- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN -

Whispers in the Wardrobe

"How can Slughorn possibly think that I'd want to go to one of his stupid parties?" demanded Sirius, as they left Potions for Transfiguration. The rest of the class surged around them, all discussing the copious amount of homework they'd been set and abusing Slughorn in loud voices.

James grinned. "I dunno, mate. Maybe he thinks you're a worthy pureblood."

Sirius scowled. "Well, I'm not going. Especially not if Snivellus is going to be there." He was so busy grumbling about Professor Slughorn that he almost walked straight into Professor McGonagall, who was waiting for them inside the classroom.

"Mr Black, will you please look where you're going!"

Sirius slouched away to his desk, with James and Peter hurrying behind. Frank and Alice followed them. "Sorry, Professor."

The Transfiguration professor sniffed and readjusted her spectacles. "That's quite all right. But I'd rather not be forced to go to the Hospital Wing." She strode behind her desk and began to tidy it while the rest of the class arrived. Then, when everyone was seated, Professor McGonagall called for silence and began the lesson. They were supposed to be practising Switching Spells, but half the class was not paying attention; Sirius, Peter and James were too busy discussing the pros and cons of going to Slughorn's party.

"You'll be able to spy on Evans," hissed James, as Professor McGonagall busied herself with a demonstration. "Then you can report back to me on what she's like."

But Sirius rolled his eyes. "As if Evans would ever talk to me. It's Remus she likes best out of all of us and, as he's not here right now-"

"Mr Black, will you please pay attention!" barked McGonagall, turning around to glare at him. "If you wish to talk, you can leave the classroom and do it outside. But I will not tolerate rudeness in my lesson! The same goes for you, Mr Potter."

"Sorry, professor," chorused the two boys. But, as soon as she was facing the other way, they resumed their conversation.

"Well, maybe Evans will like you more if she gets to know you," said James, glancing up to check that they weren't going to be told off. "And the party is the perfect place to make friends. Then, when you've bonded a bit, you can let her hang around with us and she'll become friends with me. Once you've done that, it's only a matter of time before she notices my irresistible charm and good looks."

"What if she notices Sirius' looks instead of yours?" asked Peter, squinting at the board to read Professor McGonagall's handwriting.

"Yeah," said Sirius, smirking. "Pete's got a point. That's bound to happen eventually. I'm gorgeous."

"Yeah, right," said James, pulling a face but laughing all the same. He stopped laughing, however, pretty quickly when Professor McGonagall heard him.

"I have asked you once already to stop talking, Mr Potter," she said coldly. "And I will not ask you again. Ten points from Gryffindor and, if I catch you once more, it will be detention."

The three boys decided that it was best not to speak about Sirius, the party or Lily again and only resumed the subject the next day, when they were sitting with Remus in the Hospital Wing.

"I can't believe you're in here again," said Sirius exasperatedly, sitting down on the edge of Remus' bed and peering at the numerous new gashes on his face. "What did you do this time? Was it the cat?"

Remus nodded and James swore under his breath.

"That cat should be put down. Can't your parents train him or something? Is he safe to have in the house?"

"Yeah," said Peter, who was munching on some toast that he'd snaffled from the Great Hall at breakfast. "I wouldn't want to live with a cat like that."

Remus laughed nervously. "He's all right really," he said, watching Peter scatter toast crumbs all over the white sheets. "He can just be a bit... um... nasty. So. What have you been up to while I've been away? Have they got rid of the knight yet?"

"Nope," said Sirius. "Maybe the teachers aren't that fussed by him. I don't think they're trying very hard to find out who did it. We haven't been caught, have we? And things have been pretty normal, to be honest. You haven't missed much. Slughorn gave us loads of homework and invited me to some stupid party, but that's-"

Remus looked so surprised that Peter stared wildly over his shoulder to check that there wasn't a monster standing there. "What? He invited you to join the Slug Club?"

Peter choked on his toast. "The Slug Club?" he asked, once he'd finished spluttering.

But Remus only shrugged. "It's what it's called, apparently. My dad says that it was around when he was at school. He was never invited. He told me that Slughorn uses it to find well-connected people who will do well in life. Then he gives those people a leg-up and invited them to eat with him or meet famous people."

Sirius looked revolted. "Well, now I'm definitely not going. It sounds like one of my mother's dinner parties."

James laughed. "So you aren't going to use it to spy on Evans?" he asked.

"I thought we'd settled that already," said Sirius. "Didn't Peter say that Evans was more likely to fall for me rather than you? And obviously, that's not something we want to happen."

"Fine," grumbled James, while Remus looked confusedly at him.

"How would going to the party help you to spy on Lily? You're not going, James, so it's not like you'd be able to talk to her."

"No," explained James. "But Sirius is. And I thought that, if Sirius could get Evans to like him, she'd want to hang around with him - and therefore me - and she'd see how wonderful I am. But," he deflated slightly, "Sirius and Peter don't think it'd work. And you're already friends with Evans."

"True," said Remus, looking thoughtful. "I think your best bet would be to just-"

But Peter interrupted him. "Hey, I just thought of something!" he whispered, beaming.

The other three looked at him, taking in the crumbs that coated his plump hands.

"What?" said James and Sirius together.

Peter beamed even more broadly. "What if we got Remus to spy on Lily instead? That way, we wouldn't need Sirius or the party!"

Sirius glanced at James. "You know what? There's actually something in that, Peter," he said slowly.

Peter looked delighted, but Remus had folded his arms. "I'm not going to spy on Lily," he said firmly. "I'm not. No way."

But James shook his head. "We don't mean 'spy' exactly..." he began. "It's more like... luring. You could lure Evans into our friendship group so she can fall in love with me."

