Chapter Five: Hopeful Candidates

Lily's hair was groomed exceptionally well, James couldn't help but notice as he walked into the Gryffindor common room early one morning. She was leaned low over a table scribbling on some parchment; her silky hair shimmering red-gold around her face. She kept pushing it behind her ear with one delicate hand. He was compelled to go over and sit with her, though he wasn't sure why.

Leaving his friends staring after him, he walked over and sat by her without a word. He glanced over at her a few times, hoping she'd notice him, but when she didn't, he took it upon himself.

"What are you working on there, Evans?"

She looked up; her eyes were glazed over with concentration. She focused on James' face and smiled. "Oh. Hi, James. It's that Transfiguration essay for Professor McGonagall."

"Having some trouble with it?" he asked, scooting closer and peering down at her paper.

"I just don't think I'm explaining this part right," she said, indicating a portion of her paper.

James read over it, then explained some things to her and gave her suggestions on word usage. Once he was through, Lily stared at him with a mixture of surprise and admiration.

"You're really smart," she said.

"You sound shocked!" James said in mock indignation.

"No! Well…I mean, you never raise your hand in class," she said quickly, trying to recover from her blunder. "And you're always goofing around in the back. McGonagall threatens to deduct points from you almost daily!"

James laughed. "Sirius claims that it's merely her misguided love for us that makes her say that. Besides, why waste my time raising my hands giving answers? I know that I know them." He shrugged.

Lily studied him. "You're really a very good teacher. You should consider it as a profession." She smiled brightly at him.

James waved his hand at her dismissively. "What sort of prat wants to be a teacher? I'm going to be an Auror," he said confidently.

Lily studied him for a moment longer before she began to blush, then turned back to her work. James stared at her face, taking in the light dusting of freckles across her nose and the way it scrunched up as she worked, the curve of her cupid's-bow mouth, the way she—

"If you're done drooling on Evans, we're going down to breakfast," a voice whispered in his ear. James jumped and swung his head around. Sirius was leaning down, leering at him. James shoved him and Sirius stumbled back, laughing. James felt himself grow warm and knew he was blushing. He hated himself for it. He hated Sirius more. Lily shot Sirius a contemptuous look before saying goodbye to James, then standing up and leaving the Common Room.

"What's got her knickers in a twist?" Sirius asked, taking the seat she'd abandoned.

"Your obnoxious personality," James snapped, irritated by Sirius' untimely interruption.

"You won't feel that way after I tell you what I've found out," Sirius said mysteriously.

"What?" James asked, slanting him a look.

"A haunted castle."

"What?"

"That's what Dumbledore's planning. That's the 'big' thing Peter was gushing about."

"How do you know?"

"Well, I was following Filch…"

"As much as you do that, it could be considered stalking, you know."

"Do you want to know how I found out or not?"

"Go on."

"I was following Filch and ended up overhearing Dumbledore talking about it. He said it's going to be very frightening. And the first student who makes it all the way through the castle wins."

"And of course you'll be the winner?" James drawled.

"We, dear friend. We will be the winners." Sirius said conspiratorially.

It was one week until Halloween when Dumbledore announced the festivities at dinner.

"If I could please have your attention before we go our separate ways for the evening? This Halloween the staff and myself have worked tirelessly to do something special. This year we will be having a haunted castle competition. However, this won't be your usual sort of haunted castle (if there is such a thing). There will be countless obstacles that you must face throughout the school.

"We have several outside guests helping us, including the Headless Hunt. We have our very own Hogwarts ghosts, many of the professors, myself, Mr. Filch, and many many more. Anyone may choose to partake in the contest, but I must warn you that many of you younger students may not be up to the task. Many of the obstacles that you will face will require advanced magic." A collective murmur spread through the crowd, and Dumbledore waited for it to die out before continuing. "Third place winners of the competition will receive a year's pass to the kitchens, where our marvelous house elves will supply you with whatever food and drink you may desire, with the exception of anything you are not of age to consume. Second place winners will receive one hundred house points and a trip to Hogsmeade for him or herself and four friends. Our first place winner will receive three hundred house points, a weekend trip for him or herself and four friends to anywhere in Europe and will be exempt from the exam of his or her choice." Now several students were chattering excitedly. "Each student wishing to sign up for this competition will go to his or her head of house and sign a sheet, which will then be given to me. Your heads of house will conduct interviews with each student. That is all." He retook his seat and the talking in the Great Hall escalated to a roar in a matter of seconds.

