AN: This is the first time I'm writing a proper Harry Potter story! This takes time in their seventh year before Christmas. Main pairings will be Lily and James (romance), Lily and Remus (friendship) and possibly Remus and OC (friendship, I swear!).
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the characters. They belong to J.K Rowling. The only characters that are mine are Alice, Mathilda and Nicolas.
Subzero glances.
It was 7:10 AM sharp at the Gryffindor tower. It was in the start of November and the windows were covered in a thin layer of frost. The classes would start in about an hour and some of the students were already starting on their morning routine. But three of the seventh year students were an exception to this; they were still half-asleep. A somewhat shrill sound then sounded inside the room where the seventh year boys lived. "Blimey…I hate you for this Padfoot" groaned a guy who had pitch black hair that stood in all directions. His hazel eyes were a bit clouded due to his half-awake state. "It's called tough love Prongs. Deal with it" replied a male who had managed to get into a sitting position. His hair was the same colour as his friends, but it was a tad bit longer. The hazel-eyed teen went over to the chair at the other end of the room with an icy look in his eyes. One thing that he really hated was the magical clock that his uncle had gotten him during his first year. The clock had a sort of wake up guarantee, which was not odd considering the annoying sound it made. It sounded like a mix of a sobbing baby mandrake, a merman who mumbled in mermish plus a forest troll that tried to sing England's national anthem with varying voice pitch. His fingers then fumbled a little with the magical clock before it stopped ringing. "What took you so long!?" moaned a boy with dishwater blonde hair in the bed opposite to him. He was a bit chubbier than the other two. "I can't see without my glasses you know" muttered the black-haired male as he went over to his bed again after he had put down the bronze-coloured clock.
He put on his glasses and the room soon became clear again. His friend Sirius was already trying to brush out the knots in his hair while his other friend Peter was changing into his uniform. "We're not as late as we thought, but we better not slack off" told the blonde as he adjusted his red and gold striped tie. "Good to know Wormtail. I hate running late" muttered James as he put on his black trousers. "Weird…I find you doing it all the time" laughed the guy who had finally gotten the knots out of his ebony hair. His friend rolled his eyes before he put on his trusty brown leather shoes. The trio then went down to the Great Hall for their breakfast.
The Great Hall was full with students who were enjoying their breakfast. A smell of bacon, toast, tea as well as fruit filled the room. Most of them were reading the Daily Prophet while some of them were discussing the upcoming Quidditch match next week. Hufflepuff were facing off against Slytherin during the All Hallows Eve weekend. The said male smiled when he saw a familiar female at the end of the table next to one of her friends. The trio sat down at the opposite side and started to eat. "How're you Lily?" inquired the hazel-eyed teen. "Not too bad. And you three?" replied the female with a smile. "Not too bad. My left knee is still a little sore though" muttered Sirius. He was glad that it was only his knee that had taken a hit; a black eye or bruised nose was usually a bit harder to hide. "I-I'm a little nervous since we will face boggarts today" stuttered the older male. "Don't be. I'm sure you'll do it fine this time" assured the redhead. Peter was not doing too great when facing boggarts, even if he was taking NEWT's in defense against the dark arts. "Where's Remus? I hope he's not…seriously ill" muttered the girl as she poured herself a cup of tea. She had a worried look at her face. "He'll be out in time for the first or second class today. Or at least that was what Madam Pomfrey said" told the bespectacled guy with a semi-assured voice. She let out a sigh of relief before she started to eat her apple. The four Gryffindors then headed towards the second floor to start their first lesson of today, which were charms with professor Flitwick.
