James Potter and the Slytherin Legacy (Maurader Year 1)

[highsorcerer]

This is part 10 of a longer work entitled "James Potter and the Slytherin Legacy". The basic premise (in case you are wondering) is that James Potter and his Marauder friends had many adventures at Hogwarts over their seven years (indeed, if there is enough interest, this series may continue to include all seven years of James Potter's education in the magical arts). Could the seven years James, his friends, and (eventually) Lily Evans spent at Hogwarts have shaped their destiny as original Order of the Phoenix members?

While James and Sirius were easily the best students in first year, and Lupin was better than average, Peter Pettigrew only excelled at the History of Magic (though he was also pretty good at potions). Perhaps that is what motivated him to attempt such a foolhardy stunt as to attempt to curse Severus Snape just after their astronomy lesson - and in full view of the Slytherin House Ghost. The hex not only failed to work very well, but he was caught in the attempt, and given a detention. Like James, he was reduced to sorting and returning books in the Hogwart's library.

Lupin was gone again; he had told his friends his mother had taken another turn for the worse and had gotten permission to visit her over the weekend. Remus told them he was traveling on the Knight Bus; a three-level vehicle catering to wizards and witches who didn't have a license to apparate, a broomstick, or floo powder. James and Sirius saw him off at the doors out of the castle (Peter was in detention).

James and Sirius were in the middle of a game of exploding snap when Peter burst in. "I saw him! He was there," he exclaimed. Sirius and James looked at him, and Peter continued. "The man and the snake both. After I was let go from detention, I had to use the bathroom. When I came back, he was there, back in the restricted section. Only this time he was pointing his wand and saying something I couldn't understand. He was pointing to different bookcases; they'd glow, and he would curse after it came up yellow. Finally he cursed again and left."

[highsorcerer]

Lupin returned shortly afterwards, and the boys all asked him what he thought of it. Remus gave it come careful thought, and finally shook his head. "All I can think is that he was using some kind of spell to detect something out of the ordinary, but I don't know what that could be," he said.

Indeed, as winter turned to spring, homework piled up, and the boys were buried in it. James and Sirius, being pretty advanced in their studies, took to taking turns doing their homework under James's invisiblity cloak while staking out the library. Remus left school for short periods, and Peter was struggling to keep up.

All four boys, however, wouldn't miss the last Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor was playing Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff was 2-1 (they had lost to Ravenclaw, but beaten both Gryffindor and Slytherin); Ravenclaw was 2-0 (they beat Hufflepuff and Slytherin); Slytherin was 0-3 (solid losses to all three houses). With Gryffindor at 1-1, they could win the Quidditch Cup if they not only beat Ravenclaw, but got a point advantage. It was an exciting match; the Gryffindor chasers were all but in command of the game, and when Jason Bentley, the Gryffindor seeker, shot off in an apparent shot for the snitch, James's heart took a great leap. Kathyrn O'Brien, the Ravenclaw seeker took off in hot pursuit around the stadium, and into a steep dive toward the Ravenclaw goal posts. Close the ground, Kathyrn suddenly broke off and veered away while Jason pulled out of the dive and raced upwards towards the left goal ring. However, when Jason looked back toward Kathyrn, his broom made an abrupt halt. Instantly James realized what had happened - it was a Wronsky Feint gone bad. Kathryn had not only realized it, but had caught sight of it during her pursuit. She grabbed the snitch, and the season was over for Gryffindor. Their housemates exited the stadium in silence as the Ravenclaw fans went wild, and the Ravenclaw team took turns passing the Quidditch Cup to each other as they flew around the pitch on their broomsticks.

[highsorcerer]

As the term drew to a close, the boys started packing their books and possessions, and awaited the results of their final exams. Sirius and James, had passed with the best marks of the year, while Remus and Peter had done reasonably well also. Due to Ravenclaw's final Quidditch match (and winning the Quidditch Cup), they were ahead on points as the year end feast approached. Indeed, they were awared the house cup, and James, while disappointed, resolved to do better next year. He and Sirius had won a number of points for Gryffindor (though he silently omitted the points they had lost due to hexing Snape, including the time they got caught).

After the feast, they returned to their dorm to pack up for the return trip home. As they were packing the spellbooks, Peter gave a little gasp.

"I've had this for ages; since my detention," he said, as he showed a library book. "You don't think they'll fine me do you?"

James glanced at the title. "Grindelwald's Prophecy" it said in bold white letters against the black leather. "It was totally worthless. A bunch of prophecy's by some stupid seer that are easily shown false with the history of the world since it was written in 1930. Still, it was at least readable, unlike the other book I grabbed. It was called 'Hogwarts, A History'. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. At least the prophecy book was written in English."

Peter nodded a few times. "I heard Professor Binns mention it a few times, so I nicked it out of the restricted section when I had detention."

