AN: Personally; I was waiting for this part of the story. Read and you'll find out why…though I thing the chapter title has already given you enough hints.

Also, I just want to greet a special thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys rock! (I totally wasn't expecting to get over a hundred reviews…Yey!)

The Love of the Lion and the Serpent

Chapter five: The Marauder's Map

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"Stupid Flint, stupid Flich…" mumbled Usagi as she waited about in the entrance hall later that night.

She stole a quick glance at her watch to find that it was already a quarter past seven. Usagi scowled deeply and scratched her head in frustration as she flopped down on the steps of the marble staircase.

She had been pacing around the hall close to about an hour and Flich was still nowhere to be found.

Waiting for her punishment was already torture yet Usagi couldn't help but feel that they had been easy on her.

However, with Flich in charge, she wouldn't know for sure.

The blonde-haired girl heaved a sigh as she carelessly twirled a finger around the tip of her long bangs. Memories of what had taken placed earlier played into Usagi's mind like the screening of a movie.

-------Flashback----------------

"I am extremely disappointed in you right now Miss Tsukino." said Professor McGonagall as she glanced at Usagi from across her desk.

Usagi resisted the urge to fidget in her seat under her Head House Mistress' unblinking gaze. Instead; the blonde merely kept quiet.

"Do you know that first years are forbidden to play Quidditch? Let alone participate at an actual game."

Silence.

Of course Usagi knew. Yet she did it anyway. Not that anyone could blame her.

McGonagall continued. "Nothing like this has ever happened in all of Hogwart's history in Quidditch matches…"

Usagi coughed. "Pardon for the intrusion, Professor but did you say 'Nothing'?" she asked.

The Transfiguration teacher eyed the blonde with a critical look. "You are right."

Usagi blinked. "So what you're saying is that nothing like this has ever happened…at all?"

"Yes." McGonagall answered simply.

The words uttered out of Usagi's lips even before she was fully aware of it.

"Cool."

McGonagall's brows furrowed at Usagi's comment and a deep frown set itself upon the professor's own lips.

" 'Cool' is not the right word. You are in deep trouble and therefore, as punishment, you are sentenced to detention…"

The beginnings of a satisfied smile slowly began to draw in Usagi's mouth when Professor McGonagall added.

"…later tonight."

If she wasn't quick in regaining her composure; Usagi would've dropped her jaw in surprise.

The professor went on. "And ten points to Gryffindor for cheating."

"But Professor! We still lost anyway." Usagi started to argue.

"Yes and as much as I hate to admit it; today's game goes to Slytherin."

To say that Usagi was outraged was an understatement. "What?!"

McGonagall leaned back against her chair. The look on her face was serious as she said.

"You heard me, Miss Tsukino…"

"But that wouldn't be fair! Professor…why not just have a rematch?" pleaded Usagi.

"I suggested the same thing but Professor Snape refused for obvious reasons. And anyway, you Miss Tsukino, don't exactly have the right to judge what is fair from not since you had broken the rules yourself."

"But Professor! I only did it because of that lousy be…"

"I don't want to hear another word of it Tsukino. You're dismissed." Interrupted McGonagall.

Fuming, Usagi stood up and walked out of the office; slamming the door in the process.

------------------End of Flashback------------------

And now, she's stuck here, waiting.

Usagi fumed silently but continued to sit there in silent until…

The sound of footsteps descending reached the blonde's ears. It sounded like it was coming from the top of the stairs.

A bit wary; Usagi craned her neck to look behind her. She saw three silhouette-like figures walking besides each other, although the one at the center seemed taller than the other two, as they stepped slowly down the stairs. A tiny 'clank' sound could be heard as they took each step.

In pure human instinct, Usagi sprang from her seat and took a couple of steps back. She stared unblinkingly at them as they reached the last few steps.

It was then that a small peek of moonlight crept its way past the shutters of the windows in the hall and illuminated the three figures.

Usagi let out the breath she was unknowingly holding with relief.

It was only Flich and the Weasley twins.

Usagi took a double-take. Surprise filled her silver eyes as she thought.

'What? Fred and George? What are they doing here?'

"Sorry for my tardiness Tsukino, but these two." Flich sneered as he nudged the two redheads besides him by the arm.

"Hey watch it!" yelled George as he tried to pry his arm away from the caretaker's grip.

"There's no need for you to rip our arms off." Fred agreed.

Ignoring the two, Flich went on. "…were caught wandering about in the hallways after curfew and so naturally, I gave them detention."

