Second Chapter
Bats and Howlers
Next morning, when the Marauders came down for breakfast at the Great Hall,
they looked over at the Slytherin table, just to see a displeased, yet
satisfied Malfoy siting in the middle of the table, surrounded by the usual
gang of Slytherins. They sat down at the Gryffindor table. James saw Lily
sitting with Lor, chatting animatedly. He ruffled his hair.
"Have you seen Malfoy's face?" came Remus' voice from across the table.
"he's so pissed off" and all four of them laughed.
Just then the owl post arrived. Hundreds of owls came flying all over the Great Hall, searching for their owners, dropping packages and letters here and there.
A big male owl came flying straight to the Gryffindor table and landed in front of the foursome, with an envelope on its beak. A red envelope. A Howler. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" said a voice from behind Peter, making him jump at the sound of it. All four Marauders looked up to see Malfoy, smirking, satisfied, at them with a malicious look.
"Shut up, git" said Sirius, while Remus grabbed the letter as though it was a bomb that was about to explode anytime.
"Why would someone send us a Howler?" asked James confused, looking from Sirius' to Remus' to Peter's stunned faces.
"You think McGonagall knows?" said Peter shaking with fear.
"Nah! Otherwise she would be standing in front of us breathing fire" said Sirius, "well, what are you waiting for, dear Moony? Open it, it'll only be a few seconds".
Most of the faces turned to the Marauders' direction. They were eager to know what was in the Howler, or rather to listen what was in there. Remus, with shaking hands, ripped off the seal and carefully opened the letter. At the very moment, a sensual female voice emerged, amplified by magic, making each and every head turn around in the search for the source of the sound.
"Oh, my God, James, you don't believe how much I love you. You're the sun in my life, the air I breathe, the food I eat. I could follow you every where, your black hair and those glasses make me melt" James turned red, more than red, he didn't know what to say. He looked at Sirius, whose face had a mock expression, which changed as he heard a second voice, female as well, but this time more childish, say:
"Sirius, your eyes are just like two grey-puddles where I could drown myself into, where I could live, where I could swim all day. My source of living." Sirius' face turned light red and tried to hide himself under the table. But then it was Remus' turn to hide, as a third voice echoed through the Hall.
"Remus you're an angel. You're the sweetest in the whole world. I could chase you, kiss you and touch you all day. You're the best kisser ever!!"
"What the hell...?" Remus mouthed to Sirius.
Sirius just shrugged coming slowly from under the table, while James uncovered his face, but they resumed their attempt to hide themselves when they heard all three voices again: "We love you guys!, Adela, Sirina and Adahy". Those girls were from 5th and were in Gryffindor too. In fact the three of them had a secret crush on each Marauder, not that it was a secret anymore. (A/n you can see we just ignored Peter, well, that's bound to happen, since we hate him so much, and we don't like to write about him!!)
The red envelope turned into ashes and the Hall erupted with laughter, specially from the Slytherin table, while three 5th year girls from the Gryffindor table, stood up, face-covered, and ran out of the Great Hall. The students were roaring with laughter, they even had tears! Everyone was staring at the three of them. And Malfoy looked pleased as we watched the three grils running out of the Hall. Sirius, thinking quickly stood up, with shame in his eyes, James could see it, but he pretended to be OK with the joke played on him. He bowed twice, looking in every direction, then he laughed. "Well, what could've we possibly done to deserve this?" he said aloud " what a nice compliment! And Malfoy, don't be jealous, You'll get chicks like that some day". He winked at Malfoy, whose smile faded. He wasn't expecting this reaction from them.
Remus and James just smiled at everyone and nodding to what Sirius just said. At the end of the table, Lily and Lor stood up and walked out of the Hall, muttering "conceited".
Sirius noticed and nudged James on the ribs pointing at them. James saw Lily walking out of the Hall, with her best friend next to her. 'Yeap, she was mad at him again!' he thought. "Great! Potions with the Slytherins after lunch" came Sirius' voice seconds later, as James sat down and received the schedules professor McGonagall was handing them. He was thinking about the voices of those girls from the Howler. They weren't Adahy's, Adela's, or Sirina's. Actually, he had a faint idea whom that voices belonged to. He turned around and looked at the Slytherin table and saw Narcissa, Bellatrix and Nancy smirking in their direction, with the same pleased expression Malfoy had had when they had received the Howler.
He knew it had to be them, for the joke the Marauders did to him in the Hogwarts express. Well, he would have to deal with that later, for a pay back. "And Care of Magical Creatures first thing today" said Remus, happily.
After breakfast, the Marauders went to their Care of Magical Creatures class that took place near Hagrid's hut in the Hogwarts grounds, with professor Kettleburn. The Slytherins and part of the Gryffindors were already there. They just had to wait a few seconds for the class to be complete. "Listen up, class. Today we'll be studying some new creatures. Yeah, fascinating. Just wait. You'll see" He grinned and winked at the class. They were wondering what sort of "fascinating" creature they'd be studying today. You could never tell with Kettleburn, he always seemed to find the most weird creatures ever known in wizard kind.
