Chapter Four (Revised)
By Dinkee-Dino
Disclaimer: All the stuff (excluding characters you don't know and the plot) belongs to the richest woman in the UK until tax time.
"Look James, you can't just skip classes whenever you want. You'll get a detention for sure this time. And we can't have that now can we?" said Remus, the voice of reason.
James sighed. His friend was right. They had Quidditch practice three days a week and as captain, it was his duty to make sure that he showed up at every one. He'd always managed to avoid detentions during practice days (mainly thanks to Professor McGonagall), but that didn't change the fact that it was only mid-October and he had already racked up detentions into the month of November. At the rate he was going, he'd be staying after classes well after he graduated.
"I'm going, I'm going!" James exclaimed under Remus' reproachful stare as he started down the corridor to Muggle Literature. By the time he had reached the classroom, almost all seats were taken. The class was sure to be a drag. At least that prig Evans wasn't in it. That angry sensation flared up in his chest again. See? Just thinking of that prat made him disturbed. He reached into the pocket of his robes to pop an antacid into his mouth when Powell's sharp voice rang through the air from behind him.
"Potter, my class is not here for food. That's what the Dining Hall is for. I'd suggest you put away whatever snack you've got and focus on the lesson today."
James shrugged and pocketed the tablets. "Lily, dear, you can take your seat now," Powell continued.
Surprised, James whipped around in his seat to see Lily come through the door with the professor. He narrowed his eyes. What was hse doing with him? Was Powell plotting something? No, but not without James knowing, surely. James was just as much a part of the master plan as Powell. Wasn't he?
Lily watched James through appraising eyes. This was going all wrong! He wasn't supposed to be in this class. James had made it perfectly clear to the whole school since the first week of classes that he loathed Muggle Literature. And though he never said anything even remotely derogatory about their new professor, Lily sensed that somehow, James loathed him as well.
She shook her head in disgust. This is what happened when she listened to Sybil's advice. Big load of dung it got her. She slumped into the only available seat, a desk directly in front of James.
Powell clapped his hands twice and the whole class fell silent. "Now, glancing at my roster, I can see that many of you already take Muggle Literature. For those of you who have never attended any of my classes, and for those who have, I can assure you that this class will be very different from what you're used to. I have gotten permission from the headmaster to try out a new type of learning technique with you." He ran his fingers through his black hair and paused, listening with a self-satisfied air to all the girls' swooning.
"Now, all of you will be working in pairs of twos as even though these assignments are not dangerous, they aren't one hundred percent safe either. This class will be turned into a sort of treasure hunt. Now hear me out. It might seem childish, but I think you'll find it particularly ahh. . . intriguing. Since there are only about nineteen people who signed up for this class, we all split up into nine pairs with one group containing three people. Each pair will be magically transported into a Muggle book. The two will have to try and blend in as well as they can. You can, of course, only achieve this by reading as many Muggle books as you can. The pairs must guess which book they've been transported into and once they guess correctly, they are moved into another book. The pair to complete the most books will be awarded five hundred points for their house. That most assuredly will win the House Cup. Any questions?"
"Erhm why will blending in be important?" asked a Hufflepuff boy.
"Ah yes. I forgot to mention this to you. When you are transported into the book, you will, in essence, become one of the characters. Sometimes you might be the main character, sometimes you will be a servant, sometimes the antagonist. But don't worry, if you're a girl, your character will always be a girl. And the same for boys." There were some sighs of relief and a few weak laughs from the class. "But whatever you do is recorded and if you do something drastically different from what happened in the book, the entire story could be changed."
"Right then," said Powell, seeing no more questioning looks. "I'll just let you off early today. There's a list on the back wall. Don't forget to put down your preference for partners on it. I'll start announcing partnerships tomorrow and we'll start on our project the same day. Bye!"
Everyone clattered around packing their things, leaving with smiles on their faces.
"Lily, Potter, can I see you for a while?"
James noticed that Powell, called Lily by her Christian name. Since when were they on first-name terms with each other? He approached Robert Powell's desk to see that Lily and Robert where already whispering about something. They turned to stare at him as he neared them. James didn't get it and kept on standing there. Robert coughed politely and comprehension dawned.
"Oh! Erhm. I'll just leave you two for a bit. I'll be right outside the door once you're done. Right then," James said backing out of the room.
Robert and Lily had already turned back to their conversation and paid him no heed. James walked out and headed towards the window just outside the door. The weather outside wasn't too pleasant. Dark clouds loomed above the sky, threatening to rain. But James didn't notice them, so caught up he was in thinking about Robert and Lily's strange connection.
He set his elbows down on the sill and gazed blankly out the window, without really seeing anything. Two years ago, he'd met Robert Powell at a party his father was giving. The two had been a couple of the very few people under thirty-five at the function. It wasn't until later that James had found out about Robert's situation.
"Potter?" Lily called from the doorway. "Robert says to send you in now."
James looked up and shook his head, as if he was confused by something. He had unknowingly run both his hands through his hair and his school tie had come loose, giving him a very pleasing appearance; much like he'd just come out of a wild snogging session. James found Lily watching him with her green eyes.
"Go on, Potter. He's not going to bite!"
He trudged into the room to find Robert sitting behind his desk with his hands in a steeple right under his chin.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
Robert laughed. Somehow, it made James uncomfortable to hear it. "Come now, James. You know me! Let's cut the teacher-student crap. I'm hurt that you don't call me Robert, in the very least. To business anyway, you probably know why I'm here."
