A/N Fred and George started trying to become animagi in their first week at Hogwarts. They found the Marauders Map in their first week as well. They were on good terms with Lee Jordan throughout the first half of the year. He became an honorary third twin towards the end of their first school year when he set of a loud and annoying prank to provide a distraction, allowing the twins to escape punishment for a prank they pulled. Lee was blamed for the twins prank and didn't rat them out. The twins respected this and became much closer friends with Lee and confessed to pulling the prank they pulled. Shortly after this they told Lee about becoming animagi. He joined them in the attempt. This is why it took Lee a lot longer than the twins to become an animagus. Credit for Lee's Marauder name goes to fireassasin. I liked all of the other options you guys sent me, so thanks for sending them in. I also realised that I forgot to mention something. Most of the pranks in the last chapter were taken from "25 Ways to Prank Snape Redux Version" by JenniferRSong. I do not own the rights to Harry Potter. If I had enough money I would probably try to buy them... How much do you think that would cost?

Chapter ten - The Summer and Scheming

The day after Padfoot made his announcement, it was time to go home. Harry, Hermione, Neville, John, Curious, Cheeky, Lee and Padfoot all crammed into a single compartment for the journey to London. "Padfoot, I have done everything necessary to become a Marauder. All I have to do is drink the potion."

"Does your house have a floo?"

"Yes."

"Floo to 'Marauders Palace' in a week and we'll admit you into the Marauders."

"Ok." Lee then gave Padfoot the Animagus Diaries. "I don't need it anymore so I feel like you should take it back." Padfoot thanked Lee and congratulated him on completing the process.

"Padfoot. Did you find anything?"

"Yes, I contacted the Aurors and they said they won't be able to fix it until the summer after your second year." At everyone else's curious looks Padfoot explained. "I have never wanted to teach. I will admit it was fun, but I always planned on leaving at the end of the year. The only reason I taught you this year, was to see if there was a Curse on the DADA job. There was. The magical signature behind the Curse was from Voldemort. I raised the point with Dumbledore, he told me that 'Voldemort' is really a half-blood called Tom Marvolo Riddle. Riddle asked for the DADA job the year after he graduated. The headmaster at the time said he was too young and told him to return in a few years. When Riddle returned, Dippet had retired and Dumbledore was headmaster. Dumbledore knew what Riddle was and denied him the job. Since then no DADA Professor has lasted more than a year. You will get a new teacher next year. They will last a year, then you will, hopefully, have Moony as the DADA Professor for your third year, Curious, Cheeky and Lee's fifth."

Nothing much happened for the rest of the train ride to London.

A week after they had arrived in London, Curious and Cheeky flooed into the Marauders Palace. "Curious, Cheeky, could you tell us about Lee? How would you describe him? We want to know so that it helps us come up with a Marauder name for him."

"He's a laugh..."

"... Real practical joker..."

"... He's helped us out with a ton of pranks..."

"... Loyal..."

"... He was willing to take the blame..."

"... And punishment for one of our pranks..."

"... He's just an all round..."

"... Decent bloke."

"Thanks for the kind words guys." None of them had noticed Lee floo in.

"Greetings Messr Lee. Do you have the potion?" Lee raised a small flask with a black potion inside. "Drink it and you shall soon become a Marauder."

Lee chugged it down and turned from a black fourteen year old with dreadlocks to a spotted hyena. "Giggles?"

"No, Chuckles?"

"No."

"You mentioned Lee was a 'real practical joker'. I'm sure I've heard someone refer to hyenas as being the joker of the jungle. It might have been savannah, but regardless, Joker ok with everyone?"

"Messr Padfoot thinks 'Joker' is an excellent Maruder name for Messr Lee."

"Messr Curious concurs."

"As does Messr Cheeky."

"Messr Prongslet also agrees that Joker is an excellent name for Messr Lee."

"Messr Moony would like to congratulate Messr Joker on his successful transformation and welcomes him to the ranks of the Marauders."

The newly renamed "Joker" changed back into human form. "Messr Joker would like to say that he is honoured to be inducted into the Marauders."

"Messr Padfoot would like to remind everyone that we haven't magically inducted Messr Joker into the Marauders."

