["He was pointing at the moon, but I was looking at his hand."
― Richard Siken]
—
Lily Evans looked at the man opposite her with a smile itching at her lips. "I do" she repeated dreamily, and the grin that James Potter reserved just for her grew on his handsome face. It had been a while since either of them had the excuse to feel happy like this, but there they stood almost immobile in their happiness.
Around them there was some sort of music playing; Sirius Black (the troublesome and handsome best man) was releasing fireworks from the end of his wand above the happy couple; the priest blathered on about finally doing something James had done numerous times before – kissing Lily Evans – but in his gut sat that nervous ache that spoke of their past and their future. Both had and would be sadly short, but in the end it was their love that changed the world.
The ceremony was smaller than either of them would have hoped. Loved ones were missing where they should stand happy with the rest, whether from their own prejudice choices, or reasons beyond any of their control. A thousand things that had gone or would go wrong lingered in the worry that war wrought. The sad majority of guests present had lost someone special to them, but they clapped with tears of joy leaking from their eyes because they knew the greatest secret of them all.
Lily and James Potter would conquer death with one another.
James Potter leant towards her – their first kiss as fresh in his mind as the most recent – his hair fell out of its tidy place. Lily laughed, holding her hand out and ruffling it until it almost resembled its normal mess. It was perfect. As the husband took his bride's soft jaw in his hands and leant forwards to – one would assume kiss her – James knew he had won.
"Sirius owes me three galleons," he laughed wildly past the red curls that blocked her ears from his mouth. And then he kissed her, Mr and Mrs Potter for the very first time.
—
Alex Potter wished (and not for the first time in his life, or even that morning) that his son was a little more like the other first years, who all seemed to be scared into silence, rather than -in the case of James Potter- running back and forth through the wall which connected the bustling London station to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. As it was James had just bumped into a brawny girl who looked rather a lot older than him, and who grimaced at the first year as she strutted off. Taking his son firmly by the shoulder and leading him towards the crimson steam engine, Alex threw his wife a small smile. She was explaining that if he didn't write regularly she'd be sending howlers to Dumbledore demanding to know that he was still okay. In true James spirit, he'd laughed and encouraged his mother to do just that, when she meekly planted a quick kiss on the top of his messy black hair.
Meeting her husband's eye, Grace Potter moved towards him and put her arm around his waist - he did the same to her shoulders. Alex held his wife and they stared as their son lugged a suitcase twice his size and a precariously balanced cage for his owl, Fidget, onto the train. He recalled his own first day hopping onboard that train - it wasn't something anyone would ever forget. Standing there surrounded by owls hooting at one another, children running around and waving to sobbing parents, he was hounded by a nostalgia that only parents had. It never changed. Alex pulled Grace Potter closer to him and could feel her nervous energy beneath him. Though they were definitely excited for their son, they were also somewhat worried. James Potter; the boy who was now back on the platform and animatedly assuring his mother that he'd write every week, had everything to look forwards to, but he also had an attitude to rules that would envy half of the inmates in Azkaban.
At one particularly riveting point in James' gesticulations, a scruffy black haired boy scuffled past, accompanied by a sour and sickly looking fourth year, whom James accidentally hit square in the chin. Jumping back, the witch shot a cruel look at James, opened her thinly pursed lips to curse at him, but soon spotted Mr and Mrs Potter, who stood amusedly staring in at the incident. Pushing the other boy forwards and onto the train without a word, the long blonde haired witch sauntered off towards a similarly blonde fourth year male. Turning their attention back to the train as the horn blew, the Potters watched as James bounced onto the train, wished him luck and promised to send sweets.
—
James Potter grinned.
The train was packed. Pushing his trunk up the corridor, James could barely see one seat free, and those that were free were quickly filled by witches and wizards adorned in mostly muggle clothing. In one compartment he saw a redheaded seventh year engaged in a newspaper he saw was the "Daily Mail", grinning bemusedly at an article about some "Beatles" and a zebra crossing. In another he spotted some six years bravely tasting different flavours of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans, with only the occasional near-vomit at toe-nail flavour. Carriage after carriage James saw first years awkwardly introducing themselves to one another, and sitting animatedly discussing houses and magic. Nearing the end of the train, he was getting severely desperate for a seat, and so when he saw a carriage with only three people inside; granted they didn't look like the friendliest bunch (particularly the boys, who shot dirty looks at one another through mops of equally ridiculous hair), he thought they'd have to do.
The first was a greasy looking hooked nosed boy, whose black hair and sallow skin made him very unsightly, and had James not been close to camping out in the corridor, he'd have walked away. Whether James' utter displeasure of the boy was his less than friendly appearance, the other boy's obvious contempt for James' company or the fact that opposite him sat a curly red haired girl, who smiled as she chatted with the stranger, was completely unknown. James Potter didn't think much of her choices in company. I bet that guy will be a Slytherin, James thought darkly. He looks the type. The third seat was occupied by another glum looking first year, who was now ignoring the other two and looked out of the window bored. James recognised him instantly as the boy whose sister he'd whacked, and awkwardly opened the door and sat down inside. The three looked up simultaneously, and James smiled.
"You hit Narcissa in the face," the third boy pointed out. Stealing a look out the window, James saw his own parents talking to a stern faced women James recognised as Augusta Longbottom, but no one who appeared to be accompanying this other chap. Perhaps it was just him and his sister?
"Oh yes, sorry about that…" James lied poorly. "Your sister was it?"
"Cousin," the boy grinned widely, "And don't be sorry, I've wanted to hit her all morning, she's an awful person," James laughed out loud now, and so did his partner in conversation. The redheaded girl smiled politely and returned her eyes to the book that she held in her hands, but the greasy boy grimaced at the boys. "Sirius Black," the boy said, holding out a tanned hand.
"James Potter," James replied, offering his own hand for a good manly handshake – or as manly as you can get at 11 years old.
"Potter, eh? Isn't your dad some big auror, do-gooder?" The black haired boy scoffed; his posture suddenly uncomfortable.
"Well, he is an auror but he's hardly a do-gooder, he's been given me tips on making Hogwarts a little more interesting," James announced proudly, his eyes skirting to and from the girl in a matter of seconds. She was immersed in the book, ignoring his fantastic attempts at sounding interesting. Must be a swot, he thought to himself.
"He regularly gives a fortune to St Mungo's," Sirius Black pointed out with a pinch of bitter sarcasm. "Great prank,"
"Well, there is that…" James thought for a second, "Black… I don't suppose you er… plan on being in Slytherin?" James had heard a lot of the Blacks from his father. He had even met a couple of them at one of the ridiculous parties he had since been banned from. The lot of them were pure-blooded and proud, something which annoyed both of James' parents to no end - mostly because as aurors, they were the ones who had to clean up their anti-muggle adventures. Sirius grunted.
