James Potter and the Rise of the Serpent
As you can probably guess, I don't own anything about Harry Potter, or any of the characters. This is my first Harry Potter story, and any reviews would be really appreciated.
Ghosts, Snakes, Mice and Maps
Wizards and witches have always considered themselves above ordinary people, often known as 'Muggles'. This is why they have concealed the existance of magic from them for centuries. This is also why when someone had the bright idea of making Muggle killing a sport, very little was done to stop them. The Ministry of Magic, wrapped up in peace embassies and exterminating giants, did almost nothing, even to discourage it. They considered simply unimportant.
That is why Voldemort and his Muggle killing cult was left to spread, like a cancer. At first, decency prevented other wizards from having anything to do with it, but gradually more and more saw Voldemort's point of view. After all, they were only Muggles. They weren't important, were they?
Of course, many wizards were still opposed to the sport, and demanded that the Ministry put a stop to this strange new cult. The most important of these was a man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who had taught most of the Ministers, and probably Voldemort himself. Albus Dumbledore succeeded in convincing several members of the council, but his influence was limited. He was, after all, only a headmaster.
The Ministry did manage a half-hearted attempt at trying to make Muggle killing less popular, but the sport continued, growing more and more common.
Of course, if the Ministry had known the trouble this would cause over the next few decades, they would have acted completely differently.
***
James Potter glanced around, closed the door quietly and turned back to the centre of the dormitory. "All clear. Go on."
There was a pop, and a brown rat was sitting on the floor. It slowly sat up, washed its face, and chased its tail in a circle. At first it ran unsteadily, its limbs all seemed to be working independantly. It soon coordinated itself, then tried changing speeds, then a few jumps. Then it ran up the leg of a four poster bed and disappeared under the covers. James watched the little lump scampering to and fro for a while, then there was another pop.
The lump under the sheets had grown to fill the bed, and a small schoolboy's mousey face grinned from under a duvet. The dormitory exploded in applause.
"Brilliant!"
"Go, Peter!"
"Great!"
Peter Pettigrew wriggled his way out of the bed, beaming and flushing from his friends's praise. "Thanks, guys." He suddenly looked hopeful: "So can I come with you on Saturday, then?"
Sirius Black, who had been watching from the roof of his bed, was thoughtful. "Hmm. I dunno. Would a rat be any use?"
"'Course I would. I could get into all the places you all can't."
Sirius looked over to another boy, who was wearing much shabbier second- hand robes. "Depends what you think, Remus."
Remus smiled. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Yippee!"
***
"Perfect, Potter. Full marks. In fact, all four of you have scored top of the class." Professor McGonagal's eyes raised in suspicion, "I hope you did this by yourself, Pettigrew."
Peter quailed. "I did, Miss. Honest."
"Then perhaps, stand up, boy, you would like to demonstrate." She produced a lead cannon ball from behind her desk and placed it on his. "Gold. Go on."
"Erm... " James caught Peter's eye, and smiled encouragingly. Peter closed his eyes, trying to remember all James had told him. "Protedus!"
The cannon ball rocked slightly, but remained the same. Peter watched it hopefully for a moment.
"I see. Which one of you helped him?" McGonagal glared at James. He tried to keep his face impassive. "Very well. All four of you will recieve de-"
She was cut off by Arthur Weasley yelling, "Weird!" The cannon ball was slowly shrinking, gradually getting lighter and lighter, untill it was a pure gold golf ball.
McGonagal watched critically. "Hmm... Delayed reaction and compression, probably caused by nervous wand movement. You need to be more definite, Pettigrew, but you don't have detention."
"Wimp." muttered Agnes Longbottom. Lily Evans flicked a ball of paper at her, grinning: "Turn that into gold, then, if you know best."
"That will do!" barked out McGonagal. "Now, take out your text books and turn to page four hundred and two..."
***
Lily Evans groaned as the class filed in to History of Magic class. History of Magic, though full of goblin rebellions and wizards teleporting themselves into the Sahara, was universally agreed to be the most dull, boring and pointless subject in the school. This was because all the ancient teacher, Professor Binns, ever did was to read out notes and the class would copy them down. Then the homework would be to write an essay on whatever Binns had been talking about, which was invariably, goblin rebellions and wizards in the Sahara. This essay would be given back with no marks or comments, just a tick at the bottom. Of course, Sirius Black had once removed the tick, and handed the essay in next lesson, and Binns hadn't noticed, so now no one bothered to take notes or write essays, and the classroom became even duller with no work to do.
