Year: 1971 1st Year
James' Jabberings:
Moral of the Day: Never, ever, believe anything a Slytherin tells you… especially on Hallowe'en
It was after lessons on a Friday - the day of the Hallowe'en Feast, and Remus, Sirius, Peter and I were all sitting outside in the mild October weather, we had already finished our lessons for the day, and had decided to spend the rest of our break outside, in the last weak rays of sunshine that October provided.
I, for one was very excited about the Hallowe'en feast, I had been talking to a couple of older kids, and they had said that there were all kinds of candy and lots of food, and that the decorations were really cool as well. Basically it was a huge pig-out on the students and teachers behalf.
So naturally it was a hotly anticipated date by many of the first years, whom had never experienced Hallowe'en at Hogwarts yet.
I, of course, had never seen a Hallowe'en feast at Hogwarts, and I was one of the first years who were greatly excited by the idea of a huge pig out (I was also looking forward to seeing the decorated Great Hall, I had heard they were rather good). Usually on Hallowe'en I would spend the night with my father and mother and my cousins and other younger relatives. My parents would get all the younger kids together who were not yet old enough to attend Hogwarts, and we would eat a big meal and lots of lollies afterwards. We would play games, and tell scary stories, and stuff like that until it was really late.
But this year there would be none of that for me, because this year I was at Hogwarts, attending the Hogwarts Hallowe'en feast.
But the feast wasn't due to start for about another forty minutes. And Peter, for one, could not wait.
"I can't wait till the Hallowe'en feast," Peter said happily, "all that candy…" he dreamed.
"Yeah, but you'd better not eat too much though," Sirius said. Peter went red, and Remus shook his head at Sirius, who shrugged in return.
"Yeah, anyway," I said, steering the conversation away before Remus said something about Sirius being insensitive, "I'm so glad that we've actually started to learn the fun stuff, now that we've done the basics in classes. That was boring," I said.
"It wasn't that bad, I didn't know a bit about what the Professors were teaching us," Remus replied.
"I wonder what everyone thinks is so bad about the Forbidden Forest?" Sirius cut in to the conversation which was clearly boring him, his gaze turned towards the closely knitted trees that was the Forbidden Forest.
"Apparently it's got all these monsters in there, like werewolves and stuff," I replied, also looking over at the Forbidden Forest.
I noticed that Remus' eyes went wide at my reply. "What, don't tell me you're scared of them, Remus?" I asked mockingly.
"…No," Remus said, jumping at my question, "of course not," he added rather quickly. Though I had a fair idea that he probably was scared of the idea that werewolves and who knows what else, were lurking in the forest.
"You've been in there before anyway," Peter said, referring to the time when Sirius had played a prank on me to get me back for the time I pranked him.
"Let's go in there again," I said, looking over at Remus to see if he would jump, he didn't, however.
"It's your funeral," a voice said suddenly behind us, making us all jump. We turned around to see who it was. It was Snivellus and his 'friends'- a second year Evan Rosier and the two Lestrange brothers, Rabastan and Rodolphus.
"What the hell do you want?" Sirius asked instantly with a look of contempt on his face. Sirius and I had taken a great 'dislike' to Severus Snape ever since that incident on the train. And it didn't help that Snape was a slimy oddball that took any chance he could get to insult us, and that he hung around with older Slytherins who were clearly evil brutes. Sirius stood up to face the Slytherins. I stood up after him.
"We just overheard that you want to go into the Forest," Rabastan Lestrange said.
"So? What's that got to do with you?" I asked.
"Watch your mouth Potter," Rosier said. The Slytherins laughed.
"Anyway," Snivellus said, "I bet you're too scared to go in there, especially since it's Hallowe'en," Snivellus sniggered.
"What's Hallowe'en got to do with anything?" Sirius said brusquely, quite aggravated with our unwelcome visitors. I didn't blame him.
"Haven't you heard?" Rodolphus asked with a glint in his eye, "The rat Black and his little friends don't even know about what happens on Hallowe'en at Hogwarts," he said to his friends, sneering, the others sniggered.
