Chapter Three: Marauders
Sirius and the Weasleys didn’t perpetrate any mayhem that week; preparations were still necessary. Professor Lupin had told them stories about the Marauders, telling them all about the night-time wanderings in the forest and the surrounding areas. Since they had been second-years, the five of them had been working on making the Animagus transformation themselves, and they were determined to finally make it this year. Sirius had been dismayed at first to find that there was something he couldn’t do after reading about it once, but then he had grown to love the challenge it presented. It would be much more satisfying when they succeeded. Instead, they spent the week studying the Marauder’s Map and familiarizing themselves with the hidden passages of the castle, and exploring with the Invisibility Cloak, though only two of them could fit at one time; they took it in turns and described everything they saw to the others.
The morning after the Sorting Feast, Sirius had gotten a letter from his parents, which he read with increasing guilt as Hedwig stared at him sternly. They acknowledged that the fight wasn’t his fault, except for how forcefully he ended it, but they also agreed with Hermione that he had started the fight that led to this one, and they also insisted that he needed to set a better example. And finally, his father said that he would be coming to Hogwarts to talk to Sirius and see if he could help him “calm down.” Sirius didn’t know what that meant, but he was sure he was just going to be sat down and yelled at for a while, like always seemed to happen.
Nott and his friends had laughed at him while he read the letter; everyone recognized his father’s owl, and they knew what was in the letter. It was all Sirius could do to keep himself from cursing the lot of them, but he was determined that any trouble he got into wouldn’t include fighting. Pranks, on the other hand, had never been part of any bargain, and if done correctly, would be untraceable. At least no one would be able to prove anything.
Nott, however, was not to be their first target; McFarren had earned himself that right. The Weasleys agreed that Sirius had already taught the other four enough of a lesson, but McFarren seemed to have gotten away with kicking Sirius down the stairs completely. Granted, Slughorn had chastised him forcefully, and word had spread that he was serving detention every night for the first week, but that was hardly adequate punishment at all. The Weasleys also insisted they needed to “initiate” James, but Sirius insisted that he didn’t want to know anything about it, and told them in no uncertain terms to keep it fairly tame.
Classes were getting harder for all of the students around him, but Sirius had no trouble with any of the lessons; he had gone through the spell-work curriculum completely by the second day, on his own of course, and spent his time in class making notes and creating his own spells and charms, though Hermione demanded complete attention in her class, and Professor Lupin wasn’t that far off; both tried to make their classes interesting enough that Sirius didn’t have too much trouble listening.
Potions was always an interesting class; Professor Slughorn, Head of Slytherin House or not, had always seemed to have a fondness for Potters and Weasleys. Their connections, both in business and the Ministry were too tempting to pass up. Harry had been somewhat of a disappointment for Slughorn, since he hadn’t gone on to the Ministry or professional Quidditch after defeating Voldemort. Still, Harry was quite famous, and his children were showing a great deal of promise. Sirius found he really enjoyed potions; he couldn’t really brew all of the potions by himself since he didn’t have all the materials, and so the classes were often new and exciting. He always seemed to brew them correctly, and always received top marks; Slughorn was sure that he had the combined talents of his father and his grandmother.
Care of Magical creatures was another class he really enjoyed; Hagrid had calmed down more and more over the years, and there were far fewer disastrously dangerous creatures causing mayhem, but Hagrid never gave up his love for interesting creatures, and with Grawp assisting him, he could control animals that he could not have before. And he had learned from the past; students were very carefully monitored around the Hippogriffs and Thestrals, lest some inattentive student cost the animals their lives.
The only class he didn’t do as well in was History of Magic, since the subject just didn’t come to him as naturally. It gave him an opportunity to actually study, so he still did fairly well, even if Binns was the most boring teacher he had.
His detention was served with Argus Filch; the old caretaker was older yet and even more grumpy. He disliked Potters almost as much as the Slytherins, and sometimes it seemed like Mrs. Norris followed one or another of them constantly. Sirius and the Weasleys had some plans for them as well. The detention wasn’t all that bad really; he was set to cleaning floors near the doors where all of the students had tracked in mud from the rain they had been having all week. He wasn’t allowed to use his wand, but for Sirius that didn’t mean he couldn’t use magic, and he had been watching his mother use household cleaning spells all his life.
