(no subject)
Recipient: shadowycorner (Liz)
Title: Tales of Glory
Rating: 15+
Ships: Aragog/Mosag (nothing gross :P)
Warnings: Mild Language, Spiders, Rustling Leaves and Moths. :P
Special Message: I went through your prompt and slammed my head roughly onto my desk and prayed that an idea would come to me. And, erm, the following story is the result. I even managed to stay supremely canon through the lot of it; did research on the years and everything! Here are just some of my notes regarding your fic:
G&FP=one decade b4 jp&co. mosag still alive. Andromeda b = 7y; James p = 3y. Lycanthropy known, no animagi; mad eye = head auror; memories = silvery cloud liquid/gas; dance = bellicrepa in Latin. 8x6=48… 4 dozen.
Excited/Scared to read yet? XD I totally took your prompt and ran. Well, the plot bunny did. He feasted on it like it was a big, fat, juicy carrot...and grew and grew and grew... until I popped him and used his inner plottiness to write this... well. adventurmancorrumor. XXXD
My only regret is that I could not, for the life of me, fit Ron into the story plausibly... I really wanted to, too. Soooo, well, you'll see what happened instead...
Happy Halloween, loff! *huggles*
Summary: While trying to uncover the past and make amends for his none too descript life, Harry stumbles upon a gem: a memory from his father. And, consequently, the tale of two ginger brothers who once walked a fateful path to eternal glory.
It hadn't been two years after the war and Harry finally found himself back to Godric's Hollow searching for the missing pieces of his past; his life with his mother and father all those years ago. He rummaged through the ruins, ignoring the mold sticking to his fingers and the unmistakable scent of rotting wood. This was far too important.
He never expected to find anything. The house had been in shambles for nearly two decades. Pillagers, runaways and the like had probably used the abandoned house during the war; the thought that all of his memories, the lives of his mum and dad, could have been stolen or sold still could not keep him from searching adamantly. His beginning was here. And, so was his piece of mind.
"Think I found somethin', Harry."
Harry stood beside Ron, his hands flexing as he tried to rid himself of the sting from moving board after board away from his parents' possessions. He glanced down at Ron who was holding onto a small glowing vial.
"It was here, in this drawer." Ron pointed to a broken, rotted desk. "You think it's a memory?"
Crouching down and ignoring the slight click of his knee, Harry reached out for the vial and studied it without attention to Ron's words. It seemed to be a memory; the silvery liquid swirled around the vial as if trying to break free.
"It's a memory." Harry echoed Ron's words monotonously while eying the vial with suppressed elation.
"It will have to pass through the Ministry before you can watch it," Ron said, his eyes scanning Harry's face. But, Harry did not hear him, nor see him.
"The Ministry can't know we've found this," he said quickly, still not looking at Ron. "They will want to inspect it and I'll be damned if I let them invade my parents' thoughts."
"We'll have to go use the Pensieve at Hogwarts, then," Ron added. "It's the only one outside of the Ministry."
Harry pocketed the vial, turned to Ron and offered his hand for leverage to stand up. "We can't use the Pensieve in the Ministry. We'll have to go to Hogwarts."
After a lump of silence and a last scan of the dilapidated house, he led Ron away and once they reached the gate, Harry smiled with the hope that his past and his parents' lives would finally fall into place.
^ ^ ^
"I can do this! Will you please," his flustered voice trickled along the bank of the dark forest, frolicking among the rustling October leaves. "Will you please just leave me alone?"
"You know very well I can't do that," she answered just as exasperated, pointing to her important Head Girl badge. "If you were to die out here, who else would try save your stupid, third year, inexperienced arse?"
"If you have such a problem with me-" but he paused and whipped his head to the side, peering suspiciously at a whistling thicket of bushes. "Did you hear that?"
Andromeda placed her hands on her hips and tutted. "I reckon you've lost the plot again, Potter." She peeked around his shoulders, almost expecting to see something glaring back at her. When there was nothing, she slapped him on the back of his head. "I should give you detention for this," she hissed.
"But you won't," he replied heartily, pulling his wand out of his trouser pocket. "You're just as chuffed about the bet as I am." He grinned in a way that churned Andromeda's stomach and clapped his hand on her back. "Besides, you love being around me. I make things interesting."
"You make everything a bloody nightmare," she murmured, chancing a look at his charming grin. "How you haven't been expelled..."
"Look," he pointed at the pumpkin patch that was nestled between the Gamekeeper's hut and the forest. "I just have to grab one, make it dance and then it's over. No harm done."
"You think it will be that easy, do you?" Andromeda's previously annoyed gaze was now sparkling with challenge. "Did you ignore the last part of Sirius' dare? About making it dance in-"
His voice cut across her smoothly, "I heard every word of it." James aimed his wand at the pumpkin patch and stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth in concentration. "Bellicre-"
Andromeda slapped his arm down and rounded on him, her eyes flashing. "You can't do it to the whole pumpkin patch, you nitwit!" She grabbed his robes and shook him slightly. "What are you trying to do, wake up the entire forest?"
He ground his teeth together and spoke in a whisper. "I think you've already accomplished that!"
"Shh!"
Scurrying feet sounded in the depths of the forest, startling both James and Andromeda. Once the movement ceased, James aimed his wand once again at the pumpkin patch, this time with his aim on only one small pumpkin off to the side.
