DISCLAIMER:
See
A/N: I personally
think this well
be better than the original HoG, since they’re still together...
CHAPTER 35: PACTS AND PRANKS
Serpens ni ederit serpentem draco non fiet. If a snake does not eat a snake, it will not become a dragon. –Plautus, Curculio (55)
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” -Proverb
McGonagall had hardly been this angry in her life. After curtly
giving the
password to the Fat Lady, she stormed into the common room where her
students
waited tentatively.
They all stepped back at the sight of a very angry McGonagall. Without
letting
the guilt build up, she launched right into her problem. “Do any of you
have
any idea what you could have done?” she asked in her quiet but
dangerous voice.
Suddenly seeing Colin Creevey try and conceal something, she said, “Accio!”
Photos zoomed out into her hands. They were moving wizarding pictures
of
lion-Harry being electrocuted and his fur sticking on end. If the prank
hadn’t
been so dangerous, McGonagall may have been slightly amused. However,
enough
electricity to put a person into cardiac arrest certainly counted as
dangerous.
“Let me get one thing perfectly
straight,” she continued, pacing around the room and staring her
students down
with a look she had perfected over the years, “I do not approve at all
of your
dangerous actions towards Mr. Potter. Some of us were actually around
during
the First War, and we know how Riddle’s evil, manipulative mind works.
You,
Gryffindor House, are supposed to be the House of the brave, the noble,
the
courageous, the honorable, and the valorous. There is nothing
brave, or noble, or courageous, or honorable, or valorous
about what you’ve been doing. That ‘harmless little prank’ earlier
today could
have killed him, so that’s fifty points from Gryffindor, and detention
for a
month for Miss Arnold.” Ignoring their gasps, she went on, “Your
hypocrisy is
so detestable, even the Slytherins haven’t been doing this. You are
Gryffindors, so start acting like it! All that electricity put Mr.
Potter into
cardiac arrest! His heart stopped!”
“He has a heart?” came a sarcastic voice from the back.
McGonagall snapped, “Another twenty-five points from Gryffindor and a
detention! And yes, he does have a heart, considering how much he’s
done over
the years!” Taking a deep breath, she continued, “Is there anything
else I
should know?”
A steady hand was raised. “Yes, Miss Weasley?”
“Judy Arnold’s got more tricks planned for Harry.”
“Weasley!” she hissed from across the room.
“You mean a Dungbomb here or there?” McGonagall asked suspiciously.
“Are you kidding?” Ginny asked incredulously. “She’s got a whole
arsenal under
her bed! And Neville told me earlier how
he overheard her talking to Michael Corner and Zacharias Smith on what
else
they could do!”
McGonagall stood stock-still, and charged right up the girls’ stairs.
She came
back down with the angry kind of look on her face that could give
students
nightmares until they were as old as she was. “I will not tolerate
this!” she
proclaimed. “If this continues, there will be hell to pay!” A few
students
gasped and her minor cursing, but they ignored it as she charged back
out of
the common room.
“Ginny!”
“As a matter of fact, I did,” Ginny said, crossing her arms. “I can’t
allow you
to hurt Harry. Because then you’ll be feeling very stupid once he
proves you
wrong.”
This confused everyone until Ginny suddenly rounded on Arnold
herself. “ALLOW ME TO DO IT FOR YOU!” she
yelled,
smacking
There was silence as
“That was a very stupid thing to say,
“NO!”
“Now’s not a good time to mess with me, Arnold,” the redhead said
dangerously,
“I’m having my period.”
With a glare, Ginny left the room. She walked down to the Great Hall,
where she
saw Neville sitting at the Gryffindor table, seething.
“I can’t believe them,” Neville muttered. “They’ll have to hang
themselves
after this, you realize. Maybe I should supply the rope.”
“Neville!” Ginny said a little shocked. Putting a hand on his shoulder,
she
said, “Just ignore it, Neville. You’ve gone through your years at
Hogwarts
without being in the spotlight, I’m sure you can do the same now.”
