Found AIAOY 4

The Great Hall was adorned with decorations of pink and red, paper hearts spread along the tables and bowls of sweets around as well.  Fred and Rebecca entered breakfast as they had every morning since the Yule Ball--hand-in-hand.

Harry rolled his eyes and looked back at his oatmeal.  "They don't have to be together every second."

Ron scoffed.  "I know.  It's disgusting."

Ginny passed them on her way to her friends, rolling her eyes.  "You two are both just afraid you'll die alone."

Hermione agreed entirely, but stayed silent on the subject.

"Good morning...sourpusses."  Rebecca raised an eyebrow at the matching scowls meeting her.  "How are you?"

"Just bloody peachy."  Ron snapped, taking a bite of his massive breakfast pile. 

Rebecca raised her eyebrows, looking to Hermione for an explanation and getting nothing but a returned eye roll.  "What are your plans for the day?"  Hermione asked, changing the subject.  "Valentine's and all."

Fred smiled.  "We're planning on seeing where Hogsmeade takes us without plans."

Rebecca looked down, smiling too.  "The carriage ride there and back are all that are certain."

Hermione looked away, sad that she had been chosen as the one to pass on what Harry had revealed to them before the pair had arrived to breakfast.  "Well, we might want to talk first."

Rebecca's smile disappeared.  "Your tone tells me this is bad."  Hermione nodded.  "Hold please."

Fred put the teapot next to him in her hand, pouring the little milk she liked as she poured the tea before grabbing a sugar cube--which she did not actually like--to throw in the air and catch in his mouth.

Rebecca raised the cup to her mouth and closed her eyes, preparing herself.  "I'm ready."

"Harry has not, in fact..."  Hermione paused, sighing.  "Cracked the egg."

Ron looked at Hermione disgusted.  "You did not just make a pun about this."

"I thought it would soften the blow!"  Hermione argued instantly.

"Harry.  James.  Potter."  Rebecca covered her hands with her eyes and drank from her tea again.  Fred patted Harry's arm solemnly, preparing his eulogy already.  Rebecca spoke calmly, surprising to the others considering what had just been revealed.  "This is a problem that needs solving, yesterday it seems.  We have ten days and-"

"And naught."  Cedric interrupted from behind her.  Cedric frowned as Rebecca turned in her seat to see him, remembering Harry's scolding when he'd warned Cedric about the dragons.  "Harry, take a bath with the egg.  I think you'll find the answer.  Here," Cedric slipped a piece of paper onto the table discreetly.  "The password to the Prefects' bathroom, should be empty today with the Hogsmeade trip and all."  

Harry took the paper begrudgingly, unable to force the image of Cho on Cedric's arm at the ball from his head.

Cedric looked over Fred, directly at Rebecca.  "And, to you, I'm sorry."

Rebecca was taken back, not expecting that at all.  "Sorry?  You just saved-"

"No."  Cedric couldn't hear any justification about what he'd done now, especially when it didn't erase what he had done before.  "I'm sorry for how I spoke to you before the first task.  That was wrong and rude of me and, for that, I apologise."

Rebecca nodded her head once, still shocked.  "That's kind of you, Cedric.  I accept your apology."  Fred nudged her, prodding her forward.  "I admit that I might have gone too far when I said you didn't have any loyalty..."  Her voice lowered in shame.  "Like a Hufflepuff was supposed to."  Fred nudged her again and Rebecca nudged him back, budging no further.  "But I will take nothing back about your friends.  I meant what I said about them."

Fred was glad that she finally got this off her chest.  He had spent many, many an afternoon listening to her waver back and forth on her decision to or not to apologise or whether or not she had been or had not been too mean.

Cedric left them with a smile, leaving a shell-shocked Ron behind.  "Did you...you did...she really bloody did..."  Ron collected himself.  "You just apologised TO THE ENEMY!"  His voice rose into a bellow at the end.

Harry ignored them as Ron continued to scold Rebecca in elevating volume as Rebecca pretended she couldn't hear him.  "A bath?  How is a bath going to do anything?"

