It was nearing curfew. The twins had limited time to carry out the most risky part of their plan. They made a slow procession toward the dungeons. The lanterns flared up just as they reached the entrance hall. The castle doors were opened a crack and in the darkness the lawn was illuminated by the torchlights from inside.
Just as the twins were about to descend the stairs to the dungeons, they turned toward the sound of voices. Fred poked George with glee as they realized who it was!
Fred leaned in and whispered "Look! It's Malfoy and his goons! We can fulfill my promise to Harry."
George silently brooded about how inconvenient this was. His more cunning and less suicidal side was telling him to continue down the stairs and slip away unnoticed. But it was just too tempting for him.
As the three first years were about to walk past them to the stairs, George stuck out his leg and tripped Goyle.
"OI!" yelped Crabbe in fright as Goyle fell over.
He flexed his muscles, ready to fight. Malfoy on the other hand looked about ready to wet his pants and Fred snickered in delight. Malfoy spun around at the noise and the twins snuck around the other side of him and yanked his robes.
"AHHH MERLIN'S BALLS!" the first year screamed.
The twins doubled over in silent laughter.
Merlin's balls? Never heard that one before, George thought in appreciation.
By the time the boys stopped laughing, the first years were on their feet and flying down the stairs towards Snape's office.
"Hey this works out! They'll go running to Snape and keep him preoccupied while we raid his stores!" George claimed confidently.
Fred nodded in agreement and the duo made their way down the stairs that the first years just ran down.
For one breathtaking moment, at the bottom of the stairs, Snape passed the twins and lead the way back up to the entrance hall as Malfoy and his goons desperately recounted the details of their story to him. If Snape weren't so angry, he probably would have noticed the twins' presence.
"Gee Snape looks pretty peeved," Fred said uncertainty.
"Don't start doubting yourself now, we have to do this. Let's go. And fast," George commanded.
As quickly as they could, the twins ran down the corridor and finally arrived at a locked door.
"Damn, this thing probably has all kinds of locking spells on it," George complained.
As if already knowing what George was going to say, Fred whipped a bobby pin out of his pocket and rifled it around in the lock. Eventually the door popped open and made as little as one small creak of noise. The marauders rushed inside.
"Okay what are we going to need? Do you remember?" Fred asked.
"It's pretty advanced but I think I do….ummm…" George paused for a few seconds and then started reeling off a list of ingredients. "Lacewing flies, Uhh leeches, fluxweed picked at full moon, Uhhhh…."
"Slow down will ya?" yelled Fred. He had been rushing around gathering ingredients as George had been listing them off with his fingers.
After a few minutes they had finished gathering the ingredients they needed. Fred had just managed to stuff the last of the boomslang skin into his pocket and slip under the invisibility cloak when the door slammed open.
"Professor, are you even listening to me? Do you even care what just happened?" Malfoy was still following the professor.
Snape promptly ignored the blonde and stared with a critical eye around the room. Upon noticing some empty shelves, the man flipped.
"WHO DARED TO ENTER MY PERSONAL STORES AND TAKE MY PRECIOUS INGREDIENTS!" he bellowed.
The twins had been standing right in front of him and deftly took a step back in synchronous.
Malfoy looked even more terrified now than he did in the entrance hall.
The bat began roaming around the room and came way too close for the twins' comfort. They would have tried to escape, but Malfoy the snot was standing right in the doorway.
Hmmmm, George thought, Well, there's only one thing to do really.
George grabbed ahold of his brothers arm and slammed into Malfoy on the way out the door.
"AGHH!" the younger boy screeched as he toppled to the ground.
The boys stormed noisily off down the corridor and made it to the bottom of the stairs when they heard clomping footsteps behind them. In horror, George turned and saw Snape barreling in their direction as though he could see them!
"Merlin's balls!" George cursed, using Malfoy's vernacular.
They were done for and they both knew it. There was no way they were going to make it up the stairs without Snape crashing into them! Looking around desperately, the boys tried to find something that would help them.
Luckily there was a door just to their right. George opened the door and closed it without going inside.
Fortunately Snape bought the trick. The boys watched as the overgrown bat rushed into the room and started screaming profanities and cursing Godric Gryffindor for his "insufferable house traits."
The boys snuck up the stairs and ran far away.
Once they put enough distance between themselves and Snape, they sat down to catch their breath. It was a good fifteen minutes past curfew now and since it was Friday night, it was already almost eleven pm.
"That. Was. Close," George said between heavy breathing.
"It's after curfew," Fred complained while checking his watch. "We still have to return the map to Dumbledore."
From the ground George began moaning. "Ughhh… I know but… that's suicidal!"
"And stealing from Snape isn't?!" Fred asked incredulously. He was getting worried at his brother's lack of confidence. They had just one more thing to do that night. "We need Dumbledore's hair."
"Maybe we could get Seamus to do it," George pleaded. The many close calls that night had gotten to him.
Fred responded, "We got lucky once with Seamus, it's unlikely that it would go smoothly again."
Finally Fred convinced his brother to carry on with the plan. That night they already had a close call with Ravenclaws, Peeves, the Minister, Malfoy, and Snape. It would be detrimental to their plan if they screwed up this next bit. Sure, the last run-in might have been risky to their attendance to this school, but the next and final bit of the plan was the most risky to their victory in the prank war.
For the last time that night, the twins arrived at the third floor corridor. They stopped to check the map one more time. They saw that Dumbledore's name tag was stationary in a room beyond his office.
"Hopefully this means he's asleep," Fred bidded.
The boys removed the cloak- not without checking their surroundings of course- and walked up to the gargoyle.
"Butterscotch Pixies," the boys said together.
The gargoyle hesitated and sprang to life as it gave the twins a suspicious glance.
"Oh come on you dolt! We know the password!" Fred complained while kicking at it.
"What he means to say is….we know the password! So if you could kindly move out of our way that would be appreciated," George salvaged the conversation carefully.
Eventually the gargoyle stopped glaring at them and moved out of the way. The twins hopped on the spiral staircase. At the top, Fred pushed the door open slowly. No sound was made and the office was dark aside from the moonlight glowing through the windows.
Multiple papers were strewn across the main desk and even on the floor. It seemed as though the old man was still quite busy and had likely not noticed the map's absence. The boys made their way through the mess and towards the bookshelf that Seamus had described to them. George placed the map on the shelf.
For one heart stopping moment, Fred noticed a huge bird perched on the railing leading to Dumbledore's quarters. It was magnificent, it's feathers shined red and gold in the moonlight. The bird eyed them with curiosity and gave Fred a wink. Fred nudged George and when he finally looked up the bird was gone.
"What is it?" George said in hushed annoyance.
"There was just- there was…..a bird. It was sitting right there!" Fred replied and pointed to the railing.
"What do you mean there was a bird? Wouldn't I have noticed it? And where is it now?" George finished in panic.
Amongst their bickering a huge gust of air came over them. Fred turned and saw the very same bird sitting on Dumbledore's desk. George followed suit and gasped.
"Oh Merlin! The coot has a pet!" George cried. "We're done for!"
Before anyone could do anything the beautiful creature dropped something at their feet. They had to bend down and squint, but eventually they could make out three silver strands of hair.
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