Chapter 19: - McGonagall's map
"Yes" Remus said his eyes sparkling with anticipation "I'll do it!"
"Brill" Lily said leaning back in her seat "right here's what I think we should do...."
Over the next few days the gang made their preparations. Lily assigned everyone a task, Dymphna, Amy and Alice's job was to plan out the quickest route to the infirmary but this was made extremely difficult during the day by professor McGonagall and perfect Gideon Prewett who now constantly kept a watchful eye on the first years to ensure that they didn't cause anymore mischief.
"It's impossible" Dymphna said one evening as the gang sat at the back of the common room as two fourth form boys started to yell at each other near the notice board, "We can't even begin to plan a best route if we only know one way"
"Besides how to get there will be the least of our worries, are you forgetting that Filch and that evil cat prowls around at night?" Frank said moving to a chair opposite so he could get a better view of the promised fight,
"No I've not forgotten!" Lily said exasperatedly "I was just kind of putting it off"
"What we really need is a map" Remus said
"A map would be really cool" Amy said cheerfully "But where would we get one from?"
"We could make one?" Alice said hopefully
"It'd take too long" Frank said shaking is head then punching the air in imitation of the jab one of the fourth years had given his sparing buddy "What we need is a ready made map"
"From where?" Lily asked as she ducked out of the way as a group of second years shot past to get a better view of the fight,
"I bet Dumbledore will have a map in his office, Oi down in front!" Frank said yelling the last part to the second years who where now blocking his view,
"I feared you might say that!" Alice said going pale at the though "We're not stealing from the headmaster"
"You wouldn't be able to get into his office anyway its password protected" Remus informed them, Lily wondered how he knew this, it wasn't like it was common knowledge and it wasn't like any of the first years had even been there. Not yet anyway!
"So who else would have a map?" Amy asked as the fourth form boys came crashing at her feet and she, Lily and the rest of the gang fled to the nearby window for safety,
"I don't know" Lily said solemnly as she hung her head, it had seemed such a great idea at first and Lily was even shocked at how bold she had been but now the idea was just fading because too many obstacles where in the way,
"We might not know who has a map but I bet he does!" Remus said pointing out of the window. Peering out of the glass and across the darkening school grounds Lily could make out the enormous figure of Hagrid the gamekeeper heading towards his hut situated near the forbidden forest. And so it was that, that Saturday, Lily, Frank, Remus and Alice were to be found knocking on the door of Hagrid's hut.
"He's not in" Frank said happily as he started to walk away "Lets go before he gets back!"
"We're staying!" Lily said pulling Frank back to the door "You just didn't knock loud enough"
"If I knock too loud he may answer!" Frank said struggling to free himself from Lily's grasp,
"I'll knock" Remus said walking up to the door and giving it two loud raps with his fist
"There, he's not home lets go!" Frank said as he continued his struggles, two loud booming barks made Lily jump and let go of Franks arm sending him falling backwards into the dirt, Lily was about to turn to help Frank up when the hut's door opened, .
"Who's there!" called a gruff voice as the door was pulled fully open. Lily's eyes widened as she took in the full view in front of her, she had only met Hagrid once while she was at Hogwarts and that was at the crossing over the lake, he had seemed pleasant enough then but now with the great man looming in front of her Lily had a feeling that this was a very bad idea.
"'ello" Hagrid said and to Lily's pleasure she could distinctly see a smile form on Hagrid's face through the mass of hair that was his beard.
"H-H-Hi" Lily said feebly as Frank whimpered on the ground behind her "W-We- "
"We came to say hello" Alice said cutting off Lily's feeble attempt of communication "We thought that it was time to introduce ourselves"
"Well ya better come in then" Hagrid said moving to one side to let the first years enter his hut as he smiled at them.
The hut was a huge circular room with a large bed to one side and a roaring fire to the other, a large wooden scrubbed table stood in the middle of the room with three large wooden chairs around it and a huge arm chair was placed near the fire. Lots of different items where hanging from the ceiling like pots and pans and saws and other equipment that Lily assumed Hagrid used in his job as the schools gamekeeper. Near the fire and opposite the huge arm chair was a huge dog basket and hidden deep in the folds of a large patch work blanket that covered the basket was the biggest puppy that Lily had ever seen.
