It was not until the next Hogsmeade weekend that Harry tried out the map and the tunnel into Honeydukes.  The map wasn’t that handy in the area of knowing when there were other people around – with the exception of Filch, who tended to pop up at odd times.  Harry had an acute sense of when someone was near from his time on the streets and the map only helped in that area for long-range.

But the map also showed a good many of the secret passages that he did not know about and how to get into those he had found but was unable to get into.  Those passages that needed passwords showed up on the map with their passwords in tiny speech bubbles.  One such example: the passage behind the one-eyed witch on the third floor.

Harry checked the map for the password once he arrived at the statue then drew his wand, tapping the witch’s hump.

“Dissendium!”

The hump opened and he could not help the grin that spread over his face.  Oh, the things he could do with this…

Still grinning, Harry hoisted himself up into the hole and slid down what felt like a stone slid into the dark.  Once he hit the bottom, he stood, brushing off his robes and hissed, “Lumos!”  His wand tip brightened and he quickly cleared the map as Fred had showed him.

“Mischief managed.”

The map blanked and he folded it, tucking it into his robes.  That done, he headed down the tunnel, which twisted and turned until it rose up to a set of worn stone steps.  Harry bounded up them, taking the steps two to three at a time.  He barely avoiding bashing his head into the trapdoor at the top and only avoided it because he paused to take a breath.  Pushing open the door, he cautiously peered out into the Honeydukes cellar.  Not hearing anyone about, he clambered up the remainder of the steps, easing the trapdoor back down.  Finding the staircase up into the store, he slinked up it, ears cocked for the sound of someone coming down.  When he reached the top, he came out behind the counter – which was unoccupied.  Ducking and sliding away from the counter before straightening and looking around, Harry grinned.

He’d made it!

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Butterbeer?”

“Sounds good.  Where’s the Three Broomsticks?”

“Left.”

“I’m sure its right.”

“No, its left you idiot.”

“You’re the idiot, O’Feir.”

“Sod off, Davids.  C’mon, its this way.”

“But…”

Niamh growled and dragged Mika down the street towards the Three Broomsticks.  It was far too cold to be standing outside in the street wondering where they should go next or wondering what Harry whilst he was stuck back up at the castle.

The Three Broomsticks was packed with Hogwarts students and Hogsmeade residents when they finally managed to shove, squirm, and hex their way inside.  And one particular Hogwarts student sitting alone in a corner booth behind a Christmas tree nursing a mug of butterbeer caught their eyes…

“Harry?” exclaimed Mika and Niamh in surprise when they saw their friend.

Harry smiled cheekily and waved at them.

“Hey, ye two,” said the boy when they scrambled into the booth with him.

“Harry, what are you doing here?” asked Niamh.  “Not that I’m sorry you aren’t, but shouldn’t you be back up in the castle?  I mean, Black could be around.”

“True,” said Mika with a nod.  He then asked, “Ni.  Butterbeer?”

“Yeah.  Thanks, Mik.”

Mika smiled and headed towards the counter as Niamh looked at Harry.

“So, how did you get down here?”

Harry grinned and replied, “Secret.”

“C’mon, Hareeeey.  Tell meeee!”

“A map.”

“A magical map, I presume?”

“Ye would be correct in that assumption.”

“Can I see it?”

“Sure,” said Harry, laying out the Marauder’s Map on the table just as Mika returned, juggling two mug’s of frothing butterbeer and a jug of the drink along with his scarf.  He dumped his burden on the table, pushing Niamh’s drink at her and shoving his scarf into a cloak pocket in the same motion.

“What’s that?” asked the white-haired boy as he sat down, warming his hands against his mug.

“Magical map,” replied Niamh, eying the blank sheet of paper.  “Or it’s supposed to be.”

“Give me a minute,” said Harry, pulling out his wand.  He tapped the map and said, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good!”

“Cool!” exclaimed Niamh and Mika as the spider web lines of the map flowed out and filled the page.  Harry let them look at it for a moment then cleared it, tucked it and his wand back into their respective places.

Niamh looked at where he had tucked map away and breathed, “Imagine what we would do with that map…”

“Imagine what Fred and George had done with that map,” said Mika.  “No wonder they managed to pull off so many pranks nobody could figure out.”

“Yep.  Holy saints and demons…Harry, duck!”

“Wha’?  Hell’s bells!”

Mika blinked and stared at the two of them then turned to see what they were looking at.  His eyes widened when he saw Hagrid, McGonagall, tiny Flitwick, and Cornelius Fudge walking into the Three Broomsticks and shaking snow off of their cloaks.

“Heck-sod.  Duck under the table!”

“Nevermind the table!” spat Niamh, drawing her wand and muttering something under her breath.  A vague chill spread over the three then vanished.

Mika gasped, “What the…”

“Shielding spell,” said Niamh quickly.  “I was looking through the Advanced Charms book and found it.  Thought it might be handy.”

“How’d you get an Advanced Charms book?” asked Mika.

Harry sighed and growled, “Nevermind tha’.  Can they see us anymore?”

“Far as they can tell me and Mik and sitting here discussing the finer points of Quidditch.”

