Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't own, I've been saying it for twelve chapters.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx- Wednesday, September 22nd, 1971
Remus awoke to see the moon's light shining through the red velvet curtains in front of the circular windows of the boy's dormitory. He blinked groggily and sat up in bed. Listening closely, he could hear the snores from the beds around him and the sound of a shower in the neighboring dorm turn on for an early morning wash. He lazily looked over to the second-hand alarm clock on his nightstand. The hands read 4:12 am. Oh shit.
With a shocking amount of speed for someone who just went through horrendous pain that most adults wouldn't be able to stomach, Remus shot of bed. They were supposed to be up by three trying to get in the kitchens to add the potion into the drinks! 'Dammit,' he thought, 'I should have taken up on James' offer and asked him to set his instead. I knew mine wasn't working properly. It hasn't been for the last year.' He hurriedly pulled on his robes before yanking the hangings open on Finn's four poster.
"Finn! Finn, it's time to get up! We're going to be late!" Remus whisper-shouted while shaking the blonde boy awake. But apparently, Finn was an extremely heavy sleeper because all he did was roll over and mutter: "No Mr. Dragon, I don't want any pumpkin juice," before drifting back to sleep. With a sigh of exasperation, Remus rolled his eyes and shoved the boy off the bed with a surge of werewolf strength.
Even though he was scrawny for his age and was a good deal shorter than most first years, the werewolf was stronger than he looked.
"Bloody hell, Mr. Dragon- wait, what?" Finn said confusedly, finally awake, "What time is it?"
"It's 4:15. Now get up, we're going to be late and won't be able to find the kitchens in time for breakfast," Remus hissed. "Get dressed!" Why Remus was encouraging their mischief, he had no idea.
With a dawning look of horror and recognition, Finn started pulling off his pale blue pajamas while Remus crossed to the other side of the room and hopped on top of Sirius.
"Wha- Remus what's going on?" Sirius asked.
"We're going to be late for the plan you dolt. Wake Peter while I get James!" Remus had already scrambled off Sirius and over to James' bed.
James grunted and turned over to face the boy above him. "Mm. Fuck off, mate. What do you want?" He rubbed his eyes and grabbed for his glasses on the nightstand while squinting at Remus through hazy brown eyes.
Remus groaned. Did anyone remember what they had planned? Without a word he shoved James's clothes into the other boy's hands before turning around to help Finn with the cauldrons they had set up last night. The potion had ended up being denser than they had thought, and they had to use two cauldrons instead of the one they had planned on. Peter would be carrying one along with Remus.
By then most of them were dressed and alert, and only James was left to pull on shoes and finger-comb his hair, but it didn't do much to tame the mop.
"Okay, are we all ready?" Finn asked as soon as James Was finished dressing and the potion was situated. A chorus of 'yeps' filled the room as Sirius threw the cloak over all of them.
"Sirius, move your arse!"
"Get your knee out of my arse then!"
"Oh shut up you prick."
"Come on, guys, we don't have time for this! Do you want to be ready or not?"
"Tell James to move his elbow then! I swear I'm going to have a permanent ache in my side by the time this is over."
"James, move your elbow."
"What about Peter? He's the one stepping on my foot."
"All of you guys stop! We're not going to make it to the kitchens if you don't shut up."
A mumbled curse word followed along with a glare.
All of the boys shuffled out of the door, a tangle of limbs and hushed angry voices. Fortunately, they eventually made it out of the Common Room and into the corridor with only three death threats, mostly of which were from Remus saying that if they didn't be quiet and focus he would personally make sure they never saw past their first year.
"Where do we go from here?" Peter asked, his voice breaking the stony silence caused by their fierce concentration.
"I don't know. I thought it would be much easier than this, even though there are multiple floors and corridors," Finn said.
"Let's try the Great Hall. It's the best idea we have. We eat there so the kitchens must be nearby," James added.
