He led James and Peter down to the hallway with the stone crone.
"Dissendium," Sirius said, using his wand to tap the statue.
Silently, the statue shifted to the left.
"Woah," James breathed, "A secret passage."
"Where does it lead?" Peter asked curiously.
"I don't know, but I overheard the girl talking about Honeydukes," Sirius said.
"Honeydukes? The sweet shop?" Peter was suddenly very excited.
"Isn't that where you went over the summer holidays?" James asked.
"Yeah, it's incredible, there's so many different kinds of sweets and candies," Peter said, mouth watering.
"We should explore it," Sirius said. "Sometime soon."
"Why not now?" Peter asked.
"Well, first, if it takes you to Honeydukes we need money, second, someone's already using it, I don't want to run into them, and third, we should wait for Remus," Sirius said.
They were silent as they looked at the tunnel for a minute.
"Alright," Peter said.
While they waited for Remus to return, the boys made a list. They needed money, they needed the cloak, and food. It was a long walk to Hogsmeade, the place where Honeydukes resided, and they had no way of knowing how long the walk would be.
That weekend, they dragged Remus to the corridor.
Sirius pulled out his wand.
Remus watched him curiously.
"Dissendium," Sirius said.
The statue shifted.
"Woah," Remus said.
"Follow me," Sirius said. He slipped through the gap, followed by James, Peter, and then Remus.
It was long and dark with concrete floors and walls that echoed as they walked.
"Lumos," James said, and the tunnel filled with a warm light.
"Where does this go?" Remus asked them, peering ahead.
"Sirius overheard someone talking about Honeydukes," Peter said.
"Honeydukes? The sweet shop?"
Peter nodded.
"That's in Hogsmeade!"
"Yeah, we think it'll be a walk," James said.
"Do the teachers know about it?" Remus asked.
"We don't know, but we don't think so," Sirius said.
They continued walking for an hour or so when the tunnel began to slope upward.
"I bet we're almost there," Sirius said. "That didn't take as long as I- ouch!" He had banged his head on the ceiling quite hard. Sirius let out a string of curses, rubbing his head.
"Alright?" James asked him.
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Someone else go up front, I don't want to run into anything else."
After a bit of shifting, Remus took his place in front. Rather than walking, he looked toward the ceiling.
"What?" James asked.
"Here, shine your wand up here," Remus instructed.
James complied, inching forward and holding his wand higher.
Remus studied the ceiling for another moment before making a decision. He raised his arms and began to push.
The ceiling shifted.
"A trapdoor!" Peter exclaimed.
The Marauders pulled themselves out of the passage and into another room.
The room was nicely sized and full of boxes. They were stacked up against the walls and covered the cobbled floor. Inside the boxes were brightly colored packages, labeled with various titles.
"This is the storage room for Honeydukes," Peter guessed. "Look, Jelly Slugs. And over there are some Acid Pops."
"We should probably get out of here before someone comes, there are stairs over there," Remus said, pointing.
"I've got the cloak," James said, grinning.
They snuck out of the storage room without any trouble and made their way into the shop.
"Woah," Sirius said.
Shelves lined the plastered walls. They were covered in packages and displays of every flavor and color.
Hogwarts Students and a few odd witches and wizards crowded the shop, commenting on the available samples.
"This must be a Hogsmeade Weekend," James noted. "That's why the castle was practically empty."
"We could probably pass for third years, let's take off the cloak. I want to buy something," Sirius said.
They slipped outside, went around to the back of the shop, and pulled off the cloak. Then, they went back inside.
There were so many treats that they separated easily. Remus rushed toward the chocolate, Sirius the section adorned with a Special Effects label, James the Interesting Tastes, and Peter the samples.
It took them an hour and a half to leave.
Each of them had pockets laden with sugar and far less money than they had come with.
"Come on, let's look around a bit," James suggested as they left. A chilling wind nipped at them as they walked down the street, but none of them minded in the least.
"The joke shop is over here," Peter said, pointing a ways to the right, "and The Three Broomsticks is down that way."
They began at the joke shop, Zonko's. Though Honeydukes had delighted them, Zonko's was better. They emptied the rest of their pockets on pranks and mischief-making tools. It was not a very large shop, but it entertained them greatly.
When they finished their purchases, they made their way back to the passageway under the cloak, excitedly talking about the past few hours.
"We can use this stuff for April Fools," James said.
"And we don't have to bribe that fourth year!" Sirius added happily. "He was overcharging us."
"Honeydukes had fifteen different kinds of chocolate," Remus said. "I restocked my supply."
"It's too bad we didn't make it to Three Broomsticks, they have great butterbeer. Maybe next time," Peter said.
"Yeah, whenever the next weekend is we should sneak out again," James said.
"Definitely," Sirius agreed.
The return to Hogwarts seemed to take much less time than it had to leave it. They snacked on their candy and chatted all the while.
By the time they made it back, dinner had started, but they weren't very hungry; Honeydukes had had plenty of samples. Instead of eating, they went back to the Common Room.
"Do they have the day for the next weekend up?" James asked.
Sirius walked over to the board. "No, nothing."
"Well, that's alright, we've got enough to last us," Remus said, unwrapping some chocolate.
"Sirius doesn't, he finished his already," Peter said.
"I was hungry!" Sirius protested.
"I'm always hungry and I didn't finish mine," Peter pointed out.
"Still, you bought loads!"
"I only bought what was essential!"
"Essential? You bought a whole-"
"We'll go back!" James interrupted, "Next time they have a weekend."
"Great. I hope it's soon," Sirius said.
"Probably in May, I think they have them every two months," Remus said.
"May? How am I going to last that long?" Sirius whined.
"Figure it out."
"Thanks for the help."
"You're welcome."