Remus was the only one in the group that was absolutely against our plans to invade the Slytherin common room. And he likely was suspicious that we would take advantage of his absence during the full moon to execute said plans. He made it clear that if we were caught that we would get detention, or worse, be expelled.

There was a sort of unspoken agreement between James, Sirius, Peter and I that we would make an attempt at finding the missing mirror as soon as Remus had left the castle. I knew that Remus didn't approve of the mission, and I was aware that he had good reason to doubt its chances of being successful. After all, there were about a quarter million things that could go wrong, if not more.

But regardless of the risks involved, I did have a good feeling about it. For one thing, if we went to the Slytherin common room today, it's Leap Day, and that has always been a lucky day for me. Additionally, I couldn't help but think that Dumbledore had been secretly on our side through the whole Students-Out-of-Bed debacle before, especially given that Professor Tutman had mysteriously left the day after our accusations in the Great Hall had been made. There was a very great chance that, should we be caught in attempting to steal the mirror from Malfoy's dormitory, Dumbledore would look the other way. After all, what's a few broken rules if the fall of the whole magical world could be prevented...right?

Remus stood by the couch, tucking his things into his book bag, trying to prolong his departure as long as he could. He looked over at us. Sirius kept his head down, staring carefully at his Transfiguration essay, purposefully not looking in Remus' direction. James and I were playing catch with the snitch, and Peter was trying to turn a needle into a matchstick. Remus took a deep breath, shrugging his book bag over his shoulder and running his hands down the length of the shoulder strap.

"You'll, er, stay out of trouble, won't you?" he asked.

"Of course," said James.

Peter looked up from his spellcasting. "You're leaving? Already?" he glanced about at the little glass clock on one of the tables. "Is it that late?"

"Nearly dinner," I yawned, chucking the snitch into James' open hands.

Remus nodded.

"Blimey," Peter said, "No wonder I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," said Sirius without looking up.

Remus went towards the portrait hole, then paused just before he reached it. He turned back. "You're going to go to the Slytherin common room, aren't you?" he asked.

James blinked at him, trying to come up with a reply. "Now why would we do that?" was all he could come up with. I snickered. What a lame response.

"Don't pretend," Remus commanded, "Just promise me that you won't push your luck, alright? Lucius Malfoy doesn't seem like the sort of person you want to cross." He took a deep breath and started for the door, then stopped and turned back again. "And don't...whatever you do...mess with the Dark Lord at all...and you should probably avoid bothering Snape because all you'll do is anger Lily Evans and she'll be angry for the rest of term. And don't leave Peter behind...or damage any historical artifacts...or get expelled." He said and looked at us pleadingly for a moment, then turned for the door again...before turning back one last time. "And...don't leave out any of the details when you tell me about it in two days," he added.

Sirius finally looked up with a grin. "We wouldn't dare."

About half an hour later, we gathered up our things, when Bilius Weasley came into the common room, knocking the snow off his boots. "Where've you been then?" asked James, watching as Bilius leaped over the back of the couch and onto the floor before the fire as several other sixth years dusted off by the portrait hole as well.

Bilius held his palms up to the fire, "Just been out at Care of Magical Creatures," he explained, "Been learning more on the Giant Squid. Bloody well could've picked a warmer day to do it, they could. It's blisterin' cold out there!" he paused, letting his fingertips thaw out. "Where are you lot off to?"

"Dinner," I replied. "We'll see you down there, then." I motioned for James, Sirius and Peter to follow along after me.

"Right-o," Bilius said, waving goodbye from his spot before the fireplace.

We headed down the stairs to the Entrance Hall, and Peter started on to the Great Hall, but stopped short when he realised that we had scurried to a corner behind the stairs where we could see the doorway that led down to the dungeons. I was watching the Slytherins come up for dinner, gnawing my lower lip. "I thought we were going to dinner?" whined Peter.

"We'll have dinner afterwords," Sirius replied.

Peter looked longingly back at the Great Hall. He sighed longingly, his stomach rumbling angrily.

"Tell your bottomless stomach to shut it," James said, then, catching a sniff of the delicious smells coming from the Hall, he added, "I mean, you can nick us some chops after, yeah?"