He turned his back to them, and they could notice some big, colourful birds in the background. They were orange, acid-green, pink, yellow. It looked as though they were trying to make a sound, they were opening and closing their beaks furiously, but for unknown reasons the class couldn't hear anything. They were all standing on perches, and they were inside a cage, a big one. Enough for the class to get in. "Ok class, we need to get closer" said professor Kettleburn, walking towards them. The class followed him, expectantly, commenting about the colours and the shape of those animals.
He opened the gate and motioned the class to come in. But no one seemed very keen on taking the first step. After a few seconds Sirius, followed by Lorreine and Lily, stepped forward and got into the cage, staring at the birds, who now eyed the class as though they were intruders.
One by one, the students got in as well, and finally professor Kettleburn closed the gate behind him. He, then, stood in front of the class. "Who can tell me what those birds are?"
Immediately, to no one's surprise, Lily raised her hand. She was known to be top student, fighting for that place with Remus, James, and Sirius, who were almost as intelligent as she was. "Yes, Ms. Evans?" said the teacher with a big smile forming across his face.
"They're called Fwoopers" she said, looking at back at him with the same smile. "They do not harm people and its chant has healing properties, but it can drive anyone mad when heard more than necessary".
"Right there, as always, Ms. Evans" he said, his smile widening. He loved to give Lily points. "Ten points for Gryffindor". Then he turned to the animals. "Now these, here, won't harm any of you. They are only babies. But I've put on them a silencing charm. So you won't hear them singing. Now, I want you to take notes about them." He turned back to the class and started to wander around them. He stopped, however, when Remus raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin? You've got a question?" he said, facing him.
"Yes, professor... erm, aren't they supposed to live far away from here?" said Remus, looking at the birds.
"Yeah," said James "aren't you supposed to have a licence and be a full trained wizard?"
Professor Kettleburn, for some reason found this funny, because couldn't help but smile. "You're right, you know? Only trained wizards. And a licence is needed. Another five points for Gryffindor" Remus stared at James, puzzled, while professor Kettleburn turned to wander through the students, watching them taking notes.
Obviously he did have a licence. They couldn't help but think that even if they could drive them mad with its chant, they were beautiful animals, full of colour and life.
Just then someone muttered something next to Sirius. "How can you tell the difference the grown ups from the babies? They look alike to me!" said Lor, with exasperation, looking at Lily's notes.
Sirius gave a bark-like laugh "I bet that girl couldn't even tell the difference between a hand and a foot".
Professor Kettleburn turned to look at them. Then he turned to watch Sirius laughing at Lor, with a serious look. "Miss Scarse, Mr. Black will be helping you on that one" he said, looking at Sirius' astonished expression.
Sirius opened his mouth in protest while Lor's head turned in his direction. "What? No professor, you see, Lily will help me". She said.
"Nope, she won't, she'll help me over here. Ms. Evans, would you please be so kind?" asked professor Kettleburn, while Lily stood up, watching amusedly Lor's expression.
Sirius, reluctantly walked towards her, and for the rest of the class helped her. They made a pretty good team, he thought after a while, pity she was full of nothing but air. Though he liked to make fun of her whenever she said or did something wrong. James and Remus were sure the Slytherins were on to something. They were whispering separated from the rest of the class. And when they tried to point this to Sirius he just ignored them, as he was too busy arguing with Lor.
At the end of the class he packed his things as fast as he could and started to walk away, when a sweet voice called him. "What?" he said dull, and desperate to go, while turning to face Lor.
"Thanks" she said simply and walked past him, towards the castle without turning back. Sirius just stood there, looking at the Forbidden Forest, taking in what had just happened.
The rest of the day was uneventful. Gryffindor won more points thanks to Remus and Lily (James and Sirius had been really busy, planning another prank, obviously forgetting about Remus' advice, to stay away from trouble or they would force him to take points from his own house).
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September went by, and October came with Sirius', Peter's and James' detentions. They had hexed a Head Boy's hair. Now instead of hair, he had a garden, full of roses, daisies and other flowers. They swore the didn't have anything to do with it, but their expressions spoke for themselves. And this incident seemed to piss Lily off, which was one of the reasons why she took 50 points from Gryffindor. And to make matters worse, it was this particular moment, when James tried to ask her out once again. She just walked away muttering something about "bullying just for hobby". Halloween was getting closer, and Hagrid had already the usual pumpkins to decorate the Great Hall.
One afternoon they were sitting at a table in the Gryffindor common room, far away from the rest, which was weird, they used, and liked, to be the centre of attention. "So, Hogsmeade just before Christmas" said Sirius, glancing over at James. Peter looked at him questioningly, but James knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Yeah, I know. Do you reckon she'll accept to go with me now?" he said, his eyes searching for a red head around the common room.
"What do you mean "now?" asked Remus, tuning the page of a pretty big book. "have things between you two changed?"
