The Dance
By Booklovr
A/N: Okay here is the much-anticipated second chapter. Naturally, we see the Sorting Ceremony, and the start of classes. Some basic characterization and most of the story's main players are introduced. And we see some hints of things to come…
Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and everything else Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. "The Dance" is by Garth Brooks, from his CD "garth brooks."
Chapter 2:
School in Session… I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance
"Abner, Christine!"
The first girl walked towards the hat on the stool. She stared at it for a second, then shyly dropped it on her head. After a few seconds, a rip appeared in the hat's brim and shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!"
She nervously walked over to the cheering table and took a seat.
"Avery, Kenneth!" called the old man with the list of names.
A boy with light sandy-blond hair went towards the stool. "SLYTHERIN!"
"You nervous?" Jim asked Sirius.
"Nah. You?"
"Oh, please."
"Black, Sirius!"
"You're up."
Sirius walked up to the hat, twirled it around by its brim, then dropped it on his head.
The hat was enormous, so that Sirius was nearly blind inside. "Let's see," said a little voice in his ear. "Where do you go? Lots of spirit, I see. Oh, yes, plenty of that. And not much fear. That's not the same as bravery, though, and I dare say, you'll find that out soon enough."
Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Sirius thought.
"That's for you to discover; I only know what's in your head already. Still, I suppose the place for you is GRYFFINDOR!"
Sirius bounded up happily and laid the hat down on the stool for "Bones, Adam!" ("HUFFLEPUFF!").
"Delaney, Alice!" (Slytherin)…"Durham, Christopher!" (Ravenclaw)…and finally, "Evans, Lillian!" After disappearing under the hat for a minute, she was declared a Gryffindor. Sirius waved as Lily took a seat, listening with marginal interest as "Fox, Helen," a pretty girl with long blonde curls, was also sorted into Gryffindor. Sirius tiredly looked up at the ceiling, which was enchanted to look like the sky. He was just wondering if any post owls had ever died from attempting to fly through the ceiling when he heard "Lestrange, Edward!" followed by "SLYTHERIN!" Looking down, he noted that Lily had been joined by Helen Fox and Victoria Hall.
"Lupin, Remus!" Sirius was surprised that the hat barely touched Remus's head before shouting "GRYFFINDOR!"
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" said Sirius as Remus came over.
"Yeah, thanks. Hey, check out the ceiling!"
"I know! How many owls do you think have mistaken it for an opened skylight?"
As they debated the question, the line at the front dwindled. M's…N's…O's…
"Pettigrew, Peter!"
Peter looked highly reluctant to step forward, eyes darting to all the tables before him. Grabbing the hat, he sat down and pulled it on, looking as if he might simply crawl in and disappear. After about a minute… "GRYFFINDOR!" Sirius was mildly surprised, and Peter looked immensely relieved. Dropping the hat back on the stool, he raced across the Great Hall and sat down near Sirius and Remus.
"Potter, James!"
Jim walked coolly up to the hat. He bowed to it, then flipped it twice around his hand before placing it on his head, while spinning around and sitting on the stool. He needn't have bothered; almost immediately, the hat screamed "GRYFFINDOR!" Jim rolled the hat along his arms and behind his back before handing it with much flourish and a bow to "Powell, Aaron!"
When the Sorting Ceremony was over, the old man rolled up his list of names and carried the hat and stool out of the room while the new Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, stood up.
"Welcome back, students! Or, for those first years, welcome to Hogwarts! I know you all must be hungry, so I will be brief. Many of you already know me as the Deputy Headmaster of this school. Well, after many years of service, your previous Headmaster, Professor Dippet, retired last year, and I, Professor Dumbledore, am taking his place." There was quite a bit of applause, as Dumbledore was very popular. "This means, however, that I am no longer Deputy Headmaster or Head of Gryffindor House." Some groans from the Gryffindor table. "Filling my duties will be our, er, most experienced teacher, Professor Binns!" There was some scattered applause. Professor Binns, who had read the list at the Sorting, was probably the oldest teacher there. He looked like he might die at any moment. "And your new Transfiguration teacher is Professor Minerva McGonagall." Polite applause as a strict looking woman of about fifty stood, bowed slightly, then sat. "Now, I do have some sad news. Over the summer, one of our students suffered a terrible accident. Rachel Lupin, who would have been a third year Gryffindor, died after being hit by a Muggle vehicle known as a car. Let us take a moment of silence to remember her." Many students, including most of the Gryffindors, bowed their heads. Sirius noticed that Remus was silently crying. But, when Dumbledore spoke again, Remus quickly wiped his eyes and looked up.
