Hayley Granda Potter : *nods* this series must be bad. yep. i agree. i did a HUGE mistake even starting it. *smacks herself in face* hang on!! you said GOOD, no BAD. and you actually downloaded this lousy thing??? and no!! don't ome to Malaysia and rope me to my computer! i mean, i'm writing it on paper [sort of. i'll run out of testpads once school is out] and it's getting really headachy to read my own writing! lolz, yes, i will continue this [i made an oath when i first started--+kill myself+]. you're still welcomed to Malaysia :) i'm in dire need to meet someone... bored.
silver_koneko_tsukari~ : how'd i come up with the stuff is a huge question i ponder myself over. believe me. i am NOT [i repeat, Tsu, NOT] responsible for whatever weirdness that goes inside my head, because... well... it IS in my head!
AVK : you finally decided to review!!! :) thankies!!! and no, i do NOT enjoy being threatened by boybands ANYMORE!!!! and yes, i WILL have the romance, believe me. i've made it a point to myself that i'd forgotten all about it for too long. way too long. yes, i'll post, don't worry. i won't die yet...
Greengoldfish : cute name!!! and the test was HORRIBLE! the fairy wasn't with me, i guess
*Britz* : wow, what a lot of luck!!! *beams* thanks!! lol, cluck ^^ i'd just finished my exams [a couple of hours ago, actually]. also, the Shape-Shifter thing is MEANT to be confusing!!!
Jinskid3 : nothing is suppose to make sense in this story but the plot and the sane characters. and i'm glad that you liked this ^^
Lily's friend*Jess : the thing i like about the last chapter was... dun dun DUNN!!!!! Voldemort dressed in tropical fruits and in Sailormoon costume :)
Noelle : Sorry, maybe octopus robes someday else :) probably after a long, long time, too! at least i kept my promise!! HAH!!! no one can call me promise breaker now! i even post this so quickly!
Disclaimer: Everything's mine except… well, you know.
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The Marauding Five : Year Five
Chapter 10: Talent Chaos
'Hmph,' Adele grunted grumpily, 'My very first adventure and that stupid Shape-Shifter wiped off everyone's memories on it. No one's ever going to take me as a celebrity now, like they take you.' At the last word, Adele glared sourly at her four friends. Approximately two days after Shape-Shifter was banished, some memory altering charm had been flying around the school for an hour, making everyone forget about the incident, as if nothing had ever happened.
Everyone but the Marauders. Being the slackers and pranksters they are, they were picnicking by the lake, planning how to torture Snape and gang.
'Well…' James said indecisively. 'It wasn't your first one. That was last year, the episode with… what? Lily having some sickness or something, right? Ular- Ularsta Nagita, yep. That is your first one.'
'That was yours,' Sirius correction. 'I don't have anything, too, so you shouldn't brood that much, Adele. Them two lovebirds' –here, he jabbed his thumb at Lily and James—'hogged up every single thing possible. Blame them.'
Both the mentioned couple pretended to ignore him by engaging themselves in a boring (supposedly) conversation. They were both exchanging "Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you."
'Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you,' Lily said solemnly.
'Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you,' James replied, even more solemnly.
'Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you.'
'Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you.'
'Typical,' Remus muttered, burying his face behind his Charms text-book.
'How is today?' James asked.
'Very fine, thank you. How is today?' Lily said.
'I'd say that the day is raining and is not as fine as Lily Evans had just claimed,' Adele said. She pointed at the newly made window at the Marauder's hideout to show her point. The raindrops pitter-pattered noisily outside.
'It's raining,' James said.
'Really?' Lily said with an innocent questioning look. 'I didn't notice.'
'That's certainly boring, if you meant it to be boring,' Sirius said dryly. 'But anyway, how're you going to complete you Red and Blue magic course now? There's certainly no one living in this world that know it now, as far as I'd known.'
'Oh, who cares?' Remus said carelessly. 'It's all finished and furnished!'
'Furnished for what? Spring? Har har,' Lily said sarcastically.
'It'll be summer soon! Hurray! Hurray! Yippee!!!' Adele cheered.
'We're wasting time here. Milking cows is definitely NOT my type of work! And to think that I have to do it for another three weeks! Nooooo!!!' Sirius wailed.
'Shut up, moron! They'll hear us!' James hissed.
'Oops.'
'OWLs…' Remus moaned. 'We still have to take them… why didn't Voldemort just destroy the school for us, huh? Save us from OWL and NEWT.'
'Blame him. It's that Shape-Shifter and him,' Lily said. 'Maybe HE wants to torture us with the exams he took when he was a kid.'
'Ssh!' James hissed.
'Our new toilet is there, made the muggle way. Remember to flush,' Remus said, pointing at the new green door.
'Or if you want to turn into a snake, be sure to drink a new Animagi potion,' Adele said helpfully.
'Keep it low! I meant that!! Not toilet, not snakes!' James snapped.
'Look who's yelling…'
'Shut up!'
'Oooh… touchy, touchy!'
'I said shut up, Varens!'
'And talk about touchy…'
'I SAID "SHUT UP"!!!!!!!'
**
"Attention to all Fifth Years! Attention to all Fifth Years! Please gather in the Great Hall after lessons today! Thank you!" Dumbledore's jolly voice boomed around the castle halls. By the tone of his voice, he seemed quite excited about something. Professor McGonagall was scowling darkly.
