Mischievous-A Marauders Fanfic

22-The Time Is Now

The following day, Halley, Samantha, James, Remus, Sirius and Peter were all a little tense. Mainly because Sephy had been confined to the hospital wing by McGonagall.

By the late morning, both Halley and Sammie had been in to see their tiny friend. She looked very tired, and both girls sympathised with her. All three of them were struggling with burdens much the same. Only Sephy was the one who had broken first.

"I'm really sorry, Sephy" Samantha sighed, as the three of them curled up in a heap on the hospital bed. "It doesn't go away, does it? For any of us?"

"I'm just so tired" Sephy replied.

"I have never wanted a holiday more" Halley agreed. "But we've still got to do something about this little-problem that's arriving tonight."

"We shouldn't be dealing with this ourselves" Sephy pointed out, a little bitterly. "It's not our problem. It's Dumbledore's problem. He should be the one trying to fix it."

"Well, do we go to McGonagall?" Samantha asked. "It seems the logical thing to do. We know enough, now, easily, to let the teachers handle it."

"Do it" Sephy decided aloud. Both Halley and Samantha looked at her in surprise.

"I'm not having you lot ending up like me" she explained. "Confined to the hospital wing for bloody crying. Go tell the boys. I'll do it if nobody wants to."

"What's gotten into you?" Halley asked. Sephy sighed.

"Stress, Hal. That's what's gotten into me."

Both girls clambered up from Sephy's bed, as Sephy herself snuggled down.

"We'll all go to McGonagall for you" Samantha assured her little friend. "Rest up."

"I'm not sure I like what's gotten into Sephy" Halley commented, as the pair walked down the Clock Tower stairs in search of the boys.

"She's growing up" Samantha replied.

They met the boys in the Clock Tower Courtyard, as they hadn't been allowed to go in and see Sephy.

"How is she?" Remus asked.

"Well" Halley replied. "Well, but being really, really sensible."

"She wants us to tell McGonagall what we know about the smugglers" Samantha explained, as the six sat down on a bench.

James nodded at this.

"Yeah. She's worried we're all gonna get hurt. She told me the other day-the duel with Snivvellus Psychopath in January really messed with her head."

"Seems like a bit of a cop-out" Sirius said petulantly.

"Shut up" Halley told him. "It's a full moon next week. We've got enough on our minds because of us all going down to the Shrieking Shack. We don't have time to deal with this too."

"I suppose" Sirius conceded. "That on this one occasion we could hand over our crowning glory to the teachers."

"Drama Queen." James shoved him.

"Are we gonna go?" Peter queried nervously. Halley nodded.

"We are. Come on, Mr. Prefect Lupin, you lead the way."

***

Remus was elected to knock on McGonagall's door. It swung open to reveal their Head of House sitting at her desk, marking papers.

"To what do I owe this inconvenience, you six?" she asked crisply.

"We think we know how the Lethifold's gotten into the Forbidden Forest, Professor" Remus replied. McGonagall slid her reading glasses down her nose and whipped them off in a trice.

"Do you, now? I hope you aren't about to tell me of some serious trouble you and your little gang have gotten yourselves into? That almost certainly relates to Miss Cardale being brought to the hospital wing due to over-stress yesterday evening?"

"Sort of" Halley spoke up, from Remus's left. "We're not in any bother ourselves. But we've managed to piece together some stuff that's been happening so far this year."

McGonagall rose.

"Then I think you should all take a seat."

They did, on various stools and chairs and sofas, McGonagall eyeing all of them. Halley began the tale, and she told about Sephy's incident in Dervish and Banges before Christmas, and the Undetectable Extension Charm. Then Samantha told of her seeing the owl carrying the suitcase on Christmas Day, and Sirius told an amended version of how he had seen the three Slytherin boys raiding Slughorn's stores. Then Remus told about how he had gone looking in newspapers, and found that nests of rare beasts were being hit by raiders across the wizarding world, and how he had begun to put two and two together. James then gave his full account of how he had followed the same three boys up to the seventh floor, and how he had seen them trying to put the Acromantulas into the big, angular black case.

"From his description" Remus added onto this "I think that what James saw was a Vanishing Cabinet."

McGonagall nodded.

"Yes. There is one in Hogwarts. It doesn't lead anywhere, though, to anyone's knowledge, but I believe it can be used for safekeeping things."

"And now they're bringing in some Bowtruckles tonight" Halley told the teacher. "And we don't really know what to do about it, so we thought you might."

McGonagall sniffed.

"I hope this hasn't been distracting you too much from your studies" she warned.

"Not too much" Sirius assured her.

"I will deal with this from here" McGonagall told them all firmly. "I wish you'd told me sooner, frankly, but what's done is done. I suggest you all go now and get some lunch."

"Yes, Professor" they all chorused, and trailed away.

"Cop out" Sirius repeated again, as they headed for the Great Hall.

"It's a full moon in three days" Remus replied tautly. "And you're all coming to watch me turn into a raging, hairy monster. I think if you want danger, Sirius, I'm enough for anyone."

"Remus is right" James sighed. "We're good at trouble, Sirius. Not danger. And despite having a werewolf as a friend, dueling seventh years over a bag of stick insects isn't really how I want to spend my Sunday night."

"They're not stick insects!" Samantha complained. "Bowtruckles are so much more intelligent. They...can be found in western England, southern Germany, and certain Scandinavian forests. A Bowtruckle serves as a tree guardian..."

"Please don't recite the textbook at me, Sammie" Sirius groaned, as they settled into lunch. "You'll remind me of how much I haven't learned..."