We edged out of the room and slipped behind the statue of the one eyed witch. Harry pulled out the map again, and we saw that there were now 2 more ink figures on there, with the names Harry Potter, and to my frustration, Ginevra Weasley.

"Your name is actually Ginevra?" Harry asked

"Yes, but I hate that name, please always call me Ginny"

"Of course"

We saw that the figure labelled Harry Potter was tapping the statue and saying "Dissendium", so Harry got out his wand and did the same thing. This opened up a tunnel wide enough so that a single fairly thin person could fit inside.

"We're gonna have to go separately" said Harry "You go first"

"Ok"

I hoisted myself into the hole headfirst, then pushed myself forwards. I slid a considerable way down what felt like a stone slide, then landed on cold, damp earth. I stood up, looking around. It was pitch dark. I held up my wand, muttered, 'Lumos!' and saw that I was in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. Harry landed behind me at that moment.

He raised the map, tapped it with the tip of his wand and muttered, 'Mischief managed!' The map went blank at once

He folded it carefully, tucked it inside his robes, then we set off.

The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else. After what felt like an hour, the passage began to rise. Ten minutes later, we came to the foot of some worn, stone steps which rose out of sight above us. Careful not to make any noise, we began to climb.

Eventually we came across a trapdoor, which I pushed open very slightly. I could see that it emerged into a cellar filled with crates and boxes. I nodded to Harry that the coast was clear and we climbed out of the trapdoor, which blended so well with the dusty floor that it was nearly impossible to tell it was there.

We crept slowly towards the wooden staircase that led upstairs. Now we could hear voices, not to mention the tinkle of a bell and the opening and shutting of a door.

We suddenly heard a door open much closer at hand; somebody was about to come downstairs. 'And get another box of Jelly Slugs, dear, they've nearly cleaned us out –' said a woman's voice. A pair of feet was coming down the staircase.

We leapt behind an enormous crate and waited for the footsteps to pass. We heard the man shifting boxes against the wall opposite. We might not get another chance – Quickly and silently, we dodged out from our hiding place and climbed the stairs; looking back, we saw an enormous backside and a shiny bald head buried in a box. We reached the door at the top of the stairs, slipped through it, and found ourselves behind the counter of Honeydukes – we ducked, crept sideways and then straightened up.

Honeydukes was so crowded with Hogwarts students that no one looked twice at us. We edged amongst them, looking around. There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-coloured toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavour Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizzbees, the levitating sherbert balls, along yet another wall were 'Special Effects' sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell coloured bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!'), fragile sugar-spun quills and exploding bonbons.

We squeezed through a crowd of sixth-years and saw a sign hanging in the furthest corner of the shop ('Unusual Tastes').

Ron and Hermione were standing underneath it, examining a tray of blood-flavoured lollipops. Harry sneaked up behind them.

'Urgh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires, I expect,' Hermione was saying.

'How about these?' said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Cluster under Hermione's nose.

'Definitely not,' said Harry.

"I second that" I said

Ron nearly dropped the jar. 'Harry, Ginny!" squealed Hermione. 'What are you doing here? How – how did you –?'

'Wow!' said Ron, looking very impressed. 'You've learned to Apparate!'

"Course we haven't,' said Harry. He dropped his voice so that none of the sixth-years could hear him and told them all about the Marauder's Map.

'How come Fred and George never gave it to me!' said Ron, outraged. 'I'm their brother!'

"I think the twins would consider me more deserving of it than you Ron, to be perfectly honest" I said "But I understand why they gave it to Harry"

'But Harry isn't going to keep it!' said Hermione, as though the idea was ludicrous. 'He's going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you, Harry?'

'No, I'm not!' said Harry.

'Are you mad?' said Ron, goggling at Hermione. 'Hand in something that good?'

'If I hand it in, I'll have to say where I got it! Filch would know Fred and George nicked it!'

'But what about Sirius Black?' Hermione hissed. 'He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know!'

'He can't be getting in through a passage,' said Harry quickly. 'There are seven secret tunnels on the map, right? Fred and George reckon Filch already knows about four of them. And the other three – one of them's caved in, so no one can get through it. One of them's got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you can't get out of it. And the one I just came through – well – it's really hard to see the entrance to it down in the cellar – so unless he knew it was there –'

Ron cleared his throat. significantly, and pointed to a notice pasted on the inside of the sweetshop door.

BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC Customers are reminded that until further notice, Dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall. Merry Christmas!

'See?' said Ron quietly. 'I'd like to see Black try and break into Honeydukes with Dementors swarming all over the village. Anyway, Hermione, the Honeydukes owners would hear a break in, wouldn't they? They live over the shop!'

'Yes, but – but –' Hermione seemed to be struggling to find another problem. 'Look, Harry still shouldn't be coming into Hogsmeade, he hasn't got a signed form! If anyone finds out, he'll be in so much trouble! So would you, Ginny, you're not even old enough yet! And it's not nightfall at the moment– what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?'

'He'd have a job spotting Harry in this,' said Ron, nodding through the mullioned windows at the thick, swirling snow. 'Come on, Hermione, it's Christmas, Harry deserves a break.

"Yeah mate, give it a rest, let us have some fun!" I said

Hermione bit her lip, looking extremely worried.

'Are you going to report us?' Harry asked her, grinning.

'Oh – of course not – but honestly–'

'Seen the Fizzing Whizzbees, you two?' said Ron, grabbing us and leading him over to their barrel. 'And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven – it burnt a hole right through my tongue. I remember Mum walloping him with her broomstick.'

"I remember that day very well, he tried to give me one too, but I caught on to it after seeing what happened to Ron earlier" I said to Harry

"Yeah, you got really lucky" Ron replied, scowling.

Ron stared broodingly into the Acid Pop box. 'Reckon Fred would take a bit of Cockroach Cluster if I told him they were peanuts?'

When Ron and Hermione had paid for all our sweets, the 4 of us left Honeydukes for the blizzard outside.