Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
The Marauders Year 1
Chapter 9: Hogsmeade
James grabbed the invisibility cloak and stuffed it into his bag before leaving the dorm. He went downstairs and found Sirius talking with a second year girl, who was blushing fiercely. Sighing, James went over to the two. "We're eleven." He said in Sirius's ear.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Hi James. This is Liza. She's a second year."
"Yeah, hi Liza. Sorry, I can't stay and chat, but Sirius and I have somewhere to be." James said. He grabbed Sirius's arm and dragged him away from Liza.
"What are we doing?" Sirius asked, as soon as they were out of hearing range.
James ignored is question and looked around the common room for Peter and Remus. "Where are Pete and Remy? We can't go until we find them."
"Peter went to the kitchen and you should already know where Remus is." Sirius replied.
James nodded his head. "Good point. Let's go."
Just as the two boys stepped out of the tower, Peter was returning. He looked at his friends and smiled. "What are you two doing?"
"Don't know yet. Jamesie here has a plan, but he won't tell me until all four of us are together. So, we have to go find Remus. And I can tell from James's smirk here, that whatever it is we are going to do, Remus won't agree to." Sirius said, looking at James and smirking to. "This is going to be a lot of fun, right?"
James turned in the direction of the library. "I'll say this. If we're caught, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. So Pete, I'll give you a choice. You don't have to join us on this adventure if you don't want to. You already have the mischievous spirit so I will give you a choice when we do things. It's Remus who needs our help, right Siri?"
Sirius nodded his head. "Of course. Why he insists on spending his Saturdays in that wretched place, I will never know."
"I'll come with you. Mostly, because I'm curious about what we are going to do." Peter replied, shaking his head and laughing. "Though, I still feel sorry for Remus."
"Why do you feel sorry for him?" Sirius asked, confused. "Is it because of his disease?"
It was Peter's turn to look confused. "Disease? What disease?"
Sirius frowned. "The Library Disease, of course."
Peter blinked. "What?"
James flung an arm around Peter's shoulders. "How could you not know of it? You have a mate who has the disease."
"The Library Disease is extremely rare. Very few people get it. You get the disease when you spend every moment of your life reading and doing homework. People who have it practical live in the library. They even read for fun. It's disgusting. It's mostly Ravenclaws who get it." Sirius said, dramatically.
"Remus is leaving us for the Ravenclaws?" Peter asked, carefully.
Sirius's eyes widened. "NOOO! He can't leave us for the Ravenclaws! We must save him."
James nodded his head and looked at Peter seriously. "Exactly. That is why we are going to the library to get Remus. We must cure him of this evil, vile disease. We must save Remus from this horrendous disease. The disease messes with his mind and makes him act like he doesn't want to do any fun or break any rules, when he actually does. The Library Disease is trying to take over his mind."
"You get the disease when you start reading a lot and when you read just for fun." Sirius said. "And we've all seen that Remus does read for fun. How dare those Ravenclaws try to steal our friend?"
Peter rolled his eyes at James and Sirius. His two friends were such idiots at times. He sometimes wonders why he hangs out with them, then he sees Remus and remembers that if he didn't hang with them Remus would go insane. He had to protect his friend from going insane from hanging with Sirius and James.
James and Sirius looked at the library doors nervously. They never liked going in there. Now that Peter looked at their nervousness about entering the library, he might think that they actually believe the Library Disease exists. He wouldn't put it past them for believing that the disease exists.
Taking deep breathes, James and Sirius enter the library carefully. They peaked around the open doors to make sure it was safe before going any further into the library. Peter sighed and followed them carelessly into the library, making James and Sirius glare at him, so Peter joined in the careful journey through the library.
The three boys dived under an empty table as soon as they made it into the library. James and Sirius looked around for the table Remus was at. Peter just frowned and felt like an idiot for doing this. He wanted out of this library to end this embarrassment.
"Guys, doesn't Remus always sit in the table in the corner?" Peter asked.
"That he does, Pete." James answered. "We must get to that table."
Sirius started to crawl out from under the table. He crawled to the next table that was full of third year Ravenclaws. James followed him, grinning slightly, and Peter followed frowning. The third years at the table glared at the three boys angrily as they bumped into their legs.
