Friday
January 2, 1978
The Great Hall
Despite all of the celebrations that came with Christmas and the New Year, the week following has been far more subdued due to an article that came out in the Prophet yesterday morning.
In an unforeseen event on the first day of the New Year, an unforgivable attack was made on the Beckham family, an outstanding pureblood family in the Wizarding community, by who is assumed to be the man called Lord Voldemort and his followers. The bodies of Francis and Amilla Beckham, along with their two daughters Hollissa and Berenice were found early this morning amongst the wreckage of their once austere countryside Mansion. A spokesperson from the Ministry has stated that "The horrific skull floating above the ruins is the only clue as to the perpetrators of this terrible crime, but every effort is being made to apprehend these people before any more damage is done to the Wizarding community".
James thinks it's a load of bollocks.
The efforts made by the Ministry that is. Not the devastating murder.
What isn't a load of bollocks is that Hollie Beckham, Slytherin prefect and a genuinely good person was murdered by Voldemort yesterday for reasons beyond my comprehension.
It really puts things in perspective.
It'll sure make Joan Fletcher regret calling her a Voldemort supporter, that's for certain.
Due to these events, the general vibe of Hogwarts has been rather sombre, and the house banners in the Great Hall have all been changed to black.
What isn't sombre, however, is James Potter's renewed crusade against the forces of evil both within and outside of Hogwarts. On a side note, is without truly the opposite of within, because can you use it in the context of someone being within and without Hogwarts? Just a thought.
As I write, James is discussing different techniques of how to keep up with suspicious activity inside the castle, and whether or not anyone has any idea of how best to do so.
"We could, I dunno, do a stakeout?" Black suggested, looking rather too eager for comfort.
"Brilliant, Pad!" James replied, jumping in his seat.
I was half afraid he was going to jump on the table again (as he so often does) and incur the wrath of McGonagall.
"Thank you," Black tossed his hair, "I know you are but what am I."
"Pad! Ahh, you melt my heart you handsome vixen you," James said, raising his hand to his brow. "It's a wonder there isn't some lovely lady who hasn't swept you up yet. One day, one day."
It's probably because Black is too busy snogging everyone left, right and centre to form a committed relationship with anyone. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't seen or heard about him snogging anyone for a while. Intriguing. Not that I care, of course. He's probably just really bad at snogging.
Anyway, Peter doesn't seem too keen on the idea. "I mean sure," he says, looking doubtful, "but Isn't there a better way? A stakeout could be risky."
"Darling Peter Petering Peterson Petersong," Black responds, "that is precisely why a stakeout is imperative! Picture the scene: you, me, the invisibility cloak-"
"The invisa-what?" Marley interrupts.
Black continues as if Marlene didn't just question the fact he knows where to access an assumingly legitimate cloak of invisibility. "-and a musty, mouldy, dank, dark dungeon corridor. Ooh, I've got shivers of anticipation already!"
For lack of a better phrase: Merlin's chin hairs, Black! What potion have you been drinking? ...And where can I get some? I think we all need a bit of Black's enthusiasm.
"Alright, calm down there a bit, pal," says James, looking justifiably concerned. "Stakeout could be a good idea."
"You know what I think?" says Remus, speaking up for the first time that morning.
Speaking of the speaking Remus, the nature of our relationship is getting increasingly confusing. Let's recap. First, he confesses hidden feelings for me. Second, he snogs me in the middle of the hallway. Third, he shakes my hand and runs away after said hallway snog. Fourth, he invites me to the Christmas Ball and attempts to dance with me the whole night. Fifth, he sits next to me wherever we go. Fifth, we have nightly study sessions together. Sixth, there is possibly a fair amount of snogging involved in said nightly study sessions. Seventh, we have not technically defined the nature of our relationship past the fact that it is, in fact, a sort of relationship.
How do I feel about it all?
Well, let me just say one thing: Remus, despite what one may think, knows a damn thing or two about snogging.