Rebecca turned to Fred and started a conversation, forcing Ron's face to grow more and more scarlet as he shouted on.  George walked up to them with his hands over his ears.  "Ronald!"  Ron silenced at once, leading George to speak evenly.  "We've talked about the difference between our inside voice and our outside voice.  Let's take a moment."  George held his hand up and put three fingers up, putting one down for each passing second before continuing.  "Let's look where we are.  Now let's rethink our decision."

Harry snorted, catching Ron's attention.  "You have no problem with this?  Not one?"

Harry shrugged, trying to channel Rebecca and Hermione.  "Ron, the point of the tournament is to cooperate internationally with relations and wizards."  Harry looked to Hermione, knowing he'd butchered what she'd said before.

Ron stood up and left the hall, ignoring Nigel who was chasing after him.

Harry stretched and stood as well, though slower to not catch up with the fuming Ron.  "I'm going to take a bath, apparently.  Just ignore Ron, you know he'll be back to normal by supper."

Harry looked from Rebecca to Fred with a cool look, the only look he had been giving Fred lately.  Rebecca winced.  Hermione excused herself shortly after.

"Do you want to stay today?"  Fred asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulder on one side as George took the other and they began to sway back and forth to try and draw out a laugh.  "There's always next time."

"No."  Rebecca said, certain in her decision.  "I hope Harry is able to run a bath by himself by now.  You've been excited, I've been excited--Let's go see where we end up."

Fred nodded, grabbing another pancake before standing up and pulling her with him.  "Then let's get a move on!"

George watched them leave and grabbed another handful of grapes, popping one into his mouth.  "I'm good!"  He called after them, chuckling.  "A little too chilly for me, thanks."

*******************************************

"Woah!"  Fred gasped, grabbing the hood of Rebecca's coat as she slipped on an ice patch hidden by the fresh layer of powder from only hours before.  Her coat slipped up, her body held up only by the coat at her underarms.  "Look, a headless person."  Fred remarked, releasing her once she had her footing and pulling the bottom down.  "Oh, never mind."

Rebecca gave him an unamused look, sticking to his side as they continued down the street.

Fred's turn had come again and he looked up and down each possibly route as long as he could keep her there.  "Hmm...left?"  Rebecca moved to the left, only for Fred to change his mind.  "Or right?"  He smiled as she shivered, knowing he had had his fun.  "Alright," He caught hold of her mittened hand.  "This way for sure."

They walked and slipped as they went right, finding themselves right back on Hogsmeade's main road.  Rebecca looked across the way and saw two familiar faces in the massive queue outside of Madam Puddifoot's Tea Room and waved.  Cedric waved back, Cho doing the same.

Fred put his arm around Rebecca's shoulder, pulling her close before waving back.  "Are you-"

"No."  Fred said before she could finish.  "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Rebecca grinned.  "Well, Mr-I'm-not-being-possessive-in-a-moderately-endearing-way, would you like to head back now?"

"To the castle?"  Fred asked, thinking about what she said.  "Hey!  'Moderately endearing?'"

Rebecca shrugged.  "Jealousy isn't a good look on any one."

Fred glanced at her and shook his head.  "I'm not jealous."

"Not even a little?"

Fred shook his head again.  

"Oh, I see."  Rebecca nodded as if she suddenly understood something she hadn't before.  "You just pull me closer in front of everyone."

Fred reached over and pulled her into his side again, waving at the nobody watching them.  "There!  No one's here and I did it again.  Am I jealous of air now?"

An idea occurred to Rebecca, a good one.  "You have mentioned that your super power would be invisibility."

Fred gasped.  "You use my dreams against me?"

Fred opened the door to the carriage, holding his hand out for her to take.  "Speaking of invisibility..."  Rebecca began hopping up and in as Fred climbed in after her.  "I do have access to an Invisibility Cloak..."  She took her mittens off and he took her hands in his instantly, holding them between his hands that were always warmer than hers.

