Chapter 3: First Lessons
Disclaimer: HP and all associated characters belong to JK Rowling, WB etc. All characters recognisable from my stories belong to me, as do Roche, LJ Potter, J Weasley etc.
Lily rose a lot earlier than usual the next morning, she couldn't wait to get to classes. Most of her roommates were still asleep, but Lena had already left. She dressed in her new black Hogwarts robes, lingering a moment to caress the red and gold lion patch on her left breast. I'm a Gryffindor for real now, she thought. Not just by blood.
She shook her head, annoyed with herself. I'm going to go and get some breakfast, if I stand here much longer, I'm going to start thinking that I'm going strange in the head.
Crossing the door, she pulled it open and, checking that her wand was securely tucked inside her robe, she started down the spiral staircase to the Common Room. It was empty, so she immediately let herself out of the Portrait Hole and headed for the Great Hall. Knowing the castle as well as she did, it didn't take her long to get there, and fifteen minutes later she was sitting down at the Gryffindor Table between their new friend Robin, and a third-year Niles Schwartz, enjoying a large bowl of porridge. James and Lena were sitting opposite them.
About five minutes later, Sirius moved down the table and handed out the new timetables. "Thanks Padfoot." said Lily, accepting her own timetable. She glanced at it, "Ugghh. Well, we could have a better timetable for the first day. Double Herbology, Charms, and History of Magic. Who came up with these timetables, a sadist?"
"Well actually…?" mused James, glancing in Sirius' direction.
"Why did you call him Padfoot?" asked Robin.
"Well. He's the closest thing I have to a grandfather or uncle on Dad's side. But, they didn't seem quite right, so when I heard Moony, Professor Lupin to you, call him Padfoot I started using it too. It's an old school nickname."
"Well, that works. Is there anyone in this school you aren't related too?"
Lily nodded. "Professors McGonagall, Sprout, Vector, Sinestra, Creevey, Castle, Hawke, Smith and Graphus. Plus, Madame Bones, Madame Pince, and Mr Rage of course."
"So, most of the faculty and staff then?"
"Yep, and Professor Granger won't do me any favours either. She was very clear about that last time she saw me."
"She told the twins and I the same thing," confirmed James. "Shall we get to Herbology?"
"Yeah, let's." said Lily, rising as well to follow him out.
----
Lily's first Herbology lesson was interesting, if not entirely educational. They were paired with Ravenclaw for this class and Professor Sprout had given them an unusual task for their first lesson: pruning the Snap Dragons. "Watch out for these things." she warned Michael Malkin and Peter Schwartz, the two Ravenclaw boys who'd come over to work with her and James. "My grandma has some of these in her garden at home, not only do they do bite, they also… Yow!" James tugged her back just in time as the plant burped, sending flames into the air. "Thanks James. As you can see, they also breathe fire."
Michael nodded. "Let's just be careful then," he suggested and reached for a pair of pruning shears. The other three students nodded and began to get to work.
By the end of the lesson they were finished pruning, and even had enough time to dispose of the cuttings before Professor Sprout told them to pack up and go. Lily said goodbye to Michael as they parted company at the top of the Great Stair, the Gryffindors headed for their Common Room in the Tower, while he headed off to his.
"So what's the plan for the next hour?" asked Robin, when they met up again in the common room.
"Nothing really. It's a free period." James pointed out. "I'm going to read, I've still got two hundred and ninety pages of Harry Potter, The Man Behind The Myth, to read."
"James, haven't you already finished it?" Lily asked him.
"I'm reading it again. I've read your copy of A Revised Hogwarts, A History twice, and memorised all the set books for the next two years, and about half-a-dozen more for background. I've got to read something, and it is one of the more entertaining reads."
"You're a real bookworm, you know that don't you?"
"The proper term is 'bibliophile'." James told her.
"Whatever." Lily told him. "Wizard chess anyone?"
Robin looked interested, "How do you play?"
"It's pretty much the same as Muggle chess, 'cept the pieces move by themselves and talk." Lena told him. "James is the best player we've got, he even beats Fox."
