I'm really sorry about the delay, everyone. I just haven't had any ideas in forever. Not only that, but I've been so busy No time to think. Anyway, I plan on getting the next chapter up much much sooner. At least I have an idea of what to do with it :P

Anyway, thanks for even clicking on this thing after the wait. You guys are awesome, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

--thebluevalentine

I Solemnly Swear that I am Up to No Good
Chapter 7: The Tunnel

The castle - while warm and alive during the day - was cold and formidable at night. The moon cast unearthly shadows across the dark wooden floors, and without the torches lit it was nearly impossible to see anything, but the four young boys avoided making light themselves for fear of catching the glance of any wandering eyes. The only sounds they made as they passed were the occasional footstep, and – if anyone could hear it – the sound of their breathing, and with the newfound power in James' invisibility cloak, it seemed Sirius had been right: maybe they weren't going to get caught. Still, Remus was chiding himself for coming, and quite honestly, he still couldn't figure out why he had. He hoped that it was because at least a part of him wanted to, even if the other parts would never let this go. But, there was also a part of him that wondered if it was just because of his friends. Not because they forced him into it - because Sirius had offered him plenty of chances to say no – but because he was worried of what they might think. But the worst of the thoughts on his mind were those that pondered what would happen to him if they were caught. Sure, if he got caught he had no previous record, but they hadn't been there all that long, and to get into trouble just like that... His parents had been so thrilled to hear he had been accepted to Hogwarts – what if he was throwing that away by coming out with the others tonight?

Whatever the reason was, he hoped it would have no sway on similar decisions in the future. Remus knew from stories that Filtch the school caretaker and his hellish cat Mrs. Norris prowled the school at night, searching for any would-be troublemakers who would then find themselves on the receiving end of the old man's bitterness. He had no desire to seek a confrontation with that terrifying pair. Once or twice he thought he saw the flicker of his lantern, but the group never made it close enough to tell for sure. Anyone looking for them would have been hard pressed to find them.

And yet, even without a human enemy, not all of the portraits were asleep, as much as they tried to act it, so the group still had to move carefully. The portrait of an elderly safari adventurer was one such painting. Alerted by a careless whisper, the boys inched under his portrait in time to hear, "What was that? Do you see anyone?"

He was answered with the voices of several other portraits.

After what seemed like an eternity, the group came to the Fifth Floor, passing the statue of Boris the Bewildered. A lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, Boris certainly deserved his title. The shortest route from Gryffindor Tower came down by the statue of old Boris, and even under the circumstances it was hard for Remus to ignore the irony that the statue of a lost man was pointing them in the right direction.

"One more floor." Sirius whispered once they were out of the hearing range of a group of paintings. "The closest staircase to the fourth floor is down that way." he added, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Why did we come this way then?" James asked, holding a low-hanging piece of the cloak out of his way so that he could see the others. "Wouldn't it have been faster to go the other way?"

"I don't think so. This route was the shortest way down from the Tower, so -"

"Guys?" said Peter.

"- we eliminated a few minutes by not having to take all those extra turns."

"What about the Library?" James inquired. "Couldn't we have gone through there?"

"Er... Guys?" Peter tried again.

"I was asking around earlier," Sirius replied, "and a few of the people said that it was -"

"Guys!"

"What?"

"C...C..." Peter stumbled as he began to shiver uncontrollably.

"Peter, what is it?" Remus asked him, his heart beginning to pound.

"Is it Filch?" Sirius looked over his shoulder anxiously.

Peter shook his head, now quivering from head to toe. "C...C..."

"Peter, just tell us what it is!"

"C-Cat!"

Remus felt his blood run cold as he turned and caught the subtle shine of a cat's eyes. Mrs. Norris. Her skeletal build and dust-colored fur made her look almost ghostly, and knowingly or not, she was steadily walking towards the four invisible (they hoped) boys. Time seemed to slow, and none of them moved or said anything, as if transfixed into place by her lamp-yellow eyes.

"Can she see us?" Remus heard Sirius whisper to James.

"I don't know." came the reply.

