Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to I.
A/N: This has been planned from the beginning. I will write outtakes from chapters every so often. It is something I plan for. My next one will be Dante tutoring Leon. Please Review!
Padfoot was bored. The three most dreaded words in the Marauders' household, but true nonetheless. After the last time Padfoot had gotten bored the Marauders had been careful not to allow any kind of repeat. They couldn't remember the details, but they think it involved an angry Alexei, an empty jar of peanut butter, a diaper, a mysterious green substance Padfoot insisted was sentient, a marshmallow shooter, and a Superman cape. Still, they'd only been awake for a month and a week, so they were busy and they assumed Padfoot was busy as well. After all how much trouble could he get into? He wasn't even allowed out of the house yet, and for good reason. The last time he'd been allowed out without one of them, they can't remember the details, but they believe it involved an angry Frenchman who turned out to be a vampire (seriously what were the chances?), a Tribble (yes they really do exist thanks to Padfoot), a fog watch, a marshmallow shooter (actually pretty much everything Padfoot did back then involved a marshmallow shooter, they still weren't sure why), and that big Jesus Statue in Rio de Janeiro (they were lucky Prongs was amazing at Transmutation and they really hoped the locals wouldn't notice their statue was a few shades whiter than it used to be) anyway Padfoot hadn't been allowed to be bored and out of the house alone for at least 7 years. Today was no exception.
That wasn't to say he hadn't tried, and if it hadn't been for the amazing house elves Wormtail had on staff, he'd probably have escaped more than a couple times already. But even with the house elves around Padfoot was capable of getting into trouble. Just this week he'd spiked the fruit punch with hot sauce, hidden wet start fireworks in Moony's bathroom, and turned Peter's rooms Ravenclaw colors. Luckily for him his fellow Marauders and their house elves always appreciate a good prank, even when it's being played on them. Padfoot had however decided to stop pranking for the day, which might be shocking to some, but fact was that if he pulled too many pranks a day they'll lose their amusement factor. This week he was limiting himself to three pranks a day, and he was determined to make the most of them. Naturally his pranks weren't nearly as important as the Aether letter from his godson now sitting on his lap.
"MOONY! WORMTAIL! PRONGSLET SENT US A LETTER!" Both Marauders ran over to Padfoot immediately, dropping whatever they'd been doing. It's not like there was anything more interesting than Aether anyway. They tore into the letter and read it in turns. Dante had obviously kept something out of the letter, but they weren't sure what. Moony chuckled,
"Cub would of course befriend the Chevalier heir without realizing how important the kid is. Zabini, that sounds familiar. Hey Wormtail wasn't Lydia Zabini that one Slytherin in our year who refused to sit with other Slytherins? And wasn't her father some sort of muggle mafia boss? I guess he's her son, I wonder why he didn't take his father's last name. Ah the horcruxes, well I guess we'll be gone for the rest of the day. Libby!" She popped in,
"What do you need Master Moony?" It had taken quite a bit of time to convince the house elves to use their Marauder names, so they allowed themselves a smile of triumph.
"First of all Harry sends greetings. He loves his school, but he misses you and your overbearing motherliness. He also says you're a better cook than whoever prepares the meals at Aether, but not to say anything in fear of angering whoever cooks at Aether. Secondly we're going out for the day, we'll be in Earth Reality if you need us. We'll be out for a day, maybe two. If we're not back by dinner check on us using this," He handed her a two-way mirror and bid her goodbye. All three Marauders ran off towards the gateway. Luckily for them there was an open gateway in Hogsmeade and from there they apparated to the Headmaster's office in Hogwarts. It was a lie that people couldn't apparate into Hogwarts, people with small cores couldn't apparate in. As the Marauders all had larger than normal magical cores they could pop in and out whenever they pleased. It also helped that the castle loved them.
"What are you doing in my office?" Snape asked his worst nightmare. The Marauders both of whom he knew to be dead and someone that had tagged along with them popped into his office. Padfoot jumped up and asked,
"Moony what's the spell to break the memory charm?" Moony shook his head.
