It is now the week of the midterm exams for me, and last year, I had the idea for my "midterm marathon" which I shall continue this year. Basically, it means I will post a chapter each day of midterms. So, Day 1 of the Midterm Marathon – we find out exactly what James and Sirius were planning for Sariah and Remus. . .

Chapter Four

Year Two at Hogwarts

~ Sariah Alycone ~
I eyed the corridors that flashed by with growing alarm. We were supposed to be following James and Remus, and I doubted they would have gone to the common room. So the library was an available choice. . .

Only – this wasn't the way to the library.

I might have only been a second-year and, yeah, I still got lost on the way to new classes or classes that got moved due to teachers' whims and lessons, but even I wasn't that dumb. I had gone there myself plenty of times already (because the library sometimes was the best place to be when the Marauders got going as they would not dare defile the library of Madame Pince), and this definitely was not the way. At all.

We should have turned right five turns back, at least.

"Sirius, what – where are you taking me?" I finally blurted, pulling on his hand to slow us. "This is not the way to the library!"

Sirius flashed a playful grin over his shoulder. "'Course it's not the way to the library," he said matter-of-factly. "Did you really swallow that lie? Come on, Alycone, I'd hope you're smarter than that."

"Sirius Black, hold it right here!" I shouted, yanking my hand away from him. "Where on earth are we going?"

He merely grinned and produced his wand with a flourish.

I let my hand dangle and slowly dip into the pocket of my cloak, letting my fingers close around my wand, but not drawing it yet. If he had already drawn it, I wanted the advantage of surprise, for it would be my only advantage. Sirius wasn't as great with the wand as I was, but he knew more spells that would cause more trouble – a throwback to his numerous experiments on jinxing the rest of us.

"If you're going to duel me, Black, you should know you're going to lose," I informed him calmly.

Sirius flicked his wand at me; I flinched –

And he turned around and pointed his wand at a stack of boxes nearby. I saw his lips move in a very quiet incantation – he had mastered the technique over two years of playing pranks on the rest of us, causing daily devastation and annoyance – and sure enough, it worked.

Everything fell over with a crash, and I heard the tell-tale screech of Mrs. Norris.

I watched for a few seconds, mouth agape, before my wits returned and I drew my wand. "Repa – " I started to say.

He seized my wand arm, ruining my incantation and my aim in a single move.

Filch, with his impeccable timing, appeared and came scurrying towards us just right then later, his face livid.

"You again!" he screeched at Sirius. "And you!"

"What – no – No, I didn't – "

Sirius grinned, saluted cockily, and then seized my hand and started running. The awkward footsteps behind us toward me that Filch wasn't far behind. But I couldn't pull my hand away; Sirius was going so fast that if I did, I'd find myself doing a face-plant on the floor – and have a detention to match it.

"Sirius, what was that about?" I panted, trying to keep pace with him. "Black, answer me!"

"I think it's very elementary," Sirius called over his shoulder, tugging harder on my hand. "I just made Filch pissed, so now we're running from him – and the detention."

"Yes, but – "

I ducked under the tapestry into a secret passage a moment too late and got a mouthful of rug. Coughing and spitting it out, I managed, " – but where the heck are we going?"

"Seventh floor," Sirius answered, his voice slightly muffled as it floated back to me.

"What's – on – the – seventh – floor?" I gasped, trying to talk and regain my breath as we dashed up the stairs. I rarely went up the seventh floor, as the library and the Gryffindor common rooms certainly weren't up there and I wasn't ready to take Divination and we only passed through the floor on the way to Astronomy, so. . .

"Stuff," came Sirius's vague answer.

I swore quietly before raising my voice so Sirius could hear.

"I hate you, Sirius Black," I said, projecting my voice towards my father's cousin with all the venom I could muster with me being out of breath and having tons of stitches in my side. "And as soon as we, stop, I am going to curse you."

Sirius tossed another cocky grin over his shoulder as we finished the stairs and started running on the flat corridor. "Love you too, Alycone," he replied cheekily.

Then he stopped so suddenly that I walked – well, ran – right into him. I doubled over, trying to catch my breath, and trying to remember the worst possible curse we had learned. Usually, I would also bring up a list of countercurses when I got ready to hex one of the Marauders, but this time I didn't intend to use to fix whatever damage I caused. . .

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a door in front of me.

Frowning, I turned to Sirius. I may not have really examined the seventh floor, but I never remembered a door here –

Too late.

A push from Sirius sent me flying forward.

