Broken Arms and
Revenge Best Cold
Disclaimer: You know what I own.
" Potter, Black, how nice of you to join us." Nott's voice was annoyed and amused at the same time. " And I hope you have a more substantial excuse than your last one Mr. Black." James smiled and walked to the Professor's desk.
" Sorry, sir. Professor Dumbledore needed a word with us." He handed Nott the pass. Nott shook his head waved them to the seats next to Nicole and Lily. Lily leaned over and handed them a piece of parchment.
" Here are the instructions. It's a healing potion. What happened?" James grinned as he looked over the instructions that Lily had carefully written out.
" Thanks, Lil. Trelawney had a vision." Nicole stared at him.
" What?" James repeated him self.
" And she was pointing at James through out the entire thing." Sirius added, as he dumped a boomslang skin into the cauldron. Lily looked at the Marauder's unofficial leader.
" A prophesy about James?" James shook his head, adding a handful of lacewings to the mixture.
" About my son. I'll explain it after we get out of here.
" Well, you said you'd explain after Potions. What's going on?" Lily asked, putting her books in her bag. Remus swung his bag onto his back and looked questioningly at his two friends.
" Sirius walks half way here like he's got a pixie in his pants and then runs off with it's over with no more explanation than he has no idea what's going on but he's going to find out. What happened?" He asked. James shrugged.
" I don't really know. Trelawney had a vision." Remus rolled his eyes.
" Right. What really happened?" James shook his head.
" I'm ser... I mean, I'm not joking." Peter stared at him as they made their way down the corridor, heading for the Ancient Runes classroom.
" You mean she really did?" The short boy asked, eyes wide. Sirius nodded.
" Yes. And it's about Prongs Junior." Lily looked at James.
" Well? Hurry up and tell us what she said." James grinned as the started down a staircase. He took out his wand, then stopped when Snape and Fenus appeared in a doorway off the stairs with their little gang. Lily, who was watching him didn't see them or the foot Fenus stuck out. She tripped and tumbled down the stairs.
" Lily!" James was down beside her in a second, Remus not far behind him. The rest of the group followed only a few steps behind. Lily's right arm was twisted at an unnatural angle and a large bruise was already evident on her left leg. She had had the sense of mind to tuck her head so that was not injured. Sirius growled as she opened her eyes and tears began to fall from them. He turned towards Fenus who was laughing with the rest of his gang and Remus grabbed his arm.
" Let me." He said, his voice was icy. James helped Lily sit up.
" Neither of you will do anything." The command was clear. " He will regret it, but not now." Even Fenus paled at the threat in James' voice. James looked at the Slytherin ringleader, his blue eyes blazed with barely controlled rage. Gregory paled even more and took a step back before gaining control.
" Is that so? For what? Because the mudblood was clumsy?" James started to reach for his wand when a cold voice interrupted.
" Fifty points from Slytherin and if I hear you use that term again, Mr. Fenus, you will be expelled." Rene Vector, Arithmancy Professor appeared at the top of the stairs. She knelt beside Lily. " You arm, can you move it?" Lily shook her head, tears still falling. Vector nodded. " It's broken. You are Mr. Potter?" At James' nod, she slipped an arm under Lily's. " Help me get her to the Hospital Wing." She looked at Remus, who was hovering close by. " Mr. Lupin, she will be fine, it is just a broken bone. Go to class and tell your next Professor that Mr. Potter will be along in a few minutes." Remus nodded. He, Nicole, Sirius, and Peter watched as James and the Professor helped Lily up the stairs and down the corridor.
" Lily?" The voice came from the seemingly empty door in the hospital wing. Lily sat up.
" James! Who else is with you and did you bring any food?" James grinned and swung the invisibility cloak from his shoulders. Nicole, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were crowded underneath it with him. Nicole ran to the bed and gave her friend a hug. Lily smiled and returned it. Remus stepped forward and gave her a hug also.
" How are you feeling, Lily?" Lily rolled her eyes.
" I feel fine. Madam Pomfrey won't let me out until she's sure I didn't hit my head." Lily rolled her eyes. " It was just my arm, nothing else." James glanced at her leg.
" I saw that bruise, Lil." He said reproachfully. Lily shrugged.
