"Wait, what?!"

"He knows you wrote the letter?!"

"Keep it down, will you?" Rook whispered, looking around the Great Hall nervously. She had finally arrived at the Gryffindor table for lunch, and Fred and George had immediately joined her at the end of the table to privately hash over the events of Rook's Potions lesson. The twins had already heard about the Trevor incident from Harry, Ron and Hermione, but Fred had not expected this turn of events at all.

"He as good as knows it was me," Rook continued, her face buried in her hands. "I'm an idiot… He said he knows the binomial names of a bunch of plants and animals, and he figured it out."

"Er… 'binomial'?" George asked, confused.

"I signed the love letter with the scientific name for a rook," Rook explained.

"I think I know what you mean," Fred commented. "Come to think of it, I've seen one or two of the newer potions textbooks in the library using those complicated Latin names for everything. I never bothered with those books; they're practically indecipherable."

"Most muggles don't know that sort of thing, and certainly not off the top of their heads!" Rook lamented. "I figured it was even less likely for a wizard, seeing as Hogwarts doesn't exactly offer a biology class!"

"But why did you have to pick something that meant your name, anyway?" Fred asked.

"I thought I was being clever, I guess," Rook admitted shamefully, a tear falling down her cheek as she spoke. "Turns out I was just being stupid." Rook hid her face in her hands once more, and Fred felt a rush of sympathy for her.

"It wasn't stupid," George tried to reassure Rook, laying a hand on her shoulder. "How could you know he'd know?"

"No, it was definitely stupid," Fred interjected, his tone inappropriately cheery. "But that's a good thing! You know why?"

Rook lifted her head out of her hands and looked over at Fred. "Why?"

"'Cause you're really one of us, now! Let me tell you, Rook—"

"We've made some terrible decisions in our time," George joined in, catching on.

"You are clever, you know."

"But that means taking risks—"

"—and occasionally paying the price for it."

"And, hey, at least you weren't expelled, right?"

"You weren't, were you?"

Rook shook her head timidly, her eyes wide and her face slightly tearstained. "I got a detention," she said quietly, nervously chewing the fingernails of one hand as she spoke. "On Saturday."

Fred relaxed. He hadn't realized how anxious he had been since Ron had first told them Rook was in trouble with Snape. Though he and George had gotten through their first four years of Hogwarts just fine without Rook, the thought of the next three years without her was suddenly a bleak prospect.

George unexpectedly pulled Rook into a hug. "Rook, you had me worried!" he said as he ruffled her hair playfully. "All things considered, a detention isn't so bad! I'm just glad you're not leaving us, right Fred?"

Fred said nothing, taken aback by George's bold gesture. Rook looked surprised as well, but not displeased. George released her, but left his hand on her shoulder as he came away.

"Fred?" George repeated.

"What? Oh, yeah—it'd be a damn shame if you had to go already."

Rook didn't seem to hear Fred. She was plainly still in a daze from George's embrace. She looked up at George bashfully and he smiled back at her, causing her to look away again in a hurry as her face reddened.

"George," Fred spoke, feeling as though he was interrupting in spite of the fact that neither of them were talking. "We should get going. We don't want to be late for Care of Magical Creatures."

"You're probably right," George conceded reluctantly. He gave Rook a final consoling pat on the shoulder. "Just hang in there, Rook." Rook nodded and watched him and Fred as they left the Great Hall together.

Once they had stepped out onto the castle grounds, George spoke, "I am glad it's just the detention, but there isn't any doubt that Snape has something truly gruesome planned for Saturday. What do you reckon?"

"Hmm?" Fred replied vaguely, his mind elsewhere. "Dunno…"

George stared at Fred, frowning. "Anyway, I hope Hagrid doesn't make us look after flobberworms again today," George stated, changing the subject. "Plain old earthworms are more exciting."

Fred shrugged, saying nothing.

"What's up with you, Fred?"

Fred looked over at George. "What?" he responded blankly. "Sorry, I wasn't listening. Something about Snape and earthworms? Whatever it is, it sounds like a great idea, and I'm one-hundred percent onboard."

George seemed placated by Fred's quip, and Fred made an effort to continue their conversation in a blithe fashion while also avoiding further discussion of Rook.

Fred doubted George had noticed Rook's downright besotted behavior toward him. George was clueless in that particular sense. Fred had seen it first with Angelina back in their third year, though George eventually caught on when he noticed how differently Angelina would treat him whenever she thought he was Fred.

