Adrian and Carina sat in front of the fireplace in the nearly empty Slytherin common room the night before the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match, quizzing each other on the steps and ingredients for potions as the room continued to empty and the night settled. With Draco still "injured" from the hippogriff in Care of Magical Creatures, Slytherin had convinced the staff to swap out Slytherin for Hufflepuff so he could continue "healing." Everyone knew it was bullshit, but there was no technical proof he was lying.
As Adrian corrected one of the steps for Draught of Peace in his notes, Carina asked, "So, what are your plans for tomorrow?"
Raising an eyebrow and drifting his eyes up to his friend, Adrian replied, "You can ask if I'm going to the match. It's not a sore subject."
"Can you blame me for thinking it might?" Her light-hearted tone didn't hide the look in her eyes. She felt bad for him.
"It's O.W.L. year anyway." Adrian shrugged, trying not to show his annoyance and writing on the parchment in front of him. "I should focus more on my studies than some stupid game." Carina was willing to drop the subject, but Adrian continued to talk despite saying he wasn't bothered. "Flint can have fun with Cassius as his Chaser."
Carina ducked her head down with a sigh. "Don't let Cassius hear you talk like that. I don't think he realizes you didn't leave the team by choice. If you two start arguing or fighting, I will hex you."
"Threat acknowledged."
The two returned to studying for a few moments until Adrian set down his quill and looked up at Carina. "What about you?" he asked. "Are you going?"
She looked at him oddly. "I never go to Quidditch matches. What makes you think I'll go to one in absolutely terrible weather?"
A playful grin spread across his face. "Because now you've got a boyfriend to cheer for. Maybe if Hufflepuff magically wins, you can celebrate with a victory snog. . . Or something more."
Carina pulled out her wand, pointed it at her friend, and said, "Silencio."
The following day, Carina did end up sitting in the stands with the Hufflepuffs, Sylvia, Terence, and Adrian. She couldn't believe, even with Adrian's teasing, that she had allowed Adrian and Sylvia to guilt her into attending. Cedric hadn't guilted her into it at all. He barely talked about Quidditch at all with her. She had avoided attending Quidditch matches like they were the plague, turning Adrian, Terence, and Miles down every time they had requested she watch them and show her support. But as she watched her peers fly around on brooms in horrible weather, a few things stood out: Quidditch was a little barbaric, it was still entertaining to watch, Cedric and Harry were brilliant seekers, and Fred and George were amazing beaters.
As the game went on and the winds and the rain whipped everyone into icicles, Carina found herself focused less and less on Cedric and more and more on figuring out which twin was Fred and which was George. She realized quickly that their personalities translated well onto the Quidditch Pitch. Fred was rougher than his brother.
The game ended on both a happy and a sad note. The Hufflepuffs had won, but Harry had been forced off his broom by the Dementors. Cedric proposed a rematch due to his belief they hadn't won fairly, and oddly enough, Oliver Wood had turned it down. Even with the Gryffindor captain's seal of approval on the Hufflepuff victory, Cedric still felt guilty, and Carina ended up assuaging his guilt with, as Adrian had put it, a victory snog to warm up from the ice-cold rain in a closet in the dungeons before he went on to party with the rest of his house.
"I just don't understand what you're looking for."
Carina ignored Fred's persistent confusion and mild complaining as they walked through the corridors on the seventh floor. She held the Marauder's Map out in front of her as they passed through the Hall of Hexes. "I've only explained it a hundred times," she grumbled, narrowing her eyes at the map.
Scoffing and rolling his eyes, Fred replied, "You've told me twice in the vaguest way possible, and I still don't quite understand what you're talking about. Don't be dramatic."
She lowered the map and turned to look up at the redhead. "Me dramatic? Have you looked in the mirror lately?"
Fred shook his head. "Nah, George and I just stare at each other while fixing our hair."
"Hm, that explains your face." She brought the map back up to study it as she continued walking.
Fred's steps faltered and slowed, frowning. "Wait, what about my face?" Carina didn't reply, simply walking away and trying not to smirk. He groaned, looked up at the ceiling in exasperation, then ran after her, hurrying up to her side. "Can you explain it one more time?"
"There's a hidden, magical room in the castle that I'm trying to find, but from what I can tell, I don't think it's on the map," Carina explained. "Cedric told me it's called the Room of Requirement and that his dad told him about it. It apparently becomes a room the seeker needs."
