"You got the spell ready Moony?" asked Sirius.
"Yes Padfoot." said Remus exasperated.
The marauders were planning a prank on the Gryffindor girls in their year. They were going to summon a ghost to scare Lily, Marlene, and Dorcas.
"Everyone ready?' asked James.
After a chorus of yeses in response, Remus began to read the incantation.
James and Sirius had found the spell in the library, and Remus, who had been the only one of the marauders to take runes, read the spell aloud. There was a puff of smoke, and a ghost appeared.
He was wearing typical muggle clothes. The only weird thing was that he was wearing a huge cowboy hat.
James, stepping forwards, decided to walk to the ghost, as to test out the spell. The spell, if used correctly, would give them the ability to control the ghost.
"Hello." said James.
"What's your name?" James asked.
The ghost turned to him and said, "My name is Chris Grunton. I built houses before I died".
"Cool." said Sirius.
"We need you to scare some friends of ours. Can you do that?" asked Remus.
"Yes. Who am I supposed to scare?" asked Chris.
"Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes, and Lily Evans." Sirius stated. Chris nodded.
"Let's go." said James.
As the boys began to lead him to the 7th year girl's dormitory, Chris smiled, remembering the little redheaded girl who had lived across the street from him…..
Currently unaware of the danger that was coming, Lily was up in her dormitory, gossiping with her best friends, Dorcas and Marlene.
"I still can't believe that they managed to hide it for so long." exclaimed Marlene.
"Me too, but Alice and Frank are so perfect for each other." Lily said.
"I need to go to the bathroom." said Dorcas.
Unbeknownst to the girls, Chris was currently hiding in the bathroom, waiting for one of the girls to come in.
As Dorcas looked in the mirror to fix her hair, she noticed something glowing behind her.
She turned around and gasped when she saw Chris floating there.
"Hello Dorcas." said Chris, and he flew into her, causing her to fall down, and for Chris to take control of her mind.
As Chris exited the bathroom, thought in Dorcas's body, he began to look around the room for books. He remembered how Lily had loved books when he was alive, and he knew that it would cause her pain.
"Hey Dorky, are you ok?" asked Marlene, noticing the strange look on Dorcas's face as she picked up a book.
"You found my Jane Austen book." said Lily smiling. "It was my mother's, and I'm reading it again for the millionth time." she said, smiling.
Dorcas/Chris nodded and began tearing the pages to shreds.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" shrieked Lily, completely surprised by her friend's behavior.
"NOT MY BABY!" Lily shrieked, trying to pry her beloved book from Dorcas/Chris's hands.
Dorcas/Chris pushed her away from herself, causing Lily to fall to the floor.
Marlene, who was completely bewildered by her friend's behavior, realized what the problem might have been, "Dorcas! I told you not to eat those eggs at breakfast! You must be sick!"
Chris/Dorcas only said, "Hello Marlene." and threw the book at her, causing Marlene to shriek and run downstairs into the marauders, who were laughing their heads off.
"Did you like our joke?" Sirius asked in between laughs.
"What joke? Look there is something wrong with-" said Marlene, before she was cut off by James.
"You know? The ghost that we summoned to scare you?" James asked, confused.
At Marlene's confused look, he continued, "He wears muggle clothing and a giant cowboy hat?"
Marlene went very pale, having heard the stories of Lily's crazy neighbor before. Hoping that it wasn't him, she asked tentatively, "Was his name Chris Grunton?"
"Yes. How did you know that?" Remus asked surprised.
"Was Dorcas in on this?" Marlene asked, ignoring Remus's question.
"No." said Sirius.
Just then, there was a loud crash, and Lily appeared, sprinting down the stairs, and tripped over someone's cat, and fell onto her back.
While the marauders and Marlene had been talking, Lily had been dodging objects that were being thrown at her head by Dorcas/Chris, and had managed to escape by running down the stairs, with Dorcas/Chris right on her heels.
James moved to help her up, but Dorcas/Chris had appeared and was supposedly helping her up. "Are you-" James was cut off when Lily let out a loud squawk as Dorcas/Chris lifted her into the air by the neck and carried her to the window.
