Author's Note: The characters that belong to JK Rowling belong to JK Rowling
Thanks to SilverWind for the help proofreading, and my brother for miscellaneous stuff.
Chapter 8: The Society of Lion's Fire
The first class on Tuesday was Defense against the Dark Arts with Dumbledore, everyone's favorite.
"Today we'll be going over a peculiar dark practice. I was unsure about whether this should wait until your third year, when you will be discussing creatures, but this really does fall more under dark charms. In any case, on to Metamagi." Those in the class who weren't really paying attention quickly took notice.
"Of course you all know about Animagi, I'm sure Miss McGonagall informed all of you about them. However, many dark wizards feel that to become an Animagus is not enough. They want different characteristics of different animals to maximize their abilities. This is where Metamagicism, also called Chaemarism, comes into play.
"Metamagicism is an evil perversion of Animagicism. Through this, the wizard will become a combination of animal characteristics to their specification. This is highly dangerous and requires even more time and training than to become an Animagus. It is outlawed by the Ministry of Magic.
"Now, on to defense. The primary objective when defending yourself against a Metamagus, also known as a Chimaera Mage, is a strong offense. And the basis of that is to aim for the seams. Because there are unnatural bonds between, let's say, a tiger's claw and a human's arm, there is a weakness in the magic. What is necessary is a powerful spell; one I'm afraid you may not be able to perform for some time, which unbinds the Metamagus's magical animal-parts. The incantation goes as follows:
"Desmetus magus!" Dumbledore exclaimed with perfect pronunciation, though he didn't flick his wand and perform the spell. He showed them the hand movements and discussed a short history of the Metamagi, then moved on.
Sirius was still unable to find his chess-set by Wednesday, and Astronomy that night was certainly no help to his mood.
"I tell you what, I'll cheer you up during Astronomy. I think I might be able to get away with it." Remus said chuckling as he started on a large bowl of Jell-O, while James, Sirius, Peter, and the others started to go to Astronomy.
As usual, Remus came in late to Astronomy, though a while back he decided to do so in not such a manner that might eventually anger Professor Marus. Immediately he sat in his astronomy station, peering into his telescope. He did, after all, enjoy Astronomy. After a while, however, Remus got up, and walked to Professor Marus's desk.
"What is he doing?" Whispered Sirius to James. Professor Marus looked up from his gazing and stopped talking. Remus was behind him, and he didn't seem him. He was, however, staring at Sirius and James.
Remus suddenly climbed onto Marus's desk and started dancing. Sirius burst into laughter and James stifled giggles and wiped tears from his eyes. Marus didn't bother find out what was making them laugh-
"Black! Potter! Quiet! 20 points from Gryffindor!" Marus returned his eye to the lens and began lecturing again. "As for the placement of the constellation...." Remus continued his tap routine, then turned swiftly and kicked Professor Marus's chair right out the window.
Sirius and James this time laughed harder than ever, though they were able to keep them inaudible. It was so hard James got the hiccups and Sirius felt as if he'd broken a few ribs.
"Er, Professor?" Remus said still standing on the desk.
"Yes, Remus?" He asked, turning to face him.
"I was standing on your desk here, to get a better of view of the constellation, when I, er, accidentally knocked your chair out the window. May I retrieve it?" Marus looked thoughtfully at him.
"I suppose so."
"Oh, and it'll be some work, it is a heavy chair. May James and Sirius help me?"
"Alright."
"Oh, and we might take longer than the class will last. May we take our books in case we have to leave straight away?" Professor Marus sighed.
"Yes, yes, go on now." Remus happily jumped off the desk, gathered his things and walked out with James and Sirius.
"Wow, thanks, Remus!" Once they were safely out of earshot of Professor Marus, Sirius and James exchanged high-fives.
"Man, are we ever lucky to have you in our class, Remus." Sirius said as they walked out onto the grass following a long descent from the tower.
"Want to just go to bed?" Asked James.
"No, no, we may as well take advantage of this." Remus said, as he pointed to the chair upside down on the lawn. "After we get that chair back up anyway."
