The following first week of classes went by without any kind of commotion, Harry and Hermione felt that classes were going to be fairly easy to keep up in, only the writing assignments would create any kind of break away from their 'advanced' studies. They had taken a trip to the room of requirement on the second day of class, they wanted to keep it a secret for a bit from their friends, as they required its use to follow through with not only their hunt for the Diadem, but also for the unique quality of the room to change into anything that they wished for it to be.
It was in the room that they found themselves in currently, having already found the Diadem and placed it inside a protective box that Hermione conjured; which was currently sitting inside a safe they had asked the room to create on a different day, there for allowing them to still use the room but, keep their distance from the tainted crown. One would have to be very specific if they wanted to find the horcrux.
They figured they could keep it hidden away until they could find a way to destroy them. Last time they used the basilisk fang, having not killed the giant ruddy snake, they were at a loss of a safe way to destroy horcruxes. True fiend fire seemed to do the trick last time, but that was a very unstable spell, one that damaged the beautiful room they were currently seeking haven in.
"Maybe we should have you play up hearing the snake again? We already know the whole school is going to eventually find something to blame you for." Hermione put forth the suggestion.
"But how would I make it believable when I haven't heard it last year? And with no one to release the beast, it wouldn't be roaming the school." Harry answered.
"True, and we don't want to set the beast free, who's to say we get as lucky this time around? It's just too much of a chance." Hermione continued to think, slowly turning a curl around her finger.
Dropping the curl, Hermione had an idea pop into her brilliant mind, "Harry, I think we are going about this all the wrong way," She said this while walking over and sitting next to him on the couch he was on.
"We have been trying to think of a way we, as two students, could handle the situation. We already have a pair of Marauders on our side, why don't we use them?" Hermione questioned.
Catching the idea, and thinking it was a good one, Harry raised his watch and called for Sirius.
'What's up pup?' Sirius said as his face came up on Harry's watch.
"Hey Padfoot, Hermione and I were just thinking about how we are going to dispose of our hidden gem," Harry said, not knowing exactly where or who Sirius was with.
'Ahh yes, I'm at home by the way, how did you guys dispose of the horcruxes last time?' Sirius asked while rubbing his chin.
"Well, we sort of stabbed them with a basilisk fang, and its not like that is really an option for us this go around, seeing as we saved Ginny from experiencing the beast." Harry said.
Hermione was still thinking about the problem as Harry and Sirius talked, what they needed was a way to either impregnant the sword of Gryffindor again or find a different safe way to dispose of the horcruxes. The sword would be the best as it was goblin made … "Harry! I have an idea!" Hermione said rather excitedly.
Both Harry and Sirius stopped talking about containing fiend fire and listened to Hermione's idea. "The sword of Gryffindor!" Hermione started but Harry interrupted her.
"I thought about the sword already Hermione, I didn't slay the basilisk with it, not to mention we would have to find it first." Harry said.
Hermione just huffed, and rolled her eyes, "I have already thought about all that Harry, but what makes the sword able to kill horcruxes?" she asked impatiently.
"Because it was impregnated with basilisk venom?" Harry asked curiously, they just went over the fact that the great ruddy snake is still alive, so he's not sure where this was going.
"And what makes the sword able to beimpregnated with the venom?" Hermione placed emphasis on the 'be' hoping that Harry would catch on.
"Of course! The only reason the sword worked to begin with was because it was goblin made!" Harry was finally on the same page as his wife, "Sirius, do we know of any goblin made weaponry? Particularly a knife or sword?" Harry asked his godfather hopefully.
'My mother had a set of goblin made kitchen knives, they should still be sitting in the kitchen at number twelve. But even with the goblin made blades, how do you propose to kill the snake? Doesn't that still have to be done?' Sirius questioned.
"Isn't there a way to purchase the venom? I remember last time Snape was all bent out of shape because he wanted to render the snake for potions, I'm sure it would be pricey, but all we would need is a few drops." Hermione stated.
'I can check and see with Bogrod, maybe he would know some place to get the venom? I could also confer with Amelia, since she knows about what our aim is anyway.' Sirius said while throwing on a robe, 'I'll get right on it as I didn't have anything planned for today anyway.'
