The next few weeks proceeded in much the same way for the quartet. Harry and Ron were trying their best to manage their new lessons and having whispered conversations about Sirius Black. Apparently, Seamus had told Harry in the same potions lesson he'd told Y/N, and Malfoy had immediately started talking about getting revenge on Black. The lesson had ended before he'd been able to get any more out of him, but Malfoy seemed sure that Harry should have some form of personal grudge against Black.
Y/N and Hermione meanwhile were popping up all over the castle to ensure that they could attend all their lessons. The remaining three that Y/N had taken had quickly eclipsed many of the default subjects to become his favourites. He had a fondness for Ancient Runes owing to the gifts he'd received from Hermione, they held a special place with him. Arithmancy remained as interesting as it had begun with it becoming Hermione's favourite almost overnight. It sat second for Y/N.
Because, despite his now more reserved teaching methods, Y/N couldn't help but adore Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lessons. Following the event with the Hippogriff, Hagrid had become a lot more reserved into what lessons he ran so they were simply doing revision on Gnomes at the moment, but it was still fascinating to compare the notes he made in class versus those from the book Hagrid had given him the year before. There were some nights he just wanted to walk straight into the Forbidden Forest.
And whilst it wasn't part of his default curriculum, Y/N still adored his lessons with Remus and Hermione. Hermione had kept joining them following the initial success, however Remus seemed tentative to use her. Apparently, he didn't want the 'feeling that it invokes to wear off'. Instead, Remus had taken to goading Y/N and begun firing spells back through the barrier. This was amplified by the fact that Remus knew far more annoying hexes and jinxes than Hermione did, and had even taken to stunning Y/N once or twice causing him to wake up sore and frustrated having hit the stone.
Between the classes, homework and private lessons, it was no wonder September 19th arrived almost overnight. Y/N awoke early and crept downstairs into the common room. To his great surprise however, upon arriving, he heard a faint meowing and watched a small ginger cat hop out of a nearby chair which seemed to have someone sitting in it.
'What are you doing up so early?' asked Y/N as he sat down on the arm of Hermione's chair, she looked up towards him and beamed.
'Couldn't tell you to be honest,' she smiled. 'I think it's cause it's my birthday. It's the first time I've felt like this about it though.'
'Any idea why?'
'To be honest, I think it's just because of you. I didn't expect anything in our first year and I don't think it had quite sunk in last year. But now that we're dating and stuff, it just feels more… real, y'know?'
'I'll get back to you in May,' he smirked. 'I haven't had a proper one for a couple of years, so I'll need to confirm for you.'
'Idiot,' she said, but she was smiling too.
'Rude, guess I'll keep this present.'
'Go ahead, don't need it as long as you're here.'
'Don't get mushy on me! Not till you've opened this at least' and he handed over the wrapped package. Hermione undid the ribbon tying it together and unwrapped it, out fell an over the shoulder bag, inscribed across the opening flap was a rather bandy-legged ginger cat.
'Oh my!' Hermione cried happily, looking at the inscription of Crookshanks. 'It's gorgeous!' she added, smiling at Y/N.
'I saw yours was struggling,' he said, pointing at Hermione's bag which had a few holes beginning to form along the seams, 'And that one's special.'
'Special how?'
'Have a look.'
Hermione put her hand in it then gasped as she just kept reaching. Her arm went further and further into the bag until it went past her elbow and halfway up her forearm before finally stopping.
'Reinforcement and undetectable extension charms,' said Y/N happily. 'It should hold all of your books without any space problems and shouldn't break.'
Hermione stood up out of her chair and threw it over her shoulder. She stared at it for a few seconds before throwing herself at Y/N, almost knocking him off the side of the chair. He caught himself and rebalanced them both before hugging her back.
'Guessing that means you like it?'
'It's perfect! And it means that I don't need to worry about Harry and Ron getting suspicious, they keep asking why I'm carrying around all my books but with this they won't be able to see.'
'Yeah, Ron's been trying to pester me about it too,' said Y/N with a sigh. 'Questioning why we're both carrying more than we need, but I've managed to ward him off by threatening to not teach him spells. Still feels weird that he's going to me for it.'
'Why is it? You're the most advanced of us in some of the spells you know. You knew how to cast a disillusionment charm in our second year!'
'Yeah, but you know,' said Y/N slightly embarrassed, 'we have teachers for that, and Harry's spells hit harder than mine ever have.'
'The teachers aren't teaching us the spells you know and neither's Harry. Whether his spells are more powerful doesn't matter, because he can't even cast them at the moment.'
'You always know what to say,' smiled Y/N and he kissed the top of her head, she made a contented noise and let the side of her face press against his chest.
'Besides,' she said a while later as they finally broke apart, 'There's no harm in him knowing.'
'One of the few things I can lord over Ron at the moment is that I know more spells than him and am actually somewhat intimidating.'
'Well now you can lord being in a relationship over him too.'
Y/N's eyes lit up.
