Chapter 30: The End of Summer

Two days later, things weren't any better than they had been. Mum, despite still feeling ill, drove us to King's Cross Station, since we had no other transportation. A cold misty rain fell as we entered the station. I said a quick goodbye to Addi, promising to write everyday, as she was already running late for her train to Clearglen. Then, Sirius, James and I crossed the barrier to platform 9 ¾, my mum following us.

"You have a good year Remus," she said weakly. "I'll see you in the spring."

"Bye mum," I said, giving her a hug. She really didn't look well, and it worried me. "Take care of yourself, and get a doctor, okay?"

"I'll be just fine," she said. "Now run along. I love you, Remus."

"Love you too, mum," I said, wheeling my trunk forward. Mum then said goodbye to Sirius, and tried to say goodbye to James, though he wouldn't answer. Finally, we boarded the Hogwarts Express, and took our usual compartment, at the very end of the train. We found Lily, Erin and Peter already there.

"Hi mates," said Peter.

"Hi," Sirius and I said.

"Hi James," said Lily. James just looked down, avoiding her eyes, and took a seat next to her. Sirius and I took the remaining seats, just as the whistle blew, and the train took off. Mum waved at us, then Apparated away.

The long, silent train ride gave me plenty of time to think about everything that had happened that summer. First Sirius and Addi's grandfather abusing them. That seemed like so long ago, even though it had only been about two months. Then, my dad dying a little over a month ago. I still grieved for him a lot, but it had gotten better. I knew it would be easier to live without him at school, with other things on my mind. The biggest thing all of us were dealing with now was James. James Potter, Prongs, our outgoing, popular best friend, Head Boy, now not even speaking. It just wasn't normal. I sat for a while, absorbed in my own thoughts. Finally, noticing the silence, I looked up to see what was going on. James and Lily had both fallen asleep, James on Lily's shoulder. Peter was sleeping as well, and now that I listened closely, I could hear his faint snoring from across the compartment. Sirius was reading his own copy of Quidditch Through The Ages, which he'd bought at Flourish and Blotts. I'm almost positive that's the only book Sirius ever read, in our entire seven years at Hogwarts. Erin was flipping through our new astronomy book. It was her favorite subject.

The lunch cart arrived just then, and we bought some Cauldron Cakes. Peter woke suddenly at the smell of food, but Sirius had to throw several bunched up robes at Lily and James before they woke up. We ate in near silence, and went back to just sitting. Finally, we were almost at Hogwarts.

"We better put our robes on," said Erin. We all pulled on our new black robes over our clothing. Lily pinned her Head Girl badge on her robes, then smiled as she pinned James' Head Boy badge on his. He had no reaction. None at all.

A half an hour later, we arrived at Hogwarts. Sirius, Erin, Peter and I took one carriage to the castle. There wasn't enough room for Lily and James, so they got stuck in a carriage with Snape and one of his cronies. I watched the castle come closer into view from the carriage. I was glad to be back. The last summer had been a living hell, and if anything could cheer us up after all that had happened, it was being back in that castle, where our greatest worry was whose hair to turn blue, or where the best place was to set off dungbombs. We arrived at the front of the castle, exited the carriage, met up with Lily and James, and filed through the large wooden door into the Entrance Hall. We took our usual seats at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Within a few minutes, sorting of the first years began. As I thought back to our first year at Hogwarts, it seemed so long ago. So much, good and bad, had happened since then. Now it was the last year we'd ever come here. I knew all of us would miss it. I glanced over at James. I'd had the slightest hope that being back at school would help cheer him up, but it didn't appear to have any effect on him at all.

After the first years were sorted, Dumbledore announced that a seventh year, named Gilderoy Lockhart had just moved to England from Los Angeles, California, in the states. Sirius sniggered when he saw Lockhart, who had curly blond hair, blue eyes, and the most fake, wide toothed grin that any of us had ever seen. Just our luck, he was sorted to Gryffindor. There was very little applause as he joined our table and took the only seat, on the end next to Peter. Peter frowned and leaned away.

"Howdy there Chaps," said Lockhart, doing his best British accent, which wasn't very convincing.

"Yeah, howdy there," said Sirius, imitating his accent. "By the way, I'm Sirius Lee Black." He said quickly.

"What's seriously black?" asked Lockhart, looking confused.

"He is," I said, laughing.

"It's his name," said Peter, spoiling our fun. "Sirius Lee Black." He said slowly.

