Thanks for reviewing everyone :D !! Prowling Wolf, I realised that I hadn't really included that bit about halfway through writing the second chapter but because I was just playing with this particular fic I didn't go back and change. Ok, ok I'm lazy but hopefully this chapter will make up for my unforgivable laziness. Yikes!
Chapter 3- Hogsmeade
Slivers of paled winter sunlight slid in through the gap in the heavy velvet curtains in the fifth year boy's dormitory. It was eleven o'clock on the Saturday of the first Hogsmeade weekend of that year and the boy's were still not awake.
James rolled over and a slab of light lay over his eyes. Blinking awake he looked at his watch. James squinted and put on his glasses. He threw a pillow over to the nearest bed which was Sirius's, croaking,
'Oi, wake up. It's bloody eleven o'clock already!'
Sirius rolled over with a groan but couldn't ignore the startling light as James drew the curtains on them and it streamed in.
Remus and Peter both sat up in their beds and yawned widely. As soon as they were all dressed, so be it grumpily, they made their way down to the kitchen's having missed breakfast. The house elves dutifully ran, almost tripping over each other, to serve the young masters but James couldn't help notice the female house elves odd behavior.
One started to sway as he looked at her and when he asked her if she was feeling okay, she fainted right there and then. Two very embarrassed other house elves came and quickly dragged her away.
He looked to the others to see if they had noticed but they were still bleary eyed from their sleep in. He shrugged and accepted the toast and jam that was presented to him and let himself be led out by a swathe of bowing house elves.
They four marauders trudged up away from the warmth of the kitchens and through the light and open corridors towards the main doors. They roughly pulled their winter cloaks about them, the hoods lined with silver fur and opened one fo the great doors. A breath of iciness flew in and they each peered out into the cold Scottish morning.
Well, afternoon by now really. After getting changed and making their way down to the kitchen's to get breakfast, it was now nearly twelve. Because of this, they had nearly encountered no one on their way downstairs apart from a few second year boys and one very lost-looking cat.
They made the trek down the long driveway of the castle, that at the beginning of each year, the threstrals tugged carriages down and made their way down the well stomped track towards Hogsmeade.
Arriving at the upper end of the high street of Hogsmeade, Sirius turned to the others with a wry smile.
'Anyone want to join me in paying a visit to our dear friend, Mrs Doobledwight in Magical Menagerie?
James and Peter chuckled. 'I don't think she would call us her friends…though she did once call us the bane of our existence. Not quite the same...' James joked. 'You know I heard that Magical Menagerie is moving to Diagon Alley.'
Mrs Doobledwight was the owner of Magical Menagerie, a frumpy sullen old woman who seemed to despise children as much as she did her animals. This had always been a source of much confusion to all the Hogwarts students.
But what she hated above all was people touching her pets before they bought them. She would screech and sometimes swear much to the horror of some of the younger years. This of course led to a lot of baiting by the marauders, led by Sirius and James. Even Remus couldn't find enough sympathy to stick up for the old witch.
Upon entering the low-roofed shop, the young men were bowled over as what they recognized as two first years, surrying out of the shop chased by the mad old woman waving her stick threateningly and shouting,
'And don't come back you thieving young warts…ugly, speckled wretches!' she screamed.
'Now, now Mrs Doobledwight,' Sirius leered calmly. 'Let's not get hasty to point accusations, now.'
But the self-satisfied expression that he was wearing whilst speaking these words seemed to melt from his face and there transformed a look of uncontained fear.
Mrs Doobledwight had dropped the stick she had just been waving dangerously close to their heads and it clattered emptily on the stone plated floor. She had a look of carnal hunger in her eyes as she sidled closer to the boys. She ran her fingers through her flat, grey hair and let out a yearning sigh.
'Do you want to take a look around…boys?' she asked breathily.
'What's going on?' Sirius hissed viciously at the others. He pressed himself against the wall as she took another sidestep forward. She traced a finger down the side of his cheek and Sirius shot a last desperate glance towards James, Remus and Peter.
'Are you sure you're not wearing the wrong glasses…?' James tried in vain.
'Are you sure you've taken your medication?' asked Peter, horror and disgust mingling across his expressions as she now turned to James and Remus with that feral look sparkling within her eyes.
'Go away, little boy!' Mrs Doobledwight snapped at Peter and continued to stare longingly at the other three.
Although Peter didn't envy the attention Remus, Sirius and James were getting right at this moment, he couldn't help thinking that he had been left out again in some way.
Peter backed out of the shop and fell out onto the dusky stone of Hogsmeade main parade. He was shortly followed by the other three, toppling down over one anther as Mrs Doobledwight advanced towards them.
'Don't go my loves,' she called as they hurriedly moved further away from her shop door. 'Why don't you come in for some cakes and maybe a hot drink…?'
At these final words, the four Marauders broke into a sprint. It had started to rain, quietly as they skidded around past the resident joke shop and slowed down to a walk.
'Ok, ok…what is going on?' James asked looking at the other exasperatedly.
'We don't know,' Sirius told him, carefully stepping on Remus's foot as he did. Remus contained a yelp of pain and merely nodded and only when James' back had turned did he shoot Sirius a foul-meaning glare. Peter had been oblivious of the other's hidden glances as he held his books over his head to stop the rain from falling there.
Indeed, there were only a few stragglers left out on the street and they watched the last ones flee into the Three Broomsticks. Following their lead, the four young men jogged across the road and pushed open the heavy wooden door of the pub. They were hit with a blast of warm air, the smell of butterbeer and the noise of a whole throng of people who had gone inside to escape from the rain and cold.
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Review more!!! It's the only way to truly find out…
What lies in wait for Sirius, Remus, James and Peter inside the Three Broomsticks?
What follows them back to Hogwarts?
And is there love blossoming for Sirius and old Mrs Doobledwight? *snorts* - ok, I bet none of you saw THAT coming.
The review button is calling to you… It needs you to press it…