Chapter One:
Hermione Granger looked up at the ceiling of her dormitory room. The torches on the wall had
blown out, due to a strong breeze that night and the fact that someone had neglected to close the windows
properly the evening before. Feeling that it would be pointless to try to go back to sleep at 4:00 in the
morning, she pushed her large ginger cat Crookshanks off her feet and got up to close the offending
window. Lavender Brown snored softly as she did this, and Pavarti Patil rolled over in her sleep. Trying as
best she could not to wake her dormmates, Hermione crept quietly down the narrow steps to the Gryffindor
common room, with Crookshanks purring indignantly at her from her great four poster bed behind her.
Hermione ignored her, she had more important things on her mind. Wondering vaguely what she would do
when she got down there, her question got answered for her as she reached the end of the narrow staircase.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" Neville squeaked nervously, looking more roundfaced and
anxious than ever, sitting on a large squashy armchair near the crackling fire, before Hermione had said a
word. "I just got up 'bout twenty minutes ago when I realized I forgot to do my Potions homework again!
And Snape said if I forgot one more time, he'd feed Trever some Confundus Concoction"- Trever gulped
loudly at this- "and send a letter to my gran!" he took a few deep breaths, and went on. "Please help me
Hermione! I don't understand the new solution we're supposed to be working on at all, are the lacewings
supposed to be boiled and brewed or boiled then brewed? And do the phoenix feathers need to be…"
Hermione's mind drifted listening to Neville's nervous chattering. Her thoughts went back to where they
had been dwelling this morning, to the very thing that had kept her awake all the night: Ron's letter.
She had found it tucked halfway under her sheets as she had climbed into bed the night before
and, making sure no one else saw it, read it under the sheets with her wand, that she had lit up so it
resembled a flashlight. Surprisingly, it was not a letter to inform her of secret plans or an adventure he and
Harry were planning next, but a- there's just no other word for it- love letter. Thinking at first that it was
one of Fred and George's jokes to try to embarrass their little brother, she had almost dismissed it as a
prank and gone off to scold them. But then she realized- they hadn't had any breaks yesterday that were at
other times than them, and they wouldn't have had the chance to sneak into Hermione's dorm. Now that he
had confessed his love for Hermione, she didn't know how to confront him, or what to say to him. She had
spent a sleepless night thinking of what to say, but unfortunately, nothing came to her. "Maybe I can ask
Harry what to do," she thought, "Yes, that's the ticket. Ron must have told him by now, Ron's horrible at
keeping secrets". A bit more cheerful, she re-tuned into what Neville was saying.
"…and what am I going to do if I get another zero on this essay, aye? Thank you so much for
helping me, thanks a lot, don't know how I'd do it without you…" By the time she had finished helping a
desperate Neville, who continued to thank her profusely as she climbed the stairs, it was 5:15 in the
morning, and she still had plenty of time to go back to the dormitory to reread her letter several more times
before breakfast.
As she sat back down on her bed, she retrieved the letter from under her pillow and, smoothing it
out, reread it for about the 50th time.
Dear Hermoine,
I don't know how to tell you this, but I can't keep it from you any longer. Ever since I saw you on the
Hogwarts Express when we were 11 years old, I knew I couldn't live without you. I'm sorry for all the
times I've ever been mad at you for anything, and that I was too scared to admit that I felt the way I do.
You are the most intelligent, wonderful, pretty girl I've ever known. Please give me a response tomorrow,
Always,
Ron
She stared at it for a while, then, thinking that she ought to get up and do something rather than
dwelling on it, started getting ready for breakfast . She got dressed and sat on her bed, petting Crookshanks
absently, until she heard some movements in the sleepy dormitory, and people started to get up. Grabbing
her watch, she noted that it was almost 6:00 and the Great Hall would be open by now. She trotted
downstairs to the Common Room, which was nearly empty save a few chattering second years and Lee
Jordon, who, too, was frantically scribbling some last minute homework. Nobody even glanced at
Hermione, who strode past them and through the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was chatting with Hogwart's
last headmistress and a cupid, and down to the Great Hall, feeling hungrier than usual.
She had barely opened her mouth to eat her first bite of cereal when Harry, chatting with Seamus
Finnigan and Dean Thomas, strode in. As they seated themselves, Harry plunked himself down in his usual
spot next to Hermione, and grinned at her.
"Guess what Hermione?" he said nearly laughing, and grabbing the jug of pumpkin juice, "Ron's
gone nutters this morning! You should have seen him- moussing his hair, borrowing Percy's cologne, it
was like Gilderoy Lockhart had taken over Ron's body or something!" He laughed out loud and added "He
kicked us all out of the dorm this morning, that's why we're all down so early. Neville was still asleep
though- 'spect he was up half the night finishing some homework he'd forgotten or something."
"Yeah," said Hermione, her hopes falling as she realized Ron hadn't told Harry, "I know, he asked
for my help when I went down this morning. I went down to the common room early to, uh… reread my
Arithmancy homework." She hid her face behind a piece of toast as she said this, not wanting to look
Harry in the eye. Harry seemed satisfied with this explanation however, as it sounded like something
Hermione would do. She was the cleverest student in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and
was constantly doing homework or any other kind of work she could find.
"I dunno," said Harry, "You don't think- Ron couldn't have gotten- a girlfriend has he?"
