You guys don't know how much your review mean to me. Just to know that you care enough to take time to respond and help make me a better writer...
Well, I know what you're thinking: GET ON WITH THE STORY!
I must comply
DISCLAIMER: I, unfortunately, do not own the wonderful world of Harry Potter. I do, however, own this story- so no sticky paws, you hear?
The next morning, Harry awoke around 7:00 A.M.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he yanked open the crimson curtains that were hanging, like a shield, around his bed, and slipped his glasses onto his face.
Looking around the dorm, he found that Remus was already awake and in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. Ron was snoring heavily, Sirius was muttering in his sleep, and James's mouth was hanging wide open. Harry smirked slightly.
Remus rinsed out his mouth and emerged from the bathroom. "'Morning, Harry," he said, stifling a yawn.
(AN: Just to clear any confusion, the teachers have been notified of the Marauder's situation. How do you think good ol' Snape is going to respond to that?)
Harry grunted a "Good Morning" to Remus, before stumbling blearily off to the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth.
When he emerged, he looked at the three sleeping boys. "Think we should wake them?" he asked Remus, who was digging through his trunk, which Dumbledore had provided, clothing and all.
Looking up, he squinted at the three still forms. "Yes, I suppose so," he said after a second or so.
"Right, I'll take Ron, you take Sirius and James," Harry said, starting towards Ron's bed.
When he got there, he pinched Ron's nostrils together and said, loudly, "Rise and shine!"
Ron started awake, sitting up quickly. Glaring slightly at Harry, he rubbed his sore nose and muttered, "I'm up, I'm up," before stumbling off to the bathroom.
Meanwhile, Remus went to awake Sirius and James. Choosing Sirius as his first 'victim', he gave him a sharp poke in the stomach.
Sirius cried out in alarm, stopping his insessant muttering and sitting upright in bed.
"'Morning, Padfoot," Remus said cheerily, as Ron exited the bathroom.
Sirius grunted something, before leaving the warmth of his bed to go to the bathroom as well.
At Sirius's cry, James had awoken as well. "What's all the yelling about?" he asked, his voice slightly slurred, as the effects of sleep were still upon him.
"Oh, just getting Sirius up," Remus said lightly, going back to his trunk and pulling out his robes. James frowned, and went to join Sirius in the bathroom.
The three boys left in the dormitory dressed in silence, until Sirius and James broke out into arguement over the toothpaste.
"You're supposed to push the tube from the end," whined Sirius. "Otherwise it makes it all hard to push out!"
"Oh, shut up!" James said, sounding exasperated, and he left the bathroom, followed by a pouting Sirius.
"Is every morning like this?" Ron asked Remus in a low voice.
"Yeah, pretty much," replied Remus, with a slight shrug.
"I heard that!" said both James, who had his robes halfway over his head, and Sirius, who had almost fallen into his trunk in an attempt to get his socks.
Harry stifled a laugh, shoving his trainers onto his feet.
Finally, everyone was ready to leave. Swinging his bag over his shoulder, he entered the common room, only to be met by a mod of students, who had found out one way or another that Harry was the new Quidditch Captian for Gryffindor.
"When are the Quidditch tryouts?" was the question they wanted answered. Harry quickly silenced them.
"Friday at seven. Now let me through so I can get some breakfast," Harry said, and they quickly obliged.
The fivesome made their way to the Great Hall in silence, and met up with Hermione at the Gryffindor table.
They arranged themselves so Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting on one side, with Remus, Sirius, and James on the other. Remus was sitting across from Hermione, Ron across from Sirius, and Harry across from James.
Hermione and Remus quickly were in discussion about the schoolbooks, and only moments later, Sirius and Ron were excitedly predicting the outcomes of matches. Only James and Harry remained silent, both picking at their breakfasts.
After ten painful minutes, Katie and Alicia, two of the four remaining players on the team, passed by and congratulated Harry on his sucess at being the Captain of the team. Harry thanked them and informed them of the tryouts on Friday, and they assured him that they would be there.
Five or so minutes after the two girls had left them, McGonagall came around with the year's schedules. Passing them out to the six students, she moved on wordlessly to the next group.
Harry looked at his schedule, then Ron's. Ron hadn't made it into the N.E.W.T. Potions class, and Harry did. "So I guess our schedules are different," he finally said.
Ron nodded forlornly. "Yeah, I guess so..."
James's and Sirius's schedules, however, were identical to Harry's, and Remus had a schedule that matched Hermione's.
Scanning his schedule, Harry frowned. "Double Potions after lunch today," he said, misery evident in his voice.
"Who's the Professor? Head of Slytherin?" asked James absently, looking through his schedule.
Harry grimaced slightly. "Severus Snape," he said.
"WHAT?" said Remus, Sirius, and James simultaneously. Harry just grimaced back at them.
X
James, Sirius, and Remus were not at all happy with Snape's... position, Sirius and James more than Remus.
They struggled through Transfiguration, which was deadly, and Remus and Hermione had left them for History of Magic while Sirius, James, and Harry made their way to Charms, and met up with Ron, who had had Herbology.
Flitwick gave James an odd look when he called out "James Potter" right after Harry's name, and gave another one to Sirius when he called out "Sirius McCarter".
