A/N: Well it is time for the next chapter. I appreciate the constructive criticism given by marka. I will try to follow what you said. Hopefully it will make my story more interesting to read, and it will add a sizeable amount of length to the story too. One thing I will say though, when I say Deatheaters, I mean Voldemort's human followers. His elite I believe would just be his inner circle. Plus this is the First War and there are bound to be more Deatheaters then. Thanks again for the suggestions, marka. I'll talk and give my excuses at the end. Well now that that is over on with the show!
Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time
Chapter
9: Times to be Thankful For
Not much happened, the week following Halloween. Wherever Harry went people would applaud him or slap him on the back. Though, Harry did hear a rumor that Dumbledore had to forbid several reporters access to the school.
----
Monday night after classes, when Harry and Lily usually started training, Lily managed to convince Harry to take the week off, but it wasn't an easy thing to do.
"Come on, Lily. Let's head to the room and start our practice for the night." Harry called across the common room.
Harry waited for a second, but Lily acted like she hadn't heard him. So Harry walked over to her. "Come on, Lily. It's time to start training."
Lily looked up at him from the book she was reading. "Do we really have to tonight, James?" She put on the best sad puppy dog eyes Harry had ever seen
It was all Harry could do to look away from her, and reply. "Yes, Lily. I need to study more, and so do you."
"But, come on. Can't we take the week off? Look how well we did in Hogsmeade." Lily replied simply.
"Do I need to remind you how close we came to being killed? We aren't ready yet." Harry replied getting anxious.
"Come on, Ha...James. We did really well. We can afford to take the week off. Let's just spend it relaxing and hanging out with friends. Maybe you can repair some of the damage you have caused by separating yourself these past weeks." Lily started to gain steam and her voice rose in volume as she got agitated.
"I don't think we can. We have a lot more ground to cover. And, if you won't come, I'll train alone!" Harry said in a barely restrained voice.
By now the whole common room was looking at the two of them, but neither of them noticed this.
"Oh, come on, James. You have been training every day since summer. You need to take a break. You are going to over do it. Not only are you going to hurt yourself, you are hurting your friends by ignoring them. While I don't like to encourage pranks, you need to hang out with your friends. Take a week off and enjoy life for a change. We are still in school for Pete's sake. Enjoy the little bit that is left of your childhood." Harry still didn't look convinced, so Lily started looking around for backup. "Sirius, help me out here!"
Sirius luckily came to her rescue. "She is right, mate. You should take a break. I'm sure a week off isn't going to hurt that much. You should just relax for a bit. Maybe you could spend a little quality time with a certain redhead." Sirius said nudging Harry with his elbow.
Harry blushed a deep red that would rival any Weasley. But, he still didn't relent, "I still need more practice. Look what happened after the attack. I was out for a day. That just isn't acceptable." Harry didn't sound as convinced of himself, but still made the attempt.
Lily gave him a meaningful look that said, I know exactly why you were out for a day.
Harry finally relented. "Fine, I will rest for one week. Then we go back to training."
"That's great, mate. Do you think me and Remus might join the two of you? If it wasn't for those golden threads of light I don't think we would have made it." Sirius asked slapping Harry on the back.
Harry though for a moment, and then looked to Lily to see what she thought. Lily nodded at him and smiled.
"Sure thing, Padfoot, you and Moony are more then welcome to join us. The more the merrier." Harry said with a smile.
----
During the entire fight Remus sat in a chair about five feet away reading a book, at least he was until the actual argument started.
Remus watched his two friends, which had gotten along so well this year, have their first real argument that school year. This was just one change that he had seen. It was abnormal. James and Lily use to never get along. Lily was always after him about pulling some prank or something else, but this year they had not argued or fought once till now. And, even this fight was different. They were almost talking in code. They kept implying things that only the other really seemed to understand.
Then there was how James was acting alone. He wasn't as up-beat like he had been in the past. He was more serious and was always training. It seemed like he was preparing to fight a war that nobody else could win. James had never been that serious before. It had forgone contact with Remus and his other fellow Marauders. James had never let anything come between him and his friends, whether it was school work or anything else.
James had also become unusually cold towards Peter. He avoided talking to him whenever he could, and when he couldn't he was short and to the point and never just chatted with him. Remus thought he might have seen a look of contempt on his face directed towards Peter when James thought no one else was looking.
Remus quickly lost himself in his thoughts as he half hearted listened to the argument like everyone else in the common room. Remus quickly snapped out of his memories and thoughts though when he heard Lily's slip up
"Ha…James…" Remus didn't hear much after that as thoughts started to fly through his head. Remus not allowing himself to believe any of the wild theories his mind developed.
----
True to his word, Harry didn't train any that week besides the work required for his classes.
