"What the…where am I?"
Ginny Weasley stood in the middle of a completely unfamiliar corridor and stared around terrified. How had she gotten here? Had she been sleepwalking? But how did she get out of Gryffindor Tower sleepwalking, and how did nobody notice her, and why didn't the Fat Lady try and wake her up? And where was she and what time was it…?
She stared around in horror at all the shadows cast by the moonlight slanting through a window. Everything looked dark and frightening, and she could have sworn that some of the gargoyles in the wall were about to come alive, and someone (maybe Fred) had told her that real live gargoyles ate children and had a particular fondness for red hair…
She wanted to scream, but was afraid of waking them up, so she bit her knuckle very hard and thought.
She didn't feel like she'd been asleep—she wasn't at all groggy—but she didn't remember coming down here. But she must have done, because this wasn't a dream and here she was, and if she was caught out of bed…
She swallowed hard. Wasn't it something like fifty points from Gryffindor, being caught out of bed in the middle of the night?! And with her grades there was no way she was going to be able to earn it back. She stared around wildly, hoping against hope that none of the shadows would mysteriously turn into Filch, or his horrible cat…or, worse, Peeves the poltergeist, who was notorious for getting students in trouble for being out of bed just for the fun of it…what was she going to do? She couldn't wander the corridors aimlessly, hoping to stumble into Gryffindor Tower eventually. Her chances were horrible. She was much more likely to run into a teacher or Peeves if she wandered around for hours than if she just stayed here, and probably just about as likely to actually hit upon Gryffindor Tower…
Think, Ginny.
It was as though Tom's voice were coming straight out of the diary, giving her advice and calming her right down. Think. Where was she? She didn't know. Well, what did she know about where she was?
She looked around carefully, trying to avoid the gargoyles' evil gaze. There were gargoyles. There was a tapestry on the wall to the left of some kind of party, or a jungle…the shadows didn't make it very clear. There was a window, and going by the view she was probably a couple of storeys up.
Window.
Maybe she could see Gryffindor Tower from the window. She could get a direction, anyway, and just take all the corridors that went in that direction…
It was no good. All the towers looked the same. Well, except that one…that was the Astronomy Tower, it was so much taller than all the others. Well, which way from the Astronomy Tower was Gryffindor? She'd been to the Astronomy Tower at least…well, just the once, with the other Gryffindor first years, and the Ravenclaws too, and she'd had a prefect guiding her then (not Percy, a Ravenclaw with long curly blonde hair who'd smiled at her and called her "sweetheart")…but maybe if she could get there she could remember how to get to the Gryffindor Tower…but everything always looked so different at night…
Suddenly there was a movement behind her and she whirled. The tapestry had moved aside and a shadowy figure emerged. She didn't have time to run and hide or really do anything except stand as still as possible and hope they didn't see her…
"Hello! It's Ginny Weasley, isn't it?"
She squeaked.
"Coach?"
"Lumos," said Professor Potter's voice, and the tip of his wand ignited, lighting the hall with a warm yellow glow. The Coach's rectangular glasses flashed in the sudden illumination.
"What might you be up to, out of bed so late?" he asked.
"I…I think I must have sleptwalked…sleepwalked…slee…or something. I don't even know where I am," she said hopelessly. "Or how I got here."
"Sleepwalked all the way from Gryffindor Tower?" he said, raising his eyebrows. "That's pretty impressive. Of course, my mates and I once managed to 'sleepwalk' all the way out onto the grounds and near the edge of the Forbidden Forest before old Hagrid caught us." He grinned down at her.
Relieved as she was that he was apparently not going to give her detention, she didn't want him to think that she was a troublemaker, either.
"I really did," she said. "I think. Or else I'm losing my mind."
"Oh, I hope not. We're going to need that mind on the team! Well, I don't know. Can you still ride a broom when you don't have your mind?"
She giggled. "I don't think so, Professor."
"Nonsense. Muscle memory, that's what I always say. You know, I think that's what sleepwalking is…body taking over, mind somewhere else."
"Am I going to get in trouble?"
"For sleepwalking? What kind of person do you take me for?"
