Harry glared at the twins, so furious red sparks of accidental magic were singeing the bedsheets.

"Where did you get that?" The voice was Harry's but it was tightly controlled and deep.

"First year, we nicked it from Filch's office." The Twins went on the offensive and glared right back at him. Hermione didn't think they even realised they'd shifted forward to shield her.

"It's mine." Harry snarled.

They scoffed slightly. "Yeah right. We found it. It's ours."

"It belongs to the son of the Marauders, not a pair of lunatic twins." Hermione couldn't tell, being stuck behind them, but she suspected Harry was being faced with a pair of identical dumbfounded expressions.

"Son?"

"You mean to say that we've been friends with our idol's son..."

"And no one thought to tell us?"

Harry's voice sounded slightly amused and seemed to have calmed down somewhat. Not that Hermione, could see. "Moony, Padfoot and Prongs were friends while they were at Hogwarts. They were just stupid nicknames. Moony was Remus Lupin, Padfoot was Sirius Black and Prongs..."

"Was James Potter." Hermione interrupted, tugging at the Twin's shoulders to try and see Harry.

"Will you two stop the overprotective act? Please?" Reluctantly the boys leaned back and Hermione arched an eyebrow. "Thank you. What about Wormtail?"

Harry flinched slightly. "We don't talk about him."

Hermione nodded and Harry smiled his thanks at her. "Anyway, Sirius told me they'd lost the Map on their last day at Hogwarts and it was never seen again. Not that they'd needed it. He'll be thrilled that I found it."

"Do you have a nickname?" Hermione glanced at the twin on her left in question and he continued. "It would seem logical that a group of friends with a penchant for nicknames would bestow one on their son. It's only logical." Hermione smiled slightly unable to dispute such a sound notion.

"Prongslet." Harry grinned slightly. "Remus said Sirius wrote it in my first birthday card and, much to my mother's horror, the name stuck. Muggles used to give Sirius really strange looks when he called me that."

"When were you around muggles?"

Harry grinned at her question "Sirius knew that it would be bad for me to grow up without any contact with children of my own age. So he enrolled me in a muggle nursery. I had to stop going when I started doing accidental magic."

The twins opened the map and quickly turned to Gryffindor tower, scanning the parchment.

"Looks to be clear right now. If you run." Hermione leapt off the bed, landing cat-like on the floor. Tossing her braid over her shoulder she ran from the room, leaving the stunned faces of her friends behind her.

"Did you know she could move that fast?"

Now the point of this tale is not to relive every potions class and Quidditch game. I am a Professor of Charms, not a novelist. So with that in mind, we shall skip forward to Halloween, where this story begins to form some sort of relevance to our topic.

The group fell into an easy pattern. Every evening they'd sit in their corner of the Common Room, Hermione studying, the Twins on either side of her plotting and Harry working though his homework, tongue stuck between his teeth. By the end of October Fred and George had received six detentions and lost Gryffindor ninety house points. Nobody minded because the pranks were funny and Hermione earned the points back in her homework. Not that anybody knew that. Harry's hair had grown another inch and now had to be tied back during Quidditch practises, where his Seeker goggles covered the scar. Fred and George had received a signed photo from Sirius Black. According to Harry, Sirius kept a stack of these, in case he met a fan who asked for one. The Twins had made Hermione enchant the moving photograph so it would never burn or crumple because apparently the didn't trust themselves with something so precious. They had framed it and the waving and winking visage of Sirius Black stood on their bedside table, much to Harry's intense disgust. Hermione hadn't slept in the Twin's bed since her birthday.

It was a point of pride that the twins had never worked out what the 19th of September was to her. Keeping a secret when your best friends seemed telepathic was, after all, an achievement to be proud of, she thought to herself. Hermione was sitting at the bottom of the Grand Staircase watching Professor Flitwick enchant pumpkins to hang, glowing eerily from the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall. Dual sighs of amusement announced the arrival of Fred and George. The red haired third years settled on either side of her, one wrapping an arm around her waist, the other her shoulder. She'd never gotten an answer on why they were so tactile. Or how they always knew to back off when she was getting overwhelmed.

"So tell me oh 11 year old of greatest intellect, why are you sitting here, in the cold, on your own?" Fred smiled slightly, tugging her closer.