Lupin looked at him. "You nicked it?"

Sirius looked at Peter, equally puzzled. "Out of the RESTRICTED section?"

James also looked at Peter. "And nobody noticed it missing?"

Peter looked at his friends, confused. "No, why would they? It's just a book - and pretty useless at that. All gibberish. Nobody would write a book with only three letters, H, S, and I. Look at this passage - Hsss Shhhis, Hisshss."

James started sputtering. "Damn it Peter; didn't you listen to a word we said all this term. A book - something only a few people could read - containing Salazar Slytherin's spellbook!"

Remus joined in. "The book 'Hogwart's, a History', is in no way restricted. Sure it is updated to reflect modern events, but there isn't any reason it would be in the restricted section."

Sirius continued. "The man wasn't looking for a book about WHERE the spellbook was hidden - he was looking for the spellbook. Grindelwald had to return it - the book's runes would fade if it was kept away from a power source."

James finished it up. "One of the places it could return the runes to legibility was Hogwarts - a school he helped found. Also, think about the words and letters you saw Peter! Speak them! It's like hissing - and Salazar Slytherin was a Parseltounge! He didn't have to develop a code - all he had to do was write his spellbook in Parseltounge - snake langauge. Few speak it; who would have known it could be written as well!"

Peter took all this in with a mixture of shock and horror. Finally, all of them rushed out of the dorm, past the common room, and towards the library. Nobody was there. Finally, Remus shook his head. "This is beyond us. We need to tell Dumbledore."

The boys looked at each other with guilty faces. Nobody wanted to be the one to tell the headmaster what they might have learned, but all agreed it was for the best. Remus Lupin settled the manner in which they would decide who told him; three knuts and a sickle were placed in Peter's hand. Whoever was stuck with the sickle had to do the job. Remus and Sirius came up with knuts, but when James opened his hand he found a silver sickle in it.

[highsorcerer]

James went alone to the staircase which marked the entrance to the headmaster's offices. Two gargoyles faced him and asked him for the password. James sighed out that he didn't know. The statues scoffed at him until Dumbledore himself appeared at the base. The statues snapped to attention, but Dumbledore focused his attention on James.

"Did you wish to see me Mr. Potter?" he asked. James nodded his head weakly.

"Jelly bean," said Dumbledore, and the gargoyles snapped to life, and a passage opened up, leading to a spiral staircase which both James and Dumbledore mounted. He staircase started to rotate, and James felt himself lifted to the top of it, where another door opened. Dumbledore entered, and motioned James in.

James was overwhelmed by the number of portraits in the room. He recognized a number of them from his chocolate frog cards, though others were a mystery to him. Dumbledore took a seat at his desk.

James was a bit afraid, and hardly knew how to begin. Finally, he asked his first question.

"You defeated Grindelwald, didn't you?" he asked.

Dumbledore merely nodded.

"Here at Hogwarts, right?" responded James.

Again, Dumbledore nodded.

"It's just that, well, me and my friends were thinking about it. You were a professor then, not an auror. I mean, it just isn't what we think of when we think of a teacher."

Dumbledore nodded again, and spoke. "James, the duty to fight evil and the dark arts is beyond that of what is expected of us in everyday life. A great muggle once wrote that all that was needed for evil to triumph was for good people to do nothing."

James swallowed heavily, then continued. "It's just that what myself and my friends found out, and what we suspected.... oh, I don't know... I mean, it's so, oh, I don't know." James sighed in frustration. "I mean, it may mean nothing, but it might mean something."

James looked at Dumbledore, and found almost nothing of what he expected. He thought Dumbledore would be stern and admonishing, and perhaps even angry. Instead he found a glimpse of curiosity and perhaps inquizitiveness in his gaze.

"Tell me James, no matter what you might fear," said Dumbledore. James hesitated for a moment, and Dumbledore continued. "I am not unaware of your transgressions of the school rules James. On the contrary, I am very well aware of them."

James looked up, and choked once again.

"Please relax James; I suspeect anything you might have done would pale against what you have to tell me. Besides," he added, with a slight grin, "Ravenclaw has already won the house cup. Please speak frankly."

James did. His tale went forth, and he couldn't even stop himself form mentioning his petty worries and frustrations, including being barred from a decent tryout for the Quidditch team. When he finished, though, Dumbledore didn't seem conererned about his transgression of the house rules.

Instead, Dumbledore asked him to follow him to the library. There he muttered spell after spell (though James believed it was the same spell each time, and the same one the mystery man with the snake had spoken; each shelf glowed yellow in turn. However, Dumbledore also made a sweep of the regular shelves, and found nothing either. He sighed, and led James back to his office.

He looked at James with a serious look; one more serious than James had ever felt before. "James, I believe you were right. A copy of 'Hogwart's, a History' had no business being in the restricted section. And the text you knew of... almost certainly Parseltounge, and a most ingenious way of encoding the book. I'm sure your research revealed Salazar Slytherin was a Parseltounge."

