A/N: WARNING: This book is a sequel! If you don't want to be in the dark, read my first "The Howl of the Moon", which chronicles MWPP in their first year. This is about their second year. Also, I own nothing! Please R/R!
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Chapter Two:
Beginning of a Legacy
The silence was shattered as the entire hall burst into whispers so fast and many that the noise produced was as raucous as a rowdy class on a spring day. The students seated themselves and the chattering intensified, only lightening slightly as Professor Longbottom brought in the new students. Professor McGonagall finally silenced the school with a single word, and Professor Longbottom explained the Sorting to the first-years.
"How do you think it happened?" Asked James to the group. They simply shook their heads.
"Avery, Maximilian!" Shouted Professor Longbottom (the hat had not sung this year's song). In a few moments, he became a Slytherin. No one much paid attention at all, only noticing and greeting those who came to his or her house. Remus and the rest finally took note when Mary's brother took the stage.
"Longbottom, Francis!" Frank meagerly walked up. He was average height, had dirty-blonde hair, and light green eyes. He placed the hat on his head. In the thirty-second span his expression seemed to get frightened, but in a moment, he was a,
"GRYFFINDOR!" He let out a deep breath, smiled widely, and half-skipped to the Gryffindor table. As Malfoy, Lucius, became a Slytherin, Mary and her friends greeted Frank, and then he was by a girl he had met on the train, who had also been selected for Gryffindor.
The Society members scouted out the new Gryffindors, and commented on which might make good recruits. It was as if they had forgotten all about Friar Arus, but soon Professor McGonagall brought it all back.
"Alright, alright, let's settle down." She was very pale and spoke shakily. Simply her speaking reminded everyone of the specter of the Fat Friar. She forced a smile to her face and said,
"Dinner!" The empty plates blossomed into huge piles of food, causing instant salivation among all present. Over dinner Lily and James told Frank and his friends all about what classes they would have (though they shared speculation on who would be teaching Herbology).
Discussion then moved to Gryffindor's chances at Quidditch (considering, of course, that Sirius, James, and Remus all make the team). By the time Professor McGonagall clinked her glass again, they were discussing their impending victory of the House Cup.
"There are...quite obviously, a few announcements." McGonagall said quietly. "First of all, it is my sad duty to announce to you all that Friar Arus has died." This came as a shock to no one, but there was a lot of whispering just then.
"We do know that it was as a result of...foul play, though we do not know who is responsible. You will notice that Professors Dumbledore, Scuro, and Marus are currently away; they are investigating the situation carefully. No one's lives are in danger. There is no need to fear.
"We are currently searching for a replacement Herbology teacher; in the meantime, however, Professor Vanic has been kind enough to come out of retirement to teach Friar Arus's lesson until then. Once we have found a replacement, Friar Arus will remain here as a resident ghost and councilor. A few other things; the forest continues to be out-of-bounds to all students, and Quidditch trials are in two weeks for second-years and above. Now, we all better get to bed." She waved them off to their house common rooms, and they filed away, following their prefects.
The second-years' first class was Transfiguration at nine, and, knowing the way to class much better than they had at the beginning of their first year, they got up much later. After a delicious breakfast, they had about five minutes to make it to class.
"You guys are going to be late!" Fannie Flately had said, passing them by. They had simply smiled and assured her they would be on time, and she walked quickly out of the hall, glancing at them as she left. She did not know anything about the Society of Lion's Fire, nor about any of their secret passages. She sat down in class with one minute to go, assuring herself they would be late.
But, with a few seconds until the bell, and Professor McGonagall staring at the open door, all six strolled in, not one of them out of breath or discolored at all. They sat down just as the bell rang, much to the surprise of Fannie.
After a very interesting preview of the lessons to come during this term, the group headed off for a brief break in the common room, then on to Charms. Professor Flitwick marveled them all with some excellent second-year charms, and it wasn't long until Lily was getting the hang of the first of them.
Next was a fairly long free time, and though it was earlier than lunchtime, they decided it was the best time for such a meal, since the next break wouldn't be until after Herbology and History of Magic.