"I'm watching the decorations go up. You lot really take Halloween seriously don't you? Enjoy playing the stereotype much?"

George smiled. "Luckily for you, the Weasley Twins are here with a ready-made lecture on wizarding holidays."

"You see Halloween holds specific significance for wizards,"

"And witches," Hermione added.

"And witches," he agreed "Because we were originally a pagan nation, celebrating Sanheim held cultural importance for us. This is traditionally the day we remember the dead. For example, I know my mother has two glasses of Ogden's Finest sitting on the front porch of the house. For my Uncles Fabian and Gideon. The eerie thing is that by tomorrow the glasses will be empty."

Hermione shivered slightly. "Ogden's Finest?"

George grinned. "Alcoholic beverage, not suitable for tiny first years."

Hermione nodded in understanding and Fred took up the lecture.

"However in Britain Halloween has a specific importance. About ten years ago, on this very day, You-Know-Who was making his way up the garden path of a house in Godric's Hollow. The house of Lily and James Potter." Hermione was surprised to see the boys looking so serious, but she was intelligent enough to know where this was going. "He broke into their house, killed Lily and James and turned his wand on baby Harry Potter. He fired the killing curse, but something caused little Harry to deflect the curse and it rebounded upon You-Know-Who. He was destroyed, leaving baby Harry in the smoking ruins. Five or so days later, Harry Potter vanished from the wizarding world and since which he hasn't been seen again." Fred smirked at the last bit.

Hermione twined her fingers together and stared at the flagstones. "This is relevant to Halloween why?"

"Ah well, you see..."

"We're too young to remember this..."

"Considering we were only two at the time. However, Bill, Charlie and Percy all remember it."

"People were thrilled that the so-called Dark Lord had vanished. That it had been achieved by a baby didn't really matter to anyone. There were mass celebrations, families reunited, lots of drinking..."

"That sort of thing. People were so relieved to hear that they were safe. Our favourite quote comes from the Minister for Magic at the time."

George tipped his head back and smiled. "I assert our inalienable right to party."

"Classic."

"So Halloween marks the day we were free from living in fear of a mad despot. We like to celebrate that."

"But you're not." Hermione frowned up at them in confusion.

Both boys glanced at her. "Not what?"

"Free from living in fear. Neither of you can say his name." Hermione glared at them. "How can you call that living without fear if neither of you can actually tell me what his name is?"

Fred looked at George and frowned. He'd never thought of it like that. Judging by the look on George's face, he hadn't either.

"You know something, Hermione?"

She smiled slightly, looking up at them. "I know many things, Fred."

"We don't actually know what his name is. But I know who we can ask."

"Professor Dumbledore is said to be the only person that You-Know-Who was ever actually scared of." George smiled at her scowl. Hermione's dislike of the Headmaster was well known amongst the four friends. The three of them were marching, well the twins were marching and Hermione was jogging to keep up, towards Dumbledore's office. The large stone gargoyle leapt aside with the mention of "sugar mice"-Hermione was not surprised the twins knew the password. They spent enough time here in detention- and they jumped onto the spiralling staircase.

"Enter."

Whoever Professor Dumbledore expected to see upon their arrival it hadn't been them. Fred and George, he knew quite well. All he knew about Hermione was what he'd learned in the orphanage. They took seats in front of his desk, one twin on either side of the tiny girl, who glared at him.

"Good afternoon..."

"Not especially," Hermione muttered. Dumbledore frowned but chose to ignore the interruption.

"What can I do for you three?"

One twin looked at the other and they nodded in unison.

"We were wondering sir..."

"If you could tell us You-Know-Who's name."

He blinked "Can I ask why?" He looked incredibly surprised. That didn't really surprise the Twins. Even their mum didn't like saying You-Know-Who.

"We had it pointed out to us today..." Fred started.

"By Hermione," George interjected.

"That by not saying his name we're confirming that he's going to return. It's like we're living in fear of something that was supposed to have been vanquished."

"And this fear is bred into young people from such an early grave it's like You-Know-Who is brainwashing them from beyond the grave. All the muggleborns know they should be scared of him but I don't even know who he is!" The Headmaster looked at Hermione in surprise as she finished the Twin's sentence.

"That is remarkably wise of you, Miss Granger." Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "Do you know why people were so afraid to say the name?"

