The next few days were a whirl of excitement for Peter being back, playing pranks, planning pranks, Occlumency which went fairly well, James and Sirius getting in big trouble for trying to attach some LiftAways to Professor Prewett, James and Sirius getting into slightly less trouble for trying to attach some LiftAways to Snape, and then Dumbledore announcing a temporary ban on LiftAways when James and Sirius were caught attaching LiftAways to Sirius along with a rope tied to his ankle outside to see how high he'd float.
"We were fine!" James moaned, throwing himself onto his bed Wednesday afternoon, right after it happened.
Remus, who had been studying in his dorm for a big History exam coming up, glanced over. "Fine with what?" he asked. James and Sirius remained conspicuously silent, and Peter was the one to tell Remus what the three of them had been up to. Remus threw his quill down. "ARE YOU BLOODY INSANE?!" he shrieked, then held up a hand. "No, no, don't answer that, I already know you are."
"Then why ask?" Sirius laughed.
Remus glared then picked up an every flavor bean, lobbing it at Sirius—or trying to; it missed by several feet. Sirius laughed.
"It was an experiment!" James said, adjusting his glasses. "We wanted to see how high LiftAways can go!"
Remus pushed his chair back, marching over to James's desk to take out the package. "It says right here, DO NOT USE OUTSIDE WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION!"
"In some countries, thirteen is considered an adult," Sirius said, stretching out on his bed, legs crossed at his ankles.
Remus felt like he might explode as his blood pressure rose. "What country is that? Fantasyland? No wonder you didn't pressure me to come with you. Didn't you do enough to poor Prewett?"
"No poor Snape?" James teased.
Remus snorted, tossing the package onto James's bed. "You best be glad you weren't seriously injured."
"Sirius-ly injured," Sirius corrected him with an agonizingly annoying smirk.
Remus stared at him. Sirius grinned back.
"I'd run," Peter said.
Remus dove for his wand. Sirius shrieked, taking off out the door with Remus chasing him. "GET BACK HERE!"
"MAKE ME!"
"CIRRATIUM!"
"LUPIN DON'T YOU DARE!"
Sirius burst into the common room and everyone who was in there turned to watch in amusement as Remus chased him out of the tower. Remus tripped a few times, and it didn't take long for Sirius to get out of sight. Once that happened Remus returned to the tower, nose stuck in the air as he tried to emulate James and Sirius's uncaring attitude while he walked through the common room. All the eyes on him made him grow anxious and on edge without Sirius there too. Soon he was up the dorm and he shut the door, dragging a chair over to push up under the handle.
James and Peter were jammed together on James's bed, both of them laughing.
"You are absolute idiots though," Remus sniffled.
He went back to studying and soon Sirius was pounding on the door, rattling the doorknob, begging them to let him in. After a minute or two he agreed that was fine, and Peter ran over to pull the chair back. Sirius came in, brushing his robes off, looking a trifle annoyed. Remus was worried he shouldn't have done that, thought perhaps it had been too far, even though the others often chased one another with threats of spells. He had done it before, but maybe he shouldn't...
Remus grew more and more anxious, even when Sirius stopped acting annoyed. He considered apologizing, but if Sirius hadn't really been mad it'd be silly to apologize; still, he did on the way to History. Sirius laughed and messed up Remus's hair, telling him he needed to do stuff like that more often.
"It's great to see you let loose," Sirius promised.
Remus smoothed his hair down, and spent the rest of the day contemplating Sirius's words.
/\/\/\/\/\
On Thursday morning, Herbology had to be cancelled due to a terrific blizzard that dumped loads of snow on the castle. James, Sirius, and Peter weren't really sure what to do now that they had the entire morning free until Remus suggested they explore the Pits Passages some more. He had some books on art and pottery that he hoped to compare to what was in the tunnel; he had used Peter's pictures to help, but he wanted to be up and close and personal to double check everything. At least he was pretty sure he had the right century for when the tunnels were decorated, which would be a step in figuring out when they were closed. Or why they were closed.
