Tuesday, 28th November 1972

Approaching Professor Tenebris' classroom two days after planning their revenge on the Malediction, Remus applied the same level of caution as they had two weeks ago. There really was no knowing what to expect. The magic detector indicated the door was safe to open, so he nodded to his friends and turned the handle, stepping into… complete darkness. Gods, what was she up to now?

'Come in and close the door, boys,' Professor Tenebris' voice said, echoing around them as if the room was much larger than usual.

'Don't go too far,' Remus said. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up and something didn't feel right. 'Just enough to close the door.'

None of them questioned his instructions, Sirius and James stepping up either side of him and Peter squeezing in behind them before closing the door.

Remus heard the faintest of whispers in the distance, and his wand flew out of his hand. The gasps of his friends told him they'd lost theirs, too.

'This evening you'll be relying on your instincts, and senses other than sight,' Professor Tenebris said, her voice floating out of the darkness all around them. Remus couldn't tell where it was originating. 'People rely too heavily on their eyesight and it makes them miss things.'

'What's our objective?' James asked.

'Before you lies a maze filled with obstacles. Your task is to reach the other side, where I'll be waiting for you.'

'Sounds like a blast,' Sirius said.

Professor Tenebris chuckled. 'I hope it lives up to your expectations, Sirius. You may begin.'

'So, how do you want to do this?' James asked.

'I'll go first,' Remus said. 'Hold on to the back of my robes and form a line behind me.'

'Aren't we supposed to be protecting you?' Sirius asked.

'Not this time,' James said. 'I think this is more about playing to our strengths, and Remus is the best at sensing magic and stuff.'

Sirius sighed. 'Yeah, alright. I just don't like the idea of any of you being the one in danger.'

Remus didn't much like it, either, if he were honest. But he knew Tenebris wouldn't actually harm them. Any consequences for failure would probably be uncomfortable, but not dangerous.

'I'll be fine,' he said.

He felt someone grip the back of his robes and the sounds of shuffling behind him, then a series of 'ready,' from each of his friends.

Remus held his hands out in front of him, and feeling nothing, took a careful step forward. Three steps in, his hands made contact with a wall.

'Why'd you stop?' Sirius whispered into his ear.

'There's a wall,' Remus said, gently running his hands across it. His fingertips tingled at the contact. 'But I don't think it's real.'

'Well, it wouldn't be, would it?' James said. 'Tenebris conjured it all.'

'That's not what it feels like,' Remus said. 'It's different.'

'Use the detector on it,' Peter suggested.

'Can't activate it without my wand.'

'That's definitely something we should all practice,' James said. 'Wandless magic might save our lives one day.'

'Sure, but doesn't help us now,' Sirius said. 'Moons, does it feel dangerous?'

Concentrating on the sensation in his fingertips, Remus shook his head before realising the others couldn't see. 'No. It almost feels like it's welcoming me.'

'Welcoming you where?' Peter asked. 'It's a wall.'

'Through it, I think,' Remus said. Then he gasped as his heart filled with the weight of unfulfilled desire, and he jerked his hands away. 'It wants something.'

'What could a wall want?' James asked.

'Payment,' Sirius said. His voice sounded grim. 'And whatever it wants is going to weaken us. Usually it's blood.'

'How do you know?' James asked.

Remus could almost hear the eye roll in Sirius' voice when he answered. 'How do you think?'

'I doubt the professor wants us to cut ourselves,' Remus said, thinking of what the scent of blood would do to her, especially when they had no way to heal it and they'd be bleeding until they completed the task. 'What else might it be?'

'Magic,' Sirius said. 'Enough to tire you.'

'We should see if there's another way through first,' Peter said. 'This might be a trick.'

'Good idea,' Sirius said 'I'll check left. James, you go right.'

A minute later, they returned with bad news.

'Solid wall all the way,' Sirius said.

'Same my way,' James agreed. 'Do you think if we all give some, we can get away without tiring ourselves too much?'