Hermione almost spit out the lemon fizz she had been drinking. "No!" she said in a much higher
voice than usual, "Of course not! Whatever gives you that idea?"
"Well, I just thought…" Harry looked at Hermione oddly, and she figured she'd better change the
topic of conversation quickly. She started talking about hopping hexes, which, fortunately, distracted
Harry for a while. That is, until Ron came.
Ron shuffled in, looking more nervous than someone who had just been told they had to wrestle a
herd of dragons.
"Hi Harry! Hi…" a dreamy look came over his face as he dropped himself into his usual seat next
to her, "Hermione". Hermione, pretending not to notice that anything unusual was going on at all, casually
said "Hello, Ron," as Harry stifled his laughter by stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth.
Fred and George came bustling down the stairs and seated themselves across from Ron.
"Hey, Ron," said Fred with mock concern, "did you know that you forgot to put on hair gel this
morning?"
"Yeah," joined in George, "and aftersha-"
"Oh, shutup" said Ron grumpily as he broke off his misty gaze that he was giving Hermione and
busied himself with filling his plate with breakfast food.
As the rest of the school filed in, including the teachers and school ghosts, who came to meals
even though they didn't eat anything, Dumbledore stood at the front, beaming.
"Witches and wizardfolk, I have an announcement to make," he said. "Please stay out of the fifth
chamber in the top astronomy wing. It is absolutely forbidden to anyone who does not have authorization
to be there. Well, carry on!" he said cheerfully.
Fortunately, Fred and George were now talking excitedly about what could possibly be there and
how they could go about finding it, and had forgotten about teasing Ron for the moment. Percy, who
looked unmistakably angry and ruffled, burst into the Great Hall late. This was very unlike him, as he was
Head Boy and always was a model student and pompously told off anyone who had broken any sort of rule.
Fuming, he sat down near the prefects and started grumbling, just loud enough for Fred and George's part
of the table to hear, how they had bewitched his Head Boy badge again so it read:
BedHead Boy
Most of the people up and down the table stifled giggles, or rather, those who wanted to keep their
heads on their shoulders. Speaking of which, Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington happened to drift by their
part of the table at that very moment.
"Good morning Ronald," he said in his usual dreary voice, "going to a party? When I was alive I
used to have a lot of fun at parties. I ate… walked…".
"No, I'm not," said Ron, going bright red.
"Oh. Well then, have a nice day…" Sir Nicolas Drifted off again slowly to join the fat Friar and
the Grey Lady in the far corner of the Hall.
The uncomfortability at their table couldn't have been any higher. Good thing Fred and George
were there chattering, or Hermione thought they all would've burst.
"So," said Ron trying to sound as cool as put together as possible "anybody read anything, um,
interesting lately?" he said, looking meaningfully at Hermoine. Fred and George, looking up for the first
time since Dumbledore's announcement replied. "Yeah," said George seriously "I was just reading How to
Style and Mousse your Hair last night, you know." They both burst out laughing, but Ron rolled his eyes.
"Really," he muttered.
"Oh, lighten up Ron," said Fred jovially "it's just a bit of a joke. What's up with you, anyways?"
"Yeah," chimed in George, "are you looking to win the Witch's Weekly Award for-"
"NO, I'M NOT!" Ron exclaimed exasperated. "I just… well…". He bravely stood up and
announced for all the Great Hall to hear "Hermione, will you go out with me?" The Hall was filled with
silence for a moment, and then the Slytherin table burst out with laughter. Ignoring them and sitting down
next to Hermione again, he whispered, "How about it?"
Dumbfounded and frozen Hermione sat there, barely registering all the laughing and chattering
that was going on around her. "Yes," she heard her mouth say, "I'd love to". Ron gave her a huge smile and
they both started on their long since forgotten breakfasts.
Chapter Two:
Needless to say, it was a very, well, interesting rest of the day. At first, only the relatively few
people who had heard them at breakfast pointed and sniggered. But by the time they had left Herbology for
lunch, the whole school, including their teachers, seemed to have found out. Harry was slightly
embarrassed at first, but would not leave the side of his two best friends through all this. Potions in the
morning had been particularly nasty, as Snape did nothing to stop any of the Slytherins from laughing and
sneering. Malfoy, of course was the worst.
"A weasel and a mudblood, what a perfect couple," he sneered. "Looks like famous Potter'll be a
third wheel from now on."
But that wasn't so. As awkward as it was, Harry didn't feel left out at all, though slightly
shocked. Although he was privately glad it wasn't him being teased and pointed at, he had had enough of
that already to last a lifetime, he couldn't help being a little-well, jealous of them. After all, although a few
girls, namely Ginny and Moaning Myrtle, had displayed feelings of having a crush on Harry to him, there
has been no one, really, who he has had a crush on. That is, except… his thoughts drifted back to his last
game against Ravenclaw, and their seeker Cho Chang… he pictured her soft, laughing smile and her long,
silky black hair. Yes, he thought to himself, that's the girl who I would like to be my girlfriend. But then,
he shook his head roughly. No, he thought to himself, she wouldn't like me. She's older, prettier, and
smarter than me. Besides, who would want to date someone who beat them at Quidditch? The answer,
Harry soon found out, was much more interesting than he expected…
~
Ron's bravery had given Harry fresh confidence. During lunch of that day, he walked straight
from Herbology to lunch, standing tall with his chin high in the air.
