I am so sorry! I know it's been far too long. I feel so bad…but I hope you're still here, whoever you are. Thanks for all my reviews.
"NEVILLE! REMUS! JAMES! SIRIUS!"
A loud voice was ringing through the halls, drawing the attention of the four boys sitting in the Room of Requirement.
"What idiot is that?" Sirius hissed, as the four congregated next to the door, pressing their ears to it in apprehension. "He could draw attention to us."
"It sounds like…" Neville strained to hear the voice still ricocheting off of the walls of the hall outside their little safe haven. "Seamus!"
Neville opened the door a crack. "Seamus!" James heard him hiss. "Seamus! We're in here!"
They heard footsteps clattering outside in the hall, and a sudden clambering as a new figure entered through the doorway. It was Seamus, all right. But it didn't look anything like the Seamus they knew.
The boy's face was completely red and looked like it had been bleeding recently. One eye looked like it was swollen shut, the other eye black, and he had a fat lip.
"Seamus…" James said in wonderment at the other boy's appearance. "What happened?"
"The Carrows," Seamus said, breathing heavily. "I only just got away. They came after me now, too." He looked up at the four of them. "There might be a few more coming…I'm not sure."
"It's fine," Remus reassured him. "Look, why don't you lay down for a bit? You look dead on your feet."
"Yeah," Seamus said, breathing heavily. "I think maybe I will…"
Remus helped Seamus into a hammock. He fell asleep almost immediately.
"This is terrible," James muttered. "The Carrows are going after even more people? This keeps getting worse and worse."
As if on cue, the door to the Room opened again. This time, the Marauders and Neville were graced with the appearance of Hannah, who had a diagonal cut on her face that was bleeding freely. She too seemed out of breath as Seamus had.
"Hannah!" Neville reached a hand out to steady her, afraid she'd fall over. "Are you all right? What happened?"
"Carrows…" She whispered shakily. "Only just got away…Susan. Is she here?" Hannah looked up, eyes wide with fear. "Is she?"
"Not yet," Neville said. A small sob escaped Hannah's lips. "But it's okay, I'm sure that she'll show up soon. Come on, let's get you into bed."
As Neville helped Hannah into a hammock next to Seamus's, the three Marauders waited by the door. They waited- waited for the Carrows's next victim to arrive.
They didn't have long to wait. Only ten minutes after Hannah had shown up, Susan crashed through the door, sobbing erratically. She looked uninjured- only shaken up.
"C'mon, Susan," Remus said softly, taking a gentle hold on Susan's arm. "Let's go lay down. Hannah's here- she wanted to see you. But she's asleep now- you can see her when she wakes up."
"Thank you," Susan whispered hoarsely. "The Carrows are going after Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein soon- they've been causing even more trouble since you went into hiding."
"We'll see to it that no harm comes to them," Remus said firmly. "Here, let's sit down. I'm sure you'll be alright- just rest for a bit."
Susan smiled at him before she nodded off into sleep.
Remus returned to where James, Sirius, and now Neville were standing. "Susan says that Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner are next on the list. I should go and warn them."
"That's okay, Remus, I'll go," Neville said, standing up, only to be pulled firmly back down by Remus.
"You stay here," Remus said firmly. "Your friends need you. Besides, you're better at healing than I am."
"Okay," Neville smiled. "But only because someday you'll be my Professor Lupin and I'll owe you one."
Remus grinned at him…but Sirius interrupted.
"What about us?" Sirius asked, indicating himself and James. "We can go with you." James nodded in assent.
"It's really only a one-man job," Neville pointed out to them. "Besides, there won't be room under the cloak for all three of you plus Michael and Anthony."
"Fine," James grumbled. "We'll stay and help the others."
"Good plan," Remus smiled. "Don't worry; I'll be back before you know it."
Remus cursed inwardly. After a half hour of scouring the castle for any signs of Michael or Anthony, he hadn't gotten any farther than he had when he first left the Room of Requirement. Maybe they'd gotten tipped off by someone else and were already up in the Room.
"Where are they?" Remus heard a voice snap from down the hall. Remus took a moment to regain his composure- the voice belonged to Alecto Carrow.
"I don't know, I've seen no sign of either of them." That voiced belonged to Amycus.
"Never mind it," Alecto snapped to her brother. "We'll come across them eventually."
The voices of the two most hated Professors at school drifted out of Remus's hearing range. He cursed again- limited time to find the two Ravenclaw boys. He supposed he'd check back in with James and Sirius- the Carrows couldn't find the pair of them, so maybe they'd disappeared into the Room already.
As Remus made his way up the stairs to the fifth floor, he heard something else peculiar. A hushed conversation of what sounded like two males. Remus was only able to make them out because of his extra keen sense of hearing- it came with being a werewolf.
"Shh…someone's coming up the stairs."
"I don't see anyone," a new voice said.
"That doesn't mean that they're not there, so shut up and keep your head down!"
Remus was suddenly on the alert. That was Michael and Anthony, he was sure of it! Now to just get them to the Room of Requirement…
Remus stepped very quietly up to the next stair, and the ones coming after. When he reached the top of the staircase, he saw the two boys in question huddled together in a dark corner.
"Michael! Anthony!" He hissed at them.
The two boys looked around wildly. "Who's there?" Anthony half-whispered. "Who's out there?"
It was only then that Remus remembered he was wearing James's invisibility cloak. "It's me, Remus," he whispered, pulling the cloak off slowly.
"Remus!" Michael and Anthony were suddenly at his side. "What's going on?"
"I'm here to take you to the Room of Requirement," Remus whispered back. "Now get under here."
"You have an Invisibility Cloak?" Michael gasped.
"It's James's," Remus hissed. "Now get under- everyone's waiting."
The three boys tip-toed back to the Room while under the Cloak's cover. Remus located the golden handle that signified the entrance, and gave it a slight shove. The door opened to reveal Sirius's anxious face. Remus, Michael, and Anthony stepped through the room and Remus slid the cloak off as the door closed behind them.
"Thank Merlin you three are all right," Sirius breathed a sigh of relief as James and Neville came up behind him.
"Everything went well?" Neville asked. "No hitches?"
Remus began explaining the details of what happened during his momentary absence to Neville. James and Sirius struck up a conversation with Michael and Anthony, and for a while, all seemed as normal.
But real life struck again and again in the next few weeks. More and more members of the DA entered the Room of Requirement, seeking refuge from the Carrows. Countless healing spells had to be performed on the more serious cuts the Carrows's knives had inflicted.
Neville also received a letter from his grandmother- it appeared that she had escaped Voldemort's Death Eaters unharmed. In fact, it stated that Dawlish was now in St. Mungo's. Neville was so pleased- in the letter, his grandmother had complimented him, saying that he was his father's son and to keep it up. The Marauders were happy, too- they knew Frank would be proud of Neville.
But before long, May the 2nd rolled around. And we all know what that means.