A/N This is yet another collaboration of the brilliant minds of An-Jelly-Ca and do i need a pen name, who are only listed in that order because it's alphabetical, according to do i need a pen name, which An-Jelly-Ca insists I add. Anyway, this is a prologue-ish type thingy to our story Muggle Studies which, if you haven't read, you must go read, because we said so. This was originally supposed to be a one-shot. But now it is going to be their entire frist year, inspired by an event mentioned quite briefly in Muggle Studies. We hope you like it, and if you don't, too bad. Pretend you do when you review--hey, that rhymes! Anyway, if you don't review, be warned: we know where you sleep. If you don't review, we will hunt you down, break into your house, and make you review. Then we'll get arrested. It'll be so much fun! Moving on, just go read the chapter and then review. We forgot the point of whatever it was we were telling you.
Disclaimer-We own nothing...except for our knowledge of where you sleep at night.
Si fecisti nega! (If you did it, deny it!)
Chapter One
Boom! The sound of an explosion resounded throughout the halls of Hogwarts. The noise had its origins from the chamber off the entrance hall which contained approximately forty new first years waiting to be sorted. At the center of the disturbance stood two people, one a boy with black hair and gray eyes was cackling manically, the other was a girl with curly ginger hair and blue eyes, she too was laughing evilly.
The door to the small chamber burst open with a resounding thud as it bounced off the wall. As Professor Minerva McGonagall stalked into the room, her mouth set in a frown, the boy and girl melted into the crowd with a practiced ease.
"Who is responsible for this?" She demanded her voice low and deadly, surveying the damage in the room before her.
"It was him, Professor!" The boy with the untidy black hair and glasses said pointing across the room in the direction of a second boy with long, greasy black hair. "I saw him, it was him, wasn't it Peter?"
The boy in question, a small, chubby blond boy, nodded his head vigorously looking eager to please the charismatic bespectacled boy.
"Severus Snape, I'm very disappointed in you, getting in trouble before you've even been sorted. You're just lucky that the term hasn't officially begun yet, otherwise you would be severely punished, regardless I will take ten points from whatever house you're sorted into." She said and then she looked to the group at large. "The sorting will begin momentarily, everyone line up."
In the commotion that ensued the first black haired boy made his way over to the untidy, bespectacled boy, dragging his ginger-haired friend after him. "Thanks, mate." He murmured in a quiet tone seeing the eyes of the Deputy Headmistress wandering in their direction.
"No problem." The other replied as the amber eyed boy to his right frowned with slight disapproval. "Anyway, Black, I believe this is a start of a beautiful friendship."
"I do believe you're right," Sirius replied as the line began to move forward. "Let's discuss our line of attack for the feast."
"Don't you mean tactical maneuvers?" The amber-eyed boy questioned.
"Yeah…that." Sirius answered looking at the boy strangely. "Who are you again?"
"Oh, this is Remus! Remus Lupin." James said attempting to throw his arm over the other boy's shoulders as they walked into the Entrance Hall. "He's a nerd; he'll be our smart friend. And this is Peter," He pointed at the blonde boy, "He'll be our lackey."
"Pardon me, but what's your name?" Remus addressed Marlene.
Marlene blinked at him, trying to decipher the strange boy's manner of speaking.
"The name's McKinnon. Marlene McKinnon." She finally said from her spot at Sirius' left. "You know, I've always liked saying my name like that ever since I saw that one muggle movie. You know, the one about that Bond guy. Anyway, what're we going to do?" She continued, steering them back on track.
"I was thinking..." Sirius began. "The ceiling could use a bit of…redecorating. It's all dark and dank and…dungeony-looking."
"'Dungeony' isn't a word." Remus said looking affronted, as if he was the one responsible for Sirius' heinous crime against the English language.
"See, I told you he would be our smart friend." James said, in a whisper now because Professor McGonagall was once again speaking and had shot a glare in their direction.
"Dungeony is so a real word, isn't it, Marlene?" Sirius said.
"Uh…yeah." Marlene said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"But back to the plan," James said, "What is it you had in mind?"
"I was thinking we get rid of the ceiling in the Great Hall." Sirius said.
"But isn't that really advanced magic?" Remus questioned.
"No." Sirius replied. "You should see what I did at this one Ministry banquet a couple of years ago."
"What exactly did you do?" Remus asked in a cautious tone.
"Well," Sirius began, "You know how the Ministry is underground?" He paused for effect. "Well, it didn't used to be."
"That was you?!" James said in awe.
"I thought they said they moved the building underground for safety reasons." Remus said at the same time.
"My parents told them to say that." Sirius said with a wave of his hand. "They're the Minister's chief campaign contributors."
"I think we should do it." Marlene said suddenly.
"Okay, then we'll do it!" James stated. "Now, what kind of spell are we talking about?" He addressed Sirius.
