Chapter 9 - The Marauders' legacy

Hogwarts, Unplottable location, Scotland, Great Britain.

Saturday the 9th of November 1991

06:00 PM

'I saw Snape when you were hanging from your broomstick and he was completely focused on you and muttering. That is a sign of someone jinxing someone else', Theodore explained.

Aurora and the boys were in the classroom they used for their study group on the sixth floor. After the celebration of their victory in the Slytherin common room and an angry rant from Theo about Aurora's lack of self-preservation they managed to escape from all the chaos and a very drunk Marcus Flint who surprisingly was a really happy drunk. He talked more this afternoon than the two months she knew him. Theodore was finally explaining what he saw to Aurora and Blaise.

'But it doesn't make any sense. I mean I know he doesn't like me and I definitely don't like the bastard but I don't think he'd go as far as to kill me. Even though he hated my father he used to be friends with my mom. And even if he wanted to kill me. Why do it in a stadium full of people? I think we should put him on the suspect list but not be absolute on our judging,' said Aurora.

Blaise looked contemplative for a moment but then nodded.

'I agree with Aurora. But still who else would want to kill her in this school?'

'Well it could be an offspring of an imprisoned Death Eater looking for revenge. A follower of You-Know-Who. Someone insane who just doesn't like you…' said Theo with a sheepish look on his face.

'Well it seems I am a popular one when it comes to killing,' Aurora said dryly.

'We will just have to keep our eyes open then. And continue our dueling practice. With a killer on the loose we can't just be unprepared,' said Blaise.

Aurora was very touched when her friends without even thinking about it made the attempt to kill her a problem not only her own but of the whole group. They were great friends really.

With a fond smile she stood up.

'Ok so I found the disarming charm on an old version of the first-year book, which by the way is way better and it causes whatever the victim is holding to fly away and if enough force is used it knocks out an opponent', lectured Aurora.

For the rest of the night they continued training with extra vigour, being motivated by the unknown enemy.


Hogwarts, Unplottable location, Scotland, Great Britain.

Wednesday the 1st of December 1991

06:00 PM

Aurora was just heading to the library when she heard someone shouting. She turned in the corner and came to face three second year Slytherins cornering Neville and taunting him.

Angry that someone would harass her godbrother she acted immediately on instinct.

'Petrificus Totalus'.

She casted the spell on each of the bullies. They were down before they could even notice what happened to them. Neville startled, looked up to see Aurora with her wand out in front of her.

'Are you okay Neville?', she asked kindly.

Neville awe struck could only nod.

She helped him gather his fallen belongings from the floor and then she took him by the arm.

'I was heading to the library. Do you want to come?' she asked him.

Neville having finally found his voice stuttered a quite yes.

Truthfully it was the first time anybody from his age had been kind to him and asked him to join in any activities. He was the most bullied student of his year and he was terribly lonely, he had no friends. The boys in his dorm had already formed groups by the time he met them. Seamus with Dean and Nicholas with Ron. While the other boys didn't bully him they still didn't give him any attention. The only other more secluded than him was Hermione who not only was alone but also very unpopular with the Gryffs of their year as somehow, she had managed to offend every single one of them.

When they reached the library, they sat on a table in the back next to the forbidden section.

Aurora took out her transfiguration homework and Neville took out his potions homework.

They sat in silence for around half an hour both focusing on their work. Every once in a while, Aurora would look at Neville and see that he seemed troubled. When she finished writing her transfiguration essay she decided to give him a helping hand.

'Do you need any help with that?' she asked.

Neville looked up startled.

'No, you don't need to trouble yourself. I'll handle it', he stuttered.

'No, I don't mind really,' she took his essay and started reading it.

She took a quill and some red ink and started marking all his mistakes.

'You should use 101 secrets of potion making as a reference. It is much better. The book we use in class is very dry and it doesn't explain the reasons most of the ingredients are used. Which is very stupid as if you know the whys, everything makes much more sense. They have it in the library. You should borrow it', she explained as she started getting into her teaching mode as Blaise had fondly called her way of lecturing during their study groups.

Neville nodded and noted the title down quickly on parchment.

When she finished correcting his mistakes she turned the parchment sideways in order for him to be able to see it. The essay was for their Friday potions class and it was about the use of the forgetfulness potion in everyday life and the way that the ingredients react with each other in order for it to work.

Aurora then spent the next half hour explaining to him his mistakes and which were the best books to use when studying while he took notes.

'Thanks Aurora. This is the first time that potions make sense'.

