(A/N) I know, I know, I know! I'm awful! I didn't mean for it to be this long! I didn't! I'm sorry if you've lost interest in this story because of me, but please don't give up on it! It's my first fanfiction. Moreover, I'm not really in a James-y mindset right now. My muse has also vanished into thin air. And I've found that writing in first person really isn't my forte. But I will not abandon this story. EVER. I promise. I hope you enjoy!

"Hogsmeade?" Dom asked. "It's not Hogsmeade weekend, though."

I smiled. "Who cares?"

"But what if we get caught?" Marco – always the responsible one – asked worriedly.

"We won't!" I assured him. "Even if they see us, no one will say anything. It's the weekend; it's not like we're skipping classes. And besides, people have better things to do than babysit eight students."

"And how, exactly," Marco began as we walked through the doors to the castle, "do you expect to sneak eight people through the corridors and out of the castle without being caught?" We began to climb the staircases to Gryffindor tower. "Especially with Professors walking around everywhere."

"I've got it covered," I told him with a smile. "Literally."

"Hang on," Lew said, holding out a hand, palm forward, like he was actually trying to stop someone from moving. "How do you expect eight of us to fit under one Invisibility Cloak?"

"Good question," Kagan said with a disappointed frown.

"We'll go in shifts," I told them. "I'll take two people at a time to the entrance of the passage, and keep going back and forth until we're all down there."

"That might take a really long time, though," Marco reminded me.

I just shrugged. "It'll be worth it, though," I said wistfully. "I've always wanted to visit Hogsmeade."

Fred and I exchanged a look. "Honeydukes!" we said together.

"I'm surprised that you don't want to stop by the joke shop," Lew said with a smirk. "Over your pranking days already?"

"Of course not!" Fred gasped, pretending to be offended. "My dad owns that shop. I can get anything I want for FREE. And besides, all the employees know me, and James, and Dom. They'd recognise us in an instant, and tell my dad."

"Your dad doesn't sound like the type of guy who'd care, though," Kagan said in confusion.

"My dad wouldn't," Fred agreed. "But my mum would."

"And then she'd tell our parents," I said, gesturing to myself and Dom. "And we'd be dead. I doubt our parents would be happy about us sneaking out."

"I guess you're right," Lew said, sounding sad, and I realised that he wanted to go.

"You guys can still go," I assured him. "Fred, Dom and I can just wait for you somewhere."

"Like Madam Puddifoot's?" Fred said with a wink. I backed away quickly.

"Sorry, Fred, but I'm not like that. Besides, incest is wrong, even if it's cousincest."

Fred looked taken aback for a moment before grinning. "But we must keep the pureblood lines going!" he said dramatically.

"Grandad Weasley would murder us if we married purebloods," Dom said with a laugh.

"What is Madam Puddifoot's, anyway?" Sam asked.

"It's a scary place," Fie said dramatically. "Full of happy, snogging couples and confetti – throwing cherubs."

"But only on Valentine's Day," Kagan added.

"Or so we hope, mate," Fie said with a sigh. "Or so we hope."

"It's really just a frilly, girly tea shop where blokes only take their dates if they want to please them, maybe snog a bit," I explained. "It's rather disgusting – lacy and pink and blech." I shuddered. "I won't go there unless there's some unforeseen circumstance."

"Like what?" Lew asked.

"Like if I had a choice between going in there or being eaten by giant, mutated bunny rabbits," I told him. "No, wait… I'd still take the rabbits."

We all laughed. Someone cleared their throat in what was obviously annoyance. I looked up to see that we had stopped outside the portrait hole, and that – judging by the impatient look on the Fat Lady's face – we'd been standing there a while.

"Wumbo," Sam said, and the portrait swung open. I grinned widely.

"Professor O'Tifty sure has a sense of humour, doesn't she?" I asked. "I wonder how she's seen SpongeBob?"

"SpongeBob?" Lew asked.

"It's a television show about a talking sponge who lives in a pineapple underwater, annoys his neighbor, and is actually rather stupid. The show is hilarious." I told him. "Your life is not complete if you haven't watched SpongeBob."

