Chapter 14: Late Night Adventure
Remus hurried back to the Gryffindor tower and breathlessly gave the fat lady the password ("bubotuber pus"). Sure enough, Arabella was waiting for him at the table in the corner. "Just a second," he said as he passed. "Let me get it." He burst into his room and began rooting through his trunk. Only when he had found the package did he look up to see James and Austin sitting on one of the beds.
"Where are Peter and Sirius?" he asked.
"Around here somewhere, under the cloak," James said. "Did you leave Lily already?"
"I had to meet Arabella," Remus muttered, turning red. He didn't want to think about what had happened with Lily. He quickly left the room and joined Arabella. "Here it is," he said, handing her the brightly wrapped package.
She smiled as she began to unwrap it. "Oh, what a pretty mirror!" she exclaimed, holding it up. "But I can't see myself! There's just a small shadowy figure."
"It's a foe glass," Remus explained. "It shows you how close your enemies are. I thought it might come in handy later when you go off to fight evil."
"How thoughtful!" Arabella remarked. "It can also help me avoid some of the bullies here at school."
"You like it then?" Remus asked eagerly.
"Of course I do. It's great!" she smiled. "But you looked flustered when you ran past before. Is everything ok?"
Remus debated whether he should reveal what had occurred between Lily and him. He was still deep in thought on the subject when a couple of third year girls entered, giggling about the little girl crying in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Remus cringed. "I bet it's Lily," he said involuntarily.
Arabella smiled sympathetically and nodded. "I guess it has something to do with your friend Lily," she said. "Do you want to talk about it?"
It was too complicated to go into without telling Arabella everything, so he shook his head. "Basically it was just a misunderstanding. Hopefully she'll accept my apology and it'll be alright."
Nodding again, Arabella said, "I understand how those things go. But if you ever need someone to talk to, about anything, I'll be here."
"Thanks," Remus said gratefully. He was very glad that she hadn't pressed him for details.
"Do you want a game of chess or do you think you should go find Lily and talk to her?"
Remus thought a moment. "I think she needs a little while to cool down. I'll talk to her in the morning. Right now I want to test out my new chess strategies!"
Remus fared better against Arabella than he had against Sirius, but she still won. As they cleaned up the board and Remus got ready for bed, he tried to push the thoughts of Lily out of his mind. But her confused expression kept popping up in his dreams and waking him with a start. Finally, at 4 in the morning, he couldn't take it anymore and he got dressed and left the Gryffindor tower. He was walking aimlessly when he saw a figure silhouetted in a window across the hall.
He was very surprised when the figure spoke. "Is that you, Remus?" Lily's voice came floating through the darkness.
"What are you doing here, Lily?" Remus asked.
"I couldn't sleep," she replied simply.
Remus sighed deeply. "Neither could I."
"Join me, then," Lily said.
"So you're still talking to me?" Remus said, walking over to where she stood.
"Of course," she said. "I realized our friendship is a lot more important than my hurt pride. I just wish you had stayed and talked to me, instead of running off without explanation."
"I would have stayed if I hadn't had to meet Arabella, but I really couldn't explain then," Remus said quietly.
"Why not?"
Remus took a deep breath, as he prepared to reach the point of no return. "I can't tell you what it is right now, because it would take a lot of time and I want to be able to tell everyone at once."
There was silence for a moment, then Lily said, "Well, when can you tell us?"
"I'll explain everything tomorrow after dinner," Remus said.
Lily opened her mouth to reply when an adult voice said in a leering voice, "What are you kids doing down here? It's way past your bed time."
Lily and Remus stared in astonishment at the creepy man standing before them. The only light in the hallway was the lantern the man was holding, but even in the dark he looked ugly and unpleasant. The man was looking intently at Remus, which made it hard to think of an excuse quickly. Remus looked helplessly at Lily, only to find that she was looking just as helplessly at him. "We.we couldn't sleep, sir," Remus said in a small voice.
"Oh, so you thought you'd just take a stroll around a big, dangerous castle by yourself. No, I forgot, you aren't by yourself, you brought your little girlfriend out with you," the man said, sneering.
Remus lost it completely. "She's not my girlfriend!" he yelled. "Who are you anyway?"
The man smiled nastily, showing his rotting teeth. "I'm Apollyan Pringle, the caretaker." He gave Remus a mocking bow. "At your service."
Lily groaned. Pringle's smile grew larger. "'eard of me, 'ave you? And the punishments I likes to give?"
