A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter. I'm trying to get through the first year so I can get down to the good parts……..Hehehehe. Happy reading.
A Few Charming Lessons
Flitwick was the shortest wizard they had ever seen. He stood on a pile of books to look over the class and call roll. He had a squeaky voice and seemed excitable.
"Black, Lenora,"
"Here,"
"Black, Sirius,"
"Present and accounted for at the moment sir!" Sirius said smartly, saluting the professor. Flitwick looked over to him, rolled his eyes and continued calling roll. It went fairly smoothly, except when Remus, Peter and James answered, who each came up with their own odd way to say they were in the class. After roll was called they took some notes, chose partners and got down to work. The lesson passed quickly, with Lily and Lenora showing great talent for it and Sirius and Peter showing hardly any what so ever. The class ended a bit early and they were given time to talk and move around.
"Wow Lily, you seem to be really good at this," Remus said as he sat down next to the girls at their table. Lily blushed with pleasure at the compliment.
"You too Lenora," James added, being nice to her for once. He and Sirius and Peter joined Remus and the girls.
"Sure, she's the twin that got the charming talent." Sirius sighed. Lenora grinned.
"It's probably because I have a talent for healing. A lot of times they are charms." She told him smugly. The bell rang and they all shuffled out.
"Ok great, it's Transfiguration with the..." Peter began.
"SLYTHERINS!" Sirius growled and was suddenly in a bad mood again. Lenora, who seemed to be over the whole thing, tried to get him to forget the whole thing as they headed towards Transfiguration.
"Come on Siri, you can't let what that idiot Slytherin slime ball said bug you. Play a prank on him, make him look like an idiot, just don't do anything that will get you expelled." She told him, almost pleadingly. He looked at her smiled and nodded in surrender. But he still looked determined to do something as they walked into the classroom.
"Hurry up, get in here and sit down" It was Professor McGonagall. She gave them a long lecture on the difficulties of Transfiguration and the a bunch of complicated notes (which Sirius and James didn't bother to copy down). Each were then given a match and told to transfigure it into a needle. James and Sirius transfigured it instantly. McGonagall was ecstatic.
"Look here class, Misters Black and Potter did it. Well done, 20 points to Gryffindor," The class continued with Remus and Lenora accomplishing it but no one else. Lily, Nyah and Peter had only managed to move their matches around on the table. At the end of the class the Slytherins had lost 20 points because one of them had transfigured their friends finger instead of the match. Sirius was floating as they made their way to lunch. Figuratively and literally. He was quite happy to find Snape still in the hospital wing, and to see Slytherin loose points, but he was also actually floating. He had said he felt like it so Lily placed a hover charm on him, to be nice, of course.
"Um, Lily, it was great of you to make me float and all, but I would like to come down so I can eat, as I'm very hungry." Sirius complained. Lily sighed.
"Oh all right, Finite Incantem." Sirius dropped right on top of James and Remus, who he had been floating over.
"Ooof!" James said from under Sirius. The girls and Peter laughed spiritedly as the three boys tried to untangle themselves.
"Thanks so much Lily," Remus said as he massaged his neck. She grinned at him.
"No problem Remus."
"So what's after lunch?" Nyah asked.
"Double Potions with the Hufflepuffs." Peter said looking at his timetable. Everyone groaned.
"Oh no. No matter what you two say, I think potions will be awful." Remus said looking a Nyah and Peter. They shrugged. Everyone ate in companionable silence, resting from the "trials" of their first classes. Half an hour later Remus looked up from his books.
"We better go, it's down in the dungeons." Remus said hesitantly. They hurried out of the Great Hall. Ten confused minutes later the arrived at the Potions classroom. Milling around inside were Hufflepuffs and a few other Gryffindors.
"Where's the Professor?" Lily asked looking about the room.
"I'm right here, Miss…?" they whirled around to find their young Professor standing in the doorway, looking questionably at Lily.
