Arriving at Grimmauld Place, Fred and George couldn't help but wonder how welcome they would be as since Hermione had been revealed to be Voldemort's daughter, they had abstained from taking up a fighting stance against her and her father. When her true identity had been revealed, they'd been as shocked as anyone, not to mention hurt by her betrayal, but they'd talked things over and had decided that as long as she left them alone, they would leave her alone.
Even though she was Voldemort's daughter, neither of them had believed she was evil, therefore they were appalled when she was poisoned simply because of who she was. Of course Voldemort reacted and while the twins didn't condone his attack on Hogsmeade, they had enough sense to see that it had only occurred because Hermione had been targeted.
A second attack on Hermione only heightened the twins disgust that people would target her because of her blood, therefore when they left school they focused on turning their savings into a business. Even though they'd needed a loan from the bank and things were tight, the twins had opened a small joke shop in Diagon Alley and they had high hopes they could build a thriving business.
The shop was part of the reason they'd kept out of things when things started to escalate with Voldemort. Not that it had always been easy to keep out of things, especially when their father and Percy had been hurt the night Voldemort killed Dumbledore. But while they were still reeling from what had happened to Arthur and Percy, Voldemort installed himself as Minister of Magic and they knew for certain that any move they made against him would work against them, and potentially cost them everything. So even when Bill and Charlie arrived, primed for a fight, the twins had opted to stay out of things.
Their stance had caused a bit of distance with the family in recent weeks, and they knew certain elements of their family resented them for not wanting to take a stand against Voldemort and Hermione. However, given recent events there were more important things to focus on than whether or not they wanted to fight against someone who had made it clear that he would not be initiating any fighting.
"Here we go," Fred muttered, pushing open the front door and leading the way into Grimmauld Place.
As always, the twins were greeted by the screams of abuse from the portrait of Sirius's mother. Ignoring the rantings of the old woman, they headed towards the front room, which they found was empty. The kitchen was the next port of call, and settled in the kitchen they found their brothers and sisters gathered around the kitchen table with Harry, Remus and Sirius, a large piece of parchment of some kind spread out in front of them.
"Hello," George greeted, wondering if their arrival had gone unnoticed. Judging from the fact everyone jumped at his words, it was clear that no-one had noticed them arriving.
"Fred, George," Ginny gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to see Mum," Fred answered.
"Where is she?" George asked.
"Upstairs," Ginny replied with a sigh. "She barely leaves her room at the moment."
"She's finding it hard," Charlie explained. "She hasn't just lost Dad, she's lost her home as well."
"Not to mention all the memories that we lost," Ron added.
"We should go up and see her," Fred said.
"Can you wait a bit?" Ginny asked. "When I left her, she was sleeping. She's not sleeping very well at the moment, so I don't want to disturb her rest."
"Yeah, we can hang on for a bit," George said as he and Fred pulled up chairs around the table. "What are you doing?"
"Hey, is that Hogwarts?" Fred questioned, suddenly spotting what was displayed on the parchment spread over the kitchen table.
"Yeah, it's that map we gave to Harry in third year," George said, pointing out the moving figures on the map.
"What are you lot up to?" Fred demanded suspiciously.
"Why should we tell you?" Ron sneered with a pout. "You don't want to help us."
"This is about Hermione," George said with a sigh. "Please tell me you're not planning to attack her in some way."
"We know your feelings on the matter," Charlie said. "And we understand them," he hastily added when it looked like the twins were going to argue. "But things have changed. It might look like we're making the first move, but we have to do this."
"Why?" Fred questioned. "What's changed?"
"I ran into Lucius the other day while I was at St Mungo's," Harry explained. "He told me that Arthur didn't just die as a result of his injuries, he was helped along."
"He was murdered?" George hissed angrily.
"Yes, and I didn't burn the house down, I was set up," Ginny said. "They caused the fire and found a way to make me seem responsible."
"And they attacked Harry and I in Diagon Alley," Ron added.
"The gang of youths?" Fred queried with a frown. "But weren't they responsible for the accident in Hogsmeade when Malfoy was hurt? Why would the dark hurt him?"
"They didn't," Ron snorted with a roll of his eyes. "That was us. We wanted a reaction from Hermione, only she was sneakier than we anticipated. She didn't lose her cool, instead she attacked us sneakily and tore our family apart."
"Ron," Harry hissed warningly as he spotted the disbelieving looks the twins were sharing.
"You attacked Malfoy?" George queried.
"And everything else that's happened was because of that," Fred mused.
"And now what, you're going to sneak into Hogwarts and attack her again?" George checked.
"Something like that," Ron confirmed with a nod.
