Since returning to the castle after the holidays, Eleanor found herself in better spirits, completely neglecting the fact that dementors were still guarding the grounds. Not even soul-sucking creatures could dampen her mood, she was smiling a lot more, enough that others were noticing.

"Did you have a nice holiday, Ms Ross?"

Professor Lupin greeted her when she entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom one morning, noting that she had arrived earlier than the rest of her peers.

"I did actually," she answered as she settled at her seat and started pulling her knitting supplies from her bag. "How about you, Professor? Did you have a nice time?"

"It was quiet for the most part," he said, "but sometimes I welcome the silence. It's better than chaos. Perhaps you can relate, I assume that's why you showed up to the classroom fifteen minutes before my class actually starts?"

With a chuckle, Eleanor nodded her head. "The quiet helps me concentrate on my rather pathetic hobby."

Glancing over the yarn and the current project she was working on, Professor Lupin made his way over to stand beside her.

"I would hardly call it a pathetic hobby," he said, "I would never attempt to do it myself. I would make the most horrific jumper you've ever seen."

"Well, you have to start somewhere!" Eleanor said in an encouraging tone. "You should have seen some of my earlier work when I was just getting started. Besides, you wouldn't start off trying to knit a jumper, you could start off with a scarf, it's a lot easier."

"Is that what you're working on now?"

"Yes." She held up the work that was as long as the length of her forearm. "It doesn't look like much now, but I only started it this morning."

Professor Lupin's eyes widened as he looked back and forth between her and the scarf. "This morning? And you have already managed that? I am extremely impressed, Ms Ross, considering I would still be struggling on the first stitch."

He continued to watch Eleanor for the next few minutes as she worked diligently, while Eleanor tried to show him how easy it was once one got the hang of it. Of course, the conversation came to end when the other students, including Marnie and Cedric, began entering the classroom before the bell rang.

And as Professor Lupin gave his lecture on Defensive Theories, he allowed Eleanor to continue her project. But just to see if she could truly multitask, he would call on her occasionally to ask a question, and she was able to answer to satisfaction. However, what Eleanor and the other students were unaware of, was Professor Lupin was paying a little closer attention to her, trying to figure out why she seemed so familiar to him.

When the class came to an end, Professor Lupin hadn't figured it out, but Eleanor collected her belongings to leave the classroom. She had only stepped out of the classroom when she spotted Fred and George down the way in the corridor. Under normal circumstances, she would have approached them with a greeting but with Cedric and Marnie behind her, Eleanor didn't want to risk them trying to insinuate anything from the interactions. Cedric already knew about the letters that had been sent back and forth over the holidays, and Marnie seemed to have her suspicions that something was up.

Quickly dodging around a corner, Eleanor had completely abandoned her friends, only to hear Marnie calling out her name a minute later.

"Ellie! For the love of Merlin, slow down woman!" she yelled as Eleanor came to a halt finally.

She could see a few students looking in their direction as Marnie caught up to her and rather than saying anything, placed her hands on her knees and hunched over to catch her breath. She lifted one hand eventually, holding one finger up to signal to Eleanor that she had something to say but needed a moment.

"What is it, Marnie?"

"Goodness," Marnie sighed, pushing herself up and placing her hands on her hips, "that's the fastest I've run in a long time. How dare you make me run after you. Where are you headed in such a hurry anyway?"

"Um, nowhere," Eleanor said, "I was just walking."

But as the two turned another corner, Eleanor saw the twins down that corridor as well, leaving her to nearly screech before she headed back the way they had just come. Marnie stopped after a second, completely confused by Eleanor's sudden neurotic behaviour.

"Ellie, where are we going?"

"Back to the Common Room-"

"But it takes twice as long to get back to the Common Room if we go this way!" Marnie pointed out before peering around the corner. "If we...oh, I see, avoiding someone, are we?"

"Hmm? Avoiding someone?" Eleanor repeated. "No, not at all, I just felt like taking the long way. You know, get some walking in. We were sitting for so long in Professor Lupin's class, I could really use a nice stretch of the legs. Plus, we haven't walked this way in a bit, who knows, things might have changed since then."

A grin appeared on Marnie's lips as she hurried over and linked arms with Eleanor. "So, which one are you avoiding? Fred or George?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Marnie."

"Alright, then let me rephrase my previous question, which one do you fancy?"

Eleanor's face drained of colour, a dead giveaway as she started shaking her head. "What?! Neither!"

"You filthy liar! I bet it's-"

Suddenly, Marnie was silenced by Eleanor clapping her hand over her best friend's mouth and holding it in place.

"Shut it, Marnie!"

She only watched in horror as Marnie waggled her brow at her in a suggestive manner.

"I mean it! If you don't stop, I swear, I'll tell Cedric- "

And speaking of Cedric, it was the poor prefect who realised his friends had vanished and went to find them, only to stumble on the scene of Eleanor and Marnie covering each other's mouth, in a very odd stare down. He had only walked past the corridor when he spotted the two out of the corner of his eyes and proceeded to back up.

"There you two are," he said, "what in the world are you two doing?"

Neither Eleanor nor Marnie answered him as they continued to hold their hands over each other's mouths but shooed him off as they waved their free arms at him to go away.

"Whatever."

With Marnie more suspicious than ever, Eleanor did her best to avoid the Weasley twins at all cost, but Fred and George were not ones to be so easily ignored. No matter where she turned, they seemed to be there, and it was getting more and more difficult for her to escape an awkward confrontation. But it seemed her luck had completely run out one afternoon as they approached the weekend.

