DISCLAIMER: They're still J.K. Rowling's. I doubt they'll ever be mine.
A/N: I am so sorry about the delay on this chapter, but I do have good reasons. My computer got taken into the shop, so I didn't have any internet connection, and then when I connected another computer, I had to type out my chapter but then it got erased. Believe me, I was pissed off. Anyway. Here's the third chapter. I don't know exactly how the sixth and seventh year schedules are going to be, but hopefully you can understand how I set them up.
Slow Down
Chapter Three – Classes, Confessions, and The Almighty Padfoot
James and Sirius entered the Great Hall a little out of breath. As calmly and inconspicuously as they could, they made their way to the Gryffindor table and sat down.
They were halfway through eating their breakfast when the doors to the Great Hall opened again. However, instead of Kyne coming through the doors, like the two raven haired boys had expected, it turned out to be their two fellow Marauders, who quickly made their way over to James and Sirius and sat down across from them.
"What happened to Kyne?" asked James, a little apprehensively. Remus looked over at James.
"She stopped in the Entrance Hall to talk to Lily and Shea," Remus answered before returning to his breakfast. James eyed the door a little warily.
Sure enough, Lily, Kyne, and Shea walked through the double doors to the Great Hall not less than a minute later. They walked past the Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff tables before reaching the Gryffindor table. To James's relief, Kyne didn't look mad, but either way, he was glad the girls had decided to sit down a couple seats away, just to be safe.
"What classes, besides the ones that we all agreed to take, did you take this year Shea?" Lily asked while looking at her schedule that had just been passed out.
"Which ones did we all agree on?"
"Charms, transfiguration, defense against the dark arts, potions, and astronomy."
"Erm. Then I took care of magical creatures and arithmancy," Shea said while checking her own schedule. "What about-"
"You're still taking arithmancy Shea?" Kyne interrupted.
"Yeah, why?"
"Because Lily and I never took it, and I always wondered why you wanted to do all that extra work." Kyne looked up from her schedule to look at Shea who gave her a slight frown.
"The work's not all that hard. And why would you guys have to be in a class for me to take it?" Kyne shrugged before turning to Lily who had just groaned.
"What's wrong Lils?" Kyne asked.
"We have about four classes with the Slytherins," she told them. "Or, at least I do." Kyne and Shea shared a worried look over the table before turning back to Lily, the only muggle born of the group.
It wasn't that they exactly hated everyone in Slytherin, but there were a few problems that made the relationship with them a little complicated. The first problem was the house rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor. The two houses battled each other in grades, quidditch, and house points constantly. The rivalry would even sometimes put people in the Hospital Wing from hexes or injuries.
The second problem was a little more complicated. A dark wizard, going by the name of Voldemort, had started to gather some followers. They all believed that only witches and wizards who had wizarding ancestry should be allowed to study magic, and some authorities suspected that Voldemort wanted to take over the ministry and the magical world.
There had been several attacks on muggle borns and half-and-halves over the past couple of years, and a signature of an emerald green skull with a black snake for a tongue had been left as the only clue of who had done it. People had started to call it the Dark Mark, and they knew that only one group used it. Some people were afraid to come home because hey didn't want to see the mark floating above their house.
A lot of the Slytherin families had wizarding ancestry, and most people knew of a few that were followers of Voldemort, more commonly called Death Eaters. The only reason that the family members weren't in the wizarding jail Azkaban was because they either had a lot of money, or there was just not enough proof to put them there. The same traits and ideals that the parents had were passed on to their children, who then brought them to Hogwarts. The children, like their parents, thought that only children with wizarding background should be allowed to study magic, and had come up with terms like mudblood, a foul name for a muggle born person.
"You'll be okay Lily. You always have one of us in your classes," Shea told her.
"Yeah, and the rest of the Gryffindors will be there too. Don't worry about it that much," Kyne put in. 'But they aren't the ones that are going to be called mudblood over and over again.' Lily thought a little sullenly before she got a mischievous light in her eyes.
"Do you have to be in my class?" she asked teasingly. Kyne gawked slightly before lightly slapping Lily on the arm while Shea mock glared at her.
