Three Hallows' Eve || Harmione & Jily

Chapter 4.1

Chapter Four - The Peverell Artefacts I

'Was it always this small?'

James snorted derisively at the comment, but stopped for a moment. 'I was going to say that it must have been, but literally everything else about Hogwarts seems to move and change on a whim, so- Ouch! Look where you're going, Padfoot!'

He crouched to rub his ankle where Sirius had just kicked it, but instead found himself sprawling forward onto the muddy floor of the tunnel as he got shoved in the back. 'How am I supposed to look where I'm going when I'm bent double?' he hissed. 'How about you don't stop dead right in bloody front of me?'

Picking himself up off the ground, James shot a glare at Sirius before continuing on. The rest of the walk continued on in silence until they reached the base of the Whomping Willow. He thumped the knot on the tree's trunk and slowly raised his head out of the opening. Seeing no students about, he motioned Sirius to follow him and quickly ducked out and snuck towards the castle.

'This would be so much easier if we had the Map,' Sirius muttered as the crept around the wall of the West Tower. No sooner had he finished speaking than he grabbed James's wrist and gasped. 'Prongs, it'll still be in Filch's office, I bet!'

He yanked his arm from Sirius's grasp and glared at him. 'It doesn't matter, we need to get to Dumbledore's office without being seen. Filch's is on the other side of the castle.'

They stared each other down for a moment and Sirius eventually relented with a roll of his eyes. 'We could get it on the way out?' he posited as they continued towards Greenhouse Three where one of the panels was loose enough to get through.

'Shut up, Padfoot.'

-oOo-

Albus Dumbledore hummed as he made his way through Hogwarts, returning to his office after a good Sunday dinner in the Great Hall. Over the last few years, he'd started to neglect eating with the students in favour of taking a good portion of his meals in his own office or quarters while trying to plan and organise the effort against Tom Riddle and his Death Eaters. Today was, in fact, the first Sunday roast he'd had downstairs since long before the end of the last school year, and he found that he had quite missed it.

In the past year, a great tension had settled upon the occupants of the old castle, students and staff alike. A sense of trepidation was hung palably in the air. It seemed like at least twice a week a Post Owl swept into the hall and delivered to a student the devastating news that they'd never see a certain member of their family again.

Tonight, though, that tension had begun to lift. Of course, it wouldn't completely disappear overnight; there were still far too many of Tom's followers out in society for people to relax fully. The head of the serpent had been cut off, nevertheless, and the tension that had become nearly unbearable for the Headmaster would now slowly begin to wane as society healed.

Albus frowned. Whilst he revelled in the opportunity that the students now had to just enjoy their time in Hogwarts and simply be free to act as young adults should, he wasn't entirely sure how long the peace would last. It wasn't a happy thought.

The fact that the Potters had all survived settled him slightly, but the prophecy said that Tom would mark the young boy, and the survival of James and Lily, however they'd managed it, meant he hadn't had a chance to check. Obviously he was beyond thrilled to hear that all three Potters still lived. Really, he thought, this would be one time in his life where he'd be overjoyed to be proven wrong, but there was still something that didn't add up. Albus Dumbledore was missing a part of the puzzle, and without it, he didn't think he'd get his answers.