"Sorry, no si- erhm, Robert"
Robert looked faintly surprised. "Hmmm? You mean you haven't heard? That's funny. I shall need to have a talk with Severus and Lucius. They, in the least, should've heard by now. You're on speaking terms with them, are you not?" Upon seeing James's reluctance to answer the question, he rolled his eyes. "Very well. I'll tell you myself. Honestly, why all of you continue on insisiting on this idiotic feuding is beyond me. You're all practically brothers, for Merlin's sake. This matter is very delicate. It concerns -"
Lily, who had her ear pressed against the door, suddenly wasn't able to hear anything at all, due to the Sealing Spell Robert had constructed. Disappointed, she stepped away from the door and leaned against the wall. Two of the suits of armor down the hall were dueling and she turned her attention to them.
They were causing a ruckus out in the hallway, but no one seemed no notice as they were all down at dinner. The knight with the blue plume coming out of his helmet seemed to be winning in her opinion. Always one to root for the underdog, Lily was just about to give some magical help to the one with the red plume when the door opened and Robert stood there with James. She quickly shoved her wand back into her bag, trying not to look too guilty.
"- remember what I said James," she heard Robert say.
"Yes sir," James mumbled.
"Cut the 'sir's James!"
Lily looked confused. "Excuse me, ehrm, Robert. Do you two know each other from somewhere?"
James said, "No!" at the exact same time that Robert exclaimed, "Why of course!" James threw Robert a dirty look. He just waved it away and continued. "Jamesie and I go a long way back. If you'd like, you can come in tomorrow after class and I can fill you in on it," he said a bit suggestively.
"Erhm. No thank you. I'll be busy. Now I'll just be going down to dinner if-" Lily was saying.
"Oh. I have one small favor to ask of you, Lily darling. Could you be a dear and accompany James to deliver this note? I don't trust him to not read it." He chuckled and walked back into the room.
James glanced at Lily to find that he was subject to that assessing gaze of hers again. Feeling a bit cranky, he snapped, "What are you looking at?" as they started off together.
Lily looked taken aback. "Nothing! You didn't have to be so damn touchy, you know!"
James had nothing to say to this and they walked on in silence for a while. "So what's up with you and Powell anyway?" He suddenly asked. Lily didn't seem too surprised by the question.
"There's absolutely nothing up with me and Robert," she replied a bit annoyed.
"Oh really? The way you two were carrying on, I'd think you two were secretly planning to elope or something." James did an imitation of Lily. "Oh Robert! How lovely!" he said in a high pitched voice.
"I do NOT talk like that, Potter. Besides, a lot of people like him. He's nice, to say the least for some people." She stressed the last part, but James paid no heed.
"A lot of people like him? Like who?" James asked.
"Well, I'm not sure about the guys, but I know most of the girls like him pretty well."
"Most of the girls? What about you?"
If Lily found this question too personal, she didn't show it. "Well, yeah. I mean, I don't exactly fancy him or anything. He wouldn't be one of my pin-ups, but he's certainly attractive."
James jerked and stopped walking. "You find him attractive? Of all the people! He's utterly despicable! Look at him! He's, he's . . he's!" By this time, James realized he was sputtering and he quickly shut his mouth.
Lily was getting annoyed. "Potter, I don't know what your problem is with Robert, but you better get over it. And soon. A lot of people in this school seem to have nothing against charming, polite, and gentlemanly guys. Robert is a perfectly fine person!"
They were nearing the Dining Hall.
"A fine person?" James asked incredulously. "A fine person? My God, he's a twit!" They'd just entered the Great Hall. No one paid much attention to them; it was normal for Lily Evans and James Potter to be fighting every night.
"Well, I think you're a twit. Everybody seems to have no problem with Robert!"
"No problem?" James yelled back at her. Realizing they were getting loud, he lowered his voice. "None of they guys like him!"
"Oh really?" asked Lily, arching one eyebrow. "Remus! Remus!"
Remus came over. "Yes?"
"Remus, do you hate Professor Powell?"
Remus furrowed his brow. "Powell? Of course not. He's quite a nice bloke if ask me."
Lily gave James a smile of triumph. "Oh shut up, Prancy-pants," he muttered to Remus.
Both of Lily's eyebrows shot up. "Prancy-pants? I don't think that was very nice, considering the fact that Remus is one of your best friends! And he happens to be a very good dancer."
"Hear, hear!" said a Slytherin girl, who promptly went back to eating at James's glare.
"Oh come on! Remus knew I was just kidding. Didn't you Moony?" James said in exasperation.
"I don't think so. It hurt, Jamesie-boy. I'm not sure if that was very nice of you," Remus said with a completely straight face. He knew full well that James had only been kidding, but seeing Prongs get slaughtered by Lily was too good to pass up.
"Fine, fine, I'm sorry Remus. Will you ever forgive me? Blah blah blah blah." Lily looked remotely satisfied and went to sit with Sybil. James slumped down next to Sirius.
"What was that all about?" he asked James with his mouth full of shepherd's pie.
"Nothing. Some spat about Powell."
"Powell? Oh yeah, that Muggle Lit. guy. Yeah, I like him okay," Sirius replied.
To top it all off, Lily had gotten a raspberry creme again. James pushed Sirius's head into a bowl of mashed potatoes just to vent his anger.