A/N: Did you all miss me? I'm sorry that it has been such a long time, but
I've made the HUGE mistake of writing two fan fictions at the same time. I
know you're all groaning on the inside at my colossal mistake, but I
apologize. I'm almost done with the other one and it will leave me with
nothing to do but write this one (and go to school, but that's not what's
important right now ^_~). Anyway, thank you all for taking the time to
review.
~Chapter 5~
Harry was standing at the wall where the door to the Room of Requirement would appear. He started concentrating on what he needed and walked back and forth in front of the wall.
'I just want a place where Ron, Hermione, and I can talk about everything that's been going on." He thought it over and over again as he walked past the wall. On his third time the highly polished door appeared. He stood there grinning at the door. He was thinking of all that had happened in that room, secret meetings, his first time teaching, and his first kiss with Cho. He reached out and turned the brass handle and opened the door. When he walked in his mouth fell open in amazement. Right down to the couches in front of the lit fire, Harry found himself in the Gryffindor common room.
~~~
Hermione had just walked into her room when she had gotten the message from Nani. 'What an idiot,' had been her first thought. Just back at Hogwarts and Harry was already trying to drag her into trouble. She'd thought about not going. What would McGonagall think if she caught them wandering about the halls when they should be in bed?
'Wait a minute, I'm not a child anymore,' she told herself, 'I can go and meet with Harry and Ron if I want to.' With that she'd marched herself right out her portrait opening, nearly running over Ron.
Ron put out his arms to stop her before she ran into him, "Hey, where are you going all determined?"
"Most likely the same place as you."
"Oh yeah," Ron said. "actually, I thought I'd have to drag you kicking and screaming all the way there. Didn't think you'd be nearly trampling me to get there on your own."
Hermione laughed as they climbed down the stairs. "Well Ron, I'm just a daring person now."
Ron looked at her and then burst out laughing.
"I am! Now I throw all caution to the wind." More hackling. "I laugh in the face of danger!"
Ron looked at her again, "Sneaking out of your room one night doesn't mean you're walking on the wild side." Brushing his fingers across his chest he said, "You're still no where near my caliber of expertise!"
"Like that is something I should truly aspire to!" Hermione said laughing. Suddenly Ron grabbed her arm to stop her. "What?" Ron didn't answer her; instead he dragged her by her arm into the doorway of one of the classrooms.
"Stay here," he said pushing her up against the wall, "and don't move." He took a couple of steps out into the corridor. Hermione watched him, anxiety rising in her. A second later Ron was in front of her again.
"Ron what is it. What's out there?"
"Shh," Ron said covering her mouth with his hand, "I think I hear someone walking around," he whispered.
Hermione's eyes went wide with worry as her worst fears were about to be realized. Her first night back and she was going to be caught breaking the rules. Ron, still covering her mouth, leaned over her to peer around the wall. He looked down the corridor and listened intently for any noise.
"All right, I think the coast is clear," he said removing his hand from her mouth. "You OK?" he asked looking down at her rubbing his hands up and down her arms in a soothing manner.
Hermione's heart had only just resumed beating. She didn't trust herself to speak yet so she only nodded her head.
Ron's eyes were twinkling with humor, "Laugh in the face of danger do you?"
Hermione punched him in the shoulder which only made him laugh even harder. "Have you had enough?"
"Just about," he'd stopped laughing, but his eyes were still dancing in amusement.
"Are you sure they're gone?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Then is there any reason we're still standing here like this?" she inquired.
Ron realized that he was still standing near her with his hands on her arms. He quickly dropped them and jumped back a step. Unfortunately, it was into the other side of the doorway. "Ouch!" he hollered.
Hermione suppressed a giggle and took a step forward, "Are you all right?" she asked reaching out her hand to examine his head.
Ron evaded her hand and stepped out into the hallway, "I'm fine," he said still rubbing his head where it had hit the wall, "let's just keep going."
He turned and started leading the way at a quick pace and Hermione smiled at his unawareness that he'd been holding her and not realizing it. He was walking a few feet in front of her and Hermione thought that he was still feeling a little awkward about the situation. She wondered if she should be feeling awkward too, but then realized that she shouldn't. She didn't mind his closeness just now anymore than she had minded his handholding in the carriages earlier that day.
