The Marauders of Hogwarts
A/N: Hm, thanks for the…no reviews, everyone! :D
If someone's reading this, please review. It helps me write faster if I know that someone actually cares whether I do or not. This has been proven by my not updating for a month or so. Lol.Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.
Chapter 11
Psychics and Research
People in the Hall were staring at the burnt spot on the floor. In the middle of it, the remains of the brown paper were burned and curled up by the heat.
Mira and Lily both got up from the floor. "Sorry about tackling you," Lily said quietly.
"No problem. I wouldn't have gotten out of the way otherwise," Mira said, speaking quietly as well. They didn't want anyone to hear their conversation. She was shaking. "I guess I know who sent me that, then."
"What? Who?"
"Voldemort," Mira said quietly. "I can't think of anyone else who wants to hurt me that badly. The only thing I can't figure out is why."
Lily stared. "How can you not figure that out? You're a Spirit Healer."
"Well, yes," Mira said, "but he only wants to hurt me because I keep helping you—Oh crap." She clapped her hand over her mouth. She hadn't wanted to make Lily feel guilty. But she was confused because she didn't understand why Voldemort thought Lily was so important in the first place. He didn't know about the prophecy, did he? And even if he did, the prophecy said nothing about any of them defeating Voldemort…
People were staring at Lily now. There was dead silence.
"Honestly," Lily said loudly, trying to talk in an airy, matter-of-fact tone. "Have you people never seen something explode before?" And she walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down with Mira, with everyone staring at her even more than before.
"It's because he knows Evans will never join him," Venyetta said, looking into her crystal ball, alone in the room, "and she has too much potential to be ignored. It has just become evident that she is some kind of seer! And he also wants to destroy her because she is Muggle-born."
Sometimes Venyetta felt rather sorry for Evans and the Spirit Healer, even though Evans was Muggle-born. For twelve year olds, they were quite brave—though their bravery was foolish. They were Gryffindors, after all. However, she knew that if she voiced this opinion, Voldemort would be extremely angry—at the very least. She still didn't trust him one bit, even though he trusted her with a high position among his followers. After a year, he still called her by her stage name, Venyetta, because she still hadn't told him her real one.
Later in the day, the Amazons and Marauders were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, talking about what had happened at breakfast. "You should tell Dumbledore about it, Lily," Bella said.
"Why should I tell him about the package? He saw. He was in the Great Hall with the rest of us," Lily said, confused.
"I meant about you knowing about it before it happened," Bella said.
"Geez, get a brain, Evans." James said, rolling his eyes. "What else would she be talking about?" Lily smacked him in the head. "Ouch!"
"You two are so cute together!" Thea exclaimed, beaming. They both gave her death glares and moved away from each other.'
"Anyway, maybe I'll tell Dumbledore," Lily said, trying to ignore the sniggering from everyone but James. She would never like James as more than a friend. He was too bigheaded. She remembered the first time she'd met him and nearly laughed out loud. What a prat, acting like he knew everything.
"I think you should," Mira said, trying to speak seriously in between laughs.
Lily had never been to Dumbledore's office by herself before. She stared at the two gargoyles, wondering what the password was.
"Erm…Fizzing Whizbees?" No movement.
"Sugar Quill. Chocolate Frog. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans." The gargoyles refused to move. "Erm…I am a sexy hott mama," Lily said sarcastically. The gargoyles sprang aside to reveal the moving staircase. Lily blinked. "WHAT? That can't be the password!"
"It isn't, but we decided to take pity on you," one of the gargoyles said, in a deep, grating voice.
Lily's mouth opened in shock. "I didn't know you could talk!"
"Well, it's a magic school, what did you expect?"
Lily just shook her head and stepped onto the staircase. "Well, thanks, anyway," she called behind her as the doorway closed.
After a bit, she got to the door of Dumbledore's office and knocked on it.
"Come in."
Lily slowly pushed open the door. To her surprise, Mira was already in there, talking with Professor Dumbledore. She stopped as Lily came in.
"Oh, hi, Lily!" she said.
"Hello, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said. "Miss Gonzalez here has just been telling me more about that package she received. She also tells me that you somehow knew that no one should touch the package…"
"Yes, Professor," Lily said, "that's why I came. I just suddenly got a very bad feeling, and I knew I had to stop her from catching the package…Do you think I could be some kind of psychic, Professor?"
"I think it's quite possible, Miss Evans," Dumbledore replied. "I suggest you sign up for Divination next year. Cassandra Trelawney, our Divination teacher, is an extremely talented seer, and she could help you develop whatever potential you might have. Have you heard of her?" (A/N: No, I don't mean the Trelawney that Harry has, I mean her grandmother, who got mentioned in the fifth book.)