'As you can see,' she said to her fifth year class, 'we wouldn't be turning Hagrid's hut into a chocolate house today.'
Groans followed her sentence as many of them scowled blackly, too. They were eager to pull Hagrid's hut down and get him a new one: eating the hut is a great way to save the abolishment cost.
'Why does he always but in each time I try to turn the castle or Hagrid's hut into something more fashionable?' McGonagall muttered. Her students ignored her.
'Wonder what ol' Dumbledore wants … again,' Sirius said. 'Just yesterday, I got caught pinching a particular mimosa plant that snapped at me.'
Dan coughed. 'That?!'
'Yes!! That!' Sirius said savagely, banging his fist onto the table fiercely.
'Black, don't bang the table!' McGonagall barked sharply, till grumpy about her idea of redecorating the school grounds. As she was still brooding and scowling, and quite ignorant to the other students, the pupils return to their conversation.
'Aah! I foresee something!' Lily said in the mysterious oriental voice—the know-it-all type of voice usually used by Tibetan Monks or a wise man.
'What? What?' came the eager responses.
'False alarm,' Lily grinned.
'Stupid divinator,' Snape muttered. 'Too sure of her boring predictions.' Tally, being just next to him, overheard Snape insulting her good friend.
'What did you say?' Tally said, turning to him sharply. Snape smiled innocently and rather… um, charmingly at her. Dan pulled at face at that.
'Tally's my girlfriend,' Dan said hardly. Tally glared. Snape sneered.
'Oh, really? Since when?' the Slytherin drawled.
'Um, an hour ago. We just made up our differences,' Tally said at once, thinking to herself "Better Dan Trevor of Gryffindor than Severus Snape of Slytherin."
'Again,' Remus added for her. 'Honestly speaking, how long is this truce going to last?'
**
'Alright, fifth years!' Dumbledore called out to the sea of students. 'How are we doing today? Bad? Good? Great?'
'We're not in kindy,' Adele said sarcastically. Dumbledore had either not hear her or had decided to ignore her comment.
'Do you know why you're here?'
'No, and puh-lease! don't talk to us like we're in a nursery! I enjoy being young, but not that young!' Adele said, rolling her eyes.
'Every fifth years get this wonderful opportunity to get their talent spotted! It's your turn this year!' Dumbledore said, beaming broadly from ear to ear. The noisy chatter died almost at once as people turned to listen, interested. 'Audition is on next Sunday, which means that it is held right after your OWLs, which is next Monday. Anyone may enter. Thank you.' And Dumbledore turned to a nearby fireplace, lit it, threw in some gold powder, and disappeared from sight. The fifth years turned to discuss about it, planning for their audition.
'I'm going to be a singer!' cried one.
'I'm playing my harp! Mother says that I'm a pro!'
'Hah, I'm even better at my lyre, in that case! I have a degree on mandolin and piano, too!'
'Ooh! Do you think I'm tall enough to be a model?'
And so on, so forth.
'Hey!' Sirius said, grabbing Remus's arm, 'let's do a magic show!'
'Don't be silly, Sirius. We are in a magic school!' Remus chided, surprised at his friend's stupidity and dumbness.
'No, no! The magic! The arts!!!' Sirius squealed suddenly in excitement as stars replaced the mischievous glint in his black eyes. The Marauders backed away from him nervously.
'What do you mean?' Adele said cautiously.
'We'll do magic tricks! Lily and her Psychic, James and his Red Arts, Remus with his Blue Arts, and Adele with her Black Arts!' Sirius said excitedly. 'And I… I hereby volunteer to be your pet dog!'
'Pet dog?!' the others exclaimed in surprise, narrowing their eyes at him. Sirius gulped uncertainly.
'Er, I'll be the animal talker then,' Sirius said, guessing that his friends approve his idea and disapprove of him doing nothing in their so-call Magic show. The four nodded grimly, though they know that Sirius wouldn't do anything in reality.
'Oh, I forgot something!' Dumbledore's head popped out of the fireplace. 'No magic is allowed.' Pop! He's gone with the flames again. A majority of the students groaned.
'Well folk?' Sirius said, turning to his friends. 'Whaddyou say? Ol' Albus said magic. That means wand-waving. Your – em, our – powers aren't wand-proof, are they? 'fraid not. We'll steal the show!!'
'But n what sense are we gonna proof that it's not a mere trick? We need to defend the reputation of the Unknown Arts, you know,' James said in concern.
'The Unknown Arts?'
'White, Black, Red, Blue and Psychic Arts,' Lily said helpfully.
'That's going to be a tough one,' Remus said, frowning. 'We shouldn't be known.'
The Marauders began to think deeply at their current dilemma.
'Why must we join? It's not compulsory, is it?' Adele said at last, finding nothing in her head to help them.
'No, but we have a reputation to keep up to! The Marauders never leave much of a chance, do they?' Sirius retorted. Adele racked her brains for a witty response.
'He's right, Adele. Get back to PensiveLand,' Lily said.
'Oh, bother! Let's just pretend that we're a group of great magicians (after Merlin) and tell them – whoever this talent spotting guy is – that we specialize in different magic each. Think Dumbledore will buy that?' Remus said.
'Maybe, but it's too risky. It'll seem like magic then, and that's not what we want,' James said reasonably.
'But that's our talent! And this is talent spotting! It's not like any of us could sing! We all know that Sirius have a terrible voice that'll scare even a bullfrog!' Adele said. Sirius glared.
