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Hot Chocolate in the Dark


Remus woke up, still laying on the dock. It was still dark, the waxing moon reflecting in the rippling water’s surface at the far end of the cavernous underground lagoon. Sirius was gone. He rolled over, looking around. He peered over the edge of the dock at the water, panic rising up in his throat. Had Sirius rolled over and gone splashing into the depths of the water? He didn’t know what to do --

Then a door at the top of a flight of steps he hadn’t even noticed before opened and a light split the dark and, afraid it was Filch, he scrambled down the dock to the shore and rushed to press himself to the wall, hoping to go unseen if Filch looked about the room from the stairway. There were footsteps on the stairs and Remus held his breath.

“What in Merlin’s name are you doing?” Sirius laughed, coming around the end of the stairs.

“Bloody hell! There you are! I thought you fell in,” Remus said.

“So you hid by the stairs?”

“Well then I thought you were Filch.”

“You weren’t going to jump in after me?” Sirius asked, looking a bit hurt.

“I’m a bloody terrible swimmer,” Remus answered. “Would’ve drowned you a lot faster than I could’ve helped you.”

Sirius made a face, considering this a moment. “So werewolves sink, interesting. There’s one for a trivia game for you.” He rubbed his chin, “Wonder if we got an iron lung and strapped it on --”

“Not this again. They still don’t make goggles for werewolves,” Remus said.

Sirius grinned.

“So where’ve you been? I woke up and found you gone. I don’t like it when you’re gone.”

Sirius held up his hand - the one not holding his wand - revealing a large thermos. “Went to the kitchens to get us some hot chocolate. You can’t go ice skating without hot chocolate, Moony-kins.” He said it as though Remus should’ve known where he’d gone all on his own.

“Of course, I should’ve thought of that,” Remus replied dryly.

“You just looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to wake you, and I thought I’d let you sleep ‘til I got back, sorry. Never thought you’d wake up while I was gone.” Sirius pulled Remus over to one of the little boats and he climbed in and tugged Remus after him so they were sitting on two of the little benches in the boat, using the third between their knees as a tiny table. He set out the hot chocolate and filled two small mugs he’d tossed into his pocket with the steaming chocolate. “There you are, Moony.”

Remus gingerly picked up the mug, holding it in his palms and enjoying the heat of it as Sirius gobbed back half of his own in one go.

“Don’t you like hot chocolate?” Sirius asked, seeing Remus holding the mug.

“I do, I’m just cold and it’s warm on my hands.”

“I think hot chocolate’s my favorite hot drink in the winter,” Sirius announced. “Even more than warm butterbeer. But blimey, don’t ever tell James I said that, he’d have my head examined. Addicted to butterbeer, that one is.”

Remus laughed, “I like Ovaltine.”

“Ovaltine?” Sirius made a face, “What in bloody hell is Ovaltine? It sounds terrible.”

“It’s a malt,” Remus replied, “You can drink it hot or cold, it’s delicious either way.”

“Malt?” Sirius had one eyebrow raised.

“Yeah! You know -- it’s a wheat based… flavor… I dunno. I reckon that means you’ve never had a malted milk ball. Blimey. I haven’t had Ovaltine, though, since… well I reckon my mum made it for me… before we started at Hogwarts.” He stared numbly at his knees, realizing how bloody long ago it was…

“Well no wonder you like it then, your mum made it for you,” Sirius said gently. He stared into the cup of chocolate he held. “Maybe the House Elves can make us Ovaltine next time.”

Remus looked up and a smile twisted it’s way onto his face. “That’d be nice.” He took a sip of the hot chocolate, feeling warmed by the look on Sirius’s face.

When they’d finished the chocolate, they decided it was time to go back to Gryffindor Tower, since they were feeling considerably more sleepy because of the warmth of the chocolate in their bellies. Sirius unfolded the Marauder’s Map and looked about it for Filch or Mrs. Norris and didn’t see them anywhere along their path to the common room, so he led the way up the stairs he’d come in from the second time and through the entrance hall to the grand staircase.

