Chapter Three – Meeting the Professors

"Be good, don't do anything wrong, study for your OWLs, don't forget to write." Lily was addressing each of her kids in turn as she hugged them and kissed them, making Kathleen squirm but Harry positively want to run away out of his mother's grasp.

"I love you guys!" she said as she brought them both into a back-breaking hug and kissed them both on the cheek.

"We'll see you tomorrow," James said as he hugged Kathleen goodbye. "Then we'll tell you to behave."

"See ya Dad, Mum," Harry said as he marched off towards the Hogwarts Express.

"Bye Mum, Dad," Kathleen said as Lily pushed her towards the train, her eyes filling with tears and many sniffles emitting from her.

"Oh, Lils, c'mon," James said, bringing her into a hug. "They're going to Hogwarts. They'll be fine. And now we have some more alone time," he gave her a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows very similar to what Alice had just done the previous day.

Lily let out a small giggle and kissed her husband and turned to watch the train leave.

"C'mon," James said as it turned out of sight, "let's go home."

And they both Disapparated out of Platform 9 ¾.

James, Sirius, Frank, Alice and Lily were all gathered around the Potter's living room, chatting merrily and exchanging stories that night, all preparing to leave for Hogwarts the following morning.

James and Sirius were jumping with joy, thinking they were going to be taking the Hogwarts Express again – but Lily quashed that idea and said every parent was apparating at different times of the day. Frank and Alice were meeting with the teachers between eight and nine, and Lily and James – and Sirius who was tagging along – were meeting with the professors between twelve and one.

Sirius, Frank and Alice left for home a couple hours later, leaving James and Lily to an empty house.

Lily sighed and looked around, still snuggled up to James on the couch.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking around for what distracted her attention.

"I can't believe they're gone. They won't be back 'till December," Lily said, feeling more and more depressed with every word she spoke.

"Oh, c'mon, Lily," James said for the millionth time that day. "It'll be fine! And now you have me." A long silence sat in the living room. "Speaking of me…" James purred in her ear. "How would you like to go up stairs?"

"Oh, James," Lily sighed, annoyed. "How can you think of going to sleep at a time like this?"

James smirked. "I'm not."

Lily rolled her eyes at her husband's arrogance. Of course she knew what he was talking about. Well, she had better get her own share of relaxation out of it all. "Fine," she said, kissing her husband on the cheek, "but if you want me to join you up stairs then you have to carry me," she finished, not wanting to drag herself up the stairs.

"My pleasure," James said, unable to keep his 'giddiness' to himself. He stood up and slipped his legs under Lily's bad and under her knees, lifting her up and kissing her on the forehead.

Walking up the stairs Lily couldn't believe this would probably be the same thing, night after night after night, now that the kids were gone. Sure she enjoyed it, but how could guys not get bored with it?

"James! We're RUNNING LATE! Hurry up!"

"I'm coming Lily! Hang on!"

Lily stood tapping her foot impatiently by the front door, ready to apparate to Hogwarts.

James came running down the stairs, his shirt untucked, his trainer laces undone and his robe lopsided on his shoulders.

"Oh, for heavens sake, James," Lily sighed, stepping forward to straighten her husband's robes, fix his shirt and tie his laces. "Where's Sirius?" she asked as she stood up and examined herself in the mirror by the door. She was rather perfect looking, actually. She was wearing long black robes and a pair of black trousers. But to even out all the black she wore a soft green t-shirt with a V-neck and a long and dangly locket she had received from James on their first date. Her hair was hanging loose and limp on her shoulders, perfectly combed and glossed, ready for the day.

"He's meeting us in Hogsmeade," James answered, checking himself out in the mirror too. James was almost positive that the seventh year boys at Hogwarts would definitely be checking Lily out; how could they not?

"Okay, then, lets go," she said, walking out of the house and locking the door magically behind James. With a pop the pair disapparated and reappeared moments later in Hogsmeade, right next to the Three Broomsticks.

Sirius stood waiting for them, leaning against the wall, looking thoroughly amused with the day. When Lily and James appeared next to him he straightened up and joined them on the walk up to Hogwarts.