"D-D-Did that make that barking we heard?" Frank asked hiding himself behind Alice as the friends entered the hut,
"Yep" Hagrid said proudly "only got him the other day from a man in the pub"
"He's really adorable" Alice said walking over to the puppy as Frank shot behind Remus "What's he called" Hagrid told them that the puppy didn't have a name yet and that he was hoping to find out its character before he named him.
It was a nice afternoon that the first years spent with Hagrid he made them all tea and offered them some delicious looking rock cakes that turned out to be very aptly named. The puppy seemed to love the first years and he gambolled around the floor sometimes tripping over his large ears, occasionally he would even bash his head into the bed post and run to Hagrid whimpering,
"Sounds like Frank" Alice had whispered to Lily as they shared the same huge chair and Frank who must have heard them shot them a venomous look.
"Do you remember my parents?" Alice had asked and it turned out that Hagrid did, he told them all about how Alice's dad had been a bit of a tear away at school and he recounted some of the detentions that Alice's dad had spent with Hagrid,
"Must run in the family" Lily heard Frank whisper to Remus. Eventually as the day worn on Lily managed to turn the conversation around to the topic of maps,
"We was hoping to do this project you see"
"On the history of Hogwarts" Remus added "so we was wondering if we could get hold of a map of the school"
"So that we could talk about the different rooms and statues and stuff" Lily said
"And find out all 'bout the different hidden passageways" Hagrid added smiling
"No we- ...what hidden passageways" Frank said in surprise, Lily didn't know if Frank was surprised because Hagrid had guessed what the first years where up to or if it was the sudden revelation that Hogwarts had secret passageways.
"Do ya know how many kids come to ask me 'bout the secret passageways" Hagrid said but Lily notice that he still wore a smile
"Are we the first?" Frank said hopefully
"No, but ya've been the best" Hagrid said happily "if ya really want a map then ya should ask professor McGonagall she's got a really big one in her study that she may let you borrow if ya ask nicely" They thanked Hagrid drank up their tea patted the puppy goodbye and headed back up to the great hall for dinner.
'This was going to be really bad' Lily thought, stealing from McGonagall was going to be as bad as stealing from Dumbledore and Lily didn't relish the prospect of either.
"We'll have to do it when no one will be about!" Remus whispered that evening as the girls sat in the first year boy's dormitory,
"At night?" Amy asked pulling the bed sheet of the bed she was sitting on around her and Alice's shoulders,
"No Filch will get us, and the ghosts seem to be more active at night" Frank pointed out rubbing his forehead "I don't think I could handle another run in with Peeves this life time"
"When then?" Alice said "At break or dinner?"
"They could be the best time's, everyone will be in the great hall" Dymphna said
"It's too unpredictable, not all the teachers eat in the great hall" Remus reminded them as he sat cross legged on his bed
"When then?" Amy asked and everyone in the room fell silent thinking
"Transfiguration" Lily said suddenly breaking the silence,
"You're as insane as Mi" Frank said shaking his head "You want to steal from Mgon' right under her nose?"
"At least that way we'd know where she is" Lily insisted "we just need to create a diversion"
"Peter will be useful in doing that" Dymphna said cheekily "he never can transfigure any of his stuff and all we'd have to do is take a lesson from James and Sirius by blowing it up!"
"It's actually quite alarming how you girls think" Remus said smiling to himself "Talk about the fairer sex!"
"And as if they can't get into enough trouble on their own they want to bring Miriam back" Frank said jokingly to Remus as they both grinned
"The Ring leader!" Remus said laughing
"Oi" Lily said throwing a pillow at Remus who then retaliated and by the time the girls left the dormitory the air was filled with feathers.
Monday came faster then Lily had expected and still Miriam was not released from the hospital wing and the first years where not allowed to visit, so it was decided that that afternoon 'Operation obtain' (As Amy had named it) was to be put into action.
'Operation obtain' was to commence fifteen minutes before the bell to signal the end of the lesson rang, and so Lily, Alice, Frank, Dymphna, Amy and Remus had to endure nearly an hour and a half of Professor McGonagall Lecturing them on their past behaviour has she also tried to get them to improve their transfiguration skills. Lily spent most of the lesson going over and over the plan that she and the others had concocted in her head rethinking every little detail and trying to guess the different aspects that could go wrong. It wasn't until Frank kicked her in the shin and pointed to his wrist watch that Lily realised that they where already five minutes behind schedule, cursing herself Lily gave Remus the signal for him to start part one of 'Operation obtain' appropriately named also by Amy as 'Operation Havoc'.
