A/N: Here's round 3. I am using prompts 5:(quote) 'All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us' - JRR Tolkien, 7: destiny, and 15: cosmos. Also it had to have a word count of between 1751 and 2000 words.
Since I was told by my beta that there are not tornadoes in England, it would likely have to be a magical tornado. The original Fujita scale was set down in 1971, so it fits the timeframe. I know that it has since been updated and refined. Here's my first crack at trying to write the Marauders. Enjoy. And thank you PrisonerofAzkaban711 for your help!
Word count without A/N: 1756
There were many good things about having a mother who was a muggle. Remus's favorite thing was that he could go to the library over the breaks when he was at home. Personally, he didn't quite understand how magical folk coped without convenient Muggle places, like libraries. But then again, he did understand the impracticalities due to how far and wide wizarding families seemed to live.
Today he was looking over the science section, which he found he missed learning about at Hogwarts. In particular, he was looking in on the section on the weather. Remus had always found how Muggles looked at the weather to be interesting.
Surveying the different shelves, he saw books on every different topic that he could imagine. On the bottom shelf, he found a book on tornadoes. Remus had heard of tornadoes and the destruction that they caused, but had never taken a huge interest in them before, as he had never encountered one.
The first chapter explained what a tornado was. Apparently a tornado was a localized, violently destructive windstorm occurring over land, especially in the American Heartland, and characterized by a long, funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground and made visible by condensation and debris. The colors of the funnel cloud varied from what kind of dirt it was kicking up.
Remus was hooked.
###
A few chapters later, Remus had gotten to the measurement of the tornado's intensity. They were:
'F0-Wind speed of 40-72 mph. Light damage. Some damage to chimneys; branches broke off trees; shallow-rooted trees pushed over; sign boards damaged.'
"Pah. Cars and broomsticks go faster than that." Remus thought.
'F1- Wind speed of 73-112 mph. Moderate damage. The lower limit is the beginning of hurricane wind speed; peels surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned; moving autos pushed off the roads; attached garages may be destroyed.'
Remus had heard of hurricanes before. Though they mostly happened in the tropics, England occasionally got hit with remnants of hurricanes.
'F2- Wind speed of 113-157 mph. Significant damage. Roofs were torn off of frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars overturned; large trees snapped or uprooted; high-rise windows were broken and blown in; light-object missiles generated.'
"Now things are getting more serious," he thought to himself.
'F3- Wind speed of 158-206 mph. Severe damage. Roofs and some walls torn off well-constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in forest uprooted; heavy cars lifted off the ground and thrown.'
Remus was noticing that with the increases in severity, they became less common. That was a very good thing.
'F4- Wind speed of 207-260 mph. Devastating damage. Well-constructed houses leveled; structures with weak foundations blown away some distance; cars were thrown and large missiles generated.'
Remus continued to read. There were also pictures of what the damage looked like after each tornado. The latest picture made him shudder.
"How could the damage get any worse?" Then he went on to read about the top level.
'F5- Wind speed of 261-318 mph. Incredible damage. Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air farther than 100 meters (330 ft.); trees debarked; steel reinforced concrete structures badly damaged.'
Remus was quite thankful that the climatic conditions were not right for tornadoes in England. The F-5 tornadoes looked like the finger of God poking down, and choosing that particular area for destruction.
In another section of the book, Remus came across the mentioning of waterspouts. Which were weaker versions of tornadoes on water, but could still cause their fair share of damage. Another funnel shaped windstorm was called a dust devil, and those occurred in deserts.
Reading about waterspouts gave him an idea for a prank that could be done once he got back to school. Though it would likely take quite some time to come up with it, since his fifth year was going to be the busiest year yet.
It being OWL year, made Remus think of a quote from one of his favorite muggle authors, JRR Tolkien: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Remus decided that he would request a copy of this book, and bring it with him to Hogwarts, so as to help with the planning of the prank.
He knew that there would likely be fines involved for his keeping of the book. Or maybe actually having to pay to replace it.
Anything could happen at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
###
For the first two months of the school year, Remus and his friends were too busy with either coursework, detentions, Quidditch practice (James was madly obsessed about Gryffindor winning the cup, as Ravenclaw had won on a technicality the year before), full moons, and even more studying.