'Ohhhh, you shouldn't have told me that.'
Hermione's laughs were interrupted by an excited squeal as Ginny came skipping into the room and thrust a package out in front of her.
'Happy birthday, Hermione!'
'Thanks Ginny!' said Hermione happily as she took the parcel. 'What brings you up so early?'
'Your birthday!' said Ginny as she gave Y/N a friendly one-armed hug. 'And I promised my new Ravenclaw friend I'd meet her before Transfiguration. I was going down to see her now if you two want to come with?'
'I'm down,' said Y/N, turning towards Hermione who nodded excitedly.
'Just let me swap my books around, I'll open your present later if that's alright Ginny?' So once Hermione's books had been swapped into the new bag and the old one stowed away, the three of them made their way down towards the Great Hall.
Ginny was telling them all about her second year and Y/N was very grateful to hear that it was going much better than her first. She was actively enjoying and participating in her lessons and the teachers were doing extra revision on old material for her benefit.
'And McGonagall has even offered to give me out of hours practice if I think I'm falling behind too much,' said Ginny as they entered into the Entrance Hall and began the approach to the Great Hall.
'You know Gin, we're always happy to help too,' said Y/N as Hermione nodded along.
'I know, don't worry!' she said happily, 'But I know how busy you two are and… well,' she gestured at Hermione clinging to Y/N's arm, 'You have enough going on,' she added with a smirk. 'Does my brother know yet?'
'What do you reckon?' smirked Y/N as they entered the almost empty Great Hall and began making their way towards a blonde-haired girl sitting at the Gryffindor table. Ginny shook her head but sat herself down next to the blonde-haired girl as Y/N and Hermione took the seats opposite.
'Y/N, Hermione, this is Luna Lovegood. Luna, this is Y/N L/N and Hermione Granger.'
'Hello' said Luna Lovegood, she had a very dreamy far-off voice, and looked as though she was looking at Y/N's entire head instead of his eyes. 'You're the one who saved Ginny last year aren't you?'
'Yeah,' said Y/N blushing slightly. 'I killed the basilisk alongside Harry Potter.'
'Thank you.'
'What do you mean?' asked Y/N, confused.
'Thank you,' said Luna again, a little bit insistently. 'Ginny is my first friend here at Hogwarts and if you hadn't of saved her, I wouldn't be able to be friends with her. In fact, we might not even be here. So, thank you.'
'Of- of course,' said Y/N a little taken aback. 'I was hardly going to let a friend die down there. Not after I promised I'd protect her.'
'Told you he was all noble,' smirked Ginny. Y/N shot her a look, but she quickly raised her hands. 'I didn't mean it like that! It's a good thing. I know what you'd do for your friends, Y/N.'
'Kill a basilisk apparently,' stated Luna. 'It's definitely worked on Hermione. She can't take her eyes off you.'
Y/N's face turned to Hermione, whose face had instead turned away, hints of pink appearing on her cheeks.
'She's been like that since they got back,' said Ginny. 'You should see her when he's not around-'
'Ginny,' said Hermione, the warning in the voice was enough that even Y/N flinched a little bit. Ginny however seemed mostly unphased, she went quiet, but the mischievous sparkle still glinted in those eyes.
'Did you say you didn't have any friends until Ginny, Luna?' said Y/N, trying to drag the conversation off the staring competition currently going on between the red- and brown-haired girls.
'That's right,' said Luna, quite happily. 'Most people think I'm a little bit odd. They call me Loony Lovegood. But Ginny has been kind.'
'She's Loony, but in the fun way,' said Ginny happily, 'But people don't take the time to get to know someone and make them feel comfortable. Someone very important taught me that it's best to help someone new adjust to everything with just a friendly conversation.'
Y/N felt his face set alight again, his mind flashing back to speaking to Ginny in Diagon Alley the year before.
'We didn't come down here just to sing my praises, did we?' said Y/N, fanning his face with the hand that Hermione wasn't clutching to.
'Yeah, hands off him Ginny, he's mine,' warned Hermione, narrowing her eyes.
'I'd never want to get in the way of you two,' said Ginny.
'She means I'm not her type. Not famous enough-' said Y/N, the rest of his sentence was cut off as he had to dodge the plate of sausages Ginny had thrown at him.
'This is nice,' said Luna airily as Y/N straightened up and Ginny reached for another plate. 'You three are wonderful together.'
'What do you mean?' asked Ginny, pausing halfway through picking up the rather heavy looking platter of bacon.
'You're like a big family,' said Luna, beaming at her. 'It's nice seeing people getting along so well.'
'Since when did getting along become throwing plates at each other?' asked Y/N as he drew his wand. 'Truce?' he added to Ginny, who eyed his wand cautiously and slowly nodded.
'Family comes in all shapes and sizes,' said Luna matter of factly.
'Well, you do all feel like an extended part of my family,' said Y/N.
'Even me?' asked Luna, looking surprised.
