The common room was nearly empty, despite it just having gone 10 o'clock, and only a few groups sat dotted around the dimly lit room.

Phoebe sat curled on the sofa by Fred, Hermione immersed in a book on her other side. Harry was on an armchair by the fire, frowning at his potions essay, while Ron and George played a game of exploding snap on the floor in front of them.

The quiet warmth of the room had began to lull her to sleep, but Fred's voice shook her out of it.

"When do you think you'll come round ours?" He asked quietly, taking her hand in his and playing with it while he spoke. He had a habit of doing that, but Phoebe wasn't complaining.

Blinking the sleep away from her eyes, Phoebe considered the question. "Um, it's a two week holiday right?" She asked, Fred nodding in confirmation.

"Then I'll probably spend a week and a bit over in America, and then I could come to yours for the last three or four days," She suggested.

"Four would be preferred," Fred said, grinning at her.

"You never know, I might decide that I miss ca- my friends so much, that I stay there," Phoebe teased, hoping that Fred wouldn't notice her slip up.

Unfortunately, Fred was too sharp not to notice, "Were you about to say Calum? Or Cameron? Is Cameron your secret American boyfriend?" He questioned, gasping dramatically.

"No, Leo is her secret American boyfriend," Ron said without looking up from his game.

"Ron!" Phoebe exclaimed, throwing a cushion at the boy's head.

"Hey!" He complained, rubbing the side of his face, where the cushion had hit, "I'm only repeating what Neville said."

"Neville did not say that Leo was my secret American boyfriend," Phoebe stated, glaring angrily at the redhead.

"He's actually her secret Australian boyfriend," George piped up, shielding his head from the cushion Phoebe was bound to chuck.

"Ugh, I hate you guys," She groaned, sinking back into the sofa and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're so cute when you pout," Fred laughed, poking Phoebe's arm in an attempt to make her smile.

"Don't forget she's only pouting because we mentioned her secret Australian boyfriend," George commented.

"Phoebe would never have a secret Australian boyfriend," Fred defended, "we all know she's only attracted to super hot British guys like me," He finished.

"That means she's attracted to me too mate, sorry," George shrugged, glancing up briefly from the game to shoot a wink in their direction.

"I'd rather not thi-" Fred started, but was interrupted by Phoebe's loud "No."

"No?" The twins asked at the same time, confusion laced in their voices.

"No," Phoebe repeated firmly.

"Well, if you find me hot," Fred started.

"Then you must find me hot too," George finished.

"We are identical, you know," They said in unison.

Phoebe wondered in bemusement how they managed to sync their words without even looking at each other, before shaking her head.

"You have a mole right there," She pointed at George's neck, "And it annoys me, so I'm not attracted to you."

George's hand flew up to cover his neck, looking at her in offence, "What did my mole ever do to deserve this treatment?" He demanded.

"I have always said it looks kind of like an angry squid." Fred tilted his head and squinted as if he was looking at the mole right through George's hand.

"You know what? My mole and I don't deserve to be objectified like this, you all can take your judgement and shove it up your-"

"George!" Hermione, who up until that moment had been happy to ignore their antics, cut in sternly.

"Sorry mum," George drawled, rolling his eyes.

"I'm gonna take that as my cue to leave, night everyone," Phoebe said, standing up and brushing herself off.

A chorus of 'goodnights' followed her to the stairs before the room quieted down again. As she began the climb up, Phoebe heard Hermione say quietly, "Fred, are you sure it's a good idea to bring her to, you know, during the holidays?"

Phoebe frowned at what that meant, she was just going to the Weasley's house wasn't she? Unless the Weasleys kept Voldemort in their house, she didn't see that much of a problem with her going there.

Frowning, she entered the fifth year dorm. She sent a quick smile to Lavender and Parvati before heading to the bathroom to take off her make up and brush her teeth.

Tomorrow they would all get on the train back to Kings Cross and Phoebe would go to the airport, catch a plain to Long Island and drive back to camp with Argus, where she would finally get to see her friends again.

With that thought in her mind, Phoebe got into bed and fell asleep with no issue.

ϟ

Once Phoebe had left the common room, Hermione voiced her concerns on the girl coming over at Christmas.

"Fred, are you sure it's a good idea to bring her to, you know, over the holidays?" She asked quietly, glancing furtively around the room to make sure there was no one listening in.

Harry looked up from his homework, silently wondering the same thing. After all, Sirius was going to be there and even Phoebe, who could be more than a little clueless sometimes, must have heard about the first person to ever escape Azkaban. Not to mention all the Order meetings, which would no doubt make her suspicious.