"Well, we better wait until after the bell rings to do that, because if we magic that chair up there right away, Marus will be expecting us back in class. We've got to make him think it took us a while to get down." Remus and Sirius nodded in agreement, and the three boys simply lay down in the snow.
"Do you reckon Lily, Mary, and Peter will be mad for me not getting them out of class too?" Asked Remus.
"I don't think so. Asking Peter to help you with something isn't very believable, and Lily and Mary would scoff at the idea of cutting class." Sirius sat up.
"I wish I knew where my chessmen were." He said quite suddenly and glumly. "I mean, I know that I shouldn't be so dumb about chess pieces, but I've had those guys since I was four. I even named them. They listened to me."
"We know, Sirius. It must be devastating. You know-" James thrust his wand into the ground as he sat up as well. "-this sort of thing shouldn't happen to us. We're the popular ones. We're the smart ones. We should own this school." Remus sat up as well.
"Well, that's a startling declaration." He said casually.
"No, I think James is right." Sirius said. "We should be on top at this school. At least among first years. I mean, I don't think anyone but us knows about that secret passage from the Astronomy Tower to the room right by the Fat Lady."
"You're right!" Said James. "And I bet there's more, just waiting to be uncovered! And we'll find them! We'll know them all, we'll be the smartest, the best Quidditchers, the funniest, and best of all, the biggest troublemakers!" James slapped Sirius's hand. Suddenly immense excitement fell over Remus's face.
"Well, if we're going to do this, we're going to do this right!" Remus said punching a fist in the air.
"How?" Asked James and Sirius in unison.
"Well, easy. We'll find a secret passageway that's nice and large...or, if we're lucky, a whole secret room! We'll have a secret club!"
"Whoa!" Said Sirius looking quite apprehensive and holding his hands up. "Not a secret society! Those are for the loony evil guys! Who praise evil and all that stuff! We're not going to become one of those!"
"Wait, I think I like Remus's idea. I think that a secret society would be cool. As long as we don't get all evil and so forth." Sirius still looked slightly hesitant.
"I don't know...we could get in trouble...." Sirius said nervously.
"Oh, Sirius, don't be such a baby! What are troublemakers supposed to do?" Sirius put his hand to his chin.
"Yeah, I reckon you're right."
"It's formed then! The Society of...." James trailed off.
"Uh, Gryffindor?" Sirius said.
"No, not Gryffindor. If the name ever got out, 200 people would be asking to come in. Something cooler, but obviously relating to Gryffindor. So it's obvious that only Gryffindors are allowed."
"Lion's Fire!" Said Remus pointing his finger in the air.
"Sounds good!" Sirius and James chorused.
"Alright then, The Society of Lion's Fire is hereby initiated! Let the first meeting commence!"
"I vote that James be King!" Said Remus.
"I second that!" Sirius said quickly.
"Ok, I suppose I'm King then!" James said proudly.
"Uh-oh, guys, I think this meeting is adjourned. We've gotta get that chair up, class just got out!" The three friends quickly got up and ran over to the chair.
"Wingardium Leviosa on three?" Asked James.
"Yeah." Sirius nodded.
"Alright...1...2...3!" The three put their wands out.
"Wingardium leviosa!" The chair suddenly shot upwards, climbing the tower three-fourths of the way until slowing down.
"Just a few feet more!" Said James as they struggled to keep the chair on its ascending path.
"Almost got it...." Suddenly however, the chair lifted easily the rest of the way and landed softly inside. James turned around.
"Lily! Thanks a lot." Remus said, turning around as well.
"It took you guys that long just to get it that high up? I thought you were good at Charms, James."
"Nah, we just started when we heard the bell ring. We were just lying here."
"You guys were cutting class?" Asked Lily, enraged.
"Oh, don't worry, Lily. Remus here is an expert, he didn't miss anything."
"Yeah, but what about you guys?"
"Guys, do you think we should enlist Lily?" Sirius asked, changing the subject.
"Enlist me into what?" Remus looked at Sirius and James nervously.
"We could use a girl. Might add a new perspective to the SLF."
"What's the SLF?"
