Journey To Hogwarts, old - thread closed Options

[agrippa]

Unfortunately, History of Magic class was nothing of the sort.

“How can they allow a ghost to keep teaching this course?” said Serena as the left the classroom. “If it’s possible, I think he’s actually more boring than death itself!”

“Well,” said Philip. “I don’t suppose they have to pay him, do they? Probably doesn’t even need his own rooms.”

“Or eat much,” sighed James. “I’m starving, though.”

They entered the great hall and tucked in to the Gryffindor table. James helped himself to a leg of roast chicken. They ate in silence for a few minutes, recovering the energy drained from them by the lecture on ancient Greek wizards.

James was looking down the table to see where the rolls had gotten to when he saw a tawny owl winging his direction.

“Prometheus!” he shouted.

Serena looked up. “You named him, then? And he’s got a letter – and a package. But why didn’t it come with the morning post?”

Prometheus landed in front of James, who took the letter from his leg.

Dear James,

Your mum and I are thrilled, naturally, that you’re in Gryffindor. It sounds like you’re doing well and have great housemates in your year. We are very fond of the Boneses, although we don’t see them as much as we’d like. Please make sure to say “hello” to Neville, Luna, and Viktor for us – although, I guess that’s Profs. Longbottom, Lovegood, and Krum to you!

Of course, we had no idea about Duke. As you know, I’ve rarely spoken to Dudley or any of the Dursleys since I came of age. But your mum and I both agree that pretty much all bullies are the same. Don’t go out of your way to avoid Duke; but don’t go looking for him, either. If he gets way out of line – anything beyond your basic jinxes and whatnot – you should talk to your head of house or to the Headmistress. We have absolute trust in both of them.

Sorry if you were waiting for this letter a long time. It took Prometheus a little bit longer than most to find us, but he’ll get better the more you use him. Mum says she really likes the name you chose for him. Study hard and keep your chin up!

Love,
Dad
PS – if you’re reading this in the Great Hall, don’t open the package. Wait until you’re in your dorm.

James was terribly curious about what was in the package. He untied it from the leg of his owl, who was now happily nibbling a bit of chicken off James’ plate. Putting it to his ear, he shook it a bit; but it made no noise.

“Well? Open it!” said Serena, as Philip nodded vigorously.

“Can’t,” whispered James. “Dad says to open it later in the dorm. Besides, we’re going to be late for Transfiguration.”

***

The Transfiguration classroom was simple but stately. James, Philip, and Serena found a table in the middle row, and in a few minutes, Sean, Allan, and Carson took the table in front of them.

“Haven’t started yet, have we?” asked Carson. “We were afraid we were going to be-”

The front door of the classroom opened with a bang and a tall wizard in deep purple robes strode out. He took his place behind the front table.

“Accio chalkboard.”

A portable chalkboard rolled up next to him.

“Good afternoon, and welcome to Transfiguration. In this class, you will learn the secrets of transformation, one of the most important branches of magical study.”

The word Transfiguration and most important branch of magical study appeared on the board.

“Well?” said the professor. “Don’t you see what’s on the chalkboard? Write it down.”

The students scrambled furiously for their quills and parchment.

“I,” continued the professor, “am Professor Jacobson, and I will be guiding you on this adventure through Transfiguration. This is my first year at Hogwarts. I spent the last five years working in the Ministry of Magic’s research division. You will no doubt meet my wife when you meet for Astronomy Wednesday night.”

Philip and James exchanged glances. James raised his hand.

“Yes?” Prof. Jacobson looked down at the parchment on his desk. “Mr. Potter, is it?”

James was taken aback by the fact that Prof. Jacobson seemed not to know him. “So you know Prof. Dumbledore, then?”

The professor’s coal-black eyes widened with surprise. “What makes you say that?”

“I heard that your wife was Dumbledore’s niece.”

Prof. Jacobson laughed. “Oh, dear, no. That’s very funny! I wonder how that rumor got started? Well, my dear Mr. Potter, rest assured that very few of us have had the good fortune to see Albus Dumbledore as often as you.”

James blushed furiously.

“Now,” said Prof. Jacobson, “back to the lesson.”

[bakbam]

Class was over and the gang quietly left the room. When they were out of hearing distance Philip expressed his feelings to the gang. "I don't like him. There is something about him that can not be trusted."

"What is it?" James asked curiously.

"I don't know. It is just a feeling I have." Philip now had a look of concern on his face.

"You are crazy. He is strange, but not nearly as strange as Professor Lovegood," Allen was laughing.

"Oh! I will catch up with you guys. I forgot my bag." James ran down the hall.

"Look who we got here. It is my dear cousin Potter . Where are all your friends James?" Duke and his friends came up behind James blocking him in the room.

"Don't worry about it Duke . I don't need a babysitter unlike you ." James said nervously as he put his hand in his pocket to get hold of his wand.

Duke's face turned red. "You are going to need a bodybag when I get done. My father taught me how to fight. He was champ in his school."