"Ha! Yeah, sure, Moony. You really think that can happen?" said Sirius, looking at Remus and then smirking at James, who took no notice, he was busy searching for someone.
Lily wasn't in the common room, and he was starting to wonder where she could be. He spotted Lor talking to Anabell Wein , also one of Lily's and Lor's friend. He left the other three talking about a joke, while James went to ask Lor if she had seen Lily. "Hi Lor" he said. She didn't look at him, but continued to chat with Anabell. "Um... have- have you seen Lily? I wanted to ask her if she would come with me to Hogs—"
"How many times do I have to tell you" came a voice he knew only too well from behind him "I won't".
James turned around to face a red-haired, green-eyed girl, who was carrying lots of books. She just came from the library, her favourite place in Hogwarts. "Coming from the library, aren't we?" he said grinning. He obviously thought she couldn't resist it.
"Can't you take a hint, Potter?" came Lor's amused voice.
"They're just not enough to make me give up" he said grinning even more broadly, not taking his eyes from Lily. Her lips curled up into a smile, but she became serious immediately.
"Why don't you invite one from your fan club? It was really nice to send you that Howler" she said. He shuddered at the thought. "They seemed to know you pretty well and keen on going out with you" she sat down, opened a book and hid her face behind it.
Sirius came from behind and clapped James on the back. "Rotten luck, mate!" he said while staring at Lor.
****************
Halloween day came and the girls were heading to the Great Hall for breakfast. The owl post arrived just as Lily, Lor, Anabell and some other friends sat down at the table. The owls had to make their way between the bats, that were already flying around the Hall. Lily got a copy from the Daily Prophet and opened it while chewing a bit of toast.
"So, where are you spending Christmas?" said the Cheryl sipping from her cup of tea. "Anything planned?"
"Mom says she wants to go to France or to Greece. She wants to take me with her, but I'd rather stay here at Hogwarts." said Lor as though talking about a weekend trip, eating a toast, not looking at any of them.
"You'd rather stay here than going to Greece or France? "said Adele starring at Lor with wide eyes.
"Yeah! I'd stay here instead of spending holidays with them. Do you have any idea how hard is that?" said Lor closing her eyes and shaking her head, trying not to think about that.
Just then Lily choked on a bit of toast and opened her eyes wide, while still clutching the Daily Prophet in her shaking hands. "What is it?" said Lor alarmingly. "C'mon, breathe!"
"Look at this!" said Lily, with a shaking voice, showing them the article she had been reading.
In the centre of the page was a big picture. It showed what had been a house, it looked like a muggle house. All that was left now where ashes and smoke. But above the house, in the sky, floating like a ghost was a big, shiny, green skulk, with its mouth open and a snake coming out of it. It was creepy, it gave Lily chills. The girls read the article, then they looked up at Lily, horrified. "An attack? In a muggle town?" said Lor, breathless. "what does it mean?"
The article said, that five muggles had been murdered. No reason at all. Five young, healthy muggles were found dead this morning. The muggle police was trying to find the responsible, but they had no idea who could have done something like that. Kill someone doing no harm at all. But the girls and the magical community knew better.
"It wasn't a muggle" said Arabella "It can't have. Only a witch or a wizard could have conjured this symbol and left it floating in the sky". All five girls looked at each other, trying to find some answers.
"Mom... dad..." whispered Lily, suddenly realising what this could mean. She automatically stood up, she didn't know where she was going to go, but she had to see whether her parents were OK or...
"They're fine" said Lor still reading the article "they put the names of the muggles who were killed. Your parents' name aren't here". Lily relaxed a little bit and looked around. People who, like them, had read the article were whispering and talking about it. They looked scared, specially the muggleborns. Most of them rushed to write home. The Slytherin table, on the other hand didn't show any sign of concern at all. Lor stared at them too, thinking the same as Lily. She was sure they were glad at the news. Most of them thought this was the way things should be. No muggles around. But it was just nonsense.
During the day, rumours could be heard in the corridors, between classes or during them. Everyone knew about the attack, and they were wondering who could have done such a horrible thing. They were all sure they had used one of the Unforgivable Curses, and were discussing whether the culprit was going to be caught. But none of them gave much importance to this matter. They thought it had to be some mad wizard. The Marauders were talking about this during Charms, while professor Flitwick was explaining the wand movement of a particular hard spell. "The pictures were horrible!" said Peter, scared and shuddering.
"Yeah, I know. Poor muggles, though" said Remus, copying down what Flitwick had just written on the blackboard.
James and Sirius turned around, both of them had worried expressions. "Who do you reckon did it?" asked Sirius.
"Whoever did it must have gone mad" exclaimed James. "That definitely isn't something a muggle or a wizard sees every day".
"Silence, you guys" said Flitwick's squeaky voice.
They stopped talking and started to take notes. After a while bell rang and all students stepped out of the classroom. It was dinner time, so they headed to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. It was, if possible, better than how it was in the morning. Hagrid's pumpkins were really big. It looked as though he had put a charm on them. There were candles floating all over the Hall, and the bats were still flying above their heads. The staff table was already full. All teachers were sitting there, waiting for all the students to sit down.
