A/N: WARNING: This book is a sequel! If you don't want to be in the dark, read my first "The Howl of the Moon", (id# 882673) which chronicles MWPP in their first year. This is about their second year. Also, I own nothing! Please R/R!
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Chapter Seven:
Wormtail
That weekend was another Hogsmeade trip. James and Sirius planned something great to cheer Remus up, just back from his transformation.
"Is everything ready?" Asked Lily to James as he and Sirius came in from the cold, to the Three Broomsticks. James smiled and nodded.
"Yep. Now, all there is...is to wait for Lestrange and his cronies!" He and Sirius smiled deviously. Sirius looked out the window expectantly. Remus, Peter, and Mary returned with butterbeers for everyone.
James and Sirius quickly sipped theirs, and the creamy warmth rapidly spread through their veins.
"There they are!" Said Sirius. He quickly got up, and everyone else followed.
"What's going on?" Asked Remus. James chuckled.
"Sit back and enjoy, Remus." James said as they walked out onto the street. He and Sirius crept to the other side of the street, and suddenly disappeared under James's Invisibility Cloak.
Remus watched as Lestrange, with his goons, Snape and Nott, walked up the street towards the Shrieking Shack. Suddenly, a glimmer of light caught their attention. It looked like gold. Lestrange looked around, then began to follow it. It stayed still long enough for him to reach out for it, but then slipped out of his reach. It led him, Snape, and Nott, all the way to the gate of the Shrieking Shack.
The gates suddenly creaked open, and the gold piece came to rest on the walkway to the abandoned home. Remus and the others moved up to get a better view.
Lestrange went pale. Nott and Snape backed up. Lestrange bit his lip then stepped forward. Snape and Nott followed, looking about as if a murderous ghost were about to fly out at kill them all.
The gold piece continued to move along, and the three Slytherins continued to follow it dumbly. Finally, the galleon stopped, and Lestrange grasped it. He smiled and pocketed it. Then, they turned around to walk out from there quickly. But the gates slammed shut.
The Slytherins' eyes went wide and their faces pale. From the Shack, a wild screaming came. Lestrange, Nott, and Snape dashed to the gate and pulled wildly on its bars to no avail. They cried for help and tried in vein to climb over. The Gryffindors were double over in laughter.
Indeed, the Slytherins' faces went slowly from wild fright to deep rage when the howling and screaming from the shack began to turn into uncontrolled laughter.
Realizing what had been done to him, Lestrange turned and pointed his wand in the direction of the laughing.
"Accio Invisibility Cloak!" Lestrange yelled. The cloak flew off of James and Sirius's bodies, but they quickly grabbed it before it could fly to Lestrange.
"Pudder!" Lestrange yelled.
"Quietus." Said James and Sirius, wands pointed at their throats.
"I'll kill you!" Yelled Lestrange, and the three pointed their wands. The quickly turned around, however. They restrained themselves, not because of the presence of Remus, Lily, Peter, and Mary, but rather the looming, cold face of Professor Marus.
"Banned. From Hogsmeade, for the rest of year, until I think of another punishment." James stood in protest.
"What? You can't do that! For a little prank?" He said. Marus stood as well.
"Be seated Mister Potter. You will not return to Hogsmeade. If I find you or Black sneaking into there, I'll have you hanging by your toes in the dungeon."
A blizzard hit after they got back from Hogsmeade, and the snow had fallen four feet thick at Hogwarts castle. As a result, all outdoor lessons were canceled Monday, which meant Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology. For this, Peter was glad, because it gave him time to finish the Herbology homework everyone had been assigned, which he had not been able to accomplish because of his extra homework.
By Tuesday, however, the sun had taken a foot and a half of the snow off, and apparently, conditions were satisfactory for a Herbology class, in Krupp's mind. The Gryffindor's trudged out in their heavy winter garments, to make their way to the greenhouse.
"Pettigrew!" Said Krupp the instant Peter came through the doorway.
"Here it is, Professor!" He said quickly, and handed Krupp the parchment. Krupp gave it an initial scan, then dropped it on his desk.