"I do have two last announcements. First, students are reminded not to enter the Forbidden Forest for any reason. It is full of dangerous creatures, and it would be unlikely that we would ever see you again. Second, a tree has been planted on the Hogwarts property: a Whomping Willow. Do not approach this tree unless you want a trip to the Hospital Wing! That is all, enjoy your meal!" And he sat down.
"Boy, I'm starving!" Jim said, reaching for the food that had just materialized on the table.
"Not as hungry as I am!" Sirius snatched the bowl of mashed potatoes away.
"Nuh-uh, I'm the hungriest!" Remus pulled the bowl out of his hands.
"No way! Give it here!" Peter reached for it.
Remus jumped onto a chair to hold the bowl over everyone's head, which didn't work too well, since Sirius also had a chair, and was taller than Remus. He attempted to pull the bowl away from Remus, who pulled just as hard back. Suddenly, it levitated out of their hands and landed, upside down, on Jim's head.
"RIC!" Jim moaned, pulling off the bowl and trying to remove some of the potatoes from his hair.
His older brother calmly put away his wand. "Next time, don't put dungbombs in my trunk."
"Oh, man," moaned Jim. "Those weren't supposed to go off until midnight!"
"I told you," said Sirius, "AM and PM; we need to differentiate between noon and midnight."
Ric threw his arms up. "Timed dungbombs! What will you two think of next?"
Sirius grinned. "You won't know until we try the next one out on you."
"Easy for you to say," muttered Jim. "You don't have potatoes dripping down your back."
"Look on the bright side," said Victoria, grinning at him from down the table. "It might have been a bowl of hot soup!"
Jim promptly threw a handful of mashed potatoes at her. She grabbed a bread roll and threw it back. Just as it looked like a food fight would start, Helen jumped up. "Cease and desist!" she shouted. "Revenge might seem logical at this point, but we still require some nourishment!" Jim scowled at her. "Look, my only desire right now is to survive this meal without it transmuting into a Quidditch match!" Everyone rolled his or her eyes at the same time.
CLANG!
Any other comments on the subject were cut short as everyone turned to see what had happened. Remus, who had been about to serve himself soup, had quite suddenly dropped the serving ladle. He was now clutching his hand to his chest, but seemed to force himself to relax and shake out his hand. "Very hot," he murmured, with a strange look in his eyes. "Hey, is this real silver?" he asked, pointing at the silverware.
"One hundred percent," said Sirius, "and I bet the plates are solid gold!"
"Right," said Victoria. "I don't even think they sell solid gold plates, Midas. In fact, I've seen earrings with a higher gold content."
"But these spoons are of superior quality," Helen pointed out. "Maybe even sterling silver, that's over 90% silver."
"Oh, please," said Sirius. "Like you're both some sort of experts?"
Remus looked at the food for a second, then sighed, reaching for a bread roll. "I'm not that hungry."
"What?" demanded Jim, doing an impressive imitation of Sirius's mother. "You are nothing but skin and bones! Eat! Eat!" Reaching for nearby platters, he dropped a steak on Remus's plate, followed by vegetables and potatoes (though not the ones in his hair), and anything else he could get his hands on. Remus gave him a little smile, but only picked with his fingers. When desserts came, though, Remus did have a plateful of various finger foods.
After the feast, Dumbledore stood to give a few words. Sirius was too full to pay any attention, but it only seemed to be a list of illegal things, like magic in the corridors, tracking mud, talking in the library…Sirius was struggling to stay awake. He was just about to nod off when Jim poked him hard. "I'm awake," he said, sitting straight up.
"Yeah, sure," said Jim. "Come on, bed time."
Following one of the fifth year Prefects, the Gryffindors stumbled down corridors, up staircases, then down stairs and up corridors, then through random secret passages behind tapestries…Sirius soon became convinced the Prefect was showing off and taking the most complicated route possible. At last, they walked through a hole behind the portrait of a fat lady in some kind of horrible dress and into their common room. Sirius vaguely noted that the three girls he had met earlier were already talking amongst themselves as they climbed up the stairs.
"Hey, Sirius," Jim called. "Where are you going?"
"Huh?" Sirius muttered, looking around in confusion.
