Friday April 29


- Andy -


Friday mornings the Slytherin fifth years had Transfiguration first up. Andy was rummaging through her bag at the breakfast table, looking for her essay on transfiguring aquatic mammals. She knew she hadn't finished it, but had she done enough to get out of detention? As she searched, her hands touched the star chart Tonks had given her. Andy froze. Had she learned nothing from last time? What was it about this boy that made her forget such basic protocols?

Andy could just burn it right now. No one would notice if she hid it under the table while it burned, and she vanished the smoke. Andy's heart thumped oddly in her chest. Fear at getting caught? She could just imagine what Bella would say if she saw the chart-

"Why Andy, I didn't know you saw enough sun to get sunburnt," Bellatrix called from ten seats down the table, causing every head at this half of the Slytherin table to turn to Andy. "But I can't think of any other reason your cheeks would be that shade of pink."

Andy shoved away from the table. There was no arguing with Bellatrix in this mood. She was out to hurt her sister, and all of Slytherin would side with her. Not to mention it was now too late to destroy the star chart, and Bellatrix was sure to find it if she wanted to humiliate Andy properly.

But Bellatrix wasn't done with Andy yet. Bella followed Andy into the Entrance Hall, trying to catch up with her and grab her arm. Andy pulled her wand and whirled around, but Bellatrix Black was faster than that. Her wand was in Andy's face before Andy's wand arm was at half-mast.

"Give me a reason, little sister," Bella purred, her black eyes flashing dangerously. "Someone was in my private common room last night," Bella breathed, eyes roving over Andy's face, searching for the tiniest tell of guilt. And this was why Andy beat the boys at poker. They hadn't faced these moments of deadly scrutiny. Andy's heart was racing in her chest, but not a muscle on her face showed anything besides her fury and her disdain.

"If I find out you had anything to do with it, little sister, I'll make you wish for a quick death."

"Such dramatics, Sister," Andy drawled, studying the fingernails on her non-wand hand. "Anyone would think you were keeping deadly secrets in your private room. Or maybe something worse? Love letters, perhaps?"

Andy had only meant to further enrage her sister, but Bellatrix swelled up at the suggestion, her grip on her wand tightening. Andy just managed to prevent her eyes from widening in shock. Bellatrix didn't normally respond to Andy's bait at all. A moment later, Bella's fury was back under control.

"Oh no, little sister," she crooned, "the only one with a secret lover here, is you. And when I catch you out, I'll make both of you pay dearly. I do love it when the couple that plays together, pays together."

Bellatrix flashed Andy an evil smirk and turned on her heel. Andy, who would never have dared show her back to Bellatrix at the end of a confrontation like that, ground her teeth and clenched her fists. One day, she would pay her sister back. For all the humiliation, the pain, the domination-

"-yeah, but, the caramel malt is the best," came a cheerful voice crossing from the Great Hall to the staircase.

"Ah, earth to Tonks," muttered another friendly voice.

Andy turned and found Ted Tonks staring at her. His friend was waving a hand in front of his face. Tonks flushed, forced his friend's hand down, and strode for the stair case, head bowed and his fringe hanging in his eyes.

Andy felt her heartrate quicken as the idea occurred to her. It was a stupid, reckless, idiotic thing to do. But it would hurt her sister. And her father. It would show them she couldn't be controlled quite as easily as they hoped. Tonks and his friend were already at the top of the staircase.

"Tonks!" Andy called, then winced at how her voice echoed in the Entrance Hall. Through the open doors to the Great Hall, Andy checked that the important Slytherins were still seated at their table, and not lurking somewhere in earshot.

Ted Tonks had hesitated on the top step, looking down at Andy, wary yet, as always, optimistic.

Andy, who made a habit of forcing people to come to her, instead met Tonks at the top of the stairs. Avoiding his gaze, or that of his curious friend, Andy found an empty classroom a short distance up the corridor.

"A word, Tonks?" she said, forcing some contempt into her voice. Tonks tilted his head at her and shrugged. A small hopeful smile was battling its way past his defences.

