Harry knew he had messed up when someone caught his hand tightly and almost pulled him off his feet to stop him from walking obliviously into what sounded to be a shouting match.
He startled, and blinked up at a very tense looking Dean who just dragged him further up the Gryffindor dorm stairs back towards their room where he'd just come from—it was only then he noticed there was some shouting going on in the main common room down below that was distinctly less chaotic and friendly than it normally was. In fact, it sounded like an argument that was actually rather sour in nature.
"What's happening?" He blinked, only going up a few steps before he refused to move and Dean just sighed.
"Ron's at it again."
"Ron?" He blinked and listened… realizing he recognized those voices. And one was a very distinctive Irish brogue. "Seamus and Ron are going at it?"
That was totally news to him… he hadn't given Ron Weasley much thought at all this year since… why would he? He had enough problems and the piggishly insensitive comments his fellow red head constantly brought up without thinking was not something he had time for. Come to think of it though, he'd stopped seeing him at the football club which was just fine by him. Them both being there was only ever a tenuous truce at best and Harry had to actively force himself to be cordial and pass him the ball to be a good teammate, not because he actually wanted to. Ron choosing not to show up on his own was a pleasant convenience and nothing more, so far as Harry was concerned.
"They do that sometimes." Dean said by way of explanation, like that wasn't something completely new to Harry.
"I didn't realize," He admitted, looking down the stairs towards the common room once more, Dean putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him before he even considered going down anyway.
"Yeah, I know. We all know." Dean sounded both exasperated and amused all at once. "Seamus has been actively trying to keep you two apart and on the most part Ron's been keeping to that, but he's got new friends who are just encouraging him to be even more of a git than he already is."
"New friends…" Harry repeated slowly, realizing quite suddenly that it was extremely stupid to think that he could monopolize the Gryffindor second years and expect Ron to just… I don't know, disappear? Clearly he had to go somewhere, he lived with them for hell's sake, had all the same classes they did… and he was still human so he'd clearly been sitting with someone at meals and during breaks. And it clearly hadn't been any of their year who Harry was firmly all friends with, nor first years since Harry also had a tight watch over them too, which meant…
Upper year Gryffindors. Who, according to Neville, were probably the people in the school most ready to hex him for being so chummy between houses. Clearly them and Ron had something in common for their distaste of Harry Potter, and being friends with older kids probably made the thick-headed Weasley a bit braver and feel more untouchable than he'd be normally on his own.
"I'm so sorry," he breathed, a sinking feeling in his chest making it a bit hard to swallow. He couldn't help but think this was all his fault… and he hadn't even realized Seamus was playing referee for him behind his back. Or maybe not behind his back at all, maybe Harry really was just that bad of a friend to have not noticed.
"You don't have to be sorry, he does it cause he wants to," Dean shrugged, eyes flickering at him in something slightly searching, as if visibly trying to dissect what was going through Harry's mind right then. "You can thank him later though; let's just go back up."
Harry still hadn't made up his mind on if he wanted to respect Seamus' attempt to help him by staying out of it or go down there to save him from the second youngest Weasley's stupidity, when a loud shout seemed to echo up the stairwell from the argument below them, just a touch louder than the rest of it, and bellowed in a fit of rage.
"HE'S A FREAK!"
…
Harry blinked, and just for a split second, the stone stairwell was too-white linoleum and it was littered with crushed porcelain—the smell of sweat and warm soapy dishwater and terror like a solid presence on his tongue. Terror tasted like copper, in a nasty way. A numbing way, even, as it made the tip of your tongue too heavy to speak.
He coughed as he realized too late he'd forgotten to breath. The stairwell smelt sharply castle-like… old and slightly musty stone that you tended to not notice after a while but it was still an ancient castle, magical or not.
"Harry?" Dean had grabbed onto his shoulder more tightly but he couldn't meet his eyes. What had just…?
"Bad little brother," a new voice joined in suddenly—and this time it was alarmingly close to the stairwell entrance, along with the sound of a light scuffle. Harry would've said he recognized it, if it weren't filled to the brim with something close to unadulterated venom.
"What the hell is wrong with you!?" A similar, but somehow more distressed voice joined in. "Apologies everyone, we're going to have words with little Ronnikins here,"
"You dumbass,"
"What are you—hey let go of me! Guys what are you-!?"
Dean tried to pull them away but it was just too late, and then suddenly three Weasley brothers were on the stairs right in front of them—all three freezing solid in shock to see who was staring back at them. It would've been funny in any other situation, with Fred and George practically holding Ron up between the two of them to forcibly drag him up the stairs, only to freeze solid. Even Ron's stupid freckly face was just a mask of total shock as they stared each other down. It was so stupidly timed it was practically a cliché comedy sitcom, but the only person here who'd get that here would be Dean.
Going by his face though he probably wouldn't appreciate the comment though.
Heh… and Harry didn't actually find it that funny after all.
One of the twins got there first, expression shattering into horror.
"Oh fuck. Please tell me you didn't hear any of that."
His twin immediately mirrored that expression while Ron's face went tomato red in an instant.
"Well I meant it!" He defended himself defiantly, trying to thrash out of their grip but the twins immediately refocused on wrestling him into submission.
"Shut the hell up Ron!" Dean snapped, but as he put a hand on Harry's arm again, Harry automatically jerked out of it, face getting incredibly hot out of total mortification of this situation.
This can't actually be happening, he wanted to whimper and only barely managed to weld his mouth shut and prevent anything from coming out. He didn't know what to do or say, and he was horrified that he felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes.
In his head, large, kind hands had been slowly sewing him together over the course of the past several weeks. Each thread a kind smile from someone who meant something to him, a casual conversation over good food, a distraction that left him feeling playful and light.
It almost made him forget that he still had gaping holes carved into his brain, and as the threads strained to hold that vast hollowness together he was reminded of how feeble he really was.
And god he just… he hated feeling this way.
