Chapter 49: Cabin Fever

"Okay what are we doing out here?" Remus questioned, looking at Sirius and Octavia in particular.

They were currently standing in the Quidditch Pitch during one of their free periods, the rarity that was this year was that they all had the same free period.

"Prongs was saying on the train he wants to know what spell Snivellus used on Snow."

"What does that have to do with anything Padfoot?" James questioned.

"What do you think it means Prongs, it means we know what the spell is."

"So we're out here so we can practise the spell, so we don't do something as stupid as he did and almost kill someone." Remus explained and Octavia nodded.

"The grass is softer then the flooring within the Castle and Sirius and I are hoping that I can stop the fall before someone goes head first to the ground." Octavia spoke and Lilith raised an eyebrow.

"Don't muggles have crash test dummies, shouldn't we use a crash test dummy?"

"Yes Lilith that is a brilliant idea, do you know how to transfigure a crash test dummy?" Sirius spoke, sarcasm lacing his voice and James let out a laugh.

"How about we use Lilith for such a dumb comment?" James remarked and Octavia levitated him.

"How about we use you first for being a prat Prongs," Octavia teased as she moved James through the air.

"Snow put Prongs down," Remus warned and she obliged, slowly lowering him to the ground so he was standing on his feet.

"Thanks Snow," he snapped but she just grinned at him.

"I could have dropped you like last time, fancy another rolled ankle?" she spoke sweetly, Sirius walked over and flicked her head only causing her to growl at him response.

"Honestly what is with you today? You seem to be a raging bitch," Sirius looked at her and then realised. "Ohh I get it, do we need to get you some chocolate?" he teased and Lilith snickered knowing all along what Octavia's issue was.

It only took a couple of seconds for the others to catch on and realise what was happening, James literally burst out in laughter, doubling over in hysterics.

Octavia not quite pleased with the reaction walked over and placed her hands on his face and began warming her hands up, watching him attempt to put away.

"Goddamn it Snow, that burns." James finally managed to pull away and couldn't help but notice the smug look on her face. "What?" he snapped, he faced the rest of them and they all burst out laughing.

"Come on Snow, let's get you to the kitchens before you seriously injure one of the boys." Lilith grabbed a hold of Octavia's arm and pulled her away from the boys, still laughing at a disgruntled James.

"Prongs it looks like you've been slapped across the face," Octavia heard Peter's comment and James followed with a serious of foul words that would have made a sailor happy.

The two of them had just entered the castle, Octavia turned and looked at the other girl. "I'm not that bad am I?" Octavia questioned with a pout and Lilith shook her head.

"The fact that you think that works on me is hilarious."

"I try," she shrugged.

"But no, you aren't always this bad. Sometimes your patience becomes thin and you know how you are with Prongs and Padfoot, you three all pick on each other but when you have your period, well it usually ends with you hexing one of them." Lilith explained.

Octavia nodded before tickling the pears to open the portrait to the kitchens, "but Prongs and Padfoot are a bunch of prats."

"Says the same girl who has a crush on Padfoot," Lilith rolled her eyes before smiling at the elves who had appeared in front of them. "How would you like your chocolate today Snow?"

"Oh, I've got the best idea. Where's Ellie?" Octavia questioned, knowing Ellie was used to their unusual requests now after three and a half years of them.

"Misses Octavia, Misses Lilith, what can I do for you today?" Ellie appeared and gave the two girls a fond smile, Ellie despite knowing full well about some of schemes the Marauders got up to, was very fond of the group of friends, they treated her and the other elves with respect and that was something better than some of the other students.

"Those pizzas we have been asking you to make, instead of the usual ingredients can you put chocolate and marshmallows?" Octavia questioned and Ellie was silent for a moment. "If you can't, chocolate chip cookies are fine."

Ellie gave a slight shake of her head before smiling at the two girls, "no that should be simple enough, come sit and we will start." Ellie grabbed their hands and dragged them over to the table before disappearing, returning moments later with drinks for them and rushing off again.

"That was an odd request," Lilith spoke.

"What I like the pizza Am got us on and chocolate, why not mix the two."

"Hey I'm not complaining, I just said it was odd."

"I just hope it tastes as good as it sounds, because honestly it sounds like it could be an amazing combination."

Lilith laughed at the smile that was on Octavia's face, honestly not surprised by her excitement at trying a new way to eat pizza.

The boys arrived just as Ellie was placing the pizza down on the table, she greeted them all before disappearing, most likely getting them drinks as well.

