That night Aubrey had a somewhat troubled sleep. Usually, she never dreamt but that night she felt like she could hear Fred continually whispering in her ear. However, upon being forcibly awakened the next morning but Lexy whispering 'Aubrey' repeatedly she deduced that this was probably just a case of dreams had merged into reality.

"Oh good, you're up," Lexy whispered.

Aubrey yawned, rubbing her eyes as she propped herself up, "Only because you repeatedly said my name, hon."

"And shook you."

"You shook me?"

"Not hard," Lexy shrugged, "I just didn't want to go the Gryffindor tower alone."

"You're going to the Gryffindor tower? It's so early!"

"Correction, we're going to the Gryffindor tower," Lexy grinned, "And it's not that early. You'd have been up in half an hour anyway, I just wanted us to have some time before Breakfast as I don't have any free periods today."

Aubrey really could have done with the extra half an hour considering how much had happened the day before but she was up now and once she was awake, going back to sleep was near impossible. Stretching her arms out and yawning, she got out of bed, sleepily wandering over to her dresser as Lexy jump-sat down on her bed, swinging her legs idly.

"I did want to see Fred anyway so maybe this is for the best," Aubrey said, "Let me guess, you're going to check on George to find out if last night was equally as thrilling for him as it was for you?"

"Please," Lexy scoffed, tossing her head, "I don't have to ask, I know ... although I would like to see him, so that's one of the reasons," Aubrey cocked her head to the side with interest prompting Lexy to continue, "Well, I want to check in on Angela and see how she's taking the breakup - "

"WHAT?" Aubrey spun around in shock, forgetting that she was half dressed right now.

"Oh, you didn't know? Yeah, they got into a huge fight last night, I tried to look for her later but she'd gone to bed early. Kenny looked quite upset although he has his DA so he'll be fine... but she might not which is why I want to go see her."

"Yeah, of course," She shook her head, "Blimey, everything happened last night it seems. Anything else you want to fill me in on?"

Lexy giggled, "Not yet..." She nudged her head in the direction of Saskia's empty bed, "But I'm hoping I will once we get to the Gryffindor tower... Saskia and Lee have been very close recently and it might be the newly activated sex part of my brain talking but I reckon Saskia might have got some last night too..."

"Saskia..." Aubrey murmured the girl's name, suddenly remembering what she'd discovered the day before. Chances are Saskia was definitely not human and actually hated them so the fact she hadn't come back right on the day when Aubrey had discovered this made her stomach curl. The idea that she might be with Lee Jordan only made her fret a little, whipping around in a flurry, "They're not going out, are they? Did you see her there?"

"Well, no to both but that doesn't mean they didn't hook up," Lexy pointed out before giggling, "Now put your bloody shirt on! We have places to be!"

Aubrey didn't need telling twice and soon the two girls were off. Although both of them were in a hurry, Lexy was still forced to run just to keep up with Aubrey's fierce power walk. They were about halfway there when they spotted Saskia at the end of the corridor, looking a little disorientated. Given their very different nights, both Aubrey and Lexy's mind jumped to incredibly different conclusions.

"I wonder where she could be coming back from..." Lexy whispered aside although Aubrey didn't stay to hear the last word, rushing off towards their friend.

"SASKIA!" The girl turned and Aubrey was suddenly confronted by the realisation that she didn't actually know what she was going to say. Confronting the girl was out of the question given she hadn't even managed to discuss things with her partner in crime yet so came to a halt a few meters away.

"Oh ... um, morning!" Saskia said cheerfully enough even though her face told a different story. Her uniform and long dark hair were immaculate yet her eyelids hung heavy and Aubrey sure she could see a faint turquoise tint underneath her skin, the exact hue that she'd seen the day of the Quidditch game.

"Morning..." Lexy said from behind Aubrey, trying and failing not to smirk.

"Morning, hon, you weren't in your bed last night," Aubrey got straight to the point, "Where were you?"

