After the feast, we were led to Gryffindor Tower. As I stood in the common room, ignoring the prefects' orders to go up to our dormitories, I could hardly believe it. I was at Hogwarts. I was a Gryffindor. Lily touched my arm.
"Goodnight James. I'll see you tomorrow." She hesitated. For a second, I thought she was going to kiss me. But then Sarah, who had seemed to pick up a few more first year friends, pulled her away.
"G'night James. You too, Siri." She led her dazed looking friend away. I turned and saw that Sirius was standing behind me. Ignoring his look of disgust, I made my way up the staircase to the boys' dormitories, accompanied by Remus, who took the liberty of dragging Sirius. He seemed to do that a lot. Pushing open the door marked "First Years", I stopped. Facing me was a beautiful circular room containing four poster beds with deep red velvet hangings. There was a large window on one side, which faced the grounds and Forbidden Forest. To my surprise, I saw that our trunks had been brought up to our rooms. I bounded in to the dormitory and immediately called the bed next to the window. Remus got the one on the other side of the window, next to mine, and Sirius called the one on the other side of his. There was one empty bed, next to mine, and I wondered who was left to come. A small, pudgy boy with sandy brown hair rushed through the doorway. I recognized him as Peter Pettigrew.
"Erm, is this the first year boy's dormitory?" he asked squeakily. Remus nodded. Peter looked relieved and collapsed on the bed. Immediately we heard loud snores begin to issue from his four poster. He was asleep. Remus, Sirius, and I shrugged at each other. Or, rather, Sirius and I shrugged at Remus and then glared at each other. Remembering the Sorting Hat's request, I softened my glare a bit. He turned away and I leaned back on my bed. Though I hadn't realized how exhausted I was, as soon as I placed my glasses on the bedside table, I fell into a deep slumber.
*~*~*~*
The next day, I woke up very wet. Sirius was standing above me, magically levitating a bucket of ice cold water upside down over my head. Not stopping to marvel at his skill or obvious talent considering that we had yet to have any lessons, I whipped on my glasses and grabbed my wand. Standing up, I took aim.
"Rictusempra!" Sirius doubled over in hysterical fits of laughter. He rolled onto the floor and I grabbed some clean robes out of my trunk and headed to the bathroom to shower, carefully treading on him as I passed. After I had washed and dressed, I stood in front of the mirror and tried to make my hair lie flat. The mirror, whose voice sounded much more weary than my own mirror's at home, wheezed "No offense, dear, but there's really no point." I glared at it and walked out, bumping into Peter on his way in. His face lit up when he saw me.
"Oh, hi James. Lovely day isn't it? How are you? Did you sleep well?" I looked at him quizzically. He sounded like a house elf.
"Er, hello Peter. I'm fine. You'd better hurry, classes start in half an hour." Peter's eyes widened.
"Half an hour?" He ran past me. I shrugged and grabbed my books from my trunk, carefully placing them in my bag. Ten minutes later, I was down at breakfast. Lily walked in and sat down next to me. Once again, she looked beautiful. Her dark red hair was woven into two French-braided pigtails. Her robes, though the same plain black ones as everyone else was wearing, had been accented with green ribbons at the neck and cuffs which brought out the color of her eyes. I was in a trance. She came over and sat next to me, amid some difficulty. More girls, including Sarah, who I recognized from the evening before, accompanied her. She introduced me to them. Mary Thayer, a girl with long brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. She always seemed to be laughing and had a curious fascination with Japanese art. All during lunch she was sketching, until people started bugging her to draw them and she stopped, annoyed. Liz Appelgate, who had short brown hair and glasses. She was half Muggle, half magic, and was one of Sarah and Lily's friends from primary school. The last girl, Carrie Cavanaugh, was a tall, blonde, pretty Muggle born. She had been attracting many looks and whistles from the male population of the hall. She returned them with fiery glares. As she sat down, Sirius let out a small sigh under his breath.
