AN: Here is chapter 4! Thank you to all who have been reading my story, I really do appreciate it. :D
Chapter 4: Spilled ink and missing Eyebrows
The next morning James woke up to when the sun was shining through the slit in the curtains around his bed. He groaned and rolled over before remembering where he was and that he had his first day of school at Hogwarts awaiting him. He suddenly found himself wide awake.
He drew open his curtains and saw that he was the first one up. He pulled his p.j.'s off and pulled his robes out. He was thrilled to see that they were newly embroidered with the Gryffindors colors and letter. He was struggling with his tie when the curtains around the bed next to James were pulled open to reveal an excited and slightly disheveled Remus.
"Good morning." James said cheerfully. Remus' nodded. James could tell just by looking at him that he was nervous. He was shaking slightly and looking at the ground. "This is going to be great, yeah?" Remus nodded again, still not looking at James. "Oh come on mate. What's the problem?" Remus' head snapped up and he looked James in the eyes. He looked vulnerable. James shifted uncomfortably, momentarily giving up on his tie.
"What if they don't li-" Remus stopped mid word and looked back at the floor. He wasn't about to make himself look like even more of a loon. James thought he knew what Remus was going to say. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous about being liked, but still, he wasn't going to make fun of him when he looked like he did. They were friends too, even if only for a day now.
"Don't worry about it. People will like you. Sirius and I like you." Remus looked back at James and smiled. That seemed to do it. Remus visibly relaxed and hopped out of bed.
"I didn't do it!" Sirius suddenly shouted angrily from inside his bed. James and Remus looked over at the bed alarmed. It was silent for a moment before the curtains were pulled open and Sirius smiled at them sheepishly. "Sorry. Reflex. Thought I was still at home for a moment there."
"Alrightly then." James laughed, pulling his tie down and then shoving the end of it down his shirt. It looked right to him any way. He then waited for Remus and Sirius to get dressed before they all headed off to the great hall for breakfast. They found the four tables, once again, full of all sorts of food. Of course it wasn't as extravagant as it had been at the feast last night, but it was still great.
"Are we going to get to eat like this every morning?" Sirius asked openly gawking at the food as they walked toward the Gryffindor table.
"Yes Mr. Black, you are. We like our students to be substantially fed before we fill there minds as well." Professor McGonagall said causing them all to jump slightly. "Here are your class schedules. Do try to get to your classes on time boys. Points are taken for tardiness and I like seeing my house win the cup. Kapeash?"
"Umm…" Sirius finally nodded and McGonagall walked away. James and Remus had already taken a seat and were looking at their schedules that she had handed them. Sirius took at seat and pulled a plate over, disregarding his schedule.
"Looks like a nice Monday. We have Herbology with Ravenclaw, History of Magic with Hufflepuff, and then double transfigurations with Slytherin. That one should be interesting."
"Always is when you get a class with Slytherin and you have McGonagall or Slughorn." Said an older student. "They both pretend not to favor their own students, but they do. McGonagall more then Slughorn. He just picks favorites. Doesn't care what house they are in. Then he gets them together for parties and dinner and such. Calls it the slug club."
"Oh?" Remus said putting his schedule aside and filling up his plate.
"You think I am joking. He doesn't even bother to remember people's names unless he thinks they are going to become famous later in life. He has been calling me Tumbletin and Tummy for 5 years now."
"What's your name?" James asked pulling a plate close to him..
"Richard Smith." The boy scoffed. They all laughed. They ate the rest of their breakfast and then walked back up the Gryffindor tower to get their books that they would need and then made their way out to the green houses.
The Ravenclaws were all huddled in one big group in the back of the green house, where as the Gryffindors were spread out a bit more and a few of them were trying to make conversation with the Ravenclaws. James could hear Carl trying to ask about some of the plants. "I was reading our text book and it says that some of the plants can attack us. This isn't true is it? I mean, they are just plants, right?" James' didn't hear the response but laughed at him just the same. He had only meant to have a little fun, but it seemed as though they had really scared him. Carl would get over it eventually; otherwise, James was going to have a lot of fun with him.
Soon professor Sprout, appropriately named James thought, walked in with a little green plant looking hat on her head, instead of the normal black witch's hat, and told the class to quiet down, which they did so quite quickly.
"Now we aren't going to be dealing with anything dangerous for quite some time, but we are going to be learning about devils snare today. It is nasty little buggier and appears to be completely harmless. Does anyone know what Devils snare does?" A few hands shot up. Sprout called on a red headed Gryffindor. "Name dearie?"
"Lily Evans. Devil's snare will attack a person if you touch it. It will wrap its vines around a person or object that it can reach, and the more you struggle to get away the tighter it squeezes. Its enemy is the sun or light if you will." She finished. Professor Sprout nodded and gave her a bright smile.
