AN: It's chapter two already! Eager for it? maybe not, but I'll keep writing. Actually, most of the things'll happen in their fourth year. The fifth Marauder, Lily's little premonition in the second year and loads more [can't give everything, can I?]. and here's a pretty long one, so you needn't complain, right? And for the fifth Marauder clue… no, they hadn't met yet :P that's all I'll be giving!
bunny chan
Disclaimer: this is a fanfiction, need I say more?
The Marauding Five : Year Three
Chapter 2: New Lessons
The Marauders waved at their parents, before climbing onto the scarlet steam engine, promising to write. Edward threatened to curse the letter if they didn't send him an owl, and Yvonne was busy trying to stop her husband from hurling a curse right then for drenching him that very morning. The others looked as wet as he was and onlookers wached them curiously.
'Bye!!' James waved, just as the Hogwarts Express started moving. Tally ran quickly into the compartment, throwing herself on the boarding train.
'Just what are you doing, Tally?' Remus asked.
'Let's just say I woke up late, no one brought me and I have trouble with paying the cab. I haven't got even a single muggle money with me until Billy turned up suddenly and paid for me,' Tally breathed, clutching her chest.
'Okay, slow it, slow it!' Lily laughed.
Sirius was busily scribbling in his notepad. James peeped at it.
'Why are you writing "Always forget to bring muggle money whenever you ride a cab"?' James asked.
'Well, since someone paid for this lucky girl here, I thought I might give it a try. Besides, it wouldn't hurt, would it?' Sirius replied, grinning as he shut the notepad.
'I wonder who the Head Students are this time?' Lily wondered.
'Maybe Bertha Jorkins,' Tally said.
'That girl? She is so stupid she can be frightened anytime!' Sirius said.
'Maybe Kat and Terry,' Remus said hopefully. Catherine and Terrykinns were the mischief-makers, though not very major.
'It'll be fun to have another one from our house, third year in running!' Tally said cheerfully.
'What do you mean?' James asked.
'Before we came to Hogwarts, not many of the Gryffindors become Head students. The last two year was one,' Tally explained. The Marauders nodded, understanding what she meant.
'Hey, guess what I brought?' Lily asked, grinning all around.
'What? You didn't tell us,' Remus said.
Lily threw her trunk lid open and opened a couple of secret compartments in the trunk before settling for the bottomost one. She whispered the password and it flew open. Everyone crammed to have a good look at it.
'What is that?' Tally asked.
'Muggle stuff,' Lily grinned. 'We'll have some fun with it.'
'These are heavy!' James said, pulling onto one.
'They're real, hello!! I bought them from an antique shop. Very expensive, but I managed to wipe up half of my savings,' Lily said, dragging the old-time weapons back before pulling out a sword.
'Nice sword,' Sirius commented.
'Nice? It's magnificent!' Tally gaped, eyeing the little stones embedded in the handle.
'That was what wiped half my savings,' Lily said pointedly. 'Oh, I brought some really sticky glue too. You know, the one for rat trap?'
'Oh, that,' Sirius said.
'Hey, any of you finished your homework already?' Tally said, bringing out one about History of Magic.
'Yeah.' The Marauders looked at Tally.
'Not yet. I need help on this witch burning thing.'
'Oh, you can ask Petty on that. She'll be glad to burn you, so you can even have a practical vision on how it's done!' Lily said brightly.
'Very funny, Lily. Help me please!!!!' Tally begged as she started pulling on their clothes, not letting them go until they agreed to help her.
'I hate you when you're like Sirius,' Lily muttered, writing Tally's essay for Charms.
'I heard that,' Sirius said, busily scribbling in scrawling words across Tally's History of Magic.
'You weren't supposed to, but it'll be fine,' Lily said back.
'Why didn't you do this earlier?' Remus asked, writing in Tally's Defense Against Dark Arts on Kappas.
'Big problem. I played too much with you guys,' Tally grumbled, penning hardly at her Herbology essay.
'And you're blaming us? You came over,' James said in a you-are-ridiculous tone as he refilled the quill before writing on Tally's Transfiguration essay.
'Here you go,' the Marauders chorused, handing over all the jobs Tally had made them help.
'Next time, do it beforehand,' Remus advised, shaking his fingers to rid of the pain.
'I didn't see any of you doing yours,' Tally snapped. Aha! Caught them, she said gleefully to herself.
'We did ours even before the holidays. On the train ride back,' James said, feeding Jackpot some owl pellets.
Tally stared at them. 'Are you insane?'
'I'm not insane. I thought you knew my name! It's Lily!' Lily said indignantly.
'No, you're mad,' Tally said again.
'I'm not mad either. I'm James, remember?' James said.
'You are crazy then.'
'I'm not crazy! I'm Sirius!' Sirius retorted.
'You are out of your mind!'
'I'm not! I'm Remus! Truly, what went into your head?' Remus said, annoyed.
Tally gave up telling the Marauders what it actually meant. Talking with the Marauders usually takes four lives from you, one for each Marauder. The train ride went peacefully after some time and the compartment door burst open. They sat up.
'Hiya guys! Took us some time to find you all! Why did you choose the last compartment?' Pertsy greeted.
'How's holidays?' Sita asked.
'Heard of You-Know-Who? He killed the McMillans!' Nina shivered.
'He WHAT?' the five jumped at the last bit of news.
