Our Visions Of Colours

Sirius chatted merrily with Frank Longbottom, pretending like nothing was wrong just in case Remus, Peter and the girls had gotten themselves in trouble.

Sirius knew first hand how uncomfortable it was to get howlers sent, she could still see that blood red paper in their dreams sometimes.

Frank was saying something about quidditch but Sirius was only half listening. They felt a little rude about it but in her defense it was a very stressful series of happenings that had put him in this position.

“Yeah I’d love to join the team actually, and James is obsessed with the idea”, she agreed and Frank beamed like a beacon in the night.

“That would be awesome!”, he exclaimed and smiled so widely it was a wonder his cheeks didn’t crack open like porcelain.

“Yeah? Really?”

“Yes absolutely this is great news!”, Frank said and then got serious as he added, “what about those others running around with you?”

And that’s how the perfect opportunity to ask came up.
“I don’t know actually. Marlene would definitely join, Peter i’m not so sure about and Remus… I have no idea. Speaking of… have you seen them recently?”

Sirius waited quietly for the response and where it might lead them.
“Not that I can recall no”, Frank said and Sirius felt all of his hope drain out, pooling on the floor like gray goo. Like a liquid full of sorrow and pained souls. “You haven’t seen Alice have you?”, Frank added then.
Sirius frowned.

“No I haven’t. Do you think they’d be together somewhere?”

Frank bit his lip, pulling a small piece of skin off of it to reveal soft, red flesh. “Maybe. Alice knows Lily.”

Lily Evans. That bastard of a little girl. She had entangled herself so far into Sirius’ life in just a couple of months and he didn’t know what to do with it. And that wasn’t because he didn’t like her - he thinks they might’ve - but rather because she didn’t like him and it was painfully obvious.

Sirius didn’t want to deal with people who didn’t like her. There was enough of that as it was. That’s why Lily’s mere presence stressed them out a bit.

Sirius hesitated but only for such a small second it was barely even noticeable.
“…Wanna help me look for them?”

Frank looked surprised, eyes widening and eyebrows raising up, wrinkling his forehead.
“Yeah, sure”, he agreed, “d’ya think they’re lost? In trouble maybe?”

Sirius didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how much to say. Her gaze flicked back towards the direction that led to James. They regretted leaving him there, feeling a little bit weaker without her better half.

“I don’t know”, she said finally. Deciding that the truth was the best way to go, just this once.

“Suppose we’ll find out”, Frank smiled, revealing a small dimple. His black hair was kinda messy and it looked like he hadn’t slept as much as he should’ve - but in his eyes burned delightful determination.

“Suppose so”, Sirius agreed. “I’ll go ask around at the Hufflepuff’s and the Ravenclaw’s and you take the Slytherins”, she said. Refusing to go anywhere near those snakes and the very possible danger of running into family that would be much better kept apart.

“Great, Alice knows this girl there, Dorcas, maybe I can ask her. Ask the Ravenclaw’s about a girl named Emmeline if you’re having trouble, she knows a lot of people - Alice included.”

Sirius nodded, only spending a quick moment wondering about why Frank knew so much about Alice’s friends and acquaintances. And why Alice was so social.

Then he left Gryffindor common room and headed towards Ravenclaw tower.

❍

Peter stumbled. Fell.
His knees took a lot of the damage, as did his palms. Bruises and scrubs.

Howls sounded in the distance. Terrible growls and the loudness of something big hitting the ground over and over and over.

Peter scrambled to get up off the ground, feeling the dirt pressing in under his nails and leaving dark smudges on his skin.

It was freezing.

Peter wanted to scream after Lily, to find her before it was too late but he was too much of a coward. Couldn’t bring himself to reveal his position like that.

Couldn’t sacrifice himself to the beast like that.

Peter didn’t really know if he considered himself worthy of life but he sure as hell wasn’t ready to give it up yet, not even for a noble cause. He wasn’t much for nobleness. That was James and Marlene and Sirius’ area.
Noble as marble all of them.

Peter thought to himself, as he was raising himself off the dirty leaves, that they were perfect for symbolism and metaphors and comparison.

Compare, compare, compare.

If they were a kingdom Marlene would be the king. She’d be prepared to make the difficult decisions, the choices she would be hated for, strong enough to bear what others can’t.
James would be the well meaning prince. Big ideas and strong morals. Always prepared to give new chances to people, always willing to sacrifice pieces of himself for others. A prince who would take care of the people in the kingdom.
Sirius would be a knight. The strongest one, the most outstanding soldier. Deadly with his sword, sharp edges and determination. Bravery running through their very blood, intoxicating their veins. Everything about her designed for protecting others.
Peter didn’t know Remus that well but understood enough to know he’d be the advisor of the kingdom as well as the librarian. He’d know all the answers, the most important lense to observe things through. He’d be a balance between the too good and the too evil.

Peter… well, Peter would be a servant. Catering to the stronger parts of the kingdom, always there as a backup of a backup of a backup. The first to get killed in a horror movie. The one most likely to surrender to the great evil before the others. Like a rodent hiding in the walls.

