Chapter Forty-Nine – Winter Adventures at Hogwarts
The train ride back to school had been uneventful, and dinner had been followed by an evening settling back in to their dorms and getting reacquainted with friends that they hadn't seen over the holidays.
Classes began on Monday, and the Professors wasted no time loading the homework on the students. Lily was back in her element, and she ruled her little Ravenclaw study group like her own private fiefdom. The other kids didn't mind, because she was a kind and loving ruler, and dispensed her wisdom, hugs, and kisses in generous doses along with the demanding study schedule she kept them to.
Trinity might concede Lily's authority when it came to studying, but she was just as demanding a taskmaster for Quidditch, and they only had two weeks until the game against Slytherin. They worked hard, and they were ready when game day arrived.
The January and February games were always cold, but at least they weren't going to have to deal with rain, snow, or extreme wind during the game. Al, Carolyn, and Brianna were in the stands watching the game, and listened as Andy began his play-by-play as the game got underway.
"And they're off!" he shouted when the two teams took to the air. "Slytherin gets the Quaffle and forms up to attack. They pass once, and again – OH! – intercepted by Ravenclaw! Trinity passes over to Rose, who passes to Matt. He sweeps outside, but it's a fake! He swings back to the centre ring and SCORES!" The Ravenclaw section of the stands erupted in cheers.
"Ravenclaw leads ten – naught," Andy continued. "Slytherin takes the Quaffle again, and – Rose intercepts! She Shoots! She SCORES!"
The students watched in something close to awe as the Ravenclaw team literally dismantled their Slytherin opponents, giving them a thrashing that was just as thorough as they'd done last year as part of their plan to deal with Dirk Avery.
Their complete study of game film had worked even better at anticipating what the Slytherin Chasers and Beaters were going to do than they'd even hoped for, and their opponent seemed unable to try anything different than what they'd practiced, so they kept coming back with the same plays over and over again.
Lily's assessment of the Slytherin Seeker had also proved true, and she was able to easily keep him from even seeing the snitch, let alone chase it. Nick managed to wing him twice with the bludger from his right side, and Rick had gotten him fairly solidly one other time.
They were up three hundred and sixty to nothing when Trinity decided they'd taught enough of a lesson, and signaled Lily to catch the snitch.
"Potter's spotted the snitch!" Andy shouted after giving her time to get a big head start on the Slytherin Seeker. "Here comes Slytherin's Seeker! OH! That must have really hurt! And Potter catches the snitch! Ravenclaw wins five hundred and ten to naught." They heard a loud thump as the Slythering Seeker crashed to the ground. The medi-witch on duty rushed out onto the field, and quickly levitated the boy and hurried off toward the school.
Andy began to do something that he'd started this season – his post-game report.
"Ravenclaw goals – thirty-six, shots on goal, eighty-eight. Thirty-four interceptions, Nine Bludger hits with one disabled opponent. Ravenclaw Seeker caught the snitch to end game."
He looked at his notes, and double checked before continuing.
"Slytherin goals – naught, shots on goal, naught. Interceptions – naught. Bludger hits – naught. Slytherin Seeker – did not finish the game."
There was a fair bit of laughter in the stands now – except from the Slytherin section.
"Game time – One hour, thirty-two minutes," Andy continued. "Current Quidditch Cup standings – Ravenclaw in first place with two wins, Slytherin in second place with one win, Gryffindor in third with no wins, but ahead of fourth place Hufflepuff on points."
While Andy was continuing with his game summary, the two teams had landed. Trinity and the Ravenclaw team had gone to the centre of the pitch to shake hands with the Slytherin team, but when they got there, the Slyterin Captain wasn't interested in congratulating them on their win, or shaking hands.
"Don't even think about it, Chambers," the captain snarled at Trinity. "I don't know how you managed to spy on us, but you obviously did."
Trinity smiled sweetly at him. "Go ahead and think that if it makes you feel better. It isn't true, though. You gave us all the motivation we needed for this game yourself." She looked at Lily. "What was it he told everyone after their game against Gryffindor, Lily?"
Lily smiled and repeated it word for word.