"Then how is she following us?"

"Maybe if you would shut it she would leave!"

"Wait, look!" Remus whispered as he watched, barely daring to move, even under the cloak. The others did as they were told and saw, to both their surprise and dread, that Mrs. Norris had 

stopped halfway towards them and had begun to sniff the floor. "She can't see us."

"Smelling us is just as bad!" hissed James into Remus' left ear.

"What should we do?" Peter squeaked in from his right. "She could follow our scent!"

"What can we do?" Sirius said shortly. "Maybe if we just keep going she'll...get bored?"

"What?" Remus breathed. "You think she's just going to get bored?!"

"Well if you have another bright idea, then, please, fill the rest of us in!" Sirius retorted.

"Meow?"

The four of them turned to face their tracker. She was waving her tail back and forth, her eyes, large and bright, focused directly on them. She knew they were there, and she looked ready to pounce.

"Just go!" James yelled, and at once the four of them whirled around and headed down the hall. It was harder to run under the cloak – they were far from adult size and it threatened to catch under their feet, sending them toppling over - but they didn't want to stop for anything and pushed along, hoping none of the portraits – now awake and very confused – would catch a glimpse of their feet.

They finally reached the end of the hallway and the passage to the fourth floor was in sight when suddenly -

"AARGH!"

Peter, the shortest of them, tripped. In an attempt to stop his fall, he reached out and grabbed onto the arm of a nearby suit of armor – but because of the suddenness of the impact, it ripped out of it's socket and both it and Peter fell to the ground, the rest of the armor accompanying them with a resounding clatter.

'Oh, now that was exactly what we needed!' Remus thought desperately as Sirius and James tried to drag Peter from under the fallen suit and back under the cloak.

"Peter, you could at least TRY to help!" Sirius shot him angrily.

"My arm is stuck under something!"

"Is Mrs. Norris still following us?" James half grunted as he grabbed hold of Peter's leg and began to pull.

Remus looked around, and other than the portraits behind them moving around half-asleep, there was no movement. "I don't see anything. Maybe the noise scared her away."


The armor screeched and moaned as James and Sirius gave one final heave, pulling Peter free. "How thick are you?" he glared. Peter shrank against the wall and said nothing. It would have been laughable if the circumstances were different.

They decided to leave the suit where it was instead of picking it up. It would probably just pick itself back up anyway, but the loud noise was enough to attract serious attention. Hopefully the portraits hadn't seen them, but that thought was hardly likely after such a display of grace. If they got away in time, the least that could happen was that it wouldn't be blamed on them. When they did finally see the mirror that lead to the tunnel, Remus was none too pleased. "That went well."

Sirius and James looked at him. "Let's go again!" the former joked, while the latter smiled, brushing his messy, dark hair out of his eyes with relief. Suddenly they noticed that, along with the time of day, the paintings from earlier had changed since their last visit. The snow owl had disappeared, to be replaced only by a small branch and it's nest, which was filled with a clutch of 3 beautiful eggs, and the bird-like woman had entered another painting down the line, and she and another woman were watching them. After a brief moment to catch their breath, the four of them pulled open the mirror once again and cast themselves into the hollow darkness of the tunnel for the third and (Remus hoped) final time.

"At least we can have a light in here." Sirius said, his breath fogging a little from cold. He slipped the cloak off, tucked it under his arm, and lighting the tip of his wand like James had last time, they began to follow the tunnel down as it led them along, sloping downwards, toward the chamber and whatever it was that lay beyond. The light hadn't improved any, so maybe it was the adrenaline from the encounter with Mrs. Norris helping or maybe it was something else, but along the cracked and sullied walls Remus thought he could see the occasional hand print. Following the wall both too and from either end of the tunnel, there were various marks and smudges from who knew how long ago gathered together with the wear and tear of time. Although there weren't all that many, as a secret tunnel would suggest, mixed together with the many crack lines they looked like insects trapped in a spider's web. They continued along the walls until, at last, they came to the small chamber they had entered before and set the Invisibility Cloak down.

