~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Tania and Fred walked into the Ravenclaw common room to find Fred asleep in a chair by the fire.

George walked over to him as Tania wondered why he was here. "Oi... Fred, wake up..." He punched him in the arm.

"What the-Oh, hey George." He stood up.

"Fred, where's Allyson?"

He yawned. "Why do you care?"

"Because Tania's here to talk to her." He raised an eyebrow at him.

Fred looked at Tania. "Hi, Tania. I don't know where she is." He lied.

"You don't know?" Tania responded angrily.

George sat down in a chair. Fred sat down next to him.

"So..." Began George. "Did you get anything out of her?"

"What!" yelled Tania.

Fred and George took turns glaring at her as Fred continued. "Nah." He lied. "All I got was that she couldn't talk to me about anything. Oh, and she thinks I'm cute." He grinned.

Tania smiled at him a little. "Oh, I see."

"What?" asked the two twins simultaneously.

"You have a crush on my sister, don't you, Fred?"

Fred sighed. "Okay, so yes. But if you tell her, I swear I will make your life a living hell!"

"Why would I tell her?" asked Tania truthfully. "I'm not like that, I would never tell her. Now where is she?"

Fred looked at her for a moment. "She's up in the girls' dormitory."

"Thank you!" Tania grinned as she raced over to the stairwell that led to the girls' dormitory.

On her way up, she heard George say, "Hang on, now. If she thinks you're cute, doesn't that mean she thinks I'm cute, too?"

Tania laughed as she made her way up the staircase. Once at the door, she knocked softly.

"What?" came her reply. It was Allyson's voice.

"It's me-can I come in?"

"Tania!" With that, the door opened and her sister engulfed her in a tight hug. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

Tania tried to pry her sister's arms off of her, gasping for breath. "I think you've given me a pretty good idea! Ouch! Allyson, I can't breath!"

"Oh, right! Sorry." Allyson let go of her. "Get in here before anyone sees you!"

Tania stepped hastily into the dormitory. It was clear that her sister lived here-surrounding her bed were posters of the Ireland Quidditch team zooming around and (something all the other girls found totally bizarre) still pictures of the Christian, American-muggle music artist, Matt Thiessen.

"I didn't know you had decorated this elaborately..." said Tania, looking around at the posters that were plastered upon the walls.

"Yeah, well there was nothing better to do." Allyson answered in response to Tania's wandering eyes, flopping on her massive four-poster bed behind the curtains of deep blue.

Tania sat down beside her. "So how are things?"

"Not great. I broke up with Oliver, but I don't really feel like getting into it. Fred's sort of driven me away from talking for the moment."

"Understood." offered Tania. "You know, Fred's just trying to help."

"Yeah, but he needs to back off. He's a nice guy, but there's something about him that makes him almost seem a bit." She trailed off. "Never mind. So how about you? What's up with your life?"

"Well, Hermione's deserted me because I'm better at her in transfiguration."

"Really!" Allyson suppressed a smile. "You're doing well in transfiguration? Tell me, how far are you?"

"Allyson." Tania growled angrily. "You know that's not the point I'm making here." She began to smile a little. "Actually, I just transfigured a hare into a rabbit."

Allyson paused. "How can you tell?"

"Well, I don't know, really. But Professor McGonagall said it was really advanced or something."

"Well, for your level, I suppose it is!" Allyson smiled. "It looks like you're doing well in Gryffindor so far."

"Maybe. But it seems as though everything I'm doing is academic; stuff that would be more appreciated in Ravenclaw."

"You may be right, little sis', but I don't think so. The Sorting Hat's never screwed up."

"Okay, but what's keeping it from screwing up now?"

"Nothing. I'm just saying it's unlikely." Allyson avoided Tania's eyes. "Tania, I think I'd ought to tell you something."

Tania looked at her sister curiously for a moment. "What?"

"I've got a really big secret that only I and one other person know about."

"Well, you know you can trust me."

"I know. I'm just afraid it might shock you a little bit." She shifted uncomfortably.

"Try me." smiled Tania.

Allyson sighed. "Okay, here it goes. Tania-I'm an animagus."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~