Hogwarts' Original Pranksters' Fantastic First Year

Hogwarts Original Pranksters’ Fantastic First Year

Chapter 9

: A Voice in the Darkness

"Enervate!"

James blinked very quickly, his breathing sharp and irregular, seized by a fear like he’d never known before. I must move, I must dodge the spell, I must catch up with Sirius before he falls down … His last thoughts before being hit by the flash of light rushed back to him, so vivid it felt like only one single second had passed. Reality quickly came back to him, manifesting itself in a pain that made him feel as though he had been run over by the Knight Bus. Every inch of his body hurt and a hideous headache pierced through his skull. He tried to calm down, and struggled to breathe normally again.

"James! James!"

As he recognised Sirius’ voice – sounding worried and somewhat shaky – he opened his eyes wide, but they only met with darkness. Pitch-black. Panic-stricken, he made an effort to sit up, but he was stopped short by a hand lying on his shoulder.

"Hey, calm down, James, stay still. It’s better, I think."

"Sirius?" James stammered. "Can’t see anything – black everywhere – am I –"

"You’re not, Jamsie, you’re not blind," said Sirius as if he had just read his thoughts. "I wondered that too. It’s pitch-dark here, but you’ll get used to it after a while."

His voice, though sounding less worried, was low, as though he was afraid that someone could hear him. James blinked again in the general direction of his friend’s voice, trying to focus through the darkness – and dismiss his headache. In vain. He gave up and began to look around for something resembling a ray of light, his eyes wide in the dark. There was one, faint and thin, somewhere on the right. James felt a bit reassured as he gazed along it; then his eyes fell on a form slumped on the ground right next to him, a form that looked remarkably familiar and lay completely still …

"Remus! Is he –"

"He’s alive," Sirius interrupted. "In fact he’s just in the same state you were in two minutes ago. And I guess I was in that state as well –" he checked his watch in the faint ray of light "– ten minutes ago. I don’t know what woke me up, but I guess it was the same thing as you – that weird voice coming from I don’t know where."

James’s eyes were slowly getting used to the dark. He could now make out that someone had laid a sort of blanket over Remus, to keep him from the cold. He could also see that Sirius didn’t wear his winter cloak as the latter rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and sighed, his voice a bit hoarser, "Never thought it’d seem so long, ten minutes."

James sat up on his elbows; Sirius helped him lean against the rough stone wall, icy to the touch. His headache rushed back with a vengeance.

"…Thanks, Sirius. Aren’t you cold without your cloak on?"

"Nah," Sirius shrugged, "I’ve run around this room three or four times – keeps you warm, I’m telling you. He’s more in need of it than me," he added with a nod in Remus’s general direction. James nodded, allowing a slight smile to dawn on his face. Then a thought crossed his mind.

"Tell me – where’s Snape? Isn’t he here too?"

"Nope," said Sirius grimly as he sat down between James and Remus’s unmoving form. "I’ve looked in every corner, but I haven’t seen him."

"D’you reckon – d’you reckon something’s happened to him?"

"I don’t know. I got knocked out first, remember? Did you see anything?"

"I only heard that word – Stupefy – must be the formula of the spell. Maybe Remus knows it," added James with a worried look at the motionless body slumped against the wall. "Anyway," he went on as he rubbed his eyes, "Snape was still there when I passed out, I clearly remember him screaming. Aren’t you worried about him?"

"You know, Jamsie, I’ve got the feeling that wherever he can possibly be right now, it can’t be worse than our actual situation, can it?"

"Yeah, if you say so…"

There was a little moment of silence; James realised that Sirius was probably right. They were locked up in a sort of dark basement, it was perishing, and Remus was still out cold, which meant that there were only two of them who could defend themselves. Against what or whom, James had no clue.

He found himself wishing Snape were here. At least maybe things would look a bit less gloomy if there were someone to bicker with …

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"The one who – let’s say knocked us out – it was the same voice that made us come round, wasn’t it?"

"A low, rather loud sort of voice, sounding as if it were coming from the bottom of a well?"

"Exactly. I think it was the same guy. But still – knocking us out and them reviving us – it doesn’t make any sense… D’you think he’s still in here?"

"I think so; I didn’t hear or see any door open so far. He can’t have gotten out."

"Maybe he Disapparated?" suggested James.

Sirius shook his head, "Nah, you always hear a popping sort of sound when someone Disapparates. I didn’t hear anything of the kind."

James peered across the room, but failed to make out anything.

"It’s absurd. Why would somebody bother to do that – wake us up one by one a few minutes apart and watch us meanwhile?"

He realised that he was speaking as softly as Sirius, though, as if he too were afraid of somebody lurking in the dark listening to their conversation for some obscure reason –

"I don’t know that, Jamsie … but what I’m sure of is that we’re not alone in this room. There’s somebody here with us, and I’d give anything to know who it is."

As if on cue, the low voice came from somewhere in the back of the chamber. It repeated the same word, "Enervate!" and Remus, still unmoving, let out a muffled moan. Sirius immediately sat down by his friend and James turned to him.

"Remus? Are you all right?"

Remus didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds, long enough to collect his thoughts, supposed James. Then he opened his eyes, and said in a somewhat weak voice, "Where – where on Earth are we?"

"Slow down, Rem, don’t move," said James worriedly. The full moon’s only two nights away, he’s surely not feeling too good right now…

"I’m fine, thanks – just a bit dizzy. D’you know what we’re doing here?" He was still whispering, but his voice was gradually steadying.

"We don’t know where we are," said Sirius in a low voice. "Apart from being in a ‘creepy dark place’, I mean. But I have no idea what we’re doing here."

He cast his eyes toward the back of the room, where the voice had come from. James looked in that general direction too, then turned to Remus again to ask, "Maybe you’ll know that, Rem – which spell is ‘Stupefy’ the incantation for?"

Remus’s eyes widened, "It was that? Stupid me, I should’ve thought of that earlier… It’s the Stunning Charm, and the counter-spell is ‘Enervate’."

Sirius gave a quiet chuckle.

"You can count on our walking encyclopaedia to enlighten us. It’s good to have you back, Rem."

Remus gave his quiet sort of smile as he noticed the relief tingeing his friend’s voice. James only gave a strained smile, still feeling a bit nervous. Being able to put a name on the spell which had taken them down one by one didn’t give them a ticket out, but it was something. As a result, James was under the weird impression that the chamber wasn’t quite as dark as it seemed before.

"Somebody Stunned us," muttered Remus as he sat up. "But why? This is just crazy –"

He trailed off suddenly and peered around keenly, as if looking for something – or rather someone.

"Where’s Severus? He was with you, James, if I remember right …"

"You do, Remus," said Sirius. "But he’s not here."

Remus frowned; James was certain to see the beginning of worry flicker in the blue grey eyes shining through the dark.

"Where d’you think he is?"

"I have no idea," said James. A short, rather tense sort of silence followed as the three of them let their imaginations come up with some sort of answer to Remus’s question. In the best of cases Snape had gotten away by running so fast that their mysterious attacker hadn’t had time to react – but that was totally impossible. Now, in the worst of cases … well, two solutions occurred to them, the least logical involving Snape locked up in another dungeon – for they were obviously in a sort of dungeon. The most likely was that their assailant had just killed him, or else Stunned and left him in the snow, which amounted to the same thing.

Despite Sirius’s earlier remark, and despite all his antipathy towards Snape, James couldn’t help but feel a little concerned about him. He hadn’t any liking towards the Slytherin boy, all the contrary – he hated him heartily – but he had never, ever wished him to die. Much as James would have loved hexing Snape with a Log-Legged or a Furonculus Curse, it didn’t go any further.

"Wish I had my wand," murmured Remus who had been searching thoroughly through his pockets in the silence that followed James’s words. James gave a little start as he realised after a brief search that he, too, had been deprived of his eleven inches of mahogany wood. And, judging by what he could see of Sirius’s face, and above all by the curse grumbled between gritted teeth from Sirius’s general direction, Remus and James’s wands weren’t the only ones missing.

