Chapter Eighteen: A Werewolf Frightened
Before he got the chance, it was the night of the full moon and he had to make the lonesome trek out to the Whomping Willow. Before he left, his friends said they'd cover for him while he was gone. It felt really good to not have to lie to his friends anymore. Lily's fierce hug goodbye haunted Remus' memory as he walked to the shack and waited for the change.
Remus awoke the next morning curled in a ball under the rickety bed. As usual, he had no recollection of the night, or how he had come to be under the bed. He wanted to leave the shack and rejoin his friends, but he knew how badly that might turn out. He sighed and resigned himself another slow and boring day within the confines of the shack.
In the middle of the afternoon, voices woke Remus from a nap. 'What is that?' he thought as he sat up sleepily. Slowly, he realized that there were people talking right outside his door.
"Let's go in," a boy's voice said.
Another boy answered, "Maybe we should wait for everyone else."
"Are you scared?" the first boy sneered.
"No," the second boy said defiantly. "I'll even go first."
As the doorknob began to turn, Remus began to take action. He knew the kids couldn't get in, but he wanted to scare them away for good. He began yelling and throwing chairs, scraping furniture across the floor, anything that made a lot of noise. The boys left screaming, and Remus collapsed on the floor in laughter.
Although he did find it hilarious that two tough guys were scared away by him moving furniture around, he quickly realized that the situation wasn't all that funny. No one had thought that any of the villagers would come near the 'haunted house.' Remus panicked for a moment, wondering what would happen if any more really bright kids tried to get into the house during a full moon. Then he calmed down, realizing that the door was secured and if they heard his wolf noises from outside, they really would be scared away.
But he began to see the wisdom in Lily's suggestion that they find a way for his friends to be present while he transformed. Having someone there who knew what was going on could really help if a situation came up, like kids breaking in. Remus spent the rest of the day and much of the night trying to think of a way for his friends to spend the full moon with him or near him at least. He hadn't come up with anything when he awoke the next morning and headed back to the castle, but he decided to bring it up at breakfast. 'If all six of us are thinking about it, someone is bound to come up with a good idea,' he reasoned.
By the time Remus got to his room, Sirius, James, Austin and Peter were already somewhat awake and moving about. "How'd it go?" James asked.
"Fine," Remus said. "I only have a few scratches. But it was really weird, there were two kids outside of the shack yesterday, talking about breaking in. I scared them away as they were about to, but I'm worried about it happening again."
"What are you going to do?" Peter asked, eyes wide.
"Well, I wanted to ask you guys for some ideas. Lily wanted to think of a way for you all to be there at the full moon without getting in my way, or being seen, and I think that would be really helpful in case something bad happens," Remus explained.
"We'll try and think of something, Remus," Sirius said smiling. Everyone else nodded his agreement. "It's an interesting problem, but with the six of us working on it, we'll be spending the full moons together in no time!"
At breakfast, Remus told Lily what had happened and how he was beginning to see that maybe he did need his friends around when he became a werewolf. She was happy that Remus saw her point and she asked if anyone had had any ideas yet.
"How about we come to the shack with you, then hide under the cloak when you're a werewolf?" Austin suggested.
Remus shook his head sadly and everyone's hopeful faces fell. "From the mess I leave behind, I can tell that I run all over, trying to destroy things. I'd accidentally bump into you and then I'd probably attack."
"What if we just waited outside while you were dangerous?" James asked.
"The door doesn't open," Remus explained. "Nobody can get in, and nobody can get out."
"Well, we could just go back out through the Whomping Willow, couldn't we?" James countered.
Remus stopped to consider this, but then shook his head again. "What if you were seen? Dumbledore would prevent you from ever coming with me again."
"We'll just have to keep thinking," Lily said brightly. "It will come to us. Oh, and Remus, you missed a really great lecture in Defense Against the Dark Arts yesterday."
"What happened?" Remus asked eagerly.
"Well," Lily began excitedly, "Professor Carter taught us about Grindylows, which live in lakes and have really strong hands. Then he told us about the time that he was called in to take care of a group of them that were living in Scotland. It was so exciting!"
