Chapter 51: Exploring the Grounds
"Remus, you'll go as normal with Pomfrey. But this time, we must take precautions to make sure Snape can't see us going in. We must not let him know that we're Animagi. At about ten to twelve, we'll go down with my cloak. Peter will transform first to freeze the tree, then Si and I transform only in the tunnel. How's the plan??" James concluded after a short discussion of another rule-breaking adventure.
"Good idea." Sirius agreed wholeheartedly.
"It sounds rather foolproof. What if someone sees the tree stopped moving??" Remus asked.
"We're invisible. To the tree as well, I hope. Peter will freeze the tree." All of them looked at Peter and he nodded his head.
"I hope I can do it. Still a little afraid though." Peter said.
"Afraid of??" Sirius asked.
"The tree of course."
"Don't worry, Pete. Your transformation is fantastic. We need you to freeze the tree." James said comfortingly, putting an arm over Peter's shoulder.
"I'll try my best. This will be our first official transformation then." Peter said, trying to sound as brave as possible.
"We trust you and we depend on you for that." James grinned at Peter.
"Thanks. I'll do my best." Peter said quietly. They treat me so well, as if I'm their true best friend. How could I do this to them?? But I can't betray Master. What can I do?? I really didn't expect them to be such great people. What am I supposed to do??
"Anyone want some food??" Sirius suggested.
"Yeah. I'm getting hungry." James said and the Marauders left their dormitory and headed towards the kitchen.
"Remus, take care. See you tonight." James told Remus the morning before they started heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"It's going to be an exciting night ahead. We'll find you after our practice tonight." Sirius said excitedly.
"Won't you guys be tired??" Remus said worriedly. "We're always so tired after the lessons and practices."
"We'll be tired. But then, we've been planning this for about three years. This is going to be the first time all four of us going to be there together and explore the Forbidden Forest." James assured a tired-looking Remus.
"Thanks guys. I think you guys better go for breakfast. It's getting late." Remus said wearily.
"Take care, Rem." Peter said and then the three guys left the dormitory together.
Remus lay down and closed his eyes. Thoughts floated around in his mind. James, Sirius and Peter are the best thing that could ever happen to me. I wonder what I would become without them. There's nothing I could do to ever repay friends like them. And Stef?? She's the most perfect girl I've ever seen. Pretty, sweet, gorgeous, nice, kind-hearted, everything a guy asked for in a girl. But we can never be together. I don't want to hurt her and ruin her happiness. Why are things so unfair?? Why must I be a werewolf??
"Where's Remus??" Stefanie asked as the three Marauders joined them at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.
"It's that time of the month." James answered coolly.
"So he's resting well??" Lily asked.
"Don't worry. It had been like that for the last five years."
"It's kinda rare to see the Marauders joining us for breakfast." Arabella said as she tried to snatch the omelets on Sirius' plate.
"What are you taking my egg??" Sirius pretended to whine.
"That was the last one on the table and it was supposed to be mine before you take it away."
"Your name wasn't on the egg. How can you say it's yours??"
"It's mine."
"No, it's not!!"
"It is!!"
"No!!"
"Yes."
"Hey guys, can you don't bicker for once??" James said, laughing at his two friends and a smashed omelet.
"It's his fault." Arabella complained and gave up the egg to eat a sausage.
"It's not my fault." Sirius said at the same time and ate up the remains of the omelet.
"You two make a cute couple." Lily joked.
"Thanks-a-lot." Arabella said sarcastically, giving Lily the look.
"Once a month, a Marauder is missing from the little gang huh." A sarcastic voice said from James and Lily's back.
"Well, so it's the slimy Snape again." James said coolly and continued eating his breakfast, ignoring Severus' presence.
"Hi Lily." Severus said politely.
"Oh, hi." Lily replied. The rest of the group gave Lily a strange look while James appeared to be concentrating onto his breakfast.
"Buzz of Snape." Sirius said angrily.
"I won't stay for long. Just pop by to remind you about someone." Severus said calmly. "Bye Lily." With that, he returned to the Slytherin table.
"Since when are you and Snape in first name basis??" Arabella asked.
"Since the night when I flew outside alone." Lily answered truthfully and continued eating her breakfast.
"Don't get to close with him. Afterall he's a Slytherin." Sirius said, eyeing Severus suspiciously.
"I won't. It was a coincidence. And he didn't seems so bad that time." Lily said.
"You never know. But just be careful." Stefanie advised.
"Thanks, Stef."
"Remus should be there now." James said as he plopped onto his bed. It had been a long day of lessons for the fifth years and then practiced their powers.
"I can't wait for the Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday." Sirius complained and dropped onto the floor.