Harry and Sirius talked for a bit longer then hung up. "Hermione, I know I have told you before, but you are the most brilliant witch ever!" Harry said right before giving Hermione a kiss. Something they didn't do all that often as their age dictated that they shouldn't be that comfortable in public, something Harry didn't particularly like.
Hearing his thoughts his wife answered out loud, "Harry, we both know that we have lived this life before, and when we are away from school it doesn't have to be this way, but the last thing we need is Dumbledore getting a whiff of this," she said this with a sigh, "you know he would hound us for months, and would probably insist upon wiping our memories, you know for the 'greater good' or some rubbish like that."
Harry agreed. Dumbledore, while still needed, couldn't be trusted. Thinking about trust, Harry asked Hermione her feelings on Ron. "How do you feel about Ron love? It feels like he's changed, but we all know that it could simply be a façade until he loses his temper."
"I'm still not sure about him, I say we leave things progress as they have, what's the worse that can happen, we stop being his friend? We were planning for that anyway. I have to say, even compared to last time's Ron during this same time-frame, he has improved tenfold." Hermione said while once again twirling a piece of hair around her finger.
"That's true, I do really enjoy the less self-absorbed Ron." Harry stated, deciding now was a good time to mull over their other friendships he continued, "And what about Malfoy?"
Hermione thought back to this past week, Malfoy didn't necessarily go out of his way to talk with them, but he wasn't a gigantic ferret either. "I think that his dad getting put away really set Malfoy free, he is able to be the person he truly wants to be without the pressure of pleasing his father. This Malfoy has the power to do with his life as he pleases and won't be forced into the servitude of Voldemort."
"True, he also ditched the kids of other death eaters and ended his betrothal to Pansy. He seems to have more friends now too." Harry thought about Zabini and Nott, "And they all have very anti-death eater attitudes."
"Narcissa once told me that he used to get whipped with a belt because I did better than him in our classes. She also said he has some light scaring because his skin is so pale." Hermione said with a frown, she knew Harry carried belt scars on his back too.
"Yeah, he told me about that actually." Harry thought back to his conversation earlier that week with Malfoy in the library. They were the only ones around, so Malfoy felt comfortable sharing a table with him, continuing his plan to make up for last year. They talked about their home lives and shared a little bit about what it was like being head of a family.
Malfoy obviously knew Harry took the mantle of the Potters because of Narcissa, and made a promise not to spread it around the castle or to Dumbledore, who still believed that with Harry married, he still had no idea that he even had a house to be head of.
"And what about Ginny and Neville?" Hermione asked bringing Harry out of his flashback.
"I think that Ginny will lead a very different life than the one we knew, simply because her childhood wouldn't be stolen from the horcrux. I still truly believe that because of that event she became obsessed with me, that it was the whole reason behind the clinginess." Harry said with a frown, he didn't like to think about the old Ginny too much, she was completely different now.
"And as far as Nev goes, I'm hoping with friends and family surrounding him at a much earlier time, that we get the snake slaying Neville Longbottom back. It pains me to see him so shy and nervous." Harry's frown still not leaving his face, "Speaking of which, we need to do something to help him through potions. I thought our double potions lesson almost destroyed him. Snape really is an arse."
Hermione agreed, she had already offered to tutor Neville in potions, but practice is what he really needed, and that wasn't something you could do outside the classroom … or was it? Looking around the room of requirement Hermione gained yet another idea.
"Harry, what do you think about showing Neville this room? I know he can keep a secret, and it was bound to get out eventually, we both know the map will show us disappearing, and Neville is much faster than Ron on picking up things like that." Hermione said, hoping that Harry would see the need.
"I think that's a brilliant idea love, and Neville is really good at keeping secrets, he was the only person in the last timeline who knew how I felt about you." Harry said while blushing.
"Did he really, he had no tells, I had even asked him about you from time to time, he never let anything slip!" Hermione was now joining Harry in blushing. Looks like they both fancied each other but felt cornered into their relationships.
