Harry Potter is not mine, and hey, he never will be. Darn… those emerald green eyes, the color of a fresh-pickled toad, will never be mine, although I have a pair of them myself! Well back to the story… enjoy it!

Chapter Six.

The Marauders Ride Again

"IT'S YOU!" snarled the unmistakable voice.

Right after Harry had put his hand on the door, something unexpected had happened.

"I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT MY TRAITOROUS SON WOULD PICK YOU!"

Everyone jumped. What had just been the green, snake shaped doorknocker had transfigured itself into something else. Someone else. The grimy and scowling face of Mrs. Black, which was eyeing Harry with her hate filled eyes, was sticking out of the door.

"I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! WITH HIS BETRAYING MY NOBLE HOME THAT HE WOULD THINK OF DOING THIS. OF HIS DISGRACING ME MORE THAN EVER BEFORE! EVEN AFTER HIS WORTHLESS HIDE LIVES NO MORE! FIRST LETTING MUDBLOODS, HALF-BREEDS, BLOOD TRAITORS, HALF BLOODS AND FILTH ENTER THE HOME OF MY FATHERS! AND NOW THIS BOY HERE WILL TAKE IT ALL AWAY! HE WILL TAKE AWAY MY HOME! HE IS TAKING IT AWAY FROM THE MOST ANCIENT AND HONORABLE HOUSE OF BLACK! AND WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME, FILTH? YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE MY NOBLE HOME FOR GOOD AS WELL? WELL I AM NOT LEAVING… EVER!"

Here everybody looked around, as if to see if anyone had noticed them standing there or if they had heard Mrs. Black's loud and harsh shouting. Fred and George were clearly regretting having told Harry to touch the door, as they found that being shouted at by the grime covered face of a madwoman not to their liking at all.

"WELL? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? FOOLS. FILTH. FRIENDS OF MY TRAITOROUS SON! OPEN THIS DOOR! I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"

With that, her head changed back into the snake doorknocker and the door creaked open slightly, to reveal what had just recently become Harry's House.

In the stunned silence that followed Mrs. Black's unexpected appearance and startling words, everybody had been looking around nervously around at one another, totally shocked about what had just occurred. Ron was the first person to come to his senses.

"Bloody hell! What was that all about? And why did she have to shout so darn loud?"

"That was Mrs. Black, Ronald. Surely you would know that."

"I knew quiet well who that was, thank you very much Hermione! There was no reason to be so smug about the whole thing you know. Honestly."

Hermione ignored his last remark, as she was still puzzling over how the whole incident had happened in the first place.

"Well, there must have been some type of transfiguration on the knocker if it was to change into her head." I thought aloud to myself. "But I wonder if it were a type of dark magic which allowed it to speak its mind at us like that. Or is it even dark magic at all? I know that there are some spells that can make an object speak, but none of the ones I know sounded like that just did. It would make sense that it was dark magic, just because of the type of woman she was, and doubly so because she was one of the Blacks of whom Sirius despised. But then again, it could just be a spell that I do not know yet. But anyways, I hope I can figure out what it is exactly."

"Hermione."

Lupin called my attention to himself. I felt ashamed to realize that I had not been listening to a Professor. No not a professor, but an adult. I never did that before.

"Hermione. Please do not think aloud. You may not know that you are doing so, but here it is deathly important that you do not do that."

I am so mortified. Not only was I not listening to him, I was speaking my thoughts aloud.

"By the way Hermione, that was a nice theory you had going on back then. And Harry? I believe that it is safe to open the door now. Mrs. Black is gone back to her picture I presume."

Once everyone was inside, the door was shut, replacing the bright daylight with a dim and faltering musty light. I looked up to see the source. The light was coming from a globe of what looked like liquid gray fire with silver within it. It looked like it had been enchanted in the Black Family colors to give off light, but the enchantment seemed to have been fading gradually for quite some time. I could see that because there was more gray than silver. There was also some black, but that was also fading. The few silver specks were what gave off light, I did not know what the black specks did, or why they were in there in the first place. I then noticed that painted around the globe were several evil looking snakes. They seemed to give it a sinister appearance in the flickering light.

"Hermione? Are you ok? You looked rather…"

With a start I drew my eyes away from those of the painted snake. While I had been looking at the light, I had not been able, or willing to move or look away, but Ron had broken me from my strange trance like state with the sound of my voice. Huffily I answered, annoyed that I had spaced out, unintentional or not.

"Yes Ronald! Why? Did you expect anything else? And do you have anything else to say? We really need to hurry up! We are getting behind schedule."

