LAURA FINALLY decided that she needed to figure out the egg.

Her life had finally calmed down, meaning she had time to take Cedric's advice and go, "Take a bath."

It was around ten, definitely past the time the prefects would like her to be out, but Laura figured that would be the best time.

After putting on a swimsuit, Laura grabbed her invisibility cloak, egg, and a map of the school she had gotten from Harry. Thankfully, she had learned Fred and George had owned the map before it landed in Harry's possession; the two had shown her how to use it.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Laura muttered.

It revealed the words:

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP"

Laura furrowed her eyebrows. She looked over the names as they all looked familiar. Her eyes then fell on another name credited at the bottom.

"A very special thank you to Qukkorn, who aided in the creation of this map."

Qukkorn was her dad's nickname in school since his Patronus was a Quokka. His nickname went hand in hand with her Uncle James' nickname, Prongs.

She had met Padfoot, or Sirius Black, while he was in Azkaban before her first year. Her dad wanted her to meet him and make sure she knew that he was a decent person. She had been scared of him, but he was kind to her.

She had also met Remus Lupin, but it had been so long since she'd seen him. Though, he was the only one her dad had her call 'uncle' of his friends.

Peter Pettigrew was the only one she hadn't met, but for good reason. He had betrayed her parents' trust, so he wasn't high on her list of people to meet.

But, this was her dad's friend group while he attended Hogwarts. This was a part of their legacy.

Laura finally opened the map up. She saw Draco and Blaise were in the common room. The Prefect bathroom was empty, with no signs of anyone going in.

"Mischief Managed," Laura muttered, closing the map up and putting it in her robes.

She carefully walked down to the common room, opening the portrait.

"Oi!" she heard Blaise exclaim, causing her to quickly leave. "Who just left?"

Laura quickly stood against the wall as Draco and Blaise walked out of the portrait, glancing around.

Laura watched as Draco looked directly at her. She glanced down to see her shoes exposed, causing her to crouch slightly, covering them. Laura had been so distracted earlier that she hadn't realized her cloak had folded a bit.

"There's no one out here, mate," Draco smirked, his eyes lingering on where Laura stood. "I'm not sure why the portrait opened."

Laura quickly left and made her way up to the seventh floor. She was out of breath, her calves exhausted as she reached the top of the stairs. The added weight of the egg didn't help her case.

"Why are there so many stairs in a magical school," Laura panted as she walked over to the Prefect's bathroom. "Pine fresh."

Laura walked in to see a posh-looking bathroom. In the center, she found the bathtub, which was more of a swimming pool. She turned the faucet on, and her mind wandered, thinking about why Draco lied.

Before she got to a conclusion, she was ready to get in. She quickly undressed and got into the water. She could barely touch the floor, but the water was warm.

Laura grabbed her egg, opening it with her wet hands. Disappointingly, the egg wailed again, causing Laura to quickly shut it.

"I'd try putting it in the water if I were you," a voice said.

Laura jumped, looking up to see it was a ghost. She looked like a young teenage student, one that looked like Harry.

"Who are you," Laura asked quickly, "and why do you look like my cousin?"

"I'm Moaning Myrtle," the ghost said proudly. "Who is your cousin?"

"Harry Potter..." Laura said. She was unsure what to make of her current situation.

"Oh, I haven't seen him in a while..." Myrtle said distantly, then remembered what she was telling Laura. "Well... I'd try the egg in the water. That's what Cedric Diggory did."

"Thank you, Myrtle," Laura smiled, leaving out that she was only there because of Cedric.

Laura followed what Myrtle said, placing the egg under the water. She opened it up, and this time, it didn't wail. Instead, it made an indistinguishable noise that sounded like a song.

"You need to put your head under, too," Myrtle giggled.

Laura took a deep breath and stuck her head under the water.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour-long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour-- the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back"

"Hear it?" Myrtle asked, sitting on top of a stall as Laura came up.

"Yeah, I have no clue what it meant, though," Laura said with a snort, trying to remember the words. "I'm going to have to listen a few times."

After listening to it, Laura's mind lingered on what they meant by "underwater."

"What lives in the lake?" Laura asked herself, thinking out loud. She knew there was a giant squid in the lake, but from her view in the common room, she hadn't seen very much."

"You think like Cedric," Myrtle giggled.

Laura nodded. That probably meant she was on the right path. She looked around the bathroom for any inspiration when she saw a portrait of a mermaid.

"Merpeople..." Laura hummed. "Myrtle, does Hogwarts have Merpeople living in the lake?"

"Very good," Myrtle smiled. "It took Cedric much longer to figure it out."

"Well, great minds think alike," Laura laughed. "Thank you so much, Myrtle; you are the best."

"Of course," Myrtle smiled. "I wish you luck in the trial. Hopefully, I see you soon."

Laura nodded in agreement as she got out and dried off.

"Bye, Myrtle."

