Chapter 10: Dirty Little Secret

-Stella POV-

When Brianna comes up to me with her innocent, yet pleading, expression, I should know right away that something is up. I should know that she is up to no good. And I should realize that the stupidest thing I could do is to agree to do something without knowing what it actually is that I'll be doing. So, when Brianna asks me if I will do her a favor, I foolishly say yes.

"Brilliant!" She grins. This is when I first begin to realize that I may have made a mistake. I notice her glance across the room to where the Marauders are sitting. This is my second clue. Then she says enthusiastically, "Let's go upstairs."

I reluctantly follow her up to our dorm room. With each step I feel more dread as it sinks in what I've just done. Of course, her request could be perfectly harmless. However, blindly agreeing to do something for Bria is one of the most basic mistakes a person can make.

We enter the room and she shuts the door firmly behind us, after making sure the room is empty. She checks the bathroom, too, just to be absolutely sure. Now I know I've made a mistake. If Bria is concerned about secrecy then there is no way that she can be up to anything remotely good. This is confirmed by Bria when she turns to me and says: "We are going to sneak into the 6th year boys dorm room."

I groan. "I don't think so."

She instantly turns on her pleading expression. "Please! I need to find something and I could really use your help. They'll never know we were there."

I've found that I'm powerless when Bria uses her convincing expression. I sigh, my shoulders slumping. "Fine. I guess I'll help you."

I'm not sure what has come over me. I have no idea why I've actually agreed to do this.

"How are we going to get in there without them seeing us? They are all sitting in the common room."

Bria grins. "We aren't going through the common room." She grabs her broom. "We're going through the windows"

"What?!" I exclaim. Have I mentioned that I'm terrified of flying? I may love watching quidditch, but I refuse to get on a broom. I'm pretty sure that Bria knows this, too.

"Don't worry about it," she says, her expression softening. "It will be fine. It's just a quick flight. If you close your eyes you won't even know you're flying."

She walks over to the window, sticks her broom out her window, and climbs on. She looks at me expectantly. I hesitate, then walk slowly to the window myself.

"It's easy. Just climb on," she says. "Here, give me your hand."

I take her hand. I breath deeply and quickly get on the broom. My heart seems to plunge into my stomach as I briefly look down towards the ground, which seems to be miles below us. I throw my arms around her and squeeze my eyes tight as we start to fly. In what feels like forever, but is really no time at all, Bria announces, "We're here!"

I open my eyes and see a closed window in front of us. Bria takes out her wand and waves it, muttering a spell, and the window flies open.

"I think we'll fit through it," Bria says, "That way you won't have to climb through." As she flies towards the window I close my eyes again. I can feel the difference as we enter the room. Then we are tumbling to the floor.

"Oops," she says. My eyes open and I find myself lying on the floor of the 6th year Gryffindor boys' room. I quickly get up. I have never actually been here. It is surprisingly clean. I have a feeling that is mostly due to Remus' influence. Especially since three of the beds have a variety of different things sticking out from under them, covering them, and tightly surrounding them. The fourth is neatly made and spotless. I turn to Bria who is standing beside me.

"What are we looking for?" I ask, resigned.

"I'm not sure exactly what it is," she says, avoiding my eyes. "But I do know that it's some sort of parchment. I saw them looking at it the other day. I think if you tap it with your wand something shows up on it."

Great! I'm looking for a piece of parchment. This is going to be difficult, especially considering the five pieces of parchment I already see sticking out from under a bed that I assume to be James', considering the quilt embroidered with quaffles. Bria instantly begins searching and I reluctantly do the same. We are silently searching for about five minutes.

"Ooh, I think I found it!" Bria exclaims. I straighten and look over at her. She is vigorously tapping a piece of parchment with her wand and frowning. "I guess not."

We continue our search. We haven't been looking for more than two minutes when we suddenly hear loud voices at the door. We straighten and look at each other in alarm.

Then the door handle begins to turn.

