A/N
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Surveillance with the Marauders tended to follow a set routine. They would find their subject, set up a kind of disillusioned bubble where they could observe the poor schmucks unseen, and then sit back with snacks and entertainment, usually heckling the subject of their surveillance for a variety of stupid things that they would never have done if they had known that they were being observed. Spying on the suspected Death Eater Slytherins was another matter. James and Sirius took every precaution now that they'd discovered their use of modified spells. The Map and Cloak were necessities, as was the use of message patroni, and they all had their wands on hand at all times.
Surveillance with Marlene, Lily, Dorcas and Mary was something else entirely. Hestia, Alice and Emmeline volunteered to check out the library and then the grounds for the Slytherins (promising to send word as quickly as they could if they found anything - message patroni were still something they were working on in their impromptu defense lessons), so it wasn't as obvious as it could have been that the lot of them were up to something. Still, it as slow going, making their way down towards the dungeons without making it obvious that they were going down to the dungeons in the middle of the day to spy on unsuspecting Slytherins.
Marlene growled to herself as they were once again forced to pretend to be chatting to one of the portraits as a group of students passed, shooting odd looks at the clustered sixth year Gryffindors. She closed her eyes, breathing slowly in to calm her impatience. "There has got to be an easier way down to the dungeons than strolling down there in plain sight."
Rose smiled slowly, she had wondered when Marlene was going to approach Rose for the well-known encyclopedic knowledge all Marauders had about the castle.
"Of course there is" she chirped, unfazed in the face of Marlene's glower. "Head down there a bit, look for the portrait of the ugly old bloke with the wart on his nose." She held Marlene's arm for a moment. "Whatever you do, don't look at or mention the wart. He refuses to acknowledge its existence."
Marlene led the way, peering curiously at the portraits who seemed perfectly aware of - and amused by - what was happening. Finally, Marlene peered into the right portrait - a burnished frame that once would have been quite lovely with its scrollwork. She did only a slight double take, smiling at the ugly bloke. Rose wasn't being mean, that was simply what generations of Hogwarts students had dubbed him - the ugly bloke with the wart on his nose. His real name was something like Aurelius Callendash, but ugly bloke was less of a mouthful.
"Good day" Marlene greeted politely, her pureblood breeding come through in her demeanour. Callendash grunted at her, opening one eye in a glower that put most others to shame. Marlene glared at Rose out of the corner of her eye. "What am I supposed to do now?" she muttered, still smiling politely at the grumpy portrait.
"You're not going to like it" Rose informed her, holding back a smirk. She could still remember the look on Remus' face when James had made him do this. Needless to say, Remus had never done so again.
"Just tell me" Marlene hissed, the look in her eyes warning Rose not to push her right now.
"Push the wart."
Marlene rolled her eyes. "You are so immature." Without even flinching, Marlene pushed the thing in, ignoring the creative swearing of Callendash, and gave a little laugh as the doorway opened up behind the portrait. "That was brilliant!" Marlene grinned, turning to Rose as they all began to stroll down the tunnel. "How did you find that out?"
"Five years worth of exploration, revealing spells, and talking to the portraits" Rose smiled. It had been a lot of work, but the payoff was definitely worth it. "Plus, James's mum passed on a few secret tunnels to us so that we might have a bit of a headstart."
"My mum told me that there weren't any secret tunnels, and that I ought to concentrate on my studies not exploring the castle" Dorcas muttered, kicking at the wall petulantly. "Your parents must all be very cool, not to mind that you're Marauders."
Rose smiled sadly, and not just at the reminder of her father. Family was and always had been a touchy subject for the Marauders. Most of them didn't have the best home life, which was why they were all so determined to make their own family. The Marauder family, with their odd extended family of the Potter's, Evans', and assorted Hogwarts friends.
