Harry did in fact make the same mistake. Not only in the many years I've known him, but on that very same night. To set the scene, he had just told us that no, he hadn't been expelled and, as I'd predicted, he'd been made a Seeker on the Quidditch team. The youngest player in about a century.

"What did I tell you?" I said to Ron, who was still in shock. "He's a natural."

Fred and George came over to congratulate him. I stood to follow after them, realizing this was my chance to catch them off guard. As soon as they had left, Malfoy approached the table. I raised an eyebrow at him, but was too interested in my investigation of the Weasley twins to care.

"Fred! George!" I called after them. They turned around in sync, eyebrows raised inquisitively. I asked them which of them was Fred and which one was George. This time, pointy-eared one said he was Fred, and the one whose nose was slightly crooked said he was George. Last week, they'd said it was the other way around. I frowned and crossed my arms.

"You switch it every time!" I told them, somewhat frustratedly.

"You must have been falsely informed," one said as the two looked at each other impishly. "We don't know what you're talking about.

"Yes, you do," I said indignantly. "I can tell you apart when you're together, and every time you switch which one you are."

"That's rubbish!" The one called "Fred" said. "We're identical."

"Nearly identical," I told them. "I can tell. I basically spent my childhood playing Spot the Difference."

They looked at each other, seeming unsure what to say. Finally, "George" looked back at me. "How can you tell?"

"That's a secret," I told them. "Until you tell me the truth."

"Well what if we figure it out before you?" "Fred" grinned. I shook my head at him, somewhat excited by the prospect of a race. "Do your best."

"Challenge accepted," they both said. I shook both of their hands at the same time, then bid them adieu.

After dinner, we went back to the common room. I was quite tired, and was very excited to maybe go to bed a little bit early, but as soon as Hermione saw me sit on the mattress she shook her head. I raised an eyebrow at her, confused.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" She asked. I shook my head. "Tell me what?"

"Harry and Ron are planning to sneak out tonight at midnight to fight in a duel with Malfoy," she said plainly, seeming irritated. "They're going to lose us so many points!"

I barely registered that last part. So Malfoy had decided to go through with it. I realized that that's what he had been doing at dinner. I couldn't believe Harry had gone through with it again.

(But also I could, because he was rather easy to rile up.)

"We can't let them walk into that," I told Hermione. "It's a trap. Malfoy told me himself. He's not going to show and they're going to get caught. He tipped off Filch!"

"Malfoy told you? Why on earth would he do that?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," I shrugged. "As much as I dislike admitting it, I reckon I've taken a liking to him."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. I shook my head quickly.

"Only a small one!" I said. "He's just an interesting character. We'd never be friends, but he can be rather funny, and he's..." I glanced at Hermione's befuddled expression and took it as my cue to shut up.

"Awful," I concluded. "He's awful."

"Alright," she grimaced. "I never thought I'd hear anyone say anything even remotely good about Malfoy, but that's besides the point. We need to stop Harry and Ron from getting expelled."

"How so?" I asked. "They're not going to listen to us."

"So we'll sneak out and stop them," she said. As if realizing what she'd just suggested, she immediately put a hand over her mouth.

"That's not a horrible idea," I told her. She looked at me like I had just grown a second head. I cocked an eyebrow at her. "You suggested it. And anyway, what else do we do? Let them get expelled? They'll thank us later."

"I . . . I guess," she said hesitantly. More surely, she added, "we can do this."

"You bet we can," I grinned.

We stayed up until midnight in the common room, wearing our pajamas. We brought our books out for cover. Percy seemed rather suspicious, but I think because it was Hermione and I, he figured we were just studying. We waited for the light to go out, and I kept checking my watch in the dark. I didn't dare use lumos, as I was afraid that they might come down and see.

"It's a quarter to midnight," I whispered. "Maybe they decided not to—"

Suddenly, there was a creaking on the boys staircase. I pressed my lips together quickly, Hermione and I looked at each other, trying not to breathe too loudly. I was excellent at hiding and making myself smaller, so the two of us were balled up on the couch so that in the dark we'd look like pillows. As they neared the portrait hole, facing away from us, Hermione sat up silently.

"I can't believe you're going to do this Harry," she said. The both of them jumped out of their skins and whipped around. She flicked on the lamp beside her.

"You!" Ron hissed and flapped his hand at us. "Go back to bed!"

"We almost told your brother," I said, flickering my own lamp on as well. "Percy would stop this immediately."

They looked at each other and decided silently to ignore us, leaving the common room. We shared a look, deciding to follow them out.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor?" Hermione whispered angrily. "I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup this year and you're losing all of the points that Lila and I have won from class—"

"Go away," Ron told us. Hermione huffed.

"Fine, then, but—" We both expected the Fat Lady to be there when we turned around, but she had disappeared. This wasn't good.

"Now what are we going to do?" Hermione asked, her voice rising in pitch.

"That's your problem," Ron told us. "We've got to go, or else we'll be late."

"We're going with you," I insisted. I knew Hermione would have a conniption if someone caught us in the hall. I thought I might too.

"No, you're not," Harry frowned at us.

"It's a trap, you dolt," I fought the urge to hit him on the head. "Malfoy told me himself — he's going to tip off the caretaker and you're going to get expelled!"

"Bet he told you to say that, didn't he?" Ron remarked coolly. "Tomorrow morning he'll call us a couple of cowards in front of all his Slytherin friends for not showing up. C'mon, Harry, let's go-" he looked scathingly at Hermione and I. "Are you seriously going to follow us?"

