Muggle Studies Classroom - Part 1
The sultry air of the first days of June made itself known, the heat, not yet scorching, was however present as were the bright rays of the sun, entering the muggle studies classroom through the windows.
It was a Saturday afternoon, the school year was coming to an end and Hogwarts students could finally enjoy a well-deserved break with a relaxing visit to Hogsmeade.
All except the fifth year students, forced to stay within the walls of the castle in view of the exams upon them.
All the students left in the school seemed intent on studying, revising, writing or training in some way, everyone seemed to take in the imminent O.W.L s with great seriousness.
Everyone but the marauders.
“Smoking that much is going to kill you someday,” James was yelling at Sirius and Remus, who were sharing a cigarette sitting on the desk.
In response Padfoot laughed, a clear laugh.
Moony stared at him, smiling too, clearly relaxed.
“It won’t be a cigarette that kills me, prongs” pads laughed again.
James slumped back in a chair, disconsolate.
Peter was meanwhile intent on observing various muggle objects placed on the shelves in the room.
He could hear his friends bickering, laughing to himself.
He adored those three boys, he had never been a very popular guy as a child but once he arrived at Hogwarts Prongs had taken him under his wing and everything had changed.
Over the years he had repeatedly received insults for his clumsiness and his physique but his friends had stayed by his side, giving him support, preventing him from sinking because of those cruel and stupid comments.
Not being alone saved him.
Remus had helped him to improve his grades when necessary, Sirius had made sure to make him feel at ease with his body because, in the wise words of his mother “every physique is beautiful, you just need to know how to enhance it with the right style”.
Then there was James… James, who was the least violent boy who he has ever known but who once almost got into a fight with some idiots who were bullying him.
Not being alone had definitely saved him.
As those thoughts wandered through his mind, one object in particular caught his attention.
A dark wooden box, not too big, maybe A3 sized, with the word “Jumanji” delicately engraved into the lid.
“Guys” he immediately called his friends who upon hearing him stopped bickering and looked over.
“Pete,” James said.
“I think i've found something interesting” he picked the box up and showed it to the others.
Sirius moved closer to get a better look at the object.
“What is it?”
“I'm not sure,'' Peter answered in an indecisive tone.
“It looks like a board game,” Remus chimed in.
“A what?” James looked confused
“Um… an inanimate game to be played as a group?” remus tried to explain. Board games were a muggle thing, so it would make sense James wouldn't know what one is.
“Oh! Sounds like fun” James says enthusiastically
Sirius couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's energy. “Everything is fun you Prongs”
“That's not true…” he shot back but as he thought about it for a moment, “okay yeah so maybe it is true, but whatever, what i wanna know though, is what it is and how to play it”
“Ok, i'll open it!” Sirius reached for the box but before he could touch it Peter stopped him.
“Maybe we should ask the girl to play too?” he stated hesitantly.
Moony immediately pulled out the map, to check for the girls' locations.
Luckily Lily, Marlene and Mary were all in the great hall studying together.
“Destination great hall” Sirius declares, looking over Remus' shoulder to read the map.
Noticing the presence of pads behind him, moony blushed slightly.
“Let's go… Yes let's go.” he said, clearing his throat, practically running to the door in order to hide how flustered he was.
The others followed in suit.
Upon reaching the great hall, they approached the girls at the Gryffindor table.
The hall was practically empty, a pair of Ravenclaws which peter recognised as dorcas meadows and Barty Crouch jr, three Slytherins including regulus, Sirius’ brother and the rosier twins Evan and pandora, and finally two Hufflepuffs alice Fortescue and Frank Longbottom.
Marlene Mckinnon and Mary Macdonald looked close to having a mental breakdown over their O.W.L.s, whilst Lily Evans looked like the most carefree person to have ever existed.
As soon as Mary saw them, she ran over to hug them.
“Oh thank Godric, thank you! Please save us, Lily has been making us study potions for three hours!”
Just the thought of potions had Sirius horrified. “Evans, for merlin's sake, leave my best friends alone” he yelled lightheartedly at Lily, who was still intent on repeating unpronounceable ingredients of very complex potions by heart.
“Black, don't be dramatic” she teased back in a calm tone, almost sounding bored, but the twinkle in her eye gave her away.
“Dramatic is my middle name,” Sirius retorted in offence.
“Your middle name is Orion”
“Don't remind me”
Peter laughed at them bickering like an old married couple. Marlene and James looked pretty amused themselves, at the scene playing out in front of them. Remus just looked done with them all.
“Did you just come here to disturb us or was there something you needed?” lilt asked scornfully.
Mary looked at them hopefully, eager to receive and news that would get her out of the torture that is potions.
“We found a game” James answered enthusiastically, almost bouncing on the heels of his feet.
“We wanted to ask if you would like to play it with us,” Peter added with a smile on his face.
