Chapter 3: Disaster at the Black Household
The next morning, when he woke up at 9AM, he packed all of his belongings that he would be needing into his trunk, and went downstairs, waiting for James. During this time, Remus remembered that he STILL hadn't gotten his letter from Hogwarts. In 15 minutes, there was a knock on the door.
"Hi James! You ready?" He asked.
"Ready as ever! If you don't mind, we'll be using your fireplace to travel. My dad's got the floo powder."
"OK!" Remus turned around. "Mum! Dad! They're here!" He yelled across the house. They both came running out of the kitchen.
"Now be good, Remus."
"And HAVE FUN! These are the last 3 weeks you'll have before you leave for Hogwarts," his father added.
"Uh...yeah," Remus answered, realizing that his parents didn't know that he still hadn't recieved his letter.
They all hugged, said good-bye, and Mr. Potter threw some floo-powder into the fireplace. Remus, James, and Mr. and Mrs. Potter stepped into the flames. The next thing they knew, they were standing in the Blacks' living room.
"Hello! We're here!" Mr. Potter said loudly.
Just then, a 'fashionably plump' woman came out fo the kitchen wearing an apron and oven mits. "Hi! Come on in! Lunch is almost ready. You will stay, won't you, Tiffany?"
"Oh...Veronica, I'm so sorry, but we need to be getting to work. The ministry is expecting us by noon for a meeting," Mrs. Potter explained.
"Ok. We'll take James and Remus to King's Cross on the 1st, so you don't have to worry about picking them up."
"Thanks, Veronica." She walked up to James and hugged and kissed him.
"Mum!!" He said shrugging and pushing her away.
"Now be a good boy," and the Potters left.
Remus and Sirius were sniggering under their breath. James saw their immaturity and rolled his eyes. "C'mon. Let's go upstairs until Peter gets here."
The three best friends went upstairs and discussed what they thought Hogwarts would be like until Peter arrived. Sirius pulled his letter from Hogwarts out of the bureau.
"I've had mine since June. By the way, we're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get our supplies, so make sure you bring your lists. I can't WAIT to get my wand."
"Yeah, me neither," James said, taking an envelope out of his pocket. "Mine got delivered to Remus' by accident. I wasn't supposed to get it until tomorrow, though."
"Where's yours, Remus?" Sirius asked.
"I...I...haven't gotten it yet."
"Why not? Your birthday was 2 days ago!"
"That's what I'm afraid of. You...don't think I'm a muggle...or a squib or something, do you???"
"NO! Where'd you get a crazy idea like that?" Sirius asked, outraged by the fact that Remus would even THINK about something as TERRIBLE as that. "You're parents are two of the best witches and wizards I've ever met!"
"That's exactly what I told him!" James said, throwing his arms up into the air.
"Well...it is possible," Remsu said sheepishly. "Dumbledore wouldn't be this late would he?"
Just then...there was a loud pecking on the window, and to their surprise, is was an owl! AND, it had a large parchment envelope clenched in its talons!
Remus' eyes were instantly lit with anticipation as he ran over to the window and threw it open as fast as he could. The letter was ripped from the owl who looked entirely used and unwanted. It was addressed to...
Mr. Remus Lupin
@Mr. and Mrs. Black's house
Birmingham, England
Remus read the address, excitment written all over his face, and turned it over to open it. His smile fell as soon as he glanced at it. The Hogwarts seal wasn't on it!
Remus stared at it in disbelief.
"What's wrong? Open it!" James said impatiently.
"It's not from Hogwarts! The seal isn't printed on it."
"Oh my gosh! Not that again!" James replied smaking his hand to his forehead. "You'll get it! But in the meantime, open this one instead of just goggling at it!"
"Ok! Ok! I am!"
Remus carefully opened the top of the envelope and pulled out a few pieces of parchment. The letter war written in sparkly green ink. He instantly recognized it as his mother's favorite, but scanned the text just to make sure.
"It's from my mum," he said infervently.
Sirius and James leaned over to read it also.
