Chapter Thirty-one: The State of Delaware meets Hogwarts' Finest

The Marauders plus five had just arrived in Delaware. From their previous experiences with the tabloids, they had all adopted various states of dress, attempting to be "incognito". This had varying results, but the main point was that they were utterly unrecognizable.

Lummy's blonde locks had been transformed to dark, stringy, black hair. Sirius claimed that he had gotten the inspiration from Snivellus' greasy coif. Her eyes were protuberant and dark blue, her skin rather pale and sickly. She sported a fedora and a long red dress. She was painfully thin.

"I don't see why I have to adopt a disguise," remarked Sirius, rather stupidly.

"Really?"

"Well, everyone will figure that I already am a costume, right?"

"Er…"

Fortunately, Lily had been able to corner Sirius into a disguise. His elegant black hair was a vivid green instead, and hung lankly about his face. Despite the copious amounts of make-up that had been forced upon his face, and the round glasses he now wore, his natural elegance was difficult to mask. Lily, drawing inspiration from a Muggle fairy tale, had lengthened his nose so that his glasses were a shade too low for his eyes, giving him an elderly feel. Her last inspiration was to give Sirius a fat-suit. As a result, Hogwarts' Hearthrob looked repulsive enough to give Peter Markov a run for his money.

"This outfit is bloody hot for May. I'm sweating buckets in here."

"Well, there's a reason why people don't wear dark colors in the summer, mate!" added Remus in his artsy outfit.

James had done "tortured artist" to the max when designing "Rome Lycan's" new look. Remus' lengthened hair was dyed a very dark black, topped with a black beret. He wore a long black trench coat atop a black ribbed turtleneck. Black trousers nearly swept the ground, the ends matching perfectly with the black sneakers. Harold had carefully painted Remus' fingernails a ghastly black color, and put eyeliner around his eyes. Remus was smoking a "cigarette" at the end of a "cigarette holder". It was actually a piece of paper bewitched to flame at one end. Sasha was clutching Remus' elbow, looking very happy. She was wearing simply Muggle clothes, since she would not be easily recognized.

James was a wizened old man, and looked something like Dumbledore. His regular glasses were altered to a square frame. The only distinctive aspect of his appearance was his cane. James could not stop adding ornaments to it. As a result, the bottom was spiked, a cloud of intricate wooden flower were spiraling down the length of the cane. The top was a glittery knob that flashed different colors. This can in particular was attracting a good deal of attention from the other passersby.

"Orchideous!" chanted James, pointing his wand at the cane. A set of orchids erupted from one edge.

"James," hissed Lily, jerking her boyfriend to the side.

Lily herself was also sporting stringy black hair a la Snape, but looked more like a drugged Hollywood starlet. Her lovely green eyes were a bloodshot brown color, her nails lengthened to long red talons. She too was emaciated, a set of tasteless designer clothes hung off her body in a most unflattering fashion. She was wearing very high heels. Lastly, her lipstick was smeared as though she had put it on while drunk.

Harold had also opted for the fat-suit option, for otherwise she would resemble Lummy too closely. Her hair was also a dark black, her eyes a light blue. She was wearing a dark green gown that was completely out of place in the balmy May weather. In fact, she could have been an opera singer from an old movie. Gerald had altered the least in his appearance, and looked one of the strangest. He was wearing a ski-cap, a thick polar fleece, and long dragon-hide boots with a set of designer sunglasses to add to the mix. His hair sported flashy pink highlights.

In this manner, they strolled down the streets of Delaware. All of a sudden, they saw a slightly plump little girl running towards them, her eyes shining with excitement. The same thought passed through each of their minds…had they been recognized, despite all their efforts?

The little girl stopped in front of Harold, she spoke,

"Shelby Summers! Is that really you? Are you truly the famous opera diva? I know you are, you've been my idol for years. I had no idea that you were going to be in Delaware during your tour."

Harold's face was completely blank. She finally forced out a few words –

"Yes, little girl."

"Will you sign this? I carry it with me everywhere. It's your greatest hits collection. You were simply amazing…"

The girl whipped out a CD from nowhere. On the cover was a very fat woman who resembled Harold's disguise remarkably well. The title was "Shelby Summers…a Summer of Soprano." Harold pulled out a permanent marker, and signed rather sloppily,

"Have your own sweet Summer – Shelby Summers".

"Oh thank you! I can't wait to tell my mum, she'll be delighted. Is this your family?"

Harold stood there once again, gaping like a fish.

"Family?"

"Yes," and the little girl made a gesture towards the rest.

Now, it may never be known just what went through Harold's head at the moment, because she replied rather enthusiastically –

"Why, yes it is love. Now this one is Happy," pointing at Lily, who looked anything but happy, "…Dopey…" was a very lost looking Remus, "…Grumpy…" was Sirius, who glared enough to merit a 'dangerous' rather than just grumpy, "…Sleepy…" as she pointed at James, who gave an amicable yawn, "…Doc…" as Gerald tried to look serious enough to be a doctor, "…Sneezy…" and Sirius conjured a feather under Lummy's nose to yield a sneeze on cue, "…of course, here is dear Bashful…" who was poor Sasha Tsukino, who had turned to a red tinge that matched her name.

The little girl cried out,

"You're crazy, Miss Summers!" and ran away. The eight of them began to laugh hysterically, and Remus was the first to emerge from the giggles –

"Dwarves, Harold?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to review we go…