“We should..” Evan started, ready to say that they couldn't, because they still had to study charms when Marlene cut her off, screeching a high pitched ‘hell yeah, let's do it’
Mary joined her friend, nodding her head with a ferocity you would think it was about to roll off.
Lily gave up knowing she was outnumbered.
“Okay fineee, what is it about?”
“It looks like an old fashioned board game, we haven't opened it yet though,” Remus said.
Peter set the wooden box down on the table.
“There's a lock,” Marlene pointed out.
“There was no key in the muggle studies classroom,'' Peter said, his tone voicing the disappointment he was feeling about not being able to play.
“Just use Alohomora, idiots” Mary said, however the box still remained sealed.
Everyone looked dumbfounded.
“There must be some protective spell keeping it locked.” Moony looked impressed.
“Oh what a pity!” lily said clearly happy by the outcome “we can play it another time, looks like we should go back to studying”
“Calm down Evans, calm down. Magic isn't always the only way to open something '' Sirius sneered as he sat down in front of the box and pulled a bobby pin from his hair.
Within a few seconds the lock clicked.
Everyone looked at him amazed.
“Black, i don't know whether to be impressed or upset” Marlene said breaking the silence that had accumulated around them.
Remus however looked decidedly impressed.
Sirius smiled at his accomplishment.
“Pete, you found the game, would you do us the honour of opening it?” he asked.
Wormtail nodded as he approached the table cautiously.
He lifted the lid slowly, fearful. There could be anything inside.
They all approached to look at the contents and what they said was… an envelope?
“If it's one of your usual jokes I swear I'll curse all four of you,” Lily snapped, glaring at the boys.
“We have nothing to do with this, I swear,” James said, looking somewhat confused himself.
“Should we… read it?" Peter asked, obvious confusion laced in his tone.
“I'm sure as hell not, I'm still traumatised from my dear mothers last howler.” Sirius raised both his hands up and backed a step away as if to prove his point further.
“I'll do it” Mary took the envelope eagerly and tore it open, took out the letter contained to reveal…
“Theres nothing written on it, its a fucking blank sheet”
“Let me see” Remus took the paper. “Lily, do you have a quill and some ink?”
“Sure” she said, passing him what he asked for “what do you need it for?”
“There's a type of ink that only appears on parchment when asked a question”
“Do you think this is that type of ink?”
“Let's find out”
Having said that, he wrote on the sheet, “Jumanji?” immediately the word disappeared as if absorbed by the sheet and was replaced by bright clear black letters that made up a text as long as the entire page.
As the letters appeared one by one on the white sheet strange things started to happen: the windows flew open and a strong wind started blowing out the flying candles, causing the door to the great hall to slam closed.
“What the hell is going on, be Salazar, are you crazy?” the other people in the hall has rushed over to the Gryffindor table
Regulus black was ready to punch his brother, if the tone he used was any indication anyway.
“We found a game, petit frere, but apparently it's more interesting than we originally thought,” Sirius laughed, getting a glare from regulus in return.
“Auto-answer ink?” Dorcas asked curiously.
“It would seem so,” Moony answered.
“Can someone read what the fuck is written on that letter?'' Mary shouted, the sound of the wind around them drowning her out.
Remus cleared his throat and in a firm tone began to read:
“Welcome to Jumanji, our heroes, I am Alastor “mad-eye" Moody, at your service. You can't imagine what an honour it is to finally meet you. I was looking forward to your arrival. Jumanji is in great danger, we’re counting on you to undo the spell. I am the gide of Jumanji, i had been hired by a once trusted friend, Tom Riddle, now nemesis, to lead a fateful expedition. You see, tom riddle had come with his death eaters in search of the legendary cave of the underworld, where Jumanji’s sacred jewel, the Slytherin locket, was kept. The jewel was his greatest obsession. And after years of searching he was convinced he had discovered where it was. Riddle told me he wanted to find the jewel so he could document it in his writings. What I didn't know was that he intended to keep the jewel for himself. Legend has it that the locket watches over Jumanji and anyone who dares steal it from the cave will be consumed by a dark power. Riddle assumed dominion over all creatures of Jumanji, possessed them, controlled them and a terrible spell descended on this once peaceful land. I begged him to put it back but once he had it in his hands he could no longer let go. One evening i waited for them to fall asleep and made my move: i stole it from their hands and ran away. He ordered the death eaters to bring the jewel back to him and to kill anyone who got a hold of it. To do this they placed a multitude of creatures around Jumanji, terrible creatures. Some seemingly harmless but malevolent nonetheless. To prevent hem from finding the jewel, i hid it. Now i entrust to you the task of finding it. With your skills and helping each other, you will bring back the Slytherin locket to the underworld cave and undo the spell. Surely you'll want to get started right away. Good luck, Jumanji's fate rests in your hands. And remember: bring back the jewel and undo the spell. If you want to quite the game, you need to save Jumanji and shout his name. You will need a map if you want to complete the mission."