(Typed this up a while ago and have been too busy to post or work anymore. My lit analysis paper is almost done, so I hope to have more time for REAL writing again soon. Thanks to all the people who actually care that this exists. It makes me feel so special.

Btw: Monte is the name of the band teacher at my school XP.)

After deciding that the death-doing would start tomorrow, James and Sirius went to bed. When he came up to the room, Remus took it upon himself to move his and Peter's beds to the opposite side. And cast a silencing spell. And, on further reflection, throw on a few more protection spells that came to mind.

It wasn't until James blinked his eyes open in the morning that he realized his invisibility cloak was folded neatly—or, to use more exact phrasing, shoved haphazardly—into his trunk, and that Sirius would have every opportunity to end him before it could even have the chance to save him.

Closing his eyes to pretend he was still asleep, James saw the layout of the dorm in his mind's eye. Considering all the measures Sirius could have taken, James concocted a plan.

First, he rolled onto the floor, grabbing his wand off the night stand as he went. Next, he belly-crawled rapidly under Remus's bed; that is, where it was supposed to be. Upon looking up, James found that it was inexplicably across the room. Unwilling to remain in the open, James risked hiding under his own bed.

Breathing heavily, listening to his beating heart in the ominous silence, he realized that, as his trunk was at the foot of the bed, he could have gotten his cloak while barely leaving his bed. Instead, he carefully edged his trunk around with his fingers until it faced his bed. He then found that his bed got in the way of the lid opening. Taking a steadying breath, James pushed the trunk away from his bed, dashed out after it, cursed his inane need to put locks on things, and finally blasted it open with his wand. As he picked up his cloak from the smoldering remains, shouts sounded throughout the room and bed-curtains were flung back. James threw the cloak over him and dived under Peter's bed, ignoring the socks and rat-droppings.

"What the hell was that?" Sirius asked blearily.

"You mean you aren't responsible?" Remus asked accusingly.

"Where's James?" Peter asked nervously. "That's his trunk…"

"What's going on?" a voice asked from another bed.

Everyone turned to the voice. "Who the hell are you?" Sirius demanded.

"I'm Monte!" the boy replied with a voice that suggested disturbance in his nasal cavity.

"Who?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"I've roomed with all of you since we started Hogwarts!"

"I don't remember you…" Remus said slowly.

"We're in the same year!" Monte insisted plaintively. "I play the accordion in the Hogwarts band!"

There was an intense silence as all boys, including a hidden James, wracked their memories.

"Hm… what were we talking about?" Remus finally asked.

"No idea," Sirius replied. "Couldn't have been anything important, I imagine."

"Probably not," Peter agreed.

"Well, let's go find James, the only other Gryffindor boy in our year," Sirius exclaimed. "I'm going to kill him today, you know!"

As they walked out, Monte heaved a despairing sigh. "That's weird," Remus said to himself. "I could swear I heard someone."