Chapter six: The First Day of Term:
James had to get up at three o'clock in the morning to add clover grass and powdered scarab to the potion that was hiding under his bed. James did so, let the potion simmer slightly making sure nothing was going to go wrong with it, then stuck it back under his bed, and went back to sleep. James woke a few hours later at the awful time of seven o'clock, when his friends decided he should get up, and started making really loud noises. "Alrigh, alrigh" James said groggily. Since the boys had to be up at this time, they were, for the first time since they got back to school, having breakfast with the rest of the school.
James's eyes lingered on Lilly, who was laughing at a joke or something Lou or Laura had just said, then back to his breakfast. "So what is happening today? What are we doing?" Sirius asked. They all shock their heads.
"Hey, Sebbins, have the timetables been handed out?" Remus asked a boy with blonde hair, sitting across the table.
"Nah, Dumbledore's making another speech about it, after breakfast," the boy said rolling his eyes at the mention of Dumbledore's speech. James felt a rush of anger towards Sebbins, after all, the only reason James was having the slightest bit of fun with his friends, is because of Dumbledore, in James's opinion, he is the best head teacher Hogwarts has ever, and will ever see. James and the rest of the Marauders finished there breakfast and watched the head table to see if Dumbledore had finished his breakfast yet, he hadn't. Since James had nothing to do but wait, his eyes slid down to Lilly, again. She was still eating her breakfast, one of her friends, he thought: "It was Lou, or was it Laura, no, Lou," well, she had finished her breakfast, and was staring around the table, looking for someone. Lilly and Laura hadn't noticed and were still talking to each other, but Lou was in a frantic, but subtle, search for someone. Lilly suddenly said something to Lou and she went bright red and hid her face, Laura was laughing as well, but Lilly said something to her, and her face also turned red. James turned attention back to Dumbledore who had just stood up. "Good morning to you all, I hope you are all ready to endure a good days hard work, and fun" Dumbledore said smiling broadly. "Now, there is no timetable for the next eleven and a half weeks. None of the houses will be together. The houses will sometimes be competing against each other, in sports, and sometimes quizzes in your normal classes. You are to obey all the teachers and not to cause them any havoc, and I will have you all know, that although we are going to be having fun this term, detentions will still be in use, so beware." Dumbledore said looking at Sirius and James, who grinned at each other. "Now, the classes are as follows: Ravenclaw's, you will be taking normal classes today," There were tons of moans from the table on the right. Dumbledore continued, "Hufflepuff's, you will be attending Music class with Professor Flitz, Slytherin's, you will be attending Drama classes with Professor Drummond, and Gryffindor's, that leaves you to be playing sports with Professor Midgeal" Dumbledore said.
"Not bad!" Sirius said to the rest of the Marauders,
"Yeah, I feel sorry for the Ravenclaw's though" Remus said.
"Now, you will all break for lunch at twelve o'clock, and your lunch will be until two o'clock, giving you two hours. Ravenclaw's, please come to me for instructions on what your supposed to do today. The rest of you, please go to the Professor that you have been assigned with for today. I warn you, every day, you will be changing subjects, and you will have an exam in the usual subjects at the end of the term. Sorry to disappoint you" Dumbledore said with a wink, and then sat down.
"An exam!" Peter exclaimed, "Great, way to ruin a holiday" Peter said sulkily, the others laughed.
"Come on, let's go and see if this, Midgeal, is any good" James said. The others followed him to the pack of Gryffindor's, who were in a tight knot round Professor Midgeal.
"Now, gather round, gather round, we have a lot to do today" Professor Midgeal said brightly. "Now, we want to beat the Slytherin's, don't we, don't tell them I said that, but I was in Gryffindor a few years back, and unless I'm much mistaken, there is still a lot of tension around you two" She continued
"Well, we like to call it hatred" James said out loud, a few people laughed, but James noticed that one of the few who didn't was Lilly.
"Ahhh, I think I know who you are, you would be either, James, Sirius, Remus or Peter, am I correct?" She asked
"Yeah, your right" Sirius said, "Me being Sirius, him being James, him being Remus" He pointed at Remus, "And him being Peter, "Sirius pointed at Peter. Professor Midgeal smiled, "Yes, I was warned about you lot, never mind, glad to know you have spirit." She said. James wasn't too sure if this was a compliment, but Sirius took it as one and smirked. "Now, lets go outside to the lake, and I'll tell you what your task is." Every one followed her outside to the lake, where there was three people standing out there, Professor Midgeal stopped and turned to the class, beaming, "This is the Slythrin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teachers. Professor Dumbledore decided it would be best if he hired people from there old houses, to teach the current houses, so not to be biased, not that any of us would be." She said smirking, "Now, today we are going to concentrate on Quidditch, I have been informed that the whole of the Gryffindor Quidditch team are here," she asked, and people nodded, "Good, now follow me over there now, leaving this lot behind" She said jokingly to the other three professors. They all went round to the Quidditch pitch and Professor Midgeal asked them to all sit on the stands, and they did so.
