The Marauding Five - Year One

The Marauding Five : Year One

Chapter 9: In Dumbledore’s Office

McGonagall stared hard at them with a severe expression. The Marauders gulped.

‘What are you doing to the school cat, giving her a pair of stag antlers?’

‘Erm… Minnie-’

‘Professor, Evans.’

‘Professor, see I’d just learned how to talk to animals.’

‘And we’d just chat with Norris.’

‘She wants a pair of antlers.’

‘So we thought we’d do a favor to grant her her wish.’

‘A few flaws, Evans, Potter, Black, Lupin. You don’t learn how to talk to animals until your sixth year. And I trust that no cats would like antlers on their heads. Also, she ran as soon as she saw her reflection.’

‘Well, see, Lily and James were so smart, they’d taken to reading sixth year books. I mean, look at your tests! They aced every one of them with the highest marks in Hogwarts’ history! Next, Norris wants to give herself a new fashion, a simple thing to understand, really. Then lastly, she ran because she saw you in that muggle make-up,’ Sirius pointed out to McGonagall, who frowned even more.

‘I accept the fact that Evans and Potter can speak to animals as they’re really smart for their age-’ Lily and James grinned happily ‘-but the second fact is simply impossible. The third one, well, I don’t see what is wrong with muggle make-up.’

‘But Professor, take a look in the mirror!’ Lily whipped the mirror from the wall, causing it to cry out in astonishment and put it in front of the professor. ‘Tsk tsk! McGonagall, I really didn’t expect this from you,’ the mirror tutted in disapproval.

McGonagall flushed through her make-up. Someone had sent her a set of muggle make-up that morning and she’d used it. Her face was powdered until she looked as white as a vampire (maybe a dracula might pass) and she’d put so much blush on her face that it shone radiantly. McGonagall had never once wore make-up and had a little trouble putting it her first time.

‘Well, professor? Maybe you’d like Lily’s mother to help you? She’s a beautician.’

‘Come to think of it, maybe Lily herself might be able to!’

‘Right. Lily, interested in earning some money? We’re short of them, aren’t we?’

‘Gladly. When will lessons start?’

‘Still, that is no excuse of why the cat ran off in her reflection. This mirror is charmed to show only the person it looked at.’

‘So you are pleading?’

‘Right.’

‘Do you have any idea on what you are saying?’

‘Right.’

‘The verdict rests on the Marauders.’

‘Right.’

‘And Minerva McGonagall is found … GUILTY!’

‘NOOOO!!!!’

‘At least she heard that last part…’

‘Then again, she confessed herself guilty.’

‘Right. March her off to Azkaban!’

‘Aye, aye, Sirius!’

Lily, James and Remus proceed to start pulling their teacher as she got up and realized what happened.

‘Evans. Potter. Black. Lupin.’

‘You know us and you’re back from dream world! We’re flattered.’

‘Off. Dumbledore. Office.’

McGonagall was angry and too furious to talk as they were marched to Dumbledore’s office (outside a stone gargoyle) and she left them there.

‘What are we suppose to do in front of this stone?’ Lily muttered as she start kicking the stone gargoyle. She yelped in pain soon after. ‘Maybe she wants us to decorate it? Lily, take out your wand and perform a charm at it to glow in colors!’ James said excitedly as Lily, still howling at her foot, pulled her wand from her pocket before muttering ‘Colorouisa’ at it. The gargoyle showed no effect at first, but when Lily started to try and kick it once more, it shone with different colors. Pleased with her work, Lily smiled at it.

They sat at it for some time, just before Dumbledore came down the passage. Lily was sleeping on James and Sirius is taking photos at the couple when the principle walked down. Woken by the little ‘click’ of the camera, Lily got up and stepped aside as Dumbledore watched them in amusement. The red head pulled James up as Remus fell backward in stiffness.

‘Good. I’m numb and I’m hungry. Where’s the food?? Isn’t it tea time?’

‘No, Remus. In fact, it’s dinner. Hello?? We’re here for our 1009^th detention!’

Dumbledore walked to the gargoyle and called out ‘Sherbet Lemons’.

‘Isn’t that the sweet you offered him yesterday?’ James whispered to Lily as they walked up the escalator.

‘Yep. Looks like he liked them a lot.’

They entered a neatly furnished room with pictures of the previous headmasters of the school, snoozing contently in their frames as Dumbledore sat behind his desk. A pheonix sat in it’s cage with it’s gleaming feathers.

‘What had you done that made Minnie sent you to me? She prefers dealing with her own students.’

‘Well, Minnie Mouse had sorta got fed-up with our teasings, so she’d went bonkers.’

‘Minnie Mouse?’

‘A muggle cartoon character. She looks like this,’ Lily said as she skillfully sketched out a picture of an over-grown mouse with a huge ribbon between her large, mousey ears.

‘Interesting. Very interesting. Now, continue.’

‘See, we’d taken to giving Norris a pair of fine antlers and we gave Minnie an insult.’

‘I take it’s about her make-up? I talked to her about it a while ago.’

‘Right.’

‘And we found her guilty for that action, too,’ Lily grinned at the conversation before.

‘By the way, what had you done to my gargoyle? She seems a little, uh, more colored.’

‘Umm… see, we were bored at sitting there, so Lily was given permission to color it. She had some sort of grudge against that stone.’

