Saturday, 25th September 1971, 7:55 am

Remus yawned as he followed Sirius, James and Peter up the stairs to the third floor. Sirius had woken him at the ungodly hour of six forty-five to get an early breakfast before the niffler hunt, and his body was protesting, although his morning chocolate-flavour nutrition potion had helped a little.

They approached classroom 12c and James took the lead, pushing the door open and walking inside. The room was vast with a stage at one end, empty of any furniture, and small groups of students of all ages were dotted around, chatting amongst themselves and waiting for the show to start. They weren't left waiting for long.

At exactly eight o'clock, the stage erupted with sound and light as multiple fireworks exploded in a shower of coloured sparks and words blazed to life on the wall in the same fiery letters Remus had used for his own message.

Welcome to Hogwarts' Annual Super Secret Niffler Hunt

Everyone in the room turned their attention to the stage in rapt silence. The message faded away after a few seconds, and a shiny suit of armour clanked onto the stage and gave the audience a cheery wave.

'Good Morning, Nifflers!' it said. The booming voice seemed to come from inside the empty helmet. 'Many of you have taken part in the hunt in previous years, but for the benefit of our newcomers, I will go over the rules. You will work in teams of no more than four people. Each team will receive a list of items they must collect. All the lists are identical. The items are split into three categories. There are twenty items worth 1 point, which require no rule-breaking to retrieve. Six items are worth 5 points and will require some minor rule-breaking. Four items can only be gathered via severe rule-breaking and are, therefore, worth 10 points each. The deadline is four o'clock this afternoon. Bring whatever you have collected to this room, and your points will be calculated. Be warned, all items will be checked for transfiguration, and any team caught cheating will be instantly disqualified. There is, of course, a prize for the winning team.'

The suit of armour clapped its metal hands together with a metallic clunk and a wooden box appeared in the middle of the room.

'Take one sheet per team. Good luck to you all. Remember, don't get caught, but if you do, don't tell! Let the hunt begin!'

'Wait here,' James said before dodging through the throng of students to reach the box and grab a roll of parchment from the stack inside.

'He'd be a good chaser, don't you think?' Sirius said as they watched him.

Remus and Peter both nodded in agreement.

A four-man team of Hufflepuffs had grabbed their list and were heading out the door, and one of them called over his shoulder as they left. 'You might as well give up now. We always win this game. Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders.'

'You might be in for a surprise this year, Diggory!' James shouted back.

'How do you know his name?' Remus asked.

James shrugged. 'He's on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. I know all the players.'

Remus shook his head. 'And you call me a nerd.'

James laughed. 'Come on, we need to meet today's birthday person in twenty minutes, and then we can get started.'

They climbed the stairs back up to the seventh floor and hung around talking to Silas while they waited for third-year Gryffindor Frank Longbottom to show up.

After Frank had blown out his candle, they returned to their dorm to look over the list and make some plans.

James unrolled the parchment and placed it on the floor so they could all see.

Hogwarts Annual Super Secret Niffler Hunt

One-point items - easy

A quill with a red feather - A muggle pen - A purple sock

A stuffed cat - A white flower - An orange hair-tie

A smooth white stone - A green shoe - A leaf from an oak tree

A photograph of Dumbledore - A paintbrush - A muggle coin

An essay with a 'T' grade - A pinecone - A pair of sunglasses

A battery - Lipstick - A camera - A pink hat - A blue button

Five-point items - detention potential

A trophy from the trophy room

A book from the restricted section

A saucepan from the kitchen

A telescope from the astronomy classroom

A teapot from the divination classroom

A broomstick from the broom shed

Ten-point items - highly dangerous

A tartan scarf from Professor McGonagall's collection of Scottish clothing

A medal from Professor Flitwick's collection of duelling prizes

A tool from Professor Sprout's collection of decorative gardening tools

A potion from Professor Slughorn's collection of rare potions.

All items will be returned to their rightful owners when the hunt has ended

'I have a purple sock and a pair of sunglasses,' James said, jumping up and dashing to his trunk to fetch them.

