Lysander Scamander and the Missing Mirror

6: Marauder's 2.0

I woke up at the desk, Alice sleeping curled up on a pile of cushions. I rubbed at my eyes and stretched out. Then, I stood up and kicked Alice gently in the foot.

"Ally. Wake up." she stirred slightly but didn't get up. I sighed exasperatedly and pulled out my wand. Pointing it at a cup, I said quietly, "Aguamenti."

The glass filled with water and when it was full, I threw the water over Alice. She jolted to her feet, gasping in shock. I laughed to myself as I stuffed my wand back in my hair. Alice huffed at me, but I raised my hands in the air.

"We have to get to the library. You're the one who wanted to come to this meeting with me." I told her.

Alice made a face of remembrance. She hopped up and headed for the common room entrance. I shook my head and followed her. She was already halfway down the hall by the time I shut up the entrance. I cupped my mouth with my hands like a megaphone and called,

"Ally! You don't even know where we're going!"

Alice stopped where she was and waited for me to catch up. When I reached her, she skipped next to me like a kid.

"Ally. Can you not? We're fifteen."

"So?" she said to me, then added, "Where're we going?"

I sighed, "The Room of Requirement."

_____

Alice and I wandered down the corridor. I paused in my tracks and closed my eyes. I heard the wall in front. Opening my eyes, I stepped forward. Alice followed me. Inside was a small sitting area with couches circling a table. Frankie, Lily, and Hugo sat there, leaning over a piece of parchment, the Marauder's Map.

They looked up at Alice and me. Upon seeing Alice, Frankie sighed. He looked at Alice frustrated. Standing up, he took his sister by the wrist and whispered harshly,

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Alice yanked her hand from Frankie's grasp, "I'm curious what you and your friends do during these meetings. Is that a crime?"

"Not usually." Frankie said, but added, "But it is when your little sister's the biggest blabber mouth in the whole school."

"Frankster, hey. I brought her here. If she tells on us to Professor McGonagall, you can blame me." I told him.

Frankie scanned me from head to toe, "Lysander, is she tells on us, you'll be losing your fingers in your sleep."

I swallowed and stuffed my hands in my pockets, "Got it. But she won't tell. Won't you, Ally?"

Alice shook her head, "No. I swear on my life."

I smiled and told Frankie that he could go sit back down. Then, I leveled myself with Alice so I could look her in the eye, "Ally. You didn't have to say that second part."

"I wanted to. Now, straighten yourself up. I don't think Lily's enjoying watching this scene much." Alice told me, as she started to walk toward the couches.

I stood up straight, confused at what Alice just said to me. But I followed her to the couches and sat down between Lily and Frankie. Alice sat across from all four of us. I stared at the map and then up at everyone else.

"So, what were we think-?" I started, but I heard something in the draft, "What was that?"

"What was what, Ly?" Hugo asked.

I looked around, "I felt a draft."

Frankie looked over at me, "Lysander. Hogwarts is a drafty place."

I shook my head, "This was a different kind of draft."

"I didn't feel a draft." Hugo stated.

"I felt it, too." Lily and Alice said together.

Alice, Lily, and I looked around the room in unison. Frankie and Hugo stared at each other.

"Hey, Lils? Ly? Do you want to postpone this meeting? You two-" he remembered Alice was there with us, "-three, seem very preoccupied."

I shook my head vigorously, but Lily said suddenly, "That might actually help, thanks. We'll have double the meeting's next week."

And she stood up and left. I sat back against the couch. I didn't want the mirror thing to take over my life, but only because I had no single clue what I was doing. Suddenly, Lily was back and she grabbed Alice and I by the wrists and pulled us away.

"Let's go find Riley. She should be on the pitch." Lily said.

I stopped in the middle of the corridor, "Why would she be practicing in this kind of weather?"

Lily didn't have time to answer before Hugo and Frankie snuck up behind us. They seemed very blind of our urgent stature.

"You headed down to the quidditch pitch?" Hugo asked, "We'll join you. Maybe we could play a quick game."

Before any of us could say anything, Hugo grabbed Lily by the hand and walked in the direction of the pitch.

Down at the pitch, Riley was doing crazy maneuvers between objects she enchanted. Hugo grabbed his broom and flew out onto the pitch. Alice and Frankie went up to sit in the stands. This left Lily and I alone to grab our own brooms. As luck would have it, they were hanging next to each other. We reached into the cupboard, our hands touching. We locked eye contact for a hot second before it was broken by Hugo calling,

"Oi! You two coming?"

Lily and I snatched our brooms down and rushing onto the pitch. We split into teams of two. Hugo wanted to do girls vs. boys, but I said it would be fair, because Riley and Lily were better than both of us. Hugo tried to debate but stopped himself and silently agreed. Riley put me on her team and Lily and Hugo high-fived each other as Lily flew next to him.

Riley summoned a quaffle and chucked it to the stands. Frankie cast a spell to project it back to them, which started the game. Hugo and I flew off to guard the goalposts as Riley and Lily dove toward the quaffle. Riley grabbed the ball first, but Lily's broom jerked in the wind. The broom jerked up vertically and Lily lost her grip on the handle. She fell through the air and suddenly nothing else mattered. I dove downward. I was so close, but we were so close to the ground I didn't think I'd get to her in time, so I leapt from my broom.

Stretching my arms out as much as I could, I grabbed Lily's hands and pulled her into a tight, protective embrace. I rolled in midair and seconds later, my back came in contact with the ground. We slid to a stop, and it took me a moment to let Lily go. When I finally relaxed, Lily rolled onto the grass.

"We should've buckled our shoes." I told her.

"I did buckle my shoes." Lily stated quickly before getting to her feet.

I got to my feet, too. If Lily'd buckled her shoes, that would've meant the wind wasn't the reason she fell. That's when I saw a figure trudging back up to the castle. They were moving swiftly and efficiently. I knew I'd lose them by the time I reached where I spotted them, but I ran toward the castle anyway. If this person was the person who knocked Lily from her broom, he didn't care who was in the way.

He was going to avenge Lily.