Okay, my dear amazing followers. I owe you one of the biggest apologies known to man for the extended absence. So I’m going to try and make this update (which is fueled by Rockstarr, a milkshake, half of a chocolate bar, and some AirHeads ExTremes) long and amazing.
In the news of my disappearance from Wattpad, I can only blame the stress of finishing high school (I ended up with a “B” average overall) and starting at my local university. The past two semesters have been hard because of family drama (my mom was in the hospital for over a month over Christmas break and still treats me like I’m shit… but that’s a story for another time), school work load being different than I’m used to, and basically sheer laziness. However, I managed to make a 3.5 GPA for my first two semesters of college, landing me a spot on the Dean’s List. Yay!
To also fill you in on other aspects of my life (I know, you’re all yelling at me to hurry the hell up so that you can read the chapter already, but hey. I need friends), I got hooked on Supernatural and Sherlock, which is one of the worst mistakes of my life. So forgive me if my Harry Potter isn’t quite up to snuff.
The track for this chapter is Thank You by Led Zeppelin.
Chapter Eight
Awkward Confrontations and Poopy Diapers
Suddenly, the door burst open. “James! Lily! Hey, it’s been a while!”
The room swiveled to face the opened door and the squat, mousey man standing within the frame.
“Peter,” growled Sirius as he jumped off of the couch and tried to run at the doorway. The only thing that held him back was Remus grabbing him by the scruff of the neck.
“What are you doing here, Wormtail?” Remus asked, though he didn’t dare release the hold he had on the growling Padfoot. “I thought that you were going to be abroad visiting family this month.”
“I could a-ask everyone i-in here that qu-question,” Peter stuttered, not expecting this many people upon his arrival and certainly not expecting Sirius to growl at him. “I don’t believe I know man- Snivellous?”
Snape glared at the man in the doorway before turning his attention to Dumbledore and Mad-Eye. “I thought that the warding you had put up prevented unwelcome intrusions,” he said slowly. “I believe this does classify as an intrusion.”
“James!” Peter said frantically, rushing over to his friend’s side. “That man is a Death Eater. You are all in danger!”
At this, Harry stepped forward to face the smallest Marauder. “It takes one to know one,” he said softly. “How long have you been working for Voldemort?” There was a collection of gasps at the name, but everyone was intently listening to the accusations made by the young man.
Peter visibly flinched at the use of the Dark Lord’s name, but he held his ground. “Why would you accuse me of such a thing?” he asked, stepping away from Harry. “I-I don’t even know who you are and you’re throwing insults to my face. I-I’m James and Lily’s best fried- we’re the best of friends. You sit h-here in com-companionable silence with Sni-snivellous yet you accuse me of such heinous crimes?”
“Remus, let go of Sirius,” Harry said, not taking his eyes off of Peter. “Sirius, check his left forearm for the Mark.”
Harry’s words seemed to have broken something within Peter; when Remus let go of Sirius, Peter transformed into his Animagus form and took off running through the house. This caused Sirius to change into his giant black dog and stampede through the room in chase of the rat. All doors and windows were locked down by the future occupants of the house so that Peter couldn’t escape.
The chase only lasted a few minutes due to Sirius’s keen nose while he was in his dog form. With the rat securely nestled in his mouth, he returned to Harry’s side and gave James a look… one which clearly stated “when I let go of this bitch, make sure you stun his ass”.
James pulled out his wand and smirked before nodding to Sirius to release the small man from his jaws. As the rat dropped, James shot the spells to force him into his human form as well as Stunning him. There was no chance for escape.
Changing back from his Animagus form, Sirius started licking his arm. “The little bugger bit me!” he exclaimed before sucking on his wound and walking to Lily’s side. With great big puppy eyes, he asked “will you heal this for me?”
Rolling her eyes, Lily drew out her wand and healed the small puncture wound on Sirius’s arm before giving it a kiss and saying “all better!”
Grinning, Sirius pranced over to the Stunned Peter and pulled up his left sleeve. The grin dropped as he stared at the black snake and skull that had been branded into the man’s arm.
“Sni- Snape,” he said solemnly. “Can you confirm that this is what some of your House mates got on their arms when they joined Voldemort?”
Shocked at having been spoken to civilly by Sirius Black, Snape nodded and walked over to take a look at Peter’s arm. Shuddering, Snape looked at the three Marauders that had gathered in a crouch position around their friend. “This is the Dark Lord’s mark,” he confirmed before standing up and walking away from his tormentors.