"James's mum and dad are quite cool. They're a little older than normal parents, so James gets away with a lot as their little miracle. His uncle Charlus works with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so he's happy to teach us various tricks of the trade which proved very useful for both pranking and that little incident in Hogsmeade." Dorcas nodded, looking a little wistful, and Lily even seemed to be listening curiously. "Remus' mum was sick a lot when he was younger, and she died between fourth and fifth year. His dad likes to pretend that Remus doesn't exist, so Rem spends all of his time with us." Normally, Rose would feel like she was overstepping, but all of this was common knowledge, if remaining unspoken for most of the time. "Pete just has his Mum, because his dad died not long after he turned three. Mrs Pettigrew is a mother cut from the same cloth as Mrs Longbottom, so I think enough said there."
Alice winced sympathetically, having her own set of issues with Frank's beloved yet domineering mother.
"She doesn't approve of our Marauder antics, but she does approve of us as Peter's friends, so that's an odd combination." Rose tossed a teasing grin over at Lily, which grinned back as if she knew where Rose was about to go with this. "Mum wishes I was less mischievous and more like Lily, but by now she's resigned to the fact that it's not ever going to change. And then there's the fact that she loves the guys, so she can't really complain - even if I get into more trouble than she is sanguine about." Marlene snorted, knowing that Rose was putting that delicately. "Dad, on the other hand, loves that I'm a Marauder. He loves the pranks, the joke stuff, the boys." Rose smiled wistfully. "I think Dad was quite mischievous when he was younger, so he's glad that I inherited that from him - because Petunia and Lily clearly did not."
"I take offense to that" Lily sniffed, going for haughty over sad - both of which were possible.
"Only because it's true, Lil" Rose teased, sobering as she faced the least enjoyable recitation of the Marauder family history. Sirius' bigoted parents. "The less said about Sirius' parents the better" she said eventually. "Siri has been vocal enough on them in the past, and considering that they disowned him I think that says all that needs to be said on their approval of his life choices." Rose shrugged a shoulder, seeing the literal light at the end of the tunnel - down several flights of stairs. "I've never had the displeasure of meeting Orion and Walburga Black, and I hope I never have to. Even if Sirius says they'd probably drop dead on the spot at the sight of any of their line with a mudblood."
Mary flinched, hunching down over herself a little. "Don't call yourself that."
"It's what they think of me, Mary" Rose offered gently. "Not what I think of myself. To the Black's I'm nothing more or less than the mudblood tainting their fallen heir." She inclined her head thoughtfully. "Then again, Bellatrix called me a mudblood long before she knew I was Sirius' mudblood." Mary shot her a heated look, understandably touchy about the term. "Don't worry, Mary. Sirius hates my using the word as much as you do. He seems to view as a personal insult every time someone flings it at me."
"Pureblood guilt" Marlene observed, nodding seriously. "The decent ones of us all feel it. Born into a messed up concept of arbitrary purity and privilege. Makes us sick."
"We know, Marlene" Lily replied gently, clearly knowing how much this affected Marlene. "You and your family are some of the of the decent purebloods in the wizarding world."
"There aren't many of us" Marlene agreed sadly. "But we do exist. The McKinnon's, the Longbottoms, the Weasleys, the Prewitts, the Fortescues, and the Potters, at the very least." Marlene scowled at the portrait of an ancient Black on the wall of the dungeons. "Not many of the so-called Sacred 28, I grant you. But there are a few of us out there." A satisfied smirk crossed her face. "Traitors to our blood." She sneered towards old man Black and added. "Pity it never seems to occur to them that they're the ones that are traitors to all wizardkind. We're all equally magical, most purebloods are even less talented than halfbloods and muggle-borns. So talent is not determined by birth. They just think they're entitled to more than they are by virtue of who their ancestors are and how supposedly pure their blood is."
"And it is a bit rich" Rose felt bound to add. "Considering Snape's father is a muggle."
"Snape hates his father" Lily pointed out, unusually for her as she now tended to pretend that they had never been friends - being called a mudblood did tend to make that happen. "And he's insanely talented at potions. It makes sense that they would recruit anyone with that kind of talent, and that much hatred towards muggles and muggle-borns."
