AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm really super-duper uber-sorry, cuz I left out a
disclaimer. "Hem, Hem, I, Julez, do NOT own Harry Potter, James Potter,
Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, Lily Evans, and anyone else you
can find in the books. I do own Juliet Reilly, Professor Linnet Roberts,
Professor Pollux Vernes, and everyone and everything you cannot find in the
books. Everybody cool? Let's continue, shall we?
CHAPTER THREE: PRANKING
The next morning, Remus met up with us at breakfast. He seemed fine, except for a little tired. "How's you mother, Remus?" I said, trying desperately to sound normal.
"Oh...er... fine. I'll probably have to visit her again... next month," he mumbled, reaching for some toast, and accidentally showing a bandage on his hand. "I have... a cat," he mumbled when he realized that I saw it.
Our first lesson was Charms. Professor Vernes collected our paragraphs, and tested us all on the Levitation Charm. He awarded many of the Slytherins, who we were sharing, class with, points for achieving the Charm, while only giving a few points to Griffindor, and giving us another night of practice, while the Slytherins had none. Snape kept grinning evilly at us through out the class, which continued with only taking notes. Afterwards, Snape and the first year Slytherins ganged up on them again. "Not so good anymore, huh, blood traitor?" he mumbled to Sirius, as they passed us in the hall, causing Sirius to stop in his tracks.
"No, Sirius..." I whispered, "He's not worth detention!"
All of the teachers were giving homework now, except Professor Roberts. Every class, she would begin on one topic, and end on a completely different one. Today, we began talking about Basilisks (a topic I knew a lot about), and ending during a discussion about her small pack of Kneazles at home. Sirius and James were playing hangman, Remus was reading the textbook, I was doodling on some parchment, and Peter was asleep. Good thing we were in the back row, I thought as we left the room.
At lunch, more Slytherins came over to us, following Bellatrix and Narcissa. This time, Sirius would have attacked Bellatrix if Remus, James, and I weren't holding him back. Andromeda came up to her, with the tall boy by her side, and the Slytherins fled, not wanting to lose more points. "Hi," she said, "I'm Andromeda, Sirius's cousin, and this is Ted Tonks," she indicated the tall boy, who smiled. "Sirius, I know that they just want to make you lose your temper, so they can tell your mother you've turned against the family."
Sirius frowned at her. "I am against our stinking pure-blood obsessed- "
"I know, Sirius," she said soothingly. "So am I. Bellatrix is leaving at the end of next year. That's how long you have to put up with her. You don't have to deal with them anymore." She smiled and walked back to the Ravenclaw table with Ted.
"I want to stop dealing with them now!" said Sirius when she was out of earshot.
"I think I know how we can do that," said James.
That evening, James pulled out his Invisibility Cloak from his trunk. "This will get us into the Slytherin common room," he said, "and these," he pulled out a large box, "will give us revenge." He opened it, revealing cockroaches, all still and in neat rows. Even though they seemed dead, I recoiled. "Realistic Roving Roaches, from Zonko's in Diagon Alley. 'Just tap them with your wand, put them on the ground, and watch 'em go!' They're the best!"
We left the common room, and covered ourselves with the Invisibility Cloak, Remus and Peter holding the box. Finaly, after a long time of walking, we found a group we were sure were Slytherins (who could miss the white-blonde hair of a Malfoy?), to a patch of bare stone wall, as described in the second book. One of the boys in the Slytherin group said "Mudblood scum!" and the wall opened. The Slytherin common room was stone walled, and with black furniture- tot very homey. Many people were in the room as we followed through the opening in the wall before it closed. James silently pulled a Realistic Roving Roach out of the box, and tapped it with his wand. He placed it on the floor, and it scuttled out from under the cloak. Peter held the box, as we tapped them and put them down.
Once all of the Roaches were out, the screams began. The girls noticed them first, and then the boys began to shriek too. Most of them were jumping on the furniture, or running upstairs, but then screams came from the dormitory, and we knew the Roaches were there, too. People began to run out of the hole in the wall, and we followed, but when we were just out, someone tripped over Peter's foot, throwing off the Cloak. "Idiot!" muttered James, as everybody noticed us.