"Guys, come here." James said curiously. He had one arm held out in the opposite entry way and one arm back in the room where they were now. He turned his head towards the others and the left lens of his glasses, which was closest to the entry way, had fogged up almost completely. "It's freezing in there."

"What do you suppose is on the other side?" Peter asked, a puzzled expression taking over his face.

"I think it may lead outside." Sirius stated as he stepped past James and into the mouth of the second tunnel. The others followed him. It was soon clear that this side was much different from the other. Compared to this one, the darkness and cold of the other tunnel was nothing. This side was damp, cold, and very brittle. Water dripped from collections on the ceiling and dribbled down the walls, into the stone itself through the thousands of tiny cracks and holes that littered 

the structure, making it look more like broken glass than a spider's web.

As they got closer and closer to what they hoped was the end of the path, the ground seemed to soften. Moss. Whatever this tunnel had been used for, it had been quite some time since it had been performed. Still, it was interesting to think about what the original purpose was. Hogwarts had been built as a school from the beginning – why would they build a tunnel like this? And who built it? It was large enough for an adult to walk through standing. Maybe it was an escape route, in case there should be some kind of emergency? But then, why would it have been so secret? Wouldn't it be important to tell others where such a route was? Remus doubted it was built for smuggling anything. It didn't seem like the best idea to just pop in on the fourth floor with something illegal in your possession.

'Maybe' he thought, 'it was just build to make people like Sirius curious. It certainly succeeded in that.'

Suddenly, they began to notice an odd color in front of them, highlighted on the canvas of black shadow. This side of the tunnel, it seemed, was far smaller than it's companion.

"That's the exit!"

The four Gryffindors emerged from the cold, dark, dank of the tunnel and emerged into the open. They were underneath the school. Looking up, Remus could see the many towers, a dark hue of purple against the black sky. The stars shone brightly like millions of tiny crystals, and there was not a cloud in sight. The waning crescent moon was reflected back into the sky upon the deep blue water of the Lake, it's beauty shining like a diamond. The smell of pine sap reached his nose, and he turned to see the Forbidden Forest sprouting up from the dark green earth like a wall of black fire. The forest seemed to be split slightly down the middle though, with a path of cut trees leading far down the continuing slope of the grounds, where shining through the limbs were dim lights from the nearby town of Hogsmeade. And although it was hard to see, the house they had build for him also stood out, a dark silhouette sitting upon the hillside.

It was certainly a sight to behold, nonetheless, and Remus wasn't the only one staring. Peter's mouth hung open as he gazed wide-eyed into the distance where the surrounding mountains stood tall. James watched the town in silence, only looking away to investigate any sound from the woods. And Sirius could have absorbed the entire world the way he was circling around, trying to get everything in. It was amassing to see, and for a moment, the four of them were glad they had come.

But only for a moment.

"We should probably head back inside now."

The voice was not the one Remus had expected.

"Sirius?"

"Huh?"

It had been Sirius. The one who had wanted them to come out here all along, the one who pushed them and drove them with their own curiosity to get this far – and he wanted to leave?

"You want to leave now?" James asked, an incredulous look upon his face.

"Sure." Sirius responded.

"But you were the one who -"

"I know I brought you out here." Sirius said. "I know. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get enough the first time around." He smiled. "Otherwise, there would be no reason to come back."

xXx

The four of them worked their way back through the tunnel, Sirius taking the lead. They picked up the cloak on their way back.

"Do you think we'll need it?" James asked.

"This late at night?" Sirius laughed it off. "Nox!" he added, flushing out the light before opening the door back into the fourth floor corridor.

"That wasn't bad." James said, stepping down onto the castle floor.

"No," Remus admitted. "That cloak of yours really helped."

"See?" Sirius beamed. "I told you we wouldn't get c-"

"Meow?"

"Oh, great."

"Ah-ha!" yelled Filch, the caretaker. "I found you, you little troublemakers! You didn't think you would get away with this wandering after hours, did you?"

Filch ranted on about the things he was going to make them do during detention for several moments.

"Sirius?" Remus whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to kill you."