Hogwarts' Original Pranksters' Fantastic First Year

Hogwarts Original Pranksters' Fantastic First Year

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Author's Note

: When I began writing this story almost one year ago, I wasn't yet very sure about the "real world" timeline - I mean the years. But now that I have really thought about that - and also seeing the number of persons pointing Sirius's age - here's some clearing up:

- In this story, the boys, Lily, and the students of their year at Hogwarts were born in 1958. I think it fits with JK Rowling's saying that Snape (and Sirius and Remus as well, for that matter) were 35 (she probably meant by the time of PoA).

- This story begins in 1969, at the start of term - James's birthday is around mid-June, Lily's in April, Remus's in March, Peter's in early August, and Sirius's birthday date is, as you'll see, 17th November. Now, I that Sirius's birthday shouldn't be so late in the year because the to-be Hogwarts student receives his/her letter on the occasion of his/her birthday, and as JK Rowling follows the British school system policy, Sirius couldn't celebrate his 11th birthday at Hogwarts if it happened in November. However, when I began to wrote this story a long, long time ago, I wasn't familiar at all with that system, and thought innocently that you just had to be in your 11th year to be at Hogwarts. I was wrong, obviously - please forgive me for that, but I can't change it. I see too much Sirius as being the "youngest" of the foursome, it's just something that I can't change in his characterisation. So ... twisting canon once more, Belphegor ...

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Chapter 10: The Long Night

Before Sirius could utter a cry or manifest any sort of protest, he found himself stumbling down the stairs ahead of the Old One. He paused for a second, not knowing what he would find below and not quite keen to figure it out, but one single glance behind him was enough to make him decide. He preferred from far the unknown darkness ahead than staying near to the being walking slowly down the steps behind him with one hand pushing on the wall for support and the other one stretched in front of her to avert any obstacle. Her right hand never hesitated to find the wall, and Sirius was starting to think she probably knew the hole like the back of her wrinkled hand. The obstacle she meant to avert herself from was himself, and he gulped with difficulty at the thought of the scabby hand pushing his back to make him walk on if he kept hesitating. So he raced down the last few steps putting more trust into his instinct than into the faraway torch-light of the great hall above him. Soon, he had quite left the rectangle of dim yellow light, and walked into the shadow.

Obscurity didn't bother Sirius that much - he had his own demons and fears, but wasn't afraid of the dark. However when he felt, as he put his foot in front of him - stumbling painfully as he did so - that he had reached the foot of the stairs, he looked around, and shuddered. This room was far less dark than the pitch-black dungeon he had found himself in when he had woken, but it was also much more confined. Sirius felt his stomach clench and his ribs tighten, vice-like, around his heart. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath.

Get a grip on yourself, mate

, he said to himself, trying to keep his cool. Relax. Just think a bit: the scarecrow's blind, she's tiny and shrivelled, and she looks like she's two hundred years old or something. And she doesn't even have a wand. There isn't any reason for concern. Nothing can happen. Nothing can happen ... He repeated this phrase over and over in his head to get in imprinted in his mind before finally being able to breathe normally. He managed to remain calm even as the old woman tottered toward him. She laid her left hand on a sort of thick, dark, wooden chest that more or less reached the level of Sirius' thighs, while with her right hand she stretched a long, thin, black-nailed finger.

"You - get onto it and sit cross-legged," she croaked. "And not one move. Hear me?"

Sirius frowned, but obeyed her. The Old One then walked closer, and encased his head in her icy hands. Sirius gave a start and cried in alarm as he jumped slightly backwards.

"NOT ONE MOVE, I SAID!" the Old One roared, and a shiver ran up Sirius's spine. But he leaned onward again and, though he grimaced when the decayed hands covered again his temples and ears, he didn't move an inch.

"Hard head, stubborn head," the old blind woman growled quietly. "Empty head, but full heart. Let's see. Fear, anger - disgust too, eh? Bah, doesn't matter. What else?"

Sirius realised that this situation was not unlike the Sorting Ceremony, and so tried to slow down the flood of thoughts spinning in his head. That old witch could read in him like an open book. He forced his mind to concentrate on something trivial: baked pumpkin on Hallowe'en, for instance. Unfortunately, no one can make their mind focus on only one thought for a long time. One thing leading to another, he started to think about Vega constantly failing at baking pumpkin. Then he mentally cursed himself as the Old One's face drew even closer.

"My, there's a sister - full of surprises, are you, eh? Older sister, too ... But I don't care about that. What I care about is -"

Sirius knew perfectly well what she cared about. He was starting to feel a strange sort of stupor, like during that instant between dreaming and awakening, when you don't fully know whether you are sleeping or not. It was coming perhaps from the icy cold of the Old One's hands pressed against his temples. Two words whispered in his head, sounding hushed and faraway - "wandless magic" - but it was too late. The thought occurred to him naturally in response to the old woman's unspoken question. The agate.

"Yes, boy ... the agate. That agate the other wants so much ... which is so precious ... which you have kept for - how long have you kept it for?"

We've had it since my birthday

, Sirius thought in response without being able to stop himself. November 17^th, my eleventh birthday.

He felt very proud at the thought. The Old One said nothing, but he heard her voice inside his head, How did it fall into your hands?

Found it, Sirius answered. He felt odd, as if dreaming and floating in a sensation of uncertainty. In a little skin bag. Lovely, that agate was. Yes, very lovely ... white-streaked black little stone, like morning landscapes in Muggles' black and white films ... dark and light, like morning ...

Snap!

The spell broke abruptly; the Old One pushed Sirius away from her as she let go of his head. Sirius started violently out of his trance-like state; he toppled over, arms wheeling in a desperate attempt to regain his balance, and crumbled backwards off the chest he was sitting on. His head hit the ground with a thud.

"That'll do for you," muttered the old blind woman as Sirius got back on his feet, wincing in the process. "You know some things, but not enough. And you're too stubborn for me to get anything more out of you. Uninteresting."

Sirius said nothing, but ran a careful hand at the back of his head, through the black curls. He could already feel a lump forming on the spot where his skull had hit the ground, and when he looked at his fingers, they were faintly stained with scarlet. Makes it the second time I bump my head because of this bloody agate, he thought as he wiped the blood on his robes. I'm getting seriously fed up with the whole thing.

Besides, a slight nausea was gradually settling down in his stomach, along with a dizzy sort of feeling; he suppressed the need to heave as the Old One pushed him toward the stairs. How long has it been since her last shower, honestly? Sirius tried to focus on the ray of yellow light falling on the stairs; he stumbled slightly and felt the blood drain from his cheeks. So he slowed down his pace and breathed deeply. The long intake of breath calmed him; he gulped once and gradually straightened himself.

When he came back into the torch-light of the huge room, leaving the stairs to set foot on the uneven stony paving, Sirius had gained back both his usual composure and a little colour on his cheeks. So he did not acknowledge without surprise the white faces of James and Remus waiting for him. The raw fear and distress that he saw imprinted on their faces, however, was quickly replaced by relief.

"Well?" said Sirius as he walked up to them, not looking once at Belegaer the vampire who stood behind the two of them, stiff as a frozen tree. "What faces! Didn't I tell you I was indestructible?"

Remus lowered his head to hide his smile and James gave a nervous chuckle. "What did she want?" he said.

"To ask you some questions," the Voice answered abruptly, and the pointy-eared vampire moved on again, this time pushing James to the stairs where the Old One was waiting for him. For the briefest of moments, James looked terrified. Then he turned round and his eyes met Sirius's. Those clear eyes were locked upon him, looking worried but alert and full of fire, and what looked like anger. He won't let me down.

And somewhere deep within himself, in some obscure part of his mind, James calmed down. He trusted Sirius and Remus. Sirius had come back up unscathed from the Old One's underground, why wouldn't he?

So it was a steadier foot that he put on the first step of the stairway to darkness.

