Disclaimer: To whomever in question, the Marauders, Hogwarts, all don't belong to bunny chan. In fact, the only thing she owns is just the Marauders [uhm, their personality, at least], Loopy Village [which she doubts exist], minor characters and Adele Varens ^_^ those mage stuff are my conjurations, so don't you DARE mess with them!
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The Marauding Five : Year SevenChapter 6: Stars Beneath The Waning Moon
'Ha-ha-ha-achoo!!!' Adele sneezed.
'What's wrong with you? You've been outdoors only during Remus's transformation, and we're at the shack then, with loads of fur,' Sirius snapped, looking up his comic book. 'And that's just three days.'
'I'm sensitive,' Adele muttered, sneezing again. 'Speaking of Remus, where'd he go again? He promised to help me with my Transfiguration.'
'Are you dense or what?' Sirius said hotly. 'Where else would he be after a transformation BUT at the Infirmary? Stupid!'
'He fell off his bed this morning. The wrong side, it so happens,' James whispered to Adele.
'Which side's the wrong side?' Adele asked.
'The wrong side, of course!'
'Yes, but WHICH?'
'The WRONG one.'
'Okay, WHICH WRONG ONE?'
'There's only one wrong one and one right one,' Lily piped in. 'I woke up on the right one!' she announced bubbly.
'Uh, yeah, okay. You woke up at the left side of the bed…' Adele said thoughtfully. 'Does that means that… the left side is the right side? Or is it the other way round? Or- or—argh!!!!! I'm confused!!!!!! HACHOO!'
'Bless you,' Lily said.
'Thank YOU-CHOO!!!!'
'Bless you again.'
'It's not a blue moon this month, is it?' Sirius asked, groaning. 'I don't feel like I can take anymore of these. How on earth Remus bear with it????'
'Dunno. But I know we'll be having a nice sleep tonight! I feel the urge to eat bamboo shoots each time I transform,' Adele said cheerfully. 'Achoo!'
'Snow…' Lily murmured quietly, staring out the misty window thoughtfully. 'Is it going to snow again…?'
'Call the weather forecast stations,' Sirius advised.
'It's been snowing for three days already,' James noted, joining Lily at the windowsill. 'Ever since the second day of the full moon.'
'And it's CHRISTMAS tomorrow!!!' Adele cried, pleased at the very thought of getting presents. 'Yay! Presents!!!! ACHOO!'
'Christmas…' Lily echoed in the same far-away tone. 'Yeah, Christmas!' she said, in a much brighter manner.
'See, even Lily traded her moody thoughts for it!' Adele cheered. 'Christmas is the best season, after all, since we get presents and food and… TURKEY!!!!'
'Are you thinking about Thanksgiving?' Sirius said accusingly.
'They both have turkey,' Adele concluded smugly. 'Hogwarts seem kinda empty this year, doesn't it? I keep hearing my own echoes down the empty hallways.'
'That's cause everyone wants to be at home during Christmas,' James said matter-of-factly, 'and besides, Voldemort has been silent lately. D'you think he's working on his plan? You know, the one he said in his message.'
'I wouldn't know,' Lily shrugged, pulling out her crystal ball. 'Here, why don't you gaze in it and tell me what you see?'
The three Marauders squinted at the divination tool.
'It's… all fog,' Sirius said doubtfully. 'Does it mean that it's gonna snow again?'
'Could it be because you're bad at Divination?' Adele mocked with a smug.
'No, it's just fog!' James protested. 'That's just it! Loads and loads of fog!'
'You're bad too, Jimmy,' Adele scorned.
'Actually, Adele, it really is just fog,' Lily said, laughing.
'Eh? You mean it's not their stupidity?'
'We resent that!' the boys snapped.
'The outcome is totally unpredictable,' Lily said, carefully keeping the crystal ball in its cushioned box.
'Talk about luxury for just a astrology took,' Adele said sarcastically.
'You mean you want her to just dump your present to her into her bag, like how she throws her books in?' James asked. 'That can be fixed…'
'No!!!! I spent 50 galleons on it!' Adele screeched. 'Achoo!'
'We know, we know,' James hummed.
'If you do, you won't try to spoil it!' she retorted.
'I didn't!'
'You tried to!'
'But he didn't,' Sirius snapped.
