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From: At Scrivenshaft's looking at the new quills
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Our Story ~
Chapter One
Visiting the Sick by evlpez
Harry arrived at Professor Snape's office at precisely eight o'clock. Rather than glum at the prospect of another detention with Snape, he was looking forward to reading more accounts, however vague, of his parents' time at Hogwarts. There was a pang of regret that the only things he was now learning about his father were through glances into the past at those events which cast him in the least favorable light. Beggars couldn't be choosers however. Having accepted the fact that no one is perfect, he was happy just to know the smallest things about his imperfect father and his friends. Most of the detention cards he'd read so far were not in the least as serious or disturbing to Harry as his trip into the pensieve the night he saw Snape's worst memory of the Marauders.
Snape opened the door and allowed Harry to pass inside to the desk, atop which sat the box of old file cards waiting to be copied. Harry smiled secretly at the sneer behind him. He wasn't going to pretend for Snape's sake that he felt abused and angry about having to do this. Harry suspected that the time spent here was not convenient for Snape. He probably had other things to do, like spying on Death Eaters or reporting to his boss, whomever that might really be. If he was put out more so by Harry's inability to be cowed by what should rightly be a horrible detention, all the better.
Harry sat down and began shuffling through, looking for a familiar name and looking forward to imagining how it came to be. He spotted a Potter and paused, smiling. He looked up at Snape and caught him watching. The professor gave him a brumal glare and bent to his papers, marking one with such force that he knocked his coffee mug off the desk, sending it skittering across the stone floor. Harry resisted the urge to laugh out loud.
"Thank goodness for Infrangible charms, huh Profe-?"
"Silence, Potter. I think you're old enough to be able to perform your task for one evening without the incessant, infantile babbling."
Harry smirked.
October, 1974
Potter, James
Pettigrew, Peter
Black, Sirius
Black, Regulus
Black, Bellatrix
He frowned. What were his dad and Sirius doing getting into trouble beside two future Death Eaters? Surely they… He read on.
Offense: Willful meddling with an Anodyne Solution, risking harm to students in the Hospital Wing, disruption of Hospital Wing, destruction of a priceless antique vase
Punishment: Service to staff in the Hospital Wing thrice weekly for three weeks, without magic.
As he read the anecdotal notes on the back of the card he imagined them played out in his mind.
"At least my friends are warm-blooded, Bella," Sirius retorted over his shoulder at his cousin. To James he muttered, "Just ignore her. She's only repeating what the rest of the family tells her. Poor stupid thing can't think for herself, you know."
James shrugged and smiled. "If Regulus didn’t look so much like you, I'd think you were adopted, Sirius."
Sirius nodded in agreement as Peter struggled to keep up with them.
"But guys, why is Remus in the Hospital Wing? I mean, is he sick? Is that why he didn't come to bed last night? Where did he go?"
James and Sirius exchanged a look. They had their suspicions about Remus' health problems, but weren't ready to share them just yet, even with Peter, until they'd confronted Remus. They wouldn't do it today of course. You can't kick your mate when he's down.
"Hey guys. What're you doing here?" Remus asked when they marched to his bedside behind the Nurse's back.
"Shh.. we're probably not supposed to be here. You all right, Remus?" James asked in a whisper.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Remus said, looking out the window.
"What happened to you last night?" Peter asked quietly.
Remus shrugged. "Must've ate something at dinner that didn't agree."
"Something that fought back on the way down?" Sirius asked, eyeing the not-quite-healed gash along Remus' jaw.
"Oh, that. I fell on the way here. Scraped my chin on the doorway," Remus replied calmly. "Might even still be blood on the jamb. Lucky I didn't send that big pot flying," he added, nodding his head towards the large floor vase beside the door.
"Madam, I saw my cousin come in here," came a familiar voice from behind the curtain. "He isn't bothering your patients is he? He can be such trouble some times."
The four boys froze. Sirius and James peered out discreetly to see the backs of Bellatrix and Regulus. He was hidden from the matron by the curtain, and they were standing next to a cart containing trays of various vials and decanters.
"No, Miss Black. I'm sure I haven't seen him. If you're not here for treatment I must ask that you both leave and go back to your common room. Don't touch those, please. They're for my patients."
"Oh, sorr-" Regulus was interrupted by the crash of the glass vial he'd dropped on the floor.
"See what you've done, Regulus? Go! I'm so sorry, Madam. Let me help."
