Chapter 5
Thank you all for your patience. I am currently working on three different stories, so I will be posting as often as I can. I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the story. Just like my other stories, this one will be a long one, but i am thinking of splitting it at one point, but we will see. Please Read and Review and enjoy Chapter 5!
The next day
As Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower the following afternoon, he told Ron, Hermione and Selena about his discovery about Flamel. Suddenly, Hermione sprinted towards the girl's dormitory, warning her three friends to stay where they were, which was a secluded corner near the fireplace. The other Gryffindors weren't paying them any attention. Harry laughed to himself as he saw Saphira and Oliver Wood kissing in another secluded corner.
Hermione reappeared, carrying a rather large and thick book.
"I knew he would be in here somewhere. I checked this book out weeks ago for a bit of light reading." she said.
Ron looked at the book.
"This is light?" he asked.
Hermione glared at him and began to read.
"Now where did I see it? Oh, here it is. Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone." she read out, in a whisper.
"The what?" Ron asked.
Harry frowned.
"I think I've heard of that." he said.
Selena nodded.
"I have too. I just can't remember where." she said.
"Here, you three, read this." Hermione said, pushing the book in their direction.
Selena began to read:
"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with the making of the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.
There have been many reports of many Philosopher's Stones over the last few centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Pernelle (six hundred and fifty-eight).
"You see, this must be what the dog is guarding, the Philosopher's Stone. Flamel must have known someone was going to steal it, so he asked Professor Dumbledore to hide it for him, since they are friends." Hermione said.
"With powers like turning metal into gold and making you immortal, no wonder Snape wants it." Harry said.
"Anybody would want it. He'll either keep it for himself or sell it to the highest bidder, the slimy git." Selena said.
"Blimey. No wonder we couldn't find Flamel in the other books. He's so old." Ron said.
"What do we do now?" Hermione asked.
"We have to protect the Stone." Harry said.
Selena looked at Harry.
"How do we do that, cuz? We can't just walk up to Dumbledore and say 'Professor, we heard you have the Philosopher's Stone here. What's guarding it, besides the three-headed dog?" she said.
Suddenly, Fred, George and James Black walked over to the quartet.
"What are you lot talking about?" James asked.
Selena rolled her eyes at her older brother.
"None of your business, Jamie. Get lost." she said, her gray eyes blazing with anger.
James grinned.
"Calm down, little sis. The twins and I were wondering if you wanted in on a little prank of ours. Especially you and Harry, since we have Marauder blood in us." he said, slyly.
Hermione looked up.
"The Marauders? Who are they?" she asked.
Fred and George grinned.
"Only The greatest bunch of pranksters ever to grace the walls of Hogwarts." they said, in unison.
Hermione frowned.
"Isn't that a bit childish?" she asked.
Harry looked at Selena and smiled.
"Our Dads are the Marauders. So is uncle Remus." he said.
Selena sighed.
"So was Peter Pettigrew." she said.
Harry glared.
"Let him rot in Azkaban for all I care." he said.
Hermione turned to him.
"Isn't he the one who betrayed your parents? I am sorry, but i read about it in A History of Magic." she asked.
Harry sighed.
"Yes. We just don't talk about him." he said.
Hermione nodded her head.
Harry turned to his older cousin and the Weasley Twins.
"You three are definitely worthy of picking up where Dad and Uncle Sirius and Remus left off. I don't want to risk anything with Mum." he said.
Jamie Black bowed.
"As the eldest here, I hereby name our group The New Marauders!" he said.
The kids smiled and did fake applause, although Hermione looked skeptical.
James smiled at her.
"Don't worry, Granger. We will be careful." he said.
Hermione looked at everyone, who all had their eyes on her, hoping that she would not cause a problem. She held her hands up and the other children cheered.
Over the next several weeks, strange things began to befall the Slytherins. One morning, Draco Malfoy and his minions were turned into canaries at breakfast, but only for a few minutes. The cause was some strange candies that were among the sweets on the table.
Next, their shoes would unexpectedly disappear or turn into bunny slippers randomly. The next few days, anyone who used salt would develop spots all over their body and pepper would sneeze instead of talk and would need to go to the hospital wing.
One morning, the entire House of Slytherin did not show up at breakfast. The entire school found out the next day that their robes and hair had been turned to bright pink. Professor Snape had bright pink robes and he openly glared at the Gryffindors, but he had no proof that they had done anything to his House. Dumbledore just smiled, as Snape complained and raved about the problems occurring to the students only in his House.
In the Gryffindor common room, the kids all laughed. Even Hermione was amused, although she still was afraid that the older boys would be caught.
Selena nudged her friend.
"Hermione, relax. Jamie and the twins know what they are doing." she said.
"I am sure that they do, but it is still very concerning. I must admit that it is very impressive magic." Hermione said.
Jamie snorted.
"Why thank you, Granger. I appreciate the sentiment." he said sarcastically.
Harry and Ron tried to hide their smiles, while Selena glared at her older brother.
"Jamie, don't be shitty." she said.
Everyone around the group laughed, while Hermione frowned at Selena's foul language.
Three weeks after the start of term, Gryffindor had its next Quidditch match, this time against Hufflepuff. Professor Dumbledore was sitting in his office the night before when his fireplace flared and James Potter's face appeared.
Professor Dumbledore smiled.
"James, what can I do for you? Nothing wrong at home, I hope?" he said.
"No Professor, everything is fine at home, but it is wrong there." James said.
"I am sorry, but what are you talking about, James?" Dumbledore asked, not understanding what was upsetting the patriarch of the Potter Family.
"May I come through to your office?" James asked.