When Laura walked out, she opened the map again and saw that Draco was still in the common room, but it was just him. Peeves was still moving around the map, but there was someone else in her godfather's office, but it wasn't Snape.

Bartemius Crouch.

Laura had no clue why he was at Hogwarts, but now she was curious.

"Mischief managed," Laura said, tapping the map with her wand and closing it up. She was now making a detour, going to her godfather's office to see what was happening.

While she walked down the stairs, Laura forgot about the fake step, causing the egg and map to leave her arms. Laura quickly grabbed the map, but the egg started wailing, banging on every step.

"PEEVES!"

Filch had heard.

"What's this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you? I'll have you, Peeves, I'll have you, you'll... and what is this?" The wailing had stopped. Filch had closed the egg.

"Egg?" Filch said quietly at the foot of the stairs. "My sweet!" -his cat was with him- "This is a Triwizard clue! This belongs to a school champion!"

Laura's breaths were heavy. She was trying not to get caught, not realizing the map had fallen from her hands again.

"Filch? What's going on?"

Laura stopped breathing, her eyes widening. It was Snape. He looked livid. He and Filch argued until Moody walked up. He looked around, but his magical eyes rested on Laura. Laura didn't move an inch.

However, he was quickly distracted as Snape stared at the map, going to grab it.

"Accio parchment!" Moody said the parchment flew from Snape's hand to his own.

"Potter," Snape said, his eyes narrowing. Laura's heart started racing again.

"What's that?" Moody asked calmly, folding the map and causing Laura to shake her head.

"Potter!" Snape snarled. He turned his head and stared at where Laura was as though he could suddenly see her. "That egg is Pickering's egg. That piece of parchment belongs to Potter. I have seen it before... I recognize it! The Potters are here! Potter, in his Invisibility Cloak!"

Laura quickly drew her wand. She needed to get out of there.

"Accio Parchment," she breathed. The parchment flew to her hand, and she flew up the stairs. She ran up to the girl's bathroom, sitting in one of the stalls.

Laura sat for about half an hour, checking the map to see if it was safe.

This time, Laura carefully walked down the stairs, skipping the fake step and going to the Slytherin common room.

"Pureblood," she said, quickly slipping in. She immediately collapsed on the couch, taking the cloak off.

"Laura..."

Laura looked up to see she had collapsed next to Draco.

"Hi," Laura said with a weak smile.

"Why's your hair wet?" Draco asked, gently running his hands through her hair.

"I would usually have a snappy comment," Laura sighed, "but I mean, I took a shower."

"If you took a shower before you left, why is your hair still wet?" Draco asked. "You were gone for quite a while."

"Blondie, my hair is way thicker than yours," Laura said, lazily ruffling his hair. "I also have more of it, so my hair takes forever to dry."

Draco rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Well, what were you out doing?"

"I may or may not have gone to the Prefect bathroom with the egg," Laura shrugged, sitting up, then adding, "and then lost the egg..."

"You lost your egg?" Draco asked, putting his arm on the back of the couch. "What happened?"

"Barty Crouch was in Snape's office," Laura said, avoiding Draco's gaze. "I was curious, so I went to see what was happening. But while I was walking down the stairs, I forgot about that stupid fake step and dropped my egg. It wailed, Filch showed up, then a livid Snape, and then Moody was there.

"Moody saw me though. I escaped to the girl's bathroom, where I hid for like half an hour."

"You've had quite the night, huh?" Draco smirked. Laura still avoided his gaze, feeling embarrassed for losing her 'prized' egg. "You can look at me, Laura."

Laura hesitated, but she decided that Draco wouldn't judge her, so she looked him in the eyes.

"Hey, you know that I love you," Draco said quietly, grabbing her hand softly.

"I do, too," Laura said softly, "I love you too, Draco."

Draco leaned in slightly, and Laura did the same.

"Laura?" a voice called. Laura and Draco quickly jumped back.

"Y-yeah?" she said, flustered now. She quickly threw her Invisibility Cloak on Draco.

"Oh, okay," Alana's face popped out of the stairwell, "we just wanted to see if you were back from your trip. It's been a while."

"Right," Laura said with a laugh. "I just wanted to warm up by the fire. I'll be up in a few minutes. But thank you for checking on me."

"Of course," Alana said. "Pansy hasn't been able to sleep, but I'll go tell her. See you in a bit!"

Alana went back up to their dorms. Laura let out a sigh of relief, sinking into the couch again. 

"Laura."

Draco took the cloak off,  causing Laura to jump.

"Oh my Merlin- I forgot you were there," Laura breathed.

Draco just smirked, placing a kiss on Laura's cheek.

"Well, I'm a pretty good surprise, aren't I?" he asked with a wink.

"I guess so," Laura snorted in laughter, then pulled him into a kiss. When she pulled away, she had a goofy grin on her face. "Well, I am going to go to bed. I would rather not fall asleep in class tomorrow."

"Good," Draco smiled. "I'd rather not deal with a super sleepy Laura tomorrow."