CHAPTER 7
"Er... James... Sirius..." Came a timid voice.
James heard a load groan from Sirius. "What?" He mumbled sleepily, eyes half focused on a round face with blond hair. "What you doing here Peter?" He muttered, still half asleep.
"Wake up or you'll be late!" He hissed nervously. "Remus and the others told me to leave you but I didn't think you'd want to be late on the first day."
"I could have woken myself up. I was just about to wake up anyway." Sirius said indignantly. James watched as Peter slipped away from the dormitory.
"Yeah, right... He's not that bad really..." James said thoughtfully.
"You talking to yourself?" Sirius asked, staring at him.
"I'm not talking about you, you idiot!" He laughed, pulling on his robes. "I meant Peter."
Sirius grinned. "Whatever you say."
They changed and headed down to the Great Hall, to find it already packed with students. "Whoopee!" Peeves wailed as he knocked Albert Davis' bowl of cereal flying onto the head of an irritable sixth year.
James and Sirius could not help themselves laughing as the sixth year with milk dripping down his face clumsily lumbered from the hall. Remus Lupin glowered at them again. "Why don't you grow up?" He muttered and poured himself another glass of pumpkin juice.
"Sour old thing." Sirius hissed so no one else could here. Their attention was distracted from Albert and Remus however, when a wide mass of owls soared on, all different colours. Sirius frowned as a tidy chocolate brown owl came soaring towards him. A/N: And guess what happens next?! Sorry but I couldn't ignore it!!!
"Oh wonderful!" Sirius exclaimed as the owl landed on James' head. "It's going to be just great to hear from my lovely family after so many hours...
James shook the bird off, which landed by Sirius' plate and stuck out its leg from which Sirius took the red envelope, which was now starting to smoke.
Most of the Gryffindors surrounding them began to talk more loudly, as to block out the noise, while the Slytherins were turning gleefully in their seats.
Sirius opened the howler nervously and stuck his fingers in his ears. "What's going on? Why is everyone covering their - " A Gryffindor first year with red hair and green eyes began, but was interrupted by the loud shriek that followed.
"GRYFFIDOR!" Rang a very loudly magnified female voice. "IMAGINE MY SHOCK WHEN I RECEIVED THAT LETTER YESTERDAY! I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE! AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! WHO NEEDS TO BE BRAVE?! HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW MUCH FILTH LURKS IN GRYFFINDOR?! WE WERE SURE ALL OUR FAMILY WOULD END UP IN SLYTHERIN, NOW THE FAMILY HONOUR HAS BEEN SPOILT AND IT IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Sirius groaned and looked apologetically at the angry looking Gryffindors. "Sorry." He muttered as a fourth year girl flicked her hair and frowned at him.
The Slytherins were still howling with laughter. James saw two of the girls he had seen on the train hold on to the bench to steady themselves.
"Well that's made their day at least." Sirius muttered through gritted teeth.
James thought he saw Remus give him a sympathetic look, though he was sure it must have been a trick of the light, as seconds later, he was checking his timetable again.
"What was that?" The girl with red hair and green eyes asked. She was obviously a muggle born. James turned to see the exact same girl he had seen in the bookshop in Diagon Alley. "Sorry, it's just I don't have any magical relatives." She said in response to James' stare. She then turned her head upwards to gaze at the enchanted ceiling.
"Shall we go?" James poked Sirius in the ribs.
"Yeah..." He said still glaring over at the Slytherins. The pair of them got to their feet and headed to the Transfiguration classroom.
"Good morning everyone." Professor McGonnagal swept into the room as though walking onto the stage. She had her hair in an even tighter bun (if that was possible) than the day before. "Now, Transfiguration is a..." McGonnagal's face blurred, in and out of focus...
"Mr Potter, kindly repeat what I just said." The impatient old toad barked as her bony face obscured his line of vision.
James looked around as though expecting to see the words written on Sirius' face. To his astonishment, they were.
"Transfiguration, if not used in the right context can be very dangerous and sometimes deadly." James recited as the words vanished from Sirius' face.
"Thank you very much Mr Black." McGonnagal praised, lips going even thinner, if she wasn't careful she wouldn't have any left. "I am very glad you were listening, but five points from Gryffindor each." She turned around and began scribbling on the blackboard, leaving the other Gryffindors free to frown at them.
"Great." James muttered as his match spouted legs and dear old McGonnagal hurried over once more.
"Were you listening at all?" She asked in exasperation.
"Yes!" James retorted, looking horror struck she could possibly have accused him of such a crime.
"Then will you please try for the sixth time to transform your match into something other than a beetle?" Professor McGonnagal simpered.
"But you told us to transform the match into a beetle!" James replied, looking in confusion at Sirius who rolled his eyes and groaned.
"I said a needle Mr Potter!" McGonnagal cried flouncing back to the front of the class.