"I only beat Dad in two out of three games." pointed out James, who was already curled up in one of the corner armchairs with his nose in his book.
"Like he said. What to play?"
"Sounds fun, but I don't have a set."
"That's okay." Lena assured him. "You can borrow mine. Do you need me to get yours too Lily?"
Lily nodded. "It's back in my trunk."
"I'll only be a minute." she told them and sprinted off up the girls' staircase. A minute later, she returned with the two sets and sat down with the two of them at one of the smaller tables to watch the game.
Robin turned out to be a fairly poor chess player, even with his pieces shouting advice all the time, or maybe because of it, he managed to lose every game. After the fourth loss he gave up. "I think that's enough for one day. You play a pretty good game though Lily."
Lily shrugged. "I'm okay, a lot of people can beat me, though a few can't."
Lena glanced at her watch. "It's nearly time for lunch. Shall we head down?"
Lily nodded and packed up her chess pieces. "I'll just nip these upstairs and then join you." She went to the girls' staircase and headed up.
"James, we're heading down for lunch, you coming?" asked Lena.
"I will wait for Lily, you go on ahead."
"Okay, we'll save you seats."
James nodded. Lena opened the Portrait Hole and climbed out, "Let's go Robin. Lunch is waiting."
"Lead me to it Sparky. Lead me to it." Robin told her as he followed her out.
----
After lunch, the first-year Gryffindors headed up to the third floor and an hour-long lesson with Dennis Creevey, the Charms Professor. Lily, Lena and James found the lesson rather boring, as he spent the whole period doing over the theory behind the use of charms to perform magic. Though they groaned along with the rest of the class when he assigned them a three-foot essay on Recent Discoveries in Experimental Charms.
After a quick break they headed down to the dungeons for History of Magic. Professor Hawke swept majestically into the room, long brown robes billowing around him. "Greetings everyone. My name is Professor Merrill Hawke, it will be my task over the next five to seven years, depending on your academic choices, will be to educate you in the intricacies of history of the Wizarding World, in the hope that you may actually learn something from others' past mistakes. I very much doubt it, but miracles do happen."
There he paused and allowed his sharp blue eyes to roam the classroom, before settling his eyes on Lily. "This year we will covering the Dark Wars, focusing the second Voldemort War. Next year, we will move onto pre-Merlin Mediterranean history. In third year, we will be, relatively briefly, covering an old favourite of my esteemed predecessor. Miss Potter, can you guess what that might be?"
"Goblin rebellions, sir?"
He nodded. "And other associated topics. Finally, in fourth year we will be covering the evolution of the governance of the Wizarding World into its current form."
"What did he just say?" whispered Robin to James.
"Politics."
"Gotcha."
Professor Hawke rounded on them, "Mr Weasley, Mr Banks. Do you have something have something you would like to share with the rest of the class?"
"No sir." James answered for both them.
"Then please be silent unless I ask you a question." He turned back to the class, "Any questions before we begin?" There were none. "Very well then, we shall begin. Some of you may be wondering why I have chosen not to teach from the standard texts; A History of Magic, The Rise and Fall of The Dark Arts and so on…?" Several students nodded their heads. "… It is always my policy that a personal, present-time account is preferable to a second-hand, retrospective one. Miss Potter, is there some reason why you are not paying attention?"
Lily jerked her head up to look directly in her professor's eyes. "Yes Professor."
"And…?"
"Well sir. My mother wrote the book, and it focuses on my father. I practically know it off by heart."
"Your mother wrote it?" asked Hawke, his eyes narrowing, "The credited author is Equa Gryffindor."
Lily nodded. "Yes Ginny Potter, wife of Harry Potter, the current Heir of Gryffindor, sir. As for her first name, check page…" Lily paused.
"Seven-hundred and eighty-nine, paragraph seven." supplied James, catching on to his cousin's train of thought.
"Thank you James. The source of that is there."
It took the elderly historian only a moment to find the right point. "'… I am Equa, the Mare of Air and Speed…'" he quoted.
"Yes Professor, from the Bestia Invocation."
