Chapter twelve: Surprises and Secrets
After a long, warm bath, Remus had no trouble falling back to sleep. When he woke up the next day, he remembered what had happened and felt horrible about how he treated Lily. He was also nervous about how she would act towards him. He didn't know what to expect as he entered the dining room for breakfast.
"Good morning, Remus," Mrs. Potter said, smiling. "Are you feeling better? You did sleep for a long time."
Remus tried to smile back. "I'm feeling much better thanks." He looked around the table at his friends. They all smiled at him.
"I'm glad you'll be able to play today, Remus," James said. "I've got something great planned for us to do."
Remus looked at Lily, who hadn't looked at him any differently today as she always had. He felt very relieved that they were going to put the whole scene behind them. "What is it, James?" Remus asked as he sat down to eat.
"Well," James said, looking intently at them all. "I haven't showed you my best Christmas present yet, have I?"
They shook their heads slowly. Remus had forgotten all about James' gift. All of them tried to get James to say what his present was, but he wouldn't say another word at the table. Remus gave up and began to eat. It had seemed to him that his plate had more food on it than anyone elses, but he figured he was just self-conscious about being the last one still eating.
When Remus was done and Pokey came in to clear his dishes, his belief that he was getting special treatment was confirmed. Pokey was carrying a tray with a warm towel on it. He held out the tray to Remus. "Here, sir," he said in a squeaky voice. "This is for you to clean up with, sir." Remus noticed tears in Pokey's huge eyes and looked at James for help.
"Take it," James mouthed silently.
Remus took the towel and said, "Thank you, Pokey."
Pokey bowed low and said, "It is the least I can do, sir. Let Pokey know if there is anything else I can do for you." Then he retreated to the kitchen.
"What was that all about?" Remus demanded.
James rolled his eyes, but began to explain. "Pokey feels bad that you got sick last night. He figures it was something wrong with his cooking and he blames himself. He just wants to make sure you're all right."
Looking very indignant, Remus said, "But I'm fine. And I don't blame Pokey!"
"You'll make him feel worse if you don't let him take care of you," James warned. "He'll be offended."
Remus sighed. "Oh, alright, but I hope it doesn't last long."
Sirius interrupted. "As interesting as it is to discuss what offends a house elf, I would really like to find out what James got for Christmas that is so cool."
Everyone agreed and James said, "Ok, go sit in the room with the piano and wait for me. But leave the door open."
Mr. and Mrs. Potter smiled knowingly as the five children left the dining room.
Remus, Lily, Austin and Sirius sat down in the piano room, anxious and a bit perplexed. What did James have in store for them? They all wondered. Was it a joke or did he really have this present he'd been bragging about? After about 5 minutes, Lily said, "I don't think he's coming…." But she trailed off as music started to fill the room.
"What's going on?" Austin said. "Are there speakers in the walls or something?"
"I don't think so," Sirius said pointing. "The piano keys are moving, like someone is playing."
Remus strained his eyes towards the piano bench. He couldn't see anything but Sirius was right, the music was definitely coming from the piano. "Is it…." Remus started to say.
"It's a ghost!" Austin yelled and they all ran from the room. Lily shut the door behind them (which Sirius yelled was useless, since a ghost could go through it) and they all ran into the kitchen, where Pokey was still at work washing dishes.
"What is wrong, sirs and miss?" Pokey asked in a worried squeak.
"The ghost is after us!" Austin yelled dramatically.
"What ghost, sir?" Pokey said respectfully, but doubtfully. "There is no ghost in the Meadow, sirs and miss. Pokey would know if there was. Pokey knows everything about this house."
Lily looked confusedly at the house elf. "Then what was playing the piano? There was music and the keys were moving, but no one was there!"
Pokey's face lit up for a moment, but then returned to its usual solemn expression. "Pokey doesn't know, miss."
"But you just said you knew everything about this house!" Lily sputtered angrily.
This was too much for Pokey. "Pokey does know everything about this house, but Pokey also knows what a good house elf is supposed to do." Then he gasped. "Sorry, miss, Pokey meant no disrespect."
"It's fine, Pokey," Lily said. "I deserved it. But tell us what was going on, please!"