James thrust his frozen hands in his pockets in an attempt to both warm them up and dismiss the current odd feeling digging a hole through his stomach. His wand had only belonged to him for four months, but still he felt strangely naked and helpless now it had been taken away from him – as if not having his wand anymore had robbed him of his only protection.

After all, they were just three rather skinny eleven-year-olds, and even if he and Sirius were tall enough for their age, he knew quite well that they didn’t stand a chance against adults, let alone a fully-fledged wizard who was capable of much more than Stunning four boys without a second thought …

Fortunately, there was still the agate. The black and white little stone lying safely in its skin-bag, which James saw as a sort of charm, a talisman to protect him against all that the world could throw at him … He felt for it in the chest pocket of his robes.

The agate …

"Oy," James stammered in a shaky voice, drawing the attention of his two friends both by his strangled exclamation and the search more and more frantic. As he frantically felt every pocket he could remember of, he mumbled, "the agate … the agate …"

"What of ‘the agate, the agate’?" asked Sirius briskly, although he could guess the nature of the problem as a look of pure horror dawned on James’s face. Remus edged closer.

"It’s been stolen," James finally uttered. "It’s gone from my pocket, and for that the Strong-Glue Spell I’d put on it had to be defeated … it can’t have fallen out –"

"At last, Mr Potter," said a low, grating sort of voice from somewhere in the pitch-black room. "I was wondering how much time it’d take you to realise."

* * *

Lily was forced to admit it, even if it really annoyed her sometimes – especially now: you could grow bored very easily when the Fiendish Foursome wasn’t around. It was true, of course, that she had never seen the common room so calm before, with such a studious atmosphere – but it was deadly boring. Mundungus Fletcher had previously lightened the general mood by taking out of its cupboard once more the Christmas present he had made for his fellow Gryffindors – a huge stuffed lion bewitched to sing in a high, falsetto voice:

Long live Hogwarts! I must confess

I’ve never seen before such an enchanting place.

The students, one can note, are quite keen in all classes

When the bell rings one over, students never fail to notice!

The teachers are all fair and give us points galore

Allow me to introduce you to a few

Of them; they could use a present after all

Since – remember – it’s Christmas for them too!

We have Rowena Walsh, Mistress of Potions

You sure don’t want to know what’s cooking in her cauldrons.

No need for Professor Binns to try and hide anything;

Not that he would, but we can see right through him.

Lady Minerva is stern but fair, and not bad to look at

I can now stay awake in Transfiguration – yeah, couldn’t before that!

Rebus Ricochet is soon to retire, as we all know

Dark Arts, beware! His back seems better now!

Professor Flitwick, I didn’t see you coming!

I’ll shut the window, or you’ll ride on the wind (Literally.)

And then, last but not least, Albus Dumbledore

Esteemed Headmaster, the greatest of them all

He’s got loads of books, fame, and magic galore

But how many of you know that his socks have holes?

Merry Christmas to you, fellow students and teachers,

Fletch bids you lots of fun for the on-coming years!

Of course, the whole common room had roared with laughter, and, emboldened by his Christmas success, Mundungus had brought his singing stuffed lion at dinner the night before. The teachers sitting at the High Table had reacted in quite different ways. McGonagall had frowned very slightly, but had eventually seemed rather flattered. Ricochet barely took in a word, but had nodded solemnly at Dumbledore, apparently thinking that the lion was singing some sort of congratulatory speech. Flitwick had looked a bit reluctant at first, but he had quickly surrendered and chuckled along with the students. Dumbledore had flicked a smile at Fletcher, his blue eyes twinkling, and had congratulated him for being so imaginative. Walsh, on the other hand, had not liked it at all. She had really looked furious about the insolence, her lips pursed up and her eyes narrowed, and it had only worsened when McGonagall turned to her with a broad, sarcastic smile …

"It was humorous, Rowena."

Walsh had shot her a mortal glare.

However, she finally got her revenge. About an hour after Lily had seen Remus, Sirius, and James head towards the library, Mundungus had taken his singing lion again. He had allowed the Gryffindor common room enjoy the lion once more, then had left with it, thinking about how he could play a good prank on the Slytherins. The problem was that Peeves the poltergeist had decided it would be a great idea to pester Adams and mess things up. So he had grabbed the stuffed lion, and zoomed away with his usual unbearable triumphant cackles. Mundungus didn’t care at all about tranquillity and order within the castle, but Peeves stealing something that belonged to him really infuriated him. He had darted after the poltergeist who was squealing with delight at the mayhem he had caused.

Unfortunately, Fletcher then had been unlucky enough to run into – not Adams, as he might have feared, but Walsh. It hadn’t been any sort of improvement – far from it. Delighted to catch Mundungus in the middle of mischief-making – and in the meantime to get to him for his "insolence" – Walsh confiscated the stuffed animal and took fifteen points from Gryffindor. The Great Mundungus Fletcher had returned to his common room, his head hanging low in defeat.

Lily didn’t quite know what to think of him as she watched him over the top of the book she was trying to finish. If Sirius could see his hero right now … Mundungus looked quite subdued, curled up in a tight fisted ball in a comfy armchair as he tried to transfigure a little horseshoe into a miniature lavatory seat – must be one of his Christmas presents, thought Lily who had learned quite early not to wonder at Fletcher’s ways of killing time!. His dark, curly hair fell in his brown eyes from which the laughing light seemed gone, and his brows were furrowed in deep concentration. He looked a bit different this way, thoughtful, vaguely sad even. It was strange, almost eerie to see him look so serious, compared to the usual rather noisy attitude that was his ordinary demeanor.

Deep down, Lily couldn’t help but pity him a bit. During the first two months – and, according to older students, during the first two years as well – Fletch had seemed to enjoy a wondrous luck, never failing to escape Adams and every form of authority without any apparent effort. He must have some sort of secret, Lily thought. He must have had something. And the numerous efforts he now shown in the achievement of a prank which would probably have appeared dead easy to him just a few weeks ago made it clear that he must have lost his touch.

Spurred by curiosity as much as by the will to help, Lily shut down her book and walked to him.

"Mundungus?"

Mundungus guessed the identity of the person who was speaking to him, without needing to look up or even recognise the voice. Lily Evans was one of the very few to address him with his whole first name. Many just said ‘you’ and his friends called him ‘Fletch’, but not little Lily. He raised his head and flicked up a smile at the freckled, rather chubby face framed by long, untidy dark red hair.

"What, Lily? You’re worried about the points I lost? Don’t. I didn’t lose that many."

"Nah, Mundungus, it’s not that. Er …"

Now that she was standing in front of him without having thought for a second about the question she would ask, Lily felt quite silly. Fletcher noticed, and his grin widened, slightly mocking.

"What’s up, Pretty Lily Flower? What d’you want to tell me?"

Pretty Lily Flower … even her seventy-year-old neighbour, who had been dead for five years, had ever come up with such a thing. Lily would have loved to conjure up a good acid comment, but one didn’t materialise, so she said abruptly, "What’s bugging you?"

Mundungus wasn’t expecting that one. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "What makes you think something’s bothering me?" he asked, a little defensively. Lily felt a sudden need to look down at her feet or run to hide in a corner – but she fought it back and, instead, planted her green eyes in Fletcher’s in a way that indicated that she wanted to be serious and scrutinising.

"You can afford the luxury of pestering Adams anonymously for two years and now, suddenly, you get caught anytime you make the slightest effort, you amass blunders and awkwardness, one couldn’t even count how many detentions you’ve gotten yourself in two months … I may have been here for only four months, but I can feel when something’s wrong."

She leaned to take a closer look at him, and was relieved to feel that her cheeks weren’t flushing pink. "What’s bugging you?" she repeated.

Mundungus shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable. He peeked around, as if to check if someone wasn’t listening, then leaned forward. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course," Lily said, shrugging. How many times had one of her schoolmates entrusted her with the most important secret in the world, and made her swear not to tell anybody? However, she felt that the secret Mundungus was about to tell her had nothing to do with a schoolgirl’s crush. She stepped closer.

