Chapter 3: I Fight a Hippo

(Lily)

When I arrived at Kings Cross station with Hugo, and Jacob, I couldn't help but feel that I was returning home. Despite the fact that I had only been there for a year Hogwarts felt like my home. It felt natural for Lucy to shake me awake every morning. For Roxanne to complain about going to classes every morning. For me to get in trouble on a weekly basis. I even missed Jacob's pranks that were a daily occurrence by the end of the year.

"What're you thinking about?" asked Jacob putting his feet up on the seat across from him.

"Nothing." I sighed. "Just the fact that I miss Hogwarts."

"So do I," Hugo said with longing in his voice. "Rose is driving me nuts. She's the most boring person on earth. She's always reading and not talking to me. I get so bored."

"You think you have it bad?" Roxanne, who had just appeared with Lucy and Frank in the doorway, questioned. "At least you don't have to deal with Fred constantly pulling pranks. He won't leave me alone. I mean I'm all for pranks but he makes them so weird. Last week he made the toilet explode while I was going to the loo."

Everyone laughed at Roxy's exasperated look.

"It's not funny," she muttered.

Everyone shared their stories about how annoying their siblings had been over the summer. I had nothing to say. It was actually the most peaceful summer ever. For the first time in history James and Albus had got along. They hadn't had one real fight all summer. Of course they had had little disputes but nothing major like last summer. It was great to see my brothers getting along.

The ride to Hogwarts was long, like always. At one point Liam and Seth came in to say hi but they left almost right after that. A bit after that James came in remind us that ZAAAP was pulling a prank during the Welcome feast.

ZAAAP was something that James, Fred, Roxy, Jacob and I made up. It was a pranking group, like the Marauder's except no one knew who we were. It was awesome.

When we arrived at Hogwarts I saw Jace and Dylan heading towards Hagrid with a bunch of other first years. I waved and Jace winked at me. Dylan waved back too.

"Have you ever wondered how cool it would be to play Man Hunt in the castle?" Jacob asked.

Lucy frowned. "What's Man Hunt?"

"Sorry. It's a muggle game. I think you guys call it Wizard Hunter?"

"Yeah let's play that!" Hugo said excitedly. He loved that game.

We all agreed and found several other people who wanted to play including Jacob, Frank, Roxanne, Lucy, Hugo, Liam, Seth, Izzy, Sally, James, Fred, Alice, Albus, Louis, his friend Jake, Rose, Scorpius, and me. We agreed that the losers would have to do a bet of the winner's choice.

"Ready?" asked Rose and Jake who were the Wizard Hunters. Everyone nodded. "Set… Go!"

We all ran as Rose and Jake counted to fifty. I hid with James, and Fred. Instead of taking one of the carriages we just ran. Fred and James went faster than me and I stared to fall behind.

"Wait… up," I panted.

"Sorry, Lils," Fred said, "But you have to keep up or get lost."

With that Fred and James speed up and I fell behind. Wow, my brother was so nice.

It wasn't long after that when I felt a tap on my shoulder and noticed I had been caught by Jake.

"Caught!" Jake declared proudly. "You're the fourth person."

By the time we got to the castle I found out that Rose hadn't caught anyone but Jake caught five people, me, Scorpius, Roxanne, Seth, and Sally.

"So, what should we make them do?" James wondered as we walked towards the Great Hall.

Everyone thought about that for a second. After a while Liam came up with the brilliant idea that the losers should have to prank Stony.

"No way," James said. "If we're going to prank Stony then I want in."

In the end we decided to scrap the whole 'losers have to do a bet' idea. Instead James, Fred, Jacob and I told everyone we would prank our oh so wonderful headmaster. No one believed we could do it so we bet a galleon that we could.

"Okay," Seth announced, "The rules are simple, you have to complete the prank before the feast is over. And Stony can't know it was you, got it?"

"Yep," Jacob responded.

Once we were seated in the Great Hall Stony began to speak.

"Students," he said giving a fake smile that hated, "I would like to announce that I will be Headmaster again."

