Chapter 7
Revenge
James knew that he had to tell Dumbledore as soon as possible, so after looking down at the Marauders' Map to confirm that Christine, and the boy, whose name the Marauder's map informed him was Joseph Pellin, had made it to the hospital wing, he was off. He got off his broom and slung it over his shoulder; he didn't want to crash the damn thing again.
He jogged his way to the Headmaster's office, hoping the password was the same as the last time he'd been escorted there. "Cockroach Clusters," said James, and the Gargoyles jumped out of the way, allowing for him to make his way up the stairs.
It was only after he started up the steps that he remembered it was the middle of the night and the Headmaster would probably be asleep. However, he had reason to believe that the Headmaster had a personal bedroom somewhere near his office, and if anything warranted waking the Headmaster up in the middle of the night, it would be the fact that a kid had been tortured in the hallway, and the dark mark was now burned into one of the downstairs hallways.
But by the time James got up to the Office, Dumbledore was waiting patiently for him at his desk.
"One of the portraits in my bedroom woke me up," revealed Dumbledore, asking James' unanswered question. Now where's Christine?"
"In the hospital wing watching over Joseph Pellin," said James.
"The fourth year Hufflepuff," said Dumbledore. "Small for his age. A perfect victim. What happened to him? Actually, wait a moment, I'm going to send a message to another one of the professors to monitor the hallways. I doubt that they'll strike twice in one night, but there's really no need to have our guard cut down on a night where something's already gone wrong."
Dumbledore turned to Fawkes the Phoenix, and, after scribbling a quick note, instructed, "Deliver this to Professor Slughorn."
"Now, please answer my question, if you'll pardon my previous distraction," suggested Dumbledore.
"Of course. I think he was cruciatused. And they left a Dark Mark above his moaning body. They're... They're sick and cruel, sir," shuddered James.
"Yes, they sound as if they must be. And as I'm sure you've been coming to realize, James, many people do seem to be nowadays. Do you know specifically of whom you are talking, and perhaps more importantly, can you prove it?" asked Dumbledore.
James had put away the Marauders' Map before coming into the office, but had noticed before he got there that Prewett and Flint had already made it to their beds.
"Flint and Prewett from Slytherin, but... I'm afraid I can't prove it, sir," said James.
"Well then I can take no official action as a Headmaster in this matter. Of all times, now would be the worst time for me to appear to be prejudiced against Slytherins. There are still quite a few who we can keep out from Voldemort's army. Of course, someday soon we must form our own army, but I think that must wait until the end of this year. Many of you in this year will be the core of the army, if you are so willing," said Dumbledore.
James was very interested to hear about Dumbledore's plans to take on Voldemort in the near future, and nodded fervently that he, at least, would be willing to join an army to fight Voldemort.
But Dumbledore, to James' disappointment, changed topics. "Back to the matter at hand, however" Dumbledore said, "just as I cannot take action as a Headmaster, you cannot take action as Headboy. But I believe there's another group you call yourself a part of. The Marauders, is it?" smiled Dumbledore.
"Er... yes sir," said James, vaguely surprised that Dumbledore so clearly approved of the group which had pulled off at least a hundred pranks in the last six years as Hogwarts.
"Yes, well. I believe that I, as a former Gryffindor, may tell you, as a Marauder, that something must be done about Prewett and Flint. I will leave the particulars up to you, but I would advise that you take at least one of your fellow Marauders along to help you out," said Dumbledore.
"Er... yes sir," said James, surprised that Dumbledore was putting so much faith in him. But then again, he and Sirius were more than equipped to take on two Slytherin jack-asses who had ganged up on a fourth year.
"Was there anything else that I may discuss with you tonight?" asked Dumbledore with a smile.
"Well, if I may ask... Why are we waiting a year before fighting Voldemort?" asked James.
"I never said that we weren't already fighting him. We just don't have a formal army yet. Aurors are already catching death-eaters, I've apprehended a couple on my own. But more will come in the future," said Dumbledore. "Any further questions?"
"Not for tonight, sir? Perhaps I should go back to my shift?" asked James.
"See if Joseph Pellin is well enough for Christine to join you again. If not, find someone else. No need to have you alone tonight," answered Dumbledore.
