— CHAPTER NINETEEN —

The Bottom of the Bottomless Pit

"Y-You—" Remus's head whipped from Jiminy to Janus, then back to Jiminy. "There's two of you! Have I met both of you before?"

"Yes," said Jiminy patiently.

"You've been switching places all year," said Remus incredulously, his brain working in overdrive. "That's why—that's why sometimes you were nice and sometimes you were horrid. That's why you'd forget what we'd done the previous lesson."

"Yes."

"Who did I have those Whispering lessons with? Tell me!"

Jiminy raised his hand. "It was me."

Remus swivelled to Janus. "And you tried to set fire to my rabbit, didn't you?"

Janus sneered in response. Remus quickly formed his ideas of the two individual men in his head. He turned back to Jiminy.

"I don't get it. Why are you working with him?" demanded Remus, not caring that his voice was shrill. "He doesn't care about non-human creatures like you do! He tried to kill my rabbit, my friend! Weren't you always talking about treating creatures like we treat humans? That dark creatures aren't actually dark? That human cruelty was a—was a plague?"

Jiminy was silent, his face impassive. If anything, this made Remus even angrier.

"Obviously, he'd been putting it on for show," said Janus, sounding amused at Remus's outburst. "We've been trying to flush out the Whisperer the whole year. We guessed it'd be a vampire-hugger like yourself."

"Flush ou—so you knew I was a Whisperer?"

"Before we came to Hogwarts, we knew there was a Whisperer here," said Jiminy softly. "The Clickers had told us so. The Clickers are an ancient race of—"

"I know what they are!" yelled Remus, surprising the twin brothers. "The bugs that have been spreading disease! You want to take me to their Queen. That's why you've been buttering me up the whole year, giving me lessons about it. You need another Whisperer for some reason. Just tell me: are you both werewolves? Are you both Whisperers?"

The brothers exchanged a quizzical glance. Janus laughed cruelly. "Werewolves? Neither of us is a werewolf."

Remus blinked. He'd been trying to collect information—after all, being a Whisperer worked best when you knew the creature you were trying to control—but this information felt like a knife to the stomach. He'd been so sure, so convinced … he'd concocted the whole thing in his head … after the Marauders had revealed they knew about his condition, he felt lonely but now he knew he truly was alone …

"But you can both Whisper?"

Jiminy nodded. "I was born with it, like I told you. My brother …" He trailed off.

Janus cocked an eyebrow. "Why not finish? I'll tell the lad if you won't."

Remus heard Jiminy sigh, but his eyes were focused on Janus, who took a few menacing steps towards him. He tried to back up further but only succeeded in colliding with the wall.

"You and my brother have no idea how lucky you are, blessed with Whispering. My dad knew it. He was so happy when Jiminy started Whispering. I'll never forget the look on his face when he found out. After that, I realised my dad only really had one son after that. One son. So, I tried everything, everything, to make myself into a Whisperer just like Jiminy. I went out on nights of full moons. I went looking in bat caves for vampires. Nothing worked until I found a Clicker colony, a year ago … and now I'm here. Spreading the Clicker Cold."

Jiminy listened to all of this with an unhappy look on his face. Remus forced himself to feel no bit of pity for either of his kidnappers—the most significant thing Janus had revealed was that he thought Remus was born with Whispering. That meant they didn't suspect he was a werewolf. That they didn't think they could use their Whispering on him.

"So, they've been telling you what to do? This whole year?"

"Yes," said Jiminy quietly. "Even before that."

"Knockturn Alley," said Remus, unable to keep his eyes from enlarging. "That day in Knockturn Alley, that was you two."

They exchanged another curious glance. Janus, however, was clearly done talking. He began walking towards Remus.

"And we've been told to deliver you, so that's what we're going to do."

"What happens then?" pressed Remus, shifting to the left, still grabbing the chair as defence.

"Then, we leave with this," Janus said impatiently, lifting an ordinary tennis ball, wrapped in a cloth. "Unless you die. I'm not sure what the Queen wants with you."

