Friday 27th October, 9:00 am

Peering out from the shadowed alcove he'd concealed himself in, Mundungus observed the group of Gryffindors leaving the dungeon room and breaking into a jog as they headed towards the stairs.

Pulling out his wand, he cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and crept along behind them as they made their way up to the Entrance Hall and began the laborious climb to the seventh floor. Black was clutching a crystal in his hand. But since they weren't allowed to take them inside the Common Rooms, Mundungus was willing to bet his meagre life savings they would be handing off their prize to an older student. Chances were good that said student would then travel to their camp alone, or perhaps with a single companion, and that would be his opportunity.

When the group reached the portrait which he knew hid the entrance to Gryffindor's Common Room—everyone knew where their Common Room was, they barely hid it at all—Mundungus hung back. Most of the group entered, but Black and his friends remained outside, waiting. Less than a minute passed before the portrait swung open again and two taller Gryffindors emerged. Black handed the crystal over to the male of the pair and said something. The female responded, and the male nodded, putting the crystal into the pocket of his robes. Perfect.

Black and his friends disappeared through the hole behind the portrait, and the two older Gryffindors started down the corridor towards him. Mundungus swiftly pulled out his wand and lifted the charm that was keeping him hidden. He'd need to be visible for this. Ducking out from the alcove he was watching from, he strode in their direction, keeping his eyes firmly on the floor, and collided with the male Gryffindor prefect head-on, sending him sprawling to the floor.

'Ah, sorry. Didn't see you there,' Mundungus said, slipping his hand into the pocket of the boy's robes. He wrapped his fingers around the sharp edges of the crystal and pulled his hand back out, shoving it quickly into his own pocket, before covering the action by scrambling to his feet and offering his other hand to help the boy up. 'Did I hurt you?'

The boy shook his head and took Mundungus' outstretched hand. 'No, I'm fine. You should watch where you're going, though.'

'You're right. No 'arm done, though. 's'all good. All good.' Mundungus said, pulling the boy up, though really he did all the work, being rather too large for Mundungus' small muscles. 'Must dash. I'm in a bit of a hurry. You know 'ow it is.' he said, before waving cheerily and striding off out of sight.

Mundungus grinned to himself and slipped his hand back into his pocket, feeling the cold surface of the crystal resting against his palm. That couldn't have gone more smoothly. But there was no time to gloat; he needed to disappear. The Gryffindors could notice they'd been robbed at any moment, and it would be immediately apparent who the culprit was. With that in mind, he spent ten minutes hurrying around corners, taking secret passages he knew about, and descending every staircase he came to, putting as much distance between them and him as he could. Once satisfied that they wouldn't be able to find him easily, he made his way back to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

After tapping on the barrel to open it, he yelled down the tunnel, 'Got us another crystal, Prim!' A few minutes later, the Hufflepuff prefect emerged, and Mundungus pulled the crystal out and held it up. The light from the wall-torches danced along the glittering edges, causing eerie reddish shadows to play across her face.

Primrose grinned. 'Oh, fabulous. Well done, Dung.' She took the crystal and examined it. 'I thought Gryffindor had already lost theirs to Ravenclaw.'

Mundungus nodded. 'They 'ad. This'n 'ere were Slytherin's. The Gryffindors won it, and I... well. Let's say I commandeered it.'

She laughed and winked at him. 'Nice. That means we're drawing with Ravenclaw, then. Unless something else has happened, we haven't heard about yet.'

'No one worked out how to get through their barrier yet?'

'No. We've got a team on that and another searching for the teacher's camp, though.' She smirked. 'I'll get this to our camp. It's on the second floor today, so it won't take long. Great job, Dung.'

Saturday 28th October, 6:30 pm

Regulus bit the inside of his cheek as he approached the stone gargoyle. Did he really want to do this? It was the right thing to do. He was quite certain of that, but it felt like such a monumental betrayal.

'Are you going to stand there staring at me all day?'

The deep, grating voice made Regulus jump, but he collected himself quickly. 'I would like to speak with the Headmaster,' he said to the gargoyle. 'Is he available?'

The statue blinked at him twice before inclining his head. 'You may go up.'

Regulus bowed politely as the gargoyle slid sideways to reveal a spiral staircase hidden behind. 'Thank you.'

He took his time climbing the stairs, trying to get his thoughts in order. Would Dumbledore even care? He had to, surely? There was no way he could think what was happening was acceptable.

The doors at the top were closed. Should he knock? The headmaster knew he was coming, but maybe he should knock, anyway. It was the polite thing to do.

He reached out, but before his fist could connect with the wood, Dumbledore's voice sounded from inside. 'You may enter, Mister Black.'

How did he know? Did the gargoyle tell him? He pushed the door open and walked into the strangest office he'd ever seen. There were mysterious silver instruments dotted around, some puffing out little clouds of smoke, others making irritating clicking or pinging sounds, and one that periodically emitted a high-pitched whistle—Regulus wasn't sure how Dumbledore could stand it. As he approached the claw-footed desk, he spotted the Sorting Hat perched on a shelf behind and shot it a scowl. Annoyingly, Dumbledore smiled.