Lily watched as Remus who had purposefully chosen to sit next to Peter pointed his wand towards Peter's half transformed Snail and uttered the spell he had been practicing since Sunday night, for a second Lily thought that the spell hadn't worked but then as Lily's hopes had started to fade Peters half transfigured Snail begin to make a whistling noise like a boiling kettle, before McGonagall could even open her mouth to ask what was going on Remus and Peter's table erupted in a thick cloud of dark purple smoke which instantly filled the room as loud bangs and whizzes shot out of the cloud like fire works. Dymphna and Amy screamed as they had planed they would and Alice yelled as she pretended to have hurt her ankle.
"Quickly!" Remus said diving off his stool and grabbing Lily's wrist "If we're going to do it it's now or never" Lily, Remus and Frank ducked under the desks and made their way towards the door, Narrowly missing a collision with Professor McGonagall as she ran to find the still screaming girls in the thick smoke.
The three friends having managed to get to the door slowly opened it and took off down the corridor heading to McGonagall's office as the smoke now billowed out into the corridor. It only took Lily, Remus and Frank thirty seconds to reach McGonagall's office which Lily guessed must have been record timing, Frank tried the door handle and to Lily's great surprise the door wasn't locked,
"I guess she never thought anyone would want to steal anything" Frank said slyly a little out of breath as he pushed the door fully open, and all three friends entered the room. The office was as large as Lily's sitting room at home and there was a large desk in the centre of the room and a large roaring fire in the centre of the left hand wall. Opposite the door several small windows over looked the grounds where the first years had their flying lessons. The room itself was filled with lots of books and charts which Lily guessed McGonagall used in her lessons, shelves where stacked with lots of different objects and even more books. A huge Gryffindor banner hung above the fire, and Lily felt a pang of regret for what she and the others where about to do.
"Let's get too it" Remus said pulling Lily out of her thoughts.
"Right" Lily said moving back to the door, Lily's job was too keep a look out while Frank and Remus did the actual stealing,
"Look in the draws" Lily hissed as both Frank and Remus rummaged around the books on the shelves,
"Look at this!" Frank said excitedly pulling a slim book out from one of McGonagall's desk draws "Hearts aflame by S. Walls, The powerful story of a Saxon lord as he meets his match in Viking beauty, Callista. She could not know the torment that divided his soul, how he ached to hold her soft, supple-"
"Put it back and look for what you came here for, not romance novels!" Lily hissed from the doorway,
"Who would have guessed it?" Lily heard Frank mutter shaking his head as he closed the draw, Lily couldn't believe that Frank was even contemplating messing around when they only had a short amount of time before the smoke started to fade. Lily also knew that it was very possible that McGonagall may have also used a spell to have dispersed the smoke by now and that she could already be in a rage over her three missing students,
"Found it!" Remus said joyfully pulling a huge map out from the middle draw, "It's got every thing we want look" Lily turned to see Remus pointing to the different levels that the map showed of the school,
"Brilliant, now roll it up and let's get back" Lily hissed as she held the door open. Remus carefully folded the map up and stored it inside his robes before the three friends took off back down the corridor towards their classroom.
They slowed to a walk as they turned the corner of the corridor where their lesson was being held and Lily felt ill when she saw that there was no longer any smoke pouring out of the open classroom door, reluctantly Lily, Frank and Remus crept nearer to thei classrooms door,
"Well really girls" Lily could hear McGonagall saying from within the class "It was only some trifling smoke there was nothing to get so excite about" Just then the bell rang signalling the end of lessons and Lily, Frank and Remus pressed themselves against the wall as McGonagall dismissed the class, Luckily Alice, Dymphna and Amy where the first out of the door and Lily and her two thieving cohorts ducked into line with them.
"How did it go?" Alice asked when they turned the corner as she handed Lily back her bag
"We got it" Remus said smiling as he patted his robes where a slight bulge could be seen "What about you three?"
