It was a rather pleasant evening with clear skies – perfect conditions for Quidditch. But here I was stuck in the greenhouse re-potting screeching Mandrakes while my team-mates were at Quidditch practice. I hated yanking these ugly, potato-like creatures out of the pots when I should have been out there at Quidditch practice. This was the last practice session before our crucial game against Ravenclaw and missing practice would mean I would go into the match less prepared. It probably wouldn’t mean the end of the world because I knew all I had to do on the pitch was thrust the Bludger as hard as ever towards their Chasers and Seeker and my job would be done and that came naturally to me.



Although, missing practice shouldn’t affect my performance much, it could have bad effects on the performance of the team. No one liked to practice with a player missing and I just hated letting my team-mates down. I can just imagine Victoire’s livid face when she sees me, giving me a death glare at every possible opportunity for missing practice due to detention. It had been horrible enough telling her that I had got myself detention on the evening of our practice, but now I was dreading seeing her because if anyone could hold a grudge it was her. That was the worst part about having nearly half of your family in the team – some of them just felt it was their birthright to curse you to death if you under-performed or did something wrong. And Victoire … she just took being the captain of the team to the limits. It had been due to my fast reflexes that I had escaped Victoire’s Leg-Locker Curse last season after my Bludger missed the Hufflepuff Chaser by inches, eventually costing us a goal. She misused her power, that girl, she really did.



Victoire was the sort of person who was perfectly nice to you unless you hampered Gryffindor’s chances of winning a match, and it was rather embarrassing considering she was my cousin. At least the others understood the meaning of having fun while playing. I know other people look at the things I do as mischief, but I just have fun. I guess everyone has a different idea of ‘fun’, and mine just happens to be setting Dungbombs right under Professor Periwinkle’s nose. Did I mention that I tried to flush Alex Nott down the toilet once? Of course, I got caught a lot, kind of like today, but today wasn’t really my fault. Afterall, it was the Slytherins’ fault that they lost their last two matches.



Professor Davies was our Transfiguration teacher and the Head of Slytherin and she was the most prejudiced little snippet anyone could come across. She gave me detention just for asking her how she felt about Slytherin’s second loss in this season’s Quidditch Cup. Perhaps there had been a hint of mockery in my words, but there was no reason to give me detention at exactly the time of Quidditch practice. I knew it was all a conspiracy devised by those sly Slytherins; they never figured out how to compete fairly. I just hoped that James would distract Victoire long enough for her to forget that I had done something wrong. He had a way with words and was perhaps the only person who was somewhat like me among my family members, aside from Roxie, but even she got serious like Mum at times.



Uncle Bill said Dad, along with Uncle Fred, was just like me when he was at school - always wreaking havoc and being a nuisance to the castle’s population. Apparently, if I ever wanted to take the title of Hogwarts’ greatest mischief-maker then I had rather big shoes to fill. But I didn’t really want that because Mum would kill me if she found out. Mum didn’t like it when I broke the rules or did something she considered crazy; it drove her mad. She thought it was dangerous of me to do such things, and I could easily hurt myself. Dad never took either Mum’s or my side, but I knew from the expression on his face that he didn’t mind my tricks or that I always sneaked off to the Forbidden Forest or to Hagrid’s late at night. However, he never encouraged me either because I think he’s wary of Mum and how the stuff I did stressed her out.



I’d been in this bloody greenhouse for three hours; Professor Davies should really have come by now. If I didn’t have earmuffs on, I would have gone deaf of the screeching. I was considering yanking them off so that they knocked me out –it’d be better than this torture – but then I remembered I had a prank planned for tonight and didn’t want to spend valuable time in the Hospital Wing. Finally, the prejudiced bat showed up, looking very pleased about having made me miss practice. If I didn’t break Flint’s leg in the upcoming match, I would definitely Transfigure Professor Davies into a bat.



‘That would be all, Weasley,’ she said in a high-pitched voice, her expression smug.



