Chapter thirteen: Is How Not Your Face, But Your Hearts Desire
Ever since Laura and Sirius's argument, the gang had split up, well, sort of. Lily stayed with James some of the time, but most of the time she was with Laura and Lou. Laura stayed away from the Marauders all together. Lou only spoke occasionally, and then it was only to Remus, and sometimes Peter. She seemed to think that since they hadn't had as many girlfriends, and that after they broke up with someone, they didn't only wait five minuets before getting a new girlfriend, they were better people. James and Sirius started to roam the school even more; Sirius seemed to want to keep his mind off of Laura, he was going out with a girl called Lexi, he seemed to like her, but James saw the way he looked at Laura. It was look of longing. Sirius and James were today roaming around on the top floors, half trying to get caught, half trying not to, "Can we go cause some havoc with Filtch, we haven't run into him for about a week, he must think something is wrong with us" Sirius asked James,
"Yeah, come on, he's in the trophy room" James told him, looking at the map. They headed to the trophy room, and sure enough there was Filtch, he had his cat, Smokey with him. Sirius had always felt sorry for Smokey, having to have Filtch as a master, "Locomorter books" Sirius said loudly, so even Filtch could hear him, but Filtch was too busy cleaning up to notice who did him, "I'll get them, in a few years I'll get them all!" Filtch was muttering. Sirius who was now on the floor trying to, discreetly, coax the cat to him, "Here Smokey, who's a good girl, come here girl" Sirius was saying.
"Sirius, put the cat down" James demanded, as Sirius picked up the smoky grey cat This is Smokey [/URL]). But Sirius didn't listen, looking towards Filtch, Sirius then fled out of the room, out from their hiding place, right back up to Gryffindor Common room, which was empty, because of lunch.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" James asked Sirius when they noticed no one was in the common room.
"Look! This cat needs love and attention. Look, she likes me!" Sirius told him. Indeed, James could not lie and say he hadn't heard the loud purring coming from the cat.
"Well, what are you going to do with her?" James asked, assuming the cat was a girl,
"I'm going to keep her in our dorm, until we go back home, then take her home. No, wait, I'll just keep her here on second thoughts" Sirius said. James guessed he just thought of his parent's attitude to animals, and to him.
"Well. What if you get caught by Filtch?" James asked him again,
"I wont" Sirius said in a casual tone,
"Okay" James said. Five minuets later, Lou came in the common room, muttering about finding her cloak. She caught sight of James, then Sirius, she glared at them, and then she saw the cat, "Oh, where'd you get her? She's gorgeous" Lou exclaimed, walking over to get a better look.
"Hey, isn't that Filtch's poor cat?" She asked them. They nodded, "Nice one!" She said, before going up and getting her jacket. When she came back down again, she was, as usual, carrying three denim jackets. She shot a look of longing over that the cat-which was playing with the tassels on the rug- before exiting the common room,
"Well, I think she's back on our side" James said,
"Yeah. Now all we need is Laura" Sirius said moodily. James half pitied his friend, he knew it was Sirius's own fault, but he also knew that Laura should at least be talking to him, letting him explain. I suppose she thought there was noting to explain, he kissed another girl; I suppose that was all there was to it.
"Well, we've got Lily, and now we've got Lou, so I think Laura will put it behind her too" James told Sirius, who was still playing with the cat, and a piece of string that Sirius had conjured up.
"Your wrong, Prongs. Lou only likes us because of the cat, you saw the look she gave us before seeing the cat, then after that, she seemed to be back to her happiness and light act"
"Yeah, that's a great way to get me back into your life, Black. Criticise my mates." Laura said. It seemed that Lou had not only gone up to get the jackets, she had gone up to see Laura as well,
"Oh, give over Laura, you know I want you back" Sirius said
"Oh I know that, I know that fine well. But you see your problem, is that you had to go and find something wrong with all my mates: Lily, Lou, who's next? Penny?" Laura said spitefully, "Smooth move, Black" She said before exiting out of the common room.
"Hmm, your right, she might need a bit of work" James said casually.
"Yeah, shame the cat didn't work on her as well as it did on Lou" James said. Sirius and James were shortly joined by: Remus, Peter, Lily, Lou, (grudgingly) and to Sirius's delight, Laura. Lou didn't say a word to anyone, for she was playing with the cat, and Laura was researching up on Animagus. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter all turned in early, for they had run clean out of conversation topics. James lay awake in bed, not being able to get to sleep, he desperately needed Laura and Sirius to get back together, or his chances with Lily could be ruined. Listening to the sounds of Peter snoring, he decided to get up and get a drink of water. He put on his glasses and got his water, he leaned against the wall. That's when he heard people talking, finishing his water; he put his cup down, and peeked down to see who it was. It was Laura she was talking to the cat, which Sirius had left down stairs.
"What's up?" James asked her casually, coming down the stairs. Laura, as if she was expecting this too happen just said, as casually as James, "Nothing. Go back to bed, James". But James didn't, he went down the stairs and sat down next to Laura, none of them spoke, so James decided to say something, "Sirius really is sorry, he just lost his head, that's all. He does really care about you" James said without thinking properly. Laura scoffed,
"If he cared about me, then why's he off kissing other girls?" Laura asked,
"Because. Well, because he didn't know at the time how much he cared about you, not until it hit him you weren't his girlfriend anymore." James said, this he knew was true, Sirius had told him this many times before. Laura bit her lip,
"I'm not easy, you know. I'm not!" Laura stated, James looked at her weirdly,
"I never said you were," He told her,
"Good, tell Sirius that then" Laura said, "Night James" She said, going up the stairs to her room again. James sat there for a while, pondering his thoughts, then he went back up to bed, and this time he slept.
James's plan the next day was to get Laura and Sirius back together, if it was the last thing he did this summer. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be kissing Lily for much longer if Laura and Sirius didn't make up soon.
"She thinks you think she's easy," James told Sirius over lunch,
"No I don't" Sirius snapped back,
"Hey, I never said I thought you thought she was," James snapped back
"But you must admit, you did seem to think she was a bi-" Sirius cut into Peter's sentence with a deadly glare that silenced Peter
"But Sirius did say at the start of the summer term, or whatever this thing is. That he said he didn't want to ask her out just because she was hot" Remus said, sticking up for Sirius, "You were talking about her, weren't you?" He asked. Sirius laughed slightly,
"Yeah, I was" He told them,
"Well, I think your best bet is to tell her that, and talk to her properly. Then, we can go and cause havoc on the castle" James said, grinning at his best friends,
"Sounds great, about the castle. But about Laura, she won't even stay in the same room as me, let alone talk to me" Sirius said sulkily. James was happy that Sirius agreed to come along tonight, there was a secret passage he had found, but he didn't have time to look down it, as he was in a hurry.
