A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It really does mean a lot to me. I try to write to anyone who reviewed me, so please include your e-mail addy! Anyways, school is almost over, the last Animorphs book is almost out and it's almost time for the Harry Potter movie... May is extremely eventful! I really wanted o get this story up, so this is in the summer before fifth year. Amazingly, this entire story takes place in one and a half eventful days. This part and the next part will be Sirius' PoV. I have one piece of advice to all fanfic authors: Never attempt to write three series' and five single chapters at the same time! It will only lead to stress, which is bad.
Also, warning: I attempted to use 70's language as well as guy language (i.e. eye gunk= eyeshadow), but those are both foreign languages to me and as none of me guy friends would understand this story, I can't have it proof-read and as I'm supposed to be banned from fanfiction until I bring my math grade up to a C, I can't have people who actually lived during the ::gasp:: 70s proof-read the story or even know I'm typing it and I'm supposed to be researching the Alamo. (I'm using library computers to upload and typing in the middle of the night)
Disclaimer: I'll leave it up to you to figure out which characters belong to the goddess J.K. Rowling and which belong to the struggling fanfic writer whose only known on the web as Parvati Brown and known at school as a prep. (Karen is mine, though. She's me fave!)
Here we go!
The Marauders: The Summer Before Year 5
I ran down into the kitchen, tugging my trunk along with me. "Morning Mrs. Potter! Morning Mr. Potter! Morning Freschia!"
Mrs. Potter smiled. She was a kindly lady, kind of plump with black wispy hair and deep, brown eyes. "Good morning, Sirius, darling. Is James still asleep? He knows that we need to get to the Leaky Cauldron!"
I smirked. "Nah. He's awake, just day dreaming 'bout Lily." Freschia, the Potter's house-elf, handed me a plate of toast and jam. "Thanks Freschia. Look's delicious." She smiled and curtsied. I began wolfing toast down.
Mr. Potter laughed. He looked like an older James, only with silver oval glasses. "Probably. Freschia, would you please go fetch James? Honey, why don't you take Sirius ahead to Diagon Alley to inform the others that James and I will be along shortly?"
Mrs. Potter nodded. "Of course, Jeff, dear. Come along, Sirius." I shoved my last piece of toast in my mouth and grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder from Mrs. Potter.
"Bye Freschia!" I threw some Floo Powder into the fire and in with my trunk. "Diagon Alley!" I spun and spun until finally...
"Sup, Sirius?" Remus stood in front of me. I strode out of the fireplace and into the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hey Rem! Where are the ladies?" I asked, noticing that only Peter was with him.
"Still getting ready! Have you seen Karen? Man, she looks hot!" Remus said to me pointedly.
"Aw, shut up. Do you want Trish to know that you were scoping another chick?" I responded teasingly. Remus and I began mock fighting.
"Watch out boys!" Mrs. Potter stepped out of the fireplace. "James and Jeff will be along in a moment."
"Hi Mrs. Potter. Hey, could you go get the girls? They've been readying for like an hour!" gasped Remus, as I had him in a head lock. "Mercy!" I let him go.
"Of course boys. I'll have Tom take your trunk upstairs. Jeff is bringing your owl. You are in room 14. Tom will take your stuff up later." Mrs. Potter went upstairs. Tom came over, handed me a key and flew my trunk upstairs. A few minutes later, James came out.
"Finally! We've been waiting for, like, eternity!" exclaimed Remus.
James laughed. "Nice to see you too, Remus. My dad got an emergency owl from the Ministry, so he'll be along momentarily. You know, Auror business." He looked around. "Where are the girls?"
I shrugged. "Dunno. I think that they went all the way to the Black Forest to get their make- Ow!" A hand slapped the back of my head. I whirled around and there stood Karen. And she looked hot! Her golden-brown, shoulder length hair looked wrinkly and glimmered like gold. Her chocolate brown eyes stood out from the shimmery green eye gunk and her tan skin. She was smiling with perfect, white teeth that were framed by pink, shiny lips. She had on an army green shirt that was off-shoulder and had long, baggy sleeves and went a little below her waist. She also had on tight jeans and flip-flops.
"Watch what you say, Sirius," Karen said jokingly. "After all, everyone knows who the better Beater is."
I tried to stop gawking. "What happened to you?" Lily and Trisha came up behind her.
"We gave her a sense of style." answered Trisha simply, who looked really nice as well. Her long blond hair was perfectly straight with little flowers in it. Her deep blue eyes were surrounded by deep purple eye goo and outlined by her thick black eyelashes. Her light pink cheeks matched her glossy lips. She had on a peasant shirt the exact color of her eyes with little flowers embroidered in it, a long denim skirt and some sandals.
Lily's long, reddish-brown hair was piled on top of her head with red roses adorning it. Her brilliant green eyes had flaming red eye stuff around it, with lightly powdered orange surrounding that. She had on an orange blouse with a red suede vest over it and a matching red skirt. She had on knee high orange boots with heels. All three girls look great, but I still couldn't get over Karen.
Before we left for Diagon Alley, Karen pulled me aside. "Um... Sirius? I kind of need a little favor from you."
"What do you need?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't realize how nervous I was to e alone with her.
Karen looked straight into my eyes. "You see, I arranged with my Muggle sister to meet her tonight at a Muggle restaurant and she's bringing her boyfriend... so, basically I was wondering if you'd pretend to be mine? Please?" She mock pouted.
"Well... okay, I guess." I shrugged, trying to look calm and like it was no big deal.
Karen smiled and hugged me. "Thank you! Now, let's go get some Stink Pellets! I used most of mine in Lily's perfume. I taught them to play Quidditch! They're pretty decent Chasers!" She smiled again.
I thought for a moment. "We do need some Chasers. And Peter is going for Keeper. James is probably going to be Quidditch Captain. He's already a Prefect." I shuddered.
Karen smirked. "Turning into a little goody-goody, eh? Well, Lily will be happy. She's a Prefect too. Ugh, Lily and Trisha have been drilling me for info on James and Remus all summer! It's driving me nuts!"
We caught up with the group. "Finally! What have you two been doing?" asked Trisha teasingly.
"Trying to remember which lip gloss I put ground up flobberworm in." Karen replied, grinning.
James stepped in. "Let's go get our robes. I wonder why we need dress robes this year?"
Lily shook her head. "Don't you know? Every 26 years Hogwarts has a ball. This is one of the years." Everyone looked at her.
"How do you know that?" asked James awestruck.
"It's in Hogwarts a History, of course!" Everyone groaned as we entered Madam Malkin's Robe Shop. Madam Malkin came up to us cheerfully.
"Hello! Here for Hogwarts? Let me see what color fits you best. Ladies first. Boys, come back in a half hour for your fitting." The girls stepped up onto three of the stools as we left.
"So... why don't we go to the Magical Menagerie? Lily's 16th birthday is today and I'd like to get her a cat." said James and I snickered. "Oh, shut up Sirius! Anyways, what's going on between you and Karen?"
"Nothing! What makes you think that!" I felt my face burning.
"I saw you scoping her!" accused James. We entered the Magical Menagerie.
"Okay, dude, new subject. I hear that Lily and Trisha are trying out for Chasers."
Remus looked at me. "No way! Dude, that's, like, totally stellar! All of us will be on the team!"
James pointed at a small beige and white kitten. "That cat's perfect for Lily!"
While James paid for the cat, Remus, Peter and I talked about the development of the Animagi Potion. James and I had brewed it during the summer and it just needed to be drunken.
Once James finished paying for the cat, we dropped it off at the Leaky Cauldron, then headed over to Madam Malkin's.
"So, what are we gonna do tonight?" asked Remus as we passed the Apothecary/ I remembered my plans with Karen.
"I can't do anything tonight. Got plans."
James' interest perked. "Really? Whatcha doin'?"
"None of your business, Jamie Potty." I answered. They prodded me until I finally cracked. "Fine! Karen wants my help with a prank. Happy?" I answered sharply. Peter opened the door to the robe shop.
The three girls stood waiting for us, looking impatient. "Finally!" exclaimed Karen. "We'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron in 30. Okay? Okay!" The three girls walked out, but Karen turned to look at us again. "If you're on time, I'll give you presents." she sang and left.
Madam Malkin scurried over to us. "Onto the stools, please. I'll have my helpers measure you."
"Alright, ma'am." we answered. Two witches and a wizard came over and began measuring Remus, James and me while Madam Malkin measured Peter.
"Man, the girls are looking psychedelic." said Remus.
"Yeah..." said James dreamily.
"Dude, James has gone back into Lala, or should I say Lily, Land." smirked Remus.
"Yeah, he's totally outtie!" I sniggered.
"Oh, shut up!" said James, turning bright red. "Sirius, what are you really doing tonight?"
"Some joke, okay? She wouldn't tell me the details." I said, glaring as I lied.
"W-won't she t-tell Lily and-d T-trisha?" asked Peter. He always stuttered when he was tired.
"Good point, Petey!" said Remus slyly.
"Oh man, I just remembered that I'm going to dinner at Lily's tonight!" said James, shaking his head.
"Awwwwwwww!" Remus and I laughed. "How cuuuuuuuute! Dinner with his girrrrlfriend!"
Before James could retort, Madam Malkin spoke. "Okay boys. I need to find the right color of robes for each of you." She waved her wand and we were in robes. James' were pure white with silver trimming, Remus' were tie-dye, Peter's were dark gray with black lining and mine were red with gold trimming.