Sirius also went to his trunk. 'I have a paintbrush. And possibly a blue button. Yes, here.' He yanked a button off of a pair of trousers.

'Sirius!' Remus said, shocked at the wanton destruction of a perfectly good item of clothing.

'What?' Sirius raised his hands in surrender, one of them still clutching the button. 'I'll ask a prefect to spell it back on after the hunt.'

'Right. Sorry.' Remus was embarrassed by his overreaction and tried to change the subject. 'I have a muggle pen, by the way. My mum put it in my trunk because they're easier to write with.'

'Ooh, get it out. I've never seen a muggle pen.' Sirius darted towards him with the air of an excited puppy, and Remus jerked away instinctively. Sirius shot him an apologetic look but otherwise didn't acknowledge his reaction. Remus was grateful.

He rummaged around in his trunk until his hand wrapped around the thin plastic tube of his black biro. He pulled it out and handed it to Sirius, who examined it with fascination.

'Someone get me some ink. I want to try it out,' Sirius said.

Remus chuckled. 'You don't need ink. The ink is already inside it.'

'Inside it?' Sirius asked. He grabbed the list and made a tick next to "muggle pen." 'That's ingenious! It must save so much time not having to dip it every few sentences. Why the hell are we still using quills and ink when the muggles have these?'

Remus shrugged. 'I have no idea.'

Sirius took great pleasure in using the muggle pen to tick off the other items on the list that they owned before James called them all to attention.

'I think we should concentrate on the ten-point items this morning. We have a huge advantage over the other teams,' he said, brandishing the invisibility cloak. 'If our plans fail and we don't get them, we can make up for it by getting all the five-point items after lunch.'

'I think that's a good plan, James.' Remus hesitated, reluctant to argue with his new friends, but he ploughed on. 'But I can't come under the cloak with you. Maybe we should split up. I can collect some single point things while you work on the ten-pointers?'

'Nonsense. We're the magical mischief makers! We work together. You're going to be an important part of the plans. The distraction! We need you to keep the teachers occupied while we sneak in and steal their prized possessions. There's no point in us being invisible if they see doors opening and their things vanishing.'

They spent an hour in the dorm making elaborate plans for each of the four items worth ten points, plus additional back-up plans and emergency exit plans before they headed out to try their luck on Professor Sprout. She seemed like the easiest of the four.

As they traversed the school, they saw small groups of students dashing around, running up to people and asking questions before rushing off again. It seemed like most of the teams were focusing on the single point items. Good.

They reached Professor Sprout's personal quarters, and James wished him luck before disappearing under the cloak. They had all agreed it would be easier to sneak around if only one person was under the cloak, and it belonged to James. Peter and Sirius had been delegated look-outs and had taken positions at either end of the corridor.

Remus knocked on the door and waited.

Less than a minute passed before the door opened, revealing Professor Sprout. She was wearing muggle dungarees and a straw hat with her hair loose around her shoulders.

'Hello, Mister Lupin, I was just on my way out. Can I help you with something?'

'Oh. I'm sorry to disturb you, Professor. I didn't realise it was your day off. I was hoping you could talk me through some things about planting flitterbloom? I'm afraid I don't quite understand why it's necessary to line the seed tray with crystallised sugar before planting, or why we should water it with fizzy water? I want to do the best I can on the essay.'

'Oh, of course, dear. I can spare a few minutes. Do you have your essay with you?'

'Yes, ma'am.'

'Good. Why don't you come in, and I'll have a look over it and see where you're going wrong?'

This might have been a worrying development. Remus didn't actually have any issues understanding the needs of flitterbloom seeds, and his essay was perfect. But James' planning had prepared them for this. The essay Remus held in his hand had been written right before they left the dorm, copied from his actual essay with a few key points changed.

Remus followed Professor Sprout into her personal quarters.

'Leave the door open, dear. It's the rules.' Remus smiled to himself. That made things easier.

Professor Sprout led him over to a seating area and told him to sit down. Remus glanced around and spotted a set of shelves along the entirety of one wall, displaying a vast collection of decorative tools. Professor Sprout had sat with her back to them, perfect.

