Rainy Days [James Potter]

Chapter 14

Robin knew they were plotting something the moment she got in the room. They were all huddled together talking in hushed tones, as if even though they were in private they had to be careful. Maybe someone was listening to their conversation through the walls. Or in the room in an invisibility cloak.

Robin could understand their worries.

She approached in slow and quiet steps as their words got louder.

"- be careful. Remember last time? With Snape?" James said, recalling a negative encounter that Robin knew nothing of.

Sirius grimaced from across her.

"Yeah... Still sorry about that."

"Forget it, mate. I'm just saying that by now it could be easy to guess."

Remus stood quietly, looking sick, as he did at least once a month.

"I don't know, Prongs..." He said, and Robin frowned at the unfamiliar name. She still knew so little of those boys. "They are clueless, but we should be careful."

"We are!" yelled out Sirius. "No one has a clue. We're safe. Well... Moony isn't, but we're safe from anyone finding out."

Robin noticed the sun was slowly starting to set. It was still light outside but instead of the usual blue, the sky took on a slight yellow tinge.

"Still some time before the sunset. We should prepare." James noticed

They started stacking up on bandages and some sweets. They took a few changes of clothes and finally, took out a blank piece of parchment.

James took out his wand and said quite loudly a sentence that seemed so useless.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

But slowly, ink started appearing on the paper and formed words. But not only that, there was black outlines in several circular shapes. She started noting its resemblance to Hogwarts Castle, and then started reading the words. Her eyes opened wide. It was Hogwarts! The dungeons, the Great Hall, the Astronomy Tower, the Quidditch Pitches... It was all there. The words started to move and she realised it had every person in Hogwarts in their exact place. The names moved as they did. She admired the map for a bit before realising they could see her from the map.

She frantically searched for ideas, but no such luck. She did the only thing that seemed logical at the time, and creeped towards the door. She had made no noise, but she could tell her time was running out. They would notice her any second now, and her moment of luck would be over.

"The coast is clear. No one is outside near the Whomping Willow. We need to go." Sirius said.

They hadn't noticed her. She should stay where she was. She wasn't in the way of the door, and the floorboards didn't creak under her feet. She just needed to wait.

"Hang on." Remus said. Robin held her breath and hoped with all her heart that she could avoid getting caught. He frowned and his features contorted in anger. "Robin White?"

"Mate, my name's not Robin." Sirius said, feigning hurt.

"No, Robin. She's here!"

"I don't see her." James said wearily.

Remus walked in her direction. He knocked into her and fell to the floor. Peter let out a small laugh, but was silences by James' glare.

Remus reached out and Robin stepped back. The old floorboards creaked under her weight and she mentally cursed herself. Remus reached again, this time, his hand coming in contact with the fabric of her invisibility cloak. He pulled it off of her and she was revealed to the four boys.

"Hi." she said shyly.

"Oh, you are going to regret you ever stepped foot in here."