A/n: I'm sorry I yelled at you guys, yes flames are welcome, but I'm still a little touchy. Okay, I have to thank Annie (in Ravenclaw, yes, she's a real person) she gave up her study hall to help me think of names for the professors. I want to thank Tammy for giving me the plots to not 5&6, but now more like 8&9. If you recognize it, I don't own it. Thank you Tammy and Annie! Love you guys! r/r! I'll tell you what some of the names mean at the end of the story.
Chapter 6: The Feast
"How'd you know?"
"Call it a hunch," I lied. What the hat had told me was true and I knew it. I had the symptoms of a Seer very early in life and was taken to a Psychic. She told my parents what they had been dreading hearing: I was a Seer. I knew that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing to be a Seer, but my parents disowned me anyway. All I got for getting in to Hogwarts was a curt "Congratulations."
"The feast is starting."
"I feel sick, I don't think I'll be…" she trailed off as her mouth fell open at the sight of so much food. There was every food ever made in England on that table right there. We ate our way right through everything. Even Lily, who had admitted to being sick on the train, had some. She ate almost as much as Sirius, which was hard because he ate so much. When dessert appeared, we looked greedily at it before digging in. This was my favorite part.
"Now, off to your dormitories," said an old man with a long beard.
"I could fall asleep right here on the floor," mumbled Sirius.
"I'd be right there with you buddy," responded Lily. I knew what she meant, but was fuming anyway.
Lily:
I trudged up the stairs with the rest of my house. I knocked into a few people because I was so exhausted. I had been up since five and it was now, I checked my watch, almost midnight. The prefect told us the password (porta ingentia*), told us to go to the marked dormitories and went to talk to her friends.
"See you in the morning guys," I muttered to the boys as they went through one door and I went through the other. I found my stuff, pulled on my nightdress and fell on my bed, fast asleep.
Chapter 7: First Morning
James:
We woke up the next morning and found Lily in the common room. We walked with her to the Great Hall and sat down just as Professor McGonagall was handing out schedules. Sirius groaned.
"What's wrong?" asked Remus.
"Potions with Haynes. I've heard he's a nightmare," he groaned.
"Which one is he?" asked Lily.
"The one wearing the dark brown robes, with the smirk on his face," pointed out Sirius.
"With the red hair?" asked Lily.
"Yeah," said Sirius.
"Ew, he's an ugly one isn't he? I don't fancy having to look at him all through Potions." She pulled a face.
Our schedule was pretty good for today. We had Potions first with Haynes, then Defense Against the Dark Arts with Custos. Then mid-morning break. After Break we had Transfiguration with McGonagall and Charms with Lacompte. Then, after lunch, was History of Magic with Professor Binns and Herbology with Terra. I looked at Lily's watch and said, "We'd better go guys, it'll take ages to get down to the Dungeons."
"Not with one of my shortcuts," said Sirius, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"Okay Sirius, we've been here not even one day and already you have a short cut to the dungeons," laughed Lily. "How do you manage?"
"You know, I reckon we should get going James. Don't want to be late to our first class."
"Shaggy m'dear, you never answered my question."
"Tabby m'dear, you should mind your own business." So with that brief scrape, we hurried off to potions.
Chapter 8: Potions
Lily:
I paused before hurrying after them. How did Sirius find a passage way to the dungeons, let alone know where they are. He was in the lead, so I ran up and linked arms with him.
"Shaggy, I'm not letting you go until you tell me how you found out about a secret passage on our first day."
"Okay, I spied on the Slytherins after we went to bed."
"But how do you know about the dungeons?"
"I saw where they went. Now Tabby, honestly you ask far too many questions for your own good." I shut up and let go of his arm.
"Fine then," I snapped and went to walk with Caitlin.
"What's the matter Lily?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
"Shaggy up there just insulted me again. He couldn't be nice if he tried. So, what do you reckon Cat? Are we going to have a bad day?"
"Terrible," she groaned. I groaned too.
When the lesson got going, I started to shiver. It was freezing down here, and no one had brought their cloaks so no James to give me his. I was working with Cat today making a sleeping solution. At the beginning of the class, Professor Haynes gave us a talking to.
