"You won't leave here until I can see my reflection in every one of these trophies," Snape ordered sourly. "Ugh, who'd want to see /that/ reflection," Fred muttered. Moonshine resisted the urge to laugh. "Now, I have some things to attend to, but I will be back to check on you within the hour, so I expect nothing more than to see you polishing these trophies in silence. Now, you may begin." Fred drew his wand from the pocket of his robe. "No magic, Mr Weasley, pure cloths and elbow grease." And he threw them each a cloth and Moonshine a bottle of spray. "You want students to learn their lesson, you get them to do it the muggle way." Then Snape left, and Moonshine and Fred got to work on the trophies. They worked in silence for about twenty minutes, only speaking to ask for the spray to be passed, or to ask the other if they thought the trophy was shiny enough. "So..." Fred murmured, the silence shattering. "What was your brothers name?" It was so random, and Moonshine didn't reply immediately, she simply paused her work on a large silver Gobstones trophy awarded to a "Cadeen Thomas". The tips of Fred's ears went pink, and he fell back to polishing his own trophy. "Asher," Moonshine said. "His name is Asher." "Right," Snape came to check on them around ten minutes later, and told them to re-do the entire first cabinet, and then left. Fred told Moonshine to get to work on the next cabinet, and he would go back and do the first again. So Moonshine wiped the first trophy in the cabinet, and then the next. It felt strange working without Fred's steady breath falling near her neck, even though she knew he was only on the other side of the room. After completing the first shelf, she glanced over the trophies she had completed, then spotted one right at the back that she'd missed. Reaching inside, she pulled it out. It was tiny, barely a trophy, bronze and tarnished with age. Moonshine called for the spray, and Fred threw it towards her. She caught it, and lathered as much of it onto the bronze as she could. Then she scrubbed it as hard as she could. It didn't make any improvements to the cup. Maybe she should just put it back, it was so tiny no one would see it at the back of all the others. But as she was placing it inside, she noticed something. It was embedded in the shelf, just beneath where the trophy had stood. It was a tiny black dial, emblazoned in the centre with a raindrop. Moonshine reached in, and turned the dial until she heard a click. Quietly, the shelf shifted to the side, revealing a hole in the wall. "Uh... Fred?" she murmured. He was by her side immediately, his brow creased and searching. It was too dark to make out anything past the hole, only shadow. "What is that?" he said. "I think it's... a secret door," Moonshine said. "I turned the dial and the shelf moved." Suddenly, she heard footsteps echoing up the corridor. "Quick!" Fred hissed. "Turn the dial back!" Moonshine reached into the trophy case and spun the dial, and the cabinet slid back into place with an almost silent click. Snape wandered into the room. He sighed. "You two have done... a below average job," he tutted. "But it's late, and I am a merciful professor, so I will allow you to leave, but if you ever don't do your homework again, I'll make sure you don't leave until I am pleased with every single trophy." He waved the two away, and they turned into the corridor, heads bent together. "What are we going to do?" Fred whispered. "We should try and go back, and get inside," Moonshine replied. "Tomorrow night. When everyone's asleep." "That's dangerous," Fred warned. "But alright. Can I bring George?" "Yes," Moonshine said. "I'll see you tomorrow then, in lesson?" Fred nodded, and they parted ways, going each to their separate dormitories. Moonshine had a lot to tell Maggie.
Thanks to @Alexandra_Riddle for the character Alexandra (not featured in this chapter)
