The Marauders' Years: Year Two
Chapter One
The Game
Warning: The following story was being planned out in 2003 -- well before the fifth, sixth, or seventh Harry Potter books were available to me. While the story has absorbed facts from these books as they have been presented, some key elements of the story will still not match up with canon, as it's too late to change some events and relationships. Please keep that in mind.
Characters Contained: The four Marauders are this series' main focus, but a core group of OCs also appear throughout the story. Therefore, it would be wise to read the first installment of The Marauders' Years to better understand where everything is coming from.
Disclaimer: I neither own nor make a profit off of anything from the Harry Potter universe. J.K.Rowling is the one behind the series, y'know.
Status: Ongoing. I have no intention of dropping The Marauders' Years from my current writing projects. How frequent updates will be, I can't say. They will be more frequent than in the past. However, the chapters may not be up to parr in terms of polishing. As my wonderful beta looks over the chapters and adds in her thoughts and corrections, I will re-upload chapters. In theory, nothing major will be changed, so it should be safe for me to put up the un-beta-ed chapters to cut down on the waiting period. Happy reading, all, and many thanks to those who are still sticking with me on this.
The grin that lit up the face of the black-haired boy would have struck fear into even the bravest of hearts. As it was, it struck a certain amount of terror into one of the least brave of his companions: a young boy with mousy hair, watery eyes, and a voice that squeaked when he was frightened.
The young Peter Pettigrew couldn't help but begin to stutter as his companion's eyes gleamed with manic glee. He knew what kind of trouble the other boy was capable of, and the way the dark-haired boy made a steeple with his fingers and peered over them at him made Peter distinctly uneasy.
"S-S-Sirius you c-c-c-can't be… serious?" Peter inwardly cringed at using that particular word when dealing with Sirius, but in his current state he could think of nothing else to say.
"Of course I'm Sirius," the black-haired boy crowed, leaping to his feet in the small compartment and earning a glare from Remus Lupin, who was attempting to read a book. "Sirius Black. Future second year student of Hogwarts."
"Sirius, sit down. You're going to either make a fool of yourself or earn us another detention," Remus stated flatly before returning to his book.
Sirius sniffed, eyeing the book's title for a moment. Muggles Who Notice by Blenheim Stalk didn't seem to be a title of any particular interest. It certainly wasn't a title that should have garnered more attention from Remus than he himself was earning.
"But, Remmy…" Sirius stared at Remus beseechingly for a moment in an attempt to earn pity, but upon receiving none, he returned his attention to Peter, pouting.
"Pete… Peter… Petey…" Sirius pleaded, his voice dropping to a whine. "Remmy won't help me. So I need you to help me! It's what friends do."
"Merlin knows you need help," Remus snorted. Sirius only pouted more, whining that Remus was, as he put it, being mean to him.
"Why can't James help you?" Peter asked, trying to look for a way around being asked to accompany Sirius on his latest escapade.
Sirius coughed, looking at anything but Peter or Remus. "Well, er… Jamesie is in the Prefect's compartment. With the… er… Prefects…" he trailed off, obviously fishing for more to say. After a moment he seemed to come across a suitable end to his sentence and put on a triumphant grin. "Because he is a Prefect! Jamesie is one of those proud few. From now on, he'll bravely make sure the halls of our beloved Hogwarts are safe to roam in the dead of night. Dumbledore will be announcing it tonight, I expect."
Peter's expression turned from one of slight panic to scepticism. "We're only in second year. Even I know second years aren't Prefects."
Remus had now taken a greater interest in the conversation and was giving Sirius a measured look. "What are you two up to this time?" he questioned, suspicious.
Choosing to ignore Remus's query entirely, Sirius frowned, attempting to come up with something to tell Peter. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case so often was) an answer popped into his head immediately.
"James is special, and thus, they gave him a Junior Prefect badge. You see, the purple hamsters threatened to sue if Hogwarts didn't give Jamesie, their client, a badge of power. The pink squirrels, overlords of the green acorns, also threatened the school. They said if James wasn't made into some form of Prefect, they would stop all imports of magic chicken noodle soup."