Nodding, Lily didn't dare to answer. "I used to 'angs kids by their wrists in the dungeons." He began to laugh. "Did that to a boy last year in fact. Ooh, how that red 'ead screamed. It taught him not to sneak out at night. Unfortunately, Dumbledore put a stop to the effective punishments. All I can do to yous kids is to give you a few nights of detention."
Remus noticed that Lily looked quite relieved, but detentions still sounded pretty bad to him. "And take 20 points from..eh, what 'ouse are you in?"
Lily started to speak, but Remus interrupted. "Gryffindor, sir." Lily looked at him curiously, but the look on Remus' face made her keep her silence.
"Well, I'll be 'aving a talk with McGonagall tomorrow morning, and escorting yous back to your tower tonight."
The odd trio walked back to Gryffindor tower in silence. Once they reached the fat lady, Pringle said, "I'll be expecting to see you both in my office tomorrow immediately after dinner. 'ow many more days of detention yous have depends on 'ow hard yous work tomorrow. Understand?"
Lily and Remus nodded silently. Pringle shouted at the fat lady to wake her up. She wasn't too happy about this, but luckily she was too sleepy to notice Lily (obviously a Ravenclaw) entering the room with Remus. They heard Pringle calling, "Goodnight!" gleefully as the door closed.
"Why didn't you say I was in Ravenclaw?" Lily asked Remus as soon as the door had shut.
"It's my fault we were both out there to get caught, I'll take the blame as much as I can," Remus replied, shrugging.
"You didn't make me wander the halls at night," Lily said indignantly.
Remus shook his head. "No, but if I had been considerate of your feelings earlier, you would have been able to sleep."
"You don't know that for sure," Lily replied half-heartedly, letting Remus know she agreed with him.
He didn't even bother to reply to this. Instead, his mind was working furiously, trying to figure out what to do with Lily until morning.
"What?" She looked at him, confused.
"Oh," he said. "Sorry. I was just thinking about what you should do until morning."
"What do you mean?" she asked. "I'll go back to my room and try to get a bit of sleep."
"But what if Pringle is waiting nearby or the fat lady is more awake when you leave?" Remus countered.
Lily's face fell. "Oh, I hadn't thought of that. But I can't stay here either! If I was caught here." her voice trailed off.
"I know," Remus said, frustrated. "That's why I'm trying to figure out a plan." After a moment, he exclaimed, "Of course! I can't believe it took me that long to think of it!"
"What did you think of?" Lily said, exasperated.
"James' cloak!"
"Of course!" Lily said, slapping herself in the forehead. "Why didn't we think of that in the first place? Do you think he'll mind me using it?"
Remus hadn't thought of that. "I don't think so. As long as we're careful with it, we can just explain it to him tomorrow. After all, what other choice do we have?"
Lily nodded. "Alright. You go get it, I'll see if I can hear Pringle outside the portrait."
Remus nodded and rushed to the room where his four friends slept. He noiselessly opened James' trunk and quickly found the silvery cloak. His owl hooted a couple of times, recognizing his owner, but Remus tried his best to quiet him from across the room. His heart leapt into his throat when James started to speak, but he calmed down when he realized he was only muttering in his sleep. He took his time getting back to the common room because he wanted to make sure he wasn't making a sound. When he got back, Lily had her ear pressed to the inside of the door. His whispered call startled her, causing her to jump a good foot into the air.
"You scared me!" she hissed at him.
"Sorry. Can you hear anything out there?" Remus whispered back.
"No, but I heard Aidan hoot a couple of times from your room and that scared me half to death as well," Lily replied shortly.
"I can't help that he was happy to see me!" Remus said angrily.
"I know," Lily muttered. "I'm sorry, but I'm nervous. Can I go now?"
"Yeah. Get under the cloak and we'll get you back to your room," Remus said quietly.
"We?" Lily looked at Remus in complete surprise. "You don't have to come."
"Why not?" Remus asked. "I don't want you to get lost or in trouble alone, plus I can return the cloak once you are safely back."
"But.I don't want us both to get in trouble again, if we get caught."
"We won't get caught," Remus said, shrugging.
Lily smiled for the first time in what seemed like quite awhile. "Alright. Let's go."
She and Remus stood close together and covered themselves with the cloak. They made it to the Ravenclaw tower without an further incident besides the fat lady yawning loudly as they passed through her door. Lily said goodnight to Remus right outside her common room, then gave the password to swing her door open. (Remus was sworn to secrecy about the location of and password to the Ravenclaw tower.) Making sure the coast was clear, she left the safety of the cloak to enter her tower. She looked fondly at the open space in front of her where she knew Remus was standing as she closed the door.
