The Order of Mischief I (Marauders)

1.22

"So, tell me again, how did I end up here?" Anya asked, helping herself to a plate full of trifle, courtesy to Peter who was worried about her missing dinner more than anything else.

James rubbed the back of his neck and groaned, "For the love of Merlin, Zion, how many times do you need to hear it?"

"Just once more," she replied courteously, smiling as she looked at him. James was sat on the edge of his bed, while she was tucked inside it. The rest of the marauders were asleep as it was midnight. The curtains of their four-poster beds were drawn. But either way, their conversation would not have been eavesdropped upon as James had used the quietus charm to block sound from leaving the privacy of his bed.

He nodded and indulged her in the story of their plans to revive her, "Stevens started talking to Hagrid about various creatures and monsters he likes, and lured him towards the hall while Sirius and Peter checked that the coast was clear for me to sneak through. When we got to the stairs, Peter left to call Remus from dinner, and they both came with dinner, while Sirius helped me sneak back to our food. Thankfully, the knight that is guarding our tower is too lazy to frequently change the passwords as he is meant to, so we got in just fine. I brought you here and then the five of us-"

"Five?" Anya interrupted and James nodded. He had failed to mention a fifth company in his
previous retellings of the same story. He had summarised how they attempted to rescue her, without naming anyone aside from Remus, for helping, and Peter, for bringing food.

"Phoebe came with Remus too. Anyways, so while we were looking for the cure, Sirius decided to try the finite spell on you, which seemed to return your pulse to normal. We could not find much and Remus assured us that you were just asleep and were going to be okay. So we agreed to wait until you woke up or until dawn," he explained, "before running to Madam Pomfrey that something was wrong with you."

"What were you going to tell her when she would ask what happened?" Anya asked, her eyes wide open as she was fully rested, while the boy in front of her looked tired. She mentally promised that she would let him sleep after asking a few more questions.

"That you were not feeling well and fell asleep instead of going to the feast." James leaned against the frame of the raised wooden panel at the end of the bed, staring at the brunette who continued to eat.

"Where's Phoebe?" she asked when he got too quiet.

"Sleeping in Remus' bed," James said and Anya gawked. He smiled weakly as he shook his head, "Remus is sleeping in Sirius' bed, with Sirius, since they stayed awake talking to each other. Your best friend and Peter fell asleep early."

Anya moved to the corner of his bed, still beneath the covers. She pushed the blanket away and patted the space beside her. James furrowed his brows but moved towards her anyways, he was too tired to put up a fight, and wanted to sleep in his own bed. Their shoulders were touching when he finally settled into a sitting position with her. She held out a plate of mini chocolate chip muffins, and he took one. They sat in silence as they made their way through the selection of desserts that their friends had brought. Both of them refused to acknowledge how they should have been smart enough to know that there would be a good chance things would get out of hand.

It was one in the middle of the night, everyone else had fallen asleep a couple of hours ago. Apparently they were taking turns to watch Anya, in case she woke up. It was just James' luck that she would awaken when he was monitoring her, but it also meant that no one else would have to be woken up in the middle of the night to watch her. Potter was glad her consciousness meant that everyone would get to sleep peacefully, so that the boys could catch up as they simultaneously intended to, in the morning. And if the Zion before him did not wake up, then that would have disrupted their plans.