Three tWins

"He is."

"Yes, he is."

"Aren't you?"

"What?" Harry said confused.

"Harry Potter." The twins said together.

"Oh him. Yeah I am Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you. I am Fred and this is George."

"You two are first years as well."

"Yeah." Fred said.

"Our first year." George added.

"Three older brothers we got. One passed out from Hogwarts. One is in seventh year. And the third one, well we don't like to speak of him. He is in third year."

"Yeah we also got a younger brother and a younger sister."

"That's nice." Harry added.

"We heard you went to live with the muggles."

"Yes, my relatives."

"They must have been so happy to have you. I mean anyone would be happy to have you, right Fred."

"Yeah."

"No, they weren't actually. I found out that I was a wizard on 31st July. They didn't tell me. They are not fond of magic."

The twins became quiet for a moment.

"It doesn't matter."

The mood lightened after that as the twins told Harry things about their family. Then a witch carrying a stack full of sweets entered their compartment.

"You want anything dears?"

"No, thanks mom packed us lunch." The twins said simultaneously.

"I will take some." Harry took some of the money he had taken and brought sweets.

The rest of the journey passed smoothly. They changed into their robes and got down the train. Then they heard a voice.

"First ye'rs o'er here."

Harry turned and saw Hagrid standing there.

He quickly ran to him.

"Hey Hagrid. What are you doing here?"

"Well I am the gamekeeper Harry. This is my duty."

Fred and George who had followed Harry were looking at Hagrid with awe. Of course they had never seen such a big person before.

"Hagrid these are my friends, Fred and George Weasley."

Hagrid scoffed. "Anot'er Weasley. You two are the fifth right."

"Yeah we are."

"Now come on. We need to get on the boats."

They road the boats across the lake. After that Hagrid let them inside and made them all stand outside a big door. Then a stern looking woman came to address them. She told them stuff about Hogwarts and how their houses are going to be their family and how rule breaking would lose them points. She led them inside the hall where all the other students were seated. A hat was kept on a chair. The hat sang a long song about explaining the qualities of the four houses.

"Now I will call out your names come and sit on the chair and you will be sorted. Montague, Joshua."

A scrawny looking boy went forward and sat on the chair. The hat was placed on his head. After almost thirty seconds the hat yelled, "Slytherin."

The table at the right hand side jumped in applause.

"Turpin, Mia."

A girl with dark black hair tied into an elegant knot moved forward. The moment the hat was put on her head the hat yelled, "Gryffindor."

The leftmost table clapped loudly. The girl happily took the hat off and sat on the Gryffindor table.

"Weasley, Fred."

Fred smiled and made his way to the chair. After some time the hat yelled, "This is not Fred Weasley, this is George Weasley." The entire hall laughed and McGonagall gave George an earful before letting him go back. Fred sat on the chair and was immediately sorted into Gryffindor. The sorting continued. A girl named Angelina was sorted into Gryffindor as was a girl named Alicia, Dorcan Meadows was sorted into Ravenclaw. Then at last.

"Potter, Harry."

The hall went quiet. Even the teachers at the staff table sat up straighter. Whispers and murmurs of "Potter" could be heard. Harry walked to the chair trying best to keep his calm. The hat was placed on his head.

"Well, well, well Harry Potter. How long have I wanted to meet you?"

"Hello." Harry said weakly.

"Lets see, there is courage, lots of it. Not a bad mind either, there is talent, oh yes, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you."

"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."

"Not Slytherin eh, but Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness, you know. Well if your sure, better be Gryffindor."

