Year 1971, 1st Year
James Jabbers:
Quote of the Day: Rules are made to be broken; especially when you inherit an Invisibility Cloak…
It was about the third week into the first year when I decided that I could trust my new friends fully. I had decided that I had made some really genuine friends, Sirius especially, he seemed to share my love of misbehaving and we enjoyed every minute of it.
I was up in my dormitory searching for something that was in my trunk one afternoon when suddenly my hands came upon something silken and sleek, I grinned instantly; it was my father's Invisibility Cloak.
Dad had decided to hand it down to me when I received my Hogwarts acceptance letter, he had said that he wouldn't need it and that I would find better use for it than he ever would, he had presented it to me as my reward for being accepted into Hogwarts.
I pulled it all the way out of my trunk, it was a silvery gray, I held it up to the light and it glimmered in the sinking twilight, I had forgotten about it when I'd arrived at Hogwarts because of all the recent happenings. I remembered when dad used to show it to me when I was little, he always used to put it over just his head so he would be headless, or over his body so his head floated in mid-air, I remembered how he used to make me chuckle with wild laughter every time he did that. He used to tell me stories of how he used the cloak when he was at Hogwarts.
"Now Jamie," he used to say, "the best way to get into the kitchens in the middle of the night at Hogwarts is under an Invisibility Cloak, why, I remember how George and I used to sneak into the kitchens in the middle of the night and eat everything we could fill our stomachs with," he used to say.
At this point mum would say sternly, "Don't encourage him Harold!"
Dad would just say something to make her laugh and go on telling his story. Once he told me that he and his friends once used it to sneak into the Slytherin Head of House's private chambers to let pixies loose in there.
A sudden squeak from Peter's rat broke my thoughts. I looked back at the Invisibility Cloak and mused that it would be a good time to try it out and that I trusted Sirius, Remus and Peter enough to let them know about it as well. I admired it in the waning sunlight, it was one of my very precious possessions and it would be like a family heirloom, kind of like those rings or pieces of jewellery that fathers passed onto their sons when they came of age, and I knew I would pass it onto my son when he would receive an acceptance letter from Hogwarts. Suddenly the sound of muffled footsteps ascending the staircase broke into my thoughts, I could hear the softened voices of Remus, Sirius and Peter. Deciding that it would make a nice trick, I swished the Invisibility Cloak over my head and covered myself with it, totally forgetting what I had been looking for just minutes before.
The footsteps drew nearer as I retreated into a darkening corner, just as I had got to the corner I looked up to see the door being opened. Sirius, Remus and Peter strode into the room. Good they all were there, I thought as they kept talking.
"So where is James anyway?" Sirius said looking around the dormitory, apparently trying to figure out if I was still here.
"No idea, I thought he came up here," Remus answered looking around as well.
"Me too," Peter agreed as they all sat down on the end of their beds.
I put on a mysterious, ghost-like, haunted tone of voice "Siiiiiiirrrrrrrriiiiiiuuuuuussss," I said quietly. The effect had been instant and what I had expected; Sirius jumped, scratched his head and looked around uneasily to find the source of the voice.
"D…Did you guys hear that?" Sirius asked Remus and Peter.
"Hear what?" Peter asked.
"That voice! It said my name," Sirius explained.
"I didn't hear anything," Remus replied.
"Siiiiiiiirrrrrrriiiiiiiuuuuuuuussssssss," I said again in a mysterious voice. Sirius jumped again as I suppressed a chuckle, he was getting scared.
"I heard it that time!" Peter said looking scared, "maybe Hogwarts is haunted!" Peter squeaked.
"Of course it is idiot! There's ghosts' gliding all over the place! What do you think Nearly Headless Nick is you prat?" Sirius scolded Peter.
"Oh, I forgot about that," Peter said, his cheeks reddening.
"Sirius!" I said this time more quickly and in a choked sort of voice, Sirius jumped up off his bed. I sniggered.
"Seriously guys! What is that noise?" Sirius looked frightened now.
"I don't know," Remus said unhelpfully.
An idea hit me as I looked around the room and the scared occupants and I decided to have a bit more fun; I retrieved my wand from my robe pocket and started floating random items in the air. We had only learnt the Wingardium Leviosa spell just two days before, I was one of those who had mastered it easily, and I would never had thought that it would have came in handy so soon, I was extremely glad Flitwick had taught us this little spell, I thought, as I pointed my wand at a piece of parchment and started to levitate it.
Remus and Peter had jumped up to join the scared Sirius, and were now backing away from the floating items.
"What's going on?" Peter said in a panicky voice.