He wasn’t proud of it, not in the slightest. Peter wanted to be the prince or the knight. He wanted to be the one prepared to take on the big fights like Sirius, or the one with the biggest heart like James.

But he wasn’t. He was just Peter.

And Peter didn’t try to find Lily. He only got to his feet and kept running, away from the beast snarling in the woods.

Never looking back.

Not once.

❍

Rosalind Bungs was holding a blue vase. A blue vase filled with pink flowers and green leaves, plastic hearts sticking up through the greenery here and there.

There was a card attached to the flowers. And another one to the chocolates. And another one to the glitter in a bottle. And another one to a sack of candy. And another one just because.

She was good at writing out her feelings, putting them into letters and cards for the people she loved.

Rosalind loved Lucinda. They didn’t know each other that well and Lucinda definitely wouldn’t even consider them friends. Love was probably off the table completely.

But Rosalind loved Luci anyway. Because love was what she was best at, her body filled to the very edges with it. Rosalind didn’t know how to hate. It wasn’t in her blood. And she didn’t want it to be either.

Loving this much? It could get overwhelming quickly. But that didn’t make it any easier to stop it from happening, it was out of her control. And even if she was able to control it she wouldn’t lessen it for a second.

Ending up in Slytherin had been a surprise for everyone who knew her, even herself. She’d thought she’d be a Hufflepuff, or possibly even a Ravenclaw.

But Slytherin’s outstanding quality was ambition though, wasn’t it? And Rosalind was ambitious - that much was true.

She’d go to any lengths for love. She viewed love as success, the more people she cared for the more successful she felt. It just hurt a lot when they didn’t reciprocate, which was most of the time.
Like Lucinda Talkalot.

But it was okay because Rosalind didn’t break. Never. She was durable and persistent, determined and ambitious. She’d love Luci until the end of time and die knowing she’d succeeded at never losing that care for them.

Stubbornness ran in her blood alongside the love apparently.

Rosalind took a pink, heart shaped caramel and popped it into her mouth, feeling the sweetness spread and cover her tongue. It was perfect, everything she loved pressed into one little creation.

Pink, hearts, love and sweetness.

Rosalind greeted the many familiar faces on her way back to the hospital wing with a big smile on her face. Her angel wings bumped into people a lot and she apologized with a charming laugh and a lot of compliments.
One of her specialties, in fact. Giving out compliments, that is. She didn’t care if it got awkward, people deserved to know the nice things she thought about them.

It was harder now, though.

Every time her thoughts returned to Lucinda’s bruised face she felt the lump in her throat grow bigger however. Tears threatening to flood her eyes.

Rosalind wasn’t above crying. She cried at least once a day. She considered that one of the things that made her strong.

But she preferred not to cry in public. Too much concern towards her made her feel uneasy. She was the one supposed to be concerned about others, even though she appreciated that she was thought of.

Therefore Rosalind bit her tongue and didn’t cry, wouldn’t let herself cry until she reached the comfort of Dorcas and Madam Pomfrey.

Rosalind loved Dorcas and had done so since their very first interaction; during which she’d accidentally stumbled into the poor girl and they’d both apologized and started to laugh awkwardly.

Dorcas probably didn’t even really know who Rosalind was, but that was okay. She understood that her way of being was rather unusual and overwhelming for others sometimes and that was fine. That was just how things was sometimes.

“Hey wait!”, someone shouted and Rosalind stopped and threw a glance over her shoulder, both hoping and not hoping that it was meant for her. And it was.

That was kind of rare and it made her cheeks grow rosier and her eyes shine brighter.

An older boy with black hair, chubby exterior and seemingly east asian ran up to her and smiled down at her. He was like a decimeter taller.

“Yeah?”, Rosalind asked and gripped her many gifts tighter as to not drop them.

“Have you seen Alice Fortescue? Second-year Gryffindor?”

“Uh… No, I can’t say I have, I’m sorry”, she replied and hated that she was letting him down.

“Shit. They said you knew a lot of people”, he muttered and then seemed to remember something that he was embarrassed about forgetting. “Marlene McKinnon? Remus Lupin? Lily Evans? Peter Pettigrew? Mary Macdonald? You haven’t seen any of those either? First year Gryffindors the whole lot of them.”

Rosalind’s forehead formed soft wrinkles as her nose scrunched up while thinking gently.
“I don’t think so, no”, she answered finally and thought as far back as she could. “I could tell you where Dorcas Meadowes and Lucinda Talkalot are but that’s about it right now. If you give me a couple of minutes maybe I can ask around and find them? It’s true what they say - I know quite the lot of people.”

He hesitated. Literal seconds ticked by and she was starting to get worried, wanting to get to Dorcas faster. She knew she needed the comfort and Dorcas did too.

“Okay. Yeah, okay, I’ll help you on the way”, he said and plucked the chocolates and flowers right out of her hands, leaving her with way less a risk of dropping and crushing everything.

“Thank you”, she said and smiled at him.

“No problem”, he grinned.
“I’m Frank by the way. Frank Longbottom.”

“Rosalind Bungs.”

“Yeah I know”, he said and looked kind of sheepish as he said it. “I’ve been asking around for a bit and your name was brought up a couple of times.”