"I bet nothing happens, you're just lying," I said, challenging him.
"Oh am I?" Rodolphus said, "We'll see who's lying when you find out exactly what's in that Forest," Rodolphus said, looking at the Forbidden Forest.
"What happens then?" Sirius demanded, glaring at Rodolphus.
"You tell them, Rabastan, I couldn't be bothered explaining everything to these half-wits," Rodolphus said.
"In medieval times there used to be a Headmaster named Haviar Slade, he used to be a vicious Headmaster, whenever a student got detention with him he used to tie them up in the dungeons for days until he thought they'd learnt their lesson," Rabastan said, his face darkening, "and the story goes that one Hallowe'en night, he went on a mass murder and slaughtered his students. It is said that his victims' spirits fled to the Forbidden Forest, and they are still there today, and that Slade's spirit also lies in the Forbidden Forest, haunting the spirits, and haunting any student who goes inside…" Rabastan finished in a low, haunting voice.
My eyes widened, that couldn't be true! The Headmaster would have told us if something like that happened, we would know about it.
Sirius stated exactly what I had been thinking, "You're lying! The teachers or Dumbledore would have told us if that had happened," Sirius said to Rabastan. I noticed that Remus and Peter also had a wide-eyed look about them.
"Would they?" Rodolphus asked, looking darkly at us, "You really think that they'd tell you the truth about why the forest is forbidden? You really think that they'd want to scare the ickle first years?" Rodolphus furtively.
"Our parents would have told us," I said.
"Your parents wouldn't even know about it," Rosier said, looking at me.
"Well how come you know about it then?" Sirius cut in before I had the chance to retort on the fact that one of the Slytherins had once again insulted my parents.
"Haven't you learnt anything Black? Our parents," Snivellus gestured at himself, Rosier and the Lestranges, "…know everything that's happened at Hogwarts since the Founder days because our parents are in a higher circle than that of the Potters," Snivellus said.
"Don't you dare insult my parents!" I said. How dare that slimy Snivellus say anything about my parents!
"Give it up Potter, you're too weak to take us on," Rabastan said.
"You want to ma-"
I didn't have the chance to finish as Sirius cut over me again "Well we know you're still lying," Sirius said.
"No we're not," Rosier said.
"Prove it then," Sirius replied.
"Oh, we don't need to prove anything, go in and see for yourselves if we're right or not," Rodolphus said.
"Why should we?" Sirius asked.
"I knew they'd be too scared, Rodolphus," Rabastan said, looking over at his brother.
"For your information, we've been in there before," I replied sanctimoniously.
"You?" Rabastan said loftily, "I highly doubt it Potter, I bet that you haven't ever stepped a foot in that forest, you're too scared," he finished, sniggering.
"We have so! We went in there a couple of weeks ago," I replied.
"I highly doubt that a bunch of scum like you would have gone into the forest," Rosier said.
"Don't you insult my friends!" Sirius said vindictively.
"Shut up Black, anyway, we knew you'd be too scared to go in there," Rabastan said.
"We're not scared," I said.
"Yes you are, and that's just what we expected from brats like you and your slimy friends, too scared to go anywhere," Rosier taunted.
"We're not bloody scared!" I said.
"Prove it then," Rodolphus replied, leering at us.
"We will!" Sirius said.
"Go on then, run along," Rosier said, sniggering.
"Come on guys," Sirius said to Remus, Peter and I, "we'll prove you wrong," Sirius said to the Slytherins.
"Oh, I'm sure you will," Rabastan said, smirking.
"Do we have to come?" Remus asked sounding annoyed. Maybe he really was scared of the forest and what was inside it.
"Oh, poor ickle shabby Lupin is scared," Rodolphus said, and the rest of them laughed, "It's okay shabby," Rodolphus taunted Remus.
"No, I'll go," Remus said, standing up and looking at Rodolphus coldly. This surprised me somewhat, Remus wasn't one to stand up to an older Slytherin.