* * *

Lily walked slowly up the stairs, muttering some unkind phrases about matrons in general and Madam Pomfrey in particular to herself. She wasn't bothering anyone by standing in the hospital wing, was she? Yet somehow, she must have been since the matron told her to get back to her common room right away because she was 'useless' there. Humph. 'Useless'. So what? I could at least have heard what they were saying ...

Come to think of it, that must be why Madam Pomfrey spoke to her in such a curt tone - to discourage eavesdropping. The conversation the matron was most certainly having now with Professor Walsh and Albus Dumbledore was tremendously important, no doubt, and extremely serious ... What wouldn't have Lily given only to catch a bit of it!

When she and Olivia had found Snape lying motionless in the snow, as if dead, Lily's first feeling had been total panic. Then Olivia had looked up and stuttered, her voice quivering with relief, "He's alive - his heart is beating. But I don't know what's wrong with him..."

Lily ran her hand at the back of Severus' head, grimacing at the greasy hair, and finally felt an egg-sized lump. "Somebody knocked him out, Olivia," she muttered, looking toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest only a few feet away. Olivia followed her gaze, and for a couple of seconds neither of the two girls said anything. A sudden wind, cold as fear, passed. The sun set early in winter, and the frozen snow was already turning to a pale shade of blue, although it was only six.

"We must take him back to the castle," decided Olivia in a less shaking voice.

Lily nodded, but added at once, "How d'you plan to do this? He weighs quite a bit, and with all the snow we'll be worn out way before the entrance door -"

Olivia gave a nervous but definitely superior sounding chuckle. "You are so obviously a first-year."

Lily sulked, annoyed.

Olivia took her wand out of her pocket, pointed it at Snape, and said "Mobilicorpus!". Snape began to stir; his shoulders rose, then his torso and the rest of his body followed; in the end the boy was hoisted a foot from the ground, his head lolling on his chest, his legs and arms limp, looking like a puppet. I'll have to look up that spell, thought Lily half-irked and half-admiring. Looks very interesting.

She trotted behind Olivia, who started to lead Snape's limp form toward the castle. Then she froze in her tracks and turned to look at the Forest, struck by a sudden idea.

"Olivia! Wait a minute!" she cried, and saw Olivia turn to her, a few metres away. From where Lily was standing, she could see Snape, who was wearing the black robes and cloak of Hogwarts, hanging in the air with his feet swaying slightly about twenty inches from the ground and looking very much like an oversized, grotesque bat.

"What, Lily?" asked Olivia puzzled.

"I - go on without me, I'll be right back," said Lily, her eyes still on the forest. "I want to check something."

"Okay," said Olivia, as she restarted Snape with a little flick of her wand wrist. Then, suddenly, she stopped short and spun on her heels so sharply that Snape almost nose-dived to the ground; he pitched dangerously low, tipping as though over a bar, then by a strange sort of balance miracle he slowly tipped back to his upright position, still unconscious. Olivia hadn't noticed anything.

"Have you gone completely crazy?" she cried with a large gesture of her wand - behind her, Snape was swept few feet away. "What if the one who knocked out the Slytherin boy comes back and bumps into you? You wouldn't stand a chance!"

But Lily clung to her idea. She shook her head, "I have to check something," she pressed on. "Please..."

Olivia grimaced, then tightened her scarf around her neck and muttered, "Right, fine, but hurry up. He shouldn't remain in the snow too long."

Lily turned round and ran to the spot where they had found Severus. Aside from his footprints, and Olivia' and Lily's herself, she finally discovered others ... "Olivia!" she cried. "There was someone else!"

"Okay, maybe it was the attacker," said Olivia in an annoyed voice. She was obviously getting impatient, cold, and very possibly frightened. "We'll tell the teachers and they'll catch them -"

"No, these tracks are too small ... actually - actually there's more than one set of footprints - there are two - no, three of them ..."

"What on Earth are you talking about?" asked Olivia, and this time she sounded more surprised than annoyed. "Three sets of footprints?"

"I think so - last year we went to camp in the wild during summer with my family. We met a guy who explained tracking to us and how to see when there were several sets of footprints. Petunia didn't stop grousing the whole time, complaining she was bored, but I was interested -"

"All right. So what?"

So ... Lily had an idea, but it seemed totally mad and completely unlikely ... and yet ... yet her instinct was screaming at her that it was exactly what had happened. "Olivia," she murmured, her stomach jolting funnily, "I think that James, Sirius, and Remus were here, too."

This time, Olivia stared at her as if Lily had grown another head. Her eyes slightly widened, her head cocked to one side, she barely uttered a "Uh?!", quite taken aback. Lily looked up at her, and repeated a bit louder, but with her voice still sounding strangled, "James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, you know? They've been missing for a bit longer than three hours now, I've looked everywhere for them for an hour or so, but I didn't find them. And now there are those footprints - look, we just have to follow - they pass behind Hagrid's cabin, then there, then -"

Lily had followed the tracks as she spoke. Puzzled, Olivia walked up to her, with Snape still floating along behind her. She saw Lily freeze, and begin to shake. "Lily? What's wrong?"

Lily's green eyes as she turned to her sent a shiver down Olivia's neck. Fear was running naked in them as she pointed to something on the ground, lying near three sort of holes in the snow.

"There's ... They ..." She was white as a sheet and seemed to struggle for words. Olivia started to feel really afraid.

"They fell down," the younger girl finally said. "And - look." She leaned down and picked up something. When she handed it to Olivia, the latter could see that it was just a glove - a red, woollen one; inside was stitched along the lining a little label with small white letters on it. J. W. Potter.

"James's glove," muttered Lily, her voice unstable. "He fell here, and the others as well, obviously. And none of them got back on their feet. Something - someone took them away - lifted them, rather - maybe with the same sort of spell you've just used ..."

"A Levitation Spell?"

Lily nodded, and glanced at the forest. Olivia went to her and touched her shoulder awkwardly but gently. "Lily - if that's true, if somebody did take them, they'll be found again soon," she said quietly. "Remember, Mundungus vanished once too, but he was found quickly and he had almost nothing wrong."

"Yeah, almost," whispered Lily. "Almost nothing wrong."

She put the glove in her pocket and proceeded to follow Olivia leading Snape's limp form inside the castle. When the three of them had entered the Entrance Hall, she rushed up the stairs to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey's eyes had opened wide when she saw Snape - it was true that he was quite a sight indeed, what with his robes and cloak soaked with melted snow, persistent snowflakes still clinging to his hair, and his half-open but lifeless black eyes - not to mention he was still floating in an upright position about twenty inches from the ground. Madam Pomfrey had conjured up a stretcher and taken the boy up to the hospital wing, with Lily and Olivia running along behind her.

They saw the matron lay Snape down on a bed, strip off his drenched cloak and robes, pile covers on him, and vigorously chafe his face and arms. She took her wand out and muttered something. Snape's stiffened body seemed to relax a bit and his eyes had slid shut at last. She then looked up at the two girls huddling together in the doorway.

"Now, the two of you," she had urged, "do something useful instead of just standing there! O'Flaherty, go and fetch Professor Dumbledore, or Professor Walsh, or both. And you, Evans, come here."

Olivia slipped away and Lily walked in, feeling rather intimidated.

"Rub his arms and chest, quickly and steadily," ordered Madam Pomfrey. Lily almost grimaced but said to herself that Snape, after all, might eventually be forever grateful that she saved his life. She fantasised about ordering him to do her biding and maybe even getting a promise from him that he would not bully anyone again. Although highly unlikely, the thought had something cheerful about it. Lily thus went on chafing Snape's chest under the grey cotton jumper he was wearing, but without any form of gentleness though. She was a kind girl, but one that mustn't be asked too much of, still.

Meanwhile, Madam Pomfrey had gone to fetch something down from the shelves. Soon she was back holding a large bottle with a narrow, long neck. She swiftly flicked her wand around the bottom of the bottle, muttering a few words. The contents began to swirl and a light red smoke rose through the neck. She slightly lifted up Snape's head - "Don't stop, Evans" - and poured some of the smoking liquid into the boy's mouth. She looked down at him anxiously for a second, and even Lily, worried though she was about her three friends, slowed down her massage in anticipation. Then, slowly, the hot liquid slid down his throat as he swallowed. The matron sighed in relief.

