Amazons VS Marauders

Chapter 16: The Silence of The Amazons

 ***THE MARAUDERS***

"I don't understand," James Potter announced, walking around his dorm. "I really don't."

"There's not much to understand Prongs," Sirius Black answered calmly, lighting a cigarette. "The Amazons didn't have a prank today. it probably means they're doing one super huge tomorrow."

"No, that's not it," James said. "Since their group appeared, they never, never, missed the chance to do a prank the same day we did. It's their fun, outshine our pranks! I don't understand why there wasn't one from them today. We painted McGonagall's classroom with swearing that I'm pretty proud of. Where is their prank?"

"I don't know," Sirius sighed. "But what do you want me to tell you? That I know who are the Amazons for months now and they're bestie with me, telling me all their secrets? I'd love to tell you that's the case Prongs, I'd be friend with girl pranksters anytime, but unfortunately, it's not the case. They probably just didn't notice we were pulling a prank?"


"Yeah, maybe", James muttered, still walking around, trying to think. "But it never happened before. Why now?"

Sirius got up, sighing, and stopped his best friends, putting his hands on his shoulders.

"Mate, will you stop?" Black said. "There wasn't a prank. That's it, that's all. Maybe they weren't inspired enough to do one. Maybe they had a problem. Maybe they almost got caught, so they had to abort the mission. It can be anything, and it's not walking around our room like a trapped lion you'll find out."

James Potter glanced at him, confusion still written in his brown eyes. He pushed his round glasses up the edge of his nose, before running a hand throught his already messy black hair. He knew he should just let it go, and begin to work on his Transfiguration essay, but he couldn't. The Amazons were driving him crazy. For years, they made him look ridiculous. And when he finally felt close to catch them, they stopped on pulling pranks.

How was he supposed to stop thinking about it?

They were one of Hogwarts' biggest mystery. An illegal group, causing mischief when people expected it the least. They created marvellous pranks, James had to admit it, and they were ingenious. At the bottom of his soul, there was a part of him who could appreciate the hard work and the efforts of the Amazons. How planned, how calculated every single part of their plans was. How they weren't scared of the consequences their prank could bring them.

"You're right, Pad", James said. "I'm not going to know more here. Let's go see Moony and Wormtail, and let's do another prank. If they don't answer to it, then it's because there's something weird."

"You're forgetting we've got McGonagall's detention", Sirius added, stopping his friend's momentum.

"Right", James said. "Well, we'll talk about it there. Chances are she won't even be there."

Unfortunately for James Potter, Professor McGonagall was indeed there. After assigning their tasks, she let them leave with Argus Filch. They couldn't exchange a word, the professor was clear on it.

After hours of polishing the trophies, the Marauders got out of the trophy room, exhausted, their nose uncapable of smelling something else than the product they used.

"What can we do?" James asked out of nowhere.

"About?" Remus asked, scrunching up his nose.

"What prank do we do tonight?" James asked.

"Prongs, it's past midnight", Sirius said. "I just want to sleep, after the whole evening spent with Filch. Is it too much to ask?"

"Pad, we have to do another prank. We have to see if it was only a mistake of the Amazons, that they missed the other, or if something is really going on."

"What good would it do?" Remus asked. "I mean, if they don't put one once again. What would it change for us? We'd still continue to put the same old pranks. What does it change if the Amazons or there or not?"

James glanced at his friend, trying to find a correct answer. He knew, deep down, nothing would be different, and that Remus was completely right. However, he had to see. If the Amazons were truly gone, he'd be satisfied. Everybody could forget they even existed one day, and everything would soon be over. The whole pranking war, which was seriously affecting the Marauder's reputation, would finally have an ending.

But at the same time, the mystery would never be solved. The Amazons' identities would be a secret that would last forever. And no one would ever know who they were. James, would never know who they were.

The more he was thinking about it, James realised he would like it better if they answered. His pride was prominent, pretty much everyone knew that. Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Prefect, popular, rebellious but not that much, and the teachers liked him. James had reasons to have big ego.