"My family want me to be, but I don't know. Maybe. We'll see what the sorting hat thinks. I hope I'm not in Hufflepuff. My mum would skin me alive… Where're you heading, if you've got the choice?" Sirius asked James.
"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart. Like my dad. Got a problem with that?" James retorted, suddenly defensive – if Sirius really was a Slytherin-freak he surely would have a problem with that. Maybe I could hex him,James' brain suggested quickly. There was a no magic on the train policy, but he had already decided that if he wasn't willing to break that rule he wasn't going to have much fun at all.
"No, if you'd rather be brawny than brainy…" the greasy boy muttered darkly from the corner. James and Sirius looked at one another with humour in etched in their faces, then returned their gaze to the boy.
"Oh Severus, don't be unkind," the girl said, looking up from her copy of "Hogwarts: A History" to reprimand her friend.
"Yeah Snivellus, don't be unkind," James retorted smartly – or at least he thought so- , to which Sirius burst out laughing. The girl looked outraged, her green eyes looked from James to Sirius and then to her friend. Taking a glance at the page number and snapping her book shut the girl stood indignantly.
"Sev, can we go look for another compartment? I'm not quite sure there's enough room in here with these two giant heads," she said proudly, picking up her luggage and owl.
"Hey! Don't go, stay – I'll be nice," James promised kindly, smiling to make his point. She considered him.
"If you're so nice then maybe you should consider Hufflepuff?" the redhead said. Sirius barked into laughter. "Coming Sev?"
"Yes, okay," Severus replied happily, shooting a triumphant grin down to James. James wanted to hex the smug grin off his face.
"Bit rude. Aren't you even going to introduce yourself before storming off?" James called after the girl. She looked at him darkly, and James could just tell that there was something about that glare that was purposefully for him. She thought about his request for a second before replying.
"Helga," she said and stormed off, followed by Snivellus.
There was silence for a few seconds, in which James sincerely hoped he didn't end up in a dorm with that bloke, but James remembered the previous conversation topic and immediately revived it.
"My mum was in Ravenclaw, so I wouldn't really mind that, though I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of boffins. But I really want to be a Gryffindor, if I can choose that is," James asserted.
"Why? What's so good about Gryffindor?" Sirius asked. From what James knew of the Blacks he was sure that Sirius would've not heard a good word in favour of any of the four Hogwarts houses other than Slytherin, so James decided it was for the good of the nation to educate him.
"Dumbledore was one, so it can't just be about brawn! The man's a genius! I like the idea of being brave and stuff. Plus, I hear they've got the best Quidditch team," James continued for half an hour about the perks of being a Gryffindor, and why (no offence) he'd rather be put in Hufflepuff than Slytherin, because (no offence) Slytherins all seem to be total sods.
"I bet Snivellus is a Slytherin. He'd get on really well with Sissy and Bellatrix," Sirius laughed.
"Who?" James chortled.
"My cousins, Narcissa is the one you whacked," Sirius stopped and remembered the moment with a smile, "and Bellatrix is her sister – she's a third year – black hair, kind of mental. Do you know anyone in Hogwarts already?"
"Well there's Frank Longbottom – his mum's a friend of the family. Apparently his grades last year were fantastic and they're setting him up to be Head Boy or something – but it's okay because he's a Gryffindor and not a bad flyer. Then there's Emmeline Vance, she'll be in our year. And Helga obviously! Amy Abbott is in fifth year, her mum works with my parents…" James continued for a good ten minutes, until he ran out of familiar names and then Sirius added a few of his own names on.
As the train went on, London turned to fields, turned to wilderness, and James and Sirius' conversed about favourite Quidditch teams, best players, the lessons they most looked forward to (transfiguration for Sirius, Defence Against the Dark Arts for James) and a new band called the Four Witches. The food trolley came, pushed along by a small wizard, who let them off a knut because neither of them had the right change and they REALLY wanted some pumpkin pasties. Conversation turned to stories they'd both heard about the ghosts (apparently Peeves was Sirius' idol, and he planned on learning the ways of his choas) when the red headed girl walked past their compartment with a tight frown. James watched her go, and Sirius barked with laughter. "Classic Helga!" Sirius joked. "Cheery disposition, that one,"
As they pulled up into Hogsmead station, the boys jumped to pull on their robes, as they hadn't realised how close they were, despite the many prefects popping their heads in throughout the last hour to warn them. Filling their pockets with sweets, they hopped off the train together and followed the booming voice that called out for the first years to follow them. James had actually assumed the man who owned the voice was a towering tree until he got closer and saw that the branch holding the lantern was really an arm, and that rather than a tree, a bearded man-giant smiled down at them all. A quick walk later, and all of the first years had assembled next to a giant lake, which played host to a number of small wooden boats.
"Quick now," the giant called, "don't wanna get caught up in the rain," which began to hammer down the moment he said it. Scurrying around, the first years clambered into the soggy boats, and set off towards Hogwarts on the black lake. James and Sirius sat opposite Snivellus and 'Helga'. True to his prior opinion, the black haired boy continued to act like a miserable git, who kept his eyes on his lap the entire boat ride, whilst the lovely girl next to him pointed up at the stars, naming them as she did so.
"Look Sev," she exclaimed, "there's Orion, and…" she fell silent when the turned the corner, and the trees no longer blocked the view of Hogwarts. The castle stood grandly on top of a cliff, and as the rain fell on her gawping face, James noticed that he was actually rather more intruiged by watching her view the castle for the first time than seeing it for himself. She was very pretty, he noticed. Probably a dunderhead though, James reasoned, or worse - a Slytherin. The building loomed closer as they cut through the water, and finally he turned to look at it. It was as fantastic as he'd imagined.
Before they could get into too much trouble a severe looking woman collected them from the shore and instructed that they follow her at once. Her lips were tightly pursed, and though the soles of her shoes squelched with every step she took the rain seemed to be avoiding her completely, so that her emerald robes stayed dry. Besides James stood a small, wormish looking boy, with robes that were slightly too large for his plump frame and a wet wash of slightly curled hair. He stuck close to James and Sirius, even occasionally laughing at their loudly told jokes.
Finally, the witch led them through a large pair of wooden doors and into the warm and dry castle. The inside was just as fascinating as the exterior, leaving those first years that weren't anxiously waiting for the sorting shocked by the grandeur of the Entrance hall. With a stern look, the witch opened a door leading into a small room, and gestured for the group to go into it. James led the way.
