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Turn Left Turn Right.
Chapter 10: Searching Marauders.
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Disclaimer: Am not J.K. Rowling. Don't sue.
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Summary: Two people who are destined to be together, (Lily and James) never meet but are always only a few feet away from each other. They live in bliss, ignorant of others, until one day they chance upon an encounter with each other and realise that their lives have missing pieces in it. They part, but then, are unable to contact each other again, leaving two love- torn teenagers desperately trying to find their other half.
25 December 2003
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Squiggles1: Hmm, Ok, Malfoy is probably a schemer, being the high class, dark arts wizard that he is. But, Lily did provoke him, and she didn't have her wand. So he kind of took advantage of that situation to curse her. And, Alex does sound a extreme, but that's what makes it fun, (and highly irritating). Well, it's like there's so many people out there who assume that they are like dating, so I thought maybe I could go a little further. Also, Alex doesn't love Lily. He just thinks he does. The more correct way to describe him is like an obsessed fan. So, from experience, there are girls in Singapore who buy air tickets and charter buses to chase after their idols, and even propose to them. So I thought, hey, why not make Alex like that...
-chants- I want it to snow in Singapore. Darn. Hmm, well, a few weeks ago there was this weird hail storm going on, it was so totally out of the blue since it doesn't hail here!! French?? My friend wanted to take that as a third language, but she dropped the idea (the fees were absurd) You're having school now? The oral report thing. We're out for two months, but this is the last week of the holidays. Oh, if you drop by Singapore, there's not much here, just numerous shopping centres that us locals find amusing. But there's always THE FOOD... ahh, my first love... Oh, do you mean the one in Sentosa? Or the one near town?
ShorTi: Yea... I think I will.
Indiangurl: Hehe, Alex gets a small portion of revenge for now.
LJstagflower4e: I loved the Joy-bashing scene too. It's only his pompous mind making major assumptions! I mean, which mother would want their daughter to marry him, and which daughter would actually want to get engaged to him? Lily won't, not when there's James around!!!
Jac: That was the beginning of the evil plot my evil brain is cooking up! Oh, yes, James finds out that Lily's the name of the Head Girl the next chapter. I loved LOTR – return of the king. It's absolutely the best movie this year! But, I rather ARAGORN!!!!! Which other story? JASLS or TS?
juxtaposed: This whole chapter is the Marauder goodness you asked for! Have you been to Singapore? Oh, Singapore's so small, it got mistook for one of the poor villages of China. –mutters- are we really so small??? –sobs dramatically- =)
Bec: Yea, he is a nutter. Who in their right mind would like him anyway? And thanks to you and your friend.
Catherine24: LIVERPOOL?!??! Okok, I wont have a fit! HAHAHA, But I'm not a Beckham fan! I didn't start supporting Man U because of him. Anyway, I don't think he's that great of a player. –ducks stones thrown by fan girls- I find the hype surrounding him disgusting, hahaha, as you can tell, I don't like people who support a team just because of a player. Heehee. Thank goodness I didn't say Liverpool, or you would have skinned me alive!
Lady_iris27: Lily and James, and fluff, and Alex leaving Lily alone all comes in later chapters. Oh, and Joy will leave James in later chapters too! This is kind of a build up to the heavier chapters.
HoNeY-sWeEt: I'm updating already! Anyway, thanks. Oh, yea, I wouldn't want to be sued on counts that I made you mad! =) Read on...
Crimson Girl: Thank you.
Athana Diagon Cat: Yes, we all want to kill Alex too! Hmm, maybe we'll kill him.
Kittiy: Thanks a lot, I'm continuing now...
Amour-et-paix0707: Yep, it is, as stated in previous chapters. Anyway, thanks.
Fulldark: Lily gets a small bit of revenge, and the engagement is only in his head. WHO WOULD WANT TO MARRY HIM?!?!!?
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So, hopefully you'll like the chapter, and well, this is my Christmas gift to you people, seeing that I don't know where you stay and I can't send the numerous Ferrari sports cars I bought to you. (Haha, just kidding! I don't have barrels of money, and I only cars that I can buy are Hot Wheels cars)
Merry Xmas!