"I know what this is about."  Fred said with a glimmer in his eye.  "You can't stand that Harry would have seen the Prefects' bathroom and you haven't."

Rebecca admitted nothing, though she did prove him right with her follow up question.  "Did you happen to bring your costume?"

*******************************************

Fred giggled uncharacteristically as they watched Harry run out of the Prefects' bathroom.  "Oh my god, he can't see us!"  He whispered, tapping Rebecca repeatedly.

Rebecca looked back over her shoulder, his excitement contagious.  He whispered the password, thankful he'd caught a glimpse of the paper as Cedric gave it to Harry that morning.  Once inside, they saw that the bath not only covered most of the center of the room, but that it's bottom was covered in a thin layer of remaining bubbles.

"Did Harry really take a bubble bath?"  Rebecca asked, hanging the cloak on a hook and unbuttoning the shirt she wore over a t-shirt and some shorts.

Fred laughed, the only answer possible being that Harry had, in fact, had a bubble bath.  He undid his trousers, revealing his boxers underneath.  Neither of them had brought swimming attire:  Rebecca didn't have and Fred hadn't imagined he'd need his trunks so they had put together the next best thing, Fred in his underwear and Rebecca in items from the common room's lost-and-found cleaned with the Scourging charm.

Fred turned the tap at the spout and felt the temperature as the water began to pour out quickly.  

"Oh my!"  A voice called excitedly.  "Two now?  And here I thought my entertainment was over!"  Fred and Rebecca looked around, trying to find the source of the voice until Moaning Myrtle poked her head out from the middle of the quickly-filling tub.  "So, what's going on here?"  

Rebecca put her hands on her hips, scowling.  "You are aware that we're fourteen and fifteen, right?  I get that spectres don't age physically, but you're mentality has lived on longer than we've even been alive."

Fred crossed his arms in front of his chest, suddenly wildly insecure.

"Fine, I see.  Privacy is so important to the Potters!"  Myrtle shot out of the tub and dove into the toilet, sending a splash of water out onto the floor with her exit.

Fred turned the tap back off and felt the water again, not wanting it to be cold but also not wanting to boil himself.  Holding his hands out as if he were to dive, Fred launching himself into the air and smashed into the water curled up to send waves as far as he could.

Rebecca sat at the edge, letting her legs dangle in the water.

Fred emerged in the middle of the tub, pushing his hair back and grinning until he saw her lingering at the edge.  "Too deep?"  He asked, swimming to her.  "I can let some back out."

Rebecca shook her head and put her hands farther back so she was leaning comfortably.  "I'm good right here."

Fred put his back on the wall between her legs and leaned his head on her knees.  "Can you even believe we got here invisibly?"

Rebecca brought a hand to his head, idly combing her fingers through his hair.  "I cannot."  She obliged him with.  Deciding that since he was still enough she could try something she'd wanted to, Rebecca sat up and parted a section at the side of his head and began to braid it.  

He opened his eyes a few minutes after she'd started, studying her concentration.  "Have I told you how pretty you look today?"

Rebecca smiled, continuing.  "I believe you mentioned it once."

"Then I must mention it twice."  He retorted, escaping her grip and turning around so that his arms were on her knees, his fingers connecting behind her back, and he was standing so his face was near hers.  "Can I try something?"

"What?"  Rebecca asked.

Fred moved her body towards his, her legs linking around his middle as she tried to hold onto something solid.  "Fred!"  She asked, pushing on him to try and stay out of the water as far as she could.  "Fred, no!  Please!"

"Look, look."  Fred said calmly, not moving deeper and not moving at all.  He took one of her hands and loosened her grip, bringing it out until she could grab the wall and see how close she was.

"No!"  She gasped, bringing her hand back so she had both on him.  "Don't let go!"

"Rebecca," Fred said, trying not to smile.  "Put your hand on the wall."  He turned his head and pressed his lips to her cheek, the sound of her voice making him realise that this may not have been his brightest idea.  "It's right there."

