She thought her life was over – but fate gave her another chance, in a world of magic. Now, running around Hogwarts with James Potter and his friends, she's about to make choices that will change the future in ways she never thought possible…

Marauder's Phase

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

The Western Tower

The school arrived in the Great Hall to find an army of spear-wielding bull frogs within it, and students spent the next two hours running for their lives from the crazy, hyped-up frogs.

James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and I, meanwhile, had eaten breakfast down in the kitchens, before going for a walk down by the lake.

"Oh look, there goes a frog." James said, pointing, as one charged by, chasing a startled second year student.

We laughed.

"This is just what the school needed to liven it up a bit," Sirius said, his hand in mine as we walked side-by-side. "I was afraid it was gonna get too boring around here."

"It never will." I said, winking, before I wrenched my hand free of Sirius' and dived into the shrubbery because Lily Evans was running toward us with murder in her eyes, and I knew that she knew that, somehow, the Marauders had been involved in this latest prank.

How right she was.

***

"I am afraid that Professor Riberta is unwell, Miss. Pax," Professor McGonagall said as I met her outside the trophy room at six o'clock that evening for my detention. "So, you will be serving your detention with Professor Ackerly instead."

Ooh, just wait until the other girls heard about this.

I went into the room and there was Professor Ackerly in all of his…uh…radiant glory.

"Ah, good evening Miss. Pax." He said, smiling that perfect smile at me. "I believe you know why you're here."

I nodded, and looked at the bottle of Muggle cleaning solvent. "I'll get to work then shall I, Professor Ackerly?" I said, sitting down and drawing a big silver cup without a name on it toward me.

Professor Ackerly nodded. "That's the ticket, Miss. Pax. I also trust you to finish the cleaning by yourself, so I am going to leave you here. You may leave when the trophies are all clean." He smiled at me, and then turned and left the room.

Hardly daring to believe it, I polished the silver cup in my hands in case he should come back and, when he didn't, I set the cup aside and pulled something out of my pocket.

It was a mirror. James had lent it to me that evening, he'd said it would come in handy and I knew it would. "Sirius Black." I said very clearly.

My face on the mirror spun for a moment and then, Sirius' face was looking back at me.

"Hey Ems," He said, grinning his cocky grin at me. "How's it going?"

"Riberta was sick," I told him, leaning back against a wall. "So I got Ackerly instead, and he just left me here to do the cleaning! How're things on your end?"

"Dismal," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Filch left but he said he'd be back to check on me. I think I might just clean parts of this place by magic, pretend I did it all by hand. What do you say?"

"Cool," I said, nodding. "Then meet me atop the West Tower…I want to find out what my Patronus looks like." And the top of the West Tower was the perfect place to do it.

A strange look crossed Sirius' eyes, but then it was replaced by his usual look. "Cool." He echoed me. "I'll see you there…uh oh, here comes Mrs. Norris…" And his face vanished from the mirror.

***

The top of the West Tower looked exactly the way it had in the third movie – a beautiful little fountain, and white structures. It was like something off of a fairytale.

Feeling like someone from High School Musical, I made my way across the small courtyard, singing: "

I want to tell you... I want to shout it...

I am but one entity in this world.

But like a prayer, like a star,

even with a small light, someday,

I want to be

stronger and stronger.

There are limitless possibilities,

right here in my grasp.

(It's gonna be your world.)

I want to find my dream... I want to make it come true...

There is nothing that I can't overcome,

if I only believe.

Just like singing, just like miracles,

"feelings" can change everything!

Without a doubt... Without a doubt...

It's almost surprising!"

I didn't realise anyone was listening until I heard clapping, and I was standing on a bench and Sirius came up behind me. I knew it was Sirius because he picked me up bridal style, and no one else in the world dares to do that.

"I love it when you sing," He muttered, and walked with me over to the balcony. "It's just so…so…"

"So Mary-Sueish?" I asked him.

"What?" He looked down at me, and then kissed me. Drawing back, he asked: "Keep on singing?"

I smiled. "How about this one…I made it up just now. I am a dreamer, with magic power…I live in a world that is, something that other people only dream of…but there things, hidden within, that I cannot comprehend, but when I'm running through the woods with you, like the wind into the dark, I know that it's something from the heart! Love is for dreamers, sole believers! I want to shout it out to the world, that I'm just one entity here but, just like singing, just like magic, all that I can see, is platinum my dreams and my love, platinum…platinum…all my dreams are platinum…" I was cut off abruptly when Sirius kissed me again. Jeez, he seemed to enjoy doing that a lot lately, but I had no complaints.

We kissed for a very long time. The breeze was just getting slightly cold this time of year but, wrapped up in Sirius' arms and kissing him like this, we might as well have been in Egypt. If anyone was watching, we were going to look like the beginnings of an X-Rated Movie but, of course, we didn't go that far.

After we'd finished and he'd set me down, I took out my wand. "I have to know what my Patronus is, Siri – you've just given me a perfect happy memory to conjure one, if only there was a Dementor around, it wouldn't stand a chance."

Sirius grinned. There was lipstick on his face.

I raised my wand. I cleared my throat. "Expecto Pa…"

A shrill, high-pitched scream suddenly cut me off – it was a scream of absolute terror and shock, and it echoed loudly from within the halls below us.

Sirius and I exchanged a glance – and then we took off running.

***

The scream, which had come from the first floor, brought many people running. Sirius, being Sirius, pushed his way to the front of the crowd, and I tagged along behind him, my hand in his.

The first thing I noticed was all the water on the floor. The second thing I noticed was the horrified looks on everyone's faces.

The third thing I noticed was the body.

I gasped, and yanked Sirius to a stop. My free hand flew up to my mouth, and I moaned: "Oh no…"

It was the second year student I had saved from falling off his broom – he was lying stiff as aboard on the wet floor, his eyes wide and scared and his face sheet white.

I drew back, drawing Sirius with me, and backed up against a wall.

"He's been Petrified…" I whispered, as Sirius put his arm across my shoulders, his face unusually tense. "Oh, Siri…it's the Chamber of Secr…"

"Make way!" Called the voice of our head boy, whose name I can never remember. "The Headmaster's coming! You heard me, MOVE!!"

I could hear the swishing of Dumbledore's robes, and suddenly I just wanted to hide. To crawl into a small dark place and burrow away until this was all over.

Dumbledore walked past where me and Sirius stood together and, for a fraction of a second, I saw his eyes pass over me and a look of relief pass through them.

Then he continued walking, and came to a stop where the boy had been attacked.

Professor McGonagall, who was with him, gasped. "It's Vincenzo Doren! My goodness, Albus is..?"

"No, he is not dead, he has merely been petrified," Dumbledore sounded stunned. "We must take him to the hospital wing…"

"But what about the writing on the wall!?" A Ravenclaw girl exclaimed.

I gasped. "No!" 'Not that too!'. I broke away from Sirius and pushed my way through the crowd, fighting my way past panicked students to the front, where I burst forth into the light cast by a lantern.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were standing over the Petrified body of Vincenzo Doren. There wasn't a sound, save the steady drip-dripping of the water dripping off of Vincenzo's robes as Professor McGonagall picked him up.

My eyes darted to the writing on the stone wall, and my chest constricted with fear.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been re-opened," I read out loud, my heart sinking with each ominous word. "Enemies of the heir, beware."

"Enemies of the heir beware?" A voice mimicked me, and I turned to see Bellatrix looking at me. Her eyes glittered with masked malice. "You'll be next, mudbloods!" She said, glancing toward the throng of stunned students.

I gave Bellatrix the coldest glare I could manage, despite my insides aching.

Because the message was written in blood.