"Hey, that's mine," Octavia hit Sirius' hands away and he pouted at her. "Don't look at me like that, I thought you were all going to practise that spell?"

"None of us really wanted to be the dummy until we know what exactly happens, now what the hell is that?" James spoke pointing to the pizza sitting in front of them.

Octavia didn't say anything, she just grabbed a piece and took a bite. She looked over Remus and knew straight away that he knew what she was eating.

"Lilith, this is so good." She spoke with a mouthful of food.

Lilith shrugged before grabbing a slice and Octavia pushed the plate closer to Remus, offering him a slice.

"Hey! Why does Moony get some?" Sirius complained, Octavia didn't say anything else, offered some to Peter.

"Okay this is really good Snow, how did you come up with this idea." Peter spoke and Remus nodded in agreement.

"What are you eating?" James questioned but Sirius just narrowed his eyes at Octavia.

"It's got melted chocolate on the pizza, I can smell it." He spoke, his voice low but Octavia just smiled at him before giving a slice to James. "Oh come on that's not fair."

"You flicked my head, why would I give you some of this genius idea?" she responded but he just glowered at her.

"I made you another one when I saw the others arrive, does it taste good?" Ellie questioned placing another chocolate pizza on the table.

"It's amazing, thank you Ellie." Octavia gave the elf a smile, Ellie nodded at them before turning and leaving, going back to her previous task.

Octavia catching sight of Sirius' hand to grab a slice smacked it away, "bad Padfoot," she scolded.

"If you're going to start treating me like a dog-"

Octavia cut him off, "but you are a dog Padfoot."

Sirius let out a growl before standing up, he walked so he was standing behind Octavia and in one swift motion he pulled her up from the table and threw her over his shoulder.

"Enjoy the pizza because Snow here won't be getting anymore," Sirius spoke before carrying her out of the kitchen.

"Where are you taking me?" Octavia complained, knowing it would futile to fight him as he carried her, she was also afraid of struggling against him in case she was dropped.

It wasn't until she noticed that he was heading towards the stairs panic set in, "no please don't carry me up the stairs." She spoke, her voice laced with terror.

Sirius' steps froze at the sound of her voice, he completely forgot about that one incident.

Octavia was nine, the only time she fought back against her father as he carried her down the stairs so she could be dealt her punishment for whatever she did wrong that time, she struggled so bad that Keyon lost his grip and dropped her and in the process, she fell down the stairs.

"Are you going to run away from me?" Sirius spoke softly, standing there in the middle of the Entrance Hall with her thrown over his shoulder, it must have been an odd sight.

"Depends, can I run away from you in the woods?" she spoke, a slight flirtatious tone and his whole body tensed up.

They didn't get the chance to transform into their animals once during the summer, with fear of being caught and there was a full moon just before they returned to Hogwarts, not having an excuse to escape to the woods just yet since they were all getting back into the swing of things.

In the end Sirius decided to place Octavia on her feet, she smirked at him before running off.

Sirius was glad when he heard a laugh come from her before he started chasing her, heading straight towards the Forbidden Forest, both of them looking to see where Hagrid was before sneaking in.

Sirius lost sight of her as he entered the forest, he quickly turned into his dog form and that was when he was tackled to the ground.

It was hours before the two of them returned to their humans forms and returned to the Castle, they entered the Gryffindor common room and instantly collapsed on the floor beside their friends where they were sitting in the corner since all the couches were taken.

"Where have you two been all day?" Peter questioned while Lilith laughed at the sight of Octavia falling asleep against her.

"The Forest," Sirius grinned, stifling a yawn.

"In the middle of the day, what if you get caught?" Lilith spoke, not happy with their adventure but the other three attempted to hide their laughs.

"Don't be like that, so we were blowing off steam. What is the big deal?"

"The big deal is, what if you get caught? I understand why you all did what you did, but risking the secret by going out there in the middle of day when who knows can find you? That's a big risk, what do you think will happen when they find an underage witch and wizard preforming illegal bouts of magic like that." Lilith snapped before standing up and heading towards the girls' staircase.

Octavia's head landed on the ground with a thud and a groan came from her.

"She's right you know?" Remus added in and Sirius shot him a look, before looking at where Octavia was still laying on the ground.

"We've spent six nights out there and now you have something to say about our adventures." Sirius placed a hand on her head and softly stroked her head, "are you alright?" she nodded in response but didn't say anything.

