Famous Last Words
Sacred Dreams
For Trinity Day,
In thanks for her kind and most helpful reviews
And Ginny 3
Lily sniffed and buried her face in her hands.
"Don't worry, Lily," Lizzie soothed, putting a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder. "It wasn't that bad."
"Yes it was," Lily moaned. "They all laughed at me."
"They didn't do so well Transfiguring it either," Lizzie pointed out.
"James did. And he was the one who laughed the hardest."
"Well that's because he's a prat," Lexi announced, flinging open the drapes that Lily had pulled closed to conceal herself. "You're too good to let yourself get down because of him! Pull yourself together! Go out there and show him that you're strong!"
Lexi and Lizzie grabbed Lily's arms and pulled her up. "We're going to class!" They said, pushing Lily out the door.
As the three girls walked past James, Sirius, and Remus in the Common Room, James yelled out, "Hey Evans, how's the Transfiguration coming?"
Lily kept her head high and walked past them.
"Did you hear me Evans?" James called after her, slightly disappointed that he lost his chance to tease her some more.
Lily disappeared through the portrait.
"I guess so," Remus answered for him.
"I thought the idea that witches rode broomsticks was a myth," Lily admitted, pulling her robes more tightly around her to block out the crisp air.
The giant Quidditch (some sort of flying game? Lily wondered) pitch was still wet with dew, even in the early afternoon. The grassy expanse was dotted with black as students in the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff houses congregated to learn how to fly broomsticks.
Many witches and wizards, like the twins, were accustomed to flying and had no qualms about jumping on a broom and taking off.
Muggle-borns like Lily, however, were a bit more wary.
"What if you fall off?" Lily asked. "You could die!"
"So don't fall off," Lexi replied. "Lily, calm down. It's not as bad as you think."
"I'd rather just keep both feet on the ground," Lily said.
Sirius, James, and Remus seemed to have no such desire.
"Last to the sky is a rotten egg!" James yelled, jumping on a broom and taking flight. His race was impeded by a hand that grasped his broom firmly by the tail.
"Not just yet," A stern voice reprimanded.
James let his broom sink back down the ground and he clambered off it to face a man who couldn't be over the age of 24.
He had blonde hair and gray eyes, a striking combination according to the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw girls who were staring, and an athlete's build. Instead of the usual wizard robes, he wore muggle jeans and a muggle shirt.
"James Potter," James said, sticking out his hand.
"Professor Sincorn." The two men shook hands. "Better start class," the Professor said, ambling to the center of the Pitch.
"'Morning, class!" The Professor shouted. "If you'll all be quiet we can start learning how to fly!"
The class immediately fell silent.
"Good. I'm Marcus Sincorn, your flying Professor. Your first assignment in this class is to drop your brooms on the ground, hold your hand over them, and shout 'UP!'"
The class dropped their brooms on the ground with a dull thudding sound and obediently stuck their arms over the broomsticks.
"UP!" They shouted in a loud chorus.
James and Sirius' brooms flew straight into their hands. Remus' broom followed after a moment of hesitation. Lexi's broom came halfway up and dropped, Lizzie's rolled across the field, and Lily's did nothing.
"Up!" Lily whispered fiercely. "Up you useless piece of wood!"
The broomstick, as if in response, flew up—into the hands of the Ravenclaw student next to her.
"Um, here," The boy said, handing the broom back to Lily.
"Thanks," Lily said. Embarrassed, she tucked her hair behind her ears.
"Now that you've got your brooms, swing one leg over so that you're facing the front!" Professor Sincorn yelled over the excited chatter.
The students did as they were told, one Gryffindor boy named Peter facing the tail of the broom.
"Now, on the count of three, push off of the ground with both feet! If you need to get down, tilt the front of your broom SLIGHTLY downwards. If you need any help, just call!" The Professor cleared his throat for drama. "1…2….3!"
The students pushed off the ground and went soaring into the air.
On the other side of the field, Lizzie finally managed to grab her renegade rolling broom.
She swung her leg over it and pushed off just in time to see Sirius speeding along very close to the ground, heading straight for her. Lizzie barely had time to throw up her arms before he hit her, sending them both flying off their broomsticks and onto the ground.
"Ouch," Sirius groaned, rubbing his head. He moved his legs to stand up but found he had a problem: one leg wouldn't move. "Uh-oh," he said, staring at the broken mess of bone.
"Looks like you need to see Madame Pomfrey," Professor Sincorn said, running over. "What about her? Is she all right?"