However, let me say another thing: is there possibly such a thing as too much snogging? Especially when the relationship is 'yet to be defined?' I dunno. I feel like we haven't had a proper conversation in ages. I haven't even asked him for help with my homework or anything.
But that doesn't matter, because we all know that Remus and I should definitely be together and will likely be the most amazing couple Hogwarts has ever seen perhaps ever.
I should probably chat to Remus about this. Well, that's only if I can get a word in.
Anyway, let's return to the present conversation.
"You know what I think?" Remus says. "I think that spying on the Slytherins may not have the desired effect that we want it to, especially since they haven't really done anything 'bad' lately."
"Moony, that's precisely the point!" James responds. "They're being suspiciously quiet, and I don't trust it. I do not trust it at all."
"I suppose," says Remus doubtfully. "Although I think we should wait until this whole Dumbledore thing pans out before we make any rash decisions."
"Rash decisions?" James shouts, earning stares from the surrounding tables. "Sorry," he says more quietly. "I just mean, since when are you concerned about rash decisions? Also, these are the Slytherins we're talking about."
"I dunno Prongs. This isn't just some prank war we're talking about here, this is proper life and death."
"Exactly what he said," says Peter. "Isn't it, you know, safer to let the professionals handle it?"
"Okay lads, here's an idea," Lily interjects. "Have we considered not discussing this in the Great Hall where literally anyone can hear?"
"Mmm," says Lottie, "have you considered discussing this next to a roaring fire with a plate of eggs?"
James and Black make overly long eye contact as they consider this idea.
"I suppose so," says James, finally tearing his eyes away from Black. I have just now noticed that Black's eyes have these specks of shiny silver amongst the grey that is actually quite pretty. Oh, Merlin, he's noticed me staring. That's embarrassing. Now he's looking at me weirdly.
"We shall put this conversation on hold for now, but we shall most definitely address it again, mostly because I don't really trust the professionals," Black says.
"On another note," says James, "How did this sherbet lemon get into my pocket? I don't think I've ever eaten a sherbet lemon in my life."
James holds up the canary yellow sweet for us all to look at.
"What is that? Is that... is that writing on it?" asks Lily, snatching it from his hand and holding it closer to her face. "It is! It just says... 'date to be confirmed'..."
"James, why d'you have a sherbet lemon that says 'date to be confirmed' in your pocket?" asks Lottie.
James grabs his sherbet lemon back from Lily and squints at it. "I dunno, Lottie, I dunno."
"Wait, everyone check their pockets," says Black after a second. "I have an idea."
We all pat down our pockets. Lily, Black, Remus, Marley, and I all pull out a sherbet lemon."
"Why on earth do we all have sherbet lemons in our pockets?" asks Lily, narrowing her eyes. "Is this some sort of prank? What kind of terribly lame prank is this?"
"No, Lily, I don't think it's a prank," says Black, looking gleeful. "Remember at that meeting with Dumbledore, what did he say?"
"Stop saying 'waggledy woo' in response to all of Professor Binn's questions in class?" James asked.
"No, the other meeting. The secret one."
"Oh right," said James, his face reddening. "Voldemort, something, fight, something?"
It was time for me to interject.
"He said that we have to weigh up what is most important to us before making the decision, and when our decision is made it will all become clear to us." I narrowed my eyes at James Potter. "Who on earth let you be Head Boy again?"
"The same person that didn't make you Head Girl," he winked in response.
"Alright, okay, back to the situation at hand," said Black, probably to stop me hexing James under the table. "What Eva said was right. Dumbledore told us it will all be made clear to us. The sherbet lemons are what is being made clear to us."
"I don't follow," said Peter, still patting his pockets.
"For those of us who have weighed up the importance of the decision to join Dumbledore's club and decided in its favour, we have received what I assume to be a magic sherbet lemon that will let us know when the first meeting is. Right?"
"Well then what does it mean if we don't have a sherbet lemon?" asked Lottie. "Does it mean... we didn't get in?"
