Chapter 22:

Author's Note:

You know my excuses: School, no net, no inspiration…

Actually, about the inspiration thing…hmm, the problem seems to be that when I don't have the time to write, I have plenty of inspiration…. And the other way around… Well, then!

Toodles and chocolate sprinkles too!

Chapter 22

"Smarty pants, smarty pants! Nik is a smarty pants!" Teased Kat lightly as she walked to dinner with her annoyed brother.

"Oh, shut up you!" He grumbled and stuck his tongue out. Kat had been lectured him about 'not to look into people's eyes' and about 'trust' and 'faith'. He was beginning to wonder what Hogwarts had done to her before she started teasing him…

Grrr.

Ravenclaw wasn't that bad, was it? He pondered the thought. Was he a nerd?

Then, grinning at the very thought, he whacked Katrina on the side of her head just as they entered the Hall, knowing full well that she wouldn't dare retort in public.

Apparently, there was still some time for dinner to start as no one had really settled down yet, although some of the students where staring at the barren tables anxiously.

Katrina walked over to a particularly loud group of students, the members of which were currently debating the merits of sucking sugar quills as compared to chewing them.

"Hey Kat." The redhead called out. "Is that--" she looked at Nik.

Kat nodded happily. "Yep." She motioned to Nik. "Nik, meet Remus, Sirius, Lara, Lily, Peter and where the heck is James?"

"Quidditch Practice." Said Lily groaning. "Day and night anytime I want to meet him, he's been practicing… And if I didn't know better…" She complained jokingly.

"Okay then. Guys, meet my twin brother-slash-Controller Companion Nicholas Jeremy Ellis."

"Er—they know?" Asked Nik, looking surprised. Then, he looked back at the gang. "Oh and call me Nik."

"What about?" Kat said.

"Um... you, me… sibling children of the evil, wicked, horrible, torturous Ellis family?"

"Don't scare them, Nik. And yes, they do know."

"And they don't mind?"

"Well, of course we don't mind!" Sirius interrupted, quite put off because no one bothered to talk to him, the Great and almighty Sirius Black.

Nik looked at Kat curiously and very slowly and softly he said, "You are a very lucky girl, Katrina. You have good friends. And a good boyfriend as well." He added slyly.

"You didn't make--"

"Eye-contact? No way."

"Then?"

"Bet. 5 sickles say I know who he is."

"You're on. But only five sickles?"

"All I've got… Remus." She nodded and he continued, "Well then, pay up… By the way, I didn't have any money at all." He smiled smugly.

But the next evening,

"Are you people crazy!?" He cried. "How the hell do you find your way around this place?"

Apparently, on the way to his new classes, he had got lost a grand total of seven times, of which three times had landed him into trouble with Filch… "Hang you by the ankles I will!"… Professor Herlithan… "A HUNDRED Points from Ravenclaw!"… and Snape Sr. respectively. And that was not counting the Peeves incident, where Peeves had given him a grand tour of all the Hogwarts attractions and tourist spots.

Poor innocent Nik had been wandering the deserted corridors of the seventh floor trying to work out where the Herbology Greenhouses were. When he saw Peeves, he cheered up… Surely, this friendly and obliging looking ghost would tell him how to get out of this maze…

(I guess that everyone, er, forgot to warn Nik of the resident poltergeist, eh?)

So, after going down one never-ending staircase…

Wasn't I here a few minutes ago?

…walking through a mirror room where the mirrors stole most of your clothes and all that was reflected was your birthday suit…

Bloody Hell! Give me my clothes back. Hey,…I look good.

… pole vaulting across a large, rather deep looking gorge…

Timber!

…. And climbing through a dirt-ridden tunnel,

Nik buckled up,

Grimy, exhausted and half-naked,

Right in the middle

Of the girl's toilets.

Around twenty girls were staring at him.

"Oh. Shit."

In the end, it hadn't turned out that bad… After all being a Controller has to have some advantages, right?

But Nik was still upset.

Sirius sighed in the silence and everyone looked up at him.

"Well…" He explained. "It's just that… I had found that mirror room a few days ago…and was sort of planning to show it to you ladies." He grinned slyly as each of the so–called ladies shot him a Look.

"But, anyway… remember that time when we were trying to take that clown curse off that git McConnell?"

He paused as James began shaking his head furiously and the girls looked around blankly.

"No, Siri. I don't remember… Do you mind?" Lily said thoughtfully.

"Is this about the time when Steven came to Quidditch practice dressed as a clown?" asked Lara suddenly.

Sirius nodded slowly. "Well, yeah… you see… Jamesiboy here had, er, accidentally charmed him." He began to laugh nervously, before Lily glared at him.

"Accidentally, eh?"

Sirius nodded and she turned to James. "Oh, er… Jamesiboy? However did you curse, oh I'm sorry, accidentally charm our Head boy?" She said in a sickly sweet voice.

Remus stuffed a fist in his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Well, er…" James began hesitantly.

"Yes?" prodded Lily. Her eyes were amused, but James was currently unable to look at anything but the carpet.

"Er… you see, I sort of accidentally got the notion that you, er, wergoitothedawihim."

Lily smiled. She had understood what James had said, even if most of the others didn't.

"Aw…you were jealous! That's so sweet."

James looked up relieved. "Really?" He leaned over to kiss her, but Sirius cleared his throat loudly.

"Ahem. You can do that in private, please."

"Wait," Nik interrupted. "You two are together?"

"Ahem, yes, this is not just the way we thank each other. Now… Back to the point at hand."

Remus snorted.

Sirius looked at him sarcastically. "Yes, I did have a point, thank you very much."

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, the point was: when we rushing so chivalrously to the rescue of our wonderful head boy, I had…" He paused dramatically.

"A baby?" asked Lily.

He frowned. "No, of course not. I had… a brilliant idea."

Now this time, everyone snorted in disbelief.

"Oh, go on Sirius."

"Weelll… I thought we should make a MAP!"

"A map?"

Sirius nodded enthusiastically.

"What like… you mean a plain, simple, er map?"

Sirius nodded again.

"Padfoot," James asked. "A piece of parchment with squares and staircases marked? Er… that's your brilliant idea?"

Sirius growled. "NO! We make a magical map of Hogwarts… you know? So poor Nik here can find his way around."

"What's magical about that?" asked Lara.

"We make the map so that it shows the castle… and the people in it. Show them moving even…"

Kat began slowly, "Well, yeah… that'd be a great way to keep us out of trouble as well…"

"But how could we manage that? I mean, we'd have to tag each and every person in Hogwarts… and find out where all the thousand secret doors lead to."

"That sounds… hard." Said Peter.

"Well, if you all don't mind… I've thought of something…" Nik interrupted.

(A/N: As usual, sorry for being late, etc. etc. Also, I hope I haven't given you guys a cliffy… I mean, you all know that they make the map!! Next chapter will be the FUN they have with their new map: encounters with Filch, Mrs. Norris, Snape(s), etc! Also, CHRISTMAS will finally be here… lots of fun coming up so… stay tuned, not the same time, but the same place!! Keep on watching… or reading… or… whatever.

Cya,

Stargirlr)