Remus gulped, trying not to let the Jewel brother scare him. "Is that a Portkey?" It would explain why Janus was using a piece of cloth, so as not to touch it.

"You are very clever, Remus," Jiminy said, sounding sincere. "Oftentimes, we swapped because the other twin had to deal with some business outside of Hogwarts, like making the Portkey or—"

"All, right." Janus seemed irritated. "Enough talking. Now—"

"Remus!" yelled Sirius's voice down the hallway.

"Remus!" called Lily.

Without stopping to think, Remus cast aside the chair and leapt at Janus's legs, sending them both toppling to the floor. It was the bravest and stupidest thing he'd ever done.

"Sirius! Lily!" Remus shrieked. "It's Professor Jewel! There's two of them—"

"Let go of me!" roared Janus, trying and failing to kick off Remus.

Remus struggled to look up. Jiminy had swivelled around and was now darting out of the study room and into the hall.

Remus stumbled up, ignoring Janus, and flew at Jiminy, slamming him against the wall. They both howled with pain, sinking to the floor. With excitement, Remus saw Jiminy's hands release both his and Remus's wands. He dived for both.

"Remus!" Peter's voice was yelling from down the hallway, and he heard footsteps pounding against the floor.

No sooner had he gotten a grip of his wand than he was yanked up roughly by his robes, a wand jabbing his cheek.

"Stand back or I hex your friend!" Janus roared, holding Remus up against his chest. "Jiminy, get up!"

Remus could see clearly now who Janus was speaking to. His friends were there: the Marauders, Lily, and Ruby, cradled in Lily's arms. They were halfway across the hallway now. They all wore identical expressions of terror on their faces. They'd come for him! Remus hadn't expected it at all! Remus had just run out of their dorm, since they'd just confessed they knew about him—but never mind that. The warmth in his chest was replaced instantly with the chill of dread—what were the Jewel brothers going to do with them?

"Stand back!" Janus's wand dug deeper.

"Professor!" Lily yelled out in horror.

"Professors, more like," marvelled James.

They were at a stand-still. Jiminy got to his feet, breathing heavily to Remus's right. His head was whipping back and forth between the two parties.

"Come on, we're going now," Janus said viciously in Remus's ear.

"NO!" roared Sirius, lifting his wand.

Several things happened at once. James's voice rang out, casting, "Rictusempra!", the jet of red light hitting Jiminy in his side. Ruby soared from Lily's arms, bounding defiantly on the floor towards Remus. Janus cast, "Expelliarmus!", aiming straight at Sirius's chest. Remus couldn't think of anything to do but aim at Sirius too, yelling, "Tardify!"

To both Sirius's and Janus's surprise, the Disarming Charming had done nothing to Sirius—yet. "What—"

Sirius recovered first. "Expelliarmus!"

Janus's wand flew out of his hand. Remus hoped that was enough to get away, but Janus held on tight, bellowing as they both struggled. Remus felt Janus dragging him further down the hallway, away from his friends, towards the wastebasket room. Ruby began to scratch at his legs, trying desperately to help Remus go. Besides them, Jiminy heaved with laughter, clutching his stomach, and falling to the floor.

"Sirius! James! Help!"

His friends broke into runs, trying to close the distance between them. Remus craned his neck and saw from Janus's expression that he knew it was a losing battle.

He wrested Jiminy's wand from Remus's hand, then shoved Remus roughly into his friends, who yelped as they caught him. Remus spun around at once, to see Janus bolting towards the wastebasket room.

"Come here!" Janus said as he slipped away. Fear spiked in Remus's chest once he realised that he was Whispering. Would Remus turn into a slack-faced zombie, following Janus's every command—?

But then he saw Ruby stiffly but swiftly bounding towards Janus.

"Ruby, no, come back!" shouted Remus, to no avail. "Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!"

