Chapter Ten
And so the classes begin…
The first few days passed without incident. By which I mean Lily avoided James like he was the plague. Of course her cat hadn't made it easy, Lily had taken to just letting Buttons wander because she didn't want to go talk to James while recapturing her.
It was the first day of classes again and Lily was really excited, she had been reading all of her new school books nonstop since their purchase and she probably knew a lot more than most of her peers by that point.
"I can't believe we'll be starting off every week with double History of Magic." Maggie said. "I can never stay awake, by the time we get to Transfiguration; I am literally going to be a zombie."
Lily laughed, "How can you take notes if you're sleeping."
"I can't take notes even then." Maggie said and Mary nodded.
"Yeah, you are the only one I know who manages to stay awake through Binns' drawl." Mary observed.
Lily shook her head, "No, it's that nobody else bothers to try and stay awake."
They walked from breakfast in the great hall to History of Magic together. Most of the class was already there, well minus the four boys Lily had come to know and hate. Well, except for Remus who Lily felt very sorry for. She had concluded something about Remus since the term had started, she thought of all the times he'd been visiting his sick mother had been a full moon. He was sickly close to the full moon and Lily had her suspicions, you might be able to guess what they were.
Anyway when they arrived and Professor Binns let them into the classroom, everyone groaned in unison as they saw the words, GIANT WARS, written on the blackboard.
"Welcome to second year, this year we will be looking at the Giant Wars of Independence." He said, "Now, you will need to take extensive notes this year as everything is –"
"Sorry we're late professor." James said bursting through the door, Peter, Remus and Sirius followed close behind him.
"Very well, take a seat Porter, Pettergrow, Brown, Loopy." He said. Everyone sniggered, his guesses at students last names had become more and more off the mark. He barely remembered the letter they started with any more. "As I was saying, everything is relevant."
James groaned and barely two minutes after they had entered the room, Sirius pushed a piece of parchment in front of him. They were at the back right of the classroom, they shared a desk.
Sirius: Kill me. NOW!
James: But then who will amuse me? Ha ha.
Sirius: True, I am pretty awesome, how are we going to pass this class this year. After all…EVERYTHING IS RELEVANT.
James: I don't know, Remus might be immune to Binns.
Both of them looked up at Remus who had his head resting in his hands, his eyelids fluttering closed and then flying open every few seconds.
Sirius: Who else?
James: If Evans didn't hate me then maybe she'd lend us her notes, look, she's actually taking notes.
Sirius: Yeah, maybe we should get Remus to ask. They get on OK.
James: Really. I didn't know that.
Sirius: Jealous Jamie-boy?
James: No, just didn't know that. Why would I be jealous?
Sirius: Because you like Evans.
James: I do not, she's a stuck up little know it all.
Sirius: If you say so. Maybe we should pay attention.
James: No, we'll think of something.
Sirius: Fair enough.
James: I can't wait until next year, we get to pick what we want and visit Hogsmeade, go to Zonko's.
Sirius: Agreed.
Across the room, Maggie and Mary sat. Maggie at the desk in the back left corner, Mary sat beside her at the double desk and Lily sat in front of them, alone, as there was an odd number of students in their class.
Maggie: Do you think we should try to take notes.
Mary: I can't, I tried for a whole year last year, it doesn't work. It just makes my head hurt.
Maggie: True, at least we have transfiguration next, McGonagall will give Lily a lot of housepoints.
Mary: Yeah, Gryffindor's in second.
Maggie: Who's first anyway?
Mary: Hufflepuff, I think.
Maggie: Really, who knew?
Mary: They're just as smart as anyone else.
Maggie: I guess so.
Mary: I really wish you'd be nicer to people, there might be a reason that it's always the three of us talking to each other, maybe we should try and befriend a few new people this year.
Maggie: Yeah, but not Catrin Hanson, she's just so…
Mary: You don't have to finish that.
Maggie: Good, I know you don't really like swear words.
Mary: It's times like this that I am really happy that Lily's our friend and the only one able to stay awake during Binns' lectures.
Maggie: I know, right. That and she takes amazing colour coded notes.
Mary: Why is it important that they're colour coded?
Maggie: Because it's easier to study if it's pretty. Duh!
Mary: What do we have after Transfiguration?
Maggie: Potions.
Mary: Awww
Maggie: I know, but maybe this year me and Lil won't get stuck with tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber over there.
Mary: Yeah, there were some very literally explosive accidents last year.
