A/N: This chapter will not be battles and war, it's mostly centered on the lighter things.

"Speaking"

Thinking

Beta needed!

Chapter 12- Normal Life and the Marauder's return

Harry woke with a start, sweat pouring from his skin, his shirt was drenched in it.

Harry looked around and groaned, he was in the hospital wing…again!

Harry put his hand through his hair…he had that dream again…

I must start working on the counter curse

Harry sighed and settled back into the bed, after a couple of long minutes, Harry once again drifted off to sleep.

Harry woke again, this time pleasantly and with sun light streaming in through the windows. Harry grinned as he thought about his dream, Harry's eye traveled around the room again until the came to rest upon the pile of blank parchment on the bedside table, complete with quill and ink bottle.

Harry grinned deviously as he grabbed the bottle…this was going to his debut.

"Did the plan go smoothly"

"No My Lord" The Deatheater said trying to get as low as possible to the ground.

"What! How could they mess up a simple pick-up job! There was only some Cultists for Merlin's sake!" Voldemort raged, his eyes flashing from the dark of the large hood over his head.

"Wrong" A soft but steely voice resounded around the large room.

"There was more than just cultists" The man stepped into the light, although that didn't make much of a difference, everything was covered aside his hands.

Long pale hands clenched, "I thought you said that they couldn't possibly be anymore…is that what you said Voldemort, wasn't that your bargaining chip!" Silver eyes glinted, although his face was in darkness his eyes glowed like small moons.

"Who? Who was there?" Voldemort hissed irritated, as much as he hated to admit it, the Sangai leader scared him slightly,

I'll have to deal with them after I'm done with wizarding world.

"Elementals, Voldemort, elementals! 3 of my people came back alive, and Gabriel gave me a first hand account…you promised us when we joined you that there was no more elementals left in this world"

"Kael, you are not sure that it was an actual elemental" Voldemort hissed.

"I believe their burns speak for themselves" Kael replied.

"Wizards can conjure fire, how do you know it wasn't a normal spell" Voldemort smirked.

"We know the difference Voldemort…our alliance to you is hanging by a thread, if we find anymore elementals we will leave, we are not going against our pact" Kael said before turning disappearing.

Yes…he has touched on this 'pact' before…I must know what it is

"Wormtail!" Voldemort shouted and within moments a cowering figure was in front of him.

"Get Malfoy" Voldemort told him, and Wormtail left and returned with the platinum haired head of the Malfoy Family.

"The Sangai are worried about an appearance of elementals recently, I want you to go to Hogwarts and see if that old muggle loving fool has anything to do with it. And Lucius I want your son to help the search" Voldemort paused to observe them, before nodding.

"Leave Wormtail" Voldemort hissed, Peter turned, "and Wormtail…you know what will happen if you fail" Wormtail nodded very fast and stuttered something along the lines of, "I won't master".

Peter turned again, and Voldemort cursed him, "Crucio" Voldemort muttered, his maniacal smirk visible through the darkness caused by the hood.

Once he was sure that Peter had enough he relented and Wormtail vanished whimpering.

Voldemort turned to the remaining Deatheater, "Lucius, I want you to search everywhere you can about a pact concerning Elementals and Sangai"

Malfoy nodded and bowed, Voldemort smirked again and raised his wand…his cruel laughter ringing through the room.

"Hey Harry, how long till you can escape" Drake joked as he approached Harry's bed, Harry looked his friend over.

He had a few bandages on his body, and a few large bruises but overall Drake seemed perfectly fine and in good spirits.

"Soon" Harry replied smiling.

Drake sat down on the side of Harry's bed, "So, what happened after I passed out" Harry asked.

"Well…first of all, Malfoy jumped up and said 'Yes Potter's dead!' but most were too concerned or frightened to really notice it…Snape was glaring at everyone and I swore I head Dumbledore chuckle" Harry frowned when he heard the part about Malfoy but it soon turned into a smile when he heard about his fellow classmate's reactions.

