I yelped as soon as I saw the familiar patches of red hair in the distance upon entering platform 9 3/4. Both gingers snapped their heads around and ran towards me, pulling me in a warm hug.

I've known Fred and George since our first year, we met on the Hogwarts Express, and made a friendship pact then and there, that wasn't broken even when they were sorted in Gryffindor, and I in Slytherin. As a matter of fact, we rejoiced, because this meant we had our classes together. The three of us became inseparable, spending all of our free time together, pulling pranks and whatnot. Of course I was never in the forefront of their shenanigans, and was known as the goody two-shoes of the trio, but I was no better than Fred and George in most aspects. The teachers believed I was their "good influence" despite me participating in most of their pranks, probably because of my family's status. The Cheshire name was known across the Wizarding world as one of the last pure blood families in nobility. This paired with my good grades and nearly perfect attendance was the perfect concoction to create the illusion of the perfect child.

Around our second year I started to develop a little crush on Fred, and I think George caught on because he began to joke about Fred and I getting married. Of course Fred seemed painfully oblivious to the whole thing, and never paid any mind to George's jesting.

Fred, George, and I loaded our things on the train and got on ourselves. Finding a compartment for ourselves we sat down, Fred and I sitting next to each other, while George sat across from us.

"How was Egypt?" I asked, wanting to spark some conversation.

"Oh it was wonderful!" George's eyes lit up.

"We even brought you back a little souvenir!" Fred chimed in, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a little box.

"Awww, you didn't have to." I smiled, taking the box from him.

I carefully opened the small parcel. Inside was a little chain necklace with a pyramid charm.

"Just a cheap little souvenir, but it's said to have a luck charm on it." George beamed.

"We thought you might like it." Fred added, his smile making me blush.

"You guys are the best!" I gave them both a hug.

We begin to casually talk, Fred and George ranting about their stay in Egypt, excitedly interrupting each other's sentences. Suddenly I feel a freezing cold creeping over me, and begin to shiver. Fred noticed and handed me his sweater, which I gratefully took. The train slowed. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.

Fred, who was nearest to the door, got up to look into the corridor. The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told us that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.

"We couldn't have made it to our destination yet, did we break down?" I ask, looking worriedly at the twins.

"Yeah probably." George nodded, looking a little scared.

I hear Fred plopping back down on the seat next to me.

"There's something in the hallway, I think someone came aboard." He moved closer to me, and I felt our sides touch in the darkness, and his hand intertwine with my own.

I shakily pull out my wand and whisper "Lumos." A small light pours out of its end, illuminating our small compartment.

At first there wasn't anything other than the clouds of breath escaping our lips, but then our compartment door slowly slid open. Under the little rays of light emitted by my wand, there stood a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling, it's face completely hidden beneath it's hood. My eyes darted downwards at the figures hand. It was protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water...

But it was visible only for a split second.
As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed my gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak. It closed the compartment door and carried on. Draco burst into our compartment only seconds later, and even the dim light of my wand showed that he looked like he was nearly pissing himself, making Fred, George, and I chuckle despite being scared nearly shitless as well. The lights flickered back on, and Draco rushed out of our compartment after seeing our evil grins, clearly embarrassed.

"What were those things?" Fred asked, pulling away from me, looking a little flustered.

"Dementors. They guard Azkaban. There's a murderer on the loose, Sirius Black, and they're probably searching the train for him." I answered. "My mother nagged my brains out about safety because of it."

"Makes sense." George gulped. "Oh man but did you see the expression on Malfoy's face?!" We break out laughing.

The rest of the train ride we engaged in idle chit chat. At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get outside; owls hooted, cats meowed, and I could hear the croak of Neville's pet frog. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets.

"Firs' years this way!"called a familiar voice.
Fred, George, and I turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake.

