Hello.
A number of odd events, most of them but not all school related almost convinced me to quit on the Fifth Marauder.
Stupid conscience, how I loathe thee.
So, I'm baaaaack! With a vengeance, too. I'm sorry, but many things happened: a story of mine was removed, I started a new original story, school happened, homework, fencing three times a week, and for the last two weeks I've been, very sick. I apologize, but with school in full blast ("The horror! The horror!" - Kurtz, the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. Our history summer reading) the updates will be slow, possibly short, and very erratic. Sorry to all those organization freaks in way, way advance. So, I shall now turn up the music and write.
The Return of the Marauders
As soon as we got back to school, I won a lot of money. Professor Roberts had left, and I won the pot, of a sort. That was a very good way to start, I think. Our new teacher was a substitute for the rest of the year or until a new teacher could be hired. Professor Devant was not a bad teacher, but most of his lessons were completely forgettable.
So, days turned to weeks, weeks turned into exams, and before we even realized it, we were no longer first years. We were second-year Gryffindors. Which, in all honesty, scared me.
I'd been in this 'world' if you should call it that, a year, and it still seemed unreal. It was like at any minute I was apt to wake and hear my mother calling me to get ready, school was going to start in half an hour, and I was going to be late. And I would remember a wonderful dream of the Marauders, and after an hour or so, it would have been forgotten...
But that didn't happen, and the newly-turned-twelve Juliet Reilly was boarding the Hogwarts express...
...when Sirius Black plowed right into her. "You idiot, Sirius!" I yelled, as Cassiopeia began her trademark frantic hissing, "You could have killed me!"
"No I couldn't have. Look what you landed on," he said, having no problem keeping a straight face.
I looked. I was sitting on top of James Potter, who, in turn, was sprawled over Peter Pettigrew, both of whom were glaring angrily at Sirius. "Well, then, you could have killed them," I muttered, as he helped me up. "Come on, the train leaves soon."
Sirius lead us to a compartment where Remus sat, fast asleep. One of Remus's talents was becoming comfortable enough to sleep anywhere he was, and then sleeping soundly. "Full moon last night," said Sirius, stuffing a hand into a pocket as the train began to move. "Birthday gold," he said, pulling out a large amount of money. "The trolley comes to this one first..."
Sure enough, he was right, and we each bought enough chocolate to fill two of our trunks to the brim. Remus woke up promptly at the smell of the chocolate, and stole huge amounts from everyone. By the time we all began eating, it was impossible to tell who had bought what. Settling in amongst the Marauders is very easy- you just do what ever you want. For instance, in that compartment, Remus had gone back to sleep, having consumed many, many chocolate frogs. Peter and Sirius, who both collected the Famous Witch and Wizard cards, had taken Remus's and were swapping them, while James was reading some Quiddich magazine. I was having a look at "Useless Charms That Might Come in Handy Some Day, You Never Know", when the usual Slytherin pack came barging in. Like we weren't expecting that lot to come in.
"Still hanging out with the Blood Traitors, then, Sirius," said Bellatrix, who was now in her last year at Hogwarts. "Regulus isn't. Isn't that right, Reg?"
A small boy, who looked almost nothing like Sirius came forward. He had the same hair, but coal black eyes in place of Sirius's gray. He looked at all of us in turn, and nodded. All of the Slytherins laughed, especially Snape, who seemed to have moved up in the ranks. They drew their wands, and so did I, yelling the first spell that came to mind: "Florae Ecce!". Jets of multicolored light came out of my wand and hit the Slytherins, who became covered in flowers. Jets of light flew out of the mess of flowers. One actually came within two feet of Sirius. That was the closest.
A muffled cry of "Just you wait, Mudbloods! You'll regret it!" came as the bunch shuffled out of the compartment, knocking petals everywhere.
I picked up my book, and dog-eared the page with the Flower Power Charm on it. "So one really did come in useful," I said, showing the book to James, who had started to look at it over my shoulder.
"Can I borrow that?" he asked, and I passed him the book.
"I don't believe it," said Sirius. "Remus slept through that."
Sure enough, Remus was still asleep, mouth open slightly, using a book for a pillow. "He only wakes up when he wants to," I said. "You saw what he did when we bought the chocolate."
"That's because he can smell really well," said Peter, sitting down on one of the seats.
"Good to know, Peter," said James. "Good to know..."
Back at Hogwarts.... It really was wonderful to be back at school; summer break seemed much too long to be away. Once the Sorting had finished, another wonderful Hogwarts meal was served, and, grabbing a bit of everything, I began. "Hello, Juliet," said someone beside me. A certain red-headed, green-eyed someone.
"Hello, Evans," I said, swallowing a huge lump of mashed potatoes. "Have a nice break?"
"I see you're still friends with those boys," she said disdainfully, shooting a glance at James and Sirius, who were having a contest to see who could stuff the most food in their mouth.
"Yep," I said as Remus thumped Sirius, who had started choking, on the back. "I see you're still Gryffindor's prefect-in-waiting."
