Starry skies and Gardenias

Chapter 146

"I swear to Merlin," Sirius grumbled angrily.

"I think he's just doing this on purpose," James snapped. "Just to mess with us. He had all this time, and he chose now? Just when the Quidditch finals are near?"

"What does Quidditch have to do with this?" Lily scoffed.

"Everything, Lily!" James cried. "If the attacks keep going, McGonagall said they'd have to stop the matches. That would mean that we'll lose. Without even playing! And now Slytherin's in the lead. I refuse to give my Cup away to those parts,"

"Exams, Prongs," Remus said with a sigh. "There is hardly a month left for our N.E.W.T.s. It is more important,"

"Like hell, it is," James snapped. 

"He's just fucking us over," Sirius grumbled propping up his legs onto the table. "He was quiet for so long, everyone thought he was gone for good. And then he suddenly pops up? Fucking Tom Riddle,"

The door to the Room of Requirement opened and Regulue entered. 

He closed the door behind him and took his chair at the round table. 

"Don't you have anything to say?" Sirius said testily.

"Like what?" Regulus snapped.

"Like 'Sorry I'm late' or 'What did I miss'," Sirius droned.

Regulus glanced at the grandfather clock at the end of the room. 

"I'm not late," he said. "It's still eight twenty-three. You are early if anything. And I don't think I would have missed anything worth knowing," 

Sirius opened her mouth to snap back, but Lily stopped him. 

"We have more important things at hand," she said sternly. 

"Yeah, we've gone soft," James sighed. "Time to pick up the pace,"

"Let's start with what we know," Remus said. 

"We do that every time," Peter groaned. "We found a Horcrux, it unlocked a curse that opened the Chamber of Secrets. The monster in the Secrets is petrifying its victims, and spiders are afraid of it,"

". . .Is that all we have?" Sirius said dejectedly.

Regulus buried his face in his hands.

He could use Felix Felicis again. Isabella was bound to have left something, a small clue in the least for them. 

He hated that he needed the lucky potion to find out what clues Isabella would have left for them.

"How is Isabella?" Regulus finally picked up the courage to ask Lupin. 

". . .She's fine," Lupin muttered. 

Regulus didn't believe a word he said and so turned to Lily, who looked away pointedly. 

So, she wasn't getting any better, was she? 

Peter got up, he was feeling rather restless in his chair and he sauntered over to the bookshelves and looked through the thousands of books. 

"We can start with finding what monster it is," he suggested. "How about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?. . .I quiet like Newt Scamander,"

"This is not about your favourite author. There are thousands of monsters, Wormtail," Sirius groaned. "How do we know which one the looney Slytherin put in the Chamber a millennium ago?"

Peter's face fell, but he went in search of a book anyway. 

Suddenly, Lily perked. 

"That's it!" she cried. "Peter, you're a genius!"