This made Rosalind beam even brighter. People referred to her when others asked. They saw her as someone who could help, someone who knew a lot of people.

“Well, you can call me Rosi”, she said and smiled even harder. “That’s what my friends say.”

-

When they stepped inside of the hospital wing Dorcas’ head whipped around faster than a golden snitch escaping a seeker’s hand.

“Bungs”, she whispered and Rosalind set off towards her, dragging Frank along with her.

“Cassie”, she greeted and Dorcas frowned but didn’t say anything about the nickname.

“What’s all this?”, she asked instead and nodded towards the gifts in Rosalind and Frank’s arms.

“Something special for when Luci wakes up, like I said.”

Hesitation.

“Okay, but it won’t fit on the bedside table”, Dorcas argued.

“That’s okay we’ll just put it on the floor or the bed then. Where’s Madam Pomfrey?”

Rosalind placed the candy and cards on the table and Frank set the vase there as well and then laid the chocolates on the edge of Luci’s bed. Rosalind refused to look at the poor girl until she felt like she could relax, and she couldn’t yet. She had to help Frank first.

“She said she had to go take care of some stuff, it’s like five AM so I assume it’s some preparation for the day to come”, Dorcas explained and Rosalind nodded along like a mechanical doll stuck in a single motion.

“Okay, Cassie you haven’t seen…?”, but Rosalind was interrupted by a loud voice from the other side of the infirmary, just as Frank had opened his mouth to ask “what on earth is wrong with that girl?” referring to Lucinda’s bruised face.

“Frank!”, a young kid with long, black hair and a pale face said. “Over here.”

Frank shot Rosalind a quick apologetic look and then set off across the room, fast as a weasel.

Rosalind looked at Dorcas who looked back with confusion, and then they both turned their heads towards the spectacle on the other side of the room.
A pile of children she hadn’t seen before. They all looked very tired and sad. Scared.

A blonde girl was asleep on the floor, another one just as heavily sleeping as the other one but this time in a young black girl’s lap. In the hospital bed lay a child that was impossible to see properly from so far away.

“Alice”, Frank whispered. It was quiet enough in the infirmary for the word to be easily heard.

That Fortescue kid he’d talked about before.

Rosalind felt her heart ache for the poor children gathered around the bed and then she was startled enough for her shoulders to shoot up to her ears when Frank started to sob violently.

She guessed it should’ve been expected but they were all caught completely off guard, maybe because he was older, maybe because they didn’t know how well he knew Alice.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

The black girl in the chair tried to say something soothing and comforting but it didn’t seem like Frank was listening at all, he just crawled up on the foot side of the bed and curled up like an armadillo.

Face buried in the covers over Alice’s shins.

Rosalind felt like she was intruding so she turned her face towards Dorcas again, still not looking at Lucinda.
“How are you holding up?”, she asked and Dorcas blinked, surprised.

“I’m holding up”, she said and then coughed a couple of times to get rid of the rasp that came from not talking for a couple of hours. “She’s not looking better but she’s alive.”

“Good. And you’re alive too, that’s good. Thank you.”

Dorcas looked infinitely confused.
“Are you thanking me for being alive?”

“Yes, I am”, Rosalind confirmed, sitting down in the wooden chair that immediately hurt her butt to sit on.

“Oh, well, thank you too then. For thanking me. I think.”
Rosalind ignored the awkwardness and just nodded, taking Dorcas’ hand to hold. Feeling the soft black skin and running her finger along the dark lines in the lighter palm.

“She’ll be fine”, Rosalind said. “She’s strong and filled with spite, she’ll be okay.”

It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself but Dorcas nodded and leaned back in her chair.
“Yeah she’ll be fine”, she agreed.

The sound of Frank’s sobs was the only thing filling the silence that followed.

❍

Poppy Pomfrey stopped outside the door to Dumbledore’s office, trying to remember the latest password. It was always some sweet, pastry, cake or cookie or anything sugary.

“Peach pie”, she said finally and the statue moved, letting her pass.

Pomona had baked a peach pie for him last week. Not many people knew how truly predictable Albus Dumbledore was. They all assumed he was planned in every smallest detail, and as unpredictable as the storm. And he was, to a certain extent.
But a person whose life was spent surviving enough storms would eventually figure them out, learn their patterns.

Poppy was born in a very stormy neighborhood.

“Albus”, she said, walking straight into the office, the phoenix close to its deathbed but still making its sad noises as she entered.

Albus sat in his chair behind his desk, fingering some old ring with a big, green gem.

“Poppy”, he greeted and turned his head towards her but kept his gaze locked on the ring.

“The wolf boy”, was all she said.
His eyes flicked up at her.

“Yes. I am aware of his condition, as well as his whereabouts. What concerns may you have?”

He put the ring down on his desk and threaded his fingers together, wrinkly knuckles and paper thin skin.
He’d looked to be a hundred and fifty for the last forty years. Time was not kind to that man, leaving him aching and heavy with too much knowledge and too many memories.
She could see it in his eyes and in the way he balanced his body.

He always spoke slowly and with an air of secretive nature about him. Like he had all the time in the world. Like he knew everything and the mere idea of hurrying was absurd.