'No,' Sirius said. 'It needs to be all the same signature.'

'Damn.'

'I should do it,' Peter said. 'I'm not going to be much help in this, so it doesn't matter if I'm tired out.'

'No, it should be me,' Remus said. 'I've got the biggest core, and I'll recover faster.'

'I'm the fittest,' James said. 'So it'll take more to make me tired. I'll do it.'

Sirius laughed. 'I can't think of a good reason, but since the rest of you are volunteering, I think I should do it.'

'Maybe that's it,' Remus said. 'The least obvious choice. Think about it. Tenebris knows us—how we think. And she's always trying to catch us out.'

'So, me then?' Sirius asked. 'Alright.' Remus felt him step up to the wall beside him. 'What do I do?'

'Just place the palm of your wand-hand against the wall and feed your magic to it.'

'Did you have to say "feed?"' Sirius asked with a nervous chuckle. There was a pause, and then, 'How do I know if it's working?'

'No idea,' Remus said. 'Can't say I've ever fed a hungry wall with magic before.'

'Moony!' Sirius whined. 'Stop creeping me out.'

Remus laughed. 'I'm sorry. I'll stop. You're doing great.' After a few more minutes had passed in silence, the blackness ahead of them seemed to take on a faint orange tint. Remus blinked once, and then a second time, trying to clear his vision, but nothing changed. It was definitely orange. 'Do you guys see that?'

'Moons,' James said. 'I don't know if you've noticed, but none of us has been able to see a damn thing since we entered the room.'

'No, he's right,' Peter said. 'There's light coming through the wall.'

'Does that mean I can sto—' Sirius' question was interrupted by a loud thump, followed up with, 'Ow.'

'What happened?' Remus asked.

'Fell through the damn wall.'

James snorted. 'So graceful, Twinkles.'

'Shut up and get in here,' Sirius said. 'I think you were right, Moons. The light's coming from a cauldron.'

'So if we'd picked the most obvious person, we'd be screwed now,' Remus said, stepping through the semi-transparent wall—it was like passing through a sheet of ice water. On the other side was a small room containing nothing but a brewing stand, complete with cauldron. The fire was lit beneath it, but it was clearly enchanted because the light coming from it was extremely muted.

'Any ideas, Bubbles?' Remus asked, peering into the cauldron. The surface of the liquid shimmered, not one colour, but an entire rainbow, depending on how the light caught it. Small bubbles popped on the surface as it gently simmered over the heat, giving off silvery smoke which spiralled into the air and smelled sweet, like vanilla.

'Oh, don't mind me,' Sirius murmured. 'I'll just stay down here and sleep for a bit.'

Remus turned around to see Sirius curled up on the floor in a ball next to where they'd entered. 'You alright? Really takes it out of you, doesn't it?'

'I could sleep for a week,' Sirius said. 'I've never felt this drained in my life.'

Remus smiled. 'You just stay there and recover for a minute.'

Sirius hummed in reply, and Remus returned his attention to James and Peter, who were discussing the potion.

'—seen anything like it,' Peter was saying. 'There's definitely ginger in it. I can smell it. But that doesn't really tell us anything.'

'I can't smell ginger,' James said. 'Smells a bit like strawberries to me.'

'I smell vanilla,' Remus said. He took a deep breath through his nose to see if he could smell anything else, and it made his head spin. 'It kind of smells like the library too.'

'Get away from it,' Sirius said from his place on the floor. 'Stop breathing it in.'

'What?' Remus asked, taking a step back anyway. James and Peter both did the same.

'It's amortentia,' Sirius said, cracking an eye open to look at them. Their confusion must have shown on their faces because he continued a moment later. 'Most powerful love potion? Just smelling it messes with your head.'

'Merlin,' James said, backing up to the wall. 'What's she playing at? What if one of us had taken it?'

'Maybe we're supposed to?' Remus said slowly, thinking it through. If she made it, the potion would make them love her, right? 'If we're in love with her, we'd want to get to her, and maybe we'd find our way through the maze easier.'