"What do you reckon, James? We up for it?" Sirius said, grinning. He already knew the answer.

"Definitely." James grinned back.

Around midday three days before the competition, just after James and Sirius had received their new order of dungbombs from Zonkos, James was called to McGonagall's office. It was Peter who gave him the news.

"James!" he called, running into the Owlery. "James!"

James turned from the package that he and Sirius were untying from the Pluto's leg. "Wotcher, Peter?" he called happily.

"It's McGonagall. She wants you in her office straight away!" Peter said breathlessly.

James and Sirius exchanged a look. "This isn't about the dungbombs we threw into the girls' lavatory, is it?" Sirius asked. "Because that could have been anyone."

Peter shook his head. "She wants him about his application for the Halloween competition."

"Oh," James laughed, "is that all? You had me worried, Pete!" He slapped Peter on the back on his way out of the Owlery.

James knocked briskly on the door of Professor McGonagall's office before entering without being asked. He smiled devilishly at her from across the room. She arched her eyebrow at him.

"Do come in, Mr. Potter."

"Why, Professor! I never thought I'd be lucky enough to talk with you outside class!"

"Yes," she said evenly, "if we could only be so blessed on a more regular basis. Perhaps outside class I might find you more attentive."

"Professor! I'm hurt."

"Yes, well, I do have several other students to meet with, Mr. Potter. If you would allow me to continue? Please have a seat." She gestured to the chair in front of her desk. After he sat down, she stared at him for a few seconds. "Tell me," she said at length, "do you honestly think yourself up to this task? Or has Mr. Black convinced you that some outlandish scheme that was no doubt his idea could help the two of you win the competition even against insurmountable odds for First Years? Not to mention competing against other students in their Seventh Year?"

James seemed to think on this for a moment. "Nah. Nothing like that." He smiled jovially.

McGonagall rubbed her temples. "I daresay there is no talking you out of this, is there, Potter?" she said on a sigh.

"Chin up, Professor! Just think. If we do lose horribly, it will no doubt be a sore spot for the two of us. One that you can poke and prod at your discretion!"

"You are dismissed, Potter."

"But Professor"

"Please leave my office, Mr. Potter. And please send me Mr. Black. And tell him I mean now, not later."

Just before James closed the door behind him, he could have sworn that he heard her say something about Sirius and early retirement. He chuckled, thinking to himself that that wasn't nearly as bad as he'd expected.

James was glad to have had classes off for the days leading up to Halloween. He didn't think he'd have been able to concentrate on any of his classes if they'd still been on. Not that he usually paid attention, but even pretending to would have been an arduous task. He and Sirius had spent the past day and a half devising a plan to win the competition. Neither Remus or Peter had signed up, both saying that being First Years, they had little to no chance of beating the older students. James and Sirius had waved them off. It was now lat the night before the competition, and they sat in the Common Room before the roaring fire.

"No, no…this staircase leads to the fourth floor, you git," Sirius said, pointing to the map he and James had been creating.

"Well, they all look the same!" James snapped. "If you weren't so horrible with ink and parchment…"

"It's not that I'm bad with them. It's that you have no imagination. That's clearly the portrait of the barmy girl having the tea party with herself, which, if you knew anything about anything, you'd know is right by the staircase that leads to the fourth floor," Sirius said in a superior voice.

"Well, she looks like a pack of dogs chasing a rabbit, which, if you knew anything about anything, you'd know is by the staircase on the sixth floor," James said heatedly.

"You'll never finish that if you keep arguing the way you are," Remus pointed out, not looking up from the book he was reading. "And if you don't finish it, there's no way you'll win. You don't know your way around the castle well enough."

