The Four Marauders

She's back and worse than ever

At the end of the match, Gryffindor won by 200 points. 

Sirius and James led the team out from their tent, gloating and holding broomsticks high above their heads. Fans were cheering madly and it took a while for Remus to shoulder his way through to them. 

"Ah Lupin boy!" James yelled, "Where have you been?"  

"Whats going on? Did you win?" Remus smiled excitedly. "By how many-"

"200! 200 pure gold points!" Sirius yelled over the gaggle of girls that had gathered around him. Lily and her friends stood a little further away, taking to Belle with hushed voices and narrowing eyes. 

Emmeline Vance, a girl with short brown hair in their year, came walked past the Marauders, heartliy greeting them. "That was some flying!" She commented.

Sirius gave a laugh, "You're too kind, it wasn't my best, I couldn't go wild with a young lady on board," James and Peter exchanged a glance then snickered under their breath. Sirius hadn't been with Emmeline yet, one of the few girls from fifth year that had not succumbed yet to him charm. All thoughts of Belle were banished from his mind. 

Belle saw him and shook her head despairingly. "Will he ever change?" 

*

The next eventful event happened to happen in the next couple of days. The Halloween feast. And also the annual Hogsmede visit. Everyone was excited as the notice was pinned up in the common room. 

But they got another surprise. At breakfast, their usual routine was interrupted by an abrupt movement coming from the teacher's table. Dumbledore had stood up and held a hand waiting for silence. One by one they quieten down; Gryffindors traditionally the last. 

Slowly Dumbledore explained to them the reasons for the strange behavior. He had a despairing look about him. His sad eyes blinked slowly and his head dipped a little. 

He opened his mouth but someone had already interrupted him. 

Sirius' eyes grew large. His head snapped to the left where James was sitting then the the right where Remus and Peter were sitting. James' mouth formed a perfect 'O' while Remus gripped the tablecloth, gritting his teeth. 

Because there, standing all high and mighty, was Umbridge. The witch. Metaphorically. 

She was not done with Hogwarts or Dumbledore. 

"Ahem. You have met me before but just to refresh your little minds - I am Professor Dolores Umbridge and I work at the Ministry of Magic. And I am delighted to announce that I will be staying at Hogwarts from now on!" 

The students rumbled amongst themselves, all stricken with horror or disgust. 

Apart from one table who some of the occupants of were grinning at each other.

Was that all she was going to say? No reason? No excuse? Apparently so. She smiled by pulling back the corners of her mouth to reveal her sharp teeth.

Then Remus shouted, "We don't want you here you old hag!" The rest of the marauders turned to Remus in shock. A girl from Hufflepuff then said, "You have no right." Sirius shook his head. "Moony you owe me one," he whispered, his eyes sparkling. He got up. "Sorry Umbridge but I think you would be doing everyone a favour if you just went creeping back to your little cave in hell." That started it. Now all of the students were shouting abuse at her. The teachers did nothing to stop it and that smirk of Umbridge's was only getting bigger.

And bigger.

Dumbledore held up a hand and everyone's shouts dulled to angry hisses. "I do believe Professor Umbridge would like to say something." He directed at the woman looming behind him, almost accusingly. 

"Why yes! I have not come alone," She stepped forward. 

"I have brought a special guest and he is very...excited to meet you all."  She stepped even closer towards the students. 

"And he just arrived! Lets all give a warm welcome to my guest - Dr. Venator!" 

There was a crack. A tall man dressed in a dark cloak  and boots appeared. As he walked forwards, Remus noticed something silver under his cloak. 

He grabbed Sirius. "Sirius, Sirius, I need to get out of here now." Sirius looked at the hand Remus was using to grab onto him with confusion. Remus only called out there proper names when the occasion was serious. 

"What? Whats wrong?" James asked leaning out to see past Sirius.

"No, no, no I just need to leave!"

"Why? Moony?"  

 "No you cant call me that." 

"Remus..." 

Suddenly there came a high cackle from Umbridge at the front. "Hasn't anyone figured it out yet?!" She cackled some more. The man smiled, a silver tooth was revealed. 

"He's a werewolf hunter! And he's here to hunt down every werewolf residing near or even in this castle. And then kill them to keep you students pure." 

Remus felt faint. He knew why. The weapon that Dr. Venator had hidden was to sniff out any werewolves. He would have to stay conscious if he wanted to stay alive. 

"You demon spawn..." James whispered. He raised a challenging gaze to the hunter. Dr. Venator caught his gaze and stared back solidly. They didn't drop their eyes at all during the rest of the meeting. 

As everyone got up to left, James remained sitting. "We won't let you." He murmured finally turning away. 

He didnt see but as he turned away, the hunter took out something from the inside of his cloak and fiddled around with it in his fingers, eyes going bright. 

It was a silver bullet.