I'm not dead! Yay! Just a bit stressed with enrolling to college, induction days, birthdays and travelling all over Britain. I start college tomorrow so I'm sorry if I don't manage to update as regularly as I'd like. Anyway, this chapter has a lot of stuff happening, including some of my adult pairings being revealed! I'm still unconvinced about what I'm doing with some of the kids but that won't be happening for a while and there's still people to be added to the Order of Mischief. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this and thanks again to my beta reader Karmaruelovegoodeverdeen. We'll be posting the beginnings of some of our joint projects soon!
The time passed quietly after that. The twins had sent a letter off to Sirius with their request and soon received a parcel containing books and journals detailing the Animagus transformation and Sirius' personal experiences with the process. These in hand, they had cornered Severus and soon managed to wheedle a large batch of the Animagus potion from him along with a lesson on the proper method of brewing the difficult mixture. With these things collected, they only needed to find time to take the potion to reveal their forms. This proved difficult as they were currently planning a Halloween prank so complicated that they'd had to involve Paradox or 'Pan' as she was known to the Order of Mischief.
The morning of Halloween dawned bright and clear as the inhabitants woke to discover that the whole school was now doubling up as an aquarium.
The ceilings were all covered with a thick layer of water filled with various creatures from different areas of the ocean. It was most prominent in the common rooms and the great hall. Slytherin's ceiling was playing host to a whole load of poisonous looking fish and several sea snakes. Gryffindor were faced with a host of lion fish while an unknown Ravenclaw had identified the fish in their common room as 'Atlantic Sea Ravens'. No one was quite sure yet what had taken up residence in the Hufflepuff common room ceiling but could guess what sort of name it would have. Even the staff had a fish following them. Snape's companion was identified as a 'Batfish'. Flitwick had a horrifying creature floating around after him that was eventually recognised as a Goblin Shark. The Great Hall was the most impressive though. Most of the ceiling space was now full of water and people could clearly see porpoises and turtles swimming through shoals of various fish and even a few jellyfish for the turtles to snack on. It became clear that the surface of the water was the bit nearest the floor as the porpoises and turtles regularly returned here to breath. McGonagall was only grateful they weren't playing host to a whale of any kind. All the students loved this newest development and spent the whole day admiring the fish swimming above their heads. The staff… The staff were more concerned with getting the Headmaster to leave his office. The pranksters had used the chance of having Pan around to pull off their latest prank on Dumbledore in a way that didn't risk any of the members' safety. All Dumbledore's robes now instantly turned black as soon as he put them on and nothing he tried would fix it.
McGonagall soon grew tired of his sulking and dragged him forcefully down to the Halloween feast. Halfway through, Quirrell burst in shouting something about a troll in the castle before fainting forwards. Not suspicious at all. Harry and Tom shared a look before silently adding a creature to their mother's aquarium spell with instructions to hunt the troll down. That done, the Order of Mischief quietly made their way to their respective common rooms.
The teachers would soon discover that a Great White Shark had bitten the troll's head clean off before calmly spitting it out to land on Quirrell's head. Quirrell had promptly fainted again and had to be carried back to his quarters.
With Halloween out of the way, the Order could finally focus on becoming Animagi. The night they planned to start the transformation started out like any other, the group sneaking out and meeting up in the Room of Requirement. That is where things started to change. The room they summoned was clear of all furniture and was instead covered only in carpets and large floor cushions. Grinning, the friends soon gathered around Harry as he passed a vial of the necessary potion out to each of them. They'd agreed they'd go from their newest member back to the founding four. Making Hermione the first. Gulping nervously, the young Ravenclaw knocked back the foul concoction and passed the empty vial over to Adrian. Suddenly, her form seemed to blur and soon enough a beautiful tawny owl was sitting in Hermione's place. The owl still had her distinctive golden-brown eyes while her plumage was a couple of shades darker than was usual for those birds. Whoops of joy and laughter filled the air as Hermione examined her form in the mirror the room had quickly provided. After a few minutes, Hermione blurred back in to view, grinning broadly.
Lee and Adrian were next up going together to speed up the process. They shared a sharp nod and a smile before downing their own vials and passing them off to the person nearest to them. Lee blurred first with Adrian a second behind. Lee, it turned out, was an African Wild Dog which wasn't hugely surprising as they were full of energy and very pack orientated. What was surprising was Adrian, who had also turned into a creature indigenous to the African desert. He was a Deathstalker Scorpion. It made sense as he was the most cunning and cautious of the group, but they'd all expected him to be something a little closer to home, maybe a snake of some sort. Both turned back at the same time and while Lee whooped and hollered, Adrian just smirked smugly. Congratulations were passed around before it was the Patil twins' turn to take the potion.
Their forms were another surprise as while they were both big cats, they weren't the same. Parvati transformed into a lioness with dark golden fur and almost black eyes while Padma's form was revealed to be a tiger with dark reddish fur instead of the usual orange and golden yellow eyes. The sisters spent their time in their forms purring as they curled up together. Hugs were instantly provided to the pair on their return to human form.
