for fouling up a hallway.
George waited until Filch had paced to the other side of the room, away from both the cabinet and the door. Filch turned his back...
George hurled the second Dungbomb against the back wall of Filch's office, where it smacked against the stones and broke, instantly releasing more foul-smelling gas.
"GODDAMMIT!" Filch screeched. The small, stuffy office quickly became so foul and smoky that Fred and George not only felt slightly sick but had difficulty seeing where Filch might be.
"Go, Fred!" George yelled.
Fred leapt toward the contraband cabinet, ripped open a drawer at random and grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on. It was a piece of old parchment. Fred glanced up to see a vague outline of Filch in the distance, floundering round in the thick smoke.
"Come on!" George yelled.
The two of them raced for Filch's front door.
"Don't you go anywhere!" Filch yelled, and he started to limp toward them. But Fred and George didn't waste any time (Fred was about to throw up as it was, the stench in the office was so bad). George yanked open the door and the twins bounded out of Filch's office, taking the corridors at a sprint. As they rounded the corners they heard Filch bellowing at them, calling them a slew of very rude names.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That's it?" said George, sounding thoroughly disappointed. "That's ALL you were able to get?"
They were sitting in the empty common room one Saturday afternoon, in the aftermath of receiving a month's worth of detentions from Professor McGonagall (Filch had immediately sought her out and informed on them both). The other students were outside playing in the snow.
"I just grabbed what was on top," said Fred defensively. The thing he'd stolen from Filch's office was on the coffee table.
"Great," said George. "We're gonna get a month's worth of detentions for an old piece of parchment. That's just brilliant, Fred."
"Piss off," said Fred angrily.
"It doesn't even have anything written on it!" said George. "Totally blank! It's worthless."
"So why don't you return it to Filch then, if it's so worthless," Fred snapped.
"Stupid git," said George. "I should have been the one to go for the file cabinet."
"Sod you!" said Fred furiously.
"No, sod you!" George retorted, and in the next instant the two were on the floor, wrestling and hitting at each other. Fred managed to pin George to the floor and was about to throw a nasty punch.
"What're you two doing?"
Fred and George looked up; Fred's fist was frozen in place for a moment. Angelina Johnson stood over them, her hands on her hips, looking amused, haughty, and very tall. She HAD grown a few more inches in the past month.
"Oh," said Fred, climbing off George. "Hey, Angie. We were just, uh..."
"Fighting," said Angelina. "Honestly. Can't you two idiots work out your differences without pounding each other?"
"Whatever," said George, rolling his eyes and getting up off the floor. He reached out and smacked Fred in the back of the head.
"Hey!" Fred yelled, and did the same to George. Their fighting escalated again. "Boys," said Angelina, rolling her eyes, and she started to sit down on the couch when she noticed the blank parchment.
"What's this?"
Fred and George, once again on the floor (this time George had pinned Fred and was about to throw a punch), looked up. Fred's eyes widened in horror as Angelina picked up the blank parchment. He reared up and caused George to fall backwards off him.
"Nothing!" Fred said quickly, and he snatched the parchment away from Angelina.
"Hey!" she said angrily, snatching it right back, "I was looking at that."
"And I told you it's nothing," said Fred, grabbing for it, but she held it up out of his reach. She was taller than he was.
"Dammit, Angie, gimme that!" said Fred, jumping up to try and grab it out of Angelina's grasp.
"So go on and get it then," said Angelina, giggling, still holding the parchment up out of reach.
"Angie!" said Fred angrily, still jumping up and down trying to get the parchment away from her (when the hell had she gotten so tall?).
George, for his part, wasn't helping. He was laughing, entirely amused by the sight of his twin jumping up and down like a fool trying to get a piece of parchment away from...a GIRL.
"Pathetic, Fred!" George gasped, clutching his stomach.
"Eat dung, George!" yelled Fred, giving up on his jumping routine for the moment.
"Tell me what this is," said Angelina, gripping the parchment.
"We don't KNOW what it is," said Fred, exasperated. "We were trying to figure that out when you barged in on us."
"When I 'barged' in on you two, you were rolling round on the floor like a couple of stupid gits," said Angelina coolly. "What's so special about this thing, anyway?"
"We found it in Filch's office," said Fred sullenly.
"Dammit, Fred, don't go telling HER," said George angrily. "She's a--"
"Girl," said Angelina. "Brilliant observation, George. I'm not going to tell anyone, you know.
"Yeah," said Fred, coming to Angelina's defense, for reasons he wasn't quite sure of. "Angie's cool."
George threw up his hands and sat down dramatically in one of the cushy arm chairs.
