A/N: I'm so horrible, leaving writing this chapter for so long! But its done now. I make no promises about when the next will come out though! (Disclaimer in Chapter 1)

Chapter 22 – A Trip to Hogsmeade Village

Harry and Ginny slowly made their way along the small tunnel under the grounds. Occasionally a drop of water fell from the ceiling, presumably from the freshly settled snow above – every so often one of the pair caught a glimpse of daylight through a small hole.

Eventually, the tunnel started sloping upwards. They'd long since disappeared from the edge of the Marauder's map, and Harry had stowed it back in his cloak pocket – it wouldn't serve them any use in Hogsmeade.

Suddenly, the tunnel came to an abrupt end. "What's wrong Harry? Why have you stopped?" Ginny asked from behind him.

"The tunnel just stopped." Harry said, frustrated. "I can't see a way out at all."

"Let me have a look." Ginny replied, manoeuvring herself around Harry. "Lumos", she whispered, lighting her wand tip. She ran it along the stones in front of her, then above her head. "There's a slight gap between this rock above us and the wall." She told Harry. "Here, hold my wand and I'll see if I can move it." She continued, handing Harry her lit wand. She braced her hands against the rock and pushed upwards. As it moved away, they could see it opened into a room of sorts, full of boxes and barrels, and a wooden staircase in the corner.

Once the stone was out of the way, the two teenagers clambered out of the hole created. The rock Ginny had been moving turned out to be a paving slab from the floor of the room. As Harry worked to put it back in place and hide the tunnel again, Ginny inspected some of the boxes.

"Ice Mice, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans…. Harry! I think we're in the cellar of Honeydukes!" She exclaimed. "Yes, look – here's a box of Honeydukes' Best Chocolate."

"Well, at least we know where we are." Harry commented. "Here, come under the cloak," he added, holding the invisibility cloak above his head, "we need to sneak out of here somehow – although I imagine the shop is quite busy."

As it turned out, quite busy was an understatement. Being the last Hogsmeade weekend before Christmas, it was the last chance for most students to do their Christmas shopping, and Honeydukes was naturally heaving with students. Luckily, Harry and Ginny were easily able to slip past the counter, and once in the main shop decided it wasn't worth staying hidden – most the students wouldn't care they were there, and they could easily blend into the crowds. Removing the cloak, Harry took Ginny's hand in his and they started attempting to browse the shop.

Being Harry's first time in the wizarding sweet shop (and Ginny's too for that matter), they were overwhelmed by the variety available. There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. In one corner were large barrels of Every Flavour Beans, Fizzing Whizzbees and more, along with shelves of Honeydukes' Best Chocolate, Wizochoc, Treacle Fudge and Chocolate Frogs, to name a few.

Eventually Harry decided to buy some Chocolate Frogs and Ice Mice – steering well clear of the more questionable offerings such as Acid Pops, Bat's Blood Soup and Blood-Flavoured Lollipops. Ginny looked longingly at the large bars of chocolate adorning the shelf closest to the counter, but didn't have any money of her own to spend. With the Weasley's struggling as much as they were, pocket money was thin on the ground as it was, and as she was in Hogsmeade a year earlier than she had been expecting until that summer, she hadn't been saving. She knew she could have just asked Harry and he'd be happy to buy her anything, but she was still getting used to the fact that what was his was hers, and felt a little bad about using his money like that.

Harry saw the direction she was looking in, and quickly added several bars of Honeydukes' Best Chocolate and a packet of Sugar Quills to his order, stuffing them into his bag before Ginny noticed – he'd surprise her later.

Eventually, the two tore themselves away from the bustling sweet shop, and headed out into the snow covered street. They had to tread carefully, as the uneven cobbles were slippery where the snow had been melting from continuous walking, but both were content to walk arm in arm at their own pace, stopping to look in the windows of several other shops.

As they left Honeydukes, they noticed a ripped sign in the shop window. Looking at it, they read:

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!

Both frowned slightly at the sign, remembering their thoughts from that summer and the proof given by Harry's parents' will that Sirius was innocent. But there wasn't much that could be done about it.