"So, where are the Quidditch players?" She asked the silent class, James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, Lou, Lilly and Laura all raised their hands. "Ahhh, so we have the famous troublemakers on the team do we? Very well, lower your hands. I want you all to pair up, even if you're not on the team, were going to see what you're made off! Oh, and yes that means no threes" Professor Midgeal said as she saw Lilly, Lou and Laura stay close together, as if they were trying to say, 'your not splitting up and you cant make us.' James watched as Laura, Lilly and Lou all decided who else to pair with, "Hey, Laura? Wanna go with me? That is if your not going with them" James herd Sebbins say to Laura. James and the rest of the Marauders were very interested in what was happening, apart from them, they were the most famous group at Hogwarts, they never split up, and here it was, some boy, who James hated, was breaking them up. They all watched in amazement as Laura went and joined him at a different part of the stands. James was paired with Sirius, and Peter and Remus were together.
"Now that everyone is in twos, we shall begin. I want one of you to hold a bat, and the other to aim a Quaffle at it, and then we will be swapping to the field where you will get marked. You will be of course, be using real Bludger's by this time, and you will be marked on your speed, power and of course, overall effect. I want to make all of you into Quidditch players, and I need to find your strengths. So, every one, wands out ready to get those Quaffle's back after your partner throws them across the field, and get into a space, begin. Now." Professor Midgeal said briskly. James and Sirius were both very talented at all areas of the Quidditch pitch, and found no difficulty in the skill they were trying to master. James spent his time telling Sirius how pointless this was, and Sirius spent the time, trying to knock James's head off with the Quaffle. A half hour later, Professor Midgeal told them to swap over; so then James spent that half hour Professor Midgeal told them to swap over; so then James spent that half hour trying to knock Sirius's head off. The morning bell went off another half hour later, at ten o'clock, indicating for their extended break, of one hour. When they got back to class, well, Quidditch practice, Professor Midgeal assigned them back in to pairs, but this time, they were to practice defending the goals. She charmed enough sets of hoops out of thin air for them to practice on, these hoops were smaller than the normal ones, and she also shrunk the Quaffle's to make it easier. James yet again complained about how easy this was, but not as much as Sirius, as he was the Keeper for Gryffindor team. They swapped over at their normal interval of half an hour, and half an hour after that, they were heading back up to the castle, for lunch. "So, what do you think of her, guys?" Sirius asked the rest of the Marauders, "She's alright, I guess, doesn't really make an impression, not a good one, nor a bad one," Remus said
"Yeah, she's alright" Peter said digging into his casserole.
"Yeah, alright" James said, now he was also digging into his lunch. When they had all finished they retired to their favourite tree, and relaxed. The main topic of conversation was the map that was in the making, apparently it only needed ingredients added at night time, so no one had to duck out of classes, to add to it, "Not that I would of minded" Sirius had said. When the bell to return to classes came, they made their way, once again, to the Quidditch pitch, where Professor Midgeal was conjuring up some brooms, "Ahhh, I see we are all back. Back into pairs then if you don't mind." She said briskly. She explained that they would now be doing Chaser practice, and by this, you would be streaking up and down your little bit of the pitch, passing the Quaffle to one and other. Sirius and James, who had paired together again, couldn't help but show off, James and Sirius made sure to do tight turns, loop the loops, swerves and other show off tactics. They did however get the result they wanted, most of the pairs close to them, including Remus and Peter had stopped to admire them, and applauded. When the hour of Chaser practice was up it was time for Seeker practice, James's talent, but to his disappointment, all they were doing was throwing muggle golf balls at each other, at weird angels. James managed to catch them all, and complained a lot, because Sirius was making it too easy. An hour later when every one had had a shot of being seeker, there was to be an hours worth of a Quidditch game. They all divided up into sevens, and James somehow managed, to the other Marauders amazement; convince Lilly, Lou and Laura to play in a team with them. The team got marked on all of their performances, and got tens on all of them, even Lilly, Lou and Laura, who had never played Beater in their lives, managed to get a ten. Then when the whole game against another team was put into action, James's team won three hundred to ten. Professor Midgeal was absolutely delighted. At five o'clock James and the other Murderers made their way back up to the castle for dinner. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all talking keenly for the rest of the night about their wonderful lessons today.
