The Marauding Seven Year 2

The Marauding Seven YEAR 2 ch.2

Strange new Powers...

"Sirius, Remus, James, Lily, Wye, Alex, Kate, could I have a word, please?" It was September the 1^st, just after the feast, and there were eight new Gryffindors - Deva Summers, Willow Carpenter, Charlotte Mackenzie, Lisa Browne, Jacob Lemon, Ethan Lockhart, Peter Pettigrew and Henry Clement. Speaking, was Dumbledore, as the whole school tried to pour out of one set of doors. The Marauders waved goodbye to Deva, and looked patiently up at their headmaster. "If you would care to follow me to my office, I'll explain there."

A few minutes later the eight wizards and witches were seated near a large desk in Dumbledore's office.

"So, may I ask if you still have the telepathy?" The Marauders nodded. "I have received word that you all have special powers as well. I asked you to tell me if you did," Dumbledore paused, and the Marauder's hung their heads.

"Sorry, sir, we were going to tell you tomorrow," spoke up Kate.

"Indeed." Dumbledore looked grave. "May I ask each of you to demonstrate your powers?" The Marauders exchanged glances, then nodded. James stood up.

"I can shapeshift," he declared. "Well, kind of, it takes a few tries for a new animal..." James quickly turned into an owl, then a blackbird, and finally a cat before becoming James again. "They're the only animals I've mastered so far." Dumbledore nodded and looked at Wye.

"Um, I can blow things up, so perhaps I shouldn't demonstrate..." Dumbledore said nothing but threw his cup into the air. Wye understood, and blew the cup up. Pieces flew everywhere before freezing in mid air a split second later.

"I can freeze time," said Alex. "I thought it might be helpful in this instance." The pieces of cup were quickly gathered and repaired by a house-elf, who then scurried out of the office.

"I can throw balls of fire," stated Sirius, and held out his hand. Rapidly growing on it was a ball of fire. It grew to about fifteen centimetres in diameter and them stopped. Sirius shook his hand from side to side and the fire shrunk, disappearing after only a second.

"I have telekinesis!" said Kate, and moved the repaired cup from side to side on the desk.

"I can see the future, and I can levitate as well," chipped in Lily, rising out of her seat and hovering near the ceiling, before sinking again, and landing rather hard. "I still have to work on the landing part though. And I can't choose when I get a dream." For the first time Dumbledore spoke. He had been silent the whole time up until now.

"It's called a vision, Lily." With this, he motioned to Remus, the only Marauder who hadn't yet spoken.

"I can apparate, and apparate things into my hand," he said, and disappeared in a swirl of blue light. He reappeared behind Dumbledore and called for the repaired cup. It appeared in his hand, also in a swirl of blue-white light.

"That's called orbing," added Dumbledore. For a moment he sat quietly, before leaning forward, adjusting his glasses and peering at them. "Marauders. You are the Power of Seven."

Dumbledore paused, as if for dramatic effect and not surprisingly all seven Marauders were extremely puzzled.

"We're what?" asked James. The others nodded, all equally perturbed.

"I don't know much about the subject...though I imagine there a books in the library." Dumbledore paused, and started cleaning his glasses. When it didn't look like he was going to say anything else, Remus spoke.

"Do you know anything?" Dumbledore replaced his glasses and looked at them.

"Yes," he said. "The Power of Seven is a magical group that protects the side of good from evil. Each member of the group has at least one special power, though they may find as their powers grow that they develop new powers. I'm afraid, though, that's all I know." Dumbledore stopped speaking, and the Marauders knew it was time to leave. They stood up and filed out of the office, collapsing against the stone wall outside.

"Wow." Wye said, summing it up for all of them.

It was the following Sunday, and after much bullying, Sirius and James had been forced into the library. All seven 2^nd year Gryffindors were sat hunched around a table near the back of the library, in a particularly musty corner. Open on the table were many Defence Against the Dark Arts books, some so old the paper was yellowing, and the pages were starting to crumble.

