A/N: Alright so it's a little late for a Halloween chapter but that's what this is anyway. Things are going to get a bit serious in the next couple of chapters and then I shall try for some fluffy bits. As always please read and review and send along anything you'd like to see come up in later chapters. Thanks so much for the reviews and things so far! I really do love them all! As well as suggestions that have come in! I am so glad you are all enjoying this so much!
THE MARAUDERS AND THE BLOOD OF GODS
CHAPTER SIX
October seemed to fly by for the student body; even the excitement from the previous attacks was all but forgotten. Things seemed to have settled back into the usual day to day for the school. No other attacks had taken place and everyone relaxed, going about their lives. Only Danielle still seemed bothered by what had taken place so early in the year but she kept it quiet even from her friends. Something told her their problems were far from over and she didn't argue with those feelings anymore. The Monday following the first Hogsmeade trip the Marauders had sent out the invitations to their annual Halloween party deciding to change things up this year and make it a costume party. Unlike the previous party this one was by invite only, the six of them deciding that the doors would only be open to get in for half an hour. If anyone was late, it was too bad for them. She was debating just that as she dropped into a seat at the Gryffindor table for dinner a couple of days before Halloween.
"Alright so James is doing a pirate, Remus is going with Dracula, Peter as Frankenstein's monster and I'm going to go for the devil," Sirius was grinning as he laid out the plans for the four Marauders for Lily.
"I still don't know what I'm going to do for my costume. I don't want to do something that everyone else is going to do," Lily sighed and glanced over at Danielle from where she was sitting between James and Peter. "What are you doing for your costume, Dani?"
"I don't know for sure. I have a couple of ideas...maybe Medusa," Danielle shrugged as she settled in next to Sirius and started loading her plate with dinner.
"Medusa?" Sirius questioned.
"Greek mythology; so there are a couple of different versions as to how she came to be what she is. But she's basically a woman who was turned into a monster for one reason or another; snakes for hair and anyone who looks her in the eye is turned to stone," she explained briefly trying not to sound like she knew too much about it.
"Oh! That sounds fun!" Lily smiled.
"If you're not sure what you want to do, Lily you can do Medusa and I can run with my other idea."
"Which is?" Peter questioned.
"Basic medieval warrior; you know leather armor, sword and shield. Maybe do up some kind of makeup effect so I look either badly hurt or maybe even undead."
"Zombie warrior...I like it," James grinned and shot her a thumbs up.
"That would be fun; undead warrior with the devil," Sirius smirked and Danielle couldn't keep from laughing, probably harder than was necessary which earned her some odd looks from her friends.
"Sorry...just thought of something," she muttered around her laughter before she busied herself eating; they didn't need to know that she'd met the actual God of the Underworld briefly before and he would not be what they'd expect, in fact he wasn't what anyone ever really expected including her.
"Anyway, I don't want to take away your costume," Lily shook her head knowing that look from her friend meant they'd get no further explanation for her laughter.
"Don't worry about it. It'll probably be easier to get the snakes into someone else's hair rather than my own anyway," she barely kept herself from falling back into laughter at Lily's look. "Not real snakes, Silly. Rubber ones or conjured ones. I was thinking maybe using some kind of charm so they hiss and writhe around looking more realistic."
"Yeah, I like that plan. Okay then, I'll take Medusa," Lily smiled and the group turned to their meals.
They were nearly finished eating and ready to head back to the Gryffindor common room when Danielle snorted and rolled her eyes at the group of Hufflepuff girls that shot her dirty looks, "How did I know eventually I would have to deal with that crap?"
"What crap?" Lily's back had been to the group and Danielle nodded to their retreating backs.
"Dirty looks because I'm dating tall, dark and rebellious over here," she sighed.
"What don't like the spotlight, Dani?" James teased and she shook her head, dead serious to his light tone.
"No, I don't," she replied before she pushed to her feet and started for the exit now noticing the dirty looks from a few other girls as she walked by.
She'd barely made it five feet before Sirius caught up to her and hooked his arm around her shoulders in typical fashion, leaning his head down by her ear and whispering quietly, "Do you want me to stop doing this kind of stuff then?"