James had to get up at three o'clock in the morning to add clover grass and powdered scarab to the potion that was hiding under his bed. James did so, let the potion simmer slightly making sure nothing was going to go wrong with it, then stuck it back under his bed, and went back to sleep. James woke a few hours later at the awful time of seven o'clock, when his friends decided he should get up, and started making really loud noises. "Alrigh, alrigh" James said groggily. Since the boys had to be up at this time, they were, for the first time since they got back to school, having breakfast with the rest of the school.
James's eyes lingered on Lilly, who was laughing at a joke or something Lou or Laura had just said, then back to his breakfast. "So what is happening today? What are we doing?" Sirius asked. They all shock their heads.
"Hey, Sebbins, have the timetables been handed out?" Remus asked a boy with blonde hair, sitting across the table.
"Nah, Dumbledore's making another speech about it, after breakfast," the boy said rolling his eyes at the mention of Dumbledore's speech. James felt a rush of anger towards Sebbins, after all, the only reason James was having the slightest bit of fun with his friends, is because of Dumbledore, in James's opinion, he is the best head teacher Hogwarts has ever, and will ever see. James and the rest of the Marauders finished there breakfast and watched the head table to see if Dumbledore had finished his breakfast yet, he hadn't. Since James had nothing to do but wait, his eyes slid down to Lilly, again. She was still eating her breakfast, one of her friends, he thought: "It was Lou, or was it Laura, no, Lou," well, she had finished her breakfast, and was staring around the table, looking for someone. Lilly and Laura hadn't noticed and were still talking to each other, but Lou was in a frantic, but subtle, search for someone. Lilly suddenly said something to Lou and she went bright red and hid her face, Laura was laughing as well, but Lilly said something to her, and her face also turned red. James turned attention back to Dumbledore who had just stood up. "Good morning to you all, I hope you are all ready to endure a good days hard work, and fun" Dumbledore said smiling broadly. "Now, there is no timetable for the next eleven and a half weeks. None of the houses will be together. The houses will sometimes be competing against each other, in sports, and sometimes quizzes in your normal classes. You are to obey all the teachers and not to cause them any havoc, and I will have you all know, that although we are going to be having fun this term, detentions will still be in use, so beware." Dumbledore said looking at Sirius and James, who grinned at each other. "Now, the classes are as follows: Ravenclaw's, you will be taking normal classes today," There were tons of moans from the table on the right. Dumbledore continued, "Hufflepuff's, you will be attending Music class with Professor Flitz, Slytherin's, you will be attending Drama classes with Professor Drummond, and Gryffindor's, that leaves you to be playing sports with Professor Midgeal" Dumbledore said.
"Not bad!" Sirius said to the rest of the Marauders,
"Yeah, I feel sorry for the Ravenclaw's though" Remus said.
"Now, you will all break for lunch at twelve o'clock, and your lunch will be until two o'clock, giving you two hours. Ravenclaw's, please come to me for instructions on what your supposed to do today. The rest of you, please go to the Professor that you have been assigned with for today. I warn you, every day, you will be changing subjects, and you will have an exam in the usual subjects at the end of the term. Sorry to disappoint you" Dumbledore said with a wink, and then sat down.
"An exam!" Peter exclaimed, "Great, way to ruin a holiday" Peter said sulkily, the others laughed.
"Come on, let's go and see if this, Midgeal, is any good" James said. The others followed him to the pack of Gryffindor's, who were in a tight knot round Professor Midgeal.
"Now, gather round, gather round, we have a lot to do today" Professor Midgeal said brightly. "Now, we want to beat the Slytherin's, don't we, don't tell them I said that, but I was in Gryffindor a few years back, and unless I'm much mistaken, there is still a lot of tension around you two" She continued
"Well, we like to call it hatred" James said out loud, a few people laughed, but James noticed that one of the few who didn't was Lilly.
"Ahhh, I think I know who you are, you would be either, James, Sirius, Remus or Peter, am I correct?" She asked
"Yeah, your right" Sirius said, "Me being Sirius, him being James, him being Remus" He pointed at Remus, "And him being Peter, "Sirius pointed at Peter. Professor Midgeal smiled, "Yes, I was warned about you lot, never mind, glad to know you have spirit." She said. James wasn't too sure if this was a compliment, but Sirius took it as one and smirked. "Now, lets go outside to the lake, and I'll tell you what your task is." Every one followed her outside to the lake, where there was three people standing out there, Professor Midgeal stopped and turned to the class, beaming, "This is the Slythrin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teachers. Professor Dumbledore decided it would be best if he hired people from there old houses, to teach the current houses, so not to be biased, not that any of us would be." She said smirking, "Now, today we are going to concentrate on Quidditch, I have been informed that the whole of the Gryffindor Quidditch team are here," she asked, and people nodded, "Good, now follow me over there now, leaving this lot behind" She said jokingly to the other three professors. They all went round to the Quidditch pitch and Professor Midgeal asked them to all sit on the stands, and they did so.
