[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Leap Day


Remus was very much dreading the full moon coming. He could see it in Sirius and James’s eyes that, even though they claimed they would stay out of trouble while he was gone to the Shrieking Shack there was a very good chance that he’d come back to find they were serving detention - or worse, expelled. At least he wouldn’t be having anything to do with it, he tried to console himself, but if he were honest he’d have admitted that there was a tiny part of him that wished he would have been.

There was a sort of unspoken agreement between James and Sirius that the other Gryffindors would make an attempt at finding the missing mirror as soon as Remus had left the castle. James knew that Remus didn’t approve of the mission - and was aware that he had good reason to doubt it’s chances of being successful. After all, there was about a quarter million things that could go wrong, if not more, but regardless of the risks involved, James did have a good feeling about it. For one - if they went to the Slytherin common room the day of the full moon it would be Leap Day - February 29 - and that had always been a lucky day for James. Additionally, he couldn’t help but think that Dumbledore had been secretly on their side through the whole Students-Out-Of-Bed debacle before, especially given that Professor Tutman had mysteriously left the day after their accusations in the Great Hall had been made. There was a very great chance that, should they be caught in attempting to steal the mirror from Lucius Malfoy’s dormitory, Dumbledore would look the other way. After all, what’s a few broken rules if the fall of the whole Wizarding world could be prevented… right?

Remus stood by the end of his bed, tucking his things into his trunk, trying to prolong his departure as long as he could. He looked over at the others. Sirius kept his head down, staring carefully at his Transfiguration parchment, purposefully not looking Remus’s direction. James was playing with the snitch again on his bed, catching and releasing the little golden ball, watching Remus over Peter’s shoulder as their littlest mate busily ran to and fro ‘round his bed, trying to make it. Remus took a deep breath, shrugging his bookbag over his shoulder and running his hands down the length of the shoulder strap.

“You’ll, er, stay out of trouble, won’t you?” he asked.

“Of course,” said James.

Peter looked up from his bed-making. “You’re leaving? Already?” He glanced about at the little glass clock on the night stand. “Is it that late?”

“Nearly dinner,” yawned James, snatching the snitch from the air.

Remus nodded.

“Blimey,” Peter said, “No wonder I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry,” said Sirius without looking up.

Remus went for the door, then paused just before he reached for the handle. He turned back. “You’re going to go to the Slytherin common room, aren’t you?” he asked.

James blinked at him, trying to come up with a reply. “Why would we do that?” was all he could come up with.

“Don’t pretend,” Remus commanded, “Just promise me that you won’t push your luck, alright? Lucius Malfoy doesn’t seem like the sort of person you want to cross.” He took a deep breath, started to reach for the knob, then stopped and turned back again. “And don’t - whatever you do - mess with the Dark Lord at all… and you should probably avoid bothering Snape because all you’ll do is anger Lily Evans and she’ll be angry for the rest of the term. And don’t leave Peter behind… or damage any historical artifacts… or get expelled.” He said looked at them pleadingly for a moment, then turned for the door again… before turning back one last time. “And… don’t leave out any of the details when you tell me about it in two days,” he added.

Sirius looked up with a grin. “We wouldn’t dare.”




Bilius Weasley was in the common room of Gryffindor Tower, just knocking the snow off his boots when the three remaining First Years came down the stairs. “Where’ve you been then?” asked James, watching as Bilius leaped over the back of the couch and onto the floor before the fire as several other sixth years dusted off by the portrait hole as well.

Bilius held his palms up to the fire, “Just been out at Care of Magical Creatures,” he explained, “Been learning more on the Giant Squid. Bloody well could’ve picked a warmer day to do it, they could. It’s blisterin’ cold out there!” he paused, letting his fingertips thaw out. “Where are you lot off to?”

“Dinner,” replied Sirius. “We’ll see you down there, then.” He motioned for James and Peter to follow along after him.

“Right-o,” Bilius said, waving goodbye from his spot before the fireplace.

The boys headed down the stairs to the Entrance Hall, and Peter started on to the Great Hall, but stopped short when he realized his friends had scurried to a corner behind the stairs where they could see the doorway that led down to the dungeons. Sirius was watching the Slytherins come up for dinner, gnawing his lower lip. “I thought we were going to dinner?” whined Peter.

