Chapter 13 A Long Night
It was hours before any of them made a sound again. Remus's loud snores were first to break the silence followed by the soft padding of Sirius's feet against the floor. He lightly shook Peter's bed causing him to immediately get to his feet.
"I knew it!" Peter whispered. Sirius shushed him as they crept over to James's bed.
James slept closest to Remus who slept closest to the door. Getting James up and sneaking out was not going to be easy. Sirius tried shaking the bed as he did with Peter but got no response. Sirius signalled Peter to follow him and they both tiptoed slowly to the side of James's bed. Sirius loudly ripped open the curtains hoping to startle his friend awake. James, however, slept on. His head was hanging over the side of his bed, his mouth slacked open causing drool to trickle down his face. Sirius shook his head in disbelief. James still had a smirk playing on his lips even as he slept. Peter poked James's arm but only caused James to mutter a bit. There was a sharp pause in Remus's snores and a ruffle of his sheets. Sirius and Peter froze, watching Remus's bed, praying he wouldn't wake up. The snores resumed and they sighed in relief.
"The silencing charm," Peter whispered, pointing to James. He took out his wand and pointed it at his unsuspecting friend. Sirius's hand flew out and forced Peter's hand to his side. Peter jumped back, bewildered by his friend's actions.
"You're rubbish at charms," Sirius whispered his explanation. Peter nodded in agreement, though he looked slightly put out. There was not another choice in the matter, though. If Peter did the spell wrong James's head would swell to the size of a watermelon in no time. They would have a hard time explaining to Madam Pomfrey why they were practising Charms in the middle of the night. So Sirius took a deep breath, concentrated on nothing else but the charm, and muttered, "Silencio," with his wand pointed at James. He smirked to himself, seeing no signs of swelling on his slumbering friend. It was a charm that most students accomplish in their fifth year. Just wait until Flitwick found out.
Peter jumped onto James's bed. James shot up, let out a silent scream, and scrambled for his wand. He thrust it in Peter's face, who tumbled backwards in fear. Sirius caught him before he could loudly hit the floor. James stared at Sirius with sweat streaming down his face, still panting from the rude awakening. Sirius set Peter down on the floor as quietly as he could and mouthed "mandrakes" at James. James then jumped out of bed with a soft thud. He grabbed his invisibility cloak and his mirror and ran out of the room. Peter snatched his coat from the hooks next to the door and chased James down the steps. Sirius dashed for his dressing gown, seized his mirror from his bedside table, and followed James and Peter out, closing the door silently behind him.
"We did it!" Peter exclaimed, collapsing into one of the chairs in their common room. "I thought for sure he was going to wake up."
"We're not done yet. And be quiet, you'll wake the dead with that noise," Sirius whispered, harshly. James grabbed Sirius by the arm and pointed to his throat, demanding he take the charm off of him. "Right, sorry, mate," Sirius said, then muttered the counter charm. James cleared his throat, finally free of his restrictions.
"Okay, we all know what we're supposed to do, right?" James asked, looking directly at Peter.
"Yes. I'm to stay inside the castle, keeping watch." Peter said, bitterly.
"No, you hide next to the stairs, in the bushes, outside the castle, keeping watch," James corrected.
"Same thing," Peter muttered.
"It's a very important job, Pete," Sirius told him. "If we get caught, we won't be able to get the mandrake leaves, then we won't be able to complete Operation Animal Instincts!" Sirius smirked. 'Operation Animal Instincts' was a code name they came up with in case they ever needed to talk about their becoming animagi in public.
"I saw Filch oiling his chains while you were in detention," Peter told them, suddenly going pale.
"Exactly why you're keeping watch. Now get a grip on yourself you're supposed to be a Gryffindor," Sirius said. Peter gulped and straightened up masking his fear.
"Shall we?" James said, leading the way across the common room. Huddled under the cloak they pushed open the portrait, ignoring the fat lady's complaints about being woken up so late in the evening.
