A/N: THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! Go to Find, Pen Name, and look up 'Luna the
Moonmonster'. Click on her, and go read the 'Amulet of Time' series before
you read this!! Otherwise, it WILL NOT MAKE SENSE. This is a chapter of
what I think the 4th story should have started with, if it could start off
with a prank, which it can't. Wouldn't go with her plot. But anyway-I had
this idea, and the plot bunny wouldn't leave, so I had to write it.
DISCLAIMER: I don't claim to be J.K. Rowling. (wouldn't that be cool though? Money! Harry, Draco, Sev, Bill, Charlie, and my other faves. all to myself!!) So Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and the others aren't mine. I don't claim to be Luna the Moonmonster, so the plot before and after this story isn't mine. In fact, some of the plot in this chapter isn't mine. I borrowed some ideas, like the mind-speak, etc. You really need to read her stories to figure it out. All I can tentatively claim is the prank idea. Unless someone's plot bunny escaped. Anyone?
Now, without further ado-my lovely chapter!!
~^~^~
There was a bright flash in an empty compartment, and then four bodies were falling over themselves and four large trunks. A snow white owl hooted, agitated, as her cage wobbled precariously on the windowsill. Terrified squeaks underlay the noise of the sudden chaos, coming from the rat who was scrabbling furiously against the glass of the jar he was trapped in. One of the two boys from the group of four opened the cage and stroked the owl's white feathers, a grin on his face.
"Hedwig!"
The owl eyed the 18 year old boy, confused. He smelled almost like her master did before the light, but they were only gone about 3 seconds. His friends smelled like her master's had, but they all had faint differences in their scents. To further confuse her, they all looked the same, but different. She hooted anxiously, and the other three untangled themselves and joined their friend by the bird. The black-haired boy was cooing quietly to her.
"It's ok Hedwig. It's me, Harry. There's a good bird."
Her wary eyes stared at him for a moment before she nipped his finger lovingly. The four humans laughed, the tension in the room easing. Hermione smiled, pushing her less-than-bushy-but-not-quite-sleek hair behind her shoulder.
"Well, we know we're at the right time. No one would've just left Hedwig here, and Peter's still there."
The four looked to the window and Ron scowled at the rat in the jar.
"Bloody rat. To think he knew us-"
he stopped, realization dawning, and looked at the others. Ginny understood and stared at the rat, wide-eyed, her red hair tumbling in waves as she nodded.
"He'll remember. We cast the charm on him too, remember?"
Harry looked at the rat, who was staring at them from inside the glass jar.
"Then we have to Obliviate him. He can't tell Voldemort who we are, at least not until after we talk to Albus. We can do it so he remembers Harry Potter and Harry Anguifer and all of you, but doesn't connect them in his head. Ginny?"
The girl nodded and waved her hand at the jar. There was a sparkle in the jar, followed by a red beam of light that hit Peter Pettigrew. The rat Animagus slumped to the bottom of the jar, unconscious. One more wave of the redhead's hand sent a glittering 'bubble' around the jar before it faded. She nodded to Harry.
"If we turn invisible before he wakes, we should be ok. We can use the light fakes like we did at the end-of-the-year feast when we had that prank, and he won't know the difference. The anti-eavesdropping charm will make him hear only our 15 year old selves talking about classes or Quidditch. Harry smiled.
"Good job Ginny. Alright. Let's do it."
He let Hedwig out of her cage and the train, watching as she began the flight to Hogwarts. He shrunk the jar with the rat and slipped it in his pocket, followed by his trunk and other shrunken items. The other three also shrunk what they needed and slipped them in their pockets. Each turned themselves invisible and waved their hand. Light slowly gathered into the shapes of three fifteen year olds and one fourteen year old, sitting and laughing among themselves. Harry mind-spoke to the other three.
~We're almost there. Try to stay 'in' your fake so no one falls through. And remember-we need an empty carriage.~
There were three exasperated sighs, and Hermione admonished the Boy-Who- Lived.
