Maps and Mischief Making
May 31, 1993
Harry woke to the sounds of Madam Pomfrey bustling around, rattling various potions and tincture jars. Stretching to work out the stiffness that is only achieved by deep sleep, Harry’s movements in his bed grab her attention, and the Matron sets down the various jars floating behind her with a wave of her wand.
“Good morning, Mr. Potter. How are you feeling this morning?”
Clumsily reaching out for his glasses on the side table, Harry just begins to fumble for them blindly when they slide over on the wood and bump into his hand.
“I’m feeling great, Madam Pomfrey. I don’t feel any effects from the basilisk.”
Now able to see more clearly, Harry smiles up at the Matron, hoping she’ll release him in time for breakfast in the Great Hall.
“Hmm. I’ll just do a diagnostic charm to check, shall I?”
With another wave of her wand, this time over Harry, a soft glow began emitting from Harry’s body with varying colors in different areas.
“Well, you’re a bit more magically drained than I’d like, but I’m not seeing any lingering effects from the venom.” Seeming to read his impatient expression as easily as she had the results of her charm, the matron sighed and then continued, “Alright, I’ll release you. I’ll be giving you a pepper-up potion, however, and I expect you to drink it after getting some food this morning.” As Harry threw back the blanket, ready to get out of the hospital wing, she said sharply, “And don’t overdo it, Potter. No quidditch, nothing beyond first-year spells, and get plenty of rest and food for at least the next two days.”
“Yes, Madam Pomfrey,” Harry promises meekly. “While I’m here, do you know when the students who were petrified will be woken up? I heard the mandrakes were almost ready.” Harry throws a quick glance over to where he knows Hermione’s bed is.
With a smile, she tells him, “Professor Snape will be delivering the restorative sometime this afternoon when he’s finished with it. I would expect all students will be released by breakfast tomorrow if not this evening.”
Bolstered at the news they’d have Hermione back soon, Harry grins at the matron and thanks her.
As the older woman leaves him with a small bottle of pepper-up, Harry pulls the curtains around his bed closed and looks around for the clothing he had tossed on the nearby chair. Unlike how he left them, they’re now neatly folded, and from the fresh pine scent emitted when he shakes out the trousers to change, they’re clearly freshly laundered.
Leaving the Hospital Wing pajamas in the discrete hamper near the exit, Harry hurries to the Great Hall after a pause at the bedside of the still-petrified Hermione so he can pat her hands for a moment and whisper “see you soon Mione.”
Knowing he’d be cutting it close to when breakfast ended, Harry took a shortcut through a door accessed through a cupboard, an entry that always made him think of hiding The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in the furthest corner of his old cupboard when he was younger. The secret passage spits him out just one floor up from the Great Hall, so within a few minutes, Harry was slipping through the oversized doors and seating himself at the end of the Gryffindor table.
Quickly piling some eggs and toast on his plate, Harry glanced around at who was still enjoying breakfast. Dumbledore’s seat was empty, but Professor McGonagall and Snape were both still seated at the high table. McGonagall was chatting with Professor Flitwick, and Snape was surveying the Great Hall like he was trying to find someone misbehaving for an opportunity to take points.
Harry quickly looks back to his plate before they could make eye contact. Knowing Snape, he’d probably make up some stupid reason to take points from Harry at the reminder of his existence. Better to try and avoid his attention.
The Gryffindor table was lacking in the distinctive Weasley red hair, but as Harry poured a glass of pumpkin juice, he caught Dean’s eye from where he sat further down the table and mouthed, “Ron?”
After getting the reply of “Common room,” Harry set himself to eating as quickly as he could so he could head to Gryffindor tower and hopefully hear what had been told to the school. After their adventure below the school protecting the Philosopher’s Stone last year, Dumbledore had made out that somehow everyone knew about what had happened, so if the same thing happened this year, Harry wanted to confirm what information had already been spread before answering any potential questions from his classmates.
Taking the last bit of his toast to eat while he walked, Harry rises from the table and takes the shortest route to Gryffindor tower, avoiding eye contact with everyone he passes so as to avoid any conversations.