"FINE," he said. "Tell her. But if she rats us out--"
"For what?" said Angelina. "Stealing a blank piece of stupid parchment? Filch probably doesn't even know it's gone."
"It's worthless, anyway," said George glumly. "Stupid git, Fred. I shoulda been the one to go for the cabinet."
"Well, I didn't have any Dungbombs in my pockets, did I, because YOU insisted on carrying them!" Fred retorted.
"Whatever!" Angelina shouted. "Look, have you two dimwits bothered to consider that maybe this worthless thing you stole has some sort of Invisible Ink on it or something?"
"What?" said Fred and George together.
Angelina rolled her eyes again. "Honestly, don't you two EVER pay attention in Charms?"
"No," they both said.
"Well, you should," said Angelina in a prissy, girly sort of voice. "This parchment may look like nothing but if that's the case, why would Filch have it in his 'Highly Dangerous' cabinet, eh? My guess is there's something really special about this thing, only Filch can't figure it out, because Filch is a Squib."
"Filch is a Squib?!" cried George, ecstatic.
"No way!" said Fred. "How'd you know that?"
"Everyone knows that," said Angelina. "Anyway, maybe you two should try and figure out how this thing works."
And with that, she handed the parchment back to Fred.
"How're we supposed to do that?" said Fred.
"I dunno," said Angelina. "You DO have a wand, don't you?"
"Yeah," said Fred and George together.
"So use them," said Angelina. "Honestly, do I have to do ALL your thinking for you?"
"Yeah," said Fred, grinning. "Why don't you help us, Angie? You're really smart, you could figure it out for us." He spread the parchment out on the table again.
"No way," said George. "No girls allowed."
"Come on, George, I told you Angie's cool," said Fred.
"I don't care if she's the ruddy Queen of England," said George. "This is OUR thing and there's no girls!"
"Like you won't go and tell Alicia tomorrow all about this," Fred accused.
Angelina giggled as George's ears went red.
"I'm not gonna tell Alicia," George mumbled.
"Liar," said Fred.
"Okay, fine," said George. "Let the GIRL help out." He cast a nasty look at Angelina. "I don't care. Just as long as that stupid piece of junk you grabbed has SOME value. I'm not gonna serve a month's worth of detentions over nothing."
"A month's worth of detentions?" said Angelina. "Over this thing? Wow. That's really pathetic."
"Yeah, yeah," said Fred. "Don't rub it in or anything. Can you help us figure this thing out or not?"
"I guess," said Angelina warily. "But, if I do, you two have to promise me something."
"No," said George.
"What?" said Fred.
Angelina ignored George and looked at Fred.
"Whatever this thing is, you have to let me use it now and again."
"No way," said George.
"I guess," said Fred. "But only if you're with me. You can't use it by yourself."
"Fair enough," said Angelina. "Oh, and you have to solemnly swear that whatever you use this thing for, it's for no good." She grinned.
At that very moment, something strange happened. The parchment on the table rippled and a flash of light--faint and weak but there nonetheless--burst from it.
"Whoa," said Fred, George and Angelina together.
"What'd you do?" Fred asked, glancing at Angelina.
"Dunno," said Angelina. "I...I just said you two had to solemnly swear to use this thing for no good."
The parchment rippled again, and another faint another burst of light, stronger this time, issued from it.
"No way," said Fred, as the three of them crowded round the parchment.
"It was that thing you said, Angie," said George. "That set it off somehow."
Fred stood up sharply. "I've got an idea," he said, and he pulled out his wand.
He pointed it at the parchment and said, "Reveal!"
Nothing happened.
"No good!" said Fred, tapping the parchment again. It fluttered, but otherwise nothing happened.
George pulled out his own wand. "I'm up to no good!" It fluttered again, more strongly.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," said Fred, tapping the parchment with his wand.
And then, something miraculous happened. The parchment rippled, glowed, and then, thin lines of ink began to snaked all across it, like a spider's web. The lines moved together to form...
"A map!" said Fred, George and Angelina together.
"Of the whole school," said Angelina.
"Look!" said Fred, awed. Tiny dots had begun to appear on the map. On the space marked "Filch's Office" was a small dot marked "Mr. Filch." Next to him was a dot marked "Mrs. Norris." The two dots moved round the office but didn't leave.
Fred felt his heart begin to pound as his eyes skipped over to other sections of the map. A small dot labeled "Professor Snape" was moving through a corridor toward the dungeons. Another dot labeled "Professor Sprout" was moving back and forth in the greenhouses. Still another dot showed Peeves the Poltergeist bouncing round in the library, being chased by a dot labeled "Madam Pince."
