The castle seemed quieter than usual. It was odd, since last time Remus had sneaked out with the others they hadn't made a sound, but it still felt louder than it did now, with just him and Sirius alone under the invisibility cloak.
"You remember the spell to open the statue, don't you?" Sirius asked in a low voice.
"Yeah, I do." Their footsteps echoed lightly around the dungeon walls, the green glow from the windows guiding their way towards the statue.
"Dissendium," said Remus when they reached it, pointing his wand at the witch's arched back. It opened, the grinding sound of stone against stone making them both flinch. They took the invisibility cloak off, and Sirius balled it up and shoved it into his cloak pocket.
"After you," he whispered. The passage was as dark as ever, but it felt scarier now it was just the two of them. Four wands had been more comforting than two, and their lighting wasn't as good. But they continued to tiptoe down the damp corridor until they reached the end of the passage.
"I've just realised," began Sirius, looking up at the trap door and voicing what Remus had also remembered as soon as they'd arrived. "We left the ladder upstairs."
"D'you think just the two of us is enough?" Asked Remus. "You can stand on my shoulders and get the ladder when you're up there."
"Can you lift me up?" Remus shrugged.
"We'll find out." Sirius put his wand away, and tried to clamber onto Remus's shoulders. He was quite heavy, but Remus was quite strong. Regardless of the morfosis potion helping to increase his strength, he liked to exercise his arms whenever he could. He tended to do it privately, late at night or early in the morning. Just push-ups mostly. He was self-conscious about his arms, worried that they looked too skinny. It was a fairly illogical concern, considering every boy his age looked basically the same, but the exercises helped offset his dysphoria, and to him that's all that mattered.
Right now, he was glad he'd done it, because Sirius was able to sit comfortably on his shoulders and reach up just high enough to gradually open the trap door. It squeaked on its hinges, but Sirius held it tightly to ensure it wouldn't crash to the ground.
"Right," he muttered to himself, grabbing hold of the edges of the doorway and pulling himself up, using Remus as a platform. Remus grunted as he felt Sirius's whole weight on him momentarily, and he could feel his legs start to buckle before Sirius managed to pull himself up in time.
"I'll go get the ladder," called down Sirius. "Stay there."
"Where am I gonna go?" Replied Remus, but Sirius was already gone. A few moments later, with Remus tapping his foot on the ground nervously, he heard a shuffling noise and looked up to see Sirius awkwardly carrying the ladder. He lowered it down as carefully as he could.
The store room had barely changed since the last time Remus had been there, which had only been a few weeks ago, if that.
"There's no one here is there?" Asked Remus. Sirius didn't respond immediately. He was still listening out for any outside noises.
"I don't think so," he whispered back. "I haven't heard anyone. Besides, once we're out of the shop, we are allowed to just walk around. It is a village after all."
"Yeah, adults are allowed to walk around. If anyone sees us they'll send us straight back to Hogwarts." Sirius waved his words away vaguely.
"We'll be fine. We'll go down near the clearing where the village ends. No one'll notice us." Remus agreed, and followed his friend out of the gloomy sweet shop into the empty streets outside. An owl hooted somewhere in the distance. Could've been a student's owl, or a normal owl, but it sounded slightly mournful. The call echoed around the still night.
YOU ARE READING
Boys Will Be Bugs
Fanfiction[REUPLOAD] Remus Lupin has more than one secret, and there's no way of knowing who he can trust. All he has are his parents, but they can't protect him when he goes off to Hogwarts. But then Remus meets a boy and his two other friends, and soon real...