"Oh, you are brave, aren't you?" Rabastan said scornfully.
None of us said anything however, and we turned away and made our way towards the Forbidden Forest, I could hear the Slytherins' laughter from behind me.
"Stupid idiots," Sirius said as we got closer to the Forbidden Forest, "I bet they're just lying about that headmaster anyway."
"You reckon?" Peter asked worriedly, as we walked into the cover of the trees.
"They probably are," Remus said, trying to comfort Peter, though he too looked a little scared. I must admit, even I felt a little scared. I looked around the forest and saw the trees darken ahead, and they started to thicken out and form dense canopies above us.
"Bloody Slytherins," I murmured, "how dare they say anything about my parents! My parents are respected, more respected than Rosier's, or Snivellus' or the Lestrange's', everyone knows they're evil,"
"They're just doing it to spite you James, don't take any notice of them, they don't know any better," Remus said to me.
"Yeah whatever," I said, still irritated at the Slytherins.
We walked on in silence.
"Oh man, the feast starts in about fifteen minutes!" Peter said after a while, momentarily forgetting his fear, as he looked at his digital watch.
"Well we can't go back yet," Sirius said.
"Why not?" Peter asked.
"Because we've only been in here for about ten minutes, the Slytherins will think that we chickened out," Sirius replied as we kept on walking. The trees were definitely getting thicker now, and it was growing immensely dark.
I pulled out my wand and lit it up; Sirius, Remus and Peter did the same.
Suddenly Peter stopped, "What's that?!" he asked frantically pointing ahead.
I looked in the direction he was pointing at, and saw a black shape in a dark clearing ahead of us. My eyes widened in fear, maybe this was the spirit of the man that the Slytherins had been talking about! I couldn't see exactly what it was from where we were.
"Maybe that's the spirit thing!" Peter whispered frantically.
"What do spirits look like?" I asked Sirius, a bit scared. Okay, I admit, I was more than a bit scared. But you would be as well if you saw a black shape lurking in front of you, after the Slytherins had just told you a story about a mass murdering headmaster.
"How am I supposed to know?!" Sirius answered, sounding a bit scared himself.
"Let's go closer," Remus said.
"Are you off your rocker?!" I whispered to Remus, whom was clearly loosing his mind.
"No, but I want to see what it is," Remus replied.
Suddenly Remus crept forward silently, I looked at Sirius who shrugged and followed Remus, I followed them and Peter followed me.
Suddenly there was a crack and the black shape suddenly disappeared before I could see what it was.
"What was that crack?" I asked worriedly.
"Remus stepped on a twig," Sirius said, scowling at Remus.
I looked at Remus ahead of me, and to my disbelief he seemed to be silently laughing.
"Why the hell are you laughing?" Sirius whispered, surprised.
Remus didn't reply, he just kept on laughing.
"I seriously think he's gone mental," I said to Sirius and Peter, they both nodded.
"Er- Remus, are you okay?" Peter asked Remus, whom was stilllaughing.
"Y…Yes-" Remus said in between bursts of laughter.
"What the hell are you laughing at Remus?!" Sirius asked.
"Y…you know what that black thing was?" Remus asked us. We shook our heads.
"I didn't get the chance to see what it was before you stepped on that bloody twig," Sirius answered.
"It was… it was a dog! A dog! And you three were scared out of your pants!" Remus giggled. Yes, giggled.
"What?! It can't have been a ruddy dog, it was huge!" I said, not believing I had thought a dog to be a spirit.
"It was a dog! Haven't you ever seen Hagrid's dog - Fang?" Remus asked.
"Yes, but that couldn't have been him," Sirius said.
"And why not?" Remus asked when he finally finished laughing.
