This chapter wont be very happy because I'm feeling kind of down… Don't ask me why, I honestly don't know.

DISCLAIMER!

No matter how much I wish I did, I do not own harry potter or any characters/ Songs/ Poems etc. you might recognise.

The five marauders

Chapter 12

Finally, it was 6pm, and the lessons for today were over. So far, I think Herbology is ok, History of Magic absolutely SUCKS, Transfiguration would be much better if Prof. McGonagall didn't glare at us for the entire lesson, and potions was fine. I especially liked the last two periods, because they were basically two hours of Gryffindors only, (since as soon as Slytherins were unstuck, they were excused from their last lessons) thanks to the marauders' amazing prank.

When we went to dinner, the Slytherins were all, to everyone's disappointment, unstuck. They were all currently glaring at us, for humiliating them so bad.

I flashed them a sweet and innocent smile, and sat down next to James.

I ate quickly, and excused myself to go to the owlery to send the letter I wrote to my parents.

I still had about two hours till my detention with McGonagall, so I didn't rush it. I asked a few portraits for directions, and finally arrived.

Pirate flew over as soon as he saw me, and started nibbling my hair as usual. I sat down on the windowsill, and added a quick post scriptum to my letter:

P.S. I've just managed to play my first prank. I've stuck all of the Slytherin house to their benches in the Great Hall for a whole hour, earning me a months worth of detention. So basically, I have one month, for the prank, a week, I think, for yelling at a teacher, and another week for sending peeves into the transfiguration classroom! Yuppie! Love ya!

I tied the letter to my owl, told him where to take it, and watched him fly off, until he was just a dark spot in the darkening sky.

"Hey."

I jumped, and almost fell out the window. I turned to face a familiar girl.

"Hi Lily, you startled me," I grinned, "What you up to?"

"Sending the letter," She replied.

I nodded, and watched her tie a letter and a note to a random school owl.

"The letter is to my sister, and the note is to the post office, asking them to send the letter the 'muggle way', like you said."

I nodded again, and watched her send the letter.

She then turned to me, "That was cruel, what you did to the Slytherins. Cruel, but I admit, funny."

"Thanks," I grinned at the girl, "often when it comes to pranks, I'm not very good at deciding what's cruel and what's funny."

We stood there for a moment, watching the owl fly off.

"I better get going. I have a detention with McGonagall in about an hour," I finally said.

"Have fun then."

"See ya."

With that I left.

On my way to McGonagall's detention, guess what happened! No, I did not see a big, man-eating, violet slug. No, I didn't stumble across fish with legs, which was talking on a walkie-talkie while tap dancing. No, I didn't find a million galleons which turned into dragon dung as soon as I touched them. YES! THAT'S IT! I got lost again. Unfortunately, I did not cross roads with peeves this time. Just a bunch of fourth-year Slytherins.

They looked at me and smirked.

Uh-oh, I sense trouble.

"Well well well. If it isn't Jemmia White," The blond one said, "You thought you could make a fool out of me and my house and get away with it, didn't you?"

"I don't think you are a fool, but what's my opinion compared to that of thousands of others." I answered cheekily.

"Shut it," Another guy growled.

I turned to him.

"I'm sorry your highness. Should I go and get your coffee and tea now?" I glared.

"Typical Gryffindor," The blond guy sneered.

"Whatever. I'm busy now. Can I ignore you some other time?"

"Why? Where you heading to?"

"Should I bring you a ladder?" I asked him, with a glare.

"Why would he want a ladder?" A different guy sneered.

"So he can step out of my business," I replied, and started pushing through the four fourth-years, but they grabbed my arms, forcing me to a halt.

"Do you mind getting your filthy Slytherin hands off my robes?" I asked, "Who are you anyway?"

"Malfoy. But for you, it's Mr M," The blond one ordered.

"In your dreams, Blondie," I spat.

And then something unexpected happened. One of the guys that was holding me, actually punched me in the stomach. Hard.

"Watch your tongue, missy," He whispered.

"Calm yourself Yaxley!" (Anyone know where I got that quote from?) Malfoy growled, "Although she did deserve it, she's still a girl."

"Oh? And might you tell me what you'd do to me if I was a boy?" I managed (The punched knocked the wind out of me).

Malfoy leaned in and whispered, "You'd be probably lying at the bottom of the grand staircase right now. Quite likely with a few broken ribs."

"At least that's what we're planning to do to your little friends," One laughed.

"Don't you dare touch them! It was all my idea. They had nothing to do with it," I yelled, struggling against the two boys. They all laughed when they saw this.

"How very noble of you. Defending your friends," The other one who was holding me said, "Very Gryffindor of you."

"Well she is one after all, isn't she Nott?" Yaxley laughed.

"Well if you'd like to take full blame, we might treat you like a man, since you act like one," Malfoy threatened, standing dangerously close.

"Bring it on, Blondie," I smirked, before kicking him where it hurts, freeing the arm Yaxley was holding, and punching Nott, forcing him to let go. I quickly backed away before turning and running down the corridor.

Behind me, I could hear four pairs of feet following me, so I sped up. Suddenly, different coloured sparks were flying around me. I sped quickly down the corridor, and was just about to turn a corner, when I was hit in the back with a full-body-bind curse.

Fuck.

I fell forwards onto the floor, and I could feel my nose break as my face made contact with it.

Shit.

Someone painfully kicked me over, so I was now facing them. I could feel blood flow down my face.

Crap.

Malfoy bent over me and said, "I'm not someone you want as an enemy, White."

"Don't you realize that there are enough people to hate in the world already without you putting in so much effort to give us another?" I thought, but due to the body-bind, I could only glare.

"Now. It's a perfect time for her to become a missing person, don't you think pals?" Nott asked.