"I s'pose," Peter groaned, though I could tell by the tone of his voice he really wanted them now.

"There's Malfoy," hissed Sirius suddenly, ducking back. "Just came up from the dungeons with Snape and Narcissa." I watched as the trio of them, and several other Slytherins, disappeared into the Great Hall.

"C'mon," I whispered, "Now's our chance, if we're ever gonna do it."

The four of us bolted across the Entrance Hall and down the steps to the dungeons. "Excuse us, just trying to see Slughorn," James muttered as a Slytherin girl jabbed him roughly in the shoulder with her elbow on the way by. He rubbed his shoulder and glared at her, "Ruddy, rude little-"

"Oi, James, c'mon," I called.

In the dungeons, it seemed most of the Slytherins must've already gone up. The corridor was empty as it had been the night we'd snuck down before. We made our way down the hall and paused in the doorway of Slughorn's store as James pulled out the invisibility cloak and tossed it over us. "You're the only one that knows the way from here, Peter," he pointed out.

Peter clutched the cloak to be sure it didn't lift up as he led us slowly down the corridor, past the Prefect's bathroom. Peter had told us that after we ran away from Malfoy and lost him, he somehow found himself in the Slytherin common room. He had no idea how he's made it in there, but we assumed he must be the key somehow to getting in.

It wasn't hard to tell which door we were after. Unlike the concealed Gryffindor doorway, the Slytherins were quite obvious with their poison-green door, with the handle shaped like a serpent, curling and twisting about. We came to a stop at the door, and I stared at it in awe.

"Well, go on, then," commanded Sirius, and when Peter didn't reach up for the handle quickly enough, he grabbed for it himself, only to get his hand nearly there when...with an almighty snapping of gnashing teeth, the serpent bit at Sirius' fingertips angrily. He jumped back, "Woah! Bloody hell!"

My eyes were wide, "What was that?!"

"It's alive!" Sirius said.

"It's bewitched," James argued.

"It bites, whatever it is," I replied.

"You don't think they know we're coming?" James asked.

Peter looked over his shoulder nervously, "We're going to get caught, aren't we?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "If they knew we were coming they would've done a lot worse than set their bloody doorknob on us," he pointed out. He rubbed his chin. "One of you try it," he suggested, "Maybe it knows me somehow. Lucius might've suspected we'd do this and told it not to let me in or something."

We nudged Peter, since he was one in front. He stumbled forward a bit, then shook off the cloak and reached out a hand for the serpent, his hand shaking. "Alright! See? It's me somehow," Sirius said excitedly as Peter's palm pressed against the silver snake's body. He had just grabbed hold, when a voice echoed down the corridor, making all four of our heads turn.

"What are you doing?" It was Lily Evans. She scampered down the hallway, looking positively livid. "You shouldn't be down here. You're going to get into very big trouble!" she marched down the hallway. "Where are you other three? I know you're here, I heard your voices!"

We decided to shrug off the cloak.

Lily eyed the cloak as James tucked it away in his book bag, but didn't say anything about it. "You lot are way out of bounds."

"And what are you doing down here? Your snivelling boyfriend is up in the hall eating dinner, so there goes your excuse," James accused.

"I saw you come down," Lily replied, "And I followed to tell you how out of bounds you are!"

"Spying on us, more like," muttered James.

I frowned, "Look, Lily. This is important, alright, and it's got nothing to do with you. So just go on up to dinner and leave us be."

"I can't just leave you be," Lily argued. "What're you doing going into the Slytherin common room? We aren't supposed to be going in other houses' common rooms. It's against the rules."

"Why do you even give a damn about it?" James demanded.

Lily sighed, "Because I don't want the other Gryffindors thinking it's us First Years to blame when we don't win the House Cup this year, alright?" she looked between us. "Where's Remus?"

"He didn't want to come," I said truthfully.

"Well bloody hell, at least one of you has got some brains!" Lily said. She paused and looked beseechingly at each of us. "Come on, just come upstairs. This isn't right, you'll end up in detention."

