Disclaimer: To my great dismay, I do not own Harry Potter. Or anything really. I used to own one of those really good lollypops with the apple center, and the hard caramel on the outside, but I ate it with lunch. Woe is me
AN: Okay, I'm baaacckkk! It's one of my greatest pet peeves ever when authors just give up stories completely - usually at a really good part, too - or when they update about once every six months, so I've vowed by my life or death to finish this story. Be warned!
My poll is still up! :) Also, I'm verging on a bit of writer's block here (I'm posting this at the bottom of the chapter, too) so if you guys have any suggestions, feel free to contact me! If you really think they're amazing (not that any of my AMAZING readers suggestions wouldn't be) then send them via fanfiction-email, so as not to tell people what I might do. Okay, love you all!
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Chapter Ten: Initiation
The next few days after Harry's confession were a bit like the calm before the storm. Proverbial, of course. The Marauders, minus Peter, who (without explanation from them) had been unceremoniously thrown out of their group, had been secretive, which,was making him rather nervous. He feared that they either; a) Didn't believe him, despite both his wife from the future showing up, and his knowledge of all of their secrets, b) thought it was weird that he was there at all, and decided to just ignore him, or c) didn't like him. His worst fear of the three (by a wide margin) was the third option.
But, you know how it is. Things never turn out as you think they will.
Harry awoke to unseasonably warm weather. He yawned, sitting up in bed and looking around. There wasn't the usual hustle and bustle of mornings in the dorm, but with a quick glance at the clock - it was 6:30 - he discovered that it was by far too early for any of the Marauders to be up, and dismissed the thought. He grabbed a pair of jeans and a black and green T-shirt from his trunk, his wand, and entered the bathroom.
He plopped his clothing and wand down onto a chair, and stepped into one of the five shower stalls. Unusually, the water was the perfect temperature. As it turned out, Sirius was quite vain, and usually used up all the hot water - causing Harry to use a warming spell on the water. Granted, he had gotten better at it then when he'd first used it (the water had been scalding, and he'd had a burn on his hand where he'd tested it for a week) but it was still unusual when he got it right. He hummed to himself softly, taking care it was too quiet to be heard outside the shower.
He washed his hair, then simply stood underneath the water, enjoying the heat. Harry stepped out, quickly tied a towel around his legs, and walked over to the mirror, which was very foggy. Hmm. I must've spent more time in the shower than I thought.
His hand squeaked over the surface of the glass as he wiped it off. He picked up his toothbrush from the side of the sink, and looked up.
"AAAARRGGGGGHHHHHHH!" The moment he made a sound, the dorm behind him exploded with noise.
"Yes! It worked!"
"HA HA!"
He whirled around just as the door was kicked open by an excited-looking (and glasses-less, to Harry's surprise) James, who laughed at the sight of him. His father looked at him slightly closer, squinting, and swore under his breath.
"Damn!" Or not so much under his breath. "The eye, fingernails, toenails, the nose, and the shoulders didn't work!" Harry suddenly felt a whole lot better. He turned around, re-examining his appearance. Harry, to put it bluntly, looked like an American politician on steroids - not a pretty picture. He had wrinkles - wrinkles! - white hair, and for some strange reason, was wearing a sleeve-ripped muscle shirt, which was stretched over his huge biceps, bony ribcage and pouchy stomach. Probably the strangest combination Harry had ever seen.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" He screamed, looking at his face closer to the mirror.
"Oh, just a little heat-recognition semi-permanent glamor charms. They last until 5:00 this evening," Remus replied. He and Sirius had just entered the bathroom, and though Remus had controlled himself, Sirius was laughing with James.
"Oh. Okay. Now just one more little thing." He whipped his wand off the chair where he had set it upon his folded clothing, and was waving it before any of them could move. In a puff of smoke, Sirius sported hair was bright, spiky yellow and purple dots all over his face, James had wrinkles and long, Snape-reminiscent hair, and Remus had a hunchback and unnaturally thick eyebrows. They looked at each other, laughed for a second, looked in the mirror, and yelled.
"AAAARRGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Remus took it the best of the three, by far. It was not surprising, however, as it was well known among the Gryffindor boys in their dorm how vain Sirius and James were. James clutched at his greasy hair, his face a mask of horror. Sirius was speechless, staring stock still at his reflection, his eyes bulging.
"What did you do to us?! I look like... like Snape!" James said, leaning closer to examine his wrinkles. Sirius finally moved, fainting. Harry snorted in laughter at the antics of his godfather and father.
"Oh, just a few semi-permanent glamor charms. They last until 5:00 this evening," he mimicked. James turned his face away from the mirror, only to scowl whole-heartedly at Harry, causing Harry to wonder (with a blip of his heart) if pranking them had been a good idea, after all. Remus had been waving his wand during this whole conversation, attempting to nix the spells he had placed on them to no avail. He furrowed his (now bushy) brow in aggravation.
"What spells did you use on us!? I've never seen any of these, and I can't get rid of them!" He was becoming slightly hysterical, his voice rising. Harry laughed full out now.
"You figure it out, Moony. You are the smart one of the group!" Sirius, by this time, had woken up and was nodding at Harry's words in agreement.
"Moony! What's wrong? Fix us!" The werewolf looked panicked, and was flicking his eyes around the room. Harry didn't blame him - he, personally, didn't want to be around when Sirius learned he would have to stay in his current... erm... form until 5:00.
"Well, err... you see, Sirius," Remus began haltingly. "I... well. I don't exactly... errr... know how to get rid of it." Sirius stood, staring at Remus uncomprehendingly.
"What?" He asked, looking confused. This scared Harry all the more.
"Well, you see-"
"No, no, I get that, but why can't you fix it? You're Moony. You fix everything." Remus blushed slightly at the praise, but looked apprehensive. "Fix it." The dog-animagus reiterated, pointing at his face. Harry highly considered making the comment that if nobody had been able to fix his face all Sirius's life, he doubted it would work now, but thought that might just push his godfather over the edge, and decided to leave it be. Then, Sirius exploded.
"NOOOOOO!" He fell to his knees, his hands clasped in the direction of the sky - despite the fact that a ceiling was currently blocking it. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?! AREN'T I PUNISHED ENOUGH BY YOUR CRUEL DUBBING OF MY MIDDLE NAME?!" At that, James and Remus began snickering again - which didn't help Sirius's cries of despair.
Throughout all this, Harry remained mostly silent, allowing himself only a snicker or two of triumph. He watched in amusement as all three boys examined themselves in the mirror with dismay. Not for the first time, Harry contempated the unexpectedness of their personalities. Out of the three, only Remus had a future-personality anywhere near the one he had in the past. Sirius's change was the most pronounced. From what Harry remembered from his rather short time with his godfather, he had been a man living in the past. He'd only seen him laugh a few times, and he was most certainly not vain.
Though, Harry thought, I can't blame him about that last part. It's pretty hard to be self-conscious about your looks when you're in Azkaban for twelve years with elbow-length hair, and skin of undeterminable color.
Of course, he had never met his father in normal-time, but from what he'd heard from various people - Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, etc - he'd been much more serious after becoming an auror and leaving Hogwarts.
Remus, of course, had been still (mostly) level-headed, rather bookish, and kind. The most obvious difference had been an aura of sadness and tiredness.
He must have been standing there thinking for longer than he had originally thought, because before he knew it, a disgruntled Remus was snapping his fingers in front of his face and shaking him none-too-gently.
"Harry! Snap out of it!" Harry turned his rather annoyed glare towards Remus, who glared right back. No, Remus is not to be underestimated, Harry thought, scrunching back away from the werewolf's angry stare.