"My, aren't you all handsome looking!" exclaimed Madam Malkin, clasping her hands together.
"Psy-!" shouted Remus.
"Che-!" called James.
"Del-!" squeaked Peter.
"Ic! We'll take 'em!" I said. We paid for our robes and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. Karen greeted us.
"Hey, we're meeting in my room, so put your stuff away and come up." Karen got a really big room since she lives here.
Ten minutes later, we were all gathered there.
"Okay. I called you all here to tell you who you are."
I smirked. "We know who we are. I'm Sirius, that's James, that's Lily, that's Remus, that's Trisha, that's Peter and you're Karen."
Karen shook her head and looked at me. "I'm afraid that you're wrong Sirius, or should I say, Heir of Gryffindor. Lily's the Eyes of the Sea, James is the Bird of Flight, Trisha is the Warrior of Heart, Remus is the Werewolf, Peter is the Rat of Dark and I, my friends, am the Seer. We together are the Marauders."
Everyone looked at her, dumbfounded. "What are you talking about?" asked Lily.
"Perhaps I should explain." a voice said. We whirled around and saw Dumbledore standing there with a large, beaten box.
"Hello Professor!" said Karen. "Thank you for coming on such short notice." she took the box from Dumbledore.
"You're quite welcome Karen." He said smiling. "You all are a part of the Legend of Marauders, of mischief makers. This legend will destroy the Dark Lord, Voldemort. We found you because on your first day, Karen told me of a dream that she'd had, going very much with what will happen in the future. You further proved yourselves as the Marauders by your bouts of mischief, which is stated in the Legend. I can't tell you much else, except to listen to Karen. Goodbye, and I shall see you at Hogwarts.." With that, Dumbledore disappeared.
"Okay... that was strange..." said Trisha.
Karen handed each of us a small velvet box. They all gold emblems on them. "Touch the emblem," instructed Karen, "And it will open for you. Inside will be a necklace. You must wear it at all times. Tell no one of this. No one." She emphasized.
I touched the small gold lion and my box flew open. I picked up the silver necklace and put it on. Once everyone had theirs on, Karen smiled. "Okay, done with that! Now let's go shopping!"
We spent the next few hours buying school supplies and prank supplies. Around noon we headed back to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch.
We met Mrs. Potter just outside of it. "Hello, dears! How has your day been?"
"Hello Mrs. Potter! We've had a groovy time!" said Remus happily.
"That's good. Why don't we go into London after lunch to pick up some clothes from under your dress robes?" said Mrs. Potter smiling. "Oh, James, that owl your father got this morning? Well, we have to go away tonight on Auror business." Karen got a strange look on her face.
"Okay, Mom. Well, lunchtime." James led us in, but I pulled Karen aside just outside of the door.
"Alright, what is going to happen to the Potter's?" I asked.
"N-nothing! W-what m-makes you th-think th-that?" she was obviously lying.
"I know that you saw something. What was it?" I asked harshly. Karen bursts into tears and leaned against me. I had never seen her really cry before. I absent mindedly stroked her hair.
"The P-potters are... gon-na d-die!" she sobbed.
'The Potters are going to die?' I thought. They'd been like parents to me. Karen stepped away from me and pulled out a Magic Wipe Hanky and a second later, there was no sign that she'd been crying and she was smiling. She handed it to me and I did the same.
"Don't tell James. Don't tell anyone. Ever." she whispered as we entered the Leaky Cauldron.
It hurt me to look at Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Every time they laughed or spoke, I tucked it into my memory. I could sense that Karen was doing the same. Finally, everyone was done eating.
"Okay, all ladies go with Mrs. Potter. Laddies, you come with me!" The girls went off towards the Underground. "Fella's, let's get your suits! I know a fine Muggle store that we can go to. I have some Muggle money, and don't worry about paying me back."
Five minutes later, we were in a tailors shop. A cheerful looking man came out. "Good day, good day! How may I help you fine gentlemen today?"
Mr. Potter answered. "These boys need some nice suits."
"Of course, sir. Now, we have a large selection of suits. Please take your time and ring the bell when you're done." The man ran back to the back room.
"Perfectus." muttered Mr. Potter, touching his wand lightly. Four suits came flying to each of us. I ran over and rang the bell and the man scurried back into the room.
"Already? Well, let me find your sizes-"
"They're their sizes." Mr. Potter interrupted. He handed the man some money. "Here. This should cover the suits. Goodbye and have a good day."
About twenty minutes later, we were all back at the Leaky Cauldron. The girls were talking excitedly about their new dresses.
"Hey, why don't we all go to Quality Quidditch Supplies and buy some brooms for the team." said Mrs. Potter. "I hear that they just got some pretty groovy brooms!"
"Cool! Let's go!" We all ran to the store.
Karen picked up a broom. "Hmmmm... ' The Nimbus 500 accelerates to 100 mph in 10 seconds. It can go up to 150 mph'" she ran her fingers along it. "Oh. It's maple. Never mind."
"Why isn't it any good?" asked Lily, looking confused.
"One hit with a Bludger and it falls apart." I answered simply.
Karen nodded. "We need ash with birch twigs. Ah, here's one! 'The Silver Arrow.' Perfect!" It was beautiful. It's sleek ash handle had Silver Arrow written on it and connected to perfectly straight birch twigs.
Mr. Potter looked at it. "Karen, you have a good eye." Karen blushed, fingering her necklace. Mr. Potter glanced at it and looked around the group. I realized that my necklace was also hanging out. "Uh, honey, can you please pay for the brooms. Karen and Sirius, will you come with me? I need your help with something." He led us out the door. Outside, he pulled us into a narrow space between some buildings. "Privatium." He muttered.
Karen and I glanced at each other nervously. "Okay. You two are Marauders. Is my son one as well?"
"Yes. He's the Bird of Flight." answered Karen quietly. "Don't worry, he doesn't know what's going to happen except me. But I don't even know everything."
Mr. Potter shook his head. "So, that makes Lily the Eyes of the Sea and you, Sirius, the Heir of Gryffindor. Karen, you don't want to know what's going to happen to you. You and the Heart of Beauty have it the worst." I was confused. "Who's the Heart of Beauty?"
Karen smiled. "You'll find out in a few years. But Mr. Potter, how do you know about the Legend?" "All Aurors must learn it. Tell me, Karen, what have you seen that caused you two to act so strangely around me?"
Karen looked from me to Mr. Potter. Finally, she sighed. "Mr. Potter," Karen began softly, "Tomorrow, you and Mrs. Potter are going to... die."
Mr. Potter sat down hard. "Oh no... you didn't see it, did you?"
Karen nodded. "Yes, I did. It will be fighting. You and Mrs. Potter will be brave until the last second."
Mr. Potter shook his head. "Where will James go? He'll be an orphan."
Karen sat down next to him. "Write a note tonight and send it to Dumbledore. Put him in the custody of Hogwarts, like me. Set all of your affairs in order." she spoke with reason.
"Okay. Just... just promise me one thing."
"Anything Mr. Potter." I answered.
"Take care of each other. Karen, this year is going to be the first of your bad years. After telling the others, the Seer will have bad fortune until she reveals herself to the Heart of Beauty and the Bird of the Sea. Sirius, your bad fortune won't be for a few years. I wish both of you the best of luck." He removed the Privacy Charm that he'd placed on us. At once, Mrs. Potter came over.
"Here you are! I've been looking for you everywhere. The others are all at the Ice Cream shop."
Karen glanced at her watch. "Oh! It's four thirty already! Sirius, we need to meet my sister at five fifteen!"
Mrs. Potter nodded. "Well, we probably won't see you again before we leave, so goodbye!"
I hugged Mrs. Potter. "Thank you for everything! You've been like a mother to me. I love you." I looked in her eyes.
"Thank you, Sirius, dear. Have fun at Hogwarts and don't get expelled." She looked a bit confused.
Karen hugged her. "I'll miss you." she whispered and pulled apart, fingering her necklace.
Realization dawned on Mrs. Potter. "Oh! You're the Marauders!"
Karen nodded. "Mr. Potter will explain everything I told him later."
I went over and hugged Mr. Potter. "Goodbye. I'll miss you. You've been like the father that I never had."
Mr. Potter smiled. Karen hugged him. "Goodbye. We'll do everything that you asked."
We walked away slowly and in silence. Finally, at the Leaky Cauldron, Karen spoke. "Wear your new suit. I'll be in your room in a few minutes."
I changed into my suit and fifteen minutes later, Karen entered. She had on a short black dress. The top was shaped like a hexagon. A black ribbon went around her neck and was attack to a silver ring that was connected to her the top of her dress. The bottom of the top ended in a point that also had a silver ring going around her belly button and was attached to the bottom of her dress, which ended a few inches above her knee. She also had on high heeled black boots that went to her knees. Her hair was straight and had little braids in it. Her eyes were lined with black stuff and had dark gray surrounding it. Her cheekbones seemed higher and her lips were dark red around the edges, a couple shades lighter on the inside and glossy.
"Y-you look great." I stammered. She grinned.
"Thanks. So do you. Let's go then. We can take the Muggle Underground. I have Muggle money to pay." She looked at me expectantly.
"Oh, right. The door." I opened it and she walked out. We went downstairs and out the front door. A little ways down the street we went down the stairs to buy tickets for the Underground and five minutes later we were on the train.