It used to be alarming and terrifying and his breath would come too quick as he felt like he was going to come apart at the seams… but now he was just tired. Just totally exhausted and done with having his day trampled on and totally fucking ruined by something as stupid as a word or a glance or a mere change in the wind that reminded him of something—anything—that wasn't his carefully constructed paper mâché world of a carefree Hogwarts student who had nothing worse going on in his head than a Potions exam to prepare for, or a quidditch game to win.
It wasn't Ron.
Okay, maybe it was. A bit.
This time it was Ron, but that wasn't what made his arms hang limply at his sides and his shoulders seem to lose whatever energy was holding them up.
So it was kind of about Ron, but it wasn't really about Ron.
It was really how bloody tired he was of needing to be on edge with his own mind. Because of fucking course his totally fine day was now just in shambles and there wasn't anything he could do about it but stew in it until he had to put on a brave face for someone else… and he just didn't have the energy right now.
He 100% would've turned around and just gone back to bed, but that was where the Weasley brothers were headed, and it was also where Dean would undoubtedly be able to follow him to ask if he was okay.
Perish the thought.
He just wanted out because this was mortifying and just yet another moment he couldn't keep it together, and at this point it wasn't even upsetting, it was just flat out bullshit. Frustrating and constricting. Why couldn't he just be normal for hell's sake!?
Get it together.
He was plowing past the three blocking his way before he knew it, holding his breath as if he needed to steel himself to make it past much more dangerous obstacles than some classmates. If they said anything he didn't hear it, almost pointedly ignoring them—blocking everything out if he could, actually.
The common room felt oppressive and hot. He felt eyes and felt the quiet that rained down on them all when they realized who had just come from the stairwell, and he only made it halfway before he just ran.
Who cares. Just get out.
It didn't matter what they thought. That they saw him flee like a very un-lion-like coward.
It really, honestly didn't matter.
He recalled that he liked running when he was in the hallway. The endorphins once you pushed past the start, the familiar rhythm… there was nothing to push past this time either as he was just running, and then it became normal and something he could do when he couldn't do literally anything else.
So he didn't stop.
000
Hagrid was who-knows where… probably in the Forbidden Forest or doing something in the castle or… something.
So Harry was sitting in the grounds keeper's garden behind a truly ridiculously sized pumpkin. A Hagrid-sized pumpkin, he should say. He had never grown pumpkins himself but he thought it was a stupidly large pumpkin for this early in October—usually they came ready to harvest a bit later than this, but then again this was Hogwarts. Magic could probably be involved…and although he thought Hagrid couldn't use magic, he also was very suspicious about that pink umbrella he carried around that was in no way large enough to protect even his large fluffy head from a bit of rain should he get caught in it. In any case, the keeper of the keys had never indicated he cared much about rain or fussed over getting a little wet to be so openly devoted to carrying a tiny pink umbrella around with him at all times.
Wasn't any of his business though, probably.
The large pumpkin worked in his favor as it was large enough for him to sit in quite comfortably should it be hollowed out, so was more than enough to hide him if he nestled himself between it and the garden wall, a large bush of some plant he did not recognize to his side and hiding him quite effectively. The fact his invisibility cloak was, for once, actually up over his head and actively invisible was just extra insurance.
There was also a lot of beetles in a garden, and something he'd learned from his transfiguration sprint last year, was that beetles were awesome mediums to play around with some low-level transfiguration spells. Beetles to buttons was one of the first spells he learned that were technically above his current level last year, and he'd slowly been picking around at turning beetles into other things too. Beetles were particularly interesting in that the way their tiny bodies were built, if you did partial transfiguration spells, you could turn a beetle into anything of an equally reasonable size, and that new creation would always keep its pretty rainbow-colored wings of its previous form. One might think doing partial spells would technically mean you're doing the spell wrong, but in reality with his new theory of how spells fall when you cast them… it was more a matter of just never letting the spell fall all the way. He could perfectly control at what point the spell stopped so he could play around with turning beetles into other things but stop it just before it lost its wings.
The wings didn't get much stronger than they were originally, but that's why beetles were perfect. Ants and flies had tiny little weak wings that couldn't do anything but lift an ant or a fly body. Beetle wings, Harry was learning, could lift flowers or feathers and more. The garden had limited materials with which to test what beetle wings could lift, but it was definitely a lot more than Harry was expecting. They could probably lift even more if he could somehow play with their size… maybe enlarge the beetles first before transfiguring it, making it one smooth movement to seem like one seamless spell? They just started learning about the engorgement charm in class recently which was probably his answer, but he didn't have quite the knack or the desire to be so playful with charms as he was with transfiguration. For the right purpose he could probably find the motivation, though he certainly didn't have that motivation today. Maybe something to consider later.
He didn't know how long he half-sat, half-squished himself behind Hagrid's pumpkin playing with beetles so that he was thinking of nothing but the wonderful distraction that magic was, but he'd made quite a lot of progress into changing beetles into floating, flying flowers by the time someone inevitably intruded on his little bubble.
He was planning on it being Hagrid. The man wouldn't notice him hidden in his garden on his way back to his hut unless he was specifically stopping by the garden for some reason and Harry had to reveal himself in order to not get stepped on, but in any case he'd been prepping himself to untangle his legs from beneath the pumpkin and go follow the keeper inside for a gallon of tea and some rock cakes when he did make it back. After sitting on the soft, slightly damp dirt of the garden for some untold amount of time, the blazing fire that was always going in the tiny shack was more than welcome too. Hagrid was a presence that didn't count towards his 'I don't want to talk to anyone' mood he was in, Hagrid was just… Hagrid. Large, fluffy, unjudgmental, kind Hagrid who wouldn't even question it but would undoubtedly be totally thrilled to see him as always.
That's all he really wanted right now, to be honest. To have someone overjoyed to see him but to not ask if he was alright or any other pointed question he wasn't in the mood for.
Unfortunately, it wasn't Hagrid who tracked him down. He wasn't… displeased to see them, but they definitely were not his top picks at the moment given what had just happened. He had half a mind to just sit silently there while invisible and let them walk right by him… but he heard the garden gate clang open and the soft crunching of feet against the dirt were coming right for him.
