Time Can Fix All Things
Chapter 3 - Some Things Aren't Always What They Seem
September 2, 1976
The next morning I found myself being so rudely shaken awake by an excited Lily.
"Come on, Nicole! Rise and shine! First day of classes today!" I groaned and pulled the covers over my head, only to have them pulled off of my bed completely.
I finally got up and stretched. "You've got to be kidding me, it's only my third day in Europe and classes are already starting."
Lily smiled. "Oh, come on, it's not going to be that bad, you know."
Fifteen minutes later the two of us made our way into the Great Hall for breakfast. The four Marauders were already sitting at the Gryffindor table, and Lily rolled her eyes as they waved to us to sit with them.
"Oh, come on, it's not going to be that bad," I mocked using the same sweet voice Lily herself had used earlier. I grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her along with me.
"Well, this is certainly new, Evans is actually sitting with us on her own free will?" Peter joked questioningly as we took our seats.
"Not entirely, but I'll manage to survive somehow," she replied.
"Perhaps I am the reason for your presence?" James asked hopefully.
Lily gave him a look like he was crazy and turned her attention to pulling some eggs and bacon onto her plate.
"I'll take that as a no, mate," Sirius said, receiving a glare from James. Peter laughed, which I noted sounded more like a squeak, and I just shook my head. I grabbed a piece of toast and started to butter it.
"So," Remus began inbetween mouthfuls, "What's your best subject?"
I thought about it for a second. "I guess it depends," I replied. "I'm really good at Defense and Transfiguration. But since in America we have to live like muggles because we're around them so much, I guess I'm going to be good in Muggle Studies as well."
"Really? Transfiguration, eh?" Sirius said with a smirk. "James here is our Transfiguration king, aren't ya, Prongs?"
James' cheeks turned slightly red for a second at the praise in front of Lily, but kicked Sirius underneath the table for the meaning behind his words.
"Morning, Professor McGonagal," Lily said cheerfully, causing the three boys sitting across from us (Remus, Peter, and James) to turn around. She gave a nod in reply.
"Miss Evans, Misters Pettigrew, Potter, Lupin, and Black. Welcome back." She smiled and turned her gaze to me. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss Richardson. I'm looking forward to teaching you. Your transcripts were impressive."
I smiled and could feel my cheeks grow warm. "Thank you, Professor."
McGonagal handed each of us a piece of paper and with a "Good day" she left.
I took another bite of my toast and looked over what McGonagal had given me, which turned out to be my class schedule. I had defense first period with this professor named McKinnons.
"You guys have defense first, right?" Peter questioned. I looked up from my schedule to see the rest of the group nodding their heads.
"Yeah," Sirius said. "And just our luck, our first two classes are with the Slytherins."
Remus groaned. "Don't remind me."
"What's so bad about the Slytherins?" I asked. The four guys gave me looks and Lily sighed in irritation.
"Must we go into this right now?" she asked. "We have to get going. We're going to be late for class." She gathered her things and rushed out of the Great Hall, pulling me along with her.
"Hey, you're cutting off the circulation in my arm," I said trying to free myself from her vice grip. She let go of me and I had to rub my arm to get the feeling back into it. "What's wrong? Class doesn't start for another," I checked my watch before continuing, "Ten minutes."
"It's not a very good idea to bring up the Slytherins with the Marauders," Lily explained. She shifted the strap of her bag up higher on her shoulder and started to walk faster down the hallway. I quickly ran to catch up to her.
"Why? Lily, what's the matter?" I asked.
"They love to play pranks. Especially on the Slytherins."
"They must have some good reason," I said. "They don't seem like the type to just pick on certain people for nothing."
"That's where you're wrong, Nicole," Lily said. "They're nothing but a bunch of bullying prats, and I can't stand them."
The two of us were silent the rest of the way to the Defense classroom. We were the first ones there, and Lily picked the seats right in the front. I rolled my eyes and sighed. I liked Lily but she seemed so bookworm-ish and a teacher's pet. I'm gotta see if I can do anything about that.
A few minutes later, the rest of the students started filing into the classroom. That's when I saw the greasy haired, long nosed asshole who had called me a mudblood the previous day. He had come in alone and sat in the back of the room alone, but not before he sent a glare my way.