"The usual one won't work, Prongs' charms are some of the strongest. We'll use a 'Reverto'." The three waved their wands at Snape who was cowering away from them. They overpowered their spell a little and it also changed Snape's appearance back to what it was when the memory charm was first cast. His hair shortened and washed itself, his nose fixed itself, and his expression of fear turned into an expression of bewilderment.
"I have no idea what just happened." Padfoot started out,
"Remember when we told you we were going to Aether? We told you we'd have to modify everyone else's memories of our years at Hogwarts and we gave you a choice. You decided to have your memories modified because you didn't want to give us away." Talon nodded,
"Yes I do. I also remember giving you specific instructions to give me good memories of those six years. Which you certainly did not do! I can't believe he actually gave me memories of being bullied by you all for six years, being in love with my sister Furball, and agreeing with the other Slytherins about blood purity and the like. Who the hell thought that was a good idea?" Padfoot shook his head.
"Er that wasn't exactly planned. Prongs' magic was still fluctuating because of his magical maturity and well oops?" Talon snorted,
"Just be glad that 'Reverto' removed my dark mark or I would have strangled you. I was terrible to Harry, oh dear he'll never forgive me for that. Actually forget that can you imagine what my twin and her husband will do to me when I die? Scary, horrifically scary." The Marauders shared a look,
"I don't think Harry will hate you too much. He forgave me and he thought I'd betrayed his parents." Talon shook his head,
"You don't understand. That memory modification actually changed my personality. I taught him Occlumency in this brutal ineffective method and because of that not only did Voldemort penetrate his mind regularly, he sent him a fake vision of you tied up. Harry then ran off trying to save you and somehow you winded up dying even though you hadn't actually been there tied up. Aside from that I've done everything I could for the past 6 years to belittle and embarrass him. He truly hates me, and he has good reason." The Marauders looked unsure about what Talon was telling them,
"Well I guess you two are just going to have to start over, make sure he understands that Severus Snape and Talon are two different people. I don't know why that memory modification went wrong, but I do know that Harry won't hold something that wasn't your fault against you. Take your mother's last name, and we'll introduce you to him as Talon Prince. You'll have to tell him who you are, but maybe this way he'll understand better." Talon nodded,
"Anyway what are you doing here in Hogwarts? You are aware that Voldemort has control of the castle aren't you? He'll kill you after interrogating you and trying to figure out why you aren't dead? Actually I want to know why you aren't dead as well." Padfoot looked at him sheepishly,
"We came to get Rowena's diadem from the Room of Requirement. Apparently Moldy Voldy made it into one of his horcruxes.As for the other thing, well maybe we can discuss it when we get back to the Marauders' den?" Talon nodded,
"He used the diadem for a horcrux? Interesting. Nagini is one as well, and Dumbledore suspected Harry was the last horcrux, but I really doubt that. I believe the rest of his horcruxes are already destroyed. Nagini might be harder to get to though. Well the Room of Requirement is on the seventh floor, follow me." He swept out of the room with his now ill-fitting robes billowing behind him. Moony shook his head laughing,
"He's the same as he always was. How upset do you think he'll be when he realizes he's been de-aged to younger than Cub?" Sirius and Peter smirked, and followed after the ever oblivious Talon.
