Chapter 4
The rest of their 3rd year went well. Maggie completed all her classes with high marks and decided not to take so many electives next year. Remus, James, and Sirius also got top marks in their classes, though Peter struggled to pass most of them. Their transformations were getting smoother and smoother. The boys were having trouble convincing Maggie to try to fly. She says that she doesn't need to since werewolves can't fly. This argument is ongoing.
Once the summer hits they are all separated again. Maggie works to keep letters going, but it is difficult with babysitting duties and her magical creature studies. She applied for a summer internship in America with the Snallygaster Protection League working with Snallygaster eggs. She was accepted based on her Care of Magical Creature marks and several letters of recommendation from Hogwarts staff members.
In July she crossed the pond to Maryland, USA where she worked in the hatchery caring for eggs and hatchlings. She was introduced to Newt Scamander when he was passing through Maryland on his way to a Horned Serpent nest in Kentucky. He was thoroughly surprised to see a 14-year-old girl enthusiastically caring for the small yet dangerous creatures. He offered to look her up if he finds something interesting across the pond. She was extremely grateful she soon left for home. Since postage was so expensive Maggie collected all the letters, she had written her friends while she was out of the country. She sent them all once she got back.
The boys were so excited to have her back that James talked his parents into letting all the Marauders gather at his home the week before they were set to return to Hogwarts.
"Prongs!" Maggie shouted as she stepped out of the floo.
"Peggy!" James sprinted into the kitchen sliding in his socks and running into the wall.
They grabbed each other in big hugs and immediately start yammering on about how excited they are to see each other.
Mrs. Potter entered the kitchen to find James rapidly asking questions about America.
"James why don't you show Maggie where she will be staying."
"Oh right." He replies sheepishly.
"Follow me. Your room is right next to Remus and across from Sirius. Pete couldn't come since he is still in trouble for his low marks last term. My room is right next to Sirius. We are all in Sirius's room listening to music if you want to join us once you've unpacked."
Maggie smiles and agrees to join them.
James opens the door to a large guest bedroom then heads across the hall. Her room has lilac bedding and off-white walls. There is an attached bathroom and a balcony overlooking a garden and pond.
Maggie sets down her trunk and heads to the balcony. She feels the heat and decides to be spontaneous. She puts on a swimsuit and heads to Sirius' room. When she opens the door she is blasted with muggle rock and smiles.
"Hey boys, anyone wanna join me in a swim?" she asks smiling.
They all look up in surprise, but quickly agree.
They change and meet her outside at the pond.
Remus notices that Sirius seems to be watching Maggie with glazed eyes as she wrestles with James to get on top of the large rock that comes out just above the water.
"Alright Padfoot?"
"Huh? Oh yeah just plotting how I will be the king of the mountain." He quickly ran into the water and swam over to join the fun.
For the next few hours, the four of them swim and splash before deciding to dry in the sun.
"I missed you guys." Maggie smiles while watching the clouds lazily reshape themselves into new forms.
They all sit there quietly until James can't take it anymore. "What are we going to do for our first prank this year? We set a pretty high expectation last year."
With that they all started plotting. The last of their summer days went by in much the same fashion.
A week later the five marauders were finally together again. Peter joined them in their usual compartment. They quickly filled him in on their plans for the feast this evening.
An hour later they are all nursing belly aches from the amount of sugar they had all consumed when the compartment door opened to reveal Lily Evans, Alice Fortescue, and Marlene McKinnon were standing looking frustrated in the doorway.
"Hello ladies. How can we be of service?" Sirius asked with a flirty smile.
James was staring blatantly at Lily while struggling to string any words together.
"We need somewhere to sit since someone threw dung bombs in the corridor outside of ours." Marlene says while plopping down next to Remus. Alice sits next to her leaving Lily to sit next to James. With a sigh she sits down while James turns a bright shade of red.
"How was your summer?" Maggie asks and soon they are all talking and laughing about the summer holiday experiences.
The train ride goes by swiftly and they are soon loading into carriages to head to the castle.
Maggie checks the pocket of her cloak to make sure she is ready for her part of the planned mischief.
She makes eye contact with James and gives a thumbs up.
Soon they are all sitting in the Great Hall watching the sorting ceremony. The hall is full of tension and the marauders are all being watched warily. This is mostly because they are equally spaced out along the entire Gryffindor table. They are all sitting quietly patiently watching the sorting with hands clasped together on the tabletop. At one point Peter sneezed and reached into his pocket for a handkerchief and the students nearest to him duck hoping to dodge whatever mischief that is about to be unleashed.