"Why didn't your boyfriend just tell you where it is?" Fred asked.
She didn't miss his harsher tone around the word 'boyfriend' but didn't point it out either. "He doesn't know either." After scanning the last of the map, Carina stopped in the corridor, Fred following suit. Carina roughly folded the parchment with a groan. "This is useless." She shoved the map into Fred's hands, completely frustrated with the mystery at hand.
Carina then started pacing as Fred looked on with a worried expression. He had seen her stressed before, but the stress was always towards exams. And this was more than that. She hated not understanding or knowing something. It irked her. But he had a feeling something else was bothering her, too.
He began gently folding the map up so he could put it away and comfort her, but his eyes spotted footsteps moving towards them. A small group of Slytherin footprints. "Rina." She stopped pacing and looked at him. Fred showed her the map. "We've gotta hide."
The two fifth-year students looked around and opened the door next to them, slamming the door shut behind them and leaning against it. They momentarily closed their eyes, thinking about how if they hadn't had the map, they surely would've gotten caught together.
Fred looked down at the map to watch the group pass by but grew confused at what he saw. He couldn't see his name. He couldn't see Carina's name either. They were gone. But the group of Slytherins that were passing by was still seen on the map right where Fred and Carina had been. He flipped through the folds of the map, trying to figure out where they had gone.
Meanwhile, Carina was staring at the room they found themselves in. Large, spacious, and square. It didn't look like a classroom or a disused bathroom. And there were dummies in the far corner. She had once asked Professor Flitwick where he recommended practicing the spells they learned in their classes and he had said the common rooms or on the Training Grounds, but right there was a perfect spot for practicing spells.
"Rina, look at this," Fred spoke up. He held out the Marauder's Map for her to see. "We should be right here, but we're not. I can't find our names anywhere. It's like we aren't in Hogwarts anymore which is utterly ridiculous."
"It is equipped for the seeker's needs," Carina muttered, looking away from the map and back at the room.
Fred glanced at her. "What are you going on about?"
"While I was pacing, wanna know what I was thinking?" she asked.
"I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyway."
"I thought about how I wanted to hex something." Carina turned back to the tall boy. "I don't remember the door being there when we stopped walking."
He stared at her blankly. "Are you saying we found the Room of Requirement because you were feeling violent at not being able to find the Room of Requirement?" Fred perked up with a laugh. "Blimey, maybe we should get you angry more often. It might solve more problems." She shoved him away from her which only made him laugh more. He then waved the map. "I wonder why it's not on the map, though."
"Maybe the creator's didn't find the room," she pitched. "Or maybe it's unplottable."
"Hmm, an unplottable room in an unplottable castle. No wonder it's not widely known." Fred pulled out his wand and pointed it at the map. "Mischief managed." He then put the map in his back pocket, and his eyes drifted towards the dummies in the corner. "Do you still want to hex something?"
"Definitely." They started to walk towards the center of the room, but Carina stopped. "Wait, aren't you meeting up with Alicia soon?"
Fred sighed and pinched his nose. "Right." How could he forget the date George and Lee were urging him to go on? He knew the answer. He'd rather stay with Carina than go on a date with Alica. But maybe the date would be good. He might finally stare at someone other than the cold, standoffish, beautiful Slytherin he had been not-so-secretly pining after.
"You should probably get going," Carina said, her voice quieter than before. She didn't want him to leave. And she couldn't pin down why her heart ached as he nodded in agreement and left her alone in the newly discovered room.
As their rounds drew to an end in early December, Cedric and Carina decided to pop into the kitchen to get a snack before turning in for the night. Cedric, as an older Hufflepuff, knew about the entrance to the kitchen and was momentarily surprised to know Carina knew it, too, but the surprise quickly wore off. Of course, she knew.
They walked into the large room holding hands and paused when they spotted the Weasley Twins sitting next to each other at one of the tables with a plate of cupcakes in front of them and a bit of parchment between them. They were plotting.
"Blimey, Fred, we can't go anywhere in peace," George said, looking up at the two prefects.
"You know, Lestrange, you shouldn't come any closer lest you taint the food with your evil snakeskin," Fred added.
Carina rolled her eyes and smiled, knowing there was no true hostility in their words or tone of voice. They were only putting on a show because of Cedric's presence. "Oi, knock it off, it's just Ced," she told them as she dragged Cedric over to the table.
Cedric made note of her smile and asked, "Wait, what do you-are you three friends?" He glanced between the three.