"Operation havoc was a complete success" Amy said happily, "Mgon never even knew you three had gone-"
"But Peter's got to do lines; she still thinks it was all his fault-"
"But we know differently" Said James as he came around the corner with Sirius,
"How could you do it Remus, your supposed to be Peter's friend?" Sirius said angrily
"We are!" Frank replied but Sirius cut him off
"Some friend Frank, Pete's in their now serving his sentence and he doesn't even know what he did wrong!" Sirius said bitterly. Lily felt even more awful at Sirius's words, true Peter Pettigrew wasn't one of Lily's most favourite Gryffindors but he had never been anything but pleasant to any of the girls,
"I've half a mind to march right back to Mgon and tell her all about your three's privet field trip" Sirius said making Amy and Dymphna gasp
"If you do that Si' then I'll be forced to tell the girls all about that thing you keep in your trunk" Frank retorted and at Frank's words Sirius's smug face fell,
"F-Fine but I guess we all know where you've chosen to put your loyalties" Sirius said still looking a little shocked "It's time that you chose yours Remus"
"That's completely unfair!" Remus begin before some finial years Ravenclaws jostled the first years out of their way,
"Decide!" James said, and Remus did, he fished the map out of his robes and handed it to Lily and hanging his head he headed off down the corridor followed by Sirius and James.
"That's so wrong" Dymphna said and Lily had to agree
"Remus is a good guy" Frank said "and he knows that James and Sirius aren't that bad, not really"
"How can you say that after what they just said to you?" Lily asked "They've practically booted you out of their dormitory"
"Don't be so melodramatic" Frank said smiling "besides I'll make up with them tonight" Lily was about to ask how Frank was so sure but he answered the question before she could even ask it. Frank pulled a slim book out from his robes pocket and held it up for the girls too see, blazed across the front in lurid pink text was the title 'Hearts aflame' Franks face burst into a huge grin at Lily stunned impression,
"How could you steal that?" Lily gasped her eyes fixed on the book in Franks hands
"How could you steal that!" Frank said pointing to the map which Lily was grasping tightly across her chest.
"That's different this is for a legitimate reason" Protested Lily
"So is this" Frank said patting the book as he walked away down the corridor grinning from ear to ear.
"What does Sirius keep in his Trunk?" Dymphna called after him, but Frank didn't answer.
"Yes" Remus said his eyes sparkling with anticipation "I'll do it!"
"Brill" Lily said leaning back in her seat "right here's what I think we should do...."
Over the next few days the gang made their preparations. Lily assigned everyone a task, Dymphna, Amy and Alice's job was to plan out the quickest route to the infirmary but this was made extremely difficult during the day by professor McGonagall and perfect Gideon Prewett who now constantly kept a watchful eye on the first years to ensure that they didn't cause anymore mischief.
"It's impossible" Dymphna said one evening as the gang sat at the back of the common room as two fourth form boys started to yell at each other near the notice board, "We can't even begin to plan a best route if we only know one way"
"Besides how to get there will be the least of our worries, are you forgetting that Filch and that evil cat prowls around at night?" Frank said moving to a chair opposite so he could get a better view of the promised fight,
"No I've not forgotten!" Lily said exasperatedly "I was just kind of putting it off"
"What we really need is a map" Remus said
"A map would be really cool" Amy said cheerfully "But where would we get one from?"
"We could make one?" Alice said hopefully
"It'd take too long" Frank said shaking is head then punching the air in imitation of the jab one of the fourth years had given his sparing buddy "What we need is a ready made map"
"From where?" Lily asked as she ducked out of the way as a group of second years shot past to get a better view of the fight,
"I bet Dumbledore will have a map in his office, Oi down in front!" Frank said yelling the last part to the second years who where now blocking his view,
"I feared you might say that!" Alice said going pale at the though "We're not stealing from the headmaster"
"You wouldn't be able to get into his office anyway its password protected" Remus informed them, Lily wondered how he knew this, it wasn't like it was common knowledge and it wasn't like any of the first years had even been there. Not yet anyway!
"So who else would have a map?" Amy asked as the fourth form boys came crashing at her feet and she, Lily and the rest of the gang fled to the nearby window for safety,
"I don't know" Lily said solemnly as she hung her head, it had seemed such a great idea at first and Lily was even shocked at how bold she had been but now the idea was just fading because too many obstacles where in the way,
"We might not know who has a map but I bet he does!" Remus said pointing out of the window. Peering out of the glass and across the darkening school grounds Lily could make out the enormous figure of Hagrid the gamekeeper heading towards his hut situated near the forbidden forest. And so it was that, that Saturday, Lily, Frank, Remus and Alice were to be found knocking on the door of Hagrid's hut.
