The Marauders Year Five Part 2 #Wattys2017

Determined to Die

Determined to Die

Despite all the searching the Marauders did that night, they could not find the invisibility cloak - or the Map - and they didn't dare stay out after curfew without them, especially James who absolutely did not want a detention for the next day -- Saturday -- Hogsmeade Weekend Day -- Date With Lily Day.

"We'll look when we get back from Hogsmeade tomorrow," James suggested when they were headed back from the dorms from checking the Trophy Room Passageway and the tunnel behind Gunhilda the Humpbacked Witch, and a couple of the other shortcuts and passages that they'd found throughout the castle. "We'll go out to the Shack and look there, too. Maybe we can do that before I meet up with Evans at the Three Broomsticks."

Sirius nodded, looking peaky, "Yes, we need to find that Map. We can't have lost the Map."

"Sorry, but I think my invisibility cloak's a bit more important to find than the Map..." James muttered.

Sirius looked offended. "It's our Map!" he said.

"Yes, but we made it, we could make it again if we had to... the cloak is irreplaceable! Priceless family heirloom and all. My dad will kill me if he finds out I've lost it."

Sirius still looked angry as they climbed through the portrait hole - Peter having given the Fat Lady the password. He ran immediately up to the dorm, leaving the other three behind in the common room. They watched him go, then James said, "Whatever," and broke away, turning toward where Lily Evans sat on the floor by the fire, reading, and Remus sighed and turned to go upstairs after Sirius, followed by Peter.

James watched them go, standing behind the couch, watching the oblivious Lily read for a moment, a smirk playing on his face. Once they were alone, he drew his wand and he waved it at her book... and before her very eyes, the text rearranged itself, most of the letters spraying away to a cluster on the sides, except for a few that said, Tomorrow, Evans in the center.

She looked up and turned around to find him and he laughed and waved the wand to make the text go back to normal. "That's quite impressive, how'd you do that?"

"Transfigured it," he replied.

"You're very good."

"I know," he answered. He came 'round the couch and sat down on the floor beside her. "What are you reading?"

"It's called Determined to Die, it's a crime novel. This investigator, Apple MackKenzie, she's a rookie on the force and she's been given a case the chief thought was cut and dry, you know - a girl who was found dead in a treatment center after an attempted suicide so everyone's assumed the girl just finally offed herself. Except no note. And the girl had always left notes on prior attempts so Apple thought it was a murder and now's just found the girl's ring in the shower drain and the girl only ever took her ring off in the shower and always put it right back on after drying off but she was found in a totally different room than the shower and Apple thinks maybe she was murdered in the shower and then taken to the other room and --" Lily stopped. She stared at James. He was smirking. "Sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" he asked.

Lily flushed, "Boring you with the detailed summary of a story you don't give a damn about when all you did was ask to be polite."

"I asked because you were really into it and didn't noticed when Sirius Black came banging through the door a moment ago," he replied. "You obviously care a good deal about it, so I do, too... I wanted to know what had you so passionately involved."