(The Potters and the Prisoner of Azkaban, act three, chapter eight)

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"They're totally staring at us." Nora whispered to Harry from under the invisibility cloak as they made their way through the snow. She was shaking a little from the cold, wishing she'd worn a thicker jacket this morning.

"They're not paying attention. They're too busy making those snowmen;" Harry muttered back, his voice low so the twins up ahead wouldn't hear them.

"Right, 'cause they're definitely not looking right at us." Nora said, dripping with sarcasm. "And these footprints? Obviously made by ghosts."

"Ghosts, huh?" George said, suddenly standing right in front of them. Nora's stomach dropped—so much for being sneaky.

Before she could even blink, both Weasley twins had grabbed her and Harry by the arms.

"Guys, let us go." Harry groaned as they were dragged back toward the castle.

"Clever." Fred spoke with a small smirk on his face when he heard the two Potters sigh.

"But not clever enough." George spoke from Nora's side.

"Besides we've got a better way." Fred continued.

"Guys, come on, we're trying to get to Hogsmeade."

"We know." The twins replied together. "Don't worry! We'll get you there." Both redheads took the twins inside.

"Do you two realize how bloody weird it must look to everyone who doesn't know we're under an invisibility cloak?" Nora asked, glancing around.

"Nah, no one's around anyway,. George shrugged.

"Come on, guys!" Harry snapped, growing more annoyed.

"We'll show you a quicker way." Fred chimed in again. "That is, if you pipe down."

"Oh, bless them."

"Let go. Come on, guys." Harry continued.

"Now, come and join the big boys." The twins spoke together as they stopped by the stairs, lifting Harry and Nora a few steps higher so they'd be face to face—since, after all, the Weasleys were taller than the Potters.

"What are you doing?" Harry whisper-yelled at Fred as the cloak got yanked off their heads. 

Instead of replying, Fred pushed a piece of parchment in Harry's hands while shushing the oldest Potter.

"What's this rubbish?" Harry asked, eyeing the empty paper with a confused look before looking back to the twins.

"What's this rubbish? he says." Fred let out a laugh. "That there is the secret to our success." 

"It's a wrench giving it to you two, believe me." George continued.

"But we've decided, your needs are greater than ours." Fred spoke. "George, if you will."

George took his wand out of his jacket and pointed it on the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The boy spoke the words so easily, after all he used the paper almost everyday.

"Messieurs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present The Marauders Map." Harry spoke, reading the words that appeared on it out loud.

"We own them so much." George nodded.

"Awesome! You're finally showing it to us!" Nora spoke as she started to open the map. 

"Wait, you know what this is?"

"Well, I knew of it. They have mentioned it a few times, but they have just never shown it to me before." Nora answered.

"Hang on. This is Hogwarts. And that- no, is that really-?" Harry asked as he and his sister watched the small footsteps that belong to their headmaster on the paper.

"Dumbledore." Fred nodded.

"In his study." George added.

"Pacing." Fred spoke again. "He does that a lot." 

"So you mean, this map shows-"

"Everyone."

"Eveyone?" Harry asked.

"Where they are." Fred spoke with a grin.

"What they're doing."

"Every minute."

"Of every day."

"Brilliant! Where did you get it?" Harry asked, all of a sudden not feeling so angry at the twins anymore for not letting them pass.

"Nicked it from Filch's office, of course. First year." Fred explained.

"Now, listen, there are seven secret passageways out of the castle. We recommend this one." George spoke as both of the twins pointed at one specific spot on the Marauder's Map. "The One-Eyed Witch passageway. It will lead you straight to Honeyduke's Cellar, but you'd best hurry. Filch is heading this way."

"And don't forget, when you're done you just give it a tap and say Mischief Managed. Otherwise, anyone can read it." The Weasley twins spoke together. 

As Harry and George already walked away, thinking that the other two were following them, Fred held Nora back, who obviously wanted to followed her brother so that they could go to Hogsmeade.

"What's wrong, Freddie?" Nora questioned, but her curiosity went to confusion as she saw Fred take of his coat. "What are you doing?"

However before even thinking of replying, Fred wrapped his coat over her shoulders.

"Oh," Nora muttered. "You don't have to do that."

"You're freezing. Besides, me and George are going back inside anyway." Fred shrugged.

Sirius raised an amused eyebrow, unable to hide his pride. "The Marauder's Map, huh? Looks like they're learning the right way." He muttered with a smirk to James.

 "It's about time they got their hands on that map! We had some of our best times sneaking around with it." James spoke back to Sirius, his eyes practically lighting up with good memories of it.

"Man, I wish we had something like that. Imagine how much trouble we could've avoided—or caused!" Jeremy spoke, excitedly.

"I'm definitely gonna borrow that from her." Kol spoke, eyes twinkling with excitment.

"Do not even think about it." Klaus spoke, warning his younger brother.

"Why not? Scared, Nik?" Kol spoke, laughing as his brother let his eyes roll.

"Are they always like this?" Jasmine whispered her question to Elijah.

