Author's note: first off tw for emetephobia and also blades. Second of all big thanks to LostGuard and SomniumFelix who helped me decide on some things for this chapter, especially Felix who also helped me with the entire finale. I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for your help!

Also I will probably be getting a one shot out sometime next week that explains the tunnels! I think that would be interesting!

/\/\/\/\/\

The rain only grew worse as Thursday went on, making their Astronomy exam difficult. Professor Spring had to put an invisible dome over the Astronomy tower to prevent everyone from getting soaked, and they couldn't even look at the night sky to figure out locations to move the telescope to. Peter was crying after, since he usually found constellations based on how they looked, how was he supposed to know the numbers? Spring did say since it was an unfortunate rainstorm, he would be grading everyone accordingly, and would be lenient. That didn't really comfort Peter.

Then Remus stayed up till about three in the morning, falling asleep with his head on his book. It had been raining all that time, which meant when he woke up to James and Sirius complaining about the fact any celebrations for the exams would have to be inside, he wasn't very surprised.

"We can have fun inside," Peter suggested miserably. He was still depressed over the Astronomy exam.

"S'not the same thing," James grumbled, angrily tying his tie.

"Remember last year, with the lake?" Sirius asked with a grin.

Peter paled at that. "I'm never doing that again!"

"What, looking at girls wearing wet, white shirts?" Sirius teased.

Peter flung his tie at him. "Go in the lake, you dumb jarvey!"

Sirius took Peter's tie, putting it around his forehead. "Think Sluggy will take points off for this?" He gave a twirl before holding up a very James-esque peace sign.

"Yes," Remus said, which meant Sirius wore it down to breakfast and to Potions where Slughorn promptly took points off, demanding Sirius take it off. Since he said 'take that tie off' Sirius obliged by removing the one around his neck. After another minute of being yelled at, Sirius put his back on and removed the one from his head.

The Potion exam was a disaster for Remus, though really that was expected. The stench of everything made his head pound. He kept dropping things, and dropped the entire vial of leek juice into his potion. He quickly scooped it out but the damage had been done: his potion was black by the time they were done.

"Yeah, I failed that," he moaned as they left the classroom.

James put an arm around him. "Least we don't have to worry about anything else until after lunch."

Remus moaned, covering his face.

The general atmosphere in the castle was one of excitement as the day drew on. At one-fifty, as the Marauders headed to History, they were almost run down by a herd of first year Hufflepuffs who were shrieking about being finished with their exams. All four boys had to press themselves back against the wall to avoid being run over.

"Remus would have gotten lost among them, they were all taller than him," Sirius teased and Remus punched his arm lightly. Unfortunately Sirius was right, and all the Hufflepuff first years seemed to be around Remus's height or a little taller.

After History the Gryffindor second years were just as excited, and poor McGonagall had to deal with thirteen very giddy students who had a hard time settling down for their test. Even Remus was bubbly, though as soon as McGonagall said to begin he was able to focus on the parchment in front of him.

It almost felt like the air was electrified when McGonagall told them to hand in their tests. She hardly got the words for dismissal out before everyone shrieked for joy. James and Sirius threw blank pieces of parchment in the air to celebrate.

"Go on, have fun," McGonagall said, watching her students bolt out of the classroom.

"FINALLY!" Sirius shouted, yanking his tie off. "That was EXHAUSTING! I hate exam week!"

"Wait till our OWLs," Colgate said.

"You sound like Remus," Sirius replied.

"Come on, Marauders, let's find something to do!" James said, bouncing up and down.

Lily and her friends were right behind them, and when James said that, Inkwood piped up with, "We could all do something together!" as she looked at Sirius.

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair. "I like that idea. I was talking earlier about last year. When we were in the lake."

Inkwood giggled. "That was a lot of fun. I wish it wasn't raining…"

"We could do something else," Lily said with a shrug.

The lot of them discussed it as they headed through the school, Remus not adding anything to the conversation. In fact, he wasn't paying much attention at all, and was rather dismayed to find out that by the time they reached the common room the others decided they wanted to play truth or dare. Not only that, the girls had invited Magpie along 'to make an even eight' which made no sense to Remus since truth or dare didn't need an even amount of people. Lily, Colgate, and Inkwood were all giggling like mad for some reason which didn't help.

