Marauders to the End: Year One, Chapter Nine
TITLE: Operation Fan Club for Trixie
FANDOM: Harry Potter
CHARACTERS: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Bellatrix Black, Lily Evans, OCs.
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: James and Sirius have an idea...
AUTHOR COMMENTARY: I don't really know where this came from, other than my desire to get Bellatrix in here somewhere. Upon reading the Black family tree, it makes no sense. Then again, upon reading the sixth book, none of what I had written about the Blacks made any sense, so just go with it.
James and Sirius were up to something for most of October, and Remus was torn between a desire to know what they were doing and an instinct that he didn’t really want to know. All he could tell was that Sirius had given up his library research, which was a good thing to know. As long as Sirius never passed chapter twelve of Creatures of the Night: How to Recognize Dark Creatures and How They Can Harm You, he was perfectly safe. Against his better judgment, Remus decided not to ask what they were plotting.
James and Sirius were, of course, planning a new, more impressive prank. It hadn’t taken long for their glow-in-the-dark slugs, which were actually glow-in-the-dark larvae, to mature into glow-in-the-dark moths with foot wide wing spans. Unfortunately, these moths had the brain capacity of Peter on a sugar high, so their training progressed quite slowly.
“I still don’t see how we’re going to get them into the hall,” James grumbled to Sirius.
“Relax,” he answered. “Once we’ve got these little beauties trained up, we can just direct them into the hall at a time when no one’s there. You know they just look grey in the light. They’ll blend perfectly with the walls. Then, as soon as everyone’s had a good dinner, the lights go out and the show begins.”
“You realize your dear cousin will murder us for this, right?”
“Yeah,” Sirius agreed. “She probably will.”
“Just checking,” James said cheerfully. “Now let’s try this again.” He snapped his fingers loudly.
The moths instantly fluttered up. James snapped his fingers again, and all the moths immediately clung to the wall and held perfectly still (they were being trained on an outside wall of the castle that no one ever approached because of all the nettles). James snapped his fingers twice quickly, and the moths flew off the wall and into formations. Or at least, most of them did. A few of the really dumb ones fluttered around wildly so the formations had holes in them. James sighed, pulled out his wand, and hit each of the slow ones with a few red sparks while Sirius gave sugar water to the others.
Sirius looked at James. “About how many aren’t getting this?” he asked.
“Ten,” James said. “At least the majority is working.”
“One hundred and ninety-nine smart moths out of two hundred and nine,” Sirius calculated. “Not too bad. Do you know which ones they are?”
“Numbers six, fourteen, thirty-five, forty-seven, sixty-two, sixty-six, seventy-nine, ninety-four, one hundred and eleven, and one hundred twenty-three,” James answered promptly.
“Six, fourteen, and one hundred eleven need to be put together immediately,” Sirius snapped. “Thirty-five through ninety-four can wait awhile, and if need be we can do without one hundred twenty-three altogether.”
“Good,” James said. “Because one hundred and twenty-three is the dumbest insect I’ve ever seen.”
“Let’s work with the three urgent ones,” Sirius said. “Get the smart ones back in position.”
James snapped his fingers twice and the smarter moths formed the words the boys wanted. The ten dumb ones just fluttered around wildly, the numbers on their wings hardly noticeable. Sirius hit six, fourteen, and one hundred eleven with some sparks and directed them into position.
Four days later, the moths still weren’t doing what they were supposed to. A few of them understood commands and remembered them from day to day, but the others would learn once then forget in three minutes.
James looked at Sirius. “We’re going to have to use that potion.”
“Good thing we brewed it last night,” Sirius said. “Ok, get them down.”
This was no easy task. The moths had been fed nothing but sugar water, and none was too keen on the Cleverness Concoction that James and Sirius had managed to brew, with minimum help from Peter. (He’d asked what they wanted it for, and they simply said “Training.” He didn’t ask any more, but he wondered why they didn’t just use the Imperious Curse.)
Once every moth except number one hundred twenty-three had had the Concoction, training progressed more rapidly. Within two days, every moth (except one hundred twenty-three) knew exactly what to do when James snapped his fingers. Finally.
