Papers of varying importance went flying into the air, desks were knocked clean off their feet right along with them, and chairs and ink bottles pelted them all as the eight of them crash landed once more. At least none of the furniture came to life to attack them this time though.

"Alice!" Frank gasped at once, rushing madly to her side.

She assured him she was fine, a bit sore but fine, as she in turn thanked him profusely for the rescue. Lily and the Marauders were all getting to their feet as well in varying degrees of stiff pain before Frank remembered to look around more critically for the last of their group, and then cursing once more uneasily as he didn't automatically spot him.

They were in a very large, open office space, with world maps encircling all around them. Even a cursory look at one had it zooming in to Great Britain before he looked away dismissively and it returned back to normal. Doors lead off in an abundance of directions, several left casually open. The Marauders were already poking their heads inside curiously, Sirius calling out for his younger brother loud enough that anybody probably could have heard through several walls regardless.

Alice had his hand in a white knuckled grip, the question all but etched into her forehead even as she met his eyes without accusation. It was more than he deserved, if the lad really wasn't here then-

"I found him!" Lupin called from all the way back near the lifts. They all hurried over to find him splayed out uncomfortably, still flushed red in the face, but breathing alright as far as they could tell.

Sirius didn't seem ready to take anyone else's word for it as he tapped him repeatedly on the face. "Reggie? Come on you little shit, if you die on me I'm not explaining it to our parents."

He groaned, his eyelids fluttered for a moment, but while his face was returning to normal color he still remained lax. Sirius grabbed his shoulders and set him upright against his own shoulder while scowling at Frank.

"Poor kid," Lily said in sympathy. "I'm sure he'll be alright though." She hadn't really forgiven him yet for when he'd laughed at that foul word being used, but seeing how small he looked now was easing her up just a bit, as she reminded herself how impressionable people could be.

Potter cleared his throat and offered an awkward change of subject. "So, this is the Department Crouch runs eh? Looks a dump."

Peter couldn't stop a snort of surprise at the mess that they'd created. James gave him the most awkward smile imaginable, causing Peter to blush and wander off elsewhere. Baby steps.

Sirius watched him go with a scowl in place, before he looked at Prongs who was now watching his trainers intently. Then, softly from his arms he heard a muttered, "Five more minutes," and looked down in time to see his brother trying to burrow further into his arms, before his dark eyes fluttered open and he saw how close their faces were.

Regulus' immediately scrunched up in displeasure, and he said in no uncertain terms, "Let, go."

Sirius did. The brat fell to the floor and groaned as Sirius stormed off in any other direction that did not have a person in sight muttering about arseholes, his nose was probably still smarting.

"Well, now that that's all settled, I'm just going to," Potter waved his hand in the air once more, forever acting as if this was a casual day of studies and leisure. Then with a quick spell, the book was in his hand and he was perching himself on the nearest desk and flipping for his spot.

Alice gave the book a rather miffed look, it couldn't have bloody done that for her when she needed it? Lily went over to the nearest map and began inspecting it curiously, intrigued at once as she found it zooming in to show a nice wooded area, the same in fact as the one near her home. Curious, she then visualized in her mind downtown London, and was greeted with a deserted view of there as well.

Frank slumped to the ground where Regulus had been, peeling off a paper from his shoe that had a long list of names on it for some reason, rather French ones he decided as a few leaped out at him.

All of them stopped what they were doing when Potter cleared his throat uneasily and read the chapter title.

"The Triwizard Tournament?" Lupin had stayed by Potter's side and was now looking over his shoulder as if checking his pronunciation. "I've read about that, was banned ages ago though."

"Why?" Alice asked in surprise as she stayed restlessly on her feet, but enjoying the feeling of being able to do so much too much to get more comfortable. "Sounds like what, a game between schools? Too many sore losers?"

"Too many deaths," Lily corrected without looking up from the map, which was hovering over Australia now for some reason. "Thing was a nightmare from what I've read about it."

"And now it's back, and around Harry," Potter gave an exaggerated sigh. "Why am I not surprised?"

He looked eagerly at her to see a return, but she didn't even acknowledge him, causing him to pout and dive into the story.

It started off with a charming reminder of how horrid the weather was as they were arriving at school, and Peeves causing further misfortune to no one's surprise but at least James Potter's mirth.

He laughed boisterously at Peeves' old tricks for several moments, before he realized none of his friends had joined in. Sirius Black was in one of the offices, demolishing it by the sounds of it, and Peter Pettigrew was now sitting awkwardly at the edge of the room and spinning the chair about, as if he couldn't decide if he wanted to be seen or not. Remus Lupin was still beside him, but with such a distant gaze on his face it was a wonder if he was taking in a word.