"You know," I said trying to strike up a conversation, "I've never been on the Underground before."
Karen raised her eyebrows. "Really? Well, it's not much. Just a speeding train underground. I wonder what she's like? My sister, I mean. I haven't seen her for a long time."
I shrugged. "I don't know." I said absent mindedly. "I hope that she's as pretty and groovy as you-" I stopped. "Damn, did I say that out loud?" Karen nodded. "Ah, what the hell." I leaned over and kissed her. She seemed pretty shocked, but put her arms around me and returned it. After a few moments we broke apart. She looked at me.
"Did I just snog with you?" I nodded and she grinned. "At least I won't have to pretend that you're my boyfriend now."
I put my arm around her. "Yeah... Oh fuck! What are the others gonna say?" Karen giggled. "Probably that it's about time. Now only little Petey needs a girl."
"Hmph. Who'd wanna date him?" I smirked and Karen looked up.
"Oh, here's our stop. How do I look?" She patted her hair nervously.
"Gorgeous. Come on." She picked up her purse and grabbed my hand. We went up the stairs and came up onto the street.
"Okay, there's the restaurant. Let's go!" Karen pointed at a nice looking Italian restaurant. We went inside. Karen looked around nervously, then stopped. "It's her." she whispered and led me over to a girl who looked almost exactly like Karen, only her hair was a little longer and her eyes were hazel. The girl had on a wild print dress that went to her knees and platform boots that went her knees.
"Carolyn?" Karen asked.
"Karen! Oh my gosh, you look awesome!" they hugged.
"Thanks! So do you! How are you?"
"Great and you?"
"Awesome! This is my boyfriend, Sirius." I smiled and shook Carolyn's hand. "He's under strict orders not to play any practical jokes tonight or else I'll kick his ass at Quidditch and hit a few Bludgers at him to break his puny neck." Carolyn looked confused. "I'll explain later."
Carolyn smiled. "This is Jack Samson, my boyfriend." She gestured to the blond boy next to her. I shook his hand.
"Hi, nice to meet you." I said. "Wait, are you by any chance related to Carla Samson?" Carla was a Hufflepuff girl in our year who was a big flirt.
"Yeah. She's my sister, but I'm a Squib."
Carolyn looked even more confused. "What's a Squib?"
"A person born into a magical family who can't do magic." answered Karen.
The hostess called out. "Marcus, party of four."
We followed her to a small table in a dark corner of the restaurant. Dinner went great. Carolyn told Karen some of the stuff that had happened over the past few years, while Karen and I told about Hogwarts and Quidditch. Karen promised to teach Carolyn to play someday. Towards the end of the night, Karen was telling Carolyn her future when she stopped. "Oh shit. Phillip and Patty are coming. We've gotta hide. Come on Sirius, under the able." Karen and I squeezed underneath, putting our food on the windowsill behind us and bringing our other stuff. Seconds later, footsteps approached the table.
"Carolyn, Jack, what are you two doing here? Why don't we join you?" Karen motioned for me to crawl under some other tables to get out. As Karen crawled out, she slipped an envelope into Carolyn's purse.
"Okay, now, let's go back. How do I look?" She still looked fine.
"Great, but why-?" she linked her arm through mine and led me back. As soon as we were near the table, she smiled.
"Hello Phillip! Patty! Carolyn! How are you?" Karen forced a smile.
"Karen." hissed Patty. "What are you doing here?" "Oh, my boyfriend, Sirius, and I decided to come to dinner and had heard that this was the best wizard run Italian restaurant in London so we came."
"This restaurant isn't wizard run!" said Phillip. Karen raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, wanna bet? Excuse me, miss?" Karen stopped a passing waitress. "May I speak with your manager please? I would like to give him my regards." The waitress smiled. "Of course. I'll have him here in a moment." The waitress went off.
Karen smiled. "So, how's it been going" Wait! I should know this, as I'm a Seer!" she closed her eyes and put her fingers to her temples. "Phillip, you got promoted! Congratulations! Patty, I'm so sorry that you had to have surgery on your leg last year! Carolyn, I hope that you make cheerleading! Just work on you toe touches and you'll do great!" A man came up to us.
"Hello! How may I help you?" "Oh, sir! I just wanted to know what was your favorite lesson at Hogwarts! I mean, did you like Dumbledore?"
The man smiled. "Ah! A young witch! Yes, Dumbledore was quite a teacher! I understand that he's Headmaster now?"
Karen nodded. "Yes. His replacement was McGonagall."
"Minerva? Oh my, does she give a lot of detentions?" I grinned. "Yeah. I can't understand why she doesn't like Biting Teacups. I mean, it was only latched to her nose for a few hours!"
The man grinned. "Ah. Troublemakers are you?"
Karen and I bowed. "The best." I replied.
"I would love to hear of some of your pranks some time! And who do you have with you?" the man looked at the Marcus' and Jack.
"My Muggle parents and sister and her boyfriend. My former parents don't like magic and right now they want to burn you at the stake. I am a Seer, so I can tell what they are thinking."
The man shook their hands. "Hello! I'm Marco Viencero! How you've got quite a daughter! Since she's so nice, free desert to you! Here!" He clapped his hands and several platters appeared. There were Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Jelly Beans, Pepper Imps, Pumpkin Pasties and Licorice Wands. "Oh, and here are some drinks!" He conjured a few Butterbeers. "Enjoy and come back soon!" He vanished into the air.
"Yum! Butterbeer!" I grabbed a Butterbeer.
"What is this stuff?" asked Carolyn curiously.
"Candy! You've got Chocolate, pasties, jelly beans, licorice and some pepper that makes you breath fire. And Butterbeer, which is a great drink. Be careful with the jelly beans, since you can get any flavor." Karen cautioned. Carolyn bit into the Frog.
"Yum! This is the best chocolate that I've ever had!" She took out the card. "Wow! It moves!"
I took a look at the card. "Oh cool! It's the Beatles! I've been looking for that card! Hey, can I have it?" Carolyn handed it to me and I put it in my pocket as it started singing 'Yellow Submarine'.
Mt. and Mrs. Marcus tentatively took some Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Jelly Beans. As Mrs. Marcus bit into hers, she shrieked. "It's horseradish flavored!"
Karen smiled. "Warned ya! Anyways, we've got to go. School starts tomorrow and if someone," she glared at me, "Doesn't get twelve hours of sleep, he's very cranky. Bye!" As we turned to leave, I looked pleadingly at Karen. "Oh, fine! But don't hit Jack or Carolyn!"
I gently tossed a Dungbomb at Mr. Marcus and we ran out laughing as it burst. The ride back to the Leaky Cauldron was pretty quiet.
"Wonder what Remus and Trisha did tonight." I said thoughtfully. Karen laid her head on my shoulder and laughed.
"Are you sure that you want to know?"
Someone came up to us and grabbed Karen. It was Phillip. He shook her roughly. "What did you do think that you were doing, coming to that restaurant to see Carolyn without our permission? You are a filthy little bitch!" I stood up and looked him straight in the eyes. I was taller and stronger then him.
"Leave Karen alone." I said threateningly. He turned and looked at me.
"Oh? And what are you going to do about it?" I grinned.
"I'm not going to do anything, but she is." Karen kicked him really hard and the shin and left him hopping we got of the train and ran up the stair. A little ways away, Karen broke down crying.
"I shouldn't have gone! Now Carolyn will probably hate me more as will my parents! I'm so stupid." I tilted her chin up.
"Hey. You're not stupid. You're smart, beautiful, kind, mischievous.... Besides, how many people at school hate you, aside from the Slytherins?"
She looked thoughtful as she wiped her eyes with her hanky. "Most girls, since I'm friends with you guys." Karen frowned. "Man, only half of the school hates me." I laughed, then Karen grew quiet. "What are we going to say to James? How can I speak to him? I mean, I could save his parents!" I hugged Karen tightly.
"You told his parents that they were going to die. You warned them and they chose to still go on. So, it was their choice, not yours." I kissed her on the forehead and we walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. As soon as we entered, laughter rang out.
"I was serious when I said that they'd go out!" exclaimed Lily she had the kitten that James had gotten her on her lap.
"You were me! Wow! How'd you do that?" I teased.
Karen smirked. "Well, Lily and James, how'd your date go?"
Lily smiled. "Quite well, actually. Petunia even acted semi-normal. I think that she likes you, James."
James shuddered. "Lily, why was your dad polishing that Muggle gun when I came? That kinda freaked me out."
Karen laughed. "He gave you the gun routine?" James nodded. "You better treat Lily good!" She winked at Lily.
Trisha yawned. "Well, I'm beat. G'night." She smiled at Remus and the other girls followed her upstairs.
"So Remus, how was your night?" I asked, remembering what Karen had said.
"Great! Trish and I fooled around a bit. Well, I'm beat too. Petey, why don't we walk up together?" As Remus and Peter left, Tom came over with a brown parcel.
"Mr. Potter, your parents left this for you." After Tom walked away, James ripped the parcel open. Inside, there were two rings, two necklaces, an enchanted map making kit and...
"An Invisibility Cloak!" exclaimed James. I picked up the letter and handed it to him. He opened it and Mrs. Potter's voice filled the room.
