The Black Family Legacy

Puzzling Parchment and an Unexpected Visit

Cygnus was perched at the end of the Slytherin table, eating lunch and minding her own business.

That didn't last long, seeing as how Fred and George came scrambling up to her.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her messily made sandwich as they pulled her out of the hall.

"What is it?" She asks, slouching against the wall in the broom cupboard and taking a bite of her food.

"Look what we nicked from filch!" Fred says excitedly, and Cygnus snorts with laughter.

"A bit of old parchment? That was worth risking detention?" She laughs.

"It's not just any old parchment! Look!" He says, pressing his wand to it.

She watches with masked curiosity as words appear.

Ah, a brace young mischief making Gryffindor has found our trouble making device.

She looked up at the twins, surprised.

"It has to be more than what meets the eye, we just can't crack it." Fred says, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Will you help us?" George asks, offering Cygnus his hand to help her up.

"I'll see what I can do, but you lot are going to make me late for herbology." She answers, shoving her way out of the closet and running through the front doors.

The twins share a look.

"Reckon she'll figure it out, George?" Fred asks his brother.

"She's bloody brilliant, of course she will."

Cygnus sat with the twins and Lee in an empty classroom on the third floor, the paper on the floor in between them.

"Well we can cross that off the list." She mumbles, getting up and marking out a phrase on the board.

The boys studied the writing on the board, haphazardly thrown on during their search for whatever password would unlock the parchment.

"Maybe it's just nonsense?" Fred offers.

"It wouldn't be." Cygnus frowns, looking at the parchment.

"It would be something of meaning, sort of like-" and then her eyes grew wide, and George could tell she had an idea.

"Lee, what was that thing you said?" She asks, and Lee frowns.

"I say lots of things-"

"Last week, during Transfiguration, oh what was it?!" She asks, flabbergasted.

"I hate this class?" He asks, confused.

"No, no, the motto thing."

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good?"

The four first years watched in astonishment as ink flooded across the parchment.

"We've done it!" Fred cries, leaping up,

Cygnus frowns as she reads the parchment.

"Mrssrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs." She mumbles, ignoring the boys celebrating beside her.

Curiously, she unfolds the parchment, gasping when she sees its contents.

"It's a map." She gasps, her eyes rolling over the carefully labelled halls.

"It's a bloody tracking device!" The twins say in sync, staring dumbfounded at the parchment.

"Look there's Dumbledore!" Lee says, pointing to the pair of footsteps.

"He's pacing, something must be bothering him." She notices, but Fred and George both point to the cluster of their names.

"There's us!" They say in unison.

"And that's Snape!" She gasps, pointing a shaky finger to the footsteps coming down their hall.

"Hide!" They all chorus at once, and Cygnus snatches the map before diving under the teacher's desk.

The door to the classroom opens just as the boys slam the closet shut.

It takes all of Cygnus' willpower not to wince, and she just hopes that the potions master didn't hear it.

She knows he did, and her fear multiplies when he starts towards the closet door.

His hand is turning the doorknob when a loud thundering crash happens overhead, and she looks at the map. Peeves.

Mumbling angrily under his breath, she watches as Snape storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Guys come on!" She shouts, throwing open the door.

"Before he comes back!"

The four first years take off racing through the halls.

"Where are we?" Cygnus pants, doubled over trying to catch her breath.

"Password?" The portrait asks.

"Now trickle." The twins says in sync, and Cygnus watches as the portrait swing open, her mouth hanging ajar.

"Come on, come on." Lee says, gently pulling her towards the hole in the wall.

"This is the Gryffindor Common Room, isn't it?" She asks breathlessly.

"Well no." Fed answers.

"This is the hall." George finishes.

"I'm a Slytherin, I can't-"

"Course you can, now come on." George laughs, climbing through the hole.

She sighs and follows him through, Fred climbing in behind her.

"Oh wow!" She gasps, looking around the tower room.

"You like it?" Lee asks, grinning as he drops into a chair by the fire.

"Oh this is amazing!" She giggles, twirling in a circle.

"Better then Slytherin's?" George asks in disbelief.

"Oh so much better! This feels honey! It's all so soft and warm and welcoming." She answers wistfully as she collapses onto the couch.

She breathes a sigh of relief and then continues.

"In the Slytherin common room everything's leather and steel and harsh and cold."

The boys all look to each other and frown.

"Kind of like Slytherin hearts, I guess." She laughs, and the boys once again share a worried look, but Cygnus is Oblivious, her eyes are closed.

"So much better." She sighs.