Peter started to pull back from the serpent, but Sirius barked, "No! We're doing this. It's more important than detentions, Lily, there's a lot more at stake here that you don't understand."

"Try me," she dared him.

"It takes a great deal of explanation and I haven't got the time for that," Sirius argued, "Now. Are you in or are you out? And if you're out, you'd best keep your mouth shut about what we're up to down here or...or I'll hex you."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Like you know any good hexes."

"I know plenty," replied Sirius, a dark look crossing his face.

James rolled his eyes, "Look, can we get on with it? In or out, Evans?"

Lily looked affronted, "I'm not leaving you lot here to destroy the Slytherin common room. They haven't done anything to you!"

"In then?" I asked.

"None of us are going in!" Lily said, "We're going upstairs!"

But Sirius pulled on Peter, making him pull on the door, and it swung open and the greenish glow from the wide glass dome poured out into the corridor. We all gasped as we looked into the Slytherin common room.

Even Lily couldn't help but be curious and mesmerised as the lot of us stepped through the doorway and into the room. It seemed there was nobody around, and the room was empty. Probably all up at the Great Hall, I thought, as we made our way quietly into the room, our trainers sinking in the thick, plush green carpet. "Blimey," I muttered, looking around.

"Think they can see the merfolk and the giant squid from down here?" whispered Sirius in a bewildered sort of voice, staring up at the ceiling.

"I would think so," replied James, awestruck.

"Fascinating," Lily whispered, "It's just like Severus described it."

"You lot stay here, guard the door," Sirius commanded. "I'm going to find the mi-" he stopped mid-word and stared at Lily for a moment, then, thinking better of himself, "The thing." Quickly, he took the stairs several at a time.

It took only a few minutes before Sirius bounded down the stairs, and my heart sank at what I saw he was holding. We were right.

"Is that what you came all the way down here for, then?" Lily asked, confusion in her voice, "To steal a broken bit of glass?"

Sirius tucked the piece of the mirror carefully into James' bookbag. "It's not just a broken bit of glass," James snapped at Lily. "We told you that you wouldn't understand what we were down here for, so shut up."

Lily crossed her arms over her chest.

"Let's get out of here," begged Peter, "Before somebody comes back."

We murmured in agreement and hastened to the door, James being very careful not to let his bag hit anything on his way. Lily was still clearly annoyed. "How is that shard worth risking your education over?" she demanded, "It can't be worth anything."

"Shows what you know," snapped James.

I sighed, wishing he would calm down. "It's worth an awful lot," I said, "If you know what you're looking for, that is."

Lily crossed her arms, "And since when is theft excusable at any rate?" she demanded, tapping her foot on the dark green carpet, staring at us accusingly.

I opened my mouth to answer, but was interrupted as Peter gave a terrified squeak, pointing frantically at the door.

I grabbed hold of Lily and yanked her down to the floor behind the couch we stood near. Sirius had flattened himself so quickly it looked like the air had been blown right out of his lungs, with James nearly laying on top of him. Peter crouched awkwardly, sweat beading up on his forehead, as the sound of the Slytherin common room door creaking open reached our ears. My eyes were wide and I implored Lily to stay quiet as I raised my free hand to my lips in a motion for her to stay silent. For once, she decided to listen.

"Bloody old codger," said a gruff voice that I didn't recognise, "Maybe he'd still have both his eyes if he didn't go on interferin' in everybody else's business like that."

"Yeah," agreed a higher voice. "Where's he get off accusing my mother…"

"Accused about the whole house, you know," said the first voice. "I have a right mind to skive off Dark Arts."

"Not like he isn't teaching things we already know," agreed the second.

The voices were coming closer, and Sirius pressed as hard as he could to the back of the couch. Peter's lower lip trembled, sweat pouring over his brow. I held my breath and could feel the nerves running through Lily's fingers, which were twined about my own. The two Slytherins continued their discussion of Professor Moody as they passed the couch, their legs coming into our view, before they headed on up the stairs without so much as a glance at the floor.

