Chapter Sixteen
"Honeydukes and Sinking Beds"

Page One

Sirius led the group of five cautiously up the staircase that led to the shop. He opened the door carefully to peek through.

The coast was clear. Sirius opened the door and turned on his heel to face the others with his arms open wide, a look of victory upon his face.

"Welcome," he said, with a flourish of his hands, "to Honeyduke's. Where the sweeties are rich and the chocolate; lifesaving." He gave a deep bow then again turned on his heel and sauntered over to a kiosk covered in gummy dragons.

"He certainly has loosened up a bit, hasn't he?" whispered Ron in amazement.

Harry, Ron and Hermione dashed through the doorway, with Lupin right behind them.

"Grab as much as you can," said Lupin in a tense whisper. "And be quiet, we can't afford to be caught."

They each ran along the aisles of candy, grabbing as much chocolate as they could possibly hold.

"Remus," whispered Black, "Shouldn't we leave the owners a note or something?"

"I suppose so," sighed Lupin. "Would you be so kind as to do that? You always were a better writer than I."

"Right-o," said Sirius with a wink. Lupin took the chocolate that Sirius was carrying and then conjured up a gigantic purple velveteen bag. He quickly created three identical bags, which he then gave out to Harry, Ron and Hermione. He proceeded to the aisle dedicated to dark chocolate, where he shoveled the contents of the shelves into his bag, then ran to Sirius.

"We should go, is the note done yet?"

"Aye," said Black. "I put it on the register. They'll find it in the morning when they check their inventory."

"Good job old boy," whispered Lupin. "Now let's get the kids and shove off."

Black and Lupin rounded Harry, Ron and Hermione together and they went back down to the basement, through the hatch on the floor and down the stairs to the tunnel. They ran the entire way, each one carrying their bulging purple bags.

"These kids won't be able to haul these up the slide, Remus," stated Black as he looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Look at them, they're exhausted."

Indeed, Black was right. Harry, Ron and Hermione were showing plain signs of overexertion; they were panting and they had dark circles under their eyes.

"Here, Hermione," said Black, reaching out his hand to take Hermione's bag. "Let me take your bag up. Your bag too, Ron," he hoisted the two bags over his shoulders and turned to Remus. "I'll go up first then, shall I?"

"I'll send the kids up to you when you're ready," replied Lupin, looking a little tired himself.

"Alright," Black heaved the two purple bags into the slide, one in front of him and the other behind. He crawled all the way up, pushing one bag and dragging the other.

When he finally reached the top, his arms ached and his brow was covered in sweat. He pulled himself through the hole and collapsed on the floor.

"I'm up," he gasped.

"Good," said Lupin from the bottom of the slide. "Here comes Weasley."

One by one, Ron, Hermione and Harry scrambled up the slide and met up with Black at the top, behind the old crone. Lupin followed, dragging his and Harry's bags.

After a few minutes of pushing and pulling, Lupin finally made it out of the slide and through the statue of the witch, where he joined the rest of the group.

"Let's get going," he panted, handing Harry his bag back.

"Phew…" sighed Black. "Come on then," he turned and started running back towards the hospital wing. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Lupin followed at a slower pace; each one of them growing more exhausted by the minute.

As Sirius rounded the final corner and entered the long hall heading towards the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey came dashing out of the infirmary door. She saw Sirius and started running towards him.

"Hurry!" she yelled. "Minerva's getting worse every second!"

Sirius quickened his pace. As he approached Madam Pomfrey he panted, "We got as much chocolate as we could carry. Lupin, Ron and Harry are each carrying bags."

"Great," said Madam Pomfrey. "We'll need as much as we can get our hands on."

Lupin, Harry, Ron and Hermione rounded the corner and started running to reach Madam Pomfrey.

"Fantastic!" she exclaimed as she saw the rest of the large purple sacks, about to rip at the seams under their heavy loads of chocolate. "Hurry, I'll take you in to see her."

Lupin, though terribly tired, ran even faster following Madam Pomfrey into the hospital wing.

Once everyone was in the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey walked to the end of the row of beds and paused at the very last bed. She waved her wand at it, muttered, "Monstrare Tibi Arcanus!" Suddenly, the bed sank to the floor, morphing seamlessly into a flight of stairs, descending into the floor straight towards a small mahogany door.

"Follow me," she said, stepping onto the top step and walking carefully towards the door.

Madam Pomfrey led them through the door and into a dimly lit room, with walls lined in deep blue curtains. Sconces decorated the corners of the small room and in the center of the back wall one single solitary bed was set up.

"Minerva!" gasped Lupin, dropping his purple bag and walking to the side of the bed.

Professor McGonagall lay on the bed completely motionless. Her skin looked too pale to be human, almost ghostly. Her eyes were shut as she lay on her back, white bed linens brought up to her shoulders.

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