"We're late! Oh Merlin, we're late!"
Lily's shrieks woke us up the next morning.
"How did none of us set an alarm? Oh my lord!"
"Don't blame us when you forgot to set yours too!" Marlene shouted back, rushing to pull on her socks.
I threw on my jeans, a random shirt, my robes, and slipped on my shoes before grabbing my bookbag and sprinting out the door just as Lily's mane of red hair disappeared around the door.
We made it halfway down the Grand Staircase when we bumped into Professor McGonagall.
"And may I ask what in the world you girls are up to?" McGonagall questioned us sternly.
"Class," Dorcas breathed out. "Late-to-class!"
"Your class, in fact," I wheezed, thinking it quite strange for McGonagall to not be in her classroom.
"Well, I appreciate the enthusiasm, girls, but I'm afraid you aren't late," McGonagall replied. "It happens to be a Saturday."
"Lily Evans!" Marlene roared. "You bloody woke us up with heart attacks for no reason?"
Professor McGonagall gave us a small amused smile and said, "Yes, girls, it's Saturday. Do you have any particular plans?"
"Seeing as it's Saturday, we'll be up to no good," I joked, but seeing McGonagall's eyebrow start to raise, I hastily added, "No, I'm only joking, of course. I'll probably be practicing Quidditch."
"Well, I must admit I've grown rather accustomed to seeing that Cup in my office," McGonagall replied, "and I'd rather not have to lose it. After the last game, I'm sure Mr. Wood is more than motivated to win the next one."
Feeling embarrassed, I bowed my head a little as I said, "It was my fault that we lost the last game. I'm sorry, Professor."
"Don't be ridiculous, girl," McGonagall reprimanded me sternly, deliberately ignoring Marlene and Lily's not-so-subtle squabbling behind us. Then, McGonagall said to me in a knowing voice, "Being fouled by Slytherins does not make you a loser."
I looked up at her, startled. How did she know?
"Will you stop it!" Dorcas hissed at Marlene and Lily.
McGonagall smiled at me for the briefest second. She asked me, "Hufflepuff, I understand, is currently in the lead?"
A voice broke in from behind us. "Yes, Professor. The key word there being 'currently'".
Alice gasped a little, surprised by the sudden voice behind her.
"Sorry, Baker. Didn't mean to startle you there."
It was James with Sirius, Remus, and Peter all in tow.
"Yes, thank you, Potter, for once again exhibiting such a masterful display of overconfidence," McGonagall replied in a clipped tone and then muttered in such a quiet voice that only I, who was nearest to her, could hear her, "I suppose, however, it's what makes you a favorable Quidditch player."
"Fancy seeing you out of your office, Professor. What brings you up to our humble Gryffindor abode?" Sirius asked charmingly, grinning.
McGonagall looked half-stern, half-amused at Sirius' flirty comment, but then her face darkened for a moment before she pulled herself together and replied, "I'm afraid I have terrible news to give to a certain Gryffindor student. Perhaps you would know the whereabouts of Mr. Riley Smith?"
"Riley?" James said, "Oh yeah, he shares a dorm with us four and Henry Prewitt."
"Poor him," Dorcas muttered under her breath.
"He's still asleep, I think," James informed her.
Professor McGonagall sighed deeply before she said, "Very well. Thank you for the information, Potter. Do enjoy yourselves… in moderation. Youth is a precious gift, and who knows what the time will bring."
She left us then, climbing the rest of the stairs up to Gryffindor tower.
"A little cryptic for a Saturday morning, don't you think?" Peter remarked.
"Hello, Lily," James suddenly ventured, smiling brilliantly at her.
"It's Evans," Lily replied stiffly and she turned to us girls. "Well, I'm going back up since we don't have class."
"Me too. I need more sleep," Marlene groaned.
"Yes, I agree. You could use a little more beauty sleep," Sirius commented. Marlene shot him a glare but absolutely melted when he winked.
"Well, let's go," Dorcas replied, grabbing Marlene and tugging her up the stairs with Lily and Alice just behind them. I made to follow them but my stomach growled audibly. Everyone stopped and stared at me. I felt the blush creep up on my cheeks.
"I should, er- go down to breakfast then," I said in the following silence. It was a slightly awkward walk down because the boys and I were both heading to the Great Hall, but I didn't quite fit in with them. In fact, I walked a little ways ahead of them. Finally, I was in the Great Hall. I was just sitting at the Gryffindor table when Sirius, breezing by, said, "Your tag's sticking out. I think you put your shirt on backwards today."
