Fred led the way through the door, as they entered the torches on the wall sprang into life illuminating the room before them.

'Look, not everything that catches on fire is down to me,' Fred sighed as the other three turned to him smiling expectantly.

'I know Fred, but it saves time if we play the odds,' George teased his twin as he looked around the room, 'well that's interesting.'

The 'interesting' thing in question was a large deep pit that ran the width of the room. On the right hand side of the trench running along the wall were a series of small holes, about the size of Harry's fist, evenly spaced out at various heights. There were no small holes on the left hand side but in the centre of the wall was an etching of a huge stone circle that touched the floor of the pit.

'Well I would say that it doesn't look too dangerous, but that's also what I said about that grass,' Ron's voice echoed around the room as the foursome edged forward to get a better look.

'Yeah,' agreed Harry looking warily at the small holes on the right, 'anything could come out of those holes.'

'I know I don't like the look of them either,' Fred concluded, 'what do you reckon? Shall we do the same as the last room and levitate one and other over?'

'I guess it's better to be safe then sorry,' George said decisively, 'even if it does go against the Fred and George Code of Practice.'

'You guys have a Code?' Harry asked grinning.

'Yep, basically we look at every situation…' George said turning to Harry.

'…and then we ask ourselves; What would Percy do?' Fred chimed in.

'Then we make sure to do the opposite.' The twins chuckled in unison.

'I'll try to remember that Code,' Harry nodded sagely basking in the wisdom of the twins, 'so shall I go first again?'

'That's the spirit Harry,' George made the other two back away so that he had a bit of room, he pointed his wand at Harry. 'Wingardium Leviosa!'

Harry waited for the warm water feeling to flood his body as the spell took hold, however this time nothing happened. Harry looked across to George to see if there was any reason why he wasn't currently wafting his way over the pit, but George was just as confused as to why it didn't work.

'Try again,' suggested Harry.

George gave a shrug of his shoulders and tried once more to levitate Harry. Again the spell had no effect, Harry just remained in place; standing knees bend with his hands held out expectantly.

'Er…are you sure you are doing it right?' Ron asked cautiously out of the corner of his mouth as he continued to look at Harry, half expecting the spell to suddenly start working.

'No Ron, between this room and the last one I have somehow forgotten how to cast the spell,' George responded sarcastically, 'it has to be something to do with the room.'

'Yeah,' Fred agreed nodding his head, 'like in that one with the swinging blades. And if anyone even thinks about cracking a joke about that they won't need to worry about how they are getting across, cos I'll throw them over.' This comment was directed firmly at Ron whose mouth was already half open preparing to tease his older brother.

'But in that room we could still cast spells,' George pointed out, then looked at his twin and smiled, 'granted they didn't have the desired effect did they Sir Fred?'

'You only said that because you know I wouldn't be able to throw you that far, anyway,' Fred said turning to the problem at hand, 'maybe this room is set up so it wont let us cast any spells?'

'Well why don't we try out a different spell just to see if it is possible?' Ron asked which he immediately regretted doing, as George gave him the kind of hunted look every antelope experiences shortly before being chased hell for leather over the Serengeti by a lion.

'Now that's a good idea,' George smiled, as he said this he slowly raised his wand and pointed it at Ron,'trust me Ron, this wont hurt a bit, in fact you might even find it funny.'

'George, don't you dare,' warned Ron reproachfully, 'I mean it! George! No!'

'Rictusempra.'

Ron threw his hands up to his face in an attempt to shield himself from the effects of the spell. There was a moment of pause as he waited for the spell to take whatever horrible effect it was designed for. Harry held his breath as he too watched with morbid fascination. A few seconds ticked slowly passed. Nothing happened. A couple more seconds went by. Still nothing. Harry exhaled loudly as his best friend gradually peaked his eyes out from behind his hands. Ron quickly moved his hands around his face, then his head, and finally his body, checking to see if anything was missing or if anything extra had been added. After he was completely sure that nothing about him had been changed he looked up at George, who was currently looking at the end of his wand with a frown, and pointed at him with an accusing finger.

'You git!' He shouted at George who had taken to shaking his wand as he held it up to his ear intently trying to listen for anything wrong, 'what the hell were you trying to do to me?'

'Relax Ron,' George soothed, 'it was just a tickling charm you know we wouldn't do anything that would harm you.'

