Chapter 12: One Win, One Loss
Disclaimer: nothing that you recognise belongs to me. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling, long may she live and write, and I honestly want nothing from this except a reader.
The aftermath of the New Year's Eve Party was brief, but violent. Fights broke out constantly in the corridors for weeks afterwards, and Professor Headley was even meaner than usual to her Gryffindor students. It didn't last long, though, and after Christmas time seemed to fly by. The teachers began to talk about the exams and about which subjects the second years wanted to start next year. There were loud groans at these pronouncements; nobody wanted to think about exams and important decisions in February. The middle of the month saw a Hogsmeade outing for all the older students, leaving the younger ones with the castle to themselves. Lily and James decided they wanted to look for more secret passages and rooms, and when they decided something, it usually happened. A new passage was found behind a statue of Gregory the Smarmy, a wizard who looked rather like Snape when he was talking to Professor Headley or Lucius Malfoy. It led not to Hogsmeade, but through a dungeon, which showed that evidence that Filch's constant claims that students in previous centuries had been tortured as punishment were true, and right out to the grounds at the other side of the school. It looked like it would be a valuable escape route.
The only other notable even in February was the argument James got into with Professor Malfoy, in one of their Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. It was not unusual for one of them to get into a fight with a teacher, which happened all too often; what was unusual was that James won.
It had all started at the beginning of the lesson. Professor Malfoy had pushed James out of the way to get into the classroom, shouting "Out of my way, Potter!" where a simple 'Excuse me' would have sufficed. James had had to be physically restrained from pushing him back. The Professor was only very young, 23 at most, and very weedy; it was common school opinion that one of a number of Gryffindors could have taken him in a physical fight. A magical duel was another matter all together; he was a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and a Malfoy and consequently knew a lot of Dark Magic.
He began the class with a biting assessment of certain Gryffindors' homework, and when the five looked at their marks. They discovered that not one of them had gotten more than a three out of a possible ten. Since this was a piece of work they had actually bothered to take some time over and were quite proud of (even if it had been a week late), they were naturally upset over the marks. Remus was the most upset, because Defence Against the Dark Arts was his best and favourite subject, despite the teacher.
After listening for ten minutes to Professor Malfoy giving details of what should have been in their answers, they concluded that they had almost all the correct information, and James put up his hand.
"Excuse me, Professor," he said tightly. "Could you tell us exactly what is wrong with our homework?"
The teacher looked towards him with the famous Malfoy sneer on his face. "You did not have the correct information," he said coldly, and turned back.
"We all have everything you just said!" James contested.
"If I say you do not, you do not. Is that clear, Potter?" the Professor asked quietly.
"No, its not clear," James said, just as quietly. "It'll become clear when you tell us juts exactly what is wrong with our work."
"10 points from Gryffindor, Potter."
"So you cant back yourself up?"
"20 points," Malfoy said, with a slight note of panic in his voice.
"Cant even defend yourself, can you sir?" James said mockingly.
"SHUT UP, POTTER!" the class gasped and James laughed.
"Don't make a very good Slytherin, do you? You don't even have the force to carry your convictions."
"That's it, Potter, Dumbledore's office, now." Professor Malfoy grabbed James' robes by the neck and hauled him bodily out of the classroom. "And if any of you move from your seats, I'll see you personally expelled," he yelled, before slamming the door shut.
Of course, Sirius, Lily and Remus were out of their seats in seconds, clutching the offending pieces of work, and they followed them to Dumbledore's office, and then snuck up the stairs after them.
When they got there, a huge row was already taking place inside. "Yes, Professor, what's wrong?" Dumbledore had asked when they first arrived.
"This boy!" Malfoy fumed. "He is rude and insubordinate!"
"What exactly happened?" Dumbledore asked patiently.
"Potter! First he dared to question the marks I gave his disgraceful piece of homework, and then he was consistently rude to me!"
"You forgot to mention the fact that you pushed me out of the way to get into the room when I wasn't even in the way, and then literally pulled me up here," James snapped. "And you were rude to me first. Besides that, you blatantly marked our homework wrong."
"'Our'?" Dumbledore inquired.
"Our," James confirmed.
"That's one of the reasons why I gave them a bad mark. They all copied from each other," Malfoy said, seeing an opportunity.
"Of course all our work is the same, we all have the same text book!" James said indignantly.
"That seems reasonable," Dumbledore said.
"And their work was over a week late."
"That's got nothing to do with the mark you gave us!" James exclaimed.
