Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition by Beater 1 of the Appleby Arrows.

Prompts:

(word) light

(dialogue) "You won't need any sun cream; it's not even that sunny!"

(dialogue) "It happened again, what do I do?"

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I barely own half my mind.

Camping Like Muggles

"What a beautiful day to go camping, eh?" Professor Leigh exclaimed as she tilted her head back and let the sun shine on her face. She didn't notice the groaning in response from her students.

The Forbidden Forest was beautiful, if not a little foreboding. Professor Leigh's sixth year Muggle Studies class was missing out on all the beauty, too worried about what hid beneath it. The Professor had assured them that the farther they went in the safer it was, but there was no actual evidence of that being true.

Because of the professor's passion for the subject (and her undeterred determination that all her students would love it just as much as she did) she had gotten permission from Headmaster Dumbledore to take her sixth year class out camping for the weekend. The catch was that if you went on the camping trip, you got a free pass for all tests. If you didn't, well, that was even more studying to add to your list. Most decided to go on the trip. Unfortunately for Professor Leigh, the Marauders were some of them.

"Oh, yes!" an overzealous Sirius Black sang. "Just a gorgeous day, isn't that right darling?" He threw his arm over a chuckling James Potter.

"Get off, Padfoot. Go hump a tree or whatever you do when you're excited," James said, shrugging his friend's arm off of him and shoving him into a tree.

"Oi!" Sirius barked, pulling out his wand. He cast a stinging hex, and James yelped and pulled out his own wand.

"No, no! No wands! We are Muggles, there is no magic!" Professor Leigh stomped over to the two boys and snatched the wands out of their hands, throwing them into a bag.

"Hey!" Sirius and James cried out.

"If I see anyone else's wand out, I'm taking everyone's, got it?" she threatened, which was not very impressive coming from the short brunette who looked like Christmas had came early for her.

Nevertheless, everyone nodded their head in understanding, and they kept on walking.

It wasn't long later until Professor Leigh found the perfect place for them to set up had brought two Muggle tents for the boys and two for the girls. She told everyone that she was going to grab a Muggle sleeping bag and sleep between the boys and the girls so nothing suspicious would happen, but everyone knew it was so she could look at the stars, feel the warmth of the fire, and pretend for just a second she was actually a Muggle. Professor Leigh really devoted herself to her subject.

"It happened again. What do I do?" James called out from the tent he was trying to set up with his fellow Marauders. They made up half the boys in the class, so they had no problem sharing a tent together. However, James had taken the lead in setting up the tent and was successfully failing, having had the tent cave into itself several times.

"Of course it did," a fellow sixth year, Lily Evans, muttered to her dark haired friend, who giggled in response. She purposely raised her voice. "I swear he messes things up just for everyone's attention."

"Oh, not just anyone's. Only yours, Evans," James called out.

Meanwhile Professor Leigh strolled over, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Okay, stop, just stop. You're doing it all wrong. Here, let me." And in a few minutes she had managed to get the tent up and looking good. This had obviously not been her first rodeo, or in this case, Muggle camping trip.

After that, everyone else was able to get their tents up in good time, and it was soon dark. In true 'Muggle fashion,' Professor Leigh had everyone gathered around the fire.

"Right, so this is the best part of all Muggle camping trips. This is when a whole bunch of Muggles gather around a wooden fire and roast marshmallows and sing songs. Miss Evans, you're Muggleborn! What types of songs do you sing?"

The red headed girl slowly looked up from her melting marshmallow. "Er, anything by the Beatles. But we don't really sing those kinds of songs at a campfire."

"What kind of songs do you sing then?" James asked, shocking everyone around the campfire.

"Just silly songs. We also tell scary stories," Lily replied.

Everyone was waiting for the ball to drop. James and Lily had never had a civil moment together, so two sentences were pretty impressive.

"Huh," Sirius said, breaking the silence. "I've got some scary stories, most of them true and regarding one of my cousins." He started itching his exposed shins. "Hey, does anyone else feel like they're being burnt? I need some sunscreen, I don't want to end up looking like a tomato. Rather, I want to come back from this camping trip sun-kissed!"

James rolled his eyes. "You won't need any sun cream; it's not even that sunny!"

"Not even that sunny? Try 'not sunny at all!' It's night time. Even so, we're under a canopy of trees, so there's no way any sunlight could peek through," Lily huffed, breaking the civility. "Black, you're probably getting too hot from being close to the fire. Back up." She gestured to their only light source in the pitch black forest.

Professor Leigh tutted. "We're getting off topic. Scary stories, you say? Well, have you heard about the Wizard who got lost in -"

"-The Muggle streets of London," the group finished for her.

"Oh. Have I told this story before?" the professor asked her students, who almost collectively rolled their eyes together.

"Annette," Sirius started, using the Professor's first name. "You only have the same three stories that you tell."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to make it back out to the Muggle world to study them even more. Then, I can bring back even more stories!" Professor Leigh exclaimed.

"For some reason, I don't think it'll feel like work to her," Sirius muttered into James's ear, who nodded in response.

Together, the Muggle Studies class watched as the flames danced into the night.