Chapter Eight: An Introduction to Many Passageways of Success
The most major day in history, the turning point of the world, the change of all life as we know it was the day that the Slytherin trio discovered Hogwarts' many secret passageways. Or at least, this is how they saw it. Three twelve-year-old boys were searching the map for a new location to explore (as twelve-year-olds do) when Harish had pointed to a couple of lines and asked, "What's this?"
'This' was what looked like a tunnel, leading off the map.
"I dunno," the twins said.
"But look there's one—"
"Here and another here."
"And they all lead off the map…" Harish trailed off. The three of them grinned at each other. "Guys, I think we just discovered hidden passageways!"
"Should we see—"
"Where they lead to?"
Harish was already pulling his cloak out of his trunk. "Definitely."
So the next few weeks were spent doing just this. In turn they found seven passages leading to Hogsmeade; four that they were sure that Filch knew of, one passage behind a mirror, one passage behind a statue of a one-eyed witch that led to Honeydukes, and another passage that was underneath the Whomping Willow (they didn't explore this one though because Harish didfancy keeping his head thank you very much). Plus there were several passageways hidden throughout the school that were very useful for navigating around corridors that were very full.
Now of course, once equipped with information of such passages, they couldn't help but use them. This is why, one day, the twins decided to drag Harish to Hogsmeade. Yup, you read it right. The three second years wanted to bypass all of the security set up for Hogsmeade trips and sneak into it a year before they could even be allowed to go. Well of course Harish didn't want to go, but who could deny the twins a field trip when they threaten to tell the Dark Lord that his son had abandoned the dark side and was becoming very close friends with Albus Dumbledore. This wasn't really true, but Voldemort wouldn't know that.
So this is why one could find Harish, Fred, and George all in a secret tunnel together, heading for Honeydukes. Harish had grumbled for a while, but after a couple minutes his curiosity set in and he was too busy looking all about the tunnel to complain any more.
The tunnel itself was a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. It twisted and turned, almost like a burrow of a great big rabbit. The three of them hurried eagerly, occasionally tripping on the uneven floor, Harish was in front with his wand lit so that they could see where they were going. Finally, the path began to rise.
Ten minutes later, they came to the foot of some worn stone steps, which rose out of sight above them. They paused here for Harish to get out the cloak and drape themselves in it before they climbed up and up until finally, Harish hit his head on something hard without warning.
He groaned and massaged his head before feeling what he hit his head on, discovering that it was some sort of trap door. Jack pot! He shushed the twins before putting out his light and listening to make sure that there was no one nearby. When he was satisfied that they were in the clear, he quickly clambered out, Fred and George following him.
They stood there panting for a minute to get the cloak resituated before creeping to a set of wooden staircases and silently ascended it. They reached the top of the stairs and slipped through a door, only to find themselves behind the counter in Honeydukes. They carefully went underneath the counter, making sure that no one's feet showed.
Then they discovered that Honeydukes was so crowded that there was no hope of the three of them remaining under the cloak, so Harish reluctantly pulled it off and tucked it away. No one seemed to notice the three second years anyway, so they took this as an advantage to explore the shop without hindrance.
There were shelves and shelves of the most fattening looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, honey-coloured toffees, hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in rows, a large barrel of Every Flavour Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, levitating sherbet balls, along a whole wall were "Special Effects" candies. Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with blue bubbles that refused to pop for days), strange Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ("breathe fire for your friends!"), Ice Mice that made your teeth chatter, sugar quills, and exploding bonbons.
But, no matter what quality sweets there were, the twins thought that this was nothing compared to Zonko's. There were all kinds of Dungbombs, Fanged Frisbees, Exploding Snap decks, Screaming Yo-yos, Non-explodable Luminous Balloons, Belch Powder, and Grow Your Own Warts kits. The twins bought several of each product and finally left the shop saying that they could make much better joke products than that.
After they visited these shops, the twins had bags full of jokes and Harish had bags full of sweets. They stopped to have a look at the Shrieking Shack before deciding to head back to the castle, this time taking the passage that was hidden by a drainage grate that came out behind a tall mirror. All in all, it was a pretty fun trip and most importantly—they didn't get caught