"I know a spell that removes the ceiling, but still keeps the rain out. It's like an invisible bubble. I like bubbles." Was the reply. "I read about it in my parents' library."
"Well, what is it?" Remus asked always eager for more information, dutifully ignoring Sirius' talk of bubbles.
"I can't tell you now!" Sirius exclaimed. "Or else it'll get rid of the ceiling!"
"Or you could just say it so the ceiling will go away like we want it to." Marlene said logically or what she thought was logic anyway.
"I'm with her." James said.
"No, we need to wait until we're in the Great Hall for maximum impact." Sirius protested.
"Sirius." Remus paused. "We are already in the Great Hall." His tone of voice clearly displaying his concern for the other's observation skills.
"Oh." Sirius said. "That solves that problem then. We all need to say it at the same time; this spell requires a lot of magic." Sirius instructed.
"But, how will we say it if we don't know what it is?" Remus asked. "If it needs so much magic then you're saying it now won't cause anything to happen…probably."
"Okay." Sirius responded. "It's Abripiocaelum." He allowed a few seconds for the others to memorize the spell. "Now on the count of three. One…Two…Three…Go!"
"Abripiocaelum!" Five voices said in perfect unison pointing their wands toward the ceiling.
The Great Hall shook and smoke erupted from their wand tips. By the time the air cleared, anyone who looked up saw the image of the starry night sky, complete with twinkling stars, in place of the ceiling.
"Hmm…" Sirius said thoughtfully, "I think you were right about Peter only being our lackey, James."
"What do you mean?" Peter asked. "It worked, didn't it?"
"No, that's just an illusion." Sirius stated matter-of-factly. "The ceiling's still there, just hidden. You pronounced it wrong. It's Uh-bri-pea-oh-kay-lee-um. Not Ah-bree-pea-oh-call-um."
"I couldn't remember it." Peter said defensively. "It was too long."
"That's O.K., Pete." Sirius said, shrugging. "I like it better this way, anyway."
No one could say anything more, however, because at that moment, McGonagall turned around, a killer glare upon her face, ready to hand a severe punishment, which may or may not have included giving them detention every day for the next seven years. We'll never know, though, because at that moment, Dumbledore spoke up.
"Hold on a moment, Minerva," He called from his place in the center of the Head Table. "I find I rather like it this way. In fact, I think we should award points to whatever house these brilliant young minds go to. That was a simply splendid example of wizardry."
"Please don't go to my house." Minerva muttered under her breath.
"Don't you mean witchery?" Marlene demanded, looking highly affronted at the fact that his terminology only included wizards.
"Oh, please, please don't be in my house." McGonagall continued to herself. "Well, at least I won't get Black. He'll be in Slytherin for sure; no Black has gone anywhere but Slytherin before, not even that nice Andromeda Black. And Lupin is a Ravenclaw if I ever saw, and Pettigrew is a shoe-in for Hufflepuff. And maybe if I'm really lucky, Potter will follow Black to Slytherin. After all, his mother was a Black, never mind the fact that no Potter has ever gone anywhere but Gryffindor. There's no avoiding McKinnon, though. Every single person on each of her parents' sides has been in Gryffindor as far back as I can remember."
She paused now, noticing the scared looks the first-years were shooting in her direction. The closest ones had already surreptitiously started to back away.
"If you've finished with the conversations with those lovely inside of your head, Minerva," Dumbledore began, smiling benignly, "We're ready to begin the Sorting."
"Yes, of course…go right ahead." McGonagall responded.
"Alright then, proceed." Dumbledore said subtly reminding her that she was the one with the list of names to call out.
"Abbot, Henry." McGonagall called finally regaining her bearings.
"Hufflepuff!" The sorting hat called after hardly a moment's pause.
"Bones, Amelia."
"Hufflepuff!" More applause rang out from the Hufflepuff table.
"Black, Sirius." McGonagall said scowling at the boy in question.
"Hmm…another Black." The hat said, speaking into Sirius' ear. "Where to put you? Definitely not Hufflepuff. And based on that little display, you're definitely smart enough for Ravenclaw, but you lack the proper work ethic."
"Why are we even talking about this?" Sirius questioned. "Just put me in Slytherin and get it over with."
"But why would you want to go to Slytherin?" The hat questioned. "That would be a waste of your talents. Besides, you are far too loud and rambunctious to be a Slytherin. They pride themselves on their silent cunning."
"But mum told me I had to be a Slytherin." Sirius said in a whiny voice.
"I seem to keep having this discussion with you Blacks." The hat responded. "Why, I recall talking about this very topic with your cousin Andromeda just a few years back. She won me over eventually…but you won't. No…I have just the perfect place for you…"
"But I thought I lacked the work ethic for Ravenclaw." Sirius protested.
"I did indeed. So, it had better be…GRYFFINDOR!"
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