As Lily paused for breath, James cut in. "And then he took us into another room where he had a tank with some grindylows in it, and he told us we could beat them by breaking their fingers. You won't believe what happened next!"
Lily, who had been giving James dirty looks, seized her opportunity and finished the story. Before Remus could begin to answer James, she said, "He asked who wanted to volunteer to try and fight the grindylows! At first only me, James and Sirius wanted to try, but once we did it and got 10 points for our houses, half the class wanted to try it. It was the best lesson I've ever had!"
Remus was disappointed that he had missed the lesson, but he was excited to hear all about it on the way to their first class of the day. He heard detailed descriptions of how Lily, James and Sirius had defeated their grindylows and an embarrassed Peter told him how Professor Carter had had to step in and take care of Peter's grindylow for him. Austin, it turned out, hadn't gotten a chance to try before the lesson was over.
Once they were in Potions, preparing for the lesson, Peter said, "Oh, Remus, I almost forgot. Professor Carter said to tell you to come and see him about making that lesson up, since you were gone."
Remus nodded. "I'll go right after lunch. We have some time before Charms. Hey, Austin, do you want to come with me and see if he'll let you have a go with the grindylow?"
Austin smiled. "Sure, Remus. Thanks."
After they were done eating, Remus and Austin hurried off to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. Professor Carter looked up from his paperwork as they walked in. "Hello, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Harris. I assume, Mr. Lupin, you are here to make up the lesson you missed, but before we start, is there something you wanted to see me about, Mr. Harris?"
"Well, sir," Austin said. "I didn't get a chance to fight the grindylow in class, so I was hoping I could get another chance."
"Certainly, Mr. Harris," Carter replied, smiling. "If you are willing to wait until Mr. Lupin is ready to tackle it as well."
"No problem," said Austin, smiling broadly. He sat down at a table. "I have some History of Magic I need to catch up on." He pulled out some papers and began studying.
"Now, Mr. Lupin," Professor Carter said. "The grindylow is a water demon. It has an incredible grip, but its fingers are quite brittle. They are hostile to humans, though the merpeople have had some success in domesticating them." He then went on to explain in detail how to go about defeating the demon, and related the same story that Lily had mentioned. "Well, that about wraps it up," he finished. "Now you get to see one, and fight it, if you'd like."
Remus nodded and followed Professor Carter to another room where two grindylows were trying to swim around in a tank of water that was only two feet deep. They were small and pale green with horns, fangs and really long fingers. When they saw the wizards enter the room, they began to make strange underwater growling noises. Professor Carter asked Austin to go first.
Before Austin climbed in the tank, Professor Carter pointed his wand at Austin and said, "Hydrus Repellarus!" To Remus, he said, "That will keep him from getting wet. The room stays a lot neater that way." He smiled as they watched Austin begin. The grindylows were separated in the tank by a wall, but the second demon was trying just as hard to get to Austin through the barrier. Austin gathered himself and stepped into the shallow water. Immediately, his opponent grabbed his ankle and tried to pull Austin under.
Austin struggled to release the grindylow's grip, trying to break its fingers. But this grindylow wasn't giving up that easily. Austin was off balance, about to be pulled under water when he pointed his wand at the creature and yelled, "Relashio!" The grindylow loosened its grip in surprise as jets of boiling water hit its skin. Staring moodily at Austin, it swam off to a corner and crouched there, nursing its wounds.
"Well done, Austin!" Professor Carter said, helping Austin out of the tank.
"Thanks, sir," Austin whispered, trying to catch his breath. He sat down and smiled at Remus. "Look," he remarked, "my robes aren't even wet."
Remus had to laugh at this, though it was with a touch of nervousness. He wanted so badly to be good at defeating scary monsters, but he wasn't sure he would be. "Ready, Mr. Lupin?" Professor Carter asked with a smile. Remus nodded. "Hydrus Repellarus!"
