Chapter One: D.A.R.C – the beginning…
"BLAAARGHHH!" James jerked awake as Sirius sat up in bed, screaming his lungs out.
"Bloody hell." He groaned, and threw a pillow at Sirius' head. He missed, and hit Peter, the tag-along and entire fan club of the three boys instead. It didn't seem to hurt him, much less wake him. Pettigrew continued snoring, drooling onto his teddy bear pyjamas.
"And that was why I never made it as a Beater." James sighed and watched Sirius, still crying out in his sleep.
"OI! PADFOOT!" he yelled, and thwacked his pillow on his head. Sirius' eyes opened, and stopped screaming, looking around madly.
"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Remus opened the door, looking freshly cleaned and wide awake. He had obviously woken up early to use the Prefect's bathroom, his good grades earning him his title.
"I-I was- snogging…ohhhh," Sirius collapsed back on his bed. Remus lifted an eyebrow as he made his bed.
"Well now, that's a new one." he said sardonically, going over to Peter's bed to wake him up.
"Who? Who were you snogging?" James asked Sirius. "Better not have been Evans," he added warningly. Sirius shook his head, seemingly mute.
"I-I was snogging Professor McGonagall." he gulped.
James' eyes bulged. "Tough luck, mate." he patted Sirius on the shoulder, trying to seem sympathetic, though really trying to stifle his laughter. Padfoot shook his head again. "That's not the worst part."
"Oh." James gulped and prepared himself for the worst. Sirius' face twisted and he winced, as if in too much pain to go on.
"And then, she turned…into…Snivellus."
"HAHAHA!" James couldn't help himself and fell on the floor, writhing. Even serious Remus couldn't help let the corner of his mouth twitch.
"Mm…wuz goin' on?" Peter asked, bleary-eyed. He seemed to fully wake up when he saw James on the floor.
"OH NO!" he slipped his feet into his pair of fluffy pompom slippers and hurried to his room mate's side. "CPR! Someone do CPR!"
Remus sighed and shook his head. "Pettigrew, he's fine. Something hilarious just happened."
"Really?" Peter turned to face Remus. "Moony, why didn't you tell me?"
"It's OK, mate. Joke over." Sirius replied, recovering from his shock.
"Uh oh," Remus said, pulling on his school shoes. "We'll be late for breakfast."
This got the other three boys up, and they hurriedly got into their already-crumpled school robes and followed Remus into the Gryffindor common room and out the portrait hole.
"Hello, Evans." James passed his dream girl as the four boys headed for their usual spot at their table.
"Potter." Lily barely looked at him as she gave a cool nod. James' face fell and he hurried toward Sirius, who was trying to muffle his laughter by stuffing as much toast and pastries into his mouth. Gulping down his pumpkin juice and wiping his mouth on his sleeve, he swallowed and slapped his best friend on the shoulder.
"Watch, and learn." He smirked at James. "Oi, Lily! Over here!" Sirius was waving at the girl like a lunatic. Her long red hair swung as she turned to see who was calling.
"What do you want?" she asked coldly.
"Go out with James?" Sirius gestured hopefully to James, whose face was on the table.
Lily's green eyes narrowed. "You know the answer to that," she snapped, before spinning on her heel and colliding with a fellow seventh-year Hufflepuff carrying a heavily-laden tray. As if apparating, James suddenly appeared at Lily's side, and grabbed her around the waist before she toppled over.
"Let.me.go." Lily said, her teeth gritted as she tried to free herself from the boy's grip.
"Just tryin' to help." James released her, a hurt look on his face. Automatically, his hand went to his tousled, messy hair as he watched her straighten her robes.
"Well…thanks." Lily gave him a tiny smile. It was so adorable how he always played with his hair. She wanted to run her fingers through it, and pull at it…not that she would ever tell him that, she thought to herself quickly.
"Not that I need your help," Lily added quickly, turning around again and practically running to the great hall's doors.
"Man, she is so falling for ya," Sirius gave a shark-like grin as he turned to face his fellow Gryffindors. Remus shrugged in reply as he read his paperback copy of Hogwarts: A History.
Peter nodded vigorously, and choked on his pumpkin pasty. Sirius regarded him with scorn.
"Don't wet yourself while you're at it, Pettigrew."
James scarfed down the rest of breakfast and was drinking his pumpkin juice when his owl, Pescados, arrived, dropping a letter in his lap. He slit open the envelope and scanned the letter. It was from Zonko's Joke Shop, to which he had subscribed to last year.
"Oh, yes!" he punched a fist in the air. "Free fake owls!" Next to him, Sirius ripped open his own letter and did the same. Ecstatic, they high-fived each other and started planning their new scheme.
"Why you named your owl fish in Spanish, I will never understand." Remus shook his head and offered Pescados a crust. The owl accepted it and flew out the window and to the Owlery.
"I thought it was a cool name." Peter protested, although neither Sirius nor James were listening to the other two. "I wish I had thought of it."
Remus nodded and continued reading. Sirius and James got up and drifted back to their dorm to get their books for next class, followed by Peter, when they noticed a poster stuck next to the Great Hall's entrance doors.
