The Marauding Seven - Year 1

The Marauding Seven Ch. 11

A Discovery

It was June, and the map project had been temporarily abandoned in favour of studying for the end of year exams. The Marauders were currently grouped around a large table, half-heartedly quizzing each other on Charms.

"What's the charm for levitation?" Sirius asked Kate. She looked stuck.

'Wingardium Leviosa' thought Lily.

"Wingardium Leviosa," said Kate. "Thanks, Lil."

"For what?" asked Lily, looking perplexed.

"You told me the answer," replied Kate in a very 'duh' voice.

"No I didn't...I thought it though. Did I say it out loud?"

"I didn't hear you," said Alex. The others shook their heads.

Remus spoke up. "Lily, think of a shape, any shape. Concentrate hard, both of you. Kate, what's the shape?"

"Uh," something popped into her head. "Rhombus. Lil, why did you choose a rhombus?"

"I thought it wouldn't be obvious, like a square or something." At this James rocketed out of his red chair, nearly knocking his knee on the table.

"Wait - you really did think rhombus?" he screeched.

"Guys, this is really good..." said Sirius in a quiet but excited voice. His face was lit up and he leaned forward in a scheming way. The other Marauders fell silent and looked at him. He beckoned the others in and as one the leaned forward. "You two can cheat in the exams!" he whispered. The excitement in his voice was obvious.

"Why would they want to? Lily's great at Charms!" said Remus.

"Oh thanks," muttered Kate, half under her breath.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that Kate - you're great at Charms too."

"Besides - anti-cheating quills," broke in Alex.

"Damn," said Sirius.

"I can't believe we're even discussing this!" cried Wye, standing up. "Its - its unethical!"

"It wouldn't work anyway, so let's just forget it and get back to studying," said Lily in a 'that's the end of it' sort of way. The Marauders studied quietly for a few minutes. Then Remus threw down his pen.

"What if it isn't just Lily and Kate?" The others looked up again. "What if all of us have telepathy? Alex, you think of a shape. Got one?" Alex nodded, and a shape popped into Remus' head. "A kite," he said confidently. Dumbfounded, Alex nodded again. Suddenly, all seven of them were chattering excitedly when Sirius let out a piercing whistle. The whole common room fell silent, but he ignored it and once again gathered his friends around him in a tight huddle.

"We can use this! Think about pranks and stuff! A way to warn each other without our victims hearing," he whispered. "Don't tell anyone else."

"Shouldn't we tell McGonagall, at least? I mean with Voldemort around, it might not be a gift," stated Wye.

"I agree - but with Dumbledore," replied Kate before being interrupted by James.

"Why?!" he cried. "Why do we need to tell anyone? What harm can telepathy do to us?"

"Maybe Voldemort can read our minds as well - if we knew about any impending attacks on him, we'd relay them straight to him without even knowing it," said Alex.

"But why would Voldemort choose a bunch of first years. Especially Gryffindor first years! Why wouldn't he choose Slytherin sixth years or something - people who know they want to go into the dark arts." Sirius countered.

"Because no one would expect information to be relayed through Gryffindors. Think about it," ordered Lily. "If you knew someone in this school was passing information to the Dark side, who would you think it was?"

"Malfoy," said James.

"Snape," replied Sirius.

"Both of whom are in Slytherin. I see what you're getting at now Lil," said Alex.

"So who's with me about Dumbledore?" asked Kate. Slowly, Lily, Alex Wye and Remus raised their hands. After a few more seconds so did James and Sirius. "Right. No time like the present. C'mon people."

It hadn't taken the Marauders long to find the entrance to Dumbledore's office, but once they were there they encountered a problem. James had found out from his brother Kyle, that Dumbledore always used a password. When Kyle had been at school the year before it had been 'Acid Pop', but that wasn't working on the huge stone phoenix before them.

"Maybe we should just try random words like we did with the passages," said Lily lazily leaning against the wall. It was cold to the touch.

"Or random sweets. There's a slim possibility Dumbledore didn't completely change it," added Kate, sitting on the dusty floor.