Rebecca dragged her hand down his arm, touching the lip of the massive tub for a few seconds before closing her eyes and returning her hold to him.  She put her face down into the crook of his neck.  

"You could stand, if you put your feet down."  Fred tried to reassure her.  "It'd only go to your shoulders, neck at-"

"Let's not go mental."  Rebecca opened her eyes as his shoulders jumping betrayed his hidden laughter.  "What?"

Fred shook his head, refusing to admit that he was laughing at her.

Rebecca shook her head.  "When I find out what you are afraid of, I am going to use it to destroy you."

Fred took a step towards the wall, leaning Rebecca's back against it.  "Destroy me?"

Rebecca nodded, her hands linked behind his neck.  "Absolutely, entirely, and completely destroy you."

Fred took a step back, bringing the two of them closer to the middle of the tub where it gradually got deeper.  "Fred!"  She cried out, done with this exercise.  

Fred let out a sigh and laid his head on her shoulder, kissing her neck before murmuring against her skin, "I guess I'll never have to worry about a Durmstrang boy sweeping you away."  He stood and set her back onto the tile.

"What?"

"Get it?"  Fred explained.  "They're on a boat?"  

Rebecca looked at him a long moment.  "No one's sweeping me away, Fred."  She looked out across the pool of water he'd just had her in.  "But I will sweep you under a rug if you do that again."

Fred laid his hands on the ground next to the outside of her legs, lifting himself to her level.  "Talk about progress though!"

Rebecca leaned forward and kissed him quickly.  "Let's not."

He dove backwards and floated into the middle of the tub while Rebecca laid back with her shirt as a pillow, her legs kicking in the water slowly until she over thought it and pulled them out with the rest of her.

*******************************************

"How could we forget towels?"  Rebecca asked, shaking her head.  "We came to a bloody bathroom!"

"Don't look at me."  Fred said, holding the edge of the cloak over his hand and marvelling at how it had disappeared.  "The cloak distracted me."  

"Oh did it?"  Rebecca asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Here," Fred sighed, holding his shirt out to her.  "Dry your feet so we don't leave footprints."  She did as he said, holding the wet shirt and offering him hers because, even though it was a little wet, it wasn't soaked.  Fred held the shirt up to him, the bottom above his navel and the sleeves hardly passing his elbows.  "Something tells me this isn't going to work."

Rebecca pulled the cloak over her, grinning.  "I wonder what?"  He gave her her shirt back and pulled the cloak over them.  "At least we'll be invisible."  Rebecca muttered.

"What is that?"  Fred teased.  "Is that...That sounded almost possessive."

Rebecca turned to face him and retort, both of them tucked under the cloak to go.  Fred's attention shot to the door as the knob turned, his hand covering Rebecca's mouth.

Percy entered, his towel over his shoulder and a heavy sigh escaping him as he laid eyes on the tub still filled with water.  "They're supposed to empty it."  He waved his wand to the tub, raising the plug.

Fred shooed Rebecca to the door, knocking on of her shoes out of her hand accidentally.  

Percy froze at the noise, looking over his shoulder with wide eyes.  "Hello?  Who's there?"

Rebecca and Fred didn't dare move.  "I am a prefect and I deserve a modicum of respect!"  Percy shouted, adding on the additional gem that made Fred snicker.  "Especially in the lavatory!"

Fred waved his wand to a sink across the bathroom, sending a stream of water out so that the second Percy's back was turned, he could open the door and they could step out without being detected.

"That was close, wasn't it?"  Fred whispered, startled as Rebecca pushed him back into the wall.

Percy threw the bathroom door open and ran into the hall, looking madly for whomever had disturbed the sanctity of the Prefects' bathroom.  "Who's out here?"  Percy demanded.

Fred reached up and stuck his finger into his mouth, popping his cheek loudly.  Rebecca leaned back further, squishing Fred into the wall harder.  "What the hell?"  She whispered, looking up at him confused.  He only shrugged in response, Percy disappearing into the bathroom again muttering about Peeves.