'He killed the McMillans! All of them! Lucky Thomas went to live with his cousin, but his parents, brothers all are all wiped off!' Nina said.
'Poor Thomas. I bet he's sad,' Tally said dully. The year before, Voldemort had killed her parents when Lily saw the image in the crystal orb.
'Sad's not exactly the word. He's in hysterics,' Dan said, pulling Thomas in. He looked shaken, very white and his eyes were stony.
'It's okay, Thomas,' Tally started as everyone gave him a group hug. Tally started sobbing as the year before's memories haunt back to her. The time when she received the news of her dead parents.
'We're now one person short in the Quidditch team,' James said dully.
'Right. Our most fabulous keeper gone,' Lily said in a flat tone.
'Don't cry,' Sirius said, as everyone tried to comfort Tally and Thomas crying.
'Don't, Si. They have every right to. Let them let the emotions flow,' Lily advised. Nina, Pertsy and Sita soon joined their friends crying.
'Aren't you even –sob- sad?' Sita said.
'We wish we could, but we can't. We can't cry,' James replied gently.
'Why not? This is sad for someone to have no family left,' Nina sobbed.
The Marauders fell silent. How are they suppose to explain that they can't feel sadness just yet until the next two years? They just watched the scene of the remaining third year Gryffindors crying. The door swung open once again and someone strutted in.
'Hello,' Snape said coldly, but not quite cold when he saw Tally sobbing.
'Buzz off, Snape. They're having a little reunion here,' Lily said, waving a dangerous curse at him.
'What? Are you with him?' Snape hissed lowly, a faint sizzling of his robes nearly burnt signified that the curse had barely got him, since Lily wasn't aiming her wand closely. The Marauders looked up at the Slytherin.
'With whom?'
'Him! Him!'
'Yeah, who's "him"? I don't recall anyone by that name.'
'Spectacular. A Gryffindor with him,' Snape said, allowing a smile to worm on his oily face.
'Wonderful. What is it you're talking now?'
'His first insane word, perhaps?'
'When is he ever sane, Re?'
'Oh yeah.'
'Typical. What curse you hurled at him?'
'Forgotten. Wasn't quite thinking straight at the moment.'
'Which rank are you?' Snape snapped. Everyone turned to him.
'Highest of course. Right hand.'
'No doubt, nu-uh!'
'We're just too great to go down, right?'
'Yep!'
Slowly, the third years watched, Snape backed off from the compartment, stumbling. His face turned a pale shade of white and then blue, and his eyes had a haunted look in them. The third years looked on. Snape hurriedly swept away, tripping into a number of things on his way out.
'What was he talking about?' Tally started, wiping away the tears.
'No idea. We were just playing, but he seemed frightened,' Lily shrugged.
'Hi! Mind if I join? The others kicked me out,' Catherine's voice floated in.
'Sure, Kat! Come on it!' Sirius invited. The door swung open as the seventh year walked in.
'Kat, heard the news? Billy McMillan is killed by Voldemort,' James said gravely.
'Don't say his name!' Catherine hissed. 'Yeah, I heard that. The news just came, didn't it?'
'Yeah. Now we're a keeper short,' Sirius said flatly.
'True. I wonder if we can find a replacement. Terry's pretty sad about it.'
Then an idea popped into Lily's head.
'How about Remus taking over him? Remus flies well and he just had a new broom!'
Everyone stared at her.
'Good idea, Lily! Remus just got a new broom since that stupid broom of his flew into the Forest and refused to come out after,' James said. Everyone started laughing when they heard of Remus' broom flying into the Forest and refusing to come out.
'I'll talk to Terry about it. We might put him in,' Catherine said. Then the familiar voice spoke into the microphone, announcing that they will be at Hogwarts five minutes later. The others all hurried to change their clothes, but Lily didn't bother to even move. She just whispered a spell and Poof! She's dressed in her black robes and hat.
'Very useful,' Lily grinned. The other three Marauders went to change and Lily waited patiently for them in the compartment. Just then, heavy footsteps were heard. Lily put down her copy of How Muggles Lived and turn to the door. But instead of the Gryffindors, there were Slytherins. Lily counted seven, including Snape, who were leading them there.
'What do you want now?' Lily asked irritably, picking her book up again, her wand ready in hand. After all, most of the were in their seventh years and Slytherins were rumored to know more of Dark Arts then the whole school all put together.
'Listen, Even, whatever your name is,' a seventh year began in a sinister voice. Lily cut him.
'Excuse me, I have a name and I'm sure you'd heard of it from your Slytherin hero here,' Lily said, referring to Snape. Snape was really popular in Slytherin, counting that the Dark Arts he knew were numerous. 'I prefer my name being called or a curse being hurled.'
His friend whispered something into his ear.
'Listen, Evans, what were you telling Snape just now?'
'Oh, wonderful! Snape, you got yourself a bodyguard?'
'Listen here, Evans, and listen good! You're with him, aren't you?' Snape cut.
'Looks like you really wanted a curse hurled,' Lily said in an amused voice. She pulled her wand before performing a curse and hurling it at them. The Slytherins all looked at her in amazement and their minds were thinking of whether or not to run for it. However, Lily had a different idea. She hurled it right behind them.
'Whoa! Slow it, Li!' James voice laughed. The Marauders made their way to Lily, congratulating James.