After making stops in several other shops, Harry and Ginny eventually made their way to The Three Broomsticks for lunch. Harry collected a Butterbeer for each of them from the bar while Ginny found an empty table in the corner and sat down to save it for them. After a couple of minutes, they noticed Hermione and Neville enter the pub, sighing in relief at the warmth after the biting wind outside.

Hermione gasped as her eyes scanned around the pub, landing on Harry and Ginny in the corner. After making a quick stop at the bar for their own Butterbeers, she grasped Neville's arm and dragged him over to the pair.

"What are you doing here?" She asked incredulously as she sat down. "I didn't think either of you had permission to visit Hogsmeade?"

"We don't." Harry answered, his eyes dancing with mischief.

"You snuck out?" Hermione exclaimed. "What about the dementors – that was so irresponsible and dangerous!"

"Relax Hermione!" Ginny laughed. "We didn't go anywhere near them – we found another way out. Honestly, we were perfectly safe." She reassured the older witch.

Neville just watched the interaction, amused, before nodding at Harry. "Glad you could get out to visit the village after all mate." He commented.

"What?" Hermione said. "Are you not at all bothered about them risking their lives – just to visit Hogsmeade without permission? You'll have plenty of chances in the future, you didn't have to come today." She added, turning her attention back to Harry and Ginny.

"I trust them both." Neville said bluntly. "They're both sensible. If they say they were safe, then I believe they were."

"Leave it be, Hermione." Harry put in. "We're here now, so why don't we enjoy it?"

"Oh, well, I guess we may as well." Hermione said, annoyance colouring her voice slightly. "Where have you been so far?"

"Honeydukes, obviously, and we also stopped into Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop and Zonko's Joke Shop. You?"

Before Hermione could respond however, they noticed Professors McGonagall and Flitwick enter the pub amidst a flurry of snowflakes, closely followed by Hagrid, who was in deep conversation with a rather portly man in a lime-green bowler hat and a pinstriped cloak: Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic. Thinking quickly, Hermione drew her wand and whispered "Mobiliarbus", pointing her wand at a nearby Christmas tree. It rose a few inches off the ground, then slowly drifted across in front of their table, blocking it from view. For added safety, Harry and Ginny slipped the invisibility cloak back over their heads.

The tree settled in place not a moment too soon, because the four new arrivals, along with Madam Rosmerta, made their way over to the only remaining empty table, right beside where the teenagers were.

"So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?" came Madam Rosmerta's voice.

In a quiet voice, Fudge responded "What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you've heard the rumours?"

"I did hear one, yes." The barmaid admitted. "Something about a sighting up at the school back at Halloween."

"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" Professor McGonagall asked, exasperatedly.

"Why, do you think Black's still in the area, Minister?" whispered Madam Rosmerta, worried. The presence of an escaped convict would severely damage business.

"I'm sure of it." Fudge said shortly.

"You know the Dementors have searched my pub twice? Scared all my customers away – it's very bad for business, Minister." There was a slight edge to her voice now.

"Rosmerta, m'dear, I don't like them any more than you do." Fudge said uncomfortably. He started rambling on about how they were necessary, and complaining about Dumbledore not allowing the foul creatures on the grounds, much to the annoyance of the Professors present.

"Do you know, I still can't believe it." Madam Rosmerta commented thoughtfully. "Of all the people to go over to the Dark side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought – I mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead."

"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta." Fudge responded gruffly. "The worst he did isn't widely known".

"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta." Professor McGonagall asked. "Do you remember who his best friend was?"

"Naturally!" said Madam Rosmerta, giving a small laugh. "Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here – ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!"

"Precisely, Black and Potter." McGonagall confirmed. "Ringleaders of their little gang – both very bright of course, but I don't think we've ever had such a pair of troublemakers…"

"I dunno." Hagrid laughed. "The Weasley Twins could give 'em a run fer their money!"

"Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea of course. You can imagine how that would torment him." Fudge continued. Harry was listening enraptured – while he already knew everything that was being said, he still liked hearing people talk about his parents. He did have to stifle a snort at the Minister's assumption that he didn't know about Sirius being named his godfather though. Ginny elbowed him in the side to keep him quiet.