Maybe she could finish the Potions recipe, Lily thought as she sat down at the back of the class. Then everyone stood up, waiting for Binns to enter.
They waited for about ten minutes, before confused muttering broke out. "Where the heck is he?" "He never comes in late," ""Maybe he took a wrong turn, and is lecturing the Charms class. Flitwick's probably too timid to interrupt."
After fifteen minutes, Lily called out: "Maybe he's forgotten. I'll go and check the staffroom. James Potter, you come too, or the class will've blown up when I get back." James scowled, but Lily was a prefect so he got up, slowly, and slipped something to Sirius as he passed. Lily pretended not to notice. It would be fun to see if Binns noticed the class exploding.
Lily waited until they were outside the classroom before saying: "Right, now we have to find out where the staffroom is. Maybe if we asked-"
"You're a prefect, and you don't know where the staffroom is?" asked James, gleefully.
"Why should I? They don't tell prefects everything." Lily stared at him suspiciously. "How do you know, anyway?"
James grinned, "Why else do you think so many cauldrens melted last Potions class?"
Lily smiled too. "I should give you a detention." James shrugged. "but it was extemely funny."
"Here we are." James lead her to an ornate door which she'd never passed before.
"You don't know the password, do you?"
"Erm, no. We usually sneak in through the back."
"You seem to trust me not to tell on you."
"Are you going to tell?"
"Probably not. Some rules deserve to be broken, anyway."
"Um... " Lily turned to see Dumbledore behind her. In the corner of her vision, she saw James sniggering as she blushed.
"I'm afraid that in my old age, I suffer from pangs of deafness." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "So I will only ask what you two are doing here."
"Um.. We were trying to find Professor Binns," said Lily, overcoming her embarrassment, "he's late."
"A highly unusual occurance. Very well, Pickled Frogs." At the sound of the password, the door swung open. Dumbledore strode inside, Lily and James following, James still giggling.
"You realise I'll make you pay for that." hissed Lily. The staffroom was full of comfy armchairs, and it was in one of these that they found Binns, plainly asleep. Lily gently prodded him. "Um, Professor, you're late for class."
Professor Binns's eyes remain closed, but he mumbled: "What... wha... glck." Lily prodded him harder. Suddenly, he cried: "Oh my god! Look at the time!" and jumped up. Almost.
Lily gaped as a silvery, translucent shape rose from the body of Professor Binns. The ghost stared at her, crossly. "What are you looking at? Back to class, straight away! Have I done the lecture on Bingo the Bugeyed yet?" and he bustled along, with Lily and James following behind, throwing each other amused and surprised glances all the back to the classroom.
"Settle down! Settle down! Just because I'm late is no reason to get excited!" barked Binns as the class roared in surprise. "Now, where was I, oh yes, Bingo the Bugeyed became leader of his clan in 1479... "
The class fell quiet, everyone mirroring everyone else's expressions. Professor Binns didn't seem to notice them, or that he was dead. Or that the classroom blew up.
***
The excitement caused by Binn's lesson stayed with them all morning, and well into the afternoon. Then came Potions.
James would probably have enjoyed Potions, if it wasn't for the Slytherins. Hogwarts was divided into four houses, and the Griffindors and Slytherins were almost exact opposites. Griffindors were chosen for courage, and Slytherins favoured cunning. James's least favourite Slytherin, a boy called Snape, sat right next to him, ready to shoot his hand up and tell if James or Sirius did the slightest thing wrong.
The Slytherins were already lined up. Snape and his gang all grinned maliciously as they approached. "Good morning, Potter. Got a nice surprise for you." His friends all burst into laughter.
"What's happened? Have you learnt how to read at last?" Sirius scowled. Remus and Peter walked in behind them, both glaring at Snape.
Snape smirked, then pointed at Peter. "You'll like this, rat-boy. Kill, Diamant!" From Snape's sleeve erupted an enormous diamond-backed snake. Peter cried out in shock as it flicked its powerful tail around his arm and wound itself up, hissing and spitting in his face.The boy staggered back in fright, and with a terrified squeak, Timothy, his pet mouse, scurried out of the cauldren he was sitting in, down Peter's leg, and along the ground.