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Everything was silent. An owl hooted, and was answered by other hoots as the night birds awoke from their slumber to go out for their nightly hunts. A cool breeze carried across the grounds, causing the grass to bend over slightly. Small waves lapped gently on the bank of the great lake, and the Giant Squid lazily propelled itself across the surface of the water. Everything was as it should be, save for a strange white shape floating aimlessly around the Great Lake.
Up above, the sky was a dark midnight blue, almost black, and the cloudless sky showed the thousands of twinkling stars. The half moon hung high in the sky, emitting a soft glow.
Inside the castle, not a sound could be heard, except the occasional footsteps of the prowling caretaker.
And, in one room, the lighted candles cast a warm glow over the things in the room. It was the middle of spring, which meant that temperatures had warmed sufficiently so that the use of the fireplace was not required, yet was still cool, that some heat, and light had to be given out.
Nothing moved, except the flickering shadows, but suddenly, that silence was shattered as something came tumbling down, followed by another thudding sound, and then a third and final one, before quiet resumed, if only for a short period of time.
Another five minutes gone, and sound yet again tore through the quiet of the night.
"Padfoot!" Someone hissed in irritation. "Get the bloody hell of my feet!"
"Well, sor-ry," an answering voice replied sarcastically. "It wasn't my fault that your feet decided to be in front of me the moment I started down the steps, was it Moony?"
"It wasn't my feet!" The first voice spoke again, this time indignantly. "It was Wormtail's!"
"No, it wasn't my feet!" A third voice entered the scene.
"So are you implying that the great Sirius Black tripped over my own feet?" The second voice asked dryly.
"Well..." The third person said. "Now that you think about it... yea..."
The sounds of a scuffle broke out, with bare feet squeaking on the cool marble floor, and sounds of grunts and mutters echoed through the empty room.
"Quiet you two!" The first person muttered. "Do you want to get caught?"
The sounds of the small fight died.
"Well, it's not as if it hasn't happened before..." The voice that had identified himself as Sirius said.
"Well, can we get caught some other time?" The first person inquired impatiently. "This is actually kind of important."
"Remind me again," the third voice replied. "Why is it that we are sneaking out in the dead of night without a prank planned?"
"Well, we aren't playing a prank tonight Peter," the first voice muttered, then sighed. "Just wait a while. The darkness' killing me... Lumos."
A heartbeat later, light flared out of a wand, and then settled, glowing brightly in the room, throwing the three people there into sharp relief.
One, the second to have spoken had a neat, and slightly long mane of black hair, and black eyes. The light reflecting of his hair and eyes showed midnight blue streaks in his hair, and different coloured blues within his eyes. A black cloak was thrown messily over his shoulders.
The other, the first to have spoken, had light brown hair, that was currently sticking messily up, and slightly darker brown eyes, and he looked slightly grumpy, and very sleepy. He had obviously not bothered with tidying himself up, and was still in his pair of pajamas. (Aww, Remus is so cute)
The third, and last to speak had blond hair, and light blue eyes, and was currently covering his mouth with a hand as he yawned widely.
(ok, if you're confused, the first person is Remus, the second person is Sirius and the third person is Peter.)
"Aah!" Peter cried out as the wand lit up. "Too bright! Too bright!" And he shielded his eyes against the bright glare.
Remus nodded with his eyes closed. "Lumos Minimalius," he muttered again, and the light dimmed.
"Let's go," Sirius whispered, and they made their way towards the portrait door.
"Ok," Peter replied, and the two reached the hole. "Hey! Wait! Moony's still over there."
Sirius snorted. "It figures," he said.
Remus had fallen asleep in a seated position, his head resting against the staircase banister as a support.
"Moony... Moony!"
Remus jolted upright, and promptly hit his head on the wall. A resounding thud echoed through the room. He rubbed his eyes angrily.
"What the hell was that for?" He asked in irritation.
Sirius motioned the door with his head. "Remember? We're like, going out now?"
Remus glanced at them. "Oops?"
Upstairs, someone grunted, and a door creaked open.
"Shit!" Remus hissed. "Someone's coming. Let's go."
"Exactly what we've been saying for the past ten minutes," Peter replied diplomatically.
"It's not my fault I require fifteen hours of sleep everyday," Remus griped, but all the same, he leapt over to the portrait hole, and it swung silently outwards.
The three quickly stepped out of the hole, and it clicked shut behind them. Through the portrait, they could hear someone in the common room searching the place.