At that point, the door of the staircase leading to the girls’ dormitories burst open and Vega strode – almost ran – into the common room with a curious smile on her face. Her long black hair, artistically done for once, was floating lightly on her shoulders, and her robes looked impeccable, perfectly ironed. Lily raised her eyebrows in surprise. Vega usually didn’t take so much care over her appearance.

"Going out, Vega?" she asked. Vega turned on her heels and noticed her and Fletcher’s presence.

"Er – yes," said Vega, looking very straight in her black robes and winter cloak. "I’m going out – up – in the Astronomy Tower, Sinistra gave us an essay to do, about –"

"About Astronomy?" cut in Mundungus who, for some reason unknown to Lily, seemed to be having a lot of fun.

"That’s quite right, about Astronomy," said Vega curtly. "And I must go and check something about the pocket Solar System up there."

"But Vega, you may do as you wish," simpered Mundungus with a sly smile. "You don’t have to justify yourself."

The black-haired girl’s cheeks went slightly pink under her light make-up. The merciless smile on Mundungus’ face widened.

"You’re perfectly right, Fletcher," said Vega coldly. "I don’t have to justify myself, least of all toward you."

And she walked away quite stiffly. Before she was out of earshot though, Lily had time to shout at her, "Oy, wait! If you come across James and Sirius and Remus, could you tell them to give me some news? Been sticking around in the common room for two hours or so …"

Vega barely stopped to mutter, "Hm, hmm. Where do you think I might run across the three of these guys?"

"Last time I saw them," answered Lily, "they were heading for the library but they were talking about going to see Hagrid just after that – I let them go but then I realised I should’ve come with them, I’ve got a Christmas present for Hagrid …"

"Don’t you know?" Vega said, surprised, as she turned completely this time to face Lily and Mundungus. "Hagrid isn’t there. He left at noon to check over the snares in the Forbidden Forest. He’ll probably be back tonight," she added with a slight smile, "with a dead weasel in one hand and a bag full of live lizards in the other, for Walsh’s experiments. Wouldn’t be the first time."

Eurgh, Lily thought. Funny how some downright loveable people can do absolutely revolting things.

"But then," said Mundungus frowning, "where are they? Still at the library?"

"I don’t think so," said Lily. "It was only to hand in some book Remus had borrowed. I don’t reckon they’d stay two whole hours in there. But we can always try," she added as she rushed away from Mundungus’ armchair and walked through the portrait of the Fat Lady before Vega. Seized by a start of worry caused by some odd sort of feeling – you can never know, with those three – she had completely forgotten about the secret Mundungus was about to tell her.

Mundungus, left alone, gave a sigh; he took a Cauldron Cake in one of his pockets and took again his wand and the tiny toilet seat he had got.

What if I made it in white China with little blue flowers on it?

* * *

At the sound of that voice – the same both deep and cold voice that revived them one by one – Sirius and James leaped to their feet. Half a second later, Remus stood up between the two of them, peering through the dark to try and know where this voice came. It was of no use. Save the three boys, the room seemed empty.

"You have stolen our agate?" asked James in a voice which he fought to keep strong and steady. "Why did you take us? Who are you?"

"You’re asking a lot of questions at once, young Mr Potter," the Voice sniggered. ‘Which one shall I begin with? Let’s see –"

"Show yourself first!" Sirius suddenly yelled in a strange voice, startling Remus already jangled-nerved. James was starting to get used to the dark, and looked at his dark-haired friend. Sirius’s fists were clenched so tight that the nails must be digging into the palms of his hands. James was a bit surprised, and somewhat frightened to see his friend so close to losing control.

Apparently, the Voice was a bit taken aback as well by this sudden outburst. When it spoke again, James had the impression that the invisible face had turned to Sirius.

"Claustrophobic, Mr Black? Don’t be afraid, this won’t last long – not too long."

"Why wake us up one by one?" asked Remus.

"Good question, Mr Lupin. First, a simple practical matter – I couldn’t recite the incantation three times all at once, could I?"

He’s alone in here, James deduced.

"And above all, I was curious to see how you would react, the three of you … quite interesting to watch. Let me tell you that I find you kids rather brave for your age."

Glad he thinks so, thought James. He felt a sort of big hole through his stomach and his heart was beating wildly against his ribs, like a bird bumping blindly against the bars of its cage in its vain attempts to escape. He bit hard on his lower lip as he realised he was downright terrified. He would have given everything to be back in their common room, with Lily chirping on about some Charms homework, Remus chewing on a Chocolate Frog, his face thoughtful and his eyes laughing, and Sirius playing some tune on his old guitar for the hundredth time, in order to ‘settle it down in his fingers’, like he said. James now knew by heart songs such as Like a Rolling Stone, Yesterday, and Lady Madonna (which he sometimes made sound like Lady Minerva), songs which Sirius loved and which he could strum again and again, adding a chord somewhere, spangling it with delicate arpeggios – or simply because he had hit a false note. Sirius had the knack for exasperating James with that guitar mania of his. But right now, his friend’s umpteenth interpretation of A Hard Day’s Night would have sounded like a Phoenix’s song to James.

"Why is this agate so important for you?" asked Remus, speaking for the second time. His voice was quivering very slightly, probably with fear, though James could discern a kind of underlying determined sort of curiosity. And thinking hard, under the cold blanket of fear and anticipation that wrapped him up from head to toe, he found that determined sort of curiosity within himself as well. How on Earth could a mere stone be worth a triple kidnapping?

"Again, quite an interesting question from you, Mr Lupin," said the Voice, sounding as if it had turned to Remus. "Unfortunately enough, I can offer to you but an incomplete answer. This is not by any means your business, you see."

"If it’s the reason why you kidnapped us," retorted Sirius who seemed to have regained a bit of strength, "the least you can do would be to explain a strict minimum, don’t you think?"

James could feel in Sirius’s voice and way of standing – less stiff, with his head raised up a little bit more – that his friend was gradually regaining his usual countenance. Was that rue bravery or mere instinct of sarcasm, whatever – it was something. Where there’s life, there’s hope, here was what this attitude seemed to be saying. A tiny light of optimism began to dawn in James’s mind.

"This agate, youngsters, happens to be far more important to me than it could ever be to you," the Voice went on. "It is valuable to me and me alone. What is it, for you? Spoils of war? A gift?"

"My sister gave it to me!" said Sirius very quickly. Remus’s eyes widened slightly and James almost gave a start. He had absolutely no idea why Sirius had said such a thing. But if he happened to have a plan, James should not blow up his cover by being an astonished.

A little silence ensued, in which none of the boys even fluttered an eyelid. The Voice then said, in a rather odd tone, "Yes. Right." Then added – and James was sure it was uttered with a slightly ironic smile, "I almost believed you, boy."

Discreetly, Remus glanced questioningly at Sirius, but the clear blue eyes didn’t reveal anything.

"Very well," said the Voice, "I must leave. It was a delight talking to you young people, but duty calls. I’ll be back in a short time, however."

"Wait!" said James. "What about Snape? I mean, the other boy who was with us, what did you do with him?"

"Oh, him? I knocked him out the Muggle way and left him where I had found him. It was only the three of you that were interesting to me, and I couldn’t afford to unnecessarily burden myself. I try and avoid having myself noticed the best I can, you see. A little Memory Charm and he completely forgot why he had come around there – and forgot about your presence as well, my poor friends."

"What have you lead him believe?" asked Remus, frowning.

"Only that he wanted to go and see if the owner of that little cabin near the Forest was home. Quite simple, isn’t it?" The Voice let out a chuckle, then a curt and short "I’ll be seeing you later". The three boys heard a distinct sort of popping noise. This time, they were truly alone in the chamber.

James turned to Sirius, ‘Are you all right?’ he asked, a little worried, thinking back about the shiver he could hear earlier in Sirius’s voice. Sirius nodded, but when he answered, his voice was hoarser than usual.

"I’m fine, Jamsie, thanks. Sorry to have lost it like that, it’s just that – the thing is – I mean, I don’t like being locked up, that’s all."