I made a bottle of ink circle around and around Sirius' head, and finally poured the entire contents over his head, Sirius yelled. I made the floating objects spin really fast around the three now standing in the middle of the room.
Suddenly, when all the objects were spinning at break neck speed, I pulled off the cloak and yelled, "BOO!" as loud as I could, at the same time all of the spinning objects fell to the floor clattering loudly; Remus, Peter and Sirius all screamed, then looked at me in disbelief.
I started to laugh uncontrollably, what a bunch of idiots! They fell for it! After he had recovered Sirius took one look at me then a glint came into his eye.
"You better run James if you don't want to die three weeks into the first year!" Sirius said with a wicked grin on his now ink saturated face.
I took one look at him then tore out the door. I sprinted down the steps and dodged the startled occupants of the common room, then I leaped out of the portrait hole and into the corridors, I turned my head around, Sirius was hot on my trail. I kept running until the end of the corridor and turned right, my eyes down at my feet while they worked at break neck speed.
I turned right again and suddenly I rammed into something hard, I stumbled and fell over onto the floor, I could hear Sirius catch up to me and then he stumbled over my body.
"Well, well, well," a voice above us snarled, I looked up. Bugger. It was the caretaker, Argus Filch. I had just run smack bang into the notorious Filch, he smirked with delight at the sight of me and Sirius lying on the floor beneath him, I sat up.
"Well, well, well," Filch repeated, (did he not have a bigger vocabulary then just one word? Was he going to sit here all night saying 'well, well, well'?), "what do we have 'ere? What would Mr. Potter and Mr. Black be doing running around the corridors like the idiots that they are with ink on their faces?" Filch asked with a malicious glint in his eye.
"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black were humbly making their way back to the Gryffindor common room when they ran into the caretaker," Sirius talked back.
"Funny that, you should be going in the other direction, should you not?" Filch asked ignoring his comment.
"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black got lost," I lied.
"A likely story Mr. Potter. Students are not allowed to run in the corridors, nor are they allowed to play tricks, you know that don't you Potter and Black? And it is unlikely that you would have 'forgotten' the way," Filch spat.
"We did forget! We're only first years!" Sirius said indignantly. He was a pretty good liar. As a matter of fact he still is.
"I am sure you did," Filch said sarcastically, "I'll see you in detention, Thursday night Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, 7:30, in the trophy room, don't be late! Now get back up to your common room!" Filch barked and marched away.
After his coat billowed out of sight Sirius called him every name imaginable as we stood up.
"Stupid bloody prat! Giving us detention! He had NO proof!" Sirius said angrily as we stood up and made our way back to the Gryffindor tower.
"I know! That was way below the belt!" I agreed.
"Where'd you get that Invisibility Cloak from anyway?" Sirius asked after he had calmed down.
"Oh, my dad gave it to me before I left for Hogwarts," I said.
"Wish my dad gave me stuff like that! They're really rare you know! Imagine how much stuff we can get away with now! This is the best! And the best part about it is that no one will know it's us!" Sirius said excitedly, soon forgetting about the incident with Filch, "Oh, and I will get you back you know…" he added as an after thought.
"That's great Sirius," I said off-handedly as we re-entered the common room, which was still full of people (who were laughing at Sirius' face), we walked up to our dormitory to find Remus and Peter chatting on their beds, after we had told them about our detention and my Invisibility Cloak, Peter said "We can get away with so much stuff! This is so cool! You are so cool James!"
Yep, I sure was. Still am.
7 7 7
It was a couple of days after I had tricked Sirius, and I was sitting in the Gryffindor common room by myself (Peter was up in the dormitory, and Remus and Sirius were Merlin's knows where) reading Quidditch Through The Ages when all of a sudden a dishevelled looking Sirius came bursting in through the portrait hole. As soon as he spotted me sitting in a comfy chair by the fire he practically bolted over to me and before I could say anything he yanked me off my chair and started talking extremely fast.
"James!! You've got to help me! Remus and I were walking in the forest and all of a sudden something came out of nowhere and swooped down on us and then Remus was gone!" Sirius babbled, sounding completely out of his mind.
"What are you talking about?!" I asked, bewildered.
"Something came and took Remus! Something in the forest! We went to have a look in the forest to see if this thing was real or not and after that thing came Remus suddenly disappeared! You've got to help me James!" Sirius said frantically, he looked as if he was about to start crying. I'd never seen Sirius look so dishevelled, panicky or this scared.
"Are you sure you didn't just leave him somewhere and this thing was just a bird or something?" I asked.