"I take it from you here, Evans. Thank you. Step back now."

Lily hurriedly took a few steps backwards. She began to notice that it was hot in the room and she undid her scarf and kept it in her hand, fidgeting with it nervously.

The door opened suddenly, and in walked Albus Dumbledore, closely followed by Rowena Walsh - Olivia came in right behind them. When she reached to shut the door, Dumbledore said, "Don't, Miss O'Flaherty. In fact, I am sorry to do so, but I must ask you and Miss Evans to go. Would you please leave us?"

Lily was about to protest, but she gave in and headed to the door when she saw the expression in Dumbledore's bright blue eyes. Before Olivia and she walked out, Dumbledore told her with a broad smile, "I thank you both for what you have done, before Mr Snape does it himself. You have done him a great favour, and most probably saved his life."

He smiled at them again, giving Lily the encouragement she needed. She bravely stepped forward and said, toying with her scarf with nervous fingers, "Headmaster - excuse me sir, but I ... I have reasons to think that maybe ..."

"Evans, you've just been asked something, if I remember rightly," said Walsh in a curt voice. But Dumbledore raised a hand and asked Lily to go on, staring curiously at her.

"I think that three students are missing," continued Lily boldly. "Potter, Black, and Lupin. I've been looking for them for an hour or so, and I saw footmarks where we found Sn - Severus, I mean."

"By the way, where did you find him?" inquired Madam Pomfrey, still bustling about Snape.

"We were strolling about Hagrid's cabin, me and Lily," said Olivia. "She saw the boy and we realised he was knocked out. So I used a Levitation Spell to bring him back here."

"But before we left," cut Lily who absolutely wanted to speak, "I saw footprints. They were too small to be adults' footprints, and there were three sets of them - and then there were these marks of three bodies fallen in the snow - and then -"

She realised her voice was quivering and fell silent, not wanting to start to cry in front of everybody. Instead she took the glove out of her pocket and handed it to Dumbledore. The Headmaster straightened his half-moon glasses on his crooked nose, and looked closely at the glove.

"Indeed," he said finally slowly, "it seems obvious that this glove is Mr Potter's. And according to what you said, Mssrs Black and Lupin have disappeared as well - an easy deduction to make, since one hardly sees those three apart from one another. And you found it near Mr Snape?"

"Lying a few feet away," stammered Lily as she took back the glove Dumbledore was handing to her, stuffing it back into her pocket. "What d'you think has happened to them?"

"It is a bit early yet to advance anything precise," said Dumbledore soberly. "Nonetheless we can guess that, for some unknown reason, somebody abducted James, Sirius, and Remus, and knocked out Severus before leaving him lying in the snow. Hopefully we'll know more of this when he wakes up. How is he now, Poppy?"

"The boy's received quite a blow, but he is tough," the matron assured him as she came back from fetching a pair of pyjamas down from the shelves. Then she added, just before drawing the curtain to set Snape's bed apart from the others, "He should awaken naturally in about a half-an-hour, if not sooner."

"Very well." The Headmaster drew a chair lying about; Walsh did the same.

"Half an hour?" cried Lily. "But - what about the others? They might be dead already by now! Don't tell me you aren't going to do anything!"

"Now, Lily," said Dumbledore soothingly. "Be reasonable! What else could we do? The only one able to throw some light on all this lies unconscious in this bed; let him sleep, he's in need of rest - can't you grant it to him?"

Lily shook her head. Blood was pounding so loudly in her temples that her head hurt. She didn't give a care for Snape's rest; she had even hardly noticed that the Headmaster had called her by her first name. Totally ignoring the menacing glare from Walsh's direction, she spoke again, voicing her deepest worries, "But it'll be dark in half an hour! What if they're lost somewhere out there in the snow? They'd die from exposure ... they'll die ..."

This time, in spite of all her struggles, Lily's voice choked in her throat and she began to cry for good. Hot tears rolled on her cheeks, that she couldn't stop. If it was true ... if they really were ...

"Now, that's enough, Evans!" said Walsh sternly. "Crying is of no use whatsoever. You know very well that we can't afford to try anything at night, it would be much too dangerous!"

The words and the tone in which they were spoken struck Lily like a cold shower. Her sobs ceased abruptly. She turned to the deputy headmistress and blinked in order to see better, through the tears that were still blurring her view. "Does that mean you won't do anything until tomorrow morning?"

"As soon as the sun rises," Dumbledore assured her with a serious look, "I will ask Hagrid to search the grounds and even to look in every single bush of the Forbidden Forest two miles from the edge. He knows it well, and he knows the creatures that dwell in it just as well. If James, Remus, Sirius, or anybody else are somewhere around there, he will find them, I'm certain of it. In the meantime, I'll have the teachers search inside the castle with me. One can never know."

He stopped, and looked Lily straight in the eye; and this time she noticed the small but bright flame kindled again in those blue eyes. "We'll find them, Lily. You needn't worry. We'll find them, and they'll be safe and sound."

Lily gradually calmed down. She wiped her tears on her scarf, and finally she looked down at her feet, muttering, "Thank - thank you, sir. Sorry I've gotten - carried away like that."

Walsh gave a small, almost inaudible snort. The warning glance Dumbledore cast at her was very brief, but enough to silence her.

"Go up in your common room now, and get into dry clothes or you'll catch your death," ordered Madam Pomfrey as she popped in behind Snape's curtain. "Both of you. You are useless here. Hop to it!"

Olivia opened the door of the hospital wing and walked out with a hesitant and rather nervous-sounding "Goodbye". Lily followed after a second's hesitation. Once back into the cold and draft-filled corridor, Olivia shivered and said, "Well, the best we can do now is go back to Gryffindor Tower. We can't do anything else anyway, can we?"

But Lily wasn't paying any attention to her. She was listening raptly to what was being said in the hospital wing, her right ear pressed against the door. Olivia frowned. "Lily! That's not serious! First it's none of your business, and then - what if you're spotted?"

"It won't happen if you speak more quietly," hissed Lily without moving from her spot. "Shut up, I can't hear what they're saying."

"You -" Olivia sighed exasperatedly. "You're going to be in trouble, I'm telling you. Besides, let me add that you ought to speak more politely to an older student. You're only a first-year."

"Hm, hmm," muttered Lily.

She hadn't even looked up at Olivia, who rolled her eyes, and said loftily, "Well, I, for one, am going to the common room. I don't want to get caught eavesdropping. I've got some common sense."

Seeing that she didn't receive any answer, she spun on her heels and walked a few feet away. Then she stopped and seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before asking uncertainly, "How many points d'you think we've earned Gryffindor for what we did - I mean bringing him back and all?"

"Olivia!" exclaimed Lily tensely. "Look, I'm trying to hear! Surely it's really imp-"

Suddenly the door opened, so abruptly that Lily was almost pinned to the wall. She only had time to leap backwards in a startled jump. When she looked to her right, Olivia had vanished.

Grr. Traitor

.

"I thought well so," said the matron's stern voice. "Could you possibly explain what you are doing here, Evans?"

"Er - er, I ..." stammered Lily, caught off her guards. "I - I've ..." As she looked down, her eyes fell on her red and yellow scarf which she was still clutching in her left hand.

"I'd dropped my scarf!" she exclaimed, brandishing it as some sort of irrefutable proof of her innocence. Then, realising all things considered that she wasn't looking that innocent, she muttered, "I'd dropped it and I came back - to - pick it up - you see ..."

"Of course you did," said Madam Pomfrey, folding her arms across her chest - though the expression on her face clearly showed that she didn't believe any of it.

Lily turned bright red. She didn't dare to look at the open door behind the matron for fear of meeting Dumbledore's probably disappointed eyes, or worse, Walsh's mocking, sharp ones. She looked down and whispered, "Well, I just wanted to know if you had an idea ... I mean, about James and Remus and Sirius ..."

