The Marauding Begins

PROLOGUE

A young boy was in the forest, which was filled with various magical, (and non magical) creatures. He kicked a pebble in the path, and checked his map to make sure he was still on course. His sandy brown hair shimmered in the light of the full moon, but he angrily swept it out his face. He pulled his wand from his cloak, and whispered lumos.
“That’s better,” Remus Lupin said. “I’ll probably be getting an owl, but really the whole law is ridiculous...” He trailed off as he heard a howling in the woods; and he shivered. “Don’t be silly, Remus. It’s nothing but a wolf....You’ve heard those before.” he said loudly to himself.
He reached a fork in the path and stopped once again to consult his map. A wild animal slowly padded behind him, quietly growling, but Remus didn’t hear or see it.
Suddenly, the creature leaped. It hit Remus full on, and he fell to the ground. The animal clawed viciously as the boy struggled to regain his footing. He kicked the animal off his back and sped off into the forest, forgetting the trail. The monster tore off behind him, chasing him into the inky darkness.
Remus stopped to catch his breath, clutching his wand tightly. As he looked behind him to see if the beast was still on his trail, he felt a blinding hot pain in his shoulder as razor-sharp teeth cut into his arm. He gasped, and dropped his wand as he felt his bones begin to shift.....

CHAPTER ONE: ELEVEN O’ CLOCK WANDERINGS

“Mum?” James Potter called. “Have you heard from Remus yet? He’s supposed to be here...”
“WHAT?” cried Tabitha Potter. She brushed her charcoal hair out of her face. “Do you know what time it is, James? He couldn’t be coming now!”
“Er....” James dug his toe into the plush carpeting of his mother’s study. “Sometimes, he likes to come at night. Sneak out, y’know...One of his quirks.”
“JAMES FRANCIS POTTER!! How could you two be so irresponsible? He lives a good mile away from here...Through the forest!” She rose out her chair quickly and strode over to the fireplace. She stuck her hand into a clear vase filled with white powder and threw it into the crackling flames. “Conversio, Serena Lupin,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
The flames turned white and a head gradually appeared through them. “Tabby?” asked the head. “What in the world...It’s eleven o’ clock!”
“I know that, you know that,” retorted Tabitha. “But, apparently, our sons,” she threw a furious glare at James, “don’t.”
“What do you mean?” queried Serena. You could see the white lace ruff of a nightgown, and her hair was piled messily on top of her head.
“It seems James and Remus decided that it would be nice if Remus came for a visit,” explained Mrs. Potter.
“What’s wrong-” started Mrs. Lupin, but was cut off by Tabitha.
“RIGHT NOW,” she finished.
“What!!!” For a moment, Serena’s head was gone from the fireplace. After a minute, it reappeared, but her face was deathly white. “Are you saying Remus wandered outside....right now, through the forest?”
“Correct,” affirmed Tabitha.
“Oh, my,” said Serena, fainting.
“By Merlin’s beard,” muttered Tabitha. She then rounded on her son. “Come on, we’re going over there right now.” She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him off to the main hallway.
As if I would not go look for my best friend, thought James. And I know he’s okay! We’ve done it a million times before! As his mother pulled him by his arm, he looked through the high arched windows in the corridor. A chill ran down his back as he spied the milky circle in the sky. Why does the moon look so weird tonight? he wondered.
They had reached the main hallway, the foyer. His mother’s heels clicked angrily against the marble floor as she swept over to the large fireplace, with James still in tow. She grabbed a handful of green dust, and threw it into the orange flames. They flared up and turned green, and she stepped inside. “Lupin’s Cove,” she called, and was swept away.
James climbed into the fire, which felt pleasantly warm. Too pleasantly warm, in James’ case. Once he had fallen asleep in the flames enchanted by the Floo powder. His father had pulled him out just before the effect of the powder wore off. Since then, he’d always been rather wary of this type of travel, and he greatly preferred broomsticks and portkeys.
“Lupin’s Cove,” he repeated, and felt himself being wooshed away. He saw flickers of other exit points, but only a few since most were closed for the night. Suddenly, he saw the Lupin’s cozy living room, and he stepped out. James could hear noises coming from the kitchen, and he went to inspect. He was greeted by a loud burst of tears from Serena as she saw him.
“Oh, James,” she sobbed, “what were you two thinking?” She paused to blow her nose loudly on Tabitha’s handkerchief, who was standing beside the kitchen chair supportively. “There are all sorts of thing in the forest!” Her eyes widened. “The forest-” she repeated, and burst into a fresh wave of crying.
“Ssh, ssh, it’ll be okay,” cooed Tabitha. “James,” she ordered, “go send an owl to your father saying we’ll be spending the night here, he’s due in the morning.” Her voice softened as she saw the worried look on his face. “It’ll be okay for you too,” she comforted. “We’ll find Remus. It being so late, he’s probably fallen asleep on the trail.” She smiled, and then turned back to Serena, who had collapsed in yet another onslaught of tears at the mention of her son’s name.
James walked outside, to the back of the lot, where the Lupin’s kept their owls in a shed. He lit a lamp and quickly scrawled a note to his father.