The door flew open when I was just centimeters from breaking my nose on it, and then I tripped over the threshold. I fell . . .

. . . right into somebody's very, very, very startled arms.

~ Remus Lupin ~
The moment the door slammed shut behind me, I knew I had walked into a trap. No, even before then – I had known the second James had uttered the word "homework". James never did his homework, and if he did, he certainly never asked for my help. Yep, I had known something was up from that second; but I hadn't known what – or been able to warn Sariah.

And my fears had been proven true when James had provoked Peeves into chasing us all the way to the seventh floor, where he had shoved me into this room. The door was locked behind me. I had tried every spell I could think – and a few curses that I hadn't expected would, along with a few kicks and pushes – but no, I couldn't get out. I was trapped here until James saw fit to let me out or someone dropped in on my impromptu hiding place and was kind enough to let me out.

I sighed. If word ever got out about this, I doubted I'd be able to show my face without flushing for another year or so.

Especially if Sariah found out. Sariah, the one who always called me the voice of reason and the manifestation of actual brains in the marauders, would no doubt tease me mercilessly upon finding out that the supposedly "smart" Marauder was the one who had been the most easily duped by his gang of not-as-smart friends.

This is the last time I let James drag me off, I thought in annoyance.

Inevitably, whenever I let James drag me off, I ended up somewhere I didn't want to be and regretted it for a very long time afterward. It was part of being one of the Marauders, I supposed, and I liked being part of a group of friends, but still. . .

Carefully, I stood, slipped my wand back into my robes, and started examining the room. It seemed old, very old, with glossy wooden walls and a high arching ceiling. It was plain and unadorned, but what surprised me was that there was no furniture. Almost every Hogwarts room looked old, as this was an old castle to start with, but they also all had furniture – chairs, desks, shelves, and so on.

At least, every Hogwarts room I had seen, for just as I had thought about furniture. .

There was the strangest sound, like half-oiled chains rustling around each other, and slowly the room started shifting into a classroom. A bookshelf appeared, filled to the brim with books. Chairs and desks popped up, orderly as in every other classroom. The arching stairway at the opposite end of the chamber and adjacent room the stairway led to, where the teacher of the classroom usually lived throughout the year, came into view. The room brightened as clear windows, dotted with stained glass figures, materialized at the top of the walls with varnished wood carvings of buttresses and arches twining around them. Finally, part of the wall collapsed in, revealing a crackling fireplace that sent bursts of warmth into the otherwise chilly room.

My jaw dropped. I couldn't even begin to think of effort and spellcasting and preparing it would take to make a room like this.

I heard the door open, and turned around, the words, "About time!" right on my lips when –

Sariah practically fell over the threshold, and into my arms.

I caught her easily, slowing her descent to the floor enough that the floor didn't bite into her knees. To say I was absolutely, totally, without a doubt floored by surprise was an understatement . . . especially when I realized that Sariah had close to a death grip on my robes.

~ Sirius Black ~
I snickered as the door closed and then vanished behind Sariah. She wouldn't be coming out for some time, I was quite sure of that. . . Seconds later, Prongs emerged from his hiding place in a nearby cupboard, a similar grin on his own face as he came to stand beside me, both of us staring at the place where the door had been when James had wished it into existence.

"That was quick, Padfoot," Prongs said, stretching and ruffling his hair with a casual air.

I snorted. "More like easy. She didn't start insulting me until – "

"Alycone insulted you? Oh, no!" Prongs gasped dramatically, clutching at his heart as though he was having some sort of heart attack – or perhaps a hallucination and seizure was a better description.

"Shut it, Prongs," I interrupted. "As I was saying, she didn't start insulting me until she noticed that we were going in the wrong direction to the library."

Prongs raised an eyebrow at me. "You told her you were taking her to the library?" he repeated incredulously. "Oh, come on, Padfoot! Surely you can think of a better lie than that!"

"Yeah, but it was easier to get her come along if she thought we were going after Moony."

"Oh."

Now Prongs's face was thoughtful; well, as thoughtful as it could possibly get. But then again, we were plotting, and that was what the Marauders were best at. Especially when it involved one of our own. . .

"Good point, Padfoot."

Then, with a flourish, he pulled out the Invisibility Cloak. "Come on."

We settled under the Cloak, content to wait until Moony and Alycone figured out how to get out. Prongs thought they would be out soon – once they figured out how that was. I mean, neither of them had ever been in the Room of Requirement ever before.

I bet in completely the other direction.