"He's not in" Frank said happily as he started to walk away "Lets go before he gets back!"
"We're staying!" Lily said pulling Frank back to the door "You just didn't knock loud enough"
"If I knock too loud he may answer!" Frank said struggling to free himself from Lily's grasp,
"I'll knock" Remus said walking up to the door and giving it two loud raps with his fist
"There, he's not home lets go!" Frank said as he continued his struggles, two loud booming barks made Lily jump and let go of Franks arm sending him falling backwards into the dirt, Lily was about to turn to help Frank up when the hut's door opened, .
"Who's there!" called a gruff voice as the door was pulled fully open. Lily's eyes widened as she took in the full view in front of her, she had only met Hagrid once while she was at Hogwarts and that was at the crossing over the lake, he had seemed pleasant enough then but now with the great man looming in front of her Lily had a feeling that this was a very bad idea.
"'ello" Hagrid said and to Lily's pleasure she could distinctly see a smile form on Hagrid's face through the mass of hair that was his beard.
"H-H-Hi" Lily said feebly as Frank whimpered on the ground behind her "W-We- "
"We came to say hello" Alice said cutting off Lily's feeble attempt of communication "We thought that it was time to introduce ourselves"
"Well ya better come in then" Hagrid said moving to one side to let the first years enter his hut as he smiled at them.
The hut was a huge circular room with a large bed to one side and a roaring fire to the other, a large wooden scrubbed table stood in the middle of the room with three large wooden chairs around it and a huge arm chair was placed near the fire. Lots of different items where hanging from the ceiling like pots and pans and saws and other equipment that Lily assumed Hagrid used in his job as the schools gamekeeper. Near the fire and opposite the huge arm chair was a huge dog basket and hidden deep in the folds of a large patch work blanket that covered the basket was the biggest puppy that Lily had ever seen.
"D-D-Did that make that barking we heard?" Frank asked hiding himself behind Alice as the friends entered the hut,
"Yep" Hagrid said proudly "only got him the other day from a man in the pub"
"He's really adorable" Alice said walking over to the puppy as Frank shot behind Remus "What's he called" Hagrid told them that the puppy didn't have a name yet and that he was hoping to find out its character before he named him.
It was a nice afternoon that the first years spent with Hagrid he made them all tea and offered them some delicious looking rock cakes that turned out to be very aptly named. The puppy seemed to love the first years and he gambolled around the floor sometimes tripping over his large ears, occasionally he would even bash his head into the bed post and run to Hagrid whimpering,
"Sounds like Frank" Alice had whispered to Lily as they shared the same huge chair and Frank who must have heard them shot them a venomous look.
"Do you remember my parents?" Alice had asked and it turned out that Hagrid did, he told them all about how Alice's dad had been a bit of a tear away at school and he recounted some of the detentions that Alice's dad had spent with Hagrid,
"Must run in the family" Lily heard Frank whisper to Remus. Eventually as the day worn on Lily managed to turn the conversation around to the topic of maps,
"We was hoping to do this project you see"
"On the history of Hogwarts" Remus added "so we was wondering if we could get hold of a map of the school"
"So that we could talk about the different rooms and statues and stuff" Lily said
"And find out all 'bout the different hidden passageways" Hagrid added smiling
"No we- ...what hidden passageways" Frank said in surprise, Lily didn't know if Frank was surprised because Hagrid had guessed what the first years where up to or if it was the sudden revelation that Hogwarts had secret passageways.
"Do ya know how many kids come to ask me 'bout the secret passageways" Hagrid said but Lily notice that he still wore a smile
"Are we the first?" Frank said hopefully
"No, but ya've been the best" Hagrid said happily "if ya really want a map then ya should ask professor McGonagall she's got a really big one in her study that she may let you borrow if ya ask nicely" They thanked Hagrid drank up their tea patted the puppy goodbye and headed back up to the great hall for dinner.
'This was going to be really bad' Lily thought, stealing from McGonagall was going to be as bad as stealing from Dumbledore and Lily didn't relish the prospect of either.