Did Jinns even need to sleep? Was she looking for her magic lamp? Was it Jinn-ist that her mind even went to that? Aubrey really couldn't guess where this was going but before Saskia had a chance to answer, Lexy excitedly chimed in.

"Someone else's perhaps... that's where I was anyway," Lexy said and Aubrey mentally facepalmed. She knew that Lexy was excited, it was a huge deal but she'd just given Saskia a change of topic to cling to.

"Ooh, whose bed?" Saskia asked, excited yet somehow weary at the same time.

"George's."

"Gryffindor beds are so comfy, aren't they," Saskia agreed which made Lexy's eyes widened.

"And you know that how?"

"Um ... lucky guesses!" Saskia suggested.

"Where were you then?" Aubrey asked, slightly concerned for both Saskia and her own safety.

"I was ..." She shut her eyes, resting her fingers on her temple, "I was ... doing homework and would you look at the time! I have even more homework to do now because ... of teachers!"

With that, she rushed off in a chaotic manner back towards the Hufflepuff common room. They watched her go as Lexy grinned, "Oh, stuff definitely happened..."

"Yeah," Aubrey watched her vanish around the corner, "Yeah, it did... come on."

"WOAH!" Lexy squealed as Aubrey grabbed her hand and the two rushed off.

By the time they got to the Gryffindor common room, they had another chance encounter; George, Lee and the girls were heading out the door. Lexy grinned as they neared them as George rushed forward to meet them. 

"Morning ... good night sleep?" She asked, biting her lip to hold back her smile.

"Not bad, not bad at all," George replied, with a smile which quickly disappeared to mirror the concern etched on Aubrey's face.

"Nice one, Lexy," Lee called which made George blush a little.

"Nice one yourself," She replied, winking which earnt a confused look from Lee.

"Thank you...?"

"Lee, what 'nice' thing did you do?" Alicia asked to which Lee shrugged, genuinely baffled.

"I dunno, woke up this morning?"

"George, where's Fred?" Aubrey finally asked, "I really need to talk to him ... well, both of you ... but where is he?"

"Um... " George looked back at his girlfriend and other friends, "He was acting strange this morning... maybe we should take the long way to breakfast, we might bump into him..."

Aubrey's brown eyes widened, "He's gone?"

"Yeah, he left in a hurry about ten minutes ago before I could stop him..." George turned around to the others, "You guys go ahead to Breakfast, we'll catch you up - "

"And if you see Fred, KEEP HIM THERE," Aubrey added firmly. They looked a little confused and Lexy even looked a bit dismayed to see them going so quickly but nodded in agreement as George and Aubrey left.

The corridors were fairly quiet so George felt it safe to fill her on what had happened after she'd gone. Angela and Kenny had fought which had, in turn, led to a minor disagreement between him and Lexy. Fred had said it was okay if they left for a bit to resolve it but as he'd walked through the portrait, alarm bells had rung when he'd seen Fred leaving the crowd of people when George was under the impression he was staying put. His attempt to leave had only upset Lexy more although the fight was eventually resolved ... in an unexpected way of course. Aubrey had heard all about that in weirdly graphic detail the night before. In fact, she probably would never be able to look at George in the same way again but right now, she was too enthralled in his story to think about that.

After they were done, they'd gone to look for Fred but couldn't find him anywhere. Lexy went to bed whilst George, Lee and the girls continued searching long after. In their search, they came across Umbridge, asleep at her desk with the door open, a sight George felt notable. After several hours, they'd returned to the dorm only to find Fred already in bed, nestled up under the covers on his side.

"Fred doesn't sleep on his side though..." Aubrey remarked at this detail, "That was one of the things he said when I had to pretend to be him - he can only get to sleep on his back and luckily I was the same."

"I know, it was all wrong," George replied, "And then this morning, he got dressed so quickly and then rushed out in a hurry ... in fact, the last time I saw him act this odd was when he was well, you ... Aubrey?"