'Are you unhappy with your placement?'

Making a split-second decision, Regulus answered honestly. 'Yes, but I know that can't be changed. That's not why I'm here.'

'Then, please, take a seat, and tell me what's on your mind.'

'Thank you.' Regulus sat in one of the chairs facing the desk and made himself comfortable, taking a moment to arrange his robes properly before looking up. 'I'm not sure where to start.'

Dumbledore gave him an encouraging smile. 'I usually find the beginning to be a good place.'

'Very well.' Regulus glanced at his hands, trying to work out what would constitute "the beginning" but it all really came down to one person. He looked back up, meeting Dumbledore's eyes. 'Have you heard of a man called Lord Voldemort?'

Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up, and he leaned forward in his seat. 'Indeed, I have. But where might you have heard of him?'

Good. That cut out a large part of the explanation, and Dumbledore definitely seemed worried. 'I've just come from a meeting held by some of the older Slytherins. They're... encouraging others to support him and his cause. But I'm... concerned.'

'An appropriate response, I'm sure,' Dumbledore said. 'But what specifically concerns you?'

Regulus frowned, attempting to put his feelings into words. 'It's difficult to explain. They speak of a future where magic is no longer secret, and they make it sound wonderful, but the things they describe don't match what I've heard elsewhere. It's like they're trying to trick everyone.'

Dumbledore nodded and settled back in his seat. 'What else have you heard?'

Shifting in his seat, Regulus swallowed. There was no way around it. All he could do was hope his mother never found out. 'My family... They often talk about politics during dinner. I don't usually listen. It's boring. But my cousin Bellatrix was talking about a revolution led by a man she called the Dark Lord, and it sounded interesting. I'm sure it's the same person, but the things she was talking about weren't mentioned at the meeting today. They didn't say anything about ruling over the muggles. Or about stripping the mudbl-' Regulus cut himself off before completing the offensive word. 'er... muggleborns of their right to own wands.'

'I remember Bellatrix,' Dumbledore said, kindly ignoring Regulus' slip of the tongue. 'She's close to Voldemort?'

Regulus nodded. 'Yes, I think so. She seemed to know a lot about his plans.'

'Interesting. Tell me, how do you feel about the "revolution" considering what you've heard?'

'I... I don't like it. It's not right.' Regulus wrung his hands in his lap and took a deep breath before continuing. What he was about to say would amount to the worst kind of blasphemy in his mother's mind. 'I've watched the muggleborns in class, and they're just as capable as me, some of them even more so.' He paused and then added at a whisper, 'And I don't think muggles are beneath us, either. If they can have magical children, then the magic must be in their blood too. It's not their fault they can't use it.'

'You're obviously a smart young man,' Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling with something that looked like approval. 'Thank you for coming to me today. I wonder...' Dumbledore looked at him for a moment, seeming to gaze through his eyes and into his soul, and then shook his head. 'No. That wouldn't be fair.'

'Sir?'

Dumbledore clasped his hands together on the desk and peered at him over the top of his half-moon spectacles. 'I had thought to ask you to continue attending these meetings and report back to me. But I realised that doing so could put you at considerable risk if you were discovered. It would be wrong to put you in that position. My apologies for even thinking it.'

Regulus resisted the urge to ball his hands into fists, but couldn't keep his jaw from clenching. Did Dumbledore think him a coward too? With a great deal of effort, he forced himself to relax and speak calmly. 'I'm not afraid. If it's important, I'll do it.'

'It may well be critical, but it's far too much to ask of a student.'

'You're not asking. I'm offering.' Smirking a little, Regulus allowed his inner Sirius to take over and winked at the headmaster. 'No one will suspect me, anyway. I'm the good brother.'

Dumbledore chuckled. 'Indeed.' He sighed. 'Well, if you're determined, I will advise you to tell no one about this meeting or your status as... spy. Doing so may prove dangerous if the situation escalates the way, I think, we both expect it to.'

Regulus inclined his head. Did the man think him stupid? 'Of course, Professor.'

Saturday 28th October, 5:30 pm

'What do you think it is?' James asked, leaning closer to the shimmering barrier sealing the tower room's entrance. Behind it, the two crystals (currently adorned with Ravenclaw blue and bronze) were sitting on a table in the middle of the room in plain sight. Taunting them.

Internally rolling his eyes, Remus reached out and pulled James back by his shoulder. 'Not a clue, but best not get too close, yeah?'

'Right. Wouldn't want to set anything off.' James pushed his glasses back up his nose and blinked at him. 'Ideas?'

