The Marauders: Year One (female)

18. Picnic In the Forest

'Shut up!' hissed Sirius to Petra. She stood by the door of the dimly lit dormitory, wincing as the hinges squealed in protest. Something would have to be done about that.

Petra stopped complaining about the hour, and stepped in line behind Sirius. Jamie shivered in her pyjamas. It was a chilly night.

Sirius had planned a picnic for the four of them, on the Hogwarts grounds, as a treat for all the difficulties they'd gone through, lately.

During the day, it had seemed like a great idea, but now that they were all shivering in their onesies at one in the morning (Petra had cupcakes, Jamie had ducks, Remus had kittens, and Sirius had Snitches), Jamie was tempted to abandon the whole thing, and return to her cosy bed.

Remus echoed this sentiment, letting out a massive yawn, whilst Petra tried unsuccessfully to unstick her eyelids from each other.

Sirius held out a finger for utter and complete silence, as she gingerly held out one pyjama clad toe, and put her foot down on the floorboard outside. She withdrew it quickly as it made a horrifying noise. There was no way they could go down the stairs and not get caught by one of the older girls in the dorms below.

'Drat!' She turned to Remus in horror. 'How in Merlin's name are we going to get downstairs?'

Remus shrugged. 'Side effects of having the top floor, I guess. Hush, or you'll wake Frankie,' she added, as Frankie let out a violent snort in her sleep, and turned to the side, muttering something.

Sirius looked over at Frankie, who was now snoring with her mouth wide open. A string of drool hung off her cheek. 'Yeah, I don't think we'll have to worry about that for a while.'

It was a good thing Petra had already stolen the food from the kitchens during the day, or they never would have gotten anywhere. Now they could simply sneak out onto the grounds, find a place to eat, and enjoy themselves.

Remus wasn't looking forward to tomorrow morning, when none of them would be able to wake up on time. If they had Transfiguration, there was no way they could skive off, but perhaps if it were Charms, or Potions...

Jamie rolled her eyes, growing exasperated. 'Are we going or not? Get a move on!'

Sirius looked at her in annoyance. 'If you hadn't noticed, I'm trying!' Nevertheless, she turned back to finding a safe way down the stairs.

Inspiration struck Remus suddenly, like a lightning bolt. 'Oi! Sirius!' she whispered.

Sirius bit her lip and looked at her questioningly, raising her eyebrows.

'You know how the stairs turn into a slide whenever a boy tries to come up?' she began hesitantly, not wanting to look like a fool if she were wrong. 'Well, what if we could get our pillows and somehow slide down?'

As Remus spoke, Sirius's eyes grew larger, and sparkled with mischief as she contemplated the possibilities. 'Brilliant!' she exclaimed. 'Excellent!'

Jamie ran forward and squeezed Remus 'round the middle in excitement. Remus squirmed uncomfortably, not liking the human contact, and patted Jamie's back to make her let go. 'I'm not sure what spell could do that, though.'

Sirius looked around the dormitory hopefully, as if she expected to find a member of the male species stashed away in one of the wardrobes. 'Anybody got any boys on hand?' she asked.

'Nope,' Remus replied, smirking, 'but I do have Hogwarts, A History.'

The other three girls waited impatiently as Remus rummaged through her suitcase, and finally pulled out her book. She flicked through the pages, until she found the correct one.