"Dear James,
"Your father and I have left on an important mission. As you know, Lord Voldemort is rising to power quickly and must be stopped. You and your friends are a part of the Legend of Marauders. You can't be told the entire Legend. Karen doesn't even know the whole thing. But, you must be aware that to stop something this evil, sacrifices must be made. Your father and I are some of the sacrifices." James' eyes went wide. "Our mission is purely suicidal. But, our deaths will be avenged. You won't live to see it, but it will happen, we assure you.
"Now, if anyone else is in the room, tell them to leave. Only you, Sirius and at parts Lily may hear after this. Now, I'll tell you a little about the Legend of Marauders. Sirius, you really must look after Karen. She may say that she's fine, but go with your instincts. James. you must love Lily with all of your heart. Both of you, watch out for Peter. After all, he is the Rat of Dark.
"The stuff in the box will help you to have fun at Hogwarts. Upon arriving at Hogwarts, give Professor Dumbledore the necklaces and the rings, but use the rest as much as you'd like. Your father and I love you with all of our hearts. Good bye and good luck." Tears were brimming in James' eyes. I didn't know what to do, so I gently patted him on the back.
"Um... hey." We turned around and saw Lily. She saw James' face at once. "James, what's wrong?" she ran over and embraced him.
"M-my parents! Th-they're g-goin-ng to die tom-morrow!" He choked. I got the feeling that they wanted to be left alone.
Upstairs, I knocked on Karen's door. She opened it, dressed in her Gryffindor Beater night shirt and blushed.
I blushed as well. "Hey. Uh, Mrs. Potter sent James a letter telling him that they were gonna die. They sent him some stuff that they wanted him to have."
Karen nodded. "Hey, do you want to come in? I have to tell you something." I walked in and sat on the couch and Karen came over and sat beside me. "What do you want to tell me?"
"Well, according to the Legend, you and I are, well, supposed to get married someday. And we'll have a daughter. The Heart of Beauty." I grinned.
"Really? Well, that's groovy." Karen leaned over and kissed me. After several minutes, I broke away and glanced at my watch.
"Damn! I need to get to sleep. Otherwise I won't be able to wake up!" I exclaimed.
Karen laughed. "You never are up. Okay, well good night." I walked out and got ready for bed. For a while before I drifted off to sleep, I thought of how long that day seemed to me.
*~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~*
"AHHHHHH!!!! NO!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!! NOT AGAIN!!! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF ME!!! DEATH EATERS!!! GO AWAY!!! PLEASE!!!" Screams pierced the still night air. I ran to where they were coming from: Karen's room. She was thrashing and hitting the air. I knelt by her and grabbed her shoulders gently. She seemed to loosen a bit. "Thank goodness you're here." she murmured and went limp. The others now stood in the doorway.
"What's happening?" muttered Remus. "It's nine in... the morning... no... train... eleven..." he fell back on Trisha, who rested him on the doorpost.
Karen stirred. "What the... Where am I? Oh! It was a dream. Did I wake you?" we nodded. "I'm so sorry!"
Lily came over and gently brushed Karen's hair back. "That's okay. We needed to get the boys up. I'm surprised that they are even up."
"Yeah, " said Trisha, who was doodling on Remus' face with a quill and Animated Ink. "You deserve an Order of Merlin, First Class for that! At the very least. Well, let's have some early morning fun." she smiled. "Remus! Remus, wake up!" Trisha shook his shoulders. "Malfoy is parading around with a sign that says 'Dungbombs suck!'" that woke Remus right up.
"Where is that little-" Remus looked a round and saw us laughing. "What?"
I handed him a mirror and he screamed. Trisha had drawn bunny ears, a bunny nose and whiskers on him. He ran out of the room screaming.
Trisha sighed. "I'd better go help him get it off." she ran out of the room after him.
Lily patted James on the stomach. "Well, big boy, I'll help you get packed. Come on." she dragged him out of the room.
I looked around. "Where's Peter?" I didn't see him anymore.
Karen shrugged. "Dunno. What was I screaming?"
"Um.... stuff like 'Leave me alone' and 'Get your hands off me'. I think I heard 'Death Eaters' somewhere. But when I touched you, you said 'Thank goodness you're here' and went limp like you fainted or something. Karen, what happened?"
She turned pale. "Sirius, I want to tell you, but you'd try to prevent it. Unfortunately, it must happen. I'm sorry." She began crying.
I hugged her tight. "That's okay. I trust you Karen. I suppose that I'll find out later, though." I got up and let go of Karen. "I need to go get ready. My room is almost as bad as James'. See ya downstairs."
I threw all of my stuff into my trunk and pushed it and my owl, Petrificus, downstairs. Everyone was already down there.
"Hey Remus! Sup?" I asked high fiving him.
"Nothing really. Still tired."
"Cool. Hey, guys, why don't we go to a Muggle restaurant to eat?" I smiled.
James shrugged. "Why not? Let's go!"
"We have to be back at 10:30 to go to Kings Cross, so let's hurry." Trisha said. We ran out the door and to a Muggle diner down the street. I sat with Remus, Trisha and Karen.
"So, what pranks are we going to pull on the Snake's this year?" asked Karen, taking a bite of eggs. By the end of breakfast, we had a full agenda of pranks planned. After a while, I glanced at my watch.
"Oh shit! It's 10:45! Let's go!" Karen threw down some money and we ran out the door and to the Leaky Cauldron. The Ministry cars that were supposed take us to King's Cross were there and the drivers were putting our stuff in the cars. Karen, Remus, Trisha and me all got into one and James, Lily and Peter got in the other.
Soon, we were at the train station. We grabbed our stuff and ran onto Platform 9 3/4, only to find that the train had left.
"Oh man! What are we going to do?" asked Remus.
Trisha looked thoughtful. "We can have an adult enchant our stuff with a Weightless Charm and tie the stuff to our brooms with a Binding Charm and fly to Hogwarts."
Karen smiled. "Awesome idea! There's Mrs. Figg, you know, Arabella's mom. Hello Mrs. Figg!"
Mrs. Figg came over. "Oh, hello children! I'm afraid that you've missed the train."
Karen smiled sweetly. "Yes, I'm afraid so. Could you please perform a few spells on our trunks so that we may fly to Hogwarts and not miss our first day of classes?"
Mrs. Figg smiled. "Of course, honey. I owe for saving my dear cat, Mr. Plump, from the Devil's Snare." She enchanted our trunks and we climbed onto our brooms. "Now, stay above the clouds so that no one sees you. As soon as you see the train, get onto it. Fly safely! Watch out for Muggle puh-lanes. Say hi to Arabella for me!"
"Of course, Mrs. Figg!" I said politely. "Thank you. We rose higher and higher. After a couple of hours of flying, we spotted the train.
"You know..." said Lily slyly, "About now the lunch cart should be coming around. We could buy some food and come back up and hang around in Hogsmeade till the train comes!"
"Awesome idea, Lily!" exclaimed James.
We flew into the last compartment of the train, which had a window open. Each of us squeezed in.
When the lunch cart came around, we were all sitting and playing Gobstones, courtesy James Transfiguring our brooms into a set.
"Hello, children! Usual?" she asked, smiling.
"Yes, please!" The witch, whose name was Madame Charrette, handed us several packages of everything on the cart.
"Thanks Madame Charrette! See you at the end of the year!" We called after her. I slammed the door shut and James Transfigured our stuff back. James laughed.
"You know, our brooms might still squirt stuff at people when we get a point." We laughed and flew out the window, which had been magically expanded by Lily. As we flew, we ate our food and talked. An hour later, we were in Hogsmeade. We threw on our robes and took out our wands and money so that Karen could Banish our stuff back onto the train.
"Let's rock and roll!" shouted Trisha and we ran into Zonko's. Several hours later, we heard the Hogwarts Express come into the station. Quickly, we paid for our stuff and left. Lily thrust out her arms to stop us.
"We can't go that way. Teachers will be guarding it. But," she pulled out her wand, "I'm sure that there's a secret passageway to Hogwarts around here somewhere other than the Whomping Willow's." "Yeah, but how will we find it in just a few minutes?" asked Peter.
Lily waved her wand. "Secret Traversee Trouvaille!" a piece of parchment appeared with a small map of Hogsmeade on it. Seven red dots appeared, each marking an entrance to a passageway. Lily surveyed the map closely. "The closest one's in the Honeydukes cellar. Come on."
We ran into Honeydukes and slipped into the cellar. Lily checked the map again. "Okay, it should be right about..." she got onto her knees and dug her nails a crack and pulled up. "Here!" a set of steps appeared.
"Wow! That's, like, totally groovy!" exclaimed Remus. We crawled in, Karen first, then me, then Trisha, then Remus, then Lilly, then James, with Peter bring up the rear. We ran through the passage as quickly as we could. A few minutes later, we were at a dead end. A wooden ladder led up to a black dome. Karen crawled up it and pushed the dome up.
"Cool!" she exclaimed and climbed up, with me following. We were at the statue of the one eyed witch. Everyone else came up, looking filthy. Karen pulled out her wand. "Here. Sudsiora." she circled her wand around us and we were clean.
We ran downstairs to the Great Hall and were about to enter it, but I felt a hand go on my shoulder.
"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to grace us with their presence."
A/N: Heh, heh. I finally got it up, only to leave you hanging once more. I'll have more time to write soon, as school ends June 5th ::does flips around the room:: Anyways, until then we won't do anything in class but watch movies, so I'll have plenty of time to write.