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"Worse even than that, m'dear." Fudge dropped his voice even further before proceeding in a low sort of rumble. "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them." Harry briefly wondered how even the Minster was aware of that fact. "Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"An immensely complex spell," Professor Flitwick put in, noticing the look of confusion on Madam Rosmerta's face, "involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find – unless, of course, the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it. Provided they refused to speak, You-Know-Who could have searched village for years and never found Lily and James, even with his nose pressed against their living room window!"

"So Black was the Potters' Secret Keeper?" Rosmerta asked.

"Naturally." Professor McGonagall confirmed. "James Potter told Albus Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself… and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' Secret Keeper himself. For a long time, he had suspected that someone close to the Potters was keeping You-Know-Who apprised of their movements."

"But James Potter insisted on using Black." Fudge said heavily. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius being performed, he betrayed them. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seemed to have planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. But as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter."

"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid burst out loudly, causing half the pub to go quiet before Professor McGonagall admonished him. He went on to complain about being the last to see Sirius, and how he'd comforted him while at the Potters' cottage while collecting Harry. A long silence ensued, as Harry considered what information he'd just found out about his departure from his parents' house.

"But he didn't manage to disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up with him the next day!" Madam Rosmerta said with some satisfaction.

"If only we had." Fudge said bitterly. "In fact, it was little Peter Pettigrew who found him – another of the Potters' friends. He was maddened by grief, no doubt, and went after Black himself."

"Pettigrew, that fat little boy who was always tagging around after them at Hogwarts?" Madam Rosmerta asked.

"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter." Professor McGonagall commented. "Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I – how I regret that now…" She sounded upset now.

"There now Minerva." Fudge reassured gently, "Pettigrew died a hero's death. Muggle eye-witnesses – we wiped their memories later, of course – told us how Pettigrew cornered Black. He was sobbing, apparently. 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you!' And then he went for his wand. Naturally, Black was quicker. Blew Pettigrew to smithereens…" Fudge went on to describe the scene he had been met with when he'd arrived shortly after, as Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes.

"Well there you have it, Rosmerta. Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, posthumously, which was presented to his mother. The only part of him we could find was a finger, so it wasn't worth going ahead with a burial, although a funeral was still held. I think it was some comfort to his poor mother, but it wasn't long before she followed her son out of this life." Fudge finished morbidly.

"Is it true he's mad, Minister?" Madam Rosmerta asked, after letting out a long sigh.

"I wish I could say that he was." Fudge responded. "Those actions were definitely the mark of a desperate man – I reckon his master's defeat unhinged him for a while. Yet, on my last visit to Azkaban, he seemed positively sane, and normal. Didn't show the slightest effect from the Dementors – it was rather unnerving. In fact, he seemed somewhat bored. Retrospectively, I don't doubt he could have enacted an escape plan much earlier than he did – it does make one wonder why he waited around so long in such a horrible place." Fudge speculated.

"You know, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, we'd better head up to the castle." Professor McGonagall prompted.

"Yes, of course." Fudge muttered, getting to his feet. There was another flurry of snow in the doorway as the group exited, while Madam Rosmerta headed back to tend the bar. Hermione and Neville turned to Harry and Ginny with shocked looks on their faces as the pair removed the invisibility cloak again.

"What?" Harry asked, slightly disconcerted at the way they were looking at him.

"Are you not the slightest bit bothered by any of that?" Hermione asked, surprised. "The Harry I know would be moping about that for days."

"Who says he didn't?" Ginny asked, impishly. Seeing their confusion, she elaborated, "he just got that out of his system when we found out over the summer."

"You already knew?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, I mean, obviously I was shocked, and a bit angry -" Harry started, only to be cut off by Ginny.

"A bit?"

"OK, a lot. But we found out more, so it didn't last long. Over the summer, Ginny and I visited Gringotts. It turns out my parents had a will, but it wasn't read. Well, I got it unsealed and it said that Sirius Black would be named my guardian if anything happened to them, and that he was not the Secret Keeper – instead Peter Pettigrew was. It didn't mention he was my godfather though, although I guess it makes sense if he was left guardianship of me."

