"I never gave out signed photos,"
Harry protested fiercely.
"If Lockhart is still spreading that rumor—"
But then he saw Hagrid smiling.
"I was jokin',"
Hagrid said kindly, clapping Harry on the back so hard his face smacked into the table.
"I know yeh didn't. I told Lockhart yeh don't need to do that. You don't need cheap tricks—you're already more famous than he is without even tryin'."
After talking with Harry, Hagrid turned, pretending to speak casually to Sean at Harry's side.
"Sean, I—I…"
Whenever it came to this, Hagrid just lost control of his feelings.
The little wizard had helped him too much. Sometimes, he really thought that nickname "Little Dumbledore" fit him perfectly.
Outside, the clouds parted and a golden sun broke through.
The snow that had piled around the hut for decades had melted into trickling streams not long after Sean first arrived.
…
That day, Hogwarts buzzed with excitement. The third-years and up were free to come and go in Hogsmeade.
It made the first- and second-years green with envy.
"If we're going to Hogsmeade, it's in your hands, Sean,"
Justin said in the castle corridor, cradling several collected volumes of Green's Notes. They were about to launch a brand-new edition, covering essentially all of the second-year material.
Now Sean had to sign them—these would be the collectible versions for sale.
"Mm."
Sean nodded. The twins were already peeking out from behind an oil painting of a wheat field.
"Great Green!"
Fred sounded as though he'd sprinted over; there were still crumbs on his robes.
"Please, take it out already,"
George urged, barely containing himself.
Under Justin's puzzled gaze, Sean pulled out the Marauder's Map.
He drew his wand and tapped the parchment lightly.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The scene was honestly ridiculous; the twins and Justin did not believe that sentence for a second.
"To Hogsmeade,"
Fred said, covering his mouth as he traced a route on the map,
"There are seven passages. Filch knows four of these—"
He pointed them out one by one.
"…We're pretty sure only we know about these three. Forget the one behind the mirror on the fifth floor—we used it up until last winter, but it's caved in now—completely blocked. This one here—nobody's used it as far as we know, because the Whomping Willow stands right over the entrance.
"The last one leads straight into Honeydukes' cellar. We've used it loads of times. You've probably noticed, the entrance is just outside this classroom, behind the hump of the one-eyed witch."
They finished, then dashed off again, clearly swamped with things to do.
The Marauder's Map had a fun feature: when a witch or wizard used it, it could subtly guide them on how to proceed. For example, right now—
Justin watched in astonishment as a new little black dot appeared, labeled Sean Green.
The dot was standing exactly where Sean was in real life—about halfway down a fourth-floor corridor. Justin squinted: the little dot looked like it was tapping the witch statue with a tiny wand.
He glanced at Sean's dot, then at the real, expressionless Sean.
Barely suppressing a laugh, Justin whipped out his wand and rapped the statue's hump. Nothing happened. He checked the Map again. A tiny speech bubble had appeared next to Sean's dot with minuscule writing inside:
Dissendium.
"How very magical… Dissendium!"
Justin muttered, and tapped the stone hump again.
Instantly the hunch of the statue split open, revealing a hole just big enough for someone slim to crawl through.
"This is brilliant…"
Justin breathed.
"Shall we head out?"
Sean nodded. Justin immediately dove in headfirst and started along the passage.
"Lumos."
Sean's wand lit up like a bulb, casting light ahead.
They slid down a stone chute for a long stretch, landing at last on cold, damp earth. Then they trudged through a narrow, low, twisting dirt tunnel that felt more like an enormous rabbit burrow.
Ten minutes later, they reached the bottom of a crumbling stone staircase that climbed up into darkness.
Justin braced himself to climb, but Sean flicked his wand.
Off to the side, the earth itself rose and shaped into a new staircase, lifting them gently upward.
"Mind your head."
Sean hadn't even finished the warning when Justin ducked; he narrowly avoided smacking into the trapdoor.
Once Justin pushed it open, cheerful voices and the din of customers poured in.
"Another box of Jelly Slugs, dear, they're cleaning us out—"
a woman's voice called. The two boys peeked out. The woman behind the counter glanced straight their way.
"Not ideal…"
Justin hissed, quickly wrapping himself in a Disillusionment Charm.
But when he pointed his wand at Sean, the stairs were already empty.
Only a black cat sat there, quietly meeting his eyes.
"People say cats have reaction times seven times faster than humans,"
he said to no one in particular.
…
Honeydukes was packed with Hogwarts students.
Sean and Justin edged sideways through the crush, taking everything in.
Shelf after shelf was piled high with juicy sweets: massive slabs of butterscotch, glittering pink coconut ice, treacle fudge the color of honey, hundreds of sorts of chocolates stacked in neat rows, huge tubs of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizzbees…
Along another wall were "special effect" sweets:
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (it filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that lasted for days), strange crisp Peppermint Humbugs that made your teeth chatter, tiny black Pepper Imps ("make your friends breathe fire!"), Ice Mice ("hear your teeth squeak!"), frog-shaped mint creams that really jumped in your stomach, sugar quills as thin as feathers, and Exploding Bonbons.
"Let's go—Green's Bookshop is about to open."
Justin pulled out something like a small map with neat markings of buildings in Hogsmeade.
"I have to say, Sean, I still think we're short-staffed. When we only had mail orders, we could delay shipping a little, but now we have a physical shop… we need to commit to proper hours."
They walked the snowy lanes together.
Justin's smile was bright. He glanced up at the snow resting on every eave in Hogsmeade. As he talked, Sean walked quietly at his side, giving soft replies.
Hogsmeade looked like a moving Christmas card: straw-roofed cottages and shops dusted with fresh snow, holly wreaths on doors, magical candles twinkling in the trees.
It was always snowing here, and always noisy.
They fell silent for a bit, listening only to the muffled crunch of snow underfoot.
Then, as they passed the Three Broomsticks, Sean spotted an unexpected figure.
A cloaked man with his face hidden in his hood.
Sean recognized him instantly—Remus John Lupin.