"We'll be back later," James whispered, causing her to panic about being spoken to by someone she couldn't see. Peter, Sirius, and James climbed down the step, sniggering the entire way. They froze at the mouth of the main corridor. A large misshapen figure was grunting its way through the castle's front door. The figure tumbled forward. There was a loud bang of a heavy foot and a rattle of glass before the creature regained balance. The boys relaxed when he started to drunkenly sing a merry tune in a baritone voice that way quite familiar to them. He crossed into the moonlight that was streaming through the windows and their suspicions were confirmed. It was only Hogwarts's gamekeeper Hagrid carrying large boxes labelled "POTIONS SUPPLIES." He turned around a corner and disappeared from sight. James and Peter sighed in relief but Sirius noticed that the door had been left open.
"If we go out that way, it will lead us directly to the greenhouses," Sirius whispered.
"Will we be able to get back in?" Peter asked, nervously. Their original plan was to use the secret passageway that leads out to the Black Lake, all they had to do to get back in was leave the door open. This seemed like a much simpler plan to Peter.
"Course, we'll just fly in through our dorm window," James shrugged, leading them out the front door.
"B-but… you're not on the quidditch team. You can't get into the broom closet anymore," Peter whispered, but it was too late. They were standing at the top of the stone steps with the door shut tightly behind them.
"Right…. Hopefully, one of the windows on the ground floor will be unlocked," James shrugged.
"If not we'll just break one," Sirius added.
"Absolutely not! We cannot make this anymore worse than it already it. My mum said-"
"Then we'll just have a little camping trip," Sirius smiled, thrusting his mirror into Peter's hand.
"But-"
"We'll be fine," James groaned, "just go."
Peter sulked off down the steps. He climbed over the wall, when it was safe enough, and slinked off into the bushes. James and Sirius grinned at each other before racing down the steps, the cloak billowing around their feet. Dew was beginning to form on the grass around them. James's feet cramped with cold and Sirius's slippers were soaked. They trudged through the mud and sharp twigs. James saluted the quidditch field as they passed it in remembrance of last term. Sirius rolled his eyes as they approached the greenhouse. He unlocked the door with his wand, knowing James probably forgot his. James pushed open the door letting the humid air envelop his bare chest and frozen toes. The cloak was good for many things but keeping them warm was not one of them. James threw off the cloak so they could move about freely.
"Do you have to sleep half naked?" Sirius said, as if only now realising James's shirtless form standing so close to him.
"You sleep in your pants, Black!" James defended.
"At least I've got the decency to wear my bathrobe," Sirius muttered.
"Guys, focus! Mandrakes." Peter's voice came out of the mirror clutched in James's hand.
"I thought the mirrors only worked when we looked into them?" James asked Sirius who shrugged his answer.
"To be fair, you're speaking very loudly." Peter's voice came again. James rolled his eyes, picked up the mirror, and grinned into it.
"Hiya, Pettigrew. What's the status of our hairy friend?"
"Lupin or Hagrid?" Peter questioned.
"Nice one," Sirius laughed, making his way over to the Mandrakes.
"Where's Hagrid?" James answered.
"On his way back to his place. Have you found the Mandrakes yet?" Peter asked.
"Sirius's got 'em. Peter, what's worse, only pants- nothing else, or pyjama bottoms but no shirt?" James asked. Sirius rolled his eyes snipping off one of the bottom, larger leaves with James in mind.
"Only pants. But Sirius is wearing his dressing gown," was Peter's answer.
"That's practically naked!" James argued. Sirius crept up from behind him and pulled his pyjama bottoms down around his ankles.
"Now you're practically naked," Sirius smirked, laughing while James squirmed to cover himself.
"Hey, Pete," Sirius said, taking the mirror from James's hand, "is the coast clear?"
"As a crystal. James's gonna hit you," Peter warned. Sure enough, Sirius felt a sharp pain spread through his shoulder. "Guys please don't fight. I'm freezing my you-know-what's off out here."
"We won't. Sirius deserved it, he can't hit me back," James smiled.
"I'm not sure about that. You were being a twit," Sirius argued.
"Guys," Peter implored.
"Don't worry, Pete. We'll solve this in the dorm room," Sirius said.
"But then we'll wake Lupin," James returned.
"You scared of Remus now?" Sirius laughed.
"Me? You're the one that wanted to sneak out," James answered.
"Only cause you wanted to keep this a from him," Sirius said. James scoffed but failed to find a retort.
"Fine. We'll tell him," James said, thinking he had his friend stumped.
"Good. I'm tired of lying to each other," Sirius said. James laughed.