"Well, Lily, you did get down here awfully fast...Did you find a shortcut?" Inquired James.
"Actually, yes. I found one behind the portrait of the Sphinx, it leads right down to behind that silver suit of armor on the first basement level."
"Mmm. I'd say she's worthy." Remus said, stroking his chin.
"Alright. Lily, The Society of Lion's Fire cordially extends a hand of welcome to you as our latest member."
"The what?" Lily asked, squinting here eyes.
"Why the Society of Lion's Fire!" Sirius said sounding slightly offending.
"A secret club devoted to being the smartest, best Quidditching, most troublemaking, funniest, and all-in-all most secretive club in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"Impressive. Alright, I'll join your little club."
"Society!" Remus yelled.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, society."
"Alright members, meeting...erm, exactly 48 hours from now!" James proclaimed.
"Twelve forty-eight AM Saturday morning? That's an awfully odd meeting time."
"Well its tradition. Starting now. Members, your job from now till then is to...uh, look for secret passageways!" James proclaimed again.
"Alright! In the meantime, lets get to bed, because Marus is going to bite our heads off if not!" The group quickly ran in and to their dormitories.
Over the next few days James, Remus, and Sirius did nothing but scour the halls for secret passages. Every time they saw something that looked as if it may have had a passage behind it, one of them would shake it, poke it, tickle it, and use at least 5 different spells on it.
"Nothing." Said James tiredly as he collapsed into his desk during Astronomy that Friday morning.
"This castle has nothing. Nothing but those two. And maybe a few more passages, but I doubt any of them are any good." Sirius replied drearily. Even Remus was so distraught he forgot to be late for Astronomy.
After sleeping through that class, James led the group back out onto the grounds.
"So no one found anything?" Asked James.
"Hey, that's material for the meeting tonight." Said Sirius. "We're gonna have nothing to talk about!" Remus looked over the grounds.
"We could discuss that drink that I told you about." Remus said, still gazing outward. "That's where the Society got its name. Lion's Fire."
"Oh? Why don't you just tell me, and we'll make some for the meeting tonight. It could be our official drink." Sirius said in monotone, bored and gazing out at the forest now as well.
"Wait! I have an idea!" James said suddenly. "How do you make this drink, Remus?"
"Well its simple really. Just combine butterbeer, berry juice and...er, well, rum."
"Rum!? What are you mad? We're troublemakers, not lawbreakers!"
"Not much! It's just for flammability."
"Flammability?" Asked Sirius, in a 'that's-far-too-dangerous' tone.
"Yeah, that's what makes it so unique! You light in on fire. I bet we could use cooking alcohol instead. That's okay for us."
"And you drink the fire?" Sirius yelled.
"Well, you add ice to it. But you do a Flame-Freezing Charm on the ice first. Makes it go down easy... says Hagrid." Sirius still looked at Remus as if he was missing his arms, though James was now thinking hard.
"To tell you the truth, Remus, I don't know the Flame-Freezing Charm." James said, slightly disappointed.
"Nor do I." Sirius said with a sigh.
"Well, we could ask Hagrid." Said Remus pointing to his distant cabin.
"Hey, guys! Hey!" Lily came bounding down the grounds with a huge grin on her face.
"Hello, Lily, what is it?"
"I just found some-"
"Lily, do you know the Flame-Freezing Charm?" Sirius interrupted.
"Er, no. Sorry." She said. She looked even more disappointed than James did.
"Well then, to Hagrid's." Remus said, leading the short way to the small living quarters. Remus knocked on the door.
"Hagrid? It's me Remus. I have some friends."
"One second." Hagrid opened the door. Once again he had his fire blazing, his cauldron on ice.
"Oh, hello. And yeh must be Remus's friends." James and Sirius held out their hands.
"James Potter."
"Sirius Black."
"And I'm Lily Evans." Lily added.
"Ah, Potter 'n Black. Ah've heard about yeh. Quite the troublemakers yeh are." James and Sirius put their hands to their faces, pretending to blush.
"Oh, you're too kind Mister Hagrid."
"Cm'n, its teh cold out there." Hagrid waved them in with his massive hand.