"BOOO!" yelled James. "Looks like our lives got a hell of a lot worse."

"Anyway," Stony continued, "I wanted to tell you that we have almost completely new staff at Hogwarts."

"What?!" I exclaimed loudly.

"You heard me," Stony replied glaring. "There was new rule passed that all teachers have to be younger than sixty. So let's do quick introductions-"

I tuned out the intros. It's not like I really cared. Only one name shocked me.

"Mr. Lupin?" I repeated incredulously. I turned to James who was beside me. "Teddy's working here?"

James, who was grinning from ear to ear, nodded. "And Victorie. I saw them on the train, they were snogging," he added the last part as if it were the most important thing in the world. "Snogging. Teddy and Vicky. Can you believe it?"

"Wait, they're both working here?" Hugo repeated.

James rolled his eyes. "No," he said his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm lying to you as a prank. I even got Stony in on it too."

By the time I got over my shock I missed all the other teachers. The sorting had begun.

"Amber, Harold."

"Ravenclaw!"

"You owe me two sickles," Frank whispered in my ear. We made a bet on what house would be shouted first at the sorting. He had guessed Ravenclaw, I had guessed Hufflepuff.

"Dylan Corner!"

Ravenclaw!

"Jace Corner!"

Gryffindor!

James stood up and gave Jace a standing ovation.

"Maxwell Dursley!"

I had no doubt in my mind that Max would be a Hufflepuff.

"Gryffindor!"

"I'll take my sickles please, Lils." It was Albus whispering in my ear. We had made a bet one which house Max would go into. Apparently I was just unlucky with betting.

I didn't pay attention to the rest of the sorting. I was busy staring at the Teacher's Table. There were many new faces there. One that crept me out me out exceptionally was huge man sitting next to Teddy. He had grey hair that was parted in the middle, a somewhat chubby face, and arms that were around the same length as mine. He looked like a hippopotamus.

The sorting concluded and Stony stood up to make another announcement. "Thanks to the ministry Hogwarts is allowed to deal-" he stared directly at James. "-You know what, never mind. The prefects will lead you back to the Common Room."

I frowned. What was he going to say? I sighed decided I'd ask my brother later. I wanted to focus on the prank that was about to happen.

Just as Stony say down he shot into the air like a cannon ball. A banner came out of nowhere it read Courtesy of ZAAAP. Stony slowly floated to the ground, and walked off like nothing happened.

"What do you think he was going to say?" I asked James as we walked towards the Gryffindor Tower.

James laughed humorlessly. "He's just letting me know that he's going to have no hesitation to punish me this year."

James walked ahead of me and I couldn't help but feel like I was only getting a half answer from my brother.

(James)

I had no doubt in my mind that Hogwart's wasn't going to be the same this year. My first clue was Stony's rule about 'no professor's under sixty.' Apparently no one else had noticed but the new caretaker Mr. Joe- isn't his name just hilarious?- was way over sixty, as well as Malfoy. I had a sneaking suspicion Stony just wanted to get rid of all the good teacher's.

As I was walking I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Come with me Potter."

I didn't have to look up to know it was Stony. I walked along with Stony listening to the hypnotic sounds of my feet thumping on the floor. Thump Thump Thump.

Once we arrived at the office stony gave the password, Licorice Wands, and we entered.

The office itself looked no different from last year. There was a shelf with books, the sorting hat sat on top of it. The desk was in the middle of the room, making it look smaller and more confined. All the papers were in order. That was if there was any papers on the desk which there hardly was.

The room always reminded me of a dungeon. It was practically empty for starters, yet it seemed small. The lights were always dimmed, though I have no idea why. The light always cast eerie shadows on the walls.

"Do you know why you're here?" Stony asked locking his fingers and placing them on his desk.

"I'm guessing you want to blame me for something?" I said rolling my eyes.

"Mr. Potter, I hope you know this is a serious matter."

"Actually I don't know this is a serious matter because I have no idea why I'm here!"

"Well, Mr. Potter-"

"Stop calling me Mr. Potter. You and I both know you hate my guts- it's nothing new. So please just call me Potter."