"Yes sir," said James
Early Friday morning James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius were huddled close together at the Gryffindor Table in the Great Hall.
"So, Remus, we were going to help you out with your furry little problem starting tomorrow night, yeah?" asked James.
"That was the plan," said Remus.
"Well, I was wondering if it might be okay for us to be a little late... say midnight instead of earlier? Sirius and I have some business to attend to after curfew," said James. He had already told the other marauders the story of what had happened during middle shift last night, and had outlined Dumbledore's advice on the matter.
"Sorry that you can't come help us fight, Petey," said Sirius. "Just, it seems like more of a Gryffindor thing to do to have a fair fight."
"It's ok," said Peter, who seemed quite content to be left out of the action.
"All right Sirius," said James, who had just looked over his shoulder to the entrance of the Great Hall, "we'll talk about our plan later. The girls are coming, and they're probably going to sit with us."
"How much of this are they allowed to know about?" asked Remus.
"Well, everyone should know about what happened last night, just only us marauders should know that Sirius and I are going to offer some payback for it. I don't want Lily worried about me," said James, sincerely.
"Oh, how sweet," crooned Sirius, a little less than sincerely.
"Up yours, Padfoot, up yours," said James, with a smile.
And that smile strengthened and became more sincere as he saw how beautiful Lily looked that morning from up close. Her hair looked perfect, with a cute little clip in it, in the shape of a flower. And apparently, if anyone could wear the Hogwarts school uniform and make it look sexy, it was Lily Evans. But the best thing about her that morning was her smile. And James realized, with a skip of the heart, that the smile was for him.
"Hi, Lily," said James, with what had matured into a wide grin dominating his face.
"Hey James," said Lily. "Two points for that bright smile so early in the morning."
"Fantastic. Makes 12, no?" asked James.
"Indeed," confirmed Lily. All the girls had sat down.
"Well," said James, his face turning serious, much to Lily's disappointment, "as much as I love your smile, I've got some news that is probably going to wipe the smile off your face."
He told the three girls the story about what happened last night, right up until the point where he entered Dumbledore's office.
"So, Dumbledore will take care of it?" asked Chloe, hopefully.
"It will be taken care of," said James.
"But by Dumbledore, obviously?" asked Lily.
James face showed clear signs of discomfort as he began to stammer a reply.
"You know what?" Lily broke in, "let's talk about something happy. You said the problem will be solved, and I believe you. If Dumbledore doesn't want to tell me how, that's his business. And word has probably already spread through half the school about this by now, and will hit the other half by lunch time. If students are going to wander around past midnight, I'm sure they'll do it in pairs now. So let's talk about something else. What sujbect is everyone looking forward to the most today?"
"Transfiguration," said Remus.
"Same," said James.
"Care of Magical Creatures," said Sirius.
"Ooooh, me too!" said Marietta. "Hippogriffs today, right? I hope we get to ride them!"
"Ancient Runes," said Chloe. "Yes, I know I'm a nerd."
"You're not a nerd!" said Remus.
"Well... thanks Remus. But I am," said Chloe.
"A cool nerd, maybe," said Remus.
"Yeah, just like you," said Chloe with a cheeky grin.
"Errr..." said Peter. "Transfiguration, I suppose. I'm rubbish at it, but at least it's right before lunch. And McGonagall helps when I'm having a problem."
"Well, I'm looking forward to Astronomy," said Lily.
"Astrononomy?" asked James, shocked. "Making us troop up there to the astronomy tower at midnight on a Friday? Makes it seem like the weekend will never begin!"
"And it makes things especially hard for those of us who are trying out for the Quidditch team at 9 in the morning," said Marietta.
"I forgot you'd signed up for try-outs," said Sirius, who looked her body up and down. "You're the perfect build for it. Short, skinny, compact. You good on a broom?"
"Wouldn't be trying out if I weren't. But I would just like to point out that women are not objects!" said Marietta jokingly. "The way you inspected my body and listed off my most attractive features..."
"First of all," said Sirius, "those were not your most attractive features. I could tell you what they are sometime if you like. and as for 'inspecting your body,' I'd have done the same to a guy, too. It's what being a Quidditch captain does to a guy," Sirius explained.
"What, makes him gay?" asked Marietta.
