MILLIES POV
What with Elwood and Harry being friendly to each other now, the excitement for the New Years party, and the fact that Ravenclaw flattened Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match at the end of November, I was highly enjoying life at the moment. Gryffindor were not out of the running after all, although we could not afford to lose another match. Oliver became repossessed of his manic energy, and worked his team as hard as ever in the chilly haze of rain that persisted into December. No-one saw any hint of a Dementor within the grounds; Dumbledore's anger seemed to be keeping them at their stations at the entrances.
Two weeks before the end of term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. Inside the castle, there was a buzz of Christmas in the air. Professor Flitwick had already decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. Most students third-year and upwards had signed the form to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, too, because of the party.
To my delight, there was to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of term.
"We can do our Christmas shopping there!" Mione exclaimed, grabbing my hands excitedly. "Mum and Dad would really love those Toothflossing String-mints from Honeydukes!"
On the Saturday morning of the trip, I stood in the Entrance Hall with Harry, Ron, Mione, Dean, Seamus and Neville; all of us were wrapped in cloaks and scarves - except Harry, of course.
"Go and spend some extra time with Lupin," I said. "You like doing that."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks, I will. I hope you have a shit time without me-"
"Oh, we're going to have an excellent time," Seamus interrupted, winking at Harry before laughing. "I'm just kidding-"
"On second thoughts, you could always stay here," Harry whispered, glaring at Seamus.
"And do what?" I hummed, raising my eyebrows. I smirked as he eyed me. My heartbeat started to speed up.
"You know what I want to do."
I paused. "Nope. See you, Potter."
I quickly hurried after our friends, smiling at the sound of Harry's groan.
"Coming to Hogsmeade with us, Professor?" I asked Filch merrily, who was peering suspiciously into every face and making sure that no-one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going.
He scowled, turning to face me. "Of course I'm not, Donovan. Now start walking before I stop you from going too."
"Just being polite," I grumbled, allowing Ron to drag me away from Filch.
"I don't know how you even pretend to be nice to him, Millie," Ron said, shaking his head disbelievingly. "He's an idiot."
"I'm not too sure," I said quietly, looking back at the older man. "Maybe just...misunderstood."
Ron stared at me as though I'd just sprouted four heads, before shaking his own again and racing into a story about how he'd tried to kill a small spider this morning - key word - tried.
Hogsmeade was looking as stunning as ever in a crisp layer of snow; there were holly wreaths on the doors and fairy lights in each street lamp.
Ron had been moaning the entire way down that he was hungry, so we decided to go straight to Honeydukes. Seamus and Dean said they had to post a letter, and that they'd meet up with us later.
"Look at this, Millie," Mione exclaimed, pulling me over to a corner of the shop. There was a large sign saying 'Unusual Tastes' on the wall.
"Blood-flavoured lollipops," I read, examining one of the labels. "Ew."
"Should we get Harry some?" Ron asked, appearing behind us.
I snorted. "I don't remember Harry being a vampire."
"How about these?" Ron suggested, shoving a jar of Cockroach Cluster under my nose.
"Definitely not," I said - at the exact same time as someone else. It sounded like-
"Missed me, love?"
Harry appeared in front of us, smirking. My mouth dropped open.
Mione squealed. "What are you doing here? How - how did you-"
"Wow!" said Ron, looking very impressed. "You've learnt to Apparate!"
Harry laughed. "'Course I haven't. Here, Fred and George gave me this."
He pulled out a plain bit of parchment and handed it to Ron. I peered over his shoulder to look.
"That's just a bit of old parchment," I said, looking up at Harry, who chuckled.
"That's what I thought," he whispered mysteriously, "until this..."
Harry took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that Harry's wand had touched. They joined each other, they criss-crossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top - great, curly green words, that proclaimed:
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Eaglet, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present
The MARAUDER'S MAP
It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing was the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labelled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, I bent over it. A labelled dot in the top left corner showed that 'Albus Dumbledore' was pacing his study; 'Mrs Norris' was prowling the second floor, and 'Peeves the poltergeist' was currently bouncing around the trophy room. And as my eyes travelled up and down the familiar corridors, I noticed something else. This map showed a set of passages I had never entered. And many of them seemed to lead-
"Right into Hogsmeade," said Harry, tracing one of them with his finger. "Fred and George said there are seven in all. I used this-" Harry pointed at the third one, "-which led me right into this shop. The twins 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."
