Disclaimer: I have no more witty ways to say I don't own Harry Potter. So I…yeah, I don't own it.
The Wind Through My HairLily woke up bright and early the next morning and showered, making sure to brush her hair and make it look nice. It was her last first day of school, after all, and she did want to look presentable. She had come to a decision that if she was Head Girl, she was going to enjoy it, and no one was going to ruin it for her. Lily pulled the covers off of Diana, Sarah, and Alice.
"Wake up, Rise and Shine!" she said clearly, and cheerily.
"Who are you, Miss Happy-Arse?" Diana Grumbled. She was not her best in the mornings.
"Who are you? Miss Stick-in-the-Arse?" Lily said. She still maintained the cheery tone.
"Ugh, okay, okay, we're getting up Lily. You can lower your voice now…" said Alice.
"Yeah, Lils, you're practically screaming in my ear," said Sarah. They were all stirring now, and plopping out of bed.
"Well, sorry for screaming in your ear. I'm going down for breakfast. As Head Girl, I've got to set an example to the rest of us Gryffindors about behaving properly and being punctual!" Lily smiled and strolled out. "Oh, and don't call me Lils, Sarah," Lily said, as she patted her on the head.
"Whatever," Diana could be heard muttering loudly.
xxx
The three other girls came into the hall in a much better mood, as they had fully awoken. Diana seemed less waspish, Sarah grinning like she always was, and Alice, her round thoughtful face looking serene and content. They took their seats next to Lily, except for Alice, for she went and sat near her boyfriend, Frank.
"McGonagall has given me my schedule. You ought to go ask her for yours," said Lily, after she finished her bite of egg and picked up her timetable to look it over in order to see her classes for the year. The scraping of chairs could be heard of as the two of them got up to ask for their own time tables.
"Advanced Charms, Advanced Potions, Advanced Transfiguration…well, I've got those three, that's good. Hope I can manage them…hm, also have got History of Magic, Arithmancy, Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, and…"
"Dear God, Lily, you've got the Golden three, in Advanced courses?!" said Sarah. The 'golden three' was what everyone called Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration. They were considered the three most basic, as well as hardest, and most necessary of them all. Lily had managed to get advanced courses in all three, as she hoped to be a healer when she was older.
"Well, Charms was hardly what I'd called difficult to maintain, and Potions is easy enough. I barely managed to scrape what was required for Transfiguration. I just hope I can deal with it…I hear the advanced course is a death wish…"
"You can bet its death wish. I didn't even try to get into advanced. With McGonagall as a teacher, you'd better be ready to work your bloody arse off," Sarah commented.
At that moment, the doors of the great hall opened with force, and Sirius Black strolled through looking very peeved. James was following behind him, and they were both walking very briskly. James looked enraged, but Sirius simply looked a teakettle barely controlling the boiling water within.
"I dunno what your problem has been lately, Sirius, but whatever it is, you had better tell me or stop acting like a bloody berk!" James snarled. Sirius chose a spot at the table a considerable distance from Lily, Diana, and Sarah. By now, the few students that were in the Great Hall this early in the morning, had looked up from whatever they were doing to watch the rare, serious fight between the two friends.
"There's nothing wrong, and YOU had better stop asking me!"
"You were way out of line this morning, and I don't think Moony really appreciated your choice of words either! No one in this entire world, unless they're bloody blind, would believe 'Nothing is wrong!'" James said, as he sat down on the table, and grabbed a goblet, poured a glass a pumpkin juice, and slammed the pitcher back down.
James was snapped out of his rage when the sound of the slamming pitcher sounded louder than it should have. He looked around the near-empty hall and saw no one was talking. He glared at them and said, "What are you lot looking at?" James gave Sirius a look and got up to sit elsewhere. "See you in class." It was rather lucky that they had fought so early in the morning- not many people to witness it. The teachers had raised eyebrows, and Professor Dumbledore had a cautionary hand on McGonagall's shoulder to stop her from ending the fight, for some reason. He had that ridiculous twinkle in his eye.
James took a deep breath and slipped in next to Lily, across from Diana and Sarah. "Hello, girls." He smiled charmingly, not a trace of the previous anger in his tone or face. He ran a hand through his hair, still slightly agitated (though the girls didn't know he did that when he was), and got a plate, ready to pile on his breakfast.
