Disclaimer: pick which one is TRUE: a-I got a laptop as an early Christmas present from dad b-there are small animals called gnargles that live in mistletoe c-I own the Harry potter characters
CORRECT ANSWER: A
Authors Note: I know I said that chapter 6 was the last chapter before the new year…well, that was before I went to my dad's house…and we opened our early Christmas presents….I GOT A LAPTOP! Now I can continue writing, although I'll admit that once I get to Florida it'll be kind of hard for me to update, as I will be mingling with relatives, and I'm not sure about the internet connection there.
Co-Authors Note: Guess what? I got a laptop, too! Anyway, I apologize if the last chapter wasn't edited properly, but I was extremely busy and couldn't do it. Knowing my dear sister's atrocious grammar skills, it was probably riddled with errors.
Life was semi-normal for the Marauders and Hermione. Well, as normal as the months before the OWL's could be. Despite this, the Marauders kept up their cheerful demeanor.
Hermione was beginning to understand how James dealt with pressure: more pranking.
Hermione also was beginning to notice that the Marauders in general dealt with pressure in the same way.
Perhaps her imagination was deceiving her, but she noticed that the Marauders were including her in these pre-OWL pranks more and more. They looked to Hermione to supply them with great pranking ideas, and Hermione always came through. She amazed herself with some of the pranks she had come up with and helped carry out. However, to the dismay of the Marauders, she put her foot down when it came to pranking Snape, or,"Snivellus," as the Marauders called him.
Their latest scheme was something that they could only do with the help of Hermione. As usual, it either involved Slytherin's or a teacher. This prank's subject, however, was a teacher. Not just any teacher. McGonagall.
The Marauders, at the suggestion of Hermione, had set up camp in Myrtle's bathroom. Huddled around a cauldron, they were currently immersed in the brewing of a potion most deadly.
"Okay, what color is it supposed to be now?" Sirius asked.
"It's supposed to be a nice lavender color…which it is…and now for the beetle's eyes. There we go! We let it stew for seven minutes, and then it'll be the perfect pink color that this particular kind of Amortentia is supposed to be. After that, we add your hair, and it's done!" Hermione said with a look of extreme concentration on her face.
She reached over to Sirius and pulled some of his silky hair out, much to Sirius' displeasure and added it. It bubbled and she poured it into a beaker.
They snuck back to the common room, listening to the grandfather clock strike midnight, sniggering at their success.
They brought the potion down to the breakfast table in the morning, before anyone else had gotten there. They snuck over to where McGonagall normally sat, pulling out the beaker of the love potion and gently pouring some of it into her goblet. They then sat down at their seats, laughing delightedly when McGonagall came in shortly after students started pouring in. She sat at her spot and took a sip from her goblet. For a second, she seemed slightly dazed. She immediately turned to Dumbledore, and said something that the Marauders couldn't hear. He seemed slightly worried, but just shook his head.
The Marauders got up and walked past the teachers table. Immediately, Sirius was tackled by McGonagall and pulled, protesting all the way, into a deep kiss. Since the entire student body was there by this time, the effect was quite as good as the marauders had hoped for. Dumbledore looked shocked. Sirius pulled away and said seductively, "Whoa, Minnie, perhaps we should talk a bit first. I'm not sure I'm ready for such a serious (CAN: Ha) relationship."
She immediately kissed him again. At this point Sirius was quite nervous, and laughing could be heard more than audibly from the house tables. Several people were whistling, and even more people had made money off of it in bets.
Dumbledore came over, tears running down his face in laughter. He paused in his laughter for a moment to tell them that 'Minnie' was obviously sick with something and that they should take her to the hospital wing. Sirius did not hear this message as he was too busy, what with being attatched to the lips with McGonagall and all.
It was slightly disturbing that no one could tell whether Sirius was hating this or enjoying it. Either way, every time he tried to pull away from McGonagall's lips, McGonagall went in for more. They tried several means of getting her to stop. They didn't think that the headmaster would take too kindly to stunning a professor, so they gave her the body bind curse and levitated her. Sirius had a dazed look on his face, his hair ruffled. He stood up on the teachers table and took a bow which was greeted by much applause. They then left.