Next part will also be Sirius and much longer (This was 25 pages handwritten and my writing is tiny). Sorry about the Sirius/serious joke, it's a MWPP requirement.
Hope you liked the story! R/R to tell me what you think. Please give me ten reviews this time and R/R my other stuff.
Love, peace and chicken grease!
~Parvati~
Also, warning: I attempted to use 70's language as well as guy language (i.e. eye gunk= eyeshadow), but those are both foreign languages to me and as none of me guy friends would understand this story, I can't have it proof-read and as I'm supposed to be banned from fanfiction until I bring my math grade up to a C, I can't have people who actually lived during the ::gasp:: 70s proof-read the story or even know I'm typing it and I'm supposed to be researching the Alamo. (I'm using library computers to upload and typing in the middle of the night)
Disclaimer: I'll leave it up to you to figure out which characters belong to the goddess J.K. Rowling and which belong to the struggling fanfic writer whose only known on the web as Parvati Brown and known at school as a prep. (Karen is mine, though. She's me fave!)
Here we go!
The Marauders: The Summer Before Year 5
I ran down into the kitchen, tugging my trunk along with me. "Morning Mrs. Potter! Morning Mr. Potter! Morning Freschia!"
Mrs. Potter smiled. She was a kindly lady, kind of plump with black wispy hair and deep, brown eyes. "Good morning, Sirius, darling. Is James still asleep? He knows that we need to get to the Leaky Cauldron!"
I smirked. "Nah. He's awake, just day dreaming 'bout Lily." Freschia, the Potter's house-elf, handed me a plate of toast and jam. "Thanks Freschia. Look's delicious." She smiled and curtsied. I began wolfing toast down.
Mr. Potter laughed. He looked like an older James, only with silver oval glasses. "Probably. Freschia, would you please go fetch James? Honey, why don't you take Sirius ahead to Diagon Alley to inform the others that James and I will be along shortly?"
Mrs. Potter nodded. "Of course, Jeff, dear. Come along, Sirius." I shoved my last piece of toast in my mouth and grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder from Mrs. Potter.
"Bye Freschia!" I threw some Floo Powder into the fire and in with my trunk. "Diagon Alley!" I spun and spun until finally...
"Sup, Sirius?" Remus stood in front of me. I strode out of the fireplace and into the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hey Rem! Where are the ladies?" I asked, noticing that only Peter was with him.
"Still getting ready! Have you seen Karen? Man, she looks hot!" Remus said to me pointedly.
"Aw, shut up. Do you want Trish to know that you were scoping another chick?" I responded teasingly. Remus and I began mock fighting.
"Watch out boys!" Mrs. Potter stepped out of the fireplace. "James and Jeff will be along in a moment."
"Hi Mrs. Potter. Hey, could you go get the girls? They've been readying for like an hour!" gasped Remus, as I had him in a head lock. "Mercy!" I let him go.
"Of course boys. I'll have Tom take your trunk upstairs. Jeff is bringing your owl. You are in room 14. Tom will take your stuff up later." Mrs. Potter went upstairs. Tom came over, handed me a key and flew my trunk upstairs. A few minutes later, James came out.
"Finally! We've been waiting for, like, eternity!" exclaimed Remus.
James laughed. "Nice to see you too, Remus. My dad got an emergency owl from the Ministry, so he'll be along momentarily. You know, Auror business." He looked around. "Where are the girls?"
I shrugged. "Dunno. I think that they went all the way to the Black Forest to get their make- Ow!" A hand slapped the back of my head. I whirled around and there stood Karen. And she looked hot! Her golden-brown, shoulder length hair looked wrinkly and glimmered like gold. Her chocolate brown eyes stood out from the shimmery green eye gunk and her tan skin. She was smiling with perfect, white teeth that were framed by pink, shiny lips. She had on an army green shirt that was off-shoulder and had long, baggy sleeves and went a little below her waist. She also had on tight jeans and flip-flops.
"Watch what you say, Sirius," Karen said jokingly. "After all, everyone knows who the better Beater is."
I tried to stop gawking. "What happened to you?" Lily and Trisha came up behind her.
"We gave her a sense of style." answered Trisha simply, who looked really nice as well. Her long blond hair was perfectly straight with little flowers in it. Her deep blue eyes were surrounded by deep purple eye goo and outlined by her thick black eyelashes. Her light pink cheeks matched her glossy lips. She had on a peasant shirt the exact color of her eyes with little flowers embroidered in it, a long denim skirt and some sandals.
Lily's long, reddish-brown hair was piled on top of her head with red roses adorning it. Her brilliant green eyes had flaming red eye stuff around it, with lightly powdered orange surrounding that. She had on an orange blouse with a red suede vest over it and a matching red skirt. She had on knee high orange boots with heels. All three girls look great, but I still couldn't get over Karen.
Before we left for Diagon Alley, Karen pulled me aside. "Um... Sirius? I kind of need a little favor from you."
"What do you need?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't realize how nervous I was to e alone with her.
Karen looked straight into my eyes. "You see, I arranged with my Muggle sister to meet her tonight at a Muggle restaurant and she's bringing her boyfriend... so, basically I was wondering if you'd pretend to be mine? Please?" She mock pouted.
"Well... okay, I guess." I shrugged, trying to look calm and like it was no big deal.
Karen smiled and hugged me. "Thank you! Now, let's go get some Stink Pellets! I used most of mine in Lily's perfume. I taught them to play Quidditch! They're pretty decent Chasers!" She smiled again.
I thought for a moment. "We do need some Chasers. And Peter is going for Keeper. James is probably going to be Quidditch Captain. He's already a Prefect." I shuddered.
Karen smirked. "Turning into a little goody-goody, eh? Well, Lily will be happy. She's a Prefect too. Ugh, Lily and Trisha have been drilling me for info on James and Remus all summer! It's driving me nuts!"
We caught up with the group. "Finally! What have you two been doing?" asked Trisha teasingly.
"Trying to remember which lip gloss I put ground up flobberworm in." Karen replied, grinning.
James stepped in. "Let's go get our robes. I wonder why we need dress robes this year?"
Lily shook her head. "Don't you know? Every 26 years Hogwarts has a ball. This is one of the years." Everyone looked at her.
"How do you know that?" asked James awestruck.
"It's in Hogwarts a History, of course!" Everyone groaned as we entered Madam Malkin's Robe Shop. Madam Malkin came up to us cheerfully.
"Hello! Here for Hogwarts? Let me see what color fits you best. Ladies first. Boys, come back in a half hour for your fitting." The girls stepped up onto three of the stools as we left.
"So... why don't we go to the Magical Menagerie? Lily's 16th birthday is today and I'd like to get her a cat." said James and I snickered. "Oh, shut up Sirius! Anyways, what's going on between you and Karen?"
"Nothing! What makes you think that!" I felt my face burning.
"I saw you scoping her!" accused James. We entered the Magical Menagerie.
"Okay, dude, new subject. I hear that Lily and Trisha are trying out for Chasers."
Remus looked at me. "No way! Dude, that's, like, totally stellar! All of us will be on the team!"
James pointed at a small beige and white kitten. "That cat's perfect for Lily!"
While James paid for the cat, Remus, Peter and I talked about the development of the Animagi Potion. James and I had brewed it during the summer and it just needed to be drunken.
Once James finished paying for the cat, we dropped it off at the Leaky Cauldron, then headed over to Madam Malkin's.
"So, what are we gonna do tonight?" asked Remus as we passed the Apothecary/ I remembered my plans with Karen.
"I can't do anything tonight. Got plans."
James' interest perked. "Really? Whatcha doin'?"
"None of your business, Jamie Potty." I answered. They prodded me until I finally cracked. "Fine! Karen wants my help with a prank. Happy?" I answered sharply. Peter opened the door to the robe shop.
The three girls stood waiting for us, looking impatient. "Finally!" exclaimed Karen. "We'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron in 30. Okay? Okay!" The three girls walked out, but Karen turned to look at us again. "If you're on time, I'll give you presents." she sang and left.
Madam Malkin scurried over to us. "Onto the stools, please. I'll have my helpers measure you."
"Alright, ma'am." we answered. Two witches and a wizard came over and began measuring Remus, James and me while Madam Malkin measured Peter.
"Man, the girls are looking psychedelic." said Remus.
"Yeah..." said James dreamily.
"Dude, James has gone back into Lala, or should I say Lily, Land." smirked Remus.
"Yeah, he's totally outtie!" I sniggered.
"Oh, shut up!" said James, turning bright red. "Sirius, what are you really doing tonight?"
"Some joke, okay? She wouldn't tell me the details." I said, glaring as I lied.
"W-won't she t-tell Lily and-d T-trisha?" asked Peter. He always stuttered when he was tired.
"Good point, Petey!" said Remus slyly.
"Oh man, I just remembered that I'm going to dinner at Lily's tonight!" said James, shaking his head.
"Awwwwwwww!" Remus and I laughed. "How cuuuuuuuute! Dinner with his girrrrlfriend!"
Before James could retort, Madam Malkin spoke. "Okay boys. I need to find the right color of robes for each of you." She waved her wand and we were in robes. James' were pure white with silver trimming, Remus' were tie-dye, Peter's were dark gray with black lining and mine were red with gold trimming.
"My, aren't you all handsome looking!" exclaimed Madam Malkin, clasping her hands together.
"Psy-!" shouted Remus.
"Che-!" called James.
"Del-!" squeaked Peter.
