Disclaimer:  See first chapter!!

Howdy out there! I have April vaca. Next week!!!!!!!!!  Yah!!!  Which means I can post more!!  Yah!!!!  Lol.  I keep getting new reviewers!  It's amazing!  I love you all sooooooo much!!  Hugs all around!  

Chelles:  Thanks!  OMG my stupid computer wouldn't let me review your first post for your new story.  I was pressing the button like crazy and it wouldn't go.  O well I'll just have to review here!  I love how you put that little thing for the first post just like in the last story.  I don't know what to call it.  I thought the first chapter was...amazing, magnificent, awesome, great, and unbelievably good, ummmm...okay I can't think of any more adjectives but it was sooo good.  I like how you put the Order in there.  Also I can kinda see that Peter is drifting away from the group, not even that much but just a tad.  I don't know how you're going to make him betray them because he seems so nice to me.  I'm sure it'll be great once you do it.  So great first post and update soon!  Oh yeah thanks for reviewing!!

Queen of Zan:  Welcome to my story!!  Thanks for reviewing!  You're so not a dork!!  A little crazy... (I read your bio) but not a dork!!  Lol jk!  Ya know, I think I post too often!  Thanks again! 

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JkReviewer:  Hi!  Oh no!  I have to follow in the wake of Chelles?!  But she's too good!  I might as well just remove my story!  Just kidding!  Oh my gosh you added me to your favorite stories!  Yes!  Thanks!  I probably should increase the lengths of my posts.  Good idea.  I will definitely check out your stories.  I did what you told me and disabled the "only allow signed reviews thing"!  You're patient, I love you already!  Thanks a bunch for reviewing!

Ugh!  Being sick totally sucks!  I didn't get to post cause I've been sick and busy this week.  Please accept my deepest apologies!  Lol...I don't feel like talking (which is a first) so here's the post!!

Chapter 7:  Magic and Mudbloods

If Lily thought she was amazed before, she should have waited until the first week of classes was over.  She had never seen anything like the things she was being taught to do.  On her first day she had Transfiguration, which was taught by Professor McGonagall.  She gave them a talking to the second she was done with the roll call.  "Transfiguration is very complex and risky magic.  I will not tolerate any misbehavior in my class or you will leave and not come back.  This is your warning." She had said sternly.  Immediately after that she turned her chair into a dog and back again.  Lily and Melissa exchanged anxious glances and couldn't wait to try it but it turned out that they wouldn't be changing furniture into animals until sixth year.  McGonagall then gave them lots of notes that they had to copy down.  Then they were each given a match that they had to change into a needle.  Lily had a hard time with it and only managed for the match to change color.  James was the only one in the class to successfully change the match and the stern professor rewarded him with 5 points and a rare smile.

3 times every week the Gryffindors went outside to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology with the Hufflepuffs.  This class was taught by a plump little with named Professor Sprout.  There they studied different kinds of magical plants and learned their uses.  Shannon seemed especially good at this class.  When Lily asked her about it she said, "My mum has a whole garden of magical plants and she makes sure I know each one by name and its uses."

The position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was said to be cursed ever since a professor from a long time ago was found dead in his classroom.  All the older students said that by your seventh year you'd have seven Defense Against the Dark Arts professors.  This year's professor was Professor Blackheart.  Lily didn't know what made her so uneasy around him.  It might have been the way he seemed to stare at her and Melissa.  Or maybe it was the fact that he seemed to have it in for Remus.  The two classes they'd had that week, he had taken a total of 25 points away from Remus.  This didn't seem to bother Remus who most of the time ignored him.  Lily could see that James and Sirius were getting quite annoyed with him though, and Lily hoped they didn't do anything drastic. 

Charms was by far Lily's favorite class so far.  It was taught by Professor Flitwick, a very short wizard that had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk.  The first class they learned different wand movements for different spells like the swish and flick method.  Flitwick demonstrated the Levitation Charm by making one of Peters quills zoom around the classroom.  He told them that they probably wouldn't start that spell until the end of October. 