The professors were really piling on the work, and Remus had to deal with all of that, on top of duties as a Prefect. He had been quite surprised when he'd gotten the badge along with the letter for his supplies that year. In the letter, there had been assurances that his Prefect duties would be worked around his condition.
Remus knew exactly why he had been chosen as a new Gryffindor Prefect. It was an attempt to rein in James and Sirius's behavior towards Slytherins in general, and towards Severus Snape in particular. It seemed to be his destiny as a Prefect to be torn between reprimanding his friends, or turning a blind eye.
Now that he finally had some time to breathe, Remus remembered that muggle book on tornadoes that he'd bought over the summer. He would work on the spell before sharing it with the other Marauders.
He knew that he always came across as the sensible one, but he was determined to show his friends that he was able to come up with great pranks on his own without their help. He didn't ever doubt that he was, in fact, a Marauder, but sometimes it seemed as though he spent more time trying to stop the others making mistakes than helping them with the jokes that they were notorious for.
Remus had a feeling that once the spell was perfected, and he shared it with his friends, Severus was likely going to be the primary target. This didn't bother him much, but he also knew that it went against everything he was supposed to hold up as a Prefect.
He guessed that he'd just have to bear the consequences when he eventually told the other three. He was a Marauder after all.
###
It was another month and a half before Remus got the spell and the wand motion correct. Tempestatem Aquae was the spell and the wand and wrist movement were basically making multiple circles.
Remus was working on the wrist movement, when Sirius burst in, saw him and asked,
"What are you doing, Moony? Practicing for Charms?"
Sirius flopped onto his bed inelegantly, with his hands behind his head, waiting for his friend to explain what he was up to. He gave Remus a curious glance whilst he waited for a reply.
"Over the summer holiday, I came across a book in a Muggle library. It explained a weather phenomenon known as tornadoes. They are storms that can cause massive damage."
"Merlin, you sound like McGonagall. Get to the point, Moony!" Sirius moaned.
"Well, I've created a spell that creates one of these storms on water. Just imagine the ruckus it will cause." Remus had a feeling that selling Sirius on this matter would not be hard at all. Sirius loved a good joke, and if people got soaked, so much the better.
Sirius grinned at his friend's idea as Remus explained exactly what the spell would do and how he had come up with it.
Sirius paid less attention to how Remus had created the spell, as his mind had already begun to build a plan on how they could use it.
It would be perfect to give Snivellus a bath! And maybe his little brother Regulus if he was around for the prank. But if he wasn't, that little toerag and his chemistry set would be good enough for him!
###
The next day, the timing for the prank was perfect. Most of their year was outside, since it was likely going to be one of the last nice days of the fall.
For once, this had been just a Remus and Sirius prank. The other two Marauders did not even know about it as Remus had wanted to surprise them as well.
Both boys murmured Tempestatem Aquae and then watched to see how their handiwork would pan out.
Remus watched as a magical waterspout rolled around on the Black Lake, the wind whipping up the water around the base. It looked just like the ones in the pictures from the book, though it seemed awfully big for a waterspout. Likely it was the result of it being a magical one.
Sirius and he watched as the waterspout got closer to the shore where the other students were. Finally, they noticed the storm and started shrieking and beginning to run away from the edge of the lake to get away from it. For some, though, it was too late and they ended up getting soaked as the great wind threw water in their direction.
###
Much to Sirius's glee, Snivellus got soaked down to his skin. A drowned rat would have looked better than him.
"Anything you two would like to share with us?" James drawled. Remus and Sirius jumped. "Did you do that?" continued, watching as the group sat by the lake began to move back to the castle in order to dry themselves up.
"Yes we did that, sorry we did not include you. I just found out Moony's new spell yesterday. What do you think?" Sirius asked. A smug grin plastered over his face and he looked as though all his wishes had just come true.
"Not too bad. Just wished that I had been included," James grumbled, though Remus could make out the beginning of a smile starting to curl his lips upwards. "Now let's go spring Peter from detention. Such a shame he missed this!"
Remus grinned like a madman while he and the best friends he could possibly have in this life walked back up to the school. He felt like that had definitely proved him to be a proper Marauder.
Remus could not imagine being anywhere else in the cosmos.
A/N 2: First time writing the Marauders. I may revisit them over the course of the contest! Love to hear what you think. Also take a look over at my full length Harry Potter story: Far Away, Long Ago.