Rebecca leaned off of him when the bathroom door was closed again, shaking her head.  "What was that?  Are you sick?  Feverish, maybe?  Just mental?"

Fred shook his head at each of her offerings.  "Nope just..."  He caught her arm as she turned away irritated.  "Only mental about you."

Rebecca stared at him a second, filing away the look on his face to remember later.  "Did you do that just to say that?"

Fred's jaw dropped.  "I would never."

*******************************************

They snuck their way back into the common room easily enough, dodging students when necessary and finding the common empty due to the pre-dinner time.  "Thank you!"  Rebecca cried in relief, tearing the cloak off of them as soon as it was clear.  "You put off so much heat you literally made it foggy in there."

Fred laughed, especially when he saw the humid state of her glasses.  "Complain all you want," Fred said as he went to the boys' stairs and she the girls'.  "I know you'll appreciate it as soon as you're cold."

"Yeah, yeah."  Rebecca threw her hand towards him, pretending he was wrong but knowing he was entirely not.  

"Oi!"  Fred shouted, balling up her dress shirt after untying it from around his waist.  "You forgot your dwarf shirt!"

Rebecca caught it, shouting back, "It is not for dwarves!"

From the moment each of them entered their respective halls to their bedrooms, they were smiling.  Until, of course, they opened their doors to identical reactions.

"Why are you wet?"  Hermione and George demanded in unknowing unison.

*******************************************

It took a while to reassure Hermione that she and Fred had not, in fact, been in the still-thawing Black Lake while also refusing to tell Hermione where they had been.  Giving up after Rebecca was in dry clothes, Hermione sat back on her bed.  "Fine.  Keep your secrets then.  Have you seen Harry?"

Rebecca shook her head.  "No, why?  Has he cracked the egg?"

Hermione nodded and tapped the parchment she had on her lap.  "He copied over what the egg sang to him, though I can't figure anything other than he's got to fetch something from the Black Lake and he'll have an hour to do it."

Rebecca sat next to Hermione, looking at the lines of text carefully.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And whilst you're searching ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

Rebecca felt a prickle go across the back of her neck.  "That's menacing."  There was something dark about the words despite their rhyme, maybe because of it.  "I want this stupid tournament over so badly.  It's almost been..."

"Peaceful?"  Hermione offered, putting her head on Rebecca's shoulder.

"Exactly."  Rebecca laid her head on top of Hermione's.  "Peaceful."

"Did you two have a good time in Hogsmeade?  What'd you end up doing?"

Rebecca laughed softly, wondering if Hermione thought it strange to hear how brilliantly their day exploring had gone despite his antics.  "We ended up playing a game to see where we went, choosing a different direction at every street.  We managed a circle somehow, though it was for the best...Fred must've taken a minute every time it was his turn!"

"And the coming-back-soaked?"  Hermione asked, saying that she would let Rebecca keep it to herself but unable to let it go.  Part of it was especially confusing because Hermione knew Rebecca couldn't swim.  "If you didn't go swimming, as you said."

"He did, I didn't."  Rebecca sighed.  "Who sees water and goes 'oh yeah, bet that's good on.  I'll just jump in'?"

"Swimming can be a valuable skill."  Hermione had tried to convince Rebecca to read about swimming before, but failed.  "What if you were skating and the ice cracked, sending you through to the water?"

"I'd freeze and die."  Rebecca's answer had been instant and she had to retract seconds later.  "Or die and freeze?  One of the other."

"Nice."

Rebecca checked the time and kept the lines from the egg in her hand, standing slowly.  "Did you know where Harry was last?"

"Said he was going to the library before supper, but Ron went with him.  They were looking to research the bubblehead charm."  Hermione's tone said more than her words.

"He's still being a git?"  Rebecca asked sadly.  No one liked being around when anyone was upset, but Ron could be a specific kind of terrible that made that even more true.

"Ever so."  Hermione gestured to her workstation on her bed.  "Why else do you think I'd be up here?"

