Hogsmeade
December 18, 1993
"I don't understand why you've got your wand in such a knot, Hermione. Aren't you glad that Harry got to find a way to Hogsmeade?" Ron murmurs.
"Of course I am," she snaps, whipping her head in Ron's direction. "But I'm also worried about Harry's safety. There's a mass murderer who escaped Azkaban to get at him, and he's already gotten into Hogwarts once. Black is probably still in the area, so is it really safe for him to be away from the castle?"
"He's wearing the cloak. Besides, like you said, he's gotten into the castle once already, so does it really matter where Harry is? He might as well have some fun."
"Of course it matters!" Hermione stops and stares daggers at him. "How are the teachers supposed to protect him if they don't know where he is? And don't even get me started on the map—"
"Can you two please stop fighting through me and talking about me as if I'm not here?" Harry whispers from under the cloak. For a brief moment, Hermione had forgotten he was there, walking between the narrow gap between her and Ron in an attempt to avoid him bumping into anyone while he's under the cloak.
"Besides, there's no point in fighting because I'm already here," he continues.
"Sorry, Harry," she whispers back. "We'll stop."
"Sorry, mate," Ron mumbles. "Come on, let's go to the Three Broomsticks. You have to try the butterbeer."
They make their way into the pub and carefully navigate around the tables toward one in the back. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione catches two heads of red hair. She whips around and narrows her eyes. She may have told Harry that she would stop fighting with Ron, but she said nothing about leaving the twins alone for the map.
She storms over to their booth and points between the two of them. "You two."
"Why, hello, Hermione. How can we help you?" Fred says, lifting his butterbeer mug in greeting.
She places her palms on the table and leans down to whisper furiously at them. "What were you thinking giving Harry that map?"
"Map? I don't know of any map. Do you, Fred?" George asks with a smirk.
"Don't pretend as if you don't know what I'm talking about, George. I'm not daft," she snaps. "Do you have any idea how dangerous something like that could be?" By now, Ron and (presumably) Harry are behind her. "One, something like that could be a dangerous artifact, especially since you have no idea where it came from. And two, in the wrong hands, it could lead Sirius Black directly to Harry."
"You worry too much." Fred smiles and pats the seat next to him. "Sit."
"No, I will not just sit down, Fred."
"You probably should, Granger. Otherwise, you're going to draw attention," George says, scooting down the half-circle bench to give Ron and invisible Harry room to sit down.
Hermione glances around and sees a nearby table staring at her. She scowls at the twins, then stiffly sits down.
"Now, to address your worries," Fred begins. "One, we know exactly where the map came from. We nicked it from a drawer in Filch's office our first year. Two, it's not in the wrong hands; it's in Harry's hands. And three, even if it did fall into the wrong hands, the map is password-protected, so if Black did find it and tried to reveal its contents, the worse that would happen is he would get insulted by whoever Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are. We know because we tried to reveal it for nearly a year before figuring it out."
"Sirius Black is a fully grown wizard, and a supporter of You Know Who. We have no idea what he's capable of, but I'm sure he is much more capable of circumventing a password-protected piece of parchment than two first-year students," Hermione points out.
"I believe she just insulted our intelligence, Fred," George says.
"I believe she did. You wound me, Hermione." Fred dramatically clutches a hand over his chest.
"Are either of you ever serious about anything?" she asks wearily.
"Quidditch."
"Pranks."
"The occasional bird."
"Passing enough of our classes to not get murdered by our Mum."
George and Fred fire off the list in rapid succession, then after a beat, George adds, "Oh, and family. We may prank and take the Mickey, but we would never do anything that would actually put one of our family members in harm's way. "
Fred nods in agreement. "Exactly. And Harry is basically family, so don't worry so much, Hermione."
She narrows her eyes at him for a moment in search of any sign that he's just placating her, but for a rare moment, Fred looks entirely sincere. She relaxes slightly and crosses her arms as she leans back against the seat. "Alright, but for the record, I still think that Harry should hand the map in."
"Duly noted." Fred smiles and nudges her shoulder. "Now budge up. I'll go get us all a round of butterbeer."
She slides out of the book to let Fred get out. "Ginger in mine, please?"
"You've got it."