Shaking themselves dry, Sirius and James waited along with the other first years next to the door behind which hundreds of students mumbled out of hunger and boredom. James felt his own belly rumble, wishing he'd saved something other than seven liquorish wands. Hearing 'Sev' mumbling at the star gazer that she should be in Slytherin with him, James wanted to whack him, but thankfully she hushed him and told him not to be silly. She said they'd both be in Ravenclaw, she 'just knew it'. The boy's eyes averted from her and James began to see the makings of a friendly issue here.
Emmeline Vance came over to say hello to him before he could say anything to the pair, and he introduced her to Sirius. She in turn acquainted James with Jonathon Moon and Donna Shacklebolt. As the group of them chatted about the sorting ceremony, time ticked on. Sirius was telling them a joke about a wizard and wand maker and a wailing banshee when -
A scream behind him made James spin on his heel, only to see a charge of opaque people floating over the heads of the first years. Ghosts! One was a man with a fanciful beard and a proud ruff around his apparently severed neck, another a balding friar, some women in long dresses, one woman who didn't seem to notice anything around them but stared right through them as if they were the ghosts, and a grey and evil looking Baron who seemed to be drenched in his own blood. It was a menacing sight and many of the first years recoiled. James didn't see any that matched the description Sirius had given him of Peeves, but was still interested none-the-less. Even in a wizarding village it was strange to see ghosts, and here there were about fifty.
"Hey," Sirius shouted besides him. "Ermm, you," he gestured at the savage looking baron. "How'd you get so covered in blood?" he yelled. This made all of the ghosts gasp and jump (glide) back through different walls. James let out a terse laugh, as Sirius squared up to the almost six foot dead man. Sirius merely waited for his answer, seemingly unafraid of the horrors the baron could enact on him. Whether he was disappointed in the boy's lack of reaction, or he just realised that as a ghost he couldn't really harm the first year, he did lean in and whisper something into Sirius' ear. A toothy and manic grin appeared on Sirius' face and he muttered "awesome" under his breath. The baron was interrupted by Professor McGonagall, the stern looking witch that had lead the first years to this room, and left through a different door. She was holding a stool in her hands. Some of the people around James looked sick.
They were led into the Great Hall, where four tables stood side by side, and at each of which sat people of different houses. At the far end was Gryffindor, and closest to him Slytherin. James certainly hoped the hook nosed guy was put in with that lot, as they were eyeing the first years like they were meat. Maybe they were just really hungry, James considered – it was quite late and even his stomach (digesting liquorish wands) was hungering for some decent grub.
McGonagall put down the stool in the front of the hall, and placed a battered looking hat onto it. The crowd look nauseous, but James was calm, as was Sirius who stood next to him eyeing the houses. However, rather than staring at the pack of new first years, the whole school was staring expecentantly at the hat. James was ready to open his mouth to wonder what was going on when a crack appeared in the hat and it began to sing:
I was worn, quite long ago
By wizards of great power,
And now-a-days, I sit alone
In Dumbledore's old tower
Of course it's not so bad you see
Though I am ripped and torn
For every wizard you will meet
Is someone I have worn.
Whether they from Hufflepuff,
Those badgers just and Loyal.
Friendly and patient,
Their work grows from the soil.
Or be they from Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Brave and chivalrous lions
Set this strong lot apart.
Or Ravenclaw, those clever folk
So ready of the mind,
To learn a spell, and learn it well
Is the Eagle's kind
Maybe they were Slytherin
Ambitious to the end,
Those funny snakes are there to make,
Some real cunning friends.
So put me on, and join those sorts
I'll sort you into HOGWARTS.
The crowd erupted with applause, and James seemed to spot the sorting hat doing almost a bow with the tip of its cap. He laughed, and nudged Sirius who mirrored the movement to everyone's amusement. McGonagall gathered a roll of parchment and began to read from it.
"John Abbott" she called. A short, fair haired boy shuffled by James and sat on the stool, bringing the hat down on his head. He became a Hufflepuff, and gained a round of applause from the yellow table second closest to where James and Sirius stood. "Roger Avery" James sniggered, as an ugly brute of a boy sat awkwardly on the stool until he was announced the first Slytherin of the year. "Otto Bagman!" became a Hufflepuff, and Oswold Beamish joined him. "Sirius Black" stepped out from beside James, and despite his cool character, James sensed that Sirius was a little worried. Of course, James would be worried too if his entire family had been expecting him to be placed into Slytherin (as was the true Black way) and the sorting hat called out "Gryffindor!" after almost two whole minutes of sitting there uncomfortably facing the whole school. Sirius sat there for a minute, unsure if he'd heard correctly, but shakily jumped off the stool and headed towards the Gryffindor table. James met his eye and beamed.
Amycus Carrow, a strange looking boy was made a Slytherin, who sat next to a girl who looked very similar to him. Siblings, James assumed. "Tracy Dawlish" joined Slytherin and "Matilda Dukelow" became a Ravenclaw just before "Lily Evans!" was called up, and James finally learnt the real name of the pretty star gazer. She moved nervously towards the sorting hat and stared straight ahead of her as it pondered where to put her. When it told her she was a Gryffindor and happily sat beside Sirius who smiled at James and mouthed "Helga!". Montague Knightley became a Ravenclaw, and James waited patiently, until there were only a few students left.
"Remus Lupin" joined Sirius, but sat to himself on the Gryffindor table, and Aiden Lynch became a Ravenclaw.
Two more students became Gryffindors (Mary MacDonald and Peter Pettigrew) and then "James Potter" was called. Acting calm, though his heart was thrumming, James sat on the stool, and the last thing he was before the cap covered his eyes, was a bunch of curious, yet hungry students, probably wishing there weren't so many first years.
"Hmmm," a tiny voice said inside his head, "Ambitious, oh yes. And a spark of mischief too. Loyal, as well - a good friend – a cunning disregard for the rules. Not a bad mind, talented young thing. But the courage…. What do you think boy? Slytherin, where you can put your mind to good use, and become the very best?"
