The quidditch match had been a nice little blip in the otherwise hectic couple of weeks the group had experienced, for the duration of the hype the group where back to being normal teenagers with no time travelling getting in their way or evil lords on their back. Even recent revelations such as Harry being a parslemouth and Lily being his mum seemed positively insignificant in all the interhouse rivalry and its associated hysteria.
Now the fever was starting to subside and the gravity of the situation hit the group in the face with the same amount of force as a well swung wet mackerel. This was a temporary situation, one which would almost certainly mean painful goodbyes at the end of it, no matter how they occurred. The group as well as being family in both blood and feelings had close friendships. It was a cruel scenario, but one which they would have to live with. They were in too far now.
It was a Thursday, a dull one at that. No matter how long they sat at the end of the Gryffindor table in the almost empty great hall it wouldn't alter the fact that they would eventually have to face a normal day with all their extra worries. The trio were relatively used to this feeling, the feeling of impending battle, but the added inevitable goodbyes and the presence of 5 people totally unused to it made the feeling of the day heavy.
Piles of half eaten toasts and soggy breakfast cereals which had been left too long sat in front of the group, no one actually speaking until Ron dared to break the silence.
"Come on, lets get going, we got transfiguration next and McGonagall scares me when she angry." Talk about stating the obvious. Professor McGonagall had always been a very strict teacher but the group were starting to realise it was with good reason; her subject was becoming increasingly dangerous now they had started with human transfiguration.
The group almost ran all the way to the transfiguration classroom, determined to get their usual seats before Snape could sit in them just to wind them up. The contested seats where at the back of the classroom next to the door, then the boys could hide and make a hasty retreat but the seats where under the shelves of textbooks which the girls could look through when they no doubt finished early.
The class were already sat down by the time the trio arrived, but by some lucky coincidence Professor McGonagall wasn't. Harry couldn't deny that he was more than a little surprised that Snape hadn't made an effort to sit at the back, maybe he wasn't quite as spiteful in days gone by. The lack of a stern teacher or a tabby cat (her animagus form) on her slightly raised desk at the front suggested she too was running late. A total novel and unusual situation, who would have supposed that McGonagall was actually human? The rest of the class were all paying attention to the board which had some work written on it, it took the group a while to recognise this fact and divert their attention to it.
Period 1 - June 24th - 6S and 6G
Work set for Professor McGonagall and to be completed for next lesson.
1) Using Advanced Transfiguration (pg 154-216) write an essay on the animagus transformation and how it can be achieved. The essay should be over 3 rolls of parchment for a good grade. Ensure to include a bibliography and refer to your sources.
2) Using school records, ask Madame Pince if unsure where these are, name all animagi registered in the past century
EXTENSION WORK: Write a short essay (approx. 1000 words) on what can go wrong with the transformation and list case studies, stating where each person made their mistakes.
Anyone not completing 1 and 2 will be in detention next Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Please sign the sheet on the front of the desk, you may then leave. This room will be available for those wanting to use it until the start of next period.
Not only had the group got away with a late arrival but the lesson had been cancelled for the seemingly first time ever, usually if McGonagall couldn't make a lesson a cover teacher was found for it, usually a bitter teacher at that for being called in at short notice or having to sacrifice one of their sacred free periods. And for an added bonus the work set should be easy with the presence of the Marauders. The mood of the day was already lightening. Maybe things would go their way after all.
"Look, it's a fantastic day. Let's go outside and finish this work" Lily said, throwing her books into her bag and walking to the door.
"The first bit sounds like a plan but working? I think not, I'll be doing mine at breakfast before it's due in if it's all the same to you" scoffed Sirius, following Lily's example of packing away but with much less grace.
"Your loss" Lily said, slightly sarcastically. As she made her way from the room, followed by the boys who seemed to be under the mistaken impression staying in their one minute longer than absolutely necessary would be utterly detrimental to their health.
