Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me…Santa Claus sent him down the wrong chimney…woe is me…
Chapter 8: -Discoveries
After a relaxing holiday at home, mainly because Petunia, undecided about how she felt about Lily being a witch, had largely ignored her, Lily was excited to be back at Hogwarts. Getting the rusty gears in her brain to work again after such a long period of disuse was difficult at first, but thankfully, most of the teachers gradually eased into actual teaching, starting with a bit of revision before getting into new material. Lily thus found herself with time to continue her mission of exploring the castle.
She had drawn several rough maps of various areas on different levels and had already found a few secret passageways; some of which were hinted at in Hogwarts: A History, some based on rumours or by overhearing older students' conversations, and even one or two she found by complete accident. Her favourite was one of those. It had happened when she had …"misplaced"…herself after classes one day.
Not lost…simply misplaced.
Trying to find her way back had ended up with her being in a seldom-used corridor, with only two paintings. The inhabitant of one did not seem to be there, but in the other an old pirate with a peg leg was lying on a hammock, smoking a pipe. Vaguely reminded of Popeye, she looked for a can of spinach but sadly could not spot any in the cabin. With a mental shrug, she tried asking for directions.
"Umm…excuse me sir. I was…"
"Lost are ye? Figures. I ne'er see fine lassies like yeself no more. When I do, they're not keen on spendin' time chattin' with a poor retired pirate like meself. All ye young'uns nowadays. Allays runnin' off to do this 'n that. Life just can't go slow 'nuff for ye can it? Times was when us elders were 'spected and ye's had to sit 'n listen. 'N now I'm borin' ye blabbin' me mouth off. Go on wit ye then. Leave a lonely man with spiders 'n roaches for company." After finishing his speech, the pirate waved a wrinkly tobacco stained hand in her direction, lying back down on the hammock.
Curious and bemused, Lily replied, "Well, sir. I was actually going to ask about the scene outside your porthole. It looks like Greece, but I wasn't too sure. I don't have anymore classes today, so I wouldn't mind listening to a story or two. I'm sure you have a lot to tell."
Nice cover Lily …and it's not as if I have anything better to do anyway.
The pirate peered at her with disbelieving eyes, and after a period of intense scrutiny, evidently decided that she was telling the truth and not "shammin" him.
"Well I'll be. Seems there be hope for this world yet."
Again, there was another heavy silence, in which the pirate seemed to be having an internal debate in his mind. With a grim nod, he finally said hoarsely, "Well then ye best come in 'n make yeself comfortable." And before Lily could even think of a reply, the wall behind the painting slid open, revealing a dusty passageway.
"Come on then, haven't got all day have we?" The pirate's hoarse rumble shook Lily out of her shock and she slowly made her way inside. After a few twists and turns, the passageway eventually ended up with a flight of stairs that wound upwards and around like in a tower. After what felt like hours of climbing, explaining why not many people would want to chat really, if they find themselves out of breath just getting up these blasted stairs, Lily finally arrived in a cozy room with dark blue couches surrounding a fireplace. Above the fireplace was another painting, this time of a little house on a cliff by the sea, with the pirate sitting on a chair on the deck, pipe still in his mouth.
"Took ye long 'nuff to git here" He grumbled. Pushing down her irritation and a reply that would have been construed as rude, Lily mumbled an apology and walked to one of the large windows, savouring the cool breeze as she looked down to see the forbidden forest and the lake beside it.
"Ye remind me of another fiery-haired lass I used to know…"
Walking back to one of the couches, Lily settled back to an evening of stories and conversation with Rhine (whose name she eventually discovered as he was telling his story involving the "fiery-haired lass" and "a monster the likes of which ye'd never seen")
In the end Rhine drifted off to sleep in the middle of their conversation, his loud regular snores echoing in the room. Standing up and stretching stiff muscles, Lily was just getting ready to leave for dinner when she noticed a short flight of stairs leading to a trapdoor in one of the shadowy corners of the room. Curiosity getting the better of her, she climbed the stairs and pushed with all her might at the trapdoor. To her surprise, it easily sprang open and she found herself looking up into the sky.