There was a moment of silence before Ginny suddenly laughed. “Oh, I’m
sorry,
Neville, but that’s rich. Harry’s been cursed with all this fame and
attention
which he doesn’t want, while you grow up with so little of it, which
you want
more of. How ironic; what a pair you two make, huh?”
Neville laughed and smiled a little. “Good one, Ginny, good one.”
“I’m sure parents will be proud of you, Neville; you’ve done so much
already,
and I don’t you’ve already reached your limit by now.”
Neville was actually blushing from all the pride. “Thanks, Gin. You
really know
how to help.”
~*~*~*~
Breakfast the next morning pretty much passed the same as always until
Dumbledore got up halfway through.
“Students and staff of Hogwarts, I have an interesting announcement to
make.”
While there was silence, Dumbledore continued, “We have a new student
transferring here today. He is a sixth-year from Beauxbatons who is
interested
in getting a hands-on education for a future here in Wizarding
The door opened, revealing a tall boy with a pointed face. He walked
casually
and had a small smile on his face. He had a fair complexion, black
locks of
hair, and light blue eyes. In Harry’s opinion, he looked like a strange
mix of
Draco and Sirius. He was probably considered handsome, since several
girls were
giggling and pointing at him.
In Harry’s opinion, there was something familiar about this boy, not
just in
his physical appearance...
“May I introduce,” Dumbledore went on, “Roy Serpenfils.” (1)
“Yes, Headmaster,” he said in a rather light French accent, which
caused some
more feminine giggling. Dumbledore revealed the Sorting Hat, which the
new
student eagerly tried on. A few moments later, the Hat came to its
decision.
“SLYTHERIN!” it announced, which caused the Gryffindors to look even
more put
out. The Slytherins cheered as the new student walked over to their
table,
fingering the new Slytherin badge on his chest.
“That all said and done,” Dumbledore concluded, “I ask that you all
welcome him
to our school. That is all.”
And with that, breakfast resumed as normal, except for the newfound
chatter
from the Slytherin table.
~*~*~*~
After breakfast, Harry went to his office to get some more work done,
and after
a while, there was a knock on his door.
“Come in,” he said from his desk.
It was Roy Serpenfils. The French
teenager came up to Harry and said in his French accent, “Harry Potter,
yes?
May I speak to you privately for one moment?”
Harry nodded, and
After securing the door and putting a Silencing Charm on the room,
“Draco!?” Harry yelped, jumping back. “What the-”
“Easy, Harry,” he said casually, smiling a different kind of smile than
his
usual haughty smirk. “I’m a Metamorphmagus.”
“You are!?” Harry exclaimed. “How?”
“As you already know, Tonks is my cousin. Our mothers were sisters;
there might
be something hereditary on their side of the family. What do Muggles
call that
study of theirs... jenitax?”
“Genetics,” Harry corrected him, “with traits being inherited, half
from one
parent and half from the other.”
“Exactly,” Draco said, nodding. “The Metamorphagus gene runs in the
Black
family, although few members of it had the ability itself.” (2)
“Do the professors know?”
“Of course they do!” Draco said triumphantly. “My dear godfather
Severus worked
this all out with the other professors! I’m here working for them to
spy on
other students, root out any possible Riddle sympathizers.” Dropping
his voice,
he asked, “Can I trust you with an important secret, Harry?”
Harry nodded slowly. Draco took out an intricate green-silver pendant
in the
form of a snake. Suddenly, he started a conversation with it in
Parseltongue
which Harry could understand.
That pocket of yours was full of lint,
Master,” the amulet said.
“I only cleaned it out yesterday, so
don’t complain, Seth,” Draco replied, stuffing the amulet back in
his
pocket. (3)
Harry felt even more surprised than before. “You’re a Parselmouth!?”
Draco hesitated for a moment. “Yes… and
no.”
