Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) Book Three (Marauders Era)

Chapter Ninety-Seven - Cluck You Too

Author's note: YAY! I am back! Thank you all for your patience! I was going to wait another week but honestly I've been getting some comments from a new reader and it made me realize how much I've missed posting so... here we are! I hope you enjoy!

Also yes if anyone is curious I am still very much so obsessed with BG3. Ooooof. Look, it's not my fault that Astarion and Gale are absolutely brilliant, okay? I'm a victim in this! Lmao

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On Wednesday morning, Remus received a long letter from his mother. Some of it was the typical rambling about her days mixed in with the 'miss you' bits... however, a lot of it was wondering when he would be able to come visit, with the pass she had signed. He dropped his head on the table, trying not to groan as he debated whether going to the Broombatic show was worth it or not.

In between lessons he worked on a response, as well as a letter of apology to Miss Fawley, and before lunch he asked Peter if he could borrow Cocoa. He went up to the owlery, attaching Miss Fawley's letter to Cocoa and the one to his mother on a school owl. After they left, he looked at Arthur's old cubby, missing his owl deeply. It was still empty, which wasn't surprising since there were dozens of empty places; plenty of room in case there was an outbreak of owl ownership.

By the time he got to the Great Hall, lunch was already half over and his friends had been a little worried about him. Sirius said he had been about to mount an expedition to rescue him. Remus ignored him, eating as fast as he could, since his mother's letter that morning ruined his appetite and he hadn't had breakfast. He was still eating an apple when they had to leave for Herbology. The weather had shifted from snowy and cold to rainy and cold, so the grounds were very muddy and they kept slipping on their way.

When they got to Greenhouse Four they found a crowd of students shivering miserably outside of the door. One of the Hufflepuffs told the Marauders the doors were locked and when James asked if they were supposed to go to a different Greenhouse, she shook her head and said all of them were locked.

James got his wand out. "It's too wet. Alohomora."

The door unlocked and before Remus or anyone could protest, James opened the door.

"What if we're not supposed to be in there?" Pete asked.

"Then Sprout can move us to the correct one," he answered as he went in, shaking the rain off his cloak. Sirius shrugged and followed suit. After a couple of seconds, Peter and Remus went in as well, shortly followed by the rest of the waiting students.

It was a lot warmer and dryer inside, and Remus shed his cloak before tipping his head to one side to squeeze the water from his hair. It was so cold outside that he was surprised it wasn't snowing, but it was supposed to rain like this for the rest of the week.

Other third years began showing up, no idea that they had essentially broken in though several asked where Sprout was. As Remus sat down, he thought back to Monday's lesson. Had Sprout said anything about where they'd be...? They were working on winterthorns and those were in Greenhouse Four. Their planters were all lined up on the tables near the back, with their name cards in front. They were supposed to be here. But where was Sprout? And why was the door locked?

One pm came and went, and a couple of minutes later everyone began whispering. One of the Hufflepuffs was rather worried about Sprout and asked if they should go find her, and another said she hadn't been at lunch. That wasn't too unusual, though; sometimes the professors ate in their offices or elsewhere.

A few more minutes ticked by and just as they were discussing seriously going to get a teacher, Sprout came through the door looking quite grouchy.

"Who unlocked the door?" she asked without any preamble. Twenty-seven fingers pointed at the Marauders. Remus slid down in his seat a little while Pete made an 'urp' sort of sound. "Why did you unlock the door?"