Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it.
AN: This is my first fanfiction so please bear with me. Since I am new to writing this will proceed at a slow pace - assuming there is enough interest. Constructive criticism welcome. The Story will be AU as of the beginning of fourth year.
Summary: AU: Harry accepts a dare that might just be the key to Voldemort's demise.
Chapter 01
"Come on Harry, are you playing or not!?" Gred yelled from across the common room.
"Yeah, yeah... let me just finish this essay" he answered distractedly.
"Com'on Forge - you start"
Seeing that Harry was still distracted by his paper he called "Hey Harry - Truth or Dare!"
"Just give me a minute - I'm almost finished with this essay on truth potions.."
"THRUTH IT IS!!"
Harry looked up shocked as half the room snickered while the other half groaned in sympathy. It was always better to let Fred and George release a prank on you in the form of a dare than to ever have to answer one of their 'truth' questions.
"Wait!! - I didn't mean that - I was just talking about my essay..."
"Now Harrikins - we all heard you say truth - unless you would prefer to go straight to double-dare?" the evil grin on Fred's face sent a shiver up his spine.
Harry looked around the room seeing faces full of pity among the ones he couldn't see as they were currently rolling on the floor laughing their arses off. Harry's mind flashed back to the conversation he had with the twins this summer during the world cup. His face turned a deep crimson just thinking about it. He looked over again at George and just knew he would ask him about it. So, with a deep sigh and his eyes closes he said "Double-Dare"
"YES!"
Harry opened his eyes just in time to see the twins give each other a high-five.
With another sigh Harry prompted them along. "Fine, fine. Let's get this over with - what do I have to do?"
"Now, now Harry"
"you wouldn't want us"
"to rush this would you"
"Hey" Harry exclaimed! "This is George's dare - you're not allowed to help Fred!"
"Those are the rules." Hermione said knowingly. "And nothing that will get him in trouble!" she quickly admonished.
"Oh you won't get in trouble" George spoke "at least not necessarily"
"Come on, quit stalling - what's the dare?" Harry said with trepidation.
While pulling a potion out of his bag he grinned saying "Ok, ok...What I want you to do is take this potion and put it on the Headmaster's lemon drops"
"WHAT!"
"ARE YOU CRAZY"
"HE COULD GET EXPELLED FOR THAT!"
"BLOODY BRILLIANT!"
Harry didn't say a thing - he just sat there staring at the potion in shock.
"Harry - you're not thinking of actually doing this are you!" Hermione shrieked in his ear.
It was enough to bring him back to the present. Before he could respond however, Ron piped up exclaiming "Of course he is - he has to continue the Marauder legacy!"
"Marauder"
"Legacy?" the twins exclaimed.
"You almost make it sound"
"like Harry's father was a Marauder"
"He was." Harry said quietly. Knowing what the next question was he added "..Prongs."
"Who were the others? The twins were so excited they spoke simultaneously.
"Well Padfoot is.." Ron began but was interrupted when Hermione stepped heavily on his foot. "OW! What'd you do that for!".
"This is not a conversation for the common room!" she hissed angrily at him.
"Doesn't mean you have to stomp on my foot!" Ron retorted.
As the argument between Ron and Hermione started to pick up steam the twins grabbed Harry and hustled him up to his dorm room. Closing the door behind them they quickly turned around to face Harry.
"So Harry"
"Son of Prongs"
"Who are Padfoot"
"Wormtail and Moony?"
Harry looked between the two eager faces. Coming to a decision he finally responded. "Alright I will tell you but you have to promise me that you won't tell a soul - and that you will let me explain everything"
The twins looked at each other for a moment before turning to Harry and promptly giving him their oaths.
"Well, as I said downstairs, my Dad was prongs. You've actually met Moony"
"What!"
"Who!"
"Professor Lupin is Moony"
"Gred do you know what this means"
"I most certainly do. We..." at this point he wiped away a fake tear.
"were taught by a Marauder!" They stood there for a moment with looks of total adoration before they switched gears and sternly stared at Harry.
"Why didn't you tell us"
"last year that we were being taught by Moony"
"A legend!"
"Our hero!"
Harry gave them a sheepish expression. "Sorry guys, I didn't find out until the end of the year and with everything that went on I kinda forgot that you didn't know about it."
Sharing a quick look then facing Harry again they said "Ok we'll forgive you for now"
"As long as you tell us who the other two are"
"Well, this is a kinda long story..." Harry hesitated. Seeing this the twins quickly put up silencing charms and jumped up onto Ron's bed.
"We're ready for our"
"story Harrikins!"
Rolling his eyes Harry paused thinking on how to best tell them. Finally, he decided to just give a recap of his third year. Once he had finished he looked over at the twins. They were sitting there staring at him with their jaws to the floor. Clearing his throat loudly he brought the twins out of their stupor.