"We'll set something up for you Sirius. Just make sure you're on the Quidditch pitch at seven tonight, okay?" Remus asked him, Sirius nodded,
"Good, very good" Peter said smiling. James spent a lot of the day, chasing Laura around, trying to get her to go to the Quidditch pitch that night, she finally gave in just after lessons ended. Well, Drama. At seven o'clock that night, Sirius had put on some smart, but yet again, casual clothes on. He was heading out the common room, "Good luck mate" Remus told him, "Not that you'll need it," He added winking. By nine o'clock, Peter, James and Remus were starting to think something bad had happened to Sirius, "Maybe she jinxed him!" Peter said in a worried voice.
"I don't think so somehow. Laura's smart, but so is Padfoot" Remus pointed out,
"Yeah, your right" Peter said going red. No sooner had Peter started to blush did the common room door open and Sirius and Laura walked in, not hand in hand, nor Sirius's arm round her, but just as friends. They were both talking to each other, talking in a way that said, "I don't hate you."
James, Peter and Remus let out a sigh of relief, they hadn't fallen out, nor had they killed each other, [I] Great [/I] James thought, [I] now there back on speaking terms. That means nothing is going to stop me and Lily being together. Unless. Unless Lou still won't talk to us [/I] James thought. Thinking of the Devil, Lou and Lily came bouncing down the stairs, to meet Laura, "We thought we heard you" Laura said happily. Lou still hadn't seemed to loose her moody look, though she looked slightly happier. She smiled weekly at James, Peter and Remus, they smiled back, but Lou walked over to Laura, "Come on, you have loads to tell us" Lily said, grabbing Laura's hand and pulling her up the stairs, she laughed, "See you later Sirius, Peter, James, Remus and Peter" Laura called out to them,
"Hey, Lou. You coming?" Lily called down the stairs. Lou looked at the Marauders, then called up to Lily,
"Yeah" and went up to join her friends, they all herd the door shut with a 'snap',
"So, what happened" James asked Sirius the second the door was shut.
"Lets discuss it over some late dinner, then some walking" Sirius said, grinning. Half an hour later, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus were in the kitchen.
"Go on then, spill" Remus said sitting down,
"I apologised to her. We made up, and she told me how she felt about the whole thing, then about me." Sirius grinned at that thought, "Then she told me that she needs to figure out a few things before she decided weather to get back with me" Sirius rounded off.
"So, did she say what she needed to sort out?" Peter asked, Sirius shook his head,
"All she said is she needed to sort out her past. Then when I asked what she meant, she said she would tell me when she felt like it. Then she started to talk about Quidditch, so I didn't bother asking her again" Sirius said. They stayed in the kitchen until ten o'clock. At that time they decided to go out and explore the passageway James had found earlier on. The passage was behind a huge statue of an old man, but unfortunately, before they could open the door. Filtch came up the passage,
"I'm going to kill you little rats, wait till I get my hands on you, your going to wish you never crossed the path of Argus Filtch" He roared,
"We already do" Sirius roared back in the direction, legging it to another room. Remus and Peter went another way, while James and Sirius stayed near the passageway. When they were sure Filtch had gone after Remus and Peter, Sirius and James emerged from the room they were hiding in. They tapped their wands against the statue, and it opened. Wanting to wait for Remus and Peter, James changed his mind and entered the passageway, after his curiosity got the better of him. The passage was long and dark, except for the end, were they could see light illuminating from the door. James and Sirius exchanged confused looks, the passage hadn't looked like this last time James saw it, but last time he saw it, it was in daylight. They both raised their wands, but continued to walk down the dark passageway. At the end of the passage, the light from the room was severely damaging their vision. Sirius and James entered the room, immediately the light faded away, revealing a grand and beautiful room. The carpet was gold and the walls made of silk, James had come across a lot of nice rooms in Hogwarts, but never one as nice as this. Right in the middle of the room, on a separate rug, was a mirror. This mirror looked different though, as James and Sirius both found out. Sirius was the first to notice it, and indeed the first to look into it, "Hey. Hey Prongs, come look at this. Oh this is sweet. I'm leaving! I'm leaving home, this mirror shows me leaving Grimwald place and leaving my family!" Sirius said very excitedly to James, James looked confused,
"What are you on about?"
"Look. Come stand next to me," Sirius told him, James did so,
"And I'm looking at what?" James asked, staring into his reflection,
"Can't you see it? Its so awesome, its me, and I'm leaving home, and, and, and I'm not going back" Sirius repeated. James looked at Sirius like he had just lost any last bit of sanity he had left.
"Stand back, and then I might be able to see properly" James told Sirius, Sirius backed away, trying to still see his wonderful image. James now stood in front of the mirror and he gasped at what he saw. Expecting to see his reflection, he didn't. Instead he saw himself surrounded by, Sirius, Remus and Peter, they were all laughing and joking, but there was a clock in the mirror, and it showed time going by very fast, by the time James had looked back into the main picture, the Marauders had all aged slightly, [I] This must be our future or something [/I] James thought.
"What do you think it is?" Sirius asked him, now tapping the mirror,
"I'm guessing that it's a fortune telling mirror. You know, the ones Professor Timot is always going on about," James said. Sirius and James stayed looking at their 'reflections' for a while, until they started to feel sleepy, "Come on Prongs, lets get back. The cost is clear" Sirius told James looking at the map. James tore himself away from the mirror and made his way back to the Gryffindor common room, "Don't tell Wormtail and Moony, Prongs" Sirius told James. James just nodded; He didn't know why he didn't want them to know, he just didn't.
"What happened to you guys?" Peter asked when they got in the common room,
"Nothing, we just went to look down the passage, there was nothing there," Sirius said, James nodded. James noticed they were the only ones in the common room,
"I'm going to bed," James stated.
"Mr Potter, you will be playing the Trumpet" It was Wednesday, and Professor Flitz had just announced what instrument they would be playing in the recital. James grinned, the trumpet. That was the instrument Laura said was hardest to play.
"Miss Stevenson, the flute, Mr Lupin, guitar, Mr Black, the Drums, Miss Evans, the clarinet, Miss Hammond, the bass, and Mr Petigrew, the keyboard. Now, off to your instruments" Professor Flitz told them all,
"The bass?" Laura asked Sirius, "Wanna swap?" She asked him again, Sirius just laughed,
"Nah, your alright Laura." James decided to work next to Lily, who was working next to Lou and Remus, while Laura, Sirius and Peter were at the other side of the room,
"Lily?" Lou asked,
"Yeah?" Lily replied, doing the scale of E
"You know Lord Voldermort, the killer I was telling you about?" Lou asked her, Lily did an off scale note in shock,
"Err, yeah, what about him?" She asked, a note of panic in her voice
"Well, he's recruited a few of the Slytherin's," Lou told Lily, James looked shocked,
"How do you know this?" James asked her? Lou shot the same look at James as she always did, "It was in the Daily Prophet, something about many of the Hogwarts students have been put under the Imperius curse, and come back with a mark on their arm" Lou said, her voice still slightly icy. James nodded. They spoke about this until Professor Flitz would have no more talking, and they were forced to put on their earphones and play. Through the sound of the trumpet, James still herd the words of Lou rushing through his head, [I]"He's recruited a few of the Slytherin's", [/I] is all he could think off.
