Marauder Style

thackis

A short story showing the way to find the perfect group name, Marauder style. [MWPP]

I don't own any of the characters, they're J.K. Rowling's. As for demiguises, I didn't make them up, I found them at a Fantastic Beasts index. They're invisible to Muggles, I believe, and rather dangerous, so based on that I'm making it so that MWPP haven't seen one.

No other notes, really. Read on.

"How could you get a claw of dragon for the fifth ingredient? I got a demiguise toe!" Peter Pettigrew asked, astounded. He scanned Sirius' potions homework again feverishly, checking back to his own paper very often and repeatedly slashing out answers that didn't match up. His face fell with every slash as he went down the line, and didn't realize that James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin had all ignored him.

"Do demiguises even have toes?" James questioned, fascinated.

"Remy, you're the Care of Magical Creatures expert--"

"No I'm not! You know perfectly well, Siri, that I--"

"Settle the debate, please, before commenting," Sirius interrupted quite cheerfully. Remus sputtered, but then went into a 'you-got-under-my-fur-like-no-one-else-does-so-I'll-ignore-you-until-later' fit.

"Now, for the moment of truth--" Sirius flicked his wand and a drumroll filled the room. The sound escalated as he leaned in, looking mock serious about the whole affair.

"Do demiguises have toes?"

"Oh dear. I think I'm going to have to do this all over again…" Peter squeaked, staring at Sirius' work and ruining the moment entirely.

"I do not know if demiguises have toes!" Remus snapped loudly when Sirius started using his wand to poke at him from across the small space separating their chairs.

"Of course you do, Remy old chap!" James said, leaning over the armrest and exaggeratedly patting the exasperated looking boy on the back. "You were certainly listening in that Care of Magical Creatures lesson, when we had a lesson about demiguises-! … weren't you?" James blinked innocently behind his glasses as he asked the question, pushing them upwards. He leaned back into his chair after a moment when the black rimmed specs began to fall.

"I was not." Remus replied.

"What were you doing, then?" Sirius asked, as if not paying attention in Care of Magical Creatures was a crime (one that he had not committed that same day).

"I was too busy watching Severus' bag hop away," Remus answered guiltily.

"Nice bit of Transfiguration, wasn't it?" James beamed broadly. "Even Minnie wouldh've been proud."

"Professor McGonagall wasn't pleased, especially not with that bit of magic, James…"

"Do you think I would get full points if I wrote a demiguise that doesn't have the ability to walk? For the fourth ingredient? Oh, wait, that's for the fifth…" Peter said as he stared down as his assignment, looking miserable. He took another bit of parchment into his hand and the rest of the fifth year boys pondered to the sound of his quill scratching down the first to fourth potions ingredients.

"I believe that would work." James answered briskly. "If a demiguise only had that one toe left--if it does have toes--it wouldn't be able to walk."

"Can you walk toeless?" Sirius was the one to begin the new conversation circling around demiguises the second time around.

"I really have no idea!" James said, picking up on the subject with relish. "Come, Sirius, maybe I can do a bit of work on your foot just to see…" Sirius excitedly walked over and James started a spell to efficiently remove his shoe without touching it before Remus interrupted.

"Maybe demiguises don't have feet at all. That would render your experiment pointless." he declared crossly, shifting back into the padded crimson armchair of the Gryffindor common room. He began to immerse himself deeply into the first draft of his Charms paper. There was a mystified silence as James Potter and Sirius Black, ages fifteen and fifteen respectively, simeoutaneously sat back and turned this new possibility inside out in their heads.

"Well, we can't settle this matter for sure until we have a picture of a demiguise…" Sirius said. He slowly flicked a piece of hair out of his light blue eyes, showing that he was deep in thought.

"Maybe when we perfect our tranformations you'll turn into a demiguise, Sirius!" Peter leapt in, having finished copying Sirius' homework. "Then we can all see,"

"That would be quite… interesting…" Sirius said, obviously horrified and taken aback at the possibility.

"I doubt it, Siri," James said, trying to comfort his friend. "I mean, we barely know if demiguises have feet… how would you be able to imprint a picture of it in your mind, to transform?" Sirius looked satisfied with the answer and settled down.

"Maybe we can get a demiguise from somewhere else instead!" Sirius brightened, continuing. "The Forbidden Forest has loads of little critters, and we haven't quite finished exploring the Lake to its fullest yet, either…"

"Brilliant, Sirius!" James said, glowing with the idea of a new adventure beneath his cloak.

