Right Chapter 6 is here. As always thank-you to everyone who reviewed for me, glad to know you're still interested!

Hermione 'DB' Granger – Thanks for reviewing for me again. Yes, I am an English lit. student (I used to do English language too but, GOD it was awful!) I'm glad you thought it was a good idea to add bits of humour I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate or not – but then my humour rarely is! I don't really have any opinions on Concorde jets I just wanted to compare the owl to something really fast.

Ok then...

Charter Six :  Marauders Cave

The owl took only half an hour to return. Harry was relieved when it did, the deathly silence that had hung between Remus and Sirius since it's departure was becoming unbearable. Sirius had spent the whole time rocking back and forth on the bed whilst fiddling with the hem on his cuffs. His dark eyes looked empty and devoid of life, his skin was ghostly white. He reminded Harry of a vampire he had once seen in an old vampire movie Dudley had made him watch because he was too scared to on his own.

Harry wished he was watching that movie now, back at Privet Drive. Never in his life had he wished to go to the Dursley's house and hours before he would have sworn blind he never would, but even the Dursleys' were more appealing than this current situation. Of course Harry wanted to know the outcome of these events. He desperately wanted to know how his parents had escaped, what had become of Jones and most of all what had happened to his aunt, but he would much rather be told than have to live through it. He couldn't bear the suspense. He couldn't bear the fear he saw in the eyes of those around him.

While Sirius sat playing with his cuffs Remus sat very still, his head bowed and resting in his hands, his eyes concentrated on the floor. Harry could tell he was thinking hard, he had seen Hermione wearing that same expression on countless occasions. The furrowed brow and intense stare gave way only when a faint hooting sound could be heard coming from the window ledge.

'Calador!'

Remus jumped up as the owl began pecking viciously at the roll of parchment strapped to it's foot. He relieved it of it's letter and it flew away after receiving a quick treat and pat on the head from its grateful owner.

'What does it say?' Sirius asked eagerly, joining his friend by the window.

'Dumbledore has temporarily allowed the fireplace in his office to be linked to the Floo Network. We'' have to go straight away as he is anxious about keeping it open for too long in case of trespassers, or worse.'

The men both dashed towards the grate in Sonny's abandoned room. Each scooped up a handful of green powder from a large glass pot on the hearth.

'Go on.' Sirius stepped aside allowing his Remus to climb into the base of the chimney. Lupin then threw the powder down whilst calling out the name of his destination.

'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'

Harry couldn't think of anything he liked less than traveling by Floo, well maybe with the exception of Professor Trelawney continually predicting his death, but this was almost as bad.

A thick green mist engulfed the chimney stack and emerald flames licked the calves of his legs. His head began to spin rapidly leaving him blind to anything but the flashing green of the flames that now completely surrounded him. Without warning he landed in a tangled heap on the floor of Dumbledore's office. He looked around to see that Remus was stood rigidly behind him completely unfazed by the whole experience.

'Professor Dumbledore' Remus greeted the Head whilst shaking his hand.

Dumbledore chuckled.

'Come now Remus I think it's about time you started calling me Albus. It is, after all, some time now since you attended this school.

'Aaah ,Sirius Black. I trust you are going to cause less havoc during this visit to the castle than you did the last time you were here.'

Sirius had just appeared from the fireplace behind them, he grinned and shook the old man's hand.

'Well under the present circumstances I shall try my best' he replied cheekily.

Dumbledore led the men towards his desk. I would ask you to take a seat here but some rather naughty Hufflepuffs covered my guest chairs in invisible paint, I haven't any idea where they are.' He looked pointedly at Black 'I just don't know where they get it from.'

Sirius grinned to himself. He remembered the time Dumbledore had caught him stashing tins of invisible paint under his bed vividly. It was confiscated without him ever using it but he would have never have dreamed of using it on Dumbledore's chairs. Why hadn't he thought of that?!

'If you don't mind we shall have to attend our business in my living room.'

The Headmaster took the men into  the chamber that lay behind his desk. The room was dark and cluttered with many unusual objects most of which would occasionally let out a loud bang causing Sirius and Remus to jump. A few portraits hung on the stone walls and a large oil painting of the Head himself stood in the entranceway. Dumbledore sat down in a small armchair which was covered in purple and red velvet, he indicated for his guests to seat themselves on the couch before him.

'I would have done the dusting if I knew I was going to have visitors' Dumbledore smiled.