Something went off in his instincts and he somehow just knew that they knew he was here.
It was a split second decision, but he wasn't ready tell anyone about his invisibility cloak, so he just tossed the hood back and was immediately visible again. Just in the nick of time too, as despite how much advanced warning that was, he was still surprised enough to have his heart jump when two pairs of eyes peered over his pumpkin curiously to spot him.
"Well hello there Apples." One of the twins noted in a 'surprise' that did in fact not feel like surprise at all.
"How the hell did you know I was here?" He pouted, and they grinned in sync.
"We have our ways."
Harry groaned and slumped a bit more into the dirt under him, continuing to spin his wand in his hand, making no move to get out from his hiding spot even after being caught. With a careless flick of his wrist, a slightly flattened yellow tulip with shiny wings splattered with a harmless little puff directly into one of their faces, and the automatic pout told Harry that one was most likely George. Probably.
"Just so you know," Fred hummed a bit gentler than the twins normally were, while George spat petals out of his mouth in annoyance, "We locked him up where no one will find him. We'll let him out tomorrow."
"Probably." George clarified a bit too cheerfully. Which was a lie since they had classes tomorrow and if Ron skipped then Percy would be after the twins' blood and they weren't about to be hassled that much.
No need to elaborate who he was but honestly Harry was beyond Ron Weasley at the moment, although the twitch he felt in the back of his brain remembering the echoing insult around the stairwell certainly didn't feel good… it wasn't the cause of his mood.
The irony of the fact that Ron was probably locked in a broom cupboard somewhere was not lost on him. Given he knew what it was like to be trapped, one would assume he'd feel more sympathy than the average person on the topic.
He didn't though. Despite knowing he should care a lot more, he calmly noted his own apparent lack of mercy and decided to ignore it.
"Can you do that?" He lifted a brow casually, and got a synchronized shrug.
"We're his brothers,"
"It's more allowable than if someone else did it, right?"
"I suppose…"
"Either way…" Both clapped their hands loudly in front of them at the same instant and did an odd little bowing motion with their heads. Given they were peering over a pumpkin it was an awkward pose, but Harry assumed if they'd been standing face to face normally they would've been bowing to him.
"We apologize for our brother."
"He's always been a thick idiot,"
"We never paid him much attention other than pranking him to realize he'd gotten so…"
"Yeah. Bad or whatever the hell that was."
"It surprised us too, we never expected that behavior form him."
"But it's not acceptable and we're sorry."
They repeated their motion once more and Harry could only blink at them in surprise. But that was… nice?
"You two don't have to apologize for his actions. You've always been nice to me, and he's always been a, uh…"
Hm, they are his brothers so I shouldn't be too harsh maybe…
"A jealous prick?" George helpfully filled in for him and Harry nodded his allowance. He probably would've been a bit harsher but that was still accurate.
"Who knew? We weren't expecting it," Fred scratched the side of his nose balefully.
"Should've seen it coming; he's our little brother so it's our responsibility to knock him straight when he's being a prick."
"And we've been sorely lacking in our responsibilities, and you've paid the price for it."
Harry couldn't help but smile at them. That was another Gryffindor thing he'd never really had a chance to wrap his head around, or maybe it was a sibling thing his orphan ass just missed out on. Taking accountability for others… Harry just couldn't imagine doing that. He was accountable for himself but everyone else made their own decisions; why would he apologize for the way someone else acted?
The closest thing he could think of was him defending Draco to the other Gryffindors his year, but even then that was more convincing them to give the Slytherin a chance and letting Draco make his own impressions. He could act on behalf of someone, but for them?
He was starting to see it a little better with Colin, Luna, and the other first years. He did feel partly… involved? If that was the right word… he was involved with them and felt the urge to guide and teach and help them if they needed it. If Colin were to go around snapping pictures without consent like he did when he first got to Hogwarts, Harry would probably feel a little personally offended that the boy had just ignored him and went back to his less-civilized habits. He'd only known Colin a couple weeks though, the twins had had Ron as their brother for twelve years. They were way more involved and invested in Ron's life just because they'd lived in the same house and had shared the same world for most of their lives together.
Harry didn't have someone he was so close to that he felt invested in how they acted or were perceived by others. Draco maybe? He cared of course, but he wasn't Draco's keeper, the guy could do what he wanted. He could be proud or annoyed by his friend's choices but like hell was he ever going to speak about those choices to others on Draco's behalf. Not enough to need to apologize for sure.
It was just an odd thought. New. And he had no idea if it was a lion thing or a sibling thing.
Either way, he wasn't sitting behind a pumpkin because of anything the twins did or did not do, that's for sure, and they deserved to know that.
He shot them a reassuring smile "Thank you for sticking up for me, but I make a point to judge people on who they are, not who their families are. You two have always been good upperclassmen, good friends even. Ron has always been rude and cannot seem to respect personal boundaries neither verbally nor physically. That's on him, not you."
He bit lip for a moment, hesitating only a brief second before deciding and giving them a warmer smile. "I shouldn't have let someone like him get to me that way. I'm not going to let him bother me again, so don't you two worry. You two are fine as you are and I think he's learned his lesson after whatever you've done to him."
Fred smiled just as warmly back, but over his own smile George narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"No offense Apples but you never struck me as the gracious type like that." He called him out with a playful tone, which Harry automatically rolled his eyes at. Goddamn George being the more cynical of the two immediately knew the fluffy, politically correct answer (according to a Gryffindor at least) wasn't all there was to it.
"I mean we're good… I'm not about to like Ron though."
"Fair." He sniffed delicately. "We wouldn't ask you to be after what he's done."
"How much of that did you hear, exactly? If you don't mind saying." Fred frowned nervously.
"Honestly, not much." Harry plopped his head back and it bumped against the garden wall thickly. "It wasn't just Ron, I was kind of in a bad mood already. I should've just…" he trailed off, because he wasn't actually sure what he should've done. Not given a shit like he used to not care?