"That's odd," the voice of Tracy Stevens drifted through the portrait. "I distinctly heard Sirius, Remus and Peter down here. Oh well..."
The three sniggered to themselves, quickly soothed the suspicious Fat Lady with promises that they were not up to no good, and would be back soon, and set off down the dimly lit corridor.
"That's what you say every time!" She protested. "And every time, you come back with a detention hanging over your head!"
*
Lily sat on her roof, staring at the stars above. It was relatively cool, and very refreshing to be sitting up here at night.
She smiled in satisfaction as she remembered what had happened earlier on. Ok, so it was not what she would have normally done... But this was better, much better.
*** Flashback ***
Lily strolled back to her dorms after staying out for most of the day after her classes. She felt very happy as she gave the portrait a password – Moonlight - . It was a new password that had been inputted just earlier, after she had thrown out all of the stuff that did not belong to her, and it was one that Alex surely did not have. As she stepped through the portrait, she silently cursed. The place was back to the same messy self Lily had found when Alex had voluntarily moved in.
"What the –" Lily exclaimed to herself. "Why – What – How?" Lily asked herself dumbly.
Then, an uncharacteristic anger took over her.
She marched up the stairs, where, predictably, the idiot was already sound asleep on her bed, snoring into the pillow, and drooling all over it. She cringed inwardly, vowing to herself that the bed sheets and pillowcases would go, no matter how the house-elves cleaned it.
She hurriedly levitated him, along with the pillows, and bed sheets, and floated him out of the large window, and down onto the grounds where she set him down in the middle of the lake and cast a floating charm on it, so that the bed sheet was floating on the water.
'Hey,' she thought dispassionately to herself. 'It could have been better to let him drown, but I wouldn't want to be charged with manslaughter, and furthermore..." a grin took hold of her features. "... I just remembered he's dead afraid of the water! ... Oops?" She smiled to herself, then climbed onto her roof.
*** End Flashback ***
She laughed aloud, softly. Thinking about it still brought laughter to her mouth.
Up above, a bright shower of sparks sprayed out of a single shining stars, and it seemed to her, that the stars were all laughing along with her.
*
Sirius, Remus and Peter crept along the long hallways of Hogwarts, making slightly less sound than a scuttling cockroach.
"We've been searching the castle for days!" Remus whispered, ever the voice of reason. "What makes you think that there's a chance that their will be one? I mean, if we haven't found it yet, there most likely isn't anything."
"Aww, come on Moony," Sirius quirked. "Don't be such a pessimist!"
Remus shrugged. "Your loss, not mine."
"If we don't find it, it's our loss, not just mine," Sirius replied.
"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Moony asked.
"We," Sirius stopped walking, and turned around to face them, stopping so abruptly that Remus ran into Sirius, and Peter walked into Remus' back.
A chorus of 'watch it's' echoed through the air, followed by similar hisses of 'quiet you fool man. Do you want your skins to be displayed in Filch's office?'
"We," Sirius said again, "are doing this so that there won't be a next time James decides to act like a bloody prat."
"Ok, same as the last time I checked then," Remus said. "Certainty of capture... Small chance of success... Well, what are we waiting for?" He questioned, and, the three Marauders, through quiet snorts of laughter, set off once more. (The line is taken from Gimli from ROTK. but, it's Certainty of death... small chance of success.)
*
Ten minutes later, the three were hot and sticky, and there was still no sign of the thing they were looking for.
"Arghh, shit, it's bloody hot," Sirius muttered to himself.
"Stop mumbling Padfoot, you numbskull," Peter griped from the back. "We're all suffering here."
"Ssh!" Remus hissed. "Wait... Let me think of something..." A smile spread over his face. "Arctium Triplus." He waved his wand over the three of them in a complicated wand movement, and a moment later, a refreshing cool settled on the three of them.
"Moony, you're a genius..." Sirius breathed.
"Aren't I always?" Remus asked, and smirked at his friends.
"Ever the modest one," Peter said, but grinning all the same. "Let's go then, shall we?"
"Whatever you say Wormtail," Sirius replied, his voice floating somewhere in front of them as he vanished a patch of shadows the dim light did not reach.
