The Wolf of Change
Chapter 6 - Lessons
That year, Slytherin had fifty new students, Hufflepuff, twenty-five, Gryffindor twenty-three, and Ravenclaw two. Due to the 'slight' unbalance in numbers, the Ravenclaws shared classes with the Gryffindors, and the Slytherins were split into two groups.
The Gryffindor/Ravenclaw's first lesson was Charms. Professor Flitwick, although disappointed at having only two new additions to his house, filled everyone with such enthusiasm that the boredom of theory was dispelled by the prospect of actually carrying out the charms in a week or two.
Of course, even when practising simple wand-waving motions, things went wrong...often on purpose. About halfway through the lesson, boredom slipping in despite Flitwick's encouragements, and just having swished-and- flicked for what felt like the hundredth time, Sirius' concentration broke, and as he yawned and pointed his wand, a slug shot from its tip and landed right in Amy Corely's lap. She stifled a squeak, and looked up in anger. When she saw Sirius giggling in surprise, she picked the slug up gingerly and hurled it back. Sirius was relieved to find that she wasn't a very good shot. Peter wasn't so relieved, however he couldn't exactly ask Flitwick if he could be excused to go and wash slug slime out of his hair.
Charlie and Sephine, having noticed this, and being good, wise and witty Ravenclaws now began to plot ways of making people jump, and began a competition to see who could make who jump the highest. Charlie won by Charming a small bat into Lily's robe. Practically the whole class was surpressing laughter, only Lily - who didn't find it very amusing - and Flitwick - who appeared to be totally oblivious - weren't laughing.
Their first Potions class was not one so fun to remember as the Charms one. The Master, Professor Trugin, was the Head of Slytherin, and delighted in teaching two classes of Slytherins, and torturing the other two classes. By the end of the first lesson, the four front row benches were occupied unwillingly by Charlie and Sephine, James and Sirius, Remus and Martin, and Lily and Peter.
Trugin scanned the class with piggy little eyes and finally fixed his penetrating gaze on Remus. "What are the properties of the herb, Wolfsbane?"
Remus seemed to pale under the harsh stare, and finally swallowed. "It's supposed to provide protection from Dark Creatures--"
"Be more specific!"
Remus swallowed again. "--Such as the...the werewolf."
"And?"
"...And if one of these Dark Creatures is...touched by, or ingests some Wolfsbane, it er...dies."
Trugin smiled cruelly, "Very good, Lupin...very good...I suppose I'd better give Gryffindor five points."
But once Remus and his friends occupied the front seats, Gryffindor had lost thirty points and Ravenclaw ten. As the lesson progressed, the first years began to see how Trugin liked to reward a little, only to take away the reward and more.
* * *
By the second day of lessons, all the new students could think about was the quickly approaching lunchtime Quidditch lesson. Most were willing the time away, desperate to get to the pitch, but Remus was dreading it. He'd promised he'd come - what kind of a wizarding boy didn't like Quidditch? But he was dreading it.
All one hundred first years assembled on the still dewy autumn pitch and eyed the broomsticks laid on the floor with (mostly) excitement. Remus found his teeth chattering, and desperately tried to stop them.
Sirius gave him an odd look. "It's not that cold, Remus!"
Remus managed a weak grin, as Madam Hooch, a very young teacher yet, strode down the middle of the two parallel rows. "Right!" She said in her brusque manner, "Step up to your broom, raise a hand above it, and say 'up!'"
Most, not expecting this sudden order, hesitated, but Remus hesitated the longest. The most exuberant were already shouting 'up' when Remus stepped forwards. He looked around, and saw James, Sirius and Sephine already holding their brooms, and Martin, Charlie and Lily's were dancing on the floor. Peter's wouldn't budge for him. Severus Snape, after a final sounding "UP!!" managed to raise his broom - slowly - and shot a sneer at the first person he could see who hadn't. Remus didn't cringe.
He raised one violently trembling hand out over the broom, and his previously clenched sweaty palm now felt cold as the late September breeze brushed it. He swallowed hard, and tried to still his hand.
"Lupin, you don't have to be here, you know." Madam Hooch whispered in his ear. She had arrived so suddenly that he jumped, and his almost stilled hand began to quake again. She sounded almost maternal, like some hen clucking over a runt chick that she pitied.