Remus sat down and waited while she read through his essay, resolutely not looking at the tools and hoping James was nearly done.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something red disappear, but he kept his eyes on Professor Sprout, not wanting to draw attention to the tools. A moment later, he felt the air move against his arm as if someone was passing close to him. He was leaving, brilliant.

Professor Sprout lectured him for ten minutes before he managed to escape out to the corridor, and he hurried to meet his friends at the designated spot, two corridors away.

'Did you get it?' he asked as he entered the classroom.

'Did you doubt me?' James said, brandishing a garden trowel which had a handle encrusted with red stones.

'I would never doubt you,' Remus said with a grin. 'What's next?'

Sirius rubbed his chin. 'Flitwick is closest.'

James tucked the garden trowel back into his bag, and they made their way to Flitwick's quarters. Repeating the same method as before, Remus knocked on the door, but this time no one answered, and when he tried the handle, the door was locked.

James pulled the cloak off and signalled for Sirius and Peter to return from their look-out positions. 'Does anyone know an unlocking spell?' he asked.

'I only know the one we'll learn later this year, but I doubt a first-year spell is going to be enough to unlock a teacher's room.' Remus said. He took his wand out, anyway, and performed the unlocking charm on the door. Nothing happened. Either he didn't do it right or the lock was too complex for the charm.

'So… Plan 14.b then?' Sirius said.

'Is that the one where we steal a broom and use it to fly up to his window?' Remus asked.

Sirius grinned. 'That's the one.'

'Okay, well, let's find the nearest unlocked room and see if we can count the windows from it,' Remus said.

They were in luck. The room right next to Flitwick's was open and when Remus leant out, he was easily able to count the windows from the nearest corner.

'Flitwick's is thirteen windows right from the west tower,' he said, pulling his head back inside. 'Let's go.'

It took a good ten minutes to reach the Entrance Hall from the seventh floor. They were all hot and sweaty by the time they exited the castle and were glad of the cool breeze as they crossed the grass towards the broom shed. The place was surprisingly deserted. Remus had expected to find at least one other team attempting to gain an easy five points, but as they got closer, he noticed the door to the shed was ajar. Someone had already been there.

'That makes things nice and easy,' James said, skipping up to the door and peeking inside. 'No-one here. Check around.'

Remus, Sirius and Peter scanned their surroundings, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

'All clear,' Sirius reported.

James dashed inside and was back in seconds clutching a broom. 'Step one complete,' he said with a grin. 'Come on!'

They followed him at a fast jog towards the west tower, and once hidden in the shadow of the castle, they stopped to catch their breath.

'Right, I'll cover myself with the cloak. It'll probably flap a bit in the wind, but I'll be less likely to be seen.'

James mounted the broom, and Sirius draped the cloak around him, tucking the end into his socks to try to keep it in place. When he was done they could still see his shoes, but once he was in the air, they would be less visible. Hopefully.

James took off, and they watched his shoes soar into the sky, getting smaller and smaller before stopping briefly and then floating back down again.

James pulled the cloak from his head. 'It's locked.'

Remus frowned. 'I doubt he's put too much security into his window. Alohomora should be enough. I think I can cast it, but I can't fly a broom.'

Sirius suddenly jerked and started rummaging in his bag. 'Hold on, I've got a lock on my journal. We can all try.'

He pulled the book out and handed it to Remus. 'Show us what to do.'

Remus pointed his wand at the lock on the side of the journal and then twirled it anti-clockwise before bringing the tip back to point at the lock while saying, 'Alohomora.'

The lock sprang open and Remus glanced up through his fringe, nervous to see their reaction. Would they think him a show-off?

Sirius grinned at him. 'Well done, mate.'

Remus flushed at the praise and looked at his feet.

James, Sirius and Peter all attempted the spell on the journal several times, but none of them could get it to work.

'Urgh, I give up,' James groaned, flinging the book at Sirius after his tenth failed attempt. 'Are you sure you can't fly up there? It's just straight up and down, nothing fancy.'

Remus shivered as he remembered how it felt when he fell from the broom before, and that had been a much smaller distance.

