a/n: Hey there! Okay, it's time for some notes!

Bitter Twilight: Wow, I'm surprised you are the ONLY ONE (on both sides) that has asked about my buddy Aquinas! Don't worry, you'll find out what—or who—he is later! ::winks:: I like this penname, keep it for like more than a week okay?! Hahaha…

Padfoot's Sidekick: I did! I did!

Lady Taliesin: LOL yeah, that was my favorite part too! I'm glad you didn't mind the dialogue—it was just necessary for…well I can't say! Hehehe, you'll find ou though! Thanks for always reviewing! ::hugs::

fanes: Hi! ::waves: Aw I'm so glad you like it! I'm not a partial member to Snape's fanclub—although I admit, he is starting to grow on me a little. I'll keep his well-being in mind in the future, don't worry! ::winks:: Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Pretty basic concept. Don't know HOW you people haven't grasped that by now…winks

Chapter 14: A Secret Left Untold

Claire knew Fred and George were conniving little twerps to Filch. She just didn't know how truly evil they could be until they told her their plan…mapped out in full, gruesome, horrendous detail. This was the reason why she absolutely adored them.

However, they were less then thrilled when she told them their devilish scheme would have to wait another night.

"I have detention!" she tried her best to explain to their disapproving faces. "I'm in enough hot water as it is, and I'd rather get in the most trouble with you two! Can't you guys wait one more night? Who knows! I might get assigned some frivolous task that will give us some more insight—"

Fred snorted.

"George, explain."

"Look, Claire," George said while Fred continued to snicker amusedly, "there isn't a single secret in the castle we don't know about. Not one, I assure you."

"We've been in every secret passage—" Fred cut in.

"—in every hidden room—" George continued.

"—in every floor of this accursed building," Fred finished proudly.

"Therefore, the chance of you finding something we already haven't—" said George.

"—is undoubtedly, very very slim," said Fred.

Claire crossed her arms.

"It's not fair if I don't get to be present at my own 'job interview,' wouldn't you agree?" she said with a set expression.

The twins sighed identical, bummed out sighs.

"I am eager to see her at work, George," Fred said aside to his brother.

"As am I, Fred, as am I," George commented.

"Agreed?" Fred asked.

"Agreed," George answered.

They turned back to Claire.

"You have two days to get back to us," Fred said.

"Thanks guys!" Claire shouted, hugging them both. Each boy grinned. "Now really, I must be going! I was supposed to be in the dungeons five minutes ago…"

Aquinas stood there, not knowing what he should do. Immediately, he threw out the option of speaking. That didn't seem wise at this point in time. Perhaps he should just act like a normal, stupid bird? But that wouldn't do! He was just no good at being stupid!

The girl would probably say otherwise, he thought to himself, as if she's really one to talk! Tuh!

The ragged man in the plain grey robes coughed. He was in desperate need of a haircut and shave, and his eyes were shallow and empty, like a lantern burned black with ashes that hadn't been lit in a very long time.

"Come in, little guy," the man croaked. "I won't hurt you."

Aquinas took a couple cautious hops into the cave. It was lit only with a dull fire. Obviously, this one was not made by magic. Elbow grease. His opinion of Sirius rose higher. Most wizards would have sat there with only their pride to keep them warm, but this man had taken matters into his own hands.

"Did you come from the school?" Sirius asked him, nudging the fire with a piece of broken metal that looked oddly like a fence post. Aquinas cocked his head to the side. Being mute was not an easy task, he decided. Sirius chuckled.

"It's fine if you don't trust me," he said, his eyes full of anger as he stared into the fire with a smirk across his dirty face. "It's not like anyone else does."

Aquinas, feeling pity, rose and flew around the tiny flames and rested upon Sirius's knee. The man looked surprised.

"Well, well," he croaked, stroking Aquinas. The dirt under his fingernails made the bird's impulse to hop off his equally dirty perch even more urgent, but for the sake of his mission he remained still. "I suppose I was wrong about you. A little more trusting than I presumed. How kind…how kind…"

Aquinas allowed him a few more stokes before he nipped at a finger in warning. His feathers were his pride and joy, after all!

