AN- Happy New Year, loves. My resolution is to get back on track for posting, I feel horribly I let myself stray again. Worry not, Cas and Jo are well on their way to being third years. Not long now, I promise. Enjoy the chapter! Still yours, -cowriter

It's a tarp. She pulled me away from my friends...well, my studies...for an old blanket on the wall.

"It's a blanket, right? Huh, Cas?"

"Yes," I sigh. She sounds excited, but I'm really not amused at this point.

"Nope! Hahaha!" she cackles as she shoves me into the blanket. I brace for impact, but find myself falling longer than expected before landing on my back, looking up at a dark tunnel. Light floods in as Jo pulls the blanket back, sticks out her hand, and pulls me up. I pull my wand and lash out towards her. I don't know what I was thinking, but the corner of her robe catches fire. She yells, throws it off, and stamps the fire out, leaving us in complete darkness.

"What the hell, Cas!" She shouts at me. I cast the lumos spell before responding.

"You threw me into a wall!"

"Through a wall, not into it!"

"It hurt!"

"You lit me on fire!"

"That's not my fault!"

She sighs and picks up her robe. She gives me a lighthearted shove and leads me down the dark passage. I ask her where we're going, but she tells me I lost the privilege of knowing when I "lit her on fire". I apologize and tell her I really didn't mean it. She laughs it off, says she knows I'd never really hurt her. I wouldn't. Not ever.

"You really do gotta control your temper, though. It's nasty, 'specially when you got your wand on you." I can't argue with that. I rarely use my wand, except for in class and when I'm causing mischief with Jo or the twins. But I can feel my power growing, especially when I get mad. Magic comes easy to me, and all my teachers tell me I'm strong with it. I don't know if they mean it like a good or bad thing.

"You should also, like, try to make more friends. Just something to consider." I roll my eyes. I have plenty of friends, besides Jo and the twins. I just don't spend any time with them.

"Okay, enough with the advice."

"Fine, just follow me then."

She leads me in silence, and normally I prefer the quiet, but something's been weighing on my mind. But I don't think I'll tell her. I...I tried to make a friend: George. I mean sure we spend plenty of time together through Jo and Fred, but it's no secret the two of us aren't close. So I really tried, but it didn't work. I wanted to make George happy, but it kinda backfired. I did a bad thing.

See, I know George likes Jo now, and I don't like keeping secrets, but I know this is different. Especially since George doesn't know I know. Fred, he's glad I found out, not that he'd ever admit it. He likes having someone to talk to about it, since he feels like he can't really go to his older brothers, being in Gryffindor and all. So I'm the one he goes to, and recently he talks a lot about George. So I thought maybe I could help him help George. I mean, apparently Jo makes George happy, and I can tell George makes Jo happy, so I really saw no reason why they shouldn't, you know...get closer. Besides the fact that they're like way too young to date, there's no real reason I shouldn't push them together. I ended up figuring I could kill two birds with one stone- make a friend, and make Jo happy.

So I did a thing. I saw the oppurtunity and I took it. It was at the Quidditch match. I knew the kid, the Gryffindor one, he was making Jo angry- he wasn't as good as her. Even I could see that. So they were playing, and he kinda ran into someone, and he kinda started to fall. It's not like he was high up or anything. But I saw it coming, and I didn't think. I just pulled my wand, and I locked onto him. Something we learned in charms class. I grabbed him, and I threw him at the ground, harder and faster than he was supposed to fall. I had had him by the leg, and I didn't let go, even after he hit the ground. Even from all that way away, I knew I had broken his leg.

My first thought was curiosity. Did he feel it? My magic, I mean. Obviously he felt the fall and the break and all. So I was curious. Then my thoughts turned to Jo and George. Now the Beater spot was open to Jo. She and George would kinda be partners, right? They have the same position now. They'd get to spend more time together. George would like that. I did him a favor. Jo too, even if she didn't realize it. George would be happy, and he would ask her out like he planned, and she'd be so excited she'd have to say yes.