"I'm starved," he said, shoveling food down his throat. The girls were all very surprised. He didn't seem upset at all anymore, and was acting like he always did.
"Er. Are you all right, James?" Diana asked. Maybe he was bipolar?
"Are you bipolar?" Sarah blurted out. Diana shoved her elbow in her stomach, and hissed, "Shut up!"
"What?" James lifted his head from his plate, a piece of egg dangling from his mouth. "I'm not bipolar…Oh, you got your schedules?" James promptly ignored the possible route of conversation that would lead to 'what was your fight about?' and headed for McGonagall to get his timetable. After receiving it and glancing over it carelessly, he threw it on the table and began to eat again. Lily picked it up and her jaw dropped.
"Advanced Transfiguration, Advanced Charms, Advanced Potions, Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts…" her voice began to falter as her eyes moved down the list. "My god…you've got all advanced courses! How did you manage it, and how, more importantly, do you expect to keep all these up?" Lily asked.
"What? It's no big deal, right?" James asked, looking perplexed. "They're only the minimum requirement for being an Auror, and it hasn't been so hard before. Can't see why I can't manage it now. I suppose I'll have to start reading now, though…"
"That's ridiculous. Wait…what do you mean start reading?" Lily asked.
"Well…I've never really read the books for the classes. So…what I mean is, I guess I'll have to start."
"WHAT?! You don't even listen in class…how did you not read the book passages?" Lily said.
"Ah, my little Lily, I do indeed listen in class. You just don't know it," James said, winking, and getting up from his breakfast. "Well, off to class now! Look's like we've got Advanced Potions together, first thing this morning, Lily-kins. See you!" He left the girls in momentary shock. He hid his frustration so well; it was most disturbing to see the immediate change in his mood.
xxx
Sirius and James seemed to have made up by midday, or rather, they had decided to pretend nothing had gone wrong and they were still great pals. The truth was, though, that James simply could not forget that fight. It was most unlike Sirius to act that way. He had been acting very weird that morning. It had all ended in Sirius shouting that he was the only one who had real problems, and no one could possibly understand it. Remus, to say the least, was very upset—had Sirius just claimed to be the only one with problems? James, as well, was angry with Sirius. He didn't honestly believe they didn't understand his difficulties? Even Peter, who rarely shared any of his real conflicts with them, was mad at Sirius. But they all pushed it aside, as always, and pretended nothing was wrong.
The entire school had heard variations of the fight that had occurred between them in the Great Hall, and soon, people were asking if James had hexed Sirius and turned him into a red turtle. This went on for about a week, until Sirius got very angry, and blew up on a timid third year passing by, after Douglass started teasing him. No one talked about it around them, after that.
Sirius and James met up in front of Professor Marvin's classroom for their third Advanced Double Potions class. It was their third week into school, and James found that he did actually have to try hard this year. It was more difficult than he had anticipated. James leaned against the doorframe, reading the passage in the book that was he was supposed to for homework. He had been busy the night before working on Charms (which he had always had trouble with), and neglected this work. Sirius was talking to him, but he was barely hearing a word.
"ARGH!" Sirius yelled. "Watch where you're going, Snape!"
"What? YOU bumped into ME, imbecile," Snape snarled.
"Did you call me an imbecile? I'm impressed. Big words, as always," Sirius said. James rolled is eyes.
"You had better be careful," Snape said. Sirius's eyes darted down momentarily to Snapes chest where his silver Head Boy badge glinted in the light.
"You think I'm afrai—" Sirius said but was cut off by the sharp click of heels on the stone dungeon floor. Professor Marvin, an extremely old teacher with a head full of graying hairs and a face as wrinkly as a bulldog, strode past them and put the key in the lock. "Today, we will….urgh….be working with…agh, stupid key…" Professor Marvin said, as she struggled with the lock. The key didn't seem to fit, and she could not pull it out. Professor Marvin was rather strict, but was very clumsy and forgetful too.
"Alohamora," said Lily, standing next to the professor, and smiling kindly. "There you go, Professor."
"I could've gotten it myself, Lilac, I'm a quite capable witch, but thanks all the same," she said. Her voice sounded remarkably like a toad croaking, and it seemed to match well with her overlapping wrinkles and the permanent scowl on her face.
"Er…it's Lily, and your welcome," Lily said.
"Yes, yes, whatever, Lila."