'He can't, James. You saw what happened during flying lessons. If he fell from up there, he wouldn't survive,' Sirius said.

He would survive. But that wasn't the point. He didn't want to fall. Even if he did heal ridiculously fast, it still hurt.

'Well, we're just going to have to give up on this one then. Hopefully, we can still get enough points to win,' James grumbled.

Oh, Gods. Remus really didn't want to let his friends down. If they didn't win the hunt, it would be all his fault, just because he was too scared to fly. What if he could just sit and hang on, with someone else controlling the broom, though? Maybe he could do it then.

'Alright, let's do Slughorn next,' Sirius said.

But if he rode the broom with someone else, he might touch them. Infect them. He wouldn't infect them if he didn't touch their skin, though. If he was careful. His dad did it every month, and he wouldn't if there were any risk.

His friends were turning to leave.

'I'll do it if Sirius does the flying,' Remus blurted before he could talk himself out of it.

'What?' Sirius asked, staring at him as if he'd suddenly grown an extra head. 'You mean fly on the broom with me?'

'Yes.'

Sirius scanned his face. 'But, you'd have to touch me.'

'I know. If we both wear gloves, I think it'll be okay. Just don't... don't touch my skin.'

Frowning, Sirius stepped closer and leaned in to speak quietly. 'Are you sure? You really don't have to do this, Remus.'

He took a deep breath and nodded. 'I'm sure.'

'Okay.' Sirius stared at him a moment longer, his eyes darting from side to side as if searching for something. He appeared to find what he needed because he turned to James and said, 'I left my gloves in the dorm. Do you have yours?'

James shook his head. 'No, but I can run and get them.'

'I have mine,' Peter said, pulling them out of his bag. 'Thought we might need them for something.'

Sirius took the gloves. 'Nice one, Pete.'

Remus pulled his own Herbology gloves from his bag and slipped them onto his hands, noticing that they were shaking ever so slightly. He took another deep breath, trying to calm himself. It was going to be fine.

Sirius mounted the broom. 'Get on behind me.'

Remus did so, leaving a gap of two or three inches between them.

Sirius glanced over his shoulder. 'You'll have to put your hands on my waist to hold on and move a little closer or the broom won't be balanced. Are you sure you're okay with this?'

Remus nodded and scooted closer, closing the gap between them. He was breaking the biggest rule his mum had set, for something as trivial as a game. But he was taking precautions. So, it wasn't really breaking the rule, was it? He had promised he would be careful, and he was being careful.

Remus placed his shaking hands on Sirius' waist. He could feel the heat from his body even through the thick material of the dragon-hide gloves. His breath was coming in harsh pants, and he tried hard to regulate it. His heart was racing.

'It's okay, Remus. You're safe with me,' Sirius whispered.

Remus gripped him tighter to show he'd heard him.

'I'm going to drape the cloak over you, okay?' James said.

Remus nodded and James moved closer, draping the cloak over both their heads. It only reached as far as their ankles and didn't hide Sirius at all. Remus let go of him and took the edges of the cloak in his hands, before wrapping his arms around Sirius' waist, forcing the cloak to cover him. It was awkward holding on to Sirius like that while keeping his face away from his back, but it was doable.

'Ready?' Sirius asked.

'Yes,' Remus tried to say, but his voice came out sounding more like a squeak. He coughed and tried again. 'Yes.'

He felt a jolt as Sirius pushed off and his feet left the ground. There was no turning back now. They rose smoothly to the seventh floor. Remus kept his eyes on Sirius' back, not looking at his surroundings at all, and with Sirius' gentle control of the broom, it didn't feel like he was even in the air.

'We're here,' Sirius said.

Remus turned his head and moved back a little, letting go of the cloak and moving his hands to Sirius' waist. He would need to let go with one hand to get his wand. Why hadn't he considered that?

'I'm scared.'

Sirius turned his head to look over his shoulder and met Remus' eyes. 'It's okay, I won't let you fall.'

'Promise?'

'On my life.'

'Okay.'

Remus let go with his left hand, carefully reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. He pointed it at the window, cast the spell, and the window clicked open.