-Brianna POV-

I am lying underneath James' bed. It is a mess. Their room is actually clean, I think this is the one thing that Remus insists upon. However, under James' bed it is not remotely clean. It seems as though there must be three years of junk under here. However, I know this is not possible, as this room was empty all summer. Which means this three years worth of junk is actually the result of about two months. I just thank Merlin that I ended up under James' bed instead of Sirius' or Peter's. Stella wasn't so lucky. She is currently squashed under Sirius' bed. I'm just worried because she has dust-related allergies and I'm sure that a lot of dust must have accumulated under his bed. If she sneezes she'll give us away.

The four boys enter the room. "Prongs, I'm sorry, but it's never going to happen."

"What are you on about? She doesn't hate me anymore!"

"Sure, but that doesn't mean she's ever going to date you. There are so many girls who would love to date you. I think you should forget about Lily."

"I don't know, Padfoot, he might have more of a chance than you think."

"Come on, Moony. I have to say that I think I have a bit more experience in this sort of thing."

"Actually, I think that Remus is quite intuitive about things like that."

"You're just saying that because he agrees with you."

"You should ask out Mona Williams. She's really pretty."

"Honestly, Wormtail? Williams is not what I'd call a looker."

"Who's broom is this? One of you left your broom on my bed."

Bloody hell! I left my broom on Remus' bed. After all that we went through, we're going to get caught because I carelessly left my broom lying around. We probably would have gotten away with it, too. We may have had to stay under these beds all night, but we would have gotten away with it. I'm actually not sure, though, if that option is better. Being stuck under James' bed all night would be torture.

"Oh, that's mine," I hear James say. "Sorry. I thought I put that away."

Maybe we won't get caught after all. Luckily James and I have the same brooms. I'm still surprised that he isn't able to tell the difference. Surprised but immensely relieved.

There is a short silence.

"Speaking of girls," Sirius begins, "I was thinking of asking out Brianna. What do you guys think? Of course, I would never ask her out without your consent."

What in Godric's name?

"I give you my full blessing," James says.

"Really?" Remus says. "Because I was thinking about asking her out."

For some strange reason my heart speeds up slightly by this comment. I have no idea why. What is wrong with me?

"Aw, come on Moony! You have a girlfriend!" Sirius complains. "Besides, I called her first."

Excuse me? No boy is going to 'call me'. Besides, I would never go out with Sirius in a million years. He should know that.

"I think you should leave this decision up to me," James says. What? James is the last person who is going to make that decision. What is wrong with these boys? "Personally, I think I'd have to go with Peter."

Is he mental? Oh, shit. I think I just said "what?" out loud. I meant to only think that in my head. We were so close, too.

Suddenly James' face is grinning under the bed at me. "Well, hello Brianna. What a surprise." Oh, bloody hell. They just pulled that thing to get me to reveal myself. They knew I was in here. Grumbling, I crawl out from under the bed. Sirius starts laughing.

I stand up, covered in dust. "Ever heard of cleaning, James? It's disgusting under there."

"I'm sorry," James says sarcastically. "I don't usually prepare my bed so that people can hide out under it." He holds out my broom, "Did you lose something?"

Narrowing my eyes, I grab my broom.

"I can't believe you actually thought I'd want to ask you out," Sirius chuckles. Sometimes I hate him. Like right now.

I glare at him. "You'd be lucky to date me." Sirius looks skeptical but amused. Then I remember about Stella. Stella is still hidden and they have no idea she's here. I have to get out of here as soon as possible before they figure it out. I may have not been able to get away with this, but Stella still has a chance.

"Well, this has been lovely," I smile, "but I really must be going."

"Wait a minute!" James protests. I have to get out of here. "You still have to tell us what you were doing in here."

"Nope, I don't. See you later," I head to the door.

"I don't think so," Sirius shakes his head. "You have some answering to do before you leave here."

"I will be available in the common room for any questions you may have," I say, using my sweetest voice. "You can voice your concerns to me there. Now, I'll be going."

This is actually good. If I can get them to come down to the common room, Stella will be able to get away.

"What are you hiding?"

I freeze. Slowly I turn to Remus, putting on my best (and least obvious) innocent expression.

"Nothing," I say. He is looking at me very intently, which makes it really difficult to look convincingly innocent. Damn Remus and his intuitiveness. "Listen, boys, I really need to go. I'm supposed to meet Lily right now and you know how she gets about people being late."

