Foxy

Making Things Right

"Come on, Lily," Wendy started as she gathered her parchment and quills, "we're no help to Iris if we have no energy to do anything."

The redhead bowed her head in resignation as she understood Wendy's reasoning. However, she didn't like it that much! She would much rather spend every hour of every day to work on their research. Lily just knew that they were getting close to figuring out what was wrong with Iris. Only a little bit more, she would mutter to herself. Wendy did have a point, however, and that slightly frustrated Lily.

Lily bit the inside of her cheek, "alright, it is getting pretty late, I guess."

The girls then started to pack their things up and head for the exit. They passed by Madam Pince who called out in a shrill, strict voice, "get to your dorm, girls!"

Their trek back to the Gryffindor tower was completely uneventful. The girls just trudged their way through the corridors sluggishly as their exhaustion started to catch up with them. Perhaps they should have left the library earlier, but they needed to get as much research done as they could. Trying to help figure out what was wrong with Iris will be worth sacrificing a little bit of sleep.

Marlene was just about to collapse due to her tiredness and had to use Lily and Wendy as crutches. While the two girls were making sure that their friend didn't tumble over her own feet, they themselves were trying to keep their eyes open.

The trio of girls soon made it through the winding corridors and up the constantly changing grand staircase to the Gryffindor tower. As they approached the entrance to the common room, the guardian of the haven of the brave woke up at their arrival. The Fat Lady groggily stared at the girls with a tired, grumpy expression on her plump face. "Password?"

"Dilligrout," Lily sighed.

The stout painting nodded her head and allowed the portrait to swing open. Just as the girls were trying to enter the common room and find comfort in the warm familiar walls, four boys came bumbling out of the entrance and bumped into them. The seven of them nearly all fell on top of each other in a pile of limbs.

They were just able to catch themselves at the last moment and all of their eyes landed on the other group. The girls weren't that all surprised to see the Marauders sneaking out of the common room right before curfew. They've known them long enough to not question why the boys snuck out at night as just about everyone knew that they did it.

"Huh?" Wendy yawned out once she caught her footing, "where are you lot going?"

The group of boys shared a quick glance with each other. "Just out," James huffed out as he tried to hold his invisibility cloak behind him. His tone certainly didn't give the girls any confidence in them not doing anything bad tonight. Yet the group of boys always get into trouble after curfew, so the girls weren't that suspicious about their actions. The question was how were they going to get into trouble this time.

Lily was deadpan, "it's never "just out" for you guys."

"Don't go after the Slytherins yet!" Marlene exclaimed with the last bit of energy she had.

Sirius tried to scoff as if offended, "what? We weren't going to do that!"

Lily stared at them tiredly, "sure. Just make sure that you don't get into trouble. We're close to finding what's wrong with Iris. I know it."

The atmosphere around them dipped slightly as they were reminded of the situation surrounding one of their dear friends. It was one thing to think about going after the Slytherins, but it was another to think about why they were going after them and what they had done.