Sirius turned to the girl he hit and recognized her as one of the twins. "Er, Lizly?" He tried. "Alizia? Are you all right?"
She didn't answer, whether from injury or insult from his terrible memory Sirius couldn't tell.
"Guess she's been knocked out," the Professor mused. "Well, we should probably get her up as well. Let's go."
Lily and Lexi watched the procession from the air. "Is that…?" Lexi began. Without waiting for confirmation, she leaned forward on her broom. It zoomed toward the scene, Lexi looking like she had been on a broom all her life.
"Wait!" Lily called, inching forward. "I'm coming, too!"
James and Remus watched Lily with some amusement before James saw where Lexi was flying.
"Um, Remus?" James said. "Is that Sirius?"
Remus and James followed Lexi, purposefully zooming by Lily with barely an inch to spare.
"Potter!" Lily yelled.
James turned and waved on his broom, showing off just because Lily could not. A reverberating scream nearly knocked him off his broom though, much to Lily's amusement.
"SIRIUS BLACK, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Lexi screamed as loud as she possibly could.
"Calm down," Professor Sincorn said, stealing glances from the hysterical first year to her twin. "It was an accident that Madam Pomfrey will have no trouble fixing. I'll be back shortly."
To the rest of the class he shouted, "Brooms to the ground! Nobody will fly while I'm gone."
Students reluctantly drifted to the ground, some toppling off their brooms onto the grass.
Sirius found that he had no problem with losing his broom, as the charm that kept him floating in the air was just as good.
"So long!" He cried to James and Remus. "I'll expect to see you and a get-well present soon!"
"If he's well enough to expect one, we shouldn't waste the sickles," James muttered to Remus out of the corner of his mouth.
Remus chuckled and waved enthusiastically at Sirius' receding form.
Satisfied, Sirius leaned back and enjoyed the ride to the hospital wing.
"What happened?" A woman wearing MediWitch robes demanded as Professor Sincorn stepped into the whitewashed room.
"We had a bit of an accident in Flying," the Professor explained. "Sirius Black here seems to have broken his leg, and the other student looks like she's been knocked out."
"I expect they ran into each other," Madam Pomfrey said, rather than asked. "We get these every year. You'd think they'd watch out but of course not…leave them on the beds, Marcus, I'll treat them there."
Professor Sincorn levitated each student to a bed. Sirius was disappointed his ride had ended so quickly.
"See you," Professor Sincorn offered as Madam Pomfrey shooed him from the hospital wing.
"Drink this," She ordered Sirius. He was tempted to salute her, but refrained from doing so when he noticed the potion in his cup looked like hot chocolate. And Healers are supposed to only give disgusting potions Sirius thought. Raising the cup to his lips, he downed the whole glass in one gulp.
He immediately regretted it.
"What was that?" He gasped, clutching his throat as the liquid burned its way into his body.
"Mending Solution," She answered matter-of-factly, approaching him with a wand.
"I think I'll just let it heal the natural way," Sirius said quickly.
"Nonsense, this won't hurt a bit. Just stay still." The Healer took careful aim at Sirius' leg and waved her wand in an intricate pattern. "Resarcium!"
Sirius watched as his leg became rigid. Wincing as bones grinded, he saw his leg jerk and then go back into its normal shape.
Madam Pomfrey nodded and set her wand down.
"So…can I go?" Sirius ventured.
"Of course not. You have to wait for your muscles and such to heal! Why do you think you drank the potion?"
Sirius chose to answer, but scowled at her back and settled in for what he was sure would be a very boring stay.
Madam Pomfrey bent over the next bed and, again grabbing her want, muttered an incantation. The girl woke with a gasp. She threw her arms up in front of her face.
"There, there," Madam Pomfrey comforted, patting her arm. "You're in the hospital wing now."
"I…what?" The girl dropped her arms and looked around.
"You were just knocked out," Madam Pomfrey explained. "I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a bit longer for observation. No matter how precise my wand is, I won't be able to tell what you've hurt without it starting to ache!"
Without any further explanation, she bustled
into a back room and closed the door behind her.
The two Gryffindors sat in silence for a moment, before Lizzie, rubbing her sore head, looked up at Sirius.
"Did you hit me?" She asked.
"I didn't really see you until it was too late," Sirius explained, keeping his eye on her wand. "Sorry."
"Well it looks like you took a hit too," Lizzie said, taking notice of the way Sirius was rubbing his leg. "So I suppose we're even."
"Not really," Sirius countered. "I broke my leg and you just had a nap!"