The room was buzzing with activity as the NEWT students prepared themselves for today's lesson. It was apparently a repetition of last week's spells since they soon had a practical test coming up. James had agreed to sit with his blonde friend because he needed some help with the charms. Lily sat at the back at her own while Sirius sat in the middle next to a Hufflepuff guy. "This lesson better not be as hard as the previous one. My colour change spell went pretty bad" told James. During their last lesson, he had turned a turquoise stone bright orange. This would have been great if their assigned colour had not been bright purple. "I'm pretty sure we will have water or ice spells. We had that right-". A 'clack' could be heard as the professor entered the room. The noise soon died down as he climbed up at the teacher's desk. "Good morning everyone! I hope you've all slept well. I'll take the name call now. Abrams?" started Flitwick. "Yes" replied a Slytherin who sat in the back of the room. "Black?" called the man. "Here!" answered the guy with a grin. As the name calls continued, Lily noticed that the door opened. A somewhat sheepish looking Remus entered the room before he closed the door as silent as possible. He sat down next to the female with an apologetic smile. "Have I missed anything?" muttered the brunette as he took up his wand. She shook her head while she picked up her book. The name call then came to an end and it was time to start the lesson. "Great; looks like almost everyone is here. We're going to practice on glacia as well as aguamenti during our lesson. Elemental spells are a staple for the NEWT's, so I hope you do your best to master them. I will split you into pairs during this lesson. The reason for this is because your homework to next week is to practice both of the spells together" told the teacher.
Most of the students gave him a small cheer. This was a type of homework that was quite enjoyable since they could help each other. "Remember that you need a good amount of concentration for both of the spells. They may be spells you learned in your earlier years, but you need focus in order to get the aim right. Let me demonstrate" said the male as he placed two glasses at his desk. One was an egg glass while the other one was something that looked like a muggle shot glass. He pointed his wand at the egg glass with an intense focus in his eyes. Soon, the egg glass brimmed with water. Flitwick then did a small tap on the egg glass and the water turned into solid ice. "I expect all of you to be able to fill this glass to the top with water next Wednesday. You should also be able to freeze it at least half-way. Please find your books now while I write up the pairs" told the man. Remus rummaged in his bag and hoped that he had remembered to bring his book with him. He had been discharged from the hospital wing right after breakfast, so he had to rush to his bedroom in order to get his books. 'At least Flitwick is not as strict as our defense against the dark art teacher' thought the male. He let out a sigh of relief when he found his book stashed in the bottom of his backpacker. The brunette laid his book on the desk before he saw a note. "The note on your desk will have the name of your partner. Please open them up now" told the professor. He opened up the note and saw the name "Lily Evans" written at it.
"Who did you get Moony? I got that Slytherin back there" muttered his black-haired friend with a sour look in his grey eyes. "I got Lily. Wondered who James got" replied the guy. He got his answer when he saw his friend starting to tell Peter how to move his wrist. "Should we get started Remus?" inquired the redhead. "Yeah…I suppose so. Ladies first" replied the Gryffindor with a small smile. Their teacher had now placed a pair of muggle shot glasses at each table that they could use. "All right then. Here I go" muttered the girl as she looked at the shot glass. She pointed at it with her wand and moved it slightly. Water started to come out from it, which was a good sign. The male tried to study the technique that she used since that would make it easier to help her. Not that Lily was bad at charms in the first place; she was one of the best students in the class. "Keep it steady Lily…" muttered Remus as she noticed that her hand was shaking a little. "Sorry. I'm a little nervous about this" replied the female. It was a weakness of hers that her hand started to shake when her nerves started to act up. "Don't be nervous. I won't tear you apart" assured the guy with a tiny grin. A small giggle escaped her mouth as she managed to steady her wand. The water had poured over the glass, but she had not spilled as much as she had thought.
"I think you just have to keep an eye on the water level plus steadying your hand. You'll be fine once you get that right Lily" told the brunette. "Thanks Remus. James will hate me for this, but I think you're a slightly better critic than him at this" admitted Lily. "I'm happy to hear that. I hope you keep that nice thought in mind since it's my turn now" replied the male. He used a drying spell to remove the water before he tried to fill up the glass. Filling the glass up turned out to be harder than what he had initially thought. Remus was able to keep his hand steady, but at the cost of losing focus a bit during the process. 'Focus now Remus. You can do this' thought the guy as he took a shaky breath. He did not complete the task and spilled water all over the desk as well. "I don't think you did that bad Remus. Your hand did not shake, but I think you should go to bed a little earlier than usual" suggested the girl. "I agree" sighed the brunette as he pulled a hand through his hair. Full moons during the late autumn as well as the winter were always the worst. The nights were longer plus that the cold meant that he froze quite a bit when the fur disappeared. "The lesson is over. Remember to revise your charms for next week!" reminded Flitwick. Everyone picked up their stuff before leaving the class room.