"And just what's wrong with being a prefect?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
Time to quote the Weasley twins: "It would take all the fun out of life, Evans. You only get seven years at Hogwarts, why waste them being a prefect?"
"If you stopped hanging out with those idiots," she said, gesturing in James's direction, who was currently gloating over his victory to Sirius, "then maybe you wouldn't think that."
"Why do you even care what I think?" I said, turning away from her. "Go make fun of me behind my back, like girls are supposed to."
Lily let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a hiss, and turned away. I started another food stuffing contest with James.
Our first class the next day was Defence Against the Dark Arts, with our new teacher, Professor Anton. He was better than Professor Roberts by far, actually teaching us, but he had an annoying habit of forgetting to come to class. Still, he actually taught us something, which was a good change. Homework was the least of our worries though: the Slytherins were training their newcomers with bouts of Marauder-hunting. Vengeance, retaliation and reprisal were necessary; it was time for the first prank of the year, to restore our seat as resident mischief makers.
The prank was a difficult one to manage, but fun nonetheless, based on a charm that James had found in "Useless Charms That Might Come in Handy Some Day, You Never Know". We put a charm on the floor right outside the door of the Great Hall, that we could activate whenever we wanted, that would turn whoever we wanted red and gold from head to toe. And we wanted Bellatrix and her group. We arrived early in the Great Hall to ensure that they did not come before us. Soon enough, they came, when enough people were in the hall to see what was happening. James set off the charm, while Sirius, who had wanted to set it off, created a huge banging noise. Every head in the hall popped up just in time to see ten Slytherins, (not so) proudly wearing Gryffindor colors step into the Hall. Everyone except the other Slytherins and teachers began to laugh, and, realizing what had happened, Bellatrix screamed, and, unfairly, of course, McGonagall yelled out, "POTTER! BLACK! LUPIN! REILLY! PETTIGREW! GET UP HERE! NOW!" Proudly we walked up to the teacher's table, with Gryffindors smiling at us as we made our way up. Once we reached her, she shuffled us off to her office, grabbing Bellatrix, and shouting to the other afflicted Slytherins "Come on, you!" as we passed. Once in her office, she seemed to compose herself a little more. "What did you do to them, Potter?" she said, taking a deep breath.
"What makes you sure I did it, Professor?" Said James, trying to look innocent and failing miserably.
"It could have been someone else, Professor." Said Sirius, who wasn't even trying.
"Like whom, Mister Black?" said McGonagall.
"Why would we know, Professor?" Said Sirius, shrugging.
"Firstly, because you are the main pranksters in the school, second, because you do not like the Slytherins, especially this group, third, because I noticed that you happened to arrive very early for breakfast, something you rarely do, and, last of all, I happened to see you do it.
"Oh."
So it was the usual: detention for five. But....
We were back on top again. Gryffindor was once again Marauder territory, which meant the Mini-Prefects of Tomorrow were watching us like hawks. Especially one red-feathered, green-eyed hawk.
Evans.
James was crushing on her, it was no secret to us. The side of me that was born of this world was asking what he saw in her, but the other bit of me could see how he went all odd when Lily was around.
On the plus side, she didn't slap him any more.
"We didn't go after the first years, they walked into the prank!"
James was (once again) pleading our case to McGonagall.
It was a pity: our detention had only ended the night before, and I had been looking forward to a night that was hospital wing cleaning free.
"I don't care who you were after, but you gave five first years grass for hair!"
Alas, James's keen prank-oriented mind had found yet another slightly useful charm in my book.
We were given yet more detention, and as we left her office, we ran into....
Come on, guess.
If you said Lily Rose Evans, you are 100 percent correct.
She had assembled her fellow Mini-Prefects and brought them to McGonagall's door. "What are you doing here, Evans?" said Sirius, as James fell into his usual Lily-induced stupor.
"Apologize to them?" she said, scowling. (Right then, I swore I heard James think, "She's so pretty when she's angry...")
"Apologize to who?" asked Peter, looking confused.
"Them!" she said, pushing forward some very scared and short first years. Some still had remnants of grass in their hair.
It had been funny at the time.
"Awww, Evans!" said Sirius, as Remus seemed to inspect the nearest first year (a shy-looking Hufflepuff boy)'s grass filled head of black hair, "It was just a bit of fun!"
"It wasn't fun for them!" said Lily angrily, as the boy who Remus had been inspecting ran behind the girl next to him (a skinny blonde Ravenclaw).
"We don't need to apologize to them, Evans," I said, as the aforementioned girl moved away from the boy. "That wasn't part of our punishment. Now," I continued nodding to her cronies, "take them and convert someone interested to the cause, or whatever. Come on." I began to walk off, and Sirius, Peter, and Remus followed, but Remus went back to drag James along with us.
One day, a few weeks later, (I think it was the full moon) James did something odd: he went to the library and took out a book. This book would never return to the Hogwarts School Library. The book was called, "Animagi: Unleash the Animal the Quick and Easy Way". It wasn't quick, and it wasn't easy, but it was the beginning.