"Here we are. Welcome to the Room of Requirement!" Talon gestured at an empty wall. Moony looked at him unsurely,
"Talon, I'm sorry but…"
"There isn't a door there!" Sirius finished bluntly. Talon sighed and facepalmed,
"Harry didn't include how to get into the Room of Requirement in his letter did he?" The other Marauders shook their heads. "Right, basically the Room of Requirement can be anything you need. You just pace in front of it and think 'I need a place where I can find a horcrux' like so and presto! We have a door!" He gestured at the door that had appeared in front of them. Moony went in first to find only a diadem. He picked it up and walked back out,
"Guys there's a curse on this horcrux. It looks like a standard negativity curse, but I'm not entirely sure." Wormtail inspected it,
"That's a pretty strong negativity curse, I wonder if he did it himself." The others shrugged and Wormtail conjured a bag to put the horcrux inside. It burned through the bag leaving melted green edges. "That's no ordinary negativity curse," Padfoot rolled his eyes and went to pick up the horcrux with his bare hands. It created itself teeth and tried to bite him,
"I wonder why it's attacking. How could it possibly know we're trying to destroy it?" The others walked carefully around it in circles,
"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Perhaps the enchantments put it on it by Ravenclaw allow it to know who would destroy or misuse it." Moony suggested,
"In that case how did Riddle get past this enchantment? It's acting like a rabid… animal." A light bulb appeared out of nowhere and turned on above Talon's head, "I've got it! The diadem is injured, it doesn't want a horcrux inside of it, it's like a bear with a thorn in its paw. Diadem we don't want to hurt you. We want to get the horcrux out of you." The diadem stopped growling and snapping at them. Now it just looked curious,
"Great! It can understand us! Now what? How can we get rid of the horcrux without destroying the diadem?" The diadem snapped at Padfoot who immediately backed up. Wormtail looked at Moony,
"Ask the Room of Requirement for information on soul shards. Maybe we can get the book we need from in there. I don't think it's a good idea to ask the goblins not to destroy the diadem, no matter what they'll think it's contaminated. They won't leave it be without a fight. Besides, rumor had it Ravenclaw wrote a book with all the information you could possibly hope to know. If there's been any research on how to remove a soul shard without destroying the item itself it should be in there." Moony nodded and paced down the hallway receiving a different color and sized door. A large golden frame, with ornate carvings. There was even an eagle carved on the doors. Moony pushed Padfoot forward,
"You'll go first, as per our deal" Padfoot looked confused,
"What deal?" Moony looked at him significantly, "Oh that one?" Padfoot still looked confused and Moony just shook his head and motioned for him to enter the door. He didn't need to though, the diadem levitated itself through the doors. On the other side was a large bookshelf and a few armchairs by a lit fireplace. Next to each chair was a small table with refreshments and at the far side of the room was a glass display case with a giant illustrated book labeled 'Cognitio' written by Rowena Ravenclaw.
No one was ever sure whether the 'Cognitio' was real, or if it's powers were as great as legend says, but finding it was every Ravenclaw's dream. Ravenclaw had been a charms mistress second to none, and the 'Cognitio' had been her life's work. Supposedly it was self-updating and it compiled every piece of written knowledge in any realm. The enchantments were similar to that of the Room of Requirement itself in that if you asked for a piece of information the book would flip to the correct page. Moony got distracted with the book for a few hours or so. Understanding they'd be there for a while Padfoot started looking for information used for pranking. Wormtail looked through a book written by the original Futhark (not his Runes teacher, the other one). It was of course completely covered in runes. Talon on the other hand tried to convince the diadem which was starting to look slightly like a dog to leave Moony's lap and play fetch with him. After around 20 minutes and a particularly vicious glare from Moony he settled down to read a Potions book.
"I've got it guys! There is a basic ritual, which can transfer a soul shard from one container to another. All that is required is the original container, a new object to put a soul shard in and a simple incantation. It's written in Old Futhark though, Wormtail can you read this out for me?" Wormtail took the 'Cognitio from him and Padfoot permanently conjured a small tiara to put the soul shard in. The ritual took all of 30 seconds and they stuffed the new horcrux in a bag walking out of the Room of Requirement.
Naturally the diadem followed after them carrying the 'Cognitio in its teeth, and barking at Moony. "What's wrong?" He opened the book to find a page dedicated to the diadem itself.
I created the diadem and the 'Cognitio to pass on from worthy Ravenclaw to worthy Ravenclaw. The diadem will identify the next owner of both by forming an attachment and opening the book to this page. Congratulations on being chosen! Please take care of both, and name the diadem. If you don't already have a familiar she'd like to bond with you. Good luck and don't misuse either artifact!
"Well then, I suppose it's a good thing I don't have a familiar. I accept you as my familiar." A bronze glow encompassed both Moony and the Diadem. The diadem grew to a small puppy barking and yipping at Moony. It's eyes held the sapphires and around it's neck hung the diadem in dog form. She had a bronze colored coat and he guessed she was some kind of Spaniel. "What do you want as a name? I think I'll call you Gilda. What do you think?" The puppy jumped up and wagged her tail. The other Marauders weren't sure whether to act like this was normal or just ignore it. And so they walked away from Hogwarts with another person and a new dog.