The Marauding Five - Year One

The Marauding Five : Year One

Chapter 5: Owl Post

‘Rise and shine!’ Lily cried eagerly as she opened the window by her bed to let the morning light stream in. She was eager to start her first day at Hogwarts, despite most that had happened yesterday. Lily turned towards the four lump figures next to her bed. Curious at who they are, she jumped on each’s bed energetically and called them up.

‘G’morning, girls! I’m Lily Evans, one of the Marauders of Hogwarts’s mischief-makers. How was your night?’ Lily started cheerfully as four groggy girls looked up at her. ‘Bad. Thanks for waking me anyway. I dreamt that greasy haired guy that burst into my compartment yesterday – Snape, I think – and he put a hex on me,’ a dark brown haired girl replied, rubbing her drowsy eyes. ‘Good to know you hate him, too. Did you see him yesterday? Eeurgh! He looked like he hadn’t washed his hair for ages!’ a blonde said, making a face. ‘Hey, d’you see him at the sorting? Boy, was he messed up! Doodles all over his face and all! Heck, there’s even a poetry on his robes! Wish I knew the people who did that to him. He put a hex on me,’ another brunette piped. ‘Well, I’d say serves him right. He put a hex on me, too. Something like the curse of bogies. Yuck.’ A black head girl bit her lips angrily. ‘Wish I knew who did those fabulous drawings, writings and poems on him. By the way, the name’s Nina Pittard,’ the first brunette girl said, holding her hands to them.

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Pertsy Perttingham. Odd name. Don’t point it,’ the other brunette said with a dismissive wave. ‘Sita Reekster,’ the black head said softly. ‘Tally Chapman. Who’re you? What d’you mean "one of the Marauders of Hogwarts"? I didn’t know there was one,’ the blonde asked Lily.

‘The name’s Lily Evans. Yea, I’m one of the Marauders,’ Lily said as a glint twinkled in her green eyes. ‘What’s that?’ Pertsy asked as she smothered her long brown hair. Nina brushed hers down as she look questioningly at Lily.

‘You’ll know soon enough. I’m sure the rest of us wouldn’t like introducing our group just yet,’ Lily replied with a grin. With a flick of her wand, she had herself changed, brushed and cleaned. Gram had taught her the little trick a few days ago. ‘I’ll see you girls at the Great Hall!’ Lily jumped out of the room and bounded down the passageways, careful with the steps as she walked down it. The head girl, Elley Rittardo, had said that most of the steps were only tricks and eye-fooling and she had told Lily all the hidden doors, steps and passageways the night before.

Lily bumped into the boys on her way to the Great Hall.

‘Hey boys! Wanna give the school a head start on who we are?’

‘Definitely. We’ll just stay here for a while and wait til everyone enter-’

‘-then we’ll make our grand entrance-’

‘-announce our arrivals-’

‘-and introduce ourselves!’ Lily finished triumphantly. It has been a routine for them, as in their primary years, they did these ‘grand appearance’ every morning.

‘What about post? I don’t want to miss it yet,’ James asked worriedly.

‘Oh, I’d locked the Owlery last night when visiting ol’ Radish. Added in a few Dungbombs and a couple of fireworks. It’ll be some time for the house elves to calm them down before letting them out,’ Remus replied casually.

The lay in shadows for a while and waited til everyone entered. The last of the students were Nina, Pertsy, Sita and Tally, who were complaining about hidden steps, wrong passageways and Peeves. After the door shut after them, the four took it as their cue to enter.

Sirius threw open the door as Remus magicked a red carpet to roll from there to the Gryffindor table. Lily pointed her wand and muttered something, just as trumpet blowers appeared and blew at their arrival. The four walked in grandly, heads held up high and grinning broadly, just as an announcer (James magicked him) came in calling, ‘Announcing the arrivals of the Marauders of Hogwarts: James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin!’. He then disappeared as soon as he came.

Several seventh years recognized them as the ones who threw Snape into their compartment and were telling everyone about who gave Snape the doodles, the poem and the writings. Soon, the whole school (all but Slytherin - they’d die than to applaud to Gryffindors) was already applauding to them, as they bowed gracefully before sitting on the Gryffindor table. The Snapes were known as one of the nastiest wizarding family.