"Death Eater recruitment policy" Dorcas announced sunnily. "Sign the scumbags up."
"It certainly seems to have worked for Voldemort" Marlene agreed bitterly. "He's got the psychos too, judging entirely by Bellatrix Black."
"Lestrange" Rose corrected. "Somebody actually married the psycho."
Marlene shuddered, paling at whatever mental picture came to mind. "I would not be comfortable sleeping next to that. And imagine if she procreates."
"No magical stalk is going to deliver to that house" Mary stated emphatically. "The poor thing wouldn't stand a chance at a normal life."
"Frankly, Mary" Lily asked tiredly. "What chance have we had?"
Lily's quick thinking stopped the heavy conversation from taking them places that would have been too depressing and counterproductive for their plans to be successful. She stopped them at a deserted corner, raising her wand in determination. With a few quick taps, and the uncomfortable feeling on egg sliding down their heads, they were disillusioned, and thus as safe as they could be heading into enemy territory. Marlene added a kind of magical elastic band around them, allowing them to move freely, but also able to track back to the others with little difficulty. Marlene led them in the rough direction of the Slytherin common room, hoping to catch one or more of their suspects out and about and hopefully up to no good. For about half an hour, they stood outside the entrance to the common room, watching a few students come and go, but none of their suspects showed up. Either they were staying put in the common room (unlikely given the dreary day which would so perfectly suit them) or they'd already gone and they had missed them spectacularly. Rose hoped that James and Sirius were having better luck. Yet another dead end, and another waste of time. She snorted to herself, at least this was realistic. It would be worrying if the Snakes became so brazen that they could be discovered so easily.
Rose was giving serious thought to just chucking it in and going to visit Hagrid, when Remus' sleek silver wolf appeared out of nowhere. "Library" the wolf said in Remus' voice. "Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same."
"He is such a nerd" Rose grinned, vanishing the disillusionment charm with a groan. Her accomplices shimmered into view around her, all seemingly relieved to have something concrete to go and go on.
"Was that Sherlock Holmes?" Marlene wondered, undaunted at the prospect of a long trek up to the library. Rose hummed an assent, tapping a slightly discoloured stone on the wall. Another passage, this time equipped with flickering torches and steep stairs, carried them away on a breathtaking shortcut up towards the library and the domineering librarian who ran it with an iron fist.
"If you use these things so often" Mary puffed, cheeks flaming red. "Why don't you leave brooms in them?"
"We would, but there's only so many brooms and a lot more secret passages" Rose grinned, privately wishing they actually did something like that. James would never stand for it though. "And we'd never be sure which passages needed the brooms, nor on which side of the passage they would be needed."
"Yeah" Mary agreed breathlessly, grinning as much as she was able. "But, brooms."
Remus leaned on the wall outside the library, chatting innocently with Hestia. He glanced up at their approach, offering a smile and a little wave. Lily stepped over to him and hugged him, smiling at his confusion. He shrugged it off, glancing around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard. "Hestia here told me that you were on the brink of stupidity, waiting around by the Slytherin common room" he began, not even bothering to hide the disapproval in his voice. "It's bad enough that James and Sirius do it, without you lot risking yourselves too!"
"And you would have done the same, if presented with the chance" Lily reminded him, favouring him with a glare that demanded he stop insulting her intelligence.
"I know" he agreed easily, shaking his head at Rose to ask if they knew him at all. "I had to get my objection out of the way first, or I won't have the deniability when James and Sirius start yelling that this boneheaded move was somehow my idea."
"Objection is noted" Rose informed him, completing the useless formalities.
Remus nodded his thanks, returning to the subject at hand. "Regulus and Nott turned up here about twenty minutes ago. Higgs the younger and Kentich moved from another table to join them. They're loitering around the restricted section, Alice and Emmeline are browsing the shelves nearby to keep an eye on them."
