Improvisation 101

"Have you got them?" Hermione whispered, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer to that particular question. Surely she would have been notified by now if he hadn't.

It was 11:03 PM on the evening of the first school Quidditch match of the year, and the Gryffindor Common Room was finally emptied of its good-spirited students, too tired from all of their celebrating to stay up any longer (or, more accurately, they were too tired of Percy's nagging). There were only thee students remaining; three little first years who were now huddled around a table, whispering in the glow of the dying fire.

"I've got them here," Harry replied as he carefully laid quite a few dungbombs onto the table. He'd obtained them from Fred and George at Hermione's request and had promised to pay them back, but they refused his offer after confirming that Filch would likely be inconvenienced by the smelly little things' usage.

"I still don't understand why you didn't ask me to get them, they're my brothers!" Ron pouted.

"They like Harry," Hermione said matter-of-factly, moving on before Ron could retaliate. "We should each take three." The three first years each pocketed three dungbombs, taking care not to set them off prematurely.

"So what's this plan of yours, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Well, I don't think it's safe for us to just walk out the front door. They're locked, for one thing, and it would be difficult to unlock them and get through them without being caught." Hermione explained.

"Well that clears it up, doesn't it?" declared Ron. "Now that I know how this isn't going to go I think I'm ready to hit the corridor."

Hermione glared at him but continued without sparing a comment to her ginger friend. "So, we need to get out of the castle another way. I was thinking the passage behind that tapestry on the second floor. The one depicting a feast? It leads out of the castle, though it lets out a bit out of our way. Still, I've been thinking about it and it seems like our best option."

"I agree, once we're outside we won't have to worry much about being caught. Any thoughts on sneaking down to the second floor?" Harry asked.

"That's where the dungbombs come into play," Hermione replied. She pulled two rolled up bits of parchment from her pocket and handed one to each of her male companions. "I was up pretty late last night working this all out. I had to recall all of the passages from memory of course, but I think I did this right."

"'Take the one-eyed man passage, take a right down the corridor, set off a bomb, and duck behind the tapestry of the young girl, wait for the sound of a bomb, wait 30 seconds, then make a break for the third empty classroom on the left,'" Ron read aloud from the parchment that Hermione had given him. "Are you mad?"

"If everything goes according to plan, we should be setting off bombs at the right times to draw any teachers who happen to be patrolling the corridors away from those of us who are trying to sneak to the next secret passage or hiding place," Hermione explained.

"So, basically, when I set off a dungbomb, I'm drawing a teacher over to where I am, so that one of you two are free to roam the corridor in another part of the floor without getting caught," Harry deduced, catching on to the plan.

"Isn't that a bit risky?" Ron asked.

"We're sneaking out of the castle without an invisibility cloak, did you think this wasn't going to be risky?" Hermione retorted.

"Fair point," Ron admitted. "So this means we're going to have to split up then."

"Unless you have a better idea," Hermione said with a shrug.

"It'll be fine, Ron," Harry said reassuringly, even though he had no idea if this was going to work. Hermione's plan seemed like it should work, in theory. But plans weren't carried out in theory. They were carried out in the real world.

"If you two want to read over your parts of the plan, you should probably do that now. We need to get going soon," Hermione advised. Even Ron didn't protest, and the two boys quickly read over the bits of parchment they held in their hands.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked a minute or so later. His two friends nodded.

"I'll see you both outside, then," Ron said, trying to reassure himself more than anything. He didn't know why he was so nervous, really. The worst that could happen to him if the plan were to go wrong is another detention for sneaking out at night. Perhaps his nerves were actually caused by worrying about what the three of them would find when they reached their destination, or maybe he was worried that they would never reach their destination at all. He was more sure than ever that they would never make any progress on their little mystery if they didn't go. But he wasn't as sure as he once was that it would be safe. The three of them needed to be there, all three, or who knew what would happen?

After exchanging smiles that were more confident than the three of them felt, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stepped out into the corridor.


Hermione winced apologetically at the inanimate man as her spell brought his statue crashing to the ground. She knew she didn't have time to feel bad, however. Surprisingly, Filch could be really fast when he wanted to be. Stupid cats, able to hide in really small places and see well in the dark. Though she was a bit to embarrassed to admit it, ever since she had partially turned into one during her second year, Hermione had felt as though she understood the little creatures better. That was part of the reason why she came back to school the following year with Crookshanks. But even she didn't understand the relationship between the caretaker and his pet.

Without daring to look over her shoulder, Hermione bolted down the corridor, around the corner, and into a room, quickly locking the door behind her. They would be able to repair that statue no problem. No harm was done. And the only reason why she had to do it was so that she could slow down Filch so he wouldn't catch her before she made it outside. And she had to get outside so she could take the next step in figuring out her, Harry, and Ron's puzzle without telling anyone else and risking messing up the future. So it was for everyone's own good, really.

For a minute or two, Hermione didn't dare make a sound for fear of being discovered. Even after she heard Filch's wheezy breaths as he past by, she still waited a bit just to be sure. Finally, when she was sure he was gone, she let out a sigh of relief. Her plan had been so well thought out. Who knew they'd go alerting most of the staff just for something that should just be seen as a stupid, childish prank?