Cho was sitting in the Great Hall at the Ravenclaw table, laughing with her friends. Harry felt his
heart melt on the inside, but retained his air of confidence on the outside. A few second year Ravenclaws
looked at him strangely as he walked by, and he nearly walked through the Grey Lady, but he managed his
way over one way or another.
"H-hi Ch-cho" he stuttered.
"Oh, hello Harry!" she said, looking at Harry and smiling in surprise. "How are you?".
"Okay", he said, going as pink as Ron, "I was just wondering, um, do you want to meet me at the
lake Saturday morning?".
"Sure" said Cho, "See you then!" Harry wandered away back to the Gryffindor table.
"What was that all about?" asked Fred as soon as Harry sat down, as a smile crept across his face.
"Don't tell me you've got a girlfriend t-"
"NO," said Harry quickly, more loudly than he meant to "I was just, uh, discussing tactics. You
know, to get the opinion of another seeker."
"Right," said George, trying not to laugh and exchanging a look with Fred, "tactics, I'm sure."
They burst out laughing.
Ron, who was sitting next to Harry, overheard this slightly, but had other things on his mind. He
had actually asked Hermione out, the thing he had secretly been trying to work up the nerve to do since he
was a first year and she had said yes. That lovely one syllable word, yes.
"Pass the potatoes please, Ron" said Hermione quite politely from his right. He looked over at
her, his heart melting. "Um, potatoes Ron," she said a little louder, as if he were a bit dense.
"Yes," he said faintly, as he passed the bowl to her, "potatoes" he sighed dreamily.
Ron had never been happier. For the first time in his life, he had a girlfriend. It was the most
exciting thing to ever happen to him, apart from the time when his family had won 700 galleons in the
wizard lottery. Even Percy, who, though usually the last person to know anything because he disapproved
of gossiping, couldn't help but feel happy for his little brother. Of course, this may have been because it
distracted Fred and George from teasing him about his own girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, he seemed
happy for him all the same. Fred and George might not be able to tease us for long, though, thought Ron,
nearly chuckling. Ron had seen the twins and Lee Jordan, their best friend, hanging around with Alicia
Spinnet, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell slightly more often than was usual.
His mind had obviously been far from potatoes, as Hermione had failed to notice before, and was
now paying very little attention to Hermione jabber on about freezing charms that they had discussed in
Charms class that morning. He was thinking about the lovely, melodic, tones of her voice, until...
"WEASLEY!" the hissing, loud voice of professor Snape called right into his hear, to his great
horror. "Come with me," he smirked. Startled, Ron started to ask what was going on, but it came out
sounding more like "Flilbldibbel," and Snape marched him forward, out of the Great Hall, and up to
Professor McGonagall's office. He opened the door with a sinister smirk, and let him in.
"Hope you didn't get yourself into too much trouble Mister Weasley" he spat nastily.
Horrified at what was going on, while at the same time clueless, Ron stepped into the room and
heard the door slam behind him. Surprisingly, and to Ron's great relief, Professor McGonagall was sitting
at her desk without a look of anger or upsetness on her face of any kind, unless you counted the usual stern
look she wore.
"Mr. Weasley," she said crisply, "I have been informed by… erm, some of your teachers that you
have not been paying attention in class lately. Is this true?"
"Well, um…" All Ron could remember of his morning's classes were looking into Hermione's
chocolaty brown eyes, watching her fluffy hair swish gently, and listening to her beautiful voice.
"I thought so. Mr. Weasley, what goes on outside of class is your personal business, but I do
expect you to shape up your behavior when you are in the classroom. Do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Very good. No points will be taken from Gryffindor as this is only a warning, but do mind you
pay better attention in class from now on. You may go back to the Great Hall and walk back to Gryffindor
Tower with your classmates, lunch should be over soon."
Ron got up and left as quickly as he could. He was so relieved that he had not done anything
serious enough to be punished, that he nearly walked headlong into a suit of armor that was walking in the
opposite direction… A SUIT OF ARMOR WALKING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION??? Ron closed his
eyes, thinking to himself, when I open them, the suit of armor will be back where it always was. He
opened them again. It wasn't. Then, Peeves flew out of the helmet's visor cackling.
"Gotcha! Gotcha! I frightened the poor ickle student!" He chanted annoyingly in a singsongy
voice.
"Go away Peeves!" yelled Ron, irritated. Peeves flew away chuckling the whole time while Ron
stared at him drifting all the way down the corridor. Muttering to himself, Ron tried to heave the armor
back to it's original position, but it wouldn't budge. He looked back around at the place the knight had
been standing, and he saw a small, metal something. Leaning down on closer inspection he saw that it was
a- latch! Carefully, and making sure no one else was around watching him, he unlocked the little latch and
carefully opened the trapdoor. There was a very short flight of stairs there, only about six steps long.
Curious, Ron stepped down each step cautiously as though he expected each step to give way. They didn't,
and at the end there was a door, which was barely as tall as Ron. He reached with trembling fingers to
open it, and as he did, he heard loud approaching footsteps. Ron swiftly flew up the stairs, shoved the
trapdoor back down, and tried to walk away looking as innocent as possible. He was not quick enough.
