Remus was way too shaken up to pay much attention in Charms, and when it came time for practicing spells he didn't do so well. He was glad when Flitwick dismissed everyone, though figured his friends would want to talk more. Sure enough, they wanted to grab some food and hide out somewhere in order to question him more about the house. He described the interior as best he could, accidentally adding how amazed he was over the fact he had a whole house with furniture. They wanted to know why it surprised him, and he explained about his cellar at home.
All three of them fell quiet at that.
"Just… an empty… cellar room?" Sirius asked slowly.
"Uh, y—yeah?" Remus shifted a bit, peeling his sandwich apart to poke at the food. "Anyway, it is nice in the house—well, for the most part. It's not—I mean, it's being ruined by me so maybe not nice-nice anymore but you know what I mean."
"An empty cellar?" Sirius repeated.
Why are they going on about that? "Yes? Our house isn't exactly big, there's not anywhere else in the house I can… transform," he said, tearing apart the chicken now. "I thought you wanted to know about the house in Hogsmeade."
"It just seems a little awful to be locked up in a little cellar," James said. "Unless it's a big one? Our cellar at home is huge."
"It—it's not like I care much as a wolf," Remus hissed out, not wanting to admit how tiny it was.
"But you're sometimes human all night, right?" Pete inquired. "You said so. That's why you liked the blanket so much."
"Yes…" He scowled, slumping down a bit. "It's not important though. If you want to talk about the house we can, however I don't want to sit here rambling about the cellar at home, all right?"
Thankfully they dropped the subject of both the cellar and the house. Remus, feeling a little bad for snapping, considered apologizing—though he wasn't sure if he needed to or not. When he finally did, they wanted to know what the apology was for, laughing a bit when he explained and promising it was fine.
Sirius tousled Remus's hair. "You can tell us to shut up if we're bothering you, dummy."
"Or we cross a line," added Pete.
Remus shrugged, not answering that. The others returned to chatting about Operation Arsehole Party (as Sirius had dubbed their prank) or, OAP for short. James and Peter began shrieking 'OAP' loudly until it sounded like they were chanting oapaoapaoapa; it sounded really weird and Remus finally gave into laughter.
"You're still gonna come to Hogsmeade with us for supplies, right?" James asked once they got ready to leave the secret passageway.
"Yeah," he promised, not really wanting to but feeling like he had to. "We can do it Saturday afternoon or Sunday." He paused, frowning. "Tomorrow afternoon would probably be better since it's not a school night."
"When will you be done doing stuff with Silverlocke?"
"I don't know…"
"What exactly are you researching?" Sirius asked as they ducked out into the main hallways. "You never did tell us."
"Er—the school," he replied cautiously. Then, "We're trying to figure out anything we can about the Chamber of Secrets." That was the truth, and didn't mention the Pits Passage.
"The what of what?" Pete asked.
"Chamber of Secrets. It—"
Sirius cut Remus off with, "A secret place Salazar Slytherin supposedly made to hide some monster that preys on Muggleborns."
Peter paled slightly. "Wha—? That's—what? No! There can't be anything like that in the school, can there?"
Remus gave him a reassuring smile. "No. It's only a legend, but it's fun pretending like we can find it."
Though he wondered about what Sirius said. He was a little surprised Sirius knew anything about the Chamber, even if it was basic stuff. His family has all been Slytherins, he thought as they headed to History. Maybe he knows something about it?
He decided not to ask, not yet. Maybe if he grew a little more curious, but he didn't want to bother Sirius with Slytherin stuff; it would probably annoy him.
/\/\/\/\/\
After a long night of staying up with the other Marauders, Remus was a little grouchy when his alarm went off earlier than he thought. He turned it off and rolled over, drifting back to sleep when he remembered he was supposed to be meeting Aegis.
Shoooot! He dove out of bed and got ready as quickly as he could since he had laid in half-sleep for a good fifteen minutes. Sirius and Peter were still asleep, though James was awake. Remus assured him he was still up for their afternoon plans, and he'd see them later.
Ten minutes later he was outside the portrait on the fourth floor where Aegis was waiting with a piece of toast in one hand. The two climbed through, ignoring the portrait who complained bitterly about annoying students, then went to the second pit, staring at the large gap.
"It's a couple pits down that way," Remus explained as he pulled the bag out of his pockets. "We'll need to cross two of them."
"Have you tested this?" Aegis asked.
Remus shook his head. "No, but I will now." He got his wand out and conjured up a length of rope, tugging at it to make sure it was solid. Then he opened the bag of LiftAways.
Aegis watched with worry. "This has got to be the riskiest plan I've ever heard."