~Harry! We know what we're doing!~ ~Sorry.~
His friends laughed softly before the familiar voice came over the train.
"10 minutes to Hogwarts. Please change into your robes."
As they pulled on the colored robes chosen to represent the houses they had been in during their last year of time travel, the robes also became invisible so they wouldn't be four robes floating in place. Harry wore Slytherin green, Ron wore Gryffindor red, Ginny wore Ravenclaw blue, and Hermione wore Hufflepuff yellow. The train began to slow and the four slid into their 'fakes' to give them 'substance.' 10 minutes later, they were sitting comfortably in their own carriage on the way to the castle, though still invisible. Harry suddenly grinned to himself and spoke to the others.
"I'm gonna call 'Tea and Peeves and get them in on this."
Ron grinned.
"That'll be an added shock. Peeves only listens to the Bloody Baron."
The two girls looked at their boyfriends disapprovingly for a few seconds before they burst into giggles.
"Go ahead!"
Harry grinned and closed his eyes. His invisibility failed slightly, turning him faintly transparent. Five minutes later he opened his eyes and nodded to the other three, grinning before he returned to full invisibility and they all laughed. Fifteen minutes later, the carriage came to a halt. The four stepped out with their fakes and entered the castle. They stood off to one side in the Entrance Hall as their fakes and the other students made their way inside the Great Hall. They kept an eye on their fakes till they were out of sight, keeping the four chattering quietly. When the new first years and Professor McGonagall passed, they silenced the fakes. Ron kept the doors from closing all the way so they could hear the Sorting and 'Harry Potter and Co.' could respond accordingly. They prepared for boredom.
Forty minutes later, as 'Zerdin, Luke' was sorted into Hufflepuff and the Hall clapped as the Hat was returned to the Head office, Harry finally beat Ron in a fierce game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot.' They turned their attention back to the Great Hall as Dumbledore stood and looked out over the four tables. Behind the doors open only an inch, the four time travelers shared mischievous glances. The Headmaster opened his mouth, got out the words "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!", and was immediately cut off when the Hall plunged into darkness, all candles blowing out. Seconds later, an eerie glow flowed throughout the Hall in soft tendrils of a pale blue mist. A male, wizened, and sarcastic voice boomed out through the Hall. No one noticed the doors push open slightly, stay there, and close soundlessly.
"Hogwarts, still here? Bah! You'd think it would've joined with Beauxbaxtons by now!"
A female voice joined the man's, laughter and wisdom evident below her serious tone.
"You'd think you would've learned by now. Unfortunately, Hogwarts is around until you learn that. Or maybe it's fortunately, seeing as you'll never learn it so Hogwarts will be here a long time. Honestly Salazar."
At the name of the Hogwarts founder, a tall green-robed figure, obviously male, appeared in a flash of green light. He stood between the Head Table and the House Tables, in the place where the Sorting Hat would sit. The flash of green faded into a soft green glow around the man. The deep voice held a scowl.
"Well then why don't you yell at Godric, Rowena 'I'm so smart' Ravenclaw?"
Gasps echoed through the Hall as two more figures appeared, the red and blue flash combining into purple. The flashes faded down into the same soft glow made by the green man, except the colors were different. The red glowing figure was male, but the blue figure was female. A second male voice, this one lighter and laughing, broke in.
"Ah, but at least I know I don't learn Salazar. Unlike a Slytherin I can name."
Another female broke into the conversation, this one warm and motherly.
"Honestly, you three, you're confusing the school."
Three voices joined in an exasperated groan.
"Helga!"
With a yellow flash, a female in yellow robes appeared with the other three. The flash faded to a yellow glow around the woman. The voice of the loyal Hufflepuff founder was confused.
"What? It's the truth."
The blue mists continued to swirl around the Great Hall, giving the dumbstruck students and teachers some light to see by. The first three people who had appeared were glaring at their yellow friend. With a sigh, Helga Hufflepuff turned to look at Dumbledore, who was still standing as he had been before the lights went out. The woman's voice laughed.
