"I just don't get it George. I really thought that we would get him this time!" Fred said with frustration.
It was Wednesday afternoon and the twins were walking by the lake. Although it was mid spring, it didn't quite look like it. The flowers were blooming late and the looks on the boys' faces were much gloomier than the clouds overhead.
They stopped walking, for they had made it to the lake. George looked down at his reflection and could see the stains from the potion on his face even though the incident happened a few days ago.
Finally a thought occurred to George, "Fred, we've never had a potion explode on us before. I'm not proud to admit it, but we've made a de-aging potion more times than the fingers on our hands... and toes on our feet."
"What're you trying to say?" replied Fred. "Are you suggesting someone tampered with it?"
"I think….it was Finnegan, he's probably been helping Dumbledore."
George, being the more observant one, had noted a thing or two about Seamus in the past few weeks.. Everyday, around 8:00, he would sit on the opposite side of the common room as the twins, seemingly talking to other people. Then he would leave after about a half hour to go….somewhere. Which was rather odd because curfew was earlier for first years.
While Fred would go on about different ideas they should implement against Dumbledore, George would sometimes catch the younger boy staring at their corner. Once he was caught staring, he would quickly look away.
For a while George thought nothing of it, until a few days ago when the potion mysteriously exploded after they had left it unattended for a few minutes.
"Don't you see Fred? This has Finnegan written ALL over it! He's the king of "pyrotechnics", as McGonagall would say, and we've never blown up a potion EVER."
Fred seemed to consider this for a moment, then turned back to George.
"I've got a plan. Let's continue doing the same thing as usual tonight, and wait until Finnegan leaves the common room. We'll follow him and see where he goes." George nodded his head in agreement.
~.~
At exactly 8, Seamus strolled into the common room with nonchalance.
"UGH I could tackle the bloody traitor right this second," Fred whispered.
"SHH," said George. "Alright, just pretend to be whispering stuff."
For the next half hour the twins were strategically trying to look suspicious, all while not looking too suspicious, and also attempting to watch Seamus without him noticing.
Finally Seamus got up and walked out of the portrait hole. What he didn't realize was that there were two people following him.
"Look at him, we've been through this hall 3 times already!" said Fred impatiently.
Finally after 10 minutes of aimless wandering, Seamus's route seemed to take on some purpose.
"I think I know where he is headed," George told Fred.
"Dumbledore," Fred said with a look of triumph on his face.
Just as they'd thought, they approached the gargoyle corridor on the third floor. They observed silently as Finnegan whispered nonsensensical words and the stone shifted out of his way to reveal a spiral staircase.
Just as Fred was about to follow, George yanked him back.
"Are you mad? We'd get caught if we followed Seamus so close to Dumbledore."
Settling down for a wait, the boys began a game of tic-tac-toe by carving the symbols with a rock on the stone floor.
"Oooooooo…..what mischief are the Weasels up to today? Shall Peevsey ruin their fun?" said a floating creature that resembled a tiny man.
"Oh come on Peeves! We've told you about a thousand times that we should join forces. Besides, we're trying to play a prank on Dumbledore, you wouldn't screw that up for us would you?" pleaded Fred with puppy dog eyes.
Cackling, Peeves floated away.
Brushing his bushy hair to the side, George exhaled slightly. Peeves could be such a nuisance. Of course, he and his brother were just like human versions of Peeves-but still. He couldn't believe that his other half wanted to make a friendship with that maniac. However, a camaraderie with Peeves could be beneficial to their plans…... George made a mental note to consider the matter.
Finally, the stones shifted once again. The twins hid in the shadow behind a suit of armor. Luckily Seamus was alone.
The boys nodded at each other and started following him again. Half way down a deserted corridor, where they made sure no one was around, they tapped his shoulder. Instantly the younger boy turned and froze.
"Hello Finnegan," said George. The torch lights gave his face an eerie glow.
Seamus turned to run just when Fred grabbed ahold of his upper arms.
"Don't look so scared, you knew we would find out about you and Dumbledore eventually. However, we aren't here for revenge," Fred laughed maniacally. "No- we're here to give you... a sort of peace offering."
Fred cautiously took his hands off of the boy and stepped back.
"You have two options," George added. "You either forget this little encounter ever happened, but watch your back for the rest of the semester. Or... you could help us out with a little something."
Either the little first year was eager to please, or he was terrified to death. "I'd rather help you!" he said in a rush.
The boys smirked at each other. "Okay Finnegan, tell us what you know," the twins said in unison.
The first year sighed. "Well…. Al- Alright. Dumbledore re-recruited me to spy on you, but I guess you already figured that one out." He attempted a half smile but got death glares in return. Hurriedly he continued "That's not everything though. When I'm in his office it's either reporting to him what you guys are up to, or getting assigned tasks like following you or tampering with your potions like the other day."
"Is that everything?" prompted George.
"Er...no," Seamus said with hesitancy. "There is this one thing…"
"SPIT. IT. OUT!" yelled Fred.
"Easy brother," George soothed. "Seamus, you've got to tell us."
"If I tell you this, you'll stay off my back won't you?" the boy pleaded.
"Listen here you little bugger," Fred began, "You got yourself into this mess, and you are going to get yourself out of it by helping us until we say you can stop!"
"Okay okay! Sorry!", Seamus yelped. "It's just that whenever I'm reporting to Dumbledore, he always seems to know what you two are doing before I even get there to tell him what I know."
"What? How?"
"Good question. I inquired about it myself one night- asked him how he knew so much about everything." Seamus paused, probably to consider whether or not 'watching his back' was worth taking a chance. Finally he relented. "Without even saying anything, the old man pulled out this really ancient piece of parchment and gave it to me."
"Well, what was it?" Fred practically shouted.
"I sort of just glanced up at him like he was crazy and was about to ask him what I was supposed to do with a bit of old parchment. However, before I could say anything, Dumbledore tapped the parchment and I believe he said 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'. Then words started appearing on the paper!" The first year took a moment to revel in the memory. The twins shared dubious looks. "It was bloody brilliant! I believe it called itself the Marauder's Map. A whole map of Hogwarts! And it shows everyone!"
He finished as though that answered all the twins' questions. They stared at him blankly.
"What do you mean it shows everyone?" questioned George.
"That's what I mean. It's a map of Hogwarts, it shows everything. Every single passageway, corridor, and secret tunnels that none of the students know about. And it displays where everyone is at every time of day!" Seamus explained. "That's how Dumbledore knows what you two are up to! He can see where you are all the time!"
Dumbstruck, the twins thought quickly. Dumbledore had a map of Hogwarts, that he could access whenever he wanted, that showed exactly where everyone was….. The twins knew the old man was a cheat, but not this much of a cheat. It was magnificent. A weakness.
"But he can't see what we're doing can he?" Fred asked.
"No he can't, that's why he has me. Whenever he sees you guys located somewhere like Snape's private stores, he knows you are up to something and calls for me to report on you. The man doesn't know everything, but he has a good intuition about your mischief based off of the map." Seamus answered.
Silence fell upon the corridor. All the boys were deep in thought. Eventually George broke the silence. "We need to get that map."
The three boys shared evil smirks.
~.~
~.~