Rebecca slipped her feet into her slippers and grabbed her jumper, waving for Hermione to come with her.  "Ron can stuff it!"  Hermione cleared her throat at the door.  In her haste changing out of wet clothes, Rebecca had forgotten something necessary.  "Yes, trousers.  Got it."  

"Those aren't-"

"I'm fully dressed!"  Rebecca insisted, pulling on a pair of pajama pants.

"For bed!"  Hermione argued, letting out a groan and grabbing Rebecca's glasses from where they'd been abandoned before joining her at the door.  "That's it!  You're getting a checklist to look over before you leave--this is absurd!"

Rebecca reached up, feeling her face as if the blurriness of the room wasn't tell enough she'd misplaced her glasses.  "So that's why you were fuzzy..."

*******************************************

"Okay, we know the charm isn't going to work."  Rebecca said as Harry's bubblehead attempt wore off in less than a minute for the third time in a row.  "We'll need to find something else."

Harry laid his wand on the table upset with himself.  Ron, Hermione, Rebecca, and himself were spaced around one of the circular tables at the back of the library, trying to find a way to keep him underwater for an hour and failing.

Rebecca stood up and pushed her glasses up, brushing her fingers across the spines of the books nearby as she looked them over.  "Don't be angry, Harry.  It's a complicated charm.  We'll find something."  She pulled a book on aquatic ecosystems native to Scotland and thought of something that might bring him comfort.  "Libraries are just collections of answers, you know?"

"Where'd you read that?"  Ron asked snootily.

"I made it up, Ronald."  Rebecca responded, not even giving him the satisfaction of turning and giving him a look.

Ron mouthed her words back at her.

"Very, vary mature."  Rebecca grabbed another book and sat down again, saying nothing else on the topic.  Harry reached into the middle of the table and read the poem again, finding he understood no more than the other countless times he'd looked at it.

*******************************************

The week after the Valentine's Hogsmeade trip passed quickly, too quickly.  No answer had been found for Harry's predicament and no further ideas about what he would be searching for in the Black Lake had come up either.  They had the same books they had been pouring through all week around them as they spent yet another period of hours in the library, Ron continuing to bicker with anyone who suggest an idea.

Ginny had Neville by the arm, dragging him behind her as she talked to him quickly and loudly.  Madam Pince hit the desk with a book of frightening size, pointing to the sign above the door.  "If I talk in the library, I submit myself to any and all punishments deemed fit by the librarian."

Neville gulped as Ginny lowered her volume but continued to speak.  "I've got it!"  Ginny exclaimed, presenting Neville proudly.  "Go on, tell them what you were telling me about in the greenhouses and all."

"In the greenhouses?"  Ron echoed, his ears reddening as his stare at Neville turned angry.

"We were looking at the bloody plants, Ron."  Ginny snapped.  "Sit down and shut up."  Another shush came from the library's front, near Madam Pince.

Neville cleared his throat, racking his brain.  "Well, I told you that there were no plants named Maleficen-"

"The breathing-underwater plant, Neville."  Ginny guided, tired of boys entirely.

"Oh!"  Neville smiled happily.  "There's this plant...Gillyweed, it is...If you eat it, you can breathe underwater!"

Harry looked up from the page of a text about merpeople.  "Where could we find it?"

Neville looked to the ceiling, thinking.  "South America."  Harry turned back to his book, thinking that the answer had eluded them again, when Neville spoke once more.  "But, it's a popular potion ingredient."

Ron looked at Harry, who looked at Rebecca, who pretended Hermione wasn't looking at her.  "We're going to get expelled one day."  Hermione said softly, the only one who seemed to be thinking about that at the moment.

Luckily--especially referring to Hermione's peace of mind--the group did not end up pilfering Snape's stores.  A jar was placed on the foot of Harry's bed one night with a ribbon tied around it and a card attached to the lid.

"Master,"  The word had been scribbled out before continuing.  "Harry Potter will live, Dobby will make sure."

Harry opened the jar and gagged at the stench, though Dobby had saved the day.  Ron sat up in his bed, woken up by the not-leaving smell.  "What died?"