Over lunch, they discussed their next class, Herbology.
"I know Evus said that Professor Vanic wasn't exactly the most pleasant teacher." Said Lily, worriedly, as she began on a sandwich.
"I know. I'm worried. Herbology was always a more relaxing class...I hope we get a new teacher soon. One like Friar Arus." James said.
Once they were finished, they headed out the Entrance Hall to Herbology, and met Frank and his four friends coming back in.
"There's Francis!" Said Sirius loudly and embarrassingly. They all walked up, and James gave Frank a light punch on the arm, and Frank chuckled and held his arm.
"No beating up my brother, now!" Mary said, smiling. Frank chuckled again, turned red, and waved for his friends.
"Let's go..." He walked quickly off with his laughing friends.
"You guys..." Mary said, and walked off to Herbology.
"Mary, wait up!" Sirius said and quickly followed. The group did so as well.
Professor Vanic was a tall, imposing wizard, with gray hair spotted with dark black. He had a stone cold expression, and they all could have thought him to be Professor Marus's brother.
The Gryffindors had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and when they all had arrived, Vanic looked at his class list, and then back up. He counted those present quickly, and assumed everyone was there.
The Hufflepuffs all had very subdued faces on, Friar Arus, was, after all, their House head. On top of that, this was the class he taught.
"Welcome to Herbology. My name is Professor Vanic, and I will be your interim Herbology professor. I know little about plants and that sort. I will be sticking strictly to the lesson prepared by Friar Arus. He will be joining us in a few classes this week, to take questions and help instruct. I will tolerate no funny business from anyone. In this class more than any of my former Charms classes.
"I have come out of a quite comfy retirement to teach you all. I expect you will not make me discipline you all too much. I'm sure you all also have respect for the dead." Vanic's face seemed to soften only in the slightest, then it returned quickly.
"Now. For our first lesson."
The group rushed from Herbology, because though they knew an easy way to the History of Magic corridor, they would need to wash all the dirt from their hands and faces before Professor Binns's class. After a quick stop at the bathroom, they were heading to the nearest shortcut, and when they arrived at History of Magic before anyone else, with not a spot of dirt on them, the only three people in their class not in the Society were amazed.
"How do you do it?" Squeaked Dhelia Brown after class.
"I guess we're just quick on our feet." Said James as Peter Pettigrew tripped over his own robes and fell flat on his face. James continued to smile.
"What? Don't believe me?" He chuckled a bit, turned coolly on his heel, and left for the common room. It was a less pleasant run-in they made this time, however when they prepared to open up the shortcut to the Potions corridor, so that they could take a shortcut back to the Gryffindor common room ("It's shorter, I'm sure of it!" Sirius had said).
"Hello Lestrange. Snape, Nott." With the Slytherin trio were three girls as well, who the Society did not know outside of Potions class.
"What are you doing here, Pudder?" Lestrange asked, frowning.
"What are you drawing?" Remus asked. Lestrange was holding a small clipboard on which they could see a piece of paper and some pencil markings. Lestrange drew the clipboard close to his chest.
"None of your business, Lupin." He scowled. James rose his wand.
"Accio." The power of James's spell drew the clipboard towards him, but Lestrange hung on. It pulled him off the ground a few inches and towards them.
"None of your business!" He spat, and quickly walked off with his goons in tow.
"Sometimes you have to play the aggressor." James said, and magicked the suit of armor aside, revealing a staircase.
"Shall we?"
Much to their joy, those four classes were all for the group that day. Unfortunately, Thursday made up for it. That day they would be having the same four classes, as well as Double Potions with the Slytherins, Double Defense against the Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws (something they didn't have last year) and Astronomy at midnight. All the other days, gladly, were normal.
It was still the afternoon when Sirius, Remus, James, Lily, Peter, and Mary entered the common room.
"How about some Quaffleball?" Sirius asked.
"Aaaargh!" Lily screamed. "I can't stand that game any more. You play it constantly!" James shrugged.
"You don't have to play."