"Would you lot be angry if I asked one of the ghosts for help?" Remus asked as they carefully crossed the first pit.
"I'd rather not have anyone know we know about this place," James said.
Remus nodded, figuring as much. None of the paintings had people in them, so he couldn't exactly ask. In fact, the only living creature was the sleeping dragon. The four of them crossed a few pits then settled down in a nice-sized area. They brought a record player and some albums to listen to music while they hung out. Peter brought stuff to work on a scrapbook he had started earlier in the week, Sirius doodled in his sketchbook, Remus studied the paintings, and James—genius James—decided to practice fancy broom tricks even though there wasn't much room. Eventually he stopped trying loops and played a game of 'see how stupid I am', at least that's what Remus dubbed it. James hovered over a pit and fully stopped his broom, shrieking with adrenaline-rushed joy as he plummeted down into the pit. He'd kick the broom into gear before he hit the ground and whoosh back up into view.
"You're going to hurt yourself," Remus muttered as he compared a painting of a landscape to some landscapes in a book. He squinted at the signature on the painting then peered so closely to the book his nose practically touched the page.
"WHEEEEEEEEE!" James shouted as he plummeted back out of view.
"Petey, Remy," Sirius whispered, and turned his sketchbook around to show them the drawing he had made of a flattened James, looking very much like a crepe with glasses. Peter and Remus both giggled, and they quickly stopped when James popped back up. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"Debating what music to play at your funeral," Sirius replied, pulling his knees up to rest his sketchbook against them.
James jabbed his glasses back into place. "Hardy-har-har. It's fun. You should join me."
"It's going to be utterly wretched only having three Marauders," sighed Sirius rather dramatically. "Here lies James Potter—"
"Shut up."
"—taken in the flush of his youth by his own reckless stupidity."
"Says the guy who tried to see how high he could float with only a rope and two second years to keep him from drifting away," Peter pointed out, not looking up from his scrapbook.
Sirius blew a raspberry. "Ah, well, I didn't say I was any less recklessly stupid. I'm just, you know, lamenting the loss of my best friend."
James zipped his broom over, low enough so he could snag Sirius under an arm and drag him a little ways. Sirius kicked and yelped, or at least tried to fake yelp through his laughing. James hitched him up higher and started hovering over a pit in a teasing manner. Sirius's laughter stopped when his sketchbook slid out of his other hand and fell down into the hole.
"Aw, shit!" he swore.
"Oh man, sorry!" James returned Sirius to the ground. "I'll go get it—"
"I will, if you'll take me," Sirius said.
The two flew down and after a moment James was back up without Sirius, looking very excited. "You guys have got to see this!"
It didn't take long for James to fly them both down to the bottom of the pit. It seemed really far down compared to the one they first explored; it had to be at least two and a half, three stories down into the rock. However the real point of interest was the fact there was more blasted through the rock at the bottom. It was like a tunnel going straight ahead. Sirius stood at the mouth with his lit wand raised.
"Oh wow," Peter breathed out, stepping over. "What—where—"
Remus lifted his wand to examine the walls. "Rough rock. This was blasted by a spell, not made properly." He ran his fingers along the rock, a shudder going down his spine.
"Let's explore," James said, and Sirius readily agreed.
Peter, however, was unsure. "It could be dangerous, if it's not made, ummm, made properly," he said, echoing what Remus said. "It could cave in."
Sirius kicked the wall and Peter yelped, scurrying back. "Seems solid to me."
"You're an idiot who can't be trusted!" Peter snapped. Sirius fluttered his eyelashes back at him. "Remy, you agree with—Remus?!"
Remus was moving forward, deeper into the tunnel. He hardly even heard Peter and didn't really think to answer. Someone was looking for something down here. Why? What for? Why did this pit in the mountain turn into a tunnel when the other didn't?
"Remus!" He stopped as someone seized his arm, turning to look into James's eyes. "Bloody hell, so-called Brains, what were you doing?"