"And to think, I was going to sit next to you," Shea said with an air of unconcern.
"The nerve!" Kyne half exclaimed.
"I know, I know. The betrayal the hurt, the pain. Oh, my. Oh my!" Lily said sarcastically. The girls fell silent for a second before they all burst out laughing. Students sitting on either side of the girls looked over at them a little worried at their outburst. "We better get going if we want to get our books before class. We all have charms first right?"
"Yes, the class that Lily is very accomplished in," Kyne said, quoting their professor from the end of last year.
"Not like she does bad in any of her other classes," Shea stated.
"You guys don't do bad either," Lily said while she blushed. "Shea, your grades are right behind mine, and you both pass me up in a couple of classes."
"Sure Lily, sure," Kyne said back to her. Lily rolled her eyes and walked out of the Great Hall. They all got their books from Gryffindor Tower and headed down to the third floor, where the charms classroom was.
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Sirius looked over his shoulder briefly at Remus who nodded. They were starting operation GPALL (Getting Prongs to Admit Liking for Lily). Remus thought back to what Sirius had said about helping James. 'We have to help him woo her, but we can't do that until he admits that he likes her,' were his exact words. 'Why did Sirius insist on the word woo?' Remus thought while watching James read the note that Sirius had written him. James quickly wrote something down before passing the note back to Sirius and trying to look like he was paying attention to Professor Flitwick's beginning of the year speech.
Sirius looked over his shoulder and frowned a bit at Remus and Peter. 'I guess the first attempt of operation GPALL didn't go over too well with James,' Remus thought as Sirius scribbled something down and passed it back to James who scanned the note and wrote something back. 'I think this is going to take a while,' Sirius thought as he wrote yet another thing on the piece of paper and passed it back across the table.
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"Which class do you guys have now?" Kyne asked as the three girls walked out of the charms classroom. "You guys don't take muggle studies, so where are you going?" Shea smiled and Lily looked a bit too happy for Kyne's tastes. No class could be that good.
"We don't have a class right now," Lily answered happily and Kyne looked positively horrified.
"Then what do you guys get to do?"
"I suppose go back to the common room and relax," Shea told her. Kyne pouted.
"That's no fair. I want to go relax."
"Nope, you have muggle studies," Shea teased and Kyne hit her on her arm.
"Are you taking muggle studies again Kyne?" asked Peter as the Marauders weaved their way through the crowd up to where the girls were walking.
"Yeah," said a reluctant Kyne. Sirius walked to one side of her and put his arm around her shoulder.
"Then we have another class together!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Doesn't that just make you happy Kyne?" James asked her, slightly mocking his friend.
"Ecstatic," she deadpanned and Lily and Shea stifled giggles. Kyne smiled and took Sirius's arm off of her shoulder. "Are all of you taking muggle studies again this year?"
"Yes, again," answered Remus. "But you won't be entirely alone with us. You have the Hufflepuffs, and then Saria's also in the class." Kyne nearly stopped walking before Lily lightly pushed her forward and Shea grabbed her wrist. The fight had been the hardest of Kyne and Saria, and neither one was ready to talk to each other yet, no matter how much time had passed. Remus noticed the silence and quickly realized his mistake. "I'm sorry, I forgot. I was just so used to all of you being friends, and the fight, it just slipped my mind." His eyes were wide, as were the rest of the guys'. Kyne had a reputation for exploding, and nobody liked to be on the receiving end of it. She took a deep breath.
"It's okay," she said. Shea slowly let go of Kyne's wrist when she was sure that Kyne wasn't going to blow up at Remus. They all reached the stairwell, and Lily grabbed Kyne's arm before she could go down it with the guys.
"Don't go getting into trouble with Saria okay?"
"I'll stay with the Marauders the whole time. I won't have any contact with Saria. Happy?"
"Yes, very. Go have fun." Lily smiled a bit evilly.
"Yeah, yeah," Kyne mumbled as Lily went and caught up with Shea who was walking up the staircase to the Gryffindor common room. Shea looked over at Lily.
"She's going to be with the Marauders. She'll be fine, stop your worrying. Saria shouldn't be talking to the guys much, if at all. They never were great friends."
