Disclaimer: What I own, I own. What I don't, I don't. I make no claims to the Harry Potter universe, it belongs to JKR. What you recognize is hers, what you don't is either mine or you've been living under a rock for years.
It's MY Life
Chapter 6
Harry and Hermione were relaxing on the couch in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, seemingly studying books on things they already knew about. It was all rather pointless, doubly so for Harry. Not only had he and Hermione been learning these things for the past five years but Harry had the added knowledge of what he most optimistically thought was close to a millennium of study. As such, they were the first in class to perform every spell correctly. They didn't have to look up very much information, if any at all, to complete their homework. And the only time they really spent any time with books was to study ahead of what they learned from their family.
Hermione sighed and closed her book. "This is boring, Harry. I wish we could have just stayed at home and kept on learning that way." She leaned back in the couch and laid her head on Harry's shoulder. "What are we supposed to do for the next seven years?"
He put his shoulder around her and pulled her close while he tried to think of the best way to respond. "I don't know, Hermione. We could practice our spells. Try to get things above fourth year. We could just have fun, maybe pull some pranks on Malfoy. We still have to get our meditation done for our animagus forms though." He said this with a conspiratorial whisper and small smile.
On their eleventh birthdays, after much pleading and begging on their part. James, Sirius and Lily had agreed to let them try the animagus revealing potion, just to see if they even had forms. That had been a shock to the adults when they revealed having not one, but two forms each. Both of them were large black panthers and some type of bird that they hadn't found the name of yet. Due to the nature of the potion, the forms that are revealed aren't always clear, not really hard to misidentify a very large black cat though. The birds were a little less clear though, not quite enough to properly identify beyond the most basic. The closest that they could come at the moment was between some type of hawk or falcon. The adults were trying to figure out why they had two forms though. The current prevailing theory was that it had something to do with their bond. Seeing as how they were bonded it would stand that they shared forms with Harry being the male version and Hermione being the female. To their best guess, it seemed that the personalities were sufficiently different for the form to not be compatible. They supposed that the panther was Hermione's and the bird was Harry's and the bond allowed them to switch between the two.
Since the animagus change was prevalent on internal magic and just needed there to be magic present and not developed to any certain point, they were told that it would just be a matter of mental discipline to perform the change the first time. This led to their meditation which was slowly but surely bearing fruit. Hermione, being the oldest of the two and therefore practicing longer, was currently able to changes her fingernails into claws but that was it. Harry was only able to add some fur to his face. Sirius had laughed loudly at that, immediately proclaiming him to be a midget version of James with a five o'clock shadow, Harry had sent a stinging hex to his backside for that comment.
Harry looked up and around the room to see if anything was available to take their interest. His eyes immediately fell onto the twins huddled in a corner pouring over a very familiar piece of parchment. The twins had instantly become friends due to the prank in the hallway. Even more so because it involved Professor McGonagall. More impressively that they didn't get in any trouble for it, of course that was due to their prodigious acting ability. Really, Harry thought to himself. Who is Minerva going to fault? Two obviously terrified first years that had been in the castle less than two weeks. Or three well known pranksters of her acquaintance that had obviously been telling tall tales to impressionable young minds? Almost too easy to get away with that one.
"Want to have some fun with the twins? Looks as though they found Dad's old map," he nodded slightly towards the corner. Hermione glanced around before a smile came over her face and she nodded back to Harry. Raising his voice slightly Harry called them over, "Hey, Devil Demons! Come on over here for a minute!" Harry watched as they cleared the map before joining them on another couch.
"You bellowed Harry?" they questioned in unison for a change.
He nodded to them. "I was just wondering what you were doing with that old thing over in the corner."
"This?" twin one asked as he pulled out the map.
"Just a spare bit of parchment," added the other.
