Disclaimer - I don't own anything Harry Potter.
“Ok, here’s what we’ll do. Peter and Thaliana-”
“It’s Thali,” Thaliana interrupted James, folding her arms. James shot
her a sour look.
“Ok, Peter and Thali, you take the first floor and work your way upwards; we’re not sure if Remus was actually outside when the earthquake hit. I’m going to go outside with Sirius. Jada, you pair up with-”
Now it was Jada’s turn to be indignant. “I’m not staying in here!” she protested. “Remus could be in trouble!”
James tried to look patient. “That is why me and Sirius are going outside to find him,” he explained slowly and patronizingly, as if to a three year old.
“You have no chance of finding him without a girl there!” Jada cried.
James looked outraged. “You? You would just mess things up!”
Jada stared at him, and she seemed to be fighting the urge to cry. James
began to look uncomfortable; he didn’t want to be responsible for two girls
getting upset in one day.
“But Jada, wouldn’t you rather…?”
“No. I wouldn’t rather.” Jada replied stubbornly.
James saw that he was fighting a losing battle; when Jada actually stood up
for herself, she saw to it that she got her way.
“Ok, you can come with me. Sirius, you pair up with Roxanna. Lily…you can, um…” Lily was staring at him fiercely.
The group was interrupted by Robert, who had fought his way through the crowd to them.
“Are you all alright?” he demanded.
Lily smiled despite herself. “Yes, we are. Remus on the other hand…”
“Is missing,” James interrupted her. “And we need to find him now.”
“Ok then, Robert and I will go together,” Lily decided.
“I haven’t said you can yet,” James protested.
“Who put you in charge? I don’t actually care what you say I can or can’t do James Potter,” Lily growled.
James was getting very impatient. ‘Ok, fine. Everyone ignore me and do what you want!”
“Ok then, lets go!” Jada urged.
“Remus!” Peter called down the empty passageways, his voice echoing repeatedly.
Thaliana shoved him angrily. “Shut up, will you?” she hissed. “In case you’ve forgotten, we aren’t supposed to be out here!”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Well, how the hell are we supposed to find him?” he demanded.
“Peter, can you see me?” asked Thaliana suddenly, sounding worried.
“Of course,” Peter replied, confused by the sudden question.
Thaliana looked skeptical. “How many fingers am I holding up?” she questioned, holing up three fingers.
“Three,” Peter answered, raising an eyebrow.
“Hmm,” Thaliana pretended to be deeply immersed in thought. “So your eyes are in perfect working order?”
“Yes, obviously!” Peter was starting to get impatient.
“Ok then, well I suggest you use them. After all, that’s why we were given them.”
Peter looked sulky. “But I am using them,” he protested.
“Get behind this tree!” James ordered, pulling Jada away from the light.
Jada looked up to see Pringle, the caretaker, glance suspiciously out of the window.
“What will happen if he catches us?” Jada whispered to James worriedly.
James shrugged offhandedly. “Who knows? Whipped if we’re lucky…”
“Lucky?!” Jada cried.
“Well, there’s a boy I know in his fourth year who was left for a night or two hanging by his wrists. You know; Todd Caster, the guy I live next-door to?”
Jada nodded, shuddering.
“He’s still got the marks,” James told his cousin, who was looking slightly sick.
“Of course, if you don’t want any of that to happen to you, you can go inside and swap with Sirius…” James mentioned casually.
”Oh, so that’s what you want is it?” Jada reared up again. “Well you can think again James. Honestly, you’d think it was Sirius you grew up with and knew all of your life and not me!”
James had the grace to look a little ashamed, and kept quiet for awhile.
“You don’t think he could be in the girls dormitories, do you?” Sirius suggested.
Roxanna flipped around to face him. “Ok, first of all, no. Second: Sirius, that’s totally perverted! Third: why the hell would he be in there? Fourth: you just want to go up there don’t you?”
Sirius concentrated. “First of all, why not? Second: no it’s not! There’s no one up there! Third: use your imagination. Fourth: maybe.”
Roxanna laughed. “Um… First: do you really want to see? Second: yes it is. Third: it’s still perverted! Fourth: yuck-that-is-disgusting-and-wrong!”
Sirius rolled his eyes playfully. “First: yes. I can’t be bothered answering the rest.”
“Ok, if you insist…” Roxanna relented.
“Where could he be?” Lily was on breaking point. She and Robert had searched everywhere they could think of, and still he was nowhere to be found.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Robert comforted her.
“But what if he’s not?” she cried, on the verge of panicking.
“Lily, I’m sure he is, you don’t need to-”
“We need to find him!” Lily muttered, pacing back and forth.
“What, do you like him or something?” Robert demanded with a slight edge to his voice.
Lily turned around. “Why would you care?” she asked slyly.