"Honeydukes Best Chocolate," said Sirius. Nothing happened, though Sirius imagined the phoenix glaring at him for trying to break into the headmaster's office.

"Fizzing Whizzbee," tried James. Still nothing.

"Chocolate Frog," asked Wye. Nothing.

"Droobles Best Blowing Gum," said Remus, burying his head in his hands. Suddenly there was a grating noise, like stone on stone...the phoenix was moving, and steps were appearing!

"Everybody on!" cried Alex jumping up and pulling Kate with her. The seven Marauders quickly jumped onto the stone staircase and slowly revolved upwards, coming to a complete stop when they were facing the headmaster. For yes, Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, and seemed to have been expecting them, for seven pine chairs were laid out on the side of the desk nearest to them. Without speaking, but not losing his little smile, Dumbledore waved the Marauders towards the chairs and they sat down. Finally Dumbledore spoke.

"I must say, you took your time getting in," he said cheerfully, offering them a packet of Droobles Gum each. They took it and slipped it into their pockets. "I thought it wouldn't take you five minutes, but obviously I was wrong. Now, what is it you're here for? As it's a Saturday I doubt you've been thrown out of class," the headmaster smiled cheerily again and fell silent. After about a minute of silence, Remus spoke.

"We have telepathy," he blurted out. "Between all seven of us - we can read each other's minds!"

"Really?" asked Dumbledore. "How interesting." He took off his half moon spectacles and began polishing them, seemingly lost in thought. "I do not doubt your word," he said slowly. There was another pause. "It could be that your telepathy is simply a gift. However, you may find you possess other powers as well. If any of these surface, I need you to let me know immediately. You do all have owls, don't you?" The Marauders nodded.

"But sir," started Wye. "Don't you think this could be Voldemort trying to use us as spies?" Wye's face was earnest and worried.

Lily, on the other hand, wasn't paying much attention. She had long ago got used to the magicalness of the castle, but this room took the biscuit. The ceiling seemed miles away, and the walls were covered in snoozing portraits. One whole wall was devoted to books, the wall behind Dumbledore's desk, and think heavy tomes seemed to be the order of the day. Dotted around the room were various metal, magical instruments, and sitting on a perch next to the stairs were they had come in was a phoenix. Lily gasped. Dumbledore stopped reassuring the others that it was highly unlikely this telepathy was dark magic, and turned towards Lily.

"Ah, yes. That's Fawkes the phoenix. They make very loyal pets and are immensely interesting creatures. I can see you're quite taken with him." Lily blushed and diverted her gaze from the phoenix to the wall of books. Dumbledore followed her gaze and nodded.

"Would you like a book about phoenix's? I have quite a few..." by this time Dumbledore was walking along the row off books, occasionally tapping a leather bound spine. He seemed to find what he was looking for and pulled a fairly thin, red books of the shelf. Emblazoned in gold on the cover was The Phoenix: My Lifetime's work (by Emeric Doodle).

"I believe you'll find this rather interesting," said Dumbledore. "It gets a little heavy going in places, but persevere it's a very good read, with some wonderful pictures. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get going. I'm meeting Minerva for lunch. If you have any more questions, come and see my - you know my password now, and don't hesitate to tell me if you find other powers." By this time the eight of them were outside Dumbledore's office in the corridor. Dumbledore headed towards the Great Hall, leaving the Marauders standing outside his office, rather confused.

It was sweltering. After an early summer of cool breezes and chilly winds, the sun had broken through the clouds and was now heating the old castle like a furnace. Entering the dungeons for Potions was actually a relief, a chance to get away from the heat. Even when you were entering the dungeons for your Potions end of year exam.

"Write your names on the top of the paper, and proceed to answer the questions. You have one hour, then half an hour for the practical examination. No talking," said Professor Gambol. James stared down at his paper and inwardly groaned. A quick check revealed there to be 120 questions; 2 a minute, though thankfully most were one word answers. The first section was on healing potions, the second on properties of plants, and so on. James turned his paper back over, checked his watch, and began scribbling.