"So I have heard. I'm not impressed." James was not too worried about insults. He was trying to remember the spell Uncle George taught him before school started.

Duke pushed James. He stumbled a little then quickly pulled his wand from his robes. "It is the second day of school you git. You don't know any spells." Duke looked from his friends to the wand.

"Your father may have taught you how to fight with your hands, but mine taught me a few good tricks with a wand." James was getting angry.

James' hand was shacking, "Expelliarmus!" The spell hit the picture behind the Professor's desk. It fell to the floor with a crash. Duke and his friends ran out of the room giggling.

"What have you done?" Philip peeked in the doorway, "I thought I would see what was taking you so long." Philip began to snicker, "I leave you alone for five minutes and this is the trouble you get in."

"Both of you in my office," Professor Jacobson said with a look of fury. "You have been here for two days and you are already getting into trouble. I will not tolerate this sort of behavior in my class. You both will have detention."

"But Sir, I was the one who made the mess. Philip just ..." James was cut off.

"Enough In my office directly after dinner," The Professor demanded.

The boys got up to leave when there was a knock on the door. The astronomy teacher walked in.

"I need to talk to you. It is about...Oh you are busy," She said as she noticed the two boys standing there.

"They were just leaving," He showed James and Philip to the door.

As soon as he shut the door James pressed his ear against it.

"You should not come to my office to talk about this," The Professor whispered.

The women sounded scared, "But we need to go over the plans. I am not sure if I remember them all. I know I am suppose to act like I ....

"That is enough. We will talk about this later." It sounded as if he slammed his fist on the desk.

James and Philip ran down the hall until they were out of site of the classroom.

[McGonagall's Cat]

The Great Hall was quickly filling with hungry students as the five dorm-mates claimed places mid-table.

“You really have detention for THAT!?” Carson said to Phillip, shaking his head.

“I tried to explain, but the old bugger just wouldn’t hear it…” James answered dismally before Phillip had a chance to respond.

“It’s so unfair!” Serena said, squeezing into a seat between the two. “He didn’t even do anything! We should go to McGonagall or one of the other professors about it! “ her voice trailed off, as the others gave her looks clearly expressing their opinions of the effectiveness of her suggestion. Just as she was going to say something else Headmistress McGonagall rose to her feet.

The inhabitants of the Hall quieted with the very notice of her standing to address them. She cleared her throat.

“Before we begin our dinner this evening I wish to announce a great honour which has been bestowed upon our fair School. At various times throughout Wizarding history, a gathering of the Council of Magic has been convened. It has been nearly fifty years since its last gathering. The need for a new Council has been recently declared, which we have been given the honour of hosting. Wizards from all over the World will meet here, on the Hogwarts grounds, this March. We have many, many preparations to make, of course. These will begin immediately (which she pronounced im-meed-jetly). I cannot stress the magnitude of this honour for our School.” She paused and smiled widely. “Now go ahead and enjoy your dinners.”

Suddenly the tables were laden with food, and the Great Hall buzzed with excitement about the coming Council of Magic meeting.

[pinkpanther]

With all of the excitment of Professor McGonagall's announcement, James and Philip temporarily forgot about their detention. But as they finished off the last crumbs from their plates, James heaved a sigh.

"Well, we'd better get this over with. I really am sorry you're being punished too."

"Don't worry about it, mate," Philip replied, grinning, "Besides, if I'm not there, you'd probably get into even more trouble. Seriously, though, I wonder what kind of torture that old codger has planned for us."

Slowly, they made their way to Professor Jacobson's office. James paused at the door, cherishing a brief moment of freedom, when Philip reached past him and pulled a piece of parchment from the door.

"What's that?" James asked, secretely hoping Jacobson had had a change of heart.

"Don't get excited or anything," Philip replied, "It says, 'Boys: Report to the Owlery immediately after supper for your detention. --Prof. Jacobson' That's just great. He's probably going to chuck us out one the tower windows."

James smiled, sarcastically, "Well, what are we waiting for? That sounds absolutely ducky."

When the boys reached the Owlery, they saw Jacobson standing in the doorway, impatiently tapping his foot. "Hurry up, you two," he snapped, "I haven't got all night to play nanny. The shovels are just inside the door."

"Shovels?" James asked in confusion.

"For shovelling, Mr. Potter," Jacobson smirked, "My goodness, I had hoped you were somewhat brighter than that. You will remove the soiled straw from the Owlery floor, and then replace it with the fresh straw in the corner. I will return later to monitor your progress." With that, he hastily brushed past them and hurried down the corridor.

"Well, he was certainly in a good mood," Philip muttered, "Honestly, if he's not careful, they're going to sack him for excessive giddyness."

James and Philip entered the drafty room and began to shovel the rancid, poo-infested straw into wheelbarrows. It was hard work and soon they were both sweating, silently cursing the transfiguration professor. Prometeus perched near them, hooting soft commiserations while they slaved away. Suddenly, James looked up at the bird in excitement.

