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Chapter Two: In which the Marauders kidnap Mrs Norris"Look," murmured Isadora, nudging Lily, who sat beside her. She was smiling fondly. "There's my brother, Liam, isn't he the sweetest?"
Lily smiled indulgently at the line of first years straggling apprehensively down the length of the Great Hall. Some were staring at the mass of older students; others at the enchanted ceiling, sparkling with stars.
The Sorting was a relatively speedy affair that evening: indeed, Lily did not know whether it was the fact that she had witnessed so many, or that she was simply exhausted. She lost track of the numerous first years, from Abbot, Susannah ("Hufflepuff!") to Wood, Liam ('Gryffindor!'). This was partially due to the staring competition that she partook in with her dashing boyfriend Art, who was all the way along at Ravenclaw's table, surrounded by a heckle of admirers. He looked different –mysteriously transformed over the summer. His hair was longer (had it been curled?) and kept falling into his eyes, which would prompt Art to artfully flick it away with a quick turn of his head: a move, in fact, that, while she thought about it, reminded Lily tremendously of Sirius Black, although Lily had to acknowledge that while Sirius did it unconsciously, Art did not. She smiled and rolled her eyes at him.
"To the new students, welcome! And to the old hands, welcome back!" Professor Dumbledore announced, standing before the teacher's table and smiling indulgently. "I won't waste your time with words tonight: I see that you are all tired and eager to be fed! I must, however, request the Heads' presence in my office for a short while after dinner. That is all!"
In the usual grand fashion, the plates blossomed with food, much as a flower would unfurl, and Lily was immediately caught by the rich scents that rose from the table. Sighing happily, she exchanged a look with Emmeline and they both dove into the feast.
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"Ah, Lily, James. Come in, come in."
Dumbledore ushered them into his office with a smile.
Lily stared around his office, impressed. She had only been in here several times, and it never failed to amaze her. In particular, Lily was enchanted by the series of portraits that lined Dumbledore's walls.
James, however, appeared indifferent. Indeed, the Head Boy had been present in this office so many times over the past six years that the general effect seemed to be lost to him.
Dumbledore gestured for them to sit. "First, I would like to congratulate each of you," he told them quietly. "I thought long and hard before deciding upon your appointment, and I want to reassure you both that you were my first and only choices on this matter. I'm sure that I have chosen rightly."
James watched Dumbledore, confused. How was it possible that he had been the Headmaster's first and only choice? Surely there had been dozens of other candidates more appropriate than he? What of Remus, for one? Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he surveyed his students, and James could have sworn he gave him an encouraging smile.
"I see you are both tired, so I won't keep you long. Your things are in the heads dorm on the fourth floor, eastern corridor, behind a door that is pretending to be a carving. Just tap her with your wand, and tell her your names. I will see you soon, I'm sure. Goodnight!"
James followed Lily down the corridor, half a step behind her, so that he could watch her. Her luscious red locks gleamed in the candlelight, illuminating golden highlights as their owner negotiated the corridors and moving stairways of the castle with ease. Finally, they arrived at the eastern corridor on the fourth floor.
Lily paused, puzzled. "I don't think I've been here before."
James stepped forward, smiling. "Never fear. It's there, just down from the statue."
And so it was.
Lily pulled out her wand and tapped the lovely oak carving. The delicate face of a beautiful witch blinked at them from out of the woodwork, suddenly animated.
"Names?" she asked them, smiling.
"Er – Lily Evans and James Potter."
"New password?" the Carved Witch prompted kindly.
Lily looked at James questioningly. It was the first time she had met his eyes all day, and their full, emerald force was not lost on the seventeen year old boy.
"Amortentia?" he murmured, shrugging casually.
Lily pursed her lips. Can I be bothered to argue? She asked herself. And the conclusion she arrived at was no, she was much too tired and would infinitely prefer to be curled up in bed as soon as possible, as opposed to arguing in the drafty corridor. Which was fair enough, really.
"Alright. We'd like Amortentia, please," she told the witch, who raised her carved brows and smiled. "Very well. I will see you soon, good night."
The door swung open and the carving waved to them as they entered.
"Wow."
The first thing that struck Lily was the scale of the Head's dorm. She smiled happily, taking in the lounges and low table set before a roaring fire. The Hogwarts crest hung above the mantle. And on either side of the mantle, stairs lead to an upstairs gallery, framed by a large arched window. And along the gallery… She smiled again, seeing the door labelled Lily in curling, golden writing. On the other side of the gallery, which ran around three walls of the dorm, was a door labelled James in the same writing. The ceiling, to her utmost disappointment, was normal.
James, on the other hand, had preferred to explore rather than to simply take it all in. On the left -hand side of the lounge, he found a door leading to the study, a room lined with book cases and featuring two desks. Crossing the room, he found the bathroom on the right hand side, large and luxurious. The room was big enough to hold at least twenty people comfortably, he estimated, and boasted a lovely old-fashioned bath, as well as a shower, large vanity and toilet. Next, he climbed up the stairs, which he discovered joined behind the mantle. He arrived at the gallery and was immediately drawn to the giant arched window, which predominately boasted a lovely view of the grounds and forest, with glimpse of the lake. The outside border was panelled in stained glass, intricate images from the past. On the left hand side of the gallery, above the study, was Lily's room; on the right, above the bathroom, his own. He grinned, spotting the large window, and stared around happily at the moving Quidditch posters. His favourite players zoomed around the room, circling a wonderfully large double bed, draped with rich, red hangings. As with the rest of the dorm, the room featured the colours of each house, a comfortable disarray of rainbow. He heard a gasp travel from across the gallery and saw Lily too had discovered her room. He crept across to peer inside, and found it bedecked in emerald green.
