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Harry Potter And The Twists Of Fate | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:All, All Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Fluff, Humor Warnings: Extreme Language, Sexual Situations, Violence Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 475 Summary: What if the fates let Harry's parents live that night he got his scar, plus gave him a younger sister and become friends with the Weasleys, especially Ron earlier. What would be different? Hitcount: Story Total: 324060; Chapter Total: 10117 |
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Chapter 4: The Marauders return When Harry got back to Gryffindor Tower the next afternoon, he told Ron and Hermione about his discovery about Flamel. The bushy-haired girl immediately sprinted for her dormitory room, warning the two boys to just wait for her where they were, in a corner near the fireplace of their common room. The other Gryffindors weren’t paying them any attention, engrossed in their own conversations. She soon reappeared clutching a rather large and old book, muttering, “I knew he’d be in here somewhere. I checked it out of the library for some light reading material. ” The book’s title was The Greatest Names and Discoveries in Alchemy. “You call that light?” Ron asked, stunned. “Now, where did I see it?” She whispered as she frantically flipped the pages of the book. “Ah, here it is. Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher’s Stone.” “The what?” Ron asked. Harry frowned, “I think I’ve heard of that.” “Here, you two, read this,” Hermione said, pushing the book toward them and the two boys read: The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. There have been many reports of the Philosopher’s Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight). “You see,” Hermione said, “This must be what that dog is guarding, Flamel’s Philosopher’s Stone. Flamel must have known someone wanted to steal it so he asked Professor Dumbledore to hide it since they’re friends. “With powers like that, turning any metal to gold and keeping a person from dying, no wonder Snape wants it,” Harry said, “Anyone would want it. He’ll either keep it for himself or sell it off to the highest bidder.” “Blimey,” Ron said, “If he’s that old, no wonder we couldn’t find him in the other books.” “So what do we do now?” Hermione asked them. “We’ve got to make sure the Stone is safe,” Harry said. “How do we do that?” Ron asked, “We can’t just walk up to Dumbledore and say ‘Professor, we heard you have the Philosopher’s Stone here. What’s guarding it besides the three-headed dog?’” “No, we can’t tell him yet, not without proof.” Harry said, “I’ll think of a way to find out about the stone.” Then seeing Fred and George, he added, “In the meantime, I think its time to have a little fun.” Raising his voice, he beckoned to the redheaded twins, “Oy, Fred, George, come over here a sec.” The twins came over and stood near the trio, “What is it…,” one said, maybe Fred. “…you want, Harry?” the other completed. Harry beckoned to them to move closer, “Well, guys,” he said to them in a low voice, “I decided to agree to what you asked me that first day on the Express.” The two twins grinned, “Oh, we’re so glad…” “…you have agreed to our proposal, Harry.” Ron also grinned, “That’s great, Harry. Just imagine the looks on the teachers’ faces when they realize a new group of Marauders is in Hogwarts.” “And just what does that mean?” Hermione said, moving closer to the four boys, “Who are the Marauders?” “Only the greatest bunch of pranksters…” “…ever to grace the walls of Hogwarts.” Hermione frowned, “Pranks? Isn’t that a little childish?” She looked at Harry, “Won’t your parents be mad at you for pranking?” “Nope, at least not Dad,” Harry said, grinning, “He was one of the original four Marauders.” “Yeah,” Fred said, “Him along with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Um, of course, the fourth one was Peter Pettigrew.” “Forget him,” Harry grimaced, “He’s no longer part of that group. He can rot in Azkaban for all I care.” “He’s the one who betrayed your parents, isn’t he?” Hermione asked, then turned pink at the sudden blaze in Harry’s eyes, “Sorry, it’s stated in your story in Modern Magical History. “That’s okay, Hermione,” Harry said, struggling to get his temper under control, “We don’t like to talk about him or that night much. But now, let’s forget it and concentrate on making my Dad and uncles proud.” “Yeah,” Ron said, “We have to think up some good pranks, especially on Malfoy or even Snape.” “No!” Hermione said, “You’ll get caught. We’ll lose house points.” “Don’t worry, Hermione,” Harry said, smiling again, “I’ve got a way for us to avoid getting caught.” “What is it, mate?” Ron asked, curious, “Did your Dad teach you some auror stealth spell?” “Nope,” Harry said, grinning, “even better. He gave me an invisibility cloak.” “Wicked!” Ron exclaimed, “Those are really rare and expensive. How many people can fit in it?” “I don’t know yet,” Harry said, “I only tried it on myself. Come on, let’s check.” He sprinted up to the first year dormitory room, trailed by Ron and the twins. Hermione reluctantly followed them. Luckily, no one else was in the dormitory. Harry dug into his trunk and carefully pulled out the glittering cloth. The others stared in awe at it as Harry spread it out then threw it over him. He then pulled Ron into it. Seeing both of them were well covered, he then let Fred join them. Unfortunately, he was too tall and he caused their feet to be exposed. Fred got out from under the cloak. Harry then pulled a reluctant Hermione in with him and Ron. The cloak just barely fit them. Harry then handed it to Fred and George who had to scrunch down in order to be completely covered by it. “All right,” Harry said, “Now we know that at most, it’ll only hold the three of us or you two. That’ll just make us adjust who pulls the prank.” “I really don’t know about this, Harry,” Hermione said. “Well, you don’t have to join us if you don’t want to,” Ron said. Hermione frowned at him. “Come on, Hermione,” Harry said, “Help us. You’re quite good at thinking of spells. We need a little more fun. It’s just a bit dull with all the studying. I promise, we won’t pull any during classes, just at mealtimes or early in the morning.” “Yeah, Hermione,” Ron said, “Come on, we can get back at the Slytherins for all their nasty comments.” “We’ll just do harmless pranks, nothing hurtful or permanent,” Harry said. Hermione