Remus smirked and reached into his bag. They'd found Ravenclaw's camp a few minutes ago after spending most of the day searching. There were no guards present as far as they could tell, and the only thing protecting the room, and the crystals inside, seemed to be the magical force field across the entrance. And Remus had just the thing to find out what it was, and hopefully how to get past it.

He pulled out the stone discs he'd spent most of the school year working on. 'Think it's about time for a trial run?'

'Is it ready?' Sirius asked, grinning.

'I'm pretty sure I got all the problems worked out.' Remus fiddled with the rings, running his fingers over the carved runes before looking up at Sirius. 'But I think I'd rather test it on something other than the forbidden door.'

'Go on, then,' James said, rubbing his hands together. 'I can't wait to see this in action.'

Remus laughed. 'You've already seen it.'

Waving his hands dismissively, James shook his head. 'That was just the first two layers. This is the finished article. The culmination of your weeks of hard work. The result of your genius. I'm excited, so get on with it!'

'Alright, alright,' Remus said, laughing it off but secretly enjoying James' enthusiasm, which always sounded so genuine. He held the disc up as close to the barrier as he dared and aimed his wand at it. 'Deprehendere.'

Immediately, the runes on the innermost ring flashed, and they watched as the rune for "Charm" remained lit while the others went out. The silver lines connecting the rune to the next layer sparkled briefly as the magic rushed down them, and then three runes on the next ring began flashing.

'It's a charm,' Remus told the others as they waited. When the runes settled and two remained alight, he continued. 'Both defensive and neutral. Nothing offensive, though.'

'That's good,' Peter said.

On the next ring, four of the runes flashed, but only three remained lit.

'Detection, alarm, and barrier,' Remus told them.

'What does it detect?' James asked.

'That's what the next layer will tell us,' Remus replied, watching the nine runes flashing. When they settled, he translated. 'The barrier detects touch, the alarm will sound elsewhere, probably in their common room, and it requires a key to enter.'

'A key?' Sirius asked. 'Fuck. How are we going to find that?'

Tucking the detector back into his bag, Remus shook his head. 'Not an actual key, just something the magic is keyed to. An item that confirms the person is authorised to enter. It could be anything, but, considering this was set-up by the Ravenclaws, I'm betting it's both smart and simple.'

'They'll want to make sure anyone from their house can get in to drop off a new crystal,' Peter said, frowning. 'So it's probably something all of them will have.'

'If it's affection for the rules, we're screwed,' Sirius said.

James laughed. 'I don't think you've ever said anything more true.'

'It's an item, not a personality trait,' Remus said, rolling his eyes. 'At a guess, it's probably Ravenclaw school-robes.'

'Well, that's easy. We can grab some from the laundry,' Sirius said.

After a quick discussion, it was decided that—since they were the fittest—Sirius and James would make the trip to the kitchens, while Remus and Peter would stay behind to guard their discovery. The tense wait was spent in silence, neither of them wanting to draw attention to their location, but no one came, and Sirius and James returned half an hour later triumphantly carrying four sets of robes decorated with the Ravenclaw Crest and their colours around the collar.

Each of them slipped a set on over their weekend clothes before once again facing the shimmering barrier.

Remus took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing.' He walked forward slowly, and just as his foot would have made contact, the barrier melted away and allowed him through. Thank Merlin for that.

Behind him, Sirius whooped and bounded across the threshold, immediately reaching for the crystals on the table in the middle of the circular room.

'Wait!' Remus shouted.

Sirius froze in place, balanced on one leg with his hand outstretched, fingers less than an inch from the surface of the crystal. He wobbled a little before regaining his balance and returning his other foot to the floor. 'What?'

'This all seems too easy.'

James and Peter had come in behind them and circled around to the other side of the table, and James glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. 'You think it's a trick?'

'No harm in checking,' Remus said, shrugging and pulling the magic detector back out of his bag.

He held it over the crystals and, a minute later, it was confirmed. They were fakes, transfigured from some other small object, and enchanted to set off some kind of restraining spell and an alarm on contact.

'Bloody hell. Good call, Moony,' James said, his face pale from the near-miss. 'How're we going to find the real ones, though? This place could be full of traps.'

Remus looked around. The room was small by Hogwarts' standards, but it contained several tables and benches that could hold crystals. 'Guess we're going to have to scan everywhere.'

Sirius groaned. 'That'll take forever!'

In reality, it took about forty-five minutes to find the hiding place, avoiding several more traps along the way; the Ravenclaws truly were devious. The crystals turned out to be tucked into the corner of a windowsill, concealed with a powerful camouflage spell that lifted when Remus picked them up.

They left quickly after that, pulling off the Ravenclaw robes as soon as they passed the barrier spell and ran down to the seventh floor. They left the tower and headed towards the Gryffindor Common Room at speed, hurtling past the headmaster's gargoyle-guardian and almost headlong into Regulus' retreating back, barely managing to prevent a collision.

