The Sands of Time

But there was one scream that was louder than the others.

"DETENTION POTTER, BLACK, PETTIGREW, LUPIN!"

~*~

"We're done for," an ashen-faced Remus muttered as he crouched under the desk with the rest of the Marauders and John and Fred. The classroom was in pandemonium. Acid green potion oozed across the stone floor, turning a nasty orange color as it came into contact with spilled ingredients from other tables. Students fearfully felt the damage done to their faces, and some of them tried to fix their swollen arms or legs with their wands, resulting in several bangs and puffs of black smoke. Someone had thrown open the windows to let out the smelly smoke and the acrid odor of burnt potion. Slughorn had received a faceful himself, but had quickly taken the antidote, so he was back to normal size and was now shouting for a line to be formed so he could give the rest of the class the antidote. This was difficult, however, since some students' legs were so swollen they could barely move.

"Look at Snape!" Sirius hissed delightedly, peering out from under the table. The boys followed his gaze and saw Snape. His head was so large it resembled a boulder covered with long greasy hair, and his nose had grown to ten times its normal size. It drooped until it reached his chest, and his arms were so puffy he could barely lift them. The boys quickly withdrew their heads again, before Slughorn could see them and shook with silent laughter at the image of Snape. It was several minutes before any of them could calm down enough to speak.

"Well, I guess you two are worthy of us," James said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Marauders, the best troublemakers in the history of Hogwarts," Sirius added proudly. Remus sighed while Peter's face turned dark and he glared at John and Fred. No one noticed this, however, because Sirius began to loudly proclaim John and Fred as the newest additions to the Marauders. As he was speaking, a frosty voice interrupted them.

"I suppose you six think that was funny?" The Marauders and John and Fred whipped their heads around to see Lily Evans, her green eyes snapping fire and her fists clenched.

"Evans!" James said cheerfully, his hand once again leaping to his hair. "Care to join us?"

She gave him a withering look. "People could have gotten hurt! Look at them! How would you like to be covered in a swelling potion? Oh right, I forgot, it wouldn't affect you because your head couldn't possibly get any bigger."

"Wait a minute, Evans," Sirius interjected, seeing the hurt look on James' face and feeling he needed to draw attention away from him. "No one said we did it."

"I'm not stupid, Black," Lily said, now glaring at him. "Severus got the most potion splashed on him, all of you are safe under the table, and I'm not covered in potion either."

John started at the name "Severus". That was Al's middle name...could that Snape kid be the one his dad had spoken so highly of? No, it couldn't be, it must be someone else named "Severus". But even after reassuring himself, he felt as though his stomach was sinking...

"But you don't have any proof," Sirius protested.

"I don't need any," she replied. "I'm going straight to Professor Slughorn and I'm telling him what happened. And you two-" She looked at John and Fred. "-I thought you were nicer than this. I suppose I was wrong." She gave them all one last scathing look and swept away from them, in direction of Slughorn. The boys were silent after she left, occasionally exchanging glances and listening to the chaos still reigning around them.

When the bell rang, the boys stood up, hoisted their bags over their shoulders and tried to quickly leave the classroom under the cover of the horde of students rushing to the door. But they had barely crossed the threshold, and were gleefully congratulating each other on pulling off the prank without even getting caught, since Slughorn seemed to have forgotten about them, when James and Sirius were yanked back into the classroom.

"Why did they go back in?" Fred asked, standing on his toes to see over the heads of the students still squeezing out the door.

"I don't know. Oh wait, I can see Gr-I mean, Lily," John replied, craning his neck and catching a glimpse of dark red hair. Remus glanced quickly at him while Peter shifted uneasily.

"Maybe we should go before Slughorn catches us too," he squeaked, his eyes darting around the rapidly emptying hallway. John and Fred exchanged glances, but it was Remus who spoke.

"We can't leave them like this," he said. "We-"

"Fred and I will go in," John decided. "It's only fair that we get the detention too. Neither of you were involved, so don't come in with us." Peter looked relieved.

"Well, alright," Remus said slowly. "Peter and I will be in the common room, then." Fred nodded, and then John and Fred entered the classroom, which was still reeking of the burnt potion. James and Sirius were standing in front of Slughorn and seemed to be earnestly explaining something. Lily stood off to the side, her arms crossed and a dark look on her face. Slughorn looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw John and Fred at the doorway.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked, surprised. "And where are Pettigrew and Lupin?"

"Sir, we did the prank, not Peter or Remus," Fred said. "And, er, we're sorry." Slughorn stared at them for a moment, then sighed.

"All right. I'm giving the six of you detention for the next week. Come to my office at eight o'clock, starting tonight. You will be cleaning up the mess and when you're finished with that, you will be organizing my cabinets." Lily looked outraged.

"But Professor, won't you report them to Professor Dumbledore? They hurt many people in the class!"

"True, Miss Evans, but I will give them another chance. After all, Mr. Black did send me a box of crystallized pineapple a few days ago," he said, winking merrily at them as he waddled into his office.

Lily glared at Sirius. "You send him those gifts so you can get away with pranks, don't you?" she said accusingly.

"A Marauder never tells his secrets, Evans." Sirius grinned. Lily opened her mouth again but before she could say another word, James, Sirius, John and Fred dashed out the door.

--

"You two are such idiots."