Dad-

Mother and me are at Remus’s. We’re spending the night because Remus is gone. We’re finding him now, don’t worry.

Hope you had a good trip.

Love,
James

He rolled up the parchment and attached it to one of the tawny barn owls. He watched it fly into the night, silhouetted by that creepy moon again. Stop being silly, he reminded himself. The moon is no different than any other. But, he still couldn’t shake the weird feeling.
He turned back to the little house, illuminated by lights as a beacon, in case Remus had gotten lost. Suddenly, he did a 360û turn and faced the forest. Remus had always been brave and plowed through, but James had said it was called “Forbidden” for a reason. He decided to swallow his fears, and he started to the edge of the mysterious wood.

“Serena?” A very watery fifteen minutes had passed, and Tabitha was cautiously testing ground.
“Yes,” her voice was shaky. “I know I’m being ridiculous, and if I hadn’t been sobbing, we could’ve gone to look for him...But I can’t help it. It’s just-just that his father just disappeared, too...” Her voice cracked warningly.
“Yes...I- I know.” Tabitha wiped a tear from her own cheek. “Would you like me to send a letter to the school, considering the forest is officially their ground?”
“Yes, I’m sure Professor Dumbledore would help,” agreed Serena.
“I’m a hundred percent certain he would love to,” assured Tabitha. “I’ll try to catch him in the fire, because an owl would wait for morning. What shall you do?”
“I think,” said Serena, rising out the chair, “that I will first make sure he isn’t anywhere in the house, then I’ll go check the forest. There couldn’t be anything that bad in there, could it?” She turned to her friend.
“There are hor-” she stopped, looking at Serena’s face. “No,” she said quietly, “there’s not too much to be afraid of.”
They both exited the kitchen, Serena heading to the stairs, and Tabitha to the fireplace in the living room. She looked around for the white powder, expecting it to be on the mantle, where it could always be found in her impeccably neat house. She let a small laugh escape her throat when she finally located it in a muggle zip lock bag in the drawer of a side-table.
“Conversio, Albus Dumbledore,” she whispered into the white fire. An unclear image of his head appeared, and began to say, “So sorry, I’m not availa-” but was cut off by the actual Albus Dumbledore, himself.
“Oh, thank you,” sighed Tabitha.
“What a funny time to see you, Tabby,” remarked Dumbledore, a twinkle evident in his blue eyes.
“Oh, but it’s not funny at all!” exclaimed Tabitha. Seeing that she had startled the old man, she calmed quickly. “I’m sorry. Let me explain- I’m at Serena Lupin’s, you do know her?” When the bodiless head of Dumbledore bobbed up and down in the fire, she continued. “Well, Remus was coming to visit us,” she saw Dumbledore’s lips begin to form a question, and quickly said, “don’t ask, it’s the crazy boys again. Anyway, he left about a hour and a half ago, and we haven’t seen him since.” She looked around, leaned in towards the fire, and lowered her voice. “We’ve all been trying to optimistic, James, Serena and I, but....Well, I don’t expect the best. There are all sorts of monstrosities out there!”
Dumbledore nodded sagely. “Quite right,” he said.
“so...” Tabitha said. “What should we do?”
Dumbledore must have adjusted himself in his chair, because suddenly his head was thrown off center. “Well, I certainly don’t want you three out tonight....Who knows? I’ll round up some teachers, perhaps people from the village.”
Seeing Tabitha’s still worried face, he sighed. “I suppose I could come myself,” he said, the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Give me a moment to put on my clothes.”
Tabitha gasped, “Oh, are you...I mean, you’re not....Are you?”
Dumbledore laughed. “No, I’m not starkers, if that’s what you’re trying to say. But I do have on my chocolate frog pajamas, and I wouldn’t want to scare anything in the forest.”
Now Tabitha laughed as well. “That’s fine. But please do hurry!”
To be continued...