(not so) empty castle corridors
11:55 pm, 2nd of November
It was almost midnight. Everyone in the dorms was fast asleep. James layed in his bed and stared at the ceiling. Nights were the most peaceful hours of the day. Even though James himself had always preferred the daylight over the darkness, had always enjoyed the sun over the moon, he loved the feeling of peacefulness and comfort the night provided him. He loved to wander the empty halls when everyone else slept quietly in their beds. To let his thoughts wander uninterrupted. It was like he could breathe in deeply, not worry about anything else besides himself. James exhaled slowely.
5 minutes, and Sirius turned 18. 5 minutes and he would wake up Remus and Sirius to start their midnight feast. Sirius had told him about his birthday nights with Regulus when they were children once and since then James had made sure to throw him a midnight feast on every one of his birthdays. It was a nice tradition in his opinion. One that was definitely worth keeping alive. He had sent Peter down to the kitchens just about 45 mintutes ago to get as many snacks as he could carry. His job was to make a comfortable nest of blankets and pillows for them to sit and play games as soon as the clock struck midnight.
Slowly James got up from his bed and made his way over to Remus'. 3 minutes until they had to wake Sirius. Nervousness spread in his bones when he realised Peter was still not here. 2 minutes left. Where was he?
James drew back the curtains to Remus bed and found said laying awake and staring at the ceiling like he did just minutes ago.
"Can't sleep?" he whispered. Remus turned his head to look at him. "Nah."
"Nervous?" James asked and smiled reassuringly at his friend.
Remus cocked an eyebrow. "About what?"
"I don't know." James admitted and nodded to Sirius' bed. "Common, we gotta wake up Pads."
Sighing Remus rolled himself out of bed and put on one of his thick green jumpers. Then they creeped over to Sirius' bed. James let Remus do the job of waking up their friend. Somehow Sirius always punched him when he tried to wake him up but when Remus did it, he reduced it do only moaning annoyed and throwing insults. Which was an improvement.
Remus shook Sirius awake mumling "Happy birthday Pads, now get the fuck up we have a feast to attend to." It was amusing to James how he always managed to sound like a bloody prick but in a nice way. Moony was the definition of a kind asshole, or a rude softie, whatever you wanted to call it. And honestly James loved him for it. Not just James. Against Remus' believes, a lot of girls actually adored him and James heard them whisper behind his back about him. He was honestly surprised that none of them had tried to love potion him or send him letters. Maybe it was because Sirius send everyone death glares who just dared to look at Remus too closely.
Sirius groaned "Fuck off" and put his middlefinger in the direction he suspected Remus to stand. He just chuckled softly and caught Sirius finger in the air, pulling at it.
James rolled his eyes and yelled "Happy Birthday mate!" to wake Sirius up by hopefully destroying his eardrums. At that moment Peter came bursting through the door panting "Im not late, I'm not late!" His cheeks were glowing red and his hair was slightly sticking to his head due to the sweat his body produced from him apparently running back to the dorm. James surpressed another roll of his eyes and just lifted one eyebrow nodding in the direction of Padfoot's bed.
"Oh", Peter exclaimed as he saw them already standing over the bed. A moment later he just slammed the door shut and yelled: "Happy birthday, Sirius!" as if he didn't just burst in like a bomb falling upon them.
James chuckled and beamed at his friend. "Pete! I see you got the snacks. Thanks, mate i knew i could count on you." His heart felt lighter now that ke knew they wouldn't awkwardly have to wait on Peter, worrying that Filch caught him.
Peter cleared his throat and nodded. "Anytime. Here Prongs." He handed him the invisibility cloak and the map so he could hide them under the loose plank beneath his bed. The map was technically Remus' and not James' but they all agreed to let James hide it along with his invisibility cloak so they didn't have to search for a second hinding place.
"Okay lads, let the feast begin." James clapped his hands and plopped down on the nest of blankets he set up ealier. Remus dragged Sirius out of bed by his arm, or rather his middlefinger and pulled him over to James. When they were all sat down, Peter threw his haul of sweets in the middle and pulled out a deck of cards out of his pockets.
James smiled mischievously and rubbed his hands together. "Now, with what game do we start?"
*****
1:50 am, 3rd of November
James couldn't sleep.
The others had just gone to sleep. But he couldn't switch of his overactive mind so doing the same would be hard. James sighed and rolled to the other side of his bed. He shut his eyes fiercely and tried to think of something calming. Something soft. Something that would distract him from his rushing thoughts. Something....
Sheeps.
Sheeps.
Fluff. White sheeps. A meadow.