"If we get caught I'll tell Filch that we were trying to stop you," Hermione said. "And you'll be able to back me up."

"You've got some nerve!" Ron said, voice rising.

"Shush, you all," Harry hissed at us. "I hear something."

"Mrs. Norris?" Ron looked around wildly. I shook my head. It was just Neville. He had fallen asleep on the floor. He woke with a start as we neared him. "Oh, thank goodness you're all here! I'd forgotten the password and gotten locked out—"

"Hush, Neville," I told him. "The passwords 'pig snout' but it won't be of any use to you now." I looked towards the others. "What'll we do with him?"

"How's your arm?" Asked Harry, ignoring me. I supposed it would've been polite to ask, but social normalcies weren't my strong suit.

"Fine," said Neville. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in a minute."

"Good — well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere and—"

"Don't leave me!" Neville said. "I don't want to stay here alone! The Bloody Baron's been by twice."

Harry heaved a big sigh. "Alright, you'll come with us then. But if any of you get us caught I'll never forgive you."

I never stopped trying to warn them as we progressed, and had half a mind to turn back. Harry stopped suddenly as we neared the trophy room and I stopped whispering. I saw Filch come out from the next corridor over, and we all held our breaths.

Filch turned the corner, Mrs. Norris in tow. Neither of them seemed to sense our presence. Harry and Ron were looking in now, having the audacity to seem confused that Malfoy wasn't waiting for them.

"See? What did I tell you?" I hissed. "Now let's go back to the common room before—"

There was a loud crash of armor nearby. I groaned. "Damnit, Neville." I murmured, breaking into a sprint. I found him outside on top of a toppled suit of armor — apparently he'd tried to get a head start back and knocked one over.

I heard footsteps approaching. I pulled Neville up with speed and strength I could have only accessed with the onset of adrenaline. I saw the rest of the group behind us. I took a few turns, leading Neville by the hand and looking for a locked door that Filch wouldn't expect us in. I waved them over.

"It's locked," Ron said, trying to open it.

"Which means Filch won't think we're in here," Hermione hissed as she unlocked the door with a spell. The five of us dashed inside. Harry closed the door hastily behind us. Immediately I realized that I'd made a mistake.

In the room stood an enormous, three-headed dog. It looked like Cerberus from Greek mythology. I noted a trapdoor beneath it's feet and assumed it must be guarding something. In the few fleeting moments where it was simply shocked by our presence, it did nothing. Slowly, though, it started to growl. We were in the forbidden corridor on the third floor.

Harry seemed to realize the same thing, because he pushed open the door. The five of us dashed out of there as quickly as we possibly could. I lead them through the shortcut and back to the Fat Lady, who was there this time.

"Where have you all been?" She asked us.

"Don't worry about it," I huffed as Harry was panting the password. She swung open indignantly for us, and we ran through. We all collapsed into armchairs and onto the couch. Nobody said anything for a while. Neville looked like he'd never be able to speak again.

I sat on the couch, hands folded neatly in my lap, sweat streaming down my forehead. "That was an adventure," I said breathlessly.

"What do you think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in the school?" Ron asked. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does!"

"Exercise?" I repeated breathlessly. "Try a chew toy."

"None of you use your eyes, do you?" Said Hermione disappointedly.

"I think I was too busy looking at the three sets of teeth," Harry stated. Well, that was fair.

"It was standing on a trapdoor," I mentioned. "For your information, which means—"

"It must be guarding something," Hermione said, standing. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. Now I'm going to bed, before either of you get another clever idea that could get us killed — or worse, expelled."

"I'll be up soon," I told her before she began to march up the steps. I sighed, rubbing my hand on my forehead. "I'm can't believe you two."

"Spare us the lecture," Ron grimaced. I sent him a death glare.

"Can you quit interrupting me?" I said nastily. "I'm sorry. I can get nasty, but frankly, I don't care about anyone's feelings. Look, I'm sorry that you don't approve of Malfoy and I being partners, but it's not like that's our fault!"

Ron scoffed. "Doesn't mean you have to look so happy with him. You heard what he said about Harry and me. About you, too."

"Well good thing we aren't friends, then." I scowled. "I tried to tell you the whole time that this was his plan all along, and you didn't listen. If anything, that should show you whose side I'm actually on."

They both looked proficiently guilty at that — after all, there was no way of getting around that.

"You took the bait twice today, Harry." I scolded him. "All the more reason that this could have also been prevented without my interference. Poor Neville is scared out of his mind now!"

He whimpered from where he laid on the floor in confirmation.

"I know you don't think very highly of me," I stood. "And that's alright. But I've never had friends before, and I just find it kind of odd that a prejudiced bigot like Malfoy is being a lot nicer to me than people in my own house are." I frowned at them. "I chose this house so I could continue to be friends with you two and Hermione, because you were kind and stood up for me. However, since we're just taking feelings out of the equation, maybe I should have just went with Ravenclaw."

I drew in a shaky breath.

"Goodnight," I told them, turning on my heel to leave for the girls dorms. I found Hermione's canopy closed. I laid awake in bed for a while, just thinking. I'd never been so conflicted before. While I hoped that I didn't just push them away for good, I also never wanted to talk to them again. The first time I'd had friends, I couldn't keep them. I looked over at Hermione's bed, where she was probably sleeping peacefully. I was glad that I could still count on her.