Chapter 26: - The Restricted section

"Well?" Lily asked as she rushed into the Gryffindor common room half an hour later,

"Nothing!" Alice said sounding slightly tearful "We checked the potions stores, the care of magical creatures class room even the dorms and we've even asked myrtle, that ghost from the second floor Toilets, she's nowhere!" Lily sank into a nearby chair slowly shaking her head in despair

"She's not out in the grounds either, I even asked Hagrid and he said he's not seen her!" Lily sighed deeply between them She, Frank and Alice had searched most of the school and had still not found their friend.

"Did you check the broom shed?" Alice asked

"Yes!" Lily replied irritably, "I checked it and I even tried to get a look inside greenhouse 3 before professor Sprout spotted me!"

"Maybe you didn't look hard enough it's a huge place you know!" Alice said crossly

"Me! At least you had help!" Lily snapped as she shot a finger out to indicate Frank

"Alright ladies!" Frank said standing in between the two girls his arms spread wide as though he was pushing them apart "If she's not in the usual Mi type places then maybe we should start to look in less Mi type hangouts!"

"What are you jabbering on about?" Alice said voicing what Lily had also thought,

"I mean that Miriam hasn't acted normally since that newspaper article about her, so instead of looking in places where normal Mi would be we should search places where crazy Mi would go!"

"Miriam isn't crazy!" Lily snapped,

"Well she's not acting normally either!" Frank retorted

"He's got a point Lily" Alice said gloomily. Lily nodded; despite how Frank had expressed his thoughts Lily had to agree that Miriam had been acting very strangely after the Daily Prophet article had been printed. But Miriam also had good reasons to be acting so uncharacteristic, Lily couldn't imagine how she would have reacted if one day she woke to discover that the entire faculty and student body knew one of her deepest and darkest secrets, not like Lily had any but that was beyond the point. She, Frank and Alice knew that Miriam and her family was a very proud family that hadn't appreciated Miriam's problems being broadcasted to the entire wizarding world.

"We should check out places where Miriam wouldn't usually go" frank suggested "Places like the trophy room, the library or the courtyard?"

"Where?" Lily asked suddenly as an idea struck her,

"The courtyard, you know the walled area with a partial roof outside and opposite the great hall?"

"No you pratt what I meant was, has anyone bothered to check the library?"

"No" Alice and Frank said unison,

"Oh" said Frank as Lily's thoughts suddenly dawned on him and Alice, the last place that Miriam would ever go to willingly was the library!

"NO RUNNING IN THE CORRIDORS!" Yelled Hufflepuff prefect Fabian Prewett, as the trio hurtled down the third floor passage way as they headed towards their destination. They slowed to a walk as they approached the huge oak doors that barred the entrance of the library. The first years had learned quickly that if they didn't want the vulture like librarian madam Pince breathing down their necks as soon as they stepped foot into the library then it always paid to at least show that you intended to be a smart, kind, polite and rule abiding student, especially within a 200 meter radius of the old witch. At the back of the library sitting at one of the small study desks deeply engrossed in a huge dusty volume with a small furry object next to her, the three friends found who they had been looking for, their other best friend Miriam Artemis.

Lily was relived to discover that she had been right, but she didn't say anything as she smiled to herself and as the three friends made their way towards Miriam, tip toeing pass Madam Pince as not to draw attention to themselves, but they needn't have worried as she was distracted by arguing with a final year Ravenclaw who had brought his books back over 30 seconds late. When Lily was close enough to Miriam she immediately realised that the furry object on the desk wasn't an object at all but was in fact Miriam's pet Kneazle; MacMikelmouse. The small catlike animal was sitting on the table next to the huge book and lily thought that if it was at all possible Mac as looking utterly bored as he rested his head on his paws.

"Miriam!" Lily hissed as she, Frank and Alice approached the table and suddenly Mac sprang to his feet shot Frank a warning look followed by a low grumbling hiss which was Mac's way of challenging the only male of the small group, daring him to come closer. Frank took the hint and stopped dead in his tracks has he eyed the little cat suspiciously as it continued to hiss, throughout this Miriam said nothing she didn't even look towards them to see who the tiny Kneazle was hissing at, she just stretched out her hand and rubbed the small kittens ear making him cease hissing and to purr loudly instead,

"Why did you run off like that?" Lily demanded of her friend as she pushed past Frank and stood directly in front of Miriam at the desk

"I needed to find another book" Miriam said matter-of-factly as she turned the page in the book in front of her,

"You could have told us we would have come with you" Alice informed Miriam as both Lily and Frank nodded in agreement

"What was wrong with the other book?" Frank asked as a silence fell on the four friends

"It wasn't enough" Miriam said blankly as she flicked through the reaming pages of the huge book in front of her

"It seemed enough to me!" Lily heard Frank mutter behind her as he remembered how big and heavy the book that Miriam was reading in the classroom was.