Lizzie picked up an apple from the bowl on her nightstand and chucked it at Sirius. It him in the head with a distinctive thwack. "Now it's your turn for a nap."
Without another word, Lizzie flounced out of bed and opened the hospital wing door.
"What should I tell Madame Pomfrey?" Sirius called as she left.
"Exaggerate. It's your forte." She slammed the door shut.
"Marcus is so delicious!" Lexi gushed, holding her books to her chest and beaming. "His eyes are like a morning mist."
"What?" Lily snorted.
"Well, when there's mist, you never really know what the day will bring," Lexi explained. "Just like his eyes make him mysterious. They compel me to learn more about him."
"Well I don't think you could spend any more class time with him," Lily dryly informed Lexi. "You spent over half of the period shamelessly flirting, clinging to his arm begging for help."
"Well, I might have needed it," Lexi replied daintily.
"You are perfectly capable of flying," Lily retorted. "I was the one who needed help!"
"But you didn't want it," Lexi reminded her friend. "So consider my flirting a favor."
Lily, sensing defeat, simply rolled her eyes and sat down in a wooden desk for History of Magic lessons. She hadn't an idea of what the history of magic might be, but no class at Hogwarts was boring. It was all so new and exciting!
Unlike Petunia, Lily had always been the sort of girl that enjoyed school, especially the beginning of the school year. September was the time that all school materials were fresh and clean, not yet scribbled on with notes or the names of cute boys. The books promised that Lily would learn at least 300 pages worth of new information. Judging by the enormous history textbook, Lily was certain that History of Magic would be a most informative subject.
Just as Lexi was settling in for another discussion on the exact shade of Professor Sincorn's hair, the door to the classroom burst open and Lizzie came in. Her mouth pursed, she slammed her books down on a desk directly behind Lily's and slid into her seat.
"Lizzie!" Lily said, grateful for a distraction from Professor Sincorn. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm fine," Lizzie said. "Just a bump on the head."
"You look angry," Lily observed, taking in the two spots of color on Lizzie's cheeks.
"That Sirius is a real jerk!" Lizzie narrowed her eyes at the thought of him. "It was his fault and he had the nerve to say that it wasn't fair he broke his leg!"
"And he is so yummy," Lexi sighed. "I just want to eat him up!"
"Yes," Lizzie agreed. "Let's roast him on a spit."
Lexi gave Lizzie a startled look before the door again opened, this time to reveal the apparent professor.
Unlike Lily's image of a vibrant, young Professor, the History Professor looked to be quite old. From the gray, limp hair on his head, to his doglike brown eyes and colorless robes, the Professor oozed antiquity. Lily could certainly see why the professor taught History: he was obviously around for most of it.
"Good afternoon, class," the Professor said. "I am Professor Binns."
Lily was stunned. Even his voice was boring.
"If you would open your books up to page 1 and get out quills and parchment.."
Lily sat through the entire class, wondering if she had ever sat through something more boring than this. The class all seemed to slump in their seats when Professor Binns announced that they would start as far back as was possible—Mesopotamia—and progress forward to modern times. Lily was about to protest that they could not possibly cover the amount of material in a school year when she remembered that the class had seven full years to study under this teacher.
Lily rested her head on her arms. She had a feeling she was going to need a pillow—soon.
As it turned out, even the most dedicated students in the class had trouble staying awake. At varying times, most of the class was drooling or staring ahead of them in a semi-comatose state. The only person who was able to stay awake, strangely enough, was Lexi Bell.
She sat through the entire class staring at Professor Binns as though enraptured, her quill flying across her parchment.
Lizzie was convinced that her sister was crazy.
The moment class ended, Lizzie grabbed Lexi's arm and made her escape. "Are you crazy?" She asked. "You sat through that entire class paying perfect attention and took notes?"
Lexi gave Lizzie a quizzical look. "What are you talking about?" She asked, waving her parchment in front of Lizzie's face. "I didn't hear a word he was saying. I was thinking about Marcus!"
Lizzie regarded the parchment, filled with hearts and cupids and the odd scribble. "Marcus?" Lizzie asked. "Who's Marcus?"
"Don't ask," Lily said, taking Lizzie's elbow and leading her towards the Great Hall. "Just make your escape while you still can!"
Lily and Lizzie rushed ahead to the Great Hall, nearly knocking Remus off his feet in their haste.
"I thought girls didn't like to eat so they could keep their figures," Sirius remarked, hauling Remus out of the way.
"That thought was lost on them," Remus said, annoyed.
