Chapter 15: The Forbidden Forest
"Okay Mate. What's going to be the damage to Molly's and my nerves this time?" Sirius asked.
Remus took the book and looked at the chapter title.
"Well…not sure what you would think, but terror for Molly." Remus said. "The Forbidden Forest."
"WHAT?!" Molly exclaimed as Sirius jerked in shock. Molly then turned to the trio. "What were you three doing in the forest?"
"I didn't go in there Mum" Ron said.
"Not that year at least." Hermione whispered.
"You were first years who didn't know the true value of the cloak" Sirius answered "Luckily, it seems that you got it back."
"They were snogging" the twins chorused.
"EEWWWWWWWWWW!" Harry and Hermione exclaimed making a face after looking at each other.
"What's wrong?" Bill asked.
"Bill. Me snogging Hermione is like you snogging GINNY!"
"Ditto" Hermione said before turning to Ginny. "Ginny. Harry is all yours."
Ginny went bright red.
McGonagall sighed now that she knew the truth. It really wasn't as simple as she made it seem to be. Maybe she SHOULDN'T have based it on what James would have done.
"Yes you have!" Sirius and Remus told her.
"Well I wasn't about to give Mr. Potter the idea that his father and his three friends were out every night thus getting him to follow in his footsteps" McGonagall pointed out.
"Oh no" Sirius realized. He and James had once lost 30 points and when James tried to argue, she added a simple 4-letter word: each.
Fred and George looked at each other as they recalled that time and gulped.
"Thanks for that" Sirius whispered to Ron who was sitting next to him.
"I give it a week" Fred said.
"24-hours" George said.
"Two weeks" Ginny added.
"YOU CAN'T RESIGN!" the twins exclaimed.
"Why?" Charlie asked. "Flying a good stress reliever."
"Back up" Ginny said growling dangerously as she turned to the twins. "The REST of the team? Doesn't that include the beaters?"
"Professor."
"Read" the twins beseeched.
"Actually, I'm interested myself" Molly said looking past her daughter at the twins.
"It's okay guys." Harry said.
Remus started to say something, but Dumbledore interrupted.
"This is the past and cannot be changed." The headmaster stated. "What is done is done and if I'm not mistaking, Mssers Fred and George Weasley have more than made up for their behavior during that time. Am I not correct Harry?"
"You are sir." Harry said before winking at the twins and mouthed 'Marauder's Map.'
"Won't last long" Hermione stated.
"Um…Professor?" Hermione interrupted. "Just WHY were we given this specific detention?"
"A certain authority figure above me recommended it." McGonagall said glaring at Dumbledore. "In hindsight, I think he KNEW about the dragon and wanted to be a bit lenient with you four."
Dumbledore just popped a lemon drop into his mouth.
"Not with what Minerva just said" Arthur assured his paling wife.
"The forest?!" Tonks gasped.
"There haven't been werewolves in that forest since 1978" Sirius said.
"I think Hagrid's a bit pissed at Malfoy for blabbing about Norberta" Charlie chuckled.
"Hear that Harry?" Ron teased.
Harry stuck his tongue out at his best friend.
"Unicorn Blood?" Everyone but Dumbledore and the trio asked.
"Not fast enough" Sirius answered with a smirk as he recalled some of the races the Marauders ran. Prongs had always won.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked horrified as Molly gripped Arthur's hand.
"What is it with you and werewolves?" Sirius asked his godson.
"It was fresh in my mind and it was more or less confirmed that there WERE werewolves in the forest. This was before I met Professor Lupin, remember? So I had no idea that werewolves were just humans with a medical condition."
"A centaur" Sirius sighed "Not the safest when angered, but there's more dangerous creatures."
"Dare I ask what you did to anger them?" Flitwick asked.
"We MIGHT have walked in on a few of them mating" Sirius admitted rubbing the back of his neck.
"Made me wish you lot weren't there for me to keep my mind. I could have lived my whole life happy not knowing I saw that" Remus added with a glare at Sirius.
"They're more useless than anything" Sirius added
"A bit?" Bill asked the Ravenclaw of Gryffindor.
"It was my first time seeing a centaur let alone meeting one" Hermione defended. "Sorry for being a TAD overwhelmed."
Remus frowned. He knew Mars was the Roman god of war. Which meant that if the planet was bright to the centaurs, then war was coming and soon.
And last June, he had ran into a centaur who said that Mars was bright. A week later, Harry went through that maze.
"Mate?" Sirius asked.
"Sorry" Remus said. "Just thinking of a conversation I had with a centaur two months ago."
"Oh no!" Molly shrieked as the other professors gasped.
"Why?" Bill asked.
"WHAT?!" Molly yelled as Snape wrote this on his list of things to talk to Malfoy about.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"It is a beautiful creature. We've seen a fair few on our outings" Sirius said.
"Oh Merlin" Arthur gasped as everyone paled. Even Dumbledore looked concerned. When he had suggested this specific detention, he didn't think that Voldemort would be out THAT night.
"What IS it with you guys freezing in fear?!" Charlie asked.
"Is there a penseive so I can show you lot just WHY we were frozen?" Harry asked thinking he could spare Hermione some grief by showing the troll.
"Probably later" Dumbledore said.
Jaws dropped.
"Read Professor" Harry said already knowing how rare it was for a human to ride a centaur based on Bane's reaction.
"No. He doesn't know." Ginny answered.
"It's not worth it" Ginny whispered.
"You mean…that was…" Sirius asked going pale as was everyone else in the room.
"When aren't you thinking about Quidditch?" Hermione asked.
"Two times" Ron defended. "When Harry's in a life-threatening situation and when I'm eating."
"Nice to know I'm worth more than Quidditch and on the same level as food" Harry teased.
"Well…then again, my mind DOES turn to the team" Ron joked.
Hermione whacked him even though she knew he was teasing.
"Fear of the name only increase fear of the thing itself Mr. Weasley" Dumbledore explained.
"You stayed up ALL NIGHT?!" Molly exclaimed.
"I slept for a few hours until Harry woke me up" Ron defended.
"Now what?" Sirius groaned as Remus smiled.
"Thanks for that" Harry told Dumbledore.
"Two more chapters" Remus announced.
"How bad?" Sirius asked.
"Not pretty" Harry said.
"I'll read then" Tonks said. "I doubt I'd be as affected as you lot."