Flich gave a sinister smile. "Well at least now you have more company aside from the moss you're going to have to scrape clean from the dungeon walls."

No one bothered to reply.

Flich continued. "Without using any of your magic of course."

Three groans answered him back along with slight mentions of profanities.

Flich merely smiled gleefully. A little too gleefully.

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"Argh! I can't stand this anymore!"

Fred stabbed his scraper to the stony ground of the dungeon.

"How I would like to…argh!"

The redhead made a motion with his hands as if he was wringing an invisible neck.

George wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his sleeve.

"I feel the same way bro…Hey!"

Usagi had just scraped a really large and ugly-looking moss from the wall and wrinkled her nose in disgust as she dumped the offensive 'thing' in the bucket provided Flich had so graciously provided for them.

Hearing George's cry; Usagi looked back at him.

"What?" She asked.

George narrowed his dark brown eyes. "How come you're not sweating like us?"

This caught Fred's attention and, being the nearest to Usagi, he leaned forward to get a better look at the blonde.

"It's unfair. You still looked as fresh as a daisy." He pointed out.

Usagi rolled her eyes. Of all the silliest things to ask for.

"Well guys. It's simple really. I just cast an anti-sweating spell on myself." She explained.

"I wouldn't want to stink just like you guys,"

Usagi pinched her nose to prove her point. "Man you guys reek."

It was George's turn to roll his eyes. "Well excuse us for not being like you, Miss Pessimistic, but there is such a thing as a 'shower'."

Usagi merely stuck her tongue out at the redhead.

"Oh swell…Real mature."

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"So…Why were you guys wandering around the halls at this time of night?" asked Usagi as she continued to scrape the moss off the walls.

"Well…we figured that you were going to get detention…" started George.

"So we decided to look for you."

"What we didn't think of was that…"

"Flich would catch us." finished Fred.

"So here we are." The two boys chorused together.

Usagi involuntarily shivered. "It's kind of creepy when you guys do that 'twin thing' you know?"

"What creepy twin thing?" asked George.

"You know, the thing you guys do like finishing each other's sentences and all that other stuff."

"Oh, you mean…" said Fred.

"…like this?" said George.

Usagi rolled her eyes and figuratively threw her hands up in the air.

"Yes!"

"Oh…" was all the blonde got as a reply.

After a few moments of silence; Fred spoke up.

"You know, what you did earlier was totally awesome."

George added. "Yeah, though it was kind of a shame that we lost."

Usagi suddenly scowled deeply. "Argh! Don't remind me. I have to go out with that jerk Flint."

The twins didn't comment. Instead they rubbed their chins and looked as if they were in deep thought.

"Hm…Well we certainly can't take back the bet…" George started.

"But we could get back at the grit by making his date with you a living nightmare." Fred finished.

Hearing this; Usagi's silver eyes widened slightly but it wasn't long before it narrowed and a mischievous glint suddenly sparked in her pupils.

"What do you guys have in mind?" She asked innocently, though the evil twinkle in her eyes unmasked her true nature.

Both Fred and George grin wickedly as the three huddled up and began to formulate their plans.

Flint won't know what hit him.

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Flich smiled smugly at the three worn-out and completely exhausted first-years in front of him.

The caretaker got up from his seat and said.

"I trust that you've scraped them all off and cleaned the walls?"

From the way he said the words; it was more of a statement then a question.

The redheaded twins mumbled their replies illegibly while Usagi replied in a much more clear tone.

"Yes."

Flich's lips twitched into a smile. "Good then…"

BANG!!!

A loud explosion could be heard coming from down the hallway to Flich's office.

"What the…?"

Usagi put on her poker face as well as Fred and George.

"You better check it Mr. Flich." She suggested in an innocent-like voice.

"Who knows what could've caused such a racket?"

Flich numbly nodded his head. "You're probably right." He muttered; though a bit reluctantly.

Without another word; the caretaker of Hogwarts sprinted from his office and seemed to dash off down the hallway.

As soon as Usagi was confident that Flich was out of range, she mentioned to the two redheads besides her.

"Go and search his belongings. I have a gut feeling that he has some pretty cool stuff he'd confiscated." She said.

George raised an eyebrow at this. "Right. And what are you going to do?" He asked.

Usagi flashed him a perky smile. "Why, I'm the lookout of course." She replied.

George could only shook his head in dismay.

It wasn't long however when Fred suddenly cried out.

"There's nothing here." He mumbled. "Man, this sucks."

