A/N: Ok I'm overworked here! All work and no play... its just a good thing I love writing so much : ) Thanks to all who reviewed, I am now accepting flames as long as its not something stupid like "Harry Potter sux" because that's dumb considering this is a section for Harry Potter... lol its happened to others and I'm sure it'll happen to me. Just try to be more constructive in your reviews, giving ideas on how I can improve... alright? Thanks bunches! Alright, enough chit-chat... down to the story!
Disclaimer: Again it is my sad duty to inform you that I do not, and will not, own Harry Potter. This fanfiction, I own. Characters such as Ali, Megan, and any random student, possibly the mystery guest, I own. But Harry Potter I do not... cries and hides in a corner
A Marauder's Tale
By EilayAdnayVolieay
Chapter Four: Hidden Voices
Darkness enveloped them, and they couldn't breathe. What was happening, James thought quietly. Where am I? This isn't the same dream I was having... "I can't breathe! I... I... can't..." the voice got quieter and quieter, and James saw himself rush over to someone, a blurred figure. "You have to! We have to do this... come on, their depending on us!" The figure fell to the ground, coughing blood. What's going on? James thought... Who is that person? Why... why am I there, like... that? And... "Give it up... no one can stop me, not even the likes of Dumbledore's favourite students. He never realized that all along, it was I! The one he trusted... that's the old man's fault, he's too trusting for his own good! And because of his lack of judgement... you will all die, today. Would you like to see your best friends die, Potter? What about your little girlfriend? Who do you want to watch die first... you pick, you pick who will be the first to die, and it will be a very slow death. I do not believe in the Avada Kedavra killing curse... no, not at all. I believe in pain, because pain is all I've ever felt, and I want to watch everyone else suffer like I did... so who will die?" a man replied, playing with James' emotions. Looking over at the figures he could barely make out, he turned and faced the man. "You! AVADA..." "JAMES NO! THATS A FORBIDDEN..." "Good-bye, young Potter..."
James woke up, breathing heavily, sweating, heart pounding so fast that it was deafening. He looked around, and felt a sudden rush of relief. He was still inside his room, and his friends were perfectly fine. Sirius was drooling happily while kicking at his sheets, Remus was curled up with his homework; he had probably been touching it up just before he fell asleep; and Peter was nibbling on his pillow with a smile on his face. James looked at the clock, and saw it was midnight. Again... that's the third time this week! And always at the same time... why, WHY am I having this dream? James thought quietly. He had to leave, get out of his room and get some air. Yeah, that was all he needed, just some air. It was stuffy in their room, had been for the past few nights. He probably ate something funny at dinner... of course, that had to be it.
Walking down the stairs, he saw that the fire in the Common Room was still crackling, and was stunned to see a red-haired girl sitting on the couch in front of the fire. He tried to walk past her without being noticed, for if he was the commotion it would cause would surely wake up the whole school, and he didn't think McGonnagol would take too kindly to being woken up at this time of the night. No such luck, however, as he had no sooner taken a step forward and the girl turned her head towards him. I should have brought the cloak... at least then if she heard something, she'd think she was just imagining it... better say good-bye to Quidditch Practice... I'll get a detention for sure if... James laughed as he realized that the girl was asleep. He walked over to her, and sat down in front of her.
"Beautiful..." he whispered, staring at her perfect face, hair spread out over her face in just the right way. He saw a loose strand of hair, and tucked it behind her ear. She was a sound sleeper, so he knew he wouldn't wake her. Grabbing her legs he lied her down completely on the couch. He looked around, and saw a house elf scuttling about. Realizing he had been seen, the house-elf let out a loud squeak and started to rush out, but James stopped him.
"Begging pardon, sir, I did not mean to disturb you. House-elves are to work and not be seen... please don't give me clothes! Please, sir, I meant no harm... I thought the maiden was cold, so I just started the fire for her... she was shivering, sir, I meant no harm honest..." the house-elf pleaded with James to not be presented with clothes. James tried not to show that he was disappointed with the way this house-elf was afraid of freedom...
"Its alright... I won't present you with clothes. Er— do you think you could get a blanket?" James asked. The house-elf, looking relieved, jumped up and ran off to fetch a blanket. James looked at Lily, and felt the urge to kiss her. He restrained himself, though, and waited for the house-elf to return. He knew for sure, now, that he did like her. He had, after their encounter in the Hospital Wing, realized he cared for her. Of course, he still refused to admit that to anyone else. Nobody needed to know that James was willing to become a one-girl kinda guy. Especially his friends. The house-elf returned with a blanket, and James thanked the house-elf before covering Lily up. He stroked her hair for a minute, then got up and left the common room. Unknown to him, Lily was smiling in her sleep.
