Chapter 91: Unexpected
"Actually I daresay I'm enjoying this detention." James admitted. It was the second weekend of the detention and the group was allowed to have their free time for the whole day.
"Prongs, are you sick with the Prefects fever??" Sirius said in horror. "We haven't played a prank in fourteen days!!"
"I don't know, but it did seems kind of fun doing the school cleaning and cooking our own meals." Remus agreed.
"You two can go live with the house elves." Sirius said in disbelief that his two pranking kakis were actually happy when they had absolutely no one to prank on.
"It isn't that bad cleaning the school, doing some gardening, and having fun in the kitchens during meal."
"We really need to do something more exciting than this."
"I guess I have enough excitement in the school semester, and a change like this is actually rather refreshing."
"Prongs, Moony, are you two ok??" Sirius started shaking them vigorously.
"Woah, Padfoot calm down!!" James struggled a little to release himself from Sirius shaking.
"Ok, I'm going nuts then." Sirius sat down and slumped on the armchair. "And we're actually happy staying indoors."
"This is so unlike the normal us."
"But it isn't all that bad. Those cleaning tire us out."
"It had been quite some time since we last hang around having nothing to do or worry about."
"This kind of feeling won't last very long."
"Professor??" James called out skeptically. Lily and James were asked to see Dumbledore for some reason or other.
"There you are." Both of them gave Dumbledore a blank look. He was a little eccentric, but this was pretty much the extent.
"Can we know why did you want us for??" James asked politely.
"Just something to discuss with you two." Dumbledore turned around from his seat. "Take a seat first, it might be quite a long discussion."
"Ok." They exchanged a questioning look and sat down opposite Dumbledore.
"I don't know if you're aware that why I made you all stay in Hogwarts for."
"Because we broke a major school rule, I supposed."
"More than that, in fact."
"Huh??"
"It's for your safety." Both of them kept very still to hear what Dumbledore was about to tell them. "Voldemort is out looking for you two in particular. I do not know why."
"But-"
"I don't know what could be the reason, and I'm afraid that he might have spies among ourselves."
"Who could be our spy??"
"It could be anyone. Maybe even Sirius or Remus."
"No way, I trust them with my life."
"I don't mean they serve Voldemort or something. He has the power that most people might not know, I'm saying that he might have manipulated them or perhaps enter their thoughts, if you know what I mean."
"That means they became Voldemort's victim unconsciously."
"That's right, I'm sure they are great friends. But I believed that Voldemort is not able to get you two directly and he's trying from the friends around you."
"Oh, but I know Stef, or anyone of them, will never betray us."
"I understand your dilemma. They are like friends for years and moreover you all have a special bonding. I'm not suspecting Peter or anyone of them but this should serve as a warning to you two. And I trust both of you not to tell them about today's meeting."
"O-ok."
"Basically you two are in greater danger than all of them out there adds together." Dumbledore's voice was sounding grimmer as he spoke. "He is targeting at you two for a reason even I'm not aware. I believe that there's something you two have in common that could defeat him or something, though I'm not sure what it could be."
"But the prophecy, or so it was said, that requires the seven of us, or at least six for now, to defeat him."
"That's right."
"So Sirius, Remus, Stef and Bell can't be the traitor."
"Then Peter??"
"I don't think so, he hasn't done anything to us though we were sharing the same dorm for six years. I mean if he really wants to kill us, he could have done it without any trouble."
"If he did it, everyone would know it's him."
"And he too timid to do such stuffs. I trust him that he won't be the one who betray us. Whenever we've meeting, he isn't even there. Besides we never display or talk about our powers in front of him."
"Well, I'm unsure of this whole thing myself. But just a word of warning, don't trust anyone too much, not even your closest friends."
"That's so-"
"It's for your own good. I'm more worried about you two."
"So the conclusion is Voldemort is trying to kill the two of us for some unknown reason."
"That's what we believe. Otherwise he wouldn't have tried to capture you two the last time."
"The worst thing is that now our closest friends could be traitors, nothing can get worst than what's already is."
"I'm sorry to say that too. But take it as a warning." Dumbledore looked as troubled as the two of them. "I'll call you two up if anything happens."
"Goodbye Professor." Both of them left the
office, heavy hearted as they made their way back to the Charms classroom to do
further cleaning.
"I can't believe it." Lily said, keeping her voice low.
"Neither can I." James replied gloomily. "Walls have ears. We talk another time about this, okay??"
Lily did not manage a reply even for the facts she just heard were too much to bear for a sixteen-year-old. Both of them just walked in silence back to the Charms corridor.
"Prongs!! Lily!!" A familiar male voice called out and echoed in the corridor. The two gloomy-faced teens exchanged a look and turned around in a new expression.
"What are you two doing here??" James asked brightly.
"Why are you two looking so happy??"
"Nothing."
"Did you two-" Sirius asked cheekily.
"Nothing of that sort." James and Lily exchanged a look.
"We were wondering what Sirius could be doing, I mean I've never even seen you doing any proper cleaning before and the sight of you scrubbing the floors and walls must be quite interesting."
"Well, without magic, what can you expect??"
