A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in new chapters. It's finals week and I've been too worn out to write, but I hope this is alright.
"Ever! The twins are yelling for you from downstairs!"
Ever groaned and rolled over, hugging her pillow to her chest. It was only about seven, and it was Saturday, and this was the second time in seven hours that the twins had woken her up, though not in the same way, and she didn't want to get up. The door to the dormitory closed, and for a few minutes—she didn't know how long—she snuggled back down into her blankets and forgot about the twins and everything else...until the door banged open again.
"Ever," said Angelina slowly, "the twins—he says he's Fred but I don't know if that's true—he says if you don't come downstairs in the next five minutes he'll never tell you what you wanted to know. What does that mean?" Ever sighed and resigned herself to getting up early, throwing back her comforter and swinging her feet around to the freezing stone floor.
"He's just being stupid," she mumbled as she forced herself out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt—she liked it because it had worn holes where she'd pulled it down over her hands and now her thumbs fit through perfectly—and ran into the bathroom to slip them on. When she came back into the dormitory, Angelina was gone, but she'd left the door open and she could hear the twins counting down in unison downstairs. She sighed; they were only down to a hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight...but she grabbed a pair of socks and slipped them on, pulling her trainers quickly over them. By the time the twins had gotten down to fifty—with Lee Jordan joining them for the final stretch—she was out the door and down the stairs, folding her arms over her chest as she arrived in front of the three of them just in time for the them to stumble over thirty-nine.
"Was that really necessary?"
"Yes," Fred and George chorused, each of them grabbing one of her hands and dragging her through the portrait hole.
"You see," said the twin on her right—a quick glance confirmed that it was George—with his trademark crooked grin. "We have information you want."
"And you promised to come with us to get the information we want," said Fred.
"You also said that it was going to happen at lunch time," Ever grumbled, but she found she couldn't really be cranky with the boys now that she was up; she was just as curious about all the secret passages in the castle.
"Yes, well, they got a bit impatient," said Lee, munching on a candy bar loudly behind them. "They woke me up an hour ago throwing pillows at me, and then waited another thirty minutes for Angelina or Alicia to come down so they could go up and get you."
"You could've come to get me yourself," the girl pointed out, looking at Fred. He shook his head.
"No we couldn't have, because then Johnson or Spinnet might have gone to McGonagall and told her that we could get into the girls' dormitories."
"We've already got one detention under our belt, and that was dead boring, aside from this." George waved the map—now blank—in front of her face. She blinked at it, sliding her hand from George's to grab the slip of parchment and look at it more clearly.
"How'd you get the map to go away?"
"That's the best part!" Lee exclaimed, finishing up his candy bar with a final loud crunch. "When we went up to the dormitories, Fred was mumbling about it, saying that it had been clean before, there had to be a way to clean it again so people couldn't find it."
"So we poked and prodded at it a bit," said George, taking the map back from her. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered, pointing his wand at it. The lines and dots that showed everyone in the castle quickly filled in, and the red-head grinned. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of that."
"So we ended up just asking the map, 'cause we figured if there was a way to do it, there was a way to undo it," said Fred, plucking the map out of his twin's hand. "And the Marauder's came through, 'cause the minute we asked—"
"There was writing on the back of it," Lee piped up. "Those two didn't notice it at first because they were staring at the front of it, and you should've seen their faces, it was like they were using all their brain cells put together trying to figure out this puzzle—"
"Oi, we've got more than you have!" said George.
"—but there it was, and this time it wasn't a riddle, it just said 'mischief managed' in that really neat handwriting from before."
"So you just..." Thoughtfully, Ever pulled her wand out of her back pocket and tapped the map. "Mischief managed." As quickly as the lines had filled out, they drained away from the parchment, seeming to seep into it. She grinned. "That's cool."
It only took ten minutes to get to the third floor, where the first passageway that appeared to lead out of the castle was appeared on the map, but it was a long ten minutes. The four of them were so excited they barely knew what to do with themselves, and they made a bit too much noise on the way, but paid no mind to it. When they finally did reach where the passage was marked—a statue of a one-eyed witch with a hump on her back—Ever studied it curiously.
"Who is she?"
"Dunno," said Fred absently, looking at the map. "Doesn't say anything on here about how to get in though..."
"Maybe we have to—"
"Weasleys, Jordan, Moore." The three of them jumped at Professor McGonagall's sharp voice, ringing down the hallway. Fred was the first to whirl around, smoothly sliding the map into his back pocket, and the others slowly followed suit. "What are you four doing around this corridor? It's a nice day, you should be making the most of it."
"We were just exploring the castle, Professor," Ever said quickly, and, to her immense surprise, the professor softened up a bit.
"I know it can be a bit overwhelming at first, coming into a place so large, even for pure-blood children." Ever nodded enthusiastically, with the Weasleys and Lee joining in a moment too late.
"Could you tell us who this witch is?" the girl asked, jerking her thumb back over her shoulder. "We were wondering about it when you walked up, you see, and none of the boys know..."
"Gunhilda of Gorsemoor. She discovered a cure for dragon pox," McGonagall explained, looking closely at each of them. "You all may want to get back to your common rooms just now. It would be best to wait until you're more acquainted with the passages you're meant to be traveling before you wander off on your own."
"Yes, Professor," the Gryffindors murmured in unison, and immediately set off in the direction of the common room. Ever shot back a little wave over her shoulder.
"Where'd you learn to lie like that?" Fred muttered under his breath. She shrugged.
"It wasn't exactly a lie." They made short work of the walk on the way back, and as they were climbed back through the portrait hole, Ever turned on Fred. "How'd you get up the stairs?"
"Sticking Charm," he said airily, pointing at his hands. "It turned into a slide, I just climbed up it."
"Like Spiderman?" At the confused look he shot her, she sighed and shook her head. "Never mind. I'm going back up for a nap."
With a little wave, and promises to meet for lunch—actual lunch, and not the Weasleys waking her up when they got impatient for her company—that's exactly what she did.