00

Upon stepping into the common room, the group were met with the sight of Fred, George, Neville, Dean, Seamus and Lee.

"Where have you been?"

"You had us worried!"

"What's going on?"

"Whoah, one at a time." Stephanie says.

They all walk over and sit on the couches.

"You missed Percy, he was so flustered." George says, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, you should've seen it." Fred laughs.

"Trust you two to laugh at our brothers antics at such a time." Jessica shakes her head.

"C'mon, you know what he's like." George says, nudging her.

"Exactly, I expected that from Hermione." Fred says, turning to look at her cautiously.

"It's been...an eventful night." Grace says, also looking at her.

"Care to share?" Lee asks, bluntly.

"Awful nosey, aren't you?" Stephanie teases.

"Hey, what can I say-" He shrugs, before Fred and George finish for him with grins.

"It is his best trait." They say.

"We realised that Hermione was in the toilet and didn't know about the troll." Ron starts.

"We guessed that Grace was with her as well." Harry adds.

"So, that's where you went when you left rather abruptly." George asks.

"I had to clarify who's ass I had to kick." Grace says, and then glances past Jessica to glare at Ron. "Although, my assumptions are mostly correct."

"Why were you hiding in toilet for the day?" Seamus asks, clueless.

"She was crying." Neville informs.

"Wha-why?" Dean asks, all eyes now on the girl.

"I'm off to bed." She says, standing up and heading to the stairs, only stopping once. "Goodnight."

"Night." They respond.

"Idiots." Grace groans, rubbing her temples.

"You really can't read the situation, can you?" Stephanie asks, glaring at the three boys.

"In their defence, I'd be curious too." Ron mutters, all heads whipping to look at him.

"Huh, is that so?" Jessica says, sarcastically while glaring.

"I get the feeling that you're not in the position to say anything, Ronniekins." Fred says.

"No, he is not." Harry confirms.

"We don't actually know that it was my fault." Ron says, timidly.

"Oh, really?" Grace says, casting him a glance. "Please, do share."

"I..." He trails off.

"He made fun of Hermione." Harry clarifies.

"Surprise, surprise." Stephanie says.

"I'll go check on her." Jessica says, standing up from the couch only to be stopped by Grace's arm, earning curious looks.

"Trust me, she'd rather be left alone to sleep it off." Grace says, answering their questioning looks.

"Right." Jessica says, sitting down again.

It didn't take long to fill the boys in on what had happened and in no time, their questions were also answered.

"I still can't believe that Hermione took the blame." Lee says, considerably surprised.

"That's one hell of a sister you've got there, Grace." Fred grins, looking at her.

"You're telling me." She grins.

"And you, throwing things at it." George says, teasing. "So badass."

"Hey, it helped." Jessica pouts.

"I didn't see you there." Harry teases.

"Girls bathrooms aren't my style." George says.

"Yeah, we're not creeps." Fred says, before winking at Stephanie.

"Dude, not my sister." Harry groans, earning laughs.

"Are you okay, though?" Neville suddenly asks.

"Of course." The group reply.

"But you've got some cuts." Dean points out, looking at Grace.

"I'll live," She brushes it off. "Plus, it's nothing in comparison to Boy Wonder here, who might I remind, wrestled a troll."

"Oh yes, how could we forget." Seamus laughs.

"Not that I'm hating this," Stephanie says. "But I think it'd be best if we headed off now."

"Yeah, it's pretty late." Jessica adds.

"Plus, Chloe will be waiting for us." Grace says, before looking at the two girls with a grin. "And I'm just sure Pugface and her lackeys will be quaking with worry by now."

"Of course, I expect nothing less." Stephanie nods, the girls rising to their feet.

"Shouldn't keep the little madam waiting." Jessica laughs, as the boys also stand up.

"She's an experiment gone wrong." Grace mutters.

"A scientific mutation." Jessica nods. The two look at each other dead seriously, before bursting into fits of laughter and fist bumping.

"We'll walk you." Harry says.

"Brother," Stephanie says, putting a hand on her brothers shoulder, looking him dead in the eye. "I don't think you can handle the Slytherin side to us."

This caused them all to laugh, even Harry after a moment of trying and failing to look mad.

"We're big girls, we'll manage on our own." Jessica says.

"Oh, really," Grace grins, nudging her. "Shorty."

"I-I-" She stutters, becoming red in the face.

"Don't hurt yourself." Ron laughs along with the others.

"Really, we should be going." Stephanie says, as they had stopped at the exit of the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Before someone has a breakdown." Jessica says, meaning Pansy.

"And, really, we should wal-" George starts, before Grace cuts him off.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." She reassures him. "Plus, I don't think the Professors would appreciate you wandering the halls, causing trouble."

"Me? Cause trouble?" He gasps, holding a hand to his heart in mock hurt. "I'm hurt."

"I'm sure you'll survive." She giggles.

"We're at least walking you out of Gryffindor Tower." Lee says, silencing Stephanie, who was ready to retort, with a glare. "After all, you aren't familiar with the route."

Silence.

"True." Stephanie mutters.

"He's got a point." Grace mumbles, as Jessica sighs in defeat.

"Let's go." Harry laughs, linking arms with his sister and pulling her along.

"Oh, God." Stephanie groans. "Happy Harry scares me more than any troll could."

"Dramatic." Jessica laughs.

"That's my middle name, yes." Stephanie says, with a straight face. They finally crack and start laughing.

"Jeez, you'll get us into trouble with those loud mouths." Grace says, from between them, with a hand covering each of their mouths.

"Loud?" Jessica scoffs. "You talk the most out of all of us!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Ladies, ladies." Fred tuts.

"Were there always this much paintings?" Grace asks, glancing carefully at each one.

"Huh?" They question, confused.

"They're quite creepy in the dark, don't you think?" She say, eyeing the many hung on the walls.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of paintings?" Ron sniggers.

"Why couldn't you have just stayed behind with Dean, Seamus and Neville?" She teases. "And no, I'm not scared of paintings, that's just daft."

"Then what are you scared of?" George asks.

"Things in the dark, in general." She mutters, continuing with the trek at hand.

"Don't worry, I can assure you nothing will bite." George says, slinging his arm over her shoulders.

"Not sure we can say the same about things down in Slytherin, though." Fred adds.

"Take Draco Malfoy, for example." Stephanie sighs.

"I feel sorry for Chloe." Lee says.

"It's funny, she's nothing like her brother." Grace says.

"She's far nicer." Jessica adds.

They kept walking through the halls in the dark, chatting and laughing quietly in order to escape being caught.

"Wow, remind me to never come back here." Harry shivers, as the group reach the dungeons.

"Told you didn't I?" Stephanie says, sternly.

"You were warned." Grace adds, grinning.

"How can you not like the dark but survive in Slytherin?" George asks.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that we're surviving." Jessica says.

"It's a pretty dark house, Slytherin." Lee says.

"Just like my soul." Grace jokes.

"Far from it." George says, looking down at her.

"Dark soul." Fred mutters, mockingly. "You're a little darling."

"I'll crack the jokes." Jessica scoffs.

"It is quite the surprise that any of you are Slytherin." Lee comments.

"Not really, just wait till you get to know them." Harry and Ron mutter along the same lines.

"Offensive!"

"You're one to talk!"

"Wait," Grace says, glancing up at George. "What happened to just walking us from Gryffindor Tower?"

"Oh, I didn't even notice." He shrugs, innocently.

Before anything further could be said, the sound of shoes clicking on the stone floor resonated through the hall. Someones shadow appeared turning the corner at the bottom of the hall and the reflexes of the others kicked in immediately. George, who still had his arm around Grace, pulled her to hide in one of the alcoves, followed by Lee grabbing Stephanie by the wrist and the others close behind. They all shuffled in close together out of sight, just in time as Snape roamed the halls, walking right past them.

"Bloody hell, that was close." Ron gasps.

"Snape-?" Harry starts.

"Usually wanders the halls? Yes." Stephanie answers.

"He's a night owl." Jessica says. "Can't blame him, I'm wide awake."

"Lucky for some." Grace mockingly scowls. "I don't even know how I've managed to stay awake for this long, without collapsing."

"That's what you get for staying up late." Stephanie scorns.

"I was not!" Grace objects.

"Were too!" Jessica chirps.

The group slowly emerged from their hiding place and started walking again, more quietly and cautiously.

"Was no-!"

"Oh, come one." Stephanie laughs, lightly. "Even snobface would vouch for us, that you were up late writing."

"You write?" George questions, from his walking place next to her.

"N-no." She quickly answers. Too quickly.

"Yeah, sure." He sniggers.

"At least she's doing something productive, unlike the rest of you!" Fred points out, with a laugh.

"Excuse me, but I am productive." Jessica says, folding her arms. The others nodded their approval.

"Like what?" He asks.

"L-like-" She splutters.

"Watching her crush." Grace says, in a sing song voice.

"H-hey!" Jessica says, in disbelief.

"Oh, so, there's a lover boy?" George teases his sister.