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Eaglet and Prongs," I read, completely fascinated.
"They must have been extremely intelligent," Mione said, eyeing the map.
"How come Fred and George never gave it to me! said Ron, outraged. "I'm their brother!"
"But Harry isn't going to keep it!" Mione exclaimed, as though the idea was completely ludicrous. "He's going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you, Harry?"
Harry, however, laughed. "I am not."
"Are you mad?" Ron cried, goggling at Mione. "Hand in something that good?"
"If I hand it in, I'll have to say where I got it," Harry reasoned, taking the map from Ron and stuffing it into his pocket. "Filch would know Fred and George nicked it."
"But what about Sirius Black?" Mione hissed, using her finger to poke Harry's chest angrily. "He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know! Millie, tell him!"
All three of them turned to me. I gulped, raising my eyebrows. "Well...he couldn't have got in through a passage," I said slowly. "There are seven secret tunnels on the map. I saw one of them over the Whomping Willow entrance, so you can't get out of it. Harry, you said that Filch already knows about four of them-"
"That's right," Harry said smugly, smirking at Mione.
"-so I doubt he would try to get through those - even if he did, he'd be caught. One of them's caved in...but the others..."
"But," Harry interrupted quickly, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, "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..."
Harry hesitated, rubbing my arm with his hand. What if Black did know the passage was there? Ron, however, cleared his throat 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..." Mione 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! And it's not nightfall yet - what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?"
"He'd have a job spotting Harry in this," Ron told her, nodding through the mullioned windows at the thick, swirling snow. "Come on, Hermione, it's Christmas, Harry's deserves a break."
Mione shook her head, looking extremely worried.
"Are you going to report me?" Harry teased, grinning.
"Oh - of course not - but honestly, Harry-"
"Seen the Fizzing Whizzbees, Harry?" Ron interrupted, grabbing his bestfriend from me and leading him over to a barrel. "And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? And the..."
"Surely you don't agree with them," Mione asked me quietly, as the boys continued to admire all the sweets.
"I don't know," I told her truthfully. "I think Black would be stupid to try and come after Harry in broad daylight. Plus, there's hundreds of people in Hogsmeade right now. He'd be spotted for sure."
"I guess so," Mione replied, but she still didn't sound convinced.
After Ron had given Harry a tour of pretty much the whole of Honeydukes, we paid for the sweets and left the shop for the blizzard outside. We headed up the street, heads bowed against the wind, Ron shouting through his scarf.
"That's the Post Office...Zonko's is up there...we could go up to the Shrieking Shack..."
"How about we go up to the Three Broomsticks?" I suggested, my teeth chattering.
All three of them agreed instantly; the wind was fierce and my hands were freezing, so we crossed the road, and in a few minutes were entering the tiny inn.
It was extremely crowded, noisy and smoky. Madam Rosmerta was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks up at the bar.
"That's Madam Rosmerta," Ron told Harry. "I'll get the drinks, shall I?" he added, going slightly red.
"He got the drinks last time, too," Mione said, watching Ron hurry away in amusement. "He fancies her, without a doubt."
Harry, Mione and I made our way to the back of the room, where there was a small, vacant table between the window and a handsome Christmas tree which stood next to the fireplace. We had barely sat down, when Fred and and George entered the pub, spotted us and walked over.
"Harry? What are you doing here?" George asked, standing in front of our table and fake gasping.
"You must've had help," Fred said, frowning. "Someone clever-"
"-sneaky-" George continued.
"-generous-"
"-handsome-"
"Yeah, yeah," I said, rolling my eyes, "we get it."
"Ah, Millicent." The twins both placed one of there hands on the table and leant down so that there faces were directly in front of mine.
"Feorge," I greeted.
"We've got something we need to talk to you about," said Fred, smiling mischievously. "Three words - New Years party."