"We'll have to do it when no one will be about!" Remus whispered that evening as the girls sat in the first year boy's dormitory,
"At night?" Amy asked pulling the bed sheet of the bed she was sitting on around her and Alice's shoulders,
"No Filch will get us, and the ghosts seem to be more active at night" Frank pointed out rubbing his forehead "I don't think I could handle another run in with Peeves this life time"
"When then?" Alice said "At break or dinner?"
"They could be the best time's, everyone will be in the great hall" Dymphna said
"It's too unpredictable, not all the teachers eat in the great hall" Remus reminded them as he sat cross legged on his bed
"When then?" Amy asked and everyone in the room fell silent thinking
"Transfiguration" Lily said suddenly breaking the silence,
"You're as insane as Mi" Frank said shaking his head "You want to steal from Mgon' right under her nose?"
"At least that way we'd know where she is" Lily insisted "we just need to create a diversion"
"Peter will be useful in doing that" Dymphna said cheekily "he never can transfigure any of his stuff and all we'd have to do is take a lesson from James and Sirius by blowing it up!"
"It's actually quite alarming how you girls think" Remus said smiling to himself "Talk about the fairer sex!"
"And as if they can't get into enough trouble on their own they want to bring Miriam back" Frank said jokingly to Remus as they both grinned
"The Ring leader!" Remus said laughing
"Oi" Lily said throwing a pillow at Remus who then retaliated and by the time the girls left the dormitory the air was filled with feathers.
Monday came faster then Lily had expected and still Miriam was not released from the hospital wing and the first years where not allowed to visit, so it was decided that that afternoon 'Operation obtain' (As Amy had named it) was to be put into action.
'Operation obtain' was to commence fifteen minutes before the bell to signal the end of the lesson rang, and so Lily, Alice, Frank, Dymphna, Amy and Remus had to endure nearly an hour and a half of Professor McGonagall Lecturing them on their past behaviour has she also tried to get them to improve their transfiguration skills. Lily spent most of the lesson going over and over the plan that she and the others had concocted in her head rethinking every little detail and trying to guess the different aspects that could go wrong. It wasn't until Frank kicked her in the shin and pointed to his wrist watch that Lily realised that they where already five minutes behind schedule, cursing herself Lily gave Remus the signal for him to start part one of 'Operation obtain' appropriately named also by Amy as 'Operation Havoc'.
Lily watched as Remus who had purposefully chosen to sit next to Peter pointed his wand towards Peter's half transformed Snail and uttered the spell he had been practicing since Sunday night, for a second Lily thought that the spell hadn't worked but then as Lily's hopes had started to fade Peters half transfigured Snail begin to make a whistling noise like a boiling kettle, before McGonagall could even open her mouth to ask what was going on Remus and Peter's table erupted in a thick cloud of dark purple smoke which instantly filled the room as loud bangs and whizzes shot out of the cloud like fire works. Dymphna and Amy screamed as they had planed they would and Alice yelled as she pretended to have hurt her ankle.
"Quickly!" Remus said diving off his stool and grabbing Lily's wrist "If we're going to do it it's now or never" Lily, Remus and Frank ducked under the desks and made their way towards the door, Narrowly missing a collision with Professor McGonagall as she ran to find the still screaming girls in the thick smoke.
The three friends having managed to get to the door slowly opened it and took off down the corridor heading to McGonagall's office as the smoke now billowed out into the corridor. It only took Lily, Remus and Frank thirty seconds to reach McGonagall's office which Lily guessed must have been record timing, Frank tried the door handle and to Lily's great surprise the door wasn't locked,
"I guess she never thought anyone would want to steal anything" Frank said slyly a little out of breath as he pushed the door fully open, and all three friends entered the room. The office was as large as Lily's sitting room at home and there was a large desk in the centre of the room and a large roaring fire in the centre of the left hand wall. Opposite the door several small windows over looked the grounds where the first years had their flying lessons. The room itself was filled with lots of books and charts which Lily guessed McGonagall used in her lessons, shelves where stacked with lots of different objects and even more books. A huge Gryffindor banner hung above the fire, and Lily felt a pang of regret for what she and the others where about to do.
"Let's get too it" Remus said pulling Lily out of her thoughts.
