Before the Glimmer
Part
IV: The Mysterious Map
Lanie saw less and less of the boys since the ball. They always left the common room after dinner and the girls never saw them again until the next morning. Like any normal teenage girls, Lane and Lily were beginning to get really curious; especially when spring started to roll around and the boys were still disappearing.
"So how are you and James doing," Shelby came up and asked Lily one day right after dinner.
"How would I know? He is never around. I don't think I've talked to him in over a month! Some boyfriend he would make!"
"Sirius is always gone too. I miss talking to him," Shelby sulked. Lanie knew Sirius still talked to Shelby any chance he got; they have been loosing a lot of points for Gryffindor by chatting in the middle of class.
"I don't," Liberty stated behind her. "But, I suppose it would be nice to see James, Remus and Peter every now and then."
"By the way Lanie, how's Peter," Shelby jumped on Lanie the first chance she got.
"I don't know. He keeps sending me flowers. At first, it was sweet, but now it's getting kind of annoying."
"I would tell him to back off if I were you," Shelby advised.
"I don't want to hurt his feelings. Besides, it's not like any of the other guys pay any attention to me."
"Now that we have discussed everyone's guy problems, can we please change the subject," Liberty asked impatiently.
"But, we haven't discussed your guy problems," Shelby teased. Liberty responded by throwing the nearest thing she could find at Shelby. It turned out to be James' jacket.
"Hey, he forgot his jacket," Lily said, taking it from Shelby. As she picked it up, a scroll fell out of the pocket. "What's this?"
At about that time, they could hear Sirius' voice carry into the common room. "I think I know what you boys mean when I say I solemnly swear we are up to no good tonight," he exclaimed.
"I know exactly what you mean dear friend," James replied.
"Quick, hide the scroll," Liberty hissed to Lily when the boys came into sight.
"Howdy ladies," Remus addressed them in a gentlemanly bow. "We're off to the library again tonight."
"Here, you might want your coat," Lily said, handing it to James.
"Er, thanks. I didn't even realize I forgot it," he answered. He checked the pocket, and looked up relieved. Apparently Lily had put the scroll back into the coat pocket. Two seconds later they were headed out the porthole. "Bye Lanie," Peter blushed before he walked out the door.
"Why did you put it back," Liberty pouted as soon as the portrait closed.
"I didn't," Lily smirked, holding up the scroll.
"Then, why didn't James say anything? He surely would've noticed," Lanie said.
"He didn't notice because I put in an imposter scroll," she giggled.
Lanie giggled along with her friend. "Lily, you little…"
"Okay, enough, let's see what it is," Liberty insisted.
Lily started to open the scroll, but it wouldn't open. "Give me that," Liberty said, also becoming unsuccessful at opening the scroll. After passing the scroll around, each having their turn at it, they were about to give up.
"Here, you can give this back to James," Liberty said, handing it back to Lily. When Lily got it back, she gasped.
"What?"
"Look," she said, holding the scroll for them all to see. The strangest thing started happening, words began appearing on the scroll. Liberty grabbed it from her and began to read.
Mr. Patfood would like to say hello to Miss Fahren
and ask her why she is such a …
Mr. Prongs would like to stop Mr. Padfoot from finishing
his statement and hit him on the side of the head
Mr. Padgoot would like to apologize and winks at pretty Miss Winters
Mr. Moony would like to bid adieu to the ladies and tell Mr. Padfoot
to put his eyes back in
Mr. Wormtail would like to tell Lanie her hair looks pretty
Mr. Prongs would like to now turn and bop Mr. Wormtail on
the side of the head
"This is weird, but doesn't this remind you of someone," Lanie asked cautiously as she tore the map from Liberty's hands. "Mr. Padfoot has to be Sirius. Mr. Wormtail is obviously Peter. Mr. Prongs is James, and that leaves Mr. Moony as Remus."
"Forget it Lanie. You're crazy," Liberty remarked.
"No, I think she's right," Lily said. "Those boys are defiantly up to something."
"Yes, didn't you hear Sirius when he came in," Lanie asked. "He said to James, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good'," she tapped her wand on the scroll for extra effect. She gasped as the scroll began to unravel within her hand.
"Lanie, you did it," Lily exclaimed.
"What is it," Shelby asked.
"It seems to be some sort of map. Look at it, it shows all of Hogwarts, complete with several hidden passageways."
"That's amazing," Lily exclaimed. "What are the dots?"
"They're labeled. I can see where everyone is located in this castle. Look, there we are, in the common room." She pointed to four red dots on the map labeled Rogers, Evens, Fahren, and Winters.
"Yes, we have blackmail," Liberty, exclaimed, her eyes beginning to glow.
"All right, now you're beginning to scare me Libby," Shelby said.
"They're coming back! They must have discovered the missing map!" But it was too late. As soon as Lily got that out of her mouth, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were standing beside her. "Oops, guess this belongs to you?"
"Very observant," Sirius said, wrenching the map out of her grasp.
"Yes, would you mind telling us exactly what this is," Shelby said.
"None of your business."
"Oh, but I made it my business."
"Will you two shut up," James shouted over their voices. "We might as well tell them."
"Yes, they are our friends. They have every right to know," Remus agreed.
"But what about your condition Remus?"
"You mean that he is a werewolf," Lanie asked.
"How did you know," Remus asked, staring down at her.
"Well," she blushed, "I realized that ever since first year, every time you disappeared was on a full moon."
"And you figured it out just by that?"
"Well…that and the fact that I accidentally heard you talking to James about it a year ago. You were telling him about how lonely it gets in the Shrieking Shack all by yourself."
"You might as well tell them," Sirius said.
James took a deep breath and began. "We…well, Remus and Peter and I, have become animagus'." As James was telling their story, they didn't know that in a little town, miles away, Mr. and Mrs. Todd Fahren had just uncovered a secrete potion that could weaken the effect of the unforgivable curses. Or, that somewhere else, not far from the town, Lord Voldemort knew about the secrete potion, and was vowing to get his hands on that potion no matter what.
A/n I've been working hard on this so I can get it done before I get much further in A Glimmer Within A Trial. I'm thinking that their will be about three more chapters, and they will skip around a lot, so I'll apologize for that beforehand. I am just trying to hit on the main events. This story is going to end very sadly (well, duh, we already know James and Lily is going to die), but I promise to make up for it in A Glimmer Within A Trial. Please review, provided that ff.net will let youJ
Disclaimer: I do not own them