Out came the log book and a quill. "Lee Luke Jordan. Date of Birth: 17th January 1978. Marauder name: Joker. Animagus form: Spotted Hyena. Date inducted into the Marauders: 20th July 1992. Date magically inducted into the Marauders: 20th July 1992."

"I'm still not sure about forest trips. Prongslet do you think Hermione, Neville and John would be willing to go through the process to become animagi?"

"Maybe, Hermione would definitely want to register as soon as possible, though."

"That's fine, as long as she doesn't tell anyone about it until she registers."

"She won't."

"Excuse me, but what did you mean by 'forest trips'?"

"Prongslet is a werewolf, when me, Prongs, Moony and the traitor were at school we would take Moony into the Forbidden Forest with me and Prongs being big enough to feel confident that we would be able to control Moony if anyone saw us. I'm not sure about a dog, two teenage chimpanzees and a teenage hyena being able to control a juvenile werewolf and a fully grown werewolf. I'd feel more confident if there were some more animagi. Preferably big ones."

Later that day, Neville flooed over and John was dropped off by car. Hermione just walked next door. All three accepted, Hermione and Neville nervously. Hermione was nervous because it was against the law. Neville was nervous because he didn't think he could do it. Neville and John stayed round for part of the first month of the summer holidays. Hermione, Neville and John started the process by getting Padfoot to attach a mandrake leaf to the roof of their mouths. It would stay there for a month.

24th August 1992 9:24 AM

At the Leaky Cauldron Ronald Weasley came out of the floo. He was in a foul mood, the Chudley Cannons had lost the first Quidditch match of the season. He was followed by Curious, Cheeky, Joker, Ginny Weasley, Percy Weasley, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Arthur Weasley and Glenn Jordan.

"So glad you could all make it!" Cried Padfoot. "Alright, everyone grab hold of this piece of rope in my hand and we will be off." The Weasley's, Joker, Glenn, Prongslet, Hermione, Neville, John, Jim Killett(who had recently gotten his Hogwarts letter and was very happy to be a wizard), Tonks and Moony grabbed hold of the piece of rope that Padfoot was holding. Padfoot touched the tip of his wand to the rope. "Activate!" The party disappeared and reappeared on a hilltop in Scotland.

"Alright, the match doesn't start until 12:00 so look around get some souvenirs and then make your way to the stands at lunch time."

They did just that. John bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a lot of wizarding sweets for his brothers. Prongslet bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Puddlemere United poster. Ron bought a Chudley Cannons poster and a lot of chocolate frogs. Curious brought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Falmouth Falcons poster. Cheeky bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Holyhead Harpies poster. Ginny bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Holyhead Harpies poster. Hermione bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Holyhead Harpies poster. Padfoot bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Tutshill Tornadoes poster. Joker bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Wimbourne Wasps poster. Neville bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Caerphilly Catapults poster. Moony bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Holyhead Harpies poster for John, who didn't have enough to money for one. Arthur Weasley bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with. Glenn Jordan bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with. Charlie Weasley bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and an Appleby Arrows poster. Bill Weasley bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Ballycastle Bats poster. Tonks bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Pride of Portree poster. Percy bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Montrose Magpies poster. Jim bought a pair of Omnioculars to watch the final with and a Wigtown Wanderers poster.

At 11:56 AM everyone made their way to their seats. Ludovic Bagman was recapping everything that had happened in the season so far. "And then the best Chaser for the Arrows, Eugene Bloxam, was hit directly in the face by an expertly aimed bludger, complements of Puddlemere United's Ernest Dowson. This rendered Bloxam unable to fly straight, leading to a substitute being brought in. Puddlemere's chasers, Russell Deverill and Douglas Westenberg scored two times each, putting Puddlemere ahead by 20 points. Then Appleby's Seeker, Kenneth Thurkell saw the snitch and shot after it, Puddlemere United's Seeker, Derrick Stretton, not far behind. A bludger from Puddlemere's Gina Trigg caused Thurkell to stop momentarily to let it passed. This allowed Stretton to shoot passed and catch the Snitch, ending the game 240-70. Oh, and look at the time, it's 12 o'clock. The final for the 1992 British League Cup will now begin. Here come the players for Puddlemere United: Captain and Seeker: Derrick Stretton, Keeper: Dana Hobday, Chasers: Russel Deverill, Douglas Westenberg and Renee Cox and Beaters: Gina Trigg and Ernest Dowson. And here come the Holyhead Harpies: Captain and Beater: Gwenog Jones. Beater: Teresa Miller. Seeker: Amy Walker, Chasers: Cynthia Lockhart, Lori Young and Patricia Smethwyck and Keeper: Yvonne Farley." While he was shouting out names the two teams flew in to the sound of cheers.