“Bellicrepa!” he said in a harsh whisper and watched as his spell struck the pumpkin. Nothing happened immediately, leaving him with a fallen face, a shadow of a proud smirk still on his face.
Andromeda’s smile grew. “You should know my cousin better than that, Potter. He’d never let himself lose a bet that easily.”
“There are more ways to make a pumpkin-” but James’ assertion was cut short as soon as the little pumpkin began bouncing from side to side. Its faceless shell hopped around a small patch of ground, rustling the fall leaves in its path.
The sun had completely faded behind the majesty of the forest. Neither James nor Andromeda would have noticed the hundreds of sparkling eyes watching them as they watched the pumpkin dance.
James guffawed at the faceless pumpkin as it spun in circles. Andromeda raised her wand, her face set. She made a slashing motion, took a step forward and planted her foot into a patch of slick mud. In an instant, she had fallen backward, her head hitting the hard ground.
And then the scuttling began again, faster and closer. Little feet, dozens of them, were pattering closer to Andromeda. As if she were light as a feather, six Acromantulas circled around her, picked her up and bustled away with her into the forest. James, who stood intently watching the pumpkin, glanced over to see Andromeda’s boots, the last bit of her to be shrouded in darkness.
His face, blanched, scrunched up as he stepped to the edge of the forest and peered in; he could hear Andromeda screaming now. The swirling leaves, being crunched over and over again, got fainter as her voice grew quieter. His jaw locked, lips straight; James rolled up the sleeves of his robes, pulled his wand to defensive position and set of into the forest, stopping occasionally to listen for Andromeda and the crumpling leaves.
“What foolishness is this?” A harsh, sharp female voice asked amid a scramble of feet. “Another human wandering in the forest alone? Foolish!”
James shuddered. Andromeda, in a cave only feet away, was crying. “Please! I was only picking a pumpkin from the patch!”
“And my many children are only hungry,” the woman answered gruffly.
“Leave her alone!” James yelled, stepping into the cave with his wand aimed into the blackness. “Or I’ll-” His voice froze as eight large, hairy legs stepped forward.
There was an evil laugh, deep into the monstrous spider’s throat. “What faux bravery is this?”
“I am brave!” James puffed out his chest and looked to Andromeda, possibly hoping to draw from her nonexistent courage.
The spider bared her fangs. “And I am hungry.”
“Mosag!” A second, callous voice called. “Mosag, what is this?”
“A light snack before sleep.” The drawl of her voice caused the tiny hairs on the back of James’ neck to stand straight and a full shiver ran its course through his body.
“You know the promise I have made to Hagrid.” The male answered impatiently, moving forward so that he was next to Mosag. “I, nor you and the children, will not break a promise to him.”
“Food is scarce here!” Mosag answered, slamming one of her feet to the ground. “If it comes freely, Aragog, we should take it!”
“You! Boy!” Aragog scuttled closer to James, eyes - black and glittering - set into his. “Did you come here freely?”
Jerking, James nodded and pointed at Andromeda, who would not let him from her sight. His arm shook as he held it out. “She didn’t. Your younglings brought her here and I followed to,” he gulped, “save her.”
“Risking your life to save a friend?” Mosag croaked. “Foolish, Aragog. These humans are all foolish!”
“If Hagrid had not have risked his life to save me, I would not be here now,” Aragog supplied readily. “Still foolish, is it?”
“Then what do we do with them, my love?”
Aragog used one of his beastly legs to help Andromeda to her feet, though she seemed to disapprove of it entirely. Once up, she ran for James and clutched his arm.
“We will tell them a story and send them on their way.” Aragog settled back against his web on the wall of the cave. “They will tell Hagrid that we will spare no more that come onto our path.”
The children of the two arachnids climbed up the walls of the cave, their eyes ever plastered on the skittish school kids that had been spared.
“A story?” Andromeda asked shakily, not loosening her grip on James, who held her just as relentlessly in return.
“A story that took place many years ago - a decade, to be exact.” Aragog started, ignoring the retreat of his wife back into the depth of the cave. “A story of brothers, ginger boys, who came wondering onto the paths of this forest late one Halloween night.”
James began to relax and wrapped his arm around Andromeda, pulling her close. Though she stood a few inches taller than he, she still managed to lower her head onto his shoulder.
“I suggest you settle yourselves in.” Aragog lifted himself slowly on a thick, spindly piece of wire and rested his cephalothorax against his forelegs. “Now, to the story...One of the brothers was brave and boastful. The other was naïve and clumsy. And on one dark, brisk night they found themselves in detention, helping the Gamekeeper, Hagrid, pick up dead carcasses from the forest.”
“This is appalling,” Gideon Prewett exclaimed as he covered his nostrils and mouth with the fabric of his robes. “It smells like rotting eggs and dead fish!”
At the same time his brother, Fabian, had tripped over a decaying centaur. “Hagrid! This is awful. Can’t we do something that would bring less disease?”
“You two bes’ quit yer complainin’ and get on with it,” Hagrid answered with strain; he held on his shoulders three cadavers. “It was migh’y nice o’ Professor Dumbledore ter let yeh come out here with me. After the stunt yeh pulled.”