‘So which of you wrote that poetry for that disgusting slimeball?’ Tally started. Grinning, Lily held up a victory sign. ‘Marauders of Hogwarts? Are you out of your mind?’ Nina asked. Sirius shook his head. ‘How’d you do that? To Snape, I mean,’ Pertsy asked. James tutted at her. ‘Aren’t you ever answering us?’ Sita asked, clearly annoyed. Remus shook his head. The girls gave up and left the four.

‘We’ll be so famous, we’d break the school’s record. One for academics, one for the most detentions, one for the best mischief-makers, one for the best students of Hogwarts and one for the best jokers,’ Sirius said, piling food onto his plate. ‘Those girls are annoying,’ Remus started as he poured milk in his glass.

‘They’re in my dorm.’

‘Poor you. Now you’ll have to suffer with them.’

‘Hah! Like I ever could! I will be the one planning the suffer them, not the other way round and never the other way round. Who’s in your dorm?’

‘Sirius and Remus.’

‘Yes, I know that. Besides them.’

‘Dan Trevor and Thomas McMillan.’

‘Here they come!’

‘Hey, Marauders eh?’ a fair haired boy walked over. ‘Right. The ones who are going to be one of the most dangerous kids in Hogwarts to mess with. I daresay, you wouldn’t want to know us,’ Lily replied with a smug. ‘Sounds like a joke,’ a blue haired kid (he’d dyed his hair) snorted. ‘Need anything to prove it, Dan?’ Sirius asked sweetly before throwing a Dungbomb at him.

‘I pity you! They’re far worst than the girls!’

‘Tut tut. Now, it’s time for fun!’ James said gleefully as owls swooped down into the Great Hall.

A white one landed before Lily, in her beak she held an envelope. Tied to her leg, was a large parcel. Lily opened it and almost tore its contents in excitement. Gram had sent her a set of wizard chess, some Dungbombs, a couple of new tricks and a book: Counter-Curses, Hexes, Dangerous Tricks and Tips To Play On Your Enemies. ‘Thanks Lotus!’ Lily said as her owl bit her affectionately on her finger and sipped some of her pumpkin juice. Lily tore off the letter attached to the parcel and opened it.

‘Dear Lily,

How’s Hogwarts? Enjoyed it? I bet you will, if you hadn’t yet. I’m sending you some of the things I used to own during my days in Hogwarts. The Dungbomb might have a very high effect, as I’d kept it for a very long period already. I’m sure Sirius and James would be glad to teach you how to play Wizards’ Chess and I’m very sure that you’d found an enemy of your own there, too. My enemy during my days was Snape, a Slytherin kid with an impossible mind. Hopefully, the book will aid you to revenge on him/her for what they’d done. Odd, how your mother detests magical tricks and all those as I enjoy them a lot. Seeing that you, too, had a passion for mischief making, I thought that the tricks I’d sent will give you as much pleasure as it had to me in my days.

Love always,

Gram.’

Lily grinned happily as she sorted out the tricks her Gram had sent. Among them were a few colored toffees, several large packets of powders, a pair of fake eyeballs and some brightly coded letters Lily couldn’t understand. She just simply couldn’t make the others out as she browse at the list her Gram had sent her and sorted them one by one, reading careful instructions (‘-Don’t mix with pumpkin juice’) and packed them away in her robes.

Jackpot, James’ tawny brown owl, was swooping towards Snape at the Slytherin table and had left as quickly as possible, flying back towards James after dropping something on Snape’s plate. Snape stared at the red envelope in disbelief had glared at it as half the Slytherins had taken places as far as possible from him. Snape had received a Howler. Soon, Lily saw Soots and Radish sweeping towards him, dropping two more Howlers before his astonished face and flying away as soon as possible. Half the Slytherins had left without breakfast.

Snape opened the first on with trembling hands, just as it began to smoke at the corners. Lily covered her ears, but even through it, she could hear James’ loud voice magically enhanced to be louder and sounding more like a growl, booming through the Hall. Teachers looked as if they were about to faint. First, the Marauders had entered with a very royal-like way. Next, a student receive three howlers at once. What else would happen?