Sirius let out a small bark of laughter. "Still have the guard up, I see? I like you. You got spunk."

Aquinas puffed out his chest proudly. He wished the girl could hear what her hero was saying about him. Spunk!!!

"How are things up at the school? Have they died down since I've last been to visit?" Sirius asked, as if desperately hoping to get an answer.

Aquinas flapped his wings, wondering if Sirius would understand him.

"Yeah, I figured it'd be crazy." He turned his head to stare out the tiny crack in the cave. Aquinas imagined he was probably a good-looking kid once, probably full of "spunk" himself! But now he was empty, worn, and tired from the bumpy roller coaster of hell he'd been a passenger on for the past twelve years. Aquinas felt a twinge in his little heart.

It was quiet for a long time, then Sirius spoke again.

"You know, I'm gonna be here a while," he said. "If you are from the castle, and you seem trustworthy to me, you think by chance you could bring me something of use? Like—I don't know—a newspaper? Or food? Food would be good…"

Aquinas nipped his finger in the form of a promise.

"Thanks, little guy." Sirius patted his head affectionately. After a minute he added. "I wish I could see him…I hope he's alright…"

Aquinas immediately knew he was referring to Harry.

"I've thought about him a lot, you know," Sirius went on. "Every day in Azkaban. The thought that he was living a miserable life with muggles—a life I was supposed to prevent him from having—is all that kept me going. I escaped solely for him…and to avenge his parents…"

Although this story was very heart-warming and all that jazz, Aquinas had just realized Claire's detention had started ten minutes ago—and who knew what kind of trouble she would get into without him being there, the Jiminy Cricket in her ear?!

He nipped Sirius's finger a final time to give him some courage and swooped out into the night air in the direction of the castle, hoping against hope Claire wasn't up to anything incredibly stupid…

She was.

Since Professor Snape had already scrubbed his own room clean, he put Claire to work cleaning the remainder of the dungeons. Now, this would have been dull, boring, and painful for a normal person…but we all know Claire was a little on the abnormal side.

"Ninety-eight bottles of butterbeer on the wall! Ninety-eight bottles of butterbeer!" she sang loudly, scrubbing at a particularly moldy section of stone wall.

"HUSH!" Snape shouted down the corridor from where he sat in his office, busily grading papers.

Claire glared in his general direction.

"Fine!" she mouthed, talking back. "I'll just start scrubbing the gunk down THERE off the wall instead of THIS gunk on THIS part of the wall!"

She picked up her bucket and sponge, stalking off to the far end of the dungeons. She didn't stop to clean up the steps when water sloshed all over them, feeling a sense of satisfaction.

"This spot looks dandy!" she said, dropping her bucket onto the concrete with a loud BANG. Reaching deep into its depths, she withdrew the sponge, wringing it over the bucket so as not to drip any more water onto the floor. As she set to work, she let her mind wander freely. Scrub…scrub…scrub…

She wondered where a great many people were at this moment. Robin, for example, could be sitting alone up in their dormitory, seriously contemplating what her answer to Professor Lupin would be. Harry…Harry would probably be somewhere with Ron and Hermione. Maybe joining forces with Ron to try and come up with some evil scheme to copy her homework when she next turned her back? She grinned. They really were amazing people, all three of them. If only they knew the trials that lie ahead of them in the next two years…

She sighed, leaning particularly hard on the sponge that was pressed up against the stone. She stared at the water dripping onto the floor. Something was missing…where had Aquinas gotten off too?

"OW!" she felt a sharp bite on her ear and jumped. She would've turned around to see what had disturbed her, except…the stone had moved.

"What did you do?!" Aquinas piped, furious. "Going about ripping apart the castle, are you?! I leave you alone for ten measly minutes…"

"Shut your trap!" Claire snapped, expertly stopping Aquinas's moving beak between a forefinger and thumb. "Snape's just down the hall! And I didn't do anything…this stone just moved…"

Aquinas sank his claws into her forearm and she had to bite her cheek to keep from yelling a random obsinity. But while she was attempting rub the pain away, Aquinas swooped down to have a gander at the wall.