The next months turned out to be the best of Harry's life. Life at Hogwarts was amazing. Life with Fred and George was even more amazing. Sure he got into a lot of detentions and lost a lot of points but he had never enjoyed himself more. He was a bit scared to cause mischief at first but after some time became much more comfortable with time. He had also made the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a reserve seeker. It was a long incident. Fred and George's older brother Charlie was the captain of the team. He was the original seeker. If he was unable to play for some reason, Harry would get to play. If he did he would become the youngest seeker in history. During practice the entire team praised Harry. Everyone told him he was as good as Charlie. The classes were fun as well. Fred and George who were both amazing in Charms and Potions helped him a lot. They explained things in ways Snape never could. And Snape, it didn't take Harry long to realise that Snape hated him and hated him with a passion. He seized any opportunity he could get his hands on to insult Harry. He favoured Slytherins unnecessarily. Deducted points from every other house unfairly. In short every other house hated him. The other teachers were fascinating as well. The transfiguration teacher Professor McGonagall was the most strict person he had ever met, she did not favour her house even by an inch. The only time she refused to give them homework was the day before the Quidditch match. The older students and his quidditch teammates told him that McGonagall was very passionate about Quidditch. She hated it when her house lost. She hated it more when Snape bragged about his own house's team. But Snape had been shut up effectively, because Gryffindor beat Slytherin handsomely. The margin of points was around 200 points. Their fellow Gryffindor, Lee Jordan had been the commentator and it had been a heck of a match. With Charlie catching the snitch for good measure. Harry didn't get to play but he was very happy that his team had won. The celebration in the common room had been wild. Harry soon found out that he had a knack for transfiguration and Defence against the dark arts. In the entire first year he was easily the best in these two subjects. He was averaging in Herbology. He was plain dreadful in Astronomy. History of Magic was a different case altogether, the ghost teacher, Professor Binns was the only interesting thing about the class. Professor Dumbledore was also the strangest person he had met. When the three of them were up late once, Dumbledore had caught them. He had winked at them and told them to go the other way because Filch had been wandering around.

"Hey Harry." Harry looked up and saw his classmate Lee Jordan looking at him.

"Hey Lee."

"George and Fred were just caught by Filch."

"Caught doing what?"

"Dungbomb." He sighed.

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"Thanks for telling me Lee."

"Yeah sure."

When Lee had gone Harry went up to the dorms and took out two dungbombs and stuffed them into his robes. He quickly raced to Filch's office. He set the bombs on his door and lit them up. He quickly ran hid himself behind a pillar. The bombs exploded with a loud bang, covering the area in smoke. Filch came out screaming. He ran in the opposite direction with Mrs Norris following him. Fred and George came out smiling. They quickly ran away from the scene towards the common room. Harry also made his way to the common room. When he reached there he saw Fred and George were sitting outside grinning like idiots. Harry went and sat beside them.

"Good work Harry."

"You saved us."

"And gave us an opportunity."

"To do what?" Harry inquired.

"To steal."

"You stole?"

"This." They both said together as George took out a piece of parchment.

"A piece of parchment. Seriously, you stole a piece of parchment."

"Don't judge us yet Harry. It was in Filch's Confiscated and Dangerous Box. It must be something good."

He opened the parchment and his face fell.

"It is blank."

"What?"

"Yes."

"Give it to me."

Harry examined the parchment for sometime.

"Maybe it is hidden." Fred added.

"Maybe."

The three of them tried to find the hidden text appear for the next few hours. Finally when they were tired they went up to bed. Harry jumped on his bed. He had not completed his Herbology homework. He had completed his potions one however.

"Ah, this thing is a waste of time. Open in the name of Severus Snape." George shouted pointing his wand at the piece of parchment.

"Yeah like that will help. No way Snape is going to get it done."

"You are right Fred." Harry said slowly as he was beginning to feel sleepy.

"Hey guys." George said slowly.

"What?"

"Guys come here."

Harry and Fred got out of bed very reluctantly. They went over to George's bed. George was sitting with the parchment in his hands.

"Look at this." He showed them the parchment. Something had appeared on it.

'Mr Moony would like to tell Severus Snape to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.'

'Mr Prongs agrees with Mr Moony, and would like to add that Snape is an ugly git.'

'Mr Padfoot would like to say that Snape is an idiot.'

'Mr Wormtail wishes Snape a good day and asks him to wash his hair the slimeball.'

They burst out laughing. They laughed for some time.

"This is amazing."

"Try it again."

"Open in the name of Harry Potter." George said pointing his wand at the parchment.

But this time nothing happened. No text appeared. They tried again with other names but nothing happened. They uses Snape's name again and this time the text appeared. It was the same as the last time. It seemed as if the parchment was supposed to insult Snape and Snape only. As it had gotten late, George put the parchment in his trunk and went to sleep.

"Did you do your Charms homework?"

"Yeah did it already."

"Ok, lets go upstairs."

"Ok."

The three headed upstairs.

"Harry took the parchment from his trunk and tossed it to Fred."

They had been trying for sometime now to make the parchment do something. It had started to get on their nerves.

Fred kept on trying to do something while Harry and George just sat there doing nothing. After a few minutes Fred angrily threw the parchment on the floor.

"This thing never works. And even the Snape thing has started to get boring."

"Yeah we know mate."

