Ivory had fallen asleep on Lily's shoulder. She had cried herself to sleep and only once she had dozed off did her body finally become relaxed. In this state, looking down at Ivory's peaceful face, one would not even know that her whole world had fallen apart. Every muscle in her face that had been tense while she was awake had slackened and the girl looked almost pleasant despite the tear stains. The fact that her cheeks were flushed could have been mistaken for liveliness rather than due to all the crying.

Even though Lily wasn't in a very comfortable position, she didn't dare move, because she knew that, at the moment, the comfort of Ivory was more important than her own.

It was something she had learned while being the person her friends came to for comfort. Simply the act of them resting their head on her shoulder warmed her heart, and during those times, she didn't want to break the silence or the beauty of the moment by moving even a fraction of an inch.

Suddenly, Alice Fortescue and Marlene McKinnon burst into the dormitory, disrupting the tranquility. Upon seeing them, Lily lifted her index finger to her lips, motioning for them to be quiet.

Noticing her solemn expression and the strange scene in front of them, the two other girls approached Ivory and Lily carefully, trying to be as light-footed as possible so as not to wake her up. However, it didn't seem likely that she would wake just yet.

Alice and Marlene had never seen Ivory asleep so early on in the evening. She was usually the one who stayed up later at night than all of them. The girl would normally be up as late as she could, writing away in her little notebook that she never let anyone see. The other three girls would end up passing out from exhaustion long before Ivory ever did. It seemed she could stay up all night long, spending that time writing. Whenever they looked over to her bed, she would never be sleeping, no matter how many bags were under her eyes. They almost never saw her sleep, because she was also the first one awake.

But now, seeing her sleeping on Lily's shoulder, Alice and Marlene could tell something was up; especially since they'd heard that Ivory had cried in the common room and been excused from her classes for the day. The expression on Lily's face concerned them as well, for it was full of worry and sympathy.

"What happened?" Marlene whispered. "Why is she sleeping? I don't think I've ever seen her sleep. Is she sick or something?"

Lily grimaced and shook her head. She carefully lowered herself along with Ivory down onto the pillow. Then she wiggled out of Ivory's hold and pulled the blanket over Ivory's body. Ivory didn't wake as she normally did from the slightest disturbance, further proving that she wasn't herself.

Finally, Lily faced Alice and Marlene and motioned for them to sit down on the edge of the bed. When they did, she looked at both of them, biting her lip. She took a shaky breath before muttering the words almost disbelievingly.

"Her parents were murdered."

"WHAT?" Alice and Marlene yelled out in horror at the same time.

Lily nodded, looking down at her lap sadly.

Alice lifted her hand to her mouth in shock and Marlene's mouth fell open in surprise before her gaze turned dark. They both waited for her to elaborate.

Lily clenched her hands together, causing her knuckles to turn white. "They were both killed. She didn't explain it to me much because she didn't want to talk about it... She said that You-Know-Who killed them, but I'm assuming it was Death Eaters on his orders.

The other two girls seemed to be at a complete loss for words.

Lily sighed, looking over at her sleeping best friend. "She's a wreck... She cried for the longest time and kept saying she can't live, that she doesn't want to live without her parents. I don't know what to do for her." She shivered and tore her eyes away from Ivory. "It just had to be both of her parents killed, leaving her with no one else," she said, shaking her head at how unfair life could be. "She has no one else, no other family... no aunts or uncles or grandparents... I let her know that she has us, always, but it isn't the same."

Marlene's eyes seemed to shoot daggers at nothing in particular. "I'm fed up of this," she snapped. "I'm so fed up of good people dying, of loved ones getting hurt, of anyone being left without their families and friends. Someone needs to get rid of him, he's the one who doesn't deserve to live."

They all knew it, but deep down to their very cores they were each as terrified of Lord Voldemort as anyone.

"It's because they were both Muggle-born..." Lily said, trailing off. "Ivory's parents, I mean."

Lily thought about herself for a moment, because she too was Muggle-born and had been bullied relentless times at school for it. It disgusted her that people could kill for that reason... Then again, she didn't understand how one person could kill another for any reason.

"That's why she was nowhere to be found this morning," Alice breathed. "She wasn't at meals or in class... Do you have any clue where she was?"

"I dunno," said Lily softly, not meeting her eyes. She was worried about Ivory having been all alone in this fragile state of mind, but she remembered her conversation with James that morning. "I think she was with the boys. They weren't in class either, remember?"

"You mean... James, Sirius, Peter and Remus?" Marlene asked.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Who else would I have meant?"

Marlene shrugged. "I didn't think they'd be the type to comfort her."

"They're really sweet when they want to be," she told them. "I'm sure they helped her get her mind off of it. They all have a knack for helping people escape reality. Besides, she was with..."

It didn't need to be said out loud, because it never had been said outright in the first place; but the girls weren't ignorant to everything that happened. They knew who Lily was talking about.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

"Remus."