Faster than they could blink Harry pulled his wand and touched it to the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The shocked look they sported made Harry and Hermione smile to each other as the map revealed itself. They glanced first at the map, then Harry and Hermione and then each other before the process repeated again. It took a half dozen cycles before one of them asked, "How in the name of Merlin's sweaty Y-fronts do you know about that?"
Harry chuckled before he answered, "I told you, it's old. Was wondering why you're using it."
"Why wouldn't we?"
"Greatest invention of theirs that we've ever found."
"Helped us out of a right sticky spot more than a few times it has," twin one nodded to his brother.
"Ah," Harry nodded sagely. "Easy to please pranksters you are then." At their affronted look Hermione pulled her own parchment out of her pocket before putting it on the table between the four. Harry placed his wand to the parchment and again intoned, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The twins leaned forward to look at ink that was spreading over the parchment in eerily familiar yet slightly different words.
Messrs Midnight, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs
In conjunction with
Mss Flamebird and Pounce
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present
The Marauder's Map
V 2.0
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed twin two.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Language George," Hermione reprimanded.
"I'm not George, he is!" George exclaimed, pointing at his brother.
A scathing look from Hermione had George fidgeting in his seat until her reply. "No, you're George, he's Fred. Don't ever try to pull that on us again because we can always tell you apart." Harry nodded his head in support.
"How can you?" asked Fred
"Not even our family can do that!" exclaimed George.
Harry grinned at this, "That would be telling wouldn't it?" Harry and Hermione's laughter at their perplexed looks was enough to know that they wouldn't be able to get away with confusing these two anymore.
"So where'd you get this version then?" Fred asked again, desperately seeking an answer. "And how come it's got different names on it than our version?"
"In answer to your first question, we got it from the creators," Hermione replied in her lecture voice. "In answer to your second question," she paused here to formulate her reply before continuing. "The three names you don't recognize became Marauders after your map was created. Wormtail was removed because of betrayal to the group and is never talked about in their presence." Harry nodded along with her explanation.
"You know them?" Fred asked.
"Can you introduce us?" asked George at almost the same time.
"They're our heroes!" the both exclaimed.
Harry and Hermione giggled at their antics. "We'll pass along the request when next we meet with them," Harry answered. He then touched his wand to the map again and intoned, "Command and control access requested."
The lines on the map vanished to be replaced with the question, "Access Identification?"
"Alpha Zero One," Harry replied still keeping his wand in contact with the map.
"Authenticating…Access Granted. Function?"
"Isolate and pinpoint."
"Name?"
"Minerva McGonagall." Harry removed his wand from the map and opened it. Instead of the normal map that showed on Fred and George's version it showed a hallway with a single dot on it labeled Minerva McGonagall. Underneath the name was the words, "Seventh floor. West Wing." Harry touched his wand to the map again and intoned, "Clear. New query. Fred and George Weasley." The twins watched as the lines vanished to show two dots close together with the words under their names, "Gryffindor Common Room."
They looked at the twins who were practically drooling into their own laps as they watched the new map. "Wicked! What else can it do?"
Harry glanced at Hermione who nodded. He placed his wand back on the map, "Mischief Managed." Then gestured towards her.
Hermione drew her own wand and activated the map. "Command and control access requested."
"Access Identification?"
"Alpha Two Zero One."
"Authenticating…Access Granted. Function?"
"Personality matrix." The words suddenly cleared before being replaced with new ones.
"Messr Prongs would like to welcome Hermione to our humble domain."
"Messr Padfoot would also like to welcome Hermione and ask her what took so long?"
"Messr Moony would like to humbly offer his assistance with any problems Hermione might be having."
"Messr Midnight would also like to offer his assistance and wonders what color knickers Hermione has on right now."
"Mss Flamebird offers her greetings and reminds the men folk to be nice to the children."
"Mss Pounce promises that she will smack the men folk at her earliest opportunity."
"You can talk to them?"
Hermione shook her head. "It's not really them. It's just their personalities. Kind of like how enchanted portraits work but without the portrait part."