"They're Griffindors!" yelled someone, as James stuffed the Cloak in the box.
"Let's bring them to Vernes!" yelled another, and before I knew it, I was being dragged along to Professor Vernes's office.
Vernes looked at us sternly over his desk. "Care to tell me how you got those cockroaches into the common room?" he looked at us. We said nothing. "Hm... well, maybe I don't want to know. As punishment, fifty points will be taken from Griffindor, and a week's detention. With me." Sirius opened his mouth, "Mr. Black, say one word, and I will take one hundred points. More. Your detentions start tomorrow. Goodnight."
The week went by quickly, and our fame as pranksters spread throughout the school. I don't remember if it was one of us or someone else who came up with the name but by the end of the week, we were the Marauders. We were hated by Slytherins, a legend in Hufflepuff, the 'shame of the school' in Ravenclaw, and adored in Griffindor, which, of course, was the only house that mattered. The only drawback to being school heroes, were the school villains. The Slytherin attacks grew in number every week, finaly resting with at least two insults per day, as with great fame, came great responsibility. Snape became Snivellus openly, and it became the new 'thing' for Griffindors to tease him about his greasy locks and hooked nose.
October came, as well as the day when Remus again announced that he needed to visit his mother again. As we were all better friends now, we told him to tell his mother to get well from us. Once everyone else had gone to bed, I wrote on my parchment: October 1: full moon, Remus's mother 'ill' again.
The next morning, there was a poster on the Griffindor notice board. We were going to have our flying lesson that morning... with the Slytherins. "Just like in the book," I murmured under my breath as I read the notice all through. The other Marauders caught up with me, with Sirius holding a small carton of something. "Read the notice?" I asked them.
"Yep," said Sirius. "We are going to uphold our title as resident pranksters."
"How?"
"With this!" he said, as if he were doing a commercial. "Sirius's Secret Scratching Solution! Well, okay, it's itching powder, but Sirius's Secret Scratching Solution is a cool name, right?"
"What are we doing with it?" I asked, even though I was sure that I could have guessed if I tried.
"Putting it on the Slytherin's brooms, of course!"
"I'm sorry I asked..."
Remus met up with us on our way down from the tower, and we told him about our idea. We skipped breakfast and went straight down to the grounds, where the brooms where lying. As we sprinkled the powder on the brooms on the left, we spoke about our experience on brooms.
"Well, I love to fly," said James, "and I love Quiddich."
"Me too," said Sirius. "I'm not the best flier, but I love the-"
"CHUDLEY CANNONS!" James joined in.
"They've gone downhill though-"
"-since Xiomara Hooch left-"
"-she was the best Chaser ever!"
"Thank you, boys," said a voice to our left. A tall woman with short brown hair that was streaked with gray, and bright, piercing, yellow eyes was standing there, with a whistle around her neck.
"Xiomara Hooch..." whispered James and Sirius, entranced by the Quiddich star standing in front of them.
"I'm the Quiddich coach here now," she said. "Griffindors on the right!"
We all shuffled over, Remus and Peter behind me, as I was left holding the empty Scratching Solution container. I crumpled it, and stuffed it in my pocket. The other Griffindors came, and stood by broomsticks on the right side of Madam Hooch. The Slytherins came five minutes later, with Snape at the head of the pack. They settled around their brooms, and we all looked up expectantly at Madam Hooch. "Welcome to your flying lesson! I am your instructor and new Quiddich coach, as well. If you are interested in Quiddich, I am sorry to say you cannot join the team until you enter your second year, but this year's season is starting shortly after Halloween.
"The first thing to do is place your right hand over your broom, and say, sharply and firmly, up!"
"UP!" shouted everyone at once. The broom flew into my hand, as did James's, and Sirius's. Peters didn't move at all, and Remus's rose about halfway, and just hung there. Many of the Slytherin's brooms flew up, and soon, some of them were scratching their hands.
