So. There I was, standing in that secret passageway with Ron. Judging from the voices from outside, or lack thereof, everyone else had gone to their respective common rooms. A breeze blew down the small hallway.

"My ears are cold," I said. Ron covered them.

"Better?" he asked. Of course, I couldn't hear him, he was covering my ears. Standing in that passageway was really boring, so we left, taking a shortcut. But, as usual, you can't take a shortcut in Hogwarts without getting lost. We wound up standing in front of the Slytherin common room.

"Why are we at the Slytherin common room?" I asked.

"How do you know this is the Slytherin common room?"

"See the big snake on the door?" I told him, pointing.

"Oh, yeah," Ron said. "I knew that."

"Sure you did," I joked. Just then, Malfoy came up behind us, chewing gum. Very loudly.

"Oh, look," he said. "The Weasel's got a girlfriend. What are you doing here?" Ron turned red.

"Shut up, you great ugly git, or I'll turn you into a ferret!"

"Ah, go jump in the lake."

"Why don't you? Do us all a favor!"

"You really should go, there might be some money down there!"

"With all *your* money, I'd think you might be able to afford a life!"

"Go play with your Mudblood friends, you- you-"

"Out of things to say?"

"Come on, Ron," I said, pulling him away. "He's not worth our time." And we walked away, leaving Malfoy still chewing his gum obnoxiously.

Since Ron had long ago uncovered my ears, I could hear Hermione scream as we climbed through the portrait hole.

"What?" I asked. "I'm not that ugly, am I?" Hermione held up Crookshanks, who had acquired some odd-looking purple stripes.

"Look at him! Just look! Who in the world would do a thing like this? I-" Suddenly, she stopped ranting and glared at the Weasley twins.

"What?" Fred asked, trying to sound innocent. George poked him.

"Oy, Fred, I think we've just had a letter from Mum," he said.

"But don't the owls only come at-"

"We've got a letter," George repeated, staring at his twin pointedly.

"Oh, right!" said Fred, catching on. They fled to the boys' dormitory leaving Hermione, Ron and me in the common room. Apparently everyone else had gone to bed. Either that or they were hiding.

"Hey, Catelyn," Ron said, "how 'bout a game of chess?"

"Okay," I agreed. "But I have to warn you, I stink."

"I'll play whoever wins," Hermione said. I kept thinking we were missing someone, but that was soon forgotten. As it turned out, we stayed up most of the night. Hey, we weren't tired, what were we supposed to do? Lie around bored out of our minds? (What is this "mind" thing, anyway?) So of course we were incredibly tired in Potions the next day. Which was bad.

Snape had a new hat, which was incredibly ugly. You'd think he'd learn, after that boggart episode, but noooo. He has to be stubborn like that. But anyway, this hat was really gross. I think i'll spare you the details, but "the ugliest thing I have ever seen" pretty much describes it. So of course, Snape was strutting around like he owned the place, asking everyone "Don't you just *love* my new hat?" Finally, we couldn't stand it anymore.

"Lo, ani lo ohevet ha covah sheloh!" Ron shouted, standing up. He walked out of the dungeon, the rest of the Gryffindors close behind. Snape was too stunned to speak.

"Wow, Hebrew too," I said to Ron. "I must say, I'm impressed!" Ron grinned.

"I guess I'm just a talented person," he said.

"Hey, we don't have classes the rest of the day," Seamus pointed out. "What should we do?" We all thought about it for several minutes. Surprisingly, it was Hermione who came up with an idea first.

"Let's go to Hogsmeade!" she exclaimed. At first we were all shocked. Hermione the perfect student, actually suggesting we break the rules? But who cared? We were out of Potions class and we had the whole day! So, dodging the ghosts and avoiding Peeves, we made our way to Hogsmeade.

We were all enjoying a nice, warm butterbeer when Molly Weasley walked into the Three Broomsticks. Spotting us, she came over and sat down.

"Hi, Ron! What are you all doing here? I haven't seen any other students," she said.

"We're, ah, doin a research project," Hermione lied.

"Well, that's nice." Seeing me, she added, "I see you have a new student."

"Hi, I'm Catelyn," I told her. "Nice apron!" I said, meaning a checkered one that was sitting at the top of her shopping bag. (AIT Note: that was for you METMA Mandy!)

"Why, thank you, Catelyn," she said. "Well, I have lots more shopping to do, so I'd best be going. I'll see you all later!" And she left, with the little bells on the door ringing quietly after her.

"That was close," Dean said. We all agreed. After visiting Zonko's for some dungbombs to let off in the Slytherin common rooms and sending a few owls, we headed back to Hogwarts. We noticed a teacher standing at the door, so we joined the Ravenclaw Quidditch team returning from practice, pretending we had been watching them.

The first- and second- years were all anxious to hear about our little adventure, so of course we told them the story. Who can resist an admiring audience? But that proved to be a big mistake...