Slytherin played Ravenclaw a week after term started back up and although it was a tight game, the serpents managed to win with a tiny margin.
That meant that Ravenclaw had to beat Gryffindor in the next match to have any hopes of not coming last.
"Did you hear?" Roger asks as he sits down by Stevie in Charms - the game was just a week away and the young man was starting to look like Professor Lupin - ill.
"Hear what?" she asks, pulling her stuff from her bag.
"Potter got a Firebolt for Christmas."
"A Firebolt?" Ribh asks in awe, "That's it then. We're done for."
"Don't listen to her, Rog," Stevie pats his arm, "Cho's a great Seeker. What does she fly again?"
"A Comet 260," he replies glumly.
"Yep. Done for."
"You are really not helping!"
Ribh holds her hands up, "I'm just stating facts! Everyone knows that the Firebolt is the best broom going right now."
"Hear did you?" Roger groans as Angelina Johnson slides onto the bench behind them.
"Of course I have."
Stevie turns so she can speak to her, "Who sent it?"
"No one knows?" she shrugs.
"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Stevie frowns, "I mean, Sirius Black is after him, isn't he?"
"How do you know that?"
She looks at the end of the bench, where Fred and George are waiting patiently for Angelina to move up so they can sit.
"Everyone knows that," Roger says, "That's why he tried to get into Gryffindor common room? To get Harry." he sighs, "I was hoping that Flitwick might have had to hold on to it until after the game."
"Why did he have it?"
"It seemed that Granger had the same thought as you, Stevie," Fred says, leaning over to ruffle her hair, "That it could have been anyone who had sent it...I think she thinks it was Black so she told McGonagall and she said that Professor Flitwick would strip it and check for curses."
All for Quidditch players looked pained at the thought of such an exquisite broom having to go through that sort of treatment.
"But," George claps his hands, "He got it back last night and well, y'know."
"Yeah," Fred nods as Angelina laughs, "Might not be any point in you lot coming down."
Stevie shakes her head, "Ignore them, Rog. We all know that catching the Snitch isn't everything."
"But it does help," Angelina begins.
"A lot." George finishes.
~~|~~
Stevie didn't really get to speak to the twins again that day until well after dinner.
She and Ribh were having a game of Wizard's Chess up in the common room before they started their homework when the first year that she'd spent the holidays with (Lucas) came through the door and informed her that one of them was outside asking for her.
Sharing a confused look with both Ribh and Roger, she gets up, thanking Lucas as she heads for the door. It's Fred and he's stood peering out of the closest window, turning on his heel when he hears the heavy door close behind her.
"Hi," he replies, "Sorry to disturb your evening."
"That's alright. I'm just playing chess with Ribh. What's up?"
"This is really awkward," he scratches the back of his neck, "But I thought I'd best tell you."
She raises an eyebrow.
"We've had a bit of a tragedy in the tower," he begins, "Ron, my brother, his rat. Well, he's dead."
"Oh,"
"Murdered is a better word for it actually," he murmurs, "Anyway, he's launched a full-on investigation and as well as finding hair belonging to Granger's cat,"
"I don't like where you're going with this."
"There were some black hairs. Now I'm not pointing any fingers," he holds up his hand when she looks at him, "Honestly, I'm not but Ron, he mentioned seeing Benatar in the common room again earlier that day. So we think-"
"They ambushed him!" Stevie cries, "I swear Fred, I made sure that Benatar was in the common room when I left for afternoon classes. I even blocked her escape route but she must have another one."
He watches her pace back and forth across the corridor.
"And Ron? Is he upset? No, don't answer that, it was a stupid question. Of course he's upset. His rat has just been murdered."
She feels horrible and even though Fred tries to tell her that it's not her fault, that it's just what cats do, she insists on going back to the common room so she can apologise in person.
"You don't have to do this," Fred insists as she follows him along the empty corridors. She'd couldn't be long - it was close to curfew.
She ignores him, trying to work out just how she's going to say sorry to the third year - this had never happened before.
"He had a good old life did Scabbers," he says as they get closer to the portrait, "He once - bloody hell, I forgot about him."
Stevie looks ahead, to what she's assuming is the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, seeing a portrait of a knight and a rather overweight grey pony, "Who is that?"
"Sir Cadogan. He's standing in for the Fat Lady and he's a nightmare. Keeps changing the passwords and challenging people to duels."
"Why don't they appoint someone else?"
"No one else wants the job," Fred shrugs, "Would you?"
Stevie doesn't have an answer to that.
They come to a stop in front of the portrait and Cadogan's eyes light up whilst he grabs his sword, "Aha! Here to duel are you? Here to give it your best shot in front of the fair maiden here?"
Fred gives her an apologetic look, "No. Just want to get into the common room."
"Then you must provide the password!"
"Hang on," Fred reaches an arm around Stevie's shoulders so he can cover her ears with his hands and she waits patiently for the portrait to swing open but it doesn't and she can hear the muffled sounds of Fred's voice as he argues with the knight. They go back and forth for another good minute before finally, the portrait swings open and Fred moves his hands.
"Thank you," he mutters, resting his hand on Stevie's lower back so he can lead her into the common room.
She takes her time to look around - as she said, this is the first time she's ventured into another house's Common Room.
Similar to her own house's tower, Gryffindor's is all tall ceilings and windows and while Ravenclaw's was furnished in silvers and blues, they had the real royal colours of red and gold.
Ron's sat on the couch by the fir; George is sat on his left, Ginny is on the floor in front of him and Harry is sat on his right.
