"Psst, Remus. Get up. Come on, Remus."
Remus Lupin pulled his leg away from whatever it was that was trying to shake him awake with it. He turned over and pulled his blankets closer around him.
"Oh get up already. I neeeeed you."
Remus grumbled. "Sirius… It's the middle of the night." Remus turned over and looked at him through half open eyes. "What in the name of God do you want? I'm tired. Full moon was only last night, can't you let me sleep?"
"This is important! C'mon Remus. I need you." Sirius tugged on Remus' arm and pulled him upright.
Remus Lupin, with a great deal of reluctance, allowed his best friend, Sirius Black, to pull him out of bed. "Ngh, this had better be good. It's bloody freezing out tonight." Remus picked up his pocket watch from the bedside table and squinted at it. "It's two in the morning, Sirius!"
Sirius smiled widely. "I know! It's the perfect time. Everyone's asleep. I checked the map. We can take the opportunity to add to the map, Remus."
Remus sighed. He started reaching for the edge of his comforter again. "Get James to go with you, Sirius. I'm tired."
Sirius grabbed his arm and hauled him towards his trunk. "I can't take James, he's in the hospital wing after falling off his broomstick at practice, remember? You and I carried him there."
Remus pulled out his robes and then his coat when Sirius shoved him into the trunk. "Ow! My shins, Sirius!" He rubbed what he was sure were going to be bruises in the morning. "Forgive me for forgetting such little details when I'm half dead and half asleep."
"You can't be half dead and half asleep, because then you would be wholly incoherent and you're never that."
Remus wrapped his scarf around his neck. "Have I mentioned that I hate you today?"
"Nope! Come on." Sirius reached into James Potter's trunk and dug around for the invisibility cloak.
Remus rubbed his upper arms. "I really wish you'd plan things like this and not decide on them at a moments notice."
"Spontaneity is the spice of life, Remus, now let's get going." Sirius tossed the cloak over them both.
"That's 'variety' you great oaf."
"Do you really think that this is a good idea, Sirius? You do know how much trouble we could get in for doing this, don't you?"
"No, not a good idea… but definitely a fun one. And I do know exactly how much trouble we could get in, as you just told me," he paused to glance at the time, "exactly four minutes ago."
Remus Lupin tugged at the edge of the invisibility cloak. "Right, well just so you don't forget. I just wanted to make sure that you know that I think this is a bad idea."
"So why are you coming along then?"
"Because I'll be damned before I let you run off and get yourself into this much trouble without being able to make sure I drag you out before someone catches you and you get expelled."
"You're a good friend, you know that?" Sirius grinned.
"Too good a friend to you for my own good, I fear. Now come on. It's cold out here, I want to get back to bed sometime before dawn. We've got that awful Potions exam tomorrow."
"Potions test? Are you serious?" Sirius stopped and looked back at Remus. "Potions test?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "You would forget. What, you think I've been studying Potions all week because I like them?"
"Well…"
Remus hit him. "Come on, before the stairs move again, let's get to the top of that hallway. The map says there's no one in that hallway. We haven't finished those halls." Sirius lagged behind. Remus raised an eyebrow. "Your imitation of a potted palm isn't going to get that hallway mapped."
"There's nothing down that hallway. Why don't we go out onto the grounds for a bit. That's much more exciting. We still haven't got much out around the Whomping Willow." Sirius glanced towards a window.
"Sirius Black, you might have a death wish, skulking around in the dark near that psychotic bush, but I'm not getting any closer to that tree than I have to." Remus dragged him by the arm up the stairs, just before the stairs relocated. "And if you haven't noticed, it is exceedingly cold out."
"Fine, fine. Hallway. I'm coming. God, you're so responsible." Sirius counted the doors in the hallway.
Remus marked the information down on the map. "Don't make it sound like a disease. I am a prefect you know."
"Yes, but I try to forget that. Don't worry, I still love you, Moony." Sirius said with mock sincerity.
"I ought to take points from you for that."
"You wouldn't."
"I ought to."
Remus stifled a yawn as he trailed after Sirius around a corner. He looked at his watch and groaned. "Sirius, we really need to get back to the dormitory. It's four in the morning. I'm going to drop dead if you don't let me crawl back into bed for what precious little time I have left to sleep."
Sirius looked down at the map. "All right, one more room okay? Then we'll go back."
Remus nodded. "All right. Just one more. This one." Remus leaned against the door closest to him. "Oh, look, too bad, locked. Let's go back to bed now."
"Alohomora." The lock clicked open.
Remus made a face at Sirius. "No fair studying things that prevent me from getting sleep. Why is it that you won't learn anything unless it has a very real chance that we'll end up expelled when you use it?"
"Because nothing's worth learning if it can't possibly cause us serious trouble."
"Why do I even bother asking you these things?" Remus turned the doorknob.
Sirius smiled and patted him on the back. "I figured you'd have learnt that by now."
"I must be stupid." Remus followed Sirius into the dark room, pulling the door closed behind him. The room was filled with boxes that were draped in brown sackcloth, presumably to keep the dust off them. Sirius poked around underneath them to see if there was anything in the boxes worth nothing. Remus went over to a tall rectangular object in the corner and pulled up the cloth.
Beneath it was an old mirror and Remus rubbed it with the corner of his sleeve, trying to brush away what looked like years of dirt and dust. He frowned as an image started to emerge. It wasn't his own mirror image though. He raised an eyebrow. It was an image of him standing beside a tree bathed in moonlight. Full moon's light. Remus reached out to touch the image and the image of himself in the mirror smiled and stretched out its arms and turned around in the moonlight laughing, and nothing happened. None of the harrowing changes that came with each full moon. Remus stared wonderingly.
"Found anything interesting, Remus?" Sirius walked over.
Remus dropped the edge of the cloth. "Just a mirror..." He said quietly. "It showed me nice things. We should get back." Remus shook his head. He felt tired. "You promised."
Sirius glanced back at the covered mirror and then shrugged. "Okay, okay, I did promise. All right let's hope we can navigate the stairs before Filch catches us."
"I hope so. He hates you enough as it is." Remus tucked the map into his robes and hurried after Sirius, casting a quick glance back towards the door so that he could find it again later.
to be continued.