"No, I just think it means you haven't actually weighed the importance of the decision and thought it through yet. Either that or you don't actually want to join."
"Huh," said Lily. "I think that may have been the most intelligent hypothesis I've ever heard come out of your mouth, Black. And, I think you're right. Now all we do is wait for the date to appear."
"Lily, Lily, Lily, you flatter the pudding out of me," said Black. "If the whole thing with you and Prongs doesn't work out then OW-"
James grinned at him from across the table. "You were saying, Pad?"
"I was saying, that I would be completely devastated to see less of your warming friendship, and clearly nothing else."
At this point in time everyone decides that we've well and truly finished breakfast, and that it would be pertinent to get on with what we all need to get done today.
I'll keep you updated on the stake out, sherbet lemon and Remus situations.
Friday
January 2, 1978
The Hospital Wing
I feel like an unnecessarily large amount of unfortunate things happen to me whilst in the presence of Sirius Black, some of which I shall proceed to document below to make a point.
A Short and Incomplete List of Some of the Terrible Situations that have Occurred to One Evelyn K. O. Bishop whilst in the Presence of One Sirius O. Black Since the Beginning of the 1977-1978 School Year.
1. My first day, where he embarrassed me in front of all of my friends with his stupid snogging bet. I can't believe I'd almost forgotten about that.
2. That time we got detention for two weeks and consequently various rumours flew around the school suggesting I was pregnant with Black's love child.
3. When Black stole my mail and started writing my mother. And told her we were dating.
4. Who could forget when he put a frog in my bed!
5. And tried to pour flubberworm mucus on me!
6. And traumatised me with his constant snogging of Aislin Murphy!
7. And could have potentially made me fail Potions multiple times!
8. The last incident I have decided to mention is that there have been numerous Slytherin kerfuffles both of us have been involved in, because it leads me into my story.
Late this afternoon I was on my way to the Library to try and get some study done. Yes, study. That's not a code word for snogging or anything. I actually had to tell Remus I was having a nap so I could even get some study done! Anyway, I was on my way to the library, and as usual (and as an attempt to avoid anyone who might snitch on my whereabouts) I cut through the hidden passages of Hogwarts. It was as I was coming out of a passage behind a musty tapestry that I heard the voices.
Who was it? Ten points if you guessed Sirius Black. Twenty if you guessed the Slytherins were there too.
I feel like this happens far too often. It's not like I'm trying to overhear secret conversations that Black is having with the Slytherins, it just happens. Maybe Hogwarts itself is orchestrating this. Regardless, I wish it would stop.
"You don't have any business with him anymore, Black. He's with us."
"Well, actually, I think you'll find my brother will always have business with me, seeing as you know, he's my brother."
I could hear the sneer in Avery's voice as he said, "Too bad, so sad, Black. He doesn't want you to be his brother, let alone have business with him."
"Well you seem to be rather vocal on what my brother does and doesn't want, but we haven't heard from the man himself, have we, Reg?"
I peered out from behind the tapestry. Black stood in the middle of the corridor, arms crossed but clutching his wand in his right hand. Peter stood behind him, seemingly for backup, although he didn't look too keen on the prospect.
Avery, Regulus and Nott stood in a triangle, much like a muggle girl band. Mm, yes. I can picture Nott on the drums.
"You think you're hilarious, don't you Sirius," said Regulus.
"You flatter me, Reg."
"You can't take anything seriously, can you? We're not just joking around anymore, this is real stuff. You need to lay off, or else."
"Or else what, Reg? You and these morons might hex us into oblivion?"
"Perhaps," said Avery. "But if we don't, we know someone else who will, and you won't like that at all."
"Especially you, runt," said Nott, leering at Peter who had taken a few steps backward.
"Oh lay off, you lot," said Black, "get some better threats or some better insults or perhaps even some better haircuts."
It was at that point I dropped all my books and Nott hexed me.