"We have to go into the forest, that will be the only place where he will be," Peter told them over dinner, after he had been filled in with the details. They all nodded,
Two hours later, James, Lily, Sirius, Laura, Remus, Lou and Peter were all heading into the forest. "I'm scared" Laura said, Sirius put his arm round her,
"Better?" He asked, she giggled,
"Yeah" She whispered. Lily then held on for her life to James's hand, Lou held on to Remus robes and Peter said,
"Oh great, me the odd one out" making them all laugh.
"Where would he be?" Laura asked in a whisper, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all shook their heads,
"Don't know" Sirius said. Half an hour later, they all had sore feet, and hadn't found one lead on Voldermort,
"This is hopeless," Peter said, James nodded in agreement.
"Come on, lets go back" Sirius said, they all turned and followed Sirius's lead. They were almost out of the forest until they herd a voice, "There out here somewhere"; it was the raspy voice of Argus Filtch. The girls all gasped. Filtch got closer, and closer, and none of them could risk moving away because of the sound it would make. Filch then turned and Peter let out a sigh and ran, the girls were right behind him, Remus leapt behind a tree, noticing that the girls, and Peter had ran away. Just when Filtch herd the noise, James was about to hide. Filtch turned round, and placed a bony hand on Sirius and James's shoulders, "Well, well, well, what do we have here? Out in the Forbidden forest, after hours. Tell me boys, do you know what Forbidden means?" Filtch asked them in his greasy manner, James was about to answer and tell Filch that he knew perfectly well what it meant, but Filtch spoke first, "It means, boys, that your not aloud in there, ever. And you know what else it means? It means you'll be using those seats in Detention again," Filtch said,
"It also means you're a slimy git" Sirius said shaking Filtch's hand of his shoulder.
"You better watch it Black, or I'll have more than detention in store for you" He said menacingly,
"Oh, so Dumbledore's finally let you use the chains against us? I really don't think so," James said smugly,
"Watch your lip, and your step, the both of you" Filch said, pushing them both forward,
"You know, I really wouldn't do that if I were you, because I don't think Dumbledore would be very happy to know that his caretaker was threatening his students" Sirius said, before him and James started making their way up to the castle. The way back to the castle was all about Filtch, not so much the detention, but what he was doing out in the Forest at that time of night, "I mean, no one could of given him a lead on us, not this time anyway" James told Sirius, they both agreed. When they were back in the common room, James expected to see Remus, Lily, Lou, Peter and Laura, but they weren't there yet. James and Sirius waited only about a minuet before all five of them came panting into the Common room, "He is a sad, sad man" Lily said, sitting next to James and leaning her head on his shoulder,
"Very, very sad!" Laura exclaimed sitting next to Sirius and copping Lily's movements. Remus nodded and sat down on the other couch, Lou sighed,
"I can't believe him, I mean. What in the hell was he doing out there anyways?" She asked, but her expression changed when she saw the cat, making her sit down next to it.
"He has a serious problem. He's probably missing Smokey" Peter said, sitting on the chair, and gazing at the cat.
"So when's your detention?" Laura asked Sirius and James,
"How'd you know we had one?" James asked her,
"We listened behind the tree" Remus exclaimed,
"Yeah, I hid behind a tree as well, and I'm sorry about making a noise, and legging it, or you wouldn't of got caught" Peter said, looking guiltily at the ground,
"No problem mate, and we don't know, sometime in the week I'm guessing" Sirius said.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed, I'm knackered" Lily said, she kissed James goodnight, and went up the girls stairs. Laura did the same and followed Lily,
"Night guys," she said, "You coming, Lou?"
"Two seconds" Lou called up to her, "Look, James, Sirius, and you too, I'm sorry, I shouldn't of acted like that towards you. I just don't like seeing Laura hurt, and well. Like I said, I'm sorry," Lou said, looking at the ground. James smiled at her,
"Its cool. You have a right to be like that, she's your friend, its cool, are we cool?" James asked her, Lou smiled,
"Yeah, were cool, Potter" Lou said before going up the stairs herself, "Night guys" She called over her shoulder.
"You know. I never am going to understand her. I mean, its hard enough that she's a girl, and girls are like, impossible to understand, but to throw in that she an actress, and a mysterious one at that, well that's just sad on us" Peter said, the guys all collapsed laughing,
"Yeah, she is a bit different, isn't she?" Remus said, looking up the stairs
"I think someone has a crush," Sirius said slapping his friend on the back,
"Haha, I don't think so," Remus said, "Now, in the words of the girls 'night guys'" and he headed up the boys stairs.
"Haha, I don't think so," Remus said, "Now, in the words of the girls 'night guys'" and he headed up the boys stairs.
The next morning the exam dates were set,
"Now, you will be taking your exam on the last week of term, the dates being the twentieth to the twenty seventh of August, and on the last day, there will be a Hogsmeade visit, to let you relax for the celebration of the end of the summer exams" Professor Macgonnagal was saying in Transfiguration. Ever since last week, all the classes had been split up in to the proper year groups, so that they all had separate work to do for the upcoming of their exams. Lily, Lou and Laura were starting to panic about the exams, so were Peter and Remus. James and Sirius, on the other hand, just told them they would do what they did every year, study each subject the night before. Lily had given up trying to get James to work, even kissing him each sentence he wrote didn't have that much effect, because Lily found out that James had a book on Quidditch inside his Charms book. On Friday a tapping at the window interrupted the boys, who had finally been persuaded to study. Lily jumped up and grabbed the window handle, wrenched it open, and let the owl fly in,
"James, Sirius, its your detention dates" She read off,
"When?" James asked her,
"Each night at eight, starting tonight, then tomorrow, and the next day, you finish on Sunday" Lily read,
"Where are we going? Does it say?" Sirius asked her,
"Nope. It only says to meet Filtch at his office, at eight" Lily said,
"Well you're going to have fun, three nights in a row with Filtch, that's hell for you!" Laura said to the boys. Sirius moaned and Laura laughed at him. As eight o'clock drew nearer, James was dreading it more and more. Even encouraging words from Lily were no help to him. For James knew what Filtch's detentions were like, he knew he would be up until about two o'clock in the morning, cleaning some really dirty jars or something, he just knew it. At five to eight, Sirius and James were making their way down to Filches office, both still complaining about what they would be doing. "Here, take it, if we get split, and we will, knowing Filtch, then I can still talk to you" James said handing Sirius one of the little mirrors that he had found, "But don't let Filtch see" James told him, Sirius grinned,
"You're a great mate, Prongs" Sirius told him, taking the mirror of off him, James just laughed,
"I'd saviour those laughs if I were you" The raspy voice of Filtch said just in front of them, "I see your both late, and neither of you have seem too of given this detention a thought" He continued,
"Yes sir, were fashionably late, and no, we've had to many detentions to care about them" Sirius said leaning elegantly on the statue.