'You did it!' Sirius said. 'Hold on tight. This is going to be tricky.'

Remus grabbed onto Sirius' waist again and felt the broom tilt forward as Sirius pushed down on the end to descend. He leant backwards to keep his uncovered face away from Sirius' back and kept his eyes on the back of Sirius' head as the broom headed towards the ground. As soon as his feet made contact, he slid off. His legs gave way beneath him and he collapsed in a heap.

'You okay, mate?' Sirius asked, dropping the broom on the floor and crouching down to check on him.

'Yeah, I just need a minute.'

'Alright, James and I are going to go back up. You did great.'

Remus nodded from where he sat with his back against the castle and his knees tucked into his chest. He wrapped his arms around his knees and bent his head down, hiding his face, and concentrated on breathing.

'I can't believe you did that,' Peter said, sitting down next to him. 'That was really brave.'

'Thanks, mate,' Remus mumbled.

Sirius and James returned victorious five minutes later, and they hurried up to their dorm room to store their prizes, keeping the broom hidden under the cloak.

They went for Slughorn next, and he turned out to be easy. Remus kept him talking at the door while Sirius snuck in under the cloak and grabbed a potion from the display.

McGonagall was going to be trickier. Not only would they need to get access to her personal quarters, but they would need to make it all the way into her bedroom. And they had only an hour left before lunch.

'The "I need help with my work" excuse isn't going to work on her. Remus is amazing at transfiguration, and she knows it,' Sirius had pointed out during their planning session

And thus Plan 18.a was born. The conversation had gone like this:

'Even if we manage to get in the door, we need her out of the room so we can get into the bedroom,' James said. 'What we need is a double decoy. We need someone in the office, and then we need a disturbance outside to draw her out.'

'Pete can be inside. She'll believe he needs help,' Sirius said. 'Sorry, Pete.'

Peter waved his apology away. 'No, it's true. I'm pants at Transfiguration.'

'But you rule at Potions. Can't be good at everything, can we?' Sirius said, patting him on the shoulder.

'Okay, but how do we get her out?' James asked.

Sirius shrugged. 'What if we stage an argument in the corridor and start flinging spells at each other?'

'We don't know any offensive spells yet.'

'Good point. Fine, we can just have a muggle fight then.'

'We'll have to make it realistic. We'll both get hurt,' James pointed out.

Sirius grinned. 'I'm game if you are.'

James grinned right back at him. 'Oh, it's on.'

'Awesome. That leaves Remus with the cloak to sneak in and grab the scarf,' Sirius said, turning to Remus.

He nodded. 'I can do that.'

And so, ten minutes after leaving Slughorn's office with a tiny vial of golden potion—which Sirius had eyed so longingly Remus was forced to take it from him, lest he drink it—they were in position. Peter was outside the door to Professor McGonagall's office, his actual essay on the theory of changing an object's shape in his hand. Remus was right next to him, shrouded by the folds of the invisibility cloak. James and Sirius were waiting around the nearest corner to begin their fake argument.

Peter knocked. A minute later, the door swung open, and Professor McGonagall stood there, looking down at him.

'Yes, Mister Pettigrew. Can I help you?'

Peter explained why he was there and McGonagall invited him inside, Remus slipped through the door after them and positioned himself next to the only other door in the room. A couple of minutes passed and McGonagall was deep into her lecture on transfiguration theory, with Peter looking bored out of his mind, when the sound of raised voices came from outside.

'Fuck you, Black!'

'Oh, that's an intelligent response. Great job, Potter. Big round of applause.'

'I'm gonna fucking kill you!'

'Not if I kill you first!'

That declaration was followed by a series of thumps.

'What on earth is going on out there?' Professor McGonagall asked, getting to her feet in a hurry. 'Sorry, Mister Pettigrew, please excuse me for a moment.'