"Maybe she's Muggleborn?" Marco suggested.

"Was SpongeBob on when she was a kid?"

"It aired for the first time in 1999," Marco told us.

"Hmmm…"

The Fat Lady gave another impatient huff, so our conversation ended and we clambered through the portrait hole.

"I'll go get the cloak." I ran up the stairs. John was in the dorm room when I got up there.

"Where are the other guys?" he asked.

"Down in the common room. We're going outside. I'm the only one who doesn't have their cloak." I grabbed mine, wrapped the Invisibility Cloak inside it, so no one could see, and went back.

"Alright, then. Let's get on with it, shall we?"

It took me a good few trips to get us all of us down to the One-Eyed Witch statue. It was rather annoying, actually. There had to be a better way to do this. Dom did a head count when we were all down in the secret passage. I guess that, as eldest in the group, she must have felt responsible for us.

"Everyone here and accounted for?" I teased. She glared at me.

"We're all here, mate," Lew said.

"Alright then, let's not just stand around here all day."

The group of us made our way through the dark passage. It was extremely long. I wondered if we'd get to Hogsmeade in time to do anything.

I knew from Uncle George's stories that the passage let out underneath Honeydukes, in the basement. I spent the entirety of the trip trying to figure out exactly how I was going to get a huge group of eight through the basement and into the store without getting caught. It seemed impossible, but I'd decided a long time ago that the word was not part of my vocabulary.

We finally reached the trapdoor – Lew wacked his head on it – and Kagan, impulsive as always, reached up to open the door and go bursting through.

"Wait!" I shouted.

"Why?" he whined.

"We can't just go barreling through random doors without checking if the coast is clear!" I reminded him. "Besides, that door opens to Honeydukes' basement. What if the owners are down there?"

"How are we even going to get into the store?" Marco asked.

"From what I remember, the entrance to the basement is behind the counter," Fred reminded me. "How are we supposed to get out of here without them noticing us?"

"I've been thinking about that," I informed them all.

"Well then, Mister Know-It-All, what do you suggest we do?" Kagan asked grumpily, pouting.

"I think we need to cause a distraction. Something that will get the owners out from behind the counter, and get the customer's attention."

They looked at me like I was mental.

"No, really! Kagan, you and I can go up the stairs and sneak out - they might not notice just the two of us if we're careful. You make a fool of yourself, and I'll tell the others when it's safe."

"Why you two?" Lew asked, disappointed to be left out of the plan.

"Kagan and I look younger than the rest of you," I explained, cursing my father for his genes. "We could easily be nine or ten-year-olds out with our parents."

"I don't know whether to be offended or impressed." Kagan muttered.

"So, Kagan, since you're the dramatic one of the two of us-"

"I thought you took acting classes?" Fie interrupted.

"I do, but I think Kagan will provide more of a distraction."

"Again, I don't know if I should be offended or not," Kagan said, half-glaring at me.

"Anyway," I said impatiently, frustrated by the constant interruptions, "Kagan, you'll go into the middle of the shop and start acting like an idiot-"

"What should I do?"

"Oh, I don't know!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air. "Start crying for your mum or something!"

"I'll look stupid!" he objected.

"That's the point!" I took a deep breath. "So, anyway, he'll make a distraction – Don't interrupt me again –" I said as Kagan opened his mouth. He shut it with a snap. "-and I'll give you the signal when it's safe to come up."

"What's the signal?" Sam asked.

"Uh… I'll knock the Nutcracker Suite,"I decided.

"You're going to knock the Nutcracker Suite?" Fie asked doubtfully. "Is that even possible?"

"You don't know me at all, do you?" I asked him with a grin. "Ready, everyone?"

Kagan and I ran up the stairs – quietly – and Kagan snuck out behind the counter. He snuck into the middle of the store, winked at me, and started wailing.

"Mummyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

I grinned as nearly everyone in the store jumped. When everyone was sufficiently distracted, I ran back down the stairs, and knocked.

