As always, all of the characters contained herein belong to Ms. Rowling.
"Well?" said Ginny raising an eyebrow. Both she and Hermione seemed to think that the boys should know exactly what they were so upset about.
Ron and Harry exchanged a mystified glance. The girls had seemed ok when the boys left to go see Dumbledore, well Ginny had anyway. Hermione had been annoyed, but she hadn't really seemed angry, at least not like this.
"Ummm... " said Ron, clearly grasping for straws. "You aren't... this isn't... Are you mad about the prank?"
"Honestly!" said Hermione rolling her eyes. "Do you two really think that we're this upset because of a prank, albeit one that was so irresponsible? You are just so...so..." Hermione made a completely inarticulate noise, as if she was incapable of deciding just what the two boys were. She pulled one of the star shaped pieces of paper from her pocket and thrust it at them.
"What does that say?" she demanded, her eyes flashing.
"T-tonight's entertainment was provided by the Marauders in..." Harry began.
"Exactly!" Ginny snapped. "Provided by the Marauders."
"Do you expect us to believe Remus pulled this prank? Or maybe Pettigrew?" Hermione raged.
"Pettigrew is NOT a Marauder," Harry growled beginning to become angry himself now.
"Oh! Then perhaps you'd like us to believe your dad and Sirius reached from beyond the grave and gave the Slytherins floppy black dog ears?" Hermione practically screached.
Harry reacted as if he had been slapped. He dimly heard Ginny gasp. The anger which had begun moments ago, was now at the boiling point. His green eyes blazed. It was only the prescence of Ron, who put a restraining hand on his shoulder, which kept him from lashing out at Hermione.
"What the hell is your problem Hermione? How could you say something like that to Harry?" Ron said, his voice a deadly hiss which Harry had never heard Ron use towards anyone he cared about before. Hermione, as though just now realizing what she had said put her hands to her mouth and began to cry.
"Oh God Harry! I'm sorry...so sorry. I didn't mean that I just... things are changing so fast. War is coming. I can feel it and all we have to cling to is each other. When I found out that you two had done this... become Marauders... and you left me out. I felt like... like I was losing you both. I couldn't take that. I can't. You two are the most important people in the world to me," she sobbed. Her bushy brown hair was clinging to her tear soaked cheeks, as she hid her face in her hands. Ron and Harry went to her then. Ron sat next to her and put his arm around her, trying soothe her. Harry knelt on the floor in front of her.
"Hermione," Harry said quietly, his anger completely forgotten. "Don't. It's ok. We're sorry. We didn't mean to leave you out. Really."
"I guess we got caught up in the excitement of it all. We would't hurt you for the world. You either sis," said Ron.
Hermione looked up then, a tremulous smile on her face. She wrapped both Ron and Harry in a hug fierce enough to rival one of Mrs. Weasley's.
"All right Granger. Hands off my boyfriend," said Ginny, trying to lighten the mood. Hermione giggled wetly and released Harry, who went to Ginny.
"I'm sorry Ginny. We really didn't mean to leave you out," Harry apologized.
"I know Harry. It's just that it took so long for you to see me as anything other than Ron's tag-along kid sister. I didn't want to go back to that, so I guess I kind of overeacted. I'm sorry," she said.
"I am curious though," Hermione said. "What made you guys decide to do this? I mean, we've known about the Marauders for a long time. Why did you decide to revive them now?"
"Well it wasn't actually us who decided," Harry said slowly. "The Marauders sort of decided for us."
"The Marauders decided? Harry what do you mean?" Ginny asked. Harry sighed, knowing nothing less then the truth would do.
"OK, before we tell you this, you have to understand something. This isn't just our secret. It's Moony's too," Harry said.
"Moony?" Hemione asked. Harry nodded.
"You remember the day Sirius' name was cleared?" Harry asked.
"Of course we do. That's not something we are likely to forget Harry. It was pretty significant," Ginny answered.