"What is your obsession with demiguises?" Remus asked quite suddenly, breaking into the conversation. His Charms assignment was lying on the carved table, half reread and abandoned. They could see haphazard crossouts and scribbled notes on the borders, showing that Remus was clearly not paying attention to the assignment at all.

"They sound very interesting, that's all," Sirius said.

"And it's not every day that a creature, magical or otherwise, eludes our combined knowledge." Peter added, sounding important.

"It's time for another adventure," Sirius said, blue eyes sparkling as Headmaster Dumbledore's did. His eyes could have passed for Dumbledore's twinkling blue, actually, if it weren't for the mischief swimming in their depths.

"Black-Potter-Lupin-Pettigrew Style," he continued, the sparkle dulling slightly as he listed the names. "Not a very attractive thing to say," he said.

"We really need to think of a shorter one," Peter provided, looking at them.

"Well. Let's accomplish things one at a time, shall we?" Remus said, subtlely trying to get them to forget the ludicrous demiguise idea.

"So…!" James said, sitting back down in his excitement. Peter and Sirius followed suit, and Remus looked relieved from his spot in his favorite chair (which he had not moved from at all).

There was a twisted silence as they thought. James, who was now more adapted to chaos rather than silence with the friends he chose, broke it.

"Shall we begin with suggestions?" he said. Peter nodded, eager to throw out his ideas to his other friends.

"I rather fancy the name 'the Thieves.' It makes us sound right powerful and terrible, doesn't it?" he said eagerly.

"Yes, well. It's all right and good, but… we don't steal things, Peter."

"And it sounds rather plain." James said, proving his point with a yawn. Peter looked crestfallen, but quickly hid his crumpled look. No one seemed to notice.

"Well, then… to make it not ordinary and plain, let's do a little spellwork. Verbum Similis!" Sirius said the words loudly, and drew a circle in the air with his wand. A thick violet line appeared, and then the Black dragged his wand tip up vertically up through the center, creating a ripple and breaking the uninteruppted line.

"What kind of spell is that?" Peter asked, staring at the broken circle of magic that shimmered with Sirius' power.

"Watch." James said briefly, then pointed his wand at the very top of the glimmering circle.

 "Similis: thief." he rotated his wrist around lazily and slightly jabbed. A golden sphere of light appeared at Sirius' throat, who signalled, nonplussed, that he was fine. The gold pulsed and lengthened into a tendril that slithered up towards the top of the circle.

"Stealer." a disembodied voice appeared, and Peter squealed and jumped. Remus looked very amused at this, but then glanced curiously at Sirius, who had not said anything since the casting of the spell.

"He can't talk," James said to Remus, sparing a glance from the amusing show Peter was putting on by looking hideously embarrassed. "He sacrificed his voice for the spell, you see," Sirius nodded and then pointed at the circle. The tendril was quivering, and Remus noticed that more of the circle was slowly becoming whole, linked by the tendril as it overlapped the glittering magic.

"What is it?" Peter asked again, staring at the circle and back at Sirius.

"It's a kind of magical thesaurus. Quite dependable and harmless. When the circle is unbroken the spell is complete, we have a new name, and Sirius gets his voice back again." Peter didn't look quite too thrilled at that, but he turned his attention back on James.

"We can't be the Stealers, now can we? What a horrible image of us that might make." Remus said. "Is there another word it can supply?" he asked curiously. James nodded and took out his wand again, reaching out with its tip and dragging the tendril farther across the circle's length.

"Itum," he said, and another rush of gold appeared alongside the voice.

"Larcener. Related words, larcenist."

"The Larceners…" James said, tapping his wand against his cheek thoughtfully. "It has a bit of a ring," Remus had to agree.

Sirius, however, was shaking his head. Being unable to speak a spell to communicate, he had to mime, which was quite funny until he got frustrated at his point not getting across. Sirius raised his hand, his palm facing them. Remus and James stared unblinkingly, but Peter seemed to get the point.

"Ohh, yes. Five fingers, you see? Fifth year. Ravenclaw. Jenny Larson, I believe her name is. She might get offended. Larceners sounds quite like a parody on Larson," Peter explained. James grumbled and took out his wand again.

"Only for you and your ex-girlfriends, Sirius…" he said. "Itum."

"Pilferer."

"Nah…"

"Itum."

"Filcher."