'Well… obviously I don't know you all that well. But any friend of Ginny's is a good person in my books. She wouldn't have introduced us if she didn't think we'd get along.'
Luna's face split into one of the widest and most genuine smiles Y/N had ever seen on a person's face.
'That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me,' said Luna happily as she beamed at Y/N. He looked around to see the other two girls reflecting the same smiles at him. He felt himself getting very hot around the collar.
'So what are you two working on?' he asked quickly, trying to divert attention to anywhere but himself.
'Knockback Jinx,' said Ginny lazily as she pulled out her textbook. 'One of your favourites isn't it Y/N, from what I've heard?'
'Saved me a couple of times, also got me hit by a troll once-'
'You got you hit by a troll,' said Hermione, jabbing him lightly in the ribs, 'don't blame the spell for your mistake. It's a good thing Harry and Ron were there cause the moment it hit you, I was useless.'
'True, thank goodness Ginny's boytoy knows how to down a troll-' but he was once again cut off as the platter of bacon clipped the side of his cheek.
They spent the rest of that morning happily chatting with Ginny and Luna before Y/N and Hermione returned to their normal busy schedules.
()()()()()()
As September turned into October, Care of Magical Creatures began down a path that Y/N wasn't comfortable with. Hagrid set them a lesson of looking after Flobberworms. Whilst this wasn't so bad, they were oddly dull creatures. They behaved almost exactly like Muggle worms and were just as dull to watch slide around.
Whilst Y/N could cope with a couple of lessons of this, they were around two weeks into just tending to these worms when he attempted to drive Hagrid towards another creature. Even offering to go into the Forbidden Forest with him to find the creatures.
This promise became tougher to keep however. It was the first Thursday of October and both Harry and Y/N received summons down to the Quidditch pitch in the evening to prepare for that years Quidditch season. Wood seemed fuelled by a fierce passion this year, no doubt stemming from it being his last. Wood was a 7th year now and once July hit, he'd be graduating Hogwarts.
'This is our last chance, my last chance, to win the Quidditch Cup,' he said to them as he paced around the changing rooms. 'I'll be leaving at the end of this year, I'll never get another shot at it,' he glared around at them with a fierce determination.
'Gryffindor hasn't won it for seven years now,' he continued 'Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world. Injuries, and the tournament being called off last year. But we also know we've got the best damn team in the school. Three incredible chasers and a reserve. All four of whom can outfly professional players.'
Angelina, Alicia, Katie, and Y/N all beamed around at each other.
'We've got two unbeatable Beaters.'
'Stop it Oliver, you're embarrassing us,' said Fred and George as they both pretended to shyly look away.
'And we've got a seeker who has never failed to win us a match,' Oliver finished with a fierce rumble. 'And me,' he added as though he was an afterthought.
'We think you're very good too, Oliver,' said George.
'Spanking good Keeper,' said Fred.
'The point is,' said Wood as he continued pacing, 'the Quidditch cup should have been ours for the last two years. Ever since Harry joined, I've thought it was in the bag, and after Y/N and his flying last year against the Slytherins-' Wood heaved a great sigh.
'Oliver, this year's our year,' said Fred.
'We'll do it Oliver,' said Angelina.
'No one's stopping us this year,' snarled Y/N.
Whilst Y/N was exempted from a few of the practices, Wood was still dragging him down every chance he got. Y/N was most likely going to be on in the first match versus Slytherin. He'd flown against them before and was the only one with a broom that could match their speeds.
Their practices only got better and better. They were still doing two aside against Wood, and Y/N's synergy with all of the chasers was improving. He and Alicia had even come up with a couple of tag-team moves to allow them to slip past Angelina and Katie.
The team returned to the common room one evening, all quite happy with how things had gone, to find the entire room buzzing with excitement. They made their way over to the fireplace where Ron and Hermione were sat doing their Astronomy homework. Hermione beamed at their approach and immediately budged up to allow Y/N to squeeze onto the armchair with her.
'What's happened?' asked Harry as he sat down next to Ron.
'First Hogsmeade weekend,' said Ron, pointing towards the notice board. 'Halloween.'
Harry's face fell immediately, and his entire body deflated.
'Harry, I'm sure you'll be able to go next time,' said Hermione soothingly. 'They're bound to catch Black eventually. He's already been seen once.'
'Black's not foolish enough to try anything in Hogsmeade,' said Ron
'Ron, you realise he blew up a street full of people, right? Full of people. I doubt Hogsmeade will bother him. Probably not a good idea,' said Y/N.
'He can't be the only third year left! Go ask McGonagall, Harry,' said Ron.
'What do you think my odds are?' Harry asked, turning to Y/N.
'Less than zero if I'm being honest with you mate, but I know I can't change your mind.'
'Y/N!'
'We can't, 'Mione, they haven't listened to us yet and they aren't going to now. Harry's going to ask her no matter what I say.'
Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but Crookshanks hopped up onto the chair at that moment with a dead spider dangling from his mouth. He stretched and then laid out across Y/N and Hermione's laps.
'Does he have to eat that in front of us?' asked Ron, looking disgusted at the spider.
'He's a cat, Ron,' said Y/N as Hermione cooed over Crookshanks catching the spider, 'she can't exactly control where he takes his food.'
'Just keep him over there,' said Ron, turning back to his star chart. 'I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag.'
Both Y/N and Harry stifled a yawn and withdrew their own Star Charts, Y/N's was mostly done whilst Harry hadn't even started. Hermione gently closed her book and leant her head on Y/N's shoulder, pointing out the parts he was missing whilst Ron finished his last marking with a flourish.
'There you go!' he added, pushing it towards Harry.
Y/N felt Hermione stiffen slightly and he placed a subtle kiss into her hair. She hated it when they copied off each other. Y/N was just noting down Venus' orientation when the weight on his leg vanished.
'OI!' roared Ron's voice, and Y/N looked up in time to see Crookshanks sink all four sets of claws deep into Ron's bag and start tearing at it. 'GET OFF YOU STUPID ANIMAL!'
Ron seized his bag and tried to tug it out of Crookshanks' grip as all four of them stood. Y/N drew his wand, but they were too interlocked for him to get a clear shot.
'Ron, don't hurt him!' squealed Hermione as Ron span his bag around and Scabbers came soaring out of the top of it, hitting the ground with a dull thud. Crookshanks extricated himself from what was left of the bag and tore off after the rat.
'CATCH THAT CAT!' yelled Ron.
George Weasley made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed just as Y/N called, 'Wingardium Leviosa!'
Crookshanks began to hover off the common room floor, his legs still kicking as if sprinting. A moment later and he realised he was no longer moving, and instead began writhing in the air, struggling to get free.
Ron moved over to where Scabbers had hidden as Y/N moved forward and pulled the levitating cat out the air.
'You're a wizard,' he said incredulously to George, who just gave a sort of half shrug from where he still was on the floor.
'Look at him!' came Ron's voice from behind him and Y/N turned back, doing his best to hold Crookshanks still, to see Ron dangling Scabbers by the tail in front of Hermione's face. 'He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!'
'Crookshanks doesn't understand its wrong, all cats chase rats!' said Hermione, her voice was shaking.
'There's something funny about that animal,' said Ron, nodding at Crookshanks as Y/N stepped up alongside Hermione and passed the cat back. 'It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!'
'What rubbish,' said Hermione impatiently, 'Crookshanks could smell him Ron'
'That cats got it in for Scabbers!' said Ron. 'Scabbers was here first, and he's ill!' Ron stalked off, Harry gave the two of them a sort of apologetic shrug and went after him.
'Show's over,' said Y/N to the common room. 'Piss off.'
'You heard the man!' called Fred loudly and the entire common room went back to their own business. Y/N led Hermione over to the sofa and sat down alongside her, they were joined a few moments later by Ginny.
'Just ignore him, Hermione,' said Ginny at once. 'He's always high and mighty when it suits. If it was the other way around, he'd be defending Scabbers till his dying breath as 'it's just his nature'.'
'She's right 'Mione' Hermione gave a small nod and sniffed loudly.
'I'm gonna go take him upstairs. See you in a minute,' and she hurried off.
'Don't kill my brother,' said Ginny, turning towards Y/N.
'Awwwww, why not? He deserves it after this one.'
'Whilst that's true, I'd rather not lose him and you,' smirked Ginny. 'Reckon there's anything to it?'
'What do you mean?'
'Please. You always have a theory if there's one to be had. Hermione's told me all about last year, tracking the paint I put on the walls, learning that it's someone short and obviously young. You always have something cooking in there if you think the situation is a bit off.'
Y/N stayed silent for a long moment.
'Kneazle's aren't stupid. In fact, they're one of the most intelligent animals alive. And Crookshanks is half Kneazle. I think there's every chance he heard Ron say that Scabbers was in his bag and went for it for that reason. What I don't get, is why he's after Scabbers. He's never attacked Ves or Hedwig, nor anyone else's animal from what I know.'
'I'll ask around, there's got to be someone else at Hogwarts who has a rat, we can always test,' said Ginny.
'It'd be risky, but we could. I think we at least need to keep the two away from each other at the moment, but I reckon it might just be an instinctual thing. At least until we dig deeper.'
'How didn't you make it into Ravenclaw?' asked Ginny, raising an eyebrow. 'You're like a detective.'
'Because I'm a reckless idiot. I turn my back on trolls and charge basilisks, that's not a sane person's thing.'
'You rushed a basilisk to save my life,' said Ginny with a warm smile. 'There's untold bravery in that alone. It's what a brave person would do. Not an insane one. The troll I have no comment for.'
'No one does or should, apart from it was stupid,' said Y/N, staring at the girls' dormitory door.
'Want me to go check on her?' asked Ginny gently.
