Just Too Tempting
By Avadne
Chapter 3: A Recruit
"Get ready for it," James whispered into Hermione's ear. Hermione grinned at James as the Marauders plus Hermione walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Hurry up, or we'll be too late," Remus sped up his pace and within minutes, they were comfortably seated at the Gryffindor table. Hermione notice that there were only a scatter of about 6 other students and not all of the teachers present; they were early. And judging by how Remus constantly looked at his magical watch, they were early for a reason.
"Eat up while you can," Pete informed them. Without further ado, the four boys dug into their food like pigs. Hermione sighed, but grabbed some bacon and eggs, as well as pumpkin juice and hastily began her breakfast.
"Warming Charms all around, guys," Sirius advised, pausing in his pig out to tap himself and muttering something under his breath. The other Marauders did the same, but Hermione was confused.
"Uh, here," James tapped her lightly too, speaking the incantation. Hermione gave him a questioning look, one he blushed under slightly.
"We kind of decided to change it to real stuff, last minute," he told her sheepishly. Hermione's eyes widened, but she grinned anyway. Spotting Draco enter the hall, she beckoned to him.
"Do a Warming Charm on your self," she told him quickly before he rushed of to sit down, hoping no one important had seen him. There were 2 other students at the Slytherin table, both around 1st or 2nd year, so Draco wasn't too worried. He quickly performed the Warming Charm and dug in.
"3… 2… 1," Sirius recited, grinning excitedly. "Stage 1 is now in action." Hermione looked down on the floor; though there appeared to be no change, Hermione knew there was a very thin, invisible layer of ice that was extremely cold, not to mention slippery. Pete, James, Sirius and Remus all sprouted identical, wicked grins. By now, a fair amount of people were entering the great hall, all slipping over. Including Professor Sprout, who had just dusted herself off and was looking quite embarrassed.
"Stage 2; 3… 2… 1," Pete followed Sirius's lead cheerfully and instantly, the walls, which were now coated with a thin layer of snow. The tables now also had clumps of real, cold snow covering any spare spot. The ceiling was no longer visible through the puffy, snow-like clouds that had appeared promptly, for anyone not under the Warming Charm, the Great Hall suddenly became a lot colder, as if it were at least -3 degrees Celsius.
"Sage 3; 3… 2… 1," Remus counted down. Now, every single edible item had frozen; jugs of pumpkin juice were solid blocks of ice, same with milk. Cereal was covered in snow. Toast was no longer pleasantly warm, but ice-cold. And things like bacon, eggs or pancakes now had a thin layer of frost on them.
"And finally, stage 4; 3… 2… 1," Hermione gasped; although she knew the plan for this morning's prank, knowledge didn't stop it from being amazingly beautiful; every single owl that just flown through to deliver the post had turned a snowy white. Then those owls started molting and losing feathers. As the white feathers fell, each and every one was transfigured into small, delicate snowflakes.
"Wow, this is beautiful," Hermione breathed. All four Marauders smiled at her. She also caught sight of Draco giving them a subtle thumbs-up.
"Ok, I'm all for screwing the alibi; this is great and I refuse to let any one else take credit for our work," Remus announced, standing up. Sirius also stood up, nodding energetically and obviously in agreement with Remus. Both glanced down at James and Pete, who were also nodding. Sirius grinned again, and raised his wand, muttering something incoherent under his breath.
A dazzling bolt of red and gold light sprouted from the tip of Sirius's wand. He waved again, at the remaining feathers that were still falling and instantly, they began moving.
"'Today's morning display was proudly brought to you by the Marauders'?" Hermione asked, reading what the feathers were spelling out.
"YOU FOUR! WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS SCHOOL IS, THE NORTH POLE? I DEMAND THAT THIS BE TAKEN DOWN IMMEDIATELY!" McGonagall had already started yelling, making her way to the Marauders. Although she looked angry and disapproving, Hermione was sure that was a glimmer of admiration and amusement in the older woman's eyes.
"Well, Professor, we really would like to, but unfortunately, this wonderful, ingenious, brilliant, magnificent, ama-" Sirius was cut off suddenly, when Remus elbowed him in the ribs.
"What Sirius here means is that, while we would simply love to take down this fine piece of art, we're afraid we cannot comply," Remus said, a pleasant smile sliding onto his face.