As he walked into his dormitory room directly after finishing his detention, preparations were being made for the evening’s activities. Brian and Lee were wrapping up a bundle of what looked like bed-sheets, while Chris was examining the Marauder’s Map. Jack was sitting on his bed looking pale, and shivering occasionally.
“What’s wrong with him?” Sirius asked, pointing a thumb over at Jack.
“He got picked to test our Slythering Sheets,” Brian answered with a shake of his head. “He volunteered, really. Anyway, they were more frightening than we thought they would be. They seemed pretty real.”
“Did they hurt him?” Sirius asked with concern.
“No, I’m alright,” Jack answered with a scowl, glaring at both of them. “I just didn’t expect them to be like that. And they grab onto you and won’t let you go. I wouldn’t have gotten out without help. It was a little creepy.”
“Good,” Sirius said with a grin, remembering how smug McFarren’s face had been after he’d kicked Sirius off the train. “I think a little psychological instability is exactly what McFarren needs.”
Not for nothing were the quadruplets the children of one of the owners of the most successful joke shop in the Wizarding world. They had all discovered earlier that if they used Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes items in their pranks that they were automatically suspected first. They didn’t like to use the items available to the public, since those were often used by the other would-be pranksters in the school, and they liked originality. They couldn’t use experimental things, because no one else but them could get them; that left making their own items, such as the Slythering Sheets. The general idea was that they look like normal sheets, designed to look just like the sheets in the Slytherin dormitories. After the subject had been lying in the bed for forty five minutes, which they all agreed was enough for the subject to be asleep and maximize the startling effect, the sheets would transform into a large number of very large snakes, which would hiss threateningly and wrap around the victim. They weren’t supposed to hurt anyone, just scare them as close to death as possible. Once the victim was freed from the snakes they would immediately turn back into sheets, normally ready for re-use, but this time they were making sure the spells ceased to work completely after one use. No point in handing the Slytherins a weapon they could use against the Gryffindors.
Another nice thing about inventing their own materials was the money. Fred and George would pay anyone for a good idea, and they protected their sources. Their children had used a false name and a school owl several times to send in ideas and collect money their parents didn’t know about. It made for a profitable business for all of them, including Fred and George.
All five of them went to bed with everything in place. Then, Saturday morning, while almost everyone else was at breakfast, Sirius and Jack put on the cloak and made their way down to the dungeons where the Slytherin dormitories were located. They waited for a while, and entered the Slytherin common room when a couple of Slytherin first years left on their way to the Great Hall. The Marauder’s Map would tell them the password, of course, but they didn’t want to make any noise. The common room was empty and they had no trouble making their way to the dormitory they knew McFarren was in from their study of the Map, from which they also knew which bed was his. As they had planned, the house elves had already been through to make the beds, and it was the work of only a few moments to switch the sheets and leave. They made their way quickly back to their own dormitory to drop off the Map and the cloak, and went to join the rest of the new Marauder’s down in the Great Hall.
“You’re late for breakfast today,” Lillian said suspiciously as she piled a plate with eggs and bacon before handing it to him.
“I slept late,” Sirius said defensively as he dug into the welcome food.
Lillian rolled her eyes. She knew when he was lying, and he knew she knew. She leaned in closer, lowering her voice.
“I assume I’ll know what it is when it happens?”
Sirius only grinned, the twinkle in his eye more than enough of an answer. Lillian shook her head and laughed softly.
“You’ll never stay out of trouble, will you? Especially as long as you’ve got these louts,” she nodded to the quadruplets, “egging you on and following your lead.”
The Weasleys all smiled proudly at what they considered a compliment, and continued eating their own meal.
“Well, I hope you did get enough sleep,” she told all of them, “because our first Quidditch practice is today. I know it’s early, but we’re going to need all of the practice we can get, and we need a new Keeper and a new Beater.”
