By Admiral Albia
The action starts! Harry, Ron and Hermione meet Sirius and Remus in Diagon Alley... or is that Allley? Wonderig why the sudden Welsh inflections? Well, read and see ^_^
Note; All quotes and songs will be marked. If it's not marked (and this
applies to Chapter 1 too), then I wrote it. Just to sort out any problems
which may arise with people saying `That's not Shakespeare!` when they
read Chapter 1, for example. I know it's not Shakespeare, I wrote
it. ^_^
On the same note, I'm going to try to make sure
Sirius sings songs that are in keeping with his timeline. That unfortunately
means that he will NOT be singing `Who Let the Dogs Out` unless someone
introduces it to him. You can expect 50's/60's rock and roll, though. ^_^
OK, so it's a little out, but I don't know much 70's music.
Disclaimer; Don't own it. Don't even own half the plot. Do, however, own Sirius' impressions of James' Welsh accent and the plot for this chapter, at least. Well, most of it. Don't even own the Shakespeare quotes Sirius will be using. Ah well.
Warning; Could get angsty. Not sure yet.
Chapter Two; Diagon Allley and Lly
Sirius and Remus literally bounced into the room,
grinning like maniacs. Fudge frowned.
"Are you sure we gave them the right dosage?" Dumbledore nodded.
"Yes; they were just very hyperactive teenagers, is all." He paused, thought about this and corrected himself. "They are very hyperactive teenagers. Sit down... boys?"
Remus pulled a chair out and sat down, sobering up almost instantly as he turned his mind to more serious matters. Sirius, on the other hand, sat down and continued to fidget, seeming completely unable to stay still. The older Hogwarts teachers smiled reminiscently; Snape scowled; the newer ones looked confused.
"Settle down, Mr Black," Fudge tried, hoping to stop the boy from moving so he could at least get a proper look at him. Sirius looked up, surprised, then shrugged and grinned.
"Can't, sorry. God, I was one hyper teenager! I'd forgotten what it was like having this much energy!" He made an obvious attempt to sit still, gave up after about five seconds and began to bounce. "So, whaddawe do now?"
"Even his speech has dengenerated," Snape muttered nastily. "A word, Black."
"And but a word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow,"[1] Sirius snapped back, irritated by the comment about his language.
"I would love to, but our dear Headmaster wouldn't permit it." Dumbledore coughed warningly. "Anyway, that spell will wear off about once a month. You'll both have to come to me and I'll sort you out for another month."
"Great," Remus muttered saracstically. "Another monthly appointment with Snape. As if one wasn't enough."
"Consider yourselves lucky that it's not my choice whether I help you or not."
"You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, and you will give me occasion." [2] Snape scowled.
"I look forward to seeing you in my class, Black."
"As do I. Hey, maybe I'll even break my own detention record!"
"There's a new one, actually," Remus told him. Sirius looked mortified.
"Someone... broke my detention record?"
"Two people," Professor McGonagall said. Sirius stared. "Messrs Weasley and Weasley were certainly boys after your own hearts..." Remus nodded.
"They never got me though. I have that to be proud of. They never pranked Moony."
"Well then, I'll have to beat them, won't I?"
"Certainly you will," Dumbledore said. "I am sure Gryffindor will look forward to losing house points."
"We always do," McGonagall said, glaring pointedly at Snape. "It's only because we have a first-rate Seeker that we ever get anywhere." She sighed and stood up. "Well, come on boys. I'll be taking you to Diagon Alley right now to get your things... and I'm sorry, but most of the textbooks have changed."
They dropped in on the newly-opened Weasley's Wizard Weezes while they were there, to see Fred and George before doing any more serious shopping. The place wasn't exactly full, but it wasn't empty either, and one voice in particular stood out over the rest.
"Ye gods, boys, do you really need all this stuff?"
"McGonagall?" Ron hissed to Fred, who was nearby, "What's she doing here?"
"By the look of it, buying stuff for a couple of sixteen-year-old boys," Fred whispered back. "I've never seen those two before in my life, though." He straightened up as to teacher navigated her way to the counter, followed by the two boys in question.
"...and then there was the time Filch caught him, remember? Boy was that funny..."