'Shit. Sorry, almost knocked you over,' Remus said, gasping for breath after the mad dash. There was something... Remus took another deep breath under the guise of still being out of oxygen. Yes. There was something... wrong with Regulus' scent.

Before Remus could say anything else, though, Sirius spoke up. 'Er. Hey, Reg. Can we... talk?'

Saturday 28th October, 7 pm

Sirius held his breath as he waited for Reggie to respond. He'd wanted to fix this for weeks, but it had taken a talking-to from James to force him into facing it. Now he was here, he was terrified of being rejected again.

'Does anyone know you're here?' Regulus asked. His eyes were darting around, scanning the corridor, but otherwise he seemed perfectly calm. He always had been more adept at keeping his emotions hidden than Sirius.

Frowning at him, Sirius shook his head. 'No... I don't think so?'

'Good. We can talk, but no one can find out I spoke to you.'

'Why? What's going on?'

'Not here.' Regulus began striding back up the corridor the way they'd come, and Sirius turned to his friends.

'I'll meet you back in the dorm, yeah?'

James reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently. 'Yeah, of course. It's going to be fine, don't worry.'

Sirius gave a small smile in response, then nodded to Remus and Peter before speeding after Reggie. Following him into an empty classroom, he closed the door and turned to face his brother.

'Look, Reg, I don't care that you're in Slytherin. Really, I don't. I was disappointed, but you're still my brother, and I... care about you.'

'That's...' Regulus looked at the ground. 'Thank you. I appreciate that.'

'Why are you so afraid of being seen with me? Mother thinks I'm complying now—' Regulus winced, and Sirius quickly amended. 'I understand why you told her that. I'm not mad anymore. But I don't understand why you won't talk to me.'

'It's complicated,' Regulus said, frowning. 'Mother thinks you're complying with her wishes, but the other Slytherins see you associating with those half-blood friends of yours—'

Sirius growled, but Reggie waved him off.

'I don't care, but they do. They consider you a blood-traitor—'

'What the fuck is a blood-traitor?'

Regulus rolled his eyes. 'There's no need to be crass. It just means you're betraying the purity of your family's blood status.'

'That's ridiculous.'

'I don't disagree. But they'll make life difficult for me if I'm seen with you. And I have to live with them.'

'Right.' Sirius felt sick. School was supposed to be an escape for them both, but Reggie was still having his choices controlled even within the walls of Hogwarts. And the only thing Sirius could do to help was to leave him alone. 'I'll stop trying to talk to you, then.'

'I'm sorry.'

'Yeah, me too. I'd thought being here together would be better than at home, but it's worse.' Sirius rubbed his hands over his face and growled in frustration. 'I promise, Reg, one day, we'll be free.'

'Yeah, maybe.'

'We will. I'll make sure of it.' When he became head of the family, he'd put a stop to all of the bullshit. Everyone would be allowed to be friends with whoever they wanted, marry whoever they wanted, and do whatever they wanted.

Regulus chuckled. 'I actually believe you.'

'Good.' Sirius held his arms open for a hug. 'Guess this is goodbye, then.'

Regulus accepted the gesture and stepped into his arms, resting his chin on Sirius' shoulder. 'It's just see you later.'

'Yeah. See you later, Reggie.'

Sunday 29th October, 11 pm

Filius giggled to himself as he crept through the castle. Albus had told them not to try to win, but after hearing some Gryffindors bragging about stealing two crystals from the Ravenclaws yesterday, he hadn't been able to resist. To make it fairer, he'd decided to launch his attack at night when the camp would be guarded by seventh-years. They were practically fully-fledged witches and wizards at this point. Plus, there would be multiple of them against only one of him. It should make for a pretty even match. Albus couldn't complain about that, surely.

He didn't have far to go. The Gryffindors were camping in a secret passage two corridors away from his quarters. He'd heard them when he was patrolling the night before but hadn't let them know they'd been found, so they should still be there.

Eyeing the blank stretch of wall he knew concealed a hidden passage, Filius considered his options. A disillusionment charm would be useful but struck him as a little unfair. His age and experience gave him an advantage; it was only right he gave his opponents a sporting chance. After a quick look around for witnesses, he pressed his ear up against the wall to listen and picked up faint whispers from within.

'It could have just been someone walking past on patrol.'

'It's past eleven. No one patrols this late.'

'Filch does.'

'Seriously, does that man ever sleep?'

'Shh.'

'You shh.'

'Boys, stop bickering. They might hear you.'

So he'd lost the element of surprise, then. His approach must have triggered a detection charm of some kind—clumsy of him, but not the end of the world. The guards were alert and ready for an attack, but not one from a professor. And therein lay his advantage. No doubt they would hesitate when they recognised him.

Drawing his wand, Filius reached out and tugged on the torch to his left, causing the wall before him to dissolve and revealing the shadowed faces of four seventh-year Gryffindors, three boys and a girl.

'Evening,' he said, politely inclining his head. They all stared at him, clearly unsure how to react. Taking advantage of their confusion, he waved his wand. 'Expelliarmus!'

