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

Chapter 19:2

When McGonagall's back was turned, Alicia leaned forward. "Did you hear about the break-ins?" Fred and George shook their heads. "A few students returned to school to find things missing — books, robes, even some of Snape's leftover treats from the Halloween Feast."

"Snape had treats at the Halloween Feast?" George complained suddenly.

"We didn't get any?" said Fred, with an unexpectedly severe frown.

"It was another occasion when you were mysteriously late, if I recall," Angelina said, before a brief pause. Her eyes darted across the table at George. "Though I'm sure you had good reason. Not my place to judge."

"I'm glad we weren't robbed," said Lee in relief. "I'd forgotten my great-uncle's spyglass on the window ledge. My dad will have me taken out by a Hit Wizard if I lose that spyglass."

"It's nearly two dozen students, actually," said a girl from Hufflepuff who had overheard them. "Probably more, since no one wants their prefects to know what they've been hiding in their cupboards."

Fred and George were suddenly glad they had brought the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak back to the Burrow.

"Does anyone...know who did it?" Meurial asked in a stammer.

"Honestly, it's a waste of time discussing the matter. Everyone knows it was the Toilers of Trouble," said Angelina confidently. "There weren't many students at the school during the break. They aren't telling us who was here, but it narrows down the likely suspects."

"Did they leave envelopes?" George asked.

"No."

"Then maybe it wasn't them."

"Could've been Victor Sparrow. He was here," said Fred.

"So was Montague and his piggish sister," George added.

"Mind telling us how you would know such a thing?" Angelina questioned, with an appraising look.

Lee noticed their panicked expressions and, being aware of the map, chose that as the perfect moment to speak up. "Angelina and I went to visit Hagrid after breakfast," he said, pivoting to a different subject. "I wanted to bring a Christmas gift to Wither —" He stopped abruptly, eyeing the others at the table. "To Fang."

"He was asking after you, George," Angelina mentioned, while looking down at her parchment. "Wants you to come visit...and not only for detention."

"Did Hagrid's pet enjoy your gift, Lee?" Fred asked with a wink.

"Brought him a little bed. It's not really for his...breed," said Lee shrewdly. "More for house-elves, actually. But he certainly likes it."

"As if Hagrid needed any more reason for the beast to prefer you over him."

"Does, doesn't it?" said Lee, raising his eyebrows.

"How was...er...your Christmas?" Angelina asked tentatively, worried to face George. "Sorry about the gift. I hope it didn't cause too much trouble. Your mum probably despises me."

"It was fine, really," George replied. "The house is always in turmoil during the holidays."

"We did hear our parents talking, though," said Fred, dropping his voice. "They were squabbling on about that witch who tried to drown you."

"Apparently there's rumors that she may have something to do with You-Know-Who," George continued in a whisper, making sure only the four of them could hear.

Angelina looked astonished. "So Professor Parsimonae could be right? Other people agree with him about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named still being...alive?"

The twins nodded.

"Dumbledore does as well," said Fred. "They've been discussing his whereabouts at the Ministry of Magic. That some form of him was last seen in Albania."

"Albania? Crikey, that's vampire territory," Lee marveled. "What if that witch you met in the corridor is a vampire? Did she have waxy white skin? Or maybe she was a Death Eater? My father thinks there's still a few of them meeting in secret."

"There's something awfully suspicious about this if you ask me," said Angelina scrawling a note with her quill.

"Fred, what if it had something to do with...the treasure?" George asked in a faint voice.

Lee staggered back in his chair. "What treasure? The one Montague was on about?"

"I think so. We first saw mention of it on...well...an old document at the school," Fred explained, thinking back to their first interactions with the Marauder's Map. "If He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named knew about the treasure when he was a student at Hogwarts, he might have gone looking for it."

"Maybe he never found the thing? Or maybe he didn't need whatever it is until now!" Lee suggested, rambling.

"What if the woman we followed was sent to retrieve the treasure, because You-Know-Who can't come round without raising suspicions?" George suggested.

Angelina smiled at him serenely. "It does make sense. Should we bring this to Dumbledore?"

"Not yet," said Fred, biting on his tongue. "We need to know more about who we're up against. Anything interesting in that book on Primordial Spells?"

"Yes, in fact. I found a wave charm, but then I realized I was looking in the wrong place. I needed this book, actually," said Angelina, pulling out a thinly bound volume, where the words Antediluvian Transfiguration were pressed into the worn linen cover. "I came looking for it the moment we left Hagrid's cabin this morning. The enchantment wasn't hard to track down, but it was under the category of something called Black Magic."

"Black Magic?" George questioned. "I've never heard of that."

"Most people haven't. Most civilized people, that is," Angelina said with distaste, opening to a page she had marked in the book.

On the right half was an image that seemed to be pulled directly from George's dreams, where a wizard was standing within an immense wave. The thin, imprecise lines of the drawing rippled serenely around him. The great torrent of water followed the wizard's wand as he moved it steadily back and forth, controlling an illustrated sea of his own creation.