'Oh, I am sooooo flattered, Adele,' Sirius said with intense dislike. 'Well, you couldn't sing, either, so don't make comments!' Adele stuck her tongue at him in reply.
'Wait! I have an idea!' Remus said brightly. 'How about we don't enter at all?'
'We have a reputation, Moony!' Sirius snapped. They all sighed. It's not easy to be center of attention. That shows how life can be pretty stressful at times.
'Back to thinking, then,' James said. 'How about we just get Sirius to talk to animals? Or blast ourselves up in smokes? Or better still, do hypnotism?' the boy muttered to himself, scratching his messy hair. Remus jumped up at once.
'That's it! We'll use hypnotism! Sirius will pretend to hypnotize us, and he'll just ask us to show our talent! We'll do it, and when we "wake up" we won't remember a thing, and no one'll accuse us for being museum specimens!' Remus said happily.
'W…hat?' Adele said. 'Come again, please.'
'Alright, Sirius here will pretend to hypnotize us, get it? And we'll pretend to be under his control. That'll be his "talent". Sirius will say something mystifying like "I see a talent in you"—bla bla bla. Lily can write that out for him, if he's bad at it—and we'll just do our stuff!' Remus said, his face flushing with excitement.
'That's a pretty good way to disguise ourselves. Or better, maybe we pretend to be infested by some alien we summon with our "talent" and show its powers!' Lily said happily. 'Yep, this is going to be one talent show!'
**
When the boys marched into their dormitory, they were greeted with a loud, deep, singing voice, singing a French opera. Instinctively, the three stuck their fingers into their ears to block out the sound and went on with their marching.
'STOP THAT, DANIEL TREVOR!' Thomas Macmillan yelled. Dan went on singing like an inspired gust of wind. He then paused to choke and cough (on his saliva), grabbed a cup of cold water, gulp that down, and began to yowl like a cat again.
Thomas stared at James, Sirius and Remus dully and pleadingly. They shrugged their shoulders, handed him some earplugs and threw a couple of dust-mites into Dan's wide open mouth (which, James later swore, could fill a huge apple). The boy coughed and spluttered.
'Peace be with humans when you are not singing, Dan,' Sirius said solemnly.
'Ah 'ad to –gak!- sing wit Tal –wak!- ly –gak!' Dan choked.
'Poor you. We understand your condition thoroughly and we hope that you can understand ours, too. When we say we want silence, we mean it. You can practice in the forest if you like,' Remus said, indicating the black Forbidden Forest.
'Yeah. If it's good, you're likely to live. If it's bad… well, you don't have to take our OWLs, then,' James said.
'Sympathic, aren't you?' Dan said sourly.
'What are you going to do? Thomas asked. 'Are you with the girls or on your own?'
'With the girls,' Remus said, 'We're doing … magic.'
'Dumbledore said that no wand-waving is allowed,' Dan said at once.
'We're doing a muggle magic, since that's the only talent we've got that no one in this world has,' Sirius boasted pompously. 'The others – like looks, intelligence, IQ… blablabla – are pretty common and it's no fun showing that off! Of course, you don't have our common and natural talents.'
'Watch that ego grow!' James whispered to Remus. They giggled as Sirius went on boasting about the "talents" he have (of which ¾ are all lies) to his fellow dormmates. Little did he know that something was growing above his head.
Dan and Thomas couldn't help to notice the big, brain-resemblance thing, marked "EGO" in bright red. It grew bigger when Sirius boasted about how he survived without chocolate ice-cream for one day.
'Ego running, Sirius,' Thomas said, grinning broadly.
'And I… what?' Sirius said blankly.
'Your ego's growing, isn't it? Oh look, Tom, there's a scale here!' 1:1 000 000 kilometer… pretty big, eh?' Dan commented. Sirius turned to the mirror.
'A big ego, dearie?' his mirror said drowsily. 'Poke it and it'll inflate.'
'JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMES POTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!!!!!!! PUT ME BACK TO NORMAL!!!!!' Sirius yelled, shaking the castle violently and breaking his dormitory windows in its quake. James and Remus laughed.
'Run!' James yelled, as he and Remus raced out to run away from the red Sirius.
**
'He loves her. He loves her not. He loves her. He loves her not. He loves her. He loves her not,' Adele muttered, plucking the petals off the red rose she was holding. She sighed happily as she pulled the last petal from its stem. 'He loves her. Now…' Adele produced another rose and began pulling the petals again, muttering, 'She loves him. She loves him not…' She smiled again as she pulled the last petal. 'She loves him, too.'
The wind blew softly, rustling her long black hair. The red petals flew from her lap and onto the lake, where they floated gently like little boats. Adele smiled softly, just as a sudden whooshing gust of wind came and green eyes stared into her purple ones.
'What are you doing out here? Pulling petals?' Lily asked in disbelief, sitting upside-down on her broomstick. Adele shook herself from the fright Lily had gave her.
'Er, yeah. For, um, someone I know,' Adele said, hurriedly remembering James's useful advice to block her mind. 'Not you, of course,' she added hastily.
'For Tal and Dan?'
'Er, um, yeah. Good luck to 'em.'
'Well then, this is good,' Lily said approvingly, staring at the floating red petals on the dark lake. Adele blinked.
'Why?'