Remus blinked a few times. "Exploring?"
James raised his eyebrows. "I figured you'd be on Pete's page with this."
Remus pressed his lips thin, knowing it was probably stupid to be plunging into a most likely unsafe tunnel who-knows-how-far-underground without even braces holding the place up. "I'm curious," he said.
"Thattaboy!" Sirius laughed, running forward to pass Remus. "Let's go!"
"Great, the voice of reason is being stupid too!" Peter complained. "Why do I have to be the only one to think this is a very bad plan? Remy, you're supposed to be the smart one to tell those two not to do this! Stop ignoring me! Hey—wait up!" Peter ran to catch up as the other three went farther into the dark. "I hate you all!" he grumbled as he got his wand out to light it up too.
The tunnel kept getting smaller and smaller. It twisted and turned in various directions and Remus really expected it to go somewhere, but it didn't take long for them to run into a dead end. However, it didn't look like the person stopped because they felt like stopping... there was a cave-in. Not a large one, but enough to send a spike of fear through all four boys. They began backing up until Peter gave a cry, arms flailing as he tripped over something.
"You all right?" James asked.
"Yeah, I... Oh. Um, guys?"
They turned to see Peter slowly standing up, holding up what he tripped over. He held his wand close and they could all see it was a book.
James ran over and took the book from him. "What in Merlin's bloody name is this?" he whispered.
"A book," Sirius said.
"Terrific deduction there," James laughed. "What's it doing here? Hogwarts, A History?"
Remus went over, putting his hand out for the book. He crouched down, ignoring the protests of his friends, and balanced the book on his lap. It was a much older copy than his own, and he had a somewhat old one. The author was different too. He knew whenever someone updated the book they put their own name on the front, and a list of the other authors inside. This author was the previous one from the copy Remus had. He wasn't sure how old it made the book though.
"Come on, Peter's right, this isn't safe," James said.
"Now you listen to me," Peter muttered.
"Just a minute," Remus said, flipping to the publication page. 1922. It was over fifty years old. He wondered if whoever left it had been in here fifty years ago, or more recently? After all, his own copy of Hogwarts, a History was from the 1950s. The most recent version had been published in the late 60s, shortly after Dumbledore became Headmaster.
"Remus come on!"
"C—coming!"
Remus clutched the book to his chest, hurrying after his friends. Once back at the main pit James took them up one at a time. Remus had forgotten completely why they had even gone down until Sirius said something about being glad he got his sketchbook back. Between the time they had spent in the main passage, and the time exploring the blasted section, enough time had passed that it was almost lunchtime.
He tucked the old copy of Hogwarts, a History into his satchel, planning on searching through it thoroughly to try to figure out who might have left it there. The 'why' was... well, maybe not obvious but he theorized whoever had done the blasting had left it. They blasted, the ceiling caved, and the person left in such a hurry they dropped their book without even realizing. Perhaps that wasn't what happened, but it was the only possibility he could really think of. Well... someone could have been studying down in there for some reason and forgot it. That seemed a little less likely, though, unless they hated the book.
/\/\/\/\/\
Remus didn't get much of a chance to look at the book again for hours. He didn't dare bring it out in the Great Hall (for some reason he felt like someone might notice it wasn't his own copy and get suspicious), and after lunch they had Defense. Unfortunately, not even the curiosity of the book could tamp down the hot feelings liquefying Remus's insides as Prewett lectured with that smile on his face. Remus tried to focus on his note taking, trying his best to ignore Professor Prewett and absolutely failing. Ugh. He wished it would stop, wished he wouldn't feel this way, wished he could just... not be affected by attractive guys. Did all guys have this problem? Did other guys look at Professor Prewett and feel this way? He knew girls did but... did guys? He knew perfectly well he wasn't really normal, however... well, it wasn't something he could ever ask the other Marauders, and in any case soon he would be normal.
As normal as a werewolf could get, that is.
