Towards the end of the month Sirius started gathering information about the subjects Hogwarts was offering its third-year students. He had been thinking about this topic ever since in his first year he had come across a rather interesting book, which, unfortunately, had almost completely been written in German.
But he had found that he had a knack for languages. Most foreigners, he had discovered, were simply using different words for a perfectly English idea. 'Bantering', for example. Or 'wit'. In consequence (and Sirius was rather proud of himself for having worked this out all by himself), all you had to do was learning long lists of words by heart (plus their meaning in English) and tie them together in the end. Of course, there were words you just could not translate. Spells, for example, tended to do the most interesting things if you tried to transfer their meaning (should they have any) into another language. He had living proof for that, locked away carefully in one of the kennels behind Hagrid's hut.
Also, he had found, most names and technical terms stayed just the same in any language. Quidditch, for example seemed to be the same almost everywhere (not in Dutch, though, but then again - who spoke Dutch these days?). The same seemed to account for the old term for Pureblood, Sanguispurus. Then again, the word was practically Latin, so it made sense.
Sirius was quite certain that learning all human languages would just be a matter of time, so he had started off with those he found particularly interesting (German, for example, and French) and those, which he would definitely not be learning at school whichever turn the reorganisation of the language department was going to take - such as Occitan and Welsh.
On Remus Lupin's remark that he could not possibly learn all the languages in the world, seeing as there were a) too many of them and b) several dialects in each language so that you could not even establish the term 'language' as such, Sirius could only smile. For what could someone know who was growing up on the most deserted of all Scottish Islands? (Presumably.) Remus would be surprised to see what you could do if you really put some effort in it.
The fact that James and Peter were also against him in this matter seemed almost natural. Slightly disturbing if anything. Their criticism at least was not as off-putting as McGonagall's laughing fit the year before.
'Genius aye finds itself a century too early,' she had remarked absently while shuffling around on her desk, leaving him under the impression that she was not taking him quite seriously.
Since the new year had started, he noted not without worry, she had not turned up once. And now, four weeks after the beginning of term, people were getting slightly uneasy about the unusual situation, seeing as Professor Dumbledore refused to hire a substitute teacher due to "inner safety reasons". But she was alive, he assured Sirius and James after the boys' fifth enquiry, this time with a little edge to his voice, which proved that even Dumbledore's patience had a limit to it.
They had refrained from asking again.
Apart from the welcome lack of Transfiguration lessons, not much had changed over the holidays. The weather was still as unpleasant as ever (the Hogwarts grounds were covered in a kind of mud-snow mixture, which pleased the younger and annoyed the older students), homework preparation had been moved to a later time again, as was custom so shortly before the beginning of spring time, and the students were asked to restrict their outdoor activities to Quidditch and the occasional Hogsmeade visit.
Sirius felt that something unusual was going on, but he could not quite put his finger on it. The teachers were all much more alert than usual. Cheating during prep times became the most dangerous of all free-time activities, although misbehaving students was clearly not what Professor Sprout was paying attention to when glancing absently through the larger plants' leaves of greenhouse three, all concentration fixed upon the surrounding grounds instead of what was going on in class. People were frightened, Sirius realised, and not without reason, if what they said about McGonagall's whereabouts was true.
'I hear she's b-been taken to St. Mungo's,' Balbina informed Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter on a quiet late-January evening in Gryffindor tower. 'Sh-she's not well. I'm not sure it isn't l-life-threatening. Th-then again, Professor Vector says her c-condition's largely t-transparent. So I figure it c-can't be t-too bad.'
'Professor Vector's a sarcastic twit,' replied Sirius. 'And she hates Gryffindors.'
'She's friends with McGonagall,' remarked James. 'And she hates Slytherins as well. You seen how she treats her own students?'
'Well, she's of the old kind, isn't she?' said Sirius grumpily. 'They're all tarred with the same brush, those pure-blood Slytherins. Especially her generation.'
'Well, you would know,' remarked Remus carefully. 'It's not as if ninety percent aren't related to you one way or the other.'
'Oh, shut up,' said Sirius grumpily. 'Shows that I know what I'm talking about. Besides, that is my pencil case you're chewing on, Remus. I strongly advise you to quit that.'