Robert turned a shade of red. “I wouldn’t, at all. I’d be glad for you. Really, I w-”
He cut himself off, staring at a point behind Lily with round eyes.
“That door wasn’t there before,” he said, backing away slightly.
“What door?” asked Lily, turning around to be face to face with a large wooden door.
“Ok, that’s a little weird…” she trailed off.
”Are you going to go in?” asked Robert, taking a cautious step forward.
“Alright,” she said, cautiously reaching out to grab the bronze handle.
“Remus?” Peter whispered, opening a door.
Thaliana was getting impatient. “Now Peter, why in the world would he be in there?”
“We need to cover all ground,” said Peter defensively.
“Whatever you say,” Thaliana rolled her eyes, and allowed Peter to lead her in the closet.
The door slammed shut behind them, and Thaliana flipped around.
“No…” she whispered, trying to wrench the door open. “It won’t open.”
“Oh well, someone will let us out,” Peter shrugged.
“But, that could take awhile, and I’ll be stuck in here...with you!”
“Count yourself lucky!” Peter smiled.
Thaliana’s horrified shriek filled the halls of the castle.
“So, why is everyone supposed to stay inside?” asked Jada.
James looked at her, surprised that she even had to ask.
“Well, to keep everyone in one place so they can check if we’re hurt, and to keep us safe if an aftershock comes,” he explained, casually.
“Ok, two things. One: what happens when they realize we’re not there? Two: what’s an aftershock?” Jada asked suspiciously.
“Well, we’re probably going to get caught, but if we do, I’d rather we get caught after Remus is safe. The teachers probably won’t believe us if we tell them, they’ll just act like they know everything like usual. An aftershock is the earthquake that sometimes comes after the first one.”
Jada stared at him disbelievingly, her mouth slightly open.
“Here it is,” Roxanna said, stepping out of Sirius’s way. He looked like a kid in a candy store.
Sirius took a step forward, and then hesitated. “Wait, why aren’t you going? Is there a trap?” he asked suspiciously.
“No, no trap,” Roxanna told him innocently. To prove her point, she ran up the stairs. Sirius waited till she had reached the top, and then, convinced, he followed her.
Sirius didn’t get very far before he found himself sliding backwards in a heap. He hit his head hard on the concrete below, and swore loudly at Roxanna.
Roxanna giggled, and came down the slide after him.
“Why the hell did you let me do that woman?” cried Sirius, struggling dramatically in his attempt to pull himself up.
“Because it was funny,” Roxanna giggled, helping him up.
Sirius muttered incoherent something about sick senses of humour.
Lily gasped as the door opened and revealed a room full of stuff. She walked forward slowly, taking in every item in the room.
There were telescopes, binoculars, atlases, maps, magnifying glasses, pads of paper and much more; pretty much everything you would need to find someone.
“Whoa,” Robert muttered as he entered the room behind her, carefully shutting the door.
“Look at this,” Lily gasped, holding up a map of the school. As it opened up, labeled dots moved around the page. On closer inspection, Lily realised that they represented students and teachers, moving around in swarms.
“Robert, come and look at this,” she murmured, studying the map, spellbound.
“That is so cool,” he breathed, leaning in close to her. Their heads touched, but neither of them did anything to stop it.
“This is the strangest room that I’ve ever seen,” Lily whispered, not knowing why she did so.
“A lot of strange things happen when I’m with you,” Robert laughed. He made it sound as an offhand remark, but Lily couldn’t help but wonder if there was something more behind it.
She smiled, and felt herself turning red. “You know, I don’t have a crush on Remus,” she said, watching his face carefully for a reaction.
“Oh really?” Robert asked.
Lily nodded. “Just so you know; I’d be a lot more worried if it were you out there.”
Robert couldn’t have smiled brighter or wider.
Remus held tightly with both hands to the crumbling edge of the newly made ravine. His shoes scraped against the edge of the damp earth, trying in vain to get a foothold.
His heart was pounding wildly, and his voice caught in his throat; he was too terrified to cry out for help.
Besides, he thought. Even if I could there would be no-one around to hear me.
Suddenly, the earth gave way, and he fell a foot or two, before grabbing onto a crevice in the sides of the cliff.
Here, he managed to lodge his shoes into the earth, which took a great weight off his hands.
Ok, think clearly. Just think of something, something, he told himself, trying to keep calm. But what could he do?
Roxanna led the way, past the many doorways, Sirius struggling to keep up.
“So, what did you hear again?” Sirius panted as he followed her.
“I swear I heard someone scream!” Roxanna called after him.
“Remus?” she cried out down the echoing halls.
“Roxy?” asked a hopeful voice. Roxanna paused.
“Thali?” she inquired, confused.
“Roxy, get me out of here! He’s driving me crazy!”
The voice came from the doorway Roxanna and Sirius had stopped in front of.
Roxanna pointed her wand at the door. “Alohamora!” she recited.
