Chapter Fifteen: "The Curse of Stubby Boardman."
"Rakepick thinks your mother's blood is the key to fixing your problem?" Ava asked. "How do you suppose you're going to get your hands on that?"
"By asking very nicely," Harry said. "It has to be given willingly and when she was still alive."
"And you're going to have to do it without disrupting the timeline," Sara added. "Which, I know…you know what you're doing but…."
Sara hesitated for a moment, but she had been spared by saying anything else when Gideon popped up.
"There's an anomaly that is urgent and important to Harry's personal timeline," Gideon said. "The root takes place in Hogsmeade in 1978. There was a massacre."
"Shit that doesn't sound good," Tonks said.
"Oh, it is horrible, as it is one of the worst murder sprees in all of magical history," Gideon commented. "Two of the most prominent deaths were Severus Snape and Peter Pettigrew."
"And nothing of value was lost," Astra said.
"On the contrary, Ms. Logue," Gideon said. "Severus Snape never revealed the prophecy to Riddle and Pettigrew never lived to betray the Potters to Voldemort, so Voldemort continued to gain power. And by the year 2020, he is the supreme ruler of the world, if this anomaly is allowed to settle."
"Well, that's the worst thing that could happenin all of 2020," Nate said.
"Now, why would you jinx that?" Ava asked crossly.
"Yeah, that sounds like you're just inviting trouble to happen, mate," Charlie said.
"We'll deal with it," Sara said.
"I'll be right behind you."
Harry stood up, found himself wobbling, and barely able to stand on his leg. Sara reached in and caught Harry, despite not being able to see him before guiding him back down onto the chair.
"You should sit this one out," Sara said. "You can barely walk."
"She's right," Mick agreed.
"Need to make sure that leg doesn't have an infection," Sara said.
"Because, you magically ripped it off and had it reattached," Ava said. "That was still….that was still nasty."
"And I'd rather not have an angry Kryptonian knock my head off if something worse happens to Harry," Sara said. "Hopefully we get get your mother's blood and fix this."
"It has to be done willingly," Harry said.
"I know," Sara agreed. "Right, Mick, Nate, John, Ray, Ava, Gary…and Tonks…you're with me."
"Really, I get to come on a Legends mission?" Tonks asked.
"Well, we could use some extra magical power to prevent this massacre from happening," Sara said. "Harry, watch out for us from here, and Zari, Charlie, and Astra will keep you company."
"Signal watches on at all times," Harry said.
"Right, always be ready," Ray agreed.
Harry made sure they went off. Although he reminded himself that every time the Legends went off on a mission on their own, he had to intervene as well. Astra returned with a hot waterbottle for Harry as he stretched out and prepared the monitor for them.
"So, do you think they can pull it off?" Astra asked Harry.
"We're just going to have to wait and see," Harry said.
Harry knew the Legends were capable, but they also were capable of attracting a lot of nonsense. They did cause a lot of damage, but they did fix things for the better. Harry was just going to have to wait and see.
Harry sat back and monitored the last Hogsmeade Weekend before the Marauders and their year group left Hogwarts. And the Legends appear.
"Oh, there's trouble," Sara said.
"That's for bloody sure," John said. "We can't be seen."
Suddenly, coming down the roads of Hogsmeade, a rather stylish looking fellow with an afro and a sequined disco suit appeared. It was a young John Constantine, which caused Ray and Nate to chuckle in amusement.
"Nice suit, John," Gary said.
"What the hell is that?" Sara asked.
"A really bad fashion choice," John murmured. "It was the bloody seventies. Quiet….quiet…we can't be seen."
"Right, just let him pass before we can move on," Ava said urgently.
"Oh, these wankers really have done it now," past-John said. "Let's see what the hell they're going to do with this concert."
Harry chuckled at past-John before he focused on the task at hand. Suddenly, he got a call.
"Harry, how are you?" Nora asked.
"Oh, I'm just keeping it together," Harry said.
"Any luck on fixing your little problem?" Nora asked.
"Working on it right now," Harry said. "Astra's back, and we have the Loom, but…we still need to stabalize my blood."
'That's great," Nora said.
Harry put Nora on the side screen.
"Hey, Astra, nice to meet you," Nora said.
"A pleasure," Astra said. "So where are you? Because that looks a lot like Hogsmeade."
"Yes that's….is that John Constantine wearing a disco suit?" Nora asked in interest.