There was an upcoming Quidditch match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw and Cedric wanted to attend it. Of course, Marnie declined the invitation to attend, one because Cho was going to be there, and two, it was still cold out. And as Cedric became more and more worked up with the match, Eleanor was regretting her decision to attend the match.

"Cedric, you might want to calm down," she said at one point, "you're going to end up having a heart attack if you don't relax."

"This is no time to relax, Ellie. Going to these matches is a privilege, we get to see how our opponents are playing and we're able to plan ahead."

"I know, but it's just a match."

"It is not just a match!"

If there had been a wall nearby, Eleanor would have gladly slammed her head against it repeatedly because it seemed nothing she said was getting through to Cedric. And rather than beating a dead horse with a stick, she decided to excuse herself by claiming she was cold and wanted to head back to the dorms.

Eleanor had only managed to enter the castle for a matter of a couple of seconds when she felt two people fall in step with her.

"Well, well, well," Fred said, "look who it is, Georgie. Our favourite Hufflepuff. She's alive after all!"

"So, she is! But wouldn't you say she appears rather frustrated, Freddie?"

Before Fred could answer, Eleanor, plopped down into the nearest window seat in the corridor. "You two don't even know the half of it."

And just like that, the twins sat on either side of her and respectfully, took their positions of placing their heads on her shoulders.

"Tell us your troubles, Love," Fred said. "We're all ears."

Eleanor couldn't help but laugh before shaking her head. "No, it's nothing really," she told them. "I was only being a bit dramatic, that's all. I guess it's just been a boring day, you know?"

Suddenly, she jumped when the twins gasped loudly from both sides of her. Quickly, Eleanor looked around, thinking she had missed something, but saw nothing out of the ordinary taking place in the corridor.

"What? What is it!?"

"Ms Ross," George said as he rose to his feet, "you should know that no one is ever allowed to be bored in our presence."

Within seconds, Eleanor was grabbed by her hands, Fred taking one and George the other, and she was pulled to her feet. They started leading her down the corridor without any further explanation, leaving her to feel a slight onset of panic.

"Now, wait for just a second!" she called out to them as she tried pulling back with all her might. However, it was no surprise that the famous Gryffindor beaters were a lot stronger than she was. "I will not take part in any prank!"

Fred turned to her with a mischievous smirk. "And why not? You said you were bored."

"Well, yes, I did, but I don't want to get in trouble!"

"Who said anything about getting in trouble?" George replied.

With a little squeak, Eleanor looked up at the ceiling as she was dragged along. "Oh, Merlin's beard, please someone help me!"

But no such help came to Eleanor's rescue and instead, she found herself crouched down with the twins at the end of an empty corridor as they discussed the plan of the prank.

"You're in luck, Love," Fred said, "we were planning on trying out our latest creation. You get to be a part of history."

"I can hardly contain my excitement right now."

Ignoring her dry tone, Fred and George started to prepare, leaving Eleanor curious as to what the newest creation was.

"What exactly are we trying out then?"

They turned to her with the brightest of grins.

"Everlasting Goop."

There was a pause of silence as Eleanor simply stared at the two of them.

"Wow, did you two come up with the name all by yourselves?"

Fred reached out and flicked her lightly on the nose. "The name is a work in progress, alright?"

Rubbing her nose, Eleanor proceeded to ask them what exactly the Goop did, but George told it was pretty self-explanatory and she would see when the time came. There was only one thing they needed to do before getting things started.

They needed to find Filch.

"Why, you nasty little terrors!"

The most trouble Eleanor had ever been in was talking back to her mother when she was younger, and that only resulted in Margaret telling her to watch her tone or sending her up to her room. Other than that, Eleanor had never experienced the fear of getting into trouble and Fred and George believed that for her first time, it was along the lines of Go Big or Go Home.

When they claimed that the Everlasting Goop was self-explanatory, they weren't joking. It was a slimy substance that once released went absolutely everywhere. They had found Filch, grumbling to himself, and within seconds, released the product into the corridor. But rather than focusing on the actual mess, Filch automatically knew who was responsible and went searching for them.

Stuck somewhat in a stupor, Eleanor hadn't even thought of running away until Fred grabbed her hand and pulled her along. And surprisingly, for Filch's age and physical appearance, he was hunting them down and closing in on them, leaving the three of them with no option but to split up to avoid being caught.

George rounded a corner, but Fred caught sight of an opportunity and pulled Eleanor into a broom cupboard.

Chest to chest, the two were busy gathering their breath after what felt like running the entire length of the castle. But Eleanor couldn't help but let out a small laugh, unable to believe that she had just been involved in such an event.

"Are you alright?" Fred asked her as he cracked open the door slightly, checking to see if Filch was still coming their way.

Thankful for the darkness of the cupboard, Fred felt his face become warm as Eleanor's hands gripped the front of his robes in excitement.

"That was one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done!" she told him. "Did you see his face? It was absolutely priceless! And you know what, I think Everlasting Goop is a very fitting name."

"See, I told you," Fred said with a grin, "and there can be plenty more times if you decide to stop avoiding George and me."

It was Eleanor's turn to blush as Fred called her out, she lowered her head slightly as she looked away.

"So, you've noticed then?" she said. "Look, it wasn't anything personal against either one of you, I was just- "

Before she could say anything else, let alone apologise, the moment was interrupted as the door swung open, nearly dragging Fred out of the cupboard as his hand still held the doorknob. And the two of them were faced with a terribly angry image of Filch, still covered in Everlasting Goop.

"Oh no."

A/N: One of my favourite scenes in the entire Tightly Knit series is coming up next chapter! Thanks for reading!