"Since our first year," George answered as Carina sat down across from Fred and pulled Cedric into the spot next to her.
"Thick as thieves," Fred continued.
"If you tell anyone-"
"We'll have to kill you."
"No one would believe you anyway." George and Fred donned innocent smiles, not like they were actually innocent in any way, shape, or form.
Cedric chuckled at their usual dramatics and looked at Carina. "What about Lee and Angelina and Alicia? Are you friends with them, too?"
She shook her head. "Just Lee."
"Although, the girls think Lee has a crush on Car," George pointed out.
Carina waved it off. "But it's Sylvia he really fancies."
Cedric's eyebrows moved upwards before nodding. "Sylvia? I can see it. But what does she think of him?" The twins were also interested in knowing, so the three boys looked at Carina since she'd easily know what her best friend thought of Lee.
But she simply shrugged. She had very little to report on the matter of Sylvia and Lee. And if she did, she wouldn't tell them everything anyway as it's Sylvia's business, not theirs. "She doesn't think much of him. She barely knows him and doesn't really talk about boys anyway. I can count on one hand the number of boys she's talked about." George was about to ask who, but Carina cut him off. "I'm not telling you who."
It was the day before the December Hogsmeade trip that Fred, George, and Carina met up in the Room of Requirement, deeming it their new meet-up place due to its utter secrecy and mystery. It also gave them plenty of room to get pranks ready and practice their spells.
Carina had been practicing the Disillusionment Charm on one of the dummies provided by the room when the twins had arrived.
George looked around and let out a low whistle. "Woah, so this is the Room of Requirement. Wicked." He then turned to Fred. "Remember our third year when we were running from Filch and hid in a broom cupboard? Do you think it could've been this room?"
Fred donned a look of realization. "You know what, Georgie? Probably. I don't remember passing by a broom closet on the way here. I wonder how many students have found this and not realized what it is."
"Probably a lot," Carina chimed in. She undid the charm on the dummy and put her wand away. "What did you lot want to talk about?"
The twins shared a glance. "We wanted to run something by you," Fred said.
She arched an eyebrow. "Since when? Usually, you just do it."
"Well, you're a big bad prefect now, so we thought we should." A teasing grin spread across Fred's face.
"Anyway," George interrupted, "we've noticed Harry can't go to Hogsmeade, and we feel for the kid."
Fred picked up where his brother left off. "And we were thinking about passing on the map to him."
"We hardly use it anymore."
"We really only use it to avoid Filch."
"But even then not often because of the secret passages and spots to hide."
"He could put in some good use for it."
It sounded like they were trying to convince her to agree with them, but they, for whatever reason, wanted her permission for them to give it away. Probably because she occasionally used it, too. Carina smiled at them. "I think it's a wonderful idea," she told them. "While this might not be the best time because of Sirius Black being around, I still think it's a good idea in general." They wore matching beaming grins, pleased she agreed. "Just make sure how important it is he doesn't get caught with it."
An hour later, George decided to head to the kitchen to get some snacks for the three of them and also pick up Lee on the way, leaving Fred and Carina alone in the room.
The two were draped across two oversized bean bag chairs next to each other. Fred watched as Carina practiced some of her charm work, biting her lip as she concentrated. He liked watching her work. It was strange for him to admit, but he liked seeing how focused she became when she set her mind to something.
"Can I ask you something?" he wondered, his voice soft as he watched her.
She didn't look away from the object she was transforming into various things. "I'm assuming that's not the question you want to ask."
He chuckled and said, "No, that's not it." Fred paused. "What's your middle name?"
Carina transfigured the insect back into the inanimate statue it was supposed to be then looked at him with an odd expression that Fred couldn't place. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." He shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant.
She set down the object and lowered her wand, shifting to fully face the tall Gryffindor. "Diana. You?"
"Gideon," he answered. His mouth twitched up. "Yours is a lot prettier than mine."
Lifting an eyebrow, she smirked. "I don't know. Gideon is quite sexy."
"Oi, bugger off." He nestled deeper into his bean bag which caused Carina to laugh. Fred adored her laugh, so he smiled in response. She didn't laugh nearly as often as she should have. She liked to laugh, and she liked it was often Fred that got her to do so.
Together, the two laid on their respective bean bags right next to each other, staring up at the ceiling in comfortable silence, simply relaxing in each other's presence until George and Lee arrived.