The Marauders: Year Four

I'll Ruddy Kill You Myself

I'll Ruddy Kill You Myself

The last straggling students headed to their dormitories for the night were the only ones that saw Alastor Moody running through the halls to the Transfiguration wing. But their eyes followed the Headmaster Standing as he went past, murmurs rising up in his wake. Something's wrong, the consensus was, Moody's running through the castle, something terrible's happened. And an air of expectancy rose up through the walls of Hogwarts, everyone waiting on the edges of their seats to find out who had died - what had the Dark Lord done now - a panic that tensed the muscles and made even the suits of armor uneasy...

"Minerva," Moody rumbled, stepping into her office.

McGonagall looked up.

"What's happened?"

"It seems Remus Lupin has gone missing," McGonagall replied. "For that matter, so have a great many other students; the students we know were working with James Potter." In her fearful time of waiting for Moody, she'd sent a patronus to the Shrieking Shack, and one to Gryffindor common room, and her fears had been confirmed, though she wondered how Remus was among them, given that it was the full moon...

Moody scowled.

"Mr. Potter was here, just a few moments before I sent the patronus for you." McGonagall pointed to the floo powder on her desk, "He used the Floo Network but I don't know where he went."

Moody slumped over to the fireplace and knelt down, drawing his wand, and commanded, "Priori destino." The embers glowed green and shivering for a moment... and a small puff of smoke rose up. Moody stood up, turning to McGonagall, "Wherever it is, there's a Fidelus Charm in place." He paced slowly.

McGonagall's lower jaw shook slightly from nerves. She was clutching the tea cup. "What do we do?"

"We get Albus," Moody answered, and he hurried for the door.

Distraught, McGonagall hurried for the desk to put down the teacup and her foot caught on the carpet and she tripped. Moody turned and caught her, but the teacup slipped from her hands... falling to the floor and smashing. "No!" she gasped, and she knelt to pick up the pieces.

"What you saw was the future... the prophecy has been sealed. The killer is known. James Potter will die at the hand of the Dark Lord!"

Sirius's reaction was an anger so absolute that he was nearly blinded by the hatred he felt for that ghost. "REDUCTO!" he bellowed, and the spell flew across the room, passing through the ghost and striking the wall behind, rebounding back, making Sirius, Peter, Frank, and Ali all need to duck as the spell flew over their heads and hit a shelf across the room, sending objects to the floor rolling and clattering about.

Frank choked out, "So wait... wait. James isn't dead then? So where is James now then?"

And suddenly the fireplace glowed lime green and from it stumbled Lily Evans and James Potter, dusty with ashes from the hearth and disheveled from all they'd already been through.

"JAMES!" Sirius had never been so bloody glad to see somebody in all his life.

James looked up at Sirius, but saw the apparition just beyond him. "Ferfuckssake! I thought we were done with this!" he exclaimed and before she could see it, James turned and caught Lily up, "Don't look, Evans," he said, turning her protectively.

"What? What is it?" she asked, a panicked expression on her face.

"THE CHOSEN ONE... SHALL BRING HOPE.... TO THE DARKNESS!" And again - the loud ringing filled the room, and with a brilliant explosion, the apparition disappeared once more. Lily shrieked and Ali's jaw dropped as Frank turned to grab onto her and Peter cast a shield charm out of his panic, blocking them all from the bits of clockwork that shattered across the room as Sirius stared on, wide-eyed. The cogs and wheels bounced back off Peter's protego and fell to the floor in a thick pile of pieces there on the carpet.