Chapter Four – Erik Hipstriker

James Potter woke up on the Hospital Wing. He had lost track for how much time he had been there. It seemed so long to him... No Quidditch, no Evans, no fooling around with his friends...

James turned around. Remus and Peter were still sleeping. Sirius was blinking, but as he always did this in his sleep, he decided to just wait.

He hoped Remus would be alright. He and Sirius had hurt him badly two nights ago. He was decidedly attacking them. He (Prongs) and Padfoot were smart enough not to Transfigure into humans while fighting with Moony. If they had, they would be werewolves now.

They had ended up really injured, all three. He, James, had ended up inconcious. Wormtail had had enough reason to run to Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore. However, the idiot had forgotten to Untransfigure, so he ran all the long way to the castle as a rat.

After a hour or so, Dumbledore had arrived. He had Stunned Remus and had placed him under the Whomping Willow, on the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack. Then he had transported James and Sirius (who were back as humans before fainting) to Madam Pomfrey's, who was waiting at the Hospital Wing already in a nasty humor, for she had been woken up at one hour and a half past midnight.

Now they were there. If James's calculations were right, today was the day Sirius, Peter, and him would be dismissed from the Hospital Wing. Remus would take a little longer.

"Hey, James," said a voice behind him, and James noticed Sirius had awoken.

"Hey, Padfoot".

"Ready to go?"

"All ready," he answered with a grin.

About an hour later, Madam Pomfrey checked on James and Sirius.

"You seem to be alright, Mr. Black," she said. "You're fine too, Mr. Potter. However that scar on your forhead might take a while to fall off".

Madam Pomfrey got her wand and produced a mirror out of thin air. She handed it to James.

"Well, it is noticeable," said James, "but it'll mark me as some kind of hero. Girls will love it."

Some minutes later, the three Marauders walked out from the Hospital Wing.

"Something just bothers me," commented Sirius after a while. "That night, Prongs and I fought Moony off and got injured. That's why we were on the Hospital Wing. But, what the heck were you doing in there, Peter?"

Peter's face flushed. "Well, when I was heading to the castle, one of my little paws got hurt... A toe... After I had told Dumbledore, he sent me to warn Madam Pomfrey, and I did... I just stayed there."

"Pathetic," said James. "You stayed at the Hospital Wing for two whole nights just because your hurt your little paw..."

A cold, kiddish voice came from behind. "Why, I knew Pettigrew was an animal, but having paws is a whole different thing."

The Marauders turned around. Severus Snape was sneering behind them.

James and him looked at each other's eyes with a great hatred. They had met even before James had met Sirius, Remus, Wormtail, or Evans. They had met at Flourish and Blotts, while James and Snape were both buying their new schoolbooks. James had accidentally dropped the long pile of books he was carrying on Snape. Snape had been eager to start a fight, but Mrs. Potter had arrived on time to stop it. For each other's displeasure, they were on the same year. Since then, they had loathed each other deeply. Sirius had joined the loathing as soon as he had become James's friend, soon after entering Hogwarts.

"Oh, I know, it's gotta be hard to imagine having paws, being a slithering and filthy pest." James raised his wand. He was about to hex Snape and show him how having paws felt like, when another voice behind him shouted: "Hold it there!"

James froze (not literally).

"Gosh! How can Dumbledore allow so much violence in here!".

The duel had been stopped by a quite curious-looking man. He was very tall, as tall as Dumbledore. He wore an carelessly unshaven maple-colored beard that reminded James of Lily's eyes. His hair, unclean and also maple colored, got to his waist and was only mildly held by a scarlet hair band set around his forhead am I making myself clear?. He was wearing multi-colored robes, sandals, and red-and-blue sunglasses. He looked like some Muggle strikers James had once seen on TV.

"Hand wands over," said the hippie. "I will not allow violence under any circunstamces, not under Erik Hipstriker's nose."

Both James and Snape had forgotten their criminal intentions because of the presence of such a peculiar man.

"Did you say Erik Hipstriker?" asked Sirius suddenly. "The one who organized a movement to save flobberworms some years ago?"

Hipstriker smiled proudly. "That's the one! But I cannot say we were successful in that campaign: people made us stop our protest by threatening on squishing flobberworms to death! That is outrageous!"

"But...," said Peter timidly, "flobberworms are just useless..."

Hipstriker let out a gasp of horror and touched his chest with his fingertips. "How can - how dare you! Flobberworms are human beings just like you and me". Real emotion could be heard in his voice. James even thought some tears were blurring his eyes. "They have feelings."

James thought he was standing before an insane man.

"Give me your wand, you too," he said to Peter, and then to Sirius: "And you too."

Peter's face flushed and Sirius complained. "Why are you taking our wands away?"

"I do not know what they teach you in this... school, if that's what you call a clubhouse of brutes, but as long as you cannot do magic, you won't be able to hurt any creature of Creation," said Hipstriker.

"But I didn't say anything about flobberworms!" shouted Sirius.

"No, no, no! No shouting to your professors, little man! I want your wands now!"

None of the Marauders, nor Snape, seemed willing to follow Hipstriker's orders.

"No?" he finally said. "I'll have to make you then! Accio, accio, accio, accio wand!"

Hipstriker had pointed his own wand at each boy while muttering the Summoning Charm. Soon, Hipstriker had all four wands in his hand.

"I shall give them to your belongig Head of House. He or she will know what to do with these," and he walked away as the four teenagers watched awestruck.

"Did he say PROFESSOR?" asked James. "He didn't mean Defense Against the Dark Arts profesor, did he?" What was Dumbledore playing at?

"I think he did," said Sirius.

Without another word, Snape marched off, surely to the Potions dungeons, straight to Slughorn.

"I think we should also go to McGonagall," said James. "She will understand."

Would she?

James, Sirius, and Peter arrived to McGonagall's classroom, where she was talking about Animagi to a group of second years. When she saw them going in in such an abrupt way, she opened her eyes widely and walked forward.

"What on the Wizarding world is happening?" she asked.

James burst against her. "We want our wands back!"

"DO NOT EVER SHOUT TO ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, MR. POTTER!" she screamed back. "I have no idea on what your talking about!".

"I'm talking about Hipstriker!" James shouted, though he was trying to calm down. "He took away our wands!"

"WHAT?" McGonagall shouted again. "Are you completely sure, Mr. Potter?"

"Of course I'm sure! He Summoned my wand from my own hand!"

"Oh, no!" McGonagall complained. "I knew bringing Erik Hipstriker to Hogwarts was not a good idea! I have to go to the Headmaster. Maybe Hipstriker is already there."

"We will come with you!" Sirius said.

"Of course not, Mr. Black! You'll go back to whatever class you were on before...! By the way, why weren't you in class?"

"We were coming from the Hospital Wing. We were on our way to class." James did not say the whole story.

"And why did you get your wands confiscated on 'your way to class'?"

"I - I dunno! Hipstriker just - Summoned it, I guess!"

"I will get to the bottom of this, Mr. Potter!" she said, and then she turned to the second years: "The class is over!" and she left the classroom.