"'The Marauder's Pass'?" Arielle asked, still not entirely sure she was conscious.
Yep, the Marauder's Pass, Padfoot answered excitedly. It's really great because the only people who can find and open the Pass are people with Marauder blood in them.
"But I'm not the one who found it, Lee is. Lee Jordan," she added. "And my brother's been in Hogwarts for a year already and I don't think he knows about this place."
Hmm, Moony said, well, maybe the room was trying to find a way to alert you by showing itself to one of your friends. As for your brother, maybe he hasn't been near here yet.
Which brings me back to my question, Padfoot interjected. Whose are you?
"Um," Arielle said, "well, my name's Arielle Potter, does that help?"
There was a cacophony of whooping from Padfoot and Prongs. You're Prongsie's! Yeah! Padfoot cheered.
Arielle was laughing; this was completely mental. She was lying in the hospital wing in a coma, not in a room created by her father and his friends. There was just no way it was real, except…
What's your mum's name? Prongs asked, sounding like he was fighting to keep his hopes down.
:"Lily—" Arielle was cut off by more cheers.
Guys, cool it, you're freaking her out, Moony said.
Sorry, Prongs said, it's just—Evans? Really? He laughed, sounding relieved.
What year is it? Moony asked.
"1992, why?"
We would have graduated in 1978, and you must have been born in 1981 if you're a first year, and since your brother has been here for a year, he was born in 1980…
Do you have a point, Moony? Padfoot asked lazily.
Just that Prongs had to have married Lily less than a year out of Hogwarts…
I don't see the problem, Prongs said.
It means that the war had to have gotten worse. You know Lily; she doesn't rush into things for no good reason. Is the war still going on?
"No, but it did get worse," Arielle said, a heavy weight falling into her heart. She had to tell them what happened to her parents. "Voldemort"—there was a sharp intake of breath—"was getting stronger by the day, and he came after my parents and my brother. I wasn't at the house because I was born really early and had to stay at St. Mungo's, but most people either didn't know I existed or else thought I didn't survive. He somehow got to them and he killed both of them, and then went after my brother, but he couldn't kill him. No one knows why, but his powers were broken and he's gone into hiding." Arielle had said all of this in one breath and stood in the middle of the room, breathing deeply and waiting for a response. She never thought she'd have to tell anyone that, since it was the most infamous night of the century.
Prongs and Evans…died? Padfoot said in a sad, quiet voice.
Arielle nodded, then, not knowing whether they could see her, she said, "Yeah. I'm sorry."
Don't worry about it, there's nothing that we can do, Moony said.
Yeah, Prongs said, trying to sound nonchalant. Hey, let's explain how the room works, shall we?
Alright, said Padfoot with cheeriness in his voice that came across as fake. Well, you saw the coat of arms on the wall, obviously. Well, the hoof, which is Prongs', closes the room, and the M either summons us or shuts us off. Always do that before you leave, we'd drive each other mad really fast without someone else to talk to. Now, the larger paw print is Moony's, opens back out onto the fourth floor where you probably found us. You can only get into here from the castle on the fourth floor. The slightly smaller print is mine; it opens a path to Hogsmeade. The other way into the Marauder's Pass is through the trapdoor in the village. Now, the mouse print opens a path up to the seventh floor just around the corner from the Fat Lady's portrait. That one is exit only, but it's really useful is you're running from Filch and need a quick escape, since he can't open this place. You are Gryffindor, right?
"Yeah," Arielle said, trying to process all that information.
Oh, don't tell anyone what's in here if you can manage it, Moony said.
"Of course," Arielle said, grinning at the idea that she would know a way out of the castle that Fred and George couldn't know about. Then she remembered that the twins were probably still trying to get her out and she had been in the Marauder's Pass for the better part of an hour. "Um, guys, I have to go. The twins are probably still trying to get me out and they won't keep the professors out of it for much longer."
Okay, just trace the M and then the large paw print.
"Okay." Arielle did as she was told, feeling rather than seeing the three inhabitants disappear. She extinguished her torch before opening the room again. She could hear people shouting at each other outside the room and climbed back out of the room to see the twins having a shouting match with Harry.
"I still can't believe you sent her in there alone!" Harry yelled, hands clenched at his sides.
"We didn't make her do anything, she said she would," George retorted.
Arielle looked around; the twins were so engrossed in their battle with Harry that they hadn't noticed the wall open. She looked past them and made eye contact with Lee, who was the only one who had noticed her return. He gestured to the twins as if to ask if he should tell them, but Arielle just rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Harry was still freaking out, "—she could be hurt, or be suffering from lack of oxygen, or—"
"Or waiting for you to shut up and help her out of the wall," Arielle said over him. Her brothers just stared, too shocked to speak. "Or not," she said, pulling herself out of the hole and landing on the floor with a thud.
"How did you get out?" Fred asked.
Arielle shrugged, saying, "I dunno, but it's a dead end, so you can't really use it, anyway."
"Rotten luck, Lee," George said, and Lee just shrugged.
"You sure you're alright?" Harry asked.
Arielle felt bad keeping the room from him, but she felt that this was the one thing she had to keep to herself. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"I'm so sorry, Ar—Lexxie!" Lee said, forgetting for a moment that he was pretending not to know her name.
Arielle laughed. "It's really not your fault. And I knew you knew my name!"
"Um, no I don't?"
Arielle rolled her eyes. "Whatever. The twins dragged me up here, so technically—"
"Wait, wait, wait, hold it!" Fred said.
"You're not going to blame us for this," George said.
"Yeah, and not just because you just started speaking to us again."
"You agreed to go in there!"
The twins seemed to be at a loss for words and just stood there gaping at her. Arielle smiled and said, "I'm just saying who I'm going to blame if anyone asks. Relax."
"'Cause that makes it better," Fred muttered.
"Let's just get down to dinner. You putting my life in danger made me hungry," Arielle joked, dodging the playful swing Fred took at the back of her head.
Over the next couple of weeks, more and more students could be seen walking through the corridors with a strange assortment of so-called protective talismans attached to their bodies. Arielle had already told Neville off for having so little confidence in himself that he resorted to fake amulets.
"You are not almost a Squib, Neville!" she shouted for what felt like the hundredth time. She was past feeling awkward about Neville's statements about his alleged unworthiness. "You just need to believe in yourself."
"Believing in myself isn't going to improve my Potions marks."
"Snape has never graded anyone fairly, least of all Gryffindors, and besides, there are tons of brilliant wizards who can't brew the simplest of potions," Arielle said, feeling she may be on to something. "Look at your Herbology marks; you're one of the best in your class. You and I both know that my Herbology skills are nonexistent."
Neville looked less gloomy as he thought about Herbology. "Yeah, I guess you're right, but that's not going to matter to Slytherin's heir."
"You're worth more than the Slytherins combined," Arielle said. "You're a good person, which isn't something I can say about them."
Neville actually laughed at this. "You and your brother," he said. "You've both told me I'm worth more than Slytherins."
"Well, maybe you should start believing it."
Arielle was walking with Ginny and Star to the Great Hall in the third week of December when she noticed a new flyer pinned to the notice board.
"Duelling Club?" Star said. "How is that going to help if the attacker is a monster?"
"It's not," Arielle said, peering up at the notice. "Three guesses as to who thinks it will help."
"Oh, be quiet," Star said. Arielle shared an exasperated look with Ginny.
"What do you reckon?" Ginny asked.
"We may as well go; it could help in the future," Arielle said.