"No! I was walking with him! And this big black shape came out of the trees and knocked me over and then when I got back up Remus had disappeared! It wasn't a crapping bird! It was this big mother of a thing, a big black thing! But before I knew what to do it was gone!" Sirius said getting more hysterical by the minute. By now the other occupants of the common room were looking curiously at Sirius.
"Calm down Sirius," I replied worriedly, if what Sirius was saying was true then Remus could be in real danger. And it could be true because the forest was full of dark creatures, that's why it was forbidden and called the Forbidden Forest.
"I can't bloody calm down! Remus is out there in danger somewhere! We've got to go find him! Hurry!" Sirius said frantically, and before I knew it he had me by the sleeve and we were out of the common room and running through Hogwarts as fast as we could until we were out onto the grounds.
"Why the hell did you go into the forest anyway!? You know it's banned!" I asked, even though I probably would have done the same thing, but Remus could be in real danger.
"Some of the 4th and 5th Year Slytherins said that an ickle first year like me wouldn't go into the forest because I would be too scared and I told them that I wasn't afraid and that I'd go in there so they dared me to go and they kept on saying that I wouldn't, and I just got sick of them so I thought that I'd prove them wrong so I went in there and Remus came with me because he said it would be safer for me not to go alone and then he just disappeared when that black thing came at us!" Sirius spewed out his story frantically while we ran as fast as we could towards the forest.
I paled, "Why the hell would you do a thing like that Sirius?! The Slytherins are stupid! You know that! We all know that! Why the hell do you always have to prove yourself for everyone?! Remus could be in danger because of you!" I said angry with Sirius for doing something just because the Slytherins had said he wouldn't, though in the back of my mind I knew that I would have probably done the same thing. But that wasn't the point.
"I wanted to prove the stupid Slytherins wrong! They always think they're so good and I wanted to show them!" Sirius answered.
"Well you've done it now!" I replied, as we ran inside of the darkening Forbidden Forest. I shivered as we walked briskly along the path, the trees were getting dense and the last light of day was fading fast.
"Lumos," Sirius whispered as he held out his wand, I did the same.
"Shouldn't we go get Hagrid?" I asked trying not to sound scared.
"There's no point now, we have to find Remus," Sirius said abruptly.
"Where were you when Remus disappeared?" I asked.
"It was around here," Sirius said stopping in a small dark clearing.
Sirius grabbed my sleeve and pointed, "Look at that!" he said pointing at a branch with something on it.
I looked at the branch; there on it was a ripped piece of material. A piece of black school robe material.
"It's a bit of Remus' robes!" Sirius said hysterically, running over to it.
I followed him, and it surely was a piece of black material, that looked like it was from a school robe. I felt myself paling and shaking, I was terrified, whatever had Remus was probably about to hurt him, or worse…
"Come on! We've got to find him!" Sirius said, frantically running forward.
I followed him. After a while of running suddenly Sirius stopped abruptly in front of us, he seemed rooted to the ground.
I ran to stand beside Sirius and saw exactly why he was so scared. There, about 5 feet away from us was a large black shape moving slowly towards us.
Sirius just stood there rooted to the spot with a look of pure terror on his pale face.
I could not move. My legs had gone totally numb and I tried to back away but all I could do was stand there staring with horror at the black thing that was surely about to hurt us or worse.
All of a sudden it let out a loud hideous shriek and came flying at us.
Sirius and I screamed.
The black thing swooped at Sirius and suddenly before I knew what was happening Sirius had disappeared!
The thing had taken Sirius!
I screamed as loud as I could.
I didn't know what to do, my legs still weren't functioning and I couldn't move from the spot. The black thing turned towards me and I heard a faint sound, it sounded like my name! There it was again! Then it made another noise, it was like it was trying to communicate with me, it made a low, hissing, long noise, and I caught the word 'this', that's what it sounded like anyway, 'this'? This what? I was beyond thought or reason and it seemed completely probable that this thing could speak. The next word I heard was 'is', and 'a', so it was 'this is a', this is a what? What was happening!? By now I was so freaked out that I was near to fainting, I heard the hideous black thing utter the last word slowly, 'p…r…a…n…k', prank? By now I was completely bewildered and freaked out.
Suddenly the black thing started laughing extremely loud. And it dawned on me exactly why. A prank! This was a bloody prank! Sirius! This was all Sirius' prank! Suddenly the black thing moved a bit and I saw that the black creature consisted of a piece of material, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, both of whom were cackling with wild laughter.
I let out a loud sigh of relief then glared at the laughing Remus and Sirius, "You bloody prats! You good for nothing twits!"
