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A Bit of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum


Sirius, James, and Remus ran as hard as they could. The only thing on their minds was getting away from Lucius Malfoy before he could catch them. They crossed the entrance hall and started up the stairs, trainers squeaking on the stone as they moved through the darkness. They could hear Lucius Malfoy on their heels – and James even found himself ducking red sparks of light as Lucius shot spells at them. He narrowly missed one that he had to skip over as it shot past his ankles.

They dove into the second floor corridor. They needed some place to hide! Remus turned a corner at the end of the hall, nearly running into a suit of armor, and he realized as he did that they had the invisibility cloak. He yanked the silvery fabric from his pocket and threw it over himself, keeping one side raised to catch Sirius and James as they, too, came 'round the corner. “Guys!” he hissed, “Under here.” Sirius and James skid over, nearly knocking over the armor as well, and ducked beneath the cloak with Remus.

“Where's Peter?” Remus asked.

James looked around, “Dunno,” he replied. “I – I thought he was behind us.”

Remus looked nervous. “Think Malfoy caught him?”

Sirius gnawed his lower lip.

“I'm going to find him,” Sirius announced. He reached for the edge of the cloak.

“Sirius, don't be stupid!” said James, catching his friend's arm. “You can't, you'll get caught by Malfoy yourself! Merlin knows what he'll do to you. We need to go find Dumbledore.”

Sirius's eyes flashed, “Merlin knows what he's doing to Peter right now!” he exclaimed, “By the time we figure out where Dumbledore even is, Peter could be done for.”

“He wouldn't kill him,” Remus said. “And I know where Dumbledore's office is. It's up on the fifth floor, by the gargoyles. We could go up and get Dumbledore, then go find Malfoy and Peter and --”

“We don't have time to go get Dumbledore!” exclaimed Sirius, “Malfoy could be using the cruciatus on Peter right now and Peter's… Peter couldn't handle that, okay? He's too little and- and – he's afraid of everything – he needs us. We have to go back for him. I have to go back for him. You two can go find Dumbledore.”

James said, “OK. You aren't going alone. I'll go with you. Remus, you go find Dumbledore and tell him what's going on. We'll be safer going together and you'll be all right because you'll be with Dumbledore.”

“Okay,” Remus nodded.

“You take the cloak, too,” added James, “You're going further, you're more likely to run into Filch and he'll stop you finding Dumbledore. If we run into Filch, it'll be better because he'll catch Malfoy anyway.”

Remus nodded, “Okay.”

“Just don't let anybody see this cloak - especially Dumbledore,” he instructed, “He'll take it away and we need it to finish our map.”

“I won't,” promised Remus.

Sirius and James ducked out from under the invisibility cloak and ran down the corridor, turning the corner and disappearing from sight. Remus took a deep breath and started along the hallway, careful to keep the invisibility cloak pulled over himself. He wished they'd just stayed in their warm beds and never ventured out of the dormitory at all.

Going and investigating what Malfoy was up to suddenly seemed a desperately foolish errand. Malfoy was a seventh year student, practically an adult, in fact he may have even come of age already, if he had a December birthday. They had reason to believe, too, that he was actually working for the darkest wizard in the world, too. There was no way that a bunch of motley first year students were going to take on that kind of power and win. No way at all! Remus felt ashamed for their lack of thinking it through. And now Peter – little Peter Pettigrew – was going to get the blunt end of it. Whatever Peter had said earlier, when they'd been talking about Remus's condition, just didn't matter anymore. Remus was just worried about his friend.

It was not until he reached the corridor on the fifth floor, and saw the gargoyles looming ahead of him in the darkness, that he realized what he was about to do. Dumbledore was going to be disappointed in him, for sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night, and for not just coming to him in the first place. Of all the people in the world Remus wanted least to disappoint, it was Albus Dumbledore. He'd respected Dumbledore ever since the moment he'd first laid eyes on him, when Dumbledore had come to their house on Remus's eleventh birthday and told him that he would be going to Hogwarts. He could still remember the way Dumbledore had smelled, a faint trace of smoke and dust, a scent he now knew was permanently present in the castle. They'd sat beside the fireplace and played Gobstones as Dumbledore had explained patiently to his mother and father how he would look after Remus during the school year, to be sure that the Lycanthropy didn't cause a problem. Dumbledore had even let Remus win at the Gobstones, even had given Remus a small bag of licorice wands and a sugar quill, along with his Hogwarts letter.

Remus pulled the invisibility cloak off and folded it up. Sticking it into his pocket, Remus took a deep breath and walked up to the gargoyles and looked from one to the other. There was no door, he realized, and so he wasn't sure what exactly to do now. He stepped up to the wall between the gargoyles and pressed his ear to it, but didn't hear anything at all. Tentatively, he knocked on the wall. “Mr. Dumbledore… sir…?” he called, but there was no answering sound.

It hadn't occurred to him that he didn't know the next step to take in getting to the headmaster. The house elf that had brought him here had simply disappeared the way house elves do. He stepped back and stared at the wall before him, at the gargoyles. Somewhere, floors below, James, Sirius, and Peter were counting on him to get Dumbledore's help and he didn't know what to do. “I've got to get to Dumbledore!” he said in frustration.

“Password?” asked the gargoyle on the left.

Remus looked up, surprised. He didn't know the gargoyles could talk. He blinked up at it.

“Do you have the password?” the gargoyle repeated.

“I – no, I don't, but – but it's an emergency,” Remus stammered. “I'm Remus Lupin. Professor Dumbledore – er – he knows me,” he added quickly, “He said I could find him if I ever had any trouble.” This was true, Dumbledore had told Remus to go to him if he had any trouble at all… maybe this wasn't the sort of trouble Dumbledore had in mind when he'd said that, but it was still trouble, nonetheless.

The gargoyle seemed to hesitate, considered Remus for a moment.

Remus suddenly remembered something Dumbledore had said – at the start of term. “I enjoy a bit of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum!”

“Well. In that case.” The gargoyles suddenly sprang to life and moved out of the way… and as they moved, a door appeared in the wall.

Remus blinked in surprise. “That's the password?” He hurried past the gargoyles and through the door. He stepped onto the first step of the enchanted staircase and it carried him up, up to the landing. He'd never been so relieved to see a pair of yellow galoshes and a purple umbrella in all his life. He ran for the door and raised his hand to knock but before he could, the door opened and there, in the frame, was Albus Dumbledore.

“Master Lupin,” he said, peering down through his half-moon glasses.

“Professor,” Remus hurriedly, “There's – there's been a -”

“What are you doing out of bed, Remus?” Dumbledore asked.

Remus's words came out hurriedly, “Professor, it's a long story, but – well, Sirius, James, Peter, and I – we had a – a hunch – and – well, we had to go an investigate… Come quickly.” He boldly grabbed hold of the headmaster's hand and pulled him toward the stairwell.

To Dumbledore's credit, he didn't hesitate nor ask any further questions – he simply followed.