James dropped his bag and equipment and dived to catch Timothy while Remus tried to grab the snake's neck, but he was too late, and the snake had seen the mouse. It snapped at Remus and he leapt back, letting it dart off Peter's arm and on to the floor. Screams and panic followed as the monster wove its way between everyone's feet, and James desperately pushed and shoved through the crowd, trying to catch it with Snape and the Slytherin's yeering behind him.
Seeing everyone jumping back, he ploughed straight through them with Remus in hot pursuit, in time to see Timothy flying through the air-- the snake neatly caught him and began to swallow him whole. Remus once again grabbed its neck, and James pinned it's tail down as it curled around Remus's legs. Remus frantically tried to push the bulge in the snake's neck up, but it was struggling too furiously to hold properly. "Sirius, help!" yelled James. Sirius hurtled forward, swung his cauldren and clipped the beast on the side of it's head.
Snape shouted as the snake fell limp. Remus pried it's mouth open, and Peter grabbed Timothy, clutching the frightened rat and forcing it into his pocket as he calmed it down.
"What is going on here?" James looked up, to see Priceson the Potions master towering over him.
"Sir! Sir! They're attacking my snake!"
"No we weren't, we were def-"
"Silence! Potter, you and your friends all have detention. And fifty points from Griffindor." Snape grinned triumphantly as the class filed in to the dungeon where Potions was held. Sirius swore, and the rest of the Griffindor students glared at Snape. Lily Evans tripped him up and lost them another ten points, and Malfoy, Snape's friend, scattered her ingredients all over the floor, but Priceson didn't see him.
James and Sirius spat as Snape sat down smugly, calmly removing the firework on his chair (ten points from Griffindor) and smiled mockingly at them. "You wait," hissed James. "Just you wait, Snape. You are going to pay for that." ***
Lily's hands shook with anger as she slashed her mandrake root into thin shreds. Priceson's voice once again interrupted, asking them to watch as Snape had finished his potion perfectly. A ball of paper whizzed past her face, followed by a: "Sir! Sir! Potter's throwing things!" and ten more points from Griffindor. Lily looked over to Remus Lupin, who the ball had hit. He was unfolded it beneath the desk, glanced at it, then screwed it up again and flicked it into the bin.
"Accio," whispered Lily, when he had looked away. She unravelled the paper ball and read:
Moony meet at Trench at ten. Prongs.
Lily muttered, "Infernous," and the paper shrivelled up into flame. Griffindor lost twenty more points as both James and Sirius kicked Snape in the shin.
***
James sat down on an upturned cauldren, his head brushing the top of their underground den. The Trench had been their secret since third year, it was where they planned all their major pranks and tricks.
Remus and Peter were already there, using their wands as torches. As James lit his, there was a scuffling overhead, and without warning, an enormous black dog dropped through the roof.
Sirius turned back into a human and lit his wand as the others had done. Then he whispered, "Got the cloak, James?"
"Yeah." James didn't whisper, but kept his voice low. There wasn't really any need, they had put soundproofing charms on the walls, but Sirius had done the spell, and even he didn't trust his ability. "Now we need to decide what to do with it."
Remus spoke. "I suppose this is about Snape's pet."
Sirius nodded, gritting his teeth angrily. "You bet. We must've lost over seventy points that lesson. And Timothy nearly had a heart attack when we got him out."
"That's why we're going to tie Snape up with it." It was just a wild suggestion, but everyone else's faces broke into evil grins.
"Perfect! Great idea, James!"
"Yeah. We'll need to get into the Slytherin's common room, though."
"No problem," piped up Peter, "I know the password." Everyone looked at him. "I was practising being a rat by the door."
Remus laughed. "Great trick. Having a rat on the team'll be really useful."
James smiled, "Yeah. Now let's get down to the plan."
***
The Slytherin common room was perfectly silent as the door swung gently open. After a minute, it closed again, then James, Sirius, Remus and Peter appeared from nowhere as James pulled off his Invisibility Cloak. He looked to Peter, and the smaller boy pointed to one of the doors on the other side of the room. James pulled the Cloak back over all of them, and they shuffled along. Over the years they had developed a pattern of walking so no one stepped on anyone else's foot.
They found Snape's bed, the one nearest the door. That would make things easier if things went wrong, thought James. Snape's dormitory also contained Lucius Malfoy and the Lestrange twins, all members of Snape's gang. James heard Sirius swearing at them under his breath.
