Chapter 10—Initiations and Traitors
As soon as they were out of the door, Lily suggested that they all go up to the Room of Requirement, because there was something that the girls needed to show the boys. Soon, they were in the Room of Requirement. It was a replica of the Forbidden Forest today, and the boys wondered why the girls wanted the room like this.
"We have a surprise for you," said Lily.
"It's actually something that she has a surprise for you," said Katja. "Look what she can do!"
Lily then turned into the Animagus form that she learned in the Anachronistic World. The boys were quite impressed.
"Wow! A Lion! King of the Jungle!" said Sirius.
"Don't be hitting on my Girlfriend, Padfoot!" said James jokingly. "Now all of us can have fun! Except for Mooney of course. He doesn't have an Animagus form for obvious reasons."
Everybody then shifted to their Animagus forms, where they romped around until lunchtime. As they changed back, the boys said, "Katja, Lily, we have a proposition for you. We want you to become Marauders. Katja, you already have a name—Ruige. Now all we need to do is figure out a Marauder name for Ms. Evans here."
"Since she's a lion, how about Aslan," suggested Remus. "It's the name of a lion from a famous book series: The Chronicles of Narnia. "
"I loved that book series growing up," said Katja and Lily at the same time.
"My sister hated it," continued Lily. "'You're so stupid to be reading about that nonsense!' Who wrote the Headmaster a note begging to be let into this nut-house? It was her!" She said the last bit in a singsong voice.
"My favourite was the first one" said Katja.
"First released or first chronologically?" asked Lily.
"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, so I guess that's the one that was released first," responded Katja.
"Apparently, the name also means 'LionKing' in something like Turkish or something," added Sirius. "I'm not trying to hit on Lily here, but I think that the name goes well with her. She is the Queen of the Lions as Head Girl, right?"
"Now," said James in a fake respectful tone. "There is one last thing before you can truly become Marauders. Please raise your wands and repeat after me:
"I, Solemnly swear that I am up to no good, and will take any opportunity to prank the inhabitants of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I also swear to Pass on the knowledge of pranking to any children or godchildren I might have. Lastly, I swear with the utmost Solemnity that I will never give any of Our secrets to a Slytherin. So help me, Merlin!"
The girls repeated what James said, and the boys got into a line in front of the girls.
"Ruige," said James. "Prongs wishes you a good day and welcomes you to the Marauders. Aslan, Prongs would like to tell you that you are the most beautiful girl in the school, and welcomes you to the Marauders."
"Padfoot most respectfully disagrees with Prongs," said Sirius. "Ruige, Padfoot thinks that you are the greatest girl in the world, and welcomes you to the Marauders. Aslan, Padfoot wishes you well and welcomes you to the Marauders."
"Mooney would like to mention to Aslan and Ruige that, although Mooney is not an Animagus, he would still like to welcome you to the Marauders. Cry Havoc and let slip the Animagi of Pranking!"
All of the boys then said, "We, the Marauders do solemnly swear that we are up to no good, until the mischief is managed. Welcome to the new and improved, extended-edition Marauders!"
The group then walked down to the Great Hall, where they all got a spot at the table and began to eat lunch. After lunch, Professor McGonagall came over.
"Ms. Wagner, Mr Black," she said in a menacing voice, "You both have a detention to make up. It will occur tomorrow night, now that Ms Wagner is sufficiently well. I must ask you though, Mr Black, why I shouldn't make it a week's worth of detentions, because if I remember correctly, you were perfectly fine on the 27th."
"Well..." Sirius started, but Katja cut him off.
"Professor, Mr. Black was helping me."
"How so, and why did he not come to his detention?"
"Do you know how I like to read, Professor? Well, I was learning a new charm the other night, the Protean Charm because I was bored while I wasn't feeling well, and Mr. Black here was just helping me get the hang of the spell. I could demonstrate with a couple of coins—your treat, Professor." Katja lied to the professor. It was a fairly difficult spell, she knew that, but she had done it before, so it wouldn't be all that hard to give a demonstration the next night.
