"Doesn't that statue look a little familiar?"
"That's Cliodna."
"Who?"
"Famous daughter of some druid. I have her card."
"Chocolate Frogs?"
"Yup."
"Well, I swear we've been here before."
"Have we seen that painting?"
"Of course! That's Paracelsus."
"Who?"
"He's on a card, Peter."
"Well, I've seen him at least twice."
"We're just going around in circles."
James looked around desperately. Everything looked so familiar, and yet he had no idea where he was. Remus was looking outside the windows along the corridor, trying to see where they were and Sirius was heckling the paintings. Peter was simply trailing along behind James, looking afraid.
"Maybe if we asked one of these guys, they could tell us where to go," said Sirius, poking Paracelsus with his quill.
"I don't think they'll want to," said Remus without looking over his shoulder.
"Why not?"
"Because you're annoying them."
"So?"
"Nevermind," said James, stepping forward, Peter stumbling along behind him. "Excuse me? Excuse me!" Paracelsus finally noticed James as he tried to catch his attention, turning away from Sirius who continued to prod him with his quill. "Sorry, but I was wondering which direction it was to the Transfiguration classroom?"
"First years?"
James nodded.
"Ah well, I remember getting lost my first day of Hogwarts as well."
James continued starring blankly at the painting and blinked a few times.
"Not the time for that. Right." Paracelsus started rushing through paintings and the four boys followed him at a sprint. Paracelsus led the boys around corners, through doors hidden behind tapestries, and down some staircases until he pointed down a long stretch with no paintings and said that that was where they were going.
The four boys thanked him before rushing off in the direction in which he had pointed and as they were running, James could have sworn he heard the painting say, "Stupid boy, another Black. Pestering me like I was just some paint on the wall," but he paid no heed to it and instead followed Sirius, Remus and Peter through the door.
It didn't take two glances to tell that this was not Professor McGonagall's classroom. In fact, it didn't look like a classroom at all.
"Oh no," muttered Remus. "First day of term."
James and Sirius looked on, their mouths hanging open, and Peter was breathing so hard that he could have been hyperventilating.
The room was vast and dark, with walls the colour of rotting stone. Shelves were folding under the weight of all the books and scrolls of parchment that had accumulated on top of them all. Several ancient looking maps were hanging on the wall, and a giant model of Saturn and its moons was suspended in the air in the middle of the room. A small dark window above the door was letting a small amount of sunlight into the room which illuminated all the dust dancing in the air.
They all took a shy step forward and the heavy, wooden door slammed shut behind them. They all turned around and ran into the door, banging on it with their fists and pulling at the rusty doorknob, screaming, but the door didn't budge. James was the first to give up, knowing it was a hopeless feat, leaving the other three yelling at the door, trying to get out.
At a closer look, the room was actually amazing, filled with tiny details that captured James's attention. Interesting knick-knacks were laid out neatly on the tops of the shelves, some of them whirring and spinning silently, others sitting as stilly as if they were scared any movement would arouse some dangerous spirit.
James roamed around the room, not touching anything. He was so intensely focused on the contents of the room, he didn't notice when Sirius, Remus and Peter stopped banging on the door and had begun to follow him around the room, also inspecting the silver toys that littered it. Remus was breathing heavily, acting nervous around the contents. Sirius, however, was careless, picking up random objects, turning them upside down, pulling on odd levers and setting it back haphazardly down on the shelf.
"Sirius, be careful!" hissed Peter.
"What is this stuff?" asked Sirius, ignoring Peter and instead shaking a sterling cup with slabs and crossbars jutting out from it at all angles.
"Dark Detectors," said Remus, still looking warily at the cup in Sirius's hand.
"Hey, guys!" called James from a grim corner of the room. "Come check this out!" They all rushed over to where he was sitting, holding an ancient scroll in his lap, looking as if it was ready to fall apart.
"What is that?" asked Sirius, craning his neck to get a better look at the curvy, fading writing on the paper.
"I think it's a journal."
"Who wrote it?" said Remus. He gently took the parchment from James and inspected the bottom of it. "Is that?" Remus gasped. "This is by Godric Gryffindor!"
"What?" screamed James, grabbing the scroll back from him, and in turn, studied it. A huge smile made its way onto his face as he observed the name scrolled at the bottom of the parchment.
Godric Gryffindor.
"This is amazing!"