"If you put me in Slytherin I will hex the entire dorm while they sleep," James threatened mentally, which brought a laugh from the hat – James wondered just how long he'd been sat there before the hat finally said:
"You know your mind. Of course, just like your father… GRYFFINDOR" he shouted to the extreme relief of James, who pottered down the stairs and budged in to sit between Lily Evans and Sirius Black. "James Potter" he said, offering a hand to the girl beside him. At first she didn't seem sure, but she eventually smiled, shook it with her own and reminded him that her name was "Lily Evans, charmed, I'm sure"
Severus Snape didn't get the chance for the hat to touch his head before he was announced as a Slytherin, and Lily Evans deflated next to him. She craned her neck, attempting to catch the eye of her friend, who seemed to be purposefully avoiding hers as he unwillingly took a seat behind the ghost Sirius had taunted earlier. And finally the sorting was done when Willy Widdershins joined Severus Snape as a Slytherin and Emmeline Vance sat beside Sirius as a Gryffindor.
Dumbledore; a man James had met twice at once of his father's Christmas do's, stood up and smiled with a twinkle in his eye. "I don't know about you," he said, "but my belly is about as empty as a leprechauns bank account. Eat up!" Food appeared of the plates at once, a feast of chicken, pork, a vegetarian option that looked vile, turkey, and some mint humbugs. James suddenly remembered his first meeting with Albus, when the man had walked into his bedroom by mistake when looking for the toilet in their manor during one of his father's parties. He offered the boy a mint humbug, and went of humming on his way. James had some as a reminder to the occasion.
When they were all stuffed, dessert arrived and James watched as Sirius opened his second stomach, as he pilled various deserts onto his plate and gorged himself. James had one slice of treacle tart (which, Lily Evans also did, as she chatted with second year Alice Griffiths). After the meal, James, Lily, Mary, a girl called Marlene, Emmeline and Sirius all trudged behind Molly Prewett the prefect to their Common Room. "First thing's first," Sirius informed his friend. "I need to locate the kitchens to this place," James laughed, quickly realised Lily Evans was laughing too. The other girls laughed along, but James didn't really know which one was which, and was sure Mary had been a blonde a minute ago.
James turned to Lily and said "Gryffindor, the brave at heart, to whom glory is delicious. Better than being cunning and ambitious, eh?" She scowled at him, obviously upset about her cunning and ambitious friend. If James had thought that would help, it hadn't. "Sorry," he murmured. "About your mate," she simply shrugged.
"It's fine, James Potter. I'm proud to be brave of heart," she announced, with her chin in the air. She was a little taller than him, so he couldn't really see her blush properly when he replied. She looked very serious when she wasn't laughing, he noted.
"And I am proud to be delicious" he said in attempt to make her laugh but she barely snorted at him. When she turned back to her friends, James realised that Sirius was watching him. "One day, I'm going to marry that girl," he announced as a whisper.
"I bet you that you don't," Sirius said, patting James on the back. "I bet you end up marrying someone like that Matilda Dukelow…" James shivered remembering the girl he had thought might be half troll.
"Oh yeah? How much are we wagering?" James played.
"Three galleons!" it seemed like an awful lot to wager, as James was just eleven, but he shook the outstretched hand. He had plenty of time to russle up that kind of money.
"You're on!"
Up in their dormitory, James introduced himself to Adam McKinnon, a blonde haired boy who spoke with a fading Welsh accent, Remus Lupin who barely shook his hand before running off to unpack his clothes neatly in his drawers, Sirius Black as a joke which they both found very amusing on their full bellies, and the small wormish boy by the name of Peter Pettigrew. James then threw all of his belongings into one draw, taped up a Quidditch poster and threw a chocolate frog he'd found in his trunk to Sirius. The other boy thanked him and gobbled it quickly.
At that exact point in time, Lily Evans was slowly organizing all of her possessions into the draws that had been assigned to her by the strong willed Marlene Fray. Marlene (call me Marley) had short blonde curls, and bright blue eyes, and stole the bed next to Lily's as soon as she walked in. Beside her were Emmeline Vance – a funny girl with plaited brown hair, and Donna Shacklebolt; a dark skinned girl who didn't look like she wanted to talk much. Marlene took out a framed picture and put it on her bed side desk, then followed Lily's suit. Mary, a vivacious and hyper brunette collapsed into a fit of giggles on her own bed then fell asleep immediately, leaving one bed free, which was filled by dark haired and sour faced Charlotte Parkinson.
The last girl trudged in, spotted the only empty bed and scoffed. "Erm, I don't want that bed," she said as though she expected someone to do something about it. "That's the one nearest the door. I don't want it,"
"Cool, neither do we," Marlene said, keeping a friendly but warning tone to her voice.
"Well, can't anyone switch with me?" Charlotte continued, looking around at all the girls. Mary was in the early stages of snoring, Donna skilfully avoided her eye, and Emmeline shook her head. It should come as no surprise then, when the girl walked over to Lily, who had just finished folding her robes expertly into her drawers. "Ginger, switch with me,"
Charlotte was petite, Lily noticed, suddenly feeling like a bit of a giant troll next to her, and her hair seemed like she'd just spent the last ten minutes brushing it into a perfectly smooth straight style, whereas Lily's was haphazardly flying around her head in knots.
"Her name is Lily. Lily Evans," Marlene said, all forms of friendliness dropped from her voice. "And she's not switching with you," Lily felt grateful to Marlene and shot her a thankful smile.
"Why should the mudblood get the best bed in the room?" Charlotte said. This comment made even Donna sit up and take notice of the conversation. Lily stared between them, not knowing what it meant, but moving on calmly.
"Because I arrived first," Lily said. "You on the other hand, arrived a good ten minutes after everyone else, so you should just be polite and unpack your things. Did you never learn that it's prudent to make a good first impression?" Lily felt she'd done rather well at keeping calm. That was, of course, until Charlotte Parkinson walked even closer to Lily, who even though she had a good few inches on her, felt very small under her gaze.
"Maybe you should unpack your things from my drawer?" Charlotte threatened.
"Maybe you should unpack your face from hers, stop being a brat and just take the damn bed!" Marlene shouted. Marlene Fray was not the kind of witch anyone would want to get on the wrong side of, and the quiet form of anger that was in her voice made Lily quiver. Charlotte, though not shaking quite like Lily, was evidently put off by this. With one last glare at her dormmates she went over to the door and stormed out, slamming it behind her.
"DRAMA QUEEN!" Emmeline laughed uncomfortably as Mary jolted awake at the sound of the door.
"You alright Lil?" Marlene asked kindly, jumping over to Lily's bed and sitting beside her. When she'd first learned about Hogwarts and magic, her only idea of what it would be like was the image of Severus teaching her some of his spells. She hadn't really thought a whit about making other friends. But as the group of her dormmates looked at her, Lily found herself so shocked at their kindness to her that being yelled at was barely registering.
"Yes, I'm fine. I've had more than my share of fights in the last month," Lily admitted sourly.