"It didn't have what I was looking for" Miriam said sounding annoyed as she slammed the book in font of her closed, "Neither has this one!"

"Well maybe if you tell us what you're looking for then we could help?" Alice offered

"I can't tell you" Miriam said shaking her head "Not until I'm a sure"

"Why?" Frank demanded "We're your friends Mi your supposed to tell us everything"

"Perhaps? But not this, Not until I'm sure"

"Miriam are you alright?" Lily asked trying but failing to hide the concern in her voice, but Miriam ignored her,

"I bet that has what I'm looking for?" Miriam said as she slowly turned her head to look towards her left, Lily, Frank and Alice all turned to face the direction that Miriam had indicated, and none of them was surprised to discover that they were looking directly towards the restricted section.

"You're mad! You're totally insane you do know that don't you?!?" Frank yelled as Lily, Miriam, Alice and Frank sat in the first year boys' dormitory that evening after lessons "We'll be kicked out of Hogwarts before you can say Disapparate! We'll end our days scrubbing the urinals in the gents at the ministry, saying 'T'ank ye sir' and smelling strongly of cats!!!" At Frank's reference to cat's MacMikelmouse, who had up until that point been curled up in Miriam's lap purring, suddenly let out a hiss at Frank to show his displeasure.

"Frank thinks too much, Mac" Miriam reassured her pet as she rubbed the kitten behind it's ears but even though the kitten settled it's self back onto Miriam's lap lily was sure it was still staring at Frank.

"Frank does however have a point" Alice said as she sat on the bed next to Miriam, "Dumbledore has told us, Merlin knows how many times, this term not to leave the common room after hours but yet we're still doing it, even now we're planning another joint around the school after curfew. We are going to get caught and Dumbledore isn't going to be lenient a third time, especially since he asked us personally not to do it again" Alice looked at Miriam vehemently but Miriam just sighed and rubbed her eyes before she spoke,

"Haven't any of you ever thought it strange why this curfew is so tightly enforced this year when it never has been in the past? Or that the first time Dumbledore found us on the night we went looking for Mac he wasn't angry at us for breaking the rules? In fact his exact words were 'Certain nights at Hogwarts are not as safe as others' so what does that tell you?" Miriam asked softly as she stroked Mac.

"That...certain nights aren't as safe as others?" Frank said sarcastically shaking his head

"Yes" Miriam said not at all dissuaded by Frank's silly comment "it means that some nights are more dangerous then others-"

"So?" Frank said as he sat down on the bed besides Lily

"So?!?!" Miriam said beginning to get annoyed at Franks current pretence on his stupidity "Have you all forgot the state we fond Remmy in, in that hospital bed? It looked like he had gone ten rounds in a duel and had forgotten how to use his wand"

"And your point is?" asked Frank his tone as inpatient as Miriam's

"My point!?!" Miriam said raising her voice as she stood up, knocking Mac unceremoniously to the ground as he fell out of her lap "Aren't any of you curious about what happened to him? Or the fact that once in a while he would go missing from lessons, and have nothing but a lame excuse to explain it? Or what about how he always looks like he's ill?!?

"Are you saying that there's something wrong with my room mate?" Frank asked a look of great concern swept over his face as he shot up off the bed he had been sitting on as if he was on fire. Lily noticed that the trunk at the end of the bed was labelled R.J.L.

"I'm not sure" Miriam confessed "that's what I want to find out" Lily didn't like the sound of this if anyone knew what it was like to have their personal secrets know to an entire school then it was Miriam, so why was she so willing to discover Remus' secret, Lily decided to voice her concerns to the room.

"Mi maybe Remus has his reasons for not telling us? You wouldn't have wanted us digging around in your past? And if he wants to tell us he should do it n his own time, not forced to by us"

"I know but maybe we can help him" Miriam replied, "you guys have been a life save for me, and all this with the Prophet seemed to have hit a cord with Remmy too" Lily remembered how on the day that the article had been printed Remus had looked even more pallid and gaunt then ever before. Alice smiled and rubbed Miriam's arm

"I agree if we can help him we should, even if it's just by letting him know that we care"

"Care?" Asked a voice as the dormitory door was flung open "Care about who?" The voice belonged to James as he Sirius, Peter and Remus entered the room,

"What the HELL!!!" Sirius yelled "Longbottom you've had it this time! Why would you allow those" Sirius pointed at the girls "into our privet space?" Frank, Lily and Miriam was about to protest when MacMikelmouse jumped up onto the bed nearest the door and began to hiss and spit and Sirius as the fur on the tiny kittens back stood on end, Mac obviously still hadn't forgotten that James and Sirius had tried to lock him in their trunks, and by the looks of James and Sirius as they both clutched their faces they still hadn't forgot how sharp the small kittens claws had been.

