JAMES POTTER, THE WILLOW AND THE WEREWOLF: YEAR 2
By Professor Odysseus
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James moved his books around to try to clear a spot for his Cleansweep 5. He tried again and again to shove it in. At last, he succeeded.
"James!" Mrs. Potter cried. "We're leaving for Hogwarts!" James had gotten permission from Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, not to ride the Hogwarts Express, since the Potters lived in Hogsmeade, a town, which was right against Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He and his best friend Sirius Black, who lived next door, also had permission. It was past 11:00, the time the Hogwarts Express left from London. It was actually 4:00. The Hogwarts Express usually came in to Hogsmeade station at about 4:15. Then they would take a carriage up to Hogwarts Castle. "Goodbye!" Mrs. Potter called, as she and Mrs. Black walked out of the station. Remus Lupin, one of James and Sirius' friends, walked off the train, dragging a suitcase. The three of them jumped on a carriage, ferrying students from the station to Hogwarts.
"It was raining in London. Really hard. I got soaked!" Remus said. Remus didn't look very wet, but he must have been five hours ago, when the Hogwarts Express left. Soon, at the Sorting, all of the older students sat at their house tables, while the first years sat in a line, waiting to be sorted.
"And now-" Professor McGonagall said. "The Sorting Hat!" She put a ratty old hat on a stool. A mouth near the brim of the hat opened. The hat burst into song.
"Oh, once when I was a young little hat,
I wasn't really phat,
The founders then put brains in me,
So inside students brains I could see
I can sort you into a house, when you put me on.
Right after I sing this song!
Where will you go? Let me see
You might go to Gryffindor,
They're brave there.
Or maybe to Ravenclaw,
Where they are the smartest of the bunch.
Or Hufflepuff,
The loyalist friends you'd ever have.
And maybe in Slytherin,
Where they go to drastic lengths to achieve their ends!
So wherever you go, whichever house,
I've never been wrong yet,
You'll do very well there!
Now try me on,
Hurry Up!"
The school burst into applause. After the first years were sorted into different, the food automatically appeared on their plates. As James stuffed his mouth full of food, he saw Severus Snape, his archenemy, waving at him that from the Slytherin table.
"I'd like to introduce our new astronomy professor. Professor Sinistra!" Dumbledore said happily. "As you know, do to er- unfortunate circumstances, Professor Dimente could not come back this year."
Only Sirius, James, Remus and Lily Rolins, a second year girl in Gryffindor, knew what had happened to Professor Dimente. He had gone to the dark side, following some dark lord named Voldesnort or something like that.
After the banquet, in which Severus and James tried to stare down each other, Sirius, James and Remus all went upstairs to their dormitory to unpack.
As James awoke the next morning, rain was pouring down. It looked as if someone was shooting at them from the machine gun in the sky. They were about the size of bullets and were coming rapidly down at their window. As James pulled off his covers, he felt a sudden chill. Reluctantly climbing out of his four-poster, he changed in his robes and put on his green cloak and his woolen cloak. Still cold, he decided to creep into the common room. He still didn't know what time it was, but he assumed it must have been early, for there were only three people in the common room. He sat down in one of the fluffy armchairs near the fire. Lily Rolins sat down next to him.
"Hello!" she said briskly. James yawned. "Well good morning to you too!"
"Sorry," he said, pulling out his History of Magic assignment. As he read it, he heard breathing on his shoulder. Lily was reading his essay over his shoulder. James cleared his throat. "Oh! Sorry!" she said, still cheerfully. James' eyes began to droop and he almost fell asleep. "At least your essay is interesting!" she said, sarcastically. James looked at his schedule. He scowled, as he saw that his first class was potions with Professor Salaminch Snape, who was Severus Snape's father. This explained part of why Professor Snape hated James. Also, Severus had framed James, Remus and Sirius for throwing a dungbomb at him last year.
James fell asleep until Sirius began waking him up. "Wassamatter?" James said groggily.
"Potions!" Sirius said. "We need to get down to the dungeon!" As they stepped away from the fire, it became immediately cold. To keep warm, Sirius, James and Remus ran to the potions room. Professor Snape began to ramble on and on. Professor Snape was constantly looking at James, Sirius, Remus and Peter Pettigrew, just in cast they pulled anything sneaky. At the end of the class, James, Sirius and Remus walked away to their dorm.