Dumbledore's voice came from a few feet in back of Ron.
"Hello Ron," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling mischievously, "what are you up to? Why
aren't you at the Great Hall?"
"I had to see Professor McGonagall for a second. I'm going back now. Bye!" He nearly sprinted
back down to the Great Hall, and was quite relieved to get there. As he caught up with Harry and Hermione
at the exit to the Tower, he muttered to them "You'll never believe what I just saw."
~
Back in Gryffindor Tower, in the far corner of the common room, Ron explained to a shocked
Hermione and Harry what he saw.
"Hey, Snape actually came in handy for once," said Harry wryly.
"Yeah," said Hermione, I mean, if that secret passage wasn't even on the Marauder's Map, it must
lead to somewhere really odd- or dangerous."
"I know!" said Ron excitedly, then, lowering his voice, said "Let's go tonight. Under the
invisibility cloak."
"Okay," said Harry and Hermione unanimously.
"We can meet back down here at one, everyone should be gone by then," whispered Harry.
They agreed, and spent the rest of the evening doing their homework. Hermione made them do all
of their homework that night ("If you do it in the morning it'll look too rushed!) before they went to bed,
and pretended to fall asleep.
Harry watched his alarm clock until it said 1:00, then whispered, "Psst… Ron,". Ron mumbled
sleepily. "Get up, get up, you didn't have to pretend that well."
Ron dragged himself out of bed, and followed Harry sleepily down to the common room.
Hermione was already there.
"Where were you guys? I've been down here for at least five minutes."
"Waking Ron up. Well c'mon, we don't have much time." As all three of them put on the
invisibility cloak, there was a loud crunching noise coming from what seemed to be the very top of the
boy's dormitories.
"Probably nothing," said Ron, obviously trying to urge them along. "Let's go."
They went on out of the portrait of the Fat Lady, and back towards the direction of Professor
McGonagall's office.
"This one!" whispered Ron excitedly, as they approached the same armor. Unfortunately, it was
back in it's normal position, right over the trapdoor.
"What are we going to do then?" Harry muttered, as Ron explained the situation.
"Oooo," said Hermione loudly, making both Ron and Harry say "Sshhhh!" at the same time, "I've
got an idea," she said more quietly. She whipped out her wand from under her robes- "Just in case"- and
whispered "Mobiliarbus". The armor drifted oddly a foot to the right, and plopped down gently again.
"Excellent idea, Hermione!" whispered Ron excitedly, as he lifted up the trapdoor.
"Wow," breathed Harry, "Cool".
All three of them made their way down the tiny staircase, and Ron turned the very old-fashioned-
looking doorknob, which creaked loudly, and pushed. The door hinges creaked very loudly (Ron suddenly
had the strange urge to tell it to "shush"), as though they had not seen use in a very long time. As Ron
passed through the doorway, he suddenly realized where he was. And, judging by Harry and Hermione's
gasps of shock, they had too. They were standing right in front of the door to the fifth chamber in the top
astronomy wing.
~
"What?" Hermione breathed, voicing the word that all of them we're thinking, "We're at- this is-"
"The fifth chamber in the top astronomy wing," chorused Harry and Ron.
"But it's forbidden!" she whispered angrily, "Dumbledore himself said so! And if you think for
one second that I'm going to break such an important rule like this set by Dumbledore himself, you've got
another thing c-"
"But Hermione," said Ron soothingly, "we came all this way, and I'm sure that-"
"But we can't be sure of anything can we?" said Hermione, sounding slightly less angry this time.
"How do we know Snape won't catch us up here, or something?"
"Well if he does," remarked Harry, "I don't think we'd be in much less trouble being caught
outside the door than inside."
"Good point, Harry," said Ron quickly. "C'mon Hermione. Please??"
"Oh… alright then. But I'm taking my wand out." She pointed her wand straight at the middle of
the door. "Ready."
Without hesitating, Harry flung open the door.
The first thing that greeted them was some sort of a thick fog, which made all of them cough
loudly.
"What ::cough cough:: is this??" Ron coughed through the thick air, almost doubled over.
"N….no idea," said Harry, coughing loudly too. "Let's get out of here before we ::cough:: wake
up the whole castle!"
But before he even had finished his sentence, Hermione had slammed the door shut. "Harry, Ron,
do you realize what we just did?"
"No, what?" said Ron, sounding only slightly concerned.
"I think we might have, well… opened a portal to some sort of other world." Hermione whispered
shakily.
"You mean we opened another dimension? That can't be- it sounds like something out of a sci-fi
movie."
"What's a sc-"
"No time for that," Hermione hissed, "we've got to find what we let out. C'mon." And with that,
she took Ron's hand and grabbed Harry's sleeve, and proceeded to run off to the left. "I saw it go over
here," Hermione murmured, half-dragging Harry and Ron behind her.
"What did you see go-"
"Shh Ron, I think I see it."
Finally, they saw what she was talking about. Huddled in the corner of the end of the corridor was
apparently some sort of ghost, but darker and more solid-looking.
"Harry…R-ron…" whispered Hermione, seemingly choking on her own words. "It's a… some
sort of…spirit."
"We let a spirit out? Who... what kind... how do we..." Ron forced out, searching hard for the
words.
"I don't know." Hermione said solomnly. "But we have to find a way to get it back."