If only he could do that again. He wasn't sure when he'd lost his ability to ignore unimportant things that only served to bring him down. Ron definitely should've fallen into that category.
"I mean you deserve to be at peace in your own dorm."
So does Ron, the devil's advocate side of him unhelpfully chimed up, but he was uncharitable enough not to say that out loud. He made a face automatically though.
"So… if you forgive us, we hope this means when we invite you to ours you'll still say yes?" Fred chirped up hopefully. "We were planning to invite you for a holiday sometime but we underestimated how much you and Ron don't get on apparently."
"Ron will unfortunately be there but we've got three other brothers and Ginny—and Mum would eviscerate Ronny if he so much as glared at you in her presence, trust us." George swore.
"Plus Luna lives right across the valley, I know you and her get on."
That pulled a small smile from him and he gave a brief, airy laugh. "Thanks guys. I guess it would depend, but with you two and Ginny and then I guess your mom too he'd be outnumbered, so I could probably deal with it. I do live with him now and he's never said any of that to my face since the other guys in the dorm don't side with him either."
Ron was only getting brave because he had upper classmen on his side—they were probably there in the common room during that scene with Seamus which gave him confidence. When he was outnumbered or the minority, at least right now he didn't have the courage to say anything against the majority, and like it or not Harry had enough friends at this point for it to be really hard for someone without an actual spine to confront him head on.
Luckily for him, Ron didn't know how hard he'd been struggling lately. He didn't know if he confronted Harry outright, he'd probably just crumble into a sobbing mess if Neville wasn't right beside him when it happened.
And Harry could only imagine the ego boost Ron would get from crushing him like that, as publicly as he could make it if he could manage to swing that.
Yeah, it was for the best only people like Neville and Draco knew how unstable he really was in the wake of the summer.
"Yay!" Fred cheered, ignorant of Harry's darker thoughts and gleefully already planning what they'd do on holiday. "You can have his bed, he can sleep on the floor." He offered up brightly, jerking his head at his twin.
"Oi," George was not amused. "How about you sleep on the floor?"
"I'm older."
"Mum can't keep us straight as teenagers, there's no way she kept us straight as babies. I could be older!"
"That's a depressing thought." Harry chimed into their back-and-forth routine lazily and they shrugged in sync.
"Magical twins, what can you do?" One of them huffed with a dramatic, put-upon sigh.
That wasn't a term Harry recognized though, as he tilted his head curiously. "Magical twins?" He repeated.
"Yeah, even our magical cores are too similar to tell apart."
"Before we learned to speak not even healers could tell us apart— unless Mum was up for getting one of us a muggle tattoo or something there's just no way to tell, and she clearly wasn't going to agree to that."
"Our uncles, her brothers, were magical twins too and they had the same problem."
"Neither knew which one was older till the day they died," They recounted as if it were the most dramatic story ever told and Harry really was interested.
"What if they just put a block on one, not the other? Or different blocks?" He wondered curiously.
"Nope! Our cores aren't just similar, they're the same." George explained.
"If I got blocked but spent too long near him, he'd end up blocked too. Or my block would un-do itself to match his, more likely."
"Part of the reason we're pranksters I think—Mum could never get the accidental magic block to stick so we may have caused some mayhem. More than anticipated at least." They shot him a very pointed wink and Harry let his face go as horrified as he could get it.
"Poor, poor Mrs. Weasley… and she still decided to have more kids. She's either a saint or insane, but given that she gives me chocolate for Christmas I'm going to assume she's a saint and you two are just devils." He scolded them playfully and they made a show of being coy about it.
"Hey, that's on her." They shared a brief snicker, before George jabbed a finger down at him to reference the fact they are still talking over a pumpkin. "Are you ever going to come out of there? Is it even comfy?"
"Comfier than it looks," He admitted. "And you came to find me."
"I mean true." They allowed, before suddenly exchanging evil looks that Harry didn't like at all.
Before he could get properly wary though, they were suddenly clambering down over the pumpkin and somehow managed to squeeze themselves into the tiny spaces on either side of him. Harry gave a shout of annoyance as he was thoroughly squished to the point it was actually hard to breath—harder still because they were snickering to themselves like their own deviousness entertained them greatly and the laughter constricted the space even more.
"Guys-!" He grunted but struggled to even breath to form the sentence properly.
"Well what do you know!"
"It is kind of comfy!"
"No—it's—not!" He grumbled, attempting to elbow them but it was so tight that was rather pointless. He was completely pinned and it only took a second or so to give up completely.
It was warmer, he did have to admit that.
"You sure you're okay though?" Fred circled back to the original question at hand and now that he was trapped, Harry could only roll his eyes and lean his head back against the garden wall.
"We could punish him more you know. We've a meter long parchment of prank ideas we haven't gotten around to yet and he essentially just volunteered for acting that way."
Harry glanced between them… they were extremely close and he could tell down to the freckle they really were identical. Magical twins indeed.
He already thought he had them well figured out, but he took the opportunity to look even closer still. Literally in all ways physical and magical they were identical… but the one who'd asked if he was alright, his eyes were softer: eyelids slightly wider, more intent upon the person in front of him. The other had slightly darker eyes. Not in color, but his eyelids were down a little more, he was less open and slightly more suspicious of the world around him.
Slightly, but still.
He'd already been slowly categorizing their two different personalities, both in what they showed the world but also those rare moments they did act noticeably different, and he might be imagining it but he liked to think those personalities could be picked up on in their expressions too.
"Thanks Fred. I really am okay, don't worry about it; it's not the first and won't be the last time someone talks nonsense about me like that but I appreciate you stepping up." He smiled and glanced to the other twin to his left, how close they were meaning he needed to rotate his neck all the way around. "I wouldn't be against some pranking I guess… I just hope you don't punish him too badly. I know you two—George—are a bit vindictive and he likely got way worse than a detention from you. He was just being an idiot, not purposefully malicious I don't think."