'Sorry,' was the quick answer. 'It's...'
'...full-moon in a few days time. I know,' snapped Sirius. 'No need to... ARGH! LOOK! That quill was brandnew!'
James let out a snort of laughter and flung himself back in his chair. 'That's the one you chewed, Siri. When you wrote that letter to -'
'Shut up!' hissed Sirius, not quite as quickly as he might have liked. But their little chat was interrupted by the evening call anyway and the topic did not come up again.
All in all, Sirius found that there was less and less time left for chatting with other students between classes, seeing as the workload most subjects provided the second year students with increased by the day. One evening, however, directly after the half term break, James finally revealed the secret of his other Christmas present to his friends. As usual, the moment he chose was one of those post-midnight, students-are-to-remain-in-bed-under-any-circumstances ones. Sirius had just decided to leave the rest of his book ('An Advanced Guide to the Care of Hippogriffs') till tomorrow and go to sleep when James and Peter returned from the commons, obviously high-spirited and in the mood of mischief. Sirius sat up at once and looked around searchingly.
'Remus off counting his claws again?'
James grinned. 'Don't be rude, he said. 'C'mon, I need you to see something we have just discovered.'
And at this statement, Remus's head appeared in mid-air, a few inches away from Sirius's face. Sirius jumped.
'Gaaa! He's... he's...'
'Invisible,' said James impatiently. 'I told you the converter was not the only thing my parents gave me for Christmas, didn't I?'
Sirius hesitated, then grinned. 'And good thing, too, seeing as you managed to get it confiscated within two weeks of term,' he stated. 'So, where's the trick?'
'It is an Invisibility Cloak,' replied James lazily. 'My father's. A family heirloom.'
Sirius's eyes widened. 'No, seriously? You mean a real Invisibility Cloak? No fake?'
'No fake,' said Remus, pulling a dirty, plain-looking cloak off his body, appearing again in full shape and size. Peter giggled.
'Wow!' was all Sirius managed. 'Give it to me. Let me have a go!'
'Not now,' said James as impatiently as before. 'There is something I need you to see. That's why I got the cloak out in the first place. Now come on! No one will catch us if we're not visible! Curfew's not something we need to mind any longer.'
Sirius got to his feet. Within minutes the four boys had managed to wrap the cloak around the whole of their four bodies, convince the Fat Lady to open the portrait hole to thin air (Remus had been glad to point out that even thin air had the right to enter or exit the commons if it had the right password at hand) walk through several rather long corridors, and pass the caretaker with his filthy cat, completely unseen.
Sirius was in awe. They passed classroom doors and windows, torches and more classroom doors, and finally turned into a corridor which Sirius had never seen in his life. It was leading down, even though he had figured they were already on dungeon level, but James seemed to know where he was going, so he did not speak. The passageway opened into yet another corridor, as dark as the previous ones, which gave Sirius the impression that it was never used by anyone, not even Mr. Filch or Mrs. Norris. When they reached the last vault on the right hand side of this corridor James stopped so abruptly that Peter stepped on Remus's foot, who could suppress a squeal only by grabbing the edge of Sirius's robes.
'Shush!' hissed James, causing Sirius to angrily brush the cloak off his face.
'Where are we?' he snapped back.
The outlines of James's face appeared from under the cloak and, one after another, Remus's and Peters.
'This,' said James, 'is the door of a secret lab. Peter and I discovered it the other night when you were busy reading and Remus seeing his "auntie". We think it belongs to one of the teachers. Let me show you...'
He drew his wand and tapped the handle lightly. 'Alohomora,' he whispered, causing the door to open slowly, reluctantly, with a small creak.
Very quickly, all four boys slid into the room, which indeed presented them with what seemed to be the contents of a very small potions lab. Potions on an advanced level, without a doubt.
'Well,' said James eagerly, watching his friend's expression as he did, 'what d'you say? Isn't this great? We have solved the mystery of Professor McGonagall's current state!'
Sirius gaze glided over the various shelves and tables and eventually came to a halt at the large, black cauldron that was hanging over a small artificial fireplace in front of the narrow desk.
'What are you saying?' he said slowly, not grasping because he was not quite sure yet whether he wanted to grasp such a thing.