"I bet none of them called you a … you-know-what?" Marlene fretted, her mouth in a frown.
"What is a … mudblood?" Lily asked, and the reaction was instant. All of the faces in the room squirmed. Mary, who was obviously most shocked as she hadn't heard the first use of the word, gasped. All the girls exchanged uncomfortable glances. No one seemed willing to answer her.
"A mudblood is what brats like Charlotte Parkinson think they can call someone who doesn't have a magical family," it was Emmeline who finally spoke. "She's an idiot, though – it's not like blood purity matters anymore," everyone agreed.
"Except in the eyes of…" Marlene looked sad, and the same look spread across all of the girl's faces.
"Eyes of who?" Lily asked, feeling (not for the first time amongst her magical friends) totally oblivious. Even when the boys had been speaking on the train she felt as though they knew so much more about the wizarding world – something that even Hogwarts: A History could teach her.
"You really don't know much about the wizarding world, do you Lil?" Lily shook her head as Emmeline asked. She felt grim – how was she going to manage in lessons? Marlene and Mary looked positively excited by this, and squeaked with giddiness.
"YAY, a project!" Marlene yelped. It was not what she was expecting.
The four girls spent the next hour in their dorm coaching Lily in all things magical. It was a relief to see that whilst Mary was up-to-date with wizarding fashions, Marlene was a Quidditch fanatic, Emmeline knew everything about everyone, and Donna was a magical-music-junkie, none of them seemed too ahead of her at magic, as it was illegal for them to do any until the age of 17 outside of school. When they'd finishing tutoring her on what not to say to certain people, they all swapped life stories.
Mary was a clearly very pretty, and had been the tallest in her class in a muggle primary school for five years. She had amazing brown bangs hair, which apparently was from her great grandmother, and blue eyes from her muggle father. Her family lived somewhat near Lily in Cokeworth. Lily asked Mary if she'd ever met Sev, but she shook her head.
Marlene was boisterous, with short curly blonde hair. She'd been home schooled by her uncle, whilst her mother worked as a Healer in St. Mungo's. Her dad was apparently never around, as he was always off doing Gringotts business, where he acted as manager in Goblin-Liaisons. She lived in the midst of Diagon Alley, as it was easier for her mum and dad to get to work. The Quidditch team she most supported were the Falmouth Falcons, because apparently they were brilliant. She then attempted to explain the rules of Quidditch, to which Lily lost track at the amount of different balls, and Emmeline luckily stood in.
Donna was very shy, but liked music, including muggle music, giving Lily something she could actually talk to her about. Her mum was a muggle, but her dad was a wizard, and her brother Kingsley was training as an auror.
Emmeline was apparently the eleven year old socialite of the south west, where she lived near Godric's Hollow with her mum and step dad. Emmeline knew most people that came from wizarding families, as her parents were always throwing parties and forcing her to attend.
"I saw you talking to James Potter earlier," Em said to Lily. "He's really funny. At one of his parent's parties last year he beat my dad in a flying race, then in celebration set fire to the couch. It was hilarious!"
"Well, I don't think that much of him," Lily protested. The way he had acted to Severus had been so unnecessarily rude, and whilst, yes he did crack the occasional joke, he definitely seemed to think himself funny.
"That Sirius Black's entire family…." Em said, tactfully changing the subject and talking about the Black family prejudice. "He's probably the first Black ever to not be in Slytherine"– Lily thought about Sev and wondered if (if Sirius agreed) they could swap? It was impossible, she knew, but a nice thought.
That night they stayed up late, chatting about all the classes they were set to have, and exchanging rumours about other students and which teachers to avoid. Charlotte Parkinson slipped back into the dorm (onto her bed by the door) sometime after they'd all gone to bed, and Lily lay awake wondering if she was going to pull her out of the bed and snatch it for her own.
The next day Lily woke early to the sight of the sun seeping through the curtains. Excitedly, she quickly changed into her new robes and wondered if she should wake Marley or one of the others. Her own rumbling stomach and their resounding snores made her mind up for her. Pulling her shoes on and combing her hair, she quietly closed the door and headed down to the Common Room. There was no one there, other than the round faced girl she had spoken to yesterday, who sat on the sofa near the fireplace reading a thick leather bound book.
Noticing Lily's presence the girl looked up and smiled broadly.
"Hello – Lily is it?" the girl said politely.
"Yes, that's me," Lily smiled.
"I'm Alice. Are you nervous for your first day?" Alice asked kindly. Lily nodded with a blush. "Oh don't worry about it – it'll be great fun. On my first day I accidentally set a load of text books chasing Professor Flitwick. He's the charms teacher – really nice bloke. He still chuckles about that to this day." Alice said fondly. "Off to breakfast are you?"
"Yes, my dorm mates are all still sleeping," Lily laughed, but she was suddenly worried that without them she would never find the Great Hall.
"I see like me you are also an early bird. I was going to stay here until Mona woke up, but I'm sure she'll understand,"
"Oh, are you muggleborn?" she asked. Lily blushed, cursing her pale skin. "I only ask because the purebloods wouldn't have reacted like that – they're used to people treating them like royalty. I guess you didn't have much of that at the muggle-school?"
"Not really, I suppose they noticed that I was a bit different," Lily said almost sadly. She'd only really had two friends back at home. The first was Petunia, her lovely sister (or at least she had been lovely until the day Lily received her Hogwarts letter). The second friend was Severus Snape – the boy who had introduced her to magic. He lived a five minute walk away from their house in Cokeworth, and they'd almost been inseparable since they met.
"Well c'mon ginger – you're amongst friends now," Alice laughed sincerely, totally unaware of the previous night's Charlotte Parkinson incident. Following the older girl down the staircases (since when did staircases move?) and through tapestries that opened unexpectedly, they finally made it down to the Great Hall. Lily wondered if she would ever remember the trek, and Alice assured her she would get the hang of Hogwarts after about a week.
If Lily had thought breakfast would be any less grand than the previous evening's feast she had been sorely mistaken. Waffles – toast – eggs – sausages – cereals – but most importantly: Croissants. Ever since a childhood holiday to France Lily Evans had loved croissants with all of her heart and soul. Eyeing the platter which held them Alice chuckled. As she piled three croissants and a pain du chocolate onto her plate, with a spoonful of jam, Lily asked Alice when they would get their timetables.