"We'll see you later tonight" Miriam said to Frank as she scooped her pet up and brushed past Sirius thrusting the kitten into his face making the animal hiss even more and swiping at Sirius' face as he jumped backwards,

"I can't understand it" Miriam said sarcastically "He's usually such a well behaved little boy" Lily heard Frank scoff as she and Alice followed Miriam down the stairs, Lily flashed Remus a quick smile as she passed him and then hurried after her friends.

Lily was glad to see the old vitality was slowly creeping back into Miriam, and if it took one more illegal expedition out of the common room to restore her friend back to normal then Lily promised herself that was what she had to do.

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Frank asked as he, Lily, Alice and Miriam crept along the dimly lit castle corridors, it was one thirty in the morning and the entire castle was sleeping, the low burning torches cast long eerie shadows across the walls and floor, and the slightest sound was enough to make all four friends jump. Lily was tired of explaining the reasoning to Frank; he well knew fully well why they were doing this! But lily couldn't help but feel that it was more to satisfy Miriam's curiosity then to help ease Remus' problems, what ever they where.

"We're going to get caught" Frank hissed as he walked behind Lily. Miriam and Alice was the vanguard which Frank had said was the best place for Miriam, "Let her get caught first" Frank had said in a tone that said he was totally serious. Lily had the urge to hell him that in most Muggle movies the person at the back of the group was usually the first to be taken, but she didn't have the nerve to go up against Frank's bitter mood so she merely quickened her steps making a distinct gap between herself and the now slacking Frank.

The group moved through the corridors very slowly checking every direction before they moved and searching out the best possible hiding places in their chosen direction, Lily half wished that they still had McGonagall's map to guide them.

"I wish I knew a good Disillusionment Charm" Frank said from the rear of the group,

"Yeah," Miriam agreed, the first years had learned about Disillusion charms that day in charms, they had learned that they existed and that they wouldn't get to learn anymore about them until their final year.

"Or an invisibility cloak would be useful" Miriam continued.

"My farther has an invisibility cloak" Alice said absently as the first years skirted the trophy room which peeves was now know to frequent at night, they passed their dark arts class room, and headed down the corridor towards the teachers staff room which would then lead them to their destination.

"We'll get caught" Frank told the girls again as he nervously eyed the now unusually quite gargoyles that flagged the entrance of the teachers lounge,

"Shusssh!" all three girls hissed at Frank as Lily pulled him away form the door and they all continued to proceed down the hall

"If you keep talking you will get us caught!" Miriam hissed as she and Frank exchanged deathly looks,

"Just be grateful she didn't bring Mac" Lily heard Alice whisper to Frank, Lily didn't turn to look at Franks expression but she knew it would have been priceless, Miriam's pet hated all males no matter how old they were, he only tolerated Thaddeus and Jedidiah because they were Miriam's brothers and so posed no fret to his mistress. After another fifteen minutes of stalking the halls Lily breathed a sigh of relief as the huge solid oak library doors loomed into view.

Cautiously they approached the huge doors and pushed, it took all of their strength to push one of the vast doors open enough for them to squeeze inside, Lily had begun to wonder how the infirm looking vulture like librarian was able to open the doors each day, that was until Lily remembered that Pince probably had a spell to do it.

The four friends headed towards the restricted section avoiding a small party of ghost that were whiling in the corner of the charm sections near the books on silencing charms. Finally they reached the restricted section and paused at the rope divide, a small sign hung from the rope stating: -

No admittance without permission

"Well?" Miriam said as she looked at her friends "Are we doing this or not?"

"We're doing it" Lily said hoping that she spoke for the others, but yet no one moved,

"Oh this is useless!" Frank said getting annoyed, "Come on!" and with that he ducked under the rope and standing up on the other side of the border he lifted the rope as far as it would go, "Well ladies it was your idea!" Taking the hint Miriam ducked under the raised rope and standing on the other side she turned and waited for Lily and Alice. Lily followed Miriam and then came Alice,

"That's it" Frank said dramatically as he lowered the rope "there's no turning back now!"

"We should split up" Miriam said ignoring Frank

"NO!" both Lily and Alice protested in unison

"But we'll have a better chance of finding something if we-" Miriam began but she stopped as she saw the determined expressions on her friends faces

"We stay together" Lily reiterated she didn't want to be wondering around this eerie looking restriction section on her own, especially as she didn't know very many spells that would help her if she got into any difficulties, Lily knew that the safest place was anywhere where Miriam was.

