The Beginning Of An Era {A Marauders' Fanfiction}

Chapter 14: "The Second Passage"

On the first week of January, the boys went back to school. James and Sirius were happy, because during the holidays they had planned new pranks. They had also discussed the secret passages, and they were determined to find another soon. On the train, they sat with Remus and Peter, and they all talked about their new plans.

As soon as they got to Hogwarts, the boys were starving. They quickly left their things on their bedroom and went to the Hall to have dinner.

"How were your holidays?" Asked Frank to the boys.

"They were splendid. I went to James' house and we had so much fun!" Said Sirius.

"Mine were fine, I guess. I didn't see my parents a lot." Said Remus.

"Yeah, same. They didn't spend much time with me." Said Peter, sadly.

They said nothing. They continued enjoying the food and desserts, before they went to their dormitory again. As soon as they got there, the five boys talked and laughed for a while, before falling asleep. A few hours later, James woke up. They had agreed that they were going to sleep a few hours and that later they were going out. James woke up his friends and they all left the room, leaving Frank behind.

"Do you think if Frank finds out he will tell someone?" Asked Peter.

"I don't know. Let's hope he never finds out." Said James.

The four of them put on the invisibility cloak, and they noticed Remus' feet could be seen.

"I am too tall. I will have to stay here." Said Remus, sighing.

"No, you won't stay. We are all going together. It doesn't matter. We can do this." Said Sirius.

They all nodded and opened the door, leaving the tower. They all walked really slowly because they didn't want to stumble.

"Which one are we going to search for?" Asked Remus.

"Okay, let me tell you the story. As you know, I spent Christmas with Sirius. We had a lot of free time, and we tried to match the clues together. And I think we did it. Okay, remember the one that said "One eyed-Dissendium-Defense"? Well, we kind of found out the meaning of the words. We concluded that "One eyed" means that there's something in the castle with just one eye, probably a statue or a painting. We thought it was going to be difficult to find that, but then we read the word "Defense", and we think it means that the statue or the painting must be near the Defense against the dark arts classroom. And lastly, the word "Dissendium". It was very difficult at first, but eventually we found it out." Said James, proudly.

"And what is it?" Asked Peter.

"A spell..." Said Remus quickly.

Three boys stared at him in disbelief.

"How do you know that?" Asked Sirius.

"Did you know what it meant the whole time? Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Asked James.

"I just figured it out. It sounds like a spell. Why didn't I think about it sooner?" Said Remus, closing his eyes.

"Yeah, why didn't you?" Asked Sirius, joking.

"Shut up Black. Now, the question is, is it a difficult spell?" Asked Remus.

James and Sirius stared at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "We don't know. We can't practice magic outside of school, so we didn't have a chance to find out..." Said Sirius.

"And since when do you two follow the rules?" Asked Peter.

"We don't. We just don't want to get expelled Pettigrew." Said Sirius, rolling his eyes.

"Shut it! Someone's going to hear us. Now come on, let's go to the classroom." Said Remus.

They followed his friend slowly, and in a matter of minutes they climbed the stairs and stood in front of the classroom. They looked around and saw a couple of paintings, and one statue.

"Let's check for that one-eyed bloody thing." Said Sirius, taking off the cloak.

"You will be seen! Come back here!" Said Peter.

"I don't care. I hate being down there. It is way too crowded." Protested Sirius, looking at the paintings.

The boys sighed and took off the cloak. They all walked around the floor, and Remus quickly went inside the classroom. Sirius decided to look at the statue, and he noticed it was the statue of a tall and ugly witch, and he saw that she had only one eye.

"Guys! I think I found it. Look, it's the one-eyed witch!" Said Sirius, proud of himself.

The boys ran in his direction and looked at the witch with curiosity.

"Okay... now, the hardest part... the spell." Said Peter.

"I'll do it." Said Remus, taking out his wand.

They boys stared at Remus, and closing his eyes, he muttered the word.

"Dissendium." Muttered Remus.

He opened his eyes and noticed nothing had happened. He sighed and sat on the floor.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Asked James.

"We keep trying. Maybe if we tap the hump of the witch and we mutter the spell it will work. I mean, we have to try it, right?" Asked Sirius.

Remus sighed and stood up. He closed his eyes once more and tapped the hump of the witch very slowly, waiting for it to work. A few seconds later, they heard a loud crack. They all looked at the witch and noticed the hump on the statue opened, showing a dark and small passageway.

"Remus! You did it!" Said Sirius, congratulating his friend.

Remus chuckled. "Yeah, thanks to you."

"Wow, this is big enough to hold a secret meeting inside!" Said James.

"Where do you think it leads?" Asked Peter, curiously.

"I don't know, let's find out." Said Sirius, smirking. He quickly said "Lumos" and his wand emitted a bright light. He quickly went inside the passage, and he noticed that in this one he didn't need to crawl, that he could walk.

His friends followed him and closed the door behind them. They all walked in the dark for a long time, and they noticed they were all tired. They all wanted to go back to sleep, but none of them said a word. They kept walking until Sirius saw a wall in front of him, and he stopped quickly. He pushed the wall slowly and it opened, and they noticed that the place they had just arrived was as dark as the tunnel. Looking around, they noticed they were in a store, a store full of candies. They saw chocolate frogs, Lollipops, and all kind of sweets, and looking outside, they noticed they were no longer in the castle. They could see small houses covered by the snow, and they all agreed that it was one of the most beautiful towns they had ever seen.

"Where are we? For a moment I thought we were still in the castle! I thought Dumbledore had this private room for all of his candies!" Said Peter.

"Don't be silly Peter. I think I know where we are. We are in Hogsmeade." Said Remus.

"Hogsmeade? The town near the castle?" Asked Sirius.

"That's the one. And I believe this is Honeydukes. It's the most delicious store around here. My parents told me they used to buy a lot of chocolate frogs in here. This is amazing! We will be able to meet Hogsmeade before all the guys in our year!" Said James.

"Yeah, tomorrow. Personally I am tired, so I am going back. But, I will take this chocolate frog." Said Sirius, putting it inside his pocket.

"You're going to steal it?" Asked Remus.

"I won't. I will pay for it tomorrow, I promise. Now, let's go or I will freeze to death. Stupid winter." Said Sirius, shivering.

They all went inside the tunnel and went back to their dormitory, and they were all proud of themselves, because after all, they were the few students that had found the passages, if not the firsts ones.