Chapter 53: Joker
An hour passed. James did not change the book. He realized that this book was very good, so he decided to study it completely, before moving on to another book.
In the first few pages, he talks about the history and nature of dark menaces. Then, he goes into the recognition of basic jinxes, how to identify them, and what countermeasures to implement.
He talked about counter jinxes, a type of counterspell designed to remove the effects of a jinx or other dark charm. However, these were basic curses such as the snot curse that gives the target a nasty cold and a runny nose that could cause the victim to collapse if left untreated. The counter jinxes were covered and explained in several pages.
'Even if I know the counter Jinxes, I can't put it into practice, as I would have to have someone with the snot jinx...' thought James after studying the theory for the counter jinx.
In addition to these topics, he talked about dangerous magical creatures such as the Kappa, a Japanese water demon that feeds on human blood. They were known to strangle humans who invaded their shallow ponds. They were classified as XXXX creatures by the British Ministry of Magic.
Another example of a creature was a Hinkypunk, a tiny one-legged magical beast with an appearance of faint blue, grey, or white smoke. They had a propensity to lead travellers off their paths at night, into treacherous swamps or wetlands in the guise of a helpful being carrying a lamp. They also emitted sporadic screams and growls.
James was very fascinated by the subject of magical creatures, so far the most extraordinary thing he had seen was the troll, 'What would it be like to have a Kappa in front of you or a dragon,' thought James, imagining the scene.
Thinking of magical creatures, the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts came to mind. Rumour has it that there are a lot of magical creatures such as trolls, giants, centaurs, and even unicorns.
Hagrid is the ranger. He must have a great knowledge of the forbidden forest and its creatures' thought James, remembering Hagrid, a burly man of about ten feet. The first time he saw him was when he took them across the boats across the lake to Hogwarts castle and also because he was one of the characters he got to know when he read the novel years ago.
'Maybe I should visit him... he must have some very interesting stories to tell,' thought James. Just outside the castle was the hut where Hagrid lived on the edge of the forbidden forest.
From what he remembered from the little he read he was becoming more and more distant and confused as the years went by, and he had more and more memories, which made it harder to remember some things Hagrid's personality was gentle and somewhat silly. He was the first person to treat Harry nicely.
James was engrossed in his reading. He felt someone tap his shoulder, again it was Penny, "It's time for dinner in the great dining hall," said Penny in a low tone, pointing to the clock that was almost 7 PM.
"Thanks," said James, whose eyes were hurting from reading for almost 3 hours non-stop. He closed the book and stood up from his spot.
"I'll help you," Penny said as she helped James carry the rest of the books to their place.
James nodded gratefully. He couldn't believe Penny was such a nice and friendly girl. This was the third time she had helped him.
Usually, the girls he met were either bossy and angry (Lily), very talkative and shrill (Gwen), or with a stoic look and few words (Emily).
"Will you be taking any books with you?" asked Penny as she walked alongside James, who didn't know there was such a function in the library, but showed nothing in his face.
"No, it will be impossible to study in the Gryffindor common room if my friends are there," said James, shaking his head. Sirius would be very unbearable, and they'd probably end up playing games or playing pranks.
"They're quite famous these days," commented Penny, referring to the marauders as a whole.
"What, really?" asked James, who was unaware of this.
"Yeah, you guys did the flower prank on the Slytherin students, right?" asked Penny, although she was 99% sure it was James and his friends.
"Is it that obvious?" asked James with a strange look on his face.
"Hahaha to me it is. The others, I don't know. I always see them getting into fights with the Slytherin students, plus just before they started a fistfight you weren't there, which was strange to me. How did you do it?" asked Penny, very curious, although she knew James and his friends had to see it, she didn't know how they had managed it.
"Trade secrets. I can't reveal our hidden cards," said James with a mysterious smile. He wouldn't go revealing to everyone that the marauders possessed an invisibility cloak and stole the odd ingredient from a Hogwarts professor.
Penny let out a dramatic sigh, and an expression of dissatisfaction appeared on her face, "Oh come on, did you join some exclusive mystery club that you can't tell your best friend about?" she said, acting dramatic.
'Best friend?' thought James with an amused grin. On the trip to the great dining hall, they spent the whole time bantering until they each went to their tables.
"Mate, over two hours in the library, what happened to you?" asked Sirius, looking at James like he was someone else. The other marauders also looked at him as if they were looking at another James. However, if they thought about it carefully, it wouldn't be unusual for James to spend a lot of time in the library since he is a top first-year student.
The strange thing would be if he never visited the library, but since they had never seen him go to the library during this time, they took it as a strange occurrence.
"As the Potter heir, I have to set an example," replied James, acting exaggeratedly like a pure-blooded boy.
"I don't believe a word of it..." said Sirius with a faint smile, "Anyway, we have a mission today," he added in a serious tone.
"A mission? It's already late at night. What do you want to do?" asked Lupin with a bad feeling. Toby and Peter also had a bad feeling when they saw the slight smile on Sirius' face.
"Listen..." he said in a low tone, looking to the side to see that no one was spying on them.
"It's time we claimed revenge for Toby. Those bloody snakes played dirty, and now we're going to pay them back with interest," said Sirius.
'I don't want revenge...' thought Toby, but on the other hand, he wanted to do his first mission with the marauders, as he had stayed away from the group on the previous one.
"What did you have in mind?" asked James, who was already fully focused on Sirius' words.
"I've managed to set up a meeting with the Joker," replied Sirius and his grin was growing.
James, Lupin, Peter, and Toby looked at each other confused, and asked, "Who is the Joker?"
"They don't know anything... Well, his identity is very secret, and he always hides his tracks. The Joker is a smuggler. He has a clandestine network in Hogwarts, where he sells prank goods, everything you can imagine. Filch has been after him for a long time, but he's never been able to catch him," Sirius explained seriously and in a low tone.
'A joke product smuggler?' thought James incredulously. He seemed to have a great backstory and be a very important character since Filch couldn't catch him after all this time.
"Wouldn't it be bad to interact with that person?" said Peter fearfully.
"Don't worry, he keeps all his deals, and it was very hard to be able to contact him," said Sirius.
"So that's what you were doing those hours you were disappearing this last week..." said Lupin, and Sirius nodded with a smile.
Then Sirius started telling them everything he knew about the urban legend of the Joker at Hogwarts. He appeared four years ago, so at the very least he's in 6th, as it would be very hard to believe that a student just starting could plant a whole network of contraband.
The Joker has a very serious refund policy. If there is something wrong he always refunds the money, showing himself to be a good salesman.
"I understand, but what is it you want to buy him?" asked James, looking strangely at Sirius, as he seemed to idolise the Joker.
"We're going to buy him dung bombs. It's a stink bomb that gives off a putrid smell," replied Sirius.
"Oh, that product is quite well known. I think it's from Zonko's joke shop in Hogsmeade..." said James reminiscing, and Sirius nodded.
"And how many of those do you want to buy?" asked Lupin, and Sirius held up a finger, "10?" asked Toby, "No, 100," replied Sirius.
"100 bombs-" Before Peter could continue to raise his tone, Sirius covered his mouth, "Shhh," he said with a frown. He didn't want his plan to leak out.
"It's better to talk in our room, come on," Sirius said as he got up from the table, as everyone had finished eating.
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