The rules were explained to the crowd and the quaffle was released, signifying the start of the game. The bludgers and the Golden Snitch were released shortly afterwards. "And Lockhart has the ball, passes it to Young, who passes it to Smethwyck, who passes it back to L- oh intercepted by Cox, who is a recent addition to the team who has proven her worth throughout the season, Cox passes to Deverill who shoots - excellent save there by Farley!" The Harpy fans cheered loudly.

"Young has the ball passes it to Lockhart, OOHH! That looks painful, excellent aim from Trigg there, Lockhart dropped the quaffle, Deverill caught it, passes it to Westenberg, who passes it to Cox, who passes it back to Deverill who passes it to Cox who shoots... AND SCORES!" Prongslet and the rest of the Puddlemere supporters cheered as the quaffle sailed through the hoop.

"Lockhart has possession of the ball and seems to be ok, passes it to Smethwyck, who passes it to Young who shoots, and an excellent save by Hobday. Deverill in possession and- I think Walker's seen the Snitch!" Walker had just gone into a steep dive. "And Stretton's following her! And Deverill scores, taking advantage of the distraction. Walker pulls away and Stretton barely managed to pull up in time, realising that it was an excellently performed Wronski Feint. Cox in possession, she's going upwards, Young and Lockhart moving to intercept, OH and Cox throws the quaffle down to Deverill in a textbook Porskoff Ploy, Deverill scores!" The noise generated by the Puddlemere supporters was eardrum-breaking.

"Young has the quaffle, passes to Smethwyck, who passes to Lockhart, who passes to Young, Westenberg is close beside her, ooh, looks like it's getting a bit rough there, we could see our first foul, yes there goes the whistle, a bit of cobbing going on there, penalty to the Harpies, Lockhart takes it, Hobday employing the Double Eight Loop to defend, Lockhart shoots... AND SCORES!" The Harpy supporters cheer excitedly for their first points.

"Deverill in possession, passes it to Cox, who passes it to Westenberg, who seems to want to make up for the cobbing foul as he's flying straight towards the Harpies goal, OH! He's knocked right off his broom by a bludger, Jones and Miller using the Dopplebeater Defence to deadly effect. I think, yes, Westenberg is out of it, Puddlemere has to bring on a substitute, they choose Lauren Sayre, she graduated from Hogwarts just this last year so she must have really impressed Stretton in order to be put onto the first reserve team. The quaffle is thrown into the air once more, it having fallen with Westenberg, and Sayre has the quaffle, passes it to Deverill, who passes it right back to Sayre, who passes it to Cox, who passes it right back, they both seem to want Sayre to show the Harpies why she's on the team. And Sayre dodges a bludger from Miller and another one from Jones, I must say, Sayre appears to be an excellent find by Stretton, she sails passed Young and Smethwyck, has some difficulty passing Lockhart, but manages it, she shoots... AND SCORES! TRULY AN AMAZING FIND BY STRETTON! I bet Sayre will be around for a good few years now!" The Puddlemere fans cheered at the introduction of Westenberg's replacement, he said he was leaving after this year, on account of being rather old for a Quidditch player at 37.

"Lockhart in possession, she looks serious, she shoots, she scores!" The Harpy fans cheered loudly at the start of the Harpies comeback. Which was precisely what it was. "Young in possession, passes to Lockhart who SCORES! Young has the quaffle, the Harpies Chasers employing the Hawkshead Attacking Formation, Young shoots, AND SCORES! Sayre has possession, she dodges the bludger that Miller sent her way, but Jones' bludger knocks the quaffle out of her hands, Lockhart catches it and SCORES! Cox has the quaffle, shoots and saved by Farley, Lockhart has the quaffle, OH struck in the face again by a bludger, this time from Dowson, she passes to Young and it looks like this one might be serious..."