Remus nodded without saying anything. James sat back down, and the others soon did the same. The floor was still as cold, and he still felt that sort of hole digging in his stomach.

"Sirius, why did you say that Vega gave you the agate?" asked Remus after a while. It was one of the questions that bugged James; he turned his head to his friend sitting cross-legged beside them.

"I just wanted to see what it’d do," said Sirius, still in that weird, hoarse sort of voice. "D’you reckon he knew where the agate was before arriving into your pocket, Jamsie?"

"I think so, otherwise he couldn’t have followed the thread up to us – I mean, of all people in Hogwarts, staff and students, he chose us …"

"I’ve already told you ‘bout that, Jamsie," muttered Sirius. "He is inside the school and he’s watching us. Day after day."

"How could that be possible, Sirius?" said Remus sceptically. "Dumbledore only hires the most trustworthy people in his staff, people that –"

"Yeah, yeah, so I’ve been told," Sirius cut him off, "but still, Walsh seems to be constantly thinking about murdering a student or two and Adams looks like a vampire. And a clap in the back would be enough for that poor Ricochet to drop dead on the spot. So excuse, M’ster, but a better staff could easily be found anywhere …"

Remus appeared slightly offended that Sirius criticised his hero. As for James, he let out a small laugh. It was true that Hogwarts wasn’t quite the average, perfect school your parents would dream of. The first time James had heard about Albus Dumbledore had been the year before the latter’s appointment as Headmaster, about two years ago. James remembered it well – it had happened during a rare breakfast shared with both his mother and his father. He could recall his father’s low and a bit distant voice as he read the article from the Daily Prophet, stopping now and then to take a mouthful of toast or a sip of tea, or else just to make a comment.

"Let us see this … "Armando Dippet, Headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry since 1917 may not return next year to the old castle that has been his for so long." It is true that he has stayed at Hogwarts for quite long a time … I think my father must have been less than ten years when he was appointed a teacher there. "Indeed, it is reported that the dean of the famous wizarding school may have decided to retire at the next September start-of-term, which would conclude a long and successful career of seventy-four years of teaching." This muffin has way too much sugar in it, Elisabeth. The kitchen elves shall have to be thrashed. "More or less well-founded rumours state that the present Transfiguration teacher, Albus Dumbledore, might be the best candidate for the soon-to-be vacant post. Our reader need not be reminded that Professor Dumbledore is eminently respected for his role in the last Wizarding World War, not to mention his bravery, his wisdom, and his determination at defeating the terrible Dark Wizard Grindelwald, of evil memory." I have known the war, James –"

James had given a start as he heard his father speak to him directly.

"– And I am in position to tell you that it moulds one’s character. "Are such rumours well-founded? Dumbledore definitely has enough personal and magical aura, as much as presence, to successfully take the torch from Professor Dippet, but will he know how to handle Hogwarts as well as he handles his classes?" So it is Dumbledore who stands the best chances … I’m not surprised. Listen carefully, son. If, Merlin hears me, you are to enter Hogwarts in two years. I want you to watch out. The man is quite good, the best of all – everything they say in here is true; besides, Dumbledore is a very powerful wizard – he has defeated Grindelwald, one must not forget that – but he is an eccentric. And a wizard of this calibre should not allow himself to be eccentric. It’s not fitting. Do you understand me?"

How long ago his father’s recommendation seemed now! James had now his own opinion made about Albus Dumbledore. And it had even improved for the last two days – a man, a wizard who’d give someone like Remus a chance, even being eccentric, deserved full respect.

Remus …

Wholly taken in the whirl of the current events, James had totally forgotten about his friend’s lycanthropy. It wasn’t something you could forget about like that though – no, it seemed instead that James had unknowingly shaken the thought away, in order to concentrate on his immediate worries. After all, the full moon was two nights away, they were in no danger – and the only real worry as far as Remus was concerned was whether the Stunning Charm had had any after-effects, given his physical condition of the moment. And yet …

Yet James was dying to tell Remus that he knew – that he knew his secret and would keep it to himself. It wasn’t exactly the ideal time, but he wanted to lift one worry from his friend’s mind. If only they had been alone, if it had only been the two of them, then James could have spoken without feeling too stupid, but then there was Sirius. Sirius who didn’t know, and who couldn’t just be asked to go the other side of the room so he couldn’t hear the conversation … he’d feel shunned. Which he’d be, in a certain way, thought James. You can’t watch your two closest friends whisper to each other about secrets you don’t have a clue about without feeling bad. Mind, we can always let him know some day or another. Although …

James racked his brains for quite a while. Then, finally, he made a decision. Anyway, he told himself, Sirius is smart enough to know when something’s important, isn’t he ? However, he was not half sure as he turned to Remus, who was speculating as to the probability of a spy lurking inside the school.

"Remus, can I have a word, please?"

"Of course," said Remus as he turned to him, breaking off his conversation with Sirius. A sense of déjà vu crept into James’s brain.

"Er … I’d rather be alone with you to do so."

And it goes on – story repeating itself …

"So what do I do?" asked Sirius, raising an eyebrow. James felt his cheeks burn.

"I’m sorry, but it’s between Remus and me. Could you walk away for a bit, please?"

Oh, Sirius … forgive me, Sirius …

Sirius looked at him oddly for a second. James was almost sure he felt hurt somehow – but this impression might be only an effect of his own paranoia. Or his culprit feelings. Sirius didn’t ask any question though; he just got on his feet and went to sit against the wall on the other side of the chamber, completely hidden by darkness. Remus shot a puzzled look at James.

"Look, Rem …"

James dropped his voice to a whisper. He didn’t want Sirius to hear him for anything in the world.

"You … well, let’s get it over with. I’ve figured out what Sirius and I hadn’t figured out a month ago. I’ve understood – I know what happens to you every month, Remus."

Remus didn’t move a muscle – but he turned quite pale.

"How – how did you guess?"

"By establishing a link between your absences and the full moon. You’ve missed two assignments Sinistra gave us to do because the moon was too bright for us to see anything properly … because the moon was full … and each time you would come back looking much more ill than you did when you left. Two and two are four. You are –"

"You’re a werewolf," said a muffled voice from the back of the room. James choked up and Remus let out a strangled noise. This time, he was downright livid.

"Sirius?" James finally stuttered, his eyes bulging. "Sirius – you knew?"

"Yeah, James, I knew," said Sirius’s voice, sounding too much solemn not to be mocking. Only his eyes could be seen shining through the dark. "I’m not blind, and I’m quite observant, too, as you may have noticed."

"But – but how long have you –?"

"Known? Oh, must’ve been a couple of weeks …"

Remus took a step back, then another, slowly, feeling in the dark for something he could lean on. He leaned against the stone wall when he found it, and silently slipped down to a sitting position, his face white. Then he wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his head between his arms, shivering. But neither James nor Sirius noticed, busy as they were with their own argument.

"But why haven’t you told me before?" asked an astonished James to Sirius. "I only worked it out the day before yesterday!"

"In that case, why didn’t you tell me then?’ Sirius retorted. "Since you thought that I didn’t know, why didn’t you tell me? It was supposed to be the two of us!"

"I – I thought that it may be better not to let a lot of people know," James defended himself rather lamely. "It’s quite important, a secret like that – and then I feared … I thought that maybe –"

"– Maybe I’d rush away crying ‘Wolf!’ and drop Remus like a hot potato? You don’t know me at all, mate. I’m not in the Judas business – I’m not like that."

"Neither am I!" exclaimed James bitterly, without even pausing to think about who that Judas was and what he might have done. "I’m not like that either! To prove it – I didn’t even tell you! Did you really believe that if you told me, I would turn him in, tell everybody? I’m quite disappointed in you, Sirius. I really am."

In the short silence that followed, the situation reversed: now Sirius was the one who appeared uneasy. He looked down at his feet for a second, then lifted up his head and stared at James straight in the eye.