The boys quieted down, but still retched at all the remains they were finding scattered along the ground of the forest. Hagrid was trying to train a herd of Thestrals for the school that year. They didn’t like having company in their forest. And what they didn’t eat, Hagrid threw to us - starving as he knew we were.
“Now, Fabian, tha’ ain’t how yer do it!” Hagrid boomed, walking over to the shorter ginger boy. “Yer got ter hold to ‘em like this.” His meaty hand slid around the stomach of the dead bugbear and hoisted it to rest on top of his collection of corpses. “Yer two fingers ain’t gonna be liftin’ ‘em from the ground, yeh see.”
Fabian nodded dumbly and looked to his brother who was losing his stomach by the nearest tree.
“What do you see in those beasts, Hagrid?” Gideon asked after composing himself and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “They’re atrocious, not nearly fit to be around humans like us!”
“Class three beast!” Fabian agreed, taking a few steps closer to his brother. “They shouldn’t be allowed around here, especially with all the kids!”
“They ain’ harmin’ anyone,” Hagrid said in defense. “Besides, it ain’ up ter you lot ta decide wha’ we keep in ‘ere and wha’ we don’t. Dumbledore has his reasons.” Hagrid turned his back on the boys and walked paces away, leaning down to scoop up another unfortunate beast of the forest. “Stay put. I’m going ta drop these in the clearin’.”
Aragog’s grisly sigh filled the cave causing both Andromeda and James to jump from the spot they had settled themselves into. “Any sensible man would have done exactly as Hagrid told him to do. These two, however, did not. The instant that Hagrid turned away and disappeared into the night, both brothers strolled along the winding path of the forest, either looking for more beasts or trouble. They would find both.”
“Why wouldn’t they listen to Hagrid?” James asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “They’re in a dark forest where there are all sorts of beasts. You can’t just-”
“Isn’t that how you came to be in my company?” The scrutiny in the spider’s voice ended the matter. “Now - where was I? Our two young boys were wandering the dark and twisted path of the forest, not seeing the monsters that watched them with hunger in their eyes…”
“You don’t suppose the stories of that treasure are true, do you Fab?” Gideon’s eyes narrowed but the twinkle in them glittered in the night.
“You’re questioning that now?” Fabian paused mid-step. “After all we bloody went through to get out here? We nearly set the entire common room on fire!”
Gideon chuckled and shoved his shoulder into his brother, causing him to pick up his pace. “There’s only one way to know, isn’t there? From what Peeves said, it’s only another couple of meters away.”
The other boy shrugged.
A guttural howling filled the silence between them. Fabian leapt and when he landed, his foot caught the bottom of his trench coat; the hand-me-down from his father was always too big. He knocked into his brother, sending Gideon falling to the ground.
“Oi! What the hell was that for?”
“Er, tripped,” Fabian answered, his cheeks lighting up with a red glow. He reached his hand down to help his brother up. “Sorry ‘bout that.”
Fabian stepped backward after clasping Gideon’s hand, but lost his footing and fell. He fell down, far down into a black hole in the ground. His shouts did nothing to quiet the rest of the forest; scurrying feet and growling resounded all around them.
“Stop playing around and get out of there! We’ve got a treasure to find.” Gideon peered down at his brother, his scowl angrier than when he had fallen himself. “No one is going to be enamored by a story of a clumsy Gryffindor, will they? Now get up!”
But, his brother wasn’t listening. His elbow had crashed straight into a very hard, wooden box. “Gideon, you’re going to want to see this!”
“A couple of worms, maybe some maggots?” Gideon’s sarcasm wasn’t masked by anything. “I’m going to go on without you if you don’t get your arse up here and start looking for that treasure!”
“This is the treasure,” Fabian’s excitement threw his voice to high pitch. “A treasure box. Do you think the rumors are true then? That the map is in here?”
Ignoring all of the dirt, grime and hissing from the corners of the forest, Gideon lowered himself into the dug hole and swiped the box from his brother. He was practically bouncing on his heels. “This has to be it, Fab. We’ll be the most honored students at Hogwarts, just you wait!”
“There must be secrets on it!” Fabian answered with just as much exhilaration. “The Founders’ Map of Hogwarts… right here, in this box!”
Without ceremony, Gideon whipped out his wand while holding the treasure box in one hand. “Alohomora!”
Instead of receiving a much anticipated treasure, something else loomed over them. A gruesome, scarred face stared down at the boys. In one hand, the man held a wand and in the other, he held a shaking little girl who was screaming and sobbing out for her brothers.
Fabian rushed forward to save the little girl, but was blown backward by the force of magic surrounding the man. Gideon held his wand firm and bellowed a stunning spell, hoping to save the little girl. His sister, Molly.
As the man pointed his wand at Molly’s throat, both boys lunged forward, breathing heavy and shouting for the man to let go of their sister. Still, the magic was too powerful and both boys were immediately blasted away.
“Let go of Molly!” Fabian shouted, his face screwing up as he watched his little sister beg for him to save her. “Let go of her!”
“Fab…” Gideon stopped his brother from rushing the man for a third time. “I think,” he let out a rough and shaky breath, “I think that’s a boggart.”
“But that’s Molly!” Fabian cried, trying to jerk out of his brother’s grasp. “That’s our baby sister! It’s so real, Gideon! We have to do something!”
Gideon shook his head. “You can’t defeat a boggart with a wand or with your hands,” he said sadly. “You have to laugh at it.”