"Oh," said Lockhart. "Well, I'm Gilderoy Lockhart. I'm sure you've probably heard of me, but I'm sure I don't know any of you."

"I'm Remus Lupin," I said. "Er, nice to meet you."

"And I'm Peter Pettigrew," said Peter. But Lockhart barely paid attention to us. He was now staring at Lily.

"And what's your name?" he asked her.

"Lily Evans," she said, raising her eyebrows as Lockhart's grin widened. He grabbed her hand and shook it. James, though still not speaking, slipped his arm around her. Lockhart frowned a bit, but not enough to get rid of his smile.

A few minutes later, Dumbledore made his usual announcements, and gave us confused glances when he saw that we hadn't pulled any pranks yet, and the feast appeared before us. We began to eat, James only nibbling on his food. It wasn't long before Snape approached our table.

"So Potter," he sneered. "Going to talk yet, or are we still too sad about mummy and daddy?" James looked down at his food and ignored him.

"I'm talking to you Potter," said Snape. "Are we going to cry now? Wah!"

"Get lost, Snape," said Sirius. "No one invited you to come to our table, and no one wants you here."

"Be sure to let me know when your voice works again, Potter," said Snape. "I'm sure you've got so much to say about getting your own parents killed."

"I said get out of here!" Sirius shouted at Snape. Snape turned and slowly walked away.

"Don't listen to him, James," I said. "He's just trying to make you feel worse." James still looked down. Even Snape didn't cause James to have any reaction.

"Who is that?" asked Lockhart. "Doesn't seem to be very friendly, does he?"

"To put it mildly," I muttered.

"He also hasn't realized that shampoo was invented," added Peter.

"So, you're Head Boy?" Lockhart asked James, eyeing his badge. James didn't answer.

"He's not himself lately," I explained.

"Well," said Lockhart, brushing his fingers through is blonde hair. "I was going to be Head Boy at my old school, until I moved. I suppose I would have been Head Boy, had I been here when they made the selection."

"They don't choose based on looks, Lockhart. They choose based on something that's definitely missing between your ears," said Sirius, grinning as Lockhart looked puzzled.

"And take it from someone who knows," added Lily. "Even if it was based on looks he'd lose." Lockhart pretended not to hear her, and proceeded to tell me about the time that he killed a werewolf, which I'm certain wasn't true, but it made me angry none the less. Since we had only four people in our dorm room, Lockhart was assigned to it with us.

For the next few weeks, things remained that way with James. He didn't speak to anyone. In classes, he only spoke when the professor called on him. Everyone, professors included, began to become worried because we hadn't pulled one prank since school started. Dumbledore seemed particularly concerned, and had James go to his office several times for meetings. James would never talk about it though. Snape was having a great time torturing James, because he wouldn't fight back like usual. Lily was starting to appear as worried looking as James. She barely let him out of her sight, but she didn't know what to do for him. None of us did. I guess losing his parents was just really hard for him. But finally, one day, James' silence left as quickly as it had come.

Sirius, Peter, Lily, Erin and I were already seated at lunch. James hadn't arrived yet, and Lily said she couldn't find him before lunch. We were too busy wondering where he was to notice that he'd walked right up behind us.

"Hi guys," said James, grinning. I almost fainted. James actually spoke. I had long forgotten what his voice sounded like.

"James!" exclaimed Lily, throwing her arms around him.

"I'm sorry I acted that way for so long," James apologized to all of us. "It was really dumb."

"Are you sure nothing's wrong, though?" I asked.

"No, no," said James. "I've just been foolish to worry so much. I mean, if something happens, it happens, right?" I frowned. I wasn't quite sure what he meant.

"Yeah, Prongs," said Sirius, only half paying attention. "So, how do we know the real Prongs is back?"

"Oh, I'll prove it all right," said James, grinning. "Hey Snape!" he called across the Great Hall to the Slytherin table. "Ready to have a little chat?" Snape looked over and his face fell.

"Er, what do you want, Potter?" he asked, looking rather frightened.

"I want you to quit being such a nosy, rude, long-nosed, slimy, greasy, git!" shouted James.

"Well, Potter," Snape sneered, as James approached him. "Talking about yourself, are you?"

"That's it!" said James, pulling out his wand. In a flash, Snape was a frog. Everyone who'd been watching laughed and cheered, except for the Slytherins. James grinned, bowed, and sat back down at our table.