Finally the lesson ended, and Remus figured he'd go somewhere to take a good look at the book except the Marauders had different plans.
"We're going to hang out with the girls," Sirius said, yawning and stretching. "Cassie sent a note asking if we wanted to, I said yes."
Didn't bother asking all of us, Remus thought. "Which girls?"
"Cassie, Colgate, and Evans," Sirius replied.
"I—I was going to do some... studying... besides, if you do anything you can have even teams," Remus said swiftly.
Sirius elbowed him. "Nah, Cassie said she wanted to see if Magpie'd join too."
Remus remained silent, rather irritated. He was going to protest but James linked an arm with his. "Come on, it'll be fun," he said. "And I really don't want to be dealing with Evans without you there."
"I—"
"Please?"
Remus looked into James's pleading eyes and sighed. "Yes, of course."
"Yes!" James hugged him tightly. "You're amazing."
Remus hoped he'd be able to have an out at some point but everyone wanted to play team games. He would have preferred games more like... everyone-else-do-something-while-he-hides.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle when it came to choosing partners. Sirius and Inkwood partnered up easily, and Colgate shrugged, not caring about being with Peter... but for some reason Lily and Magpie both danced around wanting to be Remus's partner. Well, he knew why Lily wanted to be his partner (so she didn't have to be James's partner) but he didn't know why Magpie wanted him (unless she was harboring some silent ill will towards James?), and while he would have much preferred to be Lily's partner he didn't want to have to make a choice.
James, grouchy that he was essentially last picked, suggested they flip a coin. Magpie won unfortunately, and Lily angrily partnered with James.
"Trust me, it's no picnic for me either, Red," James grumbled, slumping back on the couch with his arms folded.
"You're gonna lose guess the picture," Peter giggled. "James sucks at drawing!"
Lily looked at James who forced a smile in return. "I'm not that bad. We'll do fine."
They did not do fine. Sirius and Inkwood did fantastic, thanks to his artistic ability, and Peter and Colgate, and Remus and Magpie did decent, but James and Lily wound up arguing and shouting at each other when James attempted to draw a griffin and Lily kept guessing underwater creatures.
"HOW CAN YOU THINK IT'S A FISH?!" James yelled when their timer beeped and they lost the round.
"THAT LOOKS LIKE A FIN!" Lily yelled right back, pointing.
"IT'S A BEAK!"
"HOW IS THAT A BEAK?! IT'S ON ITS BACK!"
"THAT'S ITS HEAD!"
"WHY IS THE BEAK POINTING UP!"
"It's—it's not pointing up-up, it's angled up because the griffin is SCREECHING!"
"It's not OPEN!"
"IT IS OPEN! IT'S AN OPEN BEAK!"
"IT'S A BLOODY TRIANGLE HOW IS THAT OPEN?!" She grabbed the pencil and drew a quick sketch of an open beak then began jabbing the pencil at it. "OPEN! OPEN!"
James snatched the pencil from her hand. "That looks like a FISH'S TAIL!"
"YOU LOOK LIKE A FISH'S TAIL!"
Remus was very glad James didn't drag the others in, because his drawing of a griffin really did look like some sort of finned creature. Not that he and Magpie did much better, but they did get a couple points so they weren't last in that game.
Charades went a lot worse for him, since first of all he was very distracted thinking of the tunnel and the book, and second of all he absolutely hated standing there in front of Colgate, Inkwood, and Magpie, and have to act out the prompts, especially with the fact they were in the common room so sometimes other students glanced over at them. His limbs felt weird and awkward, making it difficult to do much of anything, and when Magpie tried to act out her prompts Remus had no idea what she was attempting to do.
"Second word, first p-part..." He watched carefully as she began miming. It took quite a while before he was able to even get on the right track. "... Flowy? Oh! F-flowy? Flowy... hide? Mask? Flowy m-mask? OH! V-veil?" Remus guessed and Magpie clapped her hands. "F-first part veil. Um. Little? Small? N—no, bigger?" He squirmed, hating to be the only one talking, maybe this was worse than being the one acting out. "A little... a—a lot...? Bigger? Wider?"
