Bella and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Twenty Four

We stood there, gazing at the miraculous map. I watched the tiny ink Mrs Norris turn left and pause to sniff at something on the floor. If Filch really didn't know...Harry wouldn't have to pass the Dementors at all meaning he would be safe...

But even as I stood there, flooded with excitement, something I had once heard Mr Weasley say came floating out of my memory. 

'Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain'

This map was one of those dangerous magical objects Mr Weasley had been warning against...Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers...but then, I reasoned, we only wanted to use it to get into Hogsmeade, it wasn't as though we wanted it to steal anything or attack anyone...and Fred and George had been using for years without anything horrible happening...

I watched as Harry traced the secret passage to Honeydukes with his finger. He seemed to be having the exact same thoughts as me. 

Then, quite suddenly, as though he was following orders, he rolled up the map, stuffed it inside his robes and looked at me. 

"You coming?" he asked. 

I nodded. "I'd be crazy not to"

We hurried to the door of the classroom. I opened it a couple of inches, but there was no one outside. Very carefully, we edged out of the room and slipped behind the statue of the one-eyed witch. 

Now what? Harry pulled out the map again and we saw, to our astonishment, that two new ink figures had appeared upon it, labelled 'Harry Potter' and 'Bella Black'. The figures were standing exactly where we were, about halfway down the third-floor corridor. I watched carefully. Harry's little ink self appeared to be tapping the witch with his minute wand. Harry, also seeing this, quickly took out his real wand and tapped the statue. Nothing happened. We looked back at the map, the tiniest speech bubble had appeared next to his figure. The word inside said 'Dissendium'. 

"Dissendium!" Harry whispered, tapping the stone witch again. 

At once, the statue's hump opened wide enough to admit two fairly thin people. We glanced quickly up and down the corridor, then Harry tucked the map away again, and hoisted himself into the hole headfirst. I looked up and down the corridor again before following his lead. 

I slid a considerable way down what felt like a stone slide, then landed on cold, damp earth next to Harry. We stood up, looking around. It was pitch dark. I held up my wand, muttered, 'Lumos!' and saw that we were in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. Harry lit up his wand before he raised the map, tapped it with the tip of his wand and muttered, 'Mischief managed!' The map went blank at once. He folded it up carefully and tucked it inside his robes. 

"No turning back now," I whispered. 

"I know," Harry whispered back. "I'm nervous"

I smile. "Me too. But, you only live once so let's take this risk"

"Agreed," Harry said. 

With our hearts beating fast, hands linked, excited and apprehensive, we set off.

The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else. We hurried along it, stumbling now and then on the uneven floor, holding our wands in one hand in front of us and the other one linked tightly together. 

It took ages, but I had the thought of Honeydukes to sustain me. After what felt like an hour, the passage began to rise. Panting, we sped up, our faces hot, our feet very cold. Ten minutes later, we came to the foot of some worn stone steps which rose out of sight above us. Careful not to make any noise, we began to climb. A hundred steps, two hundred steps, I lost count as we climbed, watching my feet...then, without warning, my head hit something hard.