James nods. "It's true."

"You're hiding something and you're trying to get out of here as quickly as possible so we won't figure it out," Remus accuses. Why did James have to make friends with somebody so smart?

Looking suspicious, he leans down to look under his bed. Well, I tried. At least I can say that.

"Peter, look under your bed." Peter checks under his bed, which is of course empty. Well, empty other than all the junk that's there.

Suddenly there is a sneeze from under Sirius' bed. She couldn't make it just five minutes longer? Though, to be fair, she probably realized that there was no hope anyway. Sirius grins. He looks under his bed. When he straightens his grin is even wider.

"Well, well, well," he says. He is getting way to much amusement out of this. Stella's head appears from under Sirius' bed. It is covered with dust. I mean, literally covered. Her head is grey from all the dust. She struggles to climb out. Standing up, she gives me a particularly displeased look. Hey, I really did try! Though, I'm sure it's not my lack of getting out undetected as it is the fact that I dragged her into this in the first place.

"Stella?" James is very surprised. Actually, all of them except for Sirius are surprised. I, on the other hand, am a little scared. Stella is looking murderous and I really think that she is going to kill me.

"Sorry?" I say hopefully.

She glares at me. "Let's go," she mutters through gritted teeth. If I weren't so scared right now, I'd probably laugh at her. She is covered from head to foot in dust. Her hair is a mess. She has dark smudges on her face. How can these boys possibly be so messy?

I see Sirius looking impressed and he gives Stella two thumbs up behind James' back. Stella smiles slightly. I frown. What is up with them? The other three boys are silent as we leave the room. We silently walk down to the common room, across it, and begin up the stairs to our own room. When we are halfway up I tentatively break the silence.

"Stella, I'm sorry. I guess all of that was for absolutely nothing," I say glumly, "we didn't even get that parchment."

I am shocked when Stella grins widely at me. She holds up a piece of parchment. "I'm pretty sure that this is it."

My eyes widen in surprise. "Where did you get that?"

"I found it under Sirius' bed," she says. Her smile is huge. Which is surprising because about five minutes ago I was convinced she was going to murder me. "I wasn't really upset with you. It was just an act."

"Well, Stella, I am quite impressed," I say. "We pulled one over on them after all. All thanks to you."

We reach the door to our room and go inside. Lily looks up from the spot on her bed where she is sitting. She frowns at us.

"What in Merlin's name happened to you?"

-Stella POV-

When we got back to our room last night Lily was there. We never got a moment alone to examine the parchment. It is currently hidden in the bottom of my trunk. I normally do not condone snooping or stealing, but I am actually quite intrigued. Maybe it's Sirius' negative influence. This morning he told me that he thought it was 'excellent' that I had decided to do some snooping. He also said that if he discovered anything of his missing I would seriously regret it. The tone he used was actually a little scary. Especially because he didn't make any joke about the pun on the word serious.

Right now we're sitting in a Transfiguration class. I've never been more anxious to get out of a class. Especially a Transfiguration one. I quite enjoy Transfiguration but I haven't listened to a word McGonagall has said. I'm not really sure if it's Sirius' influence or Bria's. Either way, I am very curious to find out what that parchment is.

A piece of paper just appeared on my desk. I open it.

Can I copy your notes after class? –Sirius

I thought you were supposed to be tutoring me in Transfiguration –Stella

Haha. But really, can I copy your notes? –Sirius

I roll my eyes. He knows that I do not approve of copying notes. Why should I do all that work so that someone else has to do none at all? Besides, I haven't taken any today anyway.

I haven't been taking notes. –Stella

Really? –Sirius

I'm serious. –Stella

Sirius gives me a thumbs up, quickly writes another note, and then turns to Remus who is currently listening to McGonagall's lecture. I look down at his last note.

Well, actually, I'm Sirius. –Sirius

I grin in spite of myself. As unoriginal and overused as that joke is, I can't help but be amused. I glance up and notice Bria giving us a weird look. When she sees me looking she quickly turns forward and begins to pretend to take notes. I know that she is pretending because she never actually takes any notes.

Finally the class is over. I begin to gather up my things quickly, eager to get up to the dorms.