Sirius barked out some laughter. "Oh, I'm not gay Marietta. In fact, maybe someday you'll get to find that out for yourself."
Marietta blushed, but was still smiling.
"Okay you two," said Lily. "It's too early in the morning to start a relationship. Marietta, I know that you need at least two more cups of tea before you're properly awake. Plus, I didn't get to tell anyone why I like astronomy."
"Why?" asked James politely.
"Because stars are beautiful and I never really take the time to look at them if it's not for a class. Does that mean I don't appreciate beauty?" she asked.
"I don't see how anybody as beautiful as you could not appreciate beauty," said James.
"Wow, James," said Lily. "Two points. You're on a roll this morning! Calling me beautiful and making me feel less insecure about myself in one go. By the way, just to put this out there, there's some other things that I'd like to do in the Astronomy tower someday, aside from just look at stars."
The innuendo was, of course, not lost on James, who nearly choked on his hash-browns. Lily had just told him a place where they might make out someday.
As the Marauders were walking from Transfiguration to lunch, James pulled Sirius aside into an empty classroom to have a quick conversation, sending Remus and Peter ahead to make some excuse to the girls about why they were late.
"So what's the plan, Prongs?" asked Sirius
"Depends on a couple things," said James. "First of all, you don't want the rest of us on the team to come to the Seeker try-outs, do you?"
"No, you don't really need the rest of the team there to search for a seeker. If it was any other position, the answer would be yes," said Sirius.
"Fair enough," said James. "And just by the way, no putting Marietta on the team just because you want in her pants,"
"Hey!" said Sirius, who seemed almost offended. "I wouldn't do that to Marietta or the Gryffindor team, I like them both too much. And I don't just want in her pants, I actually might have feelings for her."
"Interesting," said James, who had always considered his best friend more of a snog 'em and walk away type of man. "But back to the conversation at hand. What we need is to find Prewett and Flint alone in a hallway tomorrow night."
"And how are we going to do that?" asked Sirius.
"One step ahead of you there, Padfoot, my dear mate," said James. "It turns out that Christine Wood-"
"That damn Ravenclaw Seeker?" broke in Sirius.
"And a prefect, and a pretty brave one at that. We were on shift together last night" said James. Sirius nodded his understanding, and James continued. "Turns out she's not too pleased about what happened last night, either. And she says she can get her little brother, a third year, to write a letter to a fake girl in Hufflepuff asking her to meet him in a broom closet. Nothing should lure those creeps out of their Slytherin dungeon faster than the chance to torture a third year at a pre-arranged time and place. Now all we need is a dumb-looking school owl who we can have deliver the message 'accidentally' to Prewett and Flint tomorrow morning instead of this fake Hufflepuff girl. They won't know she's fake of course, 'cause what sort of Slytherin 7th year is going to waste time remembering the names of Hufflepuff third years?"
"Sounds like it should work. We'll make the time, like 11 so we can make it to the Shrieking Shack without too much wasted time?" asked Sirius.
"I'd been thinking earlier, but, you're right, the halls will be more deserted at 11. Better time," said James.
"Who's patrolling tomorrow night?" asked Sirius.
"McGonagall, who I imagine Dumbledore has instructed, unofficially, to stay out of our way. Filch, whose memory we could probably erase if we had to, and two Hufflepuff 6th years. If we run into them, we'll tell them what they're doing. They'll have to approve. The victim was a Hufflepuff."
"Well tomorrow is the best night to do it, then. I can't help much with sending the owl or all that, 'cause I have to go down to the Quidditch pitch early tomorrow and get stuff ready," said Sirius.
"No problem. I just need you there to show off your fantastic dueling skills at eleven o' clock. We'll walk to the hallway together... leave Gryffindor Tower at 10:45 under the invisibility cloak?"
"Sounds great," said Sirius, and they left the classroom and began walking to lunch.
The first stages of the plan went off without a hitch. James found a good owl at about 7 AM. Christine brought her brother's note, at 7:15, and they gave the owl instructions on what to do.
"I wish I could duel them with you guys," said Christine jealously.
"Unfortunately, your time to duel will come. I want this to be a Marauder thing," said James.
"Don't you Marauders just do pranks?" asked Christine.