"Remus, not ter bring up a sore subject, but when's the next time-" Remus pointed to Lily and shook his head subtly as possible.
She doesn't know! Remus thought. Hagrid immediately understood the gesture.
"-Er, when's the next time yer gonna visit yer...ah, uncle."
Ah, so Remus told Hagrid he leaves because of his uncle. I see.
"Uh, yeah, Remus, your Uncle. When's the next time?" Asked James.
"Oh, in a week or so. Anyway, Hagrid, what's the Flame-Freezing Charm? We wanna know for our own Lion's Fire...."
"Oh, yeh want ter know that..." Hagrid scratched his head, embarrassed. He completely forgot to tell them to not consume illegal substances (for he had no idea they would be using cooking alcohol).
"Ter tell yeh the truth, Ah'm not supposed ter use magic." Hagrid went red.
"Oh Hagrid, we won't tell anyone." Remus slyly said, winking.
"Ach...well, I suppose. Yeh just raise yer wand and say 'Gelifugus!' Got it? Now, head back, I've got ter tend ter the lake. I heard there's a squid in it." Hagrid shooed them, put out the flame, which appeared to be almost entirely consumed, and started out with a bow and a quiver of arrows.
The four returned to their spot in the snow.
"Well, that helps. Now we just need to find butterbeer, berry juice, and some cooking wine. No problem. Really." Sirius said sarcastically.
"Actually, guys, I think not." Lily said smiling brightly.
"Why? Did you find something?" Sirius asked excitedly.
"Yes! That's what I came here for in the first place!" Lily scolded. "I was going to tell you that I, instead of looking around the castle like an idiot, went to the library."
"And you found a book that shows all the secret passageways?" James squeaked.
"No!" Lily said, stomping her foot. "I mean to tell you that I found a spell that opens hidden passages!" Sirius shrieked.
"Yeeeeaaaaah!"
"Lily, I could kiss you!" James said excitedly. Silence fell.
"What?" He asked. "It's an expression!"
"The incantation is 'Dissendium', with a tap of the wand!"
"Well, team, we've got eight and a half hours! Go, go, go!" Yelled James. The four immediately shot in each direction, racing into the castle, wands out.
"Hmm." Thought Remus. He was face to face with a picture of fruit. He had raced down to the basement as James, Sirius and Lily going upward.
"How shall you open?" He tapped the painting. "Dissendium!" Nothing.
"Maybe...Open Sesame?" Still nothing. Remus poked it. He slapped it. He tickled it. Suddenly, the pear wobbled, and turned into a handle.
"Yes!" Remus opened the door. Inside was a massive room full of stoves and tables, and at least one hundred small elves.
"The kitchens!" Remus looked around.
"Ah, so Hogwarts uses house elves as well. Interesting."
Meanwhile, Sirius was pondering a slightly protruding brick on the same long corridor at the end of which hung the Fat Lady.
"I know you're a secret. I've tried everything. Everything but-dissendium!" Sirius tapped the brick, and it suddenly sunk into the wall.
"Aha!" Sirius triumphantly punched the air. He looked at the wall. He touched and prodded it.
"Now what the-" But Sirius turned around to find what had happened. Behind him a semi-large hole had formed.
"Aha!" Sirius enthusiastically dove headfirst into the hole. He heard the brick door slam shut behind him, as he slid down a damp, sometimes bumpy, stone slide. When he hit the bottom he brushed himself off and stood.
"Oh, er didn't mean to intrude." Sirius said nervously, reaching slowly for his dropped wand.
"Dissendium!" Attempted Lily upon a statue of Merlin on the fifth floor.
"Hmmm. Not dissendium, eh? Well I suppose I haven't tried anything else." Lily prodded it in every way she could imagine, though still nothing happened.
"Shoot!" She frustratedly moved on. She then came a picture of a very old looking woman, underneath which was a nameplate.
"Gadadnaia Vi." Lily read.
"That's my name." Croaked the witch. An idea sprung into Lily's mind.
"Gadadnaia...that's a pretty name."
"My friends call me Naia."