"Your cheek won't get you far tonight, your being split up" Filtch said,
"What a surprise" James muttered,
"You." He said pointing at James, "Will be cleaning out the dungeons, and you," he said now pointing at Sirius, "Will be cleaning out the Hospital wing, it seems it isn't as healthy as it should be" Filtch said with a menacing smile,
"Now of you go. Madam Levinatra will be watching over you, Black. And I, will be keeping a close eye on you, Potter" Filch said. The boys walked away in opposite directions. James was muttering into his mirror discreetly, so Filtch wouldn't notice.
James was lead to the Dungeons, where he was dusting everything from the jars, to the cupboards. James was still talking to Sirius in the mirror, though he had to be careful, as Filtch was watching him closely. James was finally aloud to go back to the Gryffindor Common room at one thirty a.m. He was absolutely knackered. James sat on the couch, and the next thing he knew, something, or someone was kissing him on the lips, "Wake up sleepy head, we have class in ten minuets" Lily was saying softly. James lifted his head, and surveyed his surroundings. He was in the Common room, still. "Did I fall asleep here?" James asked, someone giggled, James looked around and saw Laura giggling and Lou fighting off a smile, "Yeah, you did" Lily said, kissing him again and pulling him to his feet.
By Sunday night James and Sirius were both shattered, they had also missed half of their morning classes on the Monday, through lack of sleep. Somehow, James and Sirius managed to get through the whole day without falling asleep, much to the help of the girls. Lily was very skilled at charms, Lou at Potions and Laura at Transfiguration. Lily had put a few cheering charms on the boys because they kept snapping at everyone because they were so tired. Lou made them some potions to stop the sleepiness, and Laura got them out of trouble when they fell asleep in Transfiguration, by transforming their closed, sleeping eyelids into unsleeping eyelids. At ten o'clock that night, Lily and James were sitting on one of the chairs kissing every two seconds, Laura and Sirius were snuggled up together on the couch and Lou and Remus were strangely closer together than normal, Peter was with his girlfriend, again.
"So, I take it you've made up then?" Remus asked Laura and Sirius, Laura kissed Sirius's cheek and nodded. Lou and Lily smiled at the news. Half an hour later they were still in the same position, but Lou was now reading a book on magical artefacts, and the rest of the gang were talking about Quidditch.
"Don't you guys wish we had an Latin mirror?" Lou said looking up from the book, Sirius looked at her,
"Well, I'm sure I'd love a Latin mirror," Sirius said, "What is it?" He asked her. Lou laughed, and Laura said,
"It's a mirror that is said to show only your true harts desires, there's only about ten of them ever been made, the guy who created them, died, and didn't tell anyone what spell he used,"
"I'd love one, I could find out what I really want in life," Lily said, James and Sirius were looking at them strangely,
"Erm, I think there's one in the castle," James said,
"Yeah, in that corridor that we went down, because when I looked in it, I saw myself leaving home, and James saw himself, well, err, with us," Sirius said,
"Yeah, and a little clock indicating the passing of time" James said smartly. For some strange reason that James did not know, Lou, Lily and Laura all 'awed',
"That's so cute" Lily said, "He's so sensitive" she said again. Remus was now looking at the girls strangely as well,
"What does that mean?" Remus asked them
"It means, that James doesn't ever want to leave his friends, and that the thing he wants most in his whole entire life, is to be with his friends" Laura told him,
"And Sirius wants to leave his family and never look back at them again" Lily said, Sirius nodded,
"Why?" Lou asked. Sirius got up, he looked round the room, ran his hand through his hair, and faced them, "Because their dark, they don't like muggle-borns, or any sort of half breeds. Their horrid, never liked me, always liked my brother. They were so disappointed in me when I was in Gryffindor, not Slythrin" Sirius said, Laura looked up at him, then went and joined him,
"You are so, so sweet" She said, and she kissed him.
"Can you show us the mirror?" Lily asked, James and Sirius nodded
"Tomorrow, I'm way to tired tonight." Sirius said, James yawned,
"Yeah, night Lily" James said kissing her one last time and going to bed, Sirius and Remus in tow.
"Did you just hug her?" Sirius asked when they were all in bed,
"No, I kissed her goodnight" James said, wondering what the heck Sirius was talking about,
"Not you, Prongs, Moony, did you just hug Lou?" Sirius asked again, Remus laughed,
"Yeah, so what?" Remus said
"I told you that you liked her," Sirius said with a trace of triumph in his voice, Remus just laughed,
"Sure Padfoot, if you say so. Night" Remus said, and before long, James too was asleep.
"Err, guys, how do you suppose we get back to that room tonight, I mean, were going to get into big trouble if were even down near that corridor." Lily said, to Remus, James, Sirius and Peter the next night.
"Well, if you look in that book Lou had yesterday, then you'll find that James also has another one of those, 'rare artefacts' and it is upstairs in his trunk," Sirius said, smirking at Lily.
"What do you have, James?" Lily asked looking very interested,
"An invisibility clock" James said offhandedly,
"You have one of those?" Laura asked shocked
"Yeah" James said nodding,
"Cool" The girls exclaimed,
"Has anyone seen Smokey?" Lou asked a few minuets later. As she started searching the empty common room, the whole gang shock their heads, all apart from Peter,
"He's up on my bed" He said, Lou nodded,
"Phew" she said.
An hour later, Lily had charmed the invisibility clock into hiding seven people; they arrived at the passage about five minuets later, "It better still be there," Sirius, said quietly,
"Why wouldn't it?" Lily asked
"Well, you know Hogwarts, everything from the pictures, to the armour seems to move. I have a horrid feeling that the mirror has too," Sirius told her. But Sirius was wrong, when they entered the passage James was greeted with the same illuminating light, and along the passage the grand mirror stood there, gleaming like it did last time.
"Whoa" Lily said, admiring it,
"So, how does it work?" Peter asked,
"You just stand in front of it, by yourself, and look into it, and you'll see what you desire" Laura told him. Peter did as she explained, "Cool" Peter exclaimed, "It doesn't tell the future does it?" Peter asked longingly, Laura shook her head,
"Sorry" She said, Peter stepped away from the mirror, and Remus stood in front of it,
"Well, that was easy to know" Remus said grinning, "Well, at least I know the mirror works" Remus said smiling. Laura then stood in front of the mirror, to James's surprise, she started giggling, and then she stepped away and whispered to Lily and Lou, who also giggled. Lou then stood in front of the mirror. When she walked away she too, was smiling, "You know, it is a shame this mirror doesn't tell the future" Lou said, and she started telling the other girls what she saw. The rest of the gang had seemed to like their visions. That changed though, when Lily stood in front of the mirror, her face instantly fell, and her eyes welled up in tears, she started to cry, and she didn't stop. Lou and Laura dragged her away from the mirror, James noticed that they both had the same knowing look on their faces; James assumed that they both knew what Lily had seen. Lily stopped crying a bit later, and they all made their way back to the common room, Lily looked depressed, Lou had her arm round her shoulder, and Laura had linked arms with her. James had been told by Laura, in a nice way, to keep clear of Lily for the moment. So he did a he was told.