Lily and Lor were walking just behind Remus, James, Sirius and Peter. They noticed that the foursome had malicious looks, and couldn't help but note that a joke was drawing nearer.
The food was delicious. They had mashed potatoes, beef, chicken, spaghetti, french fries, Yorkshire pudding, ice cream, all kind of sweets. Everyone was enjoying themselves, talking animatedly.
Anabell sat next to Lor and they started to chat, forgetting about the weird expressions of the Marauders, when they heard a loud pop! And turned their heads, trying to find out what had just happened. But they couldn't see what was wrong. Everyone was laughing, specially the Marauders, so the girls were sure that it had to be one of their jokes, although they couldn't tell what had happened this time. Even a few Slytherins were laughing, pointing at a particular big and ugly bat, that was soaring above their head, moving its wings furiously. Just then professor Kettleburn came walking between the Slytherin and the Hufflepuff tables, and stopped just where the big bat was flying. It seemed as thought a faint smile was playing on his face, but when he heard James' and Sirius' voices making fun of the moment, he raised his wand. "Finite Incantatem" said professor Kettleburn, and just then the big, black bat disappeared and a teen boy, with greasy black hair, and a crooked nose appeared. It was Snape.
"They turned him into a bat?" whispered Lor, amusedly, staring at a very red Snape, standing in front of the whole Hall.
"When will they grow up?" said Lily exasperated.
"Come on, Lily, it was funny" said Lor with a big smile on her face, staring incredulously at her friend.
Everyone was still laughing, when professor Kettleburn returned to the staff table and sat down next to professor Stowe, with a faint smile on his face. Just then Dumbledore stood up and the Hall became quiet. "Well, after this" he suppressed a smile "'incident' and a nice meal, I think we are ready to go to bed now" he said, while staring at the still- giggling students.
Everyone stood up and headed out of the Hall. Lily was following Lor, when she heard a voice whispering in her ear. "Nice joke, huh?"
"Get lost, Potter"
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Snape was constantly the topic of many jokes for the first couple of weeks in November. Lily couldn't help but feel pity for him, even though he sometimes could be a complete moron and a jerk. She tried to point this out to Lor, but she just waved her hand saying something about people who deserved what the had for being so mean and stupid, and continued reading her book. Lily had a serious talk with the Marauders about that incident. Not that you could actually have something "serious" with them, specially with James and Sirius. They kept laughing at it and tried to convince Lily that they weren't responsible for it and that she should forget about it.
It was a particular cold day of November and it was snowing, while sixth- years Gryffindors were siting, inside the Transfiguration classroom, in front of a toad. They were supposed to transform it into a rat. So far only James and Lily had managed to do it. Lor still had problems with the whiskers, although her rat was de-tailed, while Remus only needed to get rid of the green colour. Peter had already given up, his wand laid forgotten next to him and he was daydreaming. While Sirius took no note of this toad and was playing with James. There were just five minutes left of class, when professor McGonagall stood up in front of the class.
"I have an announcement to make, now that there are only Gryffindors here." She said, looking at them. "There is going to be a dance. A Christmas Dance, for fifth, sixth and seventh years only" everyone started to murmur things, and looking excited. Lily and Lor smiled broadly. The Marauders wore mischievous smiles and James looked over to Lily. "Silence!" yelled professor McGonagall over the murmurs. "Well, as I was saying, there is going to be this ball, next Holidays, we still don't have the date yet, but we will be informing you. Though, you don't need partners for this ball" some faces fell, and James' excited expression became a frown. The sound of the bell signalled the end of the class, and as the students gathered up their stuff and talked about the ball, McGonagall called Lily and Remus over. "Mr. Lupin, Ms. Evans, please come here."
"So what did you do this time Moony?" said Sirius in mock, while heading to the door. "We'll wait for you downstairs. Come on James, there's a group of fifth years trying to gain our attention. Let's make it easy for them" and they left. Lily and Remus walked over to McGonagall a little nervous.
"I'm not going to tell you off. I just want to tell you both that as Gryffindor prefects you'll have to open the dance, along with the other houses prefects. Lily didn't know what to think. 'Open the dance?' 'with Remus?' but it wasn't as bad as she thought. After all Remus was ok, and he was a great person.
"And you need to set the date for the ball. That's all, you may go."
Besides it would be just one song, and they wouldn't be alone, they'd be with the other prefects. They left McGonagall's office and headed to the Great Hall. Lily went to sit with Lorreine and the rest of the Gryffindor girls, and they immediately started to talk about the ball. Remus, on the other hand, went to sit with the Marauders. Sirius looked up and asked "What did she want?"
"Oh, nothing, really" said Remus, siting next to James, who was still eyeing lily, while she was chatting with Lor and Anabell without taking note of Remus. "She just wanted to tell us that lily and I have to open the Christmas dance along with the other prefects" at this words, James choked with his pumpkin juice, spilling it all over the table.