"I must warn you," he said in barely more than a whisper. "That there is little I can teach you here besides ingredients. Potions is an art form, and if you don't have the skill, you will not do well. Do I make my self clear?" Eight heads nodded and so we set out making the potion. Professor Haynes listed the ingredients on the board and we went to get them. While I was carefully measuring out powdered sufiuti roots, Sirius bumped into me making me spill the whole container onto the floor.
"Watch where you're going, will you?" I hissed, trying to mop it up before Haynes noticed.
"Sorry," he muttered. "Let me help you."
"I got it, thanks."
"Anytime." He smiled. "See you later Tabby."
"Mr. Black, Miss Evans, no talking in my class, and five points from Gryffindor. And Miss Evans, detention for spilling the powdered sufiuti root."
"Yes Professor Haynes."
"Professor Haynes, sir? I made her spill the powdered sufiuti root, it wasn't her fault," explained Sirius.
"Alright, you too get detention."
"But it wasn't her fault."
"It doesn't matter, she is still responsible for it as she was using it at the time."
"But Professor…"
"No buts Mr. Black, five more points from Gryffindor for talking back. Take your seat Mr. Black."
"Yes sir."
Chapter 9:Defense Against the Dark Arts
James:
After potions, as we ran out of the dungeons, I checked my schedule to see when we had potions. We had it three times a week, Monday, Tuesday, and double on Friday.
I hurried off to Defense against the Dark Arts. I walked into the class and sat down, saving seats for Lily and Sirius. They walked in, seconds before the bell rang, Lily thanking Sirius profusely. Following right behind them was a tall, young woman who was carrying a brief case and looking very happy.
"Take your seats please, thank you. Hello, I'm Victoria Custos**. I've just taken the Defense Against the Dark Arts post here. I hope we will have fun in class, but I don't want any fooling around. So, I thought we would start today with a little quiz. It should only take ten minutes and won't be graded. It's for me to find out about you. She went around handing out quizzes. My mouth fell open in shock. The quiz looked like this:
Name:
Age:
Birthday:
Height:
Favorite color:
What you hope to learn this year:
It was the shortest quiz I had ever seen. I jotted down my answers then handed in my quiz.
"Thanks James," she smiled.
"Your welcome."
I went back to sit with Lily and Sirius. Lily was looking happy and Sirius was looking disappointed.
"Why so glum Sirius?"
"I wish she did grade them. It would have been the only quiz that I got an A on." I laughed and Lily was trying not to smile.
"Don't worry Sirius, I'm sure you'll do fine this year. All you need to do is work." He groaned. The rest of the lesson was fun. Professor Custos had actually been a vampire hunter in Romania. She brought pictures and told us the best ways to kill vampires. The bell rang.
"For homework, I would like you to write an essay on the best ways to kill vampires," the whole class groaned. "To be handed in two weeks from now, I'll give you class time to work on it and ask me questions too." Everyone brightened at this thought.
"This is just like English at my old school," Lily said, excitedly. "My English teacher always gave us loads of time for essays. (A/n: The English dept. at my school gave us two weeks and class time for a really nasty short story essay…)"
After D.A.D.A. as we came to call it, we had a fifteen minute break. We went back to the tower to switch our books. We had Transfiguration next followed by Charms. The bell that signaled mid-morning break was over rang as we found seats in the front of the room.
Chapter 10: Transfiguration
Lily:
I sat between Sirius and James. "So, McGonagall is teaching Transfiguration? Hmm, always been a strong point for me," mused James. "Hope she's not a…"
"Hope I'm not a what, Mr. Potter?" asked a stern looking woman standing at the threshold of the door. I recognized her as the woman who had called out our names during the Sorting. "And by the way, it's Professor McGonagall." James turned red.
"I was going to say I hope she's - I mean you're - not a bad teacher. I've always loved Transfiguration and I want to be taught well." Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared, then her face broke into a smile.
"We shall see about your talent Mr. Potter," she smiled. "Though you shouldn't be so cocky, Transfiguration is the hardest thing we teach here at Hogwarts."