"No, I'm Sirius." Padfoot was immediately punched from many different people for using his favourite, but also incredibly stupid, pun.

"And Young scores, I think Lockhart is going to continue, yes Lockhart is going to continue the game, Sayre in possession, she shoots and SCORES!" All of the Puddlemere fans felt a rush of gratitude towards Sayre for not giving up. "Lockhart in possession, she shoots and Hobday kicks it away. Young catches it, shoots AND SCORES!" The score was now 50-50. "And Lockhart has possession, she shoots, SHE SCORES AND- oh what's this? I think Walker has legitimately seen the Snitch." She had and was hurtling after it, Stretton close behind. "And an excellently aimed bludger smashes into Walkers right arm, Lockhart scores, it looks broken. Another bludger plows right into Walker, knocking her off her broom, Young scores, AND STRETTON CATCHES THE SNITCH, IT'S ALL OVER! PUDDLEMERE UNITED WIN THE 1992 BRITISH QUIDDITCH LEAGUE BY 200-80!" The sound in the stadium was deafening. Prongslet was jumping for joy.

As they were leaving the stadium, a blond woman with a notebook and green quill approached them. "Hi, Harry. Rita Skeeter, I'm with the Daily Prophet. I noticed you looking very happy at the outcome of the match, care to tell me why?"

"Miss Skeeter, as the legal guardian of Lord Harry James Potter, I, Lord Sirius Orion Black, filed a lawsuit against multiple company's, including the Daily Prophet, for using Harry's likeness and name without any legal authority. I also arranged that only the Quibbler could print articles on Harry. Either start working for the Quibbler or fuck off." When Miss Skeeter had slunk away Padfoot said "parasites, the lot of them."

When they got back to the tent they had set up they got a surprise. The entire Puddlemere United team and Lauren Sayre had come to meet them. "Hello Harry, I hope you don't mind if I call you Harry?"

"Of course not."

"Brilliant. We're here because we were told by our manager that you reacted rather favourably to our victory, leading us to believe that you are a fan, are our assumptions correct?"

"Yes."

"Now, normally fans want to meet us. We brought Lauren along because you just saw her help us win. We also heard, from Lauren, that you are quite good at Quidditch. We also can't help but notice that you have enough friends to make up a Quidditch team."

At this Padfoot jumped in. "Are you suggesting that we have a friendly Quidditch match between us? Because if you are then one: we won't do it without having at least some professionals on our team and two: I call dibs on being the captain of Prongslet's team."

"Prongslet?"

"Harry's dads nickname was 'Prongs', hence Prongslet."

"Oh, also, I would love to have a friendly game against you. Do you want Lauren on your team? She went to school at the same time as most of your group, so should have a better grasp of their capabilities."

"Yeah, thanks. John. You said you wanted to start playing Quidditch, d'you fancy being our last Chaser?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't have my broom with me, though."

Douglas Westenberg came forward at that. "You can use mine. I'm just going to watch."

"Thanks."

"Anyone else in your group who plays can use our reserve teams brooms. They have Nimbus 2000's."

"Thanks. Curious, Cheeky. What team do you want to be on?"

Both twins looked at each other before turning back to Padfoot. "While we think Prongslet's team will win..."

"... We have to take the opportunity..."

"... To play on a professional Quidditch team..."

"... Even if the match isn't a professional match."

"Ok, so I get the twins, Russell and Renee, do you want Dana or can I have her?"

"I play Keeper." Blurted Ron. "I wanna play with a professional team."

"Ok, you get Ron then. Who's gonna be your third Chaser?"

"I played Seeker at Hogwarts, but Chaser seems like it could be fun. I'll do it if you want?"

"Ok, so we get the twins, Ron, Charlie, Russell and Renee. You get Harry, Lauren, John, Dana, Gina and Ernest. Do you want to see if the referee will be willing to ref our match?"