"See you in class," Tonks said to his friend, who stood gaping as Tonks followed Andy into the room. Andy shut the door with a snap.

"Tonks," she said, still avoiding his gaze, "go to Hogsmede with me."

To her surprise, he didn't say yes. In fact, for a moment, he didn't say anything. Andy resisted the urge to look at his face. She stood with her arms crossed, looking disdainfully past his shoulder. She didn't want him getting too attached to the idea of this being a recurring thing, after all. This was her own small act of rebellion, nothing long-term.

"Why?" Tonks said, peering at her face. Andy blinked and flicked her hair back.

"Because you're a fun cheerful buffoon, and I think that's what I need in my life right now," Andy invented. Surely a Hufflepuff wouldn't need much more than that.

Tonks considered her words. "You're not convinced yet," he declared, straightening up and crossing his own arms, "but by the end of tomorrow, you will be."

"Tomorrow?" Andy said, hoping the hitch in her voice wasn't audible.

"That's the next Hogsmede weekend," Tonks reminded her. Andy swallowed.

"Of course. Well, I guess I'll meet you at noon," Andy said, already crossing to the door.

"Where will I meet you?" Tonks said, stepping into her path. Even without looking directly at him, Andy could hear the grin in his voice. A cheeky grin.

"Not in the Entrance Hall," Andy told him firmly. "This has to remain secret."

"How about in the field behind the Shrieking Shack?" Ted suggested. Andy rolled her eyes.

"Oh very romantic."

"I'll bring a picnic," Ted said, his smile flowing through all of his words now, "and it's not like anyone will bother us. There's a hill that obscures the view, and a little forest. Never mind, you'll love it."

Andy was already regretting her decision. The boy was just so… chipper.

"Well, say no more, lest you ruin the surprise," Andy said, her voice condescending.

"Just you wait," Tonks said, turning to leave. "And Andy?"

"What?"

"Try to keep an open mind. You might not believe I'm what you need right now, but give this a chance. You might even laugh a little."

And Tonks walked out, leaving Andy alone in the room. Andy blinked. People didn't walk out on a Black. And what did he mean, 'you might even laugh a little'? Andy laughed. She laughed at Sirius when he was being an idiot, and at Zabini when she fell down the stairs, and at Matthew Corner when Parkinson hexed all his hair off.

Andy huffed out a breath, adjusted her bag, and headed for Transfiguration. This whole revenge thing seemed like it would be more of a trial than she'd thought.

.

.


- Lily -


Lily was still cross on Friday morning. She hid in her dorm until everyone else had left for breakfast, grabbed a bag of marshmallows and a book, and headed down to the common room to spend her free period alone. She might even skip Charms, Lily thought rebelliously. Then she wouldn't have to see Potter's face until lunch, or dinner, or even Monday, if she could convince her friends to bring her food in the dorm.

Ten minutes into her study session, Lily cast aside her Charms homework in exasperation, and focused on the flames and creating a string of perfectly toasted marshmallows. Greta came in when she was on number seven.

"What's this?" Greta said in mock alarm. "Lily Evans doesn't have her nose in a book?"

"I can't concentrate," Lily said grumpily. "Are you here to tell me Potter's poetry was nice yesterday, and I should appreciate him more?"

Lily had avoided Greta before dinner yesterday, and pretended to be asleep when she'd come in from quidditch training.

Greta threw herself down beside Lily and grabbed the bag of marshmallows. She popped one into her mouth raw and levitated a second one into the fire.

"No," she said around a mouthful of marshmallow. "His poetry was awful, and he totally did it to get a rise out of Snape."

Lily raised her eyebrows at Greta. She hadn't been there.

"Alice," Greta said, retrieving her burned marshmallow. "I mean," Greta continued, "He used 'Her hair is red' like five times in fifth year, and it wasn't clever then."

Lily was surveying Greta with new respect. Greta caught her at it.

"What? I'm not totally biased. He's hot, and maybe sometimes he tries hard, but other times he's a prat. Like yesterday. So," Greta said, leaning back against the couch behind her, "what do we do to him?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "I just wish he'd disappear. I'm sick of thinking about him."