*******************************************

The evening before the second task, Harry was in the height of an extended state of hysteria.  His mind was stuck between going over the defensive or offensive spells Hermione had compiled--Confusing the ones that increased light and those that would help with swarms of creatures.

Rebecca had been at Harry's side all day, leaving Fred to occupy himself with the homework he'd let pile up.  "Harry!"  She gasped, speaking far too loudly for the post-supper, pre-bed congregation of Gryffindor students in the common room.  She ignored their dirty looks and held her hand out.  "Your glasses, we need to waterproof them."

Harry took them off and handed them to her, trusting her to do it more than he trusted himself.  "Thanks."  Harry said softly, scooting over as Rebecca put herself in his chair next to him.  "I'm fine."

"No, you're not."  Rebecca put an arm around him and folded the list up, hugging him from the side.  "You need your sleep."

Nigel--the first year, Harry remembered--stood in front of them nervously.  "Is Hermione in your room?"  The young boy asked, speaking to Rebecca.

"Erm," Rebecca smiled at him, wishing he didn't seem so taut in their presence.  "I believe so.  Why?  Do you need her?"

Nigel looked at the stairs anxiously, realising he very-well might fail the task he'd been given.  "Professor McGonagall wants her."

Rebecca stood up, not wanting Nigel to continue to look so at a halt.  "I'll grab her for you-"

"She wants you, too."  Nigel interrupted, blinking quickly as he realised what he'd done.

Rebecca smiled, nodding.  "That's alright, too.  Do you know why?"

"No, ma'am."  Nigel answered, hovering and telling Rebecca that this was clearly not going to be able to be put off.

Rebecca looked at Harry amused, mouthing to him so Nigel couldn't see.  "Ma'am?"  Harry shrugged, unfolding his paper again.  Rebecca leaned down and kissed the top of his head.  "It's getting late, Harry.  I don't know how long this'll take, but go on up soon please?  Rest."

Harry nodded, not really listening.

"Harry," Rebecca said again, waiting for his attention to continue.  "I'll be awake on time tomorrow, alright?  Promise."

"If you say so."  Harry teased.  "I don't know if I can believe you after last time."

Rebecca's jaw dropped, the cheek!  "Have you considered stand-up?"

Harry pointed to the stairs.  "McGonagall's waiting."  Rebecca dutifully went off.

Fred bounded down the stairs just as Rebecca disappeared up the stairs, taking the chair opposite from Harry.  "She going to bed already?"  He couldn't mask his disappointment.

Harry shook his head, continuing to read until Fred's gaze grew too prominent to ignore.  "McGonagall wants Nigel to bring her and Hermione to her office."  Fred nodded, opening his mouth and closing it as Harry answered his next question.  "No, Nigel doesn't know why."

Fred sat back and glanced at Harry's bouncing leg, finding that he had to say something important.  "If you're even half as prepared as RJ says you are, you've got nothing to worry about."  Fred hoped it sounded encouraging and not condescending.

Harry shook his head.  "She has too much faith in me, frighteningly too much."

Both boys went silent as they heard Hermione and Rebecca's voices at the top of the stairs, seeing them walk down seconds later.  Fred and Harry walked to where Nigel waited by the portrait hole.  

Fred went to open the door, confused as to why the first year sent for the girls blocked his way.  "I'll walk down with you."

"Professor McGonagall said only they're to go."  Nigel explained, looking up more nervous than ever.

Fred's head went back a notch.  "Are you going to stop me, Nigel?"  An edge entered Fred's voice as he said the boy's name.

"Fred, please."  Rebecca said, stepping between the two boys and looking up at him.  "Fred, he's a child.  Can you..."  She gestured to him.  "Take it down a couple of levels or something?"

Fred rolled his eyes, but conceded.  "Yes, I can."  He held his hand out to Nigel, waiting for him to shake it.  "I'm sorry, mate."  Nigel was just happy that Rebecca stood between them.