"Listen, Potter," Stony began slamming his hands on the table, "I want you to quit the act. You be a good boy, and we can both get on with our lives."

I crossed my arms and put my feet on the desk. "And if I don't?"

"Then you'll have hell to deal with. Mark my words."

"Hell is my middle name."

And with that I walked out of the office.

(Lily)

It wasn't long before everything got back into routine. Lucy would wake me up in the morning, Roxy and I would fight over the bathroom, we'd get ready, meet Jacob, Hugo, and Frank and then go to class.

Thursday morning, however was different.

I woke up in a cold sweat on the floor in a rook that was most certainly not mine.

"Something wrong, sunshine?" asked an all familiar voice.

"What the hell Jacob?!" I demanded trying to get up but getting tangled in my blankets and landing flat on my face.

Jacob laughed. "Wow you're right Hugo, she does look like a witch in the morning."

"Well duh," Frank said, "She is a witch."

"I meant one of those muggle witches. The evil one's with the cauldrons, and the cats and the green face."

"My face is not green," I mumbled.

"Actually it is at the moment," Jacob chuckled. Then in a softer tone he added, "Did you have a bad dream."

I sat up trying to smooth my hair. "I was running from something, it was trying to chase me. I don't know what it was though."

Jacob put his arm around me. "It's okay. Don't' worry. Whatever it was, it's gone now."

"What else I'd like to know is what am I doing in your room?"

"Oh," Hugo said almost as if he had forgotten it was not normal for me to be here. "Well, Lucy, and Roxanne came here at about midnight complaining about your snoring-"

"I do not snore!" I protested.

"Oh, yes, you do," Jacob argued. "You sound like a construction site, you're so loud." He mimicked an awfully loud snoring noise that did not sound liked me what so ever. Or at least I hoped it didn't.

"Anyway, we're all used to snoring because of Frank here-"

Frank blushed. "I don't snore that loudly."

I laughed. "I can here you all the way from next door!"

Frank and Alice were our next door neighbours and although I couldn't hear him snore with a closed window, if we both opened our windows I probably could.

"So that's why you're here," Jacob concluded with a clap. "And you might want to hurry up, it's eight-fifteen."

"Eight-fifteen?!" I shrieked. "How am I supposed to do my hair?"

I quickly got ready and jumped into the boy's showers. The first thing I noticed was the smell. Merlin, it stunk. I had been in Hugo room before, not a pleasant experience, but this was worse. It was like they let dung bombs loose in hear.

I gagged and heard laughter coming from the other side of the door. "Okay in there, snorezilla?"

I glared and then realized Jacob couldn't see me.

"Shut up," I moaned.

Jacob snorted. "You wish."

I spent the remainder of the morning listening to Jacob's taunts.

"Snorezilla?" Roxanne repeated when we were seated at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast. "That's a good one. How's it going, snorezilla?"

I didn't respond. "Aw, is snorezilla grumpy?" Jacob aid in a mocking voice. "Does snorezilla need a nappy-poo?"

"Shut it, Cadler," I grumbled.

"Or what?" Roxy giggled. "You'll make him go deaf with your loud snoring?"

So as you can see my morning did not get off to a good start. So, if you want to blame anyone for what happened next blame Jacob and Roxanne.

After breakfast I walked down the hall alone, tired of my annoying friends. I was thinking about how horrible this year would be with all the annoying new teachers when I ran into something soft ad squishy.

"Watch it, missy," growled the caretaker.

"Leave me alone," I mumbled pushing past the chubby hippo of a man.

It was honestly an accident, I didn't mean to push him down the stairs. In fact, it was his fault for being such a fat idiot. When I shoved past him, Mr. Joe lost his balance and toppled down the stairs.

"Crap," I muttered.

Now that I look back on it, it must have looked pretty suspicions but at the time I bolted. I ran as fast as I could out of there.

"Come back you no good hooligan!" yelled Mr. Joe.

Suddenly I was tackled from behind. Now, you may think that's funny, but getting squashed by a four hundred pound man is no laughing matter when it's happening to you.

