Disclaimer:  Hmmm...Let's ask the panel.  Does Melissa Black13 own Harry Potter?  Aaaaaaaaaaand the survey says....No!!!

Now I actually have time to write my replies!! Actually really I don't cause I have to do my homework and get ready for my soccer game but well that's me.  I'm a procrastinator!  So here are the replies!

Happy Snakes Rule:  The third book was my absolute favorite and I think they totally messed up the movie!!   I mean it was so short and it didn't have a lot of the key things in it.  Like the stuff about the Marauder's map and Sirius and Snape's animosity.  I was kinda disappointed.  I mean it was a great film but it was more for the people who haven't read the books.   Sorry I didn't howl!  Lol.  Thanks for reviewing!!

Chocolate Monkey:  Thanks!  I like to add humor to my story cause I'm a humorous person!  Lol.  Yah I'm proud too cause I'm also crazy (and an American!)  Here is the update!

Kj-11913:  Hello!!  I promise I will continue this story to the end!!  Scout's honor...o wait, I'm not a scout!  O whatever!  Writer's honor!  Lol.  Thanks for reviewing! 

Chelles:  Glad you liked it!  I like to think that girls are much more superior to guys.  Lol.  Thanks for reviewing again!!  Luv ya lots!

UniMyth:  Thanks!  Thank you sooooo much for all those Quidditch teams!  I'm a lazy person and didn't feel like going into my closet and taking out my Quidditch through the ages.  Lol.  Thanks for reviewing!

Kckfchicks:  Thanks! 

Babbling at the bottom...here's the update!!

Chapter 12:  A Midnight Excursion

He was flying on a broomstick, playing on his favorite Quidditch Team, the Pride of Portree.  He had the quaffle tucked under one arm, his other arm gripping his broom, and was zigzagging almost effortlessly through his opponents.  When he came to the other team's keeper he faked throwing the quaffle one way then shot it into a different hoop.  The quaffle soared into the hoop gracefully racking up 10 points and he took a victory lap around the field.  The entire pitch was chanting his name.  "James!  James!  James! James!"

"James! James, wake up!"

The messy-haired boy woke with a start.  Standing above him was his best mate with an exasperated look on his face.  "Finally!  I've been trying to wake you up for the past minute.  Get up it's time to go." 

James groaned.  He had just been in the midst of a wonderful dream and Sirius just had to wake him up.  And what did Sirius mean by it's time to go.  The only place James' wanted to go was back to sleep.   He grunted and turned his face back into his pillow.  A couple minutes later he vaguely heard Sirius walk away and sighed with relief.  Now, if he could only have the same dream—.

"ARGH!!"

Ice cold water had just been poured on his head.  James catapulted out of his nice warm bed and almost automatically put his glasses on.  He glared at Sirius and Peter, who had to lean on each other to stay up they were laughing so hard.  "What the bloody hell was that for?!" James whispered severely to them, rubbing his arms to try to get warmth back into them.

"Well you wouldn't wake up," Peter explained, still chuckling. "So we decided that you needed a little motivation." 

"Ha ha, motivation my arse," James growled back to him. "If I wasn't so intent on exploring this castle I'd hex the both of you."

While his two mates were still laughing, James changed out of his night clothes and into some drier ones.  Getting over his irritation at his wake-up call quickly, James began to feel the excitement rising with in him.  He, Sirius, and Peter were going out to search the castle for anything they could find.  They figured that if they went out really late then no one would catch them.  It was about midnight and if they were caught out of bed, James wagered that they'd get a fair amount of detentions and points taken away.  Of course, the detentions didn't really seem to matter to Sirius who was intent on breaking the school's record for most detentions, which was 954 detentions.  Sirius was up to 14 detentions and James was sure if he kept up this pace he would surely beat it.  

"Come on mates, let's go," James said to them.  They both nodded and Sirius went to the door and opened it as quietly as he could.  James followed him out into the hall while Peter gently closed the door.  The three boys stole down the spiral staircase with care and paused before entering the Common Room.  James glanced around and noticed that the only person in there was a 7th year who had fallen asleep on his book.  The boys crept to the exit of the room and opened it up.  One by one they climbed out of the Common Room.  James pushed the portrait closed only to be confronted by the Fat Lady.

"What are you three doing out of bed?  It isn't proper for students to be out at this time," the Fat Lady told them in a whisper.

Of course, Sirius, with his extraordinary ability to charm paintings, took over. "My dear lady, we were just going for a stroll around the castle.  We meant no harm.  And I must say you look absolutely ravishing even at this time of night."