"Pettigrew! Pettigrew, did you hear him?" James spoke into the mirror. "We're going to tell Lupin about Operation Animal Instincts." James waited but there was no answer. "Peter, you there?"
"What's happened?" Sirius asked after having heard no answer.
"Maybe the mirrors've gone faulty?" James suggested.
"Or he got caught," Sirius said the thing James had been worried about. Hearing the words spoken out loud caused him to spring into action, pulling Sirius closer to him so he could throw the cloak over the both of them. They ran out of the greenhouse together, faster and much more careless than they had before. As they came closer to the castle they saw Peter standing on the top of the stairs with Filch gripping his arm. Peter had pointed his attention in the opposite direction of the greenhouse so James was able to crumple up the cloak and shove it into Sirius's pocket.
"What if he searches us? We've got to hide these," Sirius said, pulling the leaves out and looking around for a convenient hiding place in an empty grass field. James grunted, took the leaves out of Sirius's hand, and shoved them down his pants.
"We've got to keep those in our mouths!" Sirius yelled, gaining Filch's attention. Filch yelled for them to come back to the castle.
"Let's go," James said, running again. Sirius followed closely behind him, putting the Mandrake leaves out of his mind.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have 'ere. Students out of bed, wandering the grounds, and at this hour," Filch sneered, as they climbed the last few steps, panting along the way.
"I'm sorry guys," Peter cried. "I didn't see him coming. And he heard me."
"Talking to 'imself in the bushes, so 'e says. If it's anything to do with you two, I reckon it's more," Filch said, clasping his bony hands around Sirius's and James's shoulders. "Just wait 'till your 'ead of 'ouse 'ears about this. She's just about 'ad it with you. Might even let me have a crack at ya." Peter whimpered and followed Filch as he steered James and Sirius back into the castle. Filch cackled as he listed all the medieval ways the school used to punish its students. By the time they reached McGonagall's office Peter was trembling, even James looked worried.
McGonagall pulled her door open after Filch had banged his gnarled hand against it much more than what was necessary. Her dressing gown was tied tightly around her and her hair hung loosely around her waist. The boys blushed to see her in this state.
"Mr Filch! I hope you have a good explanation for this," she said irritably, not yet seeing her students. Filch explained the situation to her, embellishing where he saw fit. By the end of his tale, McGonagall sent him away and the boys could not help but feel relief even while she looked so crossly at them. She called them into her office. They sat comfortably around her desk as she rekindled the fire having noticed their wet clothes and trembling lips.
"You three are rather bright boys, this has been proven on many occasions," she began.
"Thank you, ma'am," James said.
"Thus being so, I can only assume that you know the reason why we have the rule that we do," McGonagall continued, ignoring James.
"Yes, ma'am," Sirius answered.
"You understand that we do not allow you to venture out of the castle after dark, for your own safety?" McGonagall inquired, taking her place behind her desk. She pressed her fingertips against each other waiting for an answer.
"Yes, Professor," Peter said, quietly. James and Sirius hummed their agreement.
"Good." McGonagall nodded her head, looking thoughtfully at the three of them. "Is there a reason why you felt you needed to endanger your lives tonight?"
"For a prank," Sirius answered, quickly.
"What?" McGonagall asked, looking at Sirius. Sirius cleared his throat and sat up straighter.
"For a prank, Professor. You see, Peter has a paralysing fear of werewolves. And we heard howling last month, so we told Peter there was a werewolf in the forbidden forest, that's why it's forbidden." Sirius explained.
"So, we told him it was a full moon tonight. Then waited 'till he was asleep and carried him out there. We were so far away from him because we wanted to make it sound like there was howling coming from the forest," James added.
"He heard us and hid in the bushes. And when Pete gets scared he talks to himself. Bit mental but it keeps him calm, I guess," Sirius finished with a shrug. McGonagall looked positively irate with them but seemed to believe what they had spewed.
"Mr Pettigrew, did you ever think to look up at the sky to see if it really was a full moon?" McGonagall questioned.
"Er… n-no ma'am," Peter sputtered. McGonagall looked as if she wanted desperately to say something but thought the better of it.
"Mr Pettigrew, given the friends that you have, I would suggest to you that you be aware of your surroundings. Hogwarts is not keeping a werewolf in the forbidden forest. That would be unsafe for its students, the staff, and the werewolf himself. You have divinations this year, it might help you in that class to pay attention to the lunar cycle," McGonagall told him.