"Now climb in on the other side, Mr. Lupin and do just as I told you. Be ready for the grindylow to grab you!" the professor warned.
Remus stepped over the wall of the tank and into the icy water. The moment his foot touched the bottom, his ankle was seized by a powerful grip. He squirmed, but the strong fingers only closed tighter around his ankle, just as he knew they would. Immediately, he raised his wand, pointed it at the ugly creature and yelled, "Relashio!," with no hesitation. Instead of instantly driving the creature away, the curse merely made the grindylow angrier. It tugged harder on Remus' foot and threatened to topple him over. Without panicking, Remus yelled the curse at the creature again, and this time it hit the grindylow squarely between the eyes. The demon recoiled in pain and with a hiss at Remus, slunk over to its corner.
Remus breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the tank. Professor Carter's face was transformed by his expansive smile. "Well done, Mr. Lupin, well done. Not many first years could keep their wits about them when their spell fails to subdue the creature they're fighting. I am quite impressed."
"Thank you, sir," Remus muttered, his face turning red.
"I will award 5 points to Gryffindor for Mr. Harris' success, and 10 points for Mr. Lupin's," Professor Carter went on. "You may go to your next class now. I think you can make it on time if you hurry." He smiled as the two boys picked up their belongings and dashed out of the room.
"How'd you like that?" Austin called gleefully as they rushed through the halls.
Remus laughed. "I loved it. My adrenaline kicked in and I wasn't worried anymore. It was great!"
Soon they reached Charms class (on time, too!) and they joined James, Sirius and Peter as they learned the Accidentay Repairum spell that would put together anything broken accidentally. The noise made from falling vases could be heard across the school. In truth, it was more fun to break the vases than to repair them, but by the end of the class they were starting to get the hang of the spell.
The next week went by in a blur as the boys prepared for their biggest prank yet. At dinner one night, Dumbledore gave a quick announcement some new thing that was banned from Hogwarts' halls, but they didn't hear what it was, they were too busy squirming in their seats. Finally, the headmaster sat down and the students turned their attention to their plates, which would soon be brimming with delicious food. Or so they thought.
Screams erupted through the Great Hall as rotting fish and some other unidentifiable foods that smelled just as bad appeared on the shiny silver plates. Flies crawled over the nauseating mess of so-called food. Dumbledore stood up to calm down the students when a large cake covered in mold appeared on the teacher's table. In gray frosting, it said "Happy Death Day, Sir Nicholas!"
"Calm down, everyone!" Dumbledore's loud, clear voice quieted the room. "It's just some rotting food, not a monster for goodness sakes." He waved his wand and the food disappeared, except for the cake. "Sir Nicholas!"
The Gryffindor house ghost appeared a moment later. "Yes, Headmaster?" he inquired politely.
"What is the meaning of this?" Dumbledore asked, pointing at the large cake. "It was served with some very rotted food, and I know for a fact that your Death Day was on Halloween."
Nearly Headless Nick (as he was known by the students) looked astounded. "I assure you, Headmaster, I know nothing about this!"
Dumbledore turned to the students. "Whoever the marauders are that pulled this off, I want you to turn yourselves in tonight, or risk a tougher punishment when I learn your identities from the kitchen staff tomorrow." He sat down and as he did, real food appeared on all of the tables and the students were treated to the delicious smells of turkey and mashed potatoes.
During this whole scene, Remus, Peter, Austin, James and Sirius were trying very hard to keep their giggles down to a minimum, since they didn't want to get caught. Their plan had worked perfectly. It hadn't taken much to convince the house elves that they should serve something special for Sir Nicholas' Death Day, before the main course. Once the rest of the school had began talking excitedly about who had pulled off the prank and eating their real dinner, they let out the loud laughter they had been holding in. Lily was staring at them.
"This is what you went to the kitchens for?" she exclaimed.
"Shh!" James managed to reply through his laughter. "I don't want to get caught by Dumbledore!"
"He's going to find out anyway," Sirius answered. "He's gonna ask the house elves unless we confess tonight."
