Chapter 6- Monday

Harry sat in the Great Hall, mindlessly watching his sister while eating his breakfast. She looked so real. Her features were perfect like those of a china doll, but her face was bright and full of life. Harry loved to watch her, as she was so energetic. She made him feel tired just looking at her.

Ron and Hermione marched into the hall, side by side. People gave them nasty looks, as they joined Harry at Gryffindor table. Neither Hermione nor Ron had noticed, so Harry thought it would be best not to tell them.

'You alright Prongs?' Ron said, as he took a seat beside Harry.

'Fine.' Harry replied. 'What do we have first lesson?'

'Potions.' Hermione groaned. 'But before then, I think we need to talk.'

The boys looked at Hermione, and both nodded their heads.

After a swift breakfast, they headed up to the owlery for some privacy.

'So what is it?' Ron sulked, because he had been pulled away from his food.

'We need to talk about how to get home.' She said, emotionlessly.

'How to get home?' Ron asked. 'Do we have to?'

'Of course we do!' Hermione shrieked. 'We can't just stay in this other world forever!'

'Why not?' Ron asked, kicking some hay with his foot. 'It's a lot nicer here. We're popular, I'm rich, I have a girlfriend.'

'Who?' Hermione asked quickly.

'I don't know, but I have one!' Ron said. 'It's great here.'

'What do you think Harry?' Hermione asked with her arms crossed, obviously expecting backup.

'I'm with Ron.' Harry said plainly. 'It's perfect here, and I think we deserve a break from the war.'

'A break! Is that what you think this is?' Hermione exclaimed.

'No, I just...' Harry mumbled, before a silence filled the room. 'I have a family here, Hermione. I have parents, a sister. I don't want to leave just yet.'

Hermione looked from Harry's pleading face, to Ron's. She caved.

'Ok.' She said. 'But we can't stay here forever.'

'We wont.' Harry smiled. 'Don't worry, I'm not running away from the war, just taking a break from it. I've been under too much pressure, and here, here I can have fun. Carefree fun.'

'Talking of fun, did you see that prank we did?' Ron grinned with excitement.

'Of course.' Hermione said, rolling her eyes. 'I have to admit, it was good.'

'Thank you.' Harry grinned, and did a small bow.

'Now before we head to lessons, I think there's a few things you should know.' Hermione stated. 'I know since you got here, you two have been pulling pranks and all sorts. I, on the other hand, have been looking up history.'

'Trust you to spend the whole time in the library.' Ron said, rolling his eyes.

'I haven't spent the whole time in the library.' Hermione said, defensively. 'I just looked up some basic history. I bet you didn't know that although there is no Dark Lord here, there are death eaters.'

'Death eaters?' Harry questioned. 'Why?'

'Why not?' She replied. 'The Death eaters are the same here as they were there. The only difference is that here they can do very little, because they have no master. Lucius Malfoy became their leader 13 years ago for a short period of time, before being murdered.'

'Lucius is dead?' Ron said. 'That must be how I'm rich. I know Dad got promoted loads at the ministry. He probably got promoted because there was no Malfoy to put in a bad word for him.'

'Exactly.' Hermione grinned. 'Now I suggest we head to Potions.'

The trio strolled to Potions, but were met with a peculiar occurrence as they approached the door.

'Is that...laughing?' Ron asked.

They walked into the room, to find the whole class laughing and joking.

'Over here!' Seamus called. 'We saved you some space.'

The trio weaved through the hectic crowd, and pulled seats around Seamus and Dean's table.

'Where were you guys this morning?' Dean asked.

'Owlery.' Ron said coolly, and no more questions were asked.

They chatted loudly for a few more minutes, until a loud voice silenced them.

'Hey everyone!'

It was Sirius. He wore a deep red robe, and his hair tied back in a ponytail. The smile he wore was genuine, and his face looked young and pure.

Many of the girls sighed as he entered the room, much to the boys dismay.

'Today we are supposed to be doing a test.' Sirius explained to the class, sitting on top of his desk, holding a pile of parchment. 'But I don't like tests. If you ask me, they suck the fun out of learning. I can give you estimated NEWT grades without you lot having to do a test, so here's what I'm going to do.'

Sirius levitated the exam papers, before blowing them to smithereens. The whole class cheered, and Sirius laughed.

'So instead, I have set a potion for us to do.' Sirius explained. 'It's quite a difficult one, but I think you'll enjoy it.'

Sirius waved his wand, and a set on instructions appeared on the board.

'The potion we are going to complete today, is the giddy potion. It's a potion which when taken, makes the drinker giddy, and dare I say it, giggly.' Sirius grinned, at a group of girls who giggled. 'It's a potion usually given to people when they get depressed, but I think I will do quite fine for today. So lets get this party started!'