The trio walked slowly up the walk towards Hogwarts castle, none of them speaking a word; they were all too busy taking in the scenery of Hogwarts to talk.

"Where's Moony?" Sirius asked after a while.

"He said he had to work; some meeting or something," James said, gazing in awe and Hogwarts.

"What a shame, Sirius said, shaking his head. "It would have been fun with him around."

"You weren't going to think of transforming and running around, were you?" Lily asked eying them with suspicion.

"No," James and Sirius replied in unison – a bit too quickly.

"Uh-huh," Lily replied sarcastically, not believing a word of it.

A moment later they came to a stop outside the Hogwarts doors. Lily took hold of the handle and pushed the door open, James and Sirius following in her wake.

They walked up the stairs, towards the Great Hall and came to a stop when they saw Professor McGonagall holding a long scroll of parchment.

"Professor McGonagall," Lily greeted her old professor.

"Lily, dear," replied McGonagall, recognizing her old pupil.

"You remember James and Sirius, right?" she asked, pulling James to her side who was looking more than a bit ashamed.

"Of course I do," she said, eying James. "How could I not? The two troublemakers always to interrupt the class."

Lily and McGonagall shared a laugh while James and Sirius exchanged a look of triumph.

"I see you've lived well, married to James," McGonagall observed, looking Lily up and down.

"Oh yes," Lily said, blushing a bit. "Its hard work at times, but he's a good husband all the same."

"Yes, I can see that. You two raised two bright children – that's proof enough."

"Speaking of," James interrupted. "Did Kathleen get sorted into Gryffindor?"

"Yes, of course she did," McGonagall said with a smile. "I hope she's better behaved than Harry at any rate."

"Well, I do believe she will be. And Harry's a bit better than James any day," Lily said with a smile.

"Yes – yes he is."

"So we're here to meet with the rest of the Professors," Lily said, getting back on track. "Where to we start?"

"Oh, yes," she answered, glancing down at her pile of parchment. "Here's your 'schedule,' which you'll follow. It lists the class and the room in case you forgot. It'll be one-on-one, so you can ask as many questions concerning anything without any other parents present. The majority of the professors are still the ones we had when you three were here, so it shouldn't be much change," she finished, handing them a scroll.

"Thank you, Professor," Lily said, glancing at it. They were to first meet with Professor Sprout.

"See you later," James said, taking off after Lily.

"I'll be wandering around!" Sirius called after them, taking off to wander the halls.

"Who're we seeing first?" James asked as they walked down towards the greenhouses.

"Professor Sprout – for Herbology."

"Oh, okay."

They met with Professor Sprout who commented on Lily and James's marriage, then about how well Harry was doing in class, although he would benefit to study a bit more and not talk nearly as much when re-potting plants. She went on and on about how she was sure Kathleen would be an exceptional student as well and after twenty minutes, they departed for History of Magic with Professor Binns, who would, as James pointed out, be a bore who wouldn't even notice they were there.

And James was much too right. Binns was boring and yawn-worthy, barely noticing them as they walked in the room, completely ignoring them until Lily gave a small cough to remind him they were still there. But, instead of being told about the curriculum and their children's progress, Binns droned on and on about some Goblin war that they learned about in fourth year. James, who didn't want to listen to Binns teach ("when we're adults and have learned this stuff already!" James hissed), feigned death and made many dizzy movements, allowing his head to loll around and collapsed in a theatrical way on the ground, pretending to have died of boredom. Lily still didn't allow them to leave until they were supposed to for the next professor meeting. It wasn't until James started nibbling her neck that she allowed them to dash out of the classroom – only in fear of getting caught. Not that she allowed him to continue it when they closed the door.

James and Lily waited in the hall (James was still attempting to nibble on Lily's neck – attempting) for a good time to leave for McGonagall when they would learn about her curriculum. Lily was positive James wouldn't try anything in her class – and they'd be kept busy all the same.

"Harry's doing well, but he does need to learn to focus a bit more," she said, shuffling through Harry's file. With a wary eye, Lily noticed it was rather thick with detention slips. "I notice he does take after James when it comes to his attention span."

"Pardon?" James asked when he heard his name. He had been resting his head in the palm of his hand, leaning his elbow on the armrest of his chair. He was staring off into space, drooling ever so slightly.