At flying, which was their next class, Madam Hooch, the flying teacher, showed some more basic broom techniques, like she did last year. People admired James' Cleansweep 5, which was, without a doubt, the best broom on the market. Anyway Madam Hooch had picked James and Severus to demonstrate the moves, since they had both played keeper on Rec-Quidditch teams. As James and Severus stood on both different sides, each guarding three goals. Madam Hooch split the remainder of the class into two groups. Suddenly, quaffles were flying in all directions. James quickly dived around. He missed only two out of the forty quaffles that were thrown. As Madam Hooch blew her whistle, he checked to see how Severus was doing. Severus' broom was sprawled out on the ground. Yes, sprawled. It's handle was lying on the ground, and the bristles were blowing in the wind, all separated. Severus was all in one piece. That was the good news. The bad news was that he was hanging from one of the poles.
"Potter! Go get Snape!" Hooch said. Kids were still throwing quaffles, trying to peg Severus.
"ACCIO!" James bellowed. Severus erupted from the goal post and flew through the air, right over the stands, and smack into the lake. As the class ran and flew out, they saw Severus soaking wet, swimming out of the lake. He had a very not-nice look on his face. The entire class started laughing. Severus turned purple, because he was blue from the cold and red from embarrassment.
"Potter?" Madam Hooch asked. "Can you stay after class?"
"Busted!" whispered Sirius. As James walked over to Madam Hooch, she smiled at him. McGonagall was next to Madam Hooch.
"You are a very good keeper!" Madam Hooch said.
"Uh, thanks!" James said.
"Anyway!" said McGonagall. "How would you like to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a keeper? Ours left last year!"
"Er, sure, I guess!" James said.
"Good. Now we have all of the players!" McGonagall said, happily. "Oh and remember, you're the keeper. Okay?" James almost fainted on the floor.
"Er- okay!" James said, regaining his voice and his nerves and his balance. He wobbled out of the field and moved automatically to his next class.
"YOU'RE ON THE TEAM?" asked Sirius, jumping around the dorm that night. "I can't believe it! And with that Cleansweep 5! Boy, you'll knock 'em dead!" Sirius and Remus were both pleased.
Soon, in November, Quidditch practices began. The captain of the team had sent owls to each of the other players, telling them to meet on Saturday right after lunch. As James walked into the Gryffindor locker rooms, he changed into his scarlet Gryffindor Quidditch robes. Then, the team started funneling in. There was the seeker, Rob Tanner, the chasers Stephanie Johansen, Brian Timothy and Jonathan Miller, the two beaters, Sue Gregory and Bill Lawrence. Then, of course, was the keeper, James Potter. As James sat down with the rest of the players, Rob Tanner, who was the captain, stood up and began talking about new moves with the help of moving people on his posters.
"And, I'd like to introduce our new keeper, James Potter!" Rob said. The team began to cheer. Then Rob went back into his talk. Once Rob was done talking, they all practiced their new moves. Once the practice was over, at about three, Rob stood behind with James. "Glad you know how to play Quidditch already!" Rob said. "Show me what you can do!" Like a bullet, James shot up to the goal. Rob began throwing Quaffles at him. James blocked every one. "GOOD!" Rob said, gleefully. They walked out off the field.
"I am SO happy!" James said, as he started his homework.
"Good!" Sirius said, without looking up from his cauldron. He walked upstairs to get some more dragon blood for his potion's homework. As Sirius left, Lily Rolins came walking into the common room.
"Hi James!" she said. "Congratulations on making the Quidditch team!" James thanked her and went back to his essay.
The months passed until December 3rd, when it was the first Quidditch game.
"Ready?" Rob asked the team. Everyone nodded. "Don't forget! Ravenclaw is really good! Just try your best, everyone!"
"MOUNT YOUR BROOMS!" Madam Hooch yelled. "GO!" The Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw teams burst up into the air. James leaped up to the goal posts.
"And Potter is at the goal!" said Sam Jordan, a Hufflepuff boy, who was doing the commentary. "Wait! Here we go! And Johansen sends the Quaffle to Timothy, oh but he is hard by a bludger! The Slytherin chaser, John Larinos, takes the Quaffle. He shoots, but Potter is just too strong! With a sweep with his Cleansweep 5, which is obviously the best broom-"
"JORDAN!" yelled Professor McGonagall.