"Come with me," he muttered.

I was half dragged to the Headmaster's office.

When I got there I noticed that James was sitting in one of the chairs.

"Lily!" he said, "Glad you could join us. I was just telling Ol' Stony here that he was an ugly hag."

"Might I add a dignified arse," I supplied.

James gave me a high-five and Stony frowned.

"That doesn't even make any sense," Stony pointed out shaking his head. "I'm going to say something, Potter, and I'm going to say it once: Back down now. You can't win this."

"I'll have you know, Potters don't lose."

James tried to grab me and storm out but Mr. Hippo blocked his path.

"Oh, you're not getting away that easily." Stony shook his head. His brown eyes glowing with hate. "We have a new form of punishment we'd like to test. And luckily, you get to be our guinea pigs."

Stony lead us to the dungeons. Then he lead us even deeper down.

"I didn't know you could get lower than the dungeons," I muttered to James.

"The only thing lower than the dungeons is the torture chamber," James replied. His expression was grim, but not afraid. I think James had seen too much to truly be scared ever again.

James nodded. "You're right."

I frowned wondering if I accidentally said that out loud.

Stony lead us down the hall for what seemed like hours. Though it was only minutes. I dragged my hand along the stone wall as we walked. Without realizing I started counting the stones.

109…110…111…112…

"We're here," Stony announced taking out a key and unlocking a grey steel door.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I only opened them when I heard James gasp.

The sight shocked me. There were chains lining the walls. On one wall there was a book shelf filled with books that had titles like 'the nastiest way to punish kids' and '101 curses to use for punishment.' The room itself was stone, cold, and musty smelling. In short it gave me the creeps.

"I love what you've done with the place," muttered James sarcastically, "The painting of the tortured little boy really brings out the color in the room."

"You've been here before?" I asked James in a whisper.

He nodded. "In my third year. Albus has too."

I admired the even tone in my brother's voice. Personally I was scared to death. My voice was shaking and I was barely stopping myself from crying out in fear.

The room reminded me of a show I'd seen once on muggle TV. I had been only five and my brother had been watching some show about criminals. I made the mistake of hiding behind the couch and watching it too. It was a cartoon, but it still gave me nightmares to this day.

"This is where detentions will take place from now on," Mr. Joe told us. "The level of… punishment will depend on your offence."

"Perhaps if you apologize now we won't have to give you a punishment," Stony hinted.

"I thought I made it clear last time," James growled. "I will never, ever surrender."

"Will you ever learn?"

"Learn your way? No, frankly I don't plan on learning to be an evil master mind."

"You should learn some respect, Potter," Mr. Joe growled.

"I should learn respect? Yeah, because all the books on this shelf show just how respectful you are."

"Go little, Potter," Stony said pointing at the door. "You're brother has some, ah, business to attend to."

(Albus)

The first week of classes was dreadful. All the teachers- besides Teddy, Victorie, and Neville- we're mean and horrible. Our new History of Magic teacher, Professor Macmillan, was especially nasty. Once Matt had just raised his hand, and gotten a detention. He especially hated Hufflepuffs for whatever reason.

The only teacher that remained form last year were Professor Bryson, Professor Malfoy, Professor Parkinson, and Neville. Every other Professor had been sacked because of the new rule saying you can't be over sixty to work at Hogwarts.

"If the professors can't be over sixty," Scorpius said on Friday afternoon, "Then why is my Grandfather still working here?"

"Because the Ministry just made up that rule to get rid of the good teachers," Rose huffed. "Think about it, McGonagall's gone, Trelawney was forced to leave, Professor Flitwick was going to come back this year but he wasn't allowed too."

I frowned. "You think they really did that?"

"They did."

James had appeared behind me.

"Whoa," I exclaimed jumping back in shock.

James gave me a cocky grin. "Did I startle you little brother?"

"No. I was just startled."

"James!" Rose suddenly yelled, "What happened to your hand?"