"That's the girls' dorm. Boys' rooms are over here."
"Oh…"
In the first year boys' dorm, all their trunks were already at the foot of their beds. Sirius changed into pajamas and crawled under his covers, fully ready to go to sleep. As he looked around the room, he saw something that made him frown. "Peter, what is THAT?"
Peter looked embarrassed. "That's Mr. Scales, my stuffed dragon."
Sirius tried hard not to laugh, but failed. "Mr. Scales?"
"Shut up, Sirius," said Jim. Then, to Peter, "I happen to know he sleeps with a stuffed dog named Snuffles."
Sirius scowled, hugging Snuffles closer. "Yeah? Well, Jim here still sucks his thumb."
Remus sighed loudly. "And I absolutely cannot sleep without a picture of my sister on my nightstand. Now that we've all swapped embarrassing secrets, can we get some sleep?"
The lights went off and everyone fell silent. Then they all called good nights to everyone else. There was no bitterness or bashfulness in the voices. They had all swapped secrets, and didn't feel the worse for it. Sirius grinned. He just knew they would all be great friends.
A few hours later, he woke to a noise across the room. "Who's up?" he called groggily.
"Sorry," whispered Remus. "I couldn't sleep. I'm hungry."
Sirius shook his head and crawled out of bed. He managed to get his trunk open and quickly rifled through. "My Mum packed me some sandwiches I never ate. Here."
"Thanks," said Remus as he took them. Sirius shook his head. What a strange boy.
~*~*~*~
Helen sat at the breakfast table, sizing up her classmates. Victoria "Just Call Me Vicki" Hall was a definite tomboy and a complete extrovert. Lillian "No, Lily, Please" Evans was her opposite, a shy little bookworm. Helen considered herself in the middle, so they should make a good group. The boys, on the other hand…
Sirius "That's My Name, Don't Wear It Out" Black was entirely too outgoing, and always had something up his sleeve. Peter "Don't Call Me Pete" Pettigrew was far too shy, and always acted as if he thought he was about to be attacked or something, but seemed nice enough. James "No, Jim" Potter seemed somewhat insane, but also nice and a bit charismatic. Remus "Who, Me?" Lupin looked at first older, more mature, almost philosophical and sad. Apparently, that didn't stop him from also being a complete lunatic.
"Remus, that's your eighth bagel! Are you sure you don't want waffles?"
Remus looked at the wonderful, hot waffles and rich syrup on Jim's plate, then shook his head.
"How about cereal? Very sugary!"
Again, he watched Sirius take a huge spoonful of the sugary mess, dribbling fresh milk, then shook his head.
"Don't you even want cream cheese or jam?" offered Peter.
Remus looked almost longingly at the rich cream cheese and the jam with chunks of fruit, then shook his head.
Lily looked sympathetic. "How about bacon?"
Remus stared at the plate of crisp, hot just-cooked bacon, and seemed to snap. He ate it all in three seconds flat.
"Where'd he get those manners?" wondered Vicki softly.
"It's almost like he's afraid of…silverware," Helen whispered back. This was just too ridiculous, and she started giggling. Vicki, who never giggled, let out her own loud laugh.
Remus stopped eating. He stared at them for five seconds, completely still, before he stood and ran from the room.
"You two should be ashamed of yourselves," said Lily hotly.
"Aw, Lily, we weren't being serious," said Helen.
Vicki looked down. "I didn't mean to laugh so loud."
"Well, don't apologize to me," said Lily. "We'll see him in class. First up, we have," she glanced at the schedule, "Transfiguration?"
"Ah, yes," said Jim, acting the know-it-all. "Transfiguration: the art of turning one thing into another. Don't look so worried, Lilliputian. On the first day, she'll only have us turning toothpicks into needles."
Lily glowered at him. "Looks like you've got a permanent nickname," said Vicki.
The girls did not get to apologize right away. Although they made it to class with plenty of time to spare (they asked for directions from the painting of two very well-dressed women, much to Lily's bewilderment), the three other boys arrived later, and Remus only about half a minute before the start of class. Plus, the girls sat in the front of the room while the boys sat towards the back.
After taking attendance, Professor McGonagall said, "Alright, class. You are here to learn Transfiguration—"
"The art of turning one thing into another," Jim finished.
McGonagall scowled at him. "Mr. Potter, I don't know what you're used to but in my class you are expected to pay attention and behave. I'll have you know I have zero tolerance for such nonsense, is that understood?"