‘SEVERUS SNAPE! YOU ARE THE MOST DISGRACED WIZARD TO EVER STEPPED IN THE MAGICAL COMMUNITY! USING WORDS LIKE MUDBLOOD; HOW DARE YOU?! THAT IS THE MOST RUDE WORD I’D EVER COME ACROSS! BY THE WAY, HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED WASHING THAT HAIR? I WOULDN’T BE SURPRISED IF YOU TOLD ME YOU HADN’T BATH EVER SINCE YOU’RE BORNE WITH THAT HUGE, GREASY HEAD OF YOURS. YOUR MOTHER MUST HAVE A TIME OF HER LIFE AT THAT! OR HAVE YOU JUST SIMPLE REFUSED TO WASH YOU HAIR? MAYBE YOU’D LIKE SOME RECOMMENDATION TO WHAT EVERYONE BUT YOU KNOW. YES, YOU NEED A SHAMPOO, YOU GIT! SNAPES ARE BEST WITH SPELLS, HAH! IF YOU CAN’T EVEN WASH YOUR OWN HAIR OR TAKE YOUR OWN BATH, YOU CAN’T EVEN SAY A SPELL!’

It roared with laughter before it burst into flames. Snape opened the next one gingerly,

‘I WILL HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT TO YOUR HOUSE PROFESSOR! I CERTAINLY WILL, SNAPE! PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE, I SUGGEST YOU TAKE FIFTY POINTS OFF SLYTHERIN FOR THE USE OF FOUL WORDS AND FOR THREATENING STUDENTS! THERE’LL BE NO PEACE IN THE SCHOOL AND BROKEN RULES MUST BE PAID DEARLY! SEND HIM A DETENTION TO THE FOREST AND HELP THE CENTAURS READ THE STARS!’

That was Remus’, Lily mused. Remus was really into astronomy these days and had taken liking at the centaurs who read the stars. This is getting really interesting, Lily grinned again. She excused herself from the table for five minutes, and returned with a huge grin plastered in her face.

By now, Snape was staring hard at the third howler. Hands quivering, he tore it open.

‘SEVERUS SNAPE! I HEREBY READ THE DECREEMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC; ORDER OF MERLIN, FIRST CLASS; YOU ARE TO BE SENTENCED FIFTEEN PERCENT OF YOUR LIFE IN AZKABAN FOR DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING-’

The Hall burst into peals of laughter at this. You’ll never be sent to Azkaban for no reason.

‘-AS IT’S A DISGRACE FOR A SNAPE TO NOT DO ANYTHING! ALSO, YOU CALLED A WIZARD-BORNE MUDBLOOD! WHAT YOU THINK OF THOSE WHO ARE MUGGLE-BORNE? THINK OF THE MAGICAL COMMUNITY IF NO MUGGLE-BORN WIZARDS AND WITCHES ARE ALLOWED! DIDN’T YOU KNOW THAT YOUR GRANDMOTHER WAS A MUGGLE-BORN? NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT, HUH, "PURE-BLOOD"? WELL, I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU TO DIP YOUR HEAD INTO THE LAKE YOU CROSSED YESTERDAY AS PUNISHMENT AND START WASHING THAT GREASY HAIR OF YOURS WITH A SHAMPOO! UNLESS YOU’D NEVER HEARD OF IT, HERE’S A SAMPLE I GOT YOU, SLIMY GIT!’

The Hall is now in fits of laughter and the teachers couldn’t help but smile at that. To Snape’s relief, the last howler dispatched into flames, leaving a small packet of shampoo on his plate. Horror struck him again as Lotus flew towards him with another Howler. Lily grinned at the boys. For the fourth time, Snape opened his Howler.

‘HI HO LO HERE’S THE LITTLE OLD TROLL,

WHO’S HAIR’S AS OILY AS CORN OIL;

HIS OILY SMILE MAKES EVERYONE CRY

WITH A GREASY SCREECHING VOICE;

SEVERUS SNAPE OF SLYHERIN HOUSE,

LIVE UP TO HIS ANCESTOR’S NAMES;

USED THEIR NAMES AND SKIN HIS KNEES,

AS HE TEASED THE COWARDLY WITH EASE;

DOODLED AND MADE FUN OF BY

THE FOUR MARAUDERS OF HOGWARTS;

A JOKE OF FUN, FORGET THE PUCK,

WAS SIMPLY HIS PUNISHMENT FOR IT;

HI HO LO HERE’S THE LITTLE OLD TROLL,

WHO’S HAIR’S AS OILY AS CORN OIL;

THUS THE NAME OF THE FAMOUS SNAPE,

IS NOTHING BUT A LYING NAME!’

Howlers in shape of songs were rare. The Great Hall stared at it as four voices called,

‘Hope you enjoyed that, Slimeball! Sincerely, the Magical Mischief-Makers’

before the howler burst into flames. Snape stared.

