Chapter 3: The Girl Who Couldn't Fly

James Potter sighed heavily. He was only week and a half into school and he had already decided that Defense Against the Dark Arts was his least favorite class. Gladys Wydell was the Defense teacher; she was a scary woman with eerie silver eyes, messy, wild hair, and a beak-like nose. Not only was the woman the most unpleasant person to ever walk the earth - well, she tied in quite evenly with Lucius- but her daughter was almost as bad. Juniper was an obnoxious Slytherin girl who was in the same year as James and his friends. Juniper's Ravenclaw brother, Daniel, was far better to tolerate. So far the boys didn't mind the other classes, they still had potions (with Professor Wilde) to go to and then flying (with Madame Hooch). Remus seemed to be enjoying Defense Against the Dark Arts on a much higher level than James and Sirius, however; and it already seemed that this subject would be his forte at Hogwarts. Sirius tapped James on the shoulder, and indiscreetly as was possible he passed his wild haired friend a folded sheet of parchment. The tousle haired boy curiously opened it:

Mr. Black would like to tell Mr. Potter that Mr. Black finds this class to be incredibly boring. Mr. Black would also like to add that he strongly believes Professor Wydell is the Spawn of Satan.

By this entry Sirius had scribbled a crude sketch of their Defense teacher and added horns and spikes to her, and an arrow pointing to the picture read Spawn of Satan. James laughed quietly, and no normal teacher except for maybe McGonagall would have heard it; but Wydell's arcane hearing picked up James's laughter on the spot. The dark-haired pair glanced up at the angry woman towering over them.

"Well, I can see who my favorites are going to be this year," her eyes flashed menacingly as she spoke, "Something's funny over here, is it not? Do share; I'm sure we all would enjoy a good laugh."

James tried carefully to sneak the parchment under the table, just as the silver-eyed Professor spied it. His efforts were in vain he realized, as she snatched the folded paper from the Gryffindor boy's hand.

"Spawn of Satan, hm?" the Defense teacher commented as she read, "I guess that makes us family then Mr. Black."

All eyes now lay on Sirius, who had become sickly pale.

"I'm no pushover; and no one will treat me as such. Potter, Black; you two are being made examples of for the rest of your classmates. Step so much as one toe out of line in my class again and I'll see to it that you spend the rest of the year cleaning the Spawn of Satan's classroom-without magic," the woman smiled wickedly, and as she walked back up to the front she turned to the pair of boys and added, "Of course; how could I forget? Detention, for the both of you for disrupting my lesson."

James looked at Sirius miserably, and then sunk very low in his chair; it was going to be a long week.

When Defense Against the Dark Arts was over James, Sirius, and Remus headed down to the dungeons for Potions. As they walked down the hallways a voice shouted to them from a distance and the sound of running feet began to catch up with them. Lily Evans and the twins.

"What was that all about? At Defense?" Lily inquired, "Something about the Spawn of Satan?"

James stuttered an incoherent response that made the three girls giggle.

"I passed Jim a note," Sirius explained for his temporarily speechless friend.

"She's probably gonna hang that over your head until you leave," Delena or Aneled said; but Sirius couldn't tell who was who.

As they reached the dungeons the group noticed a crowd of students outside of the potions classroom. The Professor hadn't arrived yet; the students were already used to Professor Wilde being late for class though. Orlan Wilde was the craziest teacher Hogwarts had to offer; completely random and sometimes very off topic, the Potions Master was a favorite among the students.

"Coming through; c'mon people, scatter," came the voice of Professor Wilde squeezing through the throng of students, and then unlocked the classroom door and everyone flooded in. Sirius, James and Remus found their seats as Wilde started calling roll.

"Spaz Black," he called as Sirius raised his hand. The dark haired boy had been given the nickname "Spaz" by the Professor a day before because of an incident occurring in class. The only other person in class to acquire a nickname was James: "Pothead". As the professor went down the list of names he reached Remus's and grinned wickedly as though struck by a sudden stroke of genius.

"Loopy Lupin," Remus sunk very low in his chair as several students giggled about this. Suddenly a figure came careening through the wall screeching,

"Loony loopy Lupin!"

Several students screamed as Peeves the Poltergeist dove through the classroom scattering parchments and books as he did. Professor Wilde didn't yell; he just laughed. Perhaps the deranged Potions Master was the only staff member in the whole of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry who didn't mind Peeves. That was one of his many traits that made him such a strange personality that students loved. Potions went by rather uneventfully; Wilde decided acids would have to wait until later that year thanks to "Spaz"; so they worked on a mixture that would alter pigments- in James's case, his skin colour. Things were too dull in Sirius's opinion, so he reached over to Remus (who was having a difficult time in Potions already) and dripped the tiniest bit of solution onto the poor boy's hair. The formerly tawny haired boy felt something on his head so he ran his hand through his hair, and noticing nothing unusual continued his concoction. It wasn't until Lily whispered something about it to him that he noticed. She handed him a mirror from her bag, and he saw that he no longer had a head full of sandy brown hair- instead it was now loud green.