"Geez, Prongs, get a grip" exclaimed Sirius, disgusted.
"I know," said Remus, understanding why James had choked. "But I've got an idea. You'll see what I'm going to do. You'll get to dance with her, mate. Trust me.
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Just then the owl post arrived. Hundreds of owls came flying all over the Great Hall, searching for their owners, dropping packages and letters here and there.
A big male owl came flying straight to the Gryffindor table and landed in front of the foursome, with an envelope on its beak. A red envelope. A Howler. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" said a voice from behind Peter, making him jump at the sound of it. All four Marauders looked up to see Malfoy, smirking, satisfied, at them with a malicious look.
"Shut up, git" said Sirius, while Remus grabbed the letter as though it was a bomb that was about to explode anytime.
"Why would someone send us a Howler?" asked James confused, looking from Sirius' to Remus' to Peter's stunned faces.
"You think McGonagall knows?" said Peter shaking with fear.
"Nah! Otherwise she would be standing in front of us breathing fire" said Sirius, "well, what are you waiting for, dear Moony? Open it, it'll only be a few seconds".
Most of the faces turned to the Marauders' direction. They were eager to know what was in the Howler, or rather to listen what was in there. Remus, with shaking hands, ripped off the seal and carefully opened the letter. At the very moment, a sensual female voice emerged, amplified by magic, making each and every head turn around in the search for the source of the sound.
"Oh, my God, James, you don't believe how much I love you. You're the sun in my life, the air I breathe, the food I eat. I could follow you every where, your black hair and those glasses make me melt" James turned red, more than red, he didn't know what to say. He looked at Sirius, whose face had a mock expression, which changed as he heard a second voice, female as well, but this time more childish, say:
"Sirius, your eyes are just like two grey-puddles where I could drown myself into, where I could live, where I could swim all day. My source of living." Sirius' face turned light red and tried to hide himself under the table. But then it was Remus' turn to hide, as a third voice echoed through the Hall.
"Remus you're an angel. You're the sweetest in the whole world. I could chase you, kiss you and touch you all day. You're the best kisser ever!!"
"What the hell...?" Remus mouthed to Sirius.
Sirius just shrugged coming slowly from under the table, while James uncovered his face, but they resumed their attempt to hide themselves when they heard all three voices again: "We love you guys!, Adela, Sirina and Adahy". Those girls were from 5th and were in Gryffindor too. In fact the three of them had a secret crush on each Marauder, not that it was a secret anymore. (A/n you can see we just ignored Peter, well, that's bound to happen, since we hate him so much, and we don't like to write about him!!)
The red envelope turned into ashes and the Hall erupted with laughter, specially from the Slytherin table, while three 5th year girls from the Gryffindor table, stood up, face-covered, and ran out of the Great Hall. The students were roaring with laughter, they even had tears! Everyone was staring at the three of them. And Malfoy looked pleased as we watched the three grils running out of the Hall. Sirius, thinking quickly stood up, with shame in his eyes, James could see it, but he pretended to be OK with the joke played on him. He bowed twice, looking in every direction, then he laughed. "Well, what could've we possibly done to deserve this?" he said aloud " what a nice compliment! And Malfoy, don't be jealous, You'll get chicks like that some day". He winked at Malfoy, whose smile faded. He wasn't expecting this reaction from them.
Remus and James just smiled at everyone and nodding to what Sirius just said. At the end of the table, Lily and Lor stood up and walked out of the Hall, muttering "conceited".
Sirius noticed and nudged James on the ribs pointing at them. James saw Lily walking out of the Hall, with her best friend next to her. 'Yeap, she was mad at him again!' he thought. "Great! Potions with the Slytherins after lunch" came Sirius' voice seconds later, as James sat down and received the schedules professor McGonagall was handing them. He was thinking about the voices of those girls from the Howler. They weren't Adahy's, Adela's, or Sirina's. Actually, he had a faint idea whom that voices belonged to. He turned around and looked at the Slytherin table and saw Narcissa, Bellatrix and Nancy smirking in their direction, with the same pleased expression Malfoy had had when they had received the Howler.
He knew it had to be them, for the joke the Marauders did to him in the Hogwarts express. Well, he would have to deal with that later, for a pay back. "And Care of Magical Creatures first thing today" said Remus, happily.
After breakfast, the Marauders went to their Care of Magical Creatures class that took place near Hagrid's hut in the Hogwarts grounds, with professor Kettleburn. The Slytherins and part of the Gryffindors were already there. They just had to wait a few seconds for the class to be complete. "Listen up, class. Today we'll be studying some new creatures. Yeah, fascinating. Just wait. You'll see" He grinned and winked at the class. They were wondering what sort of "fascinating" creature they'd be studying today. You could never tell with Kettleburn, he always seemed to find the most weird creatures ever known in wizard kind.
