07.
Spreading Darkness continued...
Lily stared into the crackling fire before her. She was sitting in James' chair, the one he normally sat in when he wasn't off pulling pranks, but she wasn't worried that he was going to get mad at her - he had placed her there himself after they had seen the new message. She had been slightly freaked out, just like the last time, and James had half-led, half-carried her to the common room, while he sent Sirius and Remus to get some teachers. He had tried to talk to Lily but she had been staring at the fireplace ever since, ignoring him.
"I assure you, we will find out who did this, along with a similar incident last week," McGonagall said from her position by the entrance to the common room, her stern face calm but dangerous. She was obviously disturbed that something like this had happened, and Lily had confidence that she would do whatever it took to find out who was responsible. Lily just wasn't sure if that would be quite enough.
"Until we find out who did this, we ask that you all keep an eye out, and we advise no students to wander the halls alone. You don't have anything to worry about, but we want to take these precautions just in case. But besides these, nothing will change - Hogwarts isn't going to crumble because someone is playing such a nasty joke."
There was a bit of whispering among the assembled Gryffindors, and McGonagall sighed, pushing her glasses farther up her thin nose before addressing them again.
"I know that there are plenty of stories in the Daily Prophet about Muggle attacks by a certain group of dark wizards. But I ensure you that you are safe here at Hogwarts. You're surrounded by many accomplished witches and wizards, not to mention the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever known. We will all do everything it takes to make sure that the students of Hogwarts remain safe."
With that, McGonagall swept through the portrait hole, leaving the students to immediately burst into dozens of conversations. There was plenty of excitement and fear coursing its way through the room, but Lily felt completely unaffected by it all. Instead, she continued staring at the dancing flames, as if they held some sort of secret that she desperately wanted to know.
Ivy sat down in Sirius's chair next to her, silently giving her friend her support. James plopped down in front of her, also watching the fire, while the other Marauders sat on the floor beside him. There was silence in their little group, which was quite unusual, although all the whispers around them masked it.
"Are you okay, Lils?" Ivy finally asked after fifteen or so minutes of silence. She was watching her friend, a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Lily let the question roll over in her mind for a few moments before answering. "Not really."
"What's wrong, though? You're safe here, and they're just messages, it's not like they're hurting anyone." Sirius pointed out, earning an elbow in the stomach from Remus and a punch on the shoulder from James. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Sirius, we were out there. James and I were out in those halls all alone. The message wasn't up when you got back from the Great Hall, was it?"
"Well, no, but what does that matter?"
"It means sometime in the time from when you returned to the common room and we did, there was someone writing that message. We could have easily been there at the same time, and maybe then it wouldn't have been such an innocent prank."
"You really think they would hurt you? Why, because you saw them defacing school property?"
"Sirius, you're such an idiot," Ivy muttered under her breath as she hit him in the back of the head with her knee.
"If this person had the courage to write those messages when they could have easily gotten caught, what's to keep them from attacking people who catch them? Especially if one of those people happens to be a filthy Mudblood."
Understanding came across Sirius's face as he took in the sight of Lily, remembering her own heritage and upbringing.
The group fell back into silence while Lily's head was spinning, trying to figure out who could be doing such a cruel prank. Then a question popped into her head.
"Wait, what about the portraits?"
Everyone turned to look at her, confusion evident on their many faces.
"What do you mean, Lily?" Remus asked, sitting up straighter as he watched her.
"That corridor wasn't empty - there have to be portraits there, right?"
"Sure, I think there’s a couple. But what difference does that make?" Ivy asked, not understanding Lily.
"You think the portraits saw something, don't you?" James said as he figured out what Lily had already noticed.
"Exactly - there had to be someone who saw something, right? There's no way they were all empty at the same time."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Why don't we check it out now?" Sirius said as he got up to his feet. But Remus shook his head.
"It won't be nearly that simple. The whole corridor is probably blocked off, or at least being watched by a teacher or two. Plus, it's almost curfew so there will be plenty of prefects and teachers roaming the halls anyway."
"We don't have to worry about being seen though, do we?" Sirius pointed out.
"We don't?" Ivy asked as both Remus and James groaned and glared at Sirius.
"Why don't we?" Lily asked, suspicion lacing her voice.
"Well, we are wizards and witches, aren't we?" Sirius said, obviously trying to hide something.
"Sure, but none of us know enough magic to become invisible," Ivy pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared Sirius down.
"Or do you have another way?" Lily said as she mirrored the expression, turning her hard stare to James and Remus before returning to Sirius.