James and Sirius scowled, but said no more. He was right and they both knew it.

"What's that there?" Peter asked, pointing at two squiggly lines that were drawn outside the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Sirius looked up at him sharply. "That's James and me before we start the competition," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You're as bad as James," he muttered. "No imagination."

"Well, I think that's it for the staircases," James said, picking up the parchment and laying it on the stack of others beside the table. "Now all we have left are the upper levels."

"And the dungeons," Sirius pointed out.

"Right. The dungeons," James sighed.

Soon they were the only four left in the Common Room. The crackling of the fire and the scratching of Sirius' quill on parchment were the only sounds to be heard.

Finally, Sirius stretched and pushed the parchment towards James. "Label away, my boy. We're through."

"It's about bloody time," James said after yawning loudly.

"Respect le artiste."

"I will when you show me one."

"That's quite a bit of parchment to haul around," Remus said, nodding to the towering pile of parchment on the floor by the table. By now it reached over halfway up the table's legs.

"We could do a Shrinking Spell on it," James suggested.

"You wouldn't be able to read it well then. And besides, won't it be dark in the corridors? With this being a Haunted Castle Competition and all."

"Oh," James and Sirius said together. Clearly that hadn't occurred to them.

"Lumos," Peter said suddenly.

"What?"

"You could use your Lumos spell," Peter said again.

A grin spread slowly across Sirius' face. "You, my boy, are a genius," he told Peter, slapping him on the back so hard that his nose nearly hit the tabletop. Peter flushed at this, the first compliment paid to him by Sirius.

"Lumos," Sirius said.

"So obvious," James agreed.

The next morning at breakfast, James couldn't help but overhear Lily talking to Alice about the competition.

"Have you entered then, Evans?" he asked. Lily nodded.

"Yeah. I've already had my conference with McGonagall and everything. I don't hope to win, but I just want to experience it."

"Sure you won't need someone around to protect you?" James said, puffing his chest out. "I wouldn't mind escorting you for a while."

Lily blinked at him for a few seconds. "I'm sure I can take care of myself, James," she said pointedly, sounding more like McGonagall than James liked.

"Well, if you're sure…"

"I am."

"Hey," Sirius interrupted, nudging him in the side, "let's go take another look at those maps before the competition starts."

"Alright," James said. He turned to Peter and Remus. "Do you two wanna tag along?"

They shook their heads. "We're going to finish breakfast," Remus said. "Besides, only the competitors are supposed to go back to the Common Rooms. The rest of us are going to be here in the Great Hall for the rest of the day."

The Common Room was full to bursting when they arrived. Students milled around everywhere, discussing the possible outcomes of the competition.

"You two have entered?" Frank Longbottom asked with a smile as they entered through the portrait hole.

"Yeah. Figured we'd give it a shot," James said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"But you're only First Years," A Fifth Year pointed out from across the room.

"Yeah. Remember that once we've won," Sirius called to him. A few people laughed, but most looked sceptical.

"Do you really think you've learned enough to win?" someone else—a Third Year—asked.

"It's got nothing to do with brains. It's got to do with bravery and courage and stamina. Things like that," Sirius argued.

"Good thing for you. If it had to do with brains, you boys would be out of luck, I'm afraid," Frank laughed.

"Competitors," Dumbledore's voice rang clearly through the Common Room, "please line up at the exits to your Common Rooms. I want First Years to be first in line, Second Years next, and so on. First Years will get a two-minute head start. You have ten seconds to line up. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three Two. One. GO! Good luck to all our competitors." Then his voice twisted and become malevolent and intimidating. "And always watch over your shoulders." A booming, hateful laugh sounded through the room, completely unlike Dumbledore's. James and Sirius, along with several other First Years, ran out into the hallway and immediately split up. Sirius pulled the miniature versions of their maps out of his pocket and squinted down at the top one.

"OK. Let's start with the dungeons and work our way up. The quickest way to the dungeons is…left." He began walking without delay. James followed.