'About time you learn how to block it,' Remus said.
'Hurrah!! You blocked that curse at last!' Sirius whooped.
'Yep! But my hand's still a little hot though, ow… why did you make it so hot?' James said, pointing at a small burn on his hand.
'Sorry. Come, I'll heal it,' Lily said.
'What are you doing here?' Catherine's voice asked. The Slytherins turned again. The third year and Catherine were standing at the doorway. 'Move off! I wanna get through!'
Snickering, the seventh year pointed his wand at her. Remus, sensing the curse and what its use it, quickly pulled everyone before the Slytherin had a chance to even fire it.
'Just what are you trying to do with that Unforgiveable?' Remus cried.
'He's going to use one?' Lily asked in amazement.
'I know a curse when I see one.'
'Now, since we have only some time left, how about we play a little?' Sirius suggested. Catherine and the third years all realized what he meant. They petrified all the load of Slytherins, who were still point-blank at where the later group had gone, were caught off-guard.
Smiling, Lily handed a permanent marker pen to each of her fellow friends and everyone started drawing on each of the Slytherins. Snape got the worst though, as the Marauders had a personal grudge against him as his parents and grandparents had against theirs. When they at last let them go, James awarded them with a leaping-frog curse.
**
James, Sirius and Remus bounced hard on Lily's bed, jumping up and down. Annoyed by the disturbance, Lily grabbed her wand from her bedside table, and without even looking who they were, she hurled a hex at them.
'Lily!!! Wake up!' James said, avoiding the spell.
'I wanna sleep,' Lily's muffled mumble came.
'First day at Hogwarts! We got our time-table already!' Remus said.
'WHAT???'
'Oh, in case you don't know, we're planning to be angels this year,' Sirius grinned.
'Why?'
'No, not real angels. We're gonna be goody-goody students and do everything, but we'll be playing our usual pranks!' James said.
'Better than being a complete angel. A devil in disguise of an angel?'
'That's right!'
'Sounds fun!' Lily leapt up and perform the charm. Immediately, her hair rolled itself into a bun, leaving one strand stray to fall all the way back. Her face washed and the robes flew to her.
'First off is Divination!' James said, looking at the timetable. 'And potions and lunch and Muggle Studies and History of Magic and DADA and tea and-'
'Okay, I get the message. Thanks,' Lily said, swinging her satchel behind her before they rushed to the Divination tower.
'Here's the place that stupid stair tripped me,' Sirius said darkly, remembering the first year event when they were looking for secret passages.
'Okay, we understand,' Remus said, rolling his eyes at him.
'Go on up and here we are!' Lily said in a not amused tone. They looked up. A circular trap door was right above their heads and a silvery ladder fell down. Climbing up, James was afraid that it will fall on them. Ladders don't support weight for four thirteen year olds, do they?
They reached up safely and sat themselves on the cushion nearby the window. Upon Lily's request, they sat themselves right at the end of the classroom. Half the class was already filled by Slytherins, Gryffindors and a few Hufflepuff. Tally greeted them cheerfully from her front seat. Snape sat directly behind her and she winced.
'Poor Tally!' Sirius laughed. They turned around to look for the teacher.
'Where's Trelawney?' James asked.
'There's a weird looking insect at the front if you're asking. Ew! This perfume stench!' Remus said.
'And what's with all the fire? She's not teaching us to meditate, is she?' Lily said faintly. The perfumed fire is giving her the headache and she felt like fainting. She nearly collasped, but the Marauders managed to pull her back up.
Suddenly, the insect moved and Thomas and Dan barged into the room, huffing and panting.
'My dears, please, take a seat. We were waiting for your presence, but now that you're here, shall we start?' a misty-dreamy voice said.
'Divination is what you had chose to take for your Ordinary Wizarding Levels and this subject is an art. Those who are gifted with the Inner Eye can "see" our future. Divination is also a sort of-'
James hadn't the feeling to listen to her. If Professor Binns had a daughter, this woman will be her. The droning voice makes him half close his eyelids.
'Oh, dear, do watch out for snakes,' Trelawney said dreamily to Tally. She nodded mutely before shooting a dagger at Snape, who had decided to sit beside her.
'Last year, a student had proved him or herself to have an Inner Eye. He had predicted the death of two unfortunate families. Once, they were saved, but the other died. Will the student please stand up if you're in this class?'
The Marauders were listening intently at this point and Lily was tearing between to stand up or to not. She looked at her friends for help. They shook their heads. Lily nodded and sat still back in her place.
'Unfortunately, maybe the person is not in this year. Anna Hopkins might have a power of a Seer. I sensed aura from you, dear,' Trelawney said. Lily managed to silenced her snort. As far as she'd known, Anna had not even a strand of aura for a Seer. However, the Ravenclaw glowed with pride when the teacher said this.
'Well, as for those who have not any, I think that might go to Evans,' Trelawney continued. James, Sirius and Remus had the urge to scream at her right there and then about her stupid Inner Eye. A powerful Seer or Psychic like Lily could be spotted as easily as there's a black ink on a white cloth.
'Leave her. She's insane,' Lily muttered to them. Clenching their fists, the boys gritted their teeth angrily. How dare she insult their sister who possessed more powers than she does? And a Psychic to add to all her other special abilities.
Tally, however, stood up.
