Chapter Three
The School Train
It was September first, and they were just about to leave for King's Cross. Melody, Alex, Sirius, Remus, James, Lily, Harry, and the younger Melody were all going to go together. They were all running around the Potters' house, getting ready to leave. Lily was double-checking the whole house to make sure it was safe and secure.
"Lily, don't get so worked up!" Sirius said.
"Well, I won't be coming back for a while, and neither will James, and the house is going to be all alone--"
"The house will not be all alone! I'm going to stay here with Melody and Alex, remember?"
"Oh! Right, right. Well, in that case, I'll have to write you a list--"
"Mom, where are my Hogwarts robes?" Harry yelled down the stairs.
"I just washed them! They're down here in the kitchen!" Lily yelled, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill.
"Lily, I can't find my wand!" James complained.
"Well, where did you leave it?"
"I don't know!"
"Did you look in the basement?"
"Oh, never mind--here it is!"
"Mom, Harry's owl dropped a dead mouse in my room again!" Melody screeched, coming down the stairs.
"HARRY!" Lily yelled, still writing down a list of things for Sirius.
"What?" Harry said, coming into the kitchen for his Hogwarts robes.
"Clean up the dead mouse in your sister's room,"
"Ew! No way!"
"Harry, it's your owl. I'm not responsible for it." Lily double-checked her two-foot long list.
"Make her cat clean it up," Harry said, gathering up his robes.
"No way!" Melody said, coming into the kitchen. "Athena only goes after LIVE mice."
"Then make Sirius get rid of it, I don't have time for this!" Lily said, scribbling down a grocery list and good meal plan for Sirius. Not that he would use it, but still... Melody and Harry left the kitchen, and Remus entered.
"Lily, have you finished the potion?" he asked.
"The potion!" Lily exclaimed, dropping her quill and running down into the basement. She quickly poured all of Remus's potion into a large thermos (Muggle inventions came in so handy sometimes) and gathered up all her Potions ingredients into jars, packing them into several suitcases. She shrank her experimental potions down to minscule size and sealed them, putting them in a separate case all their own, fires still lit.
She hurried back upstairs and gave Remus the thermos, then put her bags of Potions ingredients on the kitchen table. She finished scribbling down the list of groceries for Sirius and started on a little home maintenance. She had already mentioned curfew, mealtime, snacktime, bedtime, etc. She hardly needed to mention all this, seeing as how Sirius had done this for the past three years, but still...
A huge black dog trotted through the kitchen with a dead mouse in its jaw, slid open the back door, and went across the back lawn to dispose of it. Lily put the final touches on the list of things Sirius was NOT to do with the kids (teach them spells, give them annoying joke products, etc.) just as he came trotting back in the house.
"Sirius!" Lily called before he left the kitchen. He turned back into a human with a POP! and turned to face her. "I have the list for you," she said, handing him the now three-foot-long piece of parchment.
"Good God, woman, what, do you have me running the military now or something?" Sirius asked, shaking his head and muttering at the list as he walked out of the kitchen. Lily just rolled her eyes and went about locking the doors and windows, and checking for intruders. (Of the magical kind, that is.)
"Lily!" Melody yelled, coming into the kitchen. "Lily, have you seen Alex?"
"Alex? No," Lily said, racking her brain. "MELODY!" she yelled.
"What?" Melody said, annoyed, coming to the top of the stairs.
"Have you seen Alex?" Lily asked, popping her head out of the kitchen door.
"Yeah. He's outside. Harry let him borrow the Nimbus."
"Did he borrow James's invisibility cloak too?"
Melody shrugged. "I dunno." She went back to her room.
"JAMES!" Lily thundered, walking back into the kitchen.
"What?" James said, coming in from the family room.
"Did you lend Alex your invisibility cloak?"
"Yeah. He's outside on Harry's Nimbus."
"Thank you," Lily said, walking over to the sliding door, unlocking it, and yelling out into the yard. "ALEX! WE HAVE TO GO!" Lily heard him come zooming in and a second later he appeared in the middle of the kitchen. She closed and locked the sliding door again, took James's cloak and Harry's broom from him, and left the kitchen to let Melody chew him out.
She passed through the family room and gave James his cloak back, passed Harry and Melody lugging Harry's trunk down the stairs, and put Harry's broom back in his room. She then walked back downstairs and into the family room, where everyone was now assembled. Sirius was still going over Lily's absurdly long list and muttering to himself.
"All right, people!" Lily said, clapping her hands to quiet everyone down. "Remember, King's Cross is a Muggle station, so we have to be as Muggle-like as possible. We have two cars that can comfortably seat four each, so besides me, who else can drive?" Everyone looked at each other.
"I can," Melody said.
"Okay, so we need three people to go with Melody, and three people to go with me."
"But I was going to drive my motorcycle!" Sirius complained.
"No," Lily said. "Absolutely not!"
"Fine. But how are you going to get Melody and Alex back here?"
"I will drive them, then Apparate back to King's Cross."
"Wouldn't it be easier if I just drove them back?"
"No!"
"Oh come on, Mom, lighten up a little!" Melody said. Lily sighed and looked at the older Melody.
"It's fine with me," she shrugged. Lily sighed again. "Fine, you can go,"
"Yes!" Melody cheered. She and Alex exchanged high-fives, and Sirius got a very Marauder-ish grin on his face. Lily groaned.
"Okay, and now, before we go, us Marauders have a very important ceremony to perform, so everyone but us and Harry needs to scoot!" James announced.
"Oh no," Lily said as the older Melody ushered Alex and the younger Melody out of the room.
"Out, Lily!" James said, smiling devilishly.
"James, please tell me you're not going to--"
"Out!" he insisted. Lily groaned again and reluctantly left the room. Harry looked at the three Marauders expectantly, and they all suddenly got very grave looks on their faces.
"Harry, this is a very serious matter of business." James said solemnly.
"This is also a very high honor," Sirius said, just as solemnly. They both turned to look at Remus.
"I can't believe we are doing this," Remus said, in just as solemn a tone. Harry laughed shortly.