The Marauders were shocked. What the hell was wrong with Dorcas?
They were snapped out of their reverie when Chris/Dorcas said, "Look at the view." and held Lily out the window, about to drop her.
"Good-bye." said Dorcas/Chris, not noticing Marlene let out a scream and running towards them.
Marlene shoved Dorcas/Chris out of the way and grabbed Lily before she could fall.
"I got you Lily, I got you." Marlene grunted, trying to pull her friend back into the common room.
Dorcas/Chris made a flying leap, and landed on Marlene's back, trying to shove her out the window too. Marlene elbowed her off, and Dorcas/Chris tried to punch her, but Marlene held her by the head. Dorcas/Chris shoved her hand away, and made a charge at her, but Marlene managed to pin her to the window sill. All the while, Marlene still held onto Lily, who was trying desperately to get back through the window.
The Marauders were in complete shock, and had no idea what in Merlin's name was going on with Dorcas.
"Hi Marlene." said Dorcas/Chris smiling as though attacking one of her best friends was something that she did everyday. Dorcas/Chris's head began to turn, so that her entire head was completely backwards, causing Lily to scream and for Marlene to shout out, "The devil is a liar!"
Dorcas/Chris's head turned back the right way and she leaned up to Marlene and said, "Boo." causing Marlene to shriek and grab Dorcas/Chris by her collar.
"DEVIL BE GONE!" Marlene screamed, pushing Dorcas/Chris away from her. As Marlene tried to push her away, Dorcas/Chris floated, stiff as a board, causing Marlene to swear quite loudly, which was weird because Sirius was usually the one to curse loudly.
Dorcas/Chris stopped floating and then tried to snap Marlene's neck, but she managed to get her off and pulled Lily back in through the window.
The three girls fell to the ground, and Marlene straddled Dorcas/Chris, raising her right hand.
"GET OUT OF MY FRIEND GHOST!" Marlene yelled, and then slapped her friend on the face, causing Chris to leave Dorcas's body. Remus performed the spell that would send Chris back to the spiritual plane. There was a flash of light, and Chris disappeared.
Dorcas let out a groan, now free of his possession and winced, "OW! That's going to leave a mark."
Unfortunately, Marlene hadn't noticed that Chris was gone and shrieked, "THE POWER OF MARLENE COMPELS YOU!" and she backhanded her friend, causing her to cry out in pain again.
"That you Dorcas?" Marlene asked, getting off of her friend.
"Yeah." Dorcas groaned.
"What happened?" asked Lily.
Marlene turned to the Marauders, who were still very shocked by what had happened, with murder in her eyes, "Ask them." she said, pointing a shaking finger at the boys, who were now backing away from her, slightly scared.
Lily sighed, "What did you do?"
"We used a spell to bring a ghost to scare you guys. We didn't know that he was evil." said James, hopping that his girlfriend wasn't going to kill him.
"Ask them who they summoned." said Marlene angrily.
"A guy wearing muggle clothing and a big cowboy hat." said Sirius. At Lily and Dorcas's confused looks, he continued, "His name was Chris Grunton."
At this, both girls became angrier than Marlene, if that was possible.
"You summoned Chris Grunton?" Lily asked in a voice that made the boys want to jump out the window.
"Yeah. What was wrong with him?" Sirius squeaked, sounding remarkably like Peter.
Lily took a deep breath and said, "He was my neighbor for most of my childhood before he died. He never liked me for some reason. He built houses that weren't up to code and built them illegally. One day, the police came to his house and arrested him. Apparently, he had murdered his family. He died in jail a year later." she finished.
The Marauders were stunned. They had let loose a murderer on their friends, and he had almost killed one of them as well! They snapped out of their thoughts when Dorcas said, in a deadly whisper, "Run."
They ran for it, with the vengeful girls hot on their heels.
"To the one-eyed witch passage!" Sirius shouted.
They didn't make it to the passage, and the students of Hogwarts got to witness the three girls hex the boys into oblivion, only releasing them when it was time for dinner.
Chris is based off of a neighbor one of my friends had when she was younger. Please review!