The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Hey Look, It's The Squid

Except the moment the fourth Marauder's bottom hit their seat (the last one to sit had been Sirius himself), a loud snapping sound could be heard as the chairs clamped onto their waists with a belt and tightened.

"What the hell?" Sirius said, and he struggled to get up.

Remus looked around, "Oh no," he murmured.

Suddenly a large banner dropped from the ceiling and there was a picture of the lake on it and in the middle of the lake, hovering over the water, was a the giant squid. The squid looked to be in a right mood, flailing his legs all angry and slapping the water with all eight tentacles.

James laughed, "Hey, look, it's the squid."

Sirius looked at James.

James looked at Sirius.

They both knew at exactly the same moment.

"Oh shiiiiiiii---" James gasped and with four very loud cracks, the seats the Marauders were in completely disappeared from the Great Hall.

Minerva McGonagall was on her feet in a second, her eyes wide, jaw dropped. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN ---" 

Suddenly, on the banner, in four of the arms of the giant squid, appeared four chairs and four Marauders in those chairs. 

"---iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" James was still yelling, his voice magnified over the whole of the Great Hall.

Laughter was already fluttering through the on-lookers as Peter covered his eyes on the screen and Remus had gripped very, very, very hard onto the chair seat, looking a bit green about the cheeks. Sirius was grinning, arms over his head like he was on a roller coaster.

The squid paused in his thrashing to see what he had stuck to the suckers of his tentacles, holding all four up so he could see them from his giant squid eyes.

Wally cleared his throat and stood up, holding his wand like a microphone as he stood before the banner, looking rather like a news reporter on the muggle telly.

"We're live from the grounds of Hogwarts, where the Giant Squid has just caught the notorious four Marauders of Hogwarts!" Wally said. "Squiddy. It's been years since Potter levitated you over the water... Are you over that humiliation?" he paused, as though listening for an answer, then, "No? Revenge is the ticket... Alrighty then!"

And the Squid started to spin...

His tentacles swooped up and down and out and in and the chairs flew along, stuck to the suckers, with the Marauders stuck on them, dipping in and out of the water with great splashes and shouts from the four boys, whose limbs were flailing and clothes were dripping. James and Sirius were laughing a lot harder than Remus and Peter, though Peter looked as though he was starting to think it fun as he was dunked below the water and brought back out. At some point, James's glasses fell off and Lily covered her mouth with her hands as she watched in shock as the Squid finally managed to shake the chairs from his tentacles and all four of them went flying into the water, the belts releasing as they fell, the chairs disappearing ("so they wouldn't get hit in the heads, you see," Wally explained later), and the Marauders disappearing below the surface with great big splashes. 

The squid dove under the moment the spell work had released him.

There was a long, breathless pause as the entire Great Hall watched the screen until the Marauders heads popped up on the surface. First Remus, then James, Peter, and finally Sirius. And, seeing they were all four alright, the entire room burst into laughter and applause.

Sirius shook his fist at the castle, "Those little f----" but the feed cut off and Wally was left standing before a blank banner.

Wally stared at the screen, turned to the room at large, grinned, and announced, "DWO FOREVER!" 

McGonagall was running down the center of the hall, her wand out, "DWO DETENTION IN MY OFFICE," she shouted, as she pushed through the doors of the Great Hall. 

Wally hooted and jumped down off the table, where he'd been standing for his news broadcast, running after her.

Dumbledore and the rest of the staff hurried after her as well as everyone in the hall, who all took this as a cue to follow, rushing and jostling, fighting for the best possible view of the lake from the steps of the entry hall and the grounds going down to the lake. 

James and Peter were on the shore and Sirius was pulling Remus from the water, already emerging, their clothes sopping wet, hair hanging bedraggled and stringy over their foreheads. "Accio glasses," James called, and his glasses sailed from the center of the lake to his outstretched hand. He pressed them on his face as Sirius, having deposited Remus safely on a rock, turned and drew his wand from his pockets as Lily ran passed and threw herself at James, hugging his neck as though she'd been worried he might be hurt.

Dexter, Wally, and Oliver came to a stop where they were, halfway between the edge of the lake and the front line of the crowd of students.

"YOU THREE!" Sirius shouted, "You think you lot are funny, do you!?" his voice rang with anger.

Wally paled. For the first time he questioned if it'd been a good prank after all. If he'd pissed off Sirius Black, then certainly it had ben a horrible idea. Maybe they'd gone to far. What if James didn't want to be Oliver's trainer anymore? Wally stammered, "I - I -"

"I THINK IT'S FUNNY, TOO!" Sirius shouted, and he waved his wand and all three of the seagulls were airborne, flying about in a very similar fashion as the Marauders had done at the end of the tentacles of the Squid, though the DWO flew about without any chairs and no squid holding onto them, only Sirius's magic.

"MR. BLACK!" Professor McGonagall shouted, "PUT THEM DOWN!"

Sirius grinned, "With pleasure, Minnie." And he lowered his wand and all three of the boys flew into the lake the same as the Marauders had done, Wally being the one screaming "oh shit" as James had done, until they landed with splashes.

The whole school set to laughing as Dexter, Wally, and Oliver's heads popped up on the surface a moment later, shocked and shaking water from their hair.