This pronouncement was met with blank expressions.
Remus was about to mention the lack of sanity Sirius was exibiting, but the sound of something crashing violently into the walls outside, coupled with yells of, "Good Merlin, it ate him!" managed to distract him along with anyone else who heard it.
"It's started!" Sirius cried, throwing open the compartment door and pelting down the hallway.
"Should we… go see what happened?" Peter questioned, looking at the open doorway as if it might lead into untold horrors, which wasn't altogether unlikely.
"I suppose…" Remus answered with a sigh. He didn't see that they had much of a choice in the matter – someone had to keep James and Sirius from getting themselves expelled.
Very slowly, the two crept out into the hallway to find out what was going on to cause such a disruption.
Frank Longbottom, who spared them a glance and a nod before travelling with them towards the front on the train, muttered a quick "All right there, you two?"
It didn't take long to discover where the commotion was taking place. James and Sirius stood side by side with an enraged Professor McGonagall towering over them like a tiger going in for the kill. She jabbed a finger angrily first at them, and then at something off to the side.
Curious, Remus followed the imaginary line from her finger, to the object that was the reason for the teacher's fury.
There, filling up half the hallway in all of its botanical glory, was Bob, Sirius's pet Flitterbloom. At the moment it was being still, but it had obviously been quite active recently. Severus Snape stood several feet away from the plant, staring at it in a mixture of shock and mute horror as he numbly removed a few remaining vines from his robes.
The three second-year boys exchanged a look that spoke volumes. If they turned around now, pretending this never happened, they might manage to escape joining James and Sirius in their punishment. Sadly, McGonagall spotted them in their frantic race for freedom, immediately assuming they were part of the guilty party as they had feared she would. And who would blame her? How often did the innocent run as if a dragon was breathing down their necks?
ooo
"Detention. Detention again!" Frank ranted, lashing out at anything that dared to even look anything but miserable.
"It's like a tradition," Sirius grinned happily. "It's just like last year. Isn't it gr—"
Sirius blinked in surprise as Frank rounded on him, pointing an accusing finger inches from his nose. "You. Don't you dare say that this is 'great' or 'fun' or whatever else your bloody mind can come up with. I will not spend my days trapped in detention with you. This is unacceptable!"
Frank sank to the floor then, gibbering mindlessly, his eyes glinting forebodingly at anyone who dared approach him.
"If it makes you feel better, just remember how lucky we are that Professor Hikage decided to go to the start of term feast instead of supervising us," Remus commented.
Frank ceased in his gibbering to slowly turn and stare at Remus, his eyes blank and lifeless.
Remus recoiled slightly from the haunted gaze and looked to James for some sort of advice. "What's wrong with him? Detention is bad, but…" To Remus's confusion, James burst into uncontrollable snickering.
"Alice," James gasped, trying to control his laughter, but failing miserably at his attempt.
Remus lifted one eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Would you mind sharing what's gotten into you?"
Frank began gibbering again, though this time he had a look of mortal terror etched across his features.
Peter grinned and raised his hand in the air. "Oh, I know! James owled me when he saw them in Diagon Alley, he said that—"
Thwump!
"That…was an overreaction," Sirius stated blankly, peeking over the desk to see where Peter was sprawled after being tackled by Frank.
Remus slowly shook his head. If Frank had lost it, then he was truly alone. Other than Peter and himself, Frank was the only truly sane second year Gryffindor. He truly didn't mind James and Sirius's mental plotting, but it was occasionally nice to have a nice, normal conversation.
"Frank…likes…a girl." James managed, between fits of laughter, to point at Frank's mortified face and snicker even more. "He's upset because he didn't get to go to the feast and spend time with her."
"It's not that funny," Frank shot back testily, flushing crimson.
"And he even admits to it; this is one for the record books!" Sirius grinned gleefully and twirled a sugar quill between his fingers.
Frank proceeded to drag a desk to one corner of the Potions' classroom and sulk.
While the others talked, Peter amused himself with wandering about the classroom, prodding and poking everything that looked even slightly interesting. He returned to his desk rather quickly when he discovered a dead rat floating in a jar of purple liquid. It was always unnerving to discover things like that in one of the dungeon offices. He had a pet rat, for Merlin's sake!