Once he reaches the common room, a quick look around shows the room is mostly deserted, most of the House likely enjoying the warm weather and loosening of rules now that the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets had been resolved. Harry spots the twins huddled in a corner, and as Harry begins to make his way over to them, one of them - Fred, I think - sees him coming and leaps to his feat.
“Harry!” Probably-Fred hurries over to him, with Most-Likely-George following closely behind. In a flash, both older boys have him held up in a tight hug.
“You absolute madman, Harry. Taking on Slytherin’s monster and Lockhart?”
“And without us? You know we would have helped and enjoyed all the chaos you must have unleashed.”
“Yeah, why didn’t you invite us, Harry, we could have helped?”
Face smooshed into one of the twin’s shoulders, he couldn’t tell who said what - not that he could have been sure even if he could see who was speaking - but Harry got the sense that although their statements were said in teasing tones, the boys were glad to see him. Their grips were tight, and there had been real relief on their faces as they joined him in the center of the common room.
After allowing himself a few more seconds to enjoy the hug, Harry pushes back from them so he can see them again.
“Sorry Gred and Forge, it was a pretty last-minute decision. No time to get back up.”
“Back up? Did you hear that Gred, our little Harrykins would have considered us measly backup, despite us being older and wiser?”
“You’re right Forge, if we had been invited along, then Harry and Ron would have been the useless backup. We would have tamed the beast and ridden the great basilisk out of the chamber!”
Laughing at the image of the two fifteen-year-olds standing on top of the basilisk head, brandishing the Sorting Hat and Griffindor’s Sword, Harry asked, “Do you know where Ron is? I had to go to the Hospital Wing last night, so I haven’t seen him since Dumbledore’s Office yesterday.”
With a quick ruffle of his hair from one twin - George? - and a shoulder squeeze from the other - Pretty sure that’s Fred - “He’s up in your dorm - “
“We think he’s hiding out up there feeling lonely - “
“What with both his friends in the hospital wing and all.”
Nodding in thanks and taking a step towards the stairs up to the dorms, Harry pauses when the twins speak again,
“And Harry, thanks - “
“For going after Ginny.”
“We’re not saying she’s our favorite sibling -
“But we’re not not saying she’s our favorite sibling. So life would have sucked if she had died.”
Uncomfortable with the sudden sincerity bleeding through the words, as Fred and George displayed their rarely seen serious side, Harry just nodded again and hurried upstairs. He finds Ron sprawled across his bed, reading the latest edition of Quidditch Quarterly, which is quickly thrown aside when Ron looks up and sees Harry.
“Mate! You’re okay!” Ron hurries from his bed to grip Harry in a tight hug before separating just enough that he can run his eyes over Harry as if looking for any leftover injuries. “When McGonagall said you were staying in this Hospital Wing I got worried that the basilisk bite wasn’t healed all the way. You alright now?”
“I’m fine, Ron,” Harry says with a quick nod, “Pomphrey just wanted to keep me overnight for observation, but she let me go this morning. Just supposed to take it easy the next couple days. I didn’t see Ginny in the Hospital Wing, is she okay?”
With an arm slung over Harry’s shoulder, Ron guides them over to Harry’s bed as he speaks, covers still neatly made from the day before. Depositing Harry on his bed and then throwing himself down to sprawl across the bottom, Ron replies, “She’s okay, I think. Mum and Dad took her to see the family healer at Saint Mungo's, and I think Mum will probably just take her home after that. I think Dumbledore said something to them about Gin being excused from exams or something, I dunno.”
“That’s good. I bet she’ll like being home and with your mum. Oh, before I left, I asked Pomphrey about Hermione, Snape’s working on the potion for everyone petrified now, and it should be ready later today. She said they’d probably be released tomorrow morning, maybe even sooner.”
“Mione’s gonna go mental at us for all the trouble we got into without her here!” Ron, who said this with a giant smile and excitement in his tone, must have been missing Hermione just as much as Harry had. Ron may have been his first friend, but they were unquestionably a trio. The last few weeks with just the two of them had left both boys feeling just slightly off-balance.