Next came Teddy and Draco. Neither were sure what they'd be so were understandably nervous. It turned out that they were both cats as well. Teddy was an Ocelot, a small wild cat with beautiful golden fur and leopardlike rosettes. Draco was the one who drew all their eyes though. He was a Lynx, with fur such a pale shade of gold it was practically white and which made his stormy grey eyes stand out sharply. Neville instantly moved forward to pat Draco's fur like he would with his own Lynx, Alala. Jokes and embraces were passed around afterwards, focusing mainly on Neville gaining a new pet. All jokes stopped though when Neville's form was revealed. Neville was a Grizzly bear. He was huge, easily the biggest animal so far with golden fur and warm brown eyes that they all knew so well and put them at ease even as he growled at them.
This only left the founding four. Tom, Harry, Fred and George had agreed to take the potion together. Upon transforming they discovered that they were all different sub-species of wolf. The only one identified easily being Fred as he was a Red Wolf just like his familiar Agro. The other three carefully examined their forms in detail before they changed back. As soon as they were human again, they asked the room for books on different types of wolves and settled down to search. Tom found his first, proudly declaring that he was a Timber Wolf. Harry soon discovering that he was a Eurasian or Carpathian Wolf. Despite these creatures' usual colouring, both Harry and Tom's Animagus forms were pitch black with their uniquely coloured green eyes. This only left George, who was quick to announce that he was an Ethiopian wolf or Red Jackal.
Now, all they needed to do was practice until they could transform at will. With Sirius' notes on the process created by the Marauders this would take significantly less time. Especially with Adrian, their transfiguration expert, working on improving it even further with Neville's help. There were still occasions where they had to pretend to be having a prank war to explain away the random animal features they would get stuck with every so often. The tails proved to be the most annoying. Luckily, they were finished the transformation by the time the Christmas holidays rolled around.
It had been organized that Adrian, the Patils, Hermione and Lee would all arrive on boxing day to spend the rest of the holidays with the Potter-Black family. Fred and George would already be there the majority of the time with both Bill and Charlie stopping by to see various members of the family while Teddy and Draco were living there anyway.
It was a very rowdy trip back to London Kings Cross and the group of friends all piled out at the other end in a tangle of limbs and luggage. Adrian, Lee, Hermione and the Patil twins soon went to find their parents to introduce them to their friends. In Hermione's case, this involved hauling her parents through the barrier. The rest of their group made their way towards the gaggle of adults needed to pick them up from the station. Paradox and Death were present of course, along with the Weasley matriarch. Then there was Alice and Frank, Sirius, Remus, Barty and Lucius. They made a very strange group. Particularly with Paradox trying to mother everyone, even Molly Weasley!
Draco split from the group first, running forward to give his father a hug. Lucius caught his easily and swept him up to sit comfortably on his hip. Teddy took this as his cue to do the same to his new guardian. Death only had a moment to look uncomfortable before he had an armful of grateful Pureblood. Sighing, he lifted the eleven-year-old up to sit just like Draco was. To be honest, the usually antisocial and prickly god didn't mind as much as he was expecting. Teddy was a quiet, intelligent child who was also surprisingly pleasant to cuddle. Death got the sinking feeling that he was getting attached. After centuries of successfully avoiding this very thing he was, unsurprisingly, getting emotionally invested in this mad group of people.
Meanwhile, the other parents were now fussing over their children while Neville managed to escape long enough to hug Barty. Harry and Tom were surprised to see Remus here. They knew that he was still clinging to the last threads of his loyalty to Dumbledore and they were hoping that their discovery would be the final blow. They knew that Sirius hated keeping so much from his mate. Remus still only knew the version of events provided to the public and they hated seeing Sirius so torn up over something. It probably helped that the couple had only got together a year ago after an epic prank war that ended up with the pair stuck under some very stubborn mistletoe. Glancing at their mum, they saw that she agreed with their hopes and plans. Remus would soon be a part of their extended family on a level with Neville's parents.
The greetings were interrupted by the rest of their friends turning up with their own parents. Introductions being passed around and Paradox surprising everyone by conversing with Lord Patil in his home language. Mr and Mrs Granger were promised a visit at some point in the future so that the wizarding parents could explain their culture a little better to the intelligent pair. Lee's mother and Molly obviously knew each other already and Lee's father was getting on famously with the two Marauders. Lord Pucey was meanwhile talking quietly with Lucius about politics with Death contributing his own opinions every so often. Sooner than the friends would like, it was time to leave and go home.
The Christmas holidays started out surprisingly quietly. Neville and the twins were away with their own families leaving Harry, Tom, Teddy and Draco to their own devices. Paradox had warned them all against pranks until Severus was home. Paradox planned to prank 'Sevvie' the instant he walked through the door. A couple of days later, it happened. Severus came home to the cottage after finally escaping his duties at the castle and was bone tired. However, the moment his foot crossed the threshold, his relaxed clothes of slacks and a shirt were replaced by a full Batman costume, mask and all as the theme tune blared through the house. He stood there, stunned, for a good through minutes before Paradox's maniacal laughter broke through his disbelieving haze.
