The three figures slipped out of the portrait hole, pushing aside the large, painted canvas of the Fat Lady.
"Who is it that goes out at this ungodly hour?" the Fat Lady grumbled, her blurry eyes snapping open for a moment before she sighed dramatically and settled back down, leaving the space open.
The trio remained absolutely silent, moving swiftly down the dark corridor. They bypassed the grand, wide staircases, sticking to the quieter, smaller hallways. Albert led them purposefully toward the seventh floor, stopping directly opposite a magnificent tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy attempting (and failing) to teach trolls how to ballet.
"Is this the precise spot you were referring to?" George whispered, gazing intently at the entirely blank, smooth stone wall that stretched opposite the ridiculous tapestry.
"Yes, exactly here," Albert confirmed in a low voice. "Now, the process is simple but demands focus. You need to clear your mind of all extraneous thoughts, concentrate solely on the specific kind of location you most desperately need, and then walk past this stretch of wall three times. The door should then materialize."
Albert gestured for the twins to wait a moment, then began the concentrated effort. He paced back and forth, fixing his mental image: A private, secure workspace, soundproofed, with comfortable chairs and tables for planning and experimentation.
He walked past once, then a second time, and finally a third. He stopped, looking expectantly at the stone.
The wall remained absolutely blank. Not a seam, not a handle, not even the faintest shimmer of magic disturbed its smooth surface.
"No door?" Fred and George stared at the blank stone, then at Albert, both wearing identical expressions of profound confusion and suspicion.
Albert frowned at the wall, a silence falling over them. Before the twins could launch into a volley of identical questions about his potential misdirection, he reached out, gave them a firm push, and signaled them to move quickly away from the area.
They retreated a safe distance down the hall, around a corner where they could speak without being overheard by any nearby portraits or passing ghosts.
"What happened, Albert?" Fred stopped, demanding an explanation. "Did your concentration waver? Were you… lying to us about this 'Room of Requirement'?"
"Neither," Albert stated confidently. "The problem isn't with the process; it's with the occupant."
"Occupant?" George echoed.
"The Room of Requirement is a magical space that exists only to fulfill the needs of the seeker," Albert explained patiently. "However, it can only fulfill one need at a time. If the Room is currently open and configured for someone inside—perhaps as a library, a dueling club, or even a hidden study—it cannot simultaneously open for us as a private planning room. We can only fail to open the door from the outside if there is someone already inside, using it for their own requested purpose."
"Are you certain you didn't simply miss the correct pacing sequence?" George asked, still doubtful.
"It is impossible that I missed it. I've been inside several times already," Albert insisted, giving a sharp shake of his head. "I have no motive to lie, particularly not at three in the morning when I could be in the Restricted Section."
The twins exchanged another, more serious look. Albert was right; he wouldn't risk their current mission for a pointless joke.
"So, who do you think is inside?" George asked, his voice now alight with fresh intrigue. The mystery was almost as compelling as the map.
"It is likely a couple," Albert suggested with a shrug, offering the most plausible, common-sense answer to throw them off his own internal suspicions. "After all, it's a perfect, soundproof location for a secret rendezvous, and few people even know this place exists."
"Why would only a few people know about it?" Fred asked, puzzled.
George, ever the pragmatist when it came to secrets, rolled his eyes at his twin. "Would you be willing to share the location of a room that grants your every wish with too many people, Fred? It would be constantly occupied."
"Precisely," Albert confirmed. "The Room of Requirement is a powerful, protective charm. Whatever kind of place you need, it instantly provides. We will try again another time. If you still choose to doubt my word after that, then yes, assume I lied to you."
"Why wait?" Fred challenged. "Once we get in there, that will be our ultimate secret base. We can use it to store all our experimental products!"
"And what do you plan to use it for, exactly?" Albert countered, testing their strategic thinking.
"Well," George considered, counting on his fingers, "at the very least, when we're caught outside the Common Room at night, we won't have to spend the rest of the night freezing in the corridor waiting for dawn. It'll serve as the ultimate safe haven."
"Look at you," Fred scoffed. "Is that the extent of your grand plan?"
"And what is your brilliant plan, then?" George demanded.
"I… haven't decided yet," Fred muttered, slightly deflated.
Albert grinned at both of them. "My plan is simple, and far more effective than just finding a warm place to sleep. From now on, you two can come here to quietly brew the Felix Felicis without worry of detection, practice advanced, potentially explosive charms, find a secure, focused place to complete sensitive homework, or manufacture your next generation of highly potent pranking supplies."
