Chapter 3
From London to Hogwarts
"Wake up Harry."
"Just another hour, Sam."
"Fine," Sam said in a mischievious voice, "but don't blame me when you miss it."
"Miss what?"
"Never mind, go back to bed. I'm sure Hogwarts is overrated anyways."
Harry's head shot up from his pillow. "Hogwarts?" Had the month of August really gone by that quickly?
"Yeah, you know, the Wizarding school you've been dreaming about since your tenth birthday."
Harry was up and dressed in what seemed like seconds. Harry ran downstairs to see all of both the Senior and Junior Marauders waiting for him.
"About time you got down, Harry," Sirius said, holding a paper with the headline 'Pettigrew Still at Large' and the familiar rat-like wizard staring out in what looked like genuine confusion. "We were worried that we were going to have to get you up ourselves."
"And give the JM an official Marauders Lesson in Pranking," James chimed in.
"But unfortunately you ruined all our fun," said a smiling Snape- Severus, Harry reminded himself again.
After breakfast, Remus drove the new students and the Marauders to King's Cross Station.
"You know," Harry said, "you didn't all need to come here."
"Yes we did," Sirius replied, "to be sure that you have our personal warning to not let this fall into the right hands." Sirius reached into his bag and pulled out what appeared to be a blank parchment.
"Is that," Draco began, "is that the Map?"
"It's actually a duplicate," Remus said.
"Old Filch took the original from Padfoot," Severus explained.
"But we couldn't let the Next Generation go to Hogwarts without one," Sirius said.
"So we put together another one," James explained.
Ron quickly grabbed the parchment and unrolled it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said activating it as they had been told in the past. Immediately the writing came up.
"Messrs Moony, Hood, Padfoot and Prongs, purveyors of magical mischief proudly present: The Marauders' Map." The writing then vanished and the familiar map of Hogwarts appeared. The only people identified on the map were the teachers and Filch (who was labelled as "Git").
"What's in that blank space," Hermione asked, noticing a space with a door that led to nowhere. Without even looking, Harry knew that this was the third floor corridor.
"I don't know," Remus said truthfully. "Dumbledore must have added some new Anti-Detection spell."
"It always showed up properly before," Sirius added, "on the old map and when we tested this one."
"Much to the chagrin of Prongs and Lily, who thought they had found a private spot where no one could find them," Severus added.
"Yes, I still owe you for that one, don't I, Snivellus," James asked in a slightly malicious tone.
"Hey, it wasn't my idea, it was Moony's."
"You were still the serpent who came slithering in and scared the pants off her."
"Oh, like they were staying on much longer anyways." Harry suddenly had an urge to get out of the car as quickly as possible.
"Wait, Harry, don't go," James said.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"At least don't go without this." James gave Harry a small silver bowl. "Sorry it took so long, but I had to find it first," James said. Then, seeing the confused look on Harry's face, he explained, "It's a Pensieve. It looks small, but it works just like any other one and holds just as much. That baby contains some of our finest pranks from Hogwarts and has plenty of room for the next generation. I trust you already know the activation and deactivation codes. Happy belated birthday."
Harry tapped the bowl and said "Mischief Managed" and the pensieve transformed into a silver quill with "MHPP" written vertically on it.
The students got out of the car and found platform 9 ¾.
"Remember what Padfoot told us," Ron said, "Just don't worry about crashing into the wall and you'll be fine." And Ron took off running towards the wall. He vanished, and Harry couldn't help wondering how the muggles around them couldn't see hundreds of school-age children running at top speed into the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Draco, Harry and Hermione followed Ron, all vanishing through the barrier.
The four friends were putting their things away when Ron realised a problem. "We're not allowed to have our own broomsticks," he said, worried. Thinking quickly, Harry took the four Nimbus broomsticks and cast a shrinking charm on them.
"Out of sight, out of mind," Harry said as he took his now miniature broom, tucked it into his pocket and handed the other Junior Marauders theirs.
Once they were aboard the Hogwarts express, problems started. Crookshanks started hissing violently at Ron's as-of-yet nameless rat.
"Hermione, keep that bloody cat away from my rat."
"Ron, Crookshanks is perfectly harmless. Besides, that fat rat of yours is almost as big as Crookshanks."