Remus sighed and readjusted his blankets, looking weary. "I don't think that will work," he said. "And 'luring' Lily is hardly better than spying on her. Both methods are manipulative and wrong."

James just rolled his eyes.

To James and Sirius' disappointment, however, Remus continued to refuse to spy on Lily as the weeks wore on. It was now approaching late October and the date of Slughorn's party had finally been fixed: It was to be held on Halloween.

Sirius was still refusing to go. "I've told him I can't come," he said irritably after Potions one day. Slughorn had just called him back to ask if he was free and Sirius had lied about having detention. "He's just going to have to find some other 'well-connected' person to suck up to. You know, I'm surprised he hasn't asked you yet, James. The Potters are rich, intelligent and connected."

James shrugged. "Well, I'm not complaining," he said, as they hurried up the stairs. "I wouldn't want to go, anyway. Not unless I can spy on Evans and, as Remus has already told me that's 'immoral' and 'manipulative', I can't."

"Don't act like I'm the villain here!" said Remus, shaking his head at James. "I was only stating the truth. It's not fair to force Lily to like you. Not like that, anyway."

"Then how is James supposed to do it?" asked Peter. "It's not like Lily's going to like him any time soon. Not without a nudge. She hates him!"

James sighed. "Thanks, Peter," he said sarcastically, leading the way up some more stairs. Dinner had already started and he was starving. The mountain of homework that awaited him in the common room was even less exciting, but he supposed he'd have to get some of it done before tomorrow.

They passed Felicity and Marcus, the Gryffindor prefects, having a whispered discussion in a corner of the first-floor corridor. Felicity's blonde hair was falling over her face and she looked anguished. Marcus glared at the first-years once they'd moved out of sight.

"What's up with them?" asked James lightly, pushing his homework from his mind as the four of them hurried past an empty classroom. "I mean, Marcus always looks angry, but Felicity doesn't normally look so... distressed."

"I don't know," said Remus distractedly, glancing over his shoulder to get another glimpse of the two prefects. "Maybe they're having a bad day."

"Maybe Marcus is threatening her," suggested Sirius. "Maybe they're- Hang on..." He suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the corridor.

The other three turned worriedly to look at him.

"Are you all right?" asked Peter timidly, when Sirius failed to move for another whole minute.

But Sirius made a 'shushing' noise, still standing stock-still. "Shut up. I'm trying to listen. Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That noise." Sirius grabbed the smaller boy's arm and pulled him to stand where he was standing. "Can you hear it? There's a kind of whispering. Where d'you think it's coming from?"

James and Remus exchanged glances. "Um, Sirius, what are you talking about?" asked Remus, looking around. "There's no one here but us. How can there be whispering?"

"It's not coming from us," said Sirius exasperatedly, shaking his head. "It's coming from... from that classroom we just passed."

"I can't hear anything," said James stubbornly, also looking around.

"That's because you're being too noisy," said Sirius. He turned to Peter, who was frowning with concentration. "Pete can hear it, can't you, Peter?"

Peter nodded, still frowning. "Yeah. It's really faint but you can hear it if you listen..."

James and Remus tried listening again, but only half-heartedly.

"It's probably just the pipes," said James finally. He began to stride away, but Remus caught the back of his robes, suddenly looking amazed.

"Wait a second, James," he said, as though he couldn't believe his ears. "There is whispering coming from that classroom."

"I told you so," said Sirius smugly.

James stopped walking. "What?" he asked, bewildered as to why his three friends were acting so strangely. "But I can't hear anything!"

"That's because you're not listening hard enough," said Remus patiently. "I couldn't hear anything at first, either, until I actually paid attention."

James stood very still and listened, straining his ears for signs of sound. At last, a very fair murmuring reached his ears and he glanced up at the others.

"Can you hear it now?" asked Peter, while the others stared expectantly at him.

James nodded. "Yeah," he said. "You were right. It is really faint, but it's there." He turned on his heel and looked back at the classroom they'd just passed. "Come on. Let's go and investigate."

"What? Now?" asked Remus, suddenly apprehensive.

Sirius nodded and pulled him after James by the arm. "Yeah, come on. I want to know what's making the noise."

They stopped outside the classroom and peered around the doorframe. It was completely empty except for some stacked-up desks and an old cabinet. The whispering seemed to be coming from behind its wooden doors.

"Why is the wardrobe whispering?" hissed Peter, looking at it as though it contained some kind of deadly disease.

James shook his head. "I don't know." He glanced at Remus and Sirius. "Do you?"

Sirius also shook his head, but Remus looked thoughtfully at the cabinet and said, "Well, there could be a boggart in there."

Peter looked terrified. "A boggart?" he squeaked, clutching Sirius for support.

Remus smiled kindly. "There's nothing to worry about," he assured Peter. "Boggarts aren't scary."

But Peter wasn't convinced. "Um, they turn into your worst fears - of course they're scary!"

"Yes," began Remus, with a determinedly patient note in his tone. "But they can't actually-" He broke off as a vague-sounding voice floated over them all.

"Boys? What are you doing?"

Peter jumped backwards onto Sirius' foot. James and Sirius whirled around.

Professor Oden was smiling absently down at them. "Boys?" he repeated, his silvery-grey eyes drifting over each of them. "What are you doing here?"

James opened his mouth to explain about the whispers, but Sirius stood on his foot.

"Nothing, professor," Sirius said hastily. "We were just on our way to dinner."

The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher smiled cooly. "Well, run along then," he said, waving them away. "You must be rather hungry." Then, as soon as the four boys had gone, he slipped into the deserted classroom and locked the door behind him.

A/N:

Thank you for reading!

~ Lacy