'Er… what about the time you nearly blew me up when you were messing around with those potions?' reminded Ron ignoring George's attempt to calm him down.

'Well we would never intentionally do anything that would harm you,' Fred corrected.

'What about those Acid Drops you gave me that burnt a hole through my tongue?'

'Ok, we would never intentionally do anything that would harm you that wasn't funny,' stated George.

'So now what?' Harry asked hastily changing the subject before Ron could fire off a retort.

'It doesn't seem possible to cast any spells in this room,' Fred pointed out.

'Lucky for me, otherwise I'd have two heads by now,' grumbled Ron.

'I guess this means we'll have to rely solely on our quick wits…' said George.

'…keen sense of logic…' continued Fred.

'…and our outstanding ingenuity,' they finished together.

'Oh God, we're dead,' Ron gasped theatrically.

'Your astounding level of confidence in us is very reassuring,' said Fred before turning to examine the pit, 'so how do we get across?'

'What about those metal rails?' Harry pointed to the side of the pit, 'Could we use them somehow?'

Along each side of the trench at the very top of the opening were long thin strips of metal about the width of a thumb and about the same again deep. There didn't seem to be any other purpose for the rails other then purely for decoration, Harry couldn't help think that some steps would have looked nicer instead.

'I doubt it,' George shook his head, 'they aren't wide enough to balance on.'

'I suppose we could climb out the other end,' Harry pondered, 'I mean if you two stood on each others shoulders then Ron and I could easily climb up you and reach the edge to pull us up.'

'But what about Fred and George?' Ron asked.

'Well once we are up we can lean over the edge and pull one of them up.' Harry responded.

'We wont be able to do that for the last person though, I doubt we could lean down that far.' Fred pointed out.

'How about we tie our tops together to form a makeshift rope? If someone leans down as well then I think it might reach.' Harry said thinking hard.

'Seriously Harry, we are going to have to work out your family tree, because I'm starting to think there is a good chance we are related,' Fred said thoughtfully.

'Ok might as well kick this plan into action,' George lent down, sat on the edge of the trench and pushed himself off landing hard on the stone floor below.

As soon as his feet had touched the ground there was a loud clunking sound coming from within the wall on the right hand side. The four boys looked over at the wall and before anyone could say anything water started rushing out of the series of small holes and onto the floor.

'Well I think we've found the nasty surprise in this room,' George shouted up to them over the sound of the rushing water.

'Actually this might do us a favour,' Fred jumped down next to his twin splashing him as he did, the water quickly starting to fill the pit.

'How can drowning be seen as a favour?' Ron queried as he too dropped down with his brothers. He stumbled a bit in the water, which was now already reaching his ankles, and George grabbed hold of him to stop him from falling over.

'Rather then bothering with climbing all over each other,' Fred explained, 'we just wait for this thing to fill up, then we float up with the water and we can easily climb out.'

Harry was the last to jump in, he had expected to water to be very cold but much to his surprise it was actually pleasantly warm. He waded into the centre of the pit where the others had congregated waiting for the level to rise so they could make good on their escape.

The water had reached their knees now and showed no signed of slowing down or stopping. It was then they heard a faint clanking sound coming from all around them.

'What was that?' Harry wondered out loud matching the thoughts of the other three. They all strained their hearing to see if they could work out what the noise was.

'There it is again,' George said looking around.

'Er… I think we have a problem,' Ron said in a slow cautious voice.

'You mean Percy? Yeah I know, I think he's managed to get worse since being made a prefect,' Fred shook his head.

'No Fred,' scolded his younger sibling, 'look at the metal rails.'

Like the twins, Harry examined in metal rails sticking out of wall. At first he wasn't quite sure what he was suppose to be looking for, then it struck him; the rails were moving. Sure enough as he watched he could see that they were slowly sliding out over the pit, as they eased their way further out Harry noticed that they weren't actually rails, they were something much worse and he wasn't the only one to spot it.

'Ah damn! We have to move,' Fred shouted to the others and waded over to the far side, 'now!'

'What's wrong?' asked Ron clearly bemused.

'Those things aren't rails Ron,' Harry explained.

'It's a giant metal grate, and it's closing in on us,' George warned splashing over to his twin.

'But if it closes and the water keeps rising…we'll drown!' Ron finally realised what the others already knew, 'crap, lets get out of here!'