The Great Hall burst out laughing, teachers too. A few Slytherins snickered at him as Snape tried to hide under the table. Everyone had expected Dumbledore to go into a mad rage, but surprisingly, he too, laughed whole-heartedly at the incident that was before him. The entrance of the Marauders and four Howlers to Snape had been quite an interesting start to their first day at Hogwarts.

The Marauders crowded over Lily as they bombarded her with questions on how she’d managed to put in their voices without them being there and how she’d managed to compose a song about Snape in such a short time. She merely smirked as she said, ‘That isn’t just all.’ Dumbfounded, the boys asked her what was the ending to the fiasco of Howlers. ‘Watch. SEVERUS SNAPE!’ Lily yelled to the other side of the Hall.

Snape opened his mouth to answer, but slugs poured out of his mouth at the very moment he opened it. The school stared at him, amused expression on their already amused face. The teachers, hadn’t yet cured from the last laugh, turned to Snape and started howling with laughter, Dumbledore in lead. Snape tried to protest, but all that ever came out of his mouth is just slugs, slugs, slugs and more slugs.

‘And that,’ Lily said happily, ‘is the best part!’

The Marauders quite agree with her, too.

Lily had put a hex on the Howler.

The teachers tried to find who had sent those howlers – actually, McGonagall is the only professor who tried – but failed as the Howlers that the Marauders had used were safe-protected and there is no way in finding the culprit. She sighed in defeat at last before allowing herself to smile at the events that had happened that morning. Then, she remembered something.

‘Oh, no! I’d to pass the timetables to the Gryffindors!’ she shouted quite suddenly, startling the professors who were still dining. The Marauders, sitting quite close to the higher platform, heard her and offered to distribute the timetables for her. Relieved, she handed them the slips as they walked around handing them to Gryffindors according to their appropriate years.

‘WHAT? Potions with SLYTHERINS? I can’t believe it,’ Lily grumbled as she look at her timetable.

‘Herbology with Hufflepuff, Astronomy with Ravenclaw, Flying with Ravenclaw. Better them than Slytherin. I’m no potion brewer and the last thing I’d to do is to destroy my potion in front of that slimeball git,’ Remus groaned.

‘C’mon, Remus. I’ll help with your potions. I can easily brew any potion I want,’ Sirius offered as Remus gave him a weak smile. ‘Thanks, Sirius.’

‘What’s first? Charms?’ James looked over Lily’s shoulder at her timetable.

‘Yea, better be going now. I wonder if Peeves’ in any mood to bomb something? I’d a job for him,’ Lily muttered as she gathered herself.

‘Oho! Hello Lilydums! Y’called? Ooooh, nice job with the howlers there! Couldn’t’ve given a better compliment!’ Peeves screeched, appearing before them. ‘Peeves! We thought you’d forgotten about us!’ James greeted the poltergeist happily. Peeves merely reply it with a simple water-balloon. Remus sent Peeves hurling around the Great Hall, like a deflated balloon. ‘Hey Peeves, mind getting six kids for us?’ Sirius asked with a glint in his eyes.

‘Those six first years? Sure, I’ll get them for ya. B’sides, they told me that the Bloody Baron’s after me, those liars,’ Peeves said as he floated off, screeching in his high-pitch voice, in search for the six first years who were the Marauders’ roommates. Both Peeves and the Marauders were very close to each other. Both liked tricks, jokes and both had a wicked sense of humor. Actually, it was Peeves who’d taken liking to them and had offered them being friends. Peeves is obviously bored being the only mischief-maker in the school, even if he’s just a ghost. Billy Martins isn’t as daring as they were in pulling pranks and Elley Rittardo simply couldn’t do any tricks or her wand’ll be confiscated (her family’s strict!).

Very soon, four high pitch squeals were heard. ‘That’s for me. The girls sure must’ve been scare! Teach them to deal with the Marauders,’ Lily said with a satisfied grin. A few minutes later, yells were heard and the boys smiled. ‘That’s for us! Peeves’ good!’

Peeves appeared, moments later, pleased with himself. ‘Hey, mind if I take those six for the rest of the year? They’re nice victims!’ he howled evilly. They smiled at him gratefully and he took it as a yes, yelling and screeching as he toppled the High Tables (where the professors sat) down, sending cries of frantic and fright calling.