As she got to her feet, Remus reached out and put his hand on the door handle, readying himself. The moment McGonagall disappeared from view, he turned it and slipped inside. A quick glance around revealed a good size sitting room with a single door leading off of it. He hurried over and entered the bedroom. Trying very hard not to think about what his professor did in this room, he dashed to the wardrobe. No scarves. Okay, drawers then, he thought, yanking open the top drawer of the five-tier chest. Nope, definitely not that one, he thought, feeling his face heat as he slammed it closed again. The second drawer down yielded results, though, and he pulled out a red and green tartan scarf with hints of yellow. Tucking it into his pocket, he shut the drawer and left the room. He listened at the door to the office and could hear McGonagall's loud voice still scolding James and Sirius for fighting like muggles in the hallway, so he slipped back into the room and Peter's worried face relaxed into a grin when he saw the door open and close.

Remus walked out into the corridor and found James and Sirius cowering before a red-faced McGonagall. He dashed to the end of the hallway, behind McGonagall, and pulled the cloak off, giving James and Sirius a wave, before darting around the corner.

They joined him a couple of minutes later. James was sporting a bloodied lip and Sirius looked to have a nice black eye developing.

'Gods, you two look terrible.'

Sirius waved off his concern. 'Did you get it?'

Remus pulled the scarf from his pocket and held it up with a grin.

'Then it was totally worth it. Nice job, mate.'

Peter arrived a few minutes later and was equally pleased to find their plan had worked.

'We've got fifty points, and it's only lunchtime. We are so going to win this,' he said.

'That's because we're awesome!' James crowed. 'Right, time for food. Remus, do you think the house-elves would mind if we joined you in the kitchen today?'

Remus thought about it. 'No, probably not.'

'Excellent, maybe we can get that saucepan at the same time.'

Sirius' eye throbbed in time with his heartbeat as he followed Remus down to the kitchen. It was nothing compared to what Remus had gone through so they could get into Flitwick's office, though, so he was damned if he was going to complain about it. James seemed to feel the same way about his split lip. Sirius was in awe of Remus' bravery, facing his phobia like that. He was incredible.

They reached a painting of a bowl of fruit, and Remus stopped, reached out and tickled the pear. The pear laughed, and the painting swung open. The kitchens were hidden behind a picture of food. Nice.

The smells that wafted out on the breeze made Sirius' stomach rumble. 'Merlin. I'm starving.'

'Good afternoon, Breen. My friends wanted to have lunch with me. Is that okay?' Remus asked a friendly-looking elf that had hurried over to them when they entered the room. These elves looked nothing like Kreacher. They all looked clean and happy.

'Oh. Of course. Master Remus. Your friends is most welcomes. Please sit down and we will brings you some food.'

'Master Remus?' Sirius said, raising an eyebrow at Remus and making him blush. Three times in one morning, he was on a roll.

They sat down at the small table, and Breen soon arrived with a tray of sandwiches and a pitcher of pumpkin juice. He hurried off again and, a moment later, returned with a small chocolate cake and four plates.

'Wow, this looks amazing. Thanks, Breen,' Peter said, and Sirius nodded his agreement.

'If it's not too much trouble, Breen, could we have a little fruit too?' James asked, and Sirius groaned.

'You and your blasted fruit, James.'

'It's good for you. Excuse me for wanting my friends to live a long time,' he huffed and crossed his arms.

The elf watched the exchange with wide eyes. 'It's no trouble. We have lots of fruit, masters,' he said before scurrying off and returning with a plate of cut fruits that smelled delicious. Okay, so maybe he didn't mind James' obsession with the stuff as much as he pretended to.

Once Breen had left them alone to eat, James leant forward and whispered, 'So, how are we going to get a saucepan?'

Sirius, who had just taken a massive bite out of a cheese and ham sandwich, just shrugged.

'Well, you're as much use as a chocolate cauldron. Remus, any ideas?'

'I think they'll notice if one of us disappears under the cloak.'

Sirius swallowed his food and said, 'What's through the other doors? Maybe we could go in one of those rooms, put the cloak on and come back.'

'One's the laundry, the other is the storage rooms,' Remus said. 'But they're both full of elves too.'

The laundry? Interesting. Sirius filed that away to think about later. 'Storage rooms?' he said instead. 'Anything good in there?'

'Not really. A lot of furniture and things.'