"This morning, should be. McGonagall will be around with them soon," and sure enough, when the Gryffindor table was at least half full, the stern woman who had read out their names for the sorting hat stalked up and down the dining hall, fitting both first years and seventh years alike with their timetable. Alice had double potions followed by charms and transfiguration, which she didn't seem so happy about. "Old Slughorn hates me! Probably because I'm so useless," McGonagall smiled at Lily (who was now accompanied by a sleepy Emmeline Vance and Mary MacDonald.
"Miss Evans, welcome to Gryffindor. Here is your timetable," the witch said with a flick of her wand, creating a slip of paper in the air. Lily grabbed it and looked down, as her two fellow first years received theirs.
"We have charms together!" Mary exclaimed to Emmeline, who smiled broadly. "And Lily does too!"
"Charms, history of magic, transfiguration, potions?" Lily asked her two friends who nodded.
"Oh, I don't have transfiguration with you! I have Defence against the Dark Arts then," Em said sadly.
"Yeah me too Lily, sorry," Mary said. Lily felt a little dishevelled that her friends wouldn't be with her, but hoped that either Donna or Marlene would be joining her. However, when they came into the hall and were granted their own time table, it seemed like they too would be having Defence with Mary and Emmeline.
"Don't worry Lily," Donna started, "You'll definitely be with some Gryffindors," which made Lily perk up a bit – she might even be with Severus.
Charms was fantastic. Alice had been right in saying that Flitwick was an amazing teacher – despite being unable to see his students over his desk. He called out the register and introduced them to the subject. He spoke them through the difficulties of charms, and Lily took rabid notes. There were a few other Gryffindors in the class (including Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Adam McKinnon), and a balance of Ravenclaws.
Their first magical test was when Flitwick challenged them to turn a sponge red.
"Remember, draw a hook with your wand and say the incantation!" he squeaked, but very few people heard him over the sound of the bang that exploded from Sirius Black's wand. His face and hair was charred and smoking, but there was a grin the size of Jupiter inhabiting his face. Remus Lupin, who sat beside him nervously coughed and pointed out that the sponge looked a bit pinker.
Lily read through the theoretical approach to the spell about ten times, concentrated on the wand in her right hand, and said the spell clearly. At once the previously yellow sponge was as red as Lily's face as soon as Flitwick cheered her success. "Well done Miss Evans! Is that the first spell you've ever done?"
"Well, I used to make daisies blossom, but that was before I had my wand so I'm not sure it counts sir," Emmeline gawked at Lily. Flitwick awarded her (and eventually Remus, a Ravenclaw called Luke and another called Russell) five house points each for successfully doing the spell. Everyone else he gave reading to do for next lesson.
Smiling, Lily left the classroom and left for History of Magic with her dorm mates.
"Lily, were you able to control magic before you got your wand?" Mary asked as they forced their way through the busy corridors.
"Occasionally – sometimes I accidentally did magic, like dying my sister's hair pink, but once Severus told me I was a witch I managed to do some small stuff," Lily said politely. "How about you?"
"Being able to do that is really rare, Lil. Even the majority of people from magic families are totally unable to do that. You saw Sirius in there, and he had a wand!" Emmeline exclaimed. The others nodded in agreement.
Lily soon learnt that there were some subjects (e.g. Charms) which were interesting, challenging and useful. She also realised in the first hour of their very first History of Magic lesson; whilst the ghost teacher Binns droned on about Merlin and the Goblin Fiasco, that some subjects had no right existing. Despite this, Lily spent the majority of the lesson copying down notes relating to what Binns was saying. She was the only one in the class – everyone else had misting eyes, as they attempted not to fall asleep, and the only notes her friends seemed to be making were to each other.
Lily, why are you making notes?
Because we might need to know this for a test or something,
That's not very likely.
Em! Don't tell her not to make notes!
Why not? It's a waste of time, everyone knows that
Yes, but we can steal her notes at the end of the year
Good thinking Mary!
Excuse me! Just because I take my education seriously!
Yes, and we're very happy for you Lily – stop writing notes to us – you're missing some important information.
I'm not lending you my notes.
You say that now…
Lily scrunched the parchment into a ball and threw it at Mary's head, which resulted in Emmeline bursting into a fit of laughter. Professor Binns, intent on teaching, somehow didn't notice this disruption, which had five people in the vicinity of Em chuckling into their quills.
—
On their first day at Hogwarts, Sirius and James found two hidden passageways, three trick stairs, and most importantly (at least for Sirius) - the Kitchens. Due to their constant "getting lost" and being extremely late for transfiguration, McGonagall drew them a map on a piece of old parchment and told them that if they were late again it'd be Sirius' face she drew the map on. James had laughed, until he noticed that there were only two free seats, and they were not anywhere near each other. Shooting a wink at James, Sirius hopped off to sit beside a Gryffindor he thought might be called Donna, who looked miserably at him. James became aware of why his friend had winked when he noticed where the free seat was.
Lily Evans avoided looking at James as he scuffled into the seat next to her; her eyes were fixed on McGonagall who started her lesson as soon as James had taken out a piece of parchment and quill. They were attempting to turn ribbon into rope, which no one other than Lily managed to do with any amount of success. Her ribbons, (that had been the green of her eyes James had noted in his peripherals) now sat as a thick lump of yellow rope on the table, as she scribbled notes on what she had done. She gained five points for Gryffindor (which almost made up for those that James and Sirius had lost in turning up to the lesson late).
Whilst McGonagall was reprimanding Sirius, James swapped his own ribbon for Lily's rope while she'd not been paying attention, and smirked at the laughing Sirius accordingly. Lily laughed too, and directly transfigured the second ribbon. Across the room Peter Pettigrew sat with a despondent looking girl James learnt to be Scarlet Prewett (a Ravenclaw) , when he grumpily prodded her ribbon with the end of her wand and caused it to go up in flames. "Peter Pettigrew!" McGonagall had exclaimed, but then she gave the boy a rare smile. "Miss Prewett, could you show him how it's done?" which she attempted, with very little success.
Lily transfigured James' rope back into a pink strip of ribbon, which he eventually had managed to transfigure back. However, where Lily's (and now Charlotte Parkinson's, Adam McKinnon's, and Luke Harper's) rope had been about thirty cm's in length, and only one cm thick, James had produced a burly rope, and thick as his own arm, and longer still. Sirius clapped and Lily Evans looked somewhat scornful beside him.
"Congratulations Mr Potter. Transfiguration, unlike time keeping, appears to be one of your strong points," McGonagall said, clearing all of the rope and remaining ribbon away with a swish of her wand.
"One of them," agreed James proudly. "Mr Ollivander told me it would be the case," and he twiddled his mahogany wand around his fingers. He earned his first ten points for Gryffindor that day, but lost them all later on that night.