'The wind always promises something good. If you have your lover with you at this moment, with the new moon and a gentle breeze, high chances are that you'll stay together forever,' Lily said. 'We should get Tally and Dan, huh?' Adele coughed.
'Erm, yeah,' Adele said uncertainly. Lily sat up.
'What are you doing out here? You know I can issue you a detention for this! And without a cloak with you, too!'
'I can say the same for you,' Adele retorted.
'I'm on duty,' Lily replied in a high-and-mighty tone.
'On your broomstick?'
'Um… I admit that there's a loop-hole in the law – they didn't say that prefects are not to patrol with broomstick,' Lily said, grinning a little. Adele raised her eyes.
'Well anyway, we haven't got a girl to girl talk yet,' Adele said, changing the subject.
'A what talk?'
'Girl to girl. You know…'
'No, I don't know.'
'Your mother? Gram? Petunia?' Adele asked.
'What, talk? Of course not! We do what we want!' Lily said. Adele decided that she should skip this altogether, in that case. Time for a new subject, then.
'Lily, do you really love James?' Adele asked. Lily frowned at her new choice.
'Why do you asked?' she asked, obviously not pleased at this question.
'I want to know. Do you? Not as a friend, of course,' Adele added quickly.
Lily hesitated. She wasn't really sure about that… yet. Yet is a keyword. She loved James with all her heart, as a friend, a brother, and… maybe yes, a lover, too.
So what now? She know that she love James. Tell Adele? And risk Sirius and Remus making fun of her?
Adele stared at her floating friend, thinking pensively. Yes, Lily was floating subconsciously on her own, her broom was left hovering just a few inches from the ground. Adele's mind was practically yelling with lines as "YOU IDIOT!!!! You're suppose to make her say it subconsciously! Why d'you ask her directly? Varens, you're the worst idiot ever in the history of witches!"
Finally, after a long five minutes, Lily turned to Adele.
'Er, what was the question again? I was thinking about something else,' Lily said.
'Do you love James? As in you'll marry him, live with him, blah blah blah?' Adele said, looking into Lily's eyes to see if she can find an answer in those dazzling green orbs. Besides, she'll also know if Lily is lying or not. Lily calmly returned her gaze.
'No,' she replied. Adele gasped. Lily's pupil and iris had barely even flinched!
'Y-you don't?'
'No, I don't,' Lily repeated firmly.
'Oh! But you said that-'
'I don't recall saying anything about living with James. Sure, he's my friend and brother, but we're NOT lovers,' Lily said, grinning a little. This seem a little funny to her. Besides, it's not everyday that you tell a lie to your best friend.
'But Lily—'
'Come back here, James!!! Put me right this instance, Remus!!!' Sirius's angry yells pierced into the still air. The wind had stilled for now.
As if on cue, James, Remus and Sirius burst out of the large castle doors. Lily thankfully counted her stars when the boys ran towards the girls for help. Adele was gaping at the stuff which was Sirius's ego (it was still there and one simply couldn't miss it) and at the scale below it.
'I didn't know Sirius's ego was so gigantic,' Adele said in amazement.
'There are some thing you'll never know till Armageddon,' Lily said philosophically. 'An example is Sirius's ego.'
'So does that mean that Armageddon's near?'
'Well… no. It's just an expression.'
'Lily! Adele! Save us!' James called, laughing, as he hid behind the girls.
'Sirius the Snorting Grim!!!' Remus laughed, running behind James for cover.
'Snorting Grim!' Sirius yelled, hurt. 'I'll teach you what a snorting grim is!'
And there and then, Sirius changed into Padfoot, his animagus form. He smirked smugly at them, as if to say 'Hah! Snorting Grim, huh? I'm NOT snorting, you stupids!' James glared at Padfoot, studying him.
'Well! If that isn't Mister Graceful there!' James said loudly, obviously directing the comment at Sirius. The dog snorted.
'Woof? Hrr, woof woof!' he barked in reply. Translation for non-dog language understanding people: 'Me? James, dream on!'
'He snorted!' Adele squealed. 'Oh, gosh, he snorted! Snorting Grim!'
'Woof woof!'
'He said "did not",' James said.
'Tell him, hah, he did and if he don't believe it, turn back time for proof!'
Sirius growled at her. He understood those words because he's an animagus. You have both your human and animal sense when you're one, and that's the good part on being one: You get extra sense and more camouflage.
'That can be fixed,' Remus said. 'Do we have a cam – oh, I have mine. Alright Sirius…'
Remus raised his right arm in the air and moved it anti-clockwise. As he do so, the Marauders, the leaves, the lake, the air… everything… turned backwards. Remus's arm kept its pace slowly as he came to the part where Sirius was snorting at James's words. His arm paused still in the air.
'Sopt,' Remus whispered, slowly dropping his arm.
Everything stopped right there. It was as if the earth had stopped spinning on its axis and around its orbit. Padfoot was snorting and Adele was looking really impressed by James's brilliance on making Sirius snort.
Remus turned to Lily. She was gazing mysteriously at the floating red petals on the lake's rippling surface, her lips parted in a sort of murmur. From the look in her eyes, she seem to be really far, as if predicting something. Whenever Lily looked mysterious (except as an act or for a prank) she is certainly doing an important prediction or maybe a prophecy.
Then again, she might be thinking of something to amuse herself.