The amber-eyed boy didn't say anything as he finished adding the last few ingredients to his potion. Professor Wilde looked up from his desk and sniggered at Remus's hair colour, then nodded in approval at the wiry youth's obvious plan for revenge. The green haired boy leaned back cautiously as he reached around James and placed several tiny droplets randomly on Sirius Black's head. In a matter of seconds Remus's wild friend was sporting outrageous purple highlights. Wilde couldn't take anymore and finally broke into laughter. James looked around to see what their estranged professor was amused by now, when his eyes came to rest on his best friend with purple highlights. The bespectacled preteen joined the potions Master's laughter too, especially when he looked on his other side and saw Remus with his lime green hair.

Once again it was time for a class change as the boys headed for their final class for the day, which they were doubled with Hufflepuff. This was their instructor's first year teaching. Madame Hooch was a young teacher probably in her early twenties, but she carried with her the confidence of a woman who had been teaching for years. Sirius and Remus's hair finally returned to normal by now. As all of the students assembled on the flying pitch, the hawk-eyed Flying Professor came walking out. They knew the drill by now, don't cut up in class and Madame Hooch would be nice in return. The class had been practicing hovering the over the past week; and Madame Hooch had promised them if they behaved they could start flying today. Sirius tried very hard to control himself; he wanted to fly so badly. They started the class like they did every day; they went over flying etiquette, broom care, what to do in emergencies, and finally hovering. Everything was crammed today though, because as Madame Hooch promised, they would do some flying. Sirius grinned at his friends as he mounted his broom. To prevent any havoc breaking loose, the yellow-eyed professor only allowed one student in the air at a time.

James volunteered to go first, since he had flown a lot at home and felt very comfortable flying. The scrawny boy proved to be excellent on his broom, managing the relic with graceful mastery. When his time was up, Madame Hooch blew her whistle and he descended to the ground.

Sirius was jumping up waving his hand ecstatically as the Flying instructor scanned the first years for another volunteer. The tall dark-haired boy soon became airborne, soaring through the air, trying to show his friend up but not quite making it. He began his quiet descent and touched ground.

Several others had flown as Sirius and James hounded Remus and Peter to go. As Madame Hooch waited for another volunteer, Sirius pushed Remus forward. The tawny haired boy glared at his eccentric friend before taking off. When Remus first started his flight was unsteady and shaky (he suffered slight acrophobia) but as he continued, the tired looking boy relaxed. He landed without much trouble and was congratulated by Sirius and James.

Peter decided to finally give it a try since the rest of his friends already went. The small boy ambled forward with his broom and on Madame Hooch's signal took off uneasily. The blond youth had his eyes squeezed tightly shut until he realized that flying didn't feel too bad; and after that adapted fairly well.

The remainder of the students took their turns until finally Lily Evans was left. She walked forward shaking like a bundle of nerves. As she mounted her broom James and his friends cheered her on. The redhead tool a deep breath, then kicked off. She felt her stomach leap into her throat suddenly and she clung the broom tightly. The emerald-eyed girl looked around cautiously and made the mistake of letting her eyes travel down seeing the ground a good many kilometers below.

A sudden surge of panic broke through Lily making her broom start to fly out of control. Emergency procedures were erased from her mind in that moment of pandemonium as she desperately tried recalling what to do. Back on the ground, everyone watched anxiously as the redhead tried to gain control of her flight. Madame Hooch mounted her own broom and flew up to apprehend the panicking girl.

Suddenly Lily's broom stopped, and she was left suspended in midair, clinging fiercely to her broom and crying. Madame Hooch gently escorted the young Gryffindor to the ground. Lily's friends went over to comfort the terrified girl, just as class was over for the day.

The boys headed for their dormitories to rest before going to the Great Hall for supper. They said goodbye to Peter and parted ways. James flopped down exhaustedly onto his four-poster. Sirius tugged his vest off and loosened his tie, while Remus pulled off his robe and threw it into his trunk.

"That, my friends," James said sleepily, "was an exciting day."

To be continued in Chapter four....

A/N: Hey everyone! Chapter 3 is complete! Sorry it's so short. About Peter being a Hufflepuff, it's like I told the people visiting my Elfwood gallery. He doesn't seem brave enough to be a Gryffindor; certainly not smart enough to be a Ravenclaw; and while he may be a traitorous bastard when he's older he's not cunning enough to be a Slytherin at this point in the game. He seems like the clingy type, and for six of their years at Hogwarts Peter sticks with the others; annoying at times but loyal just the same. It isn't until the end of their sixth year that Peter will start to demonstrate a change in personality and alliances. :) I have fun developing Peter's personality. One more thing, Professor Wilde is actually based on a really awesome teacher I had for Speech and Debate this past year. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far! I love you guys! Till chapter four...