'This is craziness,' she thought. 'This is Ron!" she told herself firmly.
'Yes it is Ron,' said another voice inside her head, 'the same Ron that you've liked since you were a student here.'
Her logical voice answered back, 'That's not true!'
The other voice overruled her, 'Yes it is. Remember how you were ecstatic for days when he finally realized that you were even a girl. Besides he's single, you're single; it's the perfect time. A few well placed hints and you'll having him eating out of your hand.'
"This is craziness," she said again. She hadn't realized that she'd said it aloud until Ron turned to look at her for the first time since they'd set off again.
"What's craziness," he asked.
"Er-ah, sneaking out."
"What happened to walking on the wild side," he asked smiling at her, "besides, there's no time to worry about it now. Here we are."
Ron opened the door and stepped aside so that Hermione could enter.
He heard her gasp and when he entered the room he realized why. They were standing in the Gryffindor common room.
Harry stood up when he saw his friends come in. "Where have you two been? I thought you weren't going to come."
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione started, "but Ron thought he heard someone walking about in the hallways."
"Yeah, I heard footsteps, thought maybe Filch was out making sure no one was getting into trouble," Ron added.
"Hmm," Harry said pulling out the Marauder's Map, "I checked my map before I left my room," he said unfolding it, "and no one was about. Let's see what everyone is up too."
Ron and Hermione moved closer to Harry so they could look too. McGonagall, Filch and Mrs. Norris were all still where they had been before and the new staff was still in their rooms with the exception of the three of them. "Oh my God," was the only thing that Hermione could say as two dots came closer and closer to the door to the room. The three of them looked up as the door opened and Fred and George Weasley walked into the room.
"Well, would you look at this George," Fred said strutting in.
"It's like we've gone bloody back in time," George said grinning.
"Fred! George!" Hermione shrieked as she ran over to hug them. "What are you doing here? Were you the ones we heard in the halls?"
"I think that more important question is how did you know we'd be here?" Ron was still looking bewildered at his brothers as they shook his and Harry's hands.
Turning to Ron, George said, "Well, we got an owl from Mum telling us that Ginny and ickle little Ronniekins were going to be teaching here at Hogwarts."
"Of course we never believed a word of what she said, did we George."
"Nope not a word," George agreed.
"I mean, Ginny maybe, but Ron. We shuddered to think that you would disgrace our family in such a way! It was bad enough when you became a prefect, but to become a teacher here? That's just low," Fred finished with a disgusted face.
"We were planning on disowning you, but then a more appealing plan began to form," George said diabolically, "we're just going to make life unbearable for you! Any student who has you as a teacher will get a major discount on all our merchandise, provided of course it's used to annoy you. That should teach you a lesson!"
"As soon as we had our plan, it was just a short trip from Honeydukes and here we were," Fred finished as they sat on the couches by the fire.
"Honeydukes? Why are you guys in Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked.
"Corporate growth my dear," Fred answered. "We are but two modest entrepreneurs who have been blessed."
"We've been there for the past year," George clarified, "we bought Zonko's Joke Shop so that our little shop could expand."
"Oh brother," Ron said rolling his eyes, "has Mum recovered from the shock that you've done well enough to move the business into Hogsmeade?" Mrs. Weasley never approved of the career choice her sons made, but tried to support them as much as she could. She had talked Mr. Weasley into finding them positions at the Ministry for when their shop failed. Much to her, and everyone else's, surprise the store ended up being a huge hit. Every year the twins came up with new inventions that had a tough time staying on the shelves.
"You know Mom," George said, "she hoped that by now we'd be pushing paper right along with Percy at the ministry. Deep down inside she's proud."
"So where's Ginny? We want to say hello to her as well," Fred said.
"She's probably in her room," Harry told him.