They quickly checked that all the Slytherins were fast asleep, and then Remus pulled four black sheets from his robe. He pointed his wand at them and whispered, "Silencio." Then they shook off the Cloak again, and each covered the face of one of the sleeping Slytherins.
"You sure we're safe now?" asked Peter.
"They shouldn't hear a thing, if I've got the spell right. If any of the others wake up, we'll just have to hide in the corner with the Cloak on."
James nodded, satisfied. "Come on then, let's find this snake."
They found Snape's pet crushed into a tiny cage, that looked as if it had been built for a budgie. "Poor thing." muttered Remus, as they quickly let it out. It glared menacingly at Peter, but James stepped forward, pulling out his wand.
"Repetelis Endormi." The snake stopped dead, then curled up, fast asleep. James watched as Sirius efficiently coiled the animal around its owner, the satisfaction evident on his face. "It's a shame we can't be there to see him wake up, isn't it?"
"Come on, we'd better scram." Remus held up the Cloak, and they slipped out as silently as they had come.
***
They were halfway back when they met Priceson. "Against the wall!" James murmured, as the teacher appeared at the end of the corridor. James held his breath, and Priceson passed. The four boys kept still, waiting until he was a reasonable distance away.
They very slowly crept along. "Hey! Who's that?" James felt the others's bodies go rigid with shock. How had Priceson seen them?
"It's me sir." Hagrid the gamekeeper was approaching the Potions Master. "I was lookin' fer you, in fact. The boys need some more medicine." James saw three large dog-like silhouettes by Hagrid's feet. He tapped the others where he guessed their arms were, and slowly they began to retreat.
"Those things shouldn't be in school!"
"Don't worry sir. The shop owner said they were well trained-" At that moment, the dogs began growling fiercely. "Hey! steady there, Basker. Down, boy, dow-" The animals charged away down the corridor, their leashes trailing behind them.
The four Cloaked boys tried to run, and stumbled over each other. "Through here!" James pulled them all, and they dived through the nearest door.
The dogs stopped, then followed them, and James could hear Hagris shouting, "Fang, Basker, get back here!" James wriggled out from under the Cloak.
"Split up!" he yelled, as quietly as he could, and took off, hurtling ramdomly around the school until the dogs's barks had been left behind. Then he stopped, and looked around to find his way back to the common room. He knew the others would escape, but now they had to get back to the common room, and not get caught. He had left the Cloak with Sirius, so he would have to be especially careful not to bump into any professors.
That wasn't his only problem, he reflected, gazing around at the unfamiliar walls. He was also well and truly lost.
***
"Four detentions and two hundred points from Gryffindor." McGonagal glared at the boys as she paced up and down like a spiteful cat. "The Bloody Baron informs me that Severus Snape woke up this morning with a snake tied around him. Setting a beast like that on another schoolboy is highly dangerous, Potter- do you think this is funny?"
James forced himself to look McGonagal in the eye. "No, miss." he managed to murmur, wishing dearly that Snape's pet had been poisonous.
"Good. Thanks to you, that snake has escaped. Quite apart from the potential danger to other students, it was an exceptionally rare and valueable breed which you will all pay for."
"What? But miss..."
"Silence. I'm sure you can afford it, Potter. Now get out of my sight, all of you." They shuffled out, looking at their toes. "Oh, and Potter,"
"Yes, miss?"
"You had better play perfectly in the match next week, if you ever want to see this cloak again."
James waited until McGonagal was well out of earshot, keeping in mind her cat-like ears, and swore. "Well, that went about as badly wrong as possible."
"Snape is gonna be unbearable tomorrow."
James nodded. "And I've lost the Cloak. Why did we have to get caught?"
"I couldn't help it. I had the Cloak on, but I was totally lost, and McGonagal can smell us when she's a cat."
"We were all totally lost. In fact, one of us's got lost evey time we went out recently." James remembered the last outings they had had. They were fine at first, but soon got more ambitious, straying further and further from where they knew. They'd never all been caught before, though.
"We need to do something about that. We can't keep on getting lost." Remus looked thoughtful. "Are there any maps of the school?"
"Of Hogwarts? You must be joking. Even Dumbledore doesn't know the entire school."
"Well, we'll make one then." Everyone turned to James, surprised. "Come on. We'll make a full map of the school. The first one ever. Then we'd never get lost again."
"It'll take a heck of a long time." Remus was doubtful.
"What else have we got to do?"
"Good point. Okay, what about it?"
Everyone nodded. "We'd better get started then."