"Dumbledore, so nice to finally meet you! I hear you've been taking good care of this school, correct?"
Salazar Slytherin's voice held faint scorn directed towards Helga.
"Of course he is. Harry Anguifer told us, remember? Nutty woman."
"Salazar! If anyone's nutty, it's you! The deal was you wouldn't mention him!"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as Rowena Ravenclaw scolded the green cloaked man. A smile crossed the old man's face.
"Welcome to Hogwarts of 1995! We're honored by your presence, Founders."
Godric Gryffindor spoke, humor evident in his tone.
"Ah, you've figured us out Dumbledore. Because of this, we must borrow four of your students.
The Headmaster nodded, watching the four Founders as he did so. The four cloaked figures turned to the students. Salazar Slytherin called out the first name.
"Hermione Granger!"
You could hear a pin drop as the bushy-haired bookworm exchanged glances with the rest of the Golden Trio and the only female Weasley child before standing and walking to stand in front of the green-cloaked and glowing man. The next voice was Rowena Ravenclaw's.
"Ronald Weasley!"
The red-haired boy stood and moved slowly to stand in front of the blue blue-robed woman. The next voice was Godric Gryffindor.
"Virginia Weasley!"
Slowly, the youngest Weasley moved to stand in front of the red-robed man. The final voice was Helga Hufflepuff's, and she paused before speaking.
"Harry Potter!"
The Boy-Who-Lived rose slowly to his feet as whispers began to dart around the Hall. He moved to stand in front of Helga. The four Founders walked around the four students until Salazar stood in front of Harry Potter, Godric in front of Ronald Weasley, Rowena in front of Virginia Weasley, and Helga in front of Hermione. As if on a word only they could hear, the Founders reached out and touched the shoulder of the student before them. The four students exploded into light specks, which floated together, changing colors until they formed a brilliant reddish-gold phoenix. It shed a gold light upon the Hall, with four colored glows around the Founders, and the blue mist swirling unobtrusively. The noise level had increased dramatically when the Golden Trio and Ginny 'exploded', but fell as soon as the phoenix had swooped. Salazar's voice echoed in the whispering Hall. There was instant silence at his words.
"Voldemort will be defeated. You can count on that."
The golden phoenix burst with a cry, shedding the brilliant sparkles of light upon the Hall. When the sparks touched the Founders, the robes glowed silver before fading into nothing. Clad in un-housed black robes, each grinning at the others, were the four time-travelers. Some of the older teachers gasped as they looked upon the four, the memory of 20 years ago returning to them. The Potions Master dropped his scowl as he stared at the black-haired boy (no, man) in front of him. The 18 year old turned to smile sadly at Snape.
"Hello Sev."
Soft gasps echoed through the Great Hall as the students looked at Severus Snape, their hated Potions Professor. The man seemed shocked, staring at the one who, just minutes before, had been wearing green robes and acting as Salazar Slytherin. As the two stared at each other, the blue mist swirled around the other three people before separating into two clumps. Moments later, the Grey Lady formed out of one clump. Loud cackles came out of the second before Peeves pulled himself together, forming his face, and making hilarious faces at the students. As the light from the ghosts faded, the candle flames flickered back into existence. Peeves cackled madly as he turned to face the three, while the redhead boy laughed, grinning at the poltergeist. He spoke to the laughing spirit as Snape and Harry continue to stare.
"Hello Peeves. Did you miss us?"
The prankster ghost laughed, swooping down to hover eye-level with the 18 year old.
"Of course! Peeves always misses his fellow original Marauders, that he does! At least this one was shorter, yes yes! Only 20 years for Peevesie to do his work alone. 'Tea didn't help much, has to be good ghost, yes she does! Waiting four years wasn't fun, no no. I got to wait for you, and saw you as ickle firsties. Potions reversed, he hee heee!"