"Two more days to go." Peter pointed out.
"It's about forty-eight hours more!!" Sirius whined.
"Don't whine and look so sissy. We're going down to meet Remus soon." James instructed and headed to the bathroom for a warm shower.
"Don't bathe like a girl!!" Sirius called out to the half-naked James.
"Don't worry. I won't." James said behind the closed door and running water could be heard next.
"We better get a warm shower as well. It's gonna be a long night ahead." Sirius said and crawled to his trunk to fetch some clean clothes. Then both guys lay on the floor outside of the bathroom door waiting for James.
"Woah!! What are you two trying to do?? Ambush me??" James said as he walked across the two guys who were blocking his way.
"Who ask you took so long??" Sirius said as he dashed into the bathroom before Peter even had time to respond.
"I check the common room." James said and brought two dungbombs along.
"Sirius, faster." Peter shouted. James left the room and headed towards the Gryffindor common room.
"Hey Lily, what are you doing here??" James asked. Lily was sitting at a corner of the common room, totally oblivious to the fact that there was a fight between the first-year boys and second-year boys.
"Oh, hi James." Lily looked up from a book she was reading. "What are you doing here??"
"I asked you what are you doing here first." James said.
"I'm keeping a look-out at the fight there." Lily said.
"Don't pretend. You didn't even know I was here."
"Oh well, I'm just stoning here."
"Where's Bell and Stef??"
"Stef went to the library to research on werewolves and Bell is out with Frank at don't know where."
"Why didn't you go with Stefanie then??"
"Didn't feel like moving. I'm so tired. Joey and Samantha were out dating as well. I don't want to be alone in the dorm myself, so here I am."
"Poor thing huh."
"Duh."
"What are you reading??"
"Some muggle story book about X-Men."
"What are X-Men??" James asked and Lily started explaining and telling him about the major characters.
"Where's James??" Sirius asked after Peter finished preparing himself.
"He said he went down to check the common room." Peter replied.
"That was fifteen minutes ago!!"
"He hasn't come up since then."
"I go down and get his butt up. Prepare the cloak first." Sirius left the dormitory muttering to himself.
"Wolverine has metal blades on his hands; Jean Grey is telekinetic; Iceman can freeze things; Rouge can absorb powers; Cylops has-" Lily was listing down some X-Men characters.
"Ah, Jamesie, there you are." Sirius called out.
"Hi Sir." Lily said, looking up. "You look taller again."
"Thanks. I'm at a cool height of 1.7meters now." Sirius boasted. "Anyway James, we're having a discussion upstairs now."
"Oops, I nearly forgot about that."
"I think you already did." Sirius teased. "With a pretty girl beside, you forgot all about Sirius the almighty."
"Ahem, James is greater than Sirius." James retorted jokingly.
"Whatever. Everyone knows about Sirius Almighty anyway. Let's go." Sirius said and literally dragged James up to the boys' dormitory.
"Bye guys."
"Bye Lily." With that, Sirius had dragged James out of sight from Lily. He took the dungbombs from James' pocket and threw it down to the common room. The dungbombs rolled down several steps and soon the people evacuated from the common room. The fight between the first and second years came to a halt and the audience dispersed back to their respective dormitories.
"Busy flirting with Lily huh." Sirius teased the moment he dragged James into the room.
"I wasn't flirting." James denied. "We were just chatting."
"I thought you went down checking."
"I did. Lily was alone so I went to join her."
"Whatever. It's nearing eleven. Let's get going." Sirius announced.
"Let's go." James said and covered themselves under the cloak. They were so used to being under the cloak that it was nothing new to them.
"Common room cleared." James whispered and the three of them crept quietly across the common room and out of the room. Walking closely together, they managed to avoid Filch and Mrs. Norris, as well as the patrolling prefects.
"Aren't you supposed to be patrolling tonight??" Sirius whispered to James.
"Dumbledore excused us if we've practices." James whispered back and the three Marauders walked along the castle and out without much trouble. They had known more shortcuts and corridor than most people.
"Cold night." Sirius commented the moment they stepped out of the castle. There was a soft breeze outside and although it's already February, it was rather cold.
"Peter, ready??" James said.
"Yes. Cross your fingers." Peter mumbled and started concentrating on his transformation. He slowly transformed himself to a tail-less rat.
James said the reverse-spell and Peter popped up again.
"Sorry, sorry." Peter said frantically.
"Don't worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes. Try again." James comforted. Peter concentrated again and the next moment, he transformed to a perfect rat. The rat looked up at the two of them and crawled cowardly towards the freezing point of the tree.