Remus raced after them, but he was too late. The last thing he saw of them was Janus and Ruby jumping into the Bottomless Pit. And then they were gone.

"Remus, what is going on?" asked Sirius.

The five of them—plus Jiminy—had gathered inside the wastebasket room, still reeling from what they had just seen. Jiminy was on the floor, giggling, rolling around.

"Our Defence Professor is on the floor, laughing out of his mind," said Peter anxiously, "because James jinxed him! James jinxed a Professor!"

"Pete, he tried to hurt us," said Sirius savagely. "He tried to hurt Remus."

"Holy shite," said James. "I jinxed a teacher! And it worked!"

"Can we focus here?" snapped Lily, kneeling next to Remus. "Remus, are you all right?"

No, he was not. "Yes," said Remus, sinking to the floor. "I just need a minute to think. What are you doing here, Lily?"

"Do you not want me here?" she asked, sounding a little hurt.

"No, it's just—" he paused, looking up at the Marauders. "Did they tell you … anything or…?"

James seemed to catch what he meant. "We didn't tell her anything," he insisted. "We just bumped into her on the way here, Remus."

"Tell me what?"

Remus slumped onto the floor with relief. "Nothing, I just—"

"Remus," Sirius said softly, softer than he'd ever spoken to Remus in his life. It surprised Remus so much that he shut it. Sirius clamped a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. "Remus. Please, tell us what's going on. You can trust me."

Remus looked at those grey eyes of his. They were fairies dancing underneath the stars, touchless, tongueless. There were few things scarier than honesty, but Remus knew he had to be brave.

And so, he launched into his story as quickly as possible—about the Pit, how he'd fixed it, about his Whispering lessons with Jewel, the Clickers and the voice in his head, about how he'd snuck into Jewel's office and learnt his intentions, how the Jewel brothers had kidnapped Remus and brought him here. Because they needed a Whisperer.

"So, h-how did you guys know to come here?"

"We found the map in your knapsack," James explained, lifting it up and handing it to Remus. He rifled through it; there wasn't anything important inside except the map, and Frank's flask. "We saw that Jewel was somewhere on the sixth floor, and we figured he might have something to do with where you went, since he wanted to see you so badly a few hours ago."

"Plus, I knew the way," said Lily.

"But it was Ruby who made us do it," said Sirius. "She wouldn't shut up. She kept squeaking at us, making us follow her. She even got Evans," he said, and Lily nodded in confirmation. "She's the reason we're here."

Remus wanted to punch something. Ruby, reckless, thrill-seeking Ruby had done what she'd could to protect her friend. And now Remus, her friend, had doomed her.

"I have to go down there," he decided, standing up and casting his eye on the Bottomless Pit. "I have to rescue her. I need to stop the Clickers. You guys, go wake up the teachers, and Professor Dumbledore—"

"Shut it. We're coming with you," said Sirius, looking to James, Peter, and Lily for support. They all nodded adamantly. "We've got you, Lupin."

"Yeah, mate, we're the Marauders!" said James. "Er, and Evans."

"For you, Remus, anything," said Lily, smiling.

"If I die, then I'm killing you," quipped Peter, and the others laughed.

Remus's heart swelled with that, despite everything. He couldn't believe his ears. He'd been so dishonest with his friends for so long … he'd lied to them, omitted the truth countless times … they knew he was a werewolf, for Godric's sake! He'd been the worst friend in the world, and yet they were still here.

"What about him though?" asked Lily, pointing to Jiminy.

"We have no time to worry about him," said Remus. "OK. I'll go first."

He inched closer to the Pit.

"What's down there?" asked Peter nervously. His four friends peered over his shoulder.

"Well, how's Remus meant to bloody know?" said James. "All we know is that our friend Ruby's there with some loon, and we've got to save her." He gave Remus a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Right, Remus?"

He nodded. "Right."

With that, he leapt in.