**
'They would be far beyond control of themselves, not being able to adjust to their metamorphosis… and THEN, they shall be MINE! HAHAHAHAHAHA!' the low hissing voice murmured to himself eagerly. 'They will be mine.' Then he sneered.
Lord Voldemort fingered the white marble pieces lying on the old chessboard before him. It showed not even a single trace of being a wizard's chess.
'Adele Varens…' the Rook jumped up, as if alive, and moved forward.
'Remus Lupin…' the Knight slid to the middle of the board.
'Sirius Black…' the Bishop joined the two before it.
'Lily Evans…' the Queen reluctantly went to the three pieces.
'James Potter…' There was a pause. The King refused to budge. Voldemort grabbed it and glued it forcefully to the middle of the board. Literally.
'Heh. And my pets… the pawns,' the Dark Lord resumed. 'Let's see if you have cracked my little riddles yet. Let's see your metamorphosis, and let's see how you bow to me…' He punctuated it with one of his obsessive mad laughter.
Black shadows shuffled behind him, cackling soundlessly to themselves.
**
'Ha-choo!!!'
'Where in Merlin's name did you go to, Adele Varens, to catch a pneumonia???' Lily demanded crossly.
'I don't know!' Adele sniffed in self-pity. 'Does it take that long to understand such a simple statement?? Geez! And you're supposed to be the fastest to grasp things!'
'Hmph!' Lily huffed grumpily as she moved on to empty her prank trunk #2 (#1 was emptied a week earlier), not pleased at all at being insulted.
'Why're you emptying your stuff?' Adele asked in puzzlement as Lily wrote the contents off to Bluebells' Cup.
'Are you kidding?? McGonagall is already suspecting that I have my pranks hidden in HUGE quantities somewhere in this dorm!' Lily cried indignantly, shoving some out-dated – probably expired – Dungbomb cream cake in Adele's face. Adele sneezed again. The Dungbomb then made its own decision to explode on the raven-haired girl, covering her in sour cream. Lily laughed hilariously at Adele's state.
'You have a baa~ad sense of humour, girl,' Adele scowled, leaving hurriedly for the washroom. As Sirius's motto goes, "You never know what's in a potion till you've gone through with it for 56 hours!"
That cream cake junk was made by the clown.
It probably practised Sirius's motto, too.
'I know it!' Lily called after her gleefully, tying the last of her boxed prized possessions. She sighed, wondering how is she able to cope without any pranks until McGonagall decided that her HeadGirl is NOT guilty and positively innocent (hah, Lily snorted) when the ten students of Hogwarts – not including the Marauders – turned into chickens.
It was an amusing sight.
But now the Head of Gryffindor Miss Deputy Headmistress looked quite determined to bring Lily to her knees by raiding her dorm. And Lily isn't taking any risks at all with her precious prank books.
'LILY, YOU IDIOT!!!!' Adele screamed. 'What spell did you let Sirius put on the cream??? It wouldn't wash off!'
'Uhh, I don't know… why? What's wrong with walking around with a white-brown cream on your face?' Lily replied sweetly, cackling to herself in amusement. 'Oh, aside from being a good dessert for the owls, I mean.'
'Walking with cream is fine, Evans,' Adele snapped.
'Oh? It is?'
'—But SMELLING like bad dairy is NOT!!!'
'Take it easy there!' Lily laughed. 'It'll wear off in about two hours, if you're lucky.' There was a pause in the bathroom.
'What if I'm not lucky, then?'
'Oh, nothing serious. You'll just smell like bad cream for three days.
'NOTHING SERIOUS???' Adele hissed.
'Well, could've been worse,' Lily said thoughtfully. 'You could've turned into a cow for a few hours.'
A loud thunderous "moo" came in reply, anger colouring even in its echo. Lily turned and stared at her friend.
'Well. I believe that you chose to be very unlucky, then.'
**
'Hey, where's Adele?' Tally asked, spoken her chicken absent-mindedly into her orange juice. Dan kindly saved her orange juice from becoming too oily with the fried chicken. 'I thought she said she was hungry enough to eat a buffalo two hours ago.'
'Well… let's just say she kinda turned into one,' Sirius grinned maliciously. Remus snorted into his noodles.
'Whaddyou mean, turn into one?' Jeremiah Jones asked suspiciously.