"I could bloody teach a more interesting Dark Arts curriculum," said the first boy with a scoff, "Like to see the hair on old Moody's head stand up if he knew half the magic I can perform!" There was a scuffling of their feet on the carpet and then the slamming of a dorm room door.

We all relaxed - which entailed poor Peter toppling right over onto his side on the carpet. Lily let go of my hand, and James rolled off of Sirius. Sirius hurried us to our feet, "C'mon," he urged us, "Let's go. We've gotta get moving...if they're back then any number of Slytherins could be on the way." He waved us off toward the door of the common room and the four of us rushed so hard we were tripping over each other on our way out into the corridor. "Quickly...quietly…." he prodded.

We ran down the corridor, our trainers squeaking on the flagstones, until we reached Professor Slughorn's office door. We then slowed to a walk, where we would be able to at least have an explanation for our presence should we be caught. Lily looked at us, her green eyes wide with adrenaline still running through her veins.

"Your hair's a bit-" James said, miming the way her hair stuck out from the side of her head.

"Oh really," Lily snapped, the nervous energy expelling itself through her sassy tone, "I can't imagine why my hair would be a mess… you'd think I'd just been running for my bloody life or something!" she reached up and hurriedly flattened it...the wrong side, that is...but before I could gently point that out, she said, "I don't know what you lot were up to...or what you were doing stealing like that, but you're going to be in very big trouble once Dumbledore finds out and-"

"So go with us to tell him what we've just done, why don't you?" James snipped, "That's where we're headed anyway! It's Dumbledore that's needing the mirror, you git."

Lily looked taken aback by this new information. "Dumbledore sent you to steal the mirror?" she asked, face blank with surprise. "But...why didn't he just come down and get it himself? Or have Slughorn...or ask whoever you've stolen it from to just…" Lily's eyes flashed with confusion.

"Because guilty parties always cough up the evidence of their wrongdoings without a fight." I said sarcastically.

Sirius cleared his throat, "Besides, he didn't send us, strictly speaking, but...we are going to tell him. That's the whole point of what we've gone for."

Peter was still shaking.

"You lot are completely mad," Lily said, but she said it with far less anger than before. No, now there seemed to be a sort of curiosity about her. She looked at James' bag, her eyebrows furrowed. "What's so important about-"

"We're not telling you anything about it," James said, cutting her off before she could ask any questions. "You didn't want anything to do with what we were up to, remember? All too eager to turn us in if we were up to no good, but now that it's something helpful you want to know all about it? No way, you don't get to share in the glory we're going to get for what we've done!"

"Of course your big head doesn't want to share any recognition!" Lily snapped, "Don't worry, I wasn't going to ask to be included! I don't want anything to do with whatever this is!" She turned on her heels and stormed off down the corridor and up the steps to the Entrance Hall, pushing past another couple Slytherins as she went.

"Good! We don't want you to be!" James shouted, but Sirius put his hand on James' arm.

"Let it go, mate, she's already walked off," Sirius said, stopping James from shouting any more as the Slytherins passed by us.

James was fuming all the way up the stairs and through the castle to Dumbledore's office. "She's so stuck up, don't you think so?" he demanded as we jumped the trick step and rode 'round rotating staircases.

I shrugged, "Not really. You were pretty bloody stuck up yourself, actually," I said honestly.

Thankfully, James didn't snap back at me, but chose to ignore me instead, "Forces her way into the mix and then acts like we made her come along...ruddy spying on us and acts like we're the bad guys. Tries to tell on us to Dumbledore! Where's her house allegiance? I'll tell you where...not where it belongs, that's for sure! It's that Snape character's fault, you know. Turning her head against us...brainwashing her, that git is."

"Brainwashing?" gasped Peter, "How could he do that?"

"Hypnotising her, I bet," James said.

Sirius laughed, "I wouldn't put it past him, honestly, but I doubt ol' Snivelley's been hypnotising anybody. Maybe the smell of his filth has addled with her brains a bit."

"He certainly does smell," I snorted. "Could've smelled him coming all the way from the Great Hall!"