To be continued…
Hermione Granger looked up at the ceiling of her dormitory room. The torches on the wall had
blown out, due to a strong breeze that night and the fact that someone had neglected to close the windows
properly the evening before. Feeling that it would be pointless to try to go back to sleep at 4:00 in the
morning, she pushed her large ginger cat Crookshanks off her feet and got up to close the offending
window. Lavender Brown snored softly as she did this, and Pavarti Patil rolled over in her sleep. Trying as
best she could not to wake her dormmates, Hermione crept quietly down the narrow steps to the Gryffindor
common room, with Crookshanks purring indignantly at her from her great four poster bed behind her.
Hermione ignored her, she had more important things on her mind. Wondering vaguely what she would do
when she got down there, her question got answered for her as she reached the end of the narrow staircase.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" Neville squeaked nervously, looking more roundfaced and
anxious than ever, sitting on a large squashy armchair near the crackling fire, before Hermione had said a
word. "I just got up 'bout twenty minutes ago when I realized I forgot to do my Potions homework again!
And Snape said if I forgot one more time, he'd feed Trever some Confundus Concoction"- Trever gulped
loudly at this- "and send a letter to my gran!" he took a few deep breaths, and went on. "Please help me
Hermione! I don't understand the new solution we're supposed to be working on at all, are the lacewings
supposed to be boiled and brewed or boiled then brewed? And do the phoenix feathers need to be…"
Hermione's mind drifted listening to Neville's nervous chattering. Her thoughts went back to where they
had been dwelling this morning, to the very thing that had kept her awake all the night: Ron's letter.
She had found it tucked halfway under her sheets as she had climbed into bed the night before
and, making sure no one else saw it, read it under the sheets with her wand, that she had lit up so it
resembled a flashlight. Surprisingly, it was not a letter to inform her of secret plans or an adventure he and
Harry were planning next, but a- there's just no other word for it- love letter. Thinking at first that it was
one of Fred and George's jokes to try to embarrass their little brother, she had almost dismissed it as a
prank and gone off to scold them. But then she realized- they hadn't had any breaks yesterday that were at
other times than them, and they wouldn't have had the chance to sneak into Hermione's dorm. Now that he
had confessed his love for Hermione, she didn't know how to confront him, or what to say to him. She had
spent a sleepless night thinking of what to say, but unfortunately, nothing came to her. "Maybe I can ask
Harry what to do," she thought, "Yes, that's the ticket. Ron must have told him by now, Ron's horrible at
keeping secrets". A bit more cheerful, she re-tuned into what Neville was saying.
"…and what am I going to do if I get another zero on this essay, aye? Thank you so much for
helping me, thanks a lot, don't know how I'd do it without you…" By the time she had finished helping a
desperate Neville, who continued to thank her profusely as she climbed the stairs, it was 5:15 in the
morning, and she still had plenty of time to go back to the dormitory to reread her letter several more times
before breakfast.
As she sat back down on her bed, she retrieved the letter from under her pillow and, smoothing it
out, reread it for about the 50th time.
Dear Hermoine,
I don't know how to tell you this, but I can't keep it from you any longer. Ever since I saw you on the
Hogwarts Express when we were 11 years old, I knew I couldn't live without you. I'm sorry for all the
times I've ever been mad at you for anything, and that I was too scared to admit that I felt the way I do.
You are the most intelligent, wonderful, pretty girl I've ever known. Please give me a response tomorrow,
Always,
Ron
She stared at it for a while, then, thinking that she ought to get up and do something rather than
dwelling on it, started getting ready for breakfast . She got dressed and sat on her bed, petting Crookshanks
absently, until she heard some movements in the sleepy dormitory, and people started to get up. Grabbing
her watch, she noted that it was almost 6:00 and the Great Hall would be open by now. She trotted
downstairs to the Common Room, which was nearly empty save a few chattering second years and Lee
Jordon, who, too, was frantically scribbling some last minute homework. Nobody even glanced at
Hermione, who strode past them and through the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was chatting with Hogwart's
last headmistress and a cupid, and down to the Great Hall, feeling hungrier than usual.
She had barely opened her mouth to eat her first bite of cereal when Harry, chatting with Seamus
Finnigan and Dean Thomas, strode in. As they seated themselves, Harry plunked himself down in his usual
spot next to Hermione, and grinned at her.
"Guess what Hermione?" he said nearly laughing, and grabbing the jug of pumpkin juice, "Ron's
gone nutters this morning! You should have seen him- moussing his hair, borrowing Percy's cologne, it
was like Gilderoy Lockhart had taken over Ron's body or something!" He laughed out loud and added "He
kicked us all out of the dorm this morning, that's why we're all down so early. Neville was still asleep
though- 'spect he was up half the night finishing some homework he'd forgotten or something."
"Yeah," said Hermione, her hopes falling as she realized Ron hadn't told Harry, "I know, he asked
for my help when I went down this morning. I went down to the common room early to, uh… reread my
Arithmancy homework." She hid her face behind a piece of toast as she said this, not wanting to look
Harry in the eye. Harry seemed satisfied with this explanation however, as it sounded like something
Hermione would do. She was the cleverest student in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and
was constantly doing homework or any other kind of work she could find.
"I dunno," said Harry, "You don't think- Ron couldn't have gotten- a girlfriend has he?"