Peter, who had been silent the entire time, looked even more nervous, and Lily turned her sights on him, knowing he would be the first to crack.
"Do you know, Peter?" Lily asked, trying to sound calming but knowing that her anxiety was mixing into her voice.
The other boys groaned, knowing Peter would probably give them up. Peter looked around at his friends worriedly, silently asking for help.
James finally sighed. "Fine, come on, Evans, I'll show you."
"Show me what?"
"Come up to our dormitory - this isn't something I want everyone else to see."
"Wait, what about me?" Ivy asked, glaring at James as she stood up. "There's no way you're showing just Lily."
"Fine, let's let everyone know!" Sirius said as he flung his arms up in the air. "Might as well let the whole common room know."
Remus elbowed him, shooting him a glance to quiet him. Sirius glared at him but remained silent.
"Fine," James said again, grabbing Lily's arm and pulling her up from the seat. "But try to be slightly sneaky - we don't want everyone seeing us. Padfoot and I will go with Lily first and then you can come up with Moony and Wormtail."
Ivy looked annoyed that she had to wait but she didn't say anything.
Lily, sandwiched between James and Sirius, hurried up to the dormitory that she had woken up in that morning, although this time she was going up by her own free will.
Once they got up, Lily wasn't sure where to sit. She looked around the room, finally getting a good look at it, without being drunk or in a hurry. The room looked just like her own, only scattered with the boys' things rather than the things found in Lily's own room. But there weren't any chairs, just four beds. Sirius had immediately made himself comfortable on his own bed, and James was sitting down on his own. He saw Lily's indecision on her face and, smirking, he patted the spot next to him. Deciding standing around would be annoying after a while, Lily sat down next to him, although she made sure there was space in between them.
The other three arrived about five minutes later. Ivy sat down on the floor, by Lily's feet, while Remus sat on Lily's other side and Peter squished himself onto Sirius' bed, obviously eager to make sure he was included.
"So, what are we waiting for?" Ivy asked after a while.
James sighed and got up, heading to his trunk at the end of his bed. He opened it out and pulled out a strange-looking cloak.
"What's that?" Lily asked, unsure why he was showing them a simple cloak. But when James put it around his shoulders, she realized why.
"Bloody hell!" Ivy said as she stood up, her eyes searching for James' body, which had now disappeared. "You have an invisibility cloak!"
"Yeah, and we had that secret nice and safe before now," James said as he glared at Sirius, who merely shrugged it off.
"Where'd you get it? Aren't they really rare?" Lily asked as her mind scrambled to remember the little she knew about invisibility cloaks, having not grown up knowing about them.
"Got it from my dad - it's a family heirloom or something. Someday I'll give it to my own kid," James said proudly, pulling it off as his body appeared once again.
"Now that's a scary thought - a mini-James running around," Ivy said with a snort.
"Hey, remember there'll probably be a mix of Lily in the kid, too - even scarier!" Sirius said with a devilish gleam in his eyes as he shot a smirk in Lily's direction.
"Like I'd have a kid with James - that's a scary thought," Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hey!" James said as he sat back down next to her, shaking the bed and bringing Lily unwillingly closer to him. "It could happen."
Lily rolled her eyes and scooted back towards Remus.
"So, Lily and James' kids aside, what are we going to do about the portraits?" Ivy asked, bringing the group's attention back to their original conversation from the common room.
"Well, we can sneak out right now, can't we?"
"There's no way all of us can fit under the cloak, though. At best we're able to fit three of us when we're bent over - there's no way we'd all be covered. We'll have to choose two, maybe three people to go," Remus pointed out.
"Well, Lily should be one of the people," Ivy said, obviously hoping to worm her way into the group on the coattails of her friend. "And someone has to be there to watch out for her."
"I can take care of myself, Ive."
"She's right, Lily - you can take care of yourself, but this person could be dangerous, plus McGonagall suggested always going places with at least one person, so we should probably follow that advice," James said. He paused for a moment before giving his own opinion. "I should go - I could watch her, plus whoever is doing this might not attack me."
"Fine, that's two people. We might be able to fit another person," Remus said, looking at the remaining three faces.
"No offense, Wormtail, but you'll freak out the second we sneak into the corridor, even if there aren't any people in it," Sirius pointed out. "And Ivy is out - there's no way she could keep her cool."
"What?!"
"Ive, he may have a point," Lily suggested gently. "You're my best friend but you tend to crack under pressure. It'd be better if you sat this out."