'Weeell, don't you think Adele's make a nice healthy cow?' Lily chirped. 'With lovely black spots and a pink nose? Too bad she doesn't wear earrings, or she might have a ring on her nose, too!' Lily cackled with glee.
'Ssh, Minnie's looking this way!' James hushed, stuffing his spoon of asparagus into his fiancée's (yes?) mouth. Lily coughed it out and gave everyone a broad smile.
'Aaw, don't worry! I'm the innocent goodie-goodie two shoes of a HeadGirl, remember?'
'Oh sure you are. Innocent,' Tally muttered, remembering the time when she suddenly sprouted feathers and began clucking on the table.
'I'm SO GLAD you agreed with me!' Lily gushed happily, just as McGonagall stomped towards them.
'Where is Varens?' the Transfiguration mistress demanded.
'I don't know,' Remus said blankly. 'Maybe Sirius does.'
'No I don't. I didn't see her. Ask James!'
'Not guilty, Minnie! Last I saw her, she was with Lily.'
'Hey! Don't push it to me! She was with you, James, not me!'
'I was positive she was with you!'
'No, you!'
'No! It's you!'
'You!'
'You.'
'You.'
'You.'
'You.'
The ranges of the HeadStudents' voices are pretty amusing.
'James, don't deny it, she was with you!'
'Nope, with you.'
'You.'
'You!'
'You...!!!!'
'You!!!'
'You. You, you, you, you, you! YOU.'
'Oh no you don't! it's YOU. You, you, you, you, you!!!!!!'
'Liar.'
'Look who's talking.'
'I'm not the liar! I saw you two…' Lily racked her brains for a quick excuse. '…making out….' Lily paused thoughtfully. Silently, she pondered: 'Uhh??? Now where'd that come from? Oh, from Sita and Nina's convo… bad bad influence.'
'WHAT?!?!' Melissa Black shrieked, as did the other Marauders.
'Hey. Hey Tal, what is making out?' Lily hissed to Tally. The blonde girl stared at her.
'You mean you don't know???'
'No, so hurry up and tell me,' Lily said impatiently.
'SERIOUS? YOU, of all people, don't KNOW what it IS?'
'I appreciate the hushed tone, but it'll be better if you just TELL me.'
Tally's eyes widened to a size of a plate.
'Do you want to be cursed?' Lily threatened, drawing her wand.
Meanwhile, on James's side, things were … in bad shape.
'James, you didn't!!!!' Remus exclaimed in surprise.
'It's just a joke, right?' Melissa demanded.
'Well, you're in luck. It is,' James said.
'It's TRUE???'
'Potter,' Sirius sighed sympathicly, clapping his hand on James's shoulder, 'you're in great, great trouble.'
'What!' James said in defence, 'it's just a joke! Can't you all tell???'
'The more you deny, the truer it is,' Remus grinned. Lily was coughing, after hearing the non-dictionary definition of 'making out'. She looked a little amused, though.
'The original topic, folks, is WHERE ON EARTH IS ADELE CELINE VARENS!!!' James yelled desperately. 'Stick to it, okay??'
'No. I'm telling Rose and Yvonne all about this. James, you won't live to see another day; I'm so sorry,' Melissa said, upset, drawing her parchment and quill to start writing.
The Evans's specialty is the instant way they dress themselves. The Blacks, however, are quicker with the quill. An empty parchment in Melissa's hand is as good as written and posted to its recipient.
'If you're sorry for me, then DON'T WRITE THAT LETTER!' James cried.
'Sirius, will you get Soot, please?'
'Aye aye, mum—er, I mean, Prof!' Sirius said, dashing towards the door. Suddenly the door opened and collided with Sirius's face. 'OUCH!'
'Oops,' Adele said apologetically. 'Sorry, I didn't see a point to knock the door when everyone … um … should be seated and eating…' she trailed, noticing that everyone is not seated and eating. 'What happened?'
'Adele, I'm going to curse you… and I'm going to curse you bad,' Sirius grimaced, wondering how to rid the red pain and embarrassment off his face. His dignity…!!! Argh!!! Adele ignored him. Hey, as the phrase goes, let hurt dogs lie before they accuse you of their injury!
'Where were you?' Remus asked.
'Infirmary. Thanks to Lily's stupid JOKE of a cake in the face,' Adele said sourly.