"Hello," he said pleasantly from the doorway. Lily, who was testing the bed, looked up. He grinned. The green brought out her eyes, brilliant in her delicate face.
"Isn't it wonderful?"
She was too enthralled to be cool toward him.
James nodded happily. "Being Head obviously has its perks!"
Lily frowned. "Perhaps, but we'll have to do real work, too."
James returned to his room and rummaged in his trunk, pulling out a small hand mirror. "Sirius Black!"
Instead of his own image, Sirius' swum into view, smiling handsomely. "Prongs! Was wondering when you'd call. Where are you?"
"Fourth floor, eastern corridor. Behind the wood carving."
Sirius nodded. "I'll drop by once I round up the others. Should I tell the girls?" he asked, meaning the Marauders.
James shrugged. "If you like."
Sirius's eyes glinted. "I'll bring Emmy too."
Sirius had always held a fondness for the kind, pretty blonde who was Lily's best friend. James and the Marauders had often teased Sirius on her account, although he strongly denied any sort of romantic interest in her. She makes me laugh, was his best excuse so far. And although the boys did believe Sirius wasn't interested in her like that, they had never been able to resist teasing him, especially when he took the whole thing so seriously.
"See you soon, Padfoot."
Lily was lying on one of the plush red velvet lounges in front of the fire, reading a book from the study while she waited for the clock to tick around to dinnertime.
Someone cleared their throat.
Lily looked up in surprise, but it wasn't James. He was still in his room. She glanced around, looking for a portrait. Her eyes settled on the back of the entrance. What has formerly been plain wood was now moving: the carved witch had moved to the other side of the door.
"Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Emmeline Vance and Peter Pettigrew are on my other side," she announced clearly.
"Thank you," Lily told her, standing. "You may let them in."
The witch disappeared and moments later, the door swung open.
"Hello," she said, surprised. "How did you know where-"
"MERLIN'S WAND!"
Sirius' exclamation echoed off the stone walls. From his doorway along the upstairs gallery, the unruly black tuft that was James' hair appeared. He beamed. "You found it ok?" he asked eagerly, disappearing momentarily as he hurried down the stairs. Lily looked between the Head Boy and his friends, suspicious. A secret line of communication would certainly explain a few things, after all.
Their guests were still staring around, enthralled. Emmy gave Lily a small hug. "The boys told me to come," she explained, shrugging, when Lily questioned how she'd known their location.
"Isn't it awesome?" James sighed happily, reclining onto the lounge. Remus had wandered into the study and back out, dazed.
"There's some seriously high grade magic stuff in there, guys. This is amazing."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Trust you, Moony."
Remus cleared his throat, looking warily toward Emmeline, and Sirius seemed to remember himself. James was sure that Lily, who was quite good friends with Remus, was well aware of their poor friend's "furry little problem" as James had christened it, but as far as James knew Emmy had remained under the impression that Remus owned a rabbit.
"Anyway!" James announced loudly, staring at Sirius hard. "We have things to do, places to be, and so on so forth. Good night, girls!"
And with that, before Lily could so much as mention the word curfew, the Marauders uniformly stood and trooped out of the room.
Emmy looked at Lily, surprised. "What was that about?" she asked curiously.
Lily shrugged. "I have no idea," she responded, although truthfully she harboured some suspicions. "He had better not give them the password either."
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"Padfoot, you really need to learn to keep our nick names private," Remus chastised his friend.
Sirius shrugged. "Evans knows, doesn't she, Moony? If Evans hasn't told anyone, what makes you think that Emmeline would?"
Glancing at Remus' pained expression, James decided to interrupt.
"It's like Moony has always said, Paddy," James explained calmly. "The more people who know, the greater the risk that someone will let something slip."
"But only the four of us know about it!" Sirius protested.
"Dumbledore
and Lily," James added.
"Oh, all right. Six. Six, Moony! Don't
fuss!"
"Seven," Remus said darkly. "You forgot Snape."
This seemed to shut Sirius up, and they continued their walk in silence, until James pulled out the Marauders Map.
"What are we doing here, anyway?" Remus asked, looking around at what appeared to be a fifth floor corridor.
James shrugged, unable to achieve Sirius' casual elegance. "Just thought we may as well start on our list," he muttered, frowning.
Remus and Peter exchanged looks of surprise, but Sirius grinned. "Excellent, Prongs. What do you have in mind?"
James pursed his lips.
"Well," he deliberated. "If I've worked this out right, Mrs Norris will be in this corridor in about fifteen minutes."
"We are not going to kidnap a cat," Remus muttered. "Of all the stupid, imbecile things that you lot can think of…"
"But its not just a cat, Moony," Peter protested, shocked. "It's Filch's cat."
"Exactly," Sirius said darkly. "Although she has an unnaturally long life, don't you think, boys? I heard someone say she was a witch trapped as a cat. The reason Filch never married, and all that."
James rolled his eyes. "Really, Padfoot, where do you pick up that kind of stuff?"
Sirius merely shrugged. "Never mind. Wormy, give me your shoe."
"Why do I have to give you my shoe?" Peter complained. "The last time I gave you one, I never got it back, you know, and that was a whole lot of good to me, Sirius."
Now it was Sirius' turn to roll his eyes. It was then that he spotted a doorway.
"Oh well, Wormtail, it looks like your luck's in tonight anyway. I bet there's something in here."
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A/N: Hey everyone! If you've got this far hopefully you're enjoying it! Please don't forget to review, I'd really appreciate it!
Lexie xx