Ivy glared at her friend but obviously it made sense because she remained silent, sulking.
"That leaves you and me, Moony," Sirius said cheerfully. "Who should go?"
"Remus," Lily said the same time that James chimed in with, "Moony."
"What?!" Now it was Sirius' turn to be outraged. "What's wrong with me?"
"While you never lose your cool, Remus would be the better choice. He's sort of smarter than you, mate."
"So I'm stuck babysitting Parks and Wormtail?" Sirius asked incredulously.
"Well, I wouldn't look at it that way..." James trailed off, at a loss to come up with another way of putting it.
"Hey, I can watch myself!" Ivy said, still smarting from being left out.
"Prongs, I am seriously going to hurt you," Sirius muttered to James as he walked to the door. "Now hurry before I steal that cloak from your hands."
James laughed weakly as Lily and Remus came to his side. The shortest, Lily got sandwiched between the two, with the boys leaning down slightly to keep their feet from appearing.
"Well, this is cozy, isn't it, Evans?" James said with a huge grin planted on his face. "It's like being back in that little tunnel."
"Yeah, but this time I can talk to Remus instead, rather than going crazy spending all my time with you."
"That's not nice!" James said as he attempted to slap her lightly on the back but got Remus instead.
"Oops, sorry, mate!"
"Lily, remember what I said about not wanting to be a third wheel...?"
"Very clearly."
"Wait, are you calling me and Evans a couple?"
"Remus, I'm going to hurt you now."
"Oops..."
"Will you lot shut up?" Sirius shouted at them from the open door. "It's even more annoying because I can't see you!"
"Right, we should probably hurry up and check out the corridor."
The three tried walking forward, but they quickly realized that it wasn't as easy as it seemed - for every step the boys took, Lily had to take two, and the boys kept forgetting to lean over. Ivy and Wormtail entertained themselves with throwing small objects at their exposed feet.
"OK, stop," Remus said, bringing the small group to a halt. "We need to walk slower - that
way Lily can keep up and we're less likely to stand up too straight."
They started again, managing not to become targets for Ivy and Wormtail this time. Sirius rolled his eyes at them as they walked past, although Lily knew he couldn't be totally sure where they were. Once he heard their footsteps on the stairs, though, he closed the door and followed them down. He let them out of the common room with a glare, pretending he had forgotten something out in the hall before heading back in, leaving them with a parting whisper, "I'll be watching for you guys to come back, so hurry."
As they walked away, Lily wondered how he would know when they were back if they were invisible, but decided it was probably another one of the Marauders' tricks that wasn't worth questioning. Instead, she focused on the task at hand.
The halls of the school were strangely empty, though they should be crawling with prefects and teachers alike. Lily felt almost as if they were the only three people left in the school, their footsteps unbearingly loud though they tried to keep them muffled. With every step she took, she flinched and expected someone to come flying around the corner looking for the intruder in the dark night, but no one came.
They reached the roped-off corridor soon enough. There was merely a physical barrier, though, one that was easily climbed under as the group shed the invisibility cloak. The message was still on the wall but Lily could tell that someone had tried to scrub it off. There must have been at least one spell placed on it to keep from easy removal. Lily walked right up to it, holding her hand out but stopping short of touching it. Though it seemed impossible to clean off, it looked like it was some sort of substance and she really didn't want to touch it, especially since it looked eerily like blood.
Feeling rather than seeing, Lily knew that James and Remus had come to either side of her, also inspecting the message. They remained silent, trying to find some hidden, unknown clues, though their time was limited as is.
After a few moments, Lily sighed and turned around, looking at the three portraits that were on the opposite wall.
The first picture housed a young girl who was sleeping on her side, her also-dozing puppy curled up next to her. The landscape behind her was that of a bright, summer's day, and yet she slept easily.
The middle picture held a middle-aged wizard who was busy reading the stacks of books that surrounded his maroon overstuffed chair.
The last picture, though, was the most interesting. Though there was a glass of milk lying next to a plate of cookies on a table, no one occupied the picture. Lily walked up to it, trying to see around the surroundings but unable to due to the lack of a third dimension. She turned to face the two boys. "Who's normally in this picture?"
James and Remus both shrugged. "I thought it was an elderly woman, but now that I think about it, it may have been a man, but I honestly can't remember for sure."