"Or she's walking through the door," Ginny said as she walked into the room. Everyone's head snapped over to the door. She smiled when she saw her two older brothers seemingly unsurprised to see them sitting there, "I wondered when you two might show up here." Turning to look at the others she said, "You guys didn't honestly think that I wouldn't know what you were planning. Anyone who thought you'd actually stay in your rooms is seriously deluded. I just thought of where the most likely place of meeting was and here we all are."
"That's our sister!" Fred exclaimed pulling her down to sit between him and George on the couch.
"Wait a tick," Hermione said suddenly, "even if it is a given that we wouldn't be in our rooms tonight, how did you know where we would be. You couldn't have followed Ron and me, we made sure the coast was clear."
"Yeah," Harry chimed in, "how did you know where to find us."
"Ah, we almost forgot," George said reaching into his pocket, "we come bearing gifts." Handing a piece of folded parchment to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, he added, "It took us the better part of two years to learn how to develop those."
Curious as to what Fred and George were giving the others that they weren't giving him, Harry looked over Ron's shoulder as he unfolded the parchment.
"Blimey, how did you do this," Ron asked looking at his own copy of the Marauder's Map."
"It wasn't easy," Fred told him, "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Progs were no novices when they created the original. That was some clever magic that we had to figure out there."
"Yes, but why give them to us?" Ginny asked. "I'm surprised you don't have a stack of them at the store with a sign that says 'Hogwarts students please take one.'"
Fred put his hand on his chest, "That hurts little sister! We have a bit more sense than that! Besides, we thought that since you were thrown into the pot, sort to speak, that you should have as much of an advantage as possible."
"Well this should come especially useful when it comes to Head of House duties," Hermione said already thinking of how to properly use a map that had no right being in existence.
"Head of House duties," Fred and George said looking at each other.
"Yup, the three of them are Heads of House," Ginny told them, "Harry's got Gryffindor, Hermione's got Ravenclaw, and Ron has Hufflepuff."
"I think I'm going to die of shame now," George said putting his hand up to his brow in a mock faint.
"Oh shut up!" Ron yelled at them.
"And how about you Ginny," Fred asked ignoring Ron, "is our little Heir of Slytherin the Head of its House?"
"No way," she answered repulsed by the thought. "Actually it's Draco Malfoy's house."
"Malfoy? Wonder what he's doing here," George asked looking at Fred.
"Why? What was he doing before," Harry questioned.
"Well, it's all a bit shady really," Fred started, "but apparently his father went a little, shall we say, off the deep end after the whole ordeal with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. About three years back Lucius just disappeared. No one has seen him since."
"People believe that he went off to search for the Dark Lord himself," George interjected, "didn't want to believe that he was really dead and if he was alive, Lucius probably thought his rewards would be great for being the only one to track him down."
"Anyway," Fred continued, "Draco took over. Shocked everyone when he refused to run his father's business by using Lucius' Ministry connections. Last we knew he was doing quite well for himself."
"That's why we're a bit surprised that he's here." George finished, "didn't think he'd give all that up. Everyone sat quietly absorbing this new glimpse into the life of Draco Malfoy.
No one was more troubled by it than Ginny. 'He must feel so sad about his father,' she thought to herself. 'Stop that!' she told herself fiercely. She refused to spend another sympathetic thought on him.
"Well kiddies," George said standing up, "we'd love to stay all night, but we've got to be getting back."
"Yeah," Fred agreed as he also stood, "but next time you've got a free day come see us in Hogsmeade, butterbeers on us."
"Actually," Harry said, "we've got the day pretty much to ourselves tomorrow. Why don't we meet you after our fittings?"
Fred and George looked at each other, silently communicating. "All right," George agreed, "we'll see you guys tomorrow then."
They all said their goodbyes at the door and slipped out to sneak back into their rooms. The twins took off down one corridor to the passage that would lead them back to Honeydukes and the other four made their way up the stairs. They had just reached the top when they all stopped cold. None of them had bothered looking at their maps and sitting royally at the top of the stairs was none other than Mrs. Norris. They all looked at each other with mild panic before dashing off to their respective rooms before Mrs. Norris had a chance to alert Filch about their behavior.