The detention passed in silence for a while, only broken when Peter's stomach gave a rather pointed growl.
"I'm hungry…" he complained, rather unnecessarily.
"Yes, Peter, we all are. Unless we've been forgotten, someone will bring us a sandwich," Remus said before sighing unhappily and eyeing the empty space on the desk he sat at. What he wouldn't give for a book to read…
As if his speaking about it had made it so, the door swung open and in entered a witch with spiky white hair, carrying a plate of sandwiches. She gave them all a stern look before offering a smile. "Eat up, boys. Someone will be along to fetch you the moment the feast is over, then you may go to your common room."
The Marauders plus one exchanged glances and raised eyebrows as she left, presumably returning to the Great Hall and all of the delicious food that awaited there.
"She didn't look old enough for white hair," Sirius commented thoughtfully.
"She wasn't here last year, was she?" Peter questioned, finally getting up from the floor where he had been sitting in case Frank chose to knock him over again.
James glanced at Remus. "Do you think it's a new teacher?"
"It's possible…"
"That was Madame Hooch, you idiots," Frank grumbled. "She's going to teach this year and referee the Quidditch matches."
The boys contemplated that in silence for a moment before Sirius began tossing the sandwiches out, causing all conversations to cease in lieu of their hunger.
Eventually, a Prefect came to shepherd the boys back to the common room, but before they made it back the Second Year Gryffindor girls had a chance to have a conversation without fear of anyone overhearing them.
ooo
The girls were currently discussing their dilemma, which was as follows: should they attempt to get back at the boys this year, or should they let it drop and not suffer in an endless cycle of pranks and counter-pranks? They still wanted revenge for the pumpkin juice incident, but they didn't know if they were prepared for the consequences.
"I think…" Lizz began slowly, picking up on the conversation that had, until this moment, been waged in silent glances and much angry furrowing of eyebrows. "…that we should strike back… at least once. After that we let it drop. We have reputations to begin building; respectable ones."
Allysia frowned, absently stroking Serecise, her silver furred cat. "What if they find out what we do?"
Alice nodded in agreement. It wouldn't be a fun year at all if they brought the Marauders' wrath down upon them. If any of those boys put their minds to getting past the stairs to the girls' dorm…
The horrors that could be wrought on their room were horrible to even imagine. Spiders under the bed, fake snakes stuffed into the pillowcases (real snakes stuffed into the pillowcases), showers that ran warm water one moment and treacle pudding the next…
She wasn't sure she could handle it.
The decision fell on Lily; none of the others could bring themselves to choose. The Marauders' transgressions of the previous year seemed too far away now with the common room fire blazing cheerfully and the new first years chattering excitedly in a corner about how their first classes would turn out. With everything so peaceful, it didn't seem possible that things could have ever been as difficult as last year.
Ever so slowly, Lily nodded her head, expression uncertain. "Let's play it by ear. If something presents itself, we'll do it."
A loud pop interrupted Lily and caused all of the girls to turn to Allysia. The brown haired girl shrugged helplessly. "It's Serecise, he started doing that over summer vacation."
Lizz raising an eyebrow at the spot the cat had been in. "He explodes?"
"It seems like he's apparating, maybe," Allysia said, frowning. "He did at home while I was listening to W.W.N. on the radio. Appeared right on the kitchen table in the next room and started helping himself to a bit of pudding. I thought he was a kneazle, but now I'm not sure…"
Lizz suddenly smiled. "You know… it seems like we might be able to use him to help us get back at the Marauders."
Lily smirked, her expression suddenly as conniving as James or Sirius's always were. "Yes, I think so, too; Serecise can help us out in our little game of revenge."
The common room fire flickered eerily over the huddled forms of the four girls, casting foreboding shadows all about on the red and gold décor of the room. By the time the boys were let into the common room, the only hint that anything was amiss was a curiously uneasy feeling that passed over the boys for just a moment.
The feeling was quickly dismissed, but the game was now afoot.