James and Sirius were sitting nervously in the Gryffindor common room. Peter was in bed and Remus (the reason why they were nervous) was at the Headmasters Office. James and Sirius were waiting up for him so they could find out whether or not Remus could come on the trip.
See at the beginning of the school year, James, Peter, Sirius and Remus had applied to go to Australia for nine and a half months. James and Sirius had been accepted immediately (they had the sneaking suspicion that the teachers were just said they could go to get some peace!), Peter however had been declined as the teachers thought that a trip to Australia was not a good idea as his grades were not the best and their OWL's were next year. Remus however, had to convince the Headmistress of the school they were going to, to let him go as it was a half-muggle school and his 'furry little problem' might complicate things.
The school was called Rosewood High and had a total of 800 students. 400 of those students were muggles and 400 were witches and wizards. Every day they would head over to what they called a 'form class' when the bell rang at 8:55 in the morning, at which they would mark a role to say that they had arrived at school with the rest of their form class. Then at 9:05 they would go to their first lesson, which went for one hour and ten minutes (2 periods, each 35 minutes long), then once the two periods were over they had to make their way to there next class which was also two periods long. Then they had lunch with the muggles for twenty-five minutes and then they had to go to their next lesson which went for two periods before a forty-five minute lunch at one, and then a one period lesson and another one period lesson before home time at 2:55pm.
They had no classes (except form) with the muggles, only lunch and while the muggles were learning muggle things they would go to their classroom and the teachers would perform a special charm that meant that if a muggle was to walk past they would see them teaching muggle things, while really they would have their wands out performing spells, and with a muggle repellent door, only other magic teachers could enter while a wizardry class was underway.
James and Sirius had wondered why they just didn't build a school like Hogwarts over there. They asked McGonagall when she was explaining to the Gryffindor fourth years what it was and she said, "They don't have a suitable place to build something like Hogwarts. The only places out of view of the muggles is in the center of Australia and that's a massive desert."
Even the school year was different. While at Hogwarts, the school year began on the first of September and went until the end of July; at Rosewood the year began on January 28th and ended a week into December. So they were leaving halfway through their school year. But it'd be worth it. If Remus could come that is.
"I hope he can come. It wouldn't be the same without him," said Sirius.
"Yeah, it's already a real bummer that Peter can't come but imagine what would happen if we left Remus with him for the nine months! He'd turn into a complete and utter nerd again!" said James.
"Glad to know you thought I was a nerd!" said a voice from behind them.
"Remus!" they shouted and raced over to the sandy haired, scar-ridden boy, who had just stepped through the portrait hole.
"Can you come?" asked Sirius and James over and over again.
"Be quiet and I'll tell you!" he said over the noise the boys were making.
They fell silent and Remus waited until he was sure they wouldn't interrupt again.
"I can go." He said.
"YES!" cried James and Sirius, giving each other a high five.
"Shhh! You'll wake everyone up!" hissed Remus.
"What's the Headmistress like?" asked Sirius.
"They're called Principals in Australia, and she was alright I suppose, really strict though," answered Remus.
"We'll have to do something about that won't we, Sirius?" said James.
"Yes we-" began Sirius but Remus interrupted him.
"No you won't! Come on guys! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Please don't stuff this up!"
Sirius and James exchanged a glance and said, "not promising anything, but we'll try."
"Good. Now we should go to bed, we leave midday tomorrow, and I know for a fact that you haven't packed."
They went to head upstairs when Sirius spotted a small vial on the table over in the corner.
"Hey guys, what's that?" he asked, picking it up and inspecting it.
"I dunno, but I'm tired, come on put it back," said James.
Sirius nodded but didn't put it back. He carried it upstairs and put it on his bedside table and went to sleep.
Remus and James were trying to wake Sirius, which was proving to be very difficult.
"Come on Sirius!" shouted James and he pointed his wand at the sleepy boy trying to go back to sleep and said, "Aguamenti."
Sirius spluttered and blinked water from his eyes.
"Hey! That was uncalled for!" he exclaimed.
And he grabbed his pillow and threw it at James, who dodged it and then picked it up and threw it at Sirius who also dodged it. It hit the bedside table, knocking the bottle from the other night to the ground, which smashed and fumes seemed to come from the spilt potion.
"Aww! James! I was going to look at that! Useless now…phew it stinks," said Sirius and soon Remus and James could smell the putrid scent and were gagging as well.
Remus said an incantation and the potion and the smell were instantly dissipated.
They finished the packing and said goodbye to Peter who was in the common room before heading to the Headmasters office.
Once there they made sure they had all there stuff, and each in turn went to the fireplace and flooed to Rosewood High where they would meet their new Principal for the next year.
If only life was that simple.
Remus, James and Sirius arrived, and found a fairly rotund woman with short blonde hair waiting for them.