"I'll go check if the pitch is empty." Said Mary, as there was a window looking out onto the pitch in the girls dormitory. A moment later she came back to say that it was in fact empty, and the group (including Lily) grabbed their broomsticks and headed out.
"Do you know what positions are open?" Lily asked.
"Yeah. Will Johnson's a keeper, Evus is a chaser, and Max Dorian was a seeker, but he's moving to chaser, since he's getting too big. So that makes the openings two beaters, a seeker and a chaser." James said. Lily nodded.
"So no need to practice keeper?" James nodded, and he, Sirius, and Remus took to the air. It was just when Lily and Mary where mounting their broomsticks when they noticed that Peter Pettigrew had a golf club, not a broom.
"Alright, Peter, let's start with seeker practice!" Peter nodded, emptied a bag of golf balls onto the field, and began knocking them into the air.
"Mine!" Yelled James, and shot after one and snagged it easily.
"Mine!" Said Remus, and he grabbed two at once, then another.
"Impressive!" Said Sirius, as he dove towards the ground after another.
"I thought we were playing Quaffleball?" Lily shouted.
"Oh yeah." James chuckled, and quickly appointed himself captain.
"I'm the other!" Yelled Lily quickly. Sirius had his mouth open to call the other position, and was fairly shocked to hear Lily say it.
"Well, I never get a chance." She said. Soon it was decided that it would be Mary and Lily versus Sirius, James, and Remus, with the boys taking shifts. At the start, it was Sirius and James.
"Switch brooms, Sirius?" James asked, grinning. Sirius nodded.
"Yes, yes, sounds good." He said, chuckling. They both stood on their brooms shakily, then leapt across at the same time.
"Now why would they be doing that?" Lily asked Mary.
"I'm throwing up the Quaffle!" Yelled Peter. As soon as he did, Mary shot straight after and got it. She raced towards the hoops, when Sirius pulled even with her.
"Prepare to be boarded!" He yelled.
"What?" She screamed. Sirius brought his leg up and leaned over until it was wrapped around Mary's broom. He then let go of James's broom completely, and was now sitting right in front of Mary.
"I'll take that!" He said, and reached behind him, taking the Quaffle from the stunned Mary. Just as she was recollecting her wits, and was about to push him off, James pulled up next to them (they were nearing the boys' goal now).
"There's my ride!" He said, and leapt onto his own broom. Sirius took control, and James turned around to face Lily, who was giving chase. As Sirius turned around and began to shoot towards the girl's goal, James leapt off Sirius's broom, and grabbed Lily, taking her off her own broomstick. As they plummeted to the ground, James reached into his cloak and pulled his wand.
"Accio Thunderbolt!" The broom that was laying on the ground rose up to meet James and Lily, and he landed perfectly upon it. He swooped down to the ground, and dropped Lily off there.
"See you." He said, smiling and laughing, taking back off.
"Oh! James Potter!" She screamed, and ran towards her own, grounded broom.
By now, Sirius had made the score fifty to nothing, and when James came, they added another forty.
By the end of the game, the score had reached one hundred-forty to fifty, and the boys forfeited, getting tired of the easy match. After a few broomstick races and some chaser practice, Remus, Sirius, and James finally returned to the common room, where Lily, Mary, and Peter had gone earlier.
For the boys, two weeks could not come soon enough, for the girls, it came far too soon.
"You should try out, girls!" Sirius said as they all trotted out to the Quidditch pitch, where the Gryffindor tryouts were taking place. Slytherins were leaving the field, for theirs had just ended. Lestrange and Nott were looking quite proud of themselves; Snape was scowling. The Gryffindors, however, paid no attention to them, they were too glad to be finally trying out.
"Why would we try out?" Asked Lily.
"Well, you girls are very good Quidditchers!" James said.
"Yes. You just look bad, because we're spectacular!" Remus said, laughing. Lily made a face and smacked Remus on the arm.
"Everyone knows there's never been a female Quidditch player at Hogwarts." Lily said, so angrily that James thought she might try out in an attempt to end such a chauvinist tradition.
"Are you all trying out?" Said Professor Marus, once they had reached the pitch. Marus, Scuro, and Dumbledore had all returned a few days after the start of term, and no one asked a single question.