All four of their wands quivered in their hands, but only one flew to him. He caught it deftly and twirled it between his fingers. 'Disappointing, Cravin. No one should be able to take your wand so easily.'

The boy flushed. 'I wasn't expecting you to attack me, sir.'

'Well, that was silly. We're in a competition.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Stupefy,' Miss Kearns cried suddenly, apparently hoping to take Filius off-guard.

Unfortunately for her, he'd been fully expecting it. Having taught the girl for just over six years, he knew she wasn't one to wait around when given a task. Even if said task was to incapacitate a teacher. He easily deflected her attack before shooting her an approving smile. And the battle began in earnest.

Once they were sure they wouldn't be in trouble for attacking a teacher, the students didn't hold back, and their spells flew thick and fast. Filius hadn't had such fun since his duelling days. He was holding back, of course, making sure to only use spells and concepts taught at school, not those he'd learned since, as that wouldn't be a fair fight.

Being three against one, the odds were stacked against him. But Filius used the disarmed student to his advantage, targeting him so his fellows would be forced to defend him. Their Gryffindor sense of honour didn't allow them to do anything else.

Before long, Filius had them on the retreat. Backing up fast, they continued to throw spells in his direction, but in their desperation, their aim was skewed, and their control was fluctuating. Some of their spells fizzled out before they even made it halfway across the space between them.

They were tiring from the intense battle, but Filius had yet to even break a sweat. It was nice to know he was still in such good shape, after so long without a proper duel to test his skills. Gathering his magic, he sent one final pulse into his wand and cast a group restraining charm. Ropes emerged from the end of his wand, snaking towards the four students through the air and wrapping themselves tightly around them, pinning their arms to their bodies. They struggled uselessly for a few moments before giving up and glaring at Filius with annoyance and defeat.

'There's no need to look at me like that. You put up a good fight. You should be proud of yourselves.'

'We still lost, though,' Kearns said.

'And we only got those crystals yesterday,' Cravin added.

Filius shrugged. 'I haven't found them yet. I don't suppose you know where they are?' He observed their eyes as he spoke. And, to his delight, only one of the four managed to keep their gaze from flickering to the hiding place.

'Ah, over here, then? How do I open it, I wonder?' He approached the part of the wall they'd glanced at and ran his hands over it, feeling the magic embedded within tingle up his arms. It only took a couple of revealing charms to figure out the method of concealment. A hole had been dug into the stone wall, the crystals hidden within, and then concealed with a false wall—transfigured to look like the surrounding stone.

Filius pocketed his prize and sauntered to the exit, lazily flicking his wand at the captive students as he left to loosen the ropes restraining them. It would take them a few minutes to wriggle free, and by then, he would be well away, secreting his newly acquired crystals with the one they were given at the beginning of the game, putting them in the lead. Albus was going to be cross.

Monday 30th October, 4:30 pm

Mundungus was not enjoying being the centre of attention in the Hufflepuff Common Room. More of a lurker of shadows than a stage performer, he felt extremely uncomfortable with so many eyes on him. But he'd discovered the location of the teacher's camp, and unable to figure out how to get in, he'd been forced to ask for help. Now everyone was treating him like he was some kind of celebrity, and he really didn't like it.

Primrose was putting together a team consisting of all their best people and insisting he be a part of it, despite his protestations.

'You found it, Dung. You have to come.'

'Alright, I'll come. Jus' let me be, woman,' he said, giving in. If there was one thing he hated more than attention, it was nagging.

Satisfied she'd convinced him, Primrose set about organising the team into groups of two and three and instructed each on which route they were to take to reach their destination before sending them out. A large group of students travelling together would draw attention, and they didn't want the other Houses to catch on that they'd found something. Mundungus respected her caution. The game ended the following day, and the utmost care was needed if Hufflepuff were going to win.

Mundungus' trio reached the entrance to the teacher's camp twenty minutes later, after taking a ridiculously circuitous route through the castle, but the rest had yet to enter. The door was hidden behind a tapestry and was inscribed with a series of runes which Mundungus had been unable to decipher, having picked Divination and Muggle Studies for his third-year electives. At the front of the group, three students flicked through textbooks and conferred quietly, obviously attempting to translate them. Mundungus leant back against the wall to wait.

He wasn't waiting long. A few minutes later, one of the three waved for attention. 'We believe the runes read: speak, name, human, potion, luck. Or, speak the name of the person who invented the luck potion.'

'Hold on, I've got my potions textbook here,' someone said.

''No need, it was Zygmunt Budge,' someone else called. And the door swung open.

'Brilliant work, Hufflepuffs,' Primrose said. 'Let's proceed with caution, though. We don't know what will be in there.'

They filed through the door and into a fairly spacious room. Shelves lined the walls, filled with bottles, jars, and vials containing what looked like every potion ingredient in existence. A brewing station was set-up in the centre of the room, complete with cauldron and every possible tool one could need.