The thing was, he was ready to look ridiculous, if it could get his hopes of finding the Amazons identities again. His pride wasn't as influent as his curiosity.

"You don't understand, Remus", James said. "It has been two years, since a group of girls are ousthining our pranks. Even I have to admit it: they're better at pranking. There it is. I admit it. They are succeeding to outshine every single pranks we're planning and doing for years now. And I congratulate them for this feat. I would have never thought it was possible. But they did it. I don't even care about looking rridiculous because of them anymore. I just want to find out who they are. I need to know who they are."

The three other boys stared at him, suspiscious and surprised. James wasn't the one who usually admitted when he was living a defeat. Never.

They also couldn't understand what had changed. He always said he wanted to find out who they where because he could finally expose them, to have his revenge. To have them expelled of Hogwarts, if he could. But now, it was because he was passionate about their pranks, curious, and he wanted to find out everything.

And the other Marauders realised they were also curious, at that statement. The only reason why they weren't upporting completely their friend before, was because they respected the group of girls, and James didn't. But now, it was different, and they could all feel it.

"Okay", Sirius agreed after a while. "Let's do this. But quickly, I can't feel my back anymore."

James grinned mischievously to his friends, an idea already growing in his mind.

"Come, let's head to the Kitchen."

***

After a long night of polishing trophies, then casting complicated spells on different piece of food, the Marauders were tired. Not even the large amount of coffee they all drank helped them, nor did the delicious smells of food. All their plates were empty, because they knew it wasn't a good idea. They knew the food wasn't as good as usual.

James was as excited as he was tired. He was even more exhausted than the others, since he spent a great part of the night looking at the Marauder's Map, trying to see something suspiscious. Someone awake, a group of people not in their dormitory. Maybe he could have seen the Amazons setting their prank.

Unfortunately for him, not of this happened. All the students and the professors were in their respective dormitories. Only the ghosts were wandering throught the corridors, Peeves staying a lot longer than he should be in the Astronomy Tower, probably messing with the telescopes.

James still noticed one thing.

The girls in the Gryffindor's dormitory clearly weren't sleeping, seeing McKinnon's name getting up to go into Lily's bed, or Sofia in the same bed with Alice. They were moving way too much, there wasn't one chance the girls were asleep.

Maybe it was just a pajama party.

But maybe Theresa was right, and they were indeed the Amazons, planning their small prank.

James didn't know what to believe anymore. He would have never thought the Gryffindor girls were that sassy, that wild, to prank like this all those years. Marlene had the personnality to do this kind of things, but Lily, Alice and Sofia were the calm girls, always thinking about the consequences before acting. It would be shocking, if they were truly the Amazons.

But the more James thought about it, the more it seemed likely. No one had to suspect them to be the Amazons, the teachers would have found out a long while ago if they all acted wild and everything. But with Lily and Sofia, two teacher's pet, their secret was sure to be hidden.

James spent half of the night polishing cups, and the other half thinking about that theory.


The only thing keeping him from not flling head first in his cup of coffee was the adrenaline. The prank they had set up the day before was the most amazing one they had ever done. It was Amazons-worthy, and James thought there was not a chance the Amazons wouldn't have something to challenge them back.

A light sound of heel clapping brought James to the reality, and he noticed Sirius' eyes following someone.

Potter turned around, to see the object of his frend's fascination. Theresa Greenburg was walking behind him, along with her friend Jane, before the two of them sitting at the Ravenclaw table. Theresa's hair were falling in big waves, and her bright greyish blue eyes circled with a thick line of eyeliner.

The young Ravenclaw was grinning to her friend, but James could see her eyes didn't hold happiness. She looked sad.

James always found Greenburg pretty, like everyone else at the school. But she wasn't his kind. Since the first second he laid his eyes on Lily Evans, he never saw anyone else. James was no virgin, and he had a lots of girlfriends, and he had also kissed plenties of girls. But no one ever satisfied him. The young Gryffindor's heart was all to Lily.