Sirius was giving Snape very dark looks as he walked ahead of him. Snape was sending him equally angry glares. They were both walking very slow, and everyone else had moved ahead—Sirius was walking slow on purpose.
"James. Don't forget, tonight, at midnight. The Whomping Willow." Sirius was whispering, but it was loud and audible to Snape. He made sure to enunciate the words "Whomping Willow." Sirius pretended to catch Snape looking at him curiously out of the corner of his eye and tried to look startled. He turned around quickly. James turned to see what he had glanced at, and almost had baby cows.
"Are you absolutely insane? Shut up, you moron! Are you trying to get us in trouble?" Sirius smiled inwardly. If Snape caught what James was saying, then he would surely want to go. After all, James was sincerely worried that Snape would go to the Whomping Willow. "Ugh, I don't know what is up with you, but try to keep your voice down." They took their seats in class.
xxx
Lily folded her arms and looked the other way while Snape strode alongside her. He kept glancing at his watch and acting impatient.
"Is something the matter?" Lily asked.
"No. Why?" Snape said.
"Because. You keep glancing at your watch and looking out the window for things."
"I'm not. You're imagining things."
"No, I'm not. You are."
"Well. I've got to go," he said, glancing at his watch once more and walking briskly, almost running, toward the large doors out of the castle.
"What? Where are you going?" Lily asked. Their rounds ended at 12, and it was 11:50. "We can't go in yet, til' 12! AND you're going the wrong way! Where are you going?!" Lily shrieked. Was he sneaking out? Was he going to get them in trouble? She ran after him, panicky and curious at the same time. She got outside to feel the cool fall air against her, and almost forgot she was there to stop Snape from leaving. It was after hours, and they were supposed to check in with their heads of House before going to bed. Lily sighed, knowing there was trouble ahead of her. But, even though she had a sense of dread falling on her, she couldn't help feel comforted at the same time. Being outside felt very nice and relaxed her.
"Stop!" She yelled.
"Why are you following me?!" he yelled, turning his head a few degrees, but continued running.
"Just, stop! We're not supposed to be out here!"
"Go away!" he said, stopping at the Whomping Willow in front of the school, and breathing heavily. Lily stopped next to him, short of breath.
"What are you doing? The Whomping Willow is not a place to be hanging out after hours—it's totally dangerous and—" Lily stopped though, and squinted, hoping her eyes were deceiving her. The tree was not dangerous at all, but standing totally still. The whip-like branches and sharp thorns adorning it were hanging, completely still and harmless.
xxx
Sirius stumbled out of bed as quietly as possible. James was still asleep, as it was only 11:15. He was leaving early tonight, without James, in order to trick Snape on his own. James would not be happy with him if he knew what his plan was. Usually, one of them was assigned the task to wake up (they usually alternated) at 1:00, and then wake up the rest of them. They all went to bed extremely early that night in order to catch enough sleep. However, Sirius had different plans that night. Hopefully, Snape would show up and fall for that horribly planned scheme.
He tip-toed out of the room, and opened and shut the door with as much sneakiness as he could muster. The door closed with a small Click! and he stopped outside the door with his ear pressed against it, to make sure he could still hear their snores. I've forgotten the Invisibility Cloak! Sirius thought to himself. He swore under his breath, and opened the door again, very quietly, and tip-toed in, more in a rush this time. He opened James's trunk after a simple Alohamora, and tried to rifle through his belongings. Finally, at the end of his search, Sirius found the cloak shoved carelessly at the very bottom. He pulled it up happily, but found the edge was stuck on another object.
"Urgh!" he said accidentally, while trying to pull the invisibility cloak out, in vain. Peter rolled over in his sleep. He paused for a moment to make sure his friends was still sleeping, and pulled even harder. The cloak came loose, but Sirius was sent sprawling backwards on the ground. He landed on top of several books and a few pairs of dirty underwear. "Agh!" he yelled out loud, when the corner of a book rammed into his bottom. James turned over on his back, and Sirius held his breath, despite the fact that he was throbbing in pain. James slowly got up from bed and rubbed his eyes, yawning.
"Sirius, is that you? It's not time to get up yet, is it?" Sirius held his breath, and debated what to do. He then jumped up and ran out the room as fast as possible.