"What's wrong?" Philip asked.

"I nearly forgot!" James answered, "Prometheus brought me a secret package from Dad today and I still haven't had a chance to open it!"
* * * * * * * * *

AN: The next writer can decide the contents of the mysterious package and whether or not James opens it in the Owlery, or if he saves it until they are in the dormitory.

[agrippa]

As soon as the boys finished cleaning the owlery and had both taken hot showers (“Eeeeeww!” Serena had exclaimed when they entered the Gryffindor common room), James and Philip went up to their dormitory. James took the package from his dad out of his book bag and examined it.

“What d’you suppose?” asked Philip.

“Dunno,” said James. The package felt a little heavy – a small book, maybe? But what kind of book shouldn’t be seen in the Great Hall? Dad wouldn’t be sending me dark magic!

He ripped open the package to find that it was indeed a book, entitled A Brief History of the Councils of Magic. There was also a brown envelope containing a letter. Handing the book to Philip, James read aloud:

James –

The book is from your Aunt Hermione. I’m sure she’s sent it to all your cousins, too. She’s very excited to have been asked to serve on the upcoming Council, and she was “absolutely positive” that you’d all want to read up on the Council before this “historic event” happened at your very own school.

The part I didn’t want you to open in the Hall is in this envelope. I thought maybe you and your dorm-mates might want to go, but I thought I’d let you choose whom you’d like to come along. At any rate, there’s five of them. Let me know who’s coming, and I’ll talk to McGonagall about getting you away for the weekend.

Love,
Dad

He fished in the envelope and pulled out five purple tickets. He scanned them quickly and nearly knocked Philip over when he raised his fist and yelled, “Wicked!”

“What are they?” asked Philip.

“Five tickets to the Quidditch World Cup qualifier match between England and Italy!” James suddenly dropped his voice to a whisper, not wanting anyone who might be nearby to hear.

“Wow!” said Philip, trying to sound enthusiastic. It was clear that Philip had no idea how lucky they were to have these tickets. “Who’re you going to take?”

“Well, I think Dad’s right, don’t you? You, Carson, Allen, and Sean – and me. It’s the Saturday before Halloween. It’ll be great!”

“Wow,” said Philip again, in the same less-than-adequately enthusiastic tone.

James’ eyes danced with delight. “You should probably brush up on Quidditch before we go, Philip. Let’s go down to the library and see if we can find some books. We’ll tell the others later when they’ve come up from the common room. I don’t want too many people to know.”

[McGonagall's Cat]

James fell into bed exhausted. He’d found a copy of Quidditch Through The Ages, and a book about the Chudley Cannons for Phillip. They’d talked the entire way back from the library, but Phillip still seemed to only moderately understand. James felt like he was trying to explain it to a girl who didn’t care for sports. He’d gone to bed hoping they could make some headway tomorrow, and completely forgetting to talk with Sean, Alan, and Carson about the upcoming match.

James awoke seized by panic. The room was very dark and someone had their hand over his mouth. Out of reflex he came up swinging, only to have his wrist caught by the offender’s other hand. His eyes focused on the moonlit silhouette and he quit struggling, realizing the person holding him was Phillip. Phillip placed a finger to his lips indicating the necessity for silence, then motioned for James to follow him. Throwing robes over their pajamas they quietly left the room. The two crept to the top of the Common Room steps, where Phillip sat down silently and pointed toward the dimly lit room below.

It had to be at least 1 a.m. Lily and Freddy were seated at a table talking so quietly that James missed a few of their words here and there. Freddy looked glum. Before him on the table lay a copy of the book James had received. Freddy stared at it as though it was the bearer of ill tidings, knowing he was sentenced to reading the thing, knowing his mother would quiz him on obscure bits of information from it, but mostly knowing how much trouble he’d be in if he missed correctly answering her. Lily on the other hand had opened her copy and pointing her wand, whimsically was flying it around the room. The book flexed at the spine, looking much like a bird flapping its wings as it circled.

“You don’t understand…” Freddy said in a tone similar to that of a condemned prisoner. “Your mother…”

“Will be here, too. Just like yours” Lily interupted.

“But it’s not the same.”

Lily looked him straight in the face (the distraction caused her book to stop flapping its pages and plummet, though she easily caught it with her wand and settled it onto the table near her, all the while continuing to look steadily at him), “OK, so your Mum IS the book police… You really are doomed,” she said matter-of-factly. She let out a sigh that was the loudest noise since the boys had sat down. “Now that we’ve come to an agreement on that, let’s get on with things!”

The condemned man shot her a look that made James shiver.

“Right, then,” Lily went on chipperly. “You up for a small foray, or do you want to sit here until The Magic Council meets in, what, 5 months?”

He glared.

“OK fine,“ she jumped up and headed for the portrait hole.

Freddy raised his hand to smack the table in frustration, but stopped mid-swing. He sprang to his feet and followed her out. James looked at Phillip, Phillip looked at James. As one they headed down the steps and through the exit, too.