“He’s in the shack”, she said. Waiting for him to react, to show concern for the poor boy, something anything.

“Yes, Poppy, I am aware of his whereabouts”, Albus repeated.

Poppy regretted even going here in the first place but she put all that she felt aside and got to the point.
“I will have to hide his… condition, as you so kindly put it, from the rest of the school. Bringing him inside a hospital wing filled with kids watching their infected friends does not seem like a wise thing to do, does it?”

She spoke calmly. Knowingly. She had lifetimes of knowledge too, pained memories in her mind every time she closed her eyes.

“No, it does not”, Albus agreed, tilting his head as if he sunk into deep thought. Everything felt like a game with him. Like a deadly game of lives and hunger.

“I will have to throw them out, but that will put them all in the position of standing outside the doors waiting for their friends to wake up still. They would not return to their common rooms.”

“If you know them that well”, Albus hummed.

“I do. I take care of these kids every day. I will have to use the tunnel”, she said. Finally getting to the very thing she came here for.

Albus stiffened, body stilling like a lake freezing over.
“Yes. The tunnel. Indeed.”

He tapped his long, pointy finger against the papery skin of the back of his hand.

“Yes. Indeed. I have permission, have I not?”

He thought about it for some very dragged out seconds.

All the time in the world.

“You remember what happened in that tunnel, Poppy, do you not?”, he settled on finally. Still not answering what she wanted to have answered.

“Yes I do, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have come here to ask permission to use it. I have respect for the events that went down. That’s it.”
Poppy threaded her fingers together over her round stomach and kept her head held high.

He would say yes. He’d have to say yes. For the sake of the boy, and the reputation of the school. Albus was not evil. He’d arranged the plans for the boy’s transformations.

No, what Albus was… he was calculated.

Poppy still didn’t know the purpose of helping the poor boy, except for the basic kindness of the act. It was not Remus Lupin’s fault he had been bitten. He did not deserve his education robbed from him as well.

“Then you keep the usage of that pathway quick and smooth”, he said finally.

Poppy nodded.
“Of course. Thank you.”

“Seven AM, Poppy, that’s when he should be back to normal again.”

“I am aware, Albus. Thank you.”
And then she turned to leave, the phoenix croaking behind her.

“Poppy”, Albus said, making her stop and look over her shoulder, meeting his eyes once again. Watery and old. Full of pain.

She waited, not bothering to say anything while he arranged his words in that carefully thought out way only he did.
“What do you think of him? The ‘wolf boy’, as you call him?”

Poppy was confused, puzzled by the question.
“I’m afraid I’m uncertain what you mean”, she admitted and turned back fully, body facing the old man behind the heavy desk. Ring glowing in the light from the lanterns floating in the air.

“Is he a nice boy? This is the second time you’re going through this with him, is it not? What do you think of him?”

“Whatever are you asking this for?”, Poppy dared question, feeling defensive of the poor boy.

Albus shrugged slowly.

“Curiosity”, he said, an almost invisible smile playing in the corners of his old, dry mouth.

Poppy resisted the urge to tell him that curiosity killed the cat.

“He’s a good boy. Kind and thoughtful. He feels very deeply. I admire him”, she said, standing with a straight back and strong gaze.

“Yes”, Albus hummed in agreement, “admirable.”

Poppy just stood there, waited for him to tell her she was allowed to leave.

“What do you admire about him?”, Albus asked instead.

Poppy was starting to get annoyed, this whole conversation getting on her nerves.
“Only the strongest of people get through these things with the same resilience and grace that he does. He’s smart and caring. Only eleven and still with such a tough life.”

Albus nodded.
“And the company he keeps? What is your opinion there?”

Poppy felt sick. She did not enjoy playing twenty questions with Dumbledore, especially knowing he’d answer if she asked back.
“I do not understand the purpose of this, I…”

“Poppy, dearest, please. A question is lingering in the air.” He smiled.

“I think they’re sweet. James Potter is a ball of sunshine on two legs, a lovely child. He and that Peter Pettigrew came to me to ask about the wolf boy, very kind of them. Lily Evans is a godsend of a friend. Marlene McKinnon a golden fire burning and Sirius Black is the kindest child there ever was. There’s my opinion.”

“Yes, the Gryffindor of the Black family. What do you think of that? The wolf boy and the boy of that family’s descent?”

“With all due respect, Professor Dumbledore, I do find these questions invasive of these children’s privacy.”

“And yet still… what is privacy at all?”, Albus asked.

Philosophy lingering. Poppy was not one for philosophical thinking.

“If what you ask is meant to insinuate that the two eleven year old children will damage each other I have to state quite the contrary. They will help each other. I am sure of it. There will be an inseparable bond there in a few years, overshadowed only by that between the Potter boy and Sirius Black. I find it incredibly rude and disrespectful to even close in on the thought that they would be damaging to each other. These are children we’re discussing, Albus. Children, not toys. Not horses in a betting game.”

And with that Poppy left Dumbledore’s office, no longer having enough respect to wait to be allowed. She felt uneasy and… scared, even.

Albus Dumbledore was a frightening man.