Harry, Ron and Hermione, skipped out of the class room two hours later, with high spirits.

They had just had the best Potions lesson imaginable. Sirius had put on some music while they worked, and everybody had been singing and laughing non stop. Surprisingly, nobody made a single mistake, and every potion was perfect. Sirius was so proud that he dished out some chocolate frogs at the end of the lesson.

Next lesson was Care of Magical creatures. The trio were looking forward to seeing Hagrid, as they hadn't seen him at all in this world, which was strange considering his size.

They strolled comfortably towards Hagrid's cabin, as the giddy potion wore off, and took a place at the back of the crowd.

'Good morning class.' Said a familiar voice, but it wasn't Hagrid's.

'Good Morning Professor Lupin.' Chirped a blond Hufflepuff boy, at the front of the crowd.

The trio stood on tiptoe, to see Lupin over the crowd.

'Everyone sit down.' Lupin smiled, and the class sat down on the grass.

'That's better. Now today we are going to study unicorns. I know we have briefly covered them before, but this year we are going to actually feed, and maybe ride them.'

An approving murmur hung over the crowd.

'That's enough.' Lupin warned. 'Now I would like the girls to come and see the

unicorns first, followed by the boys. I have two silvery white ones, which are nearly fully grown, and three younger gold ones. Now girls, follow me.'

The lesson turned out to be possibly the best they had ever had. The unicorns disliked the boys, but were beautiful to watch from a distance anyway. The only boy one unicorn did like, was the blond Hufflepuff who was at the front of the group earlier. The unicorn let him feed her.

At the end of the lesson, nobody wanted to leave. They wanted to stay longer, but Lupin insisted he let the unicorns go back to the forbidden forest. Lavender and Parvati asked if they could help walk them back, but Lupin declined their offer, insisting that everyone should head to lunch.

The trio wandered back to the castle, discussing the days events, when Harry noticed something.

'Hey, isn't that Neville?' Harry asked, pointing to the blond Hufflepuff boy.

'Yea, that is.' Ron said, in a hushed but surprised voice. 'Why isn't he in Gryffindor?'

'Maybe in this world, he doesn't feel like he has to prove himself.' Hermione suggested knowingly. 'Remember, In our world he grew up with his Gran, who puts him down a lot. She tells him he has to live up to the family name. In this world he has parents, who I'm sure love him no matter what.'

'Then that settles it.' Harry said. 'This world is miles better then our world.'

Hermione went quiet for a moment.

'I was thinking about maybe telling Dumbledore.' Hermione whispered.

'You can't!' Ron begged. 'Just give us a little longer.'

The trio entered the Great Hall, and sat themselves with the two missing Marauders. They were just enjoying a peaceful lunch, when Erin ran over.

'Hey bro.' She grinned. 'I just booked us a Quidditch practice for Friday, as you seem incapable of booking them. Is that ok?'

'Fine.' He said, looking at his fellow Marauders. 'Great.'

'Ok, I'll go tell the others.' Erin smiled, then skipped away.

'Bonkers that one.' Dean sighed.

'Bonkers, but bloody gorgeous.' Seamus admitted.

'Moony!' Harry whined. 'That's my sister you're talking about!'

'Like you're one to talk.' Seamus said, rolling his eyes.

Harry didn't comment. He wasn't sure what Seamus meant, and decided to momentarily discard it.

The afternoon lessons for the trio were Charms and Transfiguration, which were practically the same as before. The only difference was that when the trio arrived, all the girls looked dreamily at Ron and Harry, and stared daggers at Hermione. Also, the boys all gawked at Hermione. Harry could understand why. He had never thought of Hermione romantically, but it was hard to miss her long legs, with her short skirts.

Ron waited until after school to comment on Hermione's clothes. The trio were on their way to the kitchens, to meet the other Marauders, when Ron popped the question.

'Why are you dressing like that?' He asked, almost too nicely.

'What ever do you mean?' Hermione asked, playing dumb.

'I mean, your skirts are shorter than before.' Ron blushed. 'And your shirts are, err, smaller. And you roll the sleeves up.'

'I never knew you were so observant.' Hermione mused. 'I'm just trying to keep in character, unlike the two of you. The other Ron would have his shirt fully untucked, and the other Harry's hair would be messier.'

The boys adjusted themselves, before tickling the pear and entering.

Inside were Seamus and Dean, surrounded by about 20 house elves.

'We need 50 cream pies.' Dean bellowed over the group.

'And hurry up with them!' Seamus ordered.

'You can't just order the house elves around like that!' Hermione called angrily.

'Since when did you care?' Dean asked.