Everyone seems to relax once the food appears on the tables. A brave or very hungry Hufflepuff is the first to take a bite and once all seems to be safe the rest of the students quickly join in. Maggie looks down the table to Remus and he nods once he gets the signal from Sirius. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out an uninflated muggle balloon. With a quick spell she throws it under the table and goes back to eating.
The balloon quickly inflates and inflates and inflates until the table starts to rise off the ground and students quickly back away from the rapidly expanding balloon. The other tables are doing the same and shouts of surprise alert the professors that were not paying attention. Before anything can be done the balloons rotate out from under the tables and float to the ceiling while still expanding. Remus casts a quick spell under the table and the balloons burst into hundreds of house-colored balloons which then pop loudly and rain colored glitter over the entire hall. Students are gapping at the huge, yet beautiful mess and they start talking only to burst into laughter as they all sound like they have inhaled helium. With a high-pitched voice and sparkling eyes Dumbledore sends everyone off to bed.
For the next week classes are extremely entertaining since the entire school still has the helium effect and small amounts of glitter is still easy to find on everyone.
Fourth year was going smoothly for the marauders. Their classes were going well, they were spending lots of time learning new and unusual spells to work into their pranks, and the full moons were going well with Remus looking tired and minimally bruised after each one.
The year seemed to be going well until the first Hogsmeade trip was announced. Their classmates started pairing up and making plans in a whirlwind. James of course asked Lily and was shot down. He then decided that the marauders were going to go together. This was also shot down when Maggie was approached by a 5th year chaser on the Ravenclaw team named Dirk Cresswell.
Dirk is a kind muggleborn with blonde hair and brown eyes. She agrees to go with him which seems to annoy Sirius.
His irritation grows as the day goes on. The next day at breakfast he asks Marlene to go with him. The next few days seem to make things worse between the once close friends. Maggie is confused and Sirius is avoiding and ignoring her. She finally decides to corner him and make him talk.
"Oi! Padfoot!" She calls when she enters the Gryffindor common room.
Sirius looks up and quickly ducks up the stairs to the boy's dormitory.
Maggie immediately follows him while pulling out her wand.
James and Remus share a startled look and swiftly move to follow them, leaving Peter behind looking confused.
James and Remus get to their room and are surprised to find Sirius hanging upside down from the ceiling with his arms crossed glaring at Maggie who is sitting calmly on the truck at the end of his bed.
"Um…what's going on here?" James asks tentatively while approaching the scene.
"This git is going to explain why he is avoiding me, or we will see how red his face can get."
"Mags be reasonable. I'm not avoiding you." Sirius scoffs while his face turns a violent shade of crimson.
"We can do this all night if you want." she says while crossing her arms.
"Fine! You want to know why I'm cross?! I don't want to be the one to say it, but fine I will be the bad guy. Cresswell is using you. He is not going with you to Hogsmeade because he is interested in you. He's going because you are friends with several people on our quidditch team. He wants a spy and a snog and thinks you are easy pickings."
The room is silent as James and Remus watch on incredulously. All eyes turn to Maggie waiting for the imminent blow up.
She looks at him quietly then lifts her wand and drops him to the floor. She turns on her heel and stiffly leaves the room.
"Really Sirius?! You know that isn't what is going on." James says while watching his friend get off the floor.
"Whatever. If she wants to be with that tosser I don't care."
James and Remus follow him back downstairs to find Pete still sitting in front of the fire and Maggie nowhere in sight.
The next day Remus corners her at breakfast.
"Maggie, you know that Sirius is full of shit right. Dirk is a good guy, and it doesn't surprise anyone that he is interested in dating you."
"Yeah, I know. I'm not going to waste my time trying to argue with him. If he wants to be an idiot and strain our friendship, then that is on him. I have better things to do."
"This is going to change things, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I mean we are still friends, but until he can pull his head out of his ass, I am going to put some distance between us. If you need anything I will be around. I need to head to the library. I'll see you around Moony." She smiles sadly and leaves the hall.
Maggie avoids all the Marauders for the next few weeks. She has been sitting with Dirk or her dormmates at meal times and seems to disappear after classes.
James, Remus, and Peter are all getting fed up with Sirius. He went to Hogsmeade with Marlene and has been snogging random girls while avoiding his friends. This leads them to planning an intervention. All they need to do is lead their estranged friends into the trap and hopefully all will go back to normal.
AN: The next one should be up next week. Thank you for the follows and favorites. Please review! See you next time. -A.