James looked at Mary and Lily.
"Well?" He asked. They shook their heads.
"Just me, Sirius, and Remus." Said James. Marus nodded, wrote their names on his clipboard, and pointed over to the stands.
"Spectators in the stands." He said. Mary, Lily, and Peter nodded, and made their way to the student section.
"Good luck!" Mary said as they walked away, waving her hand.
"Thanks!" Responded Sirius, and they went through the dressing rooms to the center of the pitch. There were the others who were trying out. They were mostly older students, fourth, fifth, sixth, even seventh years. Evus had told them that last years team was made of four seventh years and three fifth years. For this reason, it had been a while since the last time positions on the Gryffindor squad were open.
Everyone turned their heads once Marus blew the whistle, signifying the time to start tryouts.
"Our open positions are Seeker, Chaser, and two Beaters." Said Evus. Everyone looked up to see that he, Will Johnson, and Max Dorian were circling above on their broomsticks.
"We'll be starting with the Beaters. All trying out for Beater, please take your brooms and come up here!" James, Sirius, and two others mounted their brooms and took to the sky. Max Dorian was holding a bundle of Beater clubs, and Will Johnson grabbed four of them, and handed them to the prospects. Sirius gripped his tightly.
"Much better than a wand in my opinion." Said Sirius, smiling. James chuckled a bit, and tossed his from hand to hand. Evus had them line up above the center line, spaced equally apart. Marus had gotten on his own broomstick and joined the Gryffindor Quidditch players. The three Gryffindors and Marus were each in charge of a bludger, the shiny black ball whose purpose it was to knock players off their brooms. Each was holding their bludger magically, keeping them from zooming about and trying kill someone.
"We're going to let go of these, and we want you to knock them back at us, as if we were opponents. We're going to do this drill five times." Evus was also holding a clipboard, besides his wand.
"Now!" He said, and he, Professor Marus, Max, and Will let go of their magical grip on the bludgers, and all four jet balls shot at the prospects. Professor Marus and Max flew upwards, Evus and Will downwards.
Sirius, who was facing Evus, adjusted his position, wound up his club, and smashed the bludger straight at Evus. James was slightly less successful, he hit it in the right direction, but halfway there it lost steam, and headed back at him. After four more drills in which Sirius and James's results were similar to their first, they started a new drill.
"Very good, very good." Evus said, writing down various things. After that they moved on to a drill in which Max Dorian pretended to be Seeker, and the prospect was forced to defend him against an onslaught of two bludgers. Sirius did so perfectly; James only allowed the bludger to pass by once.
After those tryouts, James was feeling fairly nervous, since he was sure he didn't make the team as a Beater, and there were only two more open positions.
"Now for the Chasers." Evus said, and James, Sirius, and Remus took the air, as well as a fifth year. Will Johnson took the Keeper position and situated himself in front of the hoops. At first they all tried out shooting on Will, then passing and shooting, flying ability, more passing, then defensive capability. James came off that tryout with a little more confidence.
"I think I did well." James said, smirking, as he, Sirius, and Remus settled on the ground.
"Seekers!" Everyone but Sirius took the air, and soon the Golden Snitch was released. All they were to do was to continually go after the Snitch. After it was caught ten times, Remus had caught it four times, and James three.
"I think we came off that well." James said as they sat on the ground, and Evus discussed the positions with Will and Max. Professor Marus, who was also Head of Gryffindor house, listened to all the talk. Evus, who was team captain, stepped forward, smiling brightly.
"Well, it looks like we'll have a great team this year!" He said excitedly. "Now, for those who made the team.
"At Beater, seventh year Marcus O'Reilly." Marcus got to his feet, pumped his fist, and joined the sixth years.
"At the other Beater, second year Sirius Black."
"Yes!" Said Sirius, and slapped hands with James and Remus, and took his broom over to the much older Gryffindor Quidditchers.
"At Chaser, James Potter." James quickly slapped hands with Remus, hopped up excitedly, and dashed over to where Sirius and the others were.
"And, at Seeker, Remus Lupin!"