Greta pouted. "What happened to 'I'm going to crush him?'" She stifled a giggle at the memory of Lily's declaration on the train. "Aren't we going to get him back?"

"I think Snape already did that for us," Lily said, poking a marshmallow with her wand. "Did Alice tell you about that?"

"Yes, yes, Snape is evil," Greta said dismissively. "But you can't let him fight your battles for you. Look at it this way. Pretend James Potter is a little kid."

Lily raised her eyebrows at Greta meaningfully.

"Okay, so don't pretend. Whatever. When he does something good, like get you chocolates, you should reward him. Wait! Hear me out," Greta said, seeing Lily open her mouth in protest. "And when he does something bad, like read you bad poetry in front of a crowd to – at least partly – piss off Snape, you punish him. Show him you mean business."

Lily sighed.

"And how does one punish James Potter? He thinks life is a joke and my hexes are something to be laughed at."

"Well, why don't we write him some poetry back?" Greta said, smirking evilly. This surprised a laugh out of Lily.

"What, Greta Catchlove, the poet?"

"The evil poet," Greta said, rubbing her hands together. "Come on, how hard can it be? His hair is black, his eyes are brown…?" Greta prompted. "What rhymes with brown?"

Lily sighed.

"Clown. Town. Down. Gown." A slow smile worked its way onto Lily's face. "Could be fun, I guess."

"That's the spirit!" Greta said, stuffing another two marshmallows into her mouth. "Alright, we need some parchment." She stole a piece of Lily's barely started essay.

Lily crossed her legs and sat up straighter.

"Alright, Catchlove, I can't wait to see what you come up with."

"Oh no," Greta said, shoving the quill at Lily. "You're the wordsmith, Miss Beats-me-everytime-we-play-scrabble. Also," Greta added, "I want brownie points for playing that game with you."

"Right," Lily said, ignoring Greta's last comment. "So… His hair is black, his eyes are brown…."

.

.


- Sirius -


Sirius was always starving by Friday lunchtime. Something about listening to old Walter Whitby drone on for hours really worked up an appetite. Four helpings of chicken noodle soup, and six bread rolls later, Sirius was feeling somewhat more alive.

He looked up to see Peter gaping at him.

"What?"

"How do you do that?"

"Do what? Eat?"

"Eat so much."

"You calling me fat?" Sirius demanded.

"No, just-"

"You coming, Padfoot?" James said, standing up. Sirius grabbed another bread roll to tide him over until dinner and followed his friend out of the Great Hall.

"Where's Remus?"

James shrugged. "Library? Greenhouses? Working on his Potion?"

Sirius shook his head. "And people say we're a bad influence on him."

The three Marauders were sauntering across the crowded Entrance Hall towards the grounds when something hit Sirius in the back of the head. His head jerked forward and he stumbled a step. The other Marauders stopped.

"You right, Padfoot?" James said, turning to face him. Remus and Peter were studying him closely.

"Did you see who dib it?" Sirius demanded. His nose felt stuffy all of a sudden. Had he been hexed?

"Who did what?" Peter said, perplexed.

"Who hid me?"

"Hid you?" James said, squinting at him in confusion. Sirius was getting annoyed.

"Hid me!" he shouted, miming a whack to the back of the head. More people were turning to look, but their faces were blurry.

"No one hit you mate," James was saying. Peter was looking at Sirius in horror.

"Whad? Is there somefink wrong wid by face?" Sirius reached up and his face was wet. Was he bleeding? he thought in panic. But no, his hands were clear when he pulled them away.

"Are you alright, Padfoot?" James hissed, glancing at the crowd and back.

Then the crowd started to titter. A few laughs burst out. Then a nasty cry of,

"Aw, Black, are you homesick?"

Sirius's breath was starting to come in gasps, and the next moment he recognised the feeling. Flushing furiously, he shoved through the crowd toward the staircase. Hoots of laughter followed him as the gasps turned into sobs. He'd been hexed alright. With a crying jinx.

James and Peter were hot on his heels.