After breakfast, I made my way back up to the Gryffindor common room, expecting all the girls to be asleep. Instead, they were all gathered on Alice's bed, talking in hushed tones.
"Something wrong?" I asked as I joined them. We barely fit on the bed; I was squashing Dorcas and practically in Alice's lap.
"It's terrible, isn't it?" Lily said, her eyes shining with tears.
"What is?" I asked, confused.
Dorcas sighed heavily before explaining, "Riley's father is dead. They think he was killed by Dark Magic. And Riley's mum and little sister are nowhere to be found."
I blinked, shocked. Not fully comprehending the weight of this information, I asked, "How do they know it's Dark Magic? I mean, how did the Ministry or whoever find out in the first place?"
"Last night, Muggles kept phoning about loud noises, like glass breaking, at the Riley's house. When Muggle police got there, they couldn't even get in. All the doors were locked from the inside. The Ministry of Magic was alerted and they sent the Defense Squad in. Riley's dad was found, dead. His mum and sister are gone. No one's sure what happened," Marlene explained somberly.
"Poor Riley," Alice said softly, her eyes downcast.
"But why? Why Riley's family? Why the poor kid?" I asked, trying not to be insensitive, but genuinely curious. A vague, but very real, fear began to rise within me. Because if Riley's family was targeted for the reason I thought he was, many families, including mine, were no longer safe.
"We don't know," Lily replied, thoroughly miserable. "We never got to know anything about him or his family, so we can't really say."
We lapsed into silence, lost in pity, grief, and regret for Riley Smith.
Deep within my mind, the hypothetical idea stirred: Riley Smith is a Muggle-born.
Riley Smith left Hogwarts the next day, though James informed me he would come back in a month's time.
And the strange thing was that life went on. It always does. The news of Riley's family was the only thing on people's mind for a few days, but then it seemed like all people could talk about was the Hogsmeade visit and the Masquerade Ball.
But for me, what happened to Riley Smith lingered in my mind. So, one evening, when I was tired of making small talk and pretending as though I cared about the Masquerade Ball, I pretended I needed to study Charms and retreated to the library. Now safely tucked away in the corner of the library, I merely looked down at my Charms book, not in the least motivated to actually get some work done. But then I noticed a folded piece of thick parchment in my bag. Oh, it's that piece of parchment I picked up after detention.
"Just throw this away," I muttered, and went over to the trash.
Absent-mindedly, I folded it open, expecting to see nothing and ready to throw it away. However, to my surprise, there was writing on the parchment.
You don't want to throw this away.
I paused, and brought the paper closer to my face. It must just be a coincidence that the writing responded directly to my comment.
I hesitated and checked that no one was nearby. Then, feeling stupid, I muttered to the paper, "No, I really think I will."
More writing appeared, although this time in a different handwriting style: I rarely say this, but in this instance, I think Padfoot is right.
I hurried back to my desk and after drawing my chair in under me and sitting down, I focused on the parchment again.
"What are you?" I murmured wonderingly.
Guess the password and all will be revealed.
"Password? But I don't know any passwords."
You were very close before. You nearly said it. Otherwise, we wouldn't be talking with you now.
Wormtail, no hints!
"Wormtail?" I muttered aloud.
The word "Pleased"appeared on the page.
Oh lord, Wormtail's falling in love at the mere mention of his name.
Does that make him a romantic or a narcissist?
I don't know, but somebody grab his tail.
I frowned, thinking to myself. What does he mean "I nearly said it"? I thought about what I had said before.
"I'm off to study Charms?" I guessed.
No. Earlier than that. Days earlier. Morning-time, I think.
Worm, shut up!
"Days earlier? I've said any number of things in the days past," I said, confused. "I've said everything from, 'No, Professor, I do not think it's funny to add lacewing flies at high temperatures and if you would stop trying to teach me Potions while my ear is falling off, I'd love to go to the hospital wing' to 'Yes, Marlene, as incredible a wizard as he is, I still think Dumbledore passes gas'."
When there was no answer, I crossed my arm and said, "Fine. If you're going to make this impossible, I won't keep you."
You wouldn't dare.
"Try me," I said. "You can have fun talking to yourself in the trash."
We have to give away some clues, Padfoot. Otherwise, she'll just chuck us away.
"Yes, I will," I muttered.
Let's see... Well, it's a pact. A promise of sorts.
I tried to think hard. "Well, I was talking to Professor McGonagall a couple mornings ago. I promised I'd do my best to win the Quidditch Cup."
Go on.
"I can't remember," I said, frustrated.
She's hopeless.
"You shut up," I snapped at the paper. "You're the only one not giving me any help here."