James though this was going a bit over the top, as most paintings look the same at anytime of day.  The Fat Lady didn't seem to realize this and giggled in a pleased manner. "You know, you remind me of this boy my friend Violet told me about the other day."

"A yes, Violet, I know her well," Sirius responded, throwing a wink at James and Peter, who were looking on amazed. "Sirius, at your service and these are my mates, James and Peter.  You wouldn't mind not telling anyone about us leaving, would you?"

The Fat Lady looked hesitant for a second before relenting. "Well, as long as it's just this one time, I supposed it wouldn't be a problem.  Just don't get into any trouble."

"Cheers," Sirius said to her, before bowing and turning to leave.  James and Peter swept after him. 

"You are too much sometimes, you know that?" James asked quietly, treading carefully and quietly in the corridor.  Peter nodded in agreement.

"You two are just jealous because you don't have this natural talent with the ladies," Sirius whispered back smugly. 

"Oh, I'm sure that's it," Peter muttered, rolling his eyes. 

The boys continued to slink along until they came to a stairway.  They simultaneously looked up then looked down.  There were certainly a lot of floors in the castle.  James' brow furrowed.  He suddenly realized that Hogwarts was a pretty big place.  Sirius voiced exactly what he was thinking.

"So where are we starting?"

Hmmm, James thought to himself.  That's an excellent question.

Peter spoke up suddenly. "Maybe we should start at the top and work our way down.  It's probably the most logical thing to do."

Sirius and James look at each other and shrugged.  It was a pretty good idea and pretty much the only idea they had.  "Let's get too it," James said anxiously.  

They cautiously climbed up the staircase, each of them glancing around to make sure no one was there.  The castle seemed awful quiet at this time.  It was the perfect time for them to go exploring.  James felt awful that Remus wasn't here though.  Hopefully they'd find some places to show him.   It took about 5 minutes, but they finally reach the top of the stairway. 

They came out to a corridor that was lightly lit and had a good amount of paintings.  There were a couple doors that led to some classrooms it looked like.   "Do either of you know what floor we're on?" James asked.

They all glanced around for any clues.  "I think we're on the seventh floor," Peter said uncertainly.  But then he shrugged. "But you know me; I don't have the best sense of direction."

Sirius glanced down the darkened corridor and his face scrunched up in concentration. "No, Pete, I think your right this time.  I think if you go down the corridor," he said, pointing down to the left end of the corridor, "You come to a set of stairs that lead you to the Astronomy Tower."

James nodded in agreement.  It was only last Wednesday when they had all taken this route up to the Tower for their weekly Astronomy lesson with Professor Elliptical.  Of course, getting up at midnight wasn't his favorite thing to do (which, he remembered, was exactly what he was doing now) and he hadn't really been awake enough to remember where he was.  And then he remembered something else.  Bloody hell, I have Astronomy again tomorrow, James cursed to himself.  Well today actually.

"C'mon," James motioned his two friends.  He pointed down the opposite way. "Let's check out what's down there."

Sirius and Peter nodded and the three of them began making their way down the hall.  It might have been kind of eerie walking in the halls at night, but James only felt excitement at what they might find.  His father and his friends had found all sorts of things in Hogwarts (things he had refused to tell James), and James was looking forward to having different adventures.  James noticed the strange paintings in the corridor.  They passed by one of a fat pink pig dancing in a wig.  There was a portrait of a wizard in pink robes, painting himself and in turn his painting was of him painting himself and so on. 

Suddenly, there was a noise down the corridor.  The three boys turned to each other in panic before looking down the hall.  They noticed a bright light coming closer to them and soon heard a voice to go along with the light.  "Only here a month and already I have to clean the place up," an oily voice sneered. "These bloody miscreants never care to think about what a mess they make.  Isn't that right, my sweet?"

James groaned silently and exchanged looks with Sirius and Peter.  It was Filch, the caretaker, and his evil kitten, Mrs. Norris.  The boys had had a couple run-ins with Filch already and they weren't very fond memories.  They hadn't had detention with him yet and were hoping not too any time soon.  They had heard the terrible screams coming from Filch's office.  James wasn't anxious to experience it just yet, but it looked unavoidable as Filch was coming their way. 

"Quick!  This way!" Sirius hissed, pointing down the corridor.  The three of them hurried in that direction for a bit until to their shock, dismay, and panic, they came to a dead end.  But James wasn't going to give himself up so quickly.

"Try those two doors!" He ordered quietly.  He snuck a peek down the corridor to check Filch's progress and groaned softly.  The caretaker was a quick walker.  James reckoned he hadn't seen them yet but it would only be a matter of time. 