"Sirius, did you actually ENJOY that?" asked James with a disgusted look on his face.
"WHAT!" Sirius said, absentmindedly touching his lips, "NO! Of course not…that would be weird…no, I don't like Minnie-I MEAN MCGONAGALL- like that at all, no…"
"Methinks thou doth protest a bit much." Hermione said with a laugh.
OH MY GOD! What have I done? I just pranked a TEACHER! Ohhh I am in so much trouble! What has gotten into me? I mean, Slytherin's are just Slytherin's but a TEACHER! Oh no oh no oh NO!
"Hermione," she was pulled out of her inner panic by a pair of hands wrapped around her in a bear hug, "Quit hyperventilating. You're scaring Peter." Ahh. It was Remus. She pulled herself out of the hug rather quickly, blushing.
"We're here." Said James, levitating McGonagall onto a bed.
"Madam Pom-Pom's," Sirius called, "Minnie here has gone mad, and she's just spent the past half hour snogging me senseless…the madness of it is quite….er, mad!"
Madam Pomfrey scurried over. "SIRIUS BLACK! I do NOT need to hear about your disgusting fantasies about Minerva! I have told you once, I've told you a thousand times, GET COUNSELLING! Why is it that every time you're here you feel the need to tell me about how much you love 'Minnie' and you always have messages for me to pass onto 'Minnie' and how 'Minnie' never returns your affections. OH FOR GOODNESS SAKES GET MINNIE-I mean get Minerva out of the body bind."
Sirius was immediately greeted by odd looks and began blushing horribly. James took the body bind curse off of McGonagall, who immediately jumped on Sirius and began snogging him senseless as Sirius had described to 'Madam Pom-Pom's'. Madam Pomfrey gasped and started laughing immediately. James body bound McGonagall again, and levitated her back to the bed.
"Looks like a love potion gone wrong. Let me go get an antidote." She bustled off, searching through the bottles. James instantly began to tease Sirius. "So…any new fantasies about Minnie?" Sirius greeted this question with a slap to the back of the head.
"Hermioneeeee! That potion is REALLY strong? It said in the book that is was a light-strength potion? Can you explain this to me PLEASSSSE!"
Hermione thought about it for a moment. She mentally read over the page.
"Sirius…it did say that the potion's strength also depends on the amount of attraction between the hair-giver and the drinker…what have you and Professor McGonagall been doing, Sirius?" said Hermione with a grin, wiggling her eyebrows.
Sirius fainted.
Dumbledore declined to punish them, saying that it was the best laugh he'd had in a while and that they'd probably be getting plenty of punishment from 'Minnie'. He left the Hospital wing. After Sirius woke up, the Marauders followed suit. 'Minnie' had been given a dreamless sleep potion by Madam Pomfrey and was staying the night in the hospital wing, so the Marauders were safe from her anger for at least a couple hours.
When they got to the common room, they found that it was almost empty. They elected to skip class, persuading Hermione only by promising that they'd study for at least an hour.
After they'd decided to stay, James got straight down to business.
"Hermione, you've been here for a few months. We've been watching you carefully for the past few weeks. You have ingenuity, intelligence, and originality when it comes to prank planning and actually carrying out a prank. You have very high marks in important areas like charms, transfiguration, and potions. It was requested by Moony, and unanimously agreed upon that you are to be a Marauder."
Hermione laughed. "Where'd you learn all of those big words?" She didn't actually believe he was being serious
James replied seriously, "Moony taught me. So what do you say? I wasn't kidding, if that's what you're thinking. We are being genuine; you should be the fifth Marauder. We need your skill!"
Hermione fell silent, thoughts coursing through her mind.
Hermione Granger, the fifth Marauder? Wow…Harry'll be so pleased to find out…if I ever get to tell him. Oh, Hermione, quit being depressing! This is an opportunity of a lifetime!
Hermione smiled and squeaked "OF COURSE" before hopping up and down slightly, obviously very excited.