He refused to give Ron the credit that he was intelligent enough to be actively evil, more than just a dense idiot who had stumbled on the worst insult he could've picked at the wrong moment in Harry's life, when he wasn't as emotionally steady as he used to be.
As I used to be, what the hell… I'm twelve.
Almost didn't notice both twins faces went blank in shock, but he smiled since he was expecting it
"Wha—me? I'm not vindictive!" The one Harry pegged for Fred exclaimed, and he lifted a brow. Any time someone actually guessed them correctly, they automatically assumed each other's identities to throw them off. Hell, sometimes they did it the other way just to keep people on their toes, so it was no surprise no one ever bothered to go through the effort of telling them apart. They weren't exactly helpful on the matter, more like actively trying to stop people from figuring it out… and there were very few out there that were even matches for the Weasley twins.
"Maybe vindictive is a strong word, but George," He pointedly turned his head from Fred to his other side, to the correct twin and watched their faces stutter as they tried to figure out what their 'synced' reaction to this should be. "Is slightly more prone to getting even, as it were, from what I've noticed."
"It was weird enough you knew our preferences, but calling us out like that," George huffed, shaking his head
"Have some decorum Apples, please. You're blowing our cover."
"What, in front of the pumpkins?"
"Pumpkins talk you know." Fred said it so matter-of-factly that Harry had to pause and wonder if that was a magic thing he just didn't know or it they were fucking with him. Honestly either could be true.
"Are we that obvious?" George complained.
"I dunno, I've been paying attention. You have to have keen eyes to sit at the Slytherin table."
Fred glanced down at him and then his brother, which was odd since George didn't; he was more looking at the pumpkin in front of them. Them not mirroring each other and making movement differently was pretty damn obvious since they tended to always move in sync.
"You might be onto something then… pretty sure there's a Slytherin or two who can tell us apart. Not that they care to, but I think they can."
George looked annoyed but Harry didn't ask since by the way Fred pointedly readjusted to get comfortable instead of meeting either of their gazes, he had a feeling his twin wasn't happy he'd said that. Wasn't the first time Fred had dropped a hint that George didn't, and he quietly shelved it… he'd need to come back to that later.
His sixth sense told him that the twins had some kind of… disagreement about something that they weren't willing to show anyone else outside of the two of them. Had a bad feeling it was about Slytherins though and knew he didn't want to press too deeply into that in case it ended up being ugly. He loved the twins and owed them a lot—the last thing he wanted to do was get into an argument with them; had a feeling he'd end up pranked to hell and back before they could ever make up.
The conversation needed a topic change anyway.
"More importantly though, I don't know how you guys found me, I'm pretty sure I was well hidden." He frowned, because really… clever or not, an invisibility cloak was still an invisibility cloak. Unless there was some kind of revealing spell he didn't know about…? He'd have to be careful if something like that did exist, much less that students could use it. He'd have to be doubly careful in the Slytherin dorm at the very least.
They exchanged looks before getting slow grins, nodding to each other once.
"Well, about that…"
"We have something interesting that might make you feel better!"
"Yeah, but as our triplet you have to swear not to tell a soul about it! Particularly any Slytherins cause they'd blow a gasket to know we had this," George snickered.
Harry couldn't help but smile, sitting up a bit to nod eagerly. "I'm a pretty good secret keeper I like to think—I won't tell anyone, on my honor," He crossed his heart and that seemed to be good enough for them as they grinned and pulled out what seemed to be large folded mass of…blank parchment?
"Now watch carefully," Fred instructed as they put it in his hands and George pulled out his wand, tapping it once.
"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good,"
Harry blinked… then balked at the spiraling words written on a page.
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
Mischief… wait…
"Harry?"
One of the twins seemed to realize something was up, but he barely heard them, mind rapidly spinning gears as something triggered quietly in the back of his brain.
"Wait." He hissed, suddenly sitting up and touching the map—one of the handwritings the was gracefully spilling ink onto the magical paper being a bit too familiar.
"What are you doin—oof!" Fred was summarily kicked out from behind the pumpkin and plopped into the garden dirt so Harry could scramble out and get to the bag that had been wedged under him, digging through it roughly until he found right book he's stored the letter in.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" He was half ranting as he snapped open the letter and rescanned it, eyes drinking in the words until it clicked, his mouth popping open in shock. "Oh… my god."
"What?"
As his answer Harry whipped out his wand from his sleeve and tapped on the paper George was still holding in his lap as Fred sat up curiously too.
"Mischief managed." Harry said almost gleefully as he tapped the page—and the ink disappeared.
Fred and George gave him twin dumbfounded looks, and this time he didn't think it was an act; they were both justthat flabbergasted. He loved it when people looked at him like that so he just puffed up proudly.
"How'd you know!?"
"It took us months to work that out!" They cried indignantly.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," Harry tapped the page again, scooting closer to George to see it over his shoulder, watching the intro message once more and what looked to be a map forming before his eyes… of Hogwarts? "Tell me more about what it does first and I'll explain what I think I know." He demanded and they made faces but relented.
"It's a map of the castle; we nicked it from Filch's office during a detention."
"But it shows everything. Not just the hidden hallways and tricks of the castle—of which there are many!—but also the people. See?" Fred leaned over to unfold a bit at the bottom and sure enough Harry recognized the lake, the grounds… Hagrid's Hut… and three little names over footprints hidden right outside.
He felt a thrill as he traced his fingers over it curiously, eyes wandering to the rest of the castle… seeing students in the halls, a huge mass of people in the Great Hall… Dean and Seamus were on the quidditch pitch, probably kicking the ball around… even McGonagall sitting in her office.
"This is how you don't get caught, isn't it?"
"Part of it. We learned a lot of hiding places and shortcuts from this thing for sure; makes getting around easier." George admitted.
"But the Marauders themselves—they're our mentors in the pranking art for sure! They must've been pranksters themselves because they give us tons of ideas and even have some good suggestions on how to work on prank spells if we're stuck on something!"
"To create a map like this and name it as they did, they'd have to be. They're pretty fun honestly."
