A/N: Thank you for reviewing, Voltora! And the other unsigned reviewer, I forgot your name! *sigh* yup. Well, this chapter is a continuation of the last chapter, "Secrets Revealed". Read? Review!!! -moi ^_^
Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
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The Marauders' Rivals - Chapter 5 - Plans for the Future
The next day, Remus tried to avoid James, Sirius, and Peter, but finally they cornered him.
"We don't find anything wrong with you being a werewolf," James said.
"You're harmless on days with no full moon," Sirius added.
"Don't leave us!" Peter cried. "You're a great friend!"
"All right." Remus said. "It's so boring in the Shrieking Shack. I have no targets, so I bite and nip and scratch myself!"
"Ouch!" Sirius said.
"We could come with you..." Peter suggested.
"I'd bite you!" Remus said. "I just want some company! I wonder if some people aren't affected by it..."
"Time for another trip to the library..." groaned Sirius.
"Good idea!" Remus said. "Thanks, Sirius!"
They headed off to there. "I was just being sarcastic!" Sirius whined.
Now Lockhart had found out that Mulciber was a vampire. Like Remus, Mulciber grieved about his friends' safety, but they then also decided to go to the library.
"I have to drink leftover chicken blood, gross," he explained. "Human blood is much more nourishing." Snape could have sworn Mulciber was leering at the back of his neck.
"I'm only half vampire, anyway. My father was one. The only difference is that I need blood less often, I don't have sharp teeth, and I'm not dead. If you'll still be my friends, you can't donate me blood all the time, or you'll get faint," he explained. "I just want pure blood," he added coldly with a glazed look on his face.
The Slytherins then reached the library. They were researching vampires and blood donating.
The Gryffindors were there in the library, though the Slytherins didn't see them. They were researching werewolves, obviously.
"I already know most of this stuff from our unit in Defense!" James griped. "None of this helps!"
Just across one bookshelf at the next table, Malfoy complained the exact same thing, except a little louder.
The Gryffindors easily recognized the voice. They decided to push the shelf between them (labeled Dangerous Creatures) onto the Slytherins, both for that they Body-Binded Peter and that they hated them in general.
"Push...now!" Sirius said. The Gryffindors pushed and the shelf tilted onto the Slytherins. Malfoy and Mulciber wouldn't have been hit, but Snape pulled Lockhart just out of the way of being crushed.
Mulciber chucked a medium-sized book at James. James picked a heavy encyclopedia to throw back, but Snape made the book explode like Lily's snowman's head did the past winter
(A/N: Ch. 3) and pages flew all over the Gryffindors.
That started a book fight, with curses and hexes behind the books like the snowball fight. Some other Gryffindors and Slytherins joined, and finally Madam Pince took control, took 50 points of both houses, and gace Snape a detention for
exploding a valuable book.
"They ended up worse then us!" Sirius laughed as they were forced to leave the library. "But did you guys find any useful info?"
The other three shook their heads.
"We need to get access to the restricted section." Sirius recommended.
"We could use the cloak." Peter added.
"Nope, last time I got into the restricted section with the Invisibility cloak, seven books started attacking me," James said. "Let's get permission from the Defense teacher, we just had a unit on werewolves, we can 'study further.'"
The Slytherins left the library. "Did you find any good info?" Snape asked.
Mulciber and Malfoy shook their heads.
"I did!" said Lockhart. "Sort of. Part of the 'Magical uses of Human Blood' book said many advanced potions involve protection from vampires, and controlling the amount of blood you have. We probably need to go to the Restricted section. But Professor Serpert will give us permission.
"Excellent!" Mulciber said. "Good job guys, we can ask him in class tomorrow!"
The next day, the Slytherins had permission from Serpert and the Gryffindors had permission from the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to go to the restricted section.
They came at the same time, but Madam Pince charmed the two groups so they wouldn't pull pranks on each other like the day before.
The Gryffindors studied advances ways to protect themselves from dangerous creatures.
"It says here garlic will ward off vampires." James thought he heard a gasp from a nearby table, but ignored it. "That won't help us."
"In this book, it says that werewolves only bite humans," Remus said. "They don't affect animals, though. I'm surprised I didn't already know that."
"Well, we're not animals, now are we?" Sirius jeered.
"We could be," Peter said softly. "Have you heard of animagi?"
"I think people are born as them," James said, "like McGonagall. Or was she? We haven't researched them..."
"It says here it's a potion, but a complicated one. I think I can find one," Peter said. He walked to near where the Slytherins were sitting. He didn't even throw them a cold glance, he just went to the shelf and started searching.
Mulciber was the one who gasped when James said vampire. He thought the Gryffindors knew he was one for a second, but was relieved when James said "That won't help us."
The Slytherins were researching blood-related potions.
"Blood thickening solution," Mulciber read.
"Blood increasing Potion," Lockhart read.
"Bleeding Balm. Ugh. No wonder they call it the restricted section!!" Snape exclaimed.
"It says here people often can successfully combine blood related potions," Malfoy said.
"I wonder..." Snape said.
"We could combine Blood increasing Potion with Bleeding Balm," Mulciber said coldly (A/N: Doesn't he always?). "A mix that could make you guys bleed without losing any blood. Mmm, I can just taste that refreshing blood!"
"We could call it 'Blood Bearing Balm!'" Malfoy suggested.
"Sounds good, but complicated." Lockhart said. Snape and Malfoy looked at him. "Let's try it!"
Back at the Gryffindor table: when Peter left, Sirius said, "Animagi? That's a little complicated!"
"We'll just have to see if there's anything easier..." Remus sighed.
But they didn't find anything. The Animagus Potion was very complicated. It would take two years to make, and that was only a portion of the procedure. They would need to find a secret room to keep the potion undisturbed and undiscovered.
It was the same for the Slytherins. It would take a while to make and mix both components, and they would too have to find a secret room.
There was good news for the future for both sides, though. Malfoy's father was planning on buying him an invisibility cloak, and the Gryffindors were becoming nighttime explorers, finding shortcuts and passageways (A/N: Soon to make the Marauders' Map!!!). With their friends' secrets now told, they were more free.
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A/N: Yup. There will (hopefully) be more pranks in the next chapter. Unless you like it this way. Any submitted created characters will probably be involved!!!
R/R! See you all next time! moi ^_^