"He said – 'Don't offer your useless and unwanted congratulations to us, orphan boy. It's been way overdue for Slytherin to put Gryffindor in their place.' He then went on to add – 'Oh, I do hope the brave Gryffindor captain isn't going to cry – that's what I'll expect out of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs when we beat them!'"
Trinity grinned at her and turned back to the Slytherin captain. "Does that refresh your memory?" she asked the now glowering boy. "Next time you might want to make sure you can back up what you say before shooting your mouth off."
The six remaining Slytherins turned away and stormed off of the pitch, while Trinity exchanged a high five with Lily. "That photographic memory of yours really comes in handy," she told Lily.
Al, Carolyn, and Brianna had joined them while the little confrontation had been going on, and they were laughing with the others as James, Aaron, and Arianna joined them too.
"Congratulations," James told them. "You guys certainly had their number again this year. Any chance you want to share so we can get a little revenge of our own next year?"
Trinity laughed. "Sure, why not? This is my last year, and I'm sure that Rose won't mind helping out her cousin and brother."
Rose laughed and nodded. Hugo had come over too and given her a hug. "If they keep it the same next year, they use the Arrows playbook," Rose told them. "The biggest part of getting ready for them was studying game film."
James looked surprised. "That's it?" he said incredulously.
Trinity smiled. "There was a bit more to it than that – their Seeker has a blind spot on his right side peripheral vision – which is why he didn't see any of those Bludgers – especially that last one that took him out, and all Lily had to to was get in the way of where he could see so that he wouldn't see the snitch either."
Rose nodded, and continued, talking to Hugo. "You guys were getting to their Keeper too, but if you didn't notice, he looks to where he's going before he moves, and he defends the outer rings first, which is why we scored twenty of our goals on the centre ring."
Arianna laughed. "You guys are truly scary," she told them. "Are you going to help out Hufflepuff too?"
Trinity laughed in delight. "Now that is a really brilliant idea! Nick, do you think Allie would be interested in sharing a little information with her House team?"
Allie laughed, since she'd been standing right there the whole time. "I think I could do that – and just in case they didn't hear about that jerk's comments about Hufflepuffs crying after Slytherin beats them, I'll be happy to pass that on too."
Nick gave her a hug. "That's my girl!" he said proudly.
Aaron laughed. "I'm thinking that our Slytherin friends are going to be running into another very bad stretch of games for the next couple of years. I wonder if they'll figure out how we're doing it?"
Lily answered him. "Not unless they change captains. He's about as incapable of creative thinking as I've ever seen."
Trinity led her team off of the field, and the others walked back to the school together before splitting up to go to their respective Common rooms. The party was already going in Ravenclaw Tower, and Al, Carolyn, and Brianna joined in while they waited for their team. This would be only the second weekend that Lily's study schedule was messed up, but once again, it was more than worth having to work harder on Sunday to catch up on their work.
There was a Hogsmeade weekend on the last weekend of January, and then another one on the second weekend in February – just ahead of Valentine's Day.
The first weekend, Al and Scorpius made their visit to town short – just going to pick up the few things that they needed to get, and what Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily wanted.
When the next weekend had come up, they were in town longer, picking out Valentine gifts, and making sure that Valentine's Day would be special for their girlfriends. They had lunch in town too, since it would have been after lunch at school by the time they'd returned.
Sure, they were busy with studies and Quidditch, but the New Marauders had also come to all enjoy the holiday pranks, and so they all worked together on something special for Valentine's Day.
Lily had also done all of the VirtualMall shopping for the small Valentine gifts that TNM would be having delivered in the Owl Post, and Arianna's mentors found that this was another one of the times of year when the students they helped needed just a little extra attention and support.
During the days between the Hogsmeade weekend, and Valentine's Day, there were often kids walking around munching on Chocolate Valentine Wheezes, and changing forms. James never really thought about it very much, but if he had, he'd have realized that every kid that ate one of those chocolates was putting money in his Gringotts account. Like everyone else, though, he just enjoyed the fun that they created with everyone.
Breakfast in the Great Hall on Valentine's Day was always special, as hundreds of Owl Posts arrived with the cards and gifts for the students, and even a few of the Professors.
When the Owls began arriving, Al was able to watch some of the kids that TNM had sent gifts to, and he'd loved watching their reactions almost as much as he'd liked watching Carolyn and the other Ravenclaw Marauders open theirs.