'If you would. If she's not willing to come down now, tell her I'll be up till 1. If she needs anything, I'll be right here.'
Ginny gave a nod and got to her feet, moving off through the girls' dormitory door. Y/N let himself fall back into the sofa and let out a long sigh. He'd never thought much on why Crookshanks kept trying to attack Scabbers. It hadn't been until Ginny had mentioned it that his brain had even lingered on the subject. But something did seem slightly off. Whilst it was normal cat behaviour, he'd never seen Crookshanks behave like that with another animal.
'No point worrying about it until we can test,' he said with a sigh as he withdrew his Astronomy homework and begun rounding it off.
None of his friends returned that evening. Ginny never re-emerged from the girls' dormitories and nor did Harry or Ron from the boys, not that he wanted to see the latter. George dropped by later in the evening to check on him but departed at Y/N's insistence. There was only one person he wanted to see right now.
He was just rounding off his Arithmancy homework as the clock in the corner rang in 1am. He wanted to stay up for longer. He wanted to see her, but knew that he'd have to be attentive in his classes tomorrow. It was already later than he'd wanted it to be. He rolled up the parchment and got to his feet, staring down into the fire as he did so.
Just as he went to move, he felt something wrap around his stomach and something soft landed against his back. He looked down to see a familiar pair of hands intertwined around him. He reached down and squeezed.
'Sorry,' came Hermione's muffled voice from his back. He unlinked her hands and sat her down on the sofa alongside him. She placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. No words needed to be said. Together, they fell asleep in front of the roaring fire.
Ron was in a bad mood with both Y/N and Hermione the next day. Or at least by Herbology he was. He had started by attempting to chat as normal with Y/N in the Great Hall during breakfast, but the look Y/N had shot him said quite plainly that he was on Hermione's side. This was apparently a grievous crime and now meant both were being ignored.
'How's Scabbers?' asked Hermione lightly as they stripped fat off the pink pods from the puffapods they were working on.
'Hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking,' said Ron as he scattered beans all over the greenhouse floor in anger. Y/N laughed savagely.
Next up was Transfiguration, Y/N and Hermione arrived slightly ahead of time courtesy of the time-turner to find Lavender Brown crying whilst Parvati had an arm wrapped around her. Seamus and Dean were there too, and both looked grim as Parvati spoke to them.
'What's the matter, Lavender?' asked Hermione as they approached.
'She got a letter from home this morning,' whispered Parvati. 'It's her rabbit, Binky. He's been killed by a fox.'
'Damn…' said Y/N.
'Oh Lavender, I'm sorry,' said Hermione consolingly.
'I should have known!' wailed Lavender. 'You know what today is?'
'October Sixteenth isn't it?' asked Y/N and Lavender nodded.
''That thing you're dreading. It'll happen on the Sixteenth of October!' Remember? She was right!'
'Who was right?' asked Y/N, perplexed.
'Trelawney,' said Hermione. 'She made a few more predictions after you left. Said her inner eye was less clouded now that it had drawn its first reading.'
Y/N scoffed and Parvati glared at him.
'What?' said Y/N defensively. 'Believe me, I feel for Lavender I really do. But you can't trust anything that comes out of that crone's mouth. She could have given any day and I'm sure anything would have seemed a disaster. "That thing you're dreading" isn't very specific.'
'Don't mind him, Lavender,' came a voice from behind Y/N loudly. 'The two of them don't seem to think other people's pets matter very much.'
Y/N span around to face Ron, drawing his wand just as the classroom door opened.
'Y/N!' snapped McGonagall as her eyes scanned the crowd. '10 points from Gryffindor, no wands out in the corridors, and especially not for threatening our fellow classmates.'
'Yes Professor,' snarled Y/N, shoving his wand begrudgingly back into his robes. Still glaring at Ron.
Y/N and Hermione took seats the opposite end of the classroom to Harry and Ron and began to work.
'It is a bit weird,' said Hermione as the lesson progressed. 'I mean, she can't have been dreading Binky dying, because it seemed to come as a real shock to her. And Binky can't have even died today. She just only got the news today.'
'The woman's predictions are as delusional as she is,' said Y/N through gritted teeth. 'That's two members of our class now that she's affected. Harry with the Grim and now Lavender. What would have been a tragedy is amplified because she was warned-' he used air quotes on that word '-and did nothing about it. Now she feels responsible.'
'Really beginning to not like Professor Trelawney,' said Hermione darkly.
'Only just?'
The rest of the lesson progressed onwards with little else happening. The two broke into dark mutterings about the Divination Teacher a few more times before long the bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson.
'One moment please!' called McGonagall. 'As you're all in my House, you should hand Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village so don't forget!'
'Has she got yours?' asked Hermione.
'She'd signed it before I even got it,' said Y/N. 'Perks of your parent being the one you need to hand it in to.'
The two of them scooped up their books and belongings and stashed them away, turning to leave where they saw Harry and Ron lingering at the back of the classroom waiting for it to empty. They stalked past without a word to either of them.