The redhead laughed as he responded to the ghost to soft for the students to hear, but it sent Peeves into gales of laughter. As this conversation was going on, and the Potions Professor and black-haired man were still staring, the red-haired female and the brown-haired girl turned to the Grey Lady and smiled. To the surprise of the students that were close enough to hear, they started speaking to the ghost in a different language. They stared when the Lady responded in kind. The ghost laughed as she was spoke to by the two women in Anglo-Saxon.
"::Hello 'Tea!::" (1)
"::Welcome back you two. A pleasure to see you again. Peeve's been a handful lately. He knew you'd be back soon.::"
The brown-haired woman laughed.
"::I'm glad to be back. I haven't seen my parents in three years. I wonder how they'll take it?::"
The redhead nodded.
"::At least I had my brother. How've you been 'Tea?::"
The ghost shrugged.
"::Surviving. I've been eager to talk to you four though. How's Harry and Sev?::"
The three females and the two males turned to see the black-haired boy and the Potions teacher still staring at each other. The redhead woman stepped up by the 18 year old, slipping her hand in his slack one. The movement seemed to bring the two out of their shock. Severus Snape forced his mouth to work.
".Harry?"
A sad smile stretched across his face and the green eyes were tired, glimmering with un-shed tears in the candlelight.
"It's only been a few hours for me Sev, but I miss you already. I told you that you'd hate me."
The professor's mouth twitched into something that the students of Hogwarts had never seen in all their years-a smile.
"Sorry Harry. I have to disappoint you by not hating you."
The red-haired boy laughed.
"I was getting worried there! You two almost didn't make up, and then that year would be for nothing!"
The brown-haired woman turned to look at Dumbledore, who was still standing patiently, and smiled slightly.
"Hello Dumbledore. Forgive our entrance-we left in style, and had to keep up the tradition. Should we re-introduce ourselves, with your permission?"
The old man chuckled and waved his hand in agreement. The girl grinned and glanced at the other three. One hand waved slightly, and the light dimmed. A shimmering unicorn reared over the brown haired girl's head; a red and gold phoenix glittered above the redhead girl; the normally invisible threstral snorted above the red-haired boy, and the light flashed slightly. There was one more flash, and a shimmering green lightning bolt shaped scar hovered above the black-haired boy's head. A huge quill seemed to write easily in the air as the marks faded from above their heads, writing in gold ink.
"Hello again Hogwarts. Would you believe this is our 8th time here already? Oh-the Founders say 'Hi.' ~~Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter"
Gasps spread throughout the Hall as the students read the words, while Harry turned to Hermione and the other two and laughed. They grinned and began to talk swiftly in Anglo-Saxon, then seemed to revert back and forth between the two languages. 'Tea and Peeves floated down to join in the conversation. The few snatches that were in English only seemed to be about how the students were shocked.
~^~^~
(1) "::____::" was speech in Anglo-Saxon that I 'translated' to English. (seeing as I can't speak Anglo-Saxon, it was a good thing to do.)
A/N: Yay! It's done! And I'm sorry it's rushed at the end-I was running out of things to write. The first 6 pages (it's about 7 total) were already written in my notebook. I started it when school started. The last bit though, from 'Tea's "Peeves been a handful lately.", I had to write right now. So yes, the endings rushed-I didn't have much of a plot for the ending. ( But I really wanted to get this up. It hasn't been beta-ed, so forgive mistakes. When I get a beta-ed version, I'll put it up. Honest. Till then, I'm going to leave this one up.
Now, if you cheated and didn't read 'Luna the Moonmonster' 's story 'Amulet Of Time', then GO DO IT NOW!! I DEMAND IT!!! You should've done it before- this is a prank-entrance version of what the first chapter of #4 would be, if it could start out with a prank. It can't though-'tis a little more serious. So go read that series!! NOW!!!!