"No." She says, at the same time Grace says. "Yes."

This earned grins from the rest.

"You?" Fred questions Stephanie.

"I do homework." Stephanie says, it being the first thing that came to mind.

"Finds out gossip." Grace says, covering it up innocently through a cough.

"Ughh, another Hermione." Ron groans.

However, this time before Grace can say anything, George instead warns.

"Ron."

"Sorry." He says, going red in the face.

"Oh, Harry." Jessica says, as if just remembering something.

"Yeah?"

"Has your scar hurt at any point?" Jessica asks.

"Well...yeah." He says, hesitantly. "A few times, why?"

"Told you," Jessica says, looking at Stephanie. "You weren't being daft."

"Yours burned too?" Harry asks.

"Yes, a couple of times too." Stephanie says.

"That's rather odd." Lee comments.

"It's weird," Harry says. "The first was when I-"

"Looked at Snape?" Stephanie asks, eyebrows raised.

"So it wasn't just me." Harry sates, more than asks.

Stephanie sighs. "I thought I was going mad."

"Is that why you didn't tell me?" Harry asks and she nods. "That's why I never told you."

"I figured." She replies, smiling reassuringly.

"Er..." Jessica mumbles.

"What's wrong?" Ron asks.

"We didn't get the chance to find out the password." She groans.

"How are we going to get in now?" Stephanie dramatically sighs.

"Don't stress, it's bad for your health." Grace says, looking at the two as the group saw their destination in sight.

"Don't stress?" Jessica asks, incredulously.

"We'll end up sleeping outside on the floor!" Stephanie adds.

"Don't worry," Grace says, simply. "I've got this."

"Huh?"

She walks backwards, in front of the group, facing them. "Watch and learn, ladies." She says clicking her fingers and pointing.

"What is she up to now?" Jessica questions, watching as she approached the guardian of the Slytherin Headquarters.

"Do you reckon Chloe and Draco have made up yet?" Stephanie asks Jessica, as they watch Grace whisper something to the guard.

"Not likely," Jessica replies. "They are far too stubborn to have made up this fast."

"True." Stephanie groans. "I don't know how much of it I can take."

"The glares and atmosphere is not something I enjoy either." Jessica sighs, back.

"What is she doing?" Lee questions, quizzically.

They focussed on Grace again, just in time to see her finish her whisper and winking at them.

"What are you waiting for?" Grace smiles, as the wall opens up to reveal the entrance. "I need some sleep."

"How on earth?" They gape.

"What did you say?" George asks.

"Oh, nothing." She smiles, innocently.

"Sure." Fred looks at her curiously, as were the rest.

"I meant it, we need to make sure Pugface gets some more of that much needed 'beauty sleep'." Grace grins.

"It isn't working and I don't think it ever will." Stephanie comments.

"We sure can't have her missing out on any sleep sessions, it'll be unbearably worse to look at her." Jessica nods.

"Hypocrites." Ron mutters.

"Ron, we aren't Parkinson's friend, nor will we ever be. We don't pretend to be and then upset her. She insults us every chance she gets and we're only returning the favour. It's not like we're being really bitchy about it, we only make a few 'correct' comments here and there." Jessica says.

"She's not wrong, Ron." Harry says, hitting the boys back.

"She called Jessica a blood traitor and Grace and Hermione a mudblood." Stephanie says, clenching her fists. "That's where the line is crossed."

"Buuuuuut," Grace says, putting her hand on Stephanie's shoulder. "We're fine. Plus, she got a well deserved punch, if I remember correctly."

"It was awesome!" George and Fred praise, slinging an arm around Jessica.

"It felt awesome." Jessica laughs.

"Yeah, well next time it's my turn." Stephanie says.

"Hey, get in line." Grace laughs.

"Since when were you the violent types?" Harry questions, a hint of amusement lacing it.

"Since now, apparently." Lee laughs.

"Right, well, we better head back, too." Ron says, brining them back to earth.

"Oh," Fred says. "I guess you're right."

"For a first." George mutters under his breath.

"Goodnight." The boys smile.

"Goodnight." The girls reply, standing in the entrance.

"Don't get caught!" Stephanie shouts after their retreating backs.

"Keep out of trouble!" Jessica adds.

"More like don't cause trouble!" Grace points out, laughing as the two Weasley twins briefly look over their shoulders, to grin.

00

After a lot of explaining, Chloe had been brought up to date with what had occurred and her mind was put at ease from her worrying. They decided to call it a night, heading to their dorm, grateful for the fact that Pansy was out cold.

Small blessings.