was silent for a while, looking from Harry to Ron to the twins, who had their lost puppy dog looks on their faces. Finally, she said, “Oh, all right. As long as it doesn’t interfere with our classes or hurts anyone.” “Yes!” all four boys said, simultaneously. Over the next weeks, it seemed the Slytherins were plagued by unusual occurrences. First, during one lunch, several of them, including Malfoy and his cronies, were turned into small canaries, returning to their original states after a few minutes. They found out it was due to some strange candies among the sweets at their table. Then, their shoes started turning into bunny slippers for two full days. A few days later, anyone who used salt on their food developed spots on their bodies, while those who used pepper would sneeze instead of talking. Finally, the whole house didn’t appear at breakfast one day. The rest of the school found out why during joint classes. They were all wearing pink robes and had pink hair. Snape himself was wearing pink robes and had his skin in pink and yellow stripes. He was furious and glared at the Gryffindors. He had his suspects but could not prove it. Dumbledore, on the other hand, just smiled. His eyes twinkled with mischief as he listened to his potions master complain. In their common room, the new Marauders laughed and laughed at the result of their pranks. Even Hermione smiled, though she continued to worry and fret about getting caught. Three weeks after the start of the term, Gryffindor had its next Quidditch match, this time against Hufflepuff. Dumbledore was sitting in his office the night before when his fireplace flared and James Potter’s face appeared in it. “James,” Dumbledore said, smiling, “What can I do for you? Nothing wrong at home, I hope?” “No, professor, nothing’s wrong at this end,” James replied, agitated, “But, I think I could say something is wrong there.” “What are you talking about, James?” Dumbledore asked, though he had an idea what seemed to be upsetting the older Potter. “Can I come through to your office?” James asked. “Of course, James,” Dumbledore said, twirling his wand to cast a modification on the wards around the fireplace. James soon appeared in front of his desk. “How could you, Professor? How could you let that man referee a Gryffindor match?” he asked, fury in his voice. “Now, James. I assume you found out about Severus requesting to referee the next Quidditch match?” Dumbledore asked. He added with a smile, “I hope you didn’t find out from Harry.” “No, he didn’t tell me,” James said, “His friend, Ron, sent an owl to his parents complaining about it. His sister heard about it and told my daughter, who told me.” “Now, James, don’t worry about Severus being the referee. He told me he wanted to try it out,” Dumbledore said, smiling. “And you believed him? Come on, professor. He just wants to keep Gryffindor from winning. I bet he calls a lot of fouls against them, even against Harry. You wait and see.” “Now, now, James,” Dumbledore began but was interrupted by another face appearing in his fireplace, this time a redheaded woman. “Professor Dumbledore? Is my husband there?” “Oh, oh,” James said, paling. Dumbledore turned to the fireplace, mirth in his voice, “Yes, Lily. James is here. We were just discussing the points of having Severus referee in Quidditch. “James! You promised to leave it alone,” Lily almost screamed. “Lily, come on,” James whined, “Think about Harry. He’ll be on the pitch. You can’t trust Snape to be fair.” “I trust Professor Dumbledore’s decision,” Lily replied cooly, “Let it go. We’ll be there anyway. If you don’t come home now, you’re sleeping on the couch.” Looking despondent and defeated, James bid goodbye to Dumbledore and flooed back to Potter Manor. The following day, the weather was beautiful, just right for a Quidditch match. When Harry entered the pitch, he immediately kicked off. As he circled the stadium, he saw his parents there in the stands. He then blinked and almost fell off his broom, for beside them were Rose and Ginny. He groaned. Of all the times for them to watch him play, now was not a good time, especially with Snape refereeing. Then Harry spotted Dumbledore also in the stands, watching. Then to the other side of his parents were Sirius and Remus. He grinned in relief. With his parents, surrogate uncles and Dumbledore there, he wasn’t worried about Snape trying anything like in the first match. Now, he only had to overcome his nervousness on doing well. Soon Snape blew the whistle to start the game as he released the balls. Within thirty seconds, he gave Hufflepuff a penalty when George sent a bludger at him. Luckily, Oliver was able to block the shot. Then, he passed it to Angelina Johnson who tossed it to Katie Bell. She then streaked off toward the Hufflepuff hoops followed closely by Angelina and Alicia Spinnet. Harry tore his attention from the chasers and circled the pitch, his eyes searching for the elusive snitch. Suddenly, he spotted it near the ground, just below Snape. He pushed his broom downward and streaked towards it, missing Snape by inches. His hand closed over the snitch just before he would have plowed into the ground. He pulled his broom’s handle up and slowed to a stop, raising his hand in triumph. The Gryffindor section of the crowd roared in jubilation. His teammates moved down and crowded around him. His parents and their friends soon followed. James leaped forward to hug his son. “Great catch, son,” James said, “Really great. Its not even five minutes into the game and no one had scored yet.” James grinned at Snape who was off to the side, pale and glowering. Lily hugged and congratulated her son while Sirius and Remus beamed at him with pride. “You really showed that git, Harry,” Sirius said. “Sirius!” Lily scolded, “Don’t put ideas in his head.” She turned to Harry. “Don’t think too badly of Severus, Harry. He’s not as bad as your father and these two say.” Harry said nothing. He was inclined to agree with his father and uncles, but didn’t want to get on the bad side of his mother. He instead turned to his sister and her best friend. “So, guys, what do you think of my Quidditch skills now?” Harry asked the two redheads. Rose tilted her head, “Not bad, big brother. However, I spotted that thing a few seconds before you did. Wait until next year and I may try and convince your captain to let me try out for Seeker.” Ginny giggled beside her. Harry gaped at Rose then turned away in disgust. |
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