'Professor, I think you must be mistaken. I think Lily has the power of a true Seer,' Tally said bravely. Snape looked at her in awe.
'My dear, Evans possesses not even a tiny inch of power of a Seer!'
'She does!' Tally retorted. Lily tried to calm her friend down, but is far too far to reach her, and since Tally's mind is not in a calm piece of state, it'll be even harder without contacting everyone in this small room.
'Dear, Evans didn't possess anything! You must be mistaken, dear, to have thought Evans possessing any power of a Seer.'
'How blur can she get?' Sirius muttered beside Lily. 'Maybe you can teach this class, Li.'
'Shut up! I don't wanna learn anything in here! Tally's doing a great job in doing so,' Lily whispered.
'But Lily does! She has the powers of a Seer! And a Psychic!'
'Dear, you must have been mistaken! Rarely there are Seers that are Psychic and Psychics that are Seers!'
'Well then, Lily is one of those! How could you have insulted her that way? Lily, why not you tell her?' Tally said, turning to the red head sitting at the back. The Marauders immediately pretended to be very busy. Lily immediately wore her glasses and started reading the textbook with sudden interest.
'Huh?' Lily said smartly.
'Lily, she's insulting you! She says that you have no Psychic powers or an ability as a Seer!'
'Maybe I don't then.'
'But you knew well that you do! Who else-'
James and Sirius ran over to clap Tally's mouth from saying that Lily predicted her parent's death and all.
'Ah, I think Tally's a bit too eager, right Sirius?' James said nervously.
'Yep! No doubt!'
The two dragged Tally to the back with them, hissing words as 'you shouldn't have done that!' or 'why did you tell her?' to the blonde. Snape looked at them coldly as Tally seated herself beside Lily, on Sirius' place.
'Who else what, dear?' Trelawney asked, interested in how the conversation had gone.
'Um, nothing, Sybil! Nothing!' Lily said from the back. Tally opened her mouth to protest, but Lily held her wand tightly, so Tally shut it back again.
'Why didn't you tell?' Tally hissed when Trelawney proceeded to talk about more wonders of Divination.
'Why else do you think we're so silent? If Lily hadn't stopped us, we'll bring her to the court already!' Remus responded. Tally glanced at their hands. They were all white from straining themselves to stop standing.
'Now please get a cup each from the cupboard. We'll be doing tea-leaves now, so please turn to your third page, dears.' Trelawney continued on about the instructions as they filled their teacups and drank from them. Sirius handed his cup to James, James handed his to Lily, Lily handed hers to Remus, Remus handed his to Tally and Tally handed hers to Sirius. They squinted hard at their tea-leaves.
'I see something, Tally!' Sirius said excitedly, jumping up and down. Everyone turned to him.
'What did you see?'
'I see tea-leaves. All wet and drenched. What sorta omen is that? Oh, I get it! I'll just drown these leaves!'
'Idiot.'
Lily had no problem at all in reading James' teacup.
'Okay, James, you will be doing some really important things this year. Lots of thinking,' Lily started. The whole class turned to them.
'Such as?'
'Uh, I can't say it outloud when the class' listening,' Lily whispered. 'And something will happen to you and a certain girl next year in summer. You'll encounter near death experience this year and most probably meet Voldemort.'
At the sound of the name, shrieks were heard and some teacups smashed to the floor.
'That was very accurate, Li,' James commented.
'It's all written in here anyway.'
Trelawney glided over to them.
'Please, dear, may I see the cup?'
'Sure, go ahead.' Lily handed her the cup. Trelawney surveyed it closely, turning it this way and that before putting it down.
'Found any faults with dear Lily's prediction?' Remus grinned.
'There has not been a sign where the Dark Lord will appear. Neither a sign of near death experience. Nice try, dear,' Trelawney wheezed.
'Not exactly, Sybil. I believe time will tell, and as a Seer, I'm true to my words,' Lily said gravely. She already hated this professor for looking down at her students and what is with all the fire and perfume?
'You are not a Seer, Evans, and I don't think you have much aura as one,' Trelawney said in a harsh voice. Realizing that she'd been harsh, she suddenly went misty-eyed again.
'Well, I believe what she said,' James said suddenly.
'And why is that so?'
'She's my friend, a sister to me. I know her much more than you do. How can a professor ever judge a student just by one glance? Look, she can make good predictions. See this tree-like thing here? It means near-death experience. This pensive like brain means loads of thinking. And this sign,' James said, pointing to one that looked like a serpent, 'represents Voldemort.'
Everyone sat silent at his words. Remus grabbed the cup from James and studied it.
'He's right, you know. And this little star here means that next year, he'll have something to shock him. Beside the star is this angel-like wings, which meant girl, and the round dot nearby is suppose to mean summer,' Remus said, referring to the book.
'See? Lily is a Seer!' Tally said triumphantly. 'She didn't even need a book to interpret it!'
'I do not think so, dear. This may well be her lucky guess,' Trelawney pouted before gliding to see how Anna is doing.
'Stupid insect,' Sirius muttered. 'Lily, help me look at mine.'
Lily took the cup before studying it for a while. 'Nothing much, Si. It says that you'll still be the same, which meant good signs,' Lily grinned. 'Lucky you!'
'Oh you poor dear! You have the Grim!! The Grim, dear!' Trelawney said shocked. Thomas scowled at her angrily. 'What fate blesses upon this child?'