It seemed to take under thirty seconds for the group to have relocated to the edge of the lake, underneath a particularly large horse chestnut tree which lurched at a 45 angle. Lily and Hermione were lying flat out across the grass, large textbooks open in front of them, and obviously making a start on the essay. In all fairness the Marauder's had already done the leg work on this one but Lily still thought they were being highly irresponsible leaving it so late. However, they had got away with it countless times before and there was no indication on why this time would be any different.
"What do you recon will happen now?" Peter said, totally out of the blue. Everyone knew what he was referring to; it is what had been dominating their minds for some time. 4 best friends, one girlfriend and one time travelling trio with a big bad on their backs. It was a lot to think about.
"Regarding?" Remus said, it was just for clarification and really a totally unnecessary question.
"Everything" Came the simple reply
"I don't know" James said, honestly. They were still no closer to sorting out the random switches although true to Dumbledore's words, the whole issue had become much less complicated since they were in the same time line but eventually the trio would have to go home. Voldemort on the other hand was much trickier; they would probably have to wait for him to make the first move.
"I don't know what he is up to, maybe this was a con, he's done it before. He broke through the occlumency and gave me a fake vision." Harry said, overly hopeful in his voice, he obviously didn't believe it.
"No way, he wouldn't have known about the swaps anyway, do you believe in fate and destiny and all that? Everything happens for a reason? Maybe that's why you drank the dodgy potion so you could tell people they were in danger. Maybe that's why you got the vision, because James was in the future and he won't be any good at occlumency because he has never been trained in it, let alone used it." Lily said.
"That's too deep for my liking" Sirius retorted, "Far too complex, fact is we don't know. But I know one thing, if death tries and comes anywhere near me I'll rip his nipples off"
This comment warranted a glare from everyone else, trust Sirius. He had absolutely no sense of occasion.
"Well, what are we going to do, run scared and let the bastard ruin our lives or are we going to carry on and face it when it happens? If we live in fear he's won and I am not having that." Sirius finished. The speech wasn't put in the most tasteful way but it had valid points. Should the trio refuse to go shopping in case the IRA decided to put a bomb in a bin like they did in Manchester that very summer? No, they shouldn't. This was the same thing, albeit on a much more personal level.
"Listen carefully Sirius, I am highly unlikely ever to say this again. I agree with you" Lily said as Sirius mocked bowed.
"So we continue as is?" Peter piped up
"Life's too short not to" Harry finished.
Ellsha - wahey, the good old NHS with its added MRSA and waiting lists. Got to admit your right on that one, and as someone who spends her days in the QMC in Nottingham I can understand that exactly.
lotheledn - Ah, Celtic. Bolton get loads of players from them and in turn sell them (I cried for ages when Andy Walker left.) Personally though I'm a Rangers lass although I couldn't name one of the players (I'm a proddy). Man U? spits. I'm, a Bolton fan through and through and it's in the contract thou shall hate Man U. I love living where I live because if you go to Manchester on a match day it's full of southerners who can't find the stadium (you'd think the tram stop called Old Trafford might provide a clue, non?).
How was St Andrews, a few of my friends are doing medicine there, sounds really cool although supposedly it's murder to find a job because St Andrew's is tiny. I'm at Nottingham and I love it there.
Wytil - I didn't understand the phrasing of the post but I would like to know what you mean. (Don't take this as standoff-ish I legitimately don't understand your post but it seemed like a decent piece of criticism)
Welcome to a thinly veiled political rant. I was looking through the books and realised there are a lot of parrells with things that actually happened around the same time. Euro 96 and THAT defeat against the Germans (Gareth Southgate, the whole of England is with you ect, ect, ect). Well I don't know if anyone remembers this but that was also the same year the IRA broke their ceasefire, and on the day England played Scotland at Old Trafford in that competition some sadistic bastard planted the biggest bomb Europe has ever seen in the middle of our shopping centre. But the Lancastrian feeling pulled through again and we built our town better than before, not letting the bastards get us down. That's why I've done this chapter.
