Chapter 3: Methinks We've Found a Solution

Sirius climbed out of a portrait hole just as James appeared behind a tapestry, dusting himself off on the other side of the hall. He looked over to Sirius and asked, "Did you find him?" Sirius shook his head. They sighed.

Sirius had come out of the shower that morning to hear James out of breath and pounding on the bathroom door. When learning what had happened, he suggested they skip the day's classes and look for Remus and if they couldn't find him then they'd look for the gypsy. Peter was left in charge of informing the teacher that they were terribly sick in bed.

One took the North and East Wing while the other took the South and West Wing, they looked all morning in every nook, hole, and cranny. Coming together and finding nothing was a big disappointment considering they pretty much knew the school inside and out.

"Suppose Remus really did find Dumbledore," James pointed out quietly.

"He'd never do that," Sirius objected firmly.

"How would you know?" James put on a bitter face.

"Because, Prongs, he's a Marauder. And being a Marauder means we stick together. Thick and thin, mate." Sirius glanced at him, looking for reassurance that he was right. James's face softened and he smirked. "Let's head for Hogsmeade, Padfoot, and find that old woman that sold us this trouble."

"Mr. Pettigrew, alone today, are we?" the Potions teacher's voice resonated from the front of the class. Slytherins snickered and whispered among themselves. Peter calmly met his professor's gaze.

"James and Sirius are unwell today, ma'am. And as for Remus – I'd thought you'd know." Peter put on the most sincere smile at Professor Silva who immediately flushed red and continued on with her lesson.

Peter sighed and resumed taking notes. Every so often, he performed a duplicating spell three times and stuffed the notes in his huge bag that was already straining at the seams. Sometimes he wondered why he did the things he did.

Upon directions from Zonko's, James and Sirius ended up standing in front of an creepy looking store. The outside was worn down and the windows were dusty. When they looked in them, they could hardly see what was on the other side. Gripping the handle of the creaky door, they pushed their way in.

Smells of incense, preservations, and dry herbs filled their senses. The cramped store had books and parchments everywhere with scented candles lit all around them. James and Sirius tried as best they could to be careful as they made their way to the back room.

Sirius knocked over a pile of ancient books which, in turn, knocked over a burning candle. He coughed as a cloud of dust floated upwards. His fast reflexes allowed him to catch the books before they hit the ground and James on his part, caught the candle.

James was surprised. The flame didn't burn him. It merely turned blue and went out as soon as it touched his palm. He set it back in place and immediately, an orange light began to burn as its wick.

"What business of yours brings you to Zima?" a hoarse voice boomed. The two stiffened and stopped moving. "Answer!"

James looked around trying to figure out where the voice had come from. The light was dim and he couldn't see much. Clearing his throat, he spoke, "We – uh, we met you on the streets of Diagon Alley where you sold us a sachet of Grown Down Gleam. We hear it's illegal and now we've come for an antidote for the girl we've cast the spell on."

A gust of wind blew out the candles and the floorboards creaked. "Sought me out, have you?" the voice rasped. It laughed and with a snap of her fingers, the candles burst into light. A short, stumpy, old woman limped out from behind a bookcase. Her face was folded with years of age and her eyes crinkled with unnatural wisdom. She came further into the light.

"Grown Down Gleam. Yes." Zima disappeared into the backroom and reappeared again with two pouches in her hands. Holding them out and opened, she commanded, "Look closely now, boys. Tell me which of these I sold to you."

Sirius and James leaned in and looked carefully at the powdered substance that was nearly identical save for its colour. One was blue and the other purple. "It...it wasn't..." James started, shaking his head.

"It was neither," Sirius confirmed.

"Neither, you say?" the old woman mused.

"That's right," Sirius answered. He then reached into both pouches quickly and withdrew with a handful of each. "It was more like this." He brought his hands together and allowed the powder to mix. It ran through his fingers as he showed the old her.

Zima disposed of the sacks with a flick of her wrists. "Interesting," she croaked. Her back hunching, she shuffled over to a cabinet. She looked over the contents in it and then shook her head. "I do not have the ingredients you need."

James took a step forward. "Then tell us how to make this potion." A book was shoved immediately under his nose, making him sneeze. A quill and paper appeared and began to write on its own as the old shopkeeper read from the pages. She slammed the book shut when she was done. Rolling up the parchments, she waved it warningly in front of their faces.