As the Matron bent down to clean up the mess, Bellatrix opened a vial and added a pinch of something to it from her pocket. Regulus smirked at her and saw Sirius out of the corner of his eye. His face dropped a moment, and Sirius knew that he was considering whether to betray him to Bella. He didn't, but turned his back and walked towards the door and waited for her. Bella, satisfied that her help wasn't wanted, followed.
Sirius pulled his wand out and as Bellatrix neared the door, he flicked and muttered. The enormous vase swept itself into the air and hurled itself at Bellatrix, bowling her over and crashing on the stone into dust.
The Matron gasped, grabbing the curtain behind her in surprise and revealing James, Peter and Sirius.
"You aren't… d..d..did you to that?!" She demanded, her face going red. She rushed over to Bellatrix, who was crying out on the floor in pain.
"Poor dear. No.. nothing broken, you're okay. Just let me get you something," the matron cooed, summoning the same vial from the cart which Bellatrix had tainted.
"Drink this down, dear. It's only mild."
Bellatrix's eyes nearly popped out of her head and she shouted through her tears. "NO! I mean, I’m FINE Madam. Really!"
But the Matron had too keen an eye to give Sirius the satisfaction that he was waiting for. She peered at the vial and shook it, then narrowed her eyes at Bellatrix and Regulus. Then she turned to the boys and stood up.
"Out. All of you. NOW. You'll hear about this later."
Harry couldn't allow himself to imagine that Bellatrix would have been made to drink the solution. Despite how much he hated her, and how much Sirius hated her, he couldn't. Part of him hoped she had, but there was nothing on the detention card to suggest that she'd gotten anything but a minor injury from the incident. None of the staff knew for certain who had done what to cause the commotion, or taint the Anodyne Solution, so they'd agreed to give all five of them the same detention. Harry liked to think that James and Sirius had gone easy on Bellatrix and Regulus because Regulus had decided not to rat Sirius out when he saw them, but really, none of that was on the card, either. He finished copying the card and stuffed the original nonchalantly into his robes.
"Souvenir, Potter?" Snape sneered, standing up from his desk.
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Chapter Two
The Oddball’s Eye by cherabela
Harry froze with his hand in his pocket as Snape’s eyes searched his.
“Might I remind you Potter that it is very easy for me to double your detention to twice a week. I must say the days have been growing warmer, and I’m sure you-”
His words of malice were stopped short just as a yell was heard from outside the office door.
Malfoy trudged into the room, holding his right arm so tightly that it was a wonder how any blood was coursing through it at all. He banged into Snape’s desk, sending a bottle of magical ink flying over a pile of essays. Harry’s look of shock couldn’t have matched the look of revulsion on Snape’s face as he said, “Potter! Out! Now!”
Without being told further, Harry scurried out of the office, his mind set that Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater, no matter what Ron or Hermione said. Harry took out the detention card as he walked past a painting in which Uric the Oddball was at an empty table strewn with playing cards; he was twirling a green olive in his drink.
“What does it matter if you weren’t playing nice? I say. Don’t worry Mr. Tentacles, it’s all right,” he cooed, patting the jellyfish gently on the top part. “I know you didn’t cheat. Those plangent sharks think that appearance is all that matters. I mean- come here boy!”
Harry turned round wondering to whom he was shouting at. There was nobody else in sight.
“You’re the Potter boy aren’t you? Fame still doesn’t stop you from getting into trouble now. Just like your father I must say.”
“You knew my father?” Harry asked, wondering how on earth James could have been on speaking terms with this portrait inhabitant.
“Of course I did! And he landed himself in many detentions with his friends I tell you too. Such a good boy. He did offer to give Mr. Tentacles a proper home once, did you know that?”
“No,” Harry said quickly, feeling that Uric had worn that jellyfish for far too long on his head. “You wouldn’t, happen to know about a detention my father had with his friends one night would you? A detention with two other Slytherin students. They were in the Hospital Wing,” he said, as he looked hopefully up to the portrait. It was a long shot, but he was willing to try anything. The card, although a valuable source of information, wasn’t enough to quench his curiosity entirely.
“But of course. October, 1974. James, Peter, Sirius, Regulus and Bellatrix. Quite a merry bunch,” Uric said, as if it had only happened yesterday.
