It was one thirty in the morning and Fred lay awake, staring at the canopy of his bed. About half an hour ago, McGonagall had broken up the party, insisting that it was past time for the Gryffindors to be in bed. Fred had since been trying, and failing, to fall asleep.

He had replayed the match in his head in an attempt to revel in the feeling of victory over Ravenclaw. When his mind started to stray, he had thought about the success of the after-party. Fred was sure he hadn't seen Harry so happy all year, and even Percy seemed to enjoy himself.

He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if he kept thinking about Rook's face when he hinted at George's feelings for her. It was clear to Fred now that this was not an Angelina sort of situation. Rook was never going to see him the same way she saw George.

Gryffindor had beat Ravenclaw, they had spent the rest of the day celebrating, and Fred wanted to savor that. He had resolved to not let jealousy over Rook bring him down any more. He needed to move on, and George needed to get a move on and tell Rook how he felt, before her feelings for him faded completely…

Suddenly, Fred heard footsteps and voices on the staircase beyond their dormitory door. Fred got out of bed and, without bothering to get dressed, made for the door to investigate. Sure enough, several students had risen and were appearing in the common room once again.

"Excellent," said Fred brightly, stepping into the room. "Are we carrying on?"

"Everyone back upstairs!" shouted Percy, practically tripping over himself as he pinned his Head Boy badge to his pajamas.

"Perce—Sirius Black!"

Fred's eyes found Ron among the students, looking ashen-faced and shaken.

"What's going on?" George whispered, appearing at Fred's side. Fred shrugged, still watching Ron curiously.

"Sirius Black!" Ron shouted, "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

It seemed like all the Gryffindors were in the common room now, and Fred caught sight of Rook standing on the fringes of the room and watching the scene with wide eyes.

"Nonsense!" said Percy, alarmed. "You had too much to eat, Ron—had a nightmare—"

"I'm telling you—"

"Now, really, enough's enough!"

Professor McGonagall had reappeared, clearly at the end of her patience. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room, glowering around at them all.

"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" said Percy, puffing himself up indignantly. "I was just telling them to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare—"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron shouted. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

Professor McGonagall stared at him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" said Ron, pointing a trembling finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw—"

After eyeing Ron dubiously, Professor McGonagall pushed the portrait hole back open and went outside. The whole common room listened with bated breath. "Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!" Sir Cadogan confirmed.

Fred heard the sharp intake of breath from George beside him in the ensuing stunned silence.

"You—you did?" said Professor McGonagall. "But—but the password!"

"He had 'em!" said Sir Cadogan proudly. "Had the whole weeks, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

Professor McGonagall, white as chalk, pulled herself back through the portrait hole to face the speechless Gryffindors.

"Which person," she said, her voice taut with anger, "Which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

There was complete silence, broken by the smallest of terrified squeaks. Neville Longbottom, shaking from head to fluffy-slippered toes, raised his hand slowly into the air.

Normally Fred found it entertaining to hear McGonagall going off on anyone besides him and George, but even he felt sorry for Neville. Time did not allow her to unleash her full fury then and there, but it was clear that Neville would pay dearly for his error. Once McGonagall departed to inform the other faculty of Black's infiltration, there was a general rustling about the common room as all the students settled themselves about the common room. There was a lot of quiet conversation, but the air was still too tense for unrestrained discussion. Neville sat dejectedly beside Hermione, who looked rather miserable herself, casting worried looks over at Harry and Ron from her chair next to a bookcase. Fred and George made their way over to the fireplace to hear Ron's full account firsthand.

"You say he woke you up?" George asked.

"I thought I was dreaming at first," Ron replied. "I heard this sort of tearing noise while I was still half asleep, and it was Black cutting through the hangings of my bed with this great knife…"

"That's incredible…" said Fred.

"It's impossible to wake you up at home!" said George.

"Maybe we should try waking you up with a knife next time!"

"Or a sledgehammer? A screwdriver?"

"I think some experimentation is in order."

"Why did I think that my almost dying would warrant the tiniest bit of concern from the two of you?" Ron grumbled.

"Of course we're concerned!" said Fred. "If anything happened to you, mum would definitely blame us for it."

"I wonder if they'll catch him this time," said Harry, who seemed unamused by the twins' antics.

"They'll find him," said George. "If not tonight, then soon. Between Dumbledore and the horde of dementors patrolling Hogsmeade, it's just a matter of time."