Facing his best friend, James furrowed his eyebrows.

"You okay with Greenburg, mate?" James asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine", Sirius muttered back, his eyes leaving the girl for a second, before going back to her.

"Sure about that?" Remus said. "I haven't seen her here for a small while now. It has been what? A week since you last talked?"

"A week and three days", Sirius mumbled. "I tried to, of course, but she soon told me it was better if we stayed away from each other."

"Well, it is quite a good idea", Remus said reasonably. "You do have a girlfriend, and hanging out with your friend with benefits might not be the smartest solution."

"Yeah, I know", Sirius said. "I just miss her. I like Sofia, don't get me wrong and all. But Theresa is an honest girl, who isn't scared to tell what she truly thinks. She sticks to what she believes, and even if she doesn't brag about it or show it a lot, that girl is smart. I had conversations with her that I can't have with anyone else."

James nodded, but didn't ask something else, since Sofia arrived from behind Sirius at the exact same moment. Her long brown hair were braided, and her lashes longer than usual, with thick mascara on it.

She bent her head to kiss Sirius, and James looked away, his eyes falling on Holland Cordero, who was eating her breakfast alone.

That girl was a mystery to James' eyes. He couldn't understand her. What her motives where, to be such a cow, when he clearly saw that she wasn't truly like this. Everytime the two of them where alone, which happened two times, James could see a humanity in her nobody else seemed to notice.

Did he want to know more about her? Yes, he was curious about her. James didn't know if she was acting this way because of her parents, or because she was hurt before, and scared to let that happen again. There was plenty of reasons, but James hoped for her she'd stop soon to act this way.

Because Holland was way prettier and likeable with a smile on her face. It could only help her in life. Holland wasn't a mean girl, and she deserved to be herself.

A flash of red hair caught his eye. Red hair he'd recognize anywhere. Lily's hair.

The green-eyed Gryffindor girl was walking towards their House's table, with Marlene and Alice, the three of them smiling and laughing. He could still see they had small bags under their eyes, which showed their lack of sleep of the day before.

James' eyes soon drifted from the love of his life towards his friends. Sirius was still snogging with Sofia, but Remus and Peter were staring at him.

The young boy pushed his glasses uo his nose, and nodded to Remus, smiling. His friend answered to his smile and took off his wand under the table, waving it.

SNAP!

Hundreds of yells exploded at the same time, creating a loud cacophony. Studdents were getting up, running away from the tables, throwing the insects that were once their breakfast.

All the tables were completely covered. Worms, flies, beetles, cockroaches, spiders, snails. Name an insect, it was there.

The crusty bacons, the fruits, the delightful toasts, the herring, the wonderful porridge, everything that was on the tables were now things from the past. The insects were now flying everywhere, crawling off the tables, going after the terrified and grossed students.

Getting up quickly from the Gryffindor table, the four Marauders stared at the scene, sometimes glancing at each other. The teachers were all standing up, taking off their wands, a few of them as terrified as the teenagers.

The four boys tried to keep on poker faces, but it didn't work. When they saw Filch entering the Great Hall with a purple, Muggle flycatcher, like he was the savior, they lost their self-control.

They bursted into a huge, unstoppable laugh.

Everyone, who was expecting it to be a prank of the Amazons, soon understood the Marauders was the cause of all this mischief.

The teachers quickly sent spells, transfiguring the insects into food again, with flaming eyes. James knew the four of them were now in trouble, but he was still proud and glad.

The Amazons would reply to this, there was no other way.

They also succeeded in showing to everyone they could also pull a magnificient prank, and their reputation quite needed it.

Two days after the joke, however, James' optimism was gone.

They were punished, and for nothing.

The Amazons hadn't answer to their pranks.

The Amazons were now mute, their presence in Hogwarts slowly becoming an old memory.

The Amazons were gone. And James had no way to solve their mystery.