He nodded. "It has become a hobby of Kol to try and terrorize Niklaus every time he has the chance."

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The trap door of the basement of Honeydukes slowly got lifted and two pairs of eyes underneath it got visible. The trap door didn't get lifted off them completely, since they still saw a man moving around, probably coming down to get some more candy for the shop upstrais.

Nora's eyes set on her brother as they saw and heard the man making his way back upstairs. However as soon as he was out of sight, Nora pushed the trap door to the side, quickly climbing out, knocking over a kettle.

"Nory!" Harry quickly spoke, shushing her.

"Sorry! But I swear there was a spider on me in that tunnel!" Nora whispered back, checking if there was something on Fred's coat.

"It's not gonna kill you." Harry spoke, amused.

"Remember those spiders from last year?" Nora raised her eyebrow at him, clearly not as amused by the situation as him.

"Come on." Harry spoke, grabbing his sister under the invisibility cloak with him before starting to make their upstairs, which didn't go as well as they had hoped. Some of the boxes that were placed on the steps of the stairs, fell down to the ground when the twins passed them.

As they entered the shop, Nora's eyes went wide, looking around at all the candy. Harry quickly, but softly, pushed her to the side when he saw a person stepping right in their direction, not that person knew that.

The two walked over to the exit of the shop, Harry grabbed hold of Neville's lollipop and took it outside with them.

"I wanna live there." Nora whispered to Harry, throwing one last look over her shoulder as they continued their search for their friends. "Imagine having such a stack of chocolate!"

Elijah watched his daughter and Harry navigate the shop with a smirk of amusement. "Of course, it's all about chocolate." He muttered softly, glancing at Jasmine, who raised an eyebrow at her daughter's antics but couldn't help but chuckle. He didn't think it was very safe for them to be sneaking out right now with everyone telling them not too, but he couldn't help but feel happy for his little girl when he saw her smiles while doing something she shouldn't be doing.

Jasmine sighed, shaking her head. "Nora is definitely taking after you, Sirius." She said, nudging him gently. Her daughter took after both of her fathers, but definitely more after Sirius when doing things that aren't allowed.

Sirius grinned. "Can't blame her, it's all part of the adventure, Jasmine."

Lily folded her arms. "Honestly, those two... sneaking around like that." She said, though her smile betrayed her pride.

James laughed beside her. "That's exactly how we did it back in the day. Harry and Nora are naturals!"

Stefan and Damon exchanged amused glances. "I mean, if I had an invisibility cloak I wouldn't be following the rules very much either." Damon spoke.

Stefan grinned. "I'm not sure if I should be impressed or concerned."

"You're not following the rules anyway." Caroline spoke, raising her eyebrow at him.

"If I had all that candy, I'd never leave." Jeremy spoke with a dreamy voice.

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"You  two shopping for your new dream home? Bit grand for you, isn't it, Weasle-Bee? Don't your family sleep in one room?" The Potter twins heard Malfoy asked when they finally found their friends. Nora had remembered how Hermione had told her yesterday that she really wanted to visit the Shrieking Shack with Ron.

"Shut your mouth, Malfoy." Ron spoke back, feeling himself get angry about the way Malfoy was speaking of his family.

"Not very friendly." Draco spoke. "Boys, I think it's time we teach Weasle-Bee to respect his superiors." 

Hermione let out a laugh as she stepped forwards. "Hope you don't mean yourself."

"How dare you talk to me, you filthy little mudblood!" Draco spoke back, but before he could do anything else, a giant snowball hit him in the face. "Who is that?" Malfoy asked, turning in the direction the snowball came from.

He got another snowball thrown at him, this time hitting his shoulder. It surprised him when even more snowballs came flying at him. It even caused him to walk against Crabbe, almost losing his balance.

"Don't stand there! Do something!" Malfoy yelled at Goyle and Crabbe.

"What?" Goyle spoke, but his hat got pulled over his eyes and Crabbe's pants got pulled down. As he went to pull them back up, he fell face-down in to the snow.

Hermione started laughing when Goyle started to get spun around, before falling on his back next to his best friend. Than it was Malfoy's turn again. His feet got lifted in the air and he got dragged towards the Shrieking Shack.

"What's up, Malfoy? Lost your skis?" Ron called out while laughing. 

When the hold on his legs got released, Draco quickly jumped up and started running back to his friend, pushing them to the side so that he could go back to Hogsmeade. "Move!"

"Malfoy! Wait!" Crabbed called out after him as the two struggled to keep up with him.

When the three were gone, one of the strands of Ron's hat and one of Hermione's strands of hair started moving up and down, scaring the Weaseley boy.

"Guys!" Hermione spoke with a laugh while the twins removed the cloak off themselves, showing their amused faces.

"Bloody hell, you two. That was not funny." Ron spoke, releasing a relieved breath. The three started laughing even more, but eventually Ron also let out a chuckle.

Lily raised her eyebrows, smiling despite herself. 

"Well, at least they're causing trouble for the right reasons." Rebekah spoke to her with a playful sigh.

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Words: 1884

Posted: October 19, 2024

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