'You smell like bad cheese,' James commented flatly.
'It's cream!' Adele corrected. 'And I got it from Lily two hours ago. She turned me into a COW, for Merlin's pity, she turned me into a COW!!!! UGH!'
'It's not that bad,' Lily said cheerfully.
'Not bad: you said it was the WORST, Lily Evans!'
'The worst was all three at once.'
'Which is very certain in my case,' Adele glared. 'I smelled like bad cream for two hours.'
'You still do,' Remus added.
'Shut up!' Adele barked.
'Think of the bright side! Your cold's gone!' Remus suggested brightly. Adele snorted.
'Were you'—all ten sixth and fifth years faked a hacking cough—'making out with James?' Melissa demanded.
Adele gave them all a look. 'Are you all mad? Who'd ever like him? Well, aside from Lily, that is…'
'See?? I told you! LILY WAS LYING!' James crowed.
'Hey!' Lily retorted sharply.
'Bleh!'
'Bleh!'
'Can someone – one of you, anyone, I don't care who – please save my bleeding, flattened nose?' Sirius called from his position behind the door. 'I—'
then the door opened, smacking him in the face again. Sirius groaned in pain.
'Oops,' Professor Dumbledore apologised, 'I didn't think of knocking because I thought everyone would be eating.'
**
Footsteps echoed hollowly as the Dark Lord paced impatiently.
'Ugh, when, when, when?' he snarled. 'It should work by now!'
**
'I feel funny,' Sirius informed his friends generally. 'A little swirly in my hear, if you get what I mean.'
'It could be because your nose bled just now,' Remus suggested practically.
'I feel funny, too,' Adele said, 'and I didn't have a nosebleed. Only, it's not in my head. It's… oh yeah, it is in my head. Achoo!'
'I thought your cold was fixed…?'
'No. It back. I mean, it's back. Say, where are James and Lily? Hachoo!'
'Bless-achoo!'
'You. Bless you too, Sirius. Achoo!'
'Haha! Add yourself to the list, Remus!!' Sirius laughed clownishly. 'Achoo!'
'Oh great, now all three of us are sneezing,' Adele said dryly. 'So where's Lily and James? 'choo!'
'James and Lily. J, K, L… alphabetical order,' Remus said. 'Atishoo!'
'Fine, fine, whatever. So where?' Sneeze.
'Last I see, they were yelling over who gets to send howlers to the Slytherins. What a great – hachoo! – pair of HeadStudents we've got,' Sirius said. 'Okay, I don't feel funny in the head anymore. I'm got a HUGE – achoo! – headache.'
'Guess what?' Remus said brightly, 'so do I. I feel sleepy…'
'Join the – achoo! – club,' Adele mumbled. 'I'm resting. Do not disturb.'
**
'It's snowing,' Lily said solemnly with a frown, looking out of the library window.
'What's wrong? It's winter, there's every right for snow to snow, Lily,' Tally said, looking up from her homework.
'Right, nothing unusual,' Dan nodded in agreement.
'It's just… well… nothing,' Lily sighed.
'Do you want to talk about it?' James whispered behind the thick book he's holding.
'I don't know. But it's making me to feel really uneasy,' Lily whispered back. James made a sign that they should move to the end of the library, where it is more secluded.
'What do you mean?' he asked. Lily stared outside the window.
'First, it's white,' she murmured, her fingers pressing against the window. 'There're footprints.' An image flashed in her eyes.
'And then, blood, and a beam of light… and- and lots of… bodies… I think… falling, they look familiar. And- and—'
Lily was suddenly attacked by a flurry of images. She squinted, slightly shocked at the speed.
James stared at her. The metamorphosis circle must've completed, just like his had half an hour ago.
'Ow!' Lily squeaked, holding her head, as if in pain. James was startled. This wasn't suppose to happen, right? 'My head…'
'Lily, are you okay?' James asked, knowing it's an obviously stupid question since he could see that she's NOT okay. Then he wondered about Remus, Sirius and Adele.
**
'Check,' Lord Voldemort said, pleased. 'Those little whims won't be able to control their new freedom on their own.' His red eyes flashed in triumph. 'And today is the historic day of Lord Voldemort's rise in power! HAHAHAHAHAHA!'