"I see… Well, try to look interested at least." Lily nodded. "The first Voldemort War was a terrible one without doubt, but it is most well documented, and only a few instances are not well known. Therefore, the main thrust of our first term's work will be the second war. But every tale must have a beginning. When did the Second Voldemort War begin? Mr Olsen, your thoughts?"
"The twenty-fourth of June 1984, Professor." replied the tall, stocky boy.
"The day of the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament, the death of Cedric Diggory, and the rebirth of Lord Voldemort." clarified Professor Hawke. Donald nodded. "You have reading the material well… and you're right, the fight began again on that day. But, you are also wrong. The true beginning of the second war against Voldemort began on the 31st of October 1981, when Harry Potter, the champion of his generation struck his first blow against Voldemort. That is to say, the second war began, the moment the first ended."
One or two students looked like they wanted to object, but they stayed silent. Professor Hawke, like Professor McGonagall and the late Professor Snape, was able to keep a class silent without effort. "What led up to the day? And why did it occur? Mr Stevens, your input?"
"The Potters were very close to Minister Dumbledore, they were two of the strongest opposition to his plans. The Dark Lord needed them out of the way so that he could continue."
"Mmmm. As with Mr Olsen, you offer a valid but incomplete explanation. There were many others with great power in their way on the Minister's side. Why did Voldemort give them his personal attention? Think boy, Miss Potter has already given you the answer."
Gary thought hard for a few seconds, and then replied. "Because James Potter was the Heir of Gryffindor?"
"Correct. As another descendent of one of the Four Founders and a High Lord, James Potter's power might have come to equal his own. Voldemort could not risk that, so he killed him. Lily Potter was killed because she wouldn't stop protecting Harry, she herself was no great threat."
"Why was Harry Potter sent to live with Muggles?" asked Donald. "It doesn't seem right."
"I'm not entirely sure. Albus never wanted to talk about it." admitted Professor Hawke, "Miss Potter, have you any idea?"
Lily nodded, "There were three reasons: One, Dumbledore knew he could place more powerful protective charms over a Muggle household; two, to shield my father from his fame until he might be better able to cope with it; and three, his only living wizard relative, his godfather Sirius Black, was under suspicion of being a spy for Voldemort."
"Thank you for that." They continued to discuss the events of that fateful October night for about ten minutes and then stopped as the bell rang. Hawke stopped them just as they were about to leave. "Now as to your homework… for next lesson I would like a three-foot essay on the effects of the 31st of October 1981 on the Wizarding World." Several of the class groaned at this, though Lily and obviously James weren't among them. "No complaining. There'll be much harder assignments in the future."
"I don't doubt it." murmured Lena as she gathered up her books to leave.
"Hurry up Lils, Sparky. I want to get down to dinner. I'm hungry." urged James.
"Of course you are James, you're a Weasley, you're always hungry."
"True, true." admitted her cousin, "It doesn't make it any less true."
"Okay, okay." Lily relented and chucking together, the two girls followed James and the rest of the Gryffindors up the stairs to the Great Hall, where dinner was served moments later. After the meal they headed back to the Gryffindor common room and got started on their homework. Lily, Lena and Robin made a start on their Charms essay for Colin, while James tackled the more interesting (to him) subject allocated by Professor Hawke. After two hours of homework, and an hour of playing games, the four of them mutually decided it was time to head up to bed.
----
The next week and a half passed without incident and the only bit of excitement was a letter delivered by Odin to James. He opened the envelope of thick parchment, and glanced over the short note. "It's from Mum, she wants me to join her for tea Friday afternoon, the twins'll be there and Mum's invited Lily and Sparky. Will you be okay without us Robin?"
Robin nodded. "I've still got a star-chart to do for Sinestra for Monday night. I'll be fine."
"Good." said James, digging in his bag for his timetable. "We've got Potions in five minutes." He picked up his bag and rose, "Let's go." The others nodded and followed him outside.
Their first Potions lesson was held on the second floor, as had all the Potions lessons since the rooms had been rearranged three years earlier. When the first year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs entered the brightly light potions lab, Sirius was already waiting for them. "Everyone take a seat." James and Lily paired up at one desk and Lena and Robin at a second. "My name is Sirius Black, I will be teaching you potions during your time at Hogwarts. Who has any previous experience with brewing potions?"