"What the bloody hell are you three doing?" One of the boys snapped.
"Shhh!" James shushed him and continued crawling.
The boy glared at them as they moved to the next table. "Stupid first years." He grumbled to himself.
Sirius led his two friends under all the tables leading to the back corner of the library. When they finally made it to the corner of the library where Remus was, they found him surrounded by a mountain of books. He was engrossed in a book so he didn't notice his friends or the students, who were glaring at his friends.
James grinned at the glaring students and waved at them.
"Remy." Sirius whispered in Remus's ear.
Remus looked at Sirius and glared. "What are you guys doing in here?"
"We're here to cure you of your Library Disease and save you from the Ravenclaws." James said.
Remus looked at his friends like they were insane. "What are you talking about?"
"There's no time to waste!" Sirius exclaimed. He grabbed Remus's arm and pulled him out of his chair. "We must go now."
Remus blinked again and pulled his arm free. "Whatever you three are planning, I want no part in it."
"What did we tell you, Pete?" James said. "He does have Library Disease!"
Remus looked at his friends like they were crazy. He shook his head and sat back down to start reading again. He only read five words before the book was snapped shut and he was pulled out of his chair again. James and Sirius had each grabbed one of his arms and were dragging him out of the library.
"James, Sirius, let go of me." Remus growled.
"No. You'll go back to the library if we let go of you." James said, tightening his grip on Remus's arm.
Sirius tightened his grip to. "We apparently have an adventure to go on, according to James that is."
James led his friends back to Gryffindor tower. "Forgot one thing. We need our cloaks. Our adventure goes outside."
Remus eyes widened and he started to try to pull free. "You guys are going to do something stupid that could get us in a lot trouble, aren't you?"
"It isn't stupid really. Just something that can get us into a lot of trouble if we're caught." James explained, as he dug through his chest. "Guys, grab some money. We're going to need it."
Remus looked at James suspiciously, but grabbed some money out of his trunk. Sirius and Peter did as well.
"Remy, you're going to really enjoy this." James said.
"Can't you just tell us what we're going to do?" Peter asked.
Sirius smirked. "I think I know what we're going to do if we have to take money with us."
Remus blinked and thought for a moment, before frowning. "No. No. No. First years aren't allowed to go there. And it's not even a Hogsmeade weekend. What if people down there see us? They'll tell the school."
"We're going to Hogsmeade?" Peter said, excited.
"Yes, and Remy no one is going to turn us in. They will want our business. They're not going to turn away business." James explained, then smirked. "And we can go to Honeydukes. You can get all the chocolate you want there."
Remus eyes lit up at the thought of chocolate. "All the chocolate I want? Let's go now!" Remus grabbed James arm and started dragging him out of the dorm.
James laughed. Sirius and Peter smiled and followed them.
When the four boys left the tower, James pulled out the invisibility cloak and threw it over them. They walked to the mirror on the fourth floor and entered the hidden passage behind the mirror. After getting into the passage, James pulled the cloak off of them and put it back in their bag.
"Onward to Zonko's!" James declared and marched off down the passage with his wand lit and held in front of him.
Remus rolled his eyes and followed him.
The four boys snuck out of the cellar of Zonko's and snuck into the shop. James's and Sirius's eyes lit up in excitement at all the sight of all the pranking supplies in the store. They ran around the store and looked at some of the stuff. Remus and Peter smiled and looked around as well.
The owner of the store looked at the four of them. They were the only ones in the store. He looked to be in his early twenties. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were bright green. He smirked. "You look a little young to be allowed to come to Hogsmeade and it's not even a Hogsmeade weekend. I'm going to take a wild guess and say you are the four who take the supplies from the basement and leave money there."
The boys stopped what they were doing and looked at the owner worried.
"Don't worry, lads. You always paid for the supplies and that school needs some chaos." The mad said, laughing. "My name is Mira Ceti. I was a prankster when I went to Hogwarts to. Of course I didn't know about the secret passage in the cellar of this place until I brought it from the last owner."
"So you don't mind that we took supplies?" James asked.