"No, the bit I always remember was that awful Welsh accent..." The one with the black hair grinned. "D'you rememeber his Welsh accent?" The other one, the brown-haired one, nodded.
"Just barely. Remind me."
"Well, the thing about a Welsh accent is that it goes up and down llike this and the ell sounds are allways pronounced as ll..." Harry frowned. He was sure he'd heard that voice black-hair was putting on somewhere before, he just wasn't sure where...
"Yeah, but that's basic Welsh."
"Yes... do you remember the fun we had trying to get him to say `Lily`?" The last word wasn't accented. "It always came out as Lly..."
"Oh yes... that was funny..." Brown-hair, now quite close to the counter, suddenly saw Harry. "So, whaddaya want to do with these when we get to school?"
"Huh?" Brown-hair nodded quickly in Harry's direction. Black-hair followed his gaze, then nodded. "Ah. Well, I was thinking that if we put that in there and add water, then..." he smiled innocently as McGonagall turned around. "Hi, Professor!" She rolled her eyes.
"Right. Can we go and get your books now?" The boys nodded, still talking animatedly as they followed her out of the shop.
"Lly... Lly..." Harry frowned. "You know, I'm sure I've heard that before somewhere..."
"I think I've seen those two boys before somewhere," Hermione added. "In fact, I'm sure of it. But.... I don't think... they looked like that..." she trailed off, looking confused.
"Lly..." Harry muttered. The answer was teetering on the edge of his consciousness, he knew it was, he knew he'd heard it before, he just couldn't think where..."
"Harry?" Ron's voice broke through his thoughts. "Don't you think those boys looked familiar?" Harry paused. Now that he thought about it... but `Lly` was still pushing at him.
"Yes... but that Welsh accent he did was more familiar..." he scowled. "Lly. Where have I heard that before?"
"He said... that was how someone said `Lily`..." Hermione offered hesitantly. Harry slapped his forehead.
"Of course! That's where I'd heard it! `Lly! Take Harry and run!` They even lived in Wales!" He set off at a dead run. "Come on, we've got to catch them up!"
"I know." He sighed. "Trouble is, I've been doing
it so long I'm not sure I can stop.... hey, is that a new song book?"
Remus groaned.
"Sirius, we're here for schoolbooks, not songbooks...
my God, this scenario is familiar... Sirius, get your nose out of
the songbook..." But Sirius wasn't listening; his inner ear was doing all
the work, and he was singing one of the songs in the book to himself; Remus
could see his friend's lips moving and foot tapping, and he knew he'd lost
him. The trouble with Sirius was, he threw all his heart and soul into
his music and acting, because they were really the only life he had. This
was fine on stage, but in a bookshop it wasn't so good. The other three
Marauders had come to know the the playscript and music shelves of Flourish
and Blotts as `The Shelves of No Return,` because Sirius would literally
spend hours in front of them. A little way ahead of them, McGonagall realised
that she was no longer being followed by two hyperactive teenagers and
turned round.
"Black, is that a schoolbook?" Her only answer was a vague humming. "Black?"
"He's gone," Remus said simply. "You just have to wait until he's finished the song, and hope you can get the book out of his hands before he starts on the next one.." he sighed. "Drove us all mad before, as well." The teacher groaned.
"Well then, perhaps you can help me get his schoolbooks too? We don't have time for this... what're you two doing this time around?"
"Same as we did last time," Remus said helpfully. "We know we'll get good marks in those. We're both doing Arithmancy, Sirius is doing Care of Magical Creatures and I'm doing Divination..." he grinned. "With my classic prediction of `at full moon, I will undergo a painful and horrifying transformation,` I'm sure to get good marks."
"Ah yes, Sybill did mention that you were one of her best students and your predictions always came true..."
"I have a very predictable life.... damn! I missed it! He's started on the next song now... ack! Here comes Harry!"
"What's wrong with Harry?" McGonagall asked. Remus sighed.
"Nothing's wrong with Harry, it's just that Sirius hasn't got out of the habit of making fun of James yet... and he's only half-alert right now, so he could start thinking Harry's James.... then Harry'll get upset and Sirius'll get depressed when he realises it's not James, and... oh, drat, I'll be right back..." And Remus practically ran back to Sirius.
"Hey, Harry." The younger (well, technically) boy looked somewhat surprised, but before he could speak Ron had butted in.