"On to the Ice Venus." Krupp said. Halfway through class he demanded everyone successfully plant an Ice Venus in the snow drift outside. James's, Peter's and two Hufflepuffs' were doing the best by the end of class. After the bell rang, as Gryffindor and Hufflepuff sixth years began making their way to the greenhouses for their Herbology class, Krupp exited the greenhouse to examine the Ice Venuses.
After a vicious grading period, Krupp finally let them go.
"Now, my sixth years." He said as Peter was walking away, catching up to the group. "We'll be heading into the Forest today..."
At first Peter didn't really think about what Krupp had said, but once he caught up, he realized it.
"Hey, guys!" He said. "I just heard Professor Krupp talking. He said that they're going into the Forbidden Forest!" The group stopped dead.
"What did he say?" Asked Sirius.
"That they're going into the Forest! Isn't that out of bounds?" Lily shrugged.
"Well, he is a teacher."
"Let's get inside, I'm freezing!" Said Remus. They all agreed, and quickly made their way to the Entrance Hall. While they stamped off just inside the great doors, they heard many footsteps heading their way.
Peter put his head up and saw Lestrange and his cronies heading that way.
"Eh...James!" He whispered nudging James. They all now noticed the Slytherins; Lestrange, Nott, Snape, and three girls; the same three girls they had seen earlier.
"Pudder!" Lestrange spat as he neared them.
"What's this about you messing with my first years?"
"Did the babies go back to daddy?" Sirius said in a child-like voice.
"Up yours, Black!" Said Snape quickly. Sirius made towards Snape as if to punch him, but Nott quickly crossed behind Lestrange and stood in front of Snape. Sirius and Nott now stood as tall as they could, their chests out, as if ready to brawl.
"So what if I did?" James finally answered.
"So if you did, there's a price to pay, Pudder." James raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, is there?" He said. "What are you going to do?" James leaned in until his nose nearly touched Lestrange's.
"Curse your bloody head off, that's what." Lestrange near-whispered. James stared at Lestrange.
If only I could tell him how I took out that Metamagus... James thought.
"What is it, Potter? Remember our last duel all too well?"
"Don't you?" James asked. "You seem to forget having been caught. You looked like a neutered dog after that!" Lestrange growled. He made a sudden movement for his wand. By reflex, everyone else drew theirs too (except poor Peter, who fumbled with his and dropped it to the floor).
However, a sudden noise from outside distracted them. It was like a howl, or a jet going by. There was a scream, then many screams.
Forgetting about Lestrange and the Slytherins, the Gryffindors dashed from their position towards the screams.
"Ferio!" Shouted Lestrange. But the Gryffindors had gotten out of the hall and the spell struck the door, knocking it open.
"Damn!" Lestrange spat.
They all dashed towards the edge of the Forest, from where the sounds came. Sirius ran in front, because he could trudge through the snow faster than anyone else. Remus ran directly behind him, then James, then Mary, then Lily, then Peter bringing up the rear.
In the forest, much of the snow was still in the trees, so they could all run much faster now. Peter, however, was the slowest among them, and dropped behind. They could see, about thirty meters into the forest, many people running about, a lot of snow, and a fallen tree.
Peter was now lagging behind by quite a bit from the group, and matters were made worse when he tripped on a root.
"Ow!" He yelled, but the others were too far ahead to hear him. He got up, panting, rubbing his elbow.
"Wait up!" He said hoarsely. Feeling quite thirsty, he scooped up a handful of snow. It was dirty however, and there were foot prints all around. A glint of light, however, caught his eye.
"A stream!" He said thoughtlessly. He got up and stumbled tiredly towards the light. When he got there, however, there was no stream, only some shiny material mostly buried in snow. He touched it with his fingers; it was like water, but not quite...
"Peter! Let's go, quick!" Came James's voice. Peter stumbled to his feet quickly and ran out of the forest.
"Why are we running?" He asked.