This was what it was like to fall forever. He couldn't scream; the air had thieved his voice from him. It whipped past his ears, his mouth, his body, his whole self. It was like he'd been caught in the Wild Wind, and it was casting him downwards to an unseeable, unknowable end.

How long had it been? How many minutes had passed since they'd been descending? He could see Sirius far above him, hurtling down at the same speed. Were they taking too long? Remus's heart hammered at the thought that Ruby was already long gone. That Janus had sacrificed her to the Queen. That the Clickers were ready to eat.

Finally, Remus could see the bottom, which was rapidly approaching. Hurriedly, he got out his wand and forced himself to say, "Arresto Momentum!"

His flight slowed down, and he landed gracefully on a stone floor. He made sure to cast the spell for each of his friends, until finally, at last, Peter landed with a shrill shriek.

"Quiet," said Sirius. "We don't know what's down here."

They had made it inside a dark cave, with only their wand-light illuminating the passage. Stone walls closed in on them. There was only one way to go: forward.

"The Clickers, surely," murmured Remus, taking the lead.

Lily audibly shuddered.

They ventured forth into the cave. It was a straight path the whole way through, with its jagged ceilings, its rocky walls, its never-ending darkness.

They found their first group of Clickers after a few minutes of walking. Lily gasped as the Clicking began, which Remus only registered as piercing little voices in his head wanting to eat, to consume, to kill.

"Where are they?" whispered James.

Lily shrieked, answering his question.

"Lily!" shouted Remus, trying to get to her. The darkness didn't help, and Remus only caught glimpses of fluttering wings, tiny spasming limbs, of his friends' panicked faces. Around him there was only panic and chaos, hearing his friends and the Clickers yelling.

"Incendio!" screamed Lily, and the tip of her wand burst into flame. Immediately, Remus heard the Clickers' cries of pain, of fear, of screaming at one another to run away. As soon as they'd come, the Clickers had darted away.

"Lily, you genius," said Remus, panting. "They're scared of the fire! Everyone cast Incendio!"

And so, they did. The fire gave them more light than the Wand-Lighting Charm did, but it was also more dangerous, so they had to be careful that they burnt nothing except for the occasional Clicker. Remus felt guilty doing it, but he knew that they were bloodthirsty and would kill him and his friends.

Now that the fire's light illuminated the way, the Clickers were easier to see clearly. They were larger than real insects and looked like a cross between a cockroach and a mosquito. Lily shrieked any time one came near, but their flames made the Clickers keep their distance.

After what felt like ages of walking and fending off Clickers, Sirius hissed, "Look, light up ahead!"

Sure enough, the endless darkness was finally ending. In the distance, the cave's yawning exit opened into another, much larger chamber.

Remus heard voices, heard Janus's voice and—thankfully—Ruby's squeaking.

"…he'll come; I know it," Janus was saying. "He wants to protect his rabbit. He'll come." Janus sounded panicky. "Do you want me to go back up and get him, my Queen?"

"No," answered a deep, feminine voice that reverberated through the cave. It was with a jolt that Remus realised that she was the voice inside his head. "He is already here. Come out, Remus Lupin."

Everything screamed at him to run, but Remus steeled himself, took a deep breath, and walked forward, through the exit into the massive cavern.

They were standing in the largest chamber Remus had ever been in, in his life. It had to be even bigger than the Great Hall. Remus craned his neck upwards to the ceiling, impossibly tall, and saw cracks where the light of dawn spilled through, the roots of trees twisting and turning. The chamber's floor was mud and stone and all things earthy.

In the centre of the enormous cavern stood the largest, most disgusting beast he had ever seen in his life. The Queen was bigger than Archie. She looked like the other Clickers, just magnified to a million times their size. Her multitude of limbs heaved up and down with every haggard breath. Her great black body pulsed and glittered in the early light of day. Her compound eyes were like glass; they were both beautiful and grotesque to gaze at. Jiminy stood beneath her, looking inconceivably small, with Ruby held hostage in his arms.

Remus could barely look. Lily literally screamed, beginning to hyperventilate.