"Bring it on." We took complicated notes on how to turn a match into a needle. James was just doodling and it made me quite angry.
"Aren't you going to take notes?" I hissed.
"Nah, I don't need to," he whispered back. When Professor McGonagall came around handing out matches, James smiled and said, "Thanks."
"This is going to be so hard," groaned Sirius.
"Don't worry about it Shaggy, just do as it says in your notes."
"Everybody, may I have your attention please," said Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter here has done something I rarely see: he has turned his match to a needle on the first try. Bravo, Mr. Potter. Take fifteen points to Gryffindor." She smiled. "Now, Mr. Potter, please see if you can help some other students."
"Mr. Potter?" I asked. "I'm having trouble with my match, it just won't turn into a needle."
"Lily, have you even tried yet?"
"No, I was hoping you'd help me anyway though." He smiled. I smiled back. "Please, Mr. Potter?"
"I'll help you if you stop calling me that."
"Calling you what Mr. Potter?"
"Stop it Lily, stop calling me Mr. Potter."
"Alright Mr. Potter, sorry, I mean James." I smiled innocently and batted my eyelashes. "I'm sorry James, but it was just too easy." I burst out laughing.
"And you two think you won't end up together," laughed Sirius. I gave him one of my death stares and he fell silent. "Hey James, could you give me a hand?"
Chapter 11: Charms
James:
When the bell rang, we hurried to the Charms classroom. Standing in front of the desk was a very French looking woman.
"Bonjour. J'mappelle Esme Lacompte."
"Well, I'm James."
"Parle les vous Francais?"
"Non. J'mappelle Lily Evans. Je ne vu sas pas."
"But you speak French," she stammered.
"A little. They don't understand though."
"Take your seats then."
"Thanks. Are you going to teach us French?"
"I could. I'm teaching a few of my Ravenclaws French. You'd be welcome to join us."
"You barely speak with an accent though," observed Sirius.
"I was born in England. My parents only ever understood French. I was bilingual, but they could only speak French and a tiny bit of English. Take your seats, the bell rang five minutes ago."
That day, she took her desk, made it float three feet from the ground then made it tap dance and do cartwheels. The bell rang before we could start. We all wanted to see more and stall so she couldn't give us homework.
"Ah, yes for homework comprise a list of things that you think you're going to learn this year."
"But Professor, this isn't Divination," explained Peter. I jumped. I hadn't noticed him at all. Had he been sitting behind me the whole day? I shuddered. Peter was starting to creep me out, but I shook it off.
"I don't care, just do it," she snapped.
"Professor," I said. "Don't yell at Peter. This isn't right. How are we supposed to know what we're going to learn?"
"Guess! I don't have the patients to stand here arguing with you, that's your homework and you're going to do it!"
We all got up and stormed out of the room. It was time for lunch so we all headed down to the Great Hall. I looked up to the staff table and saw her glaring at us, as though I dared to speak up against her. I hurriedly dug my schedule out of my bag and found that we had Charms everyday. I groaned.
"What's the matter Lily?"
"We have charms with that devil woman everyday! I hate her so much. Peter's right. How are we supposed to know what we're going to learn? I bet she's going to choose the best one and say that's what we're learning."
"I'm going to ask some of the older kids what they learned," schemed Sirius. "I'll get good marks in Charms yet."
"Why wouldn't you?"
"Because I never do well in charms."
"I have a question," Sirius groaned. "Shut up Shaggy, no one asked you. Anyway, why do you guys know what your strong and weak points are? I have no idea what I'll pass and what I'll fail."
"We went to school, that's how we know."
"I went to school too though."
"Where did you go?"
"London Primary."
"Oh, see you went to a Muggle school."
"Whatever." I checked my watch, we had five minutes to get to History of Magic. "You guys we'd better go to History of Magic, that is unless Sirius has a shortcut."
"I don't' have one yet. I'll get one though, if you want me to," blushed Sirius.
"I think we can go the regular way for now. Thanks anyway," I mumbled.
Chapter 12: History of Magic
James:
"Hey Sirius, wait up!" I shouted after him. I ran to catch him.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked panting,
"Sure." I felt no point in beating around the bush.
