“What am I doing here?” George asked, cocking his head to the side and peering at them cautiously. “I think I should be asking YOU that.”

Hermione looked nervous for a moment, and then quickly recovered. “Well, you see, we were going to short-sheet Malfoy‘s bed…”

Her voice trailed off when Ron had jabbed her, hard, in the ribs. “Ow, Ron. Honestly. You didn’t need to hit so bloody hard!”

Ron just shrugged; it was clear he wasn’t too pleased with Hermione at the moment. What with the whole jinxing and everything.

George hopped up off the bed and strolled across the room towards them, grinning. “What’re you up to, little brother?”

Ron shrugged and then looked away; he pretended to be interested in a tapestry hanging on the wall. George watched him curiously and then turned his attention to a silent Harry, who was pretending he was pulling on a rope.

George’s eyes widened. “Hermione, what have you done to them?”

Hermione rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. “Oh, nothing. This is normal behavior for them.”

“Really.” George looked highly doubtful as he jabbed a thumb in Harry’s direction. “So, Harry in an invisible box is normal, is it?”

Sure enough, Harry had dropped the rope and was stuck in a box again.

“Yes, Harry’s hoping to do mime school after Hogwarts.”

“Is there a mime school?” Fred asked, entering the room and waving at his brother, who waved back and then looked back at the tapestry.

“Sure there is!” Hermione said cheerfully; she looked at them seriously. “What are you two doing here?”

“We came to help, of course,” Fred answered happily, sticking his hands in the pockets of his robes. “I must say, you three are very smart to pull a prank during the holidays. Nobody will see you do it.”

“However,” George took over, sitting at the edge of one of the beds and motioning for the others to do the same. “There will be very few suspects if you do this now. I mean, there’s gotta be, what, six people here in each house? That narrows it down considerably.”

“Right.” Fred nodded encouragingly. “Now, if you pull something when everyone gets BACK, there’s no way anyone will know it was you.”

“It’ll be harder to get in here when the common room is full, though.”

Fred ignored her. “Why are Harry and Ron so quiet? I’ve never…EVER…heard them this quiet.”

“Oh,” Hermione laughed nervously; watching out of the corner of her eye as Ron jumped up and down, his arms outstretched towards the ceiling in triumph. “They’re just…you know…high.”

“High?” George questioned, craning his head to get a good look at his brother. “What the bloody hell?”

“It doesn’t count if someone else says your name!” Hermione said quickly, watching as Ron made his way over to them.

Fred and George stared at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“What have you been smoking?” They asked simultaneously.

“Hermione’s been force-feeding me…er…crazy pills!” Ron jumped up and down in front f his brothers, looking relatively insane.

“Crazy pills?” Hermione echoed, laughing nervously. “That’s outrageous.”

“What’ve you been feeding ole’ Harry?” Fred asked, looking over at the mime. “He might mime himself to death.”

“You can’t talk, Ron,” Hermione said, standing up beside him. “You’re jinxed.”

“SHE JINXED ME!” Ron shouted, pointing at Hermione gleefully. “She admits it!”

Fred and George exchanged glances, but didn’t speak.

“She jinxed Harry too! He thinks he’s a mime! She’s gone mad!”

“He’s the one who has gone mad,” Hermione replied calmly, forcing Ron to sit on one of the other beds. “Lie down, now; have a little rest. You’ll feel better.”

“I will not REST!” Ron hollered, waving his arms around erratically. “I’ve been silent for far too long, Hermione! I need to yell and be FREE!”

“Er.”

George echoed his brother’s sentiments. “We’re out of here. I think you’ve got this prank---thing---under control.”

They inched out of the room, Hermione watching them desperately as Ron ran frantically around the room, yelling at the top of his lungs.