We were just about to reach the fifth floor corridor where Dumbledore's office was hidden when Peter's stomach growled so loudly that it seemed to echo off the walls. I looked 'round at him. "Blimey, Pete! You better go down to the kitchen and nick us some dinner. We'll go up to Gryffindor Tower and have a bite before we go talk to Dumbledore."

Peter looked at the gargoyle statues uneasily, "Don't tell Dumbledore without me," he said.

"We won't!" Sirius promised. "We'll go up to the dorms and see you there."

"Okay," Peter nodded, "I'll be right there." He turned and scurried off down the hall quickly.

James called after him, "Get some extra treacle tarts!"

We were true to our word and went up to the Tower instead of trying to get in to talk to Dumbledore just yet. Once to the boys' dorm, Sirius magicked the door locked and James slipped the mirror out of his bookbag and onto his bed. The three of us stood back a few feet, staring at the square bit of mirror before us, as though waiting for something to happen.

"How do you s'pose it works?" James whispered without tearing his eyes off the eerily reflectionless glass.

"Dunno," answered Sirius. "Maybe it's like…" he paused, as if trying to think of things to compare the mirror's workings to. "Maybe Voldemort sort of...projects...his...his being into the mirror somehow?" He looked at James and I, "Have you ever heard of anything like that?"

"There's a Muggle telly programme my dad and I sometimes watch, called Doctor Who. They have things like that on the programme, but it's not very realistic. It's time travel and similar nonsense," I replied with a shrug. "I s'pose it could be sort of like a live telly broadcast, but...in a mirror."

Sirius rubbed his chin. "How do you think Malfoy...you know...summons him?" he whispered.

"Maybe You-Know-Who summons Malfoy," James suggested.

"It seemed like there ought to be some sort of two-way communication, though," I said, "Like how a telephone works."

"Maybe he can just...hear us," said James. Even hearing those words made a chill run down my spine and I shivered. So did the other two. We turned to stare at the mirror again, and I half-expected to see the face of the Dark Lord swirl into being before our very eyes from the blackness of the image in the mirror's glass.

There had been some time without realising it when there came a cry from the other side of the door behind us, "C'mon guys, let me in!" That made us jump nearly to the ceiling.

"Oi!" Sirius laughed, trying to pass off his own surprise. "You nearly leaped out of your skin."

"So did you, mate," I replied, while James pulled open the dormitory door and let Peter in. He had a couple big bags hanging off his shoulders as he toddled through the door frame and the smell of pork, spiced apples and treacle tart filled the room. "Oh boy! That smells exquisite!" James exclaimed.

Peter grinned as he put down the bags. We converged onto the food so eagerly, that I nearly thought I saw the flash of a peeking face 'round the frame of the mirror.

Q&A:

Radio Free Death says, "I have to applaud you for having an opening that makes some sense. The main character doesn't immediately believe in the letter and considers it a prank."

This lovely person is commenting based on having just read the first chapter, and I'm SO pleased that you think that! Despite this being somewhat of an OC-insert fic, I'm trying to shy away from stereotypes and Mary Sueishness as much as humanly possible.

MyBeewing says, "I suppose they are mad, but brilliance can often be the same thing, right? Sirius was way out of line, but then again, after years of having prejudiced things against werewolves, he, James and Peter will have more difficulty adjusting, I suppose. Seems that Peter is quite bright when he wants to! If only the others would give him a chance...*sighs* Great chapter - no wait two chapters! In one day, yay! It even rhymes! Hope you're doing ok with online classes and you can update soon :)

Ah yes, well as you can see I have now updated! But I agree, all geniuses are often considered mad in some aspect. However, people like James can often get a little ahead of themselves and be egotistical. Believe me, something toward the end of this year will sort of teach James a little lesson in humility. Peter to me as always been one of the more interesting characters to write. I've decided to make him very socially observant (like he's a bit of the school gossip and has the tea on EVERYBODY), and he's the snack guy. The boys and Sabrina always can rely on him to head down to the kitchens to get some food. For obvious reasons, he's the most hated Marauder, and I'm trying my best to make him a lot more likable for two reasons: one, because it's more realistic of course, and two: so IF he betrays the Potters, it will be all the more gut-wrenching! MUAHAHAHAHA!