"Do we know you?"
"Ron," Harry mumbled, "I can look after myself..." Remus hid a grin.
"Yes, you do know me, but you don't recognise me... ah-ha! Gottit!" Sirius looked up, jerked back to reality by the sudden removal of his precious book.
"Hey! D'you mind? Some people haven't read a good book in fourteen years, I'll have you know!" He made a grab for the book, but Remus dodged him.
"Say hello to Harry first, Padfoot..."
"Hm? Oh! Hi, Harry." Sirius glared at Remus. "Can I have my book back now?"
"No. But we'll get McGonagall to buy it. I'm sure you can convince her that it's furthering your career or something..."
"Um," Harry said.
"But I wanna read it now!"
"Sirius, you're whining. Quit whining."
"Uh..."
"I haven't had a good whine in years. Why aren't I allowed to whine?"
"Hello?" The two remaining Marauders broke out of their bickering to look at Harry in mild surpise, and he got his first good look at them.
They both looked younger than he remembered them, but that's stating the obvious. Sirius was the taller of the two, though only by a few inches; he seemed to be moving constantly, and right now he was doing a complex sort of tap-dance on the spot, apparently the closest he could get to standing still. He was wearing black jogging bottoms and a black T-shirt, which looked very odd when compared to his shoes, which could really have been office ones. His hair was short now, and he seemed cheerful enough, but something in his eyes betrayed this suggestion.
Remus was standing a little shorter than Sirius, his brown hair shaggy as if it hadn't been so much cut as hacked off with a large blunt knife. Unlike his friend he was standing still, but there was something about his posture which suggested he wouldn't be for much longer. Every now and then he would reach up and scratch vigorously behind his ear. He was wearing robes; they were on the purple side of grey and a little too big for him, being presumeably ones from his adult wardrobe, and he was crrently wearing a look of long-suffering good humour. The only thing was, Remus seemed to be genuinely happy.
"Sorry, Harry?" he said, holding the book a little further out of Sirius' reach.
"What the hell is going on?" Ron asked bluntly. Sirius grinned wryly.
"Someone hasn't been reading the paper..."
"It's not in the paper."
"Isn't it?" Sirius looked surprised. "Oh well. As I'm sure at least one of you knows, Dumbledore persuaded Fudge to give me a hearing, at which I persuaded him to give me something to prove myself with..." he rolled his eyes. "Moony here is coming with me because he doesn't have anything better to do and I need a friend... we're going back to Hogwarts..."
"Unfortunately," McGonagall said dryly, having caught up with them. "I have to say nobody was particularly thrilled at the thought of having to put up with you two for another year..."
"You love us really..."
"No, we don't."
"Oh." Sirius shrugged. "Well, it was worth a try... by the way, Professor, did you know you're a lot nicer when you're not teaching?"
"The students aren't the only ones who go on holiday," McGonagall said calmly.
"Of course not, Professor..." Remus said, glaring pointedly at Sirius, who shrugged.
"Whatever... hey, you three, want to come with us?" He leaned a little closer to them and said, in a stage-whisper, "It'll be easier to shake the old bat off with more of us..." Remus, Ron and Harry laughed. Hermione frowned, and McGonagall smiled a little, to everyone's amazement.
"Well, if nobody else is looking after them..."
"Nah, they're with Ginny," Ron said dismissively. "She's got into some special class at school and they're trying to find the shop that'll sell the stuff she needs..."
"Yes, and speaking of which, Sirius, can you help with something?" McGonagall asked. Sirius nodded.
"Sure. What?"
"Well, the Ministry have said you can't have a wand, but you need one for school... we were thinking of a stage-wand, but we need to find the shop..."
"Sirius already has a stage-wand," Remus volunteered. Sirius shook his head.
"No I don't. Some idiot Auror took it off me, couldn't tell the difference between a trick thing which can't do curses no matter what you say and the most deadly piece of wood in the world..." he rolled his eyes and headed out of the shop. "This way."
[2]Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet - Act 3 Scene 1 lines 41 and 42.
Next chapter; A wizarding stage shop, Siri's girlfriend and the start-of-year feast... and the House Sirius was Sorted into... which isn't the same as the one he spent all his time in...