Between the extra work from the teachers, Quidditch practice, and the detentions the boys received from Filch, it left them very little time to worry about Valek. In fact they had almost forgotten about him when a strange and bizarre looking bird dropped down in front of Fred and George during their breakfast. It delivered a single envelope, pecked around the table for a few moments before stealing a couple of sausages from George's plate and flying away.

"Hey, bring those back," complained George, shaking a fist in the air at the retreating creature.

"Oh no, where are you going to get more of those?" said Lee, sarcastically as he speared a sausage from a serving plate on the table with his fork. He waved it under his friend's nose. "They're such a rare food, who knows when you'll be able to taste them agai…. Oi."

"What?" said George, who had taken a large bite out of his friend's sausage, and proceeded to chew it with his mouth open. "I thought you were feeding me."

"Git," muttered Lee, smiling. He dumped the remaining contents of his fork onto George's plate and took more for himself. This time he didn't try to tease his friend with them.

"You okay there Fred?" said George, looking across the table at this brother. Fred had been trying to open the envelope since it had arrived but without any success. "It's only a letter not a… you know… something puzzlely."

"Puzzlely?" said Lee, screwing his face into a frown. "You're really not at your best in the morning are you."

"Well you think of a word that describes something difficult to get into."

"Er…" said Lee, looking thoughtful for a few moments.

"See, not that easy is it?" said George. He lent over the table and took the letter from his brother. "Give it here. That's why you use a fork. Your fingers are too greasy."

"I've been using a fork you dunce," said Fred, waving the piece of cutlery in the air to demonstrate. He watched as his brother tried to lift up the flap on the back of the envelope. "See? It's not just me."

"Fine, I'll just rip it open," said George. He tried to tear the side of the letter open with both hands but even using all his strength it made no difference.

"Use a knife," advised Lee. He watched George for a couple of seconds. "Use a clean knife."

"Oh, right," said George, looking down at his knife that was caked in egg yolk. He picked up a spare, slipped it into a gap in the flap and pulled the blade upwards. Then he tried a sawing motion back and forth. Finally he settled on just waving the knife in the air with the envelope stuck on the end. "Nothing."

"You sure it's not just a joke envelope," said Fred.

"I don't think so," said George, examining the paper closely. There was nothing special about the envelope apart from it had been closed with a red wax seal. "Looks normal."

"Of course it looks normal. That's the point of joke things, they look normal but they're not."

"That explains you then," said George. He passed it back over to his brother. "You try."

Fred struggled with the letter in the same manner as his brother for a few minutes before giving up.

"It's pointless, we can't open it. Look what it did," stated Fred, whose knife was now bent in half.

"Give it here," sighed a female voice. It was Hermione, the first year Gryffindor who was friends with Harry Potter and the twin's younger brother Ron. She had been sitting eating her breakfast near to the boys and had tried her best to ignore their antics but couldn't help herself once they could not work out how to open the envelope. She needed to give them the answer.

"No offense Harmony," said George, dismissively. "But if we can't open it I doubt you can."

"It's Hermione, and I think I know why you can't just open it. I need to look at it to be sure though," said the bushy haired girl holding her hand out expectantly.

"What's the worst that could happen?" said Fred, shrugging his shoulders. He handed the girl the envelope. "It's not like she could make it harder to open."

"Just as I thought," said Hermione, after turning the envelope over. She pointed to the seal on the back. "See this? It's a Secrecy Seal. They're really rare, unless you work at the Ministry I suppose. Not many private collectors would have access to one of these."

"Right," nodded Fred, taking the envelope back from the girl and looking at the red mark on the back. "A Secrecy Seal."

"Yes," agreed George, nodding his head. "One of those."

"They were used a lot during the Goblin Wars. It's a way of making sure only certain people can open it, plus the true address and addressee is only revealed once it gets delivered, " said Hermione, trying her best to jog the boys' memories. "You would have covered this during History of Magic."

"Yeah, we take more of a laid-back approach to Binns' class," explained George, shrugging his shoulders.

"That means they take naps," explained Lee.

"Well, why didn't you recognise the seal?" asked Hermione.

"Er… well it's always first thing, and that room is really warm."

"You nap as well? Through a lesson?" asked Hermione with an expression of pure disgust. "But how do you learn anything?"

"I think this whole exchange has shown you that we don't," said Fred. He waved the envelope at her. "Care to give us a refresher?"

"Well, during the Goblin Wars the Ministry of Magic needed a way of sending correspondence that couldn't be intercepted…" began Hermione.

"Just tell us how to open it," said George, interrupting the girl before she could get too far into her story.

"With blood," said Hermione, annoyed that she wasn't allowed to complete her explanation. "This seal is designed only to be opened by close family of the writer; brother, sister, parents, uncle or aunt. That way if it gets intercepted no-one else can open it."