"Do you like Lily or are you just leading her on?"
"WHAT? James, please," he stammered, though I couldn't help noticing that he was getting a pink tinge in his cheeks.
"Well?"
"Can we talk about this later?"
"I'd really like it if you didn't keep secrets from me."
"What are you, my best friend?"
"I'm your only friend."
"What about Remus and Peter?"
"They won't be your friends till later, Peter won't even really be a good friend."
"How do you know?"
"I'll tell you later."
"I'd really like it if you didn't keep secrets from me."
"Wow, that was thrown back in my face."
"I'll tell you if you tell me."
"This is a bigger deal than a crush."
"James?"
"What?" I asked. I turned around. It was Cat. "Hey Cat. What's up?"
"Well, Professor Binns is wondering where you guys are. The bell rang two minutes ago."
"Oh, sorry. We're coming." We followed her to the classroom where Professor Binns promptly took four points from Gryffindor. Two points each for being two minutes late.
"Now that Mr. Black and Mr. Potter have graced us with their presence, we'll begin class. This year we're going to learn about great wizards of our time." I stopped listening to his because I suddenly noticed how old he was. He droned on for the rest of the class and when the bell rang he said, "For homework please read pages one to ten. Write a brief summary on what you have read." I was jumping for joy. We had one more period before the school part of the day was over.
Chapter 13: Herbology
Lily:
While we walked across the courtyard to get to the greenhouses, I talked with Cat about my detention that night.
"Did he say what you were going to do?" she asked.
"No, just to meet him in the dungeon where we had class. I don't think that's a very good thing to tell you the truth. At least we're not going to be separate."
"Yeah, especially for Sirius. He's drooling over you like a dog for a steak."
"Shut up Cat, he doesn't like me."
"Wanna bet?"
"Bet what?"
"I bet that Sirius will make a move tonight. If I win, you do my Charms homework, if you win, I'll do yours."
"Deal." We shook on it. We reached the greenhouses and waited outside for our teacher. She came walking across the lawn, talking to the man with the long beard.
"Hello all," he said. "I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Professor Dumbledore, I'm the headmaster here at Hogwarts. I was just talking to Professor Terra about a tree she just planted on the grounds. I'll let you get on with your lessons. I'll see you all at dinner. Good afternoon Prasana."
"I'm Professor Prasana Terra***. I teach Herbology here. We're going to Greenhouse One we are, so follow me." We all followed her down a sloping path to a greenhouse with a big '1' on the door. "We'll meet here until after winter holidays. After that we'll meet in number two, which is just up the hill."
Herbology easily became my favorite lesson. I had always loved gardening and was told I had a 'green thumb'.
"Now today we will be gathering some sufiuti roots for Professor Haynes," she explained. "They grow around the edge of the forest, so we must be careful. Do not go farther then talking distance. We don't want to lose you. Pick up a trowel and a gathering basket and we'll be off." We all put down our bags, grabbed a trowel and basket and set off for the edge of the forest. I walked over to where Sirius was gathering roots.
"Now we know what detention will be," I said. He was bent over and wiped some sweat from his brow.
"I don't know Lily, he seems more sinister than that."
"We spilled sufiuti root, that's what we'll be doing. I know it."
"If you say so. See you later."
"Yeah," I said as he walked away to find more roots. Seeing that there were none here, I walked in the opposite direction he went. I found a lot there, but didn't get it all because I wanted to sleep tonight. The bell sounded across the lawns. I picked up my half full basket and joined the rest of the class. Thank God school was over. I was exhausted. We walked slowly back to our common room. I took a shower changed my robes and met the boys in the common room for dinner.
"James, will you let me copy your Charms homework?"
"Sure, you've got the detention tonight right?"
"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it too."
"Oh Lily," said Sirius. "Sarcasm is so unattractive."
"And I was to begin with? Wait, don't answer that," I laughed. Last time I asked, he told me I wasn't cute. I didn't care, he was, but I'd never date him, yet.
* Password: Big gate
** Her name means 'victory guard' in Latin
*** Her name means 'green earth' in Latin
J