“Something else happened last night though.” As quickly as possible, Harry tells Ron about the confrontation with Mr. Malfoy, the way he had tricked the man into freeing his elf, and the idea Harry had about staying in the chamber for the summer, which resulted in the bonding with Dobby. Ron’s jaw dropped progressively lower throughout the retelling.
“Mate, bonding with an elf. That’s, like, a big deal. Most elves stay with the family they were born into for their entire lives, and the really wealthy families rarely get rid of them.”
“Dobby’s not going to stay with me forever. He’s just going to help me out over the next couple of months. Once I get through this summer and have a little more time, I can figure something out for next year, I’ll obviously end the bonding, and he can go back to being a free elf.”
“I’d prefer not to bond with him at all, to be honest. The whole thing is really weird. But I need help this summer. I can’t go back to the Dursleys, Ron. Not after last summer.”
Harry’s hands are restlessly plucking at his blanket, imagining the reaction he’d surely be greeted with upon walking through the door to Privet Drive.
His mind skittered away from memories of past punishments, the lingering soreness of bruises, never fully healed before new splotches of color were painted on his skin, the ringing in his ears from screams about how worthless he is, and, of course, the constant ache in his stomach as he’s fed scraps from his relatives' table.
He can’t take any more of it. Uncle Vernon would likely consider him “owed” a punishment from last summer anyways, so he wouldn’t even be able to start the summer off healthy while remembering and getting back into the regular routines of Privet Drive and life under his Uncle’s thumb.
No. Harry wouldn’t be going back. Ever again if he had his way. His plan to stay in the Chamber of Secrets was much preferred. At least then, the less than pleasant accommodations, lack of friends, and what will likely end up as slim pickings for food were from his choice.
Shaking his head to clear the distracting thoughts, Harry looked back up at Ron, who was staring at him with the same expression he usually aimed at a chessboard.
Leaning his head down to rest against his propped-up fist, Ron speaks distractedly as if he’s thinking several steps ahead, “I think this could work. If Dobby’s able to get you set up with furniture and stuff down there and bring you food every now and then, you should be able to last all summer. Boredom will probably get you before anything else.”
Harry had already considered that and decided boredom for a few months would be worth it. Plus, the chamber was big enough that he should be able to use his broomstick down there, and he assumed that if he were doing magic within Hogwarts, the ministry probably wouldn't realize there was underage magic being performed.
Pleased that Ron didn’t immediately foresee any holes in his plan, the two spent the next few hours talking about what he could do during the summer months to avoid discovery and their guesses as to what Hermione would think about the plan.
They didn’t have to wait long to find out. After Hermione and Hagrid’s (and all the other petrified individuals) triumphant return at dinner that evening, the trio sequestered themselves in an empty corner of the common room to talk about everything Hermione had missed. As she insisted on them telling things in chronological order, and that they spend a tortuous amount of time detailing everything their professors had lectured on, it took a while before Harry could finally tell her about what happened in the Chamber of Secrets and his plan to call it home over summer.
Harry had worried she’d immediately be opposed to the idea, whereas Ron had insisted she’d like the plan but be worried about him getting in trouble eventually.
To both of their surprise, Hermione was thrilled at Harry’s idea and immediately started plotting ways to ensure Harry wouldn’t be found out. When Harry tentatively asked if she was really okay with Harry not going back to his relatives, even he was shocked at the vicious tone in Hermione’s voice when she replied, “Good. You should never have to return to those monsters again, Harry. If you get sent back there just write me, and I’ll come to kidnap you myself. You can stay with us all summer, my parent’s wont mind.”
Harry thinks back to Hermione’s sharp eyes at the start of their first year, catching on the light bruises around his wrists and the way she’ll step in between him and any of their professors when they raise their voices at unruly classmates and decides not to question her further.
*
June 19, 1993
Harry folds his last t-shirt and places it in his trunk before closing and latching the lid and glancing around for one last look at the dorm room before he leaves it for several months.