"It's locked!" Sirius informed him.

"Mine too," Peter told him dejectedly.

"Do either of you have your wands?" James asked.  He didn't have his own wand.  How stupid am I that I thought I wouldn't need wand?

"I haven't got mine," Peter whispered, nervously shooting glances down the corridor.  Sirius shook his head mutely. 

James ran a hand through his hair in frustration.  He started pacing in front of a large tapestry in the hall.  They hadn't planned on anything like this happening.  It was going to be pure fun, not running from trouble.  Not that James had a problem with trouble, but he'd gotten an owl from his mother the day before telling him to behave.  His mother, although a wonderful, sweet person, was as formidable a witch as there could be.  We need some place to hide.  If only there was a door unlocked or something.  He stopped pacing for a second and turned to Peter and Sirius who were standing in front of the blank wall.  He was about to say something when he noticed the wall wasn't exactly blank anymore.  There was a door.

James rushed forward quickly and pulled on the latch of the door.  It was open.  "In here you two!" James murmured.  They all quickly ducked through the doorway and pulled the door shut.  It was a small space.  James thought it was a broom closet. 

"Where the bloody hell did the door come from?" Sirius muttered to James.  "It wasn't there before."

"I don't know.  I turned around and it was just there," James replied.

"Quiet mates!  They're coming," Peter said urgently.  He pressed his ear to the door, listening for Filch's footsteps.

James settled himself on the floor.  He had a bad feeling.  His nose itched. It was really dusty in the broom closet.  James could feel a sneeze coming on.  He could hear Filch right outside.  It was coming and he couldn't hold it in.

"Achoo!"

It wasn't that loud of a sneeze but it was enough. 

"Did you here something, Mrs. Norris?  I could have sworn I heard a noise," James heard the muffled voice of Filch.  Peter and Sirius were glaring at him murderously and James shrugged sheepishly.  "I think it came from inside that door."

I wish the door would just disappear, James thought helplessly to himself. 

Outside there was a noise of surprise. "Where'd the door go?" Filch asked.  James' eyes widened and he smiled uncertainly at Peter and Sirius who looked just as mystified.  "It was right there!  You saw it Mrs. Norris right?" There was a soft 'meow' from the cat.  James wished he could see the expression on Filch's face at the moment.  "I'm going to have to report this to the Headmaster.  Come, my sweet." They could hear his receding footsteps and him mumbling under his breath about disappearing doors and annoying students. 

When they were absolutely sure that he was gone, the three Gryffindors emerged from the broom closet.  Filch's light wasn't visible anymore and the three of them breathed sighs of relief.  Immediately Sirius began to grin wickedly.  "That was one close call.  It was a lucky thing that this broom- Hey where'd the door go?"

James turned back to where the door had been and was surprised again for about the millionth time in the last five minutes.  The door that had been there seconds before was gone and the wall was bare once again.  The three of them stared at the blank wall for a couple seconds in silence before James broke the silence. 

"This just keeps getting stranger and stranger," he declared.  Peter and Sirius nodded, too bewildered to speak. "We might as well go back to bed.  We don't want Filch coming back and catching us again."

They both agreed and the three of the treaded back to the Gryffindor Tower.  Once outside the Tower they were met by the Fat Lady again. "Back so soon?" she asked them, fluttering her eyelashes at Sirius.

"Well, we just couldn't keep ourselves away from you," Sirius told her, smiling charmingly.  "Pumpkin Pastries."

The Fat Lady swung her portrait open still giggling.  Wordlessly, the boys journeyed back up to their dorms.  They changed back into their pajamas and said their good nights to each other.  James pulled the hanging around his bed, took off his glasses, and laid his head on his pillow.  He couldn't stop thinking about that door.  What had made it appear then disappear just as quickly.  It had to be something he or one of the others had done.  He vowed to find out what had happened.

Okay that was a sucky ending but overall I thought it was a pretty good chapter.  No time to talk here but I'll write later.  Bed time for me. Lol.  Hope you all liked it.  Please review!!

Edit:  Hello!!  These past two weeks have been sooo hectic!  Of course the end of this week and the beginning of next week don't look so promising.  I've got a soccer game tonight (one I really don't want to play in), I'm in a wedding on Saturday and am getting my nails done Friday, and there's the dress rehearsal and dinner on Friday.  Not to mention that my finals start on Friday and go til Wednesday!  But then school ends on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!  YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Okay....expect a post on maybe...Saturday or Sunday!  Love you all lots!

Melissa