"Sirius," James called after him, "just tell us what's wrong, mate. Rushing around the school won't fix it."

Sirius realised he was making a fool of himself. Rarely embarrassed by anything, the panic had gone to his head. Taking a deep shaking breath he forced himself to stop and face his friends. A crowd was surging up the staircase behind them, bringing more guffaws and catcalls with them. Grinding his teeth in frustration, Sirius tried to say loudly and clearly,

"I've been jinxed!"

But it came out as,
"I'b been jimst!" which was not very helpful. The crowd roared with laughter again. Sirius tried to sigh and sobbed instead. Giving up on the crowd (he'd deal with his reputation later) Sirius turned to James and Peter.

"Someone hid be wid a sbell. A jimcks. A hex." He mimed using a wand.

"Ah," James said, finally understanding. "A hex."

Sirius nodded in relief, eyes still overflowing. He wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"Right, well, Madame Pomfrey it is," James declared.

"Whad?" Sirius cried in indignation. "Remus coub fix it. Or Lily. Or…" he narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "or you coub."

"No, no, I don't think so," James insisted, already taking his arm and heading up the next staircase. "I'm not certain what this is, you see. Wouldn't want to go causing more damage, would I?"

"You're a nudder," Sirius told him seriously.

"An udder?" Peter piped up. Sirius groaned.

"Noe, a nudder. A nudcase. A nidiot."

"A nidiot?"

Sirius punched Peter.

"Hey now, none of that," James said. "We're only trying to help."

"If you wanded to helb, you'd helb. You judt wandda see Pobby."

"Pobby?"

"Pobby. Madame Pobby Pomfrey."

"Ah yes, young Poppy. A sight for sore eyes and such a rare treat."

Sirius seriously considered hexing James. He might have, if he'd had any idea where Remus was. But as James currently refused to help him, and he surely wouldn't change his mind if Sirius hexed him, his best chance was indeed the hospital wing.

Grumbling, sobbing and periodically wiping his dripping face, Sirius followed a jaunty James up several more staircases. Thankfully most of the school had dispersed towards their classrooms and the upper corridors were fairly empty.

They reached the hospital wing and James knocked out a cheerful rhythm on the door.

The pretty and perky Madame Pomfrey, with cute red curls clustered around her head, smiled out at them.

"Ah, James Black and Sirius Potter." Her smile didn't waver but her tone lost some of its joy. James opened his mouth to correct her but she was quicker. "Aren't you two usually the ones putting other people in here?"

"Ah, I don't know about that," James protested. Before he could think of anything more clever to say, she turned to Sirius.

"And now what's upset you so much, love?" It seemed she struggled to dampen her natural sympathy, even for those she felt were undeserving.

James shot Sirius a jealous glare, but Sirius was beyond caring.

"Crying jimbs. Hex. Crying hex."

"Ah." She didn't seem too sympathetic now. Perhaps she thought it had been a retaliation of his own hex. "Well, come and sit down on this bed here, and we'll take a look at you."

Sirius followed her in, James and Peter trailing. He sat on the bed indicated while she hovered around him for a minute, looking into his streaming eyes, his ears, the back of his head.

"Ah yes, that's where they got you." She poked the bruise rather harder than Sirius felt necessary, and he jerked forward away from her. "Tut tut," she scolded. She handed him several tissues and declared,
"Not much for it, I'm afraid. Just got to let it run its course."

Sirius stared at her in disbelief. To be fair, Sirius knew far more about jinxes than counter-jinxes, but he was also quite sure that this was a simple spell and would be equally simple to undo. Before he could protest, Madame Pomfrey bustled away into her office and the door clicked shut behind her. Sirius gaped after her. So did James, but for an entirely different reason.

Sirius's gaping soon returned to sobbing, gasping, streaming, hacking and snotting. James and Peter stared at him in disgust for a moment, both glancing rather obviously at the door.

"Jamthes Podder," Sirius warned, "Don you dare leabe me like dis. You pud dis ride!"

"Sorry, buddy, can't really understand you."

Sirius took out his wand and pointed it at James.

