My eyes widened in shock. "What!?"
The Head boy, Sebastian, nodded. "Yes, Freya. You understood correctly."
The Head girl nodded in agreement. "We've noticed that the houses don't really mix and, as Prefects are role models, we should set an example of overcoming house boundaries. Which is why all of you have gotten a new partner and a new corridor."
Why didn't it surprise me that they wanted to mix the students from different houses more.
Mary and Sebastian, the infamous Head boy and girl, a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin who became a couple.
If they weren't a demonstration of overcoming house stereotypes and boundaries, then who was?
Trying to make them change their minds was useless, we all knew that.
I threw a last suffering glance at Jacob, the other Ravenclaw sixth year Prefect and my partner, and joined Remus Lupin, while Lily Evans, his former partner, went away to join a Hufflepuff girl.
I gave Remus a weak smile. He did the same. Apparently, we both were quite uncomfortable with this new situation.
It was awkwardly quiet as we walked through the corridors assigned to us.
There were no first years who had gotten lost and there were no people that had snuck out, as far as the night had passed.
"You know I don't bite, right?" Remus finally broke the silence. He bit his lip, flinching a little. It almost seemed as if he regretted speaking up.
I blushed, but I knew that feeling, so I didn't want to leave him hanging. "Of course. Sorry."
"Isn't it weird that we've been Prefects together for two years, but never talked to each other?"He cleared his throat and stepped up his pace, probably unconciously. Considering that he was much taller than me (which wasn't difficult, but still), I was struggling to catch up.
A breathy laugh escaped my mouth and I playfully rolled my eyes. "Thinking of how talkative we've been these past minutes, that really is weird."
The Gryffindor smiled and slowed down again. Thank Merlin. He was probably unconsciously trying to walk his discomfort off.
I wondered if I did that too. Likely. Not that it bothered anyone; even some first years were already as tall as me. Although I wasn't even that small. Everyone could keep up my pace, but still, I was wondering.
"Yeah, James and Sirius usually do the talking for me."
I didn't know what to reply, so I just nodded.
And then the silence was back.
While I was rapidly trying to think of a way to fill the silence, Remus stopped in his tracks. "Wait a second, please."
I did as told and stared at him questioningly. He didn't say anything else and gestured me to follow him a few steps back. When we reached a carpeted piece of wall, Remus stopped. To my surprise, he pulled the carpet aside. Using his whole body weight, he pushed his shoulder against the bare wall.
Why in the name of Merlin's boxershorts would he do that?
Just as I wanted to ask what on earth he was trying to achieve with abusing this random piece of wall, there was a quiet 'crack'. Where Remus stood, a square appeared, carved into the stone. The wall floated back a few centimetres and then to the right.
I could hear hushed voices and Remus, who was able to see the inside, rolled his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Moony!" One of the voices greeted nervously. "What are you doing here? This isn't the corridor you usually partol in!"
"Is Evans with you?" Another, hopeful sounding voice added.
Remus sighed frustratedly and touched the bridge of his nose. "I told you a million times already," he said as if scolding a small child, "that you shouldn't scheme in the halls after curfew! What's the harm in doing that in our dorm, where you don't do anything against the rules and where you have the same amount of privacy as here!"
"C'mon Moony, you know that we like the thrill, and the atmosphere is so mysterious, so we get more inspiration in here," the first voice answered.
"And is Lily with you?" The second voice asked again. Undoubtedly James Potter, I thought with a grin.
When Remus shook his head to answer his question, I took that as my cue to walk into their eyesight. And, of course, in this weird secret room sat 3/4 of the marauders. Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter. They were wearing comfortable, casual outfits, sitting around a small table with some parchment on it.
When they saw me, their eyes widened and Sirius Black absentmindetly pulled the parchment closer towards him, hiding it under his crossed arms.
I couldn't help but grin at their confused and baffled expressions. They looked busted.
Which they would've been, had someone else been assigned to be Remus' new partner.
I didn't really care about them breaking the rules, as I always enjoyed their harmless little pranks. And if Remus was so chill about this prank in the making, it couldn't be one of the meaner ones.
But I enjoyed the three's nervous- almost panicked- faces, so I couldn't restrain myself.
I looked at Remus and winked with the eye that his friends couldn't see. Go with it.
"Sneaking out after curfew, obviously scheming pranks, that's three people and they are not even acknowledging their mistakes.... That would make... What, ten points each?"
A glint appeared in Remus' eyes and a small mischievous smile creeped onto his lips.
"I'd even say fifteen!"
"What!? Remus, what are you doing!?"
"Fourty-five points from Gryffindor? Sounds valid," I turned towards the rest of the marauders again, a serious expression on my face.
Although it was really hard to not burst into laughter when I saw their absolutely horrified faces.
Sirius and James exchanged a quick glance, and Sirius hastily stood up, almost knocking his chair over in the process. The parchment that had previously been laying under his arms went flying.
That was when I lost it. And when I started laughing, Remus did, too.
The boys in front of us exchanged confused glances.
"None of this is funny, you know?" James Potter complained, standing up to face us with his arms crossed over his chest and a slightly scared look on his face. "You're supposed to be on our side, Remus!"
My grin didn't subside and with an unfamiliar burst of confidence I replied "Oh, don't get your wand in a knot, Potter. We were kidding."
Remus nodded and Peter Pettigrew blinked twice. "Kidding?"
"Yes, 'kidding'," I still grinned. "I thought you were the pranksters, you're supposed to know that word."
"So... No loss of house points?" James asked carefully, testing his waters.
"Not from my side at least," I looked at Remus. "What about you?"
He shrugged. "I've given up on trying to tame them, so no."
I nodded and turned to the rule breakers again. "But you're going to your dorm room now, please. Whatever prank you're planning, it'll have to wait until tomorrow."
The three boys nodded, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Remus smiling at me with a strange look in his eyes.
Just as James bent down to pick up the parchment from the floor, Remus shouted "See you later", and we left this weird secret room.
I made a mental note to return to this spot again. I wanted to find out how this mechanism worked, and I wanted to take a closer look at this room. I was curious.
"Thanks for not making Gryffindor run too far behind in the house cup competition," Remus said.
I shrugged. I felt weirdly comfortable around him, now that we'd broken the ice between us. "No problem. Ravenclaw is leading anyway, so I didn't see the need to take the few points Gryffindor has left away from you."
Remus squinted his eyes at me. And just when I got insecure again and wanted to bite my tongue off for my stupid and unnecessary remarks, he laughed.
I let out a relieved sigh and tried to act off my nerves.
After a few breaths I started to trust my voice again. "Do you think Mary and Sebastian will keep these pairs, or do you think they'll switch again?"
Remus shrugged. "I don't know. But I don't think I woud mind being stuck with you from now on."
I blushed and looked at the floor. Why did my body always betray me like that!? There was no reason to blush!
But it defenitely warmed my heart to hear these words.
One of my greatest fears was not being accepted, or being alone. I feared that noone really liked me, not even the girls I called my friends.
To actually hear these words being said to me (and them not coming from my family) felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
I had misjudged Gryffindors. If there was something that this day had taught me, then it was that Gryffindors, despite being popular, were actually super nice and genuine people.
I smiled at the Gryffindor boy beside me. "Me neither."