Sirius had five whole minutes to himself in the sunshine, standing very much alone by the water's edge, and then McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick, the Madam, Remus, and James came to relieve him of guard duty.
"How are you?" Remus asked quietly. The two of them had shuffled off to the side, and had their backs to the water. Whatever Dumbledore had done managed to keep the students away from the scene, a small mercy. Sirius couldn't handle watching the teachers try and fish the body out of the water; Remus had a hand cupped round his elbow carefully.
"Peachy," Sirius said. "What's James doing?"
Remus turned his head a little bit. "Crouching, a little ways off."
"We should," and Sirius shook himself out gently. "All right. We have to go talk to him. This is insanity."
James was staring out at nothing. Sirius stepped carefully. "What's up, fellow?"
"Did you hear," James said slowly, thickly, "the one about the three goblins that go into a bar? One says 'that's not my'--" and then he stopped talking, shaking his head slowly. "This is too much." James stood up. "This has gone too far. We have to do something."
Sirius distinctly heard Dumbledore say to the other staff members, "something must be done," echoing James.
~
Lily held her hand out. "Where are you going?" she said. "I thought we were going to--" and then she stopped mid-sentence, and Sirius knew that was code for either 'a closet' or 'good of the school'.
James nodded. "We were." He looked at Sirius, eyes dark and not grinning, and Sirius thought, 'good of the school'. "But it has come to our attention that some investigation might be in order."
Lily was already standing, stepping into her shoes, when James cleared his throat. "What," she said, "you don't want me to go? Where are you going?"
Sirius knew that tone; she was getting ready to be a little bit angry at their solidarity. He was about to say something, hopefully placating, when Remus spoke instead. "We need you to cover for us," he said. "Since you're more trustworthy than Peter, and he's occupied already."
"And someone has to stay here and keep an eye on things since the professors are all occupied elsewhere," she finished quietly. McGonagall had taken to spending her two days on the weekend in London; Dumbledore came and went inexplicably, constantly. Lily said, "I can do that. Tonight."
James let out his breath. "Tomorrow night," he said, "we'll swap. Can't all keep disappearing."
Lily nodded; Sirius got the feeling that she was deeply disturbed about something, but couldn't think what. Maybe it was just tension, about exams and school and life and everything. Truth be told, everyone was deeply disturbed lately, and they had a plethora of reasons to choose from. Maybe Lily didn't even know why herself. "Get going," she said.
~
They decided to watch the front entryway, Sirius transforming into his Animagus form while James and Remus huddled under the Invisibility Cloak. It was a risk, showing his form in the school, but even cramped in a closet, the three of them couldn't fit under the Cloak well. Thankfully, Peter - having drawn the short straw earlier - had got himself caught with some dungbombs, and was now scouring out some of the nastier parts of the dungeon by hand, Filch and Mrs. Norris guarding him.
"At least, we hope," Remus said, and Sirius-the-dog nodded.
"Peter's sneaky," James answered. Sirius found it a little distracting to hear their voices coming from nowhere yet so close, but seeing as how it was fairly common - the Invisibility Cloak often having been used to scare first years in the common room as well as much for more elaborate purposes - he figured it must be because this was the first time he'd been witness to it as a dog. He could smell them, hear their voices, and he kept craning his furry head around to try and catch sight.
"--manage?"
Sirius shook his head rapidly, feeling his ears flop back and forth. Remus stifled a little laugh, and James whispered, "he'll manage. He's got some other tricks with him, so if nothing else, he'll turn Mrs. Norris pink."
"Is he up for it?" Remus asked. "I hate to say it, but Peter often--"
"He'll do it," James whispered back. "He's reliable. Plus I promised him a galleon."
"You had to *bribe* him?" Remus said.
"Well, he wasn't going to do it for nothing, miss out on catching those snakes red-handed, *and* get detention," and James shrugged. "Would you?"
Sirius-the-dog licked Remus's hand as Remus said, "well, no," and then "that's disgusting, stop that," and then he peered out of the closet carefully. "Nothing's happening," Remus said. Sirius sniffed the air carefully. No scents were about, no one drawing closer. The entry to the school was deserted. "Perhaps we'd best."
James carefully stretched a leg out from under the Cloak. One lone foot appeared. "Let's check upstairs. Sirius, can you go ahead to smell for, you know," and James waved his arm around.
Sirius sighed mentally, nodded his head, and nosed the closet door open. Sniffing carefully, he trotted to the stairs, pausing every so often to sneak behind a suit of armor or hop behind a pillar. In the dark his black fur would be hardly noticeable. At least, he hoped.
"Go on," James whispered from behind him. "First floor first, though mind you keep away from McGonagall's office."
Sirius padded up the stairs obediently, continuing to listen and smell for anyone roaming around. Once, he had to flatten his body against the wall, hearing Peeves' voice calling out, but the poltergeist didn't appear; he assumed Peeves had gone a different way. Sirius still waited nearly five minutes before moving again.
"Psst," Remus said. "I can't see a thing under here." He stepped out from under the Cloak, and looked around. "Let's carry it, it's more sensible."
"More sensible," James murmured, "would be to split up."