"Fixth id!" James looked surprised, and took a step back.

"Now now, no need for that," James began, inching further away.

At that moment the door to the hospital wing opened. Professor McGonagall entered the room, heading for the office at the end, but her eyes fell on Sirius and she halted.

"Black, put that wand away," she snapped. Grudgingly, Sirius did as he was told.

"Am I to assume you are responsible for this, Potter?" McGonagall demanded, gesturing vaguely to Sirius.

"No, Professor. We don't know who-"

Professor McGonagall bent down and studied Sirius for a moment. "Crying jinx," she declared. "And where is Poppy? Poppy!" she called, striding to her office. Madame Pomfrey popped her head out at once.

"Why is this boy still snivelling?"

"Well, it seemed a rather complex, that is to say, minor, that is to say, it looked like was just about over…" Madame Pomfrey trailed off, no longer smiling.

Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared.

"I see." She indeed seemed to see a lot more than had been said. She surveyed Madame Pomfrey for a moment more, clicked her tongue, and strode back to Sirius.

"Well, I think you've suffered enough for today," she decided. Sirius wasn't sure if he imagined the note of satisfaction in her voice. She pointed her wand at him and said,
"Finite Incantum."

The sobs stopped at once. Sirius dabbed at his eyes and no new tears soaked his tissues. He blew his nose with a trumpeting sound and it was finally clear. His eyes and cheeks still felt red and puffy though.

"Very good then, off you go."

McGonagall ushered them out the door. The boys trooped down the first corridor in silence. At the head of the first staircase though, Sirius rounded on James. James already had his wand out in self-defence. Sirius ignored it.

"What the hell was that?"

"What was what?" James asked innocently.

"Finite bloody incantum! As if that never occurred to you!"

James shrugged. Sirius growled in the back of his throat.

"So it was alright to see me suffer, just so you could bat your eyelids at Poppy?" Sirius snarled.

James shrugged again. "You'd do the same to me."

Sirius opened his mouth to argue, then closed it in a grimace.

"I still hate you."

"I'll live. Besides, it's not like you were really suffering."

"Yeah," chimed in Peter. "How many girls have cried for days over you?"

"Hmmm, true." Sirius reflected on his powers of romantic appeal. "It could have been worse I guess."

"That's the spirit," said James, steering Sirius towards the common room again. "By tomorrow, we'll have made a fantastic story about this. You'll be back to your usual heroic head-of-the-pedestal self."

Sirius grinned. "Of course. Back to the natural order of things."

.

.

They had gone up another two staircases when a voice from Sirius' pocket called,

"Hey, Padfoot!"

Sirius fished the mirror out of his pocket. Remus' face was visible.

"I've got Andy here, she's got something important to show us. We're in the poker room."

"Right," James said, leaning in to see Remus. "We'll meet you there."

"What, now?" Sirius demanded. "But my face is all puffy."

"I can fix it for you if you like?" James said, twiddling his wand.

"Oh, so now you can do magic again?" Sirius huffed as they headed down the corridor. "Well, no thank you. You can keep your sorry spells to yourself. I'll get Moony to deal with it."

"Anyway, you look fine," Peter said, not quite meeting Sirius' eye.

.

.

"What's wrong with your face?" Andy said as soon as they entered. Sirius shot Peter a glare.

"Someone hit him with a crying jinx," James said, sitting and stretching out his legs. "In the Entrance Hall."

"Who?" Andy demanded.

"That's why he said 'someone'," Sirius drawled. "Where's the food?"

"You were crying," Andy said in disapproval. "In public? Did anyone see you?"

"Well, it was the Entrance Hall, just after lunch, so…?" James said, now stretching his arms.

"And you're okay?" Andy said, looking hard at Sirius.

"Well I was," Sirius snapped, "but if you're going to make a big deal out of it…"

Andy shrugged. "Personally I'd never show my face again, but some of us have a reputation to uphold."

"And you have no idea who it was?" Remus said hastily, as Sirius shot a dangerously sharp look at his cousin. "You didn't see anyone?"