The last few weeks had been some of his most pleasant at Hogwarts. A few days after the petrified students were revived, Dumbledore announced that all exams for non-OWL and NEWT students would be canceled, and even those ministry-required exams were being rescheduled for later in the summer.
Dumbledore cited undue emotional stress throughout the year on the students as the reason.
Harry thought that was a funny way to phrase “you all were afraid you’d be killed for a good chunk of the year, and some of you slept away months as statues, so you don’t need to worry about the goblin rebellion of 1689 or what all goes in a numbing potion,” but Harry wasn’t a teacher, so what does he know?
Without classes and exams to keep them busy, the Hogwarts students had spent the two and a half weeks since the basilisk was killed enjoying their time in the castle. Many students spent their days outside by the lake, soaking up as much of the good weather as they could while it lasted. Despite the Quidditch season being over, Oliver had insisted on the Gryffindor team fitting in a few last practices and gave them all personalized packets of drills they were to use over summer break. Harry was thrilled he might actually be able to practice them this summer.
But there were other ways to occupy their time, as the teachers all seemed to believe one of Aunt Petunia’s favorite sayings about “idle hands.” Professor Flitwick somehow got permission to revive the dueling club, and unlike the disastrous attempt earlier in the year, Harry managed to learn several new spells, as well as the correct form for dueling.
Professor McGonagall was holding daily transfiguration study sessions that she enticed students to attend by promising she’d spend almost the entire time in her animagus form and actually allowing students to pet her.
The astronomy professor, Professor Sinistra, held “moonlight picnics” where she somehow got the night sky to be reflected on the ceiling of an unused classroom, similar to the Great Hall, and students ate lunch out of picnic baskets while seated on spread-out blankets, the stone floor softened by cushioning charms, all while discussing the effects on magical flora and fauna whenever Mercury went into retrograde.
Each professor seemed to provide some sort of entertainment for the students - even Snape was offering extended office hours for people to go for assistance with potions review. Harry was pretty sure the only people who took him up on it were fifth and seventh-year Slytherins. No other years (except for Hermione) cared enough to study now that they were freed from exams, and only Slytherins were brave enough to willingly spend time with Snape that wasn’t required for a class.
Now that the rest of the students weren’t constantly accusing Harry of being the Heir of Slytherin, and in fact, people were being extra nice to him since rumors of what happened in the Chamber had indeed been spread around, Harry was enjoying himself immensely and taking advantage of the almost three weeks of free time.
Harry had met with Dobby almost daily, sometimes he’d call the elf to him once Harry was hidden behind the curtains of his bed at night, and sometimes he would just pop up when Harry was alone. One of the first nights after Harry was released from the Hospital Wing, Dobby and he had crept down to the second-floor bathroom under the invisibility cloak, and Harry had hissed the password to re-open the passageway.
Dobby had insisted Harry didn’t need to go down with him and was quite pushy about the fact that Harry should go back to bed and get some sleep and that now Dobby had the entrance opened to him, he would be able to find his own way back to the Chamber.
Dobby had happily jumped down the pipe before Harry could try and argue, although he did wait for a few minutes until he heard a quiet “Master be going to bed, now” echo up from the open pipe. Hissing at the sink to close it again, Harry returned to his dorm and spent the next few nights getting regular updates from Dobby on how the cleaning of the “nasty, dirty, old secret room” was proceeding.
Dobby also promised him that he was setting up an appropriate living space in the chamber and that he had purchased a few items from Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade with coins he had been able to retrieve from Harry’s vault at Gringotts.
For now, at least, it seemed like his plan to hide out in the Chamber of Secrets was going well. Today would be the real test, however. While Ron and Hermione and the rest of the Hogwarts students returned to London on the Hogwarts Express, Harry would sneak down into his new home. As long as he doesn’t get caught, that is.
Tapping his wand against his trunk to shrink it, Harry tucks it in his pocket and heads down the spiral stairs to the common room, where he knows Ron and Hermione are waiting for him. Greeting them both with a smile, Harry isn’t surprised when Hermione immediately grips his arm and tugs him into a corner. She was becoming increasingly worried that something would go wrong and he’d be forced back to the Dursleys.