Soon after, the Marauders entered and decided to sit behind Lily and I. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Sirius giving me thumbs up. I shook my head with a smile and turned back around just as the teacher came into the room. Everyone in the classroom immediately became silent, waiting for the professor to start.
"Welcome to sixth level Defense," the small woman said. She had long blonde hair and a pretty smile. She seemed cheerful and nice. Thank god, I thought.
"This year is going to be tough. Just because you don't have OWLs or NEWTs doesn't mean you can slack off," she gave a knowing look toward James and Sirius. "This year we are will be going over important spells and information that will make what you are going to have to learn for NEWTs next year much easier.
"But for today, seeing as that it's our first class of the first day, I thought we would take it somewhat easy to start out our year. I want you to pair up and do basic Expelliarmus and Protego drills. You've been away from spell casting all summer, I want you all to get your feeling back. All right? Begin!"
/
It was actually a pretty fun class. Lily and I had paired up together. We had both disarmed each other a couple of times, but for the most part had managed to keep the spells going back and forth for quite a while before one of us actually seceded.
Though about halfway through the class, James and Sirius had gone past the simple disarm and shield spells, deciding to raise the stakes and fun up a little. They had also managed to hit some Slytherins with some pretty cool spells in the process, but those students thankfully didn't seem to mind so much because the two had put on a good show for a decent portion of the class. Needless to say, about half the people in the class walked out looking a lot more interesting than they had when they walked in.
/
"So, how'd you like your first class?" Remus asked me on our way to our next period - Potions.
I shifted my book bag up higher onto my shoulder. "I enjoyed it a lot, actually. I found it very...amusing," I said as I glanced at James and Sirius, causing Lily to roll her eyes, and that's when I found Sirius putting a friendly arm around my shoulders.
"Oh, and I wouldn't suppose that James and I had anything to do with that," he said with a smile.
"Of course not," I said and both their faces seemed to drop. I grinned. "Oh, come on, guys. I was only kidding. How could anyone not enjoy watching what you did?" Lily snorted but I only shook my head and ignored her. "The only thing I don't get is how you two can actually walk around the school like that," and I pointed to the big hairy mole that was placed on Sirius' left cheek.
He quickly put his hand over it to cover it up. "Like I haven't already tried! It just won't come off!" He rubbed it hard for a while but only seceded in making the whole left side of his face all red. Lily jumped in and grabbed Sirius' hand.
"Honestly, Sirius, stop before you end up hurting yourself," she muttered annoyed before she said a spell that finally removed it. He gave her a grateful smile.
Seeing how she fixed up his best mate, James gave Lily the puppy dog face. Sirius had made his normally messy hair stick up straight, and frankly, if he got any more strange looks or peals of laughter because of it he thought he was going to go insane.
Lily pondered it for a moment before an evil smirk played on her lips and muttered a quick charm. But instead of making his hair go back to normal it only dyed it bright pink. She smiled brightly and ran up ahead, leaving James staring at her retreating back in question and the rest of us practically rolling around on the floor laughing.
James stared at all of us who were laughing our asses off. "I take it she didn't make my hair go back to normal?"
Peter shook his head before snickering once more. "Sorry, Prongs, she kinda made it worse."
I rummaged through my book bag and handed him a small mirror. James could only blink in shook for many moments before his anger finally sunk in and started shouting. "I am so gonna get you for this, Evans!"
/
The rest of the day had gone by pretty uneventful. Well, unless you count the dirty looks James had surprisingly given Lily until lunch - when she finally decided to change his hair back to normal. According to the rest of the Marauders, James being mad at Lily for anything more than ten minutes was an all-time record. That and the fact that none of the Marauders had gotten detention - which was also something that supposedly happened very rarely, but they had figured it was because it had only been the first day back.
But now it was after dinner and we were all back in the Gryffindor tower. My friends were all in the Common Room, the guys finishing up their homework which they refused to do earlier, and Lily reading some book on charms. I was getting bored just reading my special newspaper (even though I had just read that the Boston Dragons, my hometown quidditch team for the NQL (National Quidditch League), had won that day), and felt the need to do something semi-productive. I decided that I wanted to go explore the grounds.
Not wanting to hear the almost guaranteed lecture from Lily about going out after hours, I thought I could use my special transfiguration knowledge to my advantage. I bid my friends goodnight, receiving smiles and "pleasant dreams", and made my way up to the girl's dorms to the room I shared with Lily and this girl named Alice.