"Calm down, Lily," said Remus. "You lot, calm her down." Then he turned to the Queen. "I'm here now."

"At last," she rumbled. Her disgusting, gunk-filled mouth opened as she talked. "I have been waiting for you."

"Tell Jewel to let Ruby go," he said, hoping he sounded brave when all he felt was fear.

"Do as he says, Janus the human," she said, and, begrudgingly, Janus let go of Ruby.

She skittered her way across the dungeon floor into Remus's embrace. He kissed her soft fur once before looking back up at the Queen.

"You're a Whisperer," he said, trying to delay. Now that he'd gotten Ruby back, he needed to find a way to get out of here. There were cracks in the ceiling, so he knew that if he got up there, he could get out and escape. But how would he get out? How would he get everyone out?

"I am," she confirmed, her limbs making a skittering noise as they scraped against the stone walls. "I have been the voice in your head, asking you to reach out."

"For almost two years," said Remus. "You've been in my head for almost two years."

"Two sun-cycles in my lifetime are like the blink of an eye," she said. "However, I have been waiting for someone like you for a long time."

"Why?"

"Remus, be careful!" James yelled, and Remus turned around. Clickers had appeared, scuttling all over the walls, on the floors, flying in the air. There were more than before—so much more than Remus knew their little flames couldn't ward them all off.

"There's too many of them," moaned Peter, backing away.

"It's fine!" said Lily, her voice quavering. "Remus, keep talking. Figure out what she wants."

"Turn back to her, we've got this," snapped Sirius, his back turned to Remus. "Trust me!"

Against everything he believed in, he spun back around to the Queen. The din of the chaos around him became white noise. He only focused on her.

The Queen seemed impassive. "My children smell you. They want to eat you."

"Call them off!"

"I cannot."

"Why not?" demanded Remus, hugging Ruby tighter.

"I have grown weak in my lengthy stasis," the Queen admitted. "I cannot Whisper so much anymore. My children no longer listen to me. They are bloodthirsty. All they know is disease. The Clicker Cold. Death."

"They've been Whispered. You've been whispered," Remus realised. The glassiness of her eyes. "By whom?"

The Queen made a horrible noise that echoed throughout the cavern, and Remus realised he had made her upset. Her body shook, and Remus saw her folded, leathery wings yearn to stretch out. Worryingly, the impact had shaken the ceiling. A pebble or two rained down.

"I do not speak of who or what. But yes, we have been Whispered. For sun-cycles upon sun-cycles, all I could do was sit here, watch as my children spread pestilence and fed on humankind."

"What changed?"

"Old magic is reawakening," she said vaguely. "The winds are wild again. Things that have slept for a millennium have awoken once more. I am one of those things."

"I still don't understand. Why do you need me?"

"You are the most powerful Whisperer I have ever known," she said, and the ancientness to her voice, her sheer eld intensified the gravity of the statement. It was bone-chilling to hear those words from her impossible self. "I have felt it. I felt it when you befriended the dragon. I felt it when you allied yourself with a phoenix. I have felt it time and time again. I knew I needed your presence and your power, so I told my children to do what they do to best, to spread their disease. I told the Jewel brothers to attract you here, to bring you here to me. I knew there is little time left. My children want to eat. Look at them now, with your friends."

He swivelled around. He could see hundreds of hungry Clickers filling every inch of air. He could see fire everywhere, until the cavern was overflowing with thick smoke and leaping flames. He could see little, the smog stinging his eyes, but he knew his friends were fending off the Clickers valiantly.

He turned back, head reeling. The Clicker Cold had been because of him. How were so many things his fault?

"I still don't understand!" he cried. "What do you need me for?"

The Queen was silent for a moment. Then she said, "You are a powerful Whisperer. One day you will be a powerful wizard. But I have observed you these two sun-cycles, through the eyes of my children. I know what is most powerful about you, Remus Lupin. Your greatest strength is your mercy."

