Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and events from J.K. Rowling's wonderful Harry Potter books. I am writing this for my own enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of readers. Anything you recognize belongs to JKR. The rest belongs to me.
Chapter 73: The Scandinavian Glumsnatcher
Another month passed and the Marauders spent their second full moon with Remus. It was easier to calm the werewolf this time around, and even Peter felt brave enough to scurry closer to him, despite his small size. Once again the three Animagi returned the next morning with no more than a few bruises and scratches. Despite the lack of sleep, they felt wide awake from the adrenaline rush of sneaking out and playing with a werewolf.
Feeling his confidence bolstered by his successes that year - his Animagus, sneaking out, becoming captain - James decided to further his efforts to win Lily. After all, everything else that year was falling into place. James was certain he could charm Lily into dating him.
Inspired by Sirius' bear, Snuffles, James decided to find the most adorable, cuddliest stuffed bear to charm and send to Lily. Opting for a different charm than the 'attack-bear' charm, James opted for an 'affection' charm and set to work. He figured girls went crazy over cutesy little gifts like that, and he would be sure to win her over.
The plan backfired when the bear he had sent her that morning became too affectionate. As soon as Lily opened the package she had received in the morning mail, the teddy bear came to life and attached itself around Lily's neck. She pried it off, only to have it reattach itself to her making kissing sounds and constantly saying, "Go out with me, Evans! Go out with me, Evans! Go out with me, Evans!"
With each attempt to remove the bear, it became more determined to return to Lily. It finally took a sympathetic sixth year girl to hit it with the Impedimenta Jinx, allowing Lily to escape from the Great Hall 'bear-free' and make it to class.
Lily, Alice, and Marlene all sank onto their stools in Herbology with sighs of relief. Marlene, seeing the Marauders strolling into class, muttered, "Gee Lily, I wonder who sent you that bear this morning."
Alice snickered, knowing all too well that James was still determined to win over Lily.
Lily grimaced and said, "Please don't mention that thing. I think I'll have a bruise from where it attached itself to me."
"Or a hickey," joked Marlene.
Professor Sprout hushed the class and started talking about the Scandinavian Glumsnatcher, a rather large plant that to the ordinary eye appeared non-threatening. The Glumsnatcher was found outside caves and had a liking for the Glumbumble, a furry insect. The Glumsnatcher would remain still, allowing the Glumbumble to alight itself onto a leaf. Then the plant would strike, swallowing its prey whole.
As Professor Sprout continued, Lily's ears perked at a distant sound. It was repetitive and sounded as if it was getting closer. Soon other students noticed the sound and the class paused as the noise approached. As it neared the door, Lily felt an ominous nausea hit her as she heard, "-out with me, Evans! Go out with me, Evans! Go out with me, Evans!"
She rubbed the bridge of her nose, whining, "No, this can't be happening."
Suddenly the bear ran into the room and found its target of affection, who was trying to hide behind Marlene. It ran towards her, continuing its mantra, "Go out with me, Evans! Go out with me, Evans! Go out with me, Evans!"
"Miss Evans, what is the meaning of this?" asked Professor Sprout, trying to raise her voice above the incessant chattering of the bear.
Lily, who was running around the long table in her attempt to escape the amorous toy, cried out, "I don't know, Professor, I- oh, bloody hell!" The bear had just leapt at her and reattached itself to her arm. Lily flung her arm about in an attempt to get rid of the bear.
Remus finally placed a well aimed banishing charm which sent the bear flying over the table. The plush toy landed on a bed of leaves and started to stand up again, intent on returning to Lily.
Lily, whose hair was a bit wild from running and flailing her arm about, had a look of resignation and disgust as she saw the overly-happy smile on the bear as it once again faced her. Like a broken record player, it continued speaking, "Go out with me, Evans! Go out with me, Evans! Go ou-"
A few gasps sounded about the room and Sirius doubled over in laughter at the sight of the Scandinavian Glumsnatcher swallowing the teddy bear. Apparently, not having been fed yet that morning made the Glumsnatcher eager for anything furry.
Lily, slightly horrified at the sight, was still rather relieved to be free of the stalker-bear. Her relief was short-lived as she realized all eyes were focused on her, save Sirius who was still huddled over in laughter. Lily, whose face was now a brilliant shade of scarlet, held her chin up and walked as casually as she could back to her place between Alice and Marlene.