Pokey was shaking his head and saying, "Sorry, miss," when laughter filled the room. Everyone looked around suspiciously, but only their own scared expressions were visible.
With a rustle of fabric, James appeared in the middle of the kitchen, holding a silvery cloak. Everyone except for Pokey gasped out loud. "James?" Remus stared in amazement. "What is – how did you-?"
James laughed at the sight of his friends pale faces and his house elf's obvious glee. "What a good trick, sir!" Pokey exclaimed.
"James, what exactly just happened?" Lily demanded.
"This is my Christmas present," he said simply, holding up the cloak. "It's an invisibility cloak." To demonstrate, he swung the cloak around his body, which instantly disappeared, leaving only his head visible. Remus could tell that this wasn't ordinary, even for wizards, because Sirius looked just as amazed as Lily and Austin did.
Sirius was the first to speak. "I've always wanted one of those, but I heard they're really rare." He stared longingly at the space where James' body should have been visible.
"They are," James said. "I didn't know we had one, but I guess it's been handed down in our family for a long time. My dad had it when he was at Hogwarts." He took the cloak off. "You guys want to try it?"
Of course, they all did, and they had a great time watching each other disappear, but they each had more fun when it was their turn to be invisible. Remus wanted to touch Lily's long hair while he was concealed by the cloak, but he realized he was still solid and she would know it was him who had touched her. Instead, he picked up a cookie and threw it at James, who yelled, "Food fight!" Remus had the advantage not only because the others couldn't see where he was, but because they were laughing too much to fight back.
"You have no idea how funny it looks," Lily said between giggles. "To see food floating in the air and then come flying at you. Or to throw something and see it bounce off of 'thin air' when it hits you."
When they had all had a turn (except for Pokey who protested that it wasn't his place) the cloak was covered in crumbs and they were all exhausted. "That sure is a great present," Remus said. "But did you have to scare us like that in order to show it to us?"
James grinned broadly. "Of course not, but it was more fun!"
They spent the rest of the day exploring the secret passages and experimenting with the cloak. Unfortunately, not all five of them could be completely covered by it, but they had fun splitting up and trying to find the ones who had the cloak on. At one point, James, Sirius and Remus were under the cloak, trying to keep away from Lily and Austin. They were about to be cornered by their friends and they were frantically searching for a hiding place.
"We have to be where they can't reach us," James whispered. "They know we're around here and they're bound to bump into us soon."
At the same moment, they all noticed a difference in the panel of wall they were in front of. "Hey," Sirius said softly. "I wonder if this is…." They all began poking and pulling on the panel. It was James whose fingers found the latch that swung the door open. They quickly got in and shut the door behind them.
"Did you know this was here, James?" Sirius asked.
James shook his head dumbly. "I don't think my dad even knows this is here. Let's see where it goes." They abandoned the cloak at the door, since it was easier to move without it and it was unlikely that Lily and Austin would find the secret door. They walked for a few minutes through the small passage. It didn't run straight, it made several sharp turns and sloped up and down. When they came to the end, they all started feeling the walls, trying to open a door.
"I wonder where we are now," Sirius whispered. He didn't have long to wonder, Remus found the hidden catch as soon as Sirius was done speaking. The door swung out and they found themselves facing…
Pokey the house elf. Pokey screamed and dropped a bowl in alarm. "How are you sirs getting to the kitchen?" he gasped.
James grinned. "We found a new secret passage, Pokey. Sorry if we scared you."
Pokey looked perplexed. "Pokey did not know there was a passage to the kitchen, sirs." He now looked crestfallen. "Pokey thought he knew everything about this house."
"It's alright, Pokey, nobody remembered it was here. It's not your fault someone forgot it a long time ago," James said, looking as if he wanted to give Pokey a reassuring pat on the back. He held himself back, though and Pokey calmed down a bit.
"If you say so, sir. But sirs must be good at finding secret passages to find one that was hidden from Pokey and his family for so long."
The three friends looked at each other and smiled. "I guess we could be good at it," James said.
"Yeah," Sirius said excitedly. "And I'll bet Hogwarts is full of all sorts of secret passages, it's so old. We could find them all before we graduate!"