He turned his back to them, and they could notice some big, colourful birds in the background. They were orange, acid-green, pink, yellow. It looked as though they were trying to make a sound, they were opening and closing their beaks furiously, but for unknown reasons the class couldn't hear anything. They were all standing on perches, and they were inside a cage, a big one. Enough for the class to get in. "Ok class, we need to get closer" said professor Kettleburn, walking towards them. The class followed him, expectantly, commenting about the colours and the shape of those animals.
He opened the gate and motioned the class to come in. But no one seemed very keen on taking the first step. After a few seconds Sirius, followed by Lorreine and Lily, stepped forward and got into the cage, staring at the birds, who now eyed the class as though they were intruders.
One by one, the students got in as well, and finally professor Kettleburn closed the gate behind him. He, then, stood in front of the class. "Who can tell me what those birds are?"
Immediately, to no one's surprise, Lily raised her hand. She was known to be top student, fighting for that place with Remus, James, and Sirius, who were almost as intelligent as she was. "Yes, Ms. Evans?" said the teacher with a big smile forming across his face.
"They're called Fwoopers" she said, looking at back at him with the same smile. "They do not harm people and its chant has healing properties, but it can drive anyone mad when heard more than necessary".
"Right there, as always, Ms. Evans" he said, his smile widening. He loved to give Lily points. "Ten points for Gryffindor". Then he turned to the animals. "Now these, here, won't harm any of you. They are only babies. But I've put on them a silencing charm. So you won't hear them singing. Now, I want you to take notes about them." He turned back to the class and started to wander around them. He stopped, however, when Remus raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin? You've got a question?" he said, facing him.
"Yes, professor... erm, aren't they supposed to live far away from here?" said Remus, looking at the birds.
"Yeah," said James "aren't you supposed to have a licence and be a full trained wizard?"
Professor Kettleburn, for some reason found this funny, because couldn't help but smile. "You're right, you know? Only trained wizards. And a licence is needed. Another five points for Gryffindor" Remus stared at James, puzzled, while professor Kettleburn turned to wander through the students, watching them taking notes.
Obviously he did have a licence. They couldn't help but think that even if they could drive them mad with its chant, they were beautiful animals, full of colour and life.
Just then someone muttered something next to Sirius. "How can you tell the difference the grown ups from the babies? They look alike to me!" said Lor, with exasperation, looking at Lily's notes.
Sirius gave a bark-like laugh "I bet that girl couldn't even tell the difference between a hand and a foot".
Professor Kettleburn turned to look at them. Then he turned to watch Sirius laughing at Lor, with a serious look. "Miss Scarse, Mr. Black will be helping you on that one" he said, looking at Sirius' astonished expression.
Sirius opened his mouth in protest while Lor's head turned in his direction. "What? No professor, you see, Lily will help me". She said.
"Nope, she won't, she'll help me over here. Ms. Evans, would you please be so kind?" asked professor Kettleburn, while Lily stood up, watching amusedly Lor's expression.
Sirius, reluctantly walked towards her, and for the rest of the class helped her. They made a pretty good team, he thought after a while, pity she was full of nothing but air. Though he liked to make fun of her whenever she said or did something wrong. James and Remus were sure the Slytherins were on to something. They were whispering separated from the rest of the class. And when they tried to point this to Sirius he just ignored them, as he was too busy arguing with Lor.
At the end of the class he packed his things as fast as he could and started to walk away, when a sweet voice called him. "What?" he said dull, and desperate to go, while turning to face Lor.
"Thanks" she said simply and walked past him, towards the castle without turning back. Sirius just stood there, looking at the Forbidden Forest, taking in what had just happened.
The rest of the day was uneventful. Gryffindor won more points thanks to Remus and Lily (James and Sirius had been really busy, planning another prank, obviously forgetting about Remus' advice, to stay away from trouble or they would force him to take points from his own house).
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September went by, and October came with Sirius', Peter's and James' detentions. They had hexed a Head Boy's hair. Now instead of hair, he had a garden, full of roses, daisies and other flowers. They swore the didn't have anything to do with it, but their expressions spoke for themselves. And this incident seemed to piss Lily off, which was one of the reasons why she took 50 points from Gryffindor. And to make matters worse, it was this particular moment, when James tried to ask her out once again. She just walked away muttering something about "bullying just for hobby". Halloween was getting closer, and Hagrid had already the usual pumpkins to decorate the Great Hall.
One afternoon they were sitting at a table in the Gryffindor common room, far away from the rest, which was weird, they used, and liked, to be the centre of attention. "So, Hogsmeade just before Christmas" said Sirius, glancing over at James. Peter looked at him questioningly, but James knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Yeah, I know. Do you reckon she'll accept to go with me now?" he said, his eyes searching for a red head around the common room.
"What do you mean "now?" asked Remus, tuning the page of a pretty big book. "have things between you two changed?"
"Ha! Yeah, sure, Moony. You really think that can happen?" said Sirius, looking at Remus and then smirking at James, who took no notice, he was busy searching for someone.