"Miss Evans," said Professor Sprout, "do you have any idea who sent you that bear?"
Lily cast a quick glance toward James, who had a slight look of guilt about his face. She fumed inwardly, wanting to turn him in, but not wanting to be a snitch. Plus, her embarrassment would double if she pointed out the culprit. Taking a deep and shaky breath, trying to calm herself, she replied, "No, Professor."
James looked at her in surprise as Professor Sprout said, "Very well. I think that was enough disruption for this class. Let us refocus on the diet of the Glumsnatcher…other than its occasional fondness for a teddy bear snack…"
The class giggled, except for Lily who was trying to think of invisibility spells to remove herself from the surrounding glances of her classmates.
As soon as Herbology ended, Lily rushed out of the classroom, hoping to hide in the girls' loo until she had to go to her next class. She hadn't gotten far before she heard James calling after her, running to catch up.
"Hey, Evans," he said with a smile. "Thanks for not turning me in. I knew you had a soft spot for me."
Lily stopped and turned on him, her teeth and fists clenched. "Bugger off, Potter. I didn't say anything because I had no solid proof it was you who did it." Trying to end the conversation, she started walking away, however to her dismay, James once again caught up with her.
Ruffling his hair and grinning at her, he said, "You know, Evans, you never gave me an answer."
Confused, Lily let out an exasperated sigh and said, "To what?"
"There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up. Go out with-?" he started to ask.
Hearing the words that had been plaguing her since the bear had first attached itself to her, Lily angrily grabbed her wand and aimed it at James' throat. She grit out, "Do NOT finish that sentence, Potter."
James, a little taken aback by Lily's response, tried to lighten the mood. "So is that a yes or a no?"
Lily rolled her eyes and turned away, saying, "No!" She started to walk away.
A second year student who was walking by had heard the exchange and let out a laugh. James, a little embarrassed and offended that a second year would laugh at him, drew his wand and cast a hex at the student.
As Lily was walking away, she heard the noise of the hex hitting the younger student and turned around to see the twelve year old sprouting feathers out of her head. The girl tried to speak but a series of clucking sounds came out instead. Lily rushed over to her and tried to comfort the girl, who was desperately trying to hold back tears.
"What did you do that for?" asked Lily.
James shrugged his shoulders and said, "She shouldn't have laughed at me."
"So you hexed her?!" grilled Lily. Not hearing a response, Lily said, "Ten points from Gryffindor!" She turned to the girl and said, "Let's get you to Madam Pomfrey, shall we?"
James watched Lily as she guided the poultry-like girl away. He found his eyes drawn to the sway of her hips with each step she took.
"No luck, mate?" asked Sirius, startling James out of his reverie.
James turned and saw the other Marauders. He ran his hand through his hair and smiled, saying, "Not yet." Looking around the near-empty hallway, he said, "This place is becoming rather dull. What say we liven it up a bit?"
Remus gave James a curious look as he said, "Dull, Prongs? You mean crazy teddy bears and chicken-like students are dull?"
Sirius smiled and said, "That's child's play, Moony. I agree with Prongs. Halloween is coming and it's time the Marauders wreaked some havoc."
"You guys up for it?" James asked Peter and Remus.
Peter nodded enthusiastically while Remus smiled hesitantly and said, "We can plan later. Let's get to class."
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Days past as the Marauders planned out their next prank. During one late night James met Sirius by the mirror that led to a secret passageway. Sirius crept out of the tunnel with a bag of Zonko's supplies and asked, "Is the coast clear?"
James grinned and said, "Yeah, I just checked the map. Filch is two floors down. Looks like he cornered a few Slytherins who are out after curfew."
"Pity for them," Sirius said mockingly. "Is it me or is Filch more hacked off lately?"
"I think it's because he knows we're up to no good but hasn't been able to catch us all year," replied James as they approached the portrait to Gryffindor tower. James gave the password and they entered the common room.
Giving a quick glance around the room to see if it was deserted, Sirius and James reviewed the plans for the next evening. "The Slytherins won't know what hit 'em." said Sirius.
"C'mon," said James. "Wormtail and Moony are probably upstairs waiting to see if you got what we need."
The two boys walked upstairs, unaware of a student who had been stretched out across one of the couches out of sight, who had heard the entire conversation between the two boys. The student sat up, thoughtful, before heading upstairs.
