James was practically bursting with pride at his Christmas present and demanded the dorms fullest attention. He kept them all in suspense with a long winded speech about how history has been made today in this dorm and how their lives would never be the same again-
"For Merlin's sake Potter get on with it," Sirius demanded from his draped position on Remus' back.
"No I will not Black. Not only is my surprise worth it but when we look back I want you to remember how brilliant this moment is..." and he continued with his speech. Remus cast an exasperated look over his shoulder making Sirius chuckle on top of him. Finally the boy finished
"For Hogwarts will know our names as the pranksters that were never caught," and with that he disappeared.
Remus stiffened trying to see what spell had been used to make him disappear. Peter squeaked and jumped three feet in the air.
"James? He squealed looking at where the boy undoubtedly touched him.
"Brilliant!" Sirius breathed getting off Remus to explore the room.
He guessed that it was something making James invisible since he could hear the giggles moving around the room and away from Sirius' questing hands. He got up to join Sirius in his search. Hearing James giggle and huff when Sirius got too close.
"Alright," Sirius pouted "Come out and gloat about your new prezzie."
James pulled something shimmery from his person, grinning from ear to ear at himself. He chucked the cloth over to Remus letting the remaining boys crowd around to feel it before explaining.
"It's an invisibility cloak. Apparently it's been in the family for generations and Dad decided it was time it was mine," he cheered "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Very," Sirius gushed stroking the fabric gently.
"Incredible," Remus breathed staring at the lavish present. Peter seemed lost for words as well and just mindlessly stared at it.
"Think of the possibilities," James crowed and threw the cloak over Peter making him disappear save for his feet.
"So much mischief," Sirius repeated from James' earlier speech.
"So many restricted books," Remus chimed.
Peter threw the cloak off and handed it sheepishly back to James while Remus shared equally evil looks with the other two boys. A prefect knocked at the door telling them that the welcome back feast was starting. They rushed down to join the rest of the school with James asking about the new hexes that Remus knew all the while he kept an eye on how Sirius carried himself. He hadn't forgotten how the boy had cringed when Remus touched him.
But before that Sirius wasn't done asking him about his.
"So what happened to your leg?"Sirius asked over tea.
"I told you, I tripped on that stupid trick step," he replied facing Sirius' disbelieving gaze.
"Why didn't you go to Pomphrey about it?" he interrogated.
"Because it's nothing. I'll be fine in a couple of days so long as I don't do anything too strenuous.
"So no duel club?"James inquired pitifully.
"We can still do that. I have tonnes of new spells for you," he promised watching the glint of mischief light in their eyes.
When they went back to the dorm, after ten minutes of begging, Remus showed them some new hexes that they spent the rest of the night trying to figure out. James threw the cloak on to try and sneak a few sly charms in but Sirius had mastered the art of dodging and managed to sense when James was going to try and hex him so James only got him a couple of times.
It was later when they all went to bed that Remus sneaked to Sirius' bed. He was asleep which was unusual since the last time he had seen him it had taken Remus pinning him down before he succumbed to sleep. Not being deterred he climbed in shaking Sirius awake as he went.
"Wha-? Rem?" He glanced down at Sirius' sleepy face and motioned for him to follow him.
Sirius groaned awake and did as Remus told him. He cast a silencing spell and locked them in as Sirius stretched. He wondered how to approach him and decided to ask directly.
"Are you okay? What was your Christmas like?"
"What do you mean?" Sirius avoided. "Your side's hurt. Did you do something to it?"
"I tripped," he replied staring pointedly at Remus. It was the same excuse he had given for his leg and Sirius knew it.
"Fine," Remus huffed and started pulling his shirt off followed by his pants.
"
What are you doing?" Sirius squeaked staring at the exposed skin.
"It's only fair," he replied taking his pants off, careful of his leg "You won't tell me what happened because you think I'm being untruthful about my leg so..." he finally got his last pant leg off "I show you mine so you show me yours."
Sirius looked horrified at all the scars that were on show and tried to turn his gaze subtly away from them. After a minute of Remus not relenting he sighed and tugged his own shirt off trying to keep his gaze away as Remus took in the damage on Sirius' chest. There were three large bruises spanning his chest, the first near his collarbone and the other two further down. Remus touched his hand to the one on Sirius' collarbone knowing that his fist would fit the pattern even if it was that of an adult that had made it.