"Messr Padfoot would like to express his disappointment with that part and state that it should be a crime that no one is allowed to gaze upon his dashing good looks."
"Mss Pounce would like to point out that if his looks were that good he wouldn't need to hide behind words in the first place."
"Messr Moony would like to offer his condolences to Messr Padfoot for being rejected yet again."
"Mss Flamebird is still wondering how the Marauders may help Hermione at this time."
Hermione smiled at all the byplay. "Just a demonstration to two up and coming pranksters who found your original map. Showing them what the improved version can do."
"Messr Prongs is always happy to help new pranksters and reminds Hermione that she is always welcome anytime."
"Messr Padfoot is also happy to be of service and wishes the two pranksters luck in trying to surpass our legacy."
"Messr Midnight would also like to let Hermione know that he will always be here for her and is also still wondering what color knickers she has on."
Hermione rolls her eyes at the last one. "For Merlin's sake Midnight! They're white! All right? Are you happy now?"
"Messr Midnight would like to say that he is most pleased with the information."
Hermione huffed in exasperation before muttering, "Mischief managed." The map cleared again. "Anyone can use this map if they know the password but we're the only two in the school that can use the command and control functions. It's password protected and keyed to our magical signatures. There are lots of other functions imbedded into this map, maybe one day we'll share some others with you, in exchange for services rendered of course." She smirked at this last part, dangling the bait in front of them.
Fred and George looked to each other than back to her. "What services?" You could see the hungry gleam in their eyes.
Harry answered for her. "Pranks, of course. Which ones will be determined later and at which time." They both knew that they might need some help to pull off some of the larger pranks they had planned. The twins would fill that roll nicely. "It won't just be a one time thing though. If we just need a lookout for something, that won't get us to reveal any of our secrets. Say maybe a half dozen or dozen times of doing that might get us to reveal something. Help with planning or inventions to use might be worth a glimpse though."
Both twins gave winning smiles before sticking out their hands to Harry and Hermione to shake. "Deal!"
~~oOoOo~~
Stupid! Incompetent! Bloody Wanker! Harry was cursing silently to himself as he made his way through the hidden opening of the Chamber of Secrets.
Can't even be a normal hideout, can it? Noooo, has to be in the dankest, darkest, DIRTIEST part of the freaking castle. His internal fuming continued while he made his way towards the final door. Be a disgrace to Dark Lords everywhere. He must have missed out at the last Dark Lord convention where they passed out the handbooks.
Harry chuckled to himself as he pictured a large conference room filled with Dark Lords for an annual meeting.
"Next petition for membership in this august body and seeking the title of Dark Lord, one Voldemort, currently of England. Prospective member has verifiable murders, tortures, rapes, and burning of villages along with the obligatory sycophantic followers."
"Objection! I see no where in the applicants history that shows that he has successfully taken over any legitimate government of any country in the world!"
"Quite correct Dark Lord Badbreath! All in favor of dismissing this application say Aye."
Smiling to himself he tried to picture another conversation with them sitting in a the hotels bar.
"Just killed my three thousandth victim yesterday!"
"Bully for you, old bean! I remember my own three thousandth, seems like only yesterday when I tortured her to death with the Cruciatus."
"You young upstarts these days! Back when I first started we didn't have anything as simple as the Cruciatus! No, we had to actually get our hands dirty exploding our victims, or watching them shrivel to husks. Don't even get me started on your fancy Apparition! Had to take brooms to the nearest village for a bit of sport! Merlin help you if you made a wrong turn from the shortage of compasses. End up traveling for days to find another village just to turn around and take a few more days to get back to our hideouts!"
Harry was actually chuckling to himself when he opened the final door. Ridiculous scenes playing out in his mind. He walked up to the statue of Slytherin and called out to the Basilisk inside in parseltoungue.
"Hello in there! Are you awake?"
"A speaker? Here? It has been so long."
"If you promise not to kill me with your gaze I can let you out to stretch your…well, yourself. I also have some food here if you're hungry"
"You are a speaker. My gaze can not harm you, only my venom."