"Oh, I'm Lily, Lily Evans." The witch smiled at her.
"Well Miss Evans, could you and your friends please sit down?" she looked about the classroom. "And the rest of you as well?" Everyone sat down at the tables scattered around the room.
"I'm Professor Ventabren, and I will be teaching you the art of potions. I hope by the end of the school year you will have all learned how to produce many different kinds of basic potions." The whole class seemed interested, even James and Sirius looked like they wanted to get started. Of course this could have been because of the professor herself. She was tall and very beautiful, with long black hair and startling clear gray eyes. Most of the boys in the class were drooling. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter included.
"Now, I will divide you into pairs, which you will work in until the Christmas holidays. The partners will be boy girl and don't move until I have called out everyone." The class groaned slightly when they heard the boy girl part, but Professor Ventabren just smiled and began calling the partners.
"Lenora Black and Remus Lupin."
"Nyah Hunt and Sirius Black."
"Lily Evans and James Potter."
"Peter Pettigrew and Icis Dunsworth."
"William Johnson and Scarlett Marine."
"Harrison Abbot and Lizzie York."
"Erik Bones and Miranda Solaris."
"Taylor Diggory and Sally Johnston."
"David Brenire and Callista Bates."
"And lastly Logan Reynolds and Roxanna Carson."
"Now take out your cauldrons and ingredients, and follow the instructions on the board. The potion we are brewing, when done correctly, will cure people of their allergy symptoms." Professor Ventabren told them. Everyone worked in silence, talking only to their partner with the professor walking between them offering help, praise, or corrections.
"Very nice Mr. Pettigrew. And you too Miss Hunt." She told them looking at the potions. Sirius grinned at Nyah.
"Oooh, we are going to get good grades in Potions.." he sang. Nyah shook her head and sighed. Ventabren had moved over to Lily and James, and Lenora and Remus.
"Mr. Potter, that potion should be green, not bright blue. Let it set a moment or two and then have Miss Evans add five more frog livers. And Miss Black? Do NOT add those beetle eyes until after you take the caldron off the fire." She warned. It was a tough first class and the only people, who hadn't needed any corrections, were Nyah, Peter and a Hufflepuff girl, Callista Bates. In the end Gryffindor received 20 points and Hufflepuff, 10. They left the classroom and headed towards the Great Hall.
"So what was your opinion of our first potions class." Nyah asked as they made there way there.
"Well I still think it's hard, but I think this professor will make it better than I imagined." Remus said. The other three boys nodded.
"Oh you! Boys!" Lily threw her hands up in a tragic position, annoyed.
"I agree with Remus, although not for the same reasons. I'm glad we have a nice teacher. Maybe she can help with some healing potions I've heard about." Lenora said, glaring at the boys.
"Look, it's over, it's school, who cares, let's eat." James said sitting down at the table. For once everyone agreed.
~~~~~~~~~
Their other classes were just the same. Good sometimes, bad others. Herbology was the worst, Professor Brinkley was Head of Slytherin House and he hated all Gryffindors. He took points off for everything. From James for breathing loudly, from Lily for knowing too much about plants and from Remus for "killing" a seed. It was torture, and to make it worse, that was the only other class they had with Slytherins. Other classes weren't as bad. Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Demgo was interesting and fun, and History of Magic was just a joke with their ghost professor. Having Astronomy at midnight on Wednesdays was a bit annoying, but Professor Craken was so eerily cool that no one minded much. They got used to their classes quickly and tolerated most of their teachers. Suddenly they had been there for two weeks and they were anxiously waiting for their first flying class.
"Finally, potions is over. I've got nothing against Professor Ventabren, but her classes are so long." Lily said and she, Lenora and Nyah made their way out of the potions dungeon.
"True, but you have to admit, today was a fun class." Nyah said, putting away her already very worn potions book. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Nyah, you ALWAYS think that potions is fun, and that would be because you are amazing at it." Lenora said, also rolling her eyes.