"I appreciate everything you have all done for me, but not in the middle of the day, you could be too easily seen then." Remus spoke, looking at them all.

"Fine, no more day trips, just for you Moony." Octavia spoke softly from the floor before shifting and resting her head against Peter's lap, who just so happened to be sitting closer to her.

It was only there for a second but it was there long enough for both James and Remus to catch it, the look of jealously run through Sirius' eyes as he watched Octavia rest against someone that wasn't him.

The two boys shared a look but didn't say anything, unsure as to what would happen and the fact that Octavia wasn't exactly asleep.

"Isn't it time for dinner yet?" Peter questioned, which was followed by the rumbling of Octavia's stomach and she covered her face with her arms.

"No, sleep…" she complained but they just laughed.

"Come on, you know you're hungry, I'm hungry." James added in, pulling on her hair.

A low growl came from Octavia and they all laughed, they had a feeling that the next person to bug her she would most likely attempt to bite their fingers.

A smirk appeared on Sirius' face and he quickly placed a finger over his lips to let them know to stay quiet, he got up on his knees and in one swift motion he grabbed a hold of Octavia's ankles and pulled her across the floor of the Gryffindor common, a squeal coming from her lips and a burst of laughter from the rest of the students.

"Okay Padfoot that is enough," Remus spoke and Sirius let go of her feet and held out a hand to help her.

Octavia grabbed the hand and he pulled her up, she looked over at Remus she found him pinch the bridge of his nose.

"What's the matter Moony?" she questioned softly.

"You two, first Snow is picking on Padfoot and now he is dragging her around the common room, what is with you two today?" Remus was worried, the moment they shared a look and he was instantly uneasy.

"Cabin fever," they stated together.

"Thank god Quidditch starts up tomorrow, it can't come soon enough." Remus spoke to himself as he left the common room.

"I'm going to grab Lilith and eat dinner with her and Marlene, maybe some of the other girls. You boys are getting on my nerves," she teased softly before going up the girls' stair case.

"You hear that Prongs, we're getting on Snow's nerves."

"How long till she snaps?" James spoke with a grin on his face and they both laughed.

"Should you really do that though?" Peter questioned wearily but James and Sirius just shrugged, well used to pushing Octavia's buttons.

.oOo.

The four boys entered their dorm to find the floor covered in books and Octavia sitting in the middle of it all, they had been in detention for setting fire to Snape's robes while Octavia didn't get in trouble for it because she was sitting with Lilith, in a row ahead of Snape's while the others were behind him.

"Snow what are you doing?" Sirius questioned wearily, watching her crawl across the floor looking at all the books.

"I'm baking a cake, what does it look like doing I'm Padfoot?" she snapped and James laughed before walking over and collapsing onto his bed, exhausted from the manual labour that Slughorn made them participate in.

"Okay Snow, what are you looking for?" Remus spoke as he when to sit on the floor beside her, stopping when she glared at him. "okay where can I sit and can I help?" Octavia picked up some books so he could sit, frantically looking around for somewhere to place them before giving up and handing them to him.

"Is she broken?" Peter whispered to Sirius and he shook his head.

"No just stubborn as a mule and unable to find what she is looking for, the longer it takes the more frustrated she gets and we were just gone for too long." Sirius explained before walking over and sitting on the edge of his bed.

"So what are you looking Snow?" Remus questioned again but she didn't respond at first, she just moved the books around before picking up the map.

"I'm looking for the spell that activates this like I saw in my dream, makes it possible to see the feet moving on it to indicate where everyone is in the Castle." She explained.

"Okay, so you saw it in a dream, of the future. How do you know it's a spell and it wasn't you that did it?" Sirius spoke softly.

"It has to be a spell, all of my magic is based on the same spells that can be performed with a wand, it has to be possible to be done with a wand. My magic doesn't work that way, I need to know the spell." She muttered and Sirius took a deep breath.

"Snow, take a deep breath and stand up for me." his voice was soft as he spoke and she did as he requested. Sirius climbed off his bed and stepped over the books so he was standing in front of her. "Okay, now you are going to leave the dorm and find Lilith while we stay here and look for the spell, you need a break."

Octavia took another deep breath before pressing her palms into her face, "okay, it has to be possible, find it please." She spoke softly before leaving.

Once she was gone, Sirius took a deep breath before sitting on the floor where she was, him and Remus began packing up the books.

"I've never seen her like that before, even when she is incredibly focused on finding something, I've never seen her ramble like that, it was like she lost herself for a moment." Remus spoke, his voice low that only Sirius could hear him thanks to his advanced hearing.