"Well, do you promise not to bite me then?"
"Agreed."
Harry spoke the words to open the statues mouth and watched as the basilisk came out. He then pulled several bags out of his robes and set them on the floor. Carefully emptying them out, the shrinking and stasis charms were released revealing over a hundred sheep, cows and goats that he had purchased from farms over the months before school started.
"Here you go. My name is Harry, by the way. What's your name?"
"Silva."
"Nice name," Harry replied. "May I ask a favor of you, or do I have to make it a command?"
"I see. Another that wants to control me."
"No! It's more like one command with two continuations with it."
"What is your command?"
"Just that, until the day I die, you will never obey anyone other than me. I swear, I will never make you do any thing that you don't want to do. That is just so another speaker can not control you for bad things. I will place a crystal tied to my life in your home so you will know when I die."
"Agreed. Your continuations?"
"First, that you will never harm a teacher or student of this school unless it is to save others from harm. Second, that you continue to protect the school itself."
"Those were my orders from the first speaker. I will follow them."
"I only brought this food so you could regain your strength. I will reopen the tunnel into the forest so that you may hunt for yourself when you wish. Please do not harm the centaurs. There is a very big colony of Acromantulas in there since last you have been awake."
"Thank you, Harry"
"You're welcome, Silva. Would it be all right if I return from time to time for a talk or to keep you company?"
"I would like that. I have not had anyone that would just like to talk since the first speaker."
"Until the next time then. Good hunting." Harry bowed to his new friend and strode out of the chamber.
On his walk back to the common room he began going over his plans in his head. Take care of the Basilisk before next year. Check. Horcruxes: Locket, check, diadem, check, ring, check, diary won't be available till next year. Hopefully I can get that one before school even starts, if not I'll have to steal it from Ginny's things when she's not around. Cup, hmmm, still not sure how to go about that one. Maybe just tell the goblins? How would I be able to let them know without giving anything away? Going to have to come up with a plan for that one. Nagini's going to be trouble. Don't know where she is or if she was turned into a horcrux when he was still alive or after he came back. Probably going to have to hunt her down just to make sure. Fourth year will be the key. If she is one then he'll come back and still get me into the thrice damned tournament. If she's not then I'll destroy them all after the champions are chosen.
Nodding to himself as he entered the common room he looked around and saw Hermione in the sofa by the fire reading a book. He walked quietly up behind her and bent down till his lips were close to her ear. "Anything interesting Mrs Potter?"
Hermione, deeply immersed in her book, Dueling with Charms Alone, let out a scream and fell out of the sofa. She jumped to her feet with her wand drawn only to see Harry laughing at her from the floor. "Harry James Potter! What do you think you were doing? You nearly gave me heart failure!"
Harry was trying to regain his breath. "It was funny to me."
Hermione huffed indignantly, returned her wand to her holster and picked up her book. She walked over to where Harry was still on the floor trying to calm himself. She stood by his head, raised the thick book to shoulder height, then dropped it on him.
"OW! What the bloody hell was that for?"
She gave him a evil grin and replied innocently, "It was funny to me." She then held out a hand and helped him to his feet. Once he was steady and finished rubbing the bump on his forehead he looked to her. Just in time watch as her hand smacked him in the back of the head. "And that was for your language."
"I'll get you for that Mrs Potter."
"In your dreams Mr Potter." She stuck her tongue out at him and then ran up the stairs giggling before he could retaliate by starting one of their pillow fights.
A/N So there it is. Chapter 6, hope you all enjoyed it. Let me just say thank you to the over 7,300 people that have read this story since I first started it, the 75 people that marked it as a favorite, and the 109 people that asked for an alert on it. YOU PEOPLE ROCK!
As always, reviews are welcome, even the bad ones. I'd also like to point out again that I'm still looking for a Beta so if any of you are interested please send me a PM.
Until next time people!