Hermione almost spit out the lemon fizz she had been drinking. "No!" she said in a much higher
voice than usual, "Of course not! Whatever gives you that idea?"
"Well, I just thought…" Harry looked at Hermione oddly, and she figured she'd better change the
topic of conversation quickly. She started talking about hopping hexes, which, fortunately, distracted
Harry for a while. That is, until Ron came.
Ron shuffled in, looking more nervous than someone who had just been told they had to wrestle a
herd of dragons.
"Hi Harry! Hi…" a dreamy look came over his face as he dropped himself into his usual seat next
to her, "Hermione". Hermione, pretending not to notice that anything unusual was going on at all, casually
said "Hello, Ron," as Harry stifled his laughter by stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth.
Fred and George came bustling down the stairs and seated themselves across from Ron.
"Hey, Ron," said Fred with mock concern, "did you know that you forgot to put on hair gel this
morning?"
"Yeah," joined in George, "and aftersha-"
"Oh, shutup" said Ron grumpily as he broke off his misty gaze that he was giving Hermione and
busied himself with filling his plate with breakfast food.
As the rest of the school filed in, including the teachers and school ghosts, who came to meals
even though they didn't eat anything, Dumbledore stood at the front, beaming.
"Witches and wizardfolk, I have an announcement to make," he said. "Please stay out of the fifth
chamber in the top astronomy wing. It is absolutely forbidden to anyone who does not have authorization
to be there. Well, carry on!" he said cheerfully.
Fortunately, Fred and George were now talking excitedly about what could possibly be there and
how they could go about finding it, and had forgotten about teasing Ron for the moment. Percy, who
looked unmistakably angry and ruffled, burst into the Great Hall late. This was very unlike him, as he was
Head Boy and always was a model student and pompously told off anyone who had broken any sort of rule.
Fuming, he sat down near the prefects and started grumbling, just loud enough for Fred and George's part
of the table to hear, how they had bewitched his Head Boy badge again so it read:
BedHead Boy
Most of the people up and down the table stifled giggles, or rather, those who wanted to keep their
heads on their shoulders. Speaking of which, Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington happened to drift by their
part of the table at that very moment.
"Good morning Ronald," he said in his usual dreary voice, "going to a party? When I was alive I
used to have a lot of fun at parties. I ate… walked…".
"No, I'm not," said Ron, going bright red.
"Oh. Well then, have a nice day…" Sir Nicolas Drifted off again slowly to join the fat Friar and
the Grey Lady in the far corner of the Hall.
The uncomfortability at their table couldn't have been any higher. Good thing Fred and George
were there chattering, or Hermione thought they all would've burst.
"So," said Ron trying to sound as cool as put together as possible "anybody read anything, um,
interesting lately?" he said, looking meaningfully at Hermoine. Fred and George, looking up for the first
time since Dumbledore's announcement replied. "Yeah," said George seriously "I was just reading How to
Style and Mousse your Hair last night, you know." They both burst out laughing, but Ron rolled his eyes.
"Really," he muttered.
"Oh, lighten up Ron," said Fred jovially "it's just a bit of a joke. What's up with you, anyways?"
"Yeah," chimed in George, "are you looking to win the Witch's Weekly Award for-"
"NO, I'M NOT!" Ron exclaimed exasperated. "I just… well…". He bravely stood up and
announced for all the Great Hall to hear "Hermione, will you go out with me?" The Hall was filled with
silence for a moment, and then the Slytherin table burst out with laughter. Ignoring them and sitting down
next to Hermione again, he whispered, "How about it?"
Dumbfounded and frozen Hermione sat there, barely registering all the laughing and chattering
that was going on around her. "Yes," she heard her mouth say, "I'd love to". Ron gave her a huge smile and
they both started on their long since forgotten breakfasts.
Chapter Two:
Needless to say, it was a very, well, interesting rest of the day. At first, only the relatively few
people who had heard them at breakfast pointed and sniggered. But by the time they had left Herbology for
lunch, the whole school, including their teachers, seemed to have found out. Harry was slightly
embarrassed at first, but would not leave the side of his two best friends through all this. Potions in the
morning had been particularly nasty, as Snape did nothing to stop any of the Slytherins from laughing and
sneering. Malfoy, of course was the worst.
"A weasel and a mudblood, what a perfect couple," he sneered. "Looks like famous Potter'll be a
third wheel from now on."
But that wasn't so. As awkward as it was, Harry didn't feel left out at all, though slightly
shocked. Although he was privately glad it wasn't him being teased and pointed at, he had had enough of
that already to last a lifetime, he couldn't help being a little-well, jealous of them. After all, although a few
girls, namely Ginny and Moaning Myrtle, had displayed feelings of having a crush on Harry to him, there
has been no one, really, who he has had a crush on. That is, except… his thoughts drifted back to his last
game against Ravenclaw, and their seeker Cho Chang… he pictured her soft, laughing smile and her long,
silky black hair. Yes, he thought to himself, that's the girl who I would like to be my girlfriend. But then,
he shook his head roughly. No, he thought to himself, she wouldn't like me. She's older, prettier, and
smarter than me. Besides, who would want to date someone who beat them at Quidditch? The answer,
Harry soon found out, was much more interesting than he expected…
~
Ron's bravery had given Harry fresh confidence. During lunch of that day, he walked straight
from Herbology to lunch, standing tall with his chin high in the air.