" Pomfrey fixed that just as quickly as she fixed my arm." Sirius gave her an apologetic look.
" When you didn't show for dinner, we thought that you would be hungry so James and I tried to raided the kitchen." Lily smiled.
" Good. Not that Madam Pomfrey doesn't feed her charges, but the food isn't nearly as good as this." James shook his head.
" We tried to raid the kitchen. The Bloody Baron was down there and we didn't want to mess with him. That was an hour ago, so he should be gone. We were going to stop there on our way up here, but Nicole is rather annoyed with us at the moment so we decided to drop her off with you for calming down." James ducked as Nicole swung at him. Remus sat on the bed next to Lily.
" She discovered that we had been teaching Answa tricks and got a bit peeved." He said. Nicole glared at him.
" You three knew that the Slytherins were bothering her and you didn't tell me!" Sirius shrugged, sprawling in a chair in front of the bed.
" We took care of it. And we didn't want you to worry." Lily glanced at Nicole and motioned for the boys to leave while Nicole was glaring at Sirius.
" Let's go get some food, Sirius. Nicole, we're sorry, but we thought it would be better if we just took care of it our selves. You know Fenus only does it to annoy us." James slung the cloak over his shoulder, grabbed his friend's arm and they and Remus left the room. Peter started to follow but James waved him back. " It's just raiding the kitchen. You stay here and get Lily to help you on that charms homework." Peter looked relived and nodded. Sirius looked at James as the walked down the corridor.
" That wasn't the real reason, was it?" James shook his head as they all ducked under the cloak, enlarged from a spell of Remus'.
" No. I'm working on a plan and I need your help. You know that isn't something that Peter is good at." Sirius cracked his knuckles.
" Does it involve beating Fenus to a bloody pulp?" James and Remus exchanged glances.
" Uncivilized." Said Remus.
" Totaling unbecoming of a prefect." Said James. Then they both nodded.
" Ok." Sirius smiled again.
" And if we do it near a boggart and use the Polyjuice potion, then we could convince Dumbledore that he fell when the boggert came at him. You saw how he backed up from James earlier. We could probably even convince him it was the boggert." Remus shook his head.
" But then only James could have fun." He gave a faint grin that was devoid of all humor. " I want to help." Sirius looked at him.
" The next full moon must be closer than I thought, you sound pretty blood thirsty, Remy."
" Call me Remy again and I'll bite you the next time I can." Remus said, giving Sirius an annoyed look and then looking back at James. " We need to make sure he'll remember this. If he wants a fight with the Marauders he can damn well pick it with us and not our friends." James nodded.
" Did I tell you he cornered Answa today?" Remus shook his head.
" No, but it doesn't surprise me. Did the spell work?" Sirius grinned.
" Yes. Very well, he got thrown up against a wall." He said. Remus nodded.
" It's his own doing that I used that spell. It's just a modified mirror spell." James tilted back his head. Remus and Sirius watched him. Then James sighed.
" I really can't think of anything that seems good enough." Sirius smiled evilly.
" Please tell me it involves my fists and Fenus' face."
" No, then we might get expelled. Maybe scaring him." James said, his tone thoughtful. Remus looked at Sirius and they both looked at James.
" Scaring him?" They chorused. James nodded.
" You remember last year when Professor Decen had us fight that boggert? How he said that fear was the greatest weapon of anyone?" Both Sirius and Remus nodded. Just then James' eyes widened. " Who other than us and Lily, Nicole, Answa, and our parents know that we call our selves the Marauders?" He demanded. Remus shrugged.
" Fenus and some of his gang of idiots." James smiled.
" Have they ever heard us say that we are?" Remus shook his head. James grinned.
" The basis for a plan." Sirius looked at him.
" You're kidding, right?" James shook his head.
" Not at all." James' dark blue eyes were sparkling. " I have an idea, but I need to work on how to do it." Then they turned darker. " My God, what is that?" James asked, looking around. A horrible sound was echoing through the halls. It sounded like the death cry of a thousand people. James looked at his two friends and they raced towards the sound, James wrapping the cloak around his arm. It was coming from the Bloody Baron, who was rolling on the floor. James skidded to a stop and peered around the wall, he stared at the sight before him. Answa was seated against a wall, a wooden board was resting on her lap. Peeves was seated on the air and they were both watching the Bloody Baron. Peeves looked up and saw them.
