The small group now was divided. The group of Draco, Lancel and Liannus headed to the dungeons, the Twins and Theodore near the lavatories (which the others found odd since whatever could be found in a Lavatory?!), Freyda and Aragorn on the grounds, Zabini and Parkinson (who was informed on last minute's notice) went to the library section and Brandon dragged Hermione to the second floor to find some vacant rooms.
---
The dungeons were always cold, and Liannus, whose mother was a Charms Mistress, performed a basic warming spell on them three. Draco casted lumos and Lancel took out his quill and parchment to try to map out the dungeons.
"Bloody castle has to be cold. It's moist, too!" Lancel whined as his parchment became wet with the moist from the area and a few droplets from above.
"It's raining, Curly Top, if you are so genius enough to notice, and I hope that map of yours is accurate."
Liannus was obviously ready to argue with Lancel and Lancel was, as always, short tempered and does not let down on any argument.
"Wasn't it that my map saved your sorry ass when we went ghost hunting on your bloody villa?!"
"Whatever!"
"Oy, you two! Come on. I think I see something!" Draco yelled. He was already a good meter away from them.
"Sweet!" Lancel sped towards his friend amd Liannus had no choice but to follow.
From afar, Draco could see a small passageway that leads to a narrow door, enough to fit one person through. The three approached the door.
"It's locked! Liannus, do the unlocking charm!" Lancel pushed Liannus through the door and the other held his wand and whispered, alohomora.
"Nice!" The door swung open, and Draco smiled as he saw a staircase.
"You think this might be leading somewhere, Drake?" Liannus asked.
"Every staircase leads to somewhere. Come on!"
The three went up cautiously and as they went closer to where it lead, they could smell food and their stomach grumbled.
"Roast chicken!" Liannus was always a meat person, Lancel and Draco nodded. They could smell it, too.
"I think I have an idea to where it leads." Draco was always the logic one and he hurried up. Then he finally saw a small door and Draco approached it. It had a small peep hole.
Draco laughed. Lancel scurried towards him to join his friend and so did Liannus. They peeped and laughed.
"This is bloody sweet! We found a passageway to Hogwarts' Kitchen!" Draco said merrily.
------
The Twins and Theodore were now happily laughing as they were playing a good game of tag and giggling as they had water sprinkled on each other's faces. They found an old lavatory which was rarely used, and they wanted to find out why.
Which, they did. The lavatory had a 'female' sign in front and as the three entered, it was filled with water- on the floor, on the ceiling and just simply everywhere. Some door hinges were broken, and taps were bursting with water. It was always leaking. It was a bit dark and well-hidden and even had windows overlooking a part of the Forbidden forest. Actually, they already knew this part of the castle since they happen to stumble upon it just a few days before.
"I would've brought Melinda in here and boom! Put her head on a sink!"
"That's too much, Pete. She's our Mum's goddaughter."
"She's annoying. Besides, she's keeps on spying on Dursely. She's creepy, Pat."
"Noted, but she's our friend."
"The Notts had a contract with her, but she goes flirting. I think Theo should cancel." Peter popped one of his licorice candies into his mouth.
"Give me some of that!" A voice from behind him demanded.
"Patty, no. You're not allowed!"
"Not allowed to what?!" Peter realized all of the sudden that his twin was far from him and that she keeps away from sweets. Pat was with Theo, trying to snoop on some apple that Theo brought with him. Theo was a fruit person, and he likes having a small bag to put his things in.
Peter paled, "Who-who's there?!" He demanded.
"Ooooh. Ickle boy! Give me the Licorice! Licorice!" The voice said again near his ear.
Peter was afraid now. He may be a prankster, but that doesn't mean he was a boy, too!
"Boo!"
"Aaaaaaahhh!" Peter screamed his lungs out, and Patrianne dragged Theo towards her brother.
The girl ghost laughed and giggled. Her sharp voice shrill enough to mistake it for a cackling evil witch.
"Get away from him, Moaning Myrtle!" Theo screamed, "You're scaring him!"
"Hmm," she hummed as she passed by Patrianne, who was shuddering as she shielded her brother (but to no avail, the girl was a ghost) and Peter who was now wet from being taken by surprise and stumbling on to the flooded floor, "Sly, ambitious Slytherins! And, ohh, Ickle Theo." She giggled again.