"Okay but is that a good enough explanation? How?" Fred nudged his shoulder pointedly and Harry gave a wry smile.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I know who are least one of the Marauders is, and I have a suspicion about the other three."
"What!?"
Both twins had wide eyes, looking almost afraid to know.
Harry poked the map, specifically over where they were sitting and saw ink blotches spin to life in the boarders of the map.
"Let's say… Mr. Prongs, if I guess your name would you be able to confirm if I'm right?"
Hm… Mr. Prongs is not sure we'd ever considered something like that when making this map. What do you think Mr. Padfoot?
Mr. Padfoot doubts it, the goal is to never get caught isn't it?
Mr. Moony would like to point out the reader could be a snitch or merely a teacher and just being clever about it.
Mr. Prongs agrees; we probably wouldn't admit to anything just in case. No need to self-incriminate.
It wasn't until Harry was watching the words talk amongst themselves that it really hit home the dark irony of it all.
"Oh my god Moony—I just realized why you named yourself that! That's so unclever, what the hell!?"
Oh dear, you must know me well then.
Mr. Padfoot would like to agree it's a stupid name.
Mr. Moony is pointing out that you named me that you jerk! I would not have picked the name but you wouldn't stop and then it stuck; I refuse to take the blame for this.
Mr. Prongs thinks it's a cute name. Quite fitting.
Mr. Moony doesn't want to hear a thing from you on the matter, Mr. Fork.
Mr. Prongs resents that.
Mr. Wormtail is enjoying this quite a lot. Although he agrees that Mr. Moony is a bit grim.
Mr. Padfoot takes offense in the name of grims everywhere. How dare.
"They'll be at it a while if we just let them go," George admitted, giving Harry an exasperated sigh.
"So you two and them were meant to be," He snarked back, earning some snickers.
"So if you were to guess…?" They nudged with an undying curiosity written on their faces. Harry was amused by it but also knew this was… a bit too closely related to some sensitive information.
Still.
If he were to trust anyone, he could probably trust the twins. They were not actively related to this situation, more like very supportive third parties and… if they'd had this map for a while, they might actually have more of an understanding of things than Harry himself did.
For whatever reason, his brain didn't make the decision, his heart did. And he decided to just spill it honestly for once.
He took a deep breathe to cleanse out the hesitant feelings he still had about it, and pretending none of this bothered him.
"I can tell you but you have to swear never to tell anyone. Like you haven't ever told anyone about this map but even more so… it's really important."
They instantly sat up straight in sync and mirrored crossing their hearts. "On our honor!"
"We'll never breathe a word of it!"
"Ever! Now pleeeeease?" They begged.
Harry smiled fondly.
"Okay then… Mr. Moony is a man named Remus Lupin." He glanced down at the map to only one sentence reacting.
As Mr. Moony suspected there's no way to confirm nor deny that. It'd be a bit silly to give the mischief away so easily.
"I know. But I know you are… which means the other three are probably Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter, though I don't know which is which."
Mr. Mooney would like to say that's a wild theory if true.
Mr. Padfoot agrees; what a wild ass theory that is.\
Harry looked up from the map and saw the twins' jaws were practically on the floor.
"Oh-"
"Merlin."
"Harry!"
"I know… I only just learned about them too, so this is some insane timing. But I just started writing to Remus and he even said they were all pranksters back in their days at Hogwarts, and his letter…" He couldn't help but smile, holding the letter that was still open in his hands a bit tighter. "The words to open and close the map are written slightly differently. I did notice I just didn't… think it meant anything but…"
Something twisted in his stomach and he grabbed his wand to tap on the page once more.
"Mischief managed."
It was fine when he wasn't thinking about it, but realizing… realizing one of those silent voices of ink on the page was his father….
Having it open felt like they were listening and something inside of him hurt. He didn't know if he wanted the father he didn't know, or the echo of who his father had been as a Hogwarts student, listening to him. He didn't exactly feel very proud of himself right now, and he didn't know if he wanted his father witnessing him like this either.
Whatever expression he was wearing told the twins enough and they didn't question him doing so, George just folding the map up without a word and leaning into his shoulder silently.
"Why did you say Mooney was a weird name?" Fred offered as a distraction instead, still dead curious of course but also picking up on the need to move topics.
Harry only half smiled before the seriousness of it sunk home.
"That's one of the most important things to keep quiet. Who the Marauders are less so, but Moony…" They nodded silently, faces betraying how significant they understood this to be. "Remus is a werewolf."
Both their eyes went wide and Harry had a brief moment of wondering if he should be telling people about Remus condition… not that it wasn't something Remus told people himself, but he was also extremely ashamed of it. Felt… wrong, if not also pertinent.
His suspicions were correct though then George got over it first and snorted rather loudly.
"Yeah, that's pretty dumb." He agreed. "Moony… that's a laugh for sure."
"Or clever, depending on how you look at it!"
"Well if Mr. Padfoot came up with it I'm willing to think it's just plain dumb." He maintained, which made Harry realize…
"You know them then… or the them from the map. Their personalities to a point." He tried not to frown but he knew he was only partially successful. The twins seemed respectful of his struggle though… suddenly hyper aware themselves they now knew his father more than Harry did. Even if they weren't sure which Marauder it was and it was only inky words on a page, they still had a better understanding of James Potter than Harry did, and they could see it stung a bit.
"To a point yeah; no idea how the magic of this thing actually works… there's really nothing else like it." George allowed.
"Typically, ordinary objects that can talk without you knowing where it's brain is kept are classified 'dark' or just plain dangerous."
"We really shouldn't have gone messing with this, but we learned some minor dark magic detection spells and after talking to them a bit we don't think it's actually that bad." They hedged. "If your dad created it, it's probably not that bad!"
"But Sirius Black also probably had a hand in it…" Fred countered, looking less at ease about that than hearing Mr. Moony was a werewolf, which to Harry was both promising and bad.
"Well… if they made this as school he hadn't gone insane yet, right?" George scratched his nose, unsure. Before they could go too far with that line of thinking though, Harry found himself speaking.