'When your head clears,' Sirius said weakly, 'you're going to realise what a stupid idea that was.'

'Back against the wall, Moons,' James said. 'We can't afford for your brain to be out of action right now.'

Remus did as he was told and tried to breathe shallowly. After a minute, his mind felt lighter, and Sirius was proven right. It really was a stupid idea.

'Alright. So what now?' Remus asked.

'The potion is a distraction,' James said. 'Check the walls.'

The three of them felt around the walls, stepping over Sirius, who was still resting on the floor, and eventually, Peter located a button hidden in a corner of the floor. When he pressed it, a door opened up in the wall opposite the one they'd entered through.

'Up you get, Twinkles,' James said, heaving him to his feet. Remus hurried over to his other side to help.

As they passed the cauldron, Sirius hummed in pleasure. 'Smells like chocolate.'

They caught a brief glimpse of movement as they passed through the opening before it closed behind them and they were once more plunged into darkness.

'What was that?' Peter asked, his voice shaking a little. 'Something moved.'

The sound of wings and a high-pitched shriek followed his question, and Remus flinched.

'That sounded like a bat,' Remus said.

Peter squeaked and moved back behind James.

Remus took a step forward. He wasn't scared of bats, and if he could figure out how to get to the next room, they could get Peter out of there quicker.

There was a swirl of light at the other end of the room, and a glowing orb appeared in the air for a second before vanishing again, leaving the afterimage imprinted on Remus' retinas. Then there was a deep growl.

'Shit!' Remus said, his brain turning into rice pudding in his terror. 'It's a boggart. And right now, it's a fucking werewolf. We're trapped in a room with a wolf! Get behind me!'

'Don't be fucking stupid, Remus,' James said, pushing him out of the way and dashing forward into the darkness.

'James!' Remus shouted, terrified.

'Your parents are dead, mister Potter. You have to come with me now,' a female voice said from the shadows. Remus' heart was beating hard in his chest, but he began to calm down when he realised how stupid he had been. Of course, the boggart would only be a wolf as long as he was closest to it.

'How do we fight a boggart without wands?' Peter asked.

James answered that question for him as his chuckles sounded eerily from the darkness.

'By laughing in the face of our fears,' Sirius said. 'Without the help of riddikulus.'

'We may not have riddikulus, but we have each other,' James said, walking back over to them and taking Sirius and Peter's hands. 'We're the Marauders. Laughing when we're afraid is nothing.'

'Too right,' Sirius said, grabbing Remus' hand with his empty one. 'Hey, remember what Snape looked like with no hair?'

They all laughed a little at the memory.

'What about Minne's face when she caught us in the Defence class pool?' Peter said. 'That was priceless.'

Another small laugh. A growl in the distance.

'What about Dumbledore coming out of the Sleeping Beauty bushes,' James said, chuckling in a way that sounded forced and strained. 'With leaves caught in his beard.'

They all laughed again, but there was an underlying fear in the sound. The boggart was still growling and seemed to have decided the wolf form was the best choice to scare them.

'Does it sound like it's getting closer to you?' Peter asked.

'Yes, but remember when Sirius—'

'Oh, fuck this,' Sirius said, tugging his hand away from Remus and turning to James. 'Tickle fight!' he yelled, leaping on him.

A moment later, the room was filled with the familiar sound of James' hysterical laughter as Sirius overpowered him. It wasn't long before Sirius' laughter joined it, as James got his own attacks in. Remus and Peter couldn't help but laugh, too. The sound was contagious and loud enough to drown out the growling coming from the darkness.

'Stop!' James said after a few minutes, breathless from laughing. 'Stop! Please. I can't take any more.'

Sirius rolled off of him, and Remus helped him back to his feet. 'Did it work?'

'I think so,' Remus said, listening. 'I don't hear anything.'

'Wait here,' James said before creeping forward. A minute later, he called back, 'There's a door.'