Something like a smile flickered over Madam Pomfrey's face. Then she said, sounding stern again, "We haven't for the moment - not a shred. And please keep in mind that a student's place is certainly not eavesdropping in a corridor, anyway." At that Lily felt her cheeks burn once more. "Now off you go! I don't want to see you in that corridor anymore. Come on, off with you!"

And she turned away, closing the heavy ash door behind her. Lily stood still, staring at the door for a little while, then walked away with a sigh. After a few steps, she heard a "Psst! Hey, Lily!" and Olivia emerged from behind a marble pillar. Lily glowered at her.

"Is she gone?" asked Olivia. "Sorry, but you see, at least you had a reason to eavesdrop, I mean with the whole Potter, Black, and Lupin thing - but if she caught me I had no excuse ... eh, why are you glaring at me like that? I say, you're like a dragon with a sore head today ... you look like Vega in a bad mood.

Vega

, Lily thought. We'll have to tell her...

"We must find Vega," she said out loud as Olivia wiped off the slight grey dust the pillar had left on her robes. The latter looked up briefly.

"Good idea," she said. "But I don't have a clue where she is. Have you?"

"Well, I think she's -" Lily began, but a voice interrupted in the middle of her phrase -

"What are you two doing here?"

Turning around, Lily saw a seventeen-year-old, blue-eyed, and light-brown-haired boy whom she recognised after a second's hesitation: he was Jack Prewett, Head Boy and Seeker in the Ravenclaw team - he had been mentioned in so many Quidditch conversations among the boys, especially by Fergus Finnigan who was absolutely mad about Quidditch.

Prewett had a little pile of books in his hands and a curious look on his face as he stared at the two girls. Trying to ignore Olivia who was hastily and nervously straightening up her robes and cloak, Lily asked in a small voice, "We're looking for someone - Vega Black - d'you know her?"

"Who?" said Jack, frowning.

"Vega Black, fifth-year Gryffindor - she's got long, very dark hair, and blue eyes, and -"

"- And a lousy temper," finished Olivia, smiling broadly at the Ravenclaw boy. "Luckily not all Gryffindor girls are like that - I, for one, am more civilised."

Lily shot her a very puzzled look. Olivia's cheeks were suddenly very pink, and she was still grinning with all her teeth as she asked lightly, "So you're staying for the Christmas holidays, are you? That's funny, you're so scarce in the corridors - d'you have something planned for New Year's Eve?"

Lily felt a shout of laughter sneak up her throat. She bowed her head and tried with all her might to keep a straight face, but she couldn't hold back a weird sort of little noise, something between a cough and a strangled squeak. It was all that she could do to keep herself from laughing. Olivia was abruptly brought back down to earth. She glared at Lily as Jack said with a slight smile and a frown, "Erm - I think I know who you're talking about, but I haven't seen her around here. I'm sorry. What are you doing now?"

"We were going to -" began Lily. She was about to say 'to our common room' but Olivia rapidly cut in.

"To the library! Yes," she explained in a slower voice, "I must borrow a book on Potions. On Love Potions," she added with an obvious wink at Prewett. Once more, Lily struggled madly against laughter.

"Er - well, I think I'll go along with you then," said Jack finally. "I have these books to return and research on Truth Potions to do."

"Wonderful! See you, Lily!" cried Olivia, making it clear to the younger girl that her presence was not desired anymore. "You keep me informed about the three, right?"

A bit baffled, Lily watched them walk off the marble staircase, with Olivia still simpering and Prewett ever stoic - "What's your name again?" "Olivia O'Flaherty, but please call me Olivia!" Lily was divided between a fit of laughter and an annoyed sigh. Fortunately I'm not like that, she thought with a quiet chuckle, good mood eventually winning the day somewhat. I'm not sure Sirius, James, and Remus would want to stay with me if I were like that - I'll never be. Gee, I'd sooner die.

She gazed toward the door of the hospital wing once more at the thought of her three friends; the thought of going to listen again to the conversation unravelling inside the room came back to tempt her for a second, but she dismissed it - she didn't want for all the world to cross an already angry Madam Pomfrey, nor being called 'useless' again.

However, no matter how much Lily hated to admit it, she was useless, in that she was totally helpless - she could do nothing to help James, or Remus, or Sirius for the moment. Nobody could, not even Dumbledore. And the night would pass without anyone attempting anything to save them, wherever they might be. And who knows what can happen in one night?

Shivering in the cold drafts, Lily tightened her cloak around her shoulders and headed to the stairs. Even the thought of a warm fire probably humming in the common room's fireplace didn't comfort her; in fact she fiercely wanted to have something to hit or bite - something that could have helped her work off her anger and frustration. It was too stupid. If only she hadn't been sulking when they had headed to the library, she would have been with them, by their sides, not all alone in this almost deserted castle, biting her nails with anguish and being called 'useless'. I haven't been useless, too, she thought with renewed anger. I found Snape, I helped Madam Pomfrey in warming him up, I have been of some use! They should see that I may be only a first-year, but I'm not 'useless'!

As she walked up the handsome white staircase, brooding over dark thoughts and muttering under her breath, she squeezed James's glove in her pocket almost unconsciously.

She was far from suspecting that right now, in a pitch-dark chamber, the owner of this glove was being revived with one word from a faceless Voice.

* * *

Curiously enough, James didn't felt scared strictly speaking as he walked down the ruined staircase - in fact he didn't feel anything at all. Everything seemed so unreal - the dark, damp walls, the feeble torchlight of the High Chamber as he already called it, the black, confined room that awaited him below - up to the Old One's right hand pushing along the wall to guide herself ... It can't be real, James thought. I must've knocked my head somewhere and gotten stunned ... Something like that can't happen to me - nothing ever happens to me usually!

But it was true that the word 'usually' didn't have quite the same meaning at Hogwarts and at home. At home, his life had been rather peaceful thus far, spent between school and his mates, home and his Mum, then school again ... But ever since the beginning of the school-year at Hogwarts, life had proved to be much more eventful. First there had been the pranks, then this night of late September when they - Sirius, Remus, Lily, Peter, and himself - had found themselves outside in the dead of night looking for Mundungus' Three Thousand, Two Hundred and One Tricks of All Kinds, bumping then into Hagrid and his huge hound - then Snape's mean trick on Peter and the retaliation that followed - the discovering of the agate and the disappearance of Lecanoncy, or the Art of Divination through Gems - Remus's lycanthropy - and now all this ... Where would it stop?

Not that he wished that everything that had happened since the start of year hadn't - to the contrary. The mere memory of the 'adventures' they had shared together was enough to make his dark eyes shine, and if he had to do everything again, he would without hesitating ... but only until that afternoon, until they walked through the double doors and down onto the grounds. What had followed didn't ... didn't add up - conform with the rest. So far they had dealt with their own business, their own worries, without the adults meddling in - or so little. But now, suddenly, everything was stretching to dimensions just as enormous as the room of which he could still see a bit of ceiling high up above him.

As if on cue to his dark thoughts, he heard the Old One's voice croak behind him, "Go on down, boy, I can't hear your footsteps anymore ..."

James, who had slowed down and almost stopped, started and continued walking. Now he had completely left the light that fell down from above; just a few steps more and he'd arrive. Only three steps - two - one -

James's foot almost slipped on the stone floor, which was so old it was polished by the years, and he roughly gripped the wall to catch him up. Yuck ... The walls were slippery, covered with some slimy sort of stuff, certainly kept by the dampness around. He wiped his hands on his robes with a disgusted face and looked about himself.

To say the truth, his sight wasn't of much use, save avoiding hitting his knee into a big, thick wooden chest. It was just too dark. So to make up for eyesight, he listened, straining his ears and stood with his nose in the air, in spite of the strong need to bury it into his scarf in an attempt to warm it up. It was perishing cold in the room, and he kept blowing in his frozen hands - especially the left one, for his left glove was missing. His gloves hadn't been in the same pocket as the agate had, and so hadn't been protected by the Strong-Glue Spell; the glove must have fallen off his pocket when James had been hit by the Stunning Spell. What a pity.