"Mr Potter has a point, Professor Malfoy. If you are unhappy with the punctuality of work, house points should be deducted. It has nothing to do with the mark given."
"I still object to the questioning of my marks!"
"They were wrong!"
"I think there is a simple way to sort this out. Mr Potter, if you could go and fetch your work -,"
"We have it!" Lily yelled, as the three outside tumbled through the door.
"I should have known you would be outside," Dumbledore said, his eyes blue eyes twinkling.
"See!" Malfoy shouted. "Rule breaking behaviour again!"
"We were only trying to be helpful," Sirius said, pouting.
"May I see the work, Miss Evans?"
"Certainly, Professor Dumbledore!" Lily beamed.
"I understand the work is about Kappa's, Professor?" Dumbledore asked, before reading the work. When he had finished, he asked the four students to wait at the bottom of the stairs.
Once they had gone, he turned to the other Professor, saying, "I have to understand why they were so angry about this work. It is near perfect, and Lupin's easily deserves to have full marks." Professor Malfoy glared at him. "I'm afraid you will have to re-evaluate their marks. Or I could ask one of the other Professors to do it for you?"
"I'll do it myself," Malfoy said sullenly.
"It was a foolish mistake to make, Professor Malfoy," Dumbledore said seriously. "They are not the kind of students who would not challenge you about it. I'm afraid I'll have to make this an official reprimand."
"Yes, Headmaster," Malfoy said quietly.
"Now, if you would kindly send the children back up?" It was a clear dismissal and Malfoy knew it. He left with a tic going over his left eye.
When Dumbledore saw the four second years, he merely said that their work was being remarked, and that James should try to be less rude to teachers in future, even when provoked. He also added that much as he enjoyed seeing the others in his office, he would prefer if they waited for an invite in the future. A few days later, they got their new marks. Peter had gone from 1 to 7; James and Sirius had risen to 8, and Lily to 9. Remus now had perfect marks, even though he had received only 3 to begin with. They were delighted. But now there were two Malfoys with a grudge against them; and two Professors.
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They had put it off as long as possible, but time had eventually caught up with them. It was the beginning of March, and time for five unpunctual Gryffindors to make their decisions about what they would study next year. Having been pressured about it by Professor Dunworthy for over a week, they decided to discuss their options in a History of Magic class. Or rather, Sirius, Lily, Remus and James did; Peter was unique in perhaps the whole history of Hogwarts: he liked History of Magic and was diligently working through it. It was also one of the few school subjects he was good at.
"Well," James whispered to his friends, who were huddled around him, " I say we pick Care of Magical Creatures and Divination."
"Oh Lord no!" Sirius exclaimed at bit too loudly; several students turned around to look at him. "Orion warned me against Divination; he says its bloody useless and the teachers a crackpot, and that if I took it he'd find a way of locking me in there with her."
"Ok, so not Divination. What about Muggle Studies?" asked Remus.
"You don't need to do that, you've got me. I'm a Muggle-born," Lily said irritably.
"Well what about Arithmancy?" asked ever-patient Remus.
"That sounds too difficult, and like a lot of hard work," Sirius moaned.
"Oh shut up, you lazy bugger. I'm for Arithmancy," James declared.
"Me too," confirmed Remus and Lily.
Sirius glared at them. "I suppose if it's a group decision, I have no bloody choice," he muttered, turning around in his chair. The others sighed and rolled their eyes at each other. Sirius was going into one of his moods again.
"Sirius Black, are you sulking again?" Lily asked sternly. She said it too loudly, and although the Professor didn't notice, the rest of the class did, and they swivelled around to look at her. Even Professor Binns, famous for never noticing anything, could hardly fail to notice the simultaneous movement of most of his class, and he peered owlishly at Lily. "Miss –er – Miss – whatever, were you talking in my lesson?"
"She's not called Miss Whatever," James piped up, unmindful of Dumbledore's warnings about being rude to teachers.
"She's called Miss Evans," Remus said.
"Miss Lily Evans, and don't she look just like a flower?" Sirius added, not wanting to miss the fun.
"And I can also talk for myself," Lily snapped, and then put on her most innocent look. "I can assure you, Professor, that I would never dream of talking in your lessons."
"And you'd never, ever, dream of breaking any rules," James added sweetly.
"Oh shut up, Potter. You think you're so bloody clever."
"And you, Lily, have a head the size of Asia."
"Well its nothing compared to yours, Mr I'm–so–bloody–brilliant–at–Quidditch."
