Chapter 10

Un-Beta'd

Happy Birthday

School had resumed following the holidays and as the snows melted from the grounds Lily headed out into the weak afternoon sunlight in the hopes of visiting Hagrid.

"Hagrid," she called hopefully as she knocked at his door.

"Come in Lily," he called out in reply.

She entered the room as he was placing the kettle over the fire.

"Been a busy year, haven't seen you much," Hagrid commented.

"You have been very busy," Lily agreed.

"So how've yer classes been?"

They spent an enjoyable afternoon catching up. As she was preparing to leave Lily suddenly remembered the other purpose to her visit and reached into her bag.

"Nanna Anne sent you a Christmas present again," the redhead commented as she passed a neatly wrapped bundle to the half giant.

"Eh, what's this?" He pulled out a knitted woolen hat.

"It's a beanie, a type of hat to keep your head warm. I hope it fits. Nanna thought it might be nice for when you are in the forest."

"How does she make these?"

"It's called knitting, you have two sticks, called needles and wool and you kind of weave it together, she started teaching me once, but I'm not very good."

"Is that so? Well maybe you can teach me one day." He chuckled as he showed her to the door.

As was usual as soon as the door closed behind her Lily headed to climb her tree on the edge of the forest. After 5 minutes staring into the woods she ran back to the castle for tea.

Entering the Gryffindor common room that evening Lily noted that all the girls from her year were gathered round the Marauders listening to their tales of Quidditch high adventure. Seeing that they had settled in for the evening she headed up to the dormitory. She transferred her cauldron and the potion ingredients from her trunk into her bag and began to search for a place to hide them. She left the dormitory and the common room and headed to a stair case to the right of the fat lady that she had never investigated before. Walking up these stairs she found her way barred by a portrait of a courtier.

"Hello good Sir may I pass?" she enquired.

"Indeed my lady." He bowed as his portrait swung and Lily proceeded up another dozen stairs to enter what appeared to be a cell. Its windows were barred and there were shackles attached to the floor. Just like the dungeons- Lily supposed as she set her cauldron on the floor and began her preparations. She worked for several hours slipping back to Gryffindor tower just before curfew, holding the courtier's promise that he would let no other pass until her work was done.

Lying in bed that night Lily stared at her drawn curtains blocking out the whispers of the room's other occupants. Six weeks to brew the potion she thought, the mandrake needs to be held in the mouth for a month, so I have a fortnight to figure out in which greenhouse they are kept and to sneak in and get some leaves, who can I ask? The answer flicked across her mind Gid!

Asking wasn't necessary as it turned out, when Lily walked into the first herbology lesson after the holidays. She entered greenhouse 3 and noticed the addition of a new work bench at the back of the room, making her way towards it she spotted 3 plants with hair like leaves, identifying them immediately as mandragora, she would just need a distraction to be able to pilfer some leaves. Madam Sprout entered and began the lesson on fluxweed.

Lily kept her head down as she took notes and began her sketches, she watched the Marauders out of the corner of her eye as they pushed and shoved each other. In all likelyhood they would provide the distraction she needed. On a sudden whim she drew a heart on a piece of paper and folded it into an airplane, charmed it to fly behind them and hit James on the far side of his head.

James had been teasing Sirius about the Hufflepuff third year who had smiled at him on the way to class when he felt something tap his cheek.

"What the…" he swatted at the annoyance, looking around as his hand made contact.

"What have you got there?" Sirius looked over.

"Plane."

"Who from?"

"Didn't see."

"Well what's it say?"

"Don't know."

"Open it?"

"No."

"Yes." The volume escalated.

"No!" by now the whole class was looking.

"Potter, Black! I'll have the note thanks." James passed over the plane and Sprout opened it to reveal the glistening heart inside. "Yes well, there's no cause for that in class gentlemen. If you have finished we'll continue!"

Lily smiled as she removed her hand from her pocket, the Marauders were useful for something after all, mission accomplished! She dashed up to the cell on the seventh floor as soon as class had finished. She greeted the courtier on her way.

"Sir Peter, how are you? Is my room still secure?"

"Milady Lily, I am most well, and none have entered. Though I feel you should find a secondary means of concealment if you do not wish your secret to be discovered."

"Wise words Sir, I shall take matters in hand," she agreed, resolving to look up a concealment charm.

Entering the cold room she noted a small hole in the wall, it was nearly large enough for her cauldron to fit, maybe there was some charm to make the space bigger? More study to do she thought as she settled in to commence the potions next phase. It was long past curfew by the time she had finished and crept back into the dormitory.

