Disclaimer... these characters belong to JKR
McGonagall was frowning over papers in her office when James knocked on the door.
"Oh – Potter, yes, come in. You're here about the try-outs?"
"Yep"
"Right, I managed to convince Horace to let us have the pitch tomorrow at four, so you should be able to get the word out by then"
James was impressed. "How'd you convince Professor Slughorn?"
He could've sworn McGonagall smiled. "A box of crystallized pineapple, a bottle of Rosmerta's finest mead, and some blatant flattery"
Grinning, James leaned forwards to balance his elbows on his knees. "Nice job Professor"
"Thank you Mr Potter. Now, I expect that you'll put together a superb team – the two other old Chasers and you are the only ones remaining at Hogwarts"
The dark haired witch looked back at her marking, clearly dismissing him.
It seemed that more than a few older students had forgone lunch that day in order to get a head start on homework, and the Marauders were quiet for once, reading as they ate.
James had Achievements in Potioneering propped up on a pitcher of pumpkin juice in front of him, and was jotting down notes about the Draught of Living Death and the reactions of the ingredients as he piled pork chops onto his plate.
"Remus?" he asked.
"Hmm?" Remus was still squinting at Registry of Common Potions Ingredients.
"Explain the poppy seeds"
"Ok, the poppy seeds induce sleep – it's not just their chemical makeup, it's also the fact that they've had a history of being a flower that cause sleep. Remember when Peter made us watch The Wizard of Oz last summer?"
"Hey!" Peter said indignantly. "You loved that movie"
"Anyways" Remus continued. "That poppy scene, where the flowers make them all fall asleep?"
"I don't think I can reference The Wizard of Oz in my Potions essay"
"Maybe not" Remus allowed. "But opium is derived from poppies, and opium can be turned into heroin, which the Muggles use as a drug. But Lily could've told you that, and she'd probably explain it better – why aren't you sitting with her? She's top of the year at Potions, apart from Snape"
"I dunno. She's being weird. But thanks Remus"
"No problem"
Remus turned back to the Registry.
Up at the high table, the new DADA professor, Hawthorne, was calmly eating salad and pork chops.
"When do we get him for lessons?" Peter asked, following James's eyes.
Pulling out his schedule, James ran his eyes down the colour coded blocked that Remus had insisted on charming.
"Not till tomorrow" he said, putting away the sheet of paper.
"He looks boring". Sirius prodded at his green beans and made a face.
"Eat your vegetables" Remus said without looking up from his book.
A little ways down the table, Lily was bent over a sheet of parchment, so low that her nose was nearly touching it. She was scribbling away furiously as her friends chatted over their pumpkin juice. Alex had joined their circle, and he and Camilla were draped all over each other. James looked away.
"How was Care of Magical Creatures?" he asked Peter.
He shrugged. "Professor Merrythought told us he's trying to bring in a chimera, but we just got Kneazles today"
"He's mad, that one" Sirius said with a bit of awe in his voice. "Imagine what we could do with a chimera-"
"No" Remus said firmly, folding up his book and shoving it in his bag. "I'm going to the library, and James, you're coming with me. I messed up my Vanishing spell in the Transfiguration practical and you're the best at it"
Remus hauled him away by the arm as he frantically tried to stuff the last of his pork chop in his mouth.
The library was already busy with sixth years and seventh years. James felt a twinge of anxiety, looking at the stacks of tomes in front of the older students, and remembering all the stories he'd heard about NEWTs. They were called Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests for a reason. Most everyone said they were even worse than OWLs.
In the back of the library, they found a quiet table, and Remus passed James the Registry as he started working on Vanishing a bread basket that he hauled out of his bookbag.
After watching his friend for a moment, James said; "Your wand movement's too stiff. It has to be graceful. More of a swoop than a slash"
Gritting his teeth, Remus tried again. You could hear the faint murmur of voices from the stacks, and the air was utterly still. No windows were open, and no fires were lit, so the air was motionless and cold. Stiff, almost. Like egg whites beaten into peaks.