"I'm fine." He forced out.
He looked up guiltily at the row opposite him as she moved away reluctantly. Sephine was eyeing him suspiciously, but looked away when he saw her. Almost all the pupils had raised their brooms now. Remus whispered, "...up..." and the broom shot up with such force that he rocked backwards and almost dropped it again.
"Jeez, Louise!" Sirius exclaimed. "What took you so long, Rem? Did you just forget to say the word out loud?"
A few minutes later, fed up with Peter's lack of...whatever was needed to raise a broom...Madam Hooch lifted the broom from the ground to the boy's open hand.
"Now, on my whistle, I want you to mount your brooms, kick off from the ground, hard, and hover a meter or so up. You will attempt to keep it that way until I say otherwise, but if you cannot, I'd rather you went down than up." She blew her whistle.
Remus saw Lily lean across to Sephine, and heard her whisper hurriedly, "Seph! Help! Do I need some sort of background knowledge for this or something? How do you make it hover??"
Sephine, who already had one leg on each side of her broomstick, grinned. "Like this!" And pushed off, her toes now dangling a foot or so off the grass.
Lily scoffed. "Oh, you're a great help!" And tried it herself. Her slightly round face lit up in ecstasy when she found how easy it was.
Remus almost smiled at this, when he realised his own broom was still waiting patiently in his right hand. He gathered his robe with the other hand and threw a leg over. A part of him that was still a scared four-year- old lost in the Forest half-expected the monster to loom out in front of him, calling its terrible call. But no such thing happened, and the light sweat on his forehead was unjustified.
He shoved the ground lightly with the balls of his feet and found himself in the air again for the first time in nearly eight years.
Martin laughed. "Hey, don't look so astonished! You're not the only one! I'd have thought you'd have been used to this sort of thing, coming from a wizarding family and all?"
Remus tried to smile, and thought it worked. Martin had obviously not seen the boy's linen-white knuckles wrapped around the stick.
Madam Hooch flitted from student to student, cooing and clucking and adjusting and encouraging. She seemed especially proud when she arrived at Remus, Or maybe it's just me that's proud. I did it! He was relaxing, the presence of others making him feel a little more secure...a little further from the memories.
Chapter 6 - Lessons
That year, Slytherin had fifty new students, Hufflepuff, twenty-five, Gryffindor twenty-three, and Ravenclaw two. Due to the 'slight' unbalance in numbers, the Ravenclaws shared classes with the Gryffindors, and the Slytherins were split into two groups.
The Gryffindor/Ravenclaw's first lesson was Charms. Professor Flitwick, although disappointed at having only two new additions to his house, filled everyone with such enthusiasm that the boredom of theory was dispelled by the prospect of actually carrying out the charms in a week or two.
Of course, even when practising simple wand-waving motions, things went wrong...often on purpose. About halfway through the lesson, boredom slipping in despite Flitwick's encouragements, and just having swished-and- flicked for what felt like the hundredth time, Sirius' concentration broke, and as he yawned and pointed his wand, a slug shot from its tip and landed right in Amy Corely's lap. She stifled a squeak, and looked up in anger. When she saw Sirius giggling in surprise, she picked the slug up gingerly and hurled it back. Sirius was relieved to find that she wasn't a very good shot. Peter wasn't so relieved, however he couldn't exactly ask Flitwick if he could be excused to go and wash slug slime out of his hair.
Charlie and Sephine, having noticed this, and being good, wise and witty Ravenclaws now began to plot ways of making people jump, and began a competition to see who could make who jump the highest. Charlie won by Charming a small bat into Lily's robe. Practically the whole class was surpressing laughter, only Lily - who didn't find it very amusing - and Flitwick - who appeared to be totally oblivious - weren't laughing.
Their first Potions class was not one so fun to remember as the Charms one. The Master, Professor Trugin, was the Head of Slytherin, and delighted in teaching two classes of Slytherins, and torturing the other two classes. By the end of the first lesson, the four front row benches were occupied unwillingly by Charlie and Sephine, James and Sirius, Remus and Martin, and Lily and Peter.
Trugin scanned the class with piggy little eyes and finally fixed his penetrating gaze on Remus. "What are the properties of the herb, Wolfsbane?"
Remus seemed to pale under the harsh stare, and finally swallowed. "It's supposed to provide protection from Dark Creatures--"
"Be more specific!"