'Guessing we have to make a potion?' someone said.

'Yes, but which one,' Primrose answered. 'Check the next door for clues.'

A boy, Mundungus was reasonably sure he was called Thompson, walked over to the door and examined it. 'Looks like arithmancy equations. Anyone any good at that?'

'I've got this one,' Polly said. Mundungus liked Polly. She was always kind to him. 'Give me two minutes.' She walked over to the door, digging through her bag and pulling out her Arithmancy textbook as she went. But when she flipped it open, she frowned. 'Er. Make that five minutes. My textbook is blank.'

'What?'

'Shit!'

'Are they all blank?'

There was a flurry of movement as everyone began digging through their bags and pulling out books-—they'd come prepared; it was the Hufflepuff way—followed by several cries of horror as every book anyone opened was revealed to be as empty as a brand new notebook.

'I made all my notes in these,' said a girl Mundungus didn't know. She was close to tears. 'What am I going to do?'

Mundungus approached her and caught her attention. 'I wouldn' worry, love. It's likely just a charm to make 'em look blank. I doubt they've really been wiped.'

She sniffed and looked up at him. 'Are you sure?'

'Absolutely.' He winked at her. 'Professors wouldn't wanna risk wipin' some rare library book someone snuck outta the restricted section now, would they?'

'Oh. That's true.' She wiped her eyes and smiled at him. 'Thanks.'

'Any time, love. Any time.'

He returned his attention to Polly, who was alternating between frowning at the door and scribbling on a piece of parchment. Three others had joined her and were pointing at what she'd written and offering comments occasionally, causing her to cross things out and replace it with something else.

Ten minutes later, she turned around and took a deep breath. 'We think... think... we're supposed to make a Babbling Beverage.'

'Excellent work, you four,' Primrose said, grinning at them. 'Does anyone remember the ingredients?'

'There're frog brains in it,' someone said. 'I remember because I spilt mine, and Slughorn made me clean it up the muggle way. It was disgusting.'

'Sneezewort,' someone else said. 'Total pain in the arse to chop.'

'Dragon's blood and fluxweed. And I think there's flobberworm mucus too,' the girl Mundungus had comforted said.

Primrose was writing it all down on a sheet of parchment. 'Brilliant. Anything else?' No one said anything, and Primrose looked up. 'No? Alright. Does anyone remember any of the steps? I doubt anyone remembers the whole thing, but maybe we can piece it together.'

It took them fifteen minutes—and the recounting of a few amusing stories as the explanation for why they remembered that particular step—before they managed to cobble together what they hoped was the full recipe.

Two of the students were nominated to make the potion, picked for their competence and ability to improvise—in case the recipe turned out to be wrong—and the rest moved to the side of the room to stay out the way and not cause a distraction.

Half an hour later, one of them filled a vial with the finished potion and held it up. 'Who wants to drink it?'

'How sure are you it's right?' Primrose asked, taking the vial from him.

He shrugged. 'It looks right. It smells right. I'm as sure as it's possible to be.'

Primrose nodded and looked around at everyone, assessing them. 'Whoever takes it won't be able to speak for the next half an hour, so it can't be anyone who's here for their skill in Defence or Charms, Muggle studies, or Herbology.' She frowned. 'Transfiguration doesn't require speech, but you might need to communicate with the rest of us, so you're out too.'

Groaning, Mundungus put his hand in the air. 'Get to the point, Prim. We all know I'm only 'ere 'cause I found it. I'll take the potion.'

'That's not...' She sighed. 'Yes, alright. You probably are the best option. Are you sure you don't mind?'

He walked over and took it, raising it to his mouth before winking at her and downing the contents in one swallow. It tasted disgusting, as most potions do. Considering what was in it, it wasn't all that surprising. He tried not to think about it and approached the door.

'Blee tit boppity frip. Tan limno prew vun,' he said. Well, at least that proves they made the potion right, even if everyone was laughing at him. To be fair, it was funny. He'd be laughing, too, if it was someone else. Reaching out for the handle, he hoped Polly had been right about which potion they needed to open this door. And if she wasn't, he hoped the penalty for being wrong wasn't too horrific.

When the door opened easily, he breathed a sigh of relief. 'Swendigo trill tomay ping,' he said, stepping through the door and into another—completely empty—room. 'Yimminy trobay plimp.'

'There's nothing here,' Primrose said, following him through.

Mundungus rolled his eyes. That's what he'd said. The rest of the Hufflepuffs filed through the door and spread out, looking for clues. The moment the last person crossed the threshold, the door slammed closed, and the lights went out.

The darkness only lasted a moment, as twenty pinpricks of white light appeared, evenly spaced around the room's circumference, and rapidly grew into glowing balls. As they watched, the lights elongated until they were roughly the size of a human, swelling at the top and growing an appendage on either side. They were surrounded.

