A/N: I'm back :D I've got my new lap top (green, I might add), and it's all virus free and ready to be put through a serious work out. I won't be giving review responses until the next chapter, as I've had so many because of my absence, and I figured you'd just want to go straight ahead and read the chapter. I have a few things I need to tell you, but I'll leave them till the end of the chapter.
Without further ado .. the end of Third Year, ladies and gentlemen :)
The Marauders Tale: The Hogwarts Years
Chapter Twenty Four
Maraudettes
James would have been lying if he said he didn't feel a little bad for what the girls were being put through. For the entire morning they had endured much teasing from classmates, but because they'd only had Professor Binns that morning (and the ghost never noticed anything new, not even the fact that he was dead) the Marauders had not been forced to reverse the charms, thus saving them from probable detentions.
However what got to James more, was the whispers, and grouping together, and the sly looks. The girls were planning something, though he'd rather hug a Slytherin than admit it, he was more than a little unnerved. They had Lily, a master charms student, Chris, who was up for anything, Bridget, who could get them out of anything, and Holly, the cousin of a Marauder.
They were screwed.
As Potions rolled around, the girls were now completely blanking the boys. Their halo's (and in Holly's case, devil horns) were still glowing brightly as ever, and were causing them extreme annoyance.
As the Gryffindors entered the classroom, Professor Slughorn wasted no time in removing the remains of the Marauders prank from his favourite student and her friends. Sirius complained that the girls didn't receive enough teasing, but Remus assured him that he had taken a few photographs with the camera his parents had given him for his birthday as a permanent reminder. That, of course, would come in handy for future pranks.
"They're up to something."
James nodded to the girls, who were huddled around the front desk collecting ingredients, and chatting amongst themselves. The three other Marauders followed his line of sight, their eyes narrowing slightly.
"They wouldn't do anything," Sirius tried to sound convincing, but failed miserably, "They don't have the guts."
"Who doesn't have the guts?"
Sirius whipped around to see Holly (Remus' potions partner) smiling sweetly back at him, a sly glint in her dark eyes. Sirius gulped audibly, and shook his head.
"Snivellus. He doesn't have guts...full stop."
Holly eyed Sirius strangely, though James was certain there was a hint of amusement in her eyes.
"Fair enough, Remus? Are we getting started, or what?"
Remus nodded quickly, and began sorting through the ingredients Holly had collected. After shooting once last furtive glance over at Lily, who was currently measuring niffler bile, James returned to his own work.
Today was going to be a long day indeed.
~**~
It seemed the boys were worrying for nothing. Lunch had passed, along with afternoon lessons, and the girls still hadn't exacted their revenge. Odd, really, since Lily had seemed so very determined to get the boys back.
As dinner came, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter started to ease up a little. The girls certainly wouldn't humiliate them so late in the day; if they were smart, they would want the boys to suffer as publically and for as long as possible.
"I'm just saying, so Slytherin have won the past few years, doesn't make them any better, you know," Sirius punctuated his point with a flick of his fork, sending a small amount of mashed potato flying into Peter's face.
"None of us disagreed with you, Sirius," Remus pointed out from behind a copy of the Evening Prophet, "In fact; I think James strongly supported your point."
Sirius scowled at his friend, and returned to his meal. James shook his head with a slight smile, and shoved a mouthful of chicken pie into his mouth.
At first it wasn't really noticeable. A few sniggers here, the odd guffaw of laughter there; nothing out of the ordinary. And so, James ignored it. However, after ten minutes, James noticed the laughter seemed to be directed towards the Gryffindor table, and he was more than sure he heard his name mentioned.
Looking up, James scanned the hall, noting alot of pairs of eyes looking in his direction.
"Mate...what the..."
Sirius' exclamation caused James to snap his head back towards his friend, his eyes widening as he did so.
For some odd (yet soon to be explicable reason), Sirius Black now seemed to be sporting a rather cute pair of fluffy white rabbit ears.