In the evenings, Sirius liked to follow Peeves the poltergeist around, and it had been a constant hobby of his until on Thursday night, Mrs Norris (the new caretaker's sinister cat) stalked the boys around the corridors, mewing whenever they took a step. Peeves; like most people, generally avoided the cat and her lamp-like eyes, so Sirius realized they'd never find him whilst being followed this way.
Ten minutes later and the boys (covered in cat hair and the occasional claw mark) ran for their Common Room. It was almost curfew, and they didn't fancy getting caught out of bed in their first week. That'd be bad form, James told Sirius, who laughed accordingly. It was then, as they ran the final staircase towards the portrait of the Fat Lady in a pink dress, that they heard the drone of one Mr Filch.
"No running in the corridors!" he stormed towards them. He had longish black hair, which was scragglier than Snape's, a gaunt face and wore dirty brown robes. "I might have to dock some points," Filch said, flashing them a yellow smile.
"We just didn't want to be out after curfew," Sirius tried innocently. It didn't work.
"Well, you are! It's 9:02 right now boys, and you're out of bed!" he snapped the last word.
"That's because you've kept us out here telling us not to run!" James retorted. If they got a detention for this, he officially didn't feel bad about the location of this man's pet.
"Well maybe you shouldn't run in the corridors!" Filch growled. "Where's my cat?"
"I don't know," both boys said simultaneously.
"Suspicious. 10 points from Gryffindor, and if anything's happened to Mrs Norris, it'll be on your heads" and he walked away muttering about the good old days.
As they said the password "Gillyweed" and were allowed to enter the Common Room, James and Sirius were laughing and doing impressions of the caretaker. "And if ANYTHING has happened to Mrs Norris... it'll be on your heads!" James laughed at Sirius' mockery.
"Do you think he'll find her?" he asked his friend.
"Oh yeah, probably... if not we could set her free after potions tomorrow?" Sirius suggested. At this point there was a rapping on the window. It was an owl. A fifth year closest to it, opened the window and the owl fluttered in, dropping a red envelope on Sirius' head. Everyone was looking around. The post normally arrived during breakfast, and yet here sat a first year, eyes wide, the grin wiped from his face.
The muggle-borns in the room all looked severely confused but those from wizarding families all burst out laughing, as Sirius Black sprinted towards the stairs that lead to his dormitory and fell flat on his face at the top step, when a voice sounded throughout the Common Room:
SIRIUS ORION BLACK,
Your father and I are appalled at your behaviour. I very much hope that you in surrounded by filthy blood traitors and muggle-borns at this moment, this likes of which would NOT be found in Slytherin. You are a shame on the Black family name, and I have half a mind to remove you from the family tree. Do NOT expect any mail or presents this year, because those blasted mudbloods will only steal them from your trunk! Regulus is ashamed of you, because at least ONE OF MY SONS has his priorities correct. Do not write, do not come home for the holidays, and I will UNHAPPILY have Narcissa bring you home at the end of the year!
With an unpleasant scream, James heard the envelope burn up, and scorch Sirius' hand. Some of the older students clapped, some got back to their work. James looked over at Lily who had gone quite pale, her eyes unfocused on her book.
"May I just say," Sirius called out to the rest of the Gryffindors, "that unlike my mother, and my father, and my brother, and the rest of my family (expect maybe my cousin Andromeda), I don't care about blood purity or any of that, and I'm proud to be a Gryffindor! WHERE THE BRAVE..."
"ARE DELICIOUS!" James called back to his friend, which sparked laughter throughout the cheering crowd. James' eyes shot to the familiar redhead in the corner, but Lily wasn't laughing with him. She had a glazed look in her eyes as she stared into the roaring fire. Of course, he reminded himself. She was a muggle-born, who had just entered a world where there were people like the Blacks who didn't think she had a right to be there – to be allowed magic.
James wanted to talk to her, maybe point out that like his mate, James wasn't into all that blood purity stuff, but before he got the chance to move Mary MacDonald had swooped in an started chatting to Lily.
—
Friday morning Mary ran over to Lily at the breakfast table to say she'd found Mrs Norris trapped in a suit of armour that was hidden in an empty classroom. Lily shot a look at the boys who stifled hysterics as they ate their porridge. Luckily, Filch had no idea of the cat's short imprisonment, and so James and Sirius got off scot free, with only a short telling off from their fellow Gryffindor.
They had no lessons on Friday afternoon, but a lot of homework that they had avoided all week. In true James and Sirius style they decided to go and explore the grounds during their free time – accepting the challenge of doing all work the night before its due date. Sirius himself would actually leave the majority of it until the morning of the due date, because he much preferred not doing important things.
That morning, however, they had double potions with the Slytherins and their head of house. Slughorn wasn't as bad as James had been assuming, and he didn't favour his own house too much (though he did a lot more than Professor McGonagall, which James and Sirius discussed heatedly). He liked James, whose father he'd been a few years above in his own Hogwarts days, and because he showed a certain degree of skill in the subject. He was most interested in Sirius, whom he'd hoped to be a Slytherin since he had the 'rest of the Blacks'. James heard the other boy mumble something about 'you're not the only one' and return to his cure for acne.
There was, however, no denying who the two star students were in that lesson. Lily Evans and Severus Snape sat together at the front of the dungeon, and had their acne cure on the boil ten minutes before anyone else. They worked well together, splitting up jobs evenly, whilst Sirius sat there poking horned slugs with his wand, letting James do all the work. They chatted absentmindedly, until Lily noticed it had turned the correct shade of magenta, and took the cauldron off the fire. Slughorn cheered when he noticed that it smelt just like freshly rained on soil.
"Perfect! Never have I seen two first years produce something with this precision! And from a Gryffindor as well, congratulations – both of you! Take ten house points apiece," Lily was smiling and still chatting to Severus as they all left the lesson. Whilst James had managed to make their potion a deep pink, it had smelt like apples, which apparently wasn't the correct aroma, and would irritate the skin. Luckily enough, everyone else's potion was either purple or smelt like unicorn hair, so his wasn't a total mistake.
"Well done, Snivellus! You should try to brew up a cure for being an ugly sod," James called across the classroom. Lily Evans turned in her seat and glared unhappily at the boy.
It was extremely hot down in the dungeons, and James didn't believe that potions classed as real magic, but decided that one day they would attempt to brew what Slughorn described as "the best potion ever". Felix Felicis - Liquid Luck. Again, Lily managed to excel, impressing Slughorn by answering 11/10 questions right on a quiz they had at the end of the lesson. Between them, James and Sirius got 4.