"Wait, you are in Hogsmeade, aren't you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I've been assigned to a new charge."
Harry took a swig of orange juice.
"Really, who?" Astra asked.
"Peter Pettigrew."
Harry sacrificed his orange juice by spitting it everywhere and coughing like mad.
"Wormtail?" Harry asked. "You're Wormtail's Fairy Godmother?"
"Could be worse," Astra remarked. "Could be Snape."
Well, there was a silver lining to every cloud, Harry supposed. And he reminded himself that whatever happened to Wormtail, it was not what caused him to turn to Voldemort just yet.
"Hey look, Stubby Boardman!" Charlie yelled.
So the Quibbler was right? In a sense. Because Sirius Black, incognito as Stubby Boardman, took the stage, along with James Potter and Remus Lupin appearing as his fellow bandmembers.
"What the hell is that thing on Lupin's face?" Zari asked. "Is that some kind of wild animal?"
"That's his mustache, I think," Astra said. "Doesn't strike me as the pornstar type."
"Would be rather popular among the furries," Charlie quipped.
"Can't be worse than that mustache Vince McMahon grows in a couple of years," Gideon commented.
"What?"
"Long story," Gideon said. "Let's just say he finally embraced his destiny as a real life cartoon super villain."
And the Marauders were equally ridiculous in their "fashion" but it was the seventies. Peter was conspicuous by his absence.
"The show must go on," Sirius told James and Remus. "HOGSMEADE ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!"
"Wait!" Astra yelled. "That guitar….Gideon zoom in!"
"Right, Ms. Logue."
The guitar had been zoomed in on and the strange runic symbols on the guitar were visible.
"The Legends are in danger," Astra said. "Everyone is in danger."
And the music started playing and the Legends along with the rest of the group began to be hypnotized by the music.
"Gideon, Hogsmeade, 1978, now," Harry said without missing a beat.
"They'll recognize you, though, right?" Zari asked. "You look like the son of Lily and James Potter!"
"Not without these."
Harry dropped the glamor charms showing his age form. Nora gasped, Zari screamed.
"Bloody hell!" Charlie yelled.
"It's not as bad as it looks," Harry responded.
"Oh, it looks pretty bad," Zari said.
Harry did not want to admit it was worse than it looks. The curse had caused his insides to take a worse pounding than his outsides. He took his cane and it was off with Zari, Charlie, and Astra to save the day.
Harry, Zari, Astra, and Charlie arrived at the Hog's Head Inn. The first thing they saw, was a young Peter Pettigrew, being shoved by a few Slytherins. Harry noticed the Lestrange Brothers and the infamous Evan Rosier. Who had all left Hogwarts by this point and were harassing a seven-year student to get their jollies.
"What are you, Pussy Pettigrew?" Rosier asked. "You're nothing. Where is Potter, Black, and Lupin? Did they ditch you because they found out how useless you are."
"You're nothing without them backing you," one of the Lestranger brothers said. "You're absolutely useless."
"I'm not….I can hurt you, you'll see," Peter said.
"You will always be weak, and the pity case."
And Harry thought he smelled that familiar stench of grease and self-loathing, because here came Severus Snape.
"You're a snivelling little coward," Snape said. "A pathetic weak wreck of a wizard, who is only kept around so Potter can feel important because of how much you worship him like a simpering fool."
"Are you still upset that Lily dropped you cold when she realized how pathetic you were?" Peter asked.
"Ouch," Zari murmured in Harry's ear.
"And the only thing I'm scare of, is your stench, Snivellus!"
The Lestrange Brothers grabbed Peter and Snape picked up his wand. Harry figured he should intervene.
"Maybe you should let this play out?" Astra asked.
Harry shook his head. He cleared his throat.
"You can clear off, the lot of you," Harry told them.
Snape and his crew turned around. Rosier narrowed his eyes at Harry.
"Must be a Mudblood. If he thinks he can talk to us like that…"
"What are you going to do about it old man?"
Bellatrix's future idiot husband got answered by getting Harry's walking stick right across his noggin. Harry started beating Bellatrix's idiot husband, the other one, and Rosier with his walking stick. Snape wisely pulled an exit stage right and the Lestranges and Rosier followed him.
"Beat it, you punks!" Harry yelled.
Harry extended a hand to Wormtail and helped him to his feet.