"Where did those come from," James smirked, reaching out to grab the ears. Sirius adopted a bemused look, and lifted his hands to feel his head.
"Argh!"
Sirius jumped to his feet, hands wildly examining the rabbit ears. James began to snigger loudly, until he noticed Remus staring at him.
"Wha...Remus, what in the of Merlin's saggy y-fronts is that?!"
Remus frowned, tentatively feeling his forehead head.
Yup. He seemed to have a unicorn horn.
"What the bloody hell is going on!" cried Sirius, over the din of the now loud and raucous laughter coming from their fellow students. James shrugged, glancing over at Peter who had grown a rat's tail. Feeling more than a little scared, James pulled out a hand held mirror (one of Holly's they had stolen so as to check around corners on their nightly wanderings) and held it up to his face.
"Look at that?! Potter has a beak!"
James whipped around to see none other than Snape pointing and guffawing at the Marauders plight. In fact, most of the Slytherins – nay – the entire Hogwarts population seemed to find their predicament amusing, though clearly not in the malicious way the Slytherin's found it.
There was only one explanation. This was the annoying yet slightly impressive work of a certain band of 'Maraudettes', so it seemed. James looked down the Gryffindor table to where the girls were smiling sweetly and waving innocently over to the boys.
Oh, they were good.
"I can't believe they got us," Sirius said in a mixture of shock and awe, "No indication...I didn't even hear a charm?!"
James nodded, just as dumfounded, his hand coming to his beak. Then again, the girls had called them a bunch of disgusting animals on more than one occasion.
Really, they should have seen it coming.
Professor McGonagall quickly quietened the hall, rectified the situation and handed out a detention each to the Marauders for causing a disturbance, but not before several camera flashes could be seen dotted around the hall. Unfair, yes, but the boys hadn't been punished for even half of the things they had done.
James would have loved to get the girls back for the prank. They all would have. But, the year was coming to an end, and the boys had more important things to attend to.
Even so, next year was a whole other year...plenty of time.
~**~
"....and that's another goal to Slytherin, it's neck and neck here folks, and turning out to be one of the dirtiest games this school has seen for years..."
It was true. In their desperation to see to it that Gryffindor was robbed of its chances for the cup, the Slytherins had resorted to some tactics of their own kind. Most of the goals for Gryffindor so far had been penalties, and James was quickly losing his ability not to retaliate.
"FOUL! THAT WAS A FOUL! MARLEY WAS CLEARLY BLAGGING!"
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and sped towards Winston Marley, who had let go of the tail of Holly's broom and held his hands up in the air.
"PENALTY TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Holly tossed the Quaffle to James a little harder than necessary, who promptly put it through the goal. Hooch blew her whistle again and the match resumed.
Slytherin took possession of the Quaffle and streaked up off the pitch, James and his fellow Chasers already on their tail. Holly screamed as Sirius appeared from nowhere, smacking a bludger that had come within inches of her head to safety.
"You're welcome, love" he grinned, and took off after the bludger.
"This doesn't mean I like you!" she called after him with a grin, ignoring the strange flip in her stomach. She cheered as Jess took the Quaffle from the Slytherins and made her way towards the goal posts.
"70-50, THIS IS A TIGHT GAME! Can Jonathan and the rest of our brave Gryffindors make it two years in a row, or will the dirty, cheating, good-for-nothing..."
Professor McGonagall reached out to take the microphone from Jackson, who dove just out of her reach.
"Sorry Professor, guess I got a little carried away, anyway, Potter in possession of the Quaffle, passes to Brown, who passes back to Potter, nice catch by girl Knight there...GRYFFINDOR SCORES...OI!"
Slytherins captain laughed manically as he slammed into Jessica Brown, sending her toppling from her broom and towards the ground. James sped towards her and caught her just before she hit the ground, and skidded to a halt, falling himself.
"TWO PENALTIES TO GRYFFINDOR!"