"Do not lose this," she instructed, "for the next time you seek me out, I will not be so easily found. This potion is only to be used once – it can not be remade. It lasts for forty-eight hours and within this timeframe, you must convince the victim to fully wish to be grown up again. You yourselves must also keep this in mind. If only for a second your thoughts are synchronized, her transformation will begin. If time expires before your task is complete, then there is nothing more I can do for you."

James and Sirius nodded absently as they scanned the list of ingredients. It was clear that they were going to have to work hard for what they needed. Sirius glanced up at the woman to thank her and was taken aback by what he saw. She was becoming translucent as was the rest of the store. He nudged James and they watched as the last of her faded way and they were left standing in an alley that led to an open road.

The kitchen was busy with house elves running around and scurrying to get dinner ready for the school. Steam flooded in from various places as food was brought forth, ready and delicious. Two Gryffindors snuck in from a trapdoor and into the hustle and bustle of the school's faithful little workers. Sirius picked up a chocolate muffin from a tray and James picked up a slice of apple pie from a silver platter as they walked past the house elves making desserts.

Jumping out of the portrait hole, James took a bite out of his apple pie and frowned.

"Don't like it for some reason," he mumbled. Sirius laughed.

"Here," Sirius sighed and stuck his dessert out, "chocolate muffin, it's your favourite."

"Alright, thanks, mate!" They traded and made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.

Desserts gone and parchment carefully stored in Sirius's pocket, the boys entered their common room. What James saw almost made him leap with joy. There was Remus, sitting in the far corner of the room, hidden from almost everyone's view, with Lily on his lap. He was pointing at the stars outside and saying something to her that made her mouth drop with awe.

"Remus, where have you been all morning?!"

Remus turned away from the window, smiled apologetically, and shrugged. James was jumpy and wouldn't stop talking.

"You're not going to answer me, are you? Look, I'm sorry about this morning, but do you know how worried I was all day? I tried really hard to calm myself today. Sirius kept telling me you wouldn't tell but then again what if you got a hold of Dumbledore and told him everything and got us expelled and then where would that land us? But of course, I knew you wouldn't but then again, what if?! I - oh, how's Lily by the way?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow and exchanged looks with Remus. 'Chocolate muffin,' he mouthed. Remus nodded as if he understood. Then he turned to James.

"Um, okay. I didn't find Dumbledore, but I did run into Madame Pomfrey," Remus explained. He sighed and shifted Lily who was leaning too far out the window. "Apparently, she didn't like the idea of me sneaking out of the Hospital Wing last night. She tried to get me back in bed. And it was such a pain to explain Lily."

"She saw?! What did you say?"

"Oh, I told her she was my little sister and my parents had to send her here for Christmas." Sirius stared at him.

"Don't tell me she believed you," Sirius said.

"Well, uh, I wouldn't know. I took off before she could say anything to me," Remus admitted sheepishly. Lily laughed and whirled around to face them. She spread her arms to emphasize what she was about to say.

"Yea! And we ran and ran and ran! Then this BIG ghost popped out and I screamed so loud and we ran and ran again! Whee! Haha!" Sirius ruffled her hair and she took his hand. Then she said excitedly, "Padfoooot! Did you know?! Sirius is the brightest brightest star in the sky!! Remus said so! It's even brighter than the sun! Can you believe it?!" Sirius smiled with pride and took her in his arms. She gasped happily when he easily lifted her above his head. He switched places with Remus and took a seat.

"And you know where Sirius is?" he asked her, pointing out the window. "It's right at the foot of Canis Major. You can't see it right now, maybe sometime next month. But y'know, Sirius is one of Orion's hunting dogs along with Procyon. One day..."

James and Remus watched as Sirius told the story of how the Dog Star came to have its place in the sky. "He looks like he's better with kids than I am...and considering I have so many younger siblings..." Remus said. James nodded, still looking on.

"Hey, listen. Sirius and I went back to that place again today," James said quietly. "We got the instructions on how to make this thing but we need a bit of help getting the ingredients. Do you think you could – "

"I'll help," Remus assured him. James smiled and began to head back to their dorm. "James, wait." James turned back and looked questioningly at Remus. "This morning..." James snorted and waved his hand dismissively before disappearing up the stairs. 

When Sirius saw James walking away out of the corner of his eye, he quickly wrapped up his myth and set Lily down. "Did you like the story?" he asked her. Lily nodded happily. Sirius smiled. "Good then. Let Prongs put you to bed, okay?"

"What about you?" Lily asked sleepily.

"I've got some stuff to do and the sooner I get it done, the better. So you go have yourself some sweet dreams, okay?" He tweaked her nose and sent her up the stairs.

When Lily and James had both disappeared, Sirius turned to Remus and tossed him the rolled up parchment.