"Might as well."

The referee was more than willing to ref a Quidditch match with Harry Potter playing. A crowd had started to gather, so Joker asked if he could commentate. He was told he could co-commentate with Bagman.

"And in this friendly match containing professionals and amateurs, I am joined by Lee Jordan. Lee, you go to school with Harry, Fred, George, John and Ron. I believe you were also at school in Charlie's last year at school?"

"Yes, I don't know how good Charlie will be as a Chaser, he played Seeker, you see and John and Ron aren't on the school teams, so I don't know about them. Fred and George are pretty good Beaters, made it onto the team in our second year. Harry though, Merlin, he's good. If I were a betting man, I'd put a lot of galleons on Harry's team."

"Oh really? He's that good?"

"In my second year, the year after Charlie left and the year before Harry came to Hogwarts, we barely managed to defeat Hufflepuff. And in our last match, we were destroyed. 460-10 to Slytherin. A crushing defeat. The Slytherins gloated for the rest of the year. It was a bad year overall for Gryffindor. This year Gryffindor annihilated Slytherin in the Quidditch. Harry is also the youngest Seeker in a century. That should tell you something about his skill."

"Can you announce all the players? I didn't expect to be commentating again and had a few butterbeers and, well, nature calls."

"No problem." Bagman didn't go to the toilet. He went and had a quick chat with some goblins that ended in money changing hands. No one noticed because all of their attention was focuses on the players now flying into the pitch. "Captain and Chaser: Sirius Black. Chasers: John Killett and Lauren Sayre. Beaters: Ernest Dowson and Gina Trigg. Keeper: Dana Hobday and Seeker: Harry Potter. And here comes the other team: Captain and Seeker: Derrick Stretton. Keeper: Ronald Weasley. Beaters: Fred and George Weasley and Chasers: Renee Cox, Russell Deverill and Charlie Weasley."

After this Bagman came back from "the toilet". The quaffle was released, followed shortly by the bludgers and the Snitch. The game had begun. "Weasley has possession, passes to Deverill, passes to Cox, back to Weasley, Weasley shoots, excellent save there by Hobday and what's this?"

Joker took it from there. "The Holyhead Harpies appear to be making this a three-way. Yes, some spare hoops have been pulled out of storage and are being set up by the Harpies, except for Yvonne, who is already defending the hoops, as they put them up. The team now joining in. This is highly irregular, but I'm not gonna argue with Gwenog, I'd quite like to not be turned into a woodlouse. OH! A bludger smashes into Russell, excellent shot Gwenog, she truly is a wonderful woman, attractive too, though a bit out of my league, what do you think guys, do I stand a chance? SON OF A BANSHEE!" That last part was shouted as Joker ducked out of the way of a bludger.

Bagman took up the commentary. "And a very definite 'you do not stand a chance' from Jones results in a bumphing foul to the Harpies. I don't know how fouls are going to work in a three way game, or at least, the fouls that aren't directly against one team." The referee flew over and explained to Bagman and Joker how fouls would work in this case. "The referee has just explained to me and Mr Jordan that fouls that are not directly against one team will have penalties taken against the offending team by both of the other teams. Black is taking the penalty for his team. He shoots, and SCORES! Weasley taking his teams penalty, he shoots, HE SCORES!"

"I suppose we should announce who's playing for the Harpies. Captain and Beater: Gwenog Jones. Beater: Teresa Miller. Seeker: Amy Walker. Chasers: Lori Young, Patricia Smethwyck and Claudia Pyrites, who is standing in for Cynthia Lockhart due to injury. Keeper: Yvonne Farley. Lori has the quaffle. Passes it to Claudia, who passes it to Patricia, who passes it to Lori who passes it back to Claudia who shoots, and an excellent save there by Dana. John has the quaffle, this is his first time playing Quidditch, so take it easy on the guy, yeah? He passes it to Sirius, who passes it to Lauren, who passes it back to John who shoots, AND SCORES AGAINST RON! Charlie has possession, passes it to Russell, who passes it to Renee who shoots, and an excellent save there by Yvonne. Patricia has the quaffle, the Harpies using the Hawkshead Attacking Formation to devastating effect. Patricia shoots, AND SCORES, Ron looks very nervous, that could be why he's letting so many goals in."