There was a crashing noise from over in the shelves and James poked his head around the corner.
Lark Rivers was crouched, trying to gather up an assortment of textbooks that she'd dropped.
"Need some help?"
"Nope"
James bent down anyways and picked up a few of the books, stacking them on the table beside her.
"I'm James – from the train?"
"I remember" she said, brushing fine brown hair out her eyes.
"Have you started on the Potions essay yet?"
"Yeah, but I haven't been able to find any sources that talk about the poppy seeds"
"Oh – have you tried Registry of Common Potions Ingredients?" James suggested.
"All the copies are checked out of the library". Lark shook her head and gathered up the rest of her books. "I'll just flip through these and see if I can find anything"
"I have a copy of Registry. If you want, you could look through it?"
Well, technically it was Remus's book, but James was sure he wouldn't mind sharing.
Lark smiled slowly. She had a nice smile – sort of mocking, but in a friendly way.
"Sure. That'd be great, James"
Lily cut across the study area to get the Restricted Section, and was halted by the sight of two dark heads bent over a book together. She recognized one of those heads. No one else had the same absurd, sticky-uppy hair. The other one – the girl's brown hair hung down like a curtain over one cheek, but Lily could see her strong profile, and recognized Lark Rivers.
That's right. That morning, James had mentioned her. And Lily had practically goaded him into pursuing her.
"Hi"
Lily tossed her bag on to the table beside the pair and slid into a seat.
"Remus mentioned you had a few questions about the Potions homework?"
James looked up, frowning, but when he saw her, he grinned.
"Hi Lark" Lily greeted the Slytherin Prefect, smiling. Lark waved.
"Yeah – and I had a question about the Prefects' bathroom, too"
"The Prefects' bathroom" Lily said flatly.
"Yep. Apparently, as Quidditch Captain, I'm on the same level as you Prefects so I get to use the bathroom. I popped in there this morning – how do the bathing arrangements work? Does everyone bring bathing costumes or is it a big watery orgy?"
Half exasperated, half amused, Lily pressed her lips together and reached over the table to whack James upside the head with the book in her hand.
"Ouch"
"You deserved it" Lark told him, reaching to high five Lily.
"It was a serious question!" James protested, rubbing his head and looking wounded.
"It was not" Lark said sternly, but her brown eyes were dancing, and she and James shared a conspiratorial grin. Lily felt suddenly out of place, and cleared her throat, pulling out her Potions work.
"So see, the poppy seeds complement the Shrivelfig – but I know the ingredients pretty well, so I knew that the belladonna extract would float to the top so I could skim it out, leaving just enough that the sleep is instantaneous-"
James woke up early on Wednesday, even earlier than Alex, and tossed a pillow at Sirius.
"I'm going to kill you" Sirius threatened in a muffled tone.
Ignoring his friend, James rolled out of bed and grabbed his captain's badge from the bedside table, and his Nimbus 1989 from under the bed.
"Quidditch try-outs today!" he told Sirius happily.
Removing the pillow from his face, Sirius sat up and yawned. "Quidditch try-outs today, at four o'clock" he corrected. "The fuck are you doing?"
"Preparing. Organizing. Getting ready to captain"
Sirius looked, if possible, even more annoyed, and yawned again, dragging a hand down his face.
By this point, their conversation had woken the others up, and Alex bounced out of bed, far more cheerful than anyone had a right to be at that hour. Oliver Sands scurried off to the washroom, and Remus and Peter sat up, rubbing their eyes blearily.
"He's all hyper" Peter observed, in a rather detached manner. "I don't like it"
"No one likes it when James is hyper" Remus pointed out.
James ignored them, concentrating on polishing his broom handle.
"What time are try-outs?" Alex asked, pulling on his trainers.
"Four o'clock" James said immediately. "What position d'you play?"
"Keeper" Alex told him, standing to go. "I'll see you lot down at breakfast, yeah?"
After he left the room, there was a moment of silence.
"He's alright" Sirius said, flopping back on the bed.