"Oh, Filch would get a kick out of that one…"

"He's been threatening us with those spiked clubs for years, I don't think we should push him any farther…"

"Alright, alright… Itum."

"Purloiner."

"That doesn't fit us at all,"

"Itum."

"Nimmer."

"Well, that sounds quite like an insult,"

"Itum."

"Prig."

"… no thank you."

"Itu--oh, look, that's all the words we have available…" James said. The circle had been reconstructed, and then it sparkled one last time and then vanished. The globe of light hurled back into Sirius' throat. James, Remus, and Peter were very concerned, but Sirius only coughed a little. Magic flew from his mouth like dust, but otherwise he was fine.

"So we're out of options?"

"Not especially," Sirius said. "We only magicked thief, there are plenty of other words to choose from."

"Then we may be here all night!"

"Well, if you weren't so picky… we could be the Filchers by now."

"Oh, well, why don't you just walk up to Filch, spit on him, and call him a Squib! It's the same, really!" Remus said, losing his famed cool and patience.

"We can't, we did that last year!" James retorted.

"Boys, boys," Sirius broke in smoothly, charm oozing from every particle, "It's not the words. The Filchers would suit another band of teenage boys, but not us. No, no, we need to find something extra special," he said.

"Oh?" James said, raising an eyebrow. Sirius gave him a doggish grin.

"We are the essence of magic and thievery in Hogwarts, snickering and foraging alike are our--"

"That's it! Quick, put on the spell, Sirius." Sirius looked disgruntled at his speech being interrupted, but complied nevertheless.

"Verbum Similis." the boys watched as the magic appeared and then broke.

"Similis: forager."

"Pillager."

"Oh, come on, we've already gotten that one…"

"Itum."

"Ravisher."

"… erm…"

"Next, please!" Peter squeaked.

"Itum," James continued, very amused.

"Sacker."

"Makes us sound like we carry around pink slips, doesn't it?" James said, frowning.

"Itum."

"Marauder." there was a small silence.

"Perfect," James said, his eyes shining as the voice echoed the word.

"Finite Incantem," Remus said, remembering to end the spell Sirius cast on himself.

"Well, that's who we are! The Marauders! It's settled, isn't it?" Sirius said, smiling. "It's perfect for us, really,"

"We forage as much as we thieve, don't we?" Peter said uneasily. "Sounds a bit… weak, to me. And happy," he added glumly as an afterthought.

"Ah, that's where the strength lies in the name, Peter dear boy." Sirius said, patting him on the back. He seemed charmed with the fact that his voice was back, and intent on using it, although Peter looked rather displeased.

"And we go down to the Kitchens often, as well, correct me if I'm wrong." Remus said with a slight smile. There was little convincing left to be done.

"Marauders?" James asked, looking at them.

"Marauders!" Sirius whooped, casting scarlet and gold sparks into the air with his wand.

"Indidi nos the Marauders!" James said triumphantly, brandishing his wand that spun with magic. Ribbons of ethereal silver, much like their Patronuses (which they practiced in secret with Remus), curled into the words 'The Marauders.' The magic swirled around them, leaving the newly dubbed Marauders windblown and stunned at the display.

"To the Marauders!" James said, pleased with his wandwork.

"Very nice," Remus said, impressed. Sirius, flashing a grin, as he mussed up 'Jamsie's' hair, let out more sparks to end the effect.

"Now, off to the bottom of the Lake and deep into the Forbidden Forest to seek the infamous, dangerous Demiguise!" he fabricated dramatically, a sparkle in his eye that appeared only when something rather risky was about to take place. Remus had come to associate it with the word "dangerous."

"Hoorah! Marauders!" Peter and James saluted, jubilant, and rose from their seats. Sirius ended the Silencing Barrier around the Common Room (which aided the members of Gryffindor to sleep through the din the Marauders made nightly) and charged out.

Remus groaned, following on another adventure against his better judgement.

It seemed the demiguises would never be left in peace, and neither would he. Oh, when would the madness end?

Remus heard the cheerful, hushed singing and saw the sparks flying, rebounding off the stone walls and armor. Possibly never, at the rate this was going.

A small smile appeared at the thought.

"To the Marauders," he whispered, a single spark emitted from his wand as he caught up, enveloped in the brotherhood of the four boys.

Amen to that.

- fin

It's over! You can all breathe again ;).

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Have a good day, Marauder Style! ^_^