"I guess that since you've officially accepted there are some things about us we should fill you in on, especially our nicknames you see-"
Hermione cut him short, recognizing this as the right time, if any, to tell them about her time-travel predicament.
"James," she interrupted, "There's something I have to tell you also. I already know. You have nicknames: Prongs the stag, Padfoot the dog, Wormtail the rat, and Moony the werewolf. You have the Marauders' Map, the password to which is, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good', to open and, 'Mischief managed', to close. James, of course, has his invisibility cloak." She finished, observing the shocked expressions of James, Sirius, and Peter.
"How do you know all that?" James asked in disbelief.
"Well…you see I'm not really a transfer student. I'm…I'm from the future." She waited for the laughter to start. She didn't expect them to believe her, so she was surprised when she heard Sirius going, "Go on, go on"
"I don't really think I should tell you too much about your futures. I'll have to explain a little to get what happened to send me hear, according to Dumbledore."
They nodded expectantly.
"Well, in the future, I'm James' son's best friends. His name is Harry. But James and Harry's mother are…are…" She stopped, unable to go on.
"What happens, Hermione?" Sirius asked kindly.
"James and Harry's mother are…they're dead." Hermione looked down sadly
"What? What happens?" James inquired quietly, leaning closer to Hermione.
"Well, that's one of the things I'm trying to stop. I'm really afraid if I tell you then something else will happen. I can tell you it is because of a prophecy, your son told me that much. I promise, I'll do whatever I can to stop it."
"Well, at least he'll have a good place to live! I'll definitely take your son in!" Sirius said, trying to brighten the mood. Hermione looked down, saddening. "What? You mean he doesn't come to live with me?" Hermione shook her head.
"Sirius…you're in prison. You go to prison about 24 hours after James dies. You are sentenced to life in prison."
They all looked at him, backing away from him, looking disgusted. Sirius looked horrified at himself.
Hermione immediately realized that vital information had been left out.
"Don't worry, you're innocent. You get framed. That is something that probably won't happen in you if James lives."
"Good god, is there any good things that happen in our life?" Sirius asked
"You break out of prison in Harry's third year. You get to meet him. You are kind of a replacement father to him. He asked you for advice all the time in the future. Of course, no one could really replace James"
Sirius smiled.
"Then you die two years after breaking out of prison."
Sirius' smile fell.
"Then the year after that, Dumbledore is killed."
They all looked on the verge of tears.
"And now I'm here. Trying to keep you all alive. James, you'd be really proud of your son. He inherits the marauders map and the invisibility cloak. He defeats Voldemort 5 times I believe. If you count killing Voldemort's memory, which he cleverly concealed in a diary."
James' mouth fell open "FIVE TIMES! Good lord, I'd be lucky to defeat him ONCE! Why wasn't once enough, anyway?"
"It's complicated. On Halloween after Harry's first birthday, Voldemort himself comes to try and kill him. His mother tries to protect him, begging him to spare her son, telling him to take her instead. She dies anyway, and then he turns to Harry. He tries the killing curse. But, Harry survives! Voldemort is only half dead though: his body is destroyed but his spirit survived. He possessed a teacher in Harry's first year. His diary opens the chamber of secrets in Harry's second year-"
"But the chamber of secrets is just a legend!" Remus interrupted.
"No, it isn't. Haven't you ever asked Moaning Myrtle how she died? The Basilisk that lives in the Chamber of Secrets killed her. It was set on her by Voldemort. If the spirit moves you, I'll show you. Anyway, in Harry's fourth year, they held the Triwizard Tournament. A servant of Voldemort fixes the tournament so that Harry gets in and touches the trophy first. Harry faced him in a graveyard, where Harry faces Voldemort. Voldemort comes back to power. In fifth year, Voldemort uses the connection he has with Harry to make him think that Sirius is in trouble. When Harry goes to the Ministry to save Sirius… He is met by Voldemort. Sirius comes to help Harry, along with an anti-Voldemort force called the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius is killed in the Ministry. In sixth year, Dumbledore is murdered. In seventh year, I was sent here. You should be really proud of him. He's been through so much. Or he goes through so much. Verb tenses are kind of confusing."
