° - Uprising Surprises - °
[The Potter Household – December 23, 1977]
It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining brightly, and the breeze was warm. It was a nice day to be outside and enjoy the weather or some time with friends or a special person. It was around 10 o'clock in the morning, and so that meant that there were plenty of hours left for the sun to shine. The sun was shining on the grass and the trees, giving off a beautiful effect, as well as the flowers and the little Greek-style fountain in the Potters backyard.
James was sitting outside at a table, wondering what all his friends were up to, Sirius to put the finger on it actually. He sighed slightly, leaning back in the chair and putting his hands behind his head as he stared around his rather big garden.
'I just can't bare the fact that Sirius is spending Christmas by himself while the rest of us are with our family's. More like I don't want that to happen. What can I do?! I can invite him over, sure, but something inside me tells me that I can come up with something better'.
James sighed frustratedly and got up from the chair he was seated in. He started walking around his garden, thinking of what it could be that would save Sirius from spending Christmas by himself. For the next 10 minutes he thought and thought and thought, but not a bell rang.
'ARGH! I can't think of anything, yet I know that there is something I can do. What could it be that would make Sirius feel happy? I don't want to bring him here because I've already done that…I want to do something else. Maybe a surprise or something...' he thought as he plopped down on the grass, starting at the sky above.
'What would surprise a person like Sirius? Everything? Haha…eh...not funny...back to the point. Think Prongs, think. Gah…I have never felt so stupid before!'
He got up again and went inside, deciding to ask him mum for help. Her suggestions were cheesy sometimes, but a little help might alter some ideas. He pushed open the back door and looked for his mum.
He found her sitting on a couch in the living room, reading the Daily Prophet. He approached her and sat down on a chair facing her, then pulled down the newspaper gently, snickering. "Mum, I need your help!" he said seriously and frowned, slumping in the chair he was sitting in. "Well?" his mum said, raising an eyebrow at her son. He wasn't normally like this, he seemed frustrated, and he looked like he had been doing some thinking lately. There's a first. She grinned slightly.
"I don't want to let Sirius spend Christmas by himself, and I know he would be too stubborn to let himself come here, or to Remus or Peter for that fact. I have a feeling that I can do something about it, yet when I think, nothing. Nothing comes. That is so evil. Thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and then...dun dun dun…nothing!" he said flatly.
Mrs. Potter couldn't help but laugh as she looked at James messed up his hair and his frustrated rambling. "Why don't you send him a cake or something?"
He rolled his eyes and sat up, thinking slightly and then his eyes lit up. Mrs. Potter knew what that meant. She smiled slightly and watched as James jumped up from his chair and did a victory dance. "Yeah, yeah, yeah I GOT IT, I GOT IT!" he sang, grinning slightly. "See you mum!" he said and dashed away, running to his room. He slammed the door shut, then sat at his desk and brushed away all the crumpled parchment that was plans for pranks. He grabbed a new sheet of parchment and dipped his quill into his inkbottle, then began to write rapidly, his handwriting messy as usual.
Dear Remus, Jen, Kathy, Lily and Peter,
Hi! Haha. How has your holiday been so far? I miss all of you (I know you miss me Lily! :D). My holiday has been fine really, nothing special. Christmas shopping was hectic, Diagon Alley was so crowded. Shame I didn't run in to any of you there. Anyway, that's not the reason of this letter. You all know that Sirius has problems with his family and has to spend Christmas in his apartment, all alone L, right? Well I have an idea, and I will really never annoy you guys anymore if you agree with me and go along with my plan! It's simple, really, nothing hard and it's something I know Sirius will very much appreciate! Alright, I will shut up now and tell you. Hm. Okay. Now. Should I tell you? Of course I should. Okay, no, really, here is my idea:
I think that all of us should go to his place tomorrow, like at 7! What do you think?! We'll go really quietly, not a sound! And we will all wake him noisily. Hah. I think he would be shocked. I really don't want him to spend Christmas by himself, so how about it you guys?
Tomorrow, we can all meet in my garden at 6 AM, then go to his place at 7. I'm serious you guys, not joking,
All of you bring your presents and stuff with you, because I think we should also spend the night at his house and then the next day we're all together for Christmas! What do you think? Please, please agree all of you.