Harry then turned back to the matter at hand. That matter being that he was currently transfigured into a wrinkled, mostly-buff, white-haired old man. He scowled again at the thought. Then, to the surprise of his dormmates, he closed his eyes, thinking. They said it was a timed glamor charm. If that was true, then an easy Finite Incantatem should've done it. Hmmmm. Sirius, Remus and James were looking at him, eyes twitching for what seemed like the millionth time that week. Knowing James, it would have been transfiguration. That is his best subject. Then it's a heat-activated, timed transfiguration spell... Harry's eyes snapped open, a grin on his face.
Estus Trans Nix! He thought to himself, doing the spell silently so they wouldn't be able to copy it. James, Sirius and Remus's previously humored faces soon morphed into shock, then outrage, and then anger as Harry's features turned back into normal.
"Wha? How..." They spluttered simultaneously. Harry just grinned, upping their righteous outrage. He raised his right eyebrow slowly, gave mock-salute, and ducked out of the doorway and hurried over to his bed. There, he dressed quickly, threw on a robe, and swept downstairs before the Marauders became even more vengeful.
He entered the common room, stepping off the stairwell at the same time Lily reached the bottom of the girls'. She looked entirely too awake and put-together this morning, in Harry's opinion. She turned quickly, her pony-tailed red hair whipping through the air.
"-this morning?" She asked a yet-to-be-seen girl who was, presumably, further up the stairs.
"If you say so, Lily," a female voice answered. In a second, that voice proved to be Alice; the future wife of Frank Longbottom, and Neville's mother.
They ended their conversation, apparently not wanting to be overheard, as the timetraveler joined them on their trip down to the Great Hall for breakfast. The three of them shared a brief, polite conversation - and it was painfully obvious that their minds were elsewhere. Harry said nothing about James, Sirius, and Remus's... erm... transformation, wanting to keep it a surprise.
He enjoyed his breakfast, though it was rather overshadowed by paranoid students from all houses. They had learned long ago, or not so long ago for the first years, that missing Marauders at breakfast was never a good sign. Slytherin in particular was cautious, quite a few of them forgoing breakfast altogether so as not to consume any potions.
Harry, however, ignored this; being the only one present who knew the true reason they were absent. He laughed to himself under his breath, earning him a strange look from a fourth-year girl next to him. He ignored it. This was hardly the first time people stared at him.
......o0O0o......
None of the Marauders showed up throughout breakfast, apparently choosing to avoid heavily-populated places so as to diminish their embarassment. However, when their first class roller around, Transfiguration, they were the first ones present - unsuccessfully begging Professor McGonagall to return them to their natural states.
She, laughing for one of the first times since Harry had met her in his first year at Hogwarts, declined, claiming it was high time they had "a taste of their own medicine." She did, however, ask about the absence of Peter Pettigrew in their group lately. They did not answer this, causing the strict professor to look a mixture of intrigued and concerned.
Harry had heard all of this through the use of Extendable Ears (© Weasley's Wizard Wheezes) and had had a good laugh just imagining the look on their faces at McGonagall's verdict. So, it was with great dignity (and feigned ignorance) that the Marauders could be found sitting in class amidst giggles and fully blown laughs.
When Harry entered two minutes before class was due to start, all three of them turned at the same time, glaring at him. If looks could kill... Harry found himself thinking.
"Settle down, settle down!" Professor McGonagall began to no avail. "Be quiet! That means you, too, Miss. Donat." Said 'Miss. Donat' blushed, and immediately stopped talking. "All right, class, today, we will be learning about..." and the lecture began.
Though class had started, all students present (today it was Gryffindors and Ravenclaws) had trouble concentrating. This in itself wasn't exactly rare, but today it was multiplied by the presence of three unusually studious Marauders; who were, at present, staring dutifully at the professor, apparently listening in rapture to her. Harry, though, could tell their minds were elsewhere, probably seething at him.