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The next morning at breakfast, the students watched with excitement as the Professors decorated the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. Hundreds of Jack-O-Lanterns floated about, each with a different face carved into it. Bats fluttered about between the candles, causing the flames to flicker.
"When are you going to get everything set up?" whispered Peter.
"I'll skive off History and do it then," said James. "Nobody'll be around then."
"Don't forget the map," advised Remus.
"Not to worry," replied James. "I'll use my invisibility cloak, too, just to make sure I don't get caught."
"Where's the stuff?" asked Remus.
"Upstairs under my bed," replied James.
"The spell's been set?" asked Sirius, reaching for a second helping of scrambled eggs.
"Moony took care of it this morning," said James.
Peter practically bounced on his seat in excitement. "I can't wait for tonight."
Sirius shushed him, but silently he had to agree. It had been too long since the Marauders had done a larger scale prank. He had a difficult time making it through classes, eagerly anticipating the evening's events. To bide his time he slept through History. In Transfiguration he transfigured Marlene's quill into a somewhat loquacious parrot that ended up cursing at McGonagall. After adding another detention to his checklist, he finally got a chance to speak with James at lunch. Everything was set for dinner. All they had to do was wait and enjoy the show.
That evening, after the ghosts gave another spectacular Halloween performance, Dumbledore rose to open the feast. Peter shifted about impatiently but Sirius gave him a look that clearly told him to wait until the feast was almost over. After all, why interrupt a perfectly good meal?
As dessert was served, James' attention was once again drawn several seats down the table where Lily got up and excused herself, walking between the tables and toward him.
"Hey, Evans," smiled James. "You're not leaving now, are you? The feast isn't even over, yet."
Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head, replying as she walked by, "Nature calls."
"Well, if nature's calling you, what would be more natural than sitting here with me? I reckon the end of the feast will be spectacular," James called after her.
Lily paused and turned slightly, glancing at the Marauders before replying, "I'm sure it will be." She walked out of the Great Hall in the direction of the girls' bathroom.
James stared at the doorway until Sirius nudged him and said, "Oy mate, quit daydreaming and focus on the main goal of this evening." Glancing around to make sure no one would overhear, he once again asked, "Are all the pumpkins set?"
"For the hundredth time, Padfoot, yes!" exclaimed James.
"Well, then, I say we get things started," said Sirius.
The boys looked at Remus, who casually drew his wand and subtly muttered a charm, causing the lights inside the jack-o-lanterns to flicker slightly. Now all they had to do was sit back and enjoy the show.
The jack-o-lanterns started to sway back and forth a bit, before lining up and moving toward the Slytherin table. One by one, the pumpkins started spitting out seeds aimed for the Slytherin students. Once a seed came into contact with the student, his or her clothes were transfigured into a horrific costume.
Snape let out a cry of disgust as he realized he was now a fairy princess. He drew out his wand only to realize it was a silver color with a star on the end of it. When he waved it glitter shot out of the end.
The rest of the students laughed at the display, though none more than the Marauders. Sirius' attention was focused on Regulus, who was now a slug, so he didn't notice when the jack-o-lanterns moved away from the Slytherin table.
Suddenly there were more shouts as the pumpkins started spewing seeds onto students of other houses, including the Gryffindors. James, his eyes wide and disbelieving, leaned over and asked Remus, "Moony, are you sure you got that charm right? The seeds were only supposed to be aimed at the Slytherins!"
Remus shook his head and said, "I'm positive, Prongs. I don't see how-AH!" Remus ducked when he saw one of the pumpkins heading straight for them. A spray of pumpkin seeds were shot at them and the boys tried to scatter out of the way, however there was no place to hide.
Sirius guffawed when he saw Peter's school robes transform into a fluffy pink bunny outfit, however Peter laughed right back at him when he saw that Sirius was dressed in drag.
James had attempted to duck under the table however one of the pumpkins chased after him and nailed him in the forehead with its ammunition, transforming his outfit into a mermaid (not merman) costume. James tried to get up to no avail, seeing as his legs were bound together by his costume. He saw Frank nearby and asked for help, but Frank had paled at the sight of James and backed into a stream of seeds that had been aimed at Alice and Marlene. Soon Frank was donning a ballerina costume.