This letter is being passed on to all of you by the order of the names on the list, sorry it's not by favour :P, but this was hurried! If you agree, sign this parchment. Oh and Remus, when you get this, sign it and send it to the girls, I know you're going to sign it. Hah.
Bye,
James!
P.S.: I can't wait to see the look on his face…
James grinned and rolled the parchment together, then walked over to his owl cage.
"Hi Tidus, I have a letter for you to deliver!" he said as he tied the letter to Tidus. "Send this to Remus, won't you? And then take it to the girls, then Peter. If you don't have enough energy after you deliver it to the girls, stay there for a while then send it on to Peter, alright?" he said and smiled, then let him out and watched his black screech owl fly away. He sighed slightly, rolled off the window he was leaning on and went back downstairs and told his parents 'the plan'. His parents thought it was funny, but they were proud of their son for being such a good friend.
For the next three hours, James jumped around the house reading Quidditch magazines and pigging out, waiting for a reply from Remus.
While he did that, James started to remember. He started to remember some funny things. And some meaningful things.
FlashbackThe Marauders First Year, September 2, 1970
The Hogwarts Express gave a last warning sound, for all those people still hugging their families and friends goodbye. It was noisy on Platform 9 and ¾. All of the people were ushering their children onto the train and handing the trunks to the man who put them somewhere in the train. Amongst all that, you couldn't really hear anything because of all the noise. People crying, laughing, and yelling and shouting. And the sounds of animal cages and owls hooting nosily weren't helping.
"Bye!" a boy with incredibly messy jet-black hair called to his parents for the last time as he got onto the train, looking around him slightly. He pushed his glasses up his nose and walked around, trying to find a compartment to sit in. He found none that were empty, except one in the end which had only one boy in it. A boy with elegant black hair, dark blue eyes, and a disgruntled look on his face. James peeked his head in the doorway. "Hi." He said and smiled.
The boy turned his head and looked at James, the friendliness of his tone made him feel that James was a nice person.
"Hey." He said back, nearly cautiously as he stared at James. The boy's hair was messy. Really messy.
"Can I sit here? All the other compartments are full." James asked, stepping inside. "Sure." He said and shrugged as James walked in and plopped down on the chair facing him.
"I'm James Potter!" he said and grinned, holding his hand out to Sirius, who shook it. "Sirius Black." He said quietly, making his last name sound like a horror. James, who was half-noticing that Sirius looked miserable, pointed to the book Sirius was reading. "You like pranks? Well that book seems nice, it's all bout them isn't it?" he asked excitedly and smiled.
"I love pranks!" Sirius said, his dark blue eyes lighting up happily just at the mention of pranks. He liked this James boy. He seemed nice, and there was something about him that told Sirius that they were going to be friends. "Me too!" he said seriously and nodded. "I was going to set off a dungbomb in the hallway, but I decided not to since there were too many Seventh Year girls giggling and making dumb noises over some boy." He said and rolled his eyes, not knowing that one day when THEY became Seventh Years, he and the boy sitting in front of him were going to be talked about in such a way by other first years. Sirius rolled his eyes in agreement, it was hard to concentrate when girls were giggling, it was annoying.
"You wanna go set one in a compartment full of girls when the train goes?" Sirius asked and grinned mischievously, forgetting that he was feeling upset because his parents were rambling on about how much they wanted him to be in Slytherin, but they were glaring and lecturing him at the same time, to not talk to just anyone and look for people worthy of his time.
"Want to? I would be honored to!" James said and laughed, and he and Sirius went on talking for about another 15 minutes. By then, they had officially named themselves the Marauders, talked about their families, decided that what their parents said and the rules weren't important, and were planning on their first big prank at Hogwarts.
After all that, came a knock on the door, and a boy with light brown hair poked his head inside the compartment, looking slightly nervous. "Hi…I'm Remus Lupin...can I sit here? The boys I was sitting with were…giving me a hard time." He said and his eyes darted from the boys to the ground.
Sirius seemed almost reluctant, but James let the boy sit with them. "I'm James Potter...and this is Sirius Black." He said and smiled.