"You're just jealous you didn't make the team!"
"Children, children," Binns protested in effectually, his pale arms flapping like a windmill.
"Take that back, Potter, or you'll be in serious pain."
"Oh, Evans, I'm actually shaking with fear."
"If you don't take it back, I'm going to rip your eyes out with my little fingers."]
"And how would you do that? You're a weakling!"
There were shrieks from all of the Hufflepuff students and most of the Gryffindors as well, as Lily shoved the table out of the way and went after James. The only Gryffindors who weren't shrieking were Sirius and Remus, who were laughing hysterically. Lily chased James all the way around the classroom, causing even more yells, before backing him into a corner. She stood in front of him, so that they were eye to eye, with their shoulders heaving and their breaths coming in gasps.
The class, including Professor Binns, (who's protests had stopped when he realised no one was listening) were watching them on tenterhooks, utterly silent. Lily and James continued to stare at each other intently, then suddenly their mouths twitched and they too were laughing, slapping each other on the back and congratulating themselves on the argument.
The class looked baffled, and Professor Binns looked like he was going to use this time to hand out punishments. Luckily, the lesson ended then and everybody exited the room before he had time to give detentions.
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A week later, the five friends were walking to the same lesson again. They passed a group of Slytherins in the corridor, and both groups sniggered at each other and traded dirty looks. The Slytherin – Gryffindor Quidditch match was approaching and this was nothing unusual. But Snape was in that group of Slytherins and he deliberately bumped into Lily, hard. She stumbled and glared at him, and he muttered "Filthy Mudblood," before walking off.
Lily felt puzzled. No one had ever told her what Mudblood meant. "Hang on," she called, "Snape, come here." He came back with his usual entourage of Nott and Lestrange. She could see the other Slytherin boys looking on from further ahead. "Yes, Evans? What can I do for the little Mudblood?" Snape asked sarcastically.
"That," Lily said firmly. "Why do you keep calling me a Mudblood?"
"Because you are one. A filthy, dirty, disgusting Mudblood," Snape said simply. Lily glared at him; she knew enough to know that the word was an insult, and decided to ask one of her friends. Remus was the best bet, she decided, because he could explain things well and keep his temper. But things were already out of her control because Sirius had heard what Snape said to her, and it was taking both Remus and James to restrain him.
Seeing this, Lily decided to get rid of Snape. "Thank you for that," she said coldly, "It clarified so much."
"Anything for you, Miss Evans," he bowed sarcastically, "Just don't touch me." Hearing this last remark, Sirius began to struggle even harder and James and Remus had to throw him into the History of Magic classroom before Lily slammed the door behind her.
"What is all this about?" she fumed. "What the hell does Mudblood mean? Why does it make Sirius so upset?"
"It means anyone Muggle-born isn't as good as pure-bloods like the Malfoys and the Snapes. It means that you've got, say, dirty, blood. Some wizards look down on Muggles, so if you have Muggle blood you're obviously not as good," Remus explained. "It's a stupid attitude, and it makes us all mad, not just Sirius."
"I know why that bastard calls you a Mudblood," Sirius growled. "Its 'cos he knows he'll never be as good a wizard as you are, so he has to get you in some other way." As he was talking, Professor Binns arrived through the blackboard, but none of them noticed.
"Well, that's obvious, Sirius," James said angrily. "But next time you're going to have to say that, not punch him."
"Why don't you say it, and I'll punch him, and then we'll have the best of both worlds?"
"No, that wouldn't work, I was planning on cursing him while you were saying it," James disagreed. "Remus'll have to say it."
"And what do I get to do?" Lily asked, furious because they were being so over-protective of her.
"Burst into tears?" James suggested.
"Stand there and look pretty?" was Sirius' idea.
"Punch James or Sirius for being so sexist?" Remus grinned.
"I like Re's best," Lily decided.
"Class! Class!" Professor Binns shouted.
"So how come you never told me what it meant?" Lily asked.
"You never asked," Sirius replied.
"I've been called it enough times, you could have explained it then."
"But in a way, we like you being insulted, Lils, as long as its something we agree with. Like big shit-head."
"OY!" Lily yelled.
"Class!" Professor Binns yelled. "This is the last time I'm going to ask you: be quiet!"
"James Potter, you're just as bad as Snape!" Lily said, using the worst insult she could think of. "No, wait. You're worse."
"Hey, that's not fair!" James cried.
"You deserve it." Lily said.