"Now," continued Madame Hooch, "mount your brooms, kick off, hang in the air for a moment, and come down, by leaning forward. Then await my instructions. Now, go!" she blew her whistle, and we kicked off. It was a little scary, but going up, just those few feet, was wonderful. True to her instructions, we hung in the air, and then, at another blow of the whistle, we leaned forward, and came down. We got off the brooms, and stood while Madam Hooch went over basic rules of broom safety. Meanwhile, many of the Slytherins were scratching their hands, and wriggling around. The powder had been strong enough to seep through their clothes, and make them itchy... well, you know where. Soon, it became a little too much for them, and they began to rub their backsides. The other Griffindors began to smile, and giggle, and then, finaly laugh out loud. Madam Hooch finaly noticed what was going on at the Slytherin side of the brooms. "What's this?" she asked. "What's wrong with you?"
Some Slytherins shrugged, others whimpered, and one ran towards the school. The others saw him and followed, but Snivellus waited a second before he followed: "You stinking, idiot, Griffindor Mudbloods!" he yelled, and then took off, while Madam Hooch brought up the rear.
"The Slytherin Slimeballs deserved it!" yelled James, once Madam Hooch was inside the castle. We all burst out laughing, except for Lily Evans, who walked over to James, and slapped him in the face, causing the laughs to subside. "You foul, foul boy!" she yelled at him. "That was a really mean trick! You're going to get us all in serious trouble!"
James grinned. "Who's going to-"
"I found out! And Professor McGonagall will know in a minute!" and she stalked off.
We all looked at each other for a moment, and Hestia and Emmeline followed Lily into the building.
James was called into McGonagall's office around lunchtime, and returned during Charms, causing Vernes to take ten points of Griffindor. James showed McGonagall's note to him, but he refused to award the points back. The Slytherins snickered from the other side of the room. "This is the worst day ever," muttered James under his breath, and wrote a note on a spare bit of parchment:
McGonagall has given me a week's detention in the hospital wing, and took seventy points from Griffindor... fifty because of the 'crime', and twenty more for objecting to it... Merlin, when am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut!
-James
I passed the note to Peter on my left under the desk, who stupidly sent it to Sirius over the table. "Well, well, well," said Professor Vernes, in a low and sinister voice. "What have we here?" he seized the note and read it out loud. "Mr. Potter," he said after he had finished, "you do need to keep your mouth shut... and your quill steady. Ten more points will be taken from Griffindor." once Vernes had resumed his lecture on the importance of proper wand movements, James started to bang his head softly against the desk.
We usually did everything together- homework, lunch, dinner, classes, even detention, but James was gone for a week, working in the hospital wing. When he got back from his detention on the first day, he seemed very depressed. He slumped in his favorite red armchair by the Griffindor fireplace, and began to stare into space. Sirius was trying his very hardest to make James laugh. I kept one eye on James and Sirius, and the other on the piece of parchment I was folding into a fan shape. I then pinched the middle, so it was in a bow shape. "Move over, and let a professional do it," I said to Sirius, pushing him away. "He-he-hem..." I put the bow shape to my lip like a mustache, "Pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," I said in a deep and sinister voice. Next, I put it to my forehead, like a bow, and said in a high voice, "I can't pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," next, back to the mustache: "You must pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," I switched back to the bow on the head: "I can't pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent!" I then placed the parchment at my neck like a bow-tie, and said (heroically): "I'll pay the rent!" I put it on my head again: "My hero!" Then the lip: "Curses, foiled again!" Remus, Sirius, and Peter laughed, but James just weakly smiled, but then became more animated throughout the night.
I hadn't bothered to check my moon charts, so when Remus came up to us saying he needed to go back to his mother for the night, it was quite unexpected- well, to me at least. James, Peter, and Sirius had grown used to it, so they said goodnight to him, and I pretended I was going to bed. I looked out the window as I recorded the date on my list. October of that year had a blue moon.