Mira shook his head. "Naw. I must give you four credit though. I would never have had the guts to sneak out of the school and take supplies from a store. You four give me a lot of business. Though, I will tell you this. I did find a secret passage in the school. I never used it because I didn't want to leave school grounds without permission."
"Really?" Sirius asked, excited.
"Where is it?" James asked, just as excited.
Mira smirked. "I guess I should pass on the secret. It's the only secret passage I know about."
"Did you ever find the kitchen?" Remus interrupted.
"No. I don't think anyone has ever found it. Why?" Mira asked.
James smirked. "We must be the only ones who ever found it."
"You four found the kitchen?" Mira said, impressed.
"Well, Remus found it, but we all know where it is." Sirius explained. "Tell us about this secret passage and where it goes."
Mira laughed. "Okay. On the third floor, next to Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, is a statue of a one-eyed witch. Tap the hump of the witch with your wand and say Dissendium. The hump will open up to a secret passage that leads to the cellar of Honeydukes."
"Honeydukes!" Remus exclaimed, happily.
"I take it you like candy." Mira said.
"He's a chocolate addict." James explained. "Thanks for the info."
Mira nodded his head. "No problem, but remember. The passage is a secret. Don't tell anyone."
"Yes sir!" James and Sirius mocked salute.
Mira smiled. "Good. If you need prank supplies, please come during the day when the store is open is you can. If you can't, then leave the money in the cellar. But I would prefer if you come during store hours."
"We'll try." James replied.
"Guys, I think I'm going to go explore by myself. Let's meet at the Three Broomsticks in about two hours." Remus said. Without waiting for a reply, Remus left the store. He wanted to be left alone so he could get the Christmas shopping for his friends and parents done with now. He never really liked shopping much.
Everyone that Remus spoke to asked him about being too young to be in Hogsmeade, but James was right. None of them really cared. They wanted the business from him. Remus went back to Zonko's after an hour to make sure his friends were gone so he could go in there and shop for them.
An hour later, Remus was sitting in The Three Broomsticks at the bar counter waiting for his friends. The bartender's name was Madam Rosmerta and she is really nice. She spoke to him while he was waiting for his friends and laughed at learning that they snuck out of the school.
"Hi Remy!" Sirius greeted and sat next to him, before turning to the bartender. "Hello Ms."
"Madam Rosmerta at your service." Rosmerta replied.
"Sirius Black. Can we get three more butterbeers? Thanks." Sirius said.
James and Peter sat down to. "I'm James Potter and this is Peter Pettigrew."
"Hello boys. Remus was just telling me that you four snuck out of school." Rosmerta said.
James grinned. "Yep. We're little troublemakers."
The three boys accepted their butterbeers and started drinking them happily. "I love butterbeer." Sirius declared.
James rolled his eyes and turned back to Madam Rosmerta. "Do you know anything about the Shrieking Shack? I heard older students talking about it when they came back from Hogsmeade in October. I didn't pay a lot of attention to them though."
"The Shrieking Shack?" Remus questioned, confused.
"The Shrieking Shack is an abandoned house on the edge of Hogsmeade. It was built during the summer before the school year started. A family moved into there. They had two kids. Their oldest one was going to start Hogwarts this year. No one knows what happened to them though. One day during the summer, they just disappeared. The house was boarded up and there is no way into the house. People think that they were killed." Madam Rosmerta said.
"Why is it called the Shrieking Shack then?" Remus asked.
"The building is haunted. There are screams coming from inside it. Which makes us think that the family was killed in there and now they haunt the house. We think they were killed on the day of the full moon." Madam Rosmerta explained.
James put down his mug and leaned in fascinated. "Why do you think that?"
Madam Rosmerta smiled. "The screams only happen on the night of the full moon. It likes the family is replaying the night they were killed every month on the full moon."
Remus dropped his mug on the ground and stared at Madam Rosmerta shocked.
"Is something wrong, dear?" Madam Rosmerta asked, worried.
Remus slowly shook his head. "N-no."
"You sure, mate?" James asked, worried.
"Y-yeah." Remus stuttered out.
James, Sirius, and Peter looked at Remus suspiciously, but made no comment.
"Thanks for the butterbeer and story, Madam Rosmerta." Sirius said ten minutes later. The other three said their good-byes and left the Three Broomsticks.