'Well, just look at the ingredients,' said Remus helpfully. 'They are all used for advanced potions like veritasera or antidotes. Well, or poisons,' he added as an afterthought. 'I reckon that Professor McGonagall was poisoned, and that the poison was brewed in here. Look, there is even some anti-bezoar liquid in that bottle.'
James nodded avidly. 'Remus is right,' he said, looking at Sirius as if trying to convince him of their friend's every word. 'I bet it's Robertson trying to infiltrate the school by wiping out its head staff.'
'You are an ass,' said Sirius quietly. 'There's no way Robertson could have done this. He really is far too much of an idiot to -...'
But that was as far as he came, because the door behind them opened and the dark outlines of a grown-up appeared against the light of the torches from behind. The person was standing upright, hands on both hips, one of them closed around what looked unmistakably like the handle of a wand. Sirius's eyes widened in horror.
'Robertson!' he hissed, unable to stop himself and at the same time the tip of the person's wand lit, showing indeed the very person they had been discussing, looking very angry and, Sirius thought, slightly worried.
'Sirius Black. Not a surprise.'
James cleared his throat. 'We... uhm... haven't really seen anything,' he said awkwardly. 'If you let us go back to the commons no one ever needs to know about this.'
Professor Robertson's eyes narrowed dangerously. 'What are you saying, boy?' he snapped. 'Do you take me for an idiot just because I am younger than the average teacher? Who do you think you are talking to?'
'Really, sir,' said Peter timidly. 'We only came across this room by accident. We had no idea you were brewing illegal potions in here.'
Robertson stared at him for a while. Sirius could have kicked the smaller boy, but he knew instinctively that this would make matters worse for them. Robertson let his gaze wander over the contents of his lab, then over Remus, and halted at James and Sirius again at last.
'Students out of bed is against the school rules,' he said eventually, sounding slightly irritated, but very firm. 'You four will be punished. What is that?'
Sirius saw James's face lose all its colour as Robertson pointed at the Invisibility Cloak.
'My old bathrobe,' he quickly said, sparing his friend an answer, snatching the cloak before Robertson could. 'It's cold in the corridors at night.'
The Professor's eyes narrowed slightly. 'So it is,' he said slowly, leaving the cloak to Sirius, and turned to James and Remus eventually. 'I shall see to that you all get to know the thrashing vault from inside,' he hissed. 'Roaming the corridors at this time of the night is the worst you can do these days. Report to me in the morning after prep time and go to bed quietly now. Move!'
He grabbed James's and Remus's ear and half shoved them out of the room. Sirius gave him a startled look, but hurried to follow his friends into the cold corridor again. Peter met the unfortunate fate of the slowest to receive a slap on the back of his head, before all four hurried along the corridor in the given direction, finding out that from the other side of the corridor, it was only a few steps to the Potions master's private quarters and only a classroom's length to the entrance of the Slytherin common room.
When they reached Gryffindor tower and their dormitory (not bothering to cram under the Invisibility Cloak again this time) all their eagerness for adventures had completely vanished.
'The thrashing vault,' whispered Remus unhappily. 'My parents will kill me.'
'If Robertson doesn't do it first,' mumbled James from his four-poster in the back. 'I hear that canings are no fun.'
'He won't do that. He can't,' snarled Sirius impatiently. 'We have discovered his secret. Punishing us will provoke questions. And I swear to you, I will accuse him in front of the whole school if he so much as lays a finger on me.'
'Sirius,' said Remus pensively, 'are you sure this is his lab? What if we are mistaken? What if he doesn't care that we have discovered the lab because he had nothing to do with it?'
Sirius gave him a dangerous side-glance, which he usually preserved for Regulus, but changed his expression at the realisation of what Remus was talking about.
'Then,' he said quite earnestly, 'we'll have to find out who else is using that room.'
Author's Note: Again, many, many thanks for your inspiring reviews. Excellent questions, Risi. Exactly the right ones, too. Moth, Lance is being promoted all the time. That happens to soldiers who are as excellent as he is.
Some of you might be wondering why I came up with a wizarding army at all, seeing as there is nothing of the sort in the books. But my Snape family tradition is vital to the various strings of plot I am planning to put together in future chapters/years. As you might have gathered Rodney Robertson is part of this background, and so is Mr. Lupin.