"Who are you?" Wormtail asked.
"I'm Iggy Dumbledore," Harry said. "The Headmaster's eccentric cousin. He doesn't like to talk to me about that much."
"And for good reason."
A surly barman approached them from the other side of the bar. Harry came face to face with the one and only Aberforth Dumbledore, whose eyes fell on Charlie, who waved with a cheerful grin at him. Aberforth walked a tiny bit closer to Harry and swooped down.
"You bloody Legends again?" Aberforth asked. "What is it this time?"
"There's a curse guitar in Hogsmeade which will cause a massacre that we need to stop," Harry said.
"Potter?" Aberforth asked. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Snake bite," Harry said.
Aberforth just looked at Harry before nodding and returning to the bar. The door opened, and Harry noticed Natalie and Lily make their way into the Hog's Head, and behind them, was John Constantine, dressed in his seventies best. Astra noticed that first and ducked under the table to avoid her fits of laughter.
"Still want to know what the hell that is," Zari said.
"It'd Disco, it died a long time ago, and it's never coming back," Harry said.
"Oh, I don't know, mate, nostalgia is pretty powerful," Charlie said.
"Constantine, I'm still soothing my goats from last time."
"Is that what they call it now?"
And with that Aberforth Dumbledore picked up a broom and started to waffle John, to bring him out of the bar and shoo him off.
The second Astra reappeared over the table she came face to face with her mother.
"Hey, Nat, I didn't know you had a twin," Lily said with a smile.
"Are you okay?" Natalie asked. "Because, you look like you've seena a ghost?"
"Fine," Astra said, recovering quickly. "We just came in when those assholes were torturing him."
"Which assholes?" Natalie asked.
"Snape and his junior Death Eaters," Harry chimed in.
"For fuck's sake," Lily grumbled. "That idiot is the biggest hypocrite I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. Even my sister's husband is not that bad."
Personally, Harry would call it a draw, but he was not going to go down that road.
"I hate to say I told her so, but I told herself," Natalie murmured, more to herself than anyone else.
"Are you okay, Pete?" Lily asked.
"I'm fine," Peter said. "But, I'm missing the show. The Hobgoblins are performing."
"Well, the crowd's eating out of the palm of their hand," Lily said.
"Because of a cursed relic," Harry said. "The real Stubby Boardman has a cursed guitar, and now your friend, Sirius Black has that guitar. It's a dangerous object and could hypnotize anyone into a frenzy."
"And you are?" Lily asked.
"A cursebreaker from the American branch at Gringotts," Harry said.
"Dumbledore's cousin is a cursebreaker at the American branch of Gringotts?" Peter asked. "Wait, there's an American branch of Gringotts?"
To be honest, Harry would have thought of a better lie, but he honestly was not feeling himself the worse this curse had gotten.
"I have a friend that's a cursebreaker, and she taught me a few things," Lily said. "So, walk me through this cursed guitar Mr…."
"Iggy Dumbledore," Harry said.
"Right," Lily murmured, skeptical but she was going to go along with it for now.
Harry finished his explanation. Natalie just put her hand underneath her chin and looked on thoughtfully.
"There is a power counter charm we can use to override the hypnotic effects of the guitar," Natalie said.
"Padfoot, Moony, and Prongs, they're all in big trouble," Peter said.
"I'm not sure if we can override it with a simple charm, though," Lily siaid.
"Not if we band together," Natalie said. "Literally form a band and counteract their music."
"Of course," Harry said. "Even Dumbledore said it himself, magic is a music beyond anything they teach at Hogwarts."
"It is brilliant," Lily said. "But we're going to need more than Natalie and me for the band."
"I'm in," Charlie agreed.
"How about you Astra?" Harry asked. "You can give them a little bit of a boost."
"Oh, I don't…sing," Astra said.
"Fine, I'll do it," Zari said. "The four us can be enough, banding together in the band. We'll call ourselves the Hex."
"Why the Hex?" Lily asked.
"Because the Hex Girls are already taken," Charlie said dryly.
"Maybe I should be out there, but I don't know if I could be much help," Peter said. "I'm a bit tone deaf, and they're a lot more powerful out ther without me."
Harry scrawled a countercurse, in the form of a song. It was a good thing he knew how to do these things because they would come in handy.
"That's useful," Lily said. "It should work."
"Maybe I can help you another way," Peter said. "I wish their spell is broken."