"James! You shouldn't have done that!" said Lily, but she was grinning. Sirius was cheering the loudest of anyone, and Peter looked ready to die from laughing so hard. Lockhart was too busy admiring himself at one of his many mirrors to notice that anything had happened. Dumbledore and the other professors had noticed by now that something was going on. Dumbledore stood, his eyes twinkling.

"James Potter," he said. "I don't believe Mr. Snape looked this way five minutes ago… although I could be mis…"

"Really, Headmaster," scolded McGonagall, changing Snape back with a wave of her wand. "What on earth do you think you're doing, Potter? You certainly shouldn't need reminded that we do not transfigure other students! That's fifty points…"

"To Gryffindor, for a good laugh," finished Dumbledore, laughing hysterically. Snape was now very red in the face, sitting in the middle of the floor in the Great Hall. He stood and sat down with his cronies at the Slytherin table.

"Now that's something I'll never forget," said Sirius.

"He's makes a better frog than a human," I said.

"Yeah, but it's more fun to torture a human than a frog," said James.

"Are you positive he's human anyway?" asked Peter. We laughed.

Later that day, we were back in our dorm room. Lockhart had taken half of it for himself. There were so many pictures of him hanging that you could barely see the wall, and he had at least thirty mirrors. The largest one was the most annoying. It was a full length gold mirror, which Lockhart would gaze into and say "Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the best looking wizard of all?" Of course the mirror would always answer Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Well, I've got to be going, mates," said Lockhart at six o' clock. He'd gotten detention with McGonagall earlier that day for showing off in Transfiguration class by turning the front wall of the classroom into a huge portrait of himself. He left the dorm room, shutting the door behind him.

"I am so sick of that bloody mirror!" said James.

"I know!" I said. "How many times are we going to have to smash the thing before he takes a hint!"

"And all those pictures of himself," said Peter. "They're taking up the whole wall."

"I've got an idea," said Sirius, grinning mischievously. He pulled out his wand and put a spell on the mirror.

"What did you do?" asked Peter.

"You'll see later," replied Sirius. "And now for the pictures." He walked over to a particularly large close up one, and put a spell on it. A long, curly, black mustache appeared on Lockhart's face. We all laughed.

"Mind if we help?" asked James.

"No, this is going to take a while," said Sirius, frowning at the wall full of pictures. After ruining all of the pictures in some way, most of them by changing his hair color, we noticed that Lockhart's detention should soon be over. We all sat down to begin our homework. We were just starting our Transfiguration essays, when Lockhart entered the room.

"Hi mates!" he said cheerfully, not noticing what we had done. "Hey, wait a minute! What happened to my pictures?"

"You know, that's the weirdest thing," said Sirius. "They were like that when we got in here."

"Really? Are you serious?" asked Lockhart.

"Yeah," said Sirius as the rest of us fought back laughter.

"In fact, didn't they always look like that?" I asked, giving James a look.

"Yeah, I think so," said James. "I mean, what's so different about them?" By this time we were all holding our breath to keep from laughing. Lockhart shrugged.

"Oh well," he said. "I'll just put up different ones."

"You've got more?" Sirius moaned.

"Of course!" said Lockhart enthusiastically. "You wouldn't like to see them, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't," answered Sirius honestly.

"Well, then back to my mirror," said Lockhart, turning towards his large, gold mirror that Sirius had bewitched earlier. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the best looking wizard of all?"

"Sirius Black," the mirror answered. Lockhart looked horror stricken.

"There—there must be some mistake," he stammered. "Oh well, I'll try again. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the best looking wizard of all?"

"James Potter." He tried again.

"Remus Lupin." And again.

"Peter Pettigrew." And again.

"Severus Snape." The five names repeated each time he asked. After about thirty times, he finally gave up.

"I just don't understand it!" he exclaimed. "I thought everyone knew I was the best looking wizard of all. I must be short on beauty sleep! That's it! Well, I'm off to bed now, and do try to be quiet mates. I really need my sleep. Goodnight." He closed his curtains, and we ran out to the common room and burst into a fit of laughter that lasted at least a half an hour.

We never did get used to having Lockhart share a dorm room with us, although we did have some pretty fun pranks. The best part of all was that Lockhart was so gullible that he never figured out that it was us. He also never got suspicious of where we went every full moon. I don't think he ever caught on to that either. So things went along smoothly the beginning of seventh year. It wasn't until after Christmas that the worst thing that had ever happened to any of us took place.