Lions Inside¹ | James Potter

ten

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(She Moves In Her Own Way//The Kooks)

Andrea hadn't been at Hogwarts for long, but she quickly realized that the boys were up to something. And she had her theories why, she was just scared of how to bring it up.

Remus didn't show up to any of his classes on Wednesday and he wasn't at dinner that evening, leading Andrea to believe her theory was becoming more and more believable. Suspicious, Andrea worked up the courage and decided to investigate the easiest persuasive member.

"Hey Peter," she smiled, taking her seat beside him on the common room couch. "Hi. What's up Andie?" he greeted.

"Is Remus okay? I haven't seen him since we left him this morning," she said, worrying her lip between her teeth. Peter felt his palms grow sweaty with nerves. "Oh, uh. Y-yeah. He's still in the Hospital Wing," he stuttered, avoiding eye contact.

Andrea narrowed her eyes at him. "What's wrong with him?" she asked. "Uhm... sick. Yeah, yeah. Some stomach bug or something." "Oh, OK. I hope he feels better. Maybe I should go down there and-"

"NO!" Peter jumped in. "Why not? If he's not feeling well, I want to help him." Peter looked around the room frantically and spotted Sirius.

"Hey, S-Sirius? I can't remember, what did Madam Pomfrey say was the reason we weren't allowed to visit Remus? Andrea wants to head down there, you see." He was trying to play it cool, but Andrea didn't believe him for a second. Smoothly, Sirius jumped over the back of the couch and landed on Andrea's other side.

"Yeah, she said he was contagious, so no one's allowed in there," he said, ruffling his hair in the process, making his curls frame his face graciously. Sirius was a much better actor than Peter.

"I see. Well, I hope he's better by tomorrow." Andrea stood from the couch and left the boys. Turning around by the dorm entrances she made sure that Sirius and Peter were distracted. They had turned to each other and were whispering urgently.

In a split-second decision, she changed direction and ran up to the boys' dorms. She quickly found the door with all the boys' names on it where she had been that morning and hurried inside unnoticed.

As soon as she closed the door, she almost regretted her decision. The post-it-covered walls weren't the only problem with the boys' room. There was a mess everywhere.  Clothes, vinyl records, books, mud that had been tracked in from outside and litters of empty candy wrappers all over the place. Andrea tried to spot James' bed.

There was one bed with more candy wrappers than the other on the nightstand, so she guessed that was Peter's, judging by the potted plants along the window next to his bed too. She learned Yesterday in class that Peter loved Herbology and plants. He pretty much enjoyed all subjects that didn't require a wand, except Potions of course. But Astrology and Herbology were his best ones.

Next was the bed with Vinyl records scattered all over the crumpled duvet, and a Muggle record player on the nightstand.
Sirius, she thought to herself with a smile.
She missed her mother's record player. They would listen to Muggle music for hours on end when she was home and on her first night at Hogwarts, she and Sirius had compared their favourite Muggle artists for nearly two hours. Music had easily broken the ice that night, even if they didn't listen to many of the same artists.

The bed across from Sirius had a large poster of the Ballycastle Bats' Seeker zooming around on his broom on it. Andrea knew Remus didn't enjoy Quidditch and Ballycastle was her and James' team, so this had to be him. But just in case, Andrea went to the wall and found the post-it with the doodled pointing hand, telling her that the bed beside it was definitely James'.