In order to avoid an embarrassing topic Harry suggested, "Should we invite him up now?"
Looking at the map feature on her watch, Hermione noticed that Neville was alone in the green houses, "Neville Longbottom" Hermione said clearly into her watch.
'Hello Hermione,' Neville's face filled her screen as his voice could be heard coming from her wrist.
"Hello Neville, are you busy?" Hermione asked.
'Not at the moment, just checking up on my Mimbeltonia.' Neville said while looking away from the watch at something, most likely a plant.
"Harry and I would like to show you something we have recently found; I think it will help me tutor you in potions. Will you meet us on the seventh floor by that tapestry of the dancing trolls?" Hermione asked.
'Sure, I'll be right up' the hopeful voice of Neville said, then hung up.
Because the room could create or change to anything you need, Hermione thought it would be the perfect space for a potions lesson. Besides that, she could ask for the space to protect Neville if he were to come into danger; something they learned in their D.A. days. Hermione placed the book she was reading into her book bag and walked with Harry out into the corridor to wait for Neville.
It took the slightly chubby Neville ten minutes, but he made it. Hermione remembered that next year was when he would sprout up and no longer be the same height as her, looking towards Harry, Hermione made a mental note to speak with Madam Pomfrey about his growth. Given James' height and body build, it was entirely possible that Harry was stunted, she only hoped that it could be corrected.
"Hey Nev, thanks for meeting us, before we show you the room, we wanted to make sure you know to keep this a secret, nobody really knows about this place, not even the twins. We plan on telling everyone eventually, but for now we would like to keep this just between us and add people as we go. Sound good?" Harry asked, knowing full well it was a pretty useless question, Neville was their resident Hufflepuff, he was superbly loyal.
"Sure, I can do that." Neville promised, he was just happy to be included in something.
"Okay, I'm going to open the room for us, but before we head back to the tower, I would like for you to do it yourself, just so you know how." Harry said, then started to pace back in forth in front of the blank wall three times.
Neville couldn't believe his eyes, even growing up in a pureblood household didn't mute the shock he felt at the sight of the giant oak door that appeared out of nowhere. Opening that door however blew his mind, there right before them, was a three-person set up for potions. "WOW!" was all he could say.
Harry just clapped Neville on the back and walked him into the room. Harry generally liked Neville, he was as loyal as any Puff, he was super smart like a Claw … when he had the confidence, he proved to be cunning like the Snakes in the other timeline, and Merlin knows he's brave as the Lion he is. In fact, Harry thought, if things were just a tad different our roles would be reversed, he would hold the scar and have lost his parents, while I would have mine in St. Mungos.
'We should tell Nev.' Harry thought over to Hermione, 'He can not only help us, but it would give him so much confidence.' Harry finished up his argument.
Hermione thought about it, the only downside would be that someone like Snape or Dumbledore plucking his thoughts from his mind. Harry hearing her thoughts as she didn't protect them herself, decided to ask Neville the question.
"Nev, do you know anything about Occlumency?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, my Gran made sure to teach me the basics, she said that she didn't trust Dumbledore not to pull something from my head without my consent." Neville said with a blush, he thought his Gran was a little paranoid sometimes, but he loved her.
"That's amazing Neville, and your Gran is right, both Dumbledore and Snape are expert legilimens." Harry advised while re sending his thoughts back over to Hermione.
'Okay, but we need to make sure we don't freak him out.' Hermione thought for a moment and suddenly the potions desks turned into a single table that held a pensive, she also asked to make the room secure from anyone who wasn't them, the room instantly put up wards to protect and notified her that there was no one else present.
"WOAH, what kind of room are we in?!" Neville asked in amazement at the transformation.
"Nev, take a seat," Harry said as three comfy armchairs appeared out of nowhere, "we want to explain a few things to you, some of which is going to be rather hard to believe, but I think you'll understand after we can show you a few things in the pensive."
Neville took a seat as Harry and Hermione took the other two, Hermione decided to start them out, "Neville, in reality Harry and I have already lived through our school years, we beat Voldemort but at the cost of a lot of good people, we were offered the chance to travel back and re-live our past in hopes of making some changes and to spare good people their lives."
"Woah." Was all that Neville said, a little in shock.
Harry didn't want him to start asking a million questions so let Nev know to keep all questions till the end, then asked if he needed a quill and parchment to keep notes; the room provided the objects when Neville said that he would.
Harry then took over from Hermione, "Nev, the reasons we are letting you into our secret is simple, you were the beacon of hope when Hermione, Ron, and I were away from Hogwarts, you rallied the troops and kept the younger students protected. You are a great warrior my friend, and the epidemy of a Hogwarts student."
Neville was now blushing at the praise for something he had no knowledge of doing. Harry wanted to make sure that Neville knew everything so he continued, "Another reason we are telling you all this is because we want to help you, it hurts us to see you so unsure of yourself after the Neville that we left behind. We want to show you when we think the change happened and offer our help to show you that you can be that guy again, but earlier this time."
"Do you know what this bowl is in front of us Neville?" Hermione asked, Neville shaking his head no saw her explaining what a pensive was. "We would like to show you our memories of the future, would you like to see what you became in the last timeline Nev?" Hermione asked thinking she already knew the answer.
Neville nodded his head and watched as Hermione pulled what looked like a silver string from her temple and placed it in the bowl, he followed their instructions and placed a finger into the liquid and gasped as he was transported to a different time.
Overall the Potters showed Neville many things, they explained what could have been from their past knowledge, who he could have been, and then finally some snippets with Harry's parents in the limbo like area. Neville was raw with emotion, he never got to meet his godmother, but seeing as she hugged Harry and Hermione, he just knew he would love her. He also couldn't believe what he saw in himself from the other time, I KILLED A SNAKE! THE SNAKE! VOLDEMORTS SNAKE! He couldn't believe it, and he looked good!
"Nev, are you okay? I know it's a lot to take in all at once, but we didn't know when we would get the chance to do this again, we have so much that needs to be done yet." Hermione started to say.
"I'm fine Hermione, you're right though, it is a lot to take in. Thank-you for trusting me with this secret, I know it's very important, and the fact that you both trust me enough to share this even though I'm not yet that snake slayer makes me feel good." Neville said with a little more confidence.
"You have never steered us wrong Nev, and as you can see we are a little leery around Ron still, even though we could have changed things to make him a different person, we still have trust issues when it comes to him." Harry said while looking at Hermione.
"Understandable, I had even made a comment to him just a few nights ago, I made note of the fact that you guys were still friends even though Ron was a giant prat last year." Neville said remembering, "he appeared to be extremely grateful and even stated he didn't think he could repay you guys for saving Ginny, that he considered you both family, now more than ever."
"Wow, maybe we did change enough that the prat is gone for good? I mean we are still going to take everything with a grain of salt, I'm not going to trust that he can change for good, what with that legendary Weasley temper." Hermione said with a nod to Harry.
Harry, seeing the nod, proceeded to get things back on track, the room changed back to the potions lab and he started in with explaining something funny to Neville, "Nev, last time you had just as hard of a time in potions as you do now, even when you were the snake slayer simply because Snape is a horrible person. He tormented you so badly that in year three when we were learning about Boggarts, a shapeshifter that's defense mechanism is to change into your greatest fear, yours was Snape."
Neville could see Snape being his biggest fear, "what did I do about it?" Neville asked politely.
Once more the pensive was brought out, Harry saying he would rather show Neville than explain. They both came out of the pensive laughing like hyenas.
"So, as you can see, we want to help you so that your biggest fear can be like Hermione here and be failing a test or spiders like Ron's, not some bully of a teacher." Harry finished up their argument.
Glancing at the time on her watch, Hermione estimated that they had roughly three hours left before they had to be in for curfew. They showed Neville the basis of brewing and helped him catch up on any homework from the first week of school. They had lost track of time and almost missed curfew, but it was worth it to help Neville feel more secure in himself.
A couple of weeks went by with nothing out of the ordinary, well nothing except for three blue third year Gryffindor boys, it seems one of the twin's pranks backfired and turned themselves and Lee Jordan bright royal blue.
