Investigations Begin
Once again, the three boys waited up for Remus. He'd been in the hospital wing since the day before yesterday and they were expecting him back. This time they weren't falling asleep in the dorm room. They were sitting in their favourite seats, right next to the fire in the common room, with a mountain of books stacked before them. The books had long since been abandoned, due to rekindled interest in their map, which they had appropriately dubbed: The Marauders' Map.
"What if we made it so that only we could read it?" Sirius asked, grabbing the map from Peter and peering at it intently.
Peter raised an eyebrow; he didn't see the point in that.
James took the map from Sirius and tapped his wand on it, muttering something. "It's simple, everyone uses charms to enchant parchment to look differently when read by someone other than themselves. Hmm…give me a password, Sirius."
"Alright, give me a second to think." Sirius ignored how Peter's face fell at the prospect of remembering another password. "How 'bout this, Jamsie?" (James cringed at the use of this name.)
Sirius hopped atop of the table they were working at, coming close to upsetting the books as he placed a hand over his heart.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
"No need to swear to that." Remus commented as he entered the common room via the portrait hole. "It's a well known fact that you're always up to no good."
"Remmy, you insult me!" Sirius cried. Luckily he chose not to insert one of his dramatic falls of fake agony, the books on the table were wobbling enough as it was.
Remus yawned and made his way to where they had situated themselves. "What are you studying for?"
"Test in Potions- you missed an important lesson." James answered, adding the last part, and the first part for that matter, to cause Remus a bit more distress.
"But…Why? So soon...You took notes? No scribbles I hope- but... Potions... " Remus floundered, stopping each sentence before it was barely begun.
Sirius snickered, "He's kidding!"
Remus shot James a glare that would have made McGonagall proud, but chose to change the subject. "What are you really looking up then?"
"That thing that was in the hall that one night." James answered. "The one that Alice and I saw, I bet it's what attacked that Ravenclaw girl too."
Remus expertly pulled a book from the middle of the stack and flipped it open.
"How do you do that?" James asked, obviously impressed.
Remus shrugged and continued studying the book in his hands.
Sirius eyed the tower of books for a few minutes before attempting to snatch one as Remus had done. He managed to get the book he was after, but that was the limit of his success, as the remaining volumes tumbled down onto his head.
"We should try this again tomorrow night." Remus suggested, as he skimmed through the book.
Peter tilted his head to read the title. "One Thousand Dark Creatures: TheComplete Guide To Locating and Identifying - That looks a little long to read at this time of night, or under any circumstances."
"Even the...." James yawned, "Title is boring. We can look at this stuff tomorrow."
The other two boys agreed. Ignoring Sirius's plight, the three walked towards the stairs.
After a few moments, Sirius managed to get out from under the books and after seeing that his friends had headed up to the dorm without him, walked over to the couch and sprawled out on it. Let them leave him under a pile of books! Just for that, he wouldn't reveal the secret of the common room couches being noticeably more comfortable than those four-poster beds!
For a few minutes he laid there motionless, then he grumpily got to his feet, reached under the cushion, and pulled out a large Arithmancy book. Sirius tossed the book back onto the couch, and proceeded to walk up the stairs to the first-year boys' dorm. Maybe the couches weren't as comfortable as he had first thought…
He paused, then rushed back down the stairs and replaced the textbook back underneath the cushion. He grinned widely and once again headed for his dorm. Maybe he would share that 'secret' with them after all. Maybe he could charm their beds to disappear, leaving them with no choice, but to sleep on the couches.
And so Sirius Black went to bed in his own four-poster, the wheels in his mind already churning out another master plan.
-
Sirius's evil plans were put aside the next afternoon. It was the weekend- Remus was frantically trying to catch up the work he hadn't gotten done, James was trying to teach Peter how to play Wizard's chess and Sirius was on his way to detention with McGonagall.
Sirius had forgotten about the detention he had earned in Transfiguration over a month ago, but it seemed, unfortunately, that McGonagall had a longer memory span than he. When McGonagall had come around taking names of those staying for the holidays (as it was the first week of December), she had reminded him to be in her office at 3 P.M, sharp.