"Yes, Professor," said Jim in his sweetest, most innocent voice.
"Since you already know what this class is about, we'll go straight to the notes." The girls all turned to glare at Jim. Lily was absolutely shooting daggers at him. But Jim just smiled and waved nonchalantly.
After taking a lot of complex notes, they split into pairs to turn toothpicks into silver needles (Lily ignored Jim's grin and wink at the assignment).
Because there was an odd number, Vicki and Helen wanted to form a trio with Lily, but she insisted that they take this chance to apologize to Remus. She had a slightly odd look on her face as she paired up with Peter.
Helen sat to one side of Remus and Vicki to the other. He looked positively trapped. Helen had no idea where to start.
Fortunately, she didn't have to. "Remus," said Vicki, "I'm sorry I laughed so loud. I couldn't help it."
"Yeah," Helen said. "I was merely concerned about the extent of your…appetite," she had the sense not to say "bad manners," "when…it just came out." Remus looked at her as if trying to decide what sort of lunatic she was.
"If it makes you feel better," said Vicki, "I'll never be able to giggle behind your back." Remus shrugged and gave a quick half-smile before turning worriedly to his toothpick.
When Helen turned back to Lily, though, the other girl still looked like she had eaten a lemon. Either they had said something wrong, or working with Peter was very trying.
As class drew to an end, few students had made any progress. Helen's toothpick was a little longer and Vicki's had a slight silver tint. Remus's had a small hole at one end and a basic needle shape, but Lily's looked exactly the same and Peter's looked even more like a toothpick, if that's possible. Jim, on the other hand, was the only student who had managed a complete transformation (McGonagall seemed surprised and somehow disappointed), though Sirius seemed to have managed something along the lines of a broken paperclip.
Professor McGonagall was going around and checking the toothpicks. When she got the Lily, she stopped. "Whatever is the matter, Miss Evans?"
Lily was practically in tears. "I-I-I left my wand in my dorm!" There were murmurs all around. "I didn't think—"
"Apparently not," muttered someone across the room.
"Who said that?" demanded the professor. Jim and Sirius gave her identical expressions of innocence. She turned sternly back to Lily.
"I didn't think we'd be doing magic on our first day!" Lily's voice was nearly a wail.
McGonagall opened her mouth.
"Hey!" shouted Vicki. "Give her a break! It is the first day!"
"Yeah!" said Helen. "She is the only Muggle-born in the class! She didn't know what to expect!"
"Excuse me!" McGonagall had to shout to be heard over the protests. "I was going to say that, since this is the first day, and it was an honest mistake, I will 'give her a break'!" She leaned closer. "Don't let it happen again," she warned.
"Yes, Professor," said Lily.
She turned to Vicki and Helen. "I would advise you not to question my judgment; if I feel punishment is in order, I will give it out. Understood?"
"Yes, Professor," the two girls chorused.
"And," she turned towards Jim and Sirius, "I don't want to hear another snide remark from this side of the room. Is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" The boys didn't sound the least bit sorry.
Thankfully, the class ended, and they all headed to History of Magic where, to Lily's relief, wands weren't needed.
History of Magic was dull. Very, very dull. Professor Binns stood in front of the class droning on and on and on… Sirius and Jim actually behaved, out of fear that they might give Binns a heart attack if they acted up. Only Vicki seemed to bother trying to take notes, though they were very complicated. Helen leaned over to look once and saw a good deal of arrows, crossing-outs, question marks, and various symbols. Helen shook her head, and went back to sitting in a dazed stupor.
Wednesday night, they had Astronomy with the Ravenclaws. The tower was rather crowded, so it took Helen a little while to notice something was wrong. Remus, who always showed up just before the start of class, was completely absent. Helen thought this rather strange, in fact, she thought everything about Remus was strange. He had those bizarre eating habits, and he was always nearly late for class. He spent a lot of time hiding in his room or completely avoiding people. He was lass an introvert than a total recluse! And now he was missing altogether.
"I wish you would get off his back," said Vicki. "Of course he's acting a little strange. His sister died just a month or two ago! Maybe it's all stress or mourning or something!"
Helen gave up on Vicki, who clearly missed the point. And Lily was no better; Lily just said she was busy and continued trying to teach Peter how to focus his telescope. Rolling her eyes, Helen stepped up and looked through Peter's eyepiece. "What an amazing phenomenon, this diffuse argentate glow that you discovered! However, I theorize that your attempts to distinguish recognizable constellations will improve monumentally if you point the telescope away from the full moon!"