“It’s written on your card boy,” he said, as he spotted the clear look of astonishment on Harry’s face. Harry couldn’t help not think that perhaps, Uric the Oddball was not quite the bibulous fellow he was thought to be.
And as Uric started telling his story, having attracted Harry’s attention like a mountebank with his jellyfish’s tentacles, rather than medicines, Harry could see it all playing in front of his eyes again, as if Hermione still possessed a time turner and they had gone far back into time.
“Don’t you dare place your filthy feet on that spot!” raged Bellatrix as Sirius walked past the area she had just been scrubbing clean. She looked very different from her usual proud figure casting her hatred on all muggleborns. At that moment, all she seemed she had the power over was an army of scrub brushes.
“Calm down Bella or your head might explode. Do you wish to know what happened to Snivellus the last time he decided we were too good to live?” Sirius grinned. Peter sniggered behind his back as he polished the surface of a bedside table.
Bellatrix was about to throw a tirade of foul language in his face when Regulus suddenly gave a loud panicked shriek as the glass cabinet with medicine bottles and ointments he had been cleaning came crashing down upon him.
Thankfully, Moony was quick in his wandwork and shouted “Impedimenta!” The glass cabinet stopped in midair, mere inches from Regulus’s cowering figure.
“You’re too soft on the heart Remus!” stated James, clearly deeply annoyed that the cabinet hadn’t squashed Sirius’s brother flat.
“I’m trying to avoid getting you three into further detention,” said Remus, wincing as he slid back down onto his bed.
Bellatrix shot a quick look at the door to Madam Pomfrey’s office. She had cast the Muffliato spell, one she had seen Snape use numerous times. She just hoped that it would keep on working. As the minutes passed, the matron didn’t come out and it was a clear sign that the incident hadn’t been heard.
While Sirius was whispering something to Lupin, and James was busy setting the cabinet on its feet again and mending any broken things, she quickly took the opportunity of snatching a bottle filled with a queer orange substance and placing it carefully in her pocket.
But as she was about to continue her innocent scrubbing she found she couldn’t even move her toes.
“Right good spell Lupin here taught us isn’t it?” Sirius sneered as he planted himself in front of Bellatrix. “Nice work Peter.”
If she had had possession of her muscles at that moment she’d have liked to teach that Pettigrew boy that it was a terrible mistake to play tricks on Bellatrix Black. For that moment though, she had to remain quiet and let the time pass slowly as her body slowly regained movement.
“I do hope you remember how Madam Pomfrey had insisted that none of us are to touch any of her precious potion bottles. I think you have just crossed the line Bella. A couple of more weeks worth of detention would probably make you realise that you just shouldn’t touch other people’s medicine.”
“Sirius,” came a croaky whisper from one of the beds. He ran to Remus’s side as the latter continued, “Can you open the window for me please?”
As Sirius was about to do this, Bellatrix started resuming the control of her body again; at least she could move her mouth and she wanted to make that a point.
“You will definitely not open that window!” she raged, the words spewing out of her mouth redolent with pure loathing.
The sky outside was the colour of Snape’s greasy scalp, and rain was pelting down in a slow and dreamy manner, as if a little rain was the kind of thing the students would enjoy all day long.
“I will not have spent the past hours cleaning this damn place for you to mess it all up just to please your stupid friends,” continued Bellatrix whose body was shaking with fury now.
While Bellatrix was busy retorting about how she wouldn’t be spending another minute in the company of blood traitors, James summoned a pile of mud from outside and sent it swerving at her. It hit her directly in the face, and by the time she removed the brown mask James had planted, her face was redder than Peeves’s favourite pair of pants.
“Why you-”
“Ms. Black!” came Madam Pomfrey’s cry as she rushed out of her office just in time to see Bellatrix pointing her wand at James. “I do not wish to see further harm inflicted upon any other Hogwarts students, especially for some petty reasons. Move along you lot.”
With that she ushered them all out of the room. Before they were forced out by the insistent matron, James, Sirius and Peter ran to Remus’s side and promised that they would visit him again that evening.
To their surprise though, Lupin disagreed with their suggestion.
“I really appreciate your company, but I’m tired. I think I’ll get some sleep now. Madam Pomfrey has been insisting I do so for days now,” said Lupin, who was trying to sit up but couldn’t because of the pain.
“We’ll only be a minute!” Sirius protested.
“No,” Lupin said yet again. “I’m sure I’ll be much better tomorrow.”