"Where have you been?" Mary asked from the next bed.

"Out," replied Lily simply, she wasn't one for making up elaborate lies.

"With a boy?"

"Eww no! Just studying and lost track of time," Lily whispered, it was nearly the truth after all.

"Oh ok," Mary seemed disappointed.

"Goodnight." Lily pulled the curtains around her bed effectively ending the conversation.

Lighting her wand she reached down the back of her bed and pulled out the two books, flicking them open she read through the instructions again ; mandrake, potion and incantation. Ticking things off in her mind, the potion was nearly complete, ten days and all the ingredients were in, then to let it stew for a further twenty one days and then to cast the last charm on it, the spare mandrake leaves needed to be dried and sealed ready for storage, and then the final incantation, the wand action was easy, all you had to do was point the wand at yourself. She just hoped she would turn into an animal that was useful, wait how would she even know what animal she turned into? She would have to find or make a mirror to hang in the room she was using. She sighed as she returned the books to their hiding place. She took two leaves out of her pocket and stuck one to the inside of each cheek with a mild sticking charm before tucking her wand under her pillow and lying down.

"Nox" the light from her wand extinguished as she made ready to sleep.

A week later, Sirius noticed that something was different. It appeared that Lily Evans had stopped speaking. She sat through the entirety of a double potions lesson and did not answer a question, merely smiling at Slughorn as he inspected her potion. She only nodded or shook her head when Snape asked her a question. When two more days of classes had passed and there had been no change, he decided the situation was suspicious.

"What do you think is up with Evans?"

"Don't know, don't care" Peter replied.

"Nothing, why do you ask?" asked Remus.

"I don't think she has spoken in two weeks. Can you remember when she last answered a question in class?"

The boys thought, for a moment then shook their heads.

"Nope."

"Maybe she has laryngitis," offered Remus.

"Larry who?" the purebreds asked.

"Laryngitis, a sore throat, surely that isn't just a muggle thing!"

Satisfied that the mystery had been solved the Marauders returned to planning the prank at hand which involved trapping the caretakers assistant in a hidden room on the second floor that they had found the week before.

That Friday evening found Lily in the library waiting for Severus at her usual table.

"Hi Petal,"

Lily looked up and smiled. Severus frowned down at her.

"What's up?" she grabbed a scrap of paper and wrote.

Sore throat.

"Have you gone to Pomfrey?" Lily picked up her quill.

Yes it's just a sore throat, she doesn't know what to do with it. Pepper up didn't work, so it must be a muggle thing. Lily decided it was much easier to lie in writing.

"Oh, hope it is better soon. You don't think I can catch it do you?" he seemed genuinely worried.

Lily smiled and shook her head.

"Um, I just popped in to say I can't make it, maybe next time when you are feeling better. And here is your birthday present," Severus placed a small book shaped parcel on the desk then abruptly left, and Lily watched him leave with eyebrows knitted in a frown wondering if he thought he might be contaminated by her germs. She tucked the present into her bag and returned to her work.

The next two weeks passed slowly for Lily, she continued pretending that she had a sore throat, which by the end of the first fortnight was not a lie as the leaves acted as an irritant, and the ulcers that were forming on her gums where the leaves rubbed weren't much fun either. By the end she was feeling embarrassed as she could tell that her breath smelt like something rotten and she couldn't wait to be rid of the dratted things.

Lily hurried to the seventh floor, into that hidden room, signing a greeting to the courtier as she passed, ducking past the painting and up the stairs. Finally she thought as she spat the leaves out of the window- that is the grossest thing ever, I hope Remus appreciates it! And she bent over the cauldron, intricately waving her wand and reciting the words she had learnt. The potion began to fizz, then bubble, at last it emitted the blue smoke that the instructions proclaimed meant that it was correctly brewed and she sighed in relief. She looked down at the potion, there was so much of it, it seemed like such a shame to waste the effort. Lily drew off four measures of the mixture into phials to allow it to cool, maybe the extra would come in handy.

She sighed as she sat down next to the cauldron with the phials leaning against her bag. Relief surged through her as she contemplated the first phase of her plan being over. Breathing deeply as she prepared for the next step which she had discovered was meditating on the form of her animagus. A few more minutes and she could take the potion. She reached out and felt the phial, it was cool to touch. As she popped the cork, she wondered how it would taste, oh well, he was willing to risk his friendship by talking with her, this was something she could do in return, so it was now or never.