The next room was just as dark as the previous one, but it wasn't quiet. 'Is that… water?' Remus asked.

'Sounds like it,' Sirius said. 'At least we can all swim. You guys might have to help me, though.'

'We can do that. Probably a good idea to at least take our shoes off first,' James said.

'Yeah, and then the next room is full of broken glass,' Remus said.

'She wouldn't be that cruel, would she?' Sirius asked.

Remus chuckled. 'I wouldn't put anything past her, to be honest.' He took a careful step forward, sliding his foot along the floor to make sure he didn't step into empty space. 'Let's see what we're dealing with first, shall we?'

After a few more steps, Remus' foot found the edge. The pool stretched from one side of the room to the other, but being in a pitch-black room, they had no idea how wide it was, and no way to find out.

Crouching down, Remus dipped his hand into the water. 'Fuck!' he yelped, yanking it back out as fast as possible. 'It's boiling hot.'

'So, we won't be swimming then,' James said. 'You okay?'

'Yeah.' It had already stopped stinging. 'Fast healing, remember.'

'Do you think it's another distraction?' Peter asked. 'Maybe the exit is actually on this side.'

'I hope you're right, mate,' Sirius said. 'I don't feel up to swimming. Let's look around.'

It was James that found the small table in the corner containing four glass vials.

'Should we drink them?' Sirius asked. There was a small pop, followed by a sniff. 'Urgh, smells awful.'

Another small pop and another sniff. Then, 'I think it's Featherlight Fluid.' Peter's voice sounded excited. 'I've always wanted to try it.'

'We have to float across?' Remus asked. The thought made his heart race.

'Oh, this is going to be fun,' James said.

'For you maybe,' Remus said. 'I don't think I can do this. Not in the dark.'

He felt someone's hand trail down his arm and slip into his hand, and then Sirius' voice in his ear. 'You'll be fine, Moons. It's not that high. And a potion is much safer than a broom.'

Remus leant into him, and Sirius' arm wrapped around his waist, squeezing gently. 'You'll keep hold of me?'

'I promise.'

Remus took a deep breath before stepping back. 'Alright. Pete, there's no aconite in that, right?'

'No,' Peter said. 'I'm positive.'

'Let's get this over with, then.'

Remus downed the potion in one and it tasted just as awful as it smelled. Immediately, a strange lightness spread through him, starting in his core, but quickly radiating out to his limbs. When it reached his hands and feet, the comforting feeling of the ground disappeared. He was floating.

'Sirius!' he said, panicking and flailing his hands. Where was he? He'd promised.

'I'm right here,' Sirius said, next to him. 'Hold still.'

Remus stilled, and a moment later felt Sirius' hand on his chest. Again, he trailed his fingers down until he found Remus' hand, then he gripped it tightly. 'Ready?'

'How do we move?'

'Swim,' Peter said. 'Through the air.'

'Swim?' Remus asked with extreme scepticism. 'Really?'

'Come on, Moons. Lean forward a bit and kick,' Sirius said.

Remus did so, and it felt like he was moving. Possibly. It was really hard to tell in the dark. For all he knew, he was just suspended in midair, kicking his legs and getting nowhere. Suddenly, the arm holding onto Sirius was pulled above his head, hard, jerking his shoulder painfully, and his hand slipped from Sirius'. Air rushed in his ears.

He was falling.

'Remus!' Sirius yelled. His now empty hand grabbing uselessly at the air around him.

Splash.

'Fuck. Remus!'

'What happened?' James called.

'He fell. I couldn't keep hold of him.' Sirius' voice cracked. He was in that boiling hot pool. No one could survive that. Not even with werewolf healing.

'The potion shouldn't have worn off that fast,' Peter said.

'Well, it fucking did,' Sirius snapped, kicking his legs hard. He needed to get to the other side so he could try to save Remus.

'Professor!' James shouted. It was more of a scream, really. Sirius instinctively covered his ears. 'Remus is in the pool!'

