If Colin Creevey had been one to follow the rules, he would have been in the Great Hall of Hogwarts with the other students, eating the Christmas Eve feast. If Orla Quirke had been as chaste as she was intelligent, she would not have been in the sixth year Gryffindor boys' dorm that evening, either. As it were, they were then enjoying certain promiscuous activities together when Colin's brother walked into the room with rather exciting news.

"Colin, you'll never bel-

Dennis pulled back the bed curtains and made a face. "Colin, I swear, I'll tell Mum…"

The older Creevey son rolled his eyes and whispered something in the girl's ear, which caused her to grin, nod, and hop of the bed and out of the room. Colin smiled. "That Orla is some girl Dennis, you wouldn't believe-

"Glad we have that settled then." The stern look on Dennis face suddenly turned into pure joy as he exclaimed, "You'll never believe what Ginny, Neville, and I have found under the rug by the fire place, come on, they're all waiting for you…"

Dennis abruptly turned around and gasped. A far-off look appeared in his eyes as he said under his breath, "Neville…" his eyes grew wider and he yelled "Neville!" and ran out of the room.

Colin sat, stunned for the moment, then rolled his eyes again and threw his legs off the side of the bed. Neville appeared in the doorway, smirk a mile wide on his face.

"You should grab your cloak, Colin. You'll be glad."

Colin looked skeptical. "I'm only going down to the common room."

Neville's grin grew almost impossibly wider.

"I know." He laughed, and ran up the staircase to the seventh year boys' dorm.

Sighing, Colin pulled his cloak off the bedstead and walked out of the room.

Downstairs, Ginny was sitting on the couch alone, staring into the fire. She was decked out in her winter warmest, complete with earmuffs and mittens. A pensive look graced her features. Colin interrupted by clearing his throat. Ginny looked up and smiled.

"Are you ready?"

Colin smiled and raised his eyebrows. "I would tell you, except I don't exactly know what is going on."

"I suppose you will just have to see, then, won't you?"

They were interrupted by a loud bang as the portrait hole burst open and Dennis strode through carrying a big picnic basket with the Hogwarts crest on top. "Went and got this from the kitchens. Good thing everyone's at the feast, there's so many people here this winter I would have never gotten by. We wouldn't have been able to keep this to ourselves, either." Ginny barely had time to nod before Neville stumbled down the last few stairs to the common room, and flung an old tattered piece of parchment towards Dennis. The parchment promptly hit Dennis on the side of the head. Neville looked surprised and terrified.

"I'm so sorry, Dennis!"

Dennis beamed. "It's fantastic how Harry left this for you when he left this summer, Nev. It's just the perfect little coincidence. Do you reckon it's here…?"

He picked up the parchment and began to unfold it. A look of recognition slowly dawned on Colin's face.

"Is that the Marauder's Map?" Having stalked Harry for quite a few years prior to his leaving, Colin knew all about the mysterious map and its many wonders.

Dennis, pulling his wand out of his back pocket, replied, "One and the same, Colin. I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The whole of Hogwarts appeared on the map, ink spreading from the center of the parchment as if poured there from above. Dennis ignored this and quickly flipped through the pages, searching for a specific place…

"Found it!" The younger Creevey pointed to a spot on the map with his wand, and then frowned. "Or, rather, I didn't… the trapdoor's not here!"

"What?" Ginny grabbed the map from Dennis' hands, and searched the place marked 'Gryffindor Common Room'.

"Wicked! Wait 'til I tell Fred and George we found a secret passage that neither they nor the marauders found!" A smug grin slowly replaced Ginny's look of disbelief.

"Secret passage?" Colin loathed not knowing what was going on. He took a few steps forward and glanced over Ginny's shoulder at the map. In the common room, there was a dot labeled Neville Longbottom, a dot labeled Ginevra Weasley, a dot marking The Creevey Brothers, and one labeled Crookshanks in the far corner of the room, by the window. He looked up at that spot and saw the cat sitting on the sill, staring at him and flicking its tail. The cat's glance never wavered. Colin looked back down.

"What exactly is it that I am looking for, now?" Colin shook off the unnerving feeling Crookshanks had given him and glanced over at Neville, who was bending down by the edge of the sofa. Neville grabbed the border of the rug and said with an excited but shaky voice, "This."

Dennis bent down and helped Neville roll the rug back across the floor in front of the fireplace. They both looked up at him and smiled. Colin looked at the newly bared floorboards.

There was nothing there.

"Er, Dennis…" Colin bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Is there a reason I should be excited about these floorboards?"

Dennis was stunned. He scrambled around frantically on the floor searching for something. "The latch was here just a moment ago!"

Colin smirked at the group. "I'll be up in the dorm," he said, and sauntered off. Dennis was left looking crestfallen in floor, with Ginny and Neville beside him.