He'd sent a box of chocolates for both Lily and Carolyn, and a new necklace for Lily. With Carolyn, he'd decided against doing jewellery again this year, and had instead sent her the Spa in a bag that he'd picked up on the weekend at SpaMagic, and a new portrait of the two of them that Uncle Kevin had agreed to paint for him when he'd asked him when they'd all been on the island over the holidays. Kevin had even given him a special discount.
Lily had hugged him, and when Carolyn had seen the small, beautiful picture, she'd cried and given him a hug and kiss. The other girls were equally thrilled with their gifts, and they were all having a wonderful start to their morning.
Lily had gotten Al's attention after the gifts seemed to have mostly been opened around the Hall, and had nodded to him that it was time to put their Valentine prank into motion. He closed his eyes, put his hand in his pocket to hold his wand, and silently released a spell he'd seen his father do many times at the residence Christmas Party, and that Lily had taught him how to do.
The doors to the Great Hall were open, and hundreds of foil wrapped chocolates flew threw the doorway into the Hall. As the students began to notice, the candies swirled through the air in a blur of blue and pink foil for a few minutes before they began to descend, a blue one coming to rest in front of every boy, and a pink one in front of every girl, including one for every Professor.
It was no surprise that it was the brave Gryffindors who first opened and ate the treats, and as boys began transforming into knights in shining armor, and the girls were changed into fairy princesses, the sound of laughter and excitement was mixed with the sound of clanking armor and the rustle of hundreds of ballgowns.
The New Marauders certainly couldn't let themselves be caught by not eating the chocolates, so Al, Nick, Scorpius, and Matt joined the ranks of the Knights, while the girls all were soon outfitted in flowing gowns, and wore tiaras on their heads.
There was the occasional goofy kids that switched their candy, and so mixed in with the others, there were a few boys in dresses and girls in armor, which added even more to the hilarity of the situation.
The Professors had all watched this happen with tolerant smiles. Al happened to be watching the front, and saw Professor Williamson whisper something to Professor McGonagall, and she'd looked at him for a long moment before nodding. He'd grinned at her, then popped his own chocolate in his mouth. The kids closest to the front had seen his transformation first, and had begun pointing, laughing, and passing the information along to the other kids.
Both Professor Macmillans joined in the fun, as did Professor Longbottom. The students had applauded their teachers for joining in the fun. Professor McGonagall stood, and waited for the students to quiet.
"I received an anonymous letter in this morning's Owl Post," she announced, holding up a parchment. "It advises me that this little adventure will last for approximately one hour." She looked around at all of the gleaming knights and gowned princesses in the hall and couldn't help but smile.
"I believe that getting any work done in class, particularly for our young knights, is unlikely until the effects of these ingenious little chocolates wear off. Therefore I hereby cancel all first period classes." She had to wait until the loud cheering subsided again before finishing.
"Please be on time for your second period subject." She looked around the Hall, and then, surprising all of them, ate her chocolate too, and after her own transformation, swept grandly out of the Hall to the cheers of both the students and the Profesors.
"Who'd have ever guessed? Professor McGonagall has a sense of humour!" Carolyn said in amazement. "That has to be a first!"
Al's laughter sounded hollow coming from inside his steel casing. He clanked ponderously to his feet and held out his arm.
"May I escort you to our Common room, my lady?" he asked Carolyn, creaking as he bowed slightly. "We appear to have been given a reprieve from the daily drudgery of our studies."
She laughed, and standing too, placed her hand lightly on his gauntleted forearm.
"Why thank-you, Sir knight. I'd be delighted!"
The knights and princesses began to disappear an hour later, and the only drawback that the New Marauders hadn't anticipated had been that since they hadn't expected to get the first class off, they weren't exactly able to take advantage of the extra time to cuddle with their respective Valentines. Armor might be fine for fighting dragons, but it was not conducive to snogging.
Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff on Saturday, so even though it was Valentine's Day, Aaron made his team have a full practice. Lily had been equally unsympathetic to her study group's grumblings, and she made them all do their assignments before letting them move on to some Valentine one-on-one time.