"Very well," replied Professor McGonagall. "Both of you will report to my office tomorrow night, where Ms. Wagner will give a demonstration of the Protean Charm, and then you will do your assigned detention. I will see you tomorrow, Mr Black, Ms Wagner. 5 points from Gryffindor for missing detention, further points will be decided tomorrow night."
After the Professor was well out of earshot, Sirius asked, "The Protean Charm? But that's NEWT level? How do you know that spell? We're doomed!"
"Don't worry, Padfoot," Katja responded. "I've used the spell before."
"Are you sure you aren't a Ravenclaw? I mean, Remus is already the Gryffindor's resident Raven."
"The hat wanted to put me there, but I asked it to reconsider, so I joined the Lions. I haven't regretted that decision since Halloween of my first year."
"You're amazing, Katja. Amazing!"
Just then, Sirius seemed to notice that no one had seen hide nor tail of Pettigrew since the fainting incident. "Have you seen Peter recently?" he asked.
A couple of days later, a typical Saturday morning in the Great Hall, towards the end of breakfast, Dumbledore got out of his seat, and the hall went silent immediately.
"Good Morning, Hogwarts," said the Headmaster in a tone that was almost over-cheerful for that time of the morning. "I have the great pleasure in announcing that we will be holding our annual Halloween ball on the evening of the 31st. The Ball will, as always, be only open to fourth years and above, however if a younger student has an older date, they are allowed to attend as well. Furthermore, there will be a Feast for non-participants in their common rooms. Thank you, and have a nice day."
The teachers smiles had become quite fixed during the speech, as if they heartily disagreed with the idea of having a 'dance'. Just then, Peter Pettigrew walked into the Great Hall, walked up to the High Table and handed Dumbledore a note. He then walked over to the Gryffindor table, where James questioned him on his whereabouts.
"My mum was sick," answered Pettigrew.
"So, Peter," asked Sirius. "Is your mum any better now? Probably a lot nicer than my mum, hope she dies soon! My mum, I mean."
"My mum's okay, but won't be around a lot longer. Apparently, she caught some Muggle illness called 'Shingles,' that causes a nasty skin rash. It seems to be the Muggle equivalent of Dragon Pox. It also weakens something that the Muggles call an 'immune system,' which they think is responsible for fighting off disease."
"I hope she does better," the whole group was saying. It would be quite easy to get my hands on some Shingles virus to actually give the cover story! Thought Katja. I don't even need Occlumency to know Peter is lying through his teeth.
Just then, Katja received a note from the Headmaster, who suggested that the note Pettigrew gave him was a forgery, and asked if she could come to his office to help him analyse it. Katja looked at the Headmaster and gave a deliberate nod before she burnt the letter.
After breakfast was over, Katja went up to the Headmaster's office. "What would you like, Professor?" she asked.
"Look at this note," the headmaster said. "See if you can recognise the handwriting."
"Even though it claims to be from a female, the handwriting is most definitely a male's. And look at these S's. The S is shaped like a snake! Could this be?"
"My thoughts exactly. I'm afraid that our young friend Peter Pettigrew has become a supporter of the Dark Lord. My dear pupils forget that, even after 40 years, I still can recognise their handwriting. How skilled at Legilimency are you?"
"I'm decent. I would be able to figure out what has gone on the last couple of days, unless someone better than Pettigrew changed the memory. If he isn't Marked, then I could probably Modify his memory to fit whatever cover story he wants to tell, and no one less than you would ever be able to break through."
In a manner similar to a Starfleet Captain who wouldn't be on the air for another decade, Dumbledore said, "Make it so," and waved his hand. She took this to mean that she could leave, so she left and met up with the other Marauders.