All three shook their heads.

"The Dark Lord was immensely powerful and well versed in magic. He placed a taboo upon his name, making it so that anyone who was foolish enough to call him would receive a personal visit from his followers. A lot of the resistance died before we worked it out." Dumbledore sighed and tried to shrug off the weight on his shoulders. "When we did, we spread the word and no one used the name any more, because to do so was certain death. After Harry Potter defeated him, the habit stuck. The name was associated with such pain and fear that no one ever used his name again, with the exception of a select few such as myself. Are you sure you want to know?"

All three nodded. Dumbledore began to smile slightly at the bravery of these young Gryffindors. "Very well. He had two names. The first, his birth name, was Tom Marvolo Riddle. The second, oddly enough an anagram of the first was Lord Voldemort." None of them flinched. But then again why would they? It was only a name after all and they were too young to remember the pain or the suffering.

Hermione glared at him as though he was directly responsible for the troubles of the universe. "May I ask you a question?" The twins were silent now, each lost in their own thoughts. "What happened to Harry Potter? None of my History books go that far forward."

Dumbledore frowned. He didn't like to be reminded of his greatest failure. "Harry Potter was taken in by his Godfather Sirius Black. However, I was contacted several years later by Mr Black. He claimed he had his own son to look after, who I believe is in your year and would be sending his godson to France away from the damaging influence of the British wizarding community. I have searched high and low for Harry Potter, or even Sirius Black, but I've found neither. I believe Harry Potter may be attending Beauxbatons Academy of Magic under a false name. Other than that... I have honestly no idea."

Hermione nodded as though his explanation was found to be acceptable. She stood to leave, the twins rising in unison to stand next to her.

"Thank you, Professor." She admitted begrudgingly.

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Thank you for being the first group of people to care in ten years. Enjoy the feast tonight and have a happy Halloween." They nodded and left, leaving Dumbledore to stare at the walls in deep thought.

Hermione grabbed a twin in each hand and dragged them to the nearest abandoned classroom. She hopped up on to a desk, her legs swinging slightly.

"Sirius Black is a genius." She breathed, her eyes wide. Fred and George smirked in amusement. Hermione was almost never impressed.

"Go on then..."

"Tell us why..."

"You know your dying to."

Hermione glanced up at them and grinned, her smile like a flash of moonlight in the dark classroom.

"Sirius Black managed to completely trump Albus Dumbledore, a wizard supposedly on par with Merlin. And he did it with one simple lie."

The Twins grinned.

"Twist you may be onto something. But how did he manage to get away with naming his own son Harry?"

Hermione paused for a moment but had an answer almost immediately.

"Have you two not been listening to Harry's Marauders stories? Sirius and James were the greatest pranksters the worlds ever seen. Aside from you two." They smiled broadly at her. "Can you imagine how funny they would think it was to name both their sons the same thing? Dumbledore would see it as the Marauders last prank. Perhaps them trying to continue the tradition on to the next generation. Like I'm Harry and he's Harry but I'm not his Harry..." She trailed off as the twins started to understand the humour. "Exactly. So he convinces Dumbledore of this. We have two Harry's. Harry Black goes to Hogwarts and Harry Potter..."

"Vanishes." Fred breathed in amazement. "That is truly brilliant. Have you got some parchment on you, Hermione?"

"Why?"

"We need to write to Sirius Black. I want to find out if we're correct."

"We could just ask Harry, you know."

"But where's the fun in that?" George grinned and Hermione knew she had lost the battle. Eventually, they had the letter written and although it was nearly two pages long, they felt they were happy with it. Fred folded it neatly and they headed for the Owlery. Hermione had never been to this part of the castle before, as she had no one to send letters to. Under the accusing glare of so many avians, Hermione felt as though she was being judged and coming out unworthy. They were about to beckon down a large eagle owl when Hermione jumped.

"Wait!"

"What?" The twins were surprised, to say the least.

"We are sending pretty sensitive information. What if the owl were to be intercepted? We need to protect it somehow."

Fred and George nodded and gestured for her to continue. "I have an idea. You'll need to do the spell work as I'm not that advanced yet. Here's what I want you to do."

Eventually, the regal eagle owl soared off into the night and Hermione frowned.

"Er...What time is it?"