'Professor, it is not a Grim! It's a-' Dan started.
'Dear dear, you have the Grim!' Trelawney continued.
'Professor, it's a cloud!' Thomas stated. Lily looked at the cup. True enough, it was a cloud.
'You have the Grim, poor dear!'
The Marauders and Tally watched the bewildered, out-of-her-mind teacher and their thoughts were all the same. Is she stupid or just wanted attention?
'Hey Lily! You're having almost the same signs as James here,' Remus said, studying the book and Lily's cup closely.
'I don't care. I'll know my future anyway, since we'll be learning crystal gazing pretty soon.'
'We will not be learning the Orb until your next term,' Trelawney's curt voice said. She had once again glided to the Marauders and Tally.
'I say we will do it by Halloween,' Lily said shortly. She drained the tea-leaves off before studying a new cup for hopes of finding death for this very much hated teacher.
'What are you doing now?' Tally asked when she left.
'Trying to find out when this stupid insect is going to die. Seriously, she gets onto me already. Why did she look down on a student?' Lily said resentfully, pulling a crystal ball from under her bag before placing it on the floor.
'So what's your level now?' Tally asked.
'Which? Psychic or Seer?'
'Both.'
'For psychic, I'm pretty back. Only suited for one of eighteen. As for Seer, I think I'll gladly pass that stupid insect in front. I'm near genius section. Mom's been helping.'
'Why are you still back at Psychic?' Tally asked again, peering into the crystal orb.
'I never bothered with it much. If I did, I would've told you to calm down from the start of the lesson.'
'Oh. Seen anything?'
'So far, she isn't gonna die yet, but I'll bet you anything the Anna Hopkins is going to find out that she is not a Seer.'
'How come?'
'She'll fail in her coming OWLs. Good thing too. Stuck up to each professor like a leech.'
'You're boiling, Li,' Sirius teased.
'I most certainly am, Si. Have any dungbombs?'
'Glad to see that you wanna bomb her now,' James grinned, handing all sorts of things to Lily. Lily made sure Tally had her attention diverted before climbing into the Invisibility Cloak.
'Hey, where'd you get that?' James asked, checking his robes pocket.
'From your pocket. Ssh!'
The Marauders watched Trelawney intently. Soon, Lily returned, grinning in face.
'Where were you?' Tally asked.
'Nowhere. Now watch!'
BANG! CLASH! 'AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
'Some Seer. Couldn't she see it coming?' Remus muttered.
'She's bad,' Sirius commented.
'Really bad,' James noted.
'Stupid insect. Hope you enjoyed that,' Lily said victoriously as everyone helped the professor back up.
'Professor, who did it?' Anna asked.
'I had no idea, dear.'
'You're a Seer! Couldn't you have seen it coming?' Dan asked.
'Not for things like this, dear.'
Lily snorted. She could even see Snape's prank on them last year without wanting to.
'I think class will be dismissed now. Thank you,' Trelawney said faintly. Everyone left and Lily made sure to throw a dungbomb at her before closing the trapdoor. More screams were heard.
'What did you do?' Remus asked.
'First, I string the Dungbombs and Fireworks and put a spell on it, so when triggered, it will fire. Next, I added a few stunned powder into some dungbombs. Thirdly, I changed the gunpowder in those explotives into a louder one. Lastly, I placed them all around that insect's table,' Lily said proudly.
'You did all those?' Tally gaped.
'Why not?'
'Nothing. Potions for now.'
'The joy of meeting Halley and, once again, Snape. Not.'
**
The Marauders walked slowly to their class of Muggle Studies, each of them yawning.
'What on earth actually is up to that insect? Huge eyes with small face, crying "You're not a Seer! You're not a Seer!" at a new student, and "You have the grim, dear!" when the cup showed cloud?' Sirius said, referring to the Divination teacher as he acted out the parts when he said them.
'She reminds me of the praying mantis. You know, that insect that has big eyes and a stick like body? Or maybe the stick insect might pass better than her,' Lily scowled. She hated the Divination teacher and promised her revenge on her in her next class.
'Who cares? That is one subject that you'll pass easily, so why bother?' James said, swinging his bag carelessly around.
'I guess I can pretty well coop with it. At least I see something,' Remus said, twirling his wand all around.
'Well, so can I. Sirius' having the problem though. Remember what he said? "I see tea-leaves that are wet and drenched. I think I'll go drown them."' James commented, laughing at Sirius.
'Thanks a lot, James. I know what I see and really well, too,' Sirius said, rolling his eyes at James.
'Well, he's quite right, but drowning those tea-leaves? Can they even be drowned?' Remus wondered.
'Whatever are we going to learn in Muggle Studies? We might as well just ace the class with supreme muggle knowledge besides those muggle-borns!' Lily said, pushing a strand of hair back to place. 'Imagine that! Wizard-born kids aced Muggle Studies with a total of 312%!'
'We lived as a muggle for 10 years without even knowing it. How can our parents do that?' Sirius said in a I-want-independence like tone.
'Ask them. I'm not any of them and not even related to any of their so-call brainstorm ideas,' James said, kicking a nearby armor.
'Same here. I vote we send them a thinking paper!' Lily said.
'And what'll happen?' Remus replied gloomily.