"Did anyone ever tell you that you should be a model?" he asked, with a glazed look over his face. Carrie looked livid. She grabbed him by the front of his robes from across the table.
"Listen up, you narrow minded jerk!" she hissed. "I do not want to be a model! Get it through your thick skull! I am not a piece of meat!" She released him, smiled sweetly at the rest of us, and started on breakfast. "Ooh! Are those strawberries? I love strawberries! And bacon!" She grabbed the two dishes and served liberal amounts onto her plate. We watched in amazement as she wolfed down her breakfast and helped herself to more. Sarah and Liz shrugged. Sirius sat back, blushing furiously. Lily turned to me.
"Yes, if you were wondering, she's always like that." I nodded.
"I wasn't going to ask." At that moment, the first year schedules were passed down the tables. I scanned mine. We had Charms first that day, then Potions, and Transfiguration just after lunch. That sounded interesting. A bell sounded and we headed off to Charms.
*~*~*~*
Charms passed in a blur. Lily and Sirius, paired together, were the first ones to manage a Levitation charm. I wasn't surprised about Sirius; I remembered the bucket earlier that morning. Lily, however, seemed to be a natural. One casual flick of her wand and the spell resulted in her feather flying four feet above her desk. Tiny Professor Flitwick scrambled over.
"Everyone, Miss Evans has managed it!" he squealed. Lily, however, looked surprised and jerked her wand up, startled. The feather floated gently to rest on the top of the professor's hat. The class burst out laughing while Flitwick looked around wildly.
"What? What?"
Potions was an unqualified disaster. I found myself paired with the oily boy from the sorting, Snape. I also discovered that there was indeed someone at school who I disliked more than Sirius. Vowing to start out on the right foot, I offered him my hand to shake.
"How are you? I'm James Potter." The oily boy just looked at my hand with distaste and turned to his daisy roots and began slicing with a malicious air about him. I turned to Remus, who was paired with Sarah, and shrugged. The professor, Professor Lipnicka, called out in her raspy voice for us to add our ingredients to our potion. Snape "accidentally" knocked over my flask of dragon's blood into my bag. With a wave of my wand I cleaned it, but from then on, I decided to ignore him. He just wasn't worth the trouble.
We compared results of our first morning at lunch. I offered Sarah the platter of hamburgers, but she refused, looking queasy.
"No thanks, I'm vegetarian." She helped herself to avocado salad and chips. "So Lily, you really seemed to get the knack of Charms." Lily blushed.
"Yeah, I guess it just came to me." I smiled at her, and she relaxed.
"We better watch out, we've got McGonagall this afternoon." Mary frowned. "Everyone says she's really strict."
"I guess we'll find out, then."
*~*~*~*
Mary had been right, McGonagall was strict. The instant we reached her class, she gave us a stern talking-to.
"Do not, under any circumstances, assume that just because you are in my house that I will give you extra leeway. Anyone messing around in here will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
I exchanged glances with Remus, and then Lily. The instant we had been given a match and been told to turn it into a needle, Peter dropped his wand. It let off a bang and blasted a hole through the door. McGonagall repaired it with a wave of her wand and immediately began chastising Peter, who was cowering in a corner. I turned to my needle. Doing as McGonagall had instructed, I raised my wand and envisioned the match pointy and shiny. Instantly, there was a small pop and the match was suddenly a sharp, silver needle. Professor McGonagall rushed over to my desk as I sat, staring at the needle in surprise. She gave me a rare smile and held up my needle so the class could see.
"Excellent work, Mr. Potter." I grinned at the awestruck class, putting my nonchalant aura back on. For a second, I had almost let my insecurity show. Lily smiled encouragingly at me, and I faltered. Though I had only known her for a couple days (had it only been that long?), Lily had seemed to have acquired the ability to see through my thoughts. Professor McGonagall turned away to help Peter, who was whacking his wand on the desk in anger. I turned and saw Sirius in between Liz and Mary, an arm around each of their shoulders. He kept making jokes and sent them off into hysterical fits of giggles, leaving them struggling to hold their wands up. Unfortunately for him, McGonagall spotted him.