"Just give her the Licorice Pops, Pete." Theo advised. He met the ghost girl once, and she was crying- she was always crying, and Theo offered her a Licorice Pop once and the girl had taken a liking to it, and a liking to him. She told him she lives in a lavatory, but he didn't know it was in this lavatory.
Peter extended a trembling hand and Myrtle snatched the Pops away. Peter then stood and Patrianne beside him.
Myrtle laughed, "I was just playin' around," She rounded Theo, "You forgot about me, didn't you?"
"No, it's because I don't know where to find you." That, and he was busy with schoolwork to think about the ghost of the girl he saw as he was looking for his ink and quill.
"Hmm," she licked her lips as the had the candies, "Never had one of these since... 49 years ago."
"You... you know your dead, right?" Peter stammered out.
"Of course, I do, pretty, pretty Slytherin. I'n a Ravenclaw, by the way."
"How did you die?!" Patrianne asked.
"Ooohhhh!" Myrtle screamed, and they all had to cover their ears. The water was now leaking full force and the remaining taps bursted, "oooh, I was swayed! Swayed by a boy! A Slytherin, just like you! Go away!" She was now crying and hiding inside a cubicle.
She cried and cried.
And cried.
"I think it's best to leave her alone," Patrianne said, and in a more audible voice added, "We'll be back soon. Bye, Myrtle!" She then proceeded to grasp a handful of Licorice pops from her twin's bulging inner pockets and left it at the foot of the cubicle.
The three then casted a drying charm and went on to their way.
----
"Come on, 'Mione." Bran dragged his friend out of a small room they found. It was filled with books and Hermione seemed to be in a daze just by looking at their latest treasure. They both had explored three unused rooms and found various interesting things.
The first was near the DADA practical classroom. It was big, and had golden things on it. Trophies were placed inside creaky cabinets with dust on them, and on one side were plaques of recognition. Some of them were dated 1511 below, and the most latest was in 1863. It was a 1863 Duelist Elite Champion Cup, with an unreadable name that starts with F.
The next was more interesting, it was a small, square room and had brooms, snitches, and various other things that they guessed must have been used for Quidditch. Brandon recognised one of the snitches as similar to Draco's golden ball, and the brooms seem to be old and some were even out of magic already. Brandon took one of the snitches and seeing that it could fly if pressed, he held it tight and secured it inside his robe pocket, while Hermione took a small whistle.
The third room was filled with unused chairs, so they only took a quick look and moved on to the next. It was a well hidden room, with books sprawled all across it. It even had a small study desk which had intricate patterns.
Their recent room was a room which was more like a cupboard but was filled with many books. Hermione was now gaping at it.
"Go on!" Brandon looked back at the hallway. He could hear some ruffling and footsteps besides the strong splatter of rain.
"You a chicken, or what?" He heard another voice say. He told Hermione to listen and her eyes grew big as they realized that they were not alone.
Brandon dragged Hermione out and looked out for whoever was outside. They were careful to keep silent as they approached whoever was in the same floor as them.
Near the first room they discovered were three boys, all wearing Gryffindor ties. Bran recognised Ron's flamimg red hair and he was talking to the others.
"Go on, Weasely. Prove to us you belong in Gryffindor!" The other boy had am Irish accent and Bran recognised the other one as Dean Thomas.
"That's-" Bran covered Hermione's mouth with a hand. For a moment, Bran was afraid that they were to be found out. The others didn't notice, though, as they were far enough and hiding behind a thick column.
Ronald looked appalled, but he just nodded at the other two. The others then proceeded to prod Ron towards a staircase.
It leads to the third floor! No one's allowed in there!
"Shit!" Bran cursed under his breath, "We've got to follow him. He's... no one's allowed. Something dangerous is up there, I can feel it."
"Feel it?"
"Dumbledore's hiding something, something dangerous. Saw McGonagall and Snape go up. Flitwick's a bit tense when talking about the third floor."
Hermiome was surprised, "What?! Since when did you even know about that?! Do you sneak out here?"
