Chapter Text
Fred Weasley, fourth-year Gryffindor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was feeling conflicted. His second-year housemate, Harry Potter, had recently revealed that he has the ability to talk to snakes.
Parseltongue, as the power was called, was considered a Dark power, as the last wizard with the ability to use it had been He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or as Harry and Headmaster Dumbledore called him, Voldemort.
Most of the school now believed that Harry could be responsible for the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets, supposedly a way for Salazar Slytherin’s descendants to ‘purify’ the school of muggle-born students.
Personally, Fred thought that this was ridiculous; one of Harry’s best friends, Hermione Granger, was a muggle-born student as well. He was also best friends with Fred’s younger brother, Ron, and the entire Weasley family were called ‘blood-traitors’ by the Dark pure-blooded believing families. How could Harry be responsible?
Not everyone felt that way, however. Most of Gryffindor House had turned on him, and Cormac McLaggen had started a campaign to vote Harry out of the house. It was a very old rule, so old that it had hardly been remembered even by those who had read Hogwarts: A History.
Fred and his twin, George, had managed to convince him to delay the vote by four days, but that was all McLaggen would do. If the vote went in McLaggen’s favor, Harry and anyone who voted against the Outcasting would be kicked out of their dorms in Gryffindor Tower.
Even worse than that, a week ago, Harry had been found next to a Petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick. This seemed to cement the theory that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.
The tension had gotten so high that Fred feared violence from the rest of the school sooner or later. The twins had been trying to break the tension with their pranks, but it wasn’t working.
Now, Fred was trying to find some place that Harry and the Outcasted members of Gryffindor House could hide from the rest of the school while not in classes. The Marauder’s Map they had found in their first year didn’t have any place big enough to do that, and the Chamber of Secrets held whatever was petrifying students, even if it was possible to find.
More pressing than that, if it was possible, Fred and George were both unsure how they could stand up to the entirety of Gryffindor House. Sure, the first-year students were only playing along with the idea because they were too afraid to rock the boat, and Percy the Prefect was treating the suggestion of the Outcasting rule as childish and would likely abstain from voting.
But just about everyone else was treating Harry as a criminal! As much as Fred wanted to support Harry, he didn’t know how to do that. He couldn’t even ask his parents for help because he didn’t think they’d take him seriously because of his nature as a prankster!
At this point, it would be better to find someone who he could relate to and ask them for advice, like the creators of the Marauder’s Map. Wait a minute…
“Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,” Fred muttered, pointing his wand at the deactivated map. “You left prewritten messages for those who tried to open the map but gave the wrong command … is there a way for accessing your names in case of emergency advice being needed?”
At his question, words started forming on the parchment.
Mr. Moony is sure that it would take a truly dire situation, indeed.
Mr. Wormtail would like to know what that situation is.
Mr. Padfoot has included a loyalty charm to know which Marauders are best to go to, along with the sincerity of your intentions.
Mr. Prongs says that the Marauders would help if it was directly requested by the user.
“One of my housemates will be unjustly Outcast in four days. I can’t find a place to hide the Outcast and those who are loyal to him, and I need mentoring on the type of bravery that getting cast out with him takes. Please help me,” Fred said.
Then he realized that he’d admitted to not knowing how to stand up for Harry against the entire house. Did the loyalty charm that Padfoot mentioned let his request go through despite that? The words on the parchment changed.
Mr. Moony’s name is Remus Lupin, and he is loyal but has the truth hidden from him.
Mr. Wormtail’s name is Peter Pettigrew, and he betrayed all three of the other Marauders.
Mr. Padfoot’s name is Sirius Black, and he is loyal.
Mr. Prongs’s name is James Potter, and he is deceased.