"I knew you were curious," Claire hissed through gritted teeth. "I'm amazed that you aren't a cat instead of a bird…although, owing to the size of your brain it makes sense—"

"This section of stone is a different color," Aquinas observed, not paying a spec of attention to Claire. "Come, have a look…it looks like all these stones were added on later—perhaps after the castle was finished…"

Forgetting her throbbing arm, Claire leaned down on all fours next to Aquinas to get a closer look. Indeed, he was right—the stone was much a much lighter grey than the rest of the walls, as were the four or five stones surrounding it. And if that stone could move…

She began pushing on all of the other light rocks. Aquinas snapped his beak at her.

"Hey, I know you just love to abuse me, but I want to see what this is!" she whispered urgently.

"Are you mad?!" Aquinas said. "This is exactly what I meant! You never think before you act, do you?! We have no idea what could be in there, if anything and—why are you smiling?!"

Claire smirked.

"You're dying to know what's back there, aren't you?" she said, unfooled.

Aquinas sighed, his gaze returning back to the wall. After a moment of thoughtful reflection, he turned back to Claire and made one, simple comment.

"Don't tell your grandmother."

Claire smiled widely and the two of them began pushing in on the stones with all their might. Finally, the one that had budged first fell inward with a small "clink."

"What is it?! What is it?!" Aquinas fluttered about excitedly.

"I don't know yet, you moron! Be quiet!" Claire hissed. She took out her wand and stuck it through the tiny opening. "Lumos!"

She couldn't see much through the hole, owing to the fact that it wasn't very big and also due to Aquinas's excitement ("Let me have a look! Let me see! Let me see!") but it was apparent that there was indeed something back there.

"Help me push in the rest of these!" she said, her heart thumping in anticipation.

Using all of their strength, the final bricks of concrete finally fell in. The effect was a mouse-hole of sorts in the wall…just big enough for a man to crawl through…

"Me first! Me first!" Aquinas cried. But Claire was already stooping into the tunnel.

"Do you see anything?!" Aquinas asked, flying along behind her as she crawled.

"Lumos!" she said again. The end of the short tunnel came into view. "Keep going, 'Quin! I see the end!!"

"Eeeeee!" Aquinas squealed excitedly.

"Yet another time in my life I wish I had a tape recorder handy…" Claire muttered to herself.

As she reached the end, Claire put a hand on either side of the tunnel wall and pulled herself out. She stood up and didn't even bother to dust herself off as she gaped open-mouthed at the chamber they had found. Aquinas landed on her shoulder weakly, unable to believe what they were seeing.

In front of them were four wooden doors. Light sprung to the torches on the walls, as if the chamber itself sensed someone was present. As the candle-light flooded the chamber, golden inscriptions above the doors were made visible.

" 'Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor, and Salazar Slytherin'," Aquinas read aloud, sounding rather parched. He swallowed. "Does this mean…?"

"Yes!" Claire replied excitedly, grinning from ear to ear. "This must be where the founders of Hogwarts once lived!"

a/n: DUN DUN DAAAAAAAAAAaaaa!!! Bet you weren't expecting THAT, now were you? Well this leads to some interesting questions! What will Claire and Aquinas do now?! Will this affect Fred and George's scheme in the slightest?! And did in FACT Ron and Harry succeed in stealing Hermione's homework?! Well…okay that last one isn't REALLY important to the plot…but it's a fun thought, is it not? ::wink::

Hope all of you had a very happy Thanksgiving, filled with lots of good food, fun, and family! And to those of you who don't live in America, I'm sending lots of turkey and mashed potatoes your way! Did everyone get the Prisoner of Azkaban DVD and/or VHS? I just finished watching it myself…and even though I love it—MAN did they screw up the plot or what?! Anyways, I'll see you all in the next chapter! ::waves:: Love ya!