Chapter Eleven

Where we last left off...

Ally was taken by surprise when her uncle picked her up in a hug and twirled her around.

"Al!" he shouted joyfully, a large grin on his face. He set her on the ground and looked her up and down. Ally could see stars in her eyes when her feet hit the ground.

"You look horrible!" he said, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Er—thanks...same to you." she stumbled on the words, and they slurred from her mouth.

Ally looked him up and down. He still wore on the same suit that he wore yesterday. His suit was completely covered in ash from head to toe. There was a rip on his pant leg and on his upper left arm. Other than that, he didn't look all that beat up, in fact, he looked rather exhilarated. The only physical reminder of the previous night was a small cut above his left eyebrow. She was having difficulty focusing on his figure, and attributed it to all that had happened.

Her uncle looked at her curiously and then over her shoulder catching sight of Lily.

"Lil!" he said and swept her into a big hug. He spun her around like he did Ally. Ally had trouble seeing that too. Everything was starting to look fuzzy.

"Er—" Lily said and patted his back awkwardly, "Lovely to see you too."

Ally laughed drunkenly and squinted over at the Potters.

Mrs. Potter was sitting, clutching James and Sirius to her. She was crying and muttering 'My boys... my boys...' while Mr. Potter stood next to her, his hands on Sirius' and James' shoulders. She tried to focus on them but the world kept swaying back and forth... back and forth.

She didn't get a moment to think to herself, because she was pulled into another hug by her uncle.

"Lil said you confounded a Death Eater!" he grinned madly, "That's my girl!"

"I had help." Ally said, smiling, "and can you put me down?"

'Oh, right." he said and placed her back on the ground, "I'm just so proud o' my little Al..."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and all attention turned to him. Ally could barely see him.

"If you will excuse me," he said, the twinkle in his eye was a bit dull that day, "I have some business to attend to. I'll leave you to tell your tales."

He smartly walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. As soon as the door closed with a click, her uncle ushered Lily and her into Dumbledore's chairs. Ally stumbled over to the chair and collapsed into its arms.

"Quickly, quickly," he said.

He walked over to where Mrs. Potter was holding Sirius and James. As gently as he could, he pried the boys away from her. Then he led them over to the other chairs and sat them down.

The Potters stood, waiting.

"Well," his uncle said, "what are you waiting for?" he urged her on.

"For you to tell me what you are waiting for from me." Ally said giddily.

He grinned at her smart comment and smacked himself in the head.

"Of course," he muttered to himself, "I or we," he gestured to the Potters, "are waiting for you to tell us what happened to you last night."

"Got it," Ally said. She sat up in straight in her chair and then fell back harshly.

"It was a dark and stormy night--" she began dramatically and drunkenly.

"I should have specified," her uncle said. "You have to tell your story seriously and without improvisation."

"Maybe Sirius should tell it then," Lily said.

"Hey!" Ally protested to the stars in her eyes.

"I agree," said James, "There's no chance Al will be able to tell it seriously."

"Fine..." Ally conceded. She wasn't feeling up to anything anyways. Sirius started telling his friends and family what happened.

Sirius had told their tale exactly as it happened, leaving out a few parts where they had spoken privately. When he came to the part where Lily and James met up with them, her uncle held up a hand, silencing him.

"Before we come to that, let's here what Lily and James were up to. I believe I ran into them once, and am curious as to how their tale unfolded." He pointed his hand at James, who started Lily's and his tale. Ally tried to see James, but he kept slipping in and out of focus, her head felt like someone was hammering on it...

It was around noontime, when James' tale came up to the moment where Lily and he met up with Sirius and Ally. He paused, to see if Ally's uncle would stop him, and when her uncle showed no indication of halting the story he continued on.

He came to the part describing the search for a cure and how Lily came across the solution. In the back Ally could here Mrs. Potter gasp and sob a little, the noise came sharply to her ears and she winced a little.