"Where do you guys want to go next? Unless Remus wants to go off on his own again." James said.
Remus rolled his eyes.
James smiled. "Good. So since we're going to stay together this time, where shall we go?"
"I say Honeydukes." Peter replied.
"I agree." Sirius said.
"To Honeydukes then!" James declared.
Remus looked around the store excited. He came earlier to buy some candy for his friends, but didn't have time to get anything for himself. "So much chocolate!"
Later that day, the four boys went back to Zonko's and greeted Mira.
"Hey Mira." Remus said, waving at him.
"Hello boys. Have a good day at Hogsmeade?" Mira greeted.
The boys grinned at him. "It was awesome. But we have to get back to the castle for dinner."
"How are you going to get all your bags passed all the students and teachers?" Mira asked, eyeing all the bags the boys had.
"We have our ways." James said, mysteriously.
Mira looked like he wanted to know what James meant, but didn't ask. He just nodded at the cellar door, telling the boys they could go downstairs. After thanking him, the boys went downstairs and entered the hidden passage.
When they got to the end of the passageway, James pulled at the invisibility cloak, but had paused before throwing it over them. "One of us has to open the portrait. Who wants to do it?" James asked.
"I will." Sirius said, handing his bags to the Peter and Remus to carry.
After throwing the cloak over Remus, Peter, and himself, James told Sirius to go ahead and leave. Sirius left the passage and walked slowly so his friends could keep up with him. He past a few older students and a teacher on his way to the Gryffindor Tower.
Sirius stopped in front of the Fat Lady Portrait. "You guys here?"
"Yeah, open the portrait." James whispered.
"Wolfsbane." Sirius said.
The Portrait swung forward and Sirius stepped aside so his friends could get in first. After they were in, Sirius entered the tower and went up to his dorm. His friends pulled the cloak off themselves and put their bags down.
Remus unlocked his trunk and put his bags and the money he had left in his trunk. After relocking his trunk, Remus turned to his friends, who were putting their stuff away. "We should get going to dinner. People might be suspicious since they didn't see us at lunch and the fact that you guys didn't cause any chaos today."
"We'll just make up an excuse of where we were." James said.
"Can't wait to see what you come up with." Remus replied.
The four boys went down to the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. They started eating dinner and didn't even notice the suspicious looks sent towards them until Remus put his fork down and looked around the hall.
Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Guys."
James and Sirius stopped their conversation about Quidditch and Peter put his fork down to look at Remus. "What is it, Remus?" James asked.
"Everyone is looking at us suspiciously. They think we are plotting something." Remus explained. He looked up at the Head Table to see McGonagall looking at them suspiciously too. "Even the teachers think we're going to do something just because we disappeared for the whole day."
James and Sirius smirked and looked at Remus. "Maybe we should prove them right."
Remus groaned. "Nothing I say will stop you?"
"Nope." James replied.
"What are you going to do?" Remus asked.
James leaned in closer to Remus so he was right in front of his face and smirked. "If you want to know what we're going to do, then follow us."
With that said, James and Sirius stood up and left the Great Hall. Remus glanced at Peter before shrugging and following them. Peter grabbed an apple off the table before following them to. Everyone watched them leave suspicious of their actions.
"What are we doing?" Remus asked as soon as they were out of the Great Hall.
"Well, I was thinking of going to the kitchen to get some dinner before going back to our dorm and playing a game of Exploding Snap. I don't know what you guys are going to do." James replied, running a hand through his messy hair, making it messier.
Remus stopped and blinked. He looked at James and Sirius confused. "I thought you guys were going to play a prank on everyone for being suspicious of you guys."
"Naw. I'm too tired to pull a prank today so we just going to fake them out." James explained.
"Fake them out?" Peter questioned.
"We're left the Great Hall in a hurry. To the teachers and students it looked like we were going to go set up for a prank. When in truth, we aren't going to do anything. So, we're going to fake them out." Sirius explained.
By the time dinner was over, the students were starting to get twitchy. They were all waiting for the prank that the four marauders were going to pull. The wait for it was getting them nervous and a little paranoid about how bad the prank was going to be.