The next morning, Ali was the first to wake up. Stretching, she yawned and looked out the window that was next to her bed. The sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in site. A perfect day to enjoy outside, she thought to herself. She was overly relieved that it was the weekend. Most people on the weekends would sleep in, but Ali liked waking up bright and early in the morning and taking a walk outside before everyone else woke up. There was something about the peace and quiet of early morning that just really made her feel refreshed. Getting dressed, she noticed Lily wasn't in her bed.
"That's odd... Lily isn't normally awake at this time. Huh... maybe she went to have breakfast early. She didn't get anymore sleep then I did... and I didn't get a lot..." Ali mumbled to herself. Megan of course was snoring away happily, and their other roommates were sleeping with their mud masks still on. They won't be happy when they realize they fell asleep with that on... maybe I should wake Megan, she'd want to take a picture of them to show The Marauders... or, more like, give me to show to them. She doesn't want anything to do with them now that she's mad at Sirius. I don't know why they can't just get along... I get along with them fine, especially Remus... Ali blushed at the thought of him, and continued down the stairs.
"No... mmmm... stop... I don't wanna go to school mom... NO I DON'T! Eh... do I have... but... yes I changed my underwear... OF COURSE ITS CLEAN, WHATTAYA THINK I AM..." Sirius mumbled in his sleep. Remus laughed as he got changed. He knew his friends would sleep in late, as usual. He saw James had his slippers on still, and remembered how he thought he was dreaming when he heard someone leave the room. He must have been more awake then he thought. Concerned, he walked over to James and was going to wake him, but realized that his friend probably hadn't gotten to sleep until late last night, and decided he would question him later. Lately, James had been getting up in the middle of the night and leaving, coming back after a long time away and looking dead on his feet.
Remus was glad that he had friends as good as Sirius, Peter and James. True, they were troublemakers, and lived to prank people, but they were still his best friends. He had never imagined, the day he got accepted at Hogwarts, that he would ever make friends, and he had also never imagined that when they found out about his Lycanthropic condition, they would still want to be friends with him. No matter what anyone said about them, they were his friends. He remembered the day they found out about him being a werewolf... he had been so afraid that they would turn away from him, shun him, expose his secret. Instead, they decided they wanted to help him by becoming Animagi... they still hadn't quite mastered it, but they were trying, and even that was enough to make Remus the happiest guy at Hogwarts... friends that cared, real friends.
"We know, Remus. There's no point in continuing with your lie. Your mother isn't really sick... we wrote to her, she said she was alive and kicking... perfectly healthy, not a sore bone in her body. Of course, we wondered why you had lied... and where you had been going, if not to see your 'sick' mother." James replied softly. Remus looked up from his book, frightened, but pretended not to care at all if they snooped around in his life. "Oh?" he replied. Sirius grabbed his book, and threw it over to the arm chair, accidentally through Nearly-Headless Nick. "Oh yes, throw things at me just because you know it will go right through me, honestly does nobody care about a ghosts DIGNITY around here...?" he ranted as he floated through the walls.
"Yeah... Remus, why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you ever mention... your condition?" Sirius asked. Peter nodded, and Remus looked threw a glare at them. "QUIET! There are people around... and I never told you because... it never came up," Remus finished lamely. James laughed, and Remus looked confused... had he said something funny...?
"Remus, what do you mean it never came up? What about all those times we told you about our lives before Hogwarts? What about when we first started asking you where you went every month? You could have told us then... you had all the opportunities... why did you keep it a secret, we're your friends! Friends don't lie to each other, Remus." James replied. Remus looked at the ground. He had never expected that they would eventually find out his secret. He had just kept hoping that they would swallow his stories of his visits with his 'sick' mother, and leave it at that. He should have known it was too good to be true. He was just waiting for them to jump up and start screaming that there was a werewolf that could attack them at any time. He waited a little longer... but heard no shouts or screaming. Sighing, he got up and started to walk away. There was no way they would want to be his friend after this... he'd have to leave Hogwarts, no sane parent would want their children going to school with a werewolf. And after all that Dumbledore had done for him, he would have to leave... it wasn't FAIR...