She glanced up at him and shook her head when she realized he was serious and would stop if she wanted him to, "No. Eventually they'll get over it. I just never have liked having everyone's attention on me, despite the fact that I could never seem to actually avoid it."
Sirius quirked a brow at that as they started up the stairs heading for their dorms, "You seemed to do a good job here. Good enough to make the Quidditch team and stay in the good books of the professors but never enough to set yourself apart from anyone else."
Danielle bit her tongue before she sighed, "Which is why I like it here."
"You're not going to tell me any more than that are you?"
"Not yet anyway."
Sirius merely nodded after all there were things that he wasn't ready to talk about either. The rest of the evening and the ensuing weeks leading up to Halloween saw the group still discussing costumes and the party as well as making their costumes.
The weekend before Halloween, Danielle found herself restless. While Quidditch training could be exhausting, it wasn't anywhere near what she was used to having to do at home and she'd been finding it harder and harder to find times where she could slip away from her friends and get in the training that she was accustomed to. As she headed out for her late night Astronomy class, she decided to slip out of the castle following her class and get in some kind of training knowing she'd be unable to sleep anyway. The class itself was easy enough for her; much like transfiguration it was almost second nature to her, a perk of being a child of Hermes she supposed.
While the rest of the class stumbled, half asleep back to their dorms, Danielle slipped silently through the dark halls of the castle. Another trick she was good at thanks to the god of thieves. Restless energy kept her wired and alert as she made her way outside where she immediately broke into a run not caring that she was in her school uniform. Grinning to herself, she sprinted through the grounds and to her favorite spot to train on the edge of the Dark Forest.
Sirius yawned as he headed down the stairs from the Astronomy tower. Half asleep he didn't immediately realize that Danielle was no longer walking with him and Lily and he paused, glancing around them at the other Gryffindor students from the class. Lily stopped next to him and rubbed a hand over her eyes wondering why Sirius had suddenly stopped.
"Forget your textbook upstairs again?" she finally questioned around a yawn of her own.
Sirius shook his head, "No, but did we leave Dani up there asleep or something? I thought she was with us when we left."
Lily frowned and glanced around as well, "She was but has she seemed a little...I don't know, crazy hyper lately?"
"A bit, yeah."
"And she hasn't been sleeping real well either. I should have said something to her sooner," Lily sighed and Sirius laid a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it so much. She's good at hiding things from people, even us. I'll see if I can't track down where she went and find out what's going on with her lately."
Lily sighed, "Alright. I really should go with you but I don't think I can stay awake long enough."
Sirius chuckled, "No worries, Evans. Just make sure you can keep up tomorrow night."
"I'm not even going to ask what you guys have planned out."
Sirius only grinned before he slipped away and back into the darkened castle. He paused in the doorway of a classroom and thought about where to look for Danielle. There were her usual haunts like the library or the trophy room that was just off the Great Hall but he quickly dismissed those ideas. She was cunning enough to avoid places that would likely have a professor check on throughout the night. An image of her training a month earlier flashed through his mind. She'd been spending most of her free time either working on homework in the common room or getting into trouble with him and the rest of their friends. The question he found himself asking was whether or not she'd head to the Dark Forest in the middle of the night. If it had been even a year earlier he would have immediately dismissed the Dark Forest but lately he was seeing a very different girl than the one who'd been less than a friend but more than an acquaintance. That girl was most definitely someone that would risk the Dark Forest for training. With that thought he stepped to his canine form once outside the castle and loped towards the clearing he'd found her in before.
Danielle had tossed her backpack against a tree and used a charm of her own devising to cast just enough light around the clearing for her to see but not so much that it would draw attention to her. It was cold but she'd tossed her cloak over the branch of a tree and set to work. Dressed in a skirt cast some limitation on what she could do, but she worked around that as she sprinted around and across the clearing. She threw herself into a shoulder roll and leapt back to her feet, spinning to her left and striking out with a fist at thin air.
Sirius took up his position again in the shadows of the trees and watched her. He could only shake his head as she moved with the grace and agility that he'd never seen another human being exhibit. There was a small grin on her face as she seemed to throw everything she had into her routine. He dropped onto his haunches and tilted his head to the side; this particular training seemed almost combat based but he couldn't think of a single good reason why she'd be training for a fight.