Remus decided to shrug it off and go back to what he's here for. Besides, too long time in the past will nib at his memory. The boy took a quick snap of the Snorting Grim, and proceeds to turn his arm clockwise to go back to the present. He murmured the Time Gate's password and turned his left arm.
'Estrore,' Remus said. Pop!
'What's with me?' Sirius said, looking annoyed as he reappeared in his human form.
'Nothing, nothing.'
'Heyo? Lily? Hello? Hello?' James called, waving his hand in front of Lily's eyes. Remus noticed that she was still staring at the petals.
Once dark in the Heavens
No cure for us all
Once bright for Pluto
Will be doom for us all
White and Black will combine
As will Red, Blue and Neutral
The colours of ten
Will defeat great Pluto
Five from the past
Obtained from Red
Five from the present
With the help of the great
Seven will perish
Though not forever
Three will live
In deepest grief
With help of Black, Red and Neutral
Two of chosen shall return
But in exchange, colours will be gone
From Earth, forever forbidden
Lily muttered. Her friends stared at her in fright and in awe. Frighten of what she had just said, and awed that their friend had finally prophesized something that sounded really important.
Lily gazed on at the petals, gripping her broomstick tightly.
**
The OWL exams came and went in a blink of an eye. Soon, it was Friday and the fifth years had completed their worst nightmares. The Ravenclaws were singing, the Hufflepuffs were dancing, the Gryffindors were yelling and the Slytherins were celebrating by being extra nice to everyone: they treated the fifth years butterbeer, being the rich slugs they are.
But it wasn't before long that everyone began to panic again: the Talent-Spotting on Sunday. The teachers must have either sensed their nerves or decide to give them a treat, because they were allowed to go to Hogsmeade on the next day to do their shopping.
New robes were bought (there wasn't much time for ordering), parchments, quills and various stationaries were stacked, flowers picked, straws collected…
But the Marauders bought nothing.
Well, they bought one thing. A small, muggle pocket watch from Dervish and Banges. And it isn't really working, either. It's just a stupid dangling ornament that once belonged to an old English gentleman, whose house was ransacked by wizards (who posed as cops) to find a snake (which is really and Ashwinder).
Besides, Sirius couldn't really hypnotize them. He couldn't even sleep with a ticking clock! The Marauders guessed that it'll be good enough to fool the audience.
'Do we have everything, Dan?' Tally said, looking at the bags Dan was carrying, a parchment in her hand.
'Why do I have to carry this? Why couldn't you?' Dan whimpered.
'Because I'm a girl. And please don't start a fight with me now.'
'Flashy robes?' Serena Tappers said, holding a checklist.
'Check,' Geraldine Thorn said.
'Fancy muggle hair-dye?
'Check.'
'Lip, uh, stick…?'
'Yep. Check.'
'What's this? Tatoo?'
'Check.'
But not everyone's in a team with their friends. Some, who were doing solo, were reading their one-person act lines, singing their chosen songs and even juggling and turning cartwheels! Peter Pettigrew was juggling and kept dropping cups, balls and plates on Snape, who was cartwheeling next to his friend.
'PETER!' he yelled when Peter dropped more of his items.
'Um, sorry, but it seemed as if someone had placed a slipping charm on my items.'
'Sleeping charm??'
'No, slipping…'
So all in all, everyone's busy preparing for the talent spotting tomorrow.
**
Finally, he great day arrived, bringing anxiety, moans and excited squeals with it.
'Is our hypnotism convincing enough?' Adele asked worrily, staring at Sirius as he swung the pocket watch wildly in front of Remus's face, clearly enjoying himself. The watch bonked on Remus's nose and the victim let out a painful yell.
'Watch it, Sirius!' Remus yelled, holding his red nose.
'Remus the red-nosed wizaaaard… had a very shiny nooooooose… and if you ever saw iiiiiiit… you would even say it glooooooows…' Lily sang to the tune of "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer". James snickered, Sirius grinned, Adele burst into laughter and Remus glared.
'Lily, shut up!'
'All of the other wizaaaaards… always laughed and called him naaaaaaames… They never let poor Remuuuuuus… Join in any wizard gaaaaaaaaaaames…'
'What's that ridiculous song?' Thomas exclaimed, walking into the common room.
'It's a new version of Rudolph, only this one's called "Remus The Red-Nosed Wizard,"' Adele said, laughing hysterically. Remus forced a dry laugh.
'Oh. Yeah. I'm famous,' he said sarcastically.
'Interesting,' Thomas said, grabbing the pocket watch. 'What's this, then?'
'A watch,' Sirius said.
'Why? Wanna buy it from us? That'll be two galleons,' James said.
'Nah, just curious. It's about time now. Go to the Great Hall.'
'Mom just sent me some Floo Powder,' James said, taking out a small bagful of green sand. He took a pinch, threw it into the fireplace and yelled, 'Hogwarts Great Hall!'
'Hey!' Sirius called. 'Ah, too late. He's gone.'
'He left his bag here,' Lily said, showing them the blue bag. 'Take a pinch each.'
'No thanks. I'd rather walk. I don't fancy landing elsewhere,' Remus said.
'Me too.'
'Me three.'
'Me four,' Thomas added.
'Me five,' Lily said, keeping the small sack. 'Let's all walk.'
They reached the Great Hall just as Dumbledore and the other fifth, sixth and seventh years did. James was waiting impatiently in the empty hall.
'Potter! Fancy you being early!' Snape sneered.