"Ron, shut up," Bill barked sternly. "I think before we say anything else, we need to be sure of where the twins stand. Are they in, or are they out?"
"You mean are we in on trying to fix the mistakes you made?" George snorted. "Let's face it, you caused all this. You attacked Malfoy, and because of that Dad is dead and The Burrow is gone. So no, we don't want to be part of any more of this madness."
"Why you couldn't have just let it go is beyond us," Fred added. "Nothing would have happened, if you'd just left Hermione alone. She wasn't doing anything to you."
"Not doing anything?" Ron spat. "What do you call her father taking charge? Sure, they're playing nice now, but we all know sooner or later they're going to show their true colours. And who do you think they're going to target when that happens? Families like ours, who didn't support him."
"You can't know that," George protested. "So far he's done nothing. And if he did do something, that is when people would rise up against him. All you're going to achieve now is more heartache for the family. Hasn't Mum lost enough?"
"They killed Dad, we can't just sit back and do nothing," Ginny protested. "It doesn't matter who started it, what matters is who finishes it."
"You can finish it without us," Fred said.
"Although if you're smart, you'll rethink this," George added. "Targeting Hermione is only going to get you killed."
Knowing there was nothing more they could say to try and convince their brothers and sister to see sense, Fred and George left Grimmauld Place without seeing Molly. Maybe they would come back another day, but right now if they stayed things would only escalate into a full on fight with their siblings and things might be said that couldn't be taken back.
"I can't believe it," Fred muttered when he and George arrived home, which was the small flat over their shop.
"Did we do the right thing?" George asked. "If they're right, Dad was killed."
"Yeah, but it was because of their recklessness," Fred argued. "Part of me wants to fight back, but we talked about this when he became Minister. If we fight back, we could lose the shop. And without the shop, how are we going to pay our loan back?"
"I guess Dad wouldn't have wanted us to throw everything away," George mused. Their father had been supportive of their venture, and would hopefully understand their desire not to lose it.
"But what about everyone else?" Fred asked. "The way things are going, we're going to lose them all. Targeting Hermione is the stupidest thing they could do. If they touch her, they're dead. Just look at the way the Parkinsons were run out of the country, and they got lucky."
"But how do we stop them from making this mistake? Reason won't work on them."
"Maybe we need to foil their plan," Fred mused.
"How?"
"Make sure they don't get to Hermione."
"Warn her?" George checked, pretty sure he was on the same page as his twin.
"If it saves everyone else, it'll be worth it," Fred replied. "And it's not like we need to tell Hermione everything. We can just send a vague warning."
"Something along the lines of the school not being as safe as she thought," George mused. "It could work."
"It's worth a shot," Fred decided with a nod. "Let's just hope it keeps the others out of trouble."
"We can only hope."
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As usual on a morning, The Great Hall was subjected to a burst of owl activity halfway through breakfast. Not expecting anything, Hermione had paid little attention to the arrival of the birds, until an owl she didn't recognise swooped down onto the Slytherin table and landed in front of her. The sight of the strange bird sitting in front of her, caused a wary silence to fall over the Slytherins as they all recalled another time Hermione had accepted a delivery from an owl she didn't know, and what had subsequently happened to her.
Confirming her name was written on the envelope of the letter attached to the owl, Hermione reached forward and detached it from the owl's leg. Dropping the letter onto the table, she fed the owl a few pieces of toast before it soared back into the air, leaving behind it's mystery delivery.
"Do you recognise the writing?" Draco asked from beside her.
"I recognised the writing when I thought it was from my mother, and that was why I trusted the contents," Hermione reminded her boyfriend. "And last time I got a mystery letter, I recognised Harry's writing, but as for this one, I don't know. I do think I've seen the writing before, but I can't be sure, and if I have seen it before, I certainly can't place it."
"Would you like me to open it for you?" her boyfriend offered.
Even though she felt slightly stupid not opening her own mail, Hermione nodded, giving Draco permission to open the letter. Not wanting to take any chances, Draco pulled out his wand and used magic to open the envelope and remove the letter.
"It's a warning," he said with a frown, casting a protection spell over the parchment before touching it with his bare flesh.
"A warning?" Blaise frowned. "What sort of a warning?"
"It's only a few lines, but it warns Hermione that Hogwarts isn't as safe as she thought, and to be on her guard," Draco explained, passing the letter to his girlfriend now he was sure it wouldn't hurt her.
"I wonder what they mean by that?" Theo questioned with a thoughtful frown. "Do they mean we have an enemy within the castle? Or are they warning of a different kind of danger?"