Sirius continued kicking his legs, stretching out his hand ahead of him, feeling for the wall. When his fingers grazed the cold stone, he let out a breath but didn't pause. Using the wall to lever himself back to the ground, he listened hard for a sound. A splash from Remus, or the footsteps of Tenebris running to their aid. But there was nothing.

'I don't think she's coming,' Peter said. He was close, but a little way above Sirius.

'She has to,' Sirius said. 'She did this. He's going to…' He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. He heard footsteps to his right, moving towards the centre of the room. James.

'Sirius.' Peter was closer to him now. He felt his hands graze his arms and move up to his shoulders, shaking him a little. 'You're not listening to me. He's not going to die.'

Sirius sniffed, trying to calm down and listen. Peter sounded stern, and he never sounded stern. 'How do you know?'

'Because Tenebris wouldn't let that happen. And because no matter how badly you make Featherlight Fluid, it doesn't wear off that fast. It has to have been intentional, which means she's just trying to scare us.'

'You're sure?' Sirius asked.

'Yes.'

'The water's still too hot to touch,' James said. 'I think Pete's right. It's part of the test. But are we supposed to find a way to get him out? Or are we supposed to accept he's "gone" and leave him behind to save ourselves?'

'I'm not leaving him,' Sirius said. 'When we find the door, you two can keep going, but I'm staying here.'

Footsteps. And then James' arms wrapped around him. Sirius relaxed into him. 'I thought he was dead.'

'I know. Me too. But he's not.'

'I can't leave him here.'

'We're not leaving him, but the sooner we get out of here, the sooner he gets out of there, yeah?'

Sirius nodded against James' shoulder.

'Alright then. Let's find the door,' James said, and Sirius reluctantly released him.

It wasn't hard to locate once they started looking for it. Sirius found the large button in the centre of the wall almost immediately, and the door opened, pouring light into the room so bright Sirius had to close his eyes against it.

'Well done, boys,' Professor Tenebris said.

'Get. Him. Out. Of. There. Now!' Sirius ordered, glaring at her.

She held her hands up in defence. 'He's absolutely fine, Mister Black. I promise.'

'Now!'

'I'm going. I'm going.' She smirked at him, but walked into the room with the pool—which Sirius could now see was about eight feet wide—and waved her wand lazily. Remus rose up out of the water, safely encased inside a pale blue bubble, which popped the moment it touched the ground.

Sirius rushed over and hugged him. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' Remus said. 'Are you okay? I could hear you.'

Sirius felt his cheeks warm with embarrassment and wished it was still dark so Remus wouldn't see him blushing. 'I'm just glad you're not dead.'

'Me too.'

Professor Tenebris returned their wands to them and let them go, stating they would discuss the events of the lesson the next week, once everyone (meaning Sirius) had calmed down.

Sirius didn't even ask before crawling into Remus' bed that night. After a scare like that, there was no way he was letting him out of his sight.

The next morning, the suits arrived from James' dad. Not wanting to draw attention to themselves by opening it at the table, they stuffed the parcel into James' bag to look at later. The day's mission was to retrieve four hairs from four different girls. Marlene and Mary were easy enough. Peter got one during his morning greeting (snog session) with his girlfriend, and Sirius plucked a second from Marlene's back after chatting with her in an alcove for five minutes for the sake of maintaining their fake relationship. Lily and Dorcas were harder.

None of them had an excuse to be around Dorcas, and while James was more than happy to engage Lily in conversation, she was… less than receptive to it.

'Hey Evans, if you need any help with the homework, give me a shout,' James tried as they left Herbology.

She didn't even pause in her stroll towards the castle. 'You barely paid attention, Potter. I'll ask you for help when I want to fail.'

Transfiguration was no better. James successfully turned his real bouquet of roses into delicate glass and attempted to present them to her with a flourish. But she just levitated them back to his desk before pointing her wand at him threateningly until he retreated. He didn't even get close. It was funny watching him try, though.