One of the first things he did was something he had sorely missed knew it was best to give up, flying.
Harry had quit James's position on the quidditich team the very first week of school. The captain, some seventh-year girl that he hadn't bothered to remember the name of, had not been very happy about it, but it was a joy that Harry just couldn't afford to indulge himself in. Plus, Harry wasn't very good at playing chaser.
Harry had discovered one night that summer that James had shrunken his broom and placed it in his robe that faithful day after he arrived in the past. Harry decided he was going to use it, because his Firebolt from his own trunk might raise too many eyebrows here in the past.
Harry, Sirius, Remus, and several other older Gryffindor started a pickup game that ended up drawing a large crowd from all houses, bar Slytherins, and ended up lasting several hours.
(A/N: I'm sorry but, I'm not good at writing the whole quidditch thing.)
----
Tuesday was a fateful night. Sirius decided that they would be having one of their "adventure" nights as he put it with a wink.
To start with the four of them snuck down to the Slytherin common room. It was relatively easy. Peter and Sirius transformed into their animagus forms and Remus and Harry were under his invisibility cloak. There was a close call with Filch's cat, it was Filches first year and he wasn't as bitter as he had been in the future, but Sirius managed to scare it off before it ran under the invisibility cloak.
Harry stifled a laugh as the cat fled in terror, what he wouldn't give to see Mrs. Norris doing that.
They continued without further incident.
When they reached the entrance Sirius and Peter untransformed.
"So, oh masterful leader, how do you propose we get into the Slytherin Common Room?" Sirius asked with a mocking bow.
Evidently they had not developed the Marauder's map yet, so Harry took it upon himself to "invent" the map.
Harry slowly pulled out the old batter piece of parchment.
"I plan to do so with this." He said brandishing the map at Sirius.
Sirius took the map and looked at it. "You must be losing it. This is just some old parchment; really beat up old parchment at that."
"This is more than it seems, I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Harry intoned with a smile with his wand in the center of the map.
Slowly the lines flowed from his wand tip and formed the only map of Hogwarts in existence.
Sirius took at the map and looked at in awe. "Where did you get this, Prongs? This is absolute genius. We could do so much with this."
"What is it, Padfoot?" Remus asked.
Sirius shoved the map into Remus' hands. Remus looked at the map, "Holy shit. How did you get this?" Remus exclaimed before he passed the map off to Peter.
"I made it this summer. You didn't think I would really only train this summer. In my spare time I made this. It has all the secret passages we have ever found, and the best part is, as long as someone knows or has known the password for anything in castle since the map was made, we can find it on this map. You just go up to the passworded area and look at the map and the password appears." Harry said with pride.
"You've been holding out on us. We could have used this so much. We could do almost anything with this." Sirius said retaking the map holding it like it was the Holy Grail.
"So let's get on with the nights festivities. You can conjure a bucket of warm water silently right, Peter? And you two brought the shaving cream right?" Harry asked his fellow Marauders.
Peter, Remus, and Sirius all nodded their heads.
"Ok let's get started. I think we can start with the first years. Make sure to cast silencing charms on your boots and the shaving cream canisters. We don't want to wake them up, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few traps set. Now let's go show all these inbreeding idiots how to have little fun." Harry said finishing his pre-prank pep talk.
His other friends gave a muffled cheer and they re-entered the dungeon hallway.
"So, what's the password?" Remus asked in a whisper.
Harry looked at the map and saw his dot form a speech bubbled. "Ugh, the password is Mudblood."
With that the stone walls slid open and the four entered the deserted common room silently.
They stealthily entered the first-year boys' dorm.
They quickly started their work. Harry and Peter started conjuring buckets of warm water and binding each boy's hand in the water as Remus and Sirius started covering their hair, and made fake beards on each of them.
They slowly progressed through all seven dorms, the sixth year dorm taking a little longer than the others, because Sirius thought it absolutely necessary to shave his brothers head before putting the shaving cream on. They then quickly snuck out and before they left Harry cast a simply recording charm on each room before the four of them quickly left fighting down their laughter.
They quickly entered the classroom they had been in earlier and they all started laughing.
"So what do you have recording their reactions, Prongs?" Remus asked.
"I have a crystal up in my dorm that is storing it. I figured we could discretely show it to the entire school. That should teach them." Harry said.
After they finally got their laughter under control they quietly snuck back up to their dorms. Harry quickly checked the now glowing green crystal he had prepared earlier. With that he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of what the morning would bring.
----
Harry was awoken by an over enthusiastic Sirius. Harry glared up at Sirius and his other friends laughing at him as he tried to ignore the glare of the sunlight flooding his once dark bed.
"Come on, sleepy head. We have a show to produce. You have the crystal right?" Sirius asked laughing.