'Well, a man – uh, wizard – should be early for once, don't you think?' James said innocently. He slapped his forehead. 'Oh, I shouldn't have said that to you! You don't come near to look like a slug, do you Snape, let alone humanoid? Well, my apology.' James threw in very much sarcasm in that sentence.
'Hmph.' Was Snape's only reply.
'Alright, alright,' Dumbledore said. 'The sixth and seventh years had offered to be your audience.'
'Where's that talent-spotter?' a sixth year called.
'Aah… here he is! Meestar Min!' Dumbledore said, smiling broadly as Meestar Min bombed into the Great Hall from the fireplace.
'Hello!' the man greeted cheerfully. He was a jolly looking man with the round Father Christmas face and a neat with moustache curled under his nose. He was bald, wore a lopsided wizard hat and had a wand in his hand. His dark blue robes were covered with black soot and his feet were stuffed into pointy yellow wizard shoes. 'Sorry, got lost in the chimney.'
The fifth years stared at the stumpy man as the sixth and seventh years greeted him warmly. Dumbledore beamed.
'Hello, Meestar. It's nice to see you again,' Dumbledore said.
'Albus! It's been a long time!' Meestar said in his deep jolly voice that simply screamed of laughter.
'One year isn't very long,' the headmaster replied. 'I beg you to see this pack of fifth year's performance.'
'Isn't this talent show?' Pastira Thore blurted.
'Well, I see you've been tricking them again,' Meestar said in amusement.
'We're tricked?!' Moans of disappointment follow.
'No. But it's not the way you expect it to be. I might get you a contract once you're graduated.' Whoops of delight were heard.
'We will start now,' Dumbledore said, clearing his throat. 'Ah, and our dear sorting hat here will announce your group randomly. I trust you can do that, Sorting Hat.' The fifth years went behind a just-magicked stage.
'D'you think I can set it aflame?' Adele whispered.
'Why would you want to do that?' James asked in surprise.
'Because last year, it told me that I'm very stupid at Transfiguration and join the pranksters of the year rank. I hate it.'
'It won't burn, maybe. I mean, it has a spell on it,' Lily said logically.
'Maybe is a keyword, Lily,' Adele said.
'But you still can't risk it. We have a show later on,' Remus said.
'Anna Hopkins!' the hat yelled. Anna jumped up at once, as her brother and sister yelled out for support in the seats. She performed poetry and left in a flushed face.
The names rolled on until Tally and Dan came up to perform their French opera duet. The duo started fine, for the first five minutes. After that, chaos ensues and they began bickering on the lines. When that was settled, they went back to the lyrics again. Right at the end of it, they proceeded to kiss (it was a supposed-love-song). Snaped barged – no, he cartwheeled – into the scene, yelling about Tally's lips were reserved only for his.
Tally hurled a hex at him and his lips "which were reserved specially for Tally" grew into an enormous size. Snape was soon carried to Madame Pomfrey for treatment and pronounced not able to attend the show anymore.
A Ravenclaw group performed a rock song.
'Sirius Black, Lily Evans, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Adele Varens!'
'Our turn,' Sirius said, pocketing his gold watch before stepping onto the stage.
'Yeah. By luck, our powers won't fail us,' Adele muttered.
'No reason for you to worry, in that case,' Remus said.
'Yeah. You know your stuff, we know our stuff. Chill out, Remus,' James said.
'Let's go!!!' Lily cried.
'Ahem. Would anyone want to take a guess at what I'm doing today?' Sirius called out to his audience. After all, what's stage fright to him if he'd already taken classes for acting? Nothing.
'Black, you are nuts!!!' a seventh year yelled.
'Gee, I am so honoured by words… but I'm not doing anything about nuts, Grevor.'
'Ta-da!' the other four cried, making their appearance. A few sixth year Slytherins refrained themselves from throwing rotten cabbages at them.
'We're doing hypnotism,' Adele said matter-of-factly. A few muggleborns began snickering. They'd tried it and it never really worked.
But anyway, Remus was seated onto the magicked chair. Sirius pulled out the watch and began swinging it violently in front of his friend's face. Bonk! It hit Remus's nose again.
'Sirius…' Remus gritted.
'Oops.'
'Watch it! I can't pretend to sleep if you keep doing that!'
'Um. Now… you are the deceased Red –eeps!- Blue magician, Frawla Fainze… you shall perform his – uh, her!!! – lost arts of –ulp!- blue magic…' Sirius said squeakily, but still mystifyingly. It was amazing how he could do that.
'Perform, er, what are Blue magic arts?' Lily whispered. She was suppose to command Remus.
'Just say Fainze's best known magic,' James hissed.
'Uh, Fainze's favourite magic,' Lily said decidingly. And to everyone's surprise, hair began to grow on Remus's skin. His body began to arch painfully and his teeth sharpened into carnivorous fangs. Remus's eyes seemed to blank out.
The crowd gasped in horror. Dumbledore jumped up at once and pulled his wand out. Remus-the-half-werewolf (Wereman – or boy, in his case) suddenly waved a claw. A group of frogs jumped onto the stage from nowhere and began croaking a song. As they did so, Remus's body straighten, the fur disappeared and his sharp teeth shrunk back evenly. He was Remus again.
Dumbledore sat back down, fixing a glare at the round shutters nearby that let stream in the diamond light which were collected from the moonlight. It was meant to brighten the Great Hall, but Remus, who was unfortunately staring at the round thing, had turned into half of the cursed creature he is.