The eight of them settled in a corner of the common room, bringing loads of snacks with them. Everyone seemed eager to play, except for Remus. His stomach twisted and he hoped that nobody asked him anything too personal, or told him to do anything overly embarrassing. He had never played, only knew about it from books he read or what others said about it. He knew it could get a bit… wild. If it was just the Marauders he'd be fine but with the girls there—and being in the common room with other people around—it added a very uncomfortable element to the whole thing.

It started off innocent enough. James had Lily eat a super nasty bean, then Lily had Colgate attempt a cartwheel (after pinning her skirt together between her legs so it wouldn't fly up). Colgate crashed into a table but didn't get hurt, and plopped back down next to Lily before asking Peter. Peter chose truth and of course Colgate wanted to know what Peter had turned his kraken into, if 'it wasn't too personal'. Peter sighed with relief that it wasn't a very personal question, and told them about the stuffed toy he had managed to to turn it into. The girls all cheered that he had managed to defeat his boggart causing Peter to go pink.

After a few seconds of thought, Peter turned to Remus. "Truth or dare."

Remus stiffened with fear, though out of everyone in the room asking him something, he trusted Peter the most to pick something relatively safe. "Erm… dare?"

Peter looked way too excited, as if hoping that's what Remus would choose. "Chug this." He handed Remus a bottle of butterbeer. James and Sirius began laughing while Remus narrowed his eyes, glaring at Peter who tried his best to look innocent.

"No wonder you didn't drink it!" laughed James.

Remus, still glaring at Peter, took the bottle and began chugging it. It came out faster than he expected, spilling all over his chin and shirt. He had to take a couple brief breaks but managed to chug the entire bottle, other than what had spilled.

"Ooh," he said, pressing his hand to his head.

"Feeling… tipsy?" James asked. "Oh, right, sorry. Happy. Feeling happy?"

Remus faked hitting him with the bottle. "Knobhead! I'm f-fine." But he did feel a little… dizzy. "Um, my t-turn." He felt a little awkward choosing Inkwood or Magpie, and the only other person who hadn't gone yet was Sirius. James hadn't gone either… except he started the whole thing so it seemed odd to ask him. Sirius it was, then. "S—Sirius, truth or dare?"

Sirius flashed him a dazzling grin. "Dare me."

Remus frowned, trying to think of a good dare to make Sirius do. Then he thought of something very wicked. He began snickering, unable to even say the words at first until managing to choke out, "Curl your hair!"

Sirius's smug expression was wiped from his face, replaced with one of horror. "NO!" he shouted while Remus fell over giggling. "No, you—what? Aw, come on Remy, anything but the hair!"

"He dared you!" Lily laughed. "You have to!"

Sirius looked around the group before reluctantly getting his wand out. "You are so gonna get it, Remus. I mean it! Cirratium."

His embarrassment was very obvious, even after Inkwood ran her fingers through the curls and told him it looked good on him. Sirius pouted, sending dark looks towards Remus, who he knew he was in big trouble the next time Sirius could pick him.

The game progressed as truths and dares were sent out with lots of laughter, as well as some 'ooooh's for a few of the truths. The worst part was when Sirius asked Lily what color bra she was wearing, and Lily went brilliantly red, having to admit she wasn't wearing one. That caused James to laugh at how flat-chested she was, and Lily made a dive for him. The others had to break up the near fist fight. Lily got her revenge a few turns later when she dared him to have to say 'Slytherins Are Cool' after everything he said for the rest of the game.

At first Remus's interactions were relatively innocuous. Colgate dared him to spin really fast in a circle then try to transfigure a piece of parchment into something. The spell went everywhere and Remus wound up transfiguring a chair into a horrifically long-legged rabbit that loped rather sadly around the room, a tapestry into sparkly streamers, and someone's hat into a grey chicken that looked like it was made out of fabric. A Prefect yelled at him while everyone else laughed, and once the dizziness wore off he quickly transfigured everything back, though the tapestry still sparkled a bit depending on which angle you looked at it.