Ron, the water up to his waist, bounded over to the other three who were already working together to escape. Fred stood at the bottom of the wall with his hands pressed against it, then Harry cupped his hands together and George stepped on them to help propel himself up onto his twin's shoulders. George matched his brother's position by also placing his hands on the wall for support. When the twins were happy that they were stable and were not in any danger of toppling over, George motioned for Ron to climb up too. Again Harry used his hands this time to help Ron onto Fred's back who was slowly turning an interesting shade of red due to the effort of supporting both of his brothers weight. Ron climbed up Fred, scrambled over George, and pulled himself over the top of the trench to safety.

Harry watched as Ron poked his head back over the edge of the wall and beckoned him to come up. Although the water had now reached his chest this was the least of their problems, the grates were now almost halfway to closing over the pit, still continuing on their unceasing journey.

Pushing hard against the floor Harry pulled himself up onto Fred's shoulders, who rocked a bit as he adjusted to the addition of Harry's weight. Harry proceeded to climb up George as well before grabbing hold of Ron's hands and being helped over the top. Both Harry and Ron quickly returned to the edge to help George.

'Quick Fred, try and push George up with your hands and I'll try and grab him from this end,' Harry shouted urgently, 'Ron hold onto my legs so I can lean over.'

Harry lay down on the cold stone with the top half of his body leaning down over the edge of the pit, as Ron practically sat on his legs so he wouldn't slip. Fred moved his hands from the wall and placed each one under George's feet and pushed steadily while George reached up with his hands. Fred had to stand as tall as he could to avoid taking in a mouthful of the warm water, which had filled up to an alarming level. As Harry reached down to grasp George's outstretched hands he could see out of the corner of his eye that the grates were very close now, they would have to work quickly to get Fred out before he became trapped.

Harry wrapped his hands around George's wrists and heaved as hard as he could, his arms burned with the effort of pulling up his much heavier friend. He lifted enough so that George could grab onto the edge of the pit himself. Harry pushed himself up onto his knees and both he and Ron moved forward to catch hold of George's arms. The two of them exerted a huge amount of energy to haul George up and out of the pit, as he cleared the edge the three of them collapsed into an exhausted pile on the stone floor.

Harry's body ached all over, there was nothing more that he wanted to do at the present moment then to have a few moments to rest and catch his breath, but they had to still save Fred. Harry used his elbows to lever himself up, Ron and George were also in the process of doing the same thing.

CLANG!

The sound echoed loudly around the room, bouncing off the walls, drowning out the noise of the water. It was the unmistakable clatter of metal colliding with metal. Harry forced himself up, his heart pounding fast, hoping that he was wrong. He wasn't. The grates had closed. Fred was trapped.

'But…but we had more time,' Ron stammered, 'I don't understand.'

'They suddenly sped up,' Fred explained looking up at them as he treaded water within the pit, 'there must be some kind of mechanism that makes the grates move faster and faster. It literally just slammed together.'

'Here give me a hand,' George instructed as he lent down, grabbing hold of one side of the grate he tried to pull it open once again.

Harry and Ron positioned themselves next to George and seized hold of the grate and pulled with all their might. Harry dug his heels against the cold surface of the stone floor, and wrenched the grate as hard as he could. He could hear both Ron and George dragging on the metal grunting hard with the effort. The grate moved, very slightly but the amount of energy they used to even achieve this couldn't be maintained. It slammed shut once more and the three of the collapsed onto the floor. George struggled to get back to his feet but somehow managed it before once again hooking his hands around the grate and heaving with all his might.

'George,' Fred said quietly, 'I don't think that's going to work.'

'It'll… bloody… work!' George grimaced through gritted teeth.

'It won't,' Fred stated firmly, 'it took three of you pulling together as hard as you could to even get it to move a small amount, there is no way you'll be able to open it enough for me to get out.'

'Then we'll go for help,' said George desperately, 'Dumbledore will get you out in a minute.'

'There won't be enough time George. Look at how much this thing has already filled up,' Fred's voice was surprisingly calm given the situation.

'So what are you saying?' George shouted in frustration, 'You want me to just let you die?'

'You think I want to die?' Fred fired back, 'It's simple, I cant get out, we can't open the grate, and we can't stop the water. That doesn't really add up to high likelihood of survival.'

'We're not going to just stand here while you slowly drown!'

'Well if you want you can always sit down,' Fred joked breaking into a slight smile.

