Hogwarts was a peculiar place.
At least, William thought so.
And it wasn't a hasty judgment, either—this was the conclusion he reached after careful observation, wild hypotheses, and cautious testing.
Take, for instance, Headmaster Dumbledore. He wore thick woolen socks with fleece lining, and yet complained of being cold…in summer! Clearly, the man was unwell.
Then there was the Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall, with her serious demeanor and secret fondness for Quidditch betting; the Potions Master who never washed his hair and now fretted about going bald; and the Keeper of Keys, who had a passion for petting dragons!
But strangest of all was perhaps the case of the missing doorknocker from their own Ravenclaw Tower entrance—an item that had mysteriously vanished for an entire month, only to reappear one morning in a heap of rubbish outside the common room door.
The whole school had been abuzz with rumors since then.
After all, the initial panic over a Death Eater infiltrating Hogwarts and the resulting all-night lockdown had left everyone in a state of worry for weeks.
Professors had patrolled day and night, and students had been so unnerved that everyone assumed Voldemort himself might be resurrecting.
Then, without explanation, the missing knocker was simply found again.
The one who discovered it was none other than Prefect Robert. After spending his last few months at Hogwarts with the near-obsessive goal of catching the culprit, he had finally spotted the knocker on a trash pile one morning.
He had nearly tried to slip it away without notice but was caught by both Boba Tea and Mrs. Norris prowling nearby. And if Mrs. Norris knew, then Filch knew, too.
William had been watching the Marauder's Map that day. He had seen how the students gathered around to stare at the scene, and he even recognized some of the names on the map, like Judy Crouch and Arthur from Slytherin.
Whoever had returned the knocker had clearly waited for the busiest time of day, hoping it would go unnoticed amidst the crowd.
In the weeks that followed, the panic about Death Eaters and the missing bronze "ring" of Ravenclaw had largely faded. With the knocker reinstalled, now once again answering questions with its usual, "Serene Big sister's" voice, things at Hogwarts began to settle back into a more familiar routine.
The arrival of spring brought warmer weather, and as exams loomed only a few months away, the students of Ravenclaw hunkered down to study even harder than usual, determined to keep hold of their lead in the House Cup.
It had been nine years since Ravenclaw last held that honor, and they were closer than ever to victory.
As for the Quidditch Cup though,…there wasn't much hope. Even the most optimistic students doubted Ravenclaw's chances of escaping last place.
Their losing streak had stretched to six consecutive games, leaving them three hundred points behind the next lowest, Slytherin.
Quidditch matches affected overall standings for the House Cup, which meant that no team was going to "let" Ravenclaw win a game this year, despite previous years' goodwill gestures to avoid a full shutout. So Ravenclaw's only remaining path to victory was academic, with everyone dedicating themselves to scoring as many points as possible through exams and assignments.
In the calm that followed, even Professor Tywin and Professor Snape seemed to avoid their usual conflicts, though Tywin's frustration was evident, and Snape still seemed weary from his time at Azkaban.
When Easter arrived, it brought an uncomfortably heavy load of assignments, and the holiday held little of the warmth of Christmas. William and the others spent most of it in the library, finishing up work as quickly as possible to make extra copies to sell.
Easter break passed quickly, and within two weeks it was time for the much-anticipated match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, the showdown that would determine the final standings of the Quidditch Cup.
The afternoon before the game, everyone abandoned their studies to chatter excitedly about the next day's match.
The weather at Hogwarts had been perfect lately, with skies the color of lavender and the grounds dotted with enormous, cabbage-sized flowers in full bloom.
Cedric and the Weasley twins, all facing the pressure of their first finals-level match, seemed nervous.
To ease the tension, William decided to take them to Hogsmeade for a little fun. Sneaking out was nothing new for William—in his past life, he had once dragged his dormmates out for an all-night gaming session the night before a final. While he'd been the only one to pass that particular test, the stress relief had been worth it.
Under Hogwarts rules, students in their third year or younger couldn't visit Hogsmeade, so William led the group down to the fifth-floor mirror, where Mrs. Norris had been seduced and lured away by Boba Tea. They could be reasonably sure that Filch wouldn't catch them.
Tapping the mirror lightly with his wand, William whispered, "Reveal your path!"
The mirror's surface shimmered, becoming transparent, revealing a small, person-sized opening.
Bringing up the rear, Cedric checked up and down the hallway, then William tucked away the Marauder's Map and slipped into the narrow passage.
They slid down the cramped, pipe-like chute for a long time before hitting a cold wall. William reached out in the dark, muttering, "Lumos!" to light the way.
The wand illuminated a low, rounded passageway.
"We've checked quite a few secret passages lately," Fred commented as they walked, "and we discovered that there are actually seven that lead into Hogsmeade."
George nodded. "Yes, but Filch knows about four of them. That leaves just three we can use, including this one behind the mirror."
William nodded, adding, "The second passage ends up in the Honeydukes cellar—it starts behind the statue of the hunchbacked, one-eyed witch."
"What about the third?" Cedric asked.
William grinned. "That one's right under the Whomping Willow. It's not exactly the friendliest route."
Cedric's eyes gleamed with excitement. "The Whomping Willow? That's the perfect wood for making Wands! and I haven't tested myself against it yet."
William groaned inwardly as Cedric's expression grew even more determined.
"Next time," Cedric declared, "we're taking that route!"
"..."
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