Starry skies and Gardenias

Chapter 53

"How do we know when Remus transforms?" James said in a hushed whisper as they sat in the almost empty common room, except for the two seventh years in the corner. They seemed to be too busy to listen to them anyway.

"And we don't know if anyone's following us, either," James said. "We need a way to keep an eye on the whole castle at once, without having to leave our place. . ."

"And we need to know where everyone is," Sirius added.

"And not get lost with the stairs moving around," Peter contributed.

"So you want an enchanted map?" Remus said, looking up from his book.

"Brilliant!" Sirius cried and high-fived Remus. "A map it is,"

"We can call it the Marauder's Map," James said brightly.

"But we'll have to make a map for the entire castle, and outside to Hogsmeade," Remus pointed out. "It will take a lot of time, tireless efforts, mostly sleepless nights because we'd have to sneak around the caslte at night, making a map,"

"And we can multitask," Sirius said. "Sneak into the Slytherin common room and turn their things pink,"

"Add glitter," James added. Peter sniggered at the thought and Remus rolled his eyes.

"All I am saying is that it is going to take a lot of effort and a lot of magic to make such a map," Remus said, his eyes travelling back to his book. 

"And I don't know why you'd bother with pink glitter when you can just stick all their beds to the ceiling and watch them struggle. No sleep until they manage to get their beds down," 

"You evil genius!" Sirius laughed. "That's it, we've got the next one,"

"But we're still getting Snivellus things covered in pink glitter, right?" James said.

"That's a given," Sirius said nonchalantly, charting a plan to sneak into the Slytherin common room. 

The Portrait Hole swung open and the four of them fell quiet. 

Similar sinister grins spread across James and Sirius faces as they glanced at each other once they saw the new arrival.

"Izzy!" James called brightly. "Come here,"

Remus groaned in annoyance. Not this again!

Isabella frowned, but then erased the expression from her face. She could use this opportunity to get some information. 

"Hey," Sirius said sitting straighter on the armchair and bringing his legs down from the armrest. 

"Where were you?" 

"The library," Isabella said simply. She knew they wouldn't find any evidence to contradict her because she had made to clean her shoes and robes with magic and not a spec of dust could be seen on them.

"The library, eh?" James said. "Why? Do you need any help? Remus can. He's super smart,"

Isabella almost sighed. She could see Remus wither under his friends' shenanigans. 

"No, it is fine," Isabella said feeling bad for Remus. "I can manage on my own,"

Then she went on to throw the bait. 

"It is only about the Shrieking Shack and I was simply curious,"

They bit it. 

Remus looked up from his book sharply and Peter avoided her gaze completely. James and Sirius glanced at each other for a second then turned away.