"Sorry!" Jordan said. "And James Potter blocks the Quaffle again. Oh, but Rob Tanner sees the snitch. He dives Nope. Fouled by Larinos. But Jonathan Miller gets a foul shot He makes it! Gryffindor leads 10 to 0! Tanner sees the snitch again! He dives And then-wait! Timothy knocks the Quaffle into the goal!"
James quickly dove down to block Quaffle that one of the Slytherin chasers threw towards him. He could here Sam Jordan's words ring in his ears. As he hovered, he suddenly heard cheering. He saw Rob dive down, clutching the golden snitch. As James descended, the crowds were still cheering. The crowd was still cheering as the team went into the locker rooms marked "Gryffindor."
"Good job!" Rob said, as the team jumped up and down. After Rob talked to them, they all walked out. The once cheering, fan-filled stadium was now deserted. It was dark when James walked up to the castle. He collapsed onto his bed fell asleep.
The next morning was a Saturday, so James headed out to Quidditch field. The rest of the team was already there. They began flying and working on new techniques.
"Everyone listen up!" Rob yelled as everyone began drinking their water. "As you know, the Yule Ball is coming up. It is customary to have Quidditch team pictures taken during the ball. James; I need to talk to you after practice!" Their practice ended after Rob gave another talk about their match against Hufflepuff.
"What, Rob?" James said, when he came up to Rob after practice.
"Okay. Anyway, the Yule Ball is for 4th year and up."
"But last year, a couple of first years were caught fighting. So now the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years have their own dance on Christmas Day," Rob said. James had a knot in his throat. Last year at the Yule Ball, Severus had pounced on James and they wrestled into the buffet table and It was a mess. Obviously, the professors had cut down the size of the dances, so they could keep a better watch.
"So?" James said.
"Well, 2nd years aren't allowed at the Yule Ball. No exceptions. I already asked Professor McGonagall. Anyway, there is a way around that. You need a date that is in their fourth year or older. Then you can get in." Rob left the field, clutching his broomstick. As he walked towards the exit, Sue Gregory, the chaser, stopped him.
"I heard what Rob said" she said. "You can go with me, if you want to!"
"Sure," said James, as he exited the field. He walked up to the Great Hall for lunch.
"Hey!" Sirius said, stuffing a potato in his mouth.
"Where's Remus?" James asked, helping himself to a plate of food.
"Don't know. He disappeared again. Did you notice he does this almost every month?"
"Yeah!" James said, finishing his plate. "We'd better get to our homework. We have tons!"
They had just finished well past nightfall when they decided to get some fresh air and take a spin on their broomsticks. Taking James' invisibility cloak, they walked down to the Quidditch field. Before they could take their cloak off, they saw two silhouettes, walking across the grounds. James and Sirius both nodded at each other and ran underneath the cloak. They saw Dumbledore and Remus. Dumbledore poked at a knot with a long stick. The knot froze the Whomping Willow, so they could walk in, Sirius and Remus at their heels. "Let me know when your transformation is complete!" Dumbledore said. He walked out. James and Sirius sat in the corner, watching Remus. It was a strange building, with a comfy chair, a desk, a bed, a table with chairs and dresser. They sat next to the dresser and the trapdoor to the passage by the Whomping Willow.
Suddenly, Remus let out a scream. He fell to his knees and collapsed on the floor. James and Sirius watched in horror, as Remus lifted himself up. Or was it Remus? Remus was standing now, with lots of fur covering him. His robes were torn and bits of fur were sticking out. He growled and grabbed the desk and threw it down onto the ground. With his claws, he slashed the comfy chair, causing the stuffing to be exposed. He grabbed the table and threw it at the dresser. The dresser collapsed and James quickly dove out of the way.
"RUN!" Sirius whispered to James. They grabbed the trapdoor and thrust it open. Quickly closing the trapdoor after them, they pressed the knot, which froze the Whomping Willow. They bolted forward and ran all the way to Gryffindor tower.
"NARSISCA ROLE!" James yelled.
"Who's there?" asked the Fat Lady. Last year, she was skinny, but she was starting to gain weight. James and Sirius said nothing and climbed through the portrait hole. Without a word, they climbed into bed. It dawned on both of them that what they saw concluded one thing. Remus was a werewolf.