I'd like to thank Tara (you know who you are) for bugging me about writing it up. Otherwise, I think it would still be in the notebook and not being worked on. And remind me not to tell you about any other stories I'm writing till they're up. That took forever for you to leave me alone so I could finish my homework and then type it up! *grins*
Hmm. got nothing more to say. You can review this, and I might put up a thank-you-to-reviews-'chapter', but there WILL NOT be a sequel. Go read Amulet of Time 4 for your sequel that's slightly different. (
DISCLAIMER: I don't claim to be J.K. Rowling. (wouldn't that be cool though? Money! Harry, Draco, Sev, Bill, Charlie, and my other faves. all to myself!!) So Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and the others aren't mine. I don't claim to be Luna the Moonmonster, so the plot before and after this story isn't mine. In fact, some of the plot in this chapter isn't mine. I borrowed some ideas, like the mind-speak, etc. You really need to read her stories to figure it out. All I can tentatively claim is the prank idea. Unless someone's plot bunny escaped. Anyone?
Now, without further ado-my lovely chapter!!
~^~^~
There was a bright flash in an empty compartment, and then four bodies were falling over themselves and four large trunks. A snow white owl hooted, agitated, as her cage wobbled precariously on the windowsill. Terrified squeaks underlay the noise of the sudden chaos, coming from the rat who was scrabbling furiously against the glass of the jar he was trapped in. One of the two boys from the group of four opened the cage and stroked the owl's white feathers, a grin on his face.
"Hedwig!"
The owl eyed the 18 year old boy, confused. He smelled almost like her master did before the light, but they were only gone about 3 seconds. His friends smelled like her master's had, but they all had faint differences in their scents. To further confuse her, they all looked the same, but different. She hooted anxiously, and the other three untangled themselves and joined their friend by the bird. The black-haired boy was cooing quietly to her.
"It's ok Hedwig. It's me, Harry. There's a good bird."
Her wary eyes stared at him for a moment before she nipped his finger lovingly. The four humans laughed, the tension in the room easing. Hermione smiled, pushing her less-than-bushy-but-not-quite-sleek hair behind her shoulder.
"Well, we know we're at the right time. No one would've just left Hedwig here, and Peter's still there."
The four looked to the window and Ron scowled at the rat in the jar.
"Bloody rat. To think he knew us-"
he stopped, realization dawning, and looked at the others. Ginny understood and stared at the rat, wide-eyed, her red hair tumbling in waves as she nodded.
"He'll remember. We cast the charm on him too, remember?"
Harry looked at the rat, who was staring at them from inside the glass jar.
"Then we have to Obliviate him. He can't tell Voldemort who we are, at least not until after we talk to Albus. We can do it so he remembers Harry Potter and Harry Anguifer and all of you, but doesn't connect them in his head. Ginny?"
The girl nodded and waved her hand at the jar. There was a sparkle in the jar, followed by a red beam of light that hit Peter Pettigrew. The rat Animagus slumped to the bottom of the jar, unconscious. One more wave of the redhead's hand sent a glittering 'bubble' around the jar before it faded. She nodded to Harry.
"If we turn invisible before he wakes, we should be ok. We can use the light fakes like we did at the end-of-the-year feast when we had that prank, and he won't know the difference. The anti-eavesdropping charm will make him hear only our 15 year old selves talking about classes or Quidditch. Harry smiled.
"Good job Ginny. Alright. Let's do it."
He let Hedwig out of her cage and the train, watching as she began the flight to Hogwarts. He shrunk the jar with the rat and slipped it in his pocket, followed by his trunk and other shrunken items. The other three also shrunk what they needed and slipped them in their pockets. Each turned themselves invisible and waved their hand. Light slowly gathered into the shapes of three fifteen year olds and one fourteen year old, sitting and laughing among themselves. Harry mind-spoke to the other three.
~We're almost there. Try to stay 'in' your fake so no one falls through. And remember-we need an empty carriage.~
There were three exasperated sighs, and Hermione admonished the Boy-Who- Lived.
~Harry! We know what we're doing!~ ~Sorry.~
His friends laughed softly before the familiar voice came over the train.
"10 minutes to Hogwarts. Please change into your robes."
