Chapter 11

The following Saturday dawned bright and cold. Sirius woke at five in the morning with anticipation and resisted the urge to wake James up. This had the potential to be the greatest prank ever and although Sirius felt a pang of regret on excluding his best friend, he couldn't risk him vetoing the prank for the sake of some girl. Anyway, he'll probably enjoy being pranked for once, Sirius thought, reassuring himself. He muttered "Muffliato" in the direction of James and Frank's beds. That really was an extremely useful spell that Snape had invented, Sirius had to admit, grudgingly. He heaved himself out of bed and charged at the lump that was Remus.

"It's prank day!" he cried. "Get up get up we need to start organising!"

Remus rolled over and opened one eye. His face was hollowed and he had bags under his eyes. "Padfoot, for Heaven's sake. Five in the morning is bad enough on a normal day." He leaned back into the pillows and rubbed his temples. The full moon was that night and he was beginning to feel the effects.

"Sorry Moony, but destiny calls!" Sirius was making his way over to Peter

"Destiny my ass," Remus muttered as Sirius threw off Peter's covers.

"What..about..Jaaaames?" Peter yawned.

"We've been over this, he'll try and stop us." Sirius said, looking at the floor. Truth be told, he did miss James' input. The two were the greatest troublemakers Hogwarts had ever seen and both were extremely proud of that achievement.

"Well, we're up now anyway," Remus said, stretching.

"To the common room!" Sirius yelled and he raced down the stairs, Remus behind him and Peter sleepily bringing up the rear.

Lily awoke to the unusual sound of raised voices.

"Look Marlene, I don't care if it's not my business. We're best friends, all of us. We have never hidden anything from you!"

"Mary I don't want to talk about it ok? There's no law stating that you have to know every little detail about my life!"

"We only ever see you at mealtimes and in class nowadays and sometimes not even then! We're just worried, Marly."

"Well don't be! I'm fine! And I'm not obliged to tell you anything! "

"We tell you everything Marlene! All of us! We made a pact, remember?" Lily could feel Mary's growing anger and sat up in her bed.

"Oh yeah?" replied Marlene, also getting steadily angrier. "That's a fact, is it? I wouldn't be so sure."

"What are you talking about?

"Like, for example, Lily-"

"Don't you dare bring me into this!" Lily said, getting out of bed. "And stop it the both of you! This is stu-"

"-Lily hasn't told us about James Potter, for example." Marlene continued, speaking over Lily. "And Alice didn't tell us about Frank until they were going out!"

Lily's mouth opened in shock. Mary was looking disgruntled, glaring from Marlene to Lily to the bathroom door where Alice was singing in the shower, oblivious to their heated argument.

"And it's not like you've never hidden anything from us Mary!" Marlene snapped at her. "When you became depressed and irritable because your parents were divorcing back in second year? You didn't tell us until a good six months after! We were worried sick!"

"That was different. It was private and I didn't wander off for hours at a time every single day." Mary retorted.

"Yeah? Well maybe this is private too."

"Stop it!" Lily cried, standing between them. "Just stop! Can't you see what your doing? Marlene we're all worried about you. But Mary, she'll tell us when she's ready. Just make sure you're safe," she said to Marlene. Marlene just grabbed her cloak and marched out of the room. The bathroom door opened and Alice appeared, dropping her towel as she saw the looks on the girls' faces.

"What have I missed now?" she asked.

Lily and James met in the Heads common room that evening, both looking annoyed, anxious and slightly at a loss at what to do.

"Alright Lily?"

Lily sighed and flopped into an armchair, resting her head in her hands."Not really, Mary and Marlene got into a bit of a fight earlier."

"What was it about?" James asked, sitting down opposite her. Funny, she thought, he actually looks quite interested.

"Oh, this and that. You know," Lily replied vaguely. She may have been on better terms with James Potter, but she didn't fully trust him. Yet. "What about you?" She added, noticing that he was ruffling his hair more than usual.

"I dunno, it's just that I woke up early for Quidditch practice and Sirius, Remus and Peter weren't there. Usually they sleep in 'til about ten. And I've barely seen them all day. It's odd." Lily noticed the vague look in his eyes, like sadness or disappointment. Not wanting to admit to herself she had noticed, she tried to make a joke about it.

"You woke up early? That is odd!" Lily smiled, as she stood up.

"Shut up! Come on, I'm starving."

"Really? Well, well. The world is full of surprises today!"

The Head Boy and Girl left the common room together, laughing happily. Both seemed to have forgotten their previous worries. In fact, you might even say they were getting along.

Mary arrived in the Great Hall for dinner, a little earlier than usual, hoping to avoid Marlene. She spotted Alice with Frank at the far end of the table. She hesitated. She didn't want to intrude, but what choice did she have? She couldn't very well sit by herself.

"Hi Alice! Hello Frank. Mind if I join you? Excellent."

"Have you spoken to Marlene yet?" Alice asked.

"No. I don't think she wants to talk at the moment to be honest." Mary replied trying to hide her emotions. "Pass the salt will you?"

"It's right in front of you Mary. Stop trying to change the subject, if Marlene-" Alice stopped suddenly and looked towards the doors. "What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" Frank asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"I-I thought I felt a...a type of rumble. You know, like when there's thunder. Except- It came from the Entrance-" Before she could finish her sentence, the entire Hall shook. People began to scream.

"Wait here," Frank said, drawing his wand.

"No way. Come on, Mary." Mary looked sadly at her plate of shepherd's pie before standing up and following Alice and Frank.