Once Transfiguration was over, the three were the first out the door and when the other students hurried after them (most likely for questioning or teasing) they were gone. Harry, personally, suspected Disslusionment Charms. A few years ago, he would have been sure it was the work of James's invisibility cloak, but the three of them were far too large to fit under it.
The rest of the class looked highly dissapointed, and were checking their timetables for classes they had with them later.
Harry, feeling rather protective of his (currently) prankless appearance, kept his wand clasped tightly in his grip. He scanned the crowd intently, looking for the telltale signs of a Disslusionment Charm. He saw none, and was feeling better when suddenly, he was flicked upside down and into the air.
He flicked his head back and forth in panic, looking for his 'attackers.' The people around him were whispering in confusion, looking for the source of the spell... and finding no one. Then, from an empty place in space, came Sirius's voice.
"That's right, Harry, be scared. Be very scared. Harry trained his wand onto the spot where the voice originated, and sent a spell their way.
"Stupify!" A shield was thrown up - Harry suspected Remus. "Finite Incantatem!" This time, multiple shields were put up - three - to prevent their appearances from being revealed. Harry thought fast, and cast a cushioning charm on the floor beneath him. Then, he pointed his wand at his feet, his eyes never leaving the spot that the Marauders had revealed themselves to be, and released the Levicorpus charm that had been placed on him with a mutter of,
"Liberacorpus."
"Oohf!" He couldn't help the sound from escaping him as he hit the ground. Softened or not, the wind was still slightly knocked out of him. Following their lead, he tapped his head and felt the familiar feeling of an egg cracking upon his head. The feeling washed over his body, and when he looked down, he was disillusioned.
Silencio, he said, silencing the sound of his footsteps. He proceeded to jog over in front of a group of Hufflepuff second years, who looked both concerned for the parties involved, and amazed at the spellwork shown.
"Honenum Revelio!" Came James's voice from about ten feet to Harry's left. Harry started. Why didn't I think of that? He berrated himself. He immediately a shield charm, which reflected the Incarcerous and Impedimenta spells, thrown from the same place. Harry cast the same spell as James, verbal this time.
"Honenum Revelio!" Immediately taking effect, he soon saw three red outlines of the invisible teens. They were creeping closer to him, and the one on the far left of the group, who appeared to be Remus, judging by it's unnaturally hunched back, had his wand raised - preparing to cast an unknown spell.
"Stupify!" Harry dodged just in time, allowing the red beam of light to fly over his right shoulder.
"Avian Maximus!" He countered, and suddenly a large flock of crows appeared. The students around them gasped in amazement. This wasn't taught in Hogwarts. "Oppungo!" They swarmed together for a second, then began to divebomb the three boys.
"Aaargh!" Sirius yelled, the first to be hit.
"OUCH! Get- these- blasted- birds of me!" James said, and the red outlines revealing their presence began swatting and cursing birds left and right. Harry took this opportunity to remove the Disillusionment Charm on him; it wasn't doing him any good, and it was only sucking away his energy unnecessarily.
After about thirty seconds, Harry politely didn't jinx them while they wer incapacitated, they had gotten rid of all the birds, and many of them lay frozen in a block of ice, or unconscious on the floor around them. To the students watching, it looked as if feathers were hanging in midair, making a vague shape of three people.
This time, instead of hexing them, Harry spoke, though he was on high alert - ready to create a shield charm at a moment's notice. "Guys, I don't want to fight." Sirius snorted.
"Then get rid of it!" There were mutters from their watchers as they tried to understand what they meant. Only a Ravenclaw seventh year seemed to know what they meant - having been in their Transfiguration class - and she seemed to take pity on them, and said nothing. She did, however, seem highly interested in the spells Harry had cast in their duel, and was writing them down on a scrap piece of parchment.