'Swingle trim,' he said.

'They're people,' Primrose said. 'It's a battle room.'

It was a clever design. Had someone attempted to raid this camp alone, they would have been helpless against the conjured army, unable to defend themselves due to the Babbling Beverage. As it was, the army was no match for the Hufflepuffs, who outnumbered them, and they dispatched them in seconds, plunging them back into darkness.

'That was easy,' Primrose said. 'Great job, everyone. Did the door open?'

'No.'

'Huh. There must be another clue somewhere.'

'Hey, look up!'

Mundungus did so and gasped. Looking at the ceiling was like looking through a telescope at the night sky. It was stunning.

Primrose groaned. 'I'm guessing this is our clue. I'm pants at astronomy. Anyone here any good?'

There were a few murmurs of assent, but no one claimed to be brilliant at it. Mundungus wasn't particularly great at the subject. But he was good at noticing when things were wrong and the ceiling was wrong.

It took a few minutes of staring, but eventually, he spotted it. Cassiopeia was missing.

'Blindi poost benifa,' he said, groaning when the words came out as gibberish. He'd have to write it. 'Grondi por.' He rifled through his bag for a piece of parchment and then realised he couldn't light his wand to see what he was writing.

Luckily, several people nearby realised what he was doing, and they all lit their wands and directed the light at his parchment. He grinned at them in thanks and scrawled his message, handing it to Primrose.

'Cassiopeia is missing,' she read. She glanced over to the door, but it hadn't opened. The person standing closest tried the handle, but it didn't budge.

'Maybe we have to add the constellation?' someone suggested.

'Good idea,' Primrose said. 'Anyone know a charm for that?'

'I do, but I don't know where to put it,' someone else said.

Primrose smiled. 'Not a problem. Let's figure it out.'

They spent several minutes working out the exact position Cassiopeia would be, in conjunction with the positions of the other constellations. Then the girl who knew the charm added the stars to the ceiling, adjusting until they looked just right.

The door swung open, and the room flooded with light.

'Brilliant work, everyone,' Primrose said. 'We're smashing this.'

The next room was brightly lit, as if the sun was shining in from several unseen locations. In the centre were two long tables, one containing a row of plants in small pots, the other a row of larger, empty pots. A sack of compost lay on the floor beside it.

'This looks simple enough,' Primrose said. 'I guess we have to re-pot the plants?'

'Good old Professor Sprout,' Polly said.

'I don't think it's quite that simple,' someone else said. 'Those are mandrakes, and I don't see any earmuffs.'

'Shit,' Primrose said, before covering her mouth with her hand. 'Sorry, that was rude.'

'We'll have to transfigure ourselves some,' Polly said. 'Shouldn't be too hard.'

The Hufflepuffs all started routing through their things for anything roughly the needed size. They made a pile on the floor of suitable items before setting up an assembly line of the three students who were best at Transfiguration.

The first worked on turning the items into a basic set of earmuffs before handing them to the next, who refined them, making sure they'd be soundproof. The completed earmuffs were then passed to the third student, who took them and adjusted them to fit securely over each student's ears. It took about ten minutes to make sure everyone present was safe from the cries of the Mandrakes, and then they set to work on the repotting.

Half of the students prepared the new pots, while the other half dug out the Mandrakes and transferred them. The whole process didn't take long at all, with so many hands working together. And nobody fainted, which was a testament to the Transfiguration skills of the students who made the earmuffs. When the job was complete, and the door opened, they paused to revert all the earmuffs to their original state and return them to their owners before walking through.

Inside sat three crystals.

'Three? That means we have them all!' Primrose said. 'And we just have to keep them safe until tomorrow afternoon!'

Tuesday 31st October, 4:58 pm

Dorcas stopped halfway down the final staircase, unable to make it any further. Students were packed into the Entrance Hall like muggles on the London tube. She was a little late because of an accident with some nail varnish, necessitating a change of clothes. And she'd told her friends not to wait for her. Spotting Lily's red hair over near the doors to the Great Hall, she waved. Marlene and Mary were with her, and they all waved back, but there was no way she could squeeze through the crowd to reach them. She'd have to watch the announcement from here and meet up with them when they went in for dinner. It wasn't so bad; she had a decent view from here.

Music started playing from the walls, and Dorcas looked around to see a tall, pretty girl wearing purple robes standing regally at the top of the first staircase.

'Can I have your attention, please?' she called, though it was hardly necessary. Most people had already spotted her. 'Thank you. It's time to announce the winner of Hogwarts' First Annual Halloween Capture the Crystal Competition. So if you could all let your nominated spokesperson through to the stairs. That would be most helpful.'

There was some shuffling as people squeezed together to let the Houses' team leaders through. It seemed Dumbledore himself was speaking for the teachers. It was nice that they'd joined in, even if Professor Flitwick had robbed Gryffindor of two crystals, putting them in last place. The Hufflepuffs were all looking a little pleased with themselves. Had they collected enough crystals to be sure they'd won?

