DISCLAIMER: I solemnly swear that I do not own Harry Potter.
I love Harry Potter and the Marauders and creating OC's. This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands. It's an old story idea, but maybe if people end up liking it I will find the inspiration to continue.
It happens during Halloween. To be completely honest, it wouldn't have happened if James Potter wasn't an immature little brat, but that is irrelevant. The point is: James Potter is responsible for what happens, and Sirius Black is completely blameless. Alright? Remember that this was not Sirius' fault!
The Great Hall is dim, lit by hundreds of candles and jack-o-lanterns big and small. Bats flutter about the ceiling and swoop down at the tables occasionally, causing the candles to stutter. Ghosts walk down the aisles leisurely with happy smiles and grins, ready to scare unsuspecting students and make good conversation.
Three first year Gryffindor boys arrive early to the feast.
Sirius stuffs a forkful of carrot cake into his mouth. Beside him, Peter is still in awe of the Great Hall.
"This is amazing, isn't it? That's incredible," Peter prattles on, swinging his head back and forth to inspect all the decorations.
On the other side of Sirius, James scoffs. "Yeah, it's great. Pass the custard tart will you."
Mouth full, Sirius wordlessly passes the plate of custard tart.
"It's so spooky," Peter continues. "How do you reckon they got all the bats? Are they from the Forbidden Forrest, do you think?"
"Who cares? They're probably just transfigured outta something," James replies. As if it had heard him and taken offense, a bat swoops down and ruffles James's hair. "Ack! Shoo, stupid pest."
Sirius almost chokes on his food. He quickly swallows and laughs merrily. "I think it heard you, Potter."
James pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, too distracted to notice the large greasy fingerprint he leaves on one of the lenses, and glares unhappily. "Stuff it, Black," he grumbles.
Sirius smirks in amusement.
Suddenly, Peter gasps. "It's Sir Nicholas!"
Sirius looks up from his plate, and James smiles at the approaching ghost. "Hello, sir!" they greet in unison.
"Hello, young friends," Sir Nicholas responds happily. "I trust that the feast is to your liking?"
"Oh, yes!" Peter quickly agrees, and the other two boys nod.
The ghost opens his mouth to reply when a crisp voice interrupts.
"Excuse me, Sir Nicholas."
Sir Nicholas turns to face little pig-nosed Greta Catchlove, who is standing behind him with a leather tome clutched to her chest, looking like she wants to sit down but would rather not pass through the ghost's incorporeal body to do so. The redhead, Lily Evans, is standing beside her.
"Miss Catchlove and Miss Evans," Sir Nicholas greets, gliding out of the girls' way.
Greta nods stiffly at him and takes a seat across from Sirius. Evans smiles and thanks the ghost before sitting beside her friend.
"Well, do have a wonderful feast," Sir Nicholas says, and the boys wave at him as he leaves to converse with the other students.
"What's got you two so happy?" James asks suspiciously as Greta takes a large bite from a chocolate éclair.
Sirius scrutinizes the two of them. Greta does seem unusually cheery at the moment, practically bouncing in her seat. Evans is all smiley as well. "Did you finally manage to finish potions homework?" he asks, because he can't think of anything else that would have Greta in such a good mood.
Greta deflates a bit. "Uh – no." She frowns, but then the smile is back as she says, "However, I did find something really interesting in the library today!"
"Oh?" James raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah, see? It's a book of spells." She clears some space and loudly plops the big leather book she'd been carrying onto the table.
James rolls his eyes. "We've already got plenty of books full of spells."
"It looks old," Sirius comments.
"And it doesn't look like any of our course books," Peter adds, leaning over the table to get a better look.
"We found it at the top of a shelf, stuffed behind an encyclopedia and Gobbledygook: Guide to Goblin Talk," Evans explains.
Greta opens the book. "Check it out, there's tons of spells in here. A spell to change your appearance, a spell to learn languages, fix bad eyesight, or create portals. There's even a spell that'll call back spirits of lost loved ones."
"Wow," Peter breathes reverently, staring wide-eyed at the book.
Greta grins and hastily flips through the pages, stopping at a page with only a short passage written on it. "This one's my current favorite," she says, pointing at the flowing lettering. "The spell of sight. It's used to conjure visions of the past, present and future."
"Conjure visions?" Sirius repeats curiously.
Greta nods enthusiastically. "Yeah! Anything you want to see, whenever and wherever, it'll show you. Just imagine – you could use this spell to spy on people. Or see the future. Or glimpse into the past to see how something happened."
Peter gasps, "Wow!"
James rubs his chin in thought. "That does have some merit," he concedes.
"How does it work?" Sirius asks curiously.
"Oh, it's really simple," Greta says with a shrug. "You just say the incantation, think of what you want to see, and twirl your wand over a candle like this." She demonstrates the wand movement: a simple twirl over the flame. "It's supposed to make an image in the smoke."