James looked as if it were Christmas, his birthday and the last day of school all rolled into one. "That's the best idea I've ever heard!" he yelled. "We'll find every secret passage we can and make a map that only we can read! We'll be able to do whatever we want whenever we want!"
Remus was just as excited as Sirius and James were. He loved exploring and hanging out with his friends. "I can't wait to get started!" he cried.
They began to talk excitedly (and loudly) about where the most likely places for these secret passages when two familiar voices were heard approaching the kitchen. "Austin and Lily!" Remus shouted. "I forgot they were still looking for us!"
"Let's not tell them about our plans for Hogwarts just yet," James said. "We'll surprise them later."
Austin and Lily were astonished to see their friends in the kitchen with a portion of the wall opened like a door.
"How the heck did you get down here?" Austin shouted.
"Why is the wall hanging open?" Lily demanded.
Sirius and James were laughing too much to answer, so Remus explained. "You two were about to corner us in the other room, so we were trying to find a place to hide. All of a sudden, the wall popped open and we followed the secret passage to the kitchen."
Austin stared at them, eyes and mouth wide open. "You found a secret passage? One that no one knew about?"
James grinned proudly. "Yep."
"Can we go back through? I'd like to see it," Lily said.
"Sure," Sirius chimed in. "We left the cloak in there anyway."
It was a tight fit for the five of them to go down the secret hallway, but they were all too excited to care. They got to the dead end, where James picked up his cloak and they all practiced opening the door. Once they all had the hang out opening it from the inside and the outside, they went in search of James' dad.
They found him in the library, reading a thick book in front of a roaring fire. He looked up at them when they burst into the room. "Hello," he said smiling.
Slightly out of breath, James asked, "Dad, did you know there was a secret passage from piano room to the kitchen?"
Mr. Potter looked just as astonished as his son had been. "There is? Show me!" The look of excitement on his face made him look as if he were 11 again. They went into the passage through the kitchen this time. Luckily Pokey was off cleaning another room. Remus didn't want to see him apologizing again for not knowing everything about the house.
As they walked through the passage, Mr. Potter kept exclaiming, "How wonderful" and "I can't believe it." Remus was quite amused at this child like behavior and he could tell from the look that Lily gave him that she was too.
After a long, warm bath, Remus had no trouble falling back to sleep. When he woke up the next day, he remembered what had happened and felt horrible about how he treated Lily. He was also nervous about how she would act towards him. He didn't know what to expect as he entered the dining room for breakfast.
"Good morning, Remus," Mrs. Potter said, smiling. "Are you feeling better? You did sleep for a long time."
Remus tried to smile back. "I'm feeling much better thanks." He looked around the table at his friends. They all smiled at him.
"I'm glad you'll be able to play today, Remus," James said. "I've got something great planned for us to do."
Remus looked at Lily, who hadn't looked at him any differently today as she always had. He felt very relieved that they were going to put the whole scene behind them. "What is it, James?" Remus asked as he sat down to eat.
"Well," James said, looking intently at them all. "I haven't showed you my best Christmas present yet, have I?"
They shook their heads slowly. Remus had forgotten all about James' gift. All of them tried to get James to say what his present was, but he wouldn't say another word at the table. Remus gave up and began to eat. It had seemed to him that his plate had more food on it than anyone elses, but he figured he was just self-conscious about being the last one still eating.
When Remus was done and Pokey came in to clear his dishes, his belief that he was getting special treatment was confirmed. Pokey was carrying a tray with a warm towel on it. He held out the tray to Remus. "Here, sir," he said in a squeaky voice. "This is for you to clean up with, sir." Remus noticed tears in Pokey's huge eyes and looked at James for help.
"Take it," James mouthed silently.
Remus took the towel and said, "Thank you, Pokey."
Pokey bowed low and said, "It is the least I can do, sir. Let Pokey know if there is anything else I can do for you." Then he retreated to the kitchen.
"What was that all about?" Remus demanded.
James rolled his eyes, but began to explain. "Pokey feels bad that you got sick last night. He figures it was something wrong with his cooking and he blames himself. He just wants to make sure you're all right."
Looking very indignant, Remus said, "But I'm fine. And I don't blame Pokey!"
"You'll make him feel worse if you don't let him take care of you," James warned. "He'll be offended."
