Darkest Secret

I arrived at my destination with a minute to spare, and Fred was walking out of the hole in the wall, which had been blocked by the picture of the Fat Lady. The twin smiled at me and took me by the hand in the direction of his supposed “surprise.” I had been wondering for hours what it could possibly be, but I didn’t know what to expect from Fred Weasley, who was profound as a joker at Hogwarts as well as his twin. I wasn’t complaining, though.

Fred had me at hello and he didn’t even know.

He dragged me down the hall at a fast pace while, I noted, looking around suspiciously. I knew that it was getting late and we were supposed to be in our house dorms asleep, but none of this mattered as Fred’s hand was in mine. This felt right and I was hoping that whatever was up this joker’s sleeve was worthwhile, which I’m hundred percent was.

Giggling, we arrived on the seventh floor of the castle and up ahead we saw an Asian girl with slick down black ebony hair, which almost reached her waist. She was standing in front of a door and was about to enter, but Fred told her to wait. We caught up to her and went in.

When we were in it was brought immediately to my attention that this was no surprise as Luna and I had suspected. This room was full of students from all years and house, minus the Slytherins, though. Harry was in the middle of a speech and he turned when we entered. He walked up to us along with Hermione and Ron at his sides.

“What’s this?” I asked at they made it to us.

Fred didn’t reply, but as the trio made it over to us. “What’s Annisa doing here, Fred? You could put her in great danger of knowing what we are doing. She may not want to know or join us.”

“What are you talking about, Harry?” I asked, bewildered. I needed answers and I needed them, now. “What do I not want to know?”

They ignored me.

“I was going to tell her when the time came,” Hermione chimed in from Harry’s left with her arms crossed. “Why did you bring her here without Harry’s permission?”

“Do you guys not trust her?” Fred inquired.

“No, that’s not it,” Harry replied, and then, continued to say, “We just didn’t think it was the right time to let her know us.”

“Us?” I mused, irritated that no one was telling me a damn thing.

“She deserves to know, after all, it wouldn’t hurt to have her genius on our side,” Fred looked down at me with a crooked smiled. I blushed at this compliment and that alone for maybe a second made me forget my irate feelings toward this situation.

“You guys, tell me what’s going on,” I urged looking at all of them. Harry turned to me with a sigh, I finally had his attention.

"Let me talk to the others first. I don’t think they’d appreciate it if I just let people in without telling them, even if it’s just you." He walked over to the others, leaving me alone with Fred. I looked up at him, hoping he would tell me what’s going on. No such luck.

I looked over at Harry and the others. I recognized Luna, Hermione, Ron, and George. They were having a serious discussion. They looked over and caught me looking at them, so I turned around quickly. I was starting to get impatient when Fred tapped my shoulder and I turned around. They were walking this way. I was about to get my answers.

Harry smiled. “You’re in.”

I was about to give Fred a high-five when I was hoisted into the air and spun around.

“George!” I could hear Fred and the others laughing.

He put me down and managed to look innocent. I just rolled my eyes.

“So, what’s this all about?”

Everyone was instantly serious. It was a bit scary actually. We all looked at Harry.

“Well, since the teachers obviously aren’t going to teach us anything useful, we’ve decided to take into our hands. Today, we’re working on casting a patronus. Everyone get in line.”

He worked his way down the line, teaching each of us how to cast a patronus. Finally, he reached me.

“The only thing you need to cast a patronus is a happy memory. Something strong enough to make you happy even in the face of a dementor. You hold on to that thought, and cast the spell.”

“That sounds easy enough.” I’d heard about this before, so I pretty much had it. He walked to the next person and I started. Or at least I tried too. I thought about every time Fred had held my hand. I thought about when he asked me out. I thought about every happy memory I had with him and it wasn’t working. I got bored and my mind started to wander. I started thinking about Draco oddly enough. I wasn’t really paying attention anymore, so I was surprised when it actually worked! There was a burst of silver light. The others stopped and stared in awe. The light took the form of a silver raven and flew around the room, wings outstretched. The entire room was bathed in its light. I gaped at it, and it disappeared.

Everyone cheered and Harry put his hand on my shoulder. He smiled and congratulated me.

“Whatever you thought of must have been pretty amazing.”

My smile wavered, but he had already walked away. I felt a pair of arms around me and I turned around to see Fred’s smiling face. I forced a smile and he seemed to buy it.