"Listen, James. For me it seemed obvious I shouldn’t tell anyone – you, along with Remus, Lily, and even little Peter, you are the first true pals I remember having. You most likely don’t know what it’s like to be considered as ‘the freak’ of the school, the one you’d better avoid – it was kind of cool most of the time, but at times it’d become really hard. So when I found out about Remus, I preferred to keep it quiet because I did like the way things have gone since September. Then it’s not really the sort of thing you can shrug off, like, you know, saying ‘Oh my God! But you’re a werewolf!’ " – he said that in a fake high-pitched voice – ‘and shake it off as if nothing had happened. We’re not in a movie, see. I’ve been spending the last two and a half weeks wondering – should I tell someone? You? Remus? How would he have reacted? And you? Well, it’s true that you can be so superstitious sometimes about some things; I didn’t know at all how you would react …

"The other day, when Rem was at the hospital wing and you in this armchair thinking about I don’t know what, I was agonising for the umpteenth time over saying it or not – was it the right moment to turn to you and say, ‘By the way, d’you know why Remus goes missing every month?’ ? Or else run to the hospital wing and say to Remus, ‘I know the truth about you, but rest easy, your secret’s safe with me’. For a whole hour I let seconds pass, then minutes, and still I couldn’t say anything. And then the occasion slipped away."

James listened silently, without interrupting Sirius once. Not that he didn’t mean to, especially at first – but he was realising gradually that all that Sirius said applied to him as well. Every reason he gave, every hesitation – they had all been James’s for two days.

Besides, deep down, James was rather proud of Sirius. Sirius could be sarcastic, pig-headed, vindictive, not serious, and insufferably self-confident sometimes, but his heart was in the right place. Just like Sirius was the first true friend James ever had, James now knew that he had been Sirius’s first true friend too, and was quite happy about it. Plus it was stupid to blame Sirius for something he had done too … wasn’t it? And above all, it was for Remus. So, when Sirius ended his speech with a bit hesitant "Ok, I did something stupid, but you did it too – let’s not make more fuss over it, shall we? After all, we’re going to do much more stupid things in life", James gave a smile, and nodded in his direction.

"You’re absolutely right on that one, Sirius. We’ve got plenty of time left to make blunders – the adults do it all the time, don’t they, Rem?"

James had just realised – with a little shame – that he had stopped paying attention to Remus once Sirius had begun speaking. What kind of morons are we? he wondered as he turned from Sirius and peered through the darkness. We’re incredible prats bickering while he’s upset. Where is he, by the way? He finally found him: Remus hadn’t moved at all. He was curled up tightly in his dark corner, his chin on his knees. James gave a shudder at his frighteningly empty gaze.

"Hey, Remus?"

Sirius had almost whispered, in order to awaken him gently from his odd, trance-like state. But it appeared as though Remus had not heard anything at all. His face, chalk-white in the tiny ray of light, seemed engraved in marble.

"Blimey, Rem, what’s –"

But Sirius broke off when the bluish lips began to move. James and Sirius pricked up their ears to catch the bare whisper that came out.

"I knew it," Remus breathed shakily. "I just knew it’d end like this."

His staring, wide-open eyes seemed huge. James frowned.

"What, Rem? What would end like this?"

"I have got it each time," said Remus, his eyes still vacant and unblinking. Only his lips were moving. "Each and every time. I should have known … it always goes like this, why should it have been different this time …"

"Hasn’t he heard anything we said?" whispered Sirius to James. James shook his head. It seemed that Remus had literally shut himself down completely right from the start of their conversation.

"Of course it is different now," said Sirius gently but firmly as he put his hands on Remus’s knees to make him look up at him and bring him back to reality. "I don’t have a clue about how rough a time it’s been so far, though I can guess it must’ve been tough, but I can tell you I’m here and I mean to stay. Ditto for Jamsie here."

"Yeah," said James in approval. "Just because you’re, let’s say – different once a month – doesn’t mean you’re not great! You’re a heck of a person, and you fully deserve to have friends – there isn’t any law against that, is there?"

James had spoken in a bit sharper voice, meant to stir his friend a little, and was glad to see the huge, seemingly lifeless blue grey eyes meet his own expectant gaze. He added straight after, with a smile beginning to play on his lips, "Besides, even if such a law existed, I wouldn’t give a damn."

Remus blinked. It appeared as though he was awaking from a deep state of hypnosis. After a moment’s, silence which seemed endless, during which his eyes slowly moved from James to Sirius and from Sirius to James, he whispered in a very small voice, "You … you mean … you mean you still want to be friends with me?"

His small, strangled voice made him look distinctly younger and his wide eyes strengthened the impression. James felt that this whisper was a real cry from the heart. As for Sirius, his sudden grin lit up a bit of their usual fire back in his eyes.

"It takes much more than that to get rid of us, mate. But that was a good try, I must say."

"You’ll have to bear with us for at least seven years non-stop," said James in the same tone, "because we’re not letting you down. Ne-ver."

As Sirius’ and James’s words sank in, some of the usual liveliness slowly crept back into the blue-grey eyes; Remus slowly raised his chin off his knees and sat normally, beginning to relax. He was blinking quickly, and now James could see why his eyes had seemed so large the previous moments – they were shining with tears in the light of the thin grey ray falling down from somewhere in the right.

"I – I don’t know what to say," he finally uttered slowly, a slight smile stirring his pale features. "Nobody’s ever done that for me before, really I … you are …"

He trailed off and wiped his eyes with a small, strangled sort of laugh, still shaky, as if apologising.

"I’m sorry I’ve broken down like that – pathetic, that was, honestly – I do everything not to collapse, and usually it works – but right now …"

"Don’t, Rem, you really don’t have to feel sorry about that," said James, relieved to see his friend get back to his normal state. "It’s totally normal to be afraid …"

"Especially about something so serious," added Sirius. ‘Tell me, when you said nobody’s ever done that for you before, what d’you mean exactly by that?’

"Well," said Remus as he sat up and dried his eyes for good, "it’s not that easy to keep that sort of secret hidden around you, especially in the wizarding community – we would move in and out now and then – the only primary school where they didn’t find out about me was where I met Severus, and I spent only two years there. Finally, last time we moved in, my mum preferred to take me every day to a retired old teacher who lived a couple of houses from us – he was so glad to have a pupil again that he never wondered why I always went missing once a month. He was so nice."

"You had school at home?" said Sirius, his eyes widening. "You lucky dog!"

Remus gave a smile. "At home yes, well, sort of – we didn’t have the choice then anyway. Until two years ago I was practically certain I’d never make it into Hogwarts – be allowed to enter the school, I mean." His eyes were suddenly over-bright. "You have no idea how happy I was when I got my Hogwarts letter."

"I think I can imagine," laughed James softly. "Just by the tone of your voice."

"What about the staff?" Sirius cut in. "Do the teachers know?"

"Dumbledore does – and so does Madam Pomfrey, of course. Save them, only McGonagall knows – Dumbledore had told me before that he’d speak to the Head of my House straight after the Sorting Ceremony, whichever that House would turn out to be."

"And …" James hesitated a bit. "Where d’you go during – during your transformations?"

Remus lowered his voice. "Do you know Hogsmeade?"

"A bit," answered James, who had never been there yet.

"Vaguely," said Sirius – actually Vega had told him about that village, so often that he didn’t even bother to listen now.

"There is an old house, toward the edge of the village, called the Shrieking Shack."

"Ah!" cried Sirius, suddenly snapping his fingers. Remus broke off to look at him, waiting for whatever would come next; so did James. But Sirius only scratched the top of his head and muttered, "Heard of it. Go on, Rem."

"Well, there is – but I don’t know whether I’m allowed to tell you …"

"C’mon, we won’t tell a soul about it. Promise."

"All right. So there’s a secret passage going from under the Whomping Willow, down in the grounds. Actually – actually it’s been built for me, to have a safe place where I can transform and not have a chance to hurt anyone – the Willow’s been planted for me too."

