Fred and George were huddled together in the corner of the room when Ron finally entered the Common Room. He immediately noted their detachment from the other students and like any reasonable person became suspicious.

He sauntered over to them casually, drawing their eyes like a spotlight to a deer.

"Well if it isn't sweet young Ron," screamed the twins in creepy unison, "What can we do you for today?"

Ron slowed and looked rather apprehensively at the pair. He hadn't expected them to scream.

"What in the name of Emma Watson's eyebrows are you two playing at? Are you messing with me or are you actually demonic creatures?"

The twins chortled merrily, "Oh Ron, that was just a slip up with auto-correct that was too funny to correct. But enough damaging of walls of a certain numerical value, we need to get down to business."

Ron nodded slowly, "Yeah whatever, I don't really give a fat horse's cock about anything you just said. What are you guys up to?"

"We were expecting a deliver we were forewarned about by the most trustworthy of sources. We expect to be receiving it quite soon. We've been waiting most of the morning."

"You've obviously been waiting up for it," Ron noted, "Look at the bags under your eyes. Aren't you tired?"

"Actually we are getting a bit tired, aren't we Fred?" admitted George.

"Yeah we sure are," Fred confirmed with a toothy grin, "Tired of your bullshit!"

The twins erupted into laughter, their jaws shuddering heavily as mirth escaped their lips. With a dawning realisation, Ron's ears became a shade of red not distinguishable from his hair.

"Whatever! I'm just here to give you the Time Turner and fulfil another point of my contract. Here you go," he scowled tossing the golden compass-like object at the twins.

The twins immediately seized the device and stared at it at awe. After a few moments, they glanced up and beamed at Ron.

"Thanks Ron. You have no idea how glad you are going to be for this."

Ron didn't hear their thanks. He was already leaving and before they could quite finish, he was gone.


Sybil Trelawney sat in her study, penning the note that would soon reach the ginger student who had totally snogged her. As hard as it might be to believe, Sybil had never been kissed before.

The act had excited her.

Sure it might be forbidden with a student and it was wrong, but deep down a part of her was excited by it. There was a delectable depravity to the kiss. It gave her a kind of joy, like when one gets away with a crime.

The thrill of misendeavour, the excitement of subversion.

She wanted more.

And she didn't doubt she would receive. She was blissfully unaware of any magical contracts, all she thought of was Ron's lips. Young, full lips.

If Ron could have known the things she was thinking at that moment, he likely would have vomited a little in his mouth. Luckily for him, he was entirely distracted in Snape's potions class. As Snape drawled on in his oppressively gloomy monotone, Ron pondered just how to get away with detonating a pound of incendiaries.

He needed to do so undetected or there was no way he wouldn't be suspended or worse, expelled. If he was suspended/ expelled there would be little hope for Hermione voluntarily kissing him.

His head sinking into his hands, he bemoaned ever making the contract. What ever had possessed him to accept such a horrible, Faustian deal?


Elsewhere, in the corner furthest from the twins, sat a rather bemused Harry. He had made sure to follow them out early in the morning to discover what they were up to. He was sure he would manage to get to the bottom of the mystery of the map.

He had not however seen any duplicates of the twins on the map. But he had seen something far more interesting.

He had seen Ron appear out of nowhere in Hermione's dormitory and then return to his own dormitory. While Harry might just let this slide as some sort of perversion on Ron's part, it appeared there were two Rons in the dormitory.

Furthermore, Neville had reported Ron's reluctance to let him enter. Harry knew that something didn't add up here.

Why, and how, could two Rons exist in the same room? What had they been doing so close together in the dormitory? How had Ron managed this strange duplicating feat just like the twins had?

One final and rather disheartening question lingered on in Harry's mind.

What was Ron keeping from him?

To Be Continued…