***
As you can probably guess, I don't own anything about Harry Potter, or any of the characters. This is my first Harry Potter story, and any reviews would be really appreciated.
Ghosts, Snakes, Mice and Maps
Wizards and witches have always considered themselves above ordinary people, often known as 'Muggles'. This is why they have concealed the existance of magic from them for centuries. This is also why when someone had the bright idea of making Muggle killing a sport, very little was done to stop them. The Ministry of Magic, wrapped up in peace embassies and exterminating giants, did almost nothing, even to discourage it. They considered simply unimportant.
That is why Voldemort and his Muggle killing cult was left to spread, like a cancer. At first, decency prevented other wizards from having anything to do with it, but gradually more and more saw Voldemort's point of view. After all, they were only Muggles. They weren't important, were they?
Of course, many wizards were still opposed to the sport, and demanded that the Ministry put a stop to this strange new cult. The most important of these was a man named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who had taught most of the Ministers, and probably Voldemort himself. Albus Dumbledore succeeded in convincing several members of the council, but his influence was limited. He was, after all, only a headmaster.
The Ministry did manage a half-hearted attempt at trying to make Muggle killing less popular, but the sport continued, growing more and more common.
Of course, if the Ministry had known the trouble this would cause over the next few decades, they would have acted completely differently.
***
James Potter glanced around, closed the door quietly and turned back to the centre of the dormitory. "All clear. Go on."
There was a pop, and a brown rat was sitting on the floor. It slowly sat up, washed its face, and chased its tail in a circle. At first it ran unsteadily, its limbs all seemed to be working independantly. It soon coordinated itself, then tried changing speeds, then a few jumps. Then it ran up the leg of a four poster bed and disappeared under the covers. James watched the little lump scampering to and fro for a while, then there was another pop.
The lump under the sheets had grown to fill the bed, and a small schoolboy's mousey face grinned from under a duvet. The dormitory exploded in applause.
"Brilliant!"
"Go, Peter!"
"Great!"
Peter Pettigrew wriggled his way out of the bed, beaming and flushing from his friends's praise. "Thanks, guys." He suddenly looked hopeful: "So can I come with you on Saturday, then?"
Sirius Black, who had been watching from the roof of his bed, was thoughtful. "Hmm. I dunno. Would a rat be any use?"
"'Course I would. I could get into all the places you all can't."
Sirius looked over to another boy, who was wearing much shabbier second- hand robes. "Depends what you think, Remus."
Remus smiled. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Yippee!"
***
"Perfect, Potter. Full marks. In fact, all four of you have scored top of the class." Professor McGonagal's eyes raised in suspicion, "I hope you did this by yourself, Pettigrew."
Peter quailed. "I did, Miss. Honest."
"Then perhaps, stand up, boy, you would like to demonstrate." She produced a lead cannon ball from behind her desk and placed it on his. "Gold. Go on."
"Erm... " James caught Peter's eye, and smiled encouragingly. Peter closed his eyes, trying to remember all James had told him. "Protedus!"
The cannon ball rocked slightly, but remained the same. Peter watched it hopefully for a moment.
"I see. Which one of you helped him?" McGonagal glared at James. He tried to keep his face impassive. "Very well. All four of you will recieve de-"
She was cut off by Arthur Weasley yelling, "Weird!" The cannon ball was slowly shrinking, gradually getting lighter and lighter, untill it was a pure gold golf ball.
McGonagal watched critically. "Hmm... Delayed reaction and compression, probably caused by nervous wand movement. You need to be more definite, Pettigrew, but you don't have detention."
"Wimp." muttered Agnes Longbottom. Lily Evans flicked a ball of paper at her, grinning: "Turn that into gold, then, if you know best."
"That will do!" barked out McGonagal. "Now, take out your text books and turn to page four hundred and two..."
***
Lily Evans groaned as the class filed in to History of Magic class. History of Magic, though full of goblin rebellions and wizards teleporting themselves into the Sahara, was universally agreed to be the most dull, boring and pointless subject in the school. This was because all the ancient teacher, Professor Binns, ever did was to read out notes and the class would copy them down. Then the homework would be to write an essay on whatever Binns had been talking about, which was invariably, goblin rebellions and wizards in the Sahara. This essay would be given back with no marks or comments, just a tick at the bottom. Of course, Sirius Black had once removed the tick, and handed the essay in next lesson, and Binns hadn't noticed, so now no one bothered to take notes or write essays, and the classroom became even duller with no work to do.