Meanwhile, Remus and Peter were still oblivious to the entire plot, although Remus began picking up hints that there was a master plan for the feast. He knew he wouldn’t be able to skip this one without his absence being remarked upon, so he decided to just enjoy whatever fireworks were going to happen.
Finally, Halloween day came. As it was a Sunday, James and Sirius had plenty of time between lunch and dinner to slip the moths into the Great Hall. (They had finally managed to train one hundred twenty-three into position after Flitwick taught them the charm to make things fly.) When they were certain none would move and give away the prank before it happened, they left the hall and spent the rest of the day playing Exploding Snap with Peter and Remus, the latter giving them suspicious looks the whole time.
After losing his twenty-third game, Sirius got annoyed. “Would you stop glaring at me?” he snapped at Remus. “I can’t concentrate, and you remind me of my mother.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” Remus responded. “I just want to know what you’re up to.”
“Up to?” James asked innocently. “What makes you think we’re up to anything?”
“The fact that I’ve hardly seen you since our first flying lesson,” Remus answered, idly dealing another round. “The moment my head was all right, you two disappeared and only showed up for lessons and meals.”
Peter frowned at this. He hadn’t really thought about it, but Remus was right. James and Sirius hadn’t been around a lot lately.
“We’re not up to anything!” James said defensively. “We’ve just been exploring a bit!”
“Yeah!” Sirius agreed. “Have you seen the Quidditch field? You know the Gryffindor-Slytherin match is next Saturday, right?”
“Did you figure that out by reading the message board or by listening to Anny?” Remus asked shrewdly. Anny was lead chaser and captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and had been very irritable the last few weeks because her team was definitely not up to scratch.
“Both,” Sirius admitted. “I bet she can’t wait till James and I are on the team and cleaning Slytherin’s cauldron for them.”
“I bet,” Remus said. “But don’t change the subject. Just what’s happening tonight?”
“Now, now, Remy, we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, would we?” Sirius scolded.
“So you are planning something!”
James glared at Sirius. “Nice going.”
“What? He already knows we’re planning something. You won’t tell on us, will you, Remy?”
“No,” Remus said. “This is obviously going to be a meal I don’t want to miss. And don’t call me ‘Remy.’”
“Why not?” Sirius asked. “It suits you perfectly.”
“Because if you do, I will tell Dumbledore you’re plotting another show.”
Sirius grimaced, but didn’t say another word as Peter won the game. Again. No one was quite sure how Peter got so good at exploding snap, but he’d picked up the talent somewhere.
The feast started at six, and James and Sirius were in their places by five till. No one suspected them of anything because Sirius was always first to every meal, and James was never far from Sirius.
Remus and Peter joined them shortly afterwards, and then Lily, Ivy, and Rosie showed up and reluctantly sat by them. Lily had decided several weeks before that James and Sirius were arrogant blowhards, and her friends did nothing to dispel the notion, and allowed Lily to sit the furthest from James. He didn’t notice in his preoccupation with the plan, and Remus wasn’t going to alert him to it. Instead, Remus ate his dinner as quickly as possible without arousing suspicion and discussed basic Transfiguration with Rosie and Peter, who were either oblivious or choosing to ignore all evidence that this was to be a less-than-peaceful meal
Finally, dinner was over and there were a few moments before pudding in which James and Sirius could put their plan into action. Sirius extinguished all the lights with a few whispered words from his wand. A few people screamed loudly enough that James was able to snap his fingers twice without any humans noticing, but so the moths could all hear.
They flew up above a certain point on the Slytherin table and formed words that glowed in the dark.
WE LOVE YOU, TRIXIE!
Bellatrix Black looked up, read the words, saw the arrow pointing towards her head, and screamed in a very deranged manner. Luckily it was dark, and by the time the teachers figured out what was happening and had restored the lights, everyone in the hall had read the message and James and Sirius had disappeared.
Twenty-Five Years Later
Bellatrix Lestrange heard the wind blow for the first time in fifteen years. The doors were open. The Dementors wouldn’t stop her now. The Dark Lord had come. She laughed at the thought of the revenge so long promised her.