The four must have had some sort of confrontation back on the campgrounds, and Alice winced and shuffled even more uncomfortably in place at the idea of how long this could last. Their other fight had ended in blows, and though time was nonlinear in their circumstances, it couldn't have been more than hours for that to happen always confined around each other. Previously though she knew from the social circles of the school three of them had avoided one of their own for a month just before they'd all fallen into this mess. The details of that fight non were privy to either, nor was she sure she wanted to know at this point.

It's not as if she had stakes in their fight, and things hadn't exactly been more pleasant during the first two books when they'd been getting along at their most civil. Yet she still felt the urge to do, something. Of the five minute conversation she'd had with Remus Lupin, he'd certainly been pleasant enough, though she still couldn't help but wince at the horrid image of a monstrous creature lunging for her throat when she wasn't looking at him, though seeing him now fidgeting with the sleeve of his robes deep in thought, he looked like a perfectly normal teen.

She hadn't even spoken to the others one on one, but maybe she could? Perhaps what they needed was a mediator?

Amidst her pondering thoughts, James Potter had read all through the waiting around, the Sorting Hat's song, the actual sorting, the majority of dinner, and Hermione's little tiff over house elves being there. He'd just gotten through the majority of Dumbledore's speech when he stopped, and in doing so gained everyone's attention.

Whether for dramatic effect or he'd been genuinely surprised, it was always hard to tell with him, he then described the new DADA teacher for the year, Mad-Eye Moody.

"Fits, doesn't it?" Lily sighed, finally looking away from the map which zoomed out of an apothecary shop in Northern Ireland back to normal. "Harry always seems to hear of his teachers before they wind up there."

"I wish we were less acquainted with him," Remus Lupin grumbled, stretching his neck for emphasis.

The description was honestly frightening, the kind of man you'd meet and wonder how he was still alive. Frankly, if she'd lived through his battle hardened state, she may be just as paranoid as him in booby-trapping every inch of her home.

His arrival was thankfully not lingered upon though, even if James Potter said his introduction with a rather sour expression she couldn't blame what with the bruises she was sure to have added from his home, before they were all reminded the Triwizard Tournament was going to be an event at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore didn't exactly explain much they hadn't worked out on their own, so she decided to at least give her plan a try before they were thrown into their next perilous situation. She'd have liked to start with James Potter, as their ringleader she was sure his opinion mattered the most, but she could hardly pull him aside as he all but egged on the twins' plan to join this tournament. Instead, she hesitated between the other two.

Mostly, she felt for both parties. Sirius Black had been dealt a very harsh blow to his life in a few short words, what with hearing a best friend of his would cause so many problems, yet it didn't sit right with her he was blaming this on his friend who'd never strayed from his side during all the accusations being pinned against him.

Peter Pettigrew wasn't one she could sympathize with entirely though, his friends knew him best and if they couldn't see past such a horrible betrayal then what if he was really capable of it? He seemed remorseful of it now though, and her heart ached at the idea of a choice, even if he inevitably made the wrong one, being taken from him.

So she avoided the bangs coming from an office that had done nothing to deserve it, like everyone else was, and made her way over to his little corner with the most polite and open expression she could, soured somewhat by a glare back at the book for Neville sharing his feelings about the tournament. His grandmother, her possible future mother in law, never missed a chance to make her possible kid feel unworthy, did she?

"Sorry," Peter Pettigrew apologized, stopping his spinning abruptly. "I, ah, hadn't realized I was bothering anyone-" without quite meeting her eyes.

"Oh no," she said quickly, straightening her expression back out. "I, um, came to see how you were doing."

It was hard to imagine him as a fat, lazy rat who did nothing but sleep and betray others as she looked into his youthful face now full of bewilderment, the images as divided from each other as Remus Lupin when he'd been a werewolf.

"Oh," was all he said lamely for several moments, before looking side-eyed at where Regulus Black was holding his head steady and taking calming breaths. He was probably still feeling a bit dizzy from his spell. "Erm, alright, I guess. The dust, never did anything to me. It was weird not being able to change, though. I, didn't like that," he finished quietly. "Made me think there for a second I'd be stuck as a-"

He stopped abruptly and swallowed before resuming his spinning. Regulus Black looked up and in their direction, but then went cross-eyed at the chair's movements and closed his eyes as if in pain.

She sighed as she realized this was probably Peter's intention, he clearly didn't want an audience. "Alright then," she smiled wide enough she was sure he'd see it despite his restlessness. "Just doing the rounds, making sure and all."

"Right," he muttered noncommittally as James Potter wound down the chapter with the lot of new fourth years climbing into bed. He warned them the chapter was about to end, and sighed without any enthusiasm at what was next.

Again, I have no clue about the medical profession I assure you, and all I could gather from online is more than twenty minutes being upside down will cause loss of consciousness, and more than a few hours, death. Seems to vary per person. I guessed and put it down to wizards and their high tolerance once more.