Chapter 5 – Hogsmeade: A Guide

Harry decided to return to The Great Hall on Sunday, for lunch.  He knew it might seem a little bit odd that he was at the restaurant twice in one weekend, but there was no other way to figure the mystery of the napkin note out.  This trip would only be Harry and Ron, since Hermione said she had to do a lot of reading, in order to get ahead in her classes, even though the semester had just started.  Nobody believed her, but they knew she didn't enjoy getting in trouble.

            "You ready to go, Ron?" Harry asked.

            "Yup.  All set.  Let's go!" was the reply.

            Instead of flying this time, the boys decided to take the shuttle bus to Hogsmeade, since it was easier than any other way of getting there although it took the longest time.  An added bonus was that they'd be able to "people watch" on the bus.  They'd play a game where the winner was the person who found the most interesting person on the bus or in a crowd.  There were some interesting people on the bus, but the most interesting person was actually found while the boys were on the way to The Great Hall.

            As the bus was pulling away, the ultimate winner of the people game walked into view.  There was what seemed to be a floating basket moving down the street.  The boys wormed their way closer to the strange thing and found an armless woman walking the same direction they were going.  The street was busy, but they were easily able to keep up with the lady without being seen.  Unfortunately, when they reached the restaurant, the strange lady kept going.  After playing the people game, Harry was in great spirits as the boys entered the restaurant, luckily without letting the door collapse on them.

            They saw Professor Sprout and Madam Hooch sitting in The Pit talking to Selena.  The place wasn't that crowded, but the Gryffindor tables were pretty much full.  When the hostess came to seat the boys, they decided to sit in Hufflepuff.  It would be something different, and they would be able to check for any strange messages, to make sure it wasn't just that Harry had been at the Gryffindor tables that the napkin message had shown up.

            Sunday was karaoke day at The Great Hall.  All day, anyone who wanted to could grab a microphone and sing to their heart's desire.  Unfortunately for the patrons, many people who decided to sing could not carry a tune for their lives.  Ron saw Neville and Seamus head up to sing "Quit Playing Quidditch (With My Heart)".

            He leaned over to Harry and whispered, "Oh boy, this should be good."  Harry swiveled around just as the two had started singing.

            "Wow!  They're really bad.  I think they need some help," Ron said.  Harry snapped back around to open mouth gape at Ron, thinking they both would end up singing with Neville and Seamus.

            "Idolus," Ron whispered, pointing his wand at the microphone.  Instantly, the catty sound coming from the speakers changed to the sound of a famous boy band and almost every girl in the restaurant was swarming around the little stage setup.

            "Wow!" Harry gasped.  "Where did that come from?"

            Ron pointed to the tip of his wand as he developed a silly little grin on his face.  "I decided to help them out a little."

            After the Gryffindor boys had sung, Harry noticed some Slytherin girls getting ready to sing.  Deciding to have some fun himself, he pointed his wand at the little group and said, "Idolus reversus".  When those girls started singing, Harry wasn't sure what was going on.  He knew his spell had made them sound worse than frogs, but he did not expect the melee that followed.  Three of the girls started shrieking and running in circles, trying to get off the stage.  The fourth girl decided to try to keep singing.  Luckily for her, the song was just about over; she was looking around wildly at her friends with a look on her face that clearly was asking, "What is going on here?"

            All the commotion made the entire restaurant burst into laughter.  Seamus and Neville joined Harry and Ron at their Hufflepuff table, where Harry indulged them of the secret spell that had caused all the shrieking girls to run off the stage.  The boys thought it was so humorous that Neville ran over to The Pit to tell Selena about Harry's mystery spell.  As Harry settled back down into his seat, he felt something poke him in the back through the chair.

            Wondering if it was Ron poking or kicking his chair, Harry turned to his friends and said, "Something just poked me in the back," expecting a response from Ron.  After Ron shot a quizzical look to Harry and Seamus shrugged his shoulders, Harry got up to go talk to Selena.  As he pushed in his chair, he noticed a dart piercing a folded paper in the back of his chair.  He pulled the dart out of the chair, kept the folded paper attached to it and brought it to The Pit to investigate.

            "Good trick, Harry," Selena said, congratulating him on his singing spell.

            "Thanks!  Hey, would you have any clue about what this is?"  He pulled the dart and the note out of his robes and placed them on the bar.  "I haven't read the note yet."

            "Someone is watching you.  Maybe even following you," Selena said without even opening the paper.  "I'm not sure it is safe for you here.  It might be better for you to go back to Hogwarts."

            "Thank you, Selena," Harry replied and sullenly returned to Ron at the table.

            "Great, now even Selena is babysitting me," Harry complained.  "She said it's not safe for me here and that I should go back to school."

            "I think everyone's just bloody crazy about all the threats of the Dark Lord returning to power," Ron said in support of his friend.

            "Me too, but there's something I never told you."

            "Oh, really?" Ron looked surprised to hear this.

            "The first time we came here, with Hermione, I had a really strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Even before we got into the restaurant, I felt like someone was following us around, trying to watch my every move."

            "Maybe we should go back and tell Hermione.  You know how she is with her research.  Perhaps she could help us."

            Unbeknownst to the boys, Hermione had stayed home for just that reason.  Before the boys had even collapsed in the common room, it was Hermione's turn to attack them.

            "Okay, so I spent the whole day in the library," Hermione began.

            "What else is new?" Ron interrupted with a silly, laughing grin on his face.

            "And look what I found," she ended.  As she spoke, she showed Harry the book she had been poring over.  It was called A Look Into Hogsmeade: Strange Street Wanderers.  She gave the book over to the boys, knowing she finally had found something that would interest them.

            It seemed as if Hermione had given them an early Christmas present, they were so excited.  The stairwell up to the dorms rumbled like thunder as they piled up to their room to delve into the pictures in the book, only pausing to thank Hermione before disappearing.  Luckily their room was empty, so they could enjoy the book in peace.

            "Oh look!  There's Ragged Randy!" Ron said, pointing to a picture of some floating shreds of cloth.

            "Yes, and here's Sirius!  Wow, I wouldn't expect to see him in this book."

            Before long, the boys realized it was past their normal time for eating dinner, so Ron packed up his stuff and headed off to dinner ahead of Harry.  Ron always had worried about Harry's safety, but finally realized that Harry was a grown boy now.  He could tell that he would be dining alone that night.  And besides, there was no need for Ron to risk his own life every time Harry went off on an adventure or did something risqué.

            Once there was nobody left in their dorm, Harry grabbed some books, including the Hogsmeade guide, and practically sprinted with them to the library.  The halls were empty, but Harry still hoped that he wouldn't run into any of his favorite teachers roaming the halls.  He gave a sigh of relief as he closed the door of the library behind him.

            Harry had never realized how dark the library was after Madam Pince left for the night.  There were just a few candles scattered randomly throughout the large room, and it was also quite cold since the fireplace had died down.  Harry decided to change the settings, so he could read in a more comfortable scenario.

            "Calefactus!" he said, and the general area around him instantly heated up to a comfortable temperature.

            "Lumos," was his final spoken word as he used his wand to guide him across the pages of his book in the darkened room.

            Suddenly, something creaked in the background.  Harry could hear the silence of something sneaking up behind him.  His whole body tensed, and he stealthily readied his wand, to quell the instinct that something was going to attack first.