That's when Stevie realises that now she's here, she still doesn't quite know what to say to him.
"Whatever you do," Fred's hand is on her lower back again, "Maybe don't mention Granger. Kind of a sore spot. Ron, someone to see you."
His comrades are rather nosey, turning around and peering over shoulders as Stevie stands stock still.
"What is she doing here?" Ginny asks but there's no animosity in her voice - only curiosity.
"We have reason to believe that Stevie's cat was involved in this...incident."
"I am so sorry," the words finally spill from the Ravenclaw's mouth and Harry stands when she leaves Fred's side, letting her take his seat beside Ron, "I know it's not going to bring your rat back but Ron,"
"Thanks for apologising," Ron says quietly, glaring at the stairs that lead to the dorms, "More than Hermione's done."
He then sighs and rests his head in his hands.
"Come on, Ron," Fred joins them, leaning against the back of the couch behind them, "Weren't you saying just the other day how boring he is? And he's been looking rather ill for ages." he leans forward so he's between his brother and Stevie, "He was wasting away. Hey, at least it was quick. He probably didn't feel a thing."
"Fred!" both Stevie and Ginny cry.
"Fred's right," George pats his shoulder, "All he did was eat and sleep."
"He did bite Goyle for us once," Harry reminds Ron with a small smile, "Remember?"
"Yeah!" he nods enthusiastically, "Yeah, he did!"
"His finest hour."
Stevie doesn't even have to look at Fred to know that he was struggling to keep a straight face.
"That scar will stand as a lasting tribute to his memory. Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new one."
His words didn't help and it seemed that (rightly so), Ron was still rather cut up about the loss of his beloved rat and he went on to reminisce about poor old Scabbersfor another half an hour - which is when Harry said that he could have a shot of his new broomstick tomorrow night after the Quidditch team got done with training.
And Stevie got so caught up in his story about the spell Fred had told him that would turn the rat yellow (it didn't work) that she didn't realise the time until Ron and Harry took themselves off to bed.
"Oh no," Stevie murmurs, wringing her hands together. How the hell was she supposed to get back without being spotted? Not only did she have Filch and his cat to worry about, there were also Prefects patrolling the corridors.
Sharing a knowing look with his brother, Fred tells her that he'll be back in a moment before running up the stairs calling for Harry.
"Don't worry, Nicholson," George yawns, "Freddie will get you back in one piece."
"See through walls, can he?"
His lips twitch, "Something like that."
Stevie hovers by the exit, feeling more and more anxious the longer she waits until Fred comes back downstairs clutching an old piece of parchment.
"You're taking that?" she asks, growing confused, "What is it?"
"You'll see," he hums, "Shall we?"
"Goodnight, George," she calls, getting a cheerful wave in return.
Out in the corridor, they both ignore Cadogan and set off for Ravenclaw Tower but once they're a decent distance from the portrait, Fred pulls her to a stop.
"Hang on," he whispers, pulling his wand from his back pocket and ignoring Stevie's curious gaze, he points it at the parchment, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Stevie steps closer, letting out a surprised oh!, watching in amazement as thin lines of ink start appearing from the point his wand had touched; overlapping and fanning out to all four corners of the parchment. Words started to appear across the top in swirling green ink which Stevie read aloud.
"Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present The Marauders Map."
She looks up at him, waiting until he nods before she takes it from him, unfolding it so she can get a better look.
It was Hogwarts. Every inch of the school was on it and hundreds of tiny dots were scattered across it; most of them in common rooms or up in dorms and each of them had tiny names written beside them.
"This is..."
"Brilliant?" Fred asks with a grin, looking over her shoulder, "It shows where everyone is."
"Everyone?"
"Everyone," he nods, pointing to one of the little dots, "Filch is coming this way. Luckily for us, I know just the place for us to hide. Come on."
Stevie lets him take her hand and he leads her down the corridor to a tapestry which he lifts up.
"Behind here," he nods, "Just 'till he passes by then we'll keep going."
"How did you get this?" she asks when he's let it fall back into place, hiding them from view, "I mean, did you make it?"
"Godric, no." he quickly shakes his head, "We wish we had though. No, we nicked it from Filch's office back in our first year. It's taught me and George everything we know about this castle. Including these places to hide. Oh, there's a place right here,"
Stevie listens as he explains some of the better places to hide, some of them that he's sure that Filch doesn't know about, watches as his hands move all over the place as he tells her the story about how he and George got the map and she realises that, well, the two of them are pretty brilliant.
The corridors are pretty draughty this time of night and Stevie curses herself for not at least bringing a cardigan when she ventured out and although she does her best to not shiver, Fred sees the goosebumps on her arms and while she's looking at the map keeping an eye out for Filch, he pulls his jumper over his head. When she notices, she tries to refuse but he rolls his eyes.
"Put it on, Stevie."
She thanks him as she puts it on and almost instantly, she feels so much warmer.
The rest of the journey to the tower is spent in cheerful conversation and because they're so busy talking, both of them neglect to check the map and so, they don't realise that Peeves is lurking about and it's not till they round the corner, they spot him.
"Oh no," Stevie whispers and Fred is also looking rather alarmed.
Peeves, spotting them, grins manically and lets go of the knight's head that he'd pulled from the suit of armour in front of him, resulting in a resounding bang echoing around the corridors.
There was no getting out of that one.
~~|~~
a little bit of clicheness at the end there but come on, who doesn't love it?
happy new year guys! a couple of days late but i hope that 2021 is so much better than the shit show that was 2020.