When she got up to the Gryffindor Common Room, the Marauders were sitting around a table, planning their next prank. When she came in, Sirius made a discrete waving motion over to the corner (away from the group), so she walked over. A couple of seconds later, Sirius came over.
"What did Dumbledore want?" he asked.
"Nothing. He just thinks that Peter is acting strange. Stranger than usual, I mean. But I'm sure that this is not the reason you called me over here?" she said in a hopeful voice.
"All right, Katja, will you go to the ball with me?" he asked her.
"Mr Black, do you 'Sirius'-ly need to ask that question, pun intended. Of course I'll go with you. What should we wear?"
"If we were in the Muggle world, I'd suggest characters from that movie we went to see," said Sirius. "But nobody in Hogsmeade would know anything about that."
Excitedly, Katja started to go into "Hermione-lecture-mode". "Well, the Muggles have these magazines called 'mail-order catalogues' that people order stuff from. I believe that we have this type of thing, too. All we have to do is, when we order something, to give the school's Muggle address. The "postman" from the Royal Mail will deliver the package to a 'Post Office box', which owls will then bring up to the school. I read about it, in Hogwarts: A History: 1970 edition. The only problem with this is that the Muggle post takes a lot longer than Owl post, so we have to order our costumes as soon as possible," she explained. She then said, "création de «corriger le temps» liste. "
Immediately, a catalogue for a department store (for the correct time period, too) materialised from thin air. "Suchetraxes!" The catalogue immediately turned to the costumes section, where they found materials for a Han Solo costume and a Princess Leia costume. They then owled Gringotts to have them set aside the necessary gold for the purchase. The goblins, being prompt beings, immediately sent the amount they needed in Muggle money, and they sent off the order form. Then, Katja and Sirius kissed, and they went back to the group.
Katja pointed her wand at Pettigrew's back. She knew a non-verbal spell similar to the Imperious that she found just days after the Battle of Hogwarts. Mando she thought, using a Galician spell. She found the effects to be amusing, but that was only because she knew what to look for. Act normally and wait for further instructions, she thought.
After a couple of minutes, the group broke up, and Katja told Pettigrew, "Go down to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, and wait for me. Sirius and I will be down in a minute." Obediently, the man left the common room and went down the stairs towards the Defence classroom. Katja caught Sirius' eye, and gave a gentle nod towards the Portrait Hole. She explained everything to Sirius (relating to Wormtail) that Dumbledore had told her. She finished up with, "I hope he hasn't been Marked yet, because there is no redemption if he has. An Unmarked follower, I can deal with, but not even Dumbledore can remove Dark Marks."
pretend to be a spy for Dumbledore, when in fact, I would spy on Dumbledore."
"Does the Dark Lord know of any prophesies concerning Him and another?"
"No." answered Peter in a bored type of voice.
"nota mala deprehendere!" said Katja, pointing her wand at Peter. A glow surrounded Peter. It turned green, and Katja sighed in relief. "Stupid bastard's telling the truth, Black. We're about to carry out Directive 11, Section 38, Subsection Charlie. Do you have any objections?"
Looking at Katja in shock, Sirius nodded. Due to the fact that his parents were always at the Ministry, trying to get pro-pureblood laws passed, he knew what an 11-38C was. An 11-38C was used when an enemy had too much information, and was basically a rewriting of certain memories. Aurors used it all of the time when faced with uncooperative Muggles, although some Aurors simply used it all the time.
Katja stood in front of Peter, and pointed her wand at him. She said, "Amnesia Mutato!" at him, and immediately, his eyes went blank. Now came the fun part of the spell. In a manner similar to using a neuralyser from Men In Black, Katja would tell the victim the cover story.
"You didn't go see Lord Voldemort this past week. You did not give any classified material about the school to the Dark Lord. Muggle-borns are good. Non-pure-bloods are good. Slytherins are decent. You will not remember being recruited by a known enemy of the Marauders" Katja said. She took a breath before continuing, "Your mother was ill with a rare disease. You went to see her, because you are a good son, and she will die soon. There have been no prophesies made about the Dark Lord. The reason you are unconscious is that you wanted to get some pointers in duelling, and everyone went a bit overboard. You cast Jelly-Legs and Impedimenta, and I got you with a Stunner."