"Ic! We'll take 'em!" I said. We paid for our robes and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. Karen greeted us.
"Hey, we're meeting in my room, so put your stuff away and come up." Karen got a really big room since she lives here.
Ten minutes later, we were all gathered there.
"Okay. I called you all here to tell you who you are."
I smirked. "We know who we are. I'm Sirius, that's James, that's Lily, that's Remus, that's Trisha, that's Peter and you're Karen."
Karen shook her head and looked at me. "I'm afraid that you're wrong Sirius, or should I say, Heir of Gryffindor. Lily's the Eyes of the Sea, James is the Bird of Flight, Trisha is the Warrior of Heart, Remus is the Werewolf, Peter is the Rat of Dark and I, my friends, am the Seer. We together are the Marauders."
Everyone looked at her, dumbfounded. "What are you talking about?" asked Lily.
"Perhaps I should explain." a voice said. We whirled around and saw Dumbledore standing there with a large, beaten box.
"Hello Professor!" said Karen. "Thank you for coming on such short notice." she took the box from Dumbledore.
"You're quite welcome Karen." He said smiling. "You all are a part of the Legend of Marauders, of mischief makers. This legend will destroy the Dark Lord, Voldemort. We found you because on your first day, Karen told me of a dream that she'd had, going very much with what will happen in the future. You further proved yourselves as the Marauders by your bouts of mischief, which is stated in the Legend. I can't tell you much else, except to listen to Karen. Goodbye, and I shall see you at Hogwarts.." With that, Dumbledore disappeared.
"Okay... that was strange..." said Trisha.
Karen handed each of us a small velvet box. They all gold emblems on them. "Touch the emblem," instructed Karen, "And it will open for you. Inside will be a necklace. You must wear it at all times. Tell no one of this. No one." She emphasized.
I touched the small gold lion and my box flew open. I picked up the silver necklace and put it on. Once everyone had theirs on, Karen smiled. "Okay, done with that! Now let's go shopping!"
We spent the next few hours buying school supplies and prank supplies. Around noon we headed back to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch.
We met Mrs. Potter just outside of it. "Hello, dears! How has your day been?"
"Hello Mrs. Potter! We've had a groovy time!" said Remus happily.
"That's good. Why don't we go into London after lunch to pick up some clothes from under your dress robes?" said Mrs. Potter smiling. "Oh, James, that owl your father got this morning? Well, we have to go away tonight on Auror business." Karen got a strange look on her face.
"Okay, Mom. Well, lunchtime." James led us in, but I pulled Karen aside just outside of the door.
"Alright, what is going to happen to the Potter's?" I asked.
"N-nothing! W-what m-makes you th-think th-that?" she was obviously lying.
"I know that you saw something. What was it?" I asked harshly. Karen bursts into tears and leaned against me. I had never seen her really cry before. I absent mindedly stroked her hair.
"The P-potters are... gon-na d-die!" she sobbed.
'The Potters are going to die?' I thought. They'd been like parents to me. Karen stepped away from me and pulled out a Magic Wipe Hanky and a second later, there was no sign that she'd been crying and she was smiling. She handed it to me and I did the same.
"Don't tell James. Don't tell anyone. Ever." she whispered as we entered the Leaky Cauldron.
It hurt me to look at Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Every time they laughed or spoke, I tucked it into my memory. I could sense that Karen was doing the same. Finally, everyone was done eating.
"Okay, all ladies go with Mrs. Potter. Laddies, you come with me!" The girls went off towards the Underground. "Fella's, let's get your suits! I know a fine Muggle store that we can go to. I have some Muggle money, and don't worry about paying me back."
Five minutes later, we were in a tailors shop. A cheerful looking man came out. "Good day, good day! How may I help you fine gentlemen today?"
Mr. Potter answered. "These boys need some nice suits."
"Of course, sir. Now, we have a large selection of suits. Please take your time and ring the bell when you're done." The man ran back to the back room.
"Perfectus." muttered Mr. Potter, touching his wand lightly. Four suits came flying to each of us. I ran over and rang the bell and the man scurried back into the room.
"Already? Well, let me find your sizes-"
"They're their sizes." Mr. Potter interrupted. He handed the man some money. "Here. This should cover the suits. Goodbye and have a good day."
About twenty minutes later, we were all back at the Leaky Cauldron. The girls were talking excitedly about their new dresses.
"Hey, why don't we all go to Quality Quidditch Supplies and buy some brooms for the team." said Mrs. Potter. "I hear that they just got some pretty groovy brooms!"
"Cool! Let's go!" We all ran to the store.
Karen picked up a broom. "Hmmmm... ' The Nimbus 500 accelerates to 100 mph in 10 seconds. It can go up to 150 mph'" she ran her fingers along it. "Oh. It's maple. Never mind."
"Why isn't it any good?" asked Lily, looking confused.
"One hit with a Bludger and it falls apart." I answered simply.
Karen nodded. "We need ash with birch twigs. Ah, here's one! 'The Silver Arrow.' Perfect!" It was beautiful. It's sleek ash handle had Silver Arrow written on it and connected to perfectly straight birch twigs.
Mr. Potter looked at it. "Karen, you have a good eye." Karen blushed, fingering her necklace. Mr. Potter glanced at it and looked around the group. I realized that my necklace was also hanging out. "Uh, honey, can you please pay for the brooms. Karen and Sirius, will you come with me? I need your help with something." He led us out the door. Outside, he pulled us into a narrow space between some buildings. "Privatium." He muttered.
Karen and I glanced at each other nervously. "Okay. You two are Marauders. Is my son one as well?"
"Yes. He's the Bird of Flight." answered Karen quietly. "Don't worry, he doesn't know what's going to happen except me. But I don't even know everything."
Mr. Potter shook his head. "So, that makes Lily the Eyes of the Sea and you, Sirius, the Heir of Gryffindor. Karen, you don't want to know what's going to happen to you. You and the Heart of Beauty have it the worst." I was confused. "Who's the Heart of Beauty?"
Karen smiled. "You'll find out in a few years. But Mr. Potter, how do you know about the Legend?" "All Aurors must learn it. Tell me, Karen, what have you seen that caused you two to act so strangely around me?"
Karen looked from me to Mr. Potter. Finally, she sighed. "Mr. Potter," Karen began softly, "Tomorrow, you and Mrs. Potter are going to... die."
Mr. Potter sat down hard. "Oh no... you didn't see it, did you?"
Karen nodded. "Yes, I did. It will be fighting. You and Mrs. Potter will be brave until the last second."
Mr. Potter shook his head. "Where will James go? He'll be an orphan."
Karen sat down next to him. "Write a note tonight and send it to Dumbledore. Put him in the custody of Hogwarts, like me. Set all of your affairs in order." she spoke with reason.
"Okay. Just... just promise me one thing."
"Anything Mr. Potter." I answered.
"Take care of each other. Karen, this year is going to be the first of your bad years. After telling the others, the Seer will have bad fortune until she reveals herself to the Heart of Beauty and the Bird of the Sea. Sirius, your bad fortune won't be for a few years. I wish both of you the best of luck." He removed the Privacy Charm that he'd placed on us. At once, Mrs. Potter came over.
"Here you are! I've been looking for you everywhere. The others are all at the Ice Cream shop."
Karen glanced at her watch. "Oh! It's four thirty already! Sirius, we need to meet my sister at five fifteen!"
Mrs. Potter nodded. "Well, we probably won't see you again before we leave, so goodbye!"
I hugged Mrs. Potter. "Thank you for everything! You've been like a mother to me. I love you." I looked in her eyes.
"Thank you, Sirius, dear. Have fun at Hogwarts and don't get expelled." She looked a bit confused.
Karen hugged her. "I'll miss you." she whispered and pulled apart, fingering her necklace.
Realization dawned on Mrs. Potter. "Oh! You're the Marauders!"
Karen nodded. "Mr. Potter will explain everything I told him later."
I went over and hugged Mr. Potter. "Goodbye. I'll miss you. You've been like the father that I never had."
Mr. Potter smiled. Karen hugged him. "Goodbye. We'll do everything that you asked."
We walked away slowly and in silence. Finally, at the Leaky Cauldron, Karen spoke. "Wear your new suit. I'll be in your room in a few minutes."
I changed into my suit and fifteen minutes later, Karen entered. She had on a short black dress. The top was shaped like a hexagon. A black ribbon went around her neck and was attack to a silver ring that was connected to her the top of her dress. The bottom of the top ended in a point that also had a silver ring going around her belly button and was attached to the bottom of her dress, which ended a few inches above her knee. She also had on high heeled black boots that went to her knees. Her hair was straight and had little braids in it. Her eyes were lined with black stuff and had dark gray surrounding it. Her cheekbones seemed higher and her lips were dark red around the edges, a couple shades lighter on the inside and glossy.
"Y-you look great." I stammered. She grinned.
"Thanks. So do you. Let's go then. We can take the Muggle Underground. I have Muggle money to pay." She looked at me expectantly.
"Oh, right. The door." I opened it and she walked out. We went downstairs and out the front door. A little ways down the street we went down the stairs to buy tickets for the Underground and five minutes later we were on the train.
"You know," I said trying to strike up a conversation, "I've never been on the Underground before."
Karen raised her eyebrows. "Really? Well, it's not much. Just a speeding train underground. I wonder what she's like? My sister, I mean. I haven't seen her for a long time."