Harry sighed. Somehow, he knew, this would all boil over sooner or later. He just hoped that Crookshanks actually killed the rat this time.
What's wrong, young Heir, Harry's Runespoor asked. Although Harry couldn't see which head it was, he had the strangest feeling that it was the Dreamer.
I just know so much that I can't let the others know about.
Why, don't you trust your friends? That had to be the Planner.
Yes, but I can't just tell them everything that's going to happen in the next five years.
And why not, what's wrong with telling them about their fate?
Because I don't want them to become suspicious. If I was able to predict events for five years and then lost my powers beyond that they would know something was wrong.
I see. Well, why don't you just give them a push in the right direction now and then.
Harry looked up to see Draco and Ron engaged in a game of Wizard's Chess. "Bishop to E1." Harry watched as Ron's black Bishop smashed Draco's white Knight. "Checkmate. Care to play again?"
"What's the point, you always win, Weasley."
"How about Exploding Snap then?"
"Oh no you don't, Ronald Weasley," Hermione warned, "Some of us are trying to read."
There was an explosion from the other side of the cabin door. Harry opened the door to see two red-haired boys laughing over another. Harry was about to pull out his wand when he recognized the boys.
"Fred and George, so we meet again."
"Well, it's the Heirs to Mischief."
"So good to see you again, Ronniekins."
"We were afraid you'd gotten onto the wrong train."
"Don't mind Percy, he's just taking a short-"
"ten hour-"
"forced nap-"
"to take a break-"
"from being an enormous prat." They finished in unison.
"Well, I suppose he needs one once every fifteen years or so," Ron replied.
The door on the other side of the cabin opened and someone walked in. "I was wondering where all the vermin were hiding," a cold voice said. "And here we go. Four weasels, Scarface, a Potty and a Mudblood."
"Go away, Crabbe," Hermione said in a menacing tone.
"Now, do I listen to the advice of the Mudblood who foiled my plans against that blood-traitor Goyle, or do I do something to her," Crabbe moved closer to Hermione and said in an even more malicious voice, "that she'll never forget?" And he grabbed Hermione's arm, trying to pull her into the toilet.
"Now really, Crappe-"
"Do you really want to try something like that-"
"In front of two third year students-"
"Who know several unpleasant hexes-"
"And wouldn't hesitate to use them-"
"Against scum like you?"
"Or should we wake the Pratfect, George?"
"Well, one's fun and the other brings Percy back to consciousness."
"You're right, what was I thinking?"
Fred and George both turned to face Crabbe, wands out.
"Forget this," Crabbe said, releasing his grip on the still struggling Hermione, "you're not worth it, Mudblood." And he walked off with an air to him that would make a Dementor quiver with fear.
"Bloody hell," Ron said as soon as Crabbe was out of earshot, "what the hell is with him?"
"Who knows," Draco replied, "and who cares as long as we're not stuck with him."
Harry ran over to Hermione. "Hermione, are you okay?"
"Yes," Hermione replied, "but I'm certainly glad he gave up when he did. I was starting to lose energy when he finally gave up. What could make someone so cruel?"
Harry quickly realised exactly how wrong he had been in applying the labels of cruel and evil to the Draco Malfoy he knew. Compared with this intelligent Crabbe, he was a pussycat. With memories of the people he knew from his world still in his head, Harry fell asleep on the train.
-----DM-----
Okay, starting to drop hints left and right on this one. See if you can guess what's going to be important (besides the obvious) and what's just detail at this point.
In an early version of this chapter, the Marauders' second gift was the invisibility cloak, instead of the official Marauders' Pensieve. This idea was scrapped, however, as I realised that if they had the cloak at this point a certain key discovery wouldn't be made.
No, Crabbe was not trying THAT on Hermione. He is evil, but not that twisted... yet. He was intending to take her somewhere that people couldn't interfere with the brutal beating/hexing he had planned for the girl he held accountable for his earlier failure.
This is usually the point where I post the NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW, but there's not too much I could do that would be interesting and not give away too much. Anyways, it's the Sorting next, and there's not too much excitement there anyways. (Although it does switch to Draco-centric narration next chapter.) Well, just read the next chapter and hopefully I won't have to babble like this again
"Wake up Harry."
