Hello, my name is Skyler Tamara Jackson. I have long blonde hair and sea green eyes. And this is my story of the time when the marauders and I lived, laughed, loved, hated, pranked, mourned, and got revenge at the infamous Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I had a rich pureblood family so naturally I got my wand at an early age and had a tutor, Mr. Harries, teach me basic spells. I was also born as a metamorphmagus. My mother thought of it as more of a deadly disease than a talent. So she also had Mr. Harries teach me how to control it so no one would know her child was a... a… FREAK!
My mother, Margret Jackson, was an independent brewer, which meant she would brew any potion for anyone as long as they had the money for it. Like her, her parents were just as scared of my talent making every visit horrible. They were of course all Slytherins. (Why my father married her is still a mystery)She also had a sister, Evelyn Selwyn, who had always been very optimistic and nothing like my mother or their parents. She had been sorted into Hufflepuff, much to their disappointment, but she had died when I was only four. She had had a daughter Hope, who is a year younger than me. She was such a nightmare to me, but that was most likely because she lived with my grandparents. Whenever I was around she would make faces, take my things, and complain that I was being mean to her(which of course everyone except dad believed her) until one time while the adults weren't looking I changed my hair into snakes and hissed at her. Ever since she has never so much as looked at me. Once I even gave my mother a rubber snake to give to Hope for her birthday insisting she loved them. When she opened her present she nearly died of shock. I was grounded for a month, but it was worth it. My dad and I laughed about it for nearly the entire month.
My father, Harvey Jackson, was an Auror. He had never been afraid of my skills, he actually thought they were quite funny but he wouldn't ever tell my mother that's what he thought. He was gone most of the time anyway so what he thought didn't matter. His parents were just like him, very nice, warm people. He also had 10 siblings, five girls and six boys including him. My dad had always said the only good thing about such a big family was that there were enough people to play Quidditch. None of them ever married, so Hope was my only Cousin. The only good thing was that I saw them a lot more than my mother's family because they lived a lot closer seeing as the Selwyns lived in Paris. Personally I think they just enjoy torturing me when we come to visit.
It all truly starts when I was six. One day, while I was waiting for my tutor in the library, I started to wander around looking at the title of books, most of which I had already read, when one caught my eye. It was called Animagus Transformation and Registration and well a six year old mind is a curious mind so I decided to see what it was. I read the first few pages and realized that it was full animal transformations and being a metamorphmagus I could only do part of the transformations. I quickly decided I wanted to try it and shoved it in my bag just before Mr. Harries came in, knowing neither my parents nor my tutor would approve of enhancing my metamorphmagus skills seeing as they were trying to teach me how to hide them. I didn't like to hide things from Mr. Harries because he was the best friend I never really had, but somehow I felt if I had asked him about it he might take the book away and I'd never be able to try.
My lessons with Mr. Harries were always fun. Every time we would always start with a new spell and then review the old spells, but he didn't want me to "master" them because he said I would do that when I started school. I never listened to him about not mastering them, though, I always practiced when he was gone, or whenever I wasn't practicing to be the best seeker ever, so I'd be ready, for what, I never knew, but I just felt I would need to be ready for something. He would usually only teach me the basics like Expelliarmus, Stupefy, and Repairo. Although on occasion he would throw in some hexes like Levicorpus, or Petrificus Totales "to keep away boys" as if I couldn't just whack them upside the head or kick their asses if they tried anything.
After class I hurried up to my room and closed the door so I could read more in depth what I had to do to become an animagus. I soon found out that I not only had to perform a few difficult spells but there was also a potion I had to make. Luckily, my mother was a brewer so I had tons of ingredients and a cauldron at my disposal. Little did I know that becoming an animagus would affect my life so much.
Then I remember there was also a registration part to it, but as I read about it, it didn't seem like it was a necessary part to becoming an animagus. Even if it was illegal not to register, as a six year old that small detail didn't really bother me. So I did what any logical witch would do, I pulled out my wand and set to work on the first spell. At first it bothered me a little that the spells weren't coming as easily as the others had, but eventually I realized how much more advanced they were and was happy with what little progress that I had made.
By the time I had turned eight I had mastered the first out of the seven spells. After that I was completing about two spells a year. The fourth spell showed you what type of animal you were to become. It was quite frustrating towards the end because a formless blob would shoot out of my wand and dissipate before it could became anything, but when I finally mastered it the formless blob finally turned into a fox. I smiled as I watched it leap around the room, and then it jumped right though me, disappearing.