They continued to discuss Black. After a few minutes, Fred's eyes wandered the common room, wondering why it was taking so long for Rook to join them. He caught sight of her sitting next to Hermione, their heads bent close together as they shared a whispered conversation, their expressions grave. When a handful of third years came over to ask Ron to once again recount his story in detail, Fred and George sat with Angelina, Lee, Alicia and Katie in their usual spot. The group was talking about Neville when Rook finally joined them.

"I just feel bad for him, that's all," said Katie. "I don't mean to be insensitive to Ron, or anything," she added apologetically, "but that ridiculous knight gave us a million passwords a day! Anyone would have gotten confused. I wanted to write them down myself."

"But you didn't," said Alicia.

"He could have at least written them in code or something," added Lee.

"Codes can be cracked," Rook joined in unexpectedly. "Even really good ones…"

"Yeah, I guess Black could crack any code Neville could come up with," said Fred.

"That's not what I…" she trailed off. "Never mind. I'm going to do some homework."

"I admire your focus," said Angelina as Rook unpacked her schoolbooks. "I don't think I could do schoolwork in the middle of all this."

"Need any help, Rook?" asked George.

"I think I can handle it on my own."

McGonagall reappeared at dawn to inform them that Black had once again eluded capture. The next day the faculty increased security measures throughout the castle. After a brief period of rest, Rook departed for the library, insisting that she could not afford to take another day off her schoolwork. Still, Fred suspected she was avoiding them, and he had to wonder whether it was because of what he'd told her about George.

When they finally saw her again after dinner, she approached them outside the Great Hall with the determined air of one prepared for a confrontation.

"I need to talk to you both," she said, "alone."

"Wait, both of us?" Fred said, surprised. George shot him a questioning look.

"Yes, both of you."

She dragged them to the nearest empty classroom, offering no further clarification until the door was shut behind them.

"It's about that passage to Hogsmeade."

"What about it?" Fred asked, his confusion mounting.

"I went by that statue during dinner, and it's not being guarded," she spoke in a nervous rush, pacing a little as she did so. "It's obvious the professors don't know about it, so I thought we ought to tell someone, just in case—"

"Wait a second," Fred cut her off abruptly. "You think that Black got into the castle through Honeydukes?"

"It's possible…"

"No, it isn't," said Fred.

"It's like you said," George joined in. "The professors don't know; not even Dumbledore knows. The only people who know about that passage are the three of us and Harry."

"Hermione knows," said Rook, "and she agrees with me. Even if it's unlikely, it's better to be safe, isn't it?"

Fred felt frustration building. He ran a hand through his hair before he asked impatiently, "So what exactly do you propose we do?"

"Anyone we tell about that passage is going to want to know how we found out about it," said George uneasily.

"Right," said Fred. "I doubt Harry will be very grateful for your concern when we've all been expelled."

"Well, I thought about that…" said Rook, "and I don't want to get any of you in trouble, so I figured I'd go to McGonagall myself and tell her that I overheard a seventh year I didn't know telling another seventh year I didn't know that they heard that if you tap the witch's hump—"

"This is ridiculous," Fred interrupted again. "There's no way Black got in through Honeydukes! We would have heard if there was a break in, for one thing—"

"We got back through Honeydukes last night! Are you really willing to bet Harry's life that Black didn't get in that way?"

"She's—" George started, but Fred cut him off.

"If Harry wants that passage watched, he'll tell McGonagall himself!"

"I'll remember you said that when he and your brother have been murdered by Black!"

"Rook, please—!"

"George," said Rook, turning to face him, "You don't agree with him, do you?"

"Not exactly, but—"

"You're siding with her?"

"I'm not siding with anyone!" George snapped, seeming to lose his patience. "How can I when neither of you will let me finish a sentence?"

Rook's lip trembled. "You would think," she spoke to Fred, sounding near tears, "that after Ginny almost died last year, and after Ron almost died last night, that you would prioritize the lives of your friends and family over the exclusivity of a secret passage to a candy shop!"

Before either of them could reply, she hurried from the room. Fred stared after her, his heart beating rapidly.

"Do you think she's going to tell?" he said, finally breaking the tense silence lingering in the empty classroom.

"Really?" George spoke in disbelief.

"What?" Fred exclaimed defensively. "You don't think she's right, do you?"