Hello Remus,
I know this is really soon to be writing you a letter, but I figured I would anyway. I miss you already. I won't be seeing you until the Thanksgiving holidays, and that's a long way away. Enclosed is the key to our Gringotts vault. I'm sure you'll be needing some money in Diagon Alley to buy your supplies.
Your father and I love you very much!
Have fun!
Love, Mum
P.S. ~ Oh! I almost forgot! An owl arrived at the window right when we got back. It had the letter to you from Hogwarts!! I put all of the papers they sent in this envelope too. I'm SO proud of you!
Love, (once again) Mum
Remus smiled from ear to ear and started to jump around the room. "YES! YES! YES!"
"Woah! Calm down there! You're acting like a...a GIRL!" Sirius said, who like most 11 year old boys, wanted to look as mature and masculane as possible.
"You don't want to loose that woderful reputation of yours, now do you?" James said, smiling his award-winning smile. He was (as usual) being sarcastic, referring to all the times the trio had gotten in trouble for pulling pranks and causing disarray and chaos.
"Shut up!" Remus said, punching him playfully in the arm.
Remus, Sirius, and James laughed and joked for a few minutes until Peter finally arrived. He was looking scrawny and nervous as usual. Peter was always kind of a wimp, scared of what would happen if he got in trouble, and would never "join in on the fun" as the others put it. He was SO much different than the 3 pranksters that their parents couldn't believe that he was a close friend of theirs!
"Why don't you all go upstairs and unpack? Then we'll have lunch and go swimming," Mrs. Black suggested.
"Yeah! I REALLY want to go and swim!" Remus replied. "It's blody scortching outside!"
So they all went upstairs once more to get situated, as they'd be there for over 3 weeks. Sirius had a HUGE grin spreading over his entire face, anticipation written all over. The others seemed to have noticed it.
"What's so funny, Sirius?" They all asked curiously.
His smile widened and a his eyes started to twinkle. "Oh...you'll find out soon enough!" He said, and left them all in suspence.
Soon after, there was a loud knock at the door.
"Coming!" Mrs. Black yelled.
She opened the front door, and in came a man that the kids had never seen before.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Black," he said politely. He was a bulky, rough looking man, and his robes were rather dirty and worn.
"Hello! Please...come in!" Mrs. Black beckoned him in, smiling.
The same question was going through all of their minds..."Who is he?"
Sirius' mother led him into the kitchen while Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter advanced down the stairs, cautiously.
Suddenly... there was a great boom and a flash of green light... The sound of Mrs. Black's piercing scream could be heard echoing throughout the house...
Remus, James, and Peter ran the rest of the way down the stairs and into the kitchen while Sirius remained behind laughing. James halted.
"What's so funny, Sirius! You mother's in mortal danger and you're just standing there!"
Still, Sirius did not move. In fact, he was laughing even harder!
"ARGH!" James said loudly, giving up on his friend. He fled into the kitchen.
When he walked in, there was smoke everywhere, but as his eyes adjusted to the grey, he saw that Mrs. Black ANd the strange man were standing...alive and well. There was a lime-green paper ~ like confetti ~ littering the floor, and Mrs. Black was outraged.
"SIRIUS!!!!" She yelled as loud as she could, her face blood-red, and veins popping out of her neck.
"SIRIUS!!! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"
He came strolling into the room, looking as nonchalant as possible.
"Yes, mum?" He said as if nothing had happened.
"Sirius Black! Don't play innocent with me! I know that you put that in there just to scare the living daylights out of me!"
Sirius silently stared at her looking very stupid.
"What was it Sirius! And don't even think about telling me that it wasn't you!" Mrs. Black screamed furiously.
"Ok! Clam down mum!" He said finally. "It was just a Boil Bezerk Bomb!"
"Just a...a WHAT!! Don't tell me that you are inventing those...those DISASTER MAKERS of yours!"
"Mum! It was just a little joke!"