It was Thursday, and their exams were now over. There had been Potions and Charms on Monday, History of Magic on Tuesday, Transfiguration and Astronomy on Wednesday, and Defence Against the Dark Arts on Thursday. Lying underneath an oak tree near the lake sunbathing was bliss.

"Nearly the holidays," commented Wye. "What are you all doing?"

"Going to France for a couple of weeks," said Alex without opening her eyes.

"With your Mudblood family?" sneered a familiar voice. It was Lucius Malfoy, and tagging alongside him was Severus Snape.

"Don't you dare call me that!" cried Alex.

"I'll call you whatever I want. I'm a 3^rd year."

"What's that got to do with anything?" asked Lily, standing up. "I'm a 1^st year - wow, who cares?"

"We just wanted a chat, didn't we Severus?" said Lucius, turning towards his sidekick. Snape nodded, smirking at Sirius and James.

"Well why don't you go chat elsewhere," retorted Kate, pulling off her sunglasses.

"Where's the brown haired boy?" asked Snape, finding his voice for the first time and looking round, as if he expected an attack from behind.

"Why should we tell you?" asked Sirius.

"It was just a question."

"He's gone to see his dad," said James.

"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" asked Lucius. James just glared at him.

"Why do you want to know, anyway?" asked Wye.

"No reason."

"Well, would you like to leave now?" Wye's voice was polite, but the meaning clear - go away.

"I don't think so. You're coming with me," Lucius grabbed Wye's arm and hauled her to her feet.

"Get off me!" Wye squealed, and let all her weight drop so that she was almost touching the soft grass. Lucius grunted and let go of her slender arm. Wye looked up. Sirius had just punched Lucius in the stomach, and James had drawn his wand.

"Go," commanded James. Snape took one look at the wand and left. Lucius, now alone in a possible fight against seven other people, also decided that leaving Wye alone would be best. He left.

"Why'd he do that?" asked Wye, slumping onto the grass again.

"I don't know, but he's trouble, Snape too. I think we might have trouble," replied James, looking unusually grave.

A week after the 'Slytherin Incident' as Sirius now called it, the end of year exam results were revealed. It turned out the seven Gryffindors were all in the Top 10 Year 1 students list, which they were all rather chuffed about. Unfortunately, Snape was another top student, though Remus reckoned his Potions mark was what made him scrape in. Alex and Lily were joint top of Charms, and James was the best in the year for Transfiguration. James was the best student in the year, something which Sirius teased him about mercilessly, despite coming fifth himself.

Once the feast arrived, all seven Marauders were feeling rather down. In less than 24 hrs, they would be home again, and although this was good, they would miss each other. Therefore, despite Gryffindor coming second in the House and Quidditch Cups to Ravenclaw, the feast was a rather subdued affair.

The next day the trunks were taken to the horseless carriages, and the students boarded the train.

"It's weird being back here again," commented Lily. "I haven't been here for ten months."

"Yeah, it'll be weird going home as well, even though I went at Easter," said Wye. "But it'll be great to see Deva again! I've missed her."

"Deva's your little sister, isn't she?" asked Remus.

"Yeah, she's coming next year - I can't wait. Neither can she!"

To soon the red steam train called the Hogwarts Express was pulling into Platform 9 ¾. The Marauder's piled off the train and dragged their trunks and owl cages over to their families. After a few hello's and how are you doing's the Marauders grouped together again.

"See you next year," said Sirius, and pulled all his friends into a bear hug.

"Yeah. Bye everyone," replied Alex, breaking away and returning to their families. The others did the same, and in less than 3 minutes, all the Marauders had disappeared from sight, merged into the crowd.

So that was Year 1. Year 2 coming up next (naturally) and I want help. If you want Peter Pettigrew in this story (I'm thinking of making him in the Year below the Marauders) say so in a review. If not, say so in a review. Depending on how many yes's or no's I get he will or won't be in the story. So - if you feel strongly, please review and say. Constructive criticisms welcome, of course.