“We’ll have dinner afterwards,” Sirius replied.

Peter looked longingly back at the Great Hall, the smell of pork chops and applesauce and bacon wafted through the air. He sighed longingly, his stomach rumbling angrily.

“Tell your bottomless stomach to shut it,” James said, then, catching a sniff of the delicious smells coming from the hall, he added, “I mean, you can nick us some chops after, yeah?”

“I s’pose,” Peter groaned, though he really wanted them now - especially if it meant getting out of the trek into the Slytherin common room.

“There’s Malfoy,” hissed Sirius suddenly, ducking back, “Just come up from the dungeons with Snape and Narcissa.” He watched as the trio of them, and several other Slytherins he knew they were close with, disappeared into the Great Hall. “C’mon, now’s our chance, if we’re ever going to do it.”

The three of them bolted across the Entrance Hall and down the steps to the dungeons. “Excuse us, just trying to see Slughorn,” James muttered as a Slytherin girl jabbed him roughly in the shoulder with her elbow on the way by. He rubbed his shoulder and glared after her, “Ruddy, rude little --”

“Oi, James, c’mon,” Sirius barked.

In the dungeons, it seemed most of the Slytherins must’ve already gone up. The corridor was empty as it had been the night they’d snuck down before. They made their way down the hall and paused in the doorway of Slughorn’s store as James pulled out the invisibility cloak and tossed it over them. “You’re the only one that knows the way from here, Peter,” he pointed out.

By now, Peter already bitterly wished he hadn’t told them about his trip into the Slytherin common room. He clutched the cloak to be sure it didn’t lift up as he walked slowly down the corridor, past the Prefect’s bathroom, his heart racing. He was sure that Sirius, who was directly behind him, could probably hear it thumping off his ribs. Peter hoped he remembered correctly the way, since he’d been scared mindless last time he’d done it, he wasn’t sure he remembered exactly which doorway it was, despite having told James and Sirius he could lead them there blindfolded. He’d just been trying to impress them, of course, when he’d said it.

It wasn’t hard to tell which door they were after, though, and that became obvious as they approached it. Unlike the concealed Gryffindor doorway, the Slytherins were quite obvious with their poison-green door, with a handle shaped like a serpent, curling and twisting about. Peter hadn’t recalled seeing the handle in the dark, but again he’d been quite scared so it was very much possible he just didn’t notice it before. He came to a stop before the door, staring up at it.

“Well go on, then,” commanded Sirius, and when Peter didn’t reach up for the handle quickly enough, he grabbed for it himself, only to get his hand nearly there when --- with an almighty snapping of gnashing teeth, the serpent bit at Sirius’s fingertips angrily. He jumped back, “Whoa! Bloody hell!”

James’s eyes were wide, “What was that!”

“It’s alive!” Sirius said.

“It’s bewitched,” James argued.

“It bites, whatever it is,” Sirius replied.

“You don’t think they know we’re coming?” James asked.

Peter looked back over his shoulder nervously, “We’re going to get caught, aren’t we?”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “If they knew we were coming they would’ve done a lot worse than set their bloody doorknob on us,” he pointed out. He rubbed his chin. “One of you try it,” he suggested, “Maybe it knows me somehow. Lucius might’ve suspected we’d do this and told it not to let me in or something.”

Peter, being in front, felt the other two nudge him toward the door and stumbled forward a bit, then shook off the cloak and reached out a hand for the serpent, his hand shaking. “Alright! See? It’s me somehow,” Sirius said excitedly as Peter’s palm pressed against the silver snake’s body. He had just grabbed hold when a voice echoed down the corridor, making all three heads turn.

“What are you doing?” It was Lily Evans. She scampered down the hallway, looking positively livid. “You shouldn’t be down here. You’re going to get into very big trouble!” She marched down the hallway. “Where are you other two? I know you’re here, I heard your voices!”

James and Sirius shrugged off the cloak.

Lily eyed the cloak as James tucked it away in his bookbag, but didn’t say anything about it. “You lot are way out of bounds.”

“And what are you doing down here? Your snivelling boyfriend is up in the hall eating dinner, so there goes your excuse,” James accused.