A/N: Another one done. Zee this chapter was for you! I know you've been waiting patiently for the return of the twins and here you go. All right, well it's 2 a.m. and I'm plenty tired. I'm off to bed! I'll try not to go as long before I update again. Review if you have time!
~Chapter 5~
Harry was standing at the wall where the door to the Room of Requirement would appear. He started concentrating on what he needed and walked back and forth in front of the wall.
'I just want a place where Ron, Hermione, and I can talk about everything that's been going on." He thought it over and over again as he walked past the wall. On his third time the highly polished door appeared. He stood there grinning at the door. He was thinking of all that had happened in that room, secret meetings, his first time teaching, and his first kiss with Cho. He reached out and turned the brass handle and opened the door. When he walked in his mouth fell open in amazement. Right down to the couches in front of the lit fire, Harry found himself in the Gryffindor common room.
~~~
Hermione had just walked into her room when she had gotten the message from Nani. 'What an idiot,' had been her first thought. Just back at Hogwarts and Harry was already trying to drag her into trouble. She'd thought about not going. What would McGonagall think if she caught them wandering about the halls when they should be in bed?
'Wait a minute, I'm not a child anymore,' she told herself, 'I can go and meet with Harry and Ron if I want to.' With that she'd marched herself right out her portrait opening, nearly running over Ron.
Ron put out his arms to stop her before she ran into him, "Hey, where are you going all determined?"
"Most likely the same place as you."
"Oh yeah," Ron said. "actually, I thought I'd have to drag you kicking and screaming all the way there. Didn't think you'd be nearly trampling me to get there on your own."
Hermione laughed as they climbed down the stairs. "Well Ron, I'm just a daring person now."
Ron looked at her and then burst out laughing.
"I am! Now I throw all caution to the wind." More hackling. "I laugh in the face of danger!"
Ron looked at her again, "Sneaking out of your room one night doesn't mean you're walking on the wild side." Brushing his fingers across his chest he said, "You're still no where near my caliber of expertise!"
"Like that is something I should truly aspire to!" Hermione said laughing. Suddenly Ron grabbed her arm to stop her. "What?" Ron didn't answer her; instead he dragged her by her arm into the doorway of one of the classrooms.
"Stay here," he said pushing her up against the wall, "and don't move." He took a couple of steps out into the corridor. Hermione watched him, anxiety rising in her. A second later Ron was in front of her again.
"Ron what is it. What's out there?"
"Shh," Ron said covering her mouth with his hand, "I think I hear someone walking around," he whispered.
Hermione's eyes went wide with worry as her worst fears were about to be realized. Her first night back and she was going to be caught breaking the rules. Ron, still covering her mouth, leaned over her to peer around the wall. He looked down the corridor and listened intently for any noise.
"All right, I think the coast is clear," he said removing his hand from her mouth. "You OK?" he asked looking down at her rubbing his hands up and down her arms in a soothing manner.
Hermione's heart had only just resumed beating. She didn't trust herself to speak yet so she only nodded her head.
Ron's eyes were twinkling with humor, "Laugh in the face of danger do you?"
Hermione punched him in the shoulder which only made him laugh even harder. "Have you had enough?"
"Just about," he'd stopped laughing, but his eyes were still dancing in amusement.
"Are you sure they're gone?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Then is there any reason we're still standing here like this?" she inquired.
Ron realized that he was still standing near her with his hands on her arms. He quickly dropped them and jumped back a step. Unfortunately, it was into the other side of the doorway. "Ouch!" he hollered.
Hermione suppressed a giggle and took a step forward, "Are you all right?" she asked reaching out her hand to examine his head.
Ron evaded her hand and stepped out into the hallway, "I'm fine," he said still rubbing his head where it had hit the wall, "let's just keep going."
He turned and started leading the way at a quick pace and Hermione smiled at his unawareness that he'd been holding her and not realizing it. He was walking a few feet in front of her and Hermione thought that he was still feeling a little awkward about the situation. She wondered if she should be feeling awkward too, but then realized that she shouldn't. She didn't mind his closeness just now anymore than she had minded his handholding in the carriages earlier that day.