James finished the tale with Ally, Sirius, Lily and him coming across the Headmaster's office and flooing from there to Dumbledore.

The parents sat, stunned a little at the whole retelling of the story. Ally moved to get up but her uncle held her down. She fell back heavily on the chair.

"Wait," he said to her quietly, "You don't look good."

So she waited in silence... silence... silence. Her eyelids felt heavy... she rested her head back on the chair... the world fell back into darkness.

"Al!" she heard faintly.

"Al!"

Again? She thought, annoyed. I'm not getting up and you can't make me.

Someone was shaking her shoulders roughly and she batted them away with her hand. Her hand made contact with something solid and she could hear laughter.

"Al!"

She opened her eyes wearily and stared up at a black blob.

"Why gummy," she said sweetly, "How are travels?"

"Gummy?" someone said, "She's lost it."

"I think we already knew that." she heard Lily say.

"Lil?" Ally said opening her eyes fully.

She watched as the black blob formed slowly into Sirius, who was peering down at her.

"You're not gummy." she pulled the pillow out from under her and stuffed it over her head. "I'm not leaving until gummy comes!" she said.

Of course, she had a pillow over her head, so it came out more like... "Eye-mof-Eeven-mumfil-gumee-omes."

"What was that? Did anyone catch that?" she heard Sirius ask.

"She said... 'Eye-mof-Eeven-mumfil-gumee-omes' word for word, trust me, I know."

"That's weird Lily," Ally said, taking the pillow off her head and placing it back, "I mean, I remember things, but not word for word, like you do."

She looked around the room. Sirius, Lily, and Remus stood around her bed like, hawks peering down at her. She was in the hospital wing. How did I get here? She thought to her self.

"What happened?" she asked... looking up at all their intent faces

"You blacked out in the office," Lily said to her. "After we finished talking to your Uncle and the Potters."

"Really?" she asked stunned, "But I never do anything like that! I think you must be confusing me with my good twin sister."

"We're not joking," she said seriously, "you blacked out and your uncle had to carry you to the hospital wing. You've been asleep for two days, today is Tuesday."

"You mean to tell me... that I've been asleep for two whole days? That is so not groovy! How many classes did I miss? How much homework do I have? Oh, I hate being sick, it makes me so anxious." she fell back onto her pillow.

"Relax," Remus came into her vision, "The teachers decided to give you a reprieve."

"Don't use big words on me Remus!" Ally said seriously, "What does that mean?"

"You don't have to do any of the assignments you missed."

"I don't!"

"None." he said smiling, "and..."

"And what?"

"And none of the assignments you will be missing." he said nervously, shuffling his feet.

"Will be missing... as in future tense?" she said slowly, looking at him with one eyebrow raised. Then she turned to her friends, she looked at them one by one, none of them seemed to be able to meet her eye.

"Will be missing?" she repeated, "What the heck does that mean?"

"Madam Pomfrey says it's not good for your condition to be up and about."

"But... but..." she stuttered, she couldn't decide on being confused, or just plain angry. She decided on confused. Maybe I'll switch to angry later.

"Why?"

"You've been under too much stress." Remus said at her confused look, "She wants to keep you here overnight."

"Overnight?"

"Yes, during that time when it goes all dark, people call that night." James muttered.

"I heard that." Ally scowled, "and I don't see why I have to stay overnight. It's ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous," Madam Pomfrey said, coming over to her bed, "It's perfectly within regulation for me to make you stay overnight.

"Still, I don't see why... I'm in perfect health!"

She flipped back the covers and stood up; she straightened herself out, placing her hands on her hips and smiled confidently. Still smiling, she said...

"Someone catch me..." and Ally fell over back onto the bed.

Lily and the rest of them laughed at her show, Ally she sent them a glare.

"Told you so." Madam Pomfrey sniffed, "This isn't the time to be playing games." she turned around and placed a vial of something on Ally's nightstand.

"What is that?" Ally said.

