It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 18

"My, my, what have we here?"  Tom asked, as he circled the struggling miscreants.  He gave the net a push, setting it swinging gently.  "Isn't it a little late for you three to be roaming the halls?"

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Mister Felton!" Minerva nodded.  "Just look at you three!  Aren't you a bit old for late night excursions of the 'Marauder' persuasion?"

"Ah, but that's the problem with these three, Minerva,"  Emma giggled.  "They've never grown up!  But I think they are realizing there's a new generation that's a little smarter and a little more devious then they were, even in their Hogwarts days."

"Why thank you very much, Emma!" George bowed to her.

"Someone finally recognizes our greatness!" Fred added, taking her hand and kissing the back.

"But in all fairness," George supplied.

"It wasn't our idea," Fred admitted.

"Really?" Dan looked at them, surprised. "Who . . ." But then he turned to his friend. "You?"

"I just suggested a few ideas and the twins and Draco did the magic to make it work," Tom admitted, then shrugged.

"And it worked just like you said it would," Draco said, as he threw his arm around Tom's shoulder, grinning.

"EXCUSE ME!" came from the tangle of arms and legs in the netting.  "Could someone let us down . . . GENTLY . . . please," came Remus' voice.

"Certainly, we'll get you down, straightaway," said George, lifting his wand.

"Since you asked so politely, Remus," Fred spoke through the netting.

The rope bundle and its cargo were lowered to the floor with a soft thud and the netting was pulled back to release the three men.  As they stood, and straightened their clothes, they had the good grace to look sheepish and a bit embarrassed at how easily they had been caught.

"'Well, I've had enough laughter and excitement for the night, so I think I'll retire and let all of you young people sort this out . . . quietly!"  Minerva waved her hand and started down the stairs.

"I agreed with you on that, Minerva," responded Molly, but she turned, pointing a finger at Fred and George, leveling her 'I'll not tolerate any more silliness' look at them, but then ruined it by laughing as she when down the stairs to get some sleep.

"I told you, you made enough noise to wake the dead," groused Severus to Sirius, as they stood there in front of the others.

"Me? Who stubbed his toe and hopped around like a demented rabbit on the landing?"  Sirius shot back.

"Don't start, you two," Remus chided them. "We could have been silent as a grave and still would have been caught . . . this lot were WAY ahead of us!  Admit it!"

Fred, George, Tom and Draco were standing together, smug looks on their faces, as the others watched with delight.  Narcissa started to snicker, which caused Tonks to follow suit and pretty soon the whole group was laughing hard, tears were running down not a few faces.  Even Severus was leaning on Sirius for support.  Dobby had disappeared, but soon Kreacher and he came up the stairs with trays laden with bottles of Butterbeer.

Sirius had just given Narcissa a hug when he grabbed her by the shoulders and looked around the hallway.

"Wait a minute, where did you girls come from?  You didn't come up the stairs.  How did you get here so quickly? " he asked her, eyebrows furrowed.

"That secret stair by the bathroom . . . we wanted a front row seat and we got it!" Narcissa informed him.  "We just popped out of that door."  She pointed and then took a seat.