"I don't really know. You're a teacher, and I'm not supposed to be…"
"I'll go easy on you, just this once. So I expect you'll want a hand getting back to Gryffindor? Or did you have some business to finish up?"
"No, I told you, I don't…I mean, yes, please, can you help me get back to Gryffindor?" she said.
"Of course. Want to see a shortcut?"
James only had one or two misgivings about showing the girl this shortcut. After all, she seemed a decent sort; and it was her school, too—every kid ought to be able to navigate her own nick, he decided.
So it was through the tapestry and an immediate right through the dirt tunnel. The tunnel dipped and then opened out suddenly into an old cave that, according to Sirius, had been used by Firewhiskey smugglers. Sirius always managed to "find" a bottle, too, didn't he, and for contraband from decades ago it tended to be surprisingly new and shiny-looking, and whenever anyone else searched the place it was depressingly Firewhiskeyless…
Then up that ladder, which was about five feet wide and during the day led to a speck of light far, far away. Now it just disappeared into the shadows.
"Mind the broken rung. It's a bit of a climb…race you?"
Ginny didn't wait to confirm but darted up the ladder like a cat. James tore off after her; she was lighter and younger but he was stronger and knew the ladder better. She reached the top, gasping and giggling, only inches ahead of him.
Then a left, and down a really long corridor.
"There's a couple of turns here…take my hand," he directed. First or second left? Second; first led to the Transfiguration wing. Right, right, right, sharp left here. As the old twists and turns came back to him he began to gather speed until he was flying through the passages with his eyes almost shut, Ginny tearing along behind him. Then James charged confidently into what looked like a solid wall but was, in fact, a solid wall.
"Ow," he said. Ginny giggled. James shut his eyes, moved six inches to the left, and walked straight into the wall again.
"Ow," he said. Ginny laughed. James readjusted his glasses, moved one foot to the right, and tried again.
"Ow," he said. Ginny was doubled over with laughter now. James sighed and produced his wand.
"Right," he said threateningly. "If you're to be like that, I'm going to…"
The wall shimmered suddenly, and James put his wand away again. "Thank you." This time, when he moved forward, the wall yielded, and he and Ginny stood on the edge of a precipice.
"Careful," he panted. "It's not as deep a dip as it's pretending to be, and there should still be…" He peered down and grinned. A faint greenish glow greeted him.
"All right, here we go…"
They jumped, and just as they were gaining speed they were caught in a green shimmer and flung upward, landing safely on the other side.
"Now right through this tapestry," he said cheerfully. He guided her through, and they were in the Gryffindor corridor.
Ginny was still breathless with laughter and fright, and she clung onto his hand. He laughed too.
"How do you remember all that, sir?" she asked.
"Sometimes I don't," he said frankly. "What do you think I was doing in that corridor way over there? I was aiming for the kitchens! All right from here?"
"Thank you," she said, seeing the snoozing Fat Lady and intensely grateful that she hadn't gone off to visit her friend Violet, the way Fred sometimes said she did. "I don't know how I would have gotten back otherwise."
"Ah, you'd've figured something out. Need anything else?"
"No, no, thank you, I should be fine, thank you," she said.
Just then, a footstep sounded behind them and Professor Potter swept her back into the corridor, hand over her mouth to stop her from giggling. She peered out through a crack and gasped—Harry Snape hurried past, looking worried about something, his normally lank hair sticking up. He woke up the Fat Lady with a peremptory command and climbed through the portrait hole.
"It was only Harry. He must have been on his way back from detention," she said to Professor Potter, who frowned, but smiled quickly.
"All right, then, back up to bed," he whispered. "And if anybody asks, you didn't see me. They'd laugh themselves to death knowing that I made such an obvious mistake."
He swept her an elaborate bow that made her giggle again and disappeared down the secret passageway behind him without another word.
She made it all the way up to bed without being spotted by anyone but a very cross Fat Lady. She collapsed onto her pillows, suddenly very, very tired, and felt the comforting bump of Tom's diary under her head. Then she sat up, fumbled for her Finesse, lit her wand, and pulled the book out from under her pillow. She had to tell him about it…