Sirius ran down the stairs and out of the common room, completely deserting his need for the Invisibility cloak. He would just transform in a very dark area—behind a bush or something like that. He changed into the large black dog, and ran over to the Whomping Willow. Last time he had checked the time, it was 11:40, so he still had time to get the tree to stop attacking, and make the entrance to the shrieking shack easily accessible. He took a deep breath before darting toward the tree. The branches immediately began swaying violently, and lashed out toward Sirius. But, he was dodging pretty well. A large, heavy branch with fresh green thorns came lunging towards him. He looked to see if he could jump the other way, but found another, but smaller, branch coming toward him as well. He ran towards the smaller one and jumped over it, but the large branch was still coming at him at full speed. Sirius ran toward it, ready to jump over it, but it was too far off the ground. He ended up stepping on it, and stumbling along it, before tripping over a sharp thorn, tumbling off roughly, and landing limply, where tree stumps bruised his back. Immediately, the tree stopped moving, and Sirius used his last ounces of energy to transform back into a human. Then he lay there unconscious.
xxx
James saw the person, who he was sure was Sirius, scramble up from the ground and dash out the door. James started and reached out to try and stop him, but it was too late. He got up himself, and ran to turn on the lights.
"Hey…hey, Peter, wake up!" James said. Peter rolled over and slowly blinked open his eyes, which were still crusty with sleep.
"What izit?" Peter slurred. "S'not time to get up yet, izit?"
"No, no, it's not. But Sirius isn't in his bed, and I think he tried to take my Invisibility Cloak, and he's been acting very strange, don't you think? And, he's left before all of us can go to the Whomping Willow with Moony," James rambled, spotting his Invisibility Cloak hanging out of his trunk. "Do you know where he's gone off to?"
"Sorry, James, I don't have a clue. But, we could check the Marauder's Map!"
"Good Idea, Pete," said James. He dug through his now disorganized trunk and found the map shoved between a few books. He opened it up to its full view of Hogwarts, and scanned over a few floating dots labeled "Argus Filch," "Minerva McGonagall," and "Oedipus Blanch."
He then spotted a rapidly moving dot, which was Sirius. "Let's go, Pete!" said James, as she threw the Map carelessly on top of the junk in his trunk and moved out.
"Wait, don't forget the map, James!" said Peter, as he snatched up the map and moved after James as quickly as possible. Peter looked at the map as he blindly followed James. It was very puzzling…Sirius seemed to be running around in circles around the Whomping Willow. He looked down and saw him and James running toward him, and, strangely enough, when his eyes moved back outside of the castle, he saw two other dots—Snape and Lily. "Hey…James," Peter started, but bumped into the back of James, who had stopped walking. "Hey, why'd you stop—"
"Do you hear someone?" James said, his head in that same position with his ear perked slightly. Peter listened closely too, and soon heard the menacing, low growl of a voice.
"Well, well, my kitten, it seems we've heard something, haven't we? We'll find those trouble-making kids, won't we, my sweet…" Filch said to himself. Both James and Peter swore under their breath. James looked over his shoulder at Peter, hoping it wasn't true, then his eyes widened. "You brought the map with you!?" he hissed. "I thought I left it in the dorm!"
"You did, but I thought we'd need it!" Peter said.
"Well…don't be a git! Hurry, clear it!" James said.
"Oh…right…er…uhm…"Peter strained to think on how to clear it. He was so nervous, all he could think was a jumble of words.
"Mischief managed, moron!" said James.
"Oh, right! Er, Mischief managed!" Peter hurried to say, just as Filch rounded the corner. He looked triumphant, but had a suspicious look on his face.
"What was that you were just doing with your wand, boy?" he snarled.
"N-nothing, sir."
"Right, I've heard that one before. All you filthy, trouble-making kids say that, when I can always see your mess right in front of me eyes. What's that you've got in your hand, then?" he said, spotting the map in Peter's hands. He had glimpsed him doing the clearing spell to the map, and suspected it must be something other than parchment.
"Just spare bit of parchment, sir," James jumped in.
"Give it to me," Filch said.
"No!" Peter squeaked, just a little too soon.
"No? Well, then, what's so special about this parchment?"
"Nothing, sir!" said Peter.
"Give it to me then!" Said Filch, as he walked toward Peter and snatched the map out of his hands. James could be heard slapping his forehead in frustration. "I'll be keeping this…follow me to my office. After hours, you are, and I'll be damned if I let you off…"
James's eyes widened at wasting even more time with Filch and thought of a way out. He turned around and started running. "Petey, RUN!" he yelled. Peter stumbled and ran as fast as he could after James.