"Where do you think you're going, Moony?" Sirius asked. Remus stopped in his tracks. "What did you call me?" he asked, thinking that he must have somehow heard wrong. Sirius looked at him surprised. "I called you Moony... we should have nicknames, then we could have like hidden identities, and nobody would know who were were talking to. This is soo cool! I mean a were—" he lowered his voice "wolf as a best friend... this is awesome! I mean, I feel bad that it happened, mate, don't get me wrong, but that won't change it... so... its awesome!" Sirius exclaimed, now that he had finished saying 'werewolf'. Remus looked surprised, and had to sit down.
"You mean... you don't... you're not... afraid of me? You still want to be my friend?" Remus asked, hoping that it was true, that his ears did not deceive him, and that his friends had accepted him as what he was... a beast. That's what he had come to think of himself, anyway. James looked at Remus, and this time it was his turn to be surprised. "AFRAID of you? Are you kidding? You wouldn't kill that mosquito that was buzzing around the classroom in Herbology yesterday, why would we be AFRAID of YOU? As for still wanting to be your friend, I don't think anything's changed. So what, you leave the school once a month do to an unfortunate yet permanent ailment. What gave you the idea that... what did you think we'd do, run away from you screaming?" James asked. One look at Remus told him that his petty joke hadn't been far off. "Remus..." James began weakly, but Remus just forced a smile. "It wouldn't have been the first time. Not everyone deals with it as well as you guys did... in fact, most react very harshly." Remus added sadly. James and Sirius looked shocked that anyone could act that way, but decided to let it drop.
"So how did you become... what you are? I mean, were you born with it? Or were you bitten, the old-fashioned way? What was going on the day it..."
"Someday, I'll tell you. Just... not today, alright? It's still too soon for me." Remus replied, before getting up and leaving the Common Room...
Sighing, Remus remembered other times when his friends had asked him again and again how he became a werewolf... and again and again he told them that he wasn't ready to talk about it. The truth wasn't that he didn't want to talk about it because the memory was still fresh, still causing him emotional pain, but actually because it was too horrific, gory even, to word... and he didn't want his to know about what he went through. They didn't need that burden... the tale alone would send shivers down their spines...
Ali entered the Common Room and saw Lily sleeping on the couch in front of a blazing fire. That was odd... Lily always said she hated sleeping on anything but a nice, big comfy bed. She saw Lily was smiling, and realized she was dreaming.
"What's this..." Ali wondered as she bent and picked up a piece of loose paper. She looked on either side, but saw no writing. Finding it very odd, she decided that it must just be a scrap sheet of paper, and tossed it into the fire. She watched as the corners darkened, then began to burn into ash, then watched as a hole was burnt through the middle, before exiting the Common Room.
The Fat lady seemed very angry at being disturbed at such an early hour, but instead of making any comment, she yawned and slammed shut. Closing her eyes, she began to sleep again, but her relaxation was short-lived as Remus threw the portrait door open and left as well. He didn't notice Ali walking very slowly through the halls, and walked right into her.
"Sorry, I didn't see you th— Ali? What are you doing up this early?" Remus asked, genuinely surprised. Ali, although quiet unless with people she knew well, came off as the type to sleep in at least until the normal hour that 'early birds' were up. Ali looked up, and was delighted to see Remus standing in front of her. For as long as she could remember, she had always liked the shy, book-keenintelligent one of the marauder's, although why she didn't know.
"It's alright, Remus, it was only an accident. And I'm normally up this early... I like..." she cleared her throat "I like walking around Hogwarts early in the morning, before anyone else is up. I am surprised to see you awake, though. From what I've heard from Peter, you're not a very sound sleeper. You probably wake up hundreds of times during the night!" Ali exclaimed, before realizing that she had in a sense admitted to talking to Peter about Remus. She was about to explain when Remus laughed. "Yeah... I do, actually, and I am a light sleeper... in fact, I heard James get up again last night. Every night this week he's been moaning in his sleep, and waking up and leaving the dorm. I wonder if he ran into Lily last night?" Remus asked thoughtfully. This time it was Ali who laughed, and she told Remus that if Lily had seen James, she wouldn't have been smiling in her sleep.
"Yeah, I guess not. But then—" Remus was cut off by Ali who covered his mouth with her hand. He looked at her questioninglybut stopped when he heard voices coming from one of the old classrooms... one which was never used. He was about to object that they shouldn't be eavesdropping when he suddenly heard, "Of course not, master... he is a fool, he would NEVER suspect me..." an oddly familiar voice replied. "Are you sssssure, boy? He may be a fool, but he is a very smart fool..." another voice threw in. "Master, believe me, I know Dumbledore, he's an old fool... even if he did suspect me, a student, he wouldn't do anything about it... his hearts too large, the fool... he'd say I was brainwashed, and I'd let him believe that..." the first voice replied. All of a sudden Peter came up behind them, and threw the door open.