"Right" Lily said moving back to the door, Lily's job was too keep a look out while Frank and Remus did the actual stealing,
"Look in the draws" Lily hissed as both Frank and Remus rummaged around the books on the shelves,
"Look at this!" Frank said excitedly pulling a slim book out from one of McGonagall's desk draws "Hearts aflame by S. Walls, The powerful story of a Saxon lord as he meets his match in Viking beauty, Callista. She could not know the torment that divided his soul, how he ached to hold her soft, supple-"
"Put it back and look for what you came here for, not romance novels!" Lily hissed from the doorway,
"Who would have guessed it?" Lily heard Frank mutter shaking his head as he closed the draw, Lily couldn't believe that Frank was even contemplating messing around when they only had a short amount of time before the smoke started to fade. Lily also knew that it was very possible that McGonagall may have also used a spell to have dispersed the smoke by now and that she could already be in a rage over her three missing students,
"Found it!" Remus said joyfully pulling a huge map out from the middle draw, "It's got every thing we want look" Lily turned to see Remus pointing to the different levels that the map showed of the school,
"Brilliant, now roll it up and let's get back" Lily hissed as she held the door open. Remus carefully folded the map up and stored it inside his robes before the three friends took off back down the corridor towards their classroom.
They slowed to a walk as they turned the corner of the corridor where their lesson was being held and Lily felt ill when she saw that there was no longer any smoke pouring out of the open classroom door, reluctantly Lily, Frank and Remus crept nearer to thei classrooms door,
"Well really girls" Lily could hear McGonagall saying from within the class "It was only some trifling smoke there was nothing to get so excite about" Just then the bell rang signalling the end of lessons and Lily, Frank and Remus pressed themselves against the wall as McGonagall dismissed the class, Luckily Alice, Dymphna and Amy where the first out of the door and Lily and her two thieving cohorts ducked into line with them.
"How did it go?" Alice asked when they turned the corner as she handed Lily back her bag
"We got it" Remus said smiling as he patted his robes where a slight bulge could be seen "What about you three?"
"Operation havoc was a complete success" Amy said happily, "Mgon never even knew you three had gone-"
"But Peter's got to do lines; she still thinks it was all his fault-"
"But we know differently" Said James as he came around the corner with Sirius,
"How could you do it Remus, your supposed to be Peter's friend?" Sirius said angrily
"We are!" Frank replied but Sirius cut him off
"Some friend Frank, Pete's in their now serving his sentence and he doesn't even know what he did wrong!" Sirius said bitterly. Lily felt even more awful at Sirius's words, true Peter Pettigrew wasn't one of Lily's most favourite Gryffindors but he had never been anything but pleasant to any of the girls,
"I've half a mind to march right back to Mgon and tell her all about your three's privet field trip" Sirius said making Amy and Dymphna gasp
"If you do that Si' then I'll be forced to tell the girls all about that thing you keep in your trunk" Frank retorted and at Frank's words Sirius's smug face fell,
"F-Fine but I guess we all know where you've chosen to put your loyalties" Sirius said still looking a little shocked "It's time that you chose yours Remus"
"That's completely unfair!" Remus begin before some finial years Ravenclaws jostled the first years out of their way,
"Decide!" James said, and Remus did, he fished the map out of his robes and handed it to Lily and hanging his head he headed off down the corridor followed by Sirius and James.
"That's so wrong" Dymphna said and Lily had to agree
"Remus is a good guy" Frank said "and he knows that James and Sirius aren't that bad, not really"
"How can you say that after what they just said to you?" Lily asked "They've practically booted you out of their dormitory"
"Don't be so melodramatic" Frank said smiling "besides I'll make up with them tonight" Lily was about to ask how Frank was so sure but he answered the question before she could even ask it. Frank pulled a slim book out from his robes pocket and held it up for the girls too see, blazed across the front in lurid pink text was the title 'Hearts aflame' Franks face burst into a huge grin at Lily stunned impression,
"How could you steal that?" Lily gasped her eyes fixed on the book in Franks hands
"How could you steal that!" Frank said pointing to the map which Lily was grasping tightly across her chest.
"That's different this is for a legitimate reason" Protested Lily
"So is this" Frank said patting the book as he walked away down the corridor grinning from ear to ear.
"What does Sirius keep in his Trunk?" Dymphna called after him, but Frank didn't answer.