"Hey look at that! Jamie had a good idea!" Sirius said teasingly before punching the other boy in the arm.
"Shut up, you arse."
After another warning from Remus to shut it, the boys moved forward, dodging suits of armor and Mr. Filch's new Kneazle kitten to get to the stairs leading down to the great hall.
"Watch ou-!" But the warning came too late. Remus, Peter, and James all fell forward, not noticing the first step as Peter had almost dropped his cauldron of potion and they were helping him fix it. They tumbled down the stairs, a combination of cursing and swinging arms and legs. With a grunt Remus finally came to a stop, landing once again on his ribs, causing jolts of discomfort to shoot up his side; and it didn't help that Peter fell on top of him only a second later.
With a cry of pain, the brunette jerked upward, clutching at his probably now bruised side.
"I'm so sorry Remus! I didn't see you! Are you alright?" Peter asked, noticing Remus' flushed face and pained grimace. In a second, James, Sirius, and Finn were next to him. Sirius and James and Peter looked worried. Finn's face was a mixture of understanding and fear.
"Help me, guys!" Finn said to the others as he gently hooked his arms under Remus and led him over to the nearest house table with James supporting him on the other side and Peter and Sirius trailing behind them.
"What happened, Rem?" James asked.
"Um, well, I fell y-yesterday an-and hurt my r-ribs, and it um, didn't help that Peter fell on me," Remus stuttered out nervously. He had to be more careful with his slip-ups or else they would find out.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Finn asked. Remus could see the fear in his eyes. The other boy knew that Remus' injury wasn't caused by falling. They both knew the wolf did it.
"Um y-yeah. I'm fine. Just sore. It doesn't even hurt anymore"
"Do you want to keep going? We can stop if you're hurt," Sirius said.
"I hope you know I really am sorry. I didn't mean to squish you," Peter added in nervously.
"No, no. We've come this far. I don't want to quit now," Remus said, sliding off the bench, "And it's okay Peter, I know you didn't mean it." Peter let out a relieved breath of air.
"Let's go this way. There's a door over there." All of them looked to see where Remus was pointing. There was, in fact, a door, right under the grand staircase that led to the Great Hall. It was a simple oak door, not at all like the impressive ones that adorned the rest of the castle, and slightly hidden by one of the impressive arches reaching up to the ceiling. Unfortunately, it was locked.
"Well, shit," Finn said, running a hand through his blonde hair.
"Ugh, move aside," Remus pushed Sirius and Finn away, "Alohomora." The door opened with a noisy click, revealing a set of stairs that led into a large stone passage with moss on the walls. None were too keen to go in.
"You can first James," Sirius said as he shoved the bespectacled boy into the cold passageway, earning Sirius a glare.
"There's no light. How are we supposed to see?" Peter asked nervously, wrapping his cloak around his body tighter as the group followed James in. They were all a bit on edge. The walls were moist and had moss and mold growing from the top, and no lights could be seen from where they were. Not exactly the most comforting or cleanest passage around.
A whispered spell and a bouncing blue flame illuminated the walkway. Someone swallowed nervously and the group shared a look before stepping forward tentatively.
As they walked, an uneasy feeling settled over Remus. The narrow passageway reminded him of somewhere. He cautiously sniffed the air. The scent of mold and old water assaulted his senses. The werewolf could have sworn he had been here before. It was on the tip of his tongue; the whole place was strikingly familiar. Then it hit him, the musky smell, the dampness, the heavy air, the narrow tunnel, the dirty floor. It was just like the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack.
Remus stopped. A feeling of dread filled him. The full moon was a couple of days ago, he shouldn't be going back. It was too soon. Remus could faintly feel his knees buckle as he fell to the ground. A more sensible part of him was reassuring him that this wasn't the shack, that it was part of the castle, but he didn't listen
"No."
"No. I don't want to go back."
"Remus, are you okay?" Finn, James, Sirius, and Peter's worried faces swam in front of his.