Harry gave his friend a warm smile then perked at the conversation from the table where the professor’s and the Minister of Magic sat.

“Any sight of Black lately, Minerva?”

Niamh and Mika obviously did not hear this and Harry elbowed them, nodding at the table.  The three of them leaned forward, cocking their ears to listen.

“No sign, minister.  But that Potter boy isn’t helping matters any.”

“Troublesome is he?” asked Fudge.

“Very,” replied McGonagall.  “I don’t see how anyone puts up with him.”

“He’s a good boy, Minerva,” piped Flitwick.  “You just don’t trust Slytherins.”

“Aye, ‘Nerva,” grumbled Hagrid.  “’Arry’s a good kid.  Like ‘is Da’.”

Harry winced slightly as Hagrid referred to James Potter, who was not really his father.

“I agree with Minerva,” said Fudge.  “From what I’ve heard, Potter is a troublemaker.  I hear he’s called ‘Lord Bex’ or something of the sort…”

“Hex,” corrected Flitwick.

“’E’s never hexed anyone ‘cept in defense,” said Hagrid.

“But he did beat up another boy in his first year.”

“Malfoy deserved tha’,” growled Hagrid, thumping his hand on the table.

“Rubeus…” warned McGonagall.

“How so?” asked Fudge.

“The boy killed Harry’s owl, I believe,” said Flitwick.  “Am I correct, Hagrid?”

“Yeh.”

“The boy could have lied.”

“NA ‘ARRY!”

“Rubeus!” hissed McGonagall, looking at the students eying them with interest.  “The students!”

“Yes, professor.”

Fudge shook his head and said, “I can’t blame the boy.  There must have been some bit of an impression made on him as a child.”

“That might explain his behavior,” said McGonagall with a nod.

Harry, Niamh, and Mika looked at each other in confusion.  What on earth were they talking about?

“I mean,” continued McGonagall, “there might have been something impressed upon him from his godfather.”

“Godfather?” breathed Harry.

“Pity that was Black,” said Fudge in a low voice and Niamh keeled over in shock.

“What exactly did Black do?” asked Flitwick.  “Wasn’t there something more than just killing Pettigrew?”

Fudge nodded.  “He was the Potter’s Secret Keeper.  As soon as he knew where they were hiding, he ran back to his master.  Voldemort dearly wanted the Potter’s dead.”

Harry’s eyes blazed with cold fury.  Black had betrayed his mother and James and good as killed the both of them!!  He let out a hiss of air, muttering in Parseltongue under his breath.

“You think Black’s after Harry?” asked Flitwick with concern in his voice.

“Perhaps,” replied Fudge.

“Back-stabbin’ devil!” exclaimed Hagrid.  “I saw ‘im jus’ after they died!  Cryin’ ‘is eyes out!  I thought it was fer James and Lily but na!  He was cryin’ ‘cause ‘is master was gone!”

“Rubeus!” hissed McGonagall.

“Let’s get out of here,” whispered Niamh.  “Visit’s almost over.”

Mika nodded and looked at Harry, who was death-glaring the air.

“You going to get him?”

“Sure, you coward.”

“I’m not a coward.”

“Suuuure…”

“Its just that…hell, Ni, doesn’t he scare you sometimes?”

Niamh frowned at Mika then looked at Harry.  She then looked back at the white-haired boy and shook her head.

“No.  He surprises me sometimes but he never frightens me.”

“You’d make a hell of an Auror, O’Feir.”

“Thanks, Davids.  I’ll keep that in mind.  Now, c’mon, Harry!  Up y’ get!”

Niamh pulled Harry up and dragged him out of the booth.  As soon as they stepped out of the bubble of the shield, it shattered, leaving them visible to the world.  Mika moved to Harry’s right and the two of them heaved him out of the Three Broomsticks between them, muttering about too much butterbeer to anyone that looked at them funny.

Once they were outside, they shoved Harry onto a bench and Niamh snapped her fingers in front of his face.

“Harry.  Harry!  Harry!”

“Nothing works.”

“I could try…”

“That might not be a good idea…”

“Hey, if he gets mad, he’ll bang me up, not you.”

“What if he’s madder than usual?  I mean, after what we heard…”

“Don’t mention that.  I’m a bit pissed off about that too.”

“Okay.  You going to…?”

“Yep.”

“Wait.”

“Demonspawn, Mik…  What are you doing?”

“Moving as far away as I possibly can.”

Niamh rolled her eyes and did the only other thing she could think of that might snap Harry out of his daze.

She slapped him.

Harry did snap out of it and his eyes snapped up to Niamh, narrowing until they were two slits of dark green.

“I hope ye had good reason fer that.”

“Well, you were sort of glaring at thin air,” said Mika casually.

Niamh nodded and Harry rubbed his cheek, which stung from the force of the blow.  He grumbled, “Yeh.  Well, ye could’ve just ducked me head in a bucket of ice water.”

“No ice water.”

Harry rolled his eyes and got up, heading towards Honeydukes.

“See ye two in the castle.”

Niamh and Mika waved then looked worriedly after their friend as he vanished into the candy shop.