Alice, having been missed by the seeds, gave Frank an appreciative look while Marlene tried to send freezing hexes at the out-of-control pumpkins. The entire Great Hall was in chaos.
James, feeling slightly helpless from his spot on the floor, glanced over at the staff table and shuddered as he saw McGonagall get hit with a seed, causing her to transform into a veela. Trying not to lose his dinner on the floor, James turned his attention to the headmaster, who was casually drinking his pumpkin juice while occasionally casting a shielding charm to avoid being pelted with seeds. Dumbledore gazed about the Great Hall with a spark of amusement about his eyes, before pulling out his wand and summoning the jack-o-lanterns, sending them to a corner of the Hall, where he stopped the spell with a simple, "Finite incantatum."
The teachers then set about reversing the costume spells, one student at a time. While they were waiting, Sirius, in high heels, clumsily made his way toward James, who was still laying on the floor. With a lipstick-smudged smile, Sirius asked, "You okay down there, mate?"
James, annoyed at being caught in his own prank yet amused at the sight of Sirius, sighed and said, "Yeah, I will be once I can get up and walk out of here." He looked down at his costume and fidgeted, muttering, "These shells are really uncomfortable."
A chuckle rang out behind the boys. Sirius turned around and saw Lily, who had apparently just returned from the girls' bathroom. She was looking at Marlene, who had on a Yeti costume after her unsuccessful attempt at stopping the jack-o-lanterns. Lily looked at each of the Gryffindors one by one, her eyes widening more with each costume. When she saw Sirius and James' costumes, she turned a few shades of red and had to hold her side as she laughed.
She looked around the Great Hall as the teachers were attempting to bring order to the chaos, before casually asking, "Did I miss anything?" She tried to mask her mirth as she saw Peter furiously trying to get out of his bunny costume.
Lily had to give herself a little credit. She hadn't meant to overhear James and Sirius the previous night, but once she realized what their plans were she couldn't help herself. It would be the perfect opportunity to turn the prank around on them and hopefully teach them a lesson. After James had hexed that second year student Lily wanted him to get an idea of how the girl had felt.
That morning, while the Marauders had been at breakfast, Lily had snuck up to the boys dormitory and located the bag of charmed pumpkin seeds. She didn't know how to make the seeds selectively go after the Marauders so she instead opted to have the entire school affected, figuring the prank would be harmless.
As she surveyed the results of her efforts, she surmised that the prank had indeed been harmless. No harm, no foul, she thought. Smiling, she turned and paled at the sight of Remus, who had a mischievous grin on his face. Lily backed away as Remus approached her in a fluffy teddy bear costume.
"What's wrong, Lily?" asked Remus with a chuckle. "You don't find this amusing?"
"Erm…" stuttered Lily. She held up her hand to try to keep him away from her. "Don't even think of it, Remus…" she warned.
Remus smiled and shook his head, stepping forward to grab her into a bear-hug, saying, "Go out with me, Evans! Go out with me, Evans! Go out with me-OW!" He hopped backward and held onto the foot that Lily had just stomped on.
Lily shook her head and with a slight smirk said, "You deserved it."
Remus gave Lily another mischievous look and Lily held her breath, realizing that he was not done hassling her about the infamous teddy bear incident. She shook her head and muttered, "Where's a bloody Scandinavian Glumsnatcher when you need one, anyway?"
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A/N: If you want to know my inspiration behind Peter's bunny costume, watch A Christmas Story and look at Ralphie after he is forced to try on one of his gifts. If you are wondering about Frank's reaction to James' costume, reread the chapter on boggarts earlier in my story.
I did not make up the Glumbumble creature. I did, however, make up the Scandinavian Glumsnatcher.
Many of you probably noticed the longer period of time between my latest updates. We have officially caught up with the prewritten chapters. I am trying to write the new ones quickly, but I also don't want to rush and forget some major plot points I need/want in the story.
Thanks to my latest reviewers: Alicia78, Anu, nanopy, God'sgirl, delpheena, Golden Phoenix, likediamondrain, DreamAngel, Mani12191, AshleyM, Jo Bob, Remus'sweetie, A New Reader, alto2srock (x2), tigerfairy, granger1191 (x2), volume UP, Miss France, anonymous, mrs. pendragon, and sista7. I made it past 800 reviews! Wow - it almost seems feasible to make it to 1000 before I finish…
Next chapter: James' first Quidditch match as captain - Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.