"That seems remarkably easy," James says dubiously, not looking entirely convinced. "Let me see the spell."
Greta obediently hands the book over.
"I say we use the spell to see where we are in ten years!" Peter declares. "That'd be a good thing to know, don't you think?"
Being able to know what he'll be up to in the future does seem exciting, Sirius could admit. He molls over the thought while sipping his pumpkin juice.
"I say we use it to see who we end up marrying," Greta says, neatly folding a napkin over her lap before helping herself to a jam doughnut.
"Ugh – girls," James mutters scornfully, pulling the book into his lap.
She crosses her arms. "Oh, come on. Don't you want to know who you're going to marry one day?"
Peter seems interested, but Sirius is doubtful. He's not sure he wants to know something like that. Hell, he's not even interested in girls yet. The only thing he knows for certain is that he wants to play Quidditch, and that might be difficult with a wife and kids. Anyway, he's pretty sure his parents are going to spring an arranged marriage on him.
Evans frowns. Sirius suspects that she doesn't entirely approve, either. "Honestly, Greta. I don't know," the redhead ventures uncertainly. "Shouldn't that be something you figure out yourself? Without magic. I mean, it would be a bit awkward knowing you're meant to marry someone when they have no idea."
James suddenly sets the book on the table. "This is just a girly poem," he says. "Not like any magic spells I've ever seen. Really, come on – it rhymes!"
Sirius glances over at the open book to read the spell properly. The passage read:
Spell of Sight
Magic forces, dark and light,
Listen now and grant me sight.
Through space and time, I peer.
Be it far or be it near,
Show me what I seek here.
Greta puffs up angrily. "It's a real spell!"
"Is not!" James retorts.
"And how would you know?" Evans asks tartly. "You don't know everything."
"I know enough."
"You do not!"
"You're just upset because you can't use the spell to see if you marry Snape or not, Evans," James accuses.
Evan's cheeks darken to match her hair, and she exclaims, "That's not why!"
"Well, let's see then," James says, taking out his wand. "If you're so sure it'll work."
Peter immediately protests. "But, James, we're not supposed to do magic in the Great hall! We'll get caught!"
James shrugs. "So? It's not like this stupid poem is actually going to work."
"Eh," Sirius helpfully adds, "the professors are too busy stuffing their faces to notice, anyway."
James glances at Evans and says, "We'll do Evans. So, just think about where she'll be in ten years or so."
"Can't we do me?" Peter pleads.
"No," James retorts. "We're doing the spell on Evans."
"Then Lily should be the one to do it," Greta says.
Evans shakes her head. "I'm not doing it."
"Relax. Jeez, you'd think we were summoning a dragon or something."
"If we're summoning anyone, we're summoning Merlin," Peter chimes.
"Oh, shut up, Pettigrew."
James spares a glance at the professors' table to make sure no one there is watching. He clears his throat, grips his wand, and says in a dramatic voice, "Oh, great magical forces, dark or light, listen now and grant us students a sight. Space and time, through which we peer, be it very far or be it really near – show us what we seek here."
He twirls his wand in the air. Nothing happens.
"You didn't say it right!" Greta immediately cries, outraged. "And you're supposed to twirl the wand over a candle."
"Well, there's plenty of candles in here," James defends, gesturing around the candlelit Great Hall.
"Nothing happened," Peter sighs in disappointment.
"Told you," James says smugly.
Greta scowls. Evans looks a bit relieved. Sirius doesn't care either way.
The Great Hall is finally starting to fill up with students. The quiet chatter of before has now become a chorus of echoing voices.
Sirius is about to stuff a spoonful of pudding in his mouth when he notices a candle on the table stutter. He glances at his friends, but they are oblivious. Well, whatever. It's probably nothing, he thinks. Tentatively, Sirius continues to eat his pudding.
Then it happens.
The bats start screeching, lightning flashes, and the ceiling thunders like an angry sky. There is a great collective gasp from frightened students.
The professors all stand up in alarm.
Wind suddenly sweeps through the Great Hall like a whirlwind, snuffing out candles and bathing the Great Hall in darkness. Sirius feels Peter latch onto his arm. He doesn't bother trying to shake the chubby boy off, even if Peter's grip is probably cutting off his circulation.
Evans screams, "What's happening?"
"I don't know!" James yells back.
Lightning strikes the table directly in front of them, blasting away food and silverware and wood. Sirius lurches backwards and hits the ground, bringing Peter down with him. He quickly props himself up on his elbows to watch as a vortex of darkness and lightning swirls over the Gryffindor table, screeching a God-awful sound that drowns out the screams of students. For a moment, Sirius swears that a giant mouth full of sharp teeth sprouts from the vortex.
"Lumos!"
Just as the Great Hall is cast into light, the dark entity shoots into the air and disappears with a loud crack. The Great Hall goes remarkably silent.
"Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!" Dumbledore orders.
That was only the beginning...