'I've been experimenting on making the written things on the parchment with ourselves in it to be sent directly to our minds, so we can know. It's going pretty steady so far. I just need one more spell,' Lily said excitedly. The three perked up at once. Lily's inventions were genius' work and helped a lot in most of their pranks. However, Lily's Thinking Paper did otherwise. It was suppose to let people converse with the person in the parchment.
'And if they write on it, we'll know what they write!' James said, realizing what Lily had just said.
'Right! I've been testing on Tally's parchment. I bet you received a few messages through mind which said, "Are you guys in love?" or something like that.'
'Damn right. So that's what I've been hearing these days,' James muttered.
'Where's the classroom anyway?' Remus asked. Lily thought for a bit.
'Oops! We missed it!'
'Where is it anyway?' Sirius asked.
'Halfway down the corridor and to the left.'
'Practising Psychic these days?'
'Yeah. I hate this, but mom'll have my hair slashed.'
'Okay,' James said slowly. Lily's hair was left to grow up to her ankles ever since she was seven and had guarded it fiercely from those who were intending to give her a hair cut.
Lily led them to the Muggle Studies room, where Professor Rivers tapped her leg impatiently for the last four students to enter. They entered quietly, much to everyone's surprise and chose the front seats, not to anyone's surprise or wonderment.
'Ahem. Now that our last students had at last, showed up, we'll now begin our subject for Muggle Studies. First, let me introduce you to the subject we're about to learn. Wizards of long time had wondered how muggles live themselves without magic to aid them. How had they survived? How did they managed? These are questions they'd asked. We are gathered here to learn of how muggle do their very own magic called Technology, as they had described. Techno-'
Here's another of Binns' daughter, James thought miserably to himself. However, when Rivers said that they'll be conducting experiments, he perked up. Experiments always meant interesting things like blowing up a slow cooker or something.
'We might have fun in this lesson,' Sirius whispered eagerly.
After another short talk, Rivers made them go in groups to try their first experiment on muggle-related things. Immediately, the Marauders inched closer to each other to confirm that they are a group and planning to keep it that way. After much sorting and all, Rivers handed them each a television.
'I thought electrical things can't work at Hogwarts,' Lily blurted.
'No, they certainly can't, but I'd magicked them, you see,' Rivers explained.
'Wouldn't that mean that you'd completely sabotage this television?' Remus asked, opening the television to inspect. Sure enough, all the wires were gone.
'This is not a television!' Rivers said.
'Oh, then what is it?' James inquired.
'This is a moving box!' Rivers said again.
At this point, Sirius burst into laughter. 'Moving box? Ha ha!! Moving box?? Aha ha ha ha!'
'Am I not right? This is a moving box!' Rivers said, puzzled.
'Professor, this is a television! No wonder Arthur last year kept talking to me about moving boxes, ice cupboards, non-owl-post, flying birds and all!' Lily said. The Marauders doubled over, followed soon by all the muggle-borns in the class.
Rivers just looked confused. 'Am I not right? This box, it has moving pictures!'
'It's not any moving picture, Professor! It's a movie! Cartoon, if they are colored animating pictures,' Drolly Ternningham, a Hufflepuff, called.
'Very well, I shall keep that in mind,' Rivers said as she started bustling around for a quill.
After that, the rest of the class went by as they inspected the television. James tried to on it, knowing that it wouldn't work since Rivers replaced the wires with magic and radars and antenaes don't work in Hogwarts. The aerial was aimed at Revere Solles, a Ravenclaw, and she ended up being zapped by lightning.
'Oops!' James said sheepishly.
Sirius, however, found this little part of James' accident amusing. Soon half the class was zapped by lightning.
'Black!! Stop it now!' Rivers insisted at Sirius. He was aiming the aerial at Anna Hopkins and pushed the open button. It hit Anna alright, but the other end backfired, shooting Sirius. He fell down in crisps.
'I guess that's a lesson, Si,' Lily laughed as she fixed the aerial back on rubber gloves.
'One very important lesson: never zap anyone with magic-infecting TVs when the aerial end is pointed at you and your enemy,' James tutted, prodding the unmoving Sirius with his wand.
'Wrong, Jam. It's never point an end of the aerial to you when you're zapping someone,' Remus laughed.
'You are all wrong!' Rivers said in her thick british accent. 'It is not to play with muggle devices!'
'We're gonna love this class if the teacher's as blank as a whiteboard about muggle stuff,' Lily grinned. James and Remus nodded and Sirius coughed black smoke in agreement.
**
Trelawney looked at Lily with utmost dislike when she and the Marauders came into her classroom in the next few lessons.
'She's sour,' Tally whispered to Lily. Lily just scowled.
'She hates me, I hate her,' Lily replied, reading Sirius' palm. The class was progressing quite fast.
'Seen anything, Li?' Sirius asked curiously.
'Wait. Your line of Saturn is quite short and your Venus line can barely be seen!'
'You sound like that insect,' James mused.
'I do? Well, now I hope I don't. Sirius, your love life's bad, so I hope you aren't too down at this.'
'Me? Down? Nah! No girls to bother then,' Sirius grinned.
'Okay, your life's long, good for you.'
'Does that mean that I'll live up to a hundred? Maybe longer than Dumbledore?' Sirius said eagerly.
'Not longer than Dumbledore, I can assure you! Your luck's pretty good, actually. You are boring!' Lily said, pulling Remus' hands from James as she studied the lines.
