"I wonder what the rest of the giant squid looks like?" Sirius pondered aloud, staring at the tentacle barely visible above the surface of the lake. Spring had come early, and Sirius, James and Remus were hanging out under their favorite tree.
"Dive in and see," said Remus, just a bit edgily. Sirius looked over in surprise, then comprehension dawned on his face.
"Come on, Moony," he said, grabbing the top book off of the sizable stack sitting next to Remus. "Exams are weeks away! You can't possibly be worrying about them already!"
Remus rolled his eyes at him and grabbed the book back. "I'm not worrying," he said. "I'm preparing. Where's Peter, anyway? We're supposed to be studying together."
"Where is Peter?" James echoed, realizing for the first time how long his friend had been gone; he had run inside to grab his books nearly an hour ago.
"I'll just work on Ancient Runes until he gets here," said Remus, setting down his book and reaching for another one. His eyes briefly focused beyond James and he forced a smile and waved. James turned around to see Lily Evans waving back.
"Why are you friends with her, Moony?" he asked, scowling. He still hadn't forgiven her for her werewolf comment, and judging by the stiffness in Remus's smile, he hadn't forgotten either. "She's absolutely horrible. I can't stand her."
"Yes," said Remus. "So you've mentioned." The stiff smile disappeared, and an almost-smirk replaced it.
"What?" James demanded.
"What what?" echoed Remus innocently, not looking at him.
"What are you smirking about?" The smile grew.
"I'm not smirking," said Remus, and he disappeared behind his book.
James looked over at Sirius who merely shrugged, appearing just as confused as James felt. He didn't have the opportunity to try to drag the truth out of Remus, however, because at that moment Peter came into view, sprinting full speed from the castle.
"Guess what?" he gasped, plopping down next to them, grinning madly. "I was heading up to get my books," he continued before anyone could answer, "and I was walking past the staff room-"
"The staff room isn't on the way to Gryffindor Tower," interrupted Sirius, but Peter waved him off.
"And I heard Slughorn and McGonagall talking, and they were talking about what a hard time Dumbledore is having finding a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher!" He beamed at the delivery of this good news, hardly able to contain his happiness.
"Pittiman's leaving?" Sirius cried. "Really?"
"Well, did anyone really expect her to stay?" said Remus. "I mean, she farted chickens! Dumbledore's lucky she didn't quit right then." Despite his logical words, Remus looked just as pleased as his friends.
"But really," said Sirius a few minutes later once everyone's excitement had mellowed, "the staff room isn't on the way to Gryffindor Tower."
Peter turned pink and ignored him.
----------
"No, honest!" exclaimed Sirius. "It was right here! Next to that suit of armour!"
James followed Sirius's gesture to the suit of armour a few feet away; it was completely indistinguishable from every other suit of armour in the castle. "Was it?" he asked, snickering slightly and readjusting the cloak, trying to make it cover all four sets of feet.
"Yes," insisted Sirius stubbornly, "it was."
"Well, it might have been," said Remus from the back of the group, "but there certainly doesn't appear to be a hidden tunnel there now, does there?" Sirius turned around to scowl at him.
"Were there any other landmarks?" James asked, feeling a little bit sorry for his friend. Sirius's scowl disappeared as he thought.
"Remember that portrait of the one-eyed unicorn that we passed a couple of weeks ago?"
"I'm not likely to forget it," said Remus, making a face. "That picture is creepy."
"I'm pretty sure I passed it on my way here," Sirius continued, "but to be honest, I can't remember where that is either."
James might have been more tempted to mock him, but he also couldn't remember where they had spotted the picture. That particular outing had been long, and they had gotten lost more than once.
"Second floor," said Peter after a moment. "East side."
"Second floor?" repeated Sirius, surprised.
"East side?" echoed Remus, sounding absolutely stunned. "Peter, I don't know cardinal directions inside the castle!"
"What are cardinal directions?" Peter asked blankly, stuffing something into his pocket.
"North, south, east, west. What's in your pocket?" demanded Sirius.
"Pocket? What?" Peter asked, poorly feigning ignorance. Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Nothing," he said hastily, pushing it even deeper into his pocket.
"Come on, Peter," said Sirius, a touch of exasperation in his voice. "I can't take it from you. That would require me to stick my hand in your pocket, which is absolutely not going to happen.
"Accio thing."
A crumpled piece of paper flew out of Peter's pocket and into Remus's hand; Remus looked slightly surprised. "I didn't really expect that to work," he said. "Accio thing?"
"Give it back," said Peter, sounding genuinely anxious now instead of merely uncomfortable. "It's nothing, really!"
James shuffled around so he could look over Remus's shoulder as he unrumpled the parchment.
"Blimey, Peter!" breathed Sirius as he held his lit wand up to get a better look. "It's a map!"
"Yeah, well," said Peter, squirming. "After I got lost that once when I went to get my books, I felt really stupid, so I started making a map. You know, just so I wouldn't get lost as much."
"This is incredible," said James in awe; and it really was. Peter had accomplished a stunning amount in just a couple of short weeks. As he studied Peter's detailed drawing,
he appreciated for the first time how much of the castle they had covered in their midnight escapades.
"You like it?" Peter sounded surprised.
"Like it?" said Sirius. "It's brilliant!"
"Really?" James smiled at the note of pride in Peter's voice; it wasn't something he heard often.
"Really," said Remus.
Without actually saying anything, they all agreed to abandon the search for Sirius's new secret tunnel, at least temporarily. Back in their dormitory, they laid the map out on the floor so they could admire it properly.
"I've added all the basics, of course," said Peter, eager to talk about the map now that it had received his friends' approval. "All the stuff to and from classes. And a lot of the stuff we've covered at night. I know I got all the ones that we've been to in the last couple of weeks, and I added some stuff from memory, but I'm not sure it's right."
"It looks good so far," mused James, his eyes scanning over the map. "But there's so much here, it would take a little while to check all of it."
"We could sell copies of this and make a fortune," said Sirius, finally tearing himself away from the map and sitting back against his bed.
"Yes, but then everyone would know about the secret passageways," said James, "and Dumbledore would probably find out and close them up."
"True," acknowledged Sirius with a slight pout.
"And besides, it would show everyone that there's a passage underneath the Whomping Willow," said Remus.
"All right," Sirius admitted grudgingly. "It just seems like a shame that no one will ever see it but us."
James didn't say so out loud, but he agreed. He loved the forbidden treks around the castle, and he suddenly felt a little bit sorry for all of his fellow students who didn't have an invisibility cloak and who didn't know what it was like to wander the empty hallways of Hogwarts at night.