'It was nothing. You are good at herbology Neville. So, you could think of potions as an extension of the subject,' she said. She noticed that this got his attention so she continued elaborating. 'Like every magical plant has its uses. Right? So, every time you are to make a potion you' ll think of the plans you have to use as ingredients and remember their magical properties. Therefore, if it's for example a healing potion and the plant has pharmaceutical properties you know of, it will make much more sense why it is used on that particular potion'.

Neville hadn't thought of that and he was quite excited of studying potions from that angle. He knew his plants. After all it herbology and gardening were his only companions during his lonely childhood.

'Thank you, Aurora. You didn't have to help me but you did', he said.

'Really Neville it was nothing. We are god siblings after all of course I will help you when you need it. If circumstances were different we might have grown up together'.

Neville remembered her mentioning it during the flying lessons and while he had heard it before it still surprised him that she didn't mind calling him family. He wasn't so prejudiced as to think that all Slytherins were evil like a ginger housemate he knew of but he still didn't expect her to be so honest about it and openly interact with Gryffindors. The rivalry between the houses was legendary after all.

'Yeah… right. You mentioned that my mother was your godmother I didn't know that.'

'I found out about it when I visited Gringotts and my mother was yours. I am sorry about what happened to your parents Neville. It must be very difficult for you', she said in a soothing voice. She noticed him having lost some colour at the mention of his parents. 'Do you visit them often?' she asked.

'Every Christmas' he quietly said.

'Do you mind if I go visit them sometime?' she asked.

That surprised him. 'Why?'

'Well it's the right thing to do and they are family' she sheepishly explained her reasoning.

'Eh well…yes. I think they would like that', he said in a stronger voice.

She smiled at him and got up.

'Well I have to go now but if you'll like we can meet up again. I am usually here at the same time as today on Fridays and Wednesdays.'

'Yes, I would like that' he said shyly.

That evening Neville walked to his dorm with much surer steps. He had just made his first friend. One that didn't ridicule him and instead helped him. It was also the day that a sibling bond would start to form between them and the day he started connecting to his future leader.


Hogwarts, Unplottable location, Scotland, Great Britain.

Thursday the 2nd of December 1991

01:00 AM

Aurora and Theodore were sitting in the common room in front of the fireplace in silence, taking comfort from each other. Theodore had woken up again because of nightmares. While Aurora had less nightmares than him she still got up even if she didn't have one. She was so in tune with his emotions by now that the panic he felt during his night terrors woke her up. She could turn the connection off and let herself sleep peacefully but she didn't want him to be on his own.

Theodore had by now accepted the fact that every time he woke up from nightmares she would somehow know and when he went to the common room to sit and think she would appear too five minutes later and sit by his side. It was one more thing to add to the mysteries that surrounded Aurora.

'Theo?' she said in a quiet voice.

He hummed to show he was listening

'Will you go home for the holidays?', she asked, fearing the answer. While Theo hadn't told her or Blaise anything about his home life. They knew enough from his behavior to know it wasn't a good one.

'No, I'll be staying here', he answered.

'Well that won't do' she said in a determined voice. He turned around to look at her. 'You should come to my house for Yule.' When she saw he was about to decline she continued 'I'll be on my own with only my house elves for company. Please come. We won't' have to spend Yule on our own if we are together'. Cue the puppy dog eyes from hell that both he and Blaise hated as they could make them do everything.

'You can tell your family that you'll stay in the castle if you want', she added in a quiet voice.

His gaze softened and he nodded.

'I would be honoured to spend the holiday with you then.'

They smiled at each other and then they fell back to their comfortable silence.


Hogwarts, Unplottable location, Scotland, Great Britain.

Sunday the 5th of December 1991

01:00 AM

Aurora, under her invisibility cloak was heading back to her dorms, after having set her prank for tomorrow. It was the first time that she had had the opportunity to use it. She had found this particular family heirloom in the main Potter vault, when she visited it, after she had claimed her lordship. What Aurora didn't know about the cloak though, was that it was given to one Albus Dumbledore by her father, to study when her parents went into hiding. As her parents were killed before it was given back to the family and it hadn't been returned to her either, the Potter family magics recalled the cloak to the main family vault, after a year that it hadn't been with its rightful owners, much to Dumbledore's dismay. (His plans to make her trust him by giving her something of her family were ruined.)