“Call me ‘Trixie,’ now, dear cousin!” she shrieked to the open air.
FANDOM: Harry Potter
CHARACTERS: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Bellatrix Black, Lily Evans, OCs.
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: James and Sirius have an idea...
AUTHOR COMMENTARY: I don't really know where this came from, other than my desire to get Bellatrix in here somewhere. Upon reading the Black family tree, it makes no sense. Then again, upon reading the sixth book, none of what I had written about the Blacks made any sense, so just go with it.
James and Sirius were up to something for most of October, and Remus was torn between a desire to know what they were doing and an instinct that he didn’t really want to know. All he could tell was that Sirius had given up his library research, which was a good thing to know. As long as Sirius never passed chapter twelve of Creatures of the Night: How to Recognize Dark Creatures and How They Can Harm You, he was perfectly safe. Against his better judgment, Remus decided not to ask what they were plotting.
James and Sirius were, of course, planning a new, more impressive prank. It hadn’t taken long for their glow-in-the-dark slugs, which were actually glow-in-the-dark larvae, to mature into glow-in-the-dark moths with foot wide wing spans. Unfortunately, these moths had the brain capacity of Peter on a sugar high, so their training progressed quite slowly.
“I still don’t see how we’re going to get them into the hall,” James grumbled to Sirius.
“Relax,” he answered. “Once we’ve got these little beauties trained up, we can just direct them into the hall at a time when no one’s there. You know they just look grey in the light. They’ll blend perfectly with the walls. Then, as soon as everyone’s had a good dinner, the lights go out and the show begins.”
“You realize your dear cousin will murder us for this, right?”
“Yeah,” Sirius agreed. “She probably will.”
“Just checking,” James said cheerfully. “Now let’s try this again.” He snapped his fingers loudly.
The moths instantly fluttered up. James snapped his fingers again, and all the moths immediately clung to the wall and held perfectly still (they were being trained on an outside wall of the castle that no one ever approached because of all the nettles). James snapped his fingers twice quickly, and the moths flew off the wall and into formations. Or at least, most of them did. A few of the really dumb ones fluttered around wildly so the formations had holes in them. James sighed, pulled out his wand, and hit each of the slow ones with a few red sparks while Sirius gave sugar water to the others.
Sirius looked at James. “About how many aren’t getting this?” he asked.
“Ten,” James said. “At least the majority is working.”
“One hundred and ninety-nine smart moths out of two hundred and nine,” Sirius calculated. “Not too bad. Do you know which ones they are?”
“Numbers six, fourteen, thirty-five, forty-seven, sixty-two, sixty-six, seventy-nine, ninety-four, one hundred and eleven, and one hundred twenty-three,” James answered promptly.
“Six, fourteen, and one hundred eleven need to be put together immediately,” Sirius snapped. “Thirty-five through ninety-four can wait awhile, and if need be we can do without one hundred twenty-three altogether.”
“Good,” James said. “Because one hundred and twenty-three is the dumbest insect I’ve ever seen.”
“Let’s work with the three urgent ones,” Sirius said. “Get the smart ones back in position.”
James snapped his fingers twice and the smarter moths formed the words the boys wanted. The ten dumb ones just fluttered around wildly, the numbers on their wings hardly noticeable. Sirius hit six, fourteen, and one hundred eleven with some sparks and directed them into position.
Four days later, the moths still weren’t doing what they were supposed to. A few of them understood commands and remembered them from day to day, but the others would learn once then forget in three minutes.
James looked at Sirius. “We’re going to have to use that potion.”
“Good thing we brewed it last night,” Sirius said. “Ok, get them down.”
This was no easy task. The moths had been fed nothing but sugar water, and none was too keen on the Cleverness Concoction that James and Sirius had managed to brew, with minimum help from Peter. (He’d asked what they wanted it for, and they simply said “Training.” He didn’t ask any more, but he wondered why they didn’t just use the Imperious Curse.)
Once every moth except number one hundred twenty-three had had the Concoction, training progressed more rapidly. Within two days, every moth (except one hundred twenty-three) knew exactly what to do when James snapped his fingers. Finally.