They were nearly to the top when Remus paused. He looked around. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That.” Remus replied, head tilting slightly to help detect where the sound was coming from. Silently, he held his hand out for the map and Sirius handed it over without hesitation. Remus looked it over the direction the sound was coming from, but there was nobody there. “Odd,” he whispered.

Reeeeeeemus.

Remus turned about. “You heard that though, right?” he asked, for that had sounded to be right up behind them, even though there was absolutely nothing there.

Sirius looked concerned, “....no…?”

Remus looked like he was going to be sick. “We gotta hurry. C’mon.” The voice was positively terrifying and it sort of clutched up his heart and squeezed tightly about it, and all he knew was he wanted to get the bloody hell away from the sound. “Let’s go.” He ran ahead of Sirius, still carrying the map, panic rising up in his veins.

“Rey, careful,” Sirius said, hurrying after him, “Check for ---”

But it was too late. Filch was on the stairs and he’d just spotted Remus and Sirius coming up his way. “STUDENT OUT OF BED!! STUDENTS -- OUT -- OF BED!” his long legs did a sort of jig as he rushed to get down the stairs.

“C’mon!” Sirius grabbed Remus’s arm and pulled him off the stairs and onto the second floor corridor. If only they could’ve made it up to three they could’ve gone through the Trophy Room passageway, but Filch had blocked their path, so Sirius took them the opposite way, toward the far end of the castle, thinking that surely with all the different turrets, turns, viaducts, courtyards and empty classrooms down dark corridors, they could lose Filch somewhere in the great width of Hogwarts.

Reeeemussss, came that voice again.

Remus put on extra speed. “Quick, quick!” he said, his blood chilling like ice water.

Sirius led the way down a side stair that spun ‘round like a corkscrew in the base of Ravenclaw Tower and out the door across the courtyard where Xenophilius had painted the great big portrait of Pandora Jenkins the year before. They sprinted through the snow that reflected the moonlight toward the far end of the courtyard, sliding into the shadows at the foot of the Bell Towers. Sirius glanced about. “Well damn our footprints are going to give us away here,” he muttered, and he pointed for Remus to follow him over to the entrance by the library and they scurried along quickly. They ducked through the door and rushed along the corridor, past the Muggle Artefacts Museum room, past the Library, along toward the Transfiguration corridors, rounding back to the moving staircases. Perhaps if Filch had followed after them, they’d be able to get up to the Third Floor and into that Trophy Room passageway before he caught up - at least that’s what Sirius was hoping.

But despite the lack of confidence they had in Filch’s intelligence, he’d seen them run from the shadow of the Bell Towers to the Library entrance, anticipated what they were thinking of doing, and he’d run back over the Stone Bridge to meet them off at the opposite end in the paved courtyard at the opposite end of the suspension bridge they were now running across.

Sirius had turned back to look at Remus, jogging backwards, not looking where he was going. “We’ll go up the moving staircases to three and --”

WHAM!

Sirius had slammed directly into Filch, who quickly closed his hand ‘round Sirius’s wrist. “Sirius Black! Of course it’s you and your little Marauder friend,” hissed Filch. “Of course it is! Get over here you.”

“MOONY RUN!” Sirius shouted and he kicked at Filch, “RUN!”

Remus turned and bolted back across the Suspension Bridge, Filch shouting after him as he went, and the angry mewls of Mrs. Norris as she tried to follow. Remus clutched the Marauder’s Map as he went, running until he could no longer hear Sirius shouting for him to go… He paused in the dark and leaned against the wall. He listened, but silence surrounded him and he panted, waiting, hoping that Sirius had got away and was coming up behind him somehow, but there was nothing.

Several long minutes of silence in the dark passed before he dared to light his wand. “Lumos,” he whispered and looked over the little feet flitting about the map, the labels floating alongside. Sure enough, Sirius Black was in the office with Argus Filch several floors above, and so was Mrs. Norris.

How was he going to save Sirius from Filch?

Suddenly, he saw movement on the map in the hall he was in - Peeves the Poltergeist.

And just like that, Remus had an idea.