Well, to provide a bit more detail, one of quills slipped out of my hands, and in an attempt to grab it I got caught in the tapestry, dropped my textbooks, and Nott is such a blithering idiot that he was startled enough to hex me! Rude, right?
If I went around hexing everyone who startled me the whole school would have antlers at this point!
Well, unfortunately for me I guess, Michael Nott doesn't have such restraint, which is why I'm currently propped up in the Hospital Wing waiting for Pomfrey to shrink my ears down to a reasonable size again.
She's currently attending to Nott who is currently recovering from a black eye after Black punched him in the face.
Black really needs to stop getting into physical fights as there's only so many times I can fix his broken nose. In fact, he also needs to make less rash decisions, as stopping two on one fight with ears scraping the floor is not an easy feat. Luckily for me I had the aid of Peter, who wisely did not get involved in the fist fight. Needless to say, there are six people currently seeking Pomfrey's attention, although one of them is for their nerves and as far as I know, no actual physical injury.
"Oi, Eva!" says Black from the bed next to mine, "Can you at least hear any better?" He whispers something unintelligible and nods at me expectantly.
"I didn't hear what you just said, if that's what you were asking," I say in response. "They're more annoying than anything."
"Damn," he says. "I was hoping we could make use of them for our..." he glances at the other beds before mouthing the word 'stakeout.'
"Since when am I going on this stakeout with you?" I whisper, confused.
"Since you're clearly the best option."
"How? What about James?"
"He can't control his righteous enthusiasm at the moment."
"Remus?"
"He's too cautious of the plan."
"Peter?"
"He's a bit, well, nervous nowadays."
"Lily?"
"She won't do it without James."
"Lottie? Alice?"
"They didn't get sherbet lemons."
"Marley?"
"I like you better than her."
"Oh." Huh. I wasn't expecting that response. "Is that the only reason? Process of elimination?"
"No... You're damn good with a wand, have just the right amount of righteous enthusiasm and although you have an above-average amount of clumsiness from what I heard from everything on you're birthday you're not too bad at sleeping around."
"I'm sorry, say that last bit again?"
"You're not too bad at sneaking around?"
"Oh, thank Merlin, I thought you said sleeping around."
Black laughs, earning a shushing from Pomfrey. He apologises to her before awkwardly whispering, "I don't think anyone thinks you're good at sleeping around. ...Not that, um, I think you'd be bad for, um, sleeping with, just that you don't do it, which isn't a bad thing, you're clearly not a prude though, you're just, um-"
"Did you have a point with this?" I stare at him, aghast.
"To be frank, I'm not entirely sure."
I think this is the first time I've ever seen his face quite this red.
"That definitely came out in a different way than I expected it to," he says, wincing. "Shall we pretend that never happened?"
"Quite."
"Wonderful."
"Now, what's going on over here," asks Pomfrey, gently lifting up one of my ears. "Aside from a bit too much chit-chat, I think we can safely say there's a rather large problem with your ears. I assume you'd like that to change?"
"Oh, no, Pomfrey," says Black. "Please leave those ears the way that they are. I think we all like them much better that way."
"That is the exact sort of comment I'd expect from you, Black, which is why I've asked you to leave twice already."
"But Pomfrey," Black whines, "They broke my nose!"
"Oh, did they really? I'm ever so sorry for my oversight, let me just-" Pomfrey laid my ear back gently on the bed before walking over to examine Black. "Mr Black, it's one thing to be annoying, it's another thing to lie about a serious medical injury! Your nose is perfectly fine!"
"Oh right, yes, Eva did fix it for me."
"She did?" Pomfrey looks over at me with surprise. "I didn't know you had an affinity for healing magic, Miss Bishop. I wouldn't have even known his nose had been broken at all!"
"Oh, I just dabble a bit. Mostly just the scrapes this idiot gets himself into."
"Well I suppose that does explain Mr Black's lack of visits to the hospital wing, then. You should come talk to me a bit more about this, Miss Bishop, I'd love to help you develop your charm work in this area."
"I don't know what to say to that, Pomfrey. You normally don't want to see me."