The hallway was so quiet James thought even his breath echoed. The two found it tricky trying to stay out of sight of Lily and Freddy while sticking close enough not to get lost. There were several times when Phillip and James had absolutely no idea where they were, once when all four barely escaped being caught by the Bloody Baron as he crossed through the walls between the two groups, and another place where James sneezed. He muffled it into a wad of his robe, but Lily still looked back suspiciously. They finally ended up outside the Potions Office. Lily and Freddy were already inside by the time the boys reached the door. Since James and Phillip couldn’t figure a good way to open the door unnoticed, they leaned their ears against it and tried to listen. The door was too thick to hear anything.

They could hear footsteps coming from the other direction though. Frantically the two boys looked for a place to hide. A bit farther down the hallway was another room. They made a mad dash for it.

“That was close,” James whispered.

“Shhhh..” was Phillip’s only audible response. He motioned they should find places to hide. James ducked under a table; he lost track of where Phillip went.

As the footsteps stopped by the doorway James realized there was more than one person.

A gruff male voice said, “Lumos.” The room lit up somewhat, though not as much as it would have for a class. James shrunk back as far as he could, keeping out of sight, though he could still see feet a few meters from his hiding place. The feet rotated as though the man might be surveying the room. “This looks empty. Now what was it you wanted?”

“I don’t like this! It’s not safe to bring it in now. With the Council Meeting coming up… they’ll be going over this place with a fine-toothed comb!” the woman’s voice said emphatically. It sounded like the same woman the boys had heard before.

“It’s now or never,” the man replied with annoyance. The voice belonged to Jacobsen. James knew his voice beyond any doubt. “You knew the risks before we came here. Just do your part and keep quiet!” He growled.

“But…” she said obviously stressed, “… what if someone finds it? How do we cover ourselves?”

“We DON”T let it be found!” he said so strongly that if just the resolve in his voice could make it so, it would have been accomplished at that moment.

Suddenly a door could be heard closing down the hall. Both people went silent. James’ insides froze. It had to be Lily and Freddy leaving the Potions Office. Both sets of feet went over to the door of this room and edged it open as Jacobsen said, “Nox.” Through the semi-darkness James could see the man’s feet step cautiously into the doorway, twisting as though peering toward the Potions Office. He shouted, “You there!” Then Jacobsen left, hastily telling the woman to go the other way and not be seen. She rushed away as told.

“That was close!” Phillip whispered, causing James to just about jump out of his skin.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” was all James could get out. When his heart quit pounding he added worriedly, “What do we do now?!?”

Phillip shrugged. “Do you think he got a good look at them?” I mean, Lily’s yellow hair and Freddy’s red, if he saw enough of ‘em to catch that, they’ll be watching the Gryffindor entrance.”

“Freddy and Lily don’t get caught very often…” James paused quite a while. “Umm, I only know how to get back one way… the way we go from classes.” he said looking even more concerned than when Jacobsen gave Phillip the unwarranted detention.

“Well, we can’t stay here. Maybe we can get to our dorms before they do…” Phillip said weakly, knowing that was hopeless.

Approaching voices interrupted the boys’ discussion. “Sorry to have startled you like that.” Jacobsen said as they passed the door.

“Tink not-tink of it.” Krum replied. “I don’t usually be in dis part of castle dis late. I hat to check on potion before going to sleep.”

The voices retreated down the hall.

With a nod both boys hustled as stealthily as possible back to their beds, a silent agreement between them to discuss everything, in private, as soon as they could.

[McGonagall's Cat]

The whole dorm awoke at almost the same time, barring James and Phillip from discussing any part of the previous night’s excursion. As the five of them headed toward the Great Hall however, they hung back, finally slipping away from the throng going to breakfast.

“We have to tell somebody about Professor Jacobsen and that woman!” was the first thing out of Phillip’s mouth once they found a secluded nook.

James just looked at him. “Who’s going to believe two First Years? He’s a teacher! And we don’t even know who the lady is…” He stopped for a moment. Taking a big gulp of air, he continued, “Besides, if we tell anybody, we would have to tell HOW we heard them. We could get detention,” his eyes grew wider, “or kicked out of school,” his voice rose with each thought, “or worse!” By this point his voice was tight with fear, “We can’t tell anybody!”

“I don’t care!” Phillip interrupted. “Last night was scary!”

“Yeah, and your Dad isn’t like the most famous guy in the world, so your family won’t kill you if you get kicked out,” James mumbled dismally.

“Wow! I never thought of that, mate,”

They both mulled over options in silence.

“OK, we can’t tell anyone,” Phillip nodded in agreement. “But, we do need to ask someones (He dragged out the “s’) some things,” he said as he gave James a determined look. “We need to corner The Marauders and find out what they saw last night… and I still want to know what they were up to in the first place.”