James shrugged. "We won't get caught, we'll confess."
"What?" Peter cried.
"Dumbledore actually thought what we pulled on Binns was funny, so I think he'll be ok with this one, especially if we come forward and admit it," James reasoned. "Plus, did you hear what he called us? The Marauders is a great nickname for our group. We owe him for that one."
Everyone agreed about this, but Lily just kind of smiled sadly and said, "It's a great name for your group. I'm sure you'll live up to it."
"Awww, Lily," James replied. "You know you're best friends with all of us, even though we don't want you in trouble for our pranks."
She nodded. "I know. I don't agree with you excluding me, but it's not worth ruining our friendship over. Besides, I was getting lonely for some girly company every once in awhile." The whole group laughed and ate their exquisite dinner. They decided that after dinner they would go tell Dumbledore the whole story.
Remus and James knew where the Headmaster's office was (they had each been there before), but when they reached the statue, it dawned on them that they didn't know the password. They looked at each other blankly while Sirius, Peter and Austin looked around nervously.
"What's wrong?" Austin asked hesitantly.
"I don't know how to get in," James admitted.
Austin looked at Remus, who shook his head. "Me neither. Dumbledore was with us when we went in before."
"So are we just going to wait until he decides to leave?" Sirius quipped.
"No," James replied quickly. "Of course not. The Marauders will find a way." He stood there thinking for a moment, when a voice interrupted.
"Excuse me, dears, but I couldn't help overhearing that you needed some help."
Remus looked around, startled. "Who said that?" he asked.
A gentle laugh issued from a portrait of a witch that hung across the hall. "Sorry to startle you. It was me." The Marauders turned to look. "I can go into his office and let him know you wish to see him," the witch continued.
"Can you go through walls, like a ghost?" Peter asked, puzzled.
"Not exactly. But I can get to the other paintings in the castle, and there's a nice one in Dumbledore's office. I'll be right back." With that, she walked off the side of the painting and was gone. A minute later, Dumbledore was standing in the hallway.
"You are here to see me?" he inquired. "Please come into my office."
Before he got the chance, it was the night of the full moon and he had to make the lonesome trek out to the Whomping Willow. Before he left, his friends said they'd cover for him while he was gone. It felt really good to not have to lie to his friends anymore. Lily's fierce hug goodbye haunted Remus' memory as he walked to the shack and waited for the change.
Remus awoke the next morning curled in a ball under the rickety bed. As usual, he had no recollection of the night, or how he had come to be under the bed. He wanted to leave the shack and rejoin his friends, but he knew how badly that might turn out. He sighed and resigned himself another slow and boring day within the confines of the shack.
In the middle of the afternoon, voices woke Remus from a nap. 'What is that?' he thought as he sat up sleepily. Slowly, he realized that there were people talking right outside his door.
"Let's go in," a boy's voice said.
Another boy answered, "Maybe we should wait for everyone else."
"Are you scared?" the first boy sneered.
"No," the second boy said defiantly. "I'll even go first."
As the doorknob began to turn, Remus began to take action. He knew the kids couldn't get in, but he wanted to scare them away for good. He began yelling and throwing chairs, scraping furniture across the floor, anything that made a lot of noise. The boys left screaming, and Remus collapsed on the floor in laughter.
Although he did find it hilarious that two tough guys were scared away by him moving furniture around, he quickly realized that the situation wasn't all that funny. No one had thought that any of the villagers would come near the 'haunted house.' Remus panicked for a moment, wondering what would happen if any more really bright kids tried to get into the house during a full moon. Then he calmed down, realizing that the door was secured and if they heard his wolf noises from outside, they really would be scared away.
But he began to see the wisdom in Lily's suggestion that they find a way for his friends to be present while he transformed. Having someone there who knew what was going on could really help if a situation came up, like kids breaking in. Remus spent the rest of the day and much of the night trying to think of a way for his friends to spend the full moon with him or near him at least. He hadn't come up with anything when he awoke the next morning and headed back to the castle, but he decided to bring it up at breakfast. 'If all six of us are thinking about it, someone is bound to come up with a good idea,' he reasoned.