I breathed a quite sigh of relief as I rushed towards the Great Hall for dinner. The buzzing was ever loud at Gryffindor table. My hair had turned a shade of brown with all the dust, and my robes were covered with patches of dirt, sticking to me like slime. I had tried to go to the toilet and clean myself up but there really wasn’t much I could do with my robes. As I watched a few second-year girls wrinkle their noses when I passed them, I realised that I probably smelt too. I shook my head and ignored them completely, deciding to do something to put Professor Davies equally to shame. The thought cheered and energised me. I took my place on the empty seat beside my cousin, James, who was shoving down beef chops hungrily and only looked up after a slapped his head.



‘Hey,’ James spluttered with his mouth full. ‘Grab some food – it’s delicious. We missed you at practice today; you should have seen Victoire and Roxie because they were amazing with the Quaffle. Anyway, how was detention?’



‘Detention was neat,’ Fred replied sarcastically. ‘I think the Pixie Davies is growing fond of me – which means she’ll be giving me more detention.’



‘Ugh, she really is trying to do us in,’ James spat, looking irritated. ‘I wonder if she played Quidditch and got battered by Gryffindor in her time. I have to ask Dad.’



‘Forget about it – she’ll be made to pay in due time,’ I said lightly as I helped myself to some steak. ‘How did practice go?’



‘As I told you, it went great, actually – mostly because you weren’t there,’ James replied, a smile playing at his lips. ‘Tell me what happened at the greenhouse.’



I would have retorted to his little dig but instead, I gave James a confused look while wondering how he could have known about was exactly I had done at detention. Did James know that I had transferred Mandrakes into fresh pots this evening?



‘What do you mean?’ I questioned, raising my eyebrows.



‘Your detention, of course,’ James replied distinctly. He stopped dead for a moment, looking as though he had said something he shouldn’t have.



I knew James inside out and that expression on his face gave it all away. I had for a moment considered that maybe James had just taken a guess, but my little cousin had been spying on me. He had got caught in the process but now there was no stopping me from all the snide comments that were already building up in my mind, ready to be lashed out at my cousin. But I decided to take it slowly.



‘So James, I didn’t know you never had one,’ I said in an even tone despite the fact I was inwardly chuckling.



‘Never had what?’



‘A life,’ I replied mockingly. ‘You know, there are two sorts of people who spy on people and never mind their own business: people who are paid to spy and people who don’t have a life.’



‘I wasn’t spying – ’



‘Did Victoire ask you to do it?’



‘No – why would I – I wasn’t spying on you, Fred!’ James yowled incredulously.



‘Well,’ I said frowning. ‘How did you find out what I did at detention?’



‘I don’t know what you did at detention!’ James grumbled.



‘Come on, I’m not going to kill you, James,’ I said, jokingly. ‘You knew I was at the greenhouse –’



‘Yes,’ James shouted, looking red in the face. ‘That’s all I know; nothing more.’



‘Okay, we won’t talk about it if it bothers you,’ I said, not wanting to argue with him.



His solemn expression told me that the topic was making him uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to put pressure on the kid so I didn’t press further. But there was something about James – he always knew where to find someone; it was like he was a tracker.



‘James!’ Victoire called frantically from behind. ‘Have you seen Roxie?’



‘No,’ James said, perplexed. ‘Why, what’s wrong?’



‘She’s not here … or anywhere!’ Molly spoke in a nervous tone. She had come along behind Victoire, looking slightly upset.



I looked at Victoire, demanding a better explanation. Roxie couldn’t just disappear, so why wouldn’t she be “anywhere�? Victoire looked at me with a worried expression, her white skin looking even paler than usual.



‘I – I – don’t know … she’s not in Gryffindor tower,’ she said, sounding desperate. ‘I sent Molly to look for her in the upstairs corridors and I checked the toilets …�



I didn’t know what to believe: was my sister really lost? But how could she just vanish without anyone’s notice? Surely, they had missed some part of the castle because Roxie had to be somewhere.



‘Ok, you’re over-reacting, as always. Where did you see her last?’ I asked lightly.