"But there’s quite a bunch of ghosts there right now!" James exclaimed. "Vega was telling me about that just the other day – said they’d moved in a short time ago but they already scared everybody away with their screams –"

The two others broke into a fit of giggles. James frowned, looked at each of them in turn, then gave a sigh. "Ok, I’ve made a total fool of myself there. Sorry."

"Not at all, James," said Remus, trying to keep a straight face – and failing.

Sirius thought for a minute; when he glanced up again, he looked scandalised. "Wait a minute! I hope they don’t put you in a cage! Because if they do, they’ll have me to answer to!"

Remus appeared moved. His cheeks gained a little more colour back.

"The Shack may look about to fall down to pieces, but don’t you go trusting appearances. The walls are thick and strong enough to substitute for an actual cage, bars and all. Still – still it wouldn’t hurt if I were in a cage. After all, I am dangerous."

James noticed a slight change in his friend’s voice: the last words sounded as if they had been veiled by bitterness. This made him feel sad. He didn’t really know what to say.

"Oy, Rem."

The blue grey eyes had almost regained their usual expression already when they turned to Sirius, who had just spoken.

"You might be ‘dangerous’ one night a month, but it’s only for one night a month. You’re quite normal a guy most of the time. And besides, you know what? Seriously, I know a few people who don’t need the full moon to be weird."

There was both seriousness and lightness in Sirius’s voice, and Remus and James didn’t know how to distinguish what he was serious about from what he was joking about. Remus just nodded toward his friend, his throat tight. A short silence followed.

"What about Lily, though?" asked James suddenly after a while.

"What of Lily?"

"Well – do we tell her, or not?"

The three boys looked at each other uneasily.

"Er …," Sirius began slowly, "I don’t think it’s such a good idea to tell her."

"I agree with Sirius,’ said Remus. "Dumbledore told me that the fewer people who knew, the safer I would be."

"For Peter, I can’t say," James insisted. "He’s not quite brave and he could panic – but would Lily? Well, she’s clever, and rather brave – for a girl, I mean – and she’s nice. Plus she likes you, Remus."

Remus’s cheeks went distinctly pink, this time appearing their usual colour, the one they held when the moon was new. Then, "You sound as if you were looking for reasons, James," he said. "Really I’d love to tell her – I’d love to be sure of how she’d react – but I can tell you, from the short experience I’ve had so far, that people’s reactions (even people you think you know well) are sometimes unpredictable enough."

He gave a broad smile, which they clearly made out in the dark. James knew somehow he was saying it thinking about the two of them; although, come to think of it, this was hardly something to smile about, since it worked the other way around too – lots of people had probably reacted very badly when they learned the truth about Remus. However he was not in the mood for a long introspection and so he pouted, offended about not having the last word on the matter of Lily.

"Oh c’mon, Jamsie," said Sirius with a shrug. "Look, here’s what I suggest. If she guesses right and in the end comes to talk to us, then we let her on the whole thing. Right, Rem?"

Remus nodded, "Quite all right."

"Ok then, Sirius," James sighed. "But it still bothers me. I don’t like much keeping secrets – I’m always uneasy about hiding something from friends."

"You know, Jamsie, I had spotted that," Sirius sneaked in with a sarcastic grin. "You were hilarious just now back in the castle, all choking and reddening. Sorry to blurt it out like that, but you’re the worst liar I ever met."

James first meant to sulk again, but he couldn’t hold back his laughter at Sirius’s mock quite straight face. Of course Sirius was exaggerating the thing, James wasn’t that bad a liar after all, but – still. Remus began to chuckle, when suddenly they heard a little noise. It was the sound of an old door creaking as it opened.

Light, so thin and dull that they were not blinded at all, fell from an opening in the left. No form stood out against the rectangle of feeble light, yet the Voice, which they immediately recognised, sounded in the chamber.

"I hope I did not make you wait too long. Rise, please."

Puzzled, the three friends stood on their feet, apprehension creeping back into their minds as they did so. They could hear footsteps from outside the chamber, along what seemed to be a corridor, and a large outline appeared, framed in the light through the doorway.

"Follow him," said the Voice, whose owner still remained invisible. "And I’d rather warn you right now, trying to act heroic would be downright stupid. Especially with him."

Indeed, as the three boys walked ahead of the tall, strong, yet somewhat lean ‘man’ the Voice had appointed for their guide, they noticed the hollowed, empty eyes, the sallow complexion, and the eye-teeth biting very slightly on the lower lip. A vampire. He’s – he’s a vampire. James gulped; he could feel Remus give a shudder next to him. One glance was enough for him to notice that his friend had lost all colour the liveliness of conversation had given his cheeks – yet his eyes remained alert and calm, somehow. Trust Remus to keep his cool in moments of crisis.

As for Sirius, he was eyeing the creature’s mouth with an odd, fixed stare. When he turned briefly to James, his eyes seemed to say, ‘What the hell are we doing here? This is just insane!’ His eyes widened in apprehension, James just shook his head towards Sirius. His own mind was spinning wildly as well, but it held no answer.

They walked on for a while, along a corridor that seemed deeply dug beneath the ground. The earth the walls were made of, unlike the chamber of stone they had been in, was cold and wet; the smell that was given off it reminded James strongly of the one that came from the little bags containing Biter food, back in that Herbology class – decomposing flesh. James’s stomach gave an unpleasant churn. Then he focused his attention instead on their ‘jailer’.

James was seeing a real vampire for the very first time. In the illustrations from books, vampires were almost always represented with eye-teeth at least twice the average size, razor-sharp, so long that the characters in the pictures could hardly shut their mouths and just stood there, their lips curled up on sharp and bloody teeth, which never failed to make them look rather idiotic. Reality was quite different. The vampire that walked along with them had indeed slightly longer eye-teeth than average, but they could be acknowledged as so only when the mouth was open; it was more the waxy, almost yellow skin (the few torches hanging on the walls were partly responsible for that colouring effect), the hollowed cheeks, and the dead eyes without anything inside save a tiny reddish light deeply set in the pupils that indicated he was a vampire. And his ears seemed to have been cut sharper, for they looked oddly long and pointed. The number of things we’ll be able to tell the others if we get out of this alive …

If only we get out of this alive …

The thought that they might never see sunlight again came across James’s mind; he tried to shove it away with a shiver. Everything’s going to be ok. Everything’s going to be ok. Just – calm – down.

But that didn’t keep the sharp intake of breath he took from feeling painful in his chest. In the books he owned back home, this was always the moment when the invincible hero found himself in a hopeless situation, without his wand, without his broom, without anyone to help him. The moment the reader would flicker hastily through the pages, skipping the descriptions, wondering how their hero was going to escape this time from a situation which was a real golden mine for every event that had even the smallest probability of occurring. The moment that made the reader tell himself or herself ‘Anything can happen.’ Absolutely anything – the best and the worst, as well.

Point of no return. That was it. James, Sirius, and Remus had reached the ‘point of no return’. That perspective was both very exciting and downright terrifying.

Nevertheless, James would have given everything he owned to turn back time and escape it all.

* * *

"James? Sirius? Remus?"

Lily had arrived at the library, and was now searching every line of shelves to see if they were there. They weren’t – the vast library seemed empty. Not one student sat at a table or curled up in an armchair with a dusty book in their hands. As she walked along the shelves, the silence was daunting, reminding her of the thick silence at Mr Ollivander’s wand shop, where she had met James and Sirius for the very first time. She shook her head and told herself Quit fretting. It’s only a library. Your troubles aren’t over yet if you start being afraid of the silence.

However, having checked the entire library, she stopped near the Restricted Section and peered over the rope that delimited it, just in case. It was quite stupid, completely irrational, totally illogic, but she couldn’t help feeling a weird sort of sensation settle in her guts, as though a knot was gradually tightening. And this time, the heavy silence had nothing to do with it.

They must be somewhere. But where?

"Evans? What are you doing here? You have to surrender a note to me signed by one of your teachers to borrow books from the Restricted Section –"

The librarian’s curt voice brought Lily back to Earth with a sharp thud; she started and turned around, trying to sound natural, "Excuse me Madam Pince, but I was looking for three friends of mine … Potter, Black, and Lupin – they were here a short while ago, I think."