**
'Alright, remember the time we got attacked?' Lily said, breathing difficultly. No normal human – or abnormal, in her case – can actually stand the presence of full psychic power. Not without proper training, anyway. Her friends have the same problem too, only with their own… abnormal specialties, if their magic permits itself that.
'As if we won't,' Remus snorted, remembering being hit on the head.
'Kay. Our Dark Lord placed a spell a spell on us,' James explaining, noting that Lily's more focused on the stars around her. 'But the spell had a kinda side effect, which is – well – making our magic "wake up" a tad too early.'
'Oh,' Adele muttered weakly. She was, generally, the worst off of the Marauders, technically because… well, it's Black magic. You don't expect more than that of such black a skill.
'He didn't know 'bout ours,' Lily said, 'only Sirius's. Remember what I said? Voldemort's last letter?'
'Puppets?' Sirius suggested.
'Yes. Prob'ly James already said, but the Maggles were the personalities…'
'Yes, yes. True self. Metamorphosis. All that rubbish,' Remus said impatiently.
'Right, this's the end, as far as I know,' Lily said, grasping James's hand. The self-claimed leader of the Marauders seemed to be the most stable of them, if not the only one stable.
'And…?'
'This is where he gets us. Puppets are easier to manipulate when there are no puppeteers.'
'So Voldemort gets us?' Sirius muttered thoughtfully. The question seemed more of a statement. 'Our magic's at its greatest, though!'
'Yeah, we could try fighting back,' Remus said brightly, before coughing heavily.
'In this condition?' James pointed out quietly.
'How come you're okay?' Adele snapped resentfully at him, cold sweet forming on her forehead.
'Because Blue Magic's quite the same as Secondary Psychic, it's form I mean,' James said. 'Unlike you all, I actually practiced.' Then he realized it wasn't time to be bragging about that. 'It's just a little worst than yours.'
'Try not to fall unconscious,' Lily said. Deep down, however, she knew it was useless.
Minutes later, Adele's form began flickering. It flickered once… twice… then it was gone.
No one noticed her absence.
**
'It looks like the Rook is here,' he laughed, the lipless lips curling into a smile as he stared at the raven-haired girl that had just materialized in the locked up glass. 'One down, four to go. This process is taking for too long already.'
Another figure joined Adele's limp form.
'The knight…' the Dark Lord grinned. 'The bishop should be well on its way.'
'Masster… they are quite ready…'
'Yes, yes, Nagini. Just two more to go… then, the plan shall take action… on the first of the waning moon.' Voldemort's eyes glinted reflectively as he cackled with mad laughter.
The glass door was locked and bolted with various padlocks and magic spells. Behind the door, Adele, Remus and Sirius lay, unconscious.
**
'They're gone?!' Lily cried in horror, clutching James's robes. 'It's so fast! When…? How…?'
'Calm down, Lily, you're just going to tire yourself more,' James sighed. He was beginning to fell weak.
'No. Can't sleep,' Lily muttered. 'Don't want to see those faces…'
'What?'
'Oh no! Where're our parents???' Lily literally shrieked, losing control of herself even more.
'Safe at home, wherelse?' James replied in puzzlement.
'SAFE? If my dreams these past years are true, they're ANYTHING but SAFE,' Lily screeched. 'I'm going to owl them this instant!' She tore off from James's embrace and shot right out of the form. James ran after her.
'Hey, weren't you two in the library?' Tally asked when she saw Lily and James. Suddenly, Lily collapsed to the ground. 'Aaaah!! Lily?!'
'Oh no,' James groaned, falling down, too.
'James?! Lily?!' Tally whispered, finding herself sprawled on the ground. The corridors were empty, save her and her books. A strong presence of dark magic was left, its traces whipped away by a sudden gale of wind.
**
Voldemort was hissing curses to himself, pacing impatiently on the stone floors. Every step was echoed.
'Patienceee…' Nagini hissed in whispery voice. The snake slithered up to the couch.
'Patience?! I have been waiting for YEARS!' Voldemort roared, tossing his pet from the couch. Nagini whimpered.
Two blurry figures fell gently into the cell. Lord Voldemort grinned broadly, his slit red eyes glowing with an indescribable hunger.
'Ha…' he stammered, unable to contain his happiness. 'HA HAAA!!! It's CHECKMATE! Lord Voldemort shall rule the world! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!'
'Very good, my lord,' Nagini murmured.