"And it's not going to look odd, the lot of us turning up out of the blue on a weekend before the exam pressure even starts?" Rose checked, trusting Remus' intuition on this.
He chuckled lightly. "Even if I said yes, Rosie, we both know you'll be in there quicker than I can hum the Puddlemere United song."
"You're a Tutshill fan" Rose shot back teasingly. "Isn't it blasphemy to hum that song?"
"It's an ear worm" Remus shrugged carelessly. "James was singing it loudly in the shower this morning, woke the lot of us up, the great git that he is." He grinned at them. "Come in and for the love of Merlin try to be subtle. Don't emulate James and Sirius in everything. Trust me, they're idiots ninety nine percent of the time."
"Subtle" Mary saluted Remus terribly. "Got it, boss." Remus groaned, striding quickly back in to finish whatever piece of homework he was pretending to do as cover. Rose's laughter followed him, to such an extent that she could have sworn that she saw him give her the finger before he smiled innocently at Madam Pince and sat back down at his table.
Rose frowned into the library, internally praying that their presence didn't mess this up. "Into battle."
Fortunately for Rose, the History of Magic section of the library was located conveniently for spying on the Restricted Section. She pretended to browse through the dusty tomes, keeping her gaze locked as often as was possible on the hidden alcove near the books that shrieked when touched by students younger than sixteen. What very few people knew (and fewer still cared about) was that there was a small and secluded table hidden within that alcove (magic made everything bigger on the inside - maybe wizards were Time Lords - Rose made a mental note to discuss that with Remus). It was at that table that Regulus, Nott, Kentich, and Higgs were gathered. Rose picked up a copy of the Vita Merlini (because only at Hogwarts was that considered a historically accurate text), wincing as she remembered that Binns wanted them to read it for historical research as they were moving into the real history of Merlin and Camelot hopefully next school year. It wasn't that Rose had anything against the works by Geoffry of Monmouth - in fact she quite enjoyed them - but with the sixth years heading into their seventh and final year next year, she knew that NEWT level history was going to be difficult to juggle with all her other NEWT level classes, quidditch, pranking, and whatever the heck this was that they were all doing now - the spying on Slytherin. Nevertheless, she moved along the shelves, getting a little closer to the snakes at the table. Arguably the better known of the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Historia Regum Brittaniae was likely to be only the starting point into their study of Arthur, Merlin and Camelot. If she was being honest with herself, she could hardly wait for next year. But wait she would, because right now Sirius' little brother was a touch more interesting than the court of the once and future king.
Regulus was leaning across his table, hissing at the subdued form of a fifth year student Rose half recognised. Sirius would know who it was - unfair as it sounded, pureblood society was rather like a small town; everyone knew everyone, whether they wanted to or not. Alice drifted over, pretending to be interested in the collected works of a Roman wizard philosopher during the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius. "Who's the poor kid Reggie's hissing at?" Rose whispered to Alice, keeping her lips out of sight of the snakes - not that they would willingly look at her any longer than it took to sneer and/or spit out something suitably foul.
"Heir to the Fawley family" Alice murmured, something oddly like sympathy in her voice. "His family is very much like the Blacks, only less intense, wealthy and prolific." Rose turned curiously to Alice, hoping she might explain more. As James might say, knowing thine enemy was one of the steps to defeating them. Alice picked up another book and obliged. "Poor Aster is almost the opposite of Sirius. He doesn't exactly approve of his family's ideals, or at least he didn't when we met as children, but he isn't made of the necessary stuff. He can't turn his back on them, can't say no. He has no choice, I imagine, but to get unwillingly dragged into this mess."
"You think Reggie's forcing him into it?" Rose gasped, almost tempted to go over there and save the spineless little fool.
"Black's have silver tongues" Alice pointed out sadly. "It's their gift. They can talk anyone into anything, especially if they're weak-minded and easily led."
"Sirius is not going to be pleased" Rose sighed, glaring at the back of Regulus's head. "Every time his little brother does something predictably Blackish like this, he gets moody for a week. Then he does something stupid like get drunk with James, and then pick a fight with the bigoted little swine."
