“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.�
-John Powell

Harry slowly turned the handle and pushed it open gently, so that the door swung into the room. As the door moved, it creaked loudly. They saw that the office was empty. They quickly scrambled in and closed the door. It was very dim and smelled of dust and rust. Harry pulled off the cloak, but kept it in his hands just in case Filch showed up.

Harry saw a couple large, metal cabinets that were rusting in places. He went over to them. After opening a couple of the drawers, Harry realized that they contained records of every student Filch ever punished. Harry looked at all the little labels for each drawer; he saw that some people had their own drawers. There was “Weasley Twins,� “Sirius Black,� a boy Harry didn’t know, and “James Potter.�

Harry’s eyes widened when he saw his father’s name. He opened the drawer and saw it filled with paper. Harry picked one up. It read:

October 4, 1973

James Potter was caught before he jinxed Severus Snape in front of the lake. It occurred during midday in between classes.

Punishment: Detention with Professor Walsh*, who caught him.

Harry put the paper away and picked up another.

December 25, 1973

James Potter and Sirius Black were caught wondering the corridors after hours on the fourth floor.

Punishment: Cleaning trophies in the Trophy Room.

“Harry,� called Blaise.

Harry put away the paper and closed the drawer, not knowing he had closed it incorrectly, leaving it slightly open. He turned to Blaise, who had been looking through some other drawers on the other side of the room. Harry walked over and realized that Blaise was looking up at something.

“What are…?� asked Harry, before he looked up, too.

Harry looked up to see two chains hanging from the high ceiling of the room. The chains were old and rusting, but looked as if they had been oiled yesterday. They were dangling a couple feet above Harry and Blaise’s head.

“Does he still use those?� asked Harry, frightened by the thought.

“No. Dumbledore wouldn’t allow it,� said Blaise.

“Good,� said Harry, more relieved. “What did you find?�

“I found some drawers full of objects confiscated from the Weasley twins. What about you?�

“The cabinets over there are full of documents of each student he ever punished. There are tons of papers,� said Harry.

“There would be. This school has been around practically forever. Come see what I found,� said Blaise.

Blaise motioned for Harry to follow him. Next to Filch’s desk, which was falling apart, was another rusty cabinet. Harry looked at the labels on the drawers. “Unknown Objects,� “Confiscated from Weasley twins 1,� “Confiscated from Weasley twins 2,� as well as numerous others.

The drawer labeled “Confiscated from Weasley twins 1� was slightly open. As Blaise pulled the drawer further open, many objects met Harry’s eyes. All of objects were unknown to him, and as to what they did, but he could figure that out later.

“Grab some interesting items,� said Blaise, as he reached in. Harry put the cloak over his shoulder and looked through the drawer with Blaise. He put a couple items in his pocket. “What do you think about—�

Harry and Blaise stopped suddenly at the sound of the door creaking. They both quickly stuffed whatever they had in their hands, into their pockets. Harry pulled the cloak from his shoulder and pulled it over the both of them, just at the door fully opened.

While they were under the cloak, Harry and Blaise got up and walked to the farthest corner from Filch’s desk, which he was now walking to. As Filch walked to his desk, he muttered something under his breath, so neither of them could hear. Filch sat down and exhaled loudly. Harry noticed that Filch hadn’t closed the door completely, thinking that maybe they could make a break for it.

He spoke louder now, so they could hear what he was saying, “Those damn students. Always ruining the civility of this school. If only I could use my precious chains.� He said the last and looked up with an odd delight. When he looked back down, the happiness in his face, vanished completely.

Filch quickly walked around his desk to the drawer that Harry and Blaise had been looking through. They had forgotten to close it. He slammed it shut out of anger. “Students!� said Filch. He rushed out of the room, slamming the door, as well.

“Lets get out of here,� said Harry.

“Yeah, before he comes back,� said Blaise. They went out the room as quickly as possible while under a cloak, carrying some items in their pockets.

When they were down the corridor closer to the stairs that led to the Dungeons, Harry spoke, “I think we should call it a night because if I’m right, then Filch will have gone to Snape.�

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. We can look around the castle another time,� said Blaise.

When they were safely in their dormitory, Harry took off the cloak and threw it onto his bed. “It was harder to walk with these…‘illegal items’,� said Harry jokingly.

“ ‘Illegal items.’ I like that,� said Blaise. “Lets dump all our finds on the floor.� Harry put his hands in his pockets and put the couple of items he had collected, onto the floor.

“Harry, what’s this?� asked Blaise. In his hands was the golden key that he had taken from Dumbledore’s office. I completely forgot about the key! Blaise was looking at it closely.

“Oh, that’s mine,� said Harry. Harry knew that if he grabbed it out of Blaise’s hands it would have looked suspicious, so he put out his hand. Blaise placed it on his hand, and Harry put it back in his pocket.

“Wicked. Did you know that the key had the letter “B� inscribed into it?� asked Blaise.

“No. I guess I never looked at it closely enough,� said Harry. Blaise shrugged and bent down to look among the various objects, that now lay upon the floor. When Blaise was occupied with their findings, Harry quickly took out the key and looked at it. He saw the inscription; the one letter was thin and curvy and beautifully printed into the gold. He stuffed it back into his pocket and bent down to help Blaise.

