Disclaimer: I do not and will not ever own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Although I'm planning to steal dear Remus John Lupin. Anyone who wants to help me out? ^^
Autumn Snow: Yay, my first HP fic. Be kind and review. Flames and/or constructive criticisms are very much accepted. So, yeah, I got inspired and who cares. This was based on an episode from an anime called CardCaptor Sakura. *continues rambling on about senseless topics* ^^;;....
(*Note: The story is written in first-person view. The point of views will change every chapter, shifting from Sirius to Remus. Chapter one starts with Sirius.)
So, yeah, without further ado...
chapter one:
Role Call
Why I ever chose this class, I have no idea. I must've been mental then.
Oh, wait. I remember now. I told McGonagall I wanted to be an Auror last year during career talk, so here I am, sixth year, trying to get decent grades to be able to become an Auror in the future years.
Professor Carlotta Blanche, our Muggle Studies teacher, is really, really nice and fairly pretty. Her only flaw, I think, is her very short temper which she often displays, especially when the class doesn't seem to be in a very cooperative mood.
So, the only reason that I can conclude on why this particular class is boring me, is the class itself. I've been with Muggles for some years now and it's quite unexciting to study them like they're some aliens from planet Mars or planet X or God-knows-where planet.
Anyway, it's not completely unbearable. James, Remus and Peter—my closest friends— are in this class too because they plan to be Aurors in the very near future. Lily Evans, the goddess my best friend James worships day and night, is also here because it somehow interests her. And, to my great surprise, my good friend Snivellus is in this class as well.
I take a quick glance at him. He's sitting stupidly a few rows in front of me, nursing his unbelievably greasy hair. I have a feeling he doesn't wash his hair regularly, which is unhygienic by the way, so I tend to sometimes stay a few feet away from him. There might be something residing on the top of his slimy head that could turn out to be very nasty.
Sometimes I wonder what makes his hair
disgustingly oily. If you ask me, the world can get it's oil supply from his
head and it won't ever run out. Hmmm... That gives me an idea. Maybe we should
jinx his hair to turn into... I dunno. Something horrible, probably. Hmmm...
another prank on Snivelly...Hmm...
James suddenly waves a hand in front of me, causing my train of thoughts to
suddenly break.
"What?" I ask.
"You're spacing out again." He replies.
I blink then focus my attention to our Professor, who's currently writing something on the board. I turn back to James. He's sitting on the chair in front of me, Peter to his right, and behind him sits Remus, who's currently at my side.
"How can you not space out during a lesson like this?" I whisper while leaning
closer to James. "Look at dear ol' Snivellus. He's sitting there idiotically,
unexpecting anything sinister that might happen to him at this very moment. And
his hair is greasier than usual, if you observe."
"So?"
I stare at him, a look of mock disdain plastered on my face."So! It means the High Heavens above are permitting us to perform our daily deeds of ridding this world free from unusual oil suppliers!"
"In other words, you're planning another prank on him."
"Yep."
"Give him a break, you guys. He's still suffering from the high-pitched, squeaky voice you gave him this morning." Remus cuts in.
I eye him suspiciously. "Fine."
James shrugs then turns back to his seat. I follow his gaze and as usual, it lands on Lily. I roll my eyes.
I look around the room for something to do. My gaze lands on Remus. He doesn't look as bored as me, but he's worst than ever. It was the full moon some days ago and I think he hasn't quite recovered yet. He looks very tired and his skin is turning dangerously pale. He's sitting up and concentrating very hard on the lesson, his left hand writing furiously on a piece of parchment, taking notes.
He worries me too much sometimes, even if he constantly tells us he's feeling fine. It's evident most of the time that he's lying.
Suddenly, his left hand stops writing. His eyelids flutter for a few seconds and it looks like he going to faint. I place a hand on his shoulder to keep himself from falling. He seems to have regained his senses at my touch, so he's now blinking and trying to comprehend whatever Professor Blanche wrote on the board.
"You all right, Moony?"
He nods and gives a small smile. "I'm fine."
I frown for a while and he keeps smiling. "All right,"I finally said after he kept on insisting that he was okay.
"You're worrying me so much these days, y'know," I continue, "that's the
hundredth time this week that you wanted to sleep on the floor in the middle of
a lesson."
"I know. I guess I'm just tired. No need to worry, Padfoot." He assures me with his smile.
Fifteen minutes before the bell, Professor Blanche stopped writing and revealed a small velvet pot from a nearby cabinet. She instructs us to pass the pot around and to get a piece of paper from it. I got one and passed it to Remus. I stare at the paper but it appears to be blank.
"In a few weeks from now," Professor Blanche starts, "the Minister of Magic will visit Hogwarts and will celebrate with us
the yearly Christmas ball. The Headmaster asked me if we could do a little play.
"I agreed with him so from now on you will be using your Muggle Studies periods to rehearse for the upcoming play. And… Oh, Ms. Cortwell,
yes?"
Alexia Cornwell stands up. "Professor, what will be our play about?" She looked quite excited.
"Yes, yes, I was getting to that," Professor Blanche replies, "the play will be
'Sleeping Beauty' and I'm sure everyone has heard of that. (Alexia gave a small squeal of delight) Now, the pieces of paper you are holding in your hands will reveal the role that suits you best." She pauses then continues, "I placed a special spell on those papers to determine the best role you can play according to your personalities. Right now, I assume that some of you have already something written on their paper. It takes quite a while."
I look at my paper once more and there it was: written in loopy handwriting were the words 'The Prince'.
Ha! I always seem to get roles like this. Even in primary school, when we had plays, I always get the role that saves the damsel-in-distress.
I look at James and he's grinning. "I'm going to direct the play. Lily's my
partner. What's your role?"
I flash my paper before him.
"Nice! You always get that kind of part." James slowly turns his head from me,
his eyes scanning the room. "I wonder who the lucky girl is…"
"You mean the girl who gets the role 'Sleeping Beauty'?"
"Yep. I suspect she'd faint once she learns that you're the prince."
We both laugh then talk about who were the likely girls to get the role 'Sleeping Beauty'. After a while James turns to Lily, talking about how they should run the play. The others doesn't seem to have discovered what their roles would be, so Blanche was giving them time. I asked Peter about his role.
"I'm supposedly the helpless sidekick the villain has." He answers. He looked
positively delighted. "What's your role?"
I give him my paper and he slaps me on the back. "Lucky you!" Then he turns his attention back to the board where Professor Blanche was listing our names.
I take a quick look at Remus. He was staring at his paper with a horror-struck look on his face. I tried to ask him what was wrong but his eyes stayed glued on the paper.
"All right, now, class, when I call your name, stand up and tell me you role." Professor Blanche started to call out the names.
After some time, 'Black, Sirius' was announced and I told her my role. A lot of
giggling and whispering issued from some girls in the class.
"Got an idea who Ms. Sleeping Beauty is?" James inquired. I just grin.
"Lupin, Remus."
I look at Remus and he looks at me. His gaze shifts from his paper to Professor Blanche, then to the board. He looks a bit nervous and uneasy. There was an awkward silence.
I wonder what's wrong with him. What role did
he get? Was it that horrible?
"Er—" Remus started. I try to ask him what was wrong, but he wouldn't look my way.
Professor Blanche raised an eyebrow.
"Your role, Mr. Lupin."
His gaze rests on the paper he's holding, then he clears his throat. In a clear voice he announced:
"Sleeping Beauty."