Remus sighed. "Oh, alright, but I hope it doesn't last long."
Sirius interrupted. "As interesting as it is to discuss what offends a house elf, I would really like to find out what James got for Christmas that is so cool."
Everyone agreed and James said, "Ok, go sit in the room with the piano and wait for me. But leave the door open."
Mr. and Mrs. Potter smiled knowingly as the five children left the dining room.
Remus, Lily, Austin and Sirius sat down in the piano room, anxious and a bit perplexed. What did James have in store for them? They all wondered. Was it a joke or did he really have this present he'd been bragging about? After about 5 minutes, Lily said, "I don't think he's coming…." But she trailed off as music started to fill the room.
"What's going on?" Austin said. "Are there speakers in the walls or something?"
"I don't think so," Sirius said pointing. "The piano keys are moving, like someone is playing."
Remus strained his eyes towards the piano bench. He couldn't see anything but Sirius was right, the music was definitely coming from the piano. "Is it…." Remus started to say.
"It's a ghost!" Austin yelled and they all ran from the room. Lily shut the door behind them (which Sirius yelled was useless, since a ghost could go through it) and they all ran into the kitchen, where Pokey was still at work washing dishes.
"What is wrong, sirs and miss?" Pokey asked in a worried squeak.
"The ghost is after us!" Austin yelled dramatically.
"What ghost, sir?" Pokey said respectfully, but doubtfully. "There is no ghost in the Meadow, sirs and miss. Pokey would know if there was. Pokey knows everything about this house."
Lily looked confusedly at the house elf. "Then what was playing the piano? There was music and the keys were moving, but no one was there!"
Pokey's face lit up for a moment, but then returned to its usual solemn expression. "Pokey doesn't know, miss."
"But you just said you knew everything about this house!" Lily sputtered angrily.
This was too much for Pokey. "Pokey does know everything about this house, but Pokey also knows what a good house elf is supposed to do." Then he gasped. "Sorry, miss, Pokey meant no disrespect."
"It's fine, Pokey," Lily said. "I deserved it. But tell us what was going on, please!"
Pokey was shaking his head and saying, "Sorry, miss," when laughter filled the room. Everyone looked around suspiciously, but only their own scared expressions were visible.
With a rustle of fabric, James appeared in the middle of the kitchen, holding a silvery cloak. Everyone except for Pokey gasped out loud. "James?" Remus stared in amazement. "What is – how did you-?"
James laughed at the sight of his friends pale faces and his house elf's obvious glee. "What a good trick, sir!" Pokey exclaimed.
"James, what exactly just happened?" Lily demanded.
"This is my Christmas present," he said simply, holding up the cloak. "It's an invisibility cloak." To demonstrate, he swung the cloak around his body, which instantly disappeared, leaving only his head visible. Remus could tell that this wasn't ordinary, even for wizards, because Sirius looked just as amazed as Lily and Austin did.
Sirius was the first to speak. "I've always wanted one of those, but I heard they're really rare." He stared longingly at the space where James' body should have been visible.
"They are," James said. "I didn't know we had one, but I guess it's been handed down in our family for a long time. My dad had it when he was at Hogwarts." He took the cloak off. "You guys want to try it?"
Of course, they all did, and they had a great time watching each other disappear, but they each had more fun when it was their turn to be invisible. Remus wanted to touch Lily's long hair while he was concealed by the cloak, but he realized he was still solid and she would know it was him who had touched her. Instead, he picked up a cookie and threw it at James, who yelled, "Food fight!" Remus had the advantage not only because the others couldn't see where he was, but because they were laughing too much to fight back.
"You have no idea how funny it looks," Lily said between giggles. "To see food floating in the air and then come flying at you. Or to throw something and see it bounce off of 'thin air' when it hits you."
When they had all had a turn (except for Pokey who protested that it wasn't his place) the cloak was covered in crumbs and they were all exhausted. "That sure is a great present," Remus said. "But did you have to scare us like that in order to show it to us?"
James grinned broadly. "Of course not, but it was more fun!"
They spent the rest of the day exploring the secret passages and experimenting with the cloak. Unfortunately, not all five of them could be completely covered by it, but they had fun splitting up and trying to find the ones who had the cloak on. At one point, James, Sirius and Remus were under the cloak, trying to keep away from Lily and Austin. They were about to be cornered by their friends and they were frantically searching for a hiding place.