"Fine" Miriam said as she pulled her wand out of her robes and whispered "Lumos", Lily was amazed to see the point spark into life like a sparkler and cast a bright and vivid green light over the friends,

"That's brilliant" Lily said as Alice linked arms with her and Miriam as the three girls led the way into the darkness, Miriam holding her wand above their heads,

The friends spent a good half hour looking around at all the different books on the shelves, Miriam and Frank warned Lily and Alice not to touch any books that looked 'suspect', Lily at first hadn't know what they had meant but after finding several large volumes tired up in chains and several more covered in blood stains Lily was beginning to understand what they had meant.

"Right" Miriam said as she headed back to the study table that the friends had decided to used as their base "I think I've got all the books I need let's go" The friends bagged the books that Miriam had wanted and they quickly made their way back to Gryffindor common room.

"I don't see why that place is restricted" Frank said idly as he swung back on his chair as the four friends sat around the study tables in their common room,

"Does this answer your question?" Alice said holding up the book she had been flicking through,

"Holy Merlin!!!" Frank exclaimed as he overbalanced and fell to the ground with a crunch. Lily didn't even what to look at the pictures, the books she had flicked through had proven too much for her, most of the diseases and their described symptoms was enough for lily to be thankful that she wasn't a pure blood or that she was too young to understand most of what was said, and both she and Frank was now seriously considering writing to the publisher of 'Misuse and mismanagement: The abuse of love potions and livestock' and demanding that an age certification was printed on the book. Lily also marvelled at how nothing in the books seemed to flex Alice or Miriam, but in truth nothing much shocked Miriam and so it wasn't that much of a surprise, although Alice was. The four friends sat for what seemed an age while Miriam read and flicked through different books, at almost 3 am Lily was about to call it all a night when,

"No, I don't believe this?" Miriam said her head deep inside a large leather book with Blue bindings and no visible title, "I-I think that Remus is a Werewolf!" she stammered her eyes widening,

"A what?" Lily asked as she stifled a yawn not fully understanding what Miriam had said "I thought they existed only in faire stories?"

"You mean along with wizards and witches?" Frank said sarcastically

"Fair point" Lily conceded

"HE'S A WEREWOLF!!!" Miriam said even louder

"For Merlin's sake lower your voice!" Frank said savagely "Do you want to wake up the entire house?"

"I knew Dumbledore was cracked but allowing a – a" Miriam said as she looked around the empty common room and lowered her voce "A werewolf into the school, what was he thinking of?!?!"

"He can't be that bad if the headmaster let him in" Alice said reassuringly "I mean-"

"Can't be that bad!!!" Miriam shot again cutting Alice off before she lowed her voice "A werewolf wiped out an entire village in Transylvanian a few years back and before that, one stalked a little girl through the woods to her grandmothers house and killed them both before a wood cutter killed it!!!" Lily blenched at Miriam's words; surely Dumbledore wouldn't be willing to put the entire school at risk, but Lily was glad when Frank decided to speak,

"This Remus we're talking about here" Frank said angrily "You remember him don't you? My room mate, our friend, the boy who saved Mac, The kid that wouldn't hurt anyone!"

"But he's got Lycanthropy!" Miriam protested "He shouldn't be allowed in the school, section 6 paragraph F of the wizarding ethics and conducts charter classifies werewolf's as none human, he shouldn't be here! And I should know, it was one of my ancestors that wrote that charter!!!" Lily could have strangled Miriam at that moment, over the past few months Lily had grown to love Miriam as the sister that she should have had, she was kind, caring and there was always fun when Miriam was a round, but now Lily couldn't believe how prejudice Miriam was being, she was acting exactly like the idiot's that would change direction when they saw Miriam walking down the corridor after the release of the Prophet article.

"After all those things you've said about everyone being equal no matter what their blood says, why are you being so bigotry about this?" Lily asked her voice sounding more angry then she had really meant it to "It's not like he asked for it you know, not like he put his arm in that things mouth and told it to bite him!"

"I'm not prejudice!" Miriam said almost automatically looking a little stunned,

"Poor Remus what he must be going through?" Alice said sympathetically as she drew everyone's attention away from the argument that was about to explode between the friends.

"Maybe we should call it night" Frank said as he shot a look at Miriam, obviously some people are never going to change their minds so -"

"What was that?" Alice asked as a loud bang signalled that someone was outside the Fat ladies portrait hole

"I don't know but I don't think we should hang around" Frank had never spoken a more truer word as at that moment the fat ladies portrait swung open,

"Run!" Miriam hissed as she grabbed hold of the book she had been reading and waved her wand extinguishing the candles on the table as she Alice and Lily ran towards their dormitory stairs and Frank ran towards his, Lily's last look of the common room was of Fat ladies portrait swinging wide open but she couldn't see anyone entering the common room.

"That was odd?" Lily said as she followed Miriam and Alice into their dorm and a loud thud emanated from the common room, Miriam ushered the girls inside their dormitory and sealed the door with the everlasting shield charm, Dymphna and Amy stirred slightly in their sleep but didn't wake.