James pulled out a piece of crinkled, slightly ripped parchment. "Harry, we bestow this sacred piece of parchment to you." Harry blinked at them and took the piece of parchment. He was slightly confused.
"Take out your wand and put it on the sacred document." Sirius instructed. Harry slid his wand out of his pocket and placed it on the parchment.
"Now you must take the oath," Remus said. All the Marauders put their right hands on their chest.
"Repeat after us," James said. Harry nodded.
"I do solemnly swear that I am up to no good," the three Marauders chorused. Harry repeated it, and he looked down at the parchment to see it presenting him with a map--no, not just a map--THE map. The Marauder's Map!
They arrived at King's Cross Station some time later, and, for those in Melody's car, miraculously in one piece. They walked (or staggered) into the station and walked just past platform nine and stopped right before platform ten.
"Okay, we're going to cross the barrier to platform nine and three-quarters," Lily said.
"We can't go in a large group, obviously, or it would be far too noticeable to all the Muggles. Harry, I'll go with you first, because you have an owl and people are staring." James said. Harry nodded and they pushed his cart over to the barrier. Harry stopped just as they got there.
"Looks pretty solid," Harry gulped. James just smiled.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "But if you want to test, push your cart through." Harry pushed his cart up against the wall, but quite suddenly there was no wall, and Harry was facing a scarlet steam engine and a sign that said: Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. James appeared next to him chuckling.
"Nothing to worry about, eh?" he said, patting Harry on the back and slinging an arm around his shoulders. Harry nodded and looked around. He saw a large family standing over to his right. They all had flaming red hair and freckles. One already had his Hogwarts robes on and was wearing a shiny Prefect's badge. Two twin boys looked to be making fun of the Prefect, and a boy about Harry's age was fighting his mother off him--she was trying to rub a spot off his nose. A girl from that same family who looked Melody's age was begging to go with them.
Harry scanned the crowd again and spotted Neville Longbottom.
"Dad, look, there's the Longbottoms!" Harry announced, pointing.
"Ah, good, let's go talk to them." James said.
"James, where are you going?" came Lily's voice. James and Harry turned around to see Lily, Melody, and Alex walking up to them, Lily dragging a trunk. Just behind them appeared the older Melody, Remus, and Sirius. They also had a trunk.
"The Longbottoms!" James said, pointing.
"Ah," Lily said. She checked her watch. "Well, we don't have much time, but you can go over and say hello if Sirius and Remus'll help me with these blasted trunks,"
James nodded and waved as he, both Melodys, Harry, and Alex walked over to the Longbottoms. "Hey, Neville," Harry said as his dad started talking to Mr. Longbottom.
"Hi, Harry!" Neville waved. He was a round-faced, rather good-natured boy who, like Harry, had been raised by Aurors, and therefore shared his confidence.
"You excited about Hogwarts?"
"Yeah! I can't wait until we get there. I've heard it's a huge old castle with like five stories and tons of staircases and trick doors, and ghosts..." Harry thought about the Marauder's Map.
"Neville," Harry said, interrupting him. "I have something really cool to show you. We just have to get on the train first.
"Really? Well let's go then!" Harry and Neville excused themselves and walked onto the train.
Melody and Alex were having a conversation with Neville's little sister Nicole. "So, you're parents are Aurors, right?" Melody asked. Nicole nodded. "So are mine." Melody said. "What do you do when your parents leave for work? Who do you live with?" Nicole rolled her eyes.
"My mom sends me and Neville off to live with my grandmother. I hate it there. Grandma's a little scary, and there's nothing interesting to do anyway. So your parents are Aurors too, right?"
"Well, mine are," Melody said.
"My mom's Dueling Master at Hogwarts, and I never see my father." Alex said.
"Why?" Nicole asked.
"Because bad things would happen if he did."
"Bad things? What kinds of bad things?"
"I'd rather not get into it," Alex said. Nicole shrugged. "Okay."
"You want to walk around?" Melody asked. They wandered off and looked around at all the parents and kids milling around. They saw two girls about their age talking, one with flaming red hair and freckles, and the other with long brown hair.
"Hi!" Melody said, walking over.
"Hi," the brunette said, smiling. The redhead gave a half-wave.
"You going to Hogwarts?" Melody asked. The brunette shook her head.
"Not until next year,"
"Us too!" Melody smiled. "I'm Melody. This is Nicole, and that's Alex," she introduced.
"I'm Autumn," the brunette said. "And this is Ginny,"
They shook hands, and Alex got a very annoyed Look on his face. "What?" Melody asked, looking at him.
"I'm surrounded by girls." he said. Melody, Ginny, Autumn, and Nicole giggled. "That's it, I'm out of here," Melody just rolled her eyes at him.
Just then the scarlet engine steamed and prepared to leave the station. "Gotta go!" Melody said, waving good-bye and running to say good-bye to her mom.
Her mother, Melody, and Remus were all taking the train to Hogwarts. Her dad was leaving just after the train to go to the Ministry. She was going to go home with Sirius and Alex.
She waved good-bye as the train sped off. Her mother stuck her head out the window and waved back to her. She looked around and found Sirius and James saying good-bye, with Alex standing next to them. She walked over.
"Bye, Dad," she said, giving him a hug.
"Bye, sweetie. I love you," James said, kissing her on the forehead.
"Love you, too, Dad," Melody replied, pecking him on the cheek. She watched him turn and walk back through the barrier. Her dad was so strong, so...fearless. How could he go out and fight Dark wizards, knowing he could end up dead? She shivered at the thought, and for a moment animal panic seized her at the thought of what might happen if he died.
But he's not going to die, she reminded herself. He's going to be fine. She turned back to Alex and Sirius.
"So, are you two ready to have some fun?" Sirius asked, an mischievous smile spreading across his face.
"Oh yeah," Melody and Alex said.
Harry and Neville had a compartment way in the back. Just as they were getting settled, a knock came on the door. It slid open and Harry saw the redheaded boy from that large family standing there.
"You two mind if I come in here?" he asked. "All the other compartments are full."
"Sure," Harry smiled. "You need help with your trunk?"
"Yeah, thanks," the boy said. Harry and Neville walked over and helped him drag it in.
"So, what's your name?" Harry asked.
