Chapter Three: The New Marauders?

Sorry I took long. Warning: I sort of don't like this 3rd chapter. You might not like it too. :) Just tell me. And by "just tell me", I mean REVIEW! thanks.

Teddy collapses on the nearest chair, exhausted. Sure, he used magic, but cleaning the storm in the kitchen drained him completely of his energy.

"Done?" James asks Teddy as he enters the kitchen. He and the other two has already showered and changed into clean clothes.

Teddy glares at him in reply.

James looks around the room. Traces of egg on the wall are gone. The floor is cleared with all the flour, milk, sugar and butter. The chairs that had been toppled over are back to their proper position. There are no more bits of sugar, chunks of butter and dust of flour on the table. Only the plate of pancake is there.

"Good job, Ted!"

"James! James!" Albus calls from the living room. He has been waiting for Ginny and Harry to come home. "They're here! They're here!"

James checks the kitchen one more time then joins the Albus on the living room. He sits on one of the couch and places his feet on the center table, trying to look normal. Albus sits beside him. They watch as the doorknob turn and their parents step in.

"Hi, Mum. Hi, Dad," James greets them.

Harry looks at James. Usually, whenever a day ends, James would look like those kids who spend the whole day on the street, playing with charcoal.

"You're clean," Harry says, surprise audible in his voice.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" James asks warily.

Harry's mouth twitches at the corner.

"No trouble-making today? No firework displays? No blowing up of bathrooms?"

James shakes his head.

"Teddy's here, by the way." He stands up and enters the kitchen. Teddy's with him when he walked back to the living room.

Ginny smiles at him.

"Hello, Ted."

"Hi, Ginny."

Ginny pats Teddy's shoulder as she walks past, murmuring, "I am so tired. Mum and Dad made me help clean the whole Burrow."

Teddy roll his eyes.

"I sure as hell know how that feels," he mumbles under his breath.

"Why don't you eat with us for dinner, Ted?" Harry offers, sitting on a couch and pulling out the Daily Prophet from the briefcase he now brings with him to work.

"Yeah, sure. I came here to visit, anyway. I haven't dropped by for days."

"James? Al?" comes Ginny's voice from the kitchen. "Is this Rose's pancake?"

"Um, yeah," James answers hastily. He runs to the kitchen, followed by Albus. Ginny is already taking a bite of the pancake while Lily watches her expectantly.

As Ginny is chewing, a look of disgust crosses her features.

"What is this thing?" she says. "This is horrible!"

"It is, isn't it?" says Albus, nodding.

"That's why you better not mention anything to Rose," James adds. "If you tell her you tasted her pancake, she'll ask you how it tastes, with her eyes round with expectation. And you'll have a hard time telling her that it tastes terrible because you know that it'll break her fragile little heart. And then, because you can't bear to disappoint her, you'll end up lying."

"And then if you lie..." Albus hesitates. "Er...let's just say that you're a horrible liar."

Ginny huffs.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I guess you're right."

Lily roll her eyes. Those boys are so manipulative.

But on James's mind is, Mission accomplished. James Sirius Potter is so awesome - not to mention handsome, he adds as an after-thought.

xx

The next day, James decided to go to the house of his Uncle George and Aunt Angelina to visit Fred - and the joke items. Albus has gone over to Ron and Hermione's and Lily to Percy and Audrey's to play with little Lucy.

James enters the house without knocking. They all know he is coming over. Fred is in the living room with Louise who has also decided to visit. The three are classmates at Hogwarts which makes them the closest among all their cousins.

"Hi, James," Angelina greets him, pulling her long, silky hair into a bun. "Come on in."

"Hi, James!" Fred and Louise both said.

"Hi!" He sat down between the two.

"We're just waiting for them to leave," Fred whispers to James. "Mum and Roxanne are going to Mum's parents and Dad's going to the jokeshop."

"George!" Angelina roars. "Hurry up!"

"Alright, alright!" comes George, emerging from the top of the stairs.

"Bye, everyone!" Angelina says hurriedly and she, George and Roxanne drive off.

Fred beams.

"To the basement!" He stands up and, James and Louise follow him.

The basement looks like nobody has ever opened it for forever. Dust is thick on the floor that there are trails where the three boys has stepped on. Cobwebs hang on the ceiling, some almost touching the floor. But as James, Fred and Louise lay eyes upon the four large boxes of the items from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' item, it's like they were transported to - where else? - heaven.

"Wow, Fred! You're a genius!" James exclaims, picking up an item that greatly ensembles a telescope.

"I won't try that if I were you," Fred warns him.

But James places his right eye on the lens, anyway. As his eyes touch the telescope, it punches him hard that he yelps and pushes the thing away from him. He drops it to the floor and uses his hands to cover his eye which is already reddening on the sides.