"Sit there, and don't move," grumbled the Old One, laying a hand on the wooden chest. James sat, still blowing in his hands.

The Old One groped closer and her hands lay flat on James's temples, on each side of his head. The boy felt his hair stand on end as if it were alive, and a shudder ran through him. These repulsive hands felt like ice.

"Let's see a bit of this now ..." the Old One rasped out, and James suddenly felt his muscles relax in spite of him, and his mind seemed to function in slow motion. He couldn't jump from a thought to another as he usually could, and that sensation was pretty disturbing.

"Let's see - you're scared, hungry, cold, and fed up with all this, eh? But you hold on. Keep still, let me look ... there, that's better. Courage, courage that only wants to sneak in ... maybe not now. Not ready, not decided. Hmm.

"You know some things, eh? And you want to know some more. Good, it is, very good. You feel things, that helps you understand them and - eh, boy?"

James felt like drifting off. He was still as cold, but wasn't shaking anymore. He couldn't. His whole body was numb, up to his fingertips, and he let his thoughts float in a sort of fog that seemed very restful. He had no strength left to think.

"Enough! Back to serious business now," said the old witch as she brought her face closer to James's, loosening her hands around the boy's temples. "No more tricky tricks. Maybe I put too much in it."

James regained a bit of consciousness; the misty veil slugging his thoughts and freezing his body felt like lifting up somewhat. He jumped slightly when he heard the Old One's voice sounding in his head, although the lip-less mouth hanging only a few inches from him wasn't moving at all.

The agate, boy ... what do you know about it?

James wanted to speak, but he couldn't unclench his teeth. He thought instead, It's beautiful.

The Old One sighed exasperatedly. What else?

It's magical, James continued thinking. It made the water cool down. Sirius plunged his hand and the water didn't burn him. It was difficult to shape out thoughts, images rushing back without a warning, but James was like driven to answering by a will much more powerful than his own. He was barely aware of the incoherence of the words he was voicing silently. But - it's not complete.

"Not complete?"

Something fleeting flicked over the Old One's face, almost masked by the shadow of the tatty hood that covered her head. But James didn't notice.

"What do you mean by that?" she hissed.

I don't know

, answered James truthfully. It was an absurd idea and he didn't understand why on Earth he was thinking that. I think - I think something's missing ... but I can't tell what it is ... This agate just isn't a whole. Something is missing.

He stopped with a slight shiver. In front of him, only a few centimetres from his face, the blind eyes had seemed to burn for an unknown reason. But this vision was so fleeting that James eventually wondered whether he had not hallucinated.

The Old One's hands covered his temples once more, and James felt the odd stupor begin to numb his body once more. But this time, he wasn't caught off guards, and he knew what awaited him if he allowed his muscles and his mind to relax. He resisted doggedly and with all his might against this sort of fatigue that made him insensitive to the outside world. And to his great surprise ...

It worked, somehow.

He managed to keep a cool head, and to watch out for thoughts unexpectedly turning up in his head. No strange phrase came into his mind, and even the Old One's icy hands plastered against his temples didn't make him shake. The old witch sighed and mumbled, "Well, looks like I can't get anything more out of you - never mind. I've learned some things - maybe."

She unstuck her hands from James's temples, and he felt a huge weight lift off his head. He even gave an involuntary move as she let go of him, as if she had been pulling him to her all along and he had been struggling to squirm out. He regained his balance and get off the wooden chest.

"Stairs," growled the Old One as she felt her way along the wall to the crumbling staircase. In a few strides James was at the foot of the stairs. He rushed up the steps, so eager was he on seeing again what could pass for light. Besides, he was getting really hungry.

* * *

"C'mon, Lily, just eat a bit of it, won't you?"

Fergus Finnigan eyed his schoolmate worriedly. Lily had hardly touched the contents of her plate, and was currently fidgeting absent-mindedly with her fork, her chin in her hand and her elbows on the table. This wasn't a good sign.

"Oy, Earth to Lily! Hello, can you hear me?"

No reply. The fork was still dancing in Lily's hands, and the big green eyes, from which the usual sparkling light seemed gone, remained unfocused. Fergus turned to Lisa Dodger and Tim Thomas who were sitting one in front of him and the other to his left, and gave them a meaningful look. Tim shrugged helplessly. As for Lisa, she glared at Tim who shrank down on his seat as if under the threat of a scold; then she looked at Lily intently.

Lily hadn't moved an inch during this whole little pantomime.

Lisa didn't say anything for a while, just glancing at Lily, then down at the table, then back up at Lily, then back down at the table. Then, as Fergus and Tim began to exchange puzzled looks, she leaned closer to Lily and said quite seriously, "I count eleven. Or maybe eleven and a half if you count this one, there, the one that's half gone."

Lily blinked, and slowly turned her head to look at Lisa's impassive face. "What? What're you talking about?"

"The candle wax marks on the table," said Lisa shrugging as if it were obvious. "You were counting them, weren't you? You've been staring down at this table for twenty minutes now, and we've been calling you for twenty minutes but you wouldn't respond - you must've been concentrating pretty hard."

Lily didn't process it at once. Then, as she understood at least, she blushed and looked down. "Sorry Lisa, I've - I was elsewhere."

"You obviously were," said Fergus half-mockingly half-sympathetically. "I'd even say you were out on another planet."

"It's because the three others are missing, isn't it?" asked Tim.

Lily nodded, sniffing.

"Oy, Pretty Lily Flower," said another voice from Tim's right. "Don't worry, they'll be back, maybe sooner than you think." It was Mundungus, who smiled reassuringly at Lily. She felt slightly better somehow.

"How do you know that?" asked Olivia nervously. She had been keeping unusually silent so far and had just looked up. "Only because you've gotten yourself abducted on Hallowe'en doesn't mean you're a war veteran or anything!"

"Whoa, easy there Olivia," said Mundungus without loosing countenance. "I'm trying to reassure Lily, and here you go insulting me. That's not the cleverest thing to do, y'know."

"Shut up," retorted Olivia tensely. "I don't give a care about what you say. I don't give a dam-"

"Hey, who rang your bell -?"

"Stop it, the two of you," cut Vega in a curt, sharp tone, nothing like her usual one. "Be quiet."

She had barely looked up, her neck stiff and her jaw clenched; but it was enough to silence them. She hadn't been eating much either, and her face was closed and unusually pale. Lily met her gaze, and was mildly surprised to see that concern had turned her lively blue eyes as sharp and hard as diamonds. Somehow this worried her much more than the glove she had found lying in the snow. If the inflexible Vega was in this state, then things were going really bad.

But then, it was perfectly normal that she should worry about her brother, right?

"Eat, Lily," said Vega in a softer voice. "Starving yourself won't be of any use - doesn't help anything nor anybody."

Lily glanced down at her fork and at the piece of potato pinned on its prongs, then stuffed it into her mouth. It was cold, and she didn't even feel the taste of it, but it managed to slide down without she feeling the need to spit it out. She didn't want to do it in front of her friends.

Lily was far from eating as much as she usually did, but at least there was something in her stomach when she left the table. Lisa had finished her meal in the same time, and went with her. Vega followed a second later - she had barely touched her plate.

When the three girls arrived in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, the painted figure gave a concerned glance at Lily and Vega. "Violet told me what happened," she sighed worriedly. "And to think they passed through here just this afternoon ... I said to myself then 'they're going to return a book, they won't be long ...' How wrong I was! My Goodness, that makes it the second kidnapping within a few months! It's been at least twenty years since something like that last happened -"

"Hideous hag," cut Lisa in an annoyed voice, seeing that Lily was starting to look down.

"Young lady, I won't allow any of this -!" squeaked the Fat Lady furiously.

"That's the pass word," muttered Vega as she stepped closer to the picture, signifying clearly she wasn't going to waste any more time waiting at the door. The Fat Lady murmured as she opened, her cheeks suddenly as pink as her dress, "Oh ... I'm sorry. You must be so upset and -"

"Thanks," said Lily walking over through the passageway. "It's all right."