"He's not a bad bloke" Remus agreed. He already had his nose buried in a book, and James squinted at the cover. Miranda Goshawk's Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six.
"How's your Vanishing spell coming?" he asked Remus.
"Not bad" Remus said. "Yesterday I Vanished half of Mrs Norris before Marlene caught me and made me put her right"
James shook his head. "Shame you didn't Vanish her completely"
"I really hope Merrythought doesn't get a chimera" Peter spoke up, breaking the lull in the conversation. "I don't want to deal with a chimera on top of everything else"
"On top of everything else?" Sirius sounded vaguely amused.
Peter coloured and crouched down to pick up the sock he'd dropped.
"Peter?" Remus bent down and peered under the bed to look at him.
"I didn't mean that" Peter said quickly.
"What did you mean?" James took a break in his broomstick polishing and reached for the twig clippers.
"I just meant-", he sighed and dropped his head to his chest. "There's a girl" Peter admitted, and Sirius whooped loudly.
"A girl? Who is she? How old? What's her name? Do we know her?"
"Yes, a girl. She's a Ravenclaw, she's a fifth year, her name is Hallie, and you don't know her. I think" Peter told them. "We met a few times over the holidays – and I like her?"
"Good for you, Peter" James said briskly. "We'll help you woo her"
Caught off guard, Peter stammered. "Uh – what, no thanks – Merlin, no, don't do anything, Remus stop them?"
"Alright" Remus said, laughing. "If Peter wants our help, he'll ask. Leave her alone, Prongs. You too Padfoot"
"Fine" James sulked, clipping a bent twig with more force than was strictly necessary.
On Thursday, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sixth years lined up in front of Professor Hawthorne's classroom, chattering excitedly. Rumours were flying. Some people insisted that he was helping Dumbledore hunt down Death Eaters. Others claimed that he'd been living with giants for the past four years. Lily was just happy he wasn't Jugson.
Shaking her head, Lily ended up next to Remus in the line. "If he's done half the things this lot seem to believe, this ought to be an interesting year"
Remus grinned at her. "Oh definitely. What did you think of Professor Tallhart?"
Lily wrinkled her nose. "I dunno" she admitted. "She seems a bit weird-"
"She teaches Divination" James interrupted, popping up between them. "She's gonna be weird"
"Yeah, well, I'm reserving judgment. Her lesson was interesting, but that book she assigned us is just creepy" Lily insisted.
"It is" James agreed, leaning on Remus's shoulder. "Are you coming to Quidditch try-outs this afternoon?"
She shrugged. "Maybe. Camilla's going"
"To support Alex?" Remus asked.
"Nope" Lily said. "She's trying out"
"I didn't know she played" James said, slightly surprised.
"Yeah, she plays Seeker. She's pretty good, I think"
"She commentated last year" Remus remembered.
Lily laughed, remembering. "She was terrible at it"
"She was a laugh" James argued, but shut up when the classroom door opened and Professor Hawthorne stuck his head out.
"Come in everyone" he said, before retreating.
Marlene caught up to Lily once they were inside, grabbing the desk next to her and dropping her bag on the floor.
"Hi! I haven't seen you at all today" Marlene smiled at her.
Lily thought back, going over their schedule in her mind. "Didn't we have Charms?-"
Marlene was shaking her head. "I dropped Charms, remember?"
"But you got an Outstanding in Charms!"
"I never really liked Charms" Marlene said, tapping the desk with her nails as the rest of the class filed in.
"Good afternoon" Professor Hawthorne grinned at his class. "I'm Professor Hawthrone. Now, I'd like you all to demonstrate your Patronus… we'll be learning about Dementors this unit"
A.N. So a guest reviewer asked if I have an updating schedule so they can know when to expect new chapters... I'm afraid I don't, mostly because I don't have reliable internet access. I try to post every three or four days, however.
I hope you all liked the chaper! Please review.
P.S.
How many of you have seen Fantastic Beasts? I saw it the other night and it was so amazing to be back in the wizarding world...