"That's… another thing."
They paused and looked to him, and he had a moment there where he could've said never mind or change the subject or… any number of things he could've done. Telling the truth was probably the last thing he should've done, by his own instincts and experiences.
That's exactly what he ended up doing though, for some reason even he couldn't properly explain.
"I have reasonable evidence to say Sirius Black is innocent… and I'm working with some Slytherins to try and get him a trial."
For the third time in less than ten minutes, they stared at him with wide eyes. At this point though, after the shock of the map, the Marauders' identities, and Remus being a werewolf, they got over it quicker than before. Instead in only a couple seconds they were exchanging very loaded looks.
"Well," George frowned, slowly absorbing that information. "Slytherins would have the in… I guess. And Dad talks shit about Fudge all the time, I can get why going to him to just have him tried would be… unhelpful."
"If Fudge really put an innocent man in jail, he'll be doing everything he can to keep it quiet. His career is over if it gets out." Fred agreed.
"I would hesitate to say the Minister of Magic would actually stoop that low… but we've seen what a few dinners with Lucious Malfoy will have him spitting. Man's got no ideals of his own, he just does whatever the person who convinced him last tells him to."
Harry had never heard the twins talk politics but it was kind of impressive actually. They were definitely Gryffindors though if puppet politicians were bad things to them. Or maybe that was because he mostly talked shop with Draco, whose father was the one doing the manipulating. It was an interesting perspective switch for sure.
"What are you actually doing then?"
"At the moment I'm still just planning… I'd like to think it looks promising though." He deflected, not sure if he actually wanted to drag them into the specifics of it all. From Daphne's explanations of everything though, the Weasleys were very open minded about muggles and non-human creatures, although Harry was pretty sure calling werewolves "non-human" was just premeditated prejudice seeping into the textbooks they read.
He knew from Daphne that the Weasleys had the toilet-water reputation they did, in no small part to how accepting they were, even welcoming in people they should've at least kept it quiet about. That was a far too Slytherin concept though; the Weasleys on paper were blatantly good people which was definitely going to be their downfall, being open and accepting to a detriment.
To be clear though, Harry in no way thought it was bad thing at all.
He was too pessimistic and practical not to see the huge disadvantages of being a genuinely good person in a world like this was, though. He had no interest in being disadvantaged when he was already only barely treading water here, and he at least knew the twins were damn competent to ever let being too trusting be their downfall.
"And you really do think he's innocent?"
"I have it on as good authority as I can trust a Slytherin to be." He shrugged, and thankfully going by their expression they knew exactly what that meant. And they also seemed to trust that source of information quite a bit judging by Fred's very concerned frown.
"That sucks, so much."
"Seriously."
Probably an understatement, Harry sighed, trying not to think too hard on it. "Part of this plan though, and I guess for the foreseeable future actually even if this works… is that right now no one can know that I know about Sirius. So far as anyone is concerned, I still think he's guilty and no one is working on freeing him."
"Secrecy is the best defense," George agreed, holding up the map pointedly. "Actually, Mr. Moony is the one who says that all the time."
Harry felt his heart warm at that… maybe Remus wouldn't hate him for this after all.
The twins just might though, he winced.
"I agree completely… which is why I'm also going to ask you guys to not tell anyone I know about Remus either. So far as anyone's concerned I've never talked to him and don't plan to."
They frowned, not quite seeing that logic as easily as the one about the surprise trial for Sirius Black that had an active enemy trying to stop him.
"I get not talking about Black since the Minister would just stop it, but why Remus?"
Harry winced again, but straightened his spine. "Okay, this is going to sound bad… but long term goal here… I'm going to try to be Minister of Magic one day, or at least someone in power. I have a very specific reason for choosing that life goal and it happened because I met Remus." He leaned in pointedly, trying to be as grave as he knew how to be to impress upon them the importance of this all.
"Okay…?"
"I know you two know how werewolves are treated in the wizarding world."
"Which is bullshit, for the record." George scoffed."
"And I agree with that—whole heartedly! Which is why I'm going to change it."
"How exactly? By being Minister?" Fred blinked in surprise. "That's not the worst goal to-"
"That's only half of it." He admitted, shifting a bit at their hesitant gazes. "I'm… going to play the part, if that makes sense. I'm going to do it the Slytherin way, by being buddy-buddy and playing the part that'll get me the most popularity when it comes to a public vote. And… I will never be able to do that if everyone knows my godfather is a werewolf."
Be it the shock of the confession of what he was going to do or something else, they disregarded the godfather bomb in favor of just looking horrified.
"You're going to pretend to hate werewolves!?" Damn Fred, too keen and hitting it right on the head despite how brutal that sounded. And unfortunately for Harry, it was both true and exactly what he would be doing.
"If that's what it takes," He struggled to get that out, but it was true.
"You're really not going to tell anyone!? You just said he's your godfather, you're just going to keep your entire relationship with him secret like that?" George seemed a bit sharper and more angry rather than aghast like his brother, and Harry felt the shame he already felt about the situation flare uncomfortably in his stomach.
Yeah, he already knew this fucking sucked, he didn't need to be scolded and judged for it too.
"Fred, George, be serious for a second." He got out sharply, and they paused their indignation for a moment to listen, thankfully. He took a steadying breath but their opinion of him was important to him, against everything else he liked to think about himself it was, so it was critical they understood this. He really, really hoped they would.
"The only way to change prejudice laws is to be in power. I'm never going to be in power or get my way if people have already written me off." He let the sadness of the fact sink into his voice, and it wasn't hard to do. "I hate it, I really do… from what little I know of him, Remus is a genuinely good guy… but to change werewolf laws then I have to pretend I don't care about werewolves now, and then by the time I'm in power it'll be too late for anyone to stop me making changes. Slytherin or not, given I'm playing their game against them.
