𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, fred weasley

˗ˋ 34

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY TRY TO ESCAPE

. . .

The trio stared at each other, horrified as the sound of the shuffling footsteps grew louder and louder. The clinking of the lattern that lit up the path taken echoed around the room, and Elodie caught Fred's eyes, the boy placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, whist was when she realised she was shaking. 

"It's Filch." George mumbled. "If Mrs Norris is with him then we're in trouble, but he's not talking to her so I think we're fine."

"Fine?" Elodie's voice was shaky, and Fred's hand slipped from her shoulder to her hand, squeezing it comfortingly. "I'm fine being out at night but Filch terrifies me." She said, and the twins nodded.

"Scared us the first few times we got caught in first year." George started, his voice no louder than a whisper. 

 "But then we realised he's just a old man with a superority complex. We could hex him into oblivion, but of course we won't." Fred shrugged.

"Besides, it's during those first few times that we got the map." George said. Elodie's gaze flickered over to his silhouette, the creaking of the lantern growing louder. She heard about this map on several occasions when they were referring to secret passages within the school, meaning it was probably something doing something like that - informing the viewer of the locations of the castle's best kept secrets.

"I knew we shouldn't have given Harry that stupid map - I can't bloody remember which bookcase is thee secret passage." Fred hissed, and the clunking came to a stop. 

"I know you're there." The eerie, leering voice of Argus Filch seemed so much louder than his awkward shuffles that carried him across the stone corridors of the school.

The twins looked deep in thought as they fell silent, Filch shuffling around and looking for them. Elodie stayed quiet, just wanting to get from the cramped space of the desk she was stuck under. 

"Would you just get me one of the books on the shelves above my head?" George whispered to Elodie, who widened her eyes. "I need to know what section we're in." 

The girl nodded after a moment of consideration, and carefulling eyeing the aisle, she quickly darted up and pulled one of the books off of the shelf, a bang echoing through the library, 

She ducked back down under the desk, passing the book to George. The twin glanced around, then shuffled backwarts, using a stream of moonlight to read the golden enscription on the spine. 

"Oh that's just great." George mumbled, and his twin and Elodie stared at him. "This is about animagi - we're in Section A."

"And we need to be in Section..?" Elodie asked.

"D." Fred filled in the gaps, a look of realisation dawning on his face. Elodie's lips formed an 'o' shape, understanding what they were saying. "So we better get moving. Section G is right by the entrance, Merlin knows why they set it out like this, but I reckon if we move quick enough we can get to D." 

"Gives us time to try and think of how to open it, as well." George said. With that, the trio got onto their hands and knees, ignoring how the stone caused discomfort easily. 

They shuffled forward as quietly as possible, trying to not breathe too loudly, or have to say anything to each other. 

"Ow." Fred hissed suddenly, and the three of them stopped crawling, and the clinking of FIlch's lattern got quicker and quicker. In a moment of genius, Elodie grabbed the two boys (meaning she took hold of the shoulders of their shirt and yanked them), and pulled them after her, quickly crawling a bit further. 

They flattened themselves as best they could when the amber glow from the latten neared them, and to their horror, Filch stopped right by them. 

None of them even dared to breathe, eyes wide as they all stared at the beige-coloured trouser leg in front of them. It was lucky that Mrs Norris wasn't there, because they would've been found rather easily. 

Filch grumbled to himself and moved off, still searching. The trio took their chance and continued to crawl forward, until they deemed themselves to be in the section they needed to be in. 

Once again, Elodie darted out of their hiding place and yanked one of the books off of the shelves. And their predictions were right, they were in the section they needed to be in. 

Fred and George took a moment to try and figure how to open the passage way, and stared at the cupboard in the wall next to them. It had swung open easily, but rather than it just being the passage, it had shelves in. 

All three of them beginning prodding, twisting and pulling the variety of contents with in the cupboard, and finally when Elodie tried to pull away a small glass jar away, it seemed to trigger something and the shelves faded, replaced with a dark hole.

After checking there actually was a hole there and not just emptiness, the trio glanced at each other, before George took the plunge, moving forward and into the darkness. 

"Ladies first." Fred said, and Elodie shook her head gently, before shuffling forward and following where George had gone. 

And just like that, they had escaped.

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