❍

Sirius complained and protested the whole way out, trying to sneak past Madam Pomfrey to get inside the infirmary again. And he didn’t even know Alice that well. It just seemed cruel to leave an infected kid alone, body bruised and Frank still crying as he was being forced out of the hospital wing.

The doors slammed shut. The sound echoing through their head making ears ring and memories float to the surface.
Sirius quickly forced them down to be buried in the sand again.

“Hey!”, Emmeline screamed, banging on the door with closed fists. “You can’t do this! You can’t just leave them in there!”

Her foot kicked into the heavy wood and Sirius winced just looking at it. That must hurt quite badly.

“Emmeline”, the girl whose name was Dorcas said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find another way, come on.”

Sirius felt her attention sharpen, both eyes on Dorcas now. How? What other way?

“Hey, you haven’t seen Peter Pettigrew have you?”, they asked and Dorcas’ gaze found his.

“Who?”

Sirius guessed that answered his question.
“Peter. No? What about Remus Lupin?”

Recognition shone in the girl’s eyes at that.
“That boy Lily Evans is friends with?”

And Sirius felt a weird feeling in her chest. Of course they all knew Lily of all people. Lily Evans, the one person who didn’t like him.
“Yeah, that one.”

“No I haven’t, have you seen Lily?”, Dorcas asked and looked eager as starlight.

“No, we’re looking for her too”, Sirius admitted.

“What has happened to Peter, Remus and Lily?”, Marlene interrupted.

Sirius had already talked to Mary about it but Marlene had been asleep and only just awakened as they were all shoved out of the infirmary.

“We can’t find them. Lily and Peter was looking for Remus last we saw of them”, Sirius admitted and counted the frowns and wrinkled foreheads that appeared. One, two, three, four.

“Do you reckon they’re in trouble?”, Marlene asked and grabbed Sirius’ arm with a tight grip.

“I don’t know, and you can’t tell anyone either, we have to be subtle about this until we know more, okay?”, he said and waited until he saw everyone there nod. Everyone.

“Okay good, let’s go get James.”

❍

Peter didn’t know where he was.

He was completely lost, barely even knew what was up and down. It was so dark everywhere.

He almost started to wonder to himself whether he was dying or already dead.

The beast had gotten even closer. Too close. Peter wasn’t fast like Lily or James or Marlene. He wasn’t durable like Marlene or Remus or Sirius.

He was just Peter.

God did he wish he had been Marlene instead.

He wasn’t even running anymore. It was more like stumbling through the trees, the wet pearls forming on trees and grass soaking up through his clothes and covering his hands.

His breaths came out in a wheezing matter, his lungs aching and head spinning like the earth did around the sun.

“Please”, he panted and leaned against a tree for a few seconds, just trying not to faint or collapse.

The beast howled and claws ripped open the ground. Peter kept moving.

His body burned and his legs ached. Feet numb, fingers too. Sweat covered every inch of his body and it was truly disgusting.

He was almost at his breaking point.

Peter stumbled forward again and fell, not even bothering to stretch out his hands and catch himself this time. He closed his eyes and accepted the pain to come.
But… there was no pain.

There was nothing. No ground, no claws ripping into him.
Peter opened his eyes slowly and realized that he was hovering in mid air, floating like a piece of wood in a river.

Laughter like small silver bells ringing filled his ears and something small and shiny came into his vision. He couldn’t see clearly at first, exhaustion blurred his vision like rain on a windshield.

It was a fairy. A purple one with a small face and thin wings.

The more aware Peter got of his surroundings again the more he noticed that there was a lot of fairies around. And they were holding him up with their small hands grabbing his clothes.

Flying.

He was flying.
Like, actually in the air.

And they were catching up speed, going faster and faster through the air, the sound of small wings flapping drowning out the growls that became more and more distant.

Peter was being saved by fairies. If that wasn’t a good sign he didn’t know what was.

Trust came easily when he was this out of it, this exhausted. He closed his eyes and let himself be dragged forward, relaxing as much as he dared.

Away and away and away and falling down down down and falling asleep sleep sleep.

-

The ground was not kind to Peter when he returned to it, dropped right down to let his face slam into the dirt and mud. Putting him down and waking him up all in one.

The fairies laughed and giggled and one of them even kissed his forehead. They disappeared before he could get enough air in his lungs to thank them.

Saved by fairies. Bloody hell was this night strange.

Peter got up to his knees and tried to figure out where he was, but it wasn’t hard to wrap his head around, the lake and castle being like bright beacons in the night. Lighting the way to safety.

For Peter, anyway.

The poor boy in a round woman’s arms seemed pretty out of it. She was rushing forward like a cat in the night, fast on light paws. Making little sound.

Wasn’t that…?
Madam Pomfrey? What on earth?

“Help!”, Peter tried to scream. If anyone could help him it should be the school’s nurse. But she didn’t hear him, too busy carrying the dangling boy around the edge of the castle.

And then Peter was alone without hope of help again.
He coughed so deeply his throat and chest burned and then got up off his knees to his numbed feet. Coldness was a part of his very bone marrow at this point, like an old friend.