Cho was sitting in the Great Hall at the Ravenclaw table, laughing with her friends. Harry felt his
heart melt on the inside, but retained his air of confidence on the outside. A few second year Ravenclaws
looked at him strangely as he walked by, and he nearly walked through the Grey Lady, but he managed his
way over one way or another.
"H-hi Ch-cho" he stuttered.
"Oh, hello Harry!" she said, looking at Harry and smiling in surprise. "How are you?".
"Okay", he said, going as pink as Ron, "I was just wondering, um, do you want to meet me at the
lake Saturday morning?".
"Sure" said Cho, "See you then!" Harry wandered away back to the Gryffindor table.
"What was that all about?" asked Fred as soon as Harry sat down, as a smile crept across his face.
"Don't tell me you've got a girlfriend t-"
"NO," said Harry quickly, more loudly than he meant to "I was just, uh, discussing tactics. You
know, to get the opinion of another seeker."
"Right," said George, trying not to laugh and exchanging a look with Fred, "tactics, I'm sure."
They burst out laughing.
Ron, who was sitting next to Harry, overheard this slightly, but had other things on his mind. He
had actually asked Hermione out, the thing he had secretly been trying to work up the nerve to do since he
was a first year and she had said yes. That lovely one syllable word, yes.
"Pass the potatoes please, Ron" said Hermione quite politely from his right. He looked over at
her, his heart melting. "Um, potatoes Ron," she said a little louder, as if he were a bit dense.
"Yes," he said faintly, as he passed the bowl to her, "potatoes" he sighed dreamily.
Ron had never been happier. For the first time in his life, he had a girlfriend. It was the most
exciting thing to ever happen to him, apart from the time when his family had won 700 galleons in the
wizard lottery. Even Percy, who, though usually the last person to know anything because he disapproved
of gossiping, couldn't help but feel happy for his little brother. Of course, this may have been because it
distracted Fred and George from teasing him about his own girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, he seemed
happy for him all the same. Fred and George might not be able to tease us for long, though, thought Ron,
nearly chuckling. Ron had seen the twins and Lee Jordan, their best friend, hanging around with Alicia
Spinnet, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell slightly more often than was usual.
His mind had obviously been far from potatoes, as Hermione had failed to notice before, and was
now paying very little attention to Hermione jabber on about freezing charms that they had discussed in
Charms class that morning. He was thinking about the lovely, melodic, tones of her voice, until...
"WEASLEY!" the hissing, loud voice of professor Snape called right into his hear, to his great
horror. "Come with me," he smirked. Startled, Ron started to ask what was going on, but it came out
sounding more like "Flilbldibbel," and Snape marched him forward, out of the Great Hall, and up to
Professor McGonagall's office. He opened the door with a sinister smirk, and let him in.
"Hope you didn't get yourself into too much trouble Mister Weasley" he spat nastily.
Horrified at what was going on, while at the same time clueless, Ron stepped into the room and
heard the door slam behind him. Surprisingly, and to Ron's great relief, Professor McGonagall was sitting
at her desk without a look of anger or upsetness on her face of any kind, unless you counted the usual stern
look she wore.
"Mr. Weasley," she said crisply, "I have been informed by… erm, some of your teachers that you
have not been paying attention in class lately. Is this true?"
"Well, um…" All Ron could remember of his morning's classes were looking into Hermione's
chocolaty brown eyes, watching her fluffy hair swish gently, and listening to her beautiful voice.
"I thought so. Mr. Weasley, what goes on outside of class is your personal business, but I do
expect you to shape up your behavior when you are in the classroom. Do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Very good. No points will be taken from Gryffindor as this is only a warning, but do mind you
pay better attention in class from now on. You may go back to the Great Hall and walk back to Gryffindor
Tower with your classmates, lunch should be over soon."
Ron got up and left as quickly as he could. He was so relieved that he had not done anything
serious enough to be punished, that he nearly walked headlong into a suit of armor that was walking in the
opposite direction… A SUIT OF ARMOR WALKING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION??? Ron closed his
eyes, thinking to himself, when I open them, the suit of armor will be back where it always was. He
opened them again. It wasn't. Then, Peeves flew out of the helmet's visor cackling.
"Gotcha! Gotcha! I frightened the poor ickle student!" He chanted annoyingly in a singsongy
voice.
"Go away Peeves!" yelled Ron, irritated. Peeves flew away chuckling the whole time while Ron
stared at him drifting all the way down the corridor. Muttering to himself, Ron tried to heave the armor
back to it's original position, but it wouldn't budge. He looked back around at the place the knight had
been standing, and he saw a small, metal something. Leaning down on closer inspection he saw that it was
a- latch! Carefully, and making sure no one else was around watching him, he unlocked the little latch and
carefully opened the trapdoor. There was a very short flight of stairs there, only about six steps long.
Curious, Ron stepped down each step cautiously as though he expected each step to give way. They didn't,
and at the end there was a door, which was barely as tall as Ron. He reached with trembling fingers to
open it, and as he did, he heard loud approaching footsteps. Ron swiftly flew up the stairs, shoved the
trapdoor back down, and tried to walk away looking as innocent as possible. He was not quick enough.