"You see, with our high level of skill, we thought profusely about such creative exhibitions, and we decided that our efforts should not just be mercilessly taken down after one measly day, or worse only a half hour or so…" James had cut in also, like standard routine. Hermione actually had the feeling that even this had been practiced. James gave Pete a subtle look.
"Basically, we've cast a number of special charms to ensure that our 'Winter Wonderland' as it were, to stay up for a whole 3 days," Pete finished proudly. McGonagall glared at him fiercely and he shrank down slightly, but regained composure almost instantly. There was some Gryffindor bravery in him after all them, Hermione mused, observing the scene.
"Detention to the 4 of you," McGonagall said, her voice equivalent to that of the Great Hall. Sirius raised his hand, just about to high-five James, but when he saw McGonagall's face, he subtly lowered it again.
"Yes, ma'am," he said stiffly, saluting her. She gave him an extra glare before sighing and making her way back to her seat. It would have been all good, but in her anger, McGonagall had forgotten the slippery ice on the floor. Only seconds later, she had slipped over quite ungracefully while the whole hall erupted into loud, boisterous laughter.
After their morning prank, the Marauders were even more pleased with themselves than usual, and this time, it was with reason, of course. On the way to their next lesson, Transfiguration, Hermione discovered a few of their rather unusual hobbies. Detention didn't faze them at all; in fact, all four of the Marauders were competing to get the title of 'Most Detentions While at Hogwarts'.
"So this is what you do for fun? Get detention?" Hermione asked them in amazement. Four happy nods answered her question as Hermione stared in disbelief. These guys were even worse than Fred and George Weasley, a feat Hermione believed to be impossible.
"See, we're all competing to see who gets the most detentions while at Hogwarts," Pete explained, leaning forward with a smile of anticipation on his round face.
"Remus is on 984, Pete only has 952 and I have 997," James piped in, his brow furrowing in an effort to remember the boys' detention scores.
"And Sirius?" Hermione asked, almost in fear. This had to be a large number; from what she had seen of Sirius, he was the reckless one, the 'bad boy' Marauder that loved pranks more than life itself. No-one could ever match his eagerness; the only one that could even come close was James. Maybe it had something to do with Sirius's hyper personality…?
"I have 1013. Apparently, the first person ever to reach four digits," Sirius told her very proudly. Hermione rolled her eyes; Sirius and immature seemed to go together like kids and candy. Figures that he would have the most, Hermione thought to herself as she watched Sirius look around slyly, even now ready for a prank opportunity.
"If you think they're immature now, wait until something big happens, like Halloween," Pete warned. At the mention of Halloween, Sirius and James both lifted their heads simultaneously, a pair of hazel eyes lighting up just as much as grey eyes. Remus faked a sigh while Pete clapped a pudgy hand over his mouth in mock-terror at Sirius and James's gestures.
"No, guys, not Halloween prank this year," Remus reminded them as if it were obvious. All three other Marauders looked confused and Remus sighed again.
"Why ever not, Remmie?" Sirius asked, looking shocked and appalled.
"1, my name isn't Remmie. Call me that again and you might find that a few chosen candidates from the Hogwarts female population suddenly discover a few things I'm sure you'd rather keep private. And number 2, have you guys forgotten about the event of this year?"
"What event?" Pete asked, clueless. Remus sighed and shook his head disgustedly.
"I cannot believe this. It's been settled since last year. Pre-Christmas, 6th and 7th years…" Remus hinted while the others thought hard.
"Oh! Damn, I can't believe that slipped my mind," Sirius was the first to remember. A second later, James and Pete also got dawning looks of comprehension and high-fived each other.
"Are you going to tell me what this is?" Hermione asked curiously as all he Marauders looked excited again.
"Nope, my dear. Sorry, but you'll have to wait," James replied charmingly, grinning as Hermione mock-glared. She sighed again but grinned, knowing whatever it was going to be, it would be good.
"Quickly, now! Take a seat and 5 points each for tardiness," McGonagall's tight voice sounded as the group walked inside their classroom.
"Today, we'll be doing a special type of Transfiguration, that we'll touch on briefly for now, and return to focus on closer to Christmas time…"
Draco was currently in his dormitory for the evening, lying down on his bed with the curtains drawn in hope of privacy. No such luck, apparently, for only a few minutes after he had settled down, someone saw it fit to interrupt.
"You better be careful about the choices you make and the people you piss off," a low, silky voice whispered to him. A very familiar, low, silky whisper, as it was.