'Merlin. Maybe I should call it a day' thought the male as he went towards his astronomy lesson. He felt a bit dizzy plus that he had only eaten a slice of toast for breakfast. Not to mention that he had not slept that much that night. 'Be strong Remus. At least this will be your last lesson before lunch. And you'll only have two lessons after that' thought Remus as he turned a corner. He then bumped into someone who was a bit smaller than he was and dropped some of his books at the floor.
"Sorry! I didn't watch were I was going!" exclaimed the person he had bumped into. It turned out to be a blonde Ravenclaw boy who appeared to be 14 years old or so. Judging from his dialect, he was probably Scottish. "I'm fine. I just don't feel so well" told the guy as he picked up his astronomy book. "Thanks for helping me out" replied the boy with a smile as he laid his books into his bag. He then went down the hallway. The brunette then entered the class room. It was nearly empty except two students from Slytherin who were about to leave. He looked up at the clock…it was almost ten minutes until the lesson would start. It would be a while until the other Marauders would arrive. 'I'm pretty sure James said something about testing out a mini slime bomb right before the Astronomy lesson. Better hope that nobody gets injured or anything' thought the male. Being a werewolf meant that friends did not come by easily…especially not those who were as kind as the ones he had. They had all accepted his – ahem – furry little problem despite the dangers that came with it. The only downside was that he had to put up with their antics all the time. This caused a bit of a dilemma on his behalf since he was a prefect and everything.
Suddenly, he heard someone scream further down the hallway. He got out of the classroom to see what it was. Nobody was outside the classroom and Remus decided to check out the hallway. Near the end of it stood the blonde boy he had ran into earlier as well as his three friends. The boy he had bumped into earlier was covered in bright, grass green slime from top to toe. He did not look very happy judging from his facial expression. "What did you do that for!?" yelled the young male with an angry voice. "We had to see if our new slime bomb work. Too bad you were in the way" told Sirius with a grin at his face. "Hmph. Can you please remove the slime of my uniform at the least? Professor Slughorn will mistake me for a snail if I show up like this for his lesson" replied the Ravenclaw. "I'll remove the slime for you. Stand still for a moment please" offered the brunette. He waved his wand and used a banishing charm at the slime. Most of it got away, but some of it was still stuck at his face. "Thanks" told the boy before he wiped his face with a self-cleansing handkerchief. He then gave the Marauders an icy cold glare when he left the corridor. "Don't be such a spoilsport Moony" told his friend.
"Padfoot…I don't think most people appreciate to be covered in neon-green sticky slime. Particularly when they're on their way to the next class" replied the guy. "Yeah yeah, I'm aware of that. I promise to be a bit more careful when we try this later on. But I honestly thought everyone had left" stated the shaggy-haired male. Their class mates had started to appear by now and they entered the class room. Remus sat next down to Sirius at the left end of the classroom, right behind a blonde girl from Ravenclaw. "Crikey…I forgot my quill. Do you have an extra one Moony?" asked the guy. "Sorry" replied the male with a wry smile. Sirius then poked the girl who sat right in front of him. She turned around a moment later with a quizzical look at her face. "Do you have a spare quill?" inquired the black-haired guy. The girl sized him up before she gave him a sharp look. "No, I don't" replied the blonde with a slightly frosty voice. She then turned back while the male raised his eyebrows. "Did I look at her in a wrong way or something?" inquired Sirius as he looked at his friend. "No…I don't think you did. Was she one of the girls you gave those stinky Valentines cards to last year?" suggested Remus with a small smile. "Heck no! Those girls were from Slytherin! Those Ravenclaw girls would have probably figured out it was me after all…they're the smart people in this castle" stated the male with a mortified look. They chatter was then cut short when their astronomy professor showed up. It was time for studying the planets.