After Astronomy, as the Gryffindors returned to their common room, everyone began to get worried as it became more obvious that Remus was nowhere to be found. He was not, as Jim had theorized, "sleeping in…probably forgot we had a night class!"
"You know," Peter said while they looked around the Common Room to see if he had fallen asleep in one of the chairs, "I don't think I've seen him since dinner."
Sirius ran up to check the boys' dorm, and came back down shaking his head. "He's not up there, I don't think he's anywhere in the tower!"
Vicki thought for a moment, nodding. "You know what? I told him he'd make himself sick. I mean you guys all saw how much he ate tonight. I have never seen anyone cram down that many chicken wings in one sitting. Just watch, tomorrow morning he'll show up right around breakfast and say he was sick the whole night in the hospital wing or something, and won't eat another bite for a week." She rolled her eyes and started up the girls' dorms stairs, muttering something about "typical guys."
The next morning, however, Remus did not show up around breakfast, and was still missing at the start of their first Defense Against Dark Arts class. By this time, everyone was considerably more than a little worried. And that was before they met Professor Reticly, Head of Slytherin House, who seemed even worse than McGonagall. Reticly started off with a lecture.
"This class is Defense Against the Dark Arts. What you learn here could save your lives one day, which of course will depend entirely on your paying attention. Not paying attention may cost you your life in the future, though I dare say considering this class it is by far the most likely outcome. So I will make this clear now: there will be no talking, note passing, eating, or ridiculous questions in this class. Do not daydream if you know what's good for you. If you come late or are unprepared, you will lose your House points and receive a detention. Fool around and you will leave the class and receive a zero for the day. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Professor," chorused the students.
Helen hoped Jim and Sirius weren't planning anything. She also hoped Remus wouldn't come at all, since the punishment for tardiness seemed worse than that for absence.
"Now," the professor continued, "I know most of have come here hoping to learn all sorts of hexes and curses to use against your classmates. However, you can all forget about it, since we won't even touch on curses until your fourth year. We will start by studying Dark Creatures. The first two years will include basic identification, locating spells, and the best way to protect your self and run." He sneered out the last word. "Third year will recap the creatures you've learned and teach you how to defeat them. In the case of the less dangerous creatures, I may be able to provide live examples. The creatures we will study will range from as harmless as a pixie to as dangerous as a werewolf."
BANG!
Every student twisted in his or her seat to see what had happened. Remus Lupin had tried to sneak in but, for some reason, had missed his chair and fallen to the ground with his books scattering.
"Mr. Lupin, now that you have been so kind as to join us," Professor Reticly said, his voice oozing with sarcasm, "I would ask that next time you do it more quietly."
"Y-yes, sir." Remus murmured, trying to slide into his seat.
"I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET!" Reticly bellowed, and Remus sprang to his feet. "Come to the front of the class."
"But, Professor, he—"
"Silence, Mr. Potter!"
"But—"
"Silence!" Remus shuffled to the front of the class. "Well, Mr. Lupin, I see you are late for my first lesson."
"S-sir, I-I was s-sick," Remus stammered. "Y-you can ask M-Madam D-D-Delta." He gulped. "H-Hospital Wing, all night…"
Reticly's look was enough to shut Remus up. "You are late. Are you also unprepared?" A pause. "Well?"
"N-no sir. Th-that's why I'm late. R-ran all the way to Gryffindor for my b-books and, and things."
"Do you know the material?"
"Sir?"
"Do you know the material?" Reticly barked. "Did you read over your books, or did you just prance in here, LATE, and expect me to spoon feed it all to you?"
Remus actually stood up straighter. "Yes, sir, I know the material."
"Oh, really? You do?"
"Yes, sir. My sister taught me everything she knew before…"
"Everything?"
"Yes, sir," this time with almost an edge of defiance. "You can test me."
"Alright," Reticly sneered. "Normally, I would take away twenty points for lateness on the first day. If you're wrong, I'll make it fifty points and give you a detention. If you're right, I'll give Gryffindor fifty points. Deal?"
Fifty was a lot of points. Don't do it, Remus, Helen thought. Lily was slowly shaking her head. Vicki was holding her breath and clenching her fists.
Remus looked Reticly straight in the eye. "Deal."