"Why won't you people just leave me alone?" Draco groaned back impatiently, knowing very well what was about to happen and not welcoming it at all.
"Tsk, tsk. That's the exact attitude I'm talking about," the voice continued. Draco groaned again, but lifted himself up and pulled away the curtains to meet the face of Severus Snape.
"What do you want?" Draco asked, desperate to get some alone time from the others. The others meaning, of course, Slytherin house as a whole. Draco was beginning to see why it had such a bad reputation, especially in this era.
"Don't talk, just listen; what you do is your business, just like the choices you make are your own problem. But I would advise you to keep a neutral face near the others… the worst thing you can do, other than being a coward, is going against the source," Snape kept his voice empty and hollow, his face as a blank mask and his black eyes hidden by curtains, not revealing anything else but the information he chose to divulge.
"What freaking source are you on about?" muttered Draco, not really caring and wanting to get away from Snape as fast as possible. Leave me alone! He screamed inside. Of course Draco knew what the source was, but he had hoped that Snape would just give up again. Unfortunately, today didn't seem to be Draco's lucky day.
"You will know. You are the latest recruit," and with that, Snape swept out of the room, his black robes billowing behind him. Draco had seen this in his future, grown Professor, but was impressed that Snape had mastered the art of flowing robes at only 17, or probably even earlier for all Draco knew.
Unfortunately, the average Hogwarts-Death-Eater-recruitment age had decreased throughout the years and Draco had gotten this talk from Father last year. He knew exactly what Snape was talking about in too much detail for his own liking; so far, Draco had not risen to the challenge of his 'housemates', including Snape, Lestrange, Wilkes and Nott… they were all Death Eaters or in training and Draco knew it. His loyalties were being questioned, but Voldemort was getting constant updates. The latest recruit had been struck at Draco again.
"The latest bloody recruit, am I? Well Voldemort can shove this recruitment shit up his own ass for all I care," Draco mumbled to himself before falling back onto his bed and drawing the curtains once again. Damn Snape for reminding him of the newest disaster that Draco Malfoy had to face. First it was time-travel, now it was the initiation into the Death Eaters. Do I never get a break from all this shit? Draco mused to himself.
Draco knew he was in for it. Yes, he had seen Voldemort in this kind of situation before. In fact, all of this brought on a distinct feeling of déjà vu which Draco was most certainly not enjoying. Draco knew that faithful Rabastan Lestrange and his crew of wannabe Death Eaters were most likely at this minute reporting to Voldemort; Snape knew also. Draco was the latest recruit… for becoming a Death Eater, something that no longer appealed to him. Once, it would have been a dream come true; but that was his father's influence.
While Draco knew all about the dangers of becoming a Death Eater, he also knew the dangers of not becoming a Death Eater; once you were on Voldemort's list, you didn't come off until you joined or were taken care of. Snape knew this as much as Draco did, which was definitely the reason for his advice to Draco. Keep a neutral face on, don't show it if you're going against the source. Frankly, Draco was just surprised that Snape was being civil towards him; along with Lestrange, Snape was the ring-leader. Something to muse on, Draco thought before turning around in his bed again, ready for sleep.
End of chapter 3.
Slight changes to chapters 1 & 2, noting major. I've cut Hermione's name down from Mia to just Mi. It's easier to explain that way.
I always thought the Marauders would do something incredibly immature yet funny like record detentions. Sorry if people disagree with the scores, but this is how it struck me; Sirius at the top, James not far behind, then Remus and finally Pete.
Oh yeah, the line "Don't talk, just listen" isn't mine… it comes from the movie Swordfish. Just felt like slipping it in there.
More on Draco's situation is in the upcoming interlude, but the real explanation is going to be around chapter 6. Also, my buddy anniePADFOOT let me borrow a piece she, called A Bunch of Snakes. It's for her one-shot collection, Only A Feeling to do with Slytherin. It has some relevance and I'd recommend reading it. It will eventually be found under her name in Only A Feeling? and I'll probably post it under my name too, as a one-shot. Keep an eye out for it.
Review! Thanks to you who have... hold on quick reply to 2...
s.s.harry: you've reviewed every single chapter… dozens & dozens of dead roses for you! Your reviews bring a smile to my face (they're always so entertaining )
Aeris-Sama: thanks for the compliments. Good to know there are people out there enjoying my stuff. I actually like stories that involve original characters as main ones. I've just discovered that you have loads of stuff based around Laini.... so I'm off to read that. Thanks
Avadne