"So, where are the Quidditch players?" She asked the silent class, James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, Lou, Lilly and Laura all raised their hands. "Ahhh, so we have the famous troublemakers on the team do we? Very well, lower your hands. I want you all to pair up, even if you're not on the team, were going to see what you're made off! Oh, and yes that means no threes" Professor Midgeal said as she saw Lilly, Lou and Laura stay close together, as if they were trying to say, 'your not splitting up and you cant make us.' James watched as Laura, Lilly and Lou all decided who else to pair with, "Hey, Laura? Wanna go with me? That is if your not going with them" James herd Sebbins say to Laura. James and the rest of the Marauders were very interested in what was happening, apart from them, they were the most famous group at Hogwarts, they never split up, and here it was, some boy, who James hated, was breaking them up. They all watched in amazement as Laura went and joined him at a different part of the stands. James was paired with Sirius, and Peter and Remus were together.
"Now that everyone is in twos, we shall begin. I want one of you to hold a bat, and the other to aim a Quaffle at it, and then we will be swapping to the field where you will get marked. You will be of course, be using real Bludger's by this time, and you will be marked on your speed, power and of course, overall effect. I want to make all of you into Quidditch players, and I need to find your strengths. So, every one, wands out ready to get those Quaffle's back after your partner throws them across the field, and get into a space, begin. Now." Professor Midgeal said briskly. James and Sirius were both very talented at all areas of the Quidditch pitch, and found no difficulty in the skill they were trying to master. James spent his time telling Sirius how pointless this was, and Sirius spent the time, trying to knock James's head off with the Quaffle. A half hour later, Professor Midgeal told them to swap over; so then James spent that half hour Professor Midgeal told them to swap over; so then James spent that half hour trying to knock Sirius's head off. The morning bell went off another half hour later, at ten o'clock, indicating for their extended break, of one hour. When they got back to class, well, Quidditch practice, Professor Midgeal assigned them back in to pairs, but this time, they were to practice defending the goals. She charmed enough sets of hoops out of thin air for them to practice on, these hoops were smaller than the normal ones, and she also shrunk the Quaffle's to make it easier. James yet again complained about how easy this was, but not as much as Sirius, as he was the Keeper for Gryffindor team. They swapped over at their normal interval of half an hour, and half an hour after that, they were heading back up to the castle, for lunch. "So, what do you think of her, guys?" Sirius asked the rest of the Marauders, "She's alright, I guess, doesn't really make an impression, not a good one, nor a bad one," Remus said
"Yeah, she's alright" Peter said digging into his casserole.
"Yeah, alright" James said, now he was also digging into his lunch. When they had all finished they retired to their favourite tree, and relaxed. The main topic of conversation was the map that was in the making, apparently it only needed ingredients added at night time, so no one had to duck out of classes, to add to it, "Not that I would of minded" Sirius had said. When the bell to return to classes came, they made their way, once again, to the Quidditch pitch, where Professor Midgeal was conjuring up some brooms, "Ahhh, I see we are all back. Back into pairs then if you don't mind." She said briskly. She explained that they would now be doing Chaser practice, and by this, you would be streaking up and down your little bit of the pitch, passing the Quaffle to one and other. Sirius and James, who had paired together again, couldn't help but show off, James and Sirius made sure to do tight turns, loop the loops, swerves and other show off tactics. They did however get the result they wanted, most of the pairs close to them, including Remus and Peter had stopped to admire them, and applauded. When the hour of Chaser practice was up it was time for Seeker practice, James's talent, but to his disappointment, all they were doing was throwing muggle golf balls at each other, at weird angels. James managed to catch them all, and complained a lot, because Sirius was making it too easy. An hour later when every one had had a shot of being seeker, there was to be an hours worth of a Quidditch game. They all divided up into sevens, and James somehow managed, to the other Marauders amazement; convince Lilly, Lou and Laura to play in a team with them. The team got marked on all of their performances, and got tens on all of them, even Lilly, Lou and Laura, who had never played Beater in their lives, managed to get a ten. Then when the whole game against another team was put into action, James's team won three hundred to ten. Professor Midgeal was absolutely delighted. At five o'clock James and the other Murderers made their way back up to the castle for dinner. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all talking keenly for the rest of the night about their wonderful lessons today.