Lily wasn't in the common room, and he was starting to wonder where she could be. He spotted Lor talking to Anabell Wein , also one of Lily's and Lor's friend. He left the other three talking about a joke, while James went to ask Lor if she had seen Lily. "Hi Lor" he said. She didn't look at him, but continued to chat with Anabell. "Um... have- have you seen Lily? I wanted to ask her if she would come with me to Hogs—"
"How many times do I have to tell you" came a voice he knew only too well from behind him "I won't".
James turned around to face a red-haired, green-eyed girl, who was carrying lots of books. She just came from the library, her favourite place in Hogwarts. "Coming from the library, aren't we?" he said grinning. He obviously thought she couldn't resist it.
"Can't you take a hint, Potter?" came Lor's amused voice.
"They're just not enough to make me give up" he said grinning even more broadly, not taking his eyes from Lily. Her lips curled up into a smile, but she became serious immediately.
"Why don't you invite one from your fan club? It was really nice to send you that Howler" she said. He shuddered at the thought. "They seemed to know you pretty well and keen on going out with you" she sat down, opened a book and hid her face behind it.
Sirius came from behind and clapped James on the back. "Rotten luck, mate!" he said while staring at Lor.
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Halloween day came and the girls were heading to the Great Hall for breakfast. The owl post arrived just as Lily, Lor, Anabell and some other friends sat down at the table. The owls had to make their way between the bats, that were already flying around the Hall. Lily got a copy from the Daily Prophet and opened it while chewing a bit of toast.
"So, where are you spending Christmas?" said the Cheryl sipping from her cup of tea. "Anything planned?"
"Mom says she wants to go to France or to Greece. She wants to take me with her, but I'd rather stay here at Hogwarts." said Lor as though talking about a weekend trip, eating a toast, not looking at any of them.
"You'd rather stay here than going to Greece or France? "said Adele starring at Lor with wide eyes.
"Yeah! I'd stay here instead of spending holidays with them. Do you have any idea how hard is that?" said Lor closing her eyes and shaking her head, trying not to think about that.
Just then Lily choked on a bit of toast and opened her eyes wide, while still clutching the Daily Prophet in her shaking hands. "What is it?" said Lor alarmingly. "C'mon, breathe!"
"Look at this!" said Lily, with a shaking voice, showing them the article she had been reading.
In the centre of the page was a big picture. It showed what had been a house, it looked like a muggle house. All that was left now where ashes and smoke. But above the house, in the sky, floating like a ghost was a big, shiny, green skulk, with its mouth open and a snake coming out of it. It was creepy, it gave Lily chills. The girls read the article, then they looked up at Lily, horrified. "An attack? In a muggle town?" said Lor, breathless. "what does it mean?"
The article said, that five muggles had been murdered. No reason at all. Five young, healthy muggles were found dead this morning. The muggle police was trying to find the responsible, but they had no idea who could have done something like that. Kill someone doing no harm at all. But the girls and the magical community knew better.
"It wasn't a muggle" said Arabella "It can't have. Only a witch or a wizard could have conjured this symbol and left it floating in the sky". All five girls looked at each other, trying to find some answers.
"Mom... dad..." whispered Lily, suddenly realising what this could mean. She automatically stood up, she didn't know where she was going to go, but she had to see whether her parents were OK or...
"They're fine" said Lor still reading the article "they put the names of the muggles who were killed. Your parents' name aren't here". Lily relaxed a little bit and looked around. People who, like them, had read the article were whispering and talking about it. They looked scared, specially the muggleborns. Most of them rushed to write home. The Slytherin table, on the other hand didn't show any sign of concern at all. Lor stared at them too, thinking the same as Lily. She was sure they were glad at the news. Most of them thought this was the way things should be. No muggles around. But it was just nonsense.
During the day, rumours could be heard in the corridors, between classes or during them. Everyone knew about the attack, and they were wondering who could have done such a horrible thing. They were all sure they had used one of the Unforgivable Curses, and were discussing whether the culprit was going to be caught. But none of them gave much importance to this matter. They thought it had to be some mad wizard. The Marauders were talking about this during Charms, while professor Flitwick was explaining the wand movement of a particular hard spell. "The pictures were horrible!" said Peter, scared and shuddering.
"Yeah, I know. Poor muggles, though" said Remus, copying down what Flitwick had just written on the blackboard.
James and Sirius turned around, both of them had worried expressions. "Who do you reckon did it?" asked Sirius.
"Whoever did it must have gone mad" exclaimed James. "That definitely isn't something a muggle or a wizard sees every day".
"Silence, you guys" said Flitwick's squeaky voice.
They stopped talking and started to take notes. After a while bell rang and all students stepped out of the classroom. It was dinner time, so they headed to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. It was, if possible, better than how it was in the morning. Hagrid's pumpkins were really big. It looked as though he had put a charm on them. There were candles floating all over the Hall, and the bats were still flying above their heads. The staff table was already full. All teachers were sitting there, waiting for all the students to sit down.
Lily and Lor were walking just behind Remus, James, Sirius and Peter. They noticed that the foursome had malicious looks, and couldn't help but note that a joke was drawing nearer.