After Transfiguration, Remus took Peter to the library to work on homework, while Sirius and James strolled outside, clutching their brooms in gloved hands, for their weekly flying lesson. It was cold at ground level, but up in the air, it was fucking freezing. Not that losing all feeling in his nose and ears stopped it being Sirius' favourite time of the week. There was nothing quite like the feeling of freedom found on the back of a broom.

Madam Hooch took them through some warmup exercises first, before letting them loose on the obstacle course. After several weeks of lessons, she was confident in their ability to stay airborne and not do anything too stupid. Sirius and James were going to be testing that confidence today.

'You remember the plan?' James whispered, swooping down to hover beside Sirius.

Sirius grinned. 'Do you even have to ask?'

With a wink, James leant forward on his broom and shot, full-speed, directly at Evans.

'Shit,' Sirius said to himself as he shot after him. 'Impulsive twat. Is it too much to ask for a second's warning?'

When James collided with the tail end of Evan's broom, sending her into a fast spin in the air, Sirius was only a couple of seconds behind him. Reaching out with his left hand, he grabbed the handle of her broom to end the spin, before gripping onto her arm to keep her from falling. 'Woah,' he said. 'You okay?'

Evans met his eyes and swallowed before replying. Her face was white and her hands gripping the broom handle were shaking. 'Yeah, I think so. Potter's a bloody menace on a broom.'

Sirius gave her a comforting pat on the back before returning his hand to his own broom handle—with several of Evan's hairs safely wrapped around his fingers. Mission accomplished.

'He gets a little overexcited,' Sirius said, chuckling. He glanced around, hoping… yes! 'Meadowes! Get over here!'

Dorcas was practising barrel rolls nearby and didn't appear to have noticed Evan's run-in with James, but she stopped and flew over at Sirius' shout. 'What?'

'Evan's has had a bit of a scare,' he said, reaching out with his right hand and placing it on Dorcas' back. 'Can you look after her? I need to go have a word with my friend about looking where he's going.'

'Yeah, of course,' Dorcas said, turning her attention to Lily. 'You're shaking. Do you want to land for a bit?'

Sirius smiled as he pulled his hand back. A few of Dorcas' long brown hairs were clutched in his hand.

After a quick lunch, the Marauders strolled up to the sixth floor and slipped through the black door into their Den. Peter grabbed four vials of the pre-prepared polyjuice potion and laid them out on the table. 'We should add the hairs now, so it's ready to drink when we get our opening,' he said, pulling the bottle containing Mary's hair from his pocket and handing it to Remus.

Sirius took out the other bottles, giving Marlene's to James and Dorcas' to Peter. He kept Lily's for himself. With a triumphant grin at each other, they each opened their bottles and dropped the hairs into the mud-like substance.

Sirius watched as the liquid inside his turned a deep and vibrant red. Yes, that suited Evans. Glancing across the table at James, he saw that the potion with Marlene's hair was a pale silver with flecks of metallic black.

'Doesn't look too bad,' James said, swirling it around. Sirius suppressed a laugh. Somehow, he wasn't sure Marlene would appreciate that her essence was sparkly.

'Mine looks kind of tasty,' Peter said, holding up a vial of pale lavender potion.

'I doubt Dorcas would want you thinking she's tasty,' Remus said. 'And Mary might be a little upset too.'

'Are you saying you don't think yours looks good?' Sirius asked. The potion Remus was holding had turned a bright sunshine yellow.

Remus shrugged. 'No. It looks delicious, to be honest.'

'I wonder what ours would look like,' James said.

Remus shuddered. 'I don't ever want to find out.'

'Yeah, me neither,' Sirius said, thinking of all the darkness and horror in his family. Several emotions flickered across Remus' face at his words. Surprise, hurt, and then acceptance. And Sirius hurried to add, 'My potion, Moonbeam, not yours. I bet yours would be beautiful.'