"Look at my hands, all wrinkled up." Sirius raised his hands for them to take a look.
"Yeah, and you need some moisturizing hand cream." Lily added with a tone of joking sarcasm.
"I don't mind that. You have any??"
"In my dorm."
"Can I borrow some later??" All four of them burst out laughing at Sirius' vanity.
"Time really flies, one more week and we're going to head home." Stefanie said enthusiastically. They had already spent three weeks of their break in Hogwarts serving the Marauders' detention together. It was Friday and they were going to have a weekend of rest and relax, free from Filch's instructions.
"And the fun had just started." Sirius pouted a little.
"Who was the one who said that no pranks means no fun??" James teased.
"Who?? Who??" Sirius pretended. The group just laughed at the typical Sirius.
"Never mind about that. Let's just enjoy this scrumptious dinner." Remus laughed. There were several plates of food in front of them.
"What makes you think they would taste good??" Lily said skeptically. The group who had not much idea on cooking just threw all sorts of food together to come up with some sort of strange concoctions.
"This," Sirius pointed, "is called the Meat-lovers." Sirius helped himself to a piece of meat. It was a mixture of chicken, pork, beef, lamb, and whatever sort of meat they could find.
"And this," James said, "Shall be the Garden of Eden." The plate of mixed vegetables consisted of a pile of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corns, and peas, with some other types of veggies that made up a colorful mini-mountain.
"Then this??" Lily pointed a plate of pasta consisting fusilli, penne, linguine, spaghetti and all sorts of strange shapes.
"We shall name it the – Pasta." Sirius announced.
"That sounds so original."
"Who cares anyway, food is all meant to be in my stomach."
"Sounds like cannibal."
"That's such an awesome compliment!!"
"BELL!!"
"AAHHHH!!" Lily and Stefanie ran towards the entrance of Gryffindor common room to give the person who just entered a big group bear hug.
"Woah, Lils, Stef, cool down." Arabella said laughing at the two over-expressive girls.
"You're back!!"
"Yeah!! For a week!!"
"Why didn't you inform us you're returning on your last letter??"
"I didn't know. Dumbledore just owled me earlier today and asked if I would like to stay over at Hogwarts for a week since you guys were behaving exceptionally well for detention."
"That's so wonderful!! It's just too great to see you!!"
"We were planning to call you over during the break, but well, this detention."
"I've heard from Lils and Stef about what you guys had done to earn this, and I must say, you guys deserved it."
"How can you be against us?? It's so obvious that Malfoy and Snape are over exaggerating on their injuries."
"But evidences are against you unfortunately."
"Let's not talk about the unhappy stuffs. Time for celebration, with food."
"Sirius!! We just ate our dinner, like one hour ago??"
"Can't believe we're doing this again, weekend passed so quickly." Lily commented as she scrubbed the table in the Transfiguration classroom.
"Well, Bell's back and Peter's gone, all happened over the weekend." Arabella gave a surprise appearance on Saturday afternoon while Peter left the evening before due to some family problems, or so he said.
"And we had so much fun again with Bell around."
"And now Bell is helping Sirius with the cleaning of corridors."
"He probably will enjoy it more than usual."
"Not that Peter was a bad companion, but to Sirius, Bell would be more preferred."
"What do you think they could be doing right now??"
"I don't know. I'm not Sirius."
"They're probably having fun."
"Perhaps."
"ARE YOU TWO DOING YOUR WORK??" Filch popped by the classroom for the third spot check of the day. "Look at all the dust here!!" He pointed at the dust and dirt free table, which had already been cleaned and scrubbed with magic.
"Ok, be cleaning it right away." James took the brush he was holding and started cleaning the table Filch was pointing. With a slightly satisfied look, he left the classroom once again.
"Cleaning had never been more enjoyable." Sirius told his new partner in detention.
"Why is that so??"
"I seldom serve my detentions with pretty babes."
"Oooo. That's such a compliment." Arabella rolled her eyes.
"Of course it's meant to be a compliment, just for this pretty young lady here."
"That is just so interesting."
"Miss Figg here is always so interesting."
"Don't try sweet talking me, it just doesn't work."
"You mean it really didn't or you just pretend that it didn't??"
"Professor, is something wrong??" Sirius asked Dumbledore. The six of them were called to his office on their last second day of their month-long detention.
"I don't know if you all know the main reason why I agreed to let you few to serve your detention into the break."
"Because our initial harmless prank and caused injuries on the Slytherins??" Remus answered.
"That's why Porky insisted on this detention." Dumbledore gave them a smile. "The other reason is I'm trying to protect you from Voldemort as long as possible, though I know somehow or rather he would get you if he really want to." They gave a short gasp at that comment.
"So Professor, what do you have in mind that we should do??"
"I can let you return home tomorrow, but promise me that you'll stay out of unnecessary trouble. I've received news that a few more student families had became victims to Voldemort." Dumbledore's tone was grim. "But if you all choose to stay in Hogwarts, Minerva and I are alright with that, and I'm sure Filch wouldn't mind some extra help either." The six of them exchanged looks with one another, not knowing which to choose.
"You can tell me you decision tomorrow. Making an arrangement for you all to return is not difficult at all."