For most Hogwarts students, Friday was just the day after Valentine's Day, and the day before the big Quidditch game. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams prepared to play, and the rest of the school prepared to cheer them on – or boo them, depending on which house you were in.
Trinity must have been weakened by this game being so close to Valentine's Day, because she let her team sit with their respective boyfriends or girlfriends if they wanted to – as long as they still took notes on the players they were responsible for watching.
Lily, Rose, and Matt all sat with her, while Nick watched the game with Allie from the Hufflepuff section. Scorpius sat with Brianna, Carolyn, and Al, and Rick sat with his girlfriend and their friends.
When the game started, Al was riveted to the action like everyone else. He could feel Carolyn next to him, her warmth helping to drive away the chill of the air. Andy was busy with his play-by-play and game commentary.
Gryffindor jumped out to a forty-point lead, and then both teams settled in for what became a tough fight. That toughness didn't show up on the scoreboard, because Hugo was stopping nearly everything they threw at him, and Gryffindor slowly but surely built up their own score.
Most school matches didn't go more than two or three hours, but this one was into the fourth hour when it finally came to an end with Jeremy catching the snitch to give Gryffindor a three hundred and twenty to thirty victory.
Al and the others hurried down to the field to congratulate James and the others. The two teams were congratulating each other, and before he left, the Hufflepuff captain came over to speak with Trinity.
"Allie Summers gave me your message," he told her. "I wanted to thank you, but I was curious about why'd you'd help us out."
Trinity smiled at him. "Let's just say that big-mouthed braggarts are high on my pet peeves list, and I don't imagine that Hufflepuffs are any more impressed when someone suggests that they're going to have them in tears from beating them so bad at Quidditch." She laughed. "It's probably some kind of character flaw that I take things like that personally. I'll have to work on that some day."
They both laughed. "Well, we're going to do what we can to continue the lesson in humility you've started to teach them," he assured Trinity.
She turned to Aaron after the Hufflepuffs left. "Congratulations, Aaron. You guys played a great game today. It's going to be a really great game in May. I can hardly wait."
Aaron smiled. "Thanks, Trinity. And you're not going to hear any boasting out of us – you taught us that lesson just fine two years ago."
Lily laughed and gave him a hug. "Are you absolutely sure you can't give us something to use as motivation?" she asked him winsomely. "Please?"
Arianna laughed. "No way, Lily. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that what you're trying on him right now is part of your game plan for us."
Lily beamed and turned to Rose, feigning deep regret, and sighing loudly. "Sorry, Rose. It didn't work. You can see I did try my very best. I really did."
She grinned as everyone else laughed, and Arianna gave her a hug. "If you don't become genius of the world, you've got a bright future in acting, kid," she told Lily.
Aaron and the rest of the Gryffindor team left for the change rooms, and the Ravenclaws left to walk back to the school, looking forward to getting to the Common room and warming up before starting in on their homework.
The Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch game, along with Valentine's Day were the highlights of the month, but the game also seemed to mark the beginning of that long period between that game and Easter, when there didn't seem to be anything going on at school besides classes and studying.
Sure, there were a couple of Hogsmeade weekends for the older kids to enjoy, and there was always some free time to play games or watch WWVN, but that was the better part of two months when there were no Quidditch matches, and no holidays to look forward to.
The things that Lily was accomplishing in those months continued to astonish her Professors, but hardly anybody knew how much she was actually getting done. By April, she had caught up to the third and fourth year students in all of her subjects, and would certainly be ready to take the third year exams for her core classes, and the fourth year exams for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.
Everyone in their study group was doing better than ever before too. Al, Rose, Nick, and Scorpius had been top students already, and even their marks went up – at least the little bit they could still go up, and they were now all looking at having straight 'O's' if they kept it up. Carolyn and Brianna had been 'A' and 'E' students in their first year, and were now solid 'E' students with a couple of 'O's' to go with them.
Spring finally decided to arrive the first week of April, and when the temperature finally rose, and the sun and flowers both decided to come out more often, the winter-weary students flocked outside every chance they got so that they could enjoy the fresh air and open space.
With that transition from Winter to Spring came new excitement as anticipation of Easter, and the Quidditch matches of May drew closer. If the past few years had been any indication, whatever was going to happen would be fun and exciting for everyone.
