Annie's Universal Theory

One Not-So-Quiet Night

Haunting: "Yeah." The thought put a slightly depressed edge to Sirius voice. "We have to leave sometime." He made a face. "And I'm looking forward to that less than ever."

Deserted: "Well, then," Remus said, "I suggest, Mr. Padfoot, that we stay here for as long as possible."

Haunting: Sirius nodded. "I, Mr. Moony, must whole-heartedly agree."

Haunting: ((Good place to end, yes? Anyway, dinner sounds good right about now.))

Deserted: ((Yeah. I should get to bed anyway. Tomorrow?))

Haunting: ((With any luck.))

Deserted: ((Alright. G'night!))

Haunting: ((Night.))

Sighing as the closing door sounded her friend's retreat from the online world, Ann copied the night's role-play log and saved it for editing. It had been a good night thus far. The latest story was successfully wrapped up now, which left her mind to wandering about plots for the next installment, and the only hitch had been Brit having to excuse herself and Remus for about thirty minutes to pick up her little sister. With the clock reading 1 AM now, all was well. Fix some dinner, edit and post the story while eating, and go to bed. Good plan.

About ten minutes later she finally sat back down with the bowl of ramen in her lap. She sang along with the CD playing softly to keep from waking up her neighbor, or more like mumbled along, reading and typing between bites of noodle. With Brit off, the night was getting quiet. It was almost relaxing.

And then came the crash.

"Bugger!"

"You're sitting on my bladder you prat!"

"Well, you're both sitting on me. Now will you please move?"

"Ow."

Mouth hanging open with a fork full of ramen floating inside it, Ann stared wide eyed at the computer screen as her ears pricked to the hissed conversation coming from...her bathroom?

"Where are we?"

"How should I know?"

"Exactly how did we end up in a shower stall?"

"Ow."

Somehow she recognized the voices, but from where she wasn't sure. There was the strangest feeling that they were from inside her head, but she shoved that aside as she silently placed the fork back in the bowl and set that on the desk, closing her mouth and standing as quietly as she possibly could. No one had come into her room. The door hadn't opened. There was no way the voices could really be coming from her shower. Still...

"This isn't the school shower."

"No kidding."

"Are you alright, Peter?"

"I think I hit my head."

She stood in the doorway as they continued muttering to one another, and stared in disbelief at the sight of legs sticking out from under the curtain. Maybe she was dreaming. It was wholly possible that she had fallen asleep on her laptop and was just dreaming.

"Watch out. I'm gonna try to stand up."

"Finally."

"I'll check for a concussion once we know where we are, okay?"

"Okay."

And then there was shaggy, black hair over wide, blue eyes as one of the boys climbed out to find Ann standing there. Three more heads soon popped up as well, but the first held her attention. This was crazy. How in the name of...? She had to be dreaming. There was no way...

"Sirius Black," she choked, voice cracking. Finally her eyes slid over the other boys, and she squeaked, holding onto the doorframe as the world spun. "You've gotta be kidding me."

Sirius looked even more stunned as he finally managed to stammer, "H-how do you know my name?"

"Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter - Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs."

The shock on all of their faces was joined by an unmistakable hint of fear at that, and Remus practically yelped a terrified, "You know..."

Ann just gave a broken laugh, lost to them as her shoulder fell heavily against the wall. "The Marauders just landed in my bathroom."