"WHERE IN THE BLOODY BLAZES DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"
xxx
Lily and Snape looked at the still Whomping Willow with something between amazement and horror. It was amazing that the Whomping Willow could ever be so…tranquil. But something about the stillness of everything ignited some sort of fear. Like, it foreshadowed their doom.
"Hey!" Lily said. "There's something lying there!" She moved forward and shrieked. "Oh my gosh! It's Sirius!" she rushed forward faster, and, before she could lean down to check to see if he was okay, she slipped and fell…into the ground.
"Evans? Evans, where are you?!" Snape said. He moved forward, very cautiously, and felt the ground with his left foot. When he got to the area above Sirius's head, his foot found a hole in the ground hidden by weeds and grass.
"Oy, Snape! There's some sort of stairway in here!" Snape carefully placed his feet in, one by one, and slipped into a dark, narrow passageway. "Lumos!" he said.
"Shall we proceed?" They walked slowly forward in the passage that sloped downward as they moved on with the little light that their wands provided. As the moved forward, they could both hear sounds coming from further up, and it only made them more curious. A large opening could be seen, and Snape moved ahead to look in.
At first, he couldn't tell what it was. It was just flailing wildly around the room, throwing around furniture and scratching at the walls. Then, he realized, and let out a small gasp. The werewolf stopped what it was doing, and looked straight at the both of them. If there was any trace of human in this creature, you couldn't see it, not even in the eyes. For the eyes were what confirmed that it was a rabid animal—there was a hungry, desperate glint in the cool grey eyes. His teeth were bared, and you could see the blood red gums, and yellowing fangs that protruded from the mouth. The wild, dirty coat of fur seemed to be electrified with excitement because he had spotted dinner. Both Snape and Lily were frozen to their spots, and were only snapped out of their hypnotic state when the werewolf began to growl, and charged forward.
Snape shook himself, and turned to run back into the narrow passage, pushing Lily forward faster so they could both escape. Before he could get his whole body into the narrow entrance, the werewolf had his robe in his mouth, trying to pull him backwards into his lair. Snape bellowed, and tried to pull free. Lily grabbed his hand and struggled to pull him forward, but the material of his robes were not ripping. He fumbled to unclasp his robes and ripped it off his body, pushed Lily to run, and scrambled up the steps.
Lily looked up and spotted James and Peter running torward them. She waved and tried to stop them—did they know what they were walking into? "No, stop, James, it's dangerous!"
He completely ignored her and grabbed both Lily and Snape by their collars and dragged them backwards. "Moony's going to have your scent! If he's seen you, he's coming after you!" He was near hysterical and trying to drag them backwards.
"Get your hands off, my Potter, I can drag myself, thanks!" said Snape.
"Shut up! Just move!" James said. "Hurry, I can hear him!" But, Snape would not move, and only sneered at Potter.
"We're out of there now, and I can handle myself." A scuffling from behind them could be heard, and growling, as Remus tried to climb out of the hole. It was rather difficult, considering he had four paws, and he had trouble pulling himself out, but he was trying all right.
"Just move!" James said, spotting his wolf friend.
Snape, who hadn't yet heard the werewolf, refused to be ordered around by Potter. He did not know what was going on. "Oh, just shut up! Stupify!" Sirius grumbled, and got up.
"You idiot! Now he can't move on his own! And our little friend here is rabid and hungry!" screamed James. Sirius whipped around, startled to find Remus, the werewolf, struggling to get out and attack.
"Uh oh…Just…just…just transform or something!" screamed Sirius, realizing his plan had gone horribly awry.
"Ok, Lily, go away! Just, go back to the castle, or something, and leave this to us!" said James. He was already turning into a stag. "And take Snape with you!"
"Uh…alright!" Lily stuttered, grabbing Snape and trying to drag them. Then she realized she had a wand. Both James and Sirius had already turned into a dog and stag, and were trying to keep Remus at bay. Lily levitated Snape's unconscious body, and ran, trying not to look back.
A/N: What do you think? I hope it's long enough, and that it's good enough…it is a very important chapter after all. Sorry this one took so long. I was pretty lazy and only writing like, little by little everyday…and time flies! So before I knew it…it was like, a couple of weeks. So I finally sat down and wrote a bunch of the chapter. Please review. =D