"Deverill has possession, Killett and Sayre flying either side of him, Black flies straight at Deverill, a perfect Parkin's Pincer, Black has possession, passes to Killett, who passes to Sayre, who passes back to Black, who shoots, AND SCORES AGAINST WEASLEY!"

"Charlie has the quaffle, uses a Reverse Pass to give the ball to Russell, a risky Transylvanian Tackle from Sirius causing him to drop the quaffle into the waiting arms of John, who flies towards Ron's goal, OH! John is hit in the back of the head by an amazingly accurate Bludger Backbeat from Fred, or is it George? Oh, who cares, but that's gotta hurt like a son of a bludger. It had the desired effect of making John drop the quaffle. Unfortunately for the Weasley team, Lori catches it. She shoots, and Ron saves it!"

"Cox in possession, passes it to Weasley, who executes a Woollongong Shimmy to perfection, scoring his team another ten points. And Potter's seen the Snitch! He catches the Snitch with a Plumpton Pass and ends the game, 180-20-10. Black's team wins with Stretton's team in second and the Harpies in last."

After the quick match the three teams chatted for a bit with the rest of the party that came with Padfoot and Prongslet. "Harry, I would like to extend my gratitude towards you. I won ten galleons due to your impressive victory."

"Glad I could help, Percy."

28th August 1992 4:26 PM

A small house-elf popped into a luxurious room. "What do you want, Dobby?"

"Master has a guest from the ministry, Sir."

"Cornelius wasn't going to come here today?"

"Sir, it isn't Minister Fudge. It's a woman wearing pink who wishes to discuss some business with Dobby's Master, Sir."

"Dolores is here? Bring her in here Dobby. And get us some refreshments."

The elf apparated away. A few minutes later, a short, toad-like woman wearing a pink cardigan entered the room. A silver tray with an expensive scotch bottle on it appeared on Lucius Malfoy's desk. "Dolores, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Lucius, you are a Death Eater."

Lucius was stunned. "How dare you accuse me of working for those criminals!"

"The only reason I am not a Death Eater is that I was never asked to be one."

"Would you like some scotch?"

"No thanks, I want you to use your Death Eater connections to kill Cornelius."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because that would make me Minister for Magic. I would also manipulate some of the neutral members of the Wizengamot into voting to give me emergency powers. You and other Death Eaters involved in the attack will have also killed some Wizengamot members who would oppose our aims." With that, she slid over a list of names.

"I take it this is a list of people you want us to kill?"

"Yes. I also want to know one thing. Do you think the Dark Lord will return?"

"He used to boast that he had gone further than anyone else on the path to immortality. I believe he is still alive, though weakened. I currently have a dead man searching for my master." He glanced at Dolores. "I Imperiused Cornelius into contacting Igor Karkaroff. Karkaroff faked the death of one of his Durmstrang students. He then transferred the student here. I then got Auror Hostina, who is a Death Eater that was never caught, and Auror Dawlish, who was under the Imperius Curse, to take the student, under an invisibility cloak, into Peter Pettigrew's cell. Pettigrew was then smuggled to me, in his animagus form. The student was kept under the effects of the Imperius Curse and Polyjuice potion, guarded by Dawlish and Hostina until he was Kissed. I Obliviated Dawlish and Fudge. Pettigrew was, the last time I checked, in Montenegro. He thought the Dark Lord was a bit further South than Montenegro."

"When your master returns, I would like the honour of receiving his mark. Will you kill Cornelius and the people on that list?"

"Of course, most of the people on the list would die anyway, when the Dark Lord returns. And I'm sure my master would consent to you receiving his mark." He took a sip of his expensive scotch. "Give me a month. I'll have a group of Death Eaters ready then."

A/N All of the explanations for the Quidditch terms are in "Quidditch Through The Ages" by Kennilworthy Whisp, or at least, the version J K Rowling gave us. All Quidditch teams are also mentioned in "Quidditch Through The Ages". I highly recommend you buy the book, it raises money for Comic Relief.