Remus swallowed again. "--Such as the...the werewolf."
"And?"
"...And if one of these Dark Creatures is...touched by, or ingests some Wolfsbane, it er...dies."
Trugin smiled cruelly, "Very good, Lupin...very good...I suppose I'd better give Gryffindor five points."
But once Remus and his friends occupied the front seats, Gryffindor had lost thirty points and Ravenclaw ten. As the lesson progressed, the first years began to see how Trugin liked to reward a little, only to take away the reward and more.
* * *
By the second day of lessons, all the new students could think about was the quickly approaching lunchtime Quidditch lesson. Most were willing the time away, desperate to get to the pitch, but Remus was dreading it. He'd promised he'd come - what kind of a wizarding boy didn't like Quidditch? But he was dreading it.
All one hundred first years assembled on the still dewy autumn pitch and eyed the broomsticks laid on the floor with (mostly) excitement. Remus found his teeth chattering, and desperately tried to stop them.
Sirius gave him an odd look. "It's not that cold, Remus!"
Remus managed a weak grin, as Madam Hooch, a very young teacher yet, strode down the middle of the two parallel rows. "Right!" She said in her brusque manner, "Step up to your broom, raise a hand above it, and say 'up!'"
Most, not expecting this sudden order, hesitated, but Remus hesitated the longest. The most exuberant were already shouting 'up' when Remus stepped forwards. He looked around, and saw James, Sirius and Sephine already holding their brooms, and Martin, Charlie and Lily's were dancing on the floor. Peter's wouldn't budge for him. Severus Snape, after a final sounding "UP!!" managed to raise his broom - slowly - and shot a sneer at the first person he could see who hadn't. Remus didn't cringe.
He raised one violently trembling hand out over the broom, and his previously clenched sweaty palm now felt cold as the late September breeze brushed it. He swallowed hard, and tried to still his hand.
"Lupin, you don't have to be here, you know." Madam Hooch whispered in his ear. She had arrived so suddenly that he jumped, and his almost stilled hand began to quake again. She sounded almost maternal, like some hen clucking over a runt chick that she pitied.
"I'm fine." He forced out.
He looked up guiltily at the row opposite him as she moved away reluctantly. Sephine was eyeing him suspiciously, but looked away when he saw her. Almost all the pupils had raised their brooms now. Remus whispered, "...up..." and the broom shot up with such force that he rocked backwards and almost dropped it again.
"Jeez, Louise!" Sirius exclaimed. "What took you so long, Rem? Did you just forget to say the word out loud?"
A few minutes later, fed up with Peter's lack of...whatever was needed to raise a broom...Madam Hooch lifted the broom from the ground to the boy's open hand.
"Now, on my whistle, I want you to mount your brooms, kick off from the ground, hard, and hover a meter or so up. You will attempt to keep it that way until I say otherwise, but if you cannot, I'd rather you went down than up." She blew her whistle.
Remus saw Lily lean across to Sephine, and heard her whisper hurriedly, "Seph! Help! Do I need some sort of background knowledge for this or something? How do you make it hover??"
Sephine, who already had one leg on each side of her broomstick, grinned. "Like this!" And pushed off, her toes now dangling a foot or so off the grass.
Lily scoffed. "Oh, you're a great help!" And tried it herself. Her slightly round face lit up in ecstasy when she found how easy it was.
Remus almost smiled at this, when he realised his own broom was still waiting patiently in his right hand. He gathered his robe with the other hand and threw a leg over. A part of him that was still a scared four-year- old lost in the Forest half-expected the monster to loom out in front of him, calling its terrible call. But no such thing happened, and the light sweat on his forehead was unjustified.
He shoved the ground lightly with the balls of his feet and found himself in the air again for the first time in nearly eight years.
Martin laughed. "Hey, don't look so astonished! You're not the only one! I'd have thought you'd have been used to this sort of thing, coming from a wizarding family and all?"
Remus tried to smile, and thought it worked. Martin had obviously not seen the boy's linen-white knuckles wrapped around the stick.
Madam Hooch flitted from student to student, cooing and clucking and adjusting and encouraging. She seemed especially proud when she arrived at Remus, Or maybe it's just me that's proud. I did it! He was relaxing, the presence of others making him feel a little more secure...a little further from the memories.