"Oh, fiddle-faddle, don't be silly with me, girl. Let me just fix those ears for you, and I can't do it if you're writing in that infernal diary!"
Oh, right.
Gotta go!
Saturday
January 3, 1978
The Great Hall
After the 'ears incident' the only interesting thing that has happened thus far is the somewhat civil conversation I just had with Isadora James.
Yes, you heard me correctly. Civil. Well, somewhat. It was a weird conversation that I hadn't planned to happen but happened anyway.
And speaking of, it happened like this:
I was walking to the Great Hall for tea, somewhat late because I had to grab a tincture from Pomfrey to stop the throbbing pain in my ears, when I accidentally ran right into Isadora.
"Do you mind, Bishop?" said Isadora, quite red in the face.
I observed uncomfortably that she'd been crying.
"Are you... okay?" I asked, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder.
"Don't, just... Go away."
For lack of better judgement, I continued patting her awkwardly on the shoulder.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you going away?"
"You're quite clearly upset about something."
"And you don't care, so why does it matter?"
"Fine," I said, taking a step back. "Bye, then."
"Wait," she said. Isadora squinted at me, as if evaluating whether or not I was going to jump up at her a scream 'gotcha!' "It's Hol... He's being distant and I don't know what to do... And I'm only telling you this because you guys seem to be friends somehow. Has he said anything to you?"
At this point I was unsure of what to say. First of all, Hol and I aren't friends, so I didn't know what relationship advice to give, seeing as he hadn't told me anything. In fact, I barely know anything about him at all, aside from that fact that he has a sister. That was when it came to me! Maybe he was being distant in order to protect Isadora from the Slytherins as well! I think anyone in my position would have done what I did, which was to tell Isadora that, "Well, I don't really know, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that some of the Slytherins have been threatening him."
"They've been what?"
"Yes, they've been making him commit nefarious acts or else they'll hurt his sister."
"But... Hol doesn't have a sister." Isadora seemed very confused about this.
Actually, so was I. "What do you mean he doesn't have a sister? Are you quite sure?"
"Yes, very! I've been to his home, I've met his parents and two of his cousins. No sister."
"Right," I said. "Well, something's going on there then."
"It seems so," said Isadora. "I think Hollard and I might need to have a little chat. Thank you, Eva, you've quite unexpectedly brightened my day."
"Anytime," I said. Although, I wasn't entirely sure if I meant it. This was Isadora James, after all.
She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped her face before straightening her shoulders and striding off down the corridor.
Begrudgingly, I must admit she does have a sort of style about her. She's not better than me at charms, though.
Sunday
January 4, 1978
Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory
I write now about the aforementioned stakeout from one of my previous diary entries. When Black was propositioning me in the Hospital Wing, I hadn't really thought about whether or not I was going to do it, I think we both sort of assumed I was without really asking me, so earlier tonight, when it came to the stakeout, I think I was rather unprepared for what said stakeout might entail.
"Alright, have you got everything?" James asked, pacing back and forth.
"Yes, I'm sure of it," said Black, peering into the bag. It was quite clever actually, Lily had the brilliant idea to put in undetectable extension charm on a small bag, so we could fit a lot of things in there without needing to lug them all around!
"I've double checked the hiding spot, I think you'll be fine," said Lily, giving me a hug. "I'm sure you'll both be perfectly safe!"
"You've got this, and be careful," said Remus, giving me a quick peck and an unusually stern look to Black. "Don't do anything... rash."
Black winked at him. "We'll be fine, old mate, won't we, Eva?"
"Right as rain," I said. "Safer than a bludger in a box."
"Oh, off you go then," said Lottie, giving me a hug as well.
"Consider us off." We waved goodbye to our friends who seemed far too concerned for my liking, donned James Potter's invisibility cloak and quietly as we could, crept toward the dungeons.