As they pulled on the colored robes chosen to represent the houses they had been in during their last year of time travel, the robes also became invisible so they wouldn't be four robes floating in place. Harry wore Slytherin green, Ron wore Gryffindor red, Ginny wore Ravenclaw blue, and Hermione wore Hufflepuff yellow. The train began to slow and the four slid into their 'fakes' to give them 'substance.' 10 minutes later, they were sitting comfortably in their own carriage on the way to the castle, though still invisible. Harry suddenly grinned to himself and spoke to the others.
"I'm gonna call 'Tea and Peeves and get them in on this."
Ron grinned.
"That'll be an added shock. Peeves only listens to the Bloody Baron."
The two girls looked at their boyfriends disapprovingly for a few seconds before they burst into giggles.
"Go ahead!"
Harry grinned and closed his eyes. His invisibility failed slightly, turning him faintly transparent. Five minutes later he opened his eyes and nodded to the other three, grinning before he returned to full invisibility and they all laughed. Fifteen minutes later, the carriage came to a halt. The four stepped out with their fakes and entered the castle. They stood off to one side in the Entrance Hall as their fakes and the other students made their way inside the Great Hall. They kept an eye on their fakes till they were out of sight, keeping the four chattering quietly. When the new first years and Professor McGonagall passed, they silenced the fakes. Ron kept the doors from closing all the way so they could hear the Sorting and 'Harry Potter and Co.' could respond accordingly. They prepared for boredom.
Forty minutes later, as 'Zerdin, Luke' was sorted into Hufflepuff and the Hall clapped as the Hat was returned to the Head office, Harry finally beat Ron in a fierce game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot.' They turned their attention back to the Great Hall as Dumbledore stood and looked out over the four tables. Behind the doors open only an inch, the four time travelers shared mischievous glances. The Headmaster opened his mouth, got out the words "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!", and was immediately cut off when the Hall plunged into darkness, all candles blowing out. Seconds later, an eerie glow flowed throughout the Hall in soft tendrils of a pale blue mist. A male, wizened, and sarcastic voice boomed out through the Hall. No one noticed the doors push open slightly, stay there, and close soundlessly.
"Hogwarts, still here? Bah! You'd think it would've joined with Beauxbaxtons by now!"
A female voice joined the man's, laughter and wisdom evident below her serious tone.
"You'd think you would've learned by now. Unfortunately, Hogwarts is around until you learn that. Or maybe it's fortunately, seeing as you'll never learn it so Hogwarts will be here a long time. Honestly Salazar."
At the name of the Hogwarts founder, a tall green-robed figure, obviously male, appeared in a flash of green light. He stood between the Head Table and the House Tables, in the place where the Sorting Hat would sit. The flash of green faded into a soft green glow around the man. The deep voice held a scowl.
"Well then why don't you yell at Godric, Rowena 'I'm so smart' Ravenclaw?"
Gasps echoed through the Hall as two more figures appeared, the red and blue flash combining into purple. The flashes faded down into the same soft glow made by the green man, except the colors were different. The red glowing figure was male, but the blue figure was female. A second male voice, this one lighter and laughing, broke in.
"Ah, but at least I know I don't learn Salazar. Unlike a Slytherin I can name."
Another female broke into the conversation, this one warm and motherly.
"Honestly, you three, you're confusing the school."
Three voices joined in an exasperated groan.
"Helga!"
With a yellow flash, a female in yellow robes appeared with the other three. The flash faded to a yellow glow around the woman. The voice of the loyal Hufflepuff founder was confused.
"What? It's the truth."
The blue mists continued to swirl around the Great Hall, giving the dumbstruck students and teachers some light to see by. The first three people who had appeared were glaring at their yellow friend. With a sigh, Helga Hufflepuff turned to look at Dumbledore, who was still standing as he had been before the lights went out. The woman's voice laughed.
"Dumbledore, so nice to finally meet you! I hear you've been taking good care of this school, correct?"
Salazar Slytherin's voice held faint scorn directed towards Helga.