'I resent that, Li!'
'I shan't care,' Lily said, sticking out a tongue at him. 'Okay, Remus' luck isn't liky Sirius'. Not much happy-go-lucky in here, sad. But oh, look! Your life's quite long too! Hurrah, we'll all have a pretty decent age. I don't know about James.'
'Anything else, Li?'
'Oh wait, your um, worst thing ever happened,' Lily said nervously, glancing at Tally. Remus nodded, understanding, and Lily went on. 'Will not be cured. Some time in future, it'll get controlled, but not cured.'
'That's good news to me. Better than now,' Remus replied gloomily.
'Hey Lily, see mine!' James said eagerly. Lily took his left palm before studying it closely.
'Not much difference from all of us, Jam. Gosh, it looked like we'll all have the same fate!'
'That's good news for me already, thanks!'
'Lily, come help me!' Tally said, peering hard at Dan's hands. Lily ran over to Tally.
'What?'
'Uh, which line is the mount of Jupiter? And which is ring of Saturn?' Tally said.
'Tally! We're supposed to know already!' Lily cried. 'I mean, we'll finish Palmistry after two more lessons!'
'We are?'
'We are. And hurrah for crystal gazing!'
'I hope you have seen the fate in your partner's hands,' Trelawney's misty voice said.
'Oh, very well indeed. We can recite them to you?' Sirius offered.
'Ah! Anna seem to have seen something!' Trelawney said proudly. Anna looked smugly as half the class glared at her. The Marauders muttered 'Show-off' at her, but she ignored it.
'I see that Snape shall have great doom. And oh! What a short ring for Venus! And dear me, mount of Jupiter doesn't look fine here,' Anna said tragically, shaking her head. Snape glared coldly at her.
'Shut it, Hopkins. If you want to impress a teacher, get a life,' Snape snapped.
'But Snape, I was telling the truth!' Anna said.
Lily snorted. 'Yeah right. And the truth stands out like an ant to an elephant. Or maybe a whale will pass.'
The Marauders and Tally giggled at this.
'That's wonderous, dear,' Trelawney said proudly.
'As wonderful as the stars fall from sky and the world meets it's doom,' James said to the Gryffindors.
'And how accurate!' Trelawney continued.
'Like how? A blunt stone?' Remus said, rolling his eyes.
'Snape, dear, you shouldn't be that way to Anna,' the professor continued.
'Dear? Snape?' Sirius laughed loudly.
'Class, Anna is one of our Seer!' Trelawney announced, beaming in face.
'Get a life!' Tally said.
'She needs to see, perhaps? Or get her glasses fixed,' Dan suggested.
'Whatever for?' Thomas asked.
'Hey, I saw Snape's hands before. The line of life is really long. Cuts through his hands,' Dan replied.
'Too true,' Lily sighed. 'You can see it from a mile. Reckon Anna needs a pair of glasses?'
'She cares more of her looks. Why is she even in Ravenclaw?' Tally asked.
'She begs the Sorting Hat to put her there. Wanna stuck up to those professors,' James said.
'How'd you know?'
'I heard her. I can lip-read, y'know,' James grinned.
'Oh.'
'Class, we'll be beginning crystal-gazing this Halloween. You have all proved to be fast learners,' Trelawney beamed.
'Evans once said that, in the first lesson, right?' Thomas DeAnne said, turning to the red head. She bowed proudly, but Trelawney looked stiffly at her.
'That was just her guess,' Trelawney said.
'It was really accurate, wasn't it?' Serena Tappers said.
'Really accurate,' Revere Sollers supported.
'Maybe she's a Seer, professor,' Rollent Ballstic said eagerly.
'Evans is no Seer, dear,' Trelawney said.
'Oh yeah? She seemed much more better though,' Milicent Dork sneered. Much as she hate the Gryffindors, she hated the professor for putting perfumes all over the room and burning incense. Over them, she decided that Gryffindors weren't all too bad.
'Yeah. No need perfume or fire to predict, right Lily?' Tally said. Lily pretended not to listen and started looking at her palm with high interest. Stop it! Lily said mentally to Tally.
Why Lily?
I want this class dead and I'm planning to make it that way pretty soon.
Oh, okay. How?
Wait till Dumbledore comes, kay?
Ok-ay…
'I truly agree, Professor,' Snape sneered.
'Evans perceived very little aura, dear, and I do not trust her to-'
'Hello Sybill. I was just passing by when I heard noises. Everything fine?' Dumbledore said, grinnign from the trapdoor. He hauled himself into the room and dusted himself.
'Everything is fine, headmaster.'
'Sir, you tell Professor that Lily's a Seer!' Tally said instantly.
'But Evans perceive no aura, dear!' Trelawney said.
'Sir, but Lily predicted my parents' death!' Tally said suddenly. That wasn't how Lily wanted it to go.
'Tally!' Lily hissed, as did the rest of the Marauders.
'Uh, oops?'
'Er, Tally's just kidding! Just kidding!' Remus said, laughing nervously.
'What'll your mom say now?' James whispered.
'She'll kill me. She don't want anyone to know,' Lily moaned.
'Literally. You said your life was long,' Sirius mused.
'Yeah, it's literally alright. What I meant are her Howlers.'
'Burn them.'