'You know. I reckon they might just give us a saucepan if we ask,' Peter said.

'That seems too easy,' James said.

Sirius shrugged. 'It's worth a shot. If they say no, it's only five points. We already have fifty.'

'Hey, excuse me?' James said to the nearest elf. 'I don't suppose we could borrow a saucepan for a few hours? We'll return it after dinner.'

'Oh. Of course. That's no problems at alls,' she said and fetched them one immediately.

'Thank you very much. We'll take very good care of it,' James said, taking the saucepan. The elf beamed at him and returned to her work.

'Well, that was easy. Great idea, Pete!' Sirius said, laughing.

'Fifty-five points. What do we have left?' James asked before answering his own question without waiting for a response. 'The trophy and the book will be a piece of cake. The telescope is going to be awkward, though. No idea how we're going to carry that through the school without being seen. And do any of you even know where the Divination classroom is?'

They all shook their heads.

'Let's get the book and the trophy and worry about the other two after that.' Sirius checked his watch. 'We have three hours left.'

It took them less than an hour to steal a trophy from the trophy room and a book from the restricted section of the library. Sirius had been tempted to take the volume he spotted on werewolves just to see how Remus would react, but decided that was too cruel and reluctantly put it back, opting instead for a much smaller and easier to carry book called Magicks Moste Ancient.

They had two hours left and were standing at the top of the astronomy tower, eyeing a telescope and wondering how the hell they were going to transport it back to their dorm. Well, that's what Sirius was thinking, anyway. He assumed the others were thinking the same thing, but for all he knew, they could have been considering the best way to capture a Cornish pixie.

'How many secret passages do we know about between here and Gryffindor tower?' Remus asked. Okay, so they were thinking about the telescope problem too, good.

'Only a couple that'll be useful,' James said. 'We'll have to do most of the journey in the open.'

'What about, instead of taking it all the way up to the dorm, we just take it to the third floor and hide it somewhere near classroom 12c?' Peter suggested.

'That would cut the journey in half. Great idea. But we still need to work out a way to carry it,' Sirius said.

They eventually decided to wrap the telescope in the cloak and carry it between the four of them as they walked closely together as a group. As an extra precaution, whenever they saw someone coming they would dart into the nearest room and wait for them to pass. It was a long-winded process, and by the time they reached the third-floor corridor, they had just forty-five minutes to find the Divination classroom, steal a teapot, grab the rest of their gains and get back to the classroom for the count.

'I think it's time to split up,' Sirius said as they hid the telescope in an unused cupboard. 'It won't take four of us to steal a teapot.'

'I agree. One of us should go after the teapot, the rest can help bring everything down to the classroom. The teapot thief will have to go cloakless, though. We need it to hide the broom.'

'I'll go after the teapot,' Sirius said.

James nodded. 'Good man. Remember, get back here by four, teapot or no teapot.'

James, Remus and Peter headed off towards the Grand Staircase, and Sirius went the other way, looking for someone he could ask for directions. He soon found an older student in Gryffindor robes and stopped her to ask if she knew where the Divination classroom was.

'Taking part in the Niffler Hunt, are you? How are you getting on?'

'Quite well, but there isn't long left. Do you know where it is?'

She nodded. 'Top of the north tower, through a trapdoor in the ceiling. Good luck.'

'Thanks,' he called over his shoulder as he ran off.

He reached the north tower in record time and stopped at the bottom of the steps to catch his breath. Eyeing the stairs, he started to regret volunteering for this mission. They spiralled upwards in endless circles and he made a mental note not to take Divination.

He reached the top, a hot, sweaty mess, and checked his watch. Half-past three. He climbed up the ladder and pushed the trapdoor open just enough to peek inside. The room was dim but appeared to be empty, so he pushed the door open all the way and climbed through. He glanced around and spotted the teapots, lined up on shelves on the back wall. He hurried over, grabbed one and put it in his bag. Success.

'Hello, young man. Are you lost?'

Sirius swung around and saw a very old lady with silvery-white hair emerging through the trapdoor.

'Err. Yeah, I was just exploring and wondered what was up here. What is this room? It's so strange.'