"Krupp told us to get out or get a detention!" Said James, and they slowed to a walk once they were far from the forest.
"Evus!" Said Sirius at dinnertime, seeing Evus and his friends enter the Great Hall. Evus McQuent seated himself next to James on one side of the table, and Will and Max next to Remus on the other.
"Evus, what happened in the forest today?"
"Something very strange." He said, with a shudder. "Someone tried to kill Firmus Constance!" The group let out cries of shock.
"What?" Said James.
"It's the truth! Y'see, Professor Krupp took us all out inta' the Forest for an 'Erbology lesson. We were examining some forest plant-life when he suddenly realized he fergot somethin'. So he told us all to stand in a circle, with no gaps, around a tree, and look out into the forest, in case somethin' tried to snek up on us while 'ee was gone. An' then, after he lef', someone tried the Avadra Kedavra curse on Firmus!"
"How...who?" Sirius asked.
"We don't know." Said Will. "It came from deep in the forest. Fortunately, Evus here heard the spell cast, and knocked Firmus to the ground just before it hit him. It struck the tree, and killed it instantly!"
"Yeah," added Max, "the force of the spell knocked the tree down and it nearly crushed me! But lucky, Professor Krupp came back in time to knock the tree out of the way."
"Wow." Said Remus, and the young Gryffindors finished their dinner.
"Well we'll see you guys later." Said James as he took the last swig of juice from his goblet and joined the rest of his standing companions. The sixth-years said nothing, but waved as they left the Great Hall.
"Who do you think tried to kill Firmus Constance?" Asked Sirius as they entered the common room and sat down in their comfy chairs.
"Professor Krupp!" Said Remus rashly.
"Yeah, Professor Krupp!" Said Sirius quickly. "He hates Hufflepuff!" Lily scoffed.
"Professor Krupp is a teacher at Hogwarts! He would not do such a thing. As much as he hates Hufflepuff, he wouldn't drag the class out into the forest and try to kill one of them!"
"But think!" Said Sirius. "Professor Krupp left and then someone tried to kill Firmus! Then he mysteriously arrived back?"
"But if Professor Krupp was trying to kill someone, he would have let the tree fall on Max!" Said Lily.
"Well, obviously, he wasn't trying to kill Max!" Said Sirius. "If he really wanted to kill Firmus, then he wouldn't kill Max! Two kids die under his care? Then they would suspect something! Not to mention, saving Max might make it seem like he was a good guy!" Lily leaned back in her chair and frowned.
"I just don't think Professor Dumbeldore would have hired anyone that would kill another student! Professor Krupp can't have done it."
"Sure he could have!" Said Sirius.
"No, he really could not have." Said James. He had been sitting back in his chair, deep in thought for a while, and had not spoken.
"The shot was intended for Firmus. Spells always go in a straight path. The tree had to have been knocked straight backwards. If Professor Krupp knocked the tree out of the way, he would have had to come from the other direction. And he couldn't have ran from one side of the tree to the opposite without them seeing; because they were all looking outwards."
"And," interjected Lily, "We saw that Max was standing on the side of the tree facing the greenhouse! So if Professor Krupp ran back to the greenhouse to get whatever he was getting, then he would have had to run from the greenhouse to the spot where the spell came from, and they would have seen him then, too!" James nodded.
"No, it can't've been Krupp." Said James. "But who would try to commit murder on Hogwarts grounds?" Lily stood up shaking her head.
"I don't know, but it doesn't concern us. Dumbledore will figure it out." Lily yawned. "I'm going to take a nap, if we're going to be up tonight."
James suddenly remembered that a meeting would be taking place that night.
"Ah yes! A meeting!" James said standing up. "I've got something special planned. Be here around 12:30!" Then James got up and left the commons room.
"As if we're anywhere else at 12:30." Said Sirius.
Thirty minutes after midnight, as James had told them, they all sat in the commons, staring tiredly into the dying fire.
"Alright." Said James, entering the room. "Head up to the dormitories to get your invitation." He then left.
"What is talking about?" Asked Sirius.
