Chapter two
Sorted and First Days of Classes and Planning Pranks
All the students had just been sorted into their houses, and much to James's delight, though he couldn't explain why, Lily was in his house, Gryffindor, just like Sirius, Remus and a few others.
When James started eating, he looked at Lily who was talking happily with some of her friends, then noticed him staring and smiled at him. He blushed, smiled back and went back to his food.
"Earth to James! Earth to James! Is there someone in there?" Asked Sirius knocking on James's head. He glared at Sirius.
"How many times do I have to ask you not to do that?" Ha asked while Remus was chuckling. Sirius looked at him, shrugged and got a mischievous glint in his eye.
"So, James, mind telling who you were staring at?" James blushed and tried to change avoid the question.
"So, Remus, how do you feel about pranks?" It worked, and Sirius was looking at Remus expectantly. He looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Pranks? Okay I guess. never played one though." James and Sirius's eyes widened, and then smiled mischievously.
"Well then, you'll be playing your first one soon. We'll have to take some time to plan a decent one though. We can go to the library to see if we can find any useful charms while Sirius assesses the situation, and based on what we've got we create the prank." Sirius was nodding fervently, and continued where James ended.
"Yeah, the key is to work as a team. Me and James used to organize everything to avoid suspicion, like finding an alibi or deceiving someone to think we were somewhere when we weren't. Then I distracted the person who was in the way or subject while James snaked in. Always worked." Remus nodded smiling.
"Were you ever caught?" Sirius and James looked at each other.
"Well, sometimes yes, but not usually. So, are you in?" he asked eagerly. Remus thought for a while, and seemed to be fighting some inner conflict until nodding reluctantly. The other two cheered, and Dumbledore stood up.
"Welcome," he said extending his arms, Sirius and James looked stunned. They didn't expect that from such a powerful wizard, "to another year of you magical schooling! I have a few announcements to make, first, as usual; the forbidden forest is out of bounds to all students. Second, Mr. Pringle has retired and Mr. Filch has now taken over, Mr. Og has also retired and Hagrid is now taking over his duties. And lastly, there is a new plant in the Hogwarts grounds, I will ask you not to get to near it because it tends to have quite a temper. Now, off to bed!"
The new Gryffindors followed their prefect to the Gryffindor common room and made their way to the dormitory. They noticed that there was another boy with them; he was small and a bit over weight. "Hello, I believe we haven't met, I'm James Potter, That's Sirius Black and this Remus Lupin, what's your name?" the boy flushed at being addressed and looked extremely nervous.
"I'm-I'm Peter Pettigrew." He stuttered and shook James's hand then they all went to bed. _____________________________________________________________________
The next day Sirius woke James and started getting dressed, James woke up Remus and Remus Peter. But Peter didn't wake up, so it took five minutes till he was getting ready. They all collected their things and ran to the Great Hall for breakfast and sat down with the other first years.
"Morning Lily!" Greeted James grinning. She grinned back.
"Morning James," He sat down across her and Sirius nudged him in the side and coughed very loud. James laughed.
"Hey Lily, this is my good friends Sirius Black and Remus Lupin and that is Peter Pettigrew," Sirius got up and shook her hand, as did Remus and, hesitantly, flushing deeply Peter.
"It's nice to meet you," A brown haired nudged her, she rolled her eyes, "this is Samantha Hayes, Heather Taylor and Christina Clark-" she was interrupted by a loud cough in the direction on a girl with light brown hair, "Sorry, I mean Chris Clark." Lily smiled apologetically in the direction of her friend. Soon professor McGonagall started handing out schedules.
"Um, charms first thing with the Ravenclaws. sounds interesting." Said Lily looking at her schedule.
"Followed by transfiguration with Hufflepuffs." completed James.
"Then LUNCH!" Said Sirius happily.
"Is that all you think about?" asked James looking at his best friend.
"No. Look here, we've got some DADA afterwards. sounds promising." All the other nodded and the boys stuffed their schedules in their bags and waited for the girls to put theirs away and left for their first lesson. _____________________________________________________________________
"-you just have to swish and flick, then say the incantation: Wingardium Leviosa."
James called Sirius and Remus. "What do you think? We could use that charm for something. maybe to put fireworks in tricky places."
"Yeah! Like those that only start in thirty seconds! It gives us enough time to position it and clear off to avoid too much suspicion and be in the line of fire." said Remus excited. Sirius and James looked at him in shock.
"Have already rubbed off on you? I would have expected it to take a bit longer for our influence to show!" Remus just grinned and started practicing the charm. The class passed, and none of the students managed to get the charm right until.
"Oh, congratulations Miss Evans, excellent, ten points to Gryffindor!" Exclaimed tiny professor Flitwick, looking at Lily's feather that was going up to the ceiling, only to suddenly be going up himself.