Tonight, wasn't only the debut of the cloak but of her legacy as a Marauder also. The bastard Snape had been down right vicious to Neville during their potions lesson on Friday even when the boy managed to make a passable potion, it wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst either. It wasn't fair and Aurora definitely couldn't let anyone ridicule her godbrother like that. So, she decided to do what the Blacks did best. Vengeance.

All the furniture in the potions lab had been stuck upside down on the ceiling with a modified sticking charm, it wouldn't be removed unless the right words were uttered. The key phrase was Snape's a prick. She had already given to a reluctant, yet amused Mopsey a potion that would make Snape's hair turn into a bubble-gum pink for two days, that she would put in his breakfast. If they didn't find a way to remove the charm in the potions lab in two days, then Snape would have to suffer through a Holler singing: the code is: Snape is a prick, that would follow him around for four hours.

While she was making her way to her common room and contemplating other ways to make the bastard suffer, she failed to notice the Weasley twins that were standing in the corner she had just passed by looking at their map and trying to understand how she was hiding herself.


Hogwarts, Unplottable location, Scotland, Great Britain.

Monday the 6th of December 1991.

10:00 AM

For the first time in some time George Weasley and his twin were just as surprised as everyone else in their school when suddenly in the middle of breakfast professor's Snape hair turned bubble gum pink. Someone had pranked the potions professor and it hadn't been him nor his brother.

There was a moment of awkward silence in the Great Hall. But only a moment.

The Gryffindors were the first to break. The moment Lee Jordan descended into laughter it was like the spell was broken and every single one of the lions started laughing too, quickly being followed by the rest of the houses. Even the snakes seemed amused though they somehow managed to control themselves into mostly quietly snickering.

The look on Snape's face when he saw his hair in the conjured mirror the amused headmaster had given him was just priceless.

He was intrigued and he could tell from his brother's expression that he was as well.

He was even more so and borderline on impressed, when they entered the potions lab for their potions lesson. The desks and everything else were stuck upside down on the ceiling. As an enraged pink haired potions professor kept trying to unstick the furniture from the ceiling and each time failed, the more interested he was by this mysterious prankster.

When after the third attempt to unstick the furniture from the ceiling failed and a message appeared on the black board saying:

YOU FAILED SNIVELLUS.

AND GUESS WHAT?

THE MARAUDERS LEGACY IS FINALLY HERE …

SO, BE READY FOR THE PRANKS AND FUN TO REAPPEAR!

P.S. YOU NEED TO FIND THE MAGIC WORDSSS!

Then he knew just by looking at his brother that they would find this prankster and make sure that they were not sullying their idols image.

The scream that tore out from Snape's throat was marvelous though, so points for that.


Hogwarts, Unplottable location, Scotland, Great Britain.

Monday the 6th of December 1991.

05:00 PM

Rumours of what happened in that morning's potions class flew around the castle, much to the joy of the Gryffindors, who took vindictive pleasure from Snape's misery.

The fact that the Weasley twins told everyone that this wasn't their work surprised everyone. Some didn't believe them and thought that they were just covering their tracks in order to avoid detention, while others were trying to solve the mystery of the mysterious Marauder.

Blaise for his part had a feeling that he knew exactly who was responsible for the chaos and she was sitting right next to him while radiating an air of smugness that followed her around all day. The fact that every time he saw her Snape tried to burn a hole in her head with his death stare and the Weasley twins' curious gazes at her direction just reaffirmed his hypothesis.

Not that he minded, no he quite enjoyed the torment of their professor. The fact that he was their head of house didn't mean he liked him. He was especially mean to Aurora, who he had come in their short time together to treasure as a friend so, he had no problem with her retaliation. Though he was curious about how she was able to accomplish it.

'You're quite a clever one, aren't you? How did you manage it? I get the class, but the pink hair… just how?' he asked the subject of his thoughts.

'I have no idea what you are talking about', she responded, while smirking. 'Though completely irrelevant mind you, I should remind you that I am as much a Potter as I am a Black. And Blacks thrive in revenge.'

He couldn't help but snort.

Another mystery then.

Well he liked mysteries and he especially liked cracking them.

He had all the time in the world to solve all the secrecies that surrounded one Aurora Potter.


A/N: I think I managed to update faster this time, so I'm quite happy. Who know maybe it'll become a habit?

I want to thank each one of you that has reviewed, followed or favorited this story.

Your comments are really important to me and my improvement as a writer , so thank you.

I hope you like this chapter.

P.S. I would like to mention that I finally decided on the main pairing.

Edited: 18/6/18

xoxo

nephel the huntress