Fred lifted it. "I swear on merlin I am up to no good, open."

"Hey Fred why don't you try I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Harry said, while George laughed.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

"God what an idiot you are."

"Hey it worked."

"What?"

"Come here.

Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief – Makers

are proud to present

The Marauders Map

More things had started to appear on the map.

"Hey it is a map of Hogwarts." George said.

"These dots."

"They are showing people. Look at the Gryffindor dormitory." Harry pointed.

The map was showing three dots labelled, Fred Weasley, George Weasley and Harry Potter.

"It shows us everyone present in Hogwarts. It can be used to get away from Filch very easily."

"Yes, you are right."

"Hey look at those passages. We have never seen them before." Harry pointed out again.

"Yes. Maybe they lead somewhere. We will have to see tomorrow."

"Yeah you are right."

"How do we clear this map?"

"I don't know."

"Any ideas."

"It is for mischief makers right, how about mischief managed." Harry reasoned.

"Okay, Mischief managed."

Fred pointed his wand at the map. And to their awe it went blank. All the ink disappeared.

"This is amazing."

"Alright then, we go exploring tomorrow then."

"Aye aye."

Christmas had arrived sooner than they could have expected. After learning how to use the Map life had become more fun for the three of them. They wandered late into the night and always used the map to escape. Pranking Slytherins was also very easy now. the term ended on a good note, except for potions of course. Snape put all his effort in humiliating Harry. Harry had managed to make a decent potion but Snape found it abysmal. He saw that Montague and Flint had made their potions almost identical but Snape didn't tell them anything. However the other lessons had been fine. Harry woke up on Christmas morning more cheerfully than he had ever in his life. He saw that Fred and George had already woken up and were unpacking their presents.

"Morning sleepyhead."

"Now get up and open your presents."

"I don't get presents." He had never received a present on Christmas from the Dursleys

"You do now, now get down."

Harry got down and saw to hi surprise that he had received presents. He quickly opened them. Fred and George had collectively given him a pocket knife. They told him that it could open any lock. He had received some sweets from his classmates, particularly Mia. He had received a red coloured jumper. When the twins saw it they smiled broadly.

"We told mum about your relatives. So she sent you the jumper."

Mrs Weasley had also sent him sweets and cakes. There was one last present. It had been wrapped plainly. A note was attached to it.

Your father left this in my possession before he died. Use it well.

Harry opened the present eagerly and saw a cloak. Fred had moved to his side to look at it.

"Well try it on Harry."

Harry got up and wrapped the cloak around him. Both Fred and George stared at him in shock.

"Why are you guys looking at me so weirdly?"

"It is.." Fred stuttered.

"It is.." George tried to add.

"What?"

"Look down."

Harry looked down and was shocked. His body from the neck below had become invisible.

"It is an invisibility cloak and a pretty darn good one."

"They are really rare."

"Expensive too." George took the card and read it.

"I wonder who gave it to you."

"No name is mentioned on the card."

"Well, rule breaking at Hogwarts became much more easy."

They spent the day eating the sweets they had got. Meals at Hogwarts had always been amazing but Christmas was even more special. During the day they went outside and had snowball fights. The older years also joined them later. It was the best Christmas Harry had ever celebrated.

"Mr Potter please stay after the class."

Harry wondered what Professor McGonagall had to say to him. She had never asked him to stay back before, but he would soon find out. When the rest of the class had left Harry went to upto her desk.

"What is it Professor?"

"Mr Potter Mr Weasley has been injured."

"But Fred and George are fine."

"Not them Charlie."

"How?"

"We don't know yet. He has a cracked skull."

"Who did it?"

"We don't know but we think it might have been Slytherins."

"Of course it was Slytherins."

"Well we have no proof. You will have to play in the next match."

"Me."

"Yes. You are after all the reserve seeker."

"But Professor…"

"No, buts Mr Potter. You have to play otherwise we will have to forfeit."

"Okay."

The year was over. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch cup and the House Cup as well. Harry had given an amazing performance as seeker, catching the snitch inside four minutes. He had received good marks in his exams as well. he had managed to pass in potions somehow. He had done wonderfully in the other subjects as well. Fred and George had performed amazingly too. They had received the highest grades in potions and charms in the whole year, which was a miracle given Snape taught the subject. The past 11 months had been the best of Harry's life. Hagrid had promised Harry that he would visit him during the summer just to scare the Dursleys, so that they didn't give Harry a hard time.