"That night around midnight, Remus came and woke us up. He took us to Sirius' old room. When we got there, he told us that he and Sirius had planned on making Ron and I Marauders when Pettigrew was captured and Sirius was cleared. My dad had made them promise that no matter what I'd be made a Marauder. Ron was Sirius' idea," Harry said, alowing his mind to drift back to that night. Images of his dad and Sirius flowed through his mind. Ron must have sensed Harry's preoccupation because he continued the story.
"I was honored to say the least," said Ron. "Sirius and Mr. Potter were great men, and to be made part of that..." Ron's ears turned red.
"Anyway, after Moony told us what happened, he started to do a spell. I have no idea what it was, but I have never seen anything like it in my life. You could feel the power it took. I thought he was going to collapse or something. Then the air started shimmering and suddenly there was Sirius and Harry's dad. It was amazing," said Ron. Ginny's jaw dropped at her brother's words. Hermione's eyes widened.
"Omigosh! I knew Professor Lupin was powerful, but I never... Do you to realize that spell has only ever been successful three times in the history of magic and that, until now, the only one to have successfully performed it was Merlin? No one else ever lived through it," Hermione said. "Do you know how dangerous, not to mention illegal, that was?"
"We didn't at the time. Once I found out though, I yelled at Moony about it. He told me he owed it to them, for all they had done for him. He did it because he loved them and knew that they wanted, more than anything, to be there for it... for me. It was my dad's last request of him," Harry said quietly.
"Harry?" said Ginny gently. "Did you actually get to talk to your Dad? What did he say?"
Harry smiled. "He said he and Mum loved me and were proud of me. He said that they were always watching, and that they think you are as wonderful as I do."
Ginny blushed. "He did not say that."
"Yeah he did Gin. I heard him," said Ron.
"Anyway, Dad, Sirius, and Remus swore us in and then... they started to fade. Before they left though, they told me they'd be there with me when I faced him," Harry's voice broke. He took a deep breath and attempted to compose himself.
"I still can't believe that Prof. Lupin did the Espiritus spell. He could've died. He was willing to die for them," Hermione said.
"He's a good man," Ginny said simply.
"That's why," said Harry, "Ron and I have decided something. We're not going to let Remus be alone anymore. We're going to become true Marauders."
"Do you two have any idea how dangerous that will be?" Hermione said, unknowingly sounding like Prof. McGonnagall. Harry and Ron nodded, their determination to continue despite that shone in their faces.
Hermione sighed. "It's a good thing Ginny and I will be helping. You two would never be able to do this on your own," said Hermione, sounding more like herself than she had all evening.
"Hemione, Ginny... we can't ask you to do this," Harry said.
"You didn't," Hermione said firmly.
"We volunteered," said Ginny grinning impishly. "Besides I've wanted to try it ever since I saw McGonnagall turn into a cat for the frst time."
"Mental," said Ron shaking his head at his baby sister. Ginny stuck her tongue out at him and grinned.
"Oh wow. It's getting late and we have class in the morning. We should get to bed," Hermione said looking at her watch.
"Before we go, there's one more thing we need to tell you about," Harry said grimly. He quickly filled the girls in on what was said in Dumbledore's office. When he was done, they were quiet for a minute, absorbing all that Harry had told them.
"I think we need to schedule the first DA meeting as soon as we can Harry," Hemione said. "We need to have everyone as prepared as possible. I think we should also start teaching some of the non-magical forms of combat you've been learning this summer."
Harry nodded. "I was planning on it, but my main concern is getting everyone up to par with the Patronus." The four continued their discussion for a few more minutes before, looking again at her watch, Hermione reminded them all how late it was.
Ginny and Hermione kissed the boys good night and headed up to the girls' dorms. Ron was half way up the stairs to the boys' dorm when he realized that Harry wasn't following him.
"You allright mate?" Ron asked frowning.
"Yeah, I'll be up in a few," said Harry. Ron nodded and continued on to their room.
Harry sat staring into the dying embers of the common room fire. They were all counting on him. Dumbledore, Remus, his friends, people he didn't even know. He had never felt the burden he carried more then he did right now, tonight.
So now Hermione and Ginny are in on everything. Thanks again to Danielle for moderating. Thanks for reading. Please review.