Maggie: I just hope Lily keeps her cool better this year.
Mary: I don't know, I know she swears against it but I sometimes wonder if redheads do have bad tempers.
Maggie: Don't say that to her. She hates stereotypes.
Mary: I know.
Maggie: Good, I don't want us to fight.
Mary: We got through a whole year without fighting last year.
Maggie: True, but you've got to wonder how we actually managed that.
Mary: Because we're so great, other than that, we are amazing.
Maggie: Maybe we should stop writing, Binns is getting suspicious, we never write in this class.
Mary: Agreed.
Maggie: Wake me if I start drooling.
Mary: Likewise.
They stopped noting at that point and started trying to listen to the lecture, Lily had covered three pieces of parchment front and back by the end of the class.
"Did you take good notes?" Maggie asked.
"Yes, and yes you can borrow them." Lily said.
Maggie put her arm around Lily, "You know me so well."
"Yes, yes I do."
Mary giggled, "Maggie, you have no shame."
"No, it just slows me down." She said. Her friends laughed.
After their first day of classes everyone was slumped in chairs in their respective common rooms and Lily was no different, James, Peter and Sirius sat in the overstuffed armchairs by the fire.
Lily was surprised that Remus wasn't with them, he was always with them and it wasn't…near any time that Lily thought would affect him.
Mary and Maggie were sitting discussing their potions essays.
"I'm going to head to the library," Lily said, "There's a book that I remember reading about the properties of Moonstones. I'll be right back." She said, climbing out of the portrait hole. She stopped dead in her tracks outside, Remus was sitting just underneath the portrait hole, his knees pulled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them.
"Hey, Remus, are you OK?" Lily asked putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, thanks Lily, I'm fine." Remus said smiling gratefully as he straightened up again.
Lily felt a little reluctant to ask the next thing but she knew she had to, if only to satisfy her own conclusion, "Remus…" she paused and Remus looked at her expectantly, "Are you…a…werewolf?"
What little colour there had been in his face drained and he stood speechless for a few minutes. Lily cut in before he could say anything.
"Look, I'm not going to tell anybody, but if you ever want to talk to anybody, you can talk to me."
He sighed, "I guess, I couldn't avoid somebody finding out forever."
Lily laughed, "Hey, it took me a year to notice."
"Well, if it took you a year to notice, then I don't suppose anyone else will find out." Remus joked, "I mean you're really smart."
"I'm not going to tell anyone, so don't worry about it." Lily assured him, "I'm going to go to the library so that I can get a book to finish my potions essay. I'll see you later." She said, waving as she left him alone in the ancient stone hallway.
Remus chuckled to himself as she left; trust Lily Evans to be the one to treat his, condition, with such nonchalance.
Although it made him worry, if Lily knew, his friends couldn't be much further behind with their conclusions.
He got up and dusted his hands off as he gave the Fat Lady the password and joined his friends in the common room, the weight on his mind slightly less. He felt happy just to sit and joke with his friends about teachers and help them with their homework as he always did.
Lily let her index finger travel along the dusty spines of the books until it landed on the one she was seeking. She pulled it out and proceeded to Madame Pince's desk. She set the book up and Madame Pince appeared with her sharp features and hawk-like eyes.
Lily was glad she had asked Remus, she knew that she would be right but she felt like it would be less of a burden on his part if perhaps he knew that somebody else knew and didn't judge him for it, after all, it wasn't actually his fault, it was somebody else's another werewolf and that could go back to the first werewolf there had ever been.
As she walked along the stone lined hallways her mind wandered, his parents certainly supported him, as did, of course, Professor Dumbledore and the staff and it certainly hadn't changed her perception of him in the slightest. He was still the same old mild-mannered, clever, soft-spoke Remus. Nothing would change that to Lily anyway. She meant what she had said, she wouldn't tell anybody, she did understand but not everybody would have reacted the way that she had, and she knew this.
One thing kept her from telling Maggie and Mary and that was the simple feeling that…it wasn't her secret to share.
She returned to the common room, Remus smiled at her as she came in and she smiled back at him. James eyes darted between the two of them, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Lily sat down where she had been for the last few hours previous to her trip to the library and began reading through Maggie's essay for her, it was like nothing had changed, like the summer holidays hadn't actually happened and they'd never parted. It was nice, Lily had spent a lot of the holidays with Severus and she missed him but otherwise all her friends were there with her and she was ready for another year of magic. Literally.
Read & Review Please