Remus hurried back to the Gryffindor tower and breathlessly gave the fat lady the password ("bubotuber pus"). Sure enough, Arabella was waiting for him at the table in the corner. "Just a second," he said as he passed. "Let me get it." He burst into his room and began rooting through his trunk. Only when he had found the package did he look up to see James and Austin sitting on one of the beds.
"Where are Peter and Sirius?" he asked.
"Around here somewhere, under the cloak," James said. "Did you leave Lily already?"
"I had to meet Arabella," Remus muttered, turning red. He didn't want to think about what had happened with Lily. He quickly left the room and joined Arabella. "Here it is," he said, handing her the brightly wrapped package.
She smiled as she began to unwrap it. "Oh, what a pretty mirror!" she exclaimed, holding it up. "But I can't see myself! There's just a small shadowy figure."
"It's a foe glass," Remus explained. "It shows you how close your enemies are. I thought it might come in handy later when you go off to fight evil."
"How thoughtful!" Arabella remarked. "It can also help me avoid some of the bullies here at school."
"You like it then?" Remus asked eagerly.
"Of course I do. It's great!" she smiled. "But you looked flustered when you ran past before. Is everything ok?"
Remus debated whether he should reveal what had occurred between Lily and him. He was still deep in thought on the subject when a couple of third year girls entered, giggling about the little girl crying in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Remus cringed. "I bet it's Lily," he said involuntarily.
Arabella smiled sympathetically and nodded. "I guess it has something to do with your friend Lily," she said. "Do you want to talk about it?"
It was too complicated to go into without telling Arabella everything, so he shook his head. "Basically it was just a misunderstanding. Hopefully she'll accept my apology and it'll be alright."
Nodding again, Arabella said, "I understand how those things go. But if you ever need someone to talk to, about anything, I'll be here."
"Thanks," Remus said gratefully. He was very glad that she hadn't pressed him for details.
"Do you want a game of chess or do you think you should go find Lily and talk to her?"
Remus thought a moment. "I think she needs a little while to cool down. I'll talk to her in the morning. Right now I want to test out my new chess strategies!"
Remus fared better against Arabella than he had against Sirius, but she still won. As they cleaned up the board and Remus got ready for bed, he tried to push the thoughts of Lily out of his mind. But her confused expression kept popping up in his dreams and waking him with a start. Finally, at 4 in the morning, he couldn't take it anymore and he got dressed and left the Gryffindor tower. He was walking aimlessly when he saw a figure silhouetted in a window across the hall.
He was very surprised when the figure spoke. "Is that you, Remus?" Lily's voice came floating through the darkness.
"What are you doing here, Lily?" Remus asked.
"I couldn't sleep," she replied simply.
Remus sighed deeply. "Neither could I."
"Join me, then," Lily said.
"So you're still talking to me?" Remus said, walking over to where she stood.
"Of course," she said. "I realized our friendship is a lot more important than my hurt pride. I just wish you had stayed and talked to me, instead of running off without explanation."
"I would have stayed if I hadn't had to meet Arabella, but I really couldn't explain then," Remus said quietly.
"Why not?"
Remus took a deep breath, as he prepared to reach the point of no return. "I can't tell you what it is right now, because it would take a lot of time and I want to be able to tell everyone at once."
There was silence for a moment, then Lily said, "Well, when can you tell us?"
"I'll explain everything tomorrow after dinner," Remus said.
Lily opened her mouth to reply when an adult voice said in a leering voice, "What are you kids doing down here? It's way past your bed time."
Lily and Remus stared in astonishment at the creepy man standing before them. The only light in the hallway was the lantern the man was holding, but even in the dark he looked ugly and unpleasant. The man was looking intently at Remus, which made it hard to think of an excuse quickly. Remus looked helplessly at Lily, only to find that she was looking just as helplessly at him. "We.we couldn't sleep, sir," Remus said in a small voice.
"Oh, so you thought you'd just take a stroll around a big, dangerous castle by yourself. No, I forgot, you aren't by yourself, you brought your little girlfriend out with you," the man said, sneering.
Remus lost it completely. "She's not my girlfriend!" he yelled. "Who are you anyway?"
The man smiled nastily, showing his rotting teeth. "I'm Apollyan Pringle, the caretaker." He gave Remus a mocking bow. "At your service."
Lily groaned. Pringle's smile grew larger. "'eard of me, 'ave you? And the punishments I likes to give?"
