All in the Family

Chapter 31: The Very Secret Diary

Remus felt a deep pull on his core, one he instantly recognized that had nothing to do with once again blinking into new surroundings they had not been in moments ago. Moonlight glinted in through the arched windows of the Gryffindor dormitory, but he cared not what or who he stumbled over as he lurched to the ledge and peered out helplessly beyond. The clouds were wispy, the moon bright and high in the sky, but not full. Two, perhaps one day tops.

He pressed his sweating brow to the glass with gratitude, already sensing the others getting much more slowly to their feet and recognizing Sirius placing his hand on his shoulder before he even looked over to check.

"You have got to be kidding me!" James began loudly causing a distraction. "We get blocked from entering the Slytherin's dorms, but we just get plopped into ours! Who's controlling this mess, I demand a refund!"

"I wasn't aware you were paying for this ride," Peter huffed as he rubbed his forehead against the offending trunk it had crashed against. "Mind if I get my share back?"

"Urgh, I don't know how on Earth we're going to find the book in this mess," Alice scowled about the place as she brushed a sock from her head.

"Charming little place," Frank agreed, having half landed under a bed and getting the joy of a toad leaping away from his face in surprise. Trevor, if he recalled correctly.

"Don't know what you lot are complaining about, we've finally got some beds!" Black cheered, pulling his friend away from the window and collapsing on the nearest one with an exhausted look in place that, to be fair, likely was not faked.

"How long have we been at this?" Potter agreed, flouncing on the floor and yanking the blankets off of the perch his friends had claimed. "I say we don't even bother looking for the next part of this mess until morning and get some shut eye!"

"Well I'm glad you lot can get comfortable," Lily sighed, staying where she'd landed at the foot of the available mattresses, eyeing it as if fearing it was going to consume her in her sleep. Even in the familiarity of being back up in her tower, if not the girls portion, she could not shake the feeling this castle seemed to be clutching even without the mass of students present. There was something going on she'd never had to fear even in her own time.

Regulus watched silently as, to his surprise, Potter actually ignored her and kept chatting up his three friends in their one space. Alice and Frank blushed scarlet at the sudden implications before them and went to separate beds, Regulus stayed where his was nearest the door, and Evans realized after a moment she was going to be ignored and tentatively began trying to organize the blankets into a more suitable position. Regulus found it quite clever. The last thing Potter could have done to force Evans to sleep in a bed was going all chivalrous and making a space for her. Now she was settling into one with orange drapings all along it silently while just as thoroughly ignoring him.

He decided to take the suggestion himself and stretched out on the last one, the canopy of which had shamrocks dancing along the perimeter and a few pictures of a sandy haired bloke and a tall black kid laughing. He didn't know which was the beds owner, and he didn't care as he closed his eyes and rolled over, trying to get comfortable. It took quite some time to fall off to sleep, though he was surprised Sirius still whispering incomprehensibly was helping. It reminded him of home, where he could often hear Kreacher going about the place at all hours, and the portraits whispering, the wind ripping through the old house.

It didn't take that long before Peter decided to risk it, transforming into Wormtail and creeping along to each bed and checking carefully to see all others asleep. He went so far as to give their noses little licks, but the worst reaction was Longbottom tossing violently over in his sleep and muttering, his snores nearly knocking Wormtail off the bed. Then Peter popped back over to his friends, who all had heavy lidded eyes themselves, but were grateful to stop whispering about Quidditch statistics for once upon his nod.