"And on a lesser note," said Peter, looking at the giant model of Saturn above him with a fear in his eyes that suggested he was worried about it falling on his head. He took a step out from under it and starred at his friends. "We're still stuck in here."
"True," said James, rolling the parchment and tucking it into his robe pockets. "But that, my friend, is a frivolous point. I'm sure we can find a way out of here."
Sirius raised an amused eyebrow.
"Are you actually taking that with you?" asked Remus in disbelief as he watched James and Sirius casually strut over to the door.
James took out his wand and pointed it at the door, suddenly feeling more comfortable with the familiar mahogany weight in his hand. "Alohomora!" he said, and a small gray wind flew from the tip of his wand and the lock clicked and Sirius opened the door, smiling and gesturing to the corridor. James gave a mock bow and stepped out of the room, his hands extended as if waiting for applause. Remus and Peter looked at each other before following him out along with Sirius, who let the door slam shut behind them.
"'Alohomora'?" asked Remus with an eyebrow raised.
"Standard Book of Spells, chapter seven," said James, grinning broadly.
"Since when do you practice charms?" said Sirius, laughter in his voice. "Or read?"
"Since mum made sure I read my books before coming here. I swear, she just stood in my room and watched me read to make sure I wasn't doing anything else."
"That sounds pretty paranoid," said Peter.
"We're bloody late."
James looked down at his watch. "Oh no! We've already missed the first fifteen minutes of Transfiguration!"
"I swear, I'll kill that Paracelsuck," muttered Sirius dangerously, under his breath.
"Paracelsus," corrected Remus.
"Whatever."
It took the four boys another good ten minutes before they found the Transfiguration classroom, as they were detoured when Peter had to desperately go to the bathroom. When they entered the classroom, the students were all busy taking notes as a stiff-looking cat sat next to a blackboard with many detailed and confusing looking scribbles written on it. The only sound when they noisily burst through the room, was the frantic scratching of the quills on the parchment.
"Made it!" breathed Sirius. "Can you imagine the look on the old broad's face if she saw us come in late?" James laughed, but was quickly cut off when the cat jumped at them and transformed before their eyes into Professor McGonagall, complete with her square glasses, dark, emerald robes and stern stare.
"I'm glad you saw fit to come to class," she said, eyeing them from over her spectacles.
"W- we got lost," Remus stuttered under her stare.
"Perhaps it would be best if you were to transfigure yourselves into a map. Then you might make it to class on time."
James silently wondered how many times she had had to tell a student that.
"It's a big castle," he said.
"I understand that, Mr Potter, but I trust you can find your seats before I make it so you cannot sit down."
Peter gulped and sat down in the closest seat so fast that he knocked over the stool. He scrambled up and fixed his chair and sat back down, more carefully this time.
James, Sirius and Remus all took a seat next to him and pulled out some parchment, quill and ink to begin taking notes.
Brilliant first day, thought James. But the notes of Godric Gryffindor resting happily in his robes made him smile, and even the fact that he had missed the first half hour of his favourite class couldn't take that smile away from him.
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padfoot: thanx for catching that. i fixed it in word, but i don't feel like going back and fixing it here, cuz it just takes so much bloody time.
Ghost of Allknowing: sorry bout the ending things like that. I guess I just learned to write like that. i kinda did it in this chapter too. heh heh....
Sparkling Cherries: I'm glad i made you laugh. I never saw myself as a very funny person, but you and your review definately made my day, so thank you for that. lol. anyway, i agree that it's hard to forget about the terribleness that is peter, but i'm gonna try to make it seem like... he was just scared and confused, cuz its hard to believe in such treachery. you should read my one shot, mice scream, cuz its about when peter goes to the dark side...... anyway..... im glad you liked it, and ill try to keep the upbeatedness to it for a little while before things need to really get sad. lol.
ditzychick1228: Well thank you very very very very very much. I really wasn't proud of that chapter, but you brightened up my day. yay!
Stella Blu: You're welcome for the translation, it's what I'm here for. Also, sorry bout my chapters being so short. I'm trying, but what with school and all that... oy.... hope i updated soon enough for you.
PentagonMerlin: Frank, as in Frank Longbottom, as in Neville's daddy.... nvm. Had fun snowboarding. thanx for the thought. a nd thanx for writing the one shot so fast. yay for moony.
you know the drill so drop off a review.