Chapter 2

Harry and Ron quickly caught up with the twins and they quickly descended the stairs together. What surprised Harry most was how quiet Fred and George were, he was so use to them being at the centre of any noise or disruption, but at the moment they were silently flitting down the stairs stopping occasionally to listen out for anyone. Every time either Ron or Harry went to speak they were shushed back into silence by one of the twins.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs Fred motioned to Harry and Ron to keep quiet by putting his finger to his lips and pointed along a corridor, which Harry assumed correctly, must be the west passage the twins had been talking about earlier. It was almost eerie being out in the school at night; normally the corridors would be full of students, teachers and ghosts going about their business. At the moment the only sound to pierce the silence that surrounded Harry was the faint snoring emanating from the portraits on the walls, at least it was until Ron sneezed.

'For God sake Ron, try to make a bit more noise why don't you' Fred whispered harshly, as the sound of the sneeze echoed all around them.

'Sorry couldn't help it.'

'Come on we'd better get moving in case someone heard' Harry said keeping his voice low.

They left the brightly lit area of the stairs and became plunged into darkness as they entered the west passage. In turn each of them took out their wands and said 'Lumos' turning the ends of their wands into bright beacons that allowed them to see where they were going. Fred and George were leading the group, wands held high, with Harry and Ron following close behind. They were soon standing in front of a huge portrait with torches either side, where asleep in the centre was a single brilliant white unicorn, extinguishing their lights they put their wands away and examined the painting.

'Here give me a hand' George grunted as he pulled hard on one side of the painting. The four of them heaved together and very slowly the side started coming away from the wall. It wasn't long before the painting had been swung wipe open and before them was a huge wooden door.

'It's locked' said Harry giving the handle a turn.

'No problem there Harry, there isn't a door we're come across that we couldn't get passed' Fred said jovially slapping Harry on the back.

'Apart from that one in the Ministry of Magic'

'True, but to be fair to us I think the main reason we couldn't get passed it wasn't because it was locked but because of that bloody big beast guarding it which had bigger teeth then Hermione'

'When did you go to the Ministry of Magic?' Ron asked at this clearly new snippet of information.

'Last summer, they had one of those "Bring Your Children To Work " days.' George said waving his hand in a dismissive way.

'How come dad didn't take me? I'd have loved to have gone.' Ron asked, quite obviously put out by the whole thing.

'Mum said you were too young, the same with Ginny and what with Bill and Charlie already working that only left us and Percy.'

'And he kept dad busy by insisting on being introduced to anyone and everyone in the Ministry, which of course…' Fred smiled as he reminisced.

'…meant Fred and I got "lost" and got to look around the place on our own' George finished letting out a quiet chuckle.
'Anyway…' He continued.

'…back to the matter of the lock…' Fred's hand dived into his pocket withdrawing his wand.

'…pay close attention boys you are about to learn a very important lesson…' George stood back to give his twin more room.

'…yes, lesson one of Fred and George's guide to mischief: How to magically unlock a door' Fred stood to attention and gave his wand an exaggerated flourish.

'Er… actually I've already unlocked it' Said Harry holding up his wand.

'Oh.' Said Fred taken aback 'So you already know the Alohamora spell?' His shoulders sagged slightly as the news somewhat deflated his grand performance.

'Yeah, Hermione showed us it in the first term.' Ron smirked. 'And she managed it without any of that posing too.'

Harry laughed as his turned the handle of the door and pushed it open into the darkness beyond. 'Lumos' he whispered, his wand igniting brightly before him as he stepped through into the awaiting room.

Harry looked around the room and was quite unimpressed. Four walls which were very close together, barely giving the foursome enough room to get in and close the door and no visible exits except for the one they had already come through, aside from that there was nothing else in the room… wait. He lowered his wand and the light shone across the floor.

'There's writing here' He said looking up at Fred.

'Yeah, I can see it too' Both Fred and George removed their backpacks and threw them into the corner. All of them bent down so as to get a better look at the writing and they each began to read.

To go further
On this day,
Three words in order
You must say

You sound surprised?
It's used to write a letter,
That should help you
Understand it better.

The second word
Won't cause relief,
It's often used,
To catch a thief.

Made of wood,
It's strong and steady,
Used it once,
You have already.

Say them loud
And say them nicely,
Not once or twice,
But say them thricely.

'Hmm… all of a sudden I wish you were more like Percy' George said casting a sideward glance at Ron.

'True or Hermione, this is definitely something they would probably enjoy doing.' Ron replied scratching his head.

'I think the third word is door' Harry ventured looking at the other three seeking confirmation.

'Brilliant Harry, they are made of wood and we had to use one to get into this room. Any ideas on the other two?' Fred asked expectantly.

'Hmmm… let me think. What could be used to catch a thief?'

'You could use a net.'

'A net? It's a wonder you didn't end up in Hufflepuff Ron.'

'Shut your trap George, I was only thinking aloud'

'That's it!' Harry said excitedly 'The second word is trap'

'Well done Ron.' Fred laughed ruffling his little brother's hair. 'So that gives us trap and door. Almost there.'

'I think the first word could be pen or quill, you'd use one of those to write a letter.' Ron guessed seeing if he could keep his good luck going.

'But "pen trap door" doesn't make much scene' Said Harry shaking his head.

'Oh yeah.' Ron nodded his head in agreement, his brow fixed into a frown as he concentrated or at the very least looked like he was concentrating, suddenly a look of understanding crossed his face and he broke into a smile 'Oh…OH…that's it, it's Oh.'

'Er… did he hit his head when he come through the door?' Fred whispered to George as they both looked at Ron who was now beaming at the three of them.

'How would we be able to tell the difference if he had?' George replied.

'Don't you get it' Ron said excitingly staring back at the blank faces. 'The part about sounding surprised. Oh? If you put that with the next bit you get: Oh pen, get it? O…pen, open.'

'Ron you're a bloody genius' Harry said as Ron was enveloped by his twins who were now dancing up and down whilst squeezing the life out of him. As they started chanting 'Ron's a bloody genius' he managed to wrestle free from their grasp.

'You know I think Hermione might have rubbed off on you.' Harry said smiling.

'Next thing you know I'll start taking notes in class' Ron said laughing at Fred and George who were now chanting 'Hermione's rubbed off on Ron.'

'Well that's all three words; Open Trap Door.' Harry said as George leaped into a rather complicated dance move, which would look rather dangerous in the wrong hands.

'Open trap door.' Ron repeated. 'Do you think we should move away from the middle?' He looked nervously at the floor.

'Open trap door.' The twins chanted waving their arms in the air.

CLICK… There was enough time for the foursome to give each other a panicked look before the centre of the room gave way and they dropped into the darkness below.