Remus and Peter vanished after him, bare feet padding softly on the ground. They had long ago found out that walking around in shoes in the dead of night caused resounding 'thud-thud' sounds that could too easily be followed.
Along with Peter, Remus set of down the hallway, with his lit wand as a guide.
"Shit! Where the hell is Sirius?" Remus muttered after a while. "Didn't he think to use his wand? That damned fool."
Footsteps sounded behind them.
"Ah ther-" Remus started, but was silenced a moment later by Peter's hand on his mouth.
There was a soft mewling sound, and someone spoke in gravelly tones, "what is it, my sweet?"
Remus blanched, and whitened visibly. "Holy shit," he whispered.
Peter tugged on his arm, and they set off quickly into the darkness, with Remus making a sound like a cricket chirping, one of their secret Marauder signals for 'danger, meet up as soon as possible', every minute.
Sirius found them after just two minutes, and the three fled down a corridor.
"We should have lost him now," Remus said after a while, after the silence closed in around them.
Peter nodded. "That's good."
Remus leant on a wall, his werewolf instincts alert, and was scouting the are, to see if anyone would come.
"Woah-"
"What was that sound?" Sirius asked.
Peter shrugged. "No idea. Moon – Shit!"
The sound of footsteps had started up again, this time closer than ever.
*
Remus looked around him in alarm.
"Padfoot? Wormtail?" He called, expecting no answer and receiving none. "Lumos."
The light flared out and he surveyed the area. A grin split his features.
*
"Let's go!" Sirius said hurriedly.
"We can't!" Peter replied. "We just walked down a dead end corridor!"
Sirius groaned. "Shit! Why didn't Moony warn us anyway? Moony... Moony?"
The two swiveled around to stare at their friend when they got no answer, but instead, found themselves staring at a blank stretch of wall.
"Now, where the hell did he go?" Sirius asked comically. "Oh, drastic times call for drastic action. Move over Wormtail." He waited while Peter moved closer to him. "Ok, don't move, or it won't work... Invisiblius Totallus!"
And, the two flickered, then faded, leaving nothing to show that anyone had once been there.
"Thank goodness there's no light here... Our shadows would have been a dead giveaway," peter murmured under his breath.
"Quiet," Sirius hissed in reply. "He's coming."
Filch's face appeared, illuminated by the glow of his lamp, and at his feet was Mrs Norris, who was peering around his legs to stare up at them.
Sirius and Peter breathed heavily under the cloak as Filch came nearer towards them, each wondering if cats had the ability to see through invisibility.
"What's this, my sweet?" Filch asked suddenly as he stared down at the floor. Mrs Norris meowed slowly, her lamp-like eyes never moving once from the two.
Sirius cursed under his breath. On the floor, in the pool of lamplight, were two rounded shapes of the top of their heads. "Mobiliarbus shadow!" he muttered the spell under his breath, and caused the shadows to take on a live of their own and slink into the shadows.
"Oh, it's gone..." Filch said. "It must have been my imagination."
He peered off into the dead-end corridor, wondering if there was anyone there, then finally, giving a small nod, he declared it empty.
"Come along now, Mrs Norris," he said, and turned to leave.
Mrs Norris stared at them for a moment longer, before she too turned around and walked down the corridor, her tail swishing.
Once they were certain that Filch was gone, Sirius removed the invisibility charm.
"Phew, close call," Peter muttered. "For a second there, I thought he would have had us. Handy charm there, by the way. Just that we'll have to find our shadows now... Lumos." He peered around him, his wand light as the guide as he searched for the missing shadows.
"Where is Moony, anyway?" Sirius inquired as they searched the place.
Peter shrugged.
Another muffled thump, someone tumbled onto the floor, and a click was heard.
"Shit! He's back already? Invisiblius Totallus!"
"Ouch," came a very annoyed, and very irritated voice. "Take off the bloody charm guys. It's only me..."
"Invisiblius Finite," came a muttered voice, and a moment later, two people appeared.
"Moony? Where the hell did you go?" Sirius asked as he looked into the darkness.
"Lumos minimalius," someone said, and a dim light appeared, and enveloped the area in a small glowing globe.
Moony held up a cage of some sort – it was golden and had symbols written on them - , which showed two black things writhing around in the light.