James perked up a little, “If we get a good chance to talk with them, you distract Lily. Take her away if you can. Neither one of them will say a word if the other one is there. I KNOW I can get Freddy to tell me just about anything so long as my dear sister isn’t around.” He finally grinned at Phillip.

“Right, then! I’m starving!”

“Me, too!”

[bakbam]

After lunch the five of them made their way to the library to work on the two new reports they had from their morning classes. The boys had book strolled out on the table. They were all working hard.

The Library doors swung open. Serena and Penelope ran up to the table where the boys were sitting.

"James, I have got to tell you something," Serena had yelled a little louder than she should have.

The Librarian hustled to the table with a very angry look spread across her face, "I suggest that you either keep quiet or I will have to give everyone of you detention. My detentions are not enjoyable. There are some very dangerous books in this library and I will make sure you have to dust everyone of them."

Serena bent down close to the table and whispered, "Geez she is friendly. I will tell you later," She looked over her shoulder at the table with Duke and his smug friends, "I don't want to get her detention." The girls left the library.

"What was that all about?" Carson asked

"My guess is it had something to do with Duke." Philip shook his head and started to read again.

"I am not going to worry about Duke. I want to go to that Quidditch match and I suspect McGonagall won't let us go if any of us get into trouble," James had forgot he hadn't told the others about the match yet.

"Quidditch! What do you mean us?" Sean had finally lifted his nose out of the book to join in the conversation.

"I forgot I have not told you," James felt a bit foolish for forgetting. "Dad sent me five tickets to the Quidditch World Cup qualifier match between England and Italy. He said I could take whoever I wanted."

"How are we going to get out of school?" Carson said excitedly.

"You forget that dad is close to McGonagall. He is going to talk to her about letting us leave for the weekend. I just hope your parents will let you all come," James looked from face to face to see what everyone thought.

Philip was the first to say something, "well my folks won't care. They don't even know what Quidditch is."

"All of you need to send a owl and ask if you can come. I will send one to dad and tell him I would like all of you to go with me. We will have to stay out of trouble. If Duke found out about us going he may try something to ruin it for us." James pulled out a blank parchment and started the letter to Harry.

Dad
I have asked my roommates to come to the game with us. They are going to write home to see if it is going to be ok with their parents. They are Philip McKenzie ,
Carson Bones, Allen Smith, and Sean Wiles. Who all is going besides us.

Tell mum I miss her.
James

"Do the rest of you have your letters wrote yet?" James was ready to go, "Good lets get them sent and get to our next class."

On the way from the Owlery James noticed Professor Jacobson in an empty classroom. James grabbed Philip and pointed in the room. The Professor was in the far corner. He was pulling items out of a wardrobe. He apparently got as much as he needed out of the way. He climbed in and shut the door behind him.

"Did you see that?" Allan was in shock.

"It must be some sort of secret passage or something. Aunt Susan told me to be careful about things like that. She said one year a boy got lost for weeks. When they found him he had almost lost his mind." Carson seemed worried.

James let out a small laugh, "That sounds like the boy that my uncles pushed in the vanishing cabinet when my dad was in his fifth year." James could tell that Carson was nervous, "I don' think it is that sort of thing. I think it is a good hiding place for something."

"Hiding place! What would he want to hide?" Allan asked.

Philip took one last glance at the room number before they continued down the hall, " That we don't know... Yet."

The boys stopped and stared in silence at Philip.

[evlpez]

In the owlry, James called and searched the perches for Prometheus while the other boys chose their owls. Carson gave a sharp whistle and an oversized barn owl swooped down from above to land comfortably on his shoulder.

"To Mum, McGuffin. I'm expecting a reply, too." Carson took a small bag out of his robes and gave a treat to McGuffin, who hooted appreciatively and munched while Carson tied the note to his leg. He gave the owl a quick pat and a smile and McGuffin stretched his great wings and took off through a window.

"James, I've never sent an owl before. Will it know where my parents are? I mean, they're muggles…" Philip said uncertainly as he held his note out to a sleek screech owl wearing a Hogwarts Crested leather ring around one foot.

James came over and showed him how to use the ties on the ring and said, "Well, a school owl found you, right?" He looked the owl in the eyes. "This goes to Philip's parents - the McKenzies. Can you find them?" The owl seemed to roll its eyes before checking its leg and taking off into the late afternoon sun.

Allen and Sean sent their notes off and James looked up, wondering where Prometheus was. He was about to worry when he remembered that he didn't really know his owl that well yet. Maybe he forgot his name. Maybe he's not too bright. Maybe he's lazy. James frowned.

"Prometheus? Wake up, boy!" James shouted, causing a stir and a chorus of admonishing hoots and screeches from the napping birds up in the gallery. Not one flew down to greet him. He chose a school owl and tied his note to her leg, vowing to make some time for Prometheus on the weekend. Maybe we just need to get to know each other a bit more, he thought.

Carson waited at the door with Philip, and turned to him. "Philip, what did you mean, yet? You said you don't know what he's hiding yet. Is something going on?"