There was a collective gasp from the back of the room. Everyone knew it was really some sort of trap, and they were sure Remus had walked right into it. Sure enough, Reticly picked up a textbook and flipped to a section that was normally not covered until the middle of the second year.
"Kappas," said Reticly. "What can you tell me about them?"
"Kappas." Remus took a deep breath. "A Japanese water demon, shallow water, like ponds or small lakes. Looks like a monkey, only with fish-scales, and a kind of bowl shaped depression on the top of its head. The water in the hollow gives it strength, but it also needs to feed on human blood."
Reticly scowled. "Really? Please, tell the class how to protect themselves from Kappas, Professor Lupin."
Remus turned to his fellow Gryffindors. He was actually grinning. "The simplest and most immediate protection from a blood thirsty Kappa is to throw it a cucumber with your name carved in it. This is sufficient to convince a Kappa not to attack, but few people actually carry a cucumber with their name carved on it in their pocket. Even if you can transfigure a cucumber, the carving may take several minutes. I have tried it on occasion and can assure you that it is no easy task.
"Another method is to trick the Kappa into bowing. When the water runs out of its hollow, the Kappa will lose its strength. However, Kappas are fairly intelligent and not easily tricked. Various illusions could work, such as appearing to be another Kappa but they are not foolproof. After all, even the youngest and stupidest Kappa is aware that it will die without the water in its bowl. The best and quickest solution, if you can manage it, is a rather complex Charm that can remove the water from its head."
Remus was getting quite into his lecture and began pacing. "Most ordinary Charms won't work, because the Kappa has some innate magical protection around its hollow. The Geyserius Charm is one of the few that can break this magical barrier. Now, there is no Kappa in this room for me to demonstrate on, but let us pretend this tea cup is a Kappa's hollow. As it is filled with," he stuck his finger into Reticly's cup, "lukewarm tea, I suggest you all stand back. This teacup does not have the protective force of a Kappa's magic, so the spell may be slightly explosive."
The class murmured in interest. "Now then," said Remus, pulling out his wand, "this spell is quite complex, and I hardly expect anyone in this class to get it, since you're still working on 'swish-flick.'" He gave the class an actual apologetic smile. "However, no harm in learning it, you can always practice later. The spell is Geyserius. Class?"
As if he were the professor, the class recited: "Geyserius!"
"Good. Now, in order for the spell to work, you must pass your wand over the hollow—like so—and come back around with the swish-flick. For an actual Kappa, you must stand very close, but for this teacup, which, again, contains no protective magic, stand as far away as possible." He nodded to the girls. "You may want to move back a row."
Helen looked at Vicki and Lily, who shrugged. As they stood and moved back, Helen saw the gleeful anticipation on the faces of Jim and Sirius, and the awe on Peter's. This was the most any of them had ever heard Remus say at once. Actually, it was more than they had ever heard Remus say, combined.
Remus looked at Reticly, who stood right next to the desk, glaring at Remus. "Professor…?"
"Just do it, Lupin," he snarled. His tone said: go ahead and try.
Remus nodded and took a step back, until only the very tip of his wand was over the teacup. He waved his wand and said, "Geyserius!" Then he dropped to the floor and rolled under the desk.
Considering his toothpick had changed very little in Transfiguration earlier that week, Helen wasn't sure what to expect. Certainly not what she saw.
All the tea blasted straight into the air, then exploded out in all directions. Reticly, standing less than an arm length away, took the brunt of it and was completely soaked.
For two seconds, there was dead silence. Then Remus stood up, grinning form ear to ear. Sirius, Peter and Jim were applauding and cheering to no end. Lily sat there in open mouthed amazement. Helen just smiled at him. As Remus walked back to his seat, Vicki help out her hand and gave him a very loud high-five.
"ENOUGH!" bellowed Reticly. "All of you, sit down, and be QUIET!" Silence. "Now, open your books, read the first chapter. As you have been deprived of your regular class time, you must read the entire chapter and outline it for me by your next class. Now, get to work!" For the rest of class, there was no sound but the scratching of quills.
That night, Helen checked the points. There were fifty more there.
The Soaking of Reticly became a school legend, and Remus a hero for a time.
And no one complained about the extra homework.
~*~*~*~
Lily sat in Potions class the next day, contemplating Remus Lupin. After his energetic show in DADA, he seemed exhausted. In classes over the last two days he had constantly seemed about to fall asleep, except he did eat lunch with his usual appetite and …style. But he had changed a little: when people came up to him in the halls, and students from every house but Slytherin had been all day, Remus would give them a modest little half smile and a mumbled "thanks." It was a slight improvement over his "looking at something on one else sees" look.