'I hope she says no,' said Hermione savagely once they were a few corridors away.
'She will say no,' said Y/N, 'But remember, it's Ron we hate. Not Harry.'
Hermione let out a sigh and wrapped her arm around his. 'I know, it just feels like they're not taking it seriously. Black's dangerous, he's after Harry, and Harry wants to go walking around the town as if it's not happening.'
'I do feel bad for him. But it's for his own good. We only get like three or four of these a year. He can survive till next year. They should have Black by then.'
'I'm sure we can bring him back stuff. Some sweets or whatever.'
'Whilst we're on the subject actually. Where would you like to go for our little date?' Hermione gasped and turned her eyes onto his.
'I completely forgot about our date!' she cried, suddenly looking ecstatic. 'Well, you promised to show me around so we can go wherever you think we should, then I've heard about the Three Broomsticks. I'm sure there's a market for date orientated places for students too, especially on Hogsmeade days.'
'Hermione, calm down,' said Y/N laughing slightly as she paused for breath. 'We'll have plenty of time to do all of that and more. Shall we just wander down and see what we end up closest to?'
She nodded and beamed at him. 'Sounds like a plan,' and she once more wrapped herself around his arm, steering him down towards the Great Hall.
Much as expected. Harry returned with a downtrodden expression that said quite plainly that McGonagall had not signed his form. Ron shared the expression and seemed to be so down in the shared sadness with Harry that he forgot he was meant to be ignoring Y/N and Hermione.
'We'll bring you loads of stuff back,' said Ron, gesturing around at the three of them.
Hermione nodded, but Y/N was hit by a sudden realisation. No Harry meant Ron would be tailing him and Hermione.
'Be right back,' Y/N whispered to Hermione as he slid off the bench and made his way down towards the Weasley twins who both looked up, their eyes glinting as he approached.
'We know what this means,' said George the moment Y/N was in earshot.
'Someone needs the troublemakers,' said Fred with a wry smile.
'Or he needs lady advice,' smirked George.
'Ah yes, because I see both of you have done an amazing job of pulling girls for yourselves,' said Y/N as he sank onto the seat next to Fred. 'Heya Gin,' he added to the red-haired girl sat on his other side who beamed at him.
'Now now, just because we're single doesn't mean we can't be in a relationship,' said Fred matter-of-factly. 'We just have other priorities.'
'Like getting detention and causing a fuss?' said Y/N innocently as Ginny snorted with laughter.
'Well, if you're not here for lady advice then you probably need our assistance, and this is not the correct way to be going about that,' said George in a disapproving matter as he waggled his spoon at him.
'Well, truth be told it's a little bit of both,' said Y/N. 'Me and Hermione have decided to use our first Hogsmeade trip as a date. And your dear brother Mr Ronald Weasley has decided to invite himself along for the ride.'
Ginny gave a long, drawn-out sigh.
'I'm in need of a distraction for him. Doesn't have to be you two. Just has to make it so that he doesn't know or care where me and 'Mione are.'
'Hmmmmm,' said Fred, tapping his chin as though deep in thought.
'Welllllll,' said George slowly. 'We could sort something…'
'…for a price,' added Fred.
'Never easy. What do you want?'
'Filch has something that belongs to us,' said George.
'A very special something,' said Fred.
'A very against the rules something?' asked Y/N, raising an eyebrow.
'You could say that. He just thinks it's a slip of old parchment, but he knows we want it so he's keeping it away from us,' said Fred.
'And how does he know you want it?' asked Y/N.
'Cause we've nicked it from him before back in our first year. He knows we wouldn't have kept a piece of parchment for so long if it was just a piece of parchment. So, when he caught us using it the other day, he confiscated it,' said George.
'And why do you need my help with this?'
'Technically speaking we don't,' said George.
'However, one of us is going to need to distract Filch so the other one can get in and search his office. That leaves only one of us searching. Another pair of eyes wouldn't go amiss,' said Fred.
'And what exactly is this parchment? You've implied already that that's not all it is.'
'Not here,' muttered George looking around. 'Come on.'
'Do me a favour, and explain to 'Mione for me?' Y/N asked Ginny. 'I'll send her down to sit with you,' Ginny nodded excitedly and moved some of her stuff along to make room. The twins and Y/N got to their feet and moved off up the table. Y/N stopped alongside Hermione and tapped her shoulder.
'Where did-' she began but stopped as she saw the twins, eyeing them cautiously.
'Hermione!' said George, throwing a hand to his heart. 'How could you look at us with such distain?'
'Because whenever I see Y/N with you guys, it's not normally good.'
'Don't worry about that,' said Y/N quickly. 'Go down and sit with Gin, would you? Keep her company' he said pointing down towards the red head. 'She'll explain,' he added in a whisper.
Hermione still looked suspicious but nodded and scooped up her books. She seemed almost grateful to get away from Ron and Harry as she moved down the table.