A/N: The "I'll pay the rent" thing was from a friend of mine. I don't know where she got it, but I kinda stole it. One other thing: a blue moon is technically the second blue moon in a month, not a real blue colored moon. I hope you like this chapter, it's one of my faves, but I like the next one the best so far. Happy reviewing!
Julez
CHAPTER THREE: PRANKING
The next morning, Remus met up with us at breakfast. He seemed fine, except for a little tired. "How's you mother, Remus?" I said, trying desperately to sound normal.
"Oh...er... fine. I'll probably have to visit her again... next month," he mumbled, reaching for some toast, and accidentally showing a bandage on his hand. "I have... a cat," he mumbled when he realized that I saw it.
Our first lesson was Charms. Professor Vernes collected our paragraphs, and tested us all on the Levitation Charm. He awarded many of the Slytherins, who we were sharing, class with, points for achieving the Charm, while only giving a few points to Griffindor, and giving us another night of practice, while the Slytherins had none. Snape kept grinning evilly at us through out the class, which continued with only taking notes. Afterwards, Snape and the first year Slytherins ganged up on them again. "Not so good anymore, huh, blood traitor?" he mumbled to Sirius, as they passed us in the hall, causing Sirius to stop in his tracks.
"No, Sirius..." I whispered, "He's not worth detention!"
All of the teachers were giving homework now, except Professor Roberts. Every class, she would begin on one topic, and end on a completely different one. Today, we began talking about Basilisks (a topic I knew a lot about), and ending during a discussion about her small pack of Kneazles at home. Sirius and James were playing hangman, Remus was reading the textbook, I was doodling on some parchment, and Peter was asleep. Good thing we were in the back row, I thought as we left the room.
At lunch, more Slytherins came over to us, following Bellatrix and Narcissa. This time, Sirius would have attacked Bellatrix if Remus, James, and I weren't holding him back. Andromeda came up to her, with the tall boy by her side, and the Slytherins fled, not wanting to lose more points. "Hi," she said, "I'm Andromeda, Sirius's cousin, and this is Ted Tonks," she indicated the tall boy, who smiled. "Sirius, I know that they just want to make you lose your temper, so they can tell your mother you've turned against the family."
Sirius frowned at her. "I am against our stinking pure-blood obsessed- "
"I know, Sirius," she said soothingly. "So am I. Bellatrix is leaving at the end of next year. That's how long you have to put up with her. You don't have to deal with them anymore." She smiled and walked back to the Ravenclaw table with Ted.
"I want to stop dealing with them now!" said Sirius when she was out of earshot.
"I think I know how we can do that," said James.
That evening, James pulled out his Invisibility Cloak from his trunk. "This will get us into the Slytherin common room," he said, "and these," he pulled out a large box, "will give us revenge." He opened it, revealing cockroaches, all still and in neat rows. Even though they seemed dead, I recoiled. "Realistic Roving Roaches, from Zonko's in Diagon Alley. 'Just tap them with your wand, put them on the ground, and watch 'em go!' They're the best!"
We left the common room, and covered ourselves with the Invisibility Cloak, Remus and Peter holding the box. Finaly, after a long time of walking, we found a group we were sure were Slytherins (who could miss the white-blonde hair of a Malfoy?), to a patch of bare stone wall, as described in the second book. One of the boys in the Slytherin group said "Mudblood scum!" and the wall opened. The Slytherin common room was stone walled, and with black furniture- tot very homey. Many people were in the room as we followed through the opening in the wall before it closed. James silently pulled a Realistic Roving Roach out of the box, and tapped it with his wand. He placed it on the floor, and it scuttled out from under the cloak. Peter held the box, as we tapped them and put them down.
Once all of the Roaches were out, the screams began. The girls noticed them first, and then the boys began to shriek too. Most of them were jumping on the furniture, or running upstairs, but then screams came from the dormitory, and we knew the Roaches were there, too. People began to run out of the hole in the wall, and we followed, but when we were just out, someone tripped over Peter's foot, throwing off the Cloak. "Idiot!" muttered James, as everybody noticed us.
"They're Griffindors!" yelled someone, as James stuffed the Cloak in the box.