"You should have seen Ginny, she was furious. She was being restrained by like four people. Apparently she thought that we caused you to collapse" Drake paused for a moment to grin at Harry, and his eyes wondered over to the parchment laying on the table next to Harry's bed.

Drake leant closer and picked it up, Harry blushed as he saw what had drawn Drake's attention.

"This is pretty good, when did you think this up?" Drake said appreciatively.

"It actually came to me when I was sleeping, I thought I should write it down" Harry said sheepishly.

"Well, from what I've heard of your father, I'd say you've certainly got his skill and ingenuity" Drake grinned.

Harry scratched his head, "Yeah, but I want Malfoy to do something better now, because of his 'comment'".

"How about a duet, with Crabbe and then Goyle…and hit Pansy with that one…I can just imagine it now" Drake said with a dreamy expression on his face.

"So when are we going to do it?" Drake asked, Harry shrugged "Tonight? At dinner, what do you think?"

"Do you know how to work these hexes?" Drake asked, eyes traveling down the parchment.

Harry placed a hand to his heart in mock hurt, "Oh, you mock!"

Drake chuckled, "Well do you?" Drake asked again.

"No" Harry said trying to keep a smile off his face.

Drake laughed, "Let's go the library then".

"Have you guys seen Harry or Drake? Apparently Harry's out of the hospital wing" Ginny asked sitting herself down beside Ron and Hermione.

"No…I had to help your dumb brother finish his transfiguration essay" Hermione said jerking her thumb at the red-head shoveling food into his mouth.

"Hello there!" Harry said jovially as he and Drake sat down at the Gryffindor table and began monitoring the doorway

"What were you two doing?" Hermione asked curiously, Harry smiled at her.

"We were making plans for a change of the gloomy atmosphere" Drake said mysteriously.

"Look here he comes" Harry whispered nodding at the doorway where a certain platinum haired Slytherin was strutting over to his house table.

"Yes…that's right…sit in the middle…be the centre of attention like you always are" Drake muttered as Malfoy sat at the middle of the Slytherin table like always.

"What are you two doing?" Ginny muttered under her breath.

"Just watch the show" Harry told them grinning.

Drake glanced at Harry, Harry nodded at him, and they both drew their wands, equally devious grins adorning their features.

Drake muttered something pointing his wand at Malfoy, and after a few moments Harry copied his actions but pointed his wand at someone else…Dumbledore.

Harry didn't know if Dumbledore felt the magic, but he did notice Dumbledore pause before drinking out of the goblet at his lips and look up slightly before giving the slightest shrug, a small smile playing across his face.

"Ok…Phase A done" Harry whispered, "Go time in 3…2…1".

With a resounding pop a great white beard suddenly came into existence on Malfoy's face along with half-moon spectacles and on his robes were the robes 'Gryffindor is the best…I love Potter'.

By now everyone in the hall had noticed and was laughing even his fellow Slytherins.

Another loud popping noise brought everyone attention to their headmaster who was now adorning Slytherin green robes and slicked back Platinum hair with a sneer on his face.

Seeing their old headmaster's wrinkled old face free of his long beard and instead slicked hair and a wrinkled sneer, needless to say the few serious faces in the hall could not hold their charade and were soon laughing.

Harry and Drake were laughing with the rest of them, if not harder, but they managed to get their wits together to whisper to their friends.

"Phase B commencing…now".

And with that short comment, Harry made a gesture with his wand and Draco stood and started to sing.

"Oh Gryffindor! Oh Gryffindor! You are so great, you are so brave, and you have the boy that I crave! Oh Potter oh Potter!" Suddenly Crabbe and Goyle stood up beside him and sang the verse again, their robes instantly changing to revealing two piece swimsuits obviously made for the female gender.

Their attention was once again drawn to Dumbledore as he took to the floor and strutted his way over to Malfoy, grabbed him and started to tango.

After several minutes of dancing with backup music from Crabbe and Goyle, a large and ornate M appeared in the air with smaller writing 'the new generation', and as the M disappeared Malfoy, Dumbledore, Crabbe and Goyle came back to their senses.

Malfoy jumped back from Dumbledore and ran from the hall squealing with Crabbe and Goyle not far behind trying to hide their bodies from view.