Over at Regulus's table, Aster Fawley began to nod hesitantly, a tiny smile twitching the corners of his bloodless lips. If most of the puritanical pureblood families tended to be pale as corpses (something to do with the decades of inbreeding, or so Rose guessed), Aster was paler than most ghosts. He had pale eyes the colour of seafoam, wispy hair like bleached blonde down, and a light smattering of freckles that seemed to fade into the pale canvas of his skin like the ghostly imprints of a sunny childhood he was denied. If he wasn't clearly signing himself up for the wrong side of the war, Rose probably would have felt sorry for him, just as she would have felt sorry for Regulus - because no matter what else he was or had done, he as still Sirius' brother, and some large part of Sirius still loved him.
Rose caught a flicker of movement towards the Restricted Section, Remus and Emmeline moving quietly through the shelves of advanced textbooks. Rose tried to avoid that section as much as possible. The darker textbooks and other such tomes gave her the heebie jeebies, not to mention the very uncomfortable feeling of being in the direct presence of dark magic. It left an indelible trace, like the feeling of being watched when you're all alone in the middle of the night. James had once described it as 'that bloody creepy feeling, scares the hell out of you, then seems to mock you for it'. An accurate, if a little long-winded, explanation. Remus put his finger to his lips, moving ever so carefully into the perfect range of earshot for his enhanced senses. It was one of the only perks of Remus' lycanthropy. Emmeline moved cautiously away from the stacks, shifting so she was concealed from the watchful gazes of the five Slytherins. Hestia and Marlene nodded from the nearest table, each pretending to look something up in one of the thick compendiums on the table before them. The sizes of their textbooks reinforced Rose's happiness that she had not chosen to take Ancient Runes or Arithmancy - the amount of homework their professors set them was nothing short of sadistic. She enjoyed having her life, such as it was, thank you very much. Rose picked up a few books at random, sure that whatever it was she would either enjoy or be able to leave on the nearest table for Madam Pince to discover and then disapprovingly put away. She moved to join her friends just as Lily tottered over with a veritable stack of books Rose knew she was going to check out in her pre-exam-panic panic.
Marlene looked up, a smile brightening on her face. "Got enough books there, Lil?" she whispered dryly, eyes darting around for the domineering presence of their librarian.
"I could check out one or two more" Lily remarked, sitting down with a satisfied grin. If anything helped their cover here, it was this - Lily being so quintessentially Lily, with a stack of volumes nobody but her could possibly get through.
"I forgot that this place is your version of a sweet shop" Rose grinned, gleefully grabbing the chance to tease her sister. "Or Zonkos."
"So tell me what you're doing here, Rosie?" Lily teased back, eyes sparkling. "Isn't all this studiousness and education giving you hives?"
"I shared a womb for nine months with you, dearest sister" Rose smirked. "I'm immune to studiousness."
"As am I to mischief" Lily agreed, reaching for a book only a little thicker than War and Peace. Light reading for Lily.
Dorcas dropped into a seat, pulling her copy of 1001 Magical Herbs and Fungi out of her bag. "This had better be worth it" she muttered, aware of the looming presence of Madam Pince. "I'm wasting my Saturday on this."
"We all are" Rose reminded her, careful not to suggest that she had better things to be doing. "Remus will overhear something. He has never let us down, and he never will."
"Isn't he too far away?" Hestia asked, frowning briefly in his direction.
"Nah" Rose whispered, lifting the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (wrong book, but oh well, how boring could the Venerable Bede really be?) up to her face. "He's got brilliant hearing. You don't need to worry about him."
"Then who do we need to worry about?" Lily wondered, honing in on Rose's omission like a guided missile.
"Sirius" she sighed, feeling a headache starting to creep in at the sides of her head.