"Well, there were plenty of someones," James said, now rolling over to do some push ups, "but none of them had their wand pointed helpfully at Padfoot when I turned around. So no."

"Do you think it was a Slytherin?"

"They always think it's a Slytherin," Andy drawled.

"That's because it always is a Slytherin," Sirius shot back.

"If it was a Slytherin," Andy replied, "you wouldn't have walked away."

"Hmmm. She has a point," James said, pausing in his twelfth push up.

"Speaking of Slytherins," Andy said, pulling something out of her pocket, "what do you make of that?"

Sirius pounced on the folded parchment.

"You got the letter!"

"At great risk to life and limb. And if Bella or Malfoy knew, I wouldn't be sucking down air right now."

"Malfoy?" said James sharply.

"Yeah, I reckon it's his."

"Malfoy's getting love letters?" Peter said, leaning over to watch as Sirius unfolded the note. As the text was revealed, Sirius sat back in surprise,

"What is that?" Peter said, squinting at it.

"That, my rodentious friend, is a code," Sirius declared. James sat up to have a closer look.

"A code?" he said. "Who writes coded love letters?"

"What makes you think it's Malfoy's?" Remus asked Andy.

"So I snuck into their secret seventh year common room-"

"The seventh years get their own common room?" James interrupted. "I want one!"

"Well, if you're lucky, when Remus and Lily are Heads they'll let you share their office," Sirius said.

James froze. He turned to glare at Remus.

"The Heads get their own office?" he demanded. Remus held up his hands defensively.

"No one's been made Head Boy yet, Prongs."

"No, but someone will. And if Lily is Head Girl…"

"Hey, we had a deal, mate," Sirius said, getting serious for a moment. He wasn't about to watch his best mate fall into a deep funk over this chick. "If nothing has changed by the end of this year, you move on. So one way or the other, you don't care who's Head Girl or Head Boy. Right?"

James turned despondent eyes on Sirius.

"Right," Sirius answered for him, hiding his concern with his brisk voice. "So, Cuz, carry on."

"So, I snuck in and summoned Bella's letter, and I got this. Then in comes Malfoy, sees it out on the desk, and he returns it to its hiding place. So whose is it? Bella's or Malfoy's?"

The Marauders were silent for a moment.

"Did you specifically summon Bellatrix's letter?" Remus asked, scratching his chin.

"Not out loud," Andy said, "but obviously I was thinking of Bella's letter."

"What did you say?" Sirius asked.

"'Accio letter'. I think."

"So we know it's a letter at least," Remus said, pondering the code. "So its from someone else. There are at least two conspirators."

"Well if Malfoy knew where it was hidden, it has to be his, right?" Sirius said, shooting a worried look at James. He was a bit too still for Sirius' liking. James Potter was never without a fidget or two.

"Yeah, but what is it?" Remus said, squinting at the page.

"Well, I'll tell you what its not," Sirius said. "A love letter. No one in their right mind would lust after Lucius Malfoy."

"A lot of the Slytherin girls think he's hot," Andy said, examining her nails.

"Tell me you're joking," James said flatly.

"Nope. Some of the Ravenclaws go for that sort of thing too."

Sirius shuddered.

"Anyway," Remus said, "can we agree its unlikely to be a coded love letter, especially hidden in a shared room."

Andy shrugged. "Bellatrix is always hiding things where she won't get stuck with the blame if they're found."

"It looks to me," James said, picking up the note, "like the only way around this is to solve the code."

"Excellent," Sirius said, eyes flashing. "Let's do it."

They all scooted in closer and peered at the string of letters, numbers and symbols.

"The numbers might have something to do with Arithmancy," James said, after a minute. He glanced around at the group. "But no one here does Arithmancy."

"I think I recognise some of these symbols," Remus said, pointing. "They're ancient runes."

"How do you know that?" Sirius said in surprise.

"Er, just a book I happened across once," Remus said, flushing for some suspicious reason. Sirius narrowed his eyes, ready to pounce, but Andy got in first.

"Knowing Malfoy, there's probably some password or key word needed to decode it. I don't think we've got a hope of decoding it without that."