"Mr. Black!" she said shrilly, "Have you begun work on you match yet?" Sirius shook his head defiantly, grinning. She strode over and pulled him away from Mary and Liz, who were trying to suppress another fit of giggles. McGonagall steered him to an empty desk and placed a match in front of him.
"Transfigure it. Now." The eyes of everyone in the class were on Sirius as he waved his wand impatiently. Nothing happened. The professor tapped her foot impatiently.
"We're all waiting, Mr. Black." He waved again. Nothing. McGonagall gave him a stern glare as the rest of the class set back to work on their matches, uninterested.
"10 points from Gryffindor. Stay after class so we can discuss the rest of your punishment."
*~*~*~*
A few days later, the Transfiguration professor stopped me in the hall.
"Potter, would you mind tutoring a student for me? He hasn't seemed to have gotten the hang of Transfiguration, and I'd like for you to help him." After a moment of haggling with her (involving many excuses), I agreed reluctantly. "Meet him in my classroom at 7 o'clock tonight."
That night, I left the common room at 6:50 for the empty Transfiguration classroom where I had arranged to meet the student. I lit the lamps and set up a few objects for the student to work on. As I waited for their arrival, I sat on a desk and impatiently drummed my fingers on it. How had I managed to get roped into this? I could have been sitting in the common room instead of sitting here, waiting for some pathetic guy who couldn't even turn a match into a needle- I cut off when I the student walked through the door. It was Sirius.
"YOU!" we said at the same time. I shook my head.
"No way, I'm not doing this!" I exclaimed in horror. "When McGonagall told me I'd be tutoring someone, I didn't know it'd be you."
"Hey, don't think I'm happy about this either!" Sirius snapped. I groaned.
"I can't believe this. There's no way I'm helping you."
"No, you have to. McGonagall said she'd quiz me to make sure I actually learned something. It's not my fault I can't turn the stupid match into a needle."
"Okay, fine. But only until you get it!" I gave him a match. "Here. Have a go." He looked at me.
"I already tried this. Remember?"
"Just do it. I'll correct you. Now, try to envision the needle when you touch the match with your wand…"
***
An hour later, Sirius had mostly gotten the hang of Transfiguration. We had grown bored and decided to go through McGonagall's desk. We were now rifling through the drawers, looking for blackmail material or some other embarrassing objects or evidence.
"Man, she must be the most boring person alive!" I moaned. Sirius agreed.
"Yeah, all she has are quills, parchment, more quills, more parchment… Oh look! She owns some thumbtacks too! Whose bright idea was this?" I nudged him.
"Uh, yours?" He straightened up.
"Oh. I was afraid of that. Hey James, look at this!" He pointed to a file marked "Private". We grinned at each other. Just as Sirius pulled out a thick envelope from the folder, Professor McGonagall strode through the doorway.
"Are you finished in here? It's almost 11 o'clock- what in the name of Godric Gryffindor is going on here?!?" She saw Sirius and me crouched behind here desk. "Are you going through my personal belongings?" I shut the drawer quickly with a snap. Sirius tucked the envelope into the inside of his robes.
"Um, no?" McGonagall wasn't convinced. I stood, yanking Sirius up after me. We backed out of the room.
"We're done now. Goodnight!" We dashed off down the corridor, not seeing the professor shake her head and chuckle softly as we passed. Once we turned the corner, I skidded to a stop. We stopped to laugh at our own cunning. By the time we had reached the portrait hole, we were friends.
*~*~*~*
The next months passed in a blur. I became best friends with Sirius. We played pranks on virtually every member of our house and most of the other houses too. My infatuation with Lily grew steadily, and I often feared that she never saw me as more than a confidant. My closest friends were Sirius, Remus, Lily, and on occasion, Peter. I felt slightly sorry for him, he was relatively talentless and seemed to have no other friends. Sarah, Mary, Liz, and Carrie were the rest of our usual group. We provided a unified front against the Slytherins. It was a constant war. The only thing that had actually been bothering me was Remus' annual disappearances once a month. He insisted that his mother was ill. Sirius and I were skeptical, but we respected his personal privacy too much to question him further. By the time Christmas came around, I was ready for a break. We were all going home for the holidays. Riding back on the train was enjoyable.