'This is craziness,' she thought. 'This is Ron!" she told herself firmly.
'Yes it is Ron,' said another voice inside her head, 'the same Ron that you've liked since you were a student here.'
Her logical voice answered back, 'That's not true!'
The other voice overruled her, 'Yes it is. Remember how you were ecstatic for days when he finally realized that you were even a girl. Besides he's single, you're single; it's the perfect time. A few well placed hints and you'll having him eating out of your hand.'
"This is craziness," she said again. She hadn't realized that she'd said it aloud until Ron turned to look at her for the first time since they'd set off again.
"What's craziness," he asked.
"Er-ah, sneaking out."
"What happened to walking on the wild side," he asked smiling at her, "besides, there's no time to worry about it now. Here we are."
Ron opened the door and stepped aside so that Hermione could enter.
He heard her gasp and when he entered the room he realized why. They were standing in the Gryffindor common room.
Harry stood up when he saw his friends come in. "Where have you two been? I thought you weren't going to come."
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione started, "but Ron thought he heard someone walking about in the hallways."
"Yeah, I heard footsteps, thought maybe Filch was out making sure no one was getting into trouble," Ron added.
"Hmm," Harry said pulling out the Marauder's Map, "I checked my map before I left my room," he said unfolding it, "and no one was about. Let's see what everyone is up too."
Ron and Hermione moved closer to Harry so they could look too. McGonagall, Filch and Mrs. Norris were all still where they had been before and the new staff was still in their rooms with the exception of the three of them. "Oh my God," was the only thing that Hermione could say as two dots came closer and closer to the door to the room. The three of them looked up as the door opened and Fred and George Weasley walked into the room.
"Well, would you look at this George," Fred said strutting in.
"It's like we've gone bloody back in time," George said grinning.
"Fred! George!" Hermione shrieked as she ran over to hug them. "What are you doing here? Were you the ones we heard in the halls?"
"I think that more important question is how did you know we'd be here?" Ron was still looking bewildered at his brothers as they shook his and Harry's hands.
Turning to Ron, George said, "Well, we got an owl from Mum telling us that Ginny and ickle little Ronniekins were going to be teaching here at Hogwarts."
"Of course we never believed a word of what she said, did we George."
"Nope not a word," George agreed.
"I mean, Ginny maybe, but Ron. We shuddered to think that you would disgrace our family in such a way! It was bad enough when you became a prefect, but to become a teacher here? That's just low," Fred finished with a disgusted face.
"We were planning on disowning you, but then a more appealing plan began to form," George said diabolically, "we're just going to make life unbearable for you! Any student who has you as a teacher will get a major discount on all our merchandise, provided of course it's used to annoy you. That should teach you a lesson!"
"As soon as we had our plan, it was just a short trip from Honeydukes and here we were," Fred finished as they sat on the couches by the fire.
"Honeydukes? Why are you guys in Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked.
"Corporate growth my dear," Fred answered. "We are but two modest entrepreneurs who have been blessed."
"We've been there for the past year," George clarified, "we bought Zonko's Joke Shop so that our little shop could expand."
"Oh brother," Ron said rolling his eyes, "has Mum recovered from the shock that you've done well enough to move the business into Hogsmeade?" Mrs. Weasley never approved of the career choice her sons made, but tried to support them as much as she could. She had talked Mr. Weasley into finding them positions at the Ministry for when their shop failed. Much to her, and everyone else's, surprise the store ended up being a huge hit. Every year the twins came up with new inventions that had a tough time staying on the shelves.
"You know Mom," George said, "she hoped that by now we'd be pushing paper right along with Percy at the ministry. Deep down inside she's proud."
"So where's Ginny? We want to say hello to her as well," Fred said.
"She's probably in her room," Harry told him.
"Or she's walking through the door," Ginny said as she walked into the room. Everyone's head snapped over to the door. She smiled when she saw her two older brothers seemingly unsurprised to see them sitting there, "I wondered when you two might show up here." Turning to look at the others she said, "You guys didn't honestly think that I wouldn't know what you were planning. Anyone who thought you'd actually stay in your rooms is seriously deluded. I just thought of where the most likely place of meeting was and here we all are."