It suddenly came to his attention that Aubrey had stopped walking some time ago, frozen in horror. Quickly, he rushed back to her.

"George ... I think he went after Saskia alone," She said, her voice hoarse, "What if she ... she did something to him?

After a pause, George nodded, "That's what I thought too although I don't know why he would have gone without me."

"I ... I don't know either," Aubrey said. She wasn't a big cryer yet everything was taking its toll on her as she pieced together the information coming to the worse conclusion, "George ... we need to find him, we need to talk to him because yesterday ... yesterday, I found out that..."

His eyes widened in vague horror that quickly turned to panic as her eyes began to well up.

"... she's not good," Aubrey said at last, everything suddenly becoming too much as she buried her face in her hands. Somehow through the tears, she managed to recite the events of the day to George, glad that he didn't ask too many questions, merely listening. By the end, her short burst of tears had stopped although her cheeks were remained tear stained. George's face was completely drained of colour.

"Did the book say anything else about them? What they can do? Anything?"

She shook her head, "I didn't get to read further, my Dad was in a pretty awful state but there were ... there were books all around, on the stairs, tables ... everything. We can go back!" She suggested, her voice still quavering, "Fred mentioned your family's feral car is still in the woods somewhere, maybe we could find it and drive there?"

"Maybe," George replied, "But first we need to find Fred and once we've got him, we ... we go to the Room of Requirement. Neither Umbridge nor Saskia or anyone will be able to find us there ... well, except the DA but they're our mates, they'll be fine."

"Good plan," Aubrey nodded firmly.

"He's probably just down at breakfast," George suggested hopefully, giving her a slightly awkward pat on the shoulder, "You know how hungry he gets, probably gobbled down half the bacon by now."

This made her laugh a little even if neither truly believed it, "Yeah ... maybe."

They walked in silence down to the Great Hall, holding their breath as they opened the door. Both of them exhaled in relief as sitting between Lee and Angelina was Fred. However, the concern quickly resurfaced as they realised he was just pushing his food around the plate until it had become a pile of sludgy mush, sitting unusually upright. Neither said a word, instead darting over as quickly as they could. Aubrey's stomach tightened as she realised Saskia was nowhere to be seen.

"There you two are!" Lee grinned.

"You look ... well rested," Alicia added before she and Katie collapsed into giggles.

"Anyone you haven't told, Lexy?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Angela, didn't get a chance to see her," Lexy grinned back, "Only nice things too, it was a good night."

"I don't mind," He replied, before quickly nudging Fred after seeing Aubrey's foot tapping nervously at remarkable speeds, "Fred, what you've done to that food is an abomination."

Aubrey nervously laughed along, choosing to remain silent as the only thing on her mind was if Fred was okay from the night before. Luckily, George was almost as good at ad-libbing as his brother.

Fred looked up suddenly, his eyes widening in horror as he saw them standing over him, "Um ... it's just food still!"

"Not anymore," George replied, jumping back as Fred leapt up, letting the plate clatter to the table and unexpectedly embracing Aubrey. Normally she loved his hugs but this one felt different, completely out of the blue and so tight it almost squeezed the air out of her. Usually she'd just rest her head against him and he'd put his arms around in her in long extended embraces, public strangling wasn't really their thing.

Everyone looked a little confused by this, most of all Aubrey who recoiled in horror which only drew more eyes to the scene. She and George exchanged a look as Fred still didn't let go. Instead, he only moved his closer, his lips brushing her ear. He was her boyfriend, she'd been in his body for almost a year yet right now, the urge to throw him off was so strong that her arms were practically moving involuntarily.

"Aubrey," He whispered, "Please, would you like another Fred? Please say yes, I don't know what else to - "

"What is happening to you?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes for the second time that day ... no, year. 

"Fred, get off of her," George and Angelina swiftly intervened as Fred staggered back. The horror of the situation only intensified as she realised the whole room had fallen silent. Everything about Fred was all wrong, bizarrely frantic just like Saskia. 

This was very not good.