Padfoot, be respectful. She's trying.
"All right, if memory serves right, I told McGonagall I'd practice Quidditch," I recounted, "and before that she told us it was Saturday, so I said we'd be up to no good. I was joking around, but she didn't seem amused-"
Ah.
"We'd be up to no good?" I repeated, even more confused.
Swear to us.
There, now he's done it. Worm's given it all away.
"I swear I'm up to no good?"
Be serious about it.
"I seriously swear that I am up to no good?" I sounded ridiculous even in my own head. I prayed that no one was nearby, hearing this madness.
Erm, my hint seems to be a bit misleading.
Now's the time to test your mental thesaurus.
"Um... I truly swear that I am up to no good?"
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good?"
Ah, and she's done it. Bravo!
Then, all of the writing disappeared, replaced by much grander writing that said:
"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present:
The Marauder's Map"
I gasped quietly and said in awe, "What in the bloody hell are you?"
More writing appeared on the front page, responding to my question.
Well, bloody open me, why don't you?
I finally flipped open the parchment. My jaw dropped. It was a sketch of every floor of the castle and it showed every secret passageway possible. It also showed where every staff member and student was currently at- Filch was in his office, as were most of the Professors, and all of the common rooms were crammed with students. Lily was in Professor Slughorn's office, Marlene was by the Lake, and Alice and Dorcas were in our dorm room.
This is amazing, really amazing magic. Is this Sirius'? James'? Well, it must be, seeing as only they would know the secret passages so well.
I flipped open a fold of the parchment. It read on top "Third Floor". I looked it over, only to see that there was a small script next to the one-eyed humped witch statue on the third floor. It read "To Honeydukes in Hogsmeade".
I grabbed my book bag and hastily raced my way up to the third floor. It was empty as classes were over.
As I neared the statute, a small speech bubble popped up next to the witch.
It said- "Dissendium!"
The hump opened, leading into a tunnel. I slipped in and looked down the long tunnel. I breathed out, "Brilliant."
I guess we'll all get to see that prefect's bathroom after all.
On Monday, Lily and I went down to breakfast together. We ran into Severus Snape and Audrey Zena just in front of the doors, out of sight of the Great Hall.
"Sev!" Lily said, beaming at him.
"Lily" he replied, far more calmly. His eyes swept the hallway behind her but he must have found it satisfactorily empty because he chanced a smile at her. Audrey seemed displeased, but said nothing.
"Are you going to the next Hogsmeade trip?" Lily asked Severus, bubbling with excitement.
Severus hesitated before whispering to her, "If you are."
I knew why; I'd also spotted Rosier, Travers, and Avery beginning to climb down the stairs.
Lily smiled warmly. "Of course I am. I'll see you then, Sev."
Audrey nudged Severus and Severus abruptly began to turn away.
Suddenly, I remembered the Marauders and their prank. Without thinking too much about it, I called out, "Hey, uh, don't drink anything this morning."
They both looked at my curiously, but there was no time for further conversation as the Slytherins were close to spotting us. Lily and I made our way to the Gryffindor table.
As we took our seats, I said softly to Lily, "Speaking of Hogsmeade, Lily, I think I found a way to sneak in."
Her eyes brightened. "Really, Ray?"
I nodded.
Then, my eyes fell on the people sitting behind her. Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus were all already at breakfast, a sure sign that they were awaiting a prank. Sure enough, only a few minutes later, from Slytherin's table, I heard Nott's voice suddenly jump five octaves. The other Slytherins stared at him in shock.
"Nott, what-?" Yaxley began, but stopped short as he realized his voice had also become rather cartoon-ish.
"Someone spiked our drinks!" Dolohov said angrily, sounding like quite the feminine prat.
The Slytherin table broke out into high-pitched chaos.
The boys, followed by most of the Great Hall, doubled over in laughter.
I took this opportunity to slip the blank Map back into Sirius' school bag, though I had to be extremely careful none of them would notice. It had taken me an hour of talking to the map for it to give me enough hints to wipe it blank again. It had insulted me quite a few times and I had debated out loud whether or not to set it on fire before it finally relented and gave me the last hint.
"It's actually quite an improvement for that Carrow troll," Sirius said, referring to Amycus.
"And Severus, too, I bet. Far better than that sneering voice, that greasy git," James added, snorting at the thought.
Lily huffed in annoyance.
Oh, James, you need to grow up a bit before you can impress Lily, I thought.
"Come again?" It was that exact sneering voice, coming from right over James' shoulder. James' mouth nearly dropped, but Sirius was quick to make a comeback.