Huddled in the corner going over the plan one more time in whispers is where Fred and George find them.
“And what do we have here brother-mine.”
“It looks an awful lot like some scheming, dear brother. What could our littlest brother, our other little brother, and their evil genius best friend be talking about so secretively?”
Outside of the small circle Ron, Hermione, and Harry had created with their bodies, Fred and George stood with identical smirks as they waited to hear what they undoubtedly hoped was a prank in the works. Hermione and Ron immediately started rambling excuses that Harry was sure the twins would see through in a heartbeat. Harry was silent however, as he remembered the twins coming along with Ron last summer to rescue him from Privet Drive and their sincere thanks after Harry got Ginny out of the Chamber of Secrets.
Speaking over Hermione’s attempts to convince them they were just talking about exam results, Harry said “We’ll tell you, but you have to promise you won’t tell anyone else.”
Hermione and Ron both fell silent, shooting Harry looks that asked “Are you sure?”, but Harry knew the twins would support this. At worst they’ll consider it a cracking good prank on everyone and do what they can to make sure it lasts. After a quick glance at each other, they both turned back to Harry and nodded solemly.
“I’m not going back to the Dursleys. I’m going to hide in the Chamber of Secrets this summer. Maybe future summers too, but I’ll figure that out later. I’m just not going back to my relatives.”
The twins sent each other an unreadable look but didn’t interrupt Harry as he continued, “I’ve made friends with a house elf, the one that was bugging me most of the year, and he’s going to help me out. Get food and stuff every now and then.”
One of the twins leaned over and whispered quickly in the ear of the other. Harry couldn’t even guess who was who, the twins seemed to work harder at looking identical on days when they’d be meeting new people or seeing people for the first time in a while. Today, when they’d be returning home to their parents for the first time in months, there were no visible differences between their looks, and Harry thought they were doing their best to moderate their tiny behavioral differences.
After a heated but whispered conversation, one twin took off across the room where they had left their trunks and the other focused back on Harry. “We think it’s a good idea, Harry. You shouldn’t go back to that muggle hell, ever. We know you have your cloak, and that’ll help if you need to get out of the chamber, but we’ve got something else you can use too. We’ve learned all we can from it, but we do reserve the right to ask to borrow it occasionally. Georgie will explain it when he gets back. What do you plan on doing with Hedwig? We want to be able to check in during summer, make sure your ‘elf-friend’ hasn’t forgotten about you and you starved away.”
Harry’s not surprised by their easy acceptance of his plan, but he is relieved. “I was going to send her with Hermione. She’s pretty obvious, and I don’t know if she’d be able to get in and out of the Chamber. Dobby mentioned something about a post office box, said he already set it up for me, and dropped the box off in the chamber.”
“Oh good. Those are easy enough, send Ron a letter once you get down there and include the return address. We’ll send you stuff occasionally just to check in and see how things are going.”
Harry asked about how the post office boxes worked, since Dobby hadn’t explained it before, and Fred and Ron spent the next few minutes explaining the linked boxes that were paid on a subscription service. A person could send you letters addressed to the post office box, which would be received and sorted by ministry employees. Once a letter or parcel was placed in a box at the post office, nightly vanishing charms would transport the items to the linked boxes that were transportable.
It took a little more time than sending just via owl post, as the sorting at the post office and vanishing spell process would usually add a day or two, but Ron said it was generally assumed to be a more secure form of sending post, as no tracking spells placed on owls could be used to locate someone. Additionally, as mail was processed through the post office, it’d be scanned for harmful curses and substances, and they would be neutralized if possible or just destroyed.
By the time the brief explanation was finished, George had returned and handed Harry a blank but worn piece of parchment. Glancing down at it, and then looking back at the twins with a raised eyebrow, Harry waited to hear how this scrap bit of paper would supposedly help him this summer.
“This Harry has been the secret to most of our success at Hogwarts,” George tells him with a smirk.