Sheeps.
James rolled his eyes behind his closed eyelids. Just repeatedly thinking the word sheep won't make him fall asleep for sure. What was wrong with his brain sometimes? Okay he just had to think of something else. Maybe water? Waves? He loved the ocean but to be honest the wild crushing waves of the sea did not calm him down at all. They excited him. Let adrenaline and joy rush through his veins. Maybe not the best method to fall asleep.
A few minutes later he heard the big clock strike 2 am. He sat up at once. Maybe he just didn't exercise enough today. That did happen sometimes and led to him not be able to sit still for a minute. Or led to lack of sleep. Like tonight. James pushed the blanket of his legs and swung them over the edge of his bed.
Maybe going for a walk would help.
As quietly as possible he got the map and cloak out of their hiding place, threw on fluffy socks and a jumper he stole from Moony and snuck out of their dorm. Usually he wouldn't sneek out as quietly because his mates knew his habit of wandering around the castle in the middle of the night but today he had the strange desire to not be noticed. Sometimes Sirius would follow him outside and they would sit in the astronomy tower and talk about nothing and everything but today James wanted to be alone.
His way across the common room and through the painting of the fat lady went by smoothly.
15 minutes later he found himself on top of the astronomy tower as always, cursing himself for not bringing a blanket to sit on. It wasn't the warmest time of the year and the stone ground was not just rock hard but also as cold as Remus' death stare.
James let his gaze wander across the sky, searching for constellations he knew. He never had been the type to obsess over the stars but since Sirius had quite the knowledge they would sit here sometimes and Sirius would show him his favourite constellations, amongst them his own star of course. "The brightest star in the sky" as he always rubbed under James' nose. As he didn't already know that. He had seen that star plenty of times, watched it plenty of times and even talked to it when he felt lonely. Sometimes he felt stupid talking to a star but then he thought: People talk to their pets, what so different about a star?
Even tonight he looked for Sirius' star. Just to be disappointed. The winter wasn't along far enough for him to be able to see it. Sirius rose in december or late winter however you wanted to say it. It being November he should've known better than to even look for it.
James let his eyes wander over the black night sky one last time, admiring the stars that did shine, then turned his gaze downwards. He pulled out the map and opened it. Carefully he layed it on the cold ground before him and pulled out his wand.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"
His voice, even wispered, echoed through the tower walls. A tap on the parchment before him and the whole castle of Hogwarts started to draw itself. Every corridor, every classroom, window and every single person currently on the castle grounds appeared in seconds.
Instantly his eyes darted to the gryffindor tower, looking for the marauders, checking that they were all safe and asleep. His heart stopped for a moment when he didn't see Peter in his bed but a smile spread only a moment later when he noticed his name flowing around in his girlfriends room.
Such a heartbreaker, our Pete.
He chuckled to himself and let his eyes wander over the parchment. Dumbledore was pacing in his study. Filch was wandering aroung the halls near the library with Mrs. Norris. Snape was in the potions classroom, probably preparing some potion for Slughorn. Such a slimeball he was. No wonder Slughorn always favoured him. Even though Snape wasn't in the 'Slug-Club'. Pretty ironic if you asked James.
He let his eyes wander back to the gryffindor tower. Suddenly his heart stopped for a second.
There.
Right on front of the entrance to the gryffindor common room. A name tag. James' breath hitched.
Impossible. It couldn't be. He was dead! How could he be in Hogwarts?
The flowing name tag read in its cursive font the name 'Regulus Black'.
How was that possible? Regulus Black, Sirius' brother, the Regulus, was dead! But his name was written there clearly in black ink.
James shook his head. Was he imagining things? He rubbed his eyes and looked again.
But the name had disappeared. Completely. James quickly let his eyes dart of over the whole map. Where was it? Gone. Not in the gryffindor tower nor the library or anywhere else could he find Regulus again.
Of course. Because Regulus was dead. There was no way..
Maybe he was dreaming. Maybe he fell asleep in the astronomy tower. James pinched himself in the right arm.
"Ouch"
His voice echoed through the space again. No he wasn't dreaming. Definitely awake. He hecticly searched the map again. Every corridor. Every room. Every hall. No Regulus.
James mentally punched himself. Had he become so sleep deprived that he hallucinated?
There was no other explanation than that. Because there was definitely no way that he just actually saw what he saw. No way.
James shook his head again. He should definitely go to sleep. Maybe then things would clear up. He took one last glance at the map. Then he grabbed the wand, he laid beside him earlier and tabbed the map again.
"Mischief managed"