"Moony, could you get Wormtail to look up where I can get this stuff? 'Cause honestly, I don't know what half the ingredients needed are and you and I both know we know a lot. I also know Wormtail's good with books and he'll probably get me what I need by the time I get out of the shower or something – Merlin knows how he does it. Get some sleep after that, would you, Remus? You're getting rings under your eyes again." Sirius started up the stairs, taking off his robe and his shirt as he went. Remus yawned and went to get Peter. 

"Hey, Peter," said Sirius as he swiped a Christmas cookie from the pile of pastry and chocolates that surrounded Peter and his books.

"Hey," Peter mumbled back. He scribbled something on his parchment and bit into his chocolate biscuit before he stuffed it into his mouth and used his free hand to dig in his bag. He pulled out a tattered old book with its spine falling apart. Without even looking up, he tossed it at Sirius.

Sirius had his wand whipped out in a second and before the book had made an arc, he had already muttered a spell to keep it levitating in front of him. Leaning back, he examined the book. He clapped his hand and turned to Peter.

"Thanks. Where?"

"Chapter four, page one hundred sixty three, starting second paragraph, three lines down." Then Peter threw a few more books that were already bookmarked.

"Thanks a bunch."

"Mmhmm..." Peter waved a careless hand and continued with his homework and eating.

Sirius worked with the book, conjuring parchments and a quill along with a bottle of ink. He wrote things down and read furiously for what seemed like the first time in his life. The subject confused him which is probably why he didn't take it up in sixth year when he had had the chance. But he forced himself to learn now.

Putting down his quill, Sirius looked over what he'd written. Frowning at some newfound problem, he flipped through the pages he'd been reading again.

"References to chapter four...?" he asked Peter suddenly.

"Try last chapter first side column," Peter answered almost immediately. Sirius was impressed. The little guy was just full of surprises.

Sirius found what he needed and was once again grateful for Peter. He scratched a few more things down and paused. Peter began to pack up his work. He left some food on the table and gestured to Sirius to take some if he felt hungry. They exchanged nods and Peter went up the stairs.

When Peter was walking up the stairs, Lily came slowly down. She looked at Peter as she passed by and then at his bulging bag. Peter turned back and tossed her a candy cane. She grinned at him and continued her way down.

It wasn't until Lily was right in front of him before he noticed her. She carefully removed the plastic from the end of her candy cane and stuck it in her mouth. She attempted to climb the couch, but failed miserably. Sirius nearly laughed out loud before pushing his parchments away and picking her up. To thank him, she broke the curve of the cane and offered it to him.

"Mm...hey, Lil, what're you doing down here?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Eh? Why?"

"Prongs snoooores," she whined.

"No, he doesn't," Sirius disagreed.

"Well, he is today." Sirius shrugged. After a moment, she asked him, "Are you done?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I am. Right when you came down." Sirius looked curiously at her when she got rid of the candy cane and wiped her mouth clean. She then proceeded to crawl onto his lap and bury her face into his chest. "Good. Tell me about Canis Minor now, Padfoot," she mumbled softly.

Sirius chuckled and got comfortable. There was a pause and they listened to the fire crackle. He lifted his wand and delivered all his parchments and books back to his dorm. "Alright," he said, "But I might just fall asleep telling you about it."

She was silent and he thought she'd fallen asleep. A gentle sigh startled him and her eyes locked on with his. "Well then," she said acutely, "you better not snore."

Thanks to:

Angelxd14: Thank you so, ultra much for reviewing my fic! I'm still trying to improve myself so if you have any comments whatsoever, please feel free to tell me!

Chicken Stars: I could only hope that this is still interesting enough to capture people's attention. I'm sorry I couldn't update fast, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless. Thanks!

frozenwithin: Yea, the chapter's changed a lot, only because I wanted it to look better. I hope you liked it regardless. Thanks a bunch for reviewing ^_^

ravengirl: I think I get this every time from one person or another...my verb tenses. Haha, I'll try to get that fixed. Thanks for your great comments!

Sharon H.: Hey, thanks! You should write your own fic too! It's only through other authors that I was so inspired, so if you feel like doing it, then go for it! I'll review!

Tiger12: I'm glad you love Remus, isn't he the greatest? Sorry for the long wait and thanks for the review!

Thank you very much to those who reviewed and those who read. I'm sorry it took forever for me to update, but for a while, I just didn't want to write anything. If you have any comments or suggestions, they're all very welcomed. Please have a merry Christmas and the happiest holiday yet! =)

Love and hugs,

icemint