"You really are too perceptive. You know that right Shea?" Lily asked. Shea gave the portrait the password, and climbed through the entrance.
"Call it a gift," she replied as Lily climbed through after her. "Which reminds me. You haven't told me about that crush that you said you would."
"When did I say that?"
"Over the summer, in an owl. Don't you remember? You wanted me to help you sort out your feelings, or something like that." Lily's eyes grew wide and she grabbed Shea's arm and pulled her up to the dormitories.
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Professor Lesna walked around her class while she was talking.
"We've done a lot of studying of muggles in the past three years, haven't we?" she asked her class. They grumbled a couple of responses before she continued. "Well, the last two years of your muggle studies will be more hands on than actual text work." She watched as a few of the students perked up. "We'll be trying things the muggle way, and seeing how long you can last without using magic. It should be an interesting two years. That is, if you stay in muggle studies next year."
She finished speaking and was at the front of the classroom before a hand shot up.
"Yes, Mr. Black?"
"What things, exactly, will we be doing?" He had a look of curiosity mixed with apprehension.
"That, is entirely up to you," she said while the students listening suddenly got worried. "Not Mr. Black alone. All of you." The students visibly relaxed. Nobody wanted Sirius Black to devise the curriculum, because although it would be fun, it would also most likely be dangerous, scarring, and potentially fatal. "I want you all to come up with at least three things to do this year. It could be something we've studied, or if you have friends with ideas, you can ask them. Don't be afraid to use the library. We have some very interesting books on muggles in there. You can get started now, just don't chat too loudly," she finished, knowing that no one was going to work.
Kyne turned to the guys, who were sitting next to and behind her. James and Sirius were passing a note back and forth across the table, and Remus and Peter were talking about the assignment. Kyne watched the exchange between Sirius and James before she grabbed the note and started to read it. James and Sirius made attempts to grab the note back, but Kyne read it just out of their reach. Remus and Peter stopped talking to watch the festivities. Kyne's eyes grew wide as she finished the note. She put the note down in front of Sirius while looking at James.
"Do you like Lily?" She asked. The note had gotten her curious, and she couldn't help herself.
"I, um. Well I mean," he stuttered.
"Because if you do, then I could help you. You know, me being one of her closest friends."
"Why is everyone interested in 'helping' me in my love life?" James said in a half attempt to change the subject.
"Because we want to see you happy Prongs," said Sirius almost seriously.
"I'd be happy if you guys stopped thinking that I like Lily."
"But if we stop thinking that you like her, then we won't be able to help you woo her," Sirius tried to reason. Kyne threw a look at Remus at the word woo. He shrugged.
"I don't need help in 'wooing' anybody Sirius."
"Just admit that you like her Prongs," Peter said, getting bored.
"Nothing doing."
"James. Tell the truth," Kyne said putting on her puppy dog eyes. James sighed and hung his head.
"Fine! I give up. I guess you could say that I kind of like her," he said slowly.
"How come you didn't just tell me when I asked?" Sirius faked a look of hurt.
"Simple. My mom told me to never lie to a lady, and Sirius, I'm sorry, but no matter how hard you try, you're never going to be a lady." Kyne laughed and Sirius tried to shoot her a look of great pain.
"But I tried so hard!" Sirius pretended to cry into his arms. "Remus, hold me!" Remus looked scared at the thought of 'holding' his friend and gently pushed Sirius away from him and onto Kyne. She glared at Remus and pulled Sirius up when the bell rang. They all went down to lunch to meet Lily and Shea.
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Shea, Kyne, and Lily were walking to potions after lunch. They were talking about the new potions teacher for this year. Supposedly, he was a very qualified wizard who made potions for a living in Diagon Alley. Kyne had a secretive look on her face, but when Lily asked her about it, Kyne would just shrug it off. Shea also had a secretive look about her, but whenever Kyne asked her about it, Lily would get a nervous look in her eyes, and Shea would just shrug it off too.
They all turned the corner and were walking towards the door when a group of three Slytherins stood in their way.