"Y-yes ma'am," Peter answered, now suppressing laughter.
"You may go to bed, Mr Pettigrew," McGonagall ordered. Peter rose and turned to leave.
"Yes, Professor. Good night," Peter answered and scurried out the door.
James and Sirius smirked at each other briefly before returning to their solemn appearances.
"Himself, Professor?" Sirius questioned, arching an eyebrow. James and McGonagall looked at him confused. "You called the werewolf him."
"I'm not here to talk to you about a nonexistent werewolf, Mr Black," McGonagall said.
"But if he were really nonexistent, wouldn't you have used a less specific pronoun?" James asked, catching on to Sirius's direction. They suspected that their professor knew about their friend's condition. If she did, she might be helpful.
"Potter," McGonagall began, "this past term, yourself and Mr Black have proven to be uncontrollable."
"Not sure if that's a bad thing," Sirius muttered, almost unintelligibly.
"Quiet," she said, sternly. Sirius looked down at his lap. James looked blankly at the back wall. "You have tormented other students for the sake of your own amusement. As I said in January, I would not have believed it of you, until now." Sirius's and James's eyes jumped to her, shocked and hurt by her change of opinion. "I'm sorry to tell you this but you are in danger of expulsion."
"For what! Toads and slugs?" Sirius exploded.
"We've been caught out of bed plenty of times before now and have never been in danger of being expelled!" James added.
"Besides, we never would have let anything actually happen to Peter, or anyone else," Sirius said. McGonagall sighed, looking torn between two very difficult issues.
"It's not about today," McGonagall said, calmly. "You have targeted students, Severus Snape in particular if I'm not mistaken, for no evident reason. It's dangerous, not just for your target, but for others as well. It's our priority at Hogwarts to provide a safe learning environment for all students."
James and Sirius sat in silence, not knowing what to say, or if there was even a thing to say that would make her change her mind.
"Professor, what about the student that was attacked today, Mckinnon? That wasn't us. And she's in the hospital, we've never done that," James said respectfully, trying not to let his anger seep through his voice.
"An investigation is in progress. I assure you that when the culprit is caught, he or she will be given a fitting punishment," McGonagall said.
"But we're trying to protect students like Marlene McKinnon," Sirius argued.
"Your actions against the Slytherins have caused a rivalry between your houses, worse than it was before," she said gently, though what she didn't say was clear to them. She blamed them for what happened to Marlene.
"They're Death Eaters!" Sirius yelled, jumping to his feet.
"Mr Black, control yourself," McGonagall said, sternly. Sirius's nostrils flared as he clenched his fist but still he sat back down and attempted to control himself. "That is a tremendous accusation!"
"But it's true. We saw Malfoy and Wilkes show Rosier their marks," James told her, coming to Sirius's defence.
"You saw their marks?" McGonagall questioned, not looking as if she believed him. James thought a moment then looked guiltily at Sirius.
"Well... not exactly, but it was obvious what it was," James finally answered.
"You made an assumption without any proper evidence," McGonagall countered.
"No, we heard their conversation," Sirius said.
"And what did they say?" McGonagall asked.
"We don't remember exactly," James said, looking to Sirius. "It was a long time ago."
"Rosier definitely said something about the mark," Sirius said.
"Enough," McGonagall said and James and Sirius fell silent. "This prejudice against the Slytherin house needs to end. Sirius, I expected you to be more understanding given you family history, but I guess not. I'll be writing to your parents to schedule a meeting to discuss your behaviours. Until then, I suggest you keep your heads down and focus on your studies. No more fighting with the Slytherins, or any other student, understood?" James and Sirius nodded and muttered their affirmations.
"Professor, will you at least look into Malfoy, Wilkes, and Rosier?" Sirius pleaded.
"Good night, Mr Black and Mr Potter," McGonagall said, gesturing to the door.
"But-" Sirius started to argue but James grabbed him by the arm and pulled him from the room. They walked quickly and silently back to Gryffindor Tower.
"I can't believe she's not even going to investigate, Rosier," Sirius exclaimed, throwing himself down on the common room's couch.
"I can't believe they're blaming us for what happened to McKinnon," James added.
They stared off into the dying embers of the fire, each heavily contemplating the possibility of their expulsion.