'Oh. Right. How can I forget that?'
'Sybill, how are classes progressing?' Dumbledore said again, chuckling a little at the Marauders' conversation.
'Very well, headmaster. We shall be getting on crystal-balls pretty soon. I must comment myself that this class is fast.'
'That's really good.'
'Sir, Evans has been helping us,' Dan said eagerly. 'See, she taught me how to interpret those tea-leaves – oh wait, was that Remus? Ah yeah, Remus! – and Lily taught me how to get my lines straight! Want me to read your palm, sir?'
'Um, no thanks, Dan. I, uh, know it pretty well.'
'Headmaster, the students have been-'
'Complaining? I've heard loads just now. And yes, Lily Evans is a Seer, Sybill. She is the one that you wanted to know so much last year, after the Chapmans' death.'
'What? That couldn't be, Headmaster! I perceive very little aura from her!'
'And yadda yadda yadda,' James said waving a little spell. The Marauders laughed at him.
'And yadda yadda yadda,' Trelawney said. The class looked at her with amusement, as did Dumbledore.
'Oh dear, what am I saying?' Trelawney asked.
'You said yadda yadda yadda? Anyway, Sybill, Lily had hidden her aura well, due to um, certain problems from her mother.'
'Why would one hide her aura? It's something to be proud of! And no one can hide any aura, headmaster!'
'Sybill, I assure you that Lily can. Her mother might have taught her that.'
'Her mother? The other very powerful Seer I knew was Rose Herman, a friend of my sister! And I hadn't any news of her!'
'But Rose is Lily's mother, Sybill. I assure you that Lily is a true Seer and a very powerful one, for her age,' Dumbledore said, looking proudly at Lily.
'If I'm not good, how am I suppose to learn everything myself?' Lily muttered.
'Right! You were so much better than that insect,' Sirius whispered, using Trelawney's nickname Lily had given.
'So much cooler,' Tally put in.
'Maybe you can teach,' Remus grinned.
'And not give any homework!' James said.
'Best teacher ever then,' Dan sighed.
'Best? I don't even think such teacher'll exist!' Thomas exclaimed. 'I'll be in heaven by then.'
'Herman? Evans' mother?' Trelawney said blankly.
'That's right Sybill. Oh my, how time flies! I shall be going now, Sybill. Good day!' Dumbledore waved at the class and left. Trelawney looked stunned for words, but went back to her table quietly before putting a crystal orb before her.
'How about we guess what she's trying to look?' Thomas asked.
'Find out about my parents,' Lily said.
'Start seeing if she'll die soon,' James said.
'Wonder when she'll get sick leave,' Sirius said.
'See how far Lily's powers were,' Remus said.
'Try and find out how much aura Lily had,' Tally said.
'Check on her brain to see if she'd interpreted the wrong message from Dumbledore,' Dan said.
'And I'll add in with her trying to find out what had just happened,' Thomas said.
The class looked at her expectantly and then at Lily.
'So, you're a Seer huh?' Anna's haughty voice said from behind them.
'What's your problem?' Remus asked angrily.
'Nothing. Just wondering how good you were. I bet no better than I am,' Anna said again.
'I'll hate you more than Snape if I can, but I loath him,' Sirius said.
'Too bad, Black,' Anna said.
'Yeah, really bad, ain't it? Right, Li?' James said.
'Very. What's with her anyway? Hey, you wanna start a Gryffindor-Ravenclaw war?' Lily asked.
'With pleasure, Evans,' Anna said with pure venom. She was positive that, after Dumbledore complimented Lily, Trelawney will most possibly pay Lily more attention.
'Anna!' Rollent said angrily. 'You know well we don't want to!'
'Sorry Rollent. I most possibly will,' Anna said. 'They're rivalling us for intelligence for three years already! The top student is usually a Ravenclaw, but these three years, Gryffindor came up top!'
'That's your problem. We'd been gaining talents,' Lily shrugged.
'Yeah, we don't even have to study, but Lily still insist on looking through the subjects,' Sirius said.
'Just to find spells like this to throw at you,' James said and threw a curse at her.
'What? Put me back!' Anna turned into a half whale.
'Sorry. Not gonna. You're lucky I made you half, so you can talk. Be glad it isn't worst. Oh, and Lily's the only one who knows how to counter this,' James grinned.
'Evans, put me back!'
'Blearh,' Lily said, sticking out her tongue. Laughters issued everywhere at Anna as the Ravenclaw flushed.
'You'll watch out, Evans! I'll be after you!' Anna howled, just as Remus looked sharply at her. She started bouncing all over the room, hitting hard at everything.
'You know, jinxes weren't for nothing,' Remus said.
'Oh dear, class dismissed!' Trelawney called. Laughing at the bouncing half-whale, everyone left the classroom. 'Dear, I am not really good with Transfiguration,' Trelawney said worriedly as she tapped Anna with her wand.
Anna turned into a spider.
AN: Okay, since I don't have a clue what Muggle Studies are about [why did I do it anyway? *groan*], I thought I'd just base it by it's title. Besides, give me more chance to play a bit, doesn't it? and as for Divination, I know that Trelawney isn't that way o_o let's just say she change after they left or something, kay? Besides, time can do loads!! And… oh! This is 100 over KB????? One of my longest, or maybe the longest yet. Whatever; I'm insane now. Please review!!!!!!