'It's the Divination classroom. I hope I'll see you here in a couple of years?'

'Um, yeah, maybe. I better go. Sorry to disturb you.'

'No problem at all, dear. Have a nice day, won't you?'

Sirius turned, made his way to the trapdoor and began to descend the ladder, pulling the trapdoor closed behind him. Just before it closed fully, the Divination professor called out, 'Do take care of that teapot, it's one of my favourites.'

Sirius snorted and shook his head. That was a nice touch, waiting until the last second to reveal she knew what he was up to. At least it seemed like she didn't mind. He hurried back down the stairs, getting dizzier by the second, and made it to the third-floor classroom with minutes to spare. James, Remus and Peter were waiting for him.

'Did you get it?' James asked eagerly.

'Merlin, James. Let him catch his breath first,' Remus said.

Sirius nodded but didn't speak. He was too busy trying to get air into his lungs.

'Come on, let's get inside. We don't want to be disqualified for being ten seconds late,' Peter said.

They entered the room to find they were one of the last teams to arrive. A team of Ravenclaws followed them in seconds later, and then a loud bong sounded and the words "Times Up!" appeared on the back wall of the stage in the same fiery letters as before. The suit of armour clanked back onto the stage and waved.

'Congratulations, Nifflers! I know you've all worked very hard to find all the items on your lists. Let's begin the count! Who wants to go first?'

'Let's go last,' James whispered to the others. 'It'll be more impressive.'

They all nodded in agreement. The count seemed to drag on forever. Some of the teams had collected a few of the five-point items. One team had even managed to get a decorative tool from Sprout. Diggory's team was looking very smug, having achieved forty-five points by collecting all the single point items and all the five-point items, except the telescope. No one had a telescope.

When everyone else had presented their collections, James stepped forward.

'Team name?' the suit of armour asked.

'The Magical Mischief Makers,' James answered, puffing out his chest.

Some of the older students watching laughed. They wouldn't be laughing for long, Sirius thought.

'And what do you have?'

Peter walked forward first, dumping out the contents of his bag onto the floor in front of the suit of armour.

'A muggle pen, a purple sock, a blue button, a pair of sunglasses and a paintbrush,' the suit of armour listed. 'Five points.'

Remus stepped forward and presented the trophy, saucepan and book, followed by Sirius, who produced the teapot from his bag.

The suit of armour announced the names of the items for the benefit of the crowd, finishing with, 'That's a total of twenty-five points for the Magical Mischief Makers.'

'Oh, we're not done yet,' Sirius said with a grin. 'We'll be right back.'

The four of them dashed out of the room. Remus grabbed the broomstick, and Sirius helped James pick up the heavy telescope and carry it carefully into the room to the most enjoyable sound of gasps of awe.

'How did they get that here without being caught?' someone said.

'Thirty-five points. It's an impressive haul but not quite enough I'm afraid,' the suit of armour said.

James rubbed his chin and nodded sadly before dramatically perking up and asking, 'What about if we add these?'

They each reached into their bags one more time, pulled out the last of their items and held them up. Sirius was holding the tartan scarf, James the jewel-encrusted trowel, Remus had the small vial of golden potion and Peter the gold medal from Flitwick.

There was a moment of stunned silence before the room went wild with hoots, cheers and clapping. All except for Diggory and his team, who looked about ready to murder them. Sirius took a bow and saw James doing the same out of the corner of his eye. They were so alike.

'Seventy-five points! Folks, we have a winner! Please return here after dinner to collect your reward. Your items will be checked for trickery in the meantime. Thank you all for taking part in the Hogwarts Annual Super Secret Niffler Hunt. I hope to see you all again next year.'

Their prize turned out to be a selection of treats from Honeydukes, much to Peter and Remus' delight. Sirius spent the evening with his friends, celebrating their tremendous victory and relishing in the thought of the infamy it had undoubtedly bought them. Life was good.

A/N The line 'Hufflepuff's are particularly good finders,' is taken from A Very Potter Musical by StarKid Productions. If you haven't seen it, it's on YouTube and I recommend watching it. It's hilarious. XD