"Yes, just like you two always think charms is so exciting. That class is such a bore." Nyah said, as they headed out onto the grounds.
"That's because charms are fun. You just aren't good at them." Lily answered, looking for their class.
"Well My Lady, no one can master charms quite like you two can," James said, coming up behind them.
"Yes, whatever would we do without our two lovely Charmers?" Sirius asked mockingly. Lenora and Lily, acting automatically, slapped the back of Sirius' head, then James" and continued walking towards their fellow Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws, who were standing next to the broom shed.
"Really, you'd think those two would have learned not to do that by now." Remus said, walking up to Nyah. Nyah laughed.
"Those two? Do anything remotely logical? Ha! Don't ever bet on it." She said as they joined the rest of the class.
"We heard that!" James called. Nyah rolled her eyes.
"Don't care," She sang, smiling at them sarcastically. Sirius opened his mouth to reply but didn't, as their flying instructor had just arrived.
"Good afternoon class. I'm Madam Hooch. Welcome to your first flying lesson." Their professor told them as she headed towards the broom shed. "Come over here please and get your brooms. The school just received knew Shooting Stars so you are expected to treat them very carefully. Now everyone take your broom and line up by house, Gryffindors on one side, Ravenclaws on the other." She instructed. The class did as they were told.
"Alright, know, put your wand hand over the broom and say up." She told them. The class did so. James, Sirius, Remus and Lenora's jumped into their hands immediately. Lily got hers on the second try. Peter's finally hoped up, but instead of going in his hand it hit him in the face. Everyone stifled a laugh and he grinned at them sheepishly. Nyah gave up on her broom, and sat down on the grass to watch the Ravenclaws, who were having a bad time of it. Only two people managed to get their broom, the rest giving up, trying repeatedly or getting hit by the broom. When it became apparent that no one else was going to manage it, Madam Hooch showed everyone how to hold, and mount their brooms properly. James scowled at Lily when Madam Hooch commented on Lily's natural skill for the basics so far.
"Now class, I want you to push off from the ground, hover for a moment, and then tip the broom down and land. Ready? On my whistle then." The sharp tone of her whistle sounded and the students lifted off as one. Almost immediately Peter fell off with a thud, Nyah landed shakily next to him to see how he was. Madam Hooch sounded her whistle and called everyone to come back down. Everyone but Remus, James and Sirius obeyed. The three were racing across the courtyard. Madam Hooch checked on Peter, who was only slightly dazed. Then she sharply blew her whistle three times. The boys looked at her face and flew down at once.
"Potter! Black! Lupin! Detention tonight! Now get back in line so we may continue the lesson." She growled at them. Lily, Lenora, Nyah and Peter laughed at the boys throughout the lesson. After seeing how well the three flew, Madam Hooch decided that they didn't need the lesson and decided to let them clean bludgers instead, while the rest of the class had a free period to do as they pleased. Nyah and Peter stayed on the ground, discussing potions and Lily and Lenora flew sedately around the courtyard.
"I love this! Its so wonderful!" Lily exclaimed. Lenora grinned.
"I know, you're really good, you have a lot of natural talent." She grinned. "I love to play quidditch. I'm going to try out for the team next year. How about you?"
"You bet! I can't wait; I wish that first years could be on the team. I wonder what position I should play." She said as they flew above the boys, who were being chased by soapy bludgers.
"I don't know, but I'm a Beater, as is Sirius. James is a Chaser and I think Remus is as well. Maybe you could be Seeker or something. You're light and fast, and Seekers have to be that. I guess we just have to wait and find out though. We better head in now, I'm starving." They landed, put away the brooms and joined Nyah and Peter. They looked for the guys, but they had disappeared.
"Come on, I'm hungry, James, Remus and Sirius can catch up to us," Peter said. They agreed and headed inside.
A/N: REVIEW!!!! Please, it makes me smile, and I don't do that enough…………