II. Riddles

Peter was first to leave through the portrait hole then James and Lily and later Sirius and Eilidh, leaving Remus alone in the common room. He took his time slipping the Ravenclaw Quidditch robes James had "borrowed" for him over his own clothes. Putting the petty theft out of his mind was shamefully easy knowing that the more he looked like a Ravenclaw the easier it would be to enter their Tower. He was a bit nervous to be working alone on a prank. It was something he had never done. What if not all the Ravenclaws had left yet and he was caught. Were Ravenclaws known for being merciful? He could certainly hold his own in a fight even if he was out numbered of that he was confident having taken down a seventh year with one spell only a few weeks prior. Besides the Ravenclaws he knew were nice if not a little odd. The only thing he really had to worry about was that riddle.

He was mediocre at best when it came to riddles. The more he thought about it the more he came to realise that maybe Sirius would be better equipped for this task given his fixation with the Daily Prophet's crossword puzzles. Or even Peter (puns were a kind of wordplay.) But Peter was terrible at charms; he could remember every date of every battle of the Goblin War but ask him to perform a simple summoning charm and he was more than likely to cause an explosion. Sirius, on the other hand, was excellent at charms but he was much too excited to be pranking the Slytherins to even suggest trading places.

So there he was stepping out of the portrait hole on his way to Ravenclaw Tower smirking at the Fat Lady almost screaming with laughter with her usual visitor, Violet. They were so enthralled by their own conversation that they didn't even realise his odd attire. He had been a bit worried to dress up as a Quidditch player having seen how much attention James received, especially after a match, but he was happy to see that he was hidden in plain sight. He passed very few people, mostly prefects, who's eyes only glanced over him once and never lingered on his face - he might as well have been wearing an invisibility cloak.

Having finished his climb of the dizzying spiral staircase that led to Ravenclaw Tower he paused unsure of what to do before a plain wooden door. It had no handle but it did have a bronze door knocker in the shape of an eagle. With a steady hand, he reached forward and knocked once. Without any hesitation the beak of the eagle opened but instead of emitting a bird's cry a soft musical voice sounded: "This thing all things devours: birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; slays wizards, ruins town and beats high mountain down.

What? He thought to himself, mulling over the bird's words. What sort of thing could destroy everything? Obviously, it's something even magic can't fix or else wizards wouldn't be included. An omnipresent force. Death.

Death certainly did seem to be the best answer but he thought that might be a bit too dark. Besides death was in the question - what causes death for everyone and everything.

"Time!" He didn't mean to say it out loud but as the thought occurred to him he felt so sure of himself that the word seemed to burst through his lips of its own accord. Having heard the word spoken he was not so sure of himself and chewed on his bottom lip nervously waiting for something to happen. He didn't have to wait long for the bird's beak to open again.

"Well reasoned," said its tinkling voice and the door swung open.

Pride swelled in him as he walked in. The Ravenclaw common room was wide, circular, and airy. The windows were arched instead of square as they were in Gryffindor and the walls were decorated with fine silks of blue and bronze. Even stranger, the ceiling was domed and painted with stars which were mirrored in the dark blue carpet beneath. It was like he was standing in a small library with the amount of books that ornated the room. Opposite the door was a tall white marble statue of a woman. Remus's curiosity burned inside him. He wanted to explore every corner of the strange room to open every book upon the shelves but he had a job to do. A meticulous job that offered no immediate satisfaction but nonetheless a job so he set to work. Each Dunbomb was charmed so that they would have to be touched in order to be set off then they were hidden from sight, stuffed into arm chairs, hidden skillfully in the bookshelves and door jams. It would be months before they found them all.

He laughed at the thought of what his mother would say to see his hands in the state they were in by the time he had finished. They were covered in dung even when he took the precaution to only hold the bombs by his fingertips. After cleaning his hands with a wet cloth, he wiped down every surface that he touched taking care to leave no clues that he had been there. He stepped back to look at the work he had done and double checked to make sure he had not forgotten anything. He smiled proudly and mentally congratulated himself on the work he had done before heading back to Gryffindor Tower to wait for the rest of them.

***Told you they were gonna be short! Relax the others will be a tad bit longer but Remus's prank was fairly simple and I feel like he's less likely to get caught doing anything. I think it's James and Lily next *squee!*

Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear what you think.

Until next time,

XO***