'Christmas eve… shall be a memorable day…' he cackled soft. 'The day…'
White snowflakes gently fell, contrasting deeply with the ink black sky.
**
Snow fell thickly in Loopy Village. The magical village with magical folks pretending to be muggles (and doing a good job at it) was cheerful and all lit up with joy and laughter. The villagers were celebrating Christmas Eve in the town square.
'Too bad the kids aren't here,' Anne said, cheerfully roasting the turkey with Romulus Lupin.
'Mel isn't here either,' Yvonne sighed.
'That can't be helped,' Gram said. 'She is a professor of Hogwarts now. And she'll take good care of the little ones, so we don't really have to worry.' The old lady smiled cheerfully at her daughter's direction. Rose grinned weakly back.
'It's Christmas Eve! Don't look so glum,' Celine Varens said. 'C'mon Rose, it'll work out just fine! After all, divination is still a divination.'
'You're right,' Rose said, doing her best to lift her spirits up. 'I'm probably wrong about something happening tonight. After all, my powers are sort of fading.'
'That's the spirit, flower!' William Evans beamed, hugging her.
'Hey, where are the Maggles?' Yvonne asked, looking around.
'Dunno,' Romulus shrugged.
'Never seen 'em,' Orion Black added.
'Something's coming from the forest!' a child cried, pointing at the east side of the village. 'Mummy, it's big and rilly-rilly black!'
'Timmy, how many times must I tell you not to lie?' his mother scolded, not casting a look at her son.
'No, mummy! It's coming to us, mummy!' Timmy said earnestly. 'Is it a bat, mummy? A rilly-rilly big bat?'
'Timmy…'
The "big and rilly-rilly black" "something from the forest" swooped down upon the gathering in the middle of the village. Up close, little Timmy noticed that they wore black cloaks and robes. His eyes widened in amazement.
'Oh, boy! Mummy, it's BATMAN!!! There's so many!!!' the child gushed, as his mother – finally noticing what Timmy was talking about – scooped him off in fright.
Upon the presence of the strangers, the celebration stopped. Everything was muted in silence as the folks stared curiously at the newcomers. The mayor moved up front.
'Yes?' Allan Rittardo asked politely, 'how many we help you?'
'You may all choose,' the voice murmured quietly, 'to join the dark side, or disclaim your life.'
'What?' Murmurs swept. A few young witches and wizards were backing unconsciously.
'You have a choice, residence of Loopy Village. To join Lord Voldemort, OR TO DIE!' Lord Voldemort cried. The hooded head looked up, freezing terror in those who reflect the inhuman red eyes.
The wizards turned hither and dashed off. The villagers ran for it, screaming as they desperately search shelter for hiding. Frantic cries pierced the air in shrill notes. Shuffles of feet on the snow. Voldemort's lips curled into a happy smirk, as he raised his hand. Death Eater took flight.
It was one for one's self.
Unforgivables were used left-right-up-down. Green beams flashed occasionally, screams echoed; be it from the fallen Death Eaters, or the magical folk defending themselves.
Cold snow fell… the Death Eaters were outnumbered and lame, much to Voldemort's disgust. So much for their special training.
Voldemort sneered. Oh well, who cares. After all, what are they?'
Pawns.
Just pawns. Useless stuff on a chessboard.
The Dark Lord smiled silkily. The other Death Eaters would be conquering the rest of the other wizard-populated towns or villages. Loopy Village, however, would meet their own village-bred talents. He drew his hood. There's plenty from where Death Eaters come from. He had planned this for years already. Every single weakness or flaw had been fixed, if not eliminated.
The last of the black pawns fell. Yet only about ten of the villagers had left the world to meet the Creator.
Voldemort snapped his fingers, smirking haughtily.
…weird. He snapped again.
Still nothing. The villagers are closing on him, confidence on their faces. He spun around.
'YOU FOOLS!!!' he yelled. 'You are to come when I snap my fingers!'
Only then did the villagers noticed the five figures behind him, so well shadowed. One of the, the one in the middle, looked up casually. Stone cold eyes pierced with black humour, cold smirk so confident. Voldemort glared.
'Fool! Did you hear what I have said?' he demanded. It was becoming too unbecoming of a Dark Lord to yell like this.
Four others looked up, too. Identical stony eyes that stared into nothingness. Void of emotions.