He paused, then added dryly, "It also functions perfectly well as an emergency urinal, should the need arise during a late-night patrol. Or for a private date, if you finally manage to entice Angelina in here."
"Wait," George protested, throwing up his hands. "Why do you make it sound like I'm the one being abandoned if he manages to get a date?"
"Enough messing around," Fred interjected, steering the conversation back on track. "Since the Room is currently indisposed, we'll take you on the grand tour first. We know far more secret passages than the map initially lets on. We'll cover the castle, and then we'll move to the library."
Albert readily agreed. The twins' suggestion was excellent; it would allow them to cover vast sections of the castle and the secret tunnels without wasting time hovering around the Room of Requirement.
Who is using that room? The thought burrowed into Albert's mind. A couple? Perhaps, but he immediately dismissed the common-sense answer for a more paranoid one.
The most suspicious person in the entire castle, historically speaking, was always the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Professor Bardbrod had seemed pleasant, competent, and surprisingly normal. But Albert knew the pattern: Voldemort's henchman, the self-serving fraud, the secretly controlled agent, the werewolf, the Ministry spy, the double agent, the Death Eater siblings… The pattern was clear. Every DADA professor was a ticking magical time bomb.
Albert remembered running into Professor Brod very close to the Room of Requirement before. Could he be using it? Could he be secretly communicating, brewing, or hiding a dangerous artifact in there?
He quickly shook the thought away. It was likely just a couple. The thought of confronting a potential Death Eater over a secret hiding spot was entirely premature.
"This way, Albert." Fred led them to a hidden spot behind a massive suit of armor—a statue of a Knight. The twins then demonstrated how a specific, awkward tickle combined with a precisely mumbled phrase opened a small, almost invisible panel to a tight, dusty secret passage that descended into the lower floors.
They spent the next hour traversing the maze of the castle. George, demonstrating the passage that led outside the castle boundaries, sparked a moment of concern in Albert. He wondered if that very passage might be the one Sirius Black, the infamous fugitive, would use in a few years to sneak into the castle.
"Wait, stop," Fred suddenly whispered, pulling out the Marauder's Map and pointing at a moving dot marked 'Peeves'. "Peeves is on the third floor. Do you think we should leverage this opportunity to rouse Filch from his sleep?"
The twins looked at Albert, their expressions a mixture of mischief and anticipation, waiting for his final approval. "It would be intensely satisfying to get him up and hunting for us again. He likely just dozed off after his earlier failed patrol."
"I'm in," Albert agreed instantly. "But first, where are you planning to retreat? We need a secure, immediate bolt-hole. We aren't playing simple hide-and-seek with the caretaker."
"We'll cause chaos, and with your Disillusionment Charm, he won't be able to catch us at all," Fred said, pulling a damp bag of Dungbombs from his pocket with a practiced ease, confirming he had indeed come prepared for maximum disruption.
"A beautiful deterrent, though I must advise caution on the charm," Albert said. He quickly raised his wand and gently tapped George on the head.
George shuddered as the spell took effect. He looked down and gasped, running a surprised hand over his now-fading silhouette. "That is incredible! I bet I could stand directly under Filch's nose, and he wouldn't be able to spot me!"
"Best not risk it," Albert warned, having now cast the imperfect version of the charm on himself. "My Disillusionment Charm is still rudimentary. If Filch truly focuses, he might notice the slight warping of the light around us."
They had barely finished exchanging warnings when a familiar, high-pitched shriek of pure, destructive glee erupted from the adjacent corridor. "Wandering students! Filth and folly in the halls at the wrong hour! It's the Weasleys!"
"Peeves!" George whispered, though his voice was distorted by the charm's effect. "When we run into him on a night stroll, he always makes a huge spectacle of it, hoping to get us caught." He winked at Albert, forgetting that his face was currently an invisible, shimmering blur.
Almost immediately, Fred came sprinting around the corner, having successfully tossed a distraction. George instantly grabbed his twin, physically yanking him sideways into the nearby secret passage, barely hidden behind the portrait.
"That was brilliant! You two just vanished!" Fred looked them over, his eyes wide with excitement. "I didn't even see the shimmer. Albert, hit me with that charm!"
Albert has demonstrated the powerful advantage of the Disillusionment Charm and now the twins want to fully employ the Marauder's Map.