After dropping off their bags and scoffing down lunch, the pair left the other first years doing their homework in the library and Common Room, and set off to the grounds. They avoided the greenhouses, where some sixth years were learning about Gillyweed, and headed straight for the Quidditch pitch, which was a ten minute walk from the castle. They had a good view from their own dorm, but it had been almost two years since James had been in a real Quidditch arena, as his dad had been too busy with the war to take him to any games. Sitting on the bleachers, James and Sirius discussed how cool it would be to join the team, and cursed the fact that they would have to wait until next year. They stayed there for a few minutes, until they grew bored of being unable to fly and headed back to the castle.
"Fancy going to look at the Forbidden Forest?" Sirius asked, as they left the pitch.
"Well, we have seen most of the NOT-Forbidden stuff…" James reasoned, and did a U-Turn to head to the forest. There was a fence that was most likely enchanted surrounding the forest, but the boys managed to find and climb a tall tree and jump over to end up in the perimeter of the dark woods.
Sticking to the path, Sirius and James had their wands out, held forwards in case of an attack. They didn't meet anything peculiar, other than a herd of thestrals. "Look out," James and Sirius said in unison. "You can…?" "Can you see…?" James held out his wand free hand to the skeletal horse, and let it sense him. When it seemed comfortable he walked forwards and stroked it - Sirius did the same with one of the other horses. "Who was it for you?" Sirius asked quietly after a moment of silence.
"My Uncle Charlus," James replied, not completely distraught at the memory. Not like Sirius, who had turned pale.
"Charlus? I think I knew him… Married Dorea?" Sirius asked.
"Black, yeah…" the boys tried to figure out how distantly they were related. It was a too tricky task, so they moved on.
"In-bred pureblood mongrels" Sirius commented. James scoffed a laugh.
"You?" James asked some time later.
"A muggle in the street. I was out shopping with my mum and my brother Regulus, when this homeless man starts crying out and screaming. Three minutes later he was dead. It was reported as a heart attack, but… my mum told us he got what he deserved," Sirius went quite. James understood.
They got a little lost after petting the thestrals and had somehow managed to stray further into the forest than meaning to. In an attempt to find their way back to the grounds, James tried a pointer charm, with little avail. "It's almost dinner!" Sirius complained loudly, followed by a resounding bark.
"Was that your stomach?" James laughed incredulously. Sirius had been complaining about hunger for the past twenty minutes, but that was a serious bout of the rumblies.
"No, I think that was an actual dog…" the laughter wiped off both of their faces. At that moment, a giant grey boarder hound puppy came bounding into the small clearing they were standing in. As it dived at James, Sirius burst out laughing, and the smaller boy was knocked over by the force of the dog.
"Hello boy!" James petted. "You're not a scary werewolf are you? No, you're just a puppy. Where did you come from?" Sirius meanwhile was attempting to breathe through his laughter. "Do you know the way home?" James asked the puppy, who slobbered a kiss onto James' face and set off east. The pair followed (Sirius chasing the dog like he was one himself) and sure enough the trees thinned and the canopy lightened, and the boys found themselves at the edge of the forest. "Good Boy!" James said, rubbing the dog's head. There was a small cabin just the other side of the fence, and luckily - "A gate!" Sirius called. Hoping there was no alarm on the gate they went through it. Luck seemed to be on their side, the puppy on the other hand was not. Yap Yap! It barked, running in circles around James' legs making a commotion. Picking the dog up James beaconed to Sirius who followed accordingly.
Knocking on the door, James hoped that there was no one home, so the gamekeeper wouldn't realise they'd probably been in the forbidden forest, but a crashing of pans and three creeks of floorboards told James that the owner of the dog WAS home. The giant pulled the door open and saw the two boys guiltily holding a puppy that was slobbering on James' robes. They smiled.
"Fang!" the giant said. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Where was he?" he asked of the boys.
"Err… in the… Quidditch pitch?" James suggested. "He was chasing his tail and yapping at the Slytherin banner."
"Oh Fang!" exclaimed the giant, cradling the ball of fluff into his beard. 'Nice save' Sirius whispered with a wink. "Fancy coming in for some rock cakes? Baked 'em myself!"
"Cake?" Sirius jumped up at the prospect and quickly walked into the hut.
Half an hour later, James Potter had learnt three things about Rubeus Hagrid. 1) Never leave a magical creature unattended with him in the near vicinity (as some Romanian guy with a boomslang collection had learnt ten years ago). 2) Never eat anything he offers you (the rock cakes were inedible to the point of tooth breakage). 3) He knew more about Hogwarts that even Peeves (and he had the keys to prove it).
"I 'ave keys to every door," Hagrid said proudly. "Course, I'm not allowed in the Common Rooms. 'aven't been in one since I went to 'Ogwarts,"
"When were you here?" Sirius asked, after giving up on attempting chewing the cake that he now held under the table in offering to the hungry puppy. Fang slobbered over the boys hand in thanks.
"'Bout thirty years ago now. Expelled, me. I was in Hufflepuff," Hagrid said glumly.
"Where're the Hufflepuff Common Rooms?" James asked slyly. He knew the location of both the Gryffindor and Slytherin Common Rooms, but very little about the other two houses.
"Don't know if I should tell you that…" Hagrid sounded uneasy.
"It's just that… we keep getting lost. Brain like a flobberworm this one," James pointed at Sirius, "we were going to make a map of Hogwarts… so we know where things are… and where to avoid, because we certainly aren't allowed in the other Common Rooms…"
Perhaps it was the analogy of the flobberworm, or purely James' wit and charm, but Hagrid told them.
"That's near the kitchens, right?" Sirius said happily wondering if they should check out the location on the way to get some edible food.
"How do you know where the kitchens are…?" Hagrid started, but James jumped up.
"Sirius, I think we should go and do that homework that Professor Slughorn set us so we can get good marks in school…"
"Oh my oh my! Yes, that is necessary to be done tonight!" Sirius exclaimed, jumping up, thanking Hagrid for the 'delicious cake' and petting Fang on the head.
"We should make a map, you know…." Sirius said as they headed for two spare spaces at the Gryffindor table for dinner. "But one that has all the hidden rooms and passageways on it,"
"And it should be enchanted to move when the stairs move in the real castle!" James added.
"And we should plot each other on it, so we always know where the other is,"
"We should plot everyone on it, so we know where everyone is. Especially Filch!"
"Not a bad idea Potter, but we'll have to do more research…"
"It'll take some tricky magic,"
"It'll be totally awesome…"