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Chapter 9
Thief
The newly-formed Marauders were really putting their name to good use. They were sneaking through the castle late at night searching for near rooms and passageways, but always stopping by the kitchens to visit the house elves (and of course, the sugary treats they got weren't exactly a bad thing). Every night they would sneak out late at night, praying not to get caught by Filch, and laugh and joke, and sometimes even leave traps and pranks for the other students. But on full moons, they would all be good little boys and go to sleep at the proper time, because if one of the Marauders couldn't be there, then the rest of them would just refuse to leave them out of any midnight adventures.
Already, the boys could tell that these would be the best years of their lives.
*
The girls, however, were having significantly less fun at the dead of night than the boys were. They were still straining their ears-desperate to hear something the boys didn't already know. And it was killing them that all they had discovered so far was that these gods were very private people. They hardly left their rooms anymore, and when they did, nothing interesting was ever said. Occasionally, they would enter a room with Dumbledore, but the door would be locked, and on these occasions, the girls would have had a higher chance of hearing something if they stuffed cotton in their ears.
It was on one of these occasions that Lily came to the conclusion that absolutely nothing could be gained by what they were doing, and so the four girls trooped lazily back to their common room.
It was just plain frustrating. They were so curious to know what was going on, but it seemed so top secret that no one would ever in a million years be heard talking about it. It just wasn't fair.
The girls had taken about three steps away from where they had been crouching on the floor, when the heard the lock turning behind them, and had just enough time to dive behind a suit of armor before the door was flung open and a horrified-looking Eris leapt out of it, shrieking.
"Where is it? It is not in its proper place! Someone must have stolen it! My apple is gone!" she screeched, her voice sounding like a thousand nails scraping across a blackboard. "It must have been one of those little wretches. The school is full of them. Or…" she paused, looking wildly around her, "…maybe it was… HIM!"
Zeus walked quickly toward her, and placed his hands on her shoulders, steering her back into the room and speaking with a deep voice, which sounded strangely soothing, "Calm yourself, Eris, you probably just misplaced it. We will look in your room after the meeting." He turned and walked inside, motioning Eris to follow him.
She glared at him, and hissed, "You do not realize the importance of that orb. It will turn friends against each other, and send enemies into battle. It will topple empires and send the world to war... I would not have simply misplaced it." And with a flip of her hair, she followed Zeus back into the room.
The girls, shocked and frightened, snuck back to their dorm room in the shadows, wondering who had taken the apple, and why. Lily was actually a little happy, though, because she had finally heard something that the boys hadn't.
What the girls didn't know, however, was that the boys knew exactly what had happened to that apple.
*
Earlier that day, the Marauders had been absolutely bored out of their minds. It was a Saturday, so they had no classes to go to, and it was a full moon, so they couldn't discover any new rooms or passageways or staircases or statues or doorways or anything of the sort. Not on purpose, anyway.
So they were simply walking around the school, talking about things that were of no particular interest to any of them, and being careful not to walk down any passageways they didn't recognize, just in case they found something, because, of course, they didn't want him to be left out of anything.
Peter had just begun talking about the beneficial aspects of detention, when they turned a corner and saw Eris walking straight towards them. She was still far away, so she hadn't seen them yet, but she looked like she was in a very bad mood, so they had no desire to go near her.
They stopped, and ducked into the nearest room they could find, careful not to let her spot them. There was a large wooden table in the center of the room, with about five very comfortable looking chairs set up around it. It looked like a kind of meeting room, and they knew at once it was not somewhere they should have been.
They heard Eris' footsteps outside, and dove clumsily into the nearest closet. Pulling the door until it was almost closed, but not all the way, in case they were locked in. It was very cramped in the closet, but through the crack in the door, the Marauders could just see inside the room.
Eris had walked it, slamming the door behind her. It was obvious that something was bothering her, but there was no telling what. She drifted over to the far wall, where a portrait of a mountain was placed. She looked as if she was about to speak, and so Peter strained his ears to hear what she would say.
"Avoiktoc," she whispered so softly that Peter could barely hear.
Peter had been expecting the portrait to simply swing aside like the Fat Lady did, but instead the portrait simply melted into nothingness right off the wall, leaving a small opening in the wall, where a bundle of cloth sat. Quickly and silently Eris took the bundle from the wall and carried it to the table, where she sat down.
As soon as Eris unwrapped the bundle, exposing the orb inside, Peter was grasped with a felling of desire like he had never felt before, and judging by the gasps of the two boys next to him, they felt the same. The orb looked like diamond and solid gold at the same time. One minute it would be clear, flecked with the most beautiful colored light Peter had ever seen. The lights would shine on the walls and ceiling, moving around in stunning patterns and designs. Then, in a split second, it would be gold, and the room would be filled with light of such a rich, golden color, that no words can begin to describe it. And at the same time, a song filled the air, but it seemed as if Peter was only hearing it in his own head, and it was such a strange song that he wondered if he hadn't just imagined it. And as suddenly as it had begun, it was over, and Eris was placing the bundle back into the wall. She seemed much more calm now than a moment ago.
Eris didn't even bother to whisper this time, she said "kaeiote" loudly and confidently, and then drifted from the room as the portrait materialized behind her.
As soon as Eris had shut the door behind her, the Marauders collapsed onto the floor, groaning with pain.
There was a window at the far end of the room, but instead of pouring sunlight into the room, it showed only darkness.
"That's not right," Peter said, confused, "It was still daytime when we came in here."
The other two boys looked around looking bewildered, and James said thoughtfully, "You, know, now that I think about it, it did seem like we were in that closet for longer than we thought. It could have been hours for all we know."