James ran his hands through his hair, a nervous habit that he had never broken after he had left Hogwarts. Looking to his son, he posed the question that everyone in the room was thinking.
“What are we going to do?”
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left the group and fled to the kitchen after the discovery of Peter’s already-present Dark Mark.
“Harry, I’m not ready for this yet!” Hermione worried. “When I had planned to come back in time to save everyone, I had thought that Peter wouldn’t have turned to Voldemort’s side yet.” She paced around the room, worrying at her hands as she walked. “What if Peter isn’t the only one that’s going to drop in on us?”
Ron walked over to her side and placed his hand on her shoulder in comfort. “I know that it seems like a lot to take in now, but we can do this, Hermione,” Ron said.
Harry sat down at his parents’ table, thinking hard about the hours before them. “We’ve been here one day,” he said slowly. “One day and we already know that Peter has joined up with the Death Eaters.”
Ron and Hermione looked up from there worrying to meet Harry’s eyes.
“What do we do?” asked Ron, his hand never leaving Hermione’s shoulder. “How can we be sure that we’re going to be safe if people are still able to get into the house?”
Hermione’s eyes grew wide, as if she remembered something important. “Harry! In our time, You-Know-Who put a tracker on his name that allowed Death Eaters to break any and all charms!” she said excitedly. “Maybe that’s why the charms that Mad-Eye and Dumbledore put on the house didn’t work properly! It’s not like we’ve really hesitated while we used his name.”
Harry grinned at his friend, happy that at least part of their problem was figured out. “So as long as we don’t say the name, our charms shouldn’t be broken?” he asked Hermione. “What if Dumbledore helps my parents do the Fidelus Charm now?”
“It would provide an extra layer of protection,” reasoned Hermione, “but will your parents be up for living in secrecy while we’re here?”
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Back in the living room, the rest of the group worried about the conference that was taking place with the Golden Trio in the kitchen. It had been at least twenty minutes since the discovery of the Dark Mark on Peter’s arm… twenty minutes trying to lock down and protect the house the best that they can in case more Death Eaters should arrive.
Finally, the Trio came out of the kitchen with small smiles on their faces.
“We figured out why Peter was able to get in the house despite all of our warding that we placed on it,” Ron said. “Back in our time, You-Know-Who made his name a jinx. When his name was spoken, any and all protective charms around the area of the speaker were broken so that Death Eaters could go in and kill the one who dared to speak his name.”
“You can use any other form of his name,” Harry explained, “as long as you don’t say the name that he created for himself. You can use Tom, Riddle, even the Dark Lord. Just don’t say the name that everyone fears.”
“So does that mean that all of our charms will hold now?” James asked, moving over to hold Lily’s hand. “We’ll be safe as long as we don’t use his name?”
“Actually,” Hermione started nervously, “I was meaning to talk to you about that.” She directed her gaze to Lily and James, as they were the owners of the house and had the right to many any decision regarding it. “I want to place the house under the protection of the Fidelus Charm for the duration of our stay here.”
James looked furious at this idea. “You want us to hide in our own home?” he raged.
“Only until you’re all safe,” Hermione assured, flinching away from the man who looked so much like her best friend. “If we do the charm and keep it up for the duration of our stay, we would have a safe house to flee to if anything were to go wrong. There are so many variables that we have to deal with here.”
Lily placed her hand on James’s shoulder, moving it in slow circles to try and calm him down. “Sweetheart,” she said quietly. “You’ve already lost one best friend today. Peter will never be the little boy that idolized you again. Why don’t we keep the rest of our friends and family safe from harm?”
James nodded, sending a meaningful look over to the other two Marauders, who were standing as still as statues next to Peter’s unconscious form. “Okay,” he said, never taking his eyes off of his friends. “In the meantime, what are we going to do with Wormtail here?”
“Mad-Eye?” Remus suggested, looking at the grizzled man standing across the room. “Would you be willing to arrest this man on the grounds of a forced attack into a home of innocents?”
Mad-Eye looked dubious, but nodded his consent. Limping over to the unconscious body, he pulled Peter up into a standing position and dragged him to the door. “I’ll be back,” he said, looking at all of the men and women standing before him. “Why don’t you set up the charm to be performed the minute that I return?”