"Ron Weasley,"
"I'm Harry Potter,"
"Neville Longbottom," the boys introduced themselves and shook hands.
"Well, now that that boring bit of business is over, do you like Quidditch?"
Ron's eyes sparked. CHA-CHING!!! He liked these people already. "I love Quidditch!" he said. "The Chudley Cannons are my favorite!"
"Chudley Cannons?" Neville said, wrinkling his nose. "No way! The Wimbourne Wasps are the best!"
Ron shook his head. "Not the Wimbourne Wasps! Cannons, all the way! People don't give enough support to them!"
"Yeah, 'cause they stink," Neville said under his breath.
"I heard that!" Ron said. Harry started laughing.
"Well what's your favorite team?" Ron and Neville demanded.
"I don't have one. But if I did, it would be the Potters!" he declared.
"Your family has a Quidditch team?" Ron asked skeptically.
"Well, not an official one, but we play Quidditch a lot. Inside the house. And my mom yells at us all the time." Harry nodded, smiling.
Neville and Ron started laughing. "So, what was it you were going to show me, Harry?" Neville asked after the laughter had subsided.
"Oh, that!" Harry said. He glanced between Ron and Neville, trying to decided if he could trust Ron or not. Then he shrugged. "Okay, both of you have to keep this an absolute secret," he said. Ron and Neville nodded.
Harry went over to his trunk and took out the Maruader's Map and his wand. He sat down in the center of the compartment and opened his mouth, preparing to say the incantation, but just then the door of their compartment slid open and three girls popped their heads in. Two of them looked remarkably alike.
"Hello!" the one in the middle said. She had bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth. "Oh, are you doing magic?" she asked, noting Harry's wand and the paper. The three girls stepped into the compartment. "Let's see it, then!" she said.
"Uh..." Harry racked his brain for a simple spell. James and Sirius and Melody had been teaching him basic spells since their trip to Diagon Alley. Even though he wasn't technically allowed to do this, somehow they had gotten around it. He looked at the paper and his wand for several seconds before saying the first spell that popped into his head. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he said, and the paper lifted up off the floor and hovered in midair.
Everyone clapped. "That was wonderful!" the girl said. "By the way, I'm Hermione Granger. I've tried a few simple spells like that too, and they all worked." She smiled. "And this is Parvati and Padma Patil. They're twins."
"Hi," Padma and Parvati said, waving.
"Hi," Neville, Harry and Ron said back. "I'm Harry Potter," Harry introduced himself.
"I'm Neville Longbottom,"
"I'm Ron Weasley," they all shook hands.
"Do you mind if we sit down and chat? Hermione asked. "We've just been going around the train introducing ourselves to people and our feet are a little sore. We started way at the front and this is the end."
Harry, Ron, and Neville exchanged looks. They shrugged. "Sure," Ron said.
"Wonderful," Hermione said, and the three girls sat down. The boys sat down across from them. "Well, some of the students are quite friendly, but I must say there are a lot of them that are downright unpleasant."
"Yes, and they're all in Slytherin," Padma said, rolling her eyes. "I hope I don't get put in that house. What houses d'you think you all will be in?"
"I think I'll be in Gryffindor," Neville said. "I hope so. My parents were, but some of my relatives were in Hufflepuff. I don't know what I'll be in. But I do hope it's Gryffindor."
"I agree," Hermione said, nodding. "I've been doing some research and I've read all about the houses. Gryffindor sounds by far the best. Of course, Ravenclaw would suit me as well."
"I hope I'm in Gryffindor," Ron said nervously. "My whole family's been, and if I wasn't I don't know what would happen..."
"Are Fred and George your brothers then?" Parvati-er, no, Padma-or...was it Parvati? asked.
"Yeah," Ron said. "I take it you've met them?" The girls nodded fervently.
"Quite a pair," Padma (er, Parvati?) said.
"How many brothers have you got?" Hermione asked.
"Five," Ron said dejectedly.
"Five? Goodness! Are you the youngest then?"
Ron shook his head. "I've got a younger sister. She'll be at Hogwarts next year."
"Wow. It must be nice to have a big family. I haven't got any sisters or brothers," Hermione said. Ron shook his head.
"Being the second youngest of a huge family means you get nothing new. All the stuff I've got for Hogwarts are hand-me-downs. I don't know what we're going to next year when Ginny comes. We haven't got..." Ron cut himself off, his ears going rather red.
No one said anything for several moments. "Well, I, personally, would like to be in Gryffindor," Harry announced. "My dad was in Gryffindor, and Sirius was in Gryffindor, and Melody was in Gryffindor, and Lupin was in Gryffindor, and they're just about the coolest adults in the world."
"Who're they?" Padma asked.
"Well, Sirius is my dad's best friend. And Melody is my mom's best friend. And Lupin's another one of my dad's best friends. Well, Melody and Lupin are professors at Hogwarts, and so's my mom. They're riding the train, you girls might have seen them." The girls looked at each other.
"Melody...blond, tall, wicked sense of humor?" Parvati said.
"Your mom...redhead, green eyes, sensible?" Hermione asked.
"Lupin...brown hair, kind of tired-looking?" Padma finished.
"Yep, that's them," Harry confirmed. "Where did you see them?"
"Well, Melody was conspiring with Fred and George on something, and your mother was chewing all three of them out, and Lupin was standing there trying to look serious and responsible, but it wasn't really working," Padma explained. Harry burst out laughing.
"That's them, all right!" he said. "They are the best! My mom's not really as sensible as she seems, though. But she's serious about potions, I'll tell you that."
"So, what are Lupin and Melody teaching?" Padma asked, looking eager to start class with them.
"Well, Lupin teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts," Harry said. "And Melody is in charge of the Dueling Club. But we can't be in it until third year,"
"Rats," Padma said. "She seems like fun."
Harry nodded. "So, what house do you want to be in?" he asked her.
"Ravenclaw," she replied.
"You, too, Parvati?" he asked. Parvati shook her head.
"Definitely Gryffindor." She said.
"So you don't want to be in the same house?" Ron asked, confused. Padma and Parvati looked at each other.
"No," they said at the same time. Then they started laughing.