"Medicine, to make you relaxed." she replied and poured it out into a small glass cup. The medicine was clear white and it fizzed, reminding Ally of some muggle soda shops she'd seen in France.

"I am relaxed!" she said looking at the medicine with suspicion.

"Oh... really?"

Madam Pomfrey sighed and took out her wand. It let out a light bang and Ally jumped, nearly falling off her bed.

Ally looked around wildly. No one else in the room had jumped, only Ally had.

"What the heck did you do that for!" She cried out, falling back onto her pillows.

"To prove that you're the exact opposite of relaxed. You're high strung." Madam Pomfrey said, disapprovingly.

"Fine... give me whatever that is." Ally pointed at the clear medicine.

"Will you fight?" she asked, putting her wand away.

"Maaaaaybe." Ally said, shrugging her shoulders.

Madam Pomfrey sighed and handed the cup to her. Ally looked at it with disgust. It smelt like nothing, which probably meant it tasted like something horrible. She tipped back her head and plugged her nose, downing it with one gulp. It felt like the liquid was floating down her throat, making her a bit queasy.

Unexpectedly, the medicine spread throughout her body and she could feel every muscle slowly relax.

"Weird." she said and slumped back onto her bad.

"I'll leave you and your friends to chat," in a flash, Madam Pomfrey cleared Ally's nightstand of the medicine and left the bed.

"Well, we'll be seeing you Ally." James said and nodded at Sirius and Remus, "Can't stay much longer, pressing business, as you know." he added.

"Going to terrorize more first years," Ally rolled her eyes, "Because I think Peeves might beat you to it..." she pointed to the door, and low and behold, Peeves happened to float by, levitating some kind of bat, while smiling insanely.

"Whoops!" James said, "Got to be going, told Peter we would meet him! Bye Al... love." he winked at Lily who rolled her eyes.

"Some things never change," she muttered, with a trace of a smile.

"See you Al," Remus said, dropping off some chocolate frogs on her nightstand, "Thought I'd get some candy for you as you do for me, when I'm in the hospital wing." he whispered in her ear, and backed off smiling.

"See ya around." Sirius said and waved as the trio backed out of the room.

As soon as they left, Lily peeked out the door and looked to see if they were still there. As soon as she was certain they were gone, she ran back over to Ally's bed, plopping down on the side.

"You won't believe what Potter and his group have planned."

"Huh?" Ally said.

"Well, I was walking back to the Common Room, after visiting the Owlery. I was mailing my mum." She explained. "Anyway, I was in the corridor, when I heard some voices. They were all hushed and talking very quietly. I snuck up and hid behind one of those huge tapestries in the hallways."

She paused as Madam Pomfrey walked by and waited until she was out of earshot.

"... I waited for a little while, and I heard Potter and his group talking. They were whispering about a party of some sort. They were talking about these plans to sneak down to the kitchens tonight and get the elves to make them food. Black even wanted to get firewhisky!"

"No way... We have to join them."

Lily looked at her incredulously.

"Nooooo, we have to punish them... in our own way. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with this sort of stuff, it's preposterous."

"So what do you plan on doing?"

"I'm not sure yet... but..."

"But... what?" Ally inquired.

"Well, it's sort of weird, how they can get away with all this stuff. The pranks I mean, without being seen." she sniffed.

"What's so mysterious about that?"

"Well, there was this one time... It's stupid."

"No! Tell me!" Ally said, "I'll bug you forever if you just leave me off on a hook like that!"

"Okay... it was in the winter... and during the winter, we usually have this big snowball fight with Hufflepuff. It's for fun, but some people take it really seriously. You see, each team makes a big fort and each team has an equal number of players on it. It's only fair, right?"

Ally nodded in understanding and urged her on with the story.

"Well, there was a particularly nasty snowball fight last year, our fifth year. People were hexing each other and jinxing snowballs. I wasn't playing. I was sitting on the bench with Remus, studying for our O.W.L.S. Remus wasn't looking good, now that I think about it, so it was probably near full moon."