James pulled his sleeve down over his hand. "Nothing," he grabbed James' hand and examined it. On James hand was a scar, I must not follow the rules. Rose looked at the other hand, it read I must behave.

"Who did this to you?" I asked horrified. "It's like what happened to Dad."

"It doesn't matter, Al," James said. "Anyway, I got to run. See you later."

With that my brother ran off, leaving me to wonder what happened.

"I hate Mondays!" Louis groaned.

Louis and I were walking to class on the second Monday of September. This year the Gryffindor Third years had classes with Hufflepuffs, so Louis and I had been hanging out more than usual.

"Yeah, what do you think of Professor Macmillan?" I asked Louis.

"I love the meanest teacher in the school. Isn't it great getting yelled at for asking a question?"

"I was just asking." Now that I thought about it, it was a stupid question. Macmillan probably hated Louis the most out of everyone in our year.

I dreaded History of Magic almost as much as I had last year. It was annoying. Macmillan was like a military worker. The sound of his voice struck fear into the little kids. He made firsts years cry. I'd even seen him make Tommy's twin sister Tiana cry. She was in my year, though she was really emotional and sensitive. Macmillan yelled at kids and told them to 'get their acts together'. He looked like a military person, his black hair was styled in a military cut, and he wore army clothes under his robes. Do not ask me why.

"Albus!"

I turned around to see Dylan running towards me.

"Do… you know… where Charms… room is?" He was panting heavily, probably trying to run to class.

"Yeah, I'll take you there." I put a hand on Dylan's shoulder to guide him. "Oh- Louis go ahead without me."

My cousin waved and ran off. He didn't want to be late for class. The last kid who was late got three detentions.

"So, Dylan how are you liking Hogwarts?" I asked as we strolled down the corridors.

"It's awesome," he replied, his green eyes glinting behind his glasses. "I love Ravenclaw. everyone is so nice"

"That's good… hey it's your birthday! Happy birthday, Dylan."

"Thanks, Al." Dylan paused. "Do you have any advice? For Hogwarts, I mean?"

"Well don't be late, that's very important. Try to avoid the headmaster and the caretaker, Mr. Joe."

Dylan nodded and thought about the information I gave him. Then we arrived at the Charms class.

"And Dylan?"He turned around. "Yeah?"

"Be careful."

Dylan gave me a confused look but nodded almost as if he knew what I was thinking.

When I got back to class professor Macmillan was beyond mad. First he yelled. That was bearable. He was just saying some stuff about how I should be responsible. Then he started to get that look on his face. A look that almost every kid knew meant detention. When he gave me detention I bit back a retort or two, but then he said something about James and I unleashed.

"Don't be like your stupid brother spouting lies wherever you go. They should chuck him in St. Mungo's. He's just as dumb as your father was at his age. Guess the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree."

My hands shook with rage. Rose tried to hold me back but I shook free of her grasp.

"Listen here, Macmillan," I said, "and listen good. My Dad was a hero. If it weren't for him you would be dead right now. He defeated Voldemort when her was a baby. You'd think our History of Magic teacher would know that."

"Take your seat, Potter."

"Why don't you take your seat, Macmillan. Perhaps when you don't know what kind of crap is coming out of your mouth, you should just keep it shut."

"You can join me for detention this week Potter. No buts."

Just as he said the last sentence his butt caught on fire. The whole class started laughing.

"Weasley," Macmillan growled.

"Hey, that wasn't me!" Louis protested holding up his hand to show here was no wand."

Macmillan glared. "Detention both of you."

He was glaring at Louis and I. Why did all bad things seem to happen to Potters and Weasleys?

(Lily)

"I swear, I'm going to murder Professor Macmillan."

"What was that, Cadler?" Macmillan had appeared directly behind Jacob.

"I'm not a coward, I'm not going to change what I said I want to murder you."

"Perhaps you'll learn a little respect in detention."

"Perhaps you could learn a thing or two about personal hygiene from a troll," I countered.

Macmillan turned his gaze towards me. "Why don't you go wait for me in the hall, Potter. I'd like to have a little chat."

Maybe it was just my imagination but I swear he blew his incredibly smelly breath in my face on purpose.