"A JOKE!" Mrs. Black's anger was growing. "Well Mr...you're going to be cleaning up your little 'joke' before you go ANYWHERE! I about died! If you ever EVER do anything like that at Hogwarts...I guarentee you that you'll be coming straight back home, Sirius! And don't think I won't do it! Do you happen to know who this is???" She said pointing to the man next to her who had seemed invisible to everyone else until now. "He's from the ministry!"
The man smiled at the boys, then pursed his lips, trying to hold in laughter.
"Well, he sure got a good impression of the Black family household!" Remus said to himself sarcastically.
Sirius' mother found her voice once more, but was having a difficule time trying to sound sophisticated after all the yelling she had just done with company in the house. "His name is Mr. Frank Caramel (it's car-a-mel NOT car-mel!) and he is head of the department of the misuse of magic, and from what he just saw, I wouldn't be surprised if he got on your case right this minute!" She took her gaze from Sirius and looked to Mr. Caramel, trying to read his face.
Then, Mr. Caramel did something entirly unexpected...he burst out laughing! Mrs. Black looked at him with complete shock, seeing a highly intelligent man bending over laughing, with tears coming down his face. Mrs. Black held an expression that clearly said 'What the hell is so funny?'
Remus and James looked at eachother in pure bewilderment and shot a glance at Sirius who just shrugged and put on the widest grin that he could.
Finally Mr. Caramel, with some difficulty, resumed his original posture and controlled his histerics. "I...don't think I've ever..." He had to pause every once in a while to let a randommlaugh escape him. "EVER...laughed so hard in my entire life!" Seeing the amazed expression written on Mrs. Black, he added, "I'm sorry Mrs. Black, to contradict your reasoning, but your son here reminds me of myself when I was that age. A master-mind at pulling pranks." He now turned to Sirius who was beaming at him with pride. "That was a very ingenius devise, even though it did cause quite a lot of chaos. If you worked on your inventions a bit, I bet you'd be a great joke-shop owner! Mrs. Black, I assume your husband is not at home."
"Yes sir," she replied.
"Well, then I had better get going. Good day to you!...and nice meeting you Sirius! Don't forget what I said!" And with that...he disapparated.
The next morning, when he woke up at 9AM, he packed all of his belongings that he would be needing into his trunk, and went downstairs, waiting for James. During this time, Remus remembered that he STILL hadn't gotten his letter from Hogwarts. In 15 minutes, there was a knock on the door.
"Hi James! You ready?" He asked.
"Ready as ever! If you don't mind, we'll be using your fireplace to travel. My dad's got the floo powder."
"OK!" Remus turned around. "Mum! Dad! They're here!" He yelled across the house. They both came running out of the kitchen.
"Now be good, Remus."
"And HAVE FUN! These are the last 3 weeks you'll have before you leave for Hogwarts," his father added.
"Uh...yeah," Remus answered, realizing that his parents didn't know that he still hadn't recieved his letter.
They all hugged, said good-bye, and Mr. Potter threw some floo-powder into the fireplace. Remus, James, and Mr. and Mrs. Potter stepped into the flames. The next thing they knew, they were standing in the Blacks' living room.
"Hello! We're here!" Mr. Potter said loudly.
Just then, a 'fashionably plump' woman came out fo the kitchen wearing an apron and oven mits. "Hi! Come on in! Lunch is almost ready. You will stay, won't you, Tiffany?"
"Oh...Veronica, I'm so sorry, but we need to be getting to work. The ministry is expecting us by noon for a meeting," Mrs. Potter explained.
"Ok. We'll take James and Remus to King's Cross on the 1st, so you don't have to worry about picking them up."
"Thanks, Veronica." She walked up to James and hugged and kissed him.
"Mum!!" He said shrugging and pushing her away.
"Now be a good boy," and the Potters left.
Remus and Sirius were sniggering under their breath. James saw their immaturity and rolled his eyes. "C'mon. Let's go upstairs until Peter gets here."
The three best friends went upstairs and discussed what they thought Hogwarts would be like until Peter arrived. Sirius pulled his letter from Hogwarts out of the bureau.
"I've had mine since June. By the way, we're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get our supplies, so make sure you bring your lists. I can't WAIT to get my wand."