"Yes," Lily said, wanting to stomp on James's foot. "I see what you mean."

James, deciding this wasn't important, went back to staring out the window.

"He's very good at Transfiguration, still, much like his father," McGonagall went on, "and like you too, Lily, but I do advise that maybe you help him out over the summer. It would do him good to have to of the best pros at the subject help him out."

Lily blushed at being called a pro.

"We can do that," she said.

"Then in that case, I think we're done here," McGonagall said, shoving Harry's file back into her desk.

"May I ask one more question, Professor?" Lily asked, beginning to stand up.

"Certainly."

"About Kathleen… if she has any problems – in anything at all – could you please owl me at once? She's a bit shy when it comes to witchcraft and she's not too outgoing."

"Of course I can."

"Thank you."

Lily stood up to go, but noticed James was still gazing out the window, obviously having not listened to a word they said.

"James," Lily said sternly. "James," she repeated when he didn't answer. "James," she said, now aggravated. She closed her hand around James's wrist and tugged him out of the chair. He finally caught notice of her when she grabbed his wrist.

"Uh – thanks – er – Professor," James said quickly before running out behind Lily.

"You really need to pay more attention in these meetings, James," Lily said as they hurried down the hall to Charms.

"Why? I've already learned this stuff, and if Harry or Kathleen have problems, then they'll owl us. It's not that big a deal," James, said, itching the back of his neck.

"Yes, it is, James," Lily said, stopping outside the Charms door. "This is our children's' education, you know."

"What? Our parents never had these meetings and we turned out fine."

"Well, I turned out fine at any rate," Lily mumbled, pushing open the door to greet Professor Flitwick.

The day went on like that, meeting teacher after teacher. Finally, it came time to meet their second to last professor of the day.

"We have Defense Against the Dark Arts – apparently there's a new professor for that – and then we have Potions, then we're free to go home," Lily yawned, walking slowly towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Who's teaching these classes?" James asked as they straightened their robes once again.

"I'm not sure. Flitwick said they were new professors."

"Oh, okay."

They entered the room swiftly and "coolly" with ease, but not too much so. James bumped into Lily's side, seeing as she stopped abruptly without notice.

"Remus!" she exclaimed, striding forward to take her friend into a hug.

James looked up and, indeed, it was Remus Lupin, fellow marauder.

"Remus, mate," James said, shaking hands with him.

"What're you doing teaching here, Remus?" Lily asked, taking in his appearance.

"Oh, Dumbledore needed a new teacher, so I offered to take it up," Remus answered, sitting down behind the desk.

"Moony, I never thought I'd see you teaching," James said, taking a seat opposite Remus.

"Neither did I," he admitted, leaning back in his chair.

The group sat in silence for a moment, not all too sure of what to say.

"So – er -" Lily began. "How about the – um – curriculum?"

"Yes," Remus said, getting back on track, "the curriculum."

So the next half hour passed in learning about what Harry and his classmates would study that year as well as Kathleen and her classmates. They asked questions and Remus answered. Remus asked occasional questions, but there wasn't much need – he had been present the entire time Harry and Kathleen had grown up. It wasn't that hard to know their strong and weak points, etc, etc, etc.

"Well," James said, glancing at his wrist watch: two forty-five, "we'd best be going. We still have to meet with the potions master."

"Have fun," Remus replied, seeing them to the office door.

"Maybe you can drop by our place for Christmas?" Lily asked, stopping to give him one last hug.

"I'd be delighted."

"See you later then," James said and one more brief hug later, Lily and James were setting off towards the dungeons.

"I wonder why he said 'good luck,'" Lily pondered aloud.

"I don't know… he was just wishing us… I don't know – don't ask me," James said as they descended the steps.

"Interesting," Lily said, turning the corner.

As they reached the potions door, they both exchanged glances. Potions never was a great class. Sure, Slughorn made it better – but they always had Potions with the Slytherins – always making Potions the worst class ever.

James pushed open the door and stood back for Lily to enter. But before Lily could extend her hand to shake the new professor's hand, she felt James tense beside her and knew he had instinctly grasped his wand under his robes.