"It's okay Remus. You're okay." Hands reached forward and pulled him forward by his shirt, closer to the blue moon that had somehow managed to shine through the dirt ceiling.
"No! Don't make me go back!"
Words of comfort were whispered as the hands pushed him into a larger chamber with dusty portraits adorning the walls. The blue moon, no, the flame was gone. It was all gone. He was fine and there was no moon or shack or tunnel. Remus shakily sat down on the floor.
"Remus?" Peter's voice seemed to drag him out of his thoughts.
"Huh?"
"You had a mini panic attack back in the passage. Why?" James asked.
"I-It was nothing. Probably just an aftershock from the time I was attacked as a kid. It happened while my family and I were driving through a tunnel a bit like this one, but it's no big deal. Let's keep going," Remus lied and dismissed James question, and ignoring the disbelieving looks from his friends, picked himself back up and started toward a painting of a woman in a red dress snickering at something her friend had said. It had to be at least 5:00 by now, and at the rate they were going, it would take a miracle for them to find the kitchens.
The group started following him again and all was going smoothly enough until the feeling hit him again. A wave of nausea and uneasiness washed over him. With a small gasp, Remus fell up against the painting. He wasn't in the Shrieking Shack, he reminded himself. it was the castle and he was surrounded by friends who cared about him.
His hand clenched and unclenched up against the painting as he attempted to even out his breaths. To his surprise, the pear placed on the right of the painting started to laugh and giggle before turning into a big green doorknob.
Remus could near confused gasps behind him. The brunette couldn't exactly blame them, it wasn't every day that a piece of fruit exposed a secret room.
"God Rem. What the hell did you do?" Sirius asked, coming up to stand next to him.
"I-I don't know. All I did was this." Remus said as he moved his fist like he did before. The door quivered and chuckled again.
"You found a secret passage!" Finn said in awe, craning his neck past James to get a closer look.
"Do you think it leads to the kitchens? It would explain why it happens to be so close to the Great Hall," the five looked to each other and nodded in agreement. Even if it wasn't an entrance to the kitchens, they weren't going to leave behind a new discovery.
Slowly they opened the door and nervously peeked inside. Fortunately for them, they had finally found the kitchens. It had to be at least the size of the Great Hall, with five magical tables that must have represented the house and staff tables adorning the main space. Gleaming silver pots and pans lined the walls while a large brick fireplace stood at the back as a cauldron fizzed upon the open fire. But the most shocking was probably the bug-eyed creatures wearing only tea clothes who had immediately stopped their preparations upon their arrival. They stared up at the boys with curious expressions.
Remus felt a tugging on his pant leg and looked down. "What can Minty do for you, sir. Minty loves to help," one of the creatures asked.
"Um, can you put a bit of this in every goblet please?" Remus asked handing her Peter and his cauldrons. He could hear James and Sirius explaining the creatures or house-elves as they were apparently called, to Finn in the background.
"Minty shall have to put her hands in the oven for asking, but why, sir?"
"It's a prank!" James piped up, earning him glares from the rest of the group. It went without saying that you don't tell anyone about the plan. But fortunately for them, the elf's eyes seemed to light up.
"A prank! Minty loves pranks! Minty will help you," the little elf said happily.
"Just don't put any in the staff's goblets," Sirius said as they watched her skip away. As a second thought, Peter added that she was commanded not to burn herself.
Remus watched in wonder as more elves seemed to appear from out of nowhere before rushing to Minty's side and helping her pour the right amount of potion in each goblet at the four tables. The drink would smoke for a minute before simmering down to turn back into the bland orange color of pumpkin.
An elf ran up to him holding a platter of eclairs. "Would sir like some treats? Binky made them with extra chocolate!" Remus chose one from the side, careful not to touch the silver plate, and thanked the elf before joining his friends at the counter. Now it was time to wait.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Author's Note: Reviews are good. Flames are not.