"Well, we better go before Fred and George find our empty compartment. They might find something evil to do to our trunks." Hermione said, standing up.
"Bye!" Harry said.
"Bye," everyone said to each other, and the girls left.
"Okay, now for the secret," Harry said, picking up the piece of parchment and putting his wand on it again.
Just then their compartment door slid open AGAIN. This time it was Draco Malfoy, and he was flanked by two huge boys Harry had never seen before. Harry was busy staring at them while Draco was busy looking at Neville and Ron. He noticed Harry looking past him.
"Oh, this is Crabbe, this is Goyle," he said, motioning vaguely with his hands. "So, what's your name anyway?" He asked Harry. "We got cut off at Diagon Alley,"
"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said. Draco looked over Neville and Ron once more.
"You're not hanging out with THEM, are you?" He asked with a sneer.
Harry looked at Crabbe and Goyle. "You're not honestly hanging out with THEM, I hope?" he asked.
Draco looked at him coldly. Then he burst out laughing. "Good sense of humor, Potter," he said, holding out a hand for Harry to shake. Harry shook it and smiled.
"What are you doing?" Ron hissed in Harry's ear. "That's a Malfoy!"
"Oh my goodness, you've caught a Weasley," Draco said dryly. "And I'll have you know that I heard that." he directed at Ron. Ron glared at him.
"Well, I can't dawdle," Draco said. "I'll see you at school, Potter." Then, with a cold look at Ron, he left.
"I know he's a Malfoy," Harry shrugged.
"AND!?!? YOU TRUST HIM!?" Ron exploded.
"Of course not," Harry snorted. "I know all about the Malfoys, Ron. But you should give him a chance, shouldn't you?"
"Barking mad," Ron muttered. "Give a Malfoy a chance, sounds like a bad Muggle theme song,"
"What's a theme song?" Neville asked.
"It's a Muggle thing," Harry said.
"How do you two know about Muggle stuff? Don't you both come from wizarding families?"
"My dad loves Muggles. He's fascinated by them."
"My mom was born into a Muggle family. She's been feeding me Muggle stuff secretly my whole life. My dad doesn't want me to know Muggle stuff. But, I figure, Mom teaches me Potions and Muggle stuff, Dad teaches me Charms and Transfiguration spells I'm not s'posed to know, we're even," Harry said. "Shh, don't tell,"
Neville and Ron smiled.
"Anyway, back to this," Harry said, holding up the parchment. He put his wand to it and opened his mouth, when-knock, knock, knock-someone was tapping on the door. The compartment door slid open and a smiling witch popped her head in.
"Food from the cart, dears?" she asked. Ron mumbled about sandwiches, but Neville and Harry went to the cart. Harry bought some of everything except the every flavor beans. He'd had too many bad experiences with Sirius and Every Flavor Beans to trust them again...
"Okay, now, hopefully, we'll be left alone!" Harry said as they sat on the floor to eat. Ron pulled out a sandwich and looked at it, his face falling. "Corned beef," he said, wrinkling his nose. "She always forgets I don't like it,"
"Have some of our stuff," Harry and Neville said, shoving Pumpkin Pasties and Chocolate Frogs into Ron's hands before he could object.
Harry, who had by now figured out Ron's family didn't have much money, told Ron that he'd never really seen a Galleon in his life until he'd gone to Diagon Alley with his parents. He told Neville and Ron all about his life growing up, rarely going out in public because of the fact that they were in hiding, how his parents were still working as Aurors even though the risk was greater than ever.
Ron and Neville were fascinated. Then Neville told a couple stories about his parents and them being Aurors. Ron, in turn, talked about his brothers, and how Bill was a Gringotts curse breaker, and how Charlie worked with dragons. Harry and Neville thought this was much cooler than their parents being Aurors, and Ron just smiled and called them barking mad.
When they were full, they changed into their Hogwarts robes, and Harry suddenly remembered he hadn't shown them the Marauder's Map yet. He took it out again, and placed it on the floor again, and put his wand on it again, and they waited tensely several moments for the stupid door to come sliding open. It didn't. Sighing with relief, Harry opened his mouth. "I solemnly swe-"
The door came sliding open. The three boys groaned and scrambled to hide the map as Lily Potter entered the compartment.
"Oh, hi, Mom," Harry said.
"Hi, Harry. Just coming back to make sure you were behaving yourself." She said. Harry nodded.
"Mom, this is Ron Weasley," Harry introduced. "And you know Neville," he said. Lily nodded and held out a hand to shake Ron's.
"Hello, Ron," she said. "Hi, Neville." Neville waved. "I'm Lily Potter, but you'll all have to call me Professor Potter from now on." They all nodded. "Are you looking forward to getting to Hogwarts?" she asked, sitting down and playing with her 'L' necklace. The boys all nodded.
"You'll love Professor Dumbledore," she said. "He's a wonderful headmaster." The boys all nodded. Sensing she'd interrupted something, she smiled and said: "Well, I'll see you all at the feast!" She got up and walked to the door. "And don't forget to behave yourselves," she said, looking pointedly at Harry, who, looking much like James, averted his gaze. Lily rolled her eyes and left. It was the Marauders, reborn. She could feel it.
Back in the compartment, Harry had the wand and parchment out, ready to go, praying nothing more would interrupt him. But it did. Melody came bounding in.
"Hi, Harry!" she said. She saw them hiding the parchment and recognized it. "Oh, the Marauder's Map!" she squealed. "I haven't seen that thing in years! Did you get it from James?" she asked. Harry nodded, looking slightly put-out that Melody had squeaked what it was.
"Well, go on, say the incantation, don't let me stop you!" Melody said, sitting down and watching the boys with interest. Harry smiled and took out the parchment again. Melody pointed her wand over her shoulder and locked the door.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Harry said, and the Marauder's Map appeared. The boys looked as though their birthdays had come early. Harry got a Marauder-ish grin on his face.
Melody smirked as she watched them all pore over the Marauder's Map. James would have been proud.
And besides, now they could reinstate the Order of Marauder at Hogwarts. Too bad Snape had found that secret room several years back; they no longer had a headquarters. But...hmm...maybe she could fix that...