She tipped her head back and consumed the fluid. It hit the back of her throat, soothing the irritation from the mandrake leaf and warming her stomach, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling she thought as she fell into a trance.

She was standing in the forest, looking around she saw the caves which provided a den for the wolves, an intense thirst hit her so she glided towards up the path towards the river, her feet barely touching the ground. She felt a strange sense of duality. As she bent her head to drink she caught a glimpse of her blurred reflection, luminous green eyes stared up at her from the stillness of the pool, her outline was indistinct and she became frustrated, at times it appeared she had a beak and then the image would flicker to reveal a velvety black nose.

The sound of raised voices jolted her back to reality, and she hastily hid the extra potion in her bag, pulling out the book Severus had given her for her birthday, quickly divesting it of its wrapping. She didn't have time to register her surprise that he had given her his Grandfathers book The Disyction of Spells before she heard feet pounding up the steps, and four boys tumbled into the room.

"Wonder why he didn't want us to come up here," came Peter's voice from the back of the group. James stopped in surprise as he entered the room seeing it occupied, the three boys behind him were unsuccessful in pulling up short and they all tumbled to the floor.

"Oof. Get off!" he cried from the bottom of the pile.

"What are you doing here Evans?" Sirius asked rudely as they picked themselves up.

"Studying."

"What's in the cauldron?"

"Evanesco," she muttered quickly vanishing the contents before they could see "A practice potion."

"Suuure." They began to inspect the room, which didn't take long.

Knowing it would annoy her Sirius said "I think I'm going to like it here, it's a nice place to plan our pranks. You don't mind sharing do you Evans?"

"I'm done now with the room now anyway, so I'll just leave," she stood and with her head down exited the room. She thanked the courtier for the warning on her way past and told him she had finished with the room, he was said to see her go, having enjoyed having someone to talk to occasionally and made her promise to drop by when she could.

Back in the cell, Sirius was looking inordinately pleased with himself.

"So are we going to come and plan up here then?" Peter asked.

"Nah, why would we leave the comfort of the dormitory that was just to get rid of Evans."

"That's a bit mean don't you think?" Remus seemed to agree.

"Don't go soft on us now Pete!" James put in.

"Well where else can she go? You talked to the girls and made it so she can only go her dormitory to sleep, you prank her anytime she is in the common room."

"Yeah well, she can go see the Slytherins or to the forest for all I care," a swirl of pity attacked James' stomach at Sirius' words briefly before he squashed it. Remus considered what she had told him in the library, and he wondered if jealousy bought out this vindictive streak in his friend.

"It's ruddy cold in here though, lets head back to the common room." The four boys trouped out leaving a disgruntled painting asking what was the purpose of them going in if they were only going to come straight back out again.

Two more full moons passed with Remus going home to visit his ailing mother for each. Finally, at least in James' mind, the morning of the 27th of March dawned bright and clear. His thirteenth birthday he thought with some satisfaction.

"Happy Birthday James," chorused Sirius, Remus and Peter not even bothering to rise from their beds.

"Thanks guys," James replied as he fielded the presents thrown at him from each corner of the room. He unwrapped them hurriedly and thanked each boy in turn before they all dressed and hurried down to breakfast. The Potter's family owl Aparctius flew low over the table and dropped the brown paper package it was carrying into James' lap, he tore the card from the front, and flipped it open.

Dear James,

Happy Birthday. Your Mum and I wish we were there to share it with you. Your present is a family heirloom which I am passing onto you in the hopes that you will use it well. Open in private, tell only the trustworthy.

Lots of Love

Dad.

Aparticus nipped his hand in hopes of a treat, James fed him a piece of bacon rind absentmindedly and hastily scrawled thank you across the bottom of the card as he ate, tying the card to the owls leg ready for the return journey.

"Bye old fellow, see you next time," James said as the bird took wing.

"So what did your parents send you?" Sirius was eager to know.

"A secret, we'll look later," James promised as they began making their way to class.

The four boys bounded up the stairs to their dormitory after classes. James grinned with excitement as he pulled the present from his bag. The other three gathered around as he peeled back the layers of paper. A piece of silvery silken material was revealed, James lifted it up.

"Dad sent me a cloak," he frowned in disappointment.

"Your Dad sent you an old cloak," Sirius added with a nod.

"Well at least try it on. It wouldn't really keep you warm, it's a bit thin," Peter added as he fingered the cloth.

James threw the cloak over his shoulders enjoying the fluidity as it swirled around him.