"No matter, men!" James valiantly cried. "The house elves make ham and cheese sandwiches! For those we can wait!"
The three boys pushed their way through the stream of students and in to the Hall. The Gryffindor table was not difficult to find—the crimson and gold stood out in relation to the faded brown of the history classroom. The challenge was in finding three empty seats: the table was filling up very quickly.
James, Sirius, and Remus looked to the end of the table, where most of the first years tended to sit, and squeezed in beside Grace Court and Elizabeth Lab.
"Hello, ladies," Sirius greeted. They giggled and turned away from Sirius' cheeky grin.
In the few moments that Sirius had turned away, James had grabbed three ham and cheese sandwiches—his favorite—and had stuffed half of one into his mouth.
"Hungry, old boy?" Sirius teased, himself selecting roast beef.
"Yfffth," James answered, spraying bits of sandwich onto Sirius' robes.
"Watch the robe!" Sirius exclaimed. "It has to stay clean for about two more classes!"
"Then you can get it dirty?" Remus asked.
"No. Then I take it off and put on my Falmouth Falcons robes!"
James rolled his eyes. Sirius' enthusiasm for that pathetic team was so juvenile. "You may wear Falmouth Falcon robes now, but once you grow up a little more you'll be wearing Kenmare Kestrels robes."
"What?" Sirius demanded, dropping his sandwich on his plate and narrowing his eyes at James. "Treason!"
"Yeah—treason to stupidity!" James suavely answered, ducking Sirius' flung turkey on rye.
"Hey!" James said excitedly. "With an arm like that, you'd bring the Harriers to new heights!"
"Oh shut it!" Sirius growled, throwing the other half of his sandwich. This time it was much closer to Sirius' intended target, and James wheeled backwards to avoid it. James' arm swept his goblet full of pumpkin juice right off the table and into the lap of the girl sitting on the other side of Elizabeth Lab.
"Oh, oh, oh, oh!" A girl exclaimed. James turned his head and his eyes widened. He had just spilled pumpkin juice all over Lily Evans.
"Whoops," James grinned sheepishly, scratching his head. "My bad."
Two spots of color appeared on Lily's cheeks and, taking her own goblet in hand, splashed it in James' face.
"Whoops," She said sarcastically. "My hand slipped."
James spluttered. "You just threw pumpkin juice at my face!" He snarled.
"You threw it on my robes!"
"It was an accident! And there's nothing worse than a wet collar!"
"What about a soaking robe you git?"
Later, James wouldn't remember why he had been quite so worked up. For some reason, though, this Lily girl made him as angry as he would have been if Sirius' Quidditch team beat his own. Glancing at the parchment of a third-year's homework assignment, James whipped out his wand and yelled, "Vaccio!"
Nothing happened.
Lily smirked and was about to whip out a sharp remark when a tugging at her robes made her look down. The hem was slowly unraveling into a coil of string on the floor. "Professor!" She wailed, frantically trying to stop the robe from unraveling any more.
"Oh, stop your whining," Sirius said, amiably tapping Lily on the head with his wand. Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall chose that moment to show up.
"Mr. Black," She said sternly. "What is going on?"
"They threw pumpkin juice on me and then hexed my robes!" Lily cried, displaying the mess of black thread. The robes were already shredded up to her knees.
Professor McGonagall shot frigid glances at James and Sirius.
"Finite incantatum," She said, pointing her wand at Lily's robes. The unraveling slowed and then stopped.
"Miss Evans, if you would chance I believe you will be perfectly all right," the Professor said crisply.
Lily, Lexi, and Lizzie got up from their seats, the twins drying Lily's tears. All three shot dirty looks at James and Sirius.
"Boy, if looks could kill," Sirius muttered under his breath.
"You two, however, will not be perfectly all right," McGonagall snapped. "Detention. Tonight after dinner, meet in my office and we will find a suitable punishment."
"But-"Sirius started.
"Professor, Sirius didn't-" James said at the same time.
McGonagall glared. "After dinner," She said firmly. She looked over James. "And you would do well to change as well."
James sighed and rested his head in his hands.
"Men," He said. "I solemnly swear to never consider Lily Evans anything but the enemy."
Sirius and Remus gravely nodded, watching as their friend rose from his chair and left the Great Hall.
"Famous last words," Sirius said, taking a bite of James' sandwich.
Remus agreed.
"Oh come on, it's a fantastic idea!" Sirius wheedled.
James ignored him, instead focusing on trying to find Professor McGonagall's office. He couldn't quite find his way around Hogwarts yet, and had no idea where her office might be. He was fairly sure, though, that he was nowhere near it.