"I hated O.W.L.S." Ally said disdainfully.

"Yeah, me too," Lily said and continued, "Eventually Remus and I couldn't focus and turned our attention to the fight. Hufflepuff was winning by a lot and the Gryffindors were getting frustrated, you could tell because they were throwing a lot of bogus shots. Anyway, all of a sudden, there didn't seem to be a lot of team members on the Gryffindor team. I counted heads and there were only ten when there should have been thirteen. Three of them went missing."

"I can do some math Lily, don't insult me." Ally joked.

"I looked at the faces of the teammates and soon realized that it was Potter, Black, and Pettigrew. I scoured the grounds around the fight and saw something... interesting."

"Like...?" Ally said.

"Footprints."

"Oh, yeah you don't see those everyday." Ally said sarcastically.

"Footprints that appeared suddenly, with no one around to make those footprints..."

As mentioned before, Ally did not catch onto things very easily.

"So... that means... another vampire?"

"No! It means that someone was walking around invisible. Think, who did I say was missing from the team?"

"James, Sirius, and Peter..."

"So..."
"So... James, Sirius and Peter... are vampires?"

"No, Ally, this has nothing to do with vampires.'

"Yes," realization finally dawned on Ally's face. "I've got it!"

"Oh, good." Lily sighed. "So how are we—"
"James, Sirius and Peter are vampires! Vampires don't have a reflection in mirrors or water. They were soaked in water from the snowball fight, and since they didn't have a reflection in the water, they turned invisible. It all makes sense! They're throwing a vampire party! Trying to lull people in to suck their blood..."

Ally rambled on while Lily smacked herself on the forehead. She stood up and shook Ally on the shoulders, causing Ally to stop.

"Wrong again, Ally. James, somehow, I don't know how..."

"Neither do I! They hid it so well."

"... Came in possession of an invisibility cloak!"

Later...

Throughout the day other people came to visit Ally. Lily was the most frequent, being her best friend, but there were others.

Pria and Carla were probably the most cheerful visitors she got. They had brought up tons of snack and treats. Pria told her all about what had been happening since they had gotten back.

"The ministry has been trying to cover up everything." she told Ally, "Bunch of cowards. The Daily Prophet keeps trying to tone it all down. They say that it was just a prank that a group of teenagers did. Not you, of course, other people. Like the university students. They're all being questioned, even though everyone knows it was the Death Eaters doing. They were under orders from Vol..."Her voice trailed off.

"What?"

"Well... um... you see, people these days... they're calling him You-Know-Who. It's just... less painful for everyone. Instead of saying V-vold-," she sighed. "Please don't make me say it."

Carla and her left a little while after. They said goodbye and promised to bring Ally more sweets in the morning.

They weren't the only ones. Ally had never had this many people in her life come to visit her. The Ravenclaw that had gone to the ball came, Sirius dropped by and told her a few jokes, Lily again, two Hufflpuffs she had never even met, a few Gryffindors she had seen in the Common Room, and even Professor Dumbledore.

"Ah," he said sitting down next to her, "I see you have received many sugary tokens!"

"Yep!" Ally beamed at the headmaster, "What do you need, Professor?"

"Alas! You've caught me in quite a predicament. For a while now I have been trying to come up with four words, to inspire strength, intelligence, courage, and loyalty."

"I see," Ally said wisely, "You've come to the right person."

"Yes," Dumbledore said, "Lately I have been so busy I haven't come up with a fourth word, so far all I have got is... Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! And--and..." he sighed, looking genuinely tired... "That's all, I went to several others, but only you can give me the proper insight I need."

"Hmm," she said, "That's a toughie."

"Toughie is close... You're on the right track!" Dumbledore said excitedly

"Toughie...Truckee...tracker...treaty...tweakie...Tweak!" she said happily.

"Tweak..." Dumbledore repeated, "Perfect!"

He adjusted his hat on his head and stood up.

"Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" and then he left the room, leaving Ally to giggle.

Lily came back for the thousandth time and went over their plan together. Everything would be set up ahead of time, if possible. Lily had decided that she would sneak out of the Common Room later that night. Ally agreed to meet her outside the old transfiguration classroom.

Once that was said and done, Lily left Ally; she had been ushered out by Madam Pomfrey.

"Time for you to go to bed, you've had far too many visitors today."

Madam Pomfrey closed the curtains around her bed and turned off the lights to the hospital wing.

Nighttime, close to nine o clock...

Ally had to admit, the hospital wing at night was scary. Everywhere she looked the shadows seemed to loom over her. The only light left on was a small lantern, one on the wall of each bed.

Ally had been pretending to be asleep for a while now. She had seen Madam Pomfrey get up every once and a while and get something, a glass or a piece of paper.

How long does this woman take to go to bed? Ally thought irritably when she saw Madam Pomfrey open her office door once again.

Eventually, the wing was quiet. Ally wasn't completely sure that Madam Pomfrey had gone to bed, but she figured it was safe to check. If she was caught, she would just claim she wanted a sleeping draught and had gone to knock on her door.

Ally lifted her head up and listened for any signs of movement.

She threw off her covers and stood. Wobbling a little, the medicine had not quite worn off, she stretched. Her muscles were a bit slow; she tested them out, by taking a slow step forward. Ally took a moment to realize that she was in hospital pajamas, and wished the hospital wing had better style. She grabbed her Hogwarts robe, lying at the bottom of her bad, to cover herself up. Her feet seemed to hold her, but she could only walk slowly. Spying her wand on the nightstand, Ally twisted it into her hair. Might need that... She pulled back the curtains and cautiously made her way toward Madam Pomfrey's door.

This is going to be slow... she thought. Well, just hope I don't get caught by anyone; I won't be able to run away! She pressed her ear against the door to Pomfrey's office and listened intently for any sign of movement. All she heard was the soft snoring of the hospital mistress, already asleep.

Ally looked around the room and, using the wall to support her, she wobbled over to the door. She opened the door sluggishly and closed it behind her. Ally was panting by now... Why am I so weak? This shouldn't take so long... She focused on getting to the end of the hallway.

In no time she had come to her first set of stairs. This is hard; I wish I hadn't taken that medicine. Then again, Madam Pomfrey would have forced it down my throat if I had refused. She drooped down to the floor, placing her foot on the step below and dragged her body down the steps. This kind of reminds me of when I was little... She reached the bottom of the steps and used one of the pedestals the knights' armor stood on, to bring her to her feet.

That was easy, only four million more stairs to go. She was desperately wishing that Hogwarts had a muggle elevator, when she heard movement around the corner. She froze, still leaning against the wall.

"Look! The map!" she heard a squeaky voice say.

"Shhhh" another voice whispered.

(A/N If you don't know who that is... Well, that's sad.)

Ally listened intently; no one seemed to be there as she stuck her head around the corner. She turned the corner, still using the wall to support her weight. She slumped against the wall once she saw no one there.

"Well, my life is fun." she said sarcastically. She jumped when she heard someone snicker silently, and then the snicker was cut off.

Ally jumped to her feet, her muscles suddenly throbbing with awareness. She untwisted the wand from her hair and held up it with two hands.

"Who's there?" she demanded and whirled around to look, holding her wand up threateningly.

Nothing showed except for a few looming tapestries and the normal Hogwarts paintings.

"Show yourself," she demanded, "I know you're there."

She moved forward down the hall, suddenly someone else rounded the corner.

"Stupefy!" they yelled.

"Expelliarmus!" she countered.

Her attacker's wand flew out of their hand and clattered to the floor next to where Ally was standing. Ally dodged the stunning spell and held her wand at the ready for anything.

"Al!" Lily said.

"Lil! You scared me!" Ally reached down and picked up Lily's wand, tossing it to Lily she asked.