Remus rolled his eyes, a faint blush staining his cheeks. And James sighed and shook his head. 'Moving on. Does anyone know what the girls have planned this afternoon?'

'I overheard them planning to do homework in the library when I spoke to Marls at lunch,' Sirius said.

'Perfect,' James said, tucking his potion into his pocket. 'Let's go make sure they're there first.'

When they reached the library, it took them a few minutes of searching before they located the four girls at a corner table. There was a stack of books on the table between them, and they all had their heads bent over parchment.

'Looks like they'll be here for a while yet,' James whispered, peeking out at them from behind the bookshelves. 'We should have more than enough time.'

'Let's get to it then,' Sirius whispered. 'I'm dying to see what the girl's dorms look like.'

'I'm sure they'll look identical to ours,' Remus said. 'Why would they be different?'

Sirius shrugged. 'I don't know. Just thought they might be.'

It didn't take them long to reach the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, but before entering, they slipped into a nearby empty classroom to take the potion.

'Down in one, boys,' James said, grinning around at them. The grin soon left his face to be replaced with a grimace of pain as the potion went to work. Sirius understood. The polyjuice transformation was always extremely unpleasant. It felt like his blood was on fire, and his guts were writhing inside him, sickeningly. Three of them gasped, almost in unison, and dropped to their knees as the skin over their entire bodies seemed to liquidise, bubbling like boiling water as it reformed. Sirius peered up at Remus through blurred eyes. How was he still standing? Was the potion not working on him?

But it was. Remus was standing, looking at his hands as they bubbled, with what he could only interpret as a curious expression on his malformed face.

That brief glance was all Sirius could manage before the pain forced his head back down. A prickling in his scalp told him his hair was growing rapidly, and as he watched, the deep black lightened into red. He sucked in a breath through his teeth as his body constricted, almost suffocating him as every part shrank in on itself. Including one very vital part of his anatomy, which he'd only recently begun to truly appreciate. Damn, that felt weird. It always did.

When it was finally over, he climbed to his feet and took a minute to steady his breathing before looking himself over. Everything looked to be in the right place.

'Well, that wasn't so bad,' Remus said with Mary's soft voice. 'You all made it sound horrible.'

'It is horrible,' James said. Marlene's face frowned at Remus, her expression quickly turning horrified, and James asked in a voice close to a whisper, 'Is the moon worse?'

Remus averted Mary's eyes, 'So much worse.'

'We should probably talk about this later,' Sirius said, the words coming out in Lily's imperious tone. 'We don't have long.'

James-Marlene gave Remus-Mary one last glance before nodding. 'Yeah, alright. I think I need to shrink my robes a bit. You too, Sirius.'

'Mine fit okay,' Remus said. 'Mary and I are pretty similar heights.'

'Mine do too,' Peter said in Dorcas' slightly nasal voice.

Once the adjustments had been made, they left the classroom and entered Gryffindor Tower, heading straight for the girl's staircase.

'Moment of truth,' James whispered, lifting Marlene's foot to the bottom step.

They were halfway up before they fully believed it was working, and they hurried up the remaining stairs until they reached the door bearing the girl's names. Pushing it open, Sirius stepped inside and looked around.

It was pretty similar to their own dorm. Four beds were evenly spaced around the room with red and gold bedding and curtains. A small table was positioned to the left of each, and a desk to the right. It looked like the girls actually used their desks, though. The boys preferred to lounge on their beds or the floor when doing homework. One big difference lay in the mirrors above each of the desks, instead of a single one by the door. Apparently, the founders assumed girls enjoyed looking at themselves more than boys did. Obviously, they'd never met Sirius.

James closed the door behind them before speaking, apparently noticing the same thing Sirius had. 'Four mirrors? We'll need to adjust the plan a little.'

'Actually, I think this is going to make it so much better,' Remus said. 'We just need to work out whose is whose.'

Lily checked through her Charms essay one last time before rolling it up and slotting it into her bag. She'd left it until last because it was her favourite subject, and now she was all caught up on homework.