Lily bit her lip and turned back to the picture, trying to figure out why the person wasn't in their rightful picture. Sure, the people of the pictures had free reign through all of the pictures of Hogwarts, but it seemed like the teachers would want all of the portraits by the accident to be occupied to keep an eye out for anyone who came back to the scene of the crime. In fact, the three of them were taking a great risk by not using the invisibility cloak when there were two people who could easily rat them out, though they were both busy at the moment.
But Lily decided to take a risk, and she turned to the man in the middle, clearing her throat to get his attention.
"Why, what are students doing in this corridor at such a late hour? Didn't you realize that it's not allowed?" The man asked incredulously as he lowered his book and saw them. "You could get into serious trouble for this."
"I'm sorry, sir, but this is important. I was wondering if you were here when the message was written."
"Well, I wasn't actually. Most of us - pictures, I mean - were gathered in the main hall watching an epic Wizard's Chess game between two Ravenclaws. It was great fun, really, but when I returned with the little one over there," he gestured to the sleeping girl, "the message was written. You should know this though - I believe we came back when you and the black-haired boy had just gotten here and discovered the message. Bad luck, really. But why are you back?"
"Well, sir, we had been hoping that we could talk to the pictures and find out if they had seen anything."
He sighed. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help. It was strange, really - someone had placed a piece of parchment about the game earlier today, but it seems to have disappeared. It was where the message is right now, actually. But anyway, if it weren't for that, we wouldn't have gone to the game, we'd have been here instead."
Lily bit her lip again, her mind churning as she registered this new information. Then she looked back up at the man. "But, sir, what about the third picture?"
He looked over at the empty portrait she was pointing at. "Well, that's a young man whose name is Henry, I believe. He didn't want to go to the game with us - I can't remember why - but I haven't seen him since we left. I guess he might have been here when the message was written, but I've really no idea where he went. It's not like him to disappear - he's quite attached to his cookies and milk, you see, and he hates it when other people sneak into his portrait and eat them. I haven't the foggiest where he goes when he leaves since it's so rare."
Lily sighed. A dead end.
"I'm sorry I can't be of more help. I could always tell you when he's back. I could zip on over to the Fat Lady - she sort of fancies me, you see - and tell her."
Lily gave him a smile. "That'd be great. I guess we'll just have to keep an eye out for him ourselves, too. What does he look like?"
"Bit of a strange boy, really. He has brown hair and dark blue eyes. In the dark I swear they're black, but I know that's just my imagination getting the best of me. Sweet boy, really, though he's much too attached to his sweets. I hope you find him - we have some interesting conversations. And don't worry; I won't let anyone know that you three snuck in here, although if you make a habit of it I might have to."
"Don't worry - we'd much rather stay in our common room. And thank you for your help."
The three gathered up the invisibility cloak again, and as they threw it over themselves, Lily took one last glance at the empty portrait. She thought she caught a glimpse of a brown curl peeking into the very corner, but it disappeared quickly, and if it had been the boy, Henry, he was already gone.
The three returned to the common room in silence, thinking rather than worrying about being heard.
As promised, when they reached the portrait hole it swung open to reveal Sirius, who allowed them to pass while he picked up something from the ground, probably an object he had dropped when he had come out previously.
Seeing that the common room had already emptied out, James pulled the invisibility cloak off of their hands. The boys took their respective seats while Lily leaned against the fireplace, having refused James and Remus' offers of their chairs.
"When did Ivy and Wormtail leave?" Lily asked, desperate to break the silence.
"Oh, I merely locked them in our dormitory - I was sick of their bickering. They're probably murdering each other in there right now."
"Comforting," Lily muttered under her breath, but she was partially relieved that she didn't have to deal with Ivy's hundreds of questions, although Sirius was sure to have plenty of his own.
She was right, for Sirius then broke the silence himself with a few questions. Lily was happy to allow the boys to answer them while she mulled over everything in her head, trying to figure things out.
The person who wrote the messages was a very smart person. They had waited until most of the people in the portraits were gathered in the main hall rather than their own portraits, and they had found a way to get rid of the remaining person, who had mysteriously remained missing since. They had also used magic to keep the message from being cleaned easily.
Whoever had done it was very clever indeed, but they also seemed fairly dangerous. Lily knew that they couldn't allow this mysterious person to continue their mission of terror - there was a chance that the next thing might not be as harmless as a message written on a wall.
As Lily thought, she realized that the boys had stopped talking, and they seemed to be watching her.
"What?"
"Well, do you have any ideas?" Sirius asked, counting on her to do the hard work.
Lily shook her head, and he groaned, muttering under his breath, "Well, we're screwed."
"We need to talk to that boy, Henry - he has to know something about this."
