Chapter 5
October 9, 1976

"You went to Evans before us?!?" Sirius shouted, utterly flabbergasted. I rolled my eyes and stared into the fire of the Common Room helplessly.

"I told you. I wanted to go to the library and she met me there," I remarked.

"What happened there?" Peter asked earnestly, drawing his legs up to rest beneath his chin. I looked over to him and sighed.

"I…told her what happened last night," I held my breath for –

"You told Evans before us?!?" Sirius shouted again.

James took a pillow and chucked it at his head, connecting successfully with target. "Shut up, Sirius," he rolled his eyes. "What happened last night?"

"The girl visited me again."

"You mean the one you humped?"

"Sirius!"

"What?!"

"I must've fallen asleep or something, because when I met her, I wasn't transformed."

"But you did transform, right?" James asked.

"Yeah."

"What did she say?" Peter asked.

"Nothing, really. She was scared off and then…." I gulped at the memory.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"She was murdered," I finished. The room grew quiet.

"That's it?!" Sirius raised his eyebrow.

"Yes!" James, Peter, and I hollered.

"Do you remember exactly where she was murdered?" James asked, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes."

James stood up. "Boys, how do you feel about some good old-fashioned marauding? Maybe we'll find something."

"What's there to find?" Peter asked, completely unmoved.

"Party pooper," mumbled Sirius.

"We'll look for clues to the mystery!" James exclaimed.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Like Sherlock Holmes?"

The three turned and blinked at me. "What?!"

I shook my head. "Never mind."

"I'll go and get my Invisibility Cloak," stated James, "and then Remus will tell us where to go."

"Sure," I shrugged as James ran up to our dorm, skipping two stairs at a time. I heard Sirius try to sneak up behind me, but chose not to react.

"REMUS!" he shouted, making Peter instead jump. "Who murdered her?"

"I don't know, Sirius."

"Why'd they murder her?"

"I don't know, Sirius."

"How'd they murder her?"

"Go away, Sirius."

Sirius hung his arms over the back of the chair and huffed loudly. "I'm bored."

"Good," I replied, staring into the dying flames of the fire again. Sirius remained quiet for the next ten or so seconds before letting go of the chair and coming around it as Padfoot.

James came down in the Common Room at that moment and told Sirius to "play dead," upon which he transformed back into Sirius and pouted.

James unfolded his Invisibility Cloak and the four of us got under it. Since our fifth year, however, we have all gotten too big to be under it all at once without someone spotting our feet. Luckily, though, Peter can transform into an especially small animal and give us all more room.

We left through the Fat Lady's portal and, taking all sorts of shortcuts, made our way quietly to the Entrance Hall, to the grounds, to the Forbidden Forest. We walked a little way into the Forbidden Forest before taking off the cloak.

"Lumos," I said as Peter transformed back and James folded up his cloak. The end of my wand lit up and we could all see our surroundings better.

"So which way do we go?" asked Sirius as he crossed his arms over his chest impatiently.

I looked around and pointed to the area off the path. "A little ways in there," I ran ahead and the other three followed, Peter panting and wheezing.

"Down there," I pointed to the bottom of our small hill, to the bed of leaves.

"That's it? What is there?" Sirius complained.

"What did you expect?" I asked, exasperated. Peter had caught up to us then, desperately trying to catch his breath.

"Well lets go have a look," James brushed his hands together.

"Wait!" Peter wheezed, taking out his inhaler and leaning against a nearby tree for rest.

But when he leaned against it, the bark broke and he fell back into the hollow inside! He dropped his inhaler down the hole as he scrambled to keep his grip and not fall completely inside as well!

"Guys, help me!" James and Sirius ran past me in a flash as they raced to pull him out of the old tree.

Once they had him on two feet, Sirius looked back over the tree. "Did you see that?!"

"Yes!" Peter shouted quite indignantly while James tried his best to calm him down again.

"Where do you suppose it goes?" Sirius looked down into the hole.

"Get away from there, Padfoot, or you'll fall in, too!" I chastised.

"Hey!" he looked up again. "Maybe it leads to China!" I rolled my eyes helplessly.

"Accio inhaler," James conjured Peter's inhaler out of the hole. It came up and out and James caught it deftly in his hand, practice from playing with a Snitch, and gave it to Peter.

"See! It's not bottomless!" defended Sirius. James stood and walked to his side, leaving Peter alone.

"Why not, Remus?" Sirius asked.

"What if you get stuck down there? How are you supposed to get out?"

"We'll just apparate!" proposed Sirius.

"Good plan, only none of us can apparate,"

"Geronimo!" James hopped inside the hole!

"James!" I raced over to the tree.

Sirius laughed himself to stitches. "Way to go, Prongs!"

"Are you alright, James?!" I shouted.

"Yeah! It's really dark!" he shouted back up. "And wet!" he added.

"I'm coming, Jamie!" and Sirius jumped into the hole as well.

"Are we gonna have to go in there, too?" Peter asked.

I sighed. "Come on." I helped him stand. He reluctantly approached the tree once more and climbed into the hole. I soon followed.

We were in a square room the size of one of our classrooms. It had three boarded up walls and the fourth made out of dirt. James looked up from where we had come. We had dropped about ten feet down and there was luckily a ladder built against one of the boarded walls.

"Uh, guys…." Peter shakily pointed at the wall we all had our backs against.

"Huh?" Sirius asked. We all turned around and looked at it. There on the wall was red writing, as if written in blood. I swallowed the lump in my throat before reading what it had to say.

Speak not your secrets
While you are here,
Lest you spend your living
Hours in fear.

Remember this:
It's for the best.
These walls have ears
That do not rest.

Remember these:
These warnings true,
For if you don't,
I pity you….

A/N- Will update notes later.