17 September 2012
I sighed heavily and went downstairs, out of my old room, hoping either Alice or Sirius were down there so I could be doing something worthwhile and a little reckless.
Instead I found a fight.
A loud one.
It was just outside the portrait hole which had been left open.
Well. I supposed I'd found Sirius.
I stepped outside to join the crowd.
Remus and Peter were dancing round the edge of the scuffle, trying in vain to break it up.
I looked questioningly at a fifth year girl next to me.
'I'm not sure what happened. I think the Slytherins were recruiting... And they might have said something about you to James...'
Well that made sense.
I stunned them all then made sure people had them so they couldn't resume the fight before renervating them.
'And what happened here then?' I asked, eyebrow raised.
James wiped some blood from his nose before saying:
'They,' he sent a disdainful look to the Slytherins, 'were trying to- to-to recruit us.' he made a gesture indicating the four Marauders. It was clear he hated even suggesting he might have something the deatheaters considered desirable.
'Well then, we'll be taking this to the headmaster's office won't we?'
I looked to Peter and Remus and they nodded, saying they'd help drag the Slytherins there.
As I walked up to James and Sirius to drag them off (did that sound weird?) I pointed my wand at James' face and said, 'Episkey'.
I heard the sound of his nose fixing and his cry of pain. Merlin, I was turning into a sadist.
Luckily we ran into Dumbledore on the way because, to my shame, I'd forgotten the password to his office.
'Professor, we've had an issue and I thought I ought to bring it to you.'
'Yes, Miss Evans? I would, ordinarily, invite you to my office but I'm afraid I am running a rather tight schedule at present.'
'I found these four, not Remus or Peter, brawling outside the Gryffindor common room. I believe the circumstances were important, but I'm not sure of the details.' I glanced back at them.
'Professor, they were trying to recruit us. As deatheaters.'
The Headmaster's gaze turned stern.
'And what do you have to say about this, Mr Nott, Mr Rowle?'
'We didn't. We were just discussing Potter's girlfriend with him. He didn't like what we said and Black jumped him to help him.'
I sighed internally. I supposed I was James' 'girlfriend'. It was probably partly true, he did have a track record of starting fights because of me.
'I will have to look into this further. Untill then, Mr Nott, Mr Rowle, you may stay at Hogwarts however, if I find you guilty of these accusations, you will be expelled. Clear?'
The Slytherins nodded but sent murderous glares at we Gryffindors.
'All four of you will serve a detention; fighting is unacceptable.'
They nodded and he took our leave.
As I walked back to the common room with The Marauders I murmured to James that he had to stop reacting to comments about me. He apologised grudgingly and I sensed it wouldn't be the last time he did.
When we got back I tried to think of a way to get Sirius on his own without raising suspicion.
'Hey, Sirius. I need to talk to you.'
He seemed to get what I wanted to talk to him about. I mouthed 'Melissa' to the others. They should believe that.
'How's getting the ingredients going? We want to get brewing ASAP.'
'I dunno. We could go tonight? I you want to help. I bet I could get James to lend us his invisibility cloak.'
Invisibility cloak? Trust James to have something like that.
We'd waited until everyone had gone to sleep. We'd made it so James thought I was already in bed and wouldn't check incase he woke me up. We figured me and Sirius sneaking out together would portray the wrong ideas to people.
We first made our way to Slughorn's storeroom. Luckily I'd thought to put silencing charms on us because Sirius was developing a cold. I made a mental note to force feed him pepperup potion tomorrow.
We got in fine and scooped up jars of ingredients because we didn't have time to measure out the exact quantities.
I cast a simple illusion charm so, at first glance, nothing appeared to be missing. Of course, this wouldn't help when Slughorn actually went to get the missing ingredients but it was the best we could do.
We'd agreed to try to get brewing tonight and Sirius said he knew a place we could do it.
He led me to a part of the school I hadn't been to before. It seemed weirdly empty. No suits of armour. No portraits. No torches. No doors.
Sirius started pacing. Great. If Mr Magical Marauder had got me lost...
Then a gigantic door appeared in the wall. The hall no longer looked so empty.
Sirius pushed open the door and gestured for me to go in.
'Welcome,' he said grandly, 'to the Room of Requirement.'
20. Fanficyness • Opuss № I