The School Train
It was September first, and they were just about to leave for King's Cross. Melody, Alex, Sirius, Remus, James, Lily, Harry, and the younger Melody were all going to go together. They were all running around the Potters' house, getting ready to leave. Lily was double-checking the whole house to make sure it was safe and secure.
"Lily, don't get so worked up!" Sirius said.
"Well, I won't be coming back for a while, and neither will James, and the house is going to be all alone--"
"The house will not be all alone! I'm going to stay here with Melody and Alex, remember?"
"Oh! Right, right. Well, in that case, I'll have to write you a list--"
"Mom, where are my Hogwarts robes?" Harry yelled down the stairs.
"I just washed them! They're down here in the kitchen!" Lily yelled, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill.
"Lily, I can't find my wand!" James complained.
"Well, where did you leave it?"
"I don't know!"
"Did you look in the basement?"
"Oh, never mind--here it is!"
"Mom, Harry's owl dropped a dead mouse in my room again!" Melody screeched, coming down the stairs.
"HARRY!" Lily yelled, still writing down a list of things for Sirius.
"What?" Harry said, coming into the kitchen for his Hogwarts robes.
"Clean up the dead mouse in your sister's room,"
"Ew! No way!"
"Harry, it's your owl. I'm not responsible for it." Lily double-checked her two-foot long list.
"Make her cat clean it up," Harry said, gathering up his robes.
"No way!" Melody said, coming into the kitchen. "Athena only goes after LIVE mice."
"Then make Sirius get rid of it, I don't have time for this!" Lily said, scribbling down a grocery list and good meal plan for Sirius. Not that he would use it, but still... Melody and Harry left the kitchen, and Remus entered.
"Lily, have you finished the potion?" he asked.
"The potion!" Lily exclaimed, dropping her quill and running down into the basement. She quickly poured all of Remus's potion into a large thermos (Muggle inventions came in so handy sometimes) and gathered up all her Potions ingredients into jars, packing them into several suitcases. She shrank her experimental potions down to minscule size and sealed them, putting them in a separate case all their own, fires still lit.
She hurried back upstairs and gave Remus the thermos, then put her bags of Potions ingredients on the kitchen table. She finished scribbling down the list of groceries for Sirius and started on a little home maintenance. She had already mentioned curfew, mealtime, snacktime, bedtime, etc. She hardly needed to mention all this, seeing as how Sirius had done this for the past three years, but still...
A huge black dog trotted through the kitchen with a dead mouse in its jaw, slid open the back door, and went across the back lawn to dispose of it. Lily put the final touches on the list of things Sirius was NOT to do with the kids (teach them spells, give them annoying joke products, etc.) just as he came trotting back in the house.
"Sirius!" Lily called before he left the kitchen. He turned back into a human with a POP! and turned to face her. "I have the list for you," she said, handing him the now three-foot-long piece of parchment.
"Good God, woman, what, do you have me running the military now or something?" Sirius asked, shaking his head and muttering at the list as he walked out of the kitchen. Lily just rolled her eyes and went about locking the doors and windows, and checking for intruders. (Of the magical kind, that is.)
"Lily!" Melody yelled, coming into the kitchen. "Lily, have you seen Alex?"
"Alex? No," Lily said, racking her brain. "MELODY!" she yelled.
"What?" Melody said, annoyed, coming to the top of the stairs.
"Have you seen Alex?" Lily asked, popping her head out of the kitchen door.
"Yeah. He's outside. Harry let him borrow the Nimbus."
"Did he borrow James's invisibility cloak too?"
Melody shrugged. "I dunno." She went back to her room.
"JAMES!" Lily thundered, walking back into the kitchen.
"What?" James said, coming in from the family room.
"Did you lend Alex your invisibility cloak?"
"Yeah. He's outside on Harry's Nimbus."
"Thank you," Lily said, walking over to the sliding door, unlocking it, and yelling out into the yard. "ALEX! WE HAVE TO GO!" Lily heard him come zooming in and a second later he appeared in the middle of the kitchen. She closed and locked the sliding door again, took James's cloak and Harry's broom from him, and left the kitchen to let Melody chew him out.
She passed through the family room and gave James his cloak back, passed Harry and Melody lugging Harry's trunk down the stairs, and put Harry's broom back in his room. She then walked back downstairs and into the family room, where everyone was now assembled. Sirius was still going over Lily's absurdly long list and muttering to himself.
"All right, people!" Lily said, clapping her hands to quiet everyone down. "Remember, King's Cross is a Muggle station, so we have to be as Muggle-like as possible. We have two cars that can comfortably seat four each, so besides me, who else can drive?" Everyone looked at each other.
"I can," Melody said.
"Okay, so we need three people to go with Melody, and three people to go with me."
"But I was going to drive my motorcycle!" Sirius complained.
"No," Lily said. "Absolutely not!"
"Fine. But how are you going to get Melody and Alex back here?"
"I will drive them, then Apparate back to King's Cross."
"Wouldn't it be easier if I just drove them back?"
"No!"
"Oh come on, Mom, lighten up a little!" Melody said. Lily sighed and looked at the older Melody.
"It's fine with me," she shrugged. Lily sighed again. "Fine, you can go,"
"Yes!" Melody cheered. She and Alex exchanged high-fives, and Sirius got a very Marauder-ish grin on his face. Lily groaned.
"Okay, and now, before we go, us Marauders have a very important ceremony to perform, so everyone but us and Harry needs to scoot!" James announced.
"Oh no," Lily said as the older Melody ushered Alex and the younger Melody out of the room.
"Out, Lily!" James said, smiling devilishly.
"James, please tell me you're not going to--"
"Out!" he insisted. Lily groaned again and reluctantly left the room. Harry looked at the three Marauders expectantly, and they all suddenly got very grave looks on their faces.
"Harry, this is a very serious matter of business." James said solemnly.
"This is also a very high honor," Sirius said, just as solemnly. They both turned to look at Remus.
"I can't believe we are doing this," Remus said, in just as solemn a tone. Harry laughed shortly.
James pulled out a piece of crinkled, slightly ripped parchment. "Harry, we bestow this sacred piece of parchment to you." Harry blinked at them and took the piece of parchment. He was slightly confused.