Ever since Laura and Sirius's argument, the gang had split up, well, sort of. Lily stayed with James some of the time, but most of the time she was with Laura and Lou. Laura stayed away from the Marauders all together. Lou only spoke occasionally, and then it was only to Remus, and sometimes Peter. She seemed to think that since they hadn't had as many girlfriends, and that after they broke up with someone, they didn't only wait five minuets before getting a new girlfriend, they were better people. James and Sirius started to roam the school even more; Sirius seemed to want to keep his mind off of Laura, he was going out with a girl called Lexi, he seemed to like her, but James saw the way he looked at Laura. It was look of longing. Sirius and James were today roaming around on the top floors, half trying to get caught, half trying not to, "Can we go cause some havoc with Filtch, we haven't run into him for about a week, he must think something is wrong with us" Sirius asked James,
"Yeah, come on, he's in the trophy room" James told him, looking at the map. They headed to the trophy room, and sure enough there was Filtch, he had his cat, Smokey with him. Sirius had always felt sorry for Smokey, having to have Filtch as a master, "Locomorter books" Sirius said loudly, so even Filtch could hear him, but Filtch was too busy cleaning up to notice who did him, "I'll get them, in a few years I'll get them all!" Filtch was muttering. Sirius who was now on the floor trying to, discreetly, coax the cat to him, "Here Smokey, who's a good girl, come here girl" Sirius was saying.
"Sirius, put the cat down" James demanded, as Sirius picked up the smoky grey cat This is Smokey [/URL]). But Sirius didn't listen, looking towards Filtch, Sirius then fled out of the room, out from their hiding place, right back up to Gryffindor Common room, which was empty, because of lunch.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" James asked Sirius when they noticed no one was in the common room.
"Look! This cat needs love and attention. Look, she likes me!" Sirius told him. Indeed, James could not lie and say he hadn't heard the loud purring coming from the cat.
"Well, what are you going to do with her?" James asked, assuming the cat was a girl,
"I'm going to keep her in our dorm, until we go back home, then take her home. No, wait, I'll just keep her here on second thoughts" Sirius said. James guessed he just thought of his parent's attitude to animals, and to him.
"Well. What if you get caught by Filtch?" James asked him again,
"I wont" Sirius said in a casual tone,
"Okay" James said. Five minuets later, Lou came in the common room, muttering about finding her cloak. She caught sight of James, then Sirius, she glared at them, and then she saw the cat, "Oh, where'd you get her? She's gorgeous" Lou exclaimed, walking over to get a better look.
"Hey, isn't that Filtch's poor cat?" She asked them. They nodded, "Nice one!" She said, before going up and getting her jacket. When she came back down again, she was, as usual, carrying three denim jackets. She shot a look of longing over that the cat-which was playing with the tassels on the rug- before exiting the common room,
"Well, I think she's back on our side" James said,
"Yeah. Now all we need is Laura" Sirius said moodily. James half pitied his friend, he knew it was Sirius's own fault, but he also knew that Laura should at least be talking to him, letting him explain. I suppose she thought there was noting to explain, he kissed another girl; I suppose that was all there was to it.
"Well, we've got Lily, and now we've got Lou, so I think Laura will put it behind her too" James told Sirius, who was still playing with the cat, and a piece of string that Sirius had conjured up.
"Your wrong, Prongs. Lou only likes us because of the cat, you saw the look she gave us before seeing the cat, then after that, she seemed to be back to her happiness and light act"
"Yeah, that's a great way to get me back into your life, Black. Criticise my mates." Laura said. It seemed that Lou had not only gone up to get the jackets, she had gone up to see Laura as well,
"Oh, give over Laura, you know I want you back" Sirius said
"Oh I know that, I know that fine well. But you see your problem, is that you had to go and find something wrong with all my mates: Lily, Lou, who's next? Penny?" Laura said spitefully, "Smooth move, Black" She said before exiting out of the common room.
"Hmm, your right, she might need a bit of work" James said casually.
"Yeah, shame the cat didn't work on her as well as it did on Lou" James said. Sirius and James were shortly joined by: Remus, Peter, Lily, Lou, (grudgingly) and to Sirius's delight, Laura. Lou didn't say a word to anyone, for she was playing with the cat, and Laura was researching up on Animagus. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter all turned in early, for they had run clean out of conversation topics. James lay awake in bed, not being able to get to sleep, he desperately needed Laura and Sirius to get back together, or his chances with Lily could be ruined. Listening to the sounds of Peter snoring, he decided to get up and get a drink of water. He put on his glasses and got his water, he leaned against the wall. That's when he heard people talking, finishing his water; he put his cup down, and peeked down to see who it was. It was Laura she was talking to the cat, which Sirius had left down stairs.
"What's up?" James asked her casually, coming down the stairs. Laura, as if she was expecting this too happen just said, as casually as James, "Nothing. Go back to bed, James". But James didn't, he went down the stairs and sat down next to Laura, none of them spoke, so James decided to say something, "Sirius really is sorry, he just lost his head, that's all. He does really care about you" James said without thinking properly. Laura scoffed,
"If he cared about me, then why's he off kissing other girls?" Laura asked,
"Because. Well, because he didn't know at the time how much he cared about you, not until it hit him you weren't his girlfriend anymore." James said, this he knew was true, Sirius had told him this many times before. Laura bit her lip,
"I'm not easy, you know. I'm not!" Laura stated, James looked at her weirdly,
"I never said you were," He told her,
"Good, tell Sirius that then" Laura said, "Night James" She said, going up the stairs to her room again. James sat there for a while, pondering his thoughts, then he went back up to bed, and this time he slept.
James's plan the next day was to get Laura and Sirius back together, if it was the last thing he did this summer. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be kissing Lily for much longer if Laura and Sirius didn't make up soon.
"She thinks you think she's easy," James told Sirius over lunch,
"No I don't" Sirius snapped back,
"Hey, I never said I thought you thought she was," James snapped back
"But you must admit, you did seem to think she was a bi-" Sirius cut into Peter's sentence with a deadly glare that silenced Peter
"But Sirius did say at the start of the summer term, or whatever this thing is. That he said he didn't want to ask her out just because she was hot" Remus said, sticking up for Sirius, "You were talking about her, weren't you?" He asked. Sirius laughed slightly,
"Yeah, I was" He told them,
"Well, I think your best bet is to tell her that, and talk to her properly. Then, we can go and cause havoc on the castle" James said, grinning at his best friends,
"Sounds great, about the castle. But about Laura, she won't even stay in the same room as me, let alone talk to me" Sirius said sulkily. James was happy that Sirius agreed to come along tonight, there was a secret passage he had found, but he didn't have time to look down it, as he was in a hurry.