As they awoke, Remus still wasn't back. "What should we do?" Sirius asked. James opened his book.
"THERE!" he cried. "Here. A werewolf is only harmful to people, but to animals, they are in no danger of becoming a werewolf."
"So?" Sirius said. James grabbed another book and ripped it open.
"THERE!" he cried, again. "Right here! An animagus is a wizard or a witch who can turn into an animal!"
"Wait. You are NOT-" Sirius began. James began nodding.
"Yes, I do! See we turn into animals, large enough- "James began
"Can I be an animagus too?" asked a squeaky voice. It was Peter Pettigrew, who was waking up. James and Sirius huddled up.
"Well," James whispered to Sirius. "If we can turn into animals, large enough to keep a werewolf in check, then Peter can be a small animal, so he can creep into the tunnel and push the knot-" Sirius nodded.
"Okay!" he said to Peter. "But you can't be clumsy!" Peter nodded.
"Why are we doing this?" Sirius asked James.
"Because Remus is our friend! I know that werewolf transformations are torture! If we can become animals, we can keep him company!"
Sirius and Peter nodded. As they left for their morning classes, James bumped into Lily.
"Hi, Lily," he said. "The Christmas Ball is coming up. Want to go with me?" Lily scowled and stomped off. James caught up with her. "Lily?" he asked. She gave him a mean look and stomped off again. As James rounded into potions, he saw Lily talking to Severus. She was smiling and James saw her looking at him through the corner of her eye. Next to Lily was a white glove. It hovered next to her and curled up as she petted it. It waved to James as they walked by. Lily scowled. Potions came around very slowly. As did the rest of the classes that day. Soon, Remus came back.
"You tell him!" rasped James.
"No you!" Sirius whispered back. They agreed to flip a coin. James lost.
"So, Remus" James said, as he looked at the ground.
"Yes?" Remus said cheerfully.
"Remus? We know you're a, a" James said. The color in Remus' face was gone and tears filled Remus' eyes.
"Remus! We're going to help you!" James said as Remus turned his head away. "We're going to be animagi, Remus!" Remus looked back at James in disbelief.
"We can manage it!" Sirius said. "Then, during your transformations, we can keep you company!" The color came back to Remus' face. A big smile erupted.
"R-Really?" he said, his lip quivering. He ran, smiling into their dorm.
"That made him happy!" said Peter. Sirius and James both nodded.
Soon, it was time for the Christmas Eve Yule Ball. James met Sue in the common room. He saw Lily, eyeing him over her book. James was in his blue satin dress robes, as he walked with Sue, in her white velvet robes. He blonde hair was brushed down to the middle of her back. They got to the beautiful Yule Ball. Sue was about the same size as James. They walked to the dance floor. After a half-hour, Rob came running up to Sue and James. "PICTURES!" he called. "Over there!"
They all walked over to a background. It was red, for Gryffindor house. They all smiled and posed for the picture. The rest of the night passed uneventfully.
It was midnight when the party ended. They climbed back up to Gryffindor tower, said goodnight and went to bed. It was 10:00 when James awoke. There was no tea this morning, for the Christmas Day Ball started at 5:00. At 3:45, everyone walked upstairs to their dorm, so they could change. James was going with a girl from Gryffindor named Olivia Spelling. She soon left, storming away from James, back to Gryffindor tower. She did this because James wouldn't dance with her and her kept watching Lily. James bumped up to Sirius. "Everyone's here! Even Professor Snape! Now's the time!" James said. He, of course was talking about the time to steal some things for their potion. James gave Sirius and Peter a list, and they tiptoed away.
"Want to dance?" James asked Lily. Lily scowled but went out to the dance floor. Severus turned around to see James and Lily dancing. He grabbed his wand and whispered a curse.