The food was delicious. They had mashed potatoes, beef, chicken, spaghetti, french fries, Yorkshire pudding, ice cream, all kind of sweets. Everyone was enjoying themselves, talking animatedly.
Anabell sat next to Lor and they started to chat, forgetting about the weird expressions of the Marauders, when they heard a loud pop! And turned their heads, trying to find out what had just happened. But they couldn't see what was wrong. Everyone was laughing, specially the Marauders, so the girls were sure that it had to be one of their jokes, although they couldn't tell what had happened this time. Even a few Slytherins were laughing, pointing at a particular big and ugly bat, that was soaring above their head, moving its wings furiously. Just then professor Kettleburn came walking between the Slytherin and the Hufflepuff tables, and stopped just where the big bat was flying. It seemed as thought a faint smile was playing on his face, but when he heard James' and Sirius' voices making fun of the moment, he raised his wand. "Finite Incantatem" said professor Kettleburn, and just then the big, black bat disappeared and a teen boy, with greasy black hair, and a crooked nose appeared. It was Snape.
"They turned him into a bat?" whispered Lor, amusedly, staring at a very red Snape, standing in front of the whole Hall.
"When will they grow up?" said Lily exasperated.
"Come on, Lily, it was funny" said Lor with a big smile on her face, staring incredulously at her friend.
Everyone was still laughing, when professor Kettleburn returned to the staff table and sat down next to professor Stowe, with a faint smile on his face. Just then Dumbledore stood up and the Hall became quiet. "Well, after this" he suppressed a smile "'incident' and a nice meal, I think we are ready to go to bed now" he said, while staring at the still- giggling students.
Everyone stood up and headed out of the Hall. Lily was following Lor, when she heard a voice whispering in her ear. "Nice joke, huh?"
"Get lost, Potter"
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Snape was constantly the topic of many jokes for the first couple of weeks in November. Lily couldn't help but feel pity for him, even though he sometimes could be a complete moron and a jerk. She tried to point this out to Lor, but she just waved her hand saying something about people who deserved what the had for being so mean and stupid, and continued reading her book. Lily had a serious talk with the Marauders about that incident. Not that you could actually have something "serious" with them, specially with James and Sirius. They kept laughing at it and tried to convince Lily that they weren't responsible for it and that she should forget about it.
It was a particular cold day of November and it was snowing, while sixth- years Gryffindors were siting, inside the Transfiguration classroom, in front of a toad. They were supposed to transform it into a rat. So far only James and Lily had managed to do it. Lor still had problems with the whiskers, although her rat was de-tailed, while Remus only needed to get rid of the green colour. Peter had already given up, his wand laid forgotten next to him and he was daydreaming. While Sirius took no note of this toad and was playing with James. There were just five minutes left of class, when professor McGonagall stood up in front of the class.
"I have an announcement to make, now that there are only Gryffindors here." She said, looking at them. "There is going to be a dance. A Christmas Dance, for fifth, sixth and seventh years only" everyone started to murmur things, and looking excited. Lily and Lor smiled broadly. The Marauders wore mischievous smiles and James looked over to Lily. "Silence!" yelled professor McGonagall over the murmurs. "Well, as I was saying, there is going to be this ball, next Holidays, we still don't have the date yet, but we will be informing you. Though, you don't need partners for this ball" some faces fell, and James' excited expression became a frown. The sound of the bell signalled the end of the class, and as the students gathered up their stuff and talked about the ball, McGonagall called Lily and Remus over. "Mr. Lupin, Ms. Evans, please come here."
"So what did you do this time Moony?" said Sirius in mock, while heading to the door. "We'll wait for you downstairs. Come on James, there's a group of fifth years trying to gain our attention. Let's make it easy for them" and they left. Lily and Remus walked over to McGonagall a little nervous.
"I'm not going to tell you off. I just want to tell you both that as Gryffindor prefects you'll have to open the dance, along with the other houses prefects. Lily didn't know what to think. 'Open the dance?' 'with Remus?' but it wasn't as bad as she thought. After all Remus was ok, and he was a great person.
"And you need to set the date for the ball. That's all, you may go."
Besides it would be just one song, and they wouldn't be alone, they'd be with the other prefects. They left McGonagall's office and headed to the Great Hall. Lily went to sit with Lorreine and the rest of the Gryffindor girls, and they immediately started to talk about the ball. Remus, on the other hand, went to sit with the Marauders. Sirius looked up and asked "What did she want?"
"Oh, nothing, really" said Remus, siting next to James, who was still eyeing lily, while she was chatting with Lor and Anabell without taking note of Remus. "She just wanted to tell us that lily and I have to open the Christmas dance along with the other prefects" at this words, James choked with his pumpkin juice, spilling it all over the table.
"Geez, Prongs, get a grip" exclaimed Sirius, disgusted.
"I know," said Remus, understanding why James had choked. "But I've got an idea. You'll see what I'm going to do. You'll get to dance with her, mate. Trust me.
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