"I thought that you said she was nice looking," whispered Sirius in Remus' ear, at which Remus hit him on the shoulder.
"Hello, I am Mrs Culverbarn," said the woman.
"Uh, hi. I'm Remus Lupin and this is Sirius Black and James Potter. We're the students from England. We're supposed to see the principal?" said Remus.
"But I am the principal."
"I'm sorry miss, but I met the principal just last night, and you're not her."
"Ah, but you see it seems you've had a bit of a detour in your travels," she said.
"Wait, you mean we're not at Rosewood High!" said Sirius.
"No I assure you Sirius, you are. But you are in a different time-zone," Culverbarn said with a smile.
"What!" they shouted.
"How is that even possible?" asked Remus.
"Well the story that has been passed down from principal to principal since the 1950's is that the students we were supposed to be getting inhaled an experimental potions fumes which was carelessly left in the Gryffindor Common Room, and meant that anyone who inhaled, swallowed or by any other means got the potion in their system any form of magical travel would send them into the future. We have here," she said holding up a purple potion in a see-through container, "an antidote, but before I can give it to you, the other potion must leave your system."
"How long will that take?" asked James.
"Around eight months, so you may as well complete the nine and a half months you came here for."
"I suppose weirder things have happened," said James, turning to see Remus very white and sickly looking.
"Remus are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"No you're not," said Sirius, concerned for his friend.
"That would be because the full moon is on Saturday," said Mrs Culverbarn.
"What!" they shouted.
"Yes, and I understand that you are shocked and that this is a lot to take in, but I am your principal and you will not shout at me," she said with a frown.
"Sorry miss," they chorused.
"That's quite alright, now, on Saturday you will be picked up by Mr Cockrane who is the deputy principal, and you will go to a small house for the full moon, however in the months to follow you will be given a potion that was developed in the 1970's, which, as long as you take it the week proceeding the full moon, will allow you to keep your mind when you transform," she informed him.
"Really? That's brilliant!" he said.
"Yes, it is. Which means the following full moons you will spend at The Rising Sun." she said.
"I'm sorry the what?" asked James.
"The Rising Sun. It's the pub down the road, however there are rooms over it, and so you will be staying there."
"Oh."
"Now, you need uniforms! Come with me, just leave your trunks here, we will be coming back, come now," she said, ushering them out of her office.
As soon as they stepped out of the doors to the office, they were sweating like pigs. The sun was beating down upon them, however Culverbarn wasn't even breaking a sweat.
"It's boiling out here!" complained Sirius.
"Sirius, if you think this is boiling you're going to hate it when the temperature rises," said Culverbarn.
"It gets hotter!" exclaimed James.
"Yes, now if you would continue to follow me," she said, for they had stopped to talk.
They walked past a huge yellow building that consisted of many rooms, which were obviously classrooms. They could see someone teaching what looked like to be maths to some thirteen year olds, whereas in the next classroom they could plainly see Defence Against The Dark Arts being taught to some sixteen year olds.
They then passed a large gap in between the two large buildings and could see a vast space with benches lining the walls. Then there was another building with more classrooms (both muggle and magical) when they stopped and Culverbarn opened a sliding door and they stepped into a room.
It was much, much cooler in this room then outside. There were clothes lining the walls and a small lady sitting waiting for them.
"Hello Martha, these are the boys from England. They will need school uniforms." She said.
"Of course. What's your name?" Martha asked Remus.
"Remus Lupin."
"What size would you be?"
"Uh…"
"They have different sizes back in England Martha," said Culverbarn.
"Oh that's right, okay you look to be about a size 12. Okay try these on," she said handing him a maroon polo shirt, which had a strip down the left side that said 'Rosewood' and some maroon basketball shorts.
"Okay," he said taking them and walking over to the change room.
They fit perfectly, and after getting Sirius and James some as well, they had to have a look at the formal uniforms- grey shorts that went down to their knees and a grey button-up shirt- that made them look like cement with heads.
Once they had a couple of each they followed the principal back to the office. They stowed their new uniforms in their trunks and sat down.
"Okay, now, these are your timetables," she said, handing them each a small sheet of people.
"What's SMV?" asked Sirius.
"That is the Smart Moves program," said Culverbarn.
"I'm sorry, the what?" asked James.
"Smart Moves program. There was a law brought in a couple of years ago that said that anyone under the age of fifteen had to have at least two hours of exercise every week. So to ensure everyone does, we have Smart Moves. Everything will be explained next Monday. Now as you can see you have Herbology at four in Monday and Thursday afternoons. You may hang around school inbetween the hours three and four or you may choose to go back to the Rising Sun for the hour. We do not care much as long as you arrive at class on time. Astronomy is on from eleven to twelve on Tuesdays and Wednesday."