Danielle was thoroughly enjoying her training but had the distinct impression that she was being watched. As she continued she let her senses stretch out beyond herself as she searched for the source of the feeling. While she didn't exactly feel threatened, she had always found it disconcerting to be watched while doing anything. Even Chiron watching her had bothered her to some extent. Finally she pinpointed the source and froze. A large black dog was sitting just beyond her circle of light, staring at her intently, head tilted slightly to the side. Her eyes flickered to her backpack on the far side of the clearing from her where her wand was and she tossed her hair from her eyes which narrowed only slightly as she took a slow step in the direction of her wand. Uncertainty danced through her mind, a certain lack of confidence in herself that came from always being thrown to nearly impossible tasks as people tried to make her fail in order to make themselves feel better and more important. It had always seemed to her at least, that nothing she did was ever actually good enough for anyone and that would make anyone question themselves and their abilities.
Sirius stiffened when her gaze fell on him. How could she have known he was there? He was well hidden in the shadows and yet she was staring right at him. The instant her gaze landed on him he'd seen the change in her body language. Where she had been moving relaxed and fluid before now she was tense and ready for something to happen. The slow step towards her pack made him wonder why she didn't simply put that speed of hers to use. Then it hit him; the uncertainty and drop in her confidence. She didn't think she was fast enough to outrun the large black dog that was staring at her. For the first time he debated on revealing the fact that he was an Animagus to someone new. He had no doubt she could keep his secret, after all she had probably been training out here like this since she'd started at Hogwarts. Slowly he pushed to his feet and saw her tense to run to her backpack before he took a single step forward and stood to his full human height, cocky grin in place.
"Hey," he continued to grin at her.
"What?!" confusion flashed across her face as she stared Sirius.
"Oh come on, we've covered what Animagus are in class," he offered taking another step towards her half expecting that she was going to take a retreating step from him but to his relief she stood her ground, eyes still wide as she stared at him.
"Yeah, but...you...when?" she stuttered over her questions before shaking her head in disbelief.
"A couple years ago; there's a whole long story behind it but it's not my story to tell," he offered quietly.
"Okay, fair enough...Wait... You were that black dog last month!"
Sirius grinned and laughed, "Yep that was me. I didn't mean to interrupt you then. I had just been trying to find you to talk to you. So...what are you doing out here anyway?"
Danielle sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Um..."
Sirius yawned and shook his hair back out of his face, "Come on, Dani. If I was going to turn you in for this I would have. I'm just curious."
She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself as she started to shiver finally feeling the cold, "I thought it was pretty obvious. I'm out here training."
"Okay, but for what?" he asked lightly and now that she was somewhat relaxing again he moved towards her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and headed for her cloak and bag.
"That's...complicated," she replied elusively.
"I may be half asleep but I can probably keep up."
"Sirius..." she sighed his name, leaning into him slightly as she sought out his body heat.
"You aren't going to tell me, are you?"
"I just..."
"It's fine. We all have our secrets right? I won't hold it against you but whatever it is isn't going to change the way I think about you."
"Be careful what you promise, Sirius," she muttered as he grabbed her cloak and she pulled it on as he grabbed her pack.
"That's one promise I can keep, Vixen."
Danielle only hoped he was telling the truth. Sooner or later he was going to find out the truth about who she really was and she doubted anyone who knew would be able to treat her the way they had been. She only shook her head at him and leaned her head against his shoulder when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they started back for the castle.
"You were done, right?"
"No, but now I'm cold and I think I used enough energy I can actually sleep for more than ten minutes and maybe be able to sit still for a change of pace."
"I thought you were more fidgety than normal lately. I just thought it was because you were sitting next to my roguishly handsome self," he smirked.
She rolled her eyes at that, "Not likely. Or at the very least that was only a small part of the issue."
"You wound me," he groaned dramatically and she laughed.
"You'll survive. Hey...what are the chances you could teach me that little turning-into-an-animal trick?"
"You want me to teach you how to be an Animagus?"
"Yeah; it seems like it would come in handy at times."
"Alright," she grinned at his ready agreement. "We can start after Halloween but you know it's rather difficult. I mean you're pretty good at charms and one of the top in our transfiguration class but it's still bloody difficult."