James handed Jess, who had been knocked unconscious, over to Madam Pomfrey, and resumed the game. He and Evey each took a penalty, both missing due to their anger at the Slytherin team.
"DON'T LET THEM GET TO YOU!" called Jonny, "JUST..."
He trailed off. A green blur sped past James, closely followed by a scarlet blur. Kelly had seen the snitch.
"Come on Kelly, come on," urged James, the Quaffle still in his hands. The rest of the game had been forgotten, all eyes on the two seekers. Sirius and Holly joined James, all muttering under their breaths.
They were neck and neck, arms outstretched and fingers grabbling for the tiny golden ball. Just one more inch....
"GRYFFINDOR WIN!"
James felt two bodies slam into him. The pitch exploded in screams and cheers. Several more bodies piled on top of James, laughing and cheering. The team slowly descended towards the grass below, a stream of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw supporters racing towards them. They'd done it again! James glanced up and saw Jonny, his head buried in his hands, sobbing his heart out. He could really get used to this, he thought with a grin.
~**~
After a quick trip to the kitchens, James and Sirius bounded into the common room, their arms laden down with sweets and bottle of butterbeer. James put down his share, and looked around. He spotted Remus and Peter talking with Jonny and his friends. He headed over, grabbing a butterbeer as he did so.
"There's my star chaser!" cried Jonny, clapping James on the back. James grinned and took a seat next to the boys.
"Don't let Holly hear you say that, she's already convinced she'll beat me to Quidditch captaincy when it's our turn," laughed James.
Jonny rolled his eyes, "It's all I hear about, she reckons once she's captain, you lot will have a winning streak."
"I'm sure we will," chuckled Remus, "She's pretty formidable."
Sirius bounded over to his friends after receiving many compliments from several Gryffindor third years as he did.
"Flirting again Black?" laughed Gideon Prewett'.
"Of course, I'm here to please."
The boys laughed and shook their heads. James' gaze wandered once again over to Lily. She was laughing at something Chris had said. She looked so pretty when she laughed.
"Oi, James!"
James' snapped from his musings and saw Jonny waving a hand in front of his face.
"What?"
"You spaced out for a minute there, you alright?"
James' nodded, looking at his friends as though daring them to voice their thoughts. Sirius, Remus and Peter merely exchanged knowing glances, and thankfully, kept their mouths shut.
"Well, I think it's time I said a few words," Jonny pointed his wand at his throat, and muttered 'Sonarus'.
"MY FELLOW GRYFFINDORS!"
The common room cheered as Jonny stood on top of a table. The Marauders began clapping loudly. Jonny bowed a few times, then began to speak again.
"AS YOU ALL KNOW, THIS IS MY LAST YEAR," there were several groans, "AND I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY...I AM SO PROUD TO HAVE SPENT MY TIME HERE AS A GRYFFINDOR!"
The common room cheered again, stamping their feet and shouting Jonny's name.
"ALSO, I'D LIKE YOU ALL TO RAISE YOU BUTTERBEERS IN A TOAST...TO THE BEST RUDDY QUIDDITCH TEAM THIS SCHOOL HAS SEEN IN YEARS!"
The Gryffindors raised their bottles, chanting 'Gryffindor'.
"TO JESS, WHO EVEN THOUGH GOT HERSELF KNOCKED OUT, HAS LEAD OUR CHASERS INTO A NEW LEVEL OF TALENT, ONE THAT I'M PRETTY DAMN SURE WILL BE UNMATCHED!"
"TO JESS!" chorused the Gryffindors. Jessica blushed furiously, and hid her head behind one of her friends. Jonny waited until the cheering had died down.
"TO KELLY! SEEKER EXTRAORDINAIRE, WHO'S WOWED US TIME AND TIME AGAIN WITH HER INCREDIBLE CATCHES!"
Kelly smiled sheepishly at her applauding classmates. She rolled her eyes at James and Sirius, who were clapping rather enthusiastically.