Harry grabbed the crystal off his bedside table and looked at it. It was now pulsating red angrily. "Ya, and from the look of the crystal someone particularly violently ended the spell. We are going to be in for a good show. Give me a moment and I'll be ready."
Sirius, Remus and Peter stepped back and Harry got up and grabbed his clothes before rushing into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later Harry stepped out of the bathroom with his hair still wet from his shower.
"Took you long enough, let's go." Sirius said as he impatiently left the room. Harry and his other friend quickly followed and the moved swiftly through the common room and then down the castle using every shortcut they knew.
The four of them entered the Great Hall and did their best to hide the giddy feeling all of them shared as they quickly say down.
Lily looked at them suspiciously, "What have you four done now?" She hissed at Harry, who had sat down next to her.
"Nothing," Harry said with an evil grin on his face.
"Did you enchant the doors like you said you would, Prongs?" Sirius asked once Lily had gone back to her meal.
Harry nodded, "All I have to do is tap the crystal and it will start to play, and I doubt anyone but Dumbledore could stop it before it is done."
Sirius grinned and the three other Marauders quickly joined him.
Harry gave a few more minutes and then he finally tapped the crystal discretely under the table. Harry felt the crystal become hot before several gasp went through the room.
A picture of all the Slytherin boy's dormitories appeared in a collage on the entrance to the great hall. It then show all the boys starting to awake and realizing they had all pissed their beds and were covered in shaving cream.
Laughter started to fill the Great Hall as the Marauder's all looked over at the Slytherin table. All of the boys weren't laughing and were all blushing profusely. The only exceptions were a few older boys.
One just happened to be Snape who was furious. He stood up and ran to the entrance to see if he could get out of the room, but he wasn't able to pass the pictures covering the door. Snape then drew his wand and Harry burst out laughing even harder than before. This was going to be good.
Snape quickly tried to dispel the image, but at first nothing happened. Then a huge BANG! Filled the hall and Snape was thrown back five feet and was now in his boxers, his clothes disappearing, but the best part was that Snape's picture filled the entire doorway covering all the other pictures shown. The sound of Snape waking up filled the hall over all the laughter in the room. The Snape in the picture started to cuss loudly as he woke up drenched in his own urine and then it got even worse when he looked in a mirror and he saw the shaving cream all over his face and hair. Then the image promptly disappeared and the door way filled with purple dust as golden ribbons formed the message.
This is brought to
you by the Marauders.
Encores will be shown at the end of lunch
and dinner. We hope you have enjoyed the show. Have a nice day.
The letters and smoke disappeared and then the doors burst open magically as all the Slytherin boys rushed to leave hall as fast as they could.
Harry was glad to see that Dumbledore was laughing just as much as any of the students, even though McGonagall was doing her best to stop him and scold him for allowing such childish behavior to continue.
Lily was trying to glare at him but was failing miserably as she tried to stifle her laughter like the rest of the hall.
Harry and the other Marauders calmly picked up their stuff and left the room for their first class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts.
They quickly entered the room and grabbed their usual seats. All the Slytherins were there and were giving the four of them glares. Everyone knew who the Marauders were even if they couldn't prove it.
The class room quickly filled up and all the student from other houses quickly gave them congratulations on a prank well done before they sat down.
"You really shouldn't have done that. The Slytherins will be out for blood now." Lily said sitting down in the desk next to Harry.
"I know, but I couldn't resist." Harry told her.
"How did you even get into their dorms anyways?" Lily asked now curious.
Harry looked around to make sure no one was listening before leaning over. Harry whispered to her, "I'll show you later."
Harry then sat back up as Professor Hennessey walked into the room.
"Now if everyone could please calm down from the morning's festivities, I have an important announcement to make." He said as all the whispers died out as they listened with rapt attention.
"Starting with this class we will be holding a Dueling Tournament. There will be one or two practice duels every class that will take place in a single elimination format with the championship taking place during the final class of the semester. After each duel we will discuss the techniques used and critique how each witch or wizard could have improved. Are there any questions before I explain all the rules?" Professor Hennessey asked.
No one asked a question, but everyone had a look of excitement on their faces. This was going to be fun.
Professor Hennessey then continued to explain all the rules. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, except he gave Harry a meaningful look when he talked about not using any spells that were overly dangerous to their opponent or the rest of the class.
Harry took the hint, though he didn't think any student would be able to force him to go to that level.
----
The other showings of the Slytherins plight that morning went off without a hitch. There were no other attempts of the Slytherins to leave or disabled the viewing. By the time dinner was over everyone in the school had seen the full show twice.
Dumbledore still didn't try to stop the viewing and everyone left dinner with smiles on their faces except for the Slytherins that were sending death glares at the rest of the school. Harry made his way back up to the common room surrounded by his fellow Gryffindors who were all laughing and joking about the showing.