"Yes, they were," said Madam Pince less sharply. "Lupin came to sign the register and the two others were with him."

"Sign the register?" said Lily, puzzled. "Didn’t he come to hand in the book instead?"

"No, absolutely not. The book had already been brought back three weeks ago, but the scatterbrain had forgotten to sign."

Lily thought very quickly. It had to make sense somehow. But how?

"And … they didn’t stay, did they?"

"No," answered the librarian, shrugging her thin shoulders. "I found their attitude rather suspicious, by the way. Lupin seemed to have completely forgotten that he had brought back the book at all."

"Oh, Remus tends to be rather forgetful sometimes," lied Lily lightly, then turning on her heels. She didn’t mean to linger. "Good-bye, Madam Pince."

"You aren’t staying either, are you?" The librarian’s voice sounded almost disappointed.

"Er, no, I’m not; sorry. Have a good day!"

As Lily quickly walked to the door, she heard Madam Pince mutter, "Always the same. Never have one single soul here during the holidays. It makes you wonder what is the mere use of having a librarian, honestly."

Lily made a detour via every empty class, walked from the dungeons up to the North Tower, without hearing about her three friends anywhere. During an hour, she ran up and down through the castle. She said hello to Nearly-Headless Nick, met Frank Longbottom, ducked swiftly behind a pillar to avoid Peeves … At a bend in a corridor, she even ran into Avery and Nott who appeared to be looking for something or someone. She walked past them with her chin contemptuously raised up. But in the end, she didn’t find the ones she was looking for.

As a last resort, she rushed up the stairs leading to the common room, then those leading to the boys’ dormitories. She stopped on the doorstep to collect her breath again, then knocked several times.

"James? Remus? Sirius? Are you guys in there?"

As she didn’t obtain any form of answer, she took out her wand, tapped the handle of the door with it and murmured Alohomora. The door slowly opened on a completely empty room. The sock that had been Vega’s Christmas present to Sirius could be seen under his blanket, and when Lily came closer to take it out and put it somewhere clean and tidy, she realised that the counterpane also concealed quite a few pairs of her friend’s underwear, along with a number of rather crumpled pieces of parchment, some unrolled scrolls, and Sirius’s copy of A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. Lily gave up her struggle against untidiness. She went to James’s bed, which was opposite Sirius’s bed and sat down with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands.

For the hundredth time of the day, she let her mind wander, turning endlessly around one single question: Where are they? They could be anywhere, working on a prank, trying to find their way along a corridor they’d never encountered yet, banging their fists on the door of the toilet in the dungeons hoping to be heard and let out … anywhere, but not in real danger. However something deep down in herself, something confused that she couldn’t quite explain, kept whispering in her ear that the situation wasn’t normal – that something was definitely wrong. She tucked a dark lock in her mouth and began to fidget mechanically with the edge of one of James’s bed-sheets as she recalled one by one the many places she’d visited, frowning up at the ceiling as she did so. Her eyes only met with cracks on the dark wood ceiling. This one looks like an eye, she thought, then now that one resembles a dragon.

Imagining forms and meaning to the many cracks in the ceiling – or in the clouds – was one of Lily’s favourite games. Finding in it the best way to rest her mind a bit (to be able to think properly later), she lay on her back on James’s bed, and fixed her stare up at the ceiling. She would probably have stayed there for a while, laughing softly at a windsurfing board, frowning at two cracks forming the higher part of a heart but also something much less innocent, smiling dreamily at a handsome, somewhat pointed-eared profile … if she had not let her gaze pass on a sort of snake slithering between the windsurfing board and the eye. This vague form made an absurd idea slowly sneak into her mind. She rejected at it first, thinking of it as highly improbable; then, as it settled down comfortably in her head, she was forced to reconsider it.

"Severus Snape."

"You didn’t see him anywhere, did you?"

Lily shook her head and tried to concentrate on another crack in the ceiling, replying to the voice in her mind, That’s normal, you idiot. He must be in his common room with the other Slytherins.

"Indeed?" retorted the little voice, back with a vengeance. "If it is so, then why were Nott and Avery hanging around just now, looking like two dogs who have lost their master? There’s something up with Snape, and you know that."

Oh, do shut up, said Lily in a firm, definite tone – then she realised she must have spoken out loud. She sighed and turned on her stomach, her chin back in her hands. What do I do, then?

"You could start by getting up," hissed the small voice. "It’d be better than lying down here doing nothing."

All right, all right, I’m going. Lily took her chin off her hands and stood up reluctantly. Where she was going, she had no idea. She shrugged and walked out of the boys’ dormitory, closing the door behind her. Jiminy Cricket’s song from Pinocchio trotted around her mind.

When she found herself back on the doorstep, her first thought was to go down to the common room and wait quietly for them. But Lily didn’t feel like waiting quietly. She wanted some action taken, and above all hated to stay behind and do nothing like the perfect little schoolgirl. She was far from perfect, and she was growing mad by dint of running around aimlessly.

So she ran down the staircase then up to the girls’ dorms. Once in hers, she grabbed her cloak, and threw it swiftly over her shoulders, fastening it as she walked through the door. She wanted to get some fresh air.

As she walked across the Great Hall, she ran into Olivia O’Flaherty, a Gryffindor girl in Vega’s year, who was strolling around idly in the castle.

"I’m bored," sighed Olivia as she brushed her shoulder-length, curly hair past her shoulder. "There isn’t anything to do in here in winter holidays. Everybody’s left, especially the most handsome boys of course – and Vega dropped me to rush I don’t know where."

Lily almost said that Vega was up in the Astronomy Tower, but something stopped her from doing so. "You can come along with me, if you’re so bored," she suggested with a shrug. Olivia seemed mildly interested.

"You’ve got a date? Who is it?"

"I don’t have a date,’ muttered Lily. "I just want to go out for some fresh air – go up to Hagrid’s cabin and back or something – I haven’t got anything to do either."

"Where are the boys constantly hanging around with you?" asked Olivia, peering intently at her. "Vega’s little brother’s always there when you’re around, and James Potter, and little Lupin too –"

"They’ve got something else to do," said Lily evasively – she didn’t want to dwell on the subject. Olivia nodded and straightened her cloak. Lily followed her through the double doors then down the stony stairs glittering with icy snow.

Hogwarts’ grounds were quite beautiful in winter. It looked like a giant birthday cake covered entirely with icing sugar that crackled and crunched under your feet. The tableau was completed by the leaf-less branches of the trees, stooping under the heavy snow. On the right, the ground sloped and stopped in a rather sharp cliff, revealing the faraway mountains; and Hagrid’s deserted cabin resembled an over-sized mushroom, standing among all this whiteness like a piece of marzipan on a birthday cake.

While Olivia gazed around indifferently, Lily kept her thoughts fixed upon her three friends, and Snape as well. Perhaps the latter had done something to them, may it be a bad prank or something more serious – anyway he seemed to have disappeared at the same time as James, Sirius, and Remus had. If he’s hurt them the slightest … the tiniest … Lily wasn’t usually one for revenge, but if she was asked, she was likely to be found. She cracked her fingers in a mechanical habit to ease off the nervousness.

"Oy!" cried Olivia, startled. "Don’t you ever do that again! I hate when people crack their joints, it gives me the creeps!"

"Sorry," Lily said, looking up. "It’s just that –"

She trailed off, eyes and mouth wide open, and began to dash off toward Hagrid’s cabin, leaving a bemused Olivia behind. For Lily had just caught a glimpse of a motionless black-haired form, wearing Hogwarts’ black robes and cloak, lying on his stomach near the edge of the Forbidden Forest. As she ran, she could better make out the jet-black, longish hair, and the long, lean frame – Sirius!