I stalked out of the class angrily. All of the teachers were horrid this year. I couldn't stand it. It was the first week of October and I wanted to pitch myself off the astronomy tower.

"Ms. Potter." Macmillan's voice was cold. He looked over me as if assessing every detail of me. I would have shifted uncomfortable but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Professor Macmillan." I tried to use the same cold look but it wasn't nearly as good as Macmillan's.

"Who is the professor of the class, Potter?" Macmillan asked.

I frowned. "You are."

"Yes. Don't you think you should be respecting that fact?"

"Don't you think you shouldn't be abusing your title?" I countered.

Macmillan pursed his lips. "I'd appreciate if you would give me the respect I deserve."

"And I would appreciate it if you got hit by a bus but you don't hear me complaining."

Macmillan frowned. He looked angry which made me proud.

Whatever Macmillan was about to say got interrupted by Teddy.

"Excuse me, Professor but it's already 11:09. I'd like to take the first years."

Macmillan turned his gaze on Teddy. "Very well, Theodore."

"I prefer Lupin or Professor Lupin if you may."

If Teddy was still a student I wouldn't be surprised if he got a detention for talking back to Professor Macmillan. Not that Teddy had done anything wrong, but judging from the look Macmillan was giving him you'd think Teddy just murdered someone.

"Very well, Professor."

Teddy lead me away and Macmillan dismissed the class.

"Stop provoking him," Teddy said in a low voice.

"He's provoking me," I argued.

"Well then learn some self-control!" Teddy snapped.

I had never told Teddy about my disability so he didn't know that my brain really wasn't wired like other peoples. Self-control was not something that I had. The parts of my brain that were meant for self-control- ranging from not getting distracted to controlling my words- simply didn't took a deep breath. "Sorry, Lils," he said, "It's just that the professors aren't right in the head. And frankly Macmillan is the least of your worries. Be careful around Mr. Joe, and Malfoy. They're dangerous."

I could understand how Mr. Hippo-Man was dangerous- he had tried to flatten me into a Lily Pancake- but Malfoy seemed harmless. I know that's hard to imagine, given his past, but he had really changed. His defense classes were fun and informative, we hardly had a class without magic. I loved it.

"What's wrong with Malfoy?" I wondered out loud.

Teddy raised his eyebrows. I could tell he was biting back a sarcastic remark. "Just stay out of the way. And for the love of all things good do not take advice from James."

I knew exactly what Teddy meant. James didn't handle being bossed around very well. The teaching style of the new professors wasn't exactly his cup of tea. And when things weren't the way he was used to, James went a little crazy. By that I mean he thought up crazy schemes that would land him and dozens of people in the hospital wing. I suppose it was his way of dealing with odd things. Most people became quiet and thoughtful but James became rambunctious and loud- even more than usual. It was a very bad idea to get on the wrong side of his plans when he was in that mood.

"Yeah okay."

Teddy's class went by as it usually did. We read in our textbooks for the first twenty minutes, then we did an actual lesson. Jacob, Roxy, and I joked around as we worked Lucy reprimanded us for not focusing. Teddy told her to lighten up, and then dismiss us.

For once I just wish things were a tad more interesting, less routine.

Boy, did I eat my words within the next few months.

Thanks to Random Person With No Name and Roar (guest) for reviewing. Thanks to them I updated in three days instead of a week.

1: I am thrilled with how many views I am getting. It seems that having a series makes people want to read your fanfic more. So thanks you to everyone and

2: Sorry about all the perspective changing in this chapter. That will be fixed in the coming chapters. There will only be two of the Potter kids narrating. Occasionally we might have a special guest narrate like Scorpius and Jacob has done in the past.

2: Roar: Please make an account. Please. I want to private message you but I can't if you don't have an account. Plus you can favorite stories and get alerts when my story is updated.

4: Please continued to review :) thank you amazing readers. Reviews make me so happy. If you can't think of anything to say, tell me who your favorite character is. I'm dying to know, in case anyone is curious mine is James or Jacob.