"Ohhh!" he squeaked and then was suddenly dropped. James looked around and found a very red Peter sliding down in his chair. _____________________________________________________________________
The students sat quietly in their seats after McGonagall's speech. They would definitely be careful with her; they certainly didn't want to be on her bad side.
They all started on transforming matches in needles, and kept trying to do it for the whole lesson.
In the end, Remus managed to make it look a bit silver and got ten points, Sirius's looked a bit pointed and had a silvery color, he got twenty, but James's was perfect, and got thirty points and a small smile from the professor. Lily and the other girls didn't do too bad either, they looked a bit the one that Remus did.
The afternoon went smoothly afterwards, and they all enjoyed the classes a lot. They decided that James and Remus would look into the library for ideas while Sirius went out exploring.
"Hey Remus! Look at this! It says that if you mix these two ingredients it causes the skin to go gold. sounds interesting." Remus picked the book up.
"Yeah, you're right! We could use them on." Remus thought for a moment and James had a brilliant idea.
"Snape! He has been glaring at us for no apparent reason! Let's use it on him and his friends!" Remus brightened up.
"And we have enough stuff to make them. the problem is how to make them eat them without everyone knowing what we did." James looked thoughtful and picked up a book entitled Hogwarts: a History.
"Um let's see. The food has to come from somewhere, right? So what we have to do is infiltrate the kitchens and spray a bit of the concoction on top of it." Remus nodded.
"We'll have to find a way for nobody to suspect us of anything too." A voice came from behind.
"Oh, that is easy; all we have to do is be careful not to get caught. Illusion is everything my friends," Sirius put his arms around James and Remus, "we will need a diversion and an alibi." James and Remus nodded.
"Found anything interesting Sirius?" Sirius grinned.
"Well, actually, now that you mention it, yes I have. I am very close to the location of the kitchen, and have been talking to the portraits, who have kindly given me directions to a few passageways." James brightened. "Perfect!! We already have a potential plan here Sirius. Very simple but brilliant. The problem is in its execution." They explained everything to Sirius, who looked apprehensive.
"Yes, excellent, but maybe we could put a few more things in it. they are having golden skin right? We can make their clothes red, for Gryffindor." Remus smiled.
"With a twenty four hour lasting spell. We could try and make a few alterations on some fireworks, set to make smoke, and paint robes red. Also the food will have to take effect a minute after eating it, so more people transform before having the chance to notice something wrong." The others just stared at him.
"Okay, it is official. Remus, you are the problem solver, James infiltrator and executor, and I am in charge of the locations and the preparation of the operations." They all laughed and put their things away.
"So, are we having a bit of an exploration of the castle tonight?" Asked James to Sirius and Remus. Sirius nodded but Remus shook his head.
"Sorry, but I need to sleep early. I was sick a while ago, and still haven't recovered. You guys go without me." James and Sirius shrugged.
"Are you sure? Well, if you are certain, you can start working on the fireworks, if you like?" Asked Sirius. Remus grinned.
"Yeah, I'll start doing that." _____________________________________________________________________
At night James and Sirius snuck out and made their way slowly through Hogwarts dark corridors. Sirius led them both to the area where the kitchen should be, a painting of a fruit bowl.
"According to what I discovered, it should be right here." James nodded and stepped forward, touching the painting with his hands. The apple, the pineapple. and then he heard a giggle, and pulled his hand back in horror. Sirius came closer.
"Hey James do it again," he whispered to his best friend. James hesitantly tickled the pear and a moment later they were in the kitchen.
"Wow!" exclaimed Sirius, "that certainly was unexpected!" He said but noticed that James was looking forward, eyes wide. "James what." then he gaped at the scene before him.
There were lots of house elves running to one side to another, carrying food, washing dishes, putting things away and cooking. One came over to them.
"Hello masters, I am Tinkly, what can I serve you?" She asked, eyes wide staring at them. James and Sirius glanced at each other and decided to take advantage of the situation.
"I'm James Potter, and this is my friend Sirius Black-" but he was cut off by Sirius.
"Actually, we would like some chocolate ice-cream with cream," the house elf nodded. "Yes, Tinkly will get masters Potter and Black some chocolate ice-cream with some cream right now." And she ran off to get it.
While they were waiting they observed the room, and noted that there were four long tables, as well as one big one on the other side of the room.
"Sirius, I think I know how this works." Sirius walked over and listened, "the elves arrange the food on the tables and send them up, and when they are finished, they bring the dishes back to wash. Interesting really." Sirius grinned as he ate the ice-cream.
"Well, at least we have already overcome one of our obstacles, all we need now is to prepare the fireworks and make that strange mixture thing you and Remus found. We better get going, or we'll never manage to get up in the morning." James nodded.