"No, 'fraid not," Lily said.
"Well, no matter," the headmaster said cheerfully. "Thank you both for telling me all this. You may go now."
Lily and Mira exited the office.
"You know what, Fawkes?" Dumbledore said to his pheonix. "I'm getting too old for this. All these prophecies and dark lords and everything…"
As Lily and Mira walked back to Gryffindor Tower, Lily said, "Mira, you know how it was Voldemort who sent you that package?"
"Yes," Mira said uneasily. She thought she knew where this was going.
"Well, you said that…he only wants to hurt you because you're helping me," Lily said.
Mira nodded. She'd been right about where it was going. She'd been so stupid to blurt that out…
"Why didn't you tell me that before?!" Lily cried.
"Well, I just didn't want you to feel like it was your fault…" Mira said. "I mean, he'd probably be interested in me anyway since I'm a Spirit Healer."
"But Mira…I don't want you to get hurt just because you've helped me!"
"Really," Mira said, forcing herself to sound unconcerned, "it doesn't matter. And I'm not going to stop helping you! Do you really think I'm going to leave you to Voldemort?"
Lily looked at Mira's stubborn face and sighed. "Well, no. But I just wish Voldemort had never bothered with me. I don't even know why I'm so important. I mean, I'm "the One of Jewels" in that prophecy, but what good does that do me? It's not like I've got any special skills."
"Well, you just found out you're some kind of seer…I'd say that's a special skill," Mira said with a soft laugh.
"Oh, you're right!" Lily said, surprised. "But having a reason for Voldemort to attack me doesn't really make me feel any better."
"Well, no," Mira said, laughing. "I don't suppose it would…"
The Marauders and Mira had been researching Animagi for two weeks. Well, actually, more like James, Sirius, and Remus were researching after they finished their homework, Mira was coming in the library to chat and flip through a few books with them every now and then, and Peter was copying their homework while they researched. (A/N: Since he's too stupid to do it on his own…heh.) But whatever.
They hadn't found much. There weren't many books on Animagi, actually, considering the total amount of books in the library. There was a book that listed all the known Animagi in history, a few biographies of people who had been Animagi, and several books that explained what Animagi were. But none of those books helped them, and they couldn't find any that explained how to become an Animagus.
"I'm so tired of not finding anything," James grumbled one day, rumpling up his hair in frustration.
"Tell me about it," Sirius grumbled back.
Just then, Mira came in. " 'Lo, Sirius, James," she said, giving Sirius a hug as she sat down next to him. "How's the research going?" She picked up a book from the stack in the middle of the table.
"Not too well," Remus sighed.
"Still haven't found anything useful?"
"Nope. Are you sure you don't know anything about how to become an Animagus?" Sirius said.
"Well…" She wrinkled her forehead in thought. "Have you tried looking in advanced spell books and potions books and things? I mean, it's got to be either a complicated potion or a really hard spell, since people find it so difficult. I doubt you'll find what you're looking for in books like…" She looked at the book she'd picked up. "…Like The Day I Turned Into a Canary for an Hour. That sounds like someone played a prank on the person who wrote the book…"
"Well, actually, we looked in a couple," James said. "But we didn't find anything."
"Well, a couple isn't enough!" Mira cried. "It's not going to be in every advanced spellbook! Let's find some of those then!"
She jumped up and ran off among the shelves, looking at the books closely.
"Honestly, Sirius, that girlfriend of yours is much too excited about researching things," James said.
My girlfriend, Sirius mused. Who knew I'd have one? And I've had her for two months! Geez…
"She just wants to help," he said, laughing. "I mean, have you seen her when she's doing homework? She grumbles if she has to open a single textbook!"
"Much like you," Remus said, grinning.
"Oh, sod off, Remus," Sirius said, but he grinned back.
"What? Homework?" Peter squeaked, startled out his copying concentration as he heard the dreaded word. "There isn't more of it, is there?"
"No, Peter," James sighed. "Just what you're copying there."
A/N: Well, this chapter's done (finally)! In the next chapter, the Marauders will research some more (but I'll let you guess if they find anything), and…some other stuff will happen. I'm probably going to end this in a chapter or two, so yay, I'm almost done! I doubt I'll write a third one though, since I've got no reviewers anymore…But review if you want a sequel, and I'll consider it! And even if you don't want a sequel, REVIEW if you're reading this!! It makes me feel loved. :D