“What have we got?� asked Harry to Blaise. Harry saw that Blaise had sorted a couple of the objects together by how they looked.

“Well, I placed these candles over here, and I’ve started sorting these coins. Help me out,� said Blaise.

It didn’t take them long to sort what they found because they hadn’t gotten a lot of stuff. Harry sat on the floor and crossed his legs as he picked up a coin. Blaise was looking at another “illegal� object. Harry looked at the pile from which he had taken the object he was holding. One of the candles had a paper stuck to it. He picked that one up and read it out loud, “ ‘Smell Starter: when lit creates a horrible smell around the room.’ So, that’s what it is.�

“Wicked! Malfoy is going to love those! We can set those around the castle sometime,� exclaimed Blaise.

“If we’re going to tell him or any other person, we should keep some of this stuff for ourselves. We don’t want the others taking all our stuff, since we were the ones to get it,� said Harry. Harry placed the object back among the others.

“Good idea. We can split what we want evenly between us, and put the extra things somewhere for the others,� said Blaise.

“Nice idea.� They sorted through the “illegal� objects they had collected from Filch’s office into three different piles. One pile for Blaise, one pile for Harry, and one pile of extra objects, though this pile was considerably smaller than the other two. Harry and Blaise put their objects into their separate trunks. The extra stuff was put on the little green table near the fireplace in the room.

“Harry, do you know the time?� asked Blaise. Harry looked at his watch and told Blaise that it was almost nine at night.

“I’m going to go to the Common Room to read the book you gave me,� said Harry. He grabbed his cloak from the bed and threw it into his trunk, and then grabbed the book.

“I’ll do that same. I should catch up on my reading, anyway,� said Blaise. He dug for a book in his trunk. When he found the book, he held it in the air, saying, “Aha! Got it!� He closed his trunk, and Harry and Blaise left for the Common Room. When they got up there, Harry saw that there were three others in the room. A girl, who looked to be a second year, was near the window drawing, and two older boys, who were fourth years, were in the corner playing chess.

Harry sat at the chair closest to the fire, while Blaise took the seat next to him. They sat there quietly for a while, reading to themselves. The older boys in the corner would laugh loudly, occasionally. Sometimes, the boys would speak loud, so that the others could hear what they were saying. They began to talk loudly again.

“Sometimes my mum and dad are such a bother,� said the first boy.

“How so, Tristan?� asked the other.

“My mum still sends me letters from home, asking how my day is going,� said Tristan. “Can’t she just leave me alone?

The other boy was laughing. “I didn’t know you still got letters from your parents. I thought that stopped during the middle of first year.�

“No. She still sends me them. I bung them into my trunk. Sometimes, I don’t even read them, but I have to respond sometimes, or else she’d probably think I’ve died,� said Tristan. The other boy was laughing. The rest of the conversation, Harry couldn’t hear because the boys finally quieted down.

The thought that the older boy, Tristan, was discarding letters from his mum as if it was nothing, saddened Harry. Harry would never do that to the letters his mum would write to him. He’d cherish them forever. Harry was looking at the floor, his book on his lap turned upside down.

“Harry, are you alright?� asked Blaise.

“I’m fine,� Harry replied, only looking up to respond to Blaise.

“Was it what those two said? About his parents?� asked Blaise carefully.

“Yeah, I guess,� muttered Harry.

“If it makes you feel better, my dad died, too. I never met him. And my mum is constantly remarrying,� said Blaise.

“I never knew, Blaise. Sorry,� said Harry.

“It’s okay,� said Blaise. He turned back to his book, so did Harry.

When the time began to near eleven, the three older students left down the stairs. Harry saw that Blaise was still intently looking at his book, Harry turned to his book, as well. He was learning tons of new tricks. There were loads of tricks to swerving around other players. Harry kept reading. He eventually looked up when he heard the stone door sliding open.

Snape walked in, not looking happy at all. “Potter, if you please,� said Snape, motioning for him to come over. Harry got up and put his book down, looking at Blaise. He was fast asleep in his chair, his book still open in his hands.

“Were you out tonight?� asked Snape.

“Only for dinner,� said Harry lied.

“Forget something?� asked Snape. Harry looked at him curiously. “Professor.�

“I was only out for dinner, professor,� said Harry agitatedly.

“Do you have any idea why possessions of Filch’s are missing?� asked Snape to Harry.

“No, professor,� said Harry.

“Don’t lie to me, Potter! I know it was you! The cabinet drawer labeled “James Potter� was closed incorrectly. No one else would have looked in there, but you!�

“I wasn’t in there, Professor! You just want another reason to punish me!� said Harry loudly. Blaise awoke.

“What’s going on?� he asked groggily.

“Zabini, I suggest you go to your dormitory, unless you want detention,� said Snape threateningly. Blaise picked up his book and left quickly.

“No one else would have gone looking into that drawer. I know it was you,� said Snape, his voice considerably lowered in volume, but the tone was as crude as ever.

“Then prove it, professor,� said Harry. Harry knew he couldn’t and Harry smirked at the thought.

“Arrogant, just like your father,� said Snape. He turned and put his hand on the stone. It slid open and he left.

“I don’t know why you hated my father, but you don’t have to take it out on me!� Harry called after him, just before the door slid shut.