"That is absolutely correct Miss Evans. 10 points to Gryffindor." James smirked as he noticed that a few of the Ravenclaws looked much put out that they were not getting the points. After all, their house was known for their intelligence and they had been beaten by the brawny house in the very first class.
Sprout went on about devils snare until the end of class and told them that by the end of the week they would get to work with it before dismissing the class and leaving a much shaken Carl to worry about the days to come in Herbology.
"Calm down Carl. She wouldn't let us do anything that could get us seriously hurt." Frank said as they walked up to the castle to go to History of Magic.
"But you heard what Lilly said. I does hurt people." Carl said pointing at that back of the red head.
"Well, you are going to have to trust that the teacher knows what she is doing and that you will be safe." Frank sighed in an exasperated fashion. Carl looked as if he was going to protest again but Frank shrugged and then walked ahead of Carl so that he could catch up with Stephen.
"I don't know Carl." James said slyly. "It is going to be awful hard for her to watch everyone at once. Something could happen." He looked at Remus and Sirius for back up, Sirius gave it to him.
"Yeah, you might want to get a seat right next to her from now on. Just in case." He said biting his bottom lip to prevent a laugh from escaping.
"Yeah. Probably." Carl muttered and then ran ahead to walk with Ian and Orian. James and Sirius laughed as soon as he was out of ear shot.
"Maybe you guys should let up a bit. This is all new for him." Remus said quietly.
"We're just having a bit of fun." Sirius shrugged. Remus looked down at the ground.
"But he's right; don't want to beat a dead horse." James said aware of how Remus was feeling. "Besides, it's not as if the bloke is in Slytherin."
"Yeah, alright." Sirius agreed grudgingly. "But what are we going to do now?"
"I am sure we will think of something." James smiled.
History of Magic turned out to be a real boring class. Professor Binns lectured the whole hour, starting and ending when the bells rang. But the Hufflepuffs had acted the same way the Ravenclaws had. When they entered the room, they were all huddled together in a corner.
"Is it just me, or do we seem like the only house open to inter-house relationships?" Sirius asked as they all took their seat. James nodded in agreement, Remus too. "Let's just hope the Slytherins keep this up."
"That seems like to much to hope for." James snickered.
"There is nothing wrong with the people in Slytherin. You don't even know them." The red head Lily said with a voice that let them know she disapproved of their predigest.
"Well, I have never heard of a decent bloke who was in Slytherin. You?" James said crossing his arm.
"My best friend is in Slytherin." She said glaring at him.
"Then you need to rethink your choice in friends." Sirius muttered and James and Remus laughed. She glared at them before choosing a seat on the other side of the room.
After History of Magic, they all went down to the great hall for lunch. They were rather quiet as they walked, seeing as how sitting through Professor Binns' class was rather like being hypnotized into a sleepy stupor. Though they quickly woke up after getting some food and drink into their systems.
Shortly after they finished their lunches, the whole Gryffindor class of first years was walking to transfigurations when something sort of opaque shot out of some empty classroom and started throwing things at their heads.
"Hello my little newbie Gryffindors firsties!" The thing shouted rather unnecessarily loudly, swooping down and knocking into them all as it yelled. He then made a grab at James' bag and dumped the contents out before finding what he wanted. He proceeded to pour a new bottle of ink all over Carl and Ian. Ian's blond hair was splattered with black and it was dripping down his nose and onto his book. Carl's black hair hid the ink better, but he had looked up and his whole face had turned black. The looks on their faces were that of pure indignation.
"Peeve!" McGonagall shouted coming round the corner.
"Yes McGonnie-goo!" He tried to throw something at her but with a flick of her wand, the empty ink bottle disappeared. Carl, Lily, and a few others were very impressed with the small magical display.
"Do you want me to go and get Professor Dumbledore?" A bit of fear crossed his face, but then he laughed and just bounce away down the hall. "This way students. I am sorry about him." She didn't seem to notice that two of the students were covered in ink. Until Carl started trying to wipe the ink away and his peers started giggling, she turned around and sighed. With another wave of her wand, the ink vanished and the boys were set to rights again. Then she turned to lead the class away.
James quickly refilled his bag with the help of Remus and Sirius and then they jogged a bit to catch up with the rest of the class.
They followed her down the corridor until they reached her classroom, which smelled pleasant despite the fact that the walls were lined with animals in cages. There was everything from mice, to pigs. The Slytherins were already seated on one side of the room so that there was only one empty seat on there side and there were no stragglers on the other side of the room, this made Sirius rolled his eyes, but James simply shrugged. He didn't care if they all wanted to sit away from the Gryffindors. He preferred it that way actually.