From her spot at the doorway, Usagi looked back at them and caught a flash of brown somewhere near Fred.

Curiosity got the best of her and soon, the blonde was gliding towards the two. She picked out a long folded piece of old brown parchment.

Peeking behind Usagi's shoulders; Fred and George watched as Usagi unfolded the piece of parchment to read what's inside.

In the parchment was written…Nothing.

"Bloody hell! All that excitement for a piece of blank parchment?" yelled out George in frustration.

Fred nodded his head; an equal frown in his face. However; something was nagging Usagi at the back of her mind.

The blonde's silvery eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Flich wouldn't have kept this so well-hidden in his drawers if it isn't important." She pointed out.

As if another force was taking control of her body; Usagi whipped out her wand from the folds of her robes and tapped it in the piece of parchment.

"I swear that I am up to no good." She said; feeling silly at the same time.

To their surprise, lines and scribbles suddenly began to appear and connected in each other to form…

"It's a map." Fred breathed out in excitement and wonder. "A map of Hogwarts."

George pointed out at a particular spot in the map. "Look! It tells where all the secret passageways and hideouts are."

Fred noted. "Look! It even tells us where we are right now and it even shows us our names."

The twins exchanged awed looks.

"Brilliant!!"

"Should we tell Lee about this?"

"Oh course! He would want to know, you nimrod."

Usagi merely chuckled at her friends' antics yet she herself couldn't help but squeal in delight at the prospect of what this marvelous map would bring to them in the future.

Then, something else caught her eye.

A tiny dot with a clouded figure she would often see in her Muggle manga was starting to head towards the area where three dots containing Usagi's, Fred's and George's names are located right now.

The sole dot heading towards them was Flich's.

"Oh Shit!" yelled out the three at the same time and started to panic.

Usagi, however, was the calmest of the trio and suddenly gave out orders.

"Fred, George. We've got to clean this mess up!"

In a speed that would put even the fastest cheetah to shame; the three began to puts things back the way they were before.

Usagi had just shoved the last piece of Dungbomb in its drawer when Fred, who was holding the map, suddenly cried out.

"Hurry! Flich's just around the corner!"

Usagi slammed the drawer shut and the three dashed out of Flich's office and into the safety of the shadows of the various knight's armories just as Flich wheeled around the corner into sight.

They dare not breathe as they watched as Flich surveyed his office. When his back was turned from them, Usagi, seeing an opportunity to make escape, gestured to the twins hiding near her.

Fred and George nodded their heads and Usagi took this as a sign to go on.

The blonde got down to her knees and crawled away from her hiding spot as slow and quietly as a baby.

She nearly tumbled in her haste to get up as she stopped at yet another corner of the hallway and practically dragged the two redheads into the shadows.

What followed was yet another game of hide-and-be-quiet as the trio headed for the stairs. Only when did they reached the seventh floor where their Tower was located did the three gave huge sighs of relief.

"That was close," mumbled Fred as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Too close." Usagi commented.

However; it didn't take too long before the three broke out into huge grins.

"That was so bloody awesome!" said George in a loud whisper.

Usagi nodded her head. "Yes, we should do this more often."

Fred had a certain glint in his brown eyes.

"Who says we shouldn't?"

All three exchanged mischievous smirks.

"Who say we can't? With this map and all," pointed out George; patting the rolled up piece of parchment he held in his grasp.

"I'll take that," said Usagi and before you knew it; the map was in her hands.

George looked like a kid who had someone stole his Christmas present.

"But, Usa…"

"At the office, I saw something written at the other side of the map but I didn't have a chance to read it." explained Usagi.

"Also, I have to figure out how to work this thing and see if it has anymore hidden 'secrets' in it." The blonde continued.

Seeing the sorrowful looks on Fred and George's faces only caused Usagi to giggle.

"I promise I'll show this to you guys again tomorrow." She promised.

The twins' faces lightened up.

"Promise?"

Usagi nodded her head and made a sign of a cross in her chest where her heart is located.

"I promise."

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To be continued:

Sapphire: Finally! It's the end of the chapter! I'm exhausted… Anyway the polls are:

Oliver/Usagi: 58

Marcus/Usagi: 57

It's neck and neck people! So review, review and cast your votes now! Hurry up if you want to read the next chapter. (winks)

Btw, have you guys noticed how 'Flint' and 'Flich' seem to nearly have the the same name? Nothing special...just something I noticed.

Oh yeah...before I forget Happy Halloween/All Saint's Day/All Soul's Day (depends the day when you read this chapter)