Then the middle one spoke up. The alto voice had a strong and clear note of leadership in it.
'You do not refer to us as fools,' he whispered, 'and we do not respond to humiliating signs.' Seeing that Voldemort wasn't paying attention to them, a vast majority of the village folks had fled off to hiding.
The figure removed the hood of his wool coat.
'James Potter…!' Allan whispered in shock, unbelieving. It was most unbelievable.
'Very well, Potter,' Voldemort spat, 'dispose of the trash! Evans, Lupin, Black, Varens, you all too!' The way Voldemort said their names, it was like spelling venom.
Allan gasped as he saw the five Marauders unhood. It's the five pranksters, all right. But they looked… different. It wasn't just their eyes, and how they seem to smile with smug confidence. They look… (Allan never imagined he'd ever thought of that) matured. Each one of them are dismissed of their tanned complexion of playing under the sun during childhood—except the Varens girl, of course, she'd always looked very powdered to him. They are extraordinarily fair, with rosy sort of cheeks.
Somehow, like vampires: Allan shuddered as he made his way towards the forest. Handsomely charming creatures, extinct for ten thousands of years ago.
'I SAID DESTROY THIS VILLAGE!!!' Voldemort yelled, losing his patience. Who cares about those stupid village folk now! This village, he remembered, had ages old of sacred knowledge, like many other small hidden wizard villages.
'Very well,' Adele nodded. She raised her left hand, and Voldemort glared at her.
'What's with them?!' he growled under his breath, feeling like his plan is going to pieces.
'Do not this we cannot hear,' Lily hissed, suddenly behind him. 'We will annihilate you, too, should you cause us trouble.' The boys folded their arms.
Bloody twisted personalities, Voldemort cursed mentally, remembering that they were beyond his control. Bloody marauders and their bloody cocky egos. He'd made a huge mistake, brainwashing them.
Adele's hand glowed, and fire soon swept through the village, melting the snow with its unnatural heat. Voldemort stared.
'Wow,' the Dark Lord said, then quickly collected himself. 'Ahem. I meant good job.'
The snow ceased. The clouds moved.
'"Beneath the waning moon,"' Lily recited softly, placing a cool hand on Adele's right hand. It was most ready to unleash the deadly magic Adele possessed.
'Now kill the villagers!' Voldemort ordered. Lily did not budge. Neither did James. The two just stood where they are, staring at the partly greyish sky with their icy stare.
Adele, Sirius and Remus raised their hands:
"Ceres I bid the biggest one
Hear our calls for we're the chosen ones
Shower meteors upon them
In our name, bid thy master."
The clouds cleared and a moon, glowing with dim pearly light appeared. Then, there was about a hundred or so streak of falling meteors, all headed towards the forest, where the Loopy Village folks were hiding.
Voldemort had the urge to say "wow!!!' again with more awe, but stopped himself hurriedly. He then realised, that James and Lily had done almost nothing—and they were the more important pieces.
He turned, ready to yell at them. James was chanting under his breath, hand sweeping towards the right. It seemed to hold powers. The two were hovering just above the forest, Lily staring sharply at Voldemort's direction.
Wait a minute… HOVER?! Those two couldn't have done! Only he, Lord Voldemort, has the wand great enough to perform such deed, and that is NOT without difficulties.
He spun. Both Sirius and Remus had leaned back towards a tree and, for some unknown reasons to Voldemort, the charred cottages had somehow returned to it's original.
Varens!
'Varens, I order you to kill your friends!!' Voldemort yelled, brandishing his wand. She stopped and turned around stiffly. Hmm, this Varens seems easy.
Adele smiled coldly. 'Certainly.' She raised her right hand. Sirius and Remus, just regaining their consciousness of things, stared at her in shock, the same sentence in their woozy mind: will she kill them?
Multiple screams shattered the silence as a few explosions took place in the forest. Lily turned, looking at Remus in the eye.
Remus nodded and, with Lily's psychic levitating him, left to help James control the meteors they had cast.
Voldemort sneered spitefully behind Adele as the girl stepped towards Sirius. The boy gulped. What on earth is his stupid Yellow Magic good for?!?! Who cares if it's rare? Probably for a damn good reason, too, since it co0uldn't save the mage from threats.