The Twins eye widened "The feast!" In all the excitement of the genius of Sirius Black, they had completely forgotten about the floating pumpkins which had sparked the evening's expedition.

"Harry will kill us if we're late," Fred muttered as they faced down the Owlery stairs and headed off through the corridor.

"Forget Harry," Hermione replied. "What about McGonagall?"

She was right. Their year head was naturally suspicious of the twins, with good reason. Although attending the feast wasn't mandatory if they didn't show up and something went wrong in the school, it would be them that surely got the blame. They paused on the second floor to catch their breath.

"What time is it?" Hermione asked a nearby portrait.

"7:05 precisely." An elderly witch informed them primly.

"Right." She turned back to the twins with a grin. "We're only 35 minutes late. We'll be fine."

Sometimes fate can be called a bitch. Sometimes she's a blessing. However, it can always be argued that she has impeccable timing. A loud roar punctuated the end of Hermione sentence and the three of them turned slightly to face the end of the corridor. The hulking mass of foul-smelling, mucus coloured flesh regarded them through two small black eyes. Its clothes were little more than rags and a large heavy wooden club swung from its left hand.

The troll charged.

The floor shook and Hermione, acting purely on instinct, reached up and grabbed the twins by the neck and dropped to the floor. The boys fell in heap beside her and the troll carried forward by its own momentum and sheer stupidity, ran straight over them and into the wall behind them.

"RUN!" Hermione shrieked. They each grabbed one of her hands and legged it, almost dragging Hermione behind them. The troll had rebounded off the wall and shook its head blearily before turning back to where it could smell its prey.

Trolls don't have great eyes sight. In fact, it's truly terrible. They rely on their sense of smell to find their prey. Unfortunately for our trio, Hermione had yet to study magical creatures. So when they hid behind a statue of a large dragon, which had been tucked into an alcove, they were greatly surprised to find the troll make an unerring path towards them.

Hermione raised her wand and was vaguely conscious of the twins doing the same. This corridor was in the far corner of the castle, well away from the feast and the help of any Professor.

"Would the disarming charm work?" Fred muttered.

"Yes. It's for disarming. Not specifically wands." Hermione tightened her grip on her wand, feeling the wood slip slightly under her sweaty fingers. The troll was so close now that Hermione was almost gagging on its foul stench.

"On three?" George ordered.

"One" Fred whispered.

"Two"

"Three" yelled Hermione.

"Expelliarmus!" They fired the charm in unison. The three identical beams of light merged and hit the troll full in the face. Its club went flying and the combined power of the spell sent it flying back into the wall, which it hit, head first, with a sickening thud.

Hermione swayed on her feet, truly exhausted for the first time in her life. Her wand fell out of her hand as she found she no longer had the energy to hold it and she collapsed. The last things she saw as she hit the ground was the collapsing bodies of the twins or either side of her.

Perhaps it would be relevant if I told you what I remember from that night.

Professor Quirrel had run into the Great Hall at 6:50.

The school evacuated the students to their common room by 6:55.

It took the collected staff of Hogwarts a further ten minutes to confirm that the troll wasn't in the expansive dungeons of the castle.

It was then at 7:05 precisely that the loud roar of a mountain troll could be heard reverberating through the school.

In all my years I have never seen Minerva and Pomona run so fast. By the time we caught up with them, they were approaching the second floor corridor. A loud crash sounded from up ahead. The scene that met our eyes when we arrived was like that of a fantasy story. The mountain troll, easily topping 9 feet was slouched in a heap at the foot of the wall. You could tell it had hit it at a remarkable speed. The back of its head was oozing thick sulphurous blood and there was a spiders web of cracks in the wall behind it, some easily an inch deep. We quickly bound it and ensured it would not awake for some time.

Minerva relaxed slightly. While she may come across as stiff and strict, I have never met someone more suited to be a mother than she. Her love for children and her students is paramount to nothing. She slouched against a wall. "Thank Godric there weren't any students nearby."

Pomona Sprout was poking around the statue of a dragon, which I vaguely remembered had been a gift from the Bones family.

"Minerva, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

We crowded the statue, Minerva, Pomona, Albus, Severus and I. Imagine our shock and surprise at what we found. In a crumpled heap, barely breathing, lay Fred and George Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Updated 2019