Remus tied the rope around his waist. "If you don't want to, we don't need to. I mean it…"
"No, it's—I will," Aegis sighed. "It's just a little frightening."
"That's why I am testing it first."
He firmly tied the string of the LiftAway around himself and then pressed the little lever. The LiftAway began inflating. The second it tugged at him Remus stopped. It was about halfway inflated, and he could feel it pulling at him. He pushed the lever again for a second to get a little more air in, then shut it off.
He was hovering a few inches off the ground, one hand gripping the string just in case, even though the LiftAway string was enchanted to stay attached to him.
"All right," he said. "Ready."
"I—I don't know if I can," Aegis blurted out, glancing over at the pit. "It's too dangerous."
"I'm already up here," Remus pointed out.
All right, so using partially inflated, slightly banned balloons that lifted people in the air in order to get across the pits as well as out of them wasn't the safest of ideas Remus ever had; nonetheless it seemed better than trying to nick a broom. Not just steal the broom, but get it to the Pits Passage without being seen and then back to the Quidditch supplies. While it was the safer route, it was also the one where they'd probably get caught. At least this way they didn't risk a teacher catching them.
He only risked plummeting into a pit, breaking his bones, Aegis freaking out and getting Pomfrey, as well as Aegis possibly finding out that he could heal.
But Remus was ninety percent sure it'd be fine.
"J—just give me a push. Please?"
Aegis bit his lip, nervously taking hold of the end of the rope before giving Remus a little push. Remus bobbed through the air across the pit. He dipped slightly when he went over the hole, making his heart begin pounding super fast, his fear of heights threatening to consume him; but then he floated over to the other side, safe.
Aegis perked up. "It worked!"
"It worked!" Remus laughed which caused him to bob a bit more. "Pull me back?"
Aegis gave the rope a yank and Remus floated back. He released the lever, coming back down, relieved when his feet touched the floor. Aegis had reached out, taking hold of Remus's sleeve to help him as he descended.
"That looked… scary," Aegis said.
"Actually, it was quite fun," Remus admitted as he untied the rope from his waist, offering the end to his friend. "Do you want to try now?"
Aegis took the rope. "I suppose I must, if I wish to see that passageway." He tied the rope then the string around his waist and then adjusted the LiftAway's lever until he was floating. "Oh! All right, yes this is—this is kinda fun."
"Ready?"
"Ready."
Remus gave him a push. He floated to the other side of the pit, laughing, and suggesting Remus join him. Remus anchored Aegis's rope around one of the heavy pots—far too heavy for Aegis's body weight to move—before conjuring up another rope. He tied one end to another pot and the other end around his waist. He got another LiftAway, tied the string to the rope, then pushed the lever until he was floating near the ceiling.
"How are you going to get over here?" Aegis asked, putting more air in his own LiftAway until he was at the same height as Remus.
Remus rubbed his chin, thinking. "Ah! Locomotor LiftAway!" He flicked his wand, making the LiftAway jerk towards Aegis with him being dragged along. He began laughing, especially when he didn't stop in time and he banged into Aegis. They grabbed hold of one another as they began spinning around, their ropes getting tangled. "Oops!"
They began twirling the other way as the ropes unwound. They floated farther until the rope tightened and the pots kept them tethered.
"Good thing that works," Aegis said, looking relieved.
Remus grinned and shoved Aegis away. He yelped, flailing as he flew backward, and Remus went backward as well, laughing. Aegis whipped his wand out, using the locomotion spell to send Remus in another direction. Remus got his wand out and the two sent each other flying around the ceiling, close together until they decided to cut the ropes. The two bounced all up and down the passages, laughing as they crashed into one another for a good forty minutes. It was so much more fun than Remus ever imagined, and by the time they descended to the ground they were both exhausted.
They slumped against a wall, shoulder to shoulder, both breathing rather heavily.
"I don't believe that was our initial intention," Aegis said, brushing hair from his sweaty forehead.
"No," Remus giggled.
After a few minutes they got back up, creeping to the edge of the pit where the tunnel was. While they certainly had fun up in the air, it was something else entirely using the LiftAway to go down into the pit, and Remus felt slightly nervous. He conjured rope, anchoring one end to a pot and letting the other end dangle down.
The excitement had faded. Aegis was worried again as Remus got the LiftAway back out.
"I'll be fine," he promised, attaching the LiftAway once more to himself. He inflated it until it barely pulled at him. He jumped up and slowly floated back down.
"I don't like it," Aegis said flatly.
Remus looked down into the dark pit, remembering how deep it was.