”What do you mean by that?” Harry asked.
“This is a secret, Harry,” he said urgently. “I found this – I can’t tell you where, mind you – and it called out to me. This belonged to Salazar Slytherin. This only works best with any true Slytherin students or alumni. It grants them Parseltongue, among a few other things.”
“Hm,” Harry commented.
“Even more surprising… it turns out that Salazar Slytherin wasn’t truly responsible for the thing with using the Chamber of Secrets to purge Muggle-born students from the school. Slytherin actually reconciled with the other Founders years after he left, but after they all died, some of his more radical descendants still wanted Hogwarts to be pureblooded institution, so they rewrote the history books, including the Chamber of Secrets myth as just about everyone knows it This amulet was to be used to maintain Salazar Slytherin’s true final wishes. The best part is, you don’t even have to be one of his descendants to use it!”
Harry just stood there, his feet practically glued to the floor. The Founders were calling out to Draco too
from the great beyond? What was going on
here?
“So, what’s been happening lately in your life?” Draco asked, not
feeling like
watching Harry standing there like an idiot (and never guessing that
Harry
already knew that same information, except for the part concerning the
amulet).
Quickly recovering, Harry informed him about the cure for the Cruciatus
Curse,
his new connections to Snape, Cho, Blaise and Peeves, and all the
problems that
his fellow classmates...
“An Electrifying Rat?” Draco asked incredulously. “Imagine the hell
they would
have been in for if McGonagall had fallen for one of those.”
Harry laughed along with them. His laughing died off as he then said,
“I never
thought one of the Weasley twins’ products would put me into Hospital
Wing. And
they were the ones who tried to send me a toilet seat as a get-well-
soon gift
in my first year, too.”
As Draco laughed at this, Harry’s mind was working. Weasley
twins. Prank. Toilet seats...
“I got it!” Harry exclaimed. After getting out his Marauder legacy
book, then
finding a spare piece of wood and transfiguring it into a toilet seat,
he
eagerly got to work...
~*~*~*~
It was a busy day (as usual) at the Weasley twins’ joke shop in Diagon
Alley.
Suddenly, Hedwig flew in with a letter and a package the size of a
large
textbook just as Fred and George were on break. The twins read the
letter
together as Hedwig flew off.
To the Weasley twins,
By any chance did either of you hear about your Electrocuting Rat which
nearly
killed me? I sincerely hope (for your
sakes) that was some sort of malfunction and not deliberate, because it
would
not look good if you killed your chief investor like that.
Also, there’s something else I think you should know.
Not only am I the son of one Marauder, the
godson of another and the student of a third, but I’m now an official
Marauder
myself. Just consider this fair warning, and please make sure nothing
of the
sort ever happens again.
Either way, I hope this package finds its way to you safe and sound.
Cheers, Harry (a.k.a. Mr. Fireclaw)
P.S. Enjoy samples of my first product ever: Tackling Toilet Seats!
Ironically,
it was you who gave me the idea!
The twins looked at each other apprehensively as the package suddenly
shook,
and then burst open. Two off-white toilet seats suddenly jumped out and
flopped
around before leaping at the twins themselves.
“Ow!” Fred exclaimed as it attached itself around his waist and
tightened,
applying pressure. “It bites!”
“This is a bad day in Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes history, mate!” George
exclaimed
as his own toilet seat grabbed him by the forearm and started dragging
him
across the floor with unbelievable strength. “We’ve been superseded!
Why the
hell didn’t we think of this?”
The toilet seats continued to drag them around and wreak damage on the
store.
Outside, people gazed curiously, wondering what exactly had happened
inside the
newest joke shop in town. (4)
~*~*~*~
About half an hour later, the twins were finally able to neutralize the spells on Harry’s samples. Then again, they weren’t surprised, since Harry did have the ultimate Marauder book with him.
“Okay, bro,” Fred said as he threw his inactive toilet seat aside on top of George’s. “How do we try to fix this?”
