Marauders in Time

Caught Red-Handed

The weeks continued without further suspicion from anyone about the Marauders. Due to Lily's persistence that everyone stay patient, James and Sirius withheld from asking more questions. Sirius was still very grumpy about the fact that he would be going to Azkaban but at the same time, quite impressed with himself for having been the first to escape it. James, on the other hand, was really interested to know what else Lily knows and was determined to find out before they could go back.

But all their problems and worries were forgotten during their DA lessons. Harry made sure they were worthwhile by teaching the entire group something new every week. Although Sirius and James claimed they already knew most of the hexes and jinxes, they still enjoyed the time to make new friends and more importantly, have an excuse to curse someone.

"Bet I can get Zacharias from here," Sirius challenged.

"We're supposed to be practising Patronuses," Remus said, making his wolf run around.

"After I hex him," Sirius subtly turned to face Zacharias, who was on the other side of the room, and muttered an incantation, making Zacharias fly backwards into a wall.

"Who did that?" Harry asked aloud, glancing at James who was snickering with Sirius. "Please focus."

Despite him desperately trying to keep things under control, James and Sirius couldn't help but notice Harry enjoy it when Zacharias was being bullied. And he was yet to find out who did it.

"Let's go back to making Patronuses," James said, making a stag appear at the end of his wand.

"Wow! Harry look at this!"

Ron motioned for Harry to look at James's Patronus, which was galloping around the room gracefully. Harry took one look at it and his eyes widened.

"What's up?" James asked, his stag disappearing.

"I've got the same Patronus," Harry muttered.

James eyes widened as well. Harry only noticed this as pure shock but James thought much different. He was so happy that his son had shared the same Patronus as him. There was no doubt now, not that there was any before, that Harry was James's son.

"Harry Potter!" A worried panicking voice called out from behind everyone. Some people screamed.

A house elf appeared just then and ran up to Harry, pulling on his robes. Harry gave him his full attention, "What's wrong Dobby?"

The elf's eyes were filled with horror, "She knows sir. She knows! She is coming! She is-She is coming for you now! You are all in danger!"

James didn't need Harry to say anything to know who the elf was talking about. There was only one woman in the school who could make a house-elf cry out of horror like that. Once Harry yelled for everyone to run, James bolted for the door. He exited with Sirius and Peter tailing him. As he glanced the end of the corridor, he could see a figure turn towards them.

"GET THEM!" Umbridge's voice was unmistakable.

James turned left and sprinted, noticing there were a few Slytherins ready to intercept. With his wand at the ready, he fired a jinx that shot smoke on the end of his wand. His captors were blinded for a few seconds, allowing him to escape. The same couldn't be said for Harry, who was captured by none other than Malfoy. Everywhere around them, students were scattering, trying to save themselves while Umbridge and some Slytherins tried to help. Ron had gone one way by himself, ending up in a boys bathroom and trapped.

"Where are you Weasel King?" He could hear some voices enter.

Ron hid in a cubicle, ready to curse whatever came through the door. He knew there was more than one of them but he wouldn't go down without a fight. With a split second to think about how he was done for, there was a scream of pain outside, followed by the sound of more curses.