"Yeah, me neither," James said, taking an envelope out of his pocket. "Mine got delivered to Remus' by accident. I wasn't supposed to get it until tomorrow, though."
"Where's yours, Remus?" Sirius asked.
"I...I...haven't gotten it yet."
"Why not? Your birthday was 2 days ago!"
"That's what I'm afraid of. You...don't think I'm a muggle...or a squib or something, do you???"
"NO! Where'd you get a crazy idea like that?" Sirius asked, outraged by the fact that Remus would even THINK about something as TERRIBLE as that. "You're parents are two of the best witches and wizards I've ever met!"
"That's exactly what I told him!" James said, throwing his arms up into the air.
"Well...it is possible," Remsu said sheepishly. "Dumbledore wouldn't be this late would he?"
Just then...there was a loud pecking on the window, and to their surprise, is was an owl! AND, it had a large parchment envelope clenched in its talons!
Remus' eyes were instantly lit with anticipation as he ran over to the window and threw it open as fast as he could. The letter was ripped from the owl who looked entirely used and unwanted. It was addressed to...
Mr. Remus Lupin
@Mr. and Mrs. Black's house
Birmingham, England
Remus read the address, excitment written all over his face, and turned it over to open it. His smile fell as soon as he glanced at it. The Hogwarts seal wasn't on it!
Remus stared at it in disbelief.
"What's wrong? Open it!" James said impatiently.
"It's not from Hogwarts! The seal isn't printed on it."
"Oh my gosh! Not that again!" James replied smaking his hand to his forehead. "You'll get it! But in the meantime, open this one instead of just goggling at it!"
"Ok! Ok! I am!"
Remus carefully opened the top of the envelope and pulled out a few pieces of parchment. The letter war written in sparkly green ink. He instantly recognized it as his mother's favorite, but scanned the text just to make sure.
"It's from my mum," he said infervently.
Sirius and James leaned over to read it also.
Hello Remus,
I know this is really soon to be writing you a letter, but I figured I would anyway. I miss you already. I won't be seeing you until the Thanksgiving holidays, and that's a long way away. Enclosed is the key to our Gringotts vault. I'm sure you'll be needing some money in Diagon Alley to buy your supplies.
Your father and I love you very much!
Have fun!
Love, Mum
P.S. ~ Oh! I almost forgot! An owl arrived at the window right when we got back. It had the letter to you from Hogwarts!! I put all of the papers they sent in this envelope too. I'm SO proud of you!
Love, (once again) Mum
Remus smiled from ear to ear and started to jump around the room. "YES! YES! YES!"
"Woah! Calm down there! You're acting like a...a GIRL!" Sirius said, who like most 11 year old boys, wanted to look as mature and masculane as possible.
"You don't want to loose that woderful reputation of yours, now do you?" James said, smiling his award-winning smile. He was (as usual) being sarcastic, referring to all the times the trio had gotten in trouble for pulling pranks and causing disarray and chaos.
"Shut up!" Remus said, punching him playfully in the arm.
Remus, Sirius, and James laughed and joked for a few minutes until Peter finally arrived. He was looking scrawny and nervous as usual. Peter was always kind of a wimp, scared of what would happen if he got in trouble, and would never "join in on the fun" as the others put it. He was SO much different than the 3 pranksters that their parents couldn't believe that he was a close friend of theirs!
"Why don't you all go upstairs and unpack? Then we'll have lunch and go swimming," Mrs. Black suggested.
"Yeah! I REALLY want to go and swim!" Remus replied. "It's blody scortching outside!"
So they all went upstairs once more to get situated, as they'd be there for over 3 weeks. Sirius had a HUGE grin spreading over his entire face, anticipation written all over. The others seemed to have noticed it.
"What's so funny, Sirius?" They all asked curiously.
His smile widened and a his eyes started to twinkle. "Oh...you'll find out soon enough!" He said, and left them all in suspence.
Soon after, there was a loud knock at the door.
"Coming!" Mrs. Black yelled.