Philip peeked outside the door as the other boys gathered round. He and James told the boys in quiet whispers what they knew so far, and that they suspected Jacobson and his wife were up to no good. Carson's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Allen and Sean exchanged nervous looks. When James and Philip were finished, Sean cleared his throat nervously. The others turned to him.

"What's wrong, Sean?" Carson asked.

"Well, I don't think we should jump to conclusions," Sean said. "I mean, Will Jacobson's not very nice but it doesn't mean they're up to something."

"Tell them, Sean." Allen said.

Philip looked at James and raised an eyebrow.

"Will Jacobson? You know his first name?" James probed.

Sean nodded. "His wife is Allison Wiles. She's my father's cousin. I don't know them really well, but I'd be surprised if they were Dark."

James felt deflated. He was sure they'd stumbled onto some dark plot.

"Are you sure you heard what you think you heard?" Allen asked. "I mean, you could have misunderstood, right?" Allen ran a hand through his hair.

Philip straightened. "Sean, I trust you. If you know they're okay, then I have to believe you. But I have a really strong feeling about this."

"Me too," James added. "We have to find out more, just in case."

Sean nodded as the owlry door swung open, nearly knocking the boys off their feet.

"Goodness, I'm sorry - I didn't know someone was there." Professor Allison Wiles apologized nervously. She pushed her curls out of her face and smiled charmingly. "Shouldn't stand lurking in front of closed doors, boys. Off you go."

Philip and James stood a moment and looked at her while the others raced through the door. She made her way into the room and called down an owl, talking affectionately to it. James pulled Philip through the door as Allen hissed for them to hurry up.

"We're coming back here tonight to check out that closet," Philip whispered.

James nodded, then looked up sharply at Philip. "Let's talk to Freddy and Lily, first."

[McGonagall's Cat]

Lily and Freddy were already seated at the Gryffindor table when James and Phillip entered the Great Hall. “After dinner, do something to keep Lily busy, OK?” James said to his dorm mates. Phillip and Sean nodded, probably the other two did, too, but James was too busy thinking about the best next move to notice. Not wanting to be too obvious, the five of them sat near enough to hear conversation, but not too close to the Marauders. James noticed his sister appeared a bit flushed and Freddy was looking a bit too innocent, neither was as animated as one would expect.

Suddenly a commotion began near the main doors that had everyone turning to look that direction. Professor Jacobsen was grumbling as he stormed toward the teachers’ table at the far end of the room. He continually swatted at what appeared to be a string of rainbow gnats. Multi-coloured bits followed his waving hand in a long undulating trail. The twinkling swoosh swirled and flowed like eddies in a glorious stream, that was unfortunately attached to Jacobsen’s wrist. This served only to infuriate the austere gentleman.

Stifled snickers broke out at all the tables, though silence and straight faces rippled through the student body wherever the Professor’s glare fell.

When Jacobsen finally arrived at the staff table Professor Lovegood jumped up and attempted to remedy the problem, only to find a duplicate chain of rainbow bits attached to her own left arm with her initial effort. She sharply jerked her arm high and dropped it as quickly as possible. The little swirling specs mimicked her movement in an exact graceful arc. Again she attempted to shake the trail of multi-coloured dots, but soon became distracted watching the beauty of their dance. She seemed to enjoy playing with the string of colour, and forgot about Jacobsen who found neither beauty nor humour in the situation.

Gilderoy Lockhart leapt to both of their assistances, “Ah, Yes! I shall handle this. Please step aside,” he said brashly drawing and pointing his wand. He shouted, “Pixilated Astrellagus!” There was a slight explosive noise, a poof of purple fog, and slightly larger star shapes joined the multi-coloured bits, which were now following Lockhart, too.

James glanced sideways at Phillip; in the background he could see his sister and cousin watching the spectacle with a level of barely disguised satisfaction. He elbowed McKenzie and nodded slightly toward them. Phillip shot him a knowing “ah-ha!” grin.

Professor McGonagall had had enough, and stood up, more than a little annoyed at the disruption. “Finite Incantatum” she chanted, aiming her wand in the general direction of that end of the table. All the twinkling colourful specs rained down from their points of suspension like fairy dust.

A round of applause rolled through the room. It actually had been quite pretty.

[evlpez]

Once the commotion had died down and Professor Jacobson had eaten his dinner with forced composure, he sat back and let his eyes roam around the room. James had kept a discreet eye on the professor while waiting for Lily and Freddie to finish their meals. James was suddenly caught as Jacobson locked gazes with him and smirked. Philip nudged him.

"Lily, you're good at Charms, right?" Philip asked as she and Freddie got up from the table.

Lily smiled. "Planning on taking over from Lockhart, are you?"

Philip smiled back, "Something like that, yeah. Can you give me hand? We're not likely to learn anything unless one of us jumps in and does something. I guess it might as well be me, for now."

"Sure. Freddie, we'll be in the library," she said, then quietly, "You should work on that other project."