"I don't, 'Mione. I happen to notice things since last week. I was delivering an essay to Professor Flitwick when I saw them going up to the third floor. When I asked Flitwick about it, he became tense and told me that the professors were just doing some sort of business. He advised me to let it be. Which of course, led me to conclude that they are hiding something important."
"What-"
"Later! Now, let's go!" Brandon sprinted up towards the boy, qho was far ahead of them. He knew Ron was not that particular with surroundings.
They saw nothing but empty corridors and little puddles of water on the floor when they arrived.
"There's nothing dangerous here, Bran. Let's go. Look at him! He's scared when there's no one in here."
Ron was just pacing and was trying to find a way to go back down. It was quiet, eeriely so.
"I don't like it here!" Hermione tugged at Bran's school robes and tried to make herself seem small.
"Neither do I, but do you hear that?" Bran's ears seem to pick up at even the smallest of sounds and it was instinctive of him to do so.
A footstep, then a meow.
"Filch! He gives detention!" Hermione was terrified to her wits now. She bumped into the caretaker once, but he gave her the scariest sneer she ever saw.
They started to run, but had to turn around as the man was actually coming their way.
"Quick!" Brandon dragged her, by her collar, "behind this door!" He casted alohomora and went it as soon as the locks sprung free.
"Hey! This is my place! Go away, you slimy snakes! I found it first!" They were surprised to see Ronald Weasely already inside, out of breath and pale.
Hermione turned to the boy with an annoyed face, "What?! That's pre-"
"Shut. It." Bran was slowly backing out, his eyes horrified. He was looking at something behind them, and Bran was rarely afraid of anything.
Then Hermione heard a growl. She turned and what she saw only made her tremble more. She slowly made her way to Bran and he held her hand and Weasely turned to scream, "Ce- Cerberus!"
The three headed dog was massive! It had gargantuan teeth and its eyes were like it had fire on them. It looked cross to have it nap disturbed and it growled, thrashed, barked and it was about to get them when... The three first years then bolted out as soon as Bran did the unlocking charm. As soon as the dog was out of sight, the two Slytherins faced the Gryffindor who looked as terrified as them.
"Do not say anything yet, Weasely. We have to uncover everything before you go tattletaling this... adventure." Dursely's eyes were determined in an instant and Ron had yet to have the audacity to say no. So, he nodded slowly.
"Good. Remember, no telling. If ever we hear one word that tells us that someone learned about the... thing we just found, we'll know it was you. You hear me? And I heard them others daring you. You are stupid to even fall for it." Bran eyed the red haired boy and nodded at him. Weasely was really a Gryffindor. Doing before thinking, and come to think of it, so was he at one moment. They were lucky that they were not caught! Barely no one can pass by Filch, or a Cerberus for that matter.
"Go on, Weasely." The other boy sprinted towards the other stairs and they watched him in silence.
He noticed that it had stopped raining, only a small drizzle was occuring outside, and it was already dark. He looked at his wristwatch and let out a sigh as it flashed thirteen minutes before seven. They could make it in time for dinner without anyone being suspicious.
Hermione looked at Bran who was deep in thought. She noticed their ties were askew and she tugged at Bran.
"Let me fix your tie." Bran nodded and as soon as she fixed hers, she fixed her friend's.
"Sorry if you felt like being left out when Melinda came over to talk. I didn't mean it, sorry." Hermione stopped as Bran said his apology, "And for the record, she only talked about how cute are her earrings." He added and Hermione smiled.
"Girls are like that, in a way. You need to expect it." He smiled and then blushed while a hand went up to rest on his neck.
"Yeah, but... they're not like you. That was saying something special about you." At that, it was Hermione's turn to blush furiously. Nobody, especially a boy, ever told her that she was different, and then implying that it was good. At eleven, she lived for books, and she never did count herself as special, but Brandon Dursely decides to break that belief.
"Well, thanks."
"Yeah. Thanks for fixing my tie."
She smiled widely. She went up on tiptoe (for he was taller than her) and gave him a peck on the cheek. Brandon turned even redder at the gesture.
"Your welcome!" She chirpped and then proceeded to drag him to the Great hall to meet their other friends.
While on the way, with her babbling, Brandon thought of one thing, I really should do that often.