"My—what? What is it you want me to do?"

She had dodged the question, deflected it so much. Oddly, it didn't anger Remus. If anything, it made her more human, and he waited patiently for her answer.

"I need you to kill me," she said finally.

"What?" For the first time, Janus had piped up.

She ignored him. "Remus Lupin. I have lived a Whispered life for longer than my ancient mind can recall. My children are about to feast on your friends, on your school. The only thing keeping them alive is me. I am their Queen, their lifeblood. Without me, they will die. Without me, we will all be free."

Remus didn't know how to respond to her. "Then my friends and I can go?"

"I do not intend for you to perish tonight. You have many magnificent things in store for you."

"You cannot possibly tell me," Janus was saying coldly, "that this has been your plan the whole time, my Queen. You promised me domination—control over wizard-kind—"

"Your ego means nothing to me, human," she interrupted, her legs fluttering with irritation.

"How is he the most powerful Whisperer?" snarled Janus, jabbing Remus in the shoulder. "I'm a Whisperer too. You made me a Whisperer! I'm an adult. He's just a little child."

"What'll it be, Remus Lupin?" she intoned, ignoring Janus. "What do you choose?"

"I'll show you," yelled Janus, his face going red. "I'll show you how powerful I am!"

"I'll do it," said Remus, looking straight at her, at her enrapturing eyes. "I will kill you, as you ask for."

"Thank you, Remus the human," she said. Remus could've sworn she smiled.

"Come here, Clickers," called Janus, hands thrown in the air so fast that he dropped his tennis ball Portkey and its cloth. "Come here. Get him." He pointed at Remus.

Horror dawned on Remus as he realised Janus's Whispering had worked. Ruby began to scream. Swarms of Clickers had risen close to Remus, who stumbled back. There was nowhere to run. The monsters were about to descend on him—

"Leave him alone!" yelled a voice from across the cavern. Confused, the Clickers hesitated then scattered into the air.

"Jiminy!" bellowed Janus. "What are you doing?"

"You heard the Queen!" Jiminy shouted in response, bounding across the cavern to reach them. "Our job here is done. We have to leave before it's too late, brother."

Janus looked as if he were about to explode with rage. "Leave it, Jiminy! Leave me be, for once."

"You know I can't do that!"

You've always undermined me. You've always thought you were better than me! You're not my brother—"

Jiminy grimaced and finally reached them. "I'm here for you, aren't I? I'm sorry I wasn't as a kid, but I'm here now—"

"Time does not wait," the Queen said to Remus. She was right: his friends couldn't fight off any more Clickers.

Remus breathed in deeply. He closed his eyes. He imagined what it was like to be a Clicker. An insignificant little insect, just one individual part of a larger collective, unexceptional. Part of a hive-mind, someone who does what others tell them to. He imagined hunger, and then found that he didn't have to imagine. He knew all too well what it was like to crave and crave and crave and not have. Then, finally—

"Kill her."

Remus watched with wide eyes as every single Clicker in the cavern—and then more who seemed to swarm in from up above, from the entrance, from the cracks in the very ground they stood on—flew in perfect lines as if they'd practiced, straight towards their Queen. She sighed one last happy sigh of relief as they descended on her. Then they began to feast.

It was horrible.

"We have to go," said Remus haggardly, wrenching his eyes away from the massacre, "before the Clickers are done with her and move onto us!"

His friends were all alive and accounted for, thank Godric, if a bit singed from flames, a bit worse for wear. Sirius stumbled his way over to Remus, clapping him on the shoulder once while panting heavily.

James was particularly excited. "Lupey, you should've seen Evans, she was a mad-woman! She set herself on fire—Flammare Frigidus or whatnot—and ran at those Clickers. It was the bravest shite I've ever seen, the coolest—"

"That's great," said Remus, sorry he had to interrupt. (Lily, he noticed, looked quite pleased.) "But we really have to go."

He looked to the Jewel brothers who were still locked in an intense argument.