"Because then that would mean that Hagrid has to be here as well, and he's clearly not," Sirius replied, he sounded pleased with himself, thinking that he had proved Remus to be wrong. But then…
"Yeh got tha' one wrong," said a deep voice from behind us. We all jumped and turned around slowly to see no one else but Hagrid towering over us, he was holding a large crossbow in his hands. Fang was also there, sitting behind him. Damn! We were in trouble now. We had just been caught walking around in the Forbidden Forest, when we had been specifically told that it was out of bounds, and we were meant to be up at the feast.
"Oh! Hagrid…er- hi…" I said, trying to make merry conversation and sound innocent.
"Hi yerself. What are you four doing out 'ere?" Hagrid asked, towering above us.
"Oh, we-um, got lost?" Sirius tried. I found out later that this was his favourite phrase to use whenever we got caught in a place where we shouldn't be.
"Got lost?" Hagrid asked, "Yeh should know yeh way around by now. I always knew that yeh three would be trouble," Hagrid said, looking at Sirius, Peter and I.
"Hey! What about Remus?!" I asked.
"Remus has a bit more sense in 'im than you three," Hagrid said, Remus grinned, "anyway, what are you four doing out 'ere?" Hagrid asked us.
"We were taking a stroll," Sirius said.
"Sure sure," Hagrid said, "I'll let yeh off this time but next time I find yeh in 'ere it's straight to McGonagall, understand?" Hagrid asked.
We nodded our heads vigorously. Wow, Hagrid was actually going to let us off and not tell McGonagall! I couldn't believe our luck.
"Now follow me before yeh get into any more trouble, we're goin' back now," Hagrid said as he started to walk back. We followed him.
"Yeh late fer the feast as well," Hagrid said.
"Yeah, we know…" Peter said mournfully.
"Yeh lucky no one else caught yeh," Hagrid said as he walked along in large strides.
"Why were you in here Hagrid?" Sirius asked somewhat boldly, trying to keep in stride with Hagrid.
"None of yeh business, young Mr. Black," Hagrid replied.
I looked at his crossbow and noticed that it had blood on it. I indicated it to Sirius.
"Why has your crossbow got blood on it Hagrid?" Sirius asked, sounding rather like an annoying little kid who constantly asks questions. Oh wait… he was an annoying kid who constantly asked questions.
"Again, none of yeh business Mr. Black," Hagrid answered, though he tried to hide his crossbow in the folds of his long cloak.
"Hagrid, why are you trying to hide your crossbow?" Sirius asked cheekily, running alongside Hagrid to keep up.
Hagrid suddenly stopped, "Look Sirius," Hagrid said looking down at Sirius and addressing him by his first name, as if Sirius might listen if he did, "if yeh keep on askin' questions I will take yeh to McGonagall, now be quiet!" Hagrid said.
That shut Sirius up. But not for long.
"What's in the forest Hagrid?" Sirius asked after a while.
"Trees," Hagrid answered.
"Yes, apart from that, what else is in there?" Sirius asked.
I looked over at Sirius and gave him a dark look, what part of 'I will take you to McGonagall if you keep on asking questions' didn't he understand?!
"Bit o' grass," Hagrid answered.
"Yes, we know that, but what else is in there? Are there any monsters? I heard that there are werewolves in there, is that true Hagrid? Are there any werewolves?" Sirius asked.
I noticed Hagrid give a very quick glance to Remus. Why did he do that for? I thought as I looked at Remus. Remus seemed a bit pale. Maybe Hagrid knew of Remus' fear, but how? I didn't have a chance to ponder this however, as Hagrid had started talking again.
"There aren' any werewolves or monsters in the forest Mr. Black, now stop askin' fer Merlin's sake!" Hagrid said.
"Are you sure of that Hagrid?" Sirius asked. I could have kicked him for being so stupid and annoying.
"O' course I'm sure!" Hagrid answered.
"Sirius! Shut up!" I whispered to him.
"But how come other people say that there are werewolves in there?" Sirius asked, ignoring my pleas.
"Because other people don' know what they're ruddy well talkin' about!" Hagrid answered.
"I hope there aren't any werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, imagine that!" Peter said joining the conversation.