Neville, with the help of Harry and Hermione was getting remarkably better at potions as well as transfiguration and charms. So much better in fact that Professor Flitwick awarded them both five points for helping a fellow student. The one subject that lacked for everyone, not just Neville, was their DADA class, without Ginny creating a ruckus, Lockhart continued to spew nonsense. Harry and Hermione hadn't bothered showing up to his class at all, and as he didn't take roll call in favor of talking about himself, he didn't even notice.
"You guys, something has to be done about Lockhart." Neville said one day while practicing his potion for that week in the room of requirement. "We haven't learned a damn thing, on top of that people noticed that you both have been missing, and if he didn't notice Harry not being there why would he notice a few more?" Neville continued only breaking to roll his eyes.
"There are only seven people left in his class! Seven! Six if you don't count Ron sleeping through the whole thing. And he doesn't even care." Neville finished up with disappointment in his voice.
"Wow, looks like we are going to have to play our plan a little earlier than we thought Hermione." Harry said while rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had.
"I guess so, but I think we need to change it around a bit, since we have Neville on board with our secret, we can use his Gran to our benefit." Hermione said while writing down her plan for the doofus.
"My Gran?" questioned Neville.
"Yup, she's on the board of education here at Hogwarts, isn't she?" Hermione asked, maybe things have changed more than they thought?
"Yes, she is, in fact she's head of the board." Neville stated while catching onto Hermione's thought process.
Neville really started coming into his own after they let him into their secret, you could really notice the difference in both his confidence and the way he held himself.
"I could get a list of all the members, if we had several students write directly to the board, they wouldn't be able to sweep it under the rug. I think Harry writing to my Gran might help immensely too. Gran was close to your parents as they were best friends with my parents." Neville explained his reasoning.
"Good idea Neville, and I know just the pair to lead the pack." Harry said this with a gleam in his eye. Lifting his watch up he said, "Fred Weasley"
Hermione catching his drift quickly raised her own and said "George Weasley", knowing full well that they would talk in tandem, while mentally making a note to ask Sirius to see if he can tweak the watch so that the twins could have a split screen.
Ron's prediction came true as the twins realized the group had a set of watches they could use to communicate and sought out Harry. He didn't however let on quite yet about the map feature, he wanted to save that for a time in which they could be together and see their faces when they discovered their beloved map on the watch, or that their beloved watch was made by their idols for that matter.
'Hello' the twins sounded in unison from both Harry's and Hermione's watches.
"Hello boys, I have an idea for a prank and thought I would go to the best duo in the school" Harry started, knowing full well the twins wouldn't be able to pass up a prank.
'Absolutely' Fred said.
'We are at your service' said George.
"Perfect" Hermione said eyeing up Harry asking him over their bond if this was as good of an idea as they thought. Seeing him nod his head she continued, "Guys we are up on the seventh floor, we have a little hidden room, we would like for you to meet us by the tapestry of the dancing trolls."
'A secret room?' George said shocked
'One that we don't even know about' Fred said.
'I was going to ask about payment' George started, 'But that's payment enough' finished Fred.
Several moments later, Fred and George were standing in front of the noted tapestry waiting for the group, questioning to each other how there could be a secret room when there were no rooms in the vicinity, when a door became visible to them from out of nowhere.
Harry walking out of the door to the shocked faces on the twins made him laugh, "Come on you lot, we have a lot to talk about and we don't want anyone to over hear our plans" he said this while keeping an eye on his watch, Percy was making his way up here no doubt following his twin brothers, he just didn't know all the secret passages like they did.
Once they were all in the room Harry asked the room to become hidden again, just as Percy was reaching the seventh floor.
"Phew that was close," Harry said as he closed the map feature on his watch. "Now gentlemen, I do believe we have a few shocks to amaze you with, and one very big secret that we would like for you to keep." As soon as Harry finished Hermione began, she thought it would be a funny prank to give the twins a rare taste of their own medicine.
"We understand that to be pranksters you both would have a rudimentary level of occlumency." Hermione stated.
