Mischief Managed

30: Change from Familiar

dedication: @Jmoheart - your comments are so, so sweet, and honestly every one makes my day:)

PART TWO

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Sometimes I just let the beauty envelope me, and I can forget for a little. Just often enough that I stay sane.

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The five of us sat, circled, on the mahogany center rug of the Gryffindor boys dormitory. Their room was practically mine- I would happily move my things here, but school rules forbade girls and boys to sleep in the same room.

I looked at Sirius, who smiled at me. Pft. Ridiculous.

I couldn't help but smile back.

"Alright," said James, glancing between the two of us. "Bree, while you were gone, we made..." he paused dramatically.

After a moment of awkward silence, he inclined his head, raising an eyebrow at Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

Remus raised his eyes to the heavens. "James, we aren't doing that-"

Before he finished speaking, Sirius began to pound his hands on the ground with terrible rhythm. He grinned and Peter joined him, and, sighing, Remus did too.

"Drumroll!" Sirius shouted.

I started to laugh, and James crunched his face in confusion, but I only laughed harder. Together, they were unable to maintain a beat and had instead descended the dormitory into a cacophony of musical chaos.

I shook my head several times, my body still shaking with laughter.

"What?" said Sirius, laughing. "We saw teenagers do this in a muggle movie and it's appropriate, see, since you understand-"

"No," I said, laughing again. "I get it, but..." I snickered. "You're just so bad at it."

Sirius opened his mouth in shock then puffed his chest. "Oh, I'll do better than. Just watch-" he raised his fist dangerously high in the air, his body poised for impact, but Remus grabbed his fist before he could hurl it to the ground.

"Padfoot, please don't. No one cares."

Sirius turned to Remus, very offended.

"Just get on with it, Prongs," Remus said quickly.

Sirius huffed and I hid my laughter behind my hands. His offense seemed to disappear from his face when he saw me laughing, and he smiled, moving closer to me.

"You're going to like this," he whispered.

James cleared his throat. "Well, Merle, while you've been gone, we've been quite busy."

"Yes," said Remus. "Mainly, we've been working on James's idea- the map."

"Right," I said slowly, scrunching my face as I tried to remember. "The- the enchanted one, right? With all the secret passageways?"

James nodded quickly and grinned. "Yes! That's it!"

He dug in the pocket of his robes, and pulled out a thick scroll of parchment.

He unraveled it on the rug, and I leaned forward to inspect the scribblings covering nearly every inch of it.

Thin lines sketched out every corridor, class, staircase, and tower, and, in Remus's neat cursive, were the names of every place in the castle. Several floors of the castle were stacking atop each other, and the sight of such detail made my head spin- it must have taken ages to do all of this.