Just then, Madam Pomfrey came along to usher them out threatening to call the Headmaster if they didn’t let her patients get the rest they required. As they made their way out they passed Regulus, who glanced nervously at his pocketwatch before starting a seemingly interesting whispered discussion with Bellatrix. They shot the three friends final furtive looks and left the hospital wing.
Uric the Oddball stopped, and drank the last remaining contents of his glass before sucking at the olive. Harry on the other hand wasn’t quite as relaxed.
“And then what happened?” he asked, his heart beating faster than was normal. “Did my dad and his friends go to the hospital wing that evening?”
He waited before speaking out loud the question that was gnawing at his insides.
“Did Bellatrix and Regulus go too?”
Before Uric could answer him, a loud crash came from the entrance hall.
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Chapter Three
Orange Fuzz by Chad 13
Although Harry wanted very much for Uric to continue, his own, “love of playing the hero,” was to great, and with no more than a quick wave to the portrait Harry began sprinting towards the entrance hall. A large crowd had already gathered as Harry skidded to a halt. “Why hello Harry.” Spinning around a bit to quickly Harry found himself face to face with Professor Dumbledore.
“Professor, what, what was that noise?” Harry asked quite out of breath. Dumbledore grinned and pointed over the crowd. “Courtesy of your father too, if I remember correctly.” Harry stared. “I do believe it was left here in retaliation for a detention he and his friends were forced to serve with a few Slytherins.” Harry quickly turned back towards the Professor.
“And ... and what happened after that detention? If you don’t mind my asking.” Dumbledore smiled.
“Oh I don’t mind at all Harry.”
And Dumbledore began his story, Harry imagining it all as he went:
James, Sirius, and Peter trudged back towards their dormitory slightly abashed at Moony’s requesting them to leave.
“Maybe he really is very sick.” Peter began.
“Yeah, sick enough to send us away? Not likely Wormtail.” Sirius replied dragging his feet along the carpet.
“Crying over your sick mate are you cousin?” Sirius, James, and Peter all turned right around to see Bellatrix and Regulus following them.
“At least we have a mate to cry over.” James called back.
Bellatrix did not respond but began to smirk, both hands placed in the pockets of her robes. James and Sirius exchanged glances. “Got two wands stashed in their Bella?” Sirius asked.
“Or perhaps it’s a certain potion you forgot to return during detention.” James and Sirius drew their wands simultaneously, Peter awkwardly following suit.
“Don’t try anything.” Bellatrix replied darkly, “I am not in the mood.” Regulus drew his own wand behind Bella.
“That’s to bad,” Sirius sighed, “It would have made this whole thing so much more enjoyable.” With a few shouts of spells and jets of light, and the drop of one bottle of putrid smoke; the corridor finally fell silent.
“James!” Sirius called coughing.
“All here!” he called back jokingly. As the smoke cleared the two boys found Peter, stunned, but concuss, his nose streaming blood. Staring at it dripping on to his robes the boy yelped. “Don’t be a baby Wormtail, you’re fine.”
“But you won’t be!”
“Shut up!” Sirius cried flicking his wand at Bellatrix before she could utter another word.
“You know, if you’re going to hex somebody, hex them. Don’t stand their talking about it!” James smirked at himself proudly while Bella screamed as she hovered upside down beside them.
Suddenly, James, with the eye only a seeker could posses, jumped for a small bottle of orange liquid that dropped from Bella’s now out turned pockets.
“Beautiful catch Prongs! Most impressive!” Sirius cried over Peter’s claps, as James summer salted out from under Bella.
“Regulus, Regulus!” Bella screeched. But Regulus was nowhere in site.
“Timorous coward,” Sirius muttered standing up.
“What is it James?” Peter asked, again wiping blood from his face. James stared down at the bottle he’d caught.
“Dye,” he said perplexed.
“Dye? What’d you want Orange Dye for?” Sirius asked staring up at his cousins now blood filled face.
“Let me down!” she cried without answering.
“No, I think we’ll just return it while you take some time to think over your actions. Don’t go anywhere now, you’ve been very bad, and we’re going to have to talk about this.” Sirius laughed deeply as James and Peter followed him back down the hall towards the hospital wing; Bella working herself into quite a dudgeon and yelling at them until they turned down a hidden passageway to muffle her voice.
