The Marauders: Year Four

The Dragon Bomb

The Dragon Bomb

James leaned out of the compartment as the train chugged along, having given it about an hour to get out of downtown London and away from some of the denser muggle landscapes. He looked both directions up and down the aisle, but other than the sweets trolley witch coming down the center, far off and several train cars away yet, the corridor was mostly empty. Everyone was busy catching up in their compartments, too distracted by one another to be wandering around much.

"C'mon," James waved for Peter to follow.

Peter was gingerly carrying the firecracker, a small, bright red box that looked like the least dangerous of the explosives James and Sirius had purchased in Diagon Alley. James couldn't recall which ones were which - they'd carefully peeled the tags all off them, hoping that Filch might believe they were sweets boxes if they didn't have labels. But surely this little box couldn't do much damage. He was fairly certain it was just a noisemaker - they'd got a couple of those.

"You're certain nobody will get hurt?" Peter asked.

"Of course. Look, nobody's even in the corridor anyway. Besides, that sort doesn't really do much except pop and smoke. We're just trying to give them a good scare, that's all."

"And why are we doing it to the girl's compartment again?" Peter asked.

"Because Evans called me thick," James replied. Besides, the cracker would be a thing of legend, he thought - people would talk about the time somebody set off a Filibuster on the Hogwarts Express for eons - just as they still talked about the time Bilius Weasley had set fire to Mrs. Norris's tail (an image that only became funnier the more run-ins with Mrs. Norris that James had over the years). He pictured Lily rolling her eyes, but smiling in amusement, telling people that yes, it had been her compartment James Potter had set that infamous firecracker off by and it had indeed been the thing that had got her attention turned to him. He's just so funny and daring, she'd say, he imagined, Whoever else would ever dream of setting off a firecracker on the Express! and then she'd kiss him to show them all how bloody adorable he was for thinking up such madness.

He was grinning stupidly at the thought of it.

"Prongs?" Peter whispered, "We're there."

"Oh right." James ducked down low, like Peter was until he was kneeling beside the door of the compartment. "Cracker," he requested, holding out his hand, like he was a muggle doctor asking for a scalpel. He'd seen it a hundred times on the telly and the analogy made him grin.

Peter handed over the firecracker box and James positioned it on the floor directly before the compartment door and took out his wand. "Ready?" he asked Peter. Peter covered his ears and nodded. James aimed the wand at the cracker's wick. "Incendio," he murmured. It sparked and started hissing, the sparks crawling up the wick toward the detonation.

James grinned and they got up and backed a few feet away as he covered his ears and watched the sparks.

"What are you lot doing?" Severus Snape asked, stepping out of a compartment a few doors behind them. Regulus Black peeked 'round the frame behind him.

James looked back at him.

Severus's eyes landed on the firecracker. "Are you MAD?" he demanded and he took a step forward, drawing his wand -- but before he could do a thing with it, the sparks hit the detonation and with a deafening bang, one that James would hear in his ears for weeks as a tiny ringing - the little box exploded and a jet of colorful light, shaped like a dragon burst out, sweeping toward James, Peter, and Severus. They all jumped back, Peter tripping and knocking into Snape, both of them falling to the floor. The fiery dragon looped back, roared loudly, and swept the length of the train, bursting windows as it went.