"Just another hour, Sam."
"Fine," Sam said in a mischievious voice, "but don't blame me when you miss it."
"Miss what?"
"Never mind, go back to bed. I'm sure Hogwarts is overrated anyways."
Harry's head shot up from his pillow. "Hogwarts?" Had the month of August really gone by that quickly?
"Yeah, you know, the Wizarding school you've been dreaming about since your tenth birthday."
Harry was up and dressed in what seemed like seconds. Harry ran downstairs to see all of both the Senior and Junior Marauders waiting for him.
"About time you got down, Harry," Sirius said, holding a paper with the headline 'Pettigrew Still at Large' and the familiar rat-like wizard staring out in what looked like genuine confusion. "We were worried that we were going to have to get you up ourselves."
"And give the JM an official Marauders Lesson in Pranking," James chimed in.
"But unfortunately you ruined all our fun," said a smiling Snape- Severus, Harry reminded himself again.
After breakfast, Remus drove the new students and the Marauders to King's Cross Station.
"You know," Harry said, "you didn't all need to come here."
"Yes we did," Sirius replied, "to be sure that you have our personal warning to not let this fall into the right hands." Sirius reached into his bag and pulled out what appeared to be a blank parchment.
"Is that," Draco began, "is that the Map?"
"It's actually a duplicate," Remus said.
"Old Filch took the original from Padfoot," Severus explained.
"But we couldn't let the Next Generation go to Hogwarts without one," Sirius said.
"So we put together another one," James explained.
Ron quickly grabbed the parchment and unrolled it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said activating it as they had been told in the past. Immediately the writing came up.
"Messrs Moony, Hood, Padfoot and Prongs, purveyors of magical mischief proudly present: The Marauders' Map." The writing then vanished and the familiar map of Hogwarts appeared. The only people identified on the map were the teachers and Filch (who was labelled as "Git").
"What's in that blank space," Hermione asked, noticing a space with a door that led to nowhere. Without even looking, Harry knew that this was the third floor corridor.
"I don't know," Remus said truthfully. "Dumbledore must have added some new Anti-Detection spell."
"It always showed up properly before," Sirius added, "on the old map and when we tested this one."
"Much to the chagrin of Prongs and Lily, who thought they had found a private spot where no one could find them," Severus added.
"Yes, I still owe you for that one, don't I, Snivellus," James asked in a slightly malicious tone.
"Hey, it wasn't my idea, it was Moony's."
"You were still the serpent who came slithering in and scared the pants off her."
"Oh, like they were staying on much longer anyways." Harry suddenly had an urge to get out of the car as quickly as possible.
"Wait, Harry, don't go," James said.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"At least don't go without this." James gave Harry a small silver bowl. "Sorry it took so long, but I had to find it first," James said. Then, seeing the confused look on Harry's face, he explained, "It's a Pensieve. It looks small, but it works just like any other one and holds just as much. That baby contains some of our finest pranks from Hogwarts and has plenty of room for the next generation. I trust you already know the activation and deactivation codes. Happy belated birthday."
Harry tapped the bowl and said "Mischief Managed" and the pensieve transformed into a silver quill with "MHPP" written vertically on it.
The students got out of the car and found platform 9 ¾.
"Remember what Padfoot told us," Ron said, "Just don't worry about crashing into the wall and you'll be fine." And Ron took off running towards the wall. He vanished, and Harry couldn't help wondering how the muggles around them couldn't see hundreds of school-age children running at top speed into the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Draco, Harry and Hermione followed Ron, all vanishing through the barrier.
The four friends were putting their things away when Ron realised a problem. "We're not allowed to have our own broomsticks," he said, worried. Thinking quickly, Harry took the four Nimbus broomsticks and cast a shrinking charm on them.
"Out of sight, out of mind," Harry said as he took his now miniature broom, tucked it into his pocket and handed the other Junior Marauders theirs.
Once they were aboard the Hogwarts express, problems started. Crookshanks started hissing violently at Ron's as-of-yet nameless rat.
"Hermione, keep that bloody cat away from my rat."
"Ron, Crookshanks is perfectly harmless. Besides, that fat rat of yours is almost as big as Crookshanks."