The rest of the week passed in a blur. Harry won his first duel easily and there was little anyone could point out how to change his technique. Lily had also won her first duel, which made Harry immensely proud.
The Marauders also laid off the pranks thinking the one Tuesday had been enough for the week.
The week passed so quickly for Harry, and he was almost sad that his forced break was over.
----
Harry awoke early Sunday morning. He wanted to train a little extra today to make up for a little of the time he had lost this past week. Harry quickly snuck out of the dorm making sure not to wake his roommates after he got dressed in his training clothes.
Harry snuck down the stairs making almost no noise. He thought he would be only the one up, but he was surprised when he saw Lily, Sirius, and Remus sitting in the Common Room looking at the stairs expectantly.
"Lily told us that you might try to sneak out without us. I told her she was crazy, and that you would never be up this early, but it turns out I was wrong." Remus said with a tired laugh.
"Well since everyone is here, do we won't to start training together now?" Harry asked.
There were nods all around and Harry led them all out of the common room and across the castle to the Room of Requirement. Harry quickly led them there and paced the corridor three times as the door to the room appeared on the lone empty wall.
Remus and Sirius were surprised about the room, but quickly got over it as Harry started to drill them to see how far they were along how much work they were going to need to catch up.
It turned out they were much further along then what Harry thought most of his classmates were probably capable of doing it, but they still had a lot of work to catch up to Lily and himself.
----
The next few weeks were quiet. There weren't any attacks in the paper and Harry didn't have any interruption in his day to day life. It surprised him that the Slytherins hadn't tried anything, but his second duel with Snape of all people probably took care of that since, he had wiped the floor with the greasy git, literally.
Remus and Sirius caught on quickly and by the week after Thanksgiving would probably be caught up enough so Harry could get back to his normal training schedule. Their spells weren't quite as powerful as Harry's or even Lily's, she turned out to be more powerful than your average witch or wizard, but they would still be able to overcome most opponents, even some of Voldemort's inner circle if it came down to it.
Harry managed to make enough excuses again to pass up the monthly tromp through the woods and Hogsmeade, though Harry didn't miss the downcast look on Remus and Sirius' faces.
----
As the end of November drew closer Harry could almost feel the tension welling in the air, growing thicker everyday. Harry could tell something big was going to happen on more than one fronts. Harry knew how Voldemort thought, and he wouldn't remain quiet much longer
Harry could also feel the tension among his friends. Peter was really starting to get irritated with Harry giving him the cold shoulder and had taken to hanging out with some of the younger Gryffindors that looked up to him as a hero for being part of the Marauders.
Remus was also suspicious of him. All the extra time they were spending together showed him that he still cared about them as friends, but there was still something strange going on. Where had he gotten all this power? Why had James and Lily's relationship change so much? Those were just some of the questions that went through his mind, but he held his tongue. James hadn't shown anything but care for them, so he was content to continue observing.
Harry saw these doubts and he knew he was going have to explain everything soon to Remus. If not there could be some unpleasant consequences, and too many people might find out his secret. Harry would have to take care of that soon.
Then there was Lily. She and Harry drew even closer. Harry tried to fight it, but sometimes when they were studying in the common room or library he would find himself staring at her with a smile. He didn't always notice it, but every now and then Lily would look up and look into his eyes briefly before she looked down with a furious blush on her face.
Harry didn't realize it, but he was starting to fall for her. The love that he had held for his mother as a son was slowly starting to turn into something much deeper, but Harry didn't see it. He just enjoyed her company and she his.
----
Harry awoke on the 24th of November and he could almost feel the electric charge in the air. Something was definitely going to happen that day.
With that ominous feeling in his stomach, he got ready for the day and left to meet Lily and his friends in the common room before heading down to breakfast
----
A/N: Well there you have it, the ninth chapter. I'm so sorry it took so long, but my supervisor at work decided to be a jackass and told me not to bring my laptop to work because it was "unfair" to all the stockers. All of the stockers even said they didn't care. Come on I am was a night checker. My cleaning of the registers took me an hour and I always shut the top as soon as I heard a customer approach my register, but oh well I don't work there any more so all I have to say is screw them. Now though I am going to be leaving on Friday to move to Arizona. I'll be out of commission for awhile till me and my roommates get the internet set up and I also have to actively search for a new job. I'll try to write while I'm out, but I can't guarantee anything. I wish I could have made this chapter longer, but I wanted to get out so all of you could have some more to read. I'll try to get another chapter up as soon as I can. I also see that I have passed the 100 review mark. That is a land mark that makes me even happier than the first time I made it level 40 in just two weeks (the first time took me almost two months). Well I hope that you all enjoy, and as always R&R.