'That's not funny,' came George's pained response.

'I know,' Fred kicked up his legs so that he was floating spread out over the water and could see everyone easier, 'look, I don't know how much time I have so I better say this quickly. Ron?'

Ron looked down at his older brother unable to speak, tears were streaming down the sides of his cheeks and his eyes were already bloodshot.

'I know that everything you have probably belonged to one of us at some point, and you're more then likely sick of getting hand-me-downs but I want you to have my Cleansweep,' said Fred gently, 'you ain't too bad for a little brother.'

'No,' Ron replied his voice trembling, 'you're going to need your broom next year, how else are you going to play for Gryffindor?'

'Ron, George and I have got ourselves into a lot of bad spots and we have always managed to get ourselves out again,' Fred said softly, 'but it's never been anything like this. Take good care of the Cleansweep, it likes to drag to the left a bit so you'll have to learn to compensate.'

Ron's legs gave way and he fell to the ground, as he crouched on the floor he descended into a fit of sobbing.

'Harry, I know I haven't known you that long but I think that you are definitely going to become a good lifelong friend of the family,' Fred said, 'I don't have much in the way of things to give you but I know that you've started collecting Chocolate Frog Cards. My collection isn't nearly as good as Ron's but it'll help you out anyway.'

'Thanks Fred,' the words choked in Harry's throat. Although his parents had died when he was a baby he couldn't remember the actual event, this was the first time that he had to confront the death of someone he cared about. His eyes stung from the tears now streaking down his face, his heart felt as though a cold hand had reached around it and was slowly squeezing it. He couldn't think of anything else to say, his half mumbled thanks didn't feel enough but the right words just wouldn't form themselves on his lips. Fred then looked to George who, rather then meet his eyes turned his face away.

'George? Fred whispered as silence ran throughout the room, occasionally broken by Ron or Harry's sobbing.

'Whatever you're going to say Fred, just don't,' George said firmly his face still turned away from his brother.

'Look I know I joke around a bit…well a lot,' Fred corrected himself, and I've probably don't get around to telling you this enough but…'

'No Fred,' George cut in, 'I mean you don't need to say anything cos the water's stopped.' George turned back to his twin and despite the tears was smiling a broad grin.

'What?' asked a stunned Ron sniffing hard.

Harry looked over to the small holes in the wall and sure enough there was no longer any water gushing out, just a slight trickle running into the pit. As relief flooded Harry's body, George grabbed hold of him with one arm and started jumping up and down cheering. Ron, who had been captured by George's other arm, was also laughing with relief while below them in the pit Fred was splashing water up at them as he floated.

'Hey Fred?' asked Ron when he finally managed to get free from George's grip.

'What's up bruv?'

'Do I still get your Cleansweep?'

'I don't think I need to dignify that with an answer,' Fred replied 'so how the hell am I suppose to get out of here? Not that I don't mind the odd swim.'

'Hmmm not actually sure about that,' responded George who despite having stopped jumping around still had Harry's head locked in his arm, 'I guess we'll have to leave you here while we go and get some help, do you think you can hang on ok?'

'Well I was planning on going for a nice leisurely walk but I'll guess I'll just have to settle for splashing around here for a bit,' To emphasize this Fred kicked his legs out and spun himself around a couple of times, 'just don't be too long though, I don't fancy trying to sleep like this.'

'No problem Fred. Now no wandering off, just try and remain in one place so it's easier to find you.' George warned as he gave his brother a thumbs-up before turning around and making for the exit.

'Don't worry we'll get out as quickly as we can and get help. Just hang in there,' Harry added as he waved bye to Fred and went to follow George.

'Maybe I can borrow the Cleansweep sometimes?' Ron queried, chancing his arm one last time, 'you know as a reward for hel…. FRED!'

George and Harry whipped around at the sound of Ron's anguished cry and ran to the edge of the pit. The etching of the huge stone circle in the pit had suddenly and without warning collapsed in on itself, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. The water from the pit immediately flowed quickly into the opening. Harry reached the edge of the pit but all he could see Fred frantically trying to swim against the current, however the pull was too strong and he was dragged backwards through the gap arms flailing desperately. As quickly as it had opened the stone circle closed with a loud slam, all that was left behind was a few puddles of water in the now empty pit.

'FRED! FRED!' The remaining three's shouted echoed loudly around the room, but there was no reply. Fred was gone.