"Forge, I do believe that Harry here has been hogging all the best adventures for himself"
"I do believe you are correct Gred. We have to do something to remedy this immediately."
"Which I believe brings us back to a certain dare."
"You know, you two have a one track mind." Harry said.
"Quit stalling"
"I'll even help you since I gave you the dare." George said in his most magnanimous voice possible.
"Please - you just want to get into Dumbledore's office." Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah - what about me - I want in too."
"You know, I could just let you too do it" Harry offered.
"No way Harry"
"It's our turn to join you in an adventure."
Harry stared back and forth between the two. The looks on their faces showed that they were serious - though he found it ironic that such large grins on their faces was what convinced him they were serious. At first he was going to reject the idea, but paused. In truth, he wasn't very happy with the headmaster right now. He thought a lot about last year. Particularly the day that they helped set Sirius free. Although he was happy that he and Hermione were able to help Sirius escape, looking back it disturbed him that the headmaster had two third years do all the dirty work. Bloody hell, using a timeturner like that is illegal - not to mention helping an escaped convict escape again! Even if he was innocent. And although Dumbledore said he believed in Sirius's innocence he has done nothing to get him a trial. Isn't he supposed to have all this power as the head of the Wizengamot? It made no sense. He had been thinking about it all summer and the more he thought about it the more he did not like Dumbledore's actions - or lack thereof. With these thoughts in mind, Harry looked at the twins and said "How are we going to get in without being caught? And once we are in how are we going to bypass all the portraits in there? They are bound to tell Dumbledore that someone entered his office."
"Now you're talking Harry! As for your questions"
"this is where our years of pranking expertise comes into play!"
"Not to mention a certain map and cloak you have in your possession."
"Alright I can see where the cloak will get us past the portraits if we're careful but how do we get in - he's got to have the place warded against intruders." Harry exclaimed.
"Ah, Son of Prongs"
"that is where the map comes into play"
Harry looked at them strangely but still went and retrieved both the map and cloak. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
As the map started to display the castle rooms, passageways and people, George took the map and tapped on the Headmaster's office. The map expanded to show just the office.
"I didn't know it could do that!" Harry exclaimed.
"Ah our young apprentice you have much to learn"
Harry rolled his eyes and leaned forward to examine the map more closely. He was shocked to see that there were two other passageways that entered the office besides the main entrance.
"This one here goes to Dumbledore's private rooms" Fred pointed out.
"But this one is accessible from the sixth floor - just below his office"
"It opens up on the upper level in his office by the telescope"
"If it's so easy for you to get in why do you need me?" Harry questioned.
"Because Harrikins-"
"with you it'll be an adventure!!"
Rolling his eyes yet again, "Fine. What does the potion do anyway? If it's anything obvious he'll know they have been tampered with and will come after you."
"Ah, but that is the beauty of this potion"
"It acts in a very subtle manner"
"Shocking for us I know"
"But for such a worthy adversary you must make sacrifices"
"So in our infinite wisdom"
"Why thank you Gred"
"You're welcome Forge"
"this potion just makes the recipient a little bit more forthcoming with their information"
"Makes it hard to be inscrutable when you are spouting out all your secrets!"
"But won't he notice right away and stop talking?"
"That's the beauty of this potion"
"its start out very weak and slowly builds"
"We shouldn't notice it - at least right away"
"And when he does, so much time has passed since he ate his lemon drop that he shouldn't associate it with them"
"Allowing the whole process to happen again and again!!" the exclaimed together at the end.
Harry thought through all that the twins said and slowly but surely a wicked grin appeared on his face. "Ok, I'm in." It seemed like just what the headmaster needed. Looking back at the map he noticed that the headmaster was still in his office.
"We are going to have to wait for him to leave first. Dinner starts in a half hour. Why don't we go to dinner early so we can leave quickly. Dumbledore usually stays the entire time so we should have time get up there before he leaves the Great Hall. It will also help to divert Hermione from thinking that we did anything. Do you think we would be able to hear any conversations he has from the passageway entrance in his office?" Harry looked up when he started to hear sniffles.
"I'm soo proud"
"and honored"
"yes definitely honored"
"and proud"
"to see Son of Prongs in all his glory!"
Shaking his head at the twins antics he said "Come on, we need to diffuse Hermione and head down to dinner." Harry shrunk the cloak and stuff it and the map into his pocket and headed downstairs with the twins following.
"Harry..." Hermione yelled.
She didn't get any further as Harry quickly put a hand over her mouth and whispered in her ear "Keep quiet about the dare! I just finished diverting the twins attention by telling them about Padfoot and Moony."
Looking annoyed at him for putting his hand over her mouth but seeing the sense in not bringing up the matter she stayed silent. Although she did give him a look to let him know that they would be discussing his rude behavior later.
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Harry suggested they all go down to dinner since it was starting soon. This diverted any thoughts Ron may have had about the dare and they all started down to the Great Hall.