So I was happy. I didn't feel guilt or remorse or anything, even when he was carried off the pitch. I was excited- Jo was doing great. George got taken off towards the end, which annoyed me, but it was okay. Jo was doing good stuff. She was being aggressive and athletic and herself. It was all going good. Then Slytherin caught the snitch. I cheered, I mean- I am Slytherin. I may not care much about quidditch, but I was happy for my house. I kept my eyes on Jo though. She landed herself and everyone started crowding around her. I saw one tuft of orange run over towards the growing crowd from the side area. George. I stood up and tried to see better. He was moving towards her, waving maybe. This was it. I saw her turn towards him. I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but my heart was racing and I was real anxious to see them.

But then Oliver showed up. Oliver, who I like and all, but who isn't George. Oliver, who pushed past George. Oliver who picked up Jo and swung her around and made her giggle and-

"-Hey! Earth to Cas! It's right up here." Jo pulls me back into the present. I hold up my wand and see a dead end. I groan. She led me to a dead end. I'm going to have to walk all the way back, probably in silence. I'm very much not amused.

But then she lifts her arms and pushes the ceiling. I see a crack of light, and stop casting lumos. She disappears up a hole in the ceiling, and then I see her arms stick back down to pull me up. Once I get up, Jo pushes a stone back over the hole, and I survey my surroundings. The first thing that hits me is the smell- all sweet and sugary and like heaven. Then I realize I'm behind a staircase. I follow Jo into the main room of what I find out is the sweet shop Honeydukes.

"Welcome to Hogsmeade, Cas."

"We're not supposed to be here." I reply. I don't mean to be ungreatful or unhappy, but that was honestly my first thought. You have to be a third year with permission to go into Hogsmede, and were second years who suck out of school without telling anyone. I try to bite back a smile- I don't want her realizing just how excited I am. I'm usually the one who has all the good ideas, but she outdid me this time.

"You wanna go back in the hole?" she asks. I shake my head and pull out some money.

"That's what I'm talking about, Cas!" Jo laughs, and we buy some treats and sit down in a corner where hopefully we won't be noticed. She starts talking about Quidditch and Oliver, but I don't really want to talk about that, so I try to change the subject. I ask her how she found this place, and she tells me the story. It's a dumb story, and I tell her as much and she gets mad. I ask for the Map back and she begrudingly returns it, after I threaten her a little.

Then we talk about the Map. We talk about how the passage even exists, and how the Map knows. And we get the idea- I get the idea, actually- and we decide that when we have time, we'll look for more passages. It's an ancient castle, it obviously has more than one secret. And then we have our plan.

"When are we going to show the twins?" I ask her. Her eyebrows go up and she leans back, just staring at me for a good minute. I hold her gaze, not sure why she won't answer. Did she already tell them? She knows I hate being the last to know something, she knows I'd kill her right here and now. My state narrows into a glare and I make a noise so she knows I want an answer.

"I guess I hadn't thought about it...I mean, you don't even like George. I thought you'd want this to be our thing."

I lean back and feel myself relax. So they don't know. I shouldn't have doubted her- she knows me too well. Normally I would like this to be just our thing, but I'm stepping up my social game this year. I especially hate how obvious it is that I'm still not exactly comfortable or friendly with George. I really am trying to make an effort, in a passive, behind his and everyone else's back, kind of way. I'm a little miffed no one's noticed yet.

"I like George fine. He's just...ugh I like him fine, okay? And Fred's great. Yeah, we should bring them here. Soon." Maybe I can salvage my plan.

Jo takes a second and nods, looking excited that I'm finally trying to make friends. She's also trying to mask a little dissapointment or suspicion or something- she doesn't totally trust my motives. I roll my eyes but don't say anything else. We finish our treats and take the long trip back to the castle. It's later than we thought- we missed dinner. Our respective Weasley counterparts find us and take us back to our dorms, where I struggle not to tell Fred about the Map, or about my secret. He hasn't said much about the match- just that he was excited about winning, and George was bummed. I can tell there's more to it, but I'm not one for prying.

I didn't think I was one for secrets or lies, either. I guess Hogwarts is changing me.

AN: Totally forgot to mention, special treat next week. I don't know about you, but I've been getting a little too used to hearing the girls' sides to the story, so next week we get a new narrator. Until then, -cowriter