"That is IT!" Professor Binns thundered. "I have had enough of this class. You are the worst students I have ever had to teach. I've had enough. Goodbye." With that, Binns floated back through the blackboard.
There was a hushed silence. Professor Binns never got angry with a class, and he never ever shouted. "Wow!" Sirius breathed. "That was amazing."
"Yeah, he got you to shut up," James snapped, still annoyed.
"Lets go," Remus said, trying to avoid another argument. They left the classroom knowing that as soon as Dunworthy, or even worse, Dumbledore, got to hear of this, they would be in serious trouble.
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It was a further week later and they were back in History of Magic. Professor Dunworthy stood in front of the class, glaring at them. "Your behaviour as a class over the past few weeks has been unacceptable. Professor Binns very kindly agreed to give you one last chance to continue learning History of Magic. You will behave yourselves." He now glared directly at Lily, James and Sirius. "If you do not, the class will be split up, and you will each individually be sat in lessons with other teachers. You will have to pass your O.W.L.'s on your own. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir," the class muttered.
"Professor Binns, you have the full backing of both myself and the Headmaster to take whatever action you think is necessary to control this class."
'Uh-oh,' thought Remus. 'That does not sound good.'
For the first half an hour, the lesson went well. Professor Binns droned on about the Wizard Convention of 1729 in which all magical wooden fireplaces were banned in England, because the attracted too much Muggle attention, and the class listened in quiet boredom. Then, predictably, Sirius decided he wanted to do something. He wadded up a piece of paper and enchanted it so that it would bang into the head of everyone in the room. He threw it and the paper bounced on its way, leaving a wake of disgruntled faces behind it.
As was very often the case, Sirius had not thought his plan through. This was what Remus' were for, after all. He watched in horrified fascination as the paper hit the last student and went after Professor Binns. As he was a ghost, the paper went right through him, and this seemed to annoy it. It swung back for another attack, and again went through the Professor's head. This completely enraged it, and the paper sped up, attacking the ghost from all sides. Binns tried to fend the annoying piece of paper off, but it went right through his hands, and the class were soon laughing happily at the unfortunate ghost.
Professor Binns soon had the presence of mind to pick up his wand and undo the enchantment, and then he turned to glare at his class, who gulped. With one of his hands, the entire class found themselves leg-locked magically. "I have told you that I have had enough of your tricks. This time it is my turn." Binns waved his hands again and green slime poured from the ceiling onto the screaming students. Through all this noise, Binns could still hear the sound of laughter, coming from the four Gryffindors who had started it all.
"Quiet!" he yelled suddenly. "The whole class will write a report on an important pre-Medieval magical figure, and Merlin does not count. It must be at least 10 rolls of parchment long. And in case you are thinking of not handing it
in, Professor Dunworthy will be responsible for collecting them." The class groaned as Binns turned to glare directly at Sirius, Lily, James and Remus. "As for you four, you will not leave this room until it is spotless. And no magic."
"But we've got lessons now!" they protested.
"You will have to catch up later."
"But – but…" they protested ineffectually.
"We will now continue with the lesson," Binns said firmly, "Whether you are covered in slime or not."
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"This is all your fault, Sirius," Lily moaned, two hours later, during lunch. They were trying to clean the classroom, although they had had little luck so far. Only a tiny corner of the large, slime-covered room was clean. To make matters worse, Peter was not talking to them, as they had disrupted his favourite lesson, and he had refused to bring them any lunch, so hunger was added to their list of woes.
"This is the worst detention ever!" Remus said.
"No, The Slytherin-beater one was worse," Sirius countered.
"At least with that we weren't there for a whole day, and it looks like we'll be here longer for this one," Lily said.
"At least with that one we didn't have to clean!" James said.
"Just because you've never done any housework in your life, you spoilt brat," Lily began, and they started to bicker.
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At 11.41pm that night, loud screams could be heard coming from the History of Magic classroom. "We did it! We did it!" they shrieked.
"It's clean!"
"Finally!"
"Oh, shut up, Potter, if you'd helped more we'd have been done ages ago!"
"I did just as much as you, Evans. Wait, where have Remus and Sirius gone?"
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"Oh, I was so hungry!" Sirius said.
"I just love house elves," Remus replied. "Doughnuts and pumpkin juice at this time of night!"
"Do you reckon James and Lils are still arguing?"
"Well, they've been arguing all day, so I don't see any reason why they would've stopped now."
The two exhausted boys laughed and made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, and bed. Needless to say, a very irate James and a very angry Lily arrived some time later, hungry and still arguing.