"How are we going to escape?" bemoaned Peter.

"There." Remus pointed up at the ceiling, at the tree roots which spiralled down. He'd recognise them anywhere. "Lily, how do I wake up Wandering Willows?"

"Er—any sort of spell! Expelliarmus would work."

He tasked his friends with blasting Disarming Charms upwards so that they'd hit the roots. Then, he entrusted James with leading them out of here by giving him Frank's flask, explaining his plan. He then swiftly turned to the Jewel brothers, who were now duelling.

"Professors Jewel!" Remus yelled over the ruckus, over the Clicking, over the sounds of the ceiling exploding. "We have to get out of here now!"

Janus rounded on Remus, his eyes intense. His wand was pointed threateningly in Remus's direction. "And you! You stupid child! Must be lucky being like my brother, having things just handed to you on a silver platter."

Remus wanted to laugh at the irony of it all, but was, not for the first time today, terrified for his life. Janus stalked over and shoved him to the floor, and there he lay in the muddy earth, heart pounding.

"Don't hurt him!" howled Jiminy, racing over. "He's just a kid!"

Remus observed several things at once. First, he noticed the tennis ball Portkey, cloth-less, lying right beside him. Second, he saw Jiminy grabbing onto Janus's shirt; they were physically struggling, hands all over each other. Third, he remembered that Janus was a magical creature like him, having been transformed into something else by the Queen. And lastly, he realised that he knew Janus all too well.

He was, in a sense, Petunia. He was Sirius. It was the life of the second-best. The spare, not the heir. In this moment, he felt for Janus, so strongly that it hurt. And Remus didn't have any siblings, but he thought he knew well enough what it was like to feel worthless.

He channelled this feeling as he dug his hand into the earth, covering his fingers with all the mud he could. He closed his eyes as he imagined what it must be like to live Janus's life. It was easy; Janus had told him his whole life story. Then, making no skin contact because of the muddiness of his hand, Remus flicked the tennis ball with all the precision he'd learnt playing Gobstones.

"Catch!" Whispered Remus.

Janus's eyes went blank, his arm suddenly outstretched. The ball landed perfectly in his hand. Both Jewels looked at Remus with identical expressions of surprise and then blinked out of existence.

"Where the hell did you learn to flick like that?" James gushed.

"Tell you later," Remus said, scrambling up from the ground. "How are the Wandering Willows?"

"They're starting to move!" yelled Sirius over the chaos.

Indeed, they had begun to move. Remus craned his neck to watch the network of roots writhe with life, finally awake, and he marvelled at how they lifted upwards and came crashing down. Rocks rained down on them. There must've been at least a dozen Wandering Willows on the surface there, beginning to wake up, destroying the earth as they went.

"We should leave now! Otherwise, we're going to get crushed," said Lily.

"James, it's all up to you now!"

Together they grasped each other's hands. Remus was at the very end of the chain because his free arm was holding Ruby tight. Sirius gripped his right hand firmly, squeezing it before take-off.

"Ready?" yelled James.

"Just go!"

James twisted the cap off Frank's flask, pointing it downward, and instantly he shot up in the air. The Wild Wind supported all of them, James, then Peter, then Lily, Sirius, and finally Remus and Ruby, until they were all airborne. It was nothing like flying a broomstick or a dragon. It was ten times worse. James whooped while Lily screamed.

"Through the hole!" yelled Remus.

James steered them safely out of the chasm. Remus, daring to look down, saw the Wandering Willows marching away down below.

It was harder to land, with James struggling mid-air to cap the flask again and all of them screaming at him, but he managed to do so by slowly and expertly altering the angle they flew at.

They landed in an ungracious heap somewhere on the Hogwarts grounds, under the morning sun, all bones intact. They were solemnly silent, wordlessly taking in everything they'd experienced and learnt that night, until—

"I am never hanging out with you lot ever again," complained Lily, and the Marauders began to laugh and laugh and laugh.