"Oh, that was a nice effort, but they're still under the spell," Harry said.
Which means Nora's fairy magic could not override the enchantment. Although he was glad that Wormtail was with it enough to try.
"I wish I could stand up and stop this," Peter said.
"Oh, stop being so sullen," Aberforth said. "You have a large shadow cast over you by your friends. And I have a large shadow cast over by my brother. We all got to find our own path."
"And we need to get out there soon, because time is running out," Charlie said. "Hopefully we can pull this off without practice."
"We'll find out soon enough," Zari agreed.
"The charm should work, we just need to work as one," Lily said.
The newly formed Hex was off, with Harry and Astra following close behind. This left Peter alone in the bar with a bottle of Firewhiskey in his hand as he took a long drink.
The Outdoor concert was rocking from Stubby Boardman and the Hobgoblins playing. The group were playing and everyone was dancing. Sirius kept playing, despite his fingers getting sore and raw. And he noticed a few of the people starting to collapse from exhaustion.
"Maybe we should stop," Sirius said.
"Something's wrong," Remus said. "I can't stop."
"I can't either," James said. "We have to keep playing until the concert is done."
"Damn it, I can't stop!" Sirius yelled.
"I told you taking a bunch of band equipment that was laying outside of the entrance to Knockturn Alley was a bad idea," Remus murmured.
"Must keep rocking," Sirius said, despite blood oozing from the tips of his fingers as he strung a magnificently wicked cord.
"Hogsmeade, are you ready to rock?"
Another stage off to the side lit up, and Lily appeared, dressed in a pair of tight leather pants and a tight top, which momentarily pulled James out of his trance.
Natalie, Zari, and Charlie joined her on the stage, ready to go.
"And let me introduce you the hottest new band in Hogsmeade, the Hex!"
They started to play and blast their music. The music started to blast through Hogsmeade and it's melody started to slowly lift the trance the music of the Hobgolins put them under. It was like a tug of war between both sides as they blasted their music back and forth.
"Oh, they want a band battle, do they?" Sirius asked. "We'll see about that."
"Guys, I'm not feeling so good," James murmured.
"Just keep playing!"
Sara shook her head and John did as well.
"Something's not right," John said. "And I don't mean my choice of fashion in the seventies either."
A loud insidious laughter echoed, when a spirit in the guitar rose up and engulfed Sirius. Sirius began to play more vigorously, despite his bleeding fingers. And the spell was starting to overwhelm the counterspell. Charlie, Zari, Natalie, and Lily played, but the spell was getting overwhelmed.
"Maybe you can boost the spell?" Astra asked.
"Can't, not with my condition," Harry said. "There's only one thing to do."
"What?"
Harry just gave Astra a smile.
"No."
"SING, ASTRA, SING!"
Astra walked over and joined the Hex on the stage and began to sing along with them. And she sang beautifully, with her power amplifying their charm and sending it back, thus eliminate the brain-washing effect. And then John broke free completely.
"Bloody hell," John said. "I knew you were around somewhere. Time to send you home, you little bastard!"
John Constantine performed the spell which banished the demon to the stage, right when the Hex had their big finish and fully broke the spell.
Sirius, Remus, and James collapsed on the stage.
"So, did we win?" Sirius asked.
"Lily in those pants feels like a win," James remarked.
The entirety of Hogsmeade applauded the Hex.
"It was a beautiful show, thank you for your support," Natalie said. "But, we couldn't do it with the help of our fifth member."
Astra flashed a smile, in spite of herself.
"And her voice is quite magical," Zari said.
"But, we got to give credit where credit is due to our magnificent manager," Lily added with a soft smile.
Harry just made a bow.
"One more time, for the road!" Lily called.
And it was encore time, with the Hex providing another beautiful song to end this final Hogsmeade weekend for the Hogwarts class of 1978.
James, Sirius, and Remus took a moment to recover. Peter walked over to them.
"You alright?" Peter asked.
"Fine," Sirius said. "But, what I really want to know is who was the bloke who looked like Sting who happened to banished the demon?"
"Don't know, but he seemed like an utter wanker," James said.
"So, Black, your stupidity got everyone killed."
Snape walked over and Sirius just looked at Snape with the most hateful gaze possible.
"I really don't want to deal with your bullshit right now," James said.
"Haven't you learned your lesson about sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, Snivellus?" Sirius asked.