Charms wasn't as bad as Transfiguration. Harry found that he was enjoying himself, making pillows zoom around the room. Eventually, of course, Sirius had gotten himself into trouble when he flew it out a window and hit a second year Hufflepuff, who was outside of the greenhouses for an outdoors lesson with Professor Sprout.
In an hour, Charms had finished, and it was time for lunch. Stomach rumbling, Harry made his way to the Great Hall with Sirius, James, and Ron. Hermione and Remus arrived seconds after they had sat down.
Halfway through lunch, James looked up to see Snape looking at him nastily- there was no mistaking that curtain of filthy, greasy hair that hung around his pallid face.
All too soon, lunch was over, and, with a sick feeling in their guts, Harry, Sirius, and James made their way down to the dungeons. The temperature dropped with each step, but Harry was used to it. He found himself grimly wishing he hadn't passed Potions.
Following the rest of the students in, which consisted of a mixed group of Gryffindors and Slytherins, Harry, James, and Sirius took a seat near the back of the room, trying to keep out of sight as much as possible.
Snape entered the room, and the chattering students immediatly fell silent. Taking a seat at his desk, he began to call roll:
"Lavender Brown?"
"Here."
"Gary Doyle?"
"Here."
"Harry Potter?" he said, with an unpleasant sneer in his voice.
"Here," said Harry grudgingly.
"Ah. James Potter?" he said, his voice filled with barely masked menace.
James looked back at him defiantly. "Here."
And so the roll continued, with the same nasty reaction towards Sirius.
"Now, this class is only for the most advanced students in this school- which makes me wonder why some of you are in it," he said, with a particulary nasty look at Harry, who ignored him, his face expressionless. Malfoy, who had been laughing, stopped.
The potion they were assigned that day was a particularily hard one, with the most precise directions. Harry should have expected Snape to assign such a fiddly potion.
During the potion making, Snape casually made his way to James and Sirius when Harry left to go get ingredients from the students' supply cabinet. He leaned over, his face barely three inches from James's. James looked up from his potion, looking rather disgusted.
Snape had a venemous smile on his face. "Do not forget, Potter, that you are the student and I am the teacher." The words had been hissed, and when Snape was about to speak again, the voice of Harry came from behind him.
"Excuse me, Professor Snape... you're standing right in front of my cauldron," Harry said, his voice quiet. Snape just smirked, and swept away.
By the end of class, Harry was confident he had earned at least an Acceptable on his potion when he cleaned out his cauldron and flasked his potion. Bringing it up to the desk, along with James's and Sirius's flasks.
The three students had turned around, heading back to fetch their bags, when they heard a horrible noise- one like breaking glass. Dread filled Harry's stomach as he whirled around, along with James and Sirius.
Three flasks, with the potions oozing out of them, were lying in pieces on the floor. Malfoy was snickering as Snape said, "Whoops. Looks like a zero for today."
Harry was the first out of the class, with Sirius and James close on his heels. The two others were ranting, while Harry just fumed.
"What a bloody little-" James said a word that made half the corridor stare at him. "How does he get by doing that?"
"Please, he's been doing it to me for five years," Harry said, rolling his eyes, as they went to the fifth corridor for their first lesson of Defense Against the Dark Arts, a subject Harry was particularily good at.
James was about to reply as they walked into the classroom, but fell silent, noticing the teacher had not yet arrived.
The rest of the class filed in, also looking puzzled. Finally, five minutes or so after Neville had hurried in, Professor Clarke.
"Terribly sorry," he said, and the girls sighed contently- much like when Professor Lockhart had been teaching in the second year. "Somebody believed it amusing to set off a load of fireworks on the grounds."
James and Sirius chuckled under their breath.
"Right then," he said, fetching a roll of parchment from his desk."Time for roll. Cathrine Barrington?"
Finally, after ten minutes, the roll had been finished- the class was rather large.
"Well, as you know, I am Professor Clarke. Today," he said, flicking his wand. Handwriting appeared on the board. "We are going to learn how to fight normal curses somebody might throw at you when you are unsuspecting. Learning how to fight curses is important in these dark times. I believe all of you read the Daily Prophet over the summer? Correct me if I'm wrong."
A murmur passed over the room. Muggle-borns had taken to getting the Prophet, seeing as Voldemort's return had been revealed.
"Good, good. It's always good to be informed. Then you are well aware of the return of Lord Voldemort?"
A shiver went over the room, but James, Harry, and Sirius remained still. Harry was impressed- he had heard only Remus Lupin, Professor Dumbledore, and himself use his name before.
That day, the Professor taught them how to fight curses such as Jelly Legs, Tarengella, Michonica (which was a curse that lodged something in your throat, rendering you unable to breath) and Farengila (a curse that made you stick to the floor, unable to move.)
Knowing that Harry would more than likely be able to counter-curse the spells, as he had been informed that Harry had participated in the Triwizard Tournament, Clarke used Harry as a demonstration.
By the end of class, Harry was shaking and tired from being cursed several times. "Harry, would you stay back, please?" he said, his voice pleasant. Harry turned and trudged to his desk, whereas James and Sirius remained still, waiting for Harry. Clarke ignored them.
Taking some chocolate from his desk, he broke off a piece and handed it to Harry. "You took quite a beating today. Thank you for demonstrating," he said kindly.
Harry nodded and left the class. At the first trash can they passed, Harry tossed the chocolate away.
James and Sirius looked at him curiously.
"You can never trust anyone these days," Harry said quietly.
TBC...