‘At practice, I think,’ Victoire said, looking slightly scared. ‘Wasn’t she with you, James? She’s always with you!’



James widened his eyes as guilt began to etch across his face. He looked up at all of us with a rather sickened expression. He looked like he had done something really wrong, and the thought of it bothered him more than it had when he had let slip that he knew about my detention.



‘It’s my fault!’ he said, looking disgusted with himself. ‘I was starving, but Roxie wanted to take a look at her new Quidditch robes. So I – I left her there and came to grab dinner. I’m sorry … I should have waited for her.’



Victoire gave James a sympathetic look as she patted him tenderly on the shoulder. James and Roxie were good friends and they were inseparable. It must have been distressing for James to think it was his fault Roxie was missing.



‘It’s all right, James.’ Victoire said gently. ‘We’ll find her.’



‘Yeah, James,’ I said reassuringly. ‘I won’t kill you if we never find Roxie, I promise.’



‘No, we’ll find her,’ James said, looking rejuvenated at the thought of finding Roxie. ‘You guys stay here. I’ll be back with Roxie.’



James sounded like a man on a mission, but everyone else simply looked uncomfortable; he was only a second year and after dinner no one was allowed out on the corridors. Just at that moment, Dominique came towards us, having overheard much of our conversation.



‘You can’t just go around Hogwarts this late,’ Dominique pointed out. ‘You’ll get caught by a Prefect. Wouldn’t it be better if Victoire and Molly looked for her? They’re Prefects and they wouldn’t have much trouble with it.’



‘You don’t understand, Dominique!’ James screamed.



‘Make me understand then.’ Dominique said with a shrug.



James glared at Dominique and gave me a pleading look. I supported him because I knew he was the only one who could find Roxie, but what Dominique had said wasn’t entirely wrong and I doubted that Victoire or Molly would allow James walking around the castle after dinner.



‘Okay, I’ll go with James,’ I said, finally. ‘We can take his Invisibility Cloak so that we don’t get caught. And Dominique, I think you’re forgetting that James enjoys frequent night excursions and has yet to get caught; he’s a master at disguise.



Dominique nodded her head and smiled nervously as Molly looked at us reluctantly. It seemed Victoire was too worried to give her own views, so she simply nodded, indicating her consent; Molly looked reproachful but she said nothing. Sometimes, I was hugely thankful that Victoire was the oldest and her opinion mattered more. I shuddered to think what would have happened to us if Molly was in charge: we would probably be as boring and methodical as she was.



James urged me out of the Great Hall, and I could just feel that he knew where to find Roxie. He reached inside his pockets and took out a blank old piece of parchment. He took out his want and pointed at the parchment. I stared at it in amazement, wondering how an old parchment would help us find my sister.



‘I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good,’ he said earnestly.



‘What is this?’ I demanded bemused.



‘The Marauder’s Map,’ James muttered nonchalantly. ‘Dad had it and Grandpa made it so I inherited it. Isn’t it great? It’s very helpful if you are the adventurous type.’



I looked at him bewilderment, wondering whether he had gone mad. Why did he have to say that … to a piece of parchment? And what was Marauder’s Map? But my questions were answered before I had even asked. Ink was spreading across the parchment like spiderwebs, creating something that looked like a … map. As I squinted for a better view, I saw labels like AstronomyTower, Gryffindor Tower and Ravenclaw Tower on the paper, and I realised that it must have been a map of Hogwarts. There were little dots scurrying like ants all over the map. I started as my eyes fell on the Great Hall, where a dot labelled ‘Victoire’ was moving towards the Entrance Hall.



I gasped slightly before realising that this was the reason why James knew where to find everyone. A wide grin spread across my face – there three secret passages out of Hogwarts that I had yet to find, and I could see all the teachers in the castle. I would always be aware if a teacher was approaching when I sneaked out or played a trick on someone.



‘Victoire didn’t check everywhere,’ James whispered. ‘Roxie is still at the changing room.’