‘Yea, she hurt my foot.’

The Marauders start grumbling about the gargoyle, about it pulling faces at them, calling them names and everything. In result, Remus had awarded the stone a curse of bogies. James expanded it with a simple expanding spell and Sirius had taken to draw doodles all over it’s stony gray face, giving it more expressions.

‘And after your actions and deeds today, you deserve something in return.’

‘Oh? Just what? Please say you’ll award us fifty points each!!’ Sirius said eagerly as he got up from his chair. His face fell when Dumbledore said that he will award them only four points for insulting the cat (he hated her, too, for scratching him in his school days) and a detention.

‘At least we get a detention,’ Remus chided his tall friend as they walked out of Dumbledore’s office. ‘But we should at least get ten points for insulting that stupid cat!’ Sirius grumbled in protest as he pulled a face at Remus. ‘Hey, if she’s stupid, what’s the use of playing a prank on her?’ James asked thoughtfully. Sirius thought for a while before saying, ‘Point accepted.’ ‘I knew it will,’ James replied smugly. Lily just laughed when Mrs Norris rounded up to them, antlers and all. She let out a frightened mew as she ran from sight, bumping into an armor suit, who grumbled about untrained cats before walking off.

Just then, Severus Snape strutted towards them in a pompous way.

He smirked at them. ‘You had a detention? How many points have been taken off Gryffindor? Fifty points each? Everyone who went to Dumbledore always had that. HAH! I’d love to see those Gryffindors’ faces when they find 200 of their points lost because of their so-proud-Marauders. Lets see if they still worship you when they found out.’

Remus, exasperated, replied ‘Well Severus, we didn’t lose any points. In fact, we earned 4 points for doing a good job with Mrs Norris! Maybe you could try it too?’

Severus stared at them in disbelief as they walk pass him, chattering about the DADA essay on Yully-Yelps. He shook his head as he went back to find Mrs Norris. True enough, she had antlers and not looking pleased with them. He drew his marker pen as he doodled little pictures on the cat. She hissed loudly as McGonagall, passing by, caught sight of that. Without a word, she took five points off Slytherin. He stared at his luck in disbelief, holding the detention slip in his hands. ‘POTTER, BLACK, EVANS, LUPIN!!! YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR WRATH!!! WITH YOUR DEATHS!’ Severus cried angrily. It echoed throughout the whole castle, and soon, another fifteen points were taken off from Slytherin.

The Marauders, in the library, were working out for the DADA essay when they heard a loud call from Severus saying that they should pay with their deaths. Sirius and Remus smirked at that and James merely ignored it.

‘I don’t recall ourselves earning a death. All we did was doing a favor to the dull cat,’ Lily said with an amused expression along with an equally amused tone. They smirked at this.

‘The Yully-Yelps were found in where?’ James started as he adjusted his glasses to squint at the book. The font was really small – no, it’s tiny – as he tried to locate where Yully-Yelps were commonly found. ‘Forget this, James. I had them all written down. Take the points if you want,’ Lily said as she shove her five foot long essay under James’ nose, who took it gratefully.

‘Hey, any idea for Severus?’ Sirius asked as he turned to flip the pages. ‘Well, since Lily’s howler for that feather-brained git had exploded, why not get her to do it again for tomorrow morning? I mean, then at least the school’ll know what was in the previous Howler and we have class tomorrow, so they’ll have a good look at him,’ Remus replied absent-mindedly as he started to check the lunar chart.

‘Worried for the next transformation again, Lupin?’ James looked up from the work as he peeped at the chart. ‘Yeah. The day before was bad. Wouldn’t want it anymore,’ he replied blissfully. ‘Hey Lily, try to whip up a new song to insult that greasy git again! Maybe we can make something out of it and help add more curses into that Howler?’ Remus said as he changed the subject. Lily was deep in thought when she nodded, her fingers were making notes at the opened spellbook in front of her as she memorized the spells she wished to use on Severus.

‘Since our "brains" are kinda busy, what are we to do?’ Sirius asked in an annoyed voice. ‘Well, we always have to complete our DADA homework. Corn wants a three-foot long essay, and if Lily can produce him a five-foot one, we, being her best friend, should be at least four-foot. Lily, why must you be our best friend?’ Remus grumbled good naturedly as the red head put on a mock expression.

‘If I’m not, I don’t think you can survive already. Besides, James wouldn’t have a friend to talk to as Sirius is totally insane and you live too far away to have a chat with. And besides you being the only voice of reason, I’m always another sensible part of the group with Sirius’ insanity going on. Sirius will be pretty lonely, being the only one to be able to think of good comebacks (besides James). And you’ll most probably get yourself in trouble without me to help you plan. Are you saying that you regret all this?’

‘Um… not exactly, but you have a point there.’

‘Right. So you want me off the Marauders?’

‘NO!’

‘Good.’

‘OUT NOW!!! I will have no one making noises in the library! OUT OUT OUT!!’ Madam Pince cried out angrily as she shooed them out.

‘So much for our peaceful time to work. Anyway, thanks Lily. I’d finished my essay.’

‘You’re welcomed.’

‘Now, how about doing our detention now? It’s half-past five now, right?’

The four grumbled as they went to the Potions Dungeons to do their detention: clean all the cauldrons until they shine.