At the table behind Lily, Vicki and Helen were arguing about the man of the hour, Remus. Helen seemed to think he was a mystery she was determined to get to the bottom of. Vicki continuously told her to "give the poor boy a break, already!"
Just then, the Slytherins trooped in, arraying themselves on the other side of the room. There was a lot of angry eyeing and scowling from both sides of the dungeon.
And then the teacher came in. Professor Bolda was, well, there's only one word for it: blank.
"Hello, students!" she said cheerily. She seemed to be smiling at…the wall behind them. She then turned to the board and started writing what were apparently notes. Except that they were written in paragraph form. Professor Bolda had very small handwriting. Even in the front of the class, Lily could barely read it. Lily wrote as quickly as possible, ignoring sentences like "The purpose of newt livers is used to…" When she finished, Bolda smiled in the general direction of the class. "Who's finished?"
One or two hands went up. Everyone else dove for their quills and started scribbling. Bolda read the "notes" out loud, though she sounded like she was talking to herself. Suddenly, she turned back to the class. "I love newts. They just have so many uses! Right?"
She seemed to be looking right at Lily and waiting for an answer. Lily hadn't run across newts in any of her pre-reading. "Uh…sure?"
Bolda grinned and gave a rather forced-sounding laugh, then turned back to her reading.
When she was done, she turned back to the class. "Now, the purpose of this class is to meet new people."
"I thought it was to learn about potions," Jim said, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
Bolda's smile disappeared and she scowled. "You need to stop screaming while I'm talking."
"Umm, sorry?"
"Now as I was saying before I was interrupted," the forced laugh and smile, "we're here to meet new people. I want all the groups to be one Gryffindor and one Slytherin. Ok?"
She had to be kidding. No, she wasn't.
The class stood up and shuffled into new groups. No one looked the slightest bit happy.
"Now you can all get acquainted while I write your assignment."
Lily looked at the boy next to her. "I'm Lily Evans."
"I'm Severus Snape," he said.
"Oh, Jim said he met you on the train!"
"Are you a friend of Potter's?"
Just then there was a shout from the back of the room. Everyone turned to look—except Bolda. Remus's new partner, Edward Lestrange, had just tried to curse him. Jim and Sirius ran to his rescue, and a small scuffle started.
"So," said Severus, "that's the one who tried to attack our Head of House?"
"Erm, no," said Lily, and she explained what had happened.
Severus was still looking at Remus. "He doesn't look so tough."
Lily sighed and went to get materials for their potion. While she was up, she saw Remus. "How are you doing?" she asked.
"Guess," muttered Remus. "I guess one House does like Reticly."
"Don't let it get you down," Lily advised. "I'd switch, but I doubt it would help."
That day they worked on a potion that would turn your hair green. Lily didn't know how this was useful, but maybe Bolda wanted to give them something easy to do on the first day. Lily tried hard to ignore the sounds of fighting in the back of the room. Apparently, so did the teacher. In fact, she seemed completely oblivious until Lestrange went to the front of the room with green skin. He claimed his cauldron had fallen over, but Lily could smell a burnt Filibuster Firework. Bolda gave him a detention for "fooling around."
"What about my green skin?" Lestrange demanded.
"I don't know what you're going to do about that."
"Isn't there an antidote or something?" asked Lestrange.
Bolda gave him a blank look. As Lestrange walked back to his seat, Severus hissed that it should wear off in about twenty-four hours. In the back of the room, Jim looked smug.
As they were leaving, Lily smiled at Severus. "See you next week."
Just then, Jim ran by yelling "Hey, Lilliputian!"
Severus scowled. "Are you friends with him?"
Lily glared at Jim's back. "Nope, not at all."
Severus grinned. "Then I'll see you!"
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A/N: Wow, two chapters down, can you believe it? All right, still to come: Lily and Jim at war, and what everyone else thinks about this. Will they join in the fighting? Will anyone get expelled? What is Remus' big secret? And does anyone else have hidden secrets to be dug out? Oh, the answer to the last one is definitely "yes"!
Please remember to review. If you don't review, then I don't know if anyone's reading my story, then I get depressed and when I'm depressed I stop posting, and then you won't have any more chapters to read. So review. It's for your own good.