"Uncle," nodded Fred, recognising Enoch's hand-writing on the front of the envelope.

"A drop of your blood on the seal will be enough to dissolve it," said Hermione, pointing to the mark. "Although I don't know why anyone would send their nephews an envelope with a Secrecy Seal. Expecting you to cut yourself just to open it? It's practically barbaric."

"So should we…" said George, looking at the knife in his hand.

"Maybe use a pin?" said Lee. "You only need a drop of blood, not a whole pint. I think I have one upstairs."

"Brilliant," said Fred, getting up to leave. He turned back to look at the first year. "Thanks Herm…atha?"

"Hermione," said the girl, correcting him. "It's quite a simple name to remember."

"Don't worry, I won't forget it from now on," said Fred, as he followed Lee and George out of the Great Hall. On the way out they spotted his younger brother Ron and Harry walking into the room.

"Hi Fred, George," said Harry. "Oliver told me to remind you that there is Quidditch practice tonight."

"More practice? I swear he gets worse with every year," complained George, shaking his head. "At this rate, by next year he'll have us sleeping on our brooms so we can practice while we snooze."

"Your friend Herm…ity?"

"Hermione," said Ron, quickly. He had become used to his brothers' inability to remember his friend's name.

"Right, Hermione. Hermione," said Fred, trying to commit it to memory. He waved his hand in the general direction of where they had previously been sitting. "Anyway, she's down there."

"Cheers," said Harry, making his way passed. "Oh, I was only able to find Katie. So let Angelina and Alicia know about the practice if you see them."

"Will do," said Fred, giving the first year a salute. Once Harry and Ron were out of earshot he turned to George. "Are we going to tell them?"

"You want to tell Angelina we have more practice? Do you want her to throw another book at us?" said George. "Let Harry tell her, she won't hurt him. Or better yet let Oliver tell her, she'd definitely hurt him."

Up in the boys' dormitory, after much rummaging, Lee managed to locate a pin in the drawer next to his bed. Unfortunately it had taken pulling the entire drawer out and dumping the contents onto his bed to achieve this.

"Why do you have this?" said Fred, taking the pin from his friend.

"My mother likes to make the adjustments to my clothes herself, she's also a bit forgetful and sometimes doesn't remove all the pins afterwards. I always have to check new clothes before I put them on," said Lee, wincing at the memory of pin pricked body parts. He began pushing the pile of clutter back into the drawer.

"Here you go then," said Fred, holding the pin out to his brother.

"Why am I doing it? You do it," said George, putting his hands on his hips.

"He's your uncle."

"He's your uncle too idiot."

"I don't want to do it."

"Well I don't want to do it either."

"Why not?"

"It might hurt."

"That's why I don't want to do it."

"Get Lee to do it," said George, nodding towards their friend, who had just secured the drawer back into place.

"I can't do it, he's not my uncle."

"Oh right, silly me," said George, agreeing with his friend. He turned back to his brother. "I guess that means it's up to you."

"I suppose. I mean if Lee can't then there's really only one option… hey wait a minute."

"I've seen you two launch yourselves off the roof of Hagrid's house without a second thought about hurting yourselves but this you're afraid of?" said Lee, pointing at the pin in Fred's hand. "Give it here."

"I hate to break it to you buddy," said Fred, looking solemn, "but you aren't a close relative of Enoch."

"I mean I know a way of doing it so that it doesn't hurt," said Lee, taking the pin from Fred. He grabbed hold of his friend's hand, and gripped his thumb securely. "Don't squirm."

"Why do I have to do it?" complained Fred, as his brother smiled.

"Because you're the closest," said Lee, holding the pin above his friend's skin. "On the count of three."

"Is that one, two, go on three? Or one, two, three, then go," said Fred.

"Three," said Lee, quickly jabbing the pin into his friend's thumb before he could react. A small droplet of blood formed on the boy's skin. "See? Didn't hurt too bad did it?"

"Oh. Barely felt it," said Fred. He looked at his brother. "Seriously, let him do it. It's less than a scratch."

"Really?" said George. After couple of seconds he held out his hand and Lee pricked his thumb with the pin. George immediately winced and pulled his hand back. "Ow. That stings."

"Yeah I know," nodded Fred, smiling.

"Then why… git," said George, placing his thumb into his mouth and sucking on the wound.

"Such a baby," said Lee, shaking his head. "Where's the envelope?"

"Oh here you go," said George, taking it from his back pocket and passing it to his brother.

Fred took the letter and turned it over. He squeezed his thumb slightly so that a larger drop of blood appeared and he let it fall down onto the seal. After a few moments it slowly began to dissolve and they were able to open the envelope without any further problems. As they had guessed from the hand-writing on the envelope the letter was indeed from their uncle. It read:

Dear Boys,

Sorry for the use of the Secrecy Seal, I was able to locate one from by less than reputable sources and it seemed like the best way to ensure you received the letter without it being tampered with. I'm assuming you know what to do with it since you learn about them in History of Magic lessons and I of course covered them during one of my own classes with you.