“There is nothing funny about watching my sister get tortured!”
“Then we have to change it into something that is funny. Do you know the spell, Fabian?” Gideon raised his wand and glanced expectantly to his brother. “Come on, you know the spell!”
“R-r…” Fabian faltered, his yew wand dangled uselessly by his side. “I can’t do it.”
“You don’t have a choice!” Gideon bellowed and rounded on his brother. “Look at her! Look at your sister in the arms of a mad man!”
Fabian raised his wand again, his lacking confidence present in his wobbly hand. “Riddikulus!”
“Riddikulus!” his brother roared along side him. “Look, it’s working, it’s working! She’s laughing!”
Molly was in the arms of the man, giggling as he pointed his wand at her. The tickling spell hit her sides and she gasped, losing her breath as she tittered and snorted.
Both boys looked to each other and in one, quick moment, boomed with laughter. The boggart, and their sister, disappeared.
“I’m going to kill Alastor Moody for even suggesting that the Map was hidden out here!” Gideon said while wiping his brow with the back of his sleeve.
“Gideon?” Fabian tried to gain the attention of his brother, but it was no use.
“We nearly set Hogwarts on fire! We came out here to this forest! We’ve been picking up dead carcasses from the forest! And now this?”
“Er, Gideon?”
“What!” he shouted back to his brother’s pestering.
“The-the Map. The Founders’ Map. It’s here!” In his hand, Fabian held a yellowing and curled piece of parchment. “Look! Moody wasn’t lying!”
Gideon snatched the parchment from his brother’s hand, a triumphant grin on his face. “Do you know what this means, Fab?”
“Yer both be in a lo’ o’ trouble!” Hagrid’s voice interrupted the moment of mirth. “Wha’ do yeh think yer doin’ out ‘ere all by yerselves? Do yer know wha’s out ‘ere?”
Gideon shoved the Map into his cloak and put his hands behind his back. “We were, er, looking for more beasts to bring back to you and got a little lost.”
Hagrid glared down at them. “Well, wha’ yer wai’in fer? Get up ‘ere and keep lookin’.”
Fabian latched on to Hagrid’s hand and allowed himself to be pulled up out of the hole he had fallen into. “Sorry, Hagrid, my fault. I’m not overly careful, I guess.”
“Yeah, well, don’ let it ‘appen again.”
“And it never happened again. The two brothers never had a reason to wander on the grounds.” Aragog pushed himself up from the ground and scuttled over to James and Andromeda. “My wife, Mosag, is not as forgiving to Hagrid’s friends as I am.”
James gulped, unable to look away from gigantic arachnid. “You are going to let us go, then?”
“This time,” Aragog said. “Next time, I will let my children feed. We do not get enough food out here and I cannot promise that their appetites will surrender to my will.”
“Th-thank you,” Andromeda pushed herself up from the floor of the cave, only because James had been pulling her to stand up. “We won’t be back.”
“Does the Map really exist? The Founder’s Map?” James asked, taking a step sideways to get out of the forefront to Aragog’s sharp fangs.
“It does.”
The anxious jitter in James’ smile did not go unnoticed. “Do you know where it is?”
“The man that possesses it will know more about Hogwarts than any other person in the world,” Aragog answered suspiciously. “It is not magical, but it is very handy when one needs to get out of tight spots.”
“Right. So you don’t know where it is, then?” Andromeda tugged on James’ cloak as eerie shadows began to descend from the top of the cave. “Not now, Andy!”
“James… James!” Andromeda was bouncing from foot to foot. “James we have to go, now!”
“Hagrid buried the map that the Prewett brothers found,” Aragog said, sauntering backwards into the darkness of his cave. “After they found it, no one knows where they may have put it. But,” the spider grunted and was no longer visible, “it would have remained a relic to the house they were from.”
“James! Run!” Andromeda screamed and had let go of James’ arm and ran for the exit of the cave. “The Acromantulas! James! Come on!”
James hadn’t even noticed that they were being surrounded by more than a dozen baby Acromantulas. “Shite! You said you wouldn’t hurt us!”
“Send Hagrid my regards if you see him,” Aragog said lazily. “And tell him no more. We have spared enough of your kind.”
^ ^ ^
“Why does it always have to be bloody spiders!” Ron whined, twitching slightly as if he had spiders crawling on him.
“My dad had the Founders’ Map! That’s how he mad the Marauders’ Map!” Harry glanced around, “You see, Ron! He had the…”
“You don’t suppose what you have is the Founder’s Map, do you?” Ron asked curiously. “That thing must be worth loads of galleons!”
“No, it can’t be that. No way.” Harry shook his head, but at the same time, he had a feeling that his father had found the Map and that he and his friends used it as the base for the Map that Harry had grown so fond of during his time at Hogwarts.
“Harry, it fits! How else would your dad and Sirius and Lupin all known about all of those secrets?” Ron’s voice was proud and his grin was shining. “All that time, you’ve had a bloody relic in your hands!”
Harry was dazed. He had hoped that the memory would contain something about his mother, or about Sirius or even Remus. He hadn’t even considered that his father might have had other adventures.
“You aren’t going to tell anyone, right mate?”
Shaking his head, Harry spoke softly. “It belongs at Hogwarts, where it came from. The first place I ever felt I belonged too.”