Maybe she could finish the Potions recipe, Lily thought as she sat down at the back of the class. Then everyone stood up, waiting for Binns to enter.
They waited for about ten minutes, before confused muttering broke out. "Where the heck is he?" "He never comes in late," ""Maybe he took a wrong turn, and is lecturing the Charms class. Flitwick's probably too timid to interrupt."
After fifteen minutes, Lily called out: "Maybe he's forgotten. I'll go and check the staffroom. James Potter, you come too, or the class will've blown up when I get back." James scowled, but Lily was a prefect so he got up, slowly, and slipped something to Sirius as he passed. Lily pretended not to notice. It would be fun to see if Binns noticed the class exploding.
Lily waited until they were outside the classroom before saying: "Right, now we have to find out where the staffroom is. Maybe if we asked-"
"You're a prefect, and you don't know where the staffroom is?" asked James, gleefully.
"Why should I? They don't tell prefects everything." Lily stared at him suspiciously. "How do you know, anyway?"
James grinned, "Why else do you think so many cauldrens melted last Potions class?"
Lily smiled too. "I should give you a detention." James shrugged. "but it was extemely funny."
"Here we are." James lead her to an ornate door which she'd never passed before.
"You don't know the password, do you?"
"Erm, no. We usually sneak in through the back."
"You seem to trust me not to tell on you."
"Are you going to tell?"
"Probably not. Some rules deserve to be broken, anyway."
"Um... " Lily turned to see Dumbledore behind her. In the corner of her vision, she saw James sniggering as she blushed.
"I'm afraid that in my old age, I suffer from pangs of deafness." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "So I will only ask what you two are doing here."
"Um.. We were trying to find Professor Binns," said Lily, overcoming her embarrassment, "he's late."
"A highly unusual occurance. Very well, Pickled Frogs." At the sound of the password, the door swung open. Dumbledore strode inside, Lily and James following, James still giggling.
"You realise I'll make you pay for that." hissed Lily. The staffroom was full of comfy armchairs, and it was in one of these that they found Binns, plainly asleep. Lily gently prodded him. "Um, Professor, you're late for class."
Professor Binns's eyes remain closed, but he mumbled: "What... wha... glck." Lily prodded him harder. Suddenly, he cried: "Oh my god! Look at the time!" and jumped up. Almost.
Lily gaped as a silvery, translucent shape rose from the body of Professor Binns. The ghost stared at her, crossly. "What are you looking at? Back to class, straight away! Have I done the lecture on Bingo the Bugeyed yet?" and he bustled along, with Lily and James following behind, throwing each other amused and surprised glances all the back to the classroom.
"Settle down! Settle down! Just because I'm late is no reason to get excited!" barked Binns as the class roared in surprise. "Now, where was I, oh yes, Bingo the Bugeyed became leader of his clan in 1479... "
The class fell quiet, everyone mirroring everyone else's expressions. Professor Binns didn't seem to notice them, or that he was dead. Or that the classroom blew up.
***
The excitement caused by Binn's lesson stayed with them all morning, and well into the afternoon. Then came Potions.
James would probably have enjoyed Potions, if it wasn't for the Slytherins. Hogwarts was divided into four houses, and the Griffindors and Slytherins were almost exact opposites. Griffindors were chosen for courage, and Slytherins favoured cunning. James's least favourite Slytherin, a boy called Snape, sat right next to him, ready to shoot his hand up and tell if James or Sirius did the slightest thing wrong.
The Slytherins were already lined up. Snape and his gang all grinned maliciously as they approached. "Good morning, Potter. Got a nice surprise for you." His friends all burst into laughter.
"What's happened? Have you learnt how to read at last?" Sirius scowled. Remus and Peter walked in behind them, both glaring at Snape.
Snape smirked, then pointed at Peter. "You'll like this, rat-boy. Kill, Diamant!" From Snape's sleeve erupted an enormous diamond-backed snake. Peter cried out in shock as it flicked its powerful tail around his arm and wound itself up, hissing and spitting in his face.The boy staggered back in fright, and with a terrified squeak, Timothy, his pet mouse, scurried out of the cauldren he was sitting in, down Peter's leg, and along the ground.
