"So the password is 'dissendium'," murmured Fred, about two weeks after term had started, as they made their way upstairs. The four of them had sandwiches in their bags for dinner and flasks of pumpkin juice, courtesy of the house elves in the kitchen—Ever still hadn't worked up the nerve to go in there just yet, so she'd left that to the boys—and they were making their way up to the one-eyed witch statue now. "You see, Georgie and I were sitting in our room one day over break—"
"And we were checking up on Star, mostly," said George, nodding to Ever. The girl smiled brightly back at him, hooking her arm through his. "Because we knew he was likely to be sad and sulking in his room all afternoon, y'see—"
"And we meant to send him an owl full of some of Mum's fudge anyway, so we were making sure he was where we left him—"
"And Fred kind of wand-ed over the statue, and there was a little speech bubble, just like out of a comic book or something—"
"Do you lot have comic books?" Ever interupted, blinking at the twins and Lee. They merely shrugged her off.
"Course we have comic books. Anyway," said Lee, nodding to the twins.
"So there was this little speech bubble, and that's what it said, dissendium, and the witch took out a wand of her own," George continued.
"And she tapped herself on the back with it," Fred finished, nodding in unison with his brother as they came to a stop in front of the very statue in question. "So we figure that if we do that, she'll open right up and we can see where this leads to."
"What if it's like, an abandoned mine shaft or something?" Lee pulled out his wand, looking at the statue thoughtfully. "And we've got to go through and fight trolls and kill them and stuff."
"All the better!" the twins crowed together. Ever bit her lip.
"Trolls are real, then?"
"Of course they're real! They're about nine feet tall and grey and disgusting and downright stupid, any seven-year-old could beat one if they ran into one," scoffed Lee, but he didn't look so certain about that last bit, and the first year girl was immediately sure that he was stalling; he didn't want to go down in some dark passage to Nowhere, Unknown anymore than she did. Fred and George, however, both had their wands at the ready, and as she watched, half excited and half horrified, the red-heads tapped on the witch's humpback in unison and murmured the password. The stone cracked as it slid apart, revealing a dark hole which Fred promptly jumped down, immediately followed by his brother. There was a brief scuffle at the bottom, the twins' voices amplified by the space and the dark as one brother shoved the other, and then one of them—it was impossible to tell them apart at the best of times, let alone by their voices—was calling up to Ever and Lee.
"It's alright, it's just a little slide and you'll land at the bottom fine!" Ever swallowed hard, glancing at Lee. He grinned sheepishly.
"Ladies first?" She bit down on her lip, nodding quickly, and pushed herself down the slide into the dark before she could think better of it.
It only took a few seconds for her to reach the bottom, but they seemed infinitely longer without being able to see a foot in front of her. When the slide finally ended, she immediately stood up and reached for her wand.
"Lumos," she whispered, and felt the little thrill—she didn't know if it was magic or merely excitement that hadn't yet faded away—when the tip of her wand lit up brilliantly. The twins, a few feet away, squinted at the brightness as she stepped toward them to make room for Lee.
"It's not so bad," she called up to him. "C'mon!" For a moment, the boy seemed to hesitate, and then he was clambering into the passageway as well. By the time he'd gotten to the bottom of it, they could hear the stone sliding itself back together.
"D'you reckon the password is the same to get back out?" Lee asked, glancing up the slide. Fred and George nodded absentmindedly, turning their attention to the passageway before them.
"Where do you think it leads to?" Ever asked as the four of them started walking in the only direction available to them. Both red heads shrugged.
"We were trying to figure that out ourselves. We think it's got to go to Hogsmeade somewhere, because there aren't really very many other places to go around here, but we've got no idea where. There are plenty of shops, 'cause it's one of the only fully wizarding cities in Britain, but..." Fred shrugged again, speeding up a bit. "There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"
"You're insane," murmured Ever, picking up the pace to keep up with the boys.
There was no way to really know how long the walk was. The passageway was fairly straighforward, and with Ever's lit wand to guide them, the four of them made their way along with relative ease. Once in a while, one of the first years would slip, and the other three were quick to help their friend up and be on their way again. Occasionally the four of them would chat, but for the most part they stayed silent, intent on their goal of finding out just where they were going. Just when Ever was beginning to wonder if the walk could possibly be much longer, Fred ran ahead.
"I think this is the end of it!" he exclaimed, reaching up to push on something...and the other three first years heard something shift. Fred pulled himself up through the opening he'd made, and for a moment all was quiet. Ever held her breath, counting the seconds...
Fred's face, wearing a broad grin, was back before she'd gotten to thirty.
"We're in Honeydukes! C'mon then!" He held out his hand to his brother and promptly pulled the other red head up to join him before reaching down to help Ever. She hesitated for a moment before grasping his hand in hers—there was something awfully contagious in that grin that couldn't be avoided.
"Best put your light out, we don't wanna be seen," Fred whispered. She nodded, leaving her wand lit just long enough for the twins to help Lee up into...whatever Honeydukes was.
"Nox."