They Look Like Ants


The Marauders were strolling down the hall. Peter and James in the lead, Sirius and Harry came next as Remus and Hermione followed behind. Harry was suddenly paying closer attention to their surroundings. Something was familiar, but yet vague enough for him to not recognize the area. "I don't think we've been down here before."

"I have it on the map."

"Well if you'd visit the library there is a chance you'd be in the vicinity."

"I do go to the library."

"I don't. Where are we?"

"Fourth floor corridor."

"Vague answer."

"Vague question deserves a vague answer."

"Just admit you don't know."

"Hermione admit she doesn't know?"

The boys all gasped as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Okay, being serious here."

"I'm always-"

Harry smacked the back of Sirius' head and the others laughed.

They made their way down the hallway, passing a large mirror. James had paused to check his hair - much as Sirius had - Peter ignored the mirror and began grumbling about being bored. Harry stopped and stared at the mirror with a feeling that he should know it, something familiar tugged at his memory.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione stopped beside him and cocked her head in wonder.

Being the tallest of the friends, Remus paused behind the two, staring at their reflections. Harry shrugged nonchalantly before continuing, "We're looking for secret passages and I just have a feeling that I should know where I am."

"That makes no sense." Remus stood slightly behind Hermione and glanced in the mirror as well. "How could you know this hall if you've never been down here?"

"Something the twins said." That caught Hermione's attention, but confused Remus. "Its something to do with this mirror."

Remus took a step closer, peering at the glass. Harry grinned and quickly pushed the two forward through the looking glass and hurried forward to the other three boys discussing their next prank.

At the sound of Hermione's squeal the three turned quickly. The boys frowned. "Where's Mine?"

Harry grinned. "With Remus."


Hermione stumbled, but strong arms quickly wrapped around her to keep her steady. "Careful." The thought of screaming came and went quickly as the familiarity of the voice and arms swept over her. She nodded silently, took a calming breath and looked around them. There seemed to be a large room before them and Remus' breath brushed past her ear, "Where are we?"

She could have moved to explore, but Hermione was unwilling to step out of Remus' embrace. His body was so warm and still she shivered. The slight movement didn't go unnoticed, his arms tightened around her. "It's okay, you aren't alone. The guys will find us."

Hermione smiled at the notion of being afraid and needing those words of encouragement. She didn't trust her voice so she simply nodded again. How long had she wished for him to hold her? She looked up at him in the dim light as he peered into the room. Remus finally looked down into her face and grinned sheepishly, "Ready to explore?"

"Sure."

Remus gave her a quick squeeze before letting her go. He stepped around her, but Hermione quickly grabbed his hand. Remus looked at her and held tighter. "You realize that is my wand hand and if anything were to jump out at us..."

"Oh." Hermione blushed in the dark, glad he couldn't see her embarrassment.

Chuckling he changed which hand held hers, pulled his wand out and stepped forward. "Lumos."

The room was large and the walls near them were curved. The ceiling was high and dark. Still the room sat in mostly darkness. "Lumos Maxima."

"Oh, wow." Hermione stepped past Remus and walked as if in a trance. The room was not just large it was cavernous, it was not just curved it was round, the ceilings were still high and dark. In the center sat a fire pit. "Incendio."

The fire bloomed giving off warmth and light. "Nox." Remus stepped closer to the curved sofas wrapped around the fire. There were two sofas pressed together on each side forming two semi-circles. Most noticeably were the colors of each, representing the four houses. "I wonder what this room is for."

"I don't know, but look." Hermione made her way across the room and peered through the hallway. "It leads to a spiral staircase."

"Should we get the others?" Remus looked behind him at the entranceway.

"Do we need them right now? It's just a staircase."

Remus chuckled, "This is Hogwarts. There is no such thing as just a staircase."

Hermione grinned, "Very true. Still, we can get a quick look and come back with them another time."

He joined her at the rail looking down at the staircase, "How many floors do you suppose it goes?"

"One way to find out." Hermione smiled up at him. "Feeling adventurous?"

He quirked an amused eyebrow, brushed a curl back over her the shell of her ear and gazed at her for a moment before responding, "Yes."


"I've got it!" Remus held the papers in front of himself, a large grin spreading across his face. He was sitting in front of the table. He and Hermione had been swapping the map as they tried to get the spell to work.

Hermione sighed, smiling at Remus, " Though it took us longer than I expected."

James laughed as he sat on the couch next to Hermione, throwing his legs in her lap as she huffed at him. "Mine, you two are fantastic. If you couldn't figure it out, we'd have thought of something else."

There was a snort from the chair as Peter shook his head, "James is being delusional again."

"No, Dear's right," Sirius pulled a face at Peter. "We would've figured something out."

Harry, who was sitting by Remus on the floor, leaned over and peered at the map. "Oh, that's cool!" There were tons of tiny feet moving about the castle, some standing still, others pacing. Harry grinned at Hermione, finally understanding what she was doing.

"They look like ants."

"Really, Sirius?" Hermione flicked the back of Sirius' head from where he was leaning against the couch. "Can't you tell that they're feet? Look at the Gryffindor common room and see where we're sitting."

There was a ruffling of paper and an awed, "Bloody hell."

James grinned, but Peter frowned at the paper. "Wouldn't it be better if we could know who was which set of feet?"

"We've thought of it," Remus nodded before looking over at Hermione with a smile, "Hermione came up with a brilliant idea."

She blushed, "Well, it was just something I remembered from when Harry and I first came here with Aunt Poppy. Professor Dumbledore had mentioned that there's a registry. It'll hold all of the names of the people who has ever attended Hogwarts. If we can connect it to the map, the names should appear above their feet."

"Wicked!" Three of the boys yelped. Remus and Harry just smiled while Hermione rolled her eyes.

"So, what's the plan?"

Hermione grinned at the boys, "Easy, Harry will walk there with Peter and I disillusioned on his shoulders. He'll give the password while Professor Dumbledore isn't there. Hopefully it'll open so I can get through with Peter and we'll go up. I'll distract Fawkes and Peter can go up and put the charm on the registry."

"So I get to sneak into the Headmaster's office, into his other office, find the registry, do some awesome kind of magic, get out without being caught while trying not to be eaten by a Phoenix?" Peter grinned. "Sounds fun."

"Why does Peter get all the exciting things to do?" James mourned.

The blonde-haired boy smirked, "I'm sure you could if you wanted. It just might be a bit strange to see a stag running around in the hallways."

"You'd probably have to go to Azkaban for being an unregistered Animagus."

"I would so not bail you out."

"It would be pretty awesome to see Minnie's face, though."

"Fine fine fine, I get it." James pouted and crossed his arms, but it was easy to see the grin that he was trying suppress. "Why couldn't I have been something smaller?"

"Well, I'm smaller, but it would be just as strange to see a Ring-tailed Lemur."

"Not the point, Mine."

Peter laughed, "He's just jealous 'cause I'm just awesome."


"I still question why I helped you."

"I told you. You liked the challenge."

Severus slipped the vials into Harry's bag. "You will tell me when you're administering these."

It wasn't a question, nor a request, but still Harry nodded. "I will."

"If word gets out that a Slytherin aided the pranking Marauders..."

"A Slytherin didn't help the Marauders, you helped me." Harry grinned when Severus snorted. "Tell me something. Can it be tasted or seen when mixed and is there anything that it can't be mixed with?"

"It doesn't stand up to heat, it has no flavor yet it can be seen within milk. Ah, and acids such as those found in orange juice will nullify the activators."

"Excellent. Thanks, Severus."