Even though I felt immensely stupid and embarrassed for believing such a dumb story I could see the funny side of the situation. But still, I felt so stupid! I can't believe that I fell for something as stupid as this! Remus and Sirius were still laughing wildly.
"You… should have seen… your face!!" Sirius said between bursts of laughter.
I looked at him, annoyed, "Ha ha ha, you got me, big deal," I said feeling extremely stupid, I felt my face reddening.
"I'll never forget this moment. Ever," Sirius said still laughing. I knew that Sirius would never forget something like this, and he wouldn't let me forget it either. He would have it against me for the rest of our lives. I can't believe I actually believed him. That would be the last time I'd ever believe Sirius and his dumb stories, "you should have heard yourself scream, man James, you scream like a girl!" Sirius said still laughing and holding his stomach.
"You better run Sirius, if you want stay alive, both of you, actually," I replied looking at Remus and Sirius.
"Ooh I'm so scared," Sirius said laughing.
"You better be," I replied as I took a step towards Remus and Sirius and held my wand out.
Suddenly Sirius and Remus started bolting away, I ran as fast as I could after them, and followed them out of the forest and all the way back up to the castle. I didn't know exactly what I'd do when I caught up with them but I knew that I would catch up to them, Sirius and Remus could run no where near as fast as I could.
An idea for a payback prank was already forming in my head, and it was not a pretty one. Silently I made a vow to get both of them back. And it would not be pretty. James Potter shall show no mercy!
7 7 7
So that's how Sirius got me back for my Invisibility Cloak prank. Now when I look back on it it's hilarious, but it was bloody scary when Sirius told me that story and when I saw that black thing. Needless to say, I did get him back, and we've been playing pranks on each other and everyone else around us ever since.
7 7 7
Author's Notes: Well, there's the chapter for you! And it was by James again! Hope you liked it! Sorry about not updating for a while, I've been busy, and I probably won't update for a while after this either, I've got exams in a few weeks.
Gevaudan- Lol. Thanks! Glad the mental picture of someone with leeks growing out of their ears kept you entertained, yes it was a pity that it was Lily, but this is where Lily is building up all the hate for James & Sirius, she thinks it's their fault that she got cursed from Snape (which it was because Sirius ducked!) so she has her reasons for hating them.
Padfoot's Mate: Thanks again! Yes Peter is absolutely hopeless when it comes to flying, originally I was going to put it as Remus, but then I thought, no, I couldn't do that to Remus! And Remus isn't that hopeless at flying. Heh.Anarane: Thanks! Yep, I'm with Sirius as well. Heh. Who isn't?!
Princess-Meg1415- Yeah, poor Peter, but that's Sirius for you, he doesn't realise it could hurt him. I'm glad you liked it, and the way Remus' and Peter's friendship is developing. Thanks very much for reviewing!
Goldilocks31890- Thanks! I'm glad you love those parts, I love writing them, they're the most fun POV to write from.
Mydream- Thanks very much again!
Danielle- Thankyou very much! I'm really glad you like it, and like seeing things through Peter's eyes. About Harry's patronus, they totally changed it from the original, and it was a bit corny, but I don't think Harry would have remembered that much about Lily & James.
Weirdochelle- Thank you! Glad you like it!
Rondawg- Thanks! Yes, I think Moony is a lot more sympathetic of Peter than the other two, but they grow to like him.
Koriaena- That's all right then, glad I didn't spoil it for you!
Padfoot-911- Glad you liked it! And I'm glad you like to hear from James, I love James too, he's cool. I hope you liked this chapter as well, it was written by James heh.
Krizue- Thanks very much! Glad you like it! I can't make Peter suffer too much though! That could look a little too suspicious heh. Of course I will treat Sirius well! I love him so I couldn't do anything particularly nasty to him.
This Parrot has ceased to be- Thankyou! Yes Peter is particularly whiny. Well, Madam Sykes, I'm not sure if she's in the books or not, oh yes, now I remember, she's in Quidditch Through The Ages, that's where I got her from. I just expanded her character a bit J
Hannanora-Potter- Hi.Heh, don't worry about it! I understand, I go on the net then meaning to look up something then I get distracted and totally forget about what I originally went on for! Lol. Thanks very much for your comments! So how's your story going?
Hi I'm Crazy- Thanks very much! Yes the bragging was intentional, I'm glad you liked her bragging, heh, I like her as well. She's pretty crazy. But that's normal for Hogwarts staff. ;)
Alex- Thanks very much! Glad to be of service. I love Sirius as well (I don't know how many times I've said that now, lol). Thanks for reviewing!
Beansie- Glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing!