Marauders, the next generation

Arguments, Fights and Even More Arguments

I blinked. I blinked again. I was starting to get my vision back but there was still that fuzzy purple/ green thing you get just after you've looked in to a bright light.

I looked around. No one else in the common room seemed to think anything else was up. Gregory, Joseph, Lucy and I were standing exactly where we were except with a distinct lack of paper attached to our hands.

Lucy was the first to react. She bent down to pick up the paper. I thought my reflexes were quick but they were nothing compared to Gregory's. His hand moved from its place hovering mid air to around her arm so quick it didn't seem to occupy the surrounding air.

"Don't, " he warned.

Laura appeared behind us.

"You know," she said, "We do have other lessons. "She reached down and picked up the paper. She handed it to Lucy.

"You dropped something."

We stared after her, then back at Lucy. Lucy stared at her hand. The paper was very definitely there, now reading 'You have been chosen'. She dropped it, snatched it in mid air, and then dropped it again. She caught it near the ground and raised her arm to drop it again.

"All right," said Gregory, "We get the picture. We realised it wasn't still sticking the first time, Malfoy."

When he walked away I suddenly felt very strange. Perhaps I thought his actions to stop Lucy getting attached again had stamped out all the hostility but I was incorrect. I felt that there was something incredibly wrong about his separation from us.

I glanced at my watch. A couple of minutes to one. I seized my bag, thrust the paper into my pocket and made my way out the common room and on to History of Magic.

History was as boring as ever so I took out the paper and gazed at it for a while.

'You have been chosen'.

Chosen for what? I hate it when people are mysterious with me. I like being mysterious myself but I hate to think that there's more than people are telling me. My Mum said I should be a reporter because of my intense curiosity. I said that was unlikely. I can barely write a page long thank you note to my Grandma, let alone an entire news story. But I like to know things.

Clicking out of my daydream I looked down. My hand had automatically been writing notes on pieces of parchment. I read them; they were quite informative for someone caught in a reverie (a great word meaning daydream that I got off Joseph). My eyes drifted over the paper Joseph had found. It no longer said 'You have been chosen'. Now it said 'You have mischief in your soul'. The seriousness of it made me giggle. Those around me looked at me. Professor Binns, our unbelievably dull ghostly History of Magic teacher, hadn't stopped.

The paper revealed a list. Directions, starting from the Gryffindor common room and ending at a cupboard. At the top it said 'Guide to the essential prankster's tool kit'.

I felt my thumbs prickle. This had the opportunity for a lot of fun.

"Lucy!" I cried as soon as the last lesson was over. "Joey!"

"Joseph."

"Whatever," I said, "Come here."

I led them away from the main bulk of the school and showed them the instructions. They stared at it for a while.

"It's a treasure map!"

Lucy spun around and gasped. I sighed. I had felt that happening.

Gregory leaned forward and tried to snatch the paper from my unresisting hand. Trouble was I was resisting and held on tight. There was a short struggle while I tried to push Gregory away -by only using my elbows. Then, and I'm sure everyone saw this coming, the paper ripped, straight down the middle, vertically.

"Ah."

"All right," I said, "New deal. You give us that half and we'll share some of the treasure with you."

"Not likely," said Gregory, "I don't trust you. Give me that half and I won't beat you up."

"A," I said, "Hah! B, I don't trust you."

We were in the common room and had been debating this for some time. It was beginning to turn in to a rather fun game. Offerings ranging from money to 'We won't put itching powder in your underwear' (My idea). All family borders were forgotten. Well... almost.

"There's no question about who should find the stuff," said Gregory, "My Father and Uncle George were the pranksters in their time here. My Uncle Ron told me all about it. Therefore, by genetics, I should be supreme prankster. Therefore get the stuff. Ipso, factso."

I stared at him, wandering what 'Ipso' meant.

"What about me?" asked Lucy.

Gregory glared at her.

"Ah," said Joseph in his 'I'm just about to reveal a fact that actually has some vital importance to the current situation, for once' voice. "But the paper was activated by the word 'We are the new pranksters at Hogwarts school' Not I. The treasure is obviously intended for a group of people, not just one."

I couldn't help but wonder how he remembered that. I didn't.

"Good," I said, giving Joseph a look exactly halfway between amazement and oddity. "So it should be given to the people in the majority. Joseph, Lucy and I. Hand it over Bubba."

Joseph put his head in his hands. Lucy let out an exasperated sigh. Gregory groaned.

"Oh come on girl-"

"Lione," I growled, "Or Lee."

Like I said, I'm fine with any spelling of my name or any short form. It gets quite entertaining at Christmas to see all the variations. But I hate it when people call me: the wrong name, 'Tiffany's/ Roger's daughter' or 'girl'. I mean, I do have a name. People who can't be bothered to say it were just being lazy.

"Lee," continued Gregory, absently. "I know you're not stupid. You know the point Joseph is trying to make is that obviously we have to find the things together. Then decide what to do from there. We could go tonight if that's all right with you, Lio?"

I contemplated this for a while.

"All right," I agreed.

"Good," said Gregory, obviously relieved.

At what? I wondered.

"My Father gave me an invisibility cloak so I could get up to mischief while I was here and it's obvious that's not going to happen until we sort out some kind of system here. I'm sure it will cover all four of us. Any questions?"

He glared round at us as if daring us to disagree with him. I couldn't help it. I raised my hand as if in the classroom. Gregory sighed.

"Yes?"

"Lio?"

"What's wrong with Lio?"

I smiled.

"Nothing," I said, "Just never been called it before."

To my surprise, if not everyone's, Gregory blushed.

***

That night, once everyone else had gone to bed, Lucy, Joseph, Gregory and I crept out of the common room and covered ourselves with Gregory's invisibility cloak. As he swung it round us I didn't notice a difference, but when I turned to tell him so he'd vanished. Despite myself, I gasped.

"Ssh!" hissed Gregory, or at least his voice. "They can't see us but they can hear us. Forward!"

"Righty-ho Greg!"

"Greg?"

"What's wrong with Greg?"

"Nothing, just never been called that before."

"Does that sentence seem familiar to you?"

"Will you two be quiet!" came Lucy's voice in her very unique whisper that echoed in the rafters. "If Mr Creevey hears us and comes to see what the big noise is about he's sure to figure out that we're under here! Then we'll get in trouble and we'll get detentions and points will be taken off Gryffindor and they'll tell our parents-"

"You're making more noise than the rest of us, Malfoy!"

"Oh don't call me Malfoy you... you... fire hydrant. I am not defined by my last name you know."

"How do you know what a fire hydrant is?"

"How dare you call me a fire hydrant!"

"I name 'em as I see 'em."

"Will you lot be QUIET!"

They stopped. A slight rustling indicated that they were either all turning to face me (or at least the general direction of my voice) or had turned their backs on each other (or at least the general directions of their voices).

"We can't stay here or we'll get in trouble," I said, "So lets get out of here, find that thing, and get back to bed. Because if I don't get enough sleep, heads will not roll but they will get very bruised because I will smack them into to other heads! Is that clear?"

There was a mumbled, "Yes," before we moved on.

We made our way slowly through the corridors of the school. Four pairs of feet moving together. Joseph reading out the directions since he was the only one who could do an audible but quiet whisper. Just as we reached a staircase, almost there, Lucy suddenly vanished from sight.

All right, that's rather hard to do when you're covered with an invisibility cloak. You can't really go even further out of sight than invisible. But at least you could feel that they were there, sense their presence. So let's just say that she dropped out of all sensory range.

Actually that's not really accurate either. As her foot went through a fake step, causing her to topple over and, as you can guess, downwards she let forth a small scream. It echoed.

But that wasn't the worst she did. She knocked the paper out of Joseph's hand. It appeared in sight near the step and sank in to it. That was the last we ever saw of it.

Lucy gasped with horror. My mouth fell open in shock. I couldn't see but I could almost hear Joseph's eyes become wide in surprise. Gregory (I think) pulled Lucy back up and hissed.

"Look what you've done now you silly girl!"

"Silly Girl?!"

We moved down to the end of the staircase but when we stopped the footsteps continued.

"Hello?"

"It's Mr Creevey!" cried Joseph

It was, and he was coming this way.

"Is anybody there?"

I had to bite my lip to stop myself from calling out "No!"

"No-one?"

I looked around panicked. Had I said that out loud?

In the doorway the figure of Mr Creevey, the school caretaker, had appeared. We always

thought he was a strange bloke, talking to himself in the corridors. There was a theory that his brother had died while they were at Hogwarts and it had disturbed him for life but no one ever bought in to it. We would have heard about it if it happened, wouldn't we?

"Why do I call?" he asked himself.

Again I had to bite down an erge to say, "Because you're a twit."

"They'd only run away," he continued, "But they're gone now anyway. Probably weren't even here, me hearing things again. But it's best to be on my guard with the ring back again. Anyone'd want that thing. But best make sure it doesn't get in to the wrong hands. Who'd have to clear up the chaos if that happened? Me of course. Ah well, at least none of the students know it's here."

I'd never known before but the sound of someone grinning is a quiet 'tlink' sound. I don't think I would have ever discovered that if Gregory hadn't enlightened me.

We remained silent, except Gregory's intensive grinning, as Mr Creevey wandered off, muttering to himself. Once he was out of sight and the arguments threatened begin again I spoke out.

"Look," I said, "We can talk about who's fault that was later. Right now we're too close to give up now. Does anyone remember the last four instructions?"

There was a pause.

"Yes."

"Joseph?"

"Yes," said Joseph, "I remember them. Can't anyone else?"

"Course not," said Gregory, "No-one can remember them all word for word."

"I can," said Joseph, "Easy really. At the end of the staircase turn left and continue for nine paces if it's not a full moon or eleven paces if it is."

Joseph led us the rest of the way. By the end of it we were in a small room with only one tiny cupboard in it. We threw the invisibility cloak off and approached it.

"What next Mr walking-talking-encyclopaedia?" I asked.

"Put your hand on the button at the end of the cupboard and say... something," said Joseph.

"What?" asked Lucy.

"Something," repeated Joseph.

"Oh he's forgotten!" cried Gregory.

"I have not!"

"Look here Greg," I said, "I may have only know Joseph for a short while but there's one thing I know and that's that he never forgets anything. Least of all something this important."

"It's one of his defining points," added Lucy, "Just like I'm talkative, Lee's smart and you're a Jerk."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said, Weasley!"

"Do yourself a favour, Malfoy," said Gregory, "Don't try insulting me by my last name. Unlike yours, it's respectable."

"Try acting like it then."

"Will you two shut up!"

"Keep out of this, Missy."

"Don't call my friend Missy! Your argument's with me, not her."

"All right. I'll call you Missy, Missy."

"You are far too childish to be here by now."

"Oh yeah, what's the betting I'm older than you, shorty."

"My birthday's in November, smart-arse. I'm guessing yours is later than that. Oh, and all tree's are felled at ground level, buster."

"Now that is uncalled for. I recognise that quote, Lucy."

"As if you could fell trees. You have to be able to pick them up, chubby!"

"At least I don't have the muscles of a stick insect."

"At least I have muscles."

"Hardly!"

While Lucy and Gregory were busy snapping at each other and I was busy trying to stop them, I hadn't been noticing what Joseph was doing. We were only alerted of his activities by the sound of wood scraping against a stone floor. We looked up just in time to see Joseph withdraw his hand from the cupboard and look up at us, grinning. The wall behind him was moving out like a pair of automatic doors.

"What'd you say?" asked Lucy.

There was a barely audible 'tlink' as Joseph grinned extraordinarily wide.

"Something."

As the wall moved out of the way, a bright light flowed out of the gap causing all four of us to simultaneously raise our arms to our eyes. As we saw the contents of the room on the other side we all gasped.

"Woah."

That was all we could say. It was a good description. If I were to describe the sights I saw I would only be able to say "Woah" or possibly "Wow". I might even verge on an "Amazing!" but only if I was in a particularly articulate mood.

As we moved forward, in to the light and saw the items hid round corners and such, more words came to mind. I think Gregory summarised it when he said,

"I have tasted Heaven's nectar and found it sweet!"

We all laughed at that, size of muscles and family name's forgotten.

"This is the greatest thing I have ever seen!" I gasped.

I looked round to see Lucy grinning at Gregory and I.

"What?"

"It's like giving monkeys the key to the banana plantation, isn't it?"

"Why?"

"I feel very sorry for them," added Joseph.

"Who?"

"The whole school!" said Lucy throwing her arms out wide. "I mean look at this stuff! I can only imagine what you two would get up to with this amount of practical jokes at hand!"

I grinned, so did Gregory. They were very evil grins.

"So can I."