James dropped his bag and equipment and dived to catch Timothy while Remus tried to grab the snake's neck, but he was too late, and the snake had seen the mouse. It snapped at Remus and he leapt back, letting it dart off Peter's arm and on to the floor. Screams and panic followed as the monster wove its way between everyone's feet, and James desperately pushed and shoved through the crowd, trying to catch it with Snape and the Slytherin's yeering behind him.
Seeing everyone jumping back, he ploughed straight through them with Remus in hot pursuit, in time to see Timothy flying through the air-- the snake neatly caught him and began to swallow him whole. Remus once again grabbed its neck, and James pinned it's tail down as it curled around Remus's legs. Remus frantically tried to push the bulge in the snake's neck up, but it was struggling too furiously to hold properly. "Sirius, help!" yelled James. Sirius hurtled forward, swung his cauldren and clipped the beast on the side of it's head.
Snape shouted as the snake fell limp. Remus pried it's mouth open, and Peter grabbed Timothy, clutching the frightened rat and forcing it into his pocket as he calmed it down.
"What is going on here?" James looked up, to see Priceson the Potions master towering over him.
"Sir! Sir! They're attacking my snake!"
"No we weren't, we were def-"
"Silence! Potter, you and your friends all have detention. And fifty points from Griffindor." Snape grinned triumphantly as the class filed in to the dungeon where Potions was held. Sirius swore, and the rest of the Griffindor students glared at Snape. Lily Evans tripped him up and lost them another ten points, and Malfoy, Snape's friend, scattered her ingredients all over the floor, but Priceson didn't see him.
James and Sirius spat as Snape sat down smugly, calmly removing the firework on his chair (ten points from Griffindor) and smiled mockingly at them. "You wait," hissed James. "Just you wait, Snape. You are going to pay for that." ***
Lily's hands shook with anger as she slashed her mandrake root into thin shreds. Priceson's voice once again interrupted, asking them to watch as Snape had finished his potion perfectly. A ball of paper whizzed past her face, followed by a: "Sir! Sir! Potter's throwing things!" and ten more points from Griffindor. Lily looked over to Remus Lupin, who the ball had hit. He was unfolded it beneath the desk, glanced at it, then screwed it up again and flicked it into the bin.
"Accio," whispered Lily, when he had looked away. She unravelled the paper ball and read:
Moony meet at Trench at ten. Prongs.
Lily muttered, "Infernous," and the paper shrivelled up into flame. Griffindor lost twenty more points as both James and Sirius kicked Snape in the shin.
***
James sat down on an upturned cauldren, his head brushing the top of their underground den. The Trench had been their secret since third year, it was where they planned all their major pranks and tricks.
Remus and Peter were already there, using their wands as torches. As James lit his, there was a scuffling overhead, and without warning, an enormous black dog dropped through the roof.
Sirius turned back into a human and lit his wand as the others had done. Then he whispered, "Got the cloak, James?"
"Yeah." James didn't whisper, but kept his voice low. There wasn't really any need, they had put soundproofing charms on the walls, but Sirius had done the spell, and even he didn't trust his ability. "Now we need to decide what to do with it."
Remus spoke. "I suppose this is about Snape's pet."
Sirius nodded, gritting his teeth angrily. "You bet. We must've lost over seventy points that lesson. And Timothy nearly had a heart attack when we got him out."
"That's why we're going to tie Snape up with it." It was just a wild suggestion, but everyone else's faces broke into evil grins.
"Perfect! Great idea, James!"
"Yeah. We'll need to get into the Slytherin's common room, though."
"No problem," piped up Peter, "I know the password." Everyone looked at him. "I was practising being a rat by the door."
Remus laughed. "Great trick. Having a rat on the team'll be really useful."
James smiled, "Yeah. Now let's get down to the plan."
***
The Slytherin common room was perfectly silent as the door swung gently open. After a minute, it closed again, then James, Sirius, Remus and Peter appeared from nowhere as James pulled off his Invisibility Cloak. He looked to Peter, and the smaller boy pointed to one of the doors on the other side of the room. James pulled the Cloak back over all of them, and they shuffled along. Over the years they had developed a pattern of walking so no one stepped on anyone else's foot.
They found Snape's bed, the one nearest the door. That would make things easier if things went wrong, thought James. Snape's dormitory also contained Lucius Malfoy and the Lestrange twins, all members of Snape's gang. James heard Sirius swearing at them under his breath.