"Pan!" He roared, wand drawn, "I'll kill you for this!"
With that, one of the pair's legendary chases began. It was the first one witnessed by Remus, Lucius, Draco and Teddy and they watched as a cackling Paradox ran through the house, vaulting over furniture with an enraged Snape hot on her heels, still dressed as Batman. The others had all succumbed to tears of laughter.
"How long do you think it'll take Severus to realise he has feelings for her?" Lucius asked slowly. That shut the others up as they turned to regard the Pureblood Lord.
"Too long," Death replied decisively, "Would you like to join me in my quest to get those two idiots to admit their feelings?"
"I'd be delighted," Lucius replied haughtily, nose turned up regally. He couldn't maintain it though and ended up grinning unashamedly.
It took an hour for the duo to tire themselves out and call a truce. It took even longer to restore the house to rights. Once that was done, Paradox addressed the children, "Okay. I'm guessing you'll want everyone in your room and for me to make the changes permanent so that they'll always have somewhere to sleep."
The group nodded eagerly and Paradox grinned at them all happily before going to extend the house yet again. The interior was now over twice the size it had been when she originally bought it and far more chaotic and full of life.
Christmas day came and was full of people, presents and fun. It was a designated prank-free day so even though the house was full of people and noise there were no explosions or shocked screams.
Boxing day, however, was pure chaos at first. Fred and George arrived first with Bill and Charlie in tow. Bill immediately vanishing to greet Barty, his boyfriend and soon to be Fiancé. It had taken Bill a long time to get Barty to agree to give him a chance after Barty's betrayal at the hands of Rabastian. Bill had been patient though and the pair were now quite happy together even with Bill being called out to Egypt regularly for work. Hermione was next, having been fetched by Paradox. Then came Adrian quickly followed by Lee and the Patil twins. The greetings were loud and extremely affectionate followed by a game of chase mixed with hide and seek but soon enough everyone was settled around the giant kitchen table with steaming mugs of their favoured hot drink. Death started off proceedings this time, "The kids have discovered something disturbing involving Dumbledore which requires all our attention. I'll let them explain though."
Adrian had been chosen beforehand as their spokesperson as he was the calmest as well as the best public speaker. Standing, he lent forward slightly on the table, "At the start of the year we were all warned to stay away from the third-floor corridor if we didn't want to die a most painful death."
Waiting for the adults' murmurs of consternation to die down, he continued, "Harry was worried this was a way for Dumbledore to test his Prophecy child so we sent a small and well-equipped team of scouts to investigate. We discovered that the door wasn't warded at all and the only thing holding it closed was a first-year locking spell."
Severus looked furious at this and it took a very long time to calm his mutterings so that Adrian could continue, "On the other side was a Cerberus guarding a trap door. Not only are Cerberus' extremely dangerous but also very easy to counteract. Needless to say, we were not impressed."
It was clear that none of the adults were either. Remus was chalk-white and it was obvious that his final vestiges of respect for the Headmaster were going up in smoke. Smiling grimly, Adrian sat down as Padma took his place, "What we couldn't understand was how Dumbledore was planning to test Harry. That was when Tom realised that Professor Quirrell's body is currently playing host to Voldemort's spirit."
Complete uproar broke out. All the adults were yelling about Dumbledore's stupidity and questioning the old fool's sanity. Paradox eventually got them all to shut up and sit down so that Padma could finish her explanation.
"Thank you." The witch sighed gratefully, "I soon worked out that the thing being guarded and used to lure Voldemort to the castle was the Philosopher's Stone."
"What?!" Lucius yelled, leaping to his feet. "That'll attract every criminal and dark wizard out there!"
"That's what I said," Adrian muttered, smiling slightly at the blond lord. Glancing at the pair, Padma ploughed on.
"Now, we've got a good idea as to what is guarding the stone but we were hoping for more information and ideas so that we can successfully retrieve the stone without any danger as soon as possible," She finished calmly before sitting down gracefully next to her sister.
Silence fell as everyone thought over the problem put before them, Severus spoke up at last, "My protection is a logic riddle that would easily stump any dark wizard but that you should all have no problem with. I know that Neville is more than qualified to deal with Sprout's defence while Harry and Tom can deal with Flitwick's. McGonagall's challenge is a life-sized version of wizards' chess where you must take the places of some of the pieces and play your way across. Quirrell provided a mountain troll but I know already that you can deal with that."
The group was grinning by the end. This was all things they'd predicted to some degree and could overcome with little effort if they sent the right members of the group. Neville, Harry and Tom were a must while Draco and Adrian were their chess masters. Padma and Hermione were both extremely good at logic puzzles so it was just a matter of which out of the last four would go and who would be left to help with the diversion. They finally had the start of a plan, now all they needed was time to iron out the details before implementing it on their return to Hogwarts.