I shrugged. "I don't know." I said absent mindedly. "I hope that she's as pretty and groovy as you-" I stopped. "Damn, did I say that out loud?" Karen nodded. "Ah, what the hell." I leaned over and kissed her. She seemed pretty shocked, but put her arms around me and returned it. After a few moments we broke apart. She looked at me.
"Did I just snog with you?" I nodded and she grinned. "At least I won't have to pretend that you're my boyfriend now."
I put my arm around her. "Yeah... Oh fuck! What are the others gonna say?" Karen giggled. "Probably that it's about time. Now only little Petey needs a girl."
"Hmph. Who'd wanna date him?" I smirked and Karen looked up.
"Oh, here's our stop. How do I look?" She patted her hair nervously.
"Gorgeous. Come on." She picked up her purse and grabbed my hand. We went up the stairs and came up onto the street.
"Okay, there's the restaurant. Let's go!" Karen pointed at a nice looking Italian restaurant. We went inside. Karen looked around nervously, then stopped. "It's her." she whispered and led me over to a girl who looked almost exactly like Karen, only her hair was a little longer and her eyes were hazel. The girl had on a wild print dress that went to her knees and platform boots that went her knees.
"Carolyn?" Karen asked.
"Karen! Oh my gosh, you look awesome!" they hugged.
"Thanks! So do you! How are you?"
"Great and you?"
"Awesome! This is my boyfriend, Sirius." I smiled and shook Carolyn's hand. "He's under strict orders not to play any practical jokes tonight or else I'll kick his ass at Quidditch and hit a few Bludgers at him to break his puny neck." Carolyn looked confused. "I'll explain later."
Carolyn smiled. "This is Jack Samson, my boyfriend." She gestured to the blond boy next to her. I shook his hand.
"Hi, nice to meet you." I said. "Wait, are you by any chance related to Carla Samson?" Carla was a Hufflepuff girl in our year who was a big flirt.
"Yeah. She's my sister, but I'm a Squib."
Carolyn looked even more confused. "What's a Squib?"
"A person born into a magical family who can't do magic." answered Karen.
The hostess called out. "Marcus, party of four."
We followed her to a small table in a dark corner of the restaurant. Dinner went great. Carolyn told Karen some of the stuff that had happened over the past few years, while Karen and I told about Hogwarts and Quidditch. Karen promised to teach Carolyn to play someday. Towards the end of the night, Karen was telling Carolyn her future when she stopped. "Oh shit. Phillip and Patty are coming. We've gotta hide. Come on Sirius, under the able." Karen and I squeezed underneath, putting our food on the windowsill behind us and bringing our other stuff. Seconds later, footsteps approached the table.
"Carolyn, Jack, what are you two doing here? Why don't we join you?" Karen motioned for me to crawl under some other tables to get out. As Karen crawled out, she slipped an envelope into Carolyn's purse.
"Okay, now, let's go back. How do I look?" She still looked fine.
"Great, but why-?" she linked her arm through mine and led me back. As soon as we were near the table, she smiled.
"Hello Phillip! Patty! Carolyn! How are you?" Karen forced a smile.
"Karen." hissed Patty. "What are you doing here?" "Oh, my boyfriend, Sirius, and I decided to come to dinner and had heard that this was the best wizard run Italian restaurant in London so we came."
"This restaurant isn't wizard run!" said Phillip. Karen raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, wanna bet? Excuse me, miss?" Karen stopped a passing waitress. "May I speak with your manager please? I would like to give him my regards." The waitress smiled. "Of course. I'll have him here in a moment." The waitress went off.
Karen smiled. "So, how's it been going" Wait! I should know this, as I'm a Seer!" she closed her eyes and put her fingers to her temples. "Phillip, you got promoted! Congratulations! Patty, I'm so sorry that you had to have surgery on your leg last year! Carolyn, I hope that you make cheerleading! Just work on you toe touches and you'll do great!" A man came up to us.
"Hello! How may I help you?" "Oh, sir! I just wanted to know what was your favorite lesson at Hogwarts! I mean, did you like Dumbledore?"
The man smiled. "Ah! A young witch! Yes, Dumbledore was quite a teacher! I understand that he's Headmaster now?"
Karen nodded. "Yes. His replacement was McGonagall."
"Minerva? Oh my, does she give a lot of detentions?" I grinned. "Yeah. I can't understand why she doesn't like Biting Teacups. I mean, it was only latched to her nose for a few hours!"
The man grinned. "Ah. Troublemakers are you?"
Karen and I bowed. "The best." I replied.
"I would love to hear of some of your pranks some time! And who do you have with you?" the man looked at the Marcus' and Jack.
"My Muggle parents and sister and her boyfriend. My former parents don't like magic and right now they want to burn you at the stake. I am a Seer, so I can tell what they are thinking."
The man shook their hands. "Hello! I'm Marco Viencero! How you've got quite a daughter! Since she's so nice, free desert to you! Here!" He clapped his hands and several platters appeared. There were Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Jelly Beans, Pepper Imps, Pumpkin Pasties and Licorice Wands. "Oh, and here are some drinks!" He conjured a few Butterbeers. "Enjoy and come back soon!" He vanished into the air.
"Yum! Butterbeer!" I grabbed a Butterbeer.
"What is this stuff?" asked Carolyn curiously.
"Candy! You've got Chocolate, pasties, jelly beans, licorice and some pepper that makes you breath fire. And Butterbeer, which is a great drink. Be careful with the jelly beans, since you can get any flavor." Karen cautioned. Carolyn bit into the Frog.
"Yum! This is the best chocolate that I've ever had!" She took out the card. "Wow! It moves!"
I took a look at the card. "Oh cool! It's the Beatles! I've been looking for that card! Hey, can I have it?" Carolyn handed it to me and I put it in my pocket as it started singing 'Yellow Submarine'.
Mt. and Mrs. Marcus tentatively took some Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Jelly Beans. As Mrs. Marcus bit into hers, she shrieked. "It's horseradish flavored!"
Karen smiled. "Warned ya! Anyways, we've got to go. School starts tomorrow and if someone," she glared at me, "Doesn't get twelve hours of sleep, he's very cranky. Bye!" As we turned to leave, I looked pleadingly at Karen. "Oh, fine! But don't hit Jack or Carolyn!"
I gently tossed a Dungbomb at Mr. Marcus and we ran out laughing as it burst. The ride back to the Leaky Cauldron was pretty quiet.
"Wonder what Remus and Trisha did tonight." I said thoughtfully. Karen laid her head on my shoulder and laughed.
"Are you sure that you want to know?"
Someone came up to us and grabbed Karen. It was Phillip. He shook her roughly. "What did you do think that you were doing, coming to that restaurant to see Carolyn without our permission? You are a filthy little bitch!" I stood up and looked him straight in the eyes. I was taller and stronger then him.
"Leave Karen alone." I said threateningly. He turned and looked at me.
"Oh? And what are you going to do about it?" I grinned.
"I'm not going to do anything, but she is." Karen kicked him really hard and the shin and left him hopping we got of the train and ran up the stair. A little ways away, Karen broke down crying.
"I shouldn't have gone! Now Carolyn will probably hate me more as will my parents! I'm so stupid." I tilted her chin up.
"Hey. You're not stupid. You're smart, beautiful, kind, mischievous.... Besides, how many people at school hate you, aside from the Slytherins?"
She looked thoughtful as she wiped her eyes with her hanky. "Most girls, since I'm friends with you guys." Karen frowned. "Man, only half of the school hates me." I laughed, then Karen grew quiet. "What are we going to say to James? How can I speak to him? I mean, I could save his parents!" I hugged Karen tightly.
"You told his parents that they were going to die. You warned them and they chose to still go on. So, it was their choice, not yours." I kissed her on the forehead and we walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. As soon as we entered, laughter rang out.
"I was serious when I said that they'd go out!" exclaimed Lily she had the kitten that James had gotten her on her lap.
"You were me! Wow! How'd you do that?" I teased.
Karen smirked. "Well, Lily and James, how'd your date go?"
Lily smiled. "Quite well, actually. Petunia even acted semi-normal. I think that she likes you, James."
James shuddered. "Lily, why was your dad polishing that Muggle gun when I came? That kinda freaked me out."
Karen laughed. "He gave you the gun routine?" James nodded. "You better treat Lily good!" She winked at Lily.
Trisha yawned. "Well, I'm beat. G'night." She smiled at Remus and the other girls followed her upstairs.
"So Remus, how was your night?" I asked, remembering what Karen had said.
"Great! Trish and I fooled around a bit. Well, I'm beat too. Petey, why don't we walk up together?" As Remus and Peter left, Tom came over with a brown parcel.
"Mr. Potter, your parents left this for you." After Tom walked away, James ripped the parcel open. Inside, there were two rings, two necklaces, an enchanted map making kit and...
"An Invisibility Cloak!" exclaimed James. I picked up the letter and handed it to him. He opened it and Mrs. Potter's voice filled the room.
"Dear James,
"Your father and I have left on an important mission. As you know, Lord Voldemort is rising to power quickly and must be stopped. You and your friends are a part of the Legend of Marauders. You can't be told the entire Legend. Karen doesn't even know the whole thing. But, you must be aware that to stop something this evil, sacrifices must be made. Your father and I are some of the sacrifices." James' eyes went wide. "Our mission is purely suicidal. But, our deaths will be avenged. You won't live to see it, but it will happen, we assure you.
