Lily Evans and the Marauder's Secrets

Too Easy

"Ready for this?" James says.

"Yes," I say. I take his hand. "Just promise me you won't do anything too brave or reckless."

"No guarantees," he says, and we set off in the direction Dumbledore indicated.

It's funny, because this is almost the way I'd imagined we would be spending the day, strolling hand in hand on an outing, just the two of us. We're nearly at the edge of the park where Dumbledore had left us, but once we're out, the scenery changes from green grass and manicured gardens to cityscape, and the similarities to the anticipated Hogsmeade date end. The shops we pass are full of Muggle wares and we're both too tense to really get into good conversation.

We cross the street and I have to remind James to look for cars. ("Mad," he says, shaking his head as I pull him back just before a black Volkswagen can barrel over him, way more annoyed than alarmed). As Dumbledore instructed, we head uphill, and then we're there. Tall brick buildings with ivy climbing up the sides, large stone signs naming them all: The Hart, Ridley Annex, Herschel Student Center... We pass them all. Campus is quiet, presumably because it's a Saturday morning and most students are sleeping late, but a few people mill around, heading for the library or to a late breakfast. I've never been here, but it's not so different from where Petunia went to university in London, and I steer James down the sidewalk.

"How do you know where we're going?" he demands after a few minutes of this.

"I don't," I say. "Not exactly. But Bones said the construction site is at the back, so that's where we're headed."

"What I wouldn't give for a Marauders Map of this place," he says. "Hey, how do you think things are going back at Hogwarts?"

"Hopefully less interesting than they are here," I say. I touch my pocket where my pouch rests, cool and untouched. "Sev hasn't said anything, so that's good. I don't think I could take the excitement of an Order mission and a Slytherin scheme on the same day. Ahh, there we are."

As we come out from between two of the buildings, we're met with the green metal fence Bones described, stretching along the sidewalk in either direction. We can't see what the ground looks like beyond the wall, but the several partially constructed buildings stretch tall overhead, their rooms exposed to the outside air and metal scaffolding poking off the sides like daggers.

"There's the gate," James says quietly, nodding to the entrance right in front of us. There's a sign plastered right above the padlock in bold yellow and black: WARNING. KEEP OUT.

"We're still on the south side, though," I say. "Bones suggested we use the north one."

"But there's no one here," James says. "We haven't seen anyone for nearly ten minutes."

He's right. When we'd first stepped onto campus, there hadn't been a ton of people about, but enough to make the place feel alive. However, the closer we've gotten to the site, the quieter it's become. It's unnerving.

"Okay," I say. After all, part of the goal is to do this quickly. And the stillness is getting to me. It's like holding your breath, waiting for the explosion. "Cloak on?"

"Right," James mutters. He glances around one more time, but we're still alone. He fumbles with the latch on his bag and a second later throws the Invisibility Cloak over both our heads. I wait to feel any different, maybe even to see the illusion again for myself, but with both James and I under it, nothing looks different.

I exhale. "Okay. Let's go." I direct my wand at the lock. "Alohomora." It snaps open and drops to the dirt, and together, we push open the gate.

We both have our wands at the ready in case the broken lock alerts anyone on the other side of the wall, but to my surprise the lot on the other side is as deserted as the sidewalk outside is. James and I exchange looks, and I can tell he's equally on edge about the lack of people around. We carefully shut the gate once we're all the way through and still, no one shows. As Professor Dumbledore predicted, we've gone entirely unnoticed, entering as mundanely as we have.