Fred picks up the story, the twins falling into their usual back-and-forth manner of speaking “Back in our first year, when we were still innocent little babes, we had a bit of a run-in with old Filch, and to make a long story short, it resulted in him leaving us unsupervised in his office -”
“ - And when we saw a file cabinet labeled Confiscated and Highly Dangerous, well we can hardly be blamed for taking a peek.”
“ - This little baby looked interesting, so we snagged it. Took us bloody weeks to figure out how it worked, but once we cracked the code…”
“ - Well, let’s just say that was the true start to our pranking genius here at Hogwarts.”
The twins finished their explanation by smiling down at the piece of parchment in a manner that reminded Harry of how mums in movies would look lovingly at their children. It was a bit disturbing to see that look of fond affection on Fred and George’s faces.
“Okay, but…how does it work? What’s the code?” Ron asks skeptically.
With a flourish, Fred whips his wand from his pocket and taps the parchment, and says, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
Immediately ink lines begin spreading from the point at which Fred’s wand touched the parchment, forming a spiderweb of marks across the parchment. Harry felt Ron and Hermione both crowd in behind him to better peer over his shoulder. Within just a few seconds, it was clear what the crisscrossing lines had formed; a detailed and intricate map of Hogwarts.
And, even more shocking, labeled dots that appeared to be the current location of everyone in the castle. Harry’s eyes flickered over the map, registering heavy concentrations of dots that must mean common rooms for the other houses. Dots and labels were so tightly packed together it was hard to make out anyone legibly. Glancing at where the Gryffindor Common room was, Harry spent a moment trying to spot their names, but there were enough other students in the common room he couldn’t even spot them, despite knowing exactly where they were standing.
Ignoring Hermione’s gasp, and Ron’s explanation of “Bloody hell!” Harry shifts his focus to the words that appear at the top of the paper.
“Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present the Marauder’s Map…who are Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?” Harry asks the twins.
“No idea!” George says cheerfully.
“Bloody geniuses, whoever they are. And we owe them so much!” Fred pretends to wipe tears away as if overcome with emotion at the thought of these troublemakers who preceded them.
“But note the secret passageways, Harry. If you need to get out, use this one - “George points taps at a spot on the map, a hallway on the third floor, “It’ll take you straight to Hogsmeade. If you need to get out of the castle or purchase some supplies or something, that’d be your best bet.”
“But the important bit is seeing where everyone is. That should help you tons if you’re needing to sneak around the castle!” Fred finishes
“This is brilliant! Thank you so much!” Harry tells them “You’re really okay with giving this to me?”
“Of course, Harry! As I said, we’ve learned all we can from it. Time to pass it on to the next generation.” Fred says with a wink. “And you clearly need it more, if you’re going to pull a runner and stay hidden at Hogwarts all summer.”
“Don’t forget to wipe it when you’re done, just tap it again with your wand and say ‘Mischief Managed’ and it’ll go back to looking like a plain sheet of paper.” George reaches up and ruffles Harry’s fringe, and the twins say quiet goodbyes before returning to where they had been seated with their year mates across the room.
As soon as they’re gone, Ron and Hermione cluster in close again, peering at the map and both talking over each other.
“Bloody hell, I can’t believe the twins have had this all this time and never told me about it! We could have bloody shared it, but those twats kept it for themselves!”
“This is incredible work Harry, I don’t even know what kind of arithmancy and spell casting it would take to make something like this. Oh, I know what I’ll be researching this summer, I didn’t even know something like this was possible!”
Ignoring both of his friends for the moment, Harry glances again at the header to the map. Something like this was exactly what he needed to get him through the summer. A way to check who was in the castle and a literal map to evade them. It was perfect! Between this and Dobby’s assistance, it seemed more and more like this crazy idea Harry had was something that was meant to be. It was all working out.
Whoever Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are, I really owe them one.
*
Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the flood of students leaving Hogwarts for the train station that was between Hogsmeade and the Castle. Nerves had all three of them on edge in the carriage, with Ron barely speaking, Hermione talking non-stop but holding Harry’s hand in a tight grip, and Harry bouncing his leg up in down in a way that he knew would be irritating to others.