"And that is something that we need to know one hundred percent before we tell you all of our secrets." Said Harry.
"After all is said and done" started Hermione.
"We will have the biggest, best, surprise to you both." Harry finished setting the trap.
Shocked faces let way to one very long look between the brothers. Neville was laughing silently, he thought pranking the pranksters of Hogwarts was a great feat.
After a long what appeared to be a long mental conversation between themselves the twins gave their answer.
"We agree to keep you secrets," started George, explaining that they were in fact rather strong in occlumency.
"And we expect a full explanation on your twin powers" finished Fred.
Laughing the Potters agreed to their terms as the room shifted from the small classroom looking space into a cozy replica of the Gryffindor common room. Now thoroughly amused by their faces Neville spoke up, "It's amazing isn't it?"
"Harry?" questioned George.
"Hermione?" followed Fred.
"What is this place?" they asked in unison.
Smiling Harry decided to add a little flair to his explanation, "Welcome Gentlemen, to the room of requirement, it will change into anything that you need."
"Following Gamp's law however, the room does have a few restrictions. It can't for example make food appear out of nowhere but can make more food if you bring it in with you." Hermione couldn't help but lecture. Even though she toned down her know-it-all tendencies she still wanted everyone to be safe.
Neville, who was grateful for Hermione's quick explanation, took a seat on an armchair by the fire leaving the two couches for the others.
After everyone was seated Harry began the intro to their secret. "I would like to start gentlemen, by explaining a few more key things about your watches. As you know my godfather and his best friend made the watches for us, they, knowing who you two were, already had a set made and ready for you."
"How did they know who we are?" questioned George while he looked at Fred in amazement.
"How could they not know who the biggest pranksters currently attending Hogwarts are when they consider themselves the best there has ever been?" Hermione said laughing.
"Not possible!" Fred said.
"They couldn't be more legendary than our idols!" George continued.
"Gentlemen, settle down, all will become clear if you just let us finish our explanation." Harry said with a chuckle. Noticing the twins nod in unison Harry continued. "Now, in order for me to explain a key feature of the watch I'm going to require your assistance."
Once again looking towards each other for a moment found the twins nodding in acceptance.
"I'm going to require the map you are both so fond of." Harry stated, rather amused at the look of astonishment on their faces.
"How did you know of the map Harry?" Fred asked.
"We never told anyone we had it, not even Lee!" George finished.
"I'll explain myself in due time guys, may I see the map please?" Harry asked politely.
Not wanting to give all their secrets away, maybe he knew about the map from overhearing us, George thought to Fred. Agreeing with his brother's train of thought Fred handed the map, blank, over to Harry.
"Ah, thank-you," Harry said while taking out his wand, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry said the pass phrase as he tapped the map to make it come to life, much to the surprise of the twins.
Knowing the waiting would drive them nuts Harry quickly continued his explanation as he touched a few of the runes on the map itself, "you see gentlemen, I know secrets of this map that you both most likely haven't figured out yet." He said as he set the map into 'search' mode and placed in Ron's name, the map immediately unfolded a different section showing Ron in the kitchens making Hermione laugh a little.
"Amazing" Fred said and for once George didn't tack anything on to his brothers' sentence, instead he sat staring at Harry.
"It is an amazing piece of ingenuity put in place by four friends, my dad was Prongs." Harry said nonchalantly, "And my godfather and uncle are Padfoot and Moony." He finished as the shocked expressions turned to awe as the twins worked out, rather quickly, that their watches were made by their idols.
"What happened to Wormtail?" Fred asked out of curiosity.
Harry who schooled his expression to mask the anger he still felt at the rat answered, "Wormtail was the rat formerly known as Scabbers."
Both twins paled immediately.
"It's okay gentlemen, we were both grossed out by the situation when we found out as well." Hermione stated with a rather green hue to her complexion.
"Is that your secret then?" George asked.
"Because we would have no problem keeping that." Fred finished.