"But why was the will not executed?" Hermione asked, confused.

"We don't know – it took Ragnok a couple of weeks searching to find it, so someone wanted it hidden badly."

"So the official story is wrong – Sirius Black didn't betray your parents?" Neville confirmed.

"Apparently not. Although I have no idea about the murdering 12 muggles and Pettigrew in the street – that could well be the truth, and honestly, I'm not sure I'd blame him for going after Pettigrew – after all, the Ministry may have it the wrong way round, but they gave out an Order of Merlin for that."

Later that day, Harry and Ginny had just crawled out of the humpback with statue when Professor Lupin walked past. They had been meaning to speak to him for a while now, so Harry called out, "Professor Lupin?"

"Ah, Harry, Ginny. What can I do for you?"

"We wanted to talk to you, if you have some time."

"Certainly. I was just headed to my office for a cup of tea, will you join me?"

Once the three were settled with tea and biscuits, Professor Lupin turned to Harry, only to see his gaze fixed on a tank in the corner of the room. "That is a grindylow, Harry. I found it in the Lake – you'll be learning about him in your next class. So what was it you wished to speak with me about?" He asked.

"Well, mainly, we were wondering why you didn't let either of us face the boggart at the start of the year?" Harry asked.

"I would have thought that would be obvious, Harry." Professor Lupin responded, surprised. "I was concerned it would turn into Voldemort."

Harry was surprised, but pleased, that Professor Lupin said Voldemort's name, rather than sticking with the You-Know-Who that most of the Wizarding World preferred. "I did think of that, at first. But then I remembered the dementor on the train. I'm not sure that would be it either though."

"Remarkable, Harry. I'm impressed that you can look over your fear of Voldemort to consider what else you might fear. I tell you what, next time I find a boggart, I'll capture it and let the two of you face it. It would be a good experience for you to try, I'll admit, but it just didn't seem sensible to take that risk in front of your class."

"Thank you, Professor!" Ginny answered. "We didn't want to miss out on that lesson!"

"Now, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"On the train, you did something to that dementor to make it go away. Can you teach us that?" Harry asked.

"The Patronus Charm is some very advanced magic, Harry – sixth year, at least." Professor Lupin responded warily.

"I understand, but what if they attack a Quidditch match again? I want to be able to get back to the ground under my own power, rather than a levitation charm." Harry persuaded.

"I guess, there is some merit to you starting to learn. Even if you don't master the charm, being able to partially cast it will help somewhat. But I'm a bit busy for the moment. How about I start teaching you after the holidays. I should have some more time on my hands then."

"Thank you Professor!"

"It's quite alright. Now if you'll both excuse me, I've got quite a lot of marking to get through – I hadn't realised quite how much work being a teacher was!" Professor Lupin said, gesturing to a large stack of parchment on his desk.

"Bye Professor – and thanks for the tea!" Ginny said, pulling Harry up out of his chair.

Harry was a little disappointed that he didn't get to ask whether the Professor was the same Remus Lupin that was named in his parents' will, but his disappointment was tempered by the knowledge that he and Ginny would be spending a lot of time alone with the Professor after Christmas, and he could always ask then.

The next day, Harry and Ginny once again found themselves with nothing to do.

"We could always experiment with our portkey necklaces?" Ginny suggested.

"Sure. Let's see, we've got six locations left to be set. Why don't we set one to the Gryffindor common room?"

"That would make sense, but where? It has to be hidden, in case someone's in there when we use the portkey – otherwise the secret would be out."

"Let's head up there to have a look, hopefully there'll be a cubby hole somewhere we can use."

In short order, the young couple arrived in the common room. Being a Sunday, most students were outside playing in the snow, so the common room was pretty much deserted. They searched along the walls for anywhere they could set the portkeys to appear at.

"Over here." Harry heard Ginny call, waving him over to the stairs up to the dorms. He made his way over. "Look at the way the tower is built – there's a small space under the boy's stairs, but not the girl's. I've never seen anyone back here, its too small to really be pleasant to spend prolonged periods in."

"It's a bit odd that it is different though, don't you think?" Harry commented. "I wonder what's on the other side of this wall?" He muttered to himself, pulling the Marauder's map out.