Anyway, I've been using Muggle transport for the most part, so the going has been a bit slow as I don't have much in the way of their money. I even experienced going up in one of their aeroplanes, you father would have loved it, they even served food which shows the main advantage that mode of transport has over brooms. Trying to eat a sandwich while the wind is whipping your face is not easy I can tell you.

As I told you before my friends and I set up a trap for this Valek, since we now know we are dealing with Kosa I was able to appropriate the required equipment needed to fight him. The good news is that he fell for the trap, the bad news is that he was able to escape. The worst news is that it's unlikely he'll fall for the trap a second time. And the worst worst news is that I think he's heading back towards Hogwarts.

I'm making my way there as quickly as I dare, I've sent word to Lexington in the Aurors but I don't know how long it'll take to reach him or even if he'll take any notice. My instinct says he will but my instinct also said Valek wouldn't escape my trap. Your safe within the school as long as Dumbledore is there. Kosa are evil but they are smart, Valek wouldn't risk attacking while there is someone as powerful as Dumbledore there to protect you.

Stay safe boys, and don't try and fight Valek on your own.

Enoch.

P.S. No, seriously, don't try and fight him.

P.P.S. No really, don't.

"Well that sounds like it went well," said George, once Fred had finished reading the letter out loud.

"So we have to hide in the castle while this guy waits to kill us?" snorted Fred, derisively.

"Sounds like a good plan to me," said Lee. His two friends looked at him. "Well, at least we have cake here."

"That is true," nodded Fred, appreciatively. "But just waiting around just seems a bit… unfair."

"Look, the only thing we have that could hurt him are the unicorn horns right?" said Lee.

"Damn right," said George. "We have two of those things. That's twice the danger."

"And the only way we'd get to use them on him is if we were within a couple of feet of him."

"Yep, up close and personal. Just how I like my battles," said Fred, mimicking a stabbing motion with an imaginary unicorn horn.

"Which means, he'll be within a couple of feet of us," said Lee, explaining further.

"Yeah, stare him right in the whites of his eyes," said George.

"I thought he had red eyes. Well red bits where the white bits should be," said Fred.

"You know I wasn't really paying attention at the time."

"You're not getting it are you?" sighed Lee, trying to prevent his friends' conversation to wander away from him. "If we're close enough to stab him with a unicorn horn, he'll be close enough to stab us with… well whatever he wants."

"Oh yeah," agreed Fred. "Maybe we need to come up with a better plan."

"Any plan would be a better plan," commented Lee.

"For the moment I think we should just work on trying to perfect a bunch of indirect spells so that if we do come across Valek we'll at least have something to hit him with," said Fred.

"So basically a lot of extra Charms homework?" sighed Lee. "Can't we defeat him using Astronomy? I'm better at that."

"Don't call it extra Charms homework," said Fred, grimacing. "It sounds too much like something Percy would say."

"What should we call it then?" asked Lee.

"How about battle preparation?"

"And how are we preparing for battle?"

"By doing extra Charms homework… oh."

"Right, so extra Charms with unicorn horns for backup. That's pretty much it," said Lee. "Plus sprint training."

"You're going to run away from him?" said George. "We tried that, he's pretty fast, not sure if you'd be able to outrun him."

"It's not him I need to outrun. I only need to be faster than one of you," said Lee, smiling.

"That's reassuring."

"Mr Lexington," said George, slapping his hand to his head.

"No, I'm Fred, that's Lee and you're George," said Fred, tapping the side on his brother's head.

"Gerroff," said George, batting his brother's finger away. "Remember when he attacked Miro when we went to Diagon Alley."

"No, I wasn't there," said Lee.

"We told you about it, didn't we? Oh well he attacked Miro as a test," explained George. "And the way he beat Miro in the end wasn't with a spell but with..."

"A potion," said Fred, finishing the sentence.

"Exactly," said George, folding his arms and looking smug. "Potions are indirect, they should work on Valek."

"So now we have extra Potion homework as well as Charms? Brilliant," muttered Lee. "So basically we're studying for exams, which is pretty much what I've been trying to do for the last few weeks but you guys keep interrupting me."

"Actually, I'm not sure the Charms and Potions we've learnt in class would help us much against Valek," said George. "So we're going to have to learn more advanced stuff."

"On top of trying to revise everything we learned in school this last year?" said Lee.

"Pretty much," agreed George.

"Look on the bright side," said Fred.

"You do know you're supposed to say something after that," said Lee, a couple of seconds later. "You can't just say 'look on the bright side' and then stop talking. What's the bright side?"

"Er… hang on, I'm thinking," said Fred.