"Take out your wand and put it on the sacred document." Sirius instructed. Harry slid his wand out of his pocket and placed it on the parchment.
"Now you must take the oath," Remus said. All the Marauders put their right hands on their chest.
"Repeat after us," James said. Harry nodded.
"I do solemnly swear that I am up to no good," the three Marauders chorused. Harry repeated it, and he looked down at the parchment to see it presenting him with a map--no, not just a map--THE map. The Marauder's Map!
They arrived at King's Cross Station some time later, and, for those in Melody's car, miraculously in one piece. They walked (or staggered) into the station and walked just past platform nine and stopped right before platform ten.
"Okay, we're going to cross the barrier to platform nine and three-quarters," Lily said.
"We can't go in a large group, obviously, or it would be far too noticeable to all the Muggles. Harry, I'll go with you first, because you have an owl and people are staring." James said. Harry nodded and they pushed his cart over to the barrier. Harry stopped just as they got there.
"Looks pretty solid," Harry gulped. James just smiled.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "But if you want to test, push your cart through." Harry pushed his cart up against the wall, but quite suddenly there was no wall, and Harry was facing a scarlet steam engine and a sign that said: Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. James appeared next to him chuckling.
"Nothing to worry about, eh?" he said, patting Harry on the back and slinging an arm around his shoulders. Harry nodded and looked around. He saw a large family standing over to his right. They all had flaming red hair and freckles. One already had his Hogwarts robes on and was wearing a shiny Prefect's badge. Two twin boys looked to be making fun of the Prefect, and a boy about Harry's age was fighting his mother off him--she was trying to rub a spot off his nose. A girl from that same family who looked Melody's age was begging to go with them.
Harry scanned the crowd again and spotted Neville Longbottom.
"Dad, look, there's the Longbottoms!" Harry announced, pointing.
"Ah, good, let's go talk to them." James said.
"James, where are you going?" came Lily's voice. James and Harry turned around to see Lily, Melody, and Alex walking up to them, Lily dragging a trunk. Just behind them appeared the older Melody, Remus, and Sirius. They also had a trunk.
"The Longbottoms!" James said, pointing.
"Ah," Lily said. She checked her watch. "Well, we don't have much time, but you can go over and say hello if Sirius and Remus'll help me with these blasted trunks,"
James nodded and waved as he, both Melodys, Harry, and Alex walked over to the Longbottoms. "Hey, Neville," Harry said as his dad started talking to Mr. Longbottom.
"Hi, Harry!" Neville waved. He was a round-faced, rather good-natured boy who, like Harry, had been raised by Aurors, and therefore shared his confidence.
"You excited about Hogwarts?"
"Yeah! I can't wait until we get there. I've heard it's a huge old castle with like five stories and tons of staircases and trick doors, and ghosts..." Harry thought about the Marauder's Map.
"Neville," Harry said, interrupting him. "I have something really cool to show you. We just have to get on the train first.
"Really? Well let's go then!" Harry and Neville excused themselves and walked onto the train.
Melody and Alex were having a conversation with Neville's little sister Nicole. "So, you're parents are Aurors, right?" Melody asked. Nicole nodded. "So are mine." Melody said. "What do you do when your parents leave for work? Who do you live with?" Nicole rolled her eyes.
"My mom sends me and Neville off to live with my grandmother. I hate it there. Grandma's a little scary, and there's nothing interesting to do anyway. So your parents are Aurors too, right?"
"Well, mine are," Melody said.
"My mom's Dueling Master at Hogwarts, and I never see my father." Alex said.
"Why?" Nicole asked.
"Because bad things would happen if he did."
"Bad things? What kinds of bad things?"
"I'd rather not get into it," Alex said. Nicole shrugged. "Okay."
"You want to walk around?" Melody asked. They wandered off and looked around at all the parents and kids milling around. They saw two girls about their age talking, one with flaming red hair and freckles, and the other with long brown hair.
"Hi!" Melody said, walking over.
"Hi," the brunette said, smiling. The redhead gave a half-wave.
"You going to Hogwarts?" Melody asked. The brunette shook her head.
"Not until next year,"
"Us too!" Melody smiled. "I'm Melody. This is Nicole, and that's Alex," she introduced.
"I'm Autumn," the brunette said. "And this is Ginny,"
They shook hands, and Alex got a very annoyed Look on his face. "What?" Melody asked, looking at him.
"I'm surrounded by girls." he said. Melody, Ginny, Autumn, and Nicole giggled. "That's it, I'm out of here," Melody just rolled her eyes at him.
Just then the scarlet engine steamed and prepared to leave the station. "Gotta go!" Melody said, waving good-bye and running to say good-bye to her mom.
Her mother, Melody, and Remus were all taking the train to Hogwarts. Her dad was leaving just after the train to go to the Ministry. She was going to go home with Sirius and Alex.
She waved good-bye as the train sped off. Her mother stuck her head out the window and waved back to her. She looked around and found Sirius and James saying good-bye, with Alex standing next to them. She walked over.
"Bye, Dad," she said, giving him a hug.
"Bye, sweetie. I love you," James said, kissing her on the forehead.
"Love you, too, Dad," Melody replied, pecking him on the cheek. She watched him turn and walk back through the barrier. Her dad was so strong, so...fearless. How could he go out and fight Dark wizards, knowing he could end up dead? She shivered at the thought, and for a moment animal panic seized her at the thought of what might happen if he died.
But he's not going to die, she reminded herself. He's going to be fine. She turned back to Alex and Sirius.
"So, are you two ready to have some fun?" Sirius asked, an mischievous smile spreading across his face.
"Oh yeah," Melody and Alex said.
Harry and Neville had a compartment way in the back. Just as they were getting settled, a knock came on the door. It slid open and Harry saw the redheaded boy from that large family standing there.
"You two mind if I come in here?" he asked. "All the other compartments are full."
"Sure," Harry smiled. "You need help with your trunk?"
"Yeah, thanks," the boy said. Harry and Neville walked over and helped him drag it in.
"So, what's your name?" Harry asked.
