The great hall was usually empty after breakfast.
People had their own things to do, especially during a Saturday.
Some went to the library, some went to the Quidditch grounds and some just found a quiet place to spend time with their friends.
The great hall was usually empty, except for the rare occasion when people of different houses had to meet and had no place else to go.
“Did you know Snape and Snake are kind of similar words?” Arthur asked The Weasley twins.
It was something he noticed when he was rewriting his assignments with as much hatred as he could muster.
It was curious where the mind went when it had a purpose.
“Mate, we don’t want to mess with any of the teachers our first year here.” Fred said
“We have so much we want to do before we jump on that train.” George said.
“Speaking of things to do.” Anna said trying to interrupt their conversation, “Why did you guys invite us? Did you find any clues? Are we going to be rich?”
“About that.” Fred said, “We’ve been asking the ghosts for local legends.”
“They’ve been here for a long time.” George explained, “And they’ll talk with anyone who listens.”
“The most common thing they all talk about is The Shrieking Shack.” Fred continued.
“You don’t need ghosts for that.” Cedric said, “Tonks told us about that too. She says there’s nothing there.”
“What were you guys talking about?” George asked curious about how the topic had come up.
“Lucian asked her if we could practice someplace away from prying eyes.” Anna explained, “She found problems with every suggestion. He was a very sad and very bald person after that.”
“Well, we asked around and went to the library to verify the information.
The Shrieking Shack’s supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain.” Fred continued, “It’s an abandoned house in Hogsmeade.
For many years, villagers thought it was haunted because they often heard screams coming from inside.
But it has been silent for many years.”
“According to Nearly Headless Nick, not even the Hogwarts ghosts would enter it.” George added, “He’s our resident ghost by the way.”
“We’re thinking if something can scare the ghosts away that it must be a magical creature.” Fred continued, “A valuable magical creature.”
“Maybe it left something useful behind.” Cedric said catching their line of thought.
“But we’re not allowed to go to Hogsmeade.” Arthur argued, “How would we even get there?”
“We asked Charlie about that.” Fred said
“He told us about a secret passageway behind the mirror on the fourth floor. It’s an old passage that the students use to secretly go on dates in Hogsmeade.” George said
“Did you ask him about secret locations around the castle?” Anna asked, “Or about any passages connecting directly to the shack?”
“We did.” Fred said, “Charlie’s useless in both of those parts.”
“All he knows are the best spots to secretly make out.” George explained, “Or secretly go on dates.”
“All he had to say about the shack was that girls don’t like being taken to dirty places.” Fred said looking mildly annoyed.
“He’s right. We don’t.” said Anna crossing her arms.
“I guess those are the answers you can expect from a good quidditch player.” Arthur suggested.
Cedric’s eyes lit up when the topic finally moved to Quidditch.
…
“Why do you want to go there?” Tonks asked confused with the request, “When I went in the rooms and halls were all dirty, covered with dust, and the furniture was moth-eaten and broken. In one of the rooms, there was even a dusty four-poster bed. Honestly there’s nothing there.”
“Did you fall there and get yourself all dirty?” Arthur asked suspiciously.
“No.” Tonks replied quickly and stayed silent.
After a pause she sighed and said, “Yes, I did. So I’ll only show you to the entrance after that, it’s all on you guys.”
…
Tonks showed them the tunnel connecting Hogwarts to The Shrieking Shack.
It was located on the Hogwarts ground right below the Whomping willow.
The tunnel was accessed by prodding a knot on the trunk of the Whomping Willow to immobilize the tree, and it lead to the basement of the Shrieking Shack.
They went all the way into the house to find out that Tonks was right.
The place was exactly how she had described it.
There was nothing of note inside The Shack.
The biggest reward for their troubles was getting covered in dust.
“There’s nothing here.” Anna said trying to swat away cobwebs from her face.
“Unless you count rat fur.” Fred said taking out a bunch of small hairs from his pocket, “We don’t know about the other ones though.”