'Since... now.' Hermione gulped, then looked at Ron and Harry. They both gave her meaningful looks. 'Never mind...'

'What're the pies for?' Harry asked Seamus, who was reading a piece of parchment.

'Just another prank.' He said simply.

'We're going to throw them at the Slytherin Quidditch team.' Dean grinned. 'That is, once we get the flying catapults.'

'I've got them!' A friendly voice called.

Harry was surprised to see that it was Erin. She was wearing a denim skirt, a yellow t-shirt, and her trademark boots and smile. She levitated the catapults into the room, and dropped them in front of Dean, who gave her a high five.

'Now all we need is the pies.' Ron smiled, hopefully.

'Elves!' Dean bellowed. 'How long till we get those pies?'

'Just a few minutes, I think.' A house elf with grey eyes said. 'Pinky will go check them now.'

'Good.' Seamus grinned, then called. 'You, house elf!'

Hermione was ready to kill.

'Get me a drink, would you?' Seamus said. 'Some butter beer, unless you got something stronger.'

'Right away.' The house elf cried. 'Loopy will be right back.'

In just a few minutes, the pies were ready. 25 house elves brought them out, one in each hand. They passed their pies to Erin, who counted them and passed them to the Marauders.

'44 pies, thanks Lacey.' Erin said, towards the end. '46 pies, cheers Blinky, 48 pies, pass them here Browny, and 50, including Dandys.'

'How do you remember all their names?' Ron asked, pointing to the house elves, dumbstruck. 'And how do you know who is who? They all look the same if you ask me.'

'You know I come to see the house elves a lot.' Erin told Ron. 'How could I not know all their names?'

'He's got a point Erin.' Dean agreed with Ron. 'There's like a hundred of them!'

'But they all have their own personalities and feelings.' Hermione cut in.

'Exactly.' Erin sighed. 'They're people too.'

A large smile crept onto Hermione's face. There was someone else who felt the same way as her. She looked like Christmas had come early.

'Some people just don't understand, do they?' Hermione asked Erin.

'No.' She said, shaking her head.

'Well less about that.' Seamus said, rolling his eyes. 'Lets get this show on the road!'

Just as they were about to leave, the kitchen door swung open, and in strolled Sirius.

'Well, well, well.' He grinned, a look of pure amusement on his face. 'What do we have here?'

'Not 50 pies and 4 catapults.' Erin grinned like a five year old.

'Don't you try that with me.' He grinned at Erin. 'Fluttering your eye lashes may work with your father, but not with me I'm afraid.'

Erin shrugged her shoulders, and walked away.

'So what are you planning?' Sirius asked, whilst examining the catapults.

'We were just going to fling some pies at the Slytherin Quidditch team, Professor Black.' Dean answered. 'As you do.'

'Fair enough.' Sirius said, nodding his head. He poked his finger in the nearest pie, and brought it out. 'Cream. Next time use cherry pies, they make a bigger mess.'

'We'll keep that in mind.' Ron said, smiling.

'Well I'd better be off.' Sirius said, picking up a mug of butterbeer. 'I only came down for a drink. If anyone asks, I wasn't here.'

'You mean you aren't going to stop us?' Harry asked confused.

'Nah.' Sirius said. 'Infact, I think I might go and watch.'

'And you aren't going to give us detention?' Ron asked, confused.

'You ready think I would give the Marauder Jrs detention?' Sirius asked. 'And my own god children?'

'You ought to really.' Hermione said, crossing her arms.

'Probably.' Sirius mused. 'But I won't. I'm just going to pretend I didn't see you, if that's ok?.'

Sirius left the room, chuckling to himself.

'That man is a god.' Dean grinned.

'I know.' Harry smiled.

They pie prank went brilliantly. The Slytherin's got completely covered in pie, and the whole school was laughing. It was a prank which would go down in history. A prank people would be talking about for years.

After dinner, the Marauders, with the addition of Erin and Hermione, lazed by the fire in the common room.

'What a day.' Erin sighed.

'Yea.' Harry grinned.

'I don't think the Slytherin's are ever going to forgive us.' Seamus mused.

'Our next Quidditch match is definitely going to be interesting.' Dean laughed.

'I dread to think.' Ron yawned.

'Well I'm going up to bed.' Hermione announced.

'Me too.' Erin said. 'So I can get some peace and quiet, and do some homework.'

'You're such a square!' Dean exclaimed, and Erin poked her tongue out.

The girls headed off to bed, leaving the boys in silence.

'Do you think we ought to do some homework?' Seamus asked innocently. 'We have an essay due in tomorrow for History of magic.'

'Nah.' Dean said closing his eyes. 'History of magic is last lesson. We still have time.'