"I thought we were meeting down near the old transfiguration classroom!" Ally said.

Lily caught her wand and looked over at Ally. Lily was wearing her robe over her pajamas. Her hair was tied back in a tight bun.

"I thought we were too," Lily said walking down the length of the hallway to where Ally stood, "It's nearly midnight, where have you been?"

"Midnight!" Ally cried, "It can't have taken me that long to get down here. That medicine the Pomfrey gave me slowed me down. Where were you?"

"I was waiting for you, after a while I decided to go look, you hadn't shown up."

"Sorry," Ally said sheepishly, "normally I'm very punctual."

Lily looked around her.

"Who were you yelling at anyway?"

"I don't know," Ally pondered, "I heard a voice say something about a map. Then another voiced shushed them and I looked around. No one was there, seems they've disappeared."

"Was it the caretaker?"

"You mean that crazy kid Filch?" Ally asked, raising her eyebrows. "No, this voice was younger, kind of squeaky. Almost like a first year."

Once again she heard a soft snicker and in no time Lily and Ally raised their wands.

"I heard that too," Lily said, "Could it be an animal?"

"No, it was human,"

Lily and Ally stood back to back.

"Ally," Lily whispered, "I just thought of something..."

"What?" Ally said, agitated she wasn't more focused on whatever it was stalking them.

"Maybe it's who we're looking for," Lily said, "You know, since you can't seem to see them."

"See them?" Ally asked, "Who we're looking for?"

Ally thought quickly, suddenly realization struck her face.

"Oh... you mean our friend... the pig?"

"Yes... the pig." Lily said, "Perhaps we can stall it long enough, that it won't be able to escape and run through Hogwarts..."

"That is a good idea," Ally said, "Let's stay here, and stun anything that moves..."

Lily raised her voice so that anyone who had been listening could hear her.

"Or we could stun anything that we hear moving, you never know where the pig could be hiding..."

Ally and Lily stood stationary for what seemed like an hour, but it could have been a mere fifteen minutes. It seemed longer in Ally's mind because her muscles didn't seem to have the ability to hold her up.

After a while they sunk to the floor and rested a bit. Ally's eyes were heavy from fatigue and she crawled over to the wall, resting her head against the stone. Lily followed suit and, together, they almost fell asleep.

Almost.

Soon after they appeared to be resting, Ally heard light and slow footsteps on her left. She elbowed Lily discretely and gripped her wand. Lily also lifted her wand and she nodded over to the left.

Lily pointed her wand over to a blank space near where the footsteps originated. She said a spell Ally didn't recognize and a yellow light shot out of her wand. The yellow light dimmed to a faint point on the ceiling. The light moved, wherever the footsteps went, the yellow point followed, bouncing happily on the ceiling.

As soon as the footsteps faded around the corner, Lily and Ally sprang from their resting place on the floor.

"That light will follow Potter and them, hurry!"

Ally and Lily followed them around the corner, the footsteps quickened.

They followed the marauders doggedly wherever they went. Nearly every time they turned a corner, the footsteps sped up, going faster and faster.

Soon they were speed walking... jogging... now they were running, the yellow light was spinning around, floating after the marauders as fast as it could go.

Soon, Ally fell behind, she couldn't keep running, her entire body seemed to protest the exercise.

"Keep going!" Ally whispered urgently to Lily. Lily nodded her head and sprinted around the corner in hot pursuit.

Ally panted and leaned against the wall.

Lily will probably catch them... or at least keep them running before they hit our trap. Peeves will be so excited to run into them. What did she say she was going to do again? Lily had spoken earlier about setting Peeves up. She never really explained how she was going to convince Peeves. Ally just supposed that Lily had some sort of persuasive skills with the poltergeist.

Now I really wish I hadn't taken that medicine... I won't be able to see their faces as their caught by Peeves... Lily said that, once the marauders ran into the poltergeist, she would use a spell that shot air out to uncloak the marauders. I don't think that she planned for it to turn out this way though. How in the world did they see us following them? They said something about a map?