He stumbled forward and fell again just to pick himself up off the ground and keep going. The stairs seemed a million miles away and Peter must’ve blacked out because the very next second his knees hit the stone on the top step, breaths heaving.

A girl with pink hair stopped before him, her red shoes only a couple of decimeters away from his face.

“You good?”, she asked and Peter didn’t bother answer.

“Help me up, please”, he said and she shrugged and grabbed his arm, pulling him to his feet.

He involuntarily leaned over on her and she grunted under his weight, secretly disgusted by the sweat covering his body.

She was dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Pink hair in pigtails with blue ribbons, a blue dress and those red shoes.

“Good choice of costume”, he breathed out through gasps and coughs.

“Thank you”, she said and carefully helped him through the hall.
She was kind. Peter liked that.

She had made something special with her costume, something that looked kind of cultural. There was some flowers and letters of a foreign language on the hem of her skirt and her makeup didn’t look like the other girls’ Peter knew.

“Where are we taking you? The hospital wing?”, she asked and stumbled a little under his weight. She was rather small in comparison.

Peter was about to say yes but then remembered that Madam Pomfrey wasn’t there, so there was no use.
“No, thank you. You don’t have to help me, I just gotta get to Gryffindor tower”, he panted and her grip on him tightened as if he was about to fall.

“You’re about to collapse any second, I’m not leaving you here”, she said and started to lead him through the halls and corridors of the castle.

“What house are you in?”, Peter asked in a pathetic attempt at small talk. He was pretty sure he was both dehydrated and had caught a cold.

“Hufflepuff”, she grunted out through her teeth and helped him up a flight of moving stairs, using the railing as a helping hand.

“Cool”, he said and closed his eyes against the pain in his toes as his feet slowly regained warmth.

She snorted. “Thanks, yeah, it is actually.”

“I’m a Gryffindor”, he said and felt her shake her head under his arm.

“You don’t say?”

Peter sensed sarcasm so he didn’t bother continuing the conversation. Maybe it was too much to ask to talk to her, she was already helping him enough as it was.
He couldn’t see where they were going but had to put his trust into her.

And she delivered.

Peter said the password to the painting of the fat lady and it let them inside, despite the girl’s Hufflepuff loyalty.
She helped him settle down on a couch and he closed his eyes, still breathing heavily.

“Thank you”, he wheezed. “Thank you so much.”
He felt the back of her hand against his forehead, her skin soft and warm.

“Fever”, she stated and then he felt a blanket being pulled up to his ears.

“Thank you”, he mumbled again and then he felt something soft pressed to his cheeks and her presence floated away, leaving only a lingering cloud of sweet perfume.

❍

Marlene was furious.

Anger burned through her veins like liquid fire. The only thing keeping her even remotely calm was Mary’s hand on her arm.

“What do you mean he’s just gone?”, she snarled - still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Peter, Remus and Lily were all gone.

“I mean he disappeared and Peter and Lily went looking for him”, Sirius said again, sounding frustrated.

They were all seated in the girls’ dorm - a big pile of kids from all sorts of houses.
Marlene and Mary were the only ones who actually belonged there but it was a time of crisis and the room being filled with people was rather comforting for both her and Mary as it seemed.

Emmeline, Dorcas, Rosalind, Sirius, Frank, James, Mary and Marlene sat in Mary and Marlene’s beds, the head of Marlene’s directly connected to the foot of Mary’s.

James had curled up next to Marlene, his head on her shoulder and she let him stay there because he was warm and he was James.

Mary sat on the other side of Marlene, hand in arm and legs tangled together.

“How could you just let them go out alone like that”, Marlene spit out, “don’t you know how they get? I’m never letting you take care of anything again Sirius.”
Sirius rolled his eyes and crossed their arms over his chest. James put a hand on their ankle.

“It doesn’t matter right now, what’s important is that we find them”, Sirius urged and Marlene felt so angry she might just… do something, she didn’t know what.

“You are all ridiculous. What even is this night, it’s Halloween for Merlin’s sake.”
Everyone ignored Emmeline’s complaint and went right back to arguing.

Until Mary raised her voice.

“That’s enough”, she said. Her voice was strong and determined and everyone got quiet.
“We are getting nowhere. I say we get up off our arses and go get Professor McGonagall.”

Glances were exchanged, worried eyes and widened pupils.
“We can’t…”, Sirius begun but Mary didn’t want to hear it.
“They might be dying out there, get over yourself. So what if they get detention for a while, at least they’ll be alive.”

Marlene met Sirius’ eyes, and then his gaze flicked down to James’ and up again. Silent conversations of the kind they had mastered over the years.

“Since when do you care”, Sirius argued finally and locked her gaze with Mary’s.

“Excuse me?”

“You don’t like any of them anyway, why do you care?”

Marlene sighed audibly and rolled her eyes.

“Who said I don’t like them?”
Mary was starting to get even more upset. “Of course I like them, do you think I’d put up with you all if I didn’t?”

Sirius was clearly about to say that, yeah for Marlene Mary would, but Marlene couldn’t let it go that far.
“We’re going down to the common room”, she decided. “If nothing else at least we can ask whoever comes and goes and we can sit by the fire.”