"We'll set something up for you Sirius. Just make sure you're on the Quidditch pitch at seven tonight, okay?" Remus asked him, Sirius nodded,
"Good, very good" Peter said smiling. James spent a lot of the day, chasing Laura around, trying to get her to go to the Quidditch pitch that night, she finally gave in just after lessons ended. Well, Drama. At seven o'clock that night, Sirius had put on some smart, but yet again, casual clothes on. He was heading out the common room, "Good luck mate" Remus told him, "Not that you'll need it," He added winking. By nine o'clock, Peter, James and Remus were starting to think something bad had happened to Sirius, "Maybe she jinxed him!" Peter said in a worried voice.
"I don't think so somehow. Laura's smart, but so is Padfoot" Remus pointed out,
"Yeah, your right" Peter said going red. No sooner had Peter started to blush did the common room door open and Sirius and Laura walked in, not hand in hand, nor Sirius's arm round her, but just as friends. They were both talking to each other, talking in a way that said, "I don't hate you."
James, Peter and Remus let out a sigh of relief, they hadn't fallen out, nor had they killed each other, [I] Great [/I] James thought, [I] now there back on speaking terms. That means nothing is going to stop me and Lily being together. Unless. Unless Lou still won't talk to us [/I] James thought. Thinking of the Devil, Lou and Lily came bouncing down the stairs, to meet Laura, "We thought we heard you" Laura said happily. Lou still hadn't seemed to loose her moody look, though she looked slightly happier. She smiled weekly at James, Peter and Remus, they smiled back, but Lou walked over to Laura, "Come on, you have loads to tell us" Lily said, grabbing Laura's hand and pulling her up the stairs, she laughed, "See you later Sirius, Peter, James, Remus and Peter" Laura called out to them,
"Hey, Lou. You coming?" Lily called down the stairs. Lou looked at the Marauders, then called up to Lily,
"Yeah" and went up to join her friends, they all herd the door shut with a 'snap',
"So, what happened" James asked Sirius the second the door was shut.
"Lets discuss it over some late dinner, then some walking" Sirius said, grinning. Half an hour later, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus were in the kitchen.
"Go on then, spill" Remus said sitting down,
"I apologised to her. We made up, and she told me how she felt about the whole thing, then about me." Sirius grinned at that thought, "Then she told me that she needs to figure out a few things before she decided weather to get back with me" Sirius rounded off.
"So, did she say what she needed to sort out?" Peter asked, Sirius shook his head,
"All she said is she needed to sort out her past. Then when I asked what she meant, she said she would tell me when she felt like it. Then she started to talk about Quidditch, so I didn't bother asking her again" Sirius said. They stayed in the kitchen until ten o'clock. At that time they decided to go out and explore the passageway James had found earlier on. The passage was behind a huge statue of an old man, but unfortunately, before they could open the door. Filtch came up the passage,
"I'm going to kill you little rats, wait till I get my hands on you, your going to wish you never crossed the path of Argus Filtch" He roared,
"We already do" Sirius roared back in the direction, legging it to another room. Remus and Peter went another way, while James and Sirius stayed near the passageway. When they were sure Filtch had gone after Remus and Peter, Sirius and James emerged from the room they were hiding in. They tapped their wands against the statue, and it opened. Wanting to wait for Remus and Peter, James changed his mind and entered the passageway, after his curiosity got the better of him. The passage was long and dark, except for the end, were they could see light illuminating from the door. James and Sirius exchanged confused looks, the passage hadn't looked like this last time James saw it, but last time he saw it, it was in daylight. They both raised their wands, but continued to walk down the dark passageway. At the end of the passage, the light from the room was severely damaging their vision. Sirius and James entered the room, immediately the light faded away, revealing a grand and beautiful room. The carpet was gold and the walls made of silk, James had come across a lot of nice rooms in Hogwarts, but never one as nice as this. Right in the middle of the room, on a separate rug, was a mirror. This mirror looked different though, as James and Sirius both found out. Sirius was the first to notice it, and indeed the first to look into it, "Hey. Hey Prongs, come look at this. Oh this is sweet. I'm leaving! I'm leaving home, this mirror shows me leaving Grimwald place and leaving my family!" Sirius said very excitedly to James, James looked confused,
"What are you on about?"
"Look. Come stand next to me," Sirius told him, James did so,
"And I'm looking at what?" James asked, staring into his reflection,
"Can't you see it? Its so awesome, its me, and I'm leaving home, and, and, and I'm not going back" Sirius repeated. James looked at Sirius like he had just lost any last bit of sanity he had left.
"Stand back, and then I might be able to see properly" James told Sirius, Sirius backed away, trying to still see his wonderful image. James now stood in front of the mirror and he gasped at what he saw. Expecting to see his reflection, he didn't. Instead he saw himself surrounded by, Sirius, Remus and Peter, they were all laughing and joking, but there was a clock in the mirror, and it showed time going by very fast, by the time James had looked back into the main picture, the Marauders had all aged slightly, [I] This must be our future or something [/I] James thought.
"What do you think it is?" Sirius asked him, now tapping the mirror,
"I'm guessing that it's a fortune telling mirror. You know, the ones Professor Timot is always going on about," James said. Sirius and James stayed looking at their 'reflections' for a while, until they started to feel sleepy, "Come on Prongs, lets get back. The cost is clear" Sirius told James looking at the map. James tore himself away from the mirror and made his way back to the Gryffindor common room, "Don't tell Wormtail and Moony, Prongs" Sirius told James. James just nodded; He didn't know why he didn't want them to know, he just didn't.
"What happened to you guys?" Peter asked when they got in the common room,
"Nothing, we just went to look down the passage, there was nothing there," Sirius said, James nodded. James noticed they were the only ones in the common room,
"I'm going to bed," James stated.
"Mr Potter, you will be playing the Trumpet" It was Wednesday, and Professor Flitz had just announced what instrument they would be playing in the recital. James grinned, the trumpet. That was the instrument Laura said was hardest to play.
"Miss Stevenson, the flute, Mr Lupin, guitar, Mr Black, the Drums, Miss Evans, the clarinet, Miss Hammond, the bass, and Mr Petigrew, the keyboard. Now, off to your instruments" Professor Flitz told them all,
"The bass?" Laura asked Sirius, "Wanna swap?" She asked him again, Sirius just laughed,
"Nah, your alright Laura." James decided to work next to Lily, who was working next to Lou and Remus, while Laura, Sirius and Peter were at the other side of the room,
"Lily?" Lou asked,
"Yeah?" Lily replied, doing the scale of E
"You know Lord Voldermort, the killer I was telling you about?" Lou asked her, Lily did an off scale note in shock,
"Err, yeah, what about him?" She asked, a note of panic in her voice
"Well, he's recruited a few of the Slytherin's," Lou told Lily, James looked shocked,
"How do you know this?" James asked her? Lou shot the same look at James as she always did, "It was in the Daily Prophet, something about many of the Hogwarts students have been put under the Imperius curse, and come back with a mark on their arm" Lou said, her voice still slightly icy. James nodded. They spoke about this until Professor Flitz would have no more talking, and they were forced to put on their earphones and play. Through the sound of the trumpet, James still herd the words of Lou rushing through his head, [I]"He's recruited a few of the Slytherin's", [/I] is all he could think off.