"We'll be back but you'll be in bed."  Rebecca said, pointing to Harry.  Hermione hugged Harry as Rebecca hugged Fred, Rebecca speaking into Fred's chest quietly.  "Can you please, please behave yourself?"

Fred laughed.  "Yes, I shall be on my bestest behaviour."

"A kiss then?"  Rebecca asked, looking over her shoulder and finding Harry had asked a question about one of the spells Hermione had written down.  "Before bed and all?"

Fred pecked her lips quickly, offering no more.  "That's all a behaving-himself gentleman can offer, unless you'd like to take it back."

"Never."  Rebecca grinned and stepped back to Hermione's side.  "You don't stay up all night either, you hear me?  I don't want you grumpy for tomorrow."

Nigel opened the door and followed the girls out, Ron coming down the stairs from his shower a few minutes later.  "Where are they?"  He couldn't seem to help himself from a comment, though they couldn't even hear him.  "More fraternising?"

Fred and Harry both rolled their eyes internally.

"What do you think she wants?"  Rebecca asked again, having asked the same thing multiple times since they had begun walking.

"I don't know."  Hermione laughed, unable to help herself.  "Just as I didn't know the last time you asked and I won't know the next time you ask!"

Rebecca looked at Nigel and hid her mouth from Hermione as if she wouldn't be able to hear her.  "Can you believe her?"  Nigel let out a giggle, the most relaxed they'd seen him.  

The last thing either girl remembered was Nigel opening the door to McGonagall's office.  Had they been conscious longer, they would have seen Barty Crouch casting the charm on them that put them to sleep for the task in the morning and the way McGonagall brushed the hair off both of their faces before covering them in the floating beds the other trophies were on.  

This, the professor thought, was one of the hardest things she had been entangled in since her career had started though she had been given no choice in the matter.

Upstairs, Ginny climbed into bed alone.  A note had been left on Hermione's bed, though the handwriting wasn't Rebecca's print or Hermione's cursive.  "Staying out, see you in the morning!"

Ginny pulled the blankets up to her chin and found the room quiet--too quiet--without her roommates.  She rolled to her side and looked at the wall, trying to pretend that they were in their beds where they were supposed to be.

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Ginny woke up to Hermione's alarm ringing incessantly, all the way across the room.  Ginny crossed the room and whacked the machine into silence before noticing another, different note had been left on Hermione's bed in the same, different writing.  "Left early, see you there!"

Ginny put the note with the other and got dressed quickly, heading out of the room with the intention of finding out what was really going on.  Harry paced in front of the portrait hole nervously, Fred leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

After their scheduled leaving time had gone, Harry had gone up the stairs to get Fred in case he had stayed up like they weren't supposed to and seen Rebecca.  But, Fred hadn't.  He'd gone up to bed after midnight assuming that McGonagall had poured tea and they were chatting.  "What do you mean, 'she isn't there?'"  Fred had asked Harry, not understanding.

"She's not there!"  Harry repeated.  "Neither is Hermione, Ginny hasn't-"

"Look, there she is."  Fred waved Ginny over.  "Where are-"

"I don't know."  Ginny said quickly.  "I don't know where they are or what's going on but I don't think they came back last night."  Ginny held the notes up, Fred taking them and knowing Rebecca hadn't written either of them.  

Harry checked the time, seeing that the task began in fifteen minutes and the lines of the song floating past his ears slowly.  "Oh no..."

Fred grabbed Harry's shoulder as the colour dripped from Harry's face, fearing that he might drop to the floor.  "What is it, Harry?"

Harry couldn't raise his voice above a whisper.  "'We've taken what you'll sorely miss.'  That's what the egg said."

Fred was moving an instant later, shouting at Ginny to get George and Ron and to meet them at the docks where the students were supposed to go to get to the task.

Harry was shoved out of the portrait hold, the jar of gillyweed in one hand and the other in front of him to move anyone in his way as Fred ran behind him.  Neither boy had ever run faster in their lives and both were certain it wasn't fast enough as they slid around every turn with a heaviness in their stomachs that climbed to their hearts.

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