“I saw you come down,” Lily replied, “And I followed to tell you how out of bounds you are!”

“Spying on us, more like,” muttered James.

Sirius frowned, “Look. Lily. This is important, alright, and it’s got nothing to do with you. So just go on up to dinner and leave us be.”

“I can’t just leave you be,” Lily argued. “What’re you doing going into the Slytherin common room? We aren’t supposed to be going in other houses common rooms. It’s against the rules.”

“Why do you even give a damn about it?” James demanded. He had the sudden realization that this was the first unlucky Leap Day he’d ever had.

Lily sighed, “Because I don’t want the other Gryffindors thinking it’s us First Years to blame when we don’t win the House Cup this year, alright?” She looked between them. “Where’s Remus?”

“He didn’t want to come,” Sirius said truthfully.

“Well bloody hell at least one of you boys has got some brains!” Lily said. She paused and looked beseechingly at each of them. “Come on, just come up stairs. This isn’t right, you’ll end up in detention.”

Peter started to pull back from the serpent, but Sirius barked, “No! We’re doing this. It’s more important than detentions, Lily, there’s a lot more at stake here that you don’t understand.”

“Try me,” she dared him.

“It takes a great deal of explanation and I haven’t got the time for that,” Sirius argued, “Now. Are you in or are you out? And if you’re out, you’d best keep your mouth shut about what we’re up to down here or - or I’ll hex you.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Like you know any good hexes.”

“I know plenty,” replied Sirius, thinking of the cruciatus curse.

James rolled his eyes, “Look, can we get on with it? In or out Evans?”

LIly looked affronted, “I’m not leaving you lot here to destroy the Slytherin common room. They haven’t done anything to you!”

“In then?” James asked.

“None of us are going in!” Lily said, “We’re going upstairs!”

But Sirius pulled on Peter, making him pull on the door, and it swung open and the greenish glow from the wide glass dome poured out into the corridor and they all gasped as they looked into the Slytherin common room.

Even Lily couldn’t help but be curious and mesmerized as the lot of them stepped through the doorway and into the room. It seemed there was nobody around, the room was empty. Probably all up at the Great Hall, thought James, as they made their way quietly into the room, their trainers sinking in the thick, plush green carpet. “Blimey,” muttered James, looking around.

“Think they can see the merfolk and the giant squid from down here?” whispered Sirius in a reverant sort of voice, staring up at the ceiling.

“I would think so,” replied James, awestruck.

“Fascinating,” Lily whispered, “It’s just like Severus described it.” Her throat felt tight at finally getting to see it - the domed ceiling that Sev had told her about time and time again during long summer evenings at the park. She could still feel the warmth of his hand, only fractions of a milimeter from hers in the grass, as they’d laid together, talking about Hogwarts and the things they’d get to experience together there - or so they’d thought. She stared up at it, her heart wishing that she were standing beneath it with him instead of these three schmucks.

“You lot stay here, guard the door,” Sirius commanded. “I’m going to find the mi--” he stopped mid-word and stared at Lily for a moment, then, thinking better of himself, “The thing.” Quickly, he took the stairs several at a time and ducked through the first door he came to on the landing - the door that he assumed would be the seventh year dorm, as the lowest dorm was in Gryffindor house.

The room was untidy, things everywhere in a bit of a disarray, just as their own dorms were usually. There were cloaks flung over the ends of beds and green and silver ties hanging from trunks at the ends of the beds. He stepped carefully over a unscrolled parchment on the floor, where someone had obviously left it in the middle of writing an essay on what appeared to be advanced runes. He moved cautiously until he found the bed he assumed belonged to Malfoy - only because he had left his Head Boy badge on the night stand.

With a glance back over his shoulder, nervous, he dropped to his knees before the trunk and carefully pushed it open. Inside was an assortment of uniform pieces, some fresh under things, and several bundles of letters tied together with string, each in Narcissa’s handwriting. Sirius pushed those aside and started digging quietly through the stuff Malfoy had deemed worth keeping. He was surprised how sentimental some of the pieces in the trunk were.

He would’ve spent more time marveling but that was when he spotted it and his heart skipped a beat in surprise.

They’d been right.