"Well it would have to be," Sirius added, "if it's so dark outside. I mean, it was only lunch time when we came in here, and it's already dark."
"We'd better get out of here before we get caught," said James quickly. "I have a feeling we'll get more than a detention for being in here after dark."
Sirius agreed with James and he and James made their way towards the door, but Peter hung back. When James and Sirius looked at him, puzzled, he stuttered quickly, "I w-want t-to leave, b-but I… I j-just want to see it one more t-time."
James shook his head sadly. "I get that feeling too, but I don't think it's a good idea to be snooping like that. We should leave. Now."
Sirius nodded, and made a move to pull Peter from the room, but Peter took a step backward.
"You don't understand! I need to see it again!" Peter yelled. "It'll only be for a second, I swear!"
James sighed, and shook his head again. "How do you know it'll only be a second? We watched for hours before, but it seemed like only a few minutes. What if we get sucked in again and someone catches us here? We could be expelled! It's just not worth it."
But Peter knew he was wrong. It was worth it. He would have given anything just to see that orb one more time.
And so Peter put on his most innocent look, and said pleadingly, "Please just let me see it one more time. You don't have to look if you don't want to, you can wait outside and come and get me in a minute or so if I don't come out."
James and Sirius exchanged questioning glances, and seemed to come to a decision when James said, "Ok, but only a few minutes or we'll come and get you," and they left the room.
Peter was seized with a joyful kind of eagerness, and ran to where the picture of the mountain was mounted on the wall. It really was a beautiful painting. The mountain was covered in grass so real you could almost reach out and touch it, and at the top of the mountain, clouds were swirling around it, but Peter was too excited to notice any of this. Quickly and quietly, he whispered the word he had heard Eris speak, exactly as she had, and his stomach gave a little leap as the painting melted just as it had before.
And there it was. The little bundle of cloth wrapped around the most beautiful thing Peter had ever seen. He whipped the cloth of the orb quickly and held it in his hands.
A strange warmth emanated from it, and traveled through his entire body, giving him a snug, calm feeling. Looking closely, he saw that it wasn't an orb at all, but a kind of apple-shaped thing. It was bigger than an apple, though-about the size of a Quaffle.
Peter vaguely heard the door behind him open, and then heard Sirius' voice, "Peter, you've been in here about ten minutes, I think it's time to come out now."
Peter nodded and mumbled something that not even he could understand, not once taking his eyes off the golden apple in front of him.
He heard the door shut behind him, and something in him told him it was time to go, and that he should put it back, but it was covered up by the overwhelming urge to spend the rest of his natural born life in that room, staring into the golden warmth in front of him. It was like taking a hot shower in the morning, when you've just woken up, and it's so early that it's still dark. You're so tired and the water is so warm that you just can't bring yourself to step out into the cold.
But something inside him was pushing harder, and after what seemed like an eternity, the cloth was over the orb and Peter was just about to say the word that Eris had used to close the painting. But he couldn't do it. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop wanting it. He was gripped with the desire to forget about everything he was supposed to do, and take it out again.
But James had opened the door, and was hissing, "Peter! Come on, it's half an hour! Let's go!"
Alright, Peter thought, it's now or never. Just do it. I'm sure it won't be so bad. Just LEAVE!
*
"What's taking him so long?" Sirius sighed, leaning against the wall. "We never should have let him back in there."
James nodded, closing his eyes. "You're right. It was stupid not to realize that we'd never get him out."
Sirius laughed. "If Remus was here he would have knocked some sense into us and dragged us back to the common room."
James suddenly turned, staring wide-eyed at Sirius. "Remus! I completely forgot! The full moon is over! He'll be back in our room, wondering where we are!"
Sirius gasped and turned to the door. "We'll just have to get Peter back as fast as possible," he said, reaching for the handle, but it was alright, because Peter had just burst out of the door, looking a little red, but not too bad.
Sirius grabbed Peter by the arm, dragging him along as the three boys ran down the hallway. "We've got to run…Remus is back…forgot," Sirius panted as they ran up the staircase towards their common room.
*
All that running was hard work, up stairs, down passageways, taking all the possible shortcuts, but still successfully tiring themselves out. It was definitely a relief when they got to the portrait hole, wheezed the password, and crawled inside.
Inside, Remus was looking very worn out, and just generally not in very good shape, sitting in front of the fire. He looked up when they arrived, and laughed when he saw them collapse on the floor.
"Do I really want to know?" he asked them.
"Probably…not," Sirius answered. "But we're going to tell you anyway…"
"When we've caught our breath," James finished.
"You know, I'm feeling pretty tired," Remus laughed. "Why don't you just tell me in the morning." He got up and walked to the boys' dorm, closing the door behind him.
"All that trouble," James laughed, "and he doesn't even want to know!"
*
It was definitely late when they finally crawled into bed, but Peter wasn't feeling very tired. Mostly just excited. As soon as the lights went out, he pulled the curtains around his bed shut tight, and pulled his bag to him.
He opened it, and a golden light immediately filled the room. And for a split second, he felt the happiness that came with looking into the beautiful apple in his hands.
And then the curtains were pulled back and Peter was faced with the faces of his three best friends-James and Sirius looking shocked and horrified, and Remus looking shocked and confused.
James was the first to speak, but his words were strangely detached, and he spoke slowly and deliberately. "What-the-HELL-are you doing with that?"
Peter looked up at James, feeling like his whole world was collapsing, despite the wonderful feeling that holding the apple gave him. The look on James face took it all away. All his friends were looking at him like he had betrayed them. And it hurt. Badly.
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