They quickly checked that all the Slytherins were fast asleep, and then Remus pulled four black sheets from his robe. He pointed his wand at them and whispered, "Silencio." Then they shook off the Cloak again, and each covered the face of one of the sleeping Slytherins.
"You sure we're safe now?" asked Peter.
"They shouldn't hear a thing, if I've got the spell right. If any of the others wake up, we'll just have to hide in the corner with the Cloak on."
James nodded, satisfied. "Come on then, let's find this snake."
They found Snape's pet crushed into a tiny cage, that looked as if it had been built for a budgie. "Poor thing." muttered Remus, as they quickly let it out. It glared menacingly at Peter, but James stepped forward, pulling out his wand.
"Repetelis Endormi." The snake stopped dead, then curled up, fast asleep. James watched as Sirius efficiently coiled the animal around its owner, the satisfaction evident on his face. "It's a shame we can't be there to see him wake up, isn't it?"
"Come on, we'd better scram." Remus held up the Cloak, and they slipped out as silently as they had come.
***
They were halfway back when they met Priceson. "Against the wall!" James murmured, as the teacher appeared at the end of the corridor. James held his breath, and Priceson passed. The four boys kept still, waiting until he was a reasonable distance away.
They very slowly crept along. "Hey! Who's that?" James felt the others's bodies go rigid with shock. How had Priceson seen them?
"It's me sir." Hagrid the gamekeeper was approaching the Potions Master. "I was lookin' fer you, in fact. The boys need some more medicine." James saw three large dog-like silhouettes by Hagrid's feet. He tapped the others where he guessed their arms were, and slowly they began to retreat.
"Those things shouldn't be in school!"
"Don't worry sir. The shop owner said they were well trained-" At that moment, the dogs began growling fiercely. "Hey! steady there, Basker. Down, boy, dow-" The animals charged away down the corridor, their leashes trailing behind them.
The four Cloaked boys tried to run, and stumbled over each other. "Through here!" James pulled them all, and they dived through the nearest door.
The dogs stopped, then followed them, and James could hear Hagris shouting, "Fang, Basker, get back here!" James wriggled out from under the Cloak.
"Split up!" he yelled, as quietly as he could, and took off, hurtling ramdomly around the school until the dogs's barks had been left behind. Then he stopped, and looked around to find his way back to the common room. He knew the others would escape, but now they had to get back to the common room, and not get caught. He had left the Cloak with Sirius, so he would have to be especially careful not to bump into any professors.
That wasn't his only problem, he reflected, gazing around at the unfamiliar walls. He was also well and truly lost.
***
"Four detentions and two hundred points from Gryffindor." McGonagal glared at the boys as she paced up and down like a spiteful cat. "The Bloody Baron informs me that Severus Snape woke up this morning with a snake tied around him. Setting a beast like that on another schoolboy is highly dangerous, Potter- do you think this is funny?"
James forced himself to look McGonagal in the eye. "No, miss." he managed to murmur, wishing dearly that Snape's pet had been poisonous.
"Good. Thanks to you, that snake has escaped. Quite apart from the potential danger to other students, it was an exceptionally rare and valueable breed which you will all pay for."
"What? But miss..."
"Silence. I'm sure you can afford it, Potter. Now get out of my sight, all of you." They shuffled out, looking at their toes. "Oh, and Potter,"
"Yes, miss?"
"You had better play perfectly in the match next week, if you ever want to see this cloak again."
James waited until McGonagal was well out of earshot, keeping in mind her cat-like ears, and swore. "Well, that went about as badly wrong as possible."
"Snape is gonna be unbearable tomorrow."
James nodded. "And I've lost the Cloak. Why did we have to get caught?"
"I couldn't help it. I had the Cloak on, but I was totally lost, and McGonagal can smell us when she's a cat."
"We were all totally lost. In fact, one of us's got lost evey time we went out recently." James remembered the last outings they had had. They were fine at first, but soon got more ambitious, straying further and further from where they knew. They'd never all been caught before, though.
"We need to do something about that. We can't keep on getting lost." Remus looked thoughtful. "Are there any maps of the school?"
"Of Hogwarts? You must be joking. Even Dumbledore doesn't know the entire school."
"Well, we'll make one then." Everyone turned to James, surprised. "Come on. We'll make a full map of the school. The first one ever. Then we'd never get lost again."
"It'll take a heck of a long time." Remus was doubtful.
"What else have we got to do?"
"Good point. Okay, what about it?"
Everyone nodded. "We'd better get started then."
***