Meanwhile, Remus and Peter were still oblivious to the entire plot, although Remus began picking up hints that there was a master plan for the feast. He knew he wouldn’t be able to skip this one without his absence being remarked upon, so he decided to just enjoy whatever fireworks were going to happen.
Finally, Halloween day came. As it was a Sunday, James and Sirius had plenty of time between lunch and dinner to slip the moths into the Great Hall. (They had finally managed to train one hundred twenty-three into position after Flitwick taught them the charm to make things fly.) When they were certain none would move and give away the prank before it happened, they left the hall and spent the rest of the day playing Exploding Snap with Peter and Remus, the latter giving them suspicious looks the whole time.
After losing his twenty-third game, Sirius got annoyed. “Would you stop glaring at me?” he snapped at Remus. “I can’t concentrate, and you remind me of my mother.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” Remus responded. “I just want to know what you’re up to.”
“Up to?” James asked innocently. “What makes you think we’re up to anything?”
“The fact that I’ve hardly seen you since our first flying lesson,” Remus answered, idly dealing another round. “The moment my head was all right, you two disappeared and only showed up for lessons and meals.”
Peter frowned at this. He hadn’t really thought about it, but Remus was right. James and Sirius hadn’t been around a lot lately.
“We’re not up to anything!” James said defensively. “We’ve just been exploring a bit!”
“Yeah!” Sirius agreed. “Have you seen the Quidditch field? You know the Gryffindor-Slytherin match is next Saturday, right?”
“Did you figure that out by reading the message board or by listening to Anny?” Remus asked shrewdly. Anny was lead chaser and captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and had been very irritable the last few weeks because her team was definitely not up to scratch.
“Both,” Sirius admitted. “I bet she can’t wait till James and I are on the team and cleaning Slytherin’s cauldron for them.”
“I bet,” Remus said. “But don’t change the subject. Just what’s happening tonight?”
“Now, now, Remy, we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, would we?” Sirius scolded.
“So you are planning something!”
James glared at Sirius. “Nice going.”
“What? He already knows we’re planning something. You won’t tell on us, will you, Remy?”
“No,” Remus said. “This is obviously going to be a meal I don’t want to miss. And don’t call me ‘Remy.’”
“Why not?” Sirius asked. “It suits you perfectly.”
“Because if you do, I will tell Dumbledore you’re plotting another show.”
Sirius grimaced, but didn’t say another word as Peter won the game. Again. No one was quite sure how Peter got so good at exploding snap, but he’d picked up the talent somewhere.
The feast started at six, and James and Sirius were in their places by five till. No one suspected them of anything because Sirius was always first to every meal, and James was never far from Sirius.
Remus and Peter joined them shortly afterwards, and then Lily, Ivy, and Rosie showed up and reluctantly sat by them. Lily had decided several weeks before that James and Sirius were arrogant blowhards, and her friends did nothing to dispel the notion, and allowed Lily to sit the furthest from James. He didn’t notice in his preoccupation with the plan, and Remus wasn’t going to alert him to it. Instead, Remus ate his dinner as quickly as possible without arousing suspicion and discussed basic Transfiguration with Rosie and Peter, who were either oblivious or choosing to ignore all evidence that this was to be a less-than-peaceful meal
Finally, dinner was over and there were a few moments before pudding in which James and Sirius could put their plan into action. Sirius extinguished all the lights with a few whispered words from his wand. A few people screamed loudly enough that James was able to snap his fingers twice without any humans noticing, but so the moths could all hear.
They flew up above a certain point on the Slytherin table and formed words that glowed in the dark.
WE LOVE YOU, TRIXIE!
Bellatrix Black looked up, read the words, saw the arrow pointing towards her head, and screamed in a very deranged manner. Luckily it was dark, and by the time the teachers figured out what was happening and had restored the lights, everyone in the hall had read the message and James and Sirius had disappeared.
Twenty-Five Years Later
Bellatrix Lestrange heard the wind blow for the first time in fifteen years. The doors were open. The Dementors wouldn’t stop her now. The Dark Lord had come. She laughed at the thought of the revenge so long promised her.
“Call me ‘Trixie,’ now, dear cousin!” she shrieked to the open air.