"Let's bring them to Vernes!" yelled another, and before I knew it, I was being dragged along to Professor Vernes's office.
Vernes looked at us sternly over his desk. "Care to tell me how you got those cockroaches into the common room?" he looked at us. We said nothing. "Hm... well, maybe I don't want to know. As punishment, fifty points will be taken from Griffindor, and a week's detention. With me." Sirius opened his mouth, "Mr. Black, say one word, and I will take one hundred points. More. Your detentions start tomorrow. Goodnight."
The week went by quickly, and our fame as pranksters spread throughout the school. I don't remember if it was one of us or someone else who came up with the name but by the end of the week, we were the Marauders. We were hated by Slytherins, a legend in Hufflepuff, the 'shame of the school' in Ravenclaw, and adored in Griffindor, which, of course, was the only house that mattered. The only drawback to being school heroes, were the school villains. The Slytherin attacks grew in number every week, finaly resting with at least two insults per day, as with great fame, came great responsibility. Snape became Snivellus openly, and it became the new 'thing' for Griffindors to tease him about his greasy locks and hooked nose.
October came, as well as the day when Remus again announced that he needed to visit his mother again. As we were all better friends now, we told him to tell his mother to get well from us. Once everyone else had gone to bed, I wrote on my parchment: October 1: full moon, Remus's mother 'ill' again.
The next morning, there was a poster on the Griffindor notice board. We were going to have our flying lesson that morning... with the Slytherins. "Just like in the book," I murmured under my breath as I read the notice all through. The other Marauders caught up with me, with Sirius holding a small carton of something. "Read the notice?" I asked them.
"Yep," said Sirius. "We are going to uphold our title as resident pranksters."
"How?"
"With this!" he said, as if he were doing a commercial. "Sirius's Secret Scratching Solution! Well, okay, it's itching powder, but Sirius's Secret Scratching Solution is a cool name, right?"
"What are we doing with it?" I asked, even though I was sure that I could have guessed if I tried.
"Putting it on the Slytherin's brooms, of course!"
"I'm sorry I asked..."
Remus met up with us on our way down from the tower, and we told him about our idea. We skipped breakfast and went straight down to the grounds, where the brooms where lying. As we sprinkled the powder on the brooms on the left, we spoke about our experience on brooms.
"Well, I love to fly," said James, "and I love Quiddich."
"Me too," said Sirius. "I'm not the best flier, but I love the-"
"CHUDLEY CANNONS!" James joined in.
"They've gone downhill though-"
"-since Xiomara Hooch left-"
"-she was the best Chaser ever!"
"Thank you, boys," said a voice to our left. A tall woman with short brown hair that was streaked with gray, and bright, piercing, yellow eyes was standing there, with a whistle around her neck.
"Xiomara Hooch..." whispered James and Sirius, entranced by the Quiddich star standing in front of them.
"I'm the Quiddich coach here now," she said. "Griffindors on the right!"
We all shuffled over, Remus and Peter behind me, as I was left holding the empty Scratching Solution container. I crumpled it, and stuffed it in my pocket. The other Griffindors came, and stood by broomsticks on the right side of Madam Hooch. The Slytherins came five minutes later, with Snape at the head of the pack. They settled around their brooms, and we all looked up expectantly at Madam Hooch. "Welcome to your flying lesson! I am your instructor and new Quiddich coach, as well. If you are interested in Quiddich, I am sorry to say you cannot join the team until you enter your second year, but this year's season is starting shortly after Halloween.
"The first thing to do is place your right hand over your broom, and say, sharply and firmly, up!"
"UP!" shouted everyone at once. The broom flew into my hand, as did James's, and Sirius's. Peters didn't move at all, and Remus's rose about halfway, and just hung there. Many of the Slytherin's brooms flew up, and soon, some of them were scratching their hands.