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
While Mad-Eye was gone, the occupants in the house split up into three groups: one preparing lunch in the kitchen, one that was supposed to set up a space to eat within the living room (the dining room was too small, you see), and the last was working with Dumbledore to protect the house with the Fidelus Charm.
In The Kitchen
Molly, Alice, Ginny, Neville, Snape, and Arthur were assigned to kitchen duty. Preparing food for a group of twenty was no small task, and Molly wanted nothing but complete control of the kitchen. Ginny and Alice, however, were not having that.
“I don’t understand why you don’t trust us to help you, Molly!” Alice argued, back to everyone else in the room. “With more people, we’ll be able to finish cooking faster and then we can make sure that the boys in the other room haven’t screwed anything up!”
“I believe I am the only one in this room with experience cooking for large groups of people,” Molly said, bustling about. She already had a ham cooking in the oven and a vat of potatoes that were peeling themselves above the sink. “I don’t need anyone getting in the way.”
“Mum, we’re not going to be in the way!” Ginny said. “Snape, Dad, and Neville can be in charge of peeling and cooking the potatoes as well as any vegetables that you decide you want to serve. You and Alice can be in charge of cooking the main courses of ham and turkey, and I can be in charge of preparing dessert.”
Molly pursed her lips, not really noticing that everyone else in the room had taken up Ginny’s suggestion and had gotten to work. “I guess that’s reasonable,” she agreed. “However, I don’t think that you should be doing all of the desserts by yourself. At least let me help you with those?”
Ginny smiled and pulled on an apron. “Of course, mum. I’m in charge of the treacle tart, though.”
In The Living Room
Not really trusted to be handling the food, Sirius, Ron, Remus, George, Frank, and the baby twins were placed in the living room to make room for everyone to eat. The babies had been confined to a playpen that Remus had magicked in so that the group really wouldn’t have to keep a close eye on them.
Currently, the twins were trying to figure out a way to escape their confinement.
Sirius and Remus were placed in charge of shrinking the furniture currently in the living room and moving it into the dining room so that they could place a formal dining table within the space of the living room. Sirius, however, kept getting distracted.
“Moony!” Sirius yelled, though Remus was only a foot or so away from him. “Do you remember when Lily said that there was bacon in the kitchen and I pulled down Ron’s pants to get it?”
Remus rubbed his temples and sighed. “I think I remember something that happened less than three hours ago, Sirius,” he grumbled as Ron, George and Frank all laughed.
“What about when I took down Peter and he bit me?” Sirius asked again, wagging his butt like an over-excited puppy. “And then Lily kissed my boo-boo so that it wouldn’t hurt anymore!”
George laughed as he looked over to the playpen where younger versions of him and his twin were currently standing on each other to escape.
“Sirius,” George said mischievously. “Maybe you should go make sure babies me and Fred aren’t getting out of their pen.”
Just as George finished his sentence, baby Fred was free and pushing at the lock on the playpen so that baby George could get out.
“No!” Sirius cried, falling to his stomach and sliding to the twins. Baby Fred grinned before sitting on his head.
“Ew…” Sirius complained, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “I think this one just pooped on my head…” The room chortled, Remus falling to the ground with tears in his eyes.
With Dumbledore
Dumbledore had moved upstairs to a small bedroom that would later become a nursery for the Potters. With him were Lily and James, Harry, Hermione, and Minerva.
“The first thing,” Dumbledore said with a small smile despite the situation, “we need to do is decide who should be Secret Keeper for the Potter family.”
“Minnie,” James decided without consulting anyone else in the room. “It needs to be Minnie.”
Minerva rolled her eyes before turning to Lily. “What do you think, Evans… I mean Potter?”
“I think that you’re the best fit,” Lily said honestly. “No offense to you, Professor,” she added quickly, turning to Dumbledore.
“None taken, my dear,” Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye. “I take it that you, Miss Granger, and you, Mister Potter, know how this particular charm works?” he asked. Both Hermione and Harry nodded, pulling their wands free.
“Let’s get started,” Harry said grimly.
Aghk. I kind of ran out of steam, guys. So the next chapter will include casting the Fidelus Charm and the meal itself, as well as some more story telling. I know it’s been a while so I’m going to try to update within two weeks. I love you all! Sorry if my writing has changed a ton since I last wrote for you guys. I’ve grown up a ton…
With love,
Mary Elizabeth <3