"But you were staring at that lamp…"

He trailed off. I was glad he did. I grimaced. I had just thought of something.

"Why did he have to have this effect on me? Yes, though we were best friends, we were always fighting or arguing over many things, many of them stupid ones. And every time we fought, he always sounded indifferent or aloof, never with a touch of compassion. And when he would find out about me writing to Victor… then he would actually fume! And call him Vicky. I believe that he would do that just to annoy me. But except for several things, Ron has never shown much emotion. But back there? I was confused. He sounded almost, almost anxious. Was he anxious about me? Or worried that he would not get home in time to play Quiddich? But why would he worry about me? I mean, its not as if he actually likes me. I know for a fact that he doesn't. Not that way anyways. He likes me as a friend, nothing more. I mean, he has always had the emotional range of a teaspoon… hasn't he? But back there, he had almost, just almost, sounded concerned, as if he did care."

I shook my head to rid myself of that thought to find that everyone was staring strangely at me.

"Did I think out loud again?"

"No. And umm Hermione?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Are you ok? I mean you seemed rather spaced out just a moment ago."

"Yes, I am actually. Thank you for caring Harry." Harry seemed relieved at my answer. "I was just thinking about something."

"All right then, Hermione."

"And Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we could get rid of that lamp up there? It gives me the cree… no Harry! Don't look at it. Harry! Look at me!"

"What was that Hermione? Did you just say something? I could not think clearly for a moment. Do you think we should get rid of that light Moony? Or just replace the enchantment and snakes?"

"Harry?" I spoke up, having come to a reasonable conclusion to the lamp theory. "I believe that this lamp puts you into a type of trance. You are then unable to move, speak, or think for yourself until someone directs a comment at you."

After I was finished, Professor, no, Lupin spoke up.

"Harry, I am not too sure that it even needs to comes down. Yes, we could most certainly change the enchantment to your favorite color, or colors, and change the snakes to lions or phoenixes if it pleases you, but there are many different ways in which it could be put to a good cause." Here he paused. "For instance, if someone unpleasant were to make his or her way into the house, it is possible you know, then if they looked at it, the same effect would happen to them, and they would not be able to move, speak, or think clearly until you had freed them with your voice. Yes, it could be annoying if you were here alone, but as this one is old, its grim on your mind could not last for more than ten minutes at a time. And if the enchantment were changed to your colors and magic, then it would not affect you at all."

"Weird!"

"That is so strange."

Fred and George had spoken up together.

"Maybe we should create something like that for our joke shop! We do have Lee for testing it on you know." George mused, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"And Ron if it works out just right." Fred added.

Ron spoke up indignantly. "Talk for yourself Fred! I am not getting tested on!"

I just had to smother a giggle at that. As everyone knew, yes, even Mrs. Weasley, the twins joke shop was a big success. They had even been able to hire an assistant to help out. They had hired for their assistant, none other than Lee Jordan, their friend and former Hogwarts Quiddich commentator. Fred and George used Lee as a test subject almost as much as they used themselves. One week, Lee and gone around Diagon Alley with a full mane of hair. Red like the twins and, for some reason the hair was streaked with gray. Another week, they had been advertising Amazingly Fruity Gum, which changed the chewer's hair into the color of the gum for a few hours. Soon you could be seeing some drastic changes in the young people who visited Diagon Alley. Small boys would emit a glass shattering lions roar without taking a breath, and there was a rainbow of colors in their customers' hair. Why even she, Hermione, at Ginny's insistence of course, had broken her strict no gum rule and had tried a piece of Shockingly Red Raspberry, which had turned her hair a bright red which could rival the hair of the Weasley clan.

I was startled out of my thoughts by Lupin's reply to Fred and George's question.

"Boys, I am not too sure that that would be that," Fred and Georges faces fell, "That bad of an idea."

I had to laugh at the expression that had just appeared on the twins' faces. It was as if Christmas had come five months early.

"Do you mean…?"

"Yes, I actually have a copy of the actual spell that was used to enchant it. If you would like a copy of it, the Marauders would be pleased to give you one of their copies of the spell, along with several others."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I believe that the Marauders used it several times in some of their pranks. I believe that they got the idea from this very lamp, believe it or not. Please tell me how your products turn out. I may need to buy some myself, before too long."

Fred and George were grinning from ear to ear now. Their replies were all jumbled up, they were in such a hurry to get them out of their mouths.

"Of course!"

"We would love to Lupin ol' chap!"

"You can be our Senior Troublemaker in residence if you please."

"You will get all our first products!"

"We are proud to continue the honorable name of the Marauders!"