"Of course he is. Harry Anguifer told us, remember? Nutty woman."
"Salazar! If anyone's nutty, it's you! The deal was you wouldn't mention him!"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as Rowena Ravenclaw scolded the green cloaked man. A smile crossed the old man's face.
"Welcome to Hogwarts of 1995! We're honored by your presence, Founders."
Godric Gryffindor spoke, humor evident in his tone.
"Ah, you've figured us out Dumbledore. Because of this, we must borrow four of your students.
The Headmaster nodded, watching the four Founders as he did so. The four cloaked figures turned to the students. Salazar Slytherin called out the first name.
"Hermione Granger!"
You could hear a pin drop as the bushy-haired bookworm exchanged glances with the rest of the Golden Trio and the only female Weasley child before standing and walking to stand in front of the green-cloaked and glowing man. The next voice was Rowena Ravenclaw's.
"Ronald Weasley!"
The red-haired boy stood and moved slowly to stand in front of the blue blue-robed woman. The next voice was Godric Gryffindor.
"Virginia Weasley!"
Slowly, the youngest Weasley moved to stand in front of the red-robed man. The final voice was Helga Hufflepuff's, and she paused before speaking.
"Harry Potter!"
The Boy-Who-Lived rose slowly to his feet as whispers began to dart around the Hall. He moved to stand in front of Helga. The four Founders walked around the four students until Salazar stood in front of Harry Potter, Godric in front of Ronald Weasley, Rowena in front of Virginia Weasley, and Helga in front of Hermione. As if on a word only they could hear, the Founders reached out and touched the shoulder of the student before them. The four students exploded into light specks, which floated together, changing colors until they formed a brilliant reddish-gold phoenix. It shed a gold light upon the Hall, with four colored glows around the Founders, and the blue mist swirling unobtrusively. The noise level had increased dramatically when the Golden Trio and Ginny 'exploded', but fell as soon as the phoenix had swooped. Salazar's voice echoed in the whispering Hall. There was instant silence at his words.
"Voldemort will be defeated. You can count on that."
The golden phoenix burst with a cry, shedding the brilliant sparkles of light upon the Hall. When the sparks touched the Founders, the robes glowed silver before fading into nothing. Clad in un-housed black robes, each grinning at the others, were the four time-travelers. Some of the older teachers gasped as they looked upon the four, the memory of 20 years ago returning to them. The Potions Master dropped his scowl as he stared at the black-haired boy (no, man) in front of him. The 18 year old turned to smile sadly at Snape.
"Hello Sev."
Soft gasps echoed through the Great Hall as the students looked at Severus Snape, their hated Potions Professor. The man seemed shocked, staring at the one who, just minutes before, had been wearing green robes and acting as Salazar Slytherin. As the two stared at each other, the blue mist swirled around the other three people before separating into two clumps. Moments later, the Grey Lady formed out of one clump. Loud cackles came out of the second before Peeves pulled himself together, forming his face, and making hilarious faces at the students. As the light from the ghosts faded, the candle flames flickered back into existence. Peeves cackled madly as he turned to face the three, while the redhead boy laughed, grinning at the poltergeist. He spoke to the laughing spirit as Snape and Harry continue to stare.
"Hello Peeves. Did you miss us?"
The prankster ghost laughed, swooping down to hover eye-level with the 18 year old.
"Of course! Peeves always misses his fellow original Marauders, that he does! At least this one was shorter, yes yes! Only 20 years for Peevesie to do his work alone. 'Tea didn't help much, has to be good ghost, yes she does! Waiting four years wasn't fun, no no. I got to wait for you, and saw you as ickle firsties. Potions reversed, he hee heee!"
The redhead laughed as he responded to the ghost to soft for the students to hear, but it sent Peeves into gales of laughter. As this conversation was going on, and the Potions Professor and black-haired man were still staring, the red-haired female and the brown-haired girl turned to the Grey Lady and smiled. To the surprise of the students that were close enough to hear, they started speaking to the ghost in a different language. They stared when the Lady responded in kind. The ghost laughed as she was spoke to by the two women in Anglo-Saxon.