He gasped in shock. "Look here, Ginny. It looks like there's a secret room past this gap – a speech bubble appeared next to me on the map with a password." He raised his wand and, tapping it lightly against the wall at the back of the cubby hole, whispered "Mischief Revelio." A small section of the wall shimmered and disappeared, opening into another room behind. The pair clambered in, and started looking around as the wall closed up behind them.

"I think this might have been the Marauder's hideout, Harry." Ginny commented. A series of markings adorned one wall – a tally of sorts. On closer investigation, Ginny realised it was a record of how many pranks each of the Marauders had helped with each year. Padfoot and Moony were pretty consistent across the seven years, although Padfoot had a much larger number for each than Moony. Wormtail had more in the later years, and Prongs started off helping with as many pranks as Padfoot, but that dropped off in the last two years – in his final year he had just ten marks, a far cry from the dozens of first year.

Harry, however, saw none of this. He was distracted by a pile of books he'd found in one corner. At first glance, they didn't seem too impressive – just the standard textbooks. But when he opened them, he found they were filled with notes from the Marauders, as well as his mum. Overall there were five complete sets of textbooks. Harry just sank to his knees and traced his fingers over his parents handwriting – despite the letter he'd found in the vault that summer, he still felt so connected to his parents seeing their handwriting.

Ginny, seeing what he was looking at and suddenly experience a slight feeling of sadness in the back of her mind, dropped down next to him and pulled him into her chest, holding him tight and giving him the support he so needed.

Eventually, Harry looked up having reigned in his emotions sufficiently. "This seems like the perfect place to set our portkeys to. Although I am glad we have that room back in Godric's Study for planning pranks – it seems a bit too cramped to get the twins in here. And besides, I quite like having a secret room for us with all this stuff left from my parents."

Ginny agreed, and setting the next location on their necklaces to the room, they headed out. "I was thinking," she started, "it would be good to set a location as the tunnel to Hogsmeade. That way we don't have to risk someone spotting us getting into the tunnel – and we can always use the necklaces to portkey back to Godric's Study afterwards."

"That's a great idea!" Harry said. "Why don't I head down there with the map, and get into the tunnel. Then in 20 minutes, you use your necklace to travel to me, and we can both set it as another location." He suggested.

As it turns out, 20 minutes was cutting it fine. Filch was in the corridor when Harry arrived, preventing him from accessing the secret tunnel. Luckily, as much as the caretaker wanted to, he couldn't punish Harry for wandering around the school in the middle of the day in his free time.

When Filch had finally moved on to find someone he could punish, Harry wasted no time in entering the tunnel, making it to the bottom of the slide just in time for Ginny to portkey to him, landing on top of him and crushing the air out of his lungs.

"Oomph!"

"Oh Harry, I'm sorry!" Ginny exclaimed, scrambling off him quickly and helping him up. "That didn't work quite as well as planned."

"I'm fine." Harry reassured her. "Filch was in the corridor when I got here, so I had to wait to access the passage. I only just got to the bottom of the slide when you appeared. Despite appearing next to me, I slid underneath you just as you appeared, making you fall on top of me. Hopefully I won't get the air blown out of me every time we use that function of the portkeys!" He joked.

After setting the next location on their necklaces to the tunnel, Ginny portkeyed back to Godric's Study, with Harry then portkeying to her necklace to test out the function himself as well. This went much better, with Harry stumbling as he landed beside a grinning Ginny, who just pulled him towards her and met him with her lips, kissing him firmly. When she let go, Harry was grinning stupidly – a face Ginny found herself copying.

"If that's how I get greeted every time I use the portkeys, I'm going to have to find a reason to do it more often!" Harry joked.

"Prat!" Ginny laughed. "You know if you want a kiss, all you have to do is ask!"

"All right then. Would a bar of Honeydukes' Best Chocolate be sufficient to earn another kiss?" Harry asked jokingly, presenting her with the bar of chocolate he'd secretly bought for her in Hogsmeade the previous day, then taking her into his arms.

"Of course! You know how much I love chocolate!" Ginny laughed, bringing her lips back to his.