"I think you're right. I think it's unlikely Black is getting in that way."

"Thank you! That's exactly—"

"But I also think you were a giant arse."

"I'm a—What about her using what happened last year to try to guilt us into doing what she decided was right?"

"She wasn't trying to guilt us, Fred; she was trying to protect us."

"Protect us from Black? Because I don't think—"

"From making a choice we'll regret. Has it not occurred to you that Rook may know a bit more about loss and sacrifice than we do? Her birth mother was hunted down and probably murdered by a dark wizard not that different from Black; her own mother wiped her memory just to give her the slightest chance of survival."

Fred was struck dumb at these words. He hadn't considered any of that…

"Even the smallest possibility that we could prevent something terrible happening to Ron or Harry is enough to do something about it," George continued. "But, to answer your question, no, I don't think she's going to tell unless we tell her she can, so you should probably—"

"I'll do it," said Fred. "I'll do it now, actually."

Fred stepped back out into the corridor, his hands in his pockets and his head low. He took so much for granted, it was hard for him to even imagine losing a loved one before their time. But Rook didn't have to imagine it, and neither did Harry, for that matter…

"Don't you ever get tired of being such a jerk?" he mumbled to himself as he made his way to the second floor.

"That's not a very nice thing to say," said a voice above him. Fred looked up and saw Peeves on the second floor landing with an armful of immature Bouncing Bulbs. Fred stumbled backward instinctively at the sight, keeping his eyes on the poltergeist.

"Peeves! What are you—"

Before he could say anything else, Peeves dropped the bulbs on the staircase with a wicked cackle. Fred managed to dodge the first two without incident, but soon saw a third flying directly at his face. He threw his arms up in front of him, preparing for impact, then…

"Flipendo!"

The impact never came. Cautiously, Fred peered over his arms to see Professor Lupin disposing of the bulbs one by one as Peeves watched with great interest. Despite Lupin's competence, the sheer amount of bulbs was making the task into quite a struggle. As Fred was ducking out of the way of a particularly large bulb, he managed to withdraw his own wand and contribute to the offensive effort. Students making their way up or down the stairs quickly doubled back once they caught sight of the commotion. Fred narrowly avoided falling down the stairs more than twice, but after a minute or two of running up and down the stairs while casting the Knockback Jinx, Fred and Lupin had successfully subdued the vegetational assault.

"Peeves!" Lupin shouted once he caught his breath, but it was no use; Peeves had already vanished. Fred made his way back up toward the second floor landing where Professor Lupin leaned against the stone balustrade. "Well, that was a waste of Bouncing Bulbs."

"I dunno," said Fred. "It was a little fun. Plus, it's probably good practice for me. Just don't tell Wood I said so, or he'll start getting ideas, and that's never a good thing."

Lupin chuckled. "Thank you, by the way," he said. "It would've been hard to get them all If you hadn't been here."

"Don't mention it."

"Well, I'd better get back to my office."

"Er, wait—" said Fred. "Do you mind if I join you? There's, er, something I wanted to talk to you about."

Professor Lupin looked both surprised and curious. "Certainly."

Once in the office, Fred chose to stand rather than sit across from Lupin at the desk. "It really shouldn't take long," he explained. "It's just, there's this, er, rumor I heard that there's a secret passage to Hogsmeade somewhere in the castle…"

Professor Lupin raised his eyebrows at this. "Really? A rumor?"

"Yep…" Fred spoke nonchalantly. "I just remember I overheard from some seventh year last year that if you tap the hump of that one-eyed crone on the third floor and say something like… er… 'dissendium,' I think it was… her hump will open up and you can… go to Hogsmeade."

"I see…"

"So… yeah… I was just thinking about Black getting in and all, and then I remembered that and I thought… maybe I should mention it… just in case."

"I see," Lupin repeated, scrutinizing Fred carefully. "And have you verified the authenticity of this rumor yourself?"

"Nope," Fred answered, a bit too quickly.

"All right," Lupin spoke, standing. "I will investigate this rumor myself. You are free to go."

Fred did not need to be told twice. He was making his way to the door when Lupin spoke again.

"You did the right thing," he said, causing Fred to look back over his shoulder, "Telling me about this."

Fred felt a slight squirm of guilt as he reflected on his initial reluctance. He nodded slightly and left the office.