Thanks:
Caity, hazeleyedmarauder, Alan22, DreamAngel, RonRoxMySox13
Thank you all and here are some chocolate and orange Pringles to munch on while you read this. -takes some…yum…-
I just realised that the date the sextet turn up on (13 March) is my half birthday! And today, the day I'm writing (except for 30 years later)! Exactly 6 months til I turn 16 everyone! lol
Please R/R.
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Chapter 5, Hell To Pay
All members of the sextet had been awake for an hour when Harry called a conference.
"We're gonna be asked how we got here. When we got asked, we'll just say we were experimenting in the room above the trapdoor, and simply fell through when it was opened."
Hermione nodded. "We also need new names. And everyone, change your eye colour. Then we may look very much like ourselves now, but at least nobody can say we're the same person."
Harry nodded. "I said I'm Harry Potsworth," he replied. "Hermione, you can be Hermione Gale, and you can all be the Wheat kids. You'd probably be best changing your first names, too, because if anyone recognises you in the future…I mean, there are so many of you, so people would notice."
They all nodded their heads. "That sounds all right," Ginny said. "And we can be all from Durmstrang. That's the excuse the Marauders gave when they went back to our time, at least. I'll be Lola, Fred and George can be Tom and…Ben…and Ron can be…"
"Dave. Okay, so that's settled. Now we have to work out how to become whole again. Being melted is not fun."
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In the end they all took a potion that rebuilt all their bones and fixed their skin so it wasn't so gooey. They were let out and Sorted (Dumbledore knew they were there, somehow) and were all put into Gryffindor, which was a relief.
They hurried up and into their common room after receiving the password. The Marauders were all there, and they chatted to them for a while; Hermione and Lily getting pretty close. Harry was very happy that they got on so well. He was starting to get to know James, and he liked him. Sirius and the twins got on perfectly, just as they'd always thought, and Ginny and Ron talked to Remus and Peter. Not that they got on like fire, but they were okay with each other.
It was a few weeks later, after a few lessons, that they first started to experience…difficulties with the Marauders.
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Snape had seen Potter's almost-identical twin walk around with his fluorescent eyes and trademark hair (and girls falling over him, naturally) and had come to the conclusion that something was not right.
Of course, Snape couldn't talk to snakes. But he knew someone who could.
The reason this was relevant was that Snape had overheard Potsworth talking to Potter and Evans about his fear of snakes. Perfect.
They'd set them on him that night. In the Great Hall. That ought to do the trick.
There wouldn't be any girls falling over him after that humiliation, certainly…
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Harry was just sitting down for dinner when the snakes appeared. Two large, green and black, poisonous-looking snakes. Heading his way.
He rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. When he was sure nobody would notice, he began to speak Parseltongue to the snakes, who began to rear away from him until they'd vanished completely.
Of course, there were two people who noticed who didn't already know. One was Snape, who noted clearly that Potsworth wasn't as scared as he made out to be, and James, who was horrified.
James grabbed Harry's arm and asked to speak to him. Harry concurred, and they went outside.
"I'm not blind, Potsworth," James began.
Harry looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"The playing with the snakes trick! Everyone knows only Voldemort and his followers are Parselmouths. You're a Parselmouth; you think nobody would notice? Who are you spying for? You tell me now or I'll rat you out to the Ministry and get you clapped in chains. You're obviously bad material."
Oh, Harry thought. "I'm not a follower of Voldemort. I never have been and I never will be. When I was born, Voldemort tried to kill me; that's why I have some of his powers. That okay?"
James scoffed. "You must be, what? Fifteen? Voldemort wasn't in power when you were born."
"Oh yes he was," Harry muttered angrily. "Because I wasn't born when you think I was. And I'm not going to tell you; you'll have to find out for yourself."
"There will be no finding out of things, traitor. The point is, you're a Voldemort follower and it's my duty to hand you over."
"And to think I liked you before," Harry muttered. "I must have been seeing things. You really are as bad as they made you out to be. Arrogant, annoying, and too full of yourself. You really didn't deserve Lily, after all." He turned and walked away, before James could figure out what he meant by that.
James hurried back in to the Hall. "Guys! I just worked something out about Potsworth!"
They all hurried out. "Don't talk to him ever. He's a spy for Voldemort."
The jaws of all Harry's friends dropped. "What do you mean?" Hermione asked James softly.
"He's a Parselmouth."
"Ah," Hermione said. "I can see how that would look to you. Well, just so you know, he isn't mean. He was struck by You-Know-Who a while ago, and now he can't help it. Some of his power transferred over into Harry."
"How do I know you're not lying and he was brought up that way?"
"Firstly, you're really negative about people. Secondly, Harry's mother was muggleborn; do you seriously think she'd revert to the dark side? And finally, Harry's parents were murdered by You-Know-Who just over a year after he was born. Okay?"
James looked slightly kinder. "Sorry," he muttered. "But that's no excuse for Parseltongue."
"Harry didn't even realise it was a bad thing until he'd used it a few times," Hermione continued to explain. "The first time he was told about it he saved Gi…, uh, Lola here from being murdered by You-Know-Who himself. Does that sound like someone evil to you?"
"No." He shook his head. "I guess not. Unless that was a front."
Hermione glared. "Have a little faith in people. They may surprise you." She turned and walked off, Ron and the rest at her heels.
Fred stopped a few steps later. "Man, never insult Harry ever again, okay? That guy's a legend. Seriously. You have no idea how much shit he goes through every day. People think that just because he survived You-Know-Who they can talk about him all the time. I know me, Ben and Dave did the first time he met him. We were really stunned. The scar he has; that's from You-Know-Who himself. He tried to kill him. But he didn't. That's why you should never say anything bad unless you want to get punched in the face, okay?"
James nodded weakly, and Fred left. James walked over to sit on the stairs. Everyone else stared at him for a few seconds, and then they all started to leave, looking disgusted.
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Hope that was okay…James wasn't going to stay mean for too long, but he won't be nice for a while…
ly,
J xx
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