“Are you sure? How did you know it’s rat fur?” Cedric asked looking at the different lengths and colors of the bunch.
“Percy has a pet rat.
It sheds exactly like this.” George said, “We’re not sure about the other ones though.”
“Might be cats.” Arthur suggested, “Or something similar to rats. Another rodent maybe.”
“Maybe.” Fred said, “We’ll ask Professor Kettleburn just to be sure. He’s the professor of Care of Magical Creatures.”
“Isn’t he the guy with only one arm and half of one leg remaining?” Arthur asked, “I hear he’s awesome. I’d love to be there when you meet him.”
“Let’s talk about that after we get out of here.” Anna said scratching her hair, “I think the dust is making my hair itch.”
“We should visit Hogsmeade.” Arthur said before everyone could go back, “Cedric and I finally made enough money to buy a cauldron.”
“Good idea! We need to buy things at the joke shop too.” Fred said.
“How do we get out of here?” Anna asked looking around the boarded up windows and doors.
…
The Shrieking Shack was an abandoned house sitting right on top a small hill.
By the looks of its surrounding, through the gaps between the boarded up planks, consisting of overgrown vegetation, it was clear that no one had taken care of the place in a long time.
They group was faced with their first obstacle in the form of the windows and doors being inaccessible.
There must have been some magical method of sticking the planks to the door because nothing budged even after trying for a long time.
“No.” Fred said while trying to pull a window free, “We already tried that in an abandoned classroom. It only works on a lock.”
“Maybe we can try a crowbar?” Arthur suggested a muggle suggestion.
By the confused looks Fred, George and Cedric gave him they didn’t know what he was talking about.
“We just managed to make the matchstick metal yesterday and you want to try making a crowbar.” Anna said, “Mine wasn’t even metallized all the way through.”
“Let’s just go back and go through the secret passage on the fourth floor.” Cedric said deciding their next course of action.
…
The secret passageway behind the mirror on the fourth floor led to large passageway made of stone like most things in the castle.
It was dark making it necessary for all five of them to use the wand lighting charm.
As they moved deeper into the dark passageway the stone gave way to damp soil held up by wooden frames.
The wooden frames were similar to one you would find in a mineshaft.
The passageway narrowed from there and only got narrower as they went further, though it was still big enough to fit two people side by side even at its narrowest.
The shaft led to a small opening in the trees near Hogsmeade, hidden due to all the vines growing around it.
Hogsmeade Village, or simply called Hogsmeade, was an all-wizarding village in the Scottish Highlands.
It was a picturesque little village of cottages and shops, with enchanted candles hanging in the trees during the holidays.
It was also near the location of the train station used by the Hogwarts Express.
It was also the only fully magical village in all of Britain.
The Weasley twins made their way straight to Zonko’s Joke Shop leaving the badgers behind.
Looking around the shops available Arthur had a choice to make.
He could either go into the Hogsmeade branch of Potage’s Cauldron Shop, whose main branch was located in Diagon Alley or he could go into Ceridwen’s Cauldrons, a local shop specializing in cauldrons.
When he asked Anna for her opinion she stared straight into his eyes and took off to follow the twins, leaving him standing with Cedric.
“What do you think?” Arthur asked, the boy supposed to be raised in a magical home.
“I don’t know.” Cedric said, “Brass is the most cheap and the only one we can afford. I don’t trust a franchise to make a cheap cauldron with care. I also don’t trust a local shop to not cut corners.”
“Solid opinions Cedric.
Solid.
But useless to me.” Arthur sighed, “Let’s just try going into both.”
…
Turns out, they didn’t get to spend much time at Hogsmeade.
About half an hour in, the itch Anna had mentioned came back and this time all of them started to itch.
Arthur hurriedly picked a cauldron he liked from Potage’s Cauldron Shop and they all quickly made their way back to the castle to clean themselves.
The itch didn’t go away even after a good bath so they had to visit Madam Pomfrey in the infirmary.
It was there that they were informed that they all had lice.
The fledging explorers learned a valuable lesson in their first adventure.