“Gah! I’ve had it up to here with their incessant chatter and giggling!” Barked Filch storming out of his chair with a surge of frustration, swinging his office door open with such force it nearly caused an avalanche of things he pinched off students over the years to come tumbling down. “Hooligans! Running wild through the halls, disrupting the peace and causing chaos at every turn! Detention for all of you if you don't—“ before he could finish his sentence Filch disappeared into the corridors of Hogwarts, which were currently filled with Hogwarts students yelling.

Leaving a very happy third year carrot topped headed student behind. George Weasley started calculating his escape the moment the door swung closed. Which was just as quickly squashed as it was hatched.

“You stay there, until I figure out which twin you are. Don’t even think about moving a muscle.” Filch glared at George before disappearing once again. Of course it was just his luck that he would be the twin that got caught.

George decided he was going to risk it and make a run for it, Filch couldn’t give him detention if he didn’t know which twin was caught and had escaped. But all his hopes were crushed when the door swung open again. But instead of revealing the cantankerous caretaker’s beady eyes, George saw his own reflection mirroring back at him. But instead of dread and nervous energy stretched across his face it was full of joy and mischief. 

“Ah there you are handsome, come here often?” His reflection grinned mischievously back. 

“Funny, Fred. Let’s get out of here before Filch comes back.” George made a mad dash to get out of the dingy and creepy dungeon looking office when his twin stopped him. 

“What’s the hurry George? I didn’t waste our last dungbomb just to help you escape. I bet Filch has our soundbles,” Fred dashed into Filch’s office with true Gryffindor bravery. 

“Our soundbles? Those were still in the prototype stage. We’ve done better since then. Let’s just get out of here!” George pleaded to his twin, he wasn’t above leaving him in here by himself. Filch wouldn’t really know the difference anyway. 

“Trust me George. Filch is going to be busy for a while.” And with a wink Fred started maneuvering around the cluttered depths of Filch’s office, rummaging through the disarrayed mess, confiscated broomsticks and old textbooks, kicking up the vinegar-like cologne of Filch filling the air. 

With a shrug and throwing all caution to the wind George helped Fred, he was here after all. And how much more trouble could he get into? “Well if it’s going to be anywhere in his office, it’s going to be this one,” George pointed to a filing cabinet labeled, ‘Confiscated and Highly Dangerous’. 

“Good eye my brother. Filch is always weary of our creations.” Fred gleefully bounced over to help George. 

“Mate it’s not in here,” George dredged carefully, “We’re better off just—“

“No! It’s got to be here! It belongs with the confiscated and highly dangerous artifacts!” 

“You can look for yourself, but it’s not here. Maybe you are losing your touch and dear ole’ Filch doesn’t find you that much of a threat anymore.” 

Fred took George’s suggestion to heart and playfully shoved his brother to the side to look for himself. There was no way it wasn’t there. But to his dismay his carefully and well thought out invention wasn’t amongst any of the other confiscated and definitely not highly dangerous items. “Maybe there’s a filing cabinet just for us?” Fred thought out loud looking around. 

“Come on mate, he is going to be back soon. Let’s just put everything back where it belongs and go.”

“Fine.” Fred huffed and conceded putting the things they shoved aside back in the drawers. “But you know they don’t truly belong here, Filch stole these from other students.” 

“You make a good point Fred, but make it out there, I want out of here and quick. Filch will be back soon. On second thought, grab a couple of those dungbombs we are going to need some more in the future.”

Fred gave his twin a mischievous grin and patted his pocket, “Already one step ahead of you my brother. I grabbed enough to last us a week.” 

Their excitement was abruptly interrupted by the sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor. Their hearts skipped a beat as they recognized the distant shuffle of Filch’s gait approaching the office. 

“Filch is coming back!” George whispered urgently, his eyes widening with panic and his voice tight with anxiety.

Fred looked from his twin, to the door, to back into the drawer he was pilfering through. An ancient piece of spare parchment laid at the very bottom catching his eye. George was already halfway out the door waiting for him. Without wasting any more time, Fred picked up the spare piece of parchment, “Hey, George, look at this,” Fred called out, holding up the old parchment. “I wonder what it is.”

“It’s just a spare piece of parchment, Fred, but grab it if it means you’ll move faster!” George’s heart thumped with anxiety, they were about to be caught. But luckily for George those words inspired Fred and they ran like mad to safety and far far away from the dusty, dingy, dungeon-like office.