Sirius looked down. James looked like he was about to cry.
"Where are Peter and Remus in all this?" Sirius asked.
"Remus is part of the Order. He is Harry's professor in 3rd year. He quits after that, because everyone finds out about his ummm…furry little problem."
James laughed at Hermione's use of his nickname for Remus' Lycanthropy, and said "And Peter?"
Hermione didn't want to lie. But Peter was there, and she was afraid that the other Marauders would treat him differently if they knew.
"I have no idea what happened to him. I never found out. He wasn't seen at all after James died." Hermione falsified easily, feeling guilty.
It's for the best, Hermione. You have to fix him, so that he doesn't go and do it again. He's just misguided.
The Marauders were silent for a long time.
James eventually leaned forward to Hermione and said. "Thank you for telling us this. We're glad to have you as a Marauder."
LATER THAT MONTH…
The OWL's were a week away. Hermione spent every waking hour studying, and trying to convince Sirius and James to study. She spent a lot of time helping Peter study, finding that flash cards worked splendidly well.
The night before their first OWL, Sirius wanted to go out drinking, as per ususal. "c'mon 'Mione! It'll help me do better on my OWL!" he whined.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Hermione thundered
"Yes, Mrs. Potter…or should I say Mrs. Lupin…" He replied with a sly grin.
"DAMMIT SIRIUS! Or should I say, 'Minnie's future husband'"
"I thought we agreed not to mention that." He glowered
"Yes, Sirius, but if you and the other Marauders go out drinking tonight, or on any night that there are ANY OWL's the next day, you will NOT here the end of it. Do you understand me?"
"Ok, ok! I get it I get it!" He scowled at her. "But can we go to the kitchen? I am SOOO hungry?"
Hermione sighed and agreed, grabbing Remus and the other Marauders on the way down. They had a good time in the kitchens, Hermione having to remind them that they had the defense against the dark arts OWL the next day, dragging Sirius and James up to the common room with much protesting.
---------------------TIME PASSES--------------------
"This was your last OWL test, and I would like to congratulate you for completing this rigorous testing. You will receive your results in about a month. You may have the next week as free time." The crowd of fifth years cheered with McGonagall's last words, and the mass of students moved out of the hall slowly.
"I never got to ask you about what you all wanted to be when you got out of school. Sooo…what do you wanna be when you get out of school?" Hermione asked.
"Auror"
"Auror"
"Auror"
"Prostitute"
Everyone stared at Sirius.
"Just kidding. Auror"
"What do you want to be when you get out of school, Hermione?" Remus inquired smiling.
"I guess I don't really have a choice if I wanna stay with my four best friends! I want to try to be an auror, too!" Hermione replied, giving a small skip.
"Do you have a place to stay during the summer?" Sirius asked.
Hermione shook her head sadly.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"What do you mean, you don't have a place to stay? You aren't going to stay here, you can't, believe me, I've tried!" Sirius said worriedly.
ASK HER TO COME STAY WITH YOU, REMUS! Just say "Hermione, you can come stay with me"
Remus gulped.
"H-Hermione…would y-you like to come stay with m-me?" He stammered, blushing slightly.
Hermione took no notice to the stammering and blushing, paying attention only to the question.
"Oh, are you serious?" she squealed.
"No, I am!" said Sirius.
The Marauders looked at him.
"Alright, future Minnie's husband" Said James coolly.
Sirius scowled.
"Absolutely. Just let me owl my parents to ask first, but I am pretty sure they won't object. They always like to know I have friends." Remus said happily.
"Speaking of which, my parents wanted to know if you all could come up. For the week before school starts. We'd be glad to take you up to kings cross on the first. I thought it would be fun to have all of you up. It'll be one big partayyyy!" James asked.
Of course, Remus, Peter, and Hermione jumped at this opportunity.
They ran into professor McGonagall down the hallway, where James decided to make the stupid comment "hello, Mrs. Black" which was greeted with a smack to the back of the head, as there were no more detentions to give to them, and no more points to take off of Gryffindor.
Authors Note: CONCo-Authors Note. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.