The teachers were having it just as bad. They were expecting a prank all day. The four biggest troublemakers disappear for the whole day and don't reappear until dinner time. Four students don't disappear on a Saturday for the whole day and not be planning anything, especially when those four students are James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
The Gryffindors entered their tower to find Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James engrossed in a game of Exploding Snap.
Bilius stalked over to them and grabbed the cards out of their hands and threw them on the pile in the circle, making them all explode.
The boys started coughing from the smoke of the explosion. After the smoke cleared, the four first years looked at Bilius annoyed. "What?" James snapped.
"You four have everyone paranoid. They all think you're going to pull some amazing prank. But we've yet to see a great prank and now everyone is worried." Bilius explained, crossing his arms. "I was hoping for an amazing prank. You four promised me an amazing last year. So far you're doing great, but I was hoping for something amazing today."
James laughed. "We weren't planning a prank for today. We faked you guys out."
Bilius smiled. "That's not nice. You freaked everyone out , even the teachers. You especially scared them when you ran out of the Great Hall during dinner."
"All part of the fun." Sirius explained.
"So, where were you four? It had to have been pretty boring hanging there all day just for some fake out prank." Bilius asked.
Remus snorted. "Like we're going to reveal our secrets."
Bilius rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
When Bilius walked away, Remus turned to his friends, excited. "I just remembered something. James, do you still have The Marauders Rules."
James nodded his head. "Yeah, why?"
"Let's talk in our dorm." Remus replied, looking around the common room. "Too many people down here."
The four boys went up to their dorm and sat on their beds. "James, give me the book."
James tossed the Marauders Rule book to Remus, who caught it. He pulled out his wand and looked at his friends. "I have a spell that will make the ink disappear. To bring the ink back we need a password. What do you guys want to use as the password?"
"Uh….." James said, looking at Sirius and Peter. "I don't have a clue."
Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Don't look at me. I don't know either."
"Marauders Forever." Peter suggested, weakly and shyly. He looked at the floor, thinking the idea was dumb and that he should have kept his mouth shut. "Sorry, dumb idea."
"No. I kind of like it. We are Marauders Forever." James said.
"Remember when we were in the library the day we were working on our first prank?" Remus said. "Sirius said we wouldn't have any secrets between us."
James nodded his head. "Yeah. Do you have a secret to us, Remus?"
Remus paled and shook his head violently. "No!" He looked down at the book in his hands for a minute. "We tell each other everything and we tell no one outside the Marauders our secrets. Telling someone our secret is breaking the Marauders Code. So we keep each other's secrets forever. Marauders Forever. I like that as the password."
Sirius smiled and nodded his head. "I agree. That we be our password."
"That will be our password to open it up to us. But we need a password to make the words disappear when we are done with the book." Remus said.
"UGH!" James exclaimed, falling back onto his bed. "I hate passwords."
"Never Betray." Remus said.
James sat up and nodded his head. "Go with it."
"Evanui." Remus tapped the book with his wand as he said this. "Scribo." He tapped the book again.
James looked at him confused. "What does that do?"
"The first one makes all the words disappear. The second one allows us to still be able to write in this book." Remus explained, as he tapped the book again. "Patefacio Tutela: Marauders Forever. Propinquus Tutela: Never Betray."
Remus threw the book back to James. "Done."
James opened the book to see it completely empty. He pulled his wand out and tapped the book. "Marauders Forever." Words begun to appear on the pages. "It actually worked. "
"Of course it worked. I didn't make the spells up." Remus replied.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Sirius asked, looking at the book to.
Remus shrugged his shoulders. "It took me a while to find the spells, then I had to practice with the spells to get them perfect. Didn't want to mess up and destroy all your hard work."
"Never Betray." James tapped the book and watched the words disappear. "Nice. Thanks Remus. This is great."
Remus smiled and nodded his head. He hoped that his friends were so distracted by the spells he did on the book that they forgot about earlier when James asked if he had a secret. Marauders Forever. That would be true if he was normal. But as soon as James, Sirius, and Peter learn his secrets, it will no longer be Marauders Forever. They betray him and tell the school his secret. Marauders Forever means nothing when one of your friends is a werewolf.
A/N: Please review!
I hope no one takes the Library Disease to heart.
I seriously hate coming up with passwords.