"There is nothing down there, except the tunnel," Aegis continued. "Now that I think about it, perhaps it would be stupid to do this. What is there for us to see?"
Remus knew if he faltered any longer he would let Aegis convince him, and he wanted to see the tunnel again.
So he jumped.
Aegis screamed, but Remus was still in sight. The LiftAway was inflated just enough that while Remus wasn't floating, he was in a slow descent, bobbing wildly under the balloon.
Aegis gasped for air, clutching his chest. "You scared me!"
"It's working," Remus pointed out, one hand on the rope dangling down, allowing it to slip through his fingers as he sunk. It was terrifying slowly falling into the darkness, seeing Aegis's pale face peering over the edge getting smaller and smaller. Then he ran out of rope with a good ten feet left to go. Swearing, he lit up his wand to watch the floor come closer until his feet touched the stone.
His legs were shakier than he expected, and he collapsed down onto his knees. He didn't want Aegis to know how scared he had been otherwise he'd never do it.
"I'm good!" he called out. "I'm coming back up!" He inflated the LiftAway till he began going back up, reaching the surface without any issue. "Easy."
A few minutes later they were both down in the pit, deflating their LiftAways and tucking them into their pockets. Aegis wanted to go around the pit, touching the walls and examining the floor before they plunged into the tunnel. They wound through till they reached the cave-in at the end. After making sure there really wasn't any way through, Remus pulled Aegis over to where Peter had tripped over the book. There wasn't any other evidence there; no quills or ripped pieces of paper or anything.
Finally, they returned up to the passage and from there Remus showed Aegis more of the place since he hadn't seen anything beyond the area near the trophy room. When they got to the little side corridor with the painting of the sleeping dragon, Aegis agreed there was something strange about it.
Then Aegis noticed something Remus hadn't.
"Look!" He stood on tiptoes, shining his wandlight near where the wall and ceiling met.
Aegis was several inches taller than Remus at this point; he was actually about James's height. "What?" He squinted, trying to see what Aegis saw.
Aegis looked down at Remus, frowning. "It looks like there is a seam. I suppose it would be rude of me to offer to hold you up. Not—not pick you up. Er… here." He tucked his wand into his ponytail then cupped his hands, holding them low. "Would this be all right?"
Remus held onto Aegis's shoulder as he stepped into the cupped hands. Aegis lifted him up so Remus could see. There was a seam!
"I think it's a door!" he exclaimed, accidentally moving a bit which put him off balance. He began flailing. Aegis swayed and the two went crashing down, both yelping in pain. Remus rolled off of Aegis, terrified he had hurt his friend.
"I'm fine," Aegis promised, sitting upright, rubbing his hip.
"You're bleeding!"
Aegis touched his nose, frowning at the crimson on his fingers. "I believe your elbow clipped me."
"Oh no, I'm so sorry—"
"No, it isn't your fault—"
"What?" Remus got up, helping Aegis to his feet. "Of course it's m-my fault!"
Aegis shook his head. "Accidents happen. I am fine, I promise! It only hurts a little. I have some potion in my bag." He picked his bag up, rummaging through until he got a small pot of salve out. He dipped his pinky into it and touched it along his nose. "That will help."
"O—okay," Remus said, rather dubiously. "Good thing you have that."
Aegis put it back into his bag and muttered, "Best if I keep it with me anyway," in such a low tone Remus knew he wasn't supposed to hear it.
"What?"
"Nothing," Aegis said brightly.
Remus glanced at Aegis's bag then back up at his face. "Why do you need to carry that with you?" he asked, hoping the question didn't make it too obvious he heard what Aegis didn't want him to hear.
"Er—I, ah, well, just in case. Of—of accidents," Aegis stammered.
"Accidents?" Remus folded his arms, narrowing his eyes. "Or bullying?" He waited, but Aegis didn't reply; he was studiously ignoring Remus by pretending to look for something else in his bag. "Aegis—"
"It is fine, Remus, I am—it's fine."
"If you're having to carry healing potion with you—"
"It's fine," Aegis repeated, this time in a very firm 'this conversation is over' tone. "Do you think there is a hidden room behind this portrait? Or perhaps it opens up into the castle, as another entrance?"
Remus wanted to keep pushing, wanted to help Aegis. Wanted to go and hex every Slytherin that was giving him problems. Wanted to go hex Malfoy, since it was probably Malfoy causing the most problems. Instead, he turned to look at the sleeping dragon, trying not to sound anxious as he spoke.
"I think it's a hidden room. Honestly, James and Sirius are very good at finding things like that—they have some sort of sixth sense about—"
"The Marauder sense?" Aegis joked.