"Definitely," They chorused.

"Not," A familiar voice added.

The four Slytherins turned to see four younger Gryffindors.

"So who are you gits harassing this time?" Sirius asked, moving to the side to have a better view of me.

His grin fell and his eyes seemed to turn darker as he caught sight of me. The rest of the marauders moved over to Sirius, and the same thing happened to their faces as soon as they saw me, now in a small puddle of my own blood.

So fast I could barely comprehend what was happening, the marauders whipped out their wands and pointed them at the fourth-years.

Before they knew it, the four Slytherins were each hit with a spell. Peter and Sirius yelled, "Expeliarmus!" and sent Nott and Yaxley down the corridor and crashing into a wall, knocking them out, Remus exclaimed, "Petrificus Totalus!" Body-binding the guy who's name I don't know and quickly casting the counter-curse my way, and James cast some kind of non-verbal spell, which sent Malfoy up to the ceiling by the ankle.

I propped myself up on my elbows, and Sirius and James quickly rushed to my aid, helping me up.

"How the hell did you do that? We didn't even have a DADA lesson yet, but you've just managed to defeat four older and more experienced guys!" I exclaimed.

"I would like to know that too."

The five of us turned to see Professors Brooke, Slughorn and McGonagall, the latter two looking angry to say the least. I guess the boys made quite a lot of noise while fighting.

"I'd also like to know why the five of you were duelling my students in the corridor," Professor Slughorn added.

"Well? Explain yourselves," McGonagall insisted.

"Professor! We were just walking down the corridor when suddenly those five attacked us!" Malfoy yelled from where he was hanging.

"LIAR!" We roared.

McGonagall then, for some reason looked at Professor Brooke, who was staring intensely at Malfoy. After a few seconds, she blinked and said, "He's lying."

"I'm not!" Malfoy protested.

"Shut your mouth, You're already in deep sh-."

"Well then?" Professor McGonagall interrupted, "Mr Lupin, tell me exactly what happened. You seem most honest and trust-worthy of the group," She ordered.

"Well… Basically, James, Sirius, Peter and I were just heading to your office for our detention, when we saw these four," He pointed at the Slytherins, "Bending over something. Then that one," He pointed at Nott, who was lying, unconscious next to an also unconscious Yaxley, "Said something along the lines of, 'It's time for her to go missing' to which the boys agreed. Sirius then asked, 'Who are you harassing this time?'. They," He pointed once again to the five Slytherins, "Then turned around, and we found Jamie, who excused herself earlier to go and send an owl, lying on the floor under the body-bind curse, with blood leaking from her nose. So being Gryffindors, we went to our friends' defence."

McGonagall, once again, looked at Ivy Brooke, who nodded, confirming that Remus was telling the truth.

She then turned to me, "Episkey," She said, pointing her wand at my nose. I was familiar with the charm, since my mum used it fairly often on me, so I didn't even flinch as my nose jumped back into place, "Now Ms White, would you tell us your side of the story? And make sure to mention all of the details."

I nodded, and began, "I was heading to your office from the owlery, when I got lost. I started walking around the halls, trying to find my way, when I stumbled upon Malfoy and his group. They recognised me as 'The-girl-who-made-fools-of-their-house-and-thought-she-could-get-away-with-it'. I tried to push past them, but Avery and Nott grabbed my arms, not letting me move. Malfoy then started to talk, and ordered me to call him Mr M, to which I refused, so he," I pointed to Yaxley, "Punched me in the stomach. Malfoy told him to calm down, because, although I deserve it, I'm still a girl. When I asked him what they'd do to me if I was a boy, they said they'd throw me down the grand staircase. One of them then mentioned that that's the fate that awaits my friends, if they ever happen to stumble upon them, like me. I didn't want that to happen, so I took all the blame for humiliating the Slytherins, and said that my friends had nothing to do with it. Malfoy then said that in that case, they'll treat me like a man. I then managed to escape, by kicking Malfoy, and punching Nott. I tried to run down the corridor, but one of them put me under the full-body-bind curse, which made me fall forward and break my nose. Malfoy then threatened me, saying that he's not someone I want as an enemy, and then Yaxley said something about me disappearing. Then my friends appeared and you know the rest of the story."

For the third time, McGonagall looked at Professor Brooke, who was staring at me, the same way she was at Remus and Malfoy before, and I had a weird sensation of my mind being searched. Then I remembered. Victor and Michael did mention having a friend who was a veritatem-investigator.

'Veritatem-investigator' literally means truth seeker. It is someone who reads your, lets call it, top layer thoughts, which is basically what you think while speaking, and from that, they can easily determine whether someone is lying or not. It is VERY hard to fool a truth seeker, but not impossible. They are incredibly rare, and there usually aren't more then ten at a time in the whole world.

Professor Brooke smiled at me, being able to see what I was thinking, and gave me a small nod, to let me know that I'm right.

"She's telling the truth," She confirmed.

McGonagall nodded, and turned to Slughorn. "In that case, Horace, I will leave Mr Malfoy, Nott, Yaxley and Carrow for you to sort out, while you five," She looked at me and my friends, "Will follow me and professor Brooke."

With those final words, she turned and started walking down the corridor, with professor Brooke alongside her.

We followed obediently.

"You ok?" The boys asked me, their voices full of concern.

"I'm fine," I replied.

"Your robes are covered in blood," Peter stated.

"So's your hair," Sirius added, picking up my black hair, which was dripping the red liquid.

"I'll live."

"We're never letting you out of our sight again," James said, putting an arm around me.

"Definitely not," Sirius agreed, putting his own arm around me as well.

If you have any questions or comments regarding truth seekers, or anything else, let me know by reviewing.