"How did you do that?" Frank Longbottom had turned round in his seat to admire Sirius' needle his own had turned a silvery white but was still unmistakable for wood.
James quickly transformed his own match into metal so next time McGonnagal came past she had nothing more to criticise, except maybe his untidy hair...
They left the classroom slowly and proceeded down to the dungeons for potions. On their way, a girl with long dark hair leapt out from the shadows. "Sirius Black, one of these days I swear I will be the one to kill you!" Bellatrix hissed.
"Well I am going to live to a ripe old age and have sixteen children." Sirius informed James, grinning and ignoring his cousin.
"I wouldn't bet on it." James said in an undertone. "She really does look ready to kill."
"Nah, she always looks like that." Sirius said casually and the pair of them entered the potions classroom.
"I'll tell Lestrange you said that." A boy with greasy hair and a hooked nose spat threateningly, he was the same one they had seen on the train.
"I don't care." Sirius laughed and turning back to the boy laughed harder. "You know, I reckon I could hang my robes on his nose..." He said to James as the Slytherins vanished.
"Welcome..." Came a wheezy voice from the front. "I go my the name, Professor Vexalt." On closer inspection, the dear old Professor had a gaunt, saggy look about him, only Azkaban could have achieved. His long, greying hair fell round his shoulders like curtains. "Now, potions is an amazing art... It is very... very... very..."
"Boring." Sirius yawned. It was true, the greasy haired boy they had discovered, was called Severus Snape, a fact that Sirius had found hilariously funny.
They were told to produce a repelling solution. James and Sirius copied down the instructions with difficulty, as the room was so dark, the potions teacher could have been a bat.
"Ah, hello Mr Potter." Morgan (As they had discovered from a Gryffindor prefect) paused at James' cauldron. "I knew your parents very well indeed..."
"Did you?" James thought carefully, but the name Morgan Vexalt did not ring a bell.
"Yes..." Vexalt hissed. "I did know them... very beautiful girl your mother was, yes... very beautiful." James didn't really think his mother was any different from the other women roaming the supermarkets, but Vexalt obviously thought differently.
"Drove me insane..." Me muttered. James knew this already. "Yes... very much so... Camilla Clepsydra. Such a beautiful girl..." James was sure he had spotted a tear hanging off the edge of Vexalt's left eye, but next moment he was pacing about the classroom again, pausing to admire Snape's brewing potion.
"Er... James... Sirius..." Came a timid voice.
James heard a load groan from Sirius. "What?" He mumbled sleepily, eyes half focused on a round face with blond hair. "What you doing here Peter?" He muttered, still half asleep.
"Wake up or you'll be late!" He hissed nervously. "Remus and the others told me to leave you but I didn't think you'd want to be late on the first day."
"I could have woken myself up. I was just about to wake up anyway." Sirius said indignantly. James watched as Peter slipped away from the dormitory.
"Yeah, right... He's not that bad really..." James said thoughtfully.
"You talking to yourself?" Sirius asked, staring at him.
"I'm not talking about you, you idiot!" He laughed, pulling on his robes. "I meant Peter."
Sirius grinned. "Whatever you say."
They changed and headed down to the Great Hall, to find it already packed with students. "Whoopee!" Peeves wailed as he knocked Albert Davis' bowl of cereal flying onto the head of an irritable sixth year.
James and Sirius could not help themselves laughing as the sixth year with milk dripping down his face clumsily lumbered from the hall. Remus Lupin glowered at them again. "Why don't you grow up?" He muttered and poured himself another glass of pumpkin juice.
"Sour old thing." Sirius hissed so no one else could here. Their attention was distracted from Albert and Remus however, when a wide mass of owls soared on, all different colours. Sirius frowned as a tidy chocolate brown owl came soaring towards him. A/N: And guess what happens next?! Sorry but I couldn't ignore it!!!
"Oh wonderful!" Sirius exclaimed as the owl landed on James' head. "It's going to be just great to hear from my lovely family after so many hours...
James shook the bird off, which landed by Sirius' plate and stuck out its leg from which Sirius took the red envelope, which was now starting to smoke.
Most of the Gryffindors surrounding them began to talk more loudly, as to block out the noise, while the Slytherins were turning gleefully in their seats.
Sirius opened the howler nervously and stuck his fingers in his ears. "What's going on? Why is everyone covering their - " A Gryffindor first year with red hair and green eyes began, but was interrupted by the loud shriek that followed.
"GRYFFIDOR!" Rang a very loudly magnified female voice. "IMAGINE MY SHOCK WHEN I RECEIVED THAT LETTER YESTERDAY! I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE! AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! WHO NEEDS TO BE BRAVE?! HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW MUCH FILTH LURKS IN GRYFFINDOR?! WE WERE SURE ALL OUR FAMILY WOULD END UP IN SLYTHERIN, NOW THE FAMILY HONOUR HAS BEEN SPOILT AND IT IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Sirius groaned and looked apologetically at the angry looking Gryffindors. "Sorry." He muttered as a fourth year girl flicked her hair and frowned at him.