"Oh, did the potion not work on you? What a pity, but maybe it just realized your voice was already displeasing enough," Sirius joked, but there was a true rage bubbling underneath his light-hearted remark.
"Padfoot," Remus reprimanded quietly, but Sirius completely ignored him, keeping his eyes on Severus' with a loathing look.
Padfoot. What that nickname meant I had no idea, but one thing was clear- so they did make the map. My heart sank as I stared at them in awe. How could I ever catch up to that kind-of brilliance and even moreso, their creativity? It didn't seem possible. I couldn't help but think that the way they saw the world would forever be different from me.
Severus simply turned away, leaving the Great Hall back to the Slytherin common room.
"That bloody stupid arsehole," James muttered.
"Well, he certainly outsmarted you," Lily retorted huffily before flipping her hair over her shoulder and leaving the Great Hall, and dragging me with her. I was caught unawares, as I had been too busy pondering the boys' magical talent. As a result, an unfinished piece of toast was still in my mouth as Lily pulled me away from the table. I had to reach out to grab my bookbag in time. Barely keeping from tripping over myself, I definitely was the fool to Lily's perfect angry-princess demeanor as we exited the Great Hall together.
"So, Lily says you have a plan about how to get to Hogsmeade," Marlene said to me. We had all gathered together by the beech tree for lunch break before Transfiguration class.
I threw a piece of toast at the Great Lake, where it remained on the surface for a few seconds before a giant tentacle reached out and snatched it. "Well," I said, "there's no point going there this week as we already are. But maybe just before winter break, we could sneak in."
"Agreed, but how?" Alice asked.
"There's a secret passageway to Honeydukes on the third floor. You tap the one-eyed witch's hump, say 'Dissendium', and down you go. All the way to Honeydukes cellar," I informed them.
"Really? And how did you come by this information? You haven't been fraternizing with the arrogant prats of Gryffindor, have you?" Lily asked me, her eyebrow raised as she referenced James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
"No, I didn't get this information from them. It was luck. Really," I said, telling a half-truth. Well, it was lucky that he dropped it at detention.
"Oh, come on," Marlene prodded Lily. "You don't think they're all bad, do you? I mean, you talk about Remus and how nice he is all the time."
"Well, Remus isn't all that bad. In fact, he's very nice. And I don't really know anything about Peter," Lily admitted. "But Sirius! He's arrogant, perverted, and immature. And James is even worse- Of all the boys who've shown interest in me, he is the most vulgar, the most blatantly disrespectful-"
"He's not as bad as you think he is," I responded without thinking. I immediately regretted saying so, as my remark made us all victim to Lily's self-righteous tirade about 'maturity' and 'dignity' for the next twenty minutes.
There was a great deal of hustle and bustle as we all lined up to go to Hogsmeade.
I was standing beside Alice, and I asked her, "Are you thinking of going to the Masquerade?"
Alice managed to fake a shrug before she blushed heavily. As the pink spread across her cheeks, she ducked her head to hide her shy smile.
"What?" I said immediately. "What're you blushing for?"
Alice tried to squirm away from me, but I caught her.
"Alice, come on," I said, laughing. "You can tell me."
Patting her hair back in place, she said softly, "I wish I could go with someone. His name if Frank Longbottom. But it'll never happen."
"You don't know that," I said seriously, thinking that any boy who could capture Alice's heart was a lucky man.
"He's a year older and even though he can be a bit absent-minded, he's really popular with the girls. I hear them talk about him all the ti-", she stopped talking then as Marlene, Dorcas, and Lily stopped chattering amongst themselves and turned to us.
"We were saying we wanted to see some dress shops, for the Masquerade," Dorcas said.
"So, are the three of you going then?" I asked them. "Have you got dates?"
"Our Dorky is going with Jay Salinger, a Ravenclaw our year," Marlene said, smirking.
Dorcas rolled her eyes. "Just as friends, mind you."
"Oh, isn't he the really brilliant writer? The one Professor Lymell is always praising?" Alice said.
Dorcas nodded.
"When did this happen?" I asked her.
"Last night. We ran into each other in the library," Dorcas said.
"That's wonderful," I said, and smiled at her.
"What about the two of you?" Alice asked, nodding at Lily and Marlene.
"Lily and I have been asked, but we've both turned everyone down. Want to be single and ready to mingle, as it were," Marlene grinned. But I knew that Lily had other reasons why she hadn't accepted anyone, and they most likely took the form of-
"Sev!" Lily grinned and rushed over to him in line. He looked slightly alarmed and checking over his shoulder, he pulled her to the back of the line.