Defence Against Risky Creatures Class (D.A.R.C) Now Available to Seventh Years – sign up forms below.
Lessons start 10:30am Saturday 8th April, with Professor Folina.
"Awesome!" James lunged forward and pulled out a piece of parchment. "Aw," he said, reading the slip. "It has to be approved by parents."
"Of course it does, git." Sirius took a slip as well. "Risky creatures? As in dangerous encounters." He made quotation marks with his fingers.
"Looks good to me," Remus reached in as well, putting his beloved book away in his bag. Peter watched them all.
"I think I'll do it too!" he said enthusiastically, grabbing a piece and waving it in the air. "I'll do D.A.R.C with you guys!"
James smiled wearily. "Great, Pettigrew. That's nice."
Back in her Gryffindor dorm, Lily examined the D.A.R.C slip she had taken when leaving the Great Hall, with her friend Fiona.
"Are you gonna go?" she asked Fiona.
"I guess. There's going to be D.A.R.C camps too. Sounds cool," her friend agreed.
Just then Lily glanced at her watch, which she had gotten for her birthday from her friends. Luminescent stars moved around in the border around the face, and glittered against the dark background.
"Shoot! We're going to be late for Dark Arts," she said, slipping the permission note into her book bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "Let's go."
"OK." Fiona grabbed a quill off the ground and picked up her books, and they ran out through the portrait hole and merged into the large crowd of students passing by as they went to their first class.
"There's Lily," Peter said, nudging James and pointing to the vivid red head.
"I know, Petty, I know." James replied. They drifted into the Defence Against the Arts class, where Professor Pumpet was collecting up scrolls of parchment.
"Oh, crap!" Sirius hit his forehead. He had forgotten, again, to write up his 12-inch long dragons essay. Remus shook his head in disgust.
"I suppose you forgot your homework again, Padfoot?" he asked.
"Do I need to answer that?" Sirius snapped back, opening his bag and searching feverishly for parchment, though he knew he would never be able to start writing an essay in time. Instead, he closed the bag and thought up yet another excuse.
"Take your seats, please." Pumpet's shrill voice rang around the classroom as students came inside. James frowned and stared at Sirius, who was still standing, his mouth forming silent words.
"Padfoot? What's up?" he asked. Sirius seemed to snap out of his reverie and quickly sat down. "Nothin', mate." He grinned and leaned back on his chair, folding his hands behind his head. A pixie-like girl with a tiny figure and spiky black hair watched him hopefully, but he didn't notice her at all.
"Please hand in your essays on dragons now, class." Professor Pumpet waved his wand in a sweeping motion and a huge pile of scrolls landed on his desk with a rustle. He sorted through them, counting. Sirius held his breath; it would come any minute now.
"Mr Black? I don't seem to have your essay here." Pumpet looked up from the homework with a questioning look on his face. Sirius quickly arranged his face into a look of guilt.
"I'm terribly sorry, Professor. I did do my essay, but someone took my essay thinking it was scrap parchment and threw it in the fire." During this statement, his expression of guilt changed into hope and he stared at the teacher, his face a look of beseech.
"I'm really sorry, Professor. It was my fault." Peter sat up and waved his hand at the professor. James and Remus exchanged a look of disbelief; he wasn't going to it, was he?
"Excuse me, Pettigrew?" Professor Pumpet squinted through his round, bottle-bottomed glasses as if they would help him to understand.
"It was me who threw Sirius' homework into the fire. But it was an accident!" Wormtail bleated.
"Oi! Wormtail, shaddup!" James muttered out of the side of his voice. But Sirius seemed to have caught on and quickly continued.
"Yeah, it was him, Professor. But I'll write it again tonight, I promise."
"OK, then. Class, open your books to page fifty-eight." The distraction soon disappeared and the students started to chatter as they worked on practicing defensive charms in partners.
At the end of class, the professor dismissed everyone. "Lily, Remus, James and Sirius, please stay behind." he said calmly, slipping notes into his briefcase. The three marauders looked at each other, worried.
"Have you heard about the D.A.R.C classes coming up soon?" the professor asked, squinting at them through his glasses again.
"Yes, sir." Remus replied for all of them. "We're signing up for them."
"Good, good. As my four top students, I thought it would be good for you. You will be able to get in easily."
"Get in?" James asked confusedly.
"Yes. You have to be good at Defence Against the Dark Arts to qualify for these classes. They are extremely dangerous. Well, just send those permission slips as soon as possible to your parents, and I hope I'll see you on Saturday with Professor Folina." Case settled; the professor left the room. Lily followed, without a second glance at the other three.
"Hey…does that mean that Peter won't get in?" Sirius asked. "'Cause he is a little thick sometimes."
James shrugged. "Probably. But then again, he'd wet himself if a Grindylow grabbed onto him." Chortling, the boys left for their next class.
Author's Note:
This is like my first EVER fan fic story. Be a good chappy and review, will ya? I wanna know what you all think of it and yeah so that I know that there is someone out there who is reading haha. Hope you like the first chapter! My second one will probably take a while to come out coz like I take my own sweet time writing it up.