Y/N followed the twins out of the Great Hall and into one of the deserted corridors off the Entrance Hall.
'So, what weren't you telling me?' asked Y/N the moment they were sure they were alone.
'The parchments a map. It just takes a password to activate it,' said George.
'All this over a map?' asked Y/N.
'It's not just a map,' said Fred. 'It's a full map of Hogwarts and shows the location of everyone inside the castle at all times.'
'Wait. So the map shows everyone in the school?' said Y/N incredulously.
'And where they are at the time of viewing. Snape pacing his dungeon? Shows it. Peeves trashing a room? Shows it,' said George.
'That must be one hell of an enchantment,' said Y/N.
'It is. And we want it back. Whilst we don't fully have need of it anymore, we'd rather Filch didn't have it.'
'Right okay. Fine, I'm in. What's the plan?' said Y/N.
'Knew you'd help us out,' said George, clapping him on the back.
'Truth be told we were going to ask you for help anyway. Lee's on weak standing at the moment so we needed a backup,' said Fred.
'I was going to do it last night, but you seemed out of it after the Scabbers thing. This just worked out better,' said George smugly.
'Right, so Filch's patrol is going to bring him along this corridor in roughly 37 minutes,' said Fred checking his watch. 'Wasn't intending to do this for another few days but may as well get it done now that we've got you. You two head up to Filch's office and wait till he leaves. Once he does, you've got his 30-minute patrol plus…' he paused as though lost in thought 'I can probably buy you another 15.'
'And we've got no hint of where it is? It's just in there somewhere?'
'Pretty much. We know where he normally keeps the stuff, we'll start there,' said George.
'Brilliant. Right, come on then George.' The two of them slipped out of the corridor and made their way towards Filch's office. They reached the corridor in question and took refuge in a hidden passageway behind a hanging tapestry.
'Here,' said Y/N, twirling his wand around and tapping George lightly on the head. He watched as the boy's body flickered, shimmered, and then vanished from sight
'Woah,' said George as Y/N repeated the charm on himself, 'How do you know that and we don't?' he asked incredulously.
'Book my mum got for me a couple of years back. I spent most of last year practicing that one,' said Y/N, peering out from under the tapestry. 'Thought it'd help with the basilisk. I think it's 5th year usually, so you'll probably learn it this year. It's the disillusionment charm.'
'Impressive, Y/N,' said George. 'This could be very useful for searching uninterrupted.'
'It's not perfect,' said Y/N. 'You only blend, no walking through walls, you can still be walked into, and someone with a good enough eye can still see us.'
'I can't even see you and I know where you are,' said George. 'I think we're good.'
The two fell silent, watching Filch's office carefully. As though he was programmed to do so, George counted down the seconds and on 0, Filch's office door opened.
'Come on then my sweet,' he wheezed as he began shuffling up the corridor whilst Mrs Norris followed slowly, her eyes raking every corner. Her lamp like eyes span onto Y/N and George and she paused. The two of them didn't move and a moment later she moved on.
'Ah yes, good enough eye,' said George darkly. 'I see your point.'
'Yep,' muttered Y/N. 'Come on.' They crept towards Filch's office and tried the door.
'Locked,' whispered George.
'Alohomora,' muttered Y/N. There was a click and the door swung open, and the two of them slipped inside. 'Mate, use your wand,' he added as a hiss to him.
'I forget!' George hissed back as one of the draws nearest the door slid open, seemingly by itself.
'It's the reason we're even here!' Y/N whispered back as he moved over to one himself.
'There's two main ones,' George said. 'One over there-'
'You're invisible, mate,' said Y/N.
'Oh for-' there were footsteps and then a draw with a piece of paper taped to the front slid open. The label read "Confiscated and highly dangerous".
'It's either in this one or he has one dedicated just to me and Fred.'
'Got it here,' said Y/N as he slid open a draw and saw it was full to almost bursting. A singular piece of paper stuck up above the rest and written on it was "Weasley's".
'Good, let's go,' said George. The two of them worked silently, flicking through the papers and loose confiscated items as quickly as they could. Even still, it took a long while. Filch had confiscated a lot of items, and the Weasleys had caused a lot of trouble.
'No sign of it in here,' said Y/N.
'Nor here,' said George. 'He must have moved it, could be anywhere in here.'
'You said it's enchanted, didn't you?' asked Y/N.
'Yeah, why?' asked George.
'Because we're running out of time and options. Close those drawers then go drawer to drawer and open them. Skip the contraband ones. I'll tell you when to stop,' said Y/N.
'What-?'
'Now George!' snapped Y/N. Footsteps rang through the office and one of the drawers slid open. Y/N closed his eyes and lets his mind flow outwards.
'Next.'
Y/N heard the draw slide closed and a moment later another one open.
'Nope.'
They got through around two full cabinets doing this before George spoke again.
'Y/N we aren't achieving anything here. He'll be back soon. Fred will have already done his distraction.'
