James, Lily, Albus, Rose & Hugo's Times at Hogwarts Chapter 3

"Lily! Lily! Wake up! Wake u-u-u-u-up!" Someone was shaking her. She opened her eyes sleepily and saw Albus, his eyes wide with terror.

"What happened, Al?" She asked, now fully awake. "I – was – bringing- James- his water – and he- h-he…" But he wouldn't continue because he was shaking too much. Lily got out of bed and on her knees so her face was level with her youngest brother's.

"What happened?" She said again. She tried to calm him down and he finally stopped shaking a little. "James-s isn't I-in bed-d! I was b-bringing him a glass of w-water like he asked and then when he didn't answer I pu-ulled back the covers and his bed w-was empty!" Lily frowned, confused.

"Why didn't you just put the glass on his bedside table?" Albus shook his head, trembling. "H-he told m-me not t-to. He told me to give it to h-him."

"Then what happened?" Albus shivered. "I looked everywhere for him, and I found this note under his pillow." He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her.

Lily took it curiously and opened it up.

If you want to save your dear brother, I'm afraid you'll have to pay a price.

Not money, not toys. No, no, no, no. You'll have to be expelled Albus.

Get on the train tomorrow and don't show this to anyone. Then and only then will

your brother, James survive.

Lily frowned and looked at the scrap of paper harder. It can't be, she thought. "What is it?" Albus asked her. Lily looked at him, the truth dawning on her. "This is James' handwriting." She told him.

Albus' expression of terror was replaced by one of fury. "He tricked me! I'll kill him!" Lily clamped her hand on his mouth and whispered hurriedly, "Shhhh! You'll wake the others!" But it was too late. All the girls around her were stirring.

"Albus? What are you doing here?" Rose was looking at Albus, wide-eyed and confused. Albus and Lily hurriedly stood up.

One of the girls beside Rose got up from her bed and walked over to Lily, her expression shrewd. "Lily! It's the middle of the night! What's your problem? Can't you take better care of your brother? You woke us all up, and today's the first quidditch game of the season! We won't be able to go back to sleep now!" Lily had forgotten all about quidditch. She looked around guiltily; almost everyone was glaring at her.

Albus took a step behind her, scared. "I'm really sorry everyone. My brother just had a nightmare. Come on Albus, Rose." She ushered Albus and Rose out of the girls' staircase and into the common room. Lily then explained everything to Rose. "We don't know where James is and don't know how to find him." Lily finished off. Albus looked half- angry, half- miserable.

"Ooooohh! I have an idea!" Rose said, suddenly. We looked at her. She was jumping up and down excitedly, her eyes lit up. "Albus you know that map your dad gave you before we left for Hogwarts?" Albus nodded slowly. "Go on and get it! Then we can see where he is!" Lily beamed at her. "Brilliant, Rose! Let's go!" "Thanks." She mumbled, embarrassed.

Lily nodded at her then turned to Albus. "Wait a minute, how did you get up the girls' staircase? I know for a fact that last year a boy named Anthony Goldstein tried to get up the girls' staircase and he slid back down and couldn't get in."

Albus smiled proudly. "Dad already warned me about that. So I went to fetch my cloak dad also gave me and I snuck in behind a girl who was climbing back up from the washroom."

Lily smiled at him. "I'm impressed. I guess a little genius like you is always prepared." Albus nodded. Rose broke them apart and said hurriedly. "Come on we haven't got time for this! Don't you want to find out where James is? They all nodded and ran up the staircase. It was much different from the girls'. There wasn't anything there to stop the girls from bursting in.

Albus opened his trunk and got out the marauder's map. He opened it up and whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Then, as if someone was drawing it, the corridors appeared one by one. They looked and looked but couldn't find James. Rose and Lily fell down on his bed, exhausted.

Albus smiled slyly. "This can only mean one thing," he said. He's in the room of requirement." He ran out back down the staircase and out the portrait hole. Rose and Lily hurtled after him at top speed, bewildered.

When they had paused to catch their breath, Lily spoke to Albus. "Al, what's the room of requirement?" Albus paused too and turned to her. "Dad was telling us about, don't you remember?" Lily shook her head.

Albus sighed and continued. "He said it's a secret place which takes the form of a room which you want to hide something in or simply hide in. You have to pace near the gate and think hard about what you need and it'll transform into whatever room you want. In this case we need to think, 'we need to find James, we need to find James, we need to find James.' The room of requirement doesn't appear on the map. That's also how I know where he is."

Rose and Lily nodded. They paced up and down thinking what Albus had told them to think. A gate appeared and Rose pulled it open. They ran inside and looked around. Lily turned on the light so they could see properly. The room was cluttered with stuff of all sorts. Books, kites, cabinets, brooms, and lamps were just a few of the things inside.

They made their way inside uncertainly. Lily heard something shatter behind her. She gasped and turned. She saw a quick blur of red and gold pajamas. It might have been a little quick, but Lily was positive she had seen it.

Lily suddenly became angry. It was all James' fault she had been woken in the middle of the night by Albus. His entire fault the whole girls' staircase had been woken and had blamed Lily. It was always his fault. She had lost her temper and wasn't in the mood for hide-and-seek. She spoke directly to James now. She might not be seeing him but she knew he was there.

"James, we know you're here. We're extremely mad at you for scaring Albus and we'll be writing to mum and dad. We're not in the mood for hide-and-seek and are disgusted by your sickening behavior. I'll see you at breakfast. But I might not see you after that as Mom and Dad will tell you to start packing your bags anyway." And with that, she, Rose, and Albus shut off the lights and slammed the door behind them.