Cabin: McGonagall

Task: Team building - 100 points: Time for teamwork. Write about a group having to work together to solve a mystery puzzle

WC: 922

Set in a modern, non magical AU

⁂

"Yes!"

"No!"

Remus threw his hands in the air in exasperation, Lily mimicking his posture only a beat or two behind.

"Why don't they just try both and see?" Peter whispered to James and Sirius, the other two perched on the edge of the single bench in the room, remaining tarot cards spread out between them. James frowned, the tip of his tongue clamped between his teeth as he studied the cards laid out before him, before placing one card down from his hand and picking another up.

Peter leant forward to peer at the cards. It wasn't a complete deck: two were resting on the table in front of Remus and Lily, and he was fairly certain normal tarot decks didn't contain multiple of the same card — he ignored the grinning skeleton of Death and focused instead on the man wandering through a field of blooming flowers, ignorant of his peril; the woman encircling the world between careful hands and the crumbling tower that stretched up to impossible heights.

"It's not so much about the combination. They both know which one it is," James explained matter of factly, "They're just bickering now to let off some steam."

Peter blinked, opening his mouth before closing it with a small click. He glanced over at Remus and Lily — heads now pressed together as they fiddled with the combination lock embedded into the wall, all previously amonosity forgotten.

"How did they know?" he asked finally, as Sirius set his card down with a flourish, sitting back and crossing his arms in triumph, a wide grin settling across his face.

"Lily knew she was wrong the moment Sirius agreed with her—"

"Hey!"

"—But truthfully, most people won't know that level of tarot card knowledge and the agreement just proved that," James continued as if Sirius hadn't complained, drumming his fingers against the back of his cards as he studied the spread of cards once more, frown only deepening as Sirius' grin grew wider.

"Just because my family was very into that occult stuff doesn't mean it can't be useful sometimes," Sirius pointed out, chewing on the edge of a fingernail, flecks of chipped black nail polish clinging to his teeth.

"Are you all coming?" Lily asked, sarcasm layered thickly through every syllable, raising an eyebrow as Remus carefully prised a set of symbols from the small alcove in the wall.

"Who won?" Peter asked as James and Sirius threw down their hands of cards, painted faces staring up at an unmarked ceiling.

They turned to each other, a world of conversation passing in a series of silent gestures and flickers of expression.

"We don't know, mate."

"Yeah, there wasn't even a game going on."

⁂

"I'm not squeezing down there."

James folded his arms across his chest — shoulders thrown back in a manner he meant to be defiant, but only put Remus in mind of baby Harry in the few seconds he could stand unaided, raging at his own body's inability to stay upright. Remus turned away to hide his grin and caught Lily's eye, her own grin hidden behind a twisted strand of hair.

"Why not?" Sirius asked, voice muffled rather than echoing as would be expected — the inside of the fake fireplace padded with soft insulation to avoid injury, rather than the cold expanse of stone. He poked his head back out the fireplace, settling cross legged on the floor as James began to pace up and down the small room.

"It's just another room," Peter called back through the gap, wandering round the second room in amazement.

Pictures lined every inch of one of the walls, stretching up into the darkness made more intense by the gently flickering electric lights circling the sideboards. The eyes almost seemed to follow him around the room sending shivers rattling down his spine. He was drawn to a cabinet resting against the opposite wall, the inside shadowed, but, as he pressed his nose to the glass with his glasses creeping up to embed into his skull, everything slowly came into focus.

Glittering jewels were packed into a dusty bottle labelled as 'Beetle' Eyes' sitting next to a tangled mass of wiry red thread — the tiny printed label declaring it to be 'Dragon Heartstring' — while on the shelf below sat row upon row of bottles, all carefully labelled. A large rock caught Peter's eye — a hole bored through one side and clean through the other side and he crouched down to get a better look.

"I can't do it, Lily, and you can't make me."

"It won't be her making you," Remus snapped, every word clear and clipped, a tone that always reminded Peter of Professor McGonagall whenever she was growing angry. "It will be me."

"James, mate." Sirius couldn't keep the laughter from his voice, struggling to keep his face straight. "There's nothing wrong with you."

"I've got a bad back," James protested, tone injured and plainative.

Peter sighed silently, casting his eyes skywards as he thought, images of the meal they had agreed to get afterwards pushing to the forefront of his mind.

"There's a really cool obstacle course, James!" Peter called, clasping his hands behind his back and swaying slightly as he waited. One second, then two and—

"Where— Oh."

James glanced around the room, a frown creasing his face before he pointed at Peter accusingly, grin breaking through his fake anger.

"Nicely done."

"Thank you," Peter replied airly. "Now can we focus please? I'm starving."