The Marauders: Year Four

The Future

But the falling piece of furniture - or piece of a piece of furniture, rather - had put her mind back on track for what she was really there for. She did, however, take the drawing and fold it up, putting it in her pocket for later... She turned and carefully pushed open the boys trunks, not daring to poke about too much, using the handle of James's broomstick to move the shorts from the center of the floor so she could get to Remus's side of the room... and that's when she spotted it, just a tiny corner of the parchment, sticking out from beneath his mattress.

"Thank Merlin, I don't think I could take another second in here," she murmured, tugging the Marauders Map out from under Remus's mattress and turning for the door, "Disgusting boys. I mean, honestly, that's what the laundry hamper's for... and - oh my God - I don't even want to think about where that has been," she added, noticing that James's quidditch things were laying across his bed, including a protective jock cup. She shuddered and hurried for the door.

Lily rushed out of the common room and to the little flight of stairs that she and Remus often used for chatting and she pulled the Marauder's Map from her pocket and opened it up, looking over the castle's outlines, overwhelmed by all the names walking about. Somewhere among all the hundreds of names clustered about on the Map was James Potter. Lily never would've believed she would spend so much time - and face such harrowing things as that bloody dormitory - looking for Potter.

It took her several minutes before she spotted him, and she creased her eyebrows.

What could James Potter possibly be doing in the Divination tower?

Sirius's fingers only just barely caught the third step. He hung there, heart racing through his chest, the werewolves snapping and jumping, trying to bite at his ankles, which dangled only just above their reach. His arms shook with the effort of hanging on and he carefully moved so that he was at least holding onto one of the rails of the bannister, giving him a bit more grip. He looked down as Greyback paced, calculating, and Remus's wolf form lunged and launched itself up, eyes wild with hunger, desperately trying to grab hold on Sirius.

"It's me, Remus, it's me, Sirius," he said. But the wolf still salivated, seeing only a morsel to eat.

At least he was alive, Sirius thought. He might be a wolf, but he was a living wolf. He struggled to grab onto the next rung of the banister up, fancying that he might pull his way back onto the steps and out of the basement... Then Remus jumped up as hard as he possibly could and his teeth clamped around Sirius's shoe. Panicking, Sirius kicked off the boot and it fell to the ground, the werewolf still attached, hitting the cellar floor with a thump and a whimper from the wolf. "Sorry, Rey... Can't keep your mouth off of me, can you?" he said, entertaining himself with his own chatter as he worked at switching rungs still, "I'm understanding your aversion to slobber a bit more than I usually do... though I'll tell you now, I make a much more attractive canine than you do, mate... And you're going to be owing me a new pair of boots, by the by..."

He'd managed to grapple onto the second run, raising himself up a good six inches. Which was very fortunate because now that Remus Lupin had figured out how to leap up as high as he had a moment ago, he was doing it every few seconds, springing up like a bloody jack-in-the-box from hell, but still falling short thanks to the extra ground Sirius had gained. If he'd stayed where he'd been, the wolf would've caught onto his ankle by now.

Greyback was still pacing, staring up at Sirius with hungry eyes, but much more patiently than Remus was... somehow, Greyback's patiently staring eyes were even more unnerving than the clapping of Remus Lupin's jaws just inches from his sock-covered toes...

The only thing for it was to keep pulling himself - one rung at a time - toward the door...