The common room was as calm as it was when she last left it. Only a few seventh-years sat in armchairs by the fireplace, discussing what sounded like a particularly difficult - and tedious - Arithmancy question. Lily and Lisa went to sit at a table, while Vega walked up straight to her dorm. After a moment's uncomfortable silence, Lily shifted in her chair and said, "Erm, Lisa - d'you have a game of cards? I mean, a normal one - Muggle version, not the wizarding one."

Lily still couldn't get used to these strange cards, with the knights constantly challenging each other, the kings comparing the wealth of their respective crowns, and the queens simpering and plotting with the jacks. Lisa shook her head. "No, but I think Mundungus's got one ... We can always ask him if we can borrow it, if you want."

Her voice as she said this sounded so unenthusiastic that Lily got up with a slight smile, "Right, it's fine - I'm coming up to the dorm to fetch myself a book. Are you coming?"

"Coming," said Lisa, jumping off her chair so quickly it seemed she had never been sitting there. "I'm sure I can add some things to my History of Magic essay ... you know, about this dwarf army that helped the Goblins in their 1642 rebellion. I don't remember which Goblin general paid them -"

Once up in their dorm, the two girls headed to their respective beds and the trunks they kept underneath. Lily took out a small hardcover book of about three hundreds pages thick as Lisa rummaged about in her things until she found what she was looking for: two rolls of parchment, her quill and ink bottle, and a leather-bound book entitled First Goblin Rebellion - 1601-1681. She jumbled everything into her schoolbag and walked through the dormitory's door behind Lily.

The three or four seventh-years had left the armchairs by the fireplace and were sitting at a table near the window. Olivia had made her way to the common room meanwhile. Mundungus had as well, and the two of them were now glaring at each other from time to time. Ignoring the two, Lily took an armchair while Lisa drew an empty table and chair near the fireplace and sat next to her schoolmate, in front of the flames whose bright glow danced on the walls. Silence fell for a moment - Lily was reading, and Lisa chewing thoughtfully on her already mangled quill tip. She leafed through her Goblin book for a few seconds, wrote down a few words which seemed to please her; then she gave a bored sigh, put her quill down on the table and glanced at the page Lily was reading. A word caught her attention and she couldn't help but remark out loud, puzzled.

"Psst!" she whispered, in order not to break the silence of the common room too much. "The publisher forgot to correct the typos! It's written 'dwarves', but the plural of 'dwarf' is 'dwarfs', not 'dwarves'! Who's written that to make such a mistake?"

"Linguistic teacher," muttered Lily without looking up. Now that Lisa thought of it, it had been quite a while since Lily hadn't turned the page - supposing she had actually done so before. Surprised by her answer, Lisa decided to jump on the opportunity to make her talk a bit, seeing the gloomy expression on her face. "Linguistic teacher? How come -?"

"He did it on purpose," said Lily still in a low voice. " 'Dwarves' sounds more respectable, I guess. And then that's not about the dwarfs we know - those are different."

"What're you reading, anyway?" asked Lisa, who'd have given anything to escape her History of Magic essay, which actually was even more boring than total inactivity.

"The Hobbit - it's about ... oh, but if I start telling you the story it'll take hours."

"A Muggle wrote that?" said Lisa thoughtfully.

"Yeah," answered a resigned Lily as she closed her book. "Look, if you want the book you can take it, I've already read it -" She was quiet for an instant, then opened the book again, this time at the very first page. "You know what? Actually I'm not moving from here or going to sleep till the three others are back safe and sound."

"Okay for me," said Lisa bravely. She stuffed her book and History of Magic essay, ink bottle and quill back in her bag, and went to sit in the armchair closest to Lily.

"You mean to stay up?" asked Lily curiously. "I'm telling you I'll surely not sleep at all tonight!"

"If you can do it, why can't I?" said Lisa stubbornly. "A sleepless night would be fun to have!"

"A sleepless night?" said a boy's voice behind Lisa's armchair. "That sounds interesting, doesn't it, dear Mr Finnigan?"

"Interesting indeed, Mr Thomas," said Fergus's voice behind Lily's armchair. "I'm more than willing to have a go at it, if you'd like to."

"And then," added Tim as he popped in near Lisa, winking, "a sleepless night's always some kind of adventure!"

Lily gave a chuckle, and said, "I was about to ask Lisa if she'd mind me reading the book out loud to her."

"Interesting stuff, at least? What is it about?" asked Fergus as he drew an armchair.

"Adventure," said Lily.

"Is there a prince?" asked Tim, raising an eyebrow as he settled down too.

"No, but there's a king."

"Is there a princess?" asked Fergus, looking as though he wished there wasn't.

"No, but there are giant spiders."

Fergus looked very much pleased.

"Is there some real sort of monster?" asked Lisa.

"Yes," said Lily, "if you count the dragon as one."

"Great!" exclaimed the two boys at once. "Read, you've got our rapt attention."

"Go, Lily," said Lisa, "we're listening."

And Lily began to read, 'In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit ... '

* * *

How long's James been down there?

asked Sirius to himself as he bit his fingernails out of nervousness. Was I so long? What's this old bat doing to him? What's -

"Sirius?" Remus's voice, low though it was, startled him. Sirius turned to his friend in a nervous start.

"Uh? What?"

"Lower, Sirius," murmured Remus with a discreet sideways look at Belegaer the vampire standing a few feet behind them, his blemished face looking as though engraved in marble. Remus's tone of voice - quick, as if wary - clicked something in Sirius's mind, and this time he focused all his attention on his friend. "What's up?" he asked in an almost inaudible voice.

Remus looked around and whispered, "They don't know, do they? About tonight?"

Sirius frowned. What on Earth could Remus be talking about? And seeing the insistent expression in the blue-grey eyes, he was obviously expecting Sirius to know what he alluded to. Then Remus whispered very quickly, "About the full moon tonight?"

For a brief instant, Sirius felt a wind of sheer panic bristle the hairs on the back of his neck. "It's -"

But next second, after discreetly making sure that the vampire with the pointed ears wasn't looking, Remus winked slightly at Sirius, and smiled so quickly that Sirius almost didn't notice. But it was enough for the boy.

He's got a plan

, he said to himself. Have you? he thought, putting into his eyes as much hope and questions as he could. Remus didn't utter a word, but blinked once, his eyes still as intense. Everything was not hopeless, then.

"I don't think they know," he breathed in a hoarse whisper that he easily made sound frightened and worried. "What do we do? Tell them?"

"If what you told me is true, the Old One will probably figure that out by herself," whispered Remus in the same voice. "And they'll probably panic ..."

Sirius nodded, but soon an idea crossed his mind and he bit on his lip. "What can we do without wands? We don't stand a chance without them - you'll transform and there'll be nothing we can do ..."

He was still playing along with Remus, in case of Belegaer or the Voice hearing him. He did know, however, that they had no hope without their wands. And there was no question of leaving James, who was still down in the Old One's underground. But Remus had seemingly thought intently while keeping still and silent, and seemed to have planned everything. He whispered in a barely audible voice, "The vampire's got them in his pocket - look."

And indeed, in a pocket of Belegaer's worn, long dark coat, Sirius took a glimpse at an inch of light, thin, and polished wood, that he recognised as being the twelve and an half inches of silver beech that belonged to Remus. And judging by the forms he could make out under the thick cloth, James' and Sirius's were there, too. But how on Earth were they going to get them back? Sirius would sooner be willing to drink one of Peter's Shimmering Solutions rather than attack this creature who looked about seven feet tall ... He felt himself go white in the face.

"Panic, Sirius," insisted Remus, looking at him straight in the eye. "If we set about it the right way, it might be our only chance to get ourselves out of this mess!"

"But how -" began Sirius, but he was cut by footsteps from the hole, sounding closer and closer - the Voice was back.

"Your friend's coming back up," it said. "The last of you will have his turn."

It was at this moment that James literally leaped out of the hole - so hard had he had run up the steps - soon followed by the shabby hood of the Old One.