She opened the front door, and in came a man that the kids had never seen before.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Black," he said politely. He was a bulky, rough looking man, and his robes were rather dirty and worn.
"Hello! Please...come in!" Mrs. Black beckoned him in, smiling.
The same question was going through all of their minds..."Who is he?"
Sirius' mother led him into the kitchen while Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter advanced down the stairs, cautiously.
Suddenly... there was a great boom and a flash of green light... The sound of Mrs. Black's piercing scream could be heard echoing throughout the house...
Remus, James, and Peter ran the rest of the way down the stairs and into the kitchen while Sirius remained behind laughing. James halted.
"What's so funny, Sirius! You mother's in mortal danger and you're just standing there!"
Still, Sirius did not move. In fact, he was laughing even harder!
"ARGH!" James said loudly, giving up on his friend. He fled into the kitchen.
When he walked in, there was smoke everywhere, but as his eyes adjusted to the grey, he saw that Mrs. Black ANd the strange man were standing...alive and well. There was a lime-green paper ~ like confetti ~ littering the floor, and Mrs. Black was outraged.
"SIRIUS!!!!" She yelled as loud as she could, her face blood-red, and veins popping out of her neck.
"SIRIUS!!! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"
He came strolling into the room, looking as nonchalant as possible.
"Yes, mum?" He said as if nothing had happened.
"Sirius Black! Don't play innocent with me! I know that you put that in there just to scare the living daylights out of me!"
Sirius silently stared at her looking very stupid.
"What was it Sirius! And don't even think about telling me that it wasn't you!" Mrs. Black screamed furiously.
"Ok! Clam down mum!" He said finally. "It was just a Boil Bezerk Bomb!"
"Just a...a WHAT!! Don't tell me that you are inventing those...those DISASTER MAKERS of yours!"
"Mum! It was just a little joke!"
"A JOKE!" Mrs. Black's anger was growing. "Well Mr...you're going to be cleaning up your little 'joke' before you go ANYWHERE! I about died! If you ever EVER do anything like that at Hogwarts...I guarentee you that you'll be coming straight back home, Sirius! And don't think I won't do it! Do you happen to know who this is???" She said pointing to the man next to her who had seemed invisible to everyone else until now. "He's from the ministry!"
The man smiled at the boys, then pursed his lips, trying to hold in laughter.
"Well, he sure got a good impression of the Black family household!" Remus said to himself sarcastically.
Sirius' mother found her voice once more, but was having a difficule time trying to sound sophisticated after all the yelling she had just done with company in the house. "His name is Mr. Frank Caramel (it's car-a-mel NOT car-mel!) and he is head of the department of the misuse of magic, and from what he just saw, I wouldn't be surprised if he got on your case right this minute!" She took her gaze from Sirius and looked to Mr. Caramel, trying to read his face.
Then, Mr. Caramel did something entirly unexpected...he burst out laughing! Mrs. Black looked at him with complete shock, seeing a highly intelligent man bending over laughing, with tears coming down his face. Mrs. Black held an expression that clearly said 'What the hell is so funny?'
Remus and James looked at eachother in pure bewilderment and shot a glance at Sirius who just shrugged and put on the widest grin that he could.
Finally Mr. Caramel, with some difficulty, resumed his original posture and controlled his histerics. "I...don't think I've ever..." He had to pause every once in a while to let a randommlaugh escape him. "EVER...laughed so hard in my entire life!" Seeing the amazed expression written on Mrs. Black, he added, "I'm sorry Mrs. Black, to contradict your reasoning, but your son here reminds me of myself when I was that age. A master-mind at pulling pranks." He now turned to Sirius who was beaming at him with pride. "That was a very ingenius devise, even though it did cause quite a lot of chaos. If you worked on your inventions a bit, I bet you'd be a great joke-shop owner! Mrs. Black, I assume your husband is not at home."
"Yes sir," she replied.
"Well, then I had better get going. Good day to you!...and nice meeting you Sirius! Don't forget what I said!" And with that...he disapparated.