It was an annoyingly long time before Rook joined Fred and George in the common room. She had obviously decided to shower beforehand, as her hair was still damp when she took her seat next to George on the sofa, and she smelled of rosemary and tea tree oil.

"So what did Spencer have to show you that required you to shower after?" Fred teased, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Rook sighed. "This is my problem with the phallic humor here," she spoke in a frustrated voice. "There are just so many avenues to choose from; it's overwhelming. You've got 'waving your wand', 'polishing your broomstick handle', 'taming your dragon', and then, on the flaccid end of the spectrum, 'feeding your flobberworm'."

"You're thinking way too hard about it, Rook," said George. "If you're having trouble deciding, you can never go wrong with a classic 'probity probe' joke."

"What? You're having me on," Rook spoke skeptically. "I refuse to believe there is something called a 'probity probe' that isn't a sex toy!"

"I've long believed Percy's had a probity probe stuck up his—"

"Ahem!" Ginny had joined them, clearing her throat to announce her presence. "Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if one of you could help me with this charm? Ron's been no help at all, and Hermione's busy…"

"Sure thing," George volunteered. "What's the problem?"

While George was preoccupied with helping their sister, Fred wondered whether he should mention Rook's adoption again. He decided he would allow her to initiate it. Though he believed her when she said that she wanted to confide in him and George, he had the distinct impression that there was something holding her back: something she herself might not even be aware of. He felt presumptuous, thinking he could possibly know something about Rook that she wasn't conscious of herself, but he couldn't suppress the feeling.

Rook did not bring it up. Instead, she withdrew her sketchbook and started drawing. To Fred's surprise, she consulted Fred in this activity.

"In the muggle world, artists have gone to great lengths to animate their drawings," she said. "I had always been interested in animation, and I made flipbooks, and even zoetropes, to make my drawings look like they were moving."

Fred nodded. Just last year, he wouldn't have known what Rook was talking about, but Professor Burbage had introduced Fred's Muggle Studies class to flipbooks and zoetropes while explaining the history of muggle animation before the end of last term. He was suddenly very glad he had elected to take Muggle Studies.

"When I was told I was a witch, and I learned more about what they—we—could do, I was fascinated with magic art." She flipped to a particular page of her sketchbook and handed it to Fred. "I've always enjoyed drawing comics," she said. Fred looked at the page with great interest. It was a comic excerpt of their Seven Before Sunrise escapades. Through speech bubbles, the panels told the story of Fred's intimate encounter with the grotesque guarding Dumbledore's office. He laughed out loud as he read through the rendition, then looked up to see Rook watching him with some expectancy.

"It's brilliant," he said, though he felt this was an understatement.

"Would you and George know how to animate it?"

"We can show you how," Fred nodded, handing the book back to Rook. "But you have to do it yourself if you want it to look halfway decent. Professor Flitwick says art and magic together can be finicky. Collaborative efforts can have… unpredictable results."

"Like it comes out looking different?"

"Yeah, like the artistic abilities of the spell caster gets mixed up with the original drawing."

"Show me," she said, passing her sketchbook back to him.

"On this? No, I don't want to ruin it."

"You told me your stick figures are world-renowned," she said, smiling.

"Are you sure you want your book tarnished by my sinful hand?"

Rook laughed. "Just do it, already."

Fred hesitated before withdrawing his wand, tapping the page and saying in a clear voice, "Animata Imaginem." With this simple incantation, the drawings on the page sprang to life, and in one fell swoop, Fred had rendered all the careful depictions of him, George and Rook indistinguishable from the misshapen grotesque. "Oh, bollocks! I'm sorry, Rook, really…"

But Rook didn't look upset at all. On the contrary, she was positively thrilled. She took the book from Fred and watched the short animation with wide eyes. "Holy guacamole! This is so cool!"

"What's cool?" George had returned. Rook showed him the result of her and Fred's combined efforts, and George also marveled over the animation. By now, both he and George had seen a small sample of Rook's art, but she remained shy and self-conscious over her abilities. She seemed to be in a sharing mood, however, as they spent a good half hour flipping through the sketchbook, enchanting drawings and doodling together.

"I wish I could do this as a job," Rook said at one point.

"Maybe you could," said George. "If Fred and I ever own our own joke shop, maybe we could distribute your comics!"

Fred and George had already told Rook about their dreams of one day owning their own shop. Rook fully supported this lofty ambition of theirs, and loved joining them in brainstorming different products they might invent. For so many years, Fred had pictured him and George leaving Hogwarts and struggling on their own to achieve this goal. Nowadays, he couldn't help occasionally inserting Rook into these daydreams. After all, there was no way of knowing what role she would play in their lives once they left Hogwarts. Would she go back to Texas? Would the three of them stay friends? Now he entertained the thought of Rook working with them in their shop, with her in charge of publishing comics. Perhaps they could even live together…

Fred snapped out of it. It wouldn't really make sense for Rook to live with them, unless…

Unless she was with George.

