Universal Displacement

Lost A Bit of it's Magic

"Ron!"

"What!"
Sutton snickered a bit as she stepped past the threshold and closed the door behind her.

"Well, everyone has their secrets, I suppose."

"You don't have to tell my brothers if you don't want to," Ron insisted. "They can be a couple of gits, if you ask me!"

"You know you love them," Sutton said mock sternly. "So, am I going to get to see Gryffindor Tower, or not?"

Sutton soon found herself crawling through a tunnel behind the Fat Lady's portrait and actually into the Gryffindor common room. There were other students milling about, though they mostly spoke in hushed voices as their eyes darted about as if watching for an assailant. Talk of the Chamber opening was a hot topic due to it's recency and severity, but it was a topic Sutton could do with avoiding.

She'd probably accidentally mention a giant snake or spiders or something.

And she was a bit suspicious of the trio anyway. After two months she'd come to know them a little better. They could recognize her, knew her name, and knew she could bake decently. But it wasn't like she interacted with them daily. Not enough to warrant a spontaneous 'hang out session'. Besides, Ron had already practically given their motive away.

But she wasn't going to complain.

The common room evoked feelings of comfort, warmth, and cuddling down for a long autumn day. The light from the fireplace made the reds and gold glow extra richly and cast a warm gleam on everything in the room. The boys quickly started up a game of Wizard's chess, with Ron much more excited about it than Harry, and Sutton sat near Hermione who'd already cracked open a book. Sutton entertained herself by asking Hermione an endless drove of questions which the girl always had an answer for.

"And that's the difference between a charm and a spell. Simple, really!"

"Well, yeah, when you explain it like that."

Hermione had already finished half a scroll of homework by the time Harry and Ron had finished their game and convinced her and Sutton to join them in a game of Exploding Snap. They had to instruct Sutton on all the rules, but it was a fairly simple card game. Or, at least they stuck to the simple version of it for her. It was like some anxiety inducing form of "Go Fish". There were quite a few laughs spawned from Sutton's surprised shrieks.

It was right in the middle of their second game when two things happened at once. Harry had just lurched forward to tap a matching card when there was a flash of light in front of them followed almost instantly by a loud explosion from right behind. All four of them shrieked as they tried to duck out of the way. Sutton's heart was pounding as she peeked behind her at the sound of rolling laugher.

"You bloody gits," Ron shouted.

Fred and George were bent over in wheezing laughter behind the couches.

"You should have seen your faces," one of the twins gasped. "Priceless!"

"I did!"
A voice spoke up from the other end of the room, where the light had been, and Sutton took notice of a small, large-eyed boy with a big, old fashioned camera.

"I got a picture of it," he cheered happily.

"Colin," Harry muttered under his breath unhappily.

"Wait here," Colin called. "I'll develop it so you all can see it! I learned how to do it so that the pictures move! Harry, isn't that fantastic! Maybe then you can sign it!"

And then he was off before Harry could utter a simple, "err, no."

Sutton and the trio directed their scorn to Fred and George.