Harry sighed. Somehow, he knew, this would all boil over sooner or later. He just hoped that Crookshanks actually killed the rat this time.
What's wrong, young Heir, Harry's Runespoor asked. Although Harry couldn't see which head it was, he had the strangest feeling that it was the Dreamer.
I just know so much that I can't let the others know about.
Why, don't you trust your friends? That had to be the Planner.
Yes, but I can't just tell them everything that's going to happen in the next five years.
And why not, what's wrong with telling them about their fate?
Because I don't want them to become suspicious. If I was able to predict events for five years and then lost my powers beyond that they would know something was wrong.
I see. Well, why don't you just give them a push in the right direction now and then.
Harry looked up to see Draco and Ron engaged in a game of Wizard's Chess. "Bishop to E1." Harry watched as Ron's black Bishop smashed Draco's white Knight. "Checkmate. Care to play again?"
"What's the point, you always win, Weasley."
"How about Exploding Snap then?"
"Oh no you don't, Ronald Weasley," Hermione warned, "Some of us are trying to read."
There was an explosion from the other side of the cabin door. Harry opened the door to see two red-haired boys laughing over another. Harry was about to pull out his wand when he recognized the boys.
"Fred and George, so we meet again."
"Well, it's the Heirs to Mischief."
"So good to see you again, Ronniekins."
"We were afraid you'd gotten onto the wrong train."
"Don't mind Percy, he's just taking a short-"
"ten hour-"
"forced nap-"
"to take a break-"
"from being an enormous prat." They finished in unison.
"Well, I suppose he needs one once every fifteen years or so," Ron replied.
The door on the other side of the cabin opened and someone walked in. "I was wondering where all the vermin were hiding," a cold voice said. "And here we go. Four weasels, Scarface, a Potty and a Mudblood."
"Go away, Crabbe," Hermione said in a menacing tone.
"Now, do I listen to the advice of the Mudblood who foiled my plans against that blood-traitor Goyle, or do I do something to her," Crabbe moved closer to Hermione and said in an even more malicious voice, "that she'll never forget?" And he grabbed Hermione's arm, trying to pull her into the toilet.
"Now really, Crappe-"
"Do you really want to try something like that-"
"In front of two third year students-"
"Who know several unpleasant hexes-"
"And wouldn't hesitate to use them-"
"Against scum like you?"
"Or should we wake the Pratfect, George?"
"Well, one's fun and the other brings Percy back to consciousness."
"You're right, what was I thinking?"
Fred and George both turned to face Crabbe, wands out.
"Forget this," Crabbe said, releasing his grip on the still struggling Hermione, "you're not worth it, Mudblood." And he walked off with an air to him that would make a Dementor quiver with fear.
"Bloody hell," Ron said as soon as Crabbe was out of earshot, "what the hell is with him?"
"Who knows," Draco replied, "and who cares as long as we're not stuck with him."
Harry ran over to Hermione. "Hermione, are you okay?"
"Yes," Hermione replied, "but I'm certainly glad he gave up when he did. I was starting to lose energy when he finally gave up. What could make someone so cruel?"
Harry quickly realised exactly how wrong he had been in applying the labels of cruel and evil to the Draco Malfoy he knew. Compared with this intelligent Crabbe, he was a pussycat. With memories of the people he knew from his world still in his head, Harry fell asleep on the train.
-----DM-----
Okay, starting to drop hints left and right on this one. See if you can guess what's going to be important (besides the obvious) and what's just detail at this point.
In an early version of this chapter, the Marauders' second gift was the invisibility cloak, instead of the official Marauders' Pensieve. This idea was scrapped, however, as I realised that if they had the cloak at this point a certain key discovery wouldn't be made.
No, Crabbe was not trying THAT on Hermione. He is evil, but not that twisted... yet. He was intending to take her somewhere that people couldn't interfere with the brutal beating/hexing he had planned for the girl he held accountable for his earlier failure.
This is usually the point where I post the NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW, but there's not too much I could do that would be interesting and not give away too much. Anyways, it's the Sorting next, and there's not too much excitement there anyways. (Although it does switch to Draco-centric narration next chapter.) Well, just read the next chapter and hopefully I won't have to babble like this again
