"People will always believe in something in they feel strongly about it," Remus pointed out.

"Deep, Moony."

He chuckled and shook his head. "I mean, if people believe that the Shack is haunted then they'll think that they have had proof of something haunting it."

"Or go looking for it," I added absentmindedly.

Both men stared at me.

"What?"

It was really freaky when they said stuff in unison like that. I just grinned sheepishly at them.

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Please tell me you didn't he said tiredly.

Sirius, in comparison, looked excited. "Oh, please tell me you did."

"I just want to say that it wasn't my idea." I began.

Remus groaned and buried his face in his hands.

[XXXXXX]

Tonks walked up to what was becoming their table in the Library to see Davey with his head firmly on the table with James and Samantha bickering over them.

"Of course, it's haunted, don't be stupid," Samantha said scathingly.

James shook his head. "It's just a gimmick, there's no way that it's haunted and is just always quiet when we go to Hogsmeade."

"It could be scared of students!"

"Who ever heard of a shy ghoul?"

"How do you know it's a ghoul? It could be anything!"

"It could be stupid." James folded his arms. "Which it is."

"You were all for the Shrieking Shack when we went to Hogsmeade that first time!"

"Until I realised that it wasn't actually haunted!"

"You don't know that! People have reported it!"

"People will believe anything," James said stubbornly. "I bet it's just a person pulling a prank."

"No, it's haunted!"

"No, it's not!"

"Are you two still going on about this?" Tonks asked, taking a seat.

Of course, neither of them answered her. Davey waved at her without removing his forehead from the table.

"Thirty minutes. Thirty. Minutes." he uttered. "That's how long they've been at this, going round in circles."

"Ouch."

That was impressive.

"If they don't keep their voices down, they'll get thrown out." said Tonks, looking around to see if she could see Madam Pince.

"Maybe that will make them stop."

Tonks gave him a doubtful look and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I know. Fat chance." He said.

"We could go inside and see what's going on!"

"And how are you supposed to do that?" James demanded. "It's all boarded up. And I thought it was supposed to all happen at night anyway?"

They really didn't have any new arguments. Not that they would have any after all these months. You think that they would get tired of it. But no, without fail, every few weeks one of them had to bring the Shrieking Shack into the conversation.

"The next thing you'll be saying is that you want to go down to the Shack at night to see if something comes out then!" Davey said throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.

Everyone turned to stare at him, Samantha and James getting identical grins on their faces. Tonks couldn't help but giggle.

"What?" he asked when he realised that they were all staring at him. And then he realised why. "Oh no. No. No. You aren't going to do that. You aren't."

"Of course, we aren't, Davey-boy," James said happily. Davey heaved a sigh of relief that was short lived as James continued with, "Because we're all going to do it."

'Thunk' went Davey's head back on the table.

"I don't think Davey wants to do it," Tonks said in a stage whisper.

"I don't."

"He'll do it if we'll all do it," Samantha dismissed before giving Tonks a hopeful look. "You'll do it, right?"

"I don't know..."

"Are you scared?"

"No!"

"Then come on!"

Tonks thought about it for all of thirty seconds before giving in.

"Oh, okay. It'll be an adventure."

"Yes!" James and Samantha pumped their fists in the air.

The next few minutes was filled with ideas for plans and what to bring and what would be the best day. Maybe not a Hogsmeade weekend, even at night there were always a lot of people in the village. People liked to stay at Rosmerta's and set up stalls on Hogsmeade weekends, hoping to get the student trade. Maybe the middle of the week? People would have to go to work the next day so there shouldn't be anyone out and about late at night...

"Wait, so how exactly are we going to do this?" Samantha interrupted their excited chatter.

"We aren't," Davey tried hopelessly but he was shushed.

"I suppose we'll have to sneak out and walk down there like it was a Hogsmeade weekend," Tonks said thoughtfully. "Except, you know, it would be the middle of the night."

"It'll be so creepy."

James looked excited at the thought. He always did like those horror stories. Samantha, on the other hand, did not. But, of course, she wasn't going to back down. Not when she wanted to prove herself right.

"You can't actually be serious about this," Davey interrupted in an incredulous tone. "There's no way you're going to walk all the way to Hogsmeade 8n the middle of the night."

"Sure, we are," Samantha said with false bravado.

"Even if you manage to unlock the Entrance Door, there's still the gates and you know, the whole walking to Hogsmeade in the middle of the night!"

Obviously, Davey thought that they were quite insane. So did Tonks but it gave her a weird sort of thrill.

"And don't think a simple Alohomora will open them," he continued. "These will be actual security charms and wards. There's no way any of you will be able to break them."

That put a bit of a dampener on their big plans - none of them had even thought of how they were going to get there. It wasn't like it was just outside the gates, they would have to walk. If they could even get past the gates.

Tonks suddenly remembered something from long ago, something her cousin had told her when she was really small.

Sirius was giving her a mischievous look which made her giggle. He had been regaling her with what he and his friends had been doing - mainly pulling pranks.

Of course, Dora, we had to celebrate so we snuck out and got sweets."

"Lots of them?"

"Of course. We snuck out to Hogsmeade and-"

"Sirius don't you dare talk to her about sneaking out!" Andromeda scolded. "That's so dangerous!"

"Not really," he whispered to Dora. "There's a secret passageway right to Honeydukes without having to go outside at all."

"There's secret passageways out of the castle," she remembered. "Some go straight to Hogsmeade."

"Of course, there is," Davey muttered disconsolately.

"Really?" Samantha said doubtfully.

"Yeah," Tonks nodded. "My... uh, cousin used it loads and he told me about them. And my mum and dad used one to meet with my mum in secret at school."

Thankfully none of her friends remembered that her dad was Muggleborn and therefore she wouldn't have any cousins on his side that went to Hogwarts. She doubted they would want to use a secret passageway if Blacks used them.

"That's so romantic," Samantha said dreamily.

"It's gross," James said, scrunching up his nose. "But useful information. Do you know where these are?"

Tonks shook her head. "No, I just know the one my parents used is like a big cave and there's one that leads to Honeydukes."

"Cool," said Samantha, looking excited.

[xxxxxx]

"- and then-"

I paused to get a drink of water. I've said it before and I'll say it again, telling stories is thirsty work.

"Don't just stop there," Sirius complained. "You were getting to the best part!"

"Let her drink, Sirius."

"Aw."

Yet another eye roll from Remus. He had to be in the triple digits by now after all these stories. Tonks kind of wished she had kept count.

"Well," I said, putting my glass down. "Thanks to Sirius telling me about the secret passageways-" Sirius gave a snug bow at this. "- we could start looking. I even contacted my dad and-"

A loud rumble interrupted me this time. I blushed bright red as I realised it was coming from my stomach.

"Time for food," Remus said automatically.

"Oh, come on!" Sirius exclaimed. "You can't be serious! The story wasn't finished yet."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "You are aware that you sound like a small child, aren't you?"