James and Lily made their way to Griffindor tower without running into any one. They were both completely silent throughout the whole trip, with the exception of when James complemented Lily's coat and she, completely startled, muttered a quick thanks.
When they made it to the Portrait however, the Fat Lady was gone. In her place was a short, thin teenage girl with long, wispy, silvery blue hair and ruby red eyes. She wore a dress the color of her hair that looked like it was made of water, it reminded James of what the invisibility cloak would look like if it, well, didn't make you invisible. She looked infinitely out of place in the background of the portrait and the pair assumed she was from a different painting.
"Hello." she said distractedly, walking up into a different picture frame, waking up a snoozing man in a feathered berret, asleep at a desk with a quill in his hand. Lily and James exchanged a glance.
"Uh, hi." Lily said. "Uh, do you think you could, I dunno... let us in?" The girl quit chatting with the cranky and sleep ridden portrait from the frame above and hoped up. She didn't land on the floor of that frame but fell right through it into the Fat Lady's chair.
"Maybe," she replied conversationally, "but I have to say, I've lost some friends of mine, and I'm getting kinda tired of waking up portraits. Not very friendly these people." She eyed the man above her, who had a very irritated expression as he tried to go back to sleep. "And since I'm unlikely to find anybody at these hours... because, that would be against the rules..." she eyed them playfully. "I suppose I'll let you in. If you help me." James looked at her suspiciously.
"I haven't seen you around the castle." he said. "Have you?" he addressed Lily.
"No, actually. We don't even know your name." The girl's grin didn't waver.
"Brooke, nice to meet you. Now. Help me. Please?" she said cheerfully.
"How?" Lily asked. With this, Brooke seemed pleased.
"Did you see anything... I guess... odd, while you were out?" she questioned. Lily paled and Brooke grinned.
"Ah... and how about yonder gentleman?" she gestured James.
"I uh, wouldn't remember." Brooke's eyebrows raised high on her forehead.
"Well." she said, intrigued. "That's very interesting. What's the last thing you do remember?" James hesitated, then spoke.
"It's like I fell asleep. I remember something happening before then, but like a dream, not clearly. I don't even remember waking up and getting out of bed, it was like slowly waking out of a reverie. I have no idea what I was doing before I woke up standing in middle of the hall way."
"Oh good." she murmured, then turned to Lily. "And what do you have for me?" Lily blushed.
"Oh I..." she seemed very uncomfortable. "I sort of saw a.. a drunken Potter. He was all staggering, and he kept telling me he was sorry, and that he wouldn't date someone he loved because he loved me first. It was all very odd. And then this other person who looked like Potter, but he had green eyes came up, yelling 'James', and the drunken Potter called him Al, and the Al guy told me to forget it ever happened and took drunken Potter off down a corridor. But then I started walking back, and found Potter, standing in the corridor."
"Typical." Brooke muttered, though the two saw nothing typical about it. James in fact, looked a little insulted. "Where was this?" she asked her.
"Uh, down on the 2nd floor, near the portrait of Wert." Brooke nodded grimly.
"Great, you guys have been so much more help than you realize. Take their advice, by the way, just forget this ever happened. Oh, and as promised." She smiled and opened the portrait for them. James walked in and Lily started for the hole when Brooke called out to her.
"Hey Lily?" Lily backed out and looked at the portrait girl. "Nice coat."
2 hours earlier...
Remus, Peter held up a lamp as Sirius and Remus surveyed the Marauders Map. The trio strode down a dark corridor under the invisibility cloak.
"Do you see him?" Peter whispered.
"No, not yet Wormtail." Remus said back.
"Wait! There he is, on the third floor!" Remus gazed at the Map.
"What are you talking about? Oh look he's there, in the astronomy tower." Peter peaked over at the map and exclaimed; "No! He's.. right... behind us." The three were intently focused on the Map, but kept walking unconsciously. Sirius let out an exasperated sigh and pointed to the spot he saw had a little mark labeled James Potter.