"Stella, I was wondering if – " Lily begins, but is interrupted when Bria walks up and grabs me by the arm.

"Sorry, Lils, we have to go," she says before dragging me away. Lily is looking very suspicious as we hurry out of the room. I think she knows something is up. Especially after last night when we came in covered in dust and Bria told Lily that we had just been looking for a particularly old book in a deserted area of the library.

We walk as fast as possible without running. Bria knows that I don't like running in the halls. As soon as we are in our room Bria locks the door as I dig through my trunk for the parchment. I turn to her as she eagerly sits on my bed.

"Don't you think locking the door is a little suspicious?" I ask.

"It is, but it gives us a warning if someone is coming and time to hide the parchment," she says. She has a point.

I sit down next to her and unfold the parchment.

"What do we do?" she asks. I shrug.

Bria takes out her wand and taps the parchment. "Reveal yourself." At first nothing happens and we are disappointed. Then, suddenly, writing begins to appear across it. We look at each other in excitement and begin to read.

Mssr. Moony is disappointed that a pretty young girl such as Brianna Potter does not seem to be able to stay out of other people's business.

We frown at each other as more writing appears.

Mssr. Wormtail thinks that Brianna Potter is too pretty to be involved in such shady business as stealing from the innocent.

Mssr. Padfoot always knew Brianna Potter was more trouble than she was worth.

Mssr. Prongs wishes that Brianna Potter would learn to stay out of things that do not belong to her for once in her life.

We look up at each other. Bria's expression mirrors my own confusion. "What was that?" she asks.

"I don't know. Let me try," I say, taking out my wand. "Aparecium," I tap the parchment, trying a simple revealing charm.

Mssr. Moony is surprised that a girl as smart as Stella Potter would think that such a simple spell would actually be effective in revealing our hidden secrets.

Mssr. Wormtail does not know what the spell actually is and therefore cannot comment on its effectiveness.

Mssr. Padfoot approves of Stella Potter's initiative but thinks that she should keep her cute little nose out of things that do not involve her.

Mssr. Prongs is highly disappointed and thought that Stella Potter had more sense than this.

I frown. "This is really weird."

"I know. Especially because they seem to know who we are," Bria says, squinting at the parchment.

"Well, it must have some kind of charm that recognizes – " I begin. Bria interrupts me, which I have realized is a very common occurrence.

"It's them!" she cries, her eyes widening.

"It's who?" I ask.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," she says, "Those are the names that they use for each other."

"The names that who uses for each other?" I ask, still confused. Then I suddenly remember. "James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter."

"Yes!" Bria cries. "They must have created this thing."

"This is impressive work," I say, studying the map. "It is able to recognize the person using it and the responses seem to be very personalized."
"What do you mean?" she asks.

"For example, 'Mssr. Padfoot always knew Brianna Potter was more trouble than she was worth' is something that Sirius would say to you," I say. I am very impressed by this. I knew they were smart, but they must have used some highly advanced magic to create this.

"You're right," she says, thinking. Then I notice her blush. "Do you really think that Remus thinks I'm pretty?"

I study her closely, trying to hide a grin. "Well, you are pretty, so probably." Then a thought occurs to me.

"Do I really have a cute nose?" I ask.

Bria's giving me a look that I can't quite decipher. "I never really thought about it. I suppose so."

I have a small smile, but I quickly give her a more serious look. "So, how are we going to figure this out?"
"Maybe this is all it is," she says, "Maybe it doesn't do anything else."

"No, that doesn't make any sense at all. If that were the case, the boys wouldn't be hiding it and wouldn't be using it only for themselves. Plus, it mentioned something about a hidden secret."

"You're the smart one, you should know what to do," she points out.

"You're the one with the Sight," I say, "maybe if you concentrate really hard something will come to you."

She's now giving me a skeptical look. "You know that it doesn't work like that. I probably don't actually have the Sight anyway."

I sigh. "Well, I'll go to the library tomorrow. Maybe I can find something that might help us."

"Yeah, and I'll – er – " she begins.

I grin at her. "It's okay, you don't have to come to the library with me."

She breaths a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin. Last time I went to the library I almost died of boredom."

A/N: Please review!!