It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Boys will be boys

It was close to 1AM when the door of Sirius' bedroom creaked open and Remus took a quick look around the hallway.  With his heightened werewolf senses, he checked for any signs of movement or noise.  He looked over his shoulder at the two men standing behind him.

"Coast is clear, at least on this floor,  I'll check around some more as we go up the stairs."

The other "Marauders" nodded silently.  All three were wearing black sweat pants, long sleeved, black t-shirts and black socks -  no shoes. ( the better to tip-toe Sirius had insisted )  Severus had been a little leery of the sweat pants until he tried them on and was surprised at how comfortable and warm they were.  Sirius had promised to order him a pair and send them, owl post, to Hogwarts A.S.A.P.

Making their way slowly up the stairs, Severus had to poke Sirius in the ribs when he started to giggle. "Shhh!" Severus hissed, Sirius stuck out his tongue. "Humph!" grunted Snape, shaking his head.

Remus stopped, turned and impaled both of them with a harsh glare, putting his finger to his lips and then pointing at each of them in turn.  Sirius held up his hands in a show of innocence, while Severus pointed to Sirius and mouthed silently, "It was Black!"  Remus rolled his eyes and then turned to continue toward their objective . . . the back guest bedroom.

Unbeknownst to them, the ladies and girls were watching their progress from the doors of their respective bedrooms. The girls were standing with their hands over their mouths to stifle any giggles threatening to erupt, while the ladies watched with cocked heads and raised eyebrows.

Molly made a move to go after Remus, Severus and Sirius, but was stopped by Minerva. Cupping her hand over Molly's ear, she whispered and Molly looked at her and then nodded before crossing her arms and leaning on the door jam.

Just then, there was a muffled thud from the landing and they could see Severus hopping around holding his foot.  Remus grabbed him to keep him from falling and  Sirius put a hand over Snape's mouth, until he stopped mumbling and stood still. Severus nodded and Sirius removed his hand as Remus pushed Severus upright.  He glowered at both of them but then motioned to them to keep going, as he limped after them up the stairs.

Tonks tip-toed across the hall to the girls room, followed by Narcissa.  They shooed the girls back into the room and closed the door gently.

"Molly and Minerva aren't going to interfere, they just want to hear what happens, but I want a ring side seat," whispered Tonks.

"There's a storage room in the middle of that upstairs hall," Narcissa informed them.  "Let's hide in there."

"How can we get there?  If we 'Apparate', they'll hear us!"  Hermione asked.

"Follow me, girls, and I'll show you a secret I bet even Sirius has forgotten," replied Narcissa, as she opened the bedroom door and taking a quick look towards the stairs, went swiftly across the landing and into the short hall that led to the bathroom.  Reaching up, she pushed on an acorn carved in the wooden molding beside the bathroom door and with an almost inaudible 'click', a panel opened.

Pointing her wand into the opening, she whispered, " 'Silencio' ".  Turning to others, she motioned them to follow her. " 'Lumos'," Narcissa murmured, holding her wand high, leading the way up the narrow wooden stairs. The others followed her silently, ascending the twisting steps and then through another small door/panel into what appeared to be a disused storage room under the eaves of the roof. "Watch you heads", she whispered back down the narrow passage, as she moved aside to let the others enter.  Stepping lightly over to the door, she listened and then facing the others, put her finger to her lips and then pointed at the door, mouthing "they're right outside!"