There was no way to see how Harry or Ron were doing, so the only thing for Hermione to do was formulate a new plan to get herself out to the Quidditch Pitch on time. Surveying the room, she assessed her situation. She found herself in one of the castle's many unused classrooms. This one, apparently, also doubled as a storage room for extra bed sheets. Feeling through her pockets, her hands brushed up against her wand, a couple sickles, a bit of parchment with her part of the failed plan, and her one remaining dungbomb (the first had been used back when the plan had actually been working, the second when she was trying to lure Filch off of her trail).

In an effort to clear her head so she could think, Hermione looked out of the fourth-story window and into the night. There were three floors to go until she reached the ground, only two until she could find and use the passage she'd been planning on taking had everything worked out the way she'd expected. But the corridors were far more difficult to navigate now, and nobody was going to distract the teachers for her now that the rhythm of the plan had been completely thrown off.

"Okay, Hermione. Think!" she said aloud, before remembering that she probably shouldn't make too much noise in case somebody out in the corridor heard her. She tried to stay calm, leaning on a table, her hands resting atop the soft, clean sheets as a light breeze rolled in through the window and rustled her hair. For a moment, she was reminded of the times when she and her parents went camping.

Suddenly, her eyes widened with recognition and she stood up straight, the solution finally presenting itself to her. After gathering up her Gryffindor courage, Hermione got to work, knowing what she had to do.


After spending about 20 minutes crouched behind a suit of armor, and after seeing more teachers coming to investigate the dungbomb scandal than he had expected, Ron finally came to the conclusion that the explosion he was listening for wasn't going to happen. Now, of course, he had the difficult task of figuring out what to do next. Hermione's plan had worked well for a while, and Ron had managed to get all the way down to the third floor. The passage they were aiming for was one floor down, but Ron didn't know how he'd make it with all of the extra staff members running around.

Finally, he decided there was nothing to do but try. After listening for any sign of a teacher nearby, he made his first move, dashing behind a tapestry just a short way down the corridor. He didn't dare push his luck any further than that. In this way, slowly but surely, he made his way toward the next checkpoint outlined on the bit of parchment Hermione had given him. All the while he worried about Harry and Hermione, knowing they were in even worse trouble now were they to get caught. It was likely to interfere with the investigation, or with the future. Even what they were doing at the moment had the potential to mess things up.

Ron was making good time, but the going was tedious and eventually he became careless. While making a trip that was a bit longer than caution allowed, he was spotted by a teacher who was rounding a corner. Thankfully the teacher was too far away to identify Ron, and Ron had a good head start, but he now found himself running instead of sneaking and performing ninja-style moves he didn't even know he was capable of in an attempt to lose his now pursuer.

Being kind of a skinny, not particularly muscly kid ("It's before my Quidditch days," he told himself), he couldn't keep this up forever. Knowing he had to find a hiding place, and fast, he made a break for a random door the next time he rounded a corner. To his dismay, the door was locked, but a locked door wasn't a huge obstacle to a sixth year student. He made quick work of the lock with a simple charm, sparing only a moment to wonder why they would even bother locking a door when it could be unlocked with a spell from a first year's Charms book. He slipped inside and closed the door quickly behind him, then put his ear to the door, wishing he had some of his brothers' extendable ears.

It wasn't long at all before he did hear a sound, but it wasn't coming from the corridor. From behind him came the sound of three growling dogs, but Ron knew from experience that they actually came from the same dog.

"Bloody hell!" Ron swore.


Honeydukes could almost be described as creepy at night. The oddly shaped candies threw strange shadows against the walls, and very few people had ever seen the place so quiet.

So Harry Potter was a teensy bit off course. He didn't know what he'd been expecting, they'd never put this much planning into anything before but they'd always managed. Perhaps they were just the go for it and see what happens type of people. Lesson learned. No more planning.

Being a bit of a creature of habit, Harry had taken this familiar passageway almost without thinking at the first sign that Hermione's plan was falling apart. Now that he found himself off of school property, it was safe to say that he had successfully avoided anyone who was currently patrolling the corridors. Now the only question was how he was going to make it back to the Quidditch pitch in time to join his friends.

Harry pulled out his wand as he headed out of he door and into the nightlife at Hogsmeade Village (in other words, there wasn't another person in sight). He didn't dare light its tip for fear of being discovered, but he knew he was no longer in the safe haven that was Hogwarts. Granted, nobody ever really heard of anything bad happening in Hogsmeade, but he would be stupid not to take precautions anyway.

This was where Harry paused, unsure of what his next move should be. He could just start walking to the castle, but what if he didn't make it back on time? Although he didn't have a watch on him, he was pretty sure that a lot of time had already passed. And the moon was so bright overhead that surely it was only a matter of time before he was spotted. Sure, there weren't any people out at the moment, but there were people around. People lived there, after all.

Suddenly, the answer came to him. There was one house he knew of that nobody lived in.