James squeezed her hand in silent approval and Marlene squeezed back.

“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Fine”, snarled the whole lot of them.

It was like babysitting a bunch of idiots. Not that Marlene was the caring type like that, but still.

❍

“Peter!”, James exclaimed loudly as a siren during catastrophe. He was first down the stairs and first to throw his arms around Peter’s sleeping body.
Peter woke up, startled and confused.

“James!”, he shouted when he finally figured out what was going on.

They hugged so hard that they both grunted in pain, fingers digging into ribs and faces buried in shoulders.

“Where the hell have you been?!”, Marlene shouted from behind and in the next second James was pushed down further, Marlene’s body having climbed on top of his back.

Her hands reached Peter’s neck and hair and she took hold like her life depended on it.

“We thought you were dead you dumb idiot”, Mary snarled and an awkward silence stretched out.

“You’re back now, finally”, James said quickly, filling the silence with his happiness over their reunion.

”Yeah I sure am, it was a fucking hell to get here…”

“Where’s Lily?”, Mary interrupted. She’d crouched before the three piled up on the couch and was snapping her fingers to get Peter’s attention.

“I…” He was ashamed. James wanted to shield him but he couldn’t, not from something that wasn’t physical. And he also desperately wanted to know where Lily and Remus were.

“What?”, Emmeline said, grabbing Mary’s shoulder and crouching down beside her.

“I lost her”, Peter admitted. “We were trying to find Remus but we heard… we heard a scream and then… howls. She started running and I followed best I could but it’s Lily, you know. She got her eyes on a goal and I couldn’t keep up. I don’t know where she is except that it’s somewhere in the forest.”

James felt his entire body stiffen. Lily was alone in the woods. Something had howled.
“What about Remus?”, he asked. Remus had been acting strange for days. What if he got caught by this beast or whatever it was? What if he’d gone out in the woods for some reason and now would never come back?

“I don’t know. We never found him.” Peter sounded close to tears and James could feel his own lip trembling.
Marlene slid off of his back and landed on the floor with a thump. Mary looked terrified. Emmeline like she was about to throw up.

James buried his face back into Peter’s shoulder and hugged the chubby boy tighter, refusing to let go. Craving the touch.

“You mean to tell me I’m about to lose three of the only four friends I have?”, the dark skinned girl with braids hissed. The one whose name was Dorcas.

“Three?”, Peter asked, confused.

“A virus or a plague of some kind. Alice and Lucinda”, Dorcas explained quickly with a waft of her hand.

James felt overwhelmed. He had to fix this somehow. He couldn’t let them all feel bad like this, and he refused to let Remus and Lily disappear or die.

“I’m going after Lily”, he declared and got up off of Peter. Letting go hurt.

“The hell you are”, Sirius hissed and put their hand on James’ chest. Physically hindering him from walking out the portrait.

“Sirius-“, James began arguing but was silenced by a hand over his mouth. Licking the palm didn’t help. It just left a salty, sweaty taste.

“Peter are you sure you don’t have any idea?”, Mary insisted.

James wasn’t sure when she’d gotten so invested in his friends, but he didn’t have anything against it. The more the merrier. As long as she didn’t hurt anyone, but he didn’t think she would.

Fear was spreading for real in the group. It had been bad enough when they were just a little worried. Now there was a plague loose, Peter was covered in dirt and looked like he’d seen a ghost, there was a beast in the woods and Lily was alone in there and they had no idea what had happened to Remus. He had been gone for almost 24 hours.

It was eight AM. Time went both too fast and too slow. James was tired, despite the nap he’d gotten in while waiting in the girls’ dorm.

He could only imagine how tired the rest must be, the ones that didn’t pull all-nighters almost once a week.
“No I haven’t seen anyone for hours… except for a girl with pink hair that helped me get here… and… and Madam Pomfrey.”

Everyone’s faces twisted in confusion. Rosalind Bungs’ nose scrunched up almost identically to Marlene’s.

“Madam Pomfrey?”, Frank asked to clarify.

“Yeah, she was carrying this poor kid outside - dunno what happened to him but he didn’t look conscious exactly - and she was taking him somewhere around the castle. I don’t know where or why. I was pretty out of it to be honest.” Peter looked sad.

James broke his stare down with Sirius to ruffle Peter’s hair, trying to be reassuring.

“Did you get a good look at the boy?”, Dorcas asked, suddenly eager.

“Uh… no, I didn’t. Why?”

James understood at the same time Sirius did, their eyes meeting in a silent exchange of words no one else would understand.

“Remus. What if that boy was Remus?”, Sirius said and suddenly she was crouching down beside the rest of the girls, all on the floor except for Rosalind who stood back with Frank, making sure he didn’t collapse into sobs on the floor.

She was wearing a white dress and angel wings. Glitter on her face. Ginger hair.
She looked a little like Lily, except that Rosalind was Latina and Lily was not.

“Oh”, Peter breathed - finally realizing. His cheeks turned red as a blush grew. Shame again.

“Where did they go?”, Mary urged and grabbed Peter’s face, turning it towards her.

“Uh… uhm… around the castle. I don’t know from there, but around the corner - the one closest to the lake.”