"Have any of you found anything?" asked Kate. The Marauders had only been looking for information on 'The Power of Seven' for about ten minutes, but she was already bored. At a few non-affirmative mutters, she looked back at the book she was holding - 'Defensive Strategies Against the Dark Arts'.

"Ooh! Ooh, ooh, ooh!" cried Alex, bouncing in her seat.

"Don't burst, Alex! It's not worth it!" cried Sirius dramatically. Alex shot him a look.

"I've found something," she explained.

"Oh, what?" asked Lily interestedly.

"Well if people would let me speak-"

"Why would we want to do that?" asked James with a grin. Remus beckoned Alex to read aloud.

"The Power of Seven is the side of light's first line of defence against the side of dark. Appearing around every 1000 years, the power of seven has seven, mixed gender members. Telepathy is common between the seven, and their powers will grow as their bond is strengthened by the trials they must face. Each member has at least one special power, some may find that they receive new powers as they become more adept at handling their special brand of magic. The seven different powers are as follows;

The Transporter: The transporter has the power to move themselves, other living things and inanimate objects through great amounts of space in a split second. The object, or person, disappears in a swirl of blue light; over the years this has acquired the nickname of 'orbing'. Although this particular power is of little help in the sort of battles the Seven must eventually face, it is none the less extremely useful.

The Mind-mover: The mind-mover has the power that is now widely acknowledged as 'telekinesis'. The mind-mover can move objects and people at will, though not through other solid objects such as walls, as the transporter can. With practise, the mind-mover should find that they can 'fling' people against walls or other solid objecst, rendering their target unconscious.

The Exploder-"

"The Exploder?" asked Sirius, trying to stifle his laughter. "Sounds like a bad case of wind, to me!" Sirius fell off his chair and started to roll around on the floor. His laughter was infectious, and soon James and Lily were clutching their sides as well. Alex and Remus managed to control the urge to laugh along with them, at the sight of Wye's face. Suddenly there was a loud guffaw as both Remus and Kate cracked at the same time. Wye took one look at their faces and joined in, Alex as well, with tears streaming down their faces.

"Excuse me," said an indignant voice. The Marauders turned, and there was Madam Pince, drawn up to her full 4 feet 7 inches worth of height, glaring daggers at them. They stopped laughing. "I may be mistaken," started Madam Pince. "But I was under the impression that this was a library. A quiet place to do homework, or research. Not a place to behave like hyenas!" Sirius looked up at Madam Pince from his position on the floor and turned on his full charm.

"We're very sorry, Madam Pince. It won't happen again, and by the way, have you had your hair cut? It seems very pretty today..." Madam Pince blushed, for even at twelve Sirius was beginning to get adorers. Only last week a Hufflepuff first year had come up to him and handed him a love letter, something which the other Marauders found very amusing.

"Yes, well," Madam Pince stuttered, "don't let it happen again." Then she turned on her heel and left, back to where she was cataloguing some books.

"Well, well, well, Siri," said Wye. "Looks like you've got yourself another admirer!"

"I can't help it if I'm naturally irresistible," began Sirius, before being cut off by Remus pretending to gag.

"Just carry on with the book, Alex, please!" said Lily.

"The Exploder: The Exploder can make things combust with a flick of the wrist. This power is very closely linked with emotion, so the person with this power might want to attempt meditation, to soothe and calm themselves until they have brought it under control.

"The Fire-baller: The Fire-baller can make and control fire. Fire which is already loose can be calmed or aggravated by this person, and 'fire-balls' can be produced, balls of real fire, to be flung at enemies. This power is also strongly linked to emotion, especially anger.

"The Seer: The Seer is the only person of the Seven whose elementary power is of little use in a fight to the death. The Seer can see the future, though cannot control the visions she sees. The Seer often finds that as her powers grow, she receives different powers, perhaps quicker than the rest so that she can defend herself easier. The most common secondary power is levitation, and will usually appear about six months after the elementary power showed itself."