"Oh, I see. Naia. Say, Naia-Miss Vi, you wouldn't happen to know if there are any...secret passages around here, would you?" Naia put her hand to her chin.
"Actually, yes there is. I don't mind telling you; you look like an honest girl. There's one right behind me." Lily stepped back.
"Really? Wow! Er- there is?" Naia nodded wisely.
"Just say the password, I'll open up. It's been years since, though." Naia sighed.
"Er, would you mind telling it to me?" Naia nodded.
"Sure. It's 'Gwabble-Quob'." She said.
"Ah. Gwabble-Quob then." Naia smiled as the painting slid down as if on a track, to reveal a passage no more than three feet tall. Lily heard footsteps, put aside her doubts, and dove headfirst into the opening, Naia shutting behind her.
"Sirius, what do you think you're doing?" Asked James. Sirius stepped closer.
"Oh, it's you James. I didn't see you-I was about to blow your head off." James chuckled.
"Sure you were."
"So where's this passage come out?" Asked Sirius.
"Some protruding brick in the potions corridor." James answered, lighting his wand.
"Really? The other side's just near the Fat Lady! We can take our time to Potions!" Sirius and James slapped hands, then headed up the path Sirius had fallen down. Upon reaching the top using the bumps in the slide as grips, James put his hand to the solid stone wall.
"Now what?" He asked Sirius.
"I don't know. All I did was tap the stone and say 'dissendium'. That's all." Sirius answered, his grip on the bump slipping. "Could you hurry it up? I'm slipping."
"Alright then," James said, raising his wand. He tapped the wall with a "Dissendium!" Nothing.
"Now's not the time to not be able to find out how to open this thing, Sirius!" James said, his tone rising.
"I...I don't know why it's not working!"
"Well, why don't weeeeaaaaaaaaaagh!" James's grip slipped from the bumps in the passage and slid on the slimy rock to the bottom.
"James!?" Sirius yelled, alarmed.
"I'm okay!" James yelled. "I was just saying that we should try the other entrance!" Ah yes, Sirius thought. He cautiously slid down to the small area that connected the tunnels, illuminated only by the light of their wands.
"Alright, easy down..." Sirius and James carefully slid down the second passage. They landed feet first against the brick wall and put their still-illuminated wands forward.
"Dissendium!" They said in unison. No result came, however.
"Oh no." They chorused once again.
"This is perfect!" Lily said, keeping her voice down. She had discovered not a passage, but, as Remus had hoped, and entire secret room. With her wand she examined the room, about the size of a classroom. It's floor, walls, and ceiling were all brick, and nothing but a thick coat of dust was its contents.
"Well, nothing to do in here...I better go tell the boys." She put a leg up to the passage and climbed in headfirst, again.
Remus was beginning to think that he may have bit off a little more than he could chew. As he bobbled the boxes of food he had carried off from the kitchens, he heard footsteps.
"Uh oh..." He quickly sat down and stabilized himself. Once he was sure he had a sturdy grip on everything he stood back up and quickly walked off in the opposite direction. He realized that he had made it very near to the Gyriffindor section and decided to drop off the food in the first-year boys' dormitory. As he approached the Fat Lady he heard a muffled scream. Remus stopped and stood.
"Help!" He heard through the wall.
"James?" He yelled, dropping the food, and putting his ear up to the wall. He felt fairly foolish, but he certainly heard James franticly speaking to him.
"Remus! We've been down here for an hour! GET US OUT!" Remus backed away from the wall and looked around.
"How?" He asked. The Fat Lady was beginning to look at him oddly.
"There should be a brick protruding on the opposite wall! Tap with dissendium!" Remus nodded, flashed a glance at the Fat Lady, and quickly noticed the brick. Lily came around the corner.
"Hi, Remus...what's going on?" She asked.
"Er...James is stuck in the wall." She gave him a puzzled look.
"Sirius! Come up here! Remus has arrived!" Came James's muffled voice through the wall.
"And Sirius too." Remus added. Without further ado, Remus turned sharply on the brick, tapped it with his wand and annunciated carefully:
"Dissendium!" The brick sunk in, and behind Remus, the wall opened. James and Sirius scrambled out.