"Pete, no!" Remus cried out, but it was too late. Peter looked at Remus and Ali as though they were acting like they were another species or something. "What?" he asked. Remus waited... surely, whoever had been inside this room would attack them, but when he looked inside... there was no one there.
"Yeah, but Lil's, that was the only door, and we were standing there. I even stood at the door while Remus and Peter looked around to see if he was hiding, or wearing a cloak, and there was... nothing. They wouldn't have had time to hide anyways!" Ali exclaimed. A few seats over, Remus was retelling the same story to James and Sirius. Megan yawned and grabbed more bacon.
"Well then maybe they disapparated... I mean that would have made..." Megan was cut off by a very frustrated Lily. "You can't Apparate OR Disapparate in Hogwarts! If you'd read Hogwarts: A History, you would know things like this."
"Yeah, well... what about... was there a... oh shut it," Megan said crustily as she chewed on her bacon, brooding. Lily rolled her eyes and rearranged her plate, moving the eggs and bacon around the pancake. She looked up at the Teachers table, and saw that Hagrid, who had always joined the teachers for every meal, was nowhere to be seen.
"That's odd..." She replied thoughtfully, as she re-scanned the Teachers table to see if maybe she had missed him, which was near impossibly considering his size. After realizing he indeed wasn't sitting at the Teachers table, she began to worry.
"What's odd?" Remus asked, as he sat down on her other side. He was coming to grab more pumpkin juice, and the maple syrup that Sirius said Megan stole. Lily looked up at him and watched him sit down, and began to eat her breakfast. "Well," she began, "Hagrid's gpne... he never misses Breakfast... it's the most important meal of the day, he's always very serious about that. He rarely comes for lunch, but he's never missed Breakfast before. And if what you and Ali said you heard is true... meaning that you weren't just tired and imagining it... well, I'm worried I guess. The maple syrup is on the other end, by those first years," Lily added, seeing Remus looking frustrated. He groaned, and taking the pumpkin juice, went back to where the Marauders were sitting.
Sirius was in the middle of telling a very boring joke to some of his fans, when Remus returned empty handed.
"Where's the maple syrup, Remmy?" Sirius asked, sounding as sad as he could make himself sound. Remus sat down and drank some of his pumpkin juice. He grabbed more pancakes and added them to his plate, taking the time to cut them perfectly even. This, of course, was torturing Sirius. Where was his maple syrup?
"Lily said that some first years have it. Peter, could you pass the french toast? Thanks," He began adding more food to his plate, for some reason hungrier today then he had ever been. James looked at him angrily for a moment, then tried to ask as though he really didn't care, "So... are you two good friends?"
"Of course, James, we're the only ones that stay awake and pay attention to History of Magic as well as Ancient Runes, so after this many years, we're bound to be friends. Here," Remus added, throwing imitation Maple Syrup at Sirius. Sirius pouted... "This isn't the real stuff! I don't want imitation, I want the real stuff!" Sirius looked like he was ready to cry, and one of the girls that wanted to go out with him jumped up and fetched it for him. He smiled at her, making her knees go weak. "Thank-you," he replied.
"What do you mean you're good friends? Who said you could be good friends with her? SHE'S THE ENEMY!" James shouted, pounding his fist on the table. Hundreds of heads turned his way, and, embarrassed, he sat down again. Remus looked at him, amused.
"I wasn't aware that I needed to clear my friends with you first, James."
"You don't... I didn't mean... well I MEANT... I..."
"Don't worry, James, we're just friends." Remus replied slyly, watching James flush. "I didn't say you... I don't even care really I mean..."
"Admit it Prongsie... you have a crush on Ev—" Sirius began but the rest of what he had to say was blocked by a banana that was shoved in Sirius mouth, courtesy of James. Looking around, James lowered his voice.
"I do NOT like her. I merely didn't want our dear friend being swayed by the enemy... when the war comes, we must have all soldiers on our side! NO double agents! And– Yes, Sirius?" James asked, looking at his friend whose hand had flown into the air, and he was saying, "Ooo! Ooo! Pick me! Pick me!"
"Do I get the girl?"
A/N: Ok, there's the fourth chapter done. I did TWO chapters just for you guys : ) And I'm going to do two chapters for my other story, and when I'm done that I may add a fifth chapter (making it three done close together) to this story. Make sure to review! Tell me what you think, what you liked, didn't like... and how it can be improved.