December 17, 1973
On the Hogwarts grounds, it is late at night and a storm is brewing in the skies. A mixture of freezing rain and hail is torrenting the earth. JAMES, SIRIUS, and PETER stand on the hill outside the entrance hall, each of them grasping a small flask.
SIRIUS: (yelling over the rain) This is insane!
JAMES: You heard McGonagall! It has to be done this way!
PETER: When do we do it?
JAMES looks to the sky, and waits until he sees a bolt of lightning strike the black sky.
JAMES: Now!
Together, the three drink the potions inside their flasks until there is nothing left. They each recoil from the foul taste, and SIRIUS covers his mouth with his arm.
SIRIUS: I might be sick.
JAMES: Hurry! Get back to the castle!
They hurriedly sprint up the grounds towards the entrance hall. The doors open, revealing the tall silhouette of MINERVA standing in front of the fire-lit corridor.
MINERVA: Hurry, boys! Inside, now.
JAMES, SIRIUS, and PETER throw themselves in the building, landing in a heap on the stone floor. MINERVA closes the doors.
MINERVA: Did you all do it? You drank every drop?
JAMES: Yes, ma'am. All of it.
MINERVA: Give me your flasks, now. (She collects them) This was a very important step in your Animagus training. Believe me, you will be grateful for what you did tonight.
PETER: It was so cold- so loud-
MINERVA waves her wand over the three boys, and their clothes immediately become dry. She produces a bundle of cloth blankets and drapes them over their shoulders.
MINERVA: Storms have a way of deluding our consciousness, making us believe that the world is so chaotic that there's to use in carry on on anymore. But the night is darkest just before the dawn, boys. Believe me.
SIRIUS: (smiling) Thanks, Professor.
MINERVA: Well, if any of you ever had doubts that you weren't worthy enough to be Gryffindors, let tonight be the antithesis of that belief. Come, now. Let's get you lot to bed.
She guides the three Gryffindors up towards Gryffindor Tower, lighting the way with her wand and leading them home.
YOU ARE READING
The Marauders Rise (II)
FanfictionIn 1973, the Marauders enter their third year at Hogwarts and are immediately thrown back into a world of magic and mayhem. James, Sirius, and Peter, under the guidance of Minerva, devise an unorthodox way to help Remus during his transformations, a...