After knowing her for almost four months, Harry definitely liked Phoebe and knew he could trust her, but he didn't particularly want her involved in this. It was too dangerous and he didn't want anymore innocent people being dragged into a fight for him.

"Yeah it will be fine, we'll just make sure she doesn't notice all the Order meetings going on," Fred shrugged off the question.

"With people coming and going every ten minutes, shutting the whole downstairs floor off for it?" Harry said, thinking back to how many people had constantly been in the house during summer.

"We'll keep her distracted," Fred replied, looking slightly more worried now that the flaws in his plan were being pointed out.

"I know plenty of ways you could do that," George smirked, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up." Fred rolled his eyes at the same time Hermione scolded, "Don't be vile, she's fifteen."

"So," George shrugged, "Pansy Parkinson is barely 15 and we all know her and Malfoy are a little bit more than friends," he pointed out, scrunching his nose in disgust; whether it was because he didn't want to think about the two Slytherins together, or simply because he didn't want to think of the Slytherins at all, Harry couldn't tell.

"You don't know that," Hermione said, but she too looked a little bit put off by the thought.

George barked out a noise half way between a scoff and a laugh. "Believe me, I do, I walked in on them in a supply closet once."

Ron groaned loudly, "I really don't want to think about that snake," he shook his head.

"Anyway," Harry interrupted, seeing this conversation was going nowhere, "Phoebe's going to notice something's up, even if she's only there for a few days, what do we do?"

Fred shrugged once again, standing up from the sofa, "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it," he said, and then disappeared up to the dorms.

Harry sighed and began to pack his things away, may as well call it a night. Even as he walked up the stairs he knew he wasn't going to have a peaceful night - a cold feeling had settled in his gut and didn't seem like it was going to leave anytime soon.

He tucked himself in bed anyway, hoping for a single night of rest that wasn't filled with strange dreams and nightmares.

ϟ

When Phoebe woke up that morning, it wasn't because of Hermione's nagging for once, it was because of the feeling of dread that had filled her chest.

Phoebe tried to think back to her dreams, attempting to recall anything that might have made her feel this was, but coming up with nothing.

She quietly tiptoed out of her bed and looked out the window - it was still dark outside, only a sliver of light visible on the horizon. Phoebe couldn't sleep anymore, the uncomfortable feeling in her chest making her too antsy to even try.

Instead, she began to get ready for the day, putting on comfortable clothes for the long train ride. Then she packed away her final belongings, making sure she wasn't leaving any essentials behind, after double checking that she had her toothbrush, Phoebe was satisfied that she had everything she needed for the holidays.

Heading down to the common room, Phoebe plonked down onto the sofa and picked up a random book. She scanned through the pages, not really taking in the words or the content, simply using it to pass the time.

Eventually, people began to flood in from the dorms, heading to the Great Hall to have breakfast. Spotting Hermione coming down the stairs, Phoebe hastily stood up, glad to leave behind the book and have something else to do.

"You're up early," Hermione grinned teasingly.

"I couldn't sleep," Phoebe shrugged.

"Have Harry and Ron come through yet?" Hermione asked as they exited through the portrait hole.

"No I haven't seen them," Phoebe shook her head.

"That's strange, normally they're up quite early on the last day of term," Hermione frowned.

"I'm sure they'll be down in a bit," Phoebe shrugged, "They wouldn't miss breakfast on the last day."

Hermione laughed, nodding in agreement.

However, two hours later, breakfast was over, all the bags were being loaded onto the train and there was still no sign of Harry or Ron, or any of the Weasley's for that matter.

Phoebe and Hermione were walking towards the train station, discussing where they might be.

"It's not the first time that they've disappeared before the train ride, in second year-" she broke off suddenly, spotting Professor Mcgonagall and walking quickly over, Phoebe trailing behind.

"Professor, do you know where Harry and Ron have gone? Actually all of the Weasleys," she asked the stern woman.

The professor glanced at Phoebe before saying, "there was an incident last night concerning Arthur Weasley, I'm sure you'll see them in a few hours Miss Granger."

Phoebe frowned at the look that had been thrown in her direction, at the pointed tone of voice the professor had used. Whatever had happened, McGonagall didn't want Phoebe to know, meaning that it almost definitely had something to do with Voldemort.

Just another thing to add to the list of things that could be useful to Phoebe's quest, but that she didn't know enough about to be sure of. Phoebe could probably write a book filled with those I-think-this-is-important-but-I'm-not-entirely-sure things by this point.

At least she had a lot to think about during the train ride, Phoebe thought with a sigh.

word count: 1872

phoebe will be back at camp half-blood in the next chapter! who's excited?