Lily offered her a slight smile. "You don't know that for sure, Rosie" she murmured, bumping her foot into Rose's leg under the table. "He's been remarkably calm and reasonable about the whole mess for days now. It could mean that he's learning to let go, move on, be the bigger person."
"It could be" Rose allowed dubiously. Then she smiled sadly. "Or it could be because I've been ten seconds and a pin drop away from losing it all the bloody time. And Sirius is far too wonderful, and too much of a gentleman, to lose it when I'm only ever a few seconds away from doing so myself."
"He could be maturing" Dorcas muttered, even though it didn't much look as though she believed herself. "You've all be through a lot this school year. And didn't you say that 1977 was going to be your year?"
"Year of awfulness" Rose sighed, flickering her eyes towards Remus - still utterly motionless, and feigning asorption in one of the many restricted texts. "Besides, Dorcas, we say that every year. 1976 fell flat, 1977 seems to be heading the same way."
"Okay" Marlene granted, her own eyes fixed on the suspicious group. "Maybe sixth year will be awful, because we all know that it has been, but seventh year will be our year."
"James would be upset if we went out on anything less than a bang" Rose grinned, allowing herself to hope that Marlene was right and all the rubbish stuff would happen and have it's full during this year. She would hold onto that, even if it was about as likely as the Chudley Cannons winning the quidditch championship this year.
"Please" Mary snorted, rolling her eyes. "Like you lot have to worry about going out with a bang. That's only for us poor souls who haven't yet indelibly left our marks on this school. You lot have already done that in spades. You'll go down in history."
"Just like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" Lily giggled, slapping her hand over her mouth in horror.
"You're in the wizarding world now, Lily Evans" Rose sniffed with as much of the inherent Marauder superiority and offended dignity as she could summon up. "It's Rudolph the Red Nosed Thestral, and don't you forget it."
"Didn't McGonagall ban you Marauders from making up Christmas carols after that incident where you taught Peeves all those carols with rude words?" Hestia checked, Marlene tensing a little beside her. Whatever it was, Rose knew that only time would tell. She had to get back to enforcing their cover.
"That wasn't me" Rose gasped, resting her hand on her chest in playful offense. "That was James and Sirius, they're out of control. And even if that were true, McGonagall isn't the boss of us. Nobody tells a Marauder what to do."
"Not even common sense" Mary teased, looking more like herself after the shock of Thursday night.
"Common sense is for the common folk, or so James says" Rose repeated dutifully. "Not for uncommon people such as the Marauders. Therefore, common sense does not apply to us."
"And we wouldn't know what to do with it, even if it did" Remus finished, perching on a corner of the desk as several of the Snakes slipped away and out of the library. He picked up several books (all on advanced defense - one of the only good areas of that infernal section) and frowned in a kind of reluctant amusement at the sight of the Venerable Bede's work. "I'm going to check out a few of these books. Then I think I've got a craving for Latin."
Rose nodded, understanding what he couldn't say here. "I'm going to get a few of these out too" she admitted, widening her eyes significantly at the others. "You can have your Latin, just give me the den."
"Oh!" Marlene bolted upright, managing to make that look graceful because of course she did. "Right! Of course." She packed up her things in record time. "Lily, grab that poor forest. And let's go."
"I just started to get some headway on this essay" Dorcas grumbled, more for show than anything else. Rose hadn't seen her write a single word, and her quill remained dry. Rose grinned at them, forcing herself to check the books out before having to calmly stroll to one of the entrances to the Marauders Den. Remus turned back and offered her a tight smile. His pale green eyes looked shadowed, but there was no trace of the clenched jaw and flush of fury that had preceded their meeting in the Den on Thursday night (or Friday morning, depending on your preference). Rose decided to give the Slytherins the benefit of the doubt for this one. Maybe it was nothing more than a recruitment that they had witnessed. Maybe they were just being paranoid. Maybe this was how things were going to be now, and they were overreacting at their new normal. Only time - and a certain bookworm werewolf - would tell.
Next up: What Regulus is up to, what James and Sirius have been doing, and more planning.
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