They all sat looking at the paper some more.

"Alright," Sirius said, sitting back. "Here's what we do. Remus takes the note and looks up those symbols. Andy, you can sneak back in and see if you can find-"

"Well that won't be happening," Andy said imperiously. Sirius blinked at her. "I was nearly caught last time, you think I'm dumb enough to go back?"

"Take the invisibility cloak," James said at once.

"No, thank you," Andy said. "You don't think the seventh years will have thought of that? Look, either you guys can solve it or you can't. But I'm done with snooping. I like my head attached to my shoulders."

They peered at the note again.

"Alright, well I reckon the symbols are our best bet," Sirius said at last. "So Moony, if you take the note-"

"Unless Andy wants it," Remus said politely. Andy snorted.

"I don't want it. Imagine if Malfoy caught me with it. You guys keep it."

"Yeah, and I'd rather give it to Moony," James said. "At least he won't be tempted to use it to show off to girls."

"Yeah, like you wouldn't use it to try to get Evans' help," Sirius said.

"At least I wouldn't lose it," James shot back. They all looked at Peter, who shrunk a bit.

"Hey, that was only one time…"

"Anyway," Remus said again. "It looks like I'm taking the note."

"And if you wouldn't mind solving it for us," Sirius said, grinning.

"There's a good chap," James said with a wink.

Remus sighed. This was what having pranksters for friends got you. Lots of big ideas, and a lot of lonely reading. Remus folded up the note and put in his pocket. Sirius clapped him on the back.

"Knew we could count on you, Moony. Now, who wants a game of poker while we're here?"

.

.


- Remus -


As Remus made his way to the Room of Requirement that night, he wasn't sure whether he wanted Vance to be there or not. He needed some solid time alone with the note, since he was sure decoding it would take time, and he would need to wade through every page of the Ancient Runes codex he'd borrowed from the library. And he certainly wasn't sharing this secret with Vance, not without having some idea what the note might say.

But Remus was also looking forward to hearing the answer to her secret – not that he wasn't apprehensive about giving his answer. And he knew, of course, that he should just give the whole thing up. But there was a sort of rush of adrenaline about revealing just part of his secret, without giving any clue as to what it really was.

Remus experienced this rush of emotion when he opened to door to the Room of Requirement and found Vance sitting in her usual chair. She leaned around the wingback to check it was him.

"Ah, Lupin," she said, with her familiar half-smile. "I wasn't sure I'd be seeing you tonight. Thought I might have offended you with my question."

Remus returned a half-smile, not wanting to admit his indecision.

"I brought you something," Remus said as he sat down. He pulled out a tall thin tin and passed it to Vance.

"Chai latte," she read off the label.

"Allow me," Remus said. He conjured a third cup, and using the tea pot made both himself and Vance a latte.

A little apprehensively, Vance sipped the frothy drink. She pursed her lips and then nodded her head. "I like it."

"But it doesn't beat a good cup of tea?" Remus said, smiling knowingly. Vance shrugged.

"I live off tea."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

They sat awkwardly for a moment before Vance put down her cup and said,

"So, I assume you came back to swap secrets with me? Unless you're just here to study? Though it is a Friday night. Do Gryffindors study on Friday nights?"

"This one does," Remus said with a chuckle. "I'm taking a full load of subjects, remember?"

"Indeed. How very un-Gryffindor-like of you. How will you ever find time for parties? Chocolate Chipmunk?"

Remus chuckled as he peered into the tin Vance offered him. He pulled out an exact mini replica of a chipmunk, with a caramel stripe down its back.

"Thank you."

"They're my favourite," Vance confided in him. She stole one for herself and laid the tin on an open textbook. "So," she continued. "Who's going first tonight?"

Remus hesitated. "I suppose you went first last night. So," he sighed. "You wanted to know why I'm working on the Map alone. The answer is, I'm not. Without giving you any details, we've all contributed different things to the Map. I just happen to be the problem solver."

Vance was watching Remus closely.