By the time Remus got to his room, Sirius, James, Austin and Peter were already somewhat awake and moving about. "How'd it go?" James asked.
"Fine," Remus said. "I only have a few scratches. But it was really weird, there were two kids outside of the shack yesterday, talking about breaking in. I scared them away as they were about to, but I'm worried about it happening again."
"What are you going to do?" Peter asked, eyes wide.
"Well, I wanted to ask you guys for some ideas. Lily wanted to think of a way for you all to be there at the full moon without getting in my way, or being seen, and I think that would be really helpful in case something bad happens," Remus explained.
"We'll try and think of something, Remus," Sirius said smiling. Everyone else nodded his agreement. "It's an interesting problem, but with the six of us working on it, we'll be spending the full moons together in no time!"
At breakfast, Remus told Lily what had happened and how he was beginning to see that maybe he did need his friends around when he became a werewolf. She was happy that Remus saw her point and she asked if anyone had had any ideas yet.
"How about we come to the shack with you, then hide under the cloak when you're a werewolf?" Austin suggested.
Remus shook his head sadly and everyone's hopeful faces fell. "From the mess I leave behind, I can tell that I run all over, trying to destroy things. I'd accidentally bump into you and then I'd probably attack."
"What if we just waited outside while you were dangerous?" James asked.
"The door doesn't open," Remus explained. "Nobody can get in, and nobody can get out."
"Well, we could just go back out through the Whomping Willow, couldn't we?" James countered.
Remus stopped to consider this, but then shook his head again. "What if you were seen? Dumbledore would prevent you from ever coming with me again."
"We'll just have to keep thinking," Lily said brightly. "It will come to us. Oh, and Remus, you missed a really great lecture in Defense Against the Dark Arts yesterday."
"What happened?" Remus asked eagerly.
"Well," Lily began excitedly, "Professor Carter taught us about Grindylows, which live in lakes and have really strong hands. Then he told us about the time that he was called in to take care of a group of them that were living in Scotland. It was so exciting!"
As Lily paused for breath, James cut in. "And then he took us into another room where he had a tank with some grindylows in it, and he told us we could beat them by breaking their fingers. You won't believe what happened next!"
Lily, who had been giving James dirty looks, seized her opportunity and finished the story. Before Remus could begin to answer James, she said, "He asked who wanted to volunteer to try and fight the grindylows! At first only me, James and Sirius wanted to try, but once we did it and got 10 points for our houses, half the class wanted to try it. It was the best lesson I've ever had!"
Remus was disappointed that he had missed the lesson, but he was excited to hear all about it on the way to their first class of the day. He heard detailed descriptions of how Lily, James and Sirius had defeated their grindylows and an embarrassed Peter told him how Professor Carter had had to step in and take care of Peter's grindylow for him. Austin, it turned out, hadn't gotten a chance to try before the lesson was over.
Once they were in Potions, preparing for the lesson, Peter said, "Oh, Remus, I almost forgot. Professor Carter said to tell you to come and see him about making that lesson up, since you were gone."
Remus nodded. "I'll go right after lunch. We have some time before Charms. Hey, Austin, do you want to come with me and see if he'll let you have a go with the grindylow?"
Austin smiled. "Sure, Remus. Thanks."
After they were done eating, Remus and Austin hurried off to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. Professor Carter looked up from his paperwork as they walked in. "Hello, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Harris. I assume, Mr. Lupin, you are here to make up the lesson you missed, but before we start, is there something you wanted to see me about, Mr. Harris?"
"Well, sir," Austin said. "I didn't get a chance to fight the grindylow in class, so I was hoping I could get another chance."
"Certainly, Mr. Harris," Carter replied, smiling. "If you are willing to wait until Mr. Lupin is ready to tackle it as well."
"No problem," said Austin, smiling broadly. He sat down at a table. "I have some History of Magic I need to catch up on." He pulled out some papers and began studying.