'Sorry to come at such short notice, but you see we've just discovered Sonny missing and well, she's been gone for hours.' Remus explained.

'Yes, a tricky situation. I am glad you came to me. The Ministry assure me they are doing all they can to aid your situation but as always they are tied up with many other matters. However, I have contacted a few of my old acquaintances who have promised to help us with the search.'

'Who are these friends?' Sirius asked eagerly 'Are they spies?'

Dumbledore held up his hand.

'I am afraid I  cannot say. All I can tell you is that these wizards have my utmost faith.'

'Well that is good enough for us .' Remus reasoned.

Sirius nodded in agreement. It was very rare that Dumbledore should be wrong about anything.

'Now', the Head began, 'I have agreed to meet my associates this evening, you are very welcome to remain here until then, I trust the meeting will be short and I will be able to report it's outcome to you immediately. If you don't wish to stay that long you must at least stay for supper.'

'We'd love to stay.' Sirius accepted 'We were just driving ourselves mad at my house, at least here we have contact with those who are trying to help.'

'Splendid. I shall set one of the spare rooms on the third floor up for your personal use and get onto the house-elves about setting you a place for dinner.' Dumbledore informed them as he disappeared into his office.

Sirius and Remus remained seated in the living area, both looked a lot more at ease than they had on their arrival.

Dumbledore arrived back in the room in minutes and told the men that the arrangements had been made.

'I'm sure a guide will not be necessary. As I remember you are both very familiar with the out-of-bounds rooms on the third floor' he added 'It is the first room on the left, the one in which you used to store your collection of illegal Exploding Gobstones and Filibusters Fireworks if  I'm not mistaken Mr. Black'

Dumbledore grinned.

'Oh, no. Those were Peter's. You see...' Sirius began but a raised eyebrow from his old Headmaster indicated that he was fighting a loosing battle.

The two Marauders made their way out of the office and set off towards the third floor. They had a little difficulty with one of the staircases leading up to the second floor, it seemed someone had enchanted it so that it would not stop moving.

'Oh come on, I played that trick five minutes after I was sorted!' Remus cried 'These kids have no originality.'

After they had both finally managed to jump across the gap left between the stairs and the hallway they succeeded to their room without any problems.

The room they entered was already lit by candlelight and a few cosy-looking chairs had been added for their benefit. A fire roared away in the corner of the room and in the centre of the seating area a small table had been set with a large jug of pumpkin juice and two empty goblets. They each sat down on one of the chairs.

'An hour to go until supper.' Sirius sounded more upbeat than he had done since this fiasco started.

'Yeah' Remus agreed 'Looks like everything is going to be sorted. I trust Dumbledore entirely and he doesn't seemed overly concerned. What do you think of these old friends of his, Unspeakables maybe?'

'It's possible but I'm not too sure. I don't think Dumbledore will be relying on Ministry workers, he seems as disillusioned with them as we are.' Black reasoned.

'Mmm. Maybe you are right.' His friend decided.

Remus curled up cosily in his arm chair while Sirius wandered around the room, occasionally stopping and examining the pillars and brickwork. He traced his fingers along various cracks in the walls, examining them closely. Every now and then he would put his ear against the walls and tap them as if checking their hollowness.

'Looking for something?' Lupin inquired.

'Mmm' Sirius sounded thoughtful. 'I used to hide a load of stuff in this room. Do you reckon it's still here?'

Remus looked intrigued. After a few more minutes of searching Black pulled his wand out of his belt and held the tip of it against a brick in the wall.

'Diffindo'

The spell Sirius had cast caused a large expanse of the wall to split in half revealing a cavity the size of a wardrobe.

'God Sirius. Did you make that hole! You could have gotten expelled tampering with the building like that!' Remus cried.

Sirius ignored him and stepped into the gap.

'Lumos'

He lit his wand and began searching through the items that lay within the wall. The room was like Aladdin's cave, filled with practical jokes rather than gold.  Remus joined him inside and grinned to himself as he scanned his eyes over the many tricks heaped on the floor. He seemed to be joining Harry in thinking Sirius was incapable of keeping anything tidy. The expression on Sirius face strongly resembled the one Hermione wore when she had correctly answered one of Snape's particularly difficult questions. He looked like Dudley in a sweet shop. The young man dropped to the floor and began rummaging wildly amongst the miscellaneous items.

'Look at all this stuff!' Sirius laughed 'It's all still here!'

'I never knew about this place' Remus seemed upset that he had been left out of the secret.