"Yeah, let's take something for Remus." And they both left.
All the students had just been sorted into their houses, and much to James's delight, though he couldn't explain why, Lily was in his house, Gryffindor, just like Sirius, Remus and a few others.
When James started eating, he looked at Lily who was talking happily with some of her friends, then noticed him staring and smiled at him. He blushed, smiled back and went back to his food.
"Earth to James! Earth to James! Is there someone in there?" Asked Sirius knocking on James's head. He glared at Sirius.
"How many times do I have to ask you not to do that?" Ha asked while Remus was chuckling. Sirius looked at him, shrugged and got a mischievous glint in his eye.
"So, James, mind telling who you were staring at?" James blushed and tried to change avoid the question.
"So, Remus, how do you feel about pranks?" It worked, and Sirius was looking at Remus expectantly. He looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Pranks? Okay I guess. never played one though." James and Sirius's eyes widened, and then smiled mischievously.
"Well then, you'll be playing your first one soon. We'll have to take some time to plan a decent one though. We can go to the library to see if we can find any useful charms while Sirius assesses the situation, and based on what we've got we create the prank." Sirius was nodding fervently, and continued where James ended.
"Yeah, the key is to work as a team. Me and James used to organize everything to avoid suspicion, like finding an alibi or deceiving someone to think we were somewhere when we weren't. Then I distracted the person who was in the way or subject while James snaked in. Always worked." Remus nodded smiling.
"Were you ever caught?" Sirius and James looked at each other.
"Well, sometimes yes, but not usually. So, are you in?" he asked eagerly. Remus thought for a while, and seemed to be fighting some inner conflict until nodding reluctantly. The other two cheered, and Dumbledore stood up.
"Welcome," he said extending his arms, Sirius and James looked stunned. They didn't expect that from such a powerful wizard, "to another year of you magical schooling! I have a few announcements to make, first, as usual; the forbidden forest is out of bounds to all students. Second, Mr. Pringle has retired and Mr. Filch has now taken over, Mr. Og has also retired and Hagrid is now taking over his duties. And lastly, there is a new plant in the Hogwarts grounds, I will ask you not to get to near it because it tends to have quite a temper. Now, off to bed!"
The new Gryffindors followed their prefect to the Gryffindor common room and made their way to the dormitory. They noticed that there was another boy with them; he was small and a bit over weight. "Hello, I believe we haven't met, I'm James Potter, That's Sirius Black and this Remus Lupin, what's your name?" the boy flushed at being addressed and looked extremely nervous.
"I'm-I'm Peter Pettigrew." He stuttered and shook James's hand then they all went to bed. _____________________________________________________________________
The next day Sirius woke James and started getting dressed, James woke up Remus and Remus Peter. But Peter didn't wake up, so it took five minutes till he was getting ready. They all collected their things and ran to the Great Hall for breakfast and sat down with the other first years.
"Morning Lily!" Greeted James grinning. She grinned back.
"Morning James," He sat down across her and Sirius nudged him in the side and coughed very loud. James laughed.
"Hey Lily, this is my good friends Sirius Black and Remus Lupin and that is Peter Pettigrew," Sirius got up and shook her hand, as did Remus and, hesitantly, flushing deeply Peter.
"It's nice to meet you," A brown haired nudged her, she rolled her eyes, "this is Samantha Hayes, Heather Taylor and Christina Clark-" she was interrupted by a loud cough in the direction on a girl with light brown hair, "Sorry, I mean Chris Clark." Lily smiled apologetically in the direction of her friend. Soon professor McGonagall started handing out schedules.
"Um, charms first thing with the Ravenclaws. sounds interesting." Said Lily looking at her schedule.
"Followed by transfiguration with Hufflepuffs." completed James.
"Then LUNCH!" Said Sirius happily.
"Is that all you think about?" asked James looking at his best friend.
"No. Look here, we've got some DADA afterwards. sounds promising." All the other nodded and the boys stuffed their schedules in their bags and waited for the girls to put theirs away and left for their first lesson. _____________________________________________________________________
"-you just have to swish and flick, then say the incantation: Wingardium Leviosa."
James called Sirius and Remus. "What do you think? We could use that charm for something. maybe to put fireworks in tricky places."
"Yeah! Like those that only start in thirty seconds! It gives us enough time to position it and clear off to avoid too much suspicion and be in the line of fire." said Remus excited. Sirius and James looked at him in shock.
"Have already rubbed off on you? I would have expected it to take a bit longer for our influence to show!" Remus just grinned and started practicing the charm. The class passed, and none of the students managed to get the charm right until.
"Oh, congratulations Miss Evans, excellent, ten points to Gryffindor!" Exclaimed tiny professor Flitwick, looking at Lily's feather that was going up to the ceiling, only to suddenly be going up himself.