She said, "Amnesia Mutato!" again, and said, "You will not remember me Modifying your memory. If you cannot remember something, it is because you were knocked out. Stupor!"
Katja turned to Sirius. "I need you to inflict the injuries that I just described. A Jelly-Legs and Impedimenta. This will make it look to the other teachers like our cover story is true." Her boyfriend cast the necessary charms, and then she sent a Patronus to Albus Dumbledore saying, "Code 47 taken care of with an 11-38C in Defence Classroom."
A couple of minutes later, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall came into the room. "What happened here?" asked McGonagall.
"Peter wanted a duelling lesson, and we all went a little overboard. He got me with Jelly-Legs and Impedimenta. I got him with a Stunner. I think that he may have hit his head when he fell down, sir."
"Minerva," the Headmaster said, "Please take Mr. Pettigrew up to the Hospital Wing. I'd like to get more information about what has happened here." McGonagall decided to obey the headmaster, so she took Pettigrew to the Hospital Wing, while Dumbledore asked Katja for what really happened. She told him, and he looked mildly interested in the cover story. He then suggested actually Apparating into a Muggle hospital to get a sample of the virus, which they would then plant on Peter's mother. Katja was in shock.
"You mean, you actually want to do this? This is borderline dark, this is!"
"Ahh, Katja. Sometimes, one has to work for the Greater Good," Dumbledore said.
He didn't know it, but when he said that, it made her feel a little more uneasy, for she knew his past, and exactly whose motto that was. But the headmaster and his granddaughter decided to implement their plan, using freezing charms on the hospital's "burglar alarms," disillusionment charms to hide them from view, and heat-dissipating charms for any Heat Sensors. They successfully carried out the plan, and soon, Ms. Pettigrew was infected with the chicken pox. They then modified her memory, so that she would think that her son had visited her the past weekend. They knocked her unconscious, roughed her up a little, and called the Muggle authorities. Both Katja and Albus knew that the Healers at St Mungo's wouldn't have the foggiest idea about how to try and treat the woman. When they got back to the castle, Katja and Dumbledore had a talk.
"You realise, as well as I do, of course," he started. "That it is only a matter of time before Peter gets back some memory, or gets pushed in a certain way that pushes him back to the Dark. What we have to do is prevent it."
"Yes, Grandfather." responded Katja. "Sir, I've been thinking about the Prophesy. I think I know how to deal the Dark Lord a 'Devastating Blow.' What, sir, do you know about Horcruxes?"
"Horcruxes?" asked the Headmaster. "That is a matter of the Darkest Magic! Are you saying that the Dark Lord made a horcrux?"
"No, headmaster." she responded. She saw the headmaster sigh a little. He was immediately concerned when he heard her continue. "No, he made multiple Horcruxes, many of which he has already made by now. Some of the Horcruxes will have to wait until later, though, because I can't get to them."
"What are they?"
"Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's diadem, Marvolo's Ring, and a diary made when he was 16. These are the known Horcruxes to this point: in the future, he creates a Horcrux that he puts into his Snake Familiar. The diary is inaccessible, because I don't know where it is, and the cup and locket are also inaccessible until the Death of Mr and Mrs Black, when Sirius becomes Lord Black. He can then dissolve the marriage between Bellatrix and Rodolphus and gain control of her vault to get the Cup, and Number 12 Grimmuld Place for the Locket."
"Very good. We now know the probable locations of the Horcruxes, so we will dispose of as many as possible this summer. One question, my dear granddaughter. Why were you not in Ravenclaw?"
"I told it not to, professor. I read about the houses, and no offence, but Gryffindor seemed like the best one."