"I don't know." Said Lily, but she got up and began towards her dormitory. The others did so as well, and were surprised to find what they did.
Sirius strode forward, and picked up a goblet that had been set on his chest, full to the brim of Lion's Fire, ignited and all.
"These are our invitations?" Asked Peter, picking his up with great caution. Sirius chuckled.
"I suppose so. Let's get going, we don't want to be late!" And he, Remus, and Peter strode off down the stairs. They waited only a moment for Mary and Lily, then set off into the darkened hallways of Hogwarts.
The fire they carried nearly got them caught, but they quickly made their way to the secret passageways that took them nearest to the Society room, behind the portrait of Miss Vi. Even with the peculiar goblets of fire, Miss Vi asked no questions and told no one of their secret society.
"Hello, there, young ones." She said as they approached. "James has told me that none can enter unless they drink the Lion's Fire fearlessly."
"What does he mean by that?" Asked Remus.
"He means," said Sirius after a moment of pondering, that we have to drink it while knowing it will cause no harm to us! An interesting way of keeping intruders out." Sirius laughed, then quickly gulped the flames down.
"Gwobble-Quob!" Said Sirius and Miss Vi slid down to admit him. He leapt up and crawled in, passing through a magical barrier that admitted him.
"Easy enough!" Said Remus, and he drank his quickly as well, and entered behind Sirius. Mary and Lily took theirs simultaneously, and Mary then Lily went in.
Peter was left alone.
"Alright, Peter." He said to himself. "You can do this." He looked at the flames. They looked so hot..." He gulped. He put his hand over them, and it didn't feel hot at all.
"See." He said with a nervous laugh. "No harm." He gulped again, then sipped from the goblet. "No harm!" He said again, and now chugged the whole cup, and quickly entered.
"Let the fifty-sixth meeting of the Society of Lion's Fire commence, Carmentalia, 2722 ab urbe candita." Remus stood.
"The first order of business will be the progress of James, Peter, and Sirius to become Animagi." He sat back down.
"Actually, Remus, there's a little change of plans." Said James. "I was thinking about what I said earlier today, about not caring what happened with Firmus, and saying it didn't concern us. Well, I don't know what I was thinking, but we should really try to find out who did it!" Sirius laughed and smiled.
"Yes! That's what I thought!"
"Anybody have any ideas?" James asked. None one spoke for a moment, but then Peter stood up.
"Well...you see, er...when we all went to see what had happened after we heard the noises, then I got lost. I saw something shiny, and went over to find out what it was. I think it m-might have been an Invisibility Cloak!" James sat deep in thought.
"That would explain how Krupp got from A to B without being seen!" Said Sirius quickly.
"Peter...did it feel like this?" James reached behind him and grabbed his Invisibility Cloak that was draped over his chair. He held it forward and Peter took it in his hand, and rubbed it between his thumb and index finger.
He frowned.
"No." He said with a sigh. "It felt different." He returned to his seat and James frowned.
"Well, there's one thing we can do for sure." Said Sirius with a devilish grin. "Sneak into Krupp's office!"
Quickly the decision was made unanimously in favor, and the group set off into the night (disabling the magic wall James had set up). Krupp's office was a new one; since Friar Arus kept his. It was in the second basement, just one story above Professor Scuro's.
"Hey wait a minute!" James suddenly whispered, stopping dead. The group was moving single file behind him, and they all bumped into each other.
"Do the teachers sleep in their offices?" Asked James to Lily who was behind him.
"Don't be silly James. There's a teachers' dormitory." James nodded.
"Well I've never been into one." He said. They were now in the same corridor as the office, and James turned around to see everyone.
"Alright, me, Sirius, and Peter, under the Invisibility Cloak!" Said James, waving an arm for them to come. Peter was selected in case the silvery item that he had felt was in Krupp's office.
"The rest of you, stay on the lookout!" Lily, Mary, and Remus nodded, and hid themselves among statues.
James, Sirius, and Peter now crept up to the door to Krupp's office.