Another innocent interaction was when Magpie asked him what his favorite thing to do was, besides reading, and he admitted he liked to knit. James pulled out his glasses case Remus had made him, showing it off.

"I didn't know you knitted," Magpie said, looking up at Remus. "That is so cool."

"Er, uh." He tugged at his sleeve, not sure what to say to that. "Um, th—thanks."

But then Sirius finally chose Remus, and Remus opted for truth to avoid anything too awful. Sirius wouldn't ask anything that personal… or so Remus thought.

"Who do you fancy?" Sirius asked, silvery eyes boring straight into Remus's as if he knew.

Not there's anything to know, Remus thought quickly, feeling sweat prickling under his arms. "Ahhh, what? I d-don't fancy anyone!"

Lily choked at that.

"Ooh, does Lily know something about that?" Colgate asked excitedly.

"No!" Remus snapped, glaring at Lily who was trying to calm down. "I don't l—like anyone. I don't."

"Methinks the lady doth protests too much!" Inkwood insisted.

"Actually, the li—the line is 'the lady doth p-protests too much, methinks'," he grumbled. "And I am not prot—testing too much! I—I don't!"

Colgate and Inkwood looked dubious, while Magpie's eyes were huge, and Lily managed to breathe again. "I don't know anything," she said loftily which didn't really help.

Sirius looked at Lily then back at Remus. "Iiiiiissss something going on orrrr…?"

"No!" Remus folded his arms. "I do not. Have. A. Crush. On. Anyone."

"How about we move on?" Lily suggested, which was the wrong thing to say since that meant everyone was even more suspicious, wanting to know why they should move on, and pressuring Remus about if he did fancy anyone or not. He felt his face going redder and redder, and slight panic bubbled up as his mind kept going to Sirius and Prewett even though those were ABSOLUTELY NOT CRUSHES! Even though he knew Lily was thinking about what happened last autumn, when she insisted he had a crush on Sirius (of course, she didn't know it was Sirius, she assumed it was some girl which it should be).

He was on the verge of simply lying, of giving Tanaka's name even though he didn't understand why so many boys thought she was pretty, when James suddenly spoke up. "Not everyone has a crush on someone," he said, adjusting his glasses. "I don't have a crush on anyone. It seems dumb to assume Remus does because he says he doesn't. You're basically calling him a liar." Then he frowned. "Slytherins are cool."

That shut everyone up. Sirius quietly apologized, saying he hadn't meant to upset him. Remus just shrugged, grateful that James had come to his rescue. The game proceeded, and Remus didn't say 'truth' again. He only did dares which included eating half a grapefruit James got from the kitchens, then he had to sit on an armchair and try to levitate it. He managed to get it a foot or two off the ground which impressed everyone.

At one point he wanted a little revenge on Inkwood since she had been the most adamant about the whole crush thing, and he turned an empty sweet box into a slimy horned slug, daring her to lick it. She did, ending up gagging and having to run off to throw up. That's what you get.

The next time he was chosen it was by Magpie, who dared him to see how far up the girls' staircase he could run. That made him panic more than the fancying-someone question! He wanted to say no because he wasn't sure if the staircase would acknowledge that he was a human boy. It allowed male animals to go up and down without problem. Would it consider him an animal? What if it did, and it didn't turn into a slide? How could he say no when it was a seemingly harmless dare?

He stood in front of the stairs, staring up with fear. Okay, it'll be fine. It'll turn into a slide. His legs felt weak as he backed up. Most of the common room was watching him which made it worse. Merlin, please let the alarm go off! He willed himself to run forward but just stood there, unable to move.

"Come on, Lupin!" Inkwood cheered.

Remus couldn't do it. He took another step back then wrapped an arm around his stomach. "I th—think I'm g-g-going to be sick," he moaned. "I think the—the grapefruit got to me."

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad," James protested. "Uh, Slytherins are cool."

Remus shook his head, running up the boys' staircase and going to the bathroom as if he was going to be sick. He went into one of the stalls and sat down on the closed toilet, head in hands. Coward.

"Remus?"

It was Sirius. Of course it was. "I think I'll be all right," he said, trying to sound sick. "My stomach hurts."