"Well bugger me!" Sirius' eyebrows elevated and Remus' jaw fell open.

"What?" James turned to face them.

"Go check for yourself," Sirius hitched his thumb towards the bathroom a grin on his face.

"Damn." They heard James voice echo in the enclosed space. "It's a ruddy invisibility cloak!" His disembodied head floated back into the room, surprise etched on his features.

"You know what this means gentlemen?" he added.

"What?" Remus seemed hesitant.

"Hogwarts is our oyster. Let's explore!"

"I know, I know ,I know," Peter began jumping up and down.

"Don't wet yourself Pete, what do you know?" Sirius joked.

"Let's find the kitchens!"

Sirius' stomach grumbled, he looked down. "I agree, but how about after supper?"

They all laughed.

Just before curfew they left the common room, and tucked themselves away in an empty classroom.

"So did anyone, find any clues as to where they could be?" James started

"Who?" asked Peter.

"What?" James replied.

"Where who could be?"

"Not who, what, where the kitchen is?" Sirius shook his head.

"Oh yeah." Peter looked thoughtful "But it has to be near the Great Hall, to make getting the food there easy."

"Below," Remus supplied cryptically.

"What?"

"Below, it would be easiest to get food to the Hall, by sending it straight up so therefore the kitchen should be directly below the Great Hall."

"Ok let's go."

They huddled together, and James threw the cloak over them. The cluster then stumbled towards the door of the room, before Sirius tripped over Peter, the cloak tangled round James' leg and they all fell in a heap on the floor, leaving Remus standing looking down at their various limbs sticking outside the cloak.

"Maybe we need to practice just walking in this first?" Remus suggested.

"Ouch."

"Could you all get off me?" Sirius grumbled pushing Peters foot away from his face.

They collected themselves and began again. In the end they only managed to walk around on the seventh floor that evening and it took another two nights before they had mastered stairs. They nearly ran into Apollyon Pringle on the third night as they walked down the main staircase, the four of them pressed hard up against the bannister as he limped up the stairs. They stood too long and the stair case moved leaving them on the fifth floor.

"Can we go back now?" Peter was bringing up the rear of the group.

"Where is your sense of adventure Pete?"

"I think I left it on the staircase with Apollyon Pringle," he sighed and leaned against a nearby statue.

"Come on." James stuck out his hand to pull Peter up. "No point standing next to ole greasy here."

Peter placed his hand against the side of the statue as he took James hand and pulled himself upright. Rock scrapped on rock and the statue moved slightly, and the blocks behind it slide back and sideways revealing a passageway.

"Wow." Sirius breathed "Way to go Pete."

"Well gentlemen shall we explore?"

"Aye," they echoed and they headed into the dark. As Remus who was bringing up the rear started to enter the passageway there was a groaning of stone as the statue started to move, and he quickly stepped inside.

"Well that will make getting out more difficult." James said though he didn't sound nervous.

"Lumos." Remus searched the area of wall they had just entered through. "It's ok, there is a lever here, I am pretty sure you pull it and it will open. Lead on," he turned back to the others. James led the way into the dark, it was only a few meters before they reached a set of stairs.

"Alright up we go." A few minutes of climbing later they came to a wall. "We're here." He began searching the wall, eventually finding a stone that depressed and revealed an opening. They emerged and looked around.

"Huh, would you look at that, we're in the Knight's Room."

"I think tonight's over, let's…." Remus was interrupted by the voice of the Caretakers Assistant.

"Well well well, what have we 'ere? Students out of bed. I think you'll all be coming with me."

He led them down to their Head of House's room. Professor McGonagall was less then pleased to be woken at 1am.

"What possible reason could you have for being out of bed at this hour?" Her lips were drawn thin.

"Remus was feeling sick so we were taking him down to the Hospital Wing." James improvised. Remus immediately coughed, McGonagall's eyebrows elevated and her lips drew thin.

"Really it takes three of you?"

"Well he was feeling dizzy so we were worried he would faint and then we would need to carry him," James extemporized. It was clear that the professor didn't believe them but she had no evidence to the contrary.

"I don't believe the Knight's room is in between the common room and the infirmary," McGonagall looked at them sternly.

"We must have gotten turned around in the dark," Sirius tried.

She sighed "Ten points from each of you and a warning, if you are caught out of bed again it will be detention. Now back to the common room."

"But Remus is sick!" Sirius sounded indignant.

"I will escort him to the Hospital Wing myself." She stood and pushed the boys out of the door, trusting that Sirius, James and Peter would return to the common room.