"Well, I reckon that one's not going to do us much good." He said.
"Actually," Sirius started, "I do believe it may be, now that I've found this." He produced a key from his cloak. "My guess is there's a keyhole we didn't see."
"Either that or some classroom or office just opened up to us." Sirius and James sprouted giant grins.
"What's this?" Asked Sirius, pointing to the boxes Remus had brought. Remus grinned wide.
"Save it for the meeting." He swiftly lifted the boxes, smartly told the Fat Lady the password, and went off the dormitory.
"Well, 3 hours yet to go. I'd say I've got a lot of secrets to find." James said, smiling, not worrying in the slightest about what Remus had gotten. Then Lily said,
"You guys'll love what I disco-" Sirius put his hand up. James walked off.
"Save it." Sirius said smiling. He too, walked off, following James until the first possible fork, then went in the opposite direction.
"Ridiculous." She muttered, leaving as well.
They met in the owlery, in their black robes, hoods up, hands in sleeves. The owls were out flying now, at night, so Peter did not have to worry about another ambush.
"Let the second meeting of the Society of Lion's Fire commence, ante diem octas Idus Ianuarius, 2721 ab urbe candita." James said mystically. He produced a gavel from his robe and tapped it on the brick. A few owls that had stayed hooted grumpily. Lily stifled a giggle.
"What?" James asked, breaking the ritualism.
"It's all just so silly..." She said. James shook his head and she silenced.
"The first order of business, a good thing since I doubt any of us will be able to wait much longer, starting with Remus, let us all present our discoveries. Remus?"
"I've found how to get to the kitchens and gotten off with a bunch of food, including these doughnuts. Nothing else, unfortunately." James chuckled.
"That's more than enough Remus. Your discovery will help us a lot." He smiled, though it abruptly returned to a straight face once he realized no one could see it.
"Sirius?" Remus asked, turning to him. He nodded and began listing his discoveries, all of which were insignificant to them, leading from one hall they never visited to another they scarcely did, or vice versa.
"Lily?" She nodded.
"Well, I think I'll please you all when I say that I think I've found an excellent chamber for us all to use."
"Really?" James asked, sounding excited.
"Why yes! It's about the size of our Defense classroom, behind a portrait of a kind old woman."
"Excellent." Said Remus.
"Anything else?" James asked.
"Nothing of importance." She said, shaking her head.
"Peter?" James said, turning to the cloaked lump to his right.
"I er...I found the kitchens too..." He gulped.
"Ah. Yes, well, good job to you to." James said nodding. Assuming Peter had found nothing else, James moved to himself.
"Well, as Sirius has said, we've found the chamber connecting the Fat Lady to the Potions corridor. I also found one that leads from the bathroom near History of Magic to the suit of armor on the eighth floor." The grouped nodded.
"Well, shall we have some of our drink, then?" Remus nodded and turned around to prepare the concoction.
"Gelifugus!" He whispered loudly. The ice turned blue. The members watched as Remus poured things, measured things and mumbled to himself. Finally, they were all amazed when he lit the spectacular beverage, and dumped the charmed ice in. He poured the fire- it flowed as if it were liquid- into five goblets, and passed them around.
"Cheers." James said, and the group responded in like. After the goblets were clinked, every member cautiously chugged the Lion's Fire, with the exception of Peter, who probably wouldn't have taken a sip if it weren't for the fact that the drink was on fire, and everyone could tell if he hadn't downed his yet. He sipped finally, then at length managed to get it all down.
"Delicious!" Said James with the loudly, though there was a trace of fright in his voice. Footsteps, however, disrupted their fun.
"Who is that?" Remus wondered aloud.
"Doesn't matter, let's go!" And the five departed in opposite directions.
By the next morning James and Sirius were pondering extending membership to Allyn and Mary.
"Well, of course Mary." Sirius said. James grinned widely on the inside.
"Alright. But what about Allyn."
"He's a good friend-" Sirius said.
"Sure...but is he Lion's Fire material?" Sirius leaned back in thought.
"I don't know. I say we extend membership to Mary, then vote on Allyn next meeting." Sirius nodded.