"We have to go into the forest, that will be the only place where he will be," Peter told them over dinner, after he had been filled in with the details. They all nodded,
Two hours later, James, Lily, Sirius, Laura, Remus, Lou and Peter were all heading into the forest. "I'm scared" Laura said, Sirius put his arm round her,
"Better?" He asked, she giggled,
"Yeah" She whispered. Lily then held on for her life to James's hand, Lou held on to Remus robes and Peter said,
"Oh great, me the odd one out" making them all laugh.
"Where would he be?" Laura asked in a whisper, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all shook their heads,
"Don't know" Sirius said. Half an hour later, they all had sore feet, and hadn't found one lead on Voldermort,
"This is hopeless," Peter said, James nodded in agreement.
"Come on, lets go back" Sirius said, they all turned and followed Sirius's lead. They were almost out of the forest until they herd a voice, "There out here somewhere"; it was the raspy voice of Argus Filtch. The girls all gasped. Filtch got closer, and closer, and none of them could risk moving away because of the sound it would make. Filch then turned and Peter let out a sigh and ran, the girls were right behind him, Remus leapt behind a tree, noticing that the girls, and Peter had ran away. Just when Filtch herd the noise, James was about to hide. Filtch turned round, and placed a bony hand on Sirius and James's shoulders, "Well, well, well, what do we have here? Out in the Forbidden forest, after hours. Tell me boys, do you know what Forbidden means?" Filtch asked them in his greasy manner, James was about to answer and tell Filch that he knew perfectly well what it meant, but Filtch spoke first, "It means, boys, that your not aloud in there, ever. And you know what else it means? It means you'll be using those seats in Detention again," Filtch said,
"It also means you're a slimy git" Sirius said shaking Filtch's hand of his shoulder.
"You better watch it Black, or I'll have more than detention in store for you" He said menacingly,
"Oh, so Dumbledore's finally let you use the chains against us? I really don't think so," James said smugly,
"Watch your lip, and your step, the both of you" Filch said, pushing them both forward,
"You know, I really wouldn't do that if I were you, because I don't think Dumbledore would be very happy to know that his caretaker was threatening his students" Sirius said, before him and James started making their way up to the castle. The way back to the castle was all about Filtch, not so much the detention, but what he was doing out in the Forest at that time of night, "I mean, no one could of given him a lead on us, not this time anyway" James told Sirius, they both agreed. When they were back in the common room, James expected to see Remus, Lily, Lou, Peter and Laura, but they weren't there yet. James and Sirius waited only about a minuet before all five of them came panting into the Common room, "He is a sad, sad man" Lily said, sitting next to James and leaning her head on his shoulder,
"Very, very sad!" Laura exclaimed sitting next to Sirius and copping Lily's movements. Remus nodded and sat down on the other couch, Lou sighed,
"I can't believe him, I mean. What in the hell was he doing out there anyways?" She asked, but her expression changed when she saw the cat, making her sit down next to it.
"He has a serious problem. He's probably missing Smokey" Peter said, sitting on the chair, and gazing at the cat.
"So when's your detention?" Laura asked Sirius and James,
"How'd you know we had one?" James asked her,
"We listened behind the tree" Remus exclaimed,
"Yeah, I hid behind a tree as well, and I'm sorry about making a noise, and legging it, or you wouldn't of got caught" Peter said, looking guiltily at the ground,
"No problem mate, and we don't know, sometime in the week I'm guessing" Sirius said.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed, I'm knackered" Lily said, she kissed James goodnight, and went up the girls stairs. Laura did the same and followed Lily,
"Night guys," she said, "You coming, Lou?"
"Two seconds" Lou called up to her, "Look, James, Sirius, and you too, I'm sorry, I shouldn't of acted like that towards you. I just don't like seeing Laura hurt, and well. Like I said, I'm sorry," Lou said, looking at the ground. James smiled at her,
"Its cool. You have a right to be like that, she's your friend, its cool, are we cool?" James asked her, Lou smiled,
"Yeah, were cool, Potter" Lou said before going up the stairs herself, "Night guys" She called over her shoulder.
"You know. I never am going to understand her. I mean, its hard enough that she's a girl, and girls are like, impossible to understand, but to throw in that she an actress, and a mysterious one at that, well that's just sad on us" Peter said, the guys all collapsed laughing,
"Yeah, she is a bit different, isn't she?" Remus said, looking up the stairs
"I think someone has a crush," Sirius said slapping his friend on the back,
"Haha, I don't think so," Remus said, "Now, in the words of the girls 'night guys'" and he headed up the boys stairs.
"Haha, I don't think so," Remus said, "Now, in the words of the girls 'night guys'" and he headed up the boys stairs.
The next morning the exam dates were set,
"Now, you will be taking your exam on the last week of term, the dates being the twentieth to the twenty seventh of August, and on the last day, there will be a Hogsmeade visit, to let you relax for the celebration of the end of the summer exams" Professor Macgonnagal was saying in Transfiguration. Ever since last week, all the classes had been split up in to the proper year groups, so that they all had separate work to do for the upcoming of their exams. Lily, Lou and Laura were starting to panic about the exams, so were Peter and Remus. James and Sirius, on the other hand, just told them they would do what they did every year, study each subject the night before. Lily had given up trying to get James to work, even kissing him each sentence he wrote didn't have that much effect, because Lily found out that James had a book on Quidditch inside his Charms book. On Friday a tapping at the window interrupted the boys, who had finally been persuaded to study. Lily jumped up and grabbed the window handle, wrenched it open, and let the owl fly in,
"James, Sirius, its your detention dates" She read off,
"When?" James asked her,
"Each night at eight, starting tonight, then tomorrow, and the next day, you finish on Sunday" Lily read,
"Where are we going? Does it say?" Sirius asked her,
"Nope. It only says to meet Filtch at his office, at eight" Lily said,
"Well you're going to have fun, three nights in a row with Filtch, that's hell for you!" Laura said to the boys. Sirius moaned and Laura laughed at him. As eight o'clock drew nearer, James was dreading it more and more. Even encouraging words from Lily were no help to him. For James knew what Filtch's detentions were like, he knew he would be up until about two o'clock in the morning, cleaning some really dirty jars or something, he just knew it. At five to eight, Sirius and James were making their way down to Filches office, both still complaining about what they would be doing. "Here, take it, if we get split, and we will, knowing Filtch, then I can still talk to you" James said handing Sirius one of the little mirrors that he had found, "But don't let Filtch see" James told him, Sirius grinned,
"You're a great mate, Prongs" Sirius told him, taking the mirror of off him, James just laughed,
"I'd saviour those laughs if I were you" The raspy voice of Filtch said just in front of them, "I see your both late, and neither of you have seem too of given this detention a thought" He continued,
"Yes sir, were fashionably late, and no, we've had to many detentions to care about them" Sirius said leaning elegantly on the statue.
