[9 p.m.]
The Marauders decided to continue their exploration. After everyone had gone to bed, they set out to look for the hidden room on the eighth floor of the castle, which always arranged itself to meet your requirements.
After climbing up a few flights of stairs, they stood on the eighth floor in front of an ugly tapestry.
"Does anyone know where's the door to the room?" asked Remus.
"Since it is hidden, it is certainly not so easy for us to see. " said Sirius. "Maybe it is behind the wall."
"Maybe we should put a bomb here and set fire to it." suggested James. "It would be very effective."
Jane looked at him as if he was an idiot. Then she walked over to the wall and pulled out her wand.
"Alohomora." she said. Nothing happened.
"You once used this spell to help us escape from Filch, but this time it seems to be quite useless." James said teasingly.
Sirius laughed. Jane turned and glared at both of them.
"At least I have tried! Now it's your turn." she said and walked away angrily.
James wanted to have a try.
"Aparecium!" he shouted as he pointed his wand at the wall.
"I don't think we can find the room with a simple spell." said Remus with a sigh.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" James cried with his hands over his face. "Ahhhhh-!"
"Who's there?" came a hoarse voice from below.
"Filch!" the four children looked at each other in horror. "Run!"
They ran off in different directions. James ran into a wall. Sirius, Jane and Remus ran down the stairs, but they were no luckier than James. In fact, they nearly bumped into their caretaker at a corner. They turned around in an instant and headed back to the eighth floor.
The distance between them and Filch gradually shortened.
"You naughty students who wander around the castle at night, rule-breakers, misbehavers- "
James panicked. He paced up and down by the wall. "We are done for! Ahhhhh- Just let us get away from here-"
Suddenly, a door appeared behind him. Sirius saw it first. Kicking the door open, he dragged Jane and Remus inside without hesitation, leaving his best friend outside. If you don't ask for trouble, you won't have any. It was James' fault that they were almost caught today!
He-who-is-being-condemned-by-his-friends heard the noise and looked around. He noticed that there was a door behind him, but his friends were all gone. Looking at Filch who was only a feet away from him, he came to a conclusion that Filch must have caught his friends and turned them into ants.
Thinking of this, he was very sad and indignant. After lifting his wand to cast a curse on Filch, he crept into the room and locked the door. Breathing a sigh of relief, he decided to have a rest. Before he turned around, however, he received a heavy blow on the back. Completely taken by surprise, he yelled, "Ouch!"
"Why couldn't you be quiet?" said Sirius angrily. "We were almost caught!"
"I thought you would praise me instead of hitting me!" said James. "I'm the one who cursed Filch in the corridor!"
Sirius patted him on the shoulder. "What a great achievement." he said scornfully.
Looking at his childish friends, Remus felt helpless. "This is the room we have been looking for tonight. Why don't you have a look at it?"
"Good point." said Jane, and walked towards a painting in the corner.
It was a simple living room with a sofa, a chair, a table and a rug.
"So was this room randomly arranged?" asked Sirius.
"Well, it appeared when I wished to get away from Filch." said James with a shrug.
At the end of the room, Jane was staring at the painting. It was a picture of a ship—a ship sailing straight towards you. Her prow was gilded and shaped like the head of a dragon with its mouth wide open. She had only one mast and a large, square sail which was painted in rich purple. The sides of the ship—the gilded wings of a dragon—were green. She had just ran up to the top of a glorious blue wave, which came down towards her with streaks and bubbles on it. She was obviously running fast before a gay wind, listing over a little on her port side. All the sunlight fell on her on that side, and the water was full of greens and purples. On the other side, however, it was darker blue in the shadows of the ship.
It was so lively that the ship looks as if it was really moving. And the water looks as if it was really wet. And the waves look as if they were really going up and down, Jane thought. Maybe it is a talking portrait.
She stepped forwards, and called, "Hello? Anyone in there?"
Her voice was carried away by the wind, but no echo came back. She shook her head, and decided to leave. Suddenly ,she realized that her robes were wet. She turned around and saw that the portrait had begun to shake violently. Seawater rushed out of the frame and splashed onto her robes.