"Next!" she said hoarsely. After a few words the Voice whispered in Belegaer's ear, the latter was pushing Remus toward the stairs. Remus winked at James as he passed him by, then turned to Sirius and cast him a last intent look. Sirius and James followed him with their eyes - they saw him walk to the Old One and down the steps before her. Before Belegaer was back, James turned to Sirius, trying to catch the meaning of Remus's wink. Sirius gave a quick smile as his eyes flashed suddenly - he'd just understood his friend's plan.

So he whispered very quickly in response to James's questioning look, "Jamsie, mate, get ready to act! The vampire's got the wands in his pocket, and Remus made them believe it was full moon tonight - the Old One'll know about him and the others will as well - and we'll take advantage of the panic to make a dash out of it!"

Now it was James's turn to go pale. His eyes widening, he stared at Sirius as though the latter had truly gone mad. "But how -" he began, unknowingly using the same words Sirius had stuttered a few seconds ago. But Sirius silenced him with a discreet gesture, for the vampire was stalking back toward them.

For a few endless minutes, nothing happened. The silence was so loud you could have heard a bat's flapping wings. Belegaer stood completely still, his staring gaze fixed right in front of him. The footsteps had faded away again toward the first steps to the underground, leaving the two boys alone with the pointed-eared vampire. As for James and Sirius themselves, they stared intently at the hole in the middle of the paved stone floor, their eyes unblinking, their muscles extremely braced. They knew - or rather felt - that something was about to happen. Something impending. The air was getting more and more strained, the tension growing more and more palpable, and James, completely on edge, felt his heart pound so loudly in his chest that it hurt.

Soon ... It'll happen soon ...

That was all that he could think of. His eyes stung by dint of not blinking, but he mustn't let his attention slip. Whatever was about to happen, it would happen anytime now, and he wanted to be ready to act. Fear clenched his stomach and his fingers were slightly shaking, but at the same time, a strange sort of excitation was welling up inside him and warming up his chest, like his first mouthful of Butterbear had done once. He understood Sirius's plan. He was about to attack a seven-foot tall vampire, take his wand back, and run for his life - if they were successful. James didn't want to think about what would happen if they weren't successful. He didn't want to think at all.

Why was Remus so long?

Just as James worriedly asked himself this question, a long, inarticulate scream came from the hole and Belegaer started; he went rapidly to the stairs and peeked down. After exchanging consulting looks, James and Sirius walked closer, too.

The voice - which they recognised as the Old One's - had started again after an intake of breath. The only two words the boys could make out in the piercing yell were 'Monster!' and 'Werewolf!'. They looked at each other.

"It's now or never," murmured Sirius.

"I'm ready," said James.

The footsteps belonging to the Voice were sounding down the stairs while Belegaer, seemingly disturbed and looking almost frightened, gazed down in the hole and uttered "Gaur!" very hoarsely. It was the only word the boys had heard from him, and they didn't have a clue what it meant.

"Now!" cried Sirius suddenly, and he threw himself at Belegaer.

The vampire wasn't expecting something so foolish - or so courageous. Taking advantage of his surprise, James leaped for his back and squeezed his arms around his neck as tight as he could. Belegaer abruptly straightened up to his full height with a sort of loud and fierce growl that sounded like a wolf's and struggled wildly against the boy clinging to his back. Dodging the arms pin wheeling around him, Sirius plunged his hand into the vampire's pocket and grabbed the wands. Red and golden sparks shot from the tip of the ebony wand and he felt warmth rushing from his hand to his forearm. Everything's possible now, he thought with a grin, his eyes full of fire.

It was the moment that Remus chose to burst out of the hole, running with all his might. He bumped straight into the stomach of Belegaer who doubled over, allowing a very sore James to slide from the vampire's back down to earth as Remus yelled, "Run!!"

Sirius dragged James, sticking his wand into his hand and handed Remus's to him, and all three of them made a bolt for it. James ran like he had never run in his life. He didn't look back for fear of slowing down, feeling as though his feet were flying an inch from the ground. Ahead of him, Sirius looked like a blur of black cloak and hair and he could hear Remus's short breathing behind him. Reaching a stairway leading up to another corridor, Sirius slowed down for the briefest second - but James, glancing behind Remus saw Belegaer, having gotten back to his feet, dashing toward them, and the Old One shouting in the middle of the room. Besides, the footsteps of their invisible enemy were sounding closer. So he took the lead and ran past Sirius who followed him without so much as a second's hesitation. Remus hadn't slowed down.

How long they ran like this, they didn't know. What is sure is that they ran for a long time, until their chests would burst, with no precise direction, following their instinct. They took dozens of passageways, dozens of corridors, ran along damp and dark walls, without stopping or even slowing down for a second. Then, eventually, as they reached a small room with a low ceiling and lighter walls, they slowed down at least, and noticed they weren't pursued anymore. They stopped, and collapsed on the ground, their lungs in fire, their legs feeling like cotton wool, completely out of breath.

No one said anything for a long, very long moment. The only audible sound in the room was the three sets of hissing, hoarse, and unsteady breathing, which they were trying to get back to normal. None of the three had run like that in his whole life, and never had they been so very scared; the adrenaline was only beginning to drop down.

Then James raised up his head and his eyes met Sirius's. Something unspoken passed between the two of them, and they both struggled to their feet. One minute later Remus was standing too, slipping his wand into his belt.

"Shouldn't - lag behind, should we?" breathed James. "Ought to find - some way to get us out of here -"

"You're right, James," said Remus in the same breathless voice. "Have you got an idea?"

"No," admitted James, "but we'll find one. After all, we escaped a vampire, a faceless voice, and a two-hundred-year-old-or-something scarecrow, didn't we? Why couldn't we escape from here?"

"Atta boy, Jamsie, keep the spirits up," said Sirius as he went to inspect one of the three holes that lay open before them. "Besides, I may have an idea."

"Shoot, then."

Sirius didn't say anything, but instead walked to the next door-hole, then to the last one. Remus and James looked at each other. "Ok, are you planning to tell us or not?"

"Yep," said Sirius triumphantly. "I think it's this way." He was pointing to the last of the three 'doors'.

"And how do you know that, O So Smart One?" said James sceptically.

Sirius shrugged, "This way smells less stuffy and rotten. Besides, it's a way up. Is that enough for you?"

"Sounds quite enough for me," said Remus as he walked to the passageway. James put his wand into his belt like Remus had done previously, and followed his friend. Sirius took the rear.

They followed their noses then, starting from where the air smelt the foulest to seek some purer air. They were as quiet and discreet as possible, hugging the walls and tiptoeing, but it seemed that their pursuers had indeed given up the chase. Remus was still very wary about it, but James could guess they probably thought that the three boys could never find their way out in this maze of corridors and rooms. And he was starting to fear it was going to be so, seeing the astonishing number of the said corridors and rooms.

However, Sirius's technique had an advantage: the sickening smell of decomposing flesh was almost gone, and the air was much less tainted now. Sharper, and cooler too, James noted as he tightened mechanically his cloak around his shoulders - the cold was more bitter, like a winter's wind. An idea gradually sneaked its way into his mind. He was excited and mistrustful about it though: what if it were true? What if they were really getting closer to the exit?

"Hey," whispered Remus suddenly. He had slowed down his pace and closed his eyes, his nose up in the cold air. "Hey ... d'you smell that?"

"Smell what?" said James at first, but Sirius slowed down too, and said, his eyes shining:

"Yeah - smells like - like -"

James, annoyed because he wasn't smelling anything particular, closed his eyes and took a long intake of breath. Only then did he catch a tiny scent, that he hadn't noticed at first, something fresh and wood-like - that's it - something that reminded him of the snowy Forbidden Forest. Half a smile dawning on his lips, he turned to his two friends and asked, barely daring to believe it, "Like trees and snow?"

