Introducing Remus Lupin, a self-hating, half-blood werewolf who hasn't experienced human touch for six years; Sirius Black, a rebellious pureblood who doesn't know how it feels to be loved; Peter Pettigrew, an anxious halfblood with a dark past who...
The rest of the weekend passed in a flurry of homework and planning, and by Tuesday afternoon, they were ready to complete Peeves' second task.
Sirius was hidden under the cloak with James outside the door of Filch's office, waiting for him to leave. Peter and Remus were one corridor away, preparing to set off the decoy to draw him out. It was debatable who had the riskier job. Peter and Remus, who would be leading Filch through the castle on a merry chase and keeping him distracted for as long as they could. Or Sirius and James, who would be wrecking his office while he was away with no idea when he would return. Both teams would be in severe trouble if they were caught.
The sound of distant explosions ripped Sirius from his thoughts. That would be the fireworks going off. Any second now... Yes! The office door opened, and Filch emerged, his face contorted in an angry scowl and his cat close on his heels.
'What have those little monsters done now?' he muttered as he stomped up the corridor. Sirius and James slipped through the door into the office before it closed behind him. Sirius glanced around, trying to decide where to start. There wasn't much in the room to destroy apart from the many filing cabinets, so they began there.
Sirius pulled open drawers and pulled out papers, throwing them into the air and scattering them throughout the room. James joined him and, within a few minutes, they had emptied the filing cabinets of all student punishment records and the office was a complete mess of parchment. Next, they turned to the desk.
Sirius grabbed the ink bottle off the top, opened it and poured the ink out over the carpet of parchment. James pulled open the top drawer and started pulling things out.
'Hey, look at this,' James said, waving a folded sheet of parchment. 'I think it's a love letter. It's got little hearts all over it.'
Sirius snorted. 'Who's it to? His cat?'
James laughed and opened it, then he wrinkled his nose. 'No, it's to him.'
Sirius raised his eyebrows. 'Who would be writing a love letter to Filch?'
'Someone with bad taste?' James suggested with a chuckle.
Sirius took the parchment. It looked ancient and worn. Like Filch had read and reread it thousands of times.
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'Filch isn't married, is he?' Sirius asked, looking up from the letter.
James shrugged. 'Don't think so.'
'Wonder what happened,' Sirius said. 'Seems like she really liked him.'
'That's not important right now. Let's finish up so we can get out of here before he gets back,' James said, pulling out the next drawer down and dumping the contents on the floor.
'You're the one that picked up the bloody letter,' Sirius said. He was about to drop the parchment on the floor with everything else when he paused. Filch had kept it for over fifteen years. It was clearly important to him, and as much as Sirius disliked the grumpy caretaker, he didn't feel right destroying something so personal and precious. Student files were one thing. A letter from an ex-lover whose fate was unknown? That was something else entirely. Sirius folded the letter back up carefully and put it back inside the empty drawer.