Freddie nodded and followed them out of the Great Hall. The First Year boys got up and followed as well, and James told his roommates that he had to talk with Freddie. The other boys headed to the common room as James caught up with him.

"That was brilliant, Freddie. Is that why you two were sneaking in to the Potion Master's office last night?" James said.

Freddie stopped and looked around. "I don't know what you're talking about."

James stared sternly into his eyes until they both started grinning.

[McGonagall's Cat]

"Right," James smirked. "Might as well come clean, Freddy."

Freddy looked increasingly uncomfortable, finally clearing his throat he said, "Oh that... Well, Lily left a part of her assignment and we went to get it so she could finish it propperly. So, after dinner we..."

James rolled his eyes. "My sister hasn't forgotten anything since she was three years old. And I do guess six hours after dinner counts as after dinner."

Freddy looked even more uncomfortable, though unwilling to give away any advantage he might still hold unless there was no other choice.

"This can be easy, or this can be hard," James earnestly looked at his cousin. "I followed you last night. I already know when AND where you two went."

"Lily and I are Marauders! Marauders never give up one another," Freddy grinned, as though that was all there was to it.

"Fine. I'm sure your Mum will be delighted to hear that you are so dedicated to your studies that you go to the room at all hours of the day and NIGHT..." James let the last word hang over the head of his poor fidgeting cousin like a sword of Damocles. He waited.

"NO! You wouldn't!" Freddy looked around furtively. Then a realization dawned. "If you tell my mother, you'll be getting your own self into just as much trouble!" he shot back.

James tried to keep his demeanor convincing, though he was certain that his face betrayed him. He was fairly sure that any passing first year Hufflepuff could glance at him and know he was bluffing, but he continued to look at Freddy unflinchingly. "Hmmm, let's see... My Dad, Your Mum... my dad, YOUR mum... my dad, Your MUM.. oh yeah, and Lily would get into trouble too, bet she'll love you for that one..."

Freddy let out a sigh of defeat. "Ok, ok... Some of it was for our little starry experiment today. But we have some other things planned and, trust me, the less you know the better." He kept a watchful eye and ear out for others that might overhear as they walked along.

"Did you get caught when Professor Krum went into the room?"

"How do you know about that?!" Freddy seemed startled, he had assumed James had only seen them return to the Common Room and guessed the rest.

"I followed you last night... and... almost got caught, too..." James confessed.

Freddy looked at his younger cousin with a bit of pride. "Almost?"

"Yes. I heard footsteps and ducked into the classroom nextdoor and hid under a table," he said shrugging as though it was the only logical possible course of action.

"Jamesy, I had no idea you could be so creative! Lily thinks of you as her annoying kid brother.. welll, one of them anyhow. We heard the footsteps, too, and hid in the shadows behind his desk. It was pretty close. If it hadn't been so dark in there we probably would have gotten caught." Freddy paused for a moment, then asked, "Did you see the other one?"

"Well, yeah. We have to talk about that, Freddy. I think something wrong is going on. And I think Professor Jacobsen is in it up to his eyeballs. Last night was the second time Phillip and I overheard..."

Freddy cut him off, "Phillip!"

James hesitated. "Ummm... both of us followed you. I didn't want to get him in trouble, but since you and I are being totally honest, yes, Phillip and I followed you and Lily last night." James felt embarassed at letting that slip, but it was going to be a lot easier to discuss what he and Phillip had stumbled across concerning Jacobsen with all the details out in the open.

"Lily's not going to be happy about this, but I think all of us should sit down together and figure this out. We've come across some suspicious things in the last little while, too," Freddy said, a very serious look crossing his face. "Let's go up to the library and get those two, then see if we can find a quiet place to talk."

[agrippa]

Freddy, Lily, James and Philip settled into a dark corner of the library behind several piles of books they had pulled off the shelves to ensure a little privacy.

“Well?” James looked expectantly at Freddy.

“Well, you already know what we saw last night. Jacobson and his wife were in Prof. Krum’s private store.”

James and Philip nodded.

“But that’s not the first time we’ve seen them doing suspicious stuff. A couple of weeks back we were, er” – he glanced at Lily – “well, we were out and about, and the two of them were looking through books in the restricted section.”

“Well, they’re teachers,” said Philip. “They could have just been doing some research, right?”

“In the middle of the night?” shot back Lily.

“We overheard them talking about something, too,” said James. “But don’t have any idea what they’re planning.”

“We think it has something to do with the Council meeting,” said Freddy.

“Of course,” said James. “What else could be so important?” He thought for a moment. “Did you see what they took from the potions cupboard?”

“It’d have to be something that you can’t get just anywhere,” said Lily. “Otherwise, they’d just pop down to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley on a weekend and pick some up.”

“I wonder how we-” but Freddy was interrupted by the booming voice of Madam Pince, the librarian, announcing that it was time to go back to their common rooms. They returned the piles of books to their shelves and headed for Gryffindor tower.