"Are these yours?" He asked dryly. "I found them floating around." He rolled his eyes. "I believe the correct incantation was Mobiliarbus Fixum Shadow?"
"Hey! Where did you find those?" Peter exclaimed.
"Sirius' thwacked me on the nose," Remus replied nonchalantly.
He shook his head, but a smile was evident on his face.
Peter and Sirius snorted.
"Oh, alright genius Moony," Sirius said, and mock bowed.
"Fixum Shadow," Remus said, and the door to the cage opened, and the shadows flowed out and reattached themselves to their respective owners, but not before one of them gave Sirius the middle finger.
"Pity... It would have been fun if you two had switched shadows," Remus said dispassionately.
(Ok, if anyone wanted to know, shadows by themselves dwell in the darkness, so when they are not attached to any physical object, they will have a great aversion to the light, so they were writhing in the light. But when they are attached to a physical object, they will gain a kind of immunity towards the light, so that is why they don't move.)
"Where did you go, anyway, huh?" Peter questioned.
"Me? I was doing something far more important than you two were... Presenting..."
He stepped up against a section of the wall, and leant against it. Suddenly, the panel gave away, and Remus disappeared.
Sirius shook his head, a grin on his face. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
The remaining two Marauders followed, and soon disappeared from the spot.
They appeared in a place dimly lit by Remus' wand.
"A true Marauder, Moony," Sirius said, and sniffed dramatically. "Secret passage number three-hundred and thirty-six, to be added into the Map."
"Come on, we haven't got all day," Remus said from somewhere in front of them, and they set off down the path.
*
Fifteen minutes later, and still no sign of where the passageway was leading them too. The monotonous stone walls provided no respite from the boredom. After all, secret passageways were built to be used, and not to be looked at. The passageway had narrowed considerably, and where they had started out with three people walking abreast and upright, now, it was Sirius in front, followed by Remus, and finally Peter, crawling along the way on their knees.
"How long more is this going to go on?" Sirius muttered.
"Stop complaining," Remus grunted from behind. "At least you don't have to stare at someone else's butt!"
"Hey! What are you implying?" Sirius said.
"You know..." Remus replied, and by his tone, they could tell that he was smirking.
"I resent that ok!" Sirius called out. "I have the nicest and firmest ass in the whole of Hogwarts! You should be happy staring at my ass! Now, Wormtail... Wormtail should be the one complaining at having to stare at your ass!"
Peter and Remus snorted. "Oh really?" They chorused simultaneously. "I believe you."
"Certainly," came Sirius' 'very-modest' answer.
"Uh-oh," Sirius said suddenly, and stopped, causing the two behind to stop as well.
"What?" Remus and Peter hissed in panic. "Please don't tell me this is a dead end."
"Left or right?" Sirius interrupted.
"What?!" The other two asked.
"Left or right?" He said again, this time impatiently. "This thing branches off into two directions. For all we know, it could be a loop that takes us back here, or they could each go on for miles before coming to a dead end. So which is it? Left or right?"
"Anything, Padfoot."
"Alrighty then. Right it is."
The crawling started again, and gradually, the passageway sloped upwards, and the air became thinner.
"I feel success just around the corner," Peter whispered.
They finally reached a small hollow, a place big enough so that all three could stand up. There was a small lever at waist level.
Three grins appeared on three tired faces.
Sirius pulled the lever, and they toppled out of a portrait into a room. They looked around, and found girls clothes, books and stuff arranged neatly in the room.
"Oops?" Wrong room?" Sirius whispered back at them.
"Let's look around first?" Peter said, as he peered around the room. "This must be the Head Girls' room. The layout's the same as Prongs'. And I wanna see who the Head Girl is."
"No," Remus said, and steered them back towards the portrait.
"Why?"
"Cause we're running short of time." He pointed towards the window at the opposite of the room, and outside, the moon was just creeping towards the edge of the horizon.
"Good point there, let's go," Sirius said, and they turned around to the portrait.
A noise sounded from above. "Who's there?" A feminine sound called.
"Shit!"
*
Lily awoke to a gentle breeze playing on her face. She looked around and realised that she was still on the roof.
'I must have fell asleep up here,' she thought to herself, rubbing her eyes in sleepiness.
Wondering what had sparked her abrupt return to consciousness, she had never woken up this early before, she heard the sound of muffled conversation from her room.