-
Sirius grumbled under his breath as he peered underneath the eighth wardrobe. His punishment had been to find all of the hamsters that he'd set free. Apparently they had found their way back into the castle and had proceeded to chew on anything and everything they could get their tiny paws on. Sirius spotted a small furry ball and quickly reached under the wardrobe to grab one of the last hamsters. A few moments later he let out a yelp, as the irritated rodent chomped down on his finger.
Angrily, he shook it off into the box he was placing the hamsters he had found in. He quickly decided that all hamsters were evil, well, except the purple ones, perhaps. Frowning, as he guessed at how long he had been hamster hunting, Sirius stood up with the hamster box held tightly to prevent the furry rodents' escape and headed back for McGonagall's office. When he got there, he found that she had already gone.
-
Everyone in the Gryffindor common room was talking excitedly- McGonagall had just been in to announce that a prefect had spotted something suspicious down near the dungeons, and that no one was to leave the common room, orelse, she had warned, her eyes glinting dangerously at certain people.
"Where is Sirius at a time like this?" Remus asked, glancing around the crowded common room.
The reward for asking such a foolish question was Sirius suddenly leaping off the couch with a battle cry, and pouncing on the unsuspecting Remus Lupin. There were several mutters of 'suicidal first years' by the older Gryffindors as James and Peter helped their fellow Marauders off of the floor.
"What'd I miss while I was suffering in the evil clutches of McGonagall?" Sirius asked, as he brushed his robes off.
"The…whatever-it-is was spotted by a couple of Hufflepuff prefects," James answered promptly.
Sirius raised an eyebrow in silent question.
"Yes," Remus sighed, shaking his head in pity. "They ran as if the sky were falling."
"Probably did think it was falling," Peter mused aloud. He then stared questioningly at the box Sirius still held tightly. "What's that?"
Sirius didn't reply, but an evil look spread across his face.
"What's up?" James asked.
"Slim to none," Remus supplied. "Thanks, in part, to us."
"The shame is a great thing to bear, but the temptation was just too much!"
"That was beautiful, James," Remus said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Sirius, does your conversation topic have a point?"
Sirius nodded, motioning for the others to move closer. They of course complied, for when Sirius thought up something of this nature, it was not wise to discuss it within the earshot of others. It would either spoil the plotting or convince the listener to commit Sirius to St. Mungos. "What if..."
"What if what?" Peter queried tremulously, already suspecting something bad.
"What if we caught that thing?" Sirius continued. "House points for sure, maybe one of the special awards?"
James looked mortified. "Definitely no special awards! Do you know how many of those things I had to scrub last week in detention?"
"We do," Remus assured him. "All of us were in there scrubbing them along with you."
Sirius heedlessly waved the protests off. "Well? Yes or no?"
"Yes," James agreed, grinning.
"Might as well..." Remus answered, knowing that in this situation, it was far easier to follow Sirius and James and to keep an eye on them, rather than to think up reasons not to.
"Umm...."
"All are in favor then!" Sirius announced, taking the 'Umm....' of Peter's, as a 'Yes'.
-
"We have to be doing this for a nobler cause though," Remus suggested suddenly, as they edged toward the portrait hole, trying to avoid the watchful eyes of the prefects.
"We are!" James said. "We're saving the school, the House Points are just the perk of the job!"
"Jamesie is right, our cause is quite noble, Remmy!" Sirius added.
"Noble? Doubt it. Get away from there, you four." Demanded a sixth year prefect that the Marauders' recognized as Julian Sunter, Philip's sister. The four boys grudgingly obeyed. Julian was rather obsessive over her prefect duties, and it wouldn't be prudent to try and get past her again...especially since she was now, literally, sitting in front of the portrait.
-
"Our hopes dashed!" Sirius cried, in his usual, overly dramatic fashion.
Remus and Peter nodded glumly in agreement. James, however, seemed to be thinking deeply on something.
"Maybe not completely dashed," said James slowly.
-Jade-chan
