The Marauders' Years: Year One

Chapter Fourteen

The Horrors of the Dark


Midnight, a time often thought of as the one moment in time that ghosts are free to roam the living world, goblins wreak havoc and little children are most afraid to be out during this unholy hour.

Midnight did not bother the Marauders, however, as they walked back to the common room after having been in the kitchens for half the night. Remus had been reluctant to go out as always, but James and Sirius had managed to talk him into it. The two were quite pleased; it took less and less effort to drag Remus out. Sadly, he would revert to stubbornly standing by the rules if something happened, so they always found themselves back on square one afterwards.

Thankfully, the trip to the kitchens had been quite uneventful, and neither Peter nor Remus had one complaint once they had filled themselves up with the snacks the eager elves had forced upon them.

James was just congratulating their stealth, despite him having forgotten the invisibility cloak, when he instinctively paused. It had become almost second nature for the four to sense when teachers were around. It was always too quiet if it were Professor Hikage, and that's what alerted James.

Sirius and the others had stopped as well.

"Hikage?" Sirius suggested quietly, as he glanced around suspiciously.

James frowned and shrugged slightly, motioning for everyone to follow him, as he veered off course and took a detour.

-

Allysia kept her wand raised high, as she and Alice backed into a corner. She wasn't at all sure where they were, or why they were there. She knew they had been asleep moments before, but she was a naturally light sleeper, and the slight brush of air as she walked had jolted her awake. She had never slept walked before, and despite a nagging warning not to wake a sleepwalker, she had shaken her fellow Gryffindor and friend Alice awake.

That had been moments ago, before the monster had appeared, scaring Alice so badly she had dropped her wand just as she pulled it out. Allysia realized it was up to her to keep the creature at bay, but this wasn't something she was used to.

"Stay back..." Allysia demanded, holding her "Lumos!"-lit wand high, in an attempt to get a clear view of their shadowy assailant.

The creature did not heed her advice, but merely advanced, the shadows surrounding it seeming to shimmer slightly with each movement.

She closed her eyes, felt Alice grab hold of her arm in terror, and then brought her wand down sharply. "Expelliarmus!"

-

"Hold on."

Sirius glanced at Remus quizzically, but he and the other Marauders obediently halted their progress.

"What's up, Remmy?" James questioned, keeping his voice as low as possible. He wasn't sure if they had managed to lose Hikage yet.

Remus pointed down an adjoining hallway. Curiously, all the torches and candles along the walls were extinguished. "I thought I heard something."

"That's nice," Peter replied brightly, but he glanced around nervously nevertheless. "We'll look into it in the morning...or, better yet- let's get a professor to investigate!"

"Did you hear a Professor, or something else?" Sirius inquired.

Peter proceeded to sulk, as his opinion was, once again, blatantly ignored.

"Something else," Remus replied assuredly.

"Off we go then!" James announced, pointing down the darkened hall.

Sirius grinned and pulled out his wand, lighting it with a muttered "Lumos."

"Let's indeed."

-

It didn't take long for the boys to come across Allysia and Alice. The air was chilly and Alice had already slumped to the floor. Allysia was still calling out spells, though her voice was starting to falter, but her cat had joined the fight at some point. The hissing and spitting of the pacing animal was what immediately drew the Marauder's attention to the girls' plight.

"Riddikulus!" Allysia yelled desperately, dropping to her knees as the creature morphed into the familiar four-legged horror. The spell fluttered weakly toward the creature, which nimbly leapt aside.

"Bloody hell," Sirius said in surprise.

Due to the situation, Remus didn't even think of berating his friend's use of language.

"Do something..." James muttered, not keen on attracting the creature's attention, but not willing to let it close in anymore on his fellow Gryffindors.

Sirius snapped out of his shocked daze and surprised them all by grinning. "Anything?"

Remus nodded numbly, unsure of what was going on in Sirius's warped mind.

Sirius pointed his wand at his throat. "Sonorous."

Once again the familiar Wizarding song assaulted everyone's eardrums, this time it was magically magnified and echoing off of the walls. There wasn't a doubt that the teachers would hear and Remus was reminded of the saying about genius and insanity...

Either because of the noise, or because of the impending threat the teachers might pose to it, the creature once again retreated into the shadows.

"I'm not going to make it to second year," Peter commented bleakly.

Sirius pointed frantically at his throat, then shrugged, he continued doing this till all three of his friends were staring at him.

Finally Remus sighed rolling his eyes. "You don't know how to reverse the spell?"

Sirius shrugged again and grinned.

"We might live to second year, but I wonder how many of us will pass our exams…" Remus grumbled.


- Jade-chan