"Why?" Sirius asked.
"Because they're scary, that's why! They bite humans! I heard that they can kill as well," Peter said.
"Tha's enough now," Hagrid said instantly, "I said no more talkin'," Hagrid said, to both Peter and Sirius. Peter instantly quietened down. Not the same could be said for Sirius though.
"So what were you shooting with your crossbow then Hagrid?" Sirius asked.
"Sirius!" I moaned desperately.
Hagrid didn't reply this time however, as we had arrived at the Forest entrance, and there, standing a bit out of the forest, was none other than Professor McGonagall herself.
As soon as we were close enough she addressed us, "What do you think you four are doing?!" Professor McGonagall asked angrily.
"We were with Hagrid," Sirius lied. I couldn't believe how blatant that lie had been, and in front of Hagrid himself, who had caught us.
"Don't lie Mr. Black! Some Slytherins came to see me earlier and told me that they had seen you four go into the Forbidden Forest on your own! I have witnesses," McGonagall said.
I looked over at Sirius and could tell he was already plotting the untimely demise of the Lestranges, Rosier and Snivellus. I slapped myself mentally. How stupid of us! We should have known that the Slytherins would have done something like that. Why had we been so stupid as to listen to them? I bet they were congratulating themselves on how smart they'd been right now.
"Er…" Hagrid said after a moments hesitation, shifting from one foot to the other, "he's righ' Professor McGonagall," Hagrid explained, my eyes lit up, I couldn't believe that Hagrid was going to cover for us! "I asked them to come into the Forest meself," Hagrid went on. Hagrid was a great guy, and handy too. Though I have no idea why he would cover up for us, especially since Sirius had been acting like an idiot before.
"You asked them?" McGonagall looked at Hagrid suspiciously.
"Yeh, well, I needed a bit o' help yeh see Professor, and seein' as I didn't have enough time to go back to the castle and I seen these four 'ere I thought that they could help me," Hagrid said.
"You asked four eleven year old boys to help you?" McGonagall said, looking at Hagrid in disbelief, "very irresponsible Hagrid."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry Professor, I didn't think abou' it," Hagrid said. I couldn't believe how much Hagrid was willing to cover up for us. He was getting himself into trouble.
"Please Professor, it wasn't Hagrid's fault, it was ours, we begged him to take us with him into the forest, we wouldn't leave him alone," I said, hoping McGonagall would buy it.
"I see…" said McGonagall, "is this true Hagrid?" she asked.
"…Yeh," Hagrid answered, "But you know these four, always ready fer an adventure. I know I shoulda' told yeh or Dumbledore about it, but I didn't think of it yeh see," Hagrid said.
McGonagall took a while to reply, "Okay, you're off this time you four, but next time," she looked at Hagrid particularly as she said that, "you might not be so lucky," McGonagall said, as if she knew that Hagrid was covering up for us, "and Hagrid, next time you need help do not get the students to help you! Come to the castle for Merlin's sake!"
"Yes Professor McGonagall, it won't happen again," Hagrid answered.
"Now get yourselves up to the feast at once you four, you're already late!" McGonagall said, turning and walking back towards the castle.
We all whispered our thanks and appreciation to Hagrid, and followed McGonagall.
When we arrived inside the Great Hall everyone was happily chatting and eating. I looked around at the decorations; they were great. There were thousands of real live bats flying around the enchanted ceiling, huge pumpkins the size of mini houses were set all around the hall, and, there were thousands upon thousands of sweets stocked at each house table. I grinned as we made our way to the Gryffindor table to sit down.
"Hey check out Snivellus and his 'friends'," Sirius said grinning and looking over at the Slytherin table.
I followed his gaze and saw that Snivellus, Rosier and the Lestranges looked extremely put out and surprised by our sudden appearance, surely they had wanted us to get in trouble, but their plan hadn't worked. I grinned and Sirius gave them a smirk and a wave.
They glared at us, and Sirius, Remus, Peter and I sat there and laughed wildly while cramming sweets into our mouths.