Sirius stood in front of the stall. "You ate the grapefruit ages ago. You heal. If you got sick right after I'd've believed it, but not after forty minutes."

Damn.

"What's wrong?"

Remus sighed, opening the stall door. "I—I don't know if the stairs' alarm will go off for me, all right?"

Sirius cocked his head to one side. "What? Why wouldn't it?"

"It lets male pets go up," he pointed out. "I'm… not human. I—I don't know if it would take that into consideration or not. I don't… I don't know. And with everyone watching like that I c-couldn't risk it!"

"What do you mean? You're human—"

"No, I'm not," he sighed, not wanting to get into that.

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck, brow furrowed. "It probably would go off—"

"Probably?" Remus gave him a look. "I can't risk a 'probably'."

"Right…" Sirius looked like he wanted to argue but then thankfully he didn't. "Well… are you coming back down? You don't have to play anymore, you can just watch."

That's what Remus did, feeling relieved he didn't have to keep playing. Watching was a lot of fun though; he enjoyed watching his friends doing stupid things or revealing secrets.

On the final turn for everyone: Peter had to catch an egg from a good distance which he failed at and the egg splattered on him, Colgate revealed she ate an owl treat once since she was curious about the treat, Sirius had to flirt with a seventh year Prefect who dumped a glass of water on him, James admitted the last time he wet the bed was when he was nine (insisting it was because he had drunk a whole jug of juice and decided not to go to the bathroom before he went to sleep), Lily was dared to try to give James a piggyback ride (she managed to mostly do until he told her to 'giddyup' which was when she chucked him off), Magpie got very flustered and refused to answer when she was asked who the cutest boy in their year was (Remus knew it was Sirius, everyone knew it was Sirius), and last of all, Inkwood was dared to sit in Sirius's lap and kiss him on the cheek.

Inkwood made her way over to Sirius and slid into his lap, giggling. She wrapped her arms around his neck and bent in to kiss his cheek. Sirius turned his head at the last second so they kissed on the lips. Inkwood kissed back then pulled away, acting as if how dare he!

"Better than the first," Sirius said and Inkwood smacked him. "Maybe we could have a third sometime."

"Sirius Black!" She acted all embarrassed, though it was obvious she was very pleased.

That also seemed to signal the end of the game; besides, it was getting late and they all wanted supper. The girls went on ahead while the boys took their time going down to the Great Hall, Sirius swaggering a bit over kissing Inkwood after he had Remus straighten his hair out, since he couldn't stand it a second longer. After the girls got far enough ahead, Peter wanted to know what happened with Remus and the stairs, so he reluctantly told them how he felt. James and Peter both agreed that they were sure the alarm would go off, why wouldn't it? Remus was human, no matter what he thought of himself.

"If you want we could try it sometime," James offered.

"How? No matter what time it is, there's usually someone there," Remus argued.

James thought about this but it was Sirius who came up with the idea. "You could be under the invisibility cloak."

Remus hunched over, sticking his hands in his pockets to hide the fact they were shaky. "And if the alarm goes off with seemingly no one there?"

"I'll wait at the bottom," Sirius said. "Then everyone will think I set it off."

Remus had to admit it was a logical plan, however he didn't want to think about it—didn't want to attempt it. Because if it didn't go off then he knew he'd end up extremely miserable. Of course he felt rather miserable now, which was made worse when Sirius began talking about kissing, teasing James about wanting to dare him to kiss Lily, asking Peter who he wanted to kiss, and tried to get Remus to say who he'd kiss. Remus insisted he didn't want to kiss anyone, no not even Lily. Thank Merlin the conversation changed, and Remus walked in silence doing his best not to think about what it might be like to kiss Sirius.

/\/\/\

Naturally, the Marauders stayed up very late, though most the Gryffindor tower did since everyone was excited that the exams were over. When the four of them headed up to their dorm at three-thirty in the morning, there were still over a dozen students still awake.

The boys stayed up for another hour in James's bed, then Peter and Remus both went to their own beds, while James and Sirius stayed up even later and wound up falling asleep together in James's bed. They were still curled up together when James's alarm went off at nine in the morning. Remus woke up with a jerk, blinking sleepily at his open curtains.