Mary was up from the floor, staring into James’ eyes in a fraction of a second.
“I’m coming with you. We’ll go look for Lily. The others can figure out what to do with Remus. Let’s go - now”, she said and James didn’t hesitate.

He turned and rushed past everyone, before Sirius got a chance to stop him, and was out of the portrait in no time. He could hear Mary’s steps right behind him, the silver hoops in her ears jingling from the motion.

James wanted to help Remus but he trusted Sirius and Marlene to take care of that. He hoped they would let Peter keep on sleeping. Lily was all alone out in the woods.

Priorities.

“Wait!”, Mary shouted and grabbed his arm. Her grip was somehow both strong and delicate at the same time.

“What do you mean wait?”, James panted as he came to a halt and did as she said.

“We’ll send an owl. Tell her that we found Remus. And then we can follow it to her.”

James could kiss Mary.
She was a legitimate genius.

“May I kiss you?”, he asked and Mary looked so startled he took it as a no. “Let’s go, hurry, there’s a beast in there with her”, he said instead and took Mary’s hand as they both began to run again.

She squeezed it hard and James knew why Marlene had caught such a liking for Mary.

She was an amazing girl, smart and brave - like Marlene but in a softer and calmer way.

James smiled at her despite the rush but she didn’t seem to notice.

❍

“What’s the plan?”, Rosalind Bungs asked and Sirius almost jumped up from where he sat. They managed to stay put though.

“Rescue Remus”, he answered and turned around on the floor, resting his back against the couch on which Peter lay.

“So simple”, Dorcas sarcastically threw back and crossed her arms over her chest, pacing back and forth. “I should be helping Mary with Lily”, she muttered quietly.

“So go and do that then”, Sirius snarled.
Dorcas only gave them a fatal side eye.

“If Madam Pomfrey has him maybe we should go to the hospital wing”, Rosalind suggested and Sirius felt both hatred and appreciation for the girl.

“She literally forced us out the door, we can’t get back inside.”

“So what do we do then? What are we supposed to do? Madam Pomfrey is a widely trusted woman, we can’t just go around accusing her of kidnapping our friend.”

“My friend”, Sirius corrected. “You don’t know him. What’s your name again?”

Rosalind looked startled and a little hurt but she didn’t fight it.
“Rosalind Bungs”, she said. Sirius didn’t bother answering. He felt rude about it but it was a very important life or death situation they stood before. She couldn’t afford to be considerate at the moment.

“Where could she possibly be taking him if not the infirmary?”, Dorcas thought out loud, still pacing like a ghost.

“Nowhere. That’s where they are. If it’s Madam Pomfrey that has taken him, they’re in the hospital wing. You’re asking all the wrong questions.”

“And you know the right ones, Emmeline?”, Marlene asked, making a mockery out of Emmeline’s speaking tone.

“Yes, I do. Why did she not take the main entrance to the hospital wing? She obviously didn’t want to be seen. Why did she not want to be seen carrying the unconscious body of a little boy? Something weird’s going on here - some underlying conspiracy we don’t know about. How could she possibly bring this boy to the hospital wing without being seen?”

Emmeline paused like she was waiting for someone to get it faster than she was going to explain it. A dramatic pause, if you will.

“Spit it out for Merlin’s sake”, Frank said and Emmeline wafted him away with her left hand.

“There’s another way in. A secret entrance. An elevator, a charm, a tunnel - something like that. We need to find it and get inside.”

“How?”, Peter asked, curled up in the couch like a cat with his hands tucked against his chest.

“Frank, Rosalind, Dorcas - go stay outside the doors and wait for my signal to cause a distraction, we have to get Madam Pomfrey away from there if we’re going to take Remus back.”

No one argued, to Sirius’ surprise. Emmeline had taken charge and so they listened. She wondered how that must feel.

“Sirius, Marlene and I will go find the tunnel outside. Peter you stay here and sleep, you look like you’ve been literally dragged through the mud and bruised up.”
Peter looked infinitely relieved and sunk back into the couch, closing his eyes and pulling the blanket up to his ears.

“Go, go, go!”, Emmeline shouted and slammed her hands together once, twice, thrice.

Dorcas, Frank and Rosalind were out of there in a second, bursting through the door to the common room.
Usually all students would be prohibited from being outside of their respective areas up until now, but it was Halloween so the entire school had been running around all night.

Leftover candy wrappers lay spread on the stones of the floor and moved away with the breeze of the closing portrait.

“This castle is enormous”, Marlene pointed out. “We have to find that tunnel as fast as we can. You better have a plan, Vance.”

Emmeline hesitated but ultimately shook her head as she had to admit defeat. She had no plan when it came to that.
Marlene sighed and stretched out a hand, helping Emmeline to her feet.

“I guess it’s time to bring in the big guns”, Sirius said, him too admitting defeat.

“Big guns?”

Sirius met Marlene’s gaze and saw the understanding in them, the knowing of the pain to come for Sirius.
She opened her mouth as if to protest, but she had no arguments to wield. They had to find that tunnel fast.

And if anyone could manage to accomplish that it was one of Sirius’ nasty cousins.

-