"Watch out!" Lily cried. James was suddenly banged against the wall and collapsed. Lily had seen Severus, who was now innocently at the punch bowl, his wand put away. Lily grabbed her wand. The white glove she had been petting in potions came up to her, saluting. She talked to it for a second and it chuckled. It then slapped Severus across the face over and over. It curled itself into a fist and bopped itself on Severus' head. Lily ran over to James, Remus at her heels. James was knocked unconscious and sprawled out on the floor. Sirius and Peter came walking back into the Great Hall. Seeing James, they ran over to him. Dumbledore came plowing through the dance floor. All of the dancing and merry-making had stopped. Everyone was now watching James. The little white gloved stopped hitting Severus and fit itself around Severus' hand. It grabbed a handful of pudding and threw it at the dance floor. Part of it hit Sarah Snoopson, a six-foot tall second year. She saw Severus by the food table. She grabbed a cake and threw it. However, it was pre-cut. The slices flew everywhere. Within minutes, the entire dance was in a foot fight.
"STOP!" Dumbledore bellowed. The dance stopped. Everyone was covered in food. Madam Pomfrey came running into the Great Hall. She conjured up stretchers and it carried James up to the hospital wing. Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily all followed Madam Pomfrey up to the Hospital Wing. James was still unconscious ten days later. Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily came to visit him every day. Then, one day in the end of January, James had been unconscious for over a month, he awoke. He was still in his dress robes. Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all sitting on a couch that Lily had popped up from her wand, doing their homework.
"JAMES!" they all said at once. They were at the side of his bed.
"Hi!" James said in barely a whisper. "How long have I been here?"
"About a month!" Sirius said. "You had a curse put on you at the Christmas Day Ball!"
"A curse?" James whispered in disbelief.
"It was Severus, but no one else saw him! He didn't even get so much as a detention!" Lily said.
About a week and a half later, James was allowed out of the hospital wing. James, Remus, Sirius and Peter were all in their dorm. "We got most of the ingredients!" Sirius said, taking a large stack out from under his bed. "Well, for the first step anyway! Now, what we need is cauldron. Self-stirring! That way we can leave it over the summer." Sirius smiled. "I know you're just getting over being sick and all, but it's your turn to get something for the Operation: Animagi!" James agreed, and took his invisibility cloak and went off through the castle. He bumped up onto a statue of the one-eyed witch. Let's see James thought. Maybe it's a secret passage!
"Open!" James whispered. He zapped his wand. In his hand was a magical translator, which translated English into Mermish, Troll, Gobbledegook, Giant and Hag. He whispered open and it gave him all of the translations.
"Laroo!" he whispered in Mermish. Nothing happened.
"Urgha!" he whispered in Troll. Nothing happened.
"Bladhook!" he whispered in Gobbledegook. Nothing happened.
"Rahara!" he whispered in Giant. Nothing happened. Disappointed, he looked at the last word. It was in Hag.
"Dissendium!" he whispered in Hag. The witch's hump opened and James climbed through. He slid down a slide and opened a trapdoor. Inside, were many crates marked "Honeydukes Sweet Shop: Hogsmeade." He was in the Honeydukes cellar. He climbed up the stairs. With his invisibility cloak, he walked into the Cauldron Store. He bought the largest, self-stirring cauldron he could find. He paid for it and bewitched it to make it feather-light and tied it to his broomstick. He flew back to Hogwarts and flew up to his window. Sirius and Remus pulled him into the dorm and set up the cauldron.
"What do we do?" Peter squeaked. James took an ounce of dragon blood and a pinch of Blodgarghag powder into the cauldron of bubbling, boiling water. The cauldron fizzed and turned green. James pressed the self-stirring button. A suction in the cauldron began stirring. James adjusted the speed.
That night was the full moon. Remus left to go and meet Dumbledore. James, Peter and Sirius took the invisibility cloak and walked into the house. Crouching in the corner, they saw Remus, who had transformed. He ran over to the corner, but he couldn't see James, Sirius and Peter. "This was a bad idea!" Sirius said. James agreed. They got up and decided to run. They picked themselves up and crashed into Remus. James, Sirius and Peter screamed, as the cloak slid off. Remus growled as James picked up the invisibility cloak. Remus began to chase after them. James took off his regular cloak and threw it over Remus' face. They ran over to the trapdoor, Remus still struggling with the cloak. The trapdoor was stuck.
"HURRY!" James cried, as they wretched open the trapdoor. They bolted through the passage and poked at the knot. The Whomping Willow froze. They sprinted through the grounds and didn't stop until they were in their dorm. "We'd better finish this potion soon!" James said.
The potion went by very well for the rest of the year.
As James and Sirius waved goodbye to Remus and Peter, they walked back to their houses, the end of a year.