"What sort of other danger can they be talking about though?" Daphne queried. "We know who to watch out for, and they're no longer at Hogwarts. And isn't Hogwarts supposed to be well protected."
"Yeah, no-one can get into the school," Theo agreed with a bright grin. "It must just be someone trying to mess with your head, Hermione. You're safe here."
"It doesn't feel like a fake, this warning feels real," Hermione murmured, her focus on the letter in her hands as she tried to work out who could have sent it.
"Personally, I don't think the school is as safe as we like to think," Blaise remarked. "Or have you all forgotten in third year when Sirius Black got into the castle?"
"That was different, Lupin was helping him," Theo argued.
"Actually, he wasn't," Hermione said, raising her head from the letter. "Until that final night, he thought Sirius was guilty. He wasn't helping him sneak around. Sirius used a secret passage to gain access to Hogwarts."
"A secret passage?" Vince gasped in awe.
Plenty of rumours had spread around Hogwarts at the end of third year, but no-one had known what exactly had happened between the three Gryffindors and Sirius Black, and even though Hermione had been a Slytherin for over a year now there were still certain incidents they'd never gotten around to talking about, and events of third year was one of those things.
"It runs from under the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack," Hermione explained. "But it's not the only secret passageway. Earlier that year, Harry had used one to visit Hogsmeade without a signed permission slip. I don't know where in the castle it's located, but it brought him out down in Honeydukes."
"Are you saying you think this warning is about the secret passageways in Hogwarts?" Draco checked with his girlfriend.
"It could be," Hermione said with a thoughtful frown. "After all, they're easily overlooked while focusing on protecting the school. I'd certainly forgotten about them."
"Someone could easily have gained access to the school without our knowledge," Blaise agreed. "Do you think whoever the letter is warning us about is already here?"
"I don't know, it could be they're warning us about a future event," Hermione replied. "There's not enough information to know for sure."
"But why would anyone chose to warn you?" Draco questioned with a frown. "What if the warning is a trap? What if they want you to remember the secret passageways and go looking for them? What if an ambush is waiting for you?"
"I'm not stupid enough to go down any of these passageways myself," Hermione assured her clearly concerned boyfriend. "We can warn Professor Snape. Even if this letter is a hoax, it's reminded us that the school has its vulnerabilities. I'm more curious about who sent it. As you said, why would anyone want to warn me? To be in a position to warn me, means they know something, and if they are trusted enough to know of some sort of plot to get to me, why would they want that plot to fail?"
"Maybe it's not about wanting to help you, maybe it's about protecting the people who are trying to hurt you," Theo suggested. "Maybe whoever sent you the letter has some brains, and can see the only people who are going to end up hurt, are the ones trying to hurt you. Maybe they want them to fail, so they don't risk your father's wrath."
"In which case, we're basically talking Potter, Weasley and their gang," Draco said. "Would any of them do this, Hermione?"
"I don't know, if they thought it would protect their family, they might. Especially if they've kept out of things," Hermione mused, looking back down at the letter in her hand.
"You know who sent it, don't you?" Daphne asked.
"I have an idea, but I can't be certain," Hermione replied. "I think it might be the twins. Very early on, they promised to stay away and not cause trouble as long as I didn't cause trouble for them. I know they've also set up a new business in Diagon Alley, so could potentially have more to lose than the rest of the family. Of course this is all supposition. Since the letter wasn't signed, we'll likely never know who sent it."
"I don't suppose who sent it is important at this moment in time," Draco remarked. "What's important is securing these secret passageways."
"And that will be easier said than done," Hermione snorted. "I only know about the one, although I know at least another one exists. And if it is Harry and Ron we're dealing with, they have an advantage over us."
"Those two with an advantage?" Blaise scoffed. "How can they have an advantage when they're not even here?"
"Harry has a map of Hogwarts. It's magical and not only tells him where everyone is at all times, but it details the entire castle, including the secret passageways. They could know about somewhere we might never find."
"It's not ideal, but we can at least secure the passages we do know about," Draco said. "Besides, Severus might know of some of them, or he might be able to ask other people. The Dark Lord might be handy here, I'm sure he did some sneaking around in his time."
Hermione nodded her agreement as breakfast ended. Not wanting to be late to their first class of the day, Hermione tucked the letter into her bag, and she and Draco made plans to visit the headmaster at break time. Even if the letter wasn't a genuine warning, it had reminded Hermione of ways they could be more secure, and that was a good thing. Although it had also put her on high alert, and she knew she wouldn't be letting her guard down, even when she thought she was safe with her friends. From now on, she would be expecting an attack around every corner and if it did come, she would be ready.