The others nodded, the same brightness lighting up their eyes. Sirius was the first to shake himself up and to take the climbing way, with Remus and James on his heels, almost running despite their own exhaustion. They walked for a long time still, for what seemed hours to them, before reaching a corridor that was much darker than the rest, but also drier; and listening raptly they seemed to hear the wind hissing above them.

"We're very close to the exit," said Sirius, excitation filling his voice. Remus nodded, and quickened his strides. They were quickly forced to stop, though.

The corridor was a dead end.

"Can't bloody be!" swore Sirius as James bent over, his hands on his knees. After a second during which he looked disheartened, Remus went to the end of the passage, and eyed sharply the very low ceiling. He examined it from every angle, and eventually tapped his fingers against it. The ceiling sounded like wood.

Wood ...?

thought James, some gleam of insane hope re-entering his heart. He walked to his friend, and pointed his wand to the ceiling. "Lumos."

"Thank you, James," murmured Remus, blowing and dusting off the ceiling, clearing a sort of trapdoor.

"Wow, well done, Rem!" exclaimed Sirius in a low voice as he came closer too. "D'you think we can open that?"

"If the three of us set about it, we might be able to with an Alohomora Charm," said Remus as he rolled up his sleeves and took his wand. Sirius and James did the same at the same time.

"At the count of three," whispered James. "One, two -"

"Wait!" cut Sirius. "D'you mean at 'three' or after 'three'?"

Two pairs of eyes shot him a half-puzzled, half-annoyed look. Sirius's grin unveiled his eye-teeth. "Just kidding," he said, laughing. "Here you go, Jamsie."

"One, two - three!"

"Alohomora!" cried the three boys as one, and the trapdoor shivered in its hinges.

"It's not strong enough," said Remus.

"Let's do it again," James suggested. "One, two ... three!"

"Alohomora!"

Once more, the trapdoor didn't open; however, it shook so violently that the three friends could see a little bit of snow outside, with the light of the waning moon on it.

"Third one's the right one," said Sirius enthusiastically. "All together now, with jolly and good mood!"

The two others gave a chuckle.

"One," said Remus in a firm voice, "two - three!"

"Alohomora!!"

Cast by three persons with strength and enthusiasm, the spell worked this time. The trapdoor burst open, thrown back with all the might of the three sorcerer's apprentices together. The cold swept in the corridor, whipping the white cheeks, revitalising their faces, biting the three noses turned hopefully to the sky. James was so happy that he could have shouted with joy, but thought better of it and contented himself with an ear-to-ear grin. Remus did so as well, and Sirius had a quick dance. Then Remus gave him a leg up; James slipped up through the trapdoor, into the snowy ferns, before helping his friend to slip up through as well. Sirius was the last to come up, and the two others hoisted him through the trapdoor. Then James glanced about himself and recognised the dark trees, the intertwined ferns, and the icy snow, covering everything as though with a white shroud.

They were free.

But they were in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

End of the first part.

*~*~*

Sorry about the

End of the First part thing, in fact I was planning to write a much less long Chapter 10 and make it end without a cliffhanger. But things being like they were, I kept on writing, and after I looked at it, it was already 25 pages long. So you'll have the rest later - I promise.

Dear readers, your reviews make me wax poetry about how wonderful you are. But I can't write poetry for dear life - you English-speaking people's poetry and rhythmic is so different from our ol' French one that I'm totally lost. Well :o)

Minerva Wood:

I absolutely love meeting other Beatles/HP fans out there. It's thrilling, you have no idea. Sirius's guitar playing and love of music is a strong point of my characterisation of him, like you'll see in the next chapter. So you play guitar, too? How long have you been playing? What sort of guitar do you play - acoustic, electric, folk? I myself strum now and then, but it's totally intuitive and though I know quite a few chords, the musical theory eludes me completely. About James's eyes colour... yes, I know they're green, but they can be a totally different shade, depth, and shape than Harry's - or Lily's, for that matter. I imagine his eyes round and a very dark green, while Lily's are more sort of almond-shaped and very bright. As for where I live... I study in a university in Bordeaux, so I've got a studio there, but my real home is a smallish South Western town named Mont de Marsan.

Green Lily:

(first I thought the "Scabby old lady" was directed at me! Am I paranoid or just silly? J ) I've been working on this story (the English version, anyway) since May 2001, so my style must've changed quite a bit. It's amazing how writing a long story makes you grow up in it - you can see the changes when you get back to the first words that you've written. For example, at the beginning I didn't dare use dialect or local expressions for fear that I didn't master the language enough and end up with something non-believable - Hagrid was a challenge. And I agree completely with your idea of Sirius - impulsive indeed, but fiercely caring and thinking mostly with his guts instead of his brain... Dunno if that's a fault of a quality - perhaps both J

Tamz,

my friend, I'm sorry I left Sirius in that hole with that decomposing witch for so long. But I am glad that you could drool over the Truth scene! :D The whole "between closed doors" thing (here, we'd talk about a "huis clos") was a tough one, because there's nothing like putting three people in the same room and incidentally, in very possible serious jeopardy to get something interesting. To each his own fears - James's not too well about the dark, Sirius is claustrophobic, Remus has got his little moon problem and doesn't feel at the top at the moment... I'm truly glad to have surprised you with Sirius already knowing about Remus. As a writer, I like twists - I'm a twisted writer :P - and having so far characterised Remus as the calm and thoughtful one, who always keeps his head in tough situations (as you could see), I wondered if making him act so OOC for a moment would not, in fact, be efficient. Was it?

I'd love to hear your guess about who Vega's meeting up in the Tower - send me your suggestions if you like! Not that I'll answer them directly, of course :P And don't worry, I can tell you that you'll find more about Fletch in the next chapter, which I've just finished writing. Stay tuned! J (and I don't think I need to say - again - that your reviews are pure gold! A Faithful Reviewer is so rare, and you've been reviewing every chapter since the beginning! Wow!!)

Chimi:

speaking of Faithful Reviewers ... Lol, no, I won't tell you who Vega's dating! J You'll have to find out by yourself. But it's coming - not right now, but I've got that answer in store. Hope you won't get mad at me for leaving you with another cliffhanger... At least they're not left with the Old One and the Voice and Belegaer anymore, are they? About the Sirius/Snape thing... Actually, I love comparing them. They're both tall, skinny, black-haired, and especially stubborn as mules, very vindictive, quite sly, and brave. Yes, both of them are all that. I think Sirius and Snape really resemble each other more than they are willing to admit - a very wise reviewer told me that, once, and she's only too right. Think about it, too, and you'll see! Thanks for the support for the exams and see you next review! :o)

Hermi_54

: I don't mind you rambling at all, Hermi - on the contrary. I know the feeling when you've got lots to say and fear it's gonna take long J And my parents and sister can testify that I spend most of my time grinning at the computer screen, for no apparent reason - but then, they don't know fanfiction at all and they can't quite read English. And I always read the whole reviews - especially if they're long!! Sometimes when there's nobody in the house I even read them aloud to get every word of it. Don't think that I'd skip a review - never! :o) Thanks for yours, and you'll never get too rambling, weird, long or "bleh" for me!! :D

Ron's Secret Admirer:

I'm flattered that you didn't stop to review - you must have been caught up! (Whoa, sounds weird... I mean, caught up by *my* story...) I certainly hope you don't see what'll happen ... ::evil laugh:: I'll try not to let too much time pass between this one and the next chapter, this time. As for the Beatles... well, being a fan myself, and seeing that MWPP's first year is here set up in 1969-1970 - I couldn't simply get past it! J And - what do the P.R.A.N.K. letters stand for? I'm curious to know!

SìlaElen:

There's this cliffhanger, and then the next chapter won't end with one, promise. After that... I'll see. Eh he, I'm evil >:D As for your question - what do you think about it? Is he, or is he not? J

As usual, I hope the silent lurkers appreciated this chapter... I don't write for reviews, you know; only for 1°) the egoistic, sheer pleasure of writing, and 2°) the pleasure of those who care about what'll happen next in my story. So, lurk in peace! I'm a right lurker myself as well, y'know :o)

Much of love,

Belphegor :o]

*~*~*