"Your cheek won't get you far tonight, your being split up" Filtch said,
"What a surprise" James muttered,
"You." He said pointing at James, "Will be cleaning out the dungeons, and you," he said now pointing at Sirius, "Will be cleaning out the Hospital wing, it seems it isn't as healthy as it should be" Filtch said with a menacing smile,
"Now of you go. Madam Levinatra will be watching over you, Black. And I, will be keeping a close eye on you, Potter" Filch said. The boys walked away in opposite directions. James was muttering into his mirror discreetly, so Filtch wouldn't notice.
James was lead to the Dungeons, where he was dusting everything from the jars, to the cupboards. James was still talking to Sirius in the mirror, though he had to be careful, as Filtch was watching him closely. James was finally aloud to go back to the Gryffindor Common room at one thirty a.m. He was absolutely knackered. James sat on the couch, and the next thing he knew, something, or someone was kissing him on the lips, "Wake up sleepy head, we have class in ten minuets" Lily was saying softly. James lifted his head, and surveyed his surroundings. He was in the Common room, still. "Did I fall asleep here?" James asked, someone giggled, James looked around and saw Laura giggling and Lou fighting off a smile, "Yeah, you did" Lily said, kissing him again and pulling him to his feet.
By Sunday night James and Sirius were both shattered, they had also missed half of their morning classes on the Monday, through lack of sleep. Somehow, James and Sirius managed to get through the whole day without falling asleep, much to the help of the girls. Lily was very skilled at charms, Lou at Potions and Laura at Transfiguration. Lily had put a few cheering charms on the boys because they kept snapping at everyone because they were so tired. Lou made them some potions to stop the sleepiness, and Laura got them out of trouble when they fell asleep in Transfiguration, by transforming their closed, sleeping eyelids into unsleeping eyelids. At ten o'clock that night, Lily and James were sitting on one of the chairs kissing every two seconds, Laura and Sirius were snuggled up together on the couch and Lou and Remus were strangely closer together than normal, Peter was with his girlfriend, again.
"So, I take it you've made up then?" Remus asked Laura and Sirius, Laura kissed Sirius's cheek and nodded. Lou and Lily smiled at the news. Half an hour later they were still in the same position, but Lou was now reading a book on magical artefacts, and the rest of the gang were talking about Quidditch.
"Don't you guys wish we had an Latin mirror?" Lou said looking up from the book, Sirius looked at her,
"Well, I'm sure I'd love a Latin mirror," Sirius said, "What is it?" He asked her. Lou laughed, and Laura said,
"It's a mirror that is said to show only your true harts desires, there's only about ten of them ever been made, the guy who created them, died, and didn't tell anyone what spell he used,"
"I'd love one, I could find out what I really want in life," Lily said, James and Sirius were looking at them strangely,
"Erm, I think there's one in the castle," James said,
"Yeah, in that corridor that we went down, because when I looked in it, I saw myself leaving home, and James saw himself, well, err, with us," Sirius said,
"Yeah, and a little clock indicating the passing of time" James said smartly. For some strange reason that James did not know, Lou, Lily and Laura all 'awed',
"That's so cute" Lily said, "He's so sensitive" she said again. Remus was now looking at the girls strangely as well,
"What does that mean?" Remus asked them
"It means, that James doesn't ever want to leave his friends, and that the thing he wants most in his whole entire life, is to be with his friends" Laura told him,
"And Sirius wants to leave his family and never look back at them again" Lily said, Sirius nodded,
"Why?" Lou asked. Sirius got up, he looked round the room, ran his hand through his hair, and faced them, "Because their dark, they don't like muggle-borns, or any sort of half breeds. Their horrid, never liked me, always liked my brother. They were so disappointed in me when I was in Gryffindor, not Slythrin" Sirius said, Laura looked up at him, then went and joined him,
"You are so, so sweet" She said, and she kissed him.
"Can you show us the mirror?" Lily asked, James and Sirius nodded
"Tomorrow, I'm way to tired tonight." Sirius said, James yawned,
"Yeah, night Lily" James said kissing her one last time and going to bed, Sirius and Remus in tow.
"Did you just hug her?" Sirius asked when they were all in bed,
"No, I kissed her goodnight" James said, wondering what the heck Sirius was talking about,
"Not you, Prongs, Moony, did you just hug Lou?" Sirius asked again, Remus laughed,
"Yeah, so what?" Remus said
"I told you that you liked her," Sirius said with a trace of triumph in his voice, Remus just laughed,
"Sure Padfoot, if you say so. Night" Remus said, and before long, James too was asleep.
"Err, guys, how do you suppose we get back to that room tonight, I mean, were going to get into big trouble if were even down near that corridor." Lily said, to Remus, James, Sirius and Peter the next night.
"Well, if you look in that book Lou had yesterday, then you'll find that James also has another one of those, 'rare artefacts' and it is upstairs in his trunk," Sirius said, smirking at Lily.
"What do you have, James?" Lily asked looking very interested,
"An invisibility clock" James said offhandedly,
"You have one of those?" Laura asked shocked
"Yeah" James said nodding,
"Cool" The girls exclaimed,
"Has anyone seen Smokey?" Lou asked a few minuets later. As she started searching the empty common room, the whole gang shock their heads, all apart from Peter,
"He's up on my bed" He said, Lou nodded,
"Phew" she said.
An hour later, Lily had charmed the invisibility clock into hiding seven people; they arrived at the passage about five minuets later, "It better still be there," Sirius, said quietly,
"Why wouldn't it?" Lily asked
"Well, you know Hogwarts, everything from the pictures, to the armour seems to move. I have a horrid feeling that the mirror has too," Sirius told her. But Sirius was wrong, when they entered the passage James was greeted with the same illuminating light, and along the passage the grand mirror stood there, gleaming like it did last time.
"Whoa" Lily said, admiring it,
"So, how does it work?" Peter asked,
"You just stand in front of it, by yourself, and look into it, and you'll see what you desire" Laura told him. Peter did as she explained, "Cool" Peter exclaimed, "It doesn't tell the future does it?" Peter asked longingly, Laura shook her head,
"Sorry" She said, Peter stepped away from the mirror, and Remus stood in front of it,
"Well, that was easy to know" Remus said grinning, "Well, at least I know the mirror works" Remus said smiling. Laura then stood in front of the mirror, to James's surprise, she started giggling, and then she stepped away and whispered to Lily and Lou, who also giggled. Lou then stood in front of the mirror. When she walked away she too, was smiling, "You know, it is a shame this mirror doesn't tell the future" Lou said, and she started telling the other girls what she saw. The rest of the gang had seemed to like their visions. That changed though, when Lily stood in front of the mirror, her face instantly fell, and her eyes welled up in tears, she started to cry, and she didn't stop. Lou and Laura dragged her away from the mirror, James noticed that they both had the same knowing look on their faces; James assumed that they both knew what Lily had seen. Lily stopped crying a bit later, and they all made their way back to the common room, Lily looked depressed, Lou had her arm round her shoulder, and Laura had linked arms with her. James had been told by Laura, in a nice way, to keep clear of Lily for the moment. So he did a he was told.