James nodded.

"Not a very common gift. Indeed, a very rare one. So rare that examples of it being spoken is rare enough. A wizard has to be born with the gift, like a metamorphmagus. Though not like a animagus. Indeed, I"m not surprised the Parseltounges kept the ability to make it a written language a secret. So few have the gift, and most of them had a reason to conceal it. "

Dumbledore went into thought, and James interrupted it. "Headmaster, if it's all true; Grindelwald returned it, and you destroyed him, and nobody could read it except a Parseltounge, I mean, wouldn't it be useless. Not only to Grindelwald, but to the wizard who stole it?"

"James, you may be an exceptional student, but there are many areas of magic you don't know of yet. Including divination. I've heard of seers saying well after the second World War that a Slytherin Legacy would return to once again be a meance to the world. I can't pretend that Salazar Slytherin's spellbook might have fit the description," Dumbledore sighed. "Indeed, evil might never die, just return in a new and more terrible form"

"But you would know Headmaster... wouldn't you?" asked James, but as he looked into Dumbledore's eyes, he knew a different truth.

"James, I believe evil will always find a way to reappear," he said. "But I also believe there will always be good people willing to fight it no matter what the cost."

"But what of Salazar Slytherin's spellbooks?" asked James. He was a founder of Hogwarts ;surely they don't contain dark magic?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Nobody really knows. Salazar Slytherin was a founder of Hogwarts, but he believed magic should only be taught be pure-blooded wizards. There are rumors he eventually took it to an extreme. Only his spellbooks or diary's would tell - and we don't have them - or the ability to translate in Parseltounge."

"But Headmaster, if that man with the snake did take the book, he wouldn't be able to use it either? Not unless he was a Parseltounge? I mean, is there any way to translate from it?"

But Dumbledore only remained thoughtful, and eventually dismissed James from his office.

[highsorcerer]

James and Sirius got the best marks of the year. Lupin and Pettigrew had also passed with good marks. While both James and Sirius raised their wands to give a last minute hex at Snape, Remus Lupin held them off.

They found a private compartment on the Hogwart's express, where James related his last talks with Dumbledore. It bothered the others, but between a purchases of chocolate frogs and a few exploding snap games, the boys were once again in a festive mood. School was over, and the next term provided more possibilities of fun and mischief.

As Peter and Remus disembarked toward their families, James held Sirius back. "I've still got your mirror. And we've got to find a way to get you away from your family over summer," said James.

Sirius nodded. "My life will be miserable over break. From what I can tell, I'm not a pure-blood any more." Sirius sighed. "It doesn't matter to me," and gave a look James took to heart. "If you can do anything... I'll never forget it."

As the boys went away with their parents, James looked back at the miserable Sirius. "You're my best friend. We'll always be there for each other," he said to himself.

And as the summer days wore on, James kept thinking to himself, that no matter what powers dark wizards obtained, nothing could be as strong as the bonds of friendship.

[highsorcerer]

This ends the tale of James Potter and the Slytherin Legacy.

However, James Potter did attend Hogwarts for six more years, and with his friends. They had good times, and terrible times, and all through their education in the magical arts a dark wizard was rising. But it is not to be thought that James Potter's quest to learn magic - and hate the dark arts and all that they stood for was EASY. Indeed, he had to learn the hard way the kind of horror the dark arts could unleash.

But this is a tale for another time... if there is interest.

[highsorcerer]

I can't edit my mistakes, but hear of them.

Peter was supposed to mention the problems in reading the fake copy of "Hogwart's - a History". While he found the text, he didn't realize any of the signifigance of it until his friends did. By this time he had returned it.

Voldemort, like Grindelwald, had tracked possible sources of the dark arts. It took him years to go from the handsome head boy into the dark wizard he became. He learned well from the lessons of Grindelwald, and his quest for powerful magical artiifacts that could aid him in dark power. He both deduced the hidden spot of Salazar Slytherin's spellbook much as James and his friends did (but only after years of research). Dumbledore and James did as well, but only after they compared notes.

Parseltounge is a rare gift. Few are born with it (or can speak it). Why should there not be a written version of it as well - particuarly if the person reading it can talk in the right numbers of Hs, Is, and Fs? From what we know if it, only Harry Potter and Voldemort can even speak it. Harry has never tried to read or write it. Wouldn't Salazar Slytherin - who created a chamber of secrets - have naturally used it as the perfect cover for a hidden document - one only an heir could access?

[choki]

The story is great. So ends the first marauder year...
Do you have interest in continuing? It would be great to read more especially after they have all became animagi

[highsorcerer]

The only things I know for sure is that James and company will figure out Remus Lupin's secret (and begin the path toward becoming animagi) - and that James will make the house Quidditch team.