"Neither have I," Sirius responded.

Sirius fell silent, thinking back to the summer when Octavia was placed under the Cruciatus Curse, despite Mr Longbottom claiming that she seemed to be completely fine, could what just happened be a side effect? He knew Dumbledore would know about the attack, surely he did by now, wouldn't Dumbledore also know the possible side effects of the Cruciatus Curse?

But Sirius couldn't go behind Octavia's back, not with something like this especially if for some reason Dumbledore didn't know about the attack she wouldn't be happy if Dumbledore found out because of Sirius.

Andromeda was the only person he knew that would completely understand, the only one Octavia wouldn't be annoyed at for being the truth of the attack and the only one who wouldn't hold it against Amycus.

"Where do we even begin looking for what Snow wanted us to?" James questioned as he and Peter took seats on the floor of the dorm as well.

"I have no idea, I wouldn't even know what type of spell it would be if it's a charm or even if it's possible. I know Snow said she's seen it but as Padfoot said, if her dream is real, how do we know that she didn't charm the map herself?" Remus spoke.

"These look like normal Library books, what if the charm is in the Restricted Section?" Peter questioned and they all looked up at him, before looking back at the books.

Ever since they had discovered that Octavia was a Dreamer that had specialised in Charms, they had been slowly checking out the Charms related books in hopes that they had more information on her, whether or not it mentioned the words 'Dreamers' or 'wandless'.

"Well then, let's hit the Restricted Section tonight and see what we can find." James spoke with a grin on his face and Remus through a pillow at him.

"You hate research and wouldn't even know what to look for, you just want the thrill of breaking into something like that."

"Exactly," he grinned and they all laughed.

Octavia didn't see Lilith sitting on her bed in the dorm like she thought she would be, so she heading up to the sixth year's dorm wondering if Lilith was in there with them.

All the sixth year Gryffindor girls got along, they might not all hang out together but the six girls did get along and they regularly invited both Lilith and Octavia to join them when they spent time in the dorm doing what the boys liked to claim as 'pointless girly crap.'

Octavia knocked on the door, hearing laughter on the other side. When it opened, Marlene was standing there.

"Come in O!" she yelled, bright and cheery and Octavia nodded before entering the room.

"Are you going to let us paint your nails this time Octavia?" Hayley Bennet, one of the Sixth year girls questioned and Octavia nodded.

"Are you alright?" Lilith questioned as she sat down next to Octavia.

"Just need a break from everything," she spoke quietly and Lilith nodded, not pushing for a response, instead picking up the box of nail polishes to find one for Octavia.

"Why am I here again?" James complained, Sirius just ignored James and continued looking for a book.

"Come on seriously Padfoot, we've been in here for ages and don't actually know what we are looking for." James spoke again and Sirius hung his head before turning around.

"I know but she claims there is a way to do what she saw in her dream, I have no idea what we are looking for either." Sirius finally responded.

"So we can go to bed?" he questioned, his face lighting up.

"Yes we can go to bed, maybe we should ask Flitwick, see if he knows a way to track people through charms." Sirius questioned and James nodded as he threw the Invisibility Cloak over the two of them allowing them to leave the library without being caught.

.oOo.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read, set alerts and review my story it means a lot to me but reviews mean even more.

Sir Tiuri thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. It's not a posting schedule as such, just normally every couple of days, but no, not every day. As for how Voldemort knew about Octavia being a Dreamer, it will talked about in a future chapter as a theory but it won't be confirmed until much later when I plan on writing a chapter from his side, basically they think he caught sight of her wand or seen her memories. As for Peter, I admit it is really hard writing him in a good light so that may be partially my fault and I apologise but I am trying to show him in a good light to an extent, there is a chapter from him in the works in the future that will hopefully explain his view on things a bit better. As for his time alone, a past chapter explained that they don't question when they need time alone. I don't know about you but I would go insane if I don't have some form of alone time if I was in a boarding school situation, stuck with the same people for ten months of the year.

lizyeh2000 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. Ah yes Regulus, the thorn in my side. I keep swaying as to which way I am going to go with him as I write the story, I guess it depends on how my characters go between now and the time when Regulus dies in the story. I know how everyone else is going to end up in this story, except for him.

Raven that flies at night thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I'm glad to be forgiven and look, nothing bad happens here. I must say, it has been a while since I've watched Hercules and I may have to get on it again sometime soon.

Careaway234 thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me.