The End.
.
Title: Tales of Glory
Rating: 15+
Ships: Aragog/Mosag (nothing gross :P)
Warnings: Mild Language, Spiders, Rustling Leaves and Moths. :P
Special Message: I went through your prompt and slammed my head roughly onto my desk and prayed that an idea would come to me. And, erm, the following story is the result. I even managed to stay supremely canon through the lot of it; did research on the years and everything! Here are just some of my notes regarding your fic:
G&FP=one decade b4 jp&co. mosag still alive. Andromeda b = 7y; James p = 3y. Lycanthropy known, no animagi; mad eye = head auror; memories = silvery cloud liquid/gas; dance = bellicrepa in Latin. 8x6=48… 4 dozen.
Excited/Scared to read yet? XD I totally took your prompt and ran. Well, the plot bunny did. He feasted on it like it was a big, fat, juicy carrot...and grew and grew and grew... until I popped him and used his inner plottiness to write this... well. adventurmancorrumor. XXXD
My only regret is that I could not, for the life of me, fit Ron into the story plausibly... I really wanted to, too. Soooo, well, you'll see what happened instead...
Happy Halloween, loff! *huggles*
Summary: While trying to uncover the past and make amends for his none too descript life, Harry stumbles upon a gem: a memory from his father. And, consequently, the tale of two ginger brothers who once walked a fateful path to eternal glory.
It hadn't been two years after the war and Harry finally found himself back to Godric's Hollow searching for the missing pieces of his past; his life with his mother and father all those years ago. He rummaged through the ruins, ignoring the mold sticking to his fingers and the unmistakable scent of rotting wood. This was far too important.
He never expected to find anything. The house had been in shambles for nearly two decades. Pillagers, runaways and the like had probably used the abandoned house during the war; the thought that all of his memories, the lives of his mum and dad, could have been stolen or sold still could not keep him from searching adamantly. His beginning was here. And, so was his piece of mind.
"Think I found somethin', Harry."
Harry stood beside Ron, his hands flexing as he tried to rid himself of the sting from moving board after board away from his parents' possessions. He glanced down at Ron who was holding onto a small glowing vial.
"It was here, in this drawer." Ron pointed to a broken, rotted desk. "You think it's a memory?"
Crouching down and ignoring the slight click of his knee, Harry reached out for the vial and studied it without attention to Ron's words. It seemed to be a memory; the silvery liquid swirled around the vial as if trying to break free.
"It's a memory." Harry echoed Ron's words monotonously while eying the vial with suppressed elation.
"It will have to pass through the Ministry before you can watch it," Ron said, his eyes scanning Harry's face. But, Harry did not hear him, nor see him.
"The Ministry can't know we've found this," he said quickly, still not looking at Ron. "They will want to inspect it and I'll be damned if I let them invade my parents' thoughts."
"We'll have to go use the Pensieve at Hogwarts, then," Ron added. "It's the only one outside of the Ministry."
Harry pocketed the vial, turned to Ron and offered his hand for leverage to stand up. "We can't use the Pensieve in the Ministry. We'll have to go to Hogwarts."
After a lump of silence and a last scan of the dilapidated house, he led Ron away and once they reached the gate, Harry smiled with the hope that his past and his parents' lives would finally fall into place.
^ ^ ^
"I can do this! Will you please," his flustered voice trickled along the bank of the dark forest, frolicking among the rustling October leaves. "Will you please just leave me alone?"
"You know very well I can't do that," she answered just as exasperated, pointing to her important Head Girl badge. "If you were to die out here, who else would try save your stupid, third year, inexperienced arse?"
"If you have such a problem with me-" but he paused and whipped his head to the side, peering suspiciously at a whistling thicket of bushes. "Did you hear that?"
Andromeda placed her hands on her hips and tutted. "I reckon you've lost the plot again, Potter." She peeked around his shoulders, almost expecting to see something glaring back at her. When there was nothing, she slapped him on the back of his head. "I should give you detention for this," she hissed.
"But you won't," he replied heartily, pulling his wand out of his trouser pocket. "You're just as chuffed about the bet as I am." He grinned in a way that churned Andromeda's stomach and clapped his hand on her back. "Besides, you love being around me. I make things interesting."
"You make everything a bloody nightmare," she murmured, chancing a look at his charming grin. "How you haven't been expelled..."
"Look," he pointed at the pumpkin patch that was nestled between the Gamekeeper's hut and the forest. "I just have to grab one, make it dance and then it's over. No harm done."
"You think it will be that easy, do you?" Andromeda's previously annoyed gaze was now sparkling with challenge. "Did you ignore the last part of Sirius' dare? About making it dance in-"
His voice cut across her smoothly, "I heard every word of it." James aimed his wand at the pumpkin patch and stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth in concentration. "Bellicre-"
Andromeda slapped his arm down and rounded on him, her eyes flashing. "You can't do it to the whole pumpkin patch, you nitwit!" She grabbed his robes and shook him slightly. "What are you trying to do, wake up the entire forest?"
He ground his teeth together and spoke in a whisper. "I think you've already accomplished that!"
"Shh!"
Scurrying feet sounded in the depths of the forest, startling both James and Andromeda. Once the movement ceased, James aimed his wand once again at the pumpkin patch, this time with his aim on only one small pumpkin off to the side.
