The Trophy Room Passageway

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The Trophy Room Passageway



If they had had trouble all fitting beneath the invisibility cloak at the end of their First Year, it was considerably harder now in their Second Year. The four Gryffindor boys had jammed themselves together in a tight knot of legs and arms beneath the cloak, but only just barely - fitting all together was a feat complicated even further by James's broomstick and Peter's substantial weight gain. They crept through the dark corridors of Hogwarts to the Trophy Room.

It was several days after James's detentions; Remus was back from the Shrieking Shack, and Sirius could be held off no longer from his eagerness to explore the passageway that hid behind Brutus Scrimgeour. It had taken all of James's resolve to keep Sirius waiting until Remus had returned, he'd been so excited to see it for himself. He'd kept James up half the night asking questions about the passageway - everything from where James reckoned it led to what it smelled like inside. But every detail that James could share wasn't enough to fill Sirius's insatiable need for adventure.

They'd spent a healthy amount of time discussing what might be in the depths of the pit, too. "Perhaps it's a dragon," Sirius had said, wide eyed with excitement. Peter had been quite frightened at the thought of a dragon inhabiting the depths of the castle and claimed Dumbledore would never let a dragon set foot on the grounds, to which Sirius had pointed out he'd allowed a werewolf in, so where was the line to be drawn?

The moment Remus returned, Sirius had bullied him into agreeing to go to the passageway the very next night. He'd tried for the same night, but Remus was far too exhausted and flat out refused.

James pulled off the invisibility cloak as they entered the Trophy Room, tucking it carefully into his book bag. Sirius instantly walked across the room, right up to the empty frame that encased Brutus Scrimgeour's portrait. He stared up at it with a look of hunger in his eyes. Remus meanwhile had gone to look about at the medals and trophies, as Peter twitched by the door. "Did you hear that?" he asked, pale.

"No," replied James shortly, joining Sirius. He looked up at the painting. "Think it'll work alright if he's not here to open the passageway?" he asked nervously.

"Dunno, don't see why not," Sirius answered.

Remus said, "There's quite a lot of interesting awards in these cases."

"We're going to get caught," Peter chimed in.

"We aren't going to get caught, Peter," Sirius said, and he turned to look at Remus, "And seriously, mate, who gives a load about the trophies when there's a secret passageway?"

Remus chuckled and joined Sirius and James before the portrait. "C'mon, Peter," he called.

"Yeah, don't wanna get left behind, do you?" James chided.

Sirius smirked. Honestly, none of them would've minded much had Peter been left behind, but they weren't about to actually say that to his face. When Peter had joined them, Sirius looked to James expectantly. "Alright, let'er rip."

James cleared his throat, "Beati Pacifici!"

The portrait swung upward, just as it had done the other night, revealing the gaping tunnel beyond, leading off into darkness. Sirius's eyes were quite wide and James realized that, despite all his explanations and details, some small part of Sirius hadn't believed the tunnel would be there. "Bloody hell," he whispered.

"Told you," James said.

Remus held his wand up and the others followed suit so that all four wand tips touched. "Lumos," they said together. Or nearly together. Peter was a bit slow and sounded more like a little echo. The wands illuminated, and the boys grinned at one another. "Here we go," said James, and without further prolonging, he stepped into the tunnel once again. "Careful for pits," he reminded the others and they murmured their recollection and followed along as James led the way, carefully watching for the blue glow of the everlasting flames.

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