"Get rid of what?" Harry said, playing dumb. This only angered them more, not much to his surprise, and they sent another Incarcerous spell his way - silently this time. He had enough time to place a shield charm, but only just in time. He smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, guys. Couldn't resist." He narrowed his eyes, thinking. Should I release it? I am going to be late for class if I don't. I'm sure none of them will take heed to the time limit... Plus, they are pretty much my only friends here, as well as my father, godfather, and as good as secondary-godfather. He sighed, regretful.
"Fine, I'll release it." There were sighs of gratitude. "But," and at this, he grinned widely, "before I release it, you have to get rid of the Disillusionment Charm. Just for a few seconds." There were cries of outrage from the three boys, Sirius's and James's the loudest.
"What!"
"-ridiculous! Why would we-"
"-begging us on your knees!"
Harry silenced them with a wave of his wand, though they contined to speak, the red lines outlining their jaws moving up and down, and their arms waving. Finally, they stopped, and Harry removed the Silencio. There was a deep sigh.
"Fine." Harry recognized this as his father's voice. "But you have to promise to release it!" The crowd stood on their tiptoes in anticipation, making sure they had a good view of the source of the voices and spells.
"I promise," he said solemnly, noddin his head. There was a second's delay, then Remus's voice muttered,
"Finite," rather dejectedly, and they appeared - deformities and all. All three were glaring deeply at the innocently smiling timetraveler, and barely a second past before the crowd erupted into gales of laughter. Students were leaning against each other, clutching their ribbs, but not able to tear their eyes away from the glowering pranksters. Harry let this go on for about ten seconds, then he raised his wand, and muttered,
"Estus Trans Nix." Three times in quick sucession. The three boys morphed back into their normal forms, and they sighed in relief as they returned to their regular appearances.
The laughter continued for about a minute, the crowd momentarily forgetting about their upcoming classes in the excitement of the duel and the revealed prank.
James, Sirius, and Remus scurried away towards potions, Harry trailing about fifteen feet behind them. He gave them some room, knowing that though they were immensely glad to be rid of his spell, they were in anything but high spirits at the moment.
....o0O0o......
It was dinner before Harry dared to speak to them again. Throughout the day, they had been trading small pranks (an easily reversed hair-color charm here, an aguamenti there) though none of them did anything big in fear of incurring the other parties' wrath - both of which had proved to be socially deadly.
Though not many students - around thirty of the seven-hundred that attended Hogwarts - had actually seen the Marauder's transformation in either Transfiguration or Harry and their duel, news of it had spread (accompanied always by laughter) throughout the school. In addition to the original viewers of the prank, Lily Evans (soon-to-be Potter) and Severus Snape seemed to find it the most humerous, though for different reasons.
Snape saw it as revenge, and had (to Harry astonishment) smiled largely at him when they had passed in the second-floor corridor. He wondered absently if this would change the potions master's view on them in the future, though he was mostly preoccupied (and more than slighlty creeped out) by the appearance of Snape's smile. As it turned out, he had very straight, white teeth, Harry couldn't help but notice.
Lily, on the other hand, seemed to think they had gotten their just desserts, and though she had giggled when she had seen them in Transfiguration, she took pity on them and (due, Harry thought, to their lack of serious revenge on Harry himself) had seemed pleased with them, much like a mother would be pleased with a child who had finally learned how to properly go to the bathroom by theirself.
So, it was with companionable respect that Harry and his parents, Sirius and Remus sat at dinner time, laughing at themselves. Remus had been the first to admit that it was a very good bit of spellwork on Harry's part, and was backed up after a few minutes by the other two.
Lily congratulated Harry herself, and James looked rather downtrodden until she patted him on the shoulder comfortingly as she sat down between the two Potters.
Even the teachers (informed by Professor McGonagall, presumably, about Harry's prank) seemed in high spirits, and even Dumbledore seemed to have an extra twinkle in his bright blue eyes. James refrained from asking Lily out, to the astonishment of all, and the five seventh year Gryffindors finished the day happily, despite the drama of the morning.