"Hm?" Remus looked over at Sirius expectantly.

Sirius, who had called the other boy's name three times before actually getting a response, glowered at his friend. Remus was acting strange; he seemed to be completely lost in his own thoughts.

"You're standing on the Marauder's Map, mate!" Sirius exclaimed, kicking Remus's leg.

Remus raised his eyebrows and looked down to see that he was indeed stepping on the parchment that had Hogwarts mapped out. He muttered an apology and immediately stepped to the side, allowing Sirius to collect the Marauder's Map from the ground. The dark-haired boy dusted it off and regained his seat on Peter's bed.

"You're really out of it today," he told Remus. He turned to Peter, gesturing discreetly in Remus's direction, and mumbled to him under his breath, "Sheesh, it's like that time Prongs stared at the ceiling for five hours straight after Evans kissed him."

"What was that?" James called to his best friend from across the room, where he was changing into his pyjamas.

"Nothing, honey!" Sirius screeched in response, causing Peter to burst into sudden hysterics.

Even James cracked a smile, but Remus still seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and appeared not to have heard. For a while, Sirius mentally debated whether or not to ask him what was wrong, but he settled for letting Remus be and instead threw himself down on Peter's bed.

He reached for his wand and drew it. Then he pointed it at the blank Marauder's Map and said, "Mr Padfoot commands you to reveal yourself!"

Of course, what appeared on the blank bit of parchment was not the Marauder's Map, but instead a series of insults directed at Sirius.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, the Marauders, often amused themselves with their own creation by opening the Map the wrong way. They had made it so that only those who knew the specific incantation required could use it. Anyone who attempted to get the Map to reveal itself without using said incantation would be insulted by all four of them. The insults would appear on the parchment in the place of the Map. The boys thoroughly enjoyed seeing what new insults the Marauder's Map had come up with for each of them.

"Prongs, you're so mean today!" said Sirius with a grin on his face as his eyes scanned over the parchment. "Ha, get this: 'Mr Prongs would like to say that he has seen hair better than Mr Padfoot's in his shower drain.'"

Peter glanced over Sirius's shoulder to sneak a look at the Marauder's Map.

"Oh, Remus, your sass is showing. 'Mr Moony would like to advise Mr Padfoot to cut his hair, it is beginning to resemble an overgrown shrub.'"

James, Peter and Remus snorted. Sirius chuckled heartily before continuing reading from the parchment. His grin widened.

"Listen to what I said: 'Mr Padfoot agrees that Mr Padfoot should cut his hair as he is looking more and more like his mother.'" James snorted loudly, but Sirius was so pleased with himself that he didn't care in the slightest. "I love that I'm able to come up with such good insults, even if they're horribly untrue."

"Don't worry, Padfoot, you don't look like your mother," said James sincerely.

"Thank you."

"You're much prettier than the old bag," James added in a joking tone.

Sirius Black came from one of the oldest pure-blood families in the entire wizarding world. Sirius's parents were, in his opinion, the most horrid people in existence. All that both of his parents cared about was blood purity and were willing to do anything possible to ensure that their line remained pure; whether that meant killing off all of the 'impurities', or simply forcing their children to marry their cousins. Just last year, Sirius had ran away from home and been taken in by James's parents. He now considered Mr and Mrs Potter his parents more than he did his birth parents.

It was for that reason alone that Sirius didn't mind—and frankly, even enjoyed—James's insulting of his mother.

Sirius grinned and looked down to read the last insult. "'Mr Wormtail would like to add that Mr Padfoot should say 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good', but that he is too much of an idiot to remember the proper incantation.' Rude, Peter! What do you have to say for yourself?" He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Peter, who looked guilty even though he had done nothing wrong.

Peter frowned. "I'm... sorry?" he said tentatively.

James groaned. "Peter, that wasn't even you! The Map has a mind of its own."

"It's a genius, just like its creators," said Sirius fondly, pretending to wipe away a tear. "Sometimes I look at it and I can't believe that we actually mapped out the entire castle." He glanced at Remus from the corner of his eyes. "Other times, I remember that of course we were able to do such a thing! We're Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs."

Sirius had left Remus's nickname out on purpose in the hope of finally catching his attention and shaking him from his trance; and his words had the desired effect.

"What about me?" Remus exclaimed dramatically. "I should be given most of the credit for it since I'm the smartest one here."

James grinned. "Well don't be too modest, Remus," he said facetiously.

"Honestly. You're beginning to sound like him," Peter interjected, pointing at James.

Remus rolled his eyes and fell backwards onto his bed, resuming his strange attitude.

Suddenly, it dawned on Sirius why Remus seemed so worried and distracted. He picked up his wand and the Marauder's Map once more, deciding that he would at least check up on their favourite female friend, just to make sure she was at least partially all right.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. Like I even have to say it anymore! I'm never up to any good," said Sirius. The ink on the bit of parchment suddenly shifted as the map of Hogwarts appeared on it once more.