When I turned ten years old (on July 8th) I started to make the potion which took most of the year to get it right because it took about a month to brew so in hindsight it only took about eight tries. I finally perfected it just before my Hogwarts letter arrived. When I look back three things were key parts in successfully becoming an animagus; 1. I was naturally talented in transfiguration and potions, 2. I was a metamorphmagus, which made the whole transformation concept a million times easier, and 3. My mother was a very busy person and didn't pay much attention to small details like a few missing ingredients.
The morning I received my letter was my second best day ever. I not only received my letter, but I would also try to transform for the very first time. I got up at about seven o'clock every morning that week expecting my letter to arrive soon, but on this particular morning I had also woken up to the smell of bacon, and chocolate chip pancakes. I quickly got dressed anticipating a trip to Diagon Alley assuming these wonderful smells were in fact because my Hogwarts letter had arrived.
As I rushed into the kitchen my suspicions were confirmed. There on my plate was a letter with the Hogwarts coat of arms and green ink that clearly had my name and address on it. I was so excited I hadn't even seen my parents and Ana, our house elf, sitting/standing across from me smiling. I read the letter with much enthusiasm even though I already knew what it would say having read my mother's old school letter. When I was done I set it down next to my plate, beaming, and started to pile pancakes and bacon onto my plate.
"Congratulations princess, I'm going to take you to Diagon Alley today to get your school things, and your mother will meet us at the Leaky Cauldron." my dad said loading his plate with pancakes and bacon while my mum only had one.
"Sounds great!" I said knowing the only reason she wasn't coming is because she hated spending time with me even though she insisted 'she had work to do', but it didn't bother me because the feeling was mutual. I also knew I could get my dad to buy me anything without her around. After we finished eating I got my cloak and went over to our fireplace where my dad was waiting with the floo powder.
He handed me some, I threw it in, stepped into the fire, and said as clearly as possible, "Diagon Alley." Then after the familiar feeling of being sucked through a tube subsided my feet finally found ground and I stumbled a little but didn't fall. Shortly after I arrived my dad came through the fireplace with a flash of green flames.
"Seeing as you already have your wand why don't we start by getting you an owl so you can send letters home to tell us how you are doing." he said as we made our way out of the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. As we walked down the street I looked at all of the familiar shops that my parents took me to, my favorite being Quality Quidditch of course. I noticed that few other kids were there to buy their school supplies.
At the end of the street just before Gringotts Bank was Eeylops Owl Emporium and Magical Menagerie. Inside were a wide array of owls, cats, rats, and toads, some even had special magical abilities. I looked over at the section where most of the owls were. One owl on the far side was looking at me with its great big orange eyes and I walked closer and saw that it was an eagle owl. Then I looked back at the rest of the owls, and they all seemed to pale in comparison.
"Looks like you're the one then," I said looking into her eyes, "I think I'll call you Ginger. It's not the most original, but I don't know any better than that." So, I grabbed her cage and took her over to where my father was and we checked out. Next we went to Flourish and Blotts where we got all my school books plus Curses and Counter Curses by Professor Vindictus Viridian. Then we went to Madame Malkins to get my robes. We didn't have to go to the Apothecary or Portage's Cauldron Shop, because I already had my cauldron and potions kit, having a brewer for a mum and all. Finally we went back to the Leaky Cauldron to have dinner with mum.
When we got home I went straight up stairs to pack some of my stuff and locked the door so I could try to transform after I was done. Once I finished packing my books I faced my full length mirror, I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. I cleared my mind and focused only on becoming a fox. Slowly I felt myself shrinking down into what felt like the form of a dog, but I knew it was a fox. When it stopped I opened my eyes and instead of me staring back there was a full grown fox. I smiled a devilish fox smile as I looked at the form I had become.
Then I thought, "What if I can change the color of the fox fur like I can change my hair!" I closed my eyes again and imagined my fur turning green. I opened my eyes and sure enough I was a green fox, but I changed back to orange because it looked better. I quickly changed back to human just to make sure I could, because the book had talked about how sometimes people got stuck in between forms. I sat down on my bed and wondered what other things I could do as a fox that could be useful in future pranking and general messing with people's minds.
"It would be helpful if I was a little smaller sometimes." I thought so I transformed back into a fox, and closed my eyes. Concentrating on being small, I felt myself beginning to shrink. I opened my eyes, and saw that I had become a fox pup. I heard footsteps on the stairs so I quickly transformed back, and sat on my bed.
My mum knocked on my door and asked, "Can I come in?"
"Sure." I said unlocking the door with a wave of my wand.
"How's packing going?"
"Good."
"Goodnight then I'll see you in the morning, and you can help me brew some of the easier potions if you want."
"Okay, I might do that in the morning, but then I'm going to practice flying after lunch.", then I got up to start getting ready for bed as mum left my room. Once I got in bed I laid there for a while thinking more about which house I wanted to be in. Then I decided I wanted to be in Gryffindor because I didn't want to be like my parents I wanted to be like Skyler. Content with my decision, I drifted off to sleep.