Shit, he thought, realizing he had forgotten to close them. I am SO glad I didn't have any nightmares!

"Why is your alarm going off at nine?" Sirius moaned while James was laying across Sirius's stomach to reach the clock on his desk.

"I don't know!" James moaned right back, managing to turn the clock off then slumping down, still on top of Sirius. "Goodnight."

Remus closed his curtains then flopped back down, yawning loudly as he prepared to go back to sleep. We were going to do something, he thought sleepily as he began drifting off.

Then he sat upright, realizing. The pit! He looked at his curtains, wondering if he should wake them up or not. No, he decided, settling back once more. We have all day.

Sleeping didn't work so well. He tossed and turned, drifting in and out for about half an hour until he knew he wouldn't be able to properly go back to sleep again. Being careful not to wake the others, he tiptoed to the bathroom to get ready for the day but while he was in there he heard Sirius come in.

"Morning!" Sirius said cheerfully.

Remus felt awkward. Why the hell did his friends find it… okay to talk to someone while they were showering? Remus was standing there naked, he didn't want to carry on a conversation. "Um, g—good morning. Couldn't sleep?"

"Not with James's elbow in my throat."

By ten-thirty all the Marauders were awake, and ready to go check out the tunnels. After some food, of course. James and Remus went to the Pits Passage while Sirius and Peter went to get food from the Great Hall, since James had his broom with him (though Remus brought the last of James's LiftAways with him, in case they were needed). James flew them all over to the respective pit and they ate there, occasionally one of them peering into the darkness.

"No whispers," Peter said, sounding relieved.

"It might not happen," Remus pointed out, hoping it would happen. He hadn't been able to do any research, but he really wanted to find the source!

"Probably a ghost," James said, shoving an entire scone in his mouth. He kept talking, or trying to, with crumbs falling everywhere. Once he swallowed he tried again. "What are we doing later? Working on Operation Overgrowth? The potion takes a week to make so we should start that, in case."

"Yeah, we can start the potion tonight," Peter said, wiping jam off on his shirt. "Oops."

Remus looked down realizing he had crumbs and a bit of gravy on him then looked at Sirius, the only one who managed to eat without getting all messy. He was, as usual, absolutely perfect including his hair which was pulled back in a ponytail and back to its usual wavy appearance.

"Do I have something on me?" Sirius asked when he noticed Remus staring.

Remus indicated himself and the other two. "No, you don't, that's what's funny."

They finished eating, wiping their hands (and shirts) off on napkins before standing at the edge of the pit. Remus sent a magelight down, and the tunnel was definitely not visible. James took him down first and was excited when he saw there was, in fact, a tunnel.

Within minutes all four were down in the pit, looking at the tunnel with a mixture of excitement (James and Sirius), intrigue (Remus), and fear (Peter).

"Are you sure it's safe?" Peter asked, shifting from foot to foot. "It doesn't seem very safe. It's really small. What if it collapses like the other tunnel?"

"Lumos," the other three chorused then went into the tunnel.

"Guys come on!" Peter whined. "Augh! Fine. Lumos."

"This is so bloody COOL!" James shouted as soon as they reached the first junction. "Are there many of these?"

"A few," Remus promised. "W—I went down that way last time."

Sirius pointed straight ahead. "Let's go this way then!"

Remus put up a magelight before they went on. There was room comfortably for them to walk in a line though it was too cramped for there to be two next to each other. James led the way with Remus behind him, Peter behind him since Peter point blank refused to be at the end, and Sirius was at the rear. Which turned out to be a mistake.

"Can you hear that?" Sirius asked suddenly and everyone stopped. "I hear whispering."

Remus tilted his head, trying to hear but not hearing anything. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Sirius whispered. "It sounds close."

"Wh—what?!" Peter squeaked.

"It sounds… like it's getting closer… it sounds…. YAAA!" Sirius grabbed Peter around the waist and Peter screamed, bolting forward, knocking into Remus and James, sending all three of them to the floor. Sirius doubled over with laughter while his friends tried to untangle themselves from each other.

"That wasn't funny!" Peter sobbed.

"Sirius!" Remus chided.