“Hm,” George contemplated. “Well, we need a way to gain Harry’s trust again… not that we don’t blame him, of course…”
After an uneasy moment of silence passed and both of them felt guilty for ever doubting Harry, both of them came up with a solution.
“The prank contest we had in mind!” they both exclaimed in unison. They had been dwelling on it for a while as a sort of public relations thing, where anyone could submit an idea for a prank (the twins themselves would create it, just to be safe), and whoever won with the best prank idea would get a year’s supply of WWW products.
“But how would Harry tie into this?” Fred asked.
“He’s the technical heir to the Marauders, dear bro,” George answered him. “Trouble – including pranks – are obviously in his blood. He’ll probably have such a good time with this contest that even if he doesn’t win, he’ll eventually get over that minor problem we had a week ago!”
“But what if he purposely devises a prank just to humiliate us?” George asked warily.
“Meh,” Fred shrugged, waving it aside. “If we can deal with Tackling Toilet Seats (even if they’re not out product), we can deal with anything.”
After a further moment of contemplation, both of them decided to get cracking.
“Well, what are we waiting for, George?” Fred asked, looking excited.
“To the ad-drafting board, Fred!” George exclaimed, looking dramatic.
~*~*~*~
Later that afternoon, plenty of WWW flyers somehow managed to find their way into the common rooms of all the Hogwarts Houses. Students were immediately interested and excited, and already people were trying to form groups and come up with ideas.
Harry and Ginny took some interest in this, while Ron and Hermione didn’t; prank-making wasn’t one of Ron’s fortes and Hermione was certainly by no means a prankster.
And throughout the entire afternoon, the staff got increasingly
nervous from
all the mischievous smirks their students were throwing around.
~*~*~*~
Later, Draco-as-Roy managed to find Harry and told him, “Come to the
Room of
Requirement at midnight; there’s something I want to tell you.”
“Okay, like what?”
“You’ll see,” he said with a wink.
Harry nodded and decided to take Draco’s word for it. He spent the rest
of the
day enjoying the rumors about the Weasley twins’ defeat by a pair of
attacking
toilet seats.
~*~*~*~
Later at midnight, Harry walked in to find, not just
“Good,”
“That’s amazing, Draco,” Ginny said.
Draco winked and said, “I’m full of surprises, Gin.”
“And I should know!” Pansy said, backing him up, causing some other
people to
laugh.
Thinking fast, Harry asked, “Was
there ever anything romantic between the two of you?”
Draco smirked while Ginny laughed. “No, although I admit this Slytherin
slob
can be quite friendly when he wants. I kissed him in front of Ron just
to get
him going.”
“Hey!” Draco said with mock outrage. “Other people don’t use me, I use
them!
Besides, I saw her in private to show her how to identify Dark objects
like
that diary and how to defend herself against them!”
Harry laughed while Draco asked for silence. “There’s something else I
think
everyone should know...” with that, he explained and proved his
abilities by
being the one in possession the amulet of Salazar Slytherin, not
forgetting to
add how recently he only found out about them.
There were gasps and shocked expressions, but Ginny looked positively
repulsed.
“The last thing I need is another Riddle!” she exclaimed.
Draco sighed and shook his head. “I’m not Riddle; I hate him. And when
he’s
destroyed, it’s not as though I’ll try to come along and replace him. I
have no
intentions on world domination or any such thing. Besides, I can’t
blame you
for what happened in your first year. Heck, if I had known my father
had that
blasted diary, I would have chucked it into the fireplace or have my
owl drop
it in a volcano before letting that thing wreak havoc.”
There was silence as Draco continued, “I swear I will do all I can to
work
behind the scenes and undermine his reign of terror.”
Ginny nodded solemnly along with everyone else as “Oh, and there’s one
other
thing; as I once had the potential to be a viper-basilisk Polyanimagus,
the
amulet helped speed things up a little. I purposely won’t transform
into a
basilisk, but take a look at my viper form.” A silver viper suddenly
slithered
around where Draco was, but Harry could understand what he was saying.