It was, all in all, an excellent day, if not with the best of beginnings.
......o0O0o......
Harry was walking through a decrepit courtyard, dead grass and weeds pushing through the cracked marble walkway. It had obviously been grand once - the expensive style made that obvious. Black marble archways curved elegantly over him, and a cloudy, gray sky was just visible through the intertwining vines hanging above him.
He turned to the right, starting down a smaller path. It was obviously a place he knew well - for he spared his surroundings barely a glance as he walked through the laberinth-like collection of walkways. After a few minutes, he reached a plain, wooden door with a slightly rusted lock. It seemed out of place in his current surroundings; it was far too new and, and though it was obviously made with fine craftsmanship, it dulled in comparison to the ancient splendor of the courtyard.
He turned the doorhandle.
Somehow, Harry knew that it should have been locked, and he frowned slightly as he pushed the door open. The room before him was as black as night. Only a miniscule window high up on the oak walls allowed light, and it was barely any at that. The weak shaft of light fell down to the floor, illuminating a table-like object in the middle of the room.
He walked towards it, reaching his hand out - what do do, Harry didn't know. He had almost reached it. He could feel his hand becoming cooler - somehow reflecting some evil magic eminating from the platform. He was only a few inches away-
"Harry! Harry!" A hissed, male voice came; awakening him from his slumber. At first, he was sure he had been yelling, or making some sort of fuss in his sleep. That wasn't uncommon when he had these sort of dreams - though this was the first one he'd had since the Voldemort (of his time) had died.
But soon, it became obvious that that was not the case. He blinked confusedly, and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. The room was dark, and it was obviously late - probably after midnight. Harry sat up, and looked around. The Marauders were around his bed, looking strangely solomn, though excited at the same time. It was a rather strange combonation.
"Yes?" He asked, not yet being enough awake to inject sarcasm into his response.
"You've done it!" This was Sirius. He looked triumphant, and Harry hoped to god (or whatever was up there) that this was not some crazily-planned revenge scheme to get payback from their earlier embarassment.
"Done what?" This time, he was wary.
"You're officially one of us now." Harry didn't exactly feel enlightened. At his still-confused face, Sirius sighed and spoke again, this time impatiently. "A Marauder."
A Marauder. He was a Marauder? How was that possible? This must be some sort of joke... But he could tell from their eyes that they weren't. James looked proud, and Harry hoped fervently that it was at least slightly parental. Remus and Sirius looked more excited, and were grinning fully. Though, Harry couldn't help but notice, Remus had black bags under his eyes, and his wide smile was tainted with exhaustion.
He forced his thoughts back to their earlier pronouncement. "Seriously?" For once, Sirius refrained from making the 'Sirius-Serious' joke, and nodded happily.
"Ummm... I don't know what to say." Harry was touched beyond belief. This was not something to be taken lightly. To be an actual Marauder was... wow.
This, Harry knew, was something they had never done before. Sure, they all had friends out of their group (Frank Longbottom, Amos Diggory, Nathan Erikkson, et cetra) and from what he'd heard, all of them had helped them with at least a prank or two before. But that was completely different from being an actual Marauder.
"You don't have to say anything," James said in a rather rare show of compassion.
"Sooo..." Harry said, a tad uncomfortably now. "What now?" At this, the three boys around him grinned, Remus and Sirius in particular looking rather carnivorous. Harry gulped. Somehow, he knew this was going to be a long night.
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AN: So. How'd ja' like it? Sorry it took a bit to update - I've got another chapter-story in the works, this time for Naruto. I'm focusing on "Just My Luck," and I'm taking my other one slow (I'm not going to release it until I'm finished) but it still was not my fastest update ever.
I have a poll going, to help me decide what genre to do my next oneshot about. I'm still rather undecided. VOTE!
Also, REVIEW!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!! Also, if you have a community, I would appreciate this story being put into it. ^_^
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~Aquahina, your ever-dutiful author