Marauders - Always - Part One

Six Towers

James apparated outside of Blackburn to the first location that Underhill had pointed out on the map. He was northwest of Blackburn, on a hill overlooking a small town below.

He looked around himself, the landscape was of rolling hills and a great view that afforded visuals of far off hills and the peaks of houses, pock marked by large stones, brush, and trees. He stood in front of a sign indicating a museum of Roman artifacts, which was housed in an old stone tower that broke the horizon line. The tower loomed high over James's head and he looked up at it and the squat stone walls that surrounded it.

The museum was a bit run down, undercared for. James peered at the peeling paint on the wooden sign that declared the Museum to be OPE (the N was completely faded off). There was nothing at all magical feeling about the place, but the fact that the spot had ties to Roman history - with its origin legends of founders being raised by wolves (Romulus and Remus - really what did Lyall Lupin think his son would be with a name like Remus Lupin?) this seemed like a good hint or give away that James thought might be worth looking into a bit more when time allowed.

However, other than that mild tip, there was no other reason to think the pack might be headquartered there, so he disapparated off to the next stop.

The next route stop he visited was southwest of the city center and, interestingly enough, also was a tower, and also a historical site - though this one appeared more properly known, as there were muggle children in school uniforms clustered about the entrance, waiting in a line for a ticketing booth with their teachers and nannies. It was very crowded and as a result the invisibility cloak was a bit of trouble as people kept bumping into him and looking around with bewildered confusion at the empty air that had felt quite solid a moment before. There was also an open air market with booths folks were selling their wares at - vegetables and jams, flowers, knitted clothes, and trinkets they'd whittled, painted, or otherwise fashioned. James saw a booth selling jewelry and the style made him think of Lily, and he decided to come back later to have a look - but he didn't have enough time now, he had only a short time to disapparate to the next route stop and then back to the muggle station to meet up with Underhill. But, he thought, there wasn't much of anything there, either, that particularly screamed werewolf secret hideout to him.

The third stop was due south of Blackburn, and, yet again, he found himself next to a tower on a hill. This one, however, had no museum, no tourist appeal. Just a hiking trail that went away down the side of the wooded hill, disappearing among the trees.

The view was lovely, and it seemed quite isolated. James moved carefully around the tower, but found no door or entrance way, and wondered whether the tower was actually a tower or more of a monolith that simply stood sentinel. He made a mental note that it may be of worth to investigate the tower further with a broomstick to see if there appeared to be an inside of the tower, or if it was some sort of marker only. However, for the time being, he was nearly out of time, so he disapparated back to Blackburn proper, removed the cloak inconspicuously,  and sat himself down on a bench near to the map board where he and Underhill had left off from.

He checked his watch - he had been gone for eighteen of the twenty minutes.

Underhill returned three minutes late and winded.

"I was starting to worry," James admitted, getting up, then noticing Underhill's breathing he asked, "Alright, sir?"

Underhill nodded and sat down on James's bench. "Hiked a large hill," Underhill said, "And realized how long it'd taken just as I got to the top of it. Old lungs take longer to recoup, Potter."

James smirked. "What'd you do that for?"

"There was a tower up top," Underhill said. "Interestingly, there was a tower on the hill of all three of my stops."