"So you're suggesting we search every single picture in the castle? That's not exactly how I planned on spending my night, no offense."
"No, I'm just saying we should keep an eye out. And hope that the other picture can help us - maybe Henry will come back on his own and we just need to wait a little while. But, in the meantime, we need to do something about this person."
"And what do you suggest?"
"I have no idea," Lily bit her lip, turning her head down and watching the dying flames of the fire below her.
"Well, whatever we do, you're not going anywhere on your own, Evans," James said. "You should go everywhere with a Marauder."
"What about Ivy?" Lily asked, looking up at James. "Do you think we can't handle anyone without one of you boys?"
"No offense to Ivy, but we know more shortcuts, have more things to help us. You'd be a lot safer with one of us." He paused and then continued, "Well, maybe not with Wormtail, but I'm sure the three of us would be fine."
Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to the fire. She knew that it wouldn't be smart of her to go off on her own, but she didn't want to be reminded. Hogwarts was one of her last safe havens, and she still wasn't safe here, not anymore.
Remus sighed and got up. "Well, it's late, and there isn't anything else we can do right now.
We should all head to bed. Oh, and Padfoot, you should probably let Ivy out of our dormitory - I fear for the safety of Wormtail."
They all left with a little smile on their faces, Lily heading to the right staircase while the boys headed to the other. Lily knew she could wait for Ivy, but she wasn't in the mood for more thinking right now - she'd much rather get into her bed and dream, escaping all of the stress of the day. It'd been a very long day; it was hard to remember that just yesterday she was at a party. Perhaps the next day would go better, but with how the year had gone so far, it didn't look like that was going to be possible.
Lily managed to slip under her blanket right before the door opened, a frustrated Ivy rushing into the room. If it weren't for their sleeping roommates and Lily's own apparent sleeping form, Lily knew Ivy would be bombarding her with dozens of questions, but Lily was safe for that night, at least. Ivy stomped around slightly but she was soon also wrapped into her own bed, her breathing becoming calm as she drifted off to sleep.
But Lily couldn't fall asleep. Instead, she was left staring up at the top of her four-poster bed, the colors blending into one as her eyes remained unblinking. There were so many thoughts, half-finished ideas and plans that were flashing through her head, barely holding her attention before another concept began to form. There was so much to think about but Lily couldn't focus, and she felt so tired but unable to fall asleep herself. She desperately wanted to move but at the same time felt too weak. She couldn't wait to fall asleep so that she could stop thinking. Perhaps she would end up dreaming about running around in a field of wildflowers, far away from all the troubles of the wizarding world and the Muggle world around it. Perhaps there would be unicorns to ride, butterflies to chase, and clouds to watch. The sun would be shining on her pale skin, yet it wouldn't burn her - instead, it would cloak her in a warm blanket, like the one around her right now.
Just thinking about that made Lily smile, and soon her eyes were flickering as they closed, and she fell asleep without even realizing it. Her dreams were indeed blissful, not full of all the ugliness of her world when she was awake. She was with Petunia, back when they were friends, back when things were simpler. It wasn't a huge, green field, but it was just as great - she was in the park where she had spent so much time with her sister when they were young. There weren't any students from Hogwarts, not even Severus, who had snuck his way through many of her young memories.
By the time the sunshine on her face woke her up, she felt none of the stress of the previous night. Rather, she awoke with a smile on her face and hope in her heart. Perhaps today really would be better, perhaps things would go well.
That hope pushed her out of bed, floating around her as she got ready and headed downstairs, leaving her friend in her own dreams rather than interrupting them.
When Lily reached the bottom of the stairs, she came to a stop in front of James and Remus, who were both dozing in front of the fireplace.
"I would say you're up early, but you aren't really awake." Lily said with a laugh in her voice as she came in front of the boys.
They both awoke with a jerk, looking up to see her.
"Oh, we were just here in case you tried to sneak out, but I guess we did a bad job of keeping an eye on you, huh?" James said as he ran his hand through his hair, messing his bed head up further.
Lily smirked. "Well, since I'm in such a great mood, I'll allow you two to escort me to breakfast, if you can even keep your eyes open long enough."
The two boys got up with yawns and the three headed out of the common room.
As the portrait of the Fat Lady swung shut, though, they were stopped by a voice behind them.
"Excuse me, Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter and Lupin. I have a message from a friend of mine."
"Yes?" Lily asked as she turned around, hope lifting her spirits further.
"He said you'd understand it: Henry has returned."