Ok, here's the forth installment. Sorry it took so long, but my final is coming up.
Disclaimer: Guess what, I don't own anything that JK does.
A Girl Named Answer and Meeting Snape
" The Marauders are going to make a map." Sirius gave a slight bow in Lily and Nicole's direction. " With help from these lovely ladies of course."
" A map? What good will a map do?" Peter asked, finally seeming to wake up. Sirius grinned.
" It won't be an ordinary map, oh no. It will be of Hogwarts and have every room and passage that we know of. And when it's not in use, it will look just like a blank piece of parchment." James sat up, his eye beginning to sparkle.
" If we put that tracing spell we use on Mrs. Norris last year on the professors, then you could watch them coming!" Remus leaned back against the chair, resting a finger against his lower lip. Nicole smiled.
" It'll work now. Remus is debating it. You could link it to the position and not the person and then it will last. And use a password to get into it and one to close it. That way only people who figure it out can use it. Something like, "I swear that I am up to mischief" or something." Remus grinned. Everyone waited expectantly, when Remus came out of a debate with himself, it meant that he had figure out something. While Sirius and James were known as the brightest students in Hogwarts, Remus was the one that formulated all of the new spell combinations they wanted. He held out a hand. Peter pulled out a note book and handed it to him and Lily gave him a pen. He looked at it for a moment and then started putting his thoughts to paper.
" If we start out with a simple piece of parchment and then work from there then we could use a original form transfigure to get it back and people would have a lot harder time figuring out what it was. And we could then put several covering spells on that and leave insults like you do with the Quidditch plays, James." Sirius rubbed his hands together.
" Ones from each of us. And leave some of them blank, just to annoy who ever it is." Lily looked thoughtful.
" You know, if you wanted the extra work, you could put in personalized insults. Like for Snape, Flitch, and Williams. And put in something polite yet adamant for Dumbledore and McGonagall. I know a few charms..."
" Nicky-Chan!" A small girl, only a first year, opened the door to the compartment and raced to Nicole. Nicole grabbed her and gave her a tight hug.
" Answa!" The Marauders and Lily watched with interest, Answa was Nicole's ten-year-old sister who would be starting at Hogwarts next year. A woman followed Answa into the compartment. James recognized the head that Mr. Lupin had been talking to. Nicole set her little sister down and ran to her mother. The two embraced.
" Mom, what are you doing here?"
" Answa will be starting Hogwarts this year." Nicole looked back at her little sister, who gave a huge grin. Nicole looked at her mother.
" You said that she had to wait until next year because she turned eleven in May." Mrs. McLoren shrugged.
" She got a letter. If Dumbledore thinks she's ready, she's ready." Nicole turned chalk white.
" You got another assignment." She stated. Mrs. McLoren didn't answer. Answa nodded.
" She did. She wasn't going to tell either of us. She thinks that you worry too much as it is and I'm too young." Mrs. McLoren stared at her younger daughter. Answa shrugged.
" I heard you and Aneas talking." James looked at Remus, who shrugged. He had already known.
" You weren't going to tell me?" Nicole demanded. Mrs. McLoren took her arm and led her daughter to the other end of the compartment. They began whispering. Answa shrugged and turned to her sister's five friends.
" Hello Phoenix." She said. Lily smiled.
" Hello Answer." The two girls clasped hands. Lily turned to the Marauders.
" James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, this is Answer or Answa. Answa, the one in glasses is James, Peter is the short one. Remus is the cute one and Sirius is the one who is sprawling." Sirius stood and bowed. He leaned close to the young girl.
" You're Nicky's sister, huh?" He gave a wicked grin.
" Who is it?" Answa raised an eyebrow. James grinned, Sirius was going to get more than he bargained for.
" What are you talking about?" Sirius gave another grin.
" What guy does your older sister like?"
" Ohh!" Answa looked at him. " I don't know if I should tell you." Sirius gave her what Lily termed the puppy eyes.
" Please? I am looking for a new girlfriend and your sister is a possibility. I want to know if I stand a chance." Answa shrugged.
" Ok. Nicky-chan says that the guy she's in love with has black hair, dark eyes, and a wonderful smile." Sirius was grinning even wider. He ran a hand though his black hair, standing up straighter. Lily was holding onto a bench, one hand over her mouth, shaking. " He is very hansom and strong and plays Quidditch very well." Sirius nodded. " And he wears glasses." Sirius deflated abruptly. Answa watched, keeping a straight face, her eyes sparkling. Lily collapsed against James and Remus fell off the seat. Sirius' eye narrowed.
" What?"
" If you could have seen your face, Sirius…" Remus gasped. Sirius glared at Remus and turned back to Answa.
" Couldn't you give me just a little hint?" Answa shrugged,
" She doesn't tell me stuff like that." She rolled her eyes. " You're too young, you wouldn't understand." She mimicked her sister's tone perfectly. Remus looked up at her.