“Oh, yeah!” said James, slapping his forehead. “I forgot to tell you something else. Sean Wiles says that Jacobson’s wife – Prof. Wiles, you know – is his mum’s cousin.”

Freddy’s brow knit in confusion. “But Charlie said that she was related to Dumbledore.”

“I know. I even asked Prof. Jacobson about that, but he said he didn’t know how that rumor got started.”

“That’s really weird,” said Lily. “Let’s see if we can find Charlie and ask him what he knows.”

[McGonagall's Cat]

Finding Charlie wasn't difficult. Talking with Charlie was an entirely different matter.

In the Common Room he was deep into an assignment, with several other of his classmates sitting at the same table. When Lily asked him to come talk for a moment he merely waved her away, obviously too busy with his studies to pause. As bedtime neared, he managed to slip out of the room unnoticed. The next morning he dashed into the Great Hall, grabbed some toast and dashed out. James passed him in the halls a few times, but Charlie seemed increasingly elusive for the better part of the week.

It was just as well.
As it turned out, Charlie's heavy assignment load was being paralleled in all the classes at all levels.


The next morning the five dormmates had arrived in Hebology to discover Professor Longbottom had placed an array of odd-looking red-leafed plants before each of their places at the tables. As the boys walked to where each usually stood, the plants enthusiastically leaned toward them and stretched thin tendrils even closer. Looking at eachother warily, they took a step backward, and the tendrils strained to reach them.

"You might not want to let those touch you. Get out your Dragon hide gloves, first," Professor Longbottom said as he walked into the room noticing a few students teasing the tendrils.

Duke shrunk back, then realizing his cronies were watching him, bent to retrieve his hastily (and intentionally) dropped glove.

"These are," Neville began, but was interrupted by a screech from the Slytherin table. In Dursley's circle, Pollux had continued to tease his plant. The plant grabbed his hand and began gnawing on his index finger. Before a second scream could escape the hapless student's lips, Professor Longbottom flashed his wand at it and shouted an imobilization curse. He strode over shaking his head. "You really must be a bit more cautious. There are things in the world that it is best to understand prior to touching, or eating, or in some cases, even looking at." He carefully unwound the tendrils from the Slytherin's wrist and pried the plant's teeth from the student's finger. "I would have imagined you had been around plants like these before you came to Hogwarts, Mr. Travers," he paused looking sternly into Pollux's eyes. "Can you find the hospital wing? Then go."

Sean and Allen surreptitiously poked eachother in the ribs as the scowling Slytherin left the greenhouse. Duke, Athol, and Claude, however, glared diggers at the Gryffindor table as though somehow this had been their doing. James doubted this bode well for future herbology classes, as almost the same situation had occured in the previous class. He also hoped their after-class departure would have different results today. Suddenly his attention was pulled from his concerns by the teacher's voice.

"As I was saying, these are Venomous Tentacula. While they are teething, as these are, they can be crabby and tend to bite a bit," he smiled fondly at the plant on his table. "The leaves from the adult plant, when dried and crushed to a fine powder, are used in a draught important for healing burns, amongst other things. You will find quite a bit on it in your Herbology text. Today we will transplant these, using a good quality soil, mooncalf dung and a pinch of magnesium phosphate. While we get busy on this phase, please note that I want two feet of parchment on the care and uses of this plant for our next class. Here's a hint, the root is very useful also."

[bakbam]

Charms class that day wasn't any better. The only contribution Professor Lockhart made was assigning a 1000 word essay on wand care and maintenance and why it is important.

James and Philip were sitting at the far end of the library. They had decided that James would take notes for the Herbology paper and Philip the Charms paper then use each others notes to write their paper. Philip came to the conclusion that the entire class could turn in the same Charms paper and The Professor would never know the difference. This idea was starting to sound very good to James.

Lily and Freddy dropped their equally full load of work on the table in front of James and Philip.

"I finally caught up with Charlie !" Fred exclaimed.

James and Philip dropped their quills to better listen to Fred.

"I did ask him about Professor Dumbledore relationship to our mysterious teachers." Looks around the library then bends in closer to the others and whispers. " Professor Wiles is Dumbledore's niece. Apparently Professor Jacobson had some dealings with the uncle Harry's arch rival Voldemort. In fact Jacobson was on his side until he met Wiles. Dumbledore and his family never trusted him and pretty much disowned him as part of their family. "

"That's why he said that when I asked him about being related." James said with a clear understanding. "That clears that up, but where is Dumbledore now?"

"It looks as if you four are up to no good. I suggest you get your quills moving and your mouths hushed. " Professor Wiles gave the group a stern evil look then walked into the restricted section.

Lily watched her walk away. "How long was has she been in here?"

"Don't know. The real question is whether or not she over heard us?" Philip gave her one last look then started on his work.

Later that evening before bed James couldn't help but wonder why Headmistress McGonagall would hire someone that Dumbledore himself didn't trust.