Nodding, Lily didn't dare to answer. "I used to 'angs kids by their wrists in the dungeons." He began to laugh. "Did that to a boy last year in fact. Ooh, how that red 'ead screamed. It taught him not to sneak out at night. Unfortunately, Dumbledore put a stop to the effective punishments. All I can do to yous kids is to give you a few nights of detention."
Remus noticed that Lily looked quite relieved, but detentions still sounded pretty bad to him. "And take 20 points from..eh, what 'ouse are you in?"
Lily started to speak, but Remus interrupted. "Gryffindor, sir." Lily looked at him curiously, but the look on Remus' face made her keep her silence.
"Well, I'll be 'aving a talk with McGonagall tomorrow morning, and escorting yous back to your tower tonight."
The odd trio walked back to Gryffindor tower in silence. Once they reached the fat lady, Pringle said, "I'll be expecting to see you both in my office tomorrow immediately after dinner. 'ow many more days of detention yous have depends on 'ow hard yous work tomorrow. Understand?"
Lily and Remus nodded silently. Pringle shouted at the fat lady to wake her up. She wasn't too happy about this, but luckily she was too sleepy to notice Lily (obviously a Ravenclaw) entering the room with Remus. They heard Pringle calling, "Goodnight!" gleefully as the door closed.
"Why didn't you say I was in Ravenclaw?" Lily asked Remus as soon as the door had shut.
"It's my fault we were both out there to get caught, I'll take the blame as much as I can," Remus replied, shrugging.
"You didn't make me wander the halls at night," Lily said indignantly.
Remus shook his head. "No, but if I had been considerate of your feelings earlier, you would have been able to sleep."
"You don't know that for sure," Lily replied half-heartedly, letting Remus know she agreed with him.
He didn't even bother to reply to this. Instead, his mind was working furiously, trying to figure out what to do with Lily until morning.
"What?" She looked at him, confused.
"Oh," he said. "Sorry. I was just thinking about what you should do until morning."
"What do you mean?" she asked. "I'll go back to my room and try to get a bit of sleep."
"But what if Pringle is waiting nearby or the fat lady is more awake when you leave?" Remus countered.
Lily's face fell. "Oh, I hadn't thought of that. But I can't stay here either! If I was caught here." her voice trailed off.
"I know," Remus said, frustrated. "That's why I'm trying to figure out a plan." After a moment, he exclaimed, "Of course! I can't believe it took me that long to think of it!"
"What did you think of?" Lily said, exasperated.
"James' cloak!"
"Of course!" Lily said, slapping herself in the forehead. "Why didn't we think of that in the first place? Do you think he'll mind me using it?"
Remus hadn't thought of that. "I don't think so. As long as we're careful with it, we can just explain it to him tomorrow. After all, what other choice do we have?"
Lily nodded. "Alright. You go get it, I'll see if I can hear Pringle outside the portrait."
Remus nodded and rushed to the room where his four friends slept. He noiselessly opened James' trunk and quickly found the silvery cloak. His owl hooted a couple of times, recognizing his owner, but Remus tried his best to quiet him from across the room. His heart leapt into his throat when James started to speak, but he calmed down when he realized he was only muttering in his sleep. He took his time getting back to the common room because he wanted to make sure he wasn't making a sound. When he got back, Lily had her ear pressed to the inside of the door. His whispered call startled her, causing her to jump a good foot into the air.
"You scared me!" she hissed at him.
"Sorry. Can you hear anything out there?" Remus whispered back.
"No, but I heard Aidan hoot a couple of times from your room and that scared me half to death as well," Lily replied shortly.
"I can't help that he was happy to see me!" Remus said angrily.
"I know," Lily muttered. "I'm sorry, but I'm nervous. Can I go now?"
"Yeah. Get under the cloak and we'll get you back to your room," Remus said quietly.
"We?" Lily looked at Remus in complete surprise. "You don't have to come."
"Why not?" Remus asked. "I don't want you to get lost or in trouble alone, plus I can return the cloak once you are safely back."
"But.I don't want us both to get in trouble again, if we get caught."
"We won't get caught," Remus said, shrugging.
Lily smiled for the first time in what seemed like quite awhile. "Alright. Let's go."
She and Remus stood close together and covered themselves with the cloak. They made it to the Ravenclaw tower without an further incident besides the fat lady yawning loudly as they passed through her door. Lily said goodnight to Remus right outside her common room, then gave the password to swing her door open. (Remus was sworn to secrecy about the location of and password to the Ravenclaw tower.) Making sure the coast was clear, she left the safety of the cloak to enter her tower. She looked fondly at the open space in front of her where she knew Remus was standing as she closed the door.