Sirius wiped tears off his cheeks. "That was hilarious!"

Peter refused to walk in front of Sirius, so he went ahead of Remus. "If you try anything like that with me, I'll find a way to permanently curl your hair," Remus threatened.

Sirius poked him in the ribs. "Dementor."

Except after a couple more turns, Remus did start to hear the whispering. He stopped, Sirius bumping into him. "N—nothing," he insisted, knowing if he mentioned it then Peter would get scared again. But it didn't take long for them to hear the whispering too.

James stared ahead at the darkness, wand raised. "Um. Is that—is—is that the sound you heard?"

"Yes," Remus said.

Peter began shaking. "No. This isn't—let's go back, this is spooky! Ohhhhhh!"

"It's fine," James said over his shoulder. "You've got us here."

Remus pushed ahead of Peter and James. "It's coming from that way, come on."

This time he led the way, going down the dark, cramped turns as the whispering grew louder. It sounded like someone trying to talk, someone trying to… say something. But they were sort've muffled and the words mixed together. It was like an auditory version of a piece of parchment that's had water blur out the ink.

"Hello?" Sirius called out, and the whispering stopped.

"Thanks a lot," Remus grumbled.

But after another turn, the whispering started up again—this time very loudly, as if they were very near. Peter began half-crying, clinging to Sirius as they pressed on. Remus's hair was on end as they came to another junction. The whispering was coming from the right and they turned that down corridor. The whispering was definitely coming from that one!

"What do you think it is?" James asked softly.

"I don't know," Remus admitted.

They went forward. The corridor curved into practically a U-bend and when they took the turn they found themselves facing a person.

She was just very slightly transparent; Remus could only barely see something white behind her. Unlike ghosts, she was in full color. Dark hair, yellow robes. She also floated a few inches off the ground.

All four boys froze, crowding up against one another as they stared up at this woman. Her eyes weren't focusing on anything and her lips were moving. Then suddenly her head jerked down as her eyes darted right to the boys and she stopped whispering, staring silently at them.

All four boys jumped back and Remus felt very, very afraid.

Her mouth opened and she began talking, this time the words a little more coherent.

"… help…" she wheezed out.

That's when Remus saw she had a ghostly dagger stuck in her chest, and ghostly blood dripping down. There were faint runes inscribed on the handle of the dagger.

"… killed me…"

Remus was pulled back a step. All four boys were clutching one another and since Peter pulled back, they were all pulled back.

"… used my death…"

Someone was whimpering, someone was clutching his shoulder so hard it hurt, and someone was breathing rapidly; Remus didn't think he was breathing at all. His heart had stopped as he stared, gaze going from the dagger back up to her face.

"…finally found…"

Her arms stretched out causing more ghostly blood to drip down, disappearing once it hit the floor.

"…finally free…"

She lifted her arms, head tipping back as if she could see something above her. Then she faded into nothing.

The white blurry thing behind her came into focus.

It was a skeleton, with a dagger protruding from its ribs.

All four boys screamed, the noise piercing Remus's ears; not that he really noticed since he was screaming too.

Peter took off running, and the others began running too. Remus stopped screaming, somehow taking in a deep gulping breath of air before shouting that Peter had turned the wrong way. Remus hadn't put a magelight at the beginning of this turn and Peter went the opposite way they came.

"PEEETEERRR!" Remus cried out.

James and Sirius had stopped screaming but Peter still screamed, turning down another corridor, not knowing where he was going. After another turn Remus realized where they were and panic spiked hard.

"NO PETER!" he shouted. "NO! STOP! NOT THAT WAY!"

Peter took another turn and ran right at the broken pipe, which was big enough for a person to fall into—which he promptly did. His scream went so high-pitched it broke into nothing as he fell.

"PETER!" James grabbed hold of his arm just as he slipped downwards. Unfortunately, all that happened was James was pulled forward into the pipe with Peter.

"JAMES!" Sirius dove, grabbing James's leg and was pulled right down into the pipe.

Remus grabbed Sirius, hoping his strength would be enough to hold them all up. He was yanked forward and for one brief second he teetered at the top—

Then the weight of all his friends pulled him down into the pitch black pipe.