The part of the castle James and Sirius were currently in looked to be old and rarely used. The stones in the wall were rough and uneven, some jutting out while others sunk in. It was freezing cold, and if it weren't for the late sunset there would be little light from the few candles scattering among the walls.
The tapestries, though, were slightly interesting, so James studied them as he tried to ignore Sirius.
Sirius took no notice though, and continued on as though James were listening. "We form a band of friends! Like blood brothers without the blood! We can make an oath and a name and everything! It will be like a secret mob of robbers, except weren't not big enough to be a mob, and we won't rob anyone." Sirius grinned excitedly. "We can be a pranking mob-that-isn't-a-mob!"
"Brilliant," James said sarcastically. "Because I've always wanted to be a part of a mob-that-isn't."
"Oh come on, Jamie," Sirius said. "You're no fun. Don't you want to be in a brotherhood?"
"A pranking brotherhood, I suppose," James replied, opening a door that turned out to be a dust-covered closet.
"See?" Sirius crowed. "A fantastic idea!"
"A really fantastic idea would be to make a map of this school," James complained. "I don't even know where we are!"
"Perfect time to take a break then, eh?" Sirius said, elbowing James.
"Yeah—after detention. I don't want to be late," James said. "Come on you lazy bum."
James lead Sirius into the next room as James scouted for possible offices.
Sirius, however, made way for a statue standing in the middle of the room. It depicted a gaunt, mournful looking woman holding a vial in her left hand. She was holding it as if it might be poison. Her right elbow was clamped to her body, but her lower arm was outstretched.
"Alberta the Albino Alchemist," Sirius read. "Hmm."
Upon consideration, Sirius decided that her arm would be the perfect backrest and leaned it against it, putting his arms behind his head to relax.
Suddenly, there was a grinding noise and Sirius feel straight to the floor, as if there was no statue arm supporting him. As he looked up, he realized that there wasn't. The statue's arm was now fully pressed against its side, and a door in the wall was slowly creaking open.
James and Sirius stared openmouthed at the Albino Alchemist.
"Thanks, Alberta" Sirius croaked.
The two regained their senses and scrambled to the passage door. Peering inside, nothing was revealed besides dark and dusty walls. The end of the revealed hall—if it was the end—was shrouded in shadow.
Cobwebs hung from the ceiling in arches, giving the hall an eerie feeling.
"We'll need a candle to go down that one," Sirius noted.
James nodded. "Or a nice little charm. I bet Remus could tell us a good one. He seems like a pretty good charms student."
"Still, if we're careful, we could probably make it through without a charm," Sirius said. "Remember how in Galvin the Great Wizard issue number nine hundred seven, he uses that-," Sirius stopped talking as footsteps echoed through the hall.
Sirius hurried to Alberta's side and lifted her hand up. The passage's door slid back into place seconds before a figure appeared in the doorway.
"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall said, pursing her mouth. "I believe I asked you to be in my office after supper?"
Sirius grimaced. Of all the teachers to find them…
"Yes, but we got lost," James explained. "We don't exactly know how to get from place to place yet."
"And you never thought to ask?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.
Sirius and James fidgeted. "Well….no," They answered.
"I see," the Professor said. "Since it is an hour past the end of dinner, you will not have enough time to finish your punishment. Therefore, I will ask that you serve another detention tomorrow night."
"But Professor!"
"Since I had no chores for you," McGonagall continued smoothly. "I asked the other Professors for ideas. Although Apollyon Pringle offered to take you on for a multitude of chores, I chose to take up Professor Flitwick on his offer." McGonagall paused. "You should be thankful."
Sirius and James both thought of Pringle's cane, required by his limp but useful for banging students with. James thought McGonagall must not be as bad as she looked if she saved them from that crotchety old man.
"It seems that a student in Professor Flitwick's class exploded a slug, and he has asked you to scrub the desks and floor. As I doubt you will adequately finish both, tonight you will be cleaning the desks and tomorrow the floor."
"Yes ma'am," Sirius said meekly.
"Let me show you to the Charms classroom, as I doubt you would find it yourselves,"
the Professor said dryly.
James and Sirius followed her down the twisting corridor, feeling all of two feet tall.
"You may begin," She announced upon their arrival.
James and Sirius faced the splatters of slug with some interest.
"Gross!" Sirius said happily.
The two busied themselves scrubbing up bits of mutilated bug.
"So," James said finally. "About that brotherhood…."