The door sprang open and Thaliana made a wild leap out of it, reminding Roxanna very much of a cat jumping out of water.
“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” she screamed.
She was closely followed by a sheepish looking Peter.
“Oh I will kill you Peter!” Thaliana screeched. “’Do you know any spells? Well we aren’t much help in here. How do we get out? Why don’t you know? Well you should know!”
Roxanna and Sirius exchanged nervous glances as Thaliana continued.
“Want to play a game? Why not, it will pass the time! What’s the matter Thali? Are you feeling sick?” Thaliana mimicked, with an insane look about her.
Roxanna stared at her for a moment. “Ok, let’s get you out of here Thali…” she decided, and she and Sirius led her away from the closet of doom.
“Remus?” called James, feeling a little sick. He was getting a very bad feeling. “Remus?” he tried again, his voice barely a whisper. “James, it’s all right,” Jada comforted him.
“No, it’s not! He’s not out here! We can’t find him! Anything could have happened to him!” James choked.
“James, I’m sure he-” Jada started to say, but she was interrupted by the best and worst thing they had heard all day.
“James? James is that you? Help!”
James and Jada took one look at each other and began to run wildly.
“Come on Robert, he’s not far from here!” Lily cried, sprinting forward as fast as she could go. “He’s right near those trees over there!”
They had quickly found Remus on the map before, and now they were hurrying to find him.
Lily let out a scream as the ground beneath her began to shake, and lift, catching her off guard. She went flying forwards, and crashed harshly into
the ground.
“Lily!” Robert cried, and he ran forward, battling against the rapidly moving Earth. He leapt towards her, and threw himself over her, using his body as a shield against anything that might fall against them.
“Remus, are you all right?” Jada called in a panicked voice down the black depths of the crack in the Earth.
“Yes, I will be if you can help me up!” Remus answered in a shaky voice.
“We can never reach him,” James realised, with a look of terror on his face.
”Hold onto me James, quick!” Jada instructed him, and she began to lower herself down into the gaping crevice.
James held tightly onto her waist, letting his cousin drop a little way down towards his friend.
“Can you reach him?” James demanded.
“Almost!” Jada called back.
Suddenly, the Earth moved again in a terrible aftershock.
James was thrown off balance, yet he somehow managed to hold onto Jada, even though her whole body up to her knees was inside the ravine.
Jada and Remus both let out screams of terror, and then everything went silent and still.
“REMUS!” James screamed.
”What?” asked Remus, panting. “Jada’s got me, hurry up and pull us out will you?”
James pulled backwards, struggling with the weight of his two friends, and he felt his grip slip a little.
“Jada, James, are you alright?” Lily’s voice demanded from somewhere behind James.
James was unable to answer, but Robert was suddenly beside him, helping him to pull. It wasn’t long before all four of them were safe on solid ground, and everyone began to fuss over Remus.
“I’m fine,” he told them all, though he couldn’t stop shaking.
“Promise me you’ll never go out for a walk in the middle of an earthquake again!” James pleaded.
Remus laughed and readily agreed.
“And then, we had to go back to the Common Room, because Pringle caught us out,” finished Roxanna. “His head almost exploded!”
Everyone laughed, just happy to be back in the safety of the Gryffindor Common room.
“Well, the aftershock happened right as James was dangling me down that hole, but just as Remus lost his grip, I grabbed his wrist, because James fell forward, giving me enough length.” Jada told the rest of them.
“And James was losing his grip just as Robert arrived. We came right after he’d finished ‘protecting me’ from the earthquake!” Lily laughed.
Robert shoved her. “Well, you’re alive, so obviously, it worked!” he reasoned. Lily laughed.
The eight of them were all in very good moods because they had gotten away with simply a lecture, once the teachers found out that they had saved Remus’s life.
Remus was up in the Hospital Wing, as Madame Pomfrey wanted to check him over for ‘signs of shock and severe trauma’.
“He’s just as fine as I was on the first day of school, when Sna- I mean, I fell in the lake. She seems to want to find something wrong! She always looks really disappointed when she doesn’t!” James joked, recovering from his slip up.
“Well she is fairly new, maybe she just wants to prove herself,” Lily reasoned.
“Oh, so you’re talking to me again?” asked James.
Lily set her face. “No,” she said simply, and left it at that.
Ok, I know I havent updated in awhile, so I'm going to add a little teaser for next chapter: The soon-to-be Marauders decide another prank is the way to brighten up the day, and we find out just how panicked a classroom can get...
Review Challenge, everyones favourite part! *chorus's of groans from readers* OK, this chapters challenge is : What (in your own opinion, lucky guesses come in big time here people) do you think it will take for James and Lily to be friends again, and how long it will take, eg: next chapter - year 7. The reviewers that are closest will appear in the making-up chapter's review challenge section. Have fun, hope you liked this chapter!!