“Bellicrepa!” he said in a harsh whisper and watched as his spell struck the pumpkin. Nothing happened immediately, leaving him with a fallen face, a shadow of a proud smirk still on his face.
Andromeda’s smile grew. “You should know my cousin better than that, Potter. He’d never let himself lose a bet that easily.”
“There are more ways to make a pumpkin-” but James’ assertion was cut short as soon as the little pumpkin began bouncing from side to side. Its faceless shell hopped around a small patch of ground, rustling the fall leaves in its path.
The sun had completely faded behind the majesty of the forest. Neither James nor Andromeda would have noticed the hundreds of sparkling eyes watching them as they watched the pumpkin dance.
James guffawed at the faceless pumpkin as it spun in circles. Andromeda raised her wand, her face set. She made a slashing motion, took a step forward and planted her foot into a patch of slick mud. In an instant, she had fallen backward, her head hitting the hard ground.
And then the scuttling began again, faster and closer. Little feet, dozens of them, were pattering closer to Andromeda. As if she were light as a feather, six Acromantulas circled around her, picked her up and bustled away with her into the forest. James, who stood intently watching the pumpkin, glanced over to see Andromeda’s boots, the last bit of her to be shrouded in darkness.
His face, blanched, scrunched up as he stepped to the edge of the forest and peered in; he could hear Andromeda screaming now. The swirling leaves, being crunched over and over again, got fainter as her voice grew quieter. His jaw locked, lips straight; James rolled up the sleeves of his robes, pulled his wand to defensive position and set of into the forest, stopping occasionally to listen for Andromeda and the crumpling leaves.
“What foolishness is this?” A harsh, sharp female voice asked amid a scramble of feet. “Another human wandering in the forest alone? Foolish!”
James shuddered. Andromeda, in a cave only feet away, was crying. “Please! I was only picking a pumpkin from the patch!”
“And my many children are only hungry,” the woman answered gruffly.
“Leave her alone!” James yelled, stepping into the cave with his wand aimed into the blackness. “Or I’ll-” His voice froze as eight large, hairy legs stepped forward.
There was an evil laugh, deep into the monstrous spider’s throat. “What faux bravery is this?”
“I am brave!” James puffed out his chest and looked to Andromeda, possibly hoping to draw from her nonexistent courage.
The spider bared her fangs. “And I am hungry.”
“Mosag!” A second, callous voice called. “Mosag, what is this?”
“A light snack before sleep.” The drawl of her voice caused the tiny hairs on the back of James’ neck to stand straight and a full shiver ran its course through his body.
“You know the promise I have made to Hagrid.” The male answered impatiently, moving forward so that he was next to Mosag. “I, nor you and the children, will not break a promise to him.”
“Food is scarce here!” Mosag answered, slamming one of her feet to the ground. “If it comes freely, Aragog, we should take it!”
“You! Boy!” Aragog scuttled closer to James, eyes - black and glittering - set into his. “Did you come here freely?”
Jerking, James nodded and pointed at Andromeda, who would not let him from her sight. His arm shook as he held it out. “She didn’t. Your younglings brought her here and I followed to,” he gulped, “save her.”
“Risking your life to save a friend?” Mosag croaked. “Foolish, Aragog. These humans are all foolish!”
“If Hagrid had not have risked his life to save me, I would not be here now,” Aragog supplied readily. “Still foolish, is it?”
“Then what do we do with them, my love?”
Aragog used one of his beastly legs to help Andromeda to her feet, though she seemed to disapprove of it entirely. Once up, she ran for James and clutched his arm.
“We will tell them a story and send them on their way.” Aragog settled back against his web on the wall of the cave. “They will tell Hagrid that we will spare no more that come onto our path.”
The children of the two arachnids climbed up the walls of the cave, their eyes ever plastered on the skittish school kids that had been spared.
“A story?” Andromeda asked shakily, not loosening her grip on James, who held her just as relentlessly in return.
“A story that took place many years ago - a decade, to be exact.” Aragog started, ignoring the retreat of his wife back into the depth of the cave. “A story of brothers, ginger boys, who came wondering onto the paths of this forest late one Halloween night.”
James began to relax and wrapped his arm around Andromeda, pulling her close. Though she stood a few inches taller than he, she still managed to lower her head onto his shoulder.
“I suggest you settle yourselves in.” Aragog lifted himself slowly on a thick, spindly piece of wire and rested his cephalothorax against his forelegs. “Now, to the story...One of the brothers was brave and boastful. The other was naïve and clumsy. And on one dark, brisk night they found themselves in detention, helping the Gamekeeper, Hagrid, pick up dead carcasses from the forest.”
“This is appalling,” Gideon Prewett exclaimed as he covered his nostrils and mouth with the fabric of his robes. “It smells like rotting eggs and dead fish!”
At the same time his brother, Fabian, had tripped over a decaying centaur. “Hagrid! This is awful. Can’t we do something that would bring less disease?”
“You two bes’ quit yer complainin’ and get on with it,” Hagrid answered with strain; he held on his shoulders three cadavers. “It was migh’y nice o’ Professor Dumbledore ter let yeh come out here with me. After the stunt yeh pulled.”
The boys quieted down, but still retched at all the remains they were finding scattered along the ground of the forest. Hagrid was trying to train a herd of Thestrals for the school that year. They didn’t like having company in their forest. And what they didn’t eat, Hagrid threw to us - starving as he knew we were.