" Oooooh! More nighttime strollers! Call Flitch, I should." The Bloody Baron looked up and then vanished. Answa looked at Peeves.
" You will do nothing of the sort. You will go away and if Flitch comes by here, then you will regret it come morning." Peeves looked at her and then nodded and flew through a wall. James watched in shock as Answa stood up and slid the board into a bag she had hanging over her shoulder.
" What are you doing here?" Remus demanded, stepping forward. " The Bloody Baron or Peeves could have turned you in to one of the teachers!" Answa shook her head.
" I was getting something to eat. No." She looked at James. " Did you know that everyone in this school thinks that you are going to drop dead before the week is out?" She asked. James shook his head.
" What did you mean no?" Sirius demanded. Answa sighed.
" I can control ghosts." All three Marauders stared at her.
" What?" James asked. Answa gestured to the wall where Peeves had vanished.
" Grandpa was an Auror before he retired and his specialty was ghosts. He taught me a few tricks. Well, really, he taught me the one thing at you have to know when dealing with ghosts, the only thing that can kill them. If you know that, then they will obey you." Answa raised a hand. " And no, I won't tell you, Sirius. That the agreement we have with the ghosts, we only tell people if a ghost disobeys us." Sirius sighed.
" Too bad, the things we could do!" James looked at Answa.
" Does Dumbledore know this thing?" He asked. Remus frowned slightly, his friend's voice was tense.
" I'm not positive, but I don't see how he could." Answa said.
" Why?" Sirius asked.
" Well, there were only five people who found out the secret and they only told five other people. This continued as a tradition and I know the others who know and they aren't Dumbledore. One of Grandpa's five supposedly died with out telling anyone and we, the twentieth five, haven't decide who to tell yet. We all have to agree and no one really has jumped out. I suppose Dumbledore might know or he could have found out about the other ways." She smiled. " There are ways to hurt ghosts, but they're even more rare than the way to kill them." James looked at her, his eyes beginning to have the barest glimpses of sparks in their depths.
" Have you met all the ghosts here?" Answa rolled her eyes.
" Even Dumbledore doesn't know how to do it. There are tons of ghosts here. I don't think anyone's ever met them all. Most of them are really nice." Answa grinned at Remus. " One of them was a wizard from the Roman Empire, named Romulus. He didn't know who Dumbledore was! He was haunting a dungeon and chased Peeves up here. The last living person he had seen was Godric Gryffindor! The Baron and I ended up explaining everything to him." James was feeling as if his birthday had come early though. Remus noticed his friend's blissful expression.
" James," He said, his voice tinged with wariness and excitement. " I know that look. What have you come up with now?" Answa looked at him.
" Uhoh." She said. Sirius, Remus, and Answa all looked at James. He fell back against the wall, his body shaking. He shook his head and lifted his eyes to the ceiling. Sirius rolled his eyes. He walked forward and waved a hand in front of his friend's face.
" Ok, James. Stop being impressed with your own brilliance and tell us." James started laughing. He scooped up Answa and twilled her around in the air. " You are a genius!" He said. He locked his eyes to her stormy blue ones. " Can I be sure of your help?" Answa nodded, her eyes wide with excitement. James set her down and grinned at his friends.
" Let's get that food, I'll explain on the way to the Hospital Wing." He looked at Answa. " You come with us. I want to know exactly what you meant by this ghost not knowing Dumbledore. He had never met him?" Answa nodded. James' eyes began to dance.
" He died by a sword and ended up linked to the sword. The sword was taken to Hogwarts eventually because it had magical properties of some sorts and he got taken along. He found a dungeon full of books and started reading to pass the time. That was about five years after the founding. He met Godric because Godric was looking for the sword. Godric broke the link and asked Rome to guard the books. Rome was very happy to. They were full spells he hadn't ever heard of. He stayed there until now, reading. Most ghosts have trouble moving around. It's hard for them to be too far from their link." James was grinning even broader.
" Then I have a plan. Come on, let's get that food and get back to the hospital wing. I'll explain on the way."
Sorry it took so long, I've had a bit of writer's
block. - Aoi