"Let the third meeting of the Society of Lion's Fire commence, Idus Ianuarius, 2721 ab urbe candita." James gavel was completely muffled by the thick dust on the floor of the chamber Lily had discovered. They had set up torches to illuminate, and built a small fire in the center, in a bucket. Chairs had been set up in the center of the room, leaving a large expanse of wide space wide open and unused.
Mary sat between Sirius and Lily, looking fairly scared that Sirius's fear of this turning into an evil cult had come true; but once the hoods came down and the Latin ended, she became a little more comfortable.
"First order of business." James said. He turned to Remus, to whom he had delegated this responsibility earlier.
"First order of business, we need a queen." Remus said. Mary and Lily both looked slightly stunned.
"Quite obviously, we have two candidates." He passed slips of parchment around the room, so that the four boys present could vote. Remus told the girls to go to the corner. And they did, off into the dark corner, lit by their wands.
"Alright." Remus spoke quietly. "Please write the name of your choice now."
James turned and looked down onto the parchment. He quickly took out his quill, and scribbled 'Lily' on it. Sirius asked,
"James. Can I borrow your quill?" James smiled and nodded and passed the quill along. Sirius took equally little time writing Mary's name down, and passed the pen to Peter. With it, he wrote each name at least twice, scratching them out, finally deciding on Mary.
"Alright, then, place the slips in this goblet." Remus said, putting his own in, then allowing for the others to do likewise. He called for the girls to return.
"Now, to count the votes." He said. Pulling out the first, Peter's, he made the name Mary out from all the scribble. Both girls put their heads down.
"One for Mary." He pulled out the next. Neatly written on it was Lily's name.
"One for Lily." The next he pulled out he recognized, for the third time, he did not pick his own.
"Two for Mary." And he knew his own.
"Well, it appears we have a tie." Everyone let out a sigh.
"How shall we decide?" Remus sat for a moment, pondering, but eventually came up with a solution.
"Let's put it aside for a moment. And vote on another matter. About Allyn Synwyd. Should he be a member?" Before anyone attempted to speak, he raised his hand for silence and passed out more parchment.
"One for Allyn." He said, pulling the first vote out.
"Two for Allyn." He said after the second.
"Three for Allyn." After the third. James jaw clenched so hard his head began to hurt.
"One for not-Allyn." He eased a bit.
"Two for not-Allyn." A little more. Remus sighed loudly. If he had to deal with two ties...But his worries were put to rest when he pulled the sixth vote. He smiled and said,
"Four for Allyn." James put his head down, so no one could see his face.
"James. Since you have the cloak-" James nodded, still keeping his face from view.
"I'll fetch him." He crawled back through the tunnel, out into the hallway. He donned the cloak, and proceeded towards the common room.
"What cloak?" Asked Lily.
"Er...the imperial cloak!"
"Allyn." James whispered to the sleeping boy. "Psst! Allyn!" He said again, tapping his shoulder.
"What?" He said suddenly, fairly grumpily.
"Get up and come with me." He sat up in bed.
"Come with you? Where? What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. It's time for you to join us. Me, Sirius, Remus...Lily. Just come on." He gripped Allyn's wrist and pulled him up.
"Under the Invisibility Cloak."
"The what?" James explained the cloak, the society, everything but Remus to him. After that, however, they simply walked in silence.
James felt guilty. I shouldn't feel like this, he thought. I shouldn't be angry at him for nothing. James shook his head and reached Naia Vi.
"Gwobble-Quob." And they entered.
"We'll have a re-vote." Said Remus. "Just to be sure we don't know exactly who gives the deciding vote." They all nodded.
When it was over, Remus again reached into the goblet for the first piece of parchment.
"One for Mary."
"Two for Mary."
"One for Lily." Remus threw it into the fire and drew the next. He stared. He started to speak, but then stopped. He looked at James, then back to the paper.
Loving the suspense, he reached behind him and grabbed a crown. He placed it carefully on James's head. He grabbed a second, smaller, more silvery one. He walked over to the girls, bent over, and placed it on Mary's head.