Here is chapter two, in exactly a week as I promised! I'll try to update every Sunday.

A shorter chapter than the last one, but this will be my normal chapter length because I find it impossible to write longer chapters. Sorry.

James peered out from the statue he had taken refuge behind, his heart leaping when he recognized a familiar (and reassuringly human) person.

"Sirius! Over here!"

Sirius turned around at once, his face lighting up once he had successfully recognized and located the voice. He hurried towards his friend.

"Have you seen Moony anywhere?"

James shook his head, biting his lip with worry. He hadn't seen Lily either, but he doubted his friend cared about that so much.

A worried expression flitted over Sirius's face, but he grabbed James's arm and pulled him away. "Come on. Dumbledore's office – it should be safe for a while."

James consented to be pulled away, and the two ran as fast as they could to their destination, keeping out a watchful eye for any Infected. Thankfully there was none, as they kept mostly to the lesser-used passages, and they were at the entrance to the office before they knew it. The gargoyles no longer spoke – it seemed that all magic had deserted the castle, as no portraits on the walls had been moving or talking either.

The pair hurried up the stone steps, glad the doors were already open – they doubted they could have broken in using brute force. The only downside was that any Infected could get in easily as well.

Once they were up, their legs gave in and they collapsed onto the floor – though they had only woken up half an hour ago (that was so strange to think about!), they were now completely tired out by the events of the morning.

After a few minutes of lying on their backs and panting, James turned to Sirius.

"It's odd. I'm really tired, but I don't think I'll be able to sleep. I'll probably only have nightmares, anyway."

Sirius agreed, nodding his head. "We shouldn't do anything tiring until we think we'll be able to sleep. Otherwise we won't be able to fight of any Infected that come along."

They both cast uneasy glances towards the wide-open doors.

"Do you reckon we'll be able to close them?" Sirius asked.

"It'll be tiring – didn't you just say we shouldn't do anything like that?" James raised his eyebrows.

Sirius glared at him. "It would be safer that way."

"It was a joke!" James defended himself, getting to his feet.

"This really isn't the time to be joking!" Sirius snapped.

James gave him an odd look. "You okay, mate?"

"Yes – no – I don't know!" Sirius threw his hands in the air. "I'm just not feeling very… marauderish." He joined James, who had already begun heaving at the doors. "It's because there's no Moony, I guess. And I'm worried."

James nodded, but his eyebrows drew together as he thought.

They spent the next hour working in silence.

After they had spent an hour pushing and tugging, James broke the slightly uncomfortable silence by pronouncing it useless.

"There's no point – they're not going to close, and we're just using up all our energy," he said, wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead. "We can't stay here forever, it's not safe. We'll have to find somewhere else or keep on the move."

Sirius agreed, nodding his head. "We should try and get some food – we'll be starving soon. Do you think they'll still have some in the kitchens?"

James shrugged. "It's magically opened, so that means we either won't be able to get in at all, or the door will be open for everyone to access it. And even if we get in, will there be food? Do house-elves count as magical?"

"Even if there aren't any house-elves, there must still be food," Sirius said. "Nobody can make food appear out of thin air, everyone knows that. So it would be worth a look." He made his way out the door, and James followed him.

"Can we even get out of the school?" he asked. "We haven't checked. We could just escape, if it was possible…"

"And leave Moony here?" Sirius demanded. "And I bet you're worried about Lily as well. And I know they're both smart, but they'll never go for the obvious answer of checking if we can even get out. A downside of being clever. No, I bet they've found a really ingenious hiding place – either together or apart – and are going to be fine."

"We don't even know if they're still human!" James protested as they made their way into a main corridor, keeping a watchful look out for any Infected.

Sirius glared at him. "I know they are. They're too clever to get bitten."

They walked on in silence for a while, then Sirius exhaled slowly.

"Sorry. I'm being a bit uptight, aren't I?"

James dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "It's fine. I understand."

"I'm not doing a very good job of being me, am I?" Sirius gave a shaky smile.

James gave a quick laugh, that was slightly too high and hysterical to be counted as natural. Sirius still gave him a grateful look.

James decided to put in an effort of his own. "It's probably this apocalypse that's going on. There's a lot of – SHIT!"

At James's sudden exclamation, Sirius turned to see what his friend had already soon – an Infected was almost right behind them, and James had been almost bitten. Luckily, he had jumped away in time, but the Infected had attacked again.

James was pinned against the wall, and at the complete mercy of the Infected. Sirius leapt forward, and pulled it away, not caring for his own safety – the Infected fell back, then hit the floor. Its neck clicked and broke, twisting around in an impossible position.

James nodded his thanks to Sirius, then approached the fallen Infected slowly, using the tip of his shoe to nudge the head. It lolled to the other side, but the zombie did not stir. It was dead.

Sirius walked up behind James, inspecting the body properly for the first time. With a jolt, he realised he recognized the face – it was Hestia Jones, who had proved to be more than adequate in a broom cupboard more than a few times. Reflecting on it, he found that he was not particularly sorry. He was sad she was dead, yes, but he felt no personal pain or grief.

Before he had time to reflect on it further, he was pulled away by James in the direction of the kitchens.

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