"Alohomora!" Whispered James. He heard the soft ca-chink of the door unlocking. He looked around, and slowly he put his hand out from the Invisibility Cloak. The knob turned. He pushed it in, but the door only opened part of the way.
"It's got some kind of magical lock on it!" Said James to Sirius and Peter. Again James looked around, seeing no one, and stuck his arm in up to the shoulder, where he could reach no more.
"I can't get in. It's too slim!"
"How shall we get in then?" Asked Sirius.
"I think we have to give up." Said Peter quickly.
"No, no. We can find a wa-yes, that's it!" Said James suddenly.
"What?" Whispered Sirius.
"Peter can go through!" Sirius squinted at James.
"I'm skinnier than Peter, no offense."
"None taken." Said Peter quickly, hoping Sirius might go instead of him.
"But Peter is a Mûsmagus!"
"Not yet!" Said Peter.
"But we've gotten the first few Transfigures down pat!" Exclaimed James. "By performing those you'll be able to get through." Peter looked at James worriedly.
Reluctantly, Peter moved forward, remaining under the cloak. James and Sirius moved down so he could be in front of the door gap. Peter removed his shoes.
"Existo mens mûs! Existo amplitudo mûs!" Before their eyes Peter seemed to change; his features became mouse like. In a way he looked no different, but his eyes became beadier, his nose smaller. He suddenly lurched forward, and though he was much bigger than the door gap, he seemed to slide through, like he were much smaller than he really was.
With a soft thud Peter landed on Krupp's office floor.
"I'm in!" He whispered through the gap."
"Can you open it from the inside?" James asked. Peter stood up and pushed against the door. He knelt back down.
"No! It's definitely magical, I can't get it!"
"Alright." Whispered James. "Look around!" Peter nodded and shakily got up.
"L-l-lumos!" He muttered, and light shot from his wand, dimly illuminating the half of the room towards which it was pointed. It was small. There was a desk facing the door, which was covered in phials of all sizes full of odd liquids and floating objects. On the sides of office against each wall was a thick wooden table. Both were covered in dusty black and dark colored books. Suspended in midair was a single, extinguished, blood red candle, burned halfway down.
"Do you see anything?" Whispered James through the door. Peter shook his head stupidly. He crept around to the other side of the desk.
There was a gold rimmed chair, with blood red cushions, on wheels over which gold claws extended. There were three drawers on either side and a long flat one in the middle. The top right drawer had a lock on it. Peter slowly opened the bottom left one. It was full of books. The title of the top one was in a foreign language. Peter closed the drawer.
The next one up had grade books and chalk in it; Peter thought for a moment of checking his Herbology grade in it, but remembered his task and closed the drawer again. The top left drawer was empty, but its bottom and sides were lined with a creeping, slithering plant that looked like a combination of ivy and snakes. Gulping, Peter closed the drawer with his shaking wand.
Next was the flat center drawer. It was filled with quills, inkbottles, and lots of blank parchment. Peter closed this and looked at the top right drawer. The lock on it was ominous. He gulped and moved on to the middle right drawer. Here he found a comb, a spare cloak, a small mirror, a few flasks and some dark green bread-like substance that Peter dared not touch.
The bottom drawer held more books. Now, he went back to the top right drawer. He rose his wand shakily.
"Alo-alo-hom-" Halfway through sputtering the spell, Peter heard a sudden hissing-whisper. He saw a wand poke through the door gap. It lit up and it was waved about frantically. Then it was extinguished and withdrawn. After a few moments, the door was slowly and quietly closed. Peter tip-toed his way to the door and put his hand on the doorknob. He thought about opening it, but then he heard a sound, far off and quiet. He moved back from the door. He moved closer again, and put his ear to the door. Now the sound was close and clear.
Tff. Tp. Clunk. Tff tp. Clunk. Peter went ghost white. Outside, Sirius and James shrunk themselves against the wall, pulling the cloak against themselves tightly. Professor Krupp was slowly walking towards his office.