Both James and Lily raised their hands of course, as did another Gryffindor Penny White and the two Hufflepuffs from the Sanctuary: Bill McKinnon and Danny MacMillian. Sirius nodded in acknowledgement, "Let's test and see how much you know already… um… James?" James looked straight at him. "What is a bezoar?"
James had an answer for him immediately, "It is a stone of a goat and is used in potion antidotes."
"Correct, five points to Gryffindor. Danny, is aconite a plant or a crystal?"
"I'm not sure, sir. A plant, I think."
"You're right." admitted Sirius with a reassuring smile. "Take five points. Does anyone know any other names for aconite?" James, Penny and both Hufflepuffs raised their hands. "Penny?"
"Wolfsbane?" she offered.
Sirius nodded, "Bill?"
"What about monkshood?"
"Also correct, ten more points to Hufflepuff. One last question. Lily, what are the two main ingredients of the Draft of Living Death?"
"Powered root of asphodel, and an infusion of wormwood." Lily answered after a moment, James' enthusiastic hand waving beside her hadn't helped her memory.
"Good, another five points to Gryffindor."
After one or two more questions, Sirius set them working on an anti-itching paste. James, as might be expected, was the first to finish, though his cousin and best friend were close behind as were Penny and a few of the Hufflepuffs. Sirius examined all the students' efforts and awarded another five points to Gryffindor for James' excellent effort.
After the two-hour Transfiguration lesson and another hour of History of Magic on Friday, they grabbed some lunch in the Great Hall and then hurried up the Library to get some books for their homework. At three o'clock, James and the two girls closed their books and said goodbye to Robin. They dropped off their bags in their dormitories and then left through the Portrait Hole.
----
"How have things been going?" asked Hermione, once James, Lily, Lena, the twins, Barty, and Bill and Fleur's daughter, Anne had sat down in soft chairs in her office and she had conjured up a silver tea-set. The room was dark with wood-panelling and bookshelves. Crookshanks purred a welcome from a basket in the corner and hopped down and walked over to Lily, who picked up him up and stroked his head, Odin hooted loudly from his perch near the door.
"Moony's lessons are getting fun." Anne told her. "We're doing wyverns, they're like mini-dragons." she explained to her younger cousins. "I can't wait for the first Hogsmeade visit, I mean I've been there before but it'll be different with the other students there."
Barty nodded in agreement. "I'm very busy of course, what with preparing with my OWLs and my prefect responsibilities. But I have everything under control."
"What about you boys?" Hermione asked the twins, "Sirius, Nick and Orion haven't mentioned you causing any trouble, though I doubt that means anything." she frowned, "Does it?"
The boys grinned evilly, a look Hermione recognised from her brother-in-laws Fred and George. "We really haven't done anything Mum." Henry assured her.
"Yeah." added Ryan, "If only because we're getting really for a really big prank." Hermione scowled. "We won't get caught Mum, honest."
"You'd better not." said Hermione darkly, "Or I'll have something to say about it."
James decided it was time to distract his mother. "I've enjoyed my first two weeks, Mum."
The tactic worked like a charm. Hermione grinned. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. What do you think about your lessons?"
"Fine." said James.
"And…?" prodded Hermione.
James said nothing. After a few minutes, Lily came to his rescue. "James is a bit disappointed that he's not done anything practical, 'cept in Astronomy and Potions."
"Don't worry about that, son." Hermione told him, "You'll get on to the practical stuff soon enough. You've got to remember that not everyone is at your level yet. Be patient."
"Like you were Auntie?" asked Lily, "Dad's told me what you were like at school."
"Do as I say, not as I did Lily." Hermione told her. "More tea?"
The seven students enjoyed their tea and it was about two hours before they left. Hermione stood up and picked up her wand, tucking it into a holster at her wrist. "Let's go down to dinner." she said, swooping past them and opening the door. The others agreed and rose, followed her out and down to the Great Hall to eat.