"Of course, James." Dumbledore said.
Moments later, James Potter appeared and stood in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"How could you, Professor? How could you let that man referee a Gryffindor match?" he asked.
Dumbledore smiled.
"Now, James. I assume you found out about Severus requesting to referee the next Quidditch match? I hope you did not find out from Harry." he said.
James shook his head.
"No. My niece wrote to her parents to complain, my sister told Lily, my daughter overheard them and she told me." she said.
Dumbledore's smile grew.
"Now, James, don't worry about Severus being the referee. He simply wanted to try it out." he said.
"You actually believe him?! Come on, Professor. He just wants to keep Gryffindor from winning. He won't be fair to the team and will probably call unnecessary fouls on them. Wait and see. He is a bigoted bastard." James said.
Before either men could continue, the fireplace flared again and this time, the head of a redheaded woman appeared.
"Professor Dumbledore, is my husband there?"
James' olive skin went pale.
"Uh-oh." he said, quietly.
Dumbledore walked over to his fireplace.
"Yes, Lily. James is here. We are just discussing the points of Severus refereeing the next Quidditch match." he said.
"James, you promised to leave it alone!" Lily almost screamed.
"Lily, come on. Think of Harry. He'll be on the pitch. You can't trust Snape to be fair." he said.
Lily glared at her husband.
"I trust Professor's Dumbledore's decision. Let it go. We'll be there anyway. Now, come home or you will be sleeping on the couch." she said, with her head disappearing with a soft pop.
James sighed, bid Professor Dumbledore a goodnight and Flooed back to Potter Manor.
The next morning, Harry and his friends and cousin were in the Great Hall, eating a light breakfast before the match.
Harry sighed.
"Snape in charge of the match. We are doomed." he said.
Saphira Tonks, hearing Harry turned towards him.
"Don't worry. Everyone will be watching. You will be safe. What happened in your first match won't happen again." she said.
Ron nodded.
"She's right, mate. You will win it again." he said.
Selena rolled her eyes.
"He isn't worried about winning, he doesn't want Snape to be a cheating git." she said.
Saphira laughed.
"Snape may be a git, but we're playing Hufflepuff. They always play fair. Diggory is a good Seeker and is fair. I want to remind you all that my older sister was a Hufflepuff." she said.
Harry smiled and nodded. He knew that Saphira was right, but he was still worried about Snape making Gryffindor lose, due to his prejudice.
"Thanks you all. I feel a bit better." he said.
Selena smiled and clapped her cousin on his back.
"Give them hell, cuz." she said.
Harry smiled.
"I will do my thanks. I will see you all later." he said, getting up to head to the Quidditch field.
The weather was beautiful and it was just right for a Quidditch match. When Harry entered the pitch, he immediately kicked off. As he circled the stadium, he saw his parents there in the stands. He smiled even harder, as he saw his little sister, Melanie. He was happy to see her, even though she was holding up a big sign that said GO HARRY!. He loved his sister very much and was not embarrassed, even with Snape refereeing.
Harry also spotted Dumbledore, who was also in the stands, watching. On the other side of his parents were Sirius, his aunt Jennifer and Remus. He grinned, in relief. With his parent, surrogate uncles and his aunt and Dumbledore in attendance, he knew that Snape would not try anything suspicious. He just had to overcome his nervousness on doing well.
Soon, Snape blew the whistle, released the balls and the game began. Within thirty seconds, he gave Hufflepuff a penalty when George sent a Bludger at him. Luckily, Oliver was able to block the shot. Then, he passed it to Angelina Johnson and she passed it to Katie Bell. She then flew off toward the Hufflepuff hoops, followed closely by Angelina and Alicia Spinnet.
Harry took his attention away from the Chasers and circled the pitch, looking around for the elusive Snitch. Suddenly, he spotted it near the ground, just below Snape. He pushed his broom downward and flew towards it, missing Snape by mere inches. His hand finally closed his hand around the Snitch, before he hit the ground. He tilted his broom up and held his fist up, holding the Snitch, triumphantly.
The Gryffindor section of the crowd erupted in joy and jubilation. Harry's teammates flew down and crowded around him, congratulating him and praising him. His parents, sister, aunt and uncles followed them.
James hugged his son.
"Great catch, son. It was absolutely fantastic. It hasn't even been five minutes and no one has scored yet." he said, grinning at Snape, who was openly glaring at him.
Harry smiled.
"Thanks, Dad. I did my best." he said.
Lily walked forward and hugged Harry.
"You did great, sweetheart." she said.
Sirius walked up.
"Yeah, Harry. You really showed that git." he said.
James and Jennifer laughed. Lily looked at her friend and brother-in-law.
"Sirius! Do not talk like that. Severus is still his teacher." she said.
Jennifer snorted.
"Lils, that may be so, but he is still a shifty little snake and the kids should know that." she said.
Harry did not want to hear anymore. He agreed with his father, aunt and uncle. However, he knew better than to get on the bad side of his mother.
He hugged his sister.
"What did you think, sprite?" he asked.
Melanie smiled.
"You were great. I was so scared when you were heading to the ground." she said.
Harry smiled.
"Thanks, sis. So, you think you will be a rival for me next year?" he asked, playfully.
Melanie laughed. She was a good Quidditch player, as she had played Chaser with Harry before, just like their father.
"No thanks. I want to just deal with animals. However, I will always be here to cheer you on." she said.
Harry smiled and hugged his sister again.
A/N Thank you all so much for your patience. In order to do this story, i literally have to read all the books again and take extensive notes. Please Read and Review! Chapter Six is nearly done.