"Oh, by the time we're done with Prewett and Flint, they're going to feel as if they've been pretty well pranked," said James.
"Well, thanks for letting me help, I suppose, but I am ready to actually fight some death-eaters, and this is the closest we've got at Hogwarts so far," said Christine.
"You're not ready to fight death-eaters yet. And neither am I. At least according to Dumbledore. But I think he's onto something. I mean, come on, you're what 15?"
"Just turned 16!" said Christine a bit indignantly.
"Well congratulations. But Dumbledore's only looking for people who are out of school. I understand that you want to fight, and unfortunately I think that by the time you're out of school, you'll still have your chance. For now, just focus on Quidditch like the best Seeker at Hogwarts is supposed to," said James.
Christine smiled. "You're a good friend, you know."
"I do my best," said James.
"I look forward to the next time we patrol together," she said.
"Yeah, maybe we'll get into a duel, said James with a smile, which Christine returned.
An hour later, at breakfast, James saw the sinister smiles which crept over Prewett and Flint's faces when they read the note. The game was afoot.
"So who made Seeker? Sirius asked James after they had snuck out of the portrait hole under the invisbility cloak. Once they were a few yards away from the portrait hole, they took off the cloak, since the Marauder's Map would tell them if they needed to take cover under it.
"Marietta," said Sirius with a wide smile. But I swear, it was totally legitimate. Once I weeded out all the bloody prats who could hardly handle a broomstick, we were down to 8 candidates. I randomly set all 8 up in matches of 2, to see who could find the snitch first, after it had a two minute head start. Marietta found hers the fastest out of anyone. Then we had the semi-finals, during which Marietta looked even more impressive. In the finals, she beat out this third year chap, who I must admit will probably be our seeker once Marietta leaves at the end of this year, by making the most spectacular and daring dive I've ever seen a seeker make, from 100 feet in the air to 2 feet above the ground in something like two seconds. Then, just to be extra sure I'd made the right decision, I had her play everyone who had lost too early to play her. She beat them so easy it was almost funny."
"How'd she get to be so good?" asked James, curious.
"Her father was a seeker. Keeps a snitch around the house, let her play with it in the yard. She says it was one of her favorite things to do during her summers," summarized Sirius.
"Right. Well, I can't wait to see her in practice, then," said James.
"Yeah, now, Prongs, don't we have more important things to talk about than Quidditch? By the way, Prewett and Flint are on the move," said Sirius.
"Well, I want Flint. Have a little unresolved business with him, if you'll recall," said James.
"You mean the whole thing where he tried to cruciatus you?" asked Sirius.
"Precisely," said James. "Now, no matter what happens, focus on your guy first. Disable your man before helping me. If I need help."
James knew he was being cryptic but was rather hoping Sirius would be too caught up in the idea of being about to duel some future (or present... James wasn't quite clear about how old Voldemort required them to be) death-eaters that he wouldn't notice.
No such luck. "Are you about to do something stupid, James?" asked Sirius, concern in his voice.
"Er... Not too stupid," said James.
"Like, normal Marauder-stupid, or land you in St. Mungo's stupid?" asked Sirius.
"Much more like the Marauder style No St. Mungo's, but I wouldn't rule out the hospital wing here at Hogwarts," said James.
"Well, it's one of the Marauders' prime duties to keep Madam Pomfrey company. Gets lonely down there in the hospital wing, I'm sure," said Sirius with a slight grin. "So why won't you tell me the stupid thing you're going to do?"
"'Cause you'd try and stop me," said James.
"Now see, if I know that, what's stopping me from trying to stop you without knowing what it is?" asked Sirius, trying to beat James in a logical argument.
"Because," said James, smiling because he knew he had checkmate in this particular logical argument, "we're close enough now that they can almost hear us."
Sirius looked at the Marauder's Map, whispered, "Shit," and put the map away. He drew his wand, as James drew his own.
They knew where their enemies were standing. About 20 feet in front of the broom closet that Christine's brother had claimed to want to go snog his imaginary Hufflepuff girlfriend in.
James remembered something and motioned for Sirius to stop. James whispered into his ear, "First spell we cast on each of them, before they know what's going on, is 'principium.' I want to be able to talk to the bastards before we duel them."