"That's our sister!" Fred exclaimed pulling her down to sit between him and George on the couch.
"Wait a tick," Hermione said suddenly, "even if it is a given that we wouldn't be in our rooms tonight, how did you know where we would be. You couldn't have followed Ron and me, we made sure the coast was clear."
"Yeah," Harry chimed in, "how did you know where to find us."
"Ah, we almost forgot," George said reaching into his pocket, "we come bearing gifts." Handing a piece of folded parchment to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, he added, "It took us the better part of two years to learn how to develop those."
Curious as to what Fred and George were giving the others that they weren't giving him, Harry looked over Ron's shoulder as he unfolded the parchment.
"Blimey, how did you do this," Ron asked looking at his own copy of the Marauder's Map."
"It wasn't easy," Fred told him, "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Progs were no novices when they created the original. That was some clever magic that we had to figure out there."
"Yes, but why give them to us?" Ginny asked. "I'm surprised you don't have a stack of them at the store with a sign that says 'Hogwarts students please take one.'"
Fred put his hand on his chest, "That hurts little sister! We have a bit more sense than that! Besides, we thought that since you were thrown into the pot, sort to speak, that you should have as much of an advantage as possible."
"Well this should come especially useful when it comes to Head of House duties," Hermione said already thinking of how to properly use a map that had no right being in existence.
"Head of House duties," Fred and George said looking at each other.
"Yup, the three of them are Heads of House," Ginny told them, "Harry's got Gryffindor, Hermione's got Ravenclaw, and Ron has Hufflepuff."
"I think I'm going to die of shame now," George said putting his hand up to his brow in a mock faint.
"Oh shut up!" Ron yelled at them.
"And how about you Ginny," Fred asked ignoring Ron, "is our little Heir of Slytherin the Head of its House?"
"No way," she answered repulsed by the thought. "Actually it's Draco Malfoy's house."
"Malfoy? Wonder what he's doing here," George asked looking at Fred.
"Why? What was he doing before," Harry questioned.
"Well, it's all a bit shady really," Fred started, "but apparently his father went a little, shall we say, off the deep end after the whole ordeal with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. About three years back Lucius just disappeared. No one has seen him since."
"People believe that he went off to search for the Dark Lord himself," George interjected, "didn't want to believe that he was really dead and if he was alive, Lucius probably thought his rewards would be great for being the only one to track him down."
"Anyway," Fred continued, "Draco took over. Shocked everyone when he refused to run his father's business by using Lucius' Ministry connections. Last we knew he was doing quite well for himself."
"That's why we're a bit surprised that he's here." George finished, "didn't think he'd give all that up. Everyone sat quietly absorbing this new glimpse into the life of Draco Malfoy.
No one was more troubled by it than Ginny. 'He must feel so sad about his father,' she thought to herself. 'Stop that!' she told herself fiercely. She refused to spend another sympathetic thought on him.
"Well kiddies," George said standing up, "we'd love to stay all night, but we've got to be getting back."
"Yeah," Fred agreed as he also stood, "but next time you've got a free day come see us in Hogsmeade, butterbeers on us."
"Actually," Harry said, "we've got the day pretty much to ourselves tomorrow. Why don't we meet you after our fittings?"
Fred and George looked at each other, silently communicating. "All right," George agreed, "we'll see you guys tomorrow then."
They all said their goodbyes at the door and slipped out to sneak back into their rooms. The twins took off down one corridor to the passage that would lead them back to Honeydukes and the other four made their way up the stairs. They had just reached the top when they all stopped cold. None of them had bothered looking at their maps and sitting royally at the top of the stairs was none other than Mrs. Norris. They all looked at each other with mild panic before dashing off to their respective rooms before Mrs. Norris had a chance to alert Filch about their behavior.
A/N: Another one done. Zee this chapter was for you! I know you've been waiting patiently for the return of the twins and here you go. All right, well it's 2 a.m. and I'm plenty tired. I'm off to bed! I'll try not to go as long before I update again. Review if you have time!