'Who wants to present their crystals first?' the girl, who was obviously a Marauder, asked.

After a moment, when no one had volunteered, Professor Dumbledore spoke up. 'Perhaps the teachers should go first? I'm afraid we have nothing to present you with, madam. Our camp was raided at some point yesterday afternoon, and the thieves got away with everything. Quite an achievement, I must say.'

'That's zero points for the Professors. Disappointing, sir. I'd expected you to at least be able to keep a hold of your own crystal for a week.'

Dorcas snorted at the Marauder's cheekiness. That took guts. Dumbledore merely chuckled.

'Quite so. We are rather disappointed in ourselves, I must admit. We will endeavour to do better next year. I believe Professors McGonagall and Flitwick are already making plans.'

'How exciting,' she said. 'Alright, who's next?'

Toby stepped up. 'Gryffindor doesn't have anything, either. I'm afraid we lost ours to Professor Flitwick.'

'There's no shame in losing to an opponent so much more experienced than yourself,' the Marauder said. 'But that's zero points to Gryffindor. Dear me, does anyone have any crystals?'

Both the Slytherin and Ravenclaw spokespeople shook their heads. But the Hufflepuff student, a girl with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, stepped forward grinning.

'We do. All five of them,' she said, pulling yellow and black crystals from her pockets and handing them to the Marauder.

'Well, congratulations, Hufflepuff! What an impressive feat. I believe the teachers are organising a party for your House as a reward. You'll need to speak to Professor Sprout about that. But we would like to present you with this trophy—' She waved her wand, and a golden trophy flew to her hand, which she presented to the Hufflepuff. '—which is yours to keep until next Halloween, where you must win it again.'

'Thank you,' the girl said.

'Let's have a round of applause for Hufflepuff,' the Marauder called out, and the students complied, throwing in a few cheers for good measure.

When the noise died down, Dorcas realised the Marauder had disappeared back up the stairs and out of sight, and the crowd was dispersing into the Hall for the Feast. Word quickly got around that the party was to be held that evening in the Great Hall. And that the Hufflepuffs had invited anyone from the other Houses that wanted to come. Which was basically everyone.

Back in the dorm, Lily, Marlene, and Mary were all talking excitedly about what they were going to wear and how they would style their hair. Dorcas wasn't really into loud music and dancing, though.

'I think I'm just going to stay here, guys. Parties aren't really my style, you know?'

Lily looked up from her trunk, where she was looking for a dress. 'Are you sure?'

'Yeah, the Common Room will be quiet. I can curl up on the sofa in front of the fire and work on the project.'

'Well, alright. If that's what you want to do. You don't mind if we go?' Lily asked.

'No, of course not. I'll help you get ready. What colour do you want your nails painted?'

An hour later, everyone had long since left for the party, and Dorcas was lying on the sofa in front of the fire, exactly as she'd planned. It was just as enjoyable as she'd expected it to be, too. The sound of the portrait opening made her look up, and she peeked over the back of the sofa to see who it was. She was unsurprised to see Lupin. He was a quiet kid. Probably disliked parties as much as she did. However, she was thoroughly perplexed to see Black with him. Marlene's boyfriend—she thought the word with all the malice she could muster—seemed like just the type to thoroughly enjoy loud music and dancing. She ducked back down quickly before they could see her.

'I told you, you didn't have to come back with me,' Lupin said, his voice carrying in the empty room. 'You'll be bored.'

'No, I won't. Besides, I have something for you.'

'That's not a reason. You could have given me whatever it is after the party.'

'With James watching? Nah, he'd take the piss.' Their voices grew fainter as they climbed the stairs to the boy's dormitories. But Dorcas was intrigued. What was that about? Cramming her stuff back into her bag, she scrambled to follow them, moving as quietly as she could.

When she reached their floor, she was dismayed to find they'd closed the door, but that wasn't going to stop her. She reached into her bag, pulled out a hand mirror with a long handle, and cast a weak camouflage spell on it. If they looked directly at it, they'd see it. But hopefully, they wouldn't be looking. She pointed her wand at the bottom of the door and shrank it half an inch to enlarge the gap at the bottom and then lay on her stomach and slid the mirror through, angling it so she could see what was happening inside the room.

Lupin had his back to the door, sitting on his bed, and Black was straightening up from his trunk. He turned around, holding an enormous box of chocolates with a stupid grin plastered across his face. He said something—Dorcas couldn't hear what, thanks to the silencing charms on the dorms—and handed the box to Lupin, who opened it and ate one of the chocolates. His head was tilted back, looking up at Black. Okay, this was kind of weird, but maybe he'd lost a bet and this was the penalty or something.

Black said something else and then bent over and moved his face very close to Lupin's, who was still looking up at him and didn't flinch away from what was absolutely, undoubtedly, a kiss. What the hell? Marlene was going to be pissed.