"Now, Mr. Lupin," Professor Carter said. "The grindylow is a water demon. It has an incredible grip, but its fingers are quite brittle. They are hostile to humans, though the merpeople have had some success in domesticating them." He then went on to explain in detail how to go about defeating the demon, and related the same story that Lily had mentioned. "Well, that about wraps it up," he finished. "Now you get to see one, and fight it, if you'd like."
Remus nodded and followed Professor Carter to another room where two grindylows were trying to swim around in a tank of water that was only two feet deep. They were small and pale green with horns, fangs and really long fingers. When they saw the wizards enter the room, they began to make strange underwater growling noises. Professor Carter asked Austin to go first.
Before Austin climbed in the tank, Professor Carter pointed his wand at Austin and said, "Hydrus Repellarus!" To Remus, he said, "That will keep him from getting wet. The room stays a lot neater that way." He smiled as they watched Austin begin. The grindylows were separated in the tank by a wall, but the second demon was trying just as hard to get to Austin through the barrier. Austin gathered himself and stepped into the shallow water. Immediately, his opponent grabbed his ankle and tried to pull Austin under.
Austin struggled to release the grindylow's grip, trying to break its fingers. But this grindylow wasn't giving up that easily. Austin was off balance, about to be pulled under water when he pointed his wand at the creature and yelled, "Relashio!" The grindylow loosened its grip in surprise as jets of boiling water hit its skin. Staring moodily at Austin, it swam off to a corner and crouched there, nursing its wounds.
"Well done, Austin!" Professor Carter said, helping Austin out of the tank.
"Thanks, sir," Austin whispered, trying to catch his breath. He sat down and smiled at Remus. "Look," he remarked, "my robes aren't even wet."
Remus had to laugh at this, though it was with a touch of nervousness. He wanted so badly to be good at defeating scary monsters, but he wasn't sure he would be. "Ready, Mr. Lupin?" Professor Carter asked with a smile. Remus nodded. "Hydrus Repellarus!"
"Now climb in on the other side, Mr. Lupin and do just as I told you. Be ready for the grindylow to grab you!" the professor warned.
Remus stepped over the wall of the tank and into the icy water. The moment his foot touched the bottom, his ankle was seized by a powerful grip. He squirmed, but the strong fingers only closed tighter around his ankle, just as he knew they would. Immediately, he raised his wand, pointed it at the ugly creature and yelled, "Relashio!," with no hesitation. Instead of instantly driving the creature away, the curse merely made the grindylow angrier. It tugged harder on Remus' foot and threatened to topple him over. Without panicking, Remus yelled the curse at the creature again, and this time it hit the grindylow squarely between the eyes. The demon recoiled in pain and with a hiss at Remus, slunk over to its corner.
Remus breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the tank. Professor Carter's face was transformed by his expansive smile. "Well done, Mr. Lupin, well done. Not many first years could keep their wits about them when their spell fails to subdue the creature they're fighting. I am quite impressed."
"Thank you, sir," Remus muttered, his face turning red.
"I will award 5 points to Gryffindor for Mr. Harris' success, and 10 points for Mr. Lupin's," Professor Carter went on. "You may go to your next class now. I think you can make it on time if you hurry." He smiled as the two boys picked up their belongings and dashed out of the room.
"How'd you like that?" Austin called gleefully as they rushed through the halls.
Remus laughed. "I loved it. My adrenaline kicked in and I wasn't worried anymore. It was great!"
Soon they reached Charms class (on time, too!) and they joined James, Sirius and Peter as they learned the Accidentay Repairum spell that would put together anything broken accidentally. The noise made from falling vases could be heard across the school. In truth, it was more fun to break the vases than to repair them, but by the end of the class they were starting to get the hang of the spell.
The next week went by in a blur as the boys prepared for their biggest prank yet. At dinner one night, Dumbledore gave a quick announcement some new thing that was banned from Hogwarts' halls, but they didn't hear what it was, they were too busy squirming in their seats. Finally, the headmaster sat down and the students turned their attention to their plates, which would soon be brimming with delicious food. Or so they thought.