Jonny grinned, "TO GEOFFREY AND SIRIUS, LIKE A PAIR OF BLUDGER'S THEMSELVES, A FORMIDABLE TWOSOME WHO I DOUBT WILL BE MATCHED FOR MANY YEARS TO COME!"
Sirius and Geoffrey stood up, and bowed, lapping up the attention. Sirius spotted a group of fourth year girls, and winked at them.
Jonny once again waited for the applause to die down.
"TO MY COUSIN JAMES, AND MT DEAR SISTER JOLLY. I MUST SAY, TALENT RUNS IN THE FAMILY, AND I'VE NEVER BEEN PROUDER OF OUR TEAM, SINCE THEY JOINED."
James grinned at Jonny, and spotted Holly, whose eyes were sparkling slightly, coming over to hug her brother.
"AND LAST, BUT OF COURSE, CERTAINLY NOT LEAST...TO ME, AND ALL MY EXTAORDINARY TALENT IN JUST ABOUT EVERY ASPECT OF MY LIFE!"
The common room burst into cheers again. Jonny bowed, then removed the spell from his voice. He jumped down from the table, and lifted the cup (which they had 'borrowed' from Professor McGonagall with the promise of bringing it back the next morning) into the air.
"I'm really gonna miss him next year, you know," shouted Sirius over the din of applause. James nodded, and looked around the common room. He spotted Lily, cheering just as loud as the rest of the common room. Her eyes were alight with happiness, her face etched with laughter. Their eyes met briefly, and James felt his face redden. She watched him for a moment, then turned away. At least she didn't roll her eyes, he thought with a slight smile.
~**~
And so, the Marauders' third year at Hogwarts ended. They received their exam results the week before they left, and unsurprisingly, had all passed with flying colours. Even Peter received good marks, thanks to the extra studying lessons from the other boys.
The Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross, and the students rushed out onto the platform to greet their loved ones.
"Are you guys coming over again this summer?" asked James as the four boys dragged their trunks off the train, "Jonny's wedding is in August, remember?"
"Of course, I don't think I could survive the entire summer at my place, even Reg is becoming a bit of a bore." James noticed the sadness in Sirius' eyes, but said nothing. He turned to Remus and Peter.
"Guys?"
"Sure, my parents will be fine with it," grinned Remus.
"Peter?"
"I'll try," smiled Peter, "But I'll probably only be able to stay for a few days like last year, you know what my dad's like."
"Alright then, gentlemen, I shall see you soon."
The boys bade goodbye and hurried off to find their parents. James spotted his mother waiting patiently for him, Jonny and Holly already standing with her.
"Your dad and Aunt Ivy were called into work, I'm afraid it's just me this year," smiled Mrs Potter, several creases appearing around her hazel eyes. James chuckled, and hugged his mother.
"It's good to see you mum, I've missed you."
"And you sweetie, let's get going, I thought we'd have a special dinner tonight since we have guests."
"Why wasn't I born a Potter," moaned Jonny, "Mum's cooking is awful."
"She shares that trait with your uncle," chuckled Mrs Potter. She glanced at James, who was scanning the crowd as they walked.
"Looking for somebody?"
James shook his head and turned away from the crowd. That year, James didn't even see Lily.
A/N: and there we have it, the end of Third Year :) Now I know this chapter is short, but as you may or may not have noticed, the last chapter is just a rounding off of the year, in preparation of the next year. It was always written like this, and hopefully it was worth the wait. If not .. well, there's nothing that can be done, it's how I always planned it to be.
Another thing, I'm not too sure how I'll be with updates now. Normally I like to update daily, but it completely exhausted me, and I've noticed a lot of writers update weekly. Now, whilst I don't think I could update just once a week, I doubt I'll be updating every day, it get's a bit overwhelming, and I don't want it to affect the story.
Lastly, to all my wonderful readers, again, I apologise for my absence. But, we're back on track, and ready to go. Please enjoy, and I look forwards to hearing your responses
Grace.