The last week before September 1st was a blur of prank preparations, flying, and lessons reviewing what I had learned over the last six years. On the last day I finished packing my truck so, we'd be ready to leave the next morning.
I tried to sneak my broom upstairs to pack it but, mum caught me and yelled, "Skyler Tamara Jackson you put that broom back right now! You know there is a rule against first years having a broom at Hogwarts!" Grudgingly I stomped back to the broom shed, and made a show of putting it away while she watched from the kitchen window.
The next morning I practically woke up at the crack of dawn bursting with excitement so I double checked and triple checked that I had packed everything, ran down stairs, had Ana make breakfast, and sat on top of my truck at the front door waiting to leave. About an hour later my parents were finally ready to leave. We took a taxi to the King's Cross train station, and when we got there my parents led me to the barrier between platforms nine and ten with my trolley.
At first I hesitated, but then I decided it would be easier just to run and get it over with. I glanced at my parents, who nodded encouragingly, and I started to run. Just before I hit the barrier I closed my eyes, but when I didn't hit solid wall I decided it was okay to open my eyes. Behind me my parents casually walked through the barrier together. I looked back and saw the magnificent scarlet train that would be taking me to Hogwarts. Quickly I said my goodbyes and loaded my trunk into the first empty compartment I could find. There was only one minute until departure so I stuck my head out my window to search for my parents so I could wave goodbye one last time before I left. Slowly the platform slipped out of view and I sat back down in my compartment for a few minutes.
Bored of sitting by myself, I decided I would go find a compartment with people in it so I could make friends. As I walked down the hallway a girl with flaming red hair and a boy with long greasy black hair and a hooked nose walked out of a compartment and another boy with messy black hair and round wiry glasses called after them saying, "See ya later Snivelous." I quickly covered my mouth to hide my smile from the boy and girl as they passed.
"Got room for one more?" I called just before the boy with messy black hair closed the door to his compartment.
"Sure," he said with a crooked grin. Then he helped me lug my truck up onto the rack above.
"My name is Skyler Jackson by the way," I said holding my hand out to shake his.
He took my hand and shook it, "I'm James Potter and this is Sirius Black," he said and gestured towards a handsome boy, with black wavy hair about half way to his shoulder, sitting next to him.
I waved at him, "hello."
Then a tall wiry boy with short sandy brown hair across from Sirius put down his book and said, "I'm Remus Lupin and this is Peter Pettigrew," gesturing toward the small round boy sitting next to Remus with mousy colored hair and he went back to reading his book. I waved again and sat next to Sirius.
"So what house do you guys think you'll be in?" I asked trying to start a conversation.
James, puffing out his chest, made a gesture like raising a sword, answered," Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad. "
I smiled, glad someone I knew would be in Gryffindor with me, "me too," I replied.
"My whole family have been in Slytherin." Sirius said unsmiling.
"Blimey," said James, "And I thought you seemed alright!"
Sirius grinned, "Maybe I'll break the tradition."
"I know how you feel my mum and her parents were Slytherins, and I think she would actually be proud of me if I was a Slytherin." I made a disgusted face, then asked, "What about you Remus?"
"Well, Ravenclaw sounds good, but I don't really care as long as I'm not in Slytherin." He replied looking up from his book as James made a gagging gesture to show his dislike for the Slytherins and Peter nodded in agreement.
"I think I would leave if I were sorted into Slytherin." James said and we all burst out laughing. A short while later, a rather plump witch, opened the door to our compartment and asked us if we wanted anything off the trolley. We got a bit of everything and sat back down to eat them.
"So, do you guys want to mess with some of the other first years before we get off the train?" I asked with a mischievous grin. Similar grins plastered Sirius's and James's faces, but Remus had a look of inquiry as if he was waiting for more details on the matter and Peter just looked nervous as if he wasn't sure he wanted to be associated with such mischief makers.
So I told them my plan, leaving out the part where I am an animagus; I was going to transform into a rabid looking fox inside the girls bathroom and scare the girls away until we were certain everyone had spread rumors of the rabid fox in the girl's lavatory. Then I would turn back into myself when no one was looking and sneak out. Then while all the prefects were checking out the bathroom, and calming down hysteric first years, we would set off dung bombs in the prefect's compartment.
On the way back James had noticed Severus in one of the compartments, and quickly slipped one inside it before dashing away. Once we were all back in our compartment we collapsed into fits of laughter. We all high fived, and celebrated our first successful prank. For the rest of the ride we ate, laughed, talked about Quidditch, and played many rounds of exploding snap.