“Holy shit, that’s a lot, hang on,” Fred said, grabbing his own piece of parchment and scribbling the names and loyalties. “Okay …. Okay. Since Padfoot is probably framed for Wormtail’s crimes, being in Azkaban, I can’t write to him. Wormtail is out of the question, and we all know what happened to Harry’s dad, so Moony is our only hope. Now, is borrowing Dumbledore’s phoenix or the fastest owl in the Hogsmeade post office faster?”
“Probably the phoenix,” George’s voice said, causing Fred to jump. He hadn’t noticed his twin entering the dormitory. “Sorry, I felt some strong emotions from our twin connection and wanted to help.”
“It’s fine,” Fred said. “Help me write a letter to Remus Lupin, maybe he knows a place that wasn’t put on the Map that we can use once it happens … and how the hell we do the right thing in the face of this.”
George nodded solemnly. “I don’t want to turn on the son of a Marauder, even more so because we knew him before we found out about his dad being one of our idols … but this fear is a class of its own.” He grabbed a piece of parchment and started to write.
Dear Mr. Lupin,
Our names are Fred and George Weasley. We have an unusual type of emergency and your old map from your school days pointed us towards you when we passed Padfoot’s loyalty charm test.
The Son of Prongs has been falsely accused of reopening the Chamber of Secrets because he is a Parselmouth. Two students, a ghost, and the caretaker’s cat have been attacked, and there is one message on a wall declaring the Chamber’s reopening.
One boy, Cormac McLaggen, has uncovered the old rule about Outcasting students from their houses. We have convinced him to delay for four days, but the vote will undoubtedly end in an Outcasting. We do not have a place to hide and live once we are outcasts, nor do we know the type of courage it takes to get Outcasted with him by voting against the notion.
We welcome any advice on both locations and bravery to do what is right instead of what is easy.
Solemnly swearing to be up to no good (for the traitors),
Fred and George Weasley
“How does this sound?” George asked. Fred read the letter over and nodded. “It looks good,” Fred approved. He took the letter from George and said, “I’m going to go send it. Can you ask Lee and the rest of the Quidditch team what they think of the Outcasting idea?” “Sure,” George answered. “Let’s hope that they’re being reasonable.”
Fred nodded and left to go to Professor Dumbledore’s Office. Thankfully, it was still late afternoon, so Fred wouldn’t get in trouble by wandering the halls of Hogwarts. He found the statue of a gargoyle guarding the office and stood in front of it, then thought about the most likely password that the Headmaster would use.
“Let’s see … the password has always been some type of sweet before, so … Sherbet Lemon!” Fred guessed. The statue moved aside, and Fred walked up the circular staircase to enter the office. He checked the Marauder’s Map to see whether he should knock and saw that the office was empty at the moment. Fred tested the door and, finding it unlocked, entered.
Looking around the room, Fred recognized the portraits of the various headmasters and headmistresses that Hogwarts had had since its creation. He also took in the various items that Dumbledore had lying around, possibly invented by him, some of which were whirring with magic. Then Fred saw what he was looking for.
Sitting on a perch was a beautiful red bird. It wasn’t as big as Fred remembered, so the phoenix must have had a burning day recently. Still, it looked healthy enough to take letters to others.
Fred walked up to the bird and said, “Hello … your name is Fawkes, right?”
The phoenix nodded. “I need your help,” Fred told it. “One of my housemates has been accused of being the Heir of Slytherin, and someone found the old Outcasting rule and suggested we use it.
George and I convinced him to delay for four days, but we need to send a letter to Remus Lupin asking for help – we need both a hiding place and mentorship on getting Outcast with Harry by voting against it instead of not voting,” Fred blurted out, startling himself at his emotional outburst.
Fawkes sang a few notes, which calmed Fred’s nerves. The effect of a phoenix’s song was a calming presence that Fred had needed. Fawkes then nodded and motioned for Fred to give him the letter.
“Thank you,” Fred said gratefully. “I’ll let Professor Dumbledore know what you’re doing, if you want to stick around for his reply.” The phoenix nodded, then caught fire and vanished.