"Where are you going?" Remus hissed, as James and Sirius broke away from the main group making a dash to the common room. James held his finger to his lips. Him and Sirius had darted down an empty corridor, and as people pushed past Remus, James gestured for him to carry on.
Remus rolled his eyes, grabbed Peter's hand, and yanked him onwards.
James turned, following Sirius down the corridor until they reached the corner. Turning it, they headed for the first door. The classroom hadn't been used in years. Every desk inside was covered in a layer of dust, thick and white, and outdated books sat on the sides, untouched.
James shut the door behind them, and Sirius darted to the cupboard at the back of the room.
"I told you it was a good idea to stash it here," Sirius said, as James followed him. Once both were inside, they shut the door, and Sirius crouched down, tapping at the wall, a precise, thought out rhythm.
It had been in one of the books they'd been looking through for hints of how to become Animagi. The book itself was from the 1800s, and had barely been touched since the First World War. It wasn't surprising; whoever had written it had written most in Latin, and though the students at Hogwarts did have, for some, a basic grasp of the language, much of the book's text was still too difficult for a modern student.
But, in the corner of one page, Sirius had seen the instructions for the tunnel.
He had thanked Merlin for whoever had hidden the notes there. The tunnel led from the disused classroom down to the chamber beside the Great Hall.
The floor dropped from beneath them, and both boys tumbled down. Not far; they landed on their feet, bending their knees slightly as the trap door swung back into place. James bent down, swooping up his most precious item, and threw it over the pair of them.
They moved forward quickly, past the stone engraved with various carvings from years gone by. They rounded corner after corner, dropping down almost constantly, until they came to a dead end.
Or, at least, it seemed like a dead end.
Sirius tapped across the bricks and like a door, they opened.
The door led them to the back of a fireplace, currently unlit. It was more than handy; from the way they entered, those gathered in the room wouldn't' see the door in the wall. Sirius and James inched forward slowly, until they could see the centaur in the middle of the room.
Around him stood various teaches. Slughorn was sweating; McGonagall was sitting in a chair, one hand at her chest. Dumbledore was focused on the centaur, but James thought those bright blue eyes of his stared right at him for just a split second.
"The creatures of the forest are fighting as hard as they can to defend the school," the centaur said. "But we are no match for his magic."
"Who is it, Albus?"
She sounded frightened, her voice shaking as she stared at Dumbledore. Slughorn glanced at her, a look of pity, the kind of look that reflected how naive he thought she was. James tugged on Sirius' arm, and the two shifted forward.
"We need to get out there," Dumbledore said, glancing at the door that led to the Great Hall. He lifted his wand. "There are a few in Hogsmeade who are willing to help us." He waved his wand, and suddenly a silver phoenix came flying out of the end. "Hogsmeade, now. Get them." The phoenix turned and flew through the wall, and Dumbledore turned, opening the door. He gestured for the others to go before him, and they slid out, one by one, McGonagall shaking. Through the open doorway, James and Sirius could see the other teaches, faces pale, a couple of the women with tears rolling down their faces.
The headmaster barked out orders, commanding some of the teachers to remain in the castle, to patrol the halls and ensure not only that all the students were in their beds, but that no one except other teachers left or entered.
Only a few remained in the Great Hall once he had sent most off to patrol. McGonagall, Slughorn, Harpo and Flitwick stood around, looking nervously at the headmaster.
He looked at McGonagall, as Sirius and James moved closer, eager to hear every word.
"You asked me who was out there, Minerva. It is the man I told you about."
"But...he wouldn't dare attack Hogwarts..."
"He is arrogant," Dumbledore said. "But I doubt he is unleashing a full attack." He glanced at the centaur, who gave him a curt nod. "My guess is he wishes to scare us, and this is his idea of a warning. I also believe he wishes to speak to me."
"Albus!" she gasped. "You can't!"
"I asked you to stay here because you need to come with me. We must meet him, before he destroys the creatures living in the forest." His eyes swept the Great Hall. "It would be extremely dangerous, for anyone not as skilled as you four, to follow."
His bright blue eyes seemed to catch James', and Sirius hand squeezed James' shoulder, both thinking the same thing.
He can see us.
Dumbledore led the others out. The door of the hall swung shut behind them. James trembled, and the hairs on Sirius' arms were on end.
"What do you think?" Sirius whispered.
"Something bad is happening," James replied, wondering exactly how much the other teachers knew. "And it's happening in the forest. I don't really feel like sticking around here, do you?"
"But Dumbledore..."
"Knows about the cloak," James muttered, before Sirius could finish. "But I don't think he's interested in outing us. Maybe he doesn't even know it's us, maybe he just knows there's someone under here."
"How many cloaks do you think there are, James?" Sirius snapped. "It's not like every student in this school has one!"
"Fine! Go back to the Common Room. But I'm going to the forest. I need to know what's going on."
"Why?"
"Because he was scared! Didn't you hear it? Whoever is out here has the greatest wizard in the world scared, and that means we should be scared, too, but I don't want to be scared of something I have no idea about."
"That doesn't make any sense, James."
"Everything is less scary when you know what it is. Are you coming with me or not?"
"Fine," Sirius grumbled. "I'll come. But only because you'll get yourself killed if you go out there on your own."
James grinned. "Great. Come on."