"I think I can manage," she laughed to herself as they headed back inside and towards the Gryffindor dorms.
The following Saturday found the group spending the afternoon getting ready for the party that night. While the boys needed to be at the room of requirement early enough to set it up and let people in, Danielle and Lily needed the time to get their costumes in order. Lily had opted for a shimmering pale green dress that was light and flowed around her legs. Her hair she left to her friend and Danielle spent nearly two hours weaving conjured snakes into an intricate up-do for Lily. Once that was completely a quietly uttered spell had the snakes writhing and hissing at anyone who came close to her. Finally Danielle stepped back with a grin at her own handiwork.
"That worked out better than I'd hoped," she nodded at the mirror for Lily to take a look.
The red head stood stunned for a moment as snake heads twisted around her head, "Wow, that's really realistic looking, Dani. What charm did you use?"
"One I came up with myself. I wasn't sure how well it was going to work out actually but I'm impressed with it."
"No kidding. They aren't going to actually attack people though right? I don't think James would forgive you if he couldn't get close to me all night," Lily giggled.
"I didn't think of that or I may have been a little less finicky about the spell. No, they won't actually attack people. At least they shouldn't. They should just lunge and hiss and snap at people; not make any kind of contact. If they do, let me know and I'll remove the charm."
Lily nodded and turned to her friend again, "Maybe I should have done your hair first?"
"No, I'm good this time around. I've got a cousin who's wicked at doing hair and makeup. I've got a few tricks from her I can employ for tonight," she grinned before settling onto a stool and working through her own hair.
By the time she was done she had an intricate braid worked into her hair and she turned to her trunk where she pulled out her leather armour, sword in sheath and shield. Lily quirked a brow and Danielle only grinned at the questioning look. Once dressed, she turned to her own makeup opting for the undead look after all. With her look complete, Danielle pulled on the same boots she'd worn to Hogsmeade, secured her sword to her hip on a heavy leather belt and gripped the shield in her right hand. With a bit of magic she'd secured a spot on the back of the shield for her wand and she turned to Lily, shield held before her.
"Wow...you actually look dead," Lily grinned and Danielle quirked a brow.
"Good, that was the whole idea anyway. What do you think of the shield?"
"I would have thought there'd be some kind of heraldry or something. You should have tried to get a Hogwarts crest on it or something."
Danielle shrugged and twisted her arm to look at the front of her shield; plain heavy wood and metal, "Meh, it'll work. It's functional rather than decorative which makes sense if I'm going as a warrior."
"True. Hey we better get a move on or we won't be getting inside!" Lily exclaimed as she checked the time and the two of them bolted from the Gryffindor dorms and headed for the Room of Requirement.
The four marauders were taking turns manning the door as they let their guests into the Room of Requirement. Where the previous party had been pretty basic, this time the room had created a creepier atmosphere. Dark, melodic music filtered through the room which was coated in cobwebs and shadowy corners. Once again there was a bar set up along the far wall, the rest of the room decorated in typical Halloween fashion with Jack o Lanterns and skeletons. Occasionally one of the castle ghosts would filter through the guests and one side had a small graveyard set up that whenever someone would walk through it to find a place to sit for a while hands appeared from the floor as though the dead were crawling from their graves. Everyone in attendance was thrilled and the party was already starting to get into full swing.
Lily was the first through the door, snakes hissing and snapping at Remus when he stepped forward to greet her, "Whoa! What the hell?"
"That's wicked!" James called out as he approached and Danielle grinned even as Lily giggled.
"Glad you think so, James. I worked hard on that particular charm," Danielle snickered.
"Geez, you even found a shield? That looks like it could actually be used in a battle," Remus smiled.
"Yeah, I wanted authentic," Danielle forced a chuckle and spread her arms to show the rest of her costume.
"Nice armor. Really shows off your legs nicely!" Sirius spoke up appearing from the shadows with a drink in his hand.
The girls took a second to take in the appearance of each of them; Peter had done a good job on his monster get up and Danielle shot him a thumbs up to which he grinned. When Remus grinned again, they both finally got a good look at his elongated fangs.
"Nice, Remus. I like that look on you," Lily smiled at his all black clothes and long, flowing black cape lined in a deep blood red.