'Then keep going and trust me. You wanted my help, I'm giving it. Come on, quick.'
'I hope you know what you're doing,' said George as Y/N heard the next drawer slide open.
An image swam into view, an old yellowing piece of parchment. It looked worthless, completely unimpressive, and heavily magical
'That one,' said Y/N his eyes flying open. He stepped forward, feeling out so he didn't walk into George, and pushed some of the dividers and folders aside. There, nestling in between the divide for Letters E and F, was the yellowing parchment. His head pulsed lightly the moment he saw it.
George gave a noise of triumph and the parchment vanished as he scooped it up.
'Brilliant, Y/N. Let's go.' The two closed the drawer and slipped outside. Y/N closed the door behind him and tapped the handle lightly with his wand.
'Colloportus.'
There was a satisfying click and Y/N slipped back under the same tapestry they'd hidden behind before.
'Knew you'd be the man for the job,' said George happily.
'You didn't sound so sure when we were searching the drawers,' said Y/N as he reversed his own disillusionment charm and faded back into view. He felt George's hand on his shoulder and used it to guide his wand to remove George's.
'That's because I'd barely opened them. I didn't think you were searching them properly. Especially as it didn't even sound like you were there,' he said as he reappeared.
'That's 'cause I wasn't,' said Y/N, scanning the corridor. 'Come on, quick, before he comes back.'
'What do you mean you weren't?' asked George as they jogged up the corridor and ducked into a secret passageway.
'Party trick,' said Y/N, stopping at the end of the passageway to make sure the coast was clear, 'I can sense enchantments on items. Well, powerful ones. The description of the map sounded pretty intense, so I had a feeling I'd be able to feel it. I was right.'
'Wow,' said George, sounding genuinely impressed.
'Just do me a favour and don't go screaming about it. Rather keep it on the down low. Yes, Fred can know.'
'Of course not, man. Appreciate you trusting us with this.'
'You two have always been good to me. Only reason you didn't know already is 'cause it never came up. And no, I won't be your item finder.'
'But we could do wonderful things together,' said George.
'And you guys can do wonderful things without me,' said Y/N as they turned into the Entrance Hall, 'Especially with that map.'
Fred came jogging into sight from a hidden passageway under the marble staircase and rushed to meet them.
'You get it?' he asked, and George held up the parchment. 'Brilliant! I was worried, took longer than we thought it would.'
'It wasn't in the usual place. He shoved it somewhere random. Probably thought we'd go after it,' said George as he folded up the parchment and tucked it away.
'Lucky you found it then,' said Fred, 'Or that could have been a failed run.'
'Would have been if not for Y/N,' said George, 'But I'll tell you that in a minute,' he turned to Y/N.
'Well Private L/N, you were an invaluable service to the cause, and you have proven yourself in the eyes of your superiors,' he said, sweeping into a mock salute. 'We will remember your contribution and call on you should we have need of you again.'
Y/N returned the salute.
'I appreciate that sir, but please do remember that I didn't just do this for word of mouth. I also had a request.'
'Do not worry cadet,' said Fred, clapping him on the shoulder. 'Our dear brother shall be out of your hair for your entire trip. We shall see to it ourselves.'
'Oh no,' said Y/N, his eyes looking over Fred's shoulder towards the door to the Great Hall. The twins span around to see Hermione stalking across the Entrance Hall towards them. Ginny walked slowly along behind her, mouthing sorry at the three boys.
'Well, that's our cue,' said Fred and a moment later, they'd both ducked into a nearby door and vanished from sight.
'Hey 'Mione,' said Y/N cautiously as she stopped in front of him. Her face was difficult to read. He was expecting her to shout, to tell him off or reprimand him. What he wasn't expecting was her to throw herself at him and wrap her arms around the back of his neck. Y/N staggered slightly but caught himself and hugged her back.
'Whilst I'm not complaining, what did I do?' he asked looking over her shoulder to Ginny who looked about as shocked as Y/N felt.
'You could have gotten in so much trouble and you did it just so that we could go to Hogsmeade alone?' Hermione asked as she pulled slightly away and looked up into his face.
'Well, yeah? A date is just us two. Not Ron as well. I want the peace and quiet with you.'
'If you were anyone else Y/N-' but she sighed and pulled him into the hug once more. 'Thank you. But don't take anymore pointless risks for me.'
'It wasn't that risky. Fred and George know what they're doing. Plus, I have the disillusionment charm. Filch can't stop that, especially with him being a squib.'
'All the same,' said Hermione as she broke away from him. 'No more breaking into Filch's office.'
'Fine. Of course not, 'Mione.'
'Think I'm gonna be sick,' came Fred's voice from the door they'd ducked through.
'Were you listening in to hear her tell me off?!' yelled Y/N, turning to face the door.
'Ah, um, well,' came George's muffled voice.
Y/N ripped the door open and chased the twins up the corridor they'd slid into, Hermione and Ginny hot on his heels.