The whole reason we were going on a stakeout is that one, the Slytherins had not done anything particularly provocative lately, which obviously raises a few red flags, and then two, James and Black mentioned that they had seen the names of various Slytherins going to visit a room in the unused Charms corridor lately.
Consequently, Black decided that we needed to wait outside of the dungeons to see if any of the Slytherins were going to sneak out, and then follow them to said room to see what they were doing. We've all been so busy with Christmas and NEWT study that we haven't really had time to do any proper investigation, so this is what we could consider, our first formal investigation of the Slytherins.
Now, a quick disclaimer: when I say the 'Slytherins' I am not of course referring to all of the Slytherins, as I don't want to judge a whole house of people based upon the actions of a few, but merely the antagonistic group of sixth and seventh years that seem hell-bent on being the biggest twats Hogwarts has ever come across.
Speaking of twats, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but Black is reasonably taller than me, which made is quite a challenge to sneak to the dungeons together without what can be referred to as an unnecessarily gross overuse of physical contact.
"Eva, stop jostling me," Black whispered, tripping over my foot.
"I can't help it," I said, "when your bloody elbows keep stabbing into my stomach."
"Well then move your stomach out of the way!"
"Then the cloak wouldn't be covering me, you twunt head."
"Twunt head? What is this, first year?"
"Clearly, by your lack of coordination."
"Alright, alright, you've made your point," Black said, coming to a halt. "Just, okay, stop for a second, we'll need to rearrange."
I begrudgingly stopped moving as Black tried to work out a less dangerous way for us to both travel under the cloak.
"Eva," he said after a few seconds of moving about awkwardly, "Would you feel terribly offended if I put my arm around you, because I really can't see any other way that we can sneak about without jostling each other to death."
I took a long moment to consider this proposition. On one hand, the idea of Sirius Black putting his arm around me was rather disturbing, but on the other hand, we had things to do and it's not like we weren't already in close proximity to each other.
"If you must."
"Jolly good." Black slowly lifted his right arm and gingerly placed his hand on my waist.
It was in this fashion that we travelled the rest of the distance to the Slytherin Common Room. When we arrived we found the spot Lily had scouted earlier, a small alcove diagonally across from the entrance.
"Alright, provisions," said Black, reaching into the bag. To my surprise, he pulled out a bag of food.
"Got your priorities sorted out there alright?" I queried.
"Actually, for your information, I have. Now, Evelyn, you may not have had the opportunity to stake out an area before, but I can be considered a stake-out pro. Therefore, I know that we need to eat or else we'll get bored, hungry and tired long before the jig is up. Hence, I have provided us with suitable sustenance."
I suppose he had a point.
"I didn't quite have the time to whip these up myself," he said, grabbing something out of the bag, "but the house elves do make a mean brownie."
He passed me a brownie and without thinking I took a bite, forgetting to check if he had laced it with potion or poison.
"Good, right?"
I nodded suspiciously. They were quite good.
"It's your mother's recipe, so they'd better be good."
Somehow I keep forgetting about that time Black stole my owl and my brownies and my mother's affections.
"I've also got some toffees, my favourite, and I thought fizzing whizbees would be inappropriate for a stakeout due to the hovering side effect, so I found these muggle sweets called flying saucers for you."
This took me completely by surprise. Firstly, the fact that Black knew what my favourite sweet is, second, that he somehow found a muggle equivalent, and thirdly, because I hadn't had flying saucers in years, and I absolutely loved them. They're nothing more than sherbet filled coloured-cardboard-type-substance that melts in your mouth but they'r delicious, don't argue with me.
I grabbed a blue one from the bag and popped one into my mouth. Wonderful.
"Alwiy, yow yat we yave our fooy-"
"Speak English, will you?"
Black hurriedly tried to swallow his toffee before speaking again. "Alright, now that we have our food all we need to do is wait to see who comes out of the door, and then follow them. The issue is that they've been coming out at different times so we don't know when to expect them. It could be now or it could be hours from now."
"Alright," I said.
This seemed reasonable enough. I had food and a healthy curiosity so I figured that would be enough to keep me going for however long we needed to wait.