Remus crouched down in the shadow of a gargoyle. "But unfortunately, only our fuzzy friend here can tell when anyone's coming," and Sirius obediently licked Remus's hand again. "Eugh. *Stop* that." He tried to peer through a solid wall. "I miss the Map."
Sirius put his nose to the floor, smelling carefully. It was odd, having dog senses rather than human, but after over two years of it, he'd gotten quite proficient at making the best of them. They crept past McGonagall's office holding their collective breath, but for nothing - she was snoring lightly, Sirius suspected asleep in her chair. No one appeared to be around, no one out of bed. Nothing amiss, everyone tucked right in--
He bit James's leg, just enough to get his attention, and then tried as best he could to melt into shadow, transforming back into a human desperately. James and Remus looked at each other, but thankfully James did as Sirius hoped he would and threw the Cloak around them all.
"--have to be here," someone was muttering. "I know it."
Sirius pulled his wand out; and then Snape shuffled around the corner, peering intently at his shoes.
James barely moved, but Sirius heard "petrificus," and then Snape froze, eyes bulging and bag dropping from his hands.
Remus muttered, "you're *not* serious--" and then James stepped out.
"Hello, there," he said. "Bad habit, muttering as you're rounding corners." Snape seemed unwilling or unable to answer. Sirius stayed against the wall. James, he noticed, still had his wand out. Probably afraid Snape - if he could move at all - would try and kill him the moment his back was turned. "What are you doing out of bed?"
Snape stared at him.
"I'm betting it wasn't anything nice, was it?" James said quietly. His jaw was clenched, and he was speaking with great effort, though the tone was relatively mild. It was still much more pleasant than Sirius would have been able to manage. "So where are all your friends?"
Snape, too, was clutching his wand, but really couldn't move. "I was," Snape said with effort, jaw locked, "I was." Sirius would have bet ten Galleons he was trying to come up with a good lie, whilst trying to unlock his mouth. His jaw worked. "I was - following you."
Remus stepped forward. "That's not true," he said. "So what really?"
Snape's fingers were moving, Sirius noticed. "Ah, fellows," he muttered, and then closed his eyes. There was - yes, there it was. There was a sound coming, like the tapping of footsteps. "Someone's coming."
Remus had his arms crossed, and he glanced at his watch, digital readout just visible. "What should we do about him?"
"Well, he's not likely to tell anyone we were out of bed," James said, and shook his head. "In truth, I don't care. Let's just leave him for his head of House to find in the morning."
"Are you sure?" Remus asked. "We could maybe--"
There were footsteps coming down the hall, and James and Sirius and Remus looked at each other, and then they fled.
~
"Detention?" James interrupted. "Snape?"
Lily said, "It appears he was out near the portrait of those three monks last night."
Sirius looked at James; James winced a little. "Was he."
"That's not all, though. This morning," Lily said, "They found another, another body," and then she glanced over to the Slytherin table suspiciously, "right around the corner from there."
All four of them stopped what they were doing - Sirius gave up on his porridge, and James put down his quill. "Another."
Lily leaned closer. "McGonagall told me this morning. Apparently," and she swallowed, "she nearly tripped over it this morning. She fell asleep in her office."
"We knew that," James answered absently, "we heard her snoring last night."
Lily was gripping her hands together, hidden between a bowl of sugar and a platter of buns. Sirius could see them only because he was sitting directly across from her. Lily, he realized, was scared. "She was upset," Lily said, "I don't think I've ever seen her that upset. Thank goodness she found it, though--"
"Instead of someone else," James finished for her.
"Did they find anything?" Peter asked suddenly. His voice carried a little too far, and Theresa and a friend looked up at them. Peter flushed, and immediately stared down at his plate. Sirius had all but forgotten Peter was sitting beside him. "I mean," Peter whispered, "this morning? McGonagall?"
"Other than Severus's book around the corner?" Lily narrowed her eyes. "Not a thing, just like before. It was lucky that Flitwick found him down the hall. He was just trying to get away. I still, I can't believe he would be--"
"The charm must have finally worn off," James murmured, and then shrugged when Lily stared at him. "So he's in detention."
"Yes, but that's not all."
Sirius felt concern creeping into his expression. "They don't think it was him, do they?" For a moment, he looked supremely guilty. "I mean, we--" and then he hastily corrected, "he was immobilized."
They turned to watch Professor Dumbledore beckon Snape from his breakfast. For the second time in Sirius's life that he could recall, Dumbledore appeared angry.
"So he wasn't involved. Though it appears Dumbledore thinks otherwise," Lily said, drumming her fingernails on the table. "What are you going to do about it, James?"
"I suppose one of us had best tell Dumbledore what we did to Snape."
Remus was just coming up, tucking his books away. "Tell who why?"
"It looks like Snape's taking the blame for something he was a little too incapacitated to carry out," Sirius explained. He tried to sound glib, but he looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"I heard McGonagall talking to Flitwick just now," Remus said. He sat beside Sirius and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, putting marmalade on a piece of toast. "I'll go," he said. "Better not have the Head Boy or head troublemaker confess in person."
James looked around. "Are you going to tell him what we were doing out of bed?"
"Of course," and Remus started scarfing down toast. "I think that, with all that's going on, it's best we show Dumbledore we're trustworthy."
As he got up again, Sirius murmured, "Are we?"
James shrugged, and Lily looked away.