"Dumbledore should have had you expelled a long time ago," Snape said.
"Given what your mates with to Mary MacDonald, maybe you shouldn't be slinging accusations, Snape," James said through gritted teeth.
"You know what, screw this and screw you," Peter said. "OOOH FAIRY GODMOTHER!"
Peter's voice summoned Nora and Harry walked over. His danger sense started tingling.
"I really wish I had the ability to stand up to bullies like Snape and show them what I'm really capable of."
Nora tried to fight this, knowing the ramifications of this wish. However, she could not help and grant it.
"This is your last warning, Snape," Peter said. "Live my friends alone."
"Oh, what is pathetic Pettigrew going do do?" Snape mocked.
And in response, Peter knocked Snape on his ass.
"Av…."
"Stop!" Harry yelled. "Let him live his pathetic life knowing how much he got humiliated. And how worthless he'll always be. Miserable and alone and worthless because he couldn't help and alienate the one person in is life worth a damn."
Peter took in a deep breath.
"He's right," James said. "You don't want to be as bad as him."
"No one can be as bad as Snape," Sirius said.
Snape took out his wand to hex the Marauders when they turned their back. Only for Harry to smack him across the back of the head with his walking stick to knock him out.
"Should have kept your mind cleared, Snivellus," Harry said. "Get that piece of garbage out of my sight."
The Lestranges picked up Snape and hauled him out, swearing vengeance. Harry was too used to people swearing vengeance on him to care.
"I appreciate your help," Peter said. "Really, I do, Nora, but I can see myself abusing that power. So I set you free."
"Good luck, Peter," Nora said as he freed her. "And take care."
And Harry read that very obvious frustration, due to the fact that Nora saw what was going to come. Harry hated it as well but there were ramifications not keeping the timeline intact that were far bigger than Harry's own personal comfort.
"Since I'm in between jobs, I guess I could have one drink," Nora said.
"So, back at the Hog's head?" Nate asked. "After the last time, I never thought I'd see the day."
"Everything's on the house," Aberforth said. "Providing you lot piss off in the next fiteen minutes."
"He's still sore about the goats," John said. "That was ages ago."
"It was a month ago," Aberforth said.
"Well, this is the same man who cursed the Chudley Cannons when they wouldn't let him take his pet goat in the Quidditch stadium," Harry said.
"Really serious business there," Gary said. "So, we're back to normal?"
"As normal as everyone's going to be," Sara said.
"So, it looks like you're back on the job," Natalie said. "You know, in Gringotts, in America."
"That's your cover story?" Sara asked Harry in undertone. "You really aren't doing your best?"
"Well, we know there's no Gringotts in America," Lily said. "We'll overlook it because you've saved the day, saved the world."
"Your lies are normally more convincing," Sara said.
Harry just responded with a sheepish shrug.
"I need a favor," Harry said.
"What do you need?" Lily asked.
"Your blood."
Lily blinked for a second.
"My blood?"
"Your blood," Harry confirmed. "Because, it would save the world from a horrible fate."
Lily took out her wand and a vial. She cut her arm and spilled the blood inside.
"That should be enough," Harry said.
Lily healed herself and corked the vial before handing it to Harry.
"Aberforth's really giving us the stink-eye," Gary said.
"Time for us to get out of his hair," Mick said.
"Yeah, we better not overstay our welcome now that everything is situated," Ava said.
"Goodbye," Natalie said with a smile. "And stay safe."
Astra hugged Natalie for a second before pulling away. And then Natalie pulled her into a more restrained hug. Lily just smiled as they walked off.
"It's really temping to stay in 1978," Astra said.
"Don't," John said. "Timeline bullshit and the seventies were overrated. And the eighties. I was in limbo for the nineties and the two-thousands, so can't tell you about them."
"Parts of that kind of sucked," Sara said.
"Well, there you go," John said.
"I guess every generation has people looking through rose-tinted glasses," Nate said. "Wonder how history will look back at the 2020s?"
"Oooh, not going to say anything," Zari said. "But, you're in for a bumpy ride."
"Gideon, we're ready," Sara said.
"Of course, Captain Lance."
It was time for the Legends to leave, and for Harry to utilize Lily's blood. By his math, he only had six days in counting before the curse killed him.
Lily smiled as they disappeared. It would be a rather turbulent journey for them all.
"Good luck, Harry."
To Be Continued.