The Fourth Marauder
When Fred woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was at Hogwarts in McGonagall’s old transfiguration classroom. And it was intact. This made Fred extremely confused, as the last thing he remembered was the battle and running at Percy then an explosion and... And a wall falling on him. He panicked and looked down at himself. He was transparent.
“No...” He whispered, holding his hands up in front of his face, “No, no, no.”
He ran- or rather floated across the classroom towards the door and when he reached to grab the handle, his hand fell straight through it, confirming his suspicions.
“I... I’m a... I’m a ghost,” He said, stunned, “Oh, Merlin.”
He stayed floating in the classroom for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts before shaking his head and deciding to venture out into the school to see what was going on. The corridors were silent, apart from the occasional remark from a portrait or an owl or bat flying around or other ghosts having conversations. Fred kept to the shadows, not wanting to draw attention to himself. He didn’t want news to get round that he was a Hogwarts ghost. Not yet, anyway.
When he reached the Great Hall, he heard lots of talking and noise coming from inside, so he decided to see what was happening. Looking discretely inside, he saw the entire student body, admittedly a lot depleted, sat at their house tables, an extra table at the back and the teachers up at the head table, McGonagall sat in the headmaster’s chair. Everyone was feasting and chatting.
“Huh,” Fred mused, “The new year has begun.”
He wondered why there was an extra table at the back, until he looked closer and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the middle of the table, surrounded by their friends. And... Was that Malfoy sat at the very end? Fred smirked; he would be able to have some fun with Malfoy.
“They have made an eighth year,” He whispered, smiling. He would get to spend some time with the Golden lot after all. And, of course, prank a certain ferret. After a moment, he slipped away from the Hall, wanting to look around the castle some more. He wanted to see what changes had happened after the battle; which classrooms were out of use? Where there any new ones? Was part of the castle still in ruins?
As he passed the Gryffindor tower, he heard some laughing; deep, booming laughter coming from around the corner, so he decided to check it out. Creeping through the halls and around the corner revealed three ghosts huddled together. They all looked around 21 and they had their backs to Fred.
The young ghost was curious. Who were these ghosts and why didn’t he recognise them? He wanted to know who they were. Cautiously, he took a few more steps towards the other ghosts, and he realised that he thought he recognised two of them. They looked like people he knew.
“Hello!” He called, moving into the light and closer to the ghosts, who all turned around to see who had interrupted their conversation. One of them (one of the two Fred thought he recognised) stood still and gaped, but the other two smiled. One of those two looked a lot like Harry. This one smiled and said,
“Hello. Who are you?”
“I’m Fred Weasley,” Fred said, “Ghost of the war. Who are you? You look a lot like my friend.”
“I’m James, James Potter,” James grinned.
“Ah. I thought you would be a Potter,” Fred smiled, “You look like Harry. Except his eyes. He-”
“He has his mother's eyes,” One of the other ghosts said. This one had long black hair and seemed to be wearing a leather jacket, “Many people tell him that. I’m Sirius Black,” Sirius bowed deeply, and Fred’s mouth dropped open.
“But... You... You’re a murderer!”
“I’m not, actually. I was set up and I’m innocent,” Sirius looked up and smiled, “All of the things you’ve heard about me are lies.”
Fred smirked, “So... You weren’t the school's biggest heartthrob when you were here?”
“Alright, that one’s true. Although my heart only belonged to one person,” Sirius shot a small glance at the unnamed ghost, who looked away, “But I am innocent.”
“I think I overheard Harry talking to Ron and Hermione about you once. He claimed you were innocent, but I never believed him. I do now, though. Sorry for not believing it earlier,” Fred turned to the last ghost, “I think I recognise you.”
“Yes, I thought you might,” This ghost said, smiling ruefully, “I believe you called me... What was it... Wolfy McWerewolf?”
“Remus!” Fred started, “I... I didn’t actually know you overheard that conversation. I thought it was just me and George. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Remus said.
“Anyway, how come you and Sirius look younger? I thought you stayed your age when you died.”
“So did we,” Sirius said.
“When we died, Death gave us back our youth and we went back to being 21, same age as James here,” Remus explained.
“I don’t really understand it,” Sirius laughed, “All I’m glad is that I don’t look like and old man while fooling around with these two.”
The other three laughed.
“Fooling around?” Fred asked, wondering what Sirius could mean. He saw the others eyes flash with a mischievous glint and he became even more curious.
“Yes, fooling around,” Remus smirked.
“You know. Causing mayhem, discovering secret passageways,” James said.
“Bothering teachers, creating magical maps,” Sirius said, and all three were looking at Fred, grinning.
Fred’s eyes widened, “Maps... You aren’t...”
“Fred Weasley, meet Messrs Moony, Padfoot and Prongs!” James exclaimed, pointing at Remus, then Sirius, then himself.
“You... You are the Marauders!” Fred yelled, “Merlin. George is gunna be so jealous. We owe you guys a lot.”
“We’re just glad you could use our map,” Remus said.
“Thank you for giving it to Harry though. I was glad he could have it,” James said quietly, laying a hand on Fred’s shoulder.
“You’re very welcome. But, um... What happened to Wormtail?”
Sirius scowled, “Two words, Peter Pettigrew.”
“Ah,” Fred murmured in understanding. That traitorous rat bastard.
“Anyways!” James rubbed his hands together, “I think, Mr. Weasley, that after everything you have done, you deserve a new title. What do you think, Moony, Padfoot?”
Sirius grinned, “I definitely agree. This one has earned it.”
“He definitely has,” Remus agreed, “I think so too.”
“Right! Fred Weasley, we now welcome you as our fourth marauder!”
“Oh my gosh!” Fred exclaimed, a massive grin on his face, “Thank you so much!”
“Excellent!” Remus said, “Now, let's go cause some mischief.”
~~
Minerva McGonagall was a busy woman, and being a busy woman also made her a tired woman. A very tired woman. And when she was tired, she was grumpy. So, as she walked down the east wing and heard a loud bang coming from inside one of the classrooms, she groaned. Her day had been long enough, and she didn’t need to deal with Peeves right now.
“PEEVES!” She screamed, throwing the door open, ready to murder the poor poltergeist. However, when she entered the classroom, she did not see Peeves doing something destructive, like she expected. Instead, she saw three, very familiar faces, two grinning widely, one smiling sheepishly, looking a little guilty. She stopped short when she saw those boys. Her boys. The Marauders. She didn’t know what to say to them.
When she recovered from her initial shock, she realised that she was in trouble. These were the marauders. The boys who caused immense amounts of trouble when they were younger. And now they were ghosts. This meant that Minerva had to give them a stern talking too, setting down some ground rules.
“Merlin. You three. What on earth-” She started, but before she could get any further, a smaller ghost stepped out from behind the other three.
“Hi Professor,” Fred said, smiling shyly.
“Fred,” She said, faintly.
“He’s our new marauder,” James grinned.
“He’s such a good mischief manager,” Sirius explained.
“Hello Minerva,” Remus said, softly, “We needed a fourth man,” He shrugged and smiled at Minerva.
“You better be prepared Minnie,” Sirius said.
“The Marauders are back! New and improved!” James threw his arms out wide, accidentally hitting Sirius, who whacked him back.
A smile made its way onto Minerva’s features, “Oh, don’t you worry. We are totally prepared. I’ll just leave you be. Try not to burn the school down.”
“Thank you, Minnie, my love,” James and Sirius yelled.
“Thank you, Minerva,” Remus said, giving her a genuine smile. Minerva smiled at her boys and their newest member. Yes, they were back, and they were most likely going to do more obscene pranks, but they were happy. And if they were happy, then she was happy.