I grinned. "I guess you're planning on sneaking some firewhiskey in, huh?"
"That's exactly what we are planning, yes, Millicent," George confirmed, nodding impressively. "I knew you would come in handy."
I tilted my head. "What do you need?"
"Time."
My eyes widened slightly as my hand automatically grabbed the timeturner under my top. Did they know? They couldn't do, how would they have found out-
"Figured you'd be the only one up for the job," George continued, smirking. "I mean, Lee would've done it, but Snape's already caught him after hours three times this month - Snape would be livid if Lee put even one toe out of line again - can't risk it - so that led us to-" George winked. "-you, little Donovan."
"Right," I mumbled, furrowing my eyebrows. "What do you want me to do?"
"We want the Firewhisky to be nice and cold for the party, of course," Fred began, lowering his voice, "so that means we would have to get it the morning of the thirty-first of December. George, tell Millicent our wicked plan."
"Of course, Fred. So obviously we are going to get it from Hogsmeade," George explained, looking quite serious. "And we are going to use one of the secret passages to get here - has Harry showed you-"
"Yes," I said quickly, gesturing for him to continue.
"-perfect. So we'll use the same passage Harry used to get here today - that's where you come in. On the thirty-first of December, Snape is going to be decorating that exact corridor, you know, with weird party decorations. We need you to distract him, only for a couple of minutes, while we sneak into the passage. Up for it, little Donovan?"
I glanced at Mione and Harry, who had been listening closely; they were wearing completely different expressions - Harry was smiling excitedly, while Mione looked absolutely appalled.
"Of course she's not up for it," Mione snapped, making the twins straighten up and look at her. "That idea is completely ludicrous."
"S'not," Fred said, nudging George amusingly. "Millicent's like a sly, little fox, she'll get away with it."
"It's not just that!" Mione exclaimed, scoffing disbelievingly. "You're breaking school rules, sneaking alcohol into the party!"
"I don't think they care about breaking rules, Hermione," Harry said, glancing between the three of them.
"Thanks, Harry," Fred said gratefully, as though he'd just received a compliment. "So, Millicent?"
I bit my lip; I had to admit, I was intrigued. And I reckoned the feeling of watching the twins go behind Snape's back right in front of him would be deeply satisfying. And I wanted to try Firewhisky...
"I'll do it," I said, smiling. Fred cheered, George ruffled my hair, Harry leant sideways and kissed my cheek, Mione's jaw dropped open - but not because she was happy.
"Millie," she hissed, leaning forwards fiercely, "are you serious?"
I shrugged, leaning back in my chair.
"Don't worry, Hermione," said George, sighing happily. "We won't force you to drink any."
"That is not what I'm worried about-"
"Happy Christmas, everyone!" Ron said happily, appearing behind Fred and George with four foaming tankards of hot Butterbeer. He looked at the twins in confusion for a short moment, before slamming the drinks angrily down onto the table. "Oi, why didn't you two tell me about this Marauders map thing-"
"Ah, brother," George greeted him, patting his shoulder - Ron swatted his hand away immediately. "Would love to stay and talk, but Georgie and I have things to do-"
"-places to see-" Fred continued.
"People to meet-"
"-oh, and Millie - nine o'clock, morning of the party, third corridor, alright?"
"Alright," I said, waving as they hurried away.
"Those gits," Ron spat, dropping into the chair beside Hermione.
"Don't worry about that now," I said, raising my tankard. "Let's drink!"
"Only if it's alcohol-free," I heard Mione mutter.
I drank deeply. It was delicious, seemingly heating every bit of me inside. When I placed the drink back down, Harry was staring at me amusingly.
"What?"
"You're such a baby," he said, picking up a napkin and wiping it across my chin.
"I'm not a baby," I muttered, moving his hand away.
"Mills," Harry said, as though I was being stupid, "you looked like Dumbledore, with the foam round your mouth-"
"Oh, like this?" I grabbed the napkin and shoved it in his face. Ron burst out laughing, and even Mione, in her annoyed state, giggled. Harry wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into him, tackling me playfully. The echoes of our laughter ran through the pub - nothing could dampen my mood.
Well...