"Now," continued Madame Hooch, "mount your brooms, kick off, hang in the air for a moment, and come down, by leaning forward. Then await my instructions. Now, go!" she blew her whistle, and we kicked off. It was a little scary, but going up, just those few feet, was wonderful. True to her instructions, we hung in the air, and then, at another blow of the whistle, we leaned forward, and came down. We got off the brooms, and stood while Madam Hooch went over basic rules of broom safety. Meanwhile, many of the Slytherins were scratching their hands, and wriggling around. The powder had been strong enough to seep through their clothes, and make them itchy... well, you know where. Soon, it became a little too much for them, and they began to rub their backsides. The other Griffindors began to smile, and giggle, and then, finaly laugh out loud. Madam Hooch finaly noticed what was going on at the Slytherin side of the brooms. "What's this?" she asked. "What's wrong with you?"
Some Slytherins shrugged, others whimpered, and one ran towards the school. The others saw him and followed, but Snivellus waited a second before he followed: "You stinking, idiot, Griffindor Mudbloods!" he yelled, and then took off, while Madam Hooch brought up the rear.
"The Slytherin Slimeballs deserved it!" yelled James, once Madam Hooch was inside the castle. We all burst out laughing, except for Lily Evans, who walked over to James, and slapped him in the face, causing the laughs to subside. "You foul, foul boy!" she yelled at him. "That was a really mean trick! You're going to get us all in serious trouble!"
James grinned. "Who's going to-"
"I found out! And Professor McGonagall will know in a minute!" and she stalked off.
We all looked at each other for a moment, and Hestia and Emmeline followed Lily into the building.
James was called into McGonagall's office around lunchtime, and returned during Charms, causing Vernes to take ten points of Griffindor. James showed McGonagall's note to him, but he refused to award the points back. The Slytherins snickered from the other side of the room. "This is the worst day ever," muttered James under his breath, and wrote a note on a spare bit of parchment:
McGonagall has given me a week's detention in the hospital wing, and took seventy points from Griffindor... fifty because of the 'crime', and twenty more for objecting to it... Merlin, when am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut!
-James
I passed the note to Peter on my left under the desk, who stupidly sent it to Sirius over the table. "Well, well, well," said Professor Vernes, in a low and sinister voice. "What have we here?" he seized the note and read it out loud. "Mr. Potter," he said after he had finished, "you do need to keep your mouth shut... and your quill steady. Ten more points will be taken from Griffindor." once Vernes had resumed his lecture on the importance of proper wand movements, James started to bang his head softly against the desk.
We usually did everything together- homework, lunch, dinner, classes, even detention, but James was gone for a week, working in the hospital wing. When he got back from his detention on the first day, he seemed very depressed. He slumped in his favorite red armchair by the Griffindor fireplace, and began to stare into space. Sirius was trying his very hardest to make James laugh. I kept one eye on James and Sirius, and the other on the piece of parchment I was folding into a fan shape. I then pinched the middle, so it was in a bow shape. "Move over, and let a professional do it," I said to Sirius, pushing him away. "He-he-hem..." I put the bow shape to my lip like a mustache, "Pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," I said in a deep and sinister voice. Next, I put it to my forehead, like a bow, and said in a high voice, "I can't pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," next, back to the mustache: "You must pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," I switched back to the bow on the head: "I can't pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent!" I then placed the parchment at my neck like a bow-tie, and said (heroically): "I'll pay the rent!" I put it on my head again: "My hero!" Then the lip: "Curses, foiled again!" Remus, Sirius, and Peter laughed, but James just weakly smiled, but then became more animated throughout the night.
I hadn't bothered to check my moon charts, so when Remus came up to us saying he needed to go back to his mother for the night, it was quite unexpected- well, to me at least. James, Peter, and Sirius had grown used to it, so they said goodnight to him, and I pretended I was going to bed. I looked out the window as I recorded the date on my list. October of that year had a blue moon.
A/N: The "I'll pay the rent" thing was from a friend of mine. I don't know where she got it, but I kinda stole it. One other thing: a blue moon is technically the second blue moon in a month, not a real blue colored moon. I hope you like this chapter, it's one of my faves, but I like the next one the best so far. Happy reviewing!
Julez