Remus laughed. "Yes! If there is something behind here, I think they'd be able to figure it out. I'll bring them back here sometime this week. By the way—have you ever seen a dragon like this?"
"Hmm?" Aegis tilted his head, studying the creature. "It looks very much like a Swedish Short-Snout however it is red, not blue. It is probably simply the artist doing as they wished."
"Yeah." Remus felt a bit disappointed since he had the feeling there was more to it than that. "You're probably right."
"Come on, it is past noon and I am very hungry—"
"Past noon?" Remus reeled back. "Merlin's socks, I need to go! I'm supposed to meet the others at twelve-thirty—"
"It is twelve-twenty."
"Bloody hell! Sorry, I have to—sorry!"
They rushed back through the passage as quickly as they could with the LiftAways, going to the fourth floor passage since Remus was supposed to meet them at the mirror passageway if they didn't have lunch together. He bid Aegis farewell then ran as fast as he could, not getting there until nearly twelve-forty. The three of them were waiting in a nearby nook, playing cards.
"There you are!" Sirius said when Remus crashed into the wall. "Be careful!"
"S—sorry I'm late!" he gasped out, collapsing onto the bench next to Peter.
"Only by ten minutes," James noted, checking his watch. "Did you have fun?"
"Huh? Oh. Y—yeah. We had loads of fun." He sank back, resting his head against the wall.
Sirius poked him with his foot. "Did you find the Chamber of Secrets?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes we did, actually, it's smaller than you'd expect. There's a painting of Slytherin in there, wearing a miniskirt and bra."
Sirius burst into laughter. "That'd be brilliant to see. Or maybe not so much, depending on how mini the skirt was!"
"Maybe the monster Slytherin locked up in there was himself," said Peter, scooping the cards up.
"Wouldn't put it past him," snickered James as they went to the mirror. "Immoralize himself to kill Muggleborns." He fogged the mirror up and wrote open, and they quickly went into the passage.
"Er—while—while it does seem to be true that Salazar Slytherin could possibly be immoral—personally with his viewpoints towards Muggles and Muggleborns I believe he was quite immoral—I believe the word you mean is immortalize," Remus said.
"Thank you, dictionary," James teased.
"It is nice to have a walking dictionary with us at all times," Peter said, elbowing Remus. "And… umm... thes… thessa… thes…"
"Thesaurus?" Remus offered.
Peter grinned. "Yes, that."
"And encyclopedia," Sirius added. "Pretty much an all-around library."
"Libremy?" James asked, and they all laughed.
They made their way through the tunnel towards Hogsmeade. The closer they got, the sicker Remus felt. He had told himself he wouldn't do this again yet here he was, flouting the rules, throwing Dumbledore's trust away. Again.
When they reached the exit, Remus climbed up the rope ladder and nearly fell into some mud; James caught him before he did, thankfully. Sirius was the last to come through the stump, and soon the four were headed into town. It was a very chilly day, a rather icy wind biting against their skin, the threat of rain or sleet looming in the heavy clouds above them. Not quite cold enough for snow though.
To Remus's surprise they didn't go to any of the shops first. Instead they went to the house. Oh no, he thought once he realized where James was leading them. Was he going to insist Remus try to get them inside?
"Why are we here?" Sirius asked when they reached the fence, though his eyes were on Remus, not the house.
"I just wanted to look at it," James explained. "Knowing that's where—that's, you know." He sidled over to Remus, bumping against him lightly. "Wanted to see it, now that I know. It makes it… different."
The four gazed at the house for a moment, and then Peter said, "S'long as it's nicer inside than out, that's what matters."
"It is," Remus assured him. "C—come on, let's do the shopping before it gets too late."
James tore himself away from the fence. "It's hours away from sunset."
"Still."
Sirius flung his arm around Remus and gave him a noogie. "You can't rush Hogsmeade! This is only your second trip, you need to savor it. You didn't last time."
"He savored the butterbeer, that's for sure," Peter said, and James laughed so hard he choked.
They turned away from the house, James and Sirius plotting the route they'd go. They asked Remus if he wanted to go to the bookshop and he shook his head. Really, he wanted to go, except he couldn't afford it. He had a handful of knuts—way too many since he couldn't carry sickles—which he planned to use at the Three Broomsticks to get something to eat. He initially wanted to buy sweets from Honeydukes except he missed lunch and was very hungry. He thought he had enough for at least an order of chips and was fairly sure a glass of water would be free.
The first stop was Dervish and Banges, a little shop at the far end of town that sold a variety of odds and ends… including party noisemakers enchanted to go off on their own. James bought half a dozen of the noisemakers and a very broken trumpet that, when touched by human hands, blared out Flight Of The Bumblebee, not stopping till it played it ten and a half times. James got it for a sickle.