Fred felt an abrupt pang in his chest. It seemed like the two most likely outcomes were either her leaving, or her staying for George. Fred did not find either option very appealing.

He pushed the thought from his head. There was no point speculating about the future when there was so much he needed to do in the present. Over the next month or so, their teachers assigned them massive amounts of homework. Being in their fifth year, Fred and George had their O.W.L.s to look forward to in May. At the end of November, the happy news that the Ravenclaw Quidditch team had flattened Hufflepuff in a landslide victory meant that Fred and George were training harder than ever. Gryffindor was not out of the running for the Quidditch Cup, but they could not afford to lose another match.

As the days wore on, and the castle was decorated for the coming holidays, Fred found he was not looking forward to going home for Christmas the way he usually did. He had almost suggested that he and George stay at Hogwarts over the break, but once they had heard that Ron was staying to keep Harry company, he knew that their mother would not be keen on missing more than half of her children over the holidays, despite having the company of Ginny, Percy and their other older brother, Charlie, who'd be visiting from Romania.

Rook would be stranded at Hogwarts over the holiday, due to a bureaucratic complication typical of the Ministry, and Fred could tell she was disappointed over it. Still, she tried convince him and George (about as much as she tried to convince herself) that it would be a good opportunity for her to prepare herself for her courses next term.

If there was a silver lining to any of this, it was that they had another Hogsmeade visit to look forward to before they were separated. Things were still somewhat tense between Fred and Angelina, so he doubted they would be enjoying the village in a large group like before. Lee, who was jealous of Rook and overly fond of Angelina, had taken to spending most of his free time with Angelina and Alicia. Fred wasn't particularly worried about it, though, as Lee seemed to forget this unspoken alliance whenever he had an opportunity to cut up in class with the twins, and Angelina just wasn't one to hold a grudge.

Fred was all right with having only George and Rook for company during their visit to the village, as long as the visit was Spencer-free this time.

Rook was tested thoroughly the Wednesday before the Hogsmeade visit. By Thursday, Professor McGonagall informed her of the results.

"At first I couldn't believe that Snape would advance me to fifth year Potions," Rook said as she relayed the results to Fred and George, "but then Professor McGonagall told me that if I choose to advance to fifth year Potions next term, Snape is insisting that I take the Potions O.W.L. in May."

"Bloody Hell!" George exclaimed empathetically. "Will you have to take the O.W.L. for Herbology and Arithmancy as well?"

"Kind of, but not really. For those classes, it'll be like… a mock O.W.L., just to see if Professor Vector and Professor Sprout think I can handle sixth year lessons. If not, I'll be reevaluated and placed at the appropriate level through the term after that. Either way, I'll be taking my official O.W.L.s for those classes at the end of next school year."

"So Snape's just trying to get rid of you, then?" asked Fred.

"Or get me a bad O.W.L. mark, or something. Whatever it is, I doubt he has my best interests at heart."

"If it makes you feel any better, it'll be a miracle if Fred or I advance to sixth year Potions next year. Snape's mad—he won't accept anything below an 'Outstanding'!"

"Like it's some enticing reward, spending two more years in his class!" Fred added with a grimace. "I say just go for it. Then at least we'll have Potions together through May, whatever happens."

"But, don't let us decide for you," George said seriously. "I mean, it's your future, after all."

On Friday, Rook brought some unwelcome news.

"Spencer wants to meet at The Three Broomsticks tomorrow to, um—to celebrate my advancement."

"Not again," Fred grumbled. "Can't he take a hint?"

"Oh, come on, Fred," said Rook exasperatedly. "He's still my friend, and my tutor. It's thanks to him I'm even going to be having classes with y'all."

It suddenly occurred to Fred that Rook would also be in classes with Spencer. They had Potions with the Ravenclaws, and Fred was pretty sure Spencer took Arithmancy. Fred looked over at George, who looked slightly unsettled. He had probably realized this immediately.

"If we're going to be celebrating your achievement, I think you should be the one taking credit for it," George said kindly. "Spencer helped, but you've made remarkable progress. I think celebrating that is a good idea."

"But you don't have to invite Spencer just 'cause it was his idea."

"Yes, but do I have to invite you?" Rook teased, sticking her tongue out at Fred.

"Rook, it's hardly a party without good ole Gred and Forge," said George.

"Right, where are they? I've been meaning to tell them about it…"

Eventually, Rook decided on inviting Spencer as well as some of her fourth year friends. Fred was all right with it; it was much preferable to a quartet that was twenty-five percent Stefan Spencer.