‘Are you sure?’ I asked, checking the map to see if I could trace Roxie there. ‘Wow, I would have never guessed the Slytherin Common Room was there.’



I looked at dungeon under the lake, and my mind whirled with the possibilities of knowing the location of the Slytherin Common Room. It was very tempting, but I brushed those thoughts aside, knowing I had to get to Roxie first.



We tiptoed under the Cloak and we reached the changing room after what seemed like eternity. As we walked, the same question pulsed in my mind: what had Roxie been doing in the changing room for so long? She couldn’t have fallen in love with her robes so much that she couldn’t lose sight of them



I threw the Cloak off of me and breezed past James to get to Roxie, having already spotted her on the floor near the wardrobe. She was crouched on the floor helplessly and whimpered as she saw us. Her eyes were tearful, and as I looked I realised someone had cast a Jelly-Legs Jinx on her.



‘Roxie!’ James and I screamed.



‘What should we do?’ James asked nervously.

My mind was racing as I tried to work out what had happened to her. I growled furiously when I reached for my wand to cast the counter-jinx. ‘Stabilis.’



Roxie looked at me, as she whimpered again and hugged both James and me tightly. As she pulled away, I noticed her Quidditch robes were still clutched in her hands. But before I got carried away I needed to know what had happened to her.



‘We could take her to the Hospital Wing,’ James muttered, looking at Roxie uncertainly.



‘Not now,’ I said firmly. ‘Roxie, do you mind telling your brother how you ended up like this? Who did this?’



James’s eyes widened and he looked at Roxie eagerly. She gave me an uncomfortable look, biting her lips nervously. She seemed slightly reluctant at first, but our serious faces convinced her enough for her to tell us the whole story.



‘Um, after practice, I – I was looking at my new robes when I heard some voices,’ Roxie began nervously. ‘I was already so excited that I ignored them, but then, they came inside and started laughing at me when they saw me. They were those big, mean Slytherin boys, but I don’t know their names. One of the boys just took out his wand and hexed me!’



‘Those pests!’ James hissed angrily, as Roxie’s trembled slightly.



I was furious with anger after hearing Roxie’s story, and nothing could make me feel better. I was happy that Roxie was safe, but I was agitated that those petty Slytherins always got away with their wrongdoings. They never even got caught, but Professor Davies managed to find some way of punishing students of other houses quite easily.



‘Fred, I’m sorry,’ Roxie squealed in a pleading tone. ‘I shouldn’t have stayed back alone, but please don’t tell Mum and Dad about this. I was just excited to see my robes. ’



Perhaps, my angered face had scared her into thinking that I was annoyed with her. She was already so shaken up that I didn’t want to bother her anymore. I tried to smile slightly as I looked at her.



‘It’s okay Roxie, I understand,’ I said in a falsely gleeful tone. ‘I know you’ve got a thing for these robes – it happens with people like you.’



‘We should go,’ James said suddenly. ‘Victoire would be worried crazy.’



‘Yeah, she’s extreme,’ I said in agreement.



As we slid inside James’s Invisibility Cloak and walked out of the changing room, I began to think of all the possible places and plans to be hatched out if I was aided by James’s map. It would be great if I had it, but I think James wouldn’t mind if I borrowed it from time to time. I could just imagine myself going into the Slytherin Common Room under James’ Cloak and setting Knee-Reversal Hexes or Conjunctivitis Curses on each one of them and no one would ever have a clue that I did it. That would be a great way to settle the scores; if they could get away with doing all the wrong things so could I.



I wasn’t going to rest till I made them pay for messing with my sister. I considered taking James along because I was sure he wouldn’t want to miss the fun. I grinned as a picture of everyone in the Slytherin Common Room with their knee positions completely reversed flashed across my mind. And I knew that if I got in there once, there were many other hexes and jinxes I could throw at them, along with some of the very best Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes products I had in my collection.



‘So, James,’ I muttered carefully so that Roxie couldn’t hear us. ‘Are you up for a bit of mayhem?’