"Six months?" asked Lily. "I got mine really quickly - it was only a matter of weeks!"

"Guess you're just super-witch, hey Lil?" asked James. He grinned at her and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, well at least you can defend yourself against an attacker. What good is levitation going to do me?" she spoke casually, but the other Marauders sensed that Lily felt slightly nervous. They couldn't blame her - Remus, Alex and James all had good fleeing powers - orbing, freezing and shape-shifting. Wye, Sirius and Kate all had good attacking powers, with exploding, fireballs and telekinesis.

"Maybe you can just levitate, up and up," suggested Wye. "Out of their reach."

"Yeah, maybe," said Lily quietly, brooding. "Why don't you just carry on reading Alex...and Kate - stop sucking your hair, it's disgusting." Kate pulled her hair out of he mouth and studied her hands to avoid looking at Lily. Lily might be in a grump - but did she have to take it out on her?

"Okay, last one," said Alex, and coughed. "Here goes...The Shape-shifter: The Shape-shifter can shift his or her shape into any living shape. There is no need to become an Animagi or use Polyjuice potion if you are a shape-shifter. The shape-shifter can change into any sort of animal, (including human) as well as plants. Many shape-shifters have, in the past, become very successful spies."

Alex laid down the book and for a moment all seven Gryffindor 2^nd years sat in silence. "Well," said Remus eventually. "Yeah," added James. "Telling it to us straight," chipped in Wye.

The next day, after an exhausting Transfiguration lesson, their new teacher (after Professor Lang had retired last year) Professor McGonagall told the seven Gryffindors that Professor Dumbledore wished to see them. McGonagall fixed them with a stern look, as though she couldn't believe students from her own house were already in trouble, and escorted them to Albus Dumbledore's office as fast as her legs could carry her. After uttering the password she swooped off again, leaving the Marauders to enter through the stone phoenix by themselves.

"Ah, the very people I wanted to see," Dumbledore greeted them as they filed in and sat down in their usual chairs. They no longer felt scared or nervous around the head teacher, indeed they had seen so much of him in the last few days that they were becoming quite good friends. On a daily basis the Marauder's had been smashing up his office as they practised their powers. It was due to this practice that there had been only one incident, in Potions, when Snape's cauldron blew up just as he was teasing Wye about her hair. The other Marauders believed this probably wasn't entirely accidental, Snape had been drenched in swelling solution, though Wye remained steadfast that it was.

"As the Power of Seven you will be expected to fight," began Dumbledore. "Which is why I have taken the liberty of employing Fergus Fitzgerald, to teach you in these arts. If you will excuse me, I will leave you in his hands while I attend to other matters." Dumbledore strode over to the stone staircase, then paused. "He already knows your names." Dumbledore disappeared then, while another man walked out of a side door adjoining the office.

"I am Fergus Fitzgerald," he stated on entering, and without waiting for a response he carried on. "I will be teaching you many forms of fighting. I am what you would call 'a Muggle' however, so duelling will be seen to by another teacher." Alex saw Remus and James exchange glances. They were clearly wondering what 'other forms of fighting' there were.

"These will include shooting, both guns and arrows, Tae Kwon Doe, Karate, and swords. I may add other subjects to the curriculum as we go along, or as I see fit. You will be having lessons from seven o'clock until eight, every evening but Sunday. You will go to your Transfiguration classroom, and await Professor Flitwick or me there. Flitwick will be your duelling teacher." Fitzgerald crossed the room with long, sweeping sides. "Remember - seven o'clock, sharp." And with that, Fitzgerald disappeared down the stone staircase just like Dumbledore had, five minutes before.

The Marauders, who were by now growing quite used to having strange information hurled at them, and be expected to take it in, shuffled out the office quietly discussing the event that had just taken place.