"Ron Weasley,"
"I'm Harry Potter,"
"Neville Longbottom," the boys introduced themselves and shook hands.
"Well, now that that boring bit of business is over, do you like Quidditch?"
Ron's eyes sparked. CHA-CHING!!! He liked these people already. "I love Quidditch!" he said. "The Chudley Cannons are my favorite!"
"Chudley Cannons?" Neville said, wrinkling his nose. "No way! The Wimbourne Wasps are the best!"
Ron shook his head. "Not the Wimbourne Wasps! Cannons, all the way! People don't give enough support to them!"
"Yeah, 'cause they stink," Neville said under his breath.
"I heard that!" Ron said. Harry started laughing.
"Well what's your favorite team?" Ron and Neville demanded.
"I don't have one. But if I did, it would be the Potters!" he declared.
"Your family has a Quidditch team?" Ron asked skeptically.
"Well, not an official one, but we play Quidditch a lot. Inside the house. And my mom yells at us all the time." Harry nodded, smiling.
Neville and Ron started laughing. "So, what was it you were going to show me, Harry?" Neville asked after the laughter had subsided.
"Oh, that!" Harry said. He glanced between Ron and Neville, trying to decided if he could trust Ron or not. Then he shrugged. "Okay, both of you have to keep this an absolute secret," he said. Ron and Neville nodded.
Harry went over to his trunk and took out the Maruader's Map and his wand. He sat down in the center of the compartment and opened his mouth, preparing to say the incantation, but just then the door of their compartment slid open and three girls popped their heads in. Two of them looked remarkably alike.
"Hello!" the one in the middle said. She had bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth. "Oh, are you doing magic?" she asked, noting Harry's wand and the paper. The three girls stepped into the compartment. "Let's see it, then!" she said.
"Uh..." Harry racked his brain for a simple spell. James and Sirius and Melody had been teaching him basic spells since their trip to Diagon Alley. Even though he wasn't technically allowed to do this, somehow they had gotten around it. He looked at the paper and his wand for several seconds before saying the first spell that popped into his head. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he said, and the paper lifted up off the floor and hovered in midair.
Everyone clapped. "That was wonderful!" the girl said. "By the way, I'm Hermione Granger. I've tried a few simple spells like that too, and they all worked." She smiled. "And this is Parvati and Padma Patil. They're twins."
"Hi," Padma and Parvati said, waving.
"Hi," Neville, Harry and Ron said back. "I'm Harry Potter," Harry introduced himself.
"I'm Neville Longbottom,"
"I'm Ron Weasley," they all shook hands.
"Do you mind if we sit down and chat? Hermione asked. "We've just been going around the train introducing ourselves to people and our feet are a little sore. We started way at the front and this is the end."
Harry, Ron, and Neville exchanged looks. They shrugged. "Sure," Ron said.
"Wonderful," Hermione said, and the three girls sat down. The boys sat down across from them. "Well, some of the students are quite friendly, but I must say there are a lot of them that are downright unpleasant."
"Yes, and they're all in Slytherin," Padma said, rolling her eyes. "I hope I don't get put in that house. What houses d'you think you all will be in?"
"I think I'll be in Gryffindor," Neville said. "I hope so. My parents were, but some of my relatives were in Hufflepuff. I don't know what I'll be in. But I do hope it's Gryffindor."
"I agree," Hermione said, nodding. "I've been doing some research and I've read all about the houses. Gryffindor sounds by far the best. Of course, Ravenclaw would suit me as well."
"I hope I'm in Gryffindor," Ron said nervously. "My whole family's been, and if I wasn't I don't know what would happen..."
"Are Fred and George your brothers then?" Parvati-er, no, Padma-or...was it Parvati? asked.
"Yeah," Ron said. "I take it you've met them?" The girls nodded fervently.
"Quite a pair," Padma (er, Parvati?) said.
"How many brothers have you got?" Hermione asked.
"Five," Ron said dejectedly.
"Five? Goodness! Are you the youngest then?"
Ron shook his head. "I've got a younger sister. She'll be at Hogwarts next year."
"Wow. It must be nice to have a big family. I haven't got any sisters or brothers," Hermione said. Ron shook his head.
"Being the second youngest of a huge family means you get nothing new. All the stuff I've got for Hogwarts are hand-me-downs. I don't know what we're going to next year when Ginny comes. We haven't got..." Ron cut himself off, his ears going rather red.
No one said anything for several moments. "Well, I, personally, would like to be in Gryffindor," Harry announced. "My dad was in Gryffindor, and Sirius was in Gryffindor, and Melody was in Gryffindor, and Lupin was in Gryffindor, and they're just about the coolest adults in the world."
"Who're they?" Padma asked.
"Well, Sirius is my dad's best friend. And Melody is my mom's best friend. And Lupin's another one of my dad's best friends. Well, Melody and Lupin are professors at Hogwarts, and so's my mom. They're riding the train, you girls might have seen them." The girls looked at each other.
"Melody...blond, tall, wicked sense of humor?" Parvati said.
"Your mom...redhead, green eyes, sensible?" Hermione asked.
"Lupin...brown hair, kind of tired-looking?" Padma finished.
"Yep, that's them," Harry confirmed. "Where did you see them?"
"Well, Melody was conspiring with Fred and George on something, and your mother was chewing all three of them out, and Lupin was standing there trying to look serious and responsible, but it wasn't really working," Padma explained. Harry burst out laughing.
"That's them, all right!" he said. "They are the best! My mom's not really as sensible as she seems, though. But she's serious about potions, I'll tell you that."
"So, what are Lupin and Melody teaching?" Padma asked, looking eager to start class with them.
"Well, Lupin teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts," Harry said. "And Melody is in charge of the Dueling Club. But we can't be in it until third year,"
"Rats," Padma said. "She seems like fun."
Harry nodded. "So, what house do you want to be in?" he asked her.
"Ravenclaw," she replied.
"You, too, Parvati?" he asked. Parvati shook her head.
"Definitely Gryffindor." She said.
"So you don't want to be in the same house?" Ron asked, confused. Padma and Parvati looked at each other.
"No," they said at the same time. Then they started laughing.