Jack, Brian, and Lee were the Gryffindor Chasers, and were very good; they seemed to know what the others were thinking, and worked very well as a team. Chris had decided on auditioning for the position of commentator, and had gotten the job, though he had been warned several times on what he could and could not say. He generally attended practices with the rest of the team, observing plays and giving advice to the Captain. The previous Captain had ignored much of the advice, but Lillian was less likely to need it.
Sirius was excited about the tryouts. He wanted a more dedicated Beater to work with as well, and if they could find a new Keeper that had any talent at all… things would be looking good for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Of course, Lillian and Sirius had been keeping their eyes open at the Quidditch games at the Weasley family reunions, which weren’t formal reunions at all, since they happened so often. But there was always Quidditch, and a lot of them liked to play. There were a few possibilities; Ron Weasley Jr., Ron and Hermione’s only son, after two daughters, seemed to do well at the Keeper position. His dad had taught him to play, and he seemed confident as well. He was only a Second year, but that just meant he could play for a long time, and would most likely get better the more he played. As for a Beater, they had their eye on Greg Harris, Samantha’s brother, and a third year. He was big for his age, though not anything like Sirius, and he flew well. They had heard he did well as a Beater, and were anxious to see how he did in practice.
His breakfast eaten, Sirius threw down his fork and got to his feet, already anxious to get to the Pitch.
“What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go play!” he shouted, as he walked quickly out of the hall. Lillian followed him, laughing, while the quadruplets started eating faster, trying to finish and follow.
***
The tryouts went fairly well, for the most part. Sirius had great fun being back on the Pitch, matching himself against the Bludgers and the opposing scrimmage teams. There were quite a few people who showed up for the tryouts and practice, but it didn’t take too long to weed out the ones that wouldn’t have a chance. Sirius was in charge of the potential Beaters himself, and had them waiting in line for their chance to chase one of the Bludgers. When they were ready, he would release the Bludger and fly next to them as they flew after it; he had instructed them to do their best to hit him with it. He carried his own Beater’s bat as well, though, and whenever one of them was good enough to hit it towards him they got the Bludger knocked back at them forcefully, so Sirius could judge their reaction. Most couldn’t manage to hit the Bludger toward him, but of those that did, he knocked two off their brooms, sent four others dodging out of the way, and sent one to the Hospital Wing with a broken nose.
When Greg Harris got his turn, however, Sirius was surprised at the force with which the Bludger was sent at him. He still knocked it back even harder, but was surprised again when Greg hit back to him once more. That was what he had been watching for; someone who could hit the Bludger any time it came at him, not just away from himself or other players, but at a target.
“Very good, Harris,” Sirius said, not bothering to hit the Bludger again; he cast a Summoning Charm with his wand instead, and got it ready for the next person to try out. “Take a seat in the bleachers; if anyone else makes the short list, we’ll have you all go again and see what happens.”
No one else made the short list, however, so Greg found himself the new Gryffindor Beater. Keeper tryouts were going much longer, so they started scrimmage matches. Chris came out of the stands and played as a chaser on one team with Lee, while Brian and Jack played the other side. Sirius played on one side while Greg played on the other, with just one Bludger released. Since she played Seeker, and they didn’t need to release the Snitch for the practice, Lillian flew above them all and watched the Keepers on both sides, telling anyone who showed promise to wait, and dismissing the others kindly. There were some who were not very good-natured about being dismissed, but it never took more than a stern glance from Lillian before they would glance nervously at Sirius and then leave. Sirius grinned as he soared out and around the field on his Cleansweep Fury; he couldn’t help it if he had a reputation, and he didn’t want to help it. Even though he had committed to stay out of fights, no one else needed to know that.