Sirius still looked apprehensive, but stayed close to his friend as they went through the Entrance Hall and out into the grounds. They could see the shapes of the teachers heading into the forest, past the willow that seemed to hate anyone who came near it. The two boys quickened their pace, rushing forward until they weren't too far behind the group.
The forest was silent.
It didn't feel right, to either of them. Neither James nor Sirius had been in the forest, but they had both assumed it would have the sounds of animals around them. They couldn't hear owls from the school hunting, or animals rummaging in the undergrowth. The centaur, they saw, walked slowly, just ahead of the teachers, turning his head every so often.
They followed as the group ahead turned off the path, and both boys were careful not to step on twigs or branches that had fallen. Even the slightest sound in the place would draw attention.
When James spotted that they all had their wands out, he nudged Sirius, and both of them withdrew their own, mentally running through the selection of spells they had learnt over the last two years.
He had no idea if any of them would help if they got caught in a difficult situation, but it helped calm his nerves. Nothing, however, could have stopped the way he and Sirius grabbed onto each other when a piercing scream broke through the forest, coming from some way ahead of them.
The teachers broke into a run and the two boys copied them, not caring now about the crunching leaves or breaking twigs under their feet. The teachers and centaur were making enough noise to cover that, anyway.
Trees scratched at them, and James found himself clutching tightly to the invisibility cloak, stopping it from getting ripped off them.
A bright flash caught them off guard. It was like a firework had been set off, and the flash flew up into the air, sparks exploding. They glanced up, to see a skull forming, a snake crawling from its mouth.
"What's that?" James whispered, trying not to trip over Sirius' feet.
"I've seen it, somewhere," Sirius muttered. "I...I don't know where..."
They stumbled into a clearing, skidding to a stop so fast James had to grab onto Sirius to stop him tumbling out from under the cloak.
The boys grabbed onto each other, trying to stop the bile rising in their throats from escaping. James felt his eyes water at the stench filling the air, coming from the centaur lying motionless in the grass ahead of them. On the other side of the dead creature stood six people; it was hard to tell the gender of any of them. They wore black robes, hoods up with silver masks on their faces. The one in the middle stood ahead of them, his mask off. He stared straight at Dumbledore, twirling his wand in his hand.
On his own, in daylight, in the middle of the street the man wouldn't have been terrifying. His face was pale, his hair a dark colour much like James'. He looked so normal; it was hard to believe it had been him to kill the centaur.
But James knew it was, and somehow he knew the man ahead of them was linked to the attacks on Muggles the year before.
Despite the overwhelming normality of the man, there was something in him that indicated he was all too capable of killing innocents.
"Albus," he drawled, a grin stretching over his face. James placed him somewhere in his thirties, maybe older. "Nice of you to come meet me. And you brought Minerva, too."
McGonagall looked on the verge of tears. There was something in her that made James feel he shouldn't be witnessing the scene. The centaur – the live one – couldn't tear his eyes from his companion.
"Leave this place, Tom." Dumbledore's voice was strangely calm, but there was a bright fire burning in his eyes, and power seemed to leak from him. "You've made your point."
"I don't think I have." He glanced over his shoulder at the people behind him. "This, Albus, is only a small portion of my followers, the people who are fed up of being treated as second class when we are clearly better, smarter, stronger than those that rule the world."
"You will never be better. Not as long as you harbour that hatred in your heart."
"This isn't hatred, Albus. This is power." He barked out a curse, raising his wand as he did so. Dumbledore's arm moved in one fluid motion, and the curse bounced off the spark of red that came from it, shooting harmlessly off into the trees.
The two began to duel, and James yanked Sirius behind a nearby tree, as those in black robes joined in, their own spells aimed at the teachers. The centaur gathered up the other one, slung him over his back and rode off into the forest.
Above them, the skull gleamed.
The two boys were shaking, holding tightly onto each other as red and green filled the clearing. They heard some of the curses, ones way beyond their understanding.
One stuck out in James' mind, and would remain there forever. A deep booming voice – not Slughorn or McGonagall or Harpo or Flitwick – shouted out a spell both James and Sirius had heard only whispered in low tones, a curse so evil most dared not speak of it.
McGonagall's scrams filled the air, tearing through the forest.
The two boys threw themselves down to the ground, a red streak passing just over their heads. They heard a fierce determination in the voices of the other teachers as they cast and cast and cast. When they dared glimpse at the battle, they would see Dumbledore, standing in the middle and duelling the other man, almost oblivious to those around them. His face was still, impassionate, his wand moving to block the spells.
And then, as suddenly as it had all happened, it was over. The forest fell quiet, the men in black robes disappeared, and Harpo dropped down beside McGonagall, checking her over. James and Sirius inched around the tree, watching.
"Get her back to the castle," Dumbledore commanded, staring into the forest. "Take her to the hospital wing. Now."
It was Flitwick who cast the charm to levitate her, Slughorn who put his hands on her shoulders to direct her. Harpo glanced over her shoulder at Dumbledore before following the other two.
Once they were out of sight, Dumbledore spoke.
"Take off that cloak."
James did as he was told, sliding off the cloak and revealing him and Sirius. Dumbledore turned to them, his eyes blazing.
"To my office, now," he snapped, and James trembled under his stare. Both of them nodded, following the headmaster back to the castle.