Life was good…
7 7 7
Author's Note: Thankyou so much everyone for helping me hit 300 reviews!!! I love all the reviewers and readers and appreciate you guys so much, thanks heaps guys!!! Once again I'm very very sorry for not updating in over a month (as Janet-Lily pointed out- sorry!) but both I and my beta have been really busy. I've just finished up with school, the whole 13 years of it, and in two weeks I have my major exams so don't expect too many updates until the end of November. (!) But I will try my best!
Gevaudan- I definitely agree, exam-free worlds are the best! Heh. Glad you liked the levitating cutlery the owl, heh. That was fun.
Lavender-4-Seamus- Thanks very much! Glad you liked it, and the stupid question of the week, heh.
Padfoot's Mate: Thankyou very much! I don't mind how many times you say that about Peter, I really think he was a part of the marauders as well and that MPP would have treated him the same as each other if he was included on the map. Glad you loved the chapter!
This Parrot has ceased to be: Yes that was definitely adequate! Thankyou very much and thanks for your hope about my exams! I did do well in most of my subjects.
Kady Rilla Wholi: Thanks! That's okay, computers can be annoying. Thanks very much, I really appreciate it. I will try to check out your stories, but I'm pretty busy at the moment.
Mydream: Thanks, glad you liked it.
Beansie: Heh. Glad you liked their first successful prank on the whole school. I wish that J.K would write a MWPP story as well, that would be really great, but I don't think she will either.
Harry the potter: Thanks very much!
Mars explorer: Heh. Glad you love it! Don't die!
Aqua seafoam shame: Thankyou, glad you liked it!
Goldilocks31890: Thanks! Glad you liked it! Yes it was Lancelot, he was great in the movie, and hot. Heh.
Hannanora-Potter: Hehe. That was a very long review! You crack me up. Hehe. I'm glad you liked the chapter. It's fun writing Dumbledore enjoying the pranks. I'm glad I can inspire babbling and waffling, heh, I don't mind at all. Heh, I inspired you to have a competition with yourself as well? Heh. Cool. Of course I do not condemn your craziness, I encourage it! We can be crazy together, it suits me, I am pretty crazy sometimes. Heheh. Anyway, glad you love the story and that I can inspire all sorts of waffling on your part! Yay! Hehe! Tata!
Koriaena: Heh, yes Peter is very creative, hehe. I think I must take the blame for that though, I was trying to think for ages, 'now, what rhymes with 'whinge'?', and I could not think of anything at all except for tinge, singe, binge, fringe, and the only one that fitted or I could make something out of was tinge, so I put that in, but it does sound like something Peter would come up with. Heh.
Elvenwolf: Wow. Long review. Not that that's a bad thing. A good thing in fact. Thanks very very much for your comments, I really do appreciate them very much! And glad to hear about subliminal messages and the blinky green light on your stereo, maybe you should cover it or move it, heh, that way it might not be so distracting but then again, it might be. Who knows? That is a great idea for a prank, and very funny, and I can see MWPP doing something like that as well, Sirius would want to bewitch it to show something rude hehe. Anyway, thanks again for your review!
Padfoot-911: Heh, glad you liked that eating off the table part, I can just imagine Sirius doing it too, because he'd eat it anyway and because he'd want to annoy Remus, they're just mucking with each other though, nothing serious. Heh. Thanks again!
Rappy28: Welcome back! Glad you liked the recent chapters! I wish we could see more of MWPP in the books as well, J.K said that she'd tell us everything about them so that she wouldn't need to write a book about the marauders, so hopefully she gives us everything!
Super Shayde: Thanks very very much! I'm glad you like it! Yay! Glad you love the changing POV's, I think it's good to have everyone's view on things. Thanks very much again, it's much appreciated!!
TruLys: Wow! Thank you very much! I really appreciate that! J
JanetLily: Guilty look I know, I'm sorry! But as I said I've been really busy! I hope this makes up for it! Sorry again!