"Bingo." Sirius exclaimed the moment the tree stopped moving. They walked across the branches and headed towards the door cautiously. Sirius went down first then James followed behind. Once both of them were down safely, Peter crawled down quickly and the tree started swinging wildly once again.
"Let's transform now." James instructed after Peter was safely beside them. James and Sirius concentrated and with a pop, they transformed into a white stag and a black dog respectively. James and Sirius were practically opposites, but well, opposites attract. During one of their practices, James the stag and Sirius the dog had actually had a 'wrestling' match and after an hour, neither was defeated. Hence, they had concluded that it was the right animal for them because it was strong enough.
James the white stag, Sirius the black dog and Peter the gray rat walked across the tunnel and reached the Shrieking Shack. Remus had already transformed into his werewolf form and was crouching on the floor. The moment they stepped into the Shack, Remus looked up at each of them with an unspoken understanding, and then he gave a painful smile. I don't know how can I ever thank them for being there for me at the worst point of my life.
James walked over the Remus and nuzzled Remus. Sirius did the same thing with Remus. Peter climbed onto Remus' hand and stood up, looking at him. All four of them seemed to know what was going through their mind although they were not speaking at all.
Sirius sniffed around the Shack and then he re-entered the tunnel. Remus and Peter followed and James was right behind, ready to pounce onto Remus in case of emergency.
Peter went up and froze the tree and Sirius came up to look around the castle windows to make sure no one saw them. Then he turned behind and gave a signaling look to the two friends behind.
Together, they left the tunnel and dashed towards the Forbidden Forest together. Sirius was in front of Remus at all times while James was behind. It was dangerous to bring a werewolf so close to Hogwarts and if anything ever happened to anyone, they would be extremely guilty and would definitely be expelled for that.
I must be seeing things. A white stag, a black dog, a werewolf-like animal and a rat coming out from the Whomping willow, and rush towards the Forbidden Forest. I think I really need some sleep soon before I start hallucinating more animals running around school. This is so ridiculous. Lily thought as she closed the windows of the girls' dormitory. It's so boring to be here alone. Stef's probably still at the library, Bell and Sam are not back yet and Joe is already sleeping. Lily had been stargazing for the last one hour since the dungbomb incident at the common room. She returned to her bed and soon she fell asleep.
"What's that??" Arabella asked as she pointed towards the Forbidden Forest.
"What's what??" Frank turned around to check what Arabella was pointing to. "There's nothing there except for the Forbidden Forest."
"I thought I saw a stag, a dog, a rat and some werewolf-like animal going towards the direction of the forest." Arabella looked at the Forest, checking for any movements.
"There's nothing. It's either you are hallucinating or it's an excuse." Frank commented.
"I really saw something." Arabella insisted.
"Alright then. Let's head back. They're probably animals from the Forest." Frank assured and they walked briskly back towards the castle.
What are those animals heading into the Forest?? And what a weird combination of animals?? I thought I saw a werewolf. Werewolf. Remus. Stefanie shook her head started walking briskly back to the Gryffindor tower. Her hands were loaded with three big books and out of which two were regarding werewolves. I wonder how's Remus doing now. Stefanie walked along, deep in thoughts.
"Ooh, students out of bed at twelve midnight." An irritating voice called out. Stefanie turned around to see Peeves floating around.
"Buzz off Peeves." Stefanie said and continued walking. Peeves flew to her front and tried to block her but Stefanie walked through him without any trouble.
"How dare you walk through me!! Wait till I inform Filch." Peeves said arrogantly.
"Suit you. Dumbledore had given me permission to go to the library until midnight. See who gets into trouble first." Stefanie said and ignored the pissed-off Peeves. The next moment, the three books dropped out from her hands. She gathered her books up magically and continued walking with Peeves following behind, trying to irritate Stefanie. But she had an amazing amount of patient and she was not a bit angry or pissed off but continued walking towards the Gryffindor tower.
I thought I saw Arabella along the lake with that idiotic Frank. What on earth are they doing together at this time of the night?? Argh.. Why are the two of them always together lately?? Sirius was thinking as he walked and the next moment, he head-crashed onto a large tree trunk. Ouch!! My head!!
What on earth is Sirius thinking?? He looked so off. And why would any idiot head-crash onto the tree trunk. Sirius already have no brain, and the more he knock, his I.Q. is bound to get lower. James looked at the Sirius' tree crashing incident and laughed, making the sound of a laughing stag. The next thing was a werewolf laughing and a rat squeaky laughter.
Sirius turned around and flashed his white teeth at his three friends. Was that very funny?? Consider these are my friends and they are laughing at me. Argh!! Sirius suddenly smelt something strange. So did Remus and he started walking briskly towards the source. James and Sirius sniffed around to trace the place where the strange smell could be coming from. Finally they reached an empty plot of land in somewhere at the middle of the Forbidden Forest. The four animagi looked at one another in bewilderment. They checked to make sure there were no traces of any movements before moving towards to check what was the empty land used for.