“Moony my friend, you’ll just never be rid of us!” Sirius cried pushing the hospital wing doors open. But a quick look around proved that Moony was no longer there. “And you said he was really sick,” Sirius said looking at Wormtail. “He’s probably back up in the dormitory waiting for us by now.”
“What! Why, I thought I told you boys to leave!” The three Marauders turned around, a bit shocked to see the Matron coming in behind them instead of from your office.
“Where’s Remus?” Peter asked, again wiping his nose.
“Oh dear boy, do come here.” The Matron exclaimed looking at Peter’s nose.
“Did he go back to the dormitory?” James asked as she patched Peter up.
“No he did not, now is their anything other than the whereabouts of your friend I can help you with?”
“Well , we just wanted to return this bottle of stolen orange dye we confiscated from one, Bellatrix Black.” The Matron eyed the bottle and the boys, apparently wondering exactly what means they had used to obtain the substance.
“Well I appreciate your concern and your returning this, but you boys must get back to your dormitory’s immediately, it is much to late for you to be wandering the halls.” Although quite unsatisfied with the Matron’s lack of information concerning Lupin the boys headed back down the hall towards Bellatrix. Grinning, they found her still stuck upside down.
“You let me down this instant!” She cried.
“Not yet,” Sirius replied picking her wand up off the floor. “First tell us what you wanted that dye for.”
“You best do it quickly before all your blood rushes to your head and it explodes.” James laughed.
“Never!”
“Always so stubborn Bella, well perhaps your accomplice will tell us.” With a flick of his wand the portrait of the cow behind Sirius fell to the ground revealing his brother cowering behind it.
“Regulus,” James began, “So nice of you to drop by. Perhaps you’d like to tell us what the orange dye was for, and depone against your criminally inclined cousin.” Regulus eyed the four wands, (Sirius was also holding Bella’s), now aimed at his face.
“Come on,” Sirius urged, “We’re brothers.” Regulus’ expression did not change, his eyes kept darting from wand to wand.
“Drink it.”
“What was that?” Sirius asked.
“He was supposed to drink it.”
“Shut up!” Bella yelled. James however edged closer to Regulus’ face.
“We could prove it if he drank it, he’d be orange all the time.”
“Who’d drink it? Were you trying to poison Moony?” Sirius turned back to his cousin and jammed his wand at her throat. “Tell me!”
“We weren’t going to poison him, oh no, much worse.”
James who’d taken a hold of Regulus’ robes turned around. “Worse? What’d you mean worse?!”
“Sirius!” Peter came running up to him. “We have to go!” Peter held out a very old looking page of parchment.
“Matron’s coming.” he said over his shoulder to James. “Petrificus Totalus!” he yelled quickly over his shoulder. And leaving Bella in mid air and Regulus on the ground the trio sped off.
“I don’t understand Professor.” Harry began, “Orange dye? What were they going to do to Lupin?”
“Harry, you must understand, that was the night your father and Sirius discovered the nature of Professor Lupin’s condition. It also happens that a few Slytherin students, although not Bellatrix directly, were very interested in why Remus was sick so often, and had a number of guesses as to what his condition might have been.” Harry continued to stare at Dumbledore quite confused. “Harry if Lupin drank that dye he would have turned a slight shade of orange, but not only as a boy, but as a werewolf as well. If anyone saw an orange wolf, well, news would travel quickly; and I can assure you along with Remus, your father and Sirius, would have been quite upset had the entire school gotten wind of the situation, and the proof.”
“But sir, what does the story have to do with that?” Harry pointed at the fuzzy orange suit of armor with a Slytherin emblem on its chest floating around the entrance hall.
“Harry, that is the retaliation your father and his friends left Slytherin house. Just as the Slytherins tried to attack their friend with orange dye, they left this suit of armor to attack Slytherin house.”
Harry watched as the suit continued to throw balloons full of a fowl orange liquid at any remaining students with silver and green on their robes.
“Harmless, but a nuisance none the less. I best get rid of it soon though I suppose, Mr. Malfoy has already had quite an allergic reaction to the substance, I would hate for it to happen to anyone else,” Dumbledore smiled. “It shows up every once in awhile, no matter where I send it, it always seems to find it’s way back.”
Harry doubted Dumbledore ever sent the suit that far away, but he did not say so.
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Snape's Detention Duel - Detention Duel!
zymurgy Snape's Detention Duel - Detention Duel! Aug 19 2005, 09:47 PM
Aug 19 2005, 09:47 PM