"Ohhh!" he squeaked and then was suddenly dropped. James looked around and found a very red Peter sliding down in his chair. _____________________________________________________________________
The students sat quietly in their seats after McGonagall's speech. They would definitely be careful with her; they certainly didn't want to be on her bad side.
They all started on transforming matches in needles, and kept trying to do it for the whole lesson.
In the end, Remus managed to make it look a bit silver and got ten points, Sirius's looked a bit pointed and had a silvery color, he got twenty, but James's was perfect, and got thirty points and a small smile from the professor. Lily and the other girls didn't do too bad either, they looked a bit the one that Remus did.
The afternoon went smoothly afterwards, and they all enjoyed the classes a lot. They decided that James and Remus would look into the library for ideas while Sirius went out exploring.
"Hey Remus! Look at this! It says that if you mix these two ingredients it causes the skin to go gold. sounds interesting." Remus picked the book up.
"Yeah, you're right! We could use them on." Remus thought for a moment and James had a brilliant idea.
"Snape! He has been glaring at us for no apparent reason! Let's use it on him and his friends!" Remus brightened up.
"And we have enough stuff to make them. the problem is how to make them eat them without everyone knowing what we did." James looked thoughtful and picked up a book entitled Hogwarts: a History.
"Um let's see. The food has to come from somewhere, right? So what we have to do is infiltrate the kitchens and spray a bit of the concoction on top of it." Remus nodded.
"We'll have to find a way for nobody to suspect us of anything too." A voice came from behind.
"Oh, that is easy; all we have to do is be careful not to get caught. Illusion is everything my friends," Sirius put his arms around James and Remus, "we will need a diversion and an alibi." James and Remus nodded.
"Found anything interesting Sirius?" Sirius grinned.
"Well, actually, now that you mention it, yes I have. I am very close to the location of the kitchen, and have been talking to the portraits, who have kindly given me directions to a few passageways." James brightened. "Perfect!! We already have a potential plan here Sirius. Very simple but brilliant. The problem is in its execution." They explained everything to Sirius, who looked apprehensive.
"Yes, excellent, but maybe we could put a few more things in it. they are having golden skin right? We can make their clothes red, for Gryffindor." Remus smiled.
"With a twenty four hour lasting spell. We could try and make a few alterations on some fireworks, set to make smoke, and paint robes red. Also the food will have to take effect a minute after eating it, so more people transform before having the chance to notice something wrong." The others just stared at him.
"Okay, it is official. Remus, you are the problem solver, James infiltrator and executor, and I am in charge of the locations and the preparation of the operations." They all laughed and put their things away.
"So, are we having a bit of an exploration of the castle tonight?" Asked James to Sirius and Remus. Sirius nodded but Remus shook his head.
"Sorry, but I need to sleep early. I was sick a while ago, and still haven't recovered. You guys go without me." James and Sirius shrugged.
"Are you sure? Well, if you are certain, you can start working on the fireworks, if you like?" Asked Sirius. Remus grinned.
"Yeah, I'll start doing that." _____________________________________________________________________
At night James and Sirius snuck out and made their way slowly through Hogwarts dark corridors. Sirius led them both to the area where the kitchen should be, a painting of a fruit bowl.
"According to what I discovered, it should be right here." James nodded and stepped forward, touching the painting with his hands. The apple, the pineapple. and then he heard a giggle, and pulled his hand back in horror. Sirius came closer.
"Hey James do it again," he whispered to his best friend. James hesitantly tickled the pear and a moment later they were in the kitchen.
"Wow!" exclaimed Sirius, "that certainly was unexpected!" He said but noticed that James was looking forward, eyes wide. "James what." then he gaped at the scene before him.
There were lots of house elves running to one side to another, carrying food, washing dishes, putting things away and cooking. One came over to them.
"Hello masters, I am Tinkly, what can I serve you?" She asked, eyes wide staring at them. James and Sirius glanced at each other and decided to take advantage of the situation.
"I'm James Potter, and this is my friend Sirius Black-" but he was cut off by Sirius.
"Actually, we would like some chocolate ice-cream with cream," the house elf nodded. "Yes, Tinkly will get masters Potter and Black some chocolate ice-cream with some cream right now." And she ran off to get it.
While they were waiting they observed the room, and noted that there were four long tables, as well as one big one on the other side of the room.
"Sirius, I think I know how this works." Sirius walked over and listened, "the elves arrange the food on the tables and send them up, and when they are finished, they bring the dishes back to wash. Interesting really." Sirius grinned as he ate the ice-cream.
"Well, at least we have already overcome one of our obstacles, all we need now is to prepare the fireworks and make that strange mixture thing you and Remus found. We better get going, or we'll never manage to get up in the morning." James nodded.
"Yeah, let's take something for Remus." And they both left.