“Now, Fabian, tha’ ain’t how yer do it!” Hagrid boomed, walking over to the shorter ginger boy. “Yer got ter hold to ‘em like this.” His meaty hand slid around the stomach of the dead bugbear and hoisted it to rest on top of his collection of corpses. “Yer two fingers ain’t gonna be liftin’ ‘em from the ground, yeh see.”
Fabian nodded dumbly and looked to his brother who was losing his stomach by the nearest tree.
“What do you see in those beasts, Hagrid?” Gideon asked after composing himself and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “They’re atrocious, not nearly fit to be around humans like us!”
“Class three beast!” Fabian agreed, taking a few steps closer to his brother. “They shouldn’t be allowed around here, especially with all the kids!”
“They ain’ harmin’ anyone,” Hagrid said in defense. “Besides, it ain’ up ter you lot ta decide wha’ we keep in ‘ere and wha’ we don’t. Dumbledore has his reasons.” Hagrid turned his back on the boys and walked paces away, leaning down to scoop up another unfortunate beast of the forest. “Stay put. I’m going ta drop these in the clearin’.”
Aragog’s grisly sigh filled the cave causing both Andromeda and James to jump from the spot they had settled themselves into. “Any sensible man would have done exactly as Hagrid told him to do. These two, however, did not. The instant that Hagrid turned away and disappeared into the night, both brothers strolled along the winding path of the forest, either looking for more beasts or trouble. They would find both.”
“Why wouldn’t they listen to Hagrid?” James asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “They’re in a dark forest where there are all sorts of beasts. You can’t just-”
“Isn’t that how you came to be in my company?” The scrutiny in the spider’s voice ended the matter. “Now - where was I? Our two young boys were wandering the dark and twisted path of the forest, not seeing the monsters that watched them with hunger in their eyes…”
“You don’t suppose the stories of that treasure are true, do you Fab?” Gideon’s eyes narrowed but the twinkle in them glittered in the night.
“You’re questioning that now?” Fabian paused mid-step. “After all we bloody went through to get out here? We nearly set the entire common room on fire!”
Gideon chuckled and shoved his shoulder into his brother, causing him to pick up his pace. “There’s only one way to know, isn’t there? From what Peeves said, it’s only another couple of meters away.”
The other boy shrugged.
A guttural howling filled the silence between them. Fabian leapt and when he landed, his foot caught the bottom of his trench coat; the hand-me-down from his father was always too big. He knocked into his brother, sending Gideon falling to the ground.
“Oi! What the hell was that for?”
“Er, tripped,” Fabian answered, his cheeks lighting up with a red glow. He reached his hand down to help his brother up. “Sorry ‘bout that.”
Fabian stepped backward after clasping Gideon’s hand, but lost his footing and fell. He fell down, far down into a black hole in the ground. His shouts did nothing to quiet the rest of the forest; scurrying feet and growling resounded all around them.
“Stop playing around and get out of there! We’ve got a treasure to find.” Gideon peered down at his brother, his scowl angrier than when he had fallen himself. “No one is going to be enamored by a story of a clumsy Gryffindor, will they? Now get up!”
But, his brother wasn’t listening. His elbow had crashed straight into a very hard, wooden box. “Gideon, you’re going to want to see this!”
“A couple of worms, maybe some maggots?” Gideon’s sarcasm wasn’t masked by anything. “I’m going to go on without you if you don’t get your arse up here and start looking for that treasure!”
“This is the treasure,” Fabian’s excitement threw his voice to high pitch. “A treasure box. Do you think the rumors are true then? That the map is in here?”
Ignoring all of the dirt, grime and hissing from the corners of the forest, Gideon lowered himself into the dug hole and swiped the box from his brother. He was practically bouncing on his heels. “This has to be it, Fab. We’ll be the most honored students at Hogwarts, just you wait!”
“There must be secrets on it!” Fabian answered with just as much exhilaration. “The Founders’ Map of Hogwarts… right here, in this box!”
Without ceremony, Gideon whipped out his wand while holding the treasure box in one hand. “Alohomora!”
Instead of receiving a much anticipated treasure, something else loomed over them. A gruesome, scarred face stared down at the boys. In one hand, the man held a wand and in the other, he held a shaking little girl who was screaming and sobbing out for her brothers.
Fabian rushed forward to save the little girl, but was blown backward by the force of magic surrounding the man. Gideon held his wand firm and bellowed a stunning spell, hoping to save the little girl. His sister, Molly.
As the man pointed his wand at Molly’s throat, both boys lunged forward, breathing heavy and shouting for the man to let go of their sister. Still, the magic was too powerful and both boys were immediately blasted away.
“Let go of Molly!” Fabian shouted, his face screwing up as he watched his little sister beg for him to save her. “Let go of her!”
“Fab…” Gideon stopped his brother from rushing the man for a third time. “I think,” he let out a rough and shaky breath, “I think that’s a boggart.”
“But that’s Molly!” Fabian cried, trying to jerk out of his brother’s grasp. “That’s our baby sister! It’s so real, Gideon! We have to do something!”
Gideon shook his head. “You can’t defeat a boggart with a wand or with your hands,” he said sadly. “You have to laugh at it.”