"It's part of it lads, we needed to let you know this part first so that we can show you the special features on your watch, however this was not the secret we wanted you to keep." Harry said as he showed the twins how to access the map from their watch. "We intended this to be your reward for helping us with our prank, however, we still have a rather large secret that we wish to tell you, for your promise of secrecy we will introduce you to Moony and Padfoot."
Both twins jumped up and surrounded Harry in a hug while attempting to perform a jig.
"Oh, son of Prongs," started Fred,
"We would promise you anything" said George,
"We would make an Unbreakable Vow, in order to meet the Marauders" Fred said seriously.
"We don't require an unbreakable vow from our friends. We know you two will keep the secret we are about to tell you." Hermione said matter of factly.
And so, Harry and Hermione, once again, told the tale of how they came back to save several good people, Fred paled when they told him of his death as he clung to his brother, both angered after Hermione told them of her annulment. After everyone was back under control from the emotional roller-coaster the other timeline was, Harry, with the help of Neville, clued them in on what they wanted to do with Lockhart.
The twins shared a scary smile and promised they could come up with what they needed. The Potters then explained the room and how they were using it to help get Neville caught up. The twins, being both older and pretty darn good in potions, offered their assistance as well.
Their reasoning behind this was simple, "We owe you for our Ronnikins being the biggest prat the Weasley family has ever seen!" Said George,
"even if he hasn't been that way so far." Finished Fred.
"And don't worry, we will make sure he stays in line, we don't want him falling into that hole again," George stated,
"Yeah, it would kill Mom and Dad to know of how he treated you." Fred said solemnly.
"Thanks guys." Hermione said as she hugged each one of them. "Now would you like to meet your idols?" she said with a smile as both boys went a little crazy.
Harry, thinking that the watches wouldn't do to have everyone crowded around, called Sirius and asked if there was a way to have a bigger screen? As soon as he finished his sentence Dobby popped in with a huge mirror, "Master Padfoot says that yous be needing this, I can bring it to your room after yous are done with it" Dobby said rather excitedly. "Just calls for Dobby when your finished." He declared right before he popped away.
Setting the mirror on a wall in front of the couch, they all gathered around as Harry called out for Sirius Black.
Getting the boys away from the mirror before curfew proved to be difficult. They were in planning mode for the whole Lockhart prank, each throwing out different ideas to make the prank even funnier. Letting the group know that Dobby planned to move the mirror into their shared quarters was the only way they could get the pranksters to say goodnight.
While walking back to the common room, Fred and George played around with their watches, noticing that the search feature would come in handy as they both saw Lockhart appear to be dancing in his chambers, with no one else around.
The group shared a laugh and bid each other goodnight, it was a good day, and tomorrow would prove to be another long day of classes before they could get back into planning mode.
Ron watched from his spot near the fire as the group walked through the portrait hole, surprisingly he didn't feel jealous at all, he simply waived to Harry and Hermione as they made their way up to their rooms, and invited Neville to a game of chess. Thinking to himself that with the look the twins had, it was probably better that he didn't know what was going on.
Meanwhile, in the dungeons, Draco Malfoy was fed up. Pansy has been nothing but trouble since the day they arrived at school, and he didn't know how to go about handling the situation. He didn't want to fall to her standards and degrade or harass her, and he definitely wasn't going to try and harm her like she was trying to do to him. Thankfully she's shite in potions,Draco thought, and even worse at subtlety, he finished remembering her failed attempt to put a love potion in his drink at supper.
Not knowing what to do, Draco decided he needed some help from an outside source; someone who knew what to do. It was with that idea that Draco sat down and wrote a letter to his cousin Sirius. If anyone would know how to handle this properly it would be him.
Sending his eagle owl off, Draco secured his room and went to bed, hoping that Sirius would have some suggestion for him come morning.
Sirius had just gotten off the call with the twins, who he deemed as the twin terrors, when Draco's owl arrived. Reading the note, Sirius thought his problem would tie directly into his Lockhart plans nicely, now all he had to do was see where Harry and Hermione stood with Draco. Something he would need to find out tomorrow morning before replying to Draco. Sending the eagle owl off with a treat, Sirius went to find Remus, they had a prank to plan!