"He's here." Remus looked at the spot Sirius pointed to.
"Did you put your finger on top of the dot?" Peter asked.
"NO! He's right there." he jabbed the parchment.
"Jeez Sirius be careful, you'll break it!" Remus exclaimed. The three teens turned a corner. "We don't get what you're saying, there's nothing there. James is here." Remus said, pointing to the astronomy tower.
"I'm telling you guys, he's following us, how are you not seeing it?" he sounded worried. Remus gasped and stopped dead in his tracks.
"Maybe we should be asking how are we seeing anything at all." Sirius stared at his friend, confused.
"Moony are you okay?"
"Yeah Remus what are you saying." Remus took the Map and spread it out on the floor. Being careful, of course, to cover it with the cloak.
"Look at this!" he said, pointing to the Map.
"It's the Slytherin dormitories. What about them?" Peter said. Remus pointed at them insistently.
"Yes, exactly!" Remus said. "What do you see?"
"There's nothing there Moony." Sirius said. Remus smiled.
"Exactly. There's nothing there. And here." he pointed to the Ravenclaw dorms. "What do you see?" the boys looked at the Map again.
"They're the Ravenclaw dorms, Moony. What are you trying to show us? There's-" Sirius stopped talking for a moment, then gazed back at the Map.
"Shit!" he cursed. Peter looked confused.
"What are you all talking about? What's going on?"
"Wormtail you loaf, don't you see it?" Peter looked at the Map.
"See what?"
"Peter." Remus said. "There's no one on here. Someone's screwed the Map." For some unknown reason, the three boys were suddenly filled with fear. All the dots disappeared, slowly being replaced by a different type of dot. They were pure white.
"Look!" Remus exclaimed.
"What does it say?" Peter said.
"Wait, did it just walk into the wall?" Sirius asked.
"Oh Merlin it did."
"What's it even labeled?" As if on cue, curly cursive letters appeared above on the lump inside the line that indicated a wall.
Carmarthen Graja
Another dot appeared in a classroom on the third floor .
Billy McHindle
One on the grounds.
Pheonix
One straight on a wall.
Maya Leonette
Two, very close together, on the second floor.
Marcus Garcia
Lily Potter
"Wait a second!" Remus gasped. "Lily Potter?"
"Um, guys?" Peter whimpered.
"Shut up Peter. Merlin it does say that!"
"Guys..." Peter moaned fearfully.
"What the hell is happening to the map!?"
"Remus-"
"Hold on Peter. Maybe the Map is telling the future and these are students that will be coming here..."
"James would have a field day."
"Yeah I bet."
"Moony! Pad-foot!" The boys whipped around to look at the trembling boy in front of them.
"What Peter?!" Sirius said exasperatedly. Peter gulped.
"I just realized..."
"Yes..." Remus prompted.
"Um, aren't we right here?" he asked, pointing to the third floor, right next to where a little dot labeled Billy McHindle had made his way out of a class room and down a corridor, standing right behind them. The three boys slowly turned around and saw a tall teenage boy their age with olive skin and curly dark brown hair. He was smiling mischievously and opened his mouth to speak.
"You know, there's not much point in an invisibility cloak if you can be heard a hallway and a closed door away." he said to what must have seemed empty space. He reached forward and lifted the cloak of of them. Then he picked up the Map. He stared at it.
"You do realize that this thing is useless once we get here? Our presence sort of jams the spells. You see us know, but soon, it'll get frizzy and you'll only see people who aren't where they should be, like your seeing three James Potter's." he folded the map and put it in his pocket. "You won't be needing it anymore."
"Who are you?" Remus asked.
"I'm Billy."
"Well we know that. But who are you?" Remus insisted. Billy sighed.
"Look, Remus-"
"I never told you my name."
"-this will be difficult, but I need you, all three of you, to just go back to bed. Forget this ever happened." He winked and started walking away.