"Oh! I didn't see that coming. " she said in surprise, jumping away from the painting. "Everyone, come and have a look at this!"
The others came quickly and stared at the painting in amazement.
"The background of this portrait can move!" said James.
Down went the prow of the ship into the wave and up went a great shock of spray. And then up went the wave behind her, and her stern and her deck became visible for the first time, and then disappeared as the next wave came to meet her and her bows went up again. At the same moment a book which had been lying on the table flapped, rose and sailed through the air to the wall behind them. Jane felt all her hair whipping round her face as it does on a windy day. And this was a windy day; but the wind was blowing out of the picture towards them. And suddenly with the wind came the noises—the swishing of waves, the slap of water against the ships sides, the creaking and the steady roar of air and water.
"It's not just a moving portrait. You'll see." she said, pushing Sirius near the painting. Just a few seconds later, a powerful wave broke through the frame and drenched him from head to foot.
"That's it?" asked Sirius angrily.
"I don't think so." she replied, smiling.
As soon as she had spoken, another wave in the distance rushed towards them like a flood, broke through the frame again and swallowed up the whole room. Her smile froze as water came into her nose and mouth. Fortunately, she kept her mind clear and reacted quickly. Flipping over, she turned into a dolphin in a flash.
James, Sirius and Remus were good swimmers. With a few kicks, they reached the surface and gasped for air. But as they looked around, they panicked. What caught their eye was the vast sea stretching out before them. The sky was blue and stretched far away, almost connecting with the distant horizon.
"Oh! In the name of Merlin, where are we!" said James.
Behind him, the head of a dolphin popped out of the water and turned into a girl's.
"I suppose we're in the painting." said Jane. "Look there. Isn't that the ship we just saw in the picture?"
Indeed it was. The magnificent ship was slowly approaching them. However, Jane felt quite embarrassed when she realized that the people on the ship were craning their necks and looking at them curiously.
"We have to swim away from the ship as quickly as possible. This might be a pirate ship." said Sirius.
They began to swim, but the ship moved very fast. Soon, they felt too tired to swim, and the cold water made their legs stiff and weak. The ship caught up with them in a minute.
Jane felt hopeless. Is it too late for me to become a dolphin now? she thought.
Just then, they saw a white figure diving into the water from the ship. There was a lot of noise on board, and countless heads were crowded on the side of the ship. Ropes were also lowered.
"They are trying to help us!" said Remus with a smile. "And this is definitely not a pirate ship. They are just ordinary sailors."
Sirius shrugged and said, "Nothing is certain yet."
The person who jumped into the water tied the rope around their waists. The people on board waited for the right moment to pull the children safely onto the deck so that they would not be scraped by the ship's side. Soon, they all stepped onto the deck. The last person to come up was the stranger who dived off the ship to save them. It was a teenager with blond hair, a little older than everyone else. He did everything in a kingly manner, from ordering his men to raise the sail to giving them towels to keep warm. Of course, they didn't need towels, considering that they were wizards.
Before they could thank him for saving their lives, two children came out of the cabin on the other side of the ship. Their eyes met, and the children opened their mouths in surprise.
"Who are you?" one of them asked curiously. It was a girl who was around thirteen years old, with short, brown hair.
"Did you come through a portrait, too?" asked the other, who seemed to be a fifteen-year-old boy.
The little wizards looked at each other cautiously and didn't reply. They didn't know what to say.
Gradually, the people on board left. James, Sirius, Remus and Jane were left alone. They were quite curious about the magnificent ship and wanted to find out more about it
"Why not have a look at the cabin over there?" asked James.
"Of course. But firstly, let's find out where we are and who the captain was." said Remus calmly. "That is much more important."
"Remember the young man who saved us? All the men on board follow his command." said Jane. "I'm sure he is the captain. "
"And we're on a ship, obviously." said Sirius. "I think the people here are extraordinary. Their designs are brilliant." (For the designs, he refers to the ship's solid construction and unique shape - the shape of a dragon.)