The sixth and seventh years clapped as the frogs bowed and disappeared. James now sat in Remus's chair while Remus got a telling off from lily and Adele.
'You will now… Potter… be a Red magician… the famous magician of the tenth century… Mysta Mentani,' Sirius said. James dropped his eye-lids heavily.
'Speak Miss Mentani's favourite line!' a seventh year Ravenclaw suddenly yelled. James, who was preparing to fire a few sparks, panicked. He never really know how she speak. Why should he anyway? Silenly, he prayed that Remus is in conscious mind to help him as he can change one's way of speaking.
And luckily for him, Remus is.
James turned to the Ravenclaw calmly and said, 'Peut-on ressembler a une paire de cuisse de grenouilles?' to her. He made a mental note that he should torture her later.
'Now, perform her magic!' Sirius cried, his gold watch swinging wildly in his hand. It hit James's glasses. 'Double oops.'
'Moron,' Remus muttered.
'I quite agree,' Adele said.
James drew a few fancy movements in the air with his hand, just as the door burst open. The Thore twins were standing outside, staring at the crowd. Everyone turned to stare at them, including James.
'Ssh! Ve are playing hide an' sik!' Pastilla Thore hushed.
'Vot are you all doing?' Pattempt asked curiously.
'Get back to your common room!' Pastira ordered.
'No, no! since they are here, let them stay!' Meestar said. He levitated them to his seat. 'And since they're playing hide and seek, it'll be a job for their friends to find them in this crowd, don't you think so?'
'Zank you,' Pattempt said politely.
'JameS! SiriuS! Lily! RemuS! An' Adele!' Pastilla cried joyfully, seeing the Marauders on the stage.
'Hello,' Sirius said. 'Glad to know that you can call me properly.'
'Let us get on with this, shall we?' Dumbledore said.
'Yes, very well,' Meestar said, turning to the group. James hurriedly completed his magic and, being rushed, a million copies of him were running around the Great Hall, climbing the walls like wild monkeys. He grinned apologeticly at his friends. Sirius, sensing that James decide to quit, snapped his fingers with a sigh.
Lily came up next, cool and confident as ever, with a self-righteous smug on her face. She sat down and made sure that the chair and Sirius are at least two meters away—she don't fancy a bonk on her face! Sirius waved the clock violently again before her face. This time, it hit her head.
'Ow!'
'Sorry. Triple oops.'
'Hmph! He definitely hasn't much sense!' James scowled, rubbing his ear.
'You can say that again,' Remus sighed.
'You are now a Psychic, Lily… Psychic… Psychic… You are Rose – um, pardon me – you are Lily Trenna, the great psychic of her time…'
'Very, very stupid,' Adele muttered.
Dumbledore cocked his eye—that mischievous Lily Trenna was a Psychic? That's a new one.
'Float me!' a Hufflepuff called. Lily blanked her eyes and face (she was nearly dying of laughter), turned to the girl and, with a casul lift of a finger, lifted her up without much hesitation. The girl squealed in delight.
'Lily! Lily! Turn me into a Psychic, too!' Pattempt cried excitedly.
'No!!! No, no, no!' Sirius said at once. 'That's Lily Trenna there! She's a dead real Psychic! She's um, dangerous! Yeah, very dangerous!'
'Aw…'
'I should like you to lift me too, Lily Trenna,' Meestar said in amusement. This Lily did easily.
'I've never heard of this Trenna,' Anna said doubtfully.
'Of course not! She's very dangerous! Too dangerous to be known!' Adele scorned.
'Like how?'
Lily floated herself and tried her best to be graceful (which isn't a really great job because Trenna was a born aristrocrat, unlike the playful Lily Evans). She dropped in front of Anna almost suddenly, drew out a dagger from nowhere and slashed it across Anna's face with a wicked grin. Gasps followed. Anna let out a yell and Like smiled at herself in approval.
Sirius snapped his fingers. Lily blinked her eyes and smirked at Anna. Teach her for being such an intolerable nuisance to insult her AND her past life. The wimp, her face was barely even scratched!
'Adele,' Sirius said. Adele rushed over to the chair and tripped over. Everyone laughed.
Swish! Swoosh! The gold watch swung again before Adele's face.
'You are now Melinda Green,' Sirius said, referring to Adele Green's ancestor. 'Be what you are and let your powers be free!' At that, the gold watch suddenly flung itself out of control and landed near Remus, James and Lily.
Adele stood up from her seat gracefully, her raven head held high and proud. Her eyes flashed.
'Who disturb my sleep?' Adele asked. Sirius ignored the haughty tone in held.
'Show us your powers, oh Melinda,' Sirius said dramatically, dancing out of the way. Adele might burn him.
'KYA!!!!!!!!!' Adele yelled as a huge shower of flaming fireballs fall from the sunny ceiling of Hogwarts Great Hall.
'Run!' Lily yelled, jumping up. 'Run! It's real! I'm not stupid because this is honestly dangerous! She doesn't even need an incantation!! RUN!'
'Ah!' Pastilla cried, when her robes were bitten by the wicked fireballs. It was set on fire and Pattempt and Meestar were franticly trying to put it out.
'Sirius, snap your fingers!' Remus ordered.
'But why? This is perfect! Adele never showed up this before!' Sirius said in protest.