Then he heard Inkwood whispering very softly in Sirius's ear. "I think she's got Veilmoore."
Remus perked up. "More. Veilmoore," he said immediately and Magpie nodded; Sirius immediately shot a suspicious look towards Remus who smiled innocently back before facing Magpie again to finish the charade. Except Remus had no idea what Veilmoore meant, and Magpie was motioning with her hands indicating he should say the next part. Veilmoore? What the heck was Veilmoore? Magpie stared at him then held up one finger. "First word? Sounds like?" She nodded then hesitantly began miming. "Spinning? F—flourish? Um... d-dance?" She nodded, tugging at her ear. "S—sounds like dance?" She grinned. "Uhhh... dance... p-pants... l—lance?"
He saw Sirius with his head in his hands, James was obviously trying not to laugh, and Peter shaking his head. He felt worse. What was it?
"Chance? France? Per...chance?" He was floundering, and unable to think of other rhymes.
The timer went off and immediately Sirius blurted into his hands, "He doesn't know Quidditch!"
"Vance!" Magpie moaned out. "Vance Veilmoore!"
Remus stared at her then at his friends.
"The Keeper for Wigtown Wanderers," James explained.
"I—I didn't—I—" He went very pink and sank down on the couch. "Sorry."
"It's all right." Magpie perched next to him, giving him a smile. "It's kinda nice you're not crazy obsessed with Quidditch like most boys."
Remus had no clue what to even say to that. "Er," was all he managed.
It was Peter and Colgate's turn next and Remus sat back, legs crossed, foot jiggling as he tried to sneak glances at the clock. It was getting close to supper. They'd probably want to keep playing until then. He'd be unable to check the book until after supper—perhaps not until after James's practice? Except, right before 5pm Bell came over to inform James the practice was canceled due to the snowstorm.
"I'm not that hungry," Remus said when everyone else started getting ready to go eat. "I—I think I'll st-stay and study."
"Aw, come on, come eat with us," Lily said, looking rather eager.
"I'm n—not really hungry," he protested, hoping his stomach wouldn't growl and give him away. "I had f-f-fun, I'll see you g-guys later." He whirled around and hurried up to the boys' dorm before anyone else could stop him. Sweet solace! he thought, collapsing onto his bed face first. It felt the entire afternoon had become chains wrapping around his body and digging in. Too much interacting with people when he really hadn't been in the mood... but at least it was over.
After several minutes he rolled out of bed and flicked the radio on, turning the knobs until he had a good station playing at a tolerable sound level. Classical music drifted out and he gave a little spin, drifting back to his bed, flopping onto his stomach. He kicked his shoes off and stretched out, legs bent so his mismatched socked feet were lazily swaying through the air to the music. Part of him considered taking a nap however he fought off the sleepiness enough to dig the book out of his satchel.
Hogwarts, a History, he thought, staring at the old cover. From 1922. The first thing he did was search the first few pages just in case the previous owner had written a name down. No such luck. Sighing, he began slowly flipping through the pages, not even sure what he was looking for. The biggest changes between this copy and his would be the stuff that had happened since then, and he couldn't imagine what might be in here that would give away... well, anything. Most likely it had nothing to do with the pits, except the slim chance it belonged to whoever had done it.
After nearly ten minutes he found something, although not quite what he expected. Torn out pages. Two, to be precise. He ran his finger down the ragged remains, wondering what had been there. Easily enough figured out, he thought and checked the pages before and after the missing ones. Going to the list of contents he scanned down until he found what he was looking for, and he gasped out loud.
The missing pages were in the section covering Salazar Slytherin's history, and the exact pages missing were about the Chamber of Secrets.
Remus closed the book and hugged it to his chest, breathing rather heavily. Aegis might not have been far off the mark after all.
Someone had been down in the pits possibly looking for the legendary chamber.
