Helena was caught by surprise when she suddenly heard a pair of feet being dragged across the room, the noise startling her and almost making her lose grip on the piece of paper she was holding.
"Nina?" a droussy voice said.
The girl squinted her eyes to focus her eyesight on the person that was walking towards her in the dim room. She then saw the familiar red hair.
"What are you doing up?" Fred said through a yawn, rubbing his eyes and taking the spot on the floor next to her, crossing his legs too.
"I... I couldn't sleep."
Helena felt tired, her head already starting to hurt, begging her to go to bed and catch a few hours of rest. But she didn't wanted to have a nighmare. The same nightmare that haunted her sleep when she was younger.
"You looked a bit off today," Fred said softly, looking at her with concerned eyes. "Wanna talk about it?"
"It's just..." Nina had no idea where to start. She never really talked about it to anyone, not even her father, knowing he had his own pain to carry.
Without saying another word, Helena handed Fred the piece of paper she was holding. It was actually a photograph she always took with her to Hogwarts, the effect of it was usually a pleasant one whenever she looked at it but now, it made her sorrow.
The redhead smiled when he saw the picture, immediately recognizing one of the people in it. She hasn't changed, he thought to himself.
In the picture, there was a child version of Nina. Her long dark hair styled in pigtails, her dark doe eyes filled with joy, smiling from ear to ear and showing off her bright smile that was missing a lower tooth. Next to her, embracing the small girl in a tight hug, Fred could easily assume was her mother.
The woman was holding Helena infront of her, resting her chin on top of the child's head with a warm smile and soft hazel eyes. Nina had inherited her dark hair and kind facial features.
"She seems nice," Fred said handing back the picture.
"She was." Helena stared at it once more before she tucked in under her sleeve.
The twin gulped.
He had never wondered about the girl's mother, only having seen Nina's father last year when they were both shopping for school supplies at Diagon Alley. Fred always assumed her mother stayed at home. And now, he felt terrible.
"I'm s-sorry." Fred wasn't sure what to say to her after all these years of knowing her and just now finding out about it.
"It's alri-" Nina couldn't bring herself to finish.
It will never be alright.
They both sat there in silence, gazing at the orange fire infront of them. Helena didn't want to make the boy uncomfortable with the situation, that's the last thing she wanted.
"You have her smile," Fred said after a few moments.
Nina turned her head to look at him, a smile slowly creeping on her face for what he had said.
"And I bet you got your confidence from her, too," he added, pushing her shoulder lightly with his.
"She would always tell me to have my head held high and to stay true to myself, no matter what other people said." Helena felt her eyes water again and closed them for a second.
"What happened?" Fred's voice so quiet, Nina thought she had imagined it at first.
"I don't know," the boy looked confused and Helena continued, "I was so young and didn't know what was happening.
My mother and I drove to the ice cream parlor one day to make me feel better. On the way back home, I remember we stopped at a red light and my mum looked down at me, smiling." Nina began fidgeting with her fingers and tried to turn them into fists to stop her from doing it. "She said, 'remember I love and-''
Helena flinched, recalling the unfinished words her mother had said.
"Then I remember the darkness that came after that. I couldn't see anything, no matter how hard I tried. It was pitch black. I then heard several screams and someone crying not to far from where we were. I was so scared." She took a deep breath and continued,
"A voice kept saying my name but I could barely hear it.Then I felt someone tugging me, trying to get a hold of me until I got carried out and this bright light blinded me. It took me some time to focus again, and that's when I saw our car had been crashed into, turning us over.
I... This man got me out of the car and carried me until he dropped me at the sidewalk. I kept asking about my mum but he didn't say a word. Next thing I see is some people taking her away."
Nina had never told anyone the story that she had always tried to forget. It was painful to remember, but now that she had, she also felt some sort of relief, having recalled the event out loud.
"I miss her so much," Nina stared at her hands, "I know my dad does too, but he never says anything. Prefers to distract himself with work or ask me about the magic world."
"Maybe," Fred said cautiously, "you both need to talk about how you feel. It's not good to keep emotions bottled up like that."
Helena sighed, "I guess you're right. I can't keep pretending it was alright after the accident."
"It's okay to be sad, Nina. But you don't have to be sad alone," Fred got up from the floor and pulled the girl with up with him, putting his arms around her in a tight hug, stoking her back.
Helena let herself be embraced by Fred's warmth, her head pressed against his chest as she hugged his waist.
"Thanks for listening, Freddie," she spoke softly.
"Anytime, Hell... anytime."