Peter looked around the office, searching for a place to hide. There was a red chest underneath the table on his left, and a little space between it and the wall. Peter shoved himself between them, the spells he had cast still taking effect. He squirmed about until his head was facing the way he had entered, looking out at the office.
Krupp came up to the door and sunk the key into the hole. Peter heard a rattle and a clank; the door was unlocked, whereas Krupp had left it locked. He opened the door and let it hit the magical lock. Krupp looked down to his right. James and Sirius shivered and pulled close to each other silently. He was staring right at them. Then he looked back up to the door and said, at nearly a whisper,
"Devil's Snare." With a slight buzzing sound, the door swung open. Krupp entered, his staff clanking loudly against the stone floor.
"Come on!" James said, though he barely said it. He and Sirius, still holding each others' arms, stood up. They both quickly removed their shoes, and holding them, tip-toed after Krupp into the office. They crept silently until they were standing in front of the desk at which he now sat. He fumbled with something in his drawer, then got up, leaning heavily on his staff. He was grumbling about something. Then he walked to his right, around the desk. James and Sirius quickly backed away, fearing they were now trapped in the office.
Sirius looked back at and saw something peeking out from behind the chest. Instantly he understood it was Peter. He tugged on James's shoulder and pointed. James realized who it was as well, and they crouched down and moved under the table. Sirius lifted up the back of the Invisibility Cloak and beckoned Peter to crawl in, making sure he didn't leave the shroud of the cloak.
He moved closely to the chest and lifted up the cloak enough for Peter to get under it. But Krupp was moving quickly towards the chest and Peter shrunk back behind it. Fearing he might bump into them, James and Sirius shrunk back against the wall on the opposite side of the table.
Krupp knelt down and bent over the chest. His cloak dropped over it and James and Sirius could not see what he was doing, except that he put his staff in and got another one out. Barely, Peter, James, and Sirius spotted something silvery.
Krupp quickly closed the chest and turned around
facing the door. Only the top of the staff could be seen from behind his body.
Fearing he would come back to the chest, James and Sirius crept back to where Peter hid. Sirius again held out the cloak against the chest, and Peter crawled back out from behind the chest, slinking in between James and Sirius. Suddenly, Krupp sneaked the staff into his tall cloak and walked briskly, limping, to his desk, and he sat down, the staff protruding from his cloak. He gripped and leaned slightly on it and quickly got out a quill and parchment, and began writing on it.
James waved his arm towards the door, and the others nodded. They got up silently and moved to the open door. They were about to exit when someone walking by stopped in front of the door.
"Professor Krupp!" Said the voice. They knew it instantly, the caretaker, Argus Filch. "What are you doing these hours?" He asked curiously. He was staring straight through them at Krupp. Sirius moved to go left, James moved to go right, Peter stood frozen with fright. The cloak tugged tight, making the slightest sound.
"Couldn't sleep!" Said Krupp with a queer laugh. He didn't notice the sound, though Filch was looking oddly around the room. After a quick, silent argument, the group moved back towards the chest under the table. Filch put his hand out and waved it in the air, feeling for something
"Is there a problem, Argus?" Krupp asked, nervously. Filch shook his head.
"No...no, nothing." He stepped back from the room.
"Have a nice night, Professor Krupp." Krupp smiled and waved a bit, and Filch walked away. Krupp's smile turned to a frown and he got up. The boys raced to the door and got outside of it before Krupp closed it, with a bitter face.
They wasted no time in walking quickly from the office, and to the statues behind which Lily, Mary, and Remus hid. They collapsed against the wall and exhaled greatly, removing the cloak.
"Are you alright?" Lily whispered to Peter. He was white, but he nodded. Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Mary's good luck totem pole, carved from chalk. It was unbroken.
"It's a good thing you had that with you!" Said Mary, leaning over Lily to tell Peter it. He nodded. As he rubbed the rattail at the totem pole's top, Sirius said,
"Peter could crawl through small spots like a worm!" James looked at the tail on the small carving.
"Yes, ole' Wormtail's worth a million!"