Back then, George didn't really have any interest in dating, and he opted to simply ignore Angelina's apparent affection. Eventually, her amorous feelings seemed to fade away, and she and George had continued their relationship as good friends ever since.

Rook was the first girl George had expressed any interest in, though he never said he wanted to date her. Fred wondered whether he should inform his brother of Rook's infatuation with him. He wondered how long it would take George to notice Rook's feelings without Fred's help. Ultimately, Fred decided to let it be. He had never signed up to be a matchmaker for the obtuse, so why should he have to tell George anything?

When he and George met up with Rook again that evening, she was considerably cheerier than she had been at lunch.

"Professor McGonagall says I'm making really good progress in Transfiguration!" she announced proudly as she joined Fred, George, Lee and Angelina in their usual nook of the common room. "I couldn't have done it without your help, especially your mnemonic devices for the transfiguration formula, Fred!"

"Ah, yes…" said Fred. "Did you go with 'Wiggling Caterpillars are Very Agreeable'?"

"'Winged Caribou Versus Alpaca'?" asked George

"Or perhaps my personal favorite, 'Wallace Can't Volunteer At the Zoo (not since the incident)'?"

"Wallace, of course!" Rook answered, laughing. "Though it really is terrible, what Wallace did to those poor alpaca…" she added darkly.

"I feel worse for the caribou," Fred spoke solemnly.

"Wait, what is this?" asked Lee. "Who's Wallace? What did he do to the caribou?"

"What I don't get," added Rook indignantly, "is why no one is ever concerned about the caterpillars?"

"Hey!" George exclaimed. "I brought up the caterpillars just yesterday, and no one batted an eye!"

"I don't believe it," Angelina interjected, addressing the twins. "Rook's been at Hogwarts for a week, and already she's as weird as you two."

"Hmm… I wonder if weirdness comes with a vaccine, anyway?" Rook asked carefully.

"Weirdness can't vitiate achievements!" Fred protested.

"If anything, weirdness can validate accomplishments!" George agreed.

"'Vitiate'? You're barely speaking English anymore," Lee said, exasperated.

"One must be well-read if they're to construct an effective demonic mnevice," Fred spoke, imitating Percy's self-important air.

"Don't you mean 'mnemonic device'?" George corrected.

"Right, of course. What did I say?"

Rook was laughing uncontrollably at this point. Angelina looked confused, but appeared amused by the absurdity of their antics. Lee seemed to be entirely lost.

Once she had recovered, Rook began unpacking her usual mound of homework and set to work. Fred and George continued their conversation with Angelina and Lee. As they discussed Quidditch strategies and their plans for their first Hogsmeade weekend, Fred's attention kept drifting back over to Rook. She had brought out her sketchbook and was drawing human figures in it, some of them clearly modeled off of various students in the common room. Fred tried to act natural, just in case Rook decided to make another attempt at drawing him, but Fred didn't catch her looking his way even once.

Once Angelina and Lee had gone to bed, Fred immediately slid off the couch and sat next to Rook on the floor, but she had put her sketchbook away and had moved on to her Transfiguration homework.

"Wait, where are the drawings you were just working on?" he asked, disappointed.

"I finished working on those a while ago," said Rook.

"Drawings?" George asked curiously. "I didn't know you could draw!"

Rook blushed again, muttering, "It's nothing… They're just doodles."

Fred said nothing. For some reason, he figured Rook had already showed George her artwork. He recalled that he had only seen it by chance in the first place. He probably shouldn't have drawn attention to it.

"Do you need help with your Transfiguration?" Fred asked hurriedly, changing the subject.

"I think I've got this down, actually… due in no small part to your help from before," she admitted. "Which reminds me, I shouldn't be needing homework help from either of you soon enough; Professor McGonagall said she'll be assigning me a tutor."

"Really?" asked George curiously.

"Who?" asked Fred.

"How would I know?" said Rook. "She hasn't even picked one yet!"

"Yeah, but how is she going to decide who it'll be?"

"She said she's interviewing students this Saturday. I think there's a notice about it over there, still." Rook waved to the common room bulletin board. "Professor McGonagall says that tutoring looks good when you're applying for certain positions and such, plus they get paid a bit. My mom gave me the money for it."

The three of them weren't up for much longer. Once Rook retired, Fred and George made their way to their dormitory. Halfway down the spiral staircase, George went back for his gobstones and Fred continued to his four poster. He was already drifting off to sleep when he heard George creep quietly into the room.