Chapter 14: Dragonfire Delights o’ Plenty (1)

"Come on!" – pleaded Sirius, rolling playfully on the floor of the Gryffindor Common Room.

'I've already said no.' – uttered Catherine, finishing the last paragraph of her essay on the International Confederation of Wizards from 1454. 

"But why not? We can't just let this be. What kind of message does it send to our enemies?" – exclaimed Sirius, standing up and picking up Catherine's parchment.

"What enemies? Stop exaggerating! The teachers didn't find anything, how would we? On top of that, it wasn't a big deal, just an Energy Draining hex. It's not even that dangerous." – the witch said, taking her essay back from Sirius, who was skimming through it. 

"You've missed one of the decrees on the goblins here." – Sirius said, then added – "You are just not willing to pay Slytherins back because you don't want to upset Evans."

Catherine took her quill again and added the missing decree, then stood up quickly and looked at Sirius. 

"Are you accusing me of being a coward?" – she asked in a dangerously low voice. 

"No, I'm just saying that because of Evans, you are willing to disregard what happened to you and just let Snape go unpunished." – responded Sirius. 

"I've told you at least 5 times that it wasn't Snape." – the girl said, heading towards the exit. 

"What wasn't Snape?" – asked James, who was just entering through the portrait hole. 

"A charming and clean person." – answered Sirius, laughing at his own joke. 

"Sirius insists that we do something to retaliate about that time they used the Energy Draining hex on me."

"Damn right!" – James chimed in – "They can't be left thinking they won. If you want, I can take care of Snivellus tomorrow the latest."

"Okay, that's enough!" – shouted Catherine, making everyone in the Common Room look at them. The girl frowned, took Sirius' and James' hands, and dragged them outside. 

"Listen, both of you," – she said angrily – "believe it or not, I'm not some damsel in distress, and I don't need you to take revenge on my behalf. But most importantly, I've told you numerous times that it was not Snape. It definitely was a female voice."

"He could have changed his voice with magic or potion." – said James. 

"The spell for that is on NEWT level, and the potion is also complicated, from what I know. It's pointless for him to put in such efforts to hex me. Moreover, he does it often enough, and he has never been shy about it. Why would he hide then? You need to accept that there are other people than Snape who would want to hurt me." – Catherine ended with a sigh. 

"Still," – persisted Sirius – "we can't let this slide. Let's at least investigate a little bit."

"Fine, let's go now." – Catherine finally gave up – "What a way to spend my Saturday afternoon."

"You were doing homework, it's not like it was something fun." – noted Sirius – "Plus, it's snowing outside, what is there to do anyway? Join Remus in the Library?"

The three first-years were walking through the freezing corridors of Hogwarts, their steps echoing through the silence of the lazy snowy December afternoon. They encountered Peeves, the school poltergeist, but he was busy stuffing Doxies into the armour located next to the Charms classroom and just stuck out his tongue at them. Eventually, they reached the deserted corridor on the fourth floor. They started looking for clues and searched in silence for several minutes. 

"The more I think of it, the more I do not understand where exactly they hid in order to hex you." – finally said James. 

"There must be a hidden alcove or passage somewhere." – concluded Sirius.

After another thorough search, they managed to find that there was a small crack-like door behind the painting of a merry company drinking wine next to a river. 

"Where do you think this leads to?" – asked James while they were carefully climbing down a spiral staircase.

"Straight to the Slytherin Common Room?" – suggested Sirius. 

"I seriously doubt it." – noted Catherine, setting aside a tapestry, and exiting into another corridor. 

"This looks like the third floor." – said James – "Yeah, it's the third floor; I remember this statue of the one-eyed witch."

"Well, we haven't found who attacked me, but at least we've discovered a new shortcut." – said Catherine, rolling her eyes. 

"Don't be such a joy killer!" – complained Sirius – "Let's look around some more!"

"Be my guest!" – said Catherine with irritation and leaned against the statue of the one-eyed witch. Suddenly, the girl heard a noise that sounded like a distant murmur. It was as if the noise was coming from within the walls. She pressed her ear against the cold stone and listened intently. 

"What are you doing?" – asked James. 

"Can you hear this as well?" – said Catherine nervously. Both her friends pressed their ears against the wall.

'I don't hear anything.' – said Sirius.

"Neither do I." – confirmed James.

Catherine took out her wand. "Dissendium." – she said, tapping the statue with the wand. It swung forward and exposed a tunnel behind it. 

"Wow, how did you know it could do that?" – said James, impressed.

"I told you, I heard a voice from within the walls." – Catherine responded. 

"I am not sure how good hearing voices is, but I bet this door leads outside of the castle." – said Sirius, excited - "Let's go and check!"

The three first-years squeezed through the crack and slid down what appeared to be a long stone slide, eventually landing on cold, damp floor. 

"Lumos!" – said James.

The light from his wand illuminated a long, narrow passageway. The three Gryffindors walked for almost an hour through the twists and turns of the passageway before they reached worn stone steps. After seemingly ascending hundreds of them, James' head bumped into what appeared to be a trapdoor. He opened it and helped Sirius and Catherine climb up. They found themselves in the middle of a cellar full of wooden boxes and crates. 

"Oh, Merlin!" – exclaimed Sirius, looking at one of the nearby crates.

"I think I know where we are." - he said while taking out a big Jelly Slug and biting its head off - "This passageway leads to Honeydukes!"

"No way!" – whispered James – "This is the best thing that's happened to me!"

He laughed and started opening the big blue boxes placed next to him "Fudge Flies!"

"I can't believe we're actually in Hogsmeade!" – said Catherine thoughtfully, looking around. 

"Too bad it's too dangerous to go around." – sighed James – "We should think about how we can do it. Maybe if we come when the older students are visiting the village?"

"Mate, they'll recognise us right away.' – laughed Sirius - "We shall learn how to become invisible."

"I'm content with just this." – said Catherine, taking a box of Dragonfire Delights from a crate at her feet. 

After spending a good half-hour exploring the content of cellar, the three first-years filled their pockets with candies and were ready to leave. James opened the trapdoor, but Catherine suddenly startled and started searching through her robes. Finally, she found what she was looking for and tossed a golden Galleon into the nearest box. 

"What are you doing? They'll find out we were here!" – hissed Sirius.

"They won't! I pay for the stuff I use." – Catherine said icily and disappeared through the opening in the floor of Honeydukes.