"We'll make it float, and when they grab it to get rid of it…!" James laughed instead of finishing the sentence, putting the carefully wrapped trumpet into his bag.
"Shame there's only one," said Peter. "We could put a dozen in the Slytherin dorms. Imagine that racket."
Sirius elbowed him. "Aw Petey, you heard the shopkeep. Touched by human hands. Your plan works if there's humans in the Slytherin dorms, which I find there to be a distinct lack of!"
All three of them laughed while Remus wondered what would happen if he touched it. He glanced down at his fingers, not sure if he was considered human enough to set the cursed object off. He glanced at James's bag, partly tempted to try, partly terrified of what would happen—how he'd feel—if it didn't go off.
It still floated around his head by the time they got to the stationary and paper shop, which also sold party supplies, where they purchased a large banner for Sirius to decorate, two large containers of glitter confetti, and balloons. Next up: the ingredients shop, where they bought the things needed to make a Super-Stink potion.
Finally Zonko's, which Remus had never been in. The second he stepped in he knew it was James and Sirius's idea of heaven. There were jokes, tricks, and japes as far as the eye could see. It was like Honeydukes but with pranks. James and Sirius went straight for an entire wall covered with firecrackers of all kinds. They picked out several no-heat wet-starts which they put in one basket, then they began going through others which they put in a second basket.
"This one is the one for OAP," James explained, giving Peter the basket along with a couple of galleons. "Go ahead and get them, and make sure to get a receipt."
Peter and Remus went to the counter and the clerk gave them looks as she rang them up. "Bad enough older students sneak out, aren't you two a bit young?" She stared pointedly at Remus.
Neither of them said anything. Peter squirmed uncomfortably, while Remus was too embarrassed. The clerk held out the change which Remus muttered for Peter to take, and he obediently took the sickles while Remus took the bag. They waited for the other two to finish and soon they appeared, Sirius carrying two bags.
Second to last stop was Honeydukes, of course, although Remus opted not to go in. He didn't want to see all the chocolate and sweets tempting him. Instead he sat outside with all the purchases, a book propped open in his lap. He could smell the sweets inside, his nose twitching and stomach grumbling to the point where it was hard to concentrate on the words.
Eventually he gave up, tucking the book back in his bag and taking in the sights of Hogsmeade while he waited. It really was a quaint little town. No Muggles around for miles. Wonder what it'd be like to grow up here. He knew there were a couple of his classmates who grew up and lived in Hogsmeade. Did they go all the way to London for the Hogwarts Express, only to come back here? He'd have to ask. That seemed a little silly.
James, Sirius, and Peter burst through the door, bags bursting with sweets swinging from their arms.
Last, but certainly not least, the Three Broomsticks. They took a table with a booth seat which they used to store the bags, the four of them taking seats. Sirius and Remus went to order stuff, and Remus tried to buy himself a plate of chips and a glass of water however Sirius wouldn't even let him talk. He ordered loads of food to be split between everyone and four tankards of butterbeer.
"Jimsy's paying," Sirius said, putting the money down on the counter.
"I c-can pay for my own food," Remus hissed out.
"Take it up with James," Sirius said, putting two tankards in his hands and carrying the other two back.
Remus set the two down and dumped all his knuts onto the counter. "Th—this is—this is for—um—this—"
Madame Rosmerta laughed, eyes twinkling as she swept the knuts off the bar. "I understand, darlin'. When they order more food I'll put this towards it."
Remus blushed, quickly grabbing the butterbeers and hurrying back to the table.
"What did she say to you?" James asked, taking one of the tankards from him. "You're so red!"
Sirius snorted. "As if she needs to even say anything." He held his hands up to his chest to indicate Madame Rosmerta's chest. "That's enough to make ol' Dumbles blush."
Remus felt himself going even redder. "N—no! She—no. I—" It was useless to protest. And besides, they were all glancing at Rosmerta while she worked, not even paying attention to Remus anymore. He glanced over too.
She is apparently gorgeous, he thought, sipping at the foam on his butterbeer. He tried to see it. Tried to see what they saw. Tried to see what was so interesting or attractive about her or her enormous bosom, but as much as he tried he just couldn't. Sighing, he turned back to the table, turning his thoughts to school—the main thing that helped when these miserable, broken feelings started invading his brain.
After several platters of food—and only one tankard of butterbeer for Remus, thank you very much; after that he had water—the Marauders tumbled out of the Three Broomsticks and made their way out of town, back to the stump that would leave them back to Hogwarts.