The Slytherins were still howling with laughter. James saw two of the girls he had seen on the train hold on to the bench to steady themselves.
"Well that's made their day at least." Sirius muttered through gritted teeth.
James thought he saw Remus give him a sympathetic look, though he was sure it must have been a trick of the light, as seconds later, he was checking his timetable again.
"What was that?" The girl with red hair and green eyes asked. She was obviously a muggle born. James turned to see the exact same girl he had seen in the bookshop in Diagon Alley. "Sorry, it's just I don't have any magical relatives." She said in response to James' stare. She then turned her head upwards to gaze at the enchanted ceiling.
"Shall we go?" James poked Sirius in the ribs.
"Yeah..." He said still glaring over at the Slytherins. The pair of them got to their feet and headed to the Transfiguration classroom.
"Good morning everyone." Professor McGonnagal swept into the room as though walking onto the stage. She had her hair in an even tighter bun (if that was possible) than the day before. "Now, Transfiguration is a..." McGonnagal's face blurred, in and out of focus...
"Mr Potter, kindly repeat what I just said." The impatient old toad barked as her bony face obscured his line of vision.
James looked around as though expecting to see the words written on Sirius' face. To his astonishment, they were.
"Transfiguration, if not used in the right context can be very dangerous and sometimes deadly." James recited as the words vanished from Sirius' face.
"Thank you very much Mr Black." McGonnagal praised, lips going even thinner, if she wasn't careful she wouldn't have any left. "I am very glad you were listening, but five points from Gryffindor each." She turned around and began scribbling on the blackboard, leaving the other Gryffindors free to frown at them.
"Great." James muttered as his match spouted legs and dear old McGonnagal hurried over once more.
"Were you listening at all?" She asked in exasperation.
"Yes!" James retorted, looking horror struck she could possibly have accused him of such a crime.
"Then will you please try for the sixth time to transform your match into something other than a beetle?" Professor McGonnagal simpered.
"But you told us to transform the match into a beetle!" James replied, looking in confusion at Sirius who rolled his eyes and groaned.
"I said a needle Mr Potter!" McGonnagal cried flouncing back to the front of the class.
"How did you do that?" Frank Longbottom had turned round in his seat to admire Sirius' needle his own had turned a silvery white but was still unmistakable for wood.
James quickly transformed his own match into metal so next time McGonnagal came past she had nothing more to criticise, except maybe his untidy hair...
They left the classroom slowly and proceeded down to the dungeons for potions. On their way, a girl with long dark hair leapt out from the shadows. "Sirius Black, one of these days I swear I will be the one to kill you!" Bellatrix hissed.
"Well I am going to live to a ripe old age and have sixteen children." Sirius informed James, grinning and ignoring his cousin.
"I wouldn't bet on it." James said in an undertone. "She really does look ready to kill."
"Nah, she always looks like that." Sirius said casually and the pair of them entered the potions classroom.
"I'll tell Lestrange you said that." A boy with greasy hair and a hooked nose spat threateningly, he was the same one they had seen on the train.
"I don't care." Sirius laughed and turning back to the boy laughed harder. "You know, I reckon I could hang my robes on his nose..." He said to James as the Slytherins vanished.
"Welcome..." Came a wheezy voice from the front. "I go my the name, Professor Vexalt." On closer inspection, the dear old Professor had a gaunt, saggy look about him, only Azkaban could have achieved. His long, greying hair fell round his shoulders like curtains. "Now, potions is an amazing art... It is very... very... very..."
"Boring." Sirius yawned. It was true, the greasy haired boy they had discovered, was called Severus Snape, a fact that Sirius had found hilariously funny.
They were told to produce a repelling solution. James and Sirius copied down the instructions with difficulty, as the room was so dark, the potions teacher could have been a bat.
"Ah, hello Mr Potter." Morgan (As they had discovered from a Gryffindor prefect) paused at James' cauldron. "I knew your parents very well indeed..."
"Did you?" James thought carefully, but the name Morgan Vexalt did not ring a bell.
"Yes..." Vexalt hissed. "I did know them... very beautiful girl your mother was, yes... very beautiful." James didn't really think his mother was any different from the other women roaming the supermarkets, but Vexalt obviously thought differently.
"Drove me insane..." Me muttered. James knew this already. "Yes... very much so... Camilla Clepsydra. Such a beautiful girl..." James was sure he had spotted a tear hanging off the edge of Vexalt's left eye, but next moment he was pacing about the classroom again, pausing to admire Snape's brewing potion.