They had only just settled into their beds when Remus returned.

"How did it go?" they noticed the steam coming from his ears.

"Lucky I actually have a runny nose, so Pomfrey declared I needed Pepper up potion and then was right to come back here, I am to rest if I am still feeling unwell in the morning." He flopped onto his bed.

"So you get tomorrow off as a reward, well at least we got in a good nights work."

"And we found a secret passageway."

"Do you think there are more?"

"There'd nearly have to be wouldn't there, in a castle as old as this," with that thought in their minds they fell asleep.

The Marauders conversation the next morning at breakfast centred on locating the kitchens and when they could explore, it was unfortunately overheard by a red- haired boy.

"So you guys are looking for the kitchens?"

They looked up in surprise, unaware that anyone had been nearby.

"What's it to you?" Sirius replied.

"I've found them already," he shrugged and stood up to leave.

"Wait" James exclaimed. "Where are they?"

"Ah young grommet, you guys call yourselves the Marauders, you should be able to find it for yourselves." He winked at them. "And don't lose as any more points while you do so!"

"Can you tell us if we are close?"

"Sure, what have you got?"

"Ok we think they are somewhere below the Great Hall."

"You could be on to something there," he nodded at them and walked away.

"Ok that is as good as confirmation." James smiled "We head out tonight."

"B..b…b but McGonagall."

"It's a risk we'll have to take," he shrugged.

'We need to make something that shows us where everyone is in the castle so we don't get caught," Peter whined.

"That would be great for pranks," Sirius agreed.

"But ruddy difficult."

"One thing at a time, we'll look at that later. Are we all agreed, kitchen tonight?"

"Aye," came the reply and they headed off to class. That night their efforts were thwarted by Kingsley Shacklebolt who was patrolling and seemed to have preternatural hearing. He seemed to be aware of their presence in some way, and effectively herded them back to the common room, even though they weren't visible, they decided that they would wait until the weekend to try again.

Friday night came and again the group left the Gryffindor tower before curfew to hide out in a classroom. They covered themselves in the cloak and headed to the Knights room, pulling down on the knight's sword arm to activate the entrance to the passageway and they took the short cut down to the fifth floor, then following the staircases they headed down to the first floor. They had not spotted another living soul since they had left the common room. As they approached the Entry Hall they heard the voices of the seventh year Hufflepuff prefects arguing.

"Do you always have to stop in at the kitchens on the way? You were late again, and what for? Hmm, a piece of cake that you could have gotten from the dinner table!"

"Do you think that the kitchen is near their common room?" Remus whispered only to be shushed by the others. The prefects looked around.

"Did you hear something?" The Marauders began to sweat under the cloak. A few seconds passed.

"Must have been nothing. Time to go back?"

"Yeah, maybe I'll stop at the kitchens on the way, I feel like a hot chocolate."

"Really do you every stop?" she seemed amused more than disgusted.

"No. Did you want one?"

"Yeah ok," the pair linked arms and headed down a short corridor which led to downwards staircase. The four boys followed close behind and stopped when the pair paused at a painting of a fruit bowl. They watched as the prefects tickled the pear, they could hear giggling, but they were too far away to see what happened next. The door swung open and the prefects entered.

"Ok what do we do?" Peter asked quietly.

"We wait, if they are only having drinks they won't be long," James replied. It was a mere five minutes later when the pair emerged, laughing as they carried their mugs away and headed further up the corridor.

"Right in we go!" Sirius couldn't suppress his glee as he reached past Peter to tickle the pear. It squirmed and laughed, and then turned into a door knob. They opened the door and stepped through into the kitchen removing the cloak. The room was enormous, there were five tables that replicated the position of the tables in the Great Hall, the walls were covered with every implement that could possibly be required for cooking. Their presence was immediately noticed by the creatures who worked there.

"Can we help Masters?" squeaked the skinny three foot high being.

"Oh yes, can I have some cake?" Sirius was not shy.

"What are they?" Remus asked as it scurried off.

"House Elf," stated James. "Ask them for whatever you like they will probably provide."

"Probably?"

"Well at home ours, Dorry, Laney and Petty, have to do what the family says, that's how they are bound, but these are bound to Hogwarts so…."

"They may not be bound to requests of the student," summarised Remus.

"Exactly. So what should we ask for, we can take stuff back with us?"

Each boy placed an order with the Elf when he returned with Sirius' cake. They wrapped the food in napkins and tucked it into their pockets for the return journey. Four very satisfied boys fell into bed that night.