"Well, well. It's our own Gryffindor mudblood," said Zachary Rosier. His two friends, Galen Higgs, and Drake Pritchard laughed, while Kyne and Shea both bristled at the word mudblood. "Should we curse her?" Zachary said while reaching inside his robes for his wand.
"Back off Rosier," Kyne said while she stepped in front of her two friends with her wand pointed at Zachary.
"Or what? You'll try and convert me into a muggle loving sap like you and the rest of your family. That's just disgusting, defiling the name of wizards by associating with muggles. And besides, Burcent, I wasn't speaking to you, was I. I was talking to your little friend there."
"You messed with her, and therefore you messed with me."
"Ooh, so I should be afraid of three little girls?" Shea eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, you should be, because you're about to have more curses than you can handle in about half a minute," Shea said in a dangerously calm voice, but her eyes were flashing furiously. Zachary laughed.
"I think the three of us can take any curse that any of you throw at us." Zachary was raising his wand and was about to hex Kyne before a voice stopped him.
"And what if you add three more to that equation Rosier?" James, Sirius, and Remus had walked around the corner and were now standing next to the girls. Rosier looked from one to the other before he turned away quickly and stalked off.
"You guys okay?" Sirius asked as he picked Shea up and spun her around.
"I'd be better if you would stop spinning me Sirius!"
"Oops. Sorry." He put Shea down and they all walked into the potions room.
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Remus, Sirius, and James were all waiting for Peter and the girls to get back from their last class. Peter, Kyne, and Lily had herbology, while Shea was in Arithmancy. They were arguing about which quidditch team was better when they heard a shriek from over where the entrance was. They all looked over and started to laugh.
The boys had gotten bored and had set up a prank that changed the length, colour, and pattern of the robes you were wearing. A fifth year named Enid Banin was standing in front of the portrait with bright yellow robes on. They had bright blue triangles and were cut just below her knee. She was furious and looked around the common room to find the three Marauders laughing. She stormed over to them.
"SIRIUS! TAKE THIS CHARM OFF OF ME!" she yelled in his face, bringing more attention to her than she probably wanted.
"It won't come off for a day," Remus told her. "But you can always go change robes. That'd work," he said quickly when she sent him a death glare. She ran up to her dorm quickly to change out of the eye damaging robes. Sirius looked confused.
"How did she know who I was?" he asked. James started to laugh, which confused Sirius even more.
"Sirius, she had a huge crush on you last year," James managed to get out while he was laughing.
"She did? How come I didn't know about it?" James was nearly falling off the couch so Remus decided to take over the conversation.
"Because you're clueless Sirius. She even asked us for advice on how to get close to you." Sirius just scratched his head.
This was the sight that Kyne, Lily, Shea, and Peter all saw when they entered the common room before they noticed that their robes were different. They walked over to the couches and sat down close to the three boys.
"Whose idea was it to put the charm over the entrance?" Shea asked, already knowing the answer.
"Mine!" Sirius exclaimed, happy to know what was going on again.
"Sirius, you do realize that you have to go through there to get to dinner right?" James and Remus looked stunned, while Sirius looked slightly amused.
"We could always take the charm off," Remus said.
"NEVER!" yelled Sirius and the whole common room went silent as they stared over at Sirius. He waved at them and they all went back to what they were doing. "We have to deal with our own pranks. Wormtail did," Sirius motioned to Peter who was sitting in a chair in oversized electric blue robes. "And besides, if we get caught by our own prank, the blame won't be put on us."
"Yes it will," said Peter. "We got caught by our own water balloons last year, and we still got blamed for it."
"This is different," Sirius said.
"How?"
"IT JUST IS! DON'T ARGUE WITH THE ALMIGHTY PADFOOT!" Sirius yelled out and the common room went silent again before they realized it was just Sirius and went back to talking.
"Almighty Padfoot?" asked Kyne.
"Yes, the almighty Padfoot. And by order of the almighty Padfoot you will accompany me down to dinner." Sirius held out his arm for Kyne to take. She hesitantly took it and was pulled towards the portrait. Both teenagers disappeared from sight in a blur of purple and light orange robes.
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A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's longer than the other two I think. Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner.