"Ms. Rose-Singer, I am not your head of house, but you will be serving detention with your friends, the Weasleys." She shook her head, "Such a smart girl, how could you participate in this?" McGonagall continued to rant, but Hunn didn't feel panicked because Fred and George were there with her, and they sat relaxed.
Fred and George sat on each side of her with their hands resting on their laps, their faces a mask of innocence
George smiled, "Minerva darling, we didn't wish the Slytherins any ill will. We just wanted to have a little fun with them. Offer a hand of friendship, that's all." George tried to weasel his way into her good graces with a sweet smile, but by McGonagall's look, she wasn't having any of it. Her eyes narrowed, and she took a step closer to them.
"Mr. Weasley, I don't care what your intentions were. The result was disasters and wrongly gone about. It took three teachers to round up those frogs and put that table back together! Slytherins had to eat their supper on the floor!"
She waited for some reaction, but the three of them swallowed their laughter, "You three will serve detention with me tonight, tomorrow, and Friday night as well."
She led the way out of her office and to the Great Hall, "Now come with me. Tonight, you will be Cleaning and gathering all the frog slime, no matter how long it takes." She held the door open and waited near the door as the three of them stood and walked in. The journey was silent, and when they arrived, she put them in three different areas in an attempt to separate them.
"Wands?" McGonagall demanded with her hand held out.
Hunn held her wand out, and she gathered the three of them with a wave of her own. With a second wave, she gave them their tools and told them to begin working. She walked out with a promise to check on their progress every hour.
"Hey, Hunn, is this your first detention?" Fred asked, scooping frog slime into his bucket
"Yes. I've never gotten in trouble before." She told him as she pushed the frog line into a large pile.
George burst out laughing, "We are blessed to share this special day. It surely will not be your last, not with us around."
They chatted about anything and everything, with McGonagall coming and going every hour. They were almost finished when the clocks struck midnight, and McGonagall came and released them from their torture and returned their wands to them.
Fred and George walked her to Ravenclaw Tower in silence.
They stopped at the large door with the Eagle knocker and exchanged looks between them.
The Eagle on the door waited, watching them until it became board, "Do you wish to enter?"
Hunn turned to the door and nodded, "Yes, I wish to enter."
"Alright, your riddle this morning is, There is a story that a man and not a man, saw and did not see a bird and not a bird, perched on a branch and not a branch and hit him and did not hit him with a rock and not a rock. How is it possible?" The eagle asked
"Hmm," Hunn had to think a moment, but it was harder than normal because of the two chattering boys beside her
"What do you mean? A man and not a man? That's not even possible." Fred looked extremely confused
"Yeah, this is fixed! You don't want anyone to get in!" George agreed, acting like the eagle.
The knocker ignored them and glanced at Hunn, "Is that your answer?"
"No." She replied and continued to ponder the riddle
"What do you mean no? This is fixed. You'll never get in at this rate. You should just come to the Gryffindor common room. Ginny would love a sleepover."
"No, it's not impossible, George. It's about an Eunuch. Which is a man and not a man all in one. I need a moment for the rest." She told them to think hard
"A what?"
"An Eunuch. It's a castrated man. A man and not a man, too."
"Castrated. Oww."
"What kind of riddle is this? That's crazy," Fred said. He walked us to the Eagle and looked really close at it. It blinked at him and stared back. Fred leaned away quickly.
"Don't worry it doesn't bite." Hunn laughed at him
"There's a first for everything." The Eagle head told them, narrowing its eyes.
"It doesn't like us! Hunn, it doesn't like us at all. I bet it gave us extra hard questions when we tried to get in!"
"I've got it!" I declared, grinning at them all widely
"Well, spit it out."
"A eunuch, a man and not a man, who did not see well, saw and didn't see, saw a bat, a bird and not a bird, perched on a reed, a branch and not a branch, and threw a pumice stone, a stone and not a stone, at him which missed. There you are, Eagle. Now, may I enter?" Hunn grinned, feeling rather smart
"Correct. You may enter." The door swung wide, and it waited for her to walk through.
"Good night, Fred. Good night, George." She looked up at them, at least a foot shorter than them, and loved their confused faces.
George was gapping at her, "You're a brilliant woman! If you can figure that out then you really are bloody brilliant. Are you going to help us pass our exams? We would definitely pass with you on our side."
Fred nodded in agreement and smiled.
"Sure, sure, I can help you study."
They swooped her up in their arms tightly. "Thank you! Hunny Bunny don't know what we'd do without you." They released her and backed away, "We'll see you tomorrow morning at breakfast!" They yelled
"Yeah, good night, Hunn!" They turned the corner, and then they were gone.
Hunn walked inside the common room and up the tower stairs to her room. She could still feel their arms around her as she tiptoed silently into bed.
...
Classes the next day seemed to pass faster, with detention looming. Hunn took notes, wrote essays, and perfected her grade level potion challenged by Professor Snape.