Lily had been very excited to have the History of Magic class but her anxiousness had been put out five minutes into the class.  History of Magic was taught by Professor Binns who was, in fact, a ghost.  It is said that he had fallen asleep in the staff room by the fire and had gotten up the next morning to teach a class, and left his body behind.  It easily became the most boring class as Binns kept droning on and on about people and dates.  James and Sirius nodded off to sleep near the beginning of the class.  Lily and Melissa tried to stay awake to take some notes on Emeric the Evil but got most of the dates mixed up. 

It was Friday when the time came to go have the one class they hadn't yet.  The girls arrived at breakfast to hear the boys whining and groaning. 

"What's wrong with you lot?" Melissa asked, sliding into a seat next to Sirius.  The boys wordlessly pointed at their schedules.  The girls glanced at their schedules. 

"What's the matter with Potions?" Kelly queried confused.

"Yeah.  It sounds exciting.  Brewing things and such," Lily said.

"You're missing one minor detail.  We have it with the Slytherins," James explained.  "There's not a wizard or witch out there that went bad that wasn't in Slytherin."

"Also, I heard that the Head of Slytherin House is the professor.  The older students say she favors them," Remus said.

"Oh come on!  It's just the Slytherins!" Sirius exclaimed.  Except if came out like "Oh covf od!  Etfs jufts de Slifferivs!" because his mouth was half full of food. 

Melissa inched away from him. "Right," she said.  She turned back to the rest of them.  "At least we have the afternoon off.  What should we do?"

"Hmmm.  Maybe we could go outside," Lily suggested.  She looked up at the ceiling.  "It looks like it's going to be a nice day outside."

"Yeah, that's an okay idea," Sirius said, waving her idea away.  He turned to the boys. "I was thinking we could explore the castle.  There's got to be some sort of secret passageways around here."

"That's an awesome idea," James agreed.  He must have seen Lily's put out expression because he added, "Though Lily's idea is quite good too."

Lily smiled at him gratefully.  The bell rang signaling there was only five minutes until class begun.  The eight of them picked up their bags and headed out of the Great Hall.  Instead of going up the Main Staircase they went the opposite direction, to the stairs that led down to the dungeons.  There schedule said that the dungeon they were supposed to be in was the first one which was the farthest away.  As soon as they stepped into the room the bell rang.

"You're late," a voice told them.  At a desk in the front of the room sat a tall woman with short blonde hair.  She looked at them in distaste. "10 points from Gryffindor.  Take your seats."

Lily glanced at Melissa who led them over to a table in the back of the room.  Sirius and James took the table to the right of them, Remus and Peter to the left of them, and Kelly and Shannon took the table in front of them.  "This is Potions class and my name is Professor Devilin."

Sirius had to stifle his laughter by turning it into a racking cough.  The professor turned to look at him. "Something wrong, Mr. ..."

"Black."

"Ah.  Is there something particularly amusing about my last name, Mr. Black?" she asked him in an oily voice.

"No ma'am," Sirius answered looking her straight in the eye.  Lily could tell he was struggling not to laugh.  

"Of course not.  Now on to class.  Potions is a magic unlike any other.  It takes a certain amount of skill and aptitude that I'm sure only a few select people in this class have," Devilin's eyes slid to a boy with greasy black hair sitting in the front of the class.  "Today we will be making a simple potion that cures wart.  You will be working with the person you are sitting next to.  Ingredients are in the file cabinet to the left." With a wave of her wand the directions for the potion appeared on the board.  She looked at all of them. "Well?  What are you waiting for?  Get to work!"

Lily went up to the file cabinet to get the ingredients will Melissa lit up their cauldrons.  "Well what do we have here?" a voice sneered to her right.  She looked over there and noticed that one of Sirius's cousins was standing next to her, the one with the black hair. 

"Hello," Lily said to her, reaching into the cabinet for some porcupine quills.  The girl stared at her.  "My name's Lily Evans."

"Bellatrix Black," the girl responded.  She looked thoughtfully at her. "Hm, I've never heard of the name Evans before.  Are you from the States?"

"Oh no, I'm a muggleborn," Lily replied taking some crushed snake fangs.  Bellatrix became silent.  Lily turned to look at her and was surprised at what she saw.  Bellatrix's face was contorted with disgust and she inched away from Lily.

"Mudblood," Bellatrix hissed loudly.  The room instantly became quiet.

"What did you call me?" Lily asked defensively.  The name sounded foul.