"Now, if anyone else is in the room, tell them to leave. Only you, Sirius and at parts Lily may hear after this. Now, I'll tell you a little about the Legend of Marauders. Sirius, you really must look after Karen. She may say that she's fine, but go with your instincts. James. you must love Lily with all of your heart. Both of you, watch out for Peter. After all, he is the Rat of Dark.
"The stuff in the box will help you to have fun at Hogwarts. Upon arriving at Hogwarts, give Professor Dumbledore the necklaces and the rings, but use the rest as much as you'd like. Your father and I love you with all of our hearts. Good bye and good luck." Tears were brimming in James' eyes. I didn't know what to do, so I gently patted him on the back.
"Um... hey." We turned around and saw Lily. She saw James' face at once. "James, what's wrong?" she ran over and embraced him.
"M-my parents! Th-they're g-goin-ng to die tom-morrow!" He choked. I got the feeling that they wanted to be left alone.
Upstairs, I knocked on Karen's door. She opened it, dressed in her Gryffindor Beater night shirt and blushed.
I blushed as well. "Hey. Uh, Mrs. Potter sent James a letter telling him that they were gonna die. They sent him some stuff that they wanted him to have."
Karen nodded. "Hey, do you want to come in? I have to tell you something." I walked in and sat on the couch and Karen came over and sat beside me. "What do you want to tell me?"
"Well, according to the Legend, you and I are, well, supposed to get married someday. And we'll have a daughter. The Heart of Beauty." I grinned.
"Really? Well, that's groovy." Karen leaned over and kissed me. After several minutes, I broke away and glanced at my watch.
"Damn! I need to get to sleep. Otherwise I won't be able to wake up!" I exclaimed.
Karen laughed. "You never are up. Okay, well good night." I walked out and got ready for bed. For a while before I drifted off to sleep, I thought of how long that day seemed to me.
*~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~*
"AHHHHHH!!!! NO!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!! NOT AGAIN!!! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF ME!!! DEATH EATERS!!! GO AWAY!!! PLEASE!!!" Screams pierced the still night air. I ran to where they were coming from: Karen's room. She was thrashing and hitting the air. I knelt by her and grabbed her shoulders gently. She seemed to loosen a bit. "Thank goodness you're here." she murmured and went limp. The others now stood in the doorway.
"What's happening?" muttered Remus. "It's nine in... the morning... no... train... eleven..." he fell back on Trisha, who rested him on the doorpost.
Karen stirred. "What the... Where am I? Oh! It was a dream. Did I wake you?" we nodded. "I'm so sorry!"
Lily came over and gently brushed Karen's hair back. "That's okay. We needed to get the boys up. I'm surprised that they are even up."
"Yeah, " said Trisha, who was doodling on Remus' face with a quill and Animated Ink. "You deserve an Order of Merlin, First Class for that! At the very least. Well, let's have some early morning fun." she smiled. "Remus! Remus, wake up!" Trisha shook his shoulders. "Malfoy is parading around with a sign that says 'Dungbombs suck!'" that woke Remus right up.
"Where is that little-" Remus looked a round and saw us laughing. "What?"
I handed him a mirror and he screamed. Trisha had drawn bunny ears, a bunny nose and whiskers on him. He ran out of the room screaming.
Trisha sighed. "I'd better go help him get it off." she ran out of the room after him.
Lily patted James on the stomach. "Well, big boy, I'll help you get packed. Come on." she dragged him out of the room.
I looked around. "Where's Peter?" I didn't see him anymore.
Karen shrugged. "Dunno. What was I screaming?"
"Um.... stuff like 'Leave me alone' and 'Get your hands off me'. I think I heard 'Death Eaters' somewhere. But when I touched you, you said 'Thank goodness you're here' and went limp like you fainted or something. Karen, what happened?"
She turned pale. "Sirius, I want to tell you, but you'd try to prevent it. Unfortunately, it must happen. I'm sorry." She began crying.
I hugged her tight. "That's okay. I trust you Karen. I suppose that I'll find out later, though." I got up and let go of Karen. "I need to go get ready. My room is almost as bad as James'. See ya downstairs."
I threw all of my stuff into my trunk and pushed it and my owl, Petrificus, downstairs. Everyone was already down there.
"Hey Remus! Sup?" I asked high fiving him.
"Nothing really. Still tired."
"Cool. Hey, guys, why don't we go to a Muggle restaurant to eat?" I smiled.
James shrugged. "Why not? Let's go!"
"We have to be back at 10:30 to go to Kings Cross, so let's hurry." Trisha said. We ran out the door and to a Muggle diner down the street. I sat with Remus, Trisha and Karen.
"So, what pranks are we going to pull on the Snake's this year?" asked Karen, taking a bite of eggs. By the end of breakfast, we had a full agenda of pranks planned. After a while, I glanced at my watch.
"Oh shit! It's 10:45! Let's go!" Karen threw down some money and we ran out the door and to the Leaky Cauldron. The Ministry cars that were supposed take us to King's Cross were there and the drivers were putting our stuff in the cars. Karen, Remus, Trisha and me all got into one and James, Lily and Peter got in the other.
Soon, we were at the train station. We grabbed our stuff and ran onto Platform 9 3/4, only to find that the train had left.
"Oh man! What are we going to do?" asked Remus.
Trisha looked thoughtful. "We can have an adult enchant our stuff with a Weightless Charm and tie the stuff to our brooms with a Binding Charm and fly to Hogwarts."
Karen smiled. "Awesome idea! There's Mrs. Figg, you know, Arabella's mom. Hello Mrs. Figg!"
Mrs. Figg came over. "Oh, hello children! I'm afraid that you've missed the train."
Karen smiled sweetly. "Yes, I'm afraid so. Could you please perform a few spells on our trunks so that we may fly to Hogwarts and not miss our first day of classes?"
Mrs. Figg smiled. "Of course, honey. I owe for saving my dear cat, Mr. Plump, from the Devil's Snare." She enchanted our trunks and we climbed onto our brooms. "Now, stay above the clouds so that no one sees you. As soon as you see the train, get onto it. Fly safely! Watch out for Muggle puh-lanes. Say hi to Arabella for me!"
"Of course, Mrs. Figg!" I said politely. "Thank you. We rose higher and higher. After a couple of hours of flying, we spotted the train.
"You know..." said Lily slyly, "About now the lunch cart should be coming around. We could buy some food and come back up and hang around in Hogsmeade till the train comes!"
"Awesome idea, Lily!" exclaimed James.
We flew into the last compartment of the train, which had a window open. Each of us squeezed in.
When the lunch cart came around, we were all sitting and playing Gobstones, courtesy James Transfiguring our brooms into a set.
"Hello, children! Usual?" she asked, smiling.
"Yes, please!" The witch, whose name was Madame Charrette, handed us several packages of everything on the cart.
"Thanks Madame Charrette! See you at the end of the year!" We called after her. I slammed the door shut and James Transfigured our stuff back. James laughed.
"You know, our brooms might still squirt stuff at people when we get a point." We laughed and flew out the window, which had been magically expanded by Lily. As we flew, we ate our food and talked. An hour later, we were in Hogsmeade. We threw on our robes and took out our wands and money so that Karen could Banish our stuff back onto the train.
"Let's rock and roll!" shouted Trisha and we ran into Zonko's. Several hours later, we heard the Hogwarts Express come into the station. Quickly, we paid for our stuff and left. Lily thrust out her arms to stop us.
"We can't go that way. Teachers will be guarding it. But," she pulled out her wand, "I'm sure that there's a secret passageway to Hogwarts around here somewhere other than the Whomping Willow's." "Yeah, but how will we find it in just a few minutes?" asked Peter.
Lily waved her wand. "Secret Traversee Trouvaille!" a piece of parchment appeared with a small map of Hogsmeade on it. Seven red dots appeared, each marking an entrance to a passageway. Lily surveyed the map closely. "The closest one's in the Honeydukes cellar. Come on."
We ran into Honeydukes and slipped into the cellar. Lily checked the map again. "Okay, it should be right about..." she got onto her knees and dug her nails a crack and pulled up. "Here!" a set of steps appeared.
"Wow! That's, like, totally groovy!" exclaimed Remus. We crawled in, Karen first, then me, then Trisha, then Remus, then Lilly, then James, with Peter bring up the rear. We ran through the passage as quickly as we could. A few minutes later, we were at a dead end. A wooden ladder led up to a black dome. Karen crawled up it and pushed the dome up.
"Cool!" she exclaimed and climbed up, with me following. We were at the statue of the one eyed witch. Everyone else came up, looking filthy. Karen pulled out her wand. "Here. Sudsiora." she circled her wand around us and we were clean.
We ran downstairs to the Great Hall and were about to enter it, but I felt a hand go on my shoulder.
"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to grace us with their presence."
A/N: Heh, heh. I finally got it up, only to leave you hanging once more. I'll have more time to write soon, as school ends June 5th ::does flips around the room:: Anyways, until then we won't do anything in class but watch movies, so I'll have plenty of time to write.
Next part will also be Sirius and much longer (This was 25 pages handwritten and my writing is tiny). Sorry about the Sirius/serious joke, it's a MWPP requirement.
Hope you liked the story! R/R to tell me what you think. Please give me ten reviews this time and R/R my other stuff.
Love, peace and chicken grease!
~Parvati~