Overall, it was a pleasant day, and detention wasn't so bad either, with the twins by her side. They made her laugh, and when they weren't telling jokes, they just talked about everything they loved and a new prank in the works.
"So that door. The Eagle. Does it always ask you a riddle to get inside?" Fred questioned
"Yeah. That's the only way it can ask us to prove we're a Ravenclaw and deserve to be inside the common room with everyone else." Hunn explained
"But what happens if someone can't get the answer right? Do they sit outside?"
"Yes, they can take all the time in the world to think, or they can wait until an older student comes by to open the door for them, but I've never heard of anyone who hasn't been able to answer the riddle. A true Ravenclaw can answer with a little time to think."
"So, it's a security measure. Has anyone outside of Ravenclaw been able to get inside?" George asked, pausing his work to look at me
She sat with the trophy in her lap and thought, "A Slytherin once answered the riddle right a long time ago. Their answer wasn't that of a Ravenclaw, so the door refused him entrance and turned him away." I looked at George, "It's something they tell all the first years to scare them a little into thinking more."
"They scare you into thinking? That's ridiculous. Who would want to do that all the time? Just feeling and doing is so much better."
"It's a Ravenclaw thing. We value thinking, and how you answer the question is just as important as the answer. How you do things is different from how a Hufflepuff would do things. It shows who you are inside."
"Did you hear what Harry did the other day?" Fred asked her
"No, what happened?"
"Well, we don't know how yet, but he managed to save Buckbeak from care of magical creatures with Hermione."
"Wow, wasn't Buckbeak sentenced to death by the Ministry? How could he possibly save him? That's amazing!"
"We'll ask him later, but we think it was mainly Hermione. She's the smart one."
"I want to talk to her more. Do you think she'd like to talk to me? I wonder why she wasn't put into Ravenclaw. I'm sure she has what it takes. I know she's smart enough." She ranted, trailing off into silence
"No, no, no, no, no." Fred and George said
She looked at them with wide and shocked eyes, "What?"
"She will steal you off to the library and hide there with you, and we will never see you again. Either of you! You'll bury yourselves in books and be gone!" Fred told her, scowling.
"You're our smart Ravenclaw; we will not let Hermione take you. Then we'll be out our prank planner partner." George explained further
She couldn't hup but laugh, holding the trophy to her chest and looking at them, "You won't lose me. I want to know how she did it, guys. Imagine what would happen if she could teach me what she did, and then I could use it for our next prank! I couldn't abandon you two. You've become my first real friends, and I know you won't be around forever. You'll get bored eventually and move on, but I'll enjoy our time together for now."
McGonagall entered and interrupted their conversation, "Alright, you three. You've finished your detention. You may have your wands, and I do not want to hear of you three getting into trouble again, or you'll be doing much worse than polishing until the late hours of the night."
McGonagall flicked her wrist and gave them their wands, ushering them out of the trophy room quickly before heading to her own room. The twins were silent on their walk to the Ravenclaw common room. They walked Hunn to the Eagle knocker and nodded a good night, leaving her alone in the quiet hours of the night.
. . .
"George, we have to think of something. She thinks we're just going to abandon her. We know we wouldn't, but she doesn't seem to think too highly of us."
"I know Fred. I think we can do something, but it might be a little complicated."
"What?"
"There's a spell a girl in charms found, remember. I wasn't paying much attention until Professor Accio summoned the book from across the room. It nearly hit me in the head. When anyone asked, he refused to say anything."
"What's it do though?"
"It's a binding spell. To bind friends together."
Fred smiled, "Then she would know we were serious about being there for her."
George nodded, "The spell was called Semper Tres Amantium or something. The Professor only mentioned it once and then refused to say anything else."
Fred stepped where he was. He turned to face his brother and swallowed hard, "I don't know if I just want to be her friend, George."
There was silence between them.
"I'll settle for being her friend. I guess that will keep feeling pretty damn good, too." he paused, " She's just so perfect, George. So, smart. So wonderful and beautiful."
Thinking about her made George smile.
She joined them with no real reason other than being their friend. She always smiled when she saw them, and even if she was nervous about them leaving her, she was perfect, so smart, always ready to help those who needed it and deserved it and beautiful.
Her long dark hair curled on the ends, and her pale skin made her seem unreal and amazing. They could not describe her or how she made them feel. She made their hearts skip when she touched them lightly, and her laugh made them smile.
She was wonderful. Absolutely perfect.
"I know Fred, I don't want just to be a friend either, but I don't think she'll want any more with us. She already thinks we'll abandon her when we get bored."
"Well, we can do the spell! That'll show her we're serious! She won't have any more doubts and think we will abandon her!"
"We'll have to borrow the map from Harry to ensure we're not caught in the process."
"He won't mind at all. We have to get the book from Flitwick's office, where he stashed it."
"Perfect
"Good job, Forge!"
"Thank you, Gred!"
They returned to the common room, discussing Hunn and how she made them feel.