"Told ya," Fred says nonchalantly, handing him one of the Bruise Remover Paste. "Are you alright?"

"Bloody hell. Uncle George and Uncle Fred must have been burning with rage when they made that one," James answers, applying the Paste.

"Probably 'cause of Mum," says Fred. "It was Uncle Fred who had dated Mum when they were on their sixth year at Hogwarts."

Seconds later, the bruise around James's eye has disappeared.

James, Fred and Louise take some boxes to Fred's room. As they enter his bedroom, James feigns a surprise.

"There's a floor!" he exclaims.

"Shut it, James." Fred grins. "I made Roxanne clean this room. We had a deal, you see. I'd give her love letter to the guy she fancies if she cleans my room."

For the rest of the morning, they had tasted Nosebleed Nougats (Fred bleeding to no end), Ton Tongue Effects (there is a drool oozing from James on Fred's carpet), and Puking Pastilles (Louise is getting green in color, making him look like those aliens you see in movies).

As they are sitting around the dinner table (fully healed and back to normal), eating the Weasley's leftover food from last night, James notices that Louise has gone sulky.

"What's with you?" James says.

"What?"

James raises his left eyebrow.

Louise sighs heavily.

"Sorry about that. I've been pissed ever since I came. I'm just so tired about all the girly stuff going on at our house right now."

James smirks, annoyed. He doesn't like sulky people.

"Must be tough being the only boy in the family." Louise misses the sarcasm on James's tone.

"It's worse this time. Dominique invited two of her Beauxbatons friends over at our house for a few weeks this summer. Dominique's birthday is coming, you know."

"I wouldn't care if I were you," James mutters, having a bite of the pork.

Louise sighs.

"If only I could get back at her."

At that, Fred's eyes brightened with mischief.

"Of course!" he exclaims. "Louise, you're talking to two of the most successful pranksters in the world."

"Great idea!" James agrees. "We could serve those Puking Pastilles and Nosebleed Nougats on her birthday."

"Or we could make the food fly everywhere just like what we did last Halloween! The expression of McGonagall was priceless!"

"Ooh, I can see it now. Chaos everywhere." James said the word "chaos" like it's a royalty.

"No." That one word from Louise halts James and Fred's imagination.

"What did you say?" Fred asks, tilting his ear towards Louise, certain he heard wrong.

"I said no."

"But why?" James protests.

"That's Dominique's seventeenth birthday party we're talking about. She'll be of age on that day. It's important. We can't ruin it."

"But you said you want to get even." James's tone is almost a whine.

"I do. Just not this way."

What a kill-joy, James can't help thinking.

xx

Harry can't help but notice his son's subdued look as he sits down for dinner.

"All right, James?" Harry asks but James just huffs in response.

"What's wrong?" Ginny chimes in.

"Louise is a kill-joy." James stabs his food with his fork until it's pulverized.

"What makes you say that?"

James hesitates for a moment, debating whether or not to tell his parents about his and Fred's plan to ruin Dominique's birthday.

"He just is," he says instead. "He was sulky the whole day. He can't keep up with the pranks that Fred and I do."

"Pranks?" Ginny didn't miss the key word.

James sighs.

"It's me you're talking to, Mum. Me - James Sirius Potter. Without pranks, I'm lost!"

Ginny looks at Harry.

"I told you not to name him after your father and godfather."

"Look," Harry says to James. "Your grandfather, James, and Sirius are the greatest trouble-makers of Hogwarts during their time. Do you know how many times they got a detention?"

James shakes his head, curiousity evident in the way he looks at Harry.

"You don't wanna know. Anyway, I already told you about the Marauders, right?"

This time, James nods.

"The third Marauder is Remus. He is the most quiet among the four. He's always with them, sure. But he very rarely joins in their trouble-making. He would just sit there, and watch as James and Sirius did their pranks.

"But James and Sirius never got pissed with him. They never called him a kill-joy. Because they knew that Remus is also a good friend even if he doesn't join James and Sirius's crazy antics."

James nods, deep in thought. But it wasn't about Louise anymore.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"How did they die? Grandma, Grandpa, Sirius and Remus, I mean."

James sees his father turn anxious at the question.

"James," Ginny says in a disapproving voice. "Don't be insensitive."

"How can my question be insensitive, Mum? I just want to know how my grandparents died."

Ginny takes a deep breath.

"Your father is...not yet ready to tell you the story."

"Why?" James argues. "It happened years ago."

"James," Ginny warns.

"I have to know!" He looks at Harry. "I have to know, Dad!"

"James, just..," Harry says in a curt tone. "...go to your room."

James stands up, hands clenched. He won't stop until he learns the truth, he vowed rebelliously.

There. Done, at last. What do you think?

Sneak Peek:

(The attic isn't coming yet.) It's Dominique's birthday. And James meets a pretty girl...

that's all. :)