"Sirius!" Mary shrieked, hysterical with laughter. "Stop it! I can't take it any more!" Sirius was doing an impression of Filch, the caretaker.
"What'd you say, missy?" he asked, in an uncanny impression of the wizened porter. "Come Mrs. Norris, my sweet. We'll catch Peeves if it's the last thing we do!" He was just bursting into an impression of some of Filch's threats when Snape and a group of Slytherins chose to saunter into the room. Instantly, the compartment grew silent as we all turned. Sirius stood up.
"No, Sirius, don't," Sarah whispered, "Just ignore them." He faced Snape.
"Did you want something?" he hissed, "Or are you just going to stand there looking pretty?" Snape sneered.
"Shut up, Black."
"Make me."
"I will." Putting down the Sugar Quill that I was sucking on, I stepped up between the two.
"Come on, Sirius, he isn't worth your time." I started to pull him away. Snape turned his cold glare onto me.
"Potter," he growled, "Care to face me in his place?" I ignored him, but Remus stood up next to me. Snape let out a menacing hiss. I rolled my eyes. God, was this becoming an ordeal. The three of us faced him, shoulder to shoulder. People at school had started calling us the Dream Team, while in secret and between our closest friends only we called ourselves the Marauders. I raised my wand and faced the malevolent-looking Slytherin who had become our rival and enemy. We bowed stiffly. Behind me, Lily raised her hand to her mouth in horror. Sarah was clutching Sirius' sleeve with one hand, the other hand balled into a fist. Peter was whimpering in fright. Carrie, Mary, and Liz were huddled together, scarcely daring to do anything but breathe and shoot fiery glares at the Slytherins. Snape's cronies sneered stonily at us. They looked as though they were at a slight loss for what to do, as if they were waiting for directions from their leader. It was I who shot the first curse.
"Expelliarmus!" I yelled, intending to disarm Snape and end the duel with as little conflict as possible. Instead however, Snape shot a fire-spell at me before his wand was jerked out of his fingers.
"Acridious!" I leapt out of the way as the spell whizzed past me, only barely singeing the hem of my long black robes. It sped toward the back of the compartment, causing Liz to jump out of the way just in time with a small yelp. Sirius reached out and deftly caught Snape's wand. Lily let out a breath that she had been holding.
"Score- Gryffindor, one million, Slytherin, negative five." Sirius smirked. Snape, starting to turn, held out his hand for his wand, insufficiently suppressing a sneer. Sirius laughed and twirled it between his fingers. "Say it!" Snape rolled his eyes.
"Grow up, Black."
"Say it! Gryffindors rule, Slytherins drool…"
"Oh, all right… Gryffindors rule, Slytherins drool." We burst out laughing. Snape glared and snatched his wand out of Sirius' extended fist. He turned sharply on his heel and stalked back through the open compartment door. I could have sworn he whistled for his cronies to follow, and they did, like the obedient little demon-puppies that they were. I turned and smiled at Lily, who had fingernail marks on her face from where she had been clutching it. Sarah let out a vehement sigh and covered her eyes exasperatedly with one hand, rubbing her temples.
"You guys are going to be the death of us one day." Sirius smiled mischievously at her.
"Wait till we get back for the holidays! You're gonna see so much of me…" Sarah rolled her dark eyes and punched him on the shoulder.
"Don't be such a guy."
"Why, would you rather I was a cross-dresser? I could change my name to Sunny and wear that lace top of Lily's…" This time, Lily reached up and whacked him sharply on the back of the head. He just laughed.
*~*~*~*
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable characters, places, or anything! Oh yeah, Sunny is a real cross-dresser who goes to my school….