CHAPTER ELEVEN

A NEW FRIEND

            The next morning, Remus, Sirius, Ross, and James were walking up to the Common Room when they heard a commotion in a dark corridor. As they got closer, they heard whimpering and cruel laughter. The boys looked around the corner and saw Severus Snape pointing two wands toward a boy cowering in the corner, his hands over his head.

            James sprang into action, yelling the first spell that came to his mind,

"Furnunculus!"

            "Waddiwasi!"

            "Incarcerous!" 

            "Accio!"

            Immediately, Snape began transforming. His face was covered with boils, ropes held him back, and a wand was stuck up his nose. The wand that Sirius had Accioed was zooming toward him.

            "You OK, kid? What happened?" James asked, stepping over Snape to the still trembling boy.

            "Is he gone? Good. I just came here to try to practice some spells. Then he came out of nowhere and took my wand away. He just used the Jelly Legs Spell and that's when I fell. I guess he was going to throw some more spells at me. I'm Peter Pettigrew by the way." The boy said, sitting up. Sirius stepped up to Peter and un-cursed him.

            "Thank you." Peter said.

            "No problem. I'm Sirius Black. This is Remus Lupin, James Potter, and Ross Northrop. We're the Marauders." Sirius said.

            "We are? I never knew." Ross said, looking at Sirius.

            "Oops, sorry. We forgot to tell you. We got that name just last night."

            "No, it was two nights ago. Remember, yesterday Lily and Ross had that yelling contest. Did you two ever make up? Or out?" James asked.

            "Yup, she make my boo-boo all betta." Ross said childishly.

            "Well, Peter. Welcome. You should feel proud of yourself. Not everybody has the pleasure of being friends with Sirius Black. You should feel honored." Sirius said. Peter grinned and the boys cracked up.

            "Are you hurt? Do you need to go to Madame Pomfery?" the ever-practical Remus asked.

            "No. No, I'm fine. Thanks. Where were you guys going?" Peter asked, falling in stride with them.

            "Gryffindor Common Room. What House are you in? I've never seen you around." Sirius said.

            "I'm a 3rd year Hufflepuff. But I'm in Advanced Herbology, so that's probably why you never saw me." Peter explained. They all stopped. "What?"

            "You are in Advanced Herbology? Wow. I heard that it's really tough. So do you know all about plants? It would be really useful if we knew someone with information on magical plants, like Wartroot and Itching Plants." Remus said.

            "Welcome to the Marauders." Sirius said.

            "Really? Wow. Thanks. And what do you need Wartroot and Itching Plants for?" Peter asked.

            "Let's just say, some experiments. You'll find out soon enough. If you want some revenge on Snape, meet us outside the Hufflepuff Common Room at 11:30 tonight." Sirius said mysteriously. Peter walked away.

            Meanwhile, Lily was with Jen and her fellow cheerleaders, trying to decide on the two new cheerleaders.

            "Well, how about Sammie Perry? She was pretty good." One of the girls said.

            "She was, but she admitted it that if practice clashed with her other clubs, she'd put them first." Jen argued.

            "Then there is only Heather and Samira left." Jessica Suvack said. Lily groaned. "Yeah, I know that you don't like her, but she was pretty good. And she seems willing.

              "Fine, fine. I guess I have no choice in this." Lily mumbled. Then she brightened up. "When is a good time for practice?
            "Well, I was thinking on Wednesday and we could post the results tomorrow. That way, we'll be able to get uniforms for them and pom-poms." Jen mused. All the other girls agreed and went their separate ways. As the girls dispersed, Emily and Bridget came over to their friends.

            "So, have you decided yet? Who are the cheerleaders?" Emily asked.

            "Samira and a 5th year named Heather." Jen said, looking for something. "Have any of you seen my Herbology book? I left my homework in there and I gotta finish it today." She said, looking in Bridget's bag.

            "It might be by my bed. I didn't want to come down here to get mine so I just borrowed yours. But where are the boys? What do they call themselves, again? The…" Emily began.

            "The Marauders. They said they were going to the kitchens. But they should be back… now." Jen said as the Marauders came into the Common Room.

            "Hey, where's the food? I thought you were going to the kitchens." Lily asked. "I'm hungry."

            "We ate it. But as we were coming back, we saw Snape attacking this kid, Peter. He's pretty nice. What House is he in, again?" James said.

            "Hufflepuff. And he's in Advanced Herbology! Can you believe it? I wish is was that smart." Sirius said wistfully.

            "Aw, Siri. You aresmart. Remember all those pranks?" Jen said, comforting Sirius.

            Sirius nodded, "And I almost beat the record for most detentions ever. Only 485 left. I think I'll be able to beat the record from 1689. I'll get more than 1000 detentions.

            "Great ambition, Siri." Lily said sarcastically.

~*~ So, what do you think? R/R! I'd like to thank the following:

Lady J. — Thanks for reviewing and I hope you still are reading.

Tiger Lily21 — I'm trying to write more, but I got grounded. I hope I'll be on track again soon.

Thank you everybody else who reviewed!

Another thing I was thinking of doing is writing a quote from a book or movie. Then in your review, you can guess the movie and character who said it. First one is:

            "Brains, yea. But I got brains too. And more than just half of one. How do I know you punks have got what it takes? How do I know you won't run when some goon comes at you with a club?"

                        CLUE! — It's from a Disney movie. Guess and tell me what you think!