"Nice to meet you." Remus said quietly, smiling slightly and wondering if they were going to give him a hard time too.
Noticing that Remus was the quite type, James and Sirius quietly went on conversing since they thought Remus didn't want to talk to them. Remus busied himself with a book, and five minutes in to it, he heard the word 'pranks' and looked up. James and Sirius noticed and grinned at him.
"You like pulling pranks too, right?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah!" Remus said and smiled.
"Oh, then you should be in our group of magical mischief makers…the Marauders!" James said in an announcer-tone while Sirius snorted with laughter. "Really?" Remus asked quietly. "Yes." Sirius said and nodded while James shoved a contract under Remus' nose.
"Sign please." He said and smiled.
Remus read over it, snorting at some things then signed it. Just then, Sirius filled Remus in that they were planning to set off a dungbomb. "Wait a minute. Remus, didn't you say that some boys were giving you a hard time?" Sirius said, narrowing his eyes with an evil smile.
"Yes..." Remus said uneasily. "Where?" James asked with an identical evil smile. Remus told them where the compartment was and all three of them got up, walking over to the compartment with three dungbombs. "You were sitting with Malfoy, Snape, and Rosier?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well no wonder they were giving you a hard time." He said and frowned.
"Shhh!" James said as they were all hiding under the window at the door. Sirius steadily opened the door just to let the dungbombs in, and when he did that, Remus, James and Sirius all threw them in and ran back to their compartment, laughing as the sound of the dungbombs setting off and the boys in that compartment yelling sounded all the way across the hall. People were laughing as they looked out of their compartments at the rather smelly soon-to-be Slytherins.
End Flashback
[The Grisdale Household]
Jen unrolled a letter from around an owl she recognized as James' owl. "Hey, guys, James sent a letter!" she announced as Lily and Kathy showed up on either side of her. "What do you think it is?" Kathy said and blinked as Jen unrolled it. By the time they were done reading, they were all smiling.
"That is so sweet!" Kathy said and grinned. "I never thought James had it in him." Jen said and shrugged as she began to write back.
"I didn't either, Jen." Lily said quietly. But hadn't she always underestimated James? She sighed slightly, shaking her head slightly as Jen tied the letter back to Tidus and sent him off to Remus.
[The Lupin Household]
"James is mad. I can't believe he actually thought I would say no!" Remus told his dad, rolling his eyes as he scribbled back a reply. Mr. Lupin laughed slightly as he watched his son tie the letter around Tidus and send him off to Peters house.
[The Pettigrew Household]
Peter sighed as he wrote back his reply. He couldn't go because he was on a certain business…
[Around 10 PM]
"YES!" James yelled triumphantly as Tidus showed up with a letter. "Finally!" he said and untied it from the owl, quickly unrolling the parchment, which read:
Dear James,
Of course I will. I'll be there tomorrow at 6 a.m. How could you even think that I would say no, James? :D.
- Remus
Dear James,
We will be there at 6 as well! This is really nice of you James, thinking it up and all! I think Sirius is going to be really happy. Jen – WHY SIX A.M., POTTER?! Kathy – We are going to have to carry a lot...hah.
- Lily, Kathy and Jen
P.S. I never knew you would think of something like that James – Lily.
Dear James,
I'm very sorry, as I will not be able to be there. Send Sirius my regards…
-Peter
"YES!" James yelled again, a huge grin on his face. "I knew it!". He smiled slightly as he glanced towards his watch. It was already 10 p.m. Well, if he was going to get up at six tomorrow, he had better go to sleep. And so he did.
Hello! Sorry this chapter is so short! Heh. The next one is going to be much longer though! I just wanted to have James planning the whole thing in one chapter and them taking action in the next one! Thanks to all of you who reviewed. I notice some of you say that it could improve, or that it's cliché, or that I could change it. Please, please, in your next review, tell me how so is it like that. Why do you think I'm re-writing all the chapters? Heh. I'm improving the story. I need to know what you guys think, since it is what helps me write and make the story! I think my writing is getting better, or the story is getting better or less better? Tell me that in your next review, won't you? Oh and if some of you didn't know, I re-placed the first chapter!
-Delilah