“There is nothing funny about watching my sister get tortured!”
“Then we have to change it into something that is funny. Do you know the spell, Fabian?” Gideon raised his wand and glanced expectantly to his brother. “Come on, you know the spell!”
“R-r…” Fabian faltered, his yew wand dangled uselessly by his side. “I can’t do it.”
“You don’t have a choice!” Gideon bellowed and rounded on his brother. “Look at her! Look at your sister in the arms of a mad man!”
Fabian raised his wand again, his lacking confidence present in his wobbly hand. “Riddikulus!”
“Riddikulus!” his brother roared along side him. “Look, it’s working, it’s working! She’s laughing!”
Molly was in the arms of the man, giggling as he pointed his wand at her. The tickling spell hit her sides and she gasped, losing her breath as she tittered and snorted.
Both boys looked to each other and in one, quick moment, boomed with laughter. The boggart, and their sister, disappeared.
“I’m going to kill Alastor Moody for even suggesting that the Map was hidden out here!” Gideon said while wiping his brow with the back of his sleeve.
“Gideon?” Fabian tried to gain the attention of his brother, but it was no use.
“We nearly set Hogwarts on fire! We came out here to this forest! We’ve been picking up dead carcasses from the forest! And now this?”
“Er, Gideon?”
“What!” he shouted back to his brother’s pestering.
“The-the Map. The Founders’ Map. It’s here!” In his hand, Fabian held a yellowing and curled piece of parchment. “Look! Moody wasn’t lying!”
Gideon snatched the parchment from his brother’s hand, a triumphant grin on his face. “Do you know what this means, Fab?”
“Yer both be in a lo’ o’ trouble!” Hagrid’s voice interrupted the moment of mirth. “Wha’ do yeh think yer doin’ out ‘ere all by yerselves? Do yer know wha’s out ‘ere?”
Gideon shoved the Map into his cloak and put his hands behind his back. “We were, er, looking for more beasts to bring back to you and got a little lost.”
Hagrid glared down at them. “Well, wha’ yer wai’in fer? Get up ‘ere and keep lookin’.”
Fabian latched on to Hagrid’s hand and allowed himself to be pulled up out of the hole he had fallen into. “Sorry, Hagrid, my fault. I’m not overly careful, I guess.”
“Yeah, well, don’ let it ‘appen again.”
“And it never happened again. The two brothers never had a reason to wander on the grounds.” Aragog pushed himself up from the ground and scuttled over to James and Andromeda. “My wife, Mosag, is not as forgiving to Hagrid’s friends as I am.”
James gulped, unable to look away from gigantic arachnid. “You are going to let us go, then?”
“This time,” Aragog said. “Next time, I will let my children feed. We do not get enough food out here and I cannot promise that their appetites will surrender to my will.”
“Th-thank you,” Andromeda pushed herself up from the floor of the cave, only because James had been pulling her to stand up. “We won’t be back.”
“Does the Map really exist? The Founder’s Map?” James asked, taking a step sideways to get out of the forefront to Aragog’s sharp fangs.
“It does.”
The anxious jitter in James’ smile did not go unnoticed. “Do you know where it is?”
“The man that possesses it will know more about Hogwarts than any other person in the world,” Aragog answered suspiciously. “It is not magical, but it is very handy when one needs to get out of tight spots.”
“Right. So you don’t know where it is, then?” Andromeda tugged on James’ cloak as eerie shadows began to descend from the top of the cave. “Not now, Andy!”
“James… James!” Andromeda was bouncing from foot to foot. “James we have to go, now!”
“Hagrid buried the map that the Prewett brothers found,” Aragog said, sauntering backwards into the darkness of his cave. “After they found it, no one knows where they may have put it. But,” the spider grunted and was no longer visible, “it would have remained a relic to the house they were from.”
“James! Run!” Andromeda screamed and had let go of James’ arm and ran for the exit of the cave. “The Acromantulas! James! Come on!”
James hadn’t even noticed that they were being surrounded by more than a dozen baby Acromantulas. “Shite! You said you wouldn’t hurt us!”
“Send Hagrid my regards if you see him,” Aragog said lazily. “And tell him no more. We have spared enough of your kind.”
^ ^ ^
“Why does it always have to be bloody spiders!” Ron whined, twitching slightly as if he had spiders crawling on him.
“My dad had the Founders’ Map! That’s how he mad the Marauders’ Map!” Harry glanced around, “You see, Ron! He had the…”
“You don’t suppose what you have is the Founder’s Map, do you?” Ron asked curiously. “That thing must be worth loads of galleons!”
“No, it can’t be that. No way.” Harry shook his head, but at the same time, he had a feeling that his father had found the Map and that he and his friends used it as the base for the Map that Harry had grown so fond of during his time at Hogwarts.
“Harry, it fits! How else would your dad and Sirius and Lupin all known about all of those secrets?” Ron’s voice was proud and his grin was shining. “All that time, you’ve had a bloody relic in your hands!”
Harry was dazed. He had hoped that the memory would contain something about his mother, or about Sirius or even Remus. He hadn’t even considered that his father might have had other adventures.
“You aren’t going to tell anyone, right mate?”
Shaking his head, Harry spoke softly. “It belongs at Hogwarts, where it came from. The first place I ever felt I belonged too.”
The End.
.