Marlene's jaw clenched, but she stared straight ahead and said nothing.
"I don't think I'm going," I said, trying to break the suddenly icy atmosphere. "Doesn't really sound like my kind-of thing."
"Why not?" Alice asked. "It'll be fun, we'll go with you."
Yeah, but none of you will stay with me, nor should you.
The truth was I wished someone, anyone would ask me, but it wasn't going to happen. I didn't really have anyone I felt like I could ask, either. And while I usually didn't mind going alone, this sounded like the type of event where being alone might not be so fun.
"Oh, just give it a go," Dorcas said, as we passed by Filch and began to walk down the road. "You never know. You might meet someone there."
I was torn about whether to go or not throughout the whole trip, especially once I saw the beautiful dresses in the shops. I wanted to go, I really did, but something just held me back. However, upon realizing I hadn't even bought enough money for the dresses (who knew they would be that expensive?), I reluctantly made up my mind not to go and we headed to the Three Broomsticks instead.
As we entered the Three Broomsticks, a warm rush of air swallowed us.
We took a table and pulled off our scarves and gloves. Marlene and I went up to order some snacks and drinks when a voice behind us said, "Fancy seeing you two here. Where's Evans?"
I turned to see James and Sirius behind us.
"Thanks, that really makes us feel wanted, Potter," Marlene said sarcastically.
"Wanted?" Sirius asked slyly, his eyes searching her.
Marlene ignored him tauntingly and turned to James. "Are you going to the ball, James?"
"'Course I am. Masquerades are home for pranksters, don't you know?"
"And Peter?"
"Yeah, he is. Agreed to the pra- er- to come this morning," James replied.
"What about Remus?" Marlene inquired, running her hand through her hair.
"Of course he is," Sirius answered. "Pretended like he wasn't for the longest time, then last night, he admits he's got his dress robes already. Surprised us, didn't he, James? Our REMUS OPHELIA LUPIN."
Half the customers at the bar turned to look at Sirius, giving Marlene an excuse to look at him too.
"That's not really his name, is it?" Marlene asked, giving him a skeptical look.
Sirius smirked and shrugged. "If it isn't, it should be."
Marlene nodded, "Uh-huh", and started to turn away when Sirius called out to her, "Hey McKinnon, are you going to the ball?"
Marlene smirked and said teasingly, "I'll be the one in black."
Feeling a vaguely unpleasant feeling spread through me, I turned to Madam Rosmerta at the counter and said, "Four Butterbeers please and an appetizer of garlic breadsticks."
"Garlic breadsticks?" James said, coming up to me and resting his arms on the bar. "Ugh, no one's going to want to kiss you after that."
I smiled and replied, "Nothing lost."
"What d'you mean?" James said.
"I've long since decided that bread is better than boys," I joked.
Madam Rosmerta slid the tray with Butterbeer and breadsticks over to me.
James reached over and took a breadstick.
"Hey, I paid for that!" I started to chide him, but he took a bite and then playfully blew his breath towards me.
"Ugh, James!" I wrinkled my nose and waved the air in front of my face.
He laughed. I shook my head in mock disapproval as I took the tray and walked away from him, returning to the table where Alice and Dorcas sat waiting.
Marlene stayed at the bar counter for a bit, laughing heartily with Madam Rosmerta at the jokes James and Sirius were making.
"She doesn't know what's she's getting into", Dorcas said in a low voice. "He's going to break her heart, you watch."
"Tell us more about Jay," I said, for some reason wanting to get off the subject of Sirius and Marlene.
"Well, he's got a brilliant sense of humor, always has me laughing," Dorcas told me.
The entry bell rang behind us, and Remus and Peter walked in together, carrying supplies from Honeydukes and Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. They joined James, Sirius, and Marlene at the counter.
Checking her pocketwatch, Dorcas asked, "Shall we head to Honeydukes?"
I nodded.
"What about Marlene's drink?" Alice pointed to her butterbeer.
"She'll come and get it. I rather think she's enjoying herself right now," Dorcas said
"But it seems wasteful," Alice said. "Look, the froth is all melting..."
I suddenly realized Alice wanted some of it. I laughed and said, "Here."
I took it and took a sip before I passed it onto Alice. She smiled brightly and drank about half of it and then passed it onto Dorcas, who drank the last of it. Sporting a fantastic foam mustache, Dorcas slammed the empty mug on the table loud enough to attract half the pub's attention and shouted, "Cheers!" Some of the old men at the bar cheered with her.
Laughing, we grabbed our scarves, gloves, and parcels off the table before dashing out into the cold day towards the lovely, delicious sweetshop.