"It doesn't hurt all that much. Only when I knock it," Sirius mentioned when he watched Remus make a fist.
"That's not the point..." He trailed moving to the other two to make sure they were the same "Who did this?" he smoothed over one hearing Sirius hiss.
"Dad, but I deserved it," Sirius defended when he met Remus' horrified look. "No, really. We were having a family dinner with the Malfoy's and that prick Lucius was there trying to suck up to my mum. He was saying horrid things and I kind of set his hair on fire. Dad was mortified," He breathed and Remus got what happened when the Malfoy's left.
"He shouldn't have hit you," Remus said.
"It's fine-"
"He shouldn't have hit you Sirius. It's not right," Remus scolded.
"What exactly do you expect me to do?" Sirius asked and Remus thought it was rhetorical before glancing back up at Sirius' face. He looked lost and like he was actually asking for guidance in this situation.
"I don't know, but you shouldn't hide it," he answered.
Sirius backed away scared "You want me to tell them," He pointed out the door "No way!"
"Why not? They're your friends," Remus argued.
"And yours. Yet you haven't shown us them," he said looking at the scars. It seemed he had some fascination with them and Remus couldn't really blame him. There were enough to make a mosaic with.
"Fine," Remus concluded and unlocked the door.
He walked out and into the boys dorms flicking his wand to light the candles before yelling at James and Peter to get up. Sirius watched from the bathroom door with his shirt firmly back on as James and Peter roused behind their curtains.
"Remus don't," Sirius begged holding his shirt out to him.
"No, your right," Remus said and yelled at James again "Come on this is important."
They finally opened their curtains to glare at Remus for waking them. He could see a few choice words on James' tongue as he stuck his head through only for them to die as he took in Remus' scars. Peter looked just about as horrified as Sirius about what he was looking at where as James was stuck between confusion and sleepiness.
"Remus what are those?" James finally asked getting out of bed and running his hand over one on his shoulder.
"I was in an accident when I was younger," he explained leaving out what exactly that accident had been "It's left me like this which is why I refused to shower or take my shirt off in the same room as you. I figure that since your my friends now that you have a right to know. Not to mention it would be really hard to hide this for seven years," he chuckled and watched as the humour met it's end in the room.
Peter hadn't moved and kept glancing in between Sirius and Remus before clearing his throat "That's awful. Not your scars, what happened," he amended.
"Yeah," James agreed turning Remus to look at his back. James had taken his near naked appearance to mean he could explore them all he wanted "It's really brave of you to do this," he told him "I'm glad you could trust us," He pulled him into a backwards hug before resuming his exploration.
Remus glanced towards Sirius in the bathroom. He was still holding out Remus' shirt but he had a torn expression on his face. Remus tried to convey that they were his friends. They wouldn't hold this against him.
"How many do you have?" Peter asked curiously trying to get a good look in the low light.
"A lot," Remus smiled.
"Tell me about it," James called from Remus' ankles "It's going to take two full examinations for me to count all of them."
"You're not counting them," Remus told him.
"I am," James argued staring haughtily back "It's either that or I draw on them when you're asleep. Take your pick."
Remus laughed at their easy acceptance and ignorance of what they were actually from. Sirius was still cast in shadows so Remus pulled James off him and went to take the shirt that he was still holding. "Please Sirius," he whispered "No one will think anything different of you."
He nodded. Remus smiled and pulled Sirius back in the room with him before going back to collect his discarded bottoms. James was pouting on the floor as Remus pulled his clothes back on.
"I'm doing it tomorrow," He warned.
"Fine," Remus agreed "But there's also another reason that I showed you them tonight. See Sirius... do you want to?" He asked again.
The boy just took a deep breath and pulled his own shirt off. This time James did gasp. Bruises were different to scars in a way since a scar is usually a distortion of faded pain. A bruise is something recent and can usually shown what had taken place to get that hurt. A circle meaning they had bumped into something and those leading off it meaning a hand had been placed on them.
James turned to Remus asking him to explain what was going on before turning back to Sirius. "What happened?" he asked.
"It's nothing," He whispered again.
"It was his dad," Remus told them since Sirius wasn't. He received a hiss and a glare for it but the steel that made itself home in James' eyes were worth Sirius' anger.
"I always knew they were strict but this..." he exclaimed while jumping up and pacing. "That's it. You're not going home again Sirius. You can come live with me or Remus or hell Peter. But you're not going back there," he told him.
Sirius was probably expecting something completely different than the whole dorm agreeing with what Remus had started to him in the bathroom.
"But-"
"No buts Black! It's one thing to send a kid to their room and another to hit them. I just thank Merlin that they don't hex you," He said stopping when Sirius grimaced. "They hex you?" He breathed and turned even redder with rage. "That's sick."
"It's fine!" He shouted.
"No it's not!" James yelled back starting an argument between them. They yelled for a whole hour on the theme of punishment and even if the examples Sirius used were ridiculous he didn't stop until they both retreated to their separate beds in a huff. James had warned that "This isn't over Black!" even though Sirius had put a silencing charm up as soon as his curtains were drawn. James turned to Remus and Peter who had seated themselves on Peter's trunk to watch the fight "You're on my side right?"
Peter nodded vehemently "It was the whole reason I showed you mine to begin with," Remus told him. James seemed to calm down with his new support and went to bed himself.
"We are going to be so tired tomorrow," Peter sighed before bidding Remus goodnight.
He sat there on Peter's trunk for a while trying to make sense of what had happened. Sirius was still defending his family despite what they had done to him over the Christmas or even for his whole life. James had been overreacting a bit when he told Sirius he couldn't go home again but Remus wasn't wholly against the idea. He supposed that he would have to talk James down from a permanent solution to a temporary one for the time being and talk Sirius into letting them help.
He climbed into Sirius' bed again receiving a glare that would have made ice take a second look at itself. "Are you okay?" he asked knowing it was a stupid thing but still asking anyway.
Sirius sighed "As fine as I'll ever be now everyone knows I'm being abused at home."
"Well you are," Remus told him.
"It's not like that," Sirius insisted "They only do it if I'm really bad and maybe they were more rough than usual but it's only because I've been out of line at school."
"Out of line?" Remus said incredulously "You've done nothing. Sure you've pulled a few pranks and maybe you should lay of Snape for a while but other than that you've done nothing."
"I've disgraced my family," Sirius said.
"How?"
"I'm here!" He shouted.
"Yes and they should be nothing but proud that your bravery is your greatest feature. Ambition gets you nowhere if you haven't got the bravery to do anything with it. If they can't accept that then maybe James is right about you not living there. They obviously can't be appreciating you how they should."
"And hows that then?" He asked turning to look at him.
"They should be treating you like a person. If hitting you because you've set someone's hair on fire or hexing you because you've been placed right is something they would do then they're treating you more like an object than a person. You have a will of your own Sirius and now you have friends who know what's going on. Who'll stand by you and help you, not because they expect anything but because they like who you are."
Sirius was fully facing him now, curled in on himself and watching as Remus made his case. "You really think that?"
"Yes. Sirius, James didn't start an argument with you for nothing. He's concerned and wants to get you away from them."
"But they're my family," He told him quietly.
"Not if they do that," Remus lay down as exhaustion finally caught up with him "Besides, for the next seven years we're family. And because of that you're going to seriously consider James' offer."
"I don't wanna live with Potter," He scowled and Remus detected a slight whine in his voice. He smiled knowing that the worst was over.
"You don't have to live with him. Just visit one of us over the summer for a while. Make the time with them less. I'd really hate to see who you'd become if you listened to what they told you," Remus remarked pulling the quilt up and making himself comfortable. He didn't think he was going to go back to his bed tonight.
"So you'd like the person I became if I didn't?" Sirius asked him quietly.
Remus hummed his agreement and turned his face into Sirius' pillow for some sleep. The next morning Remus showered with James. Both a daunting task for Remus because he hadn't really showered with any of the others before and another because he meant to make amends between James and Sirius.
"He seems more eager to agree to spending some of his summer holidays and not all of them with us," He explained.
"Really?" James asked from the stall over. Remus heard a sigh "I suppose it's better than nothing. You did tell him that we're keeping this between ourselves though. I don't want teachers involved. They'd only make it worse sending concerned notes back and making the Blacks come here. They'd probably try and take him out of school knowing them."
"No I haven't. I will though. Or you could," He proposed.
"I don't know if the idiot's talking to me yet," James replied.
"He will be if you tell him that," Remus shot back and stepped out to dry himself.
The sound of running water stopping had James jumping out and snatching Remus' towel away. He shouted his unhappiness and tried to take the towel back. It was thrown to the end of the room and James proceeded to towel him with his own counting as he went.
"You're an idiot," He told him.
"And you have a scar on your but. If I hadn't taken your towel then I wouldn't have known that now would I?"
"Why are you counting them?" Remus asked suddenly feeling self conscious.
James shrugged "They're kinda cool."
Remus had to do the rest of his routine with James leaning over his shoulder and had to wait with a very amused Peter while James finished counting the ones on his thighs before he could put his underwear on. Sirius emerged then and cast an odd look their way before turning to the bathroom.
"You should tell him," Remus said to James motioning to the door Sirius stepped through. Truth was he just wanted to get his clothes on.
"At breakfast. There'll be people there and he can't run without becoming hungry," James smirked before turning Remus around.
James did tell him at breakfast which opened the barrier for them to talk again. Granted it steered clear of things that were shouted last night and focused more on James' new broomstick but at least they were talking again.
They had their classes after that which proved to be a struggle for four first years who had spent half the night awake. Peter managed to blow up his cauldron in Potions the first day back without having put anything in it. Slughorn was both impressed and confused as to how that happened.
Finally they had the rest of the afternoon off after Defence Against the Dark Arts let out which meant one hour of sunlight before the dark nights made it curfew. It turned out that snow was a lot more fun when there were others to play with. Sirius and Peter tried to top the snowman that Remus had made with little success while James spent most of his time trying to bring Remus' down. He helped a little by pelting snowballs at the giants head but it seemed that the sticking charms were working since it didn't budge save for some off the top.
Remus' leg started to hurt when James insisted on shoving snow down his cloak making him run around a bit but he could ignore it now that he was with his friends. When the darkness finally started making an appearance Remus tried to call his friends in.
"But Remus it isn't even up to the middle," Sirius pouted rolling more snow onto his massive snowball. "Ten more minutes then we'll go in," He bargained and who was he to deny ten more minutes.
Ten minutes turned into half an hour, then two hours and before they knew it curfew had come and gone. Sirius called an end to the snowball race when he couldn't see in front of his scarf telling Peter that they could try again tomorrow. James and Remus had long ago abandoned any pretence of playing and had been charming each other warm.
"We should have brought the cloak," James said looking forlornly at the great doors.
"Well we'll remember that tomorrow Potter," Sirius said back. He put on a brave face but even he was nervous about sneaking around outside at night. They didn't know where Filch was or even if the door was still open.
"Maybe we can find another way in?" Peter suggested. James seemed reluctant and kept whispering about his cloak while Sirius contemplated it.
He turned to Remus "Well?"
"Well what?" he asked back.
"Know any passages into the castle?"
"Why would I know of any?" Remus queried.
"You found that one in the dungeons. Even if you don't know you could guess," Sirius explained and walked away from the door taking James' arm and bringing him to stand beside Remus.
"Well..." He thought "I suppose it isn't impossible. Salazar would definitely need more than one escape route. The others could have put some in as well," He mused thinking of where any of the founders would put a secret passage. "I suppose the lake..."
"The lake," Sirius repeated like it was obvious "Of course. Come on men." he called already walking away.
"Why the lake?" Peter asked following Sirius and James' lead.
"Well if they couldn't get out the front the lake would provide a suitable means of losing someone," Remus explained trying to think where he would put it.
They neared the lake that had frozen over in the winter. It was hard to see in the dark with all the muted white making everything look the same but they found it eventually and started up the slope to the castle. Remus warned them to keep out of the windows line of sight and also away from the door since they could be caught by both if they weren't lucky. The door itself was seated in between a long line of bricks that stretched with no arches on either side. Perfect for a secret passage.
"Now what? How did you find the last one?" James asked looking at the wall as if a door would magically appear.
"We searched along it for a breeze. Suppose that won't work here," Sirius mused and looked back over to Remus for guidance.
He looked along either side and searched for where the archways began on either side before standing back before the other three. The passage wouldn't be too near the door in case of sound travelling and also room capacity. If someone were to happen upon it all it would take was one well aimed knock and the wall would collapse inwards.
"Think," he told them "Inside there's a hallway that leads to here what does it look like?" He asked and thought for himself. There was a wide hallway that was wider on one side than the other. He turned and tried to place himself in there. The left side was smaller with the right opening out for portraits and the archway. There was a door to the other one meaning that the passage had to go down but the opening would be in the wall. "Here," he told them "Feel along this wall."
"What if it's like the Slytherin dungeons and needs a secret tap?" Sirius asked.
"They wouldn't make them all the same. Not to mention we need to find it before we worry about opening it," He told him and helped them in their search. The bricks were all tightly packed together and showed no crease for where it could open up.
Then Remus remembered that it went down. Wizards had brooms who was to say that they needed to walk into it.
"Get higher," He said and helped Sirius lift James up to feel along the wall.
"Here! I think I've found it," he told them "It's only a small crack but there's a weird feeling on it. Like it's sucking the air in."
"That's it," Remus whooped and asked if there was any manual way to open it.
"No, I think it's like the last one," He called down.
"It won't be a tap. They'd make everything different in case of discovery."
"Why?" James asked incredulously before climbing down Sirius' shoulders "Right if it's not a tap what is it? What else would someone use for a passageway?"
"A password," Sirius suggested.
"A password and a tap?" Peter said unsure of his suggestion.
"Some kind of key?" James piped.
"Hmmm. But they would have to get in and out from outside. So they would be on a broom. James you ride a lot what can someone carry on a broom?"
"Well depending on the make and the size of the wizard, nothing bigger than a large bag," he thought and walked back to stare up at where the door supposedly is "But it would be hard to keep on the broom and put the key in. A password is more likely," he told Remus.
"It won't be a password," he said waving away that thought "If the wind was too loud then it wouldn't be heard," They were all stuck as to what else it could be.
"Maybe we should try a different passage," Peter suggested.
"But we've came all the way here now," Sirius whined while James and Remus agreed with Peter.
"We'll come back to this one Sirius," James promised before they turned to Remus again. He thought of other ways back into the castle but came up empty. It was too cold to think since the heating charms had worn off.
"We need to find some place warm," Remus told them not knowing how much longer they could stay in the snow without catching a cold.
"The boat harbour's all the way back over there," Sirius pointed towards where the entrance of the castle was "Maybe we could ask Hagrid?"
"No," James said "He's too loyal to the staff. One mention of our names and he'd be telling them how many rock cakes we'd had," They knew this from experience.
"Then where else is there? We may as well take our chances with the front entrance," Sirius argued.
"If it wasn't locked before it is now," Remus told him and put his arms under his armpits for warmth.
"Well I think we should stay and figure this out then," Sirius demanded turning back to the stubborn wall. "It has to open somehow and we've no other options. So we're going to do this."
He grabbed Peter by his scruff and had him help him up until he reached the small crack in the bricks. James and Remus shared an exasperatedly cold look at each other before James went to help Peter keep Sirius steady. Remus took a couple of steps back and sat in the snow when his leg protested more than it had been. The cold had made it ache and the walking tired him out. He cast a heating charm once more on himself to keep the snow from giving him anymore unfortunate ailments before watching the other three search for the entrance.
Sirius was feeling out the bottom of the opening. He wasn't tall enough to reach further up but he tried nonetheless. James kept pointing things out that he had discovered on his last boost up there but Sirius just told him to shut up in the end. The air was getting colder as the night wore on and still they were no closer to going inside. Peter had started shivering so much that Sirius ended up kicking him when he slipped a few inches. After that he decided to try and find a foothold in the bricks to keep it from happening again. They tried everything they could think of. James brought up as many wizarding phrases he could think of while Sirius tapped again and again on the stones he could reach.
It was luck that eventually found the entrance. James had lit up his wand end when Sirius tried to get higher on the bricks. They figured that if they could melt the ice on the brickwork and find little holes that Sirius would stand a better chance of getting higher. It worked a little since Sirius managed to get halfway up what they assumed was the entrance but it also meant that James' light showed them what they were dealing with. Remus had vaguely glanced at the wall again after two hours of sitting there when James' light caught on a brick that was set apart just slightly from the others.
"There!" He shouted pointing excitedly. "That's it. It isn't a key or a password. Sirius! Push that brick or see if you can get it out somehow," He called up pointing and jumping at the brick.
Sirius tried to shimmy his way across towards it. It was just within his reach when his foot slipped. A small 'Ow!' and a scrape on his cheek was the damage before he managed to regain his footing on the wall. Remus could see he was trying not to let go and feel his new cut and felt proud that he put them in front of himself in this situation. The brick was jutting out only a couple of centimetres and Sirius had to push a lot before it finally gave way. But as soon as that did the whole wall followed and Sirius fell face first into a hole that had only one destination which was down. They all shouted of him as he fell further into the castle and James was grabbing the pair of them to lift him up so he could follow.
"I'm fine," Was what it took for them to calm down. Sirius' echoed voice reached their panicked ears and James finally stopped trying to stand on Peter's back.
"Can you get back up?" James asked.
"Not without a broom. Remus was right this thing was made so you flew out," He told them.
James still wasn't content to go slowly into the passage despite Sirius being okay. He had them pushing him up and into the revealed hole as soon as possible. Then Remus was next since Peter argued he was lighter than himself. Unlike James he positioned himself on the brick wall and helped Peter up too, telling him to wait thirty seconds before following him into the passage.
The descent was longer than he had been expecting. There were smooth walls on either side which meant he couldn't slow his fall and the landing was hard and painful. The floor was smooth which Remus argued was better than stones and bones but it still hurt when he made impact. It sloped down at an angle where he could hear Sirius and James talking so he moved tentatively down the makeshift slide, trying not to shift his injured leg anymore. A squeal behind him told that Peter had just jumped down the hole. Remus hoped that the wall magically sealed itself after an allotted time or else their other passage would be exposed.
"Are you alright Remus?" James asked pulling him up. Remus winced as his leg held his weight.
"Fine. Could you hold your wand higher? I can't see," He said and reached for his own while James moved his up.
James didn't look all that hurt, just a bit dusty and wet from the snow they had been in. A quick look at Sirius showed that he was the same only he had a nasty scrape on his cheek as well. He didn't have to look to know that he was covered in dust too and so would Peter be when he slid down the slope.
Once they were all together again and had their wands lit Remus looked at the passage they had discovered. It was big enough for someone to fly in since it was the size of a classroom in height. He couldn't feel the sides and wondered where about in the castle they were.
"Everyone alright to move?" James asked the company flicking his wand in their faces. "Good. Come on, we better move. I'd hate to get in only to die because we couldn't find the exit," He joked which wasn't particularly funny when you were recovering from near frostbite and a ten story drop.
James moved first quickly followed by Peter who was more than eager to take the lead alongside James. Sirius held back looking Remus over again before coming to some kind of decision and taking his arm. He slung it along his shoulder and told him to shut up when Remus questioned his actions. The position meant that some of Remus' weight was being carried by Sirius. It alleviated the strain on his leg which, although it made them slow to follow, meant that Remus wasn't in as much pain when he moved.
"It doesn't hurt that much," He said after a while.
"Sure it doesn't," Sirius said and hefted Remus a little further onto his shoulders.
The passage was long but came to an abrupt stop after twenty minutes of walking. James couldn't seem to find the exit on the wall and had Peter search either side to see if it just lead in a different direction. When that proved fruitless they turned their search up. The top couldn't be seen with their wands as their only light and even if the exit was there the walls were too smooth to climb up.
"What do we do?" James asked with his back facing him.
"I don't know. It has to open somewhere," Remus responded taking his arm off Sirius' shoulder so he could sit on the floor.
"You're forgetting that whoever was meant to travel in here would have a broom. We need to think of convenient entrances for someone making a quick getaway on a broom," Sirius suggested. "It's what Remus would do in any case. Right," He asked looking at him for agreement "It's what you did before and again outside."
"But I don't know," Remus told him "It's too smooth and dark."
"Then we'll wait in here for sunrise and climb out the way we came," Sirius said.
"That's just the same," Remus scowled thinking of the long drop they came down and how long it would take them, if they could, to get back up it.
"Then we need to start thinking like paranoid people again. James, you own a broom," Sirius said demanding the three boys attention. Remus saw James hastily wipe away some tears on his face when he turned. It seems he wasn't the only one feeling hopeless.
"Yeah, so?"