"We have to be where they can't reach us," James whispered. "They know we're around here and they're bound to bump into us soon."
At the same moment, they all noticed a difference in the panel of wall they were in front of. "Hey," Sirius said softly. "I wonder if this is…." They all began poking and pulling on the panel. It was James whose fingers found the latch that swung the door open. They quickly got in and shut the door behind them.
"Did you know this was here, James?" Sirius asked.
James shook his head dumbly. "I don't think my dad even knows this is here. Let's see where it goes." They abandoned the cloak at the door, since it was easier to move without it and it was unlikely that Lily and Austin would find the secret door. They walked for a few minutes through the small passage. It didn't run straight, it made several sharp turns and sloped up and down. When they came to the end, they all started feeling the walls, trying to open a door.
"I wonder where we are now," Sirius whispered. He didn't have long to wonder, Remus found the hidden catch as soon as Sirius was done speaking. The door swung out and they found themselves facing…
Pokey the house elf. Pokey screamed and dropped a bowl in alarm. "How are you sirs getting to the kitchen?" he gasped.
James grinned. "We found a new secret passage, Pokey. Sorry if we scared you."
Pokey looked perplexed. "Pokey did not know there was a passage to the kitchen, sirs." He now looked crestfallen. "Pokey thought he knew everything about this house."
"It's alright, Pokey, nobody remembered it was here. It's not your fault someone forgot it a long time ago," James said, looking as if he wanted to give Pokey a reassuring pat on the back. He held himself back, though and Pokey calmed down a bit.
"If you say so, sir. But sirs must be good at finding secret passages to find one that was hidden from Pokey and his family for so long."
The three friends looked at each other and smiled. "I guess we could be good at it," James said.
"Yeah," Sirius said excitedly. "And I'll bet Hogwarts is full of all sorts of secret passages, it's so old. We could find them all before we graduate!"
James looked as if it were Christmas, his birthday and the last day of school all rolled into one. "That's the best idea I've ever heard!" he yelled. "We'll find every secret passage we can and make a map that only we can read! We'll be able to do whatever we want whenever we want!"
Remus was just as excited as Sirius and James were. He loved exploring and hanging out with his friends. "I can't wait to get started!" he cried.
They began to talk excitedly (and loudly) about where the most likely places for these secret passages when two familiar voices were heard approaching the kitchen. "Austin and Lily!" Remus shouted. "I forgot they were still looking for us!"
"Let's not tell them about our plans for Hogwarts just yet," James said. "We'll surprise them later."
Austin and Lily were astonished to see their friends in the kitchen with a portion of the wall opened like a door.
"How the heck did you get down here?" Austin shouted.
"Why is the wall hanging open?" Lily demanded.
Sirius and James were laughing too much to answer, so Remus explained. "You two were about to corner us in the other room, so we were trying to find a place to hide. All of a sudden, the wall popped open and we followed the secret passage to the kitchen."
Austin stared at them, eyes and mouth wide open. "You found a secret passage? One that no one knew about?"
James grinned proudly. "Yep."
"Can we go back through? I'd like to see it," Lily said.
"Sure," Sirius chimed in. "We left the cloak in there anyway."
It was a tight fit for the five of them to go down the secret hallway, but they were all too excited to care. They got to the dead end, where James picked up his cloak and they all practiced opening the door. Once they all had the hang out opening it from the inside and the outside, they went in search of James' dad.
They found him in the library, reading a thick book in front of a roaring fire. He looked up at them when they burst into the room. "Hello," he said smiling.
Slightly out of breath, James asked, "Dad, did you know there was a secret passage from piano room to the kitchen?"
Mr. Potter looked just as astonished as his son had been. "There is? Show me!" The look of excitement on his face made him look as if he were 11 again. They went into the passage through the kitchen this time. Luckily Pokey was off cleaning another room. Remus didn't want to see him apologizing again for not knowing everything about the house.
As they walked through the passage, Mr. Potter kept exclaiming, "How wonderful" and "I can't believe it." Remus was quite amused at this child like behavior and he could tell from the look that Lily gave him that she was too.