" How old are you?" He asked.
" Ten. I'll be eleven in May." Remus nodded.
" Is that why your mum was going to have you wait?" Answa nodded.
" Have who wait?" Mrs. McLoren asked, as she and a slightly less pale Nicole walked up. She smiled at Lily.
" Hello, Lily." Lily smiled back.
" Hello, Emily. Answa was telling Remus why she was going to wait until next year to go to Hogwarts." Mrs. McLoren nodded. She looked at the four boys.
" These must be the Marauders." Nicole nodded and started to introduce them.
" James is in glasses, Remus the one on the floor, Peter is the short one, and Sirius is the insane one." Sirius stepped forward.
" I'm Peter. He's Sirius." He pointed at Remus. " That guy in the glasses is Remus and James is the short one. Gosh, you'd think after five years…" Nicole rolled her eyes.
" As I said, Sirius is the insane one." Mrs. McLoren smiled.
" I'm Nicole's mother incase you didn't already know that. Please call me Emily. Mrs. McLoren is my mother-in-law." She looked at James who was sprawled over Lily and grinned.
" The Potter curse is still true I see." She said. James turned a bright red. Sirius looked at his best friend.
" What curse?" He asked. A whistle shrieked, making five minute until the train left. Emily smiled.
" I'll let James tell you. I'll you two later. I love you." She kissed both of her daughters and left the compartment.
" Well, James?" James rolled his eyes.
" According to family history, every Potter that has black hair and sea eyes ends up falling in love with a red-head." Answa raised an eyebrow.
" Sea eyes?" James shrugged.
" Blue or green, or a combination of the two." Nicole grinned.
" When Mom saw you and Lily, she must have thought..." Remus gave James a mock glare.
" And why didn't you tell us this piece of trivia, Prongs? Trying to steal my girl?" James rolled his eyes, ignoring the voice inside him clamoring that that was just what he wanted.
" Because I knew that this would happen. I'll never live this down." He gave them his version of Sirius' puppy eyes. " I just beg of you, don't tell Mary Weasley." Everyone laughed at the thought of the red haired forth year who had the biggest crush on James finding out that he was fated to love a red head. James shook his head and got up. He walked to his trunk and after a bit of rummaging, found a piece of parchment and a quill. He walked back and sat down beside Lily.
" Let's get started, people!" Sirius grinned. Answa watched them.
" What are you doing?" Remus smiled at her.
" We're making a map."
" Then I won't be any help. I'll see you later. I'm going to go meet more people." Sirius watched her go.
" Cute girl." He said. Remus nodded.
" Oh God! She's six years younger than you two!" Nicole said. Sirius stared at her.
" I didn't mean in that way! What do you think I am? Some kind of cradle robber?" Lily and Remus looked at them.
" Mrs. Lupin is eight years younger than Mr. Lupin." Lily said.
" And isn't your mother four years older than your father, Sirius?" Remus asked. James waved a hand, catching everyone's attention.
" If we could get back to work?"
" Potter? Working?" A snide voice from the back of the compartment drawled. Three boys stood in the doorway. The tallest, a red-head with green eyes, looked like he had giant blood some where in his ancestry. The other boys were equal in height, just about as tall as Sirius. One had black hair, slicked back with shiny grease and dark eyes. The other boy's hair was white blond and his eyes were a pale blue. The blond had spoken and he was regarding James with total loathing. " Greg, someone should mark the calendar, Quidditch jock Potter is actual working." The red-head laughed.
" Shocking, isn't is, Lucius?"
" Almost as shocking as you working." Said Remus mildly. The black haired one muttered something under his breath. Sirius laughed.
" I've yet to see Remus get mad at anything." The black haired one glared at him.
" That's got to be tough with you around." He snapped back. Gregory Fenus look at his friend.
" Severus, you might want to learn something from the poor one. Just ignore Black. He's not worth getting worked up about." Severus Snape subsided, muttering under his breath.
" I'm not? Huh, I thought you got pretty worked up last year when I turned your Quidditch robes gold." Fenus started to turn red and then gave himself a visible shake.
" Unless you're in here for a reason, would you leave? We're in the middle of something." Nicole said, her voice very annoyed. Fenus smirked.
" Of course, American. Just after I say hello to the mudblood." He laughed as six wands were leveled at him.
" I wouldn't do anything," He smirked. " I learned a handy mirror spell and they'd just rebound to you." With a snicker, he and his followers sauntered across the compartment and out the door. James set the parchment to the side.
" Forget the map. Revenge comes first." Sirius gave an evil smile.
" Good. I found this perfect spell in my dad's library. I've been wanting to try it out. It makes the person have really bad BO for a week."
Hope you liked it. If you could be bothered to R&R, I'd be grateful. The next chapter should be up soon. - Aoi