She stretched to ease her sore muscles and yawned before looking around at her friends. 'How much do you all have left?'

'Almost done,' Marlene said, scratching out a few last words before dropping her quill with a satisfied expression. 'There. Finished.'

'I've still got History to do, but I can't even think anymore,' Dorcas said, rubbing at her eyes. 'My brain's gone to sleep. I'll have to do it tomorrow.'

'Urgh, yeah. Me too,' Mary said, slamming the textbook she was reading closed. 'I swear. I've read the same paragraph twenty times and I still don't know what it says.'

'Is that Charms?' Lily asked, peering at the cover. 'I can help you with that if you want?'

'That would be brilliant, thank you.'

Lily smiled. 'It's no problem. We can do it tomorrow afternoon. Are you all ready to go then?'

They all nodded and began packing their things away. Lily took up the task of returning the books to the right shelves while she waited. They'd been in the library for well over three hours, so there was a lot to put away, but at least they would have their weekend free. She hated doing things at the last minute. The pressure gave her terrible anxiety, and she didn't know how other people could bear it, honestly. Potter and Black seemed to routinely leave their homework until the night before. They even went so far as to boast about it, as if it was a good thing. There was no excuse for it, either. It wasn't like they had anything else important to do.

'Are you seeing Sirius tonight?' she asked Marlene as they made their way up the Grand Staircase.

Marlene shook her head. 'No, we're doing something tomorrow, though. He said he'd be too tired tonight.'

'Yeah, Peter said the same thing,' Mary said. 'Wonder what they're up to.'

'Hexing Slytherins, probably,' Dorcas said. 'That's their usual pastime, isn't it?'

Marlene shrugged. 'It's not like they don't deserve it. Stuck up arseholes, most of them.'

Lily scowled at her. It wasn't the first time they'd disagreed about Black's treatment of other students, and it probably wouldn't be the last. Neither of them was willing to back down.

Before she could respond to Marlene, though, Mary cut in, 'I'm too tired to listen to you two bicker about this again. Just drop it, yeah?'

Still scowling, Lily relented and turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady. 'Fairy cakes.'

'And the same to you, dear,' the Fat Lady replied, swinging open.

The girls ran up to their dorm to drop their bags off and change out of their school robes before dinner. Hopefully, the house-elves would make that garlic chicken again. It was incredible, and they hadn't made it for a couple of weeks. Lily licked her lips in anticipation. After walking in, they separated, each heading towards their own section of the room. Lily dumped her bag on her bed before turning to her trunk. Then the lights went out.

'What the fuck?' Marlene said.

Lily's heart pounded in her chest as she turned, peering into the darkness. How was it so dark? It had still been fairly light outside when they came up here. She glanced at the window, or where she knew the window to be, but she couldn't see a damn thing.

A bright flare of light above the window forced her eyes closed for a moment, but she fought against the reflex and pried her eyelids open enough to read the writing scrawled across the wall in fiery letters.

You should really take a look in the mirror

Wiping her sweaty palms on her robe, Lily moved to the mirror above her desk, hearing her friends do the same. The reflection was hard to see in the dim light, but no sooner had she thought that than the candles around the room flared brightly, and she screamed.

Her beautiful red hair had been turned into a writhing mass of snakes.

That was the first thing she noticed, but it didn't take her long to take in the rest. Set within deep hollows, her eyes were jet black, and weeping sores marred her pale skin.

Ignoring the distressed sounds of her friends, she raised a shaking hand to her face. She kept an eye on the snakes in the mirror, but they didn't attack. When her fingers brushed across smooth, unblemished skin, her knees gave way and she grabbed the edge of her desk to support her weight.

'It's not real,' she said. 'It's just a spell on the mirrors.'

'Who cast it?' Mary asked.

Dorcas chuckled dryly. 'Who do you think?'

'The Marauders,' Marlene said.

'They know who we are,' Lily said. 'Shit.'