Ally sighed and conceded to herself that it would be better to stop thinking, and instead wait for Lily to come back for her. At least it's better this way... Now, Lily can run them straight into Peeves.

Ally sat down, once again, against the Hogwarts walls. She clutched her wand tightly, not trusting the shadows in the corners.

Something small moved in the corner. Ally raised her wand again.

"Hello?" she said softly.

A small, very thin, dusty cat padded forward. Her lamp-like eyes darted around and rested on Ally.

"Oh," Ally sighed, "Hello there, I'm Ally, who are you?"

The cat twitched its head to the side and took a few more steps forward.

Ally remembered that she still had a few bits of candy left in her pockets and, putting down her wad, reached for them. She shuffled through the contents of her robe pockets and found a pouch of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. She poured a few out, that she knew the cat wouldn't protest to and held them in her hand.

"Here kitty," she said softly, clicking her tongue, "Come here."

The cat sniffed her hand and ate the offered candy. She licked her teeth and rubbed against Ally legs, purring. Ally stroked the cat's fur fondly.

"I have a cat just like you at home..." she said.

The cat perked its ears up and looked at her; it seemed to understand what she said.

"You look very smart, when you do that." Ally whispered.

The cat yawned and turned her head to the end of the hall, listening. Suddenly she hissed and took off in the other direction.

Ally pushed against the wall, slowly getting up. Taking the cats warning to heart, she raised her wand, hands trembling.

Someone's swift footsteps could be heard just around the corner. Ally took a few steps backwards as they rounded the corner.

"Ally!" they said.

"Huh?" she looked at her friend with confusion on her face.

Wasn't he supposed to be caught with the rest of them by now...?

"What are you doing up! You're sick! Not to mention Filch is coming this way!" Sirius whispered quickly and pulled her away from the wall.

"No—don't!" she said too late, and she stumbled and fell to the floor. She hissed in annoyance at her slow body.

"What's wrong with you?" he said curiously and helped her to her feet. He helped support her while they hid in the shadows.

"Show." she said and pointed.

The cat she saw earlier passed by the end of the hallway. Following her was the caretaker, Filch, holding a lantern up, limping after the cat.

"Where's the trouble, Mrs. Norris?" he said.

Ally watched as the cat stopped, turned her head and gave Ally a wink. Then the cat slinked away, leading the caretaker far from where Ally and Sirius hid.

Sirius left Ally and looked around the corner.

'He's gone," he said and returned to where Ally leaned against the wall, "Are you alright?"

"Oh... Me?" Ally said, "I'm just dandy, for being out in the middle of the night, sick, and not being able to move."

She leaned against the wall and pushed herself up.

"What are you doing up?" she said.

"Oh," Sirius said, "Just prowling around... you know the usual," he said offhandedly.

Ally sighed, she knew he wasn't going to tell her anything, but they were friend so she would just ignore it.

"Listen," she said, "You don't tell anyone I was here, and I won't tell anyone you were here."

"Deal," he agreed quickly and went to help her off the wall, "Where do you need to be?"

"Not sure," Ally said, accepting the help gratefully, "I'm thinking that it would be a good time for me to make my way back to the hospital wing."

"Yeah," he grinned, "You look a bit off... Well, you always look a bit off, but more than usual."

Ally elbowed him in the stomach and smiled.

"At least I don't obsess about my hair."

"I do not!" he said and they started to walk down the hall, "I just happen to think that my hair will be the thing to defeat Voldemort!"

"Well," she said laughing, "I happen to think Voldemort will be defeated by a mandrake, they're fatal you know."

They continued to argue over which obscure way to defeat Voldemort was better. When they reached the hospital wing, they flung open the doors.

Inside, Filch was talking to the rest of the marauders; Madam Pomfrey was standing to the side, looking on.

All of them turned to look at Sirius and Ally, who just walked in the door.