"Look!" said Remus suddenly. He pointed to the prow of the ship, which was the dragon's head. A mouse was sitting in its mouth, beside the fangs. Fully dressed and holding a miniature sword in his hands, it looked carefully at the sea ahead like a competent lookout.
"Wow!" they said in amazement, and headed towards the prow together.
"I just knew Hogwarts' Room of Requirement won't take us to a boring place." said Sirius. "Let's explore the whole ship, shall we?"
"Well, of course!" shouted James in excitement, jumping up and down. "The journey begins. Let's go!"
The noise successfully got the attention of the mouse, who looked around in surprise.
"Uh-oh." they said. For the second time that day, James was hit hard on his back.
The mouse looked curiously at them. "Ladies and Gentlemen-"
"There is only one lady here." Sirius interrupted.
The mouse stared at him resentfully. Then it continued, "Lady and Gentlemen, I welcome you to our ship, in the name of Aslan and King Caspian." It gave a little bow. "Please call me Reepicheep."
"So the one who saved us was called - King Caspian?" asked Remus.
"You are right." it said. "Are you friends with King Edmund and Queen Lucy?"
They looked at the mouse, confused.
"Who's King Edmund and Queen Lucy, please?" asked Jane politely.
"They are the ancient rulers of Narnia. Don't you know about them?" the mouse asked.
They shook their heads. The mouse shrugged.
"Are they also on this ship?" asked Remus after a pause.
Noticing the curious look on Reepicheep's face, he added, "We would like to have a meeting with them if they have spare time."
"Sure." it said, and led them to a cabin.
They looked around. The cabin was not big, but it was quite bright. There are many paintings on the spotless walls, with birds, red dragons, some vines and creatures they had never seen before. Looking out of the window, you can see the endless sea full of foam.
There was also a table and two chairs in the room. To their surprise, they didn't see the king or the queen, only the boy and the girl who greeted them on the deck a few minutes ago. Jane looked around, but Reepicheep was already gone.
They looked at each other in silence.
"Where are Your Majesties?" Remus asked the two children sitting on the chairs.
The girl chuckled. "I'm Queen Lucy." she said.
"And I'm King Edmund." said the boy.
What a surprise, Jane thought. Two children, wearing shirts and eating snacks, were the king and queen here. How could that be possible?
Sirius thought the same way. "You must be joking!" he said, making a face at his friends.
In fact, even if they took what the two children said as a joke and didn't believe them, they would not cause much trouble. King Edmund and Queen Lucy would surely forgive them considering the fact that they were newcomers.
It was a pity that Sirius really liked to ask for trouble.
"Are you really the king here, your Majesty? You seem to be a few inches shorter than me." he said to Edmund with a bow, then straighten up and laughed.
"Be quiet, Sirius. It was very rude of you to say so." said Remus.
Sirius ignored him. (Never try to stop him from playing jokes on others, it would be completely useless.)
What was worse, James thought it was funny too. Before long, both of them began to make fun of Edmund.
Through constant joking and their impolite behavior (don't forget that they were the biggest troublemakers in Hogwarts' history), they finally angered the King.
"I was kind enough not to ask you to kneel. Don't look down on me just because I am young. I'm Edmund the Just!" he said boldly.
"What a nice title you have given yourself!" James sniggered.
Just then, Reepicheep the mouse came in.
"I think I heard - raised voices." he said, bowing to Edmund and looking suspiciously at James and Sirius.
"So, are they REALLY King Edmund and Queen Lucy?" asked Remus cautiously.
Reepicheep looked at him as if he was the most foolish person in the world, then nodded.
James and Sirius looked as if they had been struck by lightning. They stood still and looked pale. However, they are not people who were easy to apologize modestly. They just stood where they were and looked at Edmund unconvinced. "Have you got proofs?" they asked.
The mouse ignored them. "Get out and find yourself a place to stay. Don't force me to take action."
"Which kind of action will you take?" James asked.
Remus glared at him and dragged his friends out of the cabin.