"I think we should let more people in on it," James said suddenly. "If McKinnon had known there are Death Eaters here, she wouldn't be in the hospital, I know it. And they can't blame us if all of Gryffindor is fighting them."
"Good point, James, but how are we going to get people to believe us? We couldn't even get one let alone the whole of Gryffindor," Sirius said.
"There is one person people listen to no matter what story she puts out," James said.
"Who? Rita Skeeter?" Sirius smirked. "Clever mate, but I doubt she's gonna write about Death Eaters at Hogwarts. People are still denying they exist and she's been pretty vague about her stance on the issue."
"I'm being serious, Sirius. Bertha Jorkins, the fifth year. People will listen to her no matter how much of a nutter she is. You know she's the one that started the rumour about Snively and I secretly dating," James grimaced. "Anyway, people are so scared right now, even the rumour of Death Eaters will keep them on their toes."
"That might actually work," Sirius admitted.
"It will work. There's no way they'll expel us if everyone's on our side," James said.
"Mate, I don't know if you've noticed, but people don't really like us right now. We keep losing house points and Pevensie said that some of the team blames you for them losing to Hufflepuff last match," Sirius told him.
"I'm not even on the team anymore! They've had plenty of time to find a replacement. Blame me for the match against the Slytherins, fine, but Hufflepuff's on you…. Sirius, you should join the team. You'd make a better chaser than Montgomery," James said, cringing at Montgomery's name. Sirius shook his head laughing about how easily distracted his friend was. "He's the worst player I've ever seen!"
"How would that help our problem? I'm rubbish as a chaser," Sirius asked, bringing James's attention back on more important issues.
"Well like Maggie said; we'll keep our heads down, focus on our studies, answer questions in class, help a few first years, you join the Quidditch team, help 'em win the next match. Even if you are rubbish as a chaser you can't be worse than Montgomery. We might actually earn enough points to win the house cup," James smirked.
"You want me to keep my head down and join the Quidditch team? Do I look like Longbottom to you? Next, you'll ask me to try for prefect," Sirius scoffed.
"You like Quidditch. And Longbottom's not so bad. He stands up for the muggle borns and he makes a pretty good prefect," James shrugged.
"Longbottom's a geek. That's why he makes a good prefect," Sirius returned.
"It's just 'till we're in the clear. We'll both be Longbottoms," James smiled.
"Just wait 'till Remus hears we're gonna be expelled. Maggie's gonna get an earful from him," Sirius grinned.
James and Sirius spent the rest of the night in the common room joking with each other about various things. They were too upset to sleep. In the morning they broke the news to Remus and Peter. Remus did write five pages on why his friends should not be expelled but sent it to Dumbledore instead. They told Bertha Jorkins about Death Eaters being at Hogwarts at breakfast and by mid day not a student in school wasn't talking about it. The four of them were happy to see Malfoy squirming nervously in his seat in the Great Hall at lunch. They even passed by to give him a scare.
They did as they were told and kept their heads down. They put Operation Animal Instincts on hold. (Given the fact that they had to hold the Mandrake leaves in their mouths for an entire month, it was for the best.) Sirius even talked to Cresswell, the Gryffindor's quidditch team's captain, about trying out but was told it was too late in the year. They did continue to use harmless pranks against the known Death Eaters, which was merely a nuisance to them than anything else. Snape they left alone completely having been pointed out directly by McGonagall. He was starting to get comfortable, he even sat with Evans at the Gryffindor table on occasions. Evans was back to being courteous with James again, which brightened his spirits. That was until they saw Snape at dinner one night surrounded by people on their known Death Eater list, gesturing to his left arm. His name was added to their list immediately after that.
Their parents were contacted as promised. James received a stern letter from his parents and Sirius got a howler. He just barely made it out of the Great Hall before it exploded. The howler had been about the shame of attacking the family. Despite his friends' reassurances that nobody heard a word of what it said, he knew it wasn't true by the look of Narcissa's smug face whenever she saw him. And James had stopped pranking the Malfoys altogether.
The meeting with their parents was scheduled for a week from then. Even James seemed a bit nervous about it. They were taken out of class by Malfoy, who was the head boy; and lead to the entrance of Dumbledore's office. They sat outside of the gargoyle shaped door, palms sweating and knees shaking, waiting for their parents to show.