We followed the rest of the school along the platform and out onto a rough mud track, where at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled, I could only assume, by an invisible horse, because when they climbed inside and shut the door, the coach set off all by itself, bumping and swaying in procession. The coach smelled faintly of mold and straw. As the carriage trundled toward a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with winged boars, I saw two more towering, hooded dementors, standing guard on either side. The carriage picked up speed on the long, sloping drive up to the castle. At last, the carriage swayed to a halt, and we got out.

~~~~

At the feast I saw Draco prod Harry about fainting.

"Shove off Malfoy." Ron angrily put his hand on Harry's shoulder and turned him around.

"Malfoy you shouldn't be one to talk, you nearly pissed yourself when you barged into our compartment." I say, to which Fred and George snickered.

Draco huffed and turned back to Crabbe and Goyle.

Professor Dumbledore, though very old, always gave an impression of great energy. He had several feet of long silver hair and beard, half-moon spectacles, and an extremely crooked nose.

"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast...." Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." He paused, "They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued,
"and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission."

Fred looked at me and winked.

"Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises — or even Invisibility Cloaks," Dumbledore added blandly, and I noticed Harry and Ron glancing at each other. "It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses.
I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors," he said.

Percy, who was sitting a few seats down from Fred and George puffed out his chest again and stared around impressively, and Fred and George followed by mocking him and puffing out their chests, making me stifle a laugh.

Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.

"On a happier note," he continued, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. "First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause.

"Look at Snape." Fred mouthed to me.

Professor Snape, the potions master, was staring along the staff table at Professor Lupin. It was common knowledge that Snape wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job, but even that context didn't prevent me from being startled at the expression twisting his thin, sallow face. It was beyond anger: it was loathing. Almost made me feel bad for him.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

I joined the tumultuous applause coming from the Gryffindor despite being at Slytherin.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance,"
said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!" The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink.

Fred and George slipped over to me at the Slytherin table. It was a delicious feast; the hall echoed with talk, laughter, and the clatter of knives and forks.

After the feast George mumbled something about needing to go to the bathroom, and rushed off, leaving Fred and I alone.

"I'll walk you back to your dorm." He offered.

"That would be great." I reply.

"One of these days Harry won't let us borrow his invisibility cloak for sneaking around." Fred said wistfully.

"Hey Freddie," I look over to him. "What if we stopped borrowing his cloak?"

"Well that's no fun." He says gloomily.

"No you're not getting me." I say, chuckling at his confused expression.

"What do you mean?" He asks incredulously.

"I mean, we make our own!" I exclaim. "I reckon, if people before us managed to make it, I think we have a shot of doing so too!"

"Y/n Edith Cheshire you are a genius!" Fred grinned. "But how?"

"There's probably a book in the restricted library section about the creation of magical artefacts. If we sneak out tonight we could totally find it." Fred and I exchanged looks.

"I'll pick you up with Harry's cloak at 12 in front of the Slytherin common room." He snickered, as we reach the entrance to the Slytherin wing.

"Don't tell anyone except George. If Harry asks why we need his cloak, lie." I said, before entering my house common room.

~~~~

I slipped out of my dorm, which I shared with Daphne Greengrass and Milicent Bulstrode, and quietly made my way down to the exit of the common room. I peeked outside, my wand outstretched to illuminate the hall, and saw nothing. Before I could react I felt a cloak drape over me and found myself facing Fred. Our faces were only inches away, and I could feel my heart skip a beat.

"Are you ready to go?" He whispered.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I nodded, feeling the warmth of his body against me.

"Here, point your light at this." He pulled out the marauders map, reaching for his own wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The blank parchment fills with ink, and little footprints with name tags are seen all throughout the castle. Filch was outside, next to Hagrid's cottage. Fred and I quickly make our way down to the library, and using the unlocking spell open the door. We sneak into the restricted section and I begin to scan through books. We must've browsed through at least a dozen before I found what we were looking for.

"Aha, The Creation Of Magical Disguises, I bet this has our answers." I flipped through the books content library, and find a chapter called The Invisibility Cloak. "Freddie this is it, we've found it!" I squeal as quietly as possible, pulling Fred into a celebratory hug.

Our euphoria didn't last long however, as it was broken by the shrill meow of Mrs. Norris.

"Shit, the map." Fred swore under his breath, looking down at it. "Filch is right outside the library, he's about to walk in!"

We quickly extinguished our wands and dive under the cloak, Fred turning the map off, and I shutting the book. We begin to tip toe out, hearing Filch stumble on the other side of the bookshelves.

"Who's there?!" He yelled, his lantern illuminating our faces, luckily we were under the cloak, so while Fred and I could see each other, Filch couldn't.

We crept around him, careful as to not make any noise, and rush out of the open library door. Only did we slow our pace when we got to the Slytherin common room entrance.

"I'll do some research about this tomorrow. I'll go to sleep now. I expect you to do the same upon reaching your dorm." I said, giving Fred a stern look.

"Yeah yeah." he softly chuckled, holding his gaze in mine.

We stood there for a second, our faces only inches away. I could feel his hot breath travel up and down my neck, sending electric chills through my veins.

"I better go." I quickly pulled away and enter the common room, quietly running up the stairs and into my dormitory.

I hid the book in the drawer of my desk, before changing into my pajamas and going to sleep.