"Hmm," she said happily to herself, as she stared out to the Great lake, seeing the white shape still floating there. "It's definitely not Alex. I just dumped him in the lake."
Her mind froze, and she suddenly felt awake. 'Conversation... My room?... Who is it?' She felt around her, and finally found her wand in her cloak pocket. 'Thank heavens I didn't change out of my school attire yesterday.'
Comforting herself that she at least had a way of defense against the intruders, she dropped down the open skylight, and said, "who's there?"
She was answered by a chorus of 'shit's' and made her way to the main bedroom, where the sound was coming from.
A sound of pounding reached her ears.
*
The three quickly scrambled to the portrait, and proceeded to pound on it.
"Shit, shit... SHIT! She's coming!" Sirius yelled as he spotted the shadow of a girl creeping along the corner. "Come on, let's push!"
The three then leaned back towards the portrait and pushed with all their might.
"AAHhhh..."
*
Lily froze as she heard the yell, and then, clutching her wand tightly in her hand, she quickly stepped into the bedroom.
Something clicked.
No one was there.
*
Sirius grunted as he rolled down the incline, and came to rest at the bottom with a loud grunt. This was followed by another loud grunt, and an 'ouch' and moments later, another grunt, and two indignant 'ouches'.
"Get off me, Moony!" Sirius yelled.
"I can't!" His friend exclaimed. "Peter's sitting on me!"
"Wait, wait!" Peter said, and soon, the weight on Remus' legs disappeared.
"Now, will you get off me?" Sirius questioned sarcastically.
Remus snorted something intelligible and got off.
"Thank you," Sirius said, and got up, quickly dusting himself off.
"We have to backtrack," Remus groaned.
"Well, at least we know that the other path will most probably take us to the Head Boys' room!" Peter said brightly.
"Well, at least this is going downhill," Sirius said brightly. "Hmm..." He said as he peered down the slope. "Freezum."
In front of them, the stone path was coated with ice, and three boards appeared in front of them.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sirius asked, and grabbed a board, and jumped onto the ice path. "Whoo hoo!" His yell petered out as his bubble of light carried far to the front and disappeared.
Remus and Peter grinned and grabbed another board each, and jumped onto the patch of ice.
*
"This should be it!" Sirius exclaimed as they came to another dead end, with a similar lever sticking out of the side.
He grabbed the lever and pulled, and the three toppled out onto the floor.
*
And as dawn was breaking, unknown to the three happy Marauders who had just had a highly adventurous night, something evil was going on, far away from their safe haven.
"Aah, Mister Malfoy. It's a pleasure," someone said.
Lucius Malfoy nodded at the person. "What, may I ask, is your purpose in calling me here?"
"I have a proposition to make..." The person explained what she wanted.
"And what do I get out of this?" Malfoy asked.
"You get rid of a thorn in your flesh."
Malfoy quickly weighed the incentives against the disincentives. A evil smile appeared on his face.
"You've got yourself a deal."
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Chapter 10 done! Well, it's Christmas. I took my holidays off to get this done... Anyway, this chapter is only Marauder goodness. Lots and lots of Sirius, Remus, and Peter. (hmm, maybe the last one doesn't count.)
Ok, this chapter is basically about the three of them finding the secret passage to James' room. Hmm, maybe it's quite long to have taken up one whole chapter, but I tried to put some humor into it. Anyway, I liked the way it turned out. It's like for comic relief. And, it also shows the beginning of an evil plot. We already know Malfoy's in it. Who planned it? Hmm...
And, Lily finally gets some extent of her revenge! Yay! Stupid Alex. Oh, next chapter we'll see what happens when he wakes up to find himself floating on the water... HEEHEE!
Oh, yes, hope you people don't think that the three Marauders are out of character here. I mean like, people tend to think that they are not afraid of being caught, so why did they hide from Filch. So, they don't mind being caught, but will avoid it if possible. Furthermore, the thing they were doing tonight was somewhat important, so they couldn't afford to get caught, or else they would spend the rest of the night the Filch's office and not looking for the passageway. Also, they may seem to be complaining quite a bit when searching. Hmm, it's not exactly fun crawling on your knees in a stuffy place, is it?
Next chapter, James realises that the Head Girl's name is Lily, and he goes to investigate.
~cube