Screams erupted through the Great Hall as rotting fish and some other unidentifiable foods that smelled just as bad appeared on the shiny silver plates. Flies crawled over the nauseating mess of so-called food. Dumbledore stood up to calm down the students when a large cake covered in mold appeared on the teacher's table. In gray frosting, it said "Happy Death Day, Sir Nicholas!"
"Calm down, everyone!" Dumbledore's loud, clear voice quieted the room. "It's just some rotting food, not a monster for goodness sakes." He waved his wand and the food disappeared, except for the cake. "Sir Nicholas!"
The Gryffindor house ghost appeared a moment later. "Yes, Headmaster?" he inquired politely.
"What is the meaning of this?" Dumbledore asked, pointing at the large cake. "It was served with some very rotted food, and I know for a fact that your Death Day was on Halloween."
Nearly Headless Nick (as he was known by the students) looked astounded. "I assure you, Headmaster, I know nothing about this!"
Dumbledore turned to the students. "Whoever the marauders are that pulled this off, I want you to turn yourselves in tonight, or risk a tougher punishment when I learn your identities from the kitchen staff tomorrow." He sat down and as he did, real food appeared on all of the tables and the students were treated to the delicious smells of turkey and mashed potatoes.
During this whole scene, Remus, Peter, Austin, James and Sirius were trying very hard to keep their giggles down to a minimum, since they didn't want to get caught. Their plan had worked perfectly. It hadn't taken much to convince the house elves that they should serve something special for Sir Nicholas' Death Day, before the main course. Once the rest of the school had began talking excitedly about who had pulled off the prank and eating their real dinner, they let out the loud laughter they had been holding in. Lily was staring at them.
"This is what you went to the kitchens for?" she exclaimed.
"Shh!" James managed to reply through his laughter. "I don't want to get caught by Dumbledore!"
"He's going to find out anyway," Sirius answered. "He's gonna ask the house elves unless we confess tonight."
James shrugged. "We won't get caught, we'll confess."
"What?" Peter cried.
"Dumbledore actually thought what we pulled on Binns was funny, so I think he'll be ok with this one, especially if we come forward and admit it," James reasoned. "Plus, did you hear what he called us? The Marauders is a great nickname for our group. We owe him for that one."
Everyone agreed about this, but Lily just kind of smiled sadly and said, "It's a great name for your group. I'm sure you'll live up to it."
"Awww, Lily," James replied. "You know you're best friends with all of us, even though we don't want you in trouble for our pranks."
She nodded. "I know. I don't agree with you excluding me, but it's not worth ruining our friendship over. Besides, I was getting lonely for some girly company every once in awhile." The whole group laughed and ate their exquisite dinner. They decided that after dinner they would go tell Dumbledore the whole story.
Remus and James knew where the Headmaster's office was (they had each been there before), but when they reached the statue, it dawned on them that they didn't know the password. They looked at each other blankly while Sirius, Peter and Austin looked around nervously.
"What's wrong?" Austin asked hesitantly.
"I don't know how to get in," James admitted.
Austin looked at Remus, who shook his head. "Me neither. Dumbledore was with us when we went in before."
"So are we just going to wait until he decides to leave?" Sirius quipped.
"No," James replied quickly. "Of course not. The Marauders will find a way." He stood there thinking for a moment, when a voice interrupted.
"Excuse me, dears, but I couldn't help overhearing that you needed some help."
Remus looked around, startled. "Who said that?" he asked.
A gentle laugh issued from a portrait of a witch that hung across the hall. "Sorry to startle you. It was me." The Marauders turned to look. "I can go into his office and let him know you wish to see him," the witch continued.
"Can you go through walls, like a ghost?" Peter asked, puzzled.
"Not exactly. But I can get to the other paintings in the castle, and there's a nice one in Dumbledore's office. I'll be right back." With that, she walked off the side of the painting and was gone. A minute later, Dumbledore was standing in the hallway.
"You are here to see me?" he inquired. "Please come into my office."