Okay…Glancing around, she realised that she was standing on the top of the tower. There was a small walkway about 4 feet wide surrounding the pointed spire, which the trapdoor had opened to, and while there was a wall around this as well, it only came up to what would have been an average person's thighs. It was easy enough to imagine herself losing her balance and falling hundreds of feet to her death, but this never crossed Lily's mind as she held her breath, astounded by the beauty of Hogwarts laid before her. A playful breeze swept her hair out of the ribbon tying it, and uncaring of the ribbon slowly twirling it's way down into the darkness she let out a whoop of joy.
Now this is more like it!
Eventually her empty stomach managed to make its demands known in groans and rumbles, and she reluctantly went back down. It was rather late, so most of the students were chatting while nibbling on whatever was left on the tables. Spotting her friends at the Gryffindor table (they occasionally took turns sitting at each other's House tables) she hurried over, glad that they had waited for her. Her windblown hair and rosy cheeks got her more than a few stares as she sat down to eat, but ignoring them, as she was prone to do, she just concentrated on getting as much warm food as she could into her mouth. As neatly as possible of course.
"You're going to get indigestion if you eat that fast." Talia's practical voice penetrated her eating frenzy and Lily made a vague effort to slow down.
"Damn…I was enjoying watching that. How you can eat so fast so neatly amazes me." Josh commented jokingly.
"And how you can eat that much and still stay that skinny." Joanna added in, ruefully looking down at her own slightly pudgy body.
Swallowing a mouthful of food, Lily replied, "High mebolism", before looking around for another buttered roll.
Sighing in exasperation, Talia said, "You mean meTAbolism".
"Yeah that" was all Lily said before biting into the roll she had just managed to grab before Sirius did.
"Hey! That was mine!" He shouted indignantly, to which Lily replied with a careless shrug.
"I got it first."
Glaring at her, then shrugging, Sirius turned back to James and began furiously plotting another prank to be played on the weekend.
It was late at night, and the halls of Hogwarts were quiet, save for the occasional hiss from Hermes, the caretaker's little black snake, as it slithered stealthily along corridors. Following closely behind it was Pringle himself, as silent and deadly as his pet, especially for any unlucky students caught past curfew. Apollyon Pringle was a simple man, but what he did, he did with a single-minded focus that rivaled that of any hungry predator seeking it's prey. Which was a huge misfortune, and loudly lamented (in his absence of course) by a great many students, complaining of the numerous and hideous detentions received when trouble-makers were pounced upon whilst attempting to play a prank, or couples were rudely interrupted from snogging, sometimes accompanied with shrieks as the girls (and sometimes even the boys, although they never admitted it after) realised that the hand creeping up their thighs was not actually a hand but a snake. Sometimes even teachers on patrol would be startled when they were suddenly (albeit politely) greeted and all they could see was shadow.
Halfway up one of Hogwarts many towers, a forbidden light shone dimly from a mahogany wand, its shine occasionally visible from under the door whenever the blanket covering it and four boys shifted.
"Stop moving Peter!" Sirius hissed from his corner of the blanket.
"I can't help it! My foot's itchy!" Peter whined a reply, as the blanket twitched off the ground with each scratch.
Sensing a possible outburst from Sirius, which might bring unwelcome attention, James quickly whispered, "Both of you shush! We have a job to do!" He had always wanted to say that. It sounded so… grown-up and…… well, it sounded grown-up. After allowing himself a moment of silent congratulation, he quickly redirected everyone's attention to the piece of paper in front of them.
It had obviously been through a lot, deep creases evident of constant folding and refolding. There was even a stain from when James had spilled spaghetti on it, nearly sending Sirius into a fit of apoplexy ("Yyy...you nearly foiled my master plan!"). And the tear in the corner from when James had snatched it from Remus before he used it as scrap paper ("You can't do your sums on THAT!"). Adding in the still slightly visible markings where some detail had been changed, and the smudges from being passed from one grubby hand to another, it was a wonder anything was intelligible at all.
"Everyone know what they have to do?" James looked around as each boy nodded, Peter doing so hesitantly, while Remus seemed reluctant.