“Don’t you just trust me?” he joked. “I’m a cute, cuddly
little
viper.”
Harry laughed in Parseltongue.
Draco transformed back and said, “Speaking of which, there are these
old Dark
Arts manuals I was able to get out of my manor before the Ministry
seized my
father’s property. They might have something about a sort of vaccine
for
people, which means that can resist a basilisk’s glare. Unfortunately,
the main
ingredients are basilisk eyes themselves. It should be safe to harvest
them for
a dead basilisk, since the eyes themselves lose their deadly power when
the
basilisk itself is dead. I was hoping to find a way to brew the vaccine
with
Professor Snape’s help.”
Snape nodded, his mouth closed since the first time he stared
open-mouthed at
his godson’s secrets.
“Good,” Draco said simply. “In the meantime, we maintain my disguise
and
continue to make Hogwarts secure. Oh, and by the way, there is
something I
would like to discuss with Harry, Blaise, Neville, Ginny, and Professor
Lupin.
Good night, everyone.”
As the others returned the “good night” and left, the remaining six
formed
together. “Anyway,” Draco continued, “I must admit I am disgusted with
some
students’ behavior.” Turning to Harry, he went on, “I read about your
father
and his friends being such talented pranksters, and so, I am asking
you, the
rightful heir to the Marauders, to reform the group and carry the
torch.”
Harry was surprised, as was Lupin. Draco added, “I know about Neville’s
bear
Animagus ability. It also turns out that Blaise is working to become a
shark
Animagus.” Blaise nodded before Draco continued, “I was hoping that us
younger
Animagi could continue the noble work of pranking those who royally
deserve it.
And with the telepathic connection between Harry and Ginny, we can get
inside
help, and no one will be the wiser! Even
better, we can try to spy on suspicious students that might have Dark
connections.”
Lupin thought about it and finally said with a smile, “I don’t see why
not.”
“Oh, and Professor,” Draco added, “After this meeting, remember, this
didn’t
happen.”
Lupin chuckled, “I’ll endeavor to forget.”
“So,” Harry went on, “My Marauder name is Mr. Fireclaw. How about you
guys?”
“Mr. Slithers,” Draco said proudly. “Don’t ask me why, I just like it.”
Harry felt more comfortable around Draco when the true Slytherin acted
more
relaxed and casual like this.
“Mr. Razorfin,” Blaise said with a grin.
“And what about you, Neville?” Ginny asked. “Unfortunately, I wouldn’t
be able
to join you officially, since I’ll have to keep my distance.”
Neville thought and said, “You really want me to be a part of this?”
“Of course we do!” Harry said.
“Yeah, that and the fact your knowledge in Herbology can help immensely
for our
pranks,” Blaise added, since he was in the same Herbology class as
Neville.
“Mr. Groundsnout,” Neville said with a shrug.
“And thus,” Lupin said with a grin, “Messrs. Fireclaw, Slithers,
Razorfin and
Groundsnout have been inducted as Marauders. Just make sure I don’t
catch you,”
he added as an afterthought.
They laughed while Ginny kissed Harry on the cheek. For some reason,
Lupin felt
sentimental. It was like seeing himself, Lily, James, Sirius and Peter
all over
again. Heck, they even looked something like their predecessors. Harry
was the
spitting image of his father (of course), Ginny bore a great
resemblance to
Lily, Blaise looked something like Lupin himself (that and the fact
Blaise was
also a prefect, like Lupin once was), Neville looked something like
Peter, and
Draco, as Roy, looked a lot like Sirius.
Lupin’s thoughts were a little sadder when he thought of the fates of
the
original Marauders, and he could only hope and pray that the new
Marauders
wouldn’t suffer similar fates.
‘That won’t happen,’ he reassured himself. ‘He’ll be protected by
Ginny,
Neville, Blaise, Draco, Severus, Peeves, and undoubtedly, Dobby.’