They broke the hug after a few minutes, Helena starting to get sleepy again and heading for the stairs but Fred caught her hand.
"And where do you think you are going?" he asked raising an eyebrow, a smile forming on his lips.
"To bed, it is a school night," she reminded him.
"Want to have a midnight stroll on the castle? Grab some food on the way back?" Fred offered, "you can get some ice creaaaaam," he sang, knowing the girl was a sucker for the dessert.
It worked. Dammit.
"Okay, but how will we ever get to the kitchens withouth getting caught? There are teachers patrolling the halls and don't forget about Filch's damn cat." Helena normally liked animals, but Mrs. Noris was not on that list.
"Oh, Hell! You say that as if you don't know who you're talking to," Fred reached for his back pocket and took out a folded piece of parchment, shaking it infront of her.
"What's that?" she asked curiously.
"This, my friend... is the secret to our success!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I change my mind, I don't want ice cream anymore!" Nina whispered, holding Fred's arm after thinking she saw Mrs. Noris down the hallway.
"Don't be a baby, Hell." Fred stopped when they turned a corner, checking his map again to see if the coast was clear.
"If that map misses that damn cat, I'm sueing the Marauders."
The two of them had left the Gryffindor common room to head to the kitchens. Fred showed the girl what appeared to be a blank old piece of parchment, until he tapped it with his wand, revealing a map of the entire castle.
What amazed Nina the most was that it also showed tiny label with peoples names and their exact location.
Every student was in their bed, except for them, their names moving on the map just like they were. Helena almost panicked when she saw Professor Flitwick's name come across theirs a few minutes ago.
The school corridors where dark so both Nina and Fred had their wands out to light their way.
"You worry too much, Hell," Fred tapped her shoulder to signal her that they could move forward. "And besides, the Marauders have never been wrong."
They got to the kitchens unnoticed, Fred being greeted at once by the house elves that worked down there. Helena had never been at the kitchen, only read about it and its occupants in Hogwarts: A History. It was as welcoming and busy as she imagined.
House elves were finishing their cleaning, scrubbing the last of the plates and pans they used for dinner.
"Mr. Fred, sir!" a high-pitched voice called.
Nina turned around and saw an elf with eyes the size of tennis balls, gazing with glee at the redhead.
"Where is Mr. George?" the elf asked, patting dry his hands on a cloth.
"Georgie is sleeping, but I brought a friend," the boy pointed at Helena who was still in awe about how well organized and magical the kitchens felt.
"Any friend of Mr. Fred and Mr. George is a friend of mine!" the elf beamed, smiling at her.
"I'm Helena, but you can call me Nina!" she stretched out her hand to the elf who gladly took it.
"Dobby, at your service miss!" and the elf did a small bow.
"Oh, I should be the one bowing, Dobby. Your food is absolutely delicious! One of the things I look forward when I come back to Hogwarts!"
The elf turned to look up at Fred going, "I like her."
After spending some time snacking and chatting with the elf, the girl sharing a few stories like the time her father had been extremely giddy the time she took him to Diagon Alley, Fred and Helena walked back to the common room as cautiously as they did before.
If the girl had been sleepy when they first left Gryffindor Tower, right now she was having a hard time to focus her vision on the dark corridors, trying not to stumble on her own feet.
The most difficult part of this late night escape was getting through the portrait without upsetting Sir Cadogan, resulting in an unwanted duel. Luckily, he was too tired to fight and let them in with no further questions.
"Thanks for this, Fred," Helena said when they stood at the bott of the stairs before going to their respective rooms. "It was kinda fun."
"Kinda?" the redhead acted as he was offended by her words, rolling his eyes at her.
"Okay, it was fun," Nina confessed, "But the stress of being caught...oh boy! You gotta give me time to get used to it, Fredster!"
"Is that the best nickname the great Helena Rosemund could come up with?" he said surprised.
"When I'm sleep deprived... yes, it is!" and she playfully smacked his arm then went to grab the map Fred was holding.
She wanted to make sure no teacher had noticed they were wandering around and had followed them back to the common room to give them detention.
But something else caught her eye.
"Er... Fred? Does Ron share a bed with another kid?"
"What do you mean?" Fred took the map back from her grasp to check for himself. "Maybe the map confused some names."
But there was indeed, a name right next to Ron's that neither Fred or Nina were familiar with. The girl went through a list of names in her head and not one of them was the same as the one that showed the map. Knitting her brows together, pointing to the mysterious name she said,
"Who the hell is Peter Pettigrew?"