It was six in the evening, and all the cousins had gathered in a deserted corner of the library, far from the other students and Madam Pince. They were grouped next to one of the dark windows, which was being lashed by rain as a gale blew outside. The lamps near them flickered, casting shadows on the girls' faces and making their scowls seem even deeper. Rose frowned at John and Fred and continued her tirade.

"Neither of you know Snape. You didn't have a reason to prank him! And of all the things, throwing firecrackers in his cauldron? Is this what you use your Quidditch skills for, John?" Her voice rose with indignation.

"And besides, didn't you remember what Dad told us?" Al said. "About Severus Snape?"

"I-I didn't remember that," John muttered, examining his feet. Dominique gave a very un-ladylike snort that would have horrified her mother.

"Honestly. You can remember other things you shouldn't and you can't remember this?"

"And Dumbledore told us not to attract attention, and the whole school knows about the prank," Roxanne added.

"Yeah!" Hugo agreed. "He told us that for a reason. Probably for our safety."

"And now we have to listen to another of Lily Evans' rants of how much she hates all of you," Laura sighed. "She was friends with Severus Snape, she told us at lunch. Not that I don't like spending time with her. I mean, this is the only time we have to get to know everyone."

"But that's not the point, Li-Laura," Rose said, correcting herself, and glancing hastily around the bookshelves.

"There's no one here, Rose," Fred said lazily, leaning back in his chair. "No one sane comes to the library-"

Rose raised an eyebrow dangerously at him, and Fred fell silent.

"But you two can't keep drawing attention to yourselves. When you do that, people start looking at us, and ask questions," Dominique said earnestly. "So promise, if either of you feels the urge to prank, try not to be seen or-" She stopped talking abruptly and looked alarmed, her eyes fixed on the wall next to the window that was partially covered by the side of a bookshelf.

"What?" Roxanne asked, worried.

There was a thump from the bookshelf, and a large book tumbled from it. But Rose was staring at a shadow on the wall.

"There's someone here!" She gasped. Al jumped up, knocking his chair over and drew his wand, along with John, Fred, Dominique, and Laura.

"Who's there?" John said loudly, pointing his wand into the gap between the side of the bookshelf and the wall. As he spoke, the lamps around them blew out, leaving wisps of smoke curling from the extinguished wicks and they could hear quiet footsteps in the next row of shelves. Roxanne and Laura gasped, their eyes wide. Suddenly, Fred squeezed through the gap and they held their breaths, but they could only hear him stumbling and swearing as he tripped over some books.

"We're coming, Fred," Rose called, preparing to squeeze through the gap herself, but John pushed her aside and went through the gap first. But as Rose began to follow him, they heard a particularly loud swear, a shout and two distinct thuds as the darkness in the next row was shot with brilliant rays of scarlet and violet. The girls screamed as one and Al lit the lamps with a flick of his wand as they tumbled through the gap and into the next row of shelves.

All six cousins stopped in their tracks at the sight before them. John and Fred were sprawled across the floor, clearly unconscious. Their fingers curled around air, for their wands were missing, and a stream of blood was trickling down John's face and dripping on the floor. There was no one else around.

"Merlin," Dominique breathed. "What happened to them?" Roxanne shook her head slowly, her fingers pressed to her mouth in horror. Laura glanced sideways at her and remembered that Roxanne couldn't stand the sight of blood.

"What is going on here?" A sharp voice demanded. They tore their gaze away from the floor to see Madam Pince striding toward them, looking livid at the fact that they had dared to disturb the peace in her library. A crowd of students was forming and curiously peering into the aisle to see what had happened.

"Why are you screaming in the library?" Madam Pince snapped as she fought her way through the crowd. Roxanne pointed a shaking finger at John and Fred, and even Madam Pince fell silent. The students in the crowd began whispering, some looking horrified, and some in Slytherin colors looked excited. Rose groaned quietly.

"This will be all over school by morning," she muttered dismally.

"Never mind about the school!" Dominique whispered sharply. "We have to get James and Fred to the Hospital Wing!"

"Get them out of here!" Madam Pince screamed shrilly. "Out! Before they bleed on the books!" The whispers of the watching students grew louder and the crowd parted to let Dominique and Al levitate John and Fred out of the library.

Hugo and Laura burst through the doors of the Hospital Wing first, startling a much younger looking Madam Pomfrey who was drawing the curtains closed around a bed in the corner of the room.

"Blimey, looks the same, doesn't it?" Hugo muttered to Laura, who nodded, remembering all the times she had come in with Quidditch injuries.

At that moment Dominique and Al came through the doors with John and Fred, startling Madam Pomfrey a second time. Madam Pomfrey gasped and began working over them immediately. The cousins stood back, watching worriedly as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over John and Fred and whispered incantations.

"So someone was listening to us and when Fred and James went to see who it was, they cursed them. Why?" Roxanne whispered.

"Well, in this time, Voldemort is alive, so there is a war going on right? Maybe it was a-a-Death Eater," Dominique guessed.

"No," Rose said decisively. "I think it was a student, but if James and Fred hadn't gone to see who it was, I'm sure they would have just left." She shivered. "It's lucky we didn't talk too much about ourselves in the library. Whoever it was probably heard everything we said."

"I think it was a Slytherin," Hugo said, as Madam Pomfrey began spooning green liquid into John's mouth. "Only a Slytherin would curse people like that."

"I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be able to make them better," Laura said. "She's never failed before, even in our time."

Silence fell in the Hospital Wing as they each contemplated what had happened. It was a rude awakening to the fact that in this time period, anything could happen.