Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

16 December, 1976 - Phantom

"Oh stop trying to chicken out, Wormtail," James Potter hissed at his friend as they slipped down the corridors late one night, just before the end of the fall term.

"But what if we get caught?" Peter Pettigrew moaned, his little eyes darting all over in search of teachers.

Sirius Black rolled his eyes. "We have the map, genius. No one is coming." He gestured to the piece of paper he was currently holding, one which a map of Hogwarts was depicted, with little moving dots showing the locations of all the people in the castle. "Besides, it's Christmas season, who could get mad about a little glitter?"

"McGonagall?" Remus Lupin pointed out drily as he walked along beside Peter, who continued his search for teachers with renewed vigor.

"Not helping, Rem," Sirius chastised his friend lightly, then shrugged. "But honestly, Pete, McGonagall is asleep. Like everyone else."

The group of four boys approached a junction in the corridor that led to a branch along the edge of the castle with high arching windows through which light from a crescent moon shone. Sirius led the way as they turned, moving through frames of moonlight on the floor. "Besides there's only a few more halls to rig and then tomorrow we'll kick off the holiday season with -" He broke off. "Selwyn."

"Why on Earth would we-" James broke off as he too saw what Sirius had.

Sitting on the wide sill of one of the arched windows, her back towards them, was Lavinia Selwyn. Sirius realized as he stared that he'd forgotten to check the map when they'd turned down the corridor and mentally kicked himself. If that had been Filch, they would have been in real trouble.

She didn't make any movement at the sound of her name and for a moment he wondered if she hadn't heard him for all that they were standing less than ten feet away from her. But he said nothing, somehow not wanting to disturb the image before him, which looked like it could have come straight from a storybook. Her knees were tucked up to her chest, her arms wrapped almost protectively around them. Her head was resting against the decorative arch as she stared out into the sky. She looked like a phantom, bright blonde hair shining a dull silver in the moonlight. Like something out of a fairytale, sitting there under the stars. Like she was waiting for them.

"Go away," she said softly, still not turning to look at them and the momentary spell was broken. She was Selwyn, after all, Sirius reminded himself. She of all people was no fairytale creature.

"What in the name of Merlin's saggy-"

"James!" Remus cut James off and Sirius turned to look at the two of them while Peter shifted from one foot to the other slightly behind the other boys.

"What?" James hissed, lowering his voice. "It's Selwyn, for Christ's sake."

"And this is the second time we've seen her out late," Remus said pointedly, flicking his eyes between James and Sirius, as though trying to determine if both of them needed telling off. "Something's obviously up. Don't you want to figure out what?"

James gave his friend a vaguely annoyed look he tended to use whenever Lupin made a good point he didn't particularly want to listen to and Sirius raised his eyebrows at him. James rolled his eyes and pushed Remus's shoulder lightly before they both turned back to look at Selwyn, who hadn't moved, as though she was hoping they would just disappear if she didn't look.

In truth, this was not the second time Sirius had seen her out late, but he wasn't going to tell the others that. He'd never hear the end of it if they thought he was paying too much attention to Selwyn. It had been only little snatches and he hadn't said anything to her since that first night. In fact, he didn't think even she knew he'd noticed her. But in late November he'd left the library late, having put all his work off until the night, and he'd seen walking past the library, away from the stairs with no book bag in sight. Then, on the December full moon, as he, James and Peter had snuck out under the invisibility cloak, struggling to try to keep their feet hidden, he'd seen her again, walking up the grand staircase past midnight.