"I called you a Mudblood," Bellatrix taunted. She wrinkled her nose. "I bet you, you don't even know what it means."

"Well I know what it means, and I don't like it," James said coldly from behind Lily.

"No one cares if you don't like it Potter.  You are a disgrace to the word pureblood.  You and your friend Black there," a voice came.  Lily looked to the left of Bellatrix.  There was that greasy haired boy that Professor Devilin had glanced at.

"Ah, Snape.  Just who I wanted to talk to," James spat.  Lily had never heard James speak so harshly and she didn't like it. "What happened to going to Durmstrang?  Not enough Dark Arts for you there?"

"Even though it's none of your business, if you must know Potter," Snape bit James' name out like it was poison. "My grandfather—."

"Don't talk about that murder in front of me," James growled through clenched teeth.  He looked livid.  Lily and Bellatrix stood between them; Bellatrix looking gleeful and Lily looking stricken.  Snape reached inside his robes for his wand but Professor Devilin proceeded to break things up.

"What is going on here?" she asked looking at the four of them.  Snape and James continued to glare at each other, Bellatrix looked innocently at her, and Lily frowned.  "Well?"

"Nothing, Professor," James answered, breaking the starring contest with Snape. "We were just having a friendly chat."

"There is to be no chit chatting when getting supplies!" Devilin screeched. "Now get your supplies and go back to your seats.  If I hear one more peep out of any of you, it's a detention."

The class quickly went back to their work.  Bellatrix shot one last nasty look at Lily before returning to her table.  Lily hurried back to her own table and dumped her supplies on the surface.  Melissa gave her a puzzled look and glanced at James who was heatedly talking to Sirius.  "What's a Mudblood?" Melissa asked her softly, starting to follow the potion directions.

"I'm not sure," Lily told her, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.  She started stirring the cauldron. "But I don't think it's a good thing."

Lily and Melissa continued to make their potion in silence.  The made sure they measured everything correctly and stirred it right.  "Is it supposed to be bright green like that?" Melissa questioned Lily nervously. 

Lily looked up to the board.  "Yeah, it says that once it turns green we have to stir it 6 times clockwise and then it should be done."

Melissa breathed a sigh of relief and began to stir it, counting out loud.  Lily looked to her right where James and Sirius looked like they had they're potion under control.  To the left of them, Remus looked like he was trying to correct something Peter had done.  Shannon and Kelly looked stressed out and Lily could see that their potion had turned a rather bright pink.

"Once you're done, get two vials from my desk and fill it up with your potion," Professor Devilin called. 

Lily went to retrieve the vials while Melissa finished her last stir.  The both ladled the potion into their vials and put their names on it.  Suddenly the bell rang signaling the end of class.  James stalked out of class, already having turned in his vial, and Sirius, Remus, and Peter hurried after him.  The Slytherins sneered at the girls as they pack they're things away and soon they were all alone, as Professor Devilin had retreated to her office.  

The girls quickly hurried out of the classroom and up the stairs out of the dungeons.  Lily glanced at Shannon and Kelly. "Do either of you know what's wrong with James?  Why'd he get so angry?" she asked them. 

Shannon and Kelly hesitated and exchanged glances.  Shannon sighed. "Well first of all, James doesn't like the word 'Mudblood' like most respectable purebloods."

"But what is a Mudblood?" Melissa inquired. 

Shannon and Kelly shared another look.  "It's a foul name for a witch or wizard who had muggle parents," Kelly said uncomfortably, not looking either Melissa or Lily in the eye.  "It means dirty blood."

This time it was Lily and Melissa who glanced at each other.  Shannon quickly added, "But it's only some people like those nasty Slytherins who call people that.  It's horrible."

Lily regained her composure quickly.  I won't let this affect me, she told herself.  "So what was the other reason James got angry at that boy?"

Shannon took a deep breath and bit her lip.  "Snape's grandfather supposedly murdered James' grandfather."

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Omg I haven't posted in like a week!  Sorry about that!  So what do you think about this post?  I know what you're thinking.  It never said anywhere that Snape's grandfather killed James' but this is my story and anything's possible.  Lol.  I made it longer!  I hope everyone likes it.  If anyone had any suggestions they would be much appreciated.  So REVIEW!!