"Blimey," said Fred and George together.
And then, at last, the map finished drawing itself, and a title appeared across the top:
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
"It's...it's..." said George, stunned.
"BRILLIANT," Fred and Angelina said together.
George looked up, his eyes wide as saucers. "We can go anywhere in the castle with this thing."
"And we'll always know where everyone is," said Fred, grinning hugely.
"Which means we won't get caught!" said George.
"Yes!" yelled Fred, and suddenly he and George began to half-dance, half- wrestle. Angelina giggled at them, then looked down at the Marauder's Map.
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," said Angelina. "Who are they?"
"Dunno," said Fred. "But whoever they are, they're geniuses!"
George picked up the map and kissed it. "This is the greatest day of my LIFE!" he cried. "A month's worth of detentions? I'd serve a whole year's worth for this!"
"For what?"
The three of them whirled round to see Lee Jordan crawling through the portrait hole.
"Uh," Fred, George and Angelina said at once. They all exchanged looks.
"We might as well tell him," said Fred.
"He IS your best mate," said Angelina.
"Right," said George. "And we can't very well let HER know about it if Lee doesn't."
"What the hell are you three yammering about?" Lee demanded.
"Look," said Fred, gesturing to the map on the table. Lee crossed the room, looked down at the map, and a long moment later he looked up, his face drawn into a huge grin.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Filch's office," Fred bragged.
"Stole it right from under his nose," said George.
"You can't tell anyone about it, Lee," said Fred firmly. "This is strictly between the four of us. Or, well, five, when George tells Alicia."
"Ooh, Alicia," Lee said, in a squeaky, girly sort of voice. "Georgie likes Alicia."
"Shut it," said George, blushing to the roots of his hair.
"Georgie and Alicia, sitting in a tree," Lee began.
George smacked him in the back of the head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was three o'clock in the morning when Fred, George, Angelina and Lee snuck back into the common room. Their "trial run" of using the Marauder's Map was a wild success. With its help, they were able to find the kitchens, get inside, and convince a few house-elves to fix them a late night snack. Alicia had been invited to go along but she'd demurred; she wasn't really into breaking rules. George looked very sullen about her not coming along. Fred rolled his eyes, grateful that his best "girl mate" was Angelina and not Alicia. Angelina was WAY cooler than Alicia.
George and Lee stumbled up to bed, exhausted, leaving Fred and Angelina alone in the common room.
"That was brilliant," Fred whispered, his tummy full of leftover treacle pudding.
"Thanks," said Angelina.
"For what?" said Fred.
"For letting me come along," said Angelina, and even in the dim light of the common room, Fred could see her blushing.
"Of course you came along," said Fred firmly. "You figured out how to use the map, didn't you?"
"Sort of," said Angelina. "Well, it was just luck, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, but...you know," said Fred, suddenly feeling a bit awkward and shy himself. "You're my mate, Angie. Even if you are a girl."
"Gee, thanks," said Angelina. "You're not so bad yourself. For a boy."
"I mean, don't get me wrong," said Fred quickly. "Girls are weird and have cooties and what."
"Boys are stinky and rude and immature," said Angelina.
"But you're okay," said Fred. "For a girl."
"So are you," said Angelina. "For a boy."
They looked at each other for a long moment and didn't say anything. Angelina looked...pretty, Fred noticed. And then he felt his stomach do a weird flip-floppy thing that he knew had nothing to do with the treacle pudding he'd just devoured. He suddenly wanted to run from the room.
"G'night, then," he said abruply, and he patted Angelina quickly on the shoulder.
"G'night," said Angelina, just as abruptly, and she took off for the girl's spiral staircase at a bit of a run. She leapt up the stairs lightly. Fred watched her go, then came to himself and hurried up his own staircase to the first year boys' dormitory.
He crawled into bed, his stomach still a bit uneasy. Perhaps he shouldn't have eaten all that treacle pudding. Except that the treacle pudding wasn't really the problem. He began to wonder if looking at Angelina--who seemed to have gotten prettier as the year went on--was making him sick. He hoped not. He liked hanging out with Angelina, even if she was a girl.
He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost at once. In his dreams he saw a girl with coffee and cream skin, and heard the clicking of beaded, cornrowed hair.
_______________________________________________________________________
Author's Note: This is another chapter devoted to the Twins' first year, in case people were wondering about the changed order of chapters. I realized I couldn't possibly have a complete Twin story without including the background into their finding the Marauder's Map. So here it is.
Chapter Three is now second year, Chapter Four is third year, and Chapter Five is fourth year.