I closed the door almost all the way but left it open a crack. I went over to my bed and pulled the curtains around it, then walked into the center of the room and prayed that no one was planning to come up to bed right after me. I closed my eyes and cleared my mind, and could only remember the sound of my old transfiguration teacher's voice.
Think of what you want to become. Picture it in your mind. Every exact detail. You are what you want to become...
I felt a familiar sensation that a knew all too well, and when I opened my eyes, I was far closer to the ground than I had been a few moments earlier. I explored the dorm room from this new level, finding many lost and forgotten books underneath Lily's bed, and a funny looking necklace under mine. I sniffed it, then decided to come back to collect my prize later.
My ears pricked up. I could hear laughter coming from down in the Common Room with my new and better sense of hearing. Wanting to see what was going on, I pushed the door more open with a paw and made my way down the now great decline to the Common Room.
/
The Marauders had finally finished their homework and were sitting in the comfy chairs by the fire. Lily, ever the bookworm, was still in her rather large chair in the corner reading a charms book and trying rather hard to block out the four guys' conversation.
"Remember last Valentines Day?" Peter laughed. "I still can't believe we actually got those cupids enchanted to use love darts on people."
James slapped his knee. "Yeah! Remember how we got Snape to kiss that nasty Orlando girl?" His smile faltered and glanced over his shoulder at Lily.
Sirius patted his friend on the back. "Sorry, mate. McGonagal was able to reverse the charm quicker than we anticipated."
James pinched his index finger and thumb together tightly. "This close...this close..."
"Oh, get over yourself, Potter," Lily could be heard from behind her book.
Remus snickered behind his hand, James giving him a glare in return. "Or what about the time we had managed to get Dumbledore's beard to glow neon green with sparkles," Remus continued.
The Marauders were literally rolling on the floor and even Lily had a tough time holding back a giggle. The headmaster actually liked his new beard and decided to keep it that way for a while, then kept on changing the color of it every couple of weeks until McGonagal threatened him - though still to this day, no one quite knew what she had threatened him with exactly.
Amongst all the laughing, no one noticed a small kitten enter the Common Room. She quietly made her way to the portrait hole, but found that she couldn't get out. She scratched at the door, but was still unsuccessful. She gave an soft irritated hiss, and too lazy to make her way all the way back upstairs, decided to rest by the door. Surely someone will be going out or coming in sometime soon, she thought. But she wasn't planning on taking a cat nap, and against her will, sleep took her.
The Common Room was pretty much empty, pretty much as in the Marauders were still up. It was around midnight when they decided to go up to bed, except for Sirius, ever the trouble maker, who was wanting to go sneak off to the kitchens. Borrowing James' invisibility cloak and grabbing a blank piece of parchment, he started heading out.
/
I heard heavy footsteps approach, and yawned widely as they woke me up. I looked upwards and saw Sirius carrying a cloak and a piece of paper. Odd, I thought to myself.
I couldn't help but notice how handsome he looked right then, with the glow of the fire bouncing off his features. I shook my head to clear the thoughts, no need to think of him like that.
He glanced around the Common Room, and seeing no one around, brought out his wand and held it out to the piece of paper. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he whispered, then grinned as he saw the charm apparently work. He looked over the paper and his smile faltered.
"No way," he said and started looking in the direction I was sitting. I crawled further back into the shadows, hoping I wouldn't be seen. He glanced at the paper again. "Nicole?" he said, "Are you there?"
I couldn't believe my ears and had to concentrate very hard not to meow out in surprise. How in the hell could he have known I was there? But as he looked in the direction of where I was for the last time, he didn't seem to notice the small black and white kitten that thankfully blended in with the shadows.
Sirius shrugged and I could hear him mutter, "Moony's gotta take a look at this thing," before pulling the cloak around him, making him disappear into thin air. Too confused and shocked to move, I couldn't bring myself to dash out when the door finally opened, and I didn't seem to regain my senses again until it slammed back shut.
a/n:
Alrighty, then. I finally got this chapter done. How are you guys liking it so far?
And I would also like to thank my awesome reviewers from the last chappy:
Wonkyfaint28, An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin, Fish, Scary-Girly, Liz, and Rainbow Fish.
You guys rock, please keep those great reviews coming:-)
-Rocky-