"With an addition… of granting things," James beamed. "If trained, that is."
'Great, now I wish I'd trained,' Sirius winced as a few more screams rang out with explosions. Adele just went on smiling the creepy smile of her as she reached him.
'FIRE!' the Black Mage yelled out. Sirius shut his eyes, wondering WHY must he be so unlucky to have his boots stuck in the snow AND be killed by a fellow Marauder. Life just couldn't get any worse now, could it.
'VARENS!' Voldemort shrilly yelled, his figures scorching with magic flames. Lily turned around, onto to stare, recalling the time when she had set flames on Tessie. Anger surged in her. She placed the enhancing magic on Voldemort. 'I'll get back at you Marauders, if that's the last thing I do!!!'
With that, he apparated off.
'Bye bye,' Adele called cheerfully.
Sirius sighed in relief and slumped to his knees, pulling his sunken boots out of the snow. 'Phew. For a moment, I thought you really would kill me.'
'I was going to,' Adele admitted guiltily, causing Sirius to scramble away from her as fast as he could. She turned to the sky.
The bright waning moon stared back.
'But somehow, I feel that the moon sort of…' She frowned, puzzled.
'Un, shake you up?' Sirius suggested. 'It did that to all of us, I think.'
'That should be it,' James sighed tiredly as Lily levitated them back to Sirius and Adele.
'Half were killed,' Lily said, glaring at James.
'Excuse me! I can't save hundred plus of people at once!' James argued. 'How's one mage gonna defeat THREE??? That's about FOUR HUNDRED METEOR OUT THERE, LILY ROSE EVANS!'
'Sorry,' Remus, Sirius and Adele muttered, hanging their heads.
'We can't do anything,' Lily said reasonably. 'You three weren't really affected by the moon when it first came out.
'Why're we affected by the moonlight?'
'See, Voldemort's astrology is somehow to the moon,' Lily said, beaming proudly at the knowledge she could offer, 'I saw it in the tarot cards. Ours if for the moon, because of our Chinese astrology. Therefore, according to the prophecy by some Chinese philosopher for our stars, we'll be really strong when the light of a waning moon is on us, and today happened to be the day, so—'
'You're getting me all confused!' Adele groaned. 'And I've got a splitting headache here!'
'You did ask,' Lily snapped. 'And there's no shorter version.
'Um, guys?' Remus said timidly.
'I'm a girl.'
'Whatever. I think we'd better leave. These villagers are gonna come back out and, well,' Remus gulped noticeably, 'I don't think they're gonna believe that we're under control of the brainwash thing.'
'Why not?' Adele retorted. 'I think getting hit by the Imperio spell's bad enough. And… I feel kind of different, somehow.'
'Your hair is flying,' Lily said curtly.
'So's yours, Lily,' James said. 'But we'd better go. I don't think we're wanted at the moment.'
'If you'd forgotten, we don't have apparating license. OR know how to apparate,' Sirius said wisely.
James grinned at him.
'Besides, Hogwarts is a no-no apparating spot,' Adele added. 'ACHOO!!!!' she sneezed.
'Those people are coming back and I don't have the least bit of magic or strength to freeze time,' Remus said tiredly. There were beads of sweat on his forehead. Adele sneezed again.
James went on grinning. Then everything swirled in vortex colours.
____________________________________________________________________________________
AN: First off, it's a hard life I'm going through. Yes, I admit, I have been slacking. Actually thought of giving it up altogether, truth to be told. I did promise, though, and I don't break my promise, so here you are. I meant to have this up the day after I posted Tryst [the other job I started out of pure boredom], but I kind of hurt my right index finger, thus making typing hard and moving the mouse a painful task.
Happy Halloween! Thought it might be a good time to post it :P nah! Actually, my finger felt less painful, so I thought I'd do my fingers some exercise.
You can kill me for taking a long time. Go ahead. I don't mind. It's my fault anyway ^^; gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! I was too busy with collecting my Fruits Basket anime and watching Inuyasha the past months! It burnt a hole in my pocket and now I'm broke so… *laughs guiltily* so sorry… I've been really lonely since my friend changed schools…
Hope this chapter [written, rewritten, rewritten, redone, changed-the-plot, written, rewritten, rewritten] is fine. After all, from the way my teacher marked my essay, my English seemed to be getting from bad to worse.
--bunny chan