James walked forward cautiously; looking around for any signs of movement or traces of evidence left to check what that part of the forest was used for. The grass patches here looks strange, like some sort of design. This area looks rather huge too. James walked around the emptied area. I wonder what is the significance of this place. The grass patch. Looks like a skull. Snake?? The Dark Mark!!
This looks like a good place to hang out. Far from the castle. Far from people. Somewhere in the heart of the Forbidden I guess. Sirius walked around and sniffed around. Why is James looking so horrified? A horrified looking stag sure looks interesting. Gotta tell James that. Sirius stood on a grass patch and started digging like any other dog would. This looks like a good place. A soil patch in the midst of the grass and somewhere in the center as well. He was starting to dig a hole when Remus suddenly came and shoved him off.
How could Sirius try to pee in the 'mouth' of the skull!! This is the Dark Mark, you idiot!! We can't leave traces of evidences that we're here, besides there are not much animals around this area of the Forest. Remus looked at Sirius, trying to make Sirius understand what's going on but apparently it seemed to be rather unsuccessful.
What on earth is Remus trying to do?? I only wanted to pee and that idiot doesn't let me pee!! What is he trying to do to me?? Spoil my bladder?? Sirius barked at Remus. James rushed over and pinned Sirius on the ground, looking straight into his eyes. Even James is trying to spoil my bladder.
What on earth is that stupid Sirius doing?? Peeing onto the 'mouth' of the Dark Mark. He must be blind!! Even Remus and Peter figured out what it was. And Sirius?? Second top wizard of our year can't even see what it was. James looked into Sirius' eyes, trying to make him understand their intentions. Sirius, being as dense as always, never seems to understand hints. He struggled and made James released him.
Fine. I shall not pee as a dog!! I shall pee as a man!! Is that okay with you guys now?? Sirius walked away from his 'strategic' position and wondered around. I only wanted to feel how it's like to pee like a dog and you guys are making such a big fuss out of it.
James looked at Remus with some form of understanding. I bet Sirius still hasn't know what's going on and he must be thinking what on earth we want to spoil his bladder for.
Remus grinned at James and turned to check out if Sirius was trying to pee anywhere near. Afterall Sirius was an amateur dog. Looks like James and I are thinking along the same line. Sirius, dear old Sirius. Sirius is too unprofessional to pee like a dog. I don't really like the idea of covering his pee for him in the middle of the Death mark.
I hope I'm doing the right thing by leading them to the Deatheaters meeting place. On one hand, I don't want anything to happen to James, Sirius or Remus. They are the friends that I had always wanted since young. But I can't betray Master as well. And if one day they fight, I'll be by Master's side but I hope the Supreme Seven can defeat him, so I can gain my freedom. Why is my life so miserable and complicated?? Peter thought sadly as he looked at James and Remus trying to stop Sirius from peeing on the mouth of the skull on the grass-imprinted Dark Mark.
They wondered around for a little while more and James signaled that it's time to head back. It was getting rather late. The four animagi tried to find their way out of the Forest. At the edge, Peter scurried towards the Whomping Willow and froze the tree while the three of them rush towards the tunnel one by one, with Sirius in front and James behind Remus. One the three of them entered, Peter joined them and they headed back towards the Shrieking Shack.
At the end of the tunnel, they looked at one another and Remus went into the Shack, leaving the three of them outside. James, Sirius and Peter turned back and headed for the direction of the castle. Once again, Peter froze the tree, while both of them transformed and covered themselves with the croak and walked upwards. Loud howls could be heard from afar.
James and Sirius rushed towards the sideway of the castle and revealed a little to allow Peter the rat to join them. He transformed back to his original self and the three guys headed back towards the Gryffindor tower in the cloak. Once again, they managed to avoid Peeves, Filch, and Mrs. Norris along the way.
The three of them walked briskly along the corridors in silence and did not say a word until they were safely in their soundproofed dormitory.
"That was the Dark Mark." James said gravely.
"So that's why you didn't allow me to pee??" Sirius replied tiredly.
"For goodness sake, you're trying to pee on the mouth of the skull. Do you think any decent minded person will let you do it?? We can't leave traces of evidences that we were out there in the first place. Besides you're too unprofessional to pee like a dog." James explained as he made himself comfortable on his bed.
"It's already three, let's sleep." Peter mumbled from his bed.
"Good night, let's talk about this another time when Remus is back." James said and the fifth-year boys' dormitory went silence with typical snoring sounds.