'You idiot grape! Can't you see that this is not Adele?' James said furiously. 'Snap it!'
'This is too fabulous!'
'Sirius Black, put everything back to normal or Adele might be controlled by Melinda Green!' Lily shrieked hysterically.
'Go on, Adele! Great job!' Sirius called.
Lily was horrified. Couldn't Sirius see that this isn't Adele Varens? Couldn't he see that this is Melinda Green? Didn't he know or notice how Adele had looked when he 'hypnotized' her? Lily was so horrified that shedid something she had never done to Sirius – or anyone – before: she slapped him. Right across his cheek.
James and Remus gasped, but decided that it was a right choice. Sirius was taken aback and stared at the furious redhead in shock. After a few seconds, he recovered and realized what Lily had done. He did the first thought in mind: he slapped her back.
Now it was Lily's turn to stare in shock. Even Petunia hadn't slapped her before, and they were once the worst enemies in the face of earth!
'Don't you dare slap me, Lily Evans! Ever!' Sirius yelled.
'You moron! Can't you wake up and just see that Lily did it for your own good?' Remus scolded.
'And I don't need you herding me all the time, Remus!'
'Sirius, listen to me!' James bellowed. 'Listen to us! That is NOT Adele Celine Varens! That girl, insanely sending fireballs now, is Melinda Green – Adele Green's old ancestor from the 17th century! She's a madwoman, I tell you!'
'She seemed okay to me,' Sirius snapped.
'No! She was mad! Goodness knows why you chose her instead of Adele Green!' Remus yelled. 'She was burned by those anti-witches people! In Salem, Massachustts! She was too mad with her Black Arts that she even forgot to use the Anti-Freezing charm! Didn't you learn in your History of Magic?'
Lily was still too stunned to speak her mind.
Sirius gulped. 'Really?'
'Yes, now pull her out of trance!' James screamed. Sirius snapped his fingers loudly, so that Adele would come out of trance. By the grave of good luck, she did, and was staring blankly at the Marauders, the stunned Lily and the still-raging fireballs. The havoc was still there. Adele held out her hand.
'Stop,' she commanded. At once, the fireball lefts, just like magic.
'The time, Remus?' James said faintly as Dumbledore marched towards them.
'Aye,' Remus said, holding up his right arm, turning it anti-clockwise. He stopped when they came to where Sirius was hypnotizing Adele. He paused, went back to the present and dragged his friends with him.
'Why?' Sirius asked curiously.
'Don't wanna forget this, do you?' James said. 'Alright, Adele just has to do her stuf. Simple ones, mind, and stare at Sirius, not the watch. Also, try to block that voice of his out of your ear.'
'Okay,' Adele said, nodding her head. Remus stopped, resumed the time an they begin again, fifteen minutes before the present time they are from.
**
'At least we got twenty galleons for the most outstandhing performance,' James said.
'Not good,' Remus said, 'considering the trouble we've been through.'
'Hah,' Adele said neutrally.
'Sirius's share really should be divided to the four of us. All he did was to injure us,' Remus said.
'Hey!!!'
'Just kidding, Si. You get fair share.'
'Psst! The tea-lady's here!' Tally whispered from the other compartment. Remus, Sirius and Adele perked up at once, racing out. 'Lily? James?'
'Thanks, but no thanks,' James said. Tally shut the door after her. 'Lily.'
'What?'
'Are you still angry at Sirius?'
'What do you think?'
'That was two weeks ago! Forget it already!
'Shan't,' Lily said stubbornly, staring at the scenary outside blankly.
'Why not?' James asked. 'You've never been this mad before.'
'There's a first time to everything.' Was he short reply.
'And us?' James asked, shyly.
'What?!' Lily said, turning to him.
'What about us? You didn't really answer my question months ago.' Lily turned a little pink, as if she'd caught a fever.
'Leave me alone,' she muttered, holding her head.
'Nope. I gave you an answer and I want your answer!' James said, staring at her cheekily. 'Please, Lily? With a million and one green monsters?'
'Very funny.'
'C'mon, Lily! Tell me! It's only fair!'
Lily hesitated and did some thinking.
'Well?' James said expectantly.
'Aishiteru,' Lily whispered, smiling sweetly at him. She kissed him softly on his lips and turned back to the window, staring, just as the rest came back with evil laughter and a set of used Filibuster's Fireworks in their hands.
____________________________________________________________________________________
AN: Okay, I now have blistered fingers. I kept telling myself "Finish this now! Finish this now! Save from hell! Save from hell!" [what joke: it took a long time!!!] and I managed to finish it. Yay for me!!!! The only drawback is probably I can't type for some time and…
I'm writing a new story soon. Believe it or not, it's a L/J romance one! *notices smirks from everyone* okay, I know I'm not a great romance writer, but I'm giving it another shot here! Give me a chance, will you? Besides, I'm quite proud with the plot I have! Year Six, meanwhile, will be detained until I decide what I should do to make the romance come [don't look at me!!! You all asked for it non-stop the past few chapters and series! DON'T LOOK AT ME!!!] and probably get you all yawning at the boringness of it. It MIGHT be boring because – knowing me – I like to make weird things happen.
Exam was terrorising. Evil. Monstrous. I think I'm going to fail. Enough said.
My fingers need warm water… please review for me? I mean, I can't hold a pencil for the next one day! Pity me, lol! Review, okay? Thanks in advance! ^_^