"So, like before, what would you suggest for someone riding their broom in the castle. Which way would they come in?" Sirius asked pacing in front of them all. He looked like some military sergeant with his hands poised behind his back.
"Well I guess they would drop in. Just jump and climb on their broom in mid air. The place is big enough," He muttered and cast his gaze around the dark room.
"Then the answer lies up. Peter!" He shouted calling the small boy back to the group. "Stop wandering. Now Remus I want you to think of any levitation charm that comes to mind. We'll be needing to get to the ceiling and to do so we'll need magic," He said with a flourish of his wand.
"I suppose I've read a few," Remus said thinking back to the list of spells he had in his trunk and the others in the books he had read. "Not to mention we learnt one the first day of classes Sirius. You don't need me to think of one," Remus snapped knowing that Sirius had made his contribution a none moving one. He was fine, why couldn't Sirius just accept that like the other two.
"Alright then, let's get to it," He said completely ignoring Remus' snappy remark.
He seated himself next to Remus and performed the levitation charm on Peter while making Remus do the same to James. Once they were up in the air they cast their wands about for anything that could get them out.
"You know we should really write these passages down somewhere," Peter called out "Or even make a map!" He said a bit more excitedly.
"Can't Pete," James told him shooting his idea down immediately.
"Why not?"
"Remus why not?" He called letting Remus regurgitate the answer they had all read in Hogwarts a History.
"The castle's unplottable which means that we can't write down on a previous map or create one about the grounds of Hogwarts," He said in what they had all dubbed before Christmas his 'professor voice.'
"Yeah Pete!" Sirius called up mockingly twirling his wand a bit and sending Peter flying. Remus nudged him in the ribs to stop catching one of his bruises as he did.
"Sorry," He whispered. Sirius just nodded and concentrated on Peter again.
"It's not really an answer though," Peter continued after righting himself "I mean if anyone could create a map of the grounds it would be us- or you- right?"
Sirius looked contemplatively into the gloom where Peter was. There was a certain air of challenge on his face which was reflected in James' answer "Right you are Peter. Suppose that could be our project when we get out of here. After all we have two secret passages already."
"What do you think?" Sirius asked him.
Remus was at a loss. Spellwork to counteract that placed on the Hogwarts grounds would be very advanced and would take months of work. "What kind of a map are we talking about?" He narrowed his eyes in thought, it wouldn't be impossible to do so. Just hard.
"Dunno. One that shows all our secret passages and the rest of the grounds so we don't get lost again like this," He said motioning to the wider room and sending Peter flying again.
"We'd have to go to the library," He warned and received a beaming grin in response.
"Guys!" James called "I think I've found the exit."
A couple of tugs and a small light came down into the darkened room. The couldn't see more of the room other than grey stone but James whooped at his discovery and had Remus levitate him up and out. He pulled Peter up and told him to cast a levitating charm on Sirius and Remus to bring them up as well. The beam of light turned out to be an opening much like the one near the front entrance that was large enough to fit two people or in this case a wizard and his broom.
They somewhere on the second floor, near the Transfiguration classroom when they got out and didn't waste any time closing their passageway and sprinting back to their dorm.
The fat lady wasn't pleased by their rousing of her but they couldn't risk fleeing for their lives from Filch on top of their ordeal and suffered through her nattering. Remus didn't even want to know what time it was when he crawled into Sirius' bed that night and instead let himself luxuriate in sleeping until breakfast.
Their little excursion left them more tired than they thought it had. Instead of one of them waking up when the alarm went off for breakfast it took Peter jumping on the bed to wake them up.
"Go 'way Peter," Sirius grumbled burrowing into his pillow and shoving Remus along at the same time.
"What time is it?" Remus asked less grumpily than Sirius.
"We've missed breakfast!" The short boy worried "And first period! If we don't hurry Slughorn will notice we're not there," That woke him up.
He sprinted towards the bathroom while shedding his clothes and shouting for Peter to get Sirius up before he pushed James along and shared his shower with him. The boy didn't even protest the disruption of privacy and seemed was as hyped up as he was. He asked if Remus would scrub his back while he washed off the shampoo in his hair.
"Why did you even wash it?!" He exclaimed while practically drowning himself in soap.
"It was dirty!" James snapped back "Now hurry up or we're going to be late."