"I see," she said. Remus expected her to question him further. He could tell she wasn't satisfied with his answer, and he knew that wasn't what she'd really been asking with her question. But Vance didn't pry. Instead she ate part of her chipmunk's tail, chewing thoughtfully as she considered her own answer.

"You asked why I'm hiding from my fellow Ravenclaws. The answer, as I alluded to the other night, is very boring. I happen to be the subject of some… rumours, shall we say. Their circulation is making my life… rather unpleasant. In this Room, I don't have to face anyone. I can find a moment of peace, catch my breath."

This wasn't the answer Remus had expected.

"I haven't heard any rumours," he said, surprised. Hogwarts was usually adept at circulating any rumours in a day, two tops.

Vance smiled a twisted smile. "I did speak last week about Ravenclaw loyalty. We uphold the honour of our House. These rumours have besmirched the honour of a Ravenclaw, and indirectly all of Ravenclaw. They are not to be made public knowledge."

Remus was conflicted. He didn't want to ask Vance about the rumours, but if there was anything dangerous, or anything affecting her mental health… which of course, there was, if she felt she had to hide in here…

"I appreciate you not asking," Vance said, her face serious. "It's nice to have one person who doesn't look at me like…" she trailed off.

This was something Remus understood better than Vance could ever know. The few people who'd found out about his… furry little condition… had mostly been repulsed and immediately rejected him. Hogwarts had been a haven, at first, until he realised the lengths he would have to go to keep his secret. And when his best friends had discovered his lupine status, the fact that they'd not abandoned him, but wanted to join him, had meant the world to him. Vance wanted to know why Remus put up with doing the heavy lifting on their 'joint' projects – like so many other things in Remus' life, it was connected to his deepest darkest secret.

Remus looked up, to find Vance was waiting for his reaction.

"I'm sorry things have been unpleasant for you lately," Remus said, his voice sincere. "It must be hard to have your House turn against you like that."

Vance shrugged. "I don't blame them," she said enigmatically. Though, Remus thought, she didn't seem to feel any guilt. Surely that suggested that whatever had made her an outcast wasn't her fault?

"And is your sister ostracised as well? No, wait, you said you're hiding from her, too?" Remus said, remembering.

Vance's expression became rather fixed. "You have a good memory Lupin. But I'd rather discuss that another day."

"Of course," Remus said. Vance looked uncomfortable enough as it was.

"So," Vance said, awkwardly changing the subject, "what are you trying to decode?"

Remus froze. How could she possibly-?

"Unless I'm very much mistaken, that's an Ancient Runes codex in your bag. The only other book with that almost cube-like shape is an encyclopedia, and I can't imagine why anyone would carry around one of them."

Remus almost sighed with relief. "I saw your textbook the other night," Remus invented. "I thought I looked interesting. It's just a bit of light reading."

Vance chuckled. "Really?" she said, amused. "Let's just pretend I believe you, shall we? You certainly seem to be a man of many mysteries, Remus Lupin."

Remus shifted a bit uncomfortably in his seat.

"Well, I'd better crack on with my essay," Remus said.

Vance gave him a knowing smile and returned to her own homework.

"Keep your secrets then, Lupin. As long as you don't eat all of the chocolate chipmunks, I'm happy."

Remus chuckled and pulled out his Transfiguration textbook. A few minutes later, immersed in complex magical theory, Remus was closer to sighing than laughing. Still, it was much more pleasant sharing Vance's company than ploughing through his homework alone.

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A copy of the code, if you're interested. If you solve it – congratulations! – but please don't reveal the answer and spoiler it for anyone else.

(There will be more hints/clues later in the story, before the answer is revealed. Unless you're an expert code cracker, you might prefer to wait for the extra clues.)

Note: the #'s are all different ancient runes, none of which will show up in the post. (Hint: you can still solve the code).

Each new line is a new line of code in their note as well.

ABC0#AFI9TB!1#JII8R

OF!NNP7SDI3J#AI6YCF4

KWR5LHC0DIJ9CV#I1NNP8MC

K2WSO7CIS3V

NI6FLP4DKC5S#NI0JCV9A

VA1EAW8CV

V2CMF7CA#J3IIR6V