There was a knock on the door and a man with thinning grey hair, a salt and pepper moustache and a pot belly came inside.
"Ah, Mr Cockrane. Boys, this is Mr Cockrane, Mr Cockrane this is Remus, Sirius and James," said Culverbarn.
"A pleasure, boys," said Cockrane shaking their hands.
"Mr Cockrane is going to show you how to use your diaries, which will be given back out to you and filled in tomorrow at form. He is also going to explain the school rules to you and show you where your classes will be tomorrow. Then he is going to take you to the Rising Sun and show you where you will be staying. Oh and you have to remember boys, no one but Mr Cockrane and I know you are from the past, so while people will expect you to have little knowledge of technology, which is how things are done over in England, remember, you were born in 1996, not 1960."
So after explaining how our diaries worked, how TV and the Internet worked, how to use a normal pen, the rules put in place to ensure no Muggles found anything out and how the money system worked here, they finally piled into Mr Cockrane's car and went down the main street of Rosewood.
"Dude! Look at all the graffiti!" exclaimed Sirius.
"Mmmmm, yes," said Cockrane, "if I catch any of you boys graffitying any part of Rosewood there will be a severe punishment," and that was the end of conversation in the car.
They drove over the railway line and into the carpark of a neat little pub. They got out and dragged their trunks into the pub.
It was brightly lit, but without many customers. There was an array of muggle alcohol on the shelves and pool tables off to the side. Then there was a thundering down the small staircase off to the side and a middle-aged man with short black hair appeared.
"Steve! These are the English exchange students that will be staying here," said Cockrane.
Steve looked us over and said, "Okay Jeff, I got 'em. You'd better get back to the school, now."
It was the heaviest Australian accent he had ever heard. Culverbarn and Cockrane didn't have much of an accent, but boy did this man have an accent!
"You finished starin' there mate?" asked Steve gruffly.
"Yes sir, sorry sir," he said sharply out of habit.
"Now, now there will be none of this 'sir' business! I ain't a bloody pommy! Now come along, follow me!" and he led them up the stairs.
"This'll be your room. I live just down the way," he said pointing down the hall, "if a situation arises jus' holla. Now I don't wanna hear no banging or nothin' explodin' but you can use magic if ya wish. Breakfast will arrive at seven and dinner at six. In the mornin' either Ben, that's my son, or I will be at the counter, we'll hand you five dollars each every day or just twenty-five for the week, that depends on how business is doin' that week. Now if you need any extra cash then either see me, Ben, the school or just go down to the bank and tell 'em who you are and they'll give you some muggle money. But if it's galleons that you want then you have to go the Gringotts branch down the way from the muggle bank and just tell 'em who ye are. Now that's that. I'll just let ya get settled." And with that he marched back down the steps.
Sirius just shook his head and whispered, "strange man," before opening the door and dragging his trunk inside the room.
James followed Remus inside and looked around. It was a neat little room. There was one single bed and a bunk bed, the single near a small window and the bunk against the wall. On the opposite wall was a door that presumedly led to the bathroom. Sirius had already dumped himself on the top bunk and Remus on the bottom (he didn't like sleeping near windows that faced the moon) so that left the single.
They talked until dinner arrived about how astonishing all of this was and then afterwards they talked some more.
"But isn't school tomorrow going to be fun!" said Sirius.
"Sirius, are you feeling okay?" asked Remus.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, you just said the word 'school' and 'fun' in the same sentence," said James.
"Well, I don't mean the school work! Just, you know, sussing everyone out and meeting new people! It's going to be bitchen'!"
"Yeah whatever, Sirius. We all know you just want to check out some hot Aussie girls with awesome Australian accents."
"Hey, it's fresh meat. Someone has to take it. You're too besotted by Evans and Remus here hasn't had a girlfriend since…never!"
So they talked and talked and talked until the moon was high in the night sky. Then Remus said it was nearly ten so they should get some sleep, but it was a while before any of them heard Sirius' snores. But finally James and Remus succumbed to sleep.
(_)(-)(_)
HeYo! Now I know that this chapter was fairly boring but it was a setting the scene chapter! And they are ALWAYS boring… but never mind for in the next chapter hopefully you will meet some funny new characters….including some evil ones MWAHAHAHAHAHA…Nope just kidding, you got another few chapters before any of THEM appear. That's right this story isn't just some 'James and the Marauders find out the future' fic. They're in Australia for goodness sake! How much English Magical History are you going to find! But I promise, they will find out SOME things just not all. So a BIG thanks to Miss Emotional who helped (and is helping) me write this. The words might not be yours but some of the ideas were and I just love our chats where you suggest something terrible and I laugh HAHAHAHAHAHA just jokes your ideas are sometimes good…
Now REVIEW! If you don't I'll set Gerald the baby bat on you MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
I'm not kidding…