The Marauding Seven - Year 1

Chapter 9 - The Hunt is On

"Okay, let's be sensible. The most obvious place for the kitchens is under the great hall; Kate, Sirius and me will scout around there. James, Lily, you take above the Great Hall, and Wye, Remus, you check off to the sides. Okay? Split up!" said Alex. The six people obeyed and disappeared.

"It should be under here, but where?" asked Sirius. The three of them had patrolled the corridor underneath the Great Hall for almost half an hour and found nothing.

"Maybe it's behind a portrait, like with the Tower," Kate mumbled to herself, but the others heard.

"Great idea! Let's get talking!" The three walked up and down the rows of portraits asking the inhabitants where the kitchen was, waking some of them up in the process and making a few enemies. Kate came upon a youngish girl, she looked about ten.

"Excuse me," she asked, "do you know where the kitchens are?" The girl looked up from her dollhouse.

"Sure. I'm Esmerelda - we don't get many visitors down here. The kitchens?"

"Yeah."

"Ooh, who's he?" asked the now giggly portrait, and pointing over Kate shoulder. Kate turned.

"What, Sirius?"

"He's cute!" Kate looked more critically at her friend.

"Yeah, I guess..."

"If he'll kiss me on the cheek I'll tell you where the kitchens are," said the girl with a smile. Kate sighed - bargaining with a picture.

"Oi! Sirius, Alex! Get over here - she knows!"

"They all know - they just won't speak," Sirius grumbled as he bounded down the hallway. "So, where is it?" The girl made a zipping motion across her lips, and Sirius looked at Kate questionably.

"She wants you to kiss her on the cheek, then she'll tell. She thinks you're cute," said Kate in a monotone. Sirius didn't flinch, walked up to the painting and pecked the girl on the cheek, who went bright red. She picked up a fan and fanned herself with an embarrassed smile on her face.

"I'm Esmerelda," she said breathlessly.

"That's a really pretty name, I'm Sirius."

"I know - your friend told me..."

"Kate?"

"Yeah..."

"So, uh, the kitchens...?"

"Oh, yeah - just a sec," she cleared her throat.

It's behind a painting of something that keeps you alive.

To get in, you need an action that makes you laugh.

Something green."

"Could you be a bit more specific?" wheedled Sirius.

"I'm sorry honey, but riddles keep you hear longer," replied the girl.

"Okay, this is getting just a little too cute," Alex whispered into Kate's ear.

"Yeah, I thought this was a Riddikulus fic, not Astronomy Tower," replied Kate in a low voice. The two girls giggled.

"Would you two focus?" snapped Sirius, managing to glare at Kate and Alex while flashing a flirtatious smile at Esmerelda.

"Yeah, whatever. Okay, keeps you alive..."

"Water."

"Armour."

"Soldiers."

"Laughter."

"Laughter?" asked Kate after Sirius' suggestion.

"Of course. Get too depressed, commit suicide. Laughter."

"That's in the second line," said Kate.

"I think we're probably getting too diverse. How about..." Alex eyes scanned the nearby paintings and came to rest on a bowl of fruit, "food." The others followed her gaze and putting two and two together ran over to the painting. Sirius glanced back at Esmerelda, his eyes asking for help.

"I can't help," she said obviously enjoying the game.

"Please..." Sirius asked, batting his eyelashes. Esmerelda giggled.

"You've got the right painting. Next line:

To get in you need an action that makes you laugh."

"Sirius making a fool of himself?" asked Alex innocently. Sirius glared at her and Alex fancied that behind her Esmerelda was probably doing the same thing, but with no joking hidden in the evil look.

"An action, like hopping, skipping, jumping?" asked Kate. Esmerelda nodded.

"Makes you laugh. Wait - is anyone hear ticklish?" asked Sirius.

"I decline comment. You may use the information against me," said Alex formally.

"I'll take that as a yes. So, to get into the kitchens we have to tickle the painting?" Sirius ended with an incredulous look.

"Wait we left out a line," said Alex, "something green."

"The apple. Or the pear. Or maybe the grapes," said Kate inspecting the picture.

"Let's have a go," said Sirius and began to reach for the apple.

"May I suggest the pear?" came a voice from behind them. It was Esmerelda, who smiled warmly at them all, even Alex who had insulted her precious Sirius.

"Okay guys," said Sirius as the three strode into the common room looking victorious. He walked over to the table where James and Lily were talking intimately. "Hope I'm not interrupting," he said loudly and plopped down next to James. "We found the kitchens," he said before anyone could speak. Suddenly, James looked very interested.

"Really?"

"Yup," added Kate, "underneath the Great Hall behind a picture of fruit. Tickle the pear to get in."

"How did you..."

"Oh, we had some help." Alex said. "A certain painting named Esmerelda was very taken with Sirius."

The seven students gathered in the library after dinner that day. Remus and Wye had been filled in, and with a piece of parchment Wye and Alex had drawn a rough sketch of the school. Unfortunately it was very patchy as apart from the classrooms they used for lessons, the Great Hall, the Gryffindor areas, the toilets and the grounds they didn't really know anywhere.

"We need to find the other common rooms..." said James thoughtfully looking over Alex's shoulder.

"How do we do that?" asked Remus.

"As I suppose. I doubt Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are very secretive, at least," replied Lily without looking up from 'Hogwarts a History'. She was re-scouring it for mentions of secret passages, rooms and simply other places they hadn't heard of. However, it was mainly devoted to the places any old student went, such as the Great Hall. And there was no map.

"What about asking Candice Altree? Ravenclaw," Kate added in case they didn't know.

"Do we have any classes with Ravenclaw?" asked Alex.

"Nope. But we can ask Ming. We have potions with her, I sit next to her." Kate answered.

"Or Polly Patil. I sit next to her," reminded Remus.

"Okay. Ask her next lesson Remus. Kate you ask Ming as well in case we get false information. We'll have to track a Ravenclaw, say Candice, and pounce when they're along. We'll have to follow a Slytherin in my invisibility cloak, as they're unlikely to tell us," said James in drill sergeant mode.

"Sir! Yes! Sir!" cried Remus, bringing his right hand to his head in a salute and stamping one foot.

"It's a good plan though," remarked Sirius. "Me and James will use the cloak. Lil, Alex, you scout round - explore new corridors etc. We'll do it tomorrow after breakfast. Okay, team?"

"Yup. But what do me, Kate and Wye do?" asked Remus.

"You lot look as well I suppose. Or try and research a spell to reveal sealed entrances..."

"No need!" cried Lily, finally looking up from 'Hogwarts a History'. "I've found it, here in the secret passageway and rooms section. Doesn't say where any are though."

"Trial and error on that front, then." Kate remarked.