Fred and George and the Toilers of Trouble (Year 1) ✔

Chapter 12:1

THE HOG'S HEAD INN

November was fast approaching, and the twins were beginning to regret their decision to join the Quidditch team. Each day was getting worse. Before sunrise, they were put through hours of progressively painful drills, and then, after sunset, they were confined to Gryffindor Tower on Charlie's orders with his fellow prefect, Reza Prasad, keeping a close watch. With their match against Slytherin mere days away, Professor Snape had been tenacious in doling out punishments to the Gryffindor players for even the simplest misstep, like failing to address him properly or forgetting to tip a vial of potion ingredients into their cauldron at exactly fifty-three degrees to avoid spillage. Charlie had to act. He couldn't take the risk of his brothers getting pulled from play for doing something mischievous after curfew.

The twins knew he was right, Snape's dot had been patrolling the halls more vigilantly on the map, but they were tired of being confined to their quarters. There was very little to do at night when the other first years were studying in the library, so they opened Lee's Charms book and taught themselves the counter charm they needed to unlock the mysterious chest in the room behind Gregory the Smarmy. It was a difficult charm to perfect, but they had time. Benjamin Nettles' trunk was the best tool to use for training, because it was equipped with a self-locking enchantment.

On the night Fred managed to get it open on the first try, George rewarded him with a sack of coarse brown hair they had discovered in the dungeons earlier that day. The twins had been roaming the corridor under the invisibility cloak after Enchantments and were lucky to observe Professor Kettleburn attaching a set of clippers to his mechanical arm before giving a haircut to a Yeti. Seeing as Benjamin's hair was only just growing back after his strange disappearance at the start of term, they enjoyed dumping the sack of hair clippings into his trunk with a personal message from the Yeti — Use at night when your hairless napper gets cold, Nettles.

Their captivity was particularly difficult because they were desperate to return to Hogsmeade. Every few days, they used one of the school owls to correspond with Zonko Goosefeather. He felt bad for the twins and invited them to help out in the back office of his joke shop on Halloween, with the promise of sweets from Honeydukes. And now, as they returned from breakfast on the thirty-first of October, the anticipation was overwhelming — and not just for the unknown riches of the chest or the merriments of Hogsmeade, but for the legendary Halloween feast being held that night at the castle. No one was more excited about the feast than Lee Jordan, even with the daily warnings he'd been receiving from his parents.

For over a week, Fred and George were awoken by the sound of a stunning tawny owl in a bronze helmet pecking at their window. In its mouth was always a rolled note with the wax seal of the Jordan family crest, instructing Lee on the dangers awaiting him if he ate anything but meat and vegetables on Halloween night. His mother professed to have a third eye and claimed to foresee unhealthy snacks at the feast (and that they could be poisoned, and that it was better to be safe, and that she trusted him to make the right decision). That morning's letter was no different.

"My mum has to be off her nut if she thinks I'm not going to stuff myself round tonight," Lee declared, adding the letter to the pile on his side table. "My entire life has been nothing but radishes, leeks, and stewed, unsalted lamb. I've been waiting for the Halloween feast since I stepped onto the Hogwarts Express! Sprite Pastilles and Cauldron Cakes...there will be all sorts of games as well, I've heard."

Fred and George nodded placidly. They had seen Hagrid and the house-elves on the Marauder's Map moving the tables around in the Great Hall the moment it emptied after breakfast.

Lately, the twins had been wondering if they would ever tell Lee about the map or the cloak. He was becoming their closest mate in Gryffindor House, and would never believe they had discovered their own private passage to Hogsmeade, but they were concerned that sharing their secrets would somehow make them less special. Before leaving for their hidden room, the twins traded off playing a game of wizard chess with Lee, which was always fun since his figures were not only alive, but sculpted from precious stone. Fred and George wouldn't dare tell him about their grandfather's set back at the Burrow. The pieces were so tattered and unrecognizable, they were often placed in the wrong location, which naturally resulted in a battle ensuing before a game had even begun. Lee's crystal pieces were poised and moved across the board with finesse, which was not at all like the Weasley lot. They were scrappers from the start. If they wanted to reach the end, they had to be crafty and willing to lose an appendage.