'No one did' Sirius replied 'Oh come on, I know what you and James would have been like, popping up here all the time. It was safer to keep it secret and you've seen all this stuff anyway.'

Remus too began searching through the gadgets. Harry looked on in amazement. There were enough practical jokes here to keep both Zonko's and Dervish and Banges stocked for weeks. The possibilities were endless. He'd definitely  be telling Fred and George about this place when he got back to his lifetime.

'It's strange this place has never been found.' Sirius pondered 'In fact I'm insulted! All of the time I spent developing and making this stuff and nobody is even using it. Look it's all here- 'Leaky Quills,' 'Stink Roses For Disastrous Dates'....Oh look! My book! 'Sirius Black's 50 Favorite Ways To Annoy Severus Snape And Other Obnoxious Slime Balls!' I loved researching that one! Come on,help me carry some of this stuff out.'

The two men began gathering up armfuls of the jokes and carried them over to the table which nearly broke with the heavy load. Remus sat down again as Sirius practically skipped over to him wearing a smile that gave cause for alarm. It was the same smile he had worn almost constantly at school, it was the expression he used when planning mischief.

'Sirius no! You cannot use any of this stuff now, remember why we are here!' Remus' voice was filled with worry. His friend was rarely dissuaded from a joke.

'Of course I won't use it Moony.' he promised 'But look at all this stuff. It was made to be used, not sit around inside of a wall. It wouldn't hurt just to leave a few things lying around would it.'

The look on Remus face told Sirius he had better not pursue this conversation. He dropped the subject and began once again raking through his collection.

'Oh....Moony' he said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. 'I don't believe it!'

'What?' Lupin sat forward in his chair to see what his friend had found. When he saw the object he couldn't help but smile.

'The Marauders Map!' he laughed 'Oh Padfoot! I thought you lost it!'

'So did I. It was right here at the bottom of my secret chamber all the time!' Sirius beamed. 'I guess you and James were right all along if I had tidied up once in a while I wouldn't have lost it. You know,' he continued, 'It's bad enough that all of my other inventions are going to waste but we spent years developing this. We found out more about this castle than anyone when we were making this, you've got to let me leave it somewhere it can be found.'

To Sirius surprise Lupin nodded his head.

'That is the best and most important thing we ever made.' Remus reasoned. ' When we first completed it we dreamed that it would be used by the generations to come. I guess we owe it to our younger selves to make sure the map serves its purpose. Now though, we had best be getting down to the Great Hall for supper.'

Sirius stuffed the map into his pockets and helped Lupin put the articles back in their place. He sealed the cavity and followed his friend down to supper.

When arriving at the Great Hall the men were delighted to find they had been seated at the professors table. Remus found he was unusually hungry whereas Sirius barely touched his food he was so excited about the old maps discovery.

 After the meal Dumbledore approached his guests with some news.

'I have come to let you know that I have been in contact with my old colleagues and we will be meeting in my office in ten minutes. You are most welcome to join us. I trust your chamber is comfortable and meets your requirements?'

'Oh yes Professor' Sirius beamed sounding a tad over-enthusiastic.

The Headmaster threw a questioning glance at them

'Oh you know,' Remus said awkwardly 'It's always a pleasure to visit our old school.'

'Quite.' Dumbledore sounded unconvinced but decided against questioning and left the room.

The friends both hurried back to their room to freshen up before the meeting.

'Come on!' Sirius cried 'Lets see if the Marauders Map still works!'

As he unrolled the parchment Remus watched over his shoulder.

'Would you like to do the honours?' Sirius offered

Remus pulled out his wand and tapped the Parchment.

'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' he recited the spell that would unlock the secret of the map.

With those words thin, inky lines began to spread across the page, finally enjoining and revealing a perfect map of Hogwarts castle including secret passage-ways. Tiny dots upon the page showed the whereabouts of everyone within the castles grounds.

'Oh' Sirius breathed 'It still works! I was unsure if the Aparecium spell I put on the ink would hold but it's as good as it ever was.'

He looked to his friend grinning but for some reason Remus was not sharing his triumph, instead he looked very concerned. His eyes were fixed upon a certain point on the map, where Black couldn't tell.

'What is it Moony?' he asked 'Has something gone wrong?'

Lupin silently moved his hand and pointed to a position on the map. There in Hogwarts dungeon labelled in miniscule writing, was Malus Jones.

A/N Apologies that this chapter has ended up a bit G.O.F-like.