"Well, we better go before Fred and George find our empty compartment. They might find something evil to do to our trunks." Hermione said, standing up.
"Bye!" Harry said.
"Bye," everyone said to each other, and the girls left.
"Okay, now for the secret," Harry said, picking up the piece of parchment and putting his wand on it again.
Just then their compartment door slid open AGAIN. This time it was Draco Malfoy, and he was flanked by two huge boys Harry had never seen before. Harry was busy staring at them while Draco was busy looking at Neville and Ron. He noticed Harry looking past him.
"Oh, this is Crabbe, this is Goyle," he said, motioning vaguely with his hands. "So, what's your name anyway?" He asked Harry. "We got cut off at Diagon Alley,"
"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said. Draco looked over Neville and Ron once more.
"You're not hanging out with THEM, are you?" He asked with a sneer.
Harry looked at Crabbe and Goyle. "You're not honestly hanging out with THEM, I hope?" he asked.
Draco looked at him coldly. Then he burst out laughing. "Good sense of humor, Potter," he said, holding out a hand for Harry to shake. Harry shook it and smiled.
"What are you doing?" Ron hissed in Harry's ear. "That's a Malfoy!"
"Oh my goodness, you've caught a Weasley," Draco said dryly. "And I'll have you know that I heard that." he directed at Ron. Ron glared at him.
"Well, I can't dawdle," Draco said. "I'll see you at school, Potter." Then, with a cold look at Ron, he left.
"I know he's a Malfoy," Harry shrugged.
"AND!?!? YOU TRUST HIM!?" Ron exploded.
"Of course not," Harry snorted. "I know all about the Malfoys, Ron. But you should give him a chance, shouldn't you?"
"Barking mad," Ron muttered. "Give a Malfoy a chance, sounds like a bad Muggle theme song,"
"What's a theme song?" Neville asked.
"It's a Muggle thing," Harry said.
"How do you two know about Muggle stuff? Don't you both come from wizarding families?"
"My dad loves Muggles. He's fascinated by them."
"My mom was born into a Muggle family. She's been feeding me Muggle stuff secretly my whole life. My dad doesn't want me to know Muggle stuff. But, I figure, Mom teaches me Potions and Muggle stuff, Dad teaches me Charms and Transfiguration spells I'm not s'posed to know, we're even," Harry said. "Shh, don't tell,"
Neville and Ron smiled.
"Anyway, back to this," Harry said, holding up the parchment. He put his wand to it and opened his mouth, when-knock, knock, knock-someone was tapping on the door. The compartment door slid open and a smiling witch popped her head in.
"Food from the cart, dears?" she asked. Ron mumbled about sandwiches, but Neville and Harry went to the cart. Harry bought some of everything except the every flavor beans. He'd had too many bad experiences with Sirius and Every Flavor Beans to trust them again...
"Okay, now, hopefully, we'll be left alone!" Harry said as they sat on the floor to eat. Ron pulled out a sandwich and looked at it, his face falling. "Corned beef," he said, wrinkling his nose. "She always forgets I don't like it,"
"Have some of our stuff," Harry and Neville said, shoving Pumpkin Pasties and Chocolate Frogs into Ron's hands before he could object.
Harry, who had by now figured out Ron's family didn't have much money, told Ron that he'd never really seen a Galleon in his life until he'd gone to Diagon Alley with his parents. He told Neville and Ron all about his life growing up, rarely going out in public because of the fact that they were in hiding, how his parents were still working as Aurors even though the risk was greater than ever.
Ron and Neville were fascinated. Then Neville told a couple stories about his parents and them being Aurors. Ron, in turn, talked about his brothers, and how Bill was a Gringotts curse breaker, and how Charlie worked with dragons. Harry and Neville thought this was much cooler than their parents being Aurors, and Ron just smiled and called them barking mad.
When they were full, they changed into their Hogwarts robes, and Harry suddenly remembered he hadn't shown them the Marauder's Map yet. He took it out again, and placed it on the floor again, and put his wand on it again, and they waited tensely several moments for the stupid door to come sliding open. It didn't. Sighing with relief, Harry opened his mouth. "I solemnly swe-"
The door came sliding open. The three boys groaned and scrambled to hide the map as Lily Potter entered the compartment.
"Oh, hi, Mom," Harry said.
"Hi, Harry. Just coming back to make sure you were behaving yourself." She said. Harry nodded.
"Mom, this is Ron Weasley," Harry introduced. "And you know Neville," he said. Lily nodded and held out a hand to shake Ron's.
"Hello, Ron," she said. "Hi, Neville." Neville waved. "I'm Lily Potter, but you'll all have to call me Professor Potter from now on." They all nodded. "Are you looking forward to getting to Hogwarts?" she asked, sitting down and playing with her 'L' necklace. The boys all nodded.
"You'll love Professor Dumbledore," she said. "He's a wonderful headmaster." The boys all nodded. Sensing she'd interrupted something, she smiled and said: "Well, I'll see you all at the feast!" She got up and walked to the door. "And don't forget to behave yourselves," she said, looking pointedly at Harry, who, looking much like James, averted his gaze. Lily rolled her eyes and left. It was the Marauders, reborn. She could feel it.
Back in the compartment, Harry had the wand and parchment out, ready to go, praying nothing more would interrupt him. But it did. Melody came bounding in.
"Hi, Harry!" she said. She saw them hiding the parchment and recognized it. "Oh, the Marauder's Map!" she squealed. "I haven't seen that thing in years! Did you get it from James?" she asked. Harry nodded, looking slightly put-out that Melody had squeaked what it was.
"Well, go on, say the incantation, don't let me stop you!" Melody said, sitting down and watching the boys with interest. Harry smiled and took out the parchment again. Melody pointed her wand over her shoulder and locked the door.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Harry said, and the Marauder's Map appeared. The boys looked as though their birthdays had come early. Harry got a Marauder-ish grin on his face.
Melody smirked as she watched them all pore over the Marauder's Map. James would have been proud.
And besides, now they could reinstate the Order of Marauder at Hogwarts. Too bad Snape had found that secret room several years back; they no longer had a headquarters. But...hmm...maybe she could fix that...