"You make an excellent vampire, Remus. I'm sure all the girls will be lining up for you to have a bite," Danielle chuckled only slightly teasing and Remus flourished his cape as he bowed slightly to the two girls.
"Why thank you. Are you the first in line then, Dani?"
"I'm already dead. You wouldn't get much of a meal from me," she shot back with a tongue in cheek grin and didn't miss the slightly jealous look their conversation was drawing from Sirius.
James had gone all out on his pirate costume complete with hook hand and eye patch. He even had a stuffed parrot perched on his shoulder. Cautiously he draped an arm around Lily's shoulders keeping a wary eye on the snakes that darted at him and snapped near his shoulder and arm.
"Okay, those are seriously freaky but I guess as long as they don't bite," he finally muttered.
"And the charm should wear off in the next couple of hours. I figured it wouldn't be good for it to last for too long tonight. I'd hate to have to deal with it by the end of the party," Lily pointed out.
"Yeah, if it had been up to me they would have stayed that violent all night but this way they should get a fair amount of attention before they go prone then it's just a matter of unweaving them from her hair."
Sirius chuckled and now that he was completely out of the shadows, Danielle took a good look at him. Black suit with a deep red tie, the tips of his hair had been dyed the same color bleeding into the natural black color and he had a set of red devil horns protruding up through his hair. She quirked a brow in appreciation much as he did in return to her own costume.
"Leather suits you," he offered with a cocky grin.
"And black suits should be illegal on you," she shot back.
With the doors securely locked from within, the half hour they had allowed for people to get there having passed the group got to mingling and having a good time. Everything was going as they had planned with everyone having a blast, James and Lily having found some time to sneak off to a dark corner while the rest of the group were out dancing with the rest of the guests. Danielle managed to never put her shield down and convinced everyone that the sword, while looking real, was actually a fake. In the semi darkness of the room no one had argued. The first few people were just starting to head out of the party and the group was standing together discussing how well the night had gone. Nothing had gone wrong, everyone had seemed to have a really good time and they were congratulating themselves on a job well done when the doors to the room shuddered and the echoing bang turned everyone's head towards it in confusion.
Another bang sounded through the room and most of those that remained turned back to their activities assuming it was another prank of the marauders but they all shared a confused look and Danielle turned to Remus, "You guys didn't plan this did you?"
"No," he replied as the bang sounded again and the wood of the doors creaked under the pressure.
"What could even cause those doors to creak like that?" Peter questioned stepping further away from the doors and behind Sirius and James.
"I don't know and I don't think I want to know," Lily answered just before the doors crashed open, wood splintering into the room.
Now everyone had stopped, even the music the room had supplied fell silent as four creatures stepped through the mangled wood of the doors. Danielle froze even as Sirius wrapped a protective arm around her and pulled her further from the door. At nearly eight feet the creatures towered over the teens in the room. For the moment they seemed to intent on shoving each other in an attempt to be the first into the room. Finally someone screamed across the room from the group and the frozen students stampeded into the far corner where a new set of doors suddenly appeared for their escape.
"What are they?" Lily finally whispered stepping closer to James.
The six of them were cut off from the new exit having to cross in front of the original doors in order to get there and now the four creatures were well aware of what was happening and crowded through the door. Danielle swallowed hard as she got a good look at the leading monster. Suddenly her two worlds were colliding; godly monsters had somehow appeared within her safe harbor of Hogwarts. Grey eyes darted from one friend to the next and she knew in her heart that by the time this night was done they were going to know exactly who and what she was. The question that remained was whether or not she'd be alive to know how they'd react. They had stayed still enough that the monsters didn't immediately take notice of them and she took the opportunity to steel herself for this fight. She had to stop them and protect her friends. Without much thought she finally stirred and turned to Sirius, tugging his head down with her free hand to steal a quick, hard kiss before she turned to the four Cyclops and narrowed her eyes.
A/N: Cue suspense music! Anyway I had some fun with this chapter and the next should be a little heavier as truths are revealed. Please leave a review! Let me know what you liked, what you didn't like, anything you may want to see happen in future chapters, etc, etc... I'm having so much fun writing this and knowing you are all loving it is making it even more fun! I shall attempt to update again soon! Until then... MISCHIEF MANAGED!