The broom he was on was fast and reliable; it had been the best broom you could buy several years ago, and it had only been outstripped by a half dozen since then. Sirius’ dad had bought twenty eight of them and donated them to Hogwarts, on the condition that no one be allowed to use a different broom during Quidditch matches. All brooms being equal, it was left to talent and talent alone to decide which team won. Of course, they had made sure each house used the same seven brooms every year, and no one but the team had access to them; they didn’t want anyone trying to set jinxes on someone else’s broom, or sabotaging the set for the next match. Sirius’ had been using his broom since he had made the team in his second year, and took very good care of it. His dad still flew his old Firebolt, which had been discontinued after two years production; Harry’s was worth a fortune, between being a fantastic broom that no one could buy anymore, and belonging to the most famous wizard of the age. Sirius wanted to keep his broom in as good condition as his father’s, and had ideas of buying the broom from the school and replacing it in the set. It had served him well, and he found he didn’t want a newer, faster one.
Just as the next two potential Keepers were getting into place, a sudden feeling of danger hit Sirius, and he looked around warily. Barely in time, he flipped his broom upside down and into a spiral, dodging the Bludger that had been expertly aimed at him, and smacking it with his bat, knocking it back the way it had come. His maneuver complete, Sirius looked to see where that was, and scowled.
A crowd of yellow-robed figures was gathered on the edge of the Pitch, brooms on their shoulders, while the one in front casually used his wand to capture the Bludger and put it back in its chest.
“Just making sure you’ve still got it, Potter,” the tall, dark haired boy said with an insolent grin, while several of the girls on both teams looked at him admiringly. Sirius thought it was insolent, anyway, even if no one else could see it.
Frank Longbottom was one of the most popular boys in the school, starting his Sixth year, and apparently the new Hufflepuff Captain. He was a Beater and, as Sirius would admit grudgingly, the best player on their team, though Sirius would hasten to add that that didn’t mean much. Sirius couldn’t stand him; his father had made some great discoveries in Herbology and Potions, earning himself a considerable fortune and great regard in the Wizarding world. His son was an arrogant pretty-boy, however, who seemed to think he was the best thing to happen to Hogwarts since Dumbledore. Of course, he would never say that to anyone else; everyone else seemed to agree with him.
Lillian had confronted Sirius about his dislike for the boy several times, claiming that Frank was good natured and down-to-earth, that he was friends with everyone, including, as Frank thought, with Sirius. Sirius couldn’t even come up with specific reasons to dislike him, and thus, Lillian would say, Sirius was just jealous. Sirius hated the thought of being jealous of Frank, and denied it forcefully, but couldn’t help but wonder if it was true.
“Why don’t you come up here, Longbottom, and we’ll see who still has anything,” Sirius shouted back waving his bat and forcing a smile.
“No thanks,” Frank said while holding up his hands in denial. “I just wanted to demonstrate to my new team members what kind of reflexes they need to develop, and to show them what they’ll be up against. We have the Pitch booked for when you’re done, though… how much longer will you be?”
Sirius flew off, only somewhat mollified, as Lillian answered Frank’s question; he did have good reflexes, and the Hufflepuffs would do well to emulate him.
Later, as they left the Pitch, Sirius walked past the Hufflepuffs with Greg, the other boy still grinning at being chosen for the team. Ron Jr. had made the Keeper spot, as they had thought, leaving Greg the only one on the team who wasn’t a Weasley or a Potter, though that didn’t seem to bother him. He had beaten out a couple of Weasleys to get his spot.
“Good practice, Potter, and you too, Harris. I can see my team has a lot of work to do,” Frank said with a seemingly genuine smile, while holding out his hand.
Greg shook the hand happily, proud at the compliment paid by such a popular student, while Sirius smiled, once more forcing the expression; it just didn’t seem to want to come naturally around the other boy. Maybe he was just jealous, though he certainly didn’t feel like there was anything to be jealous of; even if he was, though, he still didn’t like him.
***
Timothy McFarren laughed as he entered his dormitory with his roommates. It had been a good day, with most of the time spent in the company of several pretty Slytherin girls of impeccable breeding who seemed to like the way he had stood up to Sirius Potter. He wasn’t the only one who thought the whole lot of the Potters and Weasleys, half-bloods and blood traitors all, needed to be taught a lesson. They walked around like they owned the school, and didn’t show any kind of proper Wizarding pride. Timothy’s popularity in his own house had skyrocketed, and he wasn’t opposed to taking advantage of it. Slughorn had been far from pleased, but the McFarren family was very well respected and connected, and Slughorn had let him off a lot easier than everyone else in the school believed.