Guys, I was all set to open up a shop in Diagon or something with my life until I met Remus: no matter how I act right now, he's still going to be suffering with stupid, prejudice anti-werewolf laws making his life hell. So if I can choose to become Minister and one day help him and others like him, I see no reason not to play the bad guy at least temporarily. If I need to lie and keep secrets to give him a chance, you bet your ass I will do it without remorse."
He met George's eyes pointedly and the twin blinked almost as if taken off guard by the directness. "Weren't you the one who told me being brave is being brave enough to love without hesitation? Well, I'm not hesitating in doing what I think is best for Remus, even if it seems brutal now. It absolutely sucks and I hated having to ask that of him, but someday he won't be hunted by the Ministry or thrown out of shops if I can make this all work out. And I just have to hope that'll be enough to make it up to him."
He knew it sounded more defensive than he meant it, but he really didn't want them to think poorly of him. Besides, he hadn't put it into so many words before but as he spoke he gained confidence in this plan. It was many years off but this was something he could work towards, something he could do…
Once he got his freedom.
That was first and foremost… but knowing where he wanted to go in life gave him stability. Saying it out loud gave it this credence it hadn't had before. He's said it, and more importantly he'd said it to people he trusted and respected, so now it was time to live up to it. He was going to be held accountable by more than just himself from here on out now that he's gone and fessed up out loud.
In any case, he assumed this wouldn't be the last bullshit law he'd end up adding to his agenda. There would be more and he was sure they'd eventually has some opinions about things too, being future businessmen themselves. The more he thought about it, the more having power was attractive… maybe it would be attractive to them too, and they'd let the moral grey area he was working in here slide for now.
And every time those thoughts crossed his mind, he tried not to think too hard on the hat's words about Slytherin leading him to greatness… especially since it was turning out to be true. If he could only figure out how to play the game and win when he was up against a lot of extremely talented, far more experienced players.
The penny dropped when George, who definitely looked as if he felt like he'd been called out, nodded once. What surprised Harry was that Fred looked to his brother like he had no idea what he was about to say, which made him pay all the more attention.
"…I think there's more to our rule then." He decided, the judgement and indignation he'd just had gone, deflated and replaced with something… hesitant. Not happy exactly, but determined. "We think being brave means not hesitating to love, but… there's more to it, isn't there? Loving someone unconditionally doesn't mean shit if it only hurts people in the end. You have to be smart about it too."
For some reason he seemed… extremely sad to admit that, even if his eyes seemed to resolve something.
For once Fred said nothing, glancing between the two of them almost uneasily.
"I don't think there's a rule in existence that fits every situation." Harry allowed. "But in this case yeah… I'm going to do right by Remus even if it's maybe not the best situation now. Even if it really feels wrong, I just have to make it right someday then. I'm doing it because I want to help him, not because I'm ashamed or afraid of him."
"Okay yeah, you just have to change society's attitude." Fred scoffed, breaking the suddenly tense atmosphere again, which Harry appreciated.
"Fair point. Maybe that's not the solution then, but I will find one." He said it with full confidence… mostly because he had to. Some lion-like part of him he really didn't use very often coming out strong and telling him… he made a promise. Even just to himself on Remus' part, he made a promise and everything in him was keening to see it through.
Or maybe it was still a Slytherin thing too—the art of the deal and keeping their bargains on point of death.
Or maybe that was just something the two rival houses actually had in common with each other.
"Somehow I believe you," George seemed very weary to admit that, while Fred suddenly grinned.
"Even if maybe it sounds like lunacy," they teased and Harry could only sigh.
"But you'll keep quiet about it then? I know it seems wrong but… please help?"
"Interesting conversation 'bout pumpkins then!?" A loud voice made all three of them jump, and magical map or not, none of them had noticed Hagrid coming up the path to stand his hulking frame over them, and now that they were not behind the pumpkin it was kind of obvious he had three kids sitting in the soft wet dirt of his garden. "It's getting' too cold to be doin' tha', come on in fer some tea you three!" He beckoned them with a huge hand, his other lugging a sack of something up the path and into his hut.
They let out light laughs in reaction to the honest scare that was, Fred getting up first and pulling Harry to his feet by his hands. He didn't let go for a moment to catch his attention seriously.
"We'll keep your secrets if you keep ours." He finished their conversation, George nodding once beside him as they then made their way to the cabin, dusting off their dirty clothes as they did so.
"Thank you." He agreed, not quite sure what secrets aside from the map they were talking about but suspecting there would be more in the future he'd need to hold close to the chest.
He could do that though.
And while the trade aspect of that agreement sounded very Slytherin-like, Harry knew it was also meant much more warmly than anything a snake could ever trade for. If felt way more like friendship this way, especially as they ended the day breaking their teeth on rock cakes by a roaring fire.
000
Thanks to the twins and a quick look at the map, Harry was able to catch up with Dean and Seamus just as they left the Great Hall after dinner, he himself going to head in to find Neville but knowing he had something to get off his chest first.
It was already dark and there were only a couple people milling about; Dean saw him first and waved as they crossed paths.
"Y' alright there Harry?"
"Yeah," He flashed him a smile that he actually meant this time, knowing Dean deserved his own apology—or maybe just gratitude. More than Harry knew he showed most of the time, anyway. Now though was a harder conversation to have as he turned to the Irishman. "Seamus, I-"
Seamus didn't even stop walking and as he passed him clapped him hard on the shoulder—hard enough that Harry stumbled forward a bit in shock, only to look up to blue eyes less than an inch from his own.
"Shut the fuck up." He was told in no uncertain terms, patted on head like a child, and then ignored as Seamus kept walking back to Gryffindor tower like that hadn't just happened.
Harry had to just stand there in shock.
Dean looked highly mused and snickered loudly, mostly at Harry's expression he was suspecting. "I told you he does it cause he wants to."
"…well fine then." Harry gave up, something light and fluttering settling over his heart. "Do you know what sweets he likes?"
"Cinnamon, the heretic." The tall Gryffindor sniffed in disgust, choosing to follow Seamus without another word and leaving Harry standing in the entrance way wondering just how on earth he deserved people like this in his life.