A crash sounded from the room beyond followed by a squeak and an apocalyptic Sirius storming into the bathroom.
"Stop gawking Lupin and get my back!" James whined pulling Remus back in the shower.
They were five minutes late to their potions lesson. All of them were presentable though which Remus counted as a win since they had spent the night in dirt and snow. Sirius was in a foul mood that became worse as the lessons droned on. Remus hadn't the mind to care since his stomach was making itself known and it wasn't happy.
They had two more lessons before lunch and one of them was defence which was a lesson he actually found interesting at times he wasn't dying of hunger. His stomach growled all the way through each and every lesson followed by James, Peter and Sirius as back up singers.
"I swear if I don't have something to eat now I'm going cannibal," He muttered to James casting Peter an evil look. The boy averted his eyes quickly while James chuckled in his ear.
"I wouldn't go there if I were you," James whispered back "It's probably mostly fat. You'd want someone with a bit of muscle. That's where all the meat is," he pointed down at a glowering Sirius.
Remus snorted "Nice to know you support my choice of eating people," He joked.
"Of course. What are friends for," James replied back with a wink. They both dissolved into giggles and spent the rest of their lessons coming up with the perfect meal out of their classmates.
Lunch finally came with the four boys moaning joyfully at every bite. People shot them weird and amused looks before they returned to their own meals but they didn't care.
"I swear we're going to have to come up with some kind of back up plan for exploring. There's no way I'm missing meals because of some stupid expedition," He told them around three bites of chicken.
"Same," Peter agreed.
"I wonder where they make the food," James said taking a break from inhaling his own to stare contemplatively at it.
"The kitchens," Sirius said like it was obvious.
"Yeah but where are the kitchens. And who makes the food. I don't see servers or anything," James complained back to him.
"Maybe there's Oompa Loompa's and a giant chocolate waterfall," Remus joked and stopped when he saw three confused faces "Really? You've never heard of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?"
"The what?" James asked.
"Pure-bloods," He muttered to himself and went back to his food.
"Pushing Remus' loopy comment aside," James said turning back to Sirius "There's also the question of who cleans our rooms. I dunno about you but my bed is always made and my clothes clean when I go to put them on yet I see no one coming in and out of our room. What do you make of that?"
"Well," Sirius replied taking his time to come up with an answer "There's probably someone for that too," he settled on making James scoff.
"Why don't we find out," Remus suggested trying to quell an argument that was bound to happen.
"How?" Sirius asked.
"We set a trap. Put a bunch of dirty clothes in a pile and when whoever comes to get them comes in they'll get trapped and we'll have our answer," he explained thinking back on when he tried the same technique on Santa Clause. It was a very sad year when his father told him there was none.
"Sounds good," James agreed along with Peter and Sirius.
The rest of the day passed in a lazy doze after lunch. Sated with their meal they could let themselves appreciate the daylight and the things they were learning. When classes finally let out they went straight to the dorm, the outside having lost its allure for a while after the previous night.
"So when do you want to get started on the map?" Peter asked eager to see his idea come alive.
"After we've caught whoever comes in our room," James told him trying to dirty his clothes every way he knew how. He even stole a third year's muddy boots and stomped all over his shirt.
"Maybe in a couple of days Peter," Remus said giving the boy a realistic estimate to his wait "I'm still tired from last night and it'll be better to do it when we have a full day to ourselves." Peter nodded at the logical response and put some of his own clothes on the pile that was growing at the bottom of Sirius' bed.
Remus had looked up some binding charms and also stole some rope from one of the Hogwart's chandeliers. It took him and James ten minutes to figure out how people set traps and then an hour to make the rope into something that would work. By nightfall they had two traps set. The first a muggle one that Remus and James had made and another that had them currently hiding under James' invisibility cloak.
"Stop giggling Potter," Sirius reprimanded.
"Sorry. It's just I can't believe we're using it," He chuckled which was muffled by Sirius' hand clamping over his mouth. Remus smiled fondly at him for shutting James up before curling closer under the cloak.
They had figured that whoever it was knew when they were out or asleep and so they lay in wait with their wands poised under the cover of invisibility. A popping noise caught there attention and something wrinkly made its way to the pile of clothes on the floor. They nodded to each other just as the muggle trap went off and sent their binding curses at the creature picking up Peters sock.