When the horseless carriage finally pulled to a stop, and the three hopped out, Hermione retained her tight grip on Harry’s hand, and Ron threw his arm over his shoulder. They all knew they wouldn’t be able to say a real goodbye, not with the various teachers stationed on the platform surveying students for any last misbehavior. They couldn’t do anything that might draw attention to the fact that Ron and Hermione might know where he was if his absence was discovered.
As they moved towards one of the open doors to the Hogwarts Express, Harry shoves his free hand deep into his pocket and grips his invisibility cloak, ready to pull it out right as the three of them crossed the threshold.
“Harry, please be so careful this summer, and you better write us all the time. I want to know you’re safe and haven’t been killed by a second basilisk or by a cave-in or something.” Hermione whispers, and before Harry can even reply, Ron says in a low voice, “Seriously, Harry send us something like every day. At least at the start when you’re first getting in there. If it’s awful, have Dobby bring you to the Burrow, and you can live in our old treehouse. Gin and I are the only ones that still go out there.”
Harry forces himself to ignore the spreading warmth in his chest caused by his friend's concern for him and just whispered quiet promises that he would check in with them both frequently. Hermione gave his hand one last squeeze, nodded at him meaningfully, and stepped up onto the train.
Harry shifts back slightly, as if to allow Ron to go first, who also squeezes his shoulder before stepping up on the train with a last whisper of “Be safe, mate.”
Harry places one foot on the train, and as he’s levering his body up to put both feet on, pulls his cloak out and swings it around him, then hops back down to the ground. Hopefully, if anyone on the platform was watching, they would have seen him disappear and thought it was due to him stepping through the entrance, and no one already on the train would have seen him at all.
Turning around and hurrying back through the station, Harry waits by the carriage drop-off point. When the next carriage pulls in, containing a sixth-year Slytherin boy and a Hufflepuff girl from fifth year, who were clearly making the most out of their last few private moments before separating for the summer, Harry trails along the side of the carriage, and as soon as the boy exits, he hops through the door before it slams shut.
Throwing himself back against the seat, Harry allows himself a few seconds to rejoice that at least the first stage of today went well. Better than well really, since the twins gave him that map. Opening it up now to check where the professors are, Harry quickly whispers, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
Luckily, it looks like the castle is rapidly emptying. Dots representing students are moving from around the castle to the entrance hall, and Harry thinks most of the professors were down supervising students leaving, although he sees Dumbledore in his office and Filch near the Great Hall.
Clearing the map and tucking it back in his pocket, Harry readies himself to leave the carriage. There are still students waiting for a ride down to the platform, so he’s going to have to do this carefully. When his carriage rolls to a stop, he stands right next to the door and holds it shut. When a student, obviously rushing to get down to the platform, tries to open it, Harry uses all his strength to keep it shut until the fourth year begins yanking on the door to force it open. Right as the older boy is about to pull the door again, Harry lets go and leaps out when the door swings open and knocks the other boy back to the ground.
His footsteps hidden under the sounds of the complaining boy and his jeering friends, Harry quickly moves past them into the courtyard. Slipping through the open doors into the entry hall, Harry eyes Filch warily but assumes there are enough other students passing through the hall that even Mrs. Norris shouldn’t be able to realize there was someone walking in the wrong dirction unseen.
Moving toward the second-floor girls' bathroom, Harry quickly leaves the crowd behind.
No one was in these hallways, and even though it was only a few corridors away from the main thoroughfare through the school, the castle had cleared out enough already to mean this hallway was completely deserted. It’s distinctly unnerving to Harry.
Even in his nighttime wanderings under the cloak, Harry always knew the castle was full of students and teachers, they were merely sleeping. It felt different now.
Even though there were still some students in the castle, Harry weirdly got the sense that the Castle was settling down for the upcoming months in which it would be mostly empty. Like a bear, or a dragon hunkering down for a long winter, Hogwarts felt less alive than it usually did.
Finally, Harry reaches the bathroom. With one last look down both sides of the hallway to make sure it’s totally empty, Harry pushes open the door, ready to begin his summer in the Chamber of Secrets.