Dumbledore chuckled and made his way back to his seat, as Dumbledore's back was turned Harry nodded at Drake who muttered something with his wand pointed at Dumbledore and instantly he was returned to normal aside from the fact he now had a gold M imprinted onto the front of his robes.

The roar of laughter had yet to dim, so Harry and Drake settled back in their seats and sighed in content.

"Bloody hell, that was brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, and Harry gave him a look that told him to shut-up and surprisingly he did.

"Let's head to the common room" Harry said loudly and made his way over to the door.

……..

"How come you didn't include us" Ron asked a little hurt after he, Hermione and Ginny were told about Harry and Drake's prank.

"Sorry…but we thought you would be in the library anyway" Harry said sheepishly.

"Tell you what…why don't we go into the Slytherin dungeon and play some pranks eh?" Harry asked jovially.

"I don't know…right now…at this time of the night, I think I might stay behind" Hermione told them worry apparent on her face.

"Aw Hermione, c'mon, it will be fun!" Ron whined, Hermione frowned "No thanks…I don't find it all that fun although I find the result funny….sorry" Hermione added the last part in a whisper.

"Don't worry Hermione, it's perfectly natural for a Prefect to think that way…Ron is just weird" Drake said grinning, for once Ron didn't take offence and just laughed as well.

"But could you do one thing for us? Could you put 4 pairs of Transfiguration books out and also a 5th year one as well…along with used parchment, please?" Harry asked.

Hermione smiled and nodded, "Now Hermione, this might be the beginning of a second generation of the Marauders…while you may not think it importance, relieving the tension is just as important as anything else in this time of fear and tension. Are you sure you don't want a part of that" Harry asked staring into Hermione's eyes, a crooked smile on his lips.

Hermione bit her lip and was obviously debating by herself.

Drake interjected, "How about you be our behind the scenes person…for excuses and planning but you don't really get pinned for it".
Hermione grinned, "Now that I can do" she said and went off to get the books she need to look like they had been studying.

"You want to come Ginny" Harry asked, Ginny nodded eagerly.

"Ok, you and Ron take my invisibility cloak" Harry said standing and wrapping his traveling cloak around himself.

"What about you and Drake" she asked frowning.

Drake smirked "Harry and I have no need for such things…do we Harry", Harry replied in an equally pompous voice, "you're too right, dear boy", everyone laughed.

"Ok, lets go" Harry said putting the Marauder's map in his pocket.

Harry and Drake backed up to a wall, "Keep quiet you two…we will lead you" Harry said and disappeared into the shadow closely followed by Drake.

Ginny, Ron and Hermione stared at the wall in wonder for a few moments before Ron and Ginny left through the portrait hole.

…..

Harry and Drake kept very close to the border between the shadow and the actual hallway so they were able to see and hear.

"Where do we go from here Harry" Ginny whispered to no-one, hoping Harry could hear her.
(You know where the entrance to the Slytherin Common room is Harry?)

(Yeah I just found out…you think if they took a deep breath we could get them there)

(Yes…I'll follow you)

"Take a deep breath and approach the wall to your left" Harry's disembodied voice told them.

Ron and Ginny exchanged looks but did as they were told, "Deep breath" Harry urged again as he came even closer to the border between shadow and light, so that his fingers were just about to poke through.

Harry closed his eyes and spread outwards with his magic, after a few attempts he could feel Ron and Ginny's magic.

Ginny saw what looked like a human arm come out of the wall shrouded with shadow and grab her around the waist.

Ginny breathed in deeply, and was pulled straight into the wall as was Ron.

For a moment there was total darkness then she saw faint light approaching as she was pushed from behind towards it.

She and Ron came out of the Shadow, stumbling slightly, into a totally different part of the castle then they were in before.

"Welcome to the Slytherin Common room" Harry's voice said to them.

A/N: Another chap done. You will hear about the pranks in the next chapter. Does anybody know why was submitting in bold for some reason?

The next chapter is going to be a bit light-hearted still.

Enjoy the change while you can.

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