"We've never done spells this complicated before. What if something goes wrong? What if we get caught?" Remus asked softly and was immediately reputed with "We won't!" from both Sirius and James, who grinned at each other as Sirius said, "Why do you think we had you plan that part Remus? You're the best at making sure we don't get caught. What was it you said about risks? Milising?Minising?"
"Minimising," Peter spoke up suddenly. At the ensuing stunned silence he blinked in confusion and stammered "What? Isn't that what he said? I think that was it. I mean, that's what I remembered, but I could be wrong. Was…"
"No, Peter. That was it." Remus interrupted before Peter started hyperventilating, "We just didn't realise that you'd remember it."
'Oh. I remember lots of things, like when I was four and I had this aunt who went on walks with me. Except the last time when she suddenly shook all over and turned blue. They said she had a heart attack, except I couldn't see anything attacking her or her heart, so I think they didn't know what happened either. But then again I couldn't see her heart." After finishing his speech, Peter leaned back and continued scratching his foot.
After a bit more blinking, Sirius said, "Moving on…so…Petey-boy you're the distraction, Remus you're doing the sensory spells. James is doing the animation spells and I'm doing the switching spells. Who wants to start it this time?" Despite his business-like tone, all the other boys could see the barely concealed hope and anticipation in his voice, so it was unanimously decided that Sirius would do the final spell, since it after all, his master plan. With all that said, the four boys grabbed their wands and silently made their way out of their dorm and the common room. Since Sirius was the most accustomed to dark corridors and sneaking from living in his family manor, he led the way, while Remus played rear guard, hoping his 'sensitive hearing' as he had explained to the other boys, could pick up the slightest sound to give some warning. He did not mention to the others that often enough his sense of smell picked up the slight musk and sulphur scent of both caretaker and his pet before he heard scales or the edge of a boot scraping off the floor. Teachers were not even considered, as they did not know many of the secret passageways or hiding places the boys frequently used; and if they did, they did not often bother to check them, unlike the caretaker. Sirius, thinking that he might have a map, had sneaked into his small cramped office near the dungeons, but only found himself a month's detention scrubbing the potions classroom floors. Library excursions had not revealed anything either, but not to be deterred, the boys had started a map of their own, determined to have explored all of Hogwarts before they graduated.
Fortunately for them, they managed to avoid the caretaker till they were nearly at their destination. Their warning was actually from a painting of a gentlewoman, who exclaimed loudly "Oh I do say, would you mind telling that snake of yours not to slither all over my dress? It's a Puertolini and I shall be quite upset if it was ruined."
Under Pringles grumbling reply and Hermes' hissing, Peter quickly took off down the corridor while the other boys made themselves inconspicuous. Moments later soft sobs could be heard, drawing the caretaker to where Peter was, and more importantly, away from the boys. A huff of resignation and irritation along with faded muttering followed as Pringle led 'poor Peter who had lost his way and couldn't find his common room even after spending ages walking around in the freezing cold and scary hallways' back to his dorm. Once Remus could no longer hear them, Sirius smirked and whispered "Looks like he's good for something after all."
"Stop being mean and get to work." Remus reprimanded before taking his wand out and casting a spell at a table.
"All that babbling! He would have given us away for sure if we didn't include him in all this." James said underhandedly to Sirius as they both took out their wands to start casting spells as well.
"I doubt Pringle could get a word in to give him detention for being out late." Sirius added in before being shushed by Remus again. Not wanting to take the chance of getting caught by Pringle coming back from Gryffindor tower, they subsided into silence and quickly finished what they had set out to do. Once they were done, they quickly snuck back to their dorm to find an already snoring Peter, none the worse for wear from his incident with the caretaker. They all got into bed, looking forward to waking up the next day to see the resulting mayhem, and fell asleep with smiles still on their faces.
A.N. Again, I apologise for the long wait. I swear it wasn't even meant to end like this, but the characters took over. And now I've dug a ginormous (yes I'm aware that isn't really a word, think gigantic and enormous) hole for myself in leaving you with a cliffhanger that I will somehow have to live up to in coming up with a worthy prank that will not be lame. Any suggestions would be welcome, although I have some vague idea floating around somewhere with sheep serum and EMG graphs.