Lily must have cried out loud without meaning it, because she heard Olivia’s quick footsteps behind her; she turned around briefly and saw that the girl was flying toward her, raising the edge of her robes to keep herself from stumbling. Lily’s heart was beating wildly in her chest – the form seemed to lie completely still. Let him be alive, oh my God please let him be alive …

"Sirius?" she panted as she dropped on her knees by his side, out of breath. "Oh Sirius! Talk to m–"

But it was not Sirius. Lily realised it immediately once she collected her breath and thoughts again. She took a long intake of breath, and gingerly turned over the body lying in front of her. This time, no doubt was possible with the black, greasy hair, the crooked nose, the thin mouth slightly open in surprise, and the black eyes still wearing, apart from an astonished and scared expression, something sly and mistrustful …

It was Severus Snape.

"Sn – Severus?" said Lily, astounded. "What do you – Severus?"

As no response came from the motionless boy, she shook his shoulders slightly, panic starting to grow in her stomach.

"Severus, answer me! Severus? What’s up with you?"

This time she shook him like a rag-doll, merely turning her head to scream in a much higher voice than usual, "Olivia! Help! Olivia!"

Let him be not dead, she repeated frantically to herself as a very pale Olivia kneeled down next to Snape to check his vital signs. And let’s hope that nothing of the kind happened to the others … Oh Gosh …

And her worried, frightened gaze flicked up toward the dark grim trees of the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

This time, I’m sure I’ve never seen such high a ceiling, was James’s first thought as he walked where the vampire – and the Voice – was leading them. For the latter had not left them for one single second. The Voice had only hurried along anyone who lingered and made a few distinctly ironic remarks. Sometimes it was James, more often Remus, or sometimes the Voice would address the vampire who would not answer. It had to settle for nods with the latter. The Voice called him Belegaer, which James supposed to be his name. But what that name was or meant, he had no clue.

This room was huge, indeed. Much higher than the Great Hall, the Entrance Hall, or the Hogwarts kitchens – or even higher than the Great Hall, the Entrance Hall, and the Hogwarts kitchens put together. Its walls were still cold and damp, like in the corridors, but there were many torches. They appeared to glow a reddish dark grey, darker and darker as you gazed up to the ceiling. The stones were old, and many were rasped and scratched in various places, indicating that a long time had passed since they’d been erected there. And there in the middle of the huge room, in the middle of the stony paving, lay a great hole.

"Halt!" said the Voice, and the three boys and Belegaer, as well, stopped short. Nothing happened for a second, then the Voice sounded again, "Old One!" it called. "Old One, crawl out of your hole!"

James, Sirius, and Remus huddled together out of instinct. They had no idea about what was going to come from the hole up the old stairs, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be anything good. The pointed-eared vampire stood there by their side, and he could have been made of stone for all that he moved.

Then, at last, something moved in the depths of the hole; a form slowly crept up the stairs in ruins. It was a small form, shrivelled as if by the weight of years, wearing an old, filthy, lousy-coloured cloak that seemed to have been patched more times than was possible, and where cobwebs hung as if they were hanging off the walls. And when the form looked up – revealing itself to be a very, very old woman – none of the three boys could suppress a shiver: the face seemed decayed, with flabby cheeks, a tiny pointed nose, and a lip-less mouth; it looked as if it had stayed for months in stagnant water. But the worst part of all was definitely the eyes. Two enormous, sickening white globes, the farthest edges of which streaked with little scarlet veins. Those eyes were rolling in their sockets as if trying to make out something in a pitch-black place, and the decrepit hands were stretched out in front of her, ready to grasp. She was blind.

"Old One," repeated the Voice, startling the boys again. "Here they are. The ones I had spoken about to you."

The old woman seemed to follow a scent, with her nose in the air, her eyes still rolling at random in her sockets; then she spoke, lisping in a grating voice, "They seem quite young to me. Yes, quite young. Even younger than you."

"They are old enough to know some things of importance," retorted the Voice. "I thus am bringing them to you, for you to discover what they have discovered. For you to learn what they have learned. For you to know what they know – and then you will tell me."

The Old One let out a scornful snort. "Always hurry, never wait. Hurrying so much will make you stumble someday."

"Whatever," said the Voice, and this time James could hear a slight annoyance in the bass voice grating in his ears. "You can start with this one."

The Voice whispered something, and Belegaer the vampire pushed Sirius toward the old woman. James could only catch Sirius’s distraught glance and understand his desperate though mute cry of "Help!" before his friend vanished down the stairs.

*~*~*

Short A/N

: ooh, the fun I had with the Voice, Belegaer, and the Old One… you have no idea >:o]

So, another cliffhanger. Don’t worry, I’m working on the rest. I’ll probably post the next chapter very soon – and after that, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait, because I have exams to take again on September and my mum intends to forbid me the use of my computer for the rest of August, for me to concentrate properly on my revisions. Argh. So I’ll cross my fingers, and hope for the best! Or the least worst, if I may say so…

Anyway, again, thanks to the reviews left – I may repeat myself, but you really make my day. Every single one had me grin from ear to ear and send a huge, if unheard, thank you to the person! Thank you!! J And also to the ones who didn’t review – well, I would have prefered if you did, but I hope you had fun reading my story :o]

StarShimmer

: thanks, you’re very kind to say so! And yes, there’s a connection between the agate and the Eagle’s Eye. Now, it’s a matter of finding what J

Tamz

: it’s "getting better all the time" with your reviews, you know that? When I checked on the review board, and I saw first the length of yours, my mum can testify that I went goggle-eyed, jaw hanging kinda low, and finally burst in a gleeful ‘Whoa!’ I even thank you for calling me ‘sad, nasty, evil and vindictive’. Maybe I’ll all that, too :D If you feel again like ranting over in the future, please, please feel free to do so! J There’s one question I can answer without too much spoilers: no, James will not enter the team on his 1^st year. Harry was the youngest player in the century, I’ve already twisted canon enough like that… but I’m not leaving Quidditch out, either.

Now, about Remus… I can only hope you’ve liked the ‘confrontation’ scene; it was tough enough to write, since it’s already been written hundreds of times, it had become like a ‘stylistic composition’, if you see what I mean. I tried to follow my gut instinct about this one. I see James and Sirius as having a particular relationship, as I’ve said before, an encounter of two minds, very different but complementary. Having Remus in the middle can be tricky, because there’s the risk of leaving him out, but normally he would never let that happen… but then there’s the stress. I could rant on forever…

Oh, and thanks for the cucumber J

Black Bandit

: even if I try to have a ‘style’ of my own, the thing I admire most in JK Rowling’s is her ability to mix elements of suspense and fun, thrills and tears, and many things… I don’t know what ‘power writing’ means, but please feel free to leave long reviews if you want to :o) I corrected the error you pointed in the last chapter, thanks very much for doing so! It was quite nice of you J

Hermi_54

: "And the plot thickens", indeed! :D Well, Remus’s done something both foolish (in my opinion anyway) and courageous, casting a spell over himself… that’s what he got scolded by the matron! And yes, it seemed obvious to me that Sirius would freak out about Vega. After all, even if he spends his day groaning over the fact of having her as an older sister, she’s, well… his sister! And you may find that he can be as annoying and over-protective about her as she is about him :o) And LOL no, your review wasn’t ‘blah’!

Obssed Fool

: First I did plan to write all 7 years… but I don’t really know now if I will. It’s a whole lot of work, working on different plotlines and characters development, and unfortunately, as said above, real life is not to be ignored. I’ll see. But you can be sure that I’ll finish this one!! Not now, but I know where I’m going. So much for a reassuring thought <:o)

Green Lily

: Yep, the situation’s looking sorta blocked all of a sudden, eh? Wait for the end of the next chapter… I’m evil, and the worst thing is that I’m enjoying it. Although I promise I won’t be too long in posting the next one! :o) And always follow your guts when it comes to guessing what’s in store next J

Mione Granger

: I do believe I’ve heard/read your name somewhere – but I can’t place it. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! You readers deserve well every effort I put in my story, and I never regretted – and still not do – spending 5 hours or so typing like mad on my computer. Hope you liked this chapter as much I as, egoistic writer, have had fun writing it! :o)

To you all and all the others… all my sincere lovin’ and thanks!

Belphegor~the Weird One!~ :o]

~~~~~