With a smile, he told them all to get to bed so they could properly
sleep in
late the following Sunday morning. Lupin wiped away a tear from his eye
as he
returned to his own private quarters. They were certainly carrying the
torch;
they also had to remember not to drop it when things got tough.
Lupin would sleep well past breakfast the next morning, but that was a
good
thing, as he wouldn’t be suspected for the spectacle that was underway.
~*~*~*~
The next morning at breakfast, Harry and his friends had worked with
the
Marauders’ Map to deliver some messages to Gryffindor House.
Luna was just putting her spoon aside when she saw the wall on the
Gryffindor
side of the hall. “Look! The wall! Somebody’s writing on it!”
That got everyone’s attention, and a message formed as though a giant
invisible
hand were writing on the wall, in thick, heavy writing: The new Marauders have something to say.
That message disappeared, and two ink-like sketches appeared: a lion and a phoenix. The as the phoenix flew across the wall with the lion running right behind it, a message formed behind them.
“Mr. Fireclaw hereby proclaims in the name of the original Marauders, Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, that the new Marauders will roam the school and dispel judgment on those who deserve it.”
Muttering broke loose, and the teachers (especially those around during the Marauders’ time) began to look worried.
That message vanished as a Great White Shark appeared on the wall, dispensing a message as it swam along.
“Mr. Razorfin adds that Riddle’s supporters within Hogwarts are not the only potential targets, and pranks may occur at random to innocent students for whatever reason we do them.”
As that message disappeared, some more confused muttering, especially among those said professors.
A moment later, a viper and a basilisk appeared (although to most people in the hall, they just looked like a small snake accompanied by a bigger one). As they slithered along, yet another message appeared.
“Mr. Slithers can promise Riddle’s supporters within Hogwarts that they will be begging for the Aurors to take them away by the time we’re through with them.”
The hall seemed to be more worried, and an uneasy silence fell on the hall. As that message disappeared, a bear took its place; as it lumbered along, a fourth and final message come into view.
“Mr. Groundsnout would like to conclude this announcement by reassuring our esteemed professors that we are on their side, and for the most part, we’re just four more of those students they are paid to teach and endure.”
As everything vanished off the wall, some strange laughing could be
heard
across the hall in response to that last comment. (5)
Up at the staff table, Snape knew that “Mr. Fireclaw” was without a doubt Harry Potter. If he could guess correctly, he’d said that “Messrs. Razorfin, Slithers, and Groundsnout” were Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom respectively.
‘Merlin’s staff,’ he thought, ‘this could be interesting.’
Just then, another thought occurred to him.
‘Bugger, I’d better do something about this with my colleagues…’
(End of Chapter 35.)
A/N: Hehehe… PRANKS ARE STILL ON, EVERYONE! I’ll be fixing up old ones and putting in new ones!
(1) “Roi” means king in French, and the last name is supposed to be something along the lines of “Son of the serpent” or something like that.
(2) Does this make sense, that a Metamorphmagic trait might be hereditary or something?
Also, in the original version, Draco Malfoy was another one of Slytherin’s descendants, which I thought would have been interesting; HOWEVER, public consensus wanted otherwise, so there you go then.
(3) The amulet is named after the Egyptian snake god, Seth (also sometimes known as Sett). If you think back to chapter 28, Nemesis says something beginning with “For Sett’s sake…”
BTW, does it sound like an okay name for a snake thing? The only other mythological snakes I could think of were the Hydra and Python from Greek mythology and Jormungand from Norse mythology, none of which seemed very fitting for the snake amulet, given it’s nature, as you’ll learn later on…
(4) Hahaha! Amazing how the twins never thought of this, isn’t it? What do you guys think of this?
(5) I hope this revised message
from the new Marauders didn’t sound like something out of that movie
“Boondock
Saints” or something. (Has
anyone here ever watched that?)