"::Hello 'Tea!::" (1)
"::Welcome back you two. A pleasure to see you again. Peeve's been a handful lately. He knew you'd be back soon.::"
The brown-haired woman laughed.
"::I'm glad to be back. I haven't seen my parents in three years. I wonder how they'll take it?::"
The redhead nodded.
"::At least I had my brother. How've you been 'Tea?::"
The ghost shrugged.
"::Surviving. I've been eager to talk to you four though. How's Harry and Sev?::"
The three females and the two males turned to see the black-haired boy and the Potions teacher still staring at each other. The redhead woman stepped up by the 18 year old, slipping her hand in his slack one. The movement seemed to bring the two out of their shock. Severus Snape forced his mouth to work.
".Harry?"
A sad smile stretched across his face and the green eyes were tired, glimmering with un-shed tears in the candlelight.
"It's only been a few hours for me Sev, but I miss you already. I told you that you'd hate me."
The professor's mouth twitched into something that the students of Hogwarts had never seen in all their years-a smile.
"Sorry Harry. I have to disappoint you by not hating you."
The red-haired boy laughed.
"I was getting worried there! You two almost didn't make up, and then that year would be for nothing!"
The brown-haired woman turned to look at Dumbledore, who was still standing patiently, and smiled slightly.
"Hello Dumbledore. Forgive our entrance-we left in style, and had to keep up the tradition. Should we re-introduce ourselves, with your permission?"
The old man chuckled and waved his hand in agreement. The girl grinned and glanced at the other three. One hand waved slightly, and the light dimmed. A shimmering unicorn reared over the brown haired girl's head; a red and gold phoenix glittered above the redhead girl; the normally invisible threstral snorted above the red-haired boy, and the light flashed slightly. There was one more flash, and a shimmering green lightning bolt shaped scar hovered above the black-haired boy's head. A huge quill seemed to write easily in the air as the marks faded from above their heads, writing in gold ink.
"Hello again Hogwarts. Would you believe this is our 8th time here already? Oh-the Founders say 'Hi.' ~~Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter"
Gasps spread throughout the Hall as the students read the words, while Harry turned to Hermione and the other two and laughed. They grinned and began to talk swiftly in Anglo-Saxon, then seemed to revert back and forth between the two languages. 'Tea and Peeves floated down to join in the conversation. The few snatches that were in English only seemed to be about how the students were shocked.
~^~^~
(1) "::____::" was speech in Anglo-Saxon that I 'translated' to English. (seeing as I can't speak Anglo-Saxon, it was a good thing to do.)
A/N: Yay! It's done! And I'm sorry it's rushed at the end-I was running out of things to write. The first 6 pages (it's about 7 total) were already written in my notebook. I started it when school started. The last bit though, from 'Tea's "Peeves been a handful lately.", I had to write right now. So yes, the endings rushed-I didn't have much of a plot for the ending. ( But I really wanted to get this up. It hasn't been beta-ed, so forgive mistakes. When I get a beta-ed version, I'll put it up. Honest. Till then, I'm going to leave this one up.
Now, if you cheated and didn't read 'Luna the Moonmonster' 's story 'Amulet Of Time', then GO DO IT NOW!! I DEMAND IT!!! You should've done it before- this is a prank-entrance version of what the first chapter of #4 would be, if it could start out with a prank. It can't though-'tis a little more serious. So go read that series!! NOW!!!!
I'd like to thank Tara (you know who you are) for bugging me about writing it up. Otherwise, I think it would still be in the notebook and not being worked on. And remind me not to tell you about any other stories I'm writing till they're up. That took forever for you to leave me alone so I could finish my homework and then type it up! *grins*
Hmm. got nothing more to say. You can review this, and I might put up a thank-you-to-reviews-'chapter', but there WILL NOT be a sequel. Go read Amulet of Time 4 for your sequel that's slightly different. (