"Oh. I guess you can knock the Nutcracker Suite," Fie said with a small smile as they exited the passage.

"Told you so," I grinned, feeling quite smug. "C'mon."

"Do you know where your Mummy was going next?" the shopkeeper was asking the howling Kagan as we snuck past the counter.

"I-I d-don't know!" Kagan wailed. I suddenly realised the huge flaw in my brilliant plan. Dom voiced my worries.

"How do we get him out of that mess?"

Before I could even start to think about it, Sam shoved past me.

"There you are, Jonathan!" she said irritably. "Mum and Dad 'ave been looking everywhere for you. Should'a known you'd 'ave gotten lost in a chocolate shop. Come on, you!" She reached down, grabbed Kagan by the arm, and dragged him roughly out of the shop, Kagan still sniffling. Fie gave a low, appreciative whistle before we followed them out.

"You two were amazing!" Lew informed them when we were outside.

"Your British accent was amazing," I told Sam. "Much more impressive than your mother and sister."

"You're worried about her accent?" Lew asked incredulously. "They were brilliant! Even I almost believed them, and I knew what was going on!"

"He's right, you know," Marco informed them. "You played your parts brilliantly."

"I wish I could do improv like that," I muttered jealously.

"It wasn't that impressive," Sam said, blushing.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure it wasn't. You should seriously consider coming to acting classes with me this summer."

"My parents wouldn't spend the mon-"

"I'm sure Dad would pay for both of us," I interrupted her.

"I couldn't-"

"Talent like that deserves to be developed," I told her forcefully.

She sighed. "I'll think about it, James."

We spent at least an hour just walking around the village, without even going into any shops. We finally decided to go into the Three Broomsticks to get a drink. While we were in there, Lew and the other guys decided they wanted to go into Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. We walked over to the shop, and – after we told them about five times that we were okay with them going in without us – they went in. Dom, Fred, and I just stood rather awkwardly outside the door. I started pacing around, practicing a scene from that summer's play. I was just at my favourite scene – the one where the hero slays the dragon – when I walked straight into someone, nearly knocking him over. I looked up to apologise, but my voice caught in my throat as I took in his face. He looked furious.

"Do watch where you're going." The man's icy grey eyes flashed dangerously. I watched as his eyes hardened. He smirked. "Daddy would be very upset if he lost you, no?" He turned suddenly, swishing his cape around him, and stalked off.
Dom came jogging over. "Do you know that guy?" she asked worriedly.
"Not that I know of…" I stared at the man's blonde head as it bobbed out of sight. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind.

The others chose that moment to come barreling back out the door of the shop, finished with their look-around. Seeing the worried look on Dom's face, and whatever weird look was on mine after that strange encounter, they walked over to me.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"I bumped into some man. He was very… rude."

"What kind of rude?" asked Kagan.

"Like- like he was disgusted to have been run into. He looked at me like I was a slug or something. And then his eyes went cold, and… I think he might have threatened me."

"Odd," Marco said, his eyebrows knitting together. He changed the subject abruptly, for which I was grateful. "Well, it's getting pretty late, guys. Maybe we should start heading back." He threw a sidelong glance at me and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

I had never dealt with a person like that before. Everyone we met when we were out was very nice, sometimes even too nice. No one had ever treated me like that before. I didn't like it.

We made our way back up to the school, and I felt a bit jumpy. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why

(A/N) Was the ending to abrupt there? I feel like I have a problem with really abrupt endings. Sorry about that.

On to my question: What is one thing about the Harry Potter books/ movies that annoys you? It can be more than one thing, of course, but what annoys you? One thing that annoys me is the rewarding of the extra points at the end of Harry's First Year. Can you imagine what it was like to be a Slytherin? "You guys won! Oh, wait, no, you didn't. I'm just going to crush your spirits in front of everyone. Because Gryffindor is awesome, and you guys suck." I feel bad for the little guys!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who read!

To my anonymous "American Luna Lovegood fanatic": Thank you for the review! I hope you're not too mad at me for making you wait for the next chapter! I'll take your idea into consideration!