The one Slytherin that was sitting alone was motioning to somebody near James. He looked around, hoping the kid wasn't motioning to him. He was not somebody James wanted to talk to, let alone sit near. The boy had shoulder length black hair that looked as though it had never been washed and dipped in grease, he was smiling but it looked wrong on his naturally crude face. He was missing the quality that well cared for children have naturally. It was almost a bit unnerving looking at him. Lily smiled brightly at him and walked over to sit next to him. James openly gawked and Sirius caught onto what he was staring at. Though he didn't stay quiet.
"He's your friend?" Sirius asked with disbelief dipping off every word.
"Yes." Lily said in a forced decorous voice, pulling her book out of her bag and putting it on the desk in front of her.
"But how could you be friends with-"
"I would stop there if I were you." Lily said loosing all air of being polite and looking Sirius in the eye. He did stop mid sentence, but then he laughed.
"I don't quiet get it either." James said thoughtfully looking between Lily and the Slytherin. The boy glared at him and stood up. Lily shot a hand out in front of him.
"No Sev, sit down. They will get what's coming to them." Lily said pulling on his robes.
"Was that supposed to be a threat?" Sirius said snidely.
"No, it was more of a promise." She said. Sirius laughed and moved off to find somewhere to sit, Remus following in suit.
"Just be careful his hair doesn't touch you." James said in a serious tone before turning around to follow his friends to their seats. He heard Lily scoff but that only made him smile.
"Settle down class!" McGonagall called from the front of the room. She had her wand out again and looked as though she was ready to start the class. The all found seats near each other, though Remus ended up sitting next to Peter and in front of James and Sirius.
This was the first class where they were all able to attempt to do magic for the first time. They were starting with, what McGonagall called, 'The simple task of turning water to rum.' Though, an hour into class, no one had yet been able to achieve this 'simple task'.
"So if we do turn the water to rum," Sirius said flicking his wand as his glass lazily, and looking up at McGonagall. "Do we get to drink it?" She shook her head and then pretended that she hadn't heard him at all. James laughed and turned around to face Remus.
"Any luck?" He asked peering into Remus' glass.
"Nope." He said popping the p. "Still water." Suddenly there was a small explosion from the seat next to him. They looked over to Peters face black with ash and his cup shattered. McGonagall seemed unfazed as she stood up and walked over to clean up the mess.
"There is always one." She muttered under her breath. "Well, you didn't hurt yourself, and your eyebrows will grow back in time." James was about to laugh when the entire Slytherin side busted up. Suddenly, James found the incident not humorous at all; Sirius and Remus seemed to be sharing his feelings.
"Knock it off." James said standing up. Peter cowered even more then normal. The Slytherins gave him no notice.
"Yeah, I would like to see you do any better." Sirius called out. Lily looked, for a moment, as though she was going to tell Severus to stop laughing but didn't when she realized who was sticking up for Peter. She rolled her eyes and went back to practicing the spell.
"I think we already did better just by not blowing our faces up." One of the boys said with a sneer.
"Yeah, and it's not like any of you can do it any way." Another boy said, with the same pinched face as the first. "But as you can see, all of us Slytherins still have our eyebrows."
"Okay students, that is enough." McGonagall said sternly. "I will not have student mocking each other in my class, get back to work."
"Really?" James said sitting back down and ignoring McGonagall's warning. "You guys think you're better then us?" Sirius gave a harsh bark of laughter before picking up his wand. In unison James and Sirius said the spell and flicked their wands at their glasses. The water turned to a brownish, amber color and they both smirked before picking up the glasses, clinking them together and taking a sip. The Slytherins pretended not to notice and didn't say anything any more.
"Very good boys." McGonagall said, nodding approvingly at her students. "5 points a piece to Gryffindor." The Slytherins weren't so quiet about their protest but nobody minded now that Gryffindor had won, even Lily told Severus to stop being a poor sport.
"They did the spell correctly, I don't see why they shouldn't be rewarded, now stop whining." She said turning away from him and trying the spell again.
"But- They- Didn't you hear them?" Severous asked shocked.
"Yes, they were sticking up for a friend when those boys up there were picking on him. There was nothing wrong with what they did." She said fiercely. "You would stick up for me if people had been laughing at me right?" She asked with a fiery look in her eyes.
"Yes, of course, but-"
"But nothing. You are making a big deal out of nothing." She sighed and then turned back to her glass of water.
By the end of class, most of the Gryffindors had been able to achieve the task and only a handful of Slytherins. The Gryffindors cheered each other on after someone achieved their goal, but the Slytherins just scowled at each other. More upset that somebody else had achieved what they hadn't then the fact that somebody from their house had succeeded. That was one of the major differences between the two houses.
When James, Remus, and Sirius left the classroom, the found that Peter was tagging along beside them. They didn't take much notice and James and Sirius continued to relive their moment of glory as they all made their way down to dinner.
AN: I hope you liked it! Remember that all reviews are appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read my story! :D I know that I wrote the same thing at the top, but I really do love you guys for reading this and reviewing. 3 Oh, and this is my longest chapter to date, just throwing that out there. :P