Dumbledore's voice came from a few feet in back of Ron.
"Hello Ron," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling mischievously, "what are you up to? Why
aren't you at the Great Hall?"
"I had to see Professor McGonagall for a second. I'm going back now. Bye!" He nearly sprinted
back down to the Great Hall, and was quite relieved to get there. As he caught up with Harry and Hermione
at the exit to the Tower, he muttered to them "You'll never believe what I just saw."
~
Back in Gryffindor Tower, in the far corner of the common room, Ron explained to a shocked
Hermione and Harry what he saw.
"Hey, Snape actually came in handy for once," said Harry wryly.
"Yeah," said Hermione, I mean, if that secret passage wasn't even on the Marauder's Map, it must
lead to somewhere really odd- or dangerous."
"I know!" said Ron excitedly, then, lowering his voice, said "Let's go tonight. Under the
invisibility cloak."
"Okay," said Harry and Hermione unanimously.
"We can meet back down here at one, everyone should be gone by then," whispered Harry.
They agreed, and spent the rest of the evening doing their homework. Hermione made them do all
of their homework that night ("If you do it in the morning it'll look too rushed!) before they went to bed,
and pretended to fall asleep.
Harry watched his alarm clock until it said 1:00, then whispered, "Psst… Ron,". Ron mumbled
sleepily. "Get up, get up, you didn't have to pretend that well."
Ron dragged himself out of bed, and followed Harry sleepily down to the common room.
Hermione was already there.
"Where were you guys? I've been down here for at least five minutes."
"Waking Ron up. Well c'mon, we don't have much time." As all three of them put on the
invisibility cloak, there was a loud crunching noise coming from what seemed to be the very top of the
boy's dormitories.
"Probably nothing," said Ron, obviously trying to urge them along. "Let's go."
They went on out of the portrait of the Fat Lady, and back towards the direction of Professor
McGonagall's office.
"This one!" whispered Ron excitedly, as they approached the same armor. Unfortunately, it was
back in it's normal position, right over the trapdoor.
"What are we going to do then?" Harry muttered, as Ron explained the situation.
"Oooo," said Hermione loudly, making both Ron and Harry say "Sshhhh!" at the same time, "I've
got an idea," she said more quietly. She whipped out her wand from under her robes- "Just in case"- and
whispered "Mobiliarbus". The armor drifted oddly a foot to the right, and plopped down gently again.
"Excellent idea, Hermione!" whispered Ron excitedly, as he lifted up the trapdoor.
"Wow," breathed Harry, "Cool".
All three of them made their way down the tiny staircase, and Ron turned the very old-fashioned-
looking doorknob, which creaked loudly, and pushed. The door hinges creaked very loudly (Ron suddenly
had the strange urge to tell it to "shush"), as though they had not seen use in a very long time. As Ron
passed through the doorway, he suddenly realized where he was. And, judging by Harry and Hermione's
gasps of shock, they had too. They were standing right in front of the door to the fifth chamber in the top
astronomy wing.
~
"What?" Hermione breathed, voicing the word that all of them we're thinking, "We're at- this is-"
"The fifth chamber in the top astronomy wing," chorused Harry and Ron.
"But it's forbidden!" she whispered angrily, "Dumbledore himself said so! And if you think for
one second that I'm going to break such an important rule like this set by Dumbledore himself, you've got
another thing c-"
"But Hermione," said Ron soothingly, "we came all this way, and I'm sure that-"
"But we can't be sure of anything can we?" said Hermione, sounding slightly less angry this time.
"How do we know Snape won't catch us up here, or something?"
"Well if he does," remarked Harry, "I don't think we'd be in much less trouble being caught
outside the door than inside."
"Good point, Harry," said Ron quickly. "C'mon Hermione. Please??"
"Oh… alright then. But I'm taking my wand out." She pointed her wand straight at the middle of
the door. "Ready."
Without hesitating, Harry flung open the door.
The first thing that greeted them was some sort of a thick fog, which made all of them cough
loudly.
"What ::cough cough:: is this??" Ron coughed through the thick air, almost doubled over.
"N….no idea," said Harry, coughing loudly too. "Let's get out of here before we ::cough:: wake
up the whole castle!"
But before he even had finished his sentence, Hermione had slammed the door shut. "Harry, Ron,
do you realize what we just did?"
"No, what?" said Ron, sounding only slightly concerned.
"I think we might have, well… opened a portal to some sort of other world." Hermione whispered
shakily.
"You mean we opened another dimension? That can't be- it sounds like something out of a sci-fi
movie."
"What's a sc-"
"No time for that," Hermione hissed, "we've got to find what we let out. C'mon." And with that,
she took Ron's hand and grabbed Harry's sleeve, and proceeded to run off to the left. "I saw it go over
here," Hermione murmured, half-dragging Harry and Ron behind her.
"What did you see go-"
"Shh Ron, I think I see it."
Finally, they saw what she was talking about. Huddled in the corner of the end of the corridor was
apparently some sort of ghost, but darker and more solid-looking.
"Harry…R-ron…" whispered Hermione, seemingly choking on her own words. "It's a… some
sort of…spirit."
"We let a spirit out? Who... what kind... how do we..." Ron forced out, searching hard for the
words.
"I don't know." Hermione said solomnly. "But we have to find a way to get it back."
To be continued…