As he finally leaned back in his bed, McFarren thought about upping his popularity even further. All it had taken was kicking the younger Potter off the train to get where he was, and Sirius seemed to have gotten into more trouble than he had, though that was at least partially from beating up Nott and his friends. Perhaps Nott would join him in making some trouble for the other Potter, the head boy. His last thoughts before dropping off to sleep would have made James sweat if he’d known about them.
His first thought on waking up, as three huge pythons closed about his chest and constricted his breath, was that he was still dreaming. That didn’t make what was happening any less frightening. Other snakes were coiled around his arms and legs, including one giant snake that appeared to be at least twenty feet long. He began screaming as rattlesnakes began rattling, and two hissing cobras spread their hoods in front of his face. He realized that it wasn’t a dream as his roommates jumped out of their beds in alarm, all shouting for someone to do something, but all unwilling to get closer to the snakes themselves. McFarren paid them hardly any attention, as he struggled and screamed frantically.
***
Sirius and the Weasleys rolled around on the floor, laughing hysterically as they looked at the Marauder’s Map. They could only see the small labeled dots, and they couldn’t hear any of the mayhem that was going on, but they knew what was happening. The dot labeled ‘Timothy McFarren’ was moving erratically in the center of a growing circle of other dots, though none of them moved closer.
“Is it hard to get out of the Sheets?” Sirius asked between laughing.
“McFarren won’t be able to do it by himself,” Jack answered.
“But once someone else gets involved, they should turn back into regular sheets,” Brian finished.
Sure enough, a dot labeled ‘Professor Slughorn’ showed up and the commotion seemed to die down, though Slughorn’s dot moved with McFarren’s toward the hospital wing after the others were leaving.
Still, laughing, Sirius and his cousins climbed into their beds, preparing to pretend sleep if they were suspected first and someone came to find them. Although the former was likely, the latter was not; no evidence would lead to them beyond motive, and no one in Gryffindor liked McFarren, so motive wouldn’t be enough to get them this time.
“That was a good start,” Chris said later as they had all begun actually drifting off.
“It will take some doing to top it,” Lee agreed, shifting on his bed.
“That will be half the fun,” Sirius said, and all of them shared one final laugh before drifting off to sleep.
***
A cloaked figure moved silently, though quickly, through the trees. The deeper parts of the Dark Forest were no place to be at night, but it would be worse not to show up. That would lead to retribution that would likely end his life, and besides that, he wanted the rewards promised him; years spent cringing and crawling before the scum of the earth was going to be exchanged with power over best of society. He had been promised.
“Master?” he called out softly, reaching the spot where he had been instructed to go.
He heard nothing until the soft voice answered directly behind him, the breath of the one speaking brushing against the skin of his neck.
“You have spies in place?” the voice asked.
He didn’t bother to turn around; he was already shaking badly, and looking into his master’s face would only make it worse.
“I… I do,” he answered, swallowing.
“And you weren’t too obvious?” the voice asked again, making him shiver further. The voice was soft and deep, and filled with anger, hate, and a palpable sense of power.
“No one would ever suspect…” he began, before being cut off.
“And you keep watch on their father?”
“Of course,” he said in a whine. He knew what the price of failure was.
“He’s the only one who can stop me,” the voice said slowly, and with growing anger, “and so he must die. But he must die in the manner I have chosen; the price must be paid.”
“Of course, my Lord,” he said frantically. “Everything will be just as you’ve planned.”
“As it must,” the voice said, and now there was a hint of dismissal in its tone. “Let the others know that they must be ready.”
He sat waiting for more, some sound, some sign, but heard and felt nothing. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity he looked around and found himself alone in the small clearing. Still shaking, he wiped his face with a dirty handkerchief before Apparating away with a loud ‘Pop.’
A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Now the mystery begins!