Sirius nodded in agreement. He seemed to be willing to let James take the lead on this Marauders' mission. That wasn't always the case, but James was grateful he was letting him have control of this one. It had been commissioned to him personally by Dumbledore, after all.
Before they turned the last corner before the hallway where the boys were, James and Sirius held their wands at the ready, knowing that Prewett and Flint would not be, as they were expecting 1 third year, in 5 minutes. They wouldn't be expecting the Hufflepuff girl to show up because they had "intercepted" the letter intended to bring her here.
With one motion, James and Sirius jumped out into the hallway, each quickly yelling "principium" at their respective targets before they even had a chance to raise their wands.
"Now remember," said James, "you can't cast a spell until we do. I would like to make clear first of all, that I am not out here tonight as Headboy, so I can't notify anyone of anything you do tonight. I'm a Marauder, so I am a hooligan here tonight, too. Just not the type of hooligan who would cast the cruciatus curse, in a two on one fight, on a fourth year."
Prewett shook his head as if he were trying to deny his involvement. But James noticed that Flint, the evil bastard, looked proud of himself.
"I should also admit," said James, "that Wood from Ravenclaw will not be showing up. That was a plan to lure you here, to show you what it's like to fight in a fair duel. We will now, to make things perfectly fair, will be to lift our principium spells by casting a useless spell. How's 'lumos' grab you, Padfoot?"
"Fine by me. Then these two will have more light to see us kick their asses." said Sirius.
After a count to three by Sirius, both James and Sirius, said "lumos", and predictably, the Slytherins had spells ready.
Sirius got off a "Jelly legs" curse at the same time that Prewett got off an expelliarmus. Sirius kept hold of the wand, though, whether because he had a tight grip or because Prewett was too surprised by the turn of events that had just occurred that he was unable to practice magic properly.
James did not cast a spell at Flint, allowing him to cast the first spell, but only because he knew for sure what it would be. "Cruciatus," pronounced Flint.
James, although he probably could have dodged, allowed the spell to hit him. This was the stupid idea that he had not wanted to tell Sirius about. He was lucky, though, because Flint was not, apparently, very could at casting the curse yet. Sure, James crumpled to the ground and felt like a pair of Bludgers had hit him in the stomach, and the wind was knocked out of him, but he knew that the effects were supposed to be much, much worse. It must have taken both Prewett and Flint casting the spell simultaneously to put the third year in the hospital wing. Or else it had taken way more time for Flint to do it than James was willing to give him.
James was unable to talk, because of the air having left him, but he was vaguely adept at non-verbal magic. He gathered enough strength to point his wand at Flint, and he thought "Expelliarmus" with all his might. His first indication that it worked was that the pain stopped.
James stood up, yelled, "accio wand!" and calmly accepted the wand into his hand at the same time that Sirius acquired that from Prewett.
"You're right, that was stupid," said Sirius.
"It turned out all right. He needs tons of practice," said James. "I just needed to know how it feels. I needed to know if I could handle it. When I fight real death eaters, they'll use it."
"Well, all's well that ends well," said Sirius. Both Marauders still had their wands pointed at their enemies in case the tried to resort to mugle fighting and make a run at them.
"Petrificus Totalus," said James, and Sirius followed suit.
"I don't know if you were in too much pain to tell or not, but that little bugger tried to Cruciatus me, too, said Sirius, pointing at Prewett. "But me, I dodged it and then took his wand."
" Still, intent would be enough to get him expelled from school," said James. "If only I were here on official Headboy business. For now, I just think we ought to break their wands and leave them here 'til morning."
"Right. And if they tell any professors who broke their wands, that will establish us as witnesses on scene. Witnesses who could testify, under veritaserum, that both of them tried to use Cruciatus curse tonight. Well. One tried and one succeeded, but only because you're a masochist, James," said Sirius.
So they snapped Prewett and Flint's wands and walked away, arguing over whether it was masochism or healthy curiousity that made James want to know what the Cruciatus curse felt like.
A/N: All people to donate rice from freerice dot com for this chapter get honorable mention in opening author's note of next chapter. But of course don't lie. Just tell me how much you honestly gave. If you didn't give any, you can get honorable mention for telling me why not. Thanks for reading and please review.