We ate in silence for a little while. Black had cast muffliato but I think that was mainly to conceal any sound of us eating. I kept thinking about the flying saucers and and trying not to think about the fact that Black was sitting rather close to me, our arms brushing together. Oh, Merlin, the silence was killing me. I had to do something.
You know when you're thinking about something but you don't think about how to translate that into good words and sentences so you end up saying something that you probably shouldn't have? Well, here's a prime example of that happening:
"So, Black, why did you run away from your family?" I said.
I felt him stiffen slightly beside me. "You sure do know how to start a conversation, don't you."
"Sorry."
"It's alright."
He didn't say anything for a while after that and I was mortally embarrassed, considering the best way to die when he suddenly said, "Well, I guess there's no harm in you knowing."
I didn't want to jinx it so I popped a toffee in my mouth and sat there silently.
"You've probably heard about the Black family. Purebloods, Slytherin elitists, lovers of the dark arts. My cousin, Bellatrix, she's a real piece of work. My mother, Walburga, she has a very strong willed personality, sees everything as black and white, and considers me a colossal disappointment to the Black name. Once I came to Hogwarts and met James and the rest of the guys, I realised that my family's beliefs were based on nothing but prejudice, and so I would challenge them on it. It got to a point that it was just not safe and not good for me to be there, so I moved in with the Potters. I'm cut off from them entirely, in every way, including money, except for Reg. He's the only I still talk to. I guess I still think that maybe there's hope for him."
Black paused. I couldn't see his face in the darkness, but I could sense that it was painful to talk about. "It's alright, you don't need to say anything else," I said.
"No, it's fine, it's all doom and despair and purple underwear," he said.
"What?"
"Doom and despair and purple underwear. You know -"
Before he could say anything else, the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room popped open and Black and I froze.
We couldn't see who it was, they must have cast a disillusionment spell, but a quick glance at Black's map showed that it was Snape and Nott, hurrying along in the darkness.
Black grabbed the food, popping it back into the bag, and we stood up, following them as quietly as we could with the map under the invisibility cloak.
After about ten minutes of following them, it was clear they were going to the unused Charms corridor. When they got to the room they wanted, they pushed open the door and we sneaked in behind them, narrowly avoiding crashing into Nott as his form appeared and pushed the door to.
Snape muttered something under his breath and his form slowly appeared as well, before going over to what appeared to be a dusty, unused cupboard, and said, "Revelio."
To my surprise, a small potions lab appeared, complete with a cauldron bubbling over flames.
Snape walked over to it, waving his wand over the bubbling liquid.
"How is it?" asked Nott.
"Good. We'll be ready in three days."
"That's sooner than anticipated. Avery will be pleased."
Snape sneered at him, "I didn't do this to impress Avery, he means nothing in all of this."
"Regardless, he'll be pleased. He's found the girl."
"Has he?" Snape looked impressed. "I didn't think she could be found."
"Well that's what he said, don't take my word for it. Any word on Potter and his gang?"
"They know nothing. The fools run around the school, thinking they know everything when really? They know nothing of what is to come."
Nott grinned as Snape waved his wand over the cupboard, hiding the potion and its contents. "Three days, I can't believe it!"
"Don't get too excited, we still have work to do," said Snape. "Hide yourself, it's time to go back."
He whirled around, missing Black and I by a mere inch.
We waited until it was long after they left the room before speaking.
"Merlin's beard